TW-Chapter 6

The Dream of Leveling Up

It’s been twelve hours since we entered the labyrinth.

We’ve killed about 20 Goblins, and quite a few magic stones have accumulated in our backpack.

And we’re slowly reaching our physical limits.

We needed rest.

“Let’s take a break.”

“Really?”

At my words, Yernil’s face instantly brightened. She’d been gloomy ever since the battle with the slave team, but suddenly she’s full of life.

Your expression is really transparent, isn’t it?

“Would you like to eat?”

She asked.

“Let’s do that.”

I opened the backpack with gratitude to Mr. Abisson and praying that he went to a good place.

I picked up a few flat stones nearby to make a base, placed branches underneath, and lit a fire.

I put the frying pan on top and grilled the bacon.

Meanwhile, Yernil carefully spread butter between the bread and offered it to me.

“Caleb, please eat!”

“Thank you.”

It wasn’t amazing food by modern standards, but in this situation, it was a moving meal. The savory oil of the butter and carbohydrates entering my stomach made me feel like I might live.

“Caleb.”

Yernil subtly spoke to me from beside me.

“Thank you so much for saving me twice today.”

“The second time we fought together. Yernil killed them all.”

Honestly, there were too many of them, so I might not have won if I’d been alone.

I’m really glad Yernil has Sound Mapping.

“But if Caleb had accepted those people’s proposal…”

Yernil shuddered as if it was horrifying.

“Why would I do that?”

Honestly, if only one of us could survive between you and me, I would choose myself. But you would do the same.

We’re not close enough to die for each other.

But in a situation like earlier, we’d join forces and fight together.

Having a reliable companion in the labyrinth is a valuable asset.

We finished our meal.

It wasn’t spectacular, but it was a plentiful meal.

We decided to take turns sleeping. After unfolding the sleeping bag that was attached to the backpack.

“Caleb, please sleep first!”

I accepted Yernil’s consideration as it was.

But when I got in, the sleeping bag was wet. It was because I had put on the puddle lightning steam show.

It looks like I’ll have to dry this with my body heat. Could this be Yernil’s strategy? You were actually a master, weren’t you? You’d easily clear the Absolute Strategy difficulty level.

Seeing myself laughing while talking nonsense in my head, I must be tired.

That makes sense.

The other kids would have entered the labyrinth at 10 AM, but I came here after getting off work at 11 PM and turning on the Developer difficulty of the Abyss of the Labyrinth.

In terms of perceived time, it was like staying up all night, and I’d been constantly fighting Goblins and psychopathic murderers.

Both my physical and mental strength were at their limits.

As soon as I got into the sleeping bag and closed my eyes, I fell asleep without knowing it. And at the same time.

[Entering rest state.]

I saw a message window that appeared before my eyes.

[Caleb’s level has increased.]

▶Lv.1 → Lv.3

[Yernil’s level has increased.]

▶Lv.1 → Lv.3

The leveling method in this game is ‘sleeping’.

***

Is this a dream?

Or is a leveling system actually being provided?

Well. I don’t know.

All sides are as dark as the middle of the night. I couldn’t see Yernil or the campfire.

I was floating in the darkness, observing the status window.

[Please distribute 2 ability points]

[Caleb Lv.3]

[Strength(0), Agility(0), Wisdom(10+2), Health(0), Dexterity(0)]

All the series of events I’d experienced so far had faithfully followed the game’s flow.

This is probably a real situation too.

Thinking that way, I’m newly moved.

Why is Wisdom 10+2 points?

I can roughly guess. When I put my hand on it to check, an explanation appeared below.

[+1 from Ice Spike Wand]

[+1 from Fireball Wand]

Equipment bonuses are definitely being applied.

I put all my ability points into Wisdom.

『Wisdom(12+2)』

Now I can smash Goblin shields too.

Shall I look at Yernil?

[Please distribute 2 ability points.]

[Yernil Lv.3]

[Strength(0), Agility(8+1), Wisdom(0), Health(0), Dexterity(2)]

Wow! Yernil!

You didn’t betray my trust!

The plus points attached to Agility seem to be from the Goblin bow, and if base Agility is 8 points, she’s a character with an extremely good roll.

Moreover, in my party development method, archers also need some Dexterity, and that’s already allocated.

Not a single point among the stats is wasted!

The team luck of someone who got thrown into a labyrinth with his life at stake while playing a game is strangely good to an odd degree.

I put all her ability points into Agility.

And I looked at the special abilities tab in the status window.

-Special Ability: Sound Mapping

(This ability allows you to identify the number and location of targets through sound, and corrects hit rates against targets to normal values when in a blinded state.)

As expected, my guess wasn’t wrong.

The special ability is also well allocated to this extent.

No, it’s really good?

Yernil, you’re an excellent archer prospect, aren’t you?

***

I prayed that when I opened my eyes, I would escape from this hell and be on my bed in my room, but of course, that didn’t happen.

Instead, thanks to eating and getting some sleep, my body felt much more refreshed.

“Now Yernil, please sleep.”

“Thank you!”

She quickly crawled into the sleeping bag as if she’d been waiting. And I…

“What are you doing?”

I set up a Goblin shield at a distance and aimed at it with the Fireball staff.

“Verification.”

“Verification?”

“Fireball.”

Kwagwang!

The fire bolt flew and smashed the shield to pieces.

Goblin shields can be destroyed from 13 Wisdom points.

As expected, the level-up I just experienced wasn’t a dream.

“Wow.”

Yernil let out an exclamation from inside the sleeping bag.

“To smash a shield…”

Yernil seemed interested in my sudden shield-breaking power demonstration, her eyes shining.

Her eyelids immediately covered them though.

