Dungeon Survival Chapter 2

 Chapter 2: New Registration

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Five Days Before the Opening

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New registration, huh. This had to be that registration with the dungeon's system I'd been gathering information about beforehand.

My vision had been wrapped in some mysterious white light ever since I'd passed through the dimensional hole. Whichever way I looked, ahead or behind, there was nothing but this strange, exitless space.

I had no idea what I was supposed to do but for the time being, I tried shouting inside my own head: 『I'll register!』

『Your intent to register with the Dungeon has been confirmed. New registration will now proceed. Please remain as you are for a moment.』

My thought seemed to have gotten through. What came back was some bureaucratic-sounding stock phrase and then I was left waiting a while. During that time, a strange sensation ran through me, like my own body was being searched, or maybe it wasn't.

After a moment, a voice came through announcing that registration was complete.

『Registration complete. Please check your Status at a terminal, installed either at the dungeon entrance or the entrance and exit of each floor. Now then, 『Uesugi Shima-sama』. We welcome your challenge.』

That same suspiciously rehearsed-sounding welcome rang out once more and with that, my vision was finally freed from the wall of white. What dimly swam into focus was a corridor with earthen stone walls, floor, and ceiling, exactly the kind of scenery you'd expect from any typical 3D dungeon game. Looking back the way I'd come, there was a round dimensional hole, same as the one I'd stepped through to get here. I hadn't been too worried, since there were people who'd made it back out before me, but it was still a relief to confirm that getting home really was possible.

「...Guess first things first is checking my Status.」

Keeping my excitement over the picture-perfect dungeon scenery to a minimum for now, I went looking, as instructed, for this terminal supposedly installed somewhere down here. The terminal turned up right away. Sitting there, out of place against the dungeon's architecture, was a screen like some kind of floating hologram, glowing faintly in midair.

「A touchscreen, huh?」

I touched what looked like the screen's flat surface and with a dull buzz, the terminal powered on.

『Good morning. Connection from a newly registered user confirmed.』

「Whoa. It talks.」

『Please follow the on-screen guidance to proceed. If you have any questions, feel free to ask aloud, or by telepathy.』

With that, the terminal fell silent and displayed a list of options. The screen showed the following:

【Status】

【Level Up】

【Skill Acquisition】

【Job Acquisition】

【Item Purchase】

【Item Turn-In】

Not much had ever leaked out about most of these so I didn't know the details. Every option had me curious but for now I tapped 【Status Check】, the whole reason I'd come here in the first place.

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【Status】

Uesugi Shima

Novice (Jobless)

Level 1

EP Held: 0

HP: 32/32

CP: 29/29

Strength: 8

Magic: 10

Vitality: 7

Speed: 8

Luck: 9

【Skills Owned】

None

【Equipped Skills】

None

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Yeah. No clue whether that's strong or weak. About all I can tell for now is that I've probably got a decent amount of something magic-related.

On the flip side, I don't seem to have much in the way of any kind of toughness so this is probably a back-line-leaning build.

「If I had to pick, going in solo like this, I kind of wish I leaned more front-line, honestly.」

Not that grumbling about it was going to change the stats I'd already been measured with. There were things that bugged me but I closed the Status screen for now and decided to check the other options too.

──────

【Level Up】

EP Held: 0

The EP required to reach Level 2 is 10.

【Skill Acquisition】

EP Held: 0

There are currently no skills available to acquire.

【Job Acquisition】

EP Held: 0

Job acquisition unlocks starting at Level 10.

【Item Purchase】

EP Held: 0

There are currently no items available for purchase.

【Item Turn-In】

EP Held: 0

You currently possess no items eligible for turn-in.

──────

Yeah. Guess there's nothing I can do. I'd gone ahead and tapped through each option but all I'd really learned was that my EP was sitting at zero and there was nothing I could actually do right now. Getting this far, even I couldn't help but wonder.

