Chapter 025 – Shopping
Shopping
I saw something unpleasant.
Three thieves using violence against a young woman.
This is the darker side of the world.
Can’t the world just be full of beautiful things?
I don’t want to get involved.
I turn my back on it and use warp on the wall nearby.
For now I’ve at least confirmed where the thieves come from.
I need to be cautious for now and leave.
I head for the third floor of the Labyrinth.
In the Labyrinth, violence is everything.
Only in the Labyrinth does violence solve every situation.
That makes it easy to understand.
You don’t need to think about anything here. The strong win and the weak are destroyed.
How straightforward things are can feel relaxing.
I leave the third floor immediately.
I need to check if I can go straight to the third floor from outside the labyrinth.
Outside it is pitch dark and there isn’t anyone.
I re-enter immediately.
As I enter I focus my mind on the third floor.
I appear in the small entrance room.
Since they all look the same I’m not sure which floor it is.
I take the copper sword and wand from the item box, and put away the scimitar.
Kobold Lv3
A Kobold Lv3 appears.
It seems I really am on the third floor.
I defeat the demon with a single fireball.
It seems you really can choose which floor you wish to go to as you enter the Labyrinth.
For now I’ll hunt on the third floor.
The Mino on the fourth floor is still a bit scary.
That horn is dangerous.
It will probably be fine when I become more familiar with it, but until then it will be rather bad.
My current options are either going to the fourth floor using Durandal until I get used to it, or raising my level here.
Is it too soon to move on?
The horn on the Lv4 Mino will be a real threat until I can defeat it with just three spells.
I also found the thieves in the slums, so it’s no longer necessary to hurry making money in the Labyrinth.
It’s hard to make money on the third floor, but dangerous to move on.
After hunting some more and consuming MP I return the the small room at the entrance and pull out Durandal.
I want to test where I can go when I leave.
I step into the black wall and focus on the fourth floor, and then appear in a small entrance room.
Is it a success? Probably.
I head further into the Labyrinth.
Green Caterpillar Lv4
It’s a success, it’s possible to use the entrance to skip floors.
I charge in and swing Durandal.
The sword splits the Green Caterpillar in two.
A single blow on a Lv4.
Mino Lv4
Mino Lv4
Kobold Lv4
A group appears next. There’s three of them.
Will group size increase as floors increase?
I can’t be sure since I’ve only pushed through three floors, but I haven’t encountered a group of three before.
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Will I end up with a group of 20 on the 20th floor, and 30 on the 30th?
Hopefully that isn’t the case.
I’m not sure how many floors there are but I’d be dead before the tenth.
At some stage there may be enemies that aren’t affected by magic too.
A party size has a limit of six here, so I’d like to think there is a cap on the size of monster groups.
To start I use the sand storm.
The Mino might have a resistance to fire magic.
A storm of sand attacks the demons.
None of them were defeated though.
Even the kobolds are stronger, is a second spell necessary?
I tried to finish it quick and failed, so I’ll need to be more cautious.
I use the sand storm again and this time the kobold is defeated.
There are 2 Mino’s remaining.
One charges forward and I stab it with Durandal. The saint sword penetrates it easily.
The Mino becomes smoke and disappears.
At the same time the second Mino charges in and attacks with it’s horn.
I hurry to avoid it but the horn grazes my arm.
AAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
DANGER!
It grazed me!
I madly swing Durandal around, and it lops off the Mino’s head.
The demon becomes smoke and vanishes.
Hide.
It dropped hide.
That was dangerous.
Fighting in the Labyrinth is risking my life.
There’s always the chance it could become fatal in an instant.
Did the two sand storms effect the Mino’s?
They seemed scratched, but I’m not sure if it was much.
Maybe wind will be more effective.
The fourth floor is quite dangerous.
The danger of being hit by that horn is huge.
If there is just one I can handle it if I remain calm, but what would happen if I get surrounded?
Even if I don’t come across a room full of demons, just running into three Mino’s could be fatal.
I can’t even imagine how bad it would be if I ran into four.
Should I retreat? Yes, retreat.
I decided to go back to the third floor.
It’s a strategic retreat.
The third floor is better for now.
After that I continued to hunt on the third floor.
When I finally decided to leave the Labyrinth and went outside the morning sun had already risen.
Oops.
I wanted to warp back to town while it was still dark.
I wanted to check on the brothel again.
People should be walking around there again at this time and I wanted to mix in and go past.
Since I was wandering around with the lantern last night I probably went to sleep a bit later, so maybe I woke up a bit later too?
I probably went to the labyrinth later because of the trip to the slums.
Using Warp after it has become light stands out too much.
Well, I guess it can’t be helped this time.
Today will be a busy day for the city.
After returning to the hotel, having breakfast, and having a short break in my room, I then walk around the city.
There are various kinds of things I’d like to buy.
First I looked around the cloths shops for a black mantle with a black hood that could hide my face.
If I want to hunt thieves at night without standing out then I’ll need to wear something like that.
Are there a lot of people who wear mantles? I found them rather quickly.
It’s in a cloths stall which is right in front of the hotel.
There’s a lot of cloths neatly folded and on display.
I have a feeling the price might be a bit high.
Maybe it’s classified as a high quality item here?
“How much is this?”
I asked the shop owner.
“It’s 4,000 nars.”
It seems high.
A day’s income in that Labyrinth would totally disappear.
“Really?”
“The cloak is a fine article that uses flannel.”
So it’s not a mantle, it’s a cloak?
Even after the merchants recommendation I return the cloak.
It probably is fine quality, but I don’t really need a fine quality item.
Off to the side there are some green dyed pants.
