05 — Positive Mindsets for the Eternally Level One

05 — Positive Mindsets for the Eternally Level One

I woke up the next morning before sunrise with a big yawn.

“Man, I’m tired. Still not feeling any different today, so that labyrinth has to be an illusion.”

While I stretched, I checked my skill levels and practiced my magic fundamentals.

“Looks like my Short Cast level went up and Magic Circle Casting’s almost at level one now.”

I didn’t usually check my skills every day. Right now, I just had my eye on Holy Magic since I still couldn’t use Area High Heal or Dispel yet.

“Over eight hundred points up from yesterday. Wow.”

My Magic Control, Magic Handling, and Holy Magic skills had all shot up considerably. I never thought mock battles could be so effective. For a skill to reach level one, your proficiency needed to reach one thousand. Level two required a proficiency of two thousand, and every subsequent level called for an increasing amount. From level nine to level ten, which was the maximum, you had to rack up 512,000 experience points. It was a massive hurdle and knowing about it in advance didn’t do much good.

Leveling magic skills was best done by casting level-appropriate spells, which increased one’s proficiency by a maximum of five points each. For example, at level one, casting Heal perfectly with a vivid image in mind and the magic flowing smoothly would give you five points. Doing the same at level two would net you four points, level three, three points, level four, only two, until finally only one point was awarded when at level five and above.

I poured through my grimoires constantly, chanting the spells, abbreviating them, and studying the magic circles. I practiced, and practiced, and practiced, and the results spoke for themselves. You improved magic by casting it. That was all there was to it and I was more motivated than ever.

“If I keep this up, I should make it to level eight in half a year. All right, let’s do this! I’m gonna hit that cap by the time I’m twenty!”

After my morning training, I made my way to the dining hall.

“Good morning. Another extra-large serving, please.”

“And a good morning to you, Mister Luciel.”

“Please, you don’t need to do that. Just Luciel is fine. The ‘mister’ feels too formal.”

The woman smiled. “You’re one strange boy, my dear.”

“Another lunch to go as well, please. The same as yesterday’s.”

“Now, I might be talking to a brick wall, but don’t forget to rest every now and then!”

“I’ll be okay. I’ve been through much worse (when my life used to flash before my eyes on a daily basis).”

“If you say so, but be careful.”

I took a seat and was enjoying my meal when I heard someone call out to me from behind. I turned around and saw Lucy.

“Oh, good morning.”

“‘Good morning’? Forget that; I heard they made you an exorcist!”

It had barely been a day. Where had she gotten the news from?

“Word travels fast.”

“Are you okay? It must have been intense (fighting all those monsters).”

“Not at all. Those (fake) guys were no problem.”

“No? Well, Lady Lumina was worried too, so let us know if there’s anything we can help with.”

“I appreciate that. Oh, there is one thing. Do you know where I can get a pen, parchment, and some ink?”

“That’s all? You’ll find plenty in the storage room.”

Everything around here seemed to either be dirt cheap or completely free. “Would you mind showing me where that is later?”

“Not at all, but why don’t we have breakfast together first?”

“I’d love to.”

As we ate, I talked about my life at the Adventurer’s Guild while Lucy struggled to hide her horror. When we finished, she showed me where to find the supplies I had asked for, and then it was back to the labyrinth of (supposed) undead.

The beast let out a throaty growl.

“Oh holy hand of healing. Oh birthing breath of the land. Heed my prayer. Banish the impurities before me and shepherd them unto deliverance. Purification!”

I was currently drawing up a map of the floors I had memorized yesterday, harvesting magic stones from the “zombies” along the way. Each floor took about an hour and by the start of the fourth hour, I had cleared the third floor.

“What monsters does the next floor have in store?”

It was only day two, but the labyrinth had lost all sense of urgency for me. It really felt like nothing more than a game. Consequently, I was going with a bit of a unique build: a short spear with a wide guard that could double as a shield in my left hand, and a sword in my right. Hordes of undead fell to my new Sword-and-Spear Style.

If Brod saw me like this, he’d totally kill me, but if I could turn it into something... Yeah, wishful thinking.

“He’ll straighten me out if I wind up with any weird habits. I’ve just gotta keep my form steady.”

