Chapter 153 - Cap 152: First Dungeon Exploration Part 2

After descending the stairs we reached the second floor, my first impression was that it was the same as the first-floor entrance room, it even had the same column-shaped crystal in the center of the cave room. 

"Before we continue let's register our presence in the second-floor crystal."  (Diana) 

"All right."  (I) 

We all go to the crystal in the center of the room and place our hands, once again the crystal glows lightly where our hand's touch. 

"Now we can explore the second floor."  (Diana) 

"Wait a moment, I have to do something."  (I) 

I look around and I don't see any adventurers around, so I close my eyes and check the information from the notifications that appeared before, I'm going to do that and then change my work. 

Ding!  Ding! 

<[ You gained 207 EXP for enemy kills ]>

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<[ You gained 141 EXP for enemy kills by party members ]>

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<[ You have acquired the following skills:

• [ Spit of paralyzing poison: 1 ]

• [ Paralyzing Bite: 1 ] ]>

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<[ You have acquired the lineage [ Small Paralyzing Serpent: 04% ] ]>

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<[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Small Paralyzing Serpent: 04% > 100% ] ]>

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<[ You have leveled up ]>

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<[ Your work has reached the maximum level ]> 

No wonder I got a new bloodline, drinking the blood of every Paralyzing Serpent we killed until I reached the second-floor stairs. 

I don't have time to integrate my level right now, so I just change my job to [ Apprentice Thief ]. 

After I change jobs again I will start choosing newbie-level jobs. 

Now that I've stopped to think, it's been a while since I checked all the jobs I have available, so I'll do it tonight when I get home. 

"I'm ready, let's go."  (I) 

We started walking to the exit of this room, let's explore the second floor from now on. 

As I explored the second floor I see that it is the same as the first floor, which is a network of cave tunnels. 

The fights on this floor were as easy as on the first floor, that's because they killed the monsters very fast, the fights didn't last more than a few seconds, but I could see that not only the snake on the second floor but also the snake on the first floor appears here. 

We decided to keep going to the third floor, but before that, I explored this floor for a while to complete the quests we got from the Adventurers Guild and also to get the snake bloodline from that floor. 

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After about two hours and several battles with monsters, we finally reached the stairs that lead to the third floor. 

After descending the stairs and finding again the safe room where the crystal is, we go to the crystal to mark that we reach the third floor. 

After that I wait for the other adventurers to leave the room leaving only my group here, then check my notifications again. 

"Wait a minute."  (I) 

Ding!  Ding! 

<[ You gained 223 EXP for enemy kills ]>

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<[ You gained 178 EXP from enemy kills by party members ]>

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<[ You have acquired the following skills:

• [ Spit of necrotic venom: 1 ]

• [ Weak necrotic venom secretion: 1 ]

• [ Weak resistance to necrotic venom: 1 ] ]>

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<[ You have acquired the bloodline [ Little Poisonous Serpent: 03% ] ]>

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<[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Small Poisonous Serpent: 03% > 100% ] ]>

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<[ You have leveled up ]>

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<[ Your work has reached the maximum level ]> 

After that, I take advantage of the fact that there is still no adventurer around to change my job to [ Apprentice Trader ]. 

"Let's continue exploration."  (I) 

After that was resolved we started exploring the third floor. 

According to Diana the snake monster on this floor doesn't have any poison attacks, the monster is called Serpent Sword, this monster is faster than other Serpents and has a thin sword growing on the tip of its tail. 

"I think you better be careful, master."  (Diana) 

"This Serpent likes to stay hidden to ambush unsuspecting targets."  (Diana) 

"I'll be careful."  (I) 

When we finally started exploring this floor I was using my detection skills more often than I did on the other two floors. 

When we found the new monster I was surprised to see something as strange as a sword attached to the body of a snake, I found this monster because of my detection skills, there was not just one monster, there were fifteen composed of three types of monsters of the type snake. 

"Irina, arrest them!"  (I) 

"Érica use your fireball once and wait!"  (I) 

"Ibuki and Layla take care of the others, go!"  (I) 

"< Currents of light >" (Irina) 

"< Fireball >" (Érica) 

When giving orders to each one Irina starts using her Chains of Light magic to trap eight snakes, then Érica uses her fireball and kills three snakes. 

"< Ice Needles >" (Layla) 

At this moment Ibuki attacks killing two with his swords while Layla made two ice needles killing the last two. 

I use my blood control ability to pool the blood of the three types of Serpent into three spheres of blood, one sphere for each type of snake, so I drink only the blood of the Serpent Sword and leave the other two spheres of blood to Irina and Irius. 

Ding!  Ding! 

After that we continued exploring the third floor, it was also easy for us, but at least there were a few fewer adventurers around, so we fought bigger groups of monsters and more often. 

After a few seconds' fight against five Sword Serpents, Diana turns to me to say something. 

