Chapter 98 - Wisdom

Thinking about what Aki said, Tiona suddenly added

"By the way, before I didn't specify if I was talking about Ethan or Raul, how come you thought I was talking about the latter..?"

Hearing her question, her tail twitched as she replied naturally

"Because I don't know Ethan that well, so obviously, I thought you were referring to Raul"

Sighing, Tiona added

"Another one who isn't really honest with herself"

Looking away, Aki couldn't help but sigh as she was the one who had doubts about their actual relationship.

'What are we? Friends? From all this time, he never actually tried anything with me, and I don't think I would've said no if he confessed..'

Thinking about the mess she had in her head, she walked away as Tiona turned her head just to see that Lefiya released a heavy sigh. Deciding it was better to approach her, Tiona went next to Lefiya while she was looking at her staff.

"..You are sad, aren't you?"

Being asked this question, Lefiya didn't reply as she was thinking about several things.

"...I guess it's like that. And why you're sad?"

Asking this, Tiona looked at her as she saw that she wasn't replying.

"You and Ethan are pretty similar to each other"

Hearing these words, Lefiya furrowed her brows as she turned to look at her while Tiona lend a light blow on her head.

Rubbing the spot where she was hit, Lefiya had tears in her eyes as she asked

"W-Why did you hit me...?"

This question, brought Tiona to sigh again while adding

"I was saying. You and Ethan, are pretty similar. You have the same bad habit as him to lose yourself in your unnecessary thoughts. I would really smack his head as well when he does so.."

Thinking about implementing this when he wasn't focused on the conversation as training, Tiona smirked as Lefiya looked down while she had a blush on her face. Seeing this as well, Tiona's smirk didn't fade as she brought her face next to hers as she whispered

"You like him to the point where having the same bad habit as him makes you happy.."

Hearing her words, she placed her hands in front of her to separate her face from hers as she was quite tired of having Tiona always reminding her something she didn't want to bring up now, but..

'I..can't stop thinking about this now..it's a problem..!'

Looking down, she brought her hands on her c.h.e.s.t as she inhaled and exhaled to calm herself

"Why..you have to bring up something like that..in the Dungeon..can you wait.. a-at least until we are at home?"

Being asked this question, Tiona shook her head as she added

"I can't. Seeing you so troubled over everything makes me wanting to throw the truth of the facts on you, even if it may be a bad thing, I can't stop trying to help you, in my own way. I consider you a friend, as well as a companion of my own party. I'm not asking you to become me, but at least avoid thinking so much about every little thing. It doesn't matter if you don't understand, or if something seems complicated. It seems like that because you are the one bringing yourself to think that situation is complicated"

Hearing her words, Lefiya couldn't help but think about the fact that this sudden wisdom that she showed when advice was needed was rather comforting. Even though she knew she would never be able to be as carefree as her, she could at least continue to do her best.

Seeing her tightening the grip on her staff with a determined expression, brought a surprised one on Tiona's face as she could see she took her advices at heart, this time.

'...It's better to leave her alone...'

Smiling, she decided to go next to Ryuu as she saw she had a wide smile on her face.

"Something good happened?"

Being asked this question, Tiona nodded as she answered with a "yes"

"I managed to help Lefiya with her problems, she finally understood something today, so I am happy"

Thinking about her words, Ryuu smiled as she replied

"Is that so? Good for her"

With a nod, Tiona changed the subject of the conversation as she was quickly becoming friends with Ryuu, even though she thought she had a 'cold' personality, she quickly understood that this wasn't the case...

---

While the situation went smoothly for Ethan's group, the situation was slightly different for others. Mainly because, most fighters decided to go in the 19th floor but, more or less everyone understood that the Dungeon was behaving differently.

'I wonder why..Monsters are resistant to weapons'

'We should go back to warn others about what we found, but we decided to at least explore for a few hours, so our group would be there alone, waiting for everyone else..and we have no proof that this isn't happening just to us..'

Thinking this, one of the leaders of the 1st group sighed as he punched a Minotaur in the face, making it disappear.

'These monsters are just crap, but why would the Dungeon bless us with this huge weakness?'

The fact they were so weak against normal attacks, made most of the adventurers think this as, in all the years they went into the dungeon, such a thing never happened.

'It feels like the Dungeon is trying to use numbers. In fact, the monsters still have their attack, it's just their defence..If someone entered the dungeon with this spawning rate, the situation would be really hard, even for a level 3..'

Thinking about this, the leader returned to kill another Minotaur as he gave orders to not use weapons, even for the ones who didn't know how to use their fists as it didn't really matter. They had the strength to not even feel their attacks, so even if they s.u.c.k.e.d at close combat, they would still win the fights.

---

Seeing Lefiya chanting, Ethan smiled as he knew that if she tried to use her punches to deal with monsters, she would lose even against this kind of Minotaur.

'She has to train hard to correct this huge flaw. If she found herself in a situation where she can't use her magic, she would really not be of help.'

Thinking about this, he sighed as he knew that, this, could be said even for himself.

'I have to restart my training on my close combat, and I would like to at least make progress with my quest'

Thinking about this, he checked the two quests he had to complete. He knew he won't be able to complete the quest related to the God of Wealth anytime soon, but he had hope regarding the one related to his boost magic.

Seeing a timer under the quest that said 'Two Years', Ethan looked up as he couldn't help but think about what will happen in these 2 years.

