Perhaps seeing Takatsuki traveling alone, although the 18th Floor had its own rules, the local bosses chose to overcharge Takatsuki.
Although Takatsuki had many ways to "force" them to treat him at normal prices, he thought about it and gave up.
After all, there was no need; it was just for one night's stay.
There was a strange distortion in the currency system on the 18th Floor: currency was worth more than magic stones. Magic stone payments were not accepted here; to spend, one had to exchange them for Valis, and the exchange rate here was many times different.
The exchange rate itself was five or six times different, and then the prices for consumption were more than ten times higher than above ground.
All in all, paying with magic stones could result in a difference of dozens of times.
No wonder even the Loki Familia was unwilling to stay in hotels on the 18th Floor, opting instead to camp out.
However, Takatsuki didn't think it was necessary. After all, when others explored the Dungeon, carrying currency was useless and only took up space, but Takatsuki was different; he could carry it freely.
It was strange, even though it was underground, the dome of the 18th Floor had a huge crystal that emitted a gentle white light during the day, illuminating the entire floor.
At night, it would dim, signifying nighttime, but it didn't become completely dark. It could only be described as a miracle of the Dungeon.
After staying on the 18th Floor for a day, Takatsuki set off early the next morning with the map he bought from the 18th Floor. However, the map bought here could only reach the lower safe floor, which was the Twenty-Eighth Floor. Anything further down was information only held by large Familia.
Even LV2 adventurers could pass through the first few floors of the middle level of the Dungeon.
Soon after stepping onto the 19th Floor, Takatsuki encountered a monster attack.
Although the Shadowkhan charged forward fearlessly, several of them were quickly killed by the mushroom-like monsters opposite them.
The Dungeon starting from the 19th Floor is known as the Large Tree Labryinth area, and it has many poisonous traps and monsters.
Looking at the mushroom monsters continuously spewing spores in front of him, Takatsuki waved his hand, and a huge burst of explosion erupted, turning them into ashes.
"The Shadowkhan isn't very useful starting from the 19th Floor."
Although he could rely on the immortal Shadowkhan to wear down the monsters, it wasn't very meaningful and wasted time. Instead of constantly summoning the Shadowkhan like a command tower, he might as well act himself.
"I remember there are materials needed here."
Takatsuki took out the list prepared by Miach, looked at the floors where the materials were marked as produced, and then showed it to the Shadowkhan beside him.
"Go find this material."
The Shadowkhan beside him nodded after a glance, then transformed into shadows and scattered.
"Their abilities other than combat are very strong."
The Shadowkhan went to find materials, and Takatsuki was not idle. Holding the magic stone he had just obtained in one hand, he began to knead it using his puppeteer skills while heading towards the 20th Floor.
The materials he needed could all be found in the Large Tree Labryinth, so there was no need to wait too long on this floor.
Along the way, he used fire and blast to eliminate several monsters and collected their magic stones. Takatsuki finally saw the path down from the 19th Floor.
The Shadowkhan hadn't returned yet, so it seemed there were no results.
After recalling them through their shadows, Takatsuki descended to the 20th Floor and had them continue exploring on the 20th Floor.
The monsters on the 20th Floor were long-range attacking monsters, shaped like dragonflies, and called Gun Libellula.
However, Takatsuki didn't let their attacks get close, incinerating them with fire.
"Long-range attacking monsters are really disgusting."
While expressing this thought, Takatsuki kneaded the acquired magic stones into the newly created puppet core.
The Large Tree Labryinth was very spacious, but just like its name, the surroundings were like a forest, with many towering trees standing around, serving as obstacles to sight and natural traps.
Most of the flying, long-range attacking Gun Libellula hid in or behind trees to attack. If one was alone, it was truly hard to guard against them.
Because the character card maintained the Fire Demon form, Takatsuki couldn't use Haki of Observation to sense his surroundings and could only rely on his ears to judge the movements around him.
"Enemies?"
A subtle disturbance came from not far away. Takatsuki looked up and noticed it was still far from his position.
"It seems to be other adventurers."
The commotion made by monsters is different when there are enemies and when there are no enemies. The current commotion clearly sounded like they were chasing something.
"Adventurers being chased by a Monster Feast?"
Takatsuki thought for a moment and decided to go take a look. If he could help, he didn't mind. Although there was a lot of deceit among adventurers, he didn't care much, as he didn't intend to become close with these unfamiliar adventurers.
However, upon approaching, he noticed something was off, because the one being chased by the Gun Libellula was a cloaked figure.
If Takatsuki's eyes weren't mistaken, that figure just now seemed to... fly for a short distance.
It wasn't a jump, nor was it a glide using airflow from falling from the sky, but true flight.
Among adventurers, while the ability to fly existed, it was extremely rare and required a high level.
Being chased by a group of monsters from the 20th Floor here...
"Run towards me!"
After thinking for a moment, Takatsuki stopped thinking and shouted loudly at the figure.
Takatsuki saw that the other party clearly flinched upon hearing his voice, then quickly...
changed direction and moved away from Takatsuki's direction.
"Moving away? Is it not wanting to involve me, or is there a problem?"
Takatsuki frowned. Although Orario seemed relatively peaceful, with humans conquering the Dungeon, there were still some people with problematic minds, only thinking about causing destruction, known as the Dark Faction.
However, Takatsuki didn't know much about them, as his understanding of Dungeon Crawl was limited to three seasons of anime.
Watching many monsters abandon the figure and fly towards him because of his voice, Takatsuki frowned, then raised his hand.
A huge blast drowned out the Large Tree Labryinth of the Dungeon.
After summoning a few more Shadowkhan members to pick up the magic stones for him one by one, Takatsuki, while kneading a new puppet core, saw the ninja soldiers he had sent out earlier returning with many materials.
"Forget it, that person has nothing to do with me. Since the materials are collected, let's continue on our way."
Putting the materials packed by the ninja soldiers into his backpack, Takatsuki continued his descent to the lower levels.