CH 122

Wolves appear on this floor. There are no obstacles, and the paths are narrow. I say narrow, but they’re about five meters wide, which still makes it a lot easier to fight here than in a forest. If we can match the wolves’ speed, that is.

“Mia, take a good look at how they move. Focus only on defending from their attacks.”

They attack by biting, slashing with their front legs, and tackling. Those are the three main attacks at least. But when people get distracted by their speed and panic, they end up misjudging how to deal with them.

If you stay calm and defend, they’ll come to attack. And if you don’t get flustered and focus on blocking each attack one by one, it’s easy to defend against them if you focus on protecting yourself. Of course, I’m talking about a one on one scenario.

However, our current foe isn’t a wolf, it’s the maze of the dungeon. We just reached another dead end.

“And we got through the first floor so easily…”

Mia looks like she’s about to crumple down. The other two also look tired, especially mentally.

“How about we eat? It’s getting to be lunchtime.”

I say while looking at a round thing that’s about the size of the palm of my hand. There are marks positioned east, west, south, and north, and two needles, one big and one small. It’s like a slightly oversized pocket watch.

The big needle represents hours, and the small one days. I made this so we don’t lose track of time even in the dungeon.

I’ve heard from Leila that the special fields in every floor that’s a multiple of five have a day and night cycle, but the others generally don’t change.

Because of this, it’s common for people to lose track of time and not take breaks, and end up overexerting themselves.

Exhaustion lowers concentration and inhibits calm decision making. It’s possible for people to completely freeze at an important time too, and suffer heavy damage because of it. It’s important to rest when necessary.

“Master, that is a wonderful suggestion.”

We move to a dead end and start cooking there, starting a fire to roast meat and warm soup. It doesn’t take a lot of time, because it’s all already cut and placed in containers.

I also have baked bread in the Item Box, and since I put it in here when it was freshly made, it’s still warm. Just a bit colder than when I stored it.

“Let’s eat.”

Says Hikari while putting her hands together. She copied that gesture from me.

“What a strange place this is.”

I follow the smoke with my eyes as it goes up. It slowly rises all the way to the ceiling, and disappears as if being sucked in by it. What if I threw something there? It would bounce back normally, right?

“And we didn’t come across any other parties.”

Says Mia while looking around. I guess the soup is helping her relax.

Apparently there aren’t any people working on the upper floors. Map doesn’t show me anyone.

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence. There are others who come to this place from elsewhere, like Light Sword.

“I’m sure everyone is working deeper inside the dungeon. There are also parties who head to the exit to leave the dungeon too, so I’m sure we’ll come across someone sooner or later if we head for the staircases.

The floors from the first to the tenth are seen as beginner floors, and it’s rare for people who made it to the fifth floor to explore the ones that come before it again. Unless they are newbies who aren’t too confident in their fighting skills.

However, since there are newbies in this city who register as adventurers, there are periods when people can be seen in the first handful of floors more frequently. Especially around the time when students of the academy start exploring the dungeon.

Some adventurers concentrate their efforts on harvesting materials from the field on the fifth floor too, and some focus on bosses and jump straight to the tenth floor to defeat them.

But sometimes, adventurers hit a wall on the eighth or ninth floor, because the amount of monsters increases. Or rather, the number of monster encounters increases.

This tends to happen a lot with people who come from elsewhere to challenge the dungeon. Especially since in other towns and countries it’s customary to form parties of around five people.

But there are ways to get around this. Some people hire guides or guards to push through, and I’ve even heard of adventurers who turn this into a business.

Basically, monsters that would otherwise be easily defeated become a problem when their numbers are increased, and it can become exhausting. It’s actually easier for these parties to fight monsters from the eleventh floor on than the eighth and ninth floor.

Another thing. Hunting a lot doesn’t mean much when the amount of materials people can carry back is limited. If parties don’t have item bags or item boxes, they’re better off going for higher grade materials than to collect a lot of the cheaper ones.

That means that even if they go to the eighth or ninth floor to hunt, they’re going to end up with materials right in front of them that they can’t hope to bring back. Magic stones are worth less when they come from low rank monsters too. They can be profitable if people collect a lot of them, but not a lot of people are so inclined.

And of course, there are people who want to become stronger as they go along, and they tend to look for like minded people and face the dungeon with more partners.

That’s how clans become bigger.

“How far are we going this time?”

“Until the fifth floor, as we planned. Then we’ll stay there for a few days and come back. It would be great if there were medicinal plants there. We can head to the sixth floor if we find the staircase, but if we don’t, we’ll just use the device on the fifth floor.

It looks like I can sell my potions here, so that’s going to be a way to raise funds. The problem is what I’m going to say when I sell them. I can’t keep using the excuses that they’re family heirlooms or that I bought them along the way forever.

Should I say that a mysterious potion maker suddenly emerged out of nowhere and started making these? Or should I leave the city for a while to create an alibi?

“Master, how much are you bringing back?”

Asks Hikari.

“The Item Box can hold a lot more, so that won’t be a problem. I can store two or three hundred wolves easily. I think.”

I haven’t hit the limit since I leveled up. I think its capacity increased again at level nine, but I don’t remember hitting the limit at level seven or eight anyway. I guess I should check how much I can store, but can I even save up that much?

Sera looks exasperated, and Hikari has a sparkle in her eyes. Mia is focused on recovering her energy and doesn’t really care.

“For now, let’s just finish this floor before dinner.”

We rest for a bit after eating, and Hikari, Sera, and Mia work on a map. The dungeon changes at regular intervals, but a simple map is useful for making sure we don’t accidentally end up going down the same paths multiple times.

I watch them work from a distance. If I try to chime in, I might accidentally blurt out the answers, so I restrain myself. If it was a more complicated floor, or one with stronger monsters, I’d feel more inclined to interject.

After they’re done, we leave. The map is simple, but pretty accurate from what I can tell. I guess they also talked about where we should go, because we keep going with no sign of hesitation on their part.

And so, after about two more hours, we finish the second floor without much issue.