Chapter 9: Chapter 9
I continued through the dungeon, killing as I went. As the hours passed, I began to feel more and more comfortable within the dungeon. That didn't mean I got cocky or reckless, just that a feeling of familiarity began to bloom as I stalked the halls of the dungeon. I also realized that adventures crossing paths in the dungeon were much more common than I would have initially thought. Since the routes to go to each floor were pretty well mapped out, most people just traveled along the fastest route to the next floor. I also encountered people as either they or I were fighting monsters, but that happened less often.
Once I made my way down to the sixth floor, I readied myself more than I had for any of the previous floors. From what I remembered, this is where most people began dying much more often. The green light of these floors was much dimmer than the all-encompassing soft blue light of the first four floors. Dark shadows seemed to cling to the corners of each room and tunnel. I made my way down the pathways, encountering a monster almost immediately. A frog with one large eye on its head literally popped out of the wall in front of me.
It shook its head, seemingly to clear it, then looked around and spotted me. A split second later, its tongue shot at me faster than any attack I had encountered in the dungeon so far. I quickly used Aura Sword and used my blade to cut off the end of the tongue, causing the frog to begin screeching. It continued to shoot its damaged tongue out at me, but with my enhanced perception brought on by Thought Acceleration, there was no way I would get hit with the tongue. That was what I believed, at least, before I watched a tongue wrap around my waist from behind.
Luckily I had time to act, so I turned and sent an Aura Slash down the hallway to bisect the second frog that had snuck up behind me in half. I then rushed forward and ripped through the first frog, ending it quickly. I quickly harvested their cores while I admonished myself internally for not checking behind myself every once and a while. Once the stones were collected, I resumed walking. It didn't take me long to start to feel the increased spawn rate of these floors compared to the ones above. It seemed like I encountered a monster every five minutes.
On top of the increased spawn rates, the monsters of this floor were also smarted than before. When I walked by a particularly dense area full of shadows, a War Shadow jumped out and tried to sneak attack me. Of course, I had seen it in advance, but I could see how a newbie adventurer used to the first four floors would get taken by surprise and end up dying. Out of every monster I had encountered so far, the War Shadows impressed me the most. They had at least some rudimentary intelligence and picked their battles more intelligently.
As I was about to descend to the seventh floor, I got attacked by a War Shadow and a Frog Shooter at the same time. The War Shadow seemed to have purposefully lured the frog here so that it could attack from range while the shadow got up close and tried to disembowel me. I laughed as I rushed forward to meet the shadow, sending an Aura Slash at the frog as I did so. The War Shadow leaped to the side and tried to block my slash from getting to the frog, but that only resulted in the shadow losing its hand while the frog's belly was split open.
The shadow used its three dark claws to try to disable my sword arm, but I turned and blasted it fully in the face with an Aura Slash from point-blank range. Its whispy body turned into mist as its stone clattered to the ground. I collected both of their stones before descending the steps to the seventh floor. As soon as I descended enough to see into the floor I watched a group of four adventures carefully avoiding what looked to be a large ant. 'Ahh, a Killer Ant,' I thought as I looked at the impressive creature.
"Great Sage, can you please remind me about Killer Ants?" I asked as I continued to inspect the creature.
[Know along with the War Shadow as the two "Newbie Killers," the Killer Ants are monsters that have incredibly hard carapace and high attack power. They also use pheromones to attract more ants when in danger]
"So they are basically a nightmare for low-leveled adventurers?" I said while stoking my chin, an idea forming in my mind.
[Yes]
'First, let's see how well they do against my aura,' I thought as I approached the lone ant in one of the tunnels branching from the bottom of the steps. It noticed my approach and cried as it charged toward me. I readied my blade and swung with everything I had as the ant got within striking range. My sword cleaved straight through the ant fairly easily, spilling its stone on the floor alongside its innards. However, I did feel some resistance as I cut it in two. I quickly checked my blade and saw that there was the beginning of a crack starting to form in the metal of the blade near the hilt.
"You got to be joking," I said as I wiped the blade with my sleeve as if that could fix the problem, "How long will this last Great Sage?" I asked frustratedly.
