Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Gold Solis Party
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Dawn, as the sun began to drive away the veil of night.
"Ah? Aah!?"
One of the many tents in the campsite.
While others slumbered, the young man inside let out a gasp, as if sensing something—slicing through the quiet dawn.
"Ooh! Oooh!"
A faint pleasure surged from the core of his body, rippling outward like a gentle storm.
The confusion from this sensation—the first of its kind in his life—was fleeting.
The young man, Yohan, muttered in a daze, a subtle warmth lingering on his face.
"Feels good..."
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"This guy's creeping me out."
Lucas shot Yohan a glare as he toasted biscuits, his face twisted with irritation and fatigue.
"You shouldn't say things like that. It's rude to Yohan."
Elise scolded Lucas with a stern look.
"But this guy started the morning by showing something gross!"
"?"
"Why are you acting like you have no idea what I'm talking about?!"
Yohan tilted his head as he melted the biscuits in his mouth, prompting Lucas to explode.
"I heard weird moans, so I woke up... and this guy's got this creepy look on his face! For a second, I thought this pervert was gonna jump me!"
"I like women."
"Yeah, sure you do!"
The reason Lucas was grinding his teeth and raging at Yohan wasn't anything major.
Among the Novice package members, Yohan had adapted to the layer the fastest.
But it seemed his dungeon affinity was better than expected.
In the process of the dungeon's mana seeping into his body and that gathered mana spreading throughout... well, he felt an intense sense of lassitude.
And from another guy's perspective, watching that could come off as pretty unseemly—or even threatening(?).
"Who adapts to a layer that dramatically?"
"Knock it off, Lucas. Are you mad?"
Elise's scolding of Lucas's grumbling brought the brief squabble during breakfast to an end.
But even though it looked like growling, the atmosphere wasn't bad at all.
'So young they're practically kids.'
Maybe because these three were the only ones around their age here, they seemed to have grown close in no time.
'Who knows, by the end of this package, they might form their own party.'
The Crawler Guild recommended 4 to 5 people for dungeon exploration parties.
With two vanguards and a priest, they'd just need a ranger for scouting to make a well-balanced group.
Yohan finished off the biscuits in his mouth, his expression a touch wistful.
"Speaking of layer adaptation..."
He turned toward me as if a thought had just struck him and spoke up.
"It doesn't feel all that different from what I expected."
"It's only the first floor."
I answered Yohan's question.
Adapting to the first layer was like hitting level 1 in a game.
Even if his dungeon affinity was good and he'd adapted well, there was no way it'd feel like a massive power-up.
At best, it'd register as a slight improvement in condition.
"Will it still feel this way even after a few more adaptations?"
Lucas and Elise didn't jump in on Yohan's follow-up question, but they glanced my way.
"Not after one, but stack about ten, and you'll definitely start to feel it. Plus, even in the upper layers, the dungeon's pressure ramps up the deeper you go."
Right now, the first floor might not register, but by the Novice package endpoint at the tenth, it'd be unmistakable.
The goal was once per day.
Stacking layer adaptations continuously would outpace the body's adjustment.
"The lower-floor members' target for this expedition was the thirty-fifth, right? If we made it all the way down there, it'd definitely be noticeable?"
This time, Elise asked.
Classes like mages and priests benefited most from layer adaptation.
Unlike warrior types who struggled to utilize increased mana effectively, these relied on it fundamentally.
I got it.
But.
"If you don't want to die, you'd better drop that idea."
Layer adaptation was often seen as a blessing that strengthened body and mana, but at its core, it permanently 'deformed' the body.
They had ten planned for this expedition, but that was only the upper layers' mild pressure at the dungeon's entrance.
Chaining adaptations straight from first to thirty-fifth...
'You'd either die or warp into something unrecognizable as human.'
Besides, I had no intention of dragging these five-gold payers anywhere near the mid-layers, let alone lower.
Even if they coughed up extra and begged to go deeper, Gold Solis wouldn't accept.
"By the eighth floor or so, you'll get what I mean."
Well, long before then, questions like this would vanish once they hit the tenth and felt it for real.
"Layer adaptation complete for all. Departing for the second floor in thirty minutes! Finish eating and prep to move!"
Horsdruk Shieldlove's voice boomed across the campsite, stirring everyone—including the newbie trio—into bustling activity.
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The expedition proceeded smoothly.
With four lower-layer crawlers along, major issues in the upper layers were unlikely—and the initial chaos after entering the dungeon had steadily settled.
Someone in a past life had said humans were creatures of adaptation.
Even those shattered on day one by grasping the reality of life-or-death slaughter.
Keep rolling through it without room for stray thoughts, and imperfect as it might be, familiarity set in.
Plus, even if they couldn't adapt, they had reason not to quit.
Five gold.
Money a city laborer couldn't earn in a nonstop year.
That sum invested in a single package.
They said money was scarier than death.
It might be years of hard savings,
or borrowed funds,
or family or village scraping together on future promise.
Either way, the Novice package folks thrashed desperately to adapt, even in their first dungeon ordeal.
"Ah, I told you that's not how you do it."
"No, there you go like this! Ugh! So frustrating!"
By the eighth floor, changes rippled beyond the Novice package—to the mid- and lower-layer guests too.
Boredom was the culprit.
Upper schedule ran to the tenth.
Factoring adaptations, about ten days.
For mid-layer crawlers—like the Kaiden Party days—trailing a slow skip through turf they'd blitz in three became mind-numbing.
Dice or card games killed time for a day or two.
Unable to endure the tedium, mid- and lower-layer guests started moving.
They were the ones being carried, sure—but these were monsters from ages ago, and upper-layer loot barely registered against their usual hauls.
Yet despite the upper layers' slim pickings even for mid-tier hunters,
"That's right. That's right. Just like that."
"That last one—remember? Judgment was a bit off, but overall solid."
Nothing beat coaching wobbly newbies for fun.
Mid-layer guests mixed with Novices unprompted.
Unlike Gold Solis and Horsdruk sticking strictly to paid duty, these—bored and willing—coached earnestly at times.
Novices didn't rebuff the occasional serious advice from these mid-tier folks.
Even short solo parties formed under Gold Solis's limited okay.
"If they skipped the 'back in my day' boredom stories, they'd be perfect."
The usual quartet gathered now, like clockwork.
Lucas spoke in a weary voice.
Even he shoveled down the sweet porridge he'd once despised without a flicker—just a week prior.
"Still, you'd do well to listen. Crawlers are stingy with favors—advice born of real experience is rare."
Most 'wisdom' from veteran crawlers came as drunken tavern boasts.
Such scenes were scarce outside unique carry-party vibes like this.
Trade a little ego-stroking for help? Solid deal.
Lucas knew it, griped no further.
'Too sharp for such a mismatched guy.'
I turned to the scheme's architect.
Gold Solis eyed the guests with a sly flick of his tongue and a lecherous grin.
But anyone who knew him recognized that look as pure satisfaction.
Our eyes met, and he flashed a predatory smile, like a golden sun spotting prey.
A chill crawled up my spine; I looked away.
I knew it wasn't that vibe, but... Horsdruk and the Shieldlove crew's expressions never got easier.
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Still, as human bonds formed, not everything stayed rosy.
"Ugh. You an orphan or something? Why advertise you never learned manners?"
A voice thick with annoyance chilled the air around them.
"Sigh... fuck, why's this worthless punk acting so damn cocky?"