Chapter 2: The True Value of the Lock-On Skill
The day after acquiring my new skill.
To test the skill I obtained yesterday, I returned to the E-rank dungeon, the Cavern Dungeon, where orcs spawn, just like before.
“Hup!!”
A transparent arrow, fired carelessly, pierces an orc’s head.
The orc, with the transparent arrow lodged in its skull, collapses to its knees without even letting out a cry.
“Whoa, it really flies right to where I aim.”
Thanks to the 【Lock-On】 skill, I no longer have to carefully aim each time. The transparent arrow created by 【Magic Arrow】 automatically flies toward the orc.
“The 【Lock-On】 skill… It’s pretty useful.”
Until now, I couldn’t hit every shot, and since I didn’t know how monsters would move, I had to keep my distance and fire 【Magic Arrow】 before they could act.
But with 【Lock-On】, that worry is gone.
The arrow tracks the monster’s movements perfectly.
Plus, I can now hit every shot even while moving.
Even when dodging the orc’s wildly swinging club, I land every shot.
Though I’ve only used it a little, I’ve already grasped the usefulness of the 【Lock-On】 skill.
“This might work… Soloing a boss?”
I place a hand on my chin, thinking.
Dungeon bosses are generally one rank stronger than the dungeon’s rank.
So, in the Cavern Dungeon (E-rank), the boss is a High Orc, a D-rank monster.
A High Orc is like an orc but with a more beastly appearance and larger size, boasting absurd defense and HP as a boss monster.
However, even among D-rank monsters, bosses yield far more experience points.
Of course, their stats are enhanced compared to regular D-rank monsters, making them much stronger.
I mean, there’s no way a monster with that kind of monstrous durability would be crawling around in a dungeon of the same rank.
Fighting such an enhanced D-rank boss in a confined space is tough. Especially solo, since I’d be the sole target, I couldn’t land arrows accurately, so I’d given up until now.
“But now, I can dodge a High Orc’s attacks, and my attacks will definitely hit. I can do this… Alright!! Let’s do it!!”
I start walking from the spot where I defeated the orc, heading toward the boss room.
To conserve MP for creating 【Magic Arrow】, I avoid all combat. If I spot an orc, I steer clear and rush straight to the boss room where the High Orc awaits.
“Alright! Made it!!”
The door… it’s open.
If the door were closed, it’d mean someone’s challenging the boss, in the middle of a fight, or that the boss is recovering HP after someone fled the boss room. Or it could mean the boss was defeated less than a minute ago and hasn’t respawned yet.
Well, an open door is perfect.
“Here we go!!”
I charge into the room with momentum, hearing the door close behind me as I immediately ready 【Magic Arrow】.
The High Orc is an orc-like monster with long fur, large tusks, and an extended frame.
It’s about five meters tall, with high HP, Attack, and Defense stats—a quintessential brute-force monster.
“Shi!!”
Locking onto the High Orc with my vision, I use the 【Lock-On】 skill, knock a transparent arrow created by 【Magic Arrow】 onto my bow, and fire at the High Orc.
“BUOOHHH!?”
The arrow flies straight for the High Orc’s face and hits directly.
But I don’t let my guard down. I keep moving and continue firing arrows.
While a regular D-rank monster might fall after a few hits, the High Orc, with its boss-enhanced stats, doesn’t go down so easily.
“BUOAAAAHH!!”
“Well… figures…”
As I attack, the High Orc swings its club and flails its arms in retaliation. I dodge, drawing on my experience as a solo explorer, and keep firing arrows.
The arrows don’t pierce deeply, but they still deal enough damage to wound the High Orc.
“…!!”
After dodging and firing for the ninth time.
Finally, a change appears in the High Orc’s body.
“Phew… Finally.”
Visible wounds now cover the High Orc’s body, and its breathing grows ragged.
It’s on a whole different level from the E-rank monsters I’ve faced…
“BUOAAAAHH!!”
Then, with a roar, the High Orc swings its club even more wildly and charges at me.
“Whoa!”
I knock a transparent arrow onto my bow and backstep to create distance.
“…Ah…”
But at that moment, I realized my mistake.
First, I backstepped with too much force to escape the charging High Orc.
And the spot where I backstepped was near the door…
Q. What happens if you backstep forcefully near the door?
A. The door opens, and you exit the boss room.
“…No wayyyyy!!? Gah!!”
The door opens, and my body, carried by the momentum of the backstep, tumbles out of the boss room.
