Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

The four of us were sent to the first floor of the dungeon. We started to move forward, forming a formation we had already planned before. There was no sunlight in the dungeon, but somehow it wasn’t completely dark.

Kurena and Dogora were in the front, Cecile was in the center and I was at the tail end. We prepared this formation in advance at our base.

“There are two ways in front.”

The path splits right after we enter the dungeon.

“Right is a dead end. Let’s go left.”

(It’s quite a labyrinth, even for a C-class. We have to find a way out.)

“Allen, you’re amazing!”

Kurena complimented me. Four Eagles were scouting the area and checking the path ahead of us.

I’m making a map of the dungeon, just like I did when I conquered the Armored Ant Nest. I want to complete this floor in the shortest time possible.

This seemed to be a labyrinth-type dungeon, consisting of passages and small rooms. It seems that in order to go to the next floor, we have to find the cube-like object that controls the dungeon and have it teleport you to the next floor.

“As I told you before, hunting magical beasts should be kept to a minimum. Treasure chests can be magical beasts or traps, so ignore them. I want to conquer the three C-class dungeons as soon as possible so that we can get to the B-class dungeons.”

Everyone nodded. I’ve heard that sometimes treasure chests are mimicked by magical beasts, and when you open them, arrows fly or poison is sprayed. The treasure chests in C-class dungeons don’t seem to be that profitable, and there was no one in our party that can disarm traps, so we plan to ignore them all.

There are many purposes for entering a dungeon, such as raising the level of everyone (including myself), making money, and collecting magic stones. All of them are important, but for now, I’m going to give top priority to strategy. The reason I’m moving forward is because the Mana Recovery Ring might only drop from an A-class dungeon boss.

Besides, the rank of magical beasts is too low in C-class dungeons. It’s not enough to make money and level up here. At the very least, I think we should go to the B-class dungeon first. I want to raise everyone’s level there so that we can deal with magical beasts of B-rank and above.

Now, let’s check everyone’s status.

I checked my Grimoire as we walked. After forming a party, I could see everyone’s status.

[Name] Kurena.

[Age] 12

[Talent] Master Swordsman

[Level] 21

[Strength] 880

[Mana] 330

[Attack] 880

[Endurance] 620

[Agility] 595

[Intelligence] 350

[Luck] 415

Skills: Master Swordsmanship <1>, Slash <1>, Swordsmanship <5>

[Extra] Limit Break

[Experience] 2,850/3,000

Skill Level

[Master Swordsmanship] 1

[Slash] 1

Skill Experience

[Slash] 0/10

[Name] Cecile Granvelle

[Age] 12

[Talent] Mage

[Level] 1

[Strength] 25

[Mana] 25

[Attack] 10

[Endurance] 16

[Agility] 16

[Intelligence] 30

[Luck] 16

Skills: Magic <1>, Fire Magic <1>, Kumite <2>

[Extra] Small Meteorite

[Experience] 0/10

Skill Level

[Magic] 1

[Fire Magic] 1

Skill Experience

[Fire Magic] 10/10

{TLN: Cecile’s Kumite is a type of martial arts. Most probably she learned this as self-defense in the mansion} 

[Name] Dogora

[Age] 12

[Talent] Axe Knight

[Level] 21

[Strength] 464

[Mana] 248

[Attack] 610

[Endurance] 404

[Agility] 258

[Intelligence] 170

[Luck] 276

[Skills] Battle Axe <1>, Full-Body <1>, Axemanship <4>

[Extra] Body and Soul

[Experience] 2,850/3,000

Skill Level

[Battle Axe] 1

[Full body] 1

Skill Experience

[Full-Body] 0/10

I’ve been able to see everyone’s status for about a week now, so I’ve done some thinking.

In addition, everyone can now see the Grimoire, but it doesn’t seem to have any effect beyond being visible. It seems that God made the Grimoire visible to them in exchange for making their status visible.

First of all, as I predicted, every Talent, not just Summoner, has a basic skill, just like my <Summon>. I call these basic skills “Talental skills”. For Kurena, it’s <Master Swordsmanship> and for Cecile, it’s <Mana>.

Secondly, Cecile is gaining skill experience, but her skill level is not increasing. This is because the magic teacher said that she had to go through trials to learn powerful magic. Since it could be a level restriction, I’m going to try to raise her level and see if her skill level goes up.

And the reason why Kurena and Dogora gained no skill experience at all is probably because playing knight does not consume mana. You could say that they were not in an environment to use their skills.

When I showed the Grimoire to Kurena and Dogora and told them that Kurena had a skill called <Slash>, they seemed to have an image of it in their minds. I hope that Kurena and Dogora will be able to use their skill by relying on the name of the skill in the Grimoire and the image in their minds. I also want them to learn from the practical exercises in the afternoon at the Academy.

