ã€ŠWish Fulfillment Systemã€‹


 Chapter 1 - Prologue

    Within a dark, labyrinthian cave system, two girls were running at almost superhuman speed. The one in the lead had long golden hair and was relaxedly jogging, while the other had long golden yellow hair in the form of a ponytail and was trying really hard to keep up. Loud roars occasionally resounded in the darkness that was only kept at bay by a ball of light hovering over the golden yellow haired girl''s staff.

    "Ais, wait up!"

    Hearing her companion''s exhausted plea, the girl in front, Ais Wallenstein, slowed down her pace and came to a halt after decelerating for a few meters. She wore a white and black battlecloth, black arm covers and long, blue boots. Over this she wore a few pieces of armour to keep her safe in this perilous place: a headguard, a b.r.e.a.s.tplate, arm guards, hip guards, and knee guards. An elegant and thin longsword with a blue hilt was strapped to the left side of her hip, resting in its sheath. Her golden eyes looked at the girl following her with concern and care, while she responded curtly, her face expressionless.

    "Lefiya, you okay?"

    Having heard her name being spoken in Ais'' gentle voice, Lefiya Viridis'' long and pointy ears flapped slightly while a light blush crept up her face. Her dark blue eyes darted around a bit before finally overcoming her embarrassment. Like all mages, she didn''t wear armour, but instead robe-like attire. In her case, this consisted of a short red cape on top of a white shirt and pink corset dress. A purple bow hung at her collar and her legs were mostly covered by white stockings and pink shoes. The expensive-looking white staff in her hands had a golden metallic top in the shape of an opening bud, housing a blue crystal.

    After heaving heavily for a few seconds, Lefiya finally looked up at Ais and smiled happily.

    "Thank you for worrying, I''m fine now. Sorry for dragging you down!"

    Before Ais could do more than blink and tilt her head in slight confusion, because Lefiya, in her eyes, wasn''t dragging her down at all, a few much louder roars than any they had previously been exposed to reverberated within the dark passage.

    "Close!"

    Leaving just this single word, Ais instantly shot off towards a branching path as if she had been fired by a missile launcher, forcing the exhausted elf to desperately run after her again.

    Seconds later, what came into Ais'' field of view was a host of various different monsters, consisting of cow headed humanoid monsters called minotaurs, dog monsters with flames spewing out of their mouths called hellhounds and tiger monsters called lygerfangs, surrounding a peculiar phenomenon while roaring madly. The aforementioned phenomenon was something that instantly brought Ais'' charge to a halt, while her eyes widened in disbelief. This gave Lefiya just enough time to catch up to her, before staring at the same exact spot Ais was looking at, almost not daring to trust her own eyes.

    The large and dark chamber was lit up by a dark blue vortex seemingly leading towards a pitch black, void-like space. The vortex was almost 50 meters in diameter and hovered in midair, 40 meters above the ground. A primordial and intimidating energy was surrounding the vortex, making a shiver run down both of the girls'' spines involuntarily. From within the void, really slowly, a human body descended. It was the body of a young man, seemingly around eighteen or nineteen years old, and looked slightly muscular. His eyes were closed and he had short, brown hair that was obviously ruffled by the energy the vortex dispersed. A white shirt, grey pants and blue-white shoes clad his body and looked completely out of place.

    Before any more observations could be made about the mysterious young man, both girls were brought back to reality when the vortex suddenly disappeared and his pair of blue-green eyes opened before a look of panic overcame the handsome face, followed by a loud curse.

    "God dammit, why am I in midair?!"

    While Lefiya hadn''t yet realized the severity of the situation because she was still distracted by the power displayed by the vortex that had just disappeared, Ais had already recognized the problem. The young man was, unexpectedly, completely and utterly powerless, like an ordinary human being. He was also currently 40 meters above the ground in a dark cave, in midair - and glared upon by more than twenty monsters that could tear far stronger people apart even in a 1 v 1 situation.

    Without spending any time thinking about what horrible kind of luck a person would have to have to end up in such a situation, Ais jumped into the air towards the young man with a resolute look on her mostly expressionless face, trying to catch him. Less than a second later, she gently caught him in a princess carry position, before looking at his face really quickly, intending to look away and focus on the surrounding monsters on the ground after she had made sure he was safe. But the moment she looked into his eyes, something that she could have never expected happened.

    Her heart, the heart of a girl who cut off most of her emotions, a heart that hadn''t beaten faster than necessary to ensure continued survival for as long as she had been separated from her mother¡­ started beating extremely rapidly and she blushed heavily, mirroring the also blushing young man in her arms. There was mostly one thing she could see in his eyes, and it resonated with her on an almost spiritual level - devastating loneliness. Before she could even think about looking away, she had already landed on the ground, right next to the monsters she had originally planned to deal with.

    She instinctively knew that from this moment on, her life would never be the same.

 Chapter 2 - Origin

    "I guess it''s finally time."

    A forlorn voice resounded in a dark room whose only source of light were a few rays of sunlight that managed to pass through the closed window shutters. Bookshelves, a desk with multiple monitors connected to a computer, an office chair, a wardrobe and a simple bed - that is all the room contained.

    The owner of the voice that broke the heavy silence was slowly but surely getting up from the chair he had been slouched upon powerlessly before. While giving a last look at his left monitor which displayed the last page of the epilogue of a web novel, the sickly looking young man walked over to his bed and sat down, leaning against the white wall.

    His blue-green eyes were emotionless as he stared at the room he had called his home for almost his entire life. While doing so, he couldn''t help but glance at the mirror attached to the doors of his wardrobe.

    What greeted him brought a wry smile to his face. A height of almost 180 cm, almost shoulder-length brown, unkempt hair, and a body almost without muscles or fat. His pale white skin made him look more like a ghost than a living being, and the multiple dark circles under his eyes showed how healthy of a lifestyle he had lived for the past few years.

    "I''ve really let myself go a bit, haven''t I?"

    Asking himself a rhetorical question, the young man couldn''t help but chuckle a bit while looking at his now powerless arms. Shortly after, he shook his head with force, trying to force out even this last bit of regret.

    Soon, his eyes returned to being completely emotionless and lifeless.

    "Let''s see what lies beyond existence, shall we?"

    Monologuing with a quiet voice more resembling a machine than a human being, he closed his eyes and¡­ stopped thinking. He shed all the attachments he had to this life, something he had been planning to do for a long time, but only today was able to follow through.

    Minutes later, like a cocoon turning into a butterfly, his body and the space around it started to crack bit by bit, before completely shattering and giving way to a colorless void where only his soul remained, surrounded by a formless and seemingly fragile power.

    All perception of time and space stopped being relevant. But what baffled the soul of the young man was that contrary to his expectations, he still had emotions. He could think, he could reminisce, he could hope and dream. All of this¡­ theoretically shouldn''t have been the case.

    Before he could fret about this any further, another soul spontaneously appeared in what he perceived as his immediate vicinity. Comparing himself to the newcomer, he couldn''t help but notice that contrary to his own soul, which gave off a formless warm feeling, the newcomer gave off no feeling whatsoever. Only an intangible, bottomless power seemed to surround them, shrouding them like a protective suit.

    "Who are you?"

    This was the first thought on the young man''s mind, so he immediately directed this question at the newcomer the moment he noticed them. What greeted him in return was an epicene robotic voice.

    "I''m no-one, but you''re still you, Isaac Blackshaw."

    After a short moment of confusion, Isaac couldn''t help but shiver when he realized what the words of this entity in front of him insinuated. Yes, he was still himself. He still had an identity, memories, a personality. All of this was because of one point he had apparently ignored while shedding existence: While he may have given up on the life in his previous world, he still held hopes, dreams, attachments and even love for other worlds. These worlds may have been imaginary - but his feelings were still real.

    Already having noticed that Isaac now realized his mistake, the powerful soul spoke again.

    "You have two choices. First: You shed yourself of all the attachments you have to worlds beyond your source world. Second: You turn your current power into a construct useful to helping you achieve whatever you desire, and use what you created as a mechanism to start existing again."

    After having listened closely, Isaac was conflicted. On the one hand, he was tempted by the first option. Throughout all of his life, he had wished to transcend existence for more than half of it. It was the thing he was consciously focussing his efforts on this entire time. But on the other hand, by consuming books and other works related to different, perhaps imaginary worlds, a desire sprouted within his very being subconsciously. He wanted to see those worlds. He wanted to meet the people he could only imagine before. He wanted to live, make friends, love and hate. He wanted to explore and slaughter. He wanted countless things. He just never admitted he did before now.

    Was he really ready to give up all of these attachments for his lifelong goal?

    A resolute feeling emanated from Isaac''s soul as he faced the entity yet again.

    "Before I decide, I have a few questions that I hope you can answer."

    Without waiting for his counterpart''s answer, as he was already aware they would indeed answer his questions, Isaac proceeded with the first one.

    "This kind of power I have now, does it have a name?"

    "No, names are meaningless."

    This answer didn''t surprise Isaac, as it was just as he expected. Here, beyond existence, everything stopped having a meaning. Nothing existed, so there was no need for a name. The concept of names might have been completely foreign to this place before he came here. Names were only of relevance within the framework of existence, after all.

    Without thinking about it any further, Isaac asked his second question.

    "Do the worlds I have attachments to, the worlds I previously thought imaginary, actually exist?"

    "No worlds are imaginary. There is an infinite amount of worlds in existence. Every possible world anyone in existence could ever imagine is part of this infinite whole. So, yes, they exist. In fact, for every single world you have an attachment to, an infinite amount of versions of them exist as well."

    As soon as Isaac registered these words, the warm feeling his soul was giving off was magnified by a ridiculous amount, so that even the entity conversing with him was partially submerged by it. This, of course, wasn''t an attack, but pure excitement overflowing from within Isaac''s very being.

    Before he asked his questions, he had already made his decision. If all of these worlds really existed, wouldn''t it be a shame to not check them out at least once? If there ever were to come a time where he truly had no attachments left that he cared about, he could just transcend existence again. What has already been done once will only become easier on the next attempt, after all.

    Looking at the entity that was observing him calmly, Isaac conveyed the feeling of a smile, before bidding farewell.

    "Thank you, and goodbye."

    "Take care."

    After leaving behind these two words, Isaac''s only companion in this place left just as quickly as they had arrived before him previously, as if they were never there in the first place.

    "Alright, let''s get to it."

    Keeping up his habit of monologuing, Isaac started to feel the power in his grasp that was nourishing his soul. At first glance, it seemed endless and bottomless, and weak at the same time. But the longer he observed it, the more certain he was that it was indeed all-powerful. He was sure that the other soul that had visited him before had been stronger, but at this point, Isaac still couldn''t fathom how exactly there could be differences in the strength of powers that were already all-powerful. The one thing he was sure of though, was that his power was indeed weaker.

    Nonetheless, for his purposes this all-powerful, nameless power was more than enough.

    Before he had asked his two questions, Isaac already knew what kind of construct he would create if he indeed had the chance to visit these other worlds. He decided to create a system. His own, personal system. Just like in the novels he had read in the life he lived previously, where the protagonists were bestowed with some kind of all-powerful system to guide them along their journey, he would create his own. The most intricate system that was tailor-made just for him, a system to guide him along his endless path to fulfill his own wishes.

    The Wish Fulfillment System.

    -----

    In this nonexistent place, where time and space had no meaning, it would be impossible to describe the amount of time Isaac put into creating every single detail of the Wish Fulfillment System. But for Isaac himself, it felt like an eternity. And just before he booted up the system, he decided to proof-check it again, to make sure he didn''t make any mistakes.

    After he made sure that everything was in order, he decided to remove all of his memories pertaining to the specific functions of the Wish Fulfillment System using his last remaining power. The reason for this was that the path he created for himself would be extremely boring if he knew more than just his general goals. Too many details would make the journey so bland that he couldn''t possibly derive enjoyment from it. He had already accounted for every single possibility he could imagine, even allowing the system to evolve according to his subconscious desires, so everything should be fine. To top it all off, there were even many failsafes and periodical backups as well, amongst a host of other features.

    Finally, he fused the intangible concept of the Wish Fulfillment System with his very soul.

    Abruptly, he felt the concepts of time and space holding sway over his being yet again. Isaac found his soul situated within a pitch-black, endless, void-like space.

    A few seconds later, VR-game like, blue dialogue boxes popped up within his field of view, while, in his mind, an emotionless, robotic voice spoke the same words that were displayed in the aforementioned dialogue boxes.

    [ Wish Fulfillment System successfully installed. ]

    [ Wish Fulfillment System has recognized the host, starting operations. ]

    [ Welcome to the Wish Fulfillment System, Isaac. Please convey the input data for the tutorial transmigration. ]

    [ World: - ]

    [ Location: - ]

    [ Date: - ]

    [ Special Requests: - ]

    There was no hesitation at all before Isaac filled out the blanks, as he had already decided on what to do in this situation while he was working on the system itself.

    [ World: Danmachi / Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? ]

    [ Location: Labyrinth City Orario ]

    [ Date: One year before Bell Cranel arrives in Orario ]

    [ Special Requests: I want to be in the general vicinity of Ais Wallenstein. ]

    Although he didn''t know which year in Danmachi-time the events of the story he had read take place, he designed the system in a way that it could still determine the date off of such a vague description. Now, why would Isaac want to visit the world of Danmachi?

    Because in his entire life, he only had two fictional characters he ever addressed with the term ''waifu''. These two were Ais Wallenstein from the popular novel series Danmachi, and the goddess Ereshkigal featured in the globally successful mobile game Fate/Grand Order.

    Both of them had two things in common: Their blonde hair, and the devastating amount of loneliness they had to go through in their lives. The latter was the main reason as to why both of them appealed to Isaac so much, although he had to admit the beautiful golden hair played a part as well.

    Now that he knew that people just like the fictional characters he had a crush on actually existed, why would he pass up the opportunity to meet them?

    Isaac''s main reason for deciding to go to the world of Danmachi first was that it is generally less dangerous than the kind of future that Fate/Grand Order is set in. A world such as the latter would definitely be much more of a challenge to survive in, so if he had to start somewhere, he might as well start in a place where even the weakest of people had hope to become a hero by embarking on their own path of adventure: Orario, the Labyrinth City that houses the only dungeon in the world of Danmachi, a beacon of hopes and dreams for the masses.

    After confirming once more that the information he filled the table the system presented him with was the way he wanted it to be and there were no mistakes or oversights, he conveyed to the system that he was ready for departure.

    [ Target World¡­ Confirmed. ]

    [ Target Date¡­ Confirmed. ]

    [ Special Requests¡­ Confirmed. ]

    [ Target Location¡­ Adjusted to conform to the Special Requests¡­ Confirmed. ]

    [ Constructing host''s body¡­ Current body: Prime state of host''s previous life. ]

    [ Transmigrating in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. ]

    As soon as the countdown ended, Isaac''s soul had finished fusing with his old, now recycled body. Before this moment in time, Isaac had never noticed how weird it was to have eyelids. At first, he thought he was just in a black void, but the wind he could feel battering against his clothes and body convinced him that he just had his eyes closed. It felt really weird to open them again when he had been a disembodied entity for what felt like an eternity now.

    The moment Isaac opened his eyes for the first time, in this current body, the wind battering him had subsided, so he could look around without anything impairing his vision. But when he looked around, everything he could see was a dark, badly lit up cave. At the same time, his ears started to pick up loud roars from below.

    When he realized where exactly he was, a look of panic flashed across Isaac''s face and he couldn''t help but shout out his frustrations.

    "God dammit, why am I in midair?!"

    Right after these words left his mouth, the residual force that had held him in place before finally disappeared and he plummeted towards the ground 40 meters below, towards a host of various different monsters seemingly unable to wait for the moment they could tear him apart.

    Just at this moment, almost faster than he could register with his eyes, a silhouette dashed towards him from outside of the group of monsters. Before he could even move a single finger, Isaac already found himself in the arms of a golden haired girl almost a head shorter than him. She was carrying him in a princess carry position while both of them were falling towards the ground. All of this would have been a lot more comfortable if she didn''t wear so much armour though.

    He instantly knew who it was that just saved him. The girl of his dreams. Ais Wallenstein!

    Barely a second after she had caught him midair, still in freefall, Ais turned her head to take a closer look at Isaac who was blushing quite a lot right now, partially because it was embarrassing to be held in such a position, and partially due to the extreme excitement he was experiencing.

    Little did he know that the one feeling his eyes still majorly conveyed was the devastating loneliness that had been his only companion for as long as he could remember. And it was this one emotion that made him witness a sight he never even imagined before. Ais Wallenstein¡­ blushing madly, obviously completely unable to pull her eyes away from his, as if she was entranced.

    Before either of them knew, they landed right in the middle of the more than twenty monsters.

    Instead of worrying about the danger his current situation posed, the only thought on Isaac''s mind was this.

    ''Ais is even cuter than I imagined!''

 Chapter 3 - Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Ais In The Dungeon?

    Right after Ais had caught Isaac in midair, Lefiya had snapped out of the distracting thoughts clouding her mind and became fully aware of what kind of danger the young man had been in. But just after she had thought everything would be solved now that Ais had taken control of the situation, Lefiya was speechless when she saw how her idol just stared into Isaac''s eyes with an enamoured expression as if spell-struck, completely ignoring everything around her.

    Although Lefiya had always been scared of monsters, this was only a hindrance when she was directly targeted by them. Now that they were distracted and were fully focussing on a person she wholeheartedly looked up to, all doubts and fears had disappeared from her mind and she chanted an incantation, as quickly as she possibly could.

    "Proud warriors, snipers of the forest. Take up your bows before the advancing plunderers. Answer the call of your brethren and ready your arrows. Tinge them with flame, the lamplight of the forest. Release them, the fire arrows of the fairies. Falling like rain, burn away the savages."

    Right after she began chanting, a golden yellow colored magic circle appeared beneath her, driving away the darkness surrounding the young elf. It only took her five seconds to finish her chant. Normally, that amount of time would pass by before she even consciously noticed it. But right now, it had felt as if the end of these familiar sentences was getting further and further away, while the various monsters surrounding Ais got closer and closer to her and the young man.

