Ren Isana possessed a terrifying amount of Magic Power, far beyond what anyone had imagined. This fact completely astounded Natsuki Minamiya. Did this kid seriously just anchor the entire Array Magic using nothing but his own Magic Power?
Was this some kind of joke? Natsuki stared in utter shock at Ren, who had just finished casting his spell. This was simply too absurd.
After anchoring the entire Array Magic and confirming that it was running continuously, Ren finally breathed a sigh of relief. In truth, his Magic Power was nearly depleted.
After all, the Array was simply too massive. It covered their entire base, roughly the size of two or three football fields. The consumption required for such a feat was no small matter.
With the Array anchored, Ren began the final phase: branding everyone in the camp with a magic mark, which effectively served as a key.
If any strangers intruded, everyone would sense it immediately. Furthermore, only those with this mark could utilize the effects of the Meditation Array.
He intended to keep this Array Magic active at all times, even though doing so would reduce its overall lifespan.
However, Ren felt it was worth it. After all, they weren't going to stay in this world long-term; they would leave in a few months at most.
As for what would happen later, nobody knew. If the need arose, he could simply repair it. It only required filling it with materials to continue functioning, much like refueling a car.
With these thoughts in mind, Ren waved to his classmates, gesturing for them to come over.
Everyone had been closely watching his actions. Seeing his summons, they quickly gathered around.
Once they were all assembled, Ren explained the situation. After hearing his explanation, the crowd naturally had no objections. They stepped forward one by one to receive his magic mark.
"Can you change the design? Why don't we just make it look like our Guild emblem?" Sora's eyes darted around as she suddenly came up with a brilliant idea.
Hearing this, everyone's eyes immediately lit up. *Right, we could totally do that! Having it look like our Guild emblem would be awesome, wouldn't it?*
Ren pondered for a moment before nodding. "It's not impossible. This is really just a magic mark. I can definitely change the shape, but it will normally be hidden anyway, so does the design really matter?"
Changing the shape was incredibly simple, but the mark would conceal itself once applied. Did the shape even matter?
"It hides itself? Can you make it not hide? We could just use it directly as our Guild emblem or something!" Sora felt it was a bit of a pity.
She had been thinking that they could use this thing as their official symbol. When the time came, they could all stand together and flash their emblems to prove they were members of the Hestia Familia. Just thinking about it felt incredibly cool.
"How about making it visible when you infuse it with Magic Power?" Ren thought for a moment and came up with a solution. Since she wanted it so badly, he might as well indulge her.
"That works! Please carve it on the back of my hand!" Things had taken a turn for the better, and Sora was instantly thrilled, hastily extending her right hand.
With the mark engraved on the smooth back of her hand, if anyone ever asked her which Familia she belonged to, she could just raise her right hand, infuse it with Magic Power, and flash the emblem!
Just the thought of it was exhilarating. Sora was practically buzzing with excitement, urging Ren to hurry up and apply the mark.
Seeing her agitated state, Ren felt helpless. *This girl is definitely a bit of a chuunibyou, isn't she? Or maybe everyone in the class is? At the end of the day, they're all just kids.*
With that thought, Ren didn't hesitate any longer. He modified the magic mark to match their Guild emblem and stamped it onto the back of Sora's hand.
Magic Power flashed across the back of Sora's hand, quickly forming the pattern of their school crest before completely sinking into her skin.
The moment Ren finished, Sora impatiently channeled Magic Power into her right hand, causing the emblem to instantly materialize.
"Cool!" Sora's eyes sparkled. This was absolutely fantastic. This was how it should be! This was the true flavor of another world. How could they go without matching emblems? Thinking of this, Sora felt incredibly smug.
Seeing this, the others eagerly stepped forward, asking Ren to brand them as well. They all agreed that this idea was incredibly cool. Once Ren finished marking everyone, the crowd immediately started playing around with their new glowing tattoos.
Ren looked at these guys with a bit of exasperation and announced, "Alright, let's go eat. You'll all have a buff when you meditate tonight. Tomorrow, we'll start preparing to enter the Dungeon."
Hearing Ren's words, everyone nodded. When they had split up earlier today, they had brought back quite a few things, including a map and strategy guide for the Dungeon.
Now that all the preparations were complete, they could finally spring into action.
With that settled, the group didn't linger outside any longer. They headed straight to the dining hall to eat; the newly hired cooks had already prepared dinner.
