“Whoa! Is this the loot room?!”

When I looked through the door, I saw a spacious room filled with shimmering blue armor, swords, spears, fine-looking bows, various accessories, and scattered gold coins and gems.

Most likely, these items were collected from those who had challenged and been defeated by that black dragon.

Towards the back of the room, there were three chest-like objects, each large enough to fit a person and glowing with a faint blue light. The room was brightly illuminated by an orb floating near the ceiling, casting light over everything.

Is this the dragon’s treasure vault? It’s all glittering valuables. But there’s no sign of a magic teleportation circle or anything that leads outside…

Damn, does that mean I have to go past the dragon?

I’ll die… I’m going to die.

At this point, my only option is to grab some durable gear or items that boost my speed and make a run for it. If the dragon wakes up, it’s only a matter of time until I’m found, even if I’m as small as a mosquito. There’s no way it’ll overlook someone who’s broken into its treasure vault.

I’m tempted to open those glowing chests, but what if they’re rigged to alert the dragon? That would be terrifying…

Should I leave them alone? No, a treasure chest in the dragon’s chamber wouldn’t be made of rotting wood like the ones I saw in the goblin dungeon.

This has to contain something valuable. That’s how these things work, right? But… could it be a mimic? I don’t even know if those exist here.

I’ll save the chests for last and start by equipping whatever useful gear I can find in here.

First and foremost, I need a skill book for Appraisal. Even the most basic “Appraisal I” skill should let me understand some of the items’ and equipment’s capabilities. With “Appraisal III,” I’d know most item effects, but that’s a bit of a stretch right now.

Let’s start by looking for an appraisal skill book. I should check the bags and pouches I collected from those skeletons first. I thought I saw something like that when I retrieved them, but I hadn’t used a skill before. If unlocking a skill somehow releases magic power and alerts the dragon, that’s the last thing I need.

I placed the three magic pouches and one magic bag I took from the remains in front of me, and began to focus on summoning skill books, reaching inside the bags. One after another, thin to thick books began appearing in my hand, and I carefully laid them out in front of me, pulling out books from the pouches as well.

I made sure to hide behind the door, out of the dragon’s line of sight, just in case.

These storage-type items are bigger inside than they appear, so if you imagine what’s inside, it should come to your hand.

If you imagine it too vaguely, you might get something different.

In any case, I’m glad I noticed there were books in here.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Although I’m talking like an expert, this is actually my first time trying this, other than when I pulled out a potion earlier.

I was secretly moved by how awesome it felt.

After laying out all the skill books from the pouches and bag, I recognized a few book from their covers.

Whoa… I’ve seen these in shows before. This one’s for Detection, and this one’s Wind Blade.

There’s Body Enhancement and… was it Flame Spear? Back in Japan, it was called Fire Lance. I remember it was a pretty powerful skill.

Is this one Icicle? An Ice Spear, maybe?

Ah! Could this rare healing skill be a Heal-type? That’s a lifesaver.

I can’t read any of the text, but the illustrations on the covers help a lot. I can kind of tell what’s what.

There are others with earth-looking images and a frozen city illustration, but I’m not sure what those do. Anyway, I finally found the one I was after.

Here it is!

This monocle—or magnifying glass image—is definitely the Appraisal skill book. I knew it would be here.

I heard they’re common in mid-level dungeons. Trying to contain my excitement so as not to alert the dragon, I opened the Appraisal skill book.

An image flowed into my mind, showing me how to see the names and effects of items by focusing on them.

Alright, just like the online info said. I was a bit skeptical, but I’m glad the instructions didn’t show up in some otherworldly language.

Appraisal uses magic power, right? I wonder how much my pathetic magic level will let me appraise.

This is life or death here. I probably don’t need to check my stats… yeah, I already know they’re all F- level.

To get the most out of a single appraisal, I’ll memorize as many unknown skill books as I can, then appraise myself afterward.

Next is armor. There’s no way I can damage the dragon with my current items, so I’ll search for suitable equipment and use my magic power to appraise any equipments. Safety first.

I opened skill books one by one, absorbing the images of the skills’ effects as they flowed into my mind. The earth looking image was a skill to reinforce materials, while the frozen city one froze a wide area. Perfect for unleashing my inner chuuni.

After learning all the skills, I finally appraised myself.

Akutsu Hikaru

Species: Human

Health: F-

Magic: F+

Strength: F-

Agility: F

Dexterity: F

Skills Obtained: [Appraisal I], [Detection I], [Night Vision I], [Body Enhancement I], [Small Heal I]

Skill Restrictions: [Wind Blade I], [Harden I], [Flame Lance I], [Ice Spear I], [Mid Heal I], [Glacial Shift I]

My stats were better than I expected.

Considering I’d been swinging around a sword, having magic at F+ instead of F- probably means I’m more suited to a magic combat style.

But then again, I was also infusing my sword with magic… I’m not sure.

Ah, right! The skill restrictions. Apparently, high-power attack skills require a certain magic rank to use.

I read about it on some overseas forum; it’s hard to understand through auto-translate, but it made sense.

Flame Lance is a fire attack skill at the intermediate level, so I’d need at least a D or C rank in magic to use it. Ice Spear is probably similar.

I have no clue about Glacial Shift or Mid Heal, but for now, I’ll focus on using these new skills often and leveling them up.

Wait, hold on!

I can’t even use attack skills right now!

To level them up, I’d have to get out of here first!

Body Enhancement needs rank II to be truly effective, and while Small Heal is handy, it won’t help if the dragon kills me instantly.

Damn it!

So I can’t count on skills alone. Alright, let’s find some strong-looking equimpent, appraise it, and equip it.

Moving cautiously on hands and knees, I sifted through the scattered armor pieces around the room. I was worried about waking the dragon, but rushing and dropping armor with a loud clang would be the end of me.

Eventually, I found what looked like sturdy armor and a shield, and my appraisal revealed they were made of orichalcum. Full-body orichalcum armor and an orichalcum shield—very fantasy-like materials, and they looked brand new, considering they’d been used in a dragon battle.

I was thrilled at the thought of surviving this ordeal, but… I had no idea how to put the armor on. Not to mention, it was heavy.

Yeah, this stuff was probably worn by high-level fighters. There’s no way I, with F- strength and a basic Body Enhancement skill, could wear full armor.

It’s a full body armor, right? I couldn’t figure out how to put it on anyway. The shield? Not exactly something I could carry and run with.

So I moved away from the orichalcum armor and shield, muttering some sour words remark about “just being a piece of metal crap.”

Afterward, I found some half-plate armor made from lighter but sturdy materials: a suit of magic iron and a suit of mithril, gleaming in silver. I decided to go with the magic iron half-plate, as it matched the color of the glowing chests and had a bit of a hero vibe. With my current magic capacity, I could probably use Appraisal about 20 times, which was a relief.

There were no helmets here, so I turned my attention to the weapons scattered around the room.

Though most were ridiculously heavy, there was a greatsword of the same material as my armor, so I chose it. I couldn’t swing it wildly, but there weren’t any single-handed swords that seemed usable.

There were also a few scimitar-like swords, but I didn’t know how to use them, so I opted for a normal sword. I also found several daggers, took one, and attached it to a sword belt.

I put the rest into my magic bag.

Alright, let’s keep looking around some more.