With my first actual tin rank floor officially started I'm feeling a little better even as I watch a few more parties start to make it to the fifth floor. Having a one floor buffer zone does feel nice even if I know deep down there are adventurers who could easily make it through the sixth floor if they decided to come to the town of Mirage and take up delving. Truth is there are always going to be people who can reach my core, but the deeper I get the fewer people will be among those that can.

  Unfortunately, I'm back to waiting weeks instead of days between rooms. The good news is this gives me plenty of time to observe the delvers. Specifically, Clyde's party which is just entering the fifth floor for another attempt. Their spot on the fourth floor being taken almost immediately by another party. Clyde's party is all level 25 now, so they are able to full clear the first couple of rooms with little effort. They are a bit exhausted just due to the sheer number of enemies, but the fights themselves provide no real challenge anymore.

  In the middle of the third room something happened I had not intended. Cole started to glow. It got brighter and brighter and then suddenly the glow began to shrink. It shrank all the way down until it was a single point in the middle of his chest. Then all of a sudden it seemed to snap into place and become part of him disappearing from my sight. I wasn't entirely sure what I had just witnessed until Cole announced to the party that he had gotten a new skill. I looked again and sure enough there it was. The skill is called enduring shield and is apparently a passive 5% boost to mental and physical endurance. The immediate effect of which is Cole regaining a bit of pep in his step.

  After finishing this room, the party decided to take a break. Not because of any physical injury but because of sheer exhaustion. While they're resting, I take my perception elsewhere. Specifically, I focus in on a group of soldiers on the third floor. I know they're soldiers and not delvers because despite being almost obsidian rank, they are struggling with the third floor. On top of that they are older than the other delvers by a few decades. The most telling thing of all though is that they have no healer. They have a fire mage sure, but no healer. The rest of the party consists of a tank and two fighters, and I'm convinced the tank somehow stumbled backwards into the class.

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  I honestly have no idea how they got as high level as they are. I Suspected, based on Clyde's memories as well as bits and pieces I'd overheard, that the Ulgai army's soldiers needed tempering, but I had no idea it was this bad. I now understand why people were complaining about the soldiers being the laughingstock of other nations. I'm honestly not sure I can help them in the time it takes the other nations to stop fighting over who gets the right to conquer Ulgai. Not that I plan to change anything just for them anyway. Hopefully, by the time they reach obsidian rank they'll at least be able to fight like they're obsidian rank.

  After I few hours of rest Clyde's party was ready to continue so I switched my main focus back to them. Trying to ignore the fact that they had only been to thirteen of the forty-two rooms on the fifth floor and were already capable of defeating the boss if they found it. I had intended those side rooms for power leveling after all. I just didn't expect people to only use the side rooms. With more people making it to the fifth floor though maybe someone will go a different direction.

  As I reign in my thoughts and actually focus on Clyde's party, I notice something I hadn't expected. They're actually having fun. Despite the near constant fighting and Cole actually gaining a skill from fighting while exhausted, these mad lads are actually having fun. Hm, well I guess I shouldn't complain too much. Having rooms that are considered fun if your strong enough will surely attract other delvers.

  I still want them to see the rest of the floor though. I can't help it, I feel like an artist having their art ignored. Despite my growing annoyance they are making good progress clearing out this room. They do need to take a brief rest after clearing this room, however. The next few rooms are much the same, fight, rest, and repeat. As they're doing this though I suddenly had a thought. While endurance I'm sure does go up along with other attributes when delvers level up, it's probably a lot harder to train than strength, dexterity, or even magic. In fact, if it wasn't for Cole gaining that skill I wouldn't have even known that endurance was something that could actually be calculated. So maybe it's a good thing I unintentionally made rooms specifically designed to train endurance.