“Alright, Yuma-kun, try searching around here.”
“Y-yes.”
Following Maika’s instructions, I look around at the molehills on the ground. If there are Fire Moles, the ground should be moving slightly…
“Ah!”
The soil next to the molehill moved just a little. I raise the pickel I’m gripping and slam it into the ground with all my might.
–How’s that!?
The mole pops its head out of the ground.
Alright, I thought, now to flip it up, but the mole retreats into its hole.
“Ah!?”
I frantically hit around the hole and dig up the ground, but it’s completely escaped.
“Ah, that’s too bad. But it’s like that at first. Next, next!”
Encouraged by Maika, Yuma starts looking for Fire Moles again. But even if he finds them, he can’t defeat them properly and they escape many times.
“Damn it! Just a little more!!”
Yuma digs up the hole the Fire Mole went into, frustrated.
–If I could use my Liquid Metallization ability, I could go into the hole and beat them up… but I can’t do that in front of Maika-san.
As he bites his lip in frustration, a Fire Mole peeks its head out of the hole.
Huh, what’s this? The moment I thought that, the Fire Mole jumped out and spat fire at Yuma’s face.
Taken by surprise, Yuma shouted, “Whoa!?” and recoiled sharply.
“Hey! Yuma-kun!?”
Maika rushes over in a panic. Having had fire spat at his face, Yuma sat down hard and covered his face with both hands.
“It… hurts…”
It seems I suffered a slight burn on my face. The “Fire Resistance” ability doesn’t work unless I’m Metallized. If I take an attack in my natural state, I’ll take normal damage.
“Are you okay!? Fire Mole fire is weak, but you can still get burned…”
Maika, who had rushed over, said, “Let me see,” and peered into my face.
Her face suddenly got close, and Yuma blushed, flustered.
“Wait there, I have something for burns.”
Maika rummages through her bag and takes out a small Cooling Spray.
“Hold still!”
“Y-yes.”
The cold air sprayed on my face caresses and cools my flushed cheeks.
“Yeah, there doesn’t seem to be any burn marks… That’s good.”
“Ah, thank you very much.”
Yuma stands up and dusts off his clothes. It seems the Fire Mole from earlier has escaped again.
Since I came all this way, I have to defeat at least a few. Thinking that, Yuma refused Maika’s suggestion to leave the Dungeon for now and began searching for Fire Moles energetically.
◇◇◇
After sticking it out for about five hours, Yuma managed to defeat three Fire Moles, but didn’t get a single Magic Gem.
During that time, Maika defeated twelve Fire Moles and obtained two Magic Gems.
“Yeah, about 0.4 and 0.5 carats of Garnet, I guess. I think they’re worth about eighteen thousand yen together.”
“That’s amazing…”
“Yuma-kun managed to defeat three! Fire Moles drop them at a rate of about 10%, so let’s aim to defeat ten tomorrow.”
“Understood!”
While they were having that conversation, the president and Tanaka (he) returned.
Apparently, they had been defeating Monsters on the fifteenth floor. They both looked fine, but they had brought back more than ten Red Spinel Magic Gems.
When Yuma was shown the case containing the Magic Gems, he let out a voice of admiration, “Heeh~.”
“Well, that’s about one million four hundred thousand yen. It’s not a lot, but we plan to go deeper tomorrow.”
Yuma was surprised that they could get this much in one day, and learned about the greatness of professional Seekers.
That was the end of the day’s work, and everyone returned to their lodgings together.
◇◇◇
“In other words, there’s also the issue of talent.”
At night — the four people who had returned to room 04 ordered delivery and were having dinner.
Yuma listens to the Seeker talk that the president and Tanaka (he) are telling him.
“At first, if you defeat the same Monsters, your Mana Index will rise in the same way. But when you reach a certain level, some people’s Mana Index rises steadily, while others hit a wall. I don’t know why that happens, but there’s nothing you can do about it!”
“Is that what you call the ‘Mana Wall’?”
Yuma asks the president, who is speaking passionately.
A word he had seen when reading books about Dungeons. In order to become a first-class Seeker, it is necessary to break through this “Mana Wall.”
The book said that innate talent is necessary for that.
“Well, that’s right. It’s different for each person. There’s a Mana Index 1000 wall, and a 2000 wall. And then 3000, 4000 and so on. I was able to overcome the 1000 wall, but it hasn’t grown much since then. Considering my career, it should be higher.”
When the president says that resentfully, Tanaka (he), who was listening to him, sighed with a wry smile, “I can’t even get over the 1000 wall!”