Ryu was a very hardworking student, and Marcille was undoubtedly a rather excellent teacher; after formal instruction began, Ryu grasped the basics on the very first day.
"Grasping the basics" here referred to mastering simple syntax, identifying basic runes, and being able to utilize at least one low-level spell to the point of "producing an effect."
It didn't need to be significant; as long as there was a magical reaction that produced a tangible effect on physical matter, one could say they had passed the first hurdle.
This wasn't particularly difficult; talented individuals could generally get the hang of it within three days or even one. Some geniuses could even instinctively use their own mana to do things before receiving any training—Laios's sister, Falin, was of this level.
Her talent was considered top-tier among humans and would even be respectable among Elves.
So, Ryu's initial performance didn't surprise Marcille all that much. It was only on the first night, when she saw Ryu skillfully draw an extremely standard basic magic circle, successfully channel mana through it, and use it to boil a pot of soup, that Marcille felt this person was somewhat special.
By the second day, as soon as Marcille woke up, Ryu presented her with a clean towel and a refreshing hot drink. Only after she had finished drinking it, feeling flattered by the attention, did he bring out the "collection of questions" he had accumulated overnight.
It was full of doubts that had arisen while he was flipping through the grimoire. After all, textbooks in a fantasy world couldn't possibly write down every detail clearly; many things assumed a foundation or a teacher's guidance, and this was the part Ryu lacked.
Moved by his spirit of inquiry—and partially because she had eaten his food—Marcille conscientiously answered them one by one, only...
Heaven knows where this guy got so many questions!
It had only been one night, how did they suddenly multiply into a "collection"? By the way, do you not sleep?
Marcille spent the entire morning in a cycle of traveling and answering questions. Fortunately, the second floor didn't have any high-threat monsters.
By noon, Marcille discovered that Ryu seemed to have easily digested the morning's gains... although this sounded incredible, the questions he asked were indeed becoming more profound, completely unlike what a beginner should be asking!
At twilight, after entering the high tower area, they were attacked by early-rising Giant Bats. As a result, the evening's dish became... Ryu got a good scolding from Senshi because he had hacked the corpses into pieces.
It was the first time Marcille had seen such a unique "ancient magic sword":
It was said to be forged by dwarves from special metal, with magic affixed by Elves, allowing the blade to generate high temperatures sufficient to melt steel. When used to kill monsters, the smooth wounds wouldn't shed a drop of blood because the cross-section had been completely carbonized into a thin layer by the high heat~
As a half-elf, she had seen the world; her mother was a very excellent mage, she had received an elite education since childhood, and grew up to further her studies at the academy, possessing a very broad range of knowledge... Even so, she had never seen a magic item quite like it!
Asking Senshi, he also shook his head in denial, not knowing if ancient dwarves had ever built such a thing. He claimed that perhaps because he wasn't a professional blacksmith, he wasn't too familiar with this area.
Honestly, the dwarves and Elves of this world were quite capable of tossing things together; many ancient artifacts excavated now looked like products from another world, so it was tentatively acceptable.
But soon, Marcille sensed something was wrong:
Ryu learned magic very quickly, as if he had a photographic memory; no matter the syntax or secret script, he could use it freely after hearing it once, reading through the entire grimoire without any obstacles.
This could, of course, be explained by extraordinary talent, but another point puzzled the elf mage greatly—
Ryu seemed to pay no price for casting magic!
Ordinary apprentices, due to limited mana and stamina, mostly increased their proficiency through repetitive writing and memorization rather than actually casting magic.
But Ryu went straight to practical application whenever he had free time, potentially rehearsing dozens of times a day... Although they were all basic small spells, this amount of mana was a bit too much for a newcomer...
Could his mental strength and stamina really keep up? He was also moonlighting as a vanguard!
—A mysterious man.
Marcille knew there must be some secret about Ryu, but she herself was researching forbidden ancient magic, so she tactfully did not try to delve deeper.
Besides, this wasn't the time; everything had to wait until Falin was rescued!
With the addition of Ryu and Senshi, the squad no longer had issues with supply replenishment; ingredients could be obtained on the spot. Furthermore, Ryu could always pull out things everyone needed from that magical backpack of his.
Moreover, Ryu greatly supplemented their combat power. In Marcille's view, his skill might be slightly better than the "Shuro" from the previous team, though she couldn't say specifically why.
