Ren Isana and the others returned to the 27th floor. Although the area had been shattered, there were still spots suitable for camping. Since they didn't have to worry about monsters respawning here right now, staying the night was undoubtedly their best option.
Everyone took out their tents and settled in before starting on dinner. Sitting beside Ren, Asuna couldn't help but ask, "The body of that Floor Boss from earlier... it won't be absorbed by the Dungeon?"
She had seen with her own eyes how Ren stored away the Juggernaut's corpse. Unlike other monsters in the Dungeon, it hadn't dissolved into ash after being killed.
"That thing is a treasure trove from head to toe. In fact, its entire body is composed of one giant Magic Stone. It's incredibly precious," Ren explained, sharing the details about the Juggernaut.
Hearing Ren's words, Asuna and the others' eyes immediately lit up. Such a creature actually existed? Sora couldn't help but ask in pleasant surprise, "So, you're saying it's basically a crafting material that gained sentience?"
"That's a perfectly accurate way to put it. This thing is literally a living crafting material. Its claws and such can be directly forged into weapons, or they can be melted down and used as enhancement materials for existing gear," Ren elaborated.
The group grew even more excited after his explanation. Someone immediately blurted out, "Then can you sell some of it to us, Class Rep? We want to use it to enhance our weapons!"
They voiced their thoughts eagerly. Ren was the one who killed the boss, and they had agreed before entering that whoever scored the kill kept the loot. Given that, their only option was to buy the materials from him.
"Sure, no problem. I'll just charge a flat fee per enhancement. I forged all your weapons anyway, so at this current stage, it'll cost one million Valis per person for a single upgrade," Ren announced his pricing upfront.
Ren had previously crafted their weapons for free, but back then, they had provided all the farmed materials themselves. The materials required for this upgrade, however, were entirely his.
Charging one million Valis per upgrade was incredibly reasonable—it was practically a discount. Hearing Ren's offer, no one raised any objections, as they all fully understood the immense value of their weapons.
"Class Rep, I have a question. How many more times can our weapons be enhanced?" Sora suddenly chimed in.
The weapons Ren had forged for them were already of exceptional quality, and so far, they had only been upgraded once. If they kept going, what was the limit?
"They can be enhanced a total of five times. After the fifth upgrade, they'll become top-tier weapons. However, the materials required will become increasingly precious with each step. This will be the second upgrade. For the third and beyond, you guys will probably have to hunt down the materials yourselves," Ren explained the mechanics of their gear.
Hearing Ren's words, the group couldn't help but gasp. That meant after this, they still had three more opportunities to upgrade. Realizing this, everything clicked into place.
"If it's one million Valis this time, the price is only going to go up from here, right? The materials needed for the final upgrade..." Asuna murmured, looking down at the weapon in her hands.
Ren nodded and explained, "Exactly. The weapons in your hands are essentially a foundation. If you want to build a taller skyscraper, you have to reinforce it with better materials."
Everyone understood his analogy perfectly. Their current weapons were like building a standard villa. If they wanted to turn them into ultra-luxurious mansions in the future, they had to keep investing—and they couldn't skimp on the quality of the materials.
"If we can farm the subsequent materials in the Dungeon, we should gather as much as possible. Otherwise, there are some things that even money can't buy," Asuna sighed, still gazing at her weapon.
She knew all too well how difficult it was to purchase rare materials. Without sufficient strength, certain items were completely inaccessible, circulating only within highly exclusive circles.
Therefore, they needed to hoard whatever they could get from the Dungeon now, because it would be much harder to acquire later—especially materials dropped by Floor Bosses.
The others nodded in agreement. While they had the chance to farm materials, they needed to stock up, lest they regret it in the future.
"It shouldn't be a big issue. When this place opens up to the public, early-stage materials might be expensive at first, but over time... knowing the people from our world, the prices will definitely get driven down, right?" Ren's words made everyone exchange glances.
Was that true? It actually made perfect sense. After all, the people from their world loved to fiercely compete and undercut each other. It probably wouldn't be long before this Dungeon was treated like a giant ATM.
Once it opened up, the upper floors of the Dungeon would likely be farmed clean. Even the 18th-floor Safe Floor would probably be heavily developed. It wouldn't even be surprising if someone built a luxury hotel down there.
As for the Floor Bosses? It wouldn't be strange if guilds set up 24/7 camping rotations for them. So, if they weren't in a rush, they really could just wait. Eventually, the prices of all sorts of materials would plummet.
"To avoid a future where we can't even get a hit in on these upper-level bosses, shouldn't we take advantage of the time before it's developed and farm them a few more times?" Sora suddenly suggested with a completely straight face.
"Exactly. In the future, we might not even get the chance to touch any bosses above the 37th floor. We might have a shot at the ones further down, but I guarantee that anything above the 37th floor will become an adventurer's playground," Ren said, his expression turning slightly weird.
There were plenty of people who lacked the strength to venture below the 37th floor. Therefore, floors 1 through 37 would become the primary activity zones for the masses. Since the majority of people were on the weaker side, the higher the floor, the more crowded it would be.
