n

n

nFoster kept his solid stance, waiting for the skeletons in front of him to rush at him. Since this style wasn't based off speed as much as power, he had to use his battle sense in order to figure out the right time to strike. It was a bit bothersome with a larger number of enemies, but since Foster wasn't alone, it was fine.

nOcter acted as a wall in front of the larger number of undead that appeared on the fourth and fifth floors, pushing them back with a few simple shield-bashes, and only letting through the ones that Foster and Lynol could take care of. Of course, this tactic meant that Octer did end up getting attacked quite a bit, injuring him a fair extent, but that was what a tank was there for sadly. And luckily, Kyla was a skilled healer, so the injuries never stayed around too long.

nBut even so, here toward the end of the first floor, maybe the group was rushing a bit too much. They were the first group of people to ever get this far into this dungeon. That was an undeniable fact, so of course they were all a bit excited. They wanted to finish up this dungeon-dive within the next couple of hours as well so that they would have enough time to get back to the beginning of the dungeon before the monster sources regenerated.

n

"Urgh, these guys are getting annoying. Their equipment is better on this floor as well.

" Foster groaned loudly, looking at the scratches all over his gauntlets and armor. They had just entered the dungeon's fifth, and with that last, floor. The jump of quality of their enemies had increased quite a bit as they entered this place, but they should be able to adjust quite swiftly.

n

"Sure, but we're still able to manage everything with no sorts of wounds beyond a few scratches here and there. That means that we should be able to deal with the boss as well. The last floor of a dungeon is supposed to be a pretty good indicator to the strength of the boss.

" Lynol explained quickly, a fact that Kyla quickly confirmed as well,

"Yup~! And on top of that, it's been found that in 95% of the cases, the boss monster of a dungeon bares a high amount of resemblance to the main monsters on a dungeon's last floor!

"

n

"Hm, so the boss is just gonna be a really strong skeleton?

"

n

"Probably!

" Kyla replied to Foster, who smiled lightly,

"Nice, it's easy to give a nice beating to these guys. And seeing how much stronger these guys can get would be neat as well.

" He pointed out, and took an excited step forward, when he felt something underneath his shoe. He raised his foot, and saw a small shard of glass laying there.

nConfused, he squatted down and picked it up, taking a closer look. It didn't really seem to be glass, and instead looked more like those crystal balls, or the black gems that were inside of them.

n

"Oh, finally!

" Kyla exclaimed, looking over Foster's shoulder,

"Seems like the skeletons down here really are strong enough.

"

n

"Hm? What'd you mean?

" Octer asked, trying to get a closer look at what Foster was holding, and Kyla quickly explained,

"It's a magic stone! Some people call it dungeon stone, but I think that's a pretty dumb description, since you can't only find it in dungeons... Well, mostly, sure, but it's not exclusive, you see?

" Kyla explained, but was only met with the stares of her party members.

nShe scratched her cheek and smiled wrily,

"Well basically, when dungeon monsters die, they sometimes leave these behind. They can be used to make magic tools, or for spell components. Oh, and of course, they're materials to make potions or spell scrolls and such. So you can sell them pretty well.

"

n

"Wait, didn't you guys enter dungeons before? How come you don't know this?

" Foster asked surprised, and Lynol shrugged,

"Dungeons are rare, and I never went that deep into them.

"

n

"Yup, it's not a surprise that they don't know~!

" Kyla added,

"Dungeon monsters need a certain level of strength, so mana concentration, to be able to leave them behind. And it only happens quite rarely anyway. But they're a big way how high tier adventurers in Arcadum make their money, beyond the treasure they can find in dungeons, of course.

"

n

"Hold up, you can find treasure in dungeons?

"

n

"Of course you can! It's mostly a way for dungeons to lure people into them.

" Kyla replied, and Foster looked at her even more confused. Why would a dungeon want people inside of it? Isn't that kind of counter productive? Why would you purposefully lure people to break into your home?

"

nWith a smile, happy that she's able to talk about dungeons with someone so intensely, she quickly explained,

"Well, I mentioned how dungeons are basically like living beings, right? They need to live off something. Sure, they can survive off of ambient mana, but you wouldn't like to eat and drink only the bare amount necessary for you to survive, right?

" She explained, and Foster looked back with a slight, nostalgic smile,

"Yeah, I wouldn't want that.

"

n

"Right? Well, if a dungeon wants to really strive, and potentially grow, it needs to have a large amount of people in it! A dungeon feeds off the mana that people naturally give off, their aura of sorts.

"

n

"Wait, people always let mana out of their bodies?

" Foster asked surprised. He didn't really notice that, although using mana always felt so... weird to him. He figured he'd notice if anything happened with it. Kyla lightly tilted her head to the side,

"You don't know? Don't you have magic abilities?

"

n

"Right, of course, but I still don't know much about it... sorry.

" Foster said with a wry expression, unsure what to say, as Kyla quickly chuckled,

"Don't worry, it's fine. Not everyone has the chance to get an in-depth education about this sort of thing. Anyway, you know how your mana regenerates when you used a spell, right? Well, it doesn't stop when your mana is filled up. It does slow down, but it doesn't fully stop. And so, while new mana is generated in your body, the surplus is slowly and naturally pushed out of your body. A lot of people try to increase their mana capacity by forcefully keeping the mana inside of their body, by the way, but I heard that can be pretty dangerous...

"

n

"Huh.

" Foster let out surprised,

"Neat. So wait, I'm guessing your mana regen depends on your mana capacity, right? So can you tell how strong someone is by the amount of mana they let out?

"

n

"Technically, kind of? But well, high mana capacity doesn't make you a skilled mage. And physical fighters often don't have a high amount of mana in the first place, so you can't really say it that easily. In the first place, you would need a way to accurately measure someone's mana output, and that's just not really a thing... it's easier to just ask for someone's max mana capacity.

"

n

"Right... That.... does make sense.

"

n