The Level-Up Junkie Gets Interviewed

After allocating the Skill Points I'd been saving, I called it for the day — stamina was shot.

I stepped onto the Warp Circle by the Floor 2 staircase and the number "1" floated up into my head. I selected it; one moment of weightlessness later, I was on the Warp Circle on Floor 1.

The black obelisk was nearby, a few Explorers were resting around the chamber — yes, definitely Floor 1.

— Actually, seeing them resting reminded me.

"Right, my 《HP》 is still down… need to rest here a bit."

The thing is: 《HP》 and 《MP》 don't recover on the surface.

To be more accurate: a tiny amount does — about 5% in 24 hours.

Inside a Dungeon, on the other hand, you don't need any potions — just sit still for around two hours and 《HP》 and 《MP》 fully recover. Which is why Explorers, after combat, often hang around the Floor 1 plaza by the Warp Circle until they're back to full.

That's also why the Floor 1 plaza in even unpopular Shinjuku Dungeon almost always has people in it, regardless of the time.

I followed the lead of the other Explorers, moved against a wall, and sat down.

I pulled out my phone to kill some time while I recovered — when —

"Um, ah, excuse me."

"Yes?"

Someone had spoken to me almost the moment I'd opened it, so I lifted my eyes from the screen.

In front of me stood an older brother — not by much, just slightly older than me.

His face seemed familiar somehow — and I placed it almost as soon as I'd registered the thought. The bourgeois older brother who'd peeked around the corridor corner yesterday while I was howling through my first level-up. A latest-model drone-camera was hovering at his side.

"Oh — yesterday's older brother."

I greeted him, and he reacted with a startled "eh!?"

"Um… you remember me?"

"Yeah, I remember you."

I nodded as he fumbled, and prompted him on.

"So, did you need something?"

"Ah, ah, yes. Um, well…"

Listening, it turned out he was a DanTuber. Which I probably don't need to explain — DanTubers are people who stream their exploration on DungeonTube and similar.

He wanted me to appear on his channel and answer some interview questions.

"That's fine, but — why me?"

A natural question.

"So, um — please don't be angry when I tell you this…"

He started his explanation, looking awkward.

Apparently, when I'd let out my howl yesterday, the moment had been perfectly captured by his stream. The clip, for reasons unknown to him, had gone viral. His channel's viewers had been flooding the comments asking him to interview the weirdo from yesterday (i.e. me), so to give the audience what they wanted, he'd staked out the Floor 1 plaza all day.

"Really, I'm so sorry. Filming you without permission like that…"

He bowed deeply in apology.

"No, it's fine. Inside the Dungeon, that's just how it is."

Up on the surface this would be a problem, but inside Dungeons portrait rights are treated as an exception.

There'd been a similar lawsuit a while back — went all the way to the Supreme Court — and the plaintiff lost.

The reasoning: with cameras in the dangerous Dungeon environment now mandated by law, and most footage streamed in real time, it's just impossible to film without occasionally catching other people.

Honestly, portrait rights are barely enforced as it is. TV still routinely shows passersby and unconsenting members of the public.

So even if I sued him, all I'd accomplish is throwing money at lawyer fees. Not that I had any intention of suing.

"That's a relief to hear."

He looked, very politely, relieved. Apparently a nice guy.

"So — interview, was it? Sure, no problem."

"Really!? Thank you so much!!"

Talking with him also lined up the missing piece — the reason I picked up a 【Title】 was almost certainly him.

He's a new-ish DanTuber, but he'd already been a Yo!Tuber before, and he'd dragged a sizeable chunk of his old audience over with him.

Without that bridge, the clip wouldn't have gone viral, and I wouldn't have picked up a 【Title】.

It's not like I asked him to do any of this, but the fact remains that I came out of it with a useful Skill. I figured I'd help him out as a kind of thank-you.

And besides — answering his interview questions should help convince viewers that I'm not actually a madman. Just a perfectly normal nice young man.

So I let him interview me right there, in front of the Floor 1 staircase.

While we were filming, the resting Explorers around the plaza were watching, too. Looks like he might be a bigger streamer than I'd realised.

But I think I managed not to be too tense.

I answered his questions, and by the time we'd wrapped, my 《HP》 was just about full again, so I said goodbye and headed home.

By the way, today's earnings:

Level 1 Slime stones    ¥200   ×  3  =      ¥600
Level 2 Slime stones    ¥300   × 15  =    ¥4,500
Level 3 Slime stones    ¥400   ×  5  =    ¥2,000
Level 1 Goblin stones   ¥500   ×  6  =    ¥3,000
Level 2 Goblin stones   ¥750   × 50  =   ¥37,500
Level 3 Goblin stones   ¥1,000 × 23  =   ¥23,000
                                       —————————
                              Total =   ¥70,600
After withholding tax                =   ¥63,392

This one even surprised me.

Still only on Floor 2 and pulling this kind of money — wait, are Explorers absolutely loaded?

What was the internet's whole "beginners can't make any money" line about, exactly?

Oh, one note: the reason today's sales were also magic-stones-only isn't that there were no other drops. I did get five "Goblin Cudgels" and two "Goblin Loincloths".

But these drops have basically no use — they're bought for research purposes only, and the prices are ¥50 per cudgel and ¥100 per loincloth. Cheap as dirt and weighing down the rucksack, so I tossed them in the Dungeon.

Slime stones are cheaper, but Slimes also drop "Slime Jelly", "Slime Cores", and "Beginner Heal Potions".

"Slime Jelly" is used in cosmetics — sells for ¥500 each.

"Slime Cores" are used as material for the Alchemy skill — ¥1,000 each.

"Beginner Heal Potion" is an ultra-rare drop — ¥30,000 per bottle.

The drop tables are part of why Goblins are unpopular relative to Slimes.

So the standard wisdom is: Goblins don't pay. But… looking at how just the magic stones add up, I'd say it's perfectly fine, actually. (Unenlightened opinion.)

Although — I killed twenty-plus Slimes and got zero drops…

…am I unlucky, maybe…?