NOVEL NEXT WORLD The Strongest Solo Gamer with Terrible Social Skills Reincarnates as a Hated NPC in a VRMMO Chapter 127
127: 15th Floor① Shouma
We easily found the transfer stone on the 12th floor. Along the way, we saw other explorers and those who came to “earn” a living. As a result, we didn’t encounter many monsters. The ones that appeared were quickly hunted down by the other explorers.
In that case, following the other explorers who went ahead, we could reach the transfer stone without much effort. It felt like a casual Sunday hike. We spent only 2 hours, and with just that little exploration, we updated our floor.
That’s the next one. And the one after that is the same.
I just walked silently, prioritizing movement over unnecessary conversations. Occasionally, one of the two would initiate a conversation, but we mostly kept quiet.
I’m grateful for that.
Before I knew it, we reached the 15th floor.
We departed at 8:20 am, and now it’s 5:30 pm. We’ve spent about 9 hours exploring and have reached this point, which is quite an achievement.
“Is this the destination? It was unexpectedly easy, wasn’t it?”
Touka says with a smirk, and I have to agree with her. Honestly, it’s been a breeze.
In the open grassland area, monsters won’t attack us as long as we don’t provoke them. We’ve encountered “Horn Rabbits” and “Big Boars” along the way, but we managed to avoid them easily.
The downside is that there are too many explorers on this floor. Everyone’s here for experience points and material gathering, even if their goals differ. In the original Legacy, monster respawns took 10 minutes, but that’s not the case here. Once you defeat them, they’re gone for good. I wonder how they reproduce, but at this rate, we might wipe out all the monsters on this floor soon.
As I walk, I can’t help but worry. Touka, on the other hand, is fascinated by the scenery around us, moving slightly more energetically than the silent Kusanagi.
“…Has Touka been to the 15th floor before?”
“No, but I’ve tagged along with others to transfer to higher floors. I think I can handle the monsters here on my own.”
Her assessment is correct.
Or rather, it’s because Touka’s level is high, thanks to being carried by other high-level explorers. There’s no way a level 20 explorer would struggle with 10th-floor enemies.
“That’s reassuring… I’d love to tell the others who are whining in bed…”
I say with sarcasm, cutting off the conversation. If what she says is true, we could’ve reduced the injuries in the class competition as well. God, Kinashi is almost becoming a wounded explorer…
Doesn’t it hurt…?
I imply that without saying it out loud.
“…By the way, I did try my best, didn’t I? In fact, Koume-chan only got lightly injured, and the problem was Durandal… too bad for Taichi-kun over there!”
“…”
“What’s going on?”
I ask the two, who are exchanging suspicious glances.
“…About this class competition. I exchanged information with Touka behind the scenes to avoid getting heavily injured.”
“You betrayed A team?”
“…Betrayal? Ha! I’m not part of their group, anyway. You know I’m a mixed-blood, right? I’m not going to be swayed by emotions in the organization I infiltrated.”
“What’s with that tone…!? If Taichi had sent us his location information earlier, we wouldn’t have had to take unnecessary risks!”
“Hah! You’re putting everything on me! I’m not joking… I was sending emails while sneaking around, avoiding the eyes of the Needleworkers! You’re the one who failed to utilize the information!”
“If I had gotten hurt…!? If I had gotten seriously injured and hospitalized!?”
“At that point, you would’ve been subjected to a thorough examination and discovered to be a mixed-blood! I would’ve been rid of you then! It would’ve been a good thing!”
“…Uh…”
“You’re the lowest! You were thinking that, weren’t you?! That’s why you could so easily abandon Sierra!”
“Anne…!! That’s a forbidden topic!”
“…Th-that’s…”
“What’s wrong with you?! You’re the one who started this, Durandal!”
“So what if I did…!! Don’t call me that name…!!”
“I said it first…!!”
“What’s going on…!!?”
“…Ah, it’s no use…”
With a loud “Doom” sound, the two of us are struck by the sudden attack of a boar-type monster, Big Boar, from behind.
…What are we even doing?
“…I’m going ahead.”
I let out a sigh and left the scene, but I couldn’t care less about the sounds of battle with monsters coming from behind me.
“Amateurs are like this…”
I muttered to myself and resumed my exploration. The Hachinosu trees start growing from this level. If possible, I’d like to obtain the golden ant honey today.
The surface of the trunk, shaped like a hexagon, was characteristic of the Hachinosu tree. It was easy to find, even after just a few steps. The yellow, oval-shaped tree had a distinctive appearance.
“Now, then…”
I took out a harvesting knife from my dimensional storage and began to peel the surface of the tree. A white, syrupy liquid flowed out. It looked exactly like that thing, but it didn’t have the scent of Japanese chestnut flowers. It was something different. I repeated the process of collecting the sap in a bottle.
After a few minutes had passed…
“Is that the golden ant honey?”
“…Huh? It’s that color?”
Touka and the others returned.
I wish they hadn’t come back…
“…This is the sap of the Hachinosu tree. The golden ant honey is made by processing this.”
Just in case, I also collected a spare sample. I could sell it to the tool shop in the exploration district for a decent price. I busied myself with the task.
“Can that be used for something else?”
“It’s sap, so if you remove the water content, it can become perfume. The most common use is as a seasoning, isn’t it?”
“…Is it edible?”
“It’s similar to maple syrup. You can pour it directly onto toasted bread and eat it. Want to try it later?”
“That sounds fun! Let’s do it!”
“I don’t know about that… I’ll pass.”
Here, too, were the two extremes.
If you eat something bad, you’ll get a stomachache, right?
Kusanagi’s concerns were the most rational.
“And what about the processing?”
“That’s the thing. We need to find the Crime Hunter’s nest. We’ll feed it to them, and they’ll mature the sap inside their bodies.”
“What you’re saying is…”
“…Yeah. We need to venture deeper into this vast forest.”
Beyond the Hachinosu tree lay a lush, green forest. From the 15th level, the environment was divided into two areas: the “Forest Area” and the “Grassland Area”.
Of course, the monsters that appeared would be different as well.
The difficulty would increase in the second half.
Even the many explorers who had been there didn’t exist around the “Forest Area”.
Those who knew, knew…
From here on out, it was the 10th level of the demon realm…