Danmachi: Scavenger

"Three days have passed since Rex Magnus Lapis decided to take some time to learn more about his abilities and how to utilize them to their utmost potential.

"In those days, he had learned a lot. For instance, Body Furnace could be used for detoxification by superheating his bloodstream to purge poisons or venoms before they took effect. He also discovered that he could increase his internal temperature high enough to overpower his own heat resistance, effectively burning himself from the inside out. Thankfully, Blue Papilio Powder existed to heal him—otherwise, well, things would have ended badly.

"Beyond that, he had tested the limits of Indomitable Will's mental compartmentalization. Currently, he could only maintain four separate 'minds' working simultaneously, not counting his main one. This allowed him to handle tasks like using Body Furnace, Strong Body, Blue Papilio, and another skill all at once while fighting. 

"However, if he tried to add something like Scavenger's judgment ability to evaluate another 'concentration' based skill, it became a case of trying to draw a circle with his left hand and a square with his right. The distraction could cause one of the 'minds' to collapse, halting its task entirely.

"Next was how well he could combine…"

Rex sighed. "I need to stop talking to myself," he mumbled, picking up a drop from a Crystal Mantis—one of its wings.

It turned out that the Crystal Mantis's crystal exoskeleton was a Physical Property, which made sense. In the end, he hadn't scavenged it. 

It was a shame because their magic-resistant bodies were incredibly powerful, enough for them to withstand higher potency of his Fire Breath than Hellhounds or maybe even infant dragons with built-in fire immunity—since his Fire Breath is a magic.

Of course, the Crystal Mantis didn't have complete immunity, but it was already strong as it was. And since skills grow with their user, it might have eventually granted him complete magic immunity at its highest level or something similar.

'Well, whatever,' he thought, standing up. 'There should be more monsters with magic resistance in the lower floors that come as a skill.' He yawned. "I should probably be returning now."

When he woke from his reverie, he would head down to the lower middle floor and continue farming for max stats as his three-day training arc had come to an end. That floor, being a 'grass-type' location, shouldn't be too hard for him since he was essentially a 'fire/physical type.'

'But I do need to spend some time learning about the monsters on those floors,' he thought as he started running, using Scavenger to guide him toward the entrance leading to the upper floors. 'Rose should help with that. I really don't want to start reading books...'

From the 17th floor, it took him almost an hour to climb up to the first floor, thanks to how massive the floors became the deeper you went—and this was done without fighting anything, just straight-up sprinting. 

Even this hour time was considered fast, as any normal adventurer would likely need a map to navigate the floors and find the doors leading to the next level. That would require multiple fights with monsters and stops for mapping, so the average time to travel from the 17th floor to the surface was about two hours.

The middle floor's Cave Labyrinth were so vast that getting lost was almost guaranteed—and getting lost in the dungeon often meant never finding your way out. If that wasn't bad enough, in the lower floors, you will need multiple maps just to navigate different sections of the same floor. It was a nightmare.

'Scavenger is really a clutch skill,' Rex thought as he walked through the wide hallway of the 1st Floor, known as the Beginning Road. 'I don't know what I will do if I had to rely on paper maps and constantly check them just to get around.'

Stepping out of Babel's top floor, Rex looked up at the early afternoon sun under a cloudless, clear blue sky and took in a deep breath. 'Damn, I missed this air.' He had spent almost twelve hours in the dungeon, two of which were just spent going down to the 17th floor. 'When I start farming in the Large Tree Labyrinth, I'll probably need a place in Rivira for efficiency.'

Though he had made it to the 17th floor, he had never crossed into the 18th. He saw it as a 'graduation,' much like how he had never entered the middle floor at Level 1 despite being able to do so. That was the next step after his training arc.

The next stop was the guild, which didn't take long to reach. Like the past week, the announcement board was surrounded by adventurers, their voices overlapping as they gossiped about Bell Cranel's recent level-up.

No one believed a rookie could level up in just two months, especially when the Sword Princess's record of a year was already considered absurd. The leading theory is that Bell had lied about the time it took, so many openly disliked him for it.

However, he also heard them talking about some kind of potion but he ignored it, deciding to check it out later. Rex made his way to the reception desk, where Rose sat in her usual spot, looking as bored as ever, with a line of adventurers standing ahead of him. When it was finally his turn, he stepped forward, and Rose glanced up at him with her golden eyes, her expression as neutral.

