The Right To Chase A Dream

Even split with Misha, it was an annual income of 100 million. I could not feel any sense of reality from such an amount.

…Realistically, if we shipped out a large quantity of monster ore, the market price would probably drop, so it would likely decrease, but—

Even so, it could still be called an overwhelming amount.

I had been surprised by an annual income of 10 million from alchemy stones alone, but this was literally on a different digit.

“…That’s amazing…”

“So, I’m asking again. What are you planning to do?”

“Huh?”

“D-Layer is easy with just Ios and Nyankoromochi, right? Annual income of 200 million. Even if you retire after one year, you can live comfortably.”

“…I see.”

Misha was saying this. That there was also a way of living that did not aim higher.

We had talked about annual income during the alchemy stones too, but this had a different weight to it. An amount in the hundreds of millions was enough to retire and spend the rest of one’s life.

But there was nothing to hesitate over.

“I think it’d be a waste.”

“A waste?”

“I want to make more use of this ‘Schrödinger’s Cat’ ability. With this power, I feel like I can do all kinds of other things.”

Yes, stopping here would be far too wasteful.

“I want to see my own—limits.”

“…Limits, huh.”

Hehehe, Misha laughed and continued.

“Nice, nice! I think words like that are great!”

“So, not yet, I guess. Stopping in place, I mean. That’s a story for far in the future.”

After thinking for a bit, I continued like this.

“We can save money quickly. In that case, how about buying A-class or S-class equipment instead of B-class?”

With B-class, we were progressing this smoothly.

If we had S-class equipment, earning experience would probably be even more efficient.

However, Misha’s answer was not very encouraging.

“Ah… I wonder about that…”

“Is there some problem?”

“Actually, A-class and S-class equipment is really rare… Normal weapon shops don’t sell it.”

“Really?”

I certainly did not remember seeing any, but.

Misha continued speaking.

“The higher-ranked the monster, the lower its appearance rate—and on top of that, ores are hard to get. I think it’s basically impossible without connections.”

“I see… Then, let’s make that our goal.”

“That?”

“Yeah. Let’s make A-class and S-class equipment with our own hands.”

That felt like a goal suited to me.

I had Schrödinger’s Cat. With this, at the very least, I could solve the problem of ore being hard to drop.

“It also feels good to have equipment from monsters I defeated myself.”

“Nishishishi! Not bad!”

Misha sat up while still holding Nyankoromochi.

“Then from now on, it’s like a journey to make rare equipment?”

“Yeah. But I was thinking of one more goal.”

It was what I had been thinking about when Misha asked me about our future two months ago.

I put that into words.

“I’m thinking of collecting skills.”

“Skills?”

“Yeah. My Schrödinger’s Cat can ignore the skill tree and acquire upper-tier skills. And skills can be reused even after changing to another job.”

For example, the War Cry I learned was a skill learned by warriors, and scouts or mages could not learn it.

However, if I learned it as a warrior, I could use it even after changing jobs to a scout or mage.

“Don’t you think I’d be the strongest if I went around learning only powerful upper-tier skills in various jobs?”

That was the conclusion I had reached.

Normally, this could not be done.

Because due to the skill tree, one could only learn from lower-tier skills, and many lower-tier skills were mediocre.

The truly useful skills were only at the very top, and there was no room to train multiple jobs.

But I was different.

With Schrödinger’s Cat, I could snatch up only the “delicious skills.”

Misha had said it before, hadn’t she?

If it was me, I could take “Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind Magic” with only 40 points.

Learning the rare skills of every job.

That goal made my chest surge.

It was surely a summit no adventurer in the past had ever stood upon. A scenery that only I could see if I finished climbing it.

What kind of thing would it be?

I wanted to see it.

And now, the goal of gathering equipment from S-class monsters had been added on top of that.

All rare skills—

and all rare equipment!?

What was this dream!? Was it really reality!? It was too grand, too vast, and I could not even understand it!

Just thinking about it made my heart’s excitement impossible to stop!

“It’s the best! It’s the best! Iosssss!”

“Meooooooooow!”

Nyankoromochi was not excited; it was a scream. Because Misha, overcome with emotion, had hugged her with all her strength.

“Ah, I-I-I-I’m sorry, Nyankoromochi!?”

The instant Misha loosened her arms, Nyankoromochi slipped out.

“Hehehehe…”

After laughing as if to cover up her carelessness, Misha looked up at me.

“Hey, Ios! It’s an incredibly interesting dream, but! Hey! That dream—can I dream it together with you!?”

“Of course. I’d be in trouble if you weren’t with me, Misha.”

“Ahahahahaha! Nice, nice! That’s really nice! It sounds fun! Ah, I’m glad I followed you, Ios! Let’s keep continuing this fun journey from now on!”

Saying that, Misha reached her hand toward me.

“Of course. I’ll be counting on you from now on too, Misha.”

I took that hand and helped Misha stand.

At that moment—

“Meow.”

I heard such a cry from my feet.

Nyankoromochi was looking at us as if to say, let me join in too.

At that moment, something flashed through my mind.

“Ah, there was one more thing.”

I stared at Nyankoromochi and said.

“I have to unravel your mystery too, Nyankoromochi.”

“Meow!”

That’s right, don’t you forget it, okay? Nyankoromochi meowed as if to say that.

With the debt repayment finished, we decided to leave Piptat.

It would probably be good to change our environment—

That was what we had judged.

However, it was not right away. For one month after that, we continued diving into the dungeon.

There were two reasons.

First, we needed to decide where to go. If we traveled aimlessly, we would only waste time. Misha was researching that during this period.

Also, a bit of savings.

“I think it’s better to have money on hand, you know?”

Those were Misha’s words. We had gone all-in on repayment, so our savings were…

So we earned money that way— and my savings exceeded 20 million.

Misha should have around the same amount too, so we probably would not have trouble with money for the time being.

My level rose from 22 to 26.

I still had not drawn the skill “Sword Saint.”

Because I was thinking of changing jobs to push forward with collecting rare skills, I wanted to draw it before then, but that seemed impossible…

There was no point worrying about it. It was a matter of luck.

For now— there was nothing left undone in Piptat.

“Well then, shall we go?”

“Nishishishi! Shall we do our best making memories?”

Yes, just as Misha said—

Since our preparations were complete, we decided we would soon leave Piptat.

Today would be the end of our dungeon exploration here.

For now, let’s enjoy what would be our final exploration.