[It should be fine for today, a replacement should be found once you return to the surface]
I was grumbling about having to spend the money on a replacement, but I had known even before coming to the dungeon that the sword was on its way out. I sighed one more time before I got up and walked forward through the floor until I found a secluded Killer Ant near the outskirts of the floor. I quickly rushed toward it and cut off its two hind legs with a slash before it could react. It turned, lashing its two front arms out at me, but I leaped back and used a perfectly timed Aura Slash to cut off the two from arms. Lastly, I cut off its last two legs, causing it to collapse to the ground pathetically.
"Why should I go find the monsters when they will just come to me?" I said as I slashed through the ant's carapace in a non-lethal spot.
It didn't take long before the sound of approaching Ants reached me. I grinned and watched the tide rushing into the room. However, I had chosen this room due to its one entrance and exit. Not only that, but the entrance to the room was narrow for a good stretch before it opened up into the area where I was currently standing. The Killer Ants were forced through a funnel toward me, allowing me to launch full-powered Aura Slashes through the oncoming crowd. My slashes ripped through the leading ranks, killing most in a single blow, but the tide quickly washed over their downed brethren to get at me.
I rinsed and repeated this process for a few hours, watching the stones pile up. I had basically found an infinite money glitch that was also incredibly dangerous, but I was still making quite a bit of money. The only problem is that the monsters are blocking the only exit most of the time, so you have to fully commit to dealing with each wave of ants. Eventually, I had to call it quits due to my sword, which had begun to literally deteriorate in my hands. Small shards of the blade sprinkled the floor around me while deep cracks ran through the length of the blade.
Once I killed the last ant in the current wave, I returned and killed the ant that I had been using to lure the others here. I dispatched it, cleaned up all the stones, dropping them safely into my storage before heading back toward the stairs leading back up to the sixth floor. I decided to avoid more monsters as I did so due to the condition of my sword. I wasn't even sure if it could withstand performing another slash, so I kept it as a last resort. I found it strangely exhilarating to run through the floors of the dungeon, avoiding the monsters. 'Am I some sort of battle maniac/adrenaline junky? Or is this body somehow affecting my decision-making?' I wondered as I backtracked all the way back to the first floor.
It wasn't long after that I finally made it back to the steps leading up and out of the dungeon. However, there was a group of three goblins between me and the exit. I couldn't help but laugh at the coincidence. 'A goblin will be my first and last kill of the day,' I thought as I drew my crumbling blade and proceeded to kill the goblins quickly. I left the crumbling remains of my sword behind as I made my way out of the dungeon.
Chapter 10: Chapter 10
I emerged from the dungeon into the ground floor of Babel in good spirits. I looked around before deciding to head to the guild first to drop off the magic stones I have gathered from today's dive into the dungeon. I was hoping that the money would prove good enough to buy myself a decent sword to replace my broken one. 'Wait, how did my sword get so messed up in the first place?' I asked myself, suddenly feeling unsure. I couldn't remember when I had damaged it in the first place. I checked my storage, but it wasn't there.
"Odd, Great Sage, why am I so confused right now?" I asked mentally, feeling as if my trip in the dungeon was somehow someone else's doing and not my own.
[What is the last thing you remember?]
"Killing the two Frog Shooters on the sixth floor, then everything becomes hazy," I said, even more confused, "Could it be some sort of mind control or poison?" I asked with a frown.
[Negative, there are no traces of mind control or poison]
"Then what can it be?" I asked, my confusion giving way to anger and a bit of fear.
[Hmm... It seems you are unlucky. The most probable cause is that the body's inner ego is able to influence your decisions]
"Woah, woah, woah, hold up. Are you saying that this body isn't completely mine?" I said, gesturing to myself wildly.
[Not exactly, the body seems to hold on to a trace of the original's personality, but you are the only one truly in there]
The phrasing of Great Sage's reply made a new question pop into my mind, "How did I get this body?" I asked slowly, not sure I would like the answer.
[A clone was made of the original's body, but there is a chance that those with powerful egos can leave a trace of themselves in the body once it is cloned. However, that is very rare, affecting only 1 out of 100,000 reincarnators]
"What the hell, then how can I fix it," I asked, angry that something as important as this wouldn't be told to me.
[There is no way to fix it right now. However, it is recommended to fix this issue soon because eventually, the inner ego will merge with your soul if left untreated]
"WHAT," I nearly screamed out loud, feeling dread wash over me like a wave, "Can't the being that reincarnated me fix this?" I asked desperately.
[Yes, it is possible, but the chances of that being's attention being on you anytime soon are 0.00000001%]
"So, I'm just screwed?" I asked with a sigh, my anger fading and turning to determination, "No, you said there are some options to fix it. How can I do that?"
