Because they were exploring the Dungeon, Lynn set the meeting point at The Babel.
When he arrived at the agreed location, the four members of the Loki Familia had already taken their positions.
"You're too slow!"
Tiona complained:
"You're the one who initiated the action, so why are you arriving so late?"
"I stopped by to pick up some training equipment."
"Training equipment?"
Tiona looked behind Lynn: "You're not referring to that iron pot you're carrying, are you?"
"No, this pot is for cooking. I plan to research some new dishes along the way."
Lynn held up the bag in his hand: "The training equipment is in here."
"Let me see."
Tiona curiously leaned closer.
When Lynn opened the bag, a pair of special shoes appeared in sight.
The main structure consisted of a pair of footplates with fixing devices, and beneath the footplates were two rods of equal length.
"What strange shoes."
Tione pondered:
"Are these used to train balance?"
"Yes, these shoes are called stilts. You need sufficient balance to master them."
Lynn handed the pair of stilt shoes to Aiz: "You will fight wearing these shoes from now on, and maintain a steady breathing frequency during combat; don't let it falter."
"Eh? That seems a bit too difficult!"
Lefiya, standing nearby, let out a gasp.
Setting aside the stilt shoes, even walking normally in them was somewhat difficult.
Fighting in the Dungeon while wearing such shoes, and still having to maintain a fixed breathing frequency.
The difficulty alone made Lefiya feel a headache just thinking about it, let alone actually doing it.
"Lynn, did you also train your Breathing Technique wearing these shoes before?"
"Yes, I wore them when I first started training."
Lynn recalled his training experience:
"Once you adapt to the stilt shoes, you can proceed to advanced training."
"Running ten to thirty kilometers while holding a cup, then climbing a cliff, and during this process, you cannot let the water in the cup spill out."
Lefiya's eyes widened: "That's amazing! You passed even that kind of training?!"
"I passed, but that process took me many years."
Lynn looked at Aiz: "Your initial conditions are better, so you won't need to go through so much trouble."
"If everything goes smoothly, you should be able to graduate after this trip to the Dungeon."
"I understand."
Aiz nodded.
After hearing Lynn's experience, she no longer hesitated about fighting while wearing the stilt shoes.
She took off her blue knee-high boots, exposing a pair of slender, shapely legs to the air, her fair, delicate feet slightly curled.
"Aiz, let me help you put them on."
Tiona moved up to the girl, took the stilt shoes from her hand, and fastened them onto her feet.
Watching this scene, Lefiya, who was originally preparing to help, paused, feeling a bit disappointed.
"Don't be sad, you'll have another chance."
Lynn's voice came from the side.
"I... I'm not sad at all!"
Lefiya instinctively replied, then her gaze involuntarily drifted to the side.
"Lynn, what chance did you mean?"
"The chance to help Aiz change her shoes."
Lynn tossed the bag he was holding over.
The Dungeon environment was complex and intricate; it was inevitable that the stilt shoes would suffer damage during the training process.
Just in case, he had prepared many pairs of stilt shoes in the bag to serve as spares.
"Put Aiz's old shoes in there too. I'm leaving the support role to you."
"Please, Lefiya."
Aiz's voice also sounded.
As an LV5 adventurer, Aiz had extremely high control over her body.
It only took her half a minute to adapt to moving while wearing the stilt shoes.
She handed the discarded blue knee-high boots to Lefiya, and Aiz looked towards Lynn.
"I'm ready."
"Then let's set off."
Lynn took the lead and walked towards The Babel Tower.
"Lynn, which floor are we going to this time?"
Tiona immediately followed, hopping and skipping alongside Lynn.
Lynn took out a list from his embrace: "We're going to the Eighteenth Floor first. I need to collect some things."
"What, what? Let me see."
Tiona's gaze fell upon the list.
[Tan Mushroom, Red Umbrella Mushroom, Golden Apple Mushroom, White Tree Leaves, Jewel Tree Fruit...]
"Huh?" After reading the contents of the list, Tiona's head slowly showed a question mark: "Lynn, what are you collecting these for?"
Lynn tapped the pot on his back: "To research a new cuisine. Didn't I just say that?"
"Researching with poisonous mushrooms?"
Tiona pointed to the beginning of the list.
Because it was a safe floor, Tiona often lingered on the Eighteenth Floor.
Having spent a lot of time there, she had some knowledge of the food on the Eighteenth Floor.
"If I remember correctly, the Tan Mushroom is a type of poisonous mushroom that has hallucinogenic effects."
"It is indeed a poisonous mushroom,"
Tione's voice came from behind:
"Last time, someone ate a Tan Mushroom, got poisoned, and started hugging passing adventurers and calling them 'Mom.'"
"Ehh? That serious?!"
Lefiya, hearing this for the first time, was surprised and quickly looked towards Lynn.
"Since the Tan Mushroom is poisonous, let's switch ingredients for the research. It would be troublesome if someone got poisoned."
"Don't worry, nothing will go wrong."
Lynn pointed to the White Tree Leaves:
"I have materials prepared to neutralize the poison to counteract the toxicity."
"What if the neutralization fails?"
Lefiya asked with some worry.
White Tree Leaves indeed possessed detoxification effects.
But before being processed into an antidote potion, their detoxification effect was very weak and could not guarantee success.
Lynn took out a vial of potion from his embrace: "If the detoxification fails, use this. It's an antidote potion produced by the Dian Cecht Familia—it cures any ailment."
Lefiya: "..."
So, he was determined to cook with Tan Mushrooms today, right?
...
In the Dungeon, on the Eighteenth Floor.
Looking at Ottar holding a pile of mushrooms in front of him, Hedin showed a rare expression of helplessness.
"So, after searching for over an hour, you only found these things?"
"These mushrooms taste very good."
Ottar replied with a calm expression.
Looking at his demeanor, Hedin vaguely felt his blood pressure rising.
This pig-head had run down to the Eighteenth-Floor last night without bringing anything.
Thanks to him, the food he had originally prepared was completely wiped out in just one night.
"Why don't you just go back? You staying here is purely causing me trouble."
"No, if I go back now, people from the Guild will come looking for me."
Ottar grabbed a handful of mushrooms and threw them into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed them directly.
"If you don't want to eat these, you can wait until I recover my stamina before going to search for more."
"No need, this will do."
Hedin picked up a mushroom from the ground.
Since things had come to this, recovering his stamina to continue searching for the Remnants of the Evilus was more important.
As for his image...
Anyway, only he and Ottar were here.
From what he knew of Ottar, the man wasn't one for idle chatter.
As long as he didn't speak of it, no one would know he was eating poisonous mushrooms raw on the Eighteenth Floor...
"Lynn, did you get the direction wrong? There isn't a single mushroom in this area."
"Maybe someone picked them. I think I just saw signs of gathering in this area."
Two voices communicating, accompanied by several sets of footsteps, suddenly rang out.
Hedin, who was gnawing on a mushroom, froze, turning his head to look at Ottar simultaneously.
The next second, several figures emerged from the bushes and came face-to-face with the two men.
"See? I told you they were picked."
Looking at the pile of poisonous mushrooms in front of Ottar, Lynn took down the iron pot strapped to his back.
"Gentlemen, would you like to eat together?"
...