Chapter 43: 43. Master's Naked Welcome

On the morning of the first day of every month, huge crowds pour into the labyrinth.

They come to feast on the easy pickings found from the first through tenth floors, whose layouts change every month.

It is not merely the arrangement that changes. The herbs and treasure chests are all reset as well.

As a result, parties that only clear up to the tenth floor flock in every month.

It was like working your ass off for a few days to live for an entire month.

And these parties had a particular target in mind.

Mimics. Chest-shaped monsters.

Chests hiding Mimics drop more magic stones and items when defeated.

The only problem was that they were difficult to identify without a mage.

That gave me something I wanted to test.

It was...

"Heading out, sweetheart?"

"Yes, I’ll be back."

I nodded and took out a sixth-floor portal shard from my inventory.

"No matter how often I see it, it’s such a fascinating ability. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say Yuanshi Tianzun himself favors you..."

"I think so too."

I did not know why I had been given such an ability, but I was grateful for it.

After all, it had opened a path for me to grow far faster than everyone else.

It was currently 11:59 p.m. It would be time to go soon.

I stood up and gave Master a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Smooch!"

"... Pfft! Have a safe trip, honey♥"

"I’ll be back."

The instant the minute hand pointed straight up, I put my hand into the portal shard.

My body was sucked in at once, and when I looked around, I was inside a cave.

It worked... Eight hours until the labyrinth opens. Plenty of time.

The labyrinth reset occurred exactly at midnight, but adventurers were not allowed in until eight in the morning.

The time when all the administrative offices began work.

Apparently, it was a measure taken because there were so many fights inside the labyrinth on the first of every month.

Thanks to that, I could begin my adventure in absolute comfort.

Thanks to [Night Vision], my surroundings were bright as day.

After confirming there were no monsters nearby, I stuck my head into the ground.

Squelch!

... No matter how many times I did this, I could not get used to the posture.

With the labyrinth’s paths laid out clearly before me, I memorized the locations of several treasure chests and set out.

A Goblin crossed my path.

"Kerrrk!"

I casually swung my sword.

Swish!

I cut down the Goblin, which no longer even registered as a threat, and put it into my subspace inventory.

After fighting an Orc Hero, ordinary Goblins just seemed pathetic.

Even so, letting my guard down was forbidden.

There were simply too many variables.

Keeping my wits about me, I ran until I reached the first chest.

After checking the surroundings, I stuck my head into the ground in front of it.

Squelch!

I carefully examined the underside of the chest.

Flat and angular. It was definitely an ordinary chest.

After pulling my head back out and opening it, I found a fist-sized magic stone and a finely sharpened dagger.

"Tsk... Why doesn’t my status window have an appraisal function? No, this alone is already more than enough."

Putting an end to those spoiled complaints, I headed for the next treasure chest.

Slashing through Skeletons and Goblins on the way, I arrived in no time.

I stuck my head into the ground again...

Squelch!

Found one.

The underside of this chest was connected to the floor by a gum-like mass of flesh.

If I had opened that chest without knowing any better, I would have been attacked.

I pulled my head out, then thrust the hand holding my sword into the ground behind the chest.

Twisting my wrist, I drove the sword into the underside of the chest and stirred it around...

Crunch! Riiip! Crack!

Tremble...

Along with the sensation of gouging flesh with my hand, the chest began to shake.

To make sure I did not lose my grip on the sword midway, I used Hardening to stiffen my hand and kept turning it.

After digging it out thoroughly, like cleaning out a scallop...

...

Seeing that the chest had gone still, I nodded and pulled my hand out.

Tug!

But my hand would not come out, as if it were caught on something.

"?"

Tug! Tug!

Just in case, I canceled Hardening and tried pulling my hand out.

Slip!

"... Oh."

This was a new discovery.

It seemed that parts of my body using Hardening could not be pulled out.

"This is good."

I went over to a wall and tried shallowly embedding the sole of my foot into it.

Squelch...

Controlling the force was quite difficult, but I managed to plant the sole of my foot against the wall.

If I used Hardening in that state...

Tug! Tug!

Just as expected, the sole of my foot was firmly stuck in the wall.

Lying down, I planted the sole of my other foot the same way.

Tug!

Normally, I would have had to move around like my feet were stuck in a mudflat...

It consumed a considerable amount of stamina and was exhausting, but I had found an excellent use for it.

If I keep my core tight, I could stand on a wall, couldn’t I?

I tensed my ankles and abdomen hard, then stood on the wall.

