KAPPA 16 (Patreon)

After cutting down seventeen Naked Horned Rats, many with the help of Kaia, Cairn took a moment to catch his breath while looking around at the loot littering the ground. Most of the items consisted of fangs and spines, but there were a few crystalline horns, a glossy green eye with cataracts, and several tails. More notably, there was a large copper coin, roughly the size of a silver dollar.

Picking up the coin, identified as a Large Copper Gradis, Cairn looked to Kaia and asked, "Monsters drop money? How does that work...?"

"All things in the world, including inert metal and stone, contain Mana and Life Essence," replied Kaia. "As such, when someone dies in the Dungeon, their equipment and supplies will eventually be consumed, becoming one with the Mana and Essence flowing within."

Placing her hand against the grey-blue, moss-covered stone wall of the Dungeon, Kaia added, "Because matter can be converted to energy and vice-versa, the articles absorbed by the Dungeon can be repurposed to increase monster output and produce variant sub-species. That's why if you ever encounter a variant within a Dungeon, it is highly likely to drop a piece of equipment. That is, assuming you can emerge victorious. Variants are incredibly dangerous compared to normal monsters."

"Well, as long as I possess my Insight skill, we won't have to worry about things like that," said Cairn, pointing to his right eye as he added, "Even if it's just a mark on a map, I can see general information about a Dungeon. That includes things like Difficulty rating, the Level range of the monsters within, and their types."

"I'm not even surprised anymore..." groaned Kaia, causing a cheeky smile to develop across Cairn's face as she cupped her forehead and exhaled a tired sigh.

Regaining her composure, Kaia met Cairn's gaze and asserted, "With that capability, we shouldn't have to worry about money. That kind of info is incredibly valuable. When I asked one of the Freelancers rescued by my tribe, they told me that simply reporting the location of a Dungeon could net you several thousand Gradis. If you further provide information on the monsters within, the payout increases exponentially."

"Makes sense," said Cairn. "But that's a matter for the future. Right now, our priority should be clearing this Dungeon and getting me to Level 10. I'll be able to contribute a lot more once I do."

Pulling out the [Statue of the Goddess, Restia], Cairn surprised Kaia by tossing it to her, stating, "Keep that with you from now on. One of the perks of my Class is that I don't suffer an Experience Penalty upon death. There's no guarantee I'll respawn if I die, but if it comes to that, I'm sure our benevolent Lady Restia will do something."

Staring at the intricately faceted figurine in her hand, a mix of emotions Kaia couldn't put into words washed over her. People who managed to acquire a Class during their Coming of Age Ceremony were presented one for free, but if you wanted to acquire another, it would cost 10,000 Gradis. That was more than most people saved within a year, so Cairn's decision to gift her such a valuable item was...vexing.

"Don't even think about returning it," said Cairn, warning, "If you do, I'll have no choice but to show you how petty I can be."

Without waiting for Kaia's response, Cairn started down the path leading deeper into the Dungeon, ignoring the loot on the ground. His Inventory only had so much room, and the materials obtainable from E and F-Rank monsters were barely worth a pittance. More importantly, if Kaia's words were true, leaving the drop items on the floor would allow them to return to the Dungeon, allowing it to recycle the Mana/Essence within to spawn more monsters. For someone trying to reach Level 10 as soon as possible, a steady supply of monsters was essential...

After following Cairn's departure with her eyes, Kaia looked down at the [Statue of the Goddess, Restia] for several seconds before exhaling yet another sigh. The statuette felt heavy in her hands, but instead of trying to return it, she fastened it to the cord her Neophyte totem was attached to before tucking both between her breasts for safe keeping...

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"We really need to recruit a Mage or someone with AoE capabilities," said Cairn, staring down from a 5m ledge overlooking a large, circular area that served as the meeting point between six waterways. More importantly, he counted no fewer than sixty Naked Horned Rats fighting over and feasting on faintly glowing stone outcrops.

"If I'm careful, their numbers won't be a problem," asserted Kaia. "The distance between the floor and ceiling is at least fifteen meters, so I can always leap up and away if they try to encircle me."

"If you say you can do it, I believe you," said Cairn. "Just in case, though, take these. They can replenish your HP and MP by 20% in a pinch."

Seeing the pair of tube-shaped potions in Cairn's hand, a feeling akin to frustration welled in Kaia's heart, compelling her to say, "You shouldn't be so quick to part with such valuable items..."

"What's more valuable than one's allies?" asked Cairn. "Besides, with this amount of rats, my Level should shoot up to 3 in a single go. Parting with a pair of potions is a paltry price to pay for power leveling."

"That's some alliteration," remarked Kaia, forcing a smile as she accepted the potions with visible reluctance. She was fairly confident she wouldn't have to use them, but if she took a big hit or moved around too violently, there was a very real possibility they would break. However, as she didn't want to reject Cairn's consideration, she secured them in the cloth around her waist before summarily leaping from the ledge, raising her shield, and banging her spear against it as she shouted, "Come at me, you two-tailed, soggy-bottomed stone eaters...!"

Though nowhere near as potent as a Karakut's, Naked Horned Rats had excellent hearing. Thus, while some simply stood on their hind legs and looked over, most of the rat horde charged toward her, their high-pitched squeaks and scurrying forming an eerie, discordant cacophony within the predominately stone chamber.

