Chapter 84: Interlude

“Uwaa. James has dived into another dungeon?” Kouki said as he lay down on the bed, feeling weary. Kina, his secretary from the guild, had reported the events that had transpired.

“Yes, sir. Despite diving at almost the same time, he came out earlier than you and Andrew.”

“Wah… James is insane. He’s truly talented, isn’t he? I can’t even begin to think about soloing a dungeon. How can he navigate? How can he detect traps or ambushes? Can he do it all with his unique skill?” Kouki muttered in disbelief.

In dungeon trials, he tried to be like James. He thought everyone was a nuisance and chose to believe only in himself. But then, he realized how important other unique skills were. For example, Sanders could detect traps in treasure chests. He could also detect traps laid by enemies. Kouki had been saved countless times due to this skill when he was conquering a dungeon.

In the dungeon he had just conquered—the first dungeon Kouki could confidently say he conquered since James wasn’t there to handhold him—it was rife with traps. There were few enemies, but you couldn’t even walk 100 meters without encountering a trap. Thanks to Sanders, Kouki knew where the traps were.

With Sanders’ unique skills, he managed to trigger the traps from a safe distance. There were some traps Sanders failed to detect because they took the form of ambushes—like animals hidden in treasure chests or rooms full of monsters.

Nevertheless, Sanders proved to be invaluable at that time. He could spot a trap room that would lock him in, or a trapdoor that would make him fall to his death.

Dungeons were nefarious. Even when you had the perfect skill, there were times when he had to let himself get trapped inside a room and fight a horde of monsters to advance to the next floor. The time when he had to abandon a treasure chest because the room was trapped was particularly painful.

That’s about Sanders. Anderson was another one Kouki could not ignore. Without him, there would be no food or water inside the dungeon. Kouki felt bad because he had monopolized him. However, he had no intention of raiding dungeons without Anderson. Thankfully, there were other survivors with similar skills as Anderson—those who had more access to shop functions than normal. The fact that James never brought someone like Anderson baffled him.

The only times when Kouki felt useful were at the end of every floor, where he had to fight the floor boss. Thanks to his unique skill, he could manipulate his sword skills to suit his needs. His sword skill was no longer restricted to predetermined paths.

While his comrades were keeping the boss busy, he unleashed a barrage of sword skills, eventually killing the boss. Kouki was good at what he did—sword fighting. If James spread his skills to be a jack of all trades, Kouki believed he could do everything using his sword.

Unlike James, Kouki didn’t encounter hardship on the last floor. He picked the dungeon core like normal and brought it home. When Kina told him that dungeon cores could summon a boss monster, attach themselves to that monster, and explode—almost killing someone like James—that sent a chill down Kouki's spine.

He wondered whether there were survivors who had danger awareness to tell him if dungeon cores would attempt to do that.

Kouki no longer thinks he can do dungeons solo. He now thinks about who he should bring for the next raid. Dungeons only accepted a limited number of people, so he must be prudent. Moreover, he had to bring some non-survivors. Non-survivors were like a gamble. You didn’t know what unique skill they would be given. But that’s why he must bring some. Otherwise, humanity would stagnate. That's how much help he got when he challenged the dungeon with others’ unique skills.

After Kouki had finished a dungeon, he had gotten paid handsomely. Many would spend their hard-earned money and lavish themselves with some luxurious goods. Kouki was also interested. But since James didn't do that, he refrained from flaunting his wealth. Kouki wanted to be a hero, after all, and secretly, James was his role model. When James saved him in a dungeon, Kouki swore he would return the favor and save James one day.

“Ryan said James might sell his dungeon artifacts in his new store.”

“Should I make that store as well?” Kouki asked. He suddenly regretted selling all of his unused weapons and tools to the system for coins.

Kouki saved some unique weapons and donated those he no longer needed to the guild. But some useless artifacts were sold to the system. However, James did something different. He even sold the gems that were specifically made to be sold to the system. Those gems supposedly had no other uses apart from being sold.

“But you don’t have goods to sell, Kouki.”

Kouki didn’t retort. Instead, he wondered about the medium dungeon Andrew failed to conquer. “Ugh… We have all the dungeon cores needed to raid that medium dungeon. James had two. Me and Andrew had one. Yet why did he conquer another dungeon so soon?”

“Didn’t you also need twenty merit?”

