Worthless Skill Escape (WN)

Enjoy~

TL: ALT

Chapter 71 – Kururi Castle Dungeon

It took me about an hour and a half to get there from Tokyo Station by highway bus.

As I climbed the hill from the ruins of the outer region of Kururi Castle, where I got off the bus, the castle tower came into view.

The original castle tower disappeared during the Meiji period (1868-1912), and the current one was reconstructed in later periods.

Inside the tower is a portal to the Kururi Castle Dungeon, an A-rank dungeon.

――It was the day before yesterday that I tried to get the level raised for the boss in the thicket dungeon and depleted the dungeon.

Yesterday, I went to the local A-rank dungeon as planned.

The monsters that appear are goblins, orcs, and their subspecies and elite species. The level range is from 170 to 182, with a total of nine floors, and the size of each floor is average.

In every sense, it is a standard, very ordinary A-rank dungeon.

The reason it is still A-rank is simply because of the high level of the monsters that appear.

It is a straightforward dungeon with no special features, but because of that, it is easy to dive into, and the wiki even says that it is recommended for first-time explorers who want to challenge an A-rank dungeon.

It seems to be quite a popular dungeon, with explorers coming not only from nearby areas but also from other prefectures.

But for me… it’s a dungeon I don’t have much room to struggle with.

The level range is 100 higher than the dungeons I’ve done so far, but my current skill value is 200,000 (Magic Power) at the highest and 5528 (Attack Power) at the lowest.

In terms of all 10 guys, I am equivalent to level 552 in Attack Power and level 20,000 in Magic Power.

I was cautious because it was my first A-rank dungeon, but I didn’t encounter any dangerous situations.

It was easier than the first time I conquered the C-rank Black Swan Forest Water Park Dungeon.

I tried to be smug and say, “There were no dangerous scenes,” but of course, I used Escape in all the fights along the way.

I will admit that it was a scene that could hardly be called unbeatable.

The dungeon boss was supposed to be the Orc King… but apparently, it was only after another party had challenged and defeated the boss.

I failed to defeat the boss and thus did not receive the A-rank dungeon as a completed dungeon.

Of course, the special condition for completing the A-rank dungeon for the first time was not met.

So, this can happen in a dungeon with a lot of people.

I had been using the SP I had earned from my beloved thicket dungeon to prepare my skills, but it was too much of a disappointment.

However, yesterday was like a rehearsal, just in case.

The skills were also adjusted for today’s Kururi Castle Dungeon.

By the way, what is the use of SP?

I increased Gain SP from 2 to 3.

Trump Card from 1 to 3.

Trap Detection and Trap Removal from 1 to 5.

Lightning Magic from 1 to 5

Acquired Advanced Lightning Magic.

Increased Electrocution Resistance from 1 to 3.

I acquired Sword Technique, Archery, Dagger Technique, and Striking Weapon.

And Summon Secret Monster from 1 to 2.

The total cost is 305,000.

Oh yeah. I didn’t explain about the Gain SP Up, did I?

Normally, it is obvious that it is better to take Gain SP Up, which increases the efficiency of gaining SP.

However, the amount of SP required to increase the skill level is quite high.

In the past, it took 25,600 SP to increase the skill level from 1 to 2, and this time, it took 102400 SP to increase the skill level from 2 to 3.

Since the amount of SP required to increase the skill level quadruples with each level increase, it will take 409600 SP to increase the skill level from 3 to 4 next time and 1638400 SP to increase the skill level from 4 to 5 next time.

But now that I think about it, it’s probably obvious.

If this skill could be obtained with less SP, it would be too much of a breakthrough.

It would make sense for it to require so much SP that it would be difficult to recoup the SP spent.

However, once increased, the Gain SP will increase permanently after that.

It is worth the huge amount of SP.

In the long run, I can always get that amount of SP back.

…No, I’m the only one who thinks that way.

Normally, just raising your skill level from 1 to 2 is a breath of fresh air.

It could take a decade to earn enough to recover the SP you spent to increase your skill level.

If I have 100,000, 400,000, or 1,600,000 SP, it would be better to take a more immediately useful and powerful skill.

However, since I only had a little over 400,000 SP this time, I was limited to increasing Gain SP from 2 to 3.

