After a quick regroup, the new team was immediately formed. Led by Gareth and Riveria, they headed toward the safety zone on the 63rd floor.
Floors 60, 61, and 62 were virtually devoid of monsters all the way through.
Of course, this wasn't because of anything special. It was simply because these floors were still in the monster spawning vacuum period.
As adventurers, they understood this principle well, so the entire group quickened their pace.
Traversing three floors was still time-consuming, but with the entry and exit points already clearly marked, the journey was much shorter.
They completed the crossing of three floors in just thirty minutes.
By the time they reached the 63rd floor, the entire Loki Familia expedition had assembled.
All the core members, along with the most promising adventurers at this stage, were participating in this expedition.
This expedition was primarily an exploration of the unknown.
It wasn't about challenging the unknown, but rather expanding its depth. In simple terms, aside from helping the Loki Familia team adapt to the new floor conditions, the expedition's secondary purpose was to fulfill the objectives set by the guild.
As an exploration-type familia, dungeon exploration remained their primary goal.
The pace of exploration didn't need to be fast, and the required depth wasn't especially demanding. However, periodic dungeon exploration remained essential. This was both a task and a requirement for maintaining their exploration-type familia status.
It's important to note that exploration-type familias pay the lowest taxes to the Guild. This is the benefit and privilege granted to exploration-type familias.
However, these benefits come at the cost of exploring the Dungeon.
In short, if you have strength, and your familia has strength, then your entire familia can enjoy the benefits.
And the price your familia pays is the experience and progress gained from exploring the Dungeon.
Taxes within Orario familias are notoriously high.
Especially for production familias—their tax burden is astronomical. That said, production familias truly earn their keep.
Maybe after paying those high taxes, they still can't compare to top-tier exploration familias.
Of course, Loki Familia's expedition this time also had other reasons.
To divert attention.
Bell's activities had been under intense scrutiny for half a year now. If the gods continued focusing on him, it would easily lead to his exposure. Considering this, Loki decided to launch the expedition.
It's worth noting that before the expedition, the entire Orario learned that Ais had secretly advanced to Lv.8.
What did this achieve? It firmly captured the gods' attention.
Few truly understood the full significance. Within Loki Familia, including Loki herself, only five people knew the truth.
Others had their suspicions, but most assumed Loki orchestrated the expedition to shield Ais from the gods' gaze.
That wasn't the case.
After announcing Ais's Lv.8 advancement, the familia immediately declared their expedition plan. This move did more than temporarily remove Ais from the gods' sight—it deliberately shifted their focus onto her, diverting their attention away from Bell.
The 63rd Floor Safety Zone resembled the one on the 50th Floor—surrounded by vegetation, with a far less hostile environment.
For this reason, the core members of Loki Familia had already set up camp here.
"Everyone's here, then."
Finn, seated at one end, gave a slight nod to Gareth and Riveria as they approached from behind.
"Lili, you two come sit down too. Next, Ais will begin explaining the situation on the subsequent floors. You all need to pay close attention."
Panting slightly, Liliruca gave a faint nod, her cheeks flushed.
As a Level 3, Liliruca showed promise in agility and magic, but was still lacking in other areas. For instance, stamina wasn't her strong suit.
Truthfully, the rest of the team faced similar limitations.
Having just endured two arduous journeys, they now needed to sit and rest properly.
There was no need for adjustments now. They could sit and listen to Ais describe the subsequent floors. This would also allow them to mentally prepare, as they would eventually be part of the exploration of those upcoming floors.
Seeing everyone gather in a circle and sit down, Finn nodded slightly and turned his gaze to Ais.
"Ais, you may begin."
"Mhm."
Taking up Finn's cue, Ais stepped into the center of the circle and began her explanation.
"This floor is the 63rd, a Safe Zone Floor. Next comes the 64th—the final floor before significant changes occur."
"The environment on the 64th floor resembles some earlier floors, but the variety of monsters now includes all types encountered before. It also triggers 'Monster Feasts' with alarming frequency. Thus, the 64th floor marks the main level where ordinary familias and Rea-tier familias begin to be formally distinguished."
Gulp~
Everyone seemed to hear the sound of their own swallowing.
This reaction was inevitable. They hadn't known beforehand how significant the 64th floor truly was. Distinguishing between ordinary familias and Rea-tier familias? That was quite a claim.
Yet no one present doubted the truth in Ais's words. Everyone knew she was the only one who had explored the subsequent floors—her statements were practically a certification of their authenticity.
"...Hold on, Ais."
Hearing this, Finn, who had just sat down, couldn't stay seated. He immediately raised his hand from his seat, signaling Ais to pause.
"Why didn't you mention something this crucial about Floor 64 before?"
"???"
Finn's question left Ais utterly baffled. She racked her brain, searching for any memory of this, and finally recalled a conversation she'd had with Finn. But the memory she dug up made her frown.
"Finn, you said earlier that you'd talk about important points to note regarding the subsequent floors."
Finn's eyelid twitched violently. He wondered if his own understanding was flawed.
"So, you don't think that part was important?"
"No. The variety of monsters on the 64th floor isn't the main focus compared to the 'Monster Feast'."
Well, compared to the 'Monster Feast,' the variety of monsters on the 64th floor really wasn't the main point. Finn's eyelid twitched twice, then he realized it wasn't Ais's fault—it was his own question that was flawed.
Come to think of it, there were almost no unimportant areas in the subsequent floors; it was just that different people had different definitions of what constituted "key points."
Finn felt he was beginning to grasp the nature of the subsequent floors.
"Thankfully, the actual campaign hasn't formally begun yet."
Finn exhaled unconsciously. He'd been far too careless this time. Still, it was fortunate this mistake hadn't occurred during the actual campaign.
But precisely because of this slip-up, Finn felt he needed to listen more attentively to Ais's explanation of the subsequent floors.