Who knows, maybe the Dungeon in their world would eventually have to implement a daily entry cap. He wondered if the sentient Dungeon would start cursing them out. Even if it spawned more high-level monsters in retaliation, it probably wouldn't scare anyone away—it would only make the adventurers more excited.
Chatting amongst themselves, the group finished setting up camp. After eating dinner, they settled in for the night. The night passed without incident. When everyone woke up the next morning, they began their descent past the 30th floor.
Bell Cranel and Haruhime Sanjouno were under an immense amount of pressure. Who could possibly understand their pain? As absolute beginners, they had been dragged all the way down to the 30th floor on their very first Dungeon expedition. It was completely absurd.
But since they were already here, what else could they do? They could only bite the bullet and follow along. Ren didn't treat Bell like a weakling at all; instead, he constantly forced the boy to fight monsters far stronger than himself.
Under such intense pressure, Bell's growth was visible to the naked eye. His innate talent was already terrifying, and now, forged in the crucible of Ren's relentless pushing, he was leveling up at a breakneck pace.
However, the group's progress toward the 37th floor ground to a halt. Starting from the 30th floor, the monster density skyrocketed. This completely undeveloped Dungeon had given Ren and the others a massive surprise.
With every floor they entered, Ren and his group had to fight a massive battle. As the maps grew larger, the number of monsters multiplied, making it impossible to push deeper quickly.
If they wanted to proceed, their only option was to slaughter everything in their path. For the next several days, the group did nothing but kill monsters, meticulously clearing out each floor before descending to the next.
Furthermore, after clearing a floor, they had to take turns keeping watch while the others rested, only venturing down to the next floor the following morning. They slowly pushed forward using this grueling method for days on end.
Just traveling from the 30th floor to the 37th floor took Ren and the others nearly a week. One could only imagine the sheer volume of monsters lurking in the depths—it was far more than they had ever faced during their own summoning sessions.
"We can finally see the boss room. Ais, you guys should be familiar with the 37th-floor Floor Boss, right?" Asuna breathed a sigh of relief as she looked at the entrance leading to the 37th floor.
God only knew how they had survived the past week. Even though they had already broken through their limits, they were still trapped in a repetitive cycle: wake up, eat, kill monsters, chug potions, eat again, and kill more monsters.
They had lived like this for days. Ren and the rest of the class were managing fine, but Bell and Haruhime were already teetering on the edge of collapse from the high-intensity combat.
Ren constantly forced them into battles above their weight class. Sometimes, the entire class would stack every buff imaginable onto Bell before throwing him to the wolves.
Under this extreme pressure, Bell and Haruhime were utterly exhausted. They only managed to keep going each day thanks to Ren's [Healing Magic]. Now, staring at the boss room, both of them couldn't help but gulp nervously.
If they killed this boss, they could finally go home, right? They could finally get some proper rest. Today, they probably just needed to stand on the sidelines and observe.
"Udaeus. It's a massive giant with half its body buried underground, so only its upper half is visible. If you fight it solo, it can wield a weapon, but during a group battle, it usually doesn't," Ais explained, sharing the boss's mechanics.
Lefiya chimed in from the side, "In addition to that, this boss can control earth spikes to attack. Honestly, killing it is quite easy. Since it can't move, it's basically a sitting duck. We just need to maximize our firepower."
For a boss like this, as long as your firepower was fierce enough, it was a breeze. The main strategy was high burst damage—just nuke it to death.
In the original story, Ais was able to solo it. This thing was far simpler than the Juggernaut Ren had fought earlier. Dodging the earth spikes was easy too; as long as you ran fast enough, they couldn't hit you.
Listening to Lefiya and Ais, everyone immediately understood the assignment. So, they just needed to blanket it in firepower? When it came to that, they were experts.
Ren didn't hesitate and walked straight in. As he walked, he instructed, "In a moment, everyone just attack together using magic. We'll drown it in spells until it's dead. Once we kill it, we'll spend the night here and start heading back tomorrow."
Everyone nodded in agreement, naturally having no objections. This boss was going to be a walk in the park. Eager to get started, the group eagerly followed him into the boss room.
As they passed through the tunnel, a gigantic skeletal head came into view. Crimson flames flared to life within its empty eye sockets. Following a deafening roar, the boss's full figure loomed before them.
Seeing this, Ren didn't hesitate for a second. He activated his observational ability, [Jianjigu], and began copying the monster's [High-Speed Regeneration]. The others didn't need any orders; without a word, they unleashed their magic and launched their assault.
Everyone opened with [Piercing Magic Bullet], or their preferred elemental spells. A barrage of magic projectiles rained down on the sitting duck. Kumo, a mage possessing [Instant Cast], took on a heavy burden in this moment.
Entering her combat state, she chugged a Blue Potion and began frantically spamming her spells—especially [Piercing Magic Bullet]. The spell Ren had created had an incredibly long range.
They didn't even need to get close to fight it. They just had to stand far away and bombard it with magic, leaving the boss completely helpless to retaliate. This was the beauty of having long-range attacks.
Ren wasn't in a rush to attack. He simply observed quietly. As everyone's magic rained down and set off a chain of explosions, the boss's regenerative abilities gradually revealed themselves.