Wait! Leaving the boss room is bad!
The moment you exit, the boss fight is forcibly interrupted, and the door locks until the boss’s HP fully recovers.
That means I’d have to start over from scratch.
I absolutely don’t want that!!
“Damn it!!”
I hurriedly regain my footing and try to rush back through the slowly closing door.
But it’s too late.
The door shuts completely with a merciless thud.
“I screwed up…”
I was so close…
It was my first attempt at soloing a boss, so maybe I was too cautious.
I check my status and see I’ve used 180 MP.
That means I hit the High Orc with 【Magic Arrow】 nine times.
And it was that battered after just nine hits…
“I really could’ve taken it down with one or two more hits…”
Well, what’s done is done.
“Let’s take a break and try again… Huh? What’s this?”
Something feels off with my vision and senses.
My gaze is drawn to the door without me intending it, and I feel a strange connection to something beyond it.
What is this?
I’ve never felt anything like this in my entire explorer career.
“…First time? Wait, could it be!!”
To test this strange sensation, I pick up a random stone lying nearby and throw it at the door.
Normally, a stone thrown like that would just hit the door and fall to the ground.
But if my hunch is correct…
“! Just as I thought!!”
As predicted, the stone doesn’t fall. It sticks to the door as if magnetized, defying the laws of physics.
“I get it! The 【Lock-On】 skill’s guaranteed hit effect is working here too!!”
The stone I threw was registered as a ranged attack against the High Orc, guaranteed to hit, but since the door physically blocks it, it’s stuck to the door!
If that’s the case…
I decide to test my idea. I create a transparent arrow with 【Magic Arrow】 and knock it onto my bow.
My Unique Skill 【Magic Arrow】 doesn’t convert MP into elements like fire or wind. It uses raw MP—the same magical essence floating in the dungeon’s air—to create arrows.
Because of this, the arrows created by 【Magic Arrow】 have no physical substance.
I confirmed this before when an arrow passed through an orc’s club used for defense and hit the orc.
If I hit it, it can pass through inorganic objects to reach the target, though it won’t work on living beings but it's still super convenient.
“Alright… Shi!!”
I fire the transparent arrow at the door.
The arrow passes through the door and flies into the boss room.
“…How’s that…?”
『Level increased by 3』
“…!!”
I hear the system sound confirming a level-up and notice the stone that was stuck to the door has fallen to the ground.
Staring at the door with slight tension, I see it slowly begin to open.
“I did it! Success!!”
Peering into the boss room, I see the High Orc’s corpse with a transparent arrow lodged in its chest.
“…! Hell yeah!!”
I throw a triumphant fist pump.
My first time! I soloed a boss!
Me, the guy mocked as the “Guide”!
And in a way no one else could pull off!
Plus, since it was a solo kill, the experience points were amazing! My level jumped by 3!
“This might even work in higher-rank dungeons!!”
This is huge! My dreams are getting bigger!
It’s definitely a safer and faster way to grow stronger than most people.
Considering my MP, I can probably try one more time.
“Let’s collect the corpse…”
I store the High Orc’s corpse in my 【Item Box】 and leave the boss room.
“Alright! Let’s use that trick and go again!!”
I psych myself up, wait a minute for the boss to respawn, and enter the now-open boss room.
Later, I used the 【Lock-On】 skill to fire 【Magic Arrow】 from outside the boss room, one-sidedly defeating the respawned High Orc. I sold the corpse and returned to my empty house.
“Phew~ I’m beat~”
I head straight to the living room and collapse onto the sofa.
Today was so eventful, my body and mind are exhausted.
Honestly, I just want to sleep.
“But there’s still something I want to do.”
Muttering to myself, I pull my smartphone from my 【Item Box】.
I start researching F-rank dungeons.
I look up information on various F-rank dungeons and watch videos on PoutTube with titles like “F-Rank Dungeon Strategies!” or “How to Defeat Monsters!”
These are essential knowledge and information for getting stronger.
Especially monster-killing techniques, since they’re critical for solo fighting.
“…Now, which dungeon should I pick?”
There’s a reason I’m researching F-rank dungeons instead of sticking to E-rank ones like the Cavern Dungeon I was in earlier.
“Status.”
