Before going to the Labyrinth, I stopped by the commercial area and learned how to choose the items needed for dungeon exploration. Since magic tools are expensive, I went with items that a beginner explorer could afford. Flint, dry goods, a leather water pouch, a torch, some oil, and even the lowest-level potions…
Later on, I learned that you can buy a backpack that's expensive but has a lightweight enchantment… but it was too expensive for me.
"Today, we're going to camp in the labyrinth."
Just as I thought that it wouldn't be a one-day thing, Alencia said that we would be camping in the labyrinth often from now on.
And before entering the labyrinth, the message I had been waiting for appeared.
You have overcome the poison combined with the labyrinth's magic without an antidote! As an achievement effect, you acquire the skill [Poison Resistance Lv. 1].
-[Poison Resistance Lv. 1]: You become slightly resistant to all poisons.
Including the [Swordsmanship] skill from before, I've already obtained two skills in one day. It feels like I'm finally receiving a reward for standing still for three years!
Honestly, my trust was a little dashed when I heard that only one person had succeeded so far, but fortunately, it really worked, and I successfully obtained the [Poison Resistance] skill.
Of course, Alencia was delighted.
"The number of people who have acquired the [Poison Resistance] skill through that otherworlder has increased! Now that method has been proven once again, the Labyrinth Association will no longer punish me for providing the same training to other trainees in the future!"
Oh… I feel sorry for the trainees who will receive training after me!
At least I acquired the [Poison Resistance] skill, right?
***
It seems that Alencia's words that she would watch my swordsmanship during the training period were not a lie, as today's training was a bit more substantial. She gave me advice on swordsmanship in between training related to the Labyrinth. My skill level didn't actually go up, but I felt that my swordsmanship was improving little by little. If this continued, I thought that my [Swordsmanship] skill level would go up by the end of the training period.
The training became that much harder, but fortunately, I was able to endure it. However, Alencia was still a little crazy…
"To train poison resistance, you have to eat poison. In particular, if you endure it with your bare body without an antidote, you can gain even more skill experience points!"
At this point, I wondered if Alencia just liked seeing me suffer because she kept offering me poison. Honestly, I could just use [Sensory Block] to get away with things like the itchiness, but I couldn't with poisons that caused extreme pain or gave me severe diarrhea.
My [Sensory Block] couldn't block those things. Instead, I took poisons whose effects could be suppressed by [Sensory Block]. Of course, [Sensory Block] can only block one sense at a time, so I only took poisons that had one symptom.
I took a poison that made me itchy and irritated like yesterday, a poison that made my tongue go numb, a poison that caused hallucinations... The poison that caused hallucinations was especially strange. A 'hallucination' is a phenomenon where you don't actually feel something but think you do, so when I tried to block the 'hallucinations' with [Sensory Block], the effect disappeared altogether.
Surely, 'hallucination' itself is classified as a sense; the two are clearly different... Well, I have no intention of nitpicking since the skill is like that. There are many strange skills in the first place, but 'hallucination' is classified as a 'sensation.'
I thought hallucinations weren't working at all, so I ate something that was a bit toxic, and [Sensory Block] didn't work then. I ate the antidote in shock and only ate the weak poisons. Just learning a new way to use my skills was a big gain. Alencia, next to me, was surprised, thinking, 'Surely he can't resist auditory and visual hallucinations…!' but I had no intention of telling her anything about my skill.
Anyway, after learning about the labyrinth, being taught about the sword, and eating all kinds of poison, it was already time to camp. When you're in the labyrinth, you lose track of time, so Alencia said it would be good to carry a watch.
I should buy one later...
"I'll be the night watchman."
"Sure?"
We were pitching a small tent in a place that looked decent enough, lighting a fire, and getting ready when Alencia suddenly said something.
"When camping in a labyrinth, you must set up a watch and sleep. Other explorers may appear, and monsters may appear."
"No, I understand the need for night duty, but…"
I had been on night duty in the military when I was on Earth, so I wasn't too worried about it. However, I wanted to ask if there was something else.
"Don't you have to take turns on night duty?"
"Yes. But trainee Ian. Didn't you have trouble sleeping yesterday because of the poison? You must have been tired from following my instructions today. I'll do night duty so you can rest."
It was sweet talk. I certainly had trouble sleeping yesterday, and I was exhausted from continuously taking poison and detoxifying it and from receiving training while maintaining tension in the labyrinth.
Still, I wouldn't let her do night duty alone. I've been in the military, so I know how painful it is to do night duty, and it must be hard for her as an instructor, too. More importantly…
"Why are you being all nice to me all of a sudden? I thought you'd make me do night duty, considering the thorough training you've given me so far."
I had her make me fight goblins in real combat, feed me poison to build up my tolerance for poison, and even make me carry all my luggage, giving me practical training, but she's only going to be considerate enough to let me rest?
"In the first place, if you're the only one keeping guard at night, there's no point in camping, right? If I'm going to rest anyway, I'll just go outside the labyrinth back to your house."
In the first place, if I was going to take the night duty off because she's considerate of my fatigue, it'd be more efficient to go outside rather than camping in the labyrinth.
Alencia thought for a moment, then nodded and seemed convinced by what I said.
"Understood. Then let's split up the night shift between the two of us."
To be honest, I said it because I wanted to sleep in a comfortable bed… but since she had accepted, that didn't seem like a possibility. If we come to the labyrinth in the future, I'll be standing guard often. There's no need to avoid it.
I'm also thinking that if I continue to train as hard as I can, Alencia might teach me even more things.
"Then, I'll take the night shift first so Lady Alencia can rest…"
"No, I'll take the first night shift."
Right now, it's my first time camping in the labyrinth, so I don't think I'll be able to fall asleep right away. But it seemed Alencia really wanted the first night shift for some reason. Does she like taking the night shift first?
Strangely, I remembered my senior from my military days when we changed the night shift times and asked without realizing it.
"Is there a reason why you want to take the night shift first?"
"…Um, it's not really a big reason."
"Me, no. Elves are usually weak to sleep."
"Weak to sleep?"
"Yeah. You know that elves have long lifespans, right? That's why elves are generally easygoing. Not all of them are like that… Anyway, because of that, elves used to sleep a lot, and maybe because of that, most elves sleep a lot, and it is hard to wake up. Once we fall asleep, we're difficult to wake up."
"Despite that, don't you wake up early in the morning?"
"I've tried to change my habits so I can wake up at the times I usually wake up… But other than that, I sleep so deeply that I wouldn't wake up even if someone tried."
"If someone wakes me up."
"Um… isn't that a bit dangerous?"
"In the past, if there was an elf in your party, there were cases where they tried to rape a sleeping elf. Fortunately, elves are sensitive to malice, so if you approach them with impure intentions rather than simply trying to wake them up, they'll wake up right away. Anyway, that's why I said I'd stand guard first."
"If I fall asleep first, it'll be hard for you to wake me up when you take turns."
…
Is that it? In the past, there were people who were particularly bad at waking up, even during night guard duty. Is that what it feels like?
"Well, okay. Then I'll go to sleep first, so wake me up when it's time."
"Okay. I'll wake you up in 4 hours."
With the fact that 'elves are too weak to sleep' in a corner of my head, I went into the small tent and tried to sleep.
Just how weak to sleep must they be to say something like that… I wondered.