[High-Speed Regeneration]... It was visible to the naked eye. Even when its bones were blown apart, they reformed in mere moments. This terrifying recovery speed was further bolstered by the Dungeon's power.
If this thing knew any long-range magic, it would be the most terrifying existence in the entire Dungeon. Unfortunately, right now, it was just a target. As long as you had the range and the firepower, killing this boss was child's play.
Regeneration? They just had to deal damage faster than it could heal. Meanwhile, Ren was slowly and perfectly copying its terrifying regenerative ability using [Jianjigu].
As Ren finished copying the ability, the regenerative skill he had previously copied from Goliath merged with it, overwriting the old version and forming a brand-new innate skill: [High-Speed Regeneration]!
Perhaps Goliath's regeneration was just a lesser version of this skeletal giant's ability? Now that Ren had copied the new skill, it seamlessly fused with the one he got from Goliath.
His previous twenty-fold recovery rate had now skyrocketed to fifty-fold. Realizing this, Ren grew incredibly excited. With this level of regeneration, he would never have to worry about his Magic Power reserves again, no matter how many spells he cast.
If he cast an Advanced Magic spell now, his Magic Power would probably refill in a matter of seconds. If he used Intermediate Magic, it would essentially mean... infinite Magic Power. The energy he expended would regenerate in the blink of an eye.
His Magic Power would recover before the spell even left his hands. The feeling was simply too exhilarating. Ren glanced at the group, who were still relentlessly bombarding the boss. Now that he had successfully copied its ability, it was his turn to strike.
Ren raised his magic staff, and Magic Power began to gather. Since he no longer feared exhausting his reserves, it was time to see just how devastating a full-power [Piercing Magic Cannon] could be.
As Ren poured his Magic Power into it, the Magic Circle for [Piercing Magic Cannon] took shape, expanding rapidly. The others, who were in the middle of their assault, suddenly sensed the disturbance from Ren's direction. Seeing the colossal Magic Circle, they couldn't help but stop in their tracks.
Everyone stared in absolute shock at the Magic Circle Ren was conjuring. Normally, [Piercing Magic] had a diameter of a little over a meter at most. But the Magic Circle Ren was currently forming had already swelled to five meters across.
He was pumping Magic Power into it like it was free. Watching this, the group felt their mouths go dry. They hurriedly backed away, terrified that Ren's Magic Circle might suddenly explode. Just standing nearby and feeling the sheer density of that Magic Power was enough to make their hearts pound in fear!!
"Fire!" Once Ren felt it was charged enough, he unleashed the pent-up [Piercing Magic]. As his voice fell, a terrifying torrent of Magic Power erupted forward.
The blinding light of the Magic Power made it impossible to keep their eyes open. The massive beam of light tore across the entire boss room, slamming directly into the Floor Boss.
*BOOM!* A deafening explosion echoed out. The entire boss room began to violently shake and quake. A massive shockwave swept toward the group, kicking up a blinding sandstorm that forced everyone to shield their eyes.
Seeing this, Asuna and Ais hurriedly cast a wind wall to block the flying debris. They then fixed their gazes on the distant Floor Boss. Ren's single blast had instantly swallowed the colossal skeletal giant whole.
Strong regeneration? Under that apocalyptic torrent of magic, it was instantly obliterated. The entire floor was still trembling. Terrified by the sheer scale of the destruction, Sora and the others frantically backed away.
They were terrified that Ren was going to blow up the floor again and send them plummeting down. They were already on the 37th floor—if they fell any deeper, they really wouldn't be able to handle it. Should they be ready to run for their lives at a moment's notice?
Fortunately, this floor wasn't that fragile. Ren's [Piercing Magic] only eradicated the Floor Boss and blasted a massive crater into the wall behind it.
It actually hadn't caused catastrophic structural damage to the floor. It was nowhere near collapsing. The battle was over. Ren had wiped out the Floor Boss with a single spell.
*How dull!* It was taken out in one hit. This Floor Boss wasn't all that impressive after all. That was what everyone was thinking. A boss that got one-shot by Ren's magic really didn't feel like a threat.
"You can't say that. It was pretty decent. At the very least, I used up several Yukinos' worth of Magic Power this time," Ren remarked, feeling his Magic Power rapidly regenerating.
Yukino Yukinoshita's face instantly darkened when she heard that. Was this bastard seriously still using her as a unit of measurement for Magic Power? Glaring at Ren in annoyance, she snapped, "You are incredibly rude!!"
The group couldn't help but laugh. Ren using Yukino as a unit of measurement was genuinely hilarious. In response to her scolding, Ren just shrugged. "What else am I supposed to do? I know exactly how much Magic Power you have. Isn't it perfectly convenient to use you as a benchmark?"
"Hmph, you're just making excuses. If you wanted to know everyone else's Magic Power reserves, it would be incredibly easy. I bet you're doing this on purpose!" Yukino was highly displeased. After all, it was obvious Ren was doing it just to mess with her.
Ren merely shrugged again, not bothering to argue further. Honestly, using Yukino as a unit of measurement was incredibly practical. In the future, could he just measure things in "Yuki-units"?