Coming into the Dungeon, Ryu quickly passes by the 1st and 2nd floor and immediately proceeds toward the 3rd floor. Entering the 3rd floor, he's greeted by not two, or three, but five ladybugs that's waiting for him.

"The fuck!? Are you kidding me?"

"Five ladybugs at the same time!?"

"Can I hunts them?"

"... Maybe somehow I will manage it."

Ryu's unconsciously gulping his saliva down. His heart starts to beats fastly. The difference between 2 ladybugs and 5 ladybugs is exceptionally high.

"Luckily, this creature is not that aggressive, I can still take the first hit!"

"Its all or nothing!"

Unlike the previous one, this time, Ryu uses a different tactic to land the first hit on the ladybug. He kicks hard one of the unprepared ladybugs making its body knocked up into the air. And, followed immediately by a Quick Slash to the currently airborne creature, causing it to scream and die in an instant.

Noticing the ambush, the rest of the ladybugs instantly goes to a formation to guard themself against the predators.

"It's not that different from before, huh."

The ladybugs began to fly on top of each other, it's the same tactics as the previous floor, what makes a difference is that this one comes in two pairs. Seeing this, Ryu prepares his dagger for the second time.

"Surprisingly, maybe I can pull this one easily."

Both Ryu and the creatures were charging at each other directly. Meeting in the midpoints, Ryu slips through the gap of one of the pair. He proceeds to kick down the one who's under him and uses a Quick Slash aimed for the above one.

The other pairs take this chance to attack Ryu from the sides.

"Hmph, you think I'm gonna get tricked twice?"

Because Ryu uses a Quick Slash, he still has a leeway to dodge those pair attacks. He even managed to counters one of them using another Quick Slash.

"Well, I don't think it's going this well."

Looking at the remaining enemies, Ryu can't help but put a smirk on his face.

"So, there are only two survivors left."

Flinched by the sudden wipe-out, the bug tries to run away.

"Hmm, so I triggered their survival instinct."

"...But, I'm not that soft to let you go like that!"

Ryu's swiftly moving forward, blocking the bugs who tried to escape. Not even giving a pause, he continued to lunge forward at them. He sents both of the ladybug to the air and cuts them with Quick Slash.

"Huft, although it's easy, it still drains my stamina quite a lot."

"I guess it can't be helped, I did use the Quick Slash five times consecutively after all," said Ryu while wiping off his sweat.

"Thanks to the storage ring that I bought before, now I have the room to dismantle these annoying bugs."

Bringing the corpse into one place, Ryu began to uses his dagger elegantly to separate the valuable materials. After perfectly dismantling the groups, Ryu decided to take a little rest and took a drink. Before long, he resumes his exploration.

"The majority of the monster are the green Worms."

Ryu can't help to get pissed a little when he noticed this.

"Praise my luck to be greeted by the ladybug's group before..."

"Hmm, speak of the devil."

At quite a faraway distance, Ryu can already see those annoying bug groups again.

"Well, it's a good way to train my stamina, though."

Stamina is one of the stats that can't be gained through the Class system. So he must trains his body routinely to improve its endurance, thus enabling him to last longer in the battle.

Ryu's still can wipe off the bugs quite easily. Although, this time, He can be seen sweating to some extent.

"At this rate, I can only hunt those guys 2 times more before my stamina fully depleted."

Resting the back of his hand to his chin, Ryu can only sigh.

"I guess it's better than nothing."

Sure enough, after encountering two more of those ladybug's group, his stamina is fully depleted. Because of that, he decided to look for a save zone to take a rest in there. When he meets the ladybug's group, he's forced to take a retreat and sneak his way to pass them. Luckily, he still can take down the green Worm effortlessly.

Continuously doing this procedure for some time, he finally found the savepoint, together with a new type of monster that he didn't encounter yet. It's a living tree, the size is about 6-feet in comparison with 2-feet wide. It's guarding the save zone means that it's the most bothersome type of monster on the floor.

"Hmm, it's a Treant!"

"Damn, with my current level and condition, I'm doomed for sure if I try to fight that thing fairly."

Ryu suddenly strokes his hair roughly. At first, he guessed that it will be guarded by a group of ladybugs, never did he thought that the 3rd floor spawns a new kind of monster.

"Wait, I bought that guy with me!"

