"Clik! Clik!"

Some dry woods snapped in the fire, sending splinters flying through the air. 

Rudeus watched his party member Greyt, a bulky man with broad shoulders and thick forearms, holding the steel pot above the fire. While stirring the stew carefully like an expert cook, blowing air before tasting it without ruining his groomed beard. 

As for himself, he cleans his shiny daggers off from the blood, belonging to the monsters they had encountered till they reach this safe room- built for the adventurers to rest in this second strata. 

He and his party had picked the quest to investigate the recent disappearances of the adventurers as their last quest of this week. 

"Hmm..."

From the blade's reflection, Rudeus saw his handsome and youthful appearance, brown hair, and blue eyes; he was more than enough to join any famous guild. Since those gods care more about appearance than talent itself. 

'Or so those who couldn't join themselves, said out of jealousy' he thought, but he himself believes to be an atheist and doesn't mind their rude comments. 

'Come to think of it... Why did I choose to be an atheist?' His eyes unconsciously moved to the answer itself. 

To his right, a short orange-haired gentle looking woman wearing the ordinary mage cloak can be seen marking the places they had checked and circling the zones they had yet to investigate. Rudeus' mood turned sour, the moment he caught the sight of a beautiful ring with a glittering diamond, that screams expensive, resting on her ring finger. 

'Yea, I definitely hate those gods and their pet dogs!' He thought, gritting his teeth in jealousy.

Some deep memories, assaulted his mind- a boy just-turned-adult and his childhood sweetheart coming to Argon, the dream city of every young adventurer, with great hopes of touching the social heights they could only fantasize about within their small hometown. And overlapping them is the woman right in front of him, but with the engagement ring given by that bastard of the House Behemoth -The current sovereign of the Argon City- rather than the same boy in the memories. Which was him. 

"Rudy, stop sulking and give me ya feedback" Passing the bowl of stew, Greyt said with his signature hearty smile, hidden within his dense beard as years back. 

"Why, you mixed a new poison or what? It would be the same plain stew if you didn't add some random dungeon plants in it" 

Though, complaining. He appreciated Greyts cooking, but he still missed the stew made by Mary whenever they were on the dungeon expedition. 

"Huh? Thanks, Greyt! I just hope some people would be more appreciative, and less complaining of others' efforts"

Taking the bowl from him, Julia smiles and passes a comment at Rudeus' rude remark, only for her to start giggling when she sees him fanning his mouth by overeating too hot of a stew at once. 

"By the way, How's Mary?" 

Blowing on her spoon slowly, she asked of her ex-party member Mary. The woman had recently become pregnant and married to Greyt, which was a surprise to both Rudueus and her at that time. 

Even though the ones who got surprised the most were Greyt and Mary when they heard Julia's engagement with a man other than Rudueus, after seeing them together for years, they were sure of their future. 

"Oh, almost forgot to tell ya, the apothecary has confirmed for a twin before the next winter"

With a hearty laugh he cheered to Rudueus, and the frail-looking man busy with a book in a corner "you both are welcome for dinner, and you also my friend... Huh? What are you doing?"

"No... Nothing!" 

Shutting the book with a snap, Nicolas quickly slides it back inside his large backpack, carrying the party's spare equipment. But Rudueus' agile hands outclassed his, being a thief as his only class sure gives him some perks. 

"Ohhh! You sure it's nothing?" 

With a meaningful grin, Rudueus asked before opening it. While Greyt signals him not to, in consideration of Nicolas' dignity in front of Julia, the only woman in their party. 

"Rudeus! No!" Putting his spectacles aside, the skinny man tried to stop him. 

"Hey what's this? A language book?" Disappointed, he tossed it back. Which, Nicolas caught before glaring at him. 

"Seriously, why would you take a language book inside a dungeon and wait, is that one of the Tilapikas language book?" With wide eyes, Rudueus exclaimed  "Don't tell me, you're trying to hit on that new foreigner receptionist at the tower… huh? Really!" 

"No! That's... That's for knowledge!" With a rare blush, Nicolas denied it. 

"No, no I can understand. The cat girls sure are exotic looking and rare in Argon. It won't be a surprise if you also get smitten by her just like every adventurer, so be proud of having a great choice Nicolas!" 

"Urgh! Leave me alone!" Notwithstanding his teasings. The young man, who had recently joined their party because they were short of one member, stuffed the stew with a huff. 

"Yeah yeah, she looks good and all with rare features that all boys oh so desire. So, why don't you try your chances with her?" Packing her stuff, Julia grumbles. 

"I would, only if I haven't gotten a heartbreak recently" Rudueus strapped the dagger belt at his waist, roughly out of spite. 

"Ahem! Ahem!..." 

Fearing a war may breakout in this small safe room, Greyt interrupted them with a cough before sighing internally. 

"I'm going... We have wasted too much time on someone without a worth" 

Taking big strides, Rudeus stormed out leaving behind a fuming Julia, Greyt shaking his head, and a self-blaming Nicolas who's seeking help from Greyt. 

"You wait!-!"

*Boom!*

But before Julia could say anything after catching up to him with the others, an explosion happened out of nowhere and shook their surroundings thoroughly. 

