Livelihood Dungeon! (English Version)

"Why are you getting angry? I'm only asking," Peter said to Moriko.

"I was merely explaining, Master," Moriko replied.

"So what exactly happened after that group of humans provoked the Terrestrial Lizards' territory?" Peter asked once more.

Moriko's brows furrowed deeply at Peter's question, as though an unpleasant memory was resurfacing in her mind.

"Those humans killed several Terrestrial Lizards without any difficulty," Moriko answered, causing Peter's eyes to widen.

"What did all of you do after witnessing that?" Peter asked again.

"Nothing. We could only stand there dumbfounded while watching them. We were too shocked by what we had witnessed. Deep inside, we desperately tried to comprehend what was happening," Moriko replied.

She paused for a moment, but it did not take long before she spoke again.

Before Peter could ask another question, the female Man-Ki beat him to it.

"The chaos continued. We truly never expected those outsiders to be that powerful. We became even more enlightened when the humans began wiping out the entire group of Terrestrial Lizards," the Man-Ki walking ahead recounted while shaking her head.

"That was when we fully realized that attempting to assassinate those humans would have been suicide. We were fortunate we had not acted recklessly and charged at them immediately. Otherwise, we probably would have died long ago," Moriko added with visible disgust.

Peter silently listened to his female spirit beast's story. He tried not to ruin the seriousness of the moment while Moriko was recounting the events.

"That was when it appeared!" Peter could clearly feel the fear in the way his unique female Rank C spirit beast said those words.

"It was an enormous dragon. Just like the Terrestrial Lizards, its body was enveloped in the earth element. Although I could not fully confirm it back then because it had only just emerged at the time, I immediately felt that the massive dragon was most likely the leader of the rapidly dwindling Terrestrial Lizards," Moriko recounted.

Peter handed his spirit beast something to drink after noticing that she was becoming exhausted from all the storytelling.

"Thank you, Master," the female spirit beast said after recovering from her fatigue.

Peter merely nodded in response.

"A single strike from that giant dragon was all it took to defeat those reckless humans," the Man-Ki recounted enthusiastically as she remembered the battle's conclusion.

"What happened after that?" Peter asked curiously.

"The large stone dragon simply returned to the depths of its territory," Moriko answered.

"As for us, we could only stare in amazement at what we had witnessed. The outsiders who had troubled us for so long were casually disposed of by a dragon we had never even known," the Man-Ki added, filled with wonder.

"When we returned and told our leader what we had seen, he rained countless scoldings upon us in his fury," Moriko said with a forced smile while reminiscing.

"He even said we were lucky that dragon hadn't finished us off. From the way he spoke, it sounded as though he knew that dragon very well," Moriko continued.

"And when he spoke further, I realized my suspicion had been correct. He truly did know the dragon. According to him, it was one of the overseers of our forest.

He said it could have easily killed us back then. He was also certain that the dragon had discovered our hiding place.

Apparently, he had encountered it once himself when he was still young. According to him, the dragon had deliberately spared his life back then.

That is all I can say regarding that place, Master. Even if I wanted to add more, I no longer know anything else," Moriko concluded her long story.

"What are you talking about? The information you gave is more than enough. In fact, I should be the one thanking you for saving us from danger," Peter said while slightly bowing toward the Man-Ki companion. He paid no mind to the difference in their races, nor even their statuses as master and servant.

Not only Moriko was touched, but Ichiro and Iyashi as well. At that moment, their desire to become even more loyal to their master grew stronger.

"Oh, Master, please don't do that!" Moriko quickly said.

After that, they resumed their quiet journey once more.

...

"There! That's where we're headed, Master Peter," Moriko suddenly said, catching Peter's attention as she pointed in a certain direction.

Peter nodded after seeing exactly what the spirit beast was pointing at.

It was a massive tree in the distance.

Peter narrowed his eyes.

That tree looked strangely familiar to him.

He decided to keep his mouth shut for the moment. He wanted to examine the tree first before questioning the Man-Ki.

As they drew closer, Peter's eyes widened more and more with every bit of distance they crossed. The longer he stared at it, the more certain he became that his assumption about the tree's species was correct.

It became even more reasonable when he remembered what kind of spirit beast lived there.

