Chapter 74: After Escaping

Even though we made $192 without a mana orb drop and had two level-ups, the highlight today was safely escaping from the dungeon.

To say the situation was dire would be an understatement, Beatrice's wall was about to give as she couldn't reinforce it due to her mana running low.

Once the wall fell, we'd have to face the swarm and the black skeletons at the same time while we were basically spent.

I think it was the right decision to run away, but with that being said...

Miwen: "What do you guys think?"

Merchant: "...Why am I here again?"

Miwen: "Because you had nothing else to do and pestered us to participate?"

He also decided to fill in for Mia and insisted that she should go explore the kingdom's forest while he substitutes her in the discussion.

I was expecting him to at least have something to add, but after I recalled the events, he seemed completely uninterested in it all.

Well, it doesn't matter though...

Merchant: "I don't get why you're so worried... Didn't everything go well in the end?"

Miwen: "Kind of... My decisions led to a bad spot, so I wanna hear everyone out."

Considering that this directly impacts their own safety, it's only fair to listen to what they have to say.

I also feel like it's important for me to improve, since right now I'm stuck about what I should do differently.

Claire: "Hm... I think you should've had Anna and Ellie take on the winged one together while you and Mia focused on the mage."

An all-out offensive then...

It's not the worst idea, but it would make our escape way harder if we didn't manage to defeat the winged skeleton and the mage in time.

What's more, if Anna was occupied or couldn't act, Beatrice would end up surrounded by the swarm and the enemies Licia and Claire were facing.

Increases your capacity to read and feel the wind direction, allowing for better stealth. A passive skill that can be deactivated.]

[Better Mana Regeneration

The rate at which the user's mana regenerates is amplified, once the user's mana pool is full mana regeneration will stop. This is a passive skill that cannot be deactivated by the user.]

As for the skills I already had:

[Sight Enhancement] x2, [Enhanced Drop Chance], [Reading speed up], [X Slash], [Appraisal].

Of course, [Faster Tree Climbing] got 2 level-ups, alongside [Increased Climbing Proficiency] which also had its level increased, although only by 1.

It's becoming harder to tell which results are good... for the current objective, I'd say this helps, but it's far from being perfect.

[Better Mana Regeneration] is useful for almost everyone in the party to be honest, but I shared it with Beatrice and Claire for the time being since they are probably the ones who would probably benefit the most from it in my eyes.

[Sight Enhancement] got a few levels and it was obvious who I should share it with, but I also gave [Wind Cover] to Ellie.

As for Anna, I gave her [Mana Transfer] since she doesn't use her mana that much. Having her act as a second reserve for those who use it more often might be a big boost, albeit in somewhat of an indirect way.

I still had a bunch of [Kingdom Points] from those I claimed today left but I decided to spend them on giving Anna [Mana Shield], [X Slash], [Mental Resistance], [Unending Determination], [Swordsmanship], and [Last Man Standing].

I think that as a tank, she'll need a lot to fulfill her job next time, given the circumstances the fourth floor is currently in.

A few people spoke about the swarm close to the gate to the floor, and alongside the black skeletons, almost everyone has decided to give up on the floor for now.

It's not a luxury we have if we want to proceed to the next floor, so, even though I'd normally avoid it too, we'll have to face them head-on next time.

Merchant: "... So it happens even when it's not something tangible... Interesting, I got to see a lot today."

Miwen: "I'm glad you're happy about it. But did you manage to figure something out?"

Merchant: "Nay."

Not surprising at all, he's still as reliable as a window that doesn't close.

We still had to discuss what we would do tomorrow though, but for that, I had to wait until Mia came back from the assignment the Merchant gave her, so everyone just relaxed and talked while waiting for her.