Utilizing the tactic she had demonstrated during the first encounter, Kaia charged shield-first into the largest group of rats, a bluish-white pulse of energy erupting from its surface as she slammed it into the face of the rat leading the charge. That particular rat was immediately defeated, but that wasn't Kaia's goal. Instead, she made use of the shockwave to stun more than a dozen additional rats before leaping away to safety. From Cairn's perspective, he could see her MP decrease by 108, but thanks to the Int bonus provided by her Neophyte Class, her MP exceeded 7,000. Enough to spam the conal AoE Skill more than sixty times.

*Ding! Your Level has Increased to 2! 2 Free Attribute Points have been awarded due to your Class: Jack-of-All!*

Hearing the system notification, Cairn briefly turned his attention from Kaia's fight to focus on his Status. 2 AP(Attribute Points) was absolute garbage, but he knew what he was getting himself into when he chose Jack-of-All as his Class. His growth in the early stages was terrible, but his stats would surpass all but a few Legendary Classes by the time he reached Level 100.

After assigning both of his AP to Charisma, widely regarded as the most difficult stat to train, Cairn returned his attention to the fight occurring in the sluiceway. The horned rats were helpless against Kaia's hit-and-run strategy, but instead of running away, they continued to charge at her like frenzied zombies. It was kind of unnerving, but it also gave Cairn a ton of ideas for how to tackle Dungeons in the future. If he could lay traps and lure the zombie-like monsters into them, he could eliminate them without fear of being surrounded or having his equipment break down from wear, tear, and overuse...

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Though it took her more than 3,500 MP, Kaia managed to finish off all the rats in the circular chamber within six minutes. When the last one fell, she immediately plopped onto her stomach, panting heavily as the prolonged exertion had caused her HP to drop by more than 600, despite sustaining no injuries. She also had the [Hyperthermia] status ailment, indicating her core temperature was much higher than normal.

"Here, drink this," said Cairn, presenting his [Decanter of Replenishment]. When she saw it, Kaia immediately snatched it from him, chugging more than half and pouring the rest directly onto her face and head, causing a small amount of steam to rise from her crown as she deflated, exhaling a lengthy, relieved groan.

"Is this the real you?" asked Cairn, smiling cheekily as Kaia furrowed her brows and glared back at him. A few moments later, she rolled her eyes and said, "I need a few minutes to rest and recuperate. Don't disturb me while I meditate..."

"No problem," said Cairn. "Also, thanks for your hard work. I managed to reach Level 3 thanks to your efforts."

"It's what I ought to do..." replied Kaia, her words trailing off as she hung her head and closed her eyes. It almost looked like she had fallen asleep, but the way her ears twitched in response to distant sounds made it clear she was still on full alert.

Not wanting to disturb Kaia's rest, Cairn kept his mouth shut and started searching the area for useful drop items. His Shadowsilk Set helped quite a bit in this regard, as his steps produced absolutely no sound. Even the sounds of his mantle brushing against the rest of his clothes were muted, so the only time Kaia's ears perked in his direction was when he mumbled or inadvertently kicked a stone.

Finding nothing of note, sans some copper and a fairly cool-looking silver coin worth 100 Granis, Cairn opened his Status to calculate the number of rats they would need to kill for him to reach Level 4. On average, each rat gave 18 Experience. With 1,408 remaining until he Leveled up, that meant 78 more rats had to die.

("I'm starting to see why it takes decades for people to reach Level 40...") thought Cairn. When he looked at Sophia, he expected it to be easy since her current Experience had been something like 668,109 out of 694,248 to Level. Neither of those numbers had seemed particularly excessive at the time, especially with Longcats providing roughly 65 Experience per kill. However, while slaughtering thousands of monsters could be considered 'routine' for a gamer, it was a daunting task in 'reality.'

Assuming Experience didn't decay if your Level was much higher than the quarry you were hunting, Sophia would need to have killed a minimum of 17,346 Naked Horned Rats to go from Level 1 to 48. If it did decay, as was often the case in the virtual world, that number could easily exceed one, maybe even two hundred thousand. With equipment degrading over time and practical potions costing a small fortune, it wasn't difficult to imagine why the average citizen of the Kingdom didn't concern themselves with Dungeons or growing stronger. It simply took too much time, money, and effort. And, unless you actively ventured into the Frontier, the only payoff was that you could 'potentially' gain fame fighting other powerful people.

("Well, makes things easier for me,") thought Cairn. He wasn't what any sensible person would call a battle junkie, but he knew well the value of individual strength. If the only things guaranteeing your 'freedom' were a group of politicians you never interacted with and an armed forces where the leading cause of death was suicide...well, to say you were sitting on a ticking time bomb would be an understatement...

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(A/N: Please keep in mind that the viewpoints of characters within my novels are not a reflection of my personal views and values. The world Cairn originated from was a veritable dystopia, so he has some pretty fatalistic views. The real world is actually pretty amazing if you get off of social media, ignore highly politicized subreddits, and get out every few often. If you're an introvert who hates going outside, I can recommend a few games you might enjoy. My favorites are games from the Tales, Trails, Final Fantasy, and Rune Factory series (O w O)...)