In the end, Renjiro (Aether) dismissed the idea of leaving Orario together with Gareth and the others.
There was no helping it. According to Finn's arrangements, Gareth's team would be departing this afternoon. After all, the Guild's request this time was an emergency mission. There was no time to delay.
And the members Gareth was leading, aside from the veteran dwarf himself, were mostly magic-users. Their gear didn't require much maintenance. Even Anakitty, Cruz, and Raul, though their weapons had taken some damage, had already completed all necessary repairs.
Meanwhile, Renjiro's plan for the next few days was to grind as hard as possible, at least raise the Traveler Twins' Genshin levels to Lv.30 and above before anything else.
Since there wasn't enough time, he couldn't force the schedules to match.
So, when he and Lumine left the Twilight Manor, the only agreement they made with the Loki Familia was:
Three days later, they would enter the Dungeon together to establish the teleport anchor.
After that,
"First, we head to the Free Market and buy all the materials I need to train the Synthesis Development Ability. Then we go straight into the Dungeon."
Given how suddenly everything came up, Renjiro had no choice but to grind again.
"Today… and the next three days… no rest."
"Alright."
Lumine nodded without hesitation.
Less than an hour and a half later,
To save time, once they arrived at the Free Market, the two didn't even bother negotiating. They simply purchased every required item listed on their prepared notes, no matter the price.
Sugar, rice, salt, milk… and various metal ores. In this era, the production of such materials wasn't high.
Fortunately, Orario was the center of the world, drawing trade from everywhere. Otherwise, Renjiro would have run into a painful resource shortage.
From a long-term perspective…
"Eventually, I'll need my own supply source for raw materials."
But that was a concern for later.
Today,
"Since it's daytime, it's not very efficient to go grinding in the Deep Floors right away."
As mentioned before: while Renjiro could fight Deep Floor monsters, the experience return rate dropped heavily.
A monster like the Lizardman might as well be a mini-boss at this point. With only three members instead of five, the clearing speed dropped significantly.
Besides,
"For these next three days, aside from daily combat grinding, I still need to train the Synthesis skill. That means gathering certain low-grade materials from the Upper and Middle Floors."
So, Renjiro abandoned the idea of teleporting directly to Floor 39.
He would take the normal route this time.
Naturally, Paimon, who could stay hidden indefinitely when in stable form, handled the gathering.
Renjiro (Aether) and Lumine focused purely on combat grinding.
And so,
Spurt!
Blood burst.
The continuous ash-scattering of monster bodies filled the Dungeon corridors.
The scene once witnessed by the Ishtar Familia's pursuers was playing out again, only faster, and more efficiently.
After all, Renjiro and Lumine's level caps had already risen to Lv.40.
The stronger they grew, the faster everything proGarethed.
In this stable loop of continuous advancement,
"Floor 25!"
After roughly three hours, barely stopping, and skipping every passage by directly leaping down vertical shafts, they reached the first floor of the Lower Floors.
Here, Paimon began gathering the region's special mining materials, Water Aster Crystals, Labyrinth Coral, Labyrinth Pearls, and more.
The boss of the sea Labyrinth had just been defeated earlier, and its crystalline eyes removed. So there was no need to worry about any sudden boss-class threats.
As for the other monsters…
Unfortunately for them, even in daylight, the Starry Abyss skill currently provided a 12× mana regeneration bonus.
That was more than enough to keep a Genshin avatar materialized constantly.
Once the Adeptus Slayer with the Lithic Spear took point, backed by Ningguang and Xingqiu continuously providing off-field buffs and damage,
And paired with the combat strength of Renjiro and Lumine themselves,
The Deep Floors might be tough.
But the Lower Floors?
They were free farming territory.
It was just a shame that the Aquatic Labyrinth didn't contain anything like a Blood Hive. Otherwise, Renjiro definitely would've pulled some ridiculous farming stunts again, until the dungeon begged for mercy.
Following the steady advance of the three-person squad (Paimon: ???), after descending through the Grand Waterfall to reach Floor 27,
The Lithic Spear hit Lv.40.
And the Traveler Twins, along with Xiao, reached Lv.24 (late), almost Lv.25.
"That's why I said, there's no reason to get beaten up in the Deep Floors when we can just slice through everything down here."
Does it feel good to stomp weak enemies?
Yes.
Very.
Especially when you can visibly watch your experience numbers tick upward.
A thrill no ordinary adventurer could ever experience.
Hours passed. Night settled.
"Teleport."
With their party summon limit expanded, Renjiro and Lumine immediately warped to Floor 39.
Their next objective was the same as yesterday,
"Let's go kite more monsters near the Colosseum."