Everyone found Aston's idea astonishing, but after his insistence, they agreed to it.
They decided not to act today, but to venture to the 49th floor's great wilderness tomorrow to face the floor boss, Balor. After all, each time they ventured to the deeper floors, they exerted all their strength and hurried over in just a few hours.
Reaching the deeper levels required fighting continuously, and while it was feasible against regular deep-level monsters, they would be outmatched against the floor boss, Balor.
Though they had potions to use, they couldn't fully recover all their vitality and spirit like normal. To confront Balor, they needed to be at their greatest condition.
They planned to reach the deep levels today, rest in a safe zone for the night, and then proceed tomorrow. Of course, this was just preparation to face Balor; encountering him wasn't guaranteed. They hadn't met him during their last expedition.
The wilderness was vast, and although Balor was large, he was still minuscule compared to the size of the wilderness. Even if Balor did appear, the chances of finding him were slim since he wouldn't just stay in one place but would wander throughout the wilderness.
The group hurried towards the deeper levels at their fastest pace, spending several hours before finally reaching the first safe zone on the 38th floor.
After arriving in the deep levels, Aston and his companions quickly had lunch and didn't linger, proceeding directly to the 39th floor to hunt monsters. With their current speed and timing, they could potentially reach the 50th floor before it got dark on the surface.
However, they decided not to rush this time.
Aston and his companions planned to rest on the 38th floor tonight, spending today on the 39th and 40th floors. They would continue to the next level tomorrow and head directly to the 49th floor.
Soon after arriving at the deeper levels, Aston leveled up, reaching Level 34.
"Ding! Experience is full. Host's level has increased. Current level: 34!"
"Congratulations to the Host on the level up. Awarding the Host the passive skill 'Immunity'!"
Immunity: Ability to be immune to any negative effects up to the divine level.
With another level up, the required experience, originally 400,000, became 500,000. Aston was slightly daunted by this massive experience requirement.
Now, the deep levels could barely satisfy his experience needs. Going forward, once he reached Level 40, the required experience would start in the millions. Moreover, the experience gained from monsters between the 40th and 49th floors would significantly diminish.
After Level 40, to gain substantial experience besides relying on the Familia's large force, Aston would need to venture into floors beyond the 50th, where the experience gains could sustain him.
After a slight sigh, Aston checked his new reward. Seeing the description of this new skill, Aston narrowed his eyes slightly. The system seemed to have awarded this skill specifically for him to counter Freya.
Freya's charm was terrifyingly powerful, even capable of ensnaring gods.
In the original story, after Freya failed to confess her love and subsequently captured Bell, she used her 'Charm' to alter the memories and history of everyone in Orario, including the gods, to make Bell completely hers.
Only Hestia, Ouranos, Ryuu, and Asfi, who had escaped from Orario, were unaffected by Freya's charm. It was a truly terrifying ability. If Freya really used this power, Aston knew he would be utterly defenseless against it. Even Bell, was affected and had his memory severely altered.
Aston, bombarded with vast amounts of information in his previous life, didn't think he could resist it any better than Bell.
Even before acquiring this new skill, Aston wasn't sure he would be immune to Freya's unbridled charm if she appeared before him in her true form. But now, with this new skill, Aston could be completely worry-free about this issue.
After all, this passive skill could immunize him against any negative influence at the level of the gods, and in some ways, charm is a type of negative effect. With this passive skill, Aston would definitely not be affected by Freya's "charm" ability, and he wouldn't fear any surprise attacks from her as the skill is passive and doesn't require Aston to activate it.
The system really knew what Aston was worried about and had given him this ability.
Soon, a few hours passed, and Aston and his companions returned to the safe zone on the 38th floor to rest. After a night's rest, they were refreshed and spiritedly headed towards the 49th floor.
"Aston, you're planning to use that magic sword of yours, right?"
"Are you sure your magic sword can handle it?" Tione asked as they traveled. Aston's strength was on par with theirs, but he boldly claimed he could confront Balor, a being of Level 7 strength. Tione thought of Aston's magic sword, which had annihilated Goliath in one strike.
They couldn't gauge the full power of Aston's magic sword, but could it really defeat Balor, a Level 7 creature, in one strike?
If he couldn't, they would have no choice but to flee. With their combined strength, it was impossible to defeat Balor.
This was also a concern for Ais and the others. They thought Aston's confidence in challenging Balor was entirely due to having Excalibur as his trump card. However, they were skeptical about Aston's chances of success.
"Well, don't worry," Aston said, not elaborating further but reassuring them with a smile.
Excalibur could certainly do it, but he didn't plan to use it right away. He wanted to test his newly development ability, the Floor Boss Killer.
Quickly, after spending an hour, Aston and his group arrived at the great wilderness of the 49th floor.
"Ding! A new mission has been triggered."
"Mission Name: Monster Rex Balor!"
"Mission Description: This is the Host's first encounter with Balor. Please eliminate it with a strong attack."
"Mission Reward: 3 Faction Cards; 300,000 experience points."
***
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