"It's brighter here than I expected..." Shirou muttered as he walked through the dungeon.
There were narrow passageways, forks in the road, and small caves all along the path.
It was a terrible place for anyone wielding long weapons like spears.
"Just like they said... a horrible place for any rookie without real combat experience. The claustrophobic feeling these walls give off, the sense that monsters could pop out at any moment from anywhere... It can easily make someone with low confidence lose their will to fight."
But that only applied to regular rookies.
For Shirou, who had already fought against Heroic Spirits during the Holy Grail War, this level of oppression couldn't instill any fear in him.
If not even Angelica, wielding the power of the King of Heroes, could frighten him, how could this dungeon possibly do it?
Even though he no longer had access to all of Archer's powers, his training and experience battling powerful opponents during the Grail War meant the dungeon couldn't affect him.
CRACK...
With a strange sound, cracks suddenly formed in the walls around Shirou, and through them, monsters began to crawl out one by one.
As soon as they emerged from the walls, the monsters immediately surrounded Shirou.
"These things are even uglier than I imagined..." Shirou complained as he looked at the goblins encircling him.
"Alright then, let's see what you're made of." Shirou smiled as he raised Kanshou and Bakuya and rushed toward one of the goblins.
He wasn't going to wait for them to gang up on him.
He no longer had the same physical aptitude as when using a Class Card. In fact, physically speaking, he was actually close to a level 1 adventurer.
The only way he could surpass others at his level was through experience and technique.
As for magic... and using UBW? He didn't have enough magical energy to maintain it for long.
So it was better to avoid using it altogether.
Charging at the goblin, Shirou instantly slashed it diagonally with Kanshou while piercing its skull with Bakuya.
It was fragile—fragile enough that even a slightly experienced novice could take it down easily.
Ripping Bakuya out of the goblin's skull, Shirou threw it at another nearby goblin while instantly projecting a new Bakuya and advancing toward another enemy.
Why waste time and stamina fighting them all at once when he could handle them one at a time?
As soon as he got close, Shirou kicked the goblin away and threw Kanshou at it.
He then immediately knocked another goblin to the ground and pierced its chest with Bakuya.
Instead of retrieving Kanshou, Shirou simply projected another one, keeping his eyes on the remaining goblins.
He quickly charged them and dispatched them with ease.
"As expected, the first floor is far too easy for me..." Shirou muttered as he collected the goblins' magic stones and placed them in the small pouch he carried.
Despite their low value, they were still worth money.
Magic stones are the primary source of income for adventurers. When hunting monsters, the stones can be sold at the Guild.
So having magic stones basically meant having money.
"If I'm not mistaken, a magic stone from one of these goblins should be worth at least 1,200 valis each..."
After collecting all the stones and putting them in his backpack, Shirou continued deeper into the dungeon. He didn't even bother retrieving the discarded copies of Kanshou and Bakuya since they would disappear on their own.
To Shirou, the first floor was far too easy. He wouldn't be able to grow properly if he stayed there.
Although the Falna works somewhat like a status panel from an RPG, you don't gain experience simply by killing monsters.
Attribute improvement comes through continuous effort—either through constant combat or dedicated training. Of course, training alone takes much longer, which is why many skip it and head straight into the dungeon.
The core attributes are divided into Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Agility, and Magic.
[A/N: I just realized I mistakenly wrote Durability instead of Endurance earlier, haha.]
To raise their stats, Familia members must collect excelia. Excelia are experience points earned through various actions like fighting monsters or brewing potions.
However, it's very difficult for anyone to max out their stats, since everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, an elven mage may reach S-rank in Magic, but due to the difficulty in raising their Strength or Endurance stats, they can't significantly improve those.
Still, regardless of one's limits, fully maxing out a status is an extremely hard task. When adventurers level up, their previous stats are usually in the C or D range, B at best. Almost no one reaches the highest rank, S, and even achieving that in a single attribute is worthy of celebration.
