Ch.175July, and the Start of School (1)

Anyway, June ended quite productively.

Sasits decided to relax a bit before school started again. Well… he had a lot to catch up on with Prill.

However, he couldn’t stop exploring the dream dungeon.

‘Training shouldn’t be paused.’

That was one reason, but I had another reason I couldn’t resist.

Click!

The sound of a lock opening came from the status window.

That’s right. The level restriction had disappeared.

It seemed the trigger for unlocking was the event of officially recruiting Prill as a companion.

Now I can become stronger. Just thinking about it made me smile.

Besides, Violet said she would generously provide stat points based on the memories of the strong. That was another thing to look forward to.

Anyway, I headed straight for the dream dungeon.

——–

In the now-familiar white space, Blue Beard and Violet were at the center.

Plus, there was one more visitor. That’s right. Green Beard.

Green Beard was tending to a small garden.

“You’ve overcome quite a trial. Thanks to that, the base has gained a new function.”

Blue Beard said.

Ah. He mentioned before that pushing the main quest would add new features to the hideout.

“Anything can grow in this field. You can buy seeds from Green Beard and grow them to make necessities. Whether it’s healing potions or SP recovery items.”

Blue Beard explained.

“Oh. That’s pretty good?”

The cost of necessities would be significantly reduced. I’d only need to pay for the seeds.

Why didn’t the original game have such a convenient feature?

“This is what you can buy now.”

Green Beard immediately displayed his products.

‘Healthy Tomato: Recovers 40 percent of HP’

‘Magic Turnip: Recovers 50 SP’

It was full of basic recovery items like these.

“Ten Healthy Tomatoes and five Magic Turnips, please.”

I immediately bought the seeds.

“Understood. I’ll tend to them well. They’ll be ready for harvest in three days.”

Green Beard said.

Three days… that’s fast. Definitely not crops from this world.

Rustle! Rustle!

Green Beard dug into the ground with a trowel and planted the seeds.

“Now!! My beloved Violet-chan!!”

I immediately ran toward Violet.

“Get lost! Seriously!”

Violet immediately got angry at me. She really hates me.

“Stat points!!! You’ll give them to me for defeating Gevanni, right?”

My eyes sparkled.

“Haah… yes.”

Violet said with a genuinely disgusted expression.

“Hurry!!!”

I immediately reached out toward Violet.

“Sigh… just recall the memory of Gevanni.”

Violet muttered, taking my hand.

Flash!!

In that moment, my vision was enveloped in light.

‘Memory of the Strong: Gevanni’

‘His only hobby was killing swordsmen from numerous multiverses and stealing their swords. Not just taking their swords, Gevanni also stole the pride of these swordsmen.’

‘Strength +8 Speed +8’

‘With Violet’s blessing, your stat increase is boosted by an additional 3.’

I see. So this is the bonus. Originally it would increase by 5, but an additional 3 was added. I felt like I’d gained something extra.

“Violet… I didn’t know you cared about me this much.”

My eyes welled up at Violet’s consideration.

“Stop talking nonsense!! I’m only doing this because Lord Blue Beard ordered me to!!!”

Violet immediately flared up.

Ah… even tsundere Violet is cute.

“Arigiri Shota. A new dungeon has opened.”

At that moment, Blue Beard cleared his throat and spoke.

Flash!

A massive door appeared.

The level 50 dungeon had finally opened.

“Finally!!”

I immediately clenched my fists. Now I could say goodbye to playing with orcs.

I’d run the level 50 dungeon repeatedly, and if I had time left, I’d tackle the weapon proficiency dungeon. That would be my routine.

“But… that bastard Sasits isn’t coming.”

I clicked my tongue.

“The dream dungeon… you can’t enter unless you’re asleep.”

Blue Beard said.

“Ah….”

I roughly guessed the situation.

“Sasits is not asleep.”

Blue Beard’s face turned slightly red.

Before I fell asleep, he was embracing Prill… so he hadn’t fallen asleep then. He was probably enjoying happy time in the mood.

Can’t be helped. I decided to tackle the dungeon alone.

I immediately threw myself toward the level 50 dungeon.

———-

‘Cursed Land’

A vast snowfield stretched before my eyes. There were scattered buildings, but not a single trace of human habitation.

Blizzards were raging from all directions, but I couldn’t feel the cold. Well… this is a dream. It’s a kind of allowance.

Crackle! Crack!

Just then, the cold sound of bones colliding echoed.

Half-skeletal corpses were moving. That’s right. They were undead. Ice covered everything, with frost all over the bones.

Only blue light flowed from the empty eye sockets of the skeletons.

“This is truly fantasy from top to bottom.”

I smiled and raised my sword.

“Here I go!!!!”

I immediately charged toward the undead with my sword.

“Kirrrrk!!”

The undead rushed at me, wielding crude swords.

I could tell at a glance that their weakness was fire. Well… they had chunks of ice attached to them.

Besides, throughout history, corpses burn well.

