When Bell Cranel was led to an empty room by a maid, he felt like he was dreaming. Who could understand his pain? He had just arrived in Orario and was immediately kidnapped.
He really thought he was being abducted for nefarious purposes, but to his surprise, it turned out like this. He had joined an incredible Familia. Thinking of this, Bell couldn't help but feel a surge of anticipation.
He wondered what kind of person the Captain he had yet to meet was. And what about the other members? He was incredibly curious. Beyond that, his thoughts drifted to the training scheduled for tomorrow.
Filled with anticipation for the next day, Bell began putting away the supplies he had just received. The Familia was wonderful—they had even prepared bedsheets and bedding for him.
He didn't need to buy anything extra, which saved him a lot of trouble. From this alone, it wasn't hard to see that the Familia treated its members quite well.
After all, some Familias wouldn't care about providing such basic necessities. With these thoughts in mind, Bell finished organizing his things, tidied up the room a bit, and stepped out to explore the Familia estate.
When mealtime arrived, Bell navigated his way to the dining hall from memory. Shizuka Hiratsuka and the others were already there. Seeing Bell arrive, Shizuka immediately spoke up, "The trays are over there. Serve yourself whatever you want to eat. Take only what you can finish, don't waste food."
Hearing this, Bell hurriedly replied, "Yes, Instructor Shizuka! I understand, I absolutely won't waste anything."
With that said, Bell ran over, grabbed a tray, and started eating. Although the situation here was completely different from what he had imagined, he felt it was actually quite nice.
After finishing his meal, Bell returned to his dorm room to rest. The next day, he got up at the crack of dawn. However, the moment he stepped out, he ran into Shizuka Hiratsuka.
"Good morning, Lady Shizuka," Bell greeted her very politely. He hadn't expected her to be up so early.
"Go eat breakfast first, then come find me at the training grounds. I'm going to teach you a few things," Shizuka said without any nonsense, immediately giving him his orders and sending him off to eat.
Hearing Shizuka's instructions, Bell hastily nodded to show he understood, then hurried toward the dining hall. By the time he finished eating and arrived at the training grounds, the fox-girl he had seen yesterday was already in the middle of her training.
Shizuka Hiratsuka, Yor Forger, and Natsuki Minamiya were all training her together. This sight put an immense amount of pressure on Bell. Was he going to have to face a situation like this too?
"You're here. Good, follow me. I'll teach you some basics first. Your morning classes will be for learning martial arts, the afternoon will be for weapon techniques, and the evening will be for learning [Meditation]." Shizuka outlined his entire schedule for the day.
Hearing this itinerary, Bell nodded nervously. He had no objections to the schedule; after all, this was all for his own good.
Seeing his reaction, Shizuka nodded in satisfaction and began instructing him without another word. For the rest of the time, however, Bell found himself thoroughly miserable.
After Shizuka finished explaining a concept, she would have him practice it himself. Once he had practiced enough, the one-sided beatings began. It was incredibly depressing.
But feeling that he was genuinely getting stronger, Bell could only grit his teeth and push through. *I can't let them look down on me!*
In reality, Shizuka and the other instructors were quite satisfied with Bell's progress. They could only admit that he truly deserved to be the one Hestia had her eyes on—his talent was genuinely impressive.
Naturally, the same went for Haruhime. Her talent for magic was quite outstanding; she was able to quickly grasp the spells Natsuki Minamiya taught her.
Unfortunately, she didn't possess any aptitude for spatial magic. If she did, Natsuki wouldn't have hesitated to teach her.
While the Familia was busy nurturing its new recruits, Ren Isana and his group had just wrapped up another day of combat.
Dragging their exhausted bodies back to the 18th Floor, everyone wore excited smiles on their faces. For the past week, they had spent every single day like this.
Heaven only knew how many monsters they had slaughtered during this time. By now, everyone knew the monsters on these upper floors like the back of their hands, understanding exactly how to dispatch them with maximum efficiency.
Beyond that, everyone could clearly feel themselves growing stronger. On the way back today, Asuna couldn't help but say to Ren Isana, "I feel like I've reached my limit, but for some reason, I just can't break through!"
This puzzled her greatly. A week of grinding had directly pushed her strength to the peak of Tier 3, yet she was unable to break through to the next level, leaving her thoroughly confused.
"It's because of the world. Since we came to this world, we've been operating under its rules. If we were back in our world, you probably would have broken through already, but it doesn't work like that here." Ren Isana actually knew the exact reason.
The world's laws restricted everyone's strength, preventing them from breaking through easily. They could only level up by returning and having their statuses updated, as the Falna system locked their capabilities in place.
Hearing this, Asuna asked in confusion, "If that's the case, doesn't that mean we'll all need Hestia to update our statuses before we can break through?"
If that were true, wouldn't it be far too troublesome? And wasn't that a massive restriction?
"It's only like this while we're in this world. Once we go back, it'll be fine. Besides, we can just have Hestia remove it when the time comes." This was the limitation of the Falna, though it didn't have much of an impact on Ren Isana and the others in the long run.
