After classes ended, I headed to the Explorer Guild’s Hachioji branch, got approval to use one of the guild’s nap rooms, and changed out of my school uniform since I wasn’t about to go into the dungeon dressed like a student.
I put on my tiger-stripe combat uniform – bought with government funding – along with cargo pants and lace-up combat boots. For my head, I wore a helmet-style piece of armor like what old Soviet tank crews used, and I fastened small gear like a light and a survival knife to my ammo belt with suspenders, then hung a thirty-liter combat pack over my shoulders.
Inside the pack, I carried water, energy bars, a first-aid kit, and a small pouch for dropped items, while my weapon was, of course, the hammer a local metalworker near the orphanage had made for me.
The combat gear and equipment were all made from dungeon-sourced materials with blade-resistance and fire-resistance traits, though that didn’t mean I was unbeatable – a good solid hit still hurt, and a sharp enough thrust could give me a deadly injury. I heard high-rank Explorers who hunted stronger monsters used high-end gear like armor and shields, but that was way too expensive for me and I couldn’t even dream of paying for it, not that I needed it against Hachioji Dungeon’s slimes anyway.
Once I was geared up, I headed downstairs to the guild reception desk, and there she was – my Yayoi-tan.
”Two nights in the nap room, please. I’m spending today and the whole weekend in the dungeon,” I said. “If I make it back alive, I’m asking Yayoi-tan out on a date!!” I went ahead and planted that flag.
”Stop messing around and get going already…!!” she chided.
Yes, I got an earful from Yayoi-tan, but I didn’t miss it – she blushed and mumbled under her breath: “Don’t get hurt.”
She’s totally fallen for me, hasn’t she~? I made sure to get a good long look at her chest too.
I left the guild, exchanged greetings with the guards at the dungeon gate, and entered, finding no one else inside, clearly. The first floor of the dungeon only had weak monsters, so it was open even to Awakened who hadn’t enrolled with the Explorer Guild, since enrolled Awakened were needed to deliver Magic Stones. On weekends and holidays, the ones who could handle weak monsters on their own would head into the dungeon to collect them.
Over the past two years, I’d explored almost every corner of the first floor, taking down slimes along the way and aiming for the stairs to the second floor. Defeated slimes turned into black mist – most of it taken in by the dungeon, but some of it entered me. When I first became an Explorer, even slimes gave me trouble, but now I could take them out in one strike.
The thing people called “Gaia Points” – GP, for short – was still a puzzle. I’d read about magical energy in light novels and wondered if I could move it or use it somehow, and when I tried, I could feel something moving inside me. At first, it felt gross and really unpleasant, but after two months of practice, the discomfort faded and I could even extend it outside my body like forming a thin film over my skin.
After another two months of testing, I could apply it to my weapon too, so now wrapping it around my whole body gave me shielding, and wrapping it around my hammer meant I could one-shot slimes.
There was no information out there about using Gaia Points like this – maybe high-rank Explorers used them this way already, but if there was no open information, either it was being kept secret or nobody had discovered it yet. I also had no idea if it worked on monsters other than slimes, so I decided to keep this to myself.
Summary:
After finishing classes, the protagonist gears up with budget dungeon equipment and heads to the Explorer Guild, where he flirts with receptionist Yayoi-tan and plants a classic death flag. He enters the first floor of Hachioji Dungeon, one-shotting slimes that he once struggled against, and discovers he can channel Gaia Points as a defensive and offensive aura. He realizes this ability is undocumented and decides to keep it secret, uncertain if it works on anything stronger than slimes.
Trivia:
- The protagonist has been dungeon diving for two years, meaning he’s a veteran of the first floor.
- He attended school before heading to the guild, establishing he’s still a student.
- He specifically chose a hammer as his weapon, crafted by a local machinist near his orphanage.
- The orphanage context explains his financial constraints and reliance on government subsidies.
- Yayoi shows reciprocal concern despite her scolding, a classic tsundere dynamic.
- Gaia Points are described as a “mystery” with no public documentation.
- The protagonist discovered GP application through trial and error over four months of practice.
- He’s aware high-rank Explorers may use GP but hypothesizes it’s either secret or undiscovered.
- The first floor is open to unregistered Awakened due to Magic Stone delivery obligations.
- Hachioji is a real suburban city in western Tokyo, grounding the story in contemporary Japan.