Level Up with Skills - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

First floor (4) 

TL: handCream

Seeing Tae-san return, the dwarf dropped his pipe.

“You survived?!”

“Huh, did you want me dead？”

“No, that’s not it.”

The dwarf hastily picked up his pipe, looked at Tae-san with a curious gaze.

“You didn’t meet monsters, right?”

“I’ve met them.”

“Oh… Then I guess you ran away. It must have been hard running away from Big Rat, but how are you alive?”

As soon as a player turns their back, Big Rat stealthily follows them and kills them swiftly. However, his basic damage is not very high that leaves a possibility that Tae-san run away to survive

The dwarf was confident that Tae-san made such a decision. The dwarf, with twitched eyebrows, examined him.

“You didn’t get scared?”

“Huh?”

“Well, whatever.”

Even when putting in the spot, Tae-san didn’t break. It wasn’t worth being a close target of his deal. (At this point, it was barely worth being his trading target.)

Tae-san opened his inventory and said．

“I got you this.”

The dwarf dropped his pipe again.

“… did you catch it?”

Tae-san pulled out Big Rat’s leather and meat from the inventory.

“Though it’s a store, you buy things too, right? How much do you think you can pay for this?”

“… Sir?”

The blank-faced Dwarf opened his mouth.

“Did you really catch it?”

“Then, are you calling it fake?”

“How?”

The dwarf was noticeably agitated. Tae-san surprised him in every possible way.

“If I caught it, I caught it. What are you so surprised about?”

“You…”

The dwarf was speechless. Somehow he managed to pull himself together and reached out.

“Wait, show me.”

Tae-san calmly handed over the leather and meat.

[Big Rat’s Meat]

[Quality: 96%]

[It’s Big Rat’s meat. If I want to, I can eat it.]

[Big Rat’s Leather]

[Quality: 95%]

[It’s Big Rat’s skin. It’s going keep you warm]

The dwarf’s eyes dilated.

It’s real! Not only that, it’s also of the highest quality. It means that it was perfectly captured without any unnecessary measures.

“What should I do?”

Big Rats are typically strong. Even the best players had hard times catching them because of their fast speed. This proud monster wasn’t something to be caught by a player who just entered the first floor of the labyrinth.

However, the items don’t lie. The dwarf looked at Tae-san with unbelievable eyes, and then he came to his senses.

“……Okay. Since you have met my condition, I’ll open my store to you.”

His role is the store owner. If the player has passed the conditions, it’s his duty to fulfill his promises.

“What do you need?”

“What are you selling?”

“I’m selling everything, so just tell me.”

‘Then, I have something I need to buy.’

“Then, do you have a tower shield?”

“Tower shield?! Those big ones?”

“Yes, big enough to hold it with both hands.”

“And why do you want that?”

“I’m trying to look at the bigger picture, that’s all.”

“… Right.”

The dwarf gazed at Tae-san with admiration for a moment, then reached out to the thin air.

“Golden Door”.

Damn!

The dwarf, who was rummaging through his storage space, pulled out the tower shield. It was large enough to cover a person’s body, and it looked quite solid.

“What about this one?”

Tae-san received the shield to confirm it.

[Heavy Tower Shield]

[Attack +1]

[Defense +5]

[It’s quite solid. And just like how it looks, it can block quite a lot of attacks.]

Tae-san was surprised. It wasn’t an extraordinary shield. But this equipment could only be obtained on the 7th floor in Easy Mode.

“How much is it?”

“500 gold.”

It was a reasonable price. Tae-san checked his Inventory… 243 Golds. He had less than half.

“Hmm, I’ll come back later.”

As his stats advance, it’s much easier to catch Big Rats. Just seven more will be enough.

The dwarf caught Tae-san leaving the shield behind.

“Where are you going?”

“I don’t have enough gold.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll give it to you for free.”

Tae-san, who was about to head to the labyrinth, stopped.

“For free?”

“Yes.”

The dwarf, to prove he’s not lying, threw the shield at him.

[You have acquired the Heavy Tower Shield]

“You are giving it to me for free!”

It wasn’t like the store owner. But the dwarf didn’t stop there.

“You have about 250 gold now, right? Hmm, there must be something worth buying. Wait a minute.”

