Chapter 31 — Cheat Mushroom

Chapter 31 — Cheat Mushroom

Honestly, I’m really disappointed.

Last time, in the Rabbit Dungeon, when I defeated a strong boss, I got this wonderful sword I’m still using now.

And this time?

The boss in this dungeon was even stronger…
But the reward is just a single mushroom.

Well, whatever.
Maybe at least it tastes good.

Though I don’t like mushrooms at all. Never have.

Fine, whatever — I’ll just throw it into my bag.

I carefully put the mushroom into a separate little pouch and tucked it away in the food compartment.

If I end up eating rations too often, I might have to eat this mushroom too.

I just hope it doesn’t spoil too quickly.

Oh…
What’s that?

A magic circle appeared in the center of the room, glowing with runic symbols.

So this is the end of the dungeon.

Although… no, there’s still another passage further in.
Even if it looks small…

I walked closer. Yeah, the corridor really was narrow — if monsters appeared there, fighting would be really inconvenient.

Ah, whatever… I’ll risk it.

Sword forward, held close to my body so it doesn’t scrape the walls.

I stepped into the narrow corridor, walked about five or six steps — and found myself in a small circular room.

In the center floated something bright and pulsating, about the size of a basketball.

Oh. The dungeon core.

Yeah, that makes sense — I’ve seen something like this before.

All right, I should get out of here fast. I don’t need any trouble.

I went back to the final boss room and looked again at the glowing magic circle in the center.

Yeah, it really looks like a teleportation circle — the kind that always appears when you finish a dungeon.

Going back the same long way would take forever…

This way is much more convenient. Just like in games.

I stepped into the magic circle. It flared brighter; everything around me turned white, and then the light gradually faded, returning to normal.

And there I was, standing at the very start of the dungeon.

In the huge hall where I first entered together with Damon and his party.

Corridors stretched out in front of me.

Some of them were lit by torches…
others were completely dark, as if they swallowed the light.

And there, at the far end of the big hall, I saw the dungeon exit.

Leave…?

No.

What if there’s an ambush waiting for me outside?

I did kill four people.

Although… it’s unlikely anyone knows about that.

Those four tried to kill me first.
And they definitely weren’t planning to tell the guards where they were.

It was much more profitable for them to hide their intentions and lure me in here.

And anyway — we entered the dungeon openly, without hiding.

If some adventurers die in here… that’s normal.
It happens all the time.

Hmm…

And to be honest, I’m not planning to leave yet.

I like this dungeon.

There are tons of monsters — which means tons of EXP.

I want more. And more.

It’s almost like playing a video game.

In the second half of the dungeon, the monsters became strong enough to make the fights interesting,
but still not strong enough to be a real threat.

Well… except for the final boss, of course.

But I managed to beat him.

Now I’m level 61.

I’ve got enough food for about twenty days.

Water isn’t a problem — there’s a fountain.

So… why shouldn’t I stay here?

Yeah, I’ve decided.
I’ll stay in this dungeon until I completely run out of food.

And when I finally leave… the stronger I am, the better it is for me.

Even if, in the unlikely event, there really is an ambush at the exit waiting to arrest me for killing four people…

I’ll have a much better chance of escaping if I get stronger.

--

[Quest No. 3 completed.]

[Gained +30,000,000 EXP]

[Dungeon monsters defeated:
Goblins (Lv. 3–40) × 2,248
Goblin Shaman (Lv. 22–40) × 498]

[Reward: +13,865,580 EXP]

[Dungeon Boss Defeated: Goblin Shaman (Lv. 30) × 6]

[Reward: +33,300 EXP (+133,200 Bonus EXP)]

[Dungeon Boss Defeated: Goblin King (Lv. 60) × 6]

[Reward: +660,000 EXP (+3,960,000 Bonus EXP)]

[Status]

[Name: Alisar

Level: 66

Experience: 7,912,139 / 9,100,000

Rank: 3]

[HP: 17,351 / 17,390 (+1,200)

MP: 15,847 / 18,680 (+1,200)

Strength: 469 (+40)

Defense: 545 (+40)

Speed: 725 (+40)

Intelligence: 358 (+40)

Magic Power: 353 (+40)

Magic Defense: 797 (+40)

Free Attribute Points: 384 (+320)

Skills: Swordsman (Rank 1), Berserk (Rank 1)

Special Skills:
• Training Room (Rank 3)
• Alchemy (Rank 2)]

Six days have passed.

