18: Chapter 17: Dungeon Seeking, Part Nine

Chapter 17: Dungeon Seeking, Part Nine

I took a taxi towards Bukhan Mountain's front entrance and practically flew straight for the mountain's peak.

It only took me about twenty minutes to climb the two-hour hiking trail and reach the top.

"Hmm. I'm sure it was around here..."

I was standing in front of where I remembered the entrance of the dungeon was.

As Anton said, I didn't feel or see anything around me. I was sure that even with a scanner skill I wouldn't be able to find anything.

"The durability must be low, but that just means the spell is stronger in other places."

I gathered power into my fist and punched out in front of me.

I definitely felt my fist hit something. I gathered more strength and began pummeling the area around the dungeon's entrance.

As my fists collided with something, I felt a repelling force go through my body all the way to my heels.

After about ten hits, I heard a different sound.

[Low-grade Dungeon 47 has been discovered.

Congratulations, You have discovered a low-grade dungeon! You will be given your bonus!

All stats will be increased by 5 points.]

"Oh!"

As soon as the message appeared before me, I felt a wave of relief flow over me.

It wasn't much compared to the stat points I already had, but the important part was that they were all bonuses.

These points weren't distributed fairly to other people, but were mine only. If I could amass even just a little by little now, I would have an overwhelming advantage over everyone else.

Once the invisible wall broke, a four-meter tall, five-meter-wide cavernous entrance stood in its place.

It was the dungeon I had used so often in my past life. It original name was low-grade dungeon 47, but to the ones that used it, it was known as the Bukhan Mountain Dungeon... and it was standing right before me.

Ding dong!

As I stood there, happy that I finally found the dungeon, another message came up.

[Otadonol Earth has been notified that a new low-grade dungeon has been found. You will be granted one point for locating a dungeon. You will be granted a bonus after 10 points. Please explore Earth to discover more dungeons.

Low-grade dungeon : 1 point

Mid-grade dungeon : 2 points

High-grade dungeon : 3 points

Dungeon Seeker will be added to your special.]

"Huh. What's this?"

I knew that finding a dungeon first netted a bonus, it was why I put finding a dungeon first as one of my priorities. But I had no idea that the dungeon seeker special was a thing.

"Was this why everyone else tried so hard to find dungeons and ignored everything else?"

While everyone knew about the bonuses the dungeon gave out, there were others that were almost obsessed with finding dungeons. They were the expedition and pioneer groups.

These groups were made up of elite guild members and people they seemed to favor.

These guys were the ones that made the monster-teeming Africa and Amazon rainforests somewhat habitable.

"Doesn't this make the competition fierce? It's easy to say, but I would have to find ten low grades just to get all ten points..."

I took a second to calculate it all.

"If I take all the dungeons I know of in South Korea, that's 1 mid-tier and 4 low-tiers. There's a mid-tier in North Korea, but that's going to be a little hard at the moment, so I'll pass on that. I remember there being a mid-tier at Mt. Fuji in Japan…"

I knew exactly where the five dungeons of South Korea were.

One mid-tier, and four low-tier. That was six points in all. On the other hand, I've never been to Mt. Fuji's dungeon, and didn't know where it would be. I still knew of one other mid-tier dungeon in that area.

"Phew…OK. Let's find South Korea's five dungeons first. Then I'll go to Japan. I'll find that other mid-tier and look for Mt. Fuji's."

Now that I thought about it, I felt regret.

Even though I couldn't join professional hunting parties, I had many chances to join expedition parties that went to other countries in search of items and experience.

That was how I got to the mid-tier dungeon in Hokkaido. Still, I joined only a few of those gatherings.

"Phew…I shouldn't blame myself now. It's all going to be different now..."

Low-tier Dungeon 47 I

"Wait, would there even be monsters in this dungeon?"

There weren't monsters out in the fields yet. It was thanks to this that society continued to function as normal.

If monsters spawned on the first day, things would have been chaotic and too many people would have died.

"Eh, I guess I'll find out..."

It was only low-tier dungeon 47, also known as Bukhan Mountain Dungeon, designed for newbies of levels 0-100. With my stats, I was confident that I could kill any monster in this dungeon with my bare hands.

"Open stat menu!"

[Name: Lee Jiwon

Level: 0 Death count: 0

Title: Earth's First Deva

HP: 612500/612500 MP: 122500/122500

Strength: 1225 Agility: 1225 Vitality: 1225

Willpower: 1225 Intelligence: 1225

Residual stat points: 0

Fatigue: 0

Special Effects: Luck Boost (X+ 1), immune from all status effects, Dungeon Seeker 1 point

Physical attack: 3675 Physical Defense: 1225

Magical attack: 3675 Magical Defense: 1225]

"Hahaha!"2

A smile grew on my face as I looked over my stats. This was my first time entering a dungeon since my return, but I didn't feel nervous, and instead felt quite confident.

I didn't have a weapon or a piece of armor, or even a single skill, but that didn't faze me.

My base stats were already high enough that I didn't really feel a difference with the 5 point bonus.

"Still, a penny saved is a penny earned. A low-tier dungeon will still net me 25 points total. That's like 2.5 levels! A mid-tier nets me 7 points each and a high-tier is 10 points each, so I shouldn't ignore those. I should get all 10 points in Dungeon Seeking to find out what the bonus is."

I closed my stat menu and walked inside the entrance of the dungeon. I hoped there were monsters inside...

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