Chapter 36

Passing through the corridor, they arrived at a slightly brighter hall.

Compared to the previous hall, this one was considerably narrower. Still, it was quite spacious.

Three corridors extended from this hall, including the one they had just come from. One was immediately to the left, and another was diagonally to the left. Both were dark and the view ahead was obscured.

They proceeded down the corridor diagonally to the left. Once again, they moved forward in the darkness, relying on the flashlight. The corridor was structured as if woven from plants, and the ground felt as if it were covered with fallen leaves.

Checking with the *Call Monster* skill, they discovered something terrifying. Except for the narrower hall they had just left, the other side of the corridors was teeming with monsters. Mushrooms grew from the ground, branch golems lurked behind the ceiling and walls. Most were passive and wouldn't become active just because they were passing through. This was precarious. They wanted to speed up and pass through quickly, but the monsters didn't seem to allow it.

They had to fight three consecutive battles to get through the corridor. Three mushrooms, two branch golems, and four more mushrooms. The number of battles was good for getting used to combat, but it felt like a particularly tough hunting ground. They had been overconfident against the evil ants. They apologized for that.

The mushrooms they obtained included three shiitake and one enoki, as well as a new item.

【Material Item】Maitake - Raw Material - Quality C - Rarity 2 - Weight 0+

Maitake. It has a good flavor and texture. Be careful when boiling it as it can cloud the soup.

【Material Item】White Mushroom - Raw Material - Quality C - Rarity 1 - Weight 0+

White Mushroom. Large ones are best grilled.

【Material Item】Enoki - Raw Material - Quality C - Rarity 1 - Weight 0+

Enoki. A mushroom that is gaining attention as a health food. It should be cooked before eating.

They burned one of the branch golems and had the wolves take care of the other. They obtained beech logs and charcoal.

"I'm starting to understand the intentions of the developers."

"Soup?"

"Soup?"

"Mushrooms should be sautéed in butter with salt and pepper."

"Sautéed?"

"Are there any matsutake? I've never eaten them and would like to try!"

No, not about the meal. Have you seen any mushrooms in Remto or Legias? It feels like there's something missing in the familiar ingredients. It seems like they are encouraging players to engage in production activities.

For log cultivation, it seems that management in a forest without sunlight is necessary. This might fall under the domain of farmers or lumberjacks. In any case, it should be left to production classes. Maybe I should consult with Fina. The Player's Guild there accepts all professions.

The next hall was as spacious as the first one. There were four entrances. One was immediately to the left, and another was diagonally to the left. These two were dark and the view ahead was obscured. On the right side, there was one that seemed to be bright, similar to the green corridor they had entered.

In the center of this hall, a human soul was floating, but it appeared to be dark and murky. It was quite eerie, and instead of flickering, the darkness seemed to change in intensity.

*This is the Forest of Wandering Paths.*

*To pass through here, you must go through all the corridors.*

That voice echoed again. It seemed to follow the same pattern, but then the human soul disappeared.

A dark human soul was swaying above the entrance to the green corridor. It was the same as in the previous hall. They tried to leave, but it was impossible. It seemed that some condition needed to be met to pass through.

They headed down the corridor diagonally to the left. On the way, they were attacked by three mushrooms but defeated them. Mushrooms were indeed strong, but compared to the combination of wolves and tigers, they were inferior. Adel and Irena could attack from the back row without much difficulty. This was the correct way to fight as a summoner.

But I chose to engage in close combat. I tried various methods to see if I could defeat them more effectively than before. Of course, I couldn't do it without taking damage. I tried to find a way to defeat them without taking too much damage, experimenting with different techniques. It was fun. I don't like relying solely on magic.

As they moved forward, a branch golem attacked them. There were five of them. They decided to use Pyrokinesis to ignite three of them, leaving the rest to the wolves. They engaged in close combat with the last one.

This golem was indeed strong. It was definitely stronger than the snow apes they had fought before. However, I chose to engage in close combat to find its weakness. The key was the delay in its reaction to the techniques I used. It always lagged by a beat.

