Chapter 23: [Arc 1] Chapter 17: Gust the Search Engine

I ignored my newly acquired partnerSearch Engine, the raven that was in an orz-position, and thought what my next move should be. 

The first order of business should be to find some way to escape this floor and that "Ghost King". If the hole that the raven was in really leads to Floor 7, then I don't need to think too much about that problem.

In that case, it's back to my main objective: use as much of this Dungeon as possible to evolve into the Kur Kigal race. 

The question is: how?

I didn't wanna take the Quest that's linked to this floor due to the abyss... but since I'm already deep inside it (and beyond), why not check it out before making any decisions? 

I made the Quest Log appear. As its name suggests, it's the World System's Quest Board so to speak. You can make it appear and disappear in the same way as the Skill Shop, but I've only checked on the Quest the moment I obtain it for then making a shortcut to see it without having to take up the Log and all, so I've yet to make full use of this function seriously. No better time than the present.

The Quest(s) I'm working on is shown on the Active Quest tab, the ones I've finished will be shown by clicking on the Quest Log tab, and the Nearby Quest is empty as... forget that last part. But... what the heck's that supposed to mean?

"Don't ignore me! Why are you ignoring this poor bird that you have forced your command over to see some Quest-" - Raven

The birdie's noisy. Shut up already.

".....-!? ...!? .........!!" - Raven

So, it's true that monsters that are tamed are forced to follow the order of their masters. Sweet.

You're allowed to speak. Just don't be noisy.

"What do you mean by... I can speak!" - Raven

Through telepathy only. And there's one thing he mentioned just now that I'm interested in.

Did you say you could see the Quest Log?

"Yes... I mean, yes, ma'am!" - Raven

Skip the ma'am. And why can you see it?

"Why? Was it not you who kept the page open?" - Raven

Huh? Anyone can see this?

"Not normally, but like with [Identification] results, you can show the windows generated by the World System to others whenever you want. Damn, couldn't resist not telling her..." - Raven

Ho? Then did the Quest Log turn visible because I wanted someone to tell me about that Nearby Quest? 

"You can also make all your windows visible through the Options Menu. ......GYAAAA!!" - Raven

Mister Search Engine's still not happy about having to spill all his knowledge to me. I wish he just learned to play well. We're gonna have a long relationship... I hope. Not sure what could happen in this Dungeon.

And as for the Options Menu... It came up. Works just like the Skill Shop and Quest List. If someone could have told me about that a little sooner...

Hmm, so I can change the visibility grade of the System Messages and any other of those hologram-like messages, along with when I want the World System to notify me about level- or skill changes. It even tells me the recommended amount of messages one should select to show up. Then we'll take that. Telling me when notable changes to the skills, such as when new abilities and Lv.Max is obtained. Else it's not so different from before.

Good job. Here's the reward.

I gave birdie one of the fruits I had gotten from the moles before. And why did that make the bird's eyes almost pop up?

"F-f-f-f-for me? This is for me?" - Raven

...Why, yeah? You deserve some bonuses when you do a good job.

"Then-! Then does that mean I will get food regularly then!?" - Raven

Wha-? Of course, you will. Three meals a day, as long as the circumstances allow it.

"Y-yahoo!! What a happy day!!" - Raven

And with that outburst, the bird picked up the fruit with his hands and started to eat it... oi. Can you use those wings as hands? And he's not pecking the fruit, he's chewing on it. Are you sure your race is called Wisdom Raven? Looks more like a Toon Raven to me.

Going by this reaction, the Ghost Knight didn't feed this guy well... doesn't he know that animal abuse is just low? Not that a prominent monster slayer like me has anything to say... right? I'm not so sure now.

Ready for your job now...er... what shall I call you?

"I do not have a name. Only the ravens acknowledged by the Sages of the Library Tower was allowed to have names." - Raven

Hmm, that's gonna be annoying. Wanna pick a name now?

"No, monsters cannot name themselves. A name for a monster is a symbol of greatness-" - Raven

But I was named since I was born?

"WHAT!? ......Then names are not that important after all?" - Raven

This cheeky birdy...

"Ah! I mean, someone as great as Master would have a name-" - Raven

Stop patronizing me, or you'll be cursed with the worst name in generations.

"......!!!" - Raven

The bird's got a loose tongue, but a fast mind. And any bad names he has will make me look equally bad, so let's be serious about this. He's a bird, so something birdy... argh, I'm bad with names. And he wants it to be cool, but my principle goes against chuuni-names, so...