In short, whether facing a Basilisk or Living Armor, he appeared at ease. Clearly positioned as a "vanguard," he gave the impression that he didn't need support from others and could break through alone.
—The key was that this guy had abundant stamina and took the lead every time, naturally reducing the stamina consumption of the others.
This allowed the squad, which originally had to advance cautiously due to a lack of equipment and items, to move much faster than the "original story."
By the way, this was also the first time Marcille learned that "Living Armor" wasn't a magic golem, but a colony of mollusk creatures!
When Ryu pried open the armor's gaps and enthusiastically discussed with Laios how to dig out the soft meat inside to eat, Marcille felt a little bit of despair.
How should one put it... the situation was clearly urgent, yet these two had no sense of tension at all. It was fine for Ryu as an outsider, but for Laios to be like this too...
Of course, one shouldn't be impetuous or panicked when exploring a dungeon; Laios's approach was correct, but emotionally, it still made one want to retort.
...The most unacceptable part was that the Living Armor was actually quite delicious!
Damn it!
Why is the taste so savory!
Before she knew it, she had eaten two big bowls!
Just like that, Marcille enjoyed the monster cuisine while undergoing self-loathing, following the squad forward with extremely complex emotions, and they soon arrived at the third floor.
On this floor, everyone encountered Senshi's "cultivated" mobile vegetable patch—Golems.
Senshi didn't know how to create Golems, but he had inadvertently learned the principle of their generation. So, before the Golems generated, he sowed seeds and fertilizer on that patch of land. After the Golems used the soil to shape their bodies, they naturally became mobile fields. This way, he didn't have to fear the crops being destroyed by monsters or adventurers.
—Such a genius idea; one really couldn't come up with it without living in the dungeon for decades!
Thanks to this, Marcille rarely got to eat normal vegetables in the dungeon, moved almost to tears~
According to the plot, after this, they would turn to the black market on the underground third floor to sell the vegetables because they were hard to carry, and there they would encounter orcs coming to rob them, thus accidentally obtaining news of the Red Dragon—that it was uncharacteristically not sleeping, but had wandered from the sixth floor, where the battle occurred, to the fifth floor.
It was right here that Laios's squad obtained accurate intelligence on the Red Dragon; before this, they had always thought they would need to reach the sixth floor to encounter it.
But this time, Ryu directly stored all the vegetables using the magical "Ancient Magic Backpack," and the squad naturally continued forward, so the orc incident didn't happen at all.
—Not needed!
Ryu knew this intelligence himself; he just needed to remind these people once on the fifth floor. There was absolutely no need to detour and go through the orc side quest.
Time! What Ryu needed most right now was time!
The more days saved, the greater the room for subsequent maneuvering!
To this end, Ryu had been intentionally or unintentionally guiding the squad along the way to avoid events from the original work that would slow down progress. Aside from Laios occasionally making shocking moves that were truly impossible to guard against, the journey was as smooth as if they had a map hack enabled.
Besides the orcs, they also avoided provoking the Undine on the fourth floor. The giant squid (Kraken) the protagonist team encountered was replaced by a Sea Serpent, and Ryu partook in a meal of piping hot snake soup—it was the food with the best nourishing effects he had eaten so far.
Just one meal filled his whole body with energy, making him look forward to the dragon meat feast later on even more~
The path through the fourth floor to the fifth floor was different from the original work; they encountered a large number of Dire Wolves. However, Laios had quite a knack for dealing with this kind of canine creature. First, he yelled to bluff them, and then Ryu, lying in ambush on the flank, suddenly charged out. Combined with Marcille's magic, they were quickly repelled.
After the battle ended, Laios looked at Senshi, who was skinning the wolves, and became silent for some reason.
"What is it, do you like dogs very much?" Marcille asked curiously.
"No... well, I do like them, but a battle is a battle. It's not because of that."
Laios spoke with implicit worry: "Dire Wolves are monsters, but they lean more towards being beasts. They prefer hunting to absorbing mana, so they generally inhabit forests and grasslands. Neither the fourth nor the fifth floor is suitable for their survival. Why would we encounter a large-scale pack of Dire Wolves here specifically?"
"Indeed."
Senshi also looked up. "I haven't seen them on the first four floors before."
