The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter

After parting ways with Emma, I went to the hidden dungeon. I moved through the 1st floor while cutting down golden slimes.

「Kyapuchaaaa!」

They spit out fluid as they cried out. I’ve gotten so used to the pattern that I could easily dodge them and land a counter blow. After taking them down, I ate some of the jelly, all the while smiling to myself, savoring the sweet and tasty flavour. The rest I stored in the【Different Dimension Storage】. Monsters spawned regularly in this dungeon and first floor monsters, particularly, were very beneficial to me.

「I wonder if I can sell these.」

These jellies could probably earn me some decent money, I thought. As soon as I stepped into the second floor where my master was, I heard her talking to herself.

「I love you, Olivia. I love you, Master. I love you, Ori-chan. I can’t live without you.」

「Master, how’d you manage to hit your head on something when you can’t even move?」

「Again with your sharp tongue. You always talk to me that way.」

「I can’t help it. You were going on about cheesy stuff all of a sudden.」

「They’re among the top 500 lines I want you to say to me~」

「500… I know you don’t have much to do here, but still, that’s too much.」

I was away for my exam, and I haven’t entered the dungeon recently. Her sulking was understandable. She was grumbling so I tried to comfort her, then skillfully changed the subject.

「I want to make some rapid progress this summer. I want to earn lots, get stronger, and start something new.」

「That sounds great! You have to follow your desires. So you want to get stronger. Did you learn that already?」

「What was it again?」

「Ahh, you forgot my advice. I’m talking about LP conversion skills. There’s item conversion, material conversion, etcetera.」

Oh, right. She did mention that before. I’ve been steadily saving up LP so now I had over 2,500. First I learned the【 LP Conversion ● Item】 skill which cost 800 LP. This allowed me to convert tools and weapons into life points. The more valuable the item, the more points I would get. I converted a sword I didn’t need to test it. The iron sword vanished all of a sudden and I got 100 LP. Fascinating.

「Master, I can gain LP too by using the material conversion skill like this, right?」

「I wouldn’t recommend it. The amount of LP you get from converting materials from monsters is really mediocre. Even materials from a dragon could sometimes only give you 100 LP.」

「I see…」

「Converting rare items that you don’t use will give you lots of points so you can try that. Though you can also sell those and make money so that’s something to think about.」

「I kinda want to start a business too.」

「That sounds good. You can hire someone to sell your stuff.」

「Hire someone, huh? … Well I do have funds, so that’s worth considering. Thank you for your help. See you later.」

「You’re going already? You’re not clearing the dungeon?」

「I’ll be back some other time.」

「Buuu… Then at least give me head pats~.」

She really can be childish at times. I rubbed her cheeks and stroked her head to make her happy, then headed back to town.

As I was finding my way around, I checked to see if there were vacant stores. The main street seemed like it was out of question. There weren’t any of them in the alleys, but there were spaces to build your own shop. But usually these were part of someone’s property and most of them were nobles so one would have to lease the space from them.

Father should know about stuff like this. I’ll talk to him when I get home.

There was still some time left before sundown so I made my way to the temple where Luna-san worked. People were lining up for the Holy Maiden which made me worry a bit.

「I see. Your strength’s deteriorating… Then let’s restore it.」

She listened to the complaints of people not feeling well, then healed them with her Heal Shot. Luna-san was prone to fainting. She would collapse when she used her magic gun too much.

I discreetly asked one of the staff. They said that on days when there were a lot of visitors, she’d collapse about five times. Once work settled down for a bit, I went over to Luna-san who was resting and handed her a drink.

「Nice work out there.」

「Oh, I’m so happy you came, Noir-dono.」

「I’ve been thinking about this, but you’re pushing yourself too hard. If you don’t want your condition removed, then at least increase your magic capacity.

「But you use LP for that, right?」

「You give me a lot of LP. Let me return them.」

「Okay. I’ll give you today’s LP at least first.」

After confirming that no one was around, Luna-san embraced me.

「Ahh… I may smell a bit sweaty…」

「You don’t. In fact, you smell wonderful; a sweet, gentle scent that would send my mind soaring in heaven if I don’t keep my wits about me.」

Wait a sec. That clearly makes me sound like I’m some kind of a pervert.

But Luna-san just chuckled. All’s good, then.

I got 100 LP from the hug which brought it to a total of 1,800 LP. I activated my【Create】skill and was torn between【Magic Increase C】and【Magic Increase B】. The former required 400 LP while the latter 800 LP. Plus 500 LP was needed to grant it to her.

「All right. I’m granting it to you.」

There would be no harm in going for more so I gave her【Magic Increase B】. Hopefully with this, she wouldn’t collapse as much as before. She thanked me. It seemed she could feel the effects already.

「My body feels lighter. Did you use a lot of LP?」

「Kind of. But it’s fine.」

「You’re always like that, Noir-dono. You put on a friendly smile, but deep inside you’re hurting. Let me at least return the favour as a friend. No, as a woman. Over here!」

「Huh? What?!」

Luna-san grabbed my hand, eager, and led me to an empty small room inside the temple. She quickly locked the door from inside and said:

「I want you to make good use of me if it’ll help you store as much LP as possible.」

「Make good use of you…?」

「Come on, you can ask my anything, Noir-dono! Bring it on!」

She was acting strange from being too psyched up. Too precious, I thought. But I couldn’t back out now after what she said. I touched her pointed ears, one of the features of a half-elf, and her hair. Then I asked her to strike my favourite pose as I watched in appreciation.

「Fuu…That’s one more of your interests I now know.」

「Haha. How embarrassing.」

I couldn’t get back the 1,300 LP I used but I got 700 so it was time well spent. Time well spent, indeed. We stopped by a weapon shop on our way home from the temple to take a look at some. With my item conversion skill, I could just buy items to convert them into LP. Which begged the question: which was more efficient, converting money or converting items?

「You want a new weapon?」

「Not really. I learned a skill that lets me convert items and weapons into LP.」

「In that case, come with me to my house. I have some weapons I used for training a while back that I don’t use anymore.」

「That would be great. Thanks.」

I took her up on her offer and went to her house. She had three swords, one spear, and one axe in storage. Unlike converting money, in item conversion, you’d only know how much you’ll get right before converting. Which meant that something I thought was valuable at first might end up disappointing me. I converted them and they vanished. I checked them one by one. The three swords gave me 50, 70, and 60 LP; 40 LP for the spear and 60 LP for the axe. I got less than I expected.

Still, they weren’t really rare weapons so it was understandable.

「I know. What about the spear we used to fight the dragon?」

「Right! I don’t think we’ll use it a lot anyway. Plus I do want to experiment some more.」

I took out the three spears imbued with the【Dragon Slayer C】skill from my different dimension storage. If we’d have to fight another dragon, I could just get another weapon and imbue it with the skill.

What I wanted to test was whether there would be any difference in the amount of LP I received depending on the weapon’s condition. They were all the same type of spear and made with pretty much the same materials. But their conditions differed. There was one that could still be used and one with its blade chipped.

The result was the amount of LP received differed based on the weapon’s condition.

Poor condition: 500 LP
Fair condition: 1,200 LP
Good condition: 1,500 LP

There was quite a difference between the worst and the best one. Still I got a lot in total that it made me jump slightly in joy.

「If second-hand weapons got me this much, rare ones might give me so much more.」

「I’ll let you know if I get information on rare weapons.」

「Thank you. Well then, I’ll be leaving now. Take plenty of rest, okay?」

The Item Conversion turned out to be a lot useful than expected. I made my way home, ecstatic and quite pleased with myself.