――――――
Kaede Amamiya
Level: 84
HP: 860/860 MP: 440/440
Attack: 156 (+52)
Defense: 106 (+12)
Agility: 156 (+57)
Dexterity: 256 (+147)
Mental Strength: 241 (+152)
Luck: 50
BP: 0
SP: 30
Skills: 【Magic Arrow Lv.10】【Archery Lv.5】【Hawk Eye Lv.2】【Item Box Lv.1】【Lock-On Lv.1】
――――――
I check my status, focusing on MP.
My current MP is 440.
Each use of 【Magic Arrow】 consumes 20 MP, so I can use it 22 times if I burn all my MP.
In contrast, it takes about ten 【Magic Arrow】 shots to defeat a single High Orc.
This varies if I hit weak points like the back of the head, neck, or left chest where the heart is, as those deal more damage, but it’s only a slight difference.
What I’m getting at is…
“Even if I can one-sidedly defeat High Orcs, just two isn’t enough.”
…My MP is woefully insufficient!
Even though High Orcs have high Defense and HP, needing ten 【Magic Arrow】 shots to kill one is way too inefficient.
Since my MP only recovers at about 60 per hour, once it’s depleted, I’d need roughly four hours to recover enough to defeat another High Orc.
That means I’d only be able to kill about five in a full day of dungeon diving.
That’s just not acceptable, so I decided to drop down to F-rank dungeons, where the monsters’ defense is surely lower than in E-rank ones.
With that in mind, I scroll through my phone, searching for a good dungeon.
…Oh, this one looks promising.
“…Alright! Decided!!”
＊ ＊ ＊
The next day.
“So this is the Marsh Dungeon.”
I arrived at the Marsh Dungeon, three train stops from my house.
Unlike the cave-like Cavern Dungeon I’ve been to before, this dungeon, as its name suggests, is a sprawling marsh.
Due to the marshy environment and the monsters that spawn here, it’s quite unpopular.
Proof of that? It’s Sunday at 10 a.m., peak dungeon-visiting time, and there’s not a single person around.
“Well, doesn’t matter. It’s convenient for me.”
No one around means no one will notice if I do something weird.
I can hog the boss for a while without anyone complaining.
“Alright! Let’s get to it!!”
I stride confidently into the dungeon.
My equipment is the same as yesterday: a wooden bow bought from a shop and leather armor protecting my left chest.
That’s about it.
I’ve got leather gauntlets and greaves, but they didn’t seem useful here, so I left them behind.
Well, they probably wouldn’t have been useful against this dungeon’s monsters anyway.
And so, the first floor of the Marsh Dungeon—
“Let’s see, the boss room is…”
—I ignore!
I bypass all monsters on the way to the boss room!
My goal is the boss, so once I find the boss room, I’ll just use 【Lock-On】 to pelt the boss with 【Magic Arrow】 like I did with the High Orc. No need to fight anything else.
In fact, there’s no point in fighting the monsters in this dungeon.
“I checked the route to the boss room on PoutTube yesterday.”
I researched the path to the Marsh Dungeon’s boss room last night, so I can head straight there without getting lost.
Since there’s no signal inside the dungeon, I can’t use my phone to double-check, but it’ll be fine.
…It’ll be fine!
“…Saying that usually means things won’t go smoothly, huh…”
I sigh, staring at a slime in front of the staircase.
I’m currently on the second floor.
The staircase to the third floor, where the boss room is, lies ahead.
And blocking the staircase, as if to say “You shall not pass,” a slime jiggles in place.
Slimes apparently lack sentience, so it’s probably just a coincidence.
“Whatever. Let’s take it out quick.”
According to PoutTube and online research, slimes have a magic stone core.
“There it is.”
Around its belly? I spot a round orb when I look closely.
That’s the magic stone. Destroy it, and the slime should go down.
“No holding back then.”
I create a transparent arrow with 【Magic Arrow】 and ready my bow.
“【Lock-On】.”
I aim for the round orb.
“Shi!!”
With a short, sharp shout, I release the arrow.
The arrow flies straight for the orb and hits it dead-on.
As the orb shatters, the slime loses its jiggly form, collapsing into mere liquid.
The liquid spreads across the ground, mixing with the marsh’s water.
“Whoa… So that’s how it works.”
Since I destroyed the core—the magic stone—I can’t recover it. All that’s left is this liquid.
Well, it’s mixed with the marsh water, so there’s nothing to recover anyway.
“Well, I don’t need to collect anything this time, so it’s fine.”
If this were a quest to gather slime corpses, I’d be furious, though.
With that, I descend the stairs to the next floor.
The next floor is the third.