"Is it being too sensitive? We can't predict how monsters will act at all, there's no need to worry, right?"
"No, Marcille. Animal habitats don't change easily; there must be some reason!"
Just then, Ryu, who had been observing the road ahead, suddenly turned his head. "I don't know about monsters, but the reasons for ordinary wolf pack migration, aside from chasing prey, are to avoid natural disasters."
"Natural disasters?"
"Like wildfires and the like."
Fire!
A massive red silhouette inexplicably flashed through Laios's mind, and he hurriedly held his forehead. "Could it be... surely not..."
"Regardless, we have to keep moving forward to find out the cause."
Ryu reached out his hand, and a soft white light bloomed from his fingertip, illuminating the downward passage ahead for a distance of about four or five meters.
"Rest assured. If everyone unites as one, there won't be any problems."
"Mn!" Laios nodded, moved.
Ryu had behaved even more proactively than him along this journey, as if Falin were his own long-lost sister. It really made him, the older brother, feel ashamed.
The squad members didn't think much of it, but Marcille stared fixedly at Ryu's fingertip, her features squeezed together subtly, squinting like an elderly person trying to see something clearly.
The Light spell was very simple, sure. It was rare but reasonable for a beginner to release it so easily.
...But what was with this empty-handed, chantless casting?
Of course, it wasn't to say one couldn't do it without a staff. In fact, mature mages could cast empty-handed or forgo chanting, but there should at least be a hand gesture or a syllable uttered—and precision and power couldn't be guaranteed.
For someone who had been learning for less than three days to have such effortless command over the Light spell... this wasn't magical!
Was Easterners' mana adaptability high to this extent? Stronger than Elves?
Shuro hadn't shown talent in this area... Was it a difference in race?
Ryu seemed to have said that although he lived in the Far East, his hometown was on another continent. She definitely had to go see it if there was a chance in the future!
Hope I won't be called an Elf bumpkin when the time comes...
While she was still thinking this, the sensation under Marcille's feet suddenly changed. The sloping ramp had turned into hard, flat brick ground, and the world ahead was completely distinct from the fourth floor. It had turned into city streets with clearly tiered houses. She immediately perked up.
"Alright, we've arrived at the fifth floor!"
The elf mage cheered herself on earnestly. "Just one more floor down, and we can save Falin!"
"Yeah, since that's the case, let's rest a bit on the fifth floor, replenish our stamina, and then—"
Laios suddenly felt his body sway. He couldn't help but blink, and then the armor on his body and the longsword in its scabbard began to rattle slightly, vibrating with a low amplitude.
"This is..."
The vibration effect became increasingly obvious. Slowly, everyone could clearly perceive a tremor wave coming from beneath their feet every three seconds, radiating from muscles to bones and even teeth, tingling slightly like biting into grit while eating.
"This is!"
"No mistake!"
"So fast!"
"Quick, hide!"
The group's faces changed drastically, and they immediately scattered to hide behind the walls of the houses on both sides.
Cold sweat slowly slid down their faces. Even Laios couldn't help but feel doubly nervous, and Marcille and the others had their hearts in their throats.
Only Ryu leaned against the wall, peeking out with half his face, coldly observing the movement on the street.
As the tremors became increasingly outrageous, the tiles on the houses slowly slipped and fell off. Amidst a series of noises, a distinct and deep red shadow shrouded the street—
It was the Dragon!
A red-scaled dragon with a body length of twenty-five meters and a shoulder height comparable to a three-story building, dragging a thick, long tail like a siege hammer, was patrolling majestically past, separated from Ryu and the others by just two buildings!
—Want to eat!
Ryu's pupils constricted, and the skin all over his body tightened. Not out of fear, but out of an instinctive excitement; saliva was already generating between his teeth.
His throat bobbed up and down. Ryu took a deep breath to suppress his awakening appetite. It was the first time in his life he had felt such a craving for a certain food.
Taste? That wasn't the point!
The Sea Serpent's volume was far smaller than large whale species, yet its buff effects far exceeded them.
Then what about the Red Dragon, which was also a monster but stood at the top of the food chain, several times stronger than the Sea Serpent?
This meat... he didn't want to waste a single bit~
—The Red Dragon seemed to sense something and suddenly turned its head to look in this direction!
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