Perhaps because the scenery changed so drastically.
My overly simplified thoughts rapidly regain color.
"Those vines... could they be edible? Hm?"
Something is coming.
"Bo... bo, bohyooo~..."
A floating sphere.
A one-eyed monster.
A huge golden eyeball.
The deep golden part that seems to be the pupil moves busily.
Multiple arms grow from the spherical body.
The arms resemble human ones.
Bushuuu...
It sprays acid from protrusions scattered across its body.
So monsters inhabit this place too.
"Hyo o, gyo, ooo o o—!"
The monster suddenly emits a high-pitched sound.
Like feedback or howling.
Probably its cry.
The single eye begins twitching finely.
Multiple arms wrap around ring-shaped magic circles.
Like ill-fitting bracelets.
Similar to what the goddess used to stop Oyamada and Yasu's fight.
"[Paralyze]"
I strike first.
"[Poison]"
Crackle!
Zap!
"Bo yo!"
Intense electricity surges through the one-eyed body repeatedly.
Its magic seems to have backfired.
Same as when the lizardman's head exploded.
"Gi, gyu, i... —"
Smoke rises as the monster rolls its eyes back.
"O, ge, e, e—..."
I wait for its death.
The first [Paralyze] gauge is nearly depleted.
"[Sleep]"
The monster closes its eye.
After a while, it dies from poison.
[Level up.]
[LV 957 → LV 961]
Still rising.
"This..."
If there's no cap at 999, LV 1000+ might be possible?
I survey the area.
"For now, let's check around here."
I begin exploring nearby while staying alert.
I do not know how far the surface is.
It would be good to secure a base where I can sleep.
I discover several door-like structures in the ruins area.
But they are firmly closed.
Pushing or pulling does nothing.
No handles for sliding either.
"Hm? This gem—"
I notice.
I recall the leather pouch gem.
"Does it want mana infusion?"
I decide to try infusing mana.
The gem gauge fills.
Oh, right...
"Status open."
I display my status.
MP: +31345 / 31713
This way I can monitor MP reduction while infusing.
I can see how much MP fills the gauge.
The gauge fills completely.
From the rate—about 1500 MP needed.
The door begins fine vibrations.
It slides open left and right.
I step in cautiously.
"About eight tatami mats in size."
Stone chairs and tables catch my eye.
Some crude furniture too.
Rough cloth is spread on the floor.
Perhaps former residents slept here?
The room is empty.
I sit on a chair.
"Ahh, this feels nice..."
The sensation of "sitting on a chair" after so long...
I truly realize I'm a civilized person.
"Now then."
I stand and go to the door.
The gem has lost color.
I display status again.
I try infusing about 1500 MP into the gem.
With fine vibration, the door closes.
"I see."
Opening and closing each require mana.
I infuse mana once more.
The door opens, and I exit.
I decide to check other rooms.
The second room is empty.
Same rough stone furniture.
The third is the same.
Up to the seventh room, familiar scenes continue.
But the eighth is different.
There are two skeletons—former people.
"This far into the ruins area... some discarded heroes made it."
Both wear clothes and light armor.
Quite old.
From clothing and build, likely one male and one female.
From which era of discarded heroes?
The two skeletons sit side by side against the wall.
As if leaning on each other.
Their hands are clasped.
They must have fled here barely alive.
Monsters outside.
Going out means death.
Unable to leave,
No water or food,
They chose to die together.
No signs of struggle in the room.
They accepted dying together.
"...You two are pretty impressive."
I speak to them before searching their belongings.
Rustle rustle
No time for sentiment.
I need anything useful.
I might end up like this if I die.
With slight reluctance, I search.
The sword propped nearby has chipped blades.
The staff is broken, crystal damaged.
"...No good."
Clothes—I have my uniform and cloak, sufficient.
Familiar clothing is easier to move in.
Hygiene-wise, similar condition.
Hm?
I notice a small pouch in a pocket.
I take it out—heavy.
I check inside.
"Gems?"
Blue shining stones fill the pouch.
Some silver coin-like pieces too.
Might be exchangeable on the surface.
Hopefully from an era where silver coins are valid...
Anyway, anything with monetary value is welcome.
Money is necessary in any world.
I speak to the two skeletons.
"Sorry, but I'm taking these."
I store the gem pouch in my uniform inner pocket.
But... this confirms one important thing.
These rooms probably become safe zones when closed with mana.
The monsters around here likely cannot infuse mana.
Or do not know it opens that way.
Anyway, I may have finally secured a sleeping place.
Thanks to the pouch, food and water supply seems stable.
"Using this as a base for leveling isn't bad..."
While planning ahead, I resume exploring the ruins area.
▽
During exploration, I encounter the one-eyed sphere monster again.
It has not noticed me yet.
