Today is the 26th day of the second month, Faris and I are starting to get used to the place as we enter into our usual morning preparation routine and head to the guild as dawn arrives. A little while ago, I would've never imagined I would be a morning person but I guess having no internet or any form of media will naturally force you to sleep early with nothing better to do.

I head straight to the training ground since I already sold my loot yesterday.

"Morning instructor Morgan," Both Faris and I say with a slight bow.

"Oh, aren't you guys early today, Aster and Faris."

"Yea... wanted to get started earlier today, oh and can we also start that practice we talked about before, my magic level went up a bit yesterday so I should be able to do it soon."

Hunting on the fourth floor is starting to give me some decent experience again.

Human Male Age: 18

Magic Level:

  Water Lv.13

  Electric Lv. 11

  Light Lv. 2

  Fire Lv. 1

  Earth Lv. 1

  Wind Lv.1

  Healing Lv. 1

  Dark Lv. 1

  Nature Lv.1

Unique Magic:

   Identify

"Sounds like you've been progressing smoothly, don't worry it's been prepared, we can start whenever the young lady would like."

"Okay, let's get started right away. If you'd please Faris."

"Leave it to me, master."

The special training I'll be starting today isn't anything special, I've been wanting to increase my reaction time with ice shield to defend against ambushes especially since we're fighting goblins equipped with bows now. Morgan prepared a training bow with round-tipped arrows, and I'm having Faris shoot at me randomly in the middle of spars, it's not perfect but it's a start.

---

I'm glad we splurged on our armors because that barely hurt being hit by those arrows, I only managed to block like two arrows out of over 50. Maybe some more practice and another level in water magic and I can get at least half.

Magic control practice is important but without the levels to back it up, it'd be like having technique but with the strength of a child. That's why we are once again heading straight to the fourth floor of Greens Filth.

We get into our groove and start hunting group after group of goblins for the entire morning, getting lost track of time due to constantly finding new prey. We passed our usual lunchtime for probably over an hour, the hands on my new pocket-watch points to 12:30 pm, I'm glad at least the twenty-four-hour time is the same as my old world.

"Faris, it doesn't seem like we'll be finding the way to the next level today, let's head back."

"Master, just one more group, they're are nearby," Faris says with an earnest expression

"...Fine." I just can't win against my Faris sometimes.

We proceed to the area Faris indicates, finding half a dozen goblins all moving away from us. They usually sit around waiting for the noises from their traps triggering on this floor so they shouldn't be running away from us. Let's just end this quickly, my stomach is getting upset at me.

We speed up to catch up to them and launch a surprise,  taking out their two archers first. I launch two ice spears to the back of their heads while Faris sends two daggers flying at another two unsuspecting goblins. Time to get some extra spear practice in, I charge at the remaining two goblins while Faris keeps a close distance but leaves them to me, this floor still isn't giving her any good experience anyway.

I rely on only spearmanship and fight the two goblins and manage to finish them off after a few minutes. Compared to before I actually know how to wield a weapon now, I'm just weaker physically to enhancers but against goblins, I'm more than enough.

"Master, there's the scent of blood coming from where the goblins were headed."

I try to catch the scent but the smell of blood is already everywhere around me, unable to find the source. We really should get someone with good detection skills to join our party later, wonder if they'll be any slaves like that at the auction.

"Might as well check it out, let's go."

We walk to the goblin's destination and it didn't take long before finding what their goal was. Standing in front of us is a pitfall trap someone triggered with the smell of fresh blood drifting along, we head over to check what got caught by this elementary trap to find someone lying unconscious at the bottom. He looks to be a teenager no older than 18 like the current me but with neat short red hair, fit athletic build, unblemished white skin, and a pretty boy face. The back of his hands looks smooth like a girl which makes me think he's from a good family where he didn't have to do any serious labor throughout his life. Though the most starking thing in his appearance right now is the wooden stake impaling his left calf right now, constantly oozing blood.

"...Master, what should we do with him..." Faris gives me a worried look.

"...Sigh, it won't let me sleep peacefully at night if we leave him here, we'll save him but I'm not doing it for free, I'm taking any cash he has on him."

Adventurers usually don't save each other for free anyways, some even take the opportunity to finish them off to claim all their belongings, I at least won't go that far.