"Good afternoon," she greeted in her monotone voice. "What can I do for you today?"

"I want to sell some drop items," Rex replied, gesturing to the bag on his back.

Rose nodded and stepped out of her booth, leading him into a private room without a word. She closed the door behind them and turned to him and he began unpacking the items.

Rose stood to the side, one arm folded, as she silently watched him. Her golden eyes flicked over the items, noting the unusually high number of magic stones compared to his usual haul. Normally, he brought in a mountain of drops and barely any stones, but this time, the ratio of stones to drops was closer to what normal adventure had.

Her ears twitched slightly as she glanced at him. "You've got a lot of magic stones this time," she remarked.

"Yeah," Rex replied. "Normally, I only take the drops, and my party members handle the stones. But this time, I took both, since they didn't bring their pouches or anything." 

The truth is, at this rate he was growing after reaching triple S, selling the stones of level 2 monsters was better than absorbing them. When Rex was finished arranging the items, he stepped back while asking;

"Do you think we can have a one-on-one today to discuss the Large Tree Labyrinth?"

"I can't," Rose replied as she walked towards the table. "It's currently busy, and given that I have a lot of adventurers under my supervision, a one-on-one conversation normally requires an appointment—"

She stopped abruptly, her ears twitching as her eyes widened just a fraction. "Wait," she said, her voice sharper now. "You just got down to the Cave Labyrinth. Isn't it too soon for you to enter the Large Tree Labyrinth?"

Rex shrugged. "My party is a group of three Level 2s."

"Unless one of your party members is a Level 3, I don't think it's wise for you to venture into that floor without a status of C." She turned to fully face him, her tone turning stern. "Spend at least two years in the Cave Labyrinth before venturing below Rivira."

"Two years?" Rex asked, blinking. "That's a long time."

Rose's expression didn't change. "Unless you can get your basic abilities to C in less than two years, then be my guest."

"I'd like you to know that I got C in all my stats in only two days." Said while patting his chest. "Believe it."

Rose deadpanned at him, her golden eyes unimpressed. "Impressive," she said dryly. "But be wise. The difference between the Large Tree Labyrinth and the Cave is larger than the difference between the Cave and the first floor."

Rex raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. "Damn," he muttered. "As expected of a floor with Level 3 monsters."

Rose shook her head. "There are no Level 3s on those floors," she corrected. "Apart from the Green Dragon, which is a Level 4 'Monster Rex,' no other monsters there are Level 3. The first Level 3 monsters appear at Water City." 

Rex's eyes widened slightly. "Eh?"

"Don't underestimate the power of the floor just because there are no level 3 monsters, Rex." She locked eyes with him. "Even the weakest monsters there are stronger than the wyverns of the cave labyrinth." She was exaggerating but it might as well be true.

Rose turned back to the drops on the table, her movements brisk. "I've wasted enough time," she said. "Please wait in the lobby while I appraise these."

Rex nodded and returned to the lobby, taking a seat in an empty chair. 

'This is bad,' he thought, leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped together as if in prayer. His amber eyes stared at the floor, his expression stiff. 'This is terrible.'

The revelation that the first Level 3 monsters appeared in Water City had genuinely stunned him, throwing a wrench into his entire plan. He had assumed Level 3 monsters started appearing in the Large Tree Labyrinth, with Level 4 monsters in Water City. It had made sense in his head:

Upper Floors: Level 1. Cave Labyrinth: Level 2. Large Tree Labyrinth: Level 3. Water City: Level 4. Dense Forest Ravine: Level 5. Deep Floors: Level 6+.

But now, as he thought more deeply about it, he realized how flawed his logic had been. 'Yeah, I was hella stupid for thinking that,' he sighed, running a hand through his hair. 'Isn't Udaeus, the Monster Rex the Sword Princess killed about a week ago, a Level 6? Why the hell would the floor monsters be as strong as the floor boss?'

This meant he would have to cross the Large Tree Labyrinth to reach Water City for Level 4 stat farming—a task that now seemed impossible. He couldn't do it, and he knew it.

