PICK ME UP, ANOTHER LOBBY!

Several days passed.

As expected, master did not immediately make us climb to the ninth floor.

Unlike the sixth and the seventh floor, the eighth was still accessible after we cleared it.

For a little while now master had been making both Party 1 and 2 retry the trial.

But since the number of enemies in the eighth floor was triple the size of the fourth floor, we only accessed the eighth floor once a day per party.

Though the lobby healed any wounds inflicted on us during the trial, the fatigue still lasted. And the eighth floor was quite draining compared to the rest of the floors, except for the Quintal Trial.

Hence why we only cleared it once per day.

[Stage Clear!]

['Serafina (★★★★)', 'Jonah (★★)', 'Shanny (★★)', 'Trudy (★)', 'Darius (★★★)' levelled up!]

[MVP – 'Darius (★★★)']

[Reward – 3,000G]

Today marked our fourth trip to the eighth floor.

Thanks to the accumulated experience, all of us managed to level up.

Trudy had reached level 9. Edging closer to her promotion.

Jonah and Shanny had breached the limit for 1-stars and reached level 11.

Darius had gone to level 6.

As for myself…

[Serafina Magda Zeref (★★★★) Lv.6 (Exp 2/55)]

[Class: Mage]

[Strength: 12]

[Intelligence: 88]

[Stamina: 18]

[Agility: 14]

[Skills: Telekinesis Lv.8, Intermediate Enchantment Lv.4, Intermediate Fire Magic Lv.9, Hands that Twist Space and Time Lv.2, Intermediate Research Lv.2, Intermediate Alchemy Lv.3, Mana Transfer Lv.3, Multicasting Lv.2, Mana Shockwave Lv.1, Mana Overflow Resistance Lv.1, Intermediate Wind Magic Lv.1, Mana Detection Lv.1]

I also had gone up to level 6 like Darius.

But needless to say, Darius's growth was way faster than mine.

It took a while before I could reach level 6 since my last levelling up. While Darius reached level 6 three trials later from his.

I noticed that my intelligence status kept increasing as I levelled up. It was the improvement of this value that my spell-casting had been turning relatively easier and more powerful.

The other parameters fluctuated, however. Lately they had been decreasing too.

Even so, I still felt my body getting stronger and more used to fighting long battles.

Skill wise, there was not much improvement aside from my fire and wind magic that levelled up a couple of trials back.

There was a reason to this slow progress.

Starting from our second trip to the eighth floor, I had been refraining from using bigger spells that could kill more enemies.

I intended to let my comrades to get used to fighting a huge number of enemies without relying on my spells.

The eighth floor had thirty enemies as a challenge, perfect for this kind of exercise.

Recalling what happened on the fifth floor, there would be instances where I could not aid my comrades with my magic and they had to deal with a horde of enemies themselves.

Jonah and Shanny had underwent the experience I was referring to.

Darius might had experienced similar situation back in Dunia.

But Trudy had not.

She was the least experienced out of the five of us in Party 1.

I would like for her to get a taste of how the Quintal Trial would be like as much as possible before we finally climb the tenth floor.

Sometimes I only used Second Circle spells or even First Circle. Leaving at least more than fifteen goblin riders for my comrades to take on.

During our last trip I did not even use any offensive spells and let my party faced all thirty goblins riders on their own.

The most I did back then was to cast shield spells to intercept arrows, or a simple telekinesis spell to push the enemies away from me and directed them to my comrades.

Party 2 managed to handle the eighth floor without a mage. So I would like to believe my comrades could do the same as well.

And my faith was not misplaced.

Though they all ended up suffering from minor injuries during the fight from time to time, all four of my comrades managed to adequately handle thirty goblin riders at once.

Judging from their lack of fatigue as we left the rift of space-time, I could tell they could still take on thirty or sixty more if we have to.

[Party 2, come to the square!]

The fairy shouted as we were returning to the lobby second floor.

We passed through Zecht and the others in Party 2 as we ascended the grand stairs while they descended.

Not much words were exchanged between us.

Mostly we just nodded with each other, hinting that we just returned from killing dozens of goblins and acted as if it was just another normal day.

Indeed. It was a normal day in the forged land.

Tomorrow came and master stopped sending either party to the eighth floor.

That one, however, was not normal.

It was a sign.

We knew we would start climbing the next day.

"What do you think?"

Gerrits asked me as I inspected an arrow he and the crafters just made.

It was perfectly crafted and its sharp steel tip was glimmering with more profound aura compared to the standard weapons I had seen in the lobby.

A few more arrows, a couple of swords, as well as spears, and shields of similar quality were laid in front of me inside the equipment workshop.

I used master's day of inactivity to check on the project I entrusted the 3-star craftsman ever since the Weekday Dungeons were opened.

I traced my finger along the arrow. From its feathered fletching, to the wooden shaft, to the tip of the arrowhead.

I sensed how the arrow's surface was responding to my mana. Detecting any breakdown from its interaction with magic particles, no matter how small.

A smile formed on my face once I discovered none.

"This will do just fine, Mister Sahan. A fine work you crafters have made."

I noticed Gerrits smiling at the corner of my eye as I picked up a sword and performed the same inspection.

This weapon too did not show any breakdown from my mana.

Though I had not touched them, I could already tell the rest would be the same.

"Do you have enough materials to make more of these weapons?"

I asked.

Gerrits nodded.

"Enough to make five times as much. We could always send the gatherer parties to collect more materials if we need to make more."

"We only need enough weapon for those in Party 1, and perhaps Party 2. After all, the Quintal Trial only requires one party, as far as we know."

"In that case, you've got more than enough already. Though we still need to make more arrows and throwing spears for your two gentlemen."

I nodded.

"Focus on creating more arrows and throwing spears. Once you finished the whole batch, have those sent to me in the magic hall."

All of these weapons I just examined could bear more complex enchantments compared to the ones we carried to the fifth floor.

After all, it would not be fair to the others if Jonah was the only one equipped with special enchanted weapon.