An ordinary profession creates the world's strongest

"Yeah, you've been sleeping for five days... Of course you'd feel weak."

Kaori wanted to get up, and Shizuku helped her and told her with a wry smile how long she had slept. Kaori immediately realized the time.

"Five days? That long? Why... I remember going to the labyrinth... and then..."

Seeing her pupils gradually unable to focus, Shizuku felt something was wrong and wanted to change the subject quickly, but Kaori's memory recovered first.

“And…ah…where’s Nagumo-san?”

"……that……"

Shizuku made a bitter face, worrying about how to tell Kaori. Seeing Shizuku like that, Kaori realized that the tragedy in her memory was reality, but she was not strong enough to accept such a reality.

"...That's fake, right? Shizuku-chan, after I fainted, Nagumo-san was rescued, right? Answer me, isn't it? This is a room in the castle, right? Everyone's back, right? Nagumo-san... is he training? He's at the training center, right? Hmm... I'll go over there. I have to thank Nagumo-san... So let me go, Shizuku-chan."

Kaori was escaping reality, saying one thing after another, wanting to find Hajime. Seeing Kaori like that, Shizuku grabbed her hand tightly.

A look of sorrow appeared on Shizuku's face, but she still stared at Kaori resolutely.

"...Kaori, you know clearly, right?...He's not here."

“Stop talking…”

"Just like Kaori's memories."

“Stop talking…”

“He… Nagumo-kun…”

"No, stop it... I said stop it!"

"Kaori! He's dead!"

"No! He's not dead! That's absolutely not the case! Why would you say such outrageous things?! Even Shizuku-chan, I can't forgive you!"

Kaori shook her head in resistance, struggling to break free from Shizuku's grip, but Shizuku held her tightly and refused to let go. She hugged Kaori tightly, trying to warm her friend's frozen heart.

“Let me go! Let me go! I need to find Nagumo-kun! I beg you… He’s definitely still alive… So let me go!”

At some point, Kaori started crying, "Let me go!" and buried her face in Shizuku's chest, crying.

Kaori clung to Shizuku and cried loudly at the top of her lungs. Shizuku just hugged her friend tightly, hoping that this would ease the pain in her heart a little.

An unknown amount of time passed like this. The sky outside the window, once bright, was now dyed red by the setting sun. Kaori sniffed and shifted in Shizuku's arms. Shizuku looked at Kaori worriedly.

"Kaori..."

“…Shizuku-chan… Nagumo-kun must have fallen… He’s not here, right?”

Kaori whispered, her voice threatening to fade away. Shizuku didn't try to hide it, because if she tried to hide it, saying nice things to her, it might bring her temporary comfort, but it would ultimately cause her irreparable harm. She couldn't bear to see her friend hurt again.

"That's right."

"That time, Nagumo-san was nearly hit by our magic... whose magic was that?"

"I don't know. No one wants to talk about what happened back then because everyone is so scared. They're afraid that maybe it was them..."

"That's it."

"Do you hate everyone?"

"...I don't know. If I knew who it was... I think I'd definitely hate that person. But... I also think... it's better not to know the murderer. If I knew who it was, I think I wouldn't be able to bear it..."

"Is that so..."

Kaori lowered her head and spoke incoherently. She wiped her red eyes with her hands, looked up at Shizuku, and declared resolutely:

"Shizuku-chan, I don't believe it. Nagumo-kun is still alive. I don't believe he's dead."

"Kaori, that's..."

Hearing Kaori's words, Shizuku once again showed a sad face and tried to comfort her, but Kaori cupped Shizuku's cheeks with both hands and said with a smile:

"I know, it's strange to be alive after falling from that place... but no one can be sure he's dead. Although the probability is less than one percent, since we haven't seen his body, the possibility of Nagumo-san being alive is not zero... I want to believe he's still alive."

"Kaori..."

"I want to become stronger, strong enough to protect him even in that situation next time, and confirm with my own eyes whether Nagumo-kun is alive or dead... Shizuku-chan."

"What's up?"

"Please lend me a hand."

"..."

Shizuku stared at the way Kaori was looking at her. There was no madness or escapism in Kaori's eyes. Instead, they were filled with a pure, unwavering will that would not give up unless she agreed. At this moment, no one could persuade Kaori, not even Shizuku, and even Kaori's family would be helpless against her stubbornness.

Generally speaking, the possibility Kaori mentioned could be dismissed as zero. Believing that one could survive falling into such an abyss was understandably dismissed as escapism.

I'm afraid that almost everyone, including her childhood friends Kouki and Ryutaro, will correct Kaori's thoughts.

Therefore……

"Of course, I'll stay with you until you think it's enough."

"Shizuku-chan!"

