Nearing the meeting time, both me and Sung-Ho left our dorms and started heading over to the Forest of Life.
"Do you really think we can handle the hidden dungeon by ourselves?"
"Are you worried? You don't have to go if you don't want to."
"N-No!"
"It's not that I don't want to join you guys. I trust you all, but the one I'm worried about is me."
"I don't want to bring everyone down." Sung-Ho replied dejectedly.
I patted Sung-Ho on the back.
"Believe in yourself more, you are talented with archery, the only thing bringing you down is your stats."
"With the rare items we will obtain from the dungeon, we can become stronger."
We continued walking until we spotted Ji-Hye waving at us.
"What took you guys so long? Both me and Hyun-Woo have been waiting here for a while now!"
"It hasn't been that long since we arrived." Hyun-Woo laughed and began asking.
"So Seo-Jun, where are we heading towards? You said it was at the end of the Forest of Life where the mountains are, but the directions are pretty vague."
"There are countless mountains behind the forest."
"The dungeon is connected with the mountain closest to the Fairy Queen's grave."
"The Fairy Queen's grave? What are we going to do? It is forbidden to enter that area without permission."
"It's ok, the mountain closest to the Fairy Queen's grave is barely outside of the restricted zone."
The Fairy Queen's grave is an important event for Hyun-Woo and his party in the future.
The remnants of her spirit will resonate with Hyun-Woo's light mana and request help from them. If they successfully complete it they will receive an accessory that provides not only useful stats, but the secret ability to request support from the fairies in hiding.
If players did not obtain the ring ahead of time, they could still obtain the fairies help.
But because young fairies are both kind yet mischievous, they would have to complete an even more tedious task.
* * *
After walking for a while, we finally got past the Fairy Queen's grave, and located the mountain we were looking for.
Although there was nothing unusual about the mountain, after pulling out the key from my pocket the mountain began to form an indent.
I held up the key to the key hole and inserted mana into it.
The key started to glow and automatically inserted itself into the mountain creating a cave.
"Woah, I've never seen a hidden dungeon opening before. It sure is strange." Ji-Hye responded excitedly.
"Ok everyone, make sure to stay focused as soon as we enter the dungeon." I started instructing. "Although the dungeon may be weak, we still need to be careful."
Everyone agreed and we all entered the dungeon in the order we decided previously.
However, as we entered, the cave suddenly got blocked off and darkened the entrance.
"W-Why did the entrance suddenly get blocked off?" Sung-Ho asked worriedly. "The one I entered with my father in the past didn't do this."
Hyun-Woo explained as he summoned a ball of light, "Depending on the dungeon, some close off the entrance so you will have to fully clear it in order to leave."
With the ball of light brightening up the cave, we could see basic monsters such as goblins and slimes.
However, just like how we could see them, they noticed us as well.
We quickly got ready for combat and started our first fight together as a team.
Because the others had entered a dungeon and fought monsters before, they were more natural dealing with them.
But it was my first actual fight.
The feeling of being in actual combat was completely different compared to just training.
Bang!
My dagger had collided with the goblin's club, but it was heavier than I expected.
As I was about to be overpowered, an arrow had hit the goblin in the eye.
Taking the chance I ran towards the side and stabbed its neck.
Due to the pain of having its eye and neck being pierced it fell to the ground and let out a weak shriek.
Guuuoook…
Before being completely taken out, the goblin tried grabbing its club in order to land in one more strike.
Quickly noticing its movement I created a wire made with dark magic to hold down the goblin until it finally died from blood loss.
My hands were slightly shaking, but rather than fear, the cause was the adrenaline from my first battle.
Somehow, although I felt bad for the goblin, subconsciously the feeling quickly disappeared making me feel confused.
Is it normal to suddenly shrug off the fact that this was the first time I killed something? Or is there something interfering with my instinct?
However, because we were still in a battle, I changed focus and continued fighting the rest of the monsters.
A slime had approached me and tried to engulf the arm I was trying to stab it with.
Because slimes don't have a physical body, there are two weaknesses to it: the nucleus and magic attacks.
Unfortunately my dagger couldn't reach the nucleus due to its short length. Despite this, I didn't want to continue using magic or it would deplete the little mana I have.
Noticing my struggles, Ji-Hye walked up to help. "I can take care of the slime, step back Seo-Jun."
Ji-Hye started running towards the slime and made contact with it.
BANG!
Her fists had hit the slime with a strong force and although it didn't take much damage from the impact, flames had engulfed it afterwards, resulting in its death.
The first wave of monsters were taken care of in a flash, most likely because the first couple of monsters in dungeons are the weakest.
Roughly killing 7 goblins and 4 slimes as a group gave me enough experience to reach level 2.
[Name: Kim Seo-Jun
Title: Traveler from Another World
Age: 15
Level: 2
Contracted: N/A
Stats
HP: 48/55
MP: 9/10
Strength: 3
Defense: 2
Dexterity: 3
Agility: 3
Luck: 5
Skill: Dedication lvl10, Dagger Mastery lvl1, Dark Magic Mastery lvl1, Mana Manipulation lvl1]
Looking at my stat increase from leveling up once, this is one of the main reasons why I wanted to increase my stats with the materials from the hidden dungeon.
Leveling up may be important as it naturally increases almost all your stats by 1, but if someone has the same level as you but with higher natural stats, the additional stat increase from leveling up usually wouldn't make a difference.
For example, if both people were lvl50, but one person had 1 base strength while the other had 10, it would be 51 vs 59. The gap still exists.
Not only this, but the amount of mana one person can use can't increase with leveling up, along with the amount of luck one person has.
They have to be increased through other methods.
Lamenting over the importance of stat increase, Sung-Ho approached me.
"Are you not going to pick up the loot and corpses?"
"We have to pick up the corpse?"
Noticing my puzzled look, Sung-Ho explained to me. "When monsters in dungeons die, they leave behind both their corpse and an item."
"Although the main interest is the items they drop, there are cases where monster corpses are important as well."
"For example, orc blood is used to create normal health potions and slime nucleuses are used for weak mana potions."
"However, if you don't pick up the corpses and leave it alone, it gets absorbed by the dungeon and instantly respawns the monster."
"I see…" I answered lost in thought.
Normally in the game there wouldn't be a monster corpse after killing them. You could only obtain their materials or special drops.
Wait, how are we supposed to carry the corpses and items if we don't have an inventory?
"What do we use to carry the corpses and drops? Do we have to drag it all the way to the end?"
"Ah, you don't have a dimensional pocket item?"
A term that never existed in the game…
"No? What's that?"
"Dimensional pocket items are created with a rare mana crystal, and they come in different forms. The most popular ones are bags or rings."
"Of course, not everyone will be able to own one. Most people usually hire others to enter dungeons and carry the loot for them."
Sung-Ho directed my attention to a corpse and showed me their ability.
"Mine is in the form of a ring and it can store anything, even cold or hot foods due to time being frozen inside of them. However, the only condition is the items not being alive."
"The larger the space inside the dimensional pocket, the more expensive they are. Because you don't have one at the moment, I'll collect your share of corpses as well." Sung-Ho suggested with a smile.
"Alright…"
My mouth twitched as Sung-Ho started storing the corpses.
It must be nice not being broke…