CH 51

Name：I Found Tiny Dungeon That Can Only Produce Metal Slime Author：Onsen Kapibara
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Chapter 51: Talent of The Seeker

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「Well then Yuuma-kun, let’s start from around this area.」

「Y-Yes.」

Yuuma followed Maika around to look for more fire moles. Although the fire mole looked somewhat easy to find based on what had been told to him…

「Ah!」

He moved slightly closer to a mound that seemed to have a mole in it, raised his pickel overhead, and swung it down as strongly as he could.

Puchi!

――How about this!?

The mole’s head popped out from the ground and it looked around.

And then, just as he was about to raise his pickel again, the mole went back into its mound.

「Ah!?」

Yuuma hit the ground around the mound again but the mole seemed to have escaped underground.

「Too ba~d. But don’t worry, this is your first time after all. Let’s go find the next one!」

After getting encouraged by Maika, Yuuma started looking for another mole. But, even when he could find one, they quickly escaped before he could beat them.

「DAMNIT, THAT’S SO CLOSE!!」

Yuuma hit the mound hard from which the mole escaped to vent his frustration.

――Sigh, I can easily kick their asses as long as I use the liquid metal…But like hell I can do that in front of Maika-san.

He clicked his tongue in frustration, but then the fire mole’s head suddenly popped out from its mound.

“Da faq?” That was what he thought the moment he saw the fire mole’s eyes, and his reaction delayed a beat when the fire mole leapt out from its hole and fired the fire breath at Yuuma’s face.

Yuuma ducked his head, getting startled as he faced the unexpected situation.

「Y-YUUMA-KUN!?」

Maika rushed in a hurry. Yuuma fell on his rear, covering his face with his hands.

「AH—-」

Upon a closer look,  it could be seen that it was just a light burn. His “Fire Resistance” didn’t show its effect unless he used the “Metallization” ability. So his skin got burned as per normal.

「Are you okay!? Fire mole’s attack is weak but, it can still scald your skin if you take it to face…」

「Let me have a look.」Asked Maika as she looked at Yuuma’s face.

Yuuma was flustered when Maika suddenly brought her face closer to him.

「Please hold on for a moment, I brought some ointment for this kind of injury with me.」

Maika’s hand rummaged through her bag and took out a small cooling spray.

「Stay still!」

「Y-Yes.」

With the sound of the cold air spraying on his cheek, Yuuma felt his scalding cheek cooled down.

「Let’s see… Yup, there’s no burning scar left. That’s a relie~f.」

「Ah, thank you Maika-san.」

Yuuma stood up and dusted his pants. The fire mole that had given him a “sneak attack” from before had already escaped.

He barely encountered a few fire moles since he came but killed none of them. When Maika asked if he wanted to leave to have some rest, he refused and started looking for the fire mole again earnestly with renewed vigor as he wanted to get revenge.

◇◇◇

Five hours later, Yuuma had somehow defeated three fire moles but none of them dropped a “Magic Gem”.

Meanwhile, Maika took down twelve fire moles and got two magic gems.

「It’s 0.4 and 0.5 garnet. These two can be sold for 18k yen.」

「Wow…」

「You also managed to defeat three by yourself, Yuuma-kun! Since the drop rate for fire mole is so low around 10%, you can probably get it after defeating some more. So, let’s do our best tomorrow as well!」

「Understood!」

The president and co then returned while they’re having such a conversation.

It seems that they managed to defeat a few monsters on the 15th floor. Though they strike as one by being nonchalant about it, they actually gathered more than ten red spindles.

Yuuma let out a voice of admiration when he saw the magic gems in the case.

「Well, the value might be around 1.4 million. Not that much but, let’s dive even further down tomorrow.」

Yuuma was once again forced to reckon the awesomeness of pro Explorers while marveling at the amount of money they got in one day.

After the day’s job ended, everyone returned together to the company’s room.

◇◇◇

「In short, there are some obstacles to the ability’s growth too.」

At night―― The four of them who had just returned to the room in building number 04 surrounded the dining table as they enjoyed their take out dinner.

Yuuma listened to the discussion about Explorer between Tanaka and the president.

「In the beginning, I also raised my mana index in the same way as other Explorers by defeating the same monster. My mana index rose really quickly and then stopped after reaching a certain point. I’ve been wondering about that matter for a long time but, I guess it can’t be helped!」

「Is that what everyone calls as “Wall of Mana”?」

Hearing the president’s fervent speech, Yuuma couldn’t help but ask.

It was the words that caught his eyes when he read the book about the dungeon exploration. The requirement to become a first rate Explorer was to break through the so-called “Wall of Mana”.

It was written in the book that one needs inborn talent to achieve that.

「Well, yeah. It’s different cases for each person. There are walls of mana when someone’s mana index reaches 1000, and another one when their mana index reaches 2000. Then 3000, 4000 and so on. I crossed the 1000 mark but my mana index barely grew after that. Still, it’s pretty high considering my career.」

「But I haven’t even reached the 1000 mark!」 said Tanaka with a wry smile on his face when he heard the president mulling over the growth of his mana index.

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