Closing the door behind me, I saw the 137th floor spread out before me.
'No monsters in sight is always good, but let's be careful.'
This has become a kind of routine for me over the years. Check the surrounding then see if there are any monsters nearby, if there isn't any then use mana sense to check further.
"Alright, remember the basics, always start at the basics."
'Sense the mana in your body, then agitate it so its ready to deploy, after that slowly release it to your surrounding and sense any irregularities.'
With this techniqe, I could 'see' the surrounding for a 100 or so meters, I see from the fluorescent gemstones that give me the little light I have to the little cracks in the floor.
Outside of these two there weren't anything more on this floor for now, just rocks and gemstones... Well at least if there isn't any vegetation I don't have to worry about a plant eating me.
"Hmm... Not even one monster huh? Well thats a problem, I haven't gotten something like this in ages."
If I learned something over the years it's stillness is a lie. There wasn't one floor where there were no monsters, not one.
Generally, there are two types of floors when it comes to monsters, one with many monsters, but their individual strenght is lower, or one with fewer but more powerful monsters.
Looks like it's one of the latter.
The quiet floors were always the worst. The ones that lulled you into lowering your guard before the nightmare peeled itself off the ceiling.
I learned it the hard way, never let your guard off, never, not even while resting, sleeping, simply walking, while gathering resources or pissing, never!
I can't even count how many times I almost died because I let my guard off. In one moment, there is no monster within a 100-200 meter radius, in the next, it was already salivating over my body.
What if I have to rest? Someone may ask? Then I dig a hole with magic, go in it, then cover it back up, leaving enough tiny little holes on it so I can breathe.
And that's what I just did after an hour or two of walking.
'Hahh, just as I feared, it looks like it really is the second type, huh?'
I can handle a horde of weaker monsters; there are numerous methods for that, but for one strong one? I can't come up with any strategy without seeing what I'm working with, and if I'm already in range to see the monster then strategizing is useless at that point.
Best I can do is prepare for the inevitable.
Now, let's see. First: the sword, my other trusty friend that's been with me from the very start. Not a single crack, I see. And for sharpness...
I took out a piece of leather from the pouch and let it fall onto the edge of the sword.
Shink
'Sharp enough.'
Second: potions, I remember creating a few while I was resting.
Grabbing the vials from my pouch, I lined them up before me one by one.
Hmm. One, two, three, four... seventeen, eighteen? Eighteen? Last time I had twenty... ah yeah, broke two in that last fight.'
Anyways out of the 18 vials, only 12 of them had a strange see through slime-like liquid inside them.
Truth be told the liquid was more like condensed mana, then a potion, but "potion" works, for simplicity.
'I think on the surface they called this something like the liquid of the gods that healed anything, ambrisa? ambrosa? Ah, ambrosia!'
Well, it never hurt to have more of it.
The thought went through my head, but, my body acted faster as I had already took the mini fountain out of the pouch.
Before me sat that beautiful piece of art - it had saved my life more times than I could count. A pretty little boulder with a stone woman stretching her hand out.
Poured my mana in, and watched the liquid seep from her palm. Filled the last six vials.
With all the vials full, I put them in their respective pockets and returned the remaining ones to the pouch.
Then I sat down, leaned my back against the wall and started meditating.
Remember the steps, remember them... take long, deep breaths.
In... then out... In... Out...
As my body started to relax, I withdrew the mana I spread in the surroundings for mana sense, and started suck in and purifying the mana around me.
I felt the mana inside me, thoroughly spread to every bit of my body.
Although this dungeon was filled to the brim with unimaginable monsters, it was also very dense in mana.
Probably the biggest reason why I'm alive.
When I got a chance, I did train diligently.. and it shows on my progress.
I remember when I came here, I had a purity level on the brink of yellow, but over the years of training and training, I got to where I am, on the verge of white, the highest purity mana, the Grandmaster level, the dream of every swordsman I know.
'If only I could share these achievements with someone else.'
Okay... preparations done.
I channeled the mana in my body to my hand and touched the temporary 'door' I made, my fingertips glowed with a yellowish-white light.
[Transmutation] A basic earth magic.
*Crack*
The door dissolved into gravel, revealing the corridor beyond.
"Still empty"
No growls. No skittering. Just those damned gemstones weeping faint light onto the walls.
'This level was way more barren than the previous ones. Usually, there would at least be a few monsters here and there, or weeds growing on the side of the walls, some levels had full-blown ecosystems in them.'
Spreading out my mana, I tried sensing if there was a monster nearby, but still nothing.
"Hmm... well, if I can't find them, let them come to me."
'Let's make a simple trap'
I crouched down, then channeled my mana and made a hole in the ground, not too big, but big enough to fit about any monster.
On the bottom, I fished out a few spikes from my pouch and mashed them into the ground.
Then I covered the spears and my sword with the poisons I made from the blood of some poisonous frogs around 30 floors ago.
'Ugh.. I hated them. I once saw them fight each other, and it wasn't a pretty sight what that poison made from the loser.'
"Anyways, this should do the trick."
I especially made the poison somewhat sticky so it doesn't fall off, even if I have to wait several hours for the trap to work.
'Of course, no monster would be stupid enough to just jump into this pit of death.'
Oh, it would be sooo much easier if that was the case.
Shooting bursts of wind downward, I shot myself out of the pit, and used transmutation to cover the top.
Almost done.