"This time around," I muttered, mostly to myself but loud enough for Lila to hear, "we’re getting stronger. No more playing it safe—we’re going all the way."

Lila gave me a curious look as I turned to her. “Lila, I need you to find the boss of this floor,” I said confidently.

The look of surprise that crossed her face was almost comical, and she blinked, a bit taken aback.

“The… boss of this floor?” she repeated, her voice trailing off as if she hadn’t heard me right. “Why would you go after something that dangerous?”

I smiled, feeling the weight of my progress since we’d first entered this dungeon. “Because I know I can handle it,” I replied with confidence. “I’ve grown stronger, way stronger than I was when I first started out here. I know I can do it.”

She raised an eyebrow, clearly doubtful.

Right now, i was strong enough to take down that Viscous Slime Boss. By myself, with maybe a dozen slimes at most. And this floor’s boss? It’s nothing compared to that. No physical resistances, no weird immunities. Just a standard mobile type.”

“My current slimes can handle it without breaking a sweat.”

Lila studied me, still unsure but clearly taking in my confidence. “Well, alright, then. If you’re that sure about it, I’ll look.” She closed her eyes, tapping into her Pathfinder ability.

But after a moment, she opened her eyes, confusion etched across her face. “Leon… there’s no path,” she said slowly, looking puzzled. “My ability isn’t showing me any direction to a boss on this floor.”

“Someone already dealt with it,” I said, shaking my head, almost laughing at the thought.

“What?” Lila tilted her head, clearly still a bit confused.

“Yeah,” I replied, half-smiling. “If your pathfinding ability isn’t picking up the boss, that means it’s already been defeated. Probably by another adventurer. Someone must have cleared it before we got here.” I paused, feeling a bit disappointed.

“What a shame. I was actually looking forward to testing myself.”

It made sense, though. There’s a term used back on Earth—"try-hard."

Gamers who pushed themselves to their limits, who’d go after every advantage they could get, speed-running through content just to stay ahead.

And, honestly, it wasn’t hard to see the same attitude in some of the adventurers here.

The ones who knew they were strong didn’t waste any time. If they saw a safe path to the next floor, they took every chance to push ahead, moving as fast as they could—and taking down bosses to grab whatever loot they left behind.

I shook my head, almost laughing at the irony.

In this world, clearing a floor fast wasn’t just about bragging rights or personal goals—it was a survival tactic.

The stronger you became, the better your odds.

There wasn’t much of a choice for the true try-hards in this world.

Still, I thought with a smirk, would’ve been nice to get in on that boss myself.

But there was no point in dwelling on it. I’d just have to keep grinding with the Sewer Crawlers for now.

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"Alright," I said, turning to Lila, "since the boss is out of the picture, what about any secret rooms or treasure? Can your pathfinder ability pick up anything like that?"

She nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating as she scanned for hidden spots.

I waited, hoping for at least some kind of bonus to make up for the lost boss fight.

After a moment, she opened her eyes, looking a bit defeated.

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head. "Same as before. No paths, no hidden rooms. Seems like this floor’s been picked clean."

I let out a sigh. "Yep… try-hards will try hard,"

Whoever had been here before us clearly knew their way around, likely equipped with a capable scout of their own to sweep through every inch of the floor.

Then a thought crossed my mind. Could one of Lila’s family members be here this time around? It wasn’t impossible.

The major guilds all had top-tier scouts, and recently, they’d added members of Lila’s family to their teams.

With their unmatched skill in tracking and finding hidden paths, it wouldn’t be surprising if one of those guilds had brought a member of her family on this delve, making it easier to clear the floor fast and efficiently.

Though, on the other hand, it could just be a highly skilled adventurer with strong scouting abilities. Those were fairly common too, especially among the more seasoned teams that liked to blitz through dungeons.

Since there was no hidden treasure or boss left on this floor, it was time to focus on grinding experience.

With that decision made, we delved deeper into the sewer tunnels, wasting no time.

We were both quiet for a bit, until Lila broke the silence with a question.

"So... am I going to get any experience from this too?" She looked at me, her expression serious. "I mean, if we’re grinding here, I want to level up too. You know I’m in this with you.”

I let out a sigh, understanding where she was coming from. She was technically a member of my party—after all, I couldn’t progress on my own forever.

But there was a slight problem, and it was one that had been nagging me from the start.

Most typical role-playing games had a straightforward way of sharing experience points. You could create a party and invite others to join, which would link you all together in a sort of “system connection” that allowed you to share the experience points you earned.

But in Dungeon End, it didn’t work that way. This place was different from the typical RPGs I knew on Earth.

There were no quest notifications, no shared objectives or system-given rewards. The only “system” that existed here was what showed you your skill information, character sheet and earned titles. Nothing else. So, without a party system, how could we share experience?

There were only two ways to do it. The most common was to let each person deal some damage to the monster; the experience points would then be shared based on the contribution of damage dealt, not the final blow, as many would assume.

But here’s the thing—Lila was a tiny gnome, barely the size of my palm, and on top of that, she was only a level 1 cleric. She didn’t have any abilities that would let her deal damage, and certainly not enough to make a dent in these creatures.

That left the second option: a magic contract. This was similar to the one used to create my slave contract and the one that bounded the Steelheart elders and patriarch.

Contracts were powerful, allowing for agreements between two parties that could influence actions or, in this case, experience.

By forming this kind of deal, I could arrange it so that any monster I killed would also grant Lila a percentage of the experience—whether it be 5%, 10%, 50%, or even the full amount.

But contracts came at a high cost. They were valuable, and currently way out of my price range.

So, I looked at her and decided to be honest and told her the truth. “Look, I’d love to give you some of the experience points, but right now, there’s no way we can share them. Without a contract, it all goes to me by default. So, at least for now… I’ll be selfish. I’ll focus on myself, gain as much experience as I can. But don’t worry,” I added, seeing the look of disappointment cross her face. “Once we have enough credits to buy a contract, we’ll get one. After that, you’ll get experience points from every monster I kill.”

She crossed her arms, looking unconvinced. “And until then?”

I gave her a reassuring smile. “Until then, just hold out. I know it sounds selfish, and honestly, I hate it. But once we get to the middle floors, we’ll have the credits we need. And think about it—what do you think will happen when a level 1 gets experience from a level 30 monster?”

She blinked, her expression shifting as she started to grasp what I was getting at. “I’d level up like crazy!”

“Exactly,” I said, feeling a bit of my old gamer mindset kicking in. Back on Earth, we had a term for it—leeching.

It was when a lower-level player would tag along with a stronger one, absorbing high-level experience until they leveled up fast. That’s what we’d do once we had the means. “We’ll get you leveled up, and it’ll go fast.”

She nodded slowly, still a bit hesitant but clearly understanding the plan. “Alright,” she said finally. “But don’t think I’ll let you get away with being selfish for long.”

I chuckled, giving her a mock salute. “Promise. This grind is for both of us in the end.”