    For some reason, she managed to finish her chant right before the first monster jumped forwards. Whether this was because of the instinctual fear the monsters felt from a first class adventurer like Ais or just due to the weird situation of their prey standing in front of them, completely motionless and ignoring them, Lefiya couldn''t say. But none of this mattered to her, as the last two words left her lips right as she had finished targeting all of her enemies with her spell.

    "Fusillade Fallarica!"

    From Isaac''s perspective, all he could see was Ais'' blushing face suddenly being lit up by a warm red light while the surrounding temperature became unbearably hot for a short few seconds, accompanied by the pained cries of monsters, after which the temperature returned to normal just as fast as it had risen before.

    This finally broke him out of his ''spell'' and made him break eye contact with the girl of his dreams. As soon as he looked away, Ais also seemed to come to her senses, looking visibly confused and blushing a little less than before.

    Having finished inspecting his surroundings and come across a room full of burned monster remains, Isaac noticed that he and Ais weren''t the only two people here. Instead, there was a young elf girl - who he recognized to be Lefiya - storming towards them from the same direction Ais had previously come from, while having a concerned and slightly hostile look plastered on her cute face, which was perfectly showcasing the ridiculous standard of elven beauty.

    Yeah, Isaac had no doubt at all that all of that animosity was definitely directed at him. But even more importantly than that, remembering the embarrassing position he currently found himself in, he couldn''t help but glance up at Ais and cough a little, trying to make her understand the situation.

    Hearing the man in her arms cough, seemingly trying to get her attention, the confused look on Ais'' face faded and she looked towards him. It took her only a short few moments before she noticed that she was still holding on to him, even though there was no need to carry him anymore. She did, however, not know or notice that her holding him like this would be seen in a different, not so innocent light, had this act been performed out in public.

    Right after Isaac finally had solid ground under his feet again, Lefiya arrived right next to Ais, sizing her up from top to bottom, checking whether or not she was injured anywhere.

    "Thank you, Lefiya. I got distracted."

    Upon receiving the well-deserved praise, Lefiya couldn''t help but blush a bit while her pointed ears twitched happily. This distracted her from her worry about Ais, as she quite apparently didn''t seem to be in danger.

    Thinking he should probably thank his saviour as well, even though she probably didn''t care too much about whether or not he did, Isaac followed in Ais'' footsteps.

    "I''d like to thank you as well. Both of you."

    Having her happy thoughts interrupted by a calm and harmonious male voice, Lefiya was reminded of the one person who was, in her eyes, most likely responsible for putting Ais in danger in the first place. Remembering this, she turned around, obviously quite annoyed with the stranger.

    After sizing Isaac up a bit, Lefiya wasn''t surprised to see that he was quite handsome. As an elf, she was used to good-looking men, as all males of her race were mind-bogglingly beautiful. What surprised her instead was that he gave off the same feeling as her idol, Ais. It was a feeling she couldn''t comprehend, but she was sure it was there. Something about the look in their eyes was eerily similar. It made her anger disappear, as she associated this feeling with Ais herself. Therefore, her mind subconsciously put him into the ''Ais'' category.

    After just a few seconds, she noticed her unintentional mistake and got annoyed again. This man and Ais were categorized completely differently in her mind now, because of a simple reason. Ais never really showed much of an expression on her face, while Isaac had a calm, collected and friendly smile plastered all over his face.

    Another thing she remembered right then was the weird phenomena she had seen before and how the young man had been at the very center of everything that happened. There was no way he wasn''t connected to or knew about what was going on with that kind of magic she had never seen before!

    "What was that vortex in the air? How did you do that?!"

    Isaac, hearing the questions thrown his way, finally noticed something. He could understand and speak their language flawlessly. And yet, he was sure this was the first time he had encountered it.

    [ Automatic translation is one of the many features of this system, Isaac. ]

    ''Ah, makes sense. I would definitely have thought of such a basic problem and come up with a satisfying solution. Seeing how there were even programs who could automatically and perfectly translate languages in my source world, it''s not too hard to see how such a simple function could be achieved. Are there any restrictions, system?''

    [ None, such a basic function wasn''t restricted by the creator, Isaac. ]

    ''Good to have that cleared up. I won''t have to worry about this in the future, it seems. But now¡­ how do I handle these questions?''

    Isaac had two ways to deal with this problem: He could either try to play everything off and say he had no idea what was going on - or he could tell the two girls in front of him the truth. Part of the truth, at least.

    He had the choice between either lying to the girl of his dreams and her friend or being honest with them. Which wouldn''t cause any trouble for him whatsoever.

    It really wasn''t a hard choice. If there was one thing Isaac hated the most, it was lies. But that didn''t mean he would always answer a question with the truth. Just part of the truth or refusing to answer were, of course, options.

    While Ais was again staring at him with the same confused look on her face and before Lefiya could get annoyed at his prolonged silence, a slight sigh left Isaac''s lips, before he replied.

    "Fine, I will tell you the truth about this matter. But you have to promise me you won''t tell anyone else unless I give you permission. Otherwise, you will lose my trust. Seeing how you don''t know much about me yet, you''ll have to decide for yourself whether or not my trust is something that has any worth."

    Being taken aback by the blunt honesty she could hear in the suspicious young man''s words, Lefiya had to think for a little bit before coming to a decision. Before she could reply, however, Ais had already uttered her response.

    "I promise."

    Hearing the decisiveness in Ais'' voice, Lefiya was a little taken aback. Her idol definitely had no simple feelings for the young man. Now, she was a little more jealous of him than when he had been carried princess-style. Seeing the relieved smile and gentle light in the young man''s eyes when he heard Ais'' reply, her displeasure rose a bit yet again, as she felt like Ais would possibly leave her behind if these two were indeed mutually attracted to each other.

    But nonetheless, the requirement the young man had told her to consider was still something she had to find an answer to regardless of her slightly possessive fears. Seeing how Ais had already promised to keep everything a secret, it would be unbecoming of her to share something that would put Ais in an awkward position if it became known. Also, Lefiya wasn''t really a person who would share secrets entrusted to her with others who weren''t privy to them. So the following words finally left her lips.

    "I promise as well."

    After hearing even Lefiya, whose jealous and pouting face looked adorable in Isaac''s eyes, agree, he could reply to her previous questions without much worry. He did everything that he could, and if either of them violated his trust¡­ that just meant he wouldn''t interact with them on friendly terms anymore.

    "The vortex, as you previously called it, was the result of a special ability I acquired. It''s the ability to visit any world of my choosing. As I am from a world without any magic or any ways to grow stronger than the average person, I had only read stories about other worlds where such things were possible. Of course, I thought those were fiction. But as you probably already guessed, all of that changed when I got this ability, something completely out of the norm for the world I''m from. I figured out that all the stories I read actually described a real world somewhere out there, one out of an infinite amount of worlds. I then decided to use this ability to come here, one of the worlds I had only read about before."

    During the time he explained this in the simplest words possible, without giving too many details away, Isaac could see the faces of the two girls opposite him changing in different ways.

    Ais'' face changed from confusion to acceptance, taking everything he told her as the undeniable truth. She seemed to notice that Isaac wasn''t really telling them everything, just pieces of a puzzle, but she couldn''t make out a single lie, which made her opinion of the fascinating young man rise even more.

    Lefiya''s face displayed her distrust, but also fascination. She seemed to be doubtful, but also hopeful. As if she really hoped his words were true, but she couldn''t just accept them without any further proof. After all, his words were definitely revolutionary, and not something a normal person from this world would believe.

    After getting her thoughts in order, Lefiya had to admit that the vortex did indeed seem like it was transporting Isaac here from someplace else. His words seemed plausible. But if what he said was really the truth, she had yet another question for him.

    "So you came to this world in a similar manner to the gods then? You said you read about this world, so you surely know about how the gods travelled from their world, Heaven, to our Lower World, right?"

    After nodding, Isaac immediately replied, as her question didn''t touch upon any subjects that made him uncomfortable.

    "I know about the gods'' general circ.u.mstances, yes. But my manner of travel is not the same as the gods''. You might not be aware of this, but all three ''worlds'' that people in your Lower World know about, namely Heaven, Tartarus and the Lower World, are actually part of a single, larger world. I came from another larger world outside of that. So my coming here cannot be compared to the simple descension of the gods, it''s a wholly different matter that would be nigh impossible without my ability, even for the gods. Oh, with that I don''t mean to say that I am more powerful than them, I just have a special ability. You see how powerless I am right now, right? I cannot compare to the gods."

    Yes, Isaac really loved to talk for prolonged periods of time.

    Listening to his answer, Lefiya felt lost. She didn''t truly comprehend what the words of this young man really meant, how vast the scope of ''everything'' would actually have to be for the three worlds she knew about to just be a single world. It was something beyond what she ever thought about, something she would have to think about for a long time to even have a small chance of possibly understanding it.

    While Lefiya was lost in thought, Ais noticed how Isaac had worded his reply. He deliberately told them that he was powerless right now, and therefore couldn''t compare to the gods. The word ''now'' was the important part of his reply. It hinted at him possibly having been stronger or being sure of becoming stronger than the gods in the future. For Ais, who only craved for more and more strength, this was something she couldn''t possibly miss, something she wanted to investigate. She also didn''t sense any lies yet again, so her trust in this young man rose to astonishing heights. No matter what - she decided - she had to stick close to this person and find out about what gave him such confidence in his potential.

    To be honest, Isaac hadn''t intended to hint at anything at all. He had noticed what his words implied, but he didn''t think anyone would notice this, so he didn''t bother to change his words to another version that wouldn''t incite these thoughts. Still, seeing Lefiya brooding over his reply so seriously, he wanted to change the topic, so that the adorable little elf''s head wouldn''t explode from all the thinking. He already saw her as more of a cute animal than a girl, mostly because he had no interest in any girls beyond Ais and Ereshkigal whatsoever.

    "Oh, by the way, I''m Isaac, Isaac Blackshaw. It''s nice to meet you. What are your names, if I may ask?"

    Despite always being thought of as an airhead, Ais was extremely good at reading people. She mostly just got her reputation because she didn''t talk very much. So right now, she noticed that Isaac indubitably already knew their answers to his question, but had no ill will whatsoever. His voice conveyed a bit of a concerned feeling, seemingly wanting to keep her friend''s head from producing even more unintentional steam. Not wanting his good intentions to go to waste, Ais immediately reciprocated with her own introduction.

    "Ais Wallenstein. Nice to meet you, Isaac."

    She accompanied her words with a smile wider than she would normally show around people while the blush from before still hadn''t completely faded. Beautiful, just beautiful.

    Both Isaac and Lefiya couldn''t help but stare at Ais for a few breaths, before they both snapped out of their admiration-filled fantasies.

    "I-It''s nice to meet you, Mr. Blackshaw. I''m Lefiya Viridis. Both Ais and I are part of the Loki Familia, a group of people blessed by our goddess, Loki."

    Having stuttered a bit in the beginning because of the embarrassment she felt for having stared at Ais for so long, Lefiya decided to call the young man by his last name. Mostly because her idol so affectionately called him by his first name, like a close friend, so she was a bit jealous. She also intended to showcase that her and Ais had a close connection while simultaneously introducing their familia. Knowing well about Loki''s playful personality, a world traveller would undoubtedly interest her which would lead to both her familia and Isaac interacting a lot more in the future.

    Hearing a cute girl call him ''Mr. Blackshaw'', Isaac almost wanted to cough up blood. Such an impersonal, distanced way of addressing him was just too cruel. He had no special thoughts or feelings for Lefiya, but anyone would like it a lot more if someone was friendly towards them. Especially if the person being friendly was adorable.

    Seeing the pained look on Isaac''s face and realizing how he felt, Ais couldn''t help but chuckle a little, hiding her mouth with her hand. By now she was again passively watching out for any monsters that may appear, she was a lot less distracted.

    While Ais was chuckling, Lefiya felt a bit ashamed for being so distant to someone who didn''t seem like a bad person from all she had seen so far. She was really behaving a bit pettily.

    Meanwhile, Isaac was extremely happy about the cute pose Ais had struck and would have given Lefiya a thumbs-up for this, if he wasn''t still in pain from the previous mental blow. He just couldn''t help but utter a plea.

    "Please don''t call me ''Mr. Blackshaw'', just call me ''Isaac''. It feels very uncomfortable to be called by my last name like that. I makes me feel like I''m an old man¡­"

    This plea was a life-saver for Lefiya right now. She could accept it to seem generous and, at the same time, wash away the shame of being a bit petty before. Now she could finally stop panicking on the inside while keeping a straight face on the outside.

    "Of course, of course. I wouldn''t want you to be uncomfortable, Isaac."

    After all of them had calmed down from these shenanigans, Lefiya couldn''t help but point out an issue.

    "Isaac, what do you plan to do now? You shouldn''t be an adventurer, so you being here, in what we call the dungeon, is extremely dangerous. With your strength, you won''t survive on the 17th floor where we are at right now. Would you want us to escort you out of here first, to a safer place?"

    ''She immediately offered her help, huh? It seems like I have to raise my opinion of Lefiya quite a bit. She is a lot less selfish than her acts of jealousy make her appear to be.''

    Thinking this, Isaac couldn''t help but show a genuine smile which made the elf waiting for his answer blush a bit. Well, that was mostly because she wasn''t used to seeing such a gentle, pure smile directed at her from a male. She didn''t have many interactions with men outside of her familia.

    "First of all, I''d like to thank you again for your previous help, Ais, Lefiya. If you hadn''t caught me, Ais, I would have probably died from the fall. And if you hadn''t killed these monsters while me and Ais were apparently both distracted, this¡­ could have ended badly."

    Happiness could be seen in Ais'' eyes, as her mouth widened into a smile yet again. She really smiled a lot more than usual today. Lefiya on the other hand couldn''t help but reveal a proud expression upon being praised, even if the praise was from someone who had been a stranger just minutes before. Praise almost universally made people happy.

    "Now, to answer your questions. As I have read a tiny bit of information about this world before I came here, I know about the fact that there is the occupation of adventurer, and I also know this dungeon has been around for almost 1000 years. I know no specific details though. One of my reasons for coming here was because anyone in this world can grow stronger, far stronger than the average person. And where better to do so than in the city surrounding the only dungeon in the world, the Labyrinth City Orario? I plan to become an adventurer. Thank you for offering to escort me out of here, I would be hard pressed to escape every single monster or even find my way out of here on my own. I''ll accept your offer."

    Having listened to another long reply from Isaac, Lefiya and Ais began to notice that he really talked a lot when asked about something. He tried to put as many important parts into his replies as possible, seemingly wanting to resolve all of their questions before they even took form. It was oddly comforting, as it displayed how much Isaac cared about his words being understood by the people listening.

    "You''re welcome. Just walk beside me while Ais leads the way to the surface, we can talk more on the way."

    It didn''t take long before the three of them had left the cave Isaac had appeared in and made their way through many long natural hallways, following a specific path he wasn''t familiar with. Yet.

    While many people had problems regarding finding their way in unfamiliar environments, Isaac had been different even when he still lived in his previous world. Contrary to the vast amount of people, he built a 3D-map of everywhere he had ever been in his head, being able to recall routes and details perfectly. He would never lose his way anywhere he had been to before. As long as he had a point of reference, he would always find his way.

    Now, just having transmigrated here, he didn''t have any reference points yet so he had to first wait until he got somewhere safe. There, he could then review everything he had seen up to that point and put it into perspective.

    While Isaac was paying careful attention to his surroundings, taking in the new and unusual sights, Ais suddenly turned around and asked him a question, her eyes sparkling with interest.

    "You said getting stronger is only one of the reasons you decided to come here. What other reasons are there?"

    This had always been on her mind since she had heard Isaac''s reply before. She just couldn''t figure out what other pursuits there could be, even beyond or on the same level as strength. Strength was the only thing she strived for, to fulfill her goals. So if there was something that an unusual man like Isaac held in the same high regard, it would probably be useful for her to find out about it.

    Upon having heard Ais'' question, Isaac couldn''t help but remember how his main reason was his desire to meet her, Ais Wallenstein, even just once. It was¡­ extremely embarrassing. He couldn''t help but blush and look away from her golden eyes awkwardly. He really didn''t think it was a good idea to tell her about that right now, as he didn''t want her to think less of him.

    Before the look of confusion on Ais'' face because he looked away could really settle in, Isaac made up his mind and replied, unable to keep his head from resembling more of a tomato than a human head.

    "I promise to tell you in the future, when the time is right, okay?"

    Realizing he had some reason as to why he couldn''t tell her right now, and sensing that he wasn''t lying to her when making that promise, Ais felt content. If he was that embarrassed by it now, it could surely wait until he could tell her without it being this awkward.

    With a nod, Ais turned away again, continuing to lead the small group towards the surface, towards safety.

    Meanwhile, the young elf who had been responsible for lighting the way was gripping her staff a little bit harder while pouting.

    ''They have only just met and they already made a promise¡­why are they so close?!?''

 Chapter 4 - Excuse Me Sir, Do You Have A Moment To Talk About My Goddess Loki?

    A few hours had passed by unknowingly while Isaac and Lefiya were following Ais. Each of the floors of the dungeon they passed through looked slightly different but Isaac couldn''t make more in-depth observations and go off on his own. He had to put that off for when he was going to explore this whole place for himself on his quest to grow stronger.

    Currently, the walls around them were coloured a light green and the ball of light hovering above them was almost not necessary anymore because the walls seemed to give off a little bit of light as well. According to what Lefiya had told Isaac when they climbed the last staircase, they were now on the 5th floor.

    While Ais was relaxedly dispatching a few killer ants, which were enormous red ant-like monsters with four feet and two arms, Lefiya suddenly opened her eyes wide, as if she had just realized something, then turned to face Isaac.

    "You said you want to become an adventurer, right? But to become an adventurer, you have to be part of a familia, otherwise the Guild, the organization governing all matters related to the dungeon, won''t recognize you."

    Isaac couldn''t help but be taken aback. He didn''t remember anything about that from his time reading the Danmachi novels. It was possible it was mentioned but he just forgot about it as it didn''t seem like an important detail back then. Still, he remembered that some people who weren''t part of a familia actually entered the dungeon in the novels, so he had to ask about that.

