"Oh?" I asked. "What makes you say that? Maybe I'm simply level six instead of five, or Tristan's guesses are a little off. Or I just naturally have lots of stamina, even without the extra boost provided by Stats."

  "Because..." said John, thinking carefully. "The way you acted in the cart. You waited for a bit before tacking the 'per level' to the end of your explanation. You were trying to see the minimum you could get away with before those adventurers accepted your explanation. And it would explain why that inspector was so interested and how you managed to reach level five, if you're even really that high level in the first place."

  "If I did lie, would you blame me? I was in a cart surrounded by people I didn't know, not to mention you. If. I still don't see why you're jumping to that explanation instead of one of the others."

  "Oh, knock it off. Not only weren't you surprised at all about my accusation, but neither was Tristan. He already knew. Stop pretending. What does it really do?"

  "Well, it seems you have your breath back. Shall we get going?"

  "Yes, let's," agreed Tristan, snapping his book closed.

  "What? You too?" asked John, glaring at him. "Don't you want to know?"

  "Yes, he does," I answered in his place. "But even if I came out and said it, how do you prove I'm not lying for a second time?"

  He didn't respond, which more or less confirmed his purpose here was to spy on me, rather than just supervising us slaying monsters.

  We set off at a more sedate pace, John glaring daggers at me as we moved, but not doing anything that prevented us making it to the dungeon in reasonable time. We headed straight in, ignoring the many people who gave our group curious glances, and hurried down the stairs.

  The entrance was deserted, presumably because it wasn't a busy time for entry or exit, with anyone hunting in the dungeon already spread out inside, and it wasn't long until we came across our first horned rabbit.

  "I wish Tristan could just bring the monsters to us," moaned John as we watched it.

  "Hah," snorted Tristan. "That would be a terrible idea. Fight properly."

  "Then I suggest we use the same strategy as I used with Simon," I said to John, wondering what would be so terrible about having monsters brought to us. The time efficiency would be horrible, with only Tristan to hunt the monsters, but as John's progress attested, the strategy certainly worked. "I'll attract its attention while you stand behind me. It'll leap at me, I sidestep, you stab it as it lands, then I turn around and finish it."

  "Fine by me," he said, smirking again, for reasons I couldn't guess. As annoyed at me as he was, it wasn't as if he'd stab me from behind? He was a pain in the bum, but not murderous. Besides, I was the reason he was out here again earning experience in the first place, and even if he forgot that fact, Tristan would surely stop him.

  I clapped loudly, and the rabbit looked up from where it was grazing. Red eyes locked on, identifying me as human. Monstrous instincts kicked in, any drive for survival wiped away under the requirement to attack me right now.

  The rabbit leapt. I dodged. John stabbed. I spun around and ran my pitchfork through the back of the monster's neck.

  "Smoothly done," said Tristan, while John frowned at the corpse, his smirk nowhere to be seen.

  He'd also aimed his spear at the neck, but it hadn't quite been on target. That explained the smirk, then. My dodging wouldn't count as an 'attack', thus if he killed the rabbit in a single blow, it would be counted as a solo kill and he'd be able to claim all the experience himself. Alas for him, he had no experience whatsoever of hitting a moving target. I didn't need to worry about him stealing my experience just yet.

  And if he ever did... well... I didn't have to dodge.

  To give credit where credit was due, he got the hang of the manoeuvre instantly, and even if he wasn't managing one-hit kills, he was able to pin the monsters down easily. The horned rabbits continued to fall one by one until we hit our first chest. John rushed to it before it had even finished forming, throwing it open and grabbing the crystal inside.

  "Bah. Just farming," he complained, then threw it at me. Not to me, but straight at my head. I caught it anyway and dropped it in my sack. Five coppers was five coppers.

  The next rabbit, he actually managed to kill in a single hit, driving his spear straight through vertebra. When I stabbed, there was no notification.

  John's smirk made a reappearance. "Something wrong?" he asked smugly.

  "Not at all. You're actually quite good at this. Why'd you bother with the adventurers? You should have just fought like this from the beginning. It would have been more efficient, not to mention cheaper."

  "More efficient? Hardly."

  "Really? You could kill things at a faster rate like that? Even though the adventurers had to stop to tie up monsters?"

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  "About the same, but you've been sapping half my experience. Until now."

  "We'll see," I muttered, while Tristan remained silent.

  The next horned rabbit, I didn't dodge. I simply raised my pitchfork, braced myself, and let the leaping monster impale itself.

  "What the heck?!" exclaimed John.

  "You're misunderstanding something," I said, and if there was a little smugness in my voice this time, who could blame me? "I don't need your help, and I'd be faster on my own. I'm being nice by letting you sponge experience off me, so say thank you and be happy with half."

  Tristan remained silent while John grumbled, once again staring daggers at me. Despite the grumbling, he stabbed the next monster in the rump, letting me claim my half of the experience.

  Monsters continued to fall under our weapons for hour after hour, the frequent treasure chests mostly dropping farming skill crystals. Oddly, John didn't try to take any of them, even the ones that weren't farming. I picked up [Cooking] and [Blacksmithing] crystals, but nothing combat related or magical. Nevertheless, I carefully stowed them at the bottom of my sack; I'd probably want to use them later.

  I'd definitely learn [Cooking], and probably boost it to its maximum stage, too. I might even evolve it.

