“We should take a break here,” Lydia recommended as we reached the stairway to the 15th floor.

“Why is that?” I asked.

“The next level contains the free-roaming boss.” She explained. “And Raissa said that the 15th floor was extremely challenging. Her party was wiped out on this floor and she only barely made it to the kiosk and escaped.”

“That’s right, she did say something like that.” I scratched my chin. “Plus, if Lord Reign did come up with something to get in our way, he’d definitely put it on this floor.”

Upon thinking about it for a moment, a deep frown ended up on my forehead. The rather simple task of heading down suddenly became a lot more menacing. I wouldn’t normally be worried we couldn’t handle a level fifteen boss, but given the unusual nature of the level ten boss, it left me feeling a little worried. If this boss was just as unconventional, it could seriously be a challenge.

“Alright, let’s stop for a bit.”

We stop and take another break, setting up a fire. I end up cooking again, and the girls all make noises of happiness as they eat my meals. Most of the meals I make are rather simple. Meat, bread, and vegetables are about the limits. Even then, it turns out most people eat bready gruels with maybe just a hint of vegetables and meat on occasions. I’m definitely interested in coming out with more complicated stuff. I’m certain the answer lies within dungeons. Once I finished up here, I was hoping to head back to Chalm and start reading up on dungeons. I had books now, but I didn’t have time to read more than the base level for most of them.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The real trick was learning about the mega-dungeons, and what items could be acquired on what floors. That’s when I could start truly farming from home. However, as long as I had to work on destroying dungeons, I was always venturing into the unknown.

While the girls were eating and I was preparing my own serving, I glanced through the progress we had made since I last checked. I hadn’t done anything amazing. Lydia made it to 23 as a scout. Miki made it to 23 as a Basic Magician. Celeste hadn’t leveled. Terra was at level three for Earth Summoner. Shao was unchanged, the same as me. I had left White Mage, True Dungeon Diver, and Slave Master on for the most part, and all of those were up to past level 25. I occasionally switched to hero or Basic Magician if I needed something, but it wasn’t enough to level them yet either.

Simply put, we were in a need to grind if we wanted to become more powerful than we are now in a short amount of time. The reason I was thinking about that was because of the next level. We were going to fight a boss and possibly some Knights. Although our strength now and when we last fought the knights is different, it would still be dangerous if we faced them head-on. I didn’t like to take risks if I didn’t have to.

I stood up and looked down at the girls. They all looked up at me, their banter quieting down.

“Let’s clear out this level. I want to do some power leveling.”