On the day of the departure, Billy went to check Kate one last time and he opened his eyes widely when the virus status had disappeared. It wasn't much of a cure or healing, but strengthening the most affected organ against the disease wasn't a bad method to fight it. Now he could leave for the mission thinking that he had done more good than he did in his past life. He was happy that he had made his mana work like medicine from work does, and he couldn't help but wonder about other applications. That thinking had a lot of potential.
"Hey, you are coming, huh," Lily said. "I guess you became a muscle head as well… you should have enough money to play for months after the previous mission's reward."
"I just want to make the bridge be completed as soon as possible," Billy said.
After a while, the other members of the Gang appeared. Although it hasn't been long since they worked together, they sure looked excited. Billy checked their status and he confirmed that all of them were just ten levels behind the leaders of their respective tribes. While there was also a difference in the amount of time they spent training and that reflected in status points, it was clear that they got a lot stronger than Billy had in a single year.
"I suppose I need to pick the pace with my physical training," Billy thought.
Aside from the fact that he mastered Light spear when he was nine, and his victory of the genius kid of the elementalists, Billy hadn't achieved much when it comes to the spear… defeating his father was his short term goal regarding that, but Billy didn't become as strong as him since the last time they sparred and he got his ass kicked. So, during the trip, and during his working days he trained with his spear whenever possible and just like before, he felt himself get stronger with each passing day.
One week after Billy and the others had resumed their work, an acquaintance of theirs lived on the other side of the river. It was Pierre, one of the Captains that worked for Jean, the lord of Hiloh state.
"Long time no see, it took a while for you guys to appear," Pierre said.
"Our lord gave us a few days off because we stayed a few months away from home during last time," Drew said. "It is nice to see you again, but did something happen?"
"No, nothing really," Pierre said. "I just received the message to let you guys know that you have the permission to use our dungeons if you feel like it. It is a good way to train and gain resources and money."
Drew wondered why he just didn't pass the message to the others before, but then he realized that spreading that information without telling their leader first might cause problems. Besides, dungeons were supposed to be dangerous, so only the best of their tribes had chances of surviving.
"I will pass the message to lord Edward," Drew said.
"Roger that, by the way, do you know when the bridge will be ready?" Pierre asked.
"In one month, if things go as planned," Drew replied.
"That is pretty fast, Anyway, I won't take much more of your time," Pierre said. "See you later."
Now that was something unexpected… the idea of exploring dungeons seemed pretty interesting, but the time between the travels was a pain. Billy looked to his friends and then he saw their eyes sparkling… it must be good to be that unconcerned about everything else aside from their own sense of adventure.
"I can't wait to have the chance to explore a dungeon," Lily said.
"I heard that some monsters are delicious and their materials are worth a lot," Natalie said.
"I heard that they are dangerous and many of them have deadly traps," Alexander said. "Even if we go, we might become unlucky if we go without some sort of guide, don't you think, Billy?"
"I am more worried about the timing of this," Billy said. "When Jean mentioned the new dungeon, I knew that he would give us the chance to use it, but why so soon? He must have a hard time clearing the new one and wants to use our help."
"Aren't you overthinking it?" Lily asked. "Even if that is true, we are allies now, right? Helping each other is a given."
"Yeah, but why not ask for help instead of using such a roundabout way?" Billy asked. "If you ask me, he is looking down on us despite calling us allies."
Even if they gain a lot by clearing a dungeon, those who would benefit more still were the people of Hiloh state. They knew more things about dungeons and their monsters, how to process the monsters' materials and how their treasures could be used and how valuable they were.
"Come to think of it, it is quite weird that not a single dungeon exits in our territory…" Billy rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "No, they exist… but they aren't that easy to find."
The worms of the desert probably were creatures that came from a dungeon. In any case, despite such thoughts, Billy wanted to explore the dungeons and find magic items, the number of effects and skills his system could grant him relies on the things that he discovers, after all.
In any case, after hearing that, Billy's friends began to train even more than usual… They were a simple bunch, thinking that just strength would grant them the power to clear a dungeon.
"I suppose it is worth a shot…" Billy thought. "I just have to make sure that we won't lose anything or make them gain more than us."
Billy wondered if the knowledge of dungeons that he had from games and books would work, but soon he shook those thoughts out of his head.. He had to make some real research.
