In the pale blue underground space, an encounter battle instantly escalated into a fierce one, without the slightest delay.
Human adventurers and the monsters bred from the Dungeon are inherently hostile from the moment they enter this space, and their encounter is a life-or-death battle.
If it were any other novice adventurer, being attacked by monsters without warning on their first entry into Dungeon, they would definitely panic.
However, having already anticipated this situation and mentally prepared himself, Leo raised his left hand without saying a word.
The small shield that Raul had given him was already equipped on it, and as Leo raised his hand, it immediately blocked his way.
"Bang!"
The next second, a shockwave struck the small shield that Leo had raised.
The Goblin charging towards Leo swung its hand fiercely, its claws, with sharp nails, striking the small shield and creating a shockwave.
"Gawoo!"
Enraged by its blocked attack, the Goblin swung its other hand, grabbing at the small shield, but failed to make even the slightest mark.
Leo, hidden behind his shield, calmly blocked the Goblin's attack, his eyes fixed on his opponent, observing its every move.
He didn't rush to retaliate; instead, he seemed to be deliberately enduring the Goblin's attack, single-mindedly resisting its claws with remarkable composure.
"Gawoo! Gawoo!"
The Goblin attacked Leo repeatedly, even circling around to try and dodge Leo's shield to attack him directly. However, Leo, who had been observing it closely, saw all its movements. When the Goblin circled around, Leo would quickly change its defensive direction, always holding its hand, equipped with a small shield, in front of the goblin, so that each attack would only hit the shield and fail. The small monster cried out in frustration.
During this process, Leo gradually stopped observing the other party.
"Although they are monsters, the monsters on the first floor are indeed very weak and not very intelligent. They only use their claws to attack enemies, their movement patterns are simple, and their attack methods are incredibly crude. They can't even pick up a rock to hit someone. Compared to the cunning and despicable Goblin in some anime, they are completely incomparable."
When facing a monster for the first time, Leo wasn't thinking about how to quickly defeat it. Instead, he focused on observing the monster and analyzing its strength while ensuring his own safety, so that he would have a better understanding of what to expect in later battles.
Dungeon are dangerous places that breed monsters, and encountering only one enemy this time was extremely lucky. If you had encountered several, it would have been a very bad situation.
Therefore, seeing that there was only one enemy, Leo naturally wanted to observe and analyze it.
After observation and analysis, Leo confirmed that the Goblin in front of him was of questionable strength. Let alone comparing it with those powerful adventurers, it was uncertain whether it could even fight a wolf in the wild.
Given the opponent's height of less than one meter, a human or Prum of similar size who has not received Falna might have a hard time winning. However, if it were an orc or dwarf with naturally strong physique, they should be able to deal with it even without receiving Falna.
"A monster of this caliber is no threat whatsoever when fought alone; a quick victory is all that's needed."
The moment he made that judgment, Leo moved.
"Bang!"
He, who had been passively parrying, suddenly charged forward and rammed into the Goblin, which was now completely enraged and leaping high to swing its claws at his head in an attempt to attack him. The small shield wolf crashed hard into its opponent.
"Gag!?"
The Goblin clearly hadn't expected the human adventurer, who had been passively defending, to suddenly charge at it. Caught off guard and still in mid-air, it was knocked flying.
Its small body swept through the air, hovered for a second or two, and then crashed to the ground, rolling away in a sorry state.
Leo, however, charged forward the instant he knocked his opponent away.
"Bass!"
The sound of a sharp blade being drawn was clearly heard in the pale blue passageway, making even the cool, dim light seem cold.
Leo, with his left hand, adorned with a small shield, held horizontally in front of him as he charged straight at the Goblin, drew his small straight sword from his waist with his right hand, which was hidden behind the shield.
"Whoosh!"
A cold arc of light flashed as Leo charged toward the Goblin, already swinging his small straight sword and unleashing a slash.
At this moment, the small monster struggled to sit up from the ground, and then a sword light rushed into its sight.
"Pfft!"