The only thing confusing him was the tree's sheer size. The closer they got, the more convinced he became that it was a gigantic tree.

When they were finally near enough, Peter could no longer hold himself back. He turned toward Moriko, and his itching mouth finally opened on its own.

"Do you live there, Moriko? In that enormous saba banana tree?" Peter asked in disbelief.

"Yes, Master. Is there a problem?" Moriko replied simply.

Peter vigorously shook his head in firm denial.

Moriko blinked after witnessing her master's intense head shaking. After that, she simply ignored his reaction and quietly turned her gaze forward once more to focus on the path they were taking.

"We're here," Moriko announced.

The remaining three simultaneously looked upward.

Peter could only laugh in disbelief at what he saw.

Using the word "large" to describe that tree would have been an understatement.

"Gigantic" was a far more fitting word for that saba banana tree.

"I know you still have many questions you want to ask me, Master, but if possible, let us postpone them for now," Moriko said to Peter while glancing around their surroundings.

Peter agreed to his Man-Ki servant's suggestion. He gave considerable thought to her uneasy and distracted appearance.

"Let's climb first," the female spirit beast further suggested to her human master.

"A-Alright," Peter agreed somewhat hesitantly.

Peter felt slightly dizzy from the tree's height. It towered unbelievably high. He could compare its height to the towering skyscrapers he used to see only in the cities of the Philippines.

The female Man-Ki agilely and briskly climbed the gigantic saba banana tree, perhaps trying to lead by example.

"Iyashi," Peter called, and the slime companion immediately responded.

The pale green Regeneration Slime energetically hopped onto its master's shoulder.

"Kyū!" it cheerfully greeted Peter.

"Ichiro!" Peter seriously called out to the Terrestrial Wolf.

The giant wolf immediately approached its master.

"Grā!" it loudly responded to Peter.

"Try climbing, Ichiro," Peter ordered the Terrestrial Wolf.

"Grā!" the wolf growled alertly and full of confidence.

It raised its massive front paws.

The gigantic tree let out a faint rumble when the wolf pressed its broad paws against it.

Ichiro briefly observed the Man-Ki's smooth ascent up the towering saba banana tree.

He imitated what Moriko had done and anchored his clawed paws onto the wrinkled parts of the tree's bark.

Using the strength of his anchored limbs, he pulled his heavy body upward.

Bam!

Ichiro failed spectacularly.

The first part of the climb had actually gone successfully. He had even managed to lift his entire body off the ground.

But that was where the problem began.

He anchored his hind legs onto another wrinkled section of the bark. Then he attempted to pull himself even higher using the combined strength of all four of his gripping limbs.

That was when he completely failed.

His paws successfully latched onto the tree after his powerful leap, but the wrinkled bark could not withstand the wolf spirit beast's weight.

The heavy Terrestrial Wolf plummeted downward.

"Grā?!"

"Grā!"

Ichiro was clearly shocked by what had happened to him.

The wolf spirit beast hurriedly turned toward Peter.

"Grā! Grā! Grā!" the wolf wildly gestured in front of his master, clearly panicking as he tried to explain what had happened.

"Calm down, Ichiro. You don't need to be nervous. You can always try again," Peter reassured him.

The wolf calmly faced the tree once more. He tried climbing the banana tree with all his strength, but he repeatedly failed.

In the end, he collapsed onto the grassy ground of the Eternal Forest. The wolf's shoulders and head drooped heavily.

Ichiro felt like a complete failure.

He always wanted to be useful to the boss who had once saved his life and helped him fulfill his dream of revenge.

Peter patted Ichiro after seeing how utterly dejected he was. He tried to comfort him.

"It's alright, Ichiro. We just discovered one of your weaknesses. It's no big deal. In fact, it's better that we learned this before ending up in a dangerous situation," Peter cheered up his large companion.

But instead of improving the wolf's mood, the situation seemed to worsen. Ichiro's shoulders drooped even further as he weakly muttered words Peter could not understand.

"Go inside the Livelihood Dungeon first, Ichiro," Peter ordered as he opened the dungeon passage. He awkwardly smiled at the watching Man-Ki when he lifted his head.

