Morning, the daily routine of Nihonium.
　When I entered the basement floor, I found Princess Margaret and her friends.

　The leader of the group, the man who was leading the group, the four men who were grinding, and Princess Margaret herself.
　I encountered the usual group of six people.

'Yo Satou, there it is again.
'Hey. Looks like you're giving off a lot of air today.

　Pandora boxes are stacked in a pile next to the leader.
　All of them are air boxes with Princess Margaret's picture on them.

''Yeah, we can still sell this guy, too. We'll hunt it today as long as the princess has the strength to do so.''
I haven't seen you around lately, what's going on?
I was just trying to see if I could do the business you've been teaching me.
Me?　...... Oh, you're talking about the ring.

　I remember the last time we met.
　He was wondering if there was anything else we could do for him besides the airbox, and I said, "What about the ring that Princess Margaret is going to give you?

"So, what happened to the ring?
''That's why ...... the ring-dropping dungeons, the majority of them are held back by big families.
To the family?

　I remember the rice.
　Even in Cyclo, a gang called Adalbard had a monopoly on the sixth floor of the silicon basement, the only one that dropped rice.

　That kind of thing is everywhere, isn't it?

'They say it's quantity and quality control of shipments. I tried to hit a lot of places, but there's one place where there's a hierarchy that those guys can't manage: .......
"But?
And there's a dragon there, and he's not very strong enough to do anything about it, so he gave up.

　The man shrugged, palm up.
　I saw the battle. As usual, the four men weakened him and Princess Margaret stabbed him in the back.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make the most of it.

　No, it's frail and dainty, so it's a perfect score for a princess.

It's certainly not possible to be a dragon with that one.
'Right?　The princesses are high level too, though.
Is that so?

　When I asked him back, the man threw out his chest and said as if he was proud.

'Listen and be amazed, the highest level of a princess is 99 and the current level is a whopping 94.
What?
''And his ability is an amazing all-F, and he hasn't improved a single thing since he was at level one.
'How is that possible?'
'In fact, the princesses are like that, they're not strong because they're at a higher level.

　That's true.
　Strength is not about level, it's about status.
　I didn't level up at level 1 either, but I got stronger in my own way by raising my status with seeds.

　But I'm not sure if there are people whose abilities don't improve even if their level goes up like that.
　All F at level 94, I'd like to see a bit of the actual status screen.

'I suppose it's about time to go up to 95, but well, I guess nothing will happen.

　While they were doing that, the skeleton was defeated.
　One of the men who was following came back at a small run with a Pandora box full of air, while the other three escorted the princess back slowly.

　Ga.

''--''

　The moment she saw me, the princess turned bright red and ran away.
　The three men guarding her scurried to chase after her.

What's going on?
...... Speaking of which.

　Their leader stares at me.

"Sato, you saved the princess when we met last time, didn't you?
'What?　Yeah, that happened.
...... is like that.
'What?　What do you mean?
Haha. ......

　The leader let out a deep sigh and I felt like I was being pinched by a fox.

　　　　　☆

　Nifornium, the second floor.
　It seems that Princess Margaret can't move properly when I'm around, so I went downstairs.

　I made sure my pouch is empty and that I have the ring on my thumb.
　I loaded up my regular ammo and started walking through the dungeon.

　I blinked away the zombie's appearance and the seed goes into the pouch.
　I went around the basement second floor in efficiency mode, blink at the head of the encounter anyway, and even if I was taken by surprise, I handled it with minimal movement and blinked it away.

　After killing ten zombies, a crystal was created.
　Due to the effect of the ring, the overflowing experience after leveling out is turned into crystals like this, which can be passed on to others.
　When I defeated ten zombies, a crystal was born.

　I put it away carefully and look for more zombies.
　There were no adventurers at all in Nifonium after the second basement level, so I was able to encounter and defeat them smoothly.

　After another ten zombies were killed, a second crystal was born.
　This was much more confirmed, but I hunted even more just in case.

　The third crystal appeared after the 30th one was defeated.
　I'm sure this is it.

"One crystal for every ten zombies.

　I also took out the two crystals I had taken earlier and placed them in my hand.
　Three crystals of exactly the same size, reflecting the faint light of the dungeon, shining beautifully.

　It was a different feeling of accomplishment than I had ever felt before.
　When I came to this world, the highest level is 1, so I didn't have anything to do with experience, but having the experience in the palm of my hand as an item was a different feeling of accomplishment from killing monsters and having them drop items.

　　　　　☆

　When there were five crystals, I left the dungeon.
　Princess Margaret and her friends are no longer on the basement floor, they must have pulled up.

　I go outside the dungeon and drop the seeds from the porch onto the ground.
　Then I move away and wait for Hagremono to hatch into it, I think.

　Once you kill the hagremonos and replenish the flaming bullets, you're pretty much done for the morning, not that there's any more work to do, so the pace of your routine hasn't changed.

　That means I can produce 5 experience crystals in the morning if I do it at a normal pace.
　I wanted to quantify that for now.
　I made roughly 40,000 per round trip with the magic cart, and about 200,000 per day with a normal drop.
　Just like that, my goal for today was to quantify how much experience crystals earned.