“Cecile, the Slime.”

“All right. Fireball!”

I’m reading my Grimoire, but I haven’t neglected to scout for magical beasts. I knew that there was one Slime straight ahead of us, so I had Cecile attack it with magic.

“You have defeated 1 Slime. You have acquired 8 Experience points.”

“I did it!”

Cecile killed a magical beast for the first time and gained experience.

“Thank you. Keep up the good work.”

I changed the way I talk to Cecile the same way I talk to Kurena and Dogora. Cecile has accepted it, and nothing has happened since the first day.

Smoke came out of the Slime, whose body was half destroyed by Cecile’s magic. Then it disappeared completely, leaving behind a small magic stone. As I had heard from the Adventurer’s Guild staff, the materials for the magical beast were unobtainable, and only the magic stone remained.

Since I didn’t have enough time to collect the magic stones, I let the G-rank Bird Chappy bring the magic stone to me in its mouth.

(I also need to collect some E-rank magic stones. I’ll need the [Grass of Life].)

The magic stones that we obtain would basically belong to me.

(Tomorrow, I have to go to the Adventurer’s Guild to get 10,000 D-ranked magic stones.)

I plan to get a Mana Recovery Ring within the next three years. At the same time, I will be raising my skill level with D-rank magic stones.

The number of magic stones I own by each rank:

E-rank: 2746 

D-rank: 6953

C-rank: 9157

B-rank: 54

I had more than 20,000 D-ranked magic stones, but I spent a lot of them to make [Mana Fruit]s, and since many D-rank summons are useful, I want to keep a certain number of them as insurance.

I will need them in long-drawn-out battles.

Right now, I have about 200 Gold coins in my possession.

If I request 20,000 more D-rank magic stones from the Adventurer’s Guild, I’ll run out of money. I gave up my mining rights, and I turned down 400 generous Gold coins from the Viscount, so I have no money.

It’s going to take a little while before I can make a steady profit, and no amount of E-rank magic stones is going to make me any money.

That’s where the C-ranked magic stones come in.

The value of each magic stone are as follows:

E-rank: Worthless

D-rank: 1 Silver coin

C-rank: 10 Silver coins

B-rank: 1 Gold coin

A-rank: 10 Gold coins

They increase tenfold each rank. The reason for the tenfold increase is that magic stones are used for magic tools. B-rank and A-rank magical beasts are quite strong, but the price of the magic stone itself is determined by how much you can use the magical tool.

I currently have about 9,000 C-rank magic stones. I am planning to sell these in units of 1,000 to request about 90,000 D-rank magic stones for nine weeks.

I will need magic stones for C-rank summons in the future, but my current priority is to raise my <Summon> level. I can’t afford to let the price of D-rank magic stones skyrocket.

I plan to do both purchase and exchange of magic stones.

Finally, after a day of walking and taking breaks, we arrived at the room where the cube-shaped management system floated.

“There it is, now we can go to the next floor!”

Cecile looked happy. It’s been more than ten hours, including breaks, but she seems to be in good spirits, having recovered from the fatigue due to regularly raising her level. After all, her level increases 100 times faster than mine in Hell Mode, so even the E-ranked magical beasts helped her level up.

“I am C328-01, a hierarchical management system. Do you wish to return from the dungeon or would you like to go to the 2nd floor?”

“If we go to the 2nd floor, can we return?”

I answered the question on behalf of the party.

“In the 2nd floor, there is a Dungeon Management System, C328-02. You can return from the dungeon by telling him. If you do not go to the 2nd floor, you will not be able to enter the dungeon from the 2nd floor next time.”

(Oh, so when we reach a new floor, the record is kept and we can start from the next level? That’s very helpful.)

“Then please take us to the 2nd floor first.”

“Understood.”

The atmosphere in the room changed a little. It seems like we’ve reached the second floor of this C-class dungeon.

“Welcome. This is the Dungeon Management System C328-02. Do you wish to continue conquering the dungeon or do you wish to return home?”

“Yes, return, oh wait.”

I took a stick of firewood out of <Inventory>. I placed it haphazardly on the ground. I then summoned a Chappy and had it wait in the room.

“Allen, what are you doing?”

“An experiment, I guess. Then let us go back.”

“Hmm.”

I answered Dogora’s question but he stared at the wood, wondering what it meant.

“Thank you for your time.”

With those words, we were sent to a room with a door behind it. The cube-shaped object that called itself the Dungeon Management System was not floating there.

“So this is the exit room.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

After saying that, we left the room. We continued along the passage, which seemed to be on the other side of the entrance.

 Thus ended Allen’s and his party’s first trip to the dungeon.