Approaching Challenger
Time seemed to have been paused, allowing everything to proceed in an orderly fashion as it flowed by.
After confirming that he possessed the ability to teach a being of the Minotaur's caliber how to deal with monsters, Leo remained silent for a long time before finally deciding to continue exploring deeper into the floors, rather than wasting time on the 15th floor.
He and Lefiya went to the 16th floor, where they carried out a half-day massacre. After finding it easy, they entered the 17th Floor, which was the end of the Cave Labyrinth.
At the end of this path is the room of the first floor master in the Dungeon, and beyond that is the entrance to the 18th Floor.
The 18th Floor is a very special floor. Monsters do not spawn there, and it lacks the dark and enclosed environment commonly found in Dungeon. It is considered a safe floor by adventurers as a safe zone, a rest area, and a place to relax.
At the same time, that was also the place where Leo first arrived when he traveled through time.
His encounter with Ais took place there, and it was there that Ais reached out to him when he was lost and confused, changing the course of his life.
If he hadn't met Ais there, and hadn't left with Ais and returned to the surface, Leo couldn't imagine what he would have become or what he would have encountered.
Fortunately, I was born on a safe floor like the 18th Floor. If I had been transported to another floor or a deeper area, I would probably be dead—no, I would be 100% dead.
Thinking of this, Leo actually went to the 18th Floor to take a look, and then returned to the pool where he had first met Ais.
However, he held back.
It's not because there's a floor owner at the entrance to the 18th Floor; after all, it's hard to say whether the floor owner is still around.
It blocks the only entrance to the 18th Floor, and people must pass through it to reach the lower floors. Therefore, the floor master is frequently challenged. Even if some adventurers lack the ability to defeat it, there will always be someone capable. So, even if you're not strong enough, as long as you confirm the floor master has been defeated, even a Level 1 adventurer can reach the 18th floor.
Layer.
Once a floor boss is defeated, it takes much longer to respawn than a regular monster, at least two or three weeks or even longer. Therefore, whether the floor boss of the 17th Floor is defeated or respawns, the information will be reported to the guild and posted on the guild's bulletin board. Low-level adventurers can decide whether or not to go to the 18th Floor after confirming this information.
Unfortunately, neither Leo nor Lefiya had planned to go to the 18th Floor before today, so neither of them went to the guild to confirm this information. They wondered if the floor owner had been defeated.
Even if it is defeated, Leo does not plan to go to the 18th Floor today.
The 17th Floor, being the final stop of the Cave Labyrinth, is extremely difficult to conquer, even without considering the threat posed by the floor master.
The most obvious change is that the Minotaur, which can be considered a mini-boss in the 15th floor, will appear in groups here.
Sometimes it's a few, sometimes a dozen, and sometimes even dozens appearing together. When they all stare at you with their scarlet eyes, roaring and stamping their hooves, crushing the ground and kicking up dust as they charge in, the scene is enough to make even two Lv.3s, let alone Leo and Lefiya, turn pale and flee in terror.
Once such a scene appears, Leo has no choice but to go all out, raising the Emerald Staff and chanting magic rapidly, unleashing a wide-ranging Meteor Shower cleanse the ground. He spares no effort in expending most of his mental energy to reduce the number of Minotaur. Only when he reduces them to just two or three can he endure the stinging pain in his head, grip the Dragon Fang Sword, and charge forward for close combat.
Lefiya's healing magic was almost nonstop; whenever they encountered Minotaur, she had to cast it continuously on Leo, so much so that every time they dealt with Minotaur, the two of them had to guzzle down magical potions.
It's clear that with their current abilities, the two of them are already feeling the pressure of venturing into the 17th Floor.
Although Leo's abilities are sufficient to reach areas below the 20th floor, he is ultimately alone. Lefiya is a non-combatant who can only provide support and healing, so the 17th Floor is his limit when fighting alone.
Of course, this limit is reached after four or five days.
Because Leo has updated his stats again.
Leo Eligos--
Lv.2
Strength: E496→B780
Durability: E437→B742
Dexterity: D529→A863
Agility: D581→A899
Demonic Power: C656 → S971
Mage: 1
After this update, the pressure on Leo from the 17th Floor has been greatly reduced. Even if he encounters Minotaur swarm again, Leo dares to leave seven or eight for melee combat.
While Leo continued to conquer Dungeon and grew at an unimaginable speed, the level of discussion about him in Orario did not decrease much over time.
People still talk about his incredible speed in reaching Lv.2, and the gods continue to try to find out about him in various ways.
The only difference is that these people no longer harass Loki Familia.
--
The Loki Familia is preparing for another expedition, and their actions are becoming increasingly large-scale, making it difficult for outsiders to intervene or hinder them.
For the Loki Familia, the strongest faction in the city, every expedition is of great significance. If someone were to stand up and hinder them at this time, not only would the guild not allow it, but many commercial-oriented Familias would also not allow it.
For these commercial clans, every expedition by a large exploration-type clan is undoubtedly a celebration.
After all, large exploration-type clans need to purchase a huge amount of supplies for each expedition.
Take Loki Familia as an example. Every expedition they undertake requires them to venture into areas below the 50th Floor. This deep Dungeon takes nearly a week just to travel there, and with the return trip, it takes almost half a month.
Such a long journey would be Power of Destruction if they encountered any accident, because they would have no way to retreat back to the surface to rest.
Once the elixir runs out, one must fight to the death, wounded and isolated.
If your weapon is damaged, you'll have to fight monsters with skin harder than rock with your bare hands.
Once the food runs out, they have to endure hunger and thirst, desperately pushing their bodies to survive.
Therefore, every expedition must be prepared with as many supplies as possible, so as not to put oneself in a situation where there is no way out.
