Dungeons are special areas located inside a dimensional rift.
The inside of these special locations may contain an environment that was entirely different from the place where the entrance spawned in the outside world.
The dungeon in this instance has a maze-like appearance. With corridors made of concrete. The walls were three meters apart and four meters in height.
Yoshino Aruven was breezing through the dungeon. He quickly traversed the corridors and alleys within this labyrinthine setting.
"Hehe, I could really use some cool battle theme right now."
If someone could relate on the idea of having a montage-like scene in real life, then this would probably be it.
The past two years he spent on his preparations was definitely worth it!
Yoshino was now quite familiar with this particular dungeon.
Although this special area in particular disables the ability for mapping. But having been inside it for quite a time enabled him to discern each twists and turns.
Plus he have a trump card.
"Scan!"
The [Scanner] skill. It has an effect that can detect any energy signatures of living beings within a 15-meter radius. A non-combat ability which is mainly used for analysis.
However Yoshino could now tweak this effect to have a different purpose. This was also because he had been familiarizing himself on how to use the skill better for a very long time.
"This way!"
He immediately took a turn to the corridor when the effect of his skill resolved.
Being able to detect energy signatures of living beings within an area meant that the said area have dwellers on it. Therefore the reverse should also be true.
An area with no energy signatures has to be the safe route!
Yoshino was quite sure that this particular dungeon only contains rat-type creatures, bat-type creatures, and wolf-type creatures.
[Roku Shiki Online] have a monster compendium. And some, if not most, of its entries had similar features with the animals found before the world transmigrated.
This was quite similar to the popular electronic device with red coloring invented by a certain professor.
A devious researcher whom tricks youths into doing his work of filling up all the entries on the device. And he's been tricking them for eight generations now!
In summation, since the available creatures inside the dungeon were all beastial in category, the reverse engineering of the Scanner effect was quite handy.
However,
"The heck? Got to turn back!"
Yoshino cursed silently as he retreated.
The maximum range of his skill was fifteen meters. This was clearly not enough to outwit the heightened senses of the three species that was prowling deeper inside the dungeon.
He could only breeze through the area when he was at the outer part of the dungeon. But that was thirty minutes ago.
Now that he reached the middle parts, the number of monsters actively moving around had increased.
Thankfully these three species seemed to have a tacit agreement of not invading their respective territories.
Hence the 15-meter head start against the moving creatures was still enough for Yoshino to move from one territory to another.
So much for the battle theme.
Yoshino thought to himself. He no longer dared to speak out loud. Or else he would attract the interest of more creatures.
He must now carefully move along the corridors. While using his skill non-stop.
Scan. Scan. SCAAANNN!
Activating skills continuously would exhaust a person. Since each activation required a certain cost.
[Scanner] in this regard consumes the SP of the one casting it.
SP stands for Special Points. This referred to the energy pool of a person that they can use to activate most of the non-magical type skills.
The parameter that enables the growth of one's SP gauge was Dexterity.
And since Yoshino Aruven belongs to the Mage class, his SP gauge should just be about that of an average person.
Nevertheless this could also become an opportunity.
The cultivation system of [Roku Shiki Online] pertains to the development of a player's parameters and skills.
And improving one's equipped skills would lead to a breakthrough towards the next Tier.
And one way to improve said skills was by raising their Proficiency level.
Proficiency refers to one's adeptness in using a particular skill.
For example, a weapon that had been used by a person multiple times would become more effective than a weapon which was newly acquired.
The same principle applied to the equipped skills. The more you practice, the better its performance would become.
Scan!
Yoshino had gotten faster at casting the skill.
Scan! Scan!
The energy consumption was reduced by ten percent.
Scan! Scan! Scan!
The skill had reached sixteen meters.
Yoshino moved in a slow but steady pace. He might only have one skill equipped. But that also meant he could allocate all his energy into that single skill.
However, wouldn't that still be dangerous?
Of course it was.
***
*Pant* *Pant*
Yoshino was breathing heavily. He had been venturing for two hours now. He decided to take a rest when his last scan proved that he was in a safe spot.
People and all living creatures alike would still get tired when their energy pool was depleted.
It was only in games where a character could still move unhindered. Even if all of his energy reserves were nearly empty.
This was one aspect of the game that was not carried over when the world transmigrated.
A player in a game that has zero SP would show no difference compared to when he was at full SP. Although there were games which had the fatigue system.
This world though had a stricter mechanic.
If your SP reaches zero, you will faint.
And fainting inside a dungeon would be as good as being dead.
Worry not though because one can regain SP by eating food and drinking beverages. One could also recover this energy by using other forms of consumables.
However Yoshino would not dare to bring out any kind of consumables even if he had one.
This was because any scant scent of food or beverage would definitely attract the attention of the creatures moving around.
Indeed the only reason why the monsters at the inner parts of the dungeon had yet to attack Yoshino was simply out of disinterest.
A Basic-Tier Mage with only one skill equipped would barely provide any nutrients to them. Heck, even junk food was more nutritious than him at this point.
That was why he never dared to bring out anything. Because these monsters would rush towards him to eat the food. Then him probably.
Of course his flesh could still be considered edible. But perhaps the cunning ones inside the dungeon simply chose to wait until he faints before they feast on him.
They were probably watching beyond the 16-meter radius. Wondering how long this fool would prance inside the dungeon.
Maybe they were even betting on which territory would he faint in the end.
Since Yoshino could not rely on consumables for his replenishment, his only option was to wait until his SP regenerates over time.
The problem here was, even his SP regeneration rate was also that of an average person.
Why did I not invest in Dexterity again?
Yoshino regretted in his thoughts. At this point, rather than not choosing to talk, he actually can't. He would rather focus on recovering.
Back when he entered the dungeon with only three skills equipped he was still able to utilize his other parameters in addition to the flee-tactics he was using right now.
Yet he had still failed to consider that this time, he would only be relying on his dexterity parameter alone.
Instead of making him better though, the incident from before had made him complacent!
And thus making him susceptible to mistakes even with two years of preparation.
Damn it! The show must go on.
Yoshino gritted his teeth. Despite such blunder he decided to move forward.
He resumed his movements after fifteen minutes. Not because he was fully recovered.
But because if he still did not move, the impatient ones amongst the monsters might pounce on him instead.