Well… six days for me, and only two for the rest of the world.

During that time, I cleared the dungeon six times.

And, on top of that, I finished the third quest in the Training Room.

Although, to be honest, I had already done about seventy percent of it before coming to this dungeon.

Once I finally sat down and calculated everything carefully, I came to a conclusion: right now it’s more profitable for me to focus on clearing the dungeon rather than doing quests.

The optimal time calculation showed that I gain much more EXP by defeating dungeon monsters than by completing Training Room quests.

And most importantly — fighting monsters is much more fun than repeating the same exercises thousands of times.

If I had a laptop, I’d put on some interesting movie, series, or anime, and then I could train in the Training Room endlessly. But without that, it all becomes too boring and monotonous.

So for now, I’ve decided to focus on the dungeon.

It’s fun, it gives a huge amount of EXP,
and also magic stones.

Over these six days, I’ve piled up a small hill of them.

Though… compared to the Rabbit Dungeon, I actually collected more there.

But the magic stones here are bigger, so the pile looks more impressive, even if there are fewer of them. A lot fewer.

Oh, and one more thing — the mushrooms.

For six victories over the dungeon’s final boss, I got exactly six mushrooms.

One per victory.

Is this supposed to be some sort of delicacy? Something incredibly delicious?

If not, then I really don’t understand why a mushroom is given as a reward for defeating such a strong opponent.

Well, since I’ve been eating nothing but rations, if this mushroom really is some kind of delicacy, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try it for a change.

I picked up one mushroom and sniffed it.

It smelled… like dirt. Wet dirt.

Maybe it tastes better than it smells?

I took a small bite.

It tasted like I was chewing something between a lemon and an orange… mixed with soil.

Yeah, definitely not a delicacy.

I took a couple more bites — and the mushroom was gone.

No, this is definitely not a delicacy.

But for variety, the taste was… tolerable.

Or maybe I’m just so tired of these rations that even dirt mixed with citrus feels normal now.

[Mushroom of Origin (Rank 1) eaten.]

[Gained: +7 Free Attribute Points]

Suddenly, an unexpected system message appeared —

I had gained 7 free attribute points.

This… just because I ate that mushroom?

No way.
That’s hard to believe.

I immediately opened my status window.

[Free Attribute Points: 391 (+7)]

Yes, it’s real.

I really did get 7 free attribute points.

Wow… looks like I’ve found a truly broken, cheaty item.

If I can keep clearing this dungeon over and over and defeat the final boss every time, I can become insanely strong just by eating these mushrooms.

What can I say? I’m lucky.

All right… let’s try eating another one.

I took out a second mushroom and quickly ate it — in one go, literally in a single bite.

I waited a minute… two…

No system messages.

Maybe this one went bad?

I took out another mushroom and ate it too without hesitation.

Again — no reaction from the system.

What?
This one’s spoiled too?

I’ve only got three left… wait, no.

I looked into the pouch.

Four.

Right, I defeated the dungeon’s final boss seven times, not six.

I completely forgot about the very first one.

Damn… whatever, doesn’t matter.

What’s more important now is: why did the mushroom stop working after the first time?

I was already thinking I’d found a cheat item…

And now — nothing. Silence. Zero reaction.

Why?

Maybe there’s some condition?

Damn… if I had an Identification skill, I could figure out what this item is and how it works.

Maybe I should take it to the Adventurers’ Guild and ask them for information?

No. I’m not planning to leave here yet.

So what’s going on, then?

Why did the first mushroom work, and the others didn’t?

…Maybe there’s a limit?

Like with health potions?

For example, you can only get the effect once per day?

I’m not sure, but it sounds logical.

It might be exactly that.

Tomorrow I’ll try eating another one.

If it still doesn’t work — then I’ll just keep collecting these mushrooms, and after leaving the dungeon I’ll ask the Adventurers’ Guild for information.

Well then, I’ve got one more goal now — to clear this dungeon again and again and defeat the final boss.

Looks like… the fun is only just beginning!