"It's safe here."
The little mermaid placed Takatsuki in a nearby tributary of the river. Takatsuki used Heaven's Stairway to survey the surroundings. There were no monsters, not even anything moving, not even a plant. It seemed to be her usual hideout.
"You must have just been born in the Dungeon, but I've never seen your kind before."
Of course, because there are no carp in the Dungeon.
Unfortunately, the Xenos who had never left the Dungeon naturally didn't know what animals outside looked like.
Takatsuki didn't intend to continue pretending to be a mute fish. Instead, he splashed in the water, and with the help of Heaven's Stairway, he leaped onto the nearby bank, much to the little mermaid's surprise.
In her astonished gaze, a flash of light, and the little fish she had thought was a companion transformed into a human boy before her eyes.
"You, you, you, how did you do that!? You can actually turn into a human?"
Even now, the little mermaid still thought of Takatsuki as a Xenos who could turn into a human, and she asked Takatsuki with such an innocent expression.
"Because I am human."
"An adventurer!?
Takatsuki nodded. The little mermaid poked her head out of the water and looked at Takatsuki curiously: "How did you do that just now? Why can you turn into a monster?"
Looking at the unguarded little mermaid, Takatsuki said somewhat strangely, "That's my ability, and it's not a monster, but I can turn creatures into animals. But you, aren't you afraid of me?"
"Hehehe, I feel like you're different from the adventurers I've seen before, and my intuition tells me you have no ill will. My intuition is very accurate, you know!"
As if showing off her ability, the little mermaid proudly straightened her back, but then quickly seemed to remember something frightening and said, "Like recently, I feel like there's something scary on the 25th floor."
"But speaking of which, why are you alone? Aren't adventurers usually in large groups?"
"Because I'm here to collect materials for a potion for my companion. It's more convenient for me to be alone."
Takatsuki didn't hide anything from this cute little mermaid, saying, "By the way, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Takatsuki."
"I'm Marie, what materials are you looking for? I know all the materials on the 25th floor."
The cute little mermaid volunteered, raising her hand.
"The materials I collected on the 25th floor? It's mermaid blood."
Takatsuki looked at the little mermaid in front of him, who wasn't very afraid of humans, and wanted to scare her. But to Takatsuki's surprise, Marie wasn't scared. Instead, she raised her wrist, looked at Takatsuki, and said, "Do you have a container? I can give you some."
"No, aren't you afraid?"
Marie's response left Takatsuki a bit stunned.
"It's fine. When the people above occasionally get difficult-to-heal injuries, I also use my blood to treat them."
Marie said nonchalantly, as if it were a common occurrence.
"Then, put it here."
Takatsuki thought for a moment and didn't say much more, taking out a test tube for storing potions and handing it over.
Marie took the test tube and gently swiped her finger across her wrist. The movement was very skilled, clearly something she had done many times before.
Bright red blood flowed from the cut wound into the test tube, quickly filling it.
"Is this enough?"
Holding the wound upwards so no more blood flowed out, Marie handed the test tube to Takatsuki.
"Enough, enough."
Putting the precious mermaid blood back into his backpack, Takatsuki took out a Elixir and said to Marie, who was covering her wound, waiting for it to heal naturally, "Don't move."
Pulling out the stopper, the pale yellow liquid flowed from the bottle's mouth.
Because it was only a small wound, the Elixir completely healed it as soon as it was applied.
"Wow, is this the adventurer's elixir? Is the effect really that good?"
Marie clearly didn't know how valuable the Elixir was. Takatsuki put away the remaining liquid and said, "Adventurers also have their own methods, and your wound wasn't serious to begin with. However, the lost blood can only be recovered slowly."
"It's fine, it's just a little blood. Compared to that, your previous... um... magic, can it turn others into animals too?"
"Yes, it can. Why do you ask?"
Marie said a little sheepishly, "Actually, I want to experience what it's like to walk on land and fly in the sky."
"Reed and the others can run around everywhere, but I can only stay on these few floors. Although I don't want to leave here, I want to experience what walking and flying are like."
"That's no problem, it's a small matter."
Takatsuki reached out to Marie and said, "Hold my hand. You won't be able to speak once you turn into an animal. I'll turn you into a bird first so you can get a feel for it. If you want to change back, just land on my arm."
Marie nodded excitedly, "Okay!"
As Marie held Takatsuki's hand, with a flash of light, the mermaid lady holding Takatsuki's hand transformed into a white dove.
Seemingly still not used to her body, the white dove spread her wings on Takatsuki's palm, looked at her body, then lifted her feet to look, and then began flapping her wings, trying to fly.
"You need to push off the ground with both feet at the same time to jump. Just flapping your wings won't make you fly."
Seeing the white dove flap a few times without flying, Takatsuki knew her situation and spoke up to advise her.
Although she couldn't speak, she could still understand what others said.
After Takatsuki's prompt, Marie finally flew from his hand.
Although the Dungeon wasn't spacious and there was no blue sky, the height here was sufficient.
Marie flapped her wings, constantly swaying and flying around, becoming more and more skilled. Even without seeing her expression, Takatsuki could feel that Marie was very excited right now.
Seeing that she didn't seem to have any intention of coming down for a while, Takatsuki silently took out the prepared food. He had been walking for more than half a day and was already hungry.
Making use of the resources in the Dungeon, Takatsuki lit a bonfire and placed the prepared meat next to it to roast.
Compared to other adventurers, Takatsuki's lifestyle was a bit too "luxurious."
This was the advantage of having a spatial backpack.
However, his backpack was slowly becoming insufficient. For this expedition, he had specially cleared out many empty slots, discarding unused items to pack in so many supplies.
After all, he had a bit of a hoarding tendency, liking to store things even if they weren't immediately useful, thinking they might come in handy later.