At his current level, exploring the Cave Labyrinth solo could be considered 'easy.' As long as he didn't play stupid games and get himself surrounded by 20 Crystal Mantises and Hellhounds—or maybe attacked by five Wyverns at once (mainly due to their flight capability)—he wouldn't die. Everything else couldn't handle his fire magic.

Even soloing the Large Tree Labyrinth was pushing it, but he knew that as long as he played it safe and was extremely cautious, things wouldn't get too bad. However, Water City was another problem entirely.

Even Level 4 adventurers struggled to solo those floors!

Yeah, he was confident in playing it safe in the lower middle floors, where Level 3 adventurers struggled to solo. But that was because he knew he could fight at a level higher than his own. Two levels higher, though? He wasn't foolish enough to think he could defeat a Level 4 adventure, even with all his abilities, when they could move faster than he could react—even if they didn't focus on agility. Fighting even a high-Level 3 might bring him problems, much less a Level 4.

So if Level 4 adventurers couldn't solo Water City, then neither could he.

'Fuck,' he sighed, slumping back in his chair and looking up at the ceiling. 'What do I do...?' He called up his status.

— — — — — — — — — —

Rex Magnus

Level 2

[Strength] SS1011 | [Endurance] SS1009 | [Dexterity] SS1008 | [Agility] SS1008 | [Magic] SS1003

[Predator] I

[Skill]

"Scavenger"

— Harvest stats, skills, magic, properties, or treasure from corpses and evaluate quality.

(Skill: Powerful Body, Body Furnace, War Cry+, Tremor Sense)

(Magic: Blue Papilio Powder, Fire Breath+)

(Physical Property: Sharp Retractable Claw, Nictitating Membrane, Sharp Teeth)

"Indomitable Will"

— ...

"Dragon's Bane"

— ...

— — — — — — — — — —

Three days had passed, and he had barely gained ten points in each of his stats. Even though he hadn't been fully focused on farming, this pace wouldn't change. After all, his stat point requirement to increase a stat by one had increased 100-fold once all his stats reached 999. With a hard cap of 1499, he needed to gather a total of 50,000 points to go from 999 to 1499.

That's right—50,000.

A 50x increase from the 999 points required to reach the soft cap. It felt like another built-in limiter to balance out his absurd growth rate. If he kept farming Level 2 monsters, it would take 50 times as long to reach max stats. Since it had taken him two days to cap at 999, it would take him 100 days to reach 1499.

Even if he went full madman and farmed like it was the only thing he knew, it would still take him at least a month to max out all his stats.

He sighed again, slumping back into his former position, his hands gripping each other tightly. 'I can't risk going down to the lower floors, so do I really have to grind for a whole month just to max out my stats?' That was... a long time.

"This is..." He mumbled, "The Roadblock." 

He, again, sighed. 'I know I shouldn't be ungrateful for this speed, but...' His thoughts trailed off.

Now he understood why rich people always wanted more money, even when they already had more than enough. It wasn't just about need—it was about greed. The insatiable desire for more, faster, better. And he couldn't deny that he had that same greed.

'If I had joined the Loki Familia, I could've had one of their executives follow me down to help me grind while they protected me,' he thought, almost starting to regret not joining the Familia. 'I mean, I could go join them right now, but let's not do that yet.'

The limited-time raid event was coming up—the Black Goliath boss.

[Author's Note: Didn't post yesterday because I failed a main course test and wasn't feeling it, so here is two chapters. Well one just split in two, lol.

Now, you might be wondering: Where is the training arc? I decided to skip it because when I was writing it, it turned out to be a boring read. Too much theories, testing, and whatever and I felt like it would be a waste of chapter, so you will see the interesting things he learned in the coming chapters to come. These include his new abilities and the + in front of war cry and fire breath.

Next is the new balancing patch on Scavenger. Not an ass pull, I am sure you all know. It has always been a 100 fold increase on S+ stats increase and this chapter expanded on it. This would make it harder for him to get max stats at higher levels and slow his leveling the closer he gets to first class so he wouldn't become a level 8 or something in a few chapters. Smart, right? I know, I thought of this since chapter 1.

Also, do you think the protagonist was right about his strength level. I think I'm right, I doubt in his current strength he could safely dog walk middle floors and solo the lower floors. If you think I am wrong, explain.

Thank you for reading~]