After the battle ended, the Red Dragon Company simply made camp on the spot.
The other adventuring companies that arrived shortly afterward, after speaking with Gauss and the others, also set up camp around the outer edge.
It could not be helped. Strength ruled everything. At least in the labyrinth at this moment, Gauss was the one calling the shots, and everyone else could only trail behind him and hope to share in a few scraps. So they had no choice but to read the room and act accordingly.
If, back on the fourth floor, the way Gauss displayed his strength had still mostly come through scout reports and the crystal recordings they brought back, then what happened on the fifth floor was different. This time, every adventuring company present had witnessed him killing the floor lord with their own eyes.
And after seeing it firsthand, they understood far more clearly just how overwhelming Gauss's strength was compared to that of ordinary adventurers.
Not a single company leader present dared challenge him head-on. Even if all their high-end combatants were tied together into one force, they probably still would not come away with much.
Transcendent-level battle power was a sharp, undeniable dividing line.
A flock of sheep could never threaten a tiger, no matter how many of them gathered.
What was more, even if sheer numbers really could create that "many hands make light work" effect, all of them knew the truth in their hearts: before they could even scrape together a final victory, most of them would already have been burned away like firewood.
No one was willing to pay for victory with their own life.
So that sort of desperate calculation—trying to weigh both sides on paper—was doomed to remain just empty talk.
Since they could not afford to provoke him, the only option left was to put away their pride.
Adventurers were never defined by stubborn bravado. Being able to bend when needed was what actually let someone go far.
Before entering the fifth floor, the higher-ups of every company had already held internal meetings and drilled one thing into their people: under no circumstances were they to do something stupid, act like they had the numbers on their side, and start unnecessary conflict with the Red Dragon Company the way they might with other adventurers. If that happened, not only would the company leaders be unable to protect them, they would probably have to scold and punish them personally.
Before long, the main tents of the various adventuring companies all received invitations from Gauss.
He invited them to gather in the Red Dragon Company's camp and discuss the exploration of the fifth floor.
Normally, a large-scale meeting like this—bringing together so many companies and powerful adventuring teams—would be nearly impossible to organize in a place like the labyrinth.
After all, everyone's strength was roughly in the same range. There was usually no one with enough weight to actually lead.
And even if they somehow managed to gather together, it was hard to imagine any real outcome coming of it. Human nature was greedy, and everyone would inevitably try to fight for more benefits for their own team.
In the end, it would usually just break up on bad terms.
But since the invitation came from Gauss, every company that received it immediately took it seriously.
In terms of pure strength, Gauss himself already possessed battle power on the transcendent level. He was someone none of them could afford to offend. Even if a few of the companies here still had transcendent Commanders who simply had not entered the labyrinth themselves, the strength Gauss had displayed was clearly not much weaker than theirs.
And if they looked at his talent rather than only his current power, then this young man—who could casually leap across whole levels and wield such absurd force—was even more frightening. No one could guess how much further ahead he was than almost everyone else.
He had not even truly reached the transcendent tier yet, and still already fought on that level. If he ever did step into that realm for real, then what?
And transcendent clearly would not be his limit. Even the people who were least optimistic about him did not actually believe someone like Gauss would stop there. For a talent like him, transcendent could only ever be a stop along the way. Even if, for ordinary people like them, that stage was already the highest peak they could dream of.
At that moment, in Ironhand Brotherhood's Camp, its president George Bell was still adjusting his clothes. He even turned to the woman beside him to ask her opinion.
She leaned in and gently straightened his collar for him.
After receiving the same positive feedback she always gave, George caught a whiff of her perfume and felt himself calm a little.
To be honest, it had been a long time since he had felt this constrained.
As a Level 10 professional, he had long since reached the highest point most ordinary people could even imagine. Even direct descendants of noble families in the city would still give someone like him a certain amount of face.
The only people who could make him nervous were those who were plainly stronger than him.
The true rulers behind the city's countless trades. Certain monsters among transcendent-level powerhouses. He had once been fortunate enough to witness one of them take action.
The Commander of Barry's most prestigious adventuring company, Golden Company—Wes August, known as the String That Cuts the Sky.
George had watched from more than ten kilometers away, and even at that distance, the arrow that man loosed had filled him with a pressure so overwhelming it felt like it could destroy the world.
