Time moved as if someone had pressed a buffer key, allowing everything to progress in an orderly fashion amid its flow.
After confirming that he possessed the ability to use a single spell to obliterate monsters of the Minotaur's caliber, Leon remained silent for a long time. Ultimately, he decided to deepen his exploration of the floors rather than waste time on the 15th floor.
He and Line headed to the 16th floor together, where they spent half a day engaged in a complete slaughter. Finding no real difficulty there, they stepped onto the 17th floor—the end of the Rocky Labyrinth.
The far end of this floor housed the room of the Dungeon's very first Floor Boss, beyond which lay the entrance to the 18th floor.
The 18th floor was a very special floor. No monsters spawned there, and it lacked the dim, enclosed environment commonly seen throughout the Dungeon. It was a safe floor, regarded by adventurers as a safety zone, a place to resupply, and a resting area.
At the same time, it was also the place where Leon had initially arrived when he first crossed over into this world.
His encounter with Ais had taken place there. It was there that Ais had extended a helping hand to him when he was completely lost and helpless, changing the course of his life.
If he hadn't met Ais there, and if he hadn't followed her out of that place to return to the surface, Leon truly couldn't imagine what would have become of him afterward, or what he would have encountered.
It was a stroke of luck that his arrival point had been a safe floor like the 18th floor. Had he crossed over to any other floor, or into an even deeper region, he would have been gone by eighty percent—no, one hundred percent.
Thinking of this, Leon truly wanted to visit the 18th floor and return to that spring where he had first encountered Ais.
However, he suppressed the urge.
It wasn't because a Floor Boss blocked the passageway to the 18th floor, since it was hard to say whether the Floor Boss was even present right now.
It blocked the sole entrance to the 18th floor, and people had to pass through it if they wanted to descend to the lower floors. Consequently, that Floor Boss was frequently defeated. Even if certain adventurers lacked the ability to defeat it themselves, someone capable of doing so would always appear. Thus, even if one lacked the strength, as long as it was confirmed that the Floor Boss had been defeated, even a Level 1 could head to the 18th floor.
Once a Floor Boss was defeated, its respawn time was much longer than that of ordinary monsters, requiring at least two to three weeks or even longer to reappear. Therefore, whether the 17th floor's Floor Boss was defeated or respawned, the information would always be reported to the Guild and posted on the bulletin board. Low-level adventurers could simply verify this information to decide for themselves whether to head to the 18th floor.
Regrettably, neither Leon nor Line had planned to head to the 18th floor before today, so neither of them had gone to the Guild to check this information and they didn't know if the Floor Boss had been defeated.
But even if it had been defeated, Leon didn't plan on going to the 18th floor today.
As the end of the Rocky Labyrinth, the 17th floor posed an exceptionally high difficulty to conquer, even without factoring in the threat of the Floor Boss.
The most obvious change was that Minotaurs, which could serve as mini-bosses on the 15th floor, appeared here in large groups.
Sometimes it was a few, sometimes a dozen, and sometimes even dozens appearing together. When they simultaneously locked their crimson eyes onto you, roaring and stamping their hooves while shattering the ground and kicking up dust as they charged forward en masse, that scene would make even two Level 3s turn pale and flee for their lives, let alone two Level 2s like Leon and Line.
Whenever such a sight occurred, Leon could only unleash his full power. Raising the Jade Staff high, he would chant spells at a rapid pace, unleashing a wide-range meteor shower to bombard the area. He wouldn't hesitate to consume the majority of his mind to drastically reduce the number of Minotaurs. Only when they were reduced to two or three would he dare to endure the stabbing pain in his head, grip his Dragon-Fang Sword, and charge forward into a melee struggle.
Line's healing magic barely ever stopped either. Whenever they encountered a horde of Minotaurs, she had to continuously cast it on Leon, to the point where both of them had to chug magic elixirs after every encounter with a horde.
Evidently, with their current capabilities, roaming the 17th floor already brought a sense of pressure.
Although Leon's status was sufficient for him to venture into areas below the 20th floor, he was ultimately just one person. Line was a non-combatant who could only handle support and healing, so under solo combat conditions, the 17th floor was already his limit.