Kaori hugged Shizuku and kept thanking her, "No need to thank me, we are good friends, right?" Shizuku was still so masculine, and the title of modern samurai girl was not undeserved.

At this moment, the door of the room suddenly opened.

"Shizuku! Kaori wake up...come..."

"Hey, Kaori, how's...?"

It was Kouki and Ryuutarou who entered the room, probably to check on Kaori. They seemed to have come straight in their training uniforms, and they were all grimy.

From that day on, the two of them trained even harder, probably because they both felt guilty about Hajime's death. After all, they had refused to retreat, even facing a counterattack, and it was Hajime who had saved them from near death. They seemed to be working very hard to prevent such an embarrassing situation from happening again.

Those two people were now frozen in front of the doorway for some reason. Shizuku asked them in surprise.

"How did you guys…"

"S-Sorry!"

"Excuse me!"

They responded nervously to Shizuku's question, and hurried out of the room as if they had seen something they shouldn't have. Seeing them like that, Kaori's eyes widened in surprise, but the clever Shizuku realized the reason.

Now Kaori was sitting on Shizuku's thighs, her hands covering Shizuku's cheeks, her face so close that she was almost kissing her. In order to support Kaori, Shizuku also held her slender waist and shoulders with her hands.

In other words, they present a very yuri scene. If this were a comic book world, the background would definitely be blooming lilies.

Shizuku sighed deeply, glanced at Kaori, who was still confused, and shouted:

"Come back here, you two idiots!"

Volume 1 Chapter 3 Golden Vampire Princess

“Damn it, why isn’t there…”

Three days passed after killing the Claw Bear, and Hajime continued searching for a way to the upper level.

Hajime had already explored 80% of this floor. Thanks to the Claw Bear he'd eaten, his health had skyrocketed, and now there was nothing on this floor that could pose a threat to him. Despite the vastness of the area, Hajime accelerated his exploration, but despite all his searching, he still found nothing.

No, "I haven't found anything" is grammatically incorrect. More accurately, what I haven't found is the path to the 'upper level.' The path to the 'lower level' was discovered two days ago. If this is a maze, and a multi-story maze, then there must be a path to the upper level. Why can't I find it?

In addition, Hajime had already tried using alchemy to directly create a path to the upper level, a method that did not treat the maze as a maze.

Finally, Hajime discovered that, regardless of whether he was going up or down, once he reached a certain range, the incandescence would somehow no longer affect the walls. If he was within that floor, the incandescence would be possible no matter what. Perhaps the ceiling and floor were protected in some way. This [Orcus Great Labyrinth] was built in the Age of Gods, a labyrinth brimming with mysteries. Whatever it held was unsurprising.

Therefore, although Hajime was still searching for a way to the upper level, if he couldn't find it, he would have to make a decision whether to descend deeper into this maze.

"...It's a dead end. I've checked every possible path, so what's going on?"

Hajime sighed deeply, gave up on searching for the upward passage that he couldn't find no matter how hard he tried, and headed towards the room he had discovered two days ago, where the stairs leading down to the lower level were.

The staircase was very crudely built.

Rather than calling it a staircase, perhaps a more accurate description would be a bumpy ramp. Perhaps there wasn't a green stone beneath the stairs, but the area ahead was shrouded in darkness, filled with a gloomy and eerie atmosphere, like the gaping maw of a gigantic monster. The feeling of never being able to leave once inside naturally surfaced in my mind.

"Ha! Very good. Whatever it is that gets in my way, I'll kill it and eat it."

Hajime scoffed at his own thoughts, raised the corner of his mouth into an arrogant smile, and stepped into the darkness without hesitation.

In short, that floor was pitch black.

Since it's an underground maze, darkness is natural. However, all the floors I've entered so far have green light stones, so I've never been so dark that I can't see what's ahead.

However, it seemed that there were no green stones on this floor. Hajime paused for a moment, hoping that after adjusting to the darkness, his eyes would be able to see more clearly, but no matter how long he waited, there was no difference.

There was no other way but to take out the green light stone for lighting from the makeshift backpack made of claw bear fur and smelted iron wire.

Honestly, holding a light source in the darkness where monsters were present was tantamount to suicide. However, if he didn't do so, he couldn't move forward, so Hajime had no choice but to make a choice. However, his right hand had to be free, so he tied the green light stone to his left arm, which was missing below the elbow.

After advancing for a while, something seemed to flicker in the passage on the inside, and Hajime raised his alert to maximum.

He advanced, hiding behind cover whenever possible. Suddenly, he sensed an ominous presence on his left. He immediately leaped back, shining the green light stone in that direction. He saw a two-meter-long gray lizard crawling on the wall, glaring at him with its golden eyes.