And it nearly did. When the arrow landed, an entire mountainside simply collapsed, leaving behind a grotesque, colossal void.
The strongest among the transcendent could already reshape the terrain itself with ease.
Compared to someone like that, people like George—men called heroes by the public, envied by countless ordinary folk—were probably no more significant than insects. They might not even be worth a single attack.
Even now, George still could not truly understand that kind of power. Like a frog at the bottom of a well trying to imagine the moon in the sky, he could only glimpse it in part. But ever since that experience, having seen what real strength looked like, he had learned to rein in his pride and had become much more restrained in the way he carried himself.
And in his eyes, even though Gauss was still very far from that highest level of transcendent monster, he had already begun to show a hint of that same style.
Especially that impossible space magic. George had seen a few others use similar techniques before, but what Gauss did was on a completely different level. Gauss's spatial movement looked like instant teleportation—there was simply no reaction time at all.
Other spellcasters, even those with a gift for such things, always showed clear flaws when they used spatial magic: long preparation times, clumsy real combat application, and so on.
But Gauss's gift for spatial magic, like his general magical talent, crushed that of ordinary people.
As for the torrential rain of magic missiles, the Bigby's Hand that could casually smash apart dozens of meters of terrain, and the pillar of light that annihilated anything caught within it—when those were placed in the hands of someone who could also teleport, they became terrifying.
A highly mobile, wildly versatile spellcaster who also possessed defense and close-quarters power that outclassed most warriors—George could not see a single weakness in him.
The only thing he could imagine beating Gauss was someone who had clearly surpassed his entire level and dropped in from above.
After finishing with his clothing, George Bell stepped out of his tent, his mood complicated.
Come to think of it, he had actually been one of the very first adventuring company leaders to come into contact with Gauss. When Gauss first arrived on the fourth floor, George's company had happened to be resting near the exit camp.
At the time, George had not realized how strong this young-looking Commander really was. He had even gotten the impression that Gauss was rash when the Red Dragon Company had rushed out to explore.
He had never expected the reversal to come so fast.
In the end, Gauss's "recklessness" had just been confidence in his own power.
After that, although George had wanted to get to know him better, the timing had never quite lined up. Strictly speaking, this meeting was the first real encounter they had had since parting the last time.
George did not bring many people. Only two subordinates followed him.
Along the way, the other adventuring companies were much the same.
Everyone nodded at one another, then headed together toward the Red Dragon Company's camp.
The atmosphere did not feel much like a negotiation between companies.
It felt more like attending the meeting of some superior authority.
And yet no one found that strange.
The Red Dragon Company's people worked quickly. The meeting area had already been prepared in a very classic layout.
There were two rows of seats lining either side of a central aisle, while the seat at the front had clearly been reserved for Gauss.
Dozens of people packed into one place made for a lively scene.
Some of the company leaders who were relatively friendly with one another were already standing together in small groups, chatting.
The fifth floor was vast, and unlike the fourth, it was still almost completely unexplored.
If the person hosting the meeting had been anyone other than Gauss of the Red Dragon Company, these people would probably have long since abandoned the idea and rushed off on their own to explore. For them, actual resources and treasure mattered far more than a stranger's face or reputation.
Then, suddenly, a figure appeared at the entrance.
The moment he stepped inside, everyone's eyes drifted toward him almost instinctively, as though he had some kind of force that made him impossible not to notice, even in a crowded room.
Freshly washed, Gauss wore only a very plain, lightweight white shirt and a pair of loose black trousers. The material looked ordinary. Compared to what most of the others wore, the outfit was practically shabby.
And yet on him, it somehow carried a strange power.
Simple. Clean. Almost faintly luminous.
It looked like the finest, most luxurious attire, but without any of the fuss or ostentation.
If he had walked out of the woods at night dressed like that, an ordinary person might well have mistaken him for some god striding across the earth.
The moment Gauss entered, the sound of conversation in the room vanished.
It was instinctive.
Like birds in a forest suddenly going silent when a hawk appeared overhead.
But once they caught themselves, smiles quickly spread across their faces, and several people hurried over to greet him.
"Commander Gauss, your bearing is truly enviable."
