Chapter 383: Let’s Leave the Investigation to Numbers
“I might be starting to find it cute.”
As Rio watched the spider TYPE move with a crisp, sharp motion, those were the words that escaped her lips after she had generated the weakest version without any skills attached. If it had looked like a tarantula with fine hairs, perhaps it wouldn’t have been as appealing, but its mechanical appearance seemed to make all the difference. In fact, I found it rather cool.
“It’s surprisingly stylish.”
“Really? I think it’s cute!”
It seemed that Rio and I had different sensibilities. To her, this angular spider was adorable.
“For now, I think this basic form will do.”
“Sounds good! Are you going to attach skills next?”
“Yeah.”
It appeared that generating the basic form of the weakest spider consumed 1,000 DP. Even so, its base stats were on par with a B Rank adventurer, so there was no need to allocate points there. I decided to invest in Earth Magic for mining resource exploration and Appraisal Skill for finding food. It seemed like I could increase the skill levels like a bar graph, but skills definitely had their own levels as well.
Magic ranks included beginner, lower, intermediate, advanced, and holy, right? I think there were nine ranks in total? I usually used them without thinking, so I wasn’t entirely sure.
Earth Magic required 2,000 DP for the beginner level. The next levels were 5,000, 10,000, 50,000, and 200,000. Appraisal seemed to require double the DP of Earth Magic, indicating it had a higher rarity.
“Hmm…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Well, the DP consumption varies depending on the skill level I attach, and I’m just wondering how much I should allocate.”
“I see. You can’t tell with your Appraisal, can you?”
“Right. I can tell that it has skills, but not their levels. However, I think distinguishing whether something is food doesn’t need to be that high of a level.”
“Ah, that makes sense. The real issue is with the mining resources.”
“Exactly. Searching for mining resources deep underground seems like it would be quite challenging.”
“In that case, why not raise your Magic Manipulation skill as well?”
“Ah, good point.”
Following Rio’s advice, I started allocating points to Magic Manipulation. This too consumed the same amount of DP as Appraisal.
“100,000 for Appraisal, 1,000,000 for Earth Magic, 2,000,000 for Magic Manipulation, and then I’ll add some skills for concealment and presence suppression to make them harder to detect…”
“Wow, customizing really eats up the DP, huh?”
“Seems like it.”
In the end, after adding various skills, I had spent about 5,000,000 DP on a single spider.
“For now, I think I’ll send about a hundred of them out for land exploration.”
“Wow, that’s generous!”
“Considering the need for resource acquisition, it’s an investment. …Oh?”
“What’s up?”
While manipulating the Dungeon Create menu in my mind, I stumbled upon an unexpected convenient feature.
“It seems that if I register the monsters I create, there’s a discount on DP consumption when generating them in bulk.”
“Really? That’s a thing?”
“Yeah. I wonder if there’s some kind of mass production factory somewhere.”
I couldn’t help but imagine the TYPE Series being assembled on a conveyor belt in a flow-like manner.
“Ahaha!”
I couldn’t tell what Rio was imagining, but perhaps she had conjured up a similar image.
When I entered “100” into the production quantity in the Create Menu, the DP cost per unit dropped to 4,500,000. I thought increasing the number would enhance the discount, and sure enough, it did.
“Hmm… 1,000 units for half price… I’m a bit torn.”
“How much do you have left?”
Upon checking, I found I still had 5.5 billion DP remaining. I felt like I had spent quite a bit, but it hadn’t decreased as much as I thought. It might also be due to the TYPE Series regularly venturing into the Forest of Enchantment to draw in monsters and convert them into DP.
“Maybe I should just go for it.”
“Whoa, 2.5 billion! That’s nearly half your total! You’re quite the spender, Shuu.”
“Well, I don’t have many uses for it anyway.”
Now that I could return to modern Japan whenever I wanted, I found I could acquire the handy tools I desired more easily than I had expected.
With those thoughts in mind, I pressed the OK button in my mind’s Create Menu.
“Oh!”
Immediately, the spider TYPE created by the dungeon appeared before me. It was about two meters long, with a body composed of a dull metallic sheen that looked both reliable and cool.
“Wow, it has a much fainter presence than the first one I made without skills.”
“That’s because I added some scouting skills to it.”
As we spoke, more and more spider TYPEs were being born. They were starting to overflow, so I quickly issued exploration orders for them to head out in various directions.
“Good luck out there!”
Rio waved them off, but of course, the TYPE Series offered no response.
“Now, I wonder what they’ll find.”
“I’m looking forward to it!”
Soon, exploration results began to gather in the Dungeon Menu.
“It seems I can view the information collected on my tablet.”
“Really? …Wow, that’s amazing, but there’s just so much coming in!”
Rio was operating the tablet, but her brow was furrowed. The constant influx of information was overwhelming, making it hard to keep up. Essentially, it was just information about what was where, but it was fascinating to watch.
“It looks like there’s a cluster of sweet potatoes nearby.”
“And over here, it says there’s a fruit called Beberage. …I can’t tell much just from the name.”
It seemed there was an abundance of food available after all. I could generate food through the Dungeon Create Menu, but I felt a bit resistant to using DP for that, so this was just right.
At that moment, the system that gathered information simply by waiting was finally complete.