    "Is it at all possible to enter the dungeon without being part of a familia?"

    After thinking for a short while, Lefiya replied, obviously not a huge fan of what she was about to tell him.

    "It is possible. But as you would be missing the blessing of the gods, the falna, the Guild won''t recognize you as an adventurer. You won''t be able to acc.u.mulate excelia from monsters to grow stronger. You cannot take missions and can only sell drop items and magic stones to the Guild. The Guild also won''t be held responsible if you end up dying or in an accident. They won''t give you any medical treatment. They simply won''t care about you at all. It''s a very bad deal."

    The more he listened to her words, the more distraught Isaac became. He didn''t really like the idea of familias as he knew, through reading the Danmachi volumes, that most of them were profit-based. You would have to follow the orders of the god leading the familia if you wanted any benefits at all. Isaac really disliked being in the position of a subordinate. But what else could he do? To get stronger in this world, you needed a falna. There was no way around it.

    At least for a normal person. He was quite sure he may have given his system some way to make him grow stronger even without getting a falna, but going against the current was sure to lead to friction down the line. Also, if he truly found a familia that had his back, a group to rely on - that would be far easier than growing stronger alone.

    Seeing Isaac furrow his brows without responding for a while, Lefiya grew a little worried. But before she could say anything, his tense face eased up again.

    "I guess you have a point, I should join a familia. But I''ll have to find a trustworthy one first. I''m quite sure that most people in this world, just like in my old world, aren''t trustworthy. That includes gods. This is gonna be bothersome¡­"

    Having trailed off at the end, Isaac was rubbing his chin in deep thought, going through all the gods he had read about in the novels. But before he could think of anything of substance, Lefiya''s voice interrupted him.

    "How about joining us in the Loki Familia?"

    Lefiya had been waiting for an opportunity to bring this up. So when he talked about wanting to join a trustworthy familia, she immediately had to think about her own. While there were a few people that were hard to get along with, they were basically just a collection of misfits and weirdos their goddess Loki somehow brought together from all over the place for her own amus.e.m.e.nt¡­ and to protect them. An enigmatic world traveller such as Isaac would surely be someone Loki would be interested in. While Lefiya couldn''t guarantee that Isaac would be accepted into their familia, she could at least give him a chance and introduce him to her goddess.

    Another reason as to why she wanted Isaac to join was because she didn''t dislike him. In fact, it could be said they got along quite well. He didn''t stick out in any negative way and was polite. Sure, his clothing was a little unusual, but that was just because of his origin, not on purpose. Besides that, he also didn''t have much of a presence at all, to the point where you might actually forget that he was there if you didn''t pay attention to him for a while. His presence wasn''t as overbearing as the other males she had interacted with before. Because of all of these reasons, she was sure she wouldn''t mind him being around.

    But the most important reason for her decision to invite him was still his questionable relationship with Ais. She knew they had some kind of connection with each other but couldn''t explain what it was. Still, if she didn''t at least enable them to interact with each other on a regular basis, she would be a bad friend. Most likely, Ais herself also didn''t know what was going on and wanted to find out, so how could she, Lefiya, stand in her idol''s way? No matter how jealous she was whenever someone new got close to Ais, she still wanted the best for her. So, all in all, letting another misfit join their group wasn''t much of a sacrifice.

    Both Ais and Isaac were positively surprised by this invitation. For Ais this was because she had originally planned to jump into the conversation and invite Isaac herself. But she didn''t even get a chance to do so. Isaac on the other hand was simply impressed by how friendly the little elf was behaving.

    There was just one problem with the whole invitation: Isaac didn''t really know Loki. What was the easiest way to gain more information on her? Right, to ask the two girls accompanying him.

    "Thanks for inviting me to join you, Lefiya. But I have a few questions. Is Loki someone you can rely on, someone that will have your back? I''ve also heard how most familia are run in a business-like style. I''d rather prefer a familia more akin to a group of friends. Another thing I wanted to ask you about is related to the fact that in my old world, there was a mythological figure called Loki as well. They were a god of lies and tricks that no-one could trust, someone that could stab your back at any time. Seeing how these two gods are both named Loki, are they by any chance similar?"

    When Lefiya heard about the other Loki, her eyes widened in surprise and she got distracted for a few seconds while thinking about what possible implications this could have, finally giving Ais a chance to reply to Isaac''s questions.

    "Loki really cares about everyone. But she likes to grope the girls¡­ she is really disgusting when she does that."

    Having that part of their embarrassing history revealed just like that, Lefiya couldn''t help but blush in shame, pushing her thoughts about the other Loki to the back of her mind for now. She had never been able to escape Loki''s grasp on her own before. If Ais didn''t punish Loki every time she inappropriately touched her, Lefiya would probably have already died from embarrassment.

    Ais'' words spurred Isaac''s memory a bit. Now, he remembered a few moments in the novels again where Loki did indeed seem to grope the girls in her familia. So¡­ she was a caring lecher? That didn''t change the fact that she was a lecher though. Before he could get slightly angry at the scenes where Ais ''suffered'' under Loki in the novels, her words continued.

    "The familia is my home."

    Leaving these words behind, Ais started to dispatch a few killer ants yet again. Meanwhile, a happy smile could be seen on the little elf''s face while Isaac was silently and unblinkingly staring at Ais.

    Yes, he knew just how much these words meant to her. For someone like her, for someone who had suffered so much, to utter these words¡­ The Loki Familia had to be a truly wonderful place for Ais, a safe haven. Because of this, after a short silence, he made his decision.

    "Alright, I''ll accept your invitation."

    This made the already happy Lefiya''s smile even brighter.

    "The final decision rests with my goddess, don''t forget that!"

    These words left her lips more to calm herself down from the weird excitement she was feeling than to actually remind the young man in front of her.

    -----

    30 minutes had passed. By now, the group of three was climbing the spiral staircase leading out of the dungeon and into the first underground floor of Babel, the gigantic tower in the center of Orario. This was also the first time the group came across any other adventurers, as a few of them were using the staircase right now as well.

    Previously, Ais had lead the group around any other adventurers, as they could be sources of danger and she was quite aware that males seen in her company were usually stared at with enmity by the other male adventurers they came across. But now, there was no way for Isaac to fully dodge that fate.

    The adventurers that saw them gave Isaac quite a variety of different looks. Most of them were simply confused by his clothes but brushed that aside pretty quickly, ignoring him thereafter. A sizeable group of them shot him glances full of jealousy and hate, just because of the simple fact that he was walking right next to two extremely beautiful girls - girls whose beauty could easily topple a nation back in his home world. And the last group of them looked at him cautiously as if he was a potential threat. That changed after sizing him up for a few seconds though, as anyone was able to see he was just an ordinary human. He couldn''t endanger these veteran fighters, so they ignored him after they made sure. In the first place, they just paid attention to him because he was standing right next to Ais Wallenstein, one of the strongest adventurers currently in the city.

    Ais and Lefiya had started their journey from the 18th floor to the surface in the late morning. So by the time the three of them left the dungeon, it was early afternoon. At this time, most adventurers were still in the dungeon - and they would be at least until the early evening. What contributed to the first floor of Babel being almost entirely devoid of roaming civilians however was that it was currently winter. Most people wouldn''t just leave their houses to roam around aimlessly when the temperatures were quite low.

    By the way, Isaac really had to admire this tower. The first floor of Babel was an enormous circular room, supported by many pillars. On the ceiling, there was a beautifully painted azure sky. If he hadn''t looked closer, he might have even wondered about whether or not he was already outside. Of course, the relatively stale air in the building would have given it away shortly as well.

    While walking in between the sculpted white marble pillars and looking at the luxurious rooms adjacent to this central, circular room, Isaac followed the two girls outside of Babel, using the northern gateway. Out of the few people they saw when leaving the tower, none of them got close or even talked to the group. The reason for that was most likely the prestige of the Loki Familia.

    "We''ll now lead you to the home of our familia, the Twilight Manor. If Loki accepts you, you''ll be able to stay there with us."

    Of course, Isaac had already expected that he would be lead to their base but after hearing the cute elf explain this to him while smiling, he couldn''t bring himself to tell her that. Instead, he focussed on the surroundings.

    Although it was winter it wasn''t freezing outside. If Isaac had to guess, it was about 12¡ãC - definitely not temperatures where he had to wear more than a simple shirt to stay warm.

    Enclosing Babel, the 50 floors tall tower, there was an expansive park area divided into eight even parts that reminded him of pizza slices once he mentally put them into birds'' eye perspective. Apparently, the whole of Orario was divided into these eight parts, as the streets leading towards the tower, the eight main streets, went all the way to the city walls. Right after the park area, an area filled with many stalls could be seen on the sides of the street. Many exotic but also some familiar products were sold here and even in the winter, many people still crowded around here. Sometime later, Isaac really wanted to check out a few of the unfamiliar things he just saw.

    The style of the buildings, that could finally be made out clearly after they had left the area clogged by stalls, was somewhat similar to buildings Isaac had seen in Europe. Those had survived from the middle ages and were renovated a few times, so the buildings of this city seemed more authentic in comparison. At the same time, Orario''s buildings were oddly futuristic as well, as simple magical technology like magic lamps could be seen everywhere. Occasionally, a seemingly feeble, multiple floors high tower or building could be seen sticking out from behind the houses directly adjacent to the northern main street.

    Out of the blue, Isaac suddenly recalled a certain werewolf man in the Loki familia and he couldn''t help but become nervous, getting distracted from his observations. Trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, he brought up a seemingly harmless question.

    "Is there even anyone currently at the Twilight Manor? You mentioned before that most adventurers are currently still in the dungeon."

    Noticing the nervousness of the young man walking right next to her, Ais got a little worried and decided to ask him about what worried him so much later in private. Asking that here in public would be unbecoming and probably make him even more uncomfortable.

    Lefiya on the other hand didn''t notice anything wrong with the question and replied honestly.

    "Loki should be home today, as she probably anticipates mine and Ais'' return quite a lot. Besides that, Riveria, Finn and Gareth should be there as well, planning for the next expedition. As for the rest, I couldn''t say, they are probably out and about or in the dungeon at this time of the day."

    After barely being able to hold himself back from exclaiming in joy because it seemed he would be spared the displeasure of meeting the grumpy werewolf for now, Lefiya''s words continued.

    "Oh yeah, you probably don''t know who the three I just told you about are. Seeing how you are maybe going to be part of the familia soon, I don''t think there is any harm in telling you. It''s public knowledge anyway. They are the strongest in the Loki Familia, and the organizational leaders as well. Finn is the captain of the familia, Riveria is an accomplished mage and my teacher while Gareth is a wise and¡­ robust dwarf."

    Isaac thanked Lefiya for explaining these things to him while they were still following the surprisingly clean main street. All his nervousness was now gone again and he soon got distracted by the things entering his eyes.

    Time and time again he asked the two girls about buildings that aroused his interest. They mostly turned out to be various clothing stores that he didn''t doubt he would have to visit later on, but there were also a few inns. So if Loki didn''t allow him to join and he somehow was able to gather up enough money, he would be able to stay in one of those instead. It was always best to prepare for the worst.

    A few more minutes of strolling later, they left the main street and walked through a network of seemingly rarely used alleys. Isaac was pretty sure that most average people would only be able to find their way through these if they had walked the path to their destination hundreds of times. Even he had to pay somewhat closer attention to carefully record everything down in his mind.

    While he was impressed with how hidden from the public eye the Twilight Manor actually was, he suddenly noticed something. Or rather, the absence of something. Up to just a few moments ago, a few presences had been following them. The only thing giving them away was this weird feeling around his neck, as if somebody was staring at him. Now though, this feeling was gone. Isaac couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow, deciding to be more careful in the future and to not ignore this kind of feeling anymore should he encounter it again.

    At his side, Ais had noticed the change in Isaac''s expression. He seemed to have sensed that the usual few stalkers that followed her around everywhere got lost in this small labyrinth of alleys. Seeing how Lefiya, who was right next to them and should be multiple times stronger than a normal human when it concerned their sensory abilities because of her higher level, didn''t ever notice anything amiss when something like that happened, Ais couldn''t help but smile almost imperceptibly. Noticing how outstanding Isaac''s senses already were when he was just an average person, she was sure his potential had to be frightfully impressive.

    Yet another few turns later, Isaac could finally see the Twilight Manor. It was a truly majestic structure. The area of land it was built on was relatively small, but the building itself was massive. Quite a few towers mutually supported each other, seemingly trying to outdo each other while climbing higher and higher. The tallest amongst the towers was the middle one who was overlooking all of the ones surrounding it. It looked like a high-rise apartment complex had a child with a medieval castle. No matter how silly that explanation might seem, it was truly what Isaac thought right now. He wasn''t sure whether he should be baffled or impressed.

    When he sneakily stole a glance at his two companions, Lefiya seemed to wait for some kind of reaction from him. Ais on the other hand seemed to just wait for the two others to finally get moving again with no particular expression on her face.

    Not wanting to disappoint Lefiya whose eyes were already sparkling with anticipation, Isaac decided to settle on being impressed, showing a genuinely astounded look for a few seconds, making sure she had her fill. Although he felt a little awkward doing so, it wasn''t too far out of his comfort zone. Also, he got to see an adorable smile as repayment - good enough.

    After feeling prideful for a moment because her home impressed a newbie like Isaac, Lefiya finally led the way towards the Twilight Manor and opened the metal front gate. The party of three was automatically recognized by the magical mechanism keeping the property safe. As Isaac was accompanied by two registered inhabitants, he was identified as a guest.

    Just as they passed the threshold, a red silhouette seemed to appear out of nowhere, speeding right towards Ais. At the same time, a squeal so loud Isaac almost wanted to cover his ears assaulted them.

    "AIIIISSSSSS!! I MIIIIIISSEED YOOOOUUU!!!"

 Chapter 5 - Joining The Loki Familia

    Right before the red silhouette was able to give Ais a flying hug, she dodged out of the way. This resulted in the light red-haired woman colliding face-first with the floor and rolling for a few meters before coming to a stop. As if nothing had happened, she immediately got up again, quickly dusting herself off. She seemed perfectly fine, not even a scratch could be seen on her face which had so intimately greeted the ground just moments ago.

    The woman wore blue shoes, black stockings reaching up to the middle of her thighs, very short but comfortable black jeans and a long-sleeved, hooded, black-blue shirt which was showing off her midriff. Her hair was tied back in a simple pony-tail and her eyes were so narrow that Isaac couldn''t tell whether or not they were actually closed. Seeing how the woman could still obviously make out everything around her, they were probably at least slightly open right now. Maybe.

    If Isaac was a more lecherous kind of man, he would have commented on the sheer absence of any discernible bosom as well. She was almost as flat as a board. But seeing how Isaac had no interest in this woman from the start, he only gave her, in her entirety, a curious glance.

    Yes, this woman was the famous perverted trickster goddess that Isaac had only heard about before, Loki. She was a few centimeters taller than Ais but there was pretty much nothing else that Isaac found noteworthy about her.

    Right after she got up again, Loki had noticed the unknown young man right next to her beloved girls. She did pretty much the same thing as Isaac: Sizing the other up, trying to find out more about them. But besides his weird clothing style, he just looked like an average, handsome, young human. Still, Loki sensed some incongruity that she couldn''t put her finger on for now.

    After the two had finished staring at each other, Loki looked over at Ais and Lefiya, showing a happy smile.

    "Welcome back, you two! So, who is this ''friend'' of yours here?"

    Of course, Loki was already aware that there couldn''t be too many reasons as to why her two ''children'' had brought an unknown human with them. He was either simply a friend, someone in need of their help or someone they wanted to introduce to her, most likely to let him join the familia. Still, the two girls could possibly be tricked by others with well-hidden bad intentions, so it fell upon her to figure out what exactly this person wanted.

    Before either of the two girls could introduce him, Isaac took the chance to do it himself. So, with a polite smile on his face, he addressed the goddess.

    "It''s nice to meet you, goddess Loki. I''m Isaac Blackshaw."

    As soon as she saw Isaac''s face when he was talking to her, Loki already figured out what had been nagging at the back of her mind earlier. But instead of letting this show on her face, she turned around and cut off Lefiya who was just about to tell her about the invitation.

    "Alright then. Let''s talk about anything further in my study. Follow me."

    Lefiya was a little confused as to why her goddess had cut her off, but reasoned with herself that Loki probably already knew about what was going on, so she followed beside Ais without making a fuss. Isaac on the other hand had already realized what was happening but didn''t say anything.

    While they were passing through the luxuriously decorated entrance hall, he noticed someone was staring at him from one of the connected hallways. All he got to see when he was taking a closer look were a pair of huge bunny ears rushing out of his field of vision. He wasn''t sure which member of the Loki Familia had bunny ears but he was sure he was going to meet them sooner or later anyway, so he didn''t think too much about this encounter.

    Soon after, they arrived at the very end of the entrance hall and passed through a door leading to Loki''s ''study''. It was more accurate to call it a relaxation area, though. The entire room was filled with bookshelves, green sofas, high-quality wooden tables and chairs. Magic lamps were distributed evenly throughout the room and a cozy fireplace could be found as well.

    Loki lead them to three sofas that were facing a huge table. She herself sat down on the right sofa while Ais and Lefiya sat down on the one in the middle. Not wanting to seem like a creep for sitting down next to Ais, Isaac sat down on the left sofa. As soon as everyone was properly seated, Lefiya finally got a chance to inform Loki about the situation.

    "My goddess, we asked Isaac whether or not he would like to join our familia. After we convinced him that our familia is trustworthy, he agreed. So that''s why we brought him to meet you."

    Ais nodded in approval of what Lefiya had just explained and joined in with a few words of explanation herself.

    "Isaac has frightening potential."

    Although she was quite shocked by what Ais had just said, Loki already expected something along these lines to be the case - and it wasn''t really what she wanted to talk to them about. While it now seemed obvious that Isaac didn''t ask to join the familia himself, there was still something she had to ascertain about him before these talks could continue any further.

    Looking just like a snake staring at its prey, Loki opened her eyes about as wide as she could. Now, Isaac could finally see her pupils - they were coloured a warm red, like a setting sun. At the same time, the air around Loki changed from a tomboyish trickster to an investigative predator. Loki was serious.

