--------
--------
"Hmm? What's this…"
After taking down another ten Gnomes deeper in the dungeon, Dan spotted something sticking out of the ash-covered remains that should've turned to dust.
He crouched down and picked up a few sharp-looking spikes buried in the gray mess, curiosity in his eyes.
Maryuu leaned in to explain, her eyes lighting up, but before she could speak, Ryuu jumped in with a big leap, landing beside Dan and shooting Maryuu a sharp glare — like saying "I'm his teacher, not you."
Maryuu just covered her mouth and chuckled, giving Dan a helpless shrug.
Facing Dan' confused look, Ryuu gave a small cough, put on a serious expression, and began explaining in her usual strict tone.
"When a monster's magic stone is removed, sometimes it leaves behind parts of its body, like this. These are parts that were especially strong or developed. We call them drop items — they're extra loot aside from the magic stone."
"What you're holding are Gnome Claws. They're not super valuable, but they're definitely worth more than regular magic stone shards."
Suzuka, silent in appearance but loud in Dan' head, was practically screaming in excitement.
"This is that legendary monster loot drop thing, right?! This is just like playing a video game!"
Dan also found it kinda cool. He played with the claw a bit, then casually tossed it into his backpack.
Ryuu frowned slightly and gave him a serious reminder.
"Don't get too obsessed with drops. The drop rate is extremely low. Unless you really need them for something, it's way more efficient to just go deeper and aim for bigger magic stones."
Dan nodded in agreement.
"Makes sense. Ryuu-sensei really knows her stuff."
"S-Sensei?! You don't need to call me that! Just Ryuu is fine!"
Ryuu bit her lip under her mask, having a strange gut feeling that this boy was teasing her on purpose. But when she saw how serious he looked, she couldn't find any flaws in his expression. Still, she swore to herself: If I catch him messing around, I'm gonna beat the crap out of him.
"Ahem… Don't waste time. Let's keep going! Or else today's run might not give us much. And you better not slow us down!"
However…
Twenty minutes later…
They were still stuck on the first floor of the dungeon.
The girls looked totally shocked, like their whole worldview just got flipped.
Ryuu stood frozen like a defeated elf, staring blankly at the mountain of items piling up behind Dan.
"H-How is this happening…"
Lyra stared in disbelief at the literal mini mountain of monster drops behind Dan — claws, goblin teeth, and all kinds of stuff — and screamed internally:
"HE'S DEFINITELY HACKING! WHERE'S THE ADMIN?!!!"
Even elf mage Celty was stunned, stealing glances at Dan like he was some kind of monster.
"In all my years as an adventurer, I've never seen this many low-tier drops."
Neze swallowed hard, her eyes shining with excitement as she stared at Dan, like she was seconds away from grabbing him and giving him a good squeeze.
"And the craziest part is… the drop rate is seriously high!"
Actually, calling it "high" would be an understatement — it was downright unnatural.
By this point, almost every monster he killed dropped something, which ended up slowing down the team way more than expected.
"…We're way off the original plan," someone muttered. "But honestly, with this much loot, we're probably bringing home way more money than expected too."
Asta, for the fifth time, flared her aura to chase off nosy adventurers who had gathered nearby to watch the chaos. She frowned.
"There are too many adventurers in the upper layers. The way we look right now might attract the wrong kind of attention. Should we head back early?"
Lyra looked around at the party's condition. Everyone was still in good shape, but when she calculated the weight of all that loot…
She sighed.
"Like Dan said earlier — dungeon crawling comes down to three steps: search, fight, and withdraw. But the most important part… is the withdrawal."
"We're calling it here. Let's split the loot and head back."
Dan, holding a giant bird egg in his arms, suddenly spoke up.
"If you're worried about hauling all this back… I actually have a way."
Lyra turned around, surprised, and gently tried to talk him down.
"Dan, I know you want to help, but there's no need to push yourself."
"Even pro supporters can't carry this much on their own, and it'd totally affect your movement too."
Dan just smiled and shook his head. He didn't explain, but turned to the pile of drop items with a calm look.
"Kamui — Mangekyō Sharingan!"
"....."