The next day, I led Ned’s party to the dungeon after going to the adventurer guild to enter into our quest first.

They were a bit nervous at the entrance, but they were also excited. Before we entered, I showed them the map of the dungeon I bought yesterday and then explained what I had learned diving inside the dungeon.

Once we were down to the third floor, I separated from Ned’s party and continued going down because I wanted to find more interesting monsters to fight, and I told them that the 3rd floor was a good place to dip your feet into dungeon diving.

Each floor I go down, a new monster starts to spawn. However, they were weaklings who didn't put up much of a fight, so I just jumped straight down a couple of floors till I found something interesting.

Eventually, on the 8th floor, I found something that could put up a fight. There were purple toads with a pair of fangs, about the size of a medium-sized dog.

From looking at its appearance, I’m guessing it uses its fangs to bite and inject venom into its prey.

They’re quite agile and hard to dodge for normal adventurers, but to me, I was grinning at how much fun it was, treating this more like a game than anything else because these toads were more dangerous than the goblins. I didn’t have any antidote potion, so if one of them were to bite me, I would be in big trouble.

After this, I should buy an antidote potion since a healing potion only heals and won’t cure me if I am poisoned or injected with venom.

As I was thinking about buying an antidote potion, three of these purple toads spawned.

I took a step or two to dodge each of the toads, then I cut down two out of three of them with my short sword.

Taking out a spike, I threw it at the last toad, who was readying to attack. It screamed in pain as I hit its left leg to stop it from moving.

I approached it and swung my blade down at its head to stop its loud screaming.

The dead bodies of the venom toads turn all black and fade like ash, each dropping a shard. However, something had unexpectedly dropped from the last toad I’d killed; it was one of its fangs.

Neet, if I remember correctly, it’s incredibly rare for a monster to drop something other than a crystal shard, so this should sell at a decent price.

Collecting the fang and the magic shards, I think it was a sign to leave the dungeon because I had lost track of time having fun fighting the toads and I had more than enough magic shards to complete my quest.

I counted the number of shards in my pouch, which was 37 in total, and went up to the dungeon’s entrance.

By the time I was out of the dungeon, I was surprised by how long I stayed inside. It was already dark, and when I asked one of the guards, they said it was around 3 in the morning.

Did I really stay inside for that long? It felt way shorter.

I better go back to the inn, Ned and everyone is probably really worried about me.

When I got to my inn, Ned was waiting for me outside.

He saw me and said,

“Where were you? We were worried.”

“Sorry, I lost track of time.”

He had a relieved sigh and told me to get some rest.

The next day, I was woken up by Mark knocking on the door of my room.

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Yawning, I got up and told him I was getting up. I got only a few hours of sleep last night since I came back at around 4 in the morning.

After we got something to eat, we went to the Adventurer guild.

I reminded myself that I had to turn in the shards I had gotten to complete my quest and the venom toad fang for extra money.

At the adventurer guild, it was as crowded as usual. I waited in line and turned in the shards I had gotten yesterday. The receptionist was surprised by how much I’d collected and by the venom toad fang I showed her.

It’s a shame that I can’t turn in the extra shards I’d collect to complete three quests worth of shards, but it’s better than nothing.

In the end, I got 3 silver coins from completing the quest and selling the excess shards and the fang.

After receiving payment, I entered the same quest as yesterday, which was to collect 10 shards.

Before I and everyone else could go to the dungeon, I made a detour to a general store for adventurers and bought two low-grade antidote poisons. Honestly, I don’t know if the city or that specific store, but one silver coin for a low-grade antidote potion seems like a scam.

“So you're done?”

"Ya Ned, sorry for the wait; I bought some antidote potions. Who knew they would be so expensive, 1 silver each.”

With a smirk, Ned said.

“Thank goodness we bought our supplies in Farsbarow.”

“I know. This city is really expensive. But let's get going.”

Inside the dungeon, I ask what floor they are planning to go to today.

“The same floors you're going to. I know that you could handle it yourself, but I just want to make sure you’re fine since, you know, yesterday.”

Hearing Ned’s answer, I kind of felt bad for making them worry.

“Are you sure? The ones on the deeper floors are pretty tough for low-level adventurers.

“You don’t need to worry; I think we can handle it. We already have a general grasp of things.”

I led them down to the deeper floors I’d visited, which was the 8th floor. As Ned said, they handled the monsters we encountered pretty well.

However, Oliver seems to be struggling, but not to the point where I have to step in. I had noticed from how Oliver fought, he wasn’t that great with a sword.

As for me, I wanted to see how well they fought and worked together, so I acted as backline support by throwing my spikes and knives, giving them openings while disrupting the monster from attacking.

They are doing good but one thing I would like to critique is that they don’t play their roles in the party very well.

“Hey everyone, are you fine with going down another level?”

Watching was getting boring; they were taking their time fighting them, and I wanted to find some more interesting monsters. Things honestly feel way too safe than how I like, which takes away from the fun.

“Sure, I think we can handle something a bit more difficult.”

“Great”

Ned says yes to my proposal, and we head to the 9th floor.

When we go down, we encounter new monsters. Two toad-like monsters appeared; they were slightly bigger and had no fangs when you compare them to the toads on the 8th floor.

I should buy a book about this dungeon if I have the chance. Let's check the bookstore that Iris recommended to me to see if it’s open today.

Eyeing it warily, I wait for it to do something, to which their throats start to expand.

I warned everyone to be careful, and they were going to do something.

Immediately, I threw my throwing knives at their expanding throats, causing a green liquid to leak out, and then Ned and Keith jumped in and finished it off.

Ned asked if everyone was okay, and luckily everyone was fine.

After we fought even more monsters on the 9th floor, everyone seemed to get used to dealing with the new monsters.

Eventually, we stumbled upon the staircase to the 10th floor. Looking at my map, it says that the 10th floor is specifically the boss room.

“You want to go down?”

I asked if they wanted to take on the boss. Ned thought for a moment and said,

“Let's not; I don’t think we are ready. I know that you could probably take it on, but let's call it for the day.”

I was disappointed when Ned said to call it for the day. I had already collected 10 shards, and Ned’s party also collected 10 shards, so I guess it makes sense not to continue any further. Plus, everyone looks pretty tired, especially me because I got only a few hours of sleep yesterday.

Returning to the surface, we went to the guild to complete our quests and receive our money.

“So Nyx, what to come join us to get something to eat?”

Ned asked me if I wanted to join him, but I said no because I had something to do.

“Okay then, just don’t make us worry.”

Nodding, I went in the direction of the bookstore Iris told me about.