    "I will only think about it if you stop being disrespectful and take that mask off."

    Hearing the word ''mask'', Lefiya was confused. What mask was her goddess talking about? Ais however knew exactly what Loki meant and a little bit of excitement could be seen in her eyes. Of course, this hint of excitement didn''t escape Loki''s gaze. Seeing how Ais reacted to her words, she was now even more invested in seeing this man''s ''true face''. If she didn''t know more about what was going on, he could endanger her Ais after all. That would be unforgivable.

    Isaac had already expected for this to happen. Right when he introduced himself, he knew that he couldn''t fool the trickster goddess. She saw right through him. It was ironic how he, who hated nothing more than lies, was mostly keeping his true feelings hidden. The reason for that was that he knew people didn''t often get into conflict with someone who seemed polite and nice, so he cranked these and other feelings up to an extreme all the time people were around, to emulate how a normal human would behave. He knew he would have to stop doing so for now, though.

    A heavy sigh full of regret left Isaac''s mouth, then the expression on his face completely changed.

    Gone was the nice and calm smile. Gone was the sparkle of interest in his eyes.

    What replaced those was¡­ nothing. His face and eyes turned completely life- and emotionless. He resembled more of a corpse staring into nothingness, not focussing on anything in particular, than an actual living human. The air became stagnant around him, even the flow of time seemed to slow down. All colour drained from the room, leaving behind a lifeless, monochrome world.

    Of course, the last few phenomena were just things the minds of the three females in the room made up to somehow visualize the overbearing and profound amount of loneliness that emanated from the very fibre of Isaac''s being. However, the reactions of the three were vastly different.

    While Lefiya was utterly confused by everything that was going on, she just felt an overpowering sadness in her heart when looking at the forlorn expression on Isaac''s face.

    At the same time, Ais seemed to resonate with the feeling. As if something inside her, which she normally tried to cover up and lock away, suddenly awakened. Her eyes turned lifeless as well, her face as emotionless as always.

    Last but not least there was Loki. The goddess had widened her eyes even further than before because of how shocked she was. Never before in the entirety of her existence had she come across any human, or any being for that matter, that seemed so devastatingly lonely. Before, she had thought the way the 7 year old Ais looked at her when they met for the first time was as bad as it could possibly get. At the time, she had shown the exact same look that had now reappeared on her face. A look that showed she had been alone for an unbelievably long period of time. She had been left behind, not cared about and forgotten.

    But what this young man in front of her showed her today was on a completely different order of magnitude. She couldn''t even fully understand the feeling - and she was an immortal goddess! It seemed like he had been alone for an eternity. At the same time, it seemed like he hadn''t been. The only thing she was sure of was that he was ''alone''. Truly and utterly alone. Empty, lifeless, without any motivation. Without hopes, without dreams, without fears. Without life, without death.

    Before Loki could fully lose herself in this abyss of loneliness, Ais and Isaac slowly turned to look into each other''s eyes, the familiar feeling emanating from each other guiding their actions. Once their eyes made contact, the loneliness, and all the phenomena accompanying it, completely disappeared. Both their eyes sparkled with a hint of hope and comradery. Colour had returned, time seemed to flow normally again, the previously stale air freshened up.

    All that was left behind were two people, blushing a lot and smiling, staring into each other''s eyes as if spellstruck.

    Lefiya immediately recognized that the current situation was the same as the one which had put Ais and Isaac into danger back in the dungeon. But she couldn''t focus on that right now. What she was focussing on was the beautiful smile on Ais'' face that made her blush madly, feeling like she was peeking at something she shouldn''t be looking at.

    After a while, Loki sighed and rubbed her forehead. She understood what had happened just now. Two extremely lonely people, two people who, most likely, would have been alone for their entire life, who would have walked their own, lonely path, had met. They had developed a kind of close kinship even though they hadn''t known each other for a long time. That was because they knew the other was very familiar with the feeling dominating their entire existence and what they had been through. What a bother¡­

    Originally, Loki had wanted to remove Isaac from Ais'' life as quickly as possible when she had seen the sparkle of interest in her eyes. This was mostly because she thought it was only a minor interest and she wanted to keep Ais for herself. On her own, she wanted to help Ais, to heal her. Now, she didn''t have the heart to act on that original plan of hers anymore. She had seen what kind of effect these two had on each other. If she wanted Ais to get better, to have a hope of living a normal life one day, this young man was of major importance.

    Although she didn''t know this Isaac very well, as the trickster goddess, she was used to lies and falsehoods and could spot them wherever she encountered them. She knew that the feelings he had shown ever since she asked him to drop the mask were nothing but genuine.

    What she had to do now was to get these two to pay attention to her and tell her about Isaac''s goal after joining her familia. And what his circ.u.mstances were. She had to admit that she wanted to have someone who held such huge sway over her Ais close at hand, in her own familia if possible. Where she could at least be aware of what was happening. Seeing how that goal aligned perfectly with why the young man was even here in the first place, this shouldn''t be an issue.

    Loki grabbed Isaac''s chin and turned his head by 90 degrees, breaking the ''weird spell'' binding him and Ais, before sitting down again.

    "I understand now, I will accept you into my familia. But before doing so, I have to know a few things to make sure I''m prepared for any possible problems I''ll be adding to my familia''s plate. Tell me about yourself. What are your goals? What are your current circ.u.mstances?"

    Right after he had stopped looking at Ais, a calm smile appeared on Isaac''s face again - the same one he had shown before Loki had asked him to take his ''mask'' off. But this time, Loki didn''t blame him for wearing it. His true feelings were way too distracting in a social setting, after all.

    As these questions didn''t touch upon anything Isaac wanted to hide, he answered without hesitation.

    "One of my goals is to become an adventurer and grow stronger. As for my current situation¡­ well, I''m home- and penniless."

    Just like how Isaac wasn''t ashamed to admit this, Loki wasn''t surprised about his situation either. In fact, she had already anticipated something along these lines. Having nothing else to ask about, she got up from the sofa with a grin and walked over to him.

    "Alright, take your shirt off and lie down with your back facing upwards."

    Without thinking much about it, Isaac followed Loki''s orders as he was clear that the familia induction ceremony was about to begin. While he was taking his shirt off, however, Lefiya blushed madly and hid her face behind her hands. She was still peeking through her fingers though, as, even though she wasn''t used to seeing male bodies, she was definitely interested in them. Right next to the adorable elf, Ais was a lot calmer. No specific expression could be seen on her face but her eyes sparkled with interest as she observed the just shortly exposed upper body in front of her in detail.

    Isaac''s body wasn''t entirely free of every single gram of fat, but his muscles were quite defined and vigorous. Overall, his body was pretty lithe. It could easily be seen that he had to train harshly for many years to reach such a state. To put it in simpler words: Ais approved.

    Compared to the two pure maidens on the middle sofa, Loki didn''t care about Isaac''s body at all. In all of the eternity she has spent in this world and in Heaven, she had seen her fair share of bodies, therefore such a view couldn''t even rouse any special interest. After Isaac laid down on the sofa just as he was told, she straddled his back and reached towards the table surrounded by the sofas.

    From inside a drawer under the table, she took a small needle and poked the tip of her right index finger. Following that, she brought her finger, and the drop of blood pooling on top of it, down towards Isaac''s upper back.

    As soon as the blood entered his body through the pores in his skin, it happened. Many system notifications flashed in front of Isaac''s eyes.

    [ ''Trickster Goddess'' Loki wants to bestow a blessing upon you, will you accept? ]

    [ Foreign substance has been detected entering the host''s body. It has been identified as ''Ichor'', the blood of this world''s gods. Its intrusion will be either accepted or rejected depending on the decision pertaining to the aforementioned blessing. ]

    [ Ichor has been analyzed. Cost of upgrading host''s blood to Ichor: 10.000 Achievement Points ]

    Without wasting a single moment, Isaac accepted Loki''s blessing as he didn''t want her to notice anything unusual while engraving the falna. Right after that, he focussed on something else the system had just informed him about. ''Achievement Points''.

    ''How do I gain Achievement Points?''

    [ By completing quests in the Achievements interface. ]

    [ Unlocking Achievements... ]

    [ Quest - Reward ]

    [ Make a friend. - 100 Achievement Points ]

    [ Make two friends. - 200 Achievement Points ]

    [ ... - ... ]

    [ Kill 1000 Level 1 monsters. - 100 Achievement Points. ]

    [ Kill 2000 Level 1 monsters. - 200 Achievement Points. ]

    [ ... - ... ]

    A seemingly endless list appeared before his eyes, full of quests ranging from slaughtering monsters to mundane tasks like making a friend. This was also the first time Isaac found out about the existence of the various ''interfaces'' in his system. He could simply display certain menus and windows whenever he wished. Of course, this was already something he expected, as it was quite normal in the VRMMORPGs he had read about. Still, it was calming to get confirmation that he had indeed implemented further virtual reality inspired features. It had all been too hectic before and he didn''t really feel like exploring his system further until he got a moment for himself.

    [ Ais Wallenstein considers you a friend.

    Quest ''Make a friend.'' completed. 100 Achievement Points rewarded. ]

    [ Lefiya Viridis considers you a friend.

    Quest ''Make two friends.'' completed. 200 Achievement Points rewarded. ]

    It was quite amusing to see how he had judged the simple act of making a friend as hard as killing 1000 Level 1 monsters in this world when he created the system. But honestly, he was a bit surprised that the cute little elf liked him so much. He hadn''t really intended to become friends with the two girls to get benefits from his system. Still, he couldn''t complain about 300 Achievement Points as a bonus, right?

    ''I guess I''ll take a look at the ''Store'' interface when I get some time for myself later. There have to be a few useful things I can buy with this amount of points.''

    Of course, Isaac hadn''t tested whether or not the ''Store'' interface even existed. But now that he knew he could buy an ''Ichor'' upgrade for his body, he was sure he had implemented such a feature as well.

    Only a few minutes had passed and Loki finished the familia induction ceremony. A symbol resembling a clown''s face graced Isaac''s upper back, written with Ichor that now looked like pitch-black ink. But instead of having a jubilant expression, Loki furrowed her brows when writing down Isaac''s stats on a sheet of paper.

    Without saying anything, she just handed him the sheet, waiting for him to take a look first. Just as he had expected, as soon as Isaac laid his eyes upon the written down stats, his system compiled a ''Status'' interface for his own personal use as well. The contents were the exact same as what Loki had written down.

    [ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Race: Human ]

    [ Level: 1 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-10 ]

    [ Endurance: I-10 ]

    [ Dexterity: I-10 ]

    [ Agility: I-10 ]

    [ Magic: I-10 ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ None ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ None ]

    Every single stat was as low as it could be for a Level 1 human being: I-10. The lowest of the low. Of course, Loki wanted Isaac to see this before she explained what was going on.

    "For some reason, I couldn''t find any excelia - experiences - in your body that date back to before today. It is as if you just suddenly started existing today. That''s why I couldn''t give you more than the bare minimum of stats."

    Hearing this, both Ais'' and Lefiya''s eyes widened as they could guess why such a thing happened. And Isaac, contrary to Loki''s expression, didn''t get disheartened, neither did his mood turn foul. Instead, a wide, genuine smile spread across his face. This couldn''t help but make Loki suspicious. But Isaac had already expected such a reaction from her when he decided to let his true feelings show just now.

    "One day, I might tell you why this happened."

    He didn''t say anything else, as he was sure these words would be enough for a goddess who, if nothing else, was an expert at waiting. Also, as he didn''t straight up deny knowing the reason and even gave her a tentative promise, Loki should be content. For now.

    Indeed, this was the case. Right after getting a reply she could live with, Loki got up from Isaac''s back and sat down on her own sofa again. Finally, Isaac could return to sitting up straight. The happy smile hadn''t disappeared from his face just yet. Seeing Ais'' inquisitive look after he had handed her his stat sheet for inspection, he felt the need to explain his thoughts.

    "This is exactly what I wanted. A fresh start without any unfair advantages. Nothing to make my life easier. It''s just perfect. Only this way can it be a worthy challenge!"

    From his eyes, a never before seen burning spirit could be seen, surprising the three women. In there, they could make out a desperate desire to conquer, to challenge himself. And quite a bit of something very close to pure insanity. But what was even more shocking was that both Loki and Ais were certain these feelings were genuine. Yet another part of the enigma that was Isaac had been laid bare.

    Yet just as quickly as this desire had taken root, it disappeared again. This gave Loki a chance to remind Isaac that he had forgotten to put his shirt back on.

    While Lefiya outwardly didn''t seem to mind that he was dressed again, inwardly, she was quite unhappy about her goddess'' reminder. Instead of bottling up her feelings, however, Ais openly showed them on her face¡­ well, as much as she could. She gave Loki a sad glance, complaining with her eyes about the wicked deed she just committed. Loki completely ignored the look of blame on Ais'' face and gave her three familia members a new assignment instead.

    "My two beauties, please bring Isaac to where he will be staying. There should still be a free bed in room 15 of the male dorms."

    After signaling for them to leave and waving towards Ais when she closed the door to the study, Loki fell into deep contemplation. Still, no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn''t figure out how she should handle the intimate relationship between Ais and Isaac. Seeing how thinking about this alone didn''t help her at all, her usual mischievous smile reappeared.

    ''If I can''t figure it out I can just let Riveria rack her brains over it.''

    Almost ten minutes after a group of two humans and an elf had left her study, the trickster goddess ran off to add even more tormenting work on her wise elven mage''s shoulders.

 Chapter 6 - Formalities

    Room 15 was a medium-sized room that contained two sets of a simple bed, a wooden chair and a wooden desk each. The only differences between the two sets was that one of them was obviously in use: It was very messy. Many drop items and notes were haphazardly scattered all over the desk. The bedsheets weren''t made at all.

    Sharpening noises were the only sounds that could be heard in the room. They originated from the dangerously glinting dagger and maintenance tools in the hands of a youth sitting on the disheveled bed.

    He looked as if he was barely 14 years old. A solemn and concentrated expression adorned his face, uncharacteristic for his age. His earthen brown eyes stared at his hands, fully focussed on his maintenance work. On top of his head, protruding from his tousled black hair that covered all the way over where human ears would normally be located, there was a pair of huge black rabbit ears.

    The youth was a Hume Bunny, a race of people very similar to humans. The only differences were the bunny ears and tail which made it inconvenient to wear trousers made for humans.

    But here in Orario, finding clothes made specifically for every race out there wasn''t a problem.

    A simple green shirt, black trousers with a hole in the back to fit the scut and matte, brown leather boots, that was what the youth was currently wearing. In addition to that, in a wooden crate next to the bed, there was a set of well-maintained light metal armour. It consisted of shin guards, arm guards, a b.r.e.a.s.t plate and a plate to cover the upper back. The armour was stuffed next to a dark green gambeson.

    Suddenly, a loud knock disturbed the perpetual sharpening noises. With a slightly peeved expression on his face because he had his work interrupted, the young Hume Bunny sheathed his dagger and reluctantly stood up from the bed. He walked towards the door and opened it, expecting to see one of his acquaintances.

    What greeted him instead was a young man almost a head taller than him. He wore a white shirt, grey pants and blue-white shoes that looked totally out of place. Consequently, the Hume Bunny was confused. He had never seen this guy in the familia before. But with such a weird getup, he would have remembered him for sure.

    Before he could ask him about what he was doing here, his eyes wandered to the two sides of the young man. And straight towards a golden haired beauty and a golden-yellow haired elf, both about as tall as himself. At first, the Hume Bunny youth just stared in shock, barely able to keep his facial expression in check. These were Ais Wallenstein, the Sword Princess, and Lefiya Viridis, Riveria''s prot¨¦g¨¦! Even he, someone who mostly didn''t participate in Loki Familia activities, couldn''t help but know about them. What were they doing here with this weird young man with the calm smile? Who could this man be, for him to be escorted by the two of them?

    Of course, the young man was Isaac.

    And just how the young Hume Bunny had been sizing him up from head to toe, he did the same to the person who had just opened the door to his future dorm room.

    When his eyes came across the pair of rabbit ears, he thought back to the ones he had seen when he was brought to Loki''s study before. The ones he got to see now were definitely not the same. These ones were black, whereas the ones he had seen before were a shade of light brown.

    Before everything got even more awkward because of the prolonged silence, he decided to introduce himself.

    "Hi there. I''m Isaac Blackshaw and just joined the familia. Loki told me I''ll be staying in this room from now on. You are probably my new roommate, right?"

    The confusion in the eyes of the Hume Bunny youth seemed to lessen a bit. Still, he didn''t seem to be too happy about having to share his room from now on. But after glancing at the two girls accompanying Isaac, he sighed and gave in. After all, there was no use in opposing someone with top tier connections.

    "Yeah, I am. I''m Jakk Maytin. I advanced to Level 2 a few months ago. Come on in."

    Without paying any further attention to the three people following behind him, Jakk sat down on his bed again and continued to work on his dagger.

    After glancing over everything in the room for a bit, Isaac sat down on the unoccupied bed to test how comfortable it was. And as soon as he did, he couldn''t help but be surprised. Contrary to what he expected from a medieval-ish fantasy world, the mattress was of top quality. It wasn''t too hard or too soft. Additionally, it wasn''t stuffed with straw or feathers. With only this cursory examination, he couldn''t even tell what it was made of. Most importantly, he would definitely not have a problem with getting a good rest here.

    Once Ais was sure that Isaac had checked out his new home sufficiently, she decided to ask a question.

    "Do you want to get registered and get some equipment now, Isaac?"

    Before he could reply, Lefiya already chimed in to add more information, happy about finally being able to break that awkward silence from before. She didn''t really know Jakk well, so she wasn''t that comfortable with initiating a conversation in his presence.

    "Just so you know, everyone who joins the familia will be set up with a set of equipment that isn''t too strong for their current Level."

    "Thanks for explaining that, Lefiya. But where will we get the funds?"

    Hearing Isaac''s question, the cute elf was proud to be of help to a newcomer with her knowledge, so she answered immediately.

    "We''ll get them at the treasury."

    Once he heard the word ''treasury'', Jakk''s ears perked up quite a bit and he hastily got up, uncharacteristically enthusiastic. Before Lefiya could offer to lead them to the treasury, he joined the group''s conversation himself.

