Defense specialization and Layer Four.

Thus, each person completed their exploration and gathered parts, and they convened at the guild home.

Maple and Sally, who were nearby, arrived first. Then Crom and his group arrived, and they compared their findings.

"Quite a few gathered! We explored sunken buildings—each house had at least one part!"

"Ah, we found ours scattered along the sandy shore. Easy to spot. Though competition was fierce—slightly troublesome."

Similar to the previous Layer Four area unlock, this time gathering individual parts did not allow deeper descent. As Crom said, steady accumulation was necessary.

Then, finally, Iz and Kasumi arrived on a jet ski that clearly did not belong.

"Ah, we were the last to arrive."

—We were going quite fast, that’s for sure.

—...What was that seen outside the window?

—Of course, a boat.

—Another strange thing built... again.

—Crom might be a bit short on DEX.

—Not getting on. It’ll tip over.

—Um, let’s leave the talking here… We’ve gathered quite a few parts, you know!

—Ah, truly quite a lot.

Iz’s collection exceeded everything the other members had gathered combined.

—Wow! Amazing, Iz-san!

—Incredible… To collect this much in such a short time...

—We were the only ones out this far. Also, it seems the farther from Town, the more parts we can gather in one go.

The further from Town, the farther the base, and the stronger the monsters grow accordingly. It is only natural, then, that the reward should be greater.

—The distant shallows...

It’s less a shallow and more like a mountain.

Likely, the part corresponding to ordinary ground lies far below. What we stand on now is near the peak, in terms of the layers we’ve reached so far.

Treasure suitable for salvage would naturally be deepest down.

If we all dive for a few more sessions of similar length, each of us should be able to reach deeper.

There are several types of dive suit enhancements. Some improve stats, others extend active time. One type allows descent to greater depths. If we focus solely on that enhancement and pool everyone’s resources, the suits can be strengthened without issue.

We could explore the shallows together, but wouldn’t it be better to see further ahead sooner?

That… is true.

Then, who to concentrate resources on? A suitable candidate comes to mind for everyone, a glance toward that person.

"Me...?"

"Yeah! If we're doing this, I think Sally's the one."

As if speaking the thought aloud, the rest of the group shared the same opinion as Maple, with no one objecting.

"Her underwater exploration skills are strong. She excels in individual combat. She is the right choice."

"...Understood. If I may take all the parts for now, I will retrieve them."

With Sally's agreement, the decision for the [Maple Tree] was set. First, send Sally ahead to deeper waters. If she retrieves more parts, it benefits the guild. Greater danger often holds greater reward.

"Hehe, big responsibility, Sally."

"Leave it to me. I'll bring back results."

She needs to check beneath the guild home sooner rather than later.

That’s true. We’ll need to reinforce the diving suits if we’re to get through there.

Never thought we’d find a part of the guild home we can’t enter before!

What could possibly be down there…?

The conquest of the eighth layer has barely begun. More remains unknown than known. Still, to find treasures yet unseen, Maple and the others set out in motion.