At this time, elixirs need to be bought in bulk, and even Elixir need to be stocked up in several boxes. The Spring Familia blacksmiths also need to be commissioned to forge spare weapons, including first-level armor for first-level adventurers. Various props, food, water, etc. also need to be prepared for dozens of people, and it must be guaranteed that they can be used until the end of the expedition. Buying all these supplies at once will cost hundreds of millions of Valis, ranging from a few billion to several billion.
Such a large expense and such a large order would naturally make those business-related families grin from ear to ear.
Therefore, at this time, almost no one bothered the Loki Familia, and even fewer people blocked the gate. Instead, the Loki Familia members began to frequently enter and exit the base, pushing large quantities of supplies in every day, which visibly changed the atmosphere.
At this point, even the senior members of the Familia, such as Ais, Tiona, Tione, and Bete Loga, could no longer be idle. They had to be assigned tasks by the leaders of the Spring Familia every day. Even Finn, Riveria, Gareth started to go out frequently, visiting various commercial Familia to finalize every order and every collaboration.
Loki was also busy, sometimes running to the guild to inquire about the latest Dungeon information, and sometimes spending the whole night in the Divine Room updating the stats of the guild members who were preparing to set off on their expedition, so that they could meet the challenge in their strongest and best condition.
Even the lower-level members who stayed at home had to get busy at this time, checking supplies, moving goods, and running around every day. They simply couldn't stay idle.
For some reason, only Leo and Lefiya haven't been assigned any work.
The clan leaders tacitly ignored the two little ones, as if they had been forgotten, letting them go into the Dungeon every day from dawn till dusk to continue their adventures and their strategies.
They looked as if they were waiting for something, anticipating something.
"I really envy Leo and Lefiya. They don't have to be busy with chores like we are every day."
Tiona would sometimes mutter this to herself, but it never elicited any response.
Tione couldn't be bothered with her, and she was more than happy to be given tasks by Finn; why would she complain?
Lefiya Viridis's feelings grew more complicated and conflicted each day, and she even felt anxious at times.
There was nothing she could do; the thought of a certain man still relentlessly pursuing her in the Dungeon while she was busy with chores made her a little anxious.
She couldn't help but wonder if that person had become even stronger by now, given their rate of growth.
Just how strong has he become?
Do you need Lv.3 yet?
I'm only level 3 myself.
Are we going to get caught up with?
Thinking of this, Lefiya Viridis looked completely lost and couldn't concentrate on her work at all.
"He's just a nobody. Let him pursue me if he wants; let's see how far he can go."
Bete Loga often said this, but those who knew him could also occasionally detect a hint of nonchalance and restlessness in him.
Ais remained silent throughout, doing her work without uttering a word, but sometimes people would notice her spacing out, seemingly lost in thought.
And so, another four or five days passed in the delicate atmosphere of the intense activity within Orario and the Loki Familia.
At this point, the Loki Familia had completed its preparations for the expedition.
In a few more days, these preparations will be officially completed.
At that time, Loki Familia's expedition will begin.
It was at this opportune moment that Leo approached Loki and performed his final Lv.2 ability stat update.
Leo Eligos Lv.2
Strength: B780 → SS1089
--
Durability: B742→SS1046
Dexterity: A863→SS1125
Agility: A899→SS1193
Demonic Power: S971→SSS1303
Mage: I→H
As the floating Divine Script descended with the eerie light, settling on Leo's back to form a new inscription, Loki, sucking on his bleeding finger, handed Leo the parchment translated into Common Language.
She had become completely numb to Leo's rapid improvement, and selectively ignored the fact that he had reached his current limit in just half a month.
Now, she only has one sentence to say.
"Your Lv.2 stats have reached their maximum; you can start thinking about great things now."
When Loki said that, Leo was still checking his stats.
He showed no reaction to the fact that he had already reached the limit of his abilities, and even surpassed it to reach SS and SSS.
What he could do at Lv.1, he could naturally still do at Lv.2, so Leo just glanced at this ability value with a normal expression and then stopped paying attention to it.
Leo was somewhat surprised that his "Mage" development ability had advanced.
It's important to understand that development capabilities are different from basic capabilities. They are not reset during upgrades; they are what they are, making them very difficult to improve.
For example, Lefiya Viridis, she has been Mage for many years now, and has used magic countless times, but her current "Mage is still H, only one stage higher than the initial I.
Riveria, the city's strongest Mage, only has an E-level "Mage development ability," not even reaching D.
Ais's highest two development abilities only reached G, not even F.
Even the strongest Lv.7 in the city only has a maximum development ability of E, which shows how difficult it is to improve development ability.
Of all the development abilities that appeared in the original work, the highest stage was being trained to C level. Before Leo's transmigration, no development ability above C level had appeared.
And he was able to raise "Mage" to a higher stage before even leveling up. Undoubtedly, this speed of advancement has once again broken the norm.
In response, Leo could only remark that the value of the "People of the Alien Star" title was still increasing.
Then, Leo responded to Loki's words.
"We've truly reached the limit of promotion; we must now consider achieving great feats and advancing to the next level."
Leo's tone was not excited, but rather calm and decisive, as if he had expected it.
Clearly, he had already guessed that his ability stats would reach their current limit after today's update.
He had made preparations for this, clearly not intending to stay here, but rather to upgrade immediately.
In other words, he was preparing to take a risk and challenge a powerful enemy.
Have you chosen your target yet?
Loki stared intently at Leo and asked this question.
"I've made my choice."
Leo did not look away, but stared directly at Loki.
"Who?"
Loki continued to question.
Leo slowly uttered the name.
"The owner of the 17th Floor, Goliath."