In fact, Megumi Kato and Asuna completely agreed with Yukino Yukinoshita's words: Ren Isana was indeed a ruthless profiteer.
However, the two of them could somewhat understand it. In the eyes of the other students, this wasn't profiteering at all. There were simply too many herbs on this floor.
There were plenty just around their campsite alone; gathering them was basically like picking up free money. Even though Ren offered one potion per pound of herbs, who cared how much profit he was actually making off the deal?
Watching the classmates head out to gather herbs, Ren walked over to Asuna and the others. "Do you want to swap out your batch of potions? Give the ones you have on hand to the others, and I'll give you the fruit juice-flavored ones."
As soon as he said that, the three girls agreed without a moment's hesitation. What profiteer? This was clearly the work of a good Samaritan! How could anyone call Ren a profiteer?
"Sure, I'll trade with you! I'll trade all of them, just give me the fruit-flavored ones!" Asuna was the first to speak. Hesitating for even a second would be a sign of disrespect to those delicious potions.
"I'll give you all of mine first, just restock me later," Yukino chimed in. She had decided to hand over every single Red and Blue Potion she had to Ren.
She would let Ren use them to trade with the others, as long as he replaced her stock later. She had already tasted his fruit juice-flavored potions.
In comparison, she didn't want the original bitter flavor at all. Since they could be swapped, she was more than willing to do it—even if she had to pay extra!
"Then hand them all over. Let me see how many we have, then I'll process the herbs. Give me a bit to see if I can gather enough materials to brew a new batch." Ren didn't waste any time and directly asked the three girls for their stock.
Hearing this, the three girls ran back to their tents, brought out their backpacks, and handed all their Red and Blue Potions over to Ren.
Between the three of them, they had over a hundred pouches of Red and Blue Potions. That meant Ren could trade for over a hundred pounds of herbs. This realization put Ren in an incredibly good mood.
With over a hundred pounds of herbs, as long as he had the right mix, he could brew far more than just a hundred pouches. Thinking of this, Ren said, "Later, could you guys help me collect the herbs from the other students? I'm going to process the ones we picked."
The three girls didn't refuse his request; they agreed immediately. It was no problem at all, just a minor favor.
Having settled the arrangements with them, Ren got to work. He brought the freshly picked herbs over to the campfire and began drying them out to stimulate their medicinal properties.
Before long, the area was filled with the fragrant, medicinal scent of Evening Primrose. Taking advantage of the fact that the other students hadn't returned yet, Megumi and the others came over to help.
Under Ren's direction, the group busied themselves assisting him. Meanwhile, the teachers secretly protecting the students were somewhat astonished by Ren's actions.
"When did that kid learn how to concoct potions?" The biology teacher, Shin-sensei, who possessed a sensory talent, looked toward Ren's group in amazement. He was genuinely surprised by Ren's technique.
Because he himself was a Pharmacist—otherwise, he wouldn't be teaching biology—seeing Ren process medicinal ingredients made him incredibly curious.
"With such a terrifying talent for learning, nothing Ren does would surprise me." The homeroom teacher, Rina-sensei, remained quite calm. The teachers responsible for instructing Ren knew best just how frightening his talent truly was.
So the fact that Ren could now brew potions was nothing to make a fuss over. Only the other teachers who weren't as familiar with him would be so shocked.
Come to think of it, a student who had only recently awakened was now capable of crafting Red and Blue Potions. If word got out, who would actually believe it?
"There's no need to be surprised, Shin-sensei. Even if that kid suddenly starts forging his own equipment one day, don't be shocked. His talent is simply too heaven-defying," Shizuka Hiratsuka chimed in.
She had watched with her own eyes as Ren grew stronger step by step, as if he were using cheat codes. And the most absurd part was that this guy could learn an opponent's moves just by scrolling through videos.
In her nearly thirty years of life, she had never seen someone so ridiculous. Although it had only been a little over a decade since the spiritual energy revival, an existence like Ren had never appeared in all those years.
While the teachers were discussing this, Ren's group was working away in full swing. Meanwhile, the students who had gone out were encountering some trouble.
Monsters had spawned on this floor. The students, who had been busy gathering herbs, heard a sudden commotion and then saw magical beasts generating right out of the ground.
They were humanoid monsters with the heads of wolves. Upon seeing these Werewolves, everyone froze for a moment, but they quickly snapped out of it. Without a second word, they charged forward and engaged them in battle.
As creatures of the fifth floor, the explosive power of these Werewolves was far more formidable than anything they had encountered on the upper floors. The moment they emerged, they unleashed a terrifying surge of strength.
The Werewolves' bodies shot forward like cannonballs, clashing with the students. This initial contact immediately made the students realize just how dangerous they were.
"Holy crap, they're so strong!" a male student from Ren's class couldn't help but curse after clashing with a Werewolf. At the same time, a Magic Circle appeared beneath his feet.
He rapidly retreated, putting distance between himself and the Werewolves to readjust his stance. All across the fifth floor, the students were now successively encountering monsters.
Monsters even spawned near Ren's group as they were processing herbs. Seeing the newly spawned creatures, Ren didn't even need to lift a finger; Asuna and Yukino charged right in.
Ren checked the current time. It was 6:00 PM. *Monsters start spawning at this time? Is it based on the time outside?*
Ren couldn't help but speculate. Activating his [Spatial Perception], he discovered that many teams had encountered the newly spawned monsters, though the creatures hadn't managed to inflict any real harm on anyone.
While many might have been surprised by their strength at first, everyone quickly adapted and immediately changed their combat strategies.
The monsters were swiftly wiped out. However, because monsters were now spawning, everyone became a bit more cautious while gathering herbs.
"We need to be careful tonight. If I'm not mistaken, the spawn rule for this floor is that monsters start appearing after 6:00 PM outside time." Once Asuna and the others finished off the monsters and returned, Ren shared his theory.
The timing was too perfect. They hadn't encountered a single monster when they first arrived on this floor, yet the moment the clock struck six, they began to spawn.
Ren absolutely refused to believe there wasn't some trick to this. Perhaps the Dungeon knew that people would rest on this floor at night, so it deliberately spawned monsters at this specific time?
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