"HMMM haaa, I haven't slept this deeply in a long time." -Standing up rested, he stretched his stiffened body.
[7% corruption].
"That's better, the more the corruption decreases, the lesser the chance of my psychological state deteriorating." -Said Mark as he exited the tent.
It seemed that he wasn't the only one who had woken up, as there were already many up, but they would continue exploring in a few hours.
Sitting down by the bonfire that had been lit, he began to eat his breakfast. Having to carry everything, it was not possible to eat fresh food, so he was eating some dry food with water.
'I haven't eaten stuff like this since I was in that old armory, and now that I think about it, it hasn't even been that long.' -With all he did every day, it seemed like an eternity to him.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" -Turning around, there was Finn, greeting him.
"Be my guest."
"Thank you, did you have a good rest? The next floors are going to be difficult even for Level 4."
"I'll try to do my best." -Mark replied with a shrug.
"As a level 2, you have already given your best. Bete was betting, that you would be in a miserable state when you got here." -Finn said with a laugh.
"That bastard. Unfortunately for him I'm alive and well." -Said Mark annoyed.
"Ahaha I can see that." -After Finn's laugh, silence fell between them.
Only the sound of wood crackling from the fire could be heard, but there was no awkward atmosphere. The warmth of the flames and the silent place offered a sense of tranquillity.
"Tell me Mark, what are you going to do once you have achieved your goals?" -Finn asked, turning to face him.
"..." -Mark didn't know what to answer.
His days were so busy, he thought little about his future. His goal now was to get stronger and collect the fragments in 5 years, but once he rescued Selene, he had to think about how he would live.
"I don't know. I don't think I will continue to fight, maybe I could become a magic researcher. According to Riveria, I have talent, also I could think about making magical tools."
"Oh that's not a bad idea, but I'm surprised. The way you were acting, I thought you were a training freak." -Finn joked.
"What kind of image do you have of me? To me, training and strength, are just a means." -Said Mark wearily.
"A means to what?" -Finn asked curiously.
"To be happy. To have a loving family, someone to love, to do a job that gives you satisfaction... whatever makes you happy, needs adequate strength to sustain it."
"You talk like it's a personal experience." -Sid Finn suspiciously.
"Isn't it the captain's job to find out?" -Said Mark, smiling.
"Look at how this guy is talking to the captain of his Familia." -Finn said, also smiling.
"Captain! Where are you?" -As they laughed, Tione's screams could be heard.
"Looks like my break is over, be careful as we continue to go down." -After saying goodbye to Mark, Finn headed towards Tione.
Left alone, Mark continued to watch the flames, or rather, he was comparing his aura to the flames, being so similar, but he still had a doubt.
'Maybe my problem is that even though I'm in a fantasy world, I still keep thinking like I'm in my own, but I can't even imagine how something intangible, can strengthen the body or a tool.'
[Yet host you have an example in front of you.]
'Well it's intangible, but it doesn't meet other criteria... no wait, it does meet them!'-Opening his eyes, he began to think carefully.
Initially, he thought of the aura and the body, as two different entities, but that was not the case, let's take flames as a reference. A flame (soul) could not exist without the presence of oxygen (body) and to manifest, it would need a chemical reaction (life). Once these criteria were met, energy would be generated and would influence its surroundings (aura manifestation).
'If I thought of it that way, it was obvious that I wasn't making progress. All this time, I was trying to feel something that I thought was external, but in the end, the aura is part of me. As logic it makes sense, I could see how stronger people, had a bigger aura, but the question is always the same, how do I use it?'
"Mark."
'Maybe it's the feelings, depending on the emotional state I'm in, the color and intensity of the aura changes.'
"Mark, can you hear me?"
'No it doesn't feel right, within the soul, there are memories as well, feelings are only one part.'
"Mark!"
"Hmm, oh it's you Lefiya, why are you shouting." -The person who had interrupted his thoughts, was none other than Lefiya.
"And you ask, I was calling you but you weren't answering." -Said Lefiya angrily.
"Sorry I was thinking about something, did something happen?"
"Haaaa, we need to gather to continue exploring." -Sighing wearily, Lefiya explained the situation.
"Then let's go." -Getting up he began to walk along with her.
"What were you thinking about so deeply you couldn't even hear my voice."
"I was reasoning about a problem that's been giving me trouble for a while."
"Oh, were you able to solve it?"
"When you saw me, did it look like you solved it?"
"No."
"See, you have the answer." -Mark said simply, getting a twitch in Lefiya's expression.
Then they arrived in front of the entrance to the 29th floor, where Finn and the others were waiting for everyone to arrive. Once everyone was there, he explained what they were going to do.
From the 29th to the 36th floor, it was possible to jump directly to the next floor, using the shafts, without having to search for the entrance. This feature was also present for the middle floors and the only reason they didn't go through those, was not to spend too much time.
Having to lower every piece of equipment so that it wouldn't break, would take time, so Finn preferred to go directly to the entrances, and the motive why for this area he wouldn't, was due to the number of monsters.
The next floors were similar to the 13th floor and there was always the problem that it would be flooded with monsters, which would lead to more injuries and an even greater loss of time.
"Does anyone have any questions? ...Good, then let's continue." -Seeing that everyone had understood, he began the descent to the next floor.
After a quick descent, they arrived at the 29th floor and as per the information he had gathered, it was the same as the 13th floor, with only more passages and there was an unpleasant smell in the air.
When they arrived, unlike the floors they had already passed, silence had fallen among the adventurers, so as not to attract the attention of the monsters, even Finn did not give commands by voice, but led the group directly.
The first shaft was not far away, in fact after a few minutes, they had already arrived. In front of them, there was a hole several meters wide, leading to the next floor.
'Hmm, I'd say the same height as the city walls, if I were to fall, I'm not sure if I could remain unharmed.'
Mark still wasn't quite sure that his defense could protect him from such a fall. But that didn't seem to be a problem for Aiz, Tione, Bete, and Riveria and some of the level 4 adventurers like Cruz, who would be in charge of defending the lower floor.
When everything was ready, the process of lowering the equipment began. They used a fairly simple mechanism to lower everything, they had placed a rope behind a rock, and at one end, the equipment to be lowered was tied, while at the other end, there were the adventurers who were in charge of lowering the items. The ones who were doing the operation were the low-level adventurers, while the others were doing the lookout.
Being a level 2, Mark was in charge of the first one, and even if he didn't like it, he couldn't act childish and ruin everything.
'Easy, easy, fuuu. It's exhausting.' -Letting down another piece of equipment, Mark sighed in relief.
Having to do everything in silence was nerve-wracking, in some ways he preferred it when there was more movement. With all the silence, he could hear his heartbeat in his ears, but it was interrupted by a sudden sound.
'Thut!
"Ha-ha I d-didn't mean to." -The person who was talking, was a blacksmith from the Hephaestus Familia, he was trying to pick up the next items, but he accidentally dropped some spears.
'Auuuu!' 'Auuuu!' 'Auuuu!' 'Roooar!'
The moment the spears fell down, an unbelievable number of monster noises began to resound on the floor.
"Don't be distracted by anything, get all the things down!" -Shouting the commands Finn unsheathed his spear.
Meanwhile, Mark's hands were covered in sweat from the number of monsters he could reveal. 'Monster perception' worked like a radar, when it detected a monster, a red dot would appear in his mind. In the past, he had seen that radar with many dots, but this was the first time he saw so many dots, to look like one huge red area.