Volume 7 - CH 1.08

However, before we proceed there, there is still a certain problem that we need to take care of. The problem with the Intelligence Cards of the Bandits that I have defeated and now have in my possession.

I fully intend to redeem those Intelligence Cards in exchange for the bounties that have been placed on the Bandit’s heads, but when I’m finally going to do that, there is a possibility that I might be asked about the place where I managed to obtain those Intelligence Cards, or to put it in another way, I’m going to be asked where exactly have I defeated the Bandits. And even if I’m not going to be asked about this matter directly, then as long as I’m going to be handling the Intelligence Cards over to Gozer and his Knight Order of Hartz Duchy, then I don’t think that the matter of where I have defeated the Bandits could be avoided altogether, even if I wanted to.

The Bandits attacked me two times so far, once on the twelfth floor of the Labyrinth and the second time on the thirteenth floor of the Labyrinth. Even if I keep quiet about the fact that I have been attacked twice in a quick succession, then it’s going to be in my best interests to answer truthfully that the attack itself happened on the twelfth or thirteenth floor.

This got me thinking that maybe it’s not a good idea for us to be progressing to the thirteenth of fourteenth floor of Haruba’s Labyrinth, and it might be even worse for us if we were to be caught fighting on the fifteenth or sixteenth floor of Haruba’s Labyrinth, because if we were seen on any of these floors, then there’s always a possibility that one of the Knights might start asking questions about it.

That, or he might openly call it strange that someone who was just recently seen on the fifteenth or sixteenth floor got attacked on twelfth or thirteenth floor. That is why I think that the safest areas to which we might be going without attracting any kind of suspicion would be the thirteenth or fourteenth floor of Haruba’s Laburinth, but the fifteenth, sixteenth or seventeenth floors should be a no-go for us for the time being, or at least until this situation with the Bandit’s Intelligence Cards doesn’t get resolved in our favor.

If anyone sees us on these floors and reports it, then it’s only going to get more convoluted and confusing for me to explain it later, so if we can avoid bringing such needless fears upon ourselves, then we should do everything in our power to ensure that something like that does not happen.

Normally advancing to the next floor would be a definite cause for celebration, since that is a testament of how far we managed to get as a Party, but this time I do not feel all that good about it due to those external circumstances.

That is also why I need to increase the Level of my Explorer Job to Lv.50 as soon as possible. When that happens and I will reach that magical number, then I’ll finally be able to become a legitimate Adventurer and there’ll be no more need for the ruses and trickery whenever I’m going to be handling the Bandit Intelligence Cards over to the Knight Order of Hartz Duchy.



That being said…. Explorer Lv.50 is my current goal, but also my biggest limitation until I’ll be able to reach that point. Without it, we won’t be able to advance much further in the Labyrinths, or at least the ones that fall under the jurisdiction of the Hartz Duchy, so maybe I should start thinking about the possibility of going back to the other Labyrinths such as the Labyrinth of Quratar in case of an emergency?

Honestly, I don’t want to go back to the other Labyrinths just yet because of the promise that I’ve made with the Duke of Hartz to keep on entering the Labyrinths of the Hartz Duchy, but on the other hand, purposefully staying at the thirteenth floor of Haruba’s Labyrinth just so that I could avoid the potential trouble with the Intelligence Card checks would be just as bad, or at least I have a feeling that it would be bad to limit ourselves like that. After all, the higher we’re going to go in the Labyrinths, the faster I’ll be able to reach Explorer Lv.50 and then switch my Job to Adventurer.

In fact, after making so many Nourishing Pills and Tonics on the thirteenth floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth, my Herbalist Job has leveled up to Lv.6 since I didn’t remove it from the time when I set it up in place of the Alchemist Job, and Miria already has her Diver Job at Lv.20, so it is clear as day that the speed at which I’m gaining my levels is definitely increasing.

It may be due to the fact that on the higher floors of the Labyrinths the value of EXP obtained for slaying monsters that you’re facing for the very first time is getting higher as well, or perhaps the value of gained experience increased only after passing through the twelfth floor? Whichever of these two the case may be, we are gaining experience quicker than before, and that is most certainly a good thing and quite a profitable turn of events for us.

Deciding that I should do everything in my power to advance the level of my Explorer Job to Lv.50 as fast as possible, I performed a Character Reset where I set up two Skills to be the main ones that I’m going to be currently using:「Required EXP 1/20th」 and 「20x Gained EXP」because I have to place an emphasis on gaining as much EXP as possible as fast as possible.

Currently my Level as an Explorer is Lv.37, so that means that I have a total of one hundred and thirty five Bonus Points to use. The 「Required EXP 1/20th」Skill has a value of sixty three Bonus Points and 「20x Gained EXP」Skill also requires sixty three Bonus Points. Since I can’t deselect 「Character Reset」for obvious reasons, I need to keep it as well, and after allocating seven Bonus Points towards the Fourth Job, which leaves me with only one Bonus Point left to use, so maybe I should settle with just three Jobs instead of four? Now, the only question on my mind is: which ones I should be keeping, exactly?

Explorer and Mage absolutely cannot be removed because they are the bread and butter of my every build. I need to have the Explorer Job because I need to grind it all the way to Lv.50 to become and Adventurer, and I need the Mage Job in order to continue to be able to use magic. As for the Third Job, it’s probably going to be either Hero or a Monk.

Monk would be a good Job to continue to have available due to its 「Medical Treatment」Skill since having a method of healing either myself or the girls other than the medicines that can always run out if we end up using more of them on one occasion than we should have cannot be a bad thing, even more so since the battles that we’re going to be fighting in the Labyrinths are only going to get tougher and the enemies are going to get stronger and hit harder.



Well, I could always switch up to Monk for the healing purposes between battles, but there is a risk of this kind of approach backfiring against me in case if I ever needed to heal us in the middle of a battle where the speed of healing could very well mean the difference between having a full HP bar or having it drop to zero.

The other choice that I have is the Hero Job, one of the first ones that I unlocked after slaying that group of Bandits back at Somara Village. Its Skills are very effective and give a nice boost to my stats, not to mention that its 「Overwhelming」Skill saved my ass with its usefulness and versatility on more than one occasion.

Both of these two Jobs have their uses for me, so much so in fact that I find it difficult to pick just one of them, so….. so I guess I will just keep both of them? Yeah, if I cannot make a choice whether to discard onr Job or the other, then keeping both of them on me seems like the most logical thing to do. That’s why I pick the Fourth Job Skill and set both Hero and Monk Jobs in addition to Explorer and Mage, and that one Bonus Point that I have remaining is going to be spend on getting the 「Incantation Shortening」Skill.