Moriko simply nodded at Peter before she slowly resumed climbing. The female Man-Ki considered her master's climbing ability, so with every movement, she secretly glanced back at him with concern.

Peter also began climbing after Moriko.

He stretched his left hand upward and gripped one of the grooved parts of the tree. He pulled his body upward before wedging his bare left foot into a wrinkled section of the trunk.

After that, he raised his right hand and reached it beyond his left. He pulled his body diagonally to the right before wedging his equally bare right foot into another groove of the saba banana tree.

In that manner, Peter gradually developed a rhythm while climbing the tree.

One!

Two!

One!

Two!

One!

Two!

One!

Two!

One!

Two!

One!

Two!

Whenever Peter became tired, he could not help glancing downward.

Every time he glanced downward, Peter repeatedly swallowed nervously. After that, he would pause briefly to rest before continuing his climb once more.

Whenever Iyashi noticed that, the slime would cheer for its master with all its might.

"Kyū!" the slime cheered energetically.

At the same time, the female spirit beast who was effortlessly climbing the gigantic tree would also occasionally glance back at him with concern.

...

Peter let out a deep sigh as he hooked his right arm over the edge of the summit the moment he reached the very top of the saba banana tree.

He used his anchored arm as support to fully pull himself up.

Peter had poured an overwhelming amount of effort into the climb.

By the time he reached the top, he was practically dragging his exhausted body across the tree's flat surface.

He crawled forward slightly using his hands while his knees remained on the ground. His legs had temporarily weakened after the intense climb.

Peter slowly lifted his head while kneeling and supporting himself with his hands.

That was when he saw the beautiful silhouette of his Man-Ki servant standing with her back facing him.

The exhaustion Peter felt was more psychological than physical. After all, his Resilience level was not that far behind Moriko's.

...

Name: Peter Bulalakaw

Race: Human

Resilience: D

...

Name: Moriko

Race: Man-Ki

Resilience: D+

...

Peter's eyes widened when he noticed where Moriko's full attention was focused.

By his estimation, they were more than a hundred meters away from the three of them. Like their group, those beings were also standing atop the massive flat summit of another gigantic tree.

While Moriko stared sharply at the group, they returned equally fierce gazes toward her.

Peter shifted slightly so that nothing would obstruct his observation of the creatures they had encountered.

Peter's brows furrowed seriously.

These monsters were familiar to him. He had read about them many times in light novels and manga. Most of the time, they were enemies of the protagonists, though occasionally they also became allies.

The creatures were covered in fur. They possessed pairs of arms and legs, resembling dogs yet standing upright like humans.

The beings Peter had never expected to see in person were known as kobolds.

"Ooh... aaah!" Moriko growled angrily at the kobolds.

"Grrrr!" the kobolds snarled back at Moriko.

As the two sides confronted one another, not a single kobold regarded Peter—a human—as a threat.

Suddenly, Moriko leaped four consecutive times.

The kobolds immediately scattered as the artificial tremors began shaking the summit of the gigantic banana tree. However, even though they spread apart, it was still noticeable how smoothly and systematically they covered one another.

The kobolds calmly waited for the Man-Ki's next move, as though they had long mastered this kind of coordination.

Peter noticed the kobolds' fluid and disciplined movements.

Because of this, Peter volunteered to assist Moriko by opening his Livelihood Dungeon.

From within it, the Terrestrial Wolf Ichiro emerged in an intimidating manner.

The kobolds were startled by the giant wolf's sudden appearance.

The female Man-Ki took advantage of the momentary lapse in attention among most of the kobolds. However, instead of charging in with her usual attack pattern, she immediately used the combination of Ki Charge and Ki Destruction.

Meanwhile, Peter ordered Ichiro to charge forward and force the kobolds to keep their attention focused on the giant wolf.

The kobolds hurriedly and forcibly dodged the sharp chunks of stone raining down from the newly arrived Terrestrial Wolf.

Because of that, Moriko's charging process for her larger attack was not interrupted.

The female Man-Ki unleashed her fully completed and uninterrupted Ki Destruction toward the kobolds, who were still occupied with evading Ichiro's assault.

Several unfortunate kobolds that were directly struck by Moriko's deadly Ki Destruction were blasted off the tree.