"I think it's best to close for the day, master."  (Diana) 

"Why?"  (I) 

"I can't believe either of you are tired yet."  (I) 

"I agree with Diana, master."  (Érica) 

"We brought a few storage items with us, they're almost completely filled with the materials we've taken from the monsters we've killed so far."  (Érica) 

"It's not just that, we've already achieved a lot, but what really worries me is getting a lot of attention."  (Diana) 

"What do you mean by that?"  (I) 

"Our fights were so fast that the longest one must have taken fifteen seconds, it didn't take us long enough for others to see us fighting."  (I) 

"That is the problem."  (Diana) 

"We should be here about five hours so far, but look how we're doing."  (Diana) 

I look at myself and the others but I don't see anything much, we're pretty much the same way as we walked in, so what is Diana talking about? 

"I get it, we're very clean and fine for adventurers who spent five hours in a dungeon."  (Kira) 

"You got almost everything right, in fact, there are also the other adventurers, some of them saw us fighting and realized how quickly we ended our fights."  (Diana) 

"I still don't understand what the problem is."  (I) 

"The master says he doesn't want to attract attention, does he?"  (Diana) 

"Yes."  (I) 

"With how we're looking good even after five hours in the Dungeon, with the adventurers seeing how short our fights are and realizing that the only known adventurer here is me is going to spread a rumor about a new Group of talented rookies across town."  (Diana) 

"..." (I) 

"Since Diana is still well-known around town for her title of Guardian Wolf, this rumor will spread even faster and get even more attention."  (Kira) 

"Are you right, how did I miss that possibility?"  (I) 

"Let's go to the fourth floor first and then leave without exploring that floor."  (I) 

"Exactly what I was going to say, master."  (Diana) 

We headed straight for the stairs that weren't too far away, only encountering monsters one more time before reaching the stairs. 

After descending to the fourth floor and going to the crystal on that floor to register our presence there before we returned. 

"So how do we teleport us back to the first floor?"  (I) 

"All you have to do is hold the crystal and say which floor you want to go back, you can say it in your mind or say it out loud."  (Diana) 

"The people in your group have to have their hands on the crystal too."  (Diana) 

"Alright then let's go back."  (I) 

Everyone puts their hands on the crystal again. 

"First floor."  (I) 

The crystal glowed for ten seconds, then I feel the space distort around us for a second and then go back to normal afterward, then the crystal stops glowing and goes back to normal. 

"There, we're on the first floor again."  (Diana) 

"But I didn't feel like I moved, I thought I would feel something about teleporting me for the first time."  (I) 

"There are few who feel bad about teleportation."  (Diana) 

"Then let's go."  (I) 

I look around and see the dark tunnel we entered and head towards it, after leaving the dungeon we go straight to the city of Valen. 

"Should we stop by the Guild on the way back?"  (I) 

"It would be nice to complete the quests Diana took there."  (Irius) 

"I'm also taking several swords from the monster that we killed, a Blacksmith can use them to make a good sword for new adventurers, this type of sword is one of the best sellers in town."  (Diana) 

"Then take them back to the mansion and give them to Anton, after he uses them to make better swords we can give them to Nira for sale."  (I) 

"We'll also keep the snake meat we caught, I'll give it to Freya and Caryna when we get back."  (I) 

"If Anton makes the swords and Nira sells, we will have three or four times the profit we would have if we sold to the Guild, maybe even more."  (Irina) 

"Now I see, that's why you wanted some artisans in our group, this is going to be very profitable."  (Érica) 

As we walk and talk about what to do with the items we were taking back, I see Ibuki with a thoughtful look on his face. 

"What are you thinking about, Ibuki?"  (I) 

"Ibuki doesn't understand."  (Ibuki) 

"If it's that good, Ibuki doesn't understand why others don't do it too?"  (Ibuki) 

"That was a good question Ibuki."  (I) 

"That's because there are three different professions, one gets materials, the other uses those materials to craft something, and then someone else sells the crafted item."  (I) 

"The point is that each one of these people will want the greatest profit possible, it may also happen that their working hours are not the same, another very important thing is also the confidence that each part has in the other."  (I) 

"Whatever the reason, you will always need stability in your work, so it's not good to rely too much on others."  (I) 

"Another thing that will cause problems is the division of the profit, after the sale of the item will they divide it equally or will they divide it by whoever contributed the most to raise this money?"  (I) 

"This sort of thing creates a lot of problems, so sometimes it's easier to sell directly to a trusted intermediary like the Guilds."  (I) 

"In our particular case we don't have trust issues, the money doesn't need to be split either, instead we pool all the money together and use it as needed leaving only a small sum each for daily needs."  (I) 

"Do you understand, Ibuki?"  (I) 

When I looked back at Ibuki she had spirals in her eyes and smoke coming out of the top of her head. 

"Your explanation was good, master."  (Érica) 

"But I think it's too soon to have that kind of conversation with Ibuki."  (Érica) 

As we talked in this relaxed way, we entered Valen's town again, as soon as we entered I tell the others to return to the mansion while Diana and I head to the Adventurers' Guild.