Erik looked at the surroundings as he continued to free-fall, a nonchalant expression was present on his face. "Eh, the speed isn’t so bad," he mumbled in a casual tone when he passed the 10th floor.

The speed of his fall kept increasing, and his initial nonchalance quickly turned into fear, escalating to the extreme spectrum.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit! I’m not doing this again…” Erik screamed, his voice laced with panic as the high speed and acceleration overwhelmed him.

“Intermediate Heal,” Erik mumbled, noticing the landscape change as he approached the 15th floor. His whole body was enveloped in a radiant white coloured healing aura, designed to treat any injuries he might sustain.

After activating the healing spell, Erik crossed the barrier at the 15th floor. The barrier was impenetrable at all points except for the waterfall. Covering the waterfall with the barrier could disrupt the ecosystem of the 15th floor and potentially cause a disastrous overflow of water outside the protected zone, endangering everyone.

Erik gripped his wand tightly as he collided with the river formed by the waterfall at high speed. The impact caused a massive splash, accompanied by a loud sound that immediately captured the attention of every nearby adventurer.

“Are we under attack?” a female adventurer with dark green hair shouted, her hand instinctively reaching for the small sword she carried in its sheath as she stared at the river.

“It looked like a light spell attack, I think,” a male adventurer with black hair commented, his gaze fixed on the disturbed river.

“Look at the bubbles—some monster is coming out of the river,” another female adventurer with black hair and a wand added with a terrified look.

At her words, all the adventurers drew their weapons, ready to strike down the presumed monster as soon as it emerged.

Erik, who was inside the river, slowly walked out in a hesitant motion. His gaze remained fixed on the ground, avoiding the adventurers out of sheer embarrassment.

“I, uh… I’m human,” he mumbled awkwardly, standing on the riverbank.

The adventurers began chattering among themselves.

“Do you think it’s a disguise or some kind of illusion magic?” the female adventurer with dark green hair asked, pointing at Erik.

An older male adventurer observed the scene and chimed in, “You newbies might not know it yet, but this method is used by experts to move between the 7th and 15th floors of the dungeon. It’s something of a shortcut,” he added with a smirk, pride evident in his tone.

“So, do you know how to do it, sir?” the male adventurer with black hair asked, turning to the older man.

“That's not of concern here” the old adventurer added with a defensive tone.

While this conversation was happening, Erik mumbled, “Quick Step,” and vanished from the riverbank, moving a long distance away in the blink of an eye.

“That was embarrassing,” Erik mumbled, placing his right hand over his face in shame. “I even forgot to use air affinity to slow my pace. I’m an idiot—a big idiot at that,” he thought to himself.

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Erik then took in the surroundings of the 15th floor, the only floor within the dungeon under human control. It resembled a small village, or rather, a flourishing one.

The floor was secured with a high-level barrier to prevent any monsters from entering, an extra layer of security implemented by humans. The 15th floor was unique, when the first group of humans reached it, they discovered there was no dungeon boss or monster spawn in the region. This led humans to establish it as a safe floor within the dungeon.

The barrier was further enhanced with high-level illusion magic, making the dungeon ceiling appear as a blue sky with clouds. A massive sphere of light magic acted as the sun. Trees and grass grew abundantly, creating a fertile environment. Some theorized that the river might play a significant role in maintaining the floor’s fertility.

The problem of the scarcity of water was also resolved since the water from the waterfall was drinkable and clean.

Erik walked towards the human settlement, where vendors and merchants lived to earn extra profits while simultaneously putting their lives in danger.

As Erik looked around, he saw a few familiar faces—several merchants and adventurers he had seen many times on the 15th floor.

"Do I need to stock up?" Erik questioned himself, glancing at a store that sold mana and healing potions.

In the end, he decided against it, considering he could already perform healing far superior to that offered by the potions. As for mana potions, though useful, they had their own side effects—they caused mana sickness in mages.

Using mana potions or overusing one’s mana often led adventurers to suffer from a condition known as mana sickness. Its symptoms resembled those of a severe flu, something Erik had no interest in experiencing.

Erik finally reached the exit of the 15th floor’s barrier. He looked at the small translucent door within the barrier, guarded by two adventurers standing watch to prevent low-ranking adventurers from passing through.

One of the guards was a tall, muscular man over 6 feet in height, with black hair, black eyes, and a mustache. He wore blue-colored armor with gold accents. The other guard, a younger adventurer who barely reached the shoulder of the first, had yellow hair and blue eyes. He held a long wooden wand with a yellow crystal embedded at the top in his right hand.

As Erik approached, the younger adventurer with the wand stopped him.

“Hey boy, where do you think you’re going?” the adventurer asked in an irritated voice.

“To the 16th floor,” Erik replied nonchalantly.

“That’s not…” the adventurer began, but Erik handed him his adventurer card.

“A-rank adventurer! Wait, uh… sorry for interrupting,” the adventurer said, his voice now tinged with hesitation and guilt.

“Don’t mind him, Erik. He just joined two days ago,” the taller man said, stepping forward and placing a hand on the younger adventurer’s shoulder.

“Ah, there’s no problem, Sir Doron,” Erik replied with a smile. “I don’t mind using this card,” he added, showing it. “I mean, it’s got to have some use, you know,” he finished with mild irritation.

“Hahaha, you’re a funny one, you know that?” Doron said, looking at Erik with mild amusement.

Doron then pointed at the newbie standing next to him. “This here is Arin, just so you know,” he said, introducing the younger adventurer to Erik.

Erik extended his right hand toward Arin, who accepted it for a handshake.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Erik Walhmer,” he said with a small smile.

“It’s just Arin for me,” the male adventurer replied.

After retracting his hand from the handshake, Erik looked at Doron. “Can you open the gate, sir?” he asked with a neutral expression.

Doron nodded, taking out a small gold pentagonal emblem with a green crystal in its center. He raised it toward the translucent door, opening it in the process.

Erik slightly bowed to Doron in respect as he walked through the gate and entered the non-barrier region of the 15th floor.

The non-barrier region, though dark like the other dungeon floors, didn’t have a high miasma density for a dungeon floor. No monsters were visible either. The landscape was spherical in shape, with a single exit leading to the 16th floor.

Erik walked toward the staircase leading to the 16th floor and began descending carefully, taking slow steps. The steps, like those between the 6th and 7th floors, were covered in algae and quite slippery. Restricting the use of Eriks quick step spell.