Since they were heading into the Dungeon, Cain set the meeting point at the Tower of Babel.
When he arrived at the agreed location, the four members of the Loki Familia were already waiting.
"You're too slow!"
Tiona complained.
"You're the one who suggested this plan, so why are you the one arriving last?"
"I stopped by to pick up some training equipment."
"Training equipment?"
Tiona looked behind Cain.
"You aren't talking about that iron pot you're carrying, are you?"
"No. This pot is for cooking. I plan to research a few new dishes along the way."
Cain lifted the bag in his hand.
"The training equipment is inside this."
"Let me see."
Tiona curiously leaned over.
When Cain opened the bag, a pair of strange shoes came into view.
The main structure consisted of a pair of footplates with fastening straps, and beneath each footplate were two rods of equal length.
"What strange shoes."
Tione examined them thoughtfully.
"Are these meant for balance training?"
"Yes. These shoes are called stilts. You need excellent balance to master them."
Cain handed the stilt shoes to Ais.
"From now on, you will fight while wearing these. During combat, you must also maintain a steady breathing rhythm. Do not let it become unstable."
"Eh? That sounds way too difficult!"
Lefiya, standing nearby, gasped.
Even setting aside combat, simply walking in those stilt shoes looked difficult.
Fighting monsters in the Dungeon while wearing them and still maintaining a fixed breathing rhythm.
Just imagining the difficulty was enough to give Lefiya a headache.
"Cain, did you also train your Breathing Technique while wearing these before?"
"Yes. I used them during my initial training."
Cain recalled his past training.
"Once you adapt to the stilt shoes, you can move on to advanced training."
"Running ten to thirty kilometers while holding a cup, then climbing a cliff. During the entire process, you cannot spill a single drop of water from the cup."
Lefiya's eyes widened.
"That's incredible! You actually completed training like that?!"
"I did pass it, but that process took me many years."
Cain looked toward Ais.
"Your starting conditions are much better than mine were, so you will not need to go through that much difficulty."
"If everything goes smoothly, you should complete this stage of training during this Dungeon trip."
"I understand."
Ais nodded.
After hearing about Cain's training experience, she no longer hesitated about fighting while wearing the stilt shoes.
She removed her blue knee high boots, revealing a pair of slender and well shaped legs. Her fair and delicate feet lightly curled in the air.
"Ais, let me help you put them on."
Tiona stepped forward, took the stilt shoes from her hand, and carefully fastened them onto her feet.
Watching this scene, Lefiya, who had originally intended to help, stopped midway and felt a bit disappointed.
"Don't feel down. You will get another chance."
Cain's voice came from the side.
"I... I'm not feeling down at all!"
Lefiya replied instinctively, though her gaze drifted away.
"Cain, what chance were you talking about?"
"The chance to help Ais change her shoes."
Cain tossed the bag he had been carrying toward her.
The Dungeon environment was complicated and rough. During training, it was inevitable that the stilt shoes would eventually be damaged.
Just to be safe, he had prepared multiple pairs of stilt shoes inside the bag as replacements.
"Put Ais's old boots in there as well. I am leaving the support role to you."
"Please, Lefiya."
Ais spoke softly as well.
As a Level 5 adventurer, Ais possessed extremely precise control over her body.
It took her less than half a minute to adjust to standing and moving while wearing the stilt shoes.
She handed her discarded blue knee high boots to Lefiya and looked toward Cain.
"I'm ready."
"Then let's go."
Cain took the lead and began walking toward the Tower of Babel.
"Cain, which floor are we going to this time?"
Tiona quickly followed beside him, hopping energetically as she walked.
Cain pulled a list from his coat.
"We are heading to the Eighteenth Floor first. I need to gather some materials."
"What, what? Let me see."
Tiona leaned closer and looked at the list.
[Tan Mushroom, Red Umbrella Mushroom, Golden Apple Mushroom, White Tree Leaves, Jewel Tree Fruit...]
"Huh?"
After reading the contents, a large question mark practically appeared over Tiona's head.
"Cain, what are you collecting these for?"
Cain tapped the iron pot strapped to his back.
"To research a new dish. Didn't I just say that?"
"You are experimenting with poisonous mushrooms?"
Tiona pointed at the first item on the list.
Because the Eighteenth Floor was a safe floor, Tiona often spent time there.
Having stayed there for so long, she was familiar with most of the edible and dangerous plants on that floor.
"If I remember correctly, the Tan Mushroom is a poisonous mushroom with hallucinogenic effects."
"It really is poisonous."
Tione's voice came from behind.
"Last time someone ate a Tan Mushroom, got poisoned, and started hugging passing adventurers while calling them 'Mom.'"
"Ehh? That serious?!"
Hearing this for the first time, Lefiya looked at Cain with alarm.
"Since Tan Mushrooms are poisonous, maybe we should change the ingredient for your experiment. It would be terrible if someone got poisoned."
"Relax. Nothing will go wrong."
Cain pointed at another item on the list.
"I already prepared materials to neutralize the toxin. White Tree Leaves can counteract the poison."
"What if the neutralization fails?"
Lefiya asked with concern.
White Tree Leaves did have detoxifying properties.
However, before being processed into a proper antidote potion, their detoxification effect was extremely weak and could not guarantee success.
Cain calmly took out a small bottle of potion.
"If the neutralization fails, we will use this. It is an antidote potion produced by the Dian Cecht Familia. It can cure almost any poison."
Lefiya fell silent.
So he was absolutely determined to cook Tan Mushrooms today.
...
Inside the Dungeon, on the Eighteenth Floor.
Looking at Ottar standing before him with a pile of mushrooms in his arms, Hedin rarely showed such a helpless expression.
"So after searching for more than an hour, these are the only things you found?"
"These mushrooms taste quite good."
Ottar answered calmly.
Seeing his expression, Hedin felt his blood pressure rising.
This pig headed brute had run down to the Eighteenth Floor last night without bringing any supplies.
Thanks to him, the food Hedin had prepared beforehand had completely disappeared in a single night.
"Why don't you just go back? Staying here will only cause me trouble."
"No."
Ottar grabbed a handful of mushrooms, tossed them into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed them.
"If you do not want to eat these, you can wait until I recover my stamina and then I will go search for something else."
"No need. This will do."
Hedin picked up a mushroom from the ground.
Since things had already reached this point, recovering his stamina in order to continue tracking the Dark Faction Remnants was the more important matter.
As for his dignity...
Only he and Ottar were present here anyway.
From what he knew of Ottar, the man was not the type to gossip.
As long as Ottar did not mention it, no one would ever know that he had eaten poisonous mushrooms raw on the Eighteenth Floor.
"Cain, did you go the wrong direction? There are not any mushrooms here."
"Maybe someone already gathered them. I think I saw traces of harvesting in this area."
Two voices suddenly drifted over along with the sound of approaching footsteps.
Hedin, who had been chewing on a mushroom, suddenly froze. He slowly turned his head toward Ottar.
Ottar also turned to look at him.
A moment later, several figures pushed through the bushes and appeared directly in front of the two men.
"See? I told you someone already picked them."
Looking at the pile of poisonous mushrooms in front of Ottar, Cain removed the iron pot from his back.
"Gentlemen, would you like to eat together?"
T/N- Today's last update
...
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