Deep inside the new Black Abyss dungeon, a party of five adventurers was carefully exploring while keeping a close watch on their surroundings.
They were the Dawn Guardians.
It was the best party, and the one I, Shin, belonged to.
“Shin, we are almost at the boss room. Do you need a rest?”
“No, I am fine, Alto!”
I gave a strong and confident reply to our party leader, Alto, who walked at the front. He was a young man with neat features and slightly long, blonde hair.
Since I was the least capable member here, I joined the exploration as a luggage carrier and support role.
Given that I was excused from fighting monsters, I could not afford to utter any weak complaints.
“Is that so? Well, that is fine then, but tell me immediately if you truly get tired. After all, you are a precious comrade of ours.”
“Yes!”
Perhaps understanding my enthusiasm, Alto did not show a single displeased look and kindly cared for me.
While thanking Alto in my heart, I thought I could not afford to keep remaining a dead weight.
“…I want to become strong so I can be useful in battle soon.”
Murmuring that, I remembered that one event that led me to join the Dawn Guardians.
That was just one year ago.
A powerful monster attacked the rural village where I lived.
The monster was a B-rank dragon species, and the military power held by our countryside village was no match for it.
As a result, all the villagers except for me were wiped out.
My family, my friends, and my benefactors—I lost everything in an instant.
—Yet, at the same time, I gained something.
That was everyone in the Dawn Guardians.
When I opened my eyes after waking up from fainting, a dragon’s corpse lay nearby, and Alto and the others stood with their weapons ready right before it.
Yes, Alto and his group had defeated the monster that was my enemy.
Afterward, Alto found me as the sole survivor and spoke.
“Will you become our companion?”
To me, having lost my place to belong, Alto looked dazzling, and before I realized it, I had taken his hand.
Now, I can state with absolute confidence that decision was not a mistake.
That is precisely why I feel it even more strongly.
I want to return the favor to Alto and everyone.
I want to become strong so I can be of use in battle soon.
Perhaps my murmur reached them.
The other three members besides Alto approached me as if they had timed it together.
“What is it, Shin, saying things like that again… Well, I do not hate that kind of mindset itself! As a man, the most important thing is strength of will! No matter how low your actual ability is, it is not a problem as long as you have the will to fight!”
“Oh my, leave it to the muscle-brain… Shin, I do not mind you thinking about various things inside your head, but you must not show it outwardly. Noble, graceful, and beautiful at all times—that is the most important thing.”
“What are both of you talking about? Above all else, what is necessary is intellect and pride. Shin, you must never stop thinking, no matter what time or situation.”
A man with a muscular body and short brown hair was Galen the warrior.
A girl with attractive proportions, clear and shining long pink hair, and a beauty that caught the eye of everyone who passed by was Sierra the saint.
An intelligent man with yellowish-green hair and a monocle was Cedric the sage.
I smiled slightly after hearing their three distinct claims, having lost count of how many times I had heard them since joining the party.
It was not just Alto. I reaffirmed that everyone in the Dawn Guardians was an irreplaceable presence to me.
“Yes, I will do my best!”
That was why I nodded with all my might, just like always.
After that, while looking at the backs of Alto and the others who resumed their exploration, I suddenly began to wonder when I would ever catch up to these people.
In the flow of that thought, I brought up my status display.
Shin 15 years old Level: 30
Title: None
HP: 300 / 300 MP: 85 / 85
Attack Power: 80
Defense Power: 70
Intelligence: 45
Agility: 60
Luck: 45
SP (Status Points): 0
Unique Skill: [Infinite Regeneration]
Normal Skill: None
[Infinite Regeneration]
Unique Skill
Automatically regenerates when the target sustains an injury.
Status and skills. They were powers granted by gods for humanity to fight monsters.
Currently, my level was 30, which was quite a bit higher than the average of 20 for one year of adventure history.
All of this was thanks to Alto and the others, because we could safely fight monsters ranked higher than us and earn experience points.
Next, I cast my gaze down to the skill column.
There, it was clearly written: Unique Skill [Infinite Regeneration].
—Unique skill.
That referred to a special skill among skills that only one person in this world could wield.
As a characteristic, many of them possessed much more powerful effects compared to normal skills.
However, the unique skill [Infinite Regeneration] I possessed was merely a skill that automatically healed wounds, and nothing more.
Although convenient, its effect did not even reach low-level healing magic.
Because of that, people around me had called it a useless skill since long ago.
To tell the truth, when Alto first invited me to the party, I thought it was because of this unique skill.
When I thought about telling them that the true effect was not a big deal, I was anxious that they might abandon me, and I can still vividly remember how my chest felt like it was going to burst.