Taking something out from his hip pouches, Ryu grins broadly.

"Hehe, it's your time to shine, Fire Scroll."

"If I use this thing, this guy will be ended instantly!"

When a spell scroll is crumpled, they will release the runic inscription stored inside it, in this case, it's a fireball. It's a perfect spell for a wood type monster, but because it will be burned until it becomes ash, there will be nothing left to dismantle.

"Well, there's nothing else I can do in this situation after all."

"I've planned to use this thing to cooks my food, but I don't have money to buys firewoods even if I want to."

Being consent to have another raw meat after this, Ryu brings his foot a step forward at the Treant direction before crumpling the scroll he held in his hand. When the scroll is squeezed by his hand, it suddenly dissipates in the air, and a palm-sized fire is formed in Ryu's right hand.

"Turn into cinders, Fireball!"

Like obeying its caster will, the fire flew out towards the Treant with considerable speed. After a few seconds, it's arrived at the target.

Being hit by spells, the unprepared Treant body slowly beings incinerated as it begins to wriggling around to left and right before its body fully turned into ashes. Looking into this spectate, Ryu gives a breath of relief.

"Finally, I can take a rest..."

Inside the save zone, Ryu brings his bottom into the ground while drinking up the water in his bottle.

"As the current me, I can't still take down that Treant no matter how hard I tried to."

"So, the only option is to use the fire scroll, and now I have none of it."

"Well, there's no helping it. I should make my inventory full and go back to the association first."

With that in mind, Ryu finally took a rest after eating the usual raw meat. When he wakes up, he starts the day with re-sharpening his dagger with a nearby stone so it won't go dull. He then proceeded to prepare the remaining necessity before going out.

"For now, my priority is to get my storage full first. The total limit of things that I can store with storage magic and rings is 115. Currently, I got 35 horns and 20 pairs of wings."

"So, there's still 60 free space left."

"Thanks to before, my stamina was improved considerably. There's a big chance that I can last until the fifth ladybug groups."

"Well, maybe I really can fill the free slot within one day."

Without further ado, Ryu's immediately moved towards the save zone exit. Proceeding with his plan, Ryu swiftly slew down every green Worm he had encountered. For the ladybug's group, he decided to confront it later for the finale. Sometimes, he met with the Treant, thus forcing him to take another path to avoids it.

Around the dusk, he finally left with 25 free storage space.

"Now, it's time to exterminate the bugs."

Trying to find his target, Ryu resumes to wanders around the floor. When he finds them, he quickly takes them down using precise movements. This process lasted for quite a long time. After a while, a loud shriek can be heard inside the Dungeon.

"Huft, that make it the last one."

"What left is to leave this place."

Cleaning the dagger from the monster's blood, Ryu starts to stand up from his dismantling position.

"Fuck! I'm so hungry and tired at the same time."

Being in the Dungeon, Ryu can only eat once a day in the save zone. He mainly fills his stomach with water when hunting in the Dungeon. So when the night hits, he's usually got so hungry. Thus, making the raw meat, he usually eats tastes slightly better.

Now that his purpose has been achieved. He proceeds to the lower floor and quickly makes an exit out of the Dungeon. If he got a chance to eat a proper meal, why not take it? With that as a motivation, Ryu's pace of going back becomes faster.

***

Safely going back to the hunter association, Ryu strides his way toward the receptionist.

"At this rate, I'm not even surprised why you are always here."

Hearing this, Mia simply laughs with her hands covering its mouth.

"Fufufu, of course, I'm the receptionist, after all."

"That's not the point. Anyway, I want to trade."

"Hmm, that was quick. Isn't it only been two days? Just the other day, you stay for a week in that creepy place."

"I'm forced to do so. After this, I'm planning to spend the last 3 weeks in there, though."

"I see, but you sure hunt so fast, huh. It's hard to believe you did it solo. It's at level 7 too, wait, you didn't level up again, right?"

Preparing herself to be shocked again, Mia gives a stare at him.

"Of course I'm still level 7, for now. But you sure are attentive, did you treat all of the hunters like this?"

While breathing a sigh of relief, Mia suddenly gets a mischievous idea in the response of Ryu's sudden question.

"Of course not, it's the special treatment for you from this big sister."

Seeing those things again, Ryu just shrugging it off with his hand.

"Again, with that big sister thing, so how much did I get?"

