"Let's head down the stairs."
"First, let's use Detect Anomaly."
There were no red flashes visible anywhere on the stairs. However, the bottom of the stairs was completely obscured from view. We descended the stairs leading to the lower levels of the dungeon, with me walking two steps ahead of Lily.
As soon as we started down, Lily cast a light spell, so I tucked the lantern away.
The stairs were made of solid stone, just like those in the previous dungeons. They were about four meters wide, offering plenty of space. Though the ceiling rose to just over three meters at its highest, the incline made the descent feel quite steep, leaving little room to spare.
"I can't see what's ahead, but these stairs seem pretty deep," I remarked.
I doubted it was due to miasma, but the bottom of the stairs was shrouded in haze, completely obscuring our view.
"Yeah, we're at forty steps now. Do you think there are around a hundred? Maybe even more?"
"There's no choice but to keep walking, but we can always use Transfer to get back, so let's press on."
"Yes."
From that point, I descended what felt like about a hundred steps, but the bottom of the staircase remained out of sight. I was probably already submerged in the fog I had first encountered, but I felt fine, so I decided to think of the mist as mere theatrics, not a noxious gas.
"Isn't it long?"
"I'm at 150 steps now."
"Even descending stairs is pretty tiring. Lily, give me a stamina potion."
I handed Lily a stamina potion and took one for myself as well.
"So, I just drink this?"
"This should help relieve your fatigue and boost your energy."
*Gulp, gulp.*
"Wow! It really works; my leg fatigue is gone. So this is a stamina potion. When I had the healing potion earlier, I didn't feel anything, but now I somehow feel like I could use some stamina magic."
"When you had the healing potion, your body wasn't in distress, so you didn't notice its effects. This time, since you were tired, you could recognize the difference, making it easier for you to visualize the magic."
"That makes sense."
"If there are still a hundred steps to go, cast your stamina magic on me."
"Sure."
...
After nearly a hundred more steps with the stamina potion fueling me, Lily cast a stamina spell on me. It helped a lot, but without it, I would have struggled. Who was it that said this dungeon was designed kindly?
Looking back at the staircase from below, it was still shrouded in haze. What could be causing that? Perhaps the dungeon is designed to obscure distant views, adding variety to encounters with monsters.
When I finally reached the bottom of the stairs, I asked Lily how many steps there were, and she said it was 300. As we descended, she occasionally muttered something about detecting, counting perfectly while casting her spell.
Throughout the descent, the red flickering lights never appeared, suggesting that the stairs were generally safe and free of traps. Nonetheless, it's wise to remain cautious should we encounter more stairs in the future.
The fact that the staircase had exactly 300 steps implies that whoever constructed this dungeon likely used a base-10 counting system. If it was a creature with limbs, there's a high chance it resembled a human with ten fingers. I found myself indulging in a rather pointless anthropological reflection, questioning whether it held any significance.
Upon reaching the second layer, we entered another stone chamber similar to the one at the bottom of the staircase. While the initial stone room was quite spacious, this one was similarly sized.
Before stepping onto the stone floor, Lily cast her detection spell from the stairs toward the room, but again, no red lights appeared. We entered the chamber, and the light above us continued to shine brightly over Lily's head without fading.
The difference between this stone chamber and the one above is that this new chamber has eight doors—two on each of the four walls.
"No matter which door we choose to open, if we don't map it out, we'll soon lose track of where we are."
In games, automatic mapping is standard and room sizes are consistent, making it easy. However, in real dungeons, room dimensions and the widths and lengths of corridors aren't neatly defined, which complicates things.
"I wish there was an easier way to map this out. Lily, do you have any good ideas?"
"Mapping means creating a map, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, if we're talking about maps, we have to measure things systematically. I guess that makes me feel like Inō Tadataka."
While it's true, I never expected a reference to Inō Tadataka in this fantasy world. Lily's earnestness is commendable, but I'd prefer a smarter way to get through this.
Is there a quick skill to create a map?
*Ding!*
Oh, here it is! A translucent blue board appeared before me, displaying:
"Would you like to spend 1 skill point to acquire automatic mapping? Yes or No?"
Given that we're diving into a dungeon, it's definitely a skill worth having.
So, I selected "Yes."
"You have acquired automatic mapping by spending 1 skill point. You now have 24 skill points remaining."
Just to be sure, I assessed my own character:
Name: Zenjiro Iwanaga
Age: 27
Occupation: Alchemist, Transference Practitioner
Skills: Alchemy: Level Max, Item Box: Level Max, Transference: Level Max, Staff Technique: Level 3, Appraisal, Second Job Selection, Auto-Mapping
It turned out I indeed possessed the Auto-Mapping skill. It likely meant that maps would be automatically created as I gained skills. While this was convenient, I had no idea how to view these maps just yet. But, I figured I'd figure it out eventually.
"Lily, it seems like mapping will work out," I said.
"?"
"I got a skill called Auto-Mapping, so it should be fine. I don't know how to use it yet, but worst case, I can always use Transference to return to a spot I like."
