The next morning, we returned to level fifteen and then continued to the sixteenth floor. We never did run into the floors miniboss. I had thought about remaining on the floor and spending some time leveling on golems and waiting for the boss, but perhaps that was one more temptation that this dungeon used to ensnare you.
I decided I didn’t want to wait and see what sort of tricks level 15 had in store, so we went on to level 16. Sixteen was the first level that did not have a detailed map or descriptions. Raissa ended up not guiding us in the end, but all of the explanations she left for us were now obsolete. The true part of the dungeon diving had finally begun. Not only did the creatures become more difficult, but there was no guidance. We didn’t even know which monsters we’d face, as anyone who had made it this far chose not to sell the information.
I thought that this was weird, but Raissa described it as a trade secret. If you thought about it, most dungeon divers who made their careers out of making it down into the dungeons are reaping rewards no one else could obtain. While the more common places were mapped out, to dungeon divers, it probably felt like a magician revealing how his tricks were done. It undermined their whole business. I vaguely recalled a comment that Raissa and her kind weren’t liked by the hardcore dungeon divers.
They had to risk their lives to make it as far as they did, while Raissa and other Dungeon Guides make a mockery of that sacrifice by allowing even the stuffiest of nobles to make it farther than they had any right to be. Of course, many believed that it was normal for people to work hard and dive into the unknown so that those in the future can have it much easier, but not everyone sees it that way. I had avoided most of this drama so far by sticking to relatively abandoned or new dungeons, but once I started tackling the popular ones, I’d inevitably run into people .
Either way, for the first fifteen levels, we had benefited from the success of people like Raissa. Now, we were basically on our own. That wasn’t completely true. The map skill was extremely useful. Anywhere I walked could be mapped out. I could also combine it with various other skills, gaining access to more information than I had any right to possess. I suspected that Lydia’s Scout job would one day give her the map skill too.
The sixteenth level monsters were definitely difficult. This was another water-based level. This dungeon seemed to focus on water, earth, and nature as the primary elements. Everything here seemed to be either rock golems, sunken treasures, or water-like creatures. We actually didn’t run into any monsters, which left me somewhat surprised, but that was when we reached the end of the path. There had been no branching points, and my expression instantly began to fall.
Right before us was a pool of water. There was a stairway leading down into the water, and it seemed to keep going down. There was absolutely nowhere else to go but down into the depths.
“Master, I had heard from Raissa that the 16th floor was rumored to be underwater. I just remembered that now.” Lydia responded sheepishly.
We had no choice. If we wanted to continue on, we had to go underwater.