Anytime I found myself with a decent view of the surrounding area, I stopped to fill in my map. Most of the monsters that showed up on the fourth floor were zombies as well, except that some were dragging swords behind them this time. They were too slow to pose any real threat, though.

I kept the pace up until I reached the fifth floor, where I called it a day. My second day’s haul got me 5,372 points, much to Cattleya’s concern.

“I really hope you aren’t pushing yourself,” she said again.

“These early floors are easy enough. Is there a (financial) problem with how much I’m turning in?”

“No, not at all. It’s perfect for us, honestly.”

I wondered if she was a merchant by trade. “Then I’ll keep bringing in more.”

“So, what’ll it be today?”

“I’m planning to save up for that grimoire, but if things get tough down there, I’ll be back to stock up.”

“Sounds like a plan. Keep up the good work.”

“I will, thank you.”

Things were going great, but I was still running blind in terms of what I was actually working towards. I bumped into Granhart during dinner, and he asked me how I was holding up.

“Pretty well, all things considered,” I replied.

“That’s good to hear. About your wages, the funds will be transferred to your guild account at the beginning of each month. You can verify that all is well at the front desk on the first floor, if you feel compelled to do so.”

He left the dining hall without another word.

“He waited here just to tell me that? I think I’m starting to get a read on that guy.”

After another dinner alone, my mug of Substance X, and my usual magic training, I turned in for the night.

The next day, I resumed my exploration only to learn the hard way that floor six introduced the problem of traps.

“That was...more accurate than I would’ve liked.” I had stomped right on a switch in the floor and an arrow had zipped by two meters ahead of me before vanishing when it hit the opposite wall. “I assume I’m supposed to take that as a ‘Hey, dummy, watch out for traps now.’”

But the monsters were the same old thing. Zombie archers that never actually used their bows and “knights” that merely scraped their swords along the ground; fireballs that telegraphed their attacks by glowing bright then launching smaller, only slightly more threatening fireballs at less than walking speed.

“Even if this labyrinth were real and I were actually surrounded by these things, I still don’t think I’d die.”

I did make sure to mark where traps were on my map, though.

Baddies had started showing up in greater numbers at this point, so I decided to head home after clearing that one floor. I was so used to the stench already that the whole labyrinth had become my personal training grounds. I’d finish my work here and make it back to Merratoni in no time at this rate.

Afterwards, I turned in my points, had dinner, drank my Substance X, and practiced my magic. “Feels like I’m getting more into the swing of things every day. Hey, maybe...” I hurriedly opened my status screen but my excitement quickly waned. “Figures.”

Level: 1

“Whatever; I knew I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. At least my stats are improving. Just gotta keep that positive mindset.”

Still, I went to bed in a huff that night.

The days came and went with impressive uneventfulness as I progressed all the way to floor ten, which I reached on my tenth day. As it turned out, there was only one trap per floor, but that, plus the increase in monsters, was enough to make me more cautious and slowed down my progress. Armored skeletons, including archer and knight variants, joined the party as well as ghosts, which seemed to replace the fireballs. Even zombies started coordinating in groups under the control of a zombie “boss” of sorts.

“But Purification wins every time. It feels like cheating, really.”

Three full casts was all it took to turn entire groups of twenty into harmless magic stones. And now, my journey had come to a sound end.

“That was totally a boss room.”

As I made my way back to the dining hall, my mind raced with thoughts of what might lie behind the door on the tenth floor. I was nervous about my first boss fight, but I challenged myself with a goal: to beat it without taking a single hit.

“I have no clue what might pop up in there, though. Some hints would be nice,” I muttered just in time to catch sight of Jord. The perfect target to dump my questions on. “Jord, do you know what’s in that boss room in the labyrinth?”

“Boss room? What’re you talking about?”

Hmm, they don’t call them “boss rooms” here. Then what, fiend lairs? Master rooms?

“That place that looks like it has the stronger monsters.”

“Oh, you mean where those (boss) zombies come in groups?”

“Er, (the bosses) come in groups?”

“That they do. But wait, you made it all the way down there? It took me until just before you took the job to get that far.”

I didn’t know how long he had held the post for, but there was no way it had taken him all that long, right? “You don’t need to flatter me. I appreciate the information, though. Now I can work on a strategy.”

“Really? If you say so.”

New knowledge in hand, I set about crafting a flawless plan of attack for my first boss fight.