"What was that?!" Nicolas takes a defensive crouch, using the large backpack as the shield. 

Instead of answering him, the other three members dashed towards the source of it; consequently drawing out their weapons without a word to another, showing great tacit understanding of veterans.

"Hey wait for me!" Dragging the turtle shell, Nicolas too caught up to them. 

After many turns, they came across a medium sized-cavern whose walls were painted in the monster's blood and gore, and a faint residual raw mana permeated through the air, like smoke after an explosion. 

The damage wasn't too much, since the dungeon walls are naturally accustomed to the constant fighting of a scale much larger than this. 

"Hmm... Any idea?" 

Frowning. Rudeus asked while gripping his daggers and glancing around vigilantly, but he felt no other monsters. 

Julia didn't respond, not because of the earlier argument, but because something had caught her sight. 

Across the rubble, Julia picks up a glowing crystal the size of her pinky finger before rubbing it twice, making it glow more radiantly with her touch confirming its identity. 

"A mana stone?" Surprised by her finding, she checks again before smiling back at the party members. 

"You sure? Never heard of randomly discovering a mana stone at the second strata" Greyt doubted, he wasn't a mage to know the authenticity of a mana stone. 

"Maybe an adventurer dropped it here before fleeing or even... Dying?" Rudeus commented, taking a glance at the bloody walls. 

"No, it was a monster that died. Ah! Most probably a Raticul. Don't know whether it was general or at boss level" 

Nicolas said with a tilt of his head, checking the splattered blood with his finger, causing Rudeus to click his tongue "Can't underestimate a beast fanatic huh"

"Now come to think of it, we haven't encountered any rat in the first Strata, nor in this second Strata, have we?" Julia mused while taking out the map and tugging the mana stone into her cloak's sidepockets, causing a certain goblin in hiding to scowl at her in silent frustration. 

"What about the adventurers, were there any signs of them" Greyt finally asked the important question, since their quest might be related to this. 

"Can confirm, none here" Licking his finger clean, Nicolas gives a nod of confirmation. 

"Hey what if that blood was of a human?" 

"Then I got to know if it is, or not" 

Shrugging, Nicolas replied, causing Rudeus to step back in revulsion, while not forgetting to give his snide comment. 

"You animancers, sure got some weird kinks"

"So what do we do now?" Ignoring his comment, Nicolas asked. 

"Away from its group, a lone Raticul won't explode on its own right. And not to mention, leaving behind an intact mana stone, though much lower in quality it could be easily sold for about a hundred copper taels and that still is nowhere near an average lower monster core could fetch" Flashing a smile, Julia calculated. And as she added to her own theory unnecessarily, her voice became excited "But, what if a group of Raticul founded a mana stone mine and this lone Raticul wasn't satisfied with his share and run away after stealing more" 

"And the angry Raticul group pursued him till they finally caught him, and take it away before placing a bomb inside the traitor? Which triggered when they got away at a safe distance" Rudeus, added to her made-up story. 

And as he continued, his eyes sparkled with the same intensity as Julia "So we have a group of evil Raticuls, hoarding mana stones that can make us rich for two months. And if we get extremely lucky, then we will get a year's worth of wealth!" 

Talking in the same frequency, They both seem like incredible partners to Greyt, making him question himself if they're the same individuals who can't stand each other's presence just a moment ago. 

"Ahem!... That seems great in theory, but firs, we have a quest to clear before you both go on your treasure hunt" Coughing, he reminded them kindly which kind of makes things awkward for Julia, causing her to turn away stiffly. 

"Ye...Yeah" In her attempt to change the topic, she took out the map and talked about the nearest zone, they should be proceeding. 

"Sigh..." Feeling a shoulder pat from Greyt, Rudeus gives a defeated smile.

Meanwhile, Nicolas feels a little left out. But that wasn't new to him, it hadn't been more than a month or two, if he counts extensively, since he joined them as the party member. 

"We have three more zones to inspect, and there's a high possibility of encountering the strata's boss monster so be ready" Giving her warning, Julia continued to walk ahead. 

Even though they're called veterans, they don't belong to any famous guild, nor do they have any patron gods to make them strong enough that they could simply ignore the power level of these kinds of starta boss monsters. They have survived till now because they knew very well enough how dangerous and unpredictable these great dungeons can be at a time. 

"Hmm, who was the last boss monster reported at the tower for this strata?" Greyt asked casually. 

"Ah... I forgot, but I believe it was reported to be the fire breathing-orc, about two weeks ago" Having great memory, Nicolas replied. 

Normally the adventurers didn't usually challenge the boss monsters. Since, they can advance to the next strata or even the Major strata a.k.a the Echelon -which is big enough to be called a world of its own- without needing to challenge any boss monsters in between; thus, slowing down the updates on these mini-boss monsters at the tower society- the neutral organization that regulates all the guild, founded by humans or the God's alike, and all the rogue adventurers in the whole world. 

With a map in hand and a white magic lamp floating around for illumination, the party keep walking deep inside the dungeon caverns, without knowing a curious goblin was stalking them from behind, keeping its distance as further as possible.