There are two types of excelia.
The regular type is used by the gods to raise their followers' stats and unlock development abilities when leveling up, or to further enhance their basic parameters.
The second type is known as high-level excelia, which is used to raise a follower's level once enough has been gathered. High-level excelia is gained by performing feats so impressive that even the gods would acknowledge them, like defeating a significantly stronger opponent.
Regardless of the type, a god may choose not to apply all the excelia a follower has gathered during an update—for any reason—preventing immediate stat growth or the development of new skills, such as magic or abilities. Fortunately, excelia isn't lost and can be added at a later time.
Though a follower is normally required to have their status updated by their patron deity, there exists an item called the Status Pommel that allows another person to use collected excelia to boost one's stats.
However, it cannot be used to raise someone's level or grant new skills or magic.
For Shirou, none of these goblins posed any real challenge, so there was no point in lingering on the upper floors.
---
The deeper Shirou went, the quieter the dungeon became.
Floor after floor, and nothing changed. The moment a goblin emerged from the walls, it was already dead.
Kanshou and Bakuya gleamed in his hands like mirrored sparks of steel.
The sound of metal tearing through flesh echoed briefly—then silence. The monsters didn't even have time to scream.
They were too slow, too weak, too fragile.
Shirou let out a sigh as he walked.
"I'll have to go even deeper..." he murmured.
The weight of his twin blades rested comfortably in his hands, as familiar as his own heartbeat.
He narrowed his eyes. A new group of goblins and a few kobolds began crawling out from the walls.
"Ah~~ This is starting to get boring..." He sighed again and released his blades.
Kanshou and Bakuya clinked softly against the stone floor before disintegrating into particles of light.
"Trace... on." Shirou whispered, extending his left arm forward.
Light burst around his arm as his magic circuits activated. In an instant, a long, elegant bow materialized in his hands, curved like a crescent moon.
Shirou's expression remained calm as he drew the bowstring. A glowing arrow formed in place.
He fired the first arrow.
Zunft.
The first goblin's head was pierced before it could even growl. The one behind it stumbled back, but before it could lunge, it was struck in the throat by another precise shot.
Without taking a single step, Shirou continued shooting with superhuman precision.
Zunft. Zunft. Zunft.
One goblin was hit in the eye.
Another was pinned to the wall, writhing as an arrow pierced its chest.
In less than thirty seconds, Shirou had already wiped out the entire group. Only their magic stones remained scattered across the floor.
---
Eighth floor of the dungeon.
This was the floor where Killer Ants appeared.
A red ant-like monster with four legs and two arms, it had a tough shell, high attack power, and released pheromones to attract allies when in danger.
Alongside the War Shadow, it was known as a "rookie killer" for slaying many beginner adventurers.
CLANG!
Shirou crossed Kanshou and Bakuya to block the frontal attack.
He immediately kicked the ant monster away and struck another one that had gotten too close.
With surgical precision, Shirou defended and countered the killer ants' strikes.
After finishing off one, he turned and ran toward two more.
He blocked the attack of one with Kanshou while stabbing the other in the chest with Bakuya.
Then, without hesitation, he ripped Bakuya from the ant's chest and threw it into another with deadly accuracy.
Soon, the only sound left was the soft clatter of magic stones hitting the ground.
Shirou looked at the remaining killer ants around him. After taking a deep breath, he charged again.
He only faced some difficulty when the ants grouped up and attacked him all at once.
Once more, Shirou slew them easily. With a flash of light, the last two killer ants were slain.
"Phew~ That took more effort than I expected," Shirou stretched as he muttered to himself.
"Looks like I'll be making a good haul today..." he chuckled, gazing at the floor littered with magic stones.
---
(End of Chapter)
"Hmph. If you really want to be useful, then entertain me, try to throw those pathetic power stones at me. Let's see if even your insolence can amuse a king."