Chapter 20
Now, suddenly, what is important in character development?
Development plan.
It's important.
Without it, you'll end up haphazardly developing your character, resulting in a poorly crafted final result .
Items.
These are also important.
With items, you can develop your character in various ways and even gain special powers.
But, I can confidently say that there's something even more important than these two.
Efficiency.
How efficiently you can gain experience points makes a significant difference in the time it takes to develop your character. If you're defeating monsters in inefficient hunting grounds, leveling up and skill development will take extra time.
Therefore, leveling up with the highest efficiency possible is the true justice.
So.
"Liberta."
"Liberta-kun."
The two girls are making extremely dissatisfied faces.
"We're bored."
I'll cut off their complaints without hesitation.
"Rejected. We're doing three more runs today."
"Ehhh—"
"Don't be selfish. You've been improving steadily today too."
It's been a week since I gave a grand speech about bonus time.
What have we been doing during that time? Of course, running through the Mochi Dungeon.
At first, we were thrilled by the dungeon world, enjoying the challenges and getting excited during boss fights.
At first, we defeated Kagami Mochi as a party and high-fived.
Once we got used to it, we defeated Kagami Mochi solo and high-fived.
We grew steadily like that.
But, the novelty only lasts for the first run.
By the second, third, and fourth runs, the boredom starts to pile up.
The first three days were fine.
We gained skills, grew steadily, and felt joy in that growth.
We also felt like we were experimenting with different ways to fight.
But by the fourth day, problems arose.
Both of us could solo Kagami Mochi stably, and when we defeated it as a party, it felt more like a chore.
On top of that, as our growth slowed down, we started wanting to do other things because it was getting boring.
I managed to persuade them to continue, but we might be reaching our limit soon.
Character development is a repetition of monotonous tasks.
In FBO, this is quite pronounced, and players take on various quests to combat the boredom.
But unfortunately, all we can do is run through the Mochi Dungeon, which has become a daily grind akin to ascetic practice.
Nel, who wields the same bamboo spear as me, and Amina, who carries a wooden staff, are already so tired of seeing mochi that they mechanically defeat monsters and quickly finish off Kagami Mochi in the boss room, showing their desire to get it over with as fast as possible.
"Another wooden box."
"Silver boxes or better are really rare."
"At least we got two."
The only fun is when we open treasure chests.
Unlike me, the two of them—or rather, Nel—have incredible luck. In this past week, she's managed to get one gold box and eight silver boxes.
Our goal is ten runs a day, and so far, we haven't broken that.
So, we've fought the boss at least ten times and opened a total of seventy treasure chests so far.
Hearing one in seventy might sound low, but the chance of getting a gold box from the weakest boss, Kagami Mochi, is one percent.
Silver is eight percent.
The stronger the boss, the more these percentages fluctuate, but you can see how amazing it is that Nel has been getting high rolls ever since she joined.
"Ah, more rice water and magic stones."
"I only got magic stones here."
And when Nel opens a chest, she usually gets two or more items.
The items from wooden boxes are only magic stones, rice water, and herbs.
Silver boxes add larger magic stones and the Mark of the Weak to those three.
And the one gold box we got had...
"Ah, this feels refreshing."
"Nel, move over a bit."
A cushion that ruins people.
This is actually a pretty good item.
A large white cushion.
It's an item you can only get by defeating Kagami Mochi.
The effect, as you can see, isn't to ruin people but to heal your body with a slight time-based recovery effect when you lie down on it.
It's like a massage chair.
Since it's sized so that if two kids lie down, there's no space left, I can't use it now, but I've used it at night and can attest to its high healing effect.
"Nel, Amina, show me your stats while lying down."
"Okay~"
"Sure~"
We strictly adhere to taking breaks after each run, including the dungeon key's recast time, so we check our stats during these breaks.
While lounging, the two of them open their stats and adjust the angle so I can see them.
**Nel** Class 0 / Level 0 Basic Stats HP 0 / MP 0 BP 0 Skill 1 / Skill Slot 1 Spearmanship Class 1 / Level 88
**Amina** Class 0 / Level 0 Basic Stats HP 0 / MP 0 BP 0 Skill 1 / Skill Slot 1 Staffmanship Class 1 / Level 88
Yeah, both of them have grown quite a bit.
For one week, this is pretty good progress.
**Liberta** Class 0 / Level 0 Basic Stats HP 0 / MP 0 BP 0 Skill 1 / Skill Slot 1 Spearmanship Class 1 / Level 91
The reason my skill level is higher than theirs is because I run the dungeon solo after they leave.
If you keep at it, even just one more run, you can create a gap like this.
Still, I think Nel and Amina have exceptional skills compared to others their age.
Even though they're lounging on the cushion now, I can tell they're growing at an incredible rate.
Even though the repetition is starting to wear on them, their focus hasn't wavered.
"Hmm, if only that guy would show up..."
But to maintain motivation, we need some kind of change of pace.
"Liberta, who's 'that guy'?"
I was thinking that maybe we need a little care, and I accidentally let it slip.
Since I said it while carefully looking at their stats, of course, they heard me.
Nel, who was lying on her back, sat up a little, and Amina, who was lying face down, turned her head to look up at me.
"A rare monster."
There's no need to hide it, so I answer straightforwardly.
In FBO dungeons, there's a low chance that regular monsters or boss monsters can transform into rare monsters.
There are no conditions.
It's completely random with a low probability.
"What's that!?"
"Wait, there's such a thing?"
"Ah, yeah, there is. Mochi can become Golden Mochi, and Kagami Mochi can become Golden Kagami Mochi."
The two of them, who didn't know such monsters existed, immediately perked up, their tired eyes now sparkling with excitement.
