· The Expedition Begins

The next day, the sun illuminated Orario as usual, rousing the sleeping crowd.

In the morning, Lu Qiming climbed out of bed gently, slowly moving the cat-eared young lady who was pressing down on him just like yesterday.

"Qiming, are you leaving?"

Tia sat up slowly, her fair, enchanting body exposed to Lu Qiming's eyes.

"Yeah, it's about time. I have to go."

Lu Qiming picked up his clothes from under the bed, put them on, and grabbed the potion he had placed on the table last night.

"Sister Tiya, I'm leaving."

"Mm, Qiming, be careful. You must come back alive!"

"Don't worry, Sister Tiya, I will definitely come back alive!"

Lu Qiming smiled and pushed open the bedroom door; his back disappeared from Tia's sight as the door closed.

"Stupid brat! You must stay alive!"

Tia muttered to herself, lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling, lost in thought.

In the plaza outside the entrance to the Dungeon.

Adventurers entering the Dungeon looked toward a single spot.

"It's the Loki Familia expedition team."

"Look, that's the legendary Sword Princess."

"As expected of the Loki Familia, the entire expedition team consists of top-tier adventurers!"

Adventurers looked excitedly at the members of the Loki Familia on the edge of the plaza, their eyes filled with longing.

At this moment, a young man with black hair and black eyes, wearing a silver-white basin-shaped hat, walked toward them and greeted the group familiarly.

"Everyone, I'm here."

"Qiming, you're quite punctual today. I thought you were going to be late again."

Finn ignored the light red mark on Lu Qiming's neck and the lingering scent on his body, tossing a backpack over to him.

"Here, this contains your food and camping gear."

"Thanks."

Lu Qiming caught the backpack, slung it over his shoulders, and stood beside Riveria.

"Alright, everyone is here. Since Lu Qiming has joined the expedition this time, I will clarify: the goal of our expedition is to go beyond the fiftieth floor of the Dungeon and explore new territory."

Finn roughly outlined the precautions for the Dungeon and the monsters and traps to watch out for on the first fifty floors. However, this was all for Lu Qiming's benefit; Ais and the others were already expedition veterans and were well aware of this information.

After finishing, Finn looked at Lu Qiming.

"Qiming, do you have any other requests for the expedition?"

"I hope that, provided it doesn't endanger the expedition team, I can handle the monsters on my own. Of course, I will split the earnings with you all equally."

"That's no problem, but are you sure about this?"

Finn knew Lu Qiming needed to complete missions, so he didn't find the request strange. He just felt it was unfair to Lu Qiming to split the Magic Stone earnings from the monsters he killed, especially since Lu Qiming wasn't a member of their Familia.

Furthermore, which Familia he would join in the future remained unknown.

"No problem. My purpose in joining the expedition is to hunt monsters to complete missions and improve my strength. As for the earnings, we are all one team, so splitting them equally is fine."

Lu Qiming had considered this. He needed a large number of monsters to complete his missions, but if he did that, the others would have no monsters to hunt and would lose out on the chance to obtain Magic Stones. If things continued that way, even if Finn and the others didn't say anything, they would inevitably harbor resentment.

Since that was the case, it was better to split everything equally. In any case, he couldn't carry that many Magic Stones and drops by himself. Besides, if he needed more Magic Stones, he could just hire a supporter to hunt specifically for him after the expedition ended.

His goal this time was singular: to complete his missions as much as possible while incidentally improving his strength.

"Good. Since you agree, Qiming, let's set off!"

With that, Finn turned and led the way toward the Dungeon entrance. He didn't ask a single word about Lu Qiming's strength or skills; those were every adventurer's secrets, known only to themselves and their own patron deity.

"Let's go."

Riveria said with a smile, following Finn directly into the Dungeon entrance.

Seeing this, the group hoisted their backpacks and followed.

The first floor of the Dungeon.

A group of Lu Qiming's old friends, Goblins, surrounded them.

"I'll leave them to you, Qiming."

The others stood by with their arms crossed, completely unbothered by the dozens of Goblins around them. They all looked at Lu Qiming; they hadn't seen him fight yet, and even when he sparred with their captain yesterday, he had just stood there without moving.

Seeing this, Lu Qiming walked to the very front of the team and raised his left hand.

Whoosh!

His left hand lashed out like lightning. The air emitted a strange sound under the pressure of his fist, and then, condensed by terrifying power, it transformed into an air cannon and blasted outward.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of heads exploding like fireworks rang out as dozens of Goblins in the vicinity simultaneously turned into black ash, leaving behind a scattering of Magic Stone.

"Let's go."

Lu Qiming lowered his hand nonchalantly and took the lead.

Behind him, Finn and the others stared at the Magic Stone on the ground with grave expressions. Although it wouldn't take much effort for them to deal with Goblins, turning the air into an air cannon with a casual punch like Lu Qiming was no simple feat.

It seems like the battle between Qiming and me yesterday was truly just child's play.

Finn glanced at Lu Qiming's back before leading the others forward, the thirst for power burning fiercely in his heart once again; he did not want to be left too far behind by Lu Qiming!

However, they failed to notice that Ais, who had fallen to the back of the group, wore a strange expression, looking at Lu Qiming with undisguised longing.

She needed power!

She saw an opportunity to become stronger in Lu Qiming. If she could master that technique, her strength would improve once again.

For someone like her who possessed the magic Ariel to manipulate wind, Lu Qiming's technique felt tailor-made. If she could learn to apply it to her sword skills, she would finally possess a long-range attack.

"Ais, what's wrong?"

Lefiya noticed that something was off with Ais, who had been absent-minded since just a moment ago.

"It's nothing."

Ais shook her head and walked toward the front of the group, intending to observe Lu Qiming's fighting style closely in hopes of learning the technique.

"?"

Lefiya looked at Ais in confusion, unable to understand why Ais had suddenly changed after being so distracted. She decided to tell the captain about this when they took a break.

And so, the group proceeded with Lu Qiming as the vanguard. Every monster they encountered along the way was reduced to ash under his fists, while they took the opportunity to collect the dropped Magic Stone and loot.

For the current Lu Qiming, there was no need to use Divine Judgment on the monsters of the upper floors; a light punch was enough to blow them apart, and he found himself deeply fascinated by the sensation of these flesh-and-blood fireworks exploding.

An hour later, Lu Qiming and his party arrived at the seventeenth floor.

Unfortunately, the Floor Boss Goliath had not yet respawned. While Lu Qiming felt a bit disappointed, he was able to accept it.

In the original story, Goliath was defeated by the Loki Familia's expedition team and only respawned when Bell was trapped in the Dungeon. Furthermore, in order to rescue Bell, Hestia and Hermes both entered the Dungeon.

They violated the rule forbidding gods from entering the Dungeon, causing it to go berserk, which led to Goliath's strength skyrocketing as it broke through the seventeenth floor and fell into the eighteenth.

Thanks to Douluo for the 200 tip, and thanks to Biao for the 1 monthly ticket.