It seems to be soft material that might be usable as underwear.
It has a drawstring to close it, so it probably is this worlds underwear.
“How much is this?”
“40 nars.”
“I’ll take two thanks.”
Now I have some cloths to change into.
It might be expensive, but my sense of value was based on it being 1/100th of the price of the cloak.
“Thank you, that will be 56 nars.”
The 30% discount works.
I pull out 56 copper coins to pay, and put the underwear away in the rucksack.
It seemed like the discount didn’t apply when I was just asking about one item, but then it worked when I bought two.
The same thing seemed to happen with the hot water in the Vale Pavilion.
Maybe the discount doesn’t work on single items?
I’ll try it.
I head over to the armor merchants shop.
It’s the same armor merchant I was at 5 days ago. I sold multiple items and the 30% bonus seemed to work.
Things might be different buying than selling though.
“Hello, Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for a gauntlet.”
When I’m defending against an attack with my sword or wand it will be easy for my fingers to be injured.
It’s questionable whether HP absorption can replace a severed finger.
I should equip something on my hands.
“Here.”
The armor merchant guides me to a place with a lot of gauntlets made of iron are lined up.
I’d prefer one with high defense, but the price for that probably isn’t good.
Leather Mittens.
This seems to be the cheapest.
It seems like the gear I used for Kendo.
It only covers as far as the wrist though, and the upper arm is still exposed.
“How much for these Leather Mittens?”
“80 nars.”
Is that good?
I don’t really know.
“How about these Leather Gloves?”
“Those are 120 nars.”
So the Leather MIttens are the cheapest.
The difference between the mittens and the gloves is, the gloves have all fingers properly made, but the mittens just have a thumb and two divisions for fingers.
The mittens should be similar in convenience to the gauntlets for Kendo, so they should be fine for using the wand and Durandal.
Leather mitten: empty skill slot.
“Can I buy this?”
I looked for one with an empty skill slot and presented it to the armor merchant.
“Sure.”
It doesn’t seem like the discount works on the single item. Two or more items mush have to be bought or sold for benefits.
I hand over 80 copper coins and obtain the Leather mittens.
After that I bought two pairs of socks, two washcloths, a hooded cloak, a small and medium wooden tub, two ropes, and a candle.
The small tub can be used as a cup, and the spare rope is for laundry. The medium tub, spare washcloth and candle were things I grabbed in case I needed them.
The small candle was 10 nars. I’m not sure how long it would last but I don’t think it could replace borrowing the lantern.
The cloak with the hood was a bit worn, but found rather quickly.
It can hide the face quite well because it’s a big hood.
I could not find soap, toothpaste, or a toothbrush.
It’s starting to become evening when I finish shopping and return to the hotel.
“I’ll have another nights stay with dinner, and order some hot water for after dinner.”
I speak to the hotel man.
If I ask like this the hot water should be discounted as well.
I could have dinner somewhere else, but this is convenient and the rate of payment feels advantageous.
Or maybe not?
For a guest who goes to the Labyrinth, you never know when he might die.
After paying for a day, you might die in a ditch somewhere.
Maybe people don’t normally pay days in advance?
Maybe some classes don’t have enough money for a night?
Nobody knows when I’ll die in this world.
“238 nars is fine since you’re a regular customer.”
“Thank you.”
I was starting to think about something unpleasant, but I shake off the thoughts.
I pass over 2 sliver coins and 38 copper coins and receive the key to room 311.
I take my luggage to the room before the meal.
Since I am staying at the hotel I’ve only grabbed the bare necessities, but what would I need to settle down in this world?
That night I decided to start exploring the fourth floor.
My Wizard job had reached level 21 and I wanted to test how much magic was needed to defeat a Mino.
After having a quick look in the slums I headed straight for the fourth floor.
Kaga Michio: 17 year old male. Wizard Lv 21, Hero Lv19, Explorer Lv 22, Merchant Lv1, Herbalist Lv1.
Equipment: Sandals, Leather Mittens, Leather Armor, Durandal.
It will be different this time.
First of all I put Wizard in the first job position.
There may be no difference if it’s third, but I don’t know for sure.
While fighting with magic it may be best to make it first.
It seemed that I couldn’t move explorer while there was something in the item box so I had to unload it onto the bed.
I stopped using 10x decrease in required experience til next level and equipped a fifth job.
Merchant and Herbalist have the effects of a small increase in Intellect so they were set as the fourth and fifth job.
The stat related to magic is probably Intellect.
Magic damage may go up if I increase my Intellect.
The effect might be small since I haven’t raised those levels.
I want to use the additional offensive power of the wand, but I use Durandal instead for safety.
Mino Lv4
Needle Wood Lv4
Since a group of two appeared straight away I quickly used Fire Storm.
I used a second and third shot as soon as the fire went out.
The Mino approaches.
It’s movement appears to be faster than the Needle Wood.
I blocked a thrust from it’s horn with Durandal.
Neither enemy is defeated in the three shots.
I dodge another strike from the horn.
The Needle Wood catches up.
I’m struck with a branch while paying attention to the Needle Wood.
It’s painful but couldn’t be avoided.
I use a fourth fire storm.
Sparks attacked the two demons.
While I’m being cautious of the Mino’s horn it collapses.
The Needle Wood collapses at the same time too.
Hide.
Branch.
Four spells.
It’s the first time I’ve defeated a Mino Lv4 and a Needle Wood Lv4 so I’m not sure how effective my changes were.
It will probably be dangerous to fight om the fourth floor while I can’t defeat things with just three spells.
I put the Hide & Branch into the item box and warp back to the third floor.