[There are three ways. The first is to suppress and destroy the inner ego with your own, but this will fail in your case. The inner ego of Khun Eduan is too powerful for you to suppress or destroy. The second is to create a ritual to exorcise the ego, but this will require you to be at level three with S-999 in your magic stat after maxing the stat at levels one and two. The third is to accept and fuse with the inner ego willingly]
"Doesn't that only give me one real option, to exorcise it at level three?" I asked sarcastically, but already thinking about how I can speedrun level three without dying horrifically.
[Option three may actually be the best option]
I wanted to get upset and yell at Great Sage that it wasn't already, but I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself, "You haven't led me wrong so far, Great Sage. Why is option three the best?"
[You are coming from a peaceful environment in your past life. The closest you got to actual violence was watching videos online. The reason you have been able to adapt so well to this world is due to Khun Eduan's inner ego influencing you. He experienced strife and death for thousands of years. Even just in the dungeon, the reason you didn't freeze when facing that first goblin was because of Khun Eduan's battle instincts ingrained into his inner ego]
"That... does make sense, but won't I become a different person if I merge with his inner ego?" I asked, honestly scared to have my personality messed with and becoming a different person. It was a primal fear of change and not being in control anymore, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't shake it.
[Think of it more as an evolution instead of becoming a different person. Remember, 82% of reincarnators die because they weren't mentally prepared for the violent worlds they found themselves in. They thought they could handle the gore and violence, but they ended up dying]
Everything Great Sage said made sense, but I couldn't shake my fear, "I'll think about it," I said, beginning to walk toward the guild building to exchange some magic stones.
I became lost in thought as I walked. I knew that what Great Sage said was true and that it would be more useful than not to fuse with the ego. I knew I liked to believe, like most people, that I would be fine in a violent world full of killing, death, and betrayal, but I wasn't so sure. I knew that my feelings of guilt or fear would overwhelm me in tough moments and that I would need to grow and change to survive. After asking Great Sage about how I obtained so many magic stones, I knew that I would never have dared to do any of that myself.
However, maybe what I need to do is change and become a new person for this new life. Even as I thought those words, fear gripped my heart, causing my heart to beat wildly. Before I could come to a decision, I arrived at the guild building. I took a deep breath and walked inside, heading toward the exchange counters off to one side of the lobby. I could clearly see two signs, one was a group of counters for less than 50 magic stones in total, while the other pointed to larger deals for bulk deposits of magic stones.
I walked over to the bulk deposits desk and reached into my storage, grabbing a large bag and filling it with magic stones before removing it from my storage. I waited until nobody was watching to do so. Nobody was even glancing my way, so I took out the overstuffed bag and poured it into a funnel that led behind the large desk. While I had been calling it a desk, these were more of small rooms that had a slot for the attendant inside to pass things through and a place to pour magic stones into, as well as a slot to side monster drops through. I couldn't even see the attendant through the slots, but I could hear someone going through my magic stones and drops.
"Your party must have had a really good day," A male attendant spoke to me suddenly from within the partition.
"Yeah, we worked pretty hard to get these all," I said neutrally, not really caring to engage in conversation with everything currently on my mind.
After a few minutes, a bug full of money was passed through the slot, accompanied by the attendant's voice, "That was quite a haul. It comes out to 125,000 Valis."
My eyes opened wide in surprise as I heard that, and I gave a low whistle, causing the man inside to laugh. I quickly realized how much better it was to make money going solo. If I had been in a party of five people, then I would only get a 25,000 Valis cut of this money. Of course, that is how much a group of level one adventurer can make in a day, but still. I grabbed the money and placed it into my storage subtly before wishing the attendant a good day and walking out of the guild. I half expected to be followed by a greedy or desperate adventurer, but nobody did so.
I made my way back toward Babel, lapsing back into thought about the inner ego in my body. I tried to think of a pros and cons list for reasons to and not to fuse with it. The pros were that it would make me more confident, more used to blood and conflict, and give me better battle instincts, plus I would probably level much faster. The cons were that I would become more reckless, a bit of a battle maniac, and probably lazier. Also, Khun Eduan is a bit of a douche in general, so I wasn't sure what other negative traits I might pick up.
"How would the fusion work Great Sage?" I asked, trying to get more details before committing to any singular path.
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