"That's more like it. I thought we'd have to rely on Hestia every time we wanted to break through from now on." Asuna immediately breathed a sigh of relief. If they really had to seek out Hestia for every breakthrough...
That would be the equivalent of handing their lifelines over to someone else, something no one would ever allow. Knowing that they could remove the restriction tied to this world finally put her at ease.
"If the rules of this world applied to our world too, then whenever we got annoyed with someone, we could just slap a Falna on them and lock their progression. They wouldn't even have a place to cry about it," Ren Isana suddenly remarked.
Hearing this, Asuna didn't know whether to laugh or cry. However, Ren Isana's words made a lot of sense—assuming, of course, that the Falna functioned the same way in their world and wasn't just effective here.
The group returned to the 18th Floor and began preparing dinner. Once everyone had eaten their fill, Ren Isana spoke up, "We're going to change our plans moving forward."
They had been continuously grinding monsters for days now, and it was time for Ren Isana to adjust their strategy. Originally, they had planned to stay in the Dungeon for two weeks.
With half of that time still remaining, Ren Isana decided they would delve deeper, heading straight to the 27th Floor to hunt the Floor Boss.
"We're going to fight the Floor Boss? But we haven't heard any news about it recently." Hearing Ren Isana say they were changing plans, everyone immediately perked up.
"That's right. As for whether it's spawned or not, we'll only know once we take a look. After all, that Floor Boss resides in the water." Ren Isana looked at the group calmly. That particular boss didn't just wait out in the open; it lurked beneath the surface.
In other words, it couldn't be seen with the naked eye. Unless it actively attacked someone, they would have to go and check for themselves. They still had a week left anyway, so Ren Isana wasn't in a hurry.
If worst came to worst, they could just have Yukino work her magic over there. Although they hadn't tried summoning in a boss room before and didn't know what might happen.
But as long as she only leaked a tiny bit of Divine Blood, it shouldn't be a big deal. In that boss room, the only thing that could spawn was the Floor Boss—otherwise, it wouldn't be called that.
Ren Isana and the others had experimented enough times on the 23rd Floor to essentially confirm this: as long as they didn't leak too much of the Divine Blood's aura, the Dungeon wouldn't fly into a rage; it would just spawn a horde of regular monsters.
On a Floor Boss's level, releasing just a little bit of that aura should be enough to draw the boss out. They just had to control the amount carefully. If they messed up and the Dungeon spawned a mutated Floor Boss, they'd better be ready to run for their lives.
Hearing Ren Isana's explanation, no one had any objections. They would spend the next few days heading down to take a look. None of them had been to the deeper floors yet, so it was a perfect opportunity to explore.
With the decision made, everyone washed up and went to rest, preparing to recharge their energy so they could properly deal with the Floor Boss. A new boss battle, and against an even stronger foe at that—this time, they couldn't just stand by and watch.
The last boss fight had been entirely Ren Isana's solo performance. This time, they had to participate no matter what.
The night passed quietly as everyone rested. Meanwhile, back at the Hestia Familia, Bell was completely exhausted. After washing up, he hit the bed and instantly fell asleep.
Over the past few days, he had endured all sorts of high-intensity training. In just a short amount of time, he felt his strength skyrocketing, which left him incredibly pleasantly surprised.
He was especially moved by the unreserved guidance of his instructors. Shizuka Hiratsuka had taught him numerous fist techniques and footwork. Even though he ended up bruised and battered after every session, he had genuinely learned a great deal.
Instructor Yor, on the other hand, taught him how to use a dagger. Furthermore, he learned a piece of news from her: their Captain knew how to forge equipment.
Once the Captain returned, he would forge a custom enchanted weapon exclusively for Bell—a privilege every member enjoyed. Hearing this news had moved him to tears.
*Grandpa, I've made something of myself. I joined such an incredible Familia.* Lying in bed and thinking about everything that had happened over the past few days, Bell couldn't hide the smile on his face.
He then closed his eyes and entered a state of [Meditation]. Instructor Natsuki had said she would start teaching him magic tomorrow, which made Bell incredibly excited.
He had also learned that the Hestia Familia was different from other Familias. Most of its members were from another world, so the magic they taught originated from another world as well.
It was the kind of magic that anyone could learn, though whether they actually succeeded depended on the individual. However, Instructor Natsuki had said his aptitude was quite good. After a few days of [Meditation], he had accumulated a decent amount of Magic Power and could start attempting to learn spells.
It was truly something to look forward to. Though it seemed the fox-girl who had joined the Familia alongside him had already started learning magic. In Instructor Natsuki's words, her talent points were entirely invested in magic.
So there was no issue with her starting early. But Bell was different; he had to learn not only magic but also various martial arts, as he possessed talent in both areas. Thinking about these things, Bell quickly slipped deep into [Meditation].
Back on Ren Isana's side, he was completely unaware that new recruits had joined the Familia. As a new day began, everyone got up to wash and then started taking inventory of their supplies, restocking any potions or items they were short on from others.