　I'm relieved that I've successfully achieved that.

　As I did so, a zombie haggler hatched from the seed.
　Fifty zombies appeared on the scene at once.

　I've got my regular bullets ready, let's just kill them all and get back to the dungeon for the afternoon.

"Yikes!

　I heard a woman scream from beyond the zombies.
　Not good!　Someone was passing by.
　And this scream, it's the scream of an ordinary girl, not an adventurer.

　I stopped using normal bullets and reloaded the restraining rounds and fired continuously.
　The zombies are restrained by the rope of light.
　Rush into a crowd of zombies, kill them with your bare hands, break through the crowd and head in a straight line in the direction of the scream.
　There's a girl on her buttocks at the end of the rush.

''Princess!''

　It was Margaret who was there.
　She was dressed exactly the same as she was when we met, only she was not carrying a weapon.
　A zombie leaked from its restraints, scaring her, and she couldn't even dodge it, looking frightened.

"Get away!

　Kicking the ground, she lunges furiously, grabbing the side of the zombie's head as it groans and tries to bite her, grabbing it and squeezing it in place.

'Are you okay!'
"--!

　She didn't answer, instead she hugged me.
　No, she clung to me.
　Her little body was trembling and she buried her face in me.

'Don't worry, it's going to be okay now.'

　I escape by flying backwards with my hands around Margaret's waist and holding the gun in one hand.
　I'll get her out of there and we'll be good to go.

　I reload with one hand and keep firing, taking out the zombies.
　I'm holding one of the girls, so it's a little different than usual, but the zombies are easy to take out.

　But because it's different, I didn't realize that Margaret was shaking and looking up at me from close range.

　　　　　☆

You okay?

　I asked Margaret, who was still in my arms after making sure I had killed all 50 zombies.
　She doesn't answer me for some reason, but just stares blankly at me.

"Did you hurt yourself?
......
"Margaret?

　He didn't answer, so I reached out my hand to try to slap him in the face.

'Kyah.'

　As my hand came closer, Margaret turned to me with a huff and pushed me away.
　I was caught off guard, and she slipped out of my grasp, causing me to lose my balance.
　The five crystals I had stored away fell to the ground.
　Before I could pick them up, I looked at Margaret.

　Her face was red, and she flinched and glanced at me.

What's wrong, what's going on?
"Nah, whatever. ......
Hmm?　You didn't get hurt or anything.

　Kokoro, Margaret nods with a blush on her face.
　It's bothering me that she's acting weird - but if you think about it, she's much weirder today.
　More importantly, she doesn't seem to be injured, so I decided to let it go.

　It's not safe for her to be here, so I'll take her back to town.
　With that in mind, I went to pick up the crystals I'd dropped.

Oh, here we go.
Oh, wait a minute.

　Before she could stop herself, Margaret picked up the crystal as if to take it away.
　--In a moment, the crystal disappeared in her hands.

'Huh?'

　Amazing, Margaret.
　I've learned one more thing about the crystal.
　Apparently they disappear as soon as anyone other than me has them, just like they did with Emily, so maybe that's her experience.
　So what about Alice?　I wondered what would happen if she had a girlfriend who was also a level expert.
　I'll check it out when we meet up with her, I thought.

Oh, ...... I'm up to level.
Are you sure?　Come to think of it, that guy said he was going to be 95 soon.

　You went up for the current amount of crystals.

Congratulations anyway.
Thank you.
What happened to your powers?

　She remembered what the leader man had told her, and her interest was revived at the same time.
　Margaret started to scurry around.

'Isn't there somewhere on the Now Board?
The entrance to Nifongnium is the furthest thing from here.

　Margaret nodded.
　We walked out together and headed for Nifongnium, and as soon as we arrived, Margaret took control of the Nowboard and gave us a status.

---1/2---
Level: 95/99
HP F
MP F
Power F
Strength F
Intelligence F
Spirit F
Speed F
Dexterous F
Luck F
--------- ...

Ooh, .......

　I couldn't help but squeal, the highest ceiling and highest level I've ever seen.
　And yet, the ability is a stunning all-F.

　I'm even impressed when I get to this point.

I knew it: "I knew it: ......
Yeah?
No, it's nothing.

　For a moment, Princess Margaret looked forlorn.
　It wasn't her imagination, that's for sure.

　No matter what she did, she wasn't being rewarded for it, and the despair she felt when she felt it.
　She must have felt this every time she leveled up.

　I want to do something about it.

　With a forlorn expression on her face, Margaret operated the Nowboard and went to the next page.

''Huh?''
What's wrong with ......?

---2/2---
Plants E
Animals E
Minerals E
Magic E
Characteristic E
--------- ...

　It wasn't all F's there, it was all E's, all one level up.

'It's going up, it's going up!

　Delighted and flabbergasted Margaret.
　At level 95, her status has finally risen, and even if it was an E, she would be excited about it.

　But I'm not.
　I'm not so much excited about it as I am about the possibility of it, and that's why I decided to go for it.

"E, D, C, B, A...... 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9......

　I broke the fingers of both hands and counted them, and I was aware of a possibility.