Chapter 274

Dungeon Second Floor: Exploration of the Grassland Level Begins
Descending the staircase from the first floor, we were suddenly greeted by a dazzlingly bright exit.
Cautiously moving toward it, I found myself stepping into a vast plain.
Grass and trees formed walls around the area, suggesting there were boundaries, but they were beyond sight.
Dungeons truly are incredible places.

“Lily, this is where the real dungeon begins—the Grassland Floor.”

“Grassland Floor? What kind of place is it?”

“Let’s move away from the stairs first. We don’t want to block the way for others.”

Good point.
We moved a bit further from the staircase to listen to Melanie’s explanation.
She looked quite pleased as she began speaking.

“This dungeon consists of five floors. The first floor, the Cave Floor, is essentially a warm-up. The dungeon starts functioning as a true challenge from this Grassland Floor onward.”

“Interesting. Does this floor have traps?”

“No, there are no reports of traps on this floor. You’ll start encountering those on the deeper floors.”

So we don’t need to worry about traps just yet—though staying cautious is always a good idea.

“More importantly, there have been reports of monsters on this floor dropping loot of not just magic stones but also Skill Crystals, albeit at an extremely low rate. If we’re lucky, we might complete our goal here.”

“Loot?”

A term I hadn’t heard before.
It’s common in games, but since arriving in this world, I’d never come across it.
What could it mean here?

“Loot are items you obtain by defeating monsters.”

“Well, I figured as much. But wouldn’t the monster leave behind a corpse?”

“In dungeons, when a monster is defeated, its body disappears, leaving behind only loot. This means the materials are of high quality, but the quantity is small...”

Melanie’s expression grew melancholic.
In any case, monsters can drop Skill Crystals when defeated.
That’s a goal worth striving for!

With newfound motivation, we began hunting monsters, but encounters were scarce.
It seemed this floor, though expansive, was still crowded with adventurers.
On the other hand, treasure chests were reportedly left largely untouched.
Since it’s widely believed that the shallow Grassland Floor only contains cheap treasures, most adventurers ignore them.
Perhaps targeting these could work to our advantage.

Treasure chests on this floor are often found in hollow tree trunks or mounds of dirt, so we diligently searched suspicious spots.
By evening, we had found only four chests—not exactly efficient.
They were all small, wooden chests about the size of jewelry boxes.
Still, I decided to open them and see what we’d found.

As I placed my hand on the first chest and began to lift the lid, a glow burst forth from within.
I didn’t fully understand what was happening, but Melanie was visibly excited.

“Incredible! A rare one on the very first chest!”

Wait, treasure chests work like that?
Inside was a single card.
It depicted a fierce-looking monster and had symbols indicating the meaning of "summon."
Does this mean I could summon and command this monster?
If so, it could be a great addition to our strength.

“Oh no, you can only summon the monster for about an hour. You can’t keep it permanently.”

So it’s only temporary.
Still, it could serve as a defensive tool, so I decided to give it to Amira.
The other chests didn’t produce any special reactions, and their contents were mundane—things like daggers and potions.
In other words, duds.

I need to think about whether we should continue exploring the Grassland Floor tomorrow or move on to the next level.

What do you think about this chapter?