Even though they had only been away for a single day, the place had become completely bustling. Thinking back to how deserted it was just a short while ago, the difference was like night and day.
"Whoa, it's getting lively." Sora's eyes lit up as she looked at their surroundings. There were simply too many people here, considering they had only been gone for a day.
"It's starting to take shape. I'm guessing this area will be developed with the Dimensional Rift as its center from now on," Ren Isana said, watching the people coming and going. Most of them were university students.
It seemed that because the holidays were starting, all these people had flocked here to gain experience. As the group headed inside, they noticed that many more shops had opened up compared to the day before yesterday.
Even Maya's shop was among them. However, looking from afar, Ren didn't spot Maya herself, so he decided not to head over. Instead, he led everyone straight into the Dungeon.
Stepping into the Dungeon once again, the footprints on the ground had noticeably multiplied—all left by adventurers. The group familiarly made their way down. To save time, Ren and the others naturally used their [Lightness Technique] to travel.
This led to some people who weren't very familiar with the Dungeon hesitating for a moment before deciding to follow them when they saw the group. After all, many wouldn't dare to sprint wildly through the Dungeon like Ren's party.
Since this group dared to use the [Lightness Technique] to travel here, it proved they were incredibly familiar with the Dungeon. Following them down was the smart move.
The advancing group quickly noticed this. Asuna dashed up next to Ren and couldn't help but ask, "There are quite a few people following us. Should we shake them off?"
Hearing Asuna's words, Ren shook his head. "There's no need. Let them follow if they want. They probably just want to tag along to the lower floors since they don't have maps yet."
With a brief glance, Ren understood their intentions, but he didn't mind. If they wanted to follow, so be it. Once they reached a certain floor, those people would naturally back off when things got too difficult.
Asuna nodded at his response and said no more. The group advanced rapidly. Any monsters that respawned were casually dispatched by Ren and Asuna, and Ren used magic to gather the dropped Magic Stones.
As Ren's group ventured deeper, the people trailing behind them were astonished. *Isn't this a bit too ridiculous? They descended so many floors in one go? Just how familiar is this group with this place?*
As they went deeper, other explorers who saw the party and realized what was happening immediately joined the tail, causing the crowd following them to grow larger and larger.
Ren and his group descended from the 1st floor all the way to the 17th floor's Floor Boss room in one breath before finally slowing down to enter the 18th floor. The people following behind couldn't help but freeze when they saw the 17th floor.
Such a massive room, yet there were no winding paths? There was only a giant crater? It looked as if someone had bombed the place. Although they were deeply confused, Ren's group didn't stop here, so naturally, the followers didn't linger either.
Instead, they followed them straight down to the 18th floor. When everyone saw the light, their eyes lit up. Many also noticed the tents set up across this floor.
*It looks like this is the frontline,* the crowd thought, looking toward Ren's group at the very front. But that party didn't seem to have any intention of stopping; were they planning to keep going down?
Though somewhat puzzled, these people tactfully chose not to follow any further. They had been silently keeping track of how many floors they had descended. This was already the 18th floor, and the monsters they encountered here were just right for them to fight.
The deeper they went, the stronger the monsters would become, so it was best to stay here for now. They could also chat with the people who had come down earlier; maybe they would even find someone they knew.
After all, most of the people arriving here now were from a few universities. Some of their classmates had come down a few days prior, so perhaps they were among the campers.
Ren didn't pay any attention to the people behind them. Upon entering the 18th floor, they didn't stop but headed straight for the deeper floors. Their goal had never been these upper levels.
It was the 37th floor and below. The group planned to reach the 27th floor before noon, which was why they were rushing so much. They would take a break on the 27th floor, then continue downward. They should be able to reach the 37th floor and set up camp before dark.
Arriving at the 21st floor, Ren and the others took a shortcut straight down to the vast plains of the 23rd floor. Just as they emerged and prepared to head to the 24th floor, they ran into the university students they had met previously.
Seeing Ren's group, the students were momentarily stunned. The leader's face immediately lit up with joy, and he greeted them, "We meet again! Are you guys planning to keep going down?"
Ren glanced at their group and nodded. "Yeah, we're continuing further down."
With that said, Ren walked forward without looking back. The students' original party of eight had grown quite a bit, but that had nothing to do with him.
After the brief greeting, he led his group toward the 24th floor to continue their descent. Watching Ren's party leave, the leader of the students really wanted to ask if they could tag along.
But on second thought, he decided against it. The two groups weren't familiar enough for that. Sighing, his face filled with regret; he really wanted to go down to the very bottom to take a look.
Unfortunately, their group's strength simply wasn't enough. The deeper they went, the more strenuous the battles became. The worst part was that their weapons couldn't handle the strain.
