Ch.46 Breaking the rules

"Alright, let's go and fight." Grinned Aidan as he rapidly geared up and led Ais through the passage towards the seventeenth floor. "With the permission of Finn, we can stay here for as long as we want. However, in four months, it's going to be the new year, so I propose that we go back a day earlier to update our status. What do you think?" Continued Aidan as he glanced at his partner, who was walking up the stairs leading to the above level.

"It's fine with me. Four months should be enough to maximize our status for a level up." Agreed Ais. "By the way, when is your birthday?" She asked a completely unrelated question which made Aidan stop in his step.

"Huh? Now that you mention it, I have no idea when it is. Loki probably knows, thanks to our status, which records our age. I'll have to ask her when we get back up." Answered Aidan laughingly while his hand was behind his head, playing with his hair. "What about you?" He asked, hoping not to have missed her birthday.

"I don't know either. Let's ask Loki together." Smiled Ais as she took the lead in climbing up the stairs.

"Sure." Nodded Aidan as now that Ais mentioned it, he was wondering when his birthday was. "So, which monster do you want to hunt today?" He asked as they reached the 17th floor.

"Let's fight on the seventeenth floor against the cow-head, the large tiger and the fire-breathing dog." Answered Ais while using the new names she gave the monsters. "The higher floors can't give us any trouble at all. If only they allowed us to go down to the nineteenth floor instead of sticking on this one." Said Ais dejectedly as she was more interested in exploring the deeper floors of the dungeon than continue to fight monsters they could quickly kill.

"I agree. According to the information I gathered from the guild on the dungeon and the statuses, once an adventurer levels up, he gains a bonus of 20% of their total parameters. It is why a lot of adventurers level up as soon as possible. To reach Rivira, an average level two adventurer need G in their parameters. Considering an average adventurer has about 800 parameters when he levels up, he needs about 1160 parameters in each stat to reach this floor (800(LV.1)+160(20%)+200(G)=1160). However, to reach the 24th floor, they need about C in their parameters which means a total of 1560. So, we could theoretically explore the nineteenth floor if we are cautious and use the two latest cards I created. After all, the real danger of these floors is the poison and the countless insects." Tempted Aidan as he gave his partner a slight nudge to the side as he asked her opinion on this.

"What are the cards you created?" Asked Ais, after a pause, tempted of the prospect to fight stronger monsters.

With a victorious grin, Aidan answered: "I have created an anti-poison field. As long as we are in the field, all poison is automatically cleansed. The second card is a flight card. I had already started to work on it before, but now, I can perfectly control the flight speed and direction. With this, we can escape if anything happens." He calmly explained as he hacked down a minotaur or a cow-head, as Ais liked to call them recently.

"Sure, let's try it tomorrow. We'll stay close to the stairs to escape fast if there are any problems. I'll also keep a few antidote potions close just in case there is a problem." Continued the girl as she was fine with exploring more of the dungeon.

"Now that I think about it, Finn just left, and we already agreed to break his rules." Added Aidan with slight shame as he just said that he would only go up the floors.

"Well, it's fine. We'll keep our cards on the eighteenth floor while we go to the next one so they won't know. Besides, we know that he won't be coming back to the dungeon soon. Let's stick on the eighteenth when the Goliath spawn just in case." Answered Ais as she was more than ready to explore more of the dungeon.

—-

Ten hours later, both youngsters walked back towards the eighteenth floor. With non-stop fighting, they were both quite tired, but they were also full of happiness that they had not only collected a lot of loot but that thanks to their training of the day, they would gain a few more parameters on their status their next update.

"Let's wash up and go to sleep early. We need to be in top condition for tomorrow morning." Said Aidan as he was both excited and a bit worried about the next day. He knew a lot about the next floors, but he also knew that only good level two adventurers entered those floors.

"Mmm." Nodded the girl as she bathed first before going to bed, which Aidan quickly joined twenty minutes later.

——

"Are you ready?" Asked the boy as he had a severe face and looked intently to the stairs leading deeper in the dungeon.

"Yes, I am." Nodded the girl full of enthusiasm but also solemn and concentrated.

"Alright, let's go." He said as he helped Ais stick the anti-poison field card on her body. He was practically immune to abnormal conditions such as poisoning, so there was no need for him to have the card on him, which on the contrary, could be fatal for Ais if she unknowingly went outside the field of anti-poison.

"Hum, this looks like some weird jungle." Commented Ais as she looked at the new floor they were standing on.

The floor, known as the Large tree labyrinth, was filled with all kinds of herbs and vegetation. Insects, especially poisonous ones, lived everywhere in the dungeon as the light appeared on the floor thanks to some moss that radiated phosphorescent light. This floor was especially loved by strong level two adventurers and even some level three since the plant diversity provided many ingredients used in potions and alchemy. Therefore, the guild published many quests for these floors, and this was one of the best ways for level two adventurers to make quick money.

"Well, it seems our first monsters are here." Motioned Aidan as he pointed to a side with his head to Ais to show her the monster's direction.

"Lizardman's, three of them." Said Ais as she stared at the approaching enemies. "I've heard of them. They are quick and agile, and they attack with their fingers, nails as hard as iron and as sharp as a knife. However, their defence is relatively low and easy to kill if you are faster than them." Added the girl as she finally remembered one last piece of information. "They also normally fight in groups of five to seven." She said as her eyes grew wide, and she looked all around her as if some monsters approached her.

"Let's kill them before the others arrive." Said Aidan as he stopped waiting for the monsters and charged at them along with Ais.

'It'll be easy to kill them. Their defence is low, so using my telekinetic power with the throwing knives to sneak attack should do the trick. Thought Aidan as he used his magic to slide the throwing knives to the ground and make them speed up from the side to attack the lizardmen while they are focusing on them.

"Huh. It was easy." Said Ais as she suddenly stopped as three knives lodged themselves directly in the neck of the three monsters from the back.

"Huh, I was expecting more than that, to be honest." Answered Aidan at a loss. He was fully prepared for a difficult battle, but the knives killed the monsters from the first hit. "Well, let's continue searching for the monsters. I heard that there are nine different species on this floor alone. It is very different from the previous floors." Said Aidan with a smile as he saw that the floor wasn't as dangerous and deadly as he had previously thought. It didn't make him lower his guard tho as he knew that a moment of inattention could be fatal when in the dungeon.

"Yeah. I hope to see a firebird. It is said that this monster is wonderful despite being relatively dangerous due to its fire attacks." Explained Ais as she continued to take in the surroundings since it was the first time they had entered this floor.