If the information is correct, this should be where the boss room is…
“Oh, there it is!”
After walking a bit from the stairs, I spot a large door.
Unlike the marshy environment of the first two floors, this area feels like a cave, similar to other cave-type dungeons.
Yup, no mistake here.
It’s got the same kind of door as other dungeons, so this must be the boss room.
Alright. No monsters are blocking my way like that slime earlier, so let’s head in.
I slowly enter the open boss room.
Inside, it’s the same marshy environment as before, with humid air and waterlogged ground.
Puddles and swamps are scattered everywhere.
But despite being the boss room, there’s no sign of the boss anywhere.
“I knew it, but yeah, this is why it’s so unpopular.”
I chose this unpopular dungeon on purpose, and this is exactly why it’s unpopular.
The Marsh Dungeon, true to its name, has a marsh-like environment with bad footing and humid air.
On top of that, slimes apparently pop out of puddles and swamps to attack.
And they say slimes don’t have sentience, so that’s just ridiculous… They’re definitely targeting people.
The boss of this Marsh Dungeon, the Mega Slime, is no exception, it seems…
“But that won’t work on me with 【Lock-On】.”
Sure, I can’t see the Mega Slime right now, but it can’t escape my 【Lock-On】.
“Found you!!”
My gaze naturally shifts to a swamp diagonally to the right.
The distance is about 50 meters, by my estimate.
Before I got the 【Lock-On】 skill, I might’ve missed at this range, but now, it’s well within my reach.
“Shi!!”
With a short, sharp shout, I fire the arrow.
The arrow flies straight toward the swamp and sinks into it.
It’d be nice if that hit the Mega Slime’s core, but…
“…Yeah, it’s not gonna be that easy.”
The moment I mutter that—
BOOM!! The water’s surface surges with a loud sound.
The surge comes from the exact spot where my arrow sank into the swamp.
“Massive…”
There stands a giant slime, looking like a regular slime scaled up.
It’s my first time seeing one, but it’s about five meters tall.
“【Lock-On】… Alright. Time to run!!”
I shout and immediately bolt from the spot.
I probably wouldn’t lose in a head-on fight, but if I can attack from a safe distance, that’s always better.
I’ve already confirmed the Mega Slime’s core, so there’s no issue with fleeing!
If I can get outside the boss room, it’s my unconditional victory.
My Agility stat far outpaces the Mega Slime’s movement speed, so I make a beeline for the door and escape the boss room.
As soon as I exit, the open door closes to allow the boss to recover the damage from my single 【Magic Arrow】 shot.
“Alright! Plan successful!!”
Once I escape the boss room, victory is mine.
I create another transparent arrow with 【Magic Arrow】 and knock it onto my bow.
Now, I aim for the door—
“Shi!!”
—and fire!
The arrow whistles through the air, heading straight for the door.
It passes through the door and enters the boss room.
『Level increased by 1』
“…Yes!!”
The level-up notification means the arrow definitely hit the slime’s core.
And it even hit such a precise target.
I locked onto the core before fleeing, and it seems that single shot paid off.
With the level-up notification, the boss room’s door begins to open.
Well, since the core—the magic stone—was destroyed, I can’t collect it, and the corpse is just that liquid, so I don’t need it. I won’t enter the boss room again until it respawns.
“Still, just two shots, huh.”
I used 【Magic Arrow】 twice per Mega Slime.
One to lure it out, one to finish it off. Aiming for the weak point—the core—makes for an incredibly efficient kill.
That means I can defeat 22 more Mega Slimes right now.
No, factoring in natural MP recovery, maybe even a bit more?
“How much will my level go up with this?”
With that anticipation, I enter the now-open boss room to challenge the boss again.
In the end, I spent about six hours farming the boss before leaving the Marsh Dungeon and heading straight home.
Not a single person came to the boss room during those six hours, so I hunted Mega Slimes nonstop.
And the result?
“Finally broke level 100.”
――――――
Kaede Amamiya
Level: 112
HP: 1140/1140 MP: 580/580
Attack: 184 (+52)
Defense: 134 (+12)
Agility: 184 (+57)
Dexterity: 284 (+147)
Mental Strength: 409 (+292)
Luck: 50
BP: 0
SP: 170
Skills: 【Magic Arrow Lv.10】【Archery Lv.5】【Hawk Eye Lv.2】【Item Box Lv.1】【Lock-On Lv.1】
――――――
“Ugh… My Mental Strength is ridiculously skewed.”
