The next day at Airmid's clinic, Airmid unwrapped the bandages from Nero's arm that had been replaced with proper bandages that morning with Aurathia's help
"So" Airmid said with a slightly annoyed tone "want to explain to me how, on a week where you were supposed to be recovering you now somehow come to me smelling of roses and covered in cuts"
"I um, fell into a rose bush on my way here, climbing down the cliff that I live at the top of isn't as easy with one arm as I wanted to get your all clear before I start using my arm again" Nero lied
"And what about the burn marks?" Airmid continued
"Well I'm used to cooking and it's not as easy with just one hand" Nero lied again, avoiding eye contact with Airmid who didn't seem to be buying it
"Well so long as they are only cuts and minor burns it is fine" Airmid sighed as she removed the last of Nero's bandages "just be more careful in the future, other than that your arm has completely healed, better than I had expected in fact"
"I'll take my fast healing as a compliment" Nero joked
"Just try your best to not need to rely on it and take care of yourself" Airmid commented "it's better to not have to heal than it is to be good at healing"
"So am I good to go back in the dungeon now?" Nero asked
"There's no sign of any problem that would stop you from doing so, so yes, you may return to the dungeon without any problems" Airmid answered
"Cool" Nero exclaimed excitedly, his energy bar having not moved in ages due to not defeating monsters meant that he was worried that he would finish his training with Akiza and then have to wait for a long time before he accumulated enough energy to summon his next trainer, something he wanted to have ready due to his stats having already reached the point at which so long as he got a higher level of excelia he would be able to level up very soon, and he wanted a good boost for after he levelled up "see you around, hopefully not because I get injured again" Nero joked
"If it were outside of the clinic I would be more happy to see you" Airimid smile professionally
Being given the go ahead Nero made his way to the dungeon, meeting up with Yumi and Rias who were waiting for him at the entrance
"So, what's the verdict?" Rias asked
"I'm good to go" Nero replied, flexing jokingly
"As if we didn't know that already" Yumi giggled, knowing that Nero's arm had healed a long time ago and that he was only waiting for the go ahead due to the training zone accelerating his healing
"Well then, shall we go" Rias giggled, having known the truth as well, the 3 of them making their way into the dungeon
After staying with Yumi and Rias on the ninth floor for a while just in order to get back into the swing of things just to be sure Nero made his way down to the lower floors
As he made his way down Nero came across more adventurers than he normally did, curious he stopped and asked one what was going on
"Did you not hear?" one of the adventurers answered him "apparently there has been a mutated monster seen on the 13th floor so no one is willing to risk going that low"
"Yeah, apparently it is an infant dragon that somehow made its way down a floor and somehow survived on the floor" chimed in another adventurer "we're waiting on these floors until a stronger Familia comes along and deals with it, no point in risking our lives if we don't need to"
"Only an infant dragon? what's so scary about that even if it has mutated?" Nero asked
"If it were a normal infant dragon it wouldn't be a problem" sighed the adventurer "but apparently it has been eating the crystal mantis's on the 13th floor and because of that it's armour has gained the ability to reflect magic and increasing its defence, making it way more trouble than it would be worth to actually take it out"
"So it's a big monster that has high defences and can reflect magic? sounds like a floor boss" Nero noted "how come you guys haven't teamed up to take it down? unlike a floor boss it won't respawn after you take it out and then you can go on as normal"
"Because like I said it's not worth it" replied the second adventurer again "even as a mutant it's still only a infant dragon so there's no drops to look forward to and then there's only one small magic stone that can't even be shared among us so there's no point, let a Familia that goes to the deep floor take it out on their way down as they won't have any trouble with it anyway"
"Maybe I should give it a go" Nero pondered "if I channel the power of destruction into my tessen I should be able to penetrate its defences and so long as I follow the flow of its magic I should be able to find its magic stone and take it out in a single hit" he thought
"So any idea when a strong Familia will be passing through?" Nero questioned
"No, but generally higher level Familia's are going through the dungeon all the time so it shouldn't be long, it's already been a few days since the monster has appeared so I'd give it another day or so before a strong Famila comes through here, then we can get back to hunting on the 13th floor" answered the adventurer
"Alright thanks for the info" Nero thanked the man "I'm going to go hunt elsewhere if that's the case" heading off
"No problem, but don't get any ideas, some reckless fools have already tried to beat it and were taken out without even knowing what hit them apparently" waved the man "some of them even clamed that the dragon could use magic itself, we think they just don't want to admit that they were hit by their own magic"
Waving back at the man Nero made his way towards the stairs, wanting to see the crystal dragon and confident in his ability to escape so long as he stayed near to the stairs Nero arrived at the stairs leading to the 13th floor, not realizing that his thirst for adventure was pushing him towards a dangerous enemy.