Chapter 5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Floor 2 - Lv.27 Fairy and Orc (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Going down the stairs might feel like just a physical movement, but in reality, it's something quite different.
Another floor in the Labyrinth is practically another world entirely.
The previous floor could have been the Arctic, and the next one a jungle. There's no connection between them whatsoever.
After passing through a tunnel-like path, the fresh scent of the forest greeted us. Sunlight poured down dazzlingly bright.
And from the underbrush came birdsong along with the presence of countless animals.
The theme is always determined randomly, but unless you're extremely unlucky right from the start, it usually begins with something ordinary like a forest or a plain.
Extreme environments like volcanoes or tundras can appear from the outset, but if they do, almost everyone dies.
That's why the probability of such harsh themes is low.
The theme keeps changing.
Excluding just the first floor, themes shift every five floors until you reach the kingdom.
The next change would be on floor 6.
Confirming that floor 2 was a forest, the Hunter let out a sigh of relief.
He knew he hadn't fully earned my trust yet.
The fear that he might be dealt with once he outlived his usefulness must still linger.
Someone who views humans as experience points would surely know he was one too.
But what he truly feared wasn't death.
It was being abandoned by a seasoned party leader like me.
The path to the kingdom was far too treacherous for a twelfth-year Exile like him to feel confident about.
Even if he fell behind and died midway, as long as it wasn't right now, whatever he learned would stick with him.
A veteran Exile pushing past thirty years.
That's rare enough before even reaching the kingdom.
The Hunter obviously saw me—who had subdued him in an instant—as at least his equal, if not more.
In the Labyrinth, accumulated knowledge and skills were power itself.
"I'll fill the bottles."
His attitude, subservient to the point of obsequiousness, proved it.
As I nodded, the Hunter began filling the empty bottles from the spring.
The Girl whispered. She clearly didn't want the Hunter realizing how little she knew.
"What's this spring?"
I whispered back.
"If I said it's a Healing Potion source, would you get it?"
"Oh, so drinking that heals HP?"
"Pour it on wounds too."
"Badass."
The Girl rushed over and dipped her hand into the spring water. It was her right hand, the one that had blocked the bolt with her dagger.
A trace of blood was faintly visible. Her palm must have torn open.
Considering the crossbow's draw strength, that made sense.
The Jeong Family from this world didn't seem to have regeneration abilities. Blocking it at all was superhuman enough.
The Girl glanced at the Hunter, then scurried back to show me her palm.
"It's healing right in front of my eyes? What's in this stuff?"
"Oxygen, hydrogen, a bit of divinity, and mana."
"...Huh? That exists?"
True to her expressive nature, her eyes went wide.
It was the first time I'd seen her genuinely shocked.
I whispered with amusement.
"Want me to tell you something even more amazing? There are mages here."
"Whoa!"
This exclamation was a bit louder. The Hunter glanced back. The Girl quickly shut her mouth and pretended nothing happened.
I chuckled heartily.
Honestly, the previous run had been boring as hell.
This one, success or not, felt like it would be fun.
When we arrived, it was still morning on floor 2.
Thanks to that, we'd spent quite a bit of time setting up base, but sunset was still a ways off.
The forest wasn't to be taken lightly—not because the environment was outright hostile, but precisely because it wasn't.
And that applied not just to Exiles.
Monsters felt it too.
In volcanoes or tundras, mere survival day-to-day was a struggle. But monsters fared no better.
So encounters were rarer.
A forest, though? Monsters and beasts everywhere.
The Hunter had stepped out to secure food.
He'd volunteered for the mushroom hunt.
Hand it over, he'd said confidently—if I didn't, his anxiety might make him screw something up.
Giving him a chance to prove his worth was key to party management.
In the meantime, I decided to teach the Girl some Labyrinth basics while twisting bark into rope.
The Hunter had been sneaking glances at her lately. He was clearly misunderstanding something.
He probably figured she was at least more veteran than him.
And why not? Deflecting a bolt with basic gear on floor 1.
Anyone witnessing that unreal feat up close would think the same.
Not a bad thing at all.
Best to let that misconception linger.
With two thirty-year veterans in the party, a twelfth-year like him wouldn't dream of betrayal.
So I laid out the most basic common knowledge.
The Girl listened intently while helping twist the rope, then summed it up in one sentence.
"This place is pretty insane, huh?"
"Reacting like that when you know? You're pretty insane yourself."
"Aw, say it's good adaptability."
Fair point. The Girl embraced this world with curiosity and excitement, not fear.
A trait most couldn't muster. Even I was like that at first.
Pure innate talent.
"Alright, time for personal stories. I've got something I'm curious about. Answer if I ask?"
"As long as it's not my three sizes."
"How tall are you?"
"159 cm."
"No rounding up?"
"I want to be 160, but I'm honest."
Her cheerfulness pierced the heavens.
I chuckled, then got serious.
"Mind telling me what you've trained in? Dagger skills, sure, but it didn't feel like knife fighting."
Knife fighting here meant CQC, the U.S. military's close-quarters combat based on jujitsu.
But her moves had none of that vibe.
More like Eastern mysticism. Ninja from media, that sort of thing.
I approached cautiously, expecting sensitivity, but her reply was straightforward.
"My family business is exorcism."
My response was instant.
"What bullshit is that?"
No delay, and she puffed her cheeks in annoyance.
"That's why I don't tell people."
Fair enough. Even in the Labyrinth, "exorcism" would raise eyebrows.
"No, explain. What do you exorcise?"
The Jeong Family's setting wasn't usually my Earth's. More like a parallel Earth, Korea-based.