    "I''d be a bad roommate if I didn''t even show you to the treasury. Follow me, I''ll lead you there."

    Isaac was pretty amused by the sudden shift in tone but nodded in agreement, eager to find out what his new roommate was so excited about.

    "Alright."

    -----

    Shortly after, the group of four arrived in another part of the Twilight Manor.

    In front of a huge strongroom door, behind a desk filled with a huge amount of books, a pair of light brown rabbit ears caught Isaac''s and Jakk''s attention straight away.

    For Isaac, this was because it was the pair of rabbit ears he had seen previously in the entrance hall. On the other hand, Jakk was genuinely excited to have a reason to go see the one the ears belonged to.

    The owner of the rabbit ears was a Hume Bunny girl who looked to be around 16 years old. She wore a plain, white blouse, brown pants and black shoes. It was obvious she was trying to not stick out. Her hair was of the same light brown colour as her ears and she had red eyes that had previously been completely focussed on the book in her hands. As soon as the group entered the room she was in charge of, her ears twitched nervously and her eyes darted over to timidly observe the group while trying to hide behind the book.

    While attempting to not be too conspicuous, Lefiya leaned over towards Isaac and whispered to him a little bit of information about this shy bunny girl.

    "That''s Rakta, a Level 3 adventurer. She doesn''t usually go into the dungeon because she is too cautious. So Loki decided to have her guard the treasury instead. She isn''t really comfortable with talking to people, so don''t take offense with her, okay?"

    After nodding towards Lefiya with a confident smile, trying to signal to her that he wouldn''t make Rakta uncomfortable, Jakk''s loud voice echoed through the room, boasting.

    "Hey Rakta. I brought my new roommate here to get the funds for his starting equipment. I would be a bad roommate if he got lost, after all. But I''m definitely a great roommate, so I lead him here, mhm!"

    Confusion spread on Ais'' face, upon hearing this shameless bragging. She couldn''t figure out why the previously reserved Hume Bunny youth was now trying to make himself seem like a magnanimous samaritan. Of course, it was very obvious that he failed miserably - anyone would be able to identify his words as the over-the-top vainglory that they were. Not to mention, his words sounded quite cringeworthy.

    When she looked over to Lefiya and Isaac to see if they were just as puzzled as she was, she realized that she seemed to be the only one that didn''t understand what was going on. Both Lefiya and Isaac showed a knowing smile. So Ais decided to ask the two about this later, after they separated from Jakk. It would be unbecoming of her to ask about his behaviour while he was still here, after all.

    Hearing Jakk''s words, Rakta shrank back a little bit, before finally lowering her book, observing the group in front of her head on. After taking a few breaths to calm herself down, she looked directly at the only person she didn''t recognize. By process of elimination, this had to be the new roommate Jakk had just mentioned. Stutteringly, she inquired about some information she needed to know to get the young man the right amount of funds.

    "L-Level?"

    Seeing how socially awkward the bunny girl was behaving, a warm smile spread on Isaac''s face. He had always felt quite safe around these kinds of people.

    "I''m Isaac Blackshaw, Level 1. Nice to meet you, Rakta."

    He decided to introduce himself while he was at it. It was quite likely that he would run across her again in the future and it would be awkward if they didn''t even know each other''s name.

    Hearing the young man in front of her address her by her name, Rakta''s ears perked up a bit and she hesitated for a while, finally deciding on responding with a nod and just getting the funds without further ado.

    She turned around towards the strongroom door and placed her hand on it. At the same time, a green magic circle appeared and the mechanism recognized her. The massive metal door soundlessly opened and let her walk inside without obstruction. But to Isaac''s surprise, he couldn''t see anything beyond the door at all. It was as if the treasury itself was shrouded by a black veil, making it impossible to guess the amount of riches stored here.

    After studying the magical veil for a bit, Rakta had already returned from inside and closed the door, leaving Isaac''s observation unfinished.

    Rakta bashfully walked over to Isaac with a small bag of coins grasped in her right hand. Before he could ask her anything about it, she already listed the contents.

    "100.000 valis. In 1.000 valis coins."

    After handing over the bag, Isaac was only barely able to thank her, before Rakta had already disappeared behind her mountain of books again. She seemingly paid the group no attention but it was quite obvious that she was waiting for them to leave before she was able to relax again.

    Not wanting to disturb her any further, the group, led by the still enthusiastic Jakk totally oblivious about how horrible he was at boasting, left the room adjacent to the treasury and walked back towards the male dormitory.

    Soon, they arrived at the entrance hall from the direction of the hallway Isaac had seen Rakta escape to before.

    "I''ll go to get registered with the Guild and buy my equipment now."

    Having heard Isaac''s explanation about what he planned to do now, Jakk just nodded and trod off back to their dorm room. He had already reverted back to his antisocial state and wasn''t interested in sticking around for a pointless shopping trip. He only left behind a few words before disappearing from sight.

    "See you later."

    -----

    While on the way to the Guild headquarters, called the Pantheon, Ais finally got the chance to ask the question she planned to ask before.

    "Why did Jakk behave so weirdly?"

    Isaac couldn''t help but smile at Ais'' naive and cute question. Subconsciously, he raised his right hand a bit, trying to pet her head. But before he could raise his hand for more than a few centimeters, he noticed what he was about to do. Just because he liked petting people''s heads, that didn''t mean he was allowed to do so without their permission. Thankfully, he was able to stop in time, before possibly offending Ais.

    Of course, Ais noticed this weird, momentary hand motion but she didn''t really know what to think about it. She decided to just ignore it and wait for him to answer her question.

    "Jakk seems to like that girl, Rakta. So to look better in front of her, he purposefully boasted about himself. I don''t know whether he feels simple admiration for her, or if he has a crush on her. Heck, he might just be trying to make friends. Still, if he is, he is really bad at it. Anyway, he did what he did to try to look better in her eyes."

    After thinking about Isaac''s words for a bit, Ais nodded. Then, she pulled Lefiya aside, walking just far enough away so that Isaac couldn''t hear what they were talking about.

    Lefiya was pretty confused by this behaviour but blushed a lot when she felt Ais'' hand grasping hers, dragging her away. And after hearing Ais'' question, her blushing intensified.

    "How can I look better in front of Isaac?"

    Lefiya couldn''t help but feel dejected and jealous inside. Yes, she knew her idol and Isaac had a very close and special connection that she wasn''t even able to understand. But still, she wanted to be close to Ais too!

    Trying to calm down from the possible implications of Ais'' question that were causing her imagination to run wild, she decided to categorize the feelings Ais had for Isaac as a simple liking, a simple interest. After all, Lefiya was quite sure that Ais didn''t even fully comprehend what ''love'' was. So she didn''t have to go too crazy thinking about it.

    Still, she couldn''t really think of an answer to Ais'' question. After all, she had never tried to appeal to a man before.

    "I have no idea. I don''t know what men like. Let''s ask Riveria when we get back, okay?"

    Although Isaac was wondering about what the two girls were whispering about in secret, he decided to just give them some space. He didn''t need to know everything, after all. If it was something of importance that was related to him, they would surely tell him once it became relevant.

    Soon, the majestic Pantheon came into view on the north-western main street. It was an enormous, three-floor-tall building whose front, which was the only part that could be seen from where he currently stood, was almost 100 meters in width. It was gigantic. Truly fitting for the most influential force in the city.

    Without loitering around, Isaac lead the way.

    The entrance hall of the building had many counters manned by guild staff which could deal with the adventurers'' various requests. Currently, there were still barely any adventurers here as it was only the late afternoon. So a group with two famous Loki Familia members was spotted even quicker than it normally would be. As soon as they entered the building, a joyful voice welcomed them.

    "Yo, Lefiya, Sword Princess! What can I help you with today?"

    Right in front of the group stood a pink-haired young woman a little shorter than Lefiya and Ais. She wore the typical Guild uniform: A black suit coat without sleeves worn over a long-sleeved, white shirt, a grey-blue bowtie, black gloves, black suit trousers and black leather shoes. Isaac immediately recognized this bundle of energy to be Misha Flott, one of the few Guild employees mentioned in the Danmachi novels.

    While he was observing her, she was, of course, also curiously assessing the weirdly clothed man accompanied by the two girls she was acquainted with. But besides the fact that he seemed to be a calm and collected, friendly individual, she wasn''t able to discern anything else about him.

    "Ah, Misha! We''re here to register our new familia member as an adventurer."

    Lefiya''s explanation confirmed what Misha had already suspected. Indeed, the Sword Princess wouldn''t just walk around town with a man for no reason at all. Showing an understanding, enthusiastic smile, Misha nodded and lead them to a counter manned by a youthful amazoness Guild employee.

    The amazoness had the dark skin inherent to her race, long brown hair and blue eyes inquisitively sizing up the approaching group. She wore her Guild uniform a lot more loosely than Misha. The sleeves of her white shirt were folded back and only reached above her elbow. Instead of a grey-blue bowtie, she wore a black necktie that was barely tied at all. The top two buttons of her shirt were open and she was leaning back in her seat relaxedly. If it hadn''t been against Guild regulations, she would definitely have put her feet on the counter in front of her.

    "Yolanda, I have a new Loki Familia member who wants to register as an adventurer here. I''ll leave him to you."

    Right after saying that, Misha waved at Lefiya and walked off, back towards her post near the entrance, ready to welcome more adventurers.

    "Heyo, I''m Yolanda Filura and I''ll be ya dungeon advisor in the future. What''s ya name?"

    After grasping the outstretched hand of the friendly amazoness and giving a short introduction, Yolanda handed him a form to fill out, literally titled ''Adventurer Registration''.

    "Ya''ll only need to write down some basic information on here. We just need ya name, the name of ya familia and ya Level. Nothing personal like ya status or anything, so don''t worry, ''kay?"

    Isaac carefully read through the form she gave him but found no small print or anything that differed from what she just said. This took him aback slightly as he expected Ouranos, the god who was the head of the Guild, to sneak in something to put hidden restrictions on adventurers. But there was nothing suspicious whatsoever.

    So, while listening to Yolanda explain a few things, he filled out the form, writing in the common language of this continent of the Danmachi world, Koine, for the first time. Of course, there were no problems thanks to the automatic translation feature of the system.

    "Just report back to me if ya run into any problem in the dungeon, I''ll give ya some tips that might help ya."

    Even though she was saying this with a bright smile on her face, deep inside, Yolanda knew she probably wouldn''t be of much help to the young man in front of her. After all, the Loki Familia taught their members a lot of strategies and knowledge about the dungeon in-house. Still, she would do her best to give him good counsel. The less adventurers died, the better for the Guild, after all. Also, it was never a pleasant experience to know that someone she had interacted with for some time had died without her being able to do anything.

    And as her whole reason for being a Guild employee was to find a strong adventurer to settle down with, she wanted the ones she was in charge of to survive for as long as possible. So even though Isaac hadn''t stared at her purposefully slightly exposed cleavage at all and was therefore quite unlikely to be the kind of simpleton she was looking for, she would still support him, as that was her job.

    Seeing Isaac agree to her request with a nod, she informed him about yet another thing.

    "If there are any important changes, for example, if ya Level or familia changes, let me know. The Guild wants to keep an up-to-date database on all registered adventurers, ya understand?"

    Yet again, Isaac was surprised with how out-in-the-open the Guild operated. He had expected Ouranous to keep his actions of keeping such a database a relative secret. But here, this well-meaning amazoness was just telling him about it up-front. He couldn''t help but chuckle.

    "Sure, I''ll let you know. Here you go."

    With these words, he handed her the filled-out form and turned towards Ais and Lefiya.

    "Let''s go buy the equipment now, shall we?"

    Both girls happily agreed, so after saying goodbye to Isaac''s new dungeon advisor Yolanda for now, the group of three walked off towards Babel. It really wasn''t hard to find the way. All the main streets lead there in a straight line.

    -----

    On Babel''s sixth floor, Isaac stepped off a magical elevator, closely followed by Ais and an unhappily pouting Lefiya.

    Compared to when Lefiya first used these elevators and was scared out of her wits, Isaac wasn''t even the least bit surprised by them. She had been excited for Isaac''s reaction to these magical devices the entire way to Babel, so she was quite disappointed when nothing like what she expected happened.

    The fourth to eighth floors of Babel were rented by the Hephaestus Familia, a familia of blacksmiths and crafters of all sorts. Of course, they were mainly focussed on blacksmithing, because their god was the Goddess of Smithing. Still, there were a fair few members focussing on other crafting professions in the familia as well.

    While the prices on the fourth and fifth floor were in the millions of valis, from the sixth floor onwards, the less expensive products of the familia were showcased. Pretty much any kind of armour, cloth or metal, and weapon could be found on this floor. They wouldn''t be of the highest quality needed by first or second class adventurers, but third class adventurers like the Level 1 Isaac would be able to make good use of them.

    A few minutes later, Isaac found himself in front of a mirror in a changing room of an armour store. He contentedly observed his new equipment and stretched a bit, to see whether or not he was uncomfortable anywhere. Thankfully, everything seemed to fit perfectly.

    He was wearing a short black gambeson almost reminiscent of a shirt. Over that, he wore light metal armour similar to the set he had seen in Jakk''s crate. The only difference with that set was that over his left arm guard, he wore a black vambrace. He decided on this instead of a less wieldy shield. He also wore padded black trousers and short, matte, black leather boots.

    Overall, he couldn''t help but admit that his outfit was quite similar to the one the protagonist of Danmachi had chosen at one point. Of course, his gambeson and padded trousers offered a lot more protection than what he had seen Bell choose in the novels, but the look was oddly similar.

    A sigh couldn''t help but escape his lips. Isaac had always thought that a head on collision of forces was the worst way to battle, so he couldn''t help but choose this more mobile, dodging- and force-redirection-focussed equipment. So, without even trying to, just by choosing the colour black because it made blood stains stand out less, he had ripped off Bell.

    While shaking his head to get these self-deprecating thoughts out of his head, his gaze couldn''t help but land on a pile of clothes on the chair in the changing room. His clothes.

    Admittedly, he could just change back into them but he would then still be sized up by pretty much every passerby because of his unusual fashion. Just like on his previous walks through Orario. So it was probably a better idea to keep this equipment on while he was walking around the city, to have people pay less attention to him. Still, that left one problem: He didn''t want to carry his clothes around.

    ''System, how can I put something into my inventory?''

    [ Think about adding the object to your inventory while being in physical contact with it, Isaac. ]

    Wasting no time, Isaac grabbed his shirt, trousers and shoes and thought about putting them into his inventory. Of course, he hadn''t known about the existence of the inventory before this. But honestly: Would he have forgotten to implement such a convenient feature? Of course not!

    Right after the clothes in his hands had disappeared into thin air, a window popped up in Isaac''s field of view. It was made up of many grids symbolizing space for different objects: the inventory. Contrary to the inventories he had used in the games of his previous world, he didn''t seem to have an upper limit on his storage capacity. Additionally, he was able to create sub-inventories and use filters to make navigation and storage more convenient.

    A confident smile flashed across Isaac''s face for a moment. Was that the feeling other people got when they got to appreciate what they had created?

    After observing his inventory for a while longer, he closed the window in his field of view and walked out of the changing room.

    What greeted him were the gazes of his two female companions. Ais gave him an approving nod, obviously quite happy with his equipment choice. Lefiya also couldn''t help but praise him.

    "It looks really fitting."

    Of course, even these simple words made the adorable elf blush a bit. She had never complimented a man on their choice of clothes or equipment before, so she was quite embarrassed doing so now.

    A simple word of thanks and a cheerful smile later, Isaac walked towards the desk the shop clerk was sitting at. Once he was there, he pointed at all the equipment he was currently wearing.

    "I''d like to buy all of this."

    Once the surprise about how his customer seemingly decided to walk out of his store in full equipment had faded, the clerk just ignored it as it wasn''t a particularly weird request and added up the cost of all the armour pieces.

    "That''ll be 49.000 valis."

    Another ten minutes later, the group of three had left a weapon store directly opposite of the armour store they had been to before. In there, Isaac had bought a sword for 40.000 valis. With this, he still had 11.000 valis left, which he intended to return in full. He would earn his own money soon enough, after all. There was no need to be a penny pincher.

    Now, a simple black sheath was strapped to the left side of Isaac''s waist. The length of the contained sword was somewhere between a longsword and a shortsword. It was the most basic kind of sword Isaac could find in the store. What made him decide on buying it was that it felt natural when holding it in his hand. The sword''s hilt was a little bit too short to properly be wielded with two hands but just perfect for one-handed use.

    Isaac spent a few moments admiring the weapon now at his disposal, particularly happy with the non-ornamental pommel that was as basic as it could get. Functionality was the most important aspect of a weapon, after all. If a weapon had eye-catching ornaments, its quality was often a lot worse than it could have been. Once he finished praising himself for his choice of weapon in his mind, he turned around to Ais and Lefiya who had followed him outside of the store and excitedly asked them a question.

    "Can we go to the dungeon for a bit?"

 Chapter 7 - Let The Grind Begin

    "What? Why do you want to go to the dungeon?"

    Lefiya couldn''t help but be flabbergasted. Didn''t they just get him out of that dangerous place? Who would want to go back there after barely escaping death by a hair''s breadth just earlier today?

    In response, Isaac simply smiled like a child who just got a new toy, stroking the sheath of his sword affectionately.

    "I mean, we''re basically already at the dungeon, we just have to go down a few floors. While we''re there, I''d like to test out my new stuff and gain a little bit of experience fighting against monsters."

    These words made Ais nod in approval. It was always a good idea to get used to new equipment. She was truly looking forward to this young man with seemingly unlimited potential possibly showing part of what made him so confident.

    Grudgingly, Lefiya couldn''t help but admit that there was no reason to deny him the opportunity. She had no way to argue against what he just said, especially because both her and Ais were accompanying him right now, making the trip as safe as it could possibly be. There was one more thing she had to remind the two combat maniacs of, though.

    "We''ll have to be back before nightfall. If we''re any later than that, we''ll get into trouble with Riveria¡­"

    Once Ais and Isaac had agreed to Lefiya''s plea, the group of three made their way back to where they first met.

