Ajax’s constant work and experimentation with Alchemy took most of a week before it finally paid off. His obsession with floor bosses led him to mixing all different sorts of plants in absolutely asinine combinations, most leading to nothing more than a horrible tasting sludge. His success came in one of the most unexpected forms however. Since their finances weren’t yet all that solid Ajax was left to experiment with only plain plants, none of them having an ounce of mana.

Ajax’s big discovery came in the way of a poison. Not just any ordinary poison, as his new skill informed Ajax [Alchemist’s Examination] was his second inspection skill, unlike his [Judge Threat] however this one was Rare ranked and highly specialised. The skill worked best with potions, followed closely by alchemical ingredients, anything after that however was pretty much dead in the water, used on monsters or other people Ajax would only get their species.

The poison Ajax had managed to brew had been his first ever Rare alchemical craft, [Minor Pacifist Royal(Rare)] his skill had informed him as he examined the result carefully. Minor was to be expected , it took a master to get anything of a higher grade than that when using mana deficit ingredients.

The Pacifist Royal was a well known poison as one progressed up into higher levels becoming one of the must have potions when delving into the higher floors of the dungeon. Though the name did a poor job of explaining the concoction.

The Pacifist Royal had a clear progression of symptoms when used on anyone of appropriate power for the grade it was made to. It started with headaches, stomachaches, diarrhea, severe shortness of breath and finally death. The symptoms were by no means mild but what was special about the poison was that it progressed through the symptoms only according to the amount of poison ingested.

The poison’s other notable trait was that it disdained any other poison, essentially making the user immune to the same quantity of any other poison of the same grade. The poison’s title came from the fact that it was one of the strongest broad range antidotes for weak to mediocre poisons, requiring an Epic poison to surpass it.

“Well ,that’s something.” Ajax muttered as he grinned at his result.

The recipe for the pacifist Royal was public, at least for the lesser version. The same was true for the non-lesser version. The greater and especially the major recipes however were guarded secrets to the few alchemists who could brew them.

Ajax was sure that he wasn’t the first to discover a way to brew the minor variant of the poison. The reason why this recipe wasn’t being spread was most likely because its targeted range wasn’t all that useful. The minor variant of the poison was only effective up to just before level thirty, this meant it wasn't even useful in what was the first floor for most dungeons.

Theron P.o.V

It was a weight off my shoulders when I heard that already a second delve had been planned, not only that but that it would be one going to the second floor of the dungeon. I had been starting to doubt the decision of joining House Hearthbound after Lord Ajax had retreated into his training and alchemy after only doing a single delve.

It did make sense however if I stayed and thought about it. Lord Ajax was far above my level, even the family pet was above me in strength, though the same could be said about most of the house members. There was no way someone on his level would consistently go with someone on mine.

The team that was joining us for this delve however were a much better match. I wasn’t sure if the Collectors had agreed to formally join House Heathbound but from their interactions with Lord Tom it seemed that they were on good terms with the family.

The Collectors were a very physically focused group, something truly common when it came to commoner formed adventure teams. In fact it was surprising to see that they not only had their own healer but also a mage. From the looks of things however they were very capable people.

Entering the first floor of the dungeon it doesn’t take me long to find a boss level ferret and kill it. The fights had been even harder the last time I was here as back then I didn’t have people stronger than me assuring a one on one fight.

Much more interesting was to see Lord Tom and Fluffy fight their own boss threat. Despite the Systems loosening the rules when it came to contribution Lord Tom couldn’t just rely on Fluffy to take care of the creature, he truly needed to take part in the fight.

Their chosen opponent was a boss version of the snakes that could be found on this floor. Their tactic relied on Fluffy taking up most of the snake's focus while Lord Tom tried to run interference from outside the snake’s reach.

Despite Lord Tom only being a couple of years younger than me the difference in our strength was easy to see. Even with this I could tell that he knew how to take advantage of his bonded companion.

The snake didn’t stand much of a chance. It took Lord Tom three strikes before the snake made the fatal mistake of placing fluffy in its blind spot in order to strike out towards the person that was hammering on its tail with a literal hammer. From there Fluffy delivered the killing blow in moments.

With the first floor of the dungeon out of the way it was finally time for the real reason we all came here. The second floor of the dungeon started all of us in the face as we stood before the archway the snake had guarded.

As I stepped through the arch I could feel the small power boost that came from conquering a new floor. That small +1 to all stats quickly added up and it could end up making the difference between a good fighter and a great one. This was the third time I had felt it, having already cleared the first and second floor of the Goldmine.

The floor that greeted us as we exited the arch wasn’t all that much different from the one we just left. Whereas the previous floor was a massive stretch of open hills with a smattering of trees, the savannah biome we found ourselves in looked very much the same, save for the omnipresent green having turned to yellow and the temperature having risen substantially.

Despite the nine level increase in the monster on this floor it seemed obvious two fights in that this floor didn’t really pose a problem for the Collectors. They had obviously lost any of the carefree attitude they had put on during the first floor but the only one that seemed to be struggling was the young healer of the group.

While the monsters found here ranged from a decent fight to difficult for me to take on, it was clear that Lord Tom had finished what he had set out to do. He had carefully taken his place next to the mage of the group and had taken more of a commander role to the battlefield.

As for it was he was ordering around, that would be the second one of us with a massive change in style. Fluffy had gone from the proud upfront feline that had kept the snake focused on itself while Lord Tom gave it an opening to a black blur of fur, claws and fangs.

I had watched the feline fight multiple times prior to this delve, I had even sparred against it myself a few times and hadn’t found it to be all that impressive for its level. Sure I had lost those battles but I was also behind about eight levels. This was something completely different.

Now that it was no longer forced to act as the frontline or participate in a one on one fight the shadow cat was a true ambush predator. It, no not it, he, Fluffy was quick to move around the battle, jumping from one shadow to another as Tom gave him clear instructions on where and who to maul. Nothing on this floor was equipped to deal with the shadow cat, not only that but the tall dried grass and the setting sun were turning the battlefield into the feline's favor with every passing moment as shadows stretched across the floor.

Not even the elephants we had run into had a thick enough hide to be safe from Fluffy’s claws, though they were the first to survive a bite to the neck. As much as their size and endurance was an advantage they were by far the worst suited to fight Fluffy. The feline was quick to jump up on their unprotected backs and quickly bleed them out from there.

This delve had truly shown me just how much a favorable position in a team can change someone's threat level, not only that but I was truly glad that in the future when Fluffy would be lunging out of the shadows it would be towards my enemies and not me.