Across countless runs and past game knowledge, their background had been near-future, Joseon era, or modern PMC.
But this? Urban fantasy. A case I'd never seen in the game days.
Maybe the outside world updated the game.
And it applied here?
That'd be a nightmare.
At least not 97 years' worth. Lucky.
The Girl cheerfully spilled her family lore unprompted.
I hadn't asked for details, but listening builds trust and rapport.
Summing up her answer to my question:
"So, you handle all cold weapons well."
"Yep. We're specialists in things bullets don't pierce."
Bullets no, but blades yes? World-building's murky.
Modern era confirmed, though.
But that alone would make her a martial arts master lineage, not some genetic superhuman.
Her physical specs were too high for pure skill.
Hard to explain as random NPC backstory.
Suddenly curious about her starting stats.
Definitely way above mine.
"Good, got it. Now open your Mind Map."
The Mind Map is this game's stat screen and skill tree combined.
System corrections don't kick in on floor 1.
Only from floor 2 does the game-like system truly start.
That's why I see floor 1 as just a gateway to death and hardship acclimation.
Not even a starting line.
The Girl closed her eyes in meditation as instructed.
And marveled.
"Whoa, it's like space!"
"Your face is smack in the center, right?"
"Yep. So pretty."
"Flatterer. Read the numbers below."
The Girl called out the colors and numbers.
Red for Strength, green for Agility, blue for Intelligence.
This game uses the classic Strength-Agility-Intelligence trio.
As expected, her numbers were bizarrely high for a pure human character.
Strength 22, Agility 27, Intelligence 12.
Hard to grasp in isolation, but pure human starting stats total around 30 max.
61 total? Rare named fixed NPC territory.
For a random NPC? A freak among freaks.
And somehow, my ally now.
A bit odd, but I decided not to dwell.
It's all randomly patched together anyway.
Maybe her ancestors cherry-picked super strength genes.
The game had tons of silly settings if you nitpicked.
Weapons like [Gatling Gun] or [Beam Bow] were jokes.
"What's your favorite weapon?"
Her base specs were sky-high. Mindset combat-ready. No need for me to dictate class.
Best to follow her preference.
Without hesitation, the Girl drew her dagger.
"The grip fits my palm perfectly."
Small build, small hands. Made sense.
Pure agility dagger assassin?
No, too wasteful for those base stats.
Wait and see her skill picks first.
Maximize strengths for now.
"Pump Agility."
She went quiet, following obediently.
Skills are pure RNG.
Mind Map acts like a skill tree, but no cherry-picking.
Random, naturally.
I opened mine too. With practice, you can view it eyes-open.
A cosmic space unfolded in three dimensions, my face in a circular frame at the center.
Below: Strength 8, Agility 11, Intelligence 15.
Early-game critical Strength below average.
Restart hell every time.
Three branches extended from the center.
Three dots each, colored for the stats.
I mentally poked the three green Agility dots.
Agility rose from 11 to 14.
Light extended, green energy flowing. A new circular frame bloomed at the branch's end like fruit.
Inside: glowing icon and text.
Blink Dagger
Active | Teleport to dagger's position | Cooldown applies
Active skill—great for early game.
I always start with Agility for usable skill odds.
The Girl's was passive.
Swiftness
Passive | Accelerates all actions by multiplier | Unaffected by strength or reflexes
"What's this?"
Not truly asking the effect—system imprints manuals neuron-deep.
But it teaches usage, not mastery.
[Swiftness] is simple: multiplier on all motions.
Irrelevant to raw power or reflexes.
Overdo it, and digestion or speech speeds up painfully.
One point? Barely noticeable.
After her explanation, the Girl giggled.
Quite the giggly age.
"Haha! So I'll age faster too?"
"Huh, yeah. Explains why that guy's face looked weathered."
"What's Uncle's skill?"
"[Blink Dagger]."
"Hold on, lemme guess. Dagger in hand, teleport? With cooldown."
Close, but no.
Not many skills that OP.
Instead of words, I hurled the dagger.
Unseen by her before.
Indestructible object spawned by the skill.
Under 20 cm—throwing weapon, not CQC.
Pik. It thunked into the tree root at the spring's edge.
Her gaze followed.
Next instant, I was there, pulling it free.
"Teleport only to the dagger's position. Cooldown, yes."
"Kinda meh."
"Early-game skills are like that. See the new branch from [Swiftness]?"
She closed her eyes again, meditative.
Nodded.
"Yeah. Two green dots, one blue."
"One dot per stat point. You put three Agility earlier? Follow that branch to a skill, it's +2 Agility, +1 Intelligence."
She groaned.
"Oof, complicated."
"Gets easy. Just remember: farther from center, better skill odds. Hence Mind Map."
"Gotta branch out far."
"Exactly."
She pondered quietly, then asked.
"How do you get more points? Skills and stats integrated, got it."
"Level up."
"Whoa, so gamey."
It is a game. You're the NPC.
Her reactions gave me weird vibes. Only real human here is me.
By the time I'd taught her, I'd made a good pile of rope.
Next: trim the pinecones I'd gathered into torches. Before dark.
Total darkness sucks.
And prep clothes ahead.
No armor, and my jeans wouldn't last.
The Hunter returned before sunset.
Decent haul: one rabbit, two unknown birds.
But his face was grim, unfit for good results.
"Leader, we've got a problem."
What now? Forest floor 2 issues are ultra-rare.
No Faction War this early.
Wait—forest means Grove Fairies' turf mostly.
"A big stump?"
"Yes."
Now I got his deathly expression.
Mine? Poker-faced neutrality.