    -----

    Contrary to the first time they had taken the staircase leading into the dungeon, this time, Isaac had received a lot less curious stares. This was, of course, because he was now wearing fitting clothing. Instead, almost all of the stares he received had been filled with envy and murderous intentions. It was quite baffling to him how so many people could get obsessed with Ais, a girl barely of age, to such an unhealthy degree.

    After a few minutes, the group finally found themselves far enough away from other adventurers so that they wouldn''t get disturbed.

    From the first to the fourth floor, the dungeon''s walls were coloured a light blue and gave off enough light to see clearly for tens of meters ahead. The vast majority of hallways were quite wide, enough for about ten people to walk next to each other comfortably.

    Here on the first floor there were almost exclusively two kinds of monsters roaming about, either alone or in small groups. Both of them were, of course, Level 1 monsters. One of these two species were the goblins: green, short and slightly plump humanoid monsters with sharp claws. They were slightly taller than one meter and considered to be the weakest monsters in the dungeon. Still, if one only looked at their stats, they were all at around I-50. The other species were the kobolds. Just like goblins, they were also humanoids. Their bodies were almost completely covered in fur of various colours, mostly brown, and their heads looked just like a dog''s head. They towered almost two heads over the goblins, while their stats could sometimes approach H-100.

    An important thing to note was that the way stats grew wasn''t linear, which meant that a goblin wasn''t five times as strong as Isaac. Neither was a kobold ten times as strong. The two species were quite a bit weaker than that.

    Still, it was plainly obvious that stat-wise, Isaac wouldn''t be able to compete with them directly. Even so, he had requested for Lefiya and Ais to fall back as far as possible, to a point where they could still barely observe him. At first, Lefiya hadn''t agreed but she was finally convinced when Isaac had told her that he wanted to focus completely and test himself without subconsciously relying on their help too much.

    Currently, Isaac could see a single goblin wandering around the hallways about 20 meters away. It didn''t even attempt to exploit the slight grooves in the walls or other parts of the terrain, clearly showcasing that it''s intelligence was severely lacking.

    With a little bit of excitement, Isaac unsheathed his sword and forewent any chance of a surprise attack by calmly walking directly towards his first monster opponent. As if a switch had been flipped, he cleared his mind of any distracting thoughts and observed the goblin as closely as possible.

    Even before his transcendence, his mind had already been superhuman. It easily enabled him to register every single muscle movement, every breath and eye movement of such a slow opponent. Even though the goblin''s stats were almost five times higher than his own, such a small difference couldn''t even begin to bridge the vast gap between their awarenesses.

    The goblin didn''t take long to notice the sole adventurer making his way towards it. Once it did, it let out a guttural screech, that even Isaac''s system couldn''t translate, as it wasn''t part of a language, and charged towards its perceived prey.

    Meanwhile, Ais was observing from afar and wondering about how Isaac, who observably wasn''t even a match for the stats of this single goblin, would deal with this situation. She didn''t worry too much about the young man, though, as he seemed to be as confident as ever. Lefiya, on the other hand, was already about to charge out to do her best to defend this guy she somehow felt protective of. She knew how scary monsters could be, especially if someone wasn''t used to them. Most people would just freeze up or blank out when they had to confront them alone for the first time. So she couldn''t help but worry.

    Before she could rush out, however, Ais stopped her, signaling for her to just keep watching.

    At this moment, Isaac relaxedly sidestepped the goblin''s charge, evading its claws by a safe margin: not too far, and not too close. After almost falling over, the goblin turned around with an annoyed expression on its face and charged yet again, convinced that it would hit its prey this time around. The same thing continued to happen a few times, before Isaac started to feint attacks towards the green monster and continuously changed the movement pattern he used to evade. Simultaneously, he registered every single reaction the goblin had to his actions.

    It was as simple as a game of 3D chess with a lot more options. There was only a finite number of actions a goblin''s body could reasonably perform at any given point in time. Isaac was testing the waters, figuring out which of his movements caused the goblin to react in specific ways.

    Of course, to do such a thing, perfect and immediate control of the entire body was necessary. That was a realm a normal human being would never reach - and yet, Isaac had already reached it long before he transcended. It was one of the many steps necessary for him to succeed in transcending, after all. Now that his body could more accurately be described as an avatar of his soul than its container, it was even easier to perform these feats.

    This whole charade had to look just like a drunken performance to an unskilled observer. During the entire ten minutes this exchange took place, neither side drew blood or even touched the opposing party.

    Slowly, Lefiya began to understand what Isaac was doing and was baffled. She herself couldn''t even begin to employ such methods. Because it was absolutely insane. What kind of mental capacity would a being need to calculate and predict each of their opponent''s moves in advance? She didn''t know anyone who could do so, not even her beloved idol, Ais!

    Speaking of Ais, she was completely glued to Isaac''s performance. Even though what other people would see was just a Level 1 newbie adventurer struggling to defeat even a single goblin, she saw a completely different world. A world like a chessboard. Although she couldn''t make it out clearly, she got absorbed by this, to her, inspiring and captivating dance.

    Just then, what could up to this moment be considered a humorous display, suddenly changed to a gory tragedy. Isaac had accounted for all possible moves and reactions of the goblin while it was still undamaged, not in pain and under no lethal threat. While there was always a very minimal margin of error, it wasn''t hard to account for a one in a billion chance that a new pattern might emerge. Now, he had to change his modus operandi.

    And just like that, in very quick succession, more and more small wounds started to appear all over the goblin''s body. Piercing wounds, tiny slices, powerful slashes and a hacking motion that almost cut off the goblin''s right arm. Many such attacks began to drown Isaac''s opponent in a torrent of pain.

    While a pale and horrified elf and still mesmerized Ais were watching, Isaac expressionlessly injured the goblin over and over, slowly dismembering it, while still giving it enough time to react to his attacks. Pretty early on, he had slightly grazed the monster''s magic stone but was lucky enough to not have damaged it enough to result in the death of his experimental subject, so he avoided that spot thereafter.

    After a grueling ten minute long torture that almost made Lefiya throw up and forced her to look away after a minute or so, the goblin finally stopped responding. It was dead.

    After sighing sadly for a moment because he hadn''t been able to research all of its possible reactions to harm and impending death, Isaac ripped the slightly exposed magic stone out of the goblin''s chest, which prompted its body to turn to ash and disappear soundlessly.

    [ Achievement Progress: Kill 1000 Level 1 monsters. (1/1000) ]

    Noticing that the noises had suddenly stopped, Lefiya carefully turned around to see Isaac hold a small magic stone in his right hand. Finally, she wasn''t in danger of throwing up anymore. Still, she was quite angry about what happened, so she walked towards him and indignantly confronted him.

    "Why did you do something so horrible just now? Couldn''t you just have killed it?"

    Isaac couldn''t help but be perplexed at this sudden complaint and explained himself.

    "Well, it obviously wanted to kill me, so I used it as a research subject to prepare for when I''ll have to face others of its kind. I didn''t torture it out of ire, I just wanted to prepare for future reactions goblins could have to my attacks and movements. If I do so, I''ll be able to easily dispatch any of them in the future and stay safe in the process. A challenge only seems hard if you don''t research and prepare for it beforehand, after all."

    Even though she knew that what Isaac had just told her was the truth, as she couldn''t see any malice or deceit in his eyes, Lefiya still didn''t relent.

    "But still, was it necessary to be this cruel?"

    Contrary to the timid elf, Isaac didn''t think of his actions as excessive.

    "The goblin was my enemy. What happens to an enemy of mine is irrelevant to me."

    As if she had just grasped onto something, a crafty look appeared on Lefiya''s face. She was sure she would be able to show him how flawed his logic was with her next words.

    "But what if the enemy was a person, and not a monster?"

    Of course, Isaac had noticed her change in expression and already expected her to ask something along these lines. He had to admit that it was truly adorable how innocent and naive her thoughts were. Because she had asked him this question, even if her opinion of him could turn worse, he would answer honestly.

    "To me, there are only three kinds of beings. My enemies, my friends and the ones I don''t care about. What difference does it make whether they are gods, humans, elves, amazonesses, pallums, chienthropes, any other race or even monsters? I will treat them according to how they treat me."

    At this time in the explanation, his expression turned a lot worse, as if he was remembering a few unpleasant scenes.

    "There are many horrible people whose actions are even more vile than the most terrifying monsters. So what makes them better than monsters? The only thing that could be argued for is the existence of a ''soul'' and them therefore being sentient and able to communicate. But that''s it. If there was a monster that fit these criteria, would there even be any difference between it and the people of the so-called sentient races? There would be none. Both have just as much of a potential to be my enemy, friend or just a bystander. Treating them differently would just be discrimination because of personal bias. To me, only their behaviour towards me will decide how I treat them, not criteria they have no control over."

    Isaac''s words felt like heavy punches to Lefiya. She was completely dumbstruck. Never before had she thought about these things. The simple dichotomy of ''monsters are bad and the sentient races are good'' was all she had ever considered. But now, she couldn''t deny that Isaac''s words were sound, she couldn''t refute any of them. Even though she didn''t agree with how he treated his enemies. Maybe it was she who was in the wrong? Still, she had a slight aversion towards monsters, no matter what their intentions were. She couldn''t just change that. But maybe she should?

    By making her confused, Isaac had successfully diverted Lefiya''s attention from his cruel and merciless actions. He smiled towards Ais who was just as deeply in thought about his previous words as Lefiya, which prompted her to smile back distractedly.

    Without waiting for their thoughts to settle down, he walked further into the dungeon, eager for more enemies to cross his path. Once he was sure the two girls weren''t paying close attention, he put the small magic stone he had just gathered into his inventory.

    -----

    By now, Isaac had slain three more goblins and finally finished his experiments related to their species. No matter what, he was prepared to face their kind. Additionally, he had also found a first and second kobold for his research.

    When he had just managed to gain enough data, beheaded the kobold lying on the ground in front of him, wiped the sweat off his forehead and ripped out the magic stone, Isaac stumbled a bit upon receiving a slew of system messages.

    [ Achievement Progress: Kill 1000 Level 1 monsters. (6/1000) ]

    This first one, he had already expected. The following ones were the cause for his surprise.

    [ Ais Wallenstein''s fundamental beliefs relating to monsters have been changed by your words.

    Quest ''Transform one person''s fundamental beliefs.'' completed. 100 Achievement Points rewarded. ]

    [ Ais Wallenstein has fallen in love with you.

    Quest ''Gain one person''s love.'' completed. 100 Achievement Points rewarded.

    Quest ''Gain Ais Wallenstein''s love.'' completed. 1000 Achievement Points rewarded. ]

    [ A feature has been unlocked.

    Requirements: Have one person fit into all of the following categories.

    (Fundamental belief transformed by host), (Friend of host), (In love with host), (Ais Wallenstein or Ereshkigal) ]

    [ For anyone fitting into all of the previously mentioned categories, an assignable position has become available: Secondary Host ]

    -----

    She didn''t know how long she had been watching the inexplicably charming young man elegantly stride through this fleeting world resembling a chessboard. But all this while, Ais had been thinking about the words he said before. His words about all of the species.

    They had caused her to look back upon her own life. She remembered the time when the One-Eyed Black Dragon took away her father and mother. How, following this, she was alone for longer than she could even process. Her deep hatred for monsters spawned by what the damn dragon had done to her and her family. How she was taken in by a kind familia, pushing herself to the brink all the time on her path to strength and vengeance. After a while, she didn''t even know when it started, she began to care for others around her.

    And at the same time, because she wasn''t solely focussed on her grudge anymore, she had begun to notice the dark side of the sentient races as well. Back then, a question appeared in her mind: Were they any better than monsters? Or were all evil beings fundamentally the same thing, her enemy? Isaac''s words had brought this question back to the forefront of her thoughts.

    Ais thought back to all the times she had heard about adventurers murdering each other in the dungeon and the streets of Orario. Back to the constant wars between country-style familias and the resulting refugees she sometimes ran across. Back to the muffled cries of help often heard from particular back alleys. There were simply too many horrible things to recount.

    Was there anything wrong with treating people who treated her well as friends, and the ones who wanted to harm her as enemies?

    No.

    Why should she care about their race or species? It didn''t make a difference. It was literally irrelevant. It didn''t change what kind of being they were. Whether they were evil or just, whether they harmed her or the people she cared about or cared about her and her loved ones.

    Just like how Ais hated the One-Eyed Black Dragon for the tragedy it had brought upon her family, she would hate any beings of sentient races that did the same thing to her or her loved ones.

    Really, it was simple. Why did it take her so long to realize this?

    It felt as if some kind of veil had been lifted from her eyes, but of course, that was only her imagination.

    Deep inside her very being, multiple feelings and thoughts coincidentally joined together: the impressive calculative feats Isaac had just portrayed, his words that triggered an answer to her old question, his every other word and action ever since they met, plus the inexplicable resonant loneliness that made her feel true hope and understanding for the first time.

    Ais felt a warm feeling in her chest. And it wasn''t the usual warmth she associated with her own body. It was completely incorporeal.

    Once she realized that this feeling wasn''t only admiration or her desire for strength, she couldn''t help but blush. It was something more. Something she had only ever heard about from others. Still, she recognized it immediately. Love.

    Love truly was a weird feeling. People could fall in love at any time, without warning. Often times, there wasn''t even a discernible reason. It didn''t matter how long or well people knew each other. If a special something, a special connection, was there and enough factors came into play, it bloomed. It could happen in the weirdest of circ.u.mstances.

    Just like how Ais'' maiden heart was stolen while watching an enigmatic young man decapitate a previously tortured, mutilated and crippled kobold.

    Shortly after she started to feel the warm feeling in her chest, she saw how Isaac stumbled for a moment. She had been ready to rush forward to keep him from harming himself with his still-drawn sword if he fell, but felt relief upon seeing how he caught himself almost immediately.

    Right after that, he looked at her with a mixture of emotions showing on his face: surprise, confusion and happiness. Meanwhile, Ais was thinking about how Isaac was probably exhausted from all of this exercise and that was the reason for him stumbling a bit.

    After staring at her for a few moments, a resolute look appeared on Isaac''s face, as if he had just made an important decision.

    A fraction of a second later, Ais almost got scared out of her wits when, without any kind of warning or indication, an intangible message box appeared in her field of view, personally addressing her.

    [ Welcome to the Wish Fulfillment System, secondary host Ais. ]

 Chapter 8 - System Features

    Slightly distracted, Isaac dried his hair with a towel. He was currently alone in one of the smaller male bathrooms in the Twilight Manor. There were quite a few of these, so it hadn''t been hard to find an unoccupied one.

    The cause for Isaac''s distraction was that he was thinking about everything that had happened since about one hour earlier, just after he decided to make Ais a secondary host.

    Right after that message box had appeared in front of her, Isaac could see a mixture of shock, fear and confusion in her eyes. Yeah, he truly felt a bit bad about that. What had surprised him at the time, though, was that he had been able to see that there was indeed a message box hovering right in front of her. This meant that hosts were able to see the system interfaces of each other, but other people, who weren''t integrated into the system, were unable to.

    Of course, as soon as she had noticed Ais'' strange behaviour, Lefiya had gotten very worried and concernedly asked her whether or not she was okay.

    This question seemed to calm Ais down quite considerably, so that she was now able to think about everything that had happened with a cool head. Right before this message box had appeared in front of her, she had seen how Isaac had made some kind of decision while looking at her. Only an idiot wouldn''t be able to tell that these two things were indeed connected somehow. Now that she had realized this unknown ''system'' was most likely related to Isaac, Ais was able to calm down even more.

    Naturally, Isaac didn''t know about all of these thoughts, he had just noticed how Ais had seemingly composed herself again, which was quite reassuring. Moments later, to soothe the worried little elf, Ais told her that everything was fine and nothing was amiss. Of course, while Lefiya outwardly indeed seemed relieved, she couldn''t help but still feel a little bit worried.

    Once the situation had calmed down again, Lefiya reminded the group that they had to return home as soon as possible, or they would get into trouble with Riveria.

    On the way back, Ais had mostly been deep in thought, not really participating in any conversations. To be fair, though, she normally wasn''t very verbose either. All the time, Isaac had been able to see various message boxes and system interfaces appear before her, but he didn''t take a closer look. It was well within her rights to explore the system a bit, especially now that he had integrated her without her express consent. Thinking about the system a bit, he noticed that he really needed to spend some time soon to look into a few of the functions he speculated the system to have.

    To be honest, Isaac was a little bit worried about incurring Ais'' ire because of how he had just involved her in his own matters without asking. He was also, like with every other person, a little bit worried whether or not he could fully trust her. But still, if there was anyone in all of the worlds in existence who he felt like he could trust, then it had to be either Ais Wallenstein or Ereshkigal. He would have never come to like them otherwise, after all.

    After having reassured himself, he spent the way back making casual conversation with the chipper elf at his side, asking her about whatever kind of trivia he thought of. Just like the last time when they were on their way back to the Twilight Manor, a few people started to stalk their group, and many death glares were shot Isaac''s way. But he mostly ignored them now, while still being on guard in case any of them would actually pose a threat.

    Luckily, nothing bad happened yet again, and shortly before sunset, they arrived at the gates of their familia''s home. Before they got inside, they met a handful of other Loki Familia members, none of which Isaac recognized from the novels. They were either on their way out into the city, to get a drink and have fun, or on their way back home just like their group of three. Still, besides exchanging quick greetings, they didn''t talk much and just hurried along.

    Just in case they would become important later on, Isaac decided to memorize their appearances in detail. If they ever were in trouble, or if he ever met them outside of the familia home, he would now instantly recognize them - even if he didn''t know their names. Now that he was thinking about that, a foreboding feeling overcame him. Would he have to go through some kind of familia introduction ceremony, to get to know all of the members? Probably.

    There was no use crying over spilt milk, though. Now that he was a part of this familia, even though it turned out to have a lot more members than it seemed to have in the novels, he would just have to deal with these things as he encountered them. Knowing Loki''s personality, he was sure she wouldn''t pass up an opportunity for some festivities, even if it was just the joining of a new, unremarkable familia member. The countdown to his inevitable demise, a welcome party, had undoubtedly already begun.

