Interlude

Falan had experienced the journey of an expedition during the previous one.

In fact, Finn had asked her for a map from the previous expedition last night.

The main difference in this joint expedition was probably that some Floor Bosses had not yet had time to revive.

After all, while every Floor Boss revived periodically like a dungeon boss,

the stronger the Floor Boss was, the more energy it theoretically required to revive, and the longer its revival cooldown would be.

So during this expedition, aside from Goliath on the 18th Floor and the Two-Headed Dragon Amphisbaena on the 27th Floor,

the joint expedition had not encountered any other Floor Bosses.

It was hard to say whether they were lucky or whether the Cannon Dragon's revival cooldown was simply that short.

The joint expedition reached the 18th Floor on the first day and the 27th Floor on the second.

It took the Loki Familia only ten days to reach the safe zone on the 50th Floor.

But in the Dragon Pot beginning on the 52nd Floor, the adventurers led by the Loki Familia were completely stalled.

After all, not every Familia could withstand the bombardments continuously fired up from the 58th Floor.

In truth, if Falan had been with the group, he might have helped. Unfortunately, he, Lefiya Viridis, and the others from the Loki Familia had been left behind on the 51st Floor to gather Spring of Cadmus.

After all, with a joint expedition like this, aside from exploring the unknown and the mysterious on the surface... the major Familias also needed to make a living.

As a high-quality potion ingredient, Spring of Cadmus had always been a scarce resource in Orario.

This had become especially true during the years when the Evils ruled, when Spring of Cadmus on the surface became increasingly scarce.

It could even be said to be available in name but not in reality. Many Familias famous for their potions sometimes struggled just to obtain suitable ingredients when preparing advanced potions.

It could be said that Spring of Cadmus was the true primary target of the major Familias in this joint expedition.

After all, Falan had originally possessed a thousand-slot 'Backpack,' and it had now been upgraded to two thousand slots. Once they learned of this and considered the market price of Spring of Cadmus, how could they not stuff more into Falan's Backpack?

It could be said that, aside from the first-class adventurers of the major Familias continuing the expedition, everyone else was here gathering Spring of Cadmus.

After all, Cadmus, that 'powerful dragon' Floor Boss, was still on cooldown just like the other Floor Bosses.

So the major Familias happily gathered valuable materials here. Every minute brought in several hundred Valis.

As for whether so much Spring of Cadmus flooding the market after they returned to the surface would cause prices to crash, that was beyond the adventurers' consideration. They were adventurers, after all, and aside from fighting, they knew very little about economics.

For example, in the 'original plot,' the Loki Familia encountered abnormal situations repeatedly during several expeditions—the Corrupted Spirit incidents—which caused the Loki Familia, despite being known as one of Orario's Twin Heroes, to nearly go bankrupt at one point due to a shortage of funds.

If the advantage of a joint expedition was sharing risks through strength in numbers, then this was also its disadvantage.

While the adventurers' lives received greater protection through their numbers, the gains from every expedition were also divided among the major Familias. If the income was not high enough, it could easily result in losing money instead.

By the time Falan's Backpack had been filled to over nineteen hundred slots, the first-class adventurers of the Loki Familia and the other major Familias had returned from the Dragon Pot. The joint expedition then began its retreat.

According to what Falan had learned from Finn, they had reached the 58th Floor together this time, only to be continuously worn down by the Cannon Dragons along the way. They had then encountered a large number of Wyverns on the 58th Floor and, after a hard battle, won.

However, they had also expended too much. Their carried supplies had all been discarded along the way, so they could only return.

Thus, this expedition took ten days to descend from the 1st Floor to the 50th Floor, spent several days gathering Spring of Cadmus while the others cleared the Dragon Pot, then spent another seven or eight days returning to the surface. The expedition came to an end.

As for the later market price of Spring of Cadmus, it somewhat exceeded Falan's expectations. The demand for Spring of Cadmus in this world seemed even more outrageous than he had imagined.

Aside from the several potion-focused Familias in Orario that needed it, many nations outside Orario and merchant Familias also required it. Rather than dropping, the price rose considerably above market value as various forces learned of it and rushed to seize a share.

Falan only wanted to say that this expedition had made an absolute fortune.

Although the Soma Familia was a relatively small Familia in this joint expedition and thus received a low share,

the Soma Familia's scale was already far smaller than the other Familias. Therefore, this haul was a huge sum for the Soma Familia. Of course, as captain, Falan took the largest share.

Sixty percent went to Soma, Falan took thirty-five percent himself, and the remaining twentieth was split among the three little ones.

Watching the three little ones receive their shares with grateful expressions, Falan found it somewhat amusing. After all, he had taken seven times their combined amount. Naturally, he was not going to casually mention that.

Besides... Falan was planning to level up again.

[Name]: Falan

[Level]: Lv.2

[Ability Values]

Strength: S971 → SS1216

Endurance: SS1155 → SSS1399

Dexterity: SS1002 → SS1244

Agility: SS1040 → SS1271

Magic: SSS1264 → SSS1402

[Development Ability]: Mage G → E (Fast Chanting and Concurrent Chanting techniques new)

[Magic]: Life Magic

[Skill]: Child of the Dark Elf [See Chapter 25 for details]

Witness of History [See Chapter 25 for details]

One-Man Caravan [See Chapter 30 for details]