Ren grabbed his food and sat down with Asuna and the others. While they were eating, Yukino Yukinoshita couldn't help but speak up. "I took a look at the Dungeon map and guide earlier. Even though I can't read the text, it clearly marks the recommended levels for exploration..."
Yukino shared the details of the guide she had looked over today. She had purchased it from the Guild. Although she couldn't read the local language, she could still understand the numbers indicating which levels corresponded to which floors.
"Is there something different about it?" Asuna looked over with curious eyes. She hadn't read it herself, so she didn't know the specifics. If Yukino was bringing it up, there had to be some sort of discrepancy.
"How should I put it about this world's Dungeon... A Lv.3 adventurer can apparently go straight down to the 25th Floor..." Yukino explained what she had seen.
To be honest, she had been quite bewildered when she saw those level recommendations. Were the people of this world really that absurd?
A Lv.3 going straight to the 25th Floor?
It made her suspect for a moment that she had been scammed into buying a fake, but the girl who sold it to her insisted it was an official Guild purchase, so it shouldn't be wrong.
Hearing Yukino's words, Asuna was also somewhat shocked. Previously, they had only been allowed to operate within the first ten floors, but in this world, a Lv.3 was permitted to go all the way to the 25th Floor?
"It seems that way. Hold on, let me go learn this world's language real quick, and then I'll explain it to everyone," Ren said to Asuna and the others between bites of food.
Ren, of course, knew exactly what was going on. This was the perfect opportunity to legitimize his ability to read the local language.
He would go find Hestia later, pretend to study the language, and then start reading those books so he could conveniently explain the workings of this world to everyone.
Hestia had already eaten while Ren and the others were outside setting up the Array Magic. Right now, she was completely immersed in the mountain of books they had bought for her.
Hearing Ren's plan, the group nodded and didn't dwell on the topic. Ren quickly finished his meal and told Asuna and the others, "Later, have everyone gather in the meeting room. We need to discuss our plans."
With that said, Ren stood up and left the dining hall to find Hestia. The maids would naturally clean up the dishes later—otherwise, what was the point of hiring so many people?
Seeing him leave, Asuna continued eating while passing the message along, telling everyone to go find Ren after they had taken their baths.
In her view, it would take Ren some time to finish learning a new language. It would be best for everyone to shower after dinner before heading over.
Hearing the news, everyone hurried to finish their food so they wouldn't keep Ren waiting. After eating, they all returned to their respective rooms to wash up.
Meanwhile, Ren found Hestia and directly asked her to teach him the world's written language.
Hestia, who had been engrossed in a book, instantly perked up at Ren's request. Slipping right into character, she declared, "In that case, from now on, please call me Hestia-sensei!"
She was practically vibrating with excitement as she said this. Eager to play the role of a mentor, she immediately began her lesson. However... Ren's subsequent performance left her with absolutely zero sense of accomplishment.
In just ten minutes, Ren had completely mastered the world's text. Hestia felt entirely unfulfilled. Thoroughly bored, she handed Hephaestus's forging notes over to him.
"Just read it yourself. Teaching you is far too depressing. How can you learn so fast?!" Hestia was incredibly frustrated. She hadn't gotten to enjoy the teaching experience at all.
His learning speed was simply too ridiculous. She had wanted to experience the thrill of being a teacher, but there was no thrill to be found. She had merely explained the basic structure of the characters, and Ren had instantly grasped it.
Wearing a gloomy expression, Hestia shoved Hephaestus's notebook into Ren's hands and told him to read it himself.
Taking the notebook from Hestia, Ren smiled pleasantly and began flipping through it. Now, his ability to read this world's language was finally "legitimate."
This little act was primarily for the benefit of Hestia and the others. He couldn't just magically know how to read the local text right from the start, could he? That would be too suspicious. Pretending to learn it just now was the perfect cover.
Ren put on a show of browsing through the notebook. In reality, he had already mastered its contents, so there wasn't much that surprised him.
After quickly skimming the pages for at most ten minutes, Ren handed the notebook back to Hestia. "I'm done reading. You can return it to her."
Hearing this, Hestia stared at Ren in utter bewilderment. "Are you sure? You don't need to look at it a bit more? That was way too fast!"
Honestly, Hestia was genuinely frightened. Wasn't Ren's learning speed a bit too monstrous? He was already finished?
"I can memorize anything after reading it once. I've already committed the contents of the notebook to memory. If I have any questions later, I'll just study it in my head." Ren smoothly attributed this to his photographic memory.