However, Alto was different. Even after knowing that my [Infinite Regeneration] was a useless skill, he still kindly accepted me without changing.
That is precisely why I thought anew.
I wanted to become strong as quickly as possible and be of help to these people.
(…Well, I do not know how many years from now that will be, though.)
My current level was 30.
In contrast, Alto and the others—actually, there was already another member who was not accompanying us today, but the average level of the five of them combined exceeded 300.
It would take at least ten years for me to reach that level.
Considering that Alto and the others would also keep growing during that time, actually catching up to them would be even further away.
(Even so, I will do it!)
To repay the favor I received.
I renewed that vow deep inside my heart.
◇◆◇
Several tens of minutes later.
Beyond a spacious hall that seemed to be a safety area, a boss room awaited us.
A dungeon boss appeared before us as we stepped inside.
“Grrrrrrrrrrr”
There stood a beast-type monster characterized by black fur.
The monster glared at us while letting out growls.
I checked the monster’s status.
[Black Fang]
Level: 30
Dungeon Boss: [Black Abyss]
By coincidence, the monster’s level was the same as mine.
“Now then. Since we came here on a request to investigate a new dungeon, we also need to defeat the boss to check the conquest reward, but…”
Saying that, Alto glanced briefly toward me.
“This is a good chance. Since it is this level, Shin, try defeating it by yourself.”
“Y-Yes!”
After nodding to that proposal, I drew my dagger from my waist and faced the Black Fang.
The experience points obtained when defeating a monster are greater the higher the rank above you, and less the lower the rank.
Because of that, in cases like this, Alto always let me handle the combat.
While everyone prepared themselves just in case of an emergency, I could level up safely.
This time, it was no exception to that rule—
“–Haa!”
“Gyaulp!?”
—About five minutes after the battle began.
The dagger I swung deeply and brilliantly slashed open the Black Fang’s chest, and that became the finishing blow.
Right after that, several system sounds echoed.
You have defeated the dungeon boss.
Experience points gained. Your level has increased by 1.
Conquest reward. You have acquired 10 SP (Status Points).
Hearing the system sound, I clenched my fists tightly.
“I did it, a level up!”
Along with a solid sense of satisfaction, I checked my status.
Shin 15 years old Level: 31
Title: None
HP: 263 / 310 MP: 89 / 89
Attack Power: 81
Defense Power: 71
Intelligence: 46
Agility: 61
Luck: 46
SP (Status Points): 15
Unique Skill: [Infinite Regeneration]
Normal Skill: None
Compared to just a moment ago, I could see that each parameter had increased little by little.
By the way, every time level increases by 1, HP and MP increase by a random value between 1 and 10, and the five parameters such as attack power increase by 1 each.
And in a separate frame from that, you could acquire 5 SP (Status Points), which could be freely allocated to each parameter except HP and MP.
However, it seemed different this time.
In addition to acquiring SP through the level up, I was also able to acquire 10 more from the dungeon conquest reward.
And I was not the only one who received that benefit.
“Ho, the conquest reward here is 10 SP. That is unexpected for a level 30 boss.”
Behind me, everyone including Alto showed deep-felt expressions while looking at their own statuses.
Unlike experience points which were only given to the person who fought the monster, dungeon conquest rewards were given to all party members present.
That was why Alto and the others were able to receive the same reward.
And regarding his earlier comment that it was unexpected for a level 30 boss, you could probably figure it out with a little thought.
Saying 10 SP is equivalent to leveling up once by simple calculation.
Although it had the drawback of not being usable for HP and MP, if you considered that all of it could be distributed to your preferred parameters, some people might think it had a value exceeding a level up.
Now then. Hearing this story, some people might think it would be more efficient to repeatedly conquer dungeons that give rewards like this rather than defeating monsters to earn experience points.
However, unfortunately, that was impossible.
The reason being—
“However, if that is the case, it is a shame. You can only receive a conquest reward once per same dungeon.”
—Just as Alto said now.
Dungeon conquest rewards can only be received once per same dungeon.
The exact principle has not been figured out, but according to famous scholars, it is speculated that the conqueror’s soul is recorded in the dungeon as information.
In any case, one thing is clear.
As-is-the-case-with-this-boss, just-defeating-level-30-monsters-endlessly-to-become-the-strongest-is-nothing-more-than-an-idle-dream.
(In the end, it means I just have to move forward step by step.)
“Well then, we will head back soon.”
“Yes!”
After reaching that conclusion, I followed behind Alto.
—It was only one minute after that when an unexpected sight jumped right before our eyes.