"To think we were forced to go all the way to South Gate City for a chance to get back up to the first floor again…"

"Indeed, we just came to the second floor the check out how much different it was from the first floor. Only to end up stuck with the spiral staircase suddenly descending and disappearing below ground."

"Yeah, we just peeked our head out close to the top of the spiral staircase and the damnable staircase just started sinking into the ground. If not for those seniors being around to help us get to South Gate City, we might have ended up stuck on the second floor for who knows how many weeks trying to find a way back to the first floor again."

"Haha, true, though now that we reached South Gate City where a passage to the first floor still exists, we shouldn't have to spend any more time on the second floor. In any case, it is far too expensive to hunt monsters on this floor. Not only do you need to buy a special powder for seeing when diving in the sea of sand, but you also need to rent a sand boat."

At the same time Scaly shifted her direction and began flying towards South Gate City where the passage mentioned by Verdell was located, a group of younger adventurers who had found themselves trapped on the second floor by accident because the spiral staircase they had been standing on to observe the second floor of the dungeon from above without actually entering the second floor for real, something many younger adventurers did, found themselves standing in front of a large open gate chatting with each other.

The gate in question being the main entry point into South Gate City, a city known to be located far south of the center of second floor where the edge of the dungeon floor could be seen. At this far off, there was no normal way to descend to the third floor of the dungeon and the only way to get up to the first floor was through a special passage that had been found in the past by adventurers mapping out the swirling sands dungeon and also the main reason why a city had been established there.

Normally, this city would rarely see many adventurers outside of researchers and scholars who dedicated their life to learning about dungeons and wanted to observe and experiment with the edge of the dungeon that was still considered a major unknown in the eyes of the world and a still unfamiliar frontier for those engaging in dungeon research.

But… With the other passages between the first and second floor of the dungeon disappearing, the once quiet city was filled with life, as countless adventurers from across the second floor of the dungeon rushed over to use the once rather obscure passage.

Of course, the passage in South Gate City wasn't the only one, but it was one of the most well-known ones because it was mentioned in the guide to the swirling sands dungeon along with two other special passages on the second floor of the dungeon. Not because the special passage within South Gate City was different from the other special passages, but more so because it was home to a larger than normal research facility run by the Adventurers Guild and was generally one of the main places researchers and scholars would visit when they went to the swirling sands dungeon before going to other locations throughout the dungeon.

However, outside of the countless adventurers gathering to use the special passages to make it back up to the first floor of the dungeon, South Gate City had also seen a swarm of researchers and scholars coming over from different locations to study what was happening within the swirling sands dungeon. Seeing anomality as a great way for them to further their own understanding of dungeons and at the same time also a way for them to increase their own level.

After all, outside of hunting monsters that adventurers and other combat classes did to increase their level, there existed other classes that weren't aligned with combat that increased their level through doing things related to the class they obtained. For example, researchers or scholars furthering their understanding of their chosen subject of interest or farmers harvesting crops.

Of course, one reason why most wanted a class for combat and ended up switching away from one that wasn't combat related had to do with the simple fact that it was painfully slow to increase one's level in ways outside of combat.

For example, a farmer could take years just to reach level 10 and decades to surpass level 20. The one exception to this were special circumstances that led to a rapid increase in level, like a blacksmith who forged a legendary weapon using magical materials or a dungeon scholar who learnt something new about a dungeon that had been unknown before.

In fact, the increase in level for scholars and researchers who discovered something new was one of the main reasons why it was still considered popular, as a significant enough discovery could propel them from a small apprentice scholar around level 10 to a legendary figure above level 100 in a single step. One of the only ways that was known about that allowed one to skip past the class quests that was normally mandated once one reached a certain level.

Because of this, South Gate City had turned into one of the busiest places within the swirling sands dungeon. Seeing no lack of young adventurers coming over out of curiosity or having been stuck on the second floor similar to the group of youths at the gate and older, more senior adventurers who were there to hunt down a certain dragon that had recently appeared.

In fact, outside of just adventurers and eager dungeon scholars and researchers flocking to South Gate City, there was also another kind of scholar and researcher rushing over. Namly the far rarer kind known as dragon scholars or dragon researchers. Individuals who were known to be amongst the most traveled people throughout the world because of their endless search for dragons.

After all, though dragons found within dungeons could serve as a good starting point for these individuals, it was impossible for them to learn much beyond what was already well known through dungeon dragons, as these kinds of dragons were ultimately different from those found outside of dungeons and at the same time also far less intelligent.

Filled with so many people, it was understandable that when the group of young adventurers made it through the gate and entered South Gate City, they found themselves unable to cross through the passage connecting to the first floor of the dungeon immediately, as they found out that there was a rather long line of people waiting to get through. Learning that the passage itself was narrow and couldn't accommodate too many people at once.

In the end, as they found themselves standing in line for an hour without making it even halfway through the line to the passage, these youths decided to not leave the second floor immediately and instead take the chance to take a break and maybe even get to know a few senior adventurers in the process.

Yes… That was undoubtedly the reason why they decided to stay on the second floor of the dungeon, it had nothing to do with them learning that using the special passage was a bit different from the spiral staircase they had used so far and that using it cost a certain amount of money. An amount of money that younger adventurers like them would find hard to shoulder and at the same time also one of the main reasons why special passages like this were normally not used.

After all, special passages were special because they were different and the one inside South Gate City was special in the way that it required a sacrifice to pass through. A sacrifice that could only be made in monster material. Monster material that at the cheapest would cost them one gold coin, a price that these young adventurers simply couldn't afford to part with and at the same time they didn't exactly have the option of jumping into the sea of sand like other adventurers could and get the monster material on their own.

In fact, the price of one gold wasn't the normal price for the monster materials required, but a new price that had emerged following most monsters nearby being hunted down by the countless adventurers now present within the city who wanted and needed to use the passage between the second and first floor of the dungeon.

A price that was bound to stay the same for as long as the other passages to the second floor remained closed- no… Not just stay the same, it was likely to increase over time…