"What kind of monster is it!?"
"It's just a golden version of Mochi and Kagami Mochi. They're a bit stronger, but they're not unbeatable, and their attack patterns don't change. But—"
"But?"
"The drop items and experience points from these two are insane."
Thinking this might be a good way to change the mood, I recall the information about Golden Mochi and Golden Kagami Mochi.
"Are they that amazing?"
"Yeah, Golden Mochi gives five times the experience of Kagami Mochi, and Golden Kagami Mochi gives thirty times the experience."
Nel leans forward, her ears twitching.
She's really looking forward to this.
Well, Golden Mochi's base experience is 2500, so with the bonus from the Training Bracelet and the higher-level bonus, it easily surpasses the experience gained from Kagami Mochi.
Golden Kagami Mochi's experience is completely excessive for our current level.
"Wait, isn't that amazing?"
When I share this information, Amina also reacts with wide eyes.
"It's amazing. And it's not just the experience points. The drops are insane too. Golden Mochi only drops two items, one of which is Golden Mochi."
"Wait, the monster drops mochi?"
"Yeah, it's easy to confuse because of the pronunciation, but it's not that. It's gold shaped like mochi."
"Gold!? As in pure gold?"
"Yeah, it's pure gold, and it's a great item for selling. But its true value lies elsewhere. If you use it on the boss room door before entering—"
"Use it? What happens?"
"You're guaranteed to get at least one gold treasure chest."
"!?"
"Not only that, but it works on bosses in other classes too, and you can use up to five of them, meaning you can have up to five gold treasure chests lined up. The sight of that would be mind-blowing."
"Gulp."
The two of them are already excited just imagining the gold treasure chests.
The thought of lining up five of them makes them swallow hard.
"And what about the other item!?"
"Tell us, Liberta-kun!!"
"The Golden Mochi Dungeon Key."
"!!??"
Just this conversation alone has significantly boosted their motivation.
It's true that having something to look forward to or a goal to strive for gives life more purpose.
"With this key, the number of monsters that appear is limited, and there's no respawn, but every monster that appears is a Golden Mochi. Plus, the boss is guaranteed to be Golden Kagami Mochi, and the boss drop guarantees at least three gold treasure chests."
"Ooooh!!!!"
What I'm telling them is the absolute truth.
However, the chances are extremely low, and it takes a lot of runs to even have a chance at getting it.
"So, what about Golden Kagami Mochi!?"
"If Golden Mochi is already amazing, then the boss version must be even more incredible, right!?"
"Right. The items from Golden Kagami Mochi's treasure chests—well, the gold treasure chests—contain four items. One of them is the same as Golden Mochi's, the Golden Mochi, but this one is guaranteed to be in place of a magic stone. One per chest. And defeating Golden Kagami Mochi guarantees at least three gold treasure chests."
"So much pure gold."
"Nel!? Keep it together! This is just the beginning!"
"Huh!? You're right, I almost lost myself there."
Will telling them this help maintain their motivation?
The chance of Golden Mochi appearing is 0.03%.
The drop rate for Golden Mochi is 5%.
The drop rate for the Golden Mochi Key is 0.01%.
If it happens, it's a dream come true, but reality is harsh.
But it's hard to tell them that.
I'm starting to regret bringing this up.
Especially Nel, for whom gold is wealth as a merchant.
She was about to drift off into dreamland, but Amina shook her back to reality.
Seeing them like this, I can't just stop here.
I raise a second finger next to the first.
"Second, this is also a dungeon key, like the Golden Mochi one. But unlike the regular Golden Mochi, the appearance rate is significantly higher. Some really lucky people have even managed to loop this with Golden Kagami Mochi."
"Nel, you're drooling."
"I'm not! Really!!"
The drop rate for the dungeon key from Golden Kagami Mochi is 5%.
Back in the day, a gamer friend of mine shouted about looping five times and hitting a jackpot.
Nel might have a chance to surpass that.
I heard a slurping sound, but I'll assume it's my imagination and raise a third finger.
"For me, this is the real deal—the Skill Advancement Orb."
"What's that? Nel?"
"No way, that's a legendary item, right?"
Amina didn't seem to know about this item, but Nel, being a merchant's daughter, did.
Her excitement cooled down, but more because she couldn't keep up with reality.
"It's not a lie. It has a 3% chance to appear in gold chests. By the way, it also has a 5% chance to appear in Kagami Mochi's rainbow chests. And in Golden Kagami Mochi's rainbow chests, it's guaranteed to have one."
The Skill Advancement Orb can elevate passive skills, like swordsmanship, spearmanship (which Nel and I use), and Amina's staffmanship, to the next level.
For example, swordsmanship becomes sword mastery, and spearmanship becomes spear mastery.
"That's the legendary item that the Sword Saint used to reach the level of a sword god, right? And it's in the Mochi Dungeon?"
"Yeah, it's there."
That's why the Mochi Dungeon is considered a cheat-level dungeon.
It's super rare, but you can get insane items early on while also leveling up.
"Liberta!"
"Y-yeah?"
"You haven't told anyone about this, right?"
"Just the two of you."
"Then don't tell anyone. Not your dad, not your mom, not even Amina! If anyone finds out, we'll be in big trouble."
I was casually sharing this, but Nel seems to think it's a big deal, so she keeps emphasizing that I mustn't tell anyone.
Not as a merchant, but as a girl.
Seeing this, I realize I've been carelessly sharing some dangerous information.
Nel is desperately, almost tearfully, trying to make Amina promise not to tell anyone.
What should I do? If I tell them about the fourth item, it might get even worse.
And the rainbow chests have even crazier stuff...