Safe Area

Vim descended the stairs to proceed to the next floor.

“There’s mana here.”

Apparently, the second floor was not a safe area. Well, since the second floor almost never serves as a safe area, he had expected as much.

In a safe area, the mana concentration in the air vanishes completely. More accurately, it is said that a tiny amount remains, but an ordinary human cannot perceive it. That is precisely why magical beasts do not exist there—though on very rare occasions, some supposedly wander in from other floors.

“I’d like to take the shortest route.”

Through his search magic, he could discern the approximate locations of the magical beasts. He wanted to avoid unnecessary combat as much as possible. Vim’s physical strength was not infinite, after all. He wanted to conserve it where he could.

“It’s never that easy, is it?”

However, a labyrinth is a place where things rarely go as planned.

“Wolves, is it?”

A pack of Black Wolves appeared before Vim.

“Burn.”

As Vim spoke, red magic circles materialized beneath the wolves. From them, vortexes of fire erupted, incinerating the pack. Vim wiped them out without moving a single step.

“The magical beasts around here aren’t a problem.”

The beasts that appear in a labyrinth are by no means weak. It was a testament to his skill that they were defeated so effortlessly.

From there, he continued his exploration, scattering any magical beasts that appeared. After walking for several minutes, Vim discovered the stairs leading to the next floor.

“This is it.”

He descended the stairs and set foot onto the third floor. The third floor was not filled with mana. Rather than being thin, the mana concentration was almost non-existent. This was what they called a “Safe Area.”

Vim expanded his search magic over a wide range.

“Seems there are no magical beasts.”

His search magic picked up no reactions from magical lifeforms. It was safe to assume this was a safe area.

“For now, I’ll spend some time here.”

There was little worry of being attacked by beasts here. It seemed like a suitable spot to set up a base.

“My food will last for a while, and I don’t have to worry about drinks.”

A vast amount of food had been tossed into his storage space, known as “Storage.” This was for emergencies—for a time just like this. He felt glad now that he had kept it. As for water, he could produce it infinitely with magic, so that wasn’t an issue either. The remaining problem was how to escape.

“Well, I’ll take my time thinking about it.”

Vim sat down on a convenient rock. He had time to kill.

“But just escaping wouldn’t be very interesting.”

Vim was contemplating something an ordinary person wouldn’t understand.

“Shall I try to conquer this labyrinth to its deepest depths? It’ll pass the time, at least.”

At that moment, Vim was preparing to challenge a labyrinth—usually tackled by teams of ten—entirely on his own.