Connection

A young man stood at the 7th floor's entrance, removing all of the elevated screens that appeared in front of him and storing the cores of the 40 low-grade monsters he had collected. All of the monster cores were derived from a single monster, the goblin. The main reason they were easily defeated was that they charged him one at a time, and the spear's range was sufficient to thrust them.

Unfortunately, Kai had no intention of using his [Core manifestation] on the goblin's core. First and foremost, he felt disgusted whenever he remembered the goblin's appearance. Second, none of the goblin's abilities piqued his interest. Yes, he praised them for their agility, but the problem was that some of his skills were based on his speed, so if he copied the goblin's agility, he might not be able to use it.

He sat next to the 7th floor's gate, planning to regain the stamina lost to him before doing the training with his spear.

"To be honest, I'm not exhausted from fighting those goblins; I'm exhausted because I'm having trouble collecting their cores with this spear; next time, I'll ask someone to pick up the cores for me."

He sighed deeply, then leaned back against the chilly wall and began to rest.

_

After about 30 minutes, Kai noticed that his stamina had returned to normal. So he pushed himself into a standing position by placing his palms on the flat surface.

A spacious flat surface measuring 5 meters in height and 4 meters in width surrounded him. This area was ideal for him to practice with his spear.

"I should not waste my time here."

Kai held his spear with both hands, unsure of the proper stance to use with his new weapon. When he was practicing his swordsmanship, the screen didn't count all of the incorrect ways he struck the sword. To be more specific, he could not simply swing his spear whenever he pleased; there were rules to follow.

Swish!

First, he pushed the spear forward, as he had done previously when killing the goblins. However, the screen showed no progress, indicating that this was not the correct way to use it.

[Spear thrust: 0/2000]

At this point, he attempted to replicate the training with his sword, which began by stepping forward. Nonetheless, he received the same outcome.

"I've never tried to use a spear before, so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with this," Kai said inwardly, considering how he could do it in his current situation.

Ding!

[Your hand should be near the bottom of the handle, while the other hand should be in the middle. Bend your knees, look at the target, and push your spear forward while mildly twisting it. Remember that rotating your arms will make it difficult to regain your fighting composure. Otherwise, you'd already be familiar with how to play the handle.]

After hearing the dinging tone, Kai immediately did the way indicated on the screen.

Swish!

He was able to produce a sharp sound that could easily penetrate the monster's chest in this manner. At the same time, it generated a force that stroked his long black hair back.

[1/2000]

"Sheesh! It feels more comfortable and powerful than the last time I wielded it." Kai continued his training and resolved not to return to Alexa's house until he completed this quest.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

100...

101...

102...

103...

Kai had only been practicing his spear for a few minutes, but his body was now drenched in sweat, and his clothes were soaked in it. It appeared that wielding the spear was more difficult than wielding the sword.

"My arms are going numb-"

Bam! Bam! Bam!

He couldn't finish his sentence because he heard several rapid footsteps coming downstairs. And the sound became increasingly louder as they got closer to his current location.

"There are so many... Monsters?" He shook his head before continuing. "No, I'm sure I killed all the monsters on the sixth floor, unless they respawn and chase me," he said worriedly.

Without hesitation, he directed his spear toward the location where he could clearly hear the footsteps.

As soon as they exited the area, Kai used his [Panther walk] to avoid the attack as the man with spiky white hair gained momentum and charged at him.

Boom!

Rocks exploded and scattered all over the place. Fortunately, Kai was able to avoid the attack and took a look around the area where the man had landed.

"What's wrong with you?! Why are you attacking me all of a sudden?!" Kai exclaimed, knowing that if he didn't successfully dodge that attack, he was certain he was already dead. 'This man is no laughing matter. He's obviously stronger than me; I can't fight him,' he thought to himself.

"You... Did you just easily dodge my [Corossive slash]?" Granfel demanded, gritting his teeth. "Try to dodge it again!" he challenged Kai, and before he could move his legs again, the sharp sword was already on his neck.

"I didn't remember giving you permission to attack another adventurer," Carmen said coldly, staring at him with furious eyes.

"Carmen..." Granfel's face was flushed, knowing Carmen would never hesitate to sever his neck. "I'm just trying to scare him, Carmen, because that man stole the monster cores that should have been for our party."

"Why? Did you own this tower?" Her sword was getting deeper into Granfel's neck, and blood was slowly pouring out.

"I-I understand, Carmen; I'd never do it again, so please take your weapon away from me; it's slicing my neck," Granfel said.

"If you disobey me again, I'll make sure your head falls to the ground without you even noticing," Carmen warned, then swung her sword to remove the blood.

...

To begin, Dolph, Hiana, and Dianara went to Kai's location, knowing that Granfel's attack could injure or, in the worst-case scenario, kill him.

"Are you okay, adventurer? Tell me if something hurt you, and I'll immediately heal it." Dianara approached him, despite the fact that she could see how easily this man dodged Granfel's attack.

"No, I'm fine," Kai replied, "but please advise your comrade that he must not attack anyone out of nowhere; if I'm not lucky, I'm sure he's already killed me right now." Kai clenched his spear, but couldn't take up with that man.

Dolph, Hiana, Dianara, and even Carmen stepped forward and bowed their heads in front of him. "We apologize for my actions toward our member; we also did not expect him to attack someone," they said at the same time.

Kai recognized Carmen as soon as she lifted her head. But first, Carmen directed the three to the seventh floor.

"Get Granfel out of here now before I kill him," Carmen said.

The two obeyed her order without hesitation, but Hiana left the area to inquire. "How about you? You're the leader of the party."

"Don't worry, I will follow after I finish here."

Hiana nodded, "I understand." She left the area as she entered the 7th floor.

The two of them were staring at each other while surrounded by the magical crystal. Furthermore, Kai bowed his head as he remembered the woman who had saved her.

"I'm Kai Xinn, and I'd like to thank you for saving my life from the bulky guy," Kai introduced himself, knowing that because he met Carmen here, he couldn't afford to miss out on the chance to complete the quest.

"I'm Carmen Mordigord, I'm a party raid leader of the man who attacked you earlier, and I apologize," she said coldly, as she wasn't used to talking to anyone.

"Don't worry about it, as long as I'm not hurt," Kai said, picking up his spear that had fallen to the ground. "I believe your party members are looking for you; you should follow them right now."

"How about you? You're not going to the 7th floor? I'm planning to give all the cores there to compensate for the trouble made by my member." She didn't mind giving her the cores because killing the monsters on the 7th floor was an easy task for them.

He shook his head and hands at the same time. "There's no need for that, miss Carmen, and I'm in training right now, so I don't mind if you clear the 7th floor."

"Are you training in the dungeon?"

"I don't have anywhere to train, so I take advantage of the opportunity to train inside the dungeon," he said, nodding.

"If that's the case, I'll take my leave," she said as she spun around to face the 7th floor's entrance, but she eventually came to a halt. "If you're looking for a place to train, come find me in the next three days; I'll let you train in your guild because one of my members attacked you."

"Yes, miss Carmen! Good luck with your expedition and have a nice day," Kai said as Carmen walked away, a malicious grin on his face. "This is flowing nicely."