68 The End of the Lower Level
After abandoning attempts to master perception, I tested the long-awaited combo of spider silk and poison attack.
Result: Gfufufufu.
Ah, I'm looking forward to testing this in actual combat.
Hehe.
After that, I continued walking without pause.
No monsters appeared during the journey. Utterly peaceful.
Thanks to excessive consumption, stamina remained unchanged. No issues for a while without hunting monsters.
Therefore, now was the perfect opportunity to move forward while no monsters appeared.
Boredom from walking prompted me to raise skills during travel.
Result: All five senses—visual enhancement, auditory enhancement, olfactory enhancement, tactile enhancement—reached level five.
Concurrently, focus also increased, now at level eight.
Focus had been increasing steadily before, but thanks to Pride, the rate of leveling up accelerated further.
This skill—its effect is purely passive, so the impact isn't immediately noticeable—but it's undeniably effective.
During the Monkey War, this is what allowed me to maintain focus even under extreme conditions.
Unobtrusive, but highly contributive.
And as a sensory skill, the difference becomes clear at level five.
My vision, already sharp, became even clearer.
If I chose to, I could see the surface of a rock far ahead.
Auditory and olfactory enhancement worked the same way.
Every sound and scent within the labyrinth became distinct.
Tactile enhancement, though—this one could be considered both benefit and drawback.
It makes me overly sensitive.
Not in a suggestive way, though.
Don’t get the wrong idea.
A fool who invites expectation—after winding them in string like a scroll, I’ll send them skyward with a literal bite of poison?
Even so, when someone claims such a thing is a reward in our field, even I would flee.
Ah, the matter of tactile enhancement.
To be specific, I detect air currents and the like with extreme sensitivity—very unsettling.
After some time, I’ve grown somewhat accustomed, but this ability was meant to be raised gradually, over time, to allow adaptation.
Raising the level so abruptly has caused an intense sense of dissonance.
It may take some time to fully adapt.
Still, if the discomfort becomes unbearable, I can likely deactivate the skill.
In practice, I suspect olfactory enhancement would be the one I turn off more often.
Wouldn't think to sniff out something foul using a heightened sense of smell deliberately.
Considering it this way, the benefit of enhancing taste perception seems negligible.
The monsters in this labyrinth are tasteless.
I’ve never encountered a well-made monster.
Some among them find eating this like a snail worm unacceptable.
Incidentally, I haven’t seen the tanishi bug since a moment ago.
They were everywhere before the apes attacked.
She is nowhere to be found, even when searching thoroughly.
Where could she have gone?
Ah—still hot, though.
I want an air conditioner.
In summer, I’m half-naked in a room cooled by air conditioning. How am I supposed to walk around in this heat?
I, the child of mist, am no good at heat or cold.
...Hot?
Wait a moment— is it hot?
In this labyrinth, where both upper and lower levels maintained a consistently comfortable temperature—neither hot nor cold—was it hot?
Slowly scanning the surroundings.
No monsters in the vicinity.
I feel no particular danger.
Yet my body perceives a change in environment.
Looking ahead along the wall.
Subtle, barely noticeable—gradually, truly just slightly—rising slope.
Up.
Up!
It's going up!
Oh, I did it!
Finally, finally arrived!
Going upward means that, right?
That's what it means!
We're ascending from lower to middle layers!
Hooray!
Got it!
This path was correct!
Now, now I can escape this nightmare of lower levels!
No more fear of the earth dragon!
No more being attacked by a swarm of apes!
No more hiding, creeping, trembling through a place swarming with monstrous creatures!
Without thinking, I broke into a run.
Speed specialization, as expected.
Ascending the slope at a speed that surprised even myself.
Yet the yellow stamina gauge cannot sustain it.
Pant… pant…
Ah.
Without explosive speed, even with speed specialization, endurance fails.
This was an oversight.
If necessary, I could reduce the red stamina gauge and continue running—something I’ve done before during geyser events—but I will note this as a weakness to keep in mind.
More pressing, I am nearly at the summit.
Upon reaching the top of this slope, I will enter the middle tier—the very one I once dreamed of.
The journey has been long.
It began when I was chased by a serpent and fell into the lower tier by mistake.
Since then, crises have followed in succession.
Nearly killed by bees, nearly killed by a ground dragon, escaped a nest of powerful monsters, nearly killed by the taste of snail insects, nearly killed by apes.
All I’ve done is survive near-death experiences.
How did I even live through this?
Too much chaos.
A little more good fortune wouldn’t bring punishment, I think.
But this—living on the edge of death—ends here!
Farewell, the lower strata!
Hello, the middle strata!
Beyond the summit stretched a scorching expanse, a vast plain of magma.
Added a personal note to the activity report.