“I just need some members. James had at least four merits. I have two. Anderson, Kaina, and Sanders have three. That’s fifteen. With Andrew and other survivors who have conquered the dungeon, we could easily hit twenty merits.”

“Will James agree to that, I wonder? While he seemed hotheaded and rash, he had that calculating side of him. Will he truly attempt a dungeon with such minimal preparations?”

“You are right. Don’t forget to gather artifacts and weapons. Don’t sell gems unless you absolutely need to. Others might need them more. There are survivors who can buy guns from the shop,” Kina said. She was monitoring how the new store James made was going. As expected, those gems that grant coins already reached a million dollars in just a few days in bidding per piece, even though there were only so few who could use it. Those gems were only useful for those who had unlocked shop function level two, after all.

Fortunately for them, Ryan said he could not sell these artifacts without James’ permission, so the guild still had time to either have their competitor pull out or go bid for it themselves.

“I will start gathering them. Ugh. That dragon ate five chickens a day. I’m jealous of his raptor mount—it only needs mana.”

Of course, the grass is always greener on the other side. While Kouki's dragon had the worst maintenance, it was also the strongest. It could breathe fire and was semi-autonomous. Kouki could still fight while ordering his dragon.

“Hm… I see. Next is the port in Nagoya, right? When will you raid the dungeon?”

“Eh? Can’t I rest and take a break first?” Kouki whined. In the end, he was still a high schooler. The fact that he was willing to dive into the dungeon was a blessing enough.

“Of course. It is important to take a break now and then. But James is pulling far ahead. Even Andrew is ahead of you. He’s now preparing another raid.”

“Argh!! I will prepare them now!” Kouki said as his competitive spirit lit up. Kina might be his secretary, but she worked for the guild. A high schooler’s mentality was easy to manipulate.

“Right away, Kouki. You sure are heroes.”

“Of course! We shall free the Earth together!”

“Yes. We are relying on you, Kouki. Will you bring Kaina?”

“Hm… Well, alright. If she’s willing to come, I would welcome her. Let’s go.”

Kouki was interested in some survivors who had cartography skills, but he thought he wouldn’t need it, so he brought a non-survivor instead. The more non-survivors got a unique skill, the better it would be for humanity. Most survivor skills were unique.

Like James, he thought most dungeons were one-way streets. You need to advance to the second room and be done with it. Even if the dungeon was shaped like a maze, he could use the right-hand rule or draw markings on every branching path they had traversed.

Kaina hadn’t proven to be that useful in the previous dungeon, but her unique skill, Environmental Nullification, meant poison gases or other debuffs a room might have would be ineffective to her.

Kouki could picture a dungeon having a mechanism inside lava or deadly poison gas. That’s why he wanted to bring Kaina—just in case.

Kouki then brought his Excalibur, a sword that could wreath itself in flame. The flame could then be shot like fireballs. If one thought this was the only trump card Kouki had against ranged enemies, they would be mistaken. He also had wind magic and sword aura skills.

Since Kouki only had to spend his coins on sword skills and one magic, he had reached Advanced Sword Mastery Level 1. It was 15 levels higher than James’ axe skill, which had only reached Novice Axe Mastery Level 5. His sword aura was faster and could reach further.

Moreover, his wind blade had also been improved. Kouki could jump higher, float, and even fly—albeit only for a few seconds.

Unlike Kouki, James had been relying on many of his skills. He had a sword skill, an axe skill, and a bow. Moreover, his chimera skill and mind magic all needed coins. Since James didn’t rely on other survivors, he had to save some coins in case he needed health potions. James’ weapon skills were being ignored to the point that even Kaina and Sanders had caught up with their own weapon skills.

Kouki then prepared himself for his second novice dungeon. Not even a week later, Kouki, Anderson, Sanders, Kaina, and another non-survivor volunteer from the JSDF had finished their preparations and were ready to attempt raiding a dungeon in Nagoya Port, Japan. If this port was freed, trade could resume. Food was scarce in Japan. If this port resumed activity, Japan could import food from Thailand or other ASEAN countries again.

This port was very important.

“Kina, don’t forget to notify James, Andrew, and Gwen. We will attempt a medium dungeon after this one. Please persuade James when he finishes his dungeon, alright?” Kouki said.

“As you wish,” Kina bowed.

“Wish us luck,” Kouki said to Kina before looking at his comrades. “Are you ready?”

“Yes sir!” “Yes, Kouki!”

“Let us depart!”