When I keep watch, I always use Map along with Presence Detection.
The first group to keep watch is me, Naoto, and Shun on the boys’ side, and everyone on the girls’ side except Hikari, Sera, and Kaede.
I feel like the balance is kind of bad, but we haven’t heard of vicious monsters appearing here, so it should be fine. I don’t see any monsters on Map either, just people traveling like us.
Of course, there could be bandits or even criminals under disguise, so we need to be careful about that. You never know what someone might do when you’re along the main road like this, unless it’s someone you know. That’s why it’s common courtesy to take some distance from the road when it’s time to sleep, so we don’t mess with each other.
We split further into groups of two, and position ourselves around the wagons.
Since Rurika and I both have the ability to search for enemies, we are positioned far from each other. I’m with Mia, and I use Parallel Thinking to keep an eye on our surroundings, while also checking my skills.
It might sound imprudent, but I’m using both Presence Detection and Magic Energy Detection, so I have the area around us all covered. I also have a shield around this area, just in case there’s a sneak attack from afar.
And Mia has also cast Sanctuary, a Holy Magic spell that repels monsters.
“So Sora, what are you up to now?”
“We’re going to a dungeon, right? I’m looking for any skills that will be useful.”
I’ve been hearing about dungeons from both the other otherworlders and Argo’s party while we travel.
Naoto and the others went to Prekes’, and Argo’s party has gone to both dungeons in the empire.
The hardest part of dungeons really is exploration, but if you’re in a hurry, it’s best to avoid fighting monsters as much as possible.
That’s if you’re heading for the deepest floor of course. If the point is to earn money, you need to be proactive in taking down monsters.
Just the act of going to a new floor doesn’t earn you any money.
But at the same time, advancing through a dungeon means more powerful monsters appear. And the more powerful they are, the more valuable their magic stones and materials are.
This means not just about everyone can go into the depths of dungeons.
Also, there’s another peculiarity of sorts of dungeons. The monsters that appear in them tend to be the same on the first few floors, regardless of the dungeon. But as you go deeper, you find monsters that only appear in that dungeon.
Sometimes there are irregularities such as traps, and monsters that normally shouldn’t be there, but I hear that’s rare.
I’m getting off track.
I definitely want magic stones from strong monsters, but the investigation that Eliana requested comes first.
There’s also the fact that not fighting monsters means we won’t grow. I want to level up to a certain extent, but still, I want to avoid fights if I can. And only fight when the situation is favorable to us.
For example, if there’s a group of five strong monsters, and another with only two, it’s much safer to fight the latter.
“Did you find anything that looks good?”
“…There’s just one skill that caught my eye.”
I say to Mia.
Concealment. Its effect is to hinder an opponent’s perception.
It feels similar to Presence Concealment, but that one only works on me. Concealment can give other people the effect of Presence Concealment.
Will the effective area grow as it levels up?
This looks like it’s intended to avoid monsters, but it would be useful against sneak attacks too. Especially when we’re all gathered together.
Also… Should I grab the skill I thought about learning the last time we were in Majolica?
Shieldmaster. The shield version of Swordmaster. It makes me good at handling shields.
Some might say that’s easy. You just hold up the shield when an attack is coming. But it’s not that simple.
Depending on how you take an attack, you might create an opportunity to counterattack. I learned that from training with the shield user of Siphon’s party, Geitz.
I need to get myself a specialized shield in Majolica.
“Hn? What is it?”
I ask, when I suddenly notice Mia looking at me.
“It just looks like you’re having fun. Is it always like that when you’re looking for skills?”
“It’s not like I can see what I look like when I search for skills.”
“I guess so. But, I mean, your eyes are sparkling like a child’s.”
She says with a laugh.
I guess it really is fun to search and learn new skills.
Skill points are finite, and sometimes I learn skills out of necessity.
But still, it’s fun. Learning skills is like expanding what I can do.
And so, I continue keeping watch, while using the Concealment skill here and there to increase its proficiency.
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Thanks for the treat.