"Then we'll first descend to the 4th floor to acclimatize, then proceed directly to the 7th floor," Alicia took on the role of team leader.
Ais was too young; although she had reached the peak of level 2, she still lacked Alicia's seasoned experience.
Within the team, Noah and Taro were level 1, while Ais and Alicia were level 2.
Thus, the team composition was as follows: Taro and Ais served as vanguards, Alicia as a magician naturally took the rear offensive position, and finally Noah acted as the team's supporter.
Supporters were non-combat personnel who entered the Dungeon alongside adventurers - in principle, at least.
In practice, some supporters would assist adventurers by providing distractions against monsters, reducing combat difficulty and improving exploration efficiency.
For supporters, their main duties generally fell into two categories: luggage carrying and drop item collection.
They could be understood as living mobile warehouses and loot collectors.
When adventurers engaged in life-or-death battles with monsters, the items they could carry were extremely limited.
To avoid affecting combat performance, they could only bring one or two small packs at most.
After defeating monsters, they also had to spend considerable time searching for scattered magic stones dropped by the slain creatures.
To improve exploration efficiency and maximize gains under these circumstances, supporters became essential.
By having non-combat supporters handle luggage, adventurers could focus entirely on fighting, while dropped items were collected by supporters, saving significant time.
Although supporters required payment, the improved efficiency brought benefits beyond monetary gains.
That's right - simply put, experience points.
Defeating more monsters within the same timeframe naturally led to greater proficiency growth.
For ambitious adventurers, monetary rewards couldn't compare to strength improvement.
Currently, Noah was carrying a backpack several times his own size, positioned toward the rear.
In the upper floors, supporters only needed to follow behind adventurers since defeated monsters took a long time to respawn.
Staying at the back ensured safety and facilitated magic stone collection.
...
For some reason, Ais seemed to be giving him the cold shoulder, deliberately ignoring him.
'Was the Sword Princess such a brat when she was young?'
Not just a brat, but also a woman - incomprehensible and truly baffling!
After just a few days apart, her attitude had changed so dramatically from what he previously knew.
Had he accidentally angered her?
How troublesome.
His mind kept wandering to these thoughts, but they were currently in the Dungeon.
Distraction could lead to unfortunate consequences.
Though he told Taro this was his first time entering the Dungeon and he felt excited, the reality was completely opposite.
This strangeness even Noah himself couldn't understand.
'Strange - this was indeed my first time entering the Dungeon, so why did i feel this sense of normalcy, as if i had long adapted to the Dungeon as adventures?'
Could this also be an effect of Truth Seeker?
Not just weapon experience, but even Dungeon adventure experience had been acquired?
Suddenly, Alicia raised her hand, halting the group's advance.
"Wait, monsters ahead."
Monsters finally appearing!
Nearly twenty minutes had passed since they entered the first floor of the Dungeon and only now had they finally encountered monsters.
Should this be expected of the first floor? The monster respawn rate was absurdly slow.
"Goblins. Three of them."
Goblins.
The quintessential representative enemy.
Noah looked at the three grotesque monsters, yet the sense of composure within him remained unshaken.
Though this was clearly his first time facing monsters directly, even he felt somewhat disappointed by his own reaction.
He felt no fear, no tension.
"Alright, I'm going in!"
Taro roared, unsheathing the great axe from his back as he prepared to charge.
Mere first-floor monsters—he believed he could take on ten without difficulty.
But another figure moved faster.
Almost before Taro's words had fully left his mouth, that figure swept through the goblins like a swift gale.
In an instant, all three goblins let out simultaneous shrieks before collapsing and dissipating into dust.
'So fast!' Noah's eyes widened slightly as he watched the girl's composed demeanor.
He hadn't even seen her draw the sword from her waist, yet all three goblins had been struck simultaneously, each with a fatal blow.
Though it was a case of level suppression, her decisiveness and lightning speed left him deeply impressed.
It also reminded him of more about the girl.
Ais's skill, Avenger.
Born from hatred toward monsters, the girl's wish, born from past events, was to kill every monster before her.
Driven by this hatred, she desperately strove to become stronger and, years later, became a first-class adventurer above Level 5, known as Orario's strongest swordswoman, the Sword Princess.
"Ais, you charged ahead alone again! Finn told you, didn't he? Stay calm when encountering monsters! It's fine now in the upper floors, but if you do this in the middle floors, it'll be dangerous!"
Alicia sternly admonished the girl.
Ais seemed to hear her, but her expression remained completely unchanged.
It was unclear if the warning had registered, though most likely it hadn't.
'She's truly a reckless child.'
Noah reaffirmed his earlier assumption.
His first encounter with monsters in the Dungeon, and the first battle ended in the blink of an eye.
Noah walked over to where the goblins had been defeated, crouched down and picked up three magic stones from the ground.
Magic stones, the core of monsters and their absolute weak point.
No matter how powerful a monster is, it would die instantly if its magic stone was destroyed.
Of course, adventurers usually didn't aim for the magic stones in combat, as they were their primary source of income.
A single goblin's magic stone like this varied slightly in price based on size, but generally ranged from 300 to 400 valis.
With three goblins defeated and all three magic stones recovered, they had already earned about 1200 valis.
Money really does come fast in the Dungeon.