In reality, even if he had asked, Ren would have rejected him without hesitation. *Are you kidding me?* He had no desire to babysit a bunch of strangers. Exploring uncharted floors was basically picking up free money, and Ren's group needed to make the most of their time.
The party arrived at the 27th floor right on schedule. After a brief rest, they set off again toward the 37th floor. The shattered 27th floor hadn't recovered yet, allowing Ren's group to jump straight from the 27th to the 30th floor.
That left only seven floors for them to traverse downward. Right before nightfall, the group finally arrived at the 37th floor's Floor Boss room. Reaching their destination, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"We're finally here. Let's rest for the night and start tomorrow," Ren said, glancing at the surrounding scenery before picking a spot to take out his tent.
Seeing this, the others also sprang into action. This was a corner far away from the boss spawn point. Even if the Floor Boss respawned, its attacks wouldn't reach here, making it a relatively safe spot.
They couldn't exactly camp right underneath the boss. If it respawned, it would smash their camp to pieces with a single hammer strike. Therefore, finding the right location was crucial when camping in a place like this.
Everyone got to work, setting up the camp, eating, and resting. It wasn't until the next day that they finally made their move, heading toward the 38th floor.
They didn't pack up the camp. Instead, Ren set up a Magic Circle to protect it, and then they headed straight for the 38th floor.
The 38th floor of this world was also in an unexplored state. The moment Ren's group stepped foot inside, they were targeted by a horde of monsters. Seeing the red-eyed beasts, Ren drew his weapon and said, "Everyone, let's begin!"
The summer break temp workers had officially clocked in. The group launched a sweeping operation against the monsters on this floor. Since no one else was here, all the monsters belonged to Ren and his party.
Hearing this, Asuna, Yukino, and the two other female classmates sprang into action. This was Asuna's first time fighting in her new equipment. On the way down, she had already felt how incredibly convenient it was.
It didn't hinder her combat movements in the slightest. Now was the perfect time to test its effectiveness in actual combat. As the battle began, the four-person squads moved out. Ren and Megumi Kato continued to team up with Bell and Haruhime.
At this point, Haruhime didn't need anyone to give her orders. The moment everyone moved, she cast her magic, directly applying [Uchide no Kozuchi・Magic Mallet] to Ren, Megumi, and Bell simultaneously.
Thanks to her level up, she could now cast it on multiple targets, and the duration had become much longer. It was Megumi's first time experiencing Haruhime's magic, and she was incredibly astonished.
"This is so powerful. This magic is absurd." Megumi clenched her fists, feeling the True Qi and Magic Power within her body. It had multiplied several times over. *Is this the power of Tier 5 and above?*
With that thought, Megumi moved swiftly. She turned into a streak of black light and dashed forward. The incoming monsters were slaughtered by her in an instant.
Empowered by this immense strength, Megumi was thrilled. She became an assassin on the battlefield, continuously reaping the lives of the monsters. Ren was also in action on his end.
Bell and Haruhime followed behind. Ren would kill the monsters in front but intentionally let a few slip past for Bell to handle. This was how they had been fighting all along.
Now, with the buff from [Uchide no Kozuchi・Magic Mallet], Bell's strength had broken through to Tier 3. Combined with his skill, Bell found it much easier to deal with these monsters. Although the monsters had grown stronger, so had he.
The battle commenced, and the group launched a comprehensive extermination campaign against the monsters on this floor. The area of this floor was already the size of Orario, so it would take Ren and the others some time to completely clear out the monsters.
Not long after the battle started, everyone split up. After all, the Dungeon was full of twists and turns. They couldn't all crowd into one place; spreading out was undoubtedly the best approach.
They would just map out the paths they took when they returned, and then compile everything into a single, complete map. This was something they did often, so they were already well-versed in the process.
From morning until noon, when their phone alarms rang, everyone retreated to the 37th floor to eat and take a lunch break. Those who were injured received [Healing Magic]. Once they recovered their condition, they would continue in the afternoon.
Saying they were here for a summer job wasn't wrong at all. It felt exactly like going to work: wake up early, eat, kill monsters, clock out, eat, rest, kill monsters, and clock out again.
For the next week, Ren and the others spent their days exactly like this. It took them a whole week to completely clear out the monsters on the 38th floor and map it out.
"Sheesh, it's full after just one week. Looks like we need to make a trip up. Should we go up and offload these materials before coming back down?" Asuna asked, looking at her nearly full Spatial Backpack, then turning her gaze to Ren.
Hearing her words, Ren nodded, naturally having no objections. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Then let's head up. It's a good time to take a day off. From now on, we'll do this every time we clear a floor."
They couldn't just grind endlessly; they needed to rest when appropriate. Going up meant no fighting, and relaxing for half a day was a good idea. Balancing work and rest made things much easier.