It was a chance to use my new technique, Blazing Slash. It had the drawback of destroying weapon durability, but this was just a dream sword anyway. It didn’t matter much if durability decreased.

“Huuuuup…!!”

After charging the blazing stance, I ran at full speed, dragging my sword along the ground.

Fzzzzzzzzz!!!

The blade of the sword created tremendous friction with the ground. There was ice below, but the ice was as hard as rock. There was no problem generating frictional heat.

Screeeech!!

As expected, the blade immediately turned red-hot. The surrounding ice began to melt into steam.

“Blazing Slash!!!”

I swung the glowing red sword widely.

Whoooosh!!!!!!

As they were cut by the sword strike, the undead bodies burst into fierce flames.

“Krururururuk!!”

With each swing of my sword, the undead remains scattered into ashes.

“Come out, leader!!!”

I dashed in a vertical line toward the fortress above.

“Wraaargh!!!!!!”

Cut down anything that moves. With that single thought, I dashed across the ice.

——–

I broke through the undead army and arrived at the fortress.

It was obvious that the boss would be at the top floor. But… it was too annoying to climb all the way up.

“Flash Strike…..!”

I immediately charged the Flash Strike breathing technique, then leaped high.

“Uryaaaaaaah!!!”

I unleashed a horizontal sword strike.

Whoooooosh!!

The sword strike cleanly cut the fortress building in half as it passed through.

Creeeeak!!!

A few seconds later, the fortress began to tilt like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Crummmmmble!!!!

With that, the fortress completely collapsed.

“Krururururuk!! Kuuuugh!!”

“Filthy human…!!”

The undead and boss mob beneath the fortress immediately met their deaths, crushed by rocks.

Ding!!

‘Dungeon Cleared’

A completion message appeared on my status window. Huh. I didn’t expect a clear notification to appear for this method. That was a bit surprising.

Anyway, I completed one run like that. Well, next time I’ll clear it properly without using shortcuts. That’s what I promised myself.

———

My level immediately rose after one dungeon run.

Ding!

‘Level: 51’

The incredible efficiency of gaining a level in one go remained the same. Strangely, the efficiency here was insanely good.

“Then one more run……”

I was about to enter the dungeon again.

Thud!

However, the dungeon door firmly closed.

“No!! Dungeon Master!! Open the door!!”

I immediately knocked on the door.

“Ah. There’s something I didn’t mention.”

At that moment, Blue Beard spoke.

“This guy always has something he didn’t mention!!! Tell me everything at once!!”

I immediately threw a tantrum.

“About the regular dungeon… it seems you can only clear it once per day.”

Blue Beard said.

“Why is there such a restriction!! This isn’t some stingy gacha game!”

Are they trying to slow down content consumption?

“I don’t know either. The base of this dungeon is your subconscious. The dungeon intentionally limited the number of entries.”

Blue Beard said that, then pointed behind him.

“Perhaps… it could be your inner voice telling you to focus on improving weapon proficiency.”

Blue Beard said with a meaningful expression.

“Inner voice…?”

Something felt questionable, but there was nothing I could do.

“Then I’ll go to the weapon dungeon.”

I was getting tired of daggers… let’s go back to basics and head to the sword dungeon. With that thought, I headed toward the weapon dungeon.

——–

At that moment, something like a video flashed through my consciousness.

It was a place I had seen before. A settlement in the middle of a snowfield.

That’s right… I successfully defended this place with my companions.

We formed a militia and somehow managed to defend it. Since there was no support from the central government, we had to make do with what we had here.

However, we couldn’t hold out forever. The undead would keep coming, and we needed to eliminate the necromancer creating undead in this area.

Our party immediately set out to take down the necromancer.

And… after a difficult battle, we succeeded in killing the necromancer.

“Huh… huh… you hero… !! You’re strong… but!! I won’t die quietly.”

The necromancer grinned.

I silently tried to behead the necromancer.

“Already… a bomb carrying the undead plague… is heading to your settlement…! Uhahaha… it’s too late!!”

The necromancer burst into maniacal laughter.

“What…!”

At that moment, I spotted something crossing the sky.

An undead gargoyle, a weapon used by the necromancer lord, was flying toward the settlement carrying something. That’s right. It was carrying a plague bomb.

“The village is in danger!!”

One of my party members, a cleric, shouted loudly.

“Damn it!!! Open a portal quickly!! Hurry!!”

I desperately shouted at the mage.

And the scene changed.

“Huh…!! Shit….. this can’t be happening….!”

What filled the settlement everywhere were undead corpses. The undead gargoyle had dropped the plague on the settlement, and with that, all the villagers had turned into undead.

In the end, we had no choice but to ‘deal with’ them.

“When… will this hell ever end…..”

With my empty muttering, the flashback ended.

Pop!!!

“Huh!!”

I came back to my senses. Shit. It was such an unpleasant memory that it made me break out in cold sweat.

“Did something happen?”

Blue Beard stared at me and asked.

“No… it’s nothing.”

I shook my head, then opened the door to the sword dungeon and entered. For now, I wanted to move my body and shake off these distracting thoughts.