I carefully jump down into the pitfall with the unconscious guy, being right next to him, I notice his iron guild badge with two bright red spots on them, a rank two adventurer like the current me. It seems about right if he's stupid enough to fall for traps like these. I quickly yank his foot away from the wooden stake impaling him.

"AHHHH WHAT THE FUUCCK." The red-haired man screams awake.

Ignoring him I bring out a piece of cloth and soak it in steaming hot water I conjured before washing his wounds.

"THAT HURTS, WHO ARE YOU?"

"Shut up and stay still."

I retrieve some clean bandages from my space ring while pretending to take it out from my satchel before casting a healing spell and wrapping up his wounds.

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"You're lucky we found you or you'd be goblin lunch by now."

"...Thank you, my name's Kou, I'll definitely pay you back."

"That's right you will, I'll be taking all the cash you have on you."

"...Yo---"

"Or I can leave you here too if you'd like."

"...Thank... you... for your help." Kou says with defeat as he hands me his purse.

"Ohhh, you're pretty rich Kou, happy to be of service to you." The purse contains at least 50 gold coins.

I carry Kou on my back and conjure a few footholds from my ice and climbs out of the pitfall.

"Faris, let's try to avoid any monsters while we head out with our guest here."

"Hm, I'll be the frontline if we get into any fights master."

"Oh, your name is Faris? I'm Kou, a pleasure to meet you!" Kou's entire person suddenly lights up as if he's not injured at all.

"Hmmm? Pleasure to meet you too." Confused at the outburst, Faris bows politely.

"OWWWW, what the fuck man? Kou screams out in pain from me grabbing hard onto his wounds.

"Ooops, my hand slipped."

"..."

---

We managed to slip through all the goblins and reach it back to the exit without any accidents happening.

"Can you bring me back to my companions over there, they're waiting for me." As soon as we leave the dungeon Kou directs us to one of the camps outside.

"You've got companions and they just left you in the dungeon alone?" Faris and I both give him a pitying gaze as I finish saying that.

"No, no, I entered the dungeon alone."

"What? Why would you do that?"

"A real man fights alone! How can I let my precious companions go through the hardships in the dungeon, you should be protecting them and do all the fighting yourself!" Kou passionately spews out his beliefs while constantly switching between looking at Faris with pity and glaring at me.

Perhaps I should've left this fucking pretty boy to die...

We head to where the scumbag directs us and find a huge tent that could probably fit dozens of people with two carriages parked neatly next to it.

"Caroline, Karen, anyone there?" Kou starts shouting at the tent.

Moments later the folds to the tent open and figure after figure steps out until a total of 8 girls varying from our age to mid-twenties appear. They all have different colored hair like a rainbow but they are all humans if you look carefully.

"Kou! What happened." One of the girls I presume to be either Caroline or Karen steps forward to take Kou off my back and support him while all the girls put on a worried expression.

"Nothing too serious, just need to see a healer and I'll be fine by dinner time! Would one of you kindly go grab some coins for me, it seems I've used all the change on me to hire these adventurers to give me a hand." He may have worded it politely but the girls still glare at me with hostile looks.

"Well, we'll be on our way, hope to do business with you again soon, I'm sure you'll need it."

"...Wait! That girl, Faris, she's your slave right?" Kou says while grabbing onto my arm.

"None of your business, farewell." I brush his hand away and starts leaving.

"I'll buy her freedom back, I won't let such a cute girl be with someone like you who forces her to fight against her will, give me a price, I'll be sure to give you enough to satisfy you!"

I ignore him and pull Faris along to get out of here quickly. The fucker wants to buy my Faris? I knew I shouldn't have saved him.

I quicken my pace toward the food stalls area, I want to quickly finish our meal and head back into the dungeon.

"Master... don't worry, I won't leave you."

"Who said I'd be worried the words of a brat like him?"

"You're gripping too tightly master, it hurts."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you... it's just... people like him piss me off." Noticing how tightly I was still gripping Faris's arm, I quickly release her while apologizing.

"It's fine master, we'll continue to be together, right?" Faris says while drawing closer to give me a hug.

"Yep, I won't let you go." I give my Faris a kiss on her cheeks.

---

After a quick meal, we head straight back to hunt on the fourth floor of Greens Filth. Time to relieve some stress on these goblins, just thinking about that guy from earlier makes my blood boil.

