Instant Dungeon

 

――I had a dream.

In the dream, I had become a hero, going on a great adventure with my companions.

And I was fishing and fishing and fishing.

 

…Not much different from reality, huh?

Eventually, I parted ways with my companions and began fishing in a dungeon, surviving on my own… Truly no different from now.

 

Time passed in the dream, and I was fighting the enemy with my companions.

We seemed to be in quite a dire situation, struggling hard, so to speak.

But me in the dream had good physical abilities.

I probably couldn’t do such things in reality.

 

Hm? At the moment when my companions were about to fall… a girl with raccoon ears wielding a sword appeared――

 

「Hah… it was a dream.」

 

Looking around, it was my bed in my house on Kalmira Island.

What a strange dream.

Or rather, I see dreams in game.

Isn’t this like dreaming within a dream?

Well, whatever.

 

「Alright, time to give it my all again today.」

 

So, taking Romina’s suggestion, I had non-combat Peckles join the exploration team.

For starters, I added the Santa Hat Peckle.

Being a jack-of-all-trades, it should handle things smoothly.

 

「I’m off-pen!」

 

Yes, I waved to the Peckle leading the combat-oriented Peckles.

Come to think of it… the command proficiency increases when you send them into dungeons.

Ah, it’s for combat commands… it also slightly increases when pioneering.

It seems there’s also a sense of discerning my intentions.

 

Afterwards, I went fishing, my daily routine.

Shouko had gone hunting, if I recall. Romina was blacksmithing in the workshop.

Sheryl was also building ships in the workshop.

But according to Sheryl, it’s difficult to leave the island by ship.

Apparently, they’re planning on fishing by ship to secure food for the increasing number of Peckles.

Net fishing, perhaps?

As I was killing time like that, the Peckles returned.

 

「「「Pen!!!」」」

 

Same energetic tone as always.

I’m not surprised anymore.

 

「Report-pen!」

 

I checked the items they had found.

Thanks to the decent command proficiency of the combat Peckles, they brought back multiple blueprints.

Oh? The variety of houses the Peckles can make has increased.

It seems they even found some new Peckles too.

We can now make fountains and fences as well.

There’s also a cow barn for livestock farming.

 

「Oho.」

 

So the empty fences we had for the ranch can finally look proper.

It turned out just as Romina said.

The items discovered seem to vary depending on which Peckles are sent.

Recently, the loot from dungeon exploration has become stale, so this is a nice change.

With that, I continued sending out the Peckles in rotation.

The result.

 

「We discovered a new instance dungeon-pen. Come with us-pen.」

「Huh?」

 

I tilted my head at the Santa Hat Peckle report.

Bringing Shouko and the others, I followed the Peckle lead.

Next to the hole the Peckles had entered, a large door had appeared.

 

「Everyone can enter now-pen. Let’s combine our strength to conquer and pioneer-pen.」

「…Does this mean we can challenge the dungeon too?」

「Probably. I think so.」

「Right.」

 

Well… it’s true that as the number of Peckles increased and their proficiency went up, there was less for them to do.

That’s why Romina and Sheryl could focus on crafting.

Moreover, a certain number of people are now living on this island.

There’s a possibility that it includes combat-oriented types like Shouko.

As long as there’s the restriction of not being able to escape this island for a certain period, facilities for such people were probably prepared.

In a game sense, that is.

 

「I can’t believe it even comes with an instant dungeon.」

「What kind of dungeon was it again?」

 

Romina sounded a bit exasperated as Shouko asked her question.

 

「To put it simply, it’s a dungeon that doesn’t compete with other people.」

「I see…」

「You decide the initial party members, and until you exit, the party composition stays the same. You won’t encounter other people inside the dungeon. It’s a fairly common feature in online games.」

「I-I see.」

「But there’s only us on this island, so what’s the point of having non-conflicting parties as a premise?」

 

The purpose of its existence is questionable…

Could it be that a large number of people will eventually come to this island?

Well, even though it’s VR, it’s still an online game, so having facilities that only specific individuals can use would be unfair.

There’s a high possibility that something will happen later on.

