"We have the maps for the first thirty-two floors." I explained, "Well, I heard great dungeons put out stronger enemies than your standard dungeon, so perhaps we should see how difficult the monsters on this level are before we progress."
With Terra here, I could be a total support finally. I equipped White Mage, True Dungeon Diver, and Slave Master. Of course, if I could level up Slave Master, I felt that would help in the match tomorrow the best. True Dungeon Diver was about taking advantage of the many skills which synergized well with my map. Then, there was also White Mage which was to keep everyone going healthily.
As we went deeper into the first level, I performed Sense Life, Sense Traps, and Detect Treasure. There was not a lot of treasure on this level. I went to where Sense Life indicated, only to run into other parties. A few were rude and offputish, while most of them were nice. It seemed like most of the monsters on the first floor were dead. We decided to quickly go around snatching up whatever treasure was left on this floor before heading down to the next floor. I ended up finding some gold and a rather weak magic item.
There was more on the first floor. It was absolutely massive, but it seemed like a waste of time, so we headed down to the second floor. We had already wasted about two hours and had yet to battle a single monster.
"Miki… do you remember anything like a monster attractant in the alchemy books?"
Miki thought for a moment and then nodded. "Mm! There is such a thing!"
I just said it casually, but she pulled the alchemy book out of her storage ring. She carried them along, huh? She quickly found it too. It wasn't even that complicated. Fortunately, the ring I gave Faeyna wasn't my good one. She said that most rings held a chest-load, and she was right. The rings I gave all the girls could only hold so much. The ring I had gotten when I conquered the dungeon, however, could hold a cartful. That's why it had so much more value than the other rings.
That ring was filled with different reagents I had accumulated in the last three dungeons. I quickly brought out what Miki requested. We only had to make one substitution which she insisted would work. The means of creating it was actually rather easy. We just had to mix the parts and then set it on fire. I had Celeste use wind to spread it out quickly. At first, I was disappointed to hear nothing.
A few moments later, the ground started to rumble. I smiled and then nodded to the girls. I could see a dozen monsters coming from one of the hallways. We could finally start leveling properly. Then I saw another dozen coming from another hallway. Still more were coming from somewhere else. However, I didn't feel threatened at all. Rather, this is what I was waiting for. If things really did get dangerous, I would just use Return and take the girls out of here.
The girls didn't appear worried either. Lydia was flexing her hand on her sword. Terra was straightening her gloves. Celeste was dancing around excitedly. Meanwhile, Miki cast something that suddenly gave us a boost of spirit. I didn't know she could do that, but even the slight worry I had seemed to diminish after her spell. I made sure to pat her head efficiently. The monsters burst around the corner. It appeared to be a pack of wolves. Some of them appeared to be mounted by goblins.
"Attack!" I gave the order.