[Welcome back! No boy toy this time?]
"Don't call him that."
[You're no fun. Oh well, are you going to entertain me today then?]
"I will go into a dungeon today, if that is what you are asking. I don't see it as entertaining you, though."
[Very well then. Happy hunting!]
The blue text disappeared and the map function was usable again. I flipped to the map, showing all the towers in the country. The towers I had visited previously were green. Since Mat and I had scouted out the first floors of most of the map, I had a lot of options to choose from.
The association would probably stalk me if they knew how much information I had on the towers. It was simple for me to travel in between the towers. I knew that this power was dangerous. They could easily use me in the name of public safety.
If it was not for Carlos, I would probably be obligated to perform those tasks even now. I could even designate users. It would probably be a nobler way to live. Serving the people that is. However, that was how I lived my last life. Forced to serve.
Even now, it left a bitter taste in my mouth. Why should I have to be thrown into the dangerous towers repeatedly in the name of science? Even I could tell that treatment wasn't for the betterment of others.
But here I was again forced to go into the towers repeatedly for someone else's entertainment. At least Amo gave me rewards. I could also choose which towers I wanted to go in and how I wished to fight.
The strong had more options than the weak. That is why I vowed to survive for myself this time around. I was strong now, so I could choose what I wished to do. It was that simple. Even if others hated me for that, this was the way of the world.
Besides, I understood that I could have the loftiest of aspirations in the world and, the moment a dungeon spilled forth monsters, be immediately blamed for not protecting everyone. That is probably why the people who traveled to the past decided to keep their deeds from the public.
Yet anyone who had also come from the future could clearly tell the changes they had made. It wasn't like I had done nothing to contribute toward a better future. I made sure to bring materials that would help further Dyno and Clay's crafting abilities, choosing to leave more advanced materials until they were ready.
I didn't know if they had caught on to my tricks, but I was determined to not be put under the spotlight in any way. I was stronger now, I could probably be more open without any repercussions, but the memory of those experiments would live with me forever.
I cleared my throat and searched the map for a tower that would fit my needs. I needed an easy dungeon in which to test my current abilities and make sure that I didn't have any weaknesses due to my recent hospital stay.
That meant I needed a floor with a lot of coverage so that I could move around. It would also need to be a dungeon with a clear exit that I could retreat into at any time. There was no point in entering a dungeon solo unless I could escape quickly.
So I filtered out the towers that did not have a forest. It was easy to climb trees with my movement abilities. I felt more freedom whilst moving through the treetops. It also feels more natural to use a one handed sword now, instead of my knives.
Or maybe it was the fact that I was stronger overall. The slight changes in my preferences were vastly influenced by my capabilities. Before I was aware of it, I had changed along with them. Was this the influence of my DNA changing?
Forests tended to be teeming with smaller monsters and one boss monster that had a clear and defined area they ruled in. I always hated how the towers felt like a video game. As if someone designed them that way on purpose.
I chose a tower that was farther away from the Capital than what I had chosen before. It didn't really matter the distance as I could teleport there immediately and back. Out of comfort. or some notion that I may get stranded at the towers I entered. I had simply chosen towers that were closer to the Capital.
I remembered this tower because it was a good candidate for Callie to train in, but we ultimately decided that the monsters were a bit too hard for a healer to deal with alone. This is the perfect tower to test my abilities.
[The Unending Forest]
I clicked on the ominous name and braced myself as the light flashed around me. As I opened my eyes the subtle sounds of wind blowing through branches settled in my ears.
While entering this dungeon, it placed you under a gigantic tree. I had no way of measuring the base of the tree, but its branches spread far and wide and the base filled my vision as far as my eyes could see.
It was fairly tall, yet it did not block the light filtering down to the much smaller, older trees that made up the geography of this dungeon. If I squinted I could see various monsters living in the tree, but since they were so far away, I had no real way of climbing the tree without much effort.
I turned away from the giant tree and headed to the much smaller, but still big trees surrounding the giant one. Monsters posing as wildlife filled the forest, but most were not aggressive. That is until you attacked them.
The most abundant monster that Mat and I discovered in this dungeon was a small, brown bird the size of a chicken. It had small, beady eyes and, despite being a bird, it could not fly. At least as far as I could tell.
Mat had messed around with the bird, but the moment he injured one, the eyes turned red and all of the monsters in the area descended upon us. Although this would be a brilliant training exercise on how to defeat wave tactics, the sheer amount of monsters had led us to pick another dungeon to train Callie.
The bird-like creature from before had a long beak with nostrils at the end. Even when you hid behind a tree and left its line of sight, it was able to track you for long distances. They were almost the blood hound of the bird species.
Once a battle had started, you needed to kill all of the monsters in the area as they took this bird's lead to track you down, inciting all the local monsters to join their cause. It was troublesome.
Fortunately, if anyone were to find themself stuck and without the energy to defeat these unending creatures of annoying wave tactics, they could simply retreat back to the giant tree and place their hand upon it. They would then be teleported out of the dungeon.
Mat and I had retreated to the base of the giant tree and leaned our hands against it to catch our breath. It was very surprising to end up back in the white room. We had moved on after that, but now I was going to use the endless wave tactics to test my endurance.
I poked one of the bumbling birds and watched as its eyes turned to red and a loud cry of indignation escaped its beak. The hunt was on. Several glowing, red eyes were upon me as I escaped to a safe distance near the giant tree.