The sound of flesh being severed by a sharp weapon is clearer and more heart-wrenching than the sound of a blade being drawn from its sheath.
The small straight sword, trailing a long arc, sliced across the Goblin's neck, freezing its small body in place, never to move again.
Fresh blood gushed from the severed neck.
The monster's head was tossed into the air before crashing to the ground and rolling several times.
Leo, who had just passed by the Goblin, remained in a sword-wielding stance until the goblin's head rolled to the ground. Only then did he sheathe his sword, turn to face the goblin, and see its headless corpse slowly falling to the ground.
"Whoosh!"
Before long, both the headless corpse and the head that had rolled to the ground exploded like scattered ashes, causing a small piece of blue-purple crystal to fall out.
This is what happens to the monsters after they die.
As incomplete life forms born from the Dungeon, they only possess a physical body and the ability to move while their core of power— the Magic Stone —is within their bodies. Once they die, their physical bodies immediately dissipate, leaving only the Magic Stone behind, or at most, particularly well-developed parts of their bodies.
The latter refers to dropped items, which are not found in every monster. In fact, monsters that drop items are relatively few, so they generally fetch good prices. Even the weakest monsters can drop items that can be used to craft weapons, armor, or special items. In Orario, there are always people buying these items, so there's never a shortage of buyers.
Unfortunately, Leo's luck wasn't good enough to find a dropped item on his first monster hunt.
After the Goblin died, only a small piece of Magic Stone remained.
Leo picked it up, examined it for a while, and then muttered something under his breath.
"Such a small Magic Stone ----"
This Magic Stone isn't even complete; it's more like Magic Stone.
"If you sold this to a guild, you probably wouldn't even get a hundred Valis for it, right?"
Leo was starting to look down on it.
Although this was the first time he had obtained Magic Stone from a monster, he had carried countless boxes of Magic Stone in the Loki Familia as a member in charge of logistics.
Those Magic Stone were obtained by the elders of the clan when they ventured into the deepest parts of the Dungeon. The smallest one was the size of a fist, and the largest one was even bigger than a rock. The latter were usually dug out from the floor master, and one of them was worth hundreds of millions of Valis.
Thanks to this, this was the first time Leo had ever seen Magic Stone like Xiaocheng.
Or should it be called a Magic Stone fragment?
Anyway, Leo wasn't keen to admit that it was a complete Magic Stone.
It's too small.
The guild determines the purchase price based on the size of the Magic Stone, so the larger the Magic Stone, the more valuable it is.
The one Leo is holding now is probably bigger than a fingernail, no wonder he's disgusted by it.
"Never mind, it's all about money in the end."
After thinking for a moment, Leo put the Magic Stone fragment into the bag he was carrying.
Generally speaking, the Magic Stone obtained after defeating monsters are the money that adventurers can earn directly in Dungeon. These stones can be processed using human technology and used in various fields to make items such as Magic Stone lamps, ignition devices, and freezers for preserving food, and are therefore considered valuable resources.
The Labyrinth City Orario profits immensely from exporting these Magic Stone products to other countries, so the guild mandates that all Magic Stone must be sold to them, completely monopolizing the profits of this industry.
Under such circumstances, adventurers would spend their days and nights venturing into Dungeon, naturally aiming to acquire as many Magic Stone as possible to sell to the guild and earn a large sum of money.
This is the adventurers' most direct source of income and the most direct way to make money. Unless they obtain dropped items or encounter rare minerals or treasures, Magic Stone are the adventurers' money.
Leo also needs to save money. As he becomes stronger, he'll need to spend money to equip himself with weapons, armor, and even elixirs and other items.
We can't keep relying on our family members for support, can we?
"Even a mosquito's leg is meat; for now, this is how we make money. We have to pick it up no matter how small it is."
Having mentally prepared himself again, Leo equipped himself with a sword and shield and ventured deeper into the pale blue passage.
Next, Leo will encounter a monster every now and then.
