Ignoring his complaints, she just started rummaging through the things in his room.
In the end, Noah still lost to this captain.
'Was this woman a damn child?'
'Which one of them was actually the adult here?'
"Alright, alright, I get it. So, what the hell did you want to talk about?"
"Huh?" Tsubaki was momentarily stunned, then laughed. "Finally willing to listen to me? Actually, I've been planning to head down to the 37th floor recently to hunt for some unique materials."
'Hm? The 37th floor?' Noah paused what he was doing.
"Material gathering?"
"Yeah, to forge... some things." Tsubaki scratched her cheek, totally hiding the fact that she wanted to craft equipment that would surpass the badass magic sword Noah had made.
There's always competition among blacksmiths.
As the captain, if she looked too fixated on a junior who had only joined the Familia a year ago, it might cause some unnecessary misunderstandings.
But it was simply her pure desire.
A drive to create something equal to, no, even better than his masterpiece.
This was the absolute pride of Orario's top blacksmith, the One-Eyed Master Smith, 'Cyclops'.
"And so, actually, I wanted to ask you—while I'm down in the Dungeon, could you help take care of my workshop?"
Noah: "..."
The boy just lowered his head in silence, seemingly pondering something.
Seeing him not respond, Tsubaki grew anxious. "Not all of them! I've already asked the other Familia members to handle workshops one through three. You just need to take care of workshop number four. Of course, I won't make you do it for free—if I find any good materials, I'll throw some your way!"
'Hmm.... the 37th floor.'
Known as the "White Palace," this deep layer was a literal hell infinitely more dangerous than the middle or lower floors.
'Wait, that raises a question.'
"Tsubaki, has our Familia's expedition team even ever reached the 37th floor before?"
The Hephaestus Familia was a production-oriented commercial Familia.
According to the Guild's rules, they weren't subject to mandatory expedition orders.
On top of that, the members primarily focused on blacksmithing.
Even though they had plenty of second-tier adventurers sitting at Level 3, their actual Dungeon exploration couldn't even compare to the exploration-focused Familias.
Familias were categorized by rank and type, which were registered with the Guild the moment they were established.
Exploration-type Familias, once they hit D-rank, would receive mandatory missions from the Guild—known as "Expeditions."
Expeditions required hitting certain results to be considered successful.
If an expedition failed, the Familia would get slapped with a penalty, potentially losing half of its total assets!
Whether it was a large or small Familia, losing half their shit would basically mean the end of them.
Expedition achievements included exploring undiscovered areas, unlocking new floors, defeating floor bosses, or discovering brand-new gathering spots and mineral veins.
In short, it was no simple task.
After all, down in the Dungeon, just surviving required all your effort, let alone accomplishing specific objectives.
The risks were so high that a Familia could potentially be completely crippled by them.
The Hephaestus Familia really shouldn't have undertaken those kinds of expeditions before.
"No, we haven't. But we're blacksmiths—there are plenty of Familias who want us to tag along with them into the Dungeon."
"A joint expedition?"
"Hahaha, with just me going alone, can it really be called a joint union? It's more like cooperation, something like external support, right?" Tsubaki placed her hands on her hips, looking pretty proud of herself.
'I see.'
Battling in the Dungeon is essentially a brutal war of attrition.
It completely drains your stamina and willpower, and also wears down your equipment and consumables.
If the weapons aren't forged with durandal indestructible properties, their performance will noticeably drop after a certain number of battles.
Without a blacksmith tagging along with the party, you'd have to carry a massive amount of spare weapons and use them selectively during combat.
Even first-class adventurers mostly have only one main weapon, with their backup gear typically being second-rate or even worse.
For instance, the first-class weapons forged by Tsubaki cost as much as 100 million valis.
At such a bullshit exorbitant price, wanting to prepare several backups is something even the Loki Familia couldn't afford.
So, as long as a blacksmith accompanies the exploration team, it should be totally fine.
Even if the gear wears down, it can be repaired immediately during the breaks after battles, without screwing up any subsequent operations.
This way, they can engage in prolonged combat and significantly boost their gains.
Noah pondered for a second before suddenly asking, "So, who are the other parties involved?"
Tsubaki patted the muscles on her arm and replied, "The Loki Familia!"
She scratched her head sheepishly and explained, "Well, even though a ton of Familias want me to accompany them, the Dungeon is a life-or-death place. Even though I'm a Level 5, I still want to pick the most reliable companions."
This outcome wasn't surprising to Noah at all.
There are only a handful of Familias in all of Orario actually capable of descending to the 37th floor for material gathering.
On top of that, among those few Familias, most have deep secrets that absolutely cannot be revealed to outsiders.
To prevent those secrets from being exposed, it's unthinkable to just let members of other Familias join the exploration.
'If it's that Familia, then...'
"Sorry, Tsubaki, let's put the workshop aside for now. Instead, I have a favor to ask of you." Noah smiled slightly.
He ran his hand over the design blueprint of the "Empowerment Protocol," his eyes glinting.
The 37th floor, the White Palace.
For ninety percent of the Familias in the city, it would be a suicidal adventure with little to no chance of survival.
However, the Loki Familia is definitely not included in that ninety percent.
With three Level 6 adventurers, multiple Level 5s, and Level 4 high-ranking adventurers, exploring the 37th floor is nothing more than a stroll in the park for them.
Still, it's highly unlikely that the Loki Familia would dispatch their true core members for this.
Otherwise, they wouldn't be descending only to the 37th floor.
Their goal... is probably just to train the newer generation of adventurers.
But without a doubt, there will absolutely be "bodyguards" accompanying them.
At least one Level 6 adventurer should be tagging along.
The safety aspect is greatly assured.
This is a good opportunity since his crazy ideas could finally be verified.
"Hey, Tsubaki, when is the departure time?"
"Ah, three days from now, in the morning. Why do you ask?"
'Three days.'
'The timeline is a bit tight, but it's enough.'
Noah's lips curved into a slight smile as he stared right at Tsubaki and said.
"I'm going too, to the 37th floor!"
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