An Extra’s POV

"Huu…"

Once Rey was done collecting all the Monster Cores, he heaved a heavy sigh.

As misty breaths escaped his lips and nostrils, he could clearly see the gateway to the next Floor.

The doorway existed at the furthest end of the ring—almost as if it was being guarded by the Boss Rey had just defeated.

That was his next destination.

"I Leveled Up three times just now…" Rey mumbled, realizing just how much EXP he must have received from the Boss and his minions.

With every Level Up, it got increasingly difficult to do so again.

Considering the fact that Rey had Leveled Up a total of five times before reaching the Boss Room by killing hundreds upon hundreds of BigFoot Monsters, it was surprising that he was able to Level Up three times just from a hundred others and a Boss.

'The BigFoot Monsters here were holding weapons, so they're probably stronger than the ones I faced outside…' Was Rey's line of reasoning.

The Boss had to also be quite strong.

With those thoughts in mind, Rey was happy he didn't dawdle at all.

'I still have about two hours left. I can still challenge the next Floor, right?'

Rey knew he was pushing it, but he liked his current streak.

He didn't want to ruin the momentum.

'If I can reach Level 30—no, Level 35—today… I'll be satisfied!'

He stared at the black gate that led to the next Floor. It wasn't covered in frost or anything, which surprised Rey.

That had to mean that the gate had special properties, or… the Floor that it led to was extremely hot.

Rey braced himself more for the second possibility.

"I'll have to speedrun this one…" He whispered, more white clouds of cold air escaping his lungs.

Time wasn't on his side.

*******

Alicia silently read her book in the library, flipping through the pages with a small smile on her face.

She wasn't smiling due to what she was reading, but because of something else.

… Someone else.

'In a few more hours, Rey will come here.' She didn't want to explicitly admit to herself why she was happy about this prospect.

But she was.

the current book in her hands—a literature text regarding the common practices of

that was

had happened since then, and so she wanted to revisit the literature and see if she could have

far, she had encountered a bunch of mundane things—like the outlawing of eating certain foods out

to ensure proper sanitation of the streets

to high-brow areas like the Capital. Places such as the Adventurer

financial limitations and transactional oversights were also mentioned

have been too complicated for Alicia to grasp in the

way, she found this whole thing

learning so much about a

a novel about all of this…' As she chuckled, a dark thought suddenly appeared

to

enough to cause her

much, though, she quickly brought her attention back

there were a lot of mundane, inconsequential regulations recently placed on previously accepted practices, there were still a few that were big

of them

hard to believe that the Kingdoms used to

the Humans and other

rise of the

the Human Kingdoms began

the

still some who engaged in the slave trade—both buying and

were considered among the highest kinds of

usually operated in secret—deep in the

just awful… selling humans

the world, the

it wasn't

this place.' As Alicia had these thoughts, she noticed

presence she could spot from a mile away, and seeing him made her smile return almost

'R-Rey?!'

of for so long now entered the Library and instantly spotted

doing

the night. She still didn't know what he did in his spare time, and while she had been meaning to ask him

said with a smile

'Hmm. Strange…'

Rey got close to her, she usually had one single

'He smells nice!'

time

like he smelled or anything—at least, Alicia didn't want to think he did—but he just didn't have the same

with a

thinking

her brow in

often very interested in reading as much as he could, and he even sought her consultation on some books to

introducing him to the current