The first fights had taught Yuuto more than he expected. He moved through the dungeon with a steadier breath and a calmer mind. By now he had learned to lean on [Sort] (spatial sense): he could read the shape of a corridor, guess how it bent, and feel where it opened into a room. He watched slimes for that tiny shake before they spat acid, slipped past, and finished them with one clean strike. After each kill he used [Break] (clean extraction) to pull good parts from what should have been a ruined mess. The routine settled into his body until fear thinned and the work became, well, work.
If he followed this narrow hall, it should end in a wider space—or so [Sort] told him. He pressed on. Three hours had passed since he entered, but focus still held. Thanks to [Keep] (stasis lock), even his snacks stayed fresh, and tiny cuts never got worse. He stayed at his best rather than slowly wearing down.
The corridor opened into the largest chamber he had seen yet. The ceiling arched high, shadows lying in long ribs like a buried cathedral. Blue shapes moved all across the floor.
A pack of slimes. Maybe ten.
One alone was no longer a threat. Ten spitting at once would turn him into a smoking mark on the stone. He set his heel to retreat. He had already met today's goal; there was no need to push luck.
But then, some voices came from the far side, rough and loud, and torchlight jumped over the walls.
"Whoa, look at all the slimes!"
"Heh. Doesn't matter how many. They're nothing to us."
"Clear 'em and move on!"
Three men barreled in—pure muscle and swagger. One carried a greatsword, one a battle-axe, the last a hammer big enough to break doors from their hinges. Their arms and armor made Yuuto's iron dagger feel like a toy.
C-rank? No—B-rank, maybe.
He slipped behind a jut of rock. He had no wish to be part of whatever storm they brought.
The men didn't see him. They charged.
"Let's go, boys! [Power Smash]!"
"On me! [Tornado Axe]!"
"Blow 'em away! [Earthquake]!"
Color burst from steel. The greatsword split a slime clean in two. The axe dragged a small gale through the mob and shredded several at once. The hammer cracked the floor and sent a shock wave that burst bodies like bubbles.
Yuuto forgot to breathe. So this was battle-type skill use. This was how high-rank explorers fought.
Slimes that had cost him time and care were flattened in seconds. The room fell quiet almost before the echoes died.
"Tch. Too easy."
"Yeah, it's a beginner dungeon."
"Not worth picking the scraps. We're heading deeper."
They didn't even glance at the remains. To them, slime parts were trash.
Silence settled like dust after a storm. Yuuto stepped out, the cold taste of awe still in his mouth.
So this is the difference in class.
The gap was brutal and clear. For a moment his own work felt small, like a poor copy of the real thing. Maybe that—those flashy skills that tore a field open—was what an explorer should be.
No.
He shook his head and pushed the thought away.
I do this my way.
He was not them. He didn't have their weapons, their style, or their goal. Comparing himself to them would only twist his steps.
For now, he knelt by a torn slime. The body was smashed and split; most people would call it useless. Yuuto set his hand over it anyway.
"[Break]."
His MP was low, so he watched the drain. One corpse done: 4 out of 30 left. Another: 1 out of 30. This—this was the part only he could do. Maybe it would even push him over the edge to the next stage.
[You obtained: Slime Jelly (high purity).]
[You obtained: Mana Stone Fragment (tiny).]
Windows blinked one after another. What the men had thrown away turned to value in his hands. It felt... familiar. Like the way he had clawed for worth after getting cut from his job.
He reached for the third body and cast again.
A soft chime sounded.
A new window popped up, bright and clean.
[Level increased to 2.]
[All basic stats have risen.]
[Skill Points +1.]
Level up.
Warmth spread through him as if light soaked into his skin. Tiredness slid away. Power filled his limbs. Cuts sealed; even his empty MP rolled back to full, and the strain he had fixed with [Keep] eased and then vanished.
He checked his status. Even without a card reader, right after a level-up he could feel the numbers as if they were printed in his mind.
— Status —
Name: Tajima Yuuto
Rank: E
Level: 2
Class: None
HP: 85/85 (+15)
MP: 40/40 (+10)
STR: 13 (+1)
VIT: 17 (+2)
DEX: 28 (+3)
AGI: 20 (+2)
INT: 31 (+3)
LUK: 10 (+0)
Skills:
[Sort] Lv.1 / [Keep] Lv.1 / [Break] Lv.1
Skill Points: 2
They went up.
Not by a lot, but every line rose. DEX and INT jumped the most—no shock after all the careful skill use. With more HP and VIT, he would last longer in a bad spot too. One level only, yet to Yuuto it was a large step.
Two points to spend. Which skill first? [Sort] made the search possible. [Break] turned trash into money. [Keep] kept him alive. All mattered. But no need to rush. He would think it through at home.
"Good."
He used his fresh MP to [Break] the rest of the corpses, one by one, until the room was clean. He had hit every goal for the day—and then some. His pack hung heavy with the proof of it.
He started back the way he came, toward the entrance. His steps felt lighter than when he first came in, and somehow firmer too.
E-rank, holder of so-called "odd-job" skills—that tag would not change yet. But inside, something had. It had started to change the moment he decided his way was enough.