I tried to use joint locks or feints to transition to other techniques. It seemed effective to adapt my techniques based on the golem's resistance. The success of the Judo throw was probably a coincidence, but I confirmed that the Physical Enchantment Aqua was effective in improving the precision of throws and joint locks. The increase in dexterity made the fight much easier. The Physical Enchantment Wind was also somewhat effective, making it easier to take side and back positions. I tried a back throw and it worked surprisingly well. I also tried punches and kicks, but they didn't seem to do much damage.

Well, the golem is made of wood, so it probably doesn't feel pain. It makes sense that pain-inflicting techniques aren't very effective. In the end, I defeated the branch golem with a back throw.

*Your summon monster 'Jean' has leveled up!*

*Please add 1 point to any stat of your choice.*

The long-awaited level up also occurred. Jean's agility had already increased. I chose to increase his vitality to address the concern about his HP bar.

Summon Monster - Jean - Bat Lv1 → Lv2 (↑1)

Dexterity: 15

Agility: 18 (↑1)

Intelligence: 11

Strength: 8

Vitality: 9 (↑1)

Spirit: 10

Skills:

Bite, Flight, Echolocation, Evasion, Ambush, Vampire

In Jean's case, he was dealing decent damage to mushrooms but not so well against branch golems. They were tough. The same applied to Irena's snake, Toguro. To deal physical damage to branch golems, axes or maces would be better. Bows and arrows also seemed to be effective. The arrows from the evil ants could penetrate, but they didn't seem to do much damage to the HP bar. Obsidian arrows, on the other hand, dealt damage even without penetration. Adel and Irena had some obsidian arrows, but not many. They needed to reconsider their equipment.

Moving further, they reached another hall. There was no human soul. The layout was the same as the one they had seen two halls ago, and no monsters appeared. They felt a bit more relaxed. They checked with *Call Monster* to confirm that there were no monsters around this hall. It was unclear why halls with human souls had monsters while this one didn't, but it was a relief to be able to take a short break.

They checked everyone's HP and MP. Adel and Irena's MP had decreased. They had used Physical Enchantment Fire to enhance attack power and Physical Enchantment Earth to enhance defense while I was fighting in the front row. Attacking with bows from the back row was not enough. This hunting ground was tough, especially since their levels were still low. They took a break until Adel's MP bar was more than half full. They just sat down and drank water.

Adel was petting Mii and the wolves. It wasn't really a break. The wolves were too familiar. You are my summon monster, you know. It seemed that Adel's petting felt good. That feeling was being transmitted. What about Mii? She was lying down and sleeping.

"Continuing endlessly is dangerous. It's also getting close to evening. If we start now, we can return to Legias and have dinner, even if it's a bit late."

"Huh? I think we can go a bit further."

"We shouldn't push it."

"We have portable food and enough water."

"What about time?"

"That's fine."

Indeed, the monsters here were strong, but not extremely so. Without summon monsters, they would be dangerous. To win consecutive battles, they couldn't afford to lose any of their current forces. If they lost even one of the wolves or Mii, their MP would quickly run out.

"Adel, let's go!"

"Ugh."

They finished their break and moved forward. It took some time to get Adel out of the petting frenzy. Enjoy it later.

They headed down the corridor diagonally to the left. From the map's perspective, it felt like they were circling around. They defeated three mushrooms and entered the next hall. This time, there was a human soul, which was glowing white.

*This is the Forest of Wandering Paths.*

*To pass through here, you must not backtrack. Once you choose a direction, you must proceed in that direction.*

The human soul disappeared, and a white human soul started swaying at the right exit. They tried to leave but couldn't.

While confirming this, they fought four mushrooms and four branch golems. The number of monsters here was high, so they couldn't let their guard down. They left the item stripping to Adel and Irena, while I stripped the logs and charcoal. The *Item Box* was convenient, but it wasn't infinite. Checking the usage, one was 70% full, and the other was over 50%. I gave the mushrooms I had to Irena to free up some space. The logs were taking up a lot of space.