Lily looked puzzled, but it was a bit complicated, so I decided against explaining further.
"Let's try opening the door on the right."
I took out my staff, which I had stowed away while descending the stairs, from the Item Box and placed my hand on the door in front of me.
As I opened the door, I found another stone chamber measuring about ten meters square, featuring additional doors in the center of the front and side walls. Essentially, every wall in this room had a door. The walls, floor, and ceiling emitted a faint natural glow, so even in the shadows cast by Lily's light behind me, I could see without issue.
"Detect anomaly!"
Lily quickly cast the spell, but there were no abnormalities in the room or at the door.
"It's just a regular room. If I lose my sense of direction in here, it could be a hassle since there's nothing to use as a landmark."
"True. So, how about the auto-mapping feature?"
"I don't know yet. Though, I think I can see an 'N' appear above my view. By my gaming instincts, it seems like a HUD direction indicator."
As I tried to verify the direction indicator, I clearly saw the 'N' pointing the same way. When I turned around, an 'S' appeared, just as I expected. That meant I should be able to display the map by pressing 'M'. However, my mind wasn't connected to any smartphone or computer, so instead of pressing 'M', I said, "Map."
As anticipated, two squares appeared in my lower right field of vision. In the smaller square, there was a triangle, and in the larger square, an upward arrow. The squares represented the chamber, the triangle showed my position and orientation, and the upward arrow probably indicated a staircase.
Just to test it, I returned to the staircase room. The staircase icon overlapped with the triangle. The display was a bit small, making it somewhat inconvenient, but it would likely suffice as my exploration range expanded.
"Which way should we go next?"
"How about heading straight as far as we can?"
"I didn't check the first level properly, so let's do that to gauge the size of this dungeon. Alright, I'll open the next door."
I pushed open the door in front of me. This room, like the previous one, had doors on all sides, but in the center was a single treasure chest.
"Detect Anomaly!"
With Lily's magic, the treasure chest inside began to flash red.
"Identify Trap.
It doesn't seem to be a trap. Now, let's see if there are any changes with Knock. Knock!"
Lily cast the Knock spell, but the chest continued to blink red.
"What could this be? If there's a keyhole, maybe I can use the skeleton key to open it."
As I stepped closer to examine the chest, its lid suddenly flew open, and at the same moment, the chest leaped toward me.
Caught off guard, I managed to thrust my staff forward just in time, striking the chest before it reached me.
"It's a mimic disguised as a treasure chest!"
I gripped my staff with both hands and slammed it down onto the chest, which had fallen over. The staff crushed the chest, and a red, blood-like substance began to ooze from the broken remains. Eventually, the chest shrank into a shapeless black mass.
"Is that a Mimic?"
"It's a monster that disguises itself as something familiar, waiting to ambush those who approach unsuspectingly. I don't actually know if its true name is 'Mimic,' though."
"There are Goblins too, but I never imagined there could be such strange monsters."
"In the case of Mimics, they might only exist within dungeons. But if one appeared outside, it would be even more troublesome than inside a dungeon."
"I wish I could have at least figured out if it was alive, but I'm sorry."
"Don't worry, Lily. Your detection skills alerted us to its anomaly, so we were cautious. If we hadn't known, I would have ended up approaching it to look for a keyhole. Thanks for that. Do you think this black corpse might be useful? It could serve as an alchemical material, so I'll hang onto it for now."
I stored the corpse of what looked like a Mimic in my item box. Lily made a disgusted expression, but the item box seems to have unlimited capacity for now, and it shouldn't leak any goo or odors, so there's no need to worry. Still, I often take out food from the item box, which might make her uneasy. I don't mind at all, as I'm the one who owns the item box. But I suppose for anyone else, it would be concerning. Come to think of it, I avoided the mummy that got caught by the spider, so I can't claim to be completely unaffected by it either. Just bear with it; it's a monster's corpse, not a human one.
"Let's move on," said Zenjiro.
"Yes," replied Lily.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
As Zenjiro and Lily began their exploration of the second layer of the temple-owned dungeon, a new notice was posted on the Adventurer's Guild bulletin board.
The notice read:
"We are seeking a few adventurers for escort duties to explore the Valen South Dungeon managed by Akina Temple." There were no further details, meaning interested individuals would need to inquire at the reception for more information.
It was common knowledge among Valen adventurers that Akina Temple owned its own dungeon, but it had never been opened to the public adventurers before. This time, the request was framed not as an exploration but as an "escort" position. While it seemed odd to have adventurers guarding temple soldiers, it was assumed that the objective was to hire those with experience in dungeon exploration.
To note, north of Valen lay the Valen Dungeon, accessible to adventurers, where many made their living. This dungeon has been explored down to the tenth layer, with the first to third layers fully mapped out. Conversely, exploration beyond the fourth layer remains incomplete. Unsurprisingly, the total number of layers in the Valen Dungeon remains a mystery.