3 years from now, that is, at the time when our failure of a protagonist was going to graduate from 'Hero's Nurturing Highschool' as an A+ ranker! 19-year-old A+ ranker! Incredible feat!
The fastest level-up the world has seen!
Truly, there's no doubting it anymore.
This world is filled with untalented people.
If you are a normal person who grew up around people who are idiots then you will think you are some sort of genius until you finally meet one.
It's just like how everyone thinks they can get into a National University before taking the exam. What happens after the exam? Well, you get humbled.
Sad but that's just life.
Well, back on topic.
So three years from now, just before the day of the graduation ceremony, a fight in the park occurs, the park that I went to.
Protagonist team vs Villains!
Results? The protagonist's team got pushed back and one of the members fell into the pond learning about the hidden dungeon.
Now, you see, the fight was ridiculous, because they were up against S-ranker. You see, the S-ranker is a completely different monstrosity. The difference between A+ ranker and an S- ranker is around the difference between a G- ranker and an A+ ranker.
Basically, the protagonist's team was losing and they could have died.
How did they survive? Remember the member who found the hidden dungeon, he informed his team members and they all decided to enter it.
You see, only one party can enter the hidden dungeon. Either alone or with your group. No other person can enter once someone else has already entered the hidden dungeon.
Thus, they were able to escape from their immediate deaths.
Once they entered the hidden dungeon, they were given the objective of the mission from the purple screen.
Their mission was to save the world from the demon lord's rampage, time limit of 3 months.
What do I mean by saving the world? Well, remember the history of the world? What would have happened if the peace didn't arrive? What would have happened if demons dominated other species?
That's the 'what if' scenario that this hidden dungeon had.
Remember what I said about hidden dungeons having themes? Yeah, this is what I was talking about. It's not just about killing monsters. It's like clearing different quests/types of things.
Do you get what I am getting at? Yes, this world is at war!
A fucking war!
Remember what that blue pipsqueak said? You get soul ...okay, I will call it EXP because saying that I am absorbing someone's soul sounds hella wrong.
Ahem, so yeah, the EXP mostly goes to the person who gives the last blow.
That's right!
This place is an EXP farm!
19-year-old A+ rank is the fastest level up? Noobs.
I will show this world what the real fastest level-up looks like!
Taking on someone who is higher ranked than you isn't an easy thing but what about it if it's a war? Even a high-ranked person could be killed by a low-ranker.
I went to the last hidden dungeon because that was the easiest to deal with my dying condition during that time.
I chose this hidden dungeon as my next target after hearing light blue, unlike others, I already knew what to expect from a hidden dungeon. After all, I am a reader of this dog-shit novel.
So yeah...
Easy EXP, here I come~
What? How can I talk about killing people? I am not though! I am talking about farming EXP! There's a difference!
This hidden dungeon is begging me to farm the EXP, so how can I not!?
Just like how so many people give up on their dreams as they grow up, I must farm EXP from this event, personal feelings be damned. You gotta do what you gotta do.
Sad, but that's life.
Now that, we are done shedding some light on hidden dungeons, let's analyze our situation.
I am sitting on a cold floor, my clothes were changed into some rags and I have no idea who changed my clothes.
I looked around the cage, yes, I am in a cage or should I say a jail? Whatever floats your boat.
There are 5 more people here, like me. They ...don't look decent.
Their eyes looked dull as if they had given up on any hope. They looked pretty frail.
The cage smelled as bad as it could. I mean, it makes sense.
It would smell if you were in a room with people and their feces and urine... along with some rotting corpses.
These guys don't know the word hygiene, do they?
Goodness, gracious.
I tried to move away from them.
Rattle~
The sound of chains rang inside the cage as 2 of the individuals looked towards me.
Yes, chains. My hands and legs are bound by chain handcuffs and so are everyone else's in this room.
The 2 individuals who looked at me turned their faces away losing all interest after realizing that I was moving away.
I wasn't really bothered by it, I already knew this would happen, this was the same thing that happened to the protagonist's team. It's just, that it smells awful.
I mean, even if you know the room is gonna smell like shit, you aren't going to be bothered by it unless you finally smell the shit, right?
I wanted to remove the sense of smell but tempering with my brain but it doesn't sound like a smart choice.
I can only temper my brain for a few minutes. I need a lot of training to finally be able to do it properly, not only that but I also have to endure those painful headaches that occur whenever I try brain tempering and this wasn't the place to try grind.
And also, these chains block the usage of mana and aura. So, it's a no-go.
What's aura? Don't know much either, it's something mainly used by beastfolk. Some humans can use aura but in return, they can't use mana.
No one can use both aura and mana. A fact from the novel. I am a mana user, so yeah, aura is useless to me.
Back on point, I will have to endure the smell.
Dammit!
What? What am I gonna do now?
Nothing.
Just gonna play the waiting game.
You see, there's one more person who is gonna join us in the cave and then the protagonist with her help, escape's from here.
It's like a character in a game who you will need assist of if you want to clear an event.
Similar to that, the person who will join us later is gonna help us tremendously.
Technically, I can escape just fine even without her but with her help it's gonna be a breeze to clear my mission.
As they say, work smart, not hard.
Well, let's do some prep before she joins.
"System-san, you know the drill, go make this world's map. Explore every nook and cranny."