What about Gust?

"Gust?" - Raven

As in the wind. You know, 'cause you're a bird?

And because a gust is one of the weakest-sounding names for wind...

"I like it! Gust, my name is Gust... yes, this has quite a nice ring to it! From this moment on, my name is Gust!" - Gust (Raven)

......This guy's quite easy to please. Sure, it makes things easier for me, but is he fine with this...?

Then, to your first, official assignment.

"As you wish, Master." - Gust

...Your 0.1th assignment. Just call me Garami.

"Whatever that pleases you, Master Garami." - Gust

Seriously, cut the "Master"-part out. Your second assignment is to help me select which of the maxed-out skills I should evolve first.

"Leave it to me! I didn't read all the hero-stories in the Library Tower for nothing." - Gust

It feels like I got the slacker who spent 15 years at the Library Tower to read light novels and comics as my partner... gotta keep this guy on a short leash. 

Ignoring the feeling of a chaotic future, I produced my Status Page with [Identification].

Oya? [Identification] reached Lv.30. About time. [Discern] reached Lv.20 a while ago while I was gathering the Rose-Maria that wasn't around the entrance. With the added Skill Points, I now have exactly 10 Points.

I looked at Gust to check if he could see the result as well. 

"Yes, I can see it... I think?" - Gust

'He thinks'? Is something wrong? Let's see if the Skill List shows up without any trouble. 

 Attack Skills: Magic Skills: Crafting Skills: Active Skills: Passive Skills: Resistance Skills: Perception Skills: Leadership Skills: Elements: Monster Skills:

Well, these are my skills. Which one do you... hey.

"......" - Gust

Hey, Gust? HELLO!!

"........." - Gust

...Secret move, Wake-Up-Chop!!!

*Chop!!*

"My head! What was that for?!" - Gust

Just because.

"'Just because'!?" - Gust

More importantly, skills. Skills.

"Ah! That's right, what's with that broken Skill List!? What's with that amount!?" - Gust

Some Quest rewards, training, and having some roaches do some grinding for me.

"Wait, what was that last part? Anyway, the biggest concerns are these." - Gust

So said the bird while pointing on some of my skills. Mostly those that I obtain as my initial skills and [Aura of Darkness]. What's wrong with them?

"How did a former Grey Demon obtain all these high-tier skills!?" - Gust

'High-tier'?

"Oh yeah, I forgot that Master is not part of humanoid society. It refers to either highly sought-after or highly difficult-to-obtain skills. It's a ranking system people have made, so there is no information about these rankings in the World System." - Gust

No wonder I didn't know about it. There's probably a page about it in the Kigal-Note, but unless I already knew about its existence, I wouldn't find it with the book's Auto-Search function. That's the whole reason why I tamed this birdbrain. 

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I got lucky. Anyways... wait. How did you know I was a Grey Demon before?

I'm sure I didn't tell him that.

"Because it's only Color Demons that have [Magic Sight]. That, and that your DEX stat is so high." - Gust

Hmm? I get the [Magic Sight] part, but my DEX stat? And 'Color Demons'?

"From the look on your face, I guess you don't even know about Color Demons." - Gust

To be able to read the face of a spider demon... this bird's quite formidable. 

"Color Demon is what people refer to as a group of six demon species that are born from lingering aether of demonic nature, such as from that from dead monsters. They all have the [Magic Sense] skill and can learn practically any Monster Skills." - Gust

I already knew that... except for there being several of them.

"However, each Color Demon is overspecialized in a single status value, with Grey Demons being responsible for the DEX stat. Their appearance is theorized to be influenced by other creatures that specialize in the same status value, such as spiders for Grey Demons, or goats for the MAG-specialized Cyan Demon." - Gust

I didn't know that part. The highest stat value was DEX when I looked at its page on the Kigal-Note. Who would have known? And why didn't that goddess tell me about that?

"And in case those demons tried to obtain a skill that clashed with their favorite stat, the demon would undergo a Mutation Evolution to the Color Demon species that the obtained skill would fit better with, removing all the skills related to the previous species' stat in the progress." - Gust

That's why! I'm betting my soul here that she didn't tell me that so that she could laugh at me in case I made that miss!! She would, right? She didn't seem that keen on winning that "Champion contest" or whatever those gods are having by selecting their Champions.

