A few days had passed since Draco had begun pting pns for his level up.

  Within that period, Draco had made up his mind and decided to wait until Denatus was already ongoing before attempting to level up.

  Acc to Bahamut, the Denatus gathering o be held within the week, so some special preparations o be made.

  Drao ehe middle floors of the dungeon alone in search of an oppo strong enough to produce the high-quality Excelia that he o level up.

  This couldn't be helped, as Draco was simply growing far faster thaher members of the familia, so they couldn’t apany him this time.

  High-quality Excelia was a term used to describe the Excelia gained from perf an almost impossible or incredible feat, usually entailing the defeat of an oppohat would be normally impossible for the current level.

  With that in mind, the past days had bee grinding his stats to the absolute limit, which sadly meant pushing the other familia members at his own patil the desired result were achieved.

  Draco was well aware that this approach might have put some strain on his Familia members, but he felt it was a necessary sacrifice for his own growth and the betterment of the group as a whole.

  Grinding wasn’t the only thing Draco did within the past few days, he had also made a ission to a Hephaestus familia bcksmith for a spiked club on.

  Wielding this on was only a means to expand his melee bat options, not a rept for his much more reliable cws.

  ………………………………………………………….

  Within the week, an iing piece of news began cirg around the city.

  Word had been spreading about the exploits of a child from the Loki familia, named Ai Wallenstein.

  She was an 8-year-old girl who had defeated a bck wyvern, a mohe guild estimated to be between levels 2 and 3 while she was a level 1.

  "Do you think it's true, Draii?" Dimitra asked as they were seated on the floor.

  The Bahamut familia was currently having a short break oh floor after annihiting the surrounding monsters.

  This suddeion made the other familia members perk up their ears, eager to hear Draco's response.

  "Well, I think it's very possible," Draco replied rally.

  "I mean, Falna isn't really affected by age. You all are proof of that." he added.

  He was very much aware of Ai's story and abilities, so he had to be careful with his w, ensuring that nothing incriminating actally slipped out of his lips.

  "Woah, an 8-year-old already fighting mohat strong. Makes me wonder what we're all doing," Michalis muttered out loud, sparking something within the rest of the group.

  Draco could see the ge in their eyes, and he khat he had to say something quickly to prevent any form of self-doubt from creeping in.

  "You all should rex and take it easy. There's o rush. The person you're all paring yourselves to has been an adventurer for almost aire year, whereas we've only been adventurers for a little over a month," Draco expined, his tone calming and rational.

  It wasn't hard for everyoo grasp what he meant, and their expressions became a lot more rexed.

  "That's true. What were we all worried about? We catch up to her by w harder and spending some extra time in the dungeon," Vasileios attempted to motivate the group, and his efforts were met with positive expressions.

  "True. I say we bme Michalis fing down the mood," Vasiliki interjected, a pyful edge to her voice.

  "What do you mean by that? Dimitra was the one who started everything," Michalis tered, his brow furrowed.

  "Hey, keep my of your mouth," Dimitra threatened, her eyes narrowed.

  'Looks like they're back to normal,' Draco thought, a faint smile tugging at the ers of his lips.

  Draco then cpped his hands, drawing everyone's attention ba.

  "Alright, that's enough. Break time is over. We will now be heading to the 10th floor," he announced, his voice taking on a more authoritative tone.

  Spurred by the fident tohe Familia members quickly gathered their equipment and prepared to tiheir dest into the dungeon.

  ……………………………………………………………

  Due to the signifit volume of magic stohe Bahamut familia brought in daily, Rose had been forced to relutly aowledge their exceptional abilities.

  As a result, she had grahem permission to desd all the way down to the tenth floor of the dungeon.

  The Bahamut familia respected the opinions and guidance provided by their guild advisor, Rose.

  They carefully implemehe strategies and insights she shared, finding them quite useful in their expeditions.

  The fact that the group returned safely and unharmed every day, in turn, bolstered Rose's fiden her own advisory role and, to some extent, in herself.

  Gradually, she began to open up a little more to the members of the Bahamut familia, though she still maintained a degree of distance.

  Rose didn't want her expectations to tinue rising, as she rehensive about the potential sequences should the group one day fail to return from the dungeon.

  Upon desding to the 10th floor, the Bahamut familia members were immediately on edge, as they noticed signifit ges from the 8th and 9th floors.

  The structures and yout were quite simir, but the presence of a mist-like substan the air gave the entire floor an eerie, uling atmosphere.

  "Are you sure that no war shadows spawn here?" Eleni asked, her eyes darting around warily.

  "None spawn on this floor, but I have to admit that they would be a real scary threat ih to 12th floors if they did," Draco replied, his brow furrowed with in ption.

  "That's a relief, I hate those things," Eleni muttered, lightly rubbing her nebsp;

  She had a near-death experieh a war shadow just st week oh floor, only surviving thanks to Vasileios' timely intervention.

  Sensing the group's heighteension, Draco decided to shift the focus to a more structive exercise.

  "There may be no war shadows, but there are quite a few strong monsters on this floor," Draco tinued.

  "Here's a quiz: What monster oh floor uses sound waves to disrupt the tration of mages?" he began.

  Rose had provided the Bahamut familia with detailed information about the threats they might enter, and they had also doheir own additional researbsp;

  Draco was now testing their knowledge.

  "Oh, I know this o's a Bad Bat, right?" Vasiliki replied fidently. As a mage, she had made sure to study the various moypes and their abilities ih.

  "That is correct, 2 points for Vasiliki," Dranounced.

  "Wait, are we being graded? Is there some sort of reward for participating?" Nikoos asked, suddenly more ied in the quiz.

  "Yes, ara 2,000 Valis in pocket money for the winner," Draco replied, which quickly piqued the i of the entire group.

  "Hurry, the question!" Michalis urged, eager to earn the reward for himself.

  "Hang on," Nikoos interrupted, "what are the rules first?" he asked.

  Draco pondered for a moment before responding.

  "Hmm, let's go in order from Cir down. If she gets the answer wrong, we'll move down the lio Michalis, Eleni, Nikoos, Dimitra, Vasileios, and then Vasiliki until the right answer is provided." he replied.

  Vasiliki frowned, "Hey, that doesn't seem very fair. What if no questions even reach me?" she protested.

  "Don't worry, I'll ask each person a question, and we'll go around the circle until someos it right," Draco assured her.

  "Alright, here's the one," he tinued.

  "What is small, demon-like, and uses clever group tactics to attack?" he asked.

  Cir furrowed her brow, "Uh, a goblin right?" she replied.

  "Wrong," Draco replied.

  “Pfff, a goblin seriously” Vasiliki muttered, while tying to stop herself from ughing out-loud.

  She wasn’t the only one feeling the same way about Cir’s answer.

  Cir was a bit upset that she got it wrong, but still remained optimistic about winning.

  “Michalis your answer” Draco asked.

  "An imp," Michalis fidently replied.

  "That's correct, Michalis. Two points for you," Dranounced.

  Suddenly, Draco's senses detected a disturban the mist, his attention quickly drawn to it.

  He could sense 4 humanoid creatures approag in their general dire.

  ‘Hmm, are those orcs’ he porying to get a clearer picture of the threat.

  He quickly cut the quiz short, alerting the party to the ining threat.

  "We're going to have to cut the quiz short, folks. We've got some oring our way." he said, after identifying the monsters.

  Without hesitation, the Bahamut Familia sprung into a, everyone immediately went into their battle positions awaiting instrus from Dra how they would ehe approag orcs.