"Will you give me a bigger reaction? Aren't I attractive, or maybe because you're still a kid, you can't see it. Well, you get 1360 Disks and 195 Points from 45 pairs of ladybug wings and 50 green Worm horns."

"Take the 30 Disks out, I want to have a GOOD set of meal."

"If you add 970 Disks more, you can even eat this big sister, you know?"

Still not getting the reaction she wants from Ryu. Mia teases him again using a bolder method. In response to this, Ryu instantly let out a dry cough.

"Seriously, what's wrong with you, and, isn't that too cheap?"

"Fufufu, it's a special price."

"Sadly, I still must pass on that offer."

"I see, such a shame. For your information..."

Giving a pause, Mia suddenly brings her head against Ryu's ear and completing her sentence with a seductive whisper.

"It's still fresh."

When he heard this, Ryu's face instantly turned into a beet red color, and the smoke can seems to be rising from his head.

"Well, now I will make your order."

Seemingly satisfied that her teasing finally scores a hit, Mia swiftly moves toward the kitchen room, retreating from the boy.

After waiting for around 10 minutes, finally, his dish has been served. It's a high-quality medium-rare steak. Its surface is covered with a special sauce. Just by the smell of it can make anyone drolls and gulps. There's also a salad and a set of fruits accompanying the steak. Lastly, he also gets a kind of milkshake for the drink.

"Just by the look of it, I can see it's a dish with 30 Disks worthy."

"Let's taste it!"

Took the knife and fork with him, Ryu began to slice the tender meat and bring it to his mouth. Because the steak is being cooked medium-rare, the beef is so soft but still juicy at the same time. The sauce also compliments the meat, making its taste to rise on another level. Finally, combined with his hunger, Ryu feels like a door of heaven is opened up before him.

"... Shit! I'm so speechless with the taste."

"Unexpectedly, maybe I'm a foodie."

"After eating this, I can't imagine going back to eat that slice of raw meat again!"

Ryu continues to munches the meat like a squirrel while mumbling to himself nonstop. Licking the plate clean with his tongue, he then resumed his way with the salad and fruits. Unbeknownst to Ryu, people around him looked at his way with a hint of perplexed and pity looks.

"Maybe it's his first time to eat in here."

"Yeah, he's still young but already faces the hard way of life like that."

"Let's not disturb his heaven."

"You're right."

Nodding their heads off, they left the boy in his own world.

***

After finishing his meal, Ryu makes a stop at the magic shop to buy another 2 of storage rings and other things like firewoods and fire scroll.

"Now, I can store up to 155 things."

Looking at the remaining Disks he can have with him, Ryu can't help but scratch his head.

"Maybe I should prioritize making money too..."

"I still have 20 days left before going back to school."

Ryu starts to think about an appropriate plan that can maximize his training while also enabling him to gets a lot of Disks.

"Maybe I can go back every four days, I can eat those heavenly meals too when I go back after all."

"Yeah, that sounds good! Let's do that!"

Changing his intention from staying inside the Dungeon for 3 weeks long, Ryu makes his way to the Dungeon focused. Inside the Dungeon, his routine is repeated with hunting the green worm. Defeating the ladybug's group until he's exhausted. Escape away if he meets with a Treant, and burn the Treant who's guarding the save zone.

Once every four days, he goes back to the town, exchanging his loot to buy a meal and other things. On the 2nd fourth day, Ryu decided to check by the armor shop to purchase a leather armor with better quality than the currently worn school battles outfit. Finally, on the 3rd fourth day, Ryu level is now should be able to barely take down the Treant on his own. He decided to stop by the hunter association again before going back to do the 4th Dungeon exploration.

Inside the building, he makes his way toward the blonde receptionist. Seeing this, Mia tilted her head.

"Oh, do you have something you forgot, Ryu?

"Yeah, I want to ask, do you know any tips regarding the Treant?"

"Hmm, It's not a monster that can be faced by Novice in the first place, you should just use the fire scroll."

Ryu shakes his head, rejecting the advice.

"Using that method, I can't obtain the loot."

"Well, maybe with your combat expertise, when you hit level 9, you can take it down."

"I just leveled up to that level!"

"Eeeehh!?"

Hearing this, Mia can't help but feel perplexed. Shaking her head, she then sighs quite loudly.