Were they falling into the developers' trap? It felt that way.

They headed down the corridor diagonally to the left. They eliminated three branch golems while moving forward. The cumulative damage was painful. They used potions, which had already been used up to half. They might have underestimated the damage.

The next hall was the narrow one they had seen before. The layout was the same, and no monsters appeared.

They quickly headed down the corridor diagonally to the left.

Passing through the next corridor was difficult. They fought five branch golems in two consecutive battles, followed by six and five mushrooms. The number of enemies was high, so they couldn't let their guard down. They used potions, which had already been used up to half. They used healing spells as well. They managed to defeat the monsters, but their MP was significantly reduced. It would be safer to return to a hall without monsters to recover MP, but they decided to move forward.

They reached the next hall. As expected, there was a human soul. It was glowing red.

*This is the Forest of Wandering Paths.*

*To pass through here, you must proceed in the same direction for all the outer corridors.*

The human soul disappeared, and a red human soul started swaying at the right exit. They tried to leave but couldn't.

Unfortunately, they had to fight five branch golems. They burned four of them and defeated the rest. They obtained a new item from the one they defeated with their summon monsters.

【Material Item】Oak Log - Raw Material - Quality C - Rarity 2 - Weight 2

A section of an oak tree. It needs to be processed to remove the bark to be used as wood.

Another log, but this one was significant. Oak is very hard and is used for wooden swords, staffs, and spear handles. It can also be used for tools and furniture. It's hard to process, but it lasts long. The rarity is slightly higher, so it felt like a good find.

*Your Light Magic has leveled up!*

*You have obtained the spell Resist Light!*

*You have obtained the spell Light Heal!*

*You have obtained the spell Confuse Blast!*

It seemed that using the flashlight had leveled up their Light Magic. Resist Light and Light Heal were self-explanatory. Confuse Blast? It was a single-target attack spell that had a chance to confuse the target based on the level. It seemed quite useful.

They headed to the next hall. The first encounter in the corridor was six mushrooms. They tried using a martial art, Breath, to see if it could deal critical damage. They saved Confuse Blast for later.

The result of using Breath was somewhat underwhelming. It seemed to work, but the critical hits and kicks only dealt significant damage when the enemy was almost defeated. It was frustrating. Maybe they needed to pay more respect to their ancestors or reconsider their fighting style. They were mainly using back throws against mushrooms and golems. As a summoner, it was correct to support from the back row, as seen with Adel and Irena. They would become more stable once they learned healing spells.

No, wait. The reason they were struggling in this hunting ground was clear. They lacked a tank. That decided their next summon monster.

They reached another hall. There was no human soul. It was similar to the first hall they entered, with a blue human soul swaying above the right exit. They could leave, meaning they had completed the outer loop.

"It seems we've completed the loop."

"Looks like it."

"There might be something in the center!"

Indeed, there was something in the center surrounded by eight halls they hadn't visited yet. They decided to have a meal before heading there.

"Let's go to a hall without monsters for a meal and then check what's in the center."

"Agreed."

Adel and Irena prepared the meal using portable food and some adjustments. I only helped by creating water with Liquid Water. They also provided bitter grass to be cooked with shiitake mushrooms as a broth.

【Food Item】Bitter Grass Stew - Fullness +10% - Quality C - Rarity 1 - Weight 1

A simple dish of bitter grass cooked with shiitake mushrooms.

They soaked the leftover soup in the portable food and ate it. A little effort made it surprisingly delicious. But that wasn't all. Adel and Irena had the *Cooking* skill, which was very helpful. I had been avoiding that skill.

They sat on the ground and enjoyed their meal. After finishing, they took a short break to let their MP recover naturally. They wanted to have some leeway.

Main Character: Keith

Race: Human (Male) - Race Level 6

Class: Summoner (Summoner) - Class Level 4

Remaining Bonus Points: 22

Set Skills: