The Level-Up Junkie Pushes Into Floor 2

For anyone with serious dreams of making it as an Explorer, the 【Title】 system built into the Status screen matters enormously.

You can see why from the description on my freshly-sprouted "Title — Madman" entry: when you acquire a Title, you also acquire some kind of Skill at Lv.1.

The Skills granted by Titles are often unique or powerful, and even when they aren't, the fact that you get a Skill without spending Skill Points is a big deal. Even at Lv.1, plenty of these Skills are useful enough on their own.

But Titles aren't easy to acquire.

This is because of the rules around 【Title】 acquisition in real Dungeons.

In games that have a "Titles" system, for example, Titles are typically accessory-like things you earn by unlocking achievements.

The required achievement might be killing a specific monster a certain number of times, clearing a specific quest, killing a specific monster while wearing specific gear and using a specific method, or being the first to map an unknown area — all kinds of things.

But in a game, those conditions are mostly things anyone could achieve with effort. (MMOs and gacha games may differ.)

In real Dungeons, however, acquiring a 【Title】 has, broadly, two requirements.

Those are achievement-unlock and recognition by the wider public.

Take the Title 《Goblin Killer》, for example. The conditions to acquire it are: "kill 100 or more Goblin-type monsters" and "be clearly recognised by an unspecified large number of people as someone who excels at — or has unusual zeal for — slaying Goblins".

The second condition — recognition by the wider public — is the tricky one. You have to actually be perceived that way, by a large number of people, strongly.

Bluntly: just quietly grinding Goblins forever isn't going to satisfy the second condition.

Which is exactly why so many modern Dungeon Explorers stream their exploration online.

It's all in service of acquiring more rare Titles, and then, by extension, more powerful Skills.

The state and the Association understand this. To maintain a roster of skilled Explorers in their own country, they actively support and encourage Dungeon-streaming. The proof of that is the website DungeonTube, hosted by the Explorer Association.

DungeonTube's primary purpose is to act as a surveillance-camera-cum-dashcam network inside the effectively-extraterritorial space that is a Dungeon — but it has a substantial side-purpose: fostering stronger Explorers.

Which is why almost every serious-grinder Explorer with dreams of success streams enthusiastically — except…

"I do not understand."

To be clear: I have no interest whatsoever in succeeding as an Explorer. I'm a casual who only wants to grind levels. Which is why I keep my helmet-cam footage private.

In any case, even if you stream, acquiring a Title is actually difficult; the right stance is to treat it as a happy bonus if you get one while streaming.

I dislike relying on those kinds of unstable variables, so from the start I never aimed at Title acquisition. I narrowed my Explorer goals to efficient levelling and nothing else.

A man like me has no business getting famous enough to satisfy the recognition condition.

Even allowing for the off chance I'd somehow gone famous by some bizarre fluke, the fact that I got the 《Madman》 title is still wrong. Because I, of course, am not a madman…

"…ah — that?"

A thought struck me.

Recognition by the wider public refers to other people's perception, and it does not have to actually be true. Which means — much as it pains me, much as it baffles me — if a rumour spreads that I am a madman, and an unspecified mass of the public swallows that rumour, then at some point I might satisfy the achievement-unlock condition and end up acquiring the Title…

In other words — the present situation is: a rumour has spread that I am a madman.

I'd love to do something about the rumour, but unfounded rumours are notoriously hard to dispel.

"Hm… well, whatever. It doesn't actually inconvenience me."

I decided to take the positive view.

I unexpectedly picked up a Skill out of it. Net positive, no losses.

"…Right. Off to Floor 2 then."

Putting the matter aside, I headed straight down.

I pulled out the smartphone I'd been keeping in the rucksack and loaded up the Modern Dungeon Strategy Wiki's "Shinjuku Dungeon — Floor 1" map.

Map data for the upper floors of every Dungeon is, in general, just floating around online.

Smartphones are mana-comm-compatible, so they connect to the internet just fine inside Dungeons too.

Then, happily picking off about five Mr Goblins on the way, I reached the staircase down to Floor 2.

The stairs were as long as the stone steps leading up to a mountain shrine. I descended, and arrived on Floor 2 of Shinjuku Dungeon.

In a corner of the wide chamber at the foot of the stairs, a single magic circle glowed quietly on the floor.

