My Refrigerator Turned Into A Dungeon

Skill Shock

"Ah! What the heck are you eating, a Skill Orb!?"

At 5:00 PM, returning home after diligently studying at the chiropractic school, I found a monkey I had sent on slime hunting eating a Skill Orb.

When scolded, the monkey, with its eyes rolling in black and white while choking, then turned its protesting gaze towards me, saying, "Huh? Why are you mad at me??".

"Oh, no, I'm not angry. I just wanted to confirm if you'll take such action."

Yeah, monsters in the so-called tame state that I want to summon from the card have a connection between the summoner and the monster. This enables simple communication even with monsters that don't understand words.

But this is only simple communication, so things don't always go smoothly.

In this case, I ordered the monkeys to ‘hunt slimes and gather drops', but from my perspective, the drops naturally included Skill Orbs. However, from the monkeys' perspective, it seems they had the understanding that ‘since this is power obtained by defeating prey, it belongs to me!'

By the way, in response to the same order, the giant slug defeats the slimes but leaves the drops untouched.

The monkeys couldn't bear to see that and started picking the drops instead. In fact, they will keep eating drop magic stones and fresh Japanese sweets until their stomachs are full. Even if you tell a giant slug to pick up items, it's helpless without hands.

So, regarding filling their stomachs, they probably had the recognition that since they weren't told not to eat, it was okay to eat.

Just because monsters are ordered to ‘hunt slimes and gather drops' doesn't mean they think, ‘Since we're gathering them, we shouldn't eat them ourselves!'

This applies to monkeys and frogs alike; when they get hungry, they eat magic stones and fresh Japanese sweets as they please. Well, even so, once they're full, they'll properly gather drops all the way to the antechamber, so it balances out.

But monsters can also use Skill Orbs.

I tried experimenting to see if monkeys, frogs, and slugs could use the [Acid] skill by gathering them. Surprisingly, all three could use it. However, since their levels were still low and they weren't used to it, all that happened was ‘shhh!' and acid liquid came out.

"Hmm, I see… Wait a minute! When you think about it, this is amazing!"

It's amazing if monsters can learn new skills retroactively. Just acquiring one skill can make a huge difference in terms of combat effectiveness.

If we were to guide and nurture this artificially, we might be able to create something like a ‘Skill Customized Goblin', which looks like an ordinary goblin, but it's completely different!

"Well, now that I know this, I'll get back to work." I ordered the three gathered creatures happily, and on my way home, I hunted slimes myself to get a Skill Orb.

Like this, I plucked out the core barehanded and activated [Usurpation] while crushing it. Just like this. This is the Skill Orb of the slime, [usurpation acquisition method].

And "I can't just sit idly by." I infused magical power into the Skill Orb of [Acid] and focused on releasing its power.

"[Kyuwa~! Pa…pachichichi! Pashuun!!]"

"What!?"

(Huh? Could it be that I failed to acquire the skill?!)

After ‘Kyuwa~!' it would be ‘Pawawa~!' and the power hidden in the Skill Orb would flow into my body, but for some reason, now it scattered with a feeling like ‘Pachichichi! Pashuun!!'.

Skills:

[Strong Acid 2], [Agility 2], [Disease Resistance 7], [Usurpation], [Mucus 9], [Space 6], [Luck 1.4], [Foot Handling], [Meditation], [Salt 5], [Art], [Maggot 2], [Woman], [Fighting 6], [Paralysis 4], [Jumping 9], [Sturdy 8], [Charm]

Suspicious, I checked the skills again. The levels hadn't increased.

The skill [Strong Acid] was originally [Acid]. It became [Strong Acid] when it reached level 10, so if it had succeeded, it should have been [Strong Acid 2.1].

(What. What on earth is going on!?)

I searched for slimes again to try another Skill Orb, but once again, it bounced off with a ‘pashuun!'.

(Damn! Seriously!? I can't level up my skills!?)

If it were just [Strong Acid].

[Strong Acid 2] might have reached the skill level cap, but if all the other skills were also ineffective, it would be a serious problem…

"Earlier… the monkey could use a Skill Orb, right? So the skills should have been acquired. But if only the Skill Orbs I got happened to be defective in succession?"

Rushing downstairs, I searched for slimes and once again obtained a Skill Orb.

"Oh, Red! You're a red slime! Can you try eating this Skill Orb for me?"

I handed the Skill Orb to the red slime that appeared from within the prosthetic leg, and it immediately absorbed it. The Skill Orb shone within its translucent slime body.

"[Kyuwa~! Pawawa~!!]"

(Ugh…! Is it really true that only I can't accept the Skill Orb!?)

Confronted with such a shocking fact, I felt a dizzying sensation as if the world before my eyes had turned pitch black.