"In the future, maybe I won't be so surprised again with your growth rate."

"You will get used to it, so is there a good way?"

Concluding that Ryu can kill the creature, Mia decided to make an explanation about how to take down the Treant in the most secure way.

"You should cut their leg first. Once the leg has been cut, the Treant is basically a Worm who can only wriggle left and right."

"But it will not be that easy. Just to cut its leg is needed quite a considerable strength, its durability is high because it's a wood type creature."

"Its strength is also can't be taken lightly, with your current level, getting hit by its punch can cost you ribs."

"But its movement is slow, so use that as your advantage."

"Well, take it in another way, it's actually a battle of endurance between you and the Treant. If you can wearying them out first, you win."

Hearing Mia's advice with his full attention, Ryu, at last, got a gist of how to take down the Treant in the surest way.

"I see, thanks for the advice, Mia."

"No problem, good luck with your hunts, don't die on me, alright?"

"Of course, you can trust me on that."

After that, Ryu paves his way towards the 4th-floor Dungeon. For now, he wants to fight the Treant first, so he avoids the ladybug groups and the green worm. He wants to know how well can he fare against the Treant in his best condition.

"Found you!"

Finally, founding his target, Ryu draws his weapon from its sheath.

"Now, it's your time to be hunted, bitch!"

Ryu has developed a new technique. By focusing his mana to the tip of his dagger, allowing it to be several times sharper than average. He then charges toward his enemies with his full speed and draws a beautiful arc with his enchanted dagger aimed at the target. It's a perfect technique to initiate a fight.

"Take this, Violet Crash!"

The hit was successfully landed on its target, making the Treant go down on one knee because its other leg had been slashed.

"It's not completely cut off yet, what a tough guy."

"I should take a distance and use Violet Crash again for its other legs."

After taking about 50-feet off, Ryu swiftly executes another Violet Crash to the Treant, making it down for a while.

"Now, I can break its leg completely first before killing it."

Following that, Ryu keeps using a vital strike aimed at the Treant legs. But, the Treant doesn't have any intention to let its enemies cut off its legs comfortably like that. It starts to wave its long arm to disturb Ryu, who's busy brandishing his knife at its legs.

Quick with his feet, Ryu able to sense the attack and dodge the attack by a hairbreadth.

"That was close, I can be sent flying when it landed a hit on me."

"I should really be careful with its arm."

Noting that to himself, Ryu proceeds to slash the Treant legs hoping it to break off from its body while dodging the upcoming attack of the Treant. After a while, the legs are finally coming apart from its body. Seeing this, Ryu's overjoyed and instantly change his target toward the chest area to take out its core.

It should've ended smoothly, but reality ain't that soft. The Treant instead keeps its arm close to its chest, securing its chest from getting stabbed.

"What the fuck!?"

"Is this what Mia means? Sure, it's rendered useless now, but isn't this doubling the work?"

"I should've aimed at its core from the beginning when it's standing on one knee!"

"Well, I can't blame Mia for this, She should've thought the best method for my current levels."

"If you think positively, this is the best method to relieve my stress. But, because I'm not in that state, this makes me stressed instead!"

The hunt becomes a battle of endurance instead. Ryu keeps using the Vital Strike consecutively, hoping the Treant arm to get severed quickly. Soon, every time he uses the technique, it's also accompanied by cussing words.

"I don't care if the material is destroyed, I just want to destroy this annoying creature!!!"

Finally, feeling something different from the sensations of stabbing a wood. Ryu's frustrated face suddenly brightens up.

"At last, I can destroy its core!"

"Die, you fucker!"

A sound of shattered glass can be heard echoing from inside of the Treant. After its core getting damaged, its body rapidly becomes rotten before it went black completely.

"I'll never repeat this method again, NEVER!"

"It's so fucking exhausting..."

Wiping off his drenched sweat, Ryu resumes wandering around the 3rd-floor. His efficiency in hunting the Treant also increased. This time he can precisely aim at the core of the Treant using his Violet Crash. It's totally different compared to when the first time he hunts them.

Ryu continues to spend his last eight days training on the Dungeon. Before long, it's D-1 before the school opens again.

"I should go back and prepare for tomorrow!"

Placing his dagger back to its stash, Ryu grips his hands firmly.

"Prepare to be surprised, my fellow classmates."