I don't hold back and unleash ice lances continuously while swinging my spear around to slit the throats of the goblins around me. I'm pretty confident that my skills are near the top in the iron class right now even with my magic alone, I can't wait to win the iron badge tournament and win another platinum coin.

Our hunt continues for a while before we stumble to the familiar door engraved with the picture of the Weycorus tree.

"Seems like we got lucky and found the way to the next level this time."

"Yep, let's reach the next floor today, master!"

We enter the door which instantly alerts Faris to a delayed arrow trap waiting for us inside. Traps are going to be a problem if they get more numerous and sophisticated on the later floors, especially if we run into them in the middle of a fight, luckily I have Faris. Bypassing the trap, we continue down a narrow corridor straight into the cave, following along the ball of light I created.

There weren't anymore traps and we smoothly reached out of the bottleneck corridor into the wide area of the bottle; an open space that's pitch dark outside the range of my light magic. Sensing that this is probably the boss room, I send out a few more ball of lights in different directions.

"AWOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Suddenly a loud howl resonates doubly strong within this enclosed cave as the ground vibrates a little. A giant wolf standing five meters tall walks out with while staring at us, his dark fur almost camouflages him into the darkness if not for his brightly glowing yellow eyes.

"I guess it ain't goblins this time, spread out, I'll draw his attention."

"Be careful master," Faris says while swiftly moving away.

I shoot a water stream and an ice lance towards the wolf at the same time which prompts the wolf to swiftly lunge to the side before charging straight at me. This guy is sure fast for being a giant.

The wolf leaps at me while baring his fangs, I summon an ice shield and rolls to the side and freezes the ground around at the same time. The wolf crushes the ice shield with his strong jaws but has trouble balancing himself from the sudden slippery floor, giving me an opportunity to stab out at his abdomen while I spot Faris doing the same from the other side. I try to thrust my spear as deep as possible into the wolf but it gets stopped by either his fats or muscle and before I can try to twist the spear further in, the wolf violently jerks away from our attacks.

"Master, his defense is too strong for me to do much damage without aiming for his vitals."

"My spear can't pierce him either, I'll try to immobilize him for you to aim for his head while I fire off a stronger spell."

The wolf is bleeding from our attacks earlier but it doesn't seem to be affecting his movements at all. He takes a few steps to get used to the ice and once again lunges at me, I conjure an ice shield in between us again to block his charge and vision, then shoot off another ice lance aimed at his eyes while jumping to the side. The ice lance misses its mark and sticks itself into the side of the wolf's neck, the wounds shallow and only causes more bleeding for the wolf.

Faris takes this chance to slice at his feet, trying to hamstring him. The wolf retreats while limping to one side, slowing down his movements.

"Nice, let's do that again until he can't move."

The wolf seems hesitant to charge at me again and keeps his distance. I'll come to you then if you won't move.

I channel into one large ice lance while charging at him, only firing once I get close enough to deem it impossible to dodge. The wolf tries to dodge to the side by the ice lance nails into his hips, hitting the part where his left hind leg connects with his body. I take this chance and rush up to his injured leg and stab my spear in before channeling an electric current into the tip of my spear, immobilizing the wolf.

"Get him, Faris."

Faris jump in from the side onto his head, stabbing her short sword down into his eye. The wolf violently spasms and somehow manages to swing his body around to throw Faris and me away. Fuck, I guess the wound was too shallow and didn't reach his brain. In his fury, the wolf charges at Faris.

"Run towards me, I'll finish him off.

Faris does as instructed and runs straight toward me, I summon a large ice shield and place it in the wolf's way as soon as Faris gets behind me. The wolf angrily charges the shield and manages to break through only to be greeted by me landing on his head. I stab into his forehead that is only able to penetrate his skin and send an electric current straight into him again while I charge for a lightning bolt. My spell is complete after what seems to be forever and I fire it straight down at him from the tip of my spear embedded into his head. The lightning pierces through him as he comes collapses down onto the ground.

Got him.

"That was harder than I expected, bladed weapons don't seem too effective against him."

"Yeah, my short sword barely managed to pierce through his skin."

We managed to collect the mana crystal from him and thankfully, we got a medium quality crystal for our trouble. We end the day there having reached the next floor and start returning to town.

I'll need to give extra love to my Faris today to wash off the bad taste I got left with from the encounter with Kou,

I hope I'll never see him again.