Preparing Once Again

“Now, what should I do?”

I peered into the boss room, pondering my strategy for the raid.

Fortunately, the effects of the potions had worn off exactly after one hour, so there was no need to rush.

In front of the fountain on the right, there were four ordinary Blue Slimes. In front of the iron bars at the back, there was a single large Boss Slime.

The standard theory would be to clean up the minions before fighting the boss, but… in that case, while we finish off the normal slimes, we’d need to lure the boss away to keep it from joining the fray.

Judging by the size of the room, there seemed to be enough space to move around freely even near the iron bars in the back. A small, nimble fighter like Yoru or Kuu could easily lead it on a chase, and Paula could keep her distance with her long whip.

The next challenge would be the swift annihilation of the four Blue Slimes, but since one person would be needed as bait for the boss, we’d have to fight them with only three.

Under the circumstances of an hour ago, I naturally would have shaken my head at this. However, the current Paula and the others were now veterans who had successfully defeated thirty monsters.

I looked at the upper-right corner of my vision and let out an involuntary smile, causing Paula—who was peering into the room alongside me—to tilt her head slightly.

“It seems you have thought of a clever move, Sir.”

“No, I just thought we could probably go in with a brute-force approach without devising any particular elaborate scheme.”

“Is that so? That very large monster… my power likely will not work on it.”

“Heh, you can tell just by looking?”

In the game, special monsters like bosses have resistances, so there’s a high probability that won’t work. However, I’m genuinely impressed that she can sense that instinctively.

No, come to think of it, Paula actually has experience as a Monster Tamer that she’s cultivated until now. Plus, she was born with the specialty, so she’s probably able to discern whether her charm will be effective or not. Perhaps the sensations gained from such experiences are what will become truly important in conquering this labyrinth.

“Then, what would you do, Paula?”

“…Let’s see. Those four over there. I think I can manage them somehow. However, it will be difficult if they all come at once, so if you could assign Yoru—no, Kuu to me.”

“What about that big slime?”

“Let’s leave that one to Yoru and Mia. However, it seems impossible as they are, so—”

“I suppose that’s where my medicines come in.”

Her plan was almost identical to mine, and she had accurately gauged everyone’s abilities. Impressed by her tactical judgment, I watched as Paula let a faint, casual smile play on her lips. The fact that she didn’t bother with false modesty or act bashful was another part of her charm.

“Alright, let’s go with that. Hey, come over here for a sec.”

I called out to the two creatures and the girl who were playing light-heartedly behind us. Apparently, they were playing a game where Mia would pick them up and spin them around in circles. They rushed over together, looking like they had become completely attached to her.

“What’s up, Sensei?”

“Reporting in!”

“Koo!”

“I’m going to explain the plan. Oh, before that, I’m thinking of taking that thing down—is that alright with you guys?”

Until now, I hadn’t participated in combat at all. So, I wondered if it was right for me to decide on my own to challenge a strong-looking monster. The potions had just worn off, and we’d gathered quite a lot of materials. It was a good time to wrap things up.

However, at my words, Mia glanced into the room and declared with a face full of confidence:

“Yeah, let’s do it!”

“To the front!”

“Kooo!”

“Alright. Then first, it’s medicine time.”

While handing out the transmuted potions, I checked everyone’s status once more.

She gained 3 levels, and her overall numbers are looking good. The values in parentheses are the effect of the Defense Enhancement Potion. Most noteworthy is the specialty she learned upon reaching level 10. You could say this is the keystone of our current strategy.

Come to think of it, the concept of “Experience Points” itself isn’t recognized in this world, similar to an Alchemist’s “Mastery.” It’s understood only to the extent that if you accumulate training or keep defeating monsters, you become able to use higher-level transmutations or specialties. After all, when you level up, there’s no notification sound or automatic victory pose.

Jokes aside, I think the biggest factor is that it can’t be confirmed with numbers. In Dra-Chro 2, the mechanics were such that a significant correction was applied to the experience gained based on the level difference with the monster. Specifically, if the level difference was within 10, you’d get an appropriate amount, but if it was lower, you’d only get single digits, and if it was much higher, you’d hit the cap easily. I’ve already confirmed that the same mechanics apply in this realized world based on how Paula and the others leveled up.

In our case, while there’s no experience point notation in the status, we can immediately tell when a level has increased. In other words, we can judge every single time whether an opponent is appropriate or not.

Furthermore, the levels of monsters that appear in the Palace of the Dragon Jade in the game were generally the floor number plus about ten. Having tested this through actual combat in this world, that law seems to apply.

To go back to the point: for a normal person who can’t see a Command Menu, they have no choice but to face various monsters endlessly and sense it through intuition. It is incredibly inefficient. It’s no wonder there are so few humans who reach high levels. Still, some people become strong by constantly visiting mana pools and honing their skills through sheer repetition.

And one more thing. The Mana/HP Augmentation and ATK/DEF Enhancement potions I transmuted this time are recipes that are almost entirely unknown to the general public. In this world, the mainstream way to verify the efficacy of a drug is basically to give it to a sick or injured person. Therefore, recipes for things with obvious effects like wound treatments or fever reducers are already established and are so popular that people are eagerly searching for High-grade or Top-grade recipes.

Compared to those, enhancement drugs have the disadvantage that their effects are difficult to perceive. While the sensation of the body feeling lighter or becoming more resistant to impact exists, with a Low-grade potion, it’s hard to truly feel it without going through actual combat. In the first place, the very idea of “doping” a healthy person with drugs to enhance them doesn’t really exist. At most, people use vitality recovery potions to remove fatigue. If no one researches it, the recipe for such drugs won’t spread.

In short, as it stands, I am the leading authority in this field. And these are the results of putting Level 1 monster-kids and a total amateur Ordinary mage on enhancement drugs and having them smash monsters of a higher rank:

Impressively, she reached level 10 in just one hour. Thanks to that, her status values haven’t just doubled; they’ve surged. Additionally, since her role this time is to lure the Boss Slime, I’ve had her drink a Defense Enhancement Potion. It seems the value of Paula’s has also increased, adding to her overall stability; I can’t even find a weakness anymore. Her new specialty is as nonsensical as ever, though.

One thing that does concern me is that her HP value has decreased by 7. That’s from taking the occasional body slam from a slime, but I don’t see any visible wounds. It’s likely an internal injury like a bruise… When I cut my arm with a knife, the number went back to normal once the wound was closed with a treatment potion. It’s tough that I currently have no way to handle it when it’s not a clear-cut case like that.

Since this one is facing the normal slimes, I’ve boosted him with an Attack Enhancement Potion. He’s number one in both Attack and Speed, so I expect great things from him. Though, as with Yoru, I have no idea what Kuu’s specialty does. Since his Mana and Magic Attack are high, it feels like a bit of a waste.

Conversely, the one with a great specialty was Mia.

The skill she learned upon reaching Level 10 was a water-attribute spell called Water Bubble. This spell simply creates a large, elastic bubble and has zero offensive capability. However, this bubble has the effect of perfectly absorbing an impact and then bursting. In other words, it serves as a decoy or a shield in an emergency. In this operation, her role is to support Yoru with Fireball while also using Water Bubble to chip away at the boss’s health. For that purpose, she’s heavily doped with Mana Augmentation, Magic Attack Enhancement, and Defense Enhancement potions.

“I’m thinking of going with that—what do you think?”

“Ooh, sounds like I’ve got some big responsibility! But I’ll work hard to protect Yoru-chi!”

“Much obliged!”

“Kuu, let us also pour our whole hearts into this.”

“Koo koo!”

The battle is finally about to begin.