IGSAGCSAWAYSH) The Real Underridge Part 1 (Patreon)

The next morning, Shizuku, Miyumi, and Mei all got up before dawn and broke to enter the dungeon once more. They wanted to sneak into the dungeon before Lishia tried to follow them in. Luckily, she was still sleeping. So they entered the dungeon without an issue.

“So this is the Underridge….” What lay before them was not a castle but an ancient ruin under a high ridge. The name was quite fitting for the area it was in. The entire ruin was covered in overgrowth, and massive tree-like mushrooms rose up into the sky. Blue lights floated all over the place, and many glowing rocks and small insects could be seen scattered all over.

“This place is what I would think when I thought about fantasy.” Miyumi finally felt like she had jumped into a fantasy world.

“Miyu, we killed skeletons and all kinds of monsters. Not to mention, this is a new world, and we have a system….” Shizuku tried to remind Miyumi that she was already in a fantasy world to begin with.

“Shizu, it is about the romance!” Miyumi shot back while pursing her lips.

“Sorry, but there is no romance in mushrooms. Well, if it is a funny mushroom, then maybe. Or the mushrooms that if you kiss them, you will die. But no romance.” Shizuku teased, causing MIyumi to snort at her.

“Think what you want. I think this is beautiful.” Miyumi still felt the scenery was quite nice.

“Oh, this place is not, but the smell…. Smells like Hana’s socks.” Shizuku chuckled as she said this. Just thinking of that day, they had all been outside playing soccer and going back to the locker rooms, and Hana took off her shoes only to smell the whole place up. But to be fair, she played the hardest since she was in the soccer club to begin with.    

“It was Nina who said something first, and poor Hana ended up crying. I remember you beat up Nina for picking on Hana that day.” Miyumi remember how made Shizuku was when Nina made fun of Hana and made her cry. 

At that time, Miyumi had only seen Shizuku mad three times before then, but none of them had involved people she cared about. Hana was one of Shizuku’s good friends back then. So when Nina made her cry, Shizuku ended up beating Nina up pretty badly. 

“People shouldn’t pick on others. Did she think Hana wanted to have smelly feet? No one else said a word, but as soon as Nina did, her followers began picking on her, too. You know me. I protect my friends and family. Although I got suspended for like two weeks…” Shizuku knew she might have gone too far back then, but she couldn’t control her anger at that time. Hana had always been a very nice girl. She always helped others out without ever asking for anything in return. Shizuku liked her a lot. So when Nina made her cry like that, it really hurt Shizuku as well. 

Shizuku always had a mind set that friends will always help you out when you are down. This was why she had close friends then school friends. Miyumi and Hana were close friends. Her other classmates were school friends.

Sadly, though, not long after, Hana moved. She never saw Hana again after that. They talked every so often, but because Hana was busy with club and other activities, they did not get to talk more than twice a month.

“I hate to interrupt your conversation, Master, but we have incoming,” Mei yelled out as she got ready to fight. Miyumi did not hesitate to rush forward with her shield readied. She had gotten really good at getting into position.

“What the hell is this?  A horde?” Shizuku frowned. It was not just one monster. It was a massive horde of them! “You girls stand back. I said I would power-level you.” 

“Ah!” Miyumi was so used to jumping in front that she had forgotten that Shizuku had mentioned that last night.

Shizuku walked to the front and looked at the fifty or so mushroom monsters charging at them, and raised her hand. Fifty needle-sized blood needles appeared in front of Shizuku. With a deep breath, she shot them forward. Not even five seconds later, all fifty mushroom monsters fell to the ground.

All three of them got a huge sum of experience points. The thing about Shizuku power leveling, Mei and Miyumi was that she was at the same level as them, so she was also power leveling herself as well. “Wait…. Can mushroom monsters be harvested for anything?” Shizuku frowned. She did not know the answer to this! Both Shizuku and Miyumi looked at Mei.

“I am not sure….” Mei lowered her head. She hoped her Master would not think she was useless.

“Well, forget it. Mushrooms are just mushrooms….” Shizuku replied. She walked over and hugged Mei’s arm. “Let’s continue, shall we?” Shizuku gave Mei a kiss on the cheek to cheer her back up before continuing on.