Staring at the dungeon core that could now be seen in the distance, Scaly and Verdell didn’t show the slightest bit of joy over having successfully reached the location they had been heading towards ever since ending up on the ninth floor of the dungeon. Not because some deadly threat stood before them and the dungeon core in the distance, no, in fact, there were close to no monsters roaming the grasslands that surrounded the dungeon core. Instead, the reason why neither of them showed the slightest bit of joy was exactly this kind of unique environment that surrounded the dungeon core. It was far too open and sparsely populated for either of them to get anywhere close to the dungeon core, let alone close enough to take advantage of the situation and learn a free skill from observing the mana flow around the dungeon core.
The only one who might stand a chance at reaching the dungeon core and finding somewhere next to it to hide away while waiting for the development of the ninth floor to finish, was Verdell, who could take advantage of his small size to sneak through the grass.
But for Scaly? With her size, it was impossible to get anywhere close to the dungeon core without being discovered. Flying being the worst possible approach as she would stand out almost immediately, while sneaking through the grass wasn’t exactly possible with her current size and unique scales that did anything but blend in with the surrounding environment. Once again making her wish for the ability to shrink down, as she once again realized just how useful that kind of ability would be along with the fact that bigger size didn’t always mean it was better.
In a way, she felt thankful that she didn’t end up going with mist dragon evolution back then, as being over twenty meter long with a wingspan around thirty meters wide would essentially have made hiding impossible and even normal travel through the swirling sands dungeon a difficult endeavor on its own. A fact that had made her note down the importance of not choosing a large evolution in the future without some means of shrinking down, as even entering a dungeon might be impossible in the future if she ended up as large as a mist dragon. After all, dungeon entrances might be large, but not large enough to fit something like a mist dragon without it squeezing through.
"Looks like getting any closer to the dungeon core is going to be impossible... This dungeon core, it has experience expanding while uninvited guests are present within its still developing floor..." Muttering this out loud for Scaly to hear as the two of them had already come to rest on a small hill that had been swallowed up by the ancient forest that surrounded it and hid them from view while also allowing them to observe the dungeon core in the distance, Verdell jumped off her back before sitting down on the soft grass with a reluctant look in his eyes.
Even without him saying anything, Scaly understood he was reluctant to give up on the opportunity to get close to the dungeon core, what he had said was essentially only something that fit her, as he would be more than capable of sneaking close to the dungeon core with his small size. From what she had learnt from him while he had been recovering his mana on her back, getting to observe a dungeon core in this kind of state was an immense opportunity for any mage.
The reason itself wasn’t known to Verdell, but it wasn’t too hard to guess either, as he had theorized it had to do with the complex mana manipulation the dungeon core should be engaging in to accomplish what it was doing... And this kind of complex mana manipulation would be a great opportunity for him to learn firsthand and potentially even improve his own mana manipulation skill in the process by observing this master in the form of a dungeon core.
Of course, as someone who had only recently reached the S Rank and having only been an A Rank Adventurer in the past, he had no clue about the mana circulation skill he could obtain from observing a dungeon core up close. The little knowledge he had having mostly been passed down by other mages who had been interested in the terrifyingly complex mana manipulation a dungeon core would have to engage in to create a new dungeon floor.
These mages, who were in fact dungeon researchers, were similarly clueless about the ability to obtain a skill by observing a dungeon core while it was in the process of developing a new dungeon floor. Instead, they just theorized that observing such complex mana manipulation up close and in person would bring immense benefits to one’s own mana manipulation and usage of mana.
But even without knowing about the skill he could gain from approaching the dungeon core, he had still directly given up an opportunity to increase his own strength to remain with her, something deeply touching to Scaly, who viewed increasing her own strength as the most important thing with only a few exceptions every now and then. One such exception being the little dwarf who had gone through this deadly dungeon with her and had in the past also escaped through the dreamscape.
Thinking about it, she had spent most of her time with this little dwarf escaping from some great enemy.
The annoying birds in the dreamscape. Adventurers and monsters like the mist serpent in the dungeon and even now she is hiding away to avoid drawing the attention of the dungeon core.
Shaking her head at these thoughts, she quickly remembered the delicious food he had given her along with the large number of undead and monsters alike they had ended up cutting down together and how much her strength had increased. All things considered, her experience with the little dwarf could still be considered a positive one considering everything she had obtained and the fact that her being alive might not have been a thing had she not run into this little dwarf in the first place.
Not to mention, she still very much remembered the delicious food he still owed her...
Rustle~
Keeping this in mind, she still decided to lower her head and nudge him gently towards the grass fields in the distance. Urging him to continue forward. "Huh? You want me to continue forward...?" Earning a somewhat confused question from the person in question, but she didn’t care as she continued nudging him forward until he ultimately relented and descended the small hill before making his way towards the dungeon core in the distance with a determined look on his face.
The reason for her behavior was rather simple. Strength was important to her and with the dungeon core being a clear opportunity for Verdell to increase his own strength according to what she had heard him talk about so far during the times when she wasn’t actively searching for prey below her while flying through the empty sky of the ninth floor of the dungeon, Scaly felt it was important to help this little dwarf grow stronger like she herself wanted to do.
Even if this meant they had to split up for a bit and he would have to make the rest of the journey towards the dungeon core through the monster-infested grass fields on his own, she didn’t feel the slightest bit worried about him. Confident that he was more than strong enough to deal with those monsters lurking within the tall grass that now separated her from the dungeon core.
Great as Scaly felt, knowing he didn’t want to selflessly leave her behind to seek out an opportunity to increase his own strength, she didn’t plan on seeing someone she had grown close to give up an opportunity to increase his strength.
Not to mention, she didn’t plan on just aimlessly watching him from afar as he made his way towards the dungeon core in the distance. Heck, that was something that would at the very least take another five to six hours! She didn’t plan on wasting that much time just staring into the distance towards the struggling little dwarf as he made his way through the tall grass like an anxious mother hen watching her chick taking its first steps out into the large dangerous world on its own.
Instead, she planned on taking full advantage of the time while Verdell wasn’t around to backtrack a bit and hunt down the different monsters she hadn’t dared to target previously because she also had to think about the dwarf on her back and couldn’t exactly take any too big risks in targeting some of the stronger monsters the two of them had passed along their journey to the dungeon core. Monsters that now became valid targets now that this little dwarf on her back had disappeared.