    Shortly after the group of three had made their way into the entrance hall, Isaac bid farewell to Lefiya and the still-distracted Ais, to go back to his dorm room, take a shower and clean his equipment. Of course, he didn''t forget to wish the two girls a good night.

    In his dorm room, he saw his anti-social bunny boy roommate sitting in front of his messy desk, writing notes while reading multiple books about the dungeon and the monsters therein. While Jakk had quite a few traits that were everything but praiseworthy, he exuded an air of extreme seriousness at that moment. So Isaac felt a little bit bad for snapping him out of his concentrated efforts just to ask him about where he could find a bath- or shower room, as well as a place designated for equipment maintenance.

    While disgruntled at having his studies interrupted, Jakk didn''t really want to get into any unnecessary trouble, so he quickly told Isaac where to go, before shooing him away.

    With a wry smile on his face at having been treated just like an annoying fly, Isaac inconspicuously made his way towards the male bath- and shower area. After a short search, he found a small bathroom with a shower that was currently unoccupied - and also able to be locked from the inside.

    And that was pretty much everything that had led up to this point.

    Quite close to the room he was in right now, there were multiple small and big rooms outfitted for the cleaning and maintenance of equipment, so he could go there right after he was finished here.

    Right now, all of his equipment was stored in his inventory. But that posed a problem. Besides the set of clothes he wore when he came to this world, he didn''t really have anything else to wear, or even call his own.

    Just like that, he remembered something he had wanted to take a look at before, and which could also possibly be the solution for what would otherwise give him a headache - the system store. Now was the time to take a closer look at it.

    [ Product - Cost ]

    [ Toothbrush - 2 Achievement Points ]

    [ Toothpaste (5-pack) - 1 Achievement Point ]

    [ ... - ... ]

    [ Razor (magic stone powered) - 5 Achievement Points ]

    [ ... - ... ]

    [ Cup of coffee (select a brand) - 1 Achievement Point ]

    [ ... - ... ]

    [ Laptop (magic stone powered) (please notify the system of the exact specifications) - 50+ Achievement Points ]

    [ ... - ... ]

    [ Upgrading host''s blood to Ichor - 10.000 Achievement Points ]

    [ ... - ... ]

    To be honest, Isaac was a bit baffled at the fact that, almost exclusively, the things listed in the system store were items he knew from his previous world, not the overpowered items he had expected. And most of them were household and convenience items to boot. Of course, he wasn''t complaining about that. He had previously been worried about how to comfortably keep up his personal hygiene but he really shouldn''t have been. Naturally, he had thought about this when creating the system. Additionally, Isaac noticed how only items he had had close contact with were listed here. As he had never directly come in close contact with, for example, nuclear weaponry, he wasn''t able to buy some here. If he was truly in need, he could just procure the components somewhere¡­ still, that was unlikely to ever be necessary, these were just hypothetical thoughts.

    Although he loathed to spend his Achievement Points, which seemed to be quite hard to come by, they were his only wealth right now. And if spending some of them for personal hygiene and convenience could make all of his current problems disappear, he wouldn''t hesitate to spend them. After making a mental note to the system to henceforth refer to Achievement Points as ''AP'', yet again for convenience''s sake, Isaac carefully selected and bought a few things from the store.

    A toothbrush (2 AP), one five-pack of toothpaste (1 AP), a magic stone powered razor (5 AP), some new underwear (1 AP), short blue pyjama pants (1 AP) and another simple white shirt (1 AP) - for a total of 11 AP.

    His heart ached a bit at the thought that killing 1000 Level 1 monsters would only net him 100 AP, so he was truly wasteful with his current purchases. But still, the lazy convenience seeker won out over the irrational hoarder in the end.

    After brushing his teeth, having changed into his new clothes and using one of the smaller equipment maintenance rooms to get his gear back in shape, Isaac made his way back to his dorm room.

    Just as before, Jakk was still leaning over his desk and studying, the light of a magic lamp clearly illuminating the pages.

    While the magic lamp would sometimes make it harder for people to fall asleep, Isaac wasn''t really bothered by it. After wishing the inconsiderate student a good night and receiving a simple grunt in response, he laid down in his bed and turned away from the light source.

    Before he would fall asleep, however, Isaac had decided to go over a few of the other features that he knew or suspected his system to have.

    After closing his eyes, he mentally commanded the system to display the map feature.

    Naturally, this feature did indeed exist. Although it wasn''t anything too special, as Isaac himself had always created 3D maps of everywhere he had ever been himself, this map feature, now that it was activated, enabled him to remove this small subconscious strain on his mind. Also, the map wasn''t only a place he could use to zoom through everywhere he had been to in this world at incredible speeds - there were quite a few quality-of-life improvements and additional features.

    One of them was the ability to set markers on the map. To test it out, Isaac set a marker in this dorm room and named it ''home base''. To his slight surprise, this triggered the system to ask him something.

    [ Do you want to share this marker with your secondary host? ]

    Without a moment of hesitation, Isaac ordered the system to not share this marker with Ais. She already had enough on her plate right now, being suddenly exposed to the system and all, so he really didn''t need to pile upon her troubles right now. Yet another sudden message box that she wasn''t personally responsible for would undoubtedly cause her a slight amount of discomfort.

    There was one more interesting thing about these map markers though. Isaac was able to teleport himself and others to them - at a cost. To teleport himself to any map marker, he had to pay 10 AP, each person he wanted to bring along had to be within a five meter radius of him and would cost him an additional 1 AP.

    This might sound pretty cheap, but considering that the cost for a simple teleportation was the equivalent of killing 100 Level 1 monsters put it back into perspective. Still, it was quite the overpowered functionality, if abused. Or it could just be a simple convenience tool, once he was swimming in AP. Anyway, it was an interesting discovery. Now it made the act of sharing these map markers with secondary hosts seem more significant, because they would be able to use those points as well.

    Had he created a completely overpowered monster by sharing some of his system''s functionality with Ais? Most likely. Did he care about that? Not at all.

    In preparation for when he would share this part of the system with Ais in the future, Isaac created a map marker in the Twilight Manor''s yard which he simply named ''Twilight Manor''.

    After doing so, he took a cursory glance at his inventory and the Achievements interface again, before deciding to take a look at his Status.

    [ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Race: Human ]

    [ Level: 1 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-10 (+ 34) ]

    [ Endurance: I-10 (+ 15) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-10 (+ 30) ]

    [ Agility: I-10 (+ 38) ]

    [ Magic: I-10 (+ 53) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ None ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ None ]

    A bright smile couldn''t help but appear on Isaac''s face, as everything was just as expected. His system had already calculated how the acc.u.mulated excelia would influence his stat growth after he got his Status updated by Loki again. With this, he could now observe for how long acc.u.mulating excelia at a specific amount of stats was efficient. These insights also enabled him to adapt his combat behaviour so he could grow his stats as evenly as possible.

    Strength obviously increased when he used force, Endurance would increase with continued exhaustion and after getting harmed. As for Dexterity, it would increase the more he handled his weapon and body dexterously. His Agility would increase simply from trying to move faster. As for the huge increase in Magic, Isaac could come up with only one explanation for it: The more one used their mind to perform feats, which whatever governed the allocation of excelia judged to be near to or over the limit of a person with a specific amount of stats, the more the stat would grow. Of course, continued use of magic would also allow it to grow, but that was currently not an option for Isaac.

    The only thing he needed to do now was to avoid having his status updated before his growth noticeably slowed down. Currently, with the weakest status an Adventurer was able to have, he would gain a total of 170 stat points after his next update, just from slaying six monsters, four goblins and two kobolds.

    This rapid growth was almost as ridiculous as Bell Cranel''s in the novels. Still, Isaac''s own status was quite a lot weaker than Bell''s, he shouldn''t even have been able to defeat a single goblin. Another reason for being able to even approach the cheat skill using Little Rookie''s growth was that Bell always got his status updated after returning from the dungeon. This made it hard to gain enough stat point growth with his current status, and forced him to fight stronger and stronger monsters to continue growing in the same way. To think that Bell''s ridiculous growth could have been even faster if his goddess was competent and knew about this...

    Before he could get even more absorbed in comparing himself to Bell, Isaac noticed something new in his Status interface. There was a second tab besides his own - it was Ais''. It seemed like now that she was the system''s secondary host, he was able to see her status as well.

    [ Name: Ais Wallenstein ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Race: Human, Unknown ]

    [ Level: 5 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: D-553 (+ 1) ]

    [ Endurance: D-541 (+ 0) ]

    [ Dexterity: B-792 (+ 5) ]

    [ Agility: B-791 (+ 4) ]

    [ Magic: A-837 (+ 7) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ Ariel ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Avenger ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Hunter: G ]

    [ Abnormal Resistance: G ]

    [ Swordsman: H ]

    ''I can even see her Status any time I want now¡­ I really need to have a private talk with Ais. I hope I''ll have a chance to do that soon, there is a lot we have to talk about¡­''

    To thoughts like these, Isaac slowly fell asleep.

 Chapter 9 - The Sword Princessâ€™ Change

    Just like the young man who involved her in this in the first place, Ais was also thinking about everything that had happened today. She was sitting in her bed, leaning against the wall and hugging her knees. Just like she always did when she was thinking about important matters.

    When the system had first made itself known to her, she was too stunned to react for quite some time. This got even worse when her close friend Lefiya didn''t seem to notice the message box hovering in front of her when trying to comfort her. What ultimately calmed her down was the answer the system provided to her mental question about what it was she was seeing.

    Although she wasn''t entirely sure whether or not she was hallucinating even after knowing the answer, it made her chaotic thoughts turn rational again.

    She had become the secondary host of the ''Wish Fulfillment System'', an all-powerful wish-granting framework designed by the young man in front of her, Isaac. Of course, Ais couldn''t entirely comprehend how such a thing could even be possible, but she was sure that this system was what the young man had referred to as his special ability before. It was what enabled him to travel between worlds.

    If it was all-powerful, was it more powerful than the gods? And how powerful did its creator, Isaac, have to be, to create such a thing? Why was it named ''Wish Fulfillment System''? And why did Isaac create it in the first place?

    These were just a few of the questions she couldn''t find an answer to, for now. So the first thing that came to mind was to ask this supposedly all-powerful system about it.

    In response to her confusion, the system displayed yet another intangible message box in front of her, this time containing a list that seemingly went on endlessly.

    [ Product - Cost ]

    [ Isaac''s Past - Episode 1 - 1000 Achievement Points ]

    [ Isaac''s Past - Episode 2 - 2000 Achievement Points ]

    [ ... - ... ]

    This didn''t help to lessen Ais'' confusion at all. What were Achievement Points? And would using them to buy these ''episodes'' really let her know about Isaac''s past?

    In response, the system explained to her that each of these episodes will enable her to observe a part of Isaac''s past. All of the feelings and thoughts were, of course, included. And to clear up Ais'' confusion about what Achievement Points were, the system displayed her own set of possible Achievements, and their rewards.

    Compared to Isaac''s list, Ais'' was focussed entirely on the slaying of monsters. But as she was doing that every day anyway, it wouldn''t be an activity she had to go out of her way to do. Still, the required slain monsters for completing achievements did increase in increments of 1000. Thankfully, the ones requiring exclusively lower levelled monsters to be slain would be quite easy to complete. Amassing enough Achievement Points would only be a matter of time.

    Thinking about how she would be able to learn a bit about Isaac''s past soon, a small smile appeared on Ais'' face momentarily. Despite how confused and overwhelmed she was because of this huge amount of information that she couldn''t entirely understand, that sole promising fact provided her solace.

    The next system feature she stumbled across on their way back to the Twilight Manor was the map. It was incredibly detailed, almost to the degree of showing every single piece of dust. Being able to see the street she was walking upon in such a way was absolutely mind blowing to Ais and it took her quite a while to be able to distinguish between reality and the map again.

    Once she did, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and decided to be more cautious when exploring this feature from now on. But all she was able to figure out was that both her and Isaac would be expanding the map over time, as the uncovered areas were shared. This way, they could cover more ground together than alone. It was also possible to locate herself and Isaac on the map at any time.

    Thankfully, Ais wasn''t a deviant who would abuse such a feature to spy on others, it didn''t even cross her mind. She was only glad she would now be able to find Isaac at all times if she wanted to. Nothing more, nothing less.

    What truly lit the fire of motivation within Ais was the fact that the system enabled her to view her own Status. It also showcased how much she had grown since the last update. With this, she could finally see her efforts pay off in real time. She didn''t have to wonder about whether or not her stats would grow and if she did well anymore. Instead, she could just view her Status with no-one the wiser. This would also enable her to avoid wasting Loki''s time by getting her Status updated whenever possible. There was no need to update it when she hadn''t grown noticeably, after all.

    As for the last feature she had been able to discover, she was only able to test it once she was back in her room and ready to sleep. It was the inventory. The short explanation of it that the system provided had sounded just like storage magic to Ais, so she was a little bit sceptical about whether or not she would be able to use it. In this world, people could only use the different kinds of magic on their status, nothing else. There was no way to learn spells that one didn''t have written into their Status, except for in very rare circ.u.mstances.

    Once she had cleared her head of all distracting thoughts, Ais thought about putting her trusty sword, Desperate, into the inventory. Just after she had finished this thought, before even a single moment had passed, the weight in her hands had disappeared completely. It was as if her weapon had never existed in the first place. It was just¡­ gone.

    Before panic could take root in Ais'' heart needlessly, the system displayed her inventory, which now contained Desperate in its own grid. As soon as she thought about wanting to hold it in her hands again, the sword reappeared instantly. Because of how fascinating it was, she continued to make her weapon appear and disappear again for a while, before she stopped to think about what this signified.

    What she had just witnessed went way beyond simple storage magic. Magic usually needed a long chant, or at least a few words, to activate, and only then would any change happen. But this inventory could instantaneously store things, without a cooldown, without much time passing, without resource consumption. If Ais hadn''t known what magic was and how it worked, she would have described the inventory with only one word: magical.

    Upon further explanations from the system, she realized that she had a storage limit of 500 different kinds of items for now. Items of the same type, however, could ''stack'' in a single grid up to 100 times. If she wanted to increase her storage limit, she would have to spend the same currency she needed to earn to get to know more about Isaac''s past: the Achievement Points. Because she couldn''t even fathom herself needing any more inventory space than she already had right now, she mostly ignored that part though. Why would she ever want to carry such a ridiculous amount of things with her, anyway?

    Now that she had at least a slight grasp on the system, whose workings and features were still completely foreign and magical to her, she realized that all of this definitely had to be kept a closely guarded secret. Even just the inventory alone would drive most people and gods mad with jealousy and interest.

    A cold shiver ran down her spine while she was leaning against the wall. And no, it wasn''t because of the temperature of said wall. It was because she now knew. She now knew why Isaac had been so cryptic before, why he hadn''t told her and Lefiya much about this secret of his. Even Ais herself, now that she knew, would be in quite a bit of danger if anyone else ever found out about the system.

    The greed of the gods knew no limit. Anything different, anything interesting and anything special - they wanted it all. Even her own familia''s goddess, Loki, would most likely have a hard time restraining herself if Ais told her about everything this system could do.

    Before she could sink even deeper into this rabbit hole of worries, a knock on her door brought Ais back to reality.

    -----

    A few hours ago, the door to a private study had been slammed open abruptly. Loki, who had just barged into the room without knocking, sat down on an empty chair without waiting for an invitation.

    In response to this rudeness, the beautiful woman with jade-coloured hair sitting opposite of her looked up from the book she had been reading just seconds prior. Her eyes, which were jade-coloured as well, were squinted, and annoyance could clearly be seen on her face. Long and elegant elf ears were sticking out of her hair, which was tied in a tail reaching all the way to her waist. She wore a green dress with yellow borders, which almost looked like a military uniform. A black belt, yellow sash and black stockings completed her outfit, giving her a secretary vibe. A white cloak was dr.a.p.ed over the back of the chair she was sitting on, while long brown boots were orderly placed next to the entrance of the study. On the wall next to the door, a long, silvery-white staff was securely placed in a retainer, the nine gem-like stones embedded at the head glittering mysteriously.

    This woman''s name was Riveria Ljos Alf and she was the Vice-Captain of the Loki Familia. She obviously was quite used to the rude behaviour of her goddess, but that didn''t mean she wouldn''t reprimand her for it.

    But when she noticed the rare air of seriousness Loki exuded right now, all of these thoughts disappeared instantly. Because Loki was a mischievous trickster, that made the times where she was serious even more important and extraordinary. If it wasn''t something that could endanger her familia, it was rare to see her like this.

    Before Riveria could even ask about what was going on, Loki already got to the point.

    "You see, I just accepted a new child into the familia. But there is a problem¡­"

    During the few minutes it took for Loki to recount everything she had seen and felt during her encounter with Isaac, Riveria''s expression turned more and more grave. And there was only one reason for this to happen: Ais.

    She had been taking care of Ais for many years now, being in a position similar to a mentor and family member. Therefore, Riveria cared for the young girl a lot, more than even she herself would easily admit. Now that a new variable had entered Ais'' life, a variable that could either destabilize her even more, or help her to somewhat get over her past, this was a pivotal development. It couldn''t just be taken lightly.

    "I trust you know what to do. I leave this in your hands."

    With these words, Loki left behind a Riveria who was deep in thought, and fled the study as fast as possible. Her trademark mischievous smile had reappeared on her face. She had already unloaded her problem onto capable shoulders, so now it was time for her to relax again.

    When she realized that Loki had already fled, Riveria heaved a deep sigh.

    "As if I didn''t have enough on my mind already. There still are lots of things I need to prepare for the next expedition... "

    In the late evening, Riveria found herself on the way to Ais'' room. She was sure that by now, the little battle maniac would be home again. And if she wasn''t¡­ well, then she would just have to punish her a bit for staying out so late without permission.

    Nonetheless, now it was finally time to have a talk with the girl. Sometime after this, possibly in the next few days, she would also have to find time to talk to the root of the current problem, the young man Isaac Blackshaw. But for now, she would just focus on Ais.