Sometimes it's one, sometimes two or three, and they fight the moment they encounter each other, making it virtually impossible to avoid.
The monsters encountered weren't all Goblin; sometimes they were Kobold, sometimes lizard-like monsters. Without exception, these monsters were all very short, rarely exceeding one meter in height—completely small species.
The monsters that appear on Dungeon 1-4 are generally these: all small, low-level monsters that aren't very strong. Even an ordinary human wouldn't be killed in a one-on-one situation, and with proper equipment, it's easy to turn the tables. Therefore, those active on dungeons 1-4 are mostly novice adventurers like Leo who have just started out. Even if they receive Falna, they won't be much stronger than ordinary people.
When encountering these monsters, Leo always followed his pre-prepared plan. If it was the first time he had encountered a monster and it was alone, so he wouldn't be surrounded, he wouldn't rush to defeat it. Instead, he would use a small shield to protect himself from injury while observing and analyzing the monster's combat patterns. He would only take action after fully understanding the monster's behavior and strength.
If he encounters multiple monsters, he will immediately move to the wall to avoid being attacked from both sides, keeping the enemies within his field of vision. He will use a small shield to block their attacks while waiting for an opportunity to strike, aiming to eliminate one enemy with a single sword strike, gradually overcoming the numerical disadvantage and fighting the enemy safely.
It must be said that the quality of the weapons and armor in Leo's possession is really not bad. Although the advanced adventurers may not care about them, in places like the first four floors of the Dungeon, they are definitely top-notch weapons.
His shield would withstand countless attacks from Goblin or Kobold without sustaining a single scratch, and his straight sword could sever monster flesh with minimal effort, allowing him to kill most enemies with a single strike.
Monsters have pretty tough skin and flesh. If you're thinking of chopping off Goblin or Kobold's head with those cheap, standard-issue ones that cost a couple thousand Valis, provided by the guild, that's just wishful thinking.
Leo's small straight sword, worth 80,000 Valis, was different. It could easily cut through Goblin or Kobold, let alone chop off their heads. It could even slice a stone in two.
With the shield and straight sword, Leo felt much more confident. When he encountered the passage leading to the second level, he went down without much hesitation.
Upon that, Leo immediately noticed the difference.
"The monsters have become stronger, and there are more of them."
The characteristic of Dungeon is that the deeper the level, the more numerous and stronger the monsters that will emerge.
Even if the monsters that appear are still low-level monsters like Goblin and Kobold, their strength will be significantly greater compared to those on higher floors, and their behavior patterns will even change, making them more difficult to deal with.
On the second floor, Leo encountered fewer lone monsters and more groups of monsters.
This undoubtedly made things much more difficult for him. Although the shield protected him from injury and the small straight sword ensured he could handle the monsters, the drain on his physical strength and energy increased dramatically.
Fortunately, this was still within Leo's capabilities. In fact, later on, Leo adapted to the intensity of this level and became more than capable of handling it.
So, when he arrived at the entrance to the third floor, Leo hesitated for a moment, but finally went down.
"According to the records in the clan's archives, the first four floors are not very difficult and are suitable for beginners. Unless an unusual situation occurs, they generally will not encounter life-threatening dangers. Only on the 5th Floor will there be dangers that can threaten novice adventurers and may even lead to death."
Leo recalled the information about the Dungeon he had noted down beforehand, and thought to himself silently.
"Therefore, my plan this time is to explore levels 1 through 4, and at most enter level 4, but I will never go to level 5."
layer."
When he was still weak, Leo did not intend to take any risks.
Even knowing that adventure would help him gain more experience points and become stronger faster, Leo wouldn't risk his life so easily.
He might take risks in the future, but that's a matter for the future.
Right now, he's just a newbie who's not much better than an average person; any little disturbance in the Dungeon could take his precious life.
Therefore, taking any risks at this stage is absolutely out of the question; this is the rule Leo set for himself.
In thinking this way, he forgot one thing.
That is, the Dungeon is alive.
He never lets adventurers get what they want, nor does He make things easy for them.