The dwarf kept pulling tons of items out of his space. Tae-san was confused.

‘Huh?!’

Lee Tae-yeon always mentioned that the dwarf was always picky and never pulled out any item for display. She said that when the store owner gave her an item, he was very irritated. As if it would kill him to give her something.

But right now, the dwarf, who was looking for an item for Tae-san, looked like a fool.

* * *

[Kang Jun-hyuk [Solo]: Isn’t the store owner being too disgusting? Why would you say something like that when you’re nothing but a seller?]

[Lee Tae-yeon [Solo]: You feel the same way too, right? Just because you’re the store owner. What’s wrong with you? Oh, I’m angry, I really wanted to stab him but I can’t, because mostly I’ll lose. Ugh!]

* * *

“Why are you helping me?”

Tae-san, feeling uncomfortable, asked. Since Lee Tae-yeon had no reason to lie to him, the dwarf must have surely treated her badly. However, right now it wasn’t like that.

“It’s okay, you just need to do well. Can’t you see I’m taking care of you?”

The dwarf carefully arranged the items one by one.

“Just think of it as a simple investment.”

“Investment?”

“You’re so noisy. Now, pick one. These are the items you can buy right now.”

Nearly ten items were lined up on the floor. He looked at the dwarf questioningly, but he knew he wouldn’t receive any answer. So right now, he’ll look over it.

Most of the items were potions. Tae-san picked up the red potions.

[Health Recovering Potion]

[Restore 50% of strength]

[200G]

These potions are very hard to get in places other than the stores. It’s a must-buy item because there’s always a limit to the stock in the stores.

However, Taesan put down the potion that restores energy.

‘Right now, in the beginning, I’ll have nothing to use the potion anyways.’

In addition, there were many other potions.

There was a potion which could temporarily boost the player’s attack power.

A potion that temporarily speeds up everything.

A potion of teleportation that instantly teleports the player to the place they threw it.

They’re all useful. They’re all essentials for clearing labyrinths.

But it’s not something he was going to use right now.

He heard that it’s very difficult to get a potion in Solo mode. Unnecessary use of potion on the lowest floor could be a big deal, something he wanted to refrain from, so there was no reason to buy it now.

It was a so-called trap.

Now he had to buy more important items than those. Tae-san picked up a small bow.

[A Simple Bow]

[Accuracy +20%]

[It’ll be quite hard to use]

[200G]

[A Simple Arrow]

[Attack Force +1]

[It looks like a basic arrow]

[10G]

A must needed one for a long-distance attack. With the bow and arrows, the problem could have been solved considerably. And with his current gold situation, Tae-san could buy one bow and four arrows.

“How much is the leather?”

“If the quality is top notch, it’s probably about 70 gold.”

“Then I’ll sell it.”

Then he could buy seven more arrows right away with the 70 gold. The dwarf looked at Tae-san with a satisfied face. Taesan was confused by the store owner’s face that was overflowing with affection.

“What is it?”

“Isn’t it impossible to recover your stamina in the labyrinth?”

“I know.”

In the labyrinth, self-recovery is tremendously slow. Even after a full day, he couldn’t recover his physical strength to 10. And in the case of mana, it was okay, but the slow recovery remained unchanged.

There are only three solutions. One being, to drink a recovery potion, or by killing a monster to absorb their health.

Or stopping by the fountain of life that exists within the labyrinth.

[There’s a fountain of life on the first floor. Until the player doesn’t leave the first floor, they can use it unlimitedly. The location is always mysterious. But there’s a crazy old man near, so you wouldn’t have any problem locating it.]

That was the truth.

The dwarf had guided Lee Tae-yeon towards the fountain of life.

But not only was she disrespected, she was starving, but right now the dwarf was being very kind.

“Let me show you the location.”

Now he’s even marking the map for Tae-san.

“Do you know how to read a map?”

“Yes, I know.”

Tae-san checked the map. On the black map, the roads that Tae-san passed through were marked, and a bright light was placed in the dark.

That’s the location of the fountain of life. Tae-san looked at the dwarf silently.

“What? Do you need anything else?”

“No, not really.”

Tae-san said goodbye.

“Then I’m going.”

“Okay, so I’ll see you again.