Of course, this limit vanished four or five days later.
Because Leon underwent another status update.
Leon Eligos— Lv. 2 Strength: E496 to B780 Endurance: E437 to B742 Dexterity: D529 to A863 Agility: D581 to A899 Magic: C656 to S971 Mage: I
Following this update, the pressure the 17th floor imposed on Leon plummeted instantly. Even if he ran into a horde of Minotaurs again, Leon dared to leave seven or eight of them behind for close-quarters combat.
While Leon continued to conquer the Dungeon, growing at a lightning pace unimaginable to others, the discussions surrounding him in Orario didn't diminish much with the passage of time.
People still talked animatedly about his incredible feat of reaching Level 2 at an impossible speed, and the gods continuously sought information about him through various means.
The only difference was that these people stopped harassing the members of the Loki Familia.
The Loki Familia was already preparing for another expedition, and their movements toward this end were growing larger and larger, making it difficult for outsiders to intervene and obstruct them.
For a city's strongest faction like the Loki Familia, every expedition carried immense significance. If anyone stepped forward to obstruct them at this time, not only would the Guild forbid it, but many commercial-type Familias wouldn't allow it either.
An expedition by a large-scale exploration-type Familia was undoubtedly a carnival for these commercial-type Familias.
After all, the resources a large exploration Familia needed to purchase for an expedition were massive.
Taking the Loki Familia as an example again, every expedition required them to venture into regions below the 50th floor. To dive so deep into the Dungeon, just the journey alone required nearly a week of travel, and including the return trip, it would take nearly half a month.
On such a long journey, any accident could deal a devastating blow, because they couldn't retreat to the surface to recover.
Once their elixirs ran out, they would have to fight to the death with injuries while completely isolated.
Once their weapons broke, they would have to fight barehanded against monsters with hides harder than bedrock.
Once their food was depleted, they would have to squeeze every drop of strength from their bodies while hungry and thirsty, trying to find a way to survive.
In light of this, every expedition required preparing as many resources as possible to avoid falling into a hopeless situation.
At these times, elixirs had to be bought by the bundle, and even several crates of panaceas had to be prepared. They also had to commission blacksmith Familias to forge backup weapons, including first-tier armaments for first-class adventurers. Various tools, food, water, and so on also had to be prepared for dozens of people, and they had to ensure these would last until the end of the expedition. Purchasing these supplies all at once required an amount of Valis that was easily in the hundreds of millions, ranging from over a billion to sometimes even several billion.
Such massive expenditures and large orders naturally left those commercial Familias grinning from ear to ear.
Consequently, practically no one would get in the Loki Familia's way at this time, and even the people blocking their gates were dwindling. Instead, members of the Loki Familia began frequently entering and leaving the headquarters, wheeling large amounts of resources through the doors every day, causing the atmosphere to change visibly.
By this point, even the Familia executives like Ais, Tiona, Tione, and Bete could no longer idle around. Every day they were assigned tasks by the Familia leaders. Even Finn, Riveria, and Gareth began frequently heading out, visiting major commercial Familias to finalize every order and collaboration.
Loki didn't get to idle either. Sometimes she ran to the Guild to gather the latest Dungeon information, and sometimes she spent entire nights in her room updating the statuses of the members preparing for the expedition, ensuring they could face the challenge in their strongest and optimal conditions.
Even the low-level members staying behind had to busily engage themselves at this time, counting resources and moving goods day in and day out, leaving absolutely no time for leisure.
Yet for some reason, Leon and Line were never assigned any tasks.
The Familia leaders ignored the two youngsters with a profound tacit understanding, acting as if they had forgotten them entirely, allowing them to dive into the Dungeon early in the morning and return late at night to continue their own adventure and conquest.
It looked exactly as if they were waiting for something, anticipating something.
"I really envy Leon and Line, they don't have to busily handle chores every day like we do."
Tiona would occasionally grumble like this, but her words failed to draw any response.
Tione couldn't be bothered to pay attention to her, and since Finn had personally assigned her tasks, she was more happy than anything else, so why would she complain?