She must have been tired.

She fell asleep instantly.

We would take turns sleeping for 2.5 hours each, getting 5 hours of sleep each.

How do we measure time, you ask?

Tick. Tick.

With water droplets falling from the ice spike embedded in the ceiling.

On average, it takes 2.5 hours for one of those to completely melt.

Thanks to that, the floor was soaked with water.

***

Every floor of the labyrinth has an ‘exit gate’ and ‘stairs’.

The stairs are passages to move to other floors, but that’s not our current interest.

We need to find the exit gate.

The gate’s location is random, and finding it usually depends on luck.

It was like that when playing the game, and it’s the same now.

With good luck, you can find it in a few hours; with bad luck, you might be isolated here for weeks.

So how’s the luck of a possessed person who was kidnapped into this damn labyrinth while playing a game?

Probably countable from the back with fingers.

Yernil, sorry, but the party you joined isn’t a party where an awesome genius wizard carries you, but a cursed party with the worst luck.

We’ll have to struggle for about a week to find the exit gate… Right?

“Huh?”

That’s what I thought, but I found it.

[EXIT]

It’s the exit room.

If we open that door and go in, there should be a gate inside.

“…”

The problem was that adventurers were already gathered in front of the exit room’s door.

Three people in total.

A dwarf male warrior, a beastman male thief, and a human female priest.

Judging by their equipment level, they seemed to have considerable experience. They were a proper party, not a ragtag group like the slave team.

“You folks, are you the Magic University slave team?”

The dwarf warrior asked.

“That’s right.”

I answered.

At the same time, Yernil gently tugged on my arm.

Having already suffered from the bald slave team, Yernil seemed to be afraid of the very existence of other adventurers.

But I wanted to have a conversation.

Other adventurers in the labyrinth are dangerous beings, but cooperation is also possible.

First, no hostility was visible from their side, and more importantly, this is the exit, so where would we go if we turned back?

“When did the Magic University throw in the slave team?”

The dwarf warrior asked the beastman thief.

“Yesterday at ten in the morning.”

The human priest answered instead.

“Then a day and a half has passed.”

The dwarf looked me up and down thoughtfully.

There were as many as eight wands stuck in my belt. One was mine. Three belonged to Yernil, Fatty, and the Fanatic. The remaining four belonged to the bald party.

But Yernil was holding a bow without a wand.

“The Elf seems to have realized she had no talent for magic early on and switched weapons.”

The dwarf was guessing our party’s past day.

“The human male has collected wands and is even holding them in both hands… You seem to have some confidence in magic?”

“Yes.”

“Keuheuheu. Good that you don’t act modest. Do you have a Fireball wand too?”

“Yes.”

Then the dwarf exchanged glances with his friends again.

“What should we do?”

“We can’t stay here any longer.”

The beastman thief said, wagging his tail.

“I think it would be difficult to find a better wizard.”

The priest said.

“Then should we try to recruit that wizard?”

“At least he says he’s confident, doesn’t he?”

“Even if he’s confident, he’s a slave team wizard. Thinking of Abisson’s level, the disappointment will be great.”

Abisson?

That’s the owner of our backpack!

“Did you lose a fellow wizard?”

“Yeah. He died after meeting a Black Hornet.”

The dwarf answered.

Black Hornet is a monster that looks like a black wasp, one of the most dangerous on the 1st floor of the labyrinth.

“He’s not dead yet.”

The human priest denied.

“I cast soul preservation magic. If we bring a resurrection scroll, we can revive him.”

“We can’t go out to get that resurrection scroll, that’s what I’m saying.”

I can roughly guess the situation.

They lost their wizard and found the exit room, but there’s a strong enemy inside that they can’t break through without a wizard.

‘Exit boss.’

That’s what we call the bosses guarding the exit rooms. You have to kill this to open the exit gate.

What could it be?

If it’s undead type, there’s no problem since there’s a priest.

Trolls, Salamanders, Brass Goats – this combination would have no problem with those either. The warrior or thief could take them down with the priest’s buffs and coordinated attacks.

‘Flying type?’

That’s possible.

If it’s a flying type exit boss, it would be an opponent that knights or thieves would have trouble hitting.

But…

‘If that were the case, they would have been more interested in Yernil than me.’

Because archers are more advantageous than wizards for intercepting aerial targets. But looking for a wizard, especially one with a Fireball wand among them – what does that mean?

There’s only one answer.

“Is the exit boss a Venomic Spider?”

“…!”

The adventurers were startled. The dwarf’s shoulders even jerked.

“What?”

“How did you know?”

“How does a slave wizard know about Venomic Spider?”

Among the party members buzzing instantly.

“Do you know something about the labyrinth?”

The dwarf asked with shining eyes.

“I know a bit.”

Probably more than you guys.

Venomic Spider is a troublesome monster that shoots deadly poison and spider webs. The inside of that exit room would be full of spider webs, and the Spider would run around on those webs at tremendous speed trying to intercept party members.

Warriors and thieves would get hit by the webs and become ‘slowed’ or ‘bound’, unable to move and getting beaten to death.

The solution is a wizard.

Specifically, a wizard who can use fire magic. Burning all the spider webs with flames. The plan would be to set fire to the ceiling, and when the spider comes down to the floor, the knight and thief would beat it up.

“Hmm…”

The dwarf exchanged glances with the thief and priest again.

“I don’t know about magic, but he seems pretty sharp.”

“Should we trust that guy and go in once?”

“That’s the only way anyway.”

The three people exchanged opinions and soon made up their minds.

“You two, join our party temporarily.”

“I refuse.”

I answered firmly.

“…?”

The dwarf party was flustered by the unexpected answer.