On the 9th floor of the golden labyrinth.

[Wind Cheetah Lvl9]

Visually, there is no difference between it and the animal of the same name. It has light brown fur with white patches and is surrounded by small black spots.

We saw each other at the same moment.

The cheetah lowered its posture and walked very slowly in this direction.

"Is that the monster you're looking for?"

"Yes, this time, my objective will be that kind of monster."

From my inventory, I took out the bow and an arrow, and the moment I aimed at it, the monster started running. Initially, I thought I still had time to get to the optimal shooting conditions, but only 3 seconds later, I started to feel the pressure. After all, the cheetah reached a frightening speed.

'I fear that if I miss even one arrow, I will be within range of its fangs.'

I quickly slowed my breathing and heart rate. The bow was a huge help on this. In the thousandth of a second, when all the shooting conditions were met, I released the arrow.

The speed of the enemy has its disadvantages, and that is that, even when the cheetah knows that, if it takes one more step, an arrow will pass through its body, it cannot stop itself.

The arrow pierced its front leg, causing it to lose its balance.

Its body continued to slide across the ground and even touched my feet, showing that its speed had reached incredible levels. Drawing my sword, I dealt him the final blow.

[Wind Fur]

[x1]

"Even if this delays us, I will use my sword to cut it down if an arrow misses." says Alessia.

"Mn, I will thank you."

'Alessia is right. We will simply lose time, but it is much better than losing our lives. In the worst-case scenario, she will act and cut the cheetah in two before it attacks me.'

With that in mind, I looked at the map. We went to all the places with three monsters or less, since, although on the 9th floor they can reach the amount of four, it would be a catastrophe if Alessia is busy while the cheetah attacks me.

'I am confident in drawing my sword at the last moment, but I am not 100% sure.'

[Wind Fur x4]

[x11]

[Silent Paw]

[x16]

[Silent Wind Rune]

[x31]

[Scroll of Silence]

[x46]

'I see; now I understand. The stronger the monster, the more unique their loot will be; only monsters from lower floors will have their name on the loot.'

After collecting 20 scrolls, we stopped to rest.

"That was difficult and exhausting… I never thought that a monster would have us in a battle against time. One where if we don't defeat it, we will suffer the consequences."

"I just fired arrows and only used my sword to give them the last blow. You were really helpful; thanks."

"You're welcome," Alessia smiled.

The monster we are talking about, of course, is the cheetah. It has incredible speed, and if you divert your attention from it for one second, the next you can have it almost touching your nose. It was very taxing mentally, facing it in a group of monsters.

Twice, Alessia had to kill it because I missed my arrows. Also, it was very difficult to find it since on the 9th floor there are nine varieties of monsters. If we're unlucky, we won't be able to find it in the 30 minutes of the chain's duration.

'Well, it's time to upgrade Alessia's inventory skill.'

[Inventory Lvl.4] [0|3]

[The inventory requires a spell to activate it and also requires the user's concentration to manage it. It has space limits.]

[Improvements 0 of 3]

[To upgrade to the next level, the following materials are required:

(A Hell Eye) (An Ultracustic Ear) (A Silent Paw)]

[You have already gathered all the materials. Do you want to continue with the improvement?]

[Yes/No]

'[Yes]'

At that very moment, I could see how the three needed materials in my inventory decreased by one, and, the next moment, the information windows changed.

[Inventory Lvl.33] [1|3]

[Inventory can be activated with a thought, but it requires some concentration for inventory management. It has space limits.]

[Improvements 1 of 3]

[To upgrade to the next level, the following materials are required: (A Downcast Horn) (A Log of Life) (A Shell of Fortune)]

'A single upgrade increased its level to 33! And not only that, but it no longer requires a spell to activate! Out of all the adventurers I've seen so far, none of them are capable of handling inventory without the corresponding spell. Now Alessia has distanced herself from them… With a little thought, she will be able to control the inventory. This means that it is possible to use it to a certain degree for battles inside the labyrinth. Besides that, there are 3 improvements, which means that the maximum level of my inventory is equal to level 99. Is that the maximum level of all things? Well, there are two more improvements left for Alessia to reach the maximum level of the skill. Still, I don't expect to be able to get them soon, because I'm sure those materials can only be found from the 10th floor onwards.'

We were lucky that the monsters were also in the labyrinth of gold, but this will not always be repeated. For now, Alessia will have to settle for just one upgrade.

"How do you feel? Don't you feel anything strange in your body?"

"That's a strange way of asking if I'm not tired anymore, master. But I'm not tired, nor do I feel strange in any way"

"Hahaha, fine. Then let's go home. It's probably already night outside."

It seems that the enhancement does not offer any substantial changes to the user's body, only to the ability itself.

Avoiding the monsters, we left the 9th floor and arrived at the entrance of the Golden Labyrinth. The moon is shining weakly in the sky, but everything else around it is already completely dark.

After walking through the forest, we passed through the east entrance of the city of Altamira and entered like any other adventurer. By beckoning, we managed to catch a carriage that was about to leave, and we boarded it.

I quickly opened the map, and then my heart started pounding like crazy.

'The red dots multiplied! There isn't a place in the city without red dots!!'

A casual glance through the carriage window is enough to see that seven out of 10 knights are marked in red. Something must have happened during the day for all of them to become my enemies overnight.

'I'll have to rush up the rune sale.'

"Driver, plans changed…" Without hesitation, I gave the new address to the driver so he could make the appropriate changes to the route.

Minutes later, Alessia and I got off the carriage. Our current location is still in the north sector of the slum, but very close to the commercial street located in the center of the city.

We stopped at a certain special alley, which connects with countless alleys in all directions, and I equipped both myself and Alessia with a full-body dark cloak and mask.

"What do you want me to do, master?" Alessia said it in a serious tone.

"The last time I sold the runes, many criminals tried to assassinate me. This is a preparation for such an event, wait for me here and I will be back soon."

"Good luck; I'll be waiting for you."

Sharpening her eyes, Alessia fully understood my words. If all goes well, great. But if not, then we will have to fight waves of criminals.

Walking through the alleys, I arrived in front of the Golden Rune store.

"The Hellcat and Hypnotic Bat runes are worth 1 gold each, but this one is pretty special, I'd say. The Silent Wind runes are worth 1.5 gold each."

'A gold coin and five silvers, huh? Why will it be so coveted?'

I saved 8 runes of each type for future fusion with my arrows, and I gave the rest to the seller.

"27 runes for three different monsters make a total of 81 runes. The total is 94.5 gold coins. Do you want to hire bodyguards to transport the money?"

'Mm? Is the vendor aware of the break-in attempts?'

"Ah, don't get me wrong. Many of the adventurers who have come to sell here have met a tragic fate. I have created quests in the adventurer’s guild, asking for help, but lately few people are accepting them. So, I have been forced to offer bodyguard services to be able to assure the clientele"

"I see, but it's not necessary. Thanks anyway"

"Have a good night."

"Good night to you too."

With a wave of my hand, I put all the coins into inventory and quickly left the store. The next moment, I entered the nearest alley.

'Let's see how the flow of the red dots goes… Haa… As expected, many are moving with my position in the center. Tonight, the moon will be dyed red.'