Thanks to my increased strength, it was not too strenuous.

Then, if I canceled Hardening, planted my foot, used Hardening again... and repeated that?

Tug! Tug! Tug!

Living spike boots complete. I could walk on walls now.

The way I had tested it was bizarre, but walking on walls was every man’s dream. It could not be helped.

It’s a little confusing, so I should practice it later.

Hanging from the ceiling like a bat, I canceled Hardening and dropped back to the floor.

Tap!

When I get to the eighth floor, I should try it on trees and dirt too.

For now, I needed to loot the chests.

When I opened the chest I had so thoroughly dug out...

Flash!

Out came a silver bow with elaborate decorations and a magic stone the size of two fists.

The sight of that gleaming item sent a thrill down my spine and made my head feel light.

I dug out the limp lump of flesh and put it into my inventory along with the items.

Apparently, Mimic corpses were used to make subspace bags.

I had no idea how they made one out of flesh, but it fetched a decent price, so...

Suddenly, a sound rang out in my head.

Ding!

[Would you like to expand your inventory?]

Oh? Is this because of the Mimic corpse?

I pressed yes and checked my inventory.

When I scrolled down the scrollbar that had appeared on the right, my inventory had gained another row.

"... Status window, you’re the best."

Seven hours and forty minutes remained. I had around seven hours to spare.

Every chest here was mine.

**

In three hours, I had looted most of the chests on the sixth and seventh floors.

I found three more Mimics, using all but one to expand my inventory.

This is insane... Totally insane...

I blankly stared at the gear and herbs filling more than half my inventory.

I was rich now... Just thinking about it made my head tingle.

My heart pounded at the thought of taking all that money and running to the essence shop.

I also looked down at the blue orb in my hand.

It was not shining brilliantly or anything, but simply looking at it made me feel full.

This orb was a Mimic essence, said to drop at an atrociously low rate.

I wanted to have it appraised, and I wanted to go to the shop...

To monopolize things like this in a labyrinth that only went up to the tenth floor.

What if I expanded my range to floors eleven through twenty? Or twenty-one through thirty?

I really am a bug...

Imagining all the things that might drop, I stood before the portal to the eighth floor.

As I was about to chop off the eighth-floor portal and take it with me as well, an idea struck me.

"... Should I try cutting it into smaller pieces?"

Up through the seventh floor, I had put entire chunks into my inventory. This time, I would experiment with different sizes.

I swiftly cut off the edge of the eighth-floor portal.

Squish!

The portal fragment, cut to smaller than a finger, soon vanished.

"Hmm... A little bigger?"

This time, I cut a piece about two fingers wide.

Swish!

The portal fragment that fell to the ground did not disappear.

I cut portal pieces of various sizes and put them in my inventory.

Holding the smallest of the five pieces in my hand, I waited.

Before long, I felt my body being sucked away...

Ding!

[Transmigrant title activated! Intelligence +3]

"???????????"

I found myself standing in a black space. Without even a foothold beneath me.

Goosebumps rose all over my body, and my heart dropped at the thought that I was about to fall.

"Aaaah... Huh?"

I hurriedly tried to take out a portal and ride it, but I did not feel weightless, so I looked around.

The space itself was black, but it was not dark.

When I looked up, trees and sunlight illuminated the space where I stood.

There were caves below me.

"What? Where am I?"

Since the [Transmigrant] title had activated, it seemed I was the first person to arrive here.

"Is this something like floor seven and a half?"

Starting from the eighth floor, forests appeared, heralding the woodland zone of the eleventh floor.

Below was cave terrain, while above was forest, so this seemed to be somewhere in between.

The strange thing was that when I stuck my head into the ground, I could not see the previous floor...

If I had been hit by the Orc Hero and fallen back then, would I have gone to the ninth floor?

I had many questions, but there were too many uncertainties to experiment again, so I decided against it.

It seemed pieces about two fingers wide brought me to an intermediate floor?

I calmed my stiffened body and cautiously extended a foot.

Slide...

Thankfully, there was no invisible cliff or anything like that.

Reassured, I began walking and exploring the area.

But all I could see was a pitch-black backdrop. Nothing particularly different.

Looking upward, there were patches of space I could not see.

What are those unseen places? I can see some chests and herbs, though...

How was I supposed to use this?

The first uses that came to mind were trapping a bastard in here, or mapping out the terrain.

But I could map the terrain on a normal floor too.

With the [Transmigrant] title already activated, I could not think of any further useful applications.

