Chapter 22: The Sixth Floor
~Tit~
~Tat~
Footsteps echoed within the massive cave-like structure, with a troop of workers trailing together in a straight line.
They had their equipment in their grasp, and a large backpack behind them, there they were to place the minerals they were able to mine.
~Tit~
~Tat~
As they proceeded, the workers began to get fewer. That was because some had already left for their stations.
Every worker had their respective work areas for the day, so as to ensure the distribution of labor and harvesting of resources was well evened out.
As for the area of mining, it was restricted to the first to fifth floors of the Dungeon.
Anything beyond that was considered 'Dangerous Territory' by the establishment.
As a result, the resources in the first-fifth floors were already thinning out.
However, unless they were absolutely certain that they had been exhausted, no one in their right mind would move to a more dangerous zone for profit.
Besides, the Royal Palace had already issued an announcement that they would soon be sending a team to venture deeper into the Dungeon.
Once the team paved the way for them, they could finally harvest more Minerals.
At least, that was the hope.
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'Alright. I've found the entrance to the 6th Floor.'
Rey smiled as he noticed a tightly shut gate.
He was currently using [Stealth], so no one noticed his presence within the room.
Not only that, but all the workers were already too busy in their designated spots to care about him.
The entrance was also further away from the designated workplace of anyone, so he couldn't be seen even if he decided to undo [Stealth].
'I better keep it on, though...' He decided.
The entrance was like a grandiose basement door—with two gates tightly shut that it felt like they had merged together.
The gates had a dull golden color, with tiny glitters here and there. Try surmised that it must have once been a very pretty structure, but its luster had been ruined by dirt and grime.
'From what I noticed about the first five floors, each floor is quite deep and extensive—like a cave.'
The mere fact that such an elaborate structure could exist without caving in meant it had very strong materials making up its building.
'I was able to study the design that architects and Dungeon Experts made on the Royal Dungeon—at least, up to the sixth floor or so.'
For the survey, they had done an elaborate search and schematics check on the entire Dungeon, and what they found was surprising.
Structure-wise, the Royal Dungeon should have caved in already, considering it's architecture was flawed, and it was estimated to have over 50 Floors just based on the topography.
'The most likely reason it hasn't done so yet, other than its powerful components... is Magic.'
The origin of Dungeons was still a mystery, but for the longest time the people of H'Trae believed it formed naturally.
It was only until recently that they began to realize it couldn't have formed naturally, else it would have collapsed.
This gave birth to a new leading theory;
Dungeons were made by people—or at least, some form of intelligent life.
"I suppose that theory holds up. Ah... I'm getting sidetracked." Rey murmured to himself and looked at the gates.
From what he was seeing, no one was going to interrupt and disturb him if he trained in the sixth floor or anything below.
'At least, not anytime soon.'
With that in mind, Rey reached out for the gate's entrance and touched it.
As the cool surface tingled his fingers, he analyzed its structure.
'It's very thick. The materials are sturdy too. I see why they're confident that no monster will make it up here.'
With a smile, Rey undid his [Stealth] and activated yet another Skill.
'[Phase]'
The moment he did that, his hand began to sink into the gate of gold and iron. His body soon followed as he thrust every part of himself inside.
'Now then... let's see what awaits me!'
He fell downward, now crashing from the ceiling of the Sixth Floor downward.
"Oof!" He landed with his buttocks, feeling the sting permeate his body in no time.
'Ow... ow... that hurts!'
Rey soon gained his vision and looked upward.
'Damn. Looks like I fell from quite the distance.' He smiled nervously.
The distance from the ground and ceiling was at least fifteen meters, and he had just fallen from that height without any Active Skills working.
'I guess my base Stats are pretty good.'
That wasn't to say he didn't feel sore all over, but the pain soon disappeared once he rose to his feet and stretched his body.
'The disadvantage with [Phase] is that I can't see or even sense anything while I'm currently intangible.'
'That makes it highly difficult to use in combat.'
It was also why he didn't use it to escape the walls of the Royal Estate.
If he had done so, he could have been caught the moment he stepped foot outside.
'It also takes a considerable amount of Mana, so I had to even undo Stealth to use it.'
There were other Buff Skills he could use to supplement his Mana, but they were too flashy.
Plus, since he hadn't used most of the Skills in his arsenal, he decided to hold off on them until he had the chance to fully explore them.
'That aside, I'm here now.' Rey smiled to himself.
From what he could see in the sixth floor, there were no monsters present.
It was extremely dark, but thankfully, there were luminous stones that decorated the walls that surrounded him.
'It's wide enough for twenty men to walk side by side comfortably.' He noticed.
The ceiling was also far from the ground, which solidified Rey's perception of the place being perfect for his purposes.
'I'm guessing I'll encounter monsters if I go any further...'
He considered just doing his training close to the entrance of the sixth floor, but quickly decided against it.
'If the monsters detect my usage of Mana, it's possible that they could get drawn to me.'
It would suck if he was interrupted when he was in the middle of training.
Plus, Rey didn't feel the most comfortable training so close to the entrance.
'I know the workers won't be able to detect me even if I stay close to the entrance due to how far up the entrance is and how thick the surface is, but still...'
What if they finally decided to explore the Dungeon while he was still training?
That meant he would be the first face they would see.
'At least if I train further in, I can have some time to escape if I notice they are venturing into the 6th Floor.'
With those thoughts in his head, Rey clapped his hands together.
"Welp! That settles it!"
He took measured steps forward and began to advance into the Floor.
"Might as well get rid of all encumbrances."
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[A/N]
Thanks for reading, everyone!
Hope you enjoyed the read!