A Bountiful Harvest

Bang!

At the edge of the forest, Sophia's petite body crashed heavily to the ground. The earthy smell at her nose and the solid weight beneath her made her, normally a little obsessed with cleanliness, feel safe for the first time without the slightest disgust.

Only after losing something did one understand how precious the things once taken for granted truly were.

Her teammates, the ones she had spent every day with, had been dragged into the swamp without any ability to resist because they had nowhere to stand and could not fully use their strength.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

Lowering her head, Sophia bit her lip hard. Her only remaining left hand continuously pounded the ground as tears streamed from her eyes. Why had it not appeared sooner? If they had possessed even a patch of land to stand on back then, she believed things would never have turned out like this.

"Damn monsters. Damn dungeon."

The pain of losing her teammates and companions was something Sophia simply could not accept. Her heart was filled with hatred for the dungeon and the monster that had turned into a treasure chest. Everything had happened because of that treasure chest monster.

They had trusted too much in the belief that dungeon treasure chests were safe, trusted a rule that had never gone wrong since the dungeon appeared. That was what had led to Vic being eaten.

If Vic had not died, and they still had the Bone Ship, things could never have become this bad.

"Human girl, there is something you said wrong."

At that moment, a gentle voice filled with the aura of nature rang out. Sophia raised her head and realized that, at some point, she had already appeared within the forest... No, rather than saying she had appeared in the forest, it would be more accurate to say the forest had moved over and surrounded her.

Directly before Sophia, on a great tree nearly fifteen meters tall, an elderly and kindly face emerged. Its eyes watched the human girl before it.

"What did I say wrong?"

Sophia raised her head to look at the treant before her, dissatisfaction still lingering in her tear-filled eyes.

"Everything you said and did, of course." The treant's kindly face instantly turned savage, endless fury flashing in its eyes. Its massive body rose from the ground, its limbs grasping weapons as it looked down at Sophia.

"Humans, you entered the dungeon of your own free will, yet now that you have been injured and killed, you begin to complain and hate. You even dare insult the supreme Ruler and His creations!"

The brutal treant guardian seized Sophia as she tried to flee. Its five fingers slowly clenched, and Sophia let out a shrill wail in its grip. Her petite body was crushed bit by bit, every bone in her body shattered into pieces.

A few minutes later, the final member of the Black Iron Squad died, forever remaining on the Fourth Layer.

"What a bountiful harvest!"

As the Black Iron Squad was reunited in death, Luo Ao wore a harvest smile as well. At that moment, all the Black Iron Squad's equipment had been transferred before him. As for their corpses and souls, aside from the mage Vic's, they had all become nutrients.

"Tsk, tsk. There are actually eight magical items. They were practically swimming in money."

Luo Ao examined the eight items before him: Sophia's shoes, Lucas's Battle Axe and pendant, the half-elf archer's bow, the half-orc Hake's chest guard, and Vic's robe, staff, and alchemy expansion pack.

The magical equipment gained from this haul nearly matched Luo Ao's total earnings from several previous days.

"Perfect. Now I can replace some of the overly low-grade magical equipment in the treasury."

The dungeon had already been expanded to the Fifth Layer. If the treasure chests still contained nothing but ordinary equipment, it would discourage adventurers from entering the dungeon.

After all, putting himself in their shoes, if Luo Ao were an adventurer who had endured countless hardships and passed through so many hellish layers and monsters, only to finally find a treasure chest containing ordinary equipment, he would definitely curse up a storm.

Now, with the eight magical items generously contributed by the Black Iron Squad, Luo Ao could replace some of the low-level equipment in the treasury with effects that were too weak.

As for whether Luo Ao would lose out by doing this, those who understood, understood.

After spending several minutes on it, Luo Ao placed the five magical items with the weakest enhancement effects from the treasury into treasure chests on different layers. Three went to the Fifth Layer, and one to the Fourth Layer.

After some thought, Luo Ao directly stuffed the final magical item into a treasure chest on the First Layer.

One day later.

Deep within the First Layer, William walked at the front of the party with a great shield in hand. There was not the slightest hint of contempt in his eyes for the First Layer; instead, they were full of vigilance. Even though he had already ventured deep into the Third Layer, he still could not forget the monsters they had encountered on the First Layer during their first exploration of the dungeon. Led by two Formal Professionals, only he and Sean had managed to escape in the end.

"Captain, I heard you were among the first adventurers to enter this dungeon when it first appeared?"

Within the party, a cute girl in an aqua-blue mage robe with blonde hair raised her head and looked at the broad, reassuring figure ahead. She had heard plenty of stories about her captain's experiences from veteran adventurers at the guild.

"Mm." William nodded without turning around, his gaze still fixed ahead. In a stern tone, he warned, "Lia, and everyone else, as your captain, I require you to remember one thing: never underestimate the dungeon, even if it is only the First Layer!"

"No matter what those idiots at the taverns and the Adventurers' Guild say, remember this: in the dungeon, even the slightest carelessness means death."

"Understood, Captain!"

"A serious captain really does make people feel safe."

The members of William's party laughed and teased one another. This was also the main reason they acknowledged William as their captain and were willing to enter the dungeon with him. A captain like this always made them feel safe.

Even if their progress was slower and their gains were smaller, being able to leave the dungeon alive meant the adventure had been a great success.

"Captain, there seems to be a treasure chest over there."

At that moment, Lina, the party's mage, suddenly pointed above their heads. On the ceiling of the cavern was a small protruding ledge, and from where Lina stood, she could see a faint trace of a treasure chest exposed above.

"Treasure chest!"

The instant he heard those words, William's vigilance rose to its peak. He immediately shielded his party members, his gaze sweeping across the surroundings like a hawk's to prevent even the slightest danger from appearing.

Several full minutes passed. William looked over the cavern illuminated by glowing mushrooms. Other than a few Puchis spreading spores in the distance, no dangerous monsters appeared at all.

As for those Puchis, adventurers had long since figured out the temperament of these cute, dopey-looking monsters. As long as one did not attack or approach them first, they would not attack adventurers and only wanted to spread spores everywhere.

Some adventurers had even tested it: if they fed these Puchis food from outside the dungeon, the creatures would pick some especially delicious mushrooms as repayment.

In short, they were harmless monsters, even beneficial ones.

After all, in the newly built adventurer town outside the dungeon, specialty dishes centered around all kinds of delicious mushrooms produced by the dungeon were beloved and highly sought after by everyone.