With his preparations complete, Levi took a deep breath. Mana flooded his body, and he vanished from the spot like an arrow shot from a bow.
Having memorized the maps, he reached the 6th Floor in less than thirty minutes. Starting from this floor, a "newbie killer" monster called the War Shadow begins to spawn. Their stats are a significant jump from previous floors, often catching first-timers off guard.
Despite his stats being high enough to rival a Level 2, Levi remained cautious. He knew that even weak monsters could kill a careless adventurer. When he encountered his first group of three War Shadows, he instinctively activated Mana Burst: En.
With a +100 stat boost from his sword and an additional +800 to Agility, Levi didn't even engage in melee. He maintained his distance, drew his shortbow, and notched two arrows. Frost emanated from the tips.
Thwip!
The first arrow pierced a War Shadow's head, the ice energy shattering it instantly. It dissolved into black ash. Almost simultaneously, he fired the second arrow held between his fingers. The second War Shadow fell.
The third monster was now five meters away. Levi could have finished it with another arrow, but he chose not to. Archery was great for the upper floors, but from the middle floors onward, monster hide becomes unnaturally tough. Special, expensive arrows would be required. Moreover, unlike a game, real arrows break. Relying solely on a bow meant he'd eventually be forced into a life-or-death melee when he ran out of ammo. It was better to master close combat now while he still had the advantage of superior stats.
(Unless, of course, I learn a powerful attack spell and become a backline mage later...)
The thought flashed by as Levi notched his Flying Sky Sword into the ground. When the War Shadow closed within three meters, he gripped the hilt and swung upward.
"Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu: Do-ryu-sen!" (Earth Dragon Flash)
Rocks and debris flew into the War Shadow's face, blinding it. Levi lunged, his blade moving in a blur of strikes.
"Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu: Ryu-so-sen!" (Dragon Nest Flash)
As they crossed paths, Levi calmly sheathed his sword. Behind him, the War Shadow dissolved into ash, just like its kin.
The battle over, Levi stepped forward and picked up the three magic stones.
In the Dungeon, the stronger the monster, the larger the magic stone it leaves behind.
According to Levi's estimates, that ten-second skirmish alone had earned him nearly 2,000 Valis. On average, a single War Shadow provided roughly 600 Valis in value. Fifty of them would equal his entire previous daily income! It was no wonder many adventurers risked their lives to push deeper into the Dungeon despite the danger. Wealth was a powerful motivator.
Because Levi possessed a "pay-to-win" cheat system, he knew that as long as he stayed alive, he would eventually reach the limits of what an adventurer could be—perhaps even crossing the boundary between human and God. Thus, he never felt the need to play the hero by taking on enemies far beyond his current level or seeking out desperate, life-or-death struggles.
His goal for today was simple: start with full buffs to handle one-on-one fights with War Shadows, then gradually reduce the buffs as long as victory remained certain, increase the number of enemies faced simultaneously, and finally, master the art of killing three or more War Shadows instantly with the most efficient movements possible.
While most adventurers in Orario lingered on the first five floors—leading to a severe shortage of monsters per person—the situation changed from the sixth floor onward. By rotating between three adjacent natural caves, Levi found that by noon, his inventory held over sixty magic stones from War Shadows alone. Including drops from other monsters like Goblins and Lizardmen, he calculated a total profit of over 40,000 Valis.
It looks like I'll be able to pull the Recurve Bow today and push my stats even higher, Levi thought with a smile. Fueled by motivation, he decided to expand his hunting radius slightly, hoping to time his rotation so that monsters in one cave would respawn just as he finished clearing the next.
It was a perfect plan in theory. Although there were fewer adventurers on the sixth floor, each person usually only laid claim to four or five caves. Not wanting to spark conflict over a few monsters, Levi stopped his expansion after securing two more adjacent grottos.
However, the Dungeon was never a place governed by order or morality. While Levi could suppress his greed due to his memories of a structured society in his past life, others saw a lone boy occupying a massive amount of resources and felt their dark side stir.
His longsword flashed across a War Shadow's neck, halting its charge. Levi leaned down, reaching for the fallen magic stone. In that split second, his mana, radiating into the surroundings through Mana Burst: Ran (Circle), flickered with a warning.
Without a moment's hesitation, Levi lunged into a roll to the right. Half a second later, with a sharp thwip, an arrow made of super-hard metal whistled through the space where he had just been standing.
From dozens of meters away, a low voice called out: "He's sharp! Abort, let's move!"