Episode 79: Growth and Silver Magic Ore
“Yuma!”
“I’m alright! I can do it!”
Dodging the Rock Golem’s swinging arm, I slipped into its inner space. In my “Metal Armor” state, I slammed my fist into the Golem’s face.
The spike-like protrusions on my fist shattered the rock surface. The Golem’s massive body, easily over two meters tall, swayed slightly.
But refusing to fall, it tried to grab me with its viciously strong grip.
I ducked to evade its hand, focusing power throughout my body.
Hundreds of long, sharp spikes extended from my back and head, piercing the Golem’s body. The inorganic monster, unable to voice a sound, seemed to groan for a moment.
I retracted the spikes, returning my body to normal. I charged with all my might into the Golem, which was still trying to attack.
The Rock Golem wobbled and then collapsed to the ground.
A heavy thud echoed as dust billowed. As the Golem tried to rise, a Longsword extended from my right hand as I straddled it.
I thrust the sword into the struggling Golem’s throat, pressing down with all my weight to drive it deeper.
The arm that tried to push me off stopped moving. The Golem’s motionless body gradually began to crumble, turning into sand and disappearing.
“You did it, Yuma!”
The President rushed over. We were currently on the thirty-sixth floor. It was a place we could only reach with bombs before.
But this time, we managed to get here without using bombs or “Superpower,” and even defeated the formidable Rock Golem.
The President seemed more pleased than I expected.
“Yuma, a Demon Ore dropped!”
“It’s the ‘Silver’ Magic Ore I got before. The one that greatly enhances physical abilities.”
“Nice going. Let’s take it back and show it to Aisha-san. She’ll definitely want to check it out.”
“Yeah. It’s rare for a gray-brown Golem to drop ‘Silver,’ and last time, you forcibly snatched it, President.”
The two of us decided to end today’s exploration and leave the Dungeon.
Of course, while running.
◇◇◇
“Ooooh! Silver Magic Ore, so you defeated that Golem again.”
Back at the hotel, when I showed her the Magic Ore, Aisha-san was overjoyed, taking it in her hands and smiling with sparkling eyes.
“Let’s measure how much your physical abilities increase right away.”
Aisha-san quickly left the room to fetch the necessary instruments. The President and I couldn’t help but laugh at her swift movements.
“She really gets excited like a kid when it comes to the ‘Black Dungeon.’ I don’t know what she finds so fun…”
“Indeed.”
As we were talking, Aisha-san returned in about ten minutes, lining up equipment and devices in the room.
“We’ll measure three things: strength, agility, and endurance. We can only do a simple test inside the room, but it’s much better than not getting any data at all.”
Arranged in the room were a grip strength meter, a back strength meter, a laptop, and a large treadmill that had been brought in.
“First, we’ll measure your strength. Yuma-kun, please try it.”
“Understood.”
I gripped the grip strength meter with my bare hand and exerted force.
“Hmm, 48.5, huh… Next is the back strength measurement.”
“Yes.”
I used the back strength meter as instructed. Aisha-san wrote down the values in a notebook. After that, she started up the laptop to measure reaction speed.
“Click when the color of the circle changes.”
I frowned at the game-like test.
“Can you really measure agility with this?”
” ‘Speed’ is the speed of electrical signals transmitted from the eyes to the brain and from the brain to the fingertips. By observing the movement of these electrical signals, we can measure a certain level of reaction speed, that is, agility.”
“I see…”
“Although, it’s hard to say if we can measure it accurately with the equipment here.”
The reaction speed test ended in about five minutes, and Aisha-san wrote the measurement results in her notebook.
“Lastly, endurance. Put on this device.”
“What is this machine?”
There was a treadmill and measurement equipment in a rack, along with an oxygen mask connected to tubes.
“It’s called a respiratory gas analysis. Humans create kinetic energy by using oxygen. Systemic endurance is the ability to take in and utilize enough oxygen in the body, that is, the length of time you can continue exercising. This device measures that.”
It was quite a large-scale machine, and it seemed like a lot of work, but I couldn’t complain. I attached the device to my body and started the measurement.
I put on the oxygen mask and started running on the treadmill.
It was quite tough, but I kept running with all my might. The load gradually increased, and when I reached a certain level of exercise intensity, the maximum oxygen uptake could be measured.
“Okay, that’s enough! You can stop now.”
With Aisha-san’s permission, I took off the oxygen mask. I was panting and leaned against the treadmill’s handlebar, exhausted.
“Let’s take an hour break. Yuma-kun, eat the ‘Silver’ Magic Ore during that time.”
“Y-yes, understood.”
As instructed, I swallowed the Silver Magic Ore and decided to rest on the bed in the room.
While watching me lie on the bed, the President, who was smoking by the window, opened his mouth.
“That Silver Magic Ore is about the same size as the last one, right? Does that mean the effect is about the same?”
Aisha-san, who was happily recording the values while fiddling with the measurement equipment in the rack, nodded lightly and replied.
“Well, yeah. Basically, if it’s the same mineral and the same weight, the effects should be the same. Yes, they should be the same, basically. Heh heh heh…”
While wary of Aisha-san, who was laughing eerily, the President exhaled cigarette smoke out the window.