'I wonder..if 2 months and 11 days were able to make me change so much, what will happen when 1, 10, or 20 years passed..?'

Deciding it was better to return his focus on what was happening right now, rather than bringing himself to think too hard about something he couldn't predict, he decided to ask.

'Light, can I buy a potion to refill my mana?'

His question, brought her to look into the shop as she used the [Report] function to analyse the quantity of mana in his body...

---

[Report]

Mana: 8,6%/100%(3,421/39,650)

---

Seeing how much mana he had, Ethan was surprised as he thought he had more Mana while Light bought a potion for him.

[High-Level Mana Potion]

Rank: B

Instantly supplies 20,000 [Mana] to the User and improved recovery by 60% for a while..

---

Reading the description, he saw as his SP went down by 70,000. Sighing, he knew that it wasn't that good to buy potions from the shop.

'I can probably do something better if I can make them myself..'

Thinking about this, he put his hand in his pocket, so that he didn't look suspicious as he pulled out the potion. Seeing its complexion tending to green, Ethan thought that the colour of the mana was very similar to a blue but, without thinking about it too much, he removed the cap and drank the contents.

Feeling his mana recovering all of a sudden, Lefiya turned her head towards him as she saw he had a potion in his hands. Even though potions as powerful as the one he just used weren't exactly cheap, she thought about it as she decided to ask.

"Where did you buy that potion? Its effects are amazing, your mana recovered by more than 50%"

Hearing her words, Ethan flinched as he didn't exactly thought about this.

"I have an..acquaintance, that is good with them and sold me this potion.."

Even though it wasn't complicated to understand that he was lying, Lefiya turned to look at the Monsters as she knew everyone has secrets...

Sighing, he stared at his Report function as his mana was already recovering at a good rate. Deciding it was better to go fight, Ethan went next to Tiona with his [Instantaneous Movement] as he kicked a Minotaur's head.

Seeing him appearing all of a sudden, Tiona retracted her fist as she was about to punch the same Minotaur.

"You know..I was about to kill that Minotaur"

Hearing her words, he nodded as he replied

"Is it just me, or the rate of the monsters is returning to normal? As well as the damage I can do with my fists"

Knowing that he had to use [Boost Magic] to end his enemy with a single punch, Ethan felt that the 'barrier' was slowly returning.

At his words, Tiona had the same thoughts as she added

"Yes, Even though it isn't that much of a difference to me, they are returning to normal.."

Feeling there was something they missed, Ethan hardened his expression as he knew that the Dungeon wouldn't do something without a meaning.

'The fact the Dungeon isn't spawning as many monsters as before, means it's trying to concentrate the mana in fewer monsters as always, but if it's like that, why it's behaving so strangely..?'

This question, brought him to furrow his brows as he, honestly, for the first time, didn't know what to think. With Light that was in the same situation as him, he felt really powerless.

'I can explain what is happening to the Dungeon, but I don't know why..'

Thinking this, he dodged another Minotaur's fist as he felt, from the impact of the fist, that the monster in front of him was surely stronger than the one they fought five minutes ago. Looking at the others, he understood that the spawning rate was dropping very quickly as stronger and stronger monsters were spawned..

Seeing that a Minotaur, very similar to the one that spawned when he fought against Ais, was looking at them from the rear, made his eyes widen as he used his [Boost Magic] to land a heavy blow on the Minotaur he was busy fighting against as the latter dissipate immediately after.

'I have to warn everyone!'

Thinking about this, he boosted his vocal cords to make everyone receive the message clearly, even if they weren't too far from each other.

"A monster similar to the one we fought against--"

But, before he was able to continue, the Minotaur he saw before at roughly 50 meters from his location, was now in front of him. Shocked, he immediately dodged a blow that created such a pressure that the adventurers behind him felt as if they received the blow itself.

'W-What!? He was at 50 meters!'

While he dodged, the first to react was Tiona. Immediately landing a blow on the Minotaur, he saw as the latter was pushed away.

"I don't know what is happening, but that monster is dangerous!"

Hearing her words, Ethan was about to say something but, Tiona was faster.

"I will fight against it, you go to check on the adventurers behind!"

Even though he wanted to add something, he knew it wasn't the moment to think. Gritting his teeth, he went to check on the others as Tiona was, instead, excited to fight such a strong monster.

'Finally..a challenge'

Staring at him, she saw as it had something similar to a long-sword in a single hand..

---

(I have a discord server. discord.gg/cpVr5X8 . You may ask me: "Why should I enter the server?". At this question, my answer would likely be: "Because it's fun? I don't know either. Just join." Ah, and you can find some image reference of items in the story such as Ethan's eyes.. so it's recommended to join. One last thing, I post chapter updates in my discord right after I posted on , so I guess you can join to be able to know when I post chapters faster.)

(Do you enjoy reading my novel? If the answer is yes, then thanks. I'll leave my ******* here. w ww.pat reon.com/watashiwavdesu)

(By the way, I wanted to clarify that this Minotaur will be the Last One that will spawn, if you want to know yes, it's there just for Ethan, it's totally a different kind of monster..like a Boss Monster)

(Alternate Titles: "Tiona & Ryuu, a good friendship", "Lefiya: The Insecure Ero-Mage", "Aki's tail twitching..how cute")