"Oh?"
Rey was currently looking at the new and improved Hobgoblin civilization he had helped kickstart, and a look of pride was radiating through his face.
"It's been like four days since I last came here. You guys are doing well for yourselves."
For the first time, the place didn't smell—at least, not too much—when he entered the clearing.
And even now that he was standing among the kneeling Hobs, he could notice a lot of changes.
'Everywhere is so clean. They've made the pots as per instruction, and they're properly taking care of their waste.'
Everything was in perfect order.
'A few more things—like good clothing and variety of food—would be nice, but it's not a necessity for them to be useful to me.'
As a result, Rey decided to leave that thought at the back burner.
Right now, he had bigger fish to fry.
'Right now, this is the safest place for me and my property…'
He had initially thought it was a good move to take Monster Cores from the Hobs and hide them in his room, but now he could see how foolish that line of reasoning was.
'There's no better place to keep them than this place.'
If he hadn't caught the perpetrator, or if the malefactor had been someone else, he would have been in a lot more hot water.
Rey recognized that very well.
'From now on, I'll be hiding my stuff here…'
Of course, it wouldn't be a temporary measure.
'Once I get enough Spatial Rings—apart from the one I gave Noah for business—I'll store them in there and keep them with me at all times.'
Since his [Subspace] had limited slots—fifty in total—and there was a limited size of objects he could place in a slot, Rey found the perfect way to cheat the system.
'I'll put as many Cores inside a Spatial Ring. I'll put as many Spatial Rings in a sac… and they'll only occupy one [Subspace] Slot.'
That meant he had to invest at least hundreds of Platinum Coins for the sake of getting all the Monster Cores.
However, for the sweet deal of finally being able to harvest all the heaps of Cores that greeted his sight every day, it was a good deal.
'For now, I'll just hide my stuff here.'
It would take a few days to completely clear all the Monster Cores in his room, but he was certainly going to do so.
'Now… on to the event for today…'
His attention wasn't on the Hobgoblins.
Though he was still concerned about them, the primary reason for coming to the Dungeon today didn't involve them at all.
'Right now, I need to get a lot stronger. I don't feel very comfortable stagnating for too long…'
Unfortunately he couldn't kill the Hobs at such an early stage since they would give him very little EXP, thus defeating the point of helping them in the first place.
Fortunately, there was another way.
'I just have to descend to the next floor!' Rey's eyes beamed with delight as he spotted the entrance precisely where the Hobgoblin Chief used to sit.
He dismissed the kneeling Hobs and used [Flight] to swiftly approach the throne.
The raggedy structure was firmly placed at an elevated position, and right under it was the entrance to the Eighth Floor.
'I guess they didn't know how to open it up, but recognized it was of importance, so they built their throne around it…'
Rey rubbed his chin as he became a little stuck in a decision he had to make.
'Should I go in now, or…?'
He took a quick glance at the Hobgoblins, and while they were on and about in their activities, they were also looking at him.
'That settles it. I'm heading in!'
There was pretty much nothing more he could do for the Hobs. He just had to plunder their reserve of Monster Cores while waiting for his investment to bear fruit.
What called for his attention now was the next challenge.
And he was ready to answer.
'Let's go!'
***********
If darkness was what would accurately describe the natural habitat of the Hobgoblins, the Eight floor was the direct opposite.
"G-guh!"
Rey instantly shrouded his eyes and fell to his knees as he took in the unwanted stimulus for the first time.
His eyes had gotten so used to the dark that he needed time to acclimate to this new environment.
'I guess this is how it felt for them when I used [Flare]…'
Rey knew it had to be a lot worse since the Hobs had practically lived in darkness for most of their lives.
It hurt still.
Fortunately, it didn't take him very long before the pain and temporary blindness faded away.
'Tch. Well… it looks like my Resistance Skills are working.'
Rey rose to his feet and was finally able to see normally.
'Ahh…!'
His eyes were greeted by luminous tones—like the ones in the Sixth Floor—except these ones were much bigger and they glowed brighter.
They were also all over the place, so the intensity of their clustered energy caused brightness to pervade the entire space.
'It's interesting how every Dungeon Floor has a different terrain, and none really bleed into one another…'
This was another strong argument made by scholars that there had to be some kind of artificial hand in the Dungeon's formation.
In nature, things tended to smudge together if one observed close enough.
Layers of the soil might appear distinct, but if one looked close enough, they had points of convergence where they merged together in a somewhat compatible or incompatible way—as the case may be.
But Dungeons weren't like that.
They had designated zones for designated functions—with each Floor being like a completely different world of its own.
From a realm of darkness, Rey was instantly transported to a land of light.
'I hope there's no floor of poison gas or a world of lava here…' Rey told himself as he activated [Flight] and glided through the air.
With the Mana he currently had, he could afford to leave the Skill on for as long as he wanted.
Only when he wasn't using multiple other Skills, though.
It was one of the things Rey felt proud of.
'Well, enough about that…' Rey kept a decent eye out for everything around him.
[Danger Sense], [Perception], and [Farsight] were all activated at the same time as he advanced further.
There was no room for error.
"… Where are the monsters?"