At that moment, those golden eyes lit up for a moment, and the next moment—

「!?」

Hajime's left arm, missing below the elbow, began to petrify with a crackling sound, quickly spreading to the green light stone strapped to his arm. It petrified within seconds, then with a snap, the stone shattered and scattered. Hajime was suddenly without light, shrouded in darkness. Even then, the petrification continued, spreading to his shoulder.

Hajime smacked his lips, and pulling the sacred water from his holster made of monster hide and wire, he drank it all in one gulp. As he had expected, the petrification stopped, and the petrified part returned to normal in the blink of an eye.

"I was tricked!" Hajime cursed inwardly, pulling a flash grenade from his waist pouch and throwing it near the golden-eyed lizard's location. At the same time, golden eyes shone once more from the darkness. Hajime, oblivious to his sight, used his "Shrinking the Earth" technique, instantly leaving his position.

The rock behind Hajime's original location changed color slightly, then began to crumble as if weathered. It possessed a powerful petrifying evil eye, perhaps equivalent to a basilisk in RPG terms. (Editor's note: In Greek and European legends, the basilisk is the king of all snakes, capable of killing with its gaze.)

Hajime thought so as he drew out the Donner, used the spear as a shield, and covered his eyes tightly while closing them.

At that moment, there was a loud bang, and a strong flash filled the surroundings, covering the vision with light.

“Gah!?”

Perhaps panicked by the unprecedented light, the figure of the Basilisk emerged from the darkness.

He immediately fired. The powerful bullet, as if drawn into the basilisk's head, shattered its skull squarely, ravaging the inside of its skull. The bullet pierced through, leaving a deep hole in the wall behind it, and the rock surface scorched with a scorching sound. Due to electromagnetic acceleration, the impact site generated a high temperature, a power only possible with the heat-resistant and hard Taurus ore.

While keeping an eye on the surroundings, Hajime approached the basilisk, quickly cut off its flesh, and then left. In the near darkness, he couldn't eat leisurely, so he decided to explore first.

Hajime continued walking in the darkness. He'd been exploring for dozens of hours, judging by his physical senses, but still hadn't found the stairs leading to the next level. He'd defeated many monsters along the way and collected a lot of ore, almost too much to carry, so he decided to build a base.

He found a random spot, pressed his hand against the wall, and began to refine. A hole was successfully carved into the wall, and a passage leading into the wall was formed. He continued to refine, creating a space of about three square meters. He then took out a basketball-sized piece of blue-white ore from his backpack and placed it in the recess of the wall. It was the divine crystal he had brought with him. He also set up a container for collecting water underneath.

Incidentally, the game originally called the Divine Crystal a "Potion Stone" and the Divine Water a "Potion." These are indeed the representative recovery medicines in the game, but the effects are obviously very different, yet they are only called potions. It feels like the names were chosen quite haphazardly.

"Okay, let's eat right away."

Hajime pulled the monster meat from a container (made with forging) from his backpack and began grilling it with Thunder Wrap. Today's dishes were roasted basilisk meat, an owl that fired feathers like a shotgun, and a six-legged cat, all without seasoning.

"I'm starting."

As Hajime devoured his meal, he began to feel a gradual pain in his body, indicating that his body was strengthening. If so, the monsters here were probably as strong as or even stronger than the Claw Bear. Granted, the combination of darkness and unique magic was a challenge, but a single shot from Donal would shatter them all, so Hajime didn't really feel it.

While drinking the holy water, Hajime ignored the pain and continued to eat meat. The continuous pain since the phantom pain had made Hajime quite resistant to pain.

“Mmm, huh~ I’m full. Okay, my status value is…”

After saying this, Hajime took out the status board and looked at it. Hajime's current situation was...

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Nanyun Hajime 17 years old Male Level: 23

Vocation: Alchemist

Power: 450

Stamina: 550

Resistance: 350

Agility: 550

Mana: 500

Magic Resistance: 500

Skills: Alchemy (+Mineral Identification) (+Precision Alchemy) (+Mineral Exploration) (+Mineral Separation) (+Mineral Fusion) · Magical Manipulation · Stomach Acid Enhancement · Thunder Wrap · Sky Step (+Aerodynamics) (+Shrinking the Earth) · Wind Claw · Night Vision, Breath Sense · Petrification Resistance · Language Comprehension

====================

As expected, the stats increased significantly, and the skill bar also increased by three. Looking closely, Hajime could indeed see it more clearly than before.

This seems to be the effect of "Night Vision." It seems a bit underwhelming for a monster from the Abyss, but it's a huge advantage on this level. Next up are the skills that align with their names. Unfortunately, the Basilisk's unique ability is, for some reason, "Petrification Resistance" instead of "Petrification." "Petrifying Evil Eye! It would be so cool to yell that..." Hajime couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.