It's a well-known fact that women become incredibly energetic when shopping, regardless of their age.
Miss Sunshine was thoroughly swept up in the merchants' enthusiastic sales pitches. The shop owners were running a clearance sale with prices marked up ten to twenty times higher than surface rates.
Everyone seemed pleased — the shop owners, Aiz, and even Kael.
Aiz showed discerning taste, selecting Level 2 equipment and third-tier adventurer gear suitable for use even in the lower Levels.
Her potion purchases were particularly extravagant. She bought hundreds of magic potions, including a hundred stamina potions to share with Kael — despite their price being ten times the surface rate of V$500.
In her quest to become stronger, Aiz had invested far more resources than ever before.
She wasn't foolish — merely inexperienced with finances. In her Familia, Riveria had sheltered her completely, handling all matters of weapons and potions.
Moreover, since shopping here didn't require physical currency, the abstract nature of the transactions made it easier for her to overlook the astronomical prices.
Kael, pushing the cart while examining the Level 2 mithril light armor, teased, "I think your behind is going to bloom when you get back!"
"Why? Just because I bought you things?"
"Hmm, rich lady, you're so generous — why don't you keep me as your sugar baby?"
"No!" Aiz rejected flatly, then, softening her tone, added, "Loki would kill you."
"Ahem, never mind then." Kael stretched lazily, "Let's get some rest and be ready — tomorrow we'll make our own legend!!"
"Yes, mine!"
"Alright, yours!"
Back at the inn, Aiz ate her cold Jagamarukun and immediately fell asleep.
Kael quietly munched on potato cakes while organizing their purchases. He sorted the unnecessary items for storage and arranged essential supplies for the Large Tree Labyrinth — the name for the 19th-24th Floor — placing antidote potions and paralysis cure potions within easy reach.
Aiz had thoughtfully prepared a new large backpack for him, placing commonly used weapons in easily accessible positions for quick switching.
Finally, there were stamina potions and various elixirs, including an extremely precious panacea that consumed the bulk of the V$25,000,000 spent!
Kael took some potions to carry on his person, storing the rest in his magical item pouch. He gave it a nice name — Nica Pouch.
Once again, staring at the "junk" that Aiz had spent V$25,000,000 on, he genuinely worried for the girl. Would she be strung up and beaten when she returned?
Oh, I'm... so looking forward to it!
Kael thought mischievously: Using her to reach his trial destination, and along the way mess with Thanatos...
If Loki's precious treasure suddenly disappeared, causing chaos in their ranks, and the trail led to the Soma Familia! Would they, in their anger, simply send Soma packing?
If so, I wouldn't need to consider using Erebos to reach my goal... and could seek protection from other deities...
Like the broad-minded sister Demeter... or the easily approachable rich lady Hephaestus...
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The next day.
SLAP—
Before the magic stone lamps fully illuminated the floor, Kael, still dreaming, felt something pressing on him, followed by a stinging pain on his face.
He struggled to open his eyes and met a frowning face framed by golden hair glowing in the morning light.
Kael touched the handprint on his face, "Angel... Am I dead?"
"No! It's time to go!"
"You could have woken me up differently. You nearly took my head off just now!"
Aiz wanted to say... I watched you for an hour, poked your face for fifteen minutes, pulled off your covers and stared for five minutes, but slapping proved most efficient.
"Called you. Failed." She waved her hand, dismissing the topic, and pointed outside urgently, "Today is the beginning of legend!"
"Yes, yes. Miss, I'm coming."
Kael tiredly rolled out of bed and shouldered his prepared pack, his spine threatening to buckle under its weight.
Tch, yesterday's deep sleep must have been from exhaustion. I wonder if my endurance has increased...
After leaving the inn, they purchased expensive maps of the Water City's 25th-27th Floors from other adventurers. They traversed a dense forest before finding the entrance to the 19th floor beneath a massive tree root.
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The 19th through 24th Floors of the Dungeon comprised the Large Tree Labyrinth area.
As the name suggested, it was a world enveloped by plants and vines. Flowers, mushrooms, giant trees, insects, and moss created a primitive ecosystem so challenging that it could break most ordinary explorers — even without the monsters.
For a pharmacist, however, this place was paradise. The sea of trees boasted diverse plant species, with seemingly every blade of grass holding medicinal value. Even the glowing moss on the ground could fetch a good price.
It was also the primary source of many dungeon-exclusive fruits.
Kael discovered numerous medicinal ingredients rarely utilized in this world: star anise, cassia trees, cloves, pepper, fennel, ginger, and more...
This world's research had focused solely on medicines that could restore status when consumed directly, largely ignoring these traditional medicinal ingredients.
The two traversed paths woven from giant tree roots, where the narrow passages helped them avoid most monster group attacks.
Kael gathered spices as they walked, much to Aiz's displeasure.
While watching her dispatch one Battle Boar after another, he engaged her in topics that caught her interest.
"Speaking of ways to quickly increase ability values, our Familia has conducted research on this. Studies show that after humans reach certain ability stages, killing the same monsters yields diminishing returns — eventually reaching a point where no further growth occurs.
Most people attribute this to an adventurer's innate talent. While most adventurers in Orario remain stuck at this stage, the key to advancing further lies in building a foundation from Level 1."
Aiz split open a fire bird trying to ambush them and turned, "How can one break through this bottleneck?"
She had clearly reached this plateau herself — her growth rate had slowed considerably after her attributes reached B-Rank.
Kael cheerfully harvested Familiar plants while explaining, "Challenge high-Level monsters. This intense Excelia, known as 'Great Deeds', can overcome what we call 'talent'. But it's incredibly dangerous. Venturing onto floors far above your Level usually means certain death.
What most call 'talent' is really just the inability to adapt to dangerous environments and battles — the failure to break through these supposed limitations.
Because of this belief in 'talent', many adventurers grow complacent, accept their limitations, and resign themselves to the daily grind of a 'miner's' life.
Only those who truly cast aside their fear of death and use powerful monsters as stepping stones can reach the absolute peak."
Aiz cleanly cut off a Bugbear's lower limbs. Its huge body crashed to the ground, followed by an explosive wind pressure that reduced its magic stone to ash.
"What should I do? The monsters here are still too weak!"
"Want to learn? I'll teach you!"
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T/N: Favorite, comment and save to your library of best reads in the world, thank you for reading this far!
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