I release [Paralyze] from behind a ruin building.
Followed by [Poison].
When the paralysis gauge is nearly gone, [Sleep].
Before the second combo cycle, the monster dies.
[Level up.]
Good—MP full again.
My own level rises only due to the abnormal experience amount here.
I understand that.
I want to raise it as much as possible before reaching the surface.
However... skill levels hardly rise.
Well, given the broken performance, slow growth is acceptable.
Perhaps skill levels do not rise easily anyway.
Each main level up dramatically improves performance.
I resume ruins exploration.
I confirm twenty-four rooms total.
Arrangement seems regular.
If following the pattern, that's all.
I choose an empty room as my base.
I take a short rest.
After resting in the base room, I stand.
"All right, let's begin."
Leveling.
Thus I start leveling in the ruins area.
This area seems inhabited by the one-eyed monsters.
I continue targeting solitary ones and killing them.
About half a day since starting the hunt.
The one-eyed monsters stop appearing.
I return to base once and check the pouch gem.
Color has not returned yet.
After confirming, I leave the room and head one layer down.
With usual skill combo, I kill monsters there.
After a while, that area too runs out.
I return to base.
The pouch gem color has returned.
That day's meal: block-shaped nutritional supplement and 500 ml bottled oolong tea.
Nutritional supplement is very welcome right now.
Familiar packaging from my original world.
For a brief moment, makes me forget I'm in another world.
"Fruit flavor, huh."
I surprisingly like these.
Crunch.
First, lightly crush with back teeth.
Slightly moist cookie-like texture.
"Crunch, crunch... crumble, crumble..."
The block flakes in my mouth.
Soft unique sweetness spreads.
Faint sweetness passes through my nose too.
But my mouth gets slightly dry here.
I immediately pour oolong tea.
"Gulp, gulp... nmu... puhaa."
Refreshing oolong tea washes my mouth.
Different coolness from cola...
Different satisfaction from jerky & cola.
"...Fuu."
To put it mildly... the best.
I stop oolong tea at about half.
Finished the nutritional supplement, but saving the tea.
I stuff the bottle into the pouch.
For now, putting trash in the pouch.
Surprisingly elastic—still room.
Probably magic item properties?
Material seems durable too...
With throat and stomach satisfied, I decide to continue.
▽
I keep climbing upward single-mindedly.
Climb, climb, climb.
I encountered monsters several times along the way.
Here, the standard rules I know about "dungeons" do not apply.
Normally, stronger monsters appear in lower layers.
But in these ruins, the monsters do not get weaker as I go up.
Rather, they seem stronger than Minotaurs or bird heads.
Why?
Because my level keeps rising.
The rate of level increase has slowed.
Probably because the required experience is increasing.
But even so, my level continues to rise little by little.
If I killed the same number of Minotaurs or bird heads, it probably would not keep rising like this...
"E, e, hyogo e e—!"
A monster with a horse lower body and insectivorous plant-like upper body appears from the darkness.
It lets out a strange cry and charges toward me.
At first glance, it looks comical.
Which makes it conversely creepy.
"O goge! Ge e! Go ge hiii! O, ge!"
It spits acid like vomit from its mouth-like part.
It definitely—holds killing intent too.
Do not be fooled by the bizarre appearance.
"[Paralyze]"
It is properly coming to kill me.
"[Poison]"
"[Sleep]"
I keep killing, killing, killing.
I do not neglect to periodically check the leather pouch gem's color.
When I confirm it has returned to yellowish-green, I immediately infuse mana.
The third gift is yakisoba bread and a pack of vegetable juice.
The long-awaited vitamin supplement.
Who should I thank?
I gratefully accept it.
After finishing the meal, I continue forward again.
I walk, walk, walk.
After a long time doing the same thing, my thinking starts to dull.
My monologues have decreased too.
I start feeling slight itchiness on my head and body.
Green tea could wash it if possible?
But I cannot use precious green tea for hair or body washing.
For sleep, when I found a side cave, I took a nap there.
The several bone fragments I brought in the pouch.
Dragon zombie bones.
I place them near the side cave.
So I can move anytime.
But I was ambushed only once.
That time, the bone alarm device did its job.
I killed the attacking monster and leveled up.
I continued aiming upward.
I move my feet toward the surface.
Whenever I spot a monster emitting killing intent, I kill it.
I periodically check the pouch's condition.
I repeated the same actions.
My thinking becomes simpler and simpler.
I think nothing.
I feel nothing.
I become paralyzed.
My thoughts, my emotions...
Just how long did I walk?
"..."
I look up.
I have finally reached that place.
"This is—"
Clearly different scenery from before.
Yellowish-brown buildings overgrown with vines.
There must have been a civilization here long ago.
"The ruins area, huh."