85 attribute points. Material obtained: Graysteel Dragon Scales!
When Roy saw the notification panel that popped up, joy surged through him. Just as he had expected, slaying monsters in the Dungeon also yielded attribute points and rewards.
The reason there had been no notifications before was simple—the monsters he had fought back then were far too weak. They did not drop anything at all.
To earn rewards, he had to defeat monsters whose ability values were close to his own, or even higher.
Strength: 17 (I)
Endurance: 13 (I)
Dexterity: 28 (I)
Agility: 15 → 100 (H)
Magic: 43 (I)
…
After fighting the Apollo Familia and entering the Dungeon, Roy's overall abilities had risen somewhat. He casually allocated the newly gained attribute points into Agility—there was no need to overthink the distribution for now.
Roy and Ryuu stepped onto the Thirteenth Floor. From here on, it marked the territory of the Middle Floors.
With their level and ability values overwhelming their opponents, even the monsters of the Middle Floors were unable to block their advance.
They cut down monsters along the way without any real danger.
After roughly eight or nine hours, Roy and Ryuu began heading back. This was not an expedition—they had not brought much food or water and needed to return to the surface.
Meanwhile, the backpack carried by Roy's lightning clone was already filled with magic stone fragments and dropped materials.
Roy and Ryuu headed for the Guild Headquarters.
When the mountain of magic stone fragments was piled up in front of the Guild staff, several of them were moved to tears. Over the past few days, their greatest fear had been the Astraea Familia disappearing without repaying their debt. As long as they were willing to pay, everything could still be discussed.
After tallying up the magic stone fragments, a Guild staff member brought out a huge bag of coins, drawing countless gazes in the hall.
Today's earnings: 680,000 valis!
Roy and Ryuu only exchanged the magic stones for money, keeping all the monster materials. Once those were sold to the Guild, buying them back would cost two to three times as much.
They still had a long road ahead.
Monster materials were better kept for themselves. If they needed equipment, they could just commission a blacksmith directly.
"Mr. Roy, I've heard that you've already leveled up to Lv.2. The Guild needs to update your adventurer profile. Is there anything you would like to keep confidential?"
Remmel approached Roy as he spoke.
The commotion at the Tower of Babel Plaza had already spread the news of Roy becoming Lv.2. Everyone knew that the Astraea Familia had gained a new Lv.2 adventurer.
Roy's eyes flicked about. He casually slung an arm around Remmel's shoulders and pulled him aside.
Just as Remmel was wearing a puzzled expression, Roy grinned.
"Mr. Remmel, I'd like to ask you for a favor. Don't update my profile just yet."
"Ah… that goes against regulations." Remmel looked troubled. Most adventurers, after leveling up, wanted the whole world to know immediately. When meeting acquaintances, they would even deliberately say, 'How did you know I leveled up?'
Roy laughed. "Rules are rigid, people are flexible. Mr. Remmel, you need to learn to adapt."
Remmel's face twisted in hesitation.
Roy immediately played his trump card. Clutching his chest, he put on a sorrowful expression.
"Our Familia is still weak and short-handed. Who knows how long it'll take to repay those sixty million valis? Maybe it'll take ninety-nine years."
Remmel caught the threat hidden in those words and almost wanted to cry. Big brother, you're the ruthless one here…
If the Guild Chairman ever found out that the sixty million valis couldn't be recovered, he would skin Remmel alive. In this matter, the Guild was at a natural disadvantage. Roy was a dead pig not afraid of boiling water—at worst, he could just take his goddess and run, smashing the Starry Court to pieces and leaving the Guild with nothing.
Of course, that was only a last resort.
Grinding his teeth, Remmel said, "I can hold it down for one week at most. The gods aren't easy to deal with."
Updating an adventurer's profile was a trivial matter for the Guild. The real trouble was the gods—many of them were extremely interested in newly leveled adventurers.
Plenty of gods liked to loiter in the Guild hall, frequently asking whether there were any outstanding newcomers. To gods, this was nothing less than a cultivation game—they naturally wanted to keep an eye out for promising seeds.
Not to mention that Roy's level-up was already common knowledge.
Remmel could already imagine how many gods would come asking about Roy over the next few days.
Especially during the Assembly of the Gods, when new Lv.2 adventurers were given titles—if Roy's information was missing, the gods would undoubtedly explode.
"One week…"
Roy murmured. That should be just about right—enough time for him to become a fully qualified Lv.2 adventurer.
He immediately changed expression, smiling as he patted Remmel on the shoulder.
"That's plenty. I'll treat you to a meal someday—something extravagant!"
Remmel forced a bitter smile. Just don't cause me any more trouble… He really was starting to feel afraid.
Carrying the huge bag of valis, Roy and Ryuu left the Guild Headquarters and returned to the Starry Court.
"What kind of scheme are you plotting this time?" the elf girl asked. She had clearly seen Roy sneakily dragging Remmel aside.
Roy laughed. "Listen to you—can't I be plotting something good for once?"
…
In the blink of an eye, one week passed.
Roy and Ryuu were either in the Dungeon or on their way to the Dungeon. Limited by time, their daily earnings weren't very high—averaging around 600,000 to 700,000 valis.
Ryuu was deliberately matching Roy's pace. Otherwise, she would have already gone down to the Twentieth Floor or deeper, hunting more valuable materials. Earning over a million valis a day would have been no problem for her.
Under Ryuu's guidance, Roy filled in the gaps in his basic adventurer knowledge and his understanding of the Dungeon—monster weaknesses, terrain features, and other hard-earned lessons summarized by countless predecessors at the cost of their lives.
Through battle after battle, Roy also grew fully accustomed to—and mastered—the power of Lv.2.
He finally understood what a qualitative change truly meant.
The power of Lv.2 was on a completely different level from Lv.1.
He had tested it himself—his physical capabilities were no different from a superhuman's. With a light jump, he could leap straight onto the rooftop of a three- or four-story building. A hundred-meter sprint took under three seconds. Even Bolt would have to hand him a cigarette in respect…
The Dungeon, Sixteenth Floor.
A maze-like environment resembling a rocky cavern. The ground concealed countless natural traps—once a collapse occurred, adventurers would fall to the lower floors, like prey swallowed by the gaping maw of a ferocious beast.
Monster spawn rates were also completely different from the Upper Floors. One moment of carelessness, and an adventurer could be surrounded by countless monsters, slowly worn down until their stamina was exhausted.
Middle Floor monsters had also begun using magic attacks.
Such as Hellhounds—canine-type monsters slightly larger than ordinary hunting dogs. Their greatest threat lay in the flames they spewed from their mouths, condensed from magic power, comparable to the fire magic of a Lv.1 adventurer.
Working together, Roy and Ryuu wiped out more than a hundred monsters that had surrounded them. Magic stone fragments littered the ground as Roy's lightning clone followed behind, picking them up one by one.
Ryuu looked toward the passage ahead, leading to the Seventeenth Floor.
"If we go any farther, we'll reach the Seventeenth Floor."
[Hunt the Dungeon Seventeenth Floor Boss: Goliath.
Reward: 1,000 attribute points, Silver Chest!]
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