DMS Chapter 155

Olivia’s three shop girls were comforted by the fact that the owners of the towers, who were all extremely powerful men, were easygoing and approachable. The girls noticed that they lacked the arrogance that was almost always associated with powerful individuals. In fact, the men treated them as equals, which was unfathomable to most people in Ilioven.

Some of the men flirted with them, but it was all done in good fun, without any hint of malice. Olivia’s employees enjoyed themselves immensely that night and would have preferred their short vacation to be extended. They told Olivia as much, but she could not accommodate unplanned vacation days. Instead, she promised them another vacation at the end of the month, which immediately cheered them up.

As Flinx watched some of his fellow Earthlings flirt with Olivia’s girls, he reflected on how comfortable they seemed around the opposite sex. He saw none of the awkwardness that plagued him. He was perfectly fine interacting with others under normal circumstances, but he knew he would immediately fold if someone ever expressed romantic or sexual interest in him.

Flinx guessed that people were simply different. The others did not seem to be as damaged as he was, even though he had spent one of the shortest periods of time as a dungeon miner slave. His thoughts then drifted to James. He wished his first friend in that dark world were still alive. More than likely, if James had known there was a chance they would someday be free, he would have fought to survive. That was why Flinx believed that the loss of hope was the most dangerous thing in the world.

At around ten in the evening, Olivia finally put her foot down and sternly told David, Arcios, Keero, and Violet to go to sleep. Unfortunately for the children, Flinx sided with the "gorilla woman," the nickname they had given Olivia. When she heard it, her face turned red with anger. For a moment, Flinx thought she might actually transform into some sort of beast.

Everyone burst into laughter when they heard what the children had called her. They then struggled to hide their expressions whenever Olivia looked their way. She eventually chased the children back to their rooms in Flinx’s tower so they could shower and get some sleep. Throughout the ordeal, she repeatedly told them that children who stayed up late would suffer from stunted growth. The four children finally believed her when Flinx and the others confirmed that it was true. For a brief moment, they became terrified that they would turn into halflings if they continued sleeping late, making the entire situation even more amusing.

The party lasted until midnight. Olivia’s employees still wanted to continue celebrating even after all the men had returned to their towers to rest, but Olivia reminded them that they still needed to open the shop early the following morning.

During the next three weeks, Flinx delved into the dungeon four times a day, six days a week, with one of his fellow Earthlings accompanying him each time.

Finally, the end of the month arrived. The shop’s earnings remained unchanged at 26,000 gold coins. Flinx kept sixty percent of the profits and gave Olivia the remaining forty percent. All expenses related to the towers, including rent, food, and employee wages for the shop’s salesgirls, the tower’s four cooks, and their four assistants, came out of Olivia’s share.

Olivia admitted that even after covering all expenses, she had still managed to save a tremendous amount of gold. Flinx simply told her to keep the money so she would have the necessary funds if she ever decided to expand into other businesses. However, he reiterated that once she did so, he would not help her manage them. Any success she achieved would be entirely her own.

She admitted that, with her current responsibilities, she did not have the time to expand into other ventures and was simply storing her savings in the Merchant Guild’s bank. Olivia also pointed out that the primary reason the shop generated such enormous profits was that its inventory was essentially free, as it all came from Flinx.

Flinx had already purchased the shop’s entire inventory for the following month and stored it on the second floor of the shop. He did not want to worry about it later, so he handled everything immediately.

Olivia asked him why his countrymen did not start businesses of their own. Flinx explained that everyone was busy delving into dungeons. Another reason was that each of them had sold a vehicle to some of the wealthiest people in Ilioven for enormous amounts of gold or mana stones. Their earnings also continued because they regularly sold fuel to the owners of those vehicles.

During those three weeks, Flinx earned a total of 864 low-level mana stones, 576 medium-level mana stones, and 288 high-level mana stones after taxes. He repeatedly offered to share part of the loot with those who accompanied him, but they always declined. Since they were already benefiting from the experience points they gained by accompanying him, they felt it would be inappropriate to accept additional rewards.

Flinx had also obtained a total of thirteen items. He handed all of them over to Mark while they were still unidentified, so they could be distributed among anyone who wanted them. Those who received the items would still need to pay the appropriate taxes to the Adventurer Guild themselves.

According to Mark, only about half of the items were actually useful within dungeon floors. The rest were essentially novelty magical items. Nevertheless, they kept them because they were entertaining enough. In truth, Samuel still occasionally blamed Flinx for selling off some of the dungeon items they had previously acquired.

Mark also informed Flinx that they had obtained a few items on their own, but all of them were considered trash compared to the ones Flinx received. That was understandable. Flinx was delving into the final floor of the Dungeon of Mara and was effectively killing the strongest monster in the dungeon four times a day, every day.

As for experience gains, Flinx’s Wizard class had reached Level 11 with 41 percent progress toward the next level, while his Cleric class had reached Level 4 with 70 percent progress. He did not reveal his exact experience gains to the others because he did not want to discourage them. Compared to his own progress, their experience gains were truly pitiful.

Flinx also consulted the number crunchers among the Earthlings regarding whether he should continue farming the Dungeon of Mara or seek out a more advanced dungeon. They advised him to remain in Mara because the experience gain rate was still exceptionally high.

After those three weeks, the Earthlings held a meeting during one of their rest days. Flinx was mildly annoyed when everyone decided to slow down while still expecting him to continue his relentless dungeon delving so he could reach a total of twenty levels as quickly as possible. The reason was simple: he possessed a massive experience gain bonus from the blessing he had received when he escaped through the stone gate operated by the Torbal slaver wizard.

They argued that, since none of them could realistically reach Level 20 anytime soon, it would be better for everyone else to begin the process of recovering from the mental trauma of slavery. In Flinx’s eyes, that simply meant they would spend their time doing whatever they wanted while he continued to work himself to exhaustion inside the dungeon. They would even stop accompanying him to benefit from the experience points he generated.

Mark and Paul assured him that they would continue delving into dungeons, but not at the frantic pace they had maintained over the previous weeks. They argued that such a lifestyle was unhealthy for everyone. Unfortunately, they also admitted that they could not afford to let Flinx slow down in the same way.

Thankfully, Flinx genuinely enjoyed delving into dungeons, even if it meant spending eleven to twelve hours a day doing so. He enjoyed the feeling of becoming stronger. The enormous number of mana stones he earned was also a powerful source of motivation. Most importantly, once he reached Level 20 and helped everyone who wished to return to Earth, he would finally be free.