"To be honest, I've spent my whole life admiring very few people. You definitely count as one."
"Exactly. Before I came, I was still worried whether the fifth floor would be too much. But with Commander Gauss here, I can finally relax."
"You flatter me."
Voices overlapped one after another.
At first, a few people were too self-conscious to speak first, but once they saw others—normally far prouder than they were—stepping up without hesitation, they hurried over too, if only to make sure Gauss remembered their faces.
"President George, we meet again. Thank you for the information and warning you gave us earlier."
When George Bell stepped forward to greet him, Gauss beat him to it.
He had a fairly good impression of George. Back when Gauss had first arrived on the fourth floor, George had warned him not to rush into exploration. Even though George had been mistaken, Gauss had sensed that his intentions at the time were not bad.
George froze for a moment, then quickly reached out and shook Gauss's hand.
"You're too kind, Commander Gauss. I'm just glad you didn't mind my earlier meddling."
He looked a little embarrassed.
From Gauss's position, George imagined he probably looked ridiculous now.
"Of course not." Gauss smiled and shook his head. His expression was calm and easy, the sort that made people trust him instinctively.
By nature, he really was not an arrogant or domineering person. Unless someone had bad character or went out of their way to provoke him, he was always inclined toward goodwill.
That was because he himself had climbed up from the lowest rung of adventuring, without anyone ever lifting him up. He understood better than most how hard-earned his current strength and his companions truly were.
There was no need to ruin someone's dignity for a fleeting sense of satisfaction, or just to establish dominance. After all, the power he had already displayed was proof enough of his standing.
Besides, no person ever truly existed alone. Behind everyone there were hidden networks of relationships.
The most unassuming person could turn out to be connected to someone extremely troublesome.
So in most cases, it was better to remain friendly.
That wasn't weakness, of course. If someone insisted on causing trouble for him, Gauss would still strike back quickly and decisively, and he would make sure to clean up every root and branch of the problem.
The two exchanged a few more words.
Soon afterward, everyone began taking their seats.
Gauss sat down in the main seat without ceremony. The others, after the usual round of politeness, followed suit.
Then the formal exploratory meeting for the fifth floor—organized under the lead of the Red Dragon Company—officially began.
Ivan acted as assistant, helping move the discussion through each topic.
The first point, naturally, was the disposal of the countless monster corpses Gauss and his people had accumulated.
The Red Dragon Company simply did not have enough logistics personnel to handle them all.
And considering the time involved, it made far more sense for them to keep pushing deeper into the fifth floor instead of spending days processing materials.
So, just as on the fourth floor, Gauss intended to contract out a large portion of the work.
Many of the other companies had far more support personnel on hand. Even if they had no particular desire to do Gauss a favor, they were still perfectly willing to take over a profitable job like this.
Once the materials were roughly processed and shipped out to familiar merchants outside, the returns would be substantial.
No one ever disliked money.
The only question was how many gold coins each company was willing to spend to take over a share of those several thousand corpses.
A sort of bidding war unfolded right there on the spot.
In the end, George and the Ironhand Brotherhood secured the largest share with the highest offer.
Even Gauss found that a little surprising.
But when he thought it through, it made sense.
On the highest end of combat power, Ironhand Brotherhood lagged behind the very strongest groups. But their base numbers were large, and they had the manpower and infrastructure to process, transport, and distribute the materials.
On top of that, George—unlike some of the Vice Commanders present—had almost complete authority within his own organization.
And given that he also seemed to want to build a better relationship with Gauss, it was no surprise he was willing to bid generously.
George even asked whether Gauss had any familiar merchants in Barry.
After thinking for a moment, Gauss realized he actually did.
Not a large one, though. It was Golden Beak Trading, the commercial house belonging to one of his earliest companions—Hailier's family.
After a brief hesitation, he recommended Golden Beak to George.
After all, money was money. If someone was going to profit, it might as well be an old teammate.
George carefully committed both the name Golden Beak Trading and the name Hailier to memory, planning to instruct his company's external trade division to handle them properly once he returned.
Though to be honest, he had never heard of that merchant house before.
For the time being, he could only chalk that up to his own lack of knowledge. After all, anyone who had enough standing to be connected to Gauss had to be one of Barry's truly powerful merchant houses.