Just what exactly was EP, anyway?

From what I'd looked into beforehand, I was pretty sure it was something like the points you got for beating monsters so that was probably it, but still. No harm in double-checking, though.

「Mind if I ask a question? What exactly is this EP thing?」

Figuring the terminal was there for exactly this kind of trouble, I tried calling out to it.

『Question confirmed. Beginning explanation of EP.』

The terminal answered my question, running footage on the screen as it explained.

『EP refers to the points all of you need in order to strengthen yourselves. It is a numerical representation of the energy used to modify your own body or craft items and it can be earned by defeating monsters or turning in dropped items.』

As it spoke, the terminal played footage of someone slashing a goblin with a sword, EP flowing from the goblin into the person afterward, followed by footage of a dropped item being turned in at a terminal and broken down into points.

『The EP required to level up increases with each level gained. Acquiring more powerful skills or jobs also requires greater amounts of EP.』

In other words, it was probably something like an experience point with a lot of different uses. Just as I'd wrapped my head around that, a further clarification came in.

『As a point of caution: EP cannot be taken outside the dungeon. Should any unspent EP remain, it will automatically convert into an EP Crystal upon leaving the dungeon. Please be aware that this conversion is irreversible.』

Something in there felt like it wasn't something I could just let slide. Sure, from what I'd looked up beforehand, I had heard something about leftover points being convertible into an energy resource. But nobody had said anything about that conversion being mandatory.

「So you're saying the EP needed to level up has to be earned within a single dungeon run?」

『That is correct.』

「I see, huh...」

Rough as that sounded, I could also kind of see what whoever designed this had in mind. They probably didn't want people leveling up by farming weak monsters forever.

No telling exactly how long a single dungeon run was supposed to take but it was obvious enough that sooner or later, the EP you'd get from weak enemies would stop matching up with what leveling up demanded. The message was probably something like: dive deeper if you want to get stronger or just grab whatever resources you can and head home.

Information that seemed to back that up came next, when I asked about 【Status】. The meaning behind each stat apparently went something like this.

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HP: Absorbs damage taken by its target until it hits 0. HP recovers by using a recovery item, or naturally over time.

CP: Mainly used for equipping passive skills and for using active skills. CP recovers by using a recovery item, or naturally over time.

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HP and CP — probably something like MP — seemed like they'd take a while to recover. Unless you were ready to hole up in the dungeon overnight, there was no way to keep farming experience off weak enemies forever.

The rest, things like Strength and Magic, worked pretty much how you'd expect so I'll skip over those. If I had to add anything, it sounded like Strength and Vitality factored into HP, while Magic and Luck factored into CP.

Summing up everything else I found out by asking around:

- Skills get added to your list once you meet their acquisition requirements and can be learned by spending EP.

- Passive skills cost Max CP to equip while active skills cost Current CP each time they're used.

- At Level 10, you can take on any Job whose requirements you meet. Purchased Jobs can be swapped freely but past Level 10, leveling is tracked separately for each Job.

- The lineup of purchasable items grows based on the items you've turned in and the monsters you've defeated.

The fact that passive skills specifically demanded Max CP as their cost seemed like it could be a real bottleneck. Stack everything into stats like some brainless powerhouse and your CP would end up so tight you couldn't use active skills at all. Lean the other way, toward active skills and your base stats would end up pretty weak instead.

Lucky for me, passive skills could apparently be swapped freely so as long as I didn't mind burning through EP, I could experiment with different builds.

By that point, I'd pretty much learned everything I wanted to know for now so, feeling more like I was tossing out a 「well, if you can」than actually expecting an answer, I gave it one more shot.

「Could you tell me about the monsters and gimmicks that show up in this dungeon?」

The terminal took just a beat before answering my question.

『Information on clearing this dungeon will be unlocked progressively, in step with your own progress. For now, see for yourself with your own eyes. Mister. This is your adventure.』