  "Okay, that's enough," declared Tristan, once we'd finished off fifty of the things.

  John immediately collapsed to his knees. "Oh, thank goodness," he muttered. "My arms feel like they're going to drop off."

  "Huh?" I asked, surprised. Simon hadn't had a problem after a couple of hours of monster slaying. Then again, we'd killed far more of the monsters this time, and we'd probably been here for double the time or more. I'd earned a week and a half of experience in one go. If only John hadn't been here, I'd have had double the experience per kill and more kills. Simon had invested at least some points into Stamina, too, so may well have had more than John.

  Okay, maybe his exhaustion was excusable.

  "And again, Robin hasn't even broken a sweat," pointed out Tristan. "An impressive display."

  "Thanks," I said, while John's eyes narrowed. "I'm sure you could do better, though."

  "Obviously," snorted Tristan in amusement. "You're still just a kid. A most interesting kid, but a kid nonetheless."

  He somehow seemed to know exactly where we were, and led us straight back to the entrance without difficulty. John stared at the staircase in horror, as if he'd forgotten its existence.

  "Can we rest down here?" he begged.

  Tristan shrugged. "I don't see why not. You're carrying food and supplies with you, so you don't need to buy anything from the base camp, and it's sheltered and safe. I, however, have business outside. I'll be back by the morning, for tomorrow's first session."

  "First session?!" exclaimed John, shuddering slightly.

  "As soon as you level up, I'd suggest putting the free stat points into Stamina and Constitution," said Tristan. "I'll see you pair tomorrow."

  And, with that, he shot off, racing up the stairs far faster than our first jog. Off to report to someone, presumably; there was still light pouring in from the top of the misty hole, so at that speed, he could easily get to the town and back by the morning. I hadn't been holding back at all in the dungeon, so that report would likely conclude that my Stats were way higher than they should be, given the claimed effects of my Mark and my level.

  Tomorrow, everything would change. For better or for worse, I couldn't guess.

  "Hey," said John, from where he'd collapsed on the ground without even getting a mat out of his backpack.

  "Hey?"

  "That stunt you did where the horned rabbit pounced you and you just... stood there. It looked pretty effortless. You could have done that all day, couldn't you?"

  "I don't know about all day. Maybe? Why?"

  "It's just that I still haven't found that skill I want. You're supposedly super-eager to level, and you were whining about me taking half of your experience. Why not nip back in for a while longer?"

  "For a start, because my pitchfork already has a few hairline fractures on its prongs," I answered. I'd put on a new head before leaving, and I'd been doing my best to avoid catching it on bone, but it was still taking damage. It was only scrap iron. No way was it going to last for even half of this three-day trip, and I was looking forward to what Tristan would do when it shattered.

  "I'll lend you my spear, then. In return, I want to look at the skill crystals you find."

  "Wow. You must really want that skill. What are you even looking for?"

  "..." he 'answered', his mouth moving but no comprehensible words coming out. Why? Was he embarrassed?

  "I'd find out what it is if I find a skill crystal for it, anyway."

  John opened his mouth, but again didn't quite manage to speak.

  "And if I find one, I can come back immediately instead of continuing to search," I added, for extra encouragement.

  The mouth shut again. Then he blinked and smiled slightly, as if an amusing thought had just occurred to him. "Never mind," he said. "Just take the spear, and I'll look through the crystals when you get back."

  How weird. What the heck sort of skill did he want?

  Also, I wasn't too sure about the spear. Technically, I wasn't allowed to use it, although I doubted anyone would actually complain. More seriously, the head was a single point, lacking the base of my pitchfork—a blunt bar, linking the prongs. When I caught a horned rabbit mid-leap, it slid up the prongs and stopped on the base. If I tried the same thing on a spear, there was a real chance the head would pierce straight through the monster, and it would simply slide up the entire shaft, stabbing me in revenge even after its death.

  The spearhead was fairly wide at its base, and while the rabbits leapt with considerable force, that was by the standards of an E-rank monster. I'd hope a professionally made weapon could withstand it.

  Besides, if the worst happened and I found a horn flying at me point first, I'd bet that my Processing and Dexterity were sufficient for me to release the spear and jump out of the way.

  "Fine. I'll give it a go," I said, dropping my pitchfork and picking up John's spear instead. "And thank you."

  Perhaps going back in alone wasn't the best idea in the world, but Tristan hadn't needed to step in once for our previous fifty kills, and John was nothing more than a leach, rather than a helpful part of proceedings. Any extra levels I could get would be useful for when the other shoe dropped, which would be any day now. I'd be fine, as long as the horned rabbits were the only thing I ran into, and the dungeon didn't produce any other monsters.

  ... Wait. Actually, there was one. And I'd had the suspicion that the method of summoning him was to kill a predetermined number of mobs.

  "How many monsters do you need to kill to summon the boss?" I asked.

  "Uh... Uh..." stuttered John, suddenly floundering. "Uh... A... Two hundred and fifty."

  "You're sure? Because you didn't sound sure."

  John nodded mutely.

  I looked up at the sky again. From our vantage point at the bottom of a deep hole, with a thick layer of mist above us that blocked the view even if it let some light percolate through, I couldn't get an accurate read of the time, but given that we'd set out at midday it couldn't be later than early evening. Unless I planned on skipping sleep, it was enough time to kill another fifty, but not a full one hundred, never mind two. The boss was nothing I needed to worry about.