Hunting

The group decided to leave for the 19th floor as after reaching Rivira, nothing is really worth seeing as it's just a gathering of people who can't go up and people who're just resting.

The 19th through 24th Floors are known as the Large Tree Labyrinth. The walls, ground, and ceiling are made out of wood making it seem like the inside of a giant tree. Instead of phosphorescent light, radiating moss grows across the floor and gives off blue light. These floors contain a large number of unexplored areas and a large variety of insect-type monsters. Having the abnormal resistance development ability is key to safely passing through these floors due to a large number of poisonous monsters on these floors. But with Kisuke around, he could easily analyze the monster's poison and could create a Mana circulation that allows them to resist its effects.

The plant diversity on these floors often provides ingredients used to make healing items which result in many resource gathering quests being issued for this area. Gathering these materials is also one of Kisuke's goal for this exploration for his own concoctions. He also intends to give the Miach Familia some of it because they actually have a good mixing ability. The only problem they have regarding making higher quality potions is the absence of good materials.

The 24th Floor, in particular, is very close to being considered as one of the lower floors of the Dungeon. It is much larger than the previous floors, being at least half the size of Orario. There are rare trees that produce valuable gems that can be sold at a good price. The monsters on this floor are larger in number, more frequent to encounter and some of them are stronger than Level 2 adventurers. It's recommended for Level 2 adventurers to have the status of at least C in their basic abilities to reach this far.

From here on out, the group intended to slowly work the way down to the 24th floor and the first monster they encountered after stepping into the 19th floor is a group Bugbear. It's a monster with a considerably bigger head than the rest of its body and resembles a bear with pointy ears. This bear monster that is faster than it looks. Its strength and defense are on par with a Minotaur.

There are around 5 Bugbears and they didn't hesitate to engage. Medusa made the first move by throwing both of her daggers towards the monsters' eyes, immediately disabling the two of them.

The three others then ran towards the bears while carrying their sonic blades and dodged the monsters' wild swings and piercing through their throats when they got a chance. Before a minute passed, all the bear monsters already turned into magic stones and a drop item, a Bugbear nail.

"It seems that we have to limit ourselves only until the 24th floor for this outing," Kisuke muttered.

"Yep... It'll be too hard for us to go further with our current abilities." Yoruichi also agreed.

"That's obvious... There shouldn't be a group of Level 1s hunting in this place and more so beyond that..." Kuroka added.

Medusa, on the other hand, just silently collected the magic stones and the drop item before putting it in her bag.

The group came across more monsters like Lizardmen, humanoid lizard monster covered in red scales, Mad Beetles, medium-sized monsters that walks on two legs, Sword Stags, stag monsters, and Trolls, another humanoid monster that has regenerative capabilities.

It's the evening of their first day they managed to reach the 24th floor where monsters are considerably stronger and more frequent than the previous floors.

Since it's already late, Kisuke decided to camp down. Even though they can keep going without sleep, Kisuke needs to process and record the data he got today from hunting the monsters. At this point, Kisuke is already pretty sure that the Dungeon is not just some sort of system but a living being.

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The next day, they resumed their hunting, but they didn't go further down. Using all the extra time he had last night, Kisuke improved his long sword, Yoruichi's short sword, and Kuroka's daggers so that it could withstand the Mana injected in them and make it last longer against the enemies of this floor.

A few minutes of wandering around and picking up herbs they met for the first time a Mammoth Fool, a large elephant-type monster seven meters tall with dark red fur and long, curved, spear-like tusks. And as its name suggested, it's an idiot as it only knew how to charge in a straight line. The monster is a free pin cushion and excelia when it's turning around.

It took a whole day for the group to meet all monsters except for a Vouivre, female humanoid dragon monster. They have a red stone in their forehead known as the Vouivre's Tear. They are very rare, on par with unicorns and Green Dragon, a dragon that protects a treasure tree which is said to be worth at least a few ten million Valis.

It's around late afternoon that they felt another movement that doesn't seem to be coming from monsters. Everyone looked at each other and decided that they should take a look.

And after a few minutes of walking, they found a large group of Adventurers systematically moving through the forest.

"That insignia... Loki Familia huh... So this is their expedition party." Kisuke muttered. He also spotted Line, who's carrying a big backpack in the middle of the pack.

"Do we greet them?" Yoruichi asked.

"With our attire? As if that's totally not suspicious."

"So we follow them." Yoruichi found her answer.

"No. Let's quietly grind for excelia for now."

"I understand... We'll follow them later." Yoruichi said as if she understood Kisuke's intention.

Kisuke could only pinch her cheeks, "We do that later..."

"Please stop flirting right now, nya. It isn't the time for that." Kuroka finally reminded the two.

Kisuke and the rest let the group pass before continuing their hunt.

The group became so familiar with the movements of the monsters that they split into two groups with Kisuke and Kuroka partnering up and Yoruichi and Medusa going together.

Before they separated, Yoruichi faced Kuroka and said, "Ah right. Kuroka, you can't ask for relief... Don't do it in the Dungeon."

"I won't ask for that, nya!" Kuroka immediately retorted, "... Just a bit curious... Why not in the Dungeon?"

"Cause I'm calling dibs for the first time!"

Kuroka's eyes widened and nodded in understanding after a few seconds before walking away, 'So I can ask it after her...'

"...That perverted cat is too obvious." Yoruichi muttered. She then faced Kisuke, "Oi Kisuke! Don't follow the Loki Familia without me!"

Kisuke smiled wryly and followed Kuroka, "I know, I know."

The reason why they split up is so that they can have more challenges when going against monsters. Another important reason is that each group has its own secondary objectives. For Kisuke and Kuroka, they'll be searching for a way to use Ki with Mana that the Falna produces as it is too much of a waste if they can't use it.

Yoruichi and Medusa, on the other hand, will search for the way to integrate the strength that the Falna bestows them on their original strength. Kisuke and Yoruichi noticed that Level ups aren't just simple body strengthening as it's probably more of a body and soul refinement. If that's not the case, it'll be hard to explain why the parameters return to almost zero after a Level up.

If their guess is correct, it would mean that it could also help both Kisuke and Yoruichi reach further heights that they didn't know. After all, Kisuke's hypothesis in Transcending is about stepping into a new realm whereas every build up in foundation could prove useful.