Ren and the others took their time along the way, collecting all the medicinal herbs they encountered. Every so often, Ren would also leave behind a signpost.
After spending some time walking, the group finally arrived at their destination. Asuna glanced at the surrounding environment and couldn't help but say, "How strange. We haven't encountered any monsters on this floor?"
This was what puzzled Asuna the most. They hadn't run into a single monster along the way, which completely defied common sense. Could it be that there were no monsters on this floor at all?
"Just because there aren't any now doesn't mean there won't be any at night. We need to be careful tonight," Ren said, unable to keep from frowning at Asuna's words.
He had naturally noticed this bizarre phenomenon as well, but he didn't let his guard down. Things that couldn't be found during the day usually came out at night.
Hearing Ren say this, the others couldn't help but grow vigilant. *Right, we might not encounter them during the day, but night is a different story.* None of the four believed that this floor would be completely devoid of monsters.
Upon reaching the water source, Ren looked around and found a relatively flat area to stop. It wasn't too close to the forest, nor was it near any stone walls.
Ren dropped his backpack and said, "We'll camp here for the night. We'll stay over and set out tomorrow."
Hearing this, everyone agreed. They put down their luggage and took out the small tents they had brought with them.
Seeing the items these girls pulled out, Ren truly couldn't hold back. He couldn't help but complain, "You guys actually brought tents?"
What did Ren see? Asuna was one thing—she had a Spatial Backpack—but weren't the items Yukino and Megumi pulling out of their bags pop-up tents?
For the record, Ren hadn't brought anything of the sort. He only brought a change of clothes and some toiletries; the rest of his bag was entirely filled with potions. He didn't even have a sleeping bag.
And what about these girls? They actually brought tents? *Are you guys planning to go camping? Plus, doing this makes me look like an idiot!*
Hearing Ren's question, the three girls immediately looked at him with strange expressions. Asuna and the others were a bit puzzled, and Yukino asked in confusion, "Did you not bring one?"
"No, I only brought a few changes of clothes. Tents and stuff are too much of a hassle, so I didn't bring one!" Ren spouted nonsense with a straight face. In reality, he hadn't even bought one.
*You've got to be kidding me. How much can one backpack hold?* Ren didn't know the exact volume, but he did know that after stuffing in his clothes, the rest of the space was entirely dedicated to potions and dry rations.
"Then where are you going to sleep tonight?" Asuna was also a bit dumbfounded. Ren actually didn't bring anything? Was this really okay? If he didn't even bring a tent, where would he sleep?
"I'll just meditate until dawn, of course. Meditation can completely replace sleep, you know..." Ren scratched his head in frustration. Tents and the like were completely optional in the Dungeon, right?
After all, there were no mosquitoes in the Dungeon. You just find a random spot to sit, enter a meditative state, and boom, it's dawn, right? Did they really expect to get a peaceful night's sleep out in the wild?
"Hmm... that makes a lot of sense, but we're still going to bring them. After all, we don't want to just meditate outside." Although Ren's logic was sound, she still preferred having a tent.
After all, girls always needed some private space, didn't they? The three of them ignored Ren and started setting up their tents. The tents they brought were small, single-person ones, making them relatively easy to pitch.
Watching the three of them busy themselves, Ren couldn't be bothered to argue. He turned around, headed into the forest to chop some dry firewood, and then started a campfire.
"Asuna, bring out your cooking utensils, I'll make dinner!" Ren shouted to Asuna after igniting the campfire with a [Fireball].
Hearing Ren's words, Asuna hurriedly walked over with her Spatial Backpack and took out the pots and pans she had brought. "You have to cook for four people, okay? I brought a lot of ingredients too, so just make whatever you see fit. I'll pack everything up later."
With that, Asuna dropped a pile of items and walked away. Looking at the ingredients she had pulled out, Ren was left speechless. *Sure enough, Asuna is here for a picnic.*
Among the ingredients, aside from the usual seasonings, Ren even spotted a bag of rice. With a teammate like this, adventuring in a Dimensional Rift really was no different from camping, was it?
Although he was speechless on the inside, Ren got to work. After glancing at the ingredients Asuna had brought, he knew exactly what dishes to make.
Ren washed the rice using the bottled water Asuna had provided, then placed it over the fire to cook. Once the rice was sorted, he began prepping the other ingredients.
While Ren was busy, Megumi and the others finished setting up their tents and came over to help. Megumi and Yukino were equally speechless when they saw the ingredients Asuna had prepared.
"You prepared way too much, Asuna," Yukino suspected that Asuna might have cleared out the entire grocery aisle when she went shopping.
"It's not that much. With a Spatial Backpack, it all fits. I even have extra space left in my bag," Asuna blinked, not feeling like it was excessive at all.
After all, the ingredients prepared here were only enough to feed four people for half a month. She actually felt it was a bit lacking!
"I'm so jealous. It looks like I'll have to get one too," Yukino said enviously. Only after actually coming out on an adventure did she realize just how convenient a Spatial Backpack was.
"We can ask Maya if she has any more in stock later. We might as well hand over all the materials we gather this time to her," Ren chimed in.
No one had any objections to this. They had to sell the materials to someone anyway, right? Since Maya was buying, it was naturally most fitting to sell to her, considering they were acquaintances.
"After dinner, I'll go check the lake to see if there are any fish. If there are, let's gather some. Asuna's Spatial Backpack can hold them anyway," Ren suggested while peeling a potato.
"Are we going fishing?" Megumi paused upon hearing this. If they wanted fish, they'd need a fishing rod, right? But none of them had one. How were they supposed to do that? Were they going to make one on the spot?
"No, why would we fish? I'll just drop a [Lightning Strike] in there and be done with it." *What era is this, still using a fishing rod? What if I get skunked?*
Since he already knew magic, he was obviously going to use magic to catch them. Ren knew [Lightning Strike], and if that didn't work, a [Fireball] would do the trick—it could explode, after all.
So, to avoid getting skunked, Ren decided to use some special methods. If one [Lightning Strike] couldn't get the job done, he'd use two. He absolutely refused to be a skunked angler!!
As long as he didn't cast a line, he couldn't get skunked. Unless there were absolutely no fish in the lake, Ren firmly refused to allow himself to go home empty-handed!
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