The next morning, Ren, accompanied by several soldiers, arrived at the police station only to find Leon meditating. He tried to sleep on the floor, but even that was still too comfortable. Since he also couldn’t hear the sound of the sea, he didn’t manage to relax.
“You are rather diligent, aren’t you?” Ren asked.
“... I don’t see how humans can survive in this world without diligence.” Leon got up and massaged his eyebrows. “What are the plans for today?”
“Like I said, we have two options, the safe and the dangerous option,” Ren said. “If you want to, we can go to the Imperial Capital in one week to sell the cores. At yesterday's pace, in a month or two, we will have the resources to challenge a dungeon with relative safety.”
“That is too long...” Leon said.
“I imagined you would say that... we can challenge a dungeon if we gather at least two hundred more cores,” Ren explained. “If you help us, the difficulty level should decrease a lot. However... it won’t be easy.”
“... What kind of dungeon you want to challenge?” Leon asked. “If you find the purple crystal, the ownership of the dungeon will go to you?”
“That is how usually is...” Ren crossed his arms. “The dungeon is localized in Hokkaido, very close to Sapporo. We will have to travel for a few days, but I doubt anyone will clear that dungeon anytime soon. The monsters we will find there are a bit troublesome, they are known as the Frost Dire Wolves.”
Against those types of monsters, the fire would be the best weapon. Magma Spear would probably be enough to kill them without letting anyone put themselves at risk. However, Leon didn’t know their numbers, and it looked Ren didn’t know either, so it was better for Leon to start practicing Fire Bullet as much as possible since it would take more than a few days to learn and master a new fire skill.
“Do we really need so many cores?” Leon asked. “How many days do you think it will take to clear such dungeon?”
“ A few, unlike this dungeon here, that dungeon is more like a maze,” Ren explained. “Things would be easier if we bring more soldiers, but I can’t leave the dungeon alone, and the port unprotected.”
“I see... how many will stay and how many will go with us?” Leon asked.
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“Both places needed to be protected during day and night, so I will leave twenty-four soldiers keeping an eye on the dungeon and sixty protecting the port,” Ren answered. “Twenty soldiers will go with us.”
It looked like clearing this second dungeon wouldn’t be a walk in the park, like it had been with the slimes dungeon. Regardless, Leon knew that Ren had only a few soldiers, but to think that their number could barely surpass one hundred... Considering that they would have to worry about supplies, skinning the monsters, and mapping the dungeon, perhaps only ten soldiers would help him. Leon couldn’t help but worry.
“I need to train the Fire Bullet like there is no tomorrow...”
Since Ren’s soldiers didn’t know what they were talking about, one decided to ask, and things got noisy when they heard that Ren wanted to challenge a dungeon. Despite being soldiers, they were quite satisfied with their current life. They had no sense of urgency... Ren gave a sermon to them, but they still didn’t look like they wanted to risk their lives challenging a dungeon that other powerful groups failed in conquering.
“I do need to train the Fire Bullet like there is no tomorrow...”
It looked like Ryoko was Ren’s assistant, Leon sighed when he noticed that. Although Ren was trying to look like he was working hard for the sake of others, he was taking advantage of his position by selecting a beautiful assistant. Regardless, he gave her the order to make a few preparations. She had to prepare vehicles, supplies, the soldiers who would go with them, and many other things during that day because they would depart tomorrow morning.
During the rest of the day, Leon hunted the big slimes, and Ren collected the cores. This time they explored that world a little more since they needed at least two hundred more cores. However, they didn’t go far because they couldn’t see anything in the distance—only an endless wasteland in all directions. In order not to get lost, they only flew for a few kilometers in a straight line and then returned to the starting point. Thanks to that, at the end of the day, they obtained one hundred twelve more cores than they needed. This time Leon decided to keep one and try to learn how to absorb, but like always, Leon had a feeling that things wouldn’t be that easy... it never was.
The next day, Leon was observing the vehicles they would use with his eyes wide open. Although he didn’t see any, the port had a few vehicles aside from wood boats. They had a few cargo trucks, and everyone who would participate in the conquest of the dungeon would be transported in those. Fuel was something precious now, so personal cars were non-existent.
Ren was driving the vehicle, and Ryoko was his navigator, so Leon was being stared by Ren’s men on the cargo compartment. Those guys were the types who wouldn’t listen to words alone; they were a troublesome bunch. However, they stopped looking at him with their displeased eyes when he started to practice the Fire Bullets non-stop. The projectile was small, but it was enough to burn the ground that it hit completely. When the soldiers noticed the power behind Leon’s spells and his seemingly unlimited amount of mana, they decided to behave themselves. That stranger wasn’t someone they should mess with.