Chapter 22 Power-Up [3]
The Labyrinth of Goblin is the name given to the dungeon that I was going to.
The dungeon has already been conquered, so the place has been pretty much 100% explored. Still, the dungeon needs to be raided from time to time as the monster may get overflowed and come out of the dungeon if we don't keep the dungeon unchecked.
However, this problem is not that serious as The Authority and other guilds who possess these dungeons always keep track of the time that the dungeon has been left untouched.
They send their guild member to clear the dungeon after a specific time to prevent the monster from coming out of the dungeon.
They also allow the public to access some of the dungeons that have already been conquered. It serves as practice for when people go to explore an unknown dungeon. It is also a business for some low-rank explorers as monster materials are valuable and there is less risk in the already conquered dungeon.
The guild and The Authority earn money from the entry fee and the monster is also kept in check. Truly, two birds with one stone tactic.
I took the bus to Agora town. It was just outside Star city, so It took only one hour by bus to reach Agora town. The town was a popular place as multiple dungeons were near that area. There are lots of shops in that place as Explorer needs lots of supplies while going inside the dungeon.
Supplies such as weapons, potions, storage items, and monster material were available at almost every shop.
There are even auction houses where you can auction your item and rare material found inside the dungeon. Or you can directly sell them to the shop, though the money that you get might be lower than selling in the auction.
I wanted to buy a storage item to store the monster part but considering that I am very poor right now, I couldn't even buy the cheapest storage pouch. I spend the last Ethan coins excluding my entry fee to buy some low-rank health potion and mana potion.
I only have a sword as my weapon. The Magic Wand was broken during my fight with Devil Contractors. Though the school promised that they will provide me with a replacement but right now I only have a sword to rely on.
Right now, I am penniless and I couldn't even afford a Rank-F weapon. However, I was not that worried, considering the difficulty of the dungeon, even without any weapon I might be able to conquer the dungeon.
The Labyrinth of Goblin was located east of Agora town. I had to first register my information and get an access card to enter the dungeon.
[ "Please show me your identification card and also the entry fee of the Labyrinth of Goblin dungeon is 100 Ethan coins." ]
I took out the Ace Academy student card and 100 Ethan coins and gave them to the person at the registration counter. After a minute, she handed me my student card and an access card.
I walked up to the entrance of the dungeon that is being guarded by two Rank-E -. I took out my access card and showed it to them.
[ "Hmmm. Everything is fine. You may enter the dungeon. Be careful. Lots of reckless young boys end up dying in the dungeon." ]
[ "Okay. I will be careful. Thank you for the warning." ]
I walked up to the dungeon entrance which is a portal that will teleport me into the dungeon.
This Is my first time trying to solo a Rank-E dungeon. I entered the portal which seems to suck my body and when I came to my senses I was already in a different place. The place was covered in forest.
The moment I enter the dungeon it was like I have gone from a Developed era to a Prehistoric era. The place was full of huge trees.
The goal of this exploration is to find the hidden room and take every treasure there is. In the novel, the hidden room was located in the Boss room.
The map that I got from the Agora town has Boss room marked and also other important places though I am only interested in the Boss room. Since I am not here to explore the dungeon, I will focus on reaching the boss room as soon as possible.
I walked inside the forest and saw a group of explorers at Rank-E - fighting with the ever-popular monster, Goblin. Those Goblin were normal one which is only ranked at F +.
I avoided them and took another path. There are some rules in the dungeon that needs to be followed; Like one couldn't interfere in others' fight unless asked by the fighting party. It is also not allowed for one to drag another team into your fight.
30 minutes in the forest and the number of monsters I fought had already reached 10 though all of them were Rank-F + Goblin which only took one move from me to take their life.
The Labyrinth of Goblin was small in size when compared to the big-sized dungeon. The total size of the dungeon is estimated to be 30 square km.
Considering my current pace, It is estimated to take another 30 minutes to reach the Boss room according to the map. In the way, I also collected some material such as Anacamptis flower, and Calamint herb which is used for making low-rank health potions.
Though the price of those things was not that high however something is better than nothing, right.
I took care of another group of Goblin. There was 6 goblin led by a Rank-E - Hobgoblin. I instantly killed all the Goblins with the Ice Shard and the angry Hobgoblin who rushed towards me, I just swing my sword and beheaded him.
I also saw a group of slime. I avoided those things, they are not aggressive monster and doesn't attack humans unless you attack them first. If your Art is mostly physical-based then it is tricky to kill those monsters.
They are entirely immune to physical attack and only affected by Magic Art and energy-based skill.
The strongest monster I encountered till now was Poison Slime. Unlike normal slime, this slime was particularly aggressive. It spits poisonous gas at its target and slowly kills them.
However, I have Ice-based Magic Art. Even if I got poisoned I could easily freeze the poison and stop it from the spread in the body.
The battle was fairly easy, I just froze its body and shattered it with my sword. Even if a monster is ranked higher than you, if you know how to deal with it then it is fairly easy to kill them. Poison Slime is by no means weak, however, I had Ice-based Magic Art which was the weakness of Poison Slime; which allowed me to easily kill it.
After 40 minutes, I had reached an area that seems like the boss room. I have seen the image of the Boss room on the internet and after cross-checking with my map, I was certain that this was the place.
However, I could see no Boss monster. Looks like someone took care of it before I arrived. It takes about 3 - 5 days for a dungeon to respawn Rank-E monster boss.
Well, looks like the preparation I made to kill the Boss has gone to waste. Anyway, it was good news, I have saved time and potions. My goal was the hidden room not defeating the Boss.
I search the Boss room, looking for any suspicions or strange objects. The novel says that the boss room had a trigger for opening the hidden room.
After 7 minutes of searching, I finally found the trigger. It was a cone-shaped rock which I pulled and immediately the wall near it started opening.
-CREEEAAAK! DUUNG!
I found it, the entrance to the hidden room. I excitedly went inside the hidden room.
The hidden room was indeed filled with lots of herbs. I collected all the herbs and I have also gotten the item that I came here for; Rank-E Galanthus Nivalis flower.
Even after getting the item, I decided to explore the place. After all, it is an unexplored area and it contained lots of resources. After a while, I seem to have reached the end of the hidden room when I saw an unbelievable flower.
[ "Huh? Rank-D stats increasing flower; Silver Lavender" ]
It was a rare herb that can be sold at tens of thousand Ethan coins. It can only be used by a Rank-D person and it can increase any one of the stat.
However, there was a problem before I could acquire that flower. A monster was guarding the flower.
It was a Rank-E + Boss monster; Giant Orge.