If this discovery was real, then Leon had basically found a treasure trove for rapidly boosting stamina.
After all, red-skinned spiders weren't especially rare—if you looked, you could always find them.
But was this conclusion actually true?
Or had he simply happened to eat enough monster meat and eggs that the accumulated gains finally "ticked over" right then?
Unfortunately, after the two of them split the red spider eggs, only around twenty were left—there was no way to test further. And there was another issue: this "cap increase" was probably still within his pre-bottleneck limit. Once he hit the bottleneck, he'd likely get stuck again.
Still, there was no doubt: this could very likely speed up accumulation and help him advance tiers sooner.
After thinking it over, Leon asked, "Iris—how many red spider eggs have you eaten so far?"
"How many?"
Iris tilted her head and thought for a moment.
"I didn't count, but… probably more than thirty."
"How do you feel physically?"
"I feel amazing!" Iris swung her jade-green staff, brimming with fighting spirit. "My stamina and mana are both super full. The recovery effect is great! Overall I feel a little better than before, but I'm not sure if that's just because I'm full."
Leon was speechless. Fine—on some level, Iris was a "feelings" type. Getting her to accurately tell whether her stamina had actually increased would be difficult.
So Leon simply opened Iris's character panel and checked.
[Name: Iris C. Forlorn]
[Primary Stats: Vitality 55 / Mana 63 / Stamina 33 / Strength 38 / Agility 43]
Huh—her mana cap had risen by 2, and her stamina by 1.
Was that from combat? Or from eating the Minotaur and spider eggs?
Or both?
Leon decided to pay closer attention to Iris's panel going forward.
With S+ potential, Iris would naturally raise her caps easily.
Meanwhile, even with three extraordinary classes, Leon had only gained +1 stamina and +1 agility.
That alone showed how enormous Iris's aptitude and class advantages were.
But Leon wasn't discouraged. He was energized.
Because he'd proven that the growth efficiency from having three extraordinary classes was already approaching that of S+ potential Iris.
If he could obtain a fourth extraordinary class, wouldn't he have a chance to draw even—or even surpass her?
And besides, he still had side quests that could raise his mana cap and grant new skills.
The only regret was that—even at S+ speed—it still couldn't possibly catch up to the God of Finality's likely descent in thirty-plus years, when over half the continent would be destroyed. Without enough strength, survival would be impossible.
So he still had to work hard: unlock more heroine talents, complete more quests, and push himself to the absolute limit.
Also, checking Iris's stats still didn't let Leon confirm the red spider eggs' effect. It looked like he could only test again the next time they ran into a red spider swarm.
Assuming he even got lucky enough to catch them during an egg-laying period.
By now, the two of them were mostly rested. After sweeping the battlefield one more time, they headed for the descent passage to the fifteenth floor.
It was not far from the red spider nest.
The Adventurers' Guild offered free maps of Oradu's first forty floors. Any adventurer above first tier could pick one up.
Of course, "map" didn't mean every location was marked.
Dungeon paths were vast—branches crisscrossed up and down, underground rivers cut through, and there were countless places to get lost—like capillaries in a human body.
What humans had mapped clearly were only a few main routes connecting floors, plus a handful of branch paths.
And below the tenth floor, that was even more true.
The only relatively safe area was the first ten floors. Over ten branch routes had been cleared there, so even if you got lost, you had a decent chance of finding your way back.
After the thirtieth floor, it became a region that required multiple third-tiers working together just to step into.
A third-tier going in alone was basically suicide.
Deeper still, around the fortieth floor, it was territory only fourth-tier and above had any hope of exploring.
And even then, those experts needed to form a medium-size expedition party: at least one sixth-tier quasi-legend leading, multiple fifth-tier cores, and several fourth-tier supports.
Only a team like that could safely explore beyond the fortieth floor.
And only that kind of team could steadily open up areas outside the main routes.
If the party had multiple sixth-tiers, their efficiency would naturally be even higher.
But sixth-tier powerhouses were extremely rare—usually leaders of major adventurer groups.
In the Kingdom of Holsha, they typically existed only among dukes or princes and above.
So unless something special was going on, sixth-tiers generally didn't team up with other sixth-tiers.
Leon and Iris were currently following the standard route.
Only once they reached the 25th floor—when they needed to find the Elemental Magic Ring and the place where Iris's father died—would they start exploring off-map territory.
Of course, Leon knew the approximate location. As long as they confirmed the direction, they should find it quickly.
Time passed swiftly as Leon and Iris continued their descent.
…
Six hours later.
Outside the entrance passage to the seventeenth floor.
Huff… huff…
Heavy breathing drifted out from the wide tunnel.
That breathing… felt a little wrong.
Leon and Iris exchanged a look, both surprised.
Leon even noticed a faint blush on the tips of Iris's long, pale ears.
Was that breathing… what they thought it was?
Back on the fifteenth and sixteenth floors, their coordination had improved so much that they actually faced fewer difficulties than before.
Even when they encountered decent monster groups, they cleared them quickly.
The reason it took six hours to get here was purely because resting and recovering mana and stamina had eaten the time.
The actual travel time to the nearest lower-floor entrance had only been an hour or so.
Along the way, they killed plenty of weak second-tier monsters blocking the road.
They didn't run into any powerful monsters again.
Leon still didn't know how a powerhouse like a Minotaur had ended up on the 14th floor.
One monster they encountered during that time was worth mentioning:
A second-tier Chameleon Slime—a lone individual that could shift its skin into various colors.
When they met it, it was hiding in a corner of the rock wall, almost perfectly blended into the environment, hard to distinguish.
If not for the Phantom Walker class's special trait—granting Leon some intuition against stealth-type abilities—he might not have noticed it. He nearly got ambushed successfully.
But once spotted, it was easy to deal with. Leon didn't even need techniques—three sword swings, and it was dead.
One of the weakest monsters indeed—worthy of the name.
Still, even the weakest monster could possess a rare ability like color-shifting, which proved you couldn't underestimate "weak mobs."
As loot, Leon extracted the slime's core gel, planning to have an alchemist appraise it later. If it carried the color-shift property, that would be a huge win.
Now—
the breathing was clearly growing louder.
And the sound carried a faintly sweet, moist quality.
"Leon… why is there such a strange sound coming from the passage to the seventeenth floor?"
Iris held it in as long as she could, but she finally asked.
Leon's expression turned grave.
"Iris—this doesn't feel right. We may have encountered a charm-type monster."
If it really was a charm-type monster, Leon currently had no suitable resistance items or skills. He could only rely on raw willpower.
And as a healthy man… he wasn't confident he could suppress it.
"A charm-type monster?"
Iris's face drained.
Among the monsters elves feared most, charm-type monsters easily ranked in the top three.
Because charm-type monsters were, in essence, evolved from ancient elven subraces—after being nurtured by the dungeon, they became a very unique existence.
And the charm magic they released was especially effective against elves.