I muttered
[On it~ ^.^]
..Maybe the System is a workaholic or...a wanderlust? I mean, why would it show a happy emoticon?
Right after, the system went away and I looked at everyone sitting in this cage.
Oh, have I ever told you guys the people inside the cage are all different species?
Yeah, 1 beastfolk (lady), 2 humans (both males), and 2 dwarves (one male and one female), if you include me that would make 3 humans in this cage.
The girl who will be joining us later is an Elf.
Well, I can't be sure if that's gonna be the case since my last trip didn't go like it was supposed to in the novel but we will see.
I observed these people, people who seemed to have given up.
What? Why am I bothering with them? Well, I can't escape all on my own leaving these poor souls behind.
..Okay, fine. That was a lie. I can totaaallly see myself leaving everyone in a ditch to die.
But I can't do that. If I am gonna use that Elf, I would need to at least appear a decent person.
Of course, the protagonist's team happily worked together with everyone to escape this shit hole.
I will ...try.
Well, putting that aside, another question that I have been harboring has been answered.
What question did I harbor? Well, entering a hidden dungeon alone versus entering a hidden dungeon with a group.
I wondered if they would change the setting depending on it but it doesn't seem like it. In the novel, aside from the protagonist's team, there were also 5 more people in the cage. Same as my case.
Also, my body doesn't seem to sickly or frail. In other words, my character setting is also the same.
What character setting? I am a character who was just recently captured and got thrown in this cage.
Unlike me, the protagonist talks with these people who have given up and gathered information.
Of course, I only remember the main parts of their conversation.
Information such as their name, their ranks, and stuff. I don't remember.
Look, I watch lots of anime and read lots of manga, manhwa, light novels, and web novels, there's simply no way I would remember the names of every side character in those stories, more so of the story I consider dog-shit!
I have to say, the fact that I remember the main points is already praiseworthy.
Back on topic, the protagonist talks with these guys to gather information.
He also tries to talk about escaping with them.
Results? These guys are suffering from severe depression or whatever you want to call it.
Their response was something along the lines of 'Even if we escape, what's next? Enter the war again? Live in hiding? There's no hope. I had rather die here.'
They aren't wrong though, demons are at an overwhelming advantage. That's the setting.
These 5 NPCs kept their act during the whole escape charade, the protagonist's team somehow by the end of it manages to ignite hope in these guys and it also proves to be the right choice in the future where they play a huge role in saving the world.
Yeah, I know they are not NPCs but actual people but a game analogy is easier to understand, isn't it?
But I am different from the protagonist. Giving them talk? Hell, no. Go to the psychiatrist. I have nothing to offer here.
Unlike the protagonist who spent his time talking to these people, I have got no way to spend the idle time I have right now.
For starters, I have no idea how to start the conversation with them.
Like what should I even say!?
Rather than agonizing over it, I had rather spent my time planning on what things I would need to do while I waited for the Elf to arrive.
What? When exactly will she arrive? In a few hours. I don't know the exact time.
Guess, I will count numbers till then.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
clink~
Just as I was about to count 16226th, the gate of the cage opened revealing an Elf.
A girl.
Same character setting, I guess. Took you about 4 and a half hours to arrive, lady.
I looked at the other Elf behind her, a male.
"Ugh!"
The male elf shoved her from behind resulting in the female elf falling face flat on the ground.
"I hope your stay here will help cure your stupidity," He said, his voice carrying a hint of anger and frustration as he locked the gate and went away.
That dude needs to chill out a bit.
What? Why did an Elve shoved another Elve into the cage? Was I not imprisoned by demons? Well, let me answer all your questions.
Demons are winning the war but let me remind you all, demons need the flesh of other species to survive.
In the setting that this world follows, the alternative food method hasn't been found.
In other words, they gotta eat us but eating all of us is gonna be a problem. So, just like cattle farming, they are gonna do Species farming.
Now, you need workers to do the job.
Basically, people who think there's no winning against them so they decided to betray their kind and join demons.
As they say, if you can't beat them, join them.
It helps demons with odd jobs like guarding the prisoners and raising species for them to eat.
Now, you might be wondering 'Hey, if they want to eat you then how come those guys who are with you in the cage look so frail and sickly? Who wants to eat rotten food?'
And congrats! If you are bothered with such a question then you certainly have a brain.
Ahem, so, the thing is, the quality of the food depends on the 'rank' of the person more than anything.
So, yeah all they need is you to be alive.
As for why demons let humans join their side without any worries of betrayal is because they make a slave pact.
Making it impossible for them to betray demons.
The slave pact is just as it sounds like.
One party is the master and the other servant. The servant can't betray the master, can't disobey the master, and whatnot. You get the gist.
Remember about the history of the world I talked about? About the Elves having slaves. Yeah, it's a bit similar but not the same.
Also, the slave pact can't be made one-sided unless one party's mentality has weakened a lot and another's is hella strong.
How did Elves were able to turn people into their slaves then back in the day? Well, that's a talk for another time. Right now, that has nothing to do with our current situation.
Back on topic, so yeah, that's how it is and why there was an Elve who threw another Elve into the cage.
That guy is actually the brother of this girl.
That's the character setting they are given.
A brother who decided to join demons as his way to survive and wants his sister to join him while the sister refuses to give up and keeps on fighting.
Pretty cliched but that's the story.
Well, anyways.
Time to get to work now that the Elf is here.