The Absolute Speed of a Certain Comic 115

Title: The First Dungeon Exploration

The origins of dungeons are now unknown.

People only know that dungeons have existed in this land long before the gods descended to the mortal world, which was in ancient times a thousand years ago.

At that time, a dungeon was a cave that appeared in the ground, like a large mouth of an abyss, from which various monsters continually emerged, causing destruction to the world.

To deal with the monster calamity emerging from the dungeons, people of that era built a massive tower at the dungeon’s entrance, which effectively sealed the dungeon’s mouth to block the monsters.

This giant tower that served as a seal is the precursor to the current Tower of Babel.

The reason it’s called a precursor is that the giant tower was destroyed several times.

The current Tower of Babel was built thousands of years ago by the gods after they descended to Earth to help humans at that time. This tower has not collapsed for thousands of years.

Right below the Tower of Babel is the entrance to the dungeon.

As long as you come to the square, you can directly see the sacred and majestic white tower towering high in the middle of the city.

The base of this giant tower is about hundreds of meters wide. On the first floor of the tower, dozens of large arches facing all directions were built. Adventurers continuously come and go, making it look very lively.

Hoshiharu suppressed his excitement and walked toward the large arch wearing complete chest armor and a dagger.

This dungeon would be his source for strengthening himself for a long time.

As soon as he entered the Tower of Babel, the first thing he saw was a large white hall. There was a faint sound of flowing water from within the hall. Many adventurers entered with bloodstains all over their bodies and then left refreshed.

Hoshiharu only glanced briefly before quickly walking to the center of the hall.

This was a large hole with a diameter of more than dozens of meters.

The holes were spread vertically, falling straight down into the underground world, like monsters with wide-open mouths, waiting for their prey to jump in unwittingly and then choke them.

This was the entrance to the dungeon.

Once he descended the entrance, he would officially enter the dungeon.

Following other adventurers, Hoshiharu, cloaked, looked left and right like a villager and slowly walked underground along the silver spiral staircase.

❀❀❀

As soon as he stepped into the dungeon, before he could observe his surroundings, a monster rushed at him with a strange cry.

It was a dog-headed monster. Although it walked upright, its skin was a rough gray like stone. It was about half a person’s height. It had black claws on its ten fingers, and its red eyes were entirely unreasonable.

The kobold rushed toward Hoshiharu at great speed.

*Pu-chi*

A tearing sound was heard as the dagger pierced flesh.

Hoshiharu took a step to the side and back, and the kobold accidentally impaled itself on the dagger in his hand.

The kobold showed a horrified expression, but it couldn’t stop its body from lunging with all its might. Its head was immediately severed by the dagger, and black and red blood spattered.

The monster’s body split in two and fell to the ground. The pigment on its body quickly faded, then its body collapsed and disappeared into black smoke.

Only a blue-purple crystal the size of a fingernail was left, falling to the ground from its chest.

“Unlike humans, monsters use as much power as possible, and their behavior patterns are easier to judge.”

Hoshiharu picked up the blue-purple crystal with an expression on his face.

To him, these monsters were like wild beasts encountered on the roadside, and the beasts swung their claws at him, showing clear intent to kill.

He still restrained himself when dealing with humans, but he would never show any leniency when facing monsters that showed their claws at him.

“This is a magic stone.”

Hoshiharu looked down at the crystal in his hand.

A magic stone is a magical crystal that powers monsters; it is the source of the monster’s energy. As long as the monster is defeated, the magic stone will fall from its body. Adventurers can exchange it for money by bringing it to the guild, the main way for most adventurers to make money.

The magic stone itself seems to contain tremendous power, and the guild has mastered the method of using that power to create many devices that use magic stones as their energy source, such as magic stone lamps, magic stone stoves, magic stone refrigerators, and so on.

These are things recorded clearly in the illustrated book. It seems the guild also wants adventurers to bring back as many magic stones as possible.

“Going deeper.”

Hoshiharu recognized the map in his hand and walked toward the next floor.

According to the illustration, only very weak monsters like kobolds and goblins are on the first floor. Even ordinary people can defeat them as long as they gather courage.

According to the guild’s recommendation, a solo adventurer at Level 1 can descend to around the 12th Floor. That’s still an elite level at Level 1. Beginner adventurers who have just become adventurers can generally only move around the first five floors.

Hoshiharu could defeat adventurers at Level 2 without using any superpowers. It wouldn’t be a problem to go below the 12th Floor. However, Finn warned him not to go to the 13th Floor.

Hoshiharu quickly moved forward in the dungeon.

Following the somewhat abstract map instructions, he quickly passed various straight paths and intersections, weaving between various light blue caves, then found the stairs to the next floor and walked in without hesitation.

After a while, he reached the fifth floor.

“The illustrated book says that every five floors in the dungeon, the difficulty will increase slightly…”

Hoshiharu walked down the slope.

What caught his eye was a corridor narrower than the fourth floor and a more complex labyrinthine terrain. The cave walls also turned a more permeable light green, and some moss grew in the corners.

Not only that—

*WHOOSH*

Silently, a lizard the height of half a person swooped down from the wall. The color blending with the wall made it difficult to spot, making it hard to fight.

*Pu-chi*

Hoshiharu didn’t retreat but advanced. He swung the dagger backward and slashed it into the open mouth of the lizard. With a tearing sound of flesh, he split its body in two.

A slightly larger magic stone fell, and he picked it up and put it in his pocket.

“According to the illustrated book, it seems that if lucky, monsters won’t just drop magic stones, but there will also be prop drops…”

Magic stones are mandatory drops from monsters.

However, some monsters differ from other individuals of the same species and may have sharper claws. After defeating them, you might get drops like “sharp claws.” which are generally better than the magic stones dropped by the same monster.

But that’s when luck is relatively good, and Hoshiharu’s luck—

“Well, a rich person like me doesn’t need any dropped items at all!”