Hearing Ren's claim, Hestia remained half-doubtful. Taking the notebook, she flipped to a random page and asked him a question, wanting to see if he had truly memorized it.
Seeing her actually try to test him, Ren didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Still, he was happy to play along, casually answering every question she threw at him. This finally convinced Hestia that Ren had indeed memorized the entire thing.
"That's just absurd." Seeing this, Hestia didn't dwell on the matter any further. She had only tested him because she hoped Ren wasn't taking this lightly; after all, this was an incredibly rare and valuable notebook.
If he missed this chance, who knew when he would ever get the opportunity to read it again? Naturally, it would be better to return it to Hephaestus as late as possible.
After all, she also wanted Ren to learn her friend's forging techniques. Now, it seemed her worries were completely unfounded.
About half an hour later, the classmates began arriving one after another. Asuna was the first to ask, "Ren, how did your studying go? Did you manage to learn this world's language?"
Hearing Asuna's question, Ren closed the book in his hands and replied, "I've already learned it. It's actually quite simple."
At his words, Asuna and the others were instantly overjoyed. Yukino then brought over the map and strategy guide from earlier, saying, "Let's begin, then. The sooner we understand this, the sooner we can go back and rest."
The group nodded in agreement. That made perfect sense. They were setting out for the Dungeon tomorrow, so it was best to get this over with quickly.
Seeing the guide Yukino laid out, Ren didn't hesitate. He opened it and began explaining its contents to everyone. "The Dungeon in this world is indeed different from the ones in our world."
"The recommended range for Lv.1 adventurers is Floors 1 through 12. This is the beginner phase. Then, the recommendation for Lv.2 is Floors 13 through 24, which belong to the middle floors. Teamwork is required here, and there's even a Floor Boss on the 17th Floor." As Ren explained, the crowd nodded thoughtfully.
"The recommended area for Lv.3 is Floors 25 through 36. This is considered the lower floors, and entering requires strict team coordination." Ren relayed the information marked on the guide.
"So, in reality, it's just like the Dungeons in our world, except here, there's a published strategy guide for it," Ren concluded.
The Lv.1 beginner phase meant that those unfamiliar with the Dungeon could only stick to Floors 1 through 12. The deeper one went, the more teamwork was required. Perhaps this was why their teachers had made them form parties right from the start?
"So, are we going to dive straight into the deep floors next?" Leo spoke up at this moment. Were they going to plunge into the depths together like they did back home, or were they going to operate in the upper floors in their original squads?
"Of course we're heading to Floors 25 through 36. We'll just form up as a large team. If we stay in the upper floors, there probably won't be any monsters left to hunt... After all, there are a lot of adventurers in this world." Ren had thought this through clearly.
There were countless low-level adventurers in Orario. The upper floors were a classic case of 'too many monks and not enough porridge.' The higher up you went, the fewer monsters there were. On the first few floors, you probably wouldn't even see a single monster spawn in half a day.
Therefore, it was better for everyone to head further down. Only by descending to the lower floors could they maximize their gains. Plus, with the map in hand, they didn't have to worry about getting lost.
Hearing Ren's reasoning, everyone exchanged glances before nodding in agreement. They trusted Ren's arrangements; whatever he told them to do, they would do.
"We won't even consider the upper floors. For now, we'll spend some time synergizing in the middle floors, and then we'll push deeper into the lower floors. About three days should be enough," Ren outlined his deployment strategy, making the decision after a brief moment of thought.
"Three days? Are we going straight down into the Dungeon and staying there for three days? Or are we doing day trips?" Asuna couldn't help but ask.
If they were doing day trips, the schedule would be far too rushed. After all, traversing the Dungeon required covering a lot of ground. Just descending to the middle floors would likely consume a significant amount of time.
Even with a map, the round trip would eat up so much of the day that they wouldn't have enough time left for actual combat.
"We're not coming back. We'll head straight down and stay for three days. Everyone, pack your luggage, dry rations, and other necessities tomorrow." Ren glanced at her. He naturally understood her concerns; if they were just going back and forth on the same day, they might as well not go at all.
The group nodded, raising no objections. In fact, they were even a little excited. They hadn't gotten their fill of the Dungeon back home; they had only spent a single night there before running back the next day.
Having finalized these plans, Ren turned his attention back to the map and strategy guide. "This guide only maps out the floors down to the 37th Floor. There's nothing beyond that. Therefore, we'll tentatively restrict our battles to Floor 36 and above!"