Still, it’s good for exploration... Would the title activate on floor eight and a half too?

If so, that changed things. It would mean gaining three random stat points on every floor.

I turned my head and looked above.

Oh, there’s a chest up there.

To remember the location, I took out my adventurer’s badge.

But perhaps because it did not recognize this place as a floor, there was no blue dot indicating the portal.

Swallowing my disappointment, I took out an eighth-floor portal and held it in my hand.

What if it moves me directly above this...

Hum...

It did not.

It seemed the rule that it moved me to a random location was still being upheld.

"What a shame."

If it had worked, I might have reached the hundredth floor in one go.

I shook off the thought of getting everything handed to me on a silver platter.

If I kept dwelling on disappointments, I might become arrogant.

Now isn’t the time for this. I’ll loot the eighth and ninth floors quickly and do my experiment on the tenth floor.

There was another experiment I wanted to try on the tenth floor.

One that might be dangerous...

After getting a grasp on the terrain, I ran through the forest.

**

I visited floors eight and a half and nine and a half, but my stats did not increase.

Still, I found two more Mimics and came back loaded down with items.

I used one more Mimic because I was running out of inventory space, but taking the items with me would be much more profitable.

On the way, I also practiced climbing trees. Without using my hands.

I practiced while feeling like the protagonist of the ninja comics I watched as a child.

It took a lot of core strength and joint strength, but all the training I had always done finally shone through.

It’s Master again... As expected...

My love was the best.

This was the tenth floor, the floor where the Orc Great Warrior served as the boss.

The treasure chest was in the boss’s lair, and bosses had a high essence drop rate.

The rate became even higher if it went berserk, but it was the beginning of the month now.

I prepared to take down the boss in a single strike.

After calling the guildmaster through my adventurer’s badge, I located the portal.

I picked a tall tree that stood in a straight line with it and climbed halfway up.

"Whew... This should be okay, right?"

I held a Top-Grade Potion in my mouth.

I recalled the day the Orc Hero had sent me soaring into the sky.

Honestly, I hoped this would not work. I was a little scared.

But if I got used to it, it would become a weapon with incredible speed.

I just hope I don’t shoot straight up into the sky again... I’m counting on you, LV.MAX Slime Body.

I rammed my head into the thick tree trunk.

Squelch!

It worked. The first thing I had ever gotten stuck inside had been a tree, after all.

Putting strength into my body, I embedded my limbs too and scraped frantically at the inside of the tree.

Whenever my hands gradually slid backward, I hardened my fingers and toes and moved in an awkward, undignified way.

Then my body slowly slipped free...

Boing!

My body formed a cross, and I was launched forward in a perfectly straight line.

"Mmmph!"

I pursed my lips tightly, determined not to spill the potion in my mouth. Not ever.

Shot into the Orc settlement in an instant, I kicked toward the Orc Great Warrior sitting on a throne of bones.

Kicking through the frigid wind, swimming through empty air.

Racing toward the Orc Great Warrior at incredible speed, I raised my knee.

Under normal circumstances, my pelvis would shatter and my body would be reduced to a bloody pulp, but I trusted only in the LV.MAX Slime Body.

Whoooooosh!

"Krrk?"

At the sound of air splitting apart, the Orc looked into the sky and gaped.

My knee slammed into the Orc’s chest...

Craaaack! Booooom!

Unable even to scream, the Orc’s body exploded into fragments.

Crash, bang, bang!

Bounce, bounce! Rumble...

After rolling across the ground, I quickly swallowed the potion and stood.

"Gulp! Phew... Ugh, I’m dying."

The experiment... somehow succeeded!

I picked up the essence that had bounced out beside me and put it in my inventory.

The four Orcs guarding the Great Warrior rubbed their eyes and made stupid noises.

"Kururung? Krrk?"

"Krrr..."

Cutting down Orcs that had been scared witless was far too easy.

**

"Wow... What is all this stuff on the Great Warrior’s axe...?"

I used one more Mimic corpse to expand my inventory and packed it full of items.

I also made sure to take the eleventh-floor portal and the return portal.

I felt amazing. Everything had gone exactly as planned.

I’m happy...

It might have been a strange thing to say while covered in blood, but I was simply happy.

They said generosity came from a full granary...

"Hahaha! I wonder if Master has arrived already..."

Laughing happily, I returned to Labyrinth City Velanis...

"Ryu-o! Y-you need to get undressed quickly! P-people!!! If they catch us, my life is over!!!"

"............????"

I came face-to-face with the naked guildmaster.

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