Lefiya's state of mind grew more complex and conflicted by the day, sometimes even giving rise to anxiety.
There was no helping it; whenever she thought about how a certain man was still charging ahead in the Dungeon while she was busy with chores, she couldn't help but feel rushed.
She couldn't stop herself from wondering whether that person had already become even stronger with his rate of growth.
Just how strong had he become by now?
Was he about to reach Level 3?
She herself was only Level 3.
Could she be about to be overtaken?
At this thought, Lefiya looked completely despondent, utterly unable to focus on her work.
"A small fry is just a small fry. If he wants to chase, let him chase, let's see how far he can go."
Bete often spoke this way, but those who knew him could occasionally spot a trace of distraction and restlessness in him as well.
Ais maintained her silence throughout, doing her work without uttering a word, though sometimes people would catch her spacing out, completely unaware of what she was thinking.
In this manner, another four or five days passed amid the intense yet subtle atmosphere of Orario and the Loki Familia.
By now, the Loki Familia's preparations for the expedition had reached their final stages.
In a few days, these preparations would officially conclude.
At that time, the Loki Familia's expedition would set sail.
It was precisely at this moment that Leon approached Loki at the opportune time to undergo his final status update for his Level 2 stage.
Leon Eligos Lv. 2 Strength: B780 to SS1089 Endurance: B742 to SS1046 Dexterity: A863 to SS1125 Agility: A899 to SS1193 Magic: S971 to SSS1303 Mage: I to H
As the shifting sacred text descended alongside a faint glow, embedding itself into Leon's back to form a new inscription, Loki sucked on her bleeding finger while handing the parchment translated into the common tongue over to Leon.
She had become thoroughly numb to Leon's rule-breaking growth speed, and chose to selectively ignore the fact that he had reached the limit of his current stage in a mere half month.
Right now, she only wanted to say one thing.
"The status for your Level 2 has reached its ceiling. You can start considering a grand feat."
When Loki said this, Leon was still looking at his status.
He showed zero reaction to the fact that his various abilities had reached their limits and even broken through them once more to attain SS and SSS ranks.
The things he could accomplish at Level 1 were naturally things he could still achieve at Level 2, so Leon merely glanced at his status with a perfectly normal expression before shifting his attention away.
Instead, the advancement of the development ability "Mage" caught him slightly by surprise.
One had to know that development abilities were different from basic abilities; they wouldn't reset upon leveling up. They remained exactly as they were, which made raising them exceptionally difficult.
Take Lefiya, for example. How many years had passed since she became a mage, and how many times had she used magic, yet her current "Mage" rank was still H, having only advanced a single stage from the initial I.
Riveria, the strongest mage in the city, possessed a "Mage" development ability of only E, not even reaching D.
Among Ais's development abilities, the highest two had only reached G, not even hitting F.
Even for that strongest Level 7 in the city, his highest development ability was likewise at E, demonstrating just how difficult it was to raise a development ability.
Among all the development abilities that had appeared in the original records, the highest stage anyone had ever trained to was merely C. Up until Leon crossed over, a development ability above C had never appeared.
Yet he had managed to raise "Mage" by a stage before leveling up. Without a doubt, this rate of improvement had once again shattered the norm.
To this, Leon could only inwardly comment that the value of the "Outworlder" trait was still rising.
Then, Leon responded to Loki's words.
"It truly cannot be raised any further. I must consider obtaining a grand feat to advance to the next level."
There was no excitement in Leon's tone, only a predicted calmness and decisiveness.
Clearly, he had long since guessed that his status update today would bring him to the limit of his current level.
He had prepared himself for this, evidently possessing no intention of lingering here, and was ready to level up immediately.
In other words, he was going to prepare for an adventure, preparing to challenge a powerful enemy.
"Have you already chosen a target?"
Loki stared straight at Leon, asking this question.
"I have chosen."
Leon didn't avoid her gaze, looking straight back at Loki.
"Who?"
Loki continued her inquiry.
Leon slowly voiced the name.
"The 17th floor's Floor Boss, Goliath."
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