"Yeah, that makes sense."
I spent the day practicing how to cloak myself in darkness to sneak out at night, and before I knew it, the sun had set.
As the streets grew emptier, I headed to the gate, only to find it closed.
"Yeah, yeah. Of course, they'd close it. What's the point of a gate otherwise?"
What should I do now?
...For now, I'll head back to my hideout. The number of shady-looking people seems to have increased at night, and according to Raymond's memories, he rarely went out at night. It must be dangerous.
"Alright. I'll go back, organize my memories, and sleep for today."
Looking back, today was quite eventful. My body is still a child's, so I need to rest properly when I can, or I won't be able to move when it matters.
Oh. Now that I think about it, my body feels heavy all of a sudden.
I hurried back to my slum hideout and immediately fell asleep.
---
"The sewers, huh?"
The next day, I woke up hungry.
By the way, my "hideout" is just an abandoned house I've taken over. It's close enough to the main streets that slum dwellers avoid it, and the people from the main streets don't come near it either.
So, I've gratefully made it my home.
While organizing my memories before bed last night, I learned that this city has sewers. Well, Raymond's memories are limited, so there wasn't much to organize, but it makes sense for a city of this size to have sewers.
Apparently, the sewers are home to rat-like monsters and slimes.
I gnawed on some dried meat while thinking.
The sewers are accessible from the slums, and rats and slimes don't seem too strong. This seems like the perfect place to fight monsters.
"If that's the case, let's head there right away. I'll figure out what to do after I get stronger."
From what I've seen of the people in this city, they don't seem very strong. If I can kill a few monsters and raise my level and stats, I should be able to take over the underworld in no time.
With that optimistic thought, I cheerfully headed to the sewers.
---
"Ugh! Gross!"
I underestimated it. The smell is unbearable. I already want to turn back. It's dim, and visibility is terrible.
"Should I use Light Magic to purify the air? No, no, my magic power is already limited. I'll endure it for now and use it on the way out."
I'm not even sure if I can use purification magic. So far, I've only been using the magic manipulation and imagery drilled into my head. I need to start practicing magic properly from today.
"Oh, I should also check if I can still use magic after changing jobs."
I think I can manage since I know how to do it. If it works, I'd like to switch to a more useful job.
Well, for now, I'll focus on finding and fighting monsters. Overthinking won't help, and I'm just a kid with one body. There's only so much I can do at once.
---
After enduring the smell and walking for five minutes, I found my first monster.
"Oh? Is this a slime? I thought it'd be cuter, like a squishy blob."
You know, like in *Dragon Quest* or light novels where the protagonist tames one as a familiar.
Reality isn't so kind. It looks more like an amoeba.
☆★☆★☆★
『Name』 None
『Age』 4
『Race』 Slime
『Level』 6/20
『HP』 E/E
『MP』 E/D
『Attack』 F/E
『Defense』 D/D
『Speed』 G/F
『Intelligence』 G/F
『Dexterity』 G/F
『Blessing』 None
『Occupation』 Cleaner
『Attribute』 None, Water
☆★☆★☆★
"Hmm. The display is the same for monsters and humans."
That's helpful. The question is whether a monster's G-rank is the same as a human's G-rank.
Well, I'll test that when I have more time. For now, this is my first monster battle, and I don't want to experiment on myself.
"Dark Ball."
I don't think I can handle close combat. I have the dagger I took from the man I killed, but I have this image that slimes dissolve whatever touches them.
If I can use magic, I'll use it.
To avoid wasting magic power, I made the black orb smaller than the one I used on the man.
I launched the black orb at the slime.
The slime and the orb collided, and the slime burst and disappeared.
"Is it... dead?"
No level change. I used Appraisal on the spot where the slime was, but no status appeared.
"Well, if I leveled up from killing one slime, life wouldn't be so hard."
I'll keep searching and killing more. I'd like to find some rats too. I'm not sure if this counts as combat experience, but I won't worry about the details. For now, I just want to level up.
"Since I made the spell smaller, I can still use magic a few more times. I need to save some for the way back."
---
After about three hours, I think I killed around 50 slimes and one rat. The rat's stats were similar to the slime's, but its Speed had a cap of C.
"I couldn't hit the rat at all. It's too small and fast."
I wasted a lot of magic trying to hit it. I could've hunted more monsters if I hadn't run low on magic.
"After all that, I only leveled up once. No stat changes either. It looks like it'll take a while to get stronger."
Oh, and there were drops? Well, the rat's corpse was left behind, so I'll need to dismantle it. The slimes dropped small stone-like objects.
Appraisal says they're magic stones. They're used as energy for magic tools or crafting weapons.
Just like in light novels. It's easy to understand, which is good. I'd be in trouble if it were more complicated. I've only read relatively straightforward light novels.
"Should I dismantle the rat?"
For now, eating it isn't an option. Who knows what kind of bacteria it's carrying.
But I'd like to retrieve the magic stone it probably has. I'll keep it for when I can sell it later.
"Ugh. This is disgusting."
Even though I've killed a person, I'm not cut out for dismantling. I half-closed my eyes and tried not to look as I used the dagger I took from the man to dig into the corpse and search for the magic stone.
"Got it. Time to head back."
My magic power is running low, and the smell is unbearable. I thought I'd get used to it, but it feels like my sense of smell is getting sharper. Give me a break.