One of the biggest new things Ajax had found out in his days of relaxation was the mana limit the trees that had been planted on his patch of land had. All matter had a mana limit, some had it higher than others and living beings were dependent on their growth not only their species. The other big difference between organic and inorganic matter was that organic could be filled to its current upper limit in seconds with a strong enough source whereas doing so with inorganic matter wasn’t possible.

One thing that both had in common was that when the maximum threshold was exceeded both organic and inorganic matter would vaporize to release the mana. Ajax saw this as the branch he was infusing mana into did exactly that once the tree had been filled up to the brim.

As for the flowers and bushes Ajax had planted their mana tolerance was currently lower than the trees, however they were also much young and with enough care and infused mana Ajax will be able to actually cultivate some mana infused herbs in the long run. That wasn’t to say that the mana wasn’t having a positive effect on the trees as they had started sprouting a much healthier foliage, however they were already too old to be able to absorb any of the mana.

After his few days of rest were over, Ajax geared up and packed his kit before heading towards the capital. He had thought about paying his grandparents a visit to deliver the potions but decided to hand those over along with anything he picked up in this delve that he would end up selling. He did however drop by one of the branches the Healing Union had set up in the middle of the slums where his one hundred inferior quality potions were gratefully accepted by the administration.

As he came into view of the dungeon team he would be joining this time around Ajax could easily tell that this time would be a lot different compared to last time. While none of the members of this delve seemed to have the power or levels that Nina and Trevor had Ajax could easily tell that they were all around level sixty, that was a bit of a jump compared to the last team. Not only that but this team all looked to be younger than the other team still seeming to be in their late twenties, though Ajax was sure they were all at least closing in on seventy.

“Ajax, it’s good to see you again.” Nina greeted him from the side. Ajax was surprised to see the smith here.

“Nina?” Ajax answered with surprise. “Are you going to join this delve as well?”

“No, no.” she denied. “I was coming to pick through the markets for anything useful at low prices and was asked to handle the introductions.” saying that she lead Ajax to approach the team that looked ready to head out.

“Trevor, this is Ajax. I trust you know about him already.” the way she said it seemed more like a threat than an introduction to Ajax.

“No need to worry Miss Nina, dad already pounded into me that we shouldn’t do anything to haze him.” Trevor said while rolling his eyes like he heard the same thing a few times in the last few days.

“Good.” Nina nodded. “Ajax, this is Trevor II. You’ve met his father last time, know that he is the leader of one of our top two elite youth teams. Despite his lack of interest in anything regarding crafting he is quite adept when it comes to combat.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“You’re only saying top two because the other team is led by a Silvertongue and we’ve somehow never had a chance to compete with them.” one of the twenty members spoke up with a cocky grin.

It seemed to be a universal truth that the strong and talented would be given some leeway in terms of discipline even in the big noble houses as long as they were loyal when push came to shove.

“Good to meet you Ajax” Trevor II said as he offered Ajax a handshake. “Dad had quite a bit to say about you.

Ajax simply accepted the handshake with a nod of his head, though he did make sure to make it a deep nod so that it wouldn’t be taken as a sign of disrespect.

“Well you’re as antisocial as he said, I just hope everything else checks out.” Trevor said, cracking a smile for the first time. “Your last delve with our house was an eight day long camp defense. We’re hoping this one won’t take as long, our job is simple: get to the eighth floor and clear it, grab anything of value that we can bring back out.”

Ajax was ecstatic at the news, getting to floor eight would mean he would get the bonus for seven new floors, that would mean an extra seven to all his stats. Not only that but floor eight would be filled with monsters with levels between sixty and sixty-five, even just the cores from such strong creatures were sure to sell for a pretty penny.

“You lot watch yourselves, the dungeon is no joke.” Nina said, though judging by her tone and expression even she knew the warning wouldn’t do much to the group of young elite at this point. “Also do try to bring me something nice, who knows I might even make one of you a custom piece if you do.”

That piece of encouragement quickly had the attention of every single member of the team as they all cheered with greed at the news. With the morale handled they all made their way towards the arch that marked the entrance. Unlike last time Ajax only had the bare minimum for any Alchemy crafting with him this time. Not only did he not want to risk the new equipment in a non-crafting delve but it was also heavy and it would have taken up a lot of room.

“We’ll simply be taking the first seven arches we find and get to the eight floor as fast as possible.” Trevor II said. “Ajax will be the one to clear all of them as apparently he still has something to gain from those floors.”

After that he turned to the rest of the team with a serious look. “Just because he will be handling it solo does not mean you are out on a leisurely stroll, keep your eyes peeled for any materials that we might be able to bring with us.”

“Yes, sir!” the rest of the team responded at once.

As Ajax took a look at the team composition he found that it was made up of one healer, four mages, five archers and ten melee fighters. He also noticed the two bison acting as porters as well as the three mountain lions and one falcon that seemed to be bonded with different members of the party. All of the bonds were monsters and were above level fifty; they also had no affinity to any element marking them as having already reached their full potential. The only other bond present was a bear, this one was not only in the sixties but also had a bit more room left to grow, fitting that it was Trevor’s bond.

Once they entered the first floor of the dungeon much of the relax attitude had dropped, not because of any danger the floor may pose to the team but because they wanted to get past the easy stuff quickly and they all made a beeline for the location of the nearest archway, starting from the second floor they would actually need to explore a bit to find the first archway but on the first floor to location was set.

Ajax made quick work of the stag defending the archway, he briefly used his [Mana Syphon] and crushed right through the antlers and the skull of the boss dropping it dead with a single quick blow.

“I like your style, kid.” one of the short members of the team said. The man was five foot three at most but on his back he carried a massive metal sledgehammer that Ajax knew to keep well clear of during combat.

Floors two, three, four, five and six were quickly dealt with in much the same manner. Floor four did them the courtesy of providing a pack of bloodthirsty bunnies whose corpses they could take outside. The monster in question reminded Ajax of the bunny from Monty Python, on the fourth floor the monsters were capped at level forty-five but Ajax knew he didn’t want to meet them on a later floor as their small size, high speed and piercing attack could prove devastating.

The monsters were carefully preserved as their fur was of very high quality and the meat was supposed to be extremely good, so much so that a few of the members had managed to pester Trevor in doing a small detour to kill another pack, this one they couldn’t take out of the dungeon but they could cook it for themselves later.

During their descent into the dungeon Ajax had checked each archway to get an idea of the next floor, but he wasn;t too fussed about what they ended up with as he knew they would quickly pass through. This changed however on floor seven where the first gate they found had a very strong concentration of magma aspected mana.