That magic circle is called a Warp Circle, and one exists on every floor. Step onto it and you're teleported back to the Warp Circle on Floor 1 — meaning no matter how deep you've gone, getting home is easy.

Note: the Warp Circle is one-way. You cannot teleport from the Floor 1 circle down to a deeper floor's circle. If you want to descend, you walk.

I had no use for it right now, so I skipped past it and pressed on into the Floor 2 corridors.

Soon enough, ahead of me along the candle-lit underground passage, I caught movement.

Squinting: a Mr Goblin in a fur loincloth, wooden cudgel in hand. — Make that two.

"Multiple already, huh…"

Floor 2 Goblins are higher level than Floor 1. Ideally, I'd have liked the first encounter to be a solo — but if you've met them, you've met them.

I made up my mind and drew the sword from its sheath.

"GUGYALULULAAAAAAAH!!!"

They'd spotted me. They came running with a delighted scream.

I'm fine. I've prepped for fighting multiple enemies. …In manga, mostly.

Manoeuvre so they can't pin you front-and-back, and try to hold a position where the enemy you're engaging is between you and the other one — that way the front opponent acts as a shield and you essentially fight one-on-one twice.

"OOOOOHHHHHHHHH!!"

I let out a war cry to match the Goblins' and charged.

"NGH!!"

I brought the sword down on the closer Goblin. The other one was already swinging wide to try and pincer me, so I shifted to deny the angle.

"NGH! NGH!!"

"GUGYAH!!"

Need to finish the first one fast — but apparently, the level-up means something. The Goblin reacted to my swing surprisingly fast and parried with the cudgel.

Even so, two of my hits landed. The Goblin's movements got sluggish. Probably one more would do it. With an "ORAAH!!" I swung again, and finished off the first Goblin.

— And —

"!? Gh!?"

A flicker at the edge of my vision; impact in my flank.

— That HUUUURTS!!

Vision blurred from the pain. Coughing, I kept moving and pulled back.

No need to think hard about what just happened. The other Goblin had closed without me noticing and had clubbed me in the side.

So much for "use Goblin A as a shield against Goblin B". I got closed on before I finished the first one.

"GUGYALAAAH!!"

No time to catch my breath. The Goblin was already on me, full-throttle.

"— EXP fodder! Don't get cocky on me!!"

There's only one enemy left now. Floor-2 Goblins are tougher than Floor-1, but one-on-one isn't where I'd struggle.

"NGH! NGH! NGH! ORAAAAAAAH!!!"

My 《STR》 and 《AGI》 are higher than this guy's, apparently. I deliberately slammed the sword onto the cudgel with full force, broke its stance, and didn't let up — chained a follow-up and finished the Goblin off.

"Hah, hah, gh…!!"

The first damage I'd ever actually taken inside the Dungeon.

While catching my breath, I pulled up the Status to check 《HP》.

《HP》27 / 32

It hurt this much, and 《HP》 only fell by 5…?

So what happens if I take 10? 20?

"— Yeah, I get it. No wonder so many people quit."

It also clicked.

I read in an article online that more than half of new Explorers quit within their first month. The reasons range — can't bring themselves to kill things shaped like living creatures, can't physically keep up — but the most common is the monster's hits hurt too much; the spirit broke.

Think about it and it's obvious. Take someone who has never been in a fistfight or done a martial art, and have them eat repeated hits laced with naked killing intent. Of course they say no thanks.

If I didn't have my mental crutch, I'd have been in trouble too.

I checked a particular row in the Status.

————————————————————————

【Level】『3』   To next level: EXP 『65』

————————————————————————

When I came down to Floor 2, the EXP-to-next was 『115』. Which means — that single fight just netted me 50 EXP.

Lv.2 Goblin = 20 EXP, Lv.3 Goblin = 30 EXP, IIRC, so of those two, one of them must've been Lv.3.

That fight alone earned me the equivalent of five Lv.1 Goblins' worth of EXP.

Floor 2. What a yield.

"— GHHHHHHHH!!!"

The mounting EXP sent me, before I could think, into a high. My brain dumped happy chemicals and the pain in my side melted.

I see, I see.

It seems a bit of pain can be tanked just by getting high on the EXP.