    Shortly after Riveria had knocked, Ais opened the door to her room. The young golden-haired beauty was already diligently wearing her sleep-wear after having taken a bath, which caused Riveria to smile a little. It was great to see how reliable she had become over the years.

    "Can I come in? I have something I want to talk about."

    With a small nod, Ais welcomed Riveria into her room. Shortly after, Riveria was seated on a chair, while Ais was sitting on her bed, waiting for the sophisticated elf to speak.

    "Loki told me you have a special connection with our familia''s new child, Isaac Blackshaw. That you''re resonating because of the loneliness you both felt, and still feel. I came here because I''m worried about you. This kind of connection could impact you in a number of ways, both positive and negative. So that''s why I want to know your thoughts on this matter."

    Just like every other time she talked with Ais, Riveria was being as blunt and direct as possible. Over the years, she determined this to be the best way to get her thoughts across to her. While Ais didn''t have any problems with people being evasive and not getting to the point as she was very observant, for this very same reason, she appreciated short and precise explanations even more as they didn''t need her to spend any additional effort.

    After just a short moment of thought, Ais responded.

    "I feel like Isaac is the first person I met who is able to understand me completely. Because I feel like he went through something similar. When I''m with him, I don''t¡­ feel alone anymore. It''s weird. Even though I only met him today, it feels as if I had known him for an extremely long time."

    These words didn''t surprise Riveria. It was indeed just as she had expected. Sometimes, people who went through similar experiences would have this kind of effect on each other. Whether that was a good or a bad thing had to be determined on a case by case basis.

    Suddenly, Ais'' mostly expressionless face turned awkward for a second, before a slight blush crept up her cheeks when her explanation continued.

    "You really don''t have to worry about it, Riveria. I like him."

    In stark contrast to before, these words surprised Riveria quite a lot. Never before had she heard Ais say that she liked a man. Combined with the blush on her face, it was obvious that it wasn''t as simple as just ''liking'' Isaac either. Once Riveria realized this, she couldn''t help but turn more protective. She just had to know more about this.

    "Are you sure? What do you like about him?"

    Without hesitation, Ais nodded her head vigorously, before her eyes beamed with admiration.

    "We went to the dungeon together earlier today, after we bought Isaac''s starting equipment. Even though his stats are the lowest they could possibly be, he easily defeated many monsters. That, in itself, would be impressive already. But he did so while studying them extensively and predicting every single possible move they could make effortlessly. I can''t do that. I can''t even approach it. It was¡­ fascinating. I had never seen anything like it before. You''d have to see it to understand exactly what I mean."

    Towards the end, Ais had noticed how Riveria''s expression had turned slightly disbelieving, so she had tried to sound more convincing with her last sentence. Riveria''s doubt wasn''t surprising, however. Nobody would be able to believe such a story. The prediction of every possible move, especially in a live combat scenario, sounded just like something straight out of fiction. Nevertheless, Isaac had done so.

    Although Riveria had a very hard time believing what she had just heard, she knew Ais would never lie to her. There was simply no reason to. Also, such a thing happening would explain Ais'' infatuation with this young man a lot. Even Riveria herself would be shocked and impressed if she ever witnessed someone perform such a miracle. But still, before she had confirmed it with her own eyes, she just wouldn''t be able to accept it, no matter how hard she tried. There was just one thing she could be certain of: Isaac was remarkably talented.

    Ais'' next words, however, stopped the serious elf from mulling over fiction-esque feats and made her show a gentle smile.

    "Since then, whenever I think about Isaac, there is this warm feeling in my chest. My heartbeat quickens and I can''t help but get excited and happy."

    Of course, the blush on Ais'' face got even deeper when she said this. It was quite embarrassing to admit these feelings and to talk about them. In front of Riveria, however, she wouldn''t hide them. Riveria had helped her a lot all this time. It was the least she could do to answer her questions sincerely.

    To be honest, Riveria was now truly taken aback. Before today, she had never expected for the Sword Princess to fall for someone in the foreseeable future. But apparently, Ais just hadn''t met the right people to induce such a change in her before.

    ''This changes a lot of things¡­''

    Now that Ais had fallen in love, she would need all the support she could get, so nothing bad would happen. Riveria didn''t want to see her hurt, no matter what. But matters of the heart were always hard to understand or control. It didn''t help that she herself had no experience with them whatsoever. The only thing she could do was to shield Ais from any possible dangers she could face now that her mind had opened itself to these kinds of thoughts.

    Such protective behaviour and the tough love she showed for the members of her familia made people give her nicknames like ''Loki Familia''s Mother Hen'' behind her back. Of course, only Loki dared to directly address Riveria like that.

    Slightly overwhelmed by how this young girl had turned from a revenge-driven killing machine toiling with death every single day to an almost normal girl in love over the years, Riveria reached out her hand and began to softly pat Ais'' head.

    Although Ais was pouting during the entire process, she didn''t resist the head pats, and seemed to be enjoying them secretly. Of course, she didn''t do a good job of hiding that, as Riveria, who had been with her for many years, easily picked up on it.

    This couldn''t help but make her chuckle. So after poking Ais'' cheek sneakily as ''punishment'' for not being honest with herself, Riveria got up from the chair and walked to the door. Once she arrived, she turned back to remind Ais of a few things.

    "I know you are aware of this already, but you haven''t known Isaac for long yet. So take things slowly and don''t make any rash decisions. You have all the time in the world. Get to know him better first, okay?"

    Only after Ais had nodded and promised to keep her words in mind did Riveria feel relieved. Before she judged the young man extensively, she needed to have a talk with him. From what she had heard from Loki and Ais, he didn''t seem to be a bad influence, but it was better to be safe than sorry. At least Ais was one of the strongest people in Orario, and Isaac just a weak new adventurer, he couldn''t harm her physically even if he tried. From everything she had heard about him, he didn''t sound like a person who would ever do such a thing, though.

    Having wished the lovestruck girl a good night, Riveria made her way back to her own room to get some sleep as well.

    While deep in thought, a reminiscent sigh escaped her mouth.

    ''They grow up so fast...''

 Chapter 10 - Morning Exercise

    When Isaac opened his eyes again, what greeted him wasn''t warm and gentle sunlight but rather the static light of a magic lamp.

    ''Ugh, what time is it?''

    In response to this thought, the system displayed a small numerical clock.

    [ 01:57 a.m. ]

    Isaac couldn''t help but smirk when seeing this. Of course he would have thought of such a simple feature as a clock. He just hadn''t thought about the current time at all previously, so it hadn''t made itself known to him.

    When he looked around to see why the magic lamp was still turned on at this point in time, what greeted him was the sight of Jakk sleeping with his head on his desk, sloppily sitting in his chair. He was resting right on top of his various notes and a still-open book. Thankfully, for whatever reason, he didn''t drool in his sleep, so the book didn''t get damaged.

    After feeling quite amused at this sight, Isaac thought about his current situation. It was still in the middle of the night. The outside world, that he could see through the window, was still dr.a.p.ed in darkness. At this time of the day, it would be weird for anyone he knew to be awake. This meant that he finally had some time for himself. But what was it he wanted to do?

    A few moments of thought later, Isaac decided on going to the dungeon alone to hunt a few monsters. He still had a long way ahead of him if he wanted to gain a moderate amount of strength in this world, so continuously grinding like this would definitely be of help. Earning some money from the magic stones would be a plus as well.

    Being careful so as to not wake up the sleeping Hume Bunny, by the time Isaac quietly had put on his equipment, he suddenly remembered that he wasn''t a lone wolf anymore. He was now part of a familia, so it was reasonable for someone to come looking for him while he was out and about. Most likely someone like Ais or Lefiya. Consequently, they would wonder about where he was. Ais would be able to find him through the system map without a problem. He made sure of that by asking the system for confirmation whether or not Ais was already aware of this function.

    Once the system confirmed this, he decided to write a note in case the one who came looking for him wasn''t Ais. Isaac took one of the blank pieces of paper plus a pen from Jakk''s desk stealthily and wrote a few short sentences. He returned the pen to where he had taken it from and placed the note down on his own desk.

    ''I''ll be out for a while. If anyone is looking for me, just ask Ais about where I am, she''ll know

    - Isaac''

    Short and concise. Why did Ais know his location? Other people wouldn''t have to know. Could he just have said that he was going to the dungeon? Yes, but he didn''t feel like publicising his plans like this. The less people knew where he was, the more comfortable he would be.

    Isaac thought about whether or not to cover the sleeping bunny boy in a blanket as he had seen people perform such actions in the past. But after a moment, he shook his head with a wry smile. This boy was a Level 2 adventurer, so he wouldn''t catch a cold by simply sleeping in a relatively warm room without a blanket. Covering him in one would most likely wake him up instead.

    After checking his equipment once again and making sure everything was worn properly, Isaac silently slipped out of the Twilight Manor.

    Out on the streets, the passersby by didn''t notice Isaac walking amongst them at all. When he didn''t want to be noticed, it was really hard to detect him. His entire existence would blur a bit, while others would subconsciously disregard him. This made it hard to be perceived by people when he wanted to be too, as he had to consciously suppress this part of himself. But it also made it easy to escape people who wanted to harm him.

    On his way to the dungeon, Isaac stopped by at the Pantheon again, to exchange his magic stones. By exchanging the goblins'' and kobolds'' magic stones separately, he was able to figure out the price of the species'' magic stones. He did earn a displeased look from the man manning the counter, though. Yeah, just asking directly would have been a better option.

    A goblin''s magic stone was worth 50 valis, whereas a kobold''s was worth 100. He had made 400 valis during his previous dungeon visit. That wasn''t a lot of money, but it was enough to buy a leather pouch he could fasten to his belt. He needed one if he was to exchange magic stones in the future, as he couldn''t just seemingly produce them out of thin air in front of others. This time, it had been fine as he had been able to carry all of his magic stones in one hand. But that approach wouldn''t be sufficient the next time he came here. He intended to kill a lot more monsters from now on, after all.

    In one of the various adventurer necessity stores on the way to the dungeon, Isaac bought one such pouch for 200 valis, cutting his pitiful savings in half. But no worries, he would earn a lot more soon.

    Ten minutes later, at around 3 a.m., Isaac found himself on the dungeon''s first floor, far away from any other adventurers. At this time, there was only a handful of other people in the dungeon in the first place, so it wasn''t hard to find a grinding spot for himself.

    "Alright, let''s get to work."

    After mumbling these words and stretching a bit, Isaac had finished all of his preparations.

    When he had easily dispatched 7 goblins and 4 kobolds, he finally came across a group of monsters, not just the lone stragglers he had encountered before. 3 goblins and 1 kobold were roaming around a single, large cavern. A happy smirk appeared on Isaac''s lips. While it may have been safer for any other adventurer in his position to go for a sneak attack first, so they would have the upper hand, he had no need to do so.

    His face turned entirely emotionless, as he entered the same state of calculation and prediction as before. It was even slightly easier to do so this time. Well, practice makes perfect.

    A sneak attack wouldn''t be efficient enough when he already was able to dispatch monsters of their species without putting himself in any danger. Stealth would be a waste of time, so Isaac relaxedly walked up to his prey, focussing on making his existence known again.

    The first one to notice his approach was the kobold. Its species'' perception was vastly superior to the goblins''. After barking loudly to alert the goblins around it, the kobold charged at the intruder, ready to tear him apart. A few moments later, the noticeably slower goblins followed suit.

    Now that Isaac''s information gathering regarding the two monster species'' movements was already finished, he didn''t need to prolong the fights anymore. He was able to end his encounters swiftly and decisively.

    Without a moment of hesitation, Isaac walked straight into the kobold''s charge, already having predicted the attack range and precise movements of his opponent, staying just slightly out of reach. At the same time, he positioned his drawn sword in a specific spot and put enough strength in the arm that was holding it. Not even a second later, the kobold had almost decapitated itself by charging straight into the sharp weapon. Before it could reach for its own neck to stop the blood gushing out of the gruesome wound, Isaac had fully beheaded it with a quick follow-up swing of his sword.

    When their ally''s body hit the floor, the goblins arrived. Two were charging at him from the left, one from the right. Of course, Isaac had already perfected his plan of action, so they weren''t of any danger. Untouched, Isaac walked between them while cleanly decapitating them.

    He did so because he determined it to be a faster and less dangerous way to kill these specific species of monsters. If he decided to impale their hearts instead, he would have to waste more time and energy pulling out his sword again, which left him vulnerable and gave him less opportunities. So while it was harder to slice off their heads because of their backbone, it was still a bit faster and consumed less stamina than what impaling them would entail. By this point, beheading was practically his signature move when dealing with goblins and kobolds.

    Isaac couldn''t help but chuckle happily because his first group encounter went smoothly, just as he had expected. There were a few spots where he could have taken an even better approach, though, so he would have to gradually smoothen out these slight imperfections. After he had collected the slain monsters'' magic stones, his search for prey continued.

    -----

    When Ais had woken up this morning, her first thoughts had strayed to the young man she had fallen for. She couldn''t help but wonder about what he was doing now - and the system took this as an opportunity to present her with the map, which was showing Isaac to be roaming the first floor of the dungeon.

    While others may have been worried when seeing this, Ais was very well aware that nothing there could pose a threat to Isaac. Instead, she felt motivated to do her best when training herself, to get stronger as fast as possible. But she wouldn''t be able to leave for the dungeon today. Riveria wouldn''t allow it, seeing how she had just come back from there yesterday. According to the wise elf''s words, regular rest was of paramount importance. Otherwise, she would crumble apart under the acc.u.mulated stress one day, unable to fulfill her ambitions.

    So after eating a hearty breakfast together with Lefiya and her two Amazoness friends, Tiona and Tione, Ais excused herself from the group to train. She didn''t really bother with what the others were planning to do, they probably had their own plans for the day.

    Around lunchtime, while Ais was polishing her swordsmanship in one of the respective training areas of the Twilight Manor, she saw Riveria, accompanied by a visibly unhappy Jakk, walking towards her, so she stopped what she was doing.

    With a quick explanation, she was brought up to speed.

    A few minutes ago, Riveria had been to Isaac''s room to have a talk with him, but he wasn''t there. His roommate, who at the time had just finished putting on his equipment and got ready to leave for the dungeon after sleeping in, only handed her a note Isaac had left behind when she asked about him. Jakk clearly wanted to go to the dungeon as soon as possible now that he had already wasted a few hours, so he tried to make his way past the familia''s Vice-Captain quickly.

    To his dismay, once she had read the note, Riveria felt a bit peeved at having to go out of her way to find the young man. So before Jakk could leave the room, she ordered him to follow her until she had found Isaac. She didn''t really have a reason for doing so besides wanting to teach the unfriendly Hume Bunny a little lesson, so he wouldn''t be as rude to her when they next met. Jakk didn''t even greet her, after all.

    He simply couldn''t go against his Vice-Captain''s orders, so he followed along quietly, cursing his bad luck. Who knew how long he''d be kept from going to the dungeon now?

    Riveria''s explanation finished with the content of Isaac''s note, after which she asked Ais if she knew where Isaac was.

    Ais'' response was immediate.

    "He''s on the dungeon''s first floor."

    When hearing this, Riveria couldn''t help but sigh and complain for a bit.

    "Great. I''d have to search the entire floor just to find him. I guess I''ll just wait here until he''s back then."

    Before Riveria could even turn around to wander off, Ais made her an unexpected offer.

    "I know where he is. I can lead you to him."

    This made Riveria raise her eyebrows in surprise. Normally, it wouldn''t be possible to pinpoint someone roaming the floor of a dungeon. If it wasn''t Ais who said these words, she would have written them off. But as she was aware of the strange connection between the two, Ais might actually have a way to do it. Riveria had wanted to gauge Isaac''s potential herself anyway, so going to the dungeon to find him would expedite her plans. Her decision was made.

    "Alright, lead the way. Jakk, you come with us."

    To the downtrodden boy, these words provided at least a bit of solace. His goal had been to go to the dungeon, now he would be able to do so. The Sword Princess seemed to be sure of Isaac''s location as well, so he wouldn''t lose too much time and would probably be able to wander off alone soon enough.

    Half an hour later, when Isaac''s system clock displayed 01:40 pm, the group of three was walking down one of the many hallways of the dungeon''s first floor. In the distance, they suddenly heard multiple kobolds howling loudly, followed by a large number of hurried footsteps.

    "Seven kobolds, quite a huge group for this floor. How much further until we meet up with Isaac?"

    While hurrying forward to watch the fight, Ais answered Riveria''s question.

    "He''s about to fight the kobolds."

    These words spurned Riveria and Jakk to hurry along as well. For different reasons, however.

    Jakk was a little bit worried about his new roommate. He just couldn''t see a newbie Level 1 adventurer winning against such a huge group of kobolds. Yes, he may be cold at times, but he certainly didn''t wish for someone he knew to die a grisly death. If he had the chance to intervene and help them, he would do so without hesitation.

    Riveria was slightly worried as well. Someone with Isaac''s bare minimum stats wouldn''t be able to take on such a group, even if they started off with a sneak attack to reduce the numbers. But if what Ais had told her about yesterday was true, the young man should at least be able to get away unscathed.

    Contrary to the two''s expectations, when they got close enough to the fight to actually see what was going on, two of the kobolds'' heads had already been removed from their shoulders. After following a seemingly random but elegant movement pattern, Isaac concisely escaped the deadly attacks of the rest. With another step, he smoothly sent yet another kobold head flying, then turned around while continuing his sword swing, to accurately decapitate another opponent from behind. He had lined them up perfectly amidst the seeming chaos.

    Once again, Ais had been sucked into Isaac''s performance. Riveria wasn''t any better off. She was simply stunned and stared at the scene blankly. No amount of preparation had been enough for this. Just like Ais, she was also able to vaguely make out this world akin a chessboard, that the young man expertly navigated. Everything seemed to follow his will. Every enemy was seemingly positioning themselves ready to be cut down by his sword of their own volition. This kind of scene was truly hard to accept. The young man was weak, so incredibly weak. His stats were the very bottom of the barrel. By all rights, he should never have been able to perform such miraculous feats. He should have been blown away and killed by a single swipe of his monstrous opponents. And yet, he was simply untouchable, like a dancing mirage. With his precise calculations, he didn''t even have to continue looking at an enemy for a while once their muