Episode 12: Blue Dungeon
Yuma, returning to his room, tossed the bag containing the measuring device.
He sat down on the chair at his study desk, utterly dejected.
“What the hell! I paid 19,800 yen, and it was a complete waste of money!!”
Yuma was angry, but he couldn’t quite accept it.
The clerk at the electronics store said that no matter how many Slimes he defeated, his Mana Index wouldn’t rise, but he wasn’t just defeating ordinary Slimes. They were rare Metal Slimes.
“There’s no way it’s zero after defeating that many!”
But without knowing his precise Mana Index, he couldn’t use the Demon Ore. How could he measure it in 0.1 increments…? Yuma searched on his smartphone.
“Hmm, precision measuring devices cost over a hundred thousand… Even used ones are seventy thousand… Way out of my reach.”
But if he ate the Demon Ore without checking, in the worst-case scenario, it might not be absorbed into his body and just come out as poo. Yuma picked up the Demon Ore and stared at it intently.
“It’s pretty big. It would be terrible if something like this came out of my butt…”
He shuddered and gasped. No one would want to pass a two-centimeter iron ball from their rear. Yuma searched again for a way to find out his Mana Index.
Then, several articles popped up.
“A measuring device in a Dungeon?”
It was the homepage of a Dungeon managed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
The ‘Blue Dungeon’ in Musashino City was a popular spot where even children could enter the lower levels. If you paid the entrance fee, you could have your Mana Index measured for free.
“What, there was something like this? And they have a precise Mana Measurement Device… This is it, this is it!”
Yuma’s house was in Tokyo, but in the suburbs far from the city center. Still, it would only take a few tens of minutes by train to get to Musashino.
Yuma grabbed only his wallet and rushed out of his room again.
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Yuma got off the train at Musashi-Sakai Station, exited the ticket gate, and looked around the station area.
“It’s this way, right?”
Walking while looking at the map on his smartphone, he saw a white dome-shaped building in a few minutes. “That’s it,” Yuma quickened his pace and headed towards the building.
It was a facility built in Koganei Park, about three thousand square meters in size.
It felt like a smaller version of the Tokyo Dome, but the white walls surrounding it on all sides seemed to stubbornly block people’s entry.
There was a reception desk at the front entrance, and Yuma went through the automatic doors and entered.
Being a Sunday, it was quite crowded. Yuma called out to the woman at the reception desk.
“Excuse me. I’d like to enter the Dungeon.”
“Is this your first time?”
A beautiful woman in her twenties smiled brightly.
“Yes, it’s my first time. Is there a fee?”
“Yes, there is an entrance fee. In this Dungeon, the general public can enter up to the third floor, but what would you like to do?”
It seemed the fee varied depending on the floor you wanted to explore. For now, the first floor would be fine.
“Then, the first floor.”
“Understood. The entrance fee for the first floor is 1,000 yen. Oh, if you’re a student, there’s a student discount, do you have a student ID or something?”
Yuma presented the student ID that was in his wallet and got the entrance fee reduced to 800 yen.
“This will be your Entrance Pass. The entrance to the Dungeon is through the door straight ahead.”
“Um, I’d like to measure my Mana Index…”
“The Mana Measurement Room is inside to the right. I think you’ll find it easily.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Yuma heard the receptionist say “Be careful” behind him as he walked for a while, and then a sign that read “Mana Index Measurement Room” came into view. There were a few people lined up, but not too many.
Yuma took a numbered ticket and sat down on a sofa in the hallway to wait.
Waiting anxiously, he was called after about ten minutes.
“Number 286, please come in.”
“Ah, yes!”
Yuma, with his numbered ticket in hand, stepped into the Mana Measurement Room.