 

「Still, an instant dungeon, huh…」

 

Romina folded her arms and looked at us.

Yeah, I get it.

I know what she’s trying to say.

 

「Aside from Shouko-kun, none of you seem particularly combat-oriented. Want to give it a try?」

 

Well… yeah, that’s right.

I’m in charge of fishing and dismantling, Sheryl handles swimming and shipbuilding, Romina does general blacksmithing, and the only one here proficient in combat is Shouko.

Sheryl might be second best…?

I don’t know much about Romina’s abilities.

But based on her skill composition, it should be tough for her.

 

「Is Romina good at combat?」

「Unfortunately, I’ve only been making weapons, so I’m not that proficient. At best, I just leveled up a decent amount with my friends.」

 

Yeah, that makes sense.

She had specialized in crafting until now, so of course.

 

「I can fight a little too, but… I’m a bit uncertain about what level this dungeon will be.」

「An unknown dungeon… I think it’s a rather exciting prospect. Why don’t we all give it a try?」

「Right.」

 

Aside from Shouko, Sheryl seems motivated.

It’s not a bad idea, but this place is a bit past the typical hunting grounds and dungeons, right?

Will we be okay with this party?

 

「My apologies. I’m a bit busy, so I’ll have to pass this time.」

 

Romina declined.

She’s probably the busiest one here, so there’s no need to bring her along to the dungeon.

After all, role distribution is one of the charms of MMOs.

It’s best to put the right people in the right places.

 

「Understood, then let’s give it a try. There’s a lot I can do, but it was getting a bit monotonous.」

 

And so, we formed a party and sneaked into the dungeon.

 

†

 

We entered the dungeon.
It feels like a cave, slightly dim but not to the point where you can’t see.
It was quite damp.

As always, the cutting-edge VR technology is amazing.

 

「Huh? Kizuna-san you’re holding a lamp, when did you get that?」

「You’re right! When did that happen!?」

 

As the leader, a lamp somehow appeared in my hand.

 

Tool/ Pioneering Grounds, Lamp of Return

Description/ A tool for dungeons in the pioneering grounds, a lamp given to prevent getting lost. Extinguishing the flame allows you to leave the dungeon.

 

「Seems to be an escape item. Apparently, extinguishing the flame lets us exit.」

「Quite a handy tool.」

「escape」

 

That was Sheryl’s line, but her intonation was strangely good.

The formation was Shouko in front, Sheryl in the middle, and me in the rear.

 

「I wonder what kind of monsters will show up, it’s exciting.」

「Well, they may be stronger than sea monsters at least.」

 

As we were walking and chatting like that, a swarm of slime-type monsters called Citrus Jelly appeared.

 

「Here I go.」

 

It feels like it’s been ages since I last fought.

Just as I was indulging in that feeling of nostalgia…

Woah! A Citrus Jelly leaped at me!

…Huh?

It bounced right off me, not hurting or itching at all.

I guess my stats made it a breeze?

A few minutes later, we had annihilated the swarm of Citrus Jelly.

 

「Shall we dismantle them?」

「Let’s try… though I wonder if dismantling jellies even serves a purpose?」

 

I picked up one of the jelly corpses lying around.

It feels like a jellyfish.

…Well, I’ll try dismantling it with the Iron Glass Key. It’s for birds, but whatever.

Hmm… it’s super transparent, but it seems to have internal organs of sorts.

Jelly, slime-type monsters are the kind you have to use your imagination to picture properly.
The result.

 

Jelly Meat

Jelly Viscera

Jelly Core

 

I was able to dismantle it into those three parts.

From the viscera… stones and trash-like things came out. There seemed to be moss too.

Either way, it’s basically digesting garbage.

If I dismantle them diligently, I might get something good.

 

The core looks pretty.

I’ll ask Romina later if it can be used for anything.

In alchemy games, you can make living things out of stuff like that.

 

「Maybe this is what it’s like to slice up jelly.」

 

The slimes were like jellyfish and unexpectedly difficult, and I failed quite a bit.

But it seems like there could be other uses for them too.