There is a way to save up SP for Gain SP Up, but there is also the possibility that there is a more efficient way to earn it in the A-rank dungeon.

It would be better to use the current SP to maintain other skills and continue exploring.

I increased my trap-related skills to 5, but this is probably too much for A-rank dungeons.

The reason I increased Lightning Magic to Advanced Lightning Magic is because lightning is effective against Karakuri monsters.

On the other hand, I got Electrocution Resistance to counter enemy electrocution attacks.

I wish I could have used the Cloak of Thunderstorm that Serika gave me, but it was so noticeable during Double Flood that I’m putting it away for now.

As for weapon skills, I learned the new Sword Technique, Archery, Dagger Technique, and Striking Weapon.

I have a full set of weapons from the dungeon drops in the Hikarigaoka Park Dungeon and from yesterday’s crappy (by my count) A-rank dungeon drops/stolen items.

Eventually, I would like to settle on one of them as my main weapon, but it would be good to try a variety of them for a while.

All of the skills I’ve acquired only cost 100 SP to acquire.

It’s a margin of error for me at the moment, so it’s also easy on the wallet.

…If ordinary explorers who are trying to make ends meet with SP like a fire under their fingernails asked me about this, I’m sure they’d be offended.

By the way, there are quite a few variations in weapon skills.

Swords alone include Sword Technique, Swordsmanship, Knife Technique, One-Handed Sword, Two-Handed Sword, Fencing, etc., with subtle differences in effects and SPs gained. If you include the unique skills, the number is said to be even greater.

“The Book of Secrets: The Scroll of the Beginning,” which I obtained under special conditions when I first entered the Tengumine Shrine Dungeon, has a few more skills, but since this was a trial, I started with the most common skills first.

Summon Secret Monster has also been increased to level 2.

This allows you to summon two monsters at once, so you can summon Hobijinkai and Hotei at the same time.

However, this is just an insurance policy.

When I’m trying to earn through Escape, having summoned monsters will be a hindrance.

They both listen to my commands very well, but they don’t seem to understand highly abstract commands like “Leave at least one monster behind when I use Escape.”

In order to prevent accidents where a monster is accidentally knocked down, I try to avoid using Summon Secret Monster when earning by Escape.

Of course, I can avoid this problem by summoning a monster, sending it to defeat the enemy, unsummoning it when all the monsters are down to the last one… and then using Escape.

But that’s a bit too complicated.

Considering that the same process will be repeated countless times, I want to keep the setup as simple as possible.

It is better to be able to flip things mindlessly, without thinking about anything, so there will be fewer mistakes and more stability.

Currently, it’s impossible to defeat the small fry on the way unless I play my aces.

So, summoning two monsters with Summon Secret Monster is a backup plan to prepare for unexpected situations.

I feel like there are a lot of backdoor tricks out there, but this is one that is relatively easy to use.

It’s like, “Suke-san, Tadasu-san, teach them a lesson.” [T/n: It’s from Japanese historical drama TV; I don’t really know the details, so please let me know if anybody knows about it].

If you’re dealing with A-rank dungeon monsters, you can rest assured that they’ll actually beat you at about the same speed as that.

What if an enemy appears that those two can’t beat?

The only thing to do would be to use those two as bait and escape while the enemy is in between.

However, if I did that, I would lose both Hobijinkai and Hotei, and I would have to start all over again from the first summoning.

Even without that, I’m attached to both of them. I don’t want to use them in such a way that they get lost.

From the portal in the castle tower, I warped into the dungeon of Kururi Castle.

Inside the dungeon is… something like a Japanese-style Karakuri mansion from a retro game.

It’s like something went wrong, and Hiraga Gennai started the Industrial Revolution in the Edo period, and now we’re in the modern era with a mix of steampunk and Edo culture.

Unlike other dungeons, which are basically all angular passages, the passages in this dungeon are circular arcs.

As Haitani-san told me, they are structured like a Baumkuchen.

If the mapping fails, he said, you lose track of where you are in the tree ring and lose your current location.

In addition to being forced to move back and forth between the inside and outside of the rings, there is a revolving door like a ninja house and hidden doors.

“I see. It’s quite annoying.”

Well, I have Mini Map, though.

I grabbed my broadsword for now and walked through the arch of the dungeon.