When it came to these supplies, Ren Isana always maintained the attitude of restocking as soon as they ran out. After all, they were bought with everyone's pooled funds, so whoever ran out could just come and grab more. There was no need to be overly polite in this world.
But once they returned to their own world, they would have to figure things out for themselves. Though after this trip, it was highly unlikely anyone would be strapped for cash when they got back. Getting filthy rich in another world was no joke.
Once everyone had finished checking their inventory and restocking what they needed, the group finally set out. This time, they didn't take any shortcuts, as Ren Isana had decided they would spend the next few nights sleeping on the lower floors.
Because of this, they dismantled their entire camp before leaving, and Ren Isana even deactivated the Magic Circle. Who knew when they would return to this spot next?
With their belongings packed, the group began their descent toward the 27th Floor. This time, Ren Isana chose not to take any hidden paths, opting instead to fight their way down. After all, they needed to familiarize themselves with the Dungeon's layout.
Any monsters that spawned along the way were instantly obliterated before they could even show their faces. Dealing with the monsters on these upper floors was as easy as slaughtering chickens for them. The moment the mages sensed a monster's presence, they launched their attacks without hesitation.
The group pushed straight from the 18th Floor down to the 27th. They encountered plenty of monsters along the way, as well as quite a few adventurers, since these floors were highly active zones for them.
As a result, they ran into quite a few people. When they finally arrived at the 27th Floor and took a look around, they were slightly disappointed to find that the Floor Boss hadn't spawned. Ren Isana took a moment to observe the environment of the floor.
Aside from the massive lake, there were numerous gigantic tree roots nearby. The entire floor looked as though it were supported by these roots, and the ambient light illuminating the area emanated directly from them.
After surveying the surroundings, Ren Isana simply decided to make the 27th Floor their base camp and settle down temporarily. Camping in a boss room was something many adventurers did, because when the Floor Boss hadn't spawned, the area could effectively be used as a Safe Floor.
This was especially true in the period right after a Floor Boss was defeated. There was a long window of time before the next spawn, during which the floor remained completely safe.
Generally speaking, this window lasted for about a month. If you could time it perfectly, you could live quite comfortably inside the Dungeon.
However, there was no one else on the 27th Floor this time. It seemed the spawn cycle for the Floor Boss was approaching, making most people unwilling to camp here. The group found a relatively high vantage point and set up their camp.
From their location, they had a clear view of the massive lake below. If the Floor Boss spawned, they would know immediately. From here, they could also jump down onto the tree roots to launch magical attacks, making it an excellent strategic position.
Otherwise, there wouldn't even be a place to stand. By the edge of the lake? The moment the Floor Boss spawned, it would probably open its mouth and blast you point-blank. Therefore, having a solid foothold was crucial.
Furthermore, once the Floor Boss spawned, Ren Isana planned to completely freeze the surface of the lake. This was exactly why he had sought out Riveria to learn ice magic. If he didn't freeze the area, how were the others supposed to fight?
It wasn't like they could walk on water!
After setting up camp, the group split into their respective squads and sprang into action. Even though there was no Floor Boss to fight, they could still head up to the 26th Floor to hunt monsters.
Everyone left the boss room one after another, leaving only Ren Isana's squad behind. He stayed at the camp to begin sorting through the loot they had gathered over the past few days. If he didn't organize it soon, his Spatial Ring was going to burst!
Seeing that Ren Isana had no intention of leaving, Asuna and the others simply stayed behind with him. When Ren Isana dumped out the massive pile of materials, Asuna was left speechless.
"That's an insane amount... We're going to have our hands full processing all this!" Their past week had truly been madness. They had slaughtered an endless stream of Dungeon monsters, and the near-overflowing pile of materials was a testament to just how crazy their grinding had been.
Especially after discovering that Yukino Yukinoshita could summon monsters, their daily routine had essentially become: eat, head down to the 23rd Floor, and then start killing monsters, drinking potions, killing more monsters, drinking more potions, continuing to kill monsters, sweeping the battlefield, and then drinking even more potions to kill even more monsters.
With such frequent combat, how could they not gather a mountain of Magic Stones and materials? Coupled with everyone's frugal virtues, any Magic Stone that dropped in front of them had to be picked up!
"Let's just do a basic sort for now. Separate the materials from the Magic Stones, and we'll handle the rest when we get back," Ren Isana said as he got to work. Aside from Ren Isana's pile, Asuna also had quite a bit on her end.
And it wasn't just Asuna—aside from a few basic supplies, the Spatial Backpacks of the other members were likely stuffed to the brim with these materials as well. They were practically overflowing!
It was a good thing Ren Isana and the group hadn't continued grinding on the 23rd Floor, otherwise the amount of materials they gathered would have been even more absurd. In fact, if they brought all these materials and Magic Stones back to Orario, they would probably crash the market prices.
Their output from just these short seven days was already comparable to what many Familias produced in an entire month. Mastering a method to force the Dungeon to spawn monsters meant they could do whatever they wanted. Ren Isana and his classmates could farm countless materials on repeat!!