But man, Color Demons have it though. I only picked spider-related skills so I didn't have to worry about that, but one wrong step and it would have been sayonara to all my hard work. 

Ok then, you've shown that you're as academic as you've bragged about yourself. Now, do you have any suggestions about how I can achieve this evolution?

So I asked while showing him the page regarding the Kur Kigal race.

"...Nope. This is no good." - Gust

What!? What's not good enough!?

"I cannot see anything. The spell you used on me expired." - Gust

......Just get the skill instead then!!

---

It's been three days since I first met Gust. During that time, he's been reading the Kigal-Note like there's no tomorrow. I did make him get [Night Vision], but I wish he found a way to read with a source of light. All that reading in the dark's gonna wear out his eyes.

I was spending my days watching the mole society and their cave paintings which told their society's story.

They're the creators and inhabitants of these underground tunnels of Floor 6. They made them so that they could escape the Dread Spirits that started to flood the Floor for some reason and ended up getting stuck here. The big hole leading to Floor 7 was a failed plan to escape the Dungeon... only that they didn't know there was something underneath them.

As for their current living style, they're cultivating underground vegetables and plants to survive while keeping an eye on the Dread Spirits outside, in hope of escaping this floor. Why did they even enter this place in the beginning?

As for my standing in this place, it's pretty much the head honcho. The moles didn't have any leader from the beginning, and since I was a master in collecting the finished veggies (compliments of [Gathering Lv.Max]) and that I produced hammock-style beds and duvets with my threads, they started to follow my orders all of a sudden. Did the [Leadership] skill have something to do with it?

During these last few days, I got to know about the Dread Spirits and the King of Ghosts.

These guys are not ghosts, as in the souls of dead people, but the aether that those dead men leave behind. Normally, that aether would merge with the rest of the aether around the planet, but some people with strong enough wills could leave their aether, their power, behind in the form of Dread Spirits. 

The reason the rats on Floor 1 blew up upon touch was due to the "power" of the Spirit was making a mess with the aether of the rat. One can resist that "attack" with a high RES, which means that the Spirits are powerless against someone like that. They have no other means of attack after all.

The Kings are a different story. Unlike the Spirits, which only has the will of "not wanna die", these guys remember their regrets from when alive. Due to their stronger-than-normal will, their aether has managed to reproduce its body from when they were alive. Worse is, people with that strong of a will are usually stuff worthy of being called "legendary". The knight that kidnapped Gust must have been one of those.

As for how to crush them, one can either use a strong enough force of aether, like a blast of mana, or "crack" the will that forces the aether into shape. The latter method is what [Heresy Modification] does. The will's a Heretic attribute effect... and I'm pretty clumsy with that skill. Oops.

The King's are a completely different story~. You can only fight them head-on as little tricks like [Heresy Modification] won't help. The Kings can also force the Spirits to summon them anywhere on Terra Sol, as long as the Spirits are already there, and the Kings can also use the Spirits as fuel to power up their attacks. That crazy slash the knight used the first time was exactly that.

The conclusion is that I can defeat as many Spirits as they can throw, but the King's too high-level for me. I'll stay clear of that thing while staying here. 

Of course, it's not only rainbows and sugarplums. As [Heresy Modification] affects the "will" that remains, I'm forced to see the final moments of that Spirit... having to go through the feeling of dying's not easy, even if it's only fragmented.

Even so, there's nothing else to do than to advance! I'm only waiting for Gust at this point, as there's virtually nothing else left for me on this floor. The reason why is the 6th part of the Chain Quest:

They skipped Floor 6 altogether! Works for me. I don't wanna have anything to do with this place. I'm even ignoring the Quest with the funny name that can only be found on this floor. It's unrelated to the Chain Quest after all. And from the contents, it sounds like it's a place a treasure hunting King of Ghosts would be involved with.

The Chain Quest itself should be easy to clear. Just throw one potent poison bottle on one of them, and bingo! Not the Hydra poison. I would have also been killed by it even if I threw it down from the hole here on Floor 6 to Floor 7. Damn, that thing's scary.

I wanna get all three of them, but according to Gust, the scales of the battle will tip greatly towards the "brave rebels" the second one of the bosses goes down, meaning there will be an incredibly short time frame in case I wanna challenge the other two. 