…..

Wobbling back to my room, I plopped down onto the computer chair.

That's no good. My plans get messed up. By plans, of course, I mean the dungeon conquest plan. I had hoped to gradually become stronger and eventually conquer the dungeon.

"No…! There's no point in getting anxious or panicking. Let's calm down and think this through. Yeah, first, let's brew some coffee to calm down…"

I boiled water and brewed a light coconut-flavored coffee Nina-san likes to drink, drinking it to calm my mind.

"Phew~… I'm not dead. I'm still alive. Yeah, the only thing that's happened is that I found my skills can't grow any further."

Using a Skill Orb without its effect being manifested and disappearing is like being cheated by a vending machine. Damn, that's frustrating! Especially when you're out of coins and have to insert bills, it's even more infuriating!

Wait, am I still flustered? I need to calm down! That's right.

"(Rumble!) Ah, Ruu? Yeah, I don't have anything particular to talk about. I just wanted to hear your voice."

Seeking solace, I called Ruu.

And Ruu was genuinely happy to receive my call, engaging in trivial conversations with me. ‘Today, I found an interesting book at the library,' or ‘Yesterday, I cooked with Mom.'

Talking to the person you like over the phone. It's heartwarming. Ruu's casual kindness seeped into my heart.

…..

Thus, thanks to Ruu's warm kindness, I regained peace of mind, leaving no room for vulnerability.

Brewing another cup of hot coffee, I opened my notebook and began writing with my pen. Yes, let's visualize the problem and clearly grasp the issues.

"Skill Orb of [Acid]… the monkey could use it… the red slime could use it… I couldn't…"

By visualizing it this way, not only can I subjectively think about things in my head, but I can also look at things from an objective perspective.

Skills:

[Strong Acid 2], [Agility 2], [Disease Resistance 7], [Usurpation], [Mucus 9], [Space 6], [Luck 1.4], [Foot Handling], [Meditation], [Salt 5], [Art], [Maggot 2], [Woman], [Fighting 6], [Paralysis 4], [Jumping 9], [Sturdy 8], [Charm]

"1234… so, a total of 125. When counting all the skills, it becomes this number."

There are [Strong Acid 2], [Agility 2], [Luck 1.4], and [Charm], which are difficult to understand because the skills have changed names due to level-up. But if they had remained with their original names, they would have been [Acid 20], [Agility 20], [Luck 14], and [Charm 10].

"Thanks to the Skill [Usurpation], the number is impressive. But does this mean I'm superior to others? Hmm, I'd like to think so. But honestly, I have no idea. Nowadays, the internet is full of false information and completely unreliable…"

Dungeon-related information on the internet is currently in a terrible state.

Originally, words like dungeon and monsters were frequently used in games. So if you search with those words, you'll get plenty of hits related to games, making it difficult to find information about real dungeons.

However, on the other hand, there are advantages. Even if you're discussing real dungeon matters on anonymous bulletin boards, it's hard for ordinary people to tell if it's about a game or a real dungeon, which can be beneficial.

However, in an attempt to bypass such inconveniences and share real dungeon information, the site was inundated with malicious data tampering, rendering it practically useless.

For example, detailed information about powerful monsters that can kill people is posted as if they were weak monsters, or conversely, weak monsters are presented as high-difficulty targets, and so on.

And also, the state of anonymous bulletin boards is terrible.

For some reason, those who claim to be the strongest continuously boast about their dubious skills that may not even exist, hindering any attempt to discuss skills by blowing the strongest wind possible, making it impossible to have a proper conversation.

If you're so strong, why not say, ‘Go ahead and eradicate dungeons that are disrupting transportation infrastructure' instead? Then everyone will praise you, won't they? It should be much better than just winding yourself up in front of your home computer for no reason.

Well, the situation is such that genuinely useful information exchange is said to be happening on SNS voice chats and the like… but even to participate in that requires a considerable membership fee, so I'm not participating.

On the internet, there are also advertisements claiming to ‘earn money easily in dungeons' or ‘level up easily in 10 minutes every day,' aiming to swindle money from information-ignorant people.

Considering that this is the current state even though the dungeons haven't been opened yet, it's truly surprising.

I'm also one of those who make a living in the dungeon, but I don't think it's easy, nor do I think about ‘selling information about what my clients are delivering and making money' either.

So, in any case, it's safe to say that this kind of information product is false information.

Rather than doing that, it would be more profitable to increase the number of deliveries by using monsters more effectively. If you teach others and worsen the supply, the purchase price will immediately drop, and you will end up losing more in the future than the profit you gained from the information product.

"Anyway, will skills become acquirable again as levels rise? Is there no other way than to carefully verify this?"

After jotting down a few other possible scenarios, I sighed and closed the notebook.