Everyone raised both hands in agreement with Ren's proposal. After all, they were all tired. Being able to get some proper rest was the best possible outcome. They would return to the 18th floor tomorrow, sell off their materials, and then come back down to conquer the 39th floor.
They rested there for the night. The next day, the group began their journey back to the 18th floor. However, on their way back, they found that the 30th floor had automatically repaired itself. This meant Ren and the others had to run through several extra floors to reach the 27th floor.
"This sucks. Looks like our return trip is going to take longer." Seeing the restored floors, everyone felt a bit disappointed. If it had remained shattered like before, they could have moved much faster.
"Class Rep, should we smash it again? That way we can go faster." Sora was eager to try. She figured they could just break it again and fight that boss one more time.
"Let's pass. If this kind of thing happens again and again, the Dungeon is really going to give you a nasty surprise," Ren refused without hesitation. Even if they were going to do it, now wasn't the time. They could reconsider later. Taking a longer route wasn't a big deal.
"Class Rep, maybe we could open up a single tunnel? Since it's layered floor by floor, couldn't we just make a shortcut? We just need to control our power," Leo suggested, having his own idea.
Even if they couldn't shatter the whole thing, what about just making a single tunnel? That shouldn't be a problem, right?
Hearing Leo's words, Ren rolled his eyes and retorted, "Can you guys fly yet? A bunch of people who haven't even mastered [Flight Magic] yet—even if I opened a tunnel, how would you get up?"
Although his words were harsh, they were the truth. So far, none of them had learned the [Flight Magic] Ren had taught them. Only Kumo could barely use it, but the others? They were still far from it!
Everyone felt incredibly awkward hearing this. It was true—even if Ren made a tunnel, without the ability to fly, they really couldn't go up. Seeing this, no one brought the matter up again.
They would talk about it later once everyone had learned [Flight Magic]. For now? They could only take the long way around. Maybe they could make a tunnel on the way down, but going back up meant walking the slow way.
Following Ren, everyone began heading toward the upper floors. It took them half a day to return to the 18th floor. A week had passed, and now even more people had descended here. Ren even saw that some people had built small wooden cabins using planks.
A fairly sizable small market was slowly forming. Among the stalls, Ren spotted Maya's shop—a rather large wooden cabin specializing in selling weapons and equipment.
"Good lord, it feels like a lifetime has passed." Looking at the commercial street that had already formed in the distance, Sora couldn't help but exclaim. The change was simply too drastic. Who would believe it if they hadn't seen it with their own eyes?
"It's a bit unbelievable. It developed this quickly?" Lefiya and the others from the other world were dumbfounded. They never expected the people of this world to be so efficient.
Would this entire floor turn into a town in a little while? Although it was true that the Dungeon would repair itself, that didn't stop people from treating these houses like equipment, right? Just looking at those wooden cabins made it obvious—they were all prefabricated and assembled on-site.
"Let's go. We'll deal with the materials first, then take a good look around," Ren said, taking out his phone to check. It was a bit of a pity that there was still no signal. If the outside world really managed to drag a cell tower in here, now that would be interesting.
However, given their country's reputation as infrastructure maniacs, it probably wouldn't be long before those things were set up, right? If for nothing else, just to ensure people's safety. Ren believed they had every reason to do so.
As for the Dungeon getting angry? Now that it was completely surrounded, even if the Dungeon threw a tantrum, it would just be spitting out gold coins. This Dungeon was an absolute goldmine overflowing with resources—and an inexhaustible one at that. No matter how much they mined, it would never run dry.
A resource point like this couldn't be valued highly enough by the country. So, no matter what this place developed into in the future, please don't be surprised. This was just standard procedure!
When Ren and the others arrived at Maya's shop, they immediately saw her giving instructions to a few young female staff members. Seeing Maya, everyone's eyes instantly lit up.
"Maya!" Ren quickly called out. He hadn't expected her to be here personally. Ren's shout made Maya look outside, and when she saw Ren's group, she was a bit surprised.
After giving a few final instructions to the girls in the shop, she walked out. Looking at the travel-worn Ren and his party, Maya couldn't help but say, "Follow me. I have a place to wash up in the back. Look at you all, you're filthy!"
With that, she turned and walked toward the back of the shop. Seeing this, everyone hurriedly followed. Expressions of pleasant surprise appeared on their faces. *There's actually a place to wash up? That's fantastic.*
Led by Maya, the group arrived at the back of her shop. The area was completely fenced off, and they discovered that things like water faucets and other amenities were all readily available.
Aside from being a rest area for the staff, was this back area also a warehouse? Maya pointed to the washrooms not far away and said, "Take turns washing up. Those who want to process materials, come over and let's take inventory first."
Hearing Maya say this, Ren nodded. He glanced at Yukino and the other girls and said, "You girls go first. We'll take inventory of the materials on our end."