“Sophia, let’s go train together.”
“With pleasure, Miss Su Yao.”
The levels of the various “Dungeon Bosses” had stagnated for quite some time.
Chlorel was at level 31, Sophia at level 35, Futini at level 32, and Latina was still at level 28.
For Su Yao, after surpassing level 25, the experience gained from killing a single Minotaur dropped off sharply.
From the end of the soldier invasion incident to the point when they reached cooperation with Eveleel, they had killed at least 150 Minotaurs together.
Yet the experience from those Minotaurs only allowed Su Yao to level up from 26 to 28, and Chlorel and Sophia barely leveled up by one.
By calculation, this efficiency was almost one-fifth of before.
This suggested that grinding on monsters lower in level than themselves carried some form of penalty for experience gain.
Without the “Boss Room,” their leveling would probably have been even slower.
At times like this, she truly envied Futini; as a Water Sprite, she could simply stay in the water and, with mana supply, slowly level up.
Compared to her “automatic leveling,” her own “AFK leveling” was utterly pathetic! And what was even worse was that the Elemental Spirit’s “automatic leveling” seemed not to grant her any experience at all!
Now it was truly a case of “I’m leveling alone,” but unfortunately, she wasn’t the main character.
It seemed that to level up quickly, they had to grind on monsters of sufficiently high level. But summoning those monsters cost far too much DP.
According to estimates, ordinary monsters around level 30 required at least 4,500 to 6,000 DP to summon.
Rather than spending DP on leveling, she might as well buy more pretty little dresses for Chlorel and Sophia, then sneak in some “bunny girl outfits,” “nurse uniforms,” or “bikinis” when they tried them on someday.
That was what Su Yao had thought—until today.
A party with a very ominous aura had appeared in the dungeon.
Apart from the guild leader, whom she had met once before and who seemed to be about her own level, the rest were roughly at Sophia’s level.
And that Dwarf’s “aura” was definitely stronger than Sophia’s; although not as strong as that giant Mushroom King in the second-level dungeon, when adjusted for size, their “auras” should be about equal.
He was very likely someone over level 40!
Su Yao had been in the newbie village for so long she nearly forgot there were always stronger people in this world.
Not to mention they were tackling the dungeon as a team, each with their own role; their combat power was far greater than just the sum of their parts.
The “fear of insufficient firepower” ingrained in Su Yao’s genes flared up. That was why she suddenly thought of training today.
But before heading to the Boss Room to train, she still had to leave some special little gifts for this party.
Don’t get her wrong—Su Yao really liked this team because they were just so standard: front-line warrior Dwarf, trap-disarming rogue, healer priestess lady, and a rare mage. Only a sword-wielding hero was missing.
For such a standard party, wanting to tease them a little was only natural—like some people who want to bully those they like more the closer they get. Those who understand, understand.
This “little gift” was a kind of “monster” she had been saving since building the dungeon; it wasn’t strong but perfect for a prank.
Su Yao originally wanted to use this monster to test out against the potential “White-haired Elf Mage” in this world, but there was no way it would just happen to be there.
“Spend 800 DP to summon [Shapeshifting Tentacle]?”
“Yes!”
[Shapeshifting Tentacle]: No one had ever seen its true form. It can transform into any object of roughly the same volume and remain motionless to confuse enemies, using its tentacles to capture nearby creatures.
This guy would become the exclusive “Treasure Mimic” in her dungeon.
As for why it had to remain still, she had just figured it out. Its movement was like that of a snail—extremely slow and leaving a very obvious trail of slime. So once summoned, it had to transform in place.
In short, Su Yao first tentatively placed eight “Treasure Mimics” in the dungeon before coming back to pull Sophia to train.
She wasn’t sure whether the mage in that party would fall for it…
“I want to come too!”
Since Eveleel left, Chlorel had become quite clingy. Maybe it was because she was forced to acknowledge her feelings; she’d become rather reckless.
Remember how it was said some people tend to tease those they like more? Yes, that was her.
By the way, the thing she worried about before seemed about to come true—Chlorel’s way of “teasing” had become worse recently…
Luckily, sleep was just a habit Su Yao retained from her original world. Otherwise, she’d already have “panda eyes” by now.
“Eh? Chlorel, how about you come next time? Isn’t the architect Eveleel introduced arriving soon? Didn’t you say you were going to meet him in Moravia and bring him back?”
“But…”
Judging by how hesitant she was, she really didn’t want to be left behind, huh? But some things just couldn’t be helped.
After all, she still had to meet Eveleel; it was best for her to handle state affairs.
Tonight, she would let herself off once.
“Chlorel, Miss Su Yao is right. There will be plenty of chances to train later.”
Sophia smiled sympathetically as she stepped in to comfort her, but…
Why did Chlorel’s expression look even worse?
“I… I… know. I’ll wait until you return.”
Yikes! The night she comes back, better find somewhere to hide.
The chestnut-haired girl slammed the door, her resentment almost tangible.
Su Yao sighed deeply.
“Master, can you take me with you?”
“What for? Do you have any attack magic besides spirit magic?”
She knew Lilith’s dark magic had offensive spells, but with her limited DP, and Lilith not being a “Dungeon Boss,” having her kill monsters wouldn’t gain experience—just a net loss.
That said, she couldn’t be too straightforward.
What if she made Lilith a “Dungeon Boss” too?
No, no, if she learned some forbidden skills after binding her, she’d basically become a “Succubus Loli.”
“I’ve recently trained some dark magic spells to trap enemies, and some that deal damage. I can definitely help Master.”
“Well… fine, but you have to follow my orders then.”
“No problem!”
Better to bring her along. From how she looked, she could at least fight Minotaurs a little.
Uh, proper fighting…
Besides, if her level improved, Su Yao wouldn’t have to keep replenishing her mana so often. Exactly.
……
Su Yao brought Sophia and Lilith to the Boss Room beneath the Mushroom King.
“Sophia, no sparring for now. Let’s try fighting a new monster today.”
“Understood, Miss Su Yao.”
“Spend 4,800 DP to summon [Arakne]?”
“Yes!”