“Roki, I want to be honest with you three. You three are not ready to fight monsters beyond the first level of this dungeon. You will need to upgrade your gear and possibly add a couple more to your party. To help you out, I will not be taking my share of the loot,” Anton told the newbie group.

“We can’t let you do that. We’re well aware that we’re not ready to fight fully, that’s why we always retreated after four or five battles, and that’s just on the first floor. We’re actually truly amazed that we’ve managed to defeat a lot of monsters on this floor, but we knew that you killed half of the monsters,” Roki said while Montu and Linda nodded fully agreeing with their leader.

“Not only that, your wand is truly powerful! Just a couple of Ice Bolts, and the monsters are killed! The mana battery item is wonderful. It allowed me to use the wand without being afraid that it would get used up!” Linda exclaimed while hugging the wand.

“Unfortunately, that wand has a low durability. After a few more uses, probably ten to twelve more uses, it will automatically be destroyed,” Anton told the mage.

Anton then told the three that they could revisit the loot partition after they completed the dungeon. After lunch, the four young people moved forward. Since everyone understood their role in the party, Anton became proactive in killing the monsters. Much more so compared to before, but he did leave almost a third of the monsters to Roki, Montu, and Linda. Any more than that, and it was a guarantee that after the battle, there would be a need to heal Montu and even Roki.

Linda was with Anton, so she was always safe, guarded by the Raven summon. Because of the nature of the enemies, Anton didn’t have to use any other spell but Holy Bolt. He remembered that the first time he used it to heal Montu, everyone flinched because he had just used it to kill a skeleton. When he explained that the bolt was a powerful healing spell but deadly to the undead, the three adventurers laughed nervously.

When the four nearly killed all of the undead on the fifth floor of the dungeon of Balathar, the dreaded high-level undead appeared. It was a vampire leading a bunch of ghouls and zombies. When Roki, Montu, and Linda saw the vampire, Anton could see them start trembling in fear.

“A vampire!” Roki shouted.

“We’re dead!” Montu added.

Anton rolled his eyes and told the two to go near him.

“I’ve told you time and time again that no monsters in hear can defeat me. I’m going to activate a spell that will not let any undead near us,” Anton told the three, then activated the Sanctuary Aura.

It had been a rule of Anton to put a single skill point into all of the skills and spells of each of the characters, even the spells that he usually didn’t use. He knew that there would be instances in which he might use them in the real world. Not only that, because of his gears, a single skill point was enough to make the spells and skills powerful, because his gears would add more points to them.

He didn’t even have to bother with the Sanctuary Aura. Any of his Sorcerer spells were enough to kill the vampire, which he considered a low-level undead. Anton told the three not to move and just stay near him. When the ghouls ran towards them, followed by the vampire, the moment the ghouls entered the range of his Sanctuary Aura, the ghouls actually exploded.

The vampire bounced back, but everyone could see that the monster was severely damaged. Anton didn’t want to wait for the ghoul to attack again, so he cast Holy Bolt on it, and after a couple of bolts, the vampire died.

To the astonishment of Roki, Montu, and Linda, the moment the vampire’s corpse disappeared, a medium-level mana stone appeared. The three newbie adventurers reacted as if they had won the lottery.

“Oh my divines! A medium-level mana stone! We’re actually now truly rich!” Montu said exaggeratedly.

“We can upgrade our weapons and armor, and after that, we can probably complete the first level of the dungeon!” Roki said.

“I can buy a much powerful spell!” Linda added.

Anton ignored the three’s celebration and switched his aura to Cleansing to make sure that everyone had full health. Then he switched to the Vigor Aura to restore everyone’s stamina, and finally, he switched it back to Fanaticism.

After that, he urged the three to move forward since Anton wanted the dive to end early. By the time eight in the evening arrived, all of the monsters were dead. Before they left the dungeon, they took note of the loot. The group managed to gather one medium-level mana stone, thirteen low-level mana stones, and a bunch of body parts from the undead that the three assured him were valuable.

“Now, regarding the loot, just give a couple of low-level mana stones and I’m good to go,” Anton told the three.

“No! That’s not fair. You practically conquered this floor alone,” Riko protested. Montu and Linda both agreed with their leader.

“I will not be joining your party ever again. That means that this is the only time you will experience this huge fortune. I will be doing the same thing in every beginner group that I’ll encounter, probably once a month, so just do what I say,” Anton told the three sternly.

After a few more minutes of persuading the three newbie adventurers to the point that Anton started threatening them, the three finally accepted, but they did hug him fiercely and thanked him for allowing their party to have a foothold in the Beginner Dungeon. The four cleaned themselves using Anton’s cleaning spell, then exited the dungeon using the portal key.

As customary for adventurers, they headed directly to the tavern to start celebrating the successful completion of their dive. In the tavern, Riko and Montu boasted to everyone about what happened on the fifth floor of the dungeon, and when they boasted about the medium-level mana stones they received, even showing the stone to everyone, a lot of the adventurers looked at them in envy.

Everyone gasped when Riko told them that a vampire appeared and that “Andrew” killed the monsters using his healing spells effortlessly. He told everyone loudly that the medium-level mana stone came from the vampire.

Anton could see that the eyes of the adventurers looking at him started to get hot. He knew that as a powerful healer who could kill a vampire, he was a hot commodity. Flint told him that more than likely, even the most powerful gold-level adventurers and above would welcome him in their midst.

When Flint loudly said his opinion to everyone about “Andrew”, Riko disagreed just as loudly. He told everyone drunkenly that “Andrew” would only be joining new adventurers, and it was only going to be once a month.

Anton’s reputation was climbing nonstop, so without anyone noticing, he left the tavern and decided to go home. When he entered the gates, he flagged a carriage and paid to get home. When he arrived there, he was welcomed by Torban, accompanied by a human warrior he didn’t recognize.

Torban introduced the new man and told them they had hired a couple more warriors to guard the house. The new guards were both humans, but the second one was a female. The female looked like an Amazon from the world of Diablo.

After the new guards were introduced to him, Anton asked Ronia if they needed more funds, and the maid said that they had enough for a couple of months. Anton nodded and went to his room to rest.