Dungeons weren't actually limited to being underground.
That was common knowledge in this world.
"Gaiton, walk in front of me," Lu Cang ordered.
"Huh?"
"Me?"
The fat man holding a shield froze.
Lu Cang nearly rolled his eyes.
What was this guy talking about?
You're the tank in the party. If you're not walking in front, then should I, the Archmage, take point?
"Yes."
"Oh... all right."
Gaiton walked ahead of Lu Cang.
Behind Lu Cang was the healer, Jidi. A little farther behind her was Zhou Er, the middle-aged gatherer.
You're supposed to be a warrior, at least, right?
You're standing even farther back than the healer? Are you even a man...
But Lu Cang couldn't be bothered to say anything.
After all, he'd recruited Zhou Er as a gatherer and only paid him for that role.
If he wasn't doing a warrior's work, Lu Cang couldn't really complain.
The forest was shrouded in mist.
After the four of them entered the forest, Lu Cang gently raised a hand.
"Wind Roar (LV:172)"
Boom!
A terrifying gale swept out in every direction!
In an instant, the mist blanketing the entire forest vanished.
Once the fog cleared,
soft, bright light illuminated the whole forest.
It shone into every detail, leaving no shadow untouched.
"Eternal Lamp (LV:200) (Upgradeable)"
The highest proficiency level for a Level 2 mage's spells was LV:200.
Once a spell reached LV:100, the experience needed to level it up increased dramatically.
Even after five days, Lu Cang still hadn't managed to train every skill to level 200.
He couldn't practice the other spells while on the move.
Only harmless spells that he could cast whenever he wanted, like Eternal Lamp, had been trained to the maximum.
And only after he'd reached level 200 did Lu Cang discover...
Even level-200 Transcendent Magic could still evolve.
But he wasn't in a hurry to evolve Eternal Lamp, so he decided to leave it for now.
The mist dispersed, and the forest lit up.
The forest, which had been a hazy blur, instantly came into clear view.
They could see how many snakes were in each tree.
They could see what dangers lurked in every tree hollow.
Then...
Boom!
Bang!
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
Fireballs, ice bolts, earth spikes, cursed arrows, Silent Wind Swarm...
Spell after spell rained down.
Snakes of every kind—burnt black, frozen solid, sliced into countless pieces—came tumbling from the trees like rain.
Before long,
every monster within sight had been cleared out.
At least, as far as the eye could see,
not a single one had escaped.
"S-so strong."
They'd only just entered the dungeon, yet he'd cleared out every monster in sight as easily as chopping vegetables.
"Go gather the materials," Lu Cang told the middle-aged man.
The man froze for a moment before finally coming to his senses and starting to collect the monsters Lu Cang had slain.
Lu Cang watched him work.
"Repair." He heard Zhou Er murmur.
When he touched the dead monsters, some of the damage to their bodies was restored.
Repair?
Gatherer was a class, too.
And every class had skills of its own.
Still, the bodies weren't restored completely.
The monsters' corpses hadn't returned to their original state.
The snakes that had been burnt to a crisp were especially difficult to restore. He could only repair them a little.
But the snakes with less noticeable injuries, such as those killed by the electric arc of "Lightning Flash," were in much better shape.
They could be restored almost completely.
As for the ones directly struck by Lightning Flash and blown to mush...
Well, there was nothing he could do about those.
After collecting the snake carcasses, Zhou Er also found two unusual mushrooms and gathered them.
Once he was done, he reported, "Seventy-two gray snakes, worth about 10 to 20 copper each; fifteen gray venomous snakes, all with their venom sacs intact, worth 12 silver each; and two Snake Mushrooms. That's a total haul of about 2 gold and 15 silver."
Huh?
That was a lot.
Back in the Shadow Cave, the dungeon clear and the commission reward had only come to 2 gold and 26 silver.
Now they'd already made 2 gold and 15 silver without counting any reward.
And they hadn't even fought the dungeon lord yet.
Bringing a gatherer along really did make a big difference to the haul.
Of course, it could also be because it was the Harvest Moon.
"Mm. Let's keep exploring."
They continued onward.
They hardly ran into any more monsters.
Perhaps it was because Lu Cang had cleared out the vast majority of them as soon as they entered the dungeon.
If they'd been feeling their way through the fog normally, they would have had to walk quite a distance before gradually encountering the snakes hiding in the trees.
But Lu Cang had swept away the fog with brute force and lit everything up...
Then he'd gone straight into the slaughter, leaving the monsters no chance to ambush them.
As they kept exploring, they encountered a few scattered monsters.
Lu Cang was extremely cautious.
He used "Wind Roar" to blow the fallen leaves aside, making sure there wasn't a single obstruction on the path ahead.
He also used "Sunken Shadow Swamp" to pave the way.
That way, he could make sure there were no hidden pits or traps that might suddenly give way beneath their feet.
As for the monsters within sight, the moment Lu Cang spotted one, he immediately hit it with Lightning Flash and Wind Blade Technique.
The monsters were blasted to death by his frenzied magic before they could even get within his range.
Such cautious tactics
left Gaiton and Jidi at a loss for words.
Seriously, man.
You're that strong. Why did you even bring us?
The kid's strength made it seem impossible for anything to hurt him.
They'd teamed up with other Level 2 mages before.
Those mages hadn't shown even one percent of Lu Cang's strength...
Whenever they needed to contribute, the mages would have to mutter through a long incantation before finally tossing out a feeble little fireball.
If not for their flexible spells and the variety of situations they could handle... adventurers would rather team up with archers than mages.
Both could attack from a distance, but at least archers didn't need to chant or recover mana.
Jidi gazed at Lu Cang's back and couldn't help feeling a little admiration for the boy before her.
So this was the second-greatest young mage...
They'd traveled about a kilometer.
The biggest delay along the way was Zhou Er gathering the materials.
He couldn't pick them up as quickly as Lu Cang could kill them.
"Zhou Er, come back."
"But, Captain, there's still..."
But when he saw Lu Cang's calm gaze, Zhou Er immediately stopped and rejoined the group.
Lu Cang could sense it.
The Dark Element up ahead was stirring, gathering densely in one direction.
The leaves rustled all around them.
Lu Cang looked toward the direction the elements were flowing.
Swish—
At last, through a gap in the dense trees, he caught sight of a gigantic snake's head!
Its body, previously camouflaged to blend almost perfectly with the trees, came into view as well!
Hiss—
The giant snake coiled among the trees, flicking its scarlet tongue.
Lu Cang's expression darkened slightly.
He knew this snake.
What a coincidence. Were you the dungeon lord this time, too?
"Shadow Giant Snake King"
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