The only way I can see myself beating all three of them is to either use the Hydra poison, and die along with them, or somehow get the three bosses to the same area and throw all my poisons at them. But how am I supposed to make that happen?

"Ooooiii. Masteeeeerrrr." - Gust

Just as I was planning my giant-killing festival, Gust appeared from one of the tunnels.

What's up?

"There you are. I have finished the plan you wanted me to come up with." - Gust

Oh, this is gonna be interesting.

---

The place that Gust lead me to was... one of the entrances to the abyss? Is he joking with me? Didn't we agree that getting discovered by the King's not good?

"I do not need to be an Esper class holder to see that you are having doubts here, but let me explain everything first." - Gust

Alright, you have the word. But only because you mentioned a cool-sounding class.

I gave the green light to Gust and he started on his explanation.

"The King is probably struggling in finding whatever he is searching for here. The reason for this is the Dread Spirits. When too many of these creatures gather in a single space, some of them will disperse into a black fog-like substance, leaving only a limited number of Spirits remaining. If those numbers decrease, then a portion of the fog will return to Dread Spirits to replace those numbers. Which again will mean that the fog will be lifted if one continues to defeat the Spirits." - Gust

Ho... but can't the King get rid of the Spirits on his own then?

"No, unfortunately. He could use them up to enhance his attacks, but repeated attacks with that many Spirits boosting the attack will result in the Dungeon caving in." - Gust

What a loophole. And I've tasted that enhanced slash myself, so I understand the King's fears. But to think he had the smarts to consider that... this guy's an enemy I don't wanna face.

...?

Wait, doesn't that mean...

"That someone who can defeat Dread Spirits has to do the big clean-up." - Gust

Hey, that's me! And those things don't give EXP, so what's the point? We should rather climb down to Floor 7 if the only option is those dead faces!

"You obtained a hunting title when you defeated your first Dread Spirit, did you not?" - Gust

Oh... that one.

"That one. Hunting titles are divided into three stages: Slayer, Slaughterer, and Genocider. Normally, you would obtain an ability skill with the two first ones, but the Dread Spirit titles are different. The reward this time is EXP, not skills." - Gust

Ngh... but that's still no reason-

"Did I forget to mention the possible ways of obtaining proficiency with?" - Gust

...You did, but I'm not sure if I wanna know anymore.

"There are two methods, looking away from using Skill Points. Either to repeatedly use those skills or when you risk your life in using them" - Gust

...That last one... could explain my rapid growth. What's riskier than training skills in a Dungeon. The roaches may have had the crazy growth spurt due to them not fearing for their life.

"That is why we will have Master simulate some death for some deadly high amount of proficiency for your skills." - Gust

No way, Jose! Those memories are damn realistic! I'm positive I can die just from the shock!

"Relax. If you fear the Spirits that much, how about striking from a distance? Your whip- and thread-related skills did need some more proficiency." - Gust

Yeah..., but..., on Floor 7-

"On Floor 7 we have a war between boss-class monsters. Even that snake on Floor 5 may have joined up with the three other bosses. Do you want to face them all while un-evolved? And when you probably only need the Slaughterer title to gain enough EXP to evolve. Not to mention you have only ranked-up your [Concentration] skill..." - Gust

Urgh... FINE THEN! I just gotta do it? Bring it on! But I'm escaping if I see that King. Let's get this party started already!! I'm gonna slay, no, slaughter, no, GENOCIDE some Spirits!

"Good luck~" - Gust

Description:

The [Tame] skill allows the skill owner to take their first steps on the path to becoming a Tamer. Through taming a type of monster through this skill, one will unlock access to every Tamer class one could tame that monster with. 

One can tame any monster of a lower racial rank without any problems, but in case one tries to tame a monster of equal or higher rank, one needs the approval of the target for it to be tamed.

After being tamed, the monster can be forced into servitude with its will and thoughts kept in check, essentially being reduced to a simple puppet. This only works on monsters that are of a lower racial rank and one will not be able to obtain any Tamer classes through this method.

Another function is that one can link the tamed monster's life with the tamers. In case the tamer dies, so will the tamed monster, but not vice versa. This allows the tamer to keep more violent monsters in check without having to shut off the will of the monster. Again, this works only on monsters with a lower racial rank or an equal rank.

This skill's level increases along with the tamed monster's EXP, and for each skill level, the more EXP is the tamer rewarded with.

Gust's comment: Why's it not about meeee!?!?

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