Well, that’s because I dumped all my BP into Mental Strength to boost 【Magic Arrow】’s attack power whenever I leveled up.
But thanks to that, I can now one-shot Mega Slimes no matter where I hit, and I can collect their magic stones, so it’s all good.
“Still, I should probably start putting BP into other stats…”
If I keep this up, it might’ve worked so far, but in higher-rank dungeons, I’d probably get taken out before I can fire my arrows.
Plus, I’d basically become a mage stat-wise, and I’d rather avoid that.
“Well, I’ll think about that later. My SP’s piling up nicely.”
I stare at the SP on my status.
The number in my vision is 170.
“Since I’ve saved up this much, maybe it’s time to use it. What should I do?”
I ponder for a bit.
Well, there’s a skill I want right now.
Oh, but I also want to raise some skill levels…
“…Alright! Decided!!”
――――――
【Appraisal Lv.1】: 10 SP
【Item Box Lv.2】: 10 SP
【MP Boost Lv.5】: 80 SP
【Lock-On Lv.5】: 70 SP
――――――
“Yup, these four.”
I mutter as I navigate the status screen to acquire skills and raise skill levels.
That wipes out my SP, but I think it’s worth it.
Excluding 【Lock-On】, the other three skills are ones I deemed necessary.
【Appraisal】 is only Lv.1, but I got it to check monsters’ HP.
At Lv.1, it only shows the monster’s name, HP, and MP, but since I only needed it for HP, that’s fine.
Next, 【MP Boost】, as the name suggests, increases MP. The effect adds 100 MP per skill level. So, at Lv.5, it adds 500 MP.
That alone increases the number of 【Magic Arrow】 uses by 25.
Pretty insane when you think about it…
But it means I can defeat more bosses, so maxing it out to Lv.5 right away was the right call.
Then there’s 【Item Box】 and 【Lock-On】. I raised 【Item Box】 just to increase its capacity.
As for 【Lock-On】…
“No changes, huh… Wait, why!?”
I used 70 SP, and the effect didn’t change at all…
“But it’s weird for nothing to change… Let’s look it up. Uh, 【Lock-On】 skill…”
I pull out my smartphone and search for 【Lock-On】 skill.
Surely the great Booble-sensei will have the details.
“…Huh? Nothing’s coming up?”
That’s odd. I definitely searched for “Lock-On,” right?
But nothing shows up?
“…No way…”
With a bad feeling, I tap “Lock-On” again and search.
This time, I double-check that there’s no mistake in the search term, so it should be fine.
If nothing comes up… Wait, this feels familiar.
Specifically, it reminds me of my birthday last year.
“Nothing…”
I scroll through the phone screen, checking each result carefully, but it’s the same.
No matter how much I search, there’s no information on the 【Lock-On】 skill.
“No way…”
I’m stunned, unable to believe reality.
“It’s a Unique Skill, isn’t it…”
I cover my face with my right hand and look up at the ceiling.
This is bad. Seriously bad.
No wonder this felt familiar.
I did the same thing on my birthday last year.
“If this gets out, I’m screwed. I’ve never heard of anyone having two Unique Skills…”
It’s no exaggeration to say the world’s economy revolves around dungeons.
Dungeons produce magic stones for energy and monster materials for various uses.
Explorers go in to collect them, so nations are desperate to secure talented individuals.
The epitome of talent is a Unique Skill—a powerful skill.
Excluding ones like mine, Unique Skills are generally incredibly strong.
Even now, just having a Unique Skill grants tax exemptions and other major perks. In some countries, they even allow polygamy to increase the number of Unique Skill holders.
In that context, if someone with a second Unique Skill appeared…
“Lab rat, guinea pig. At best, constant surveillance.”
It might sound dramatic, but Unique Skills are that highly valued. If it got out that I have two, my current free lifestyle would absolutely be over.
“…What do I do?”
This is a real problem.
Luckily, 【Lock-On】 is a skill that’s hard for others to notice, and I can play it off, so I’ll do everything to keep it a secret from now on.
Yeah, that’s the plan.
“Nn~! What a great morning!!”
I stretch broadly at my front door, listening to the chirping of little birds.
It’s nice weather today.
Looking up, the sky is a clear, cloudless blue.
Perfect dungeon-diving weather.
Well, weather doesn’t matter inside a dungeon.
“Alright… Off to the Marsh Dungeon again!!”
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