The wood was tough and harder to handle than he would have expected, despite his massive jump in stats this wood was harder for him to handle than basic wood had been during his training with Hatchet. Said training had already taught him how to make his own arrows in case he ever ran out so that wasn’t a problem.

He did wonder if using [Mana Syphon] would make it easier to handle but he didn’t know what the result would be from using mana syphon on an object besides the arch. Thinking back using it on the arch was stupid, what if it had messed with it and they couldn’t use it to exit any more? He was happy none of those scenarios applied and was actually looking forward to investigating arches.

With fifty more arrows made he finally stood up. He noticed that everyone else working on arrows had made more than him and had even put a small pile towards him each. He wondered if he was that far behind them in experience or if they had a skill for it but the three similar carving daggers they wielded showed the reason why.

“Thanks” he said, picking up the extras and doubling his number of new arrows. “How much is a knife like that?”

“Depends how high you expect to go.” One of them answered him. “Ours go up to level fifty and were fifteen to twenty gold each.”

The price shocked him. That amount was enough for someone to live comfortably for a good few years. Then again they weren’t just for the first layer, level fifty dungeon zones meant that they also covered this second level handedly with it being only forty. Unlike most things regarding dungeon floors the power of the environment was actually tied to the lowest level you could find on the floor.

Things such as hatchet chicks or pups of the monsters present didn’t count so the lowest level one could encounter was forty-two so the floor had materials two levels lower. Some information he had seen hinted at environmental floors that didn’t quite jump the full distance from the previous one in terms of monst strength but they were practically non-existent before level seventy-five. The floor material strength was equal across any possible floor which meant that a variation of some environmental floor type existed here but it was weak as it only lowered levels by one.

He also wondered why they bought things that went all the way to level fifty since they would be useless on the third floor anyway and overkill for the second.

“The dungeon we are going to be moving to once our healer catches up is a nine level jump near the capital, these should be good enough to use on their third floor.” he answered the obvious question he was forming.

This tidbit of information was a surprise for him. He had heard about the main dungeon that was heavily policed near the capital with a five level floor jump but finding out that there was a nine floor jump one close to it was something he was interested in.

As they all got ready to move he noticed that they all were wearing protective gear. It looked very much like what people back on Earth used to wear in the desert if more simplistically made. He also noticed a set waiting for him on the bags he was to pick up.

“You’ll want to put that on.” Nelly said.

Ajax was a bit skeptical on this point but Hatchet had told him the dungeon environment wasn’t like the one outside. He had left it at that with the obvious hint that there were discoveries to be made if he looked into it. Nelly not explaining anything also made it obvious they were trying to make sure they didn’t cost him the discovery.

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As they started moving in what he thought was a random direction he noticed that he started to notice he was sweating. This was something new since he wasn’t feeling that hot. He hadn’t sweated only due to heat the entire summer despite being dressed for battle.

As they moved for the next hour he caught small glimpses in the distance of rock formations and one or two oasis. This was not to mention the constant muttered curses he heard from the rest of the team about having to deal with a barren floor.

Barren floors were actually quite profitable since they lack the sheer quantity of creatures other floors possess and replaced them with an over representation of bosses. That there wasn’t a boss accompanying the first vulture flock they had met was an event unlikely to repeat itself.

The floor did also come with downsides, the most obvious being playing hide and seek with the monster packs was boring as hell, even more so in a desert environment. The other problem, and the biggest one by far was the danger of using the obelisk.

Usually a few monster groups hitting into a fortified position wasn’t that big of a problem for an experienced group. But the presence of more bosses not only reduced the effectiveness of a choke point but also introduced much more leadership for the swarming monsters.

They were finally approaching one an oasis and Ajax was looking forward to something other than walking. The team scout sped off towards it at Jones’ nod. Their pace didn’t change and when they were a couple hundred feet from it the scout returned to report.

“Single monster type as far as I can tell,” he said. “Crocodile variants, they seem to also have a focus on stealth.”

As he said this he revealed a not insignificant gash on his leg. Nelly was quick to respond as she started wrapping the leg up and using some healing spells. Ajax could clearly feel these spells were a lot weaker than what the healers had used during the skirmish.

“I all but stepped on the boss's mouth.” the scout was clearly upset with his own performance “ It doesn’t seem like they have any poison or diseases thankfully. Not only that but they are also strength heavy at the cost of speed.”

“Alright” Jones said, his voice carried an authoritative tone he hadn’t noticed before in their skirmish. “The melee and I will be taking care of this one, everyone else save your strength and be on the lookout for any surprises.”

As one the group formation changed with the five melee fighters heading ahead in a new formation led by Donny. The rangers, scout, Nelly and himself were left to follow behind in a more reactive formation.

“Why aren’t we all going after them?” Ajax asked Nelly who was closest to him.

“It would be overkill. It is more efficient to have only a few members engage like this when we have everything under control. Unlike the vultures that dived on us this is our preferred way of clearing a floor. An optimized small group taking on monsters in a controlled fashion with another group on lookout and ready to respond to any surprises.” she said.

Unlike their attitude on the previous floor Ajax could now see the amount of caution that this team put into everything while delving. It also explained to him why despite delving for years longer than other teams they had not had any casualties but likewise didn’t level as quickly.

After all, danger and risk were factors to the amount of experience gained. This made him doubt his decision on joining the Collectors for the first time. He noticed that leveling in the dungeon came a lot easier to him, the few combats he experienced had already gotten him five thousand experience. Despite this the approach of the Collectors was going to slow him down considerably since the fights so far had been more chaotic or one versus one.

Had this been right after the skirmish ended it wouldn’t have mattered all that much to him but now he also knew that Hatched would be joining him on the way to the capital. Him going slower would also mean that his teacher would spend that much longer without his arm. Despite knowing that his teacher didn’t blame him for taking a safer path to power, in fact he encouraged it, he couldn’t help but feel a bit of guilt.

As Ajax watched the five people engage the crocs he got a much better picture of how the team did things. Unlike on the previous floor where he had seen them take packs alone now it was different.

Donny and Bobby worked seamlessly together to attract, kite and funnel the monsters in such a way that the other two melee fighters had little to worry about in terms of attacks coming towards them.

Donny was doing the tank job perfectly with a shield in each hand bashing the heads of the crocs and having almost their full attention. The little he didn’t have was handled by the other plated giant. Not only that but the moment one of the crocs tried to focus on something else it found itself being the focus of the whip wielded by Jones.

Despite taking a while to kill all of them and the boss everything was done in a careful and controlled manner. Each of the crocs was as strong as any of the vultures had been with the boss clearly benign stronger, not only that but they had twice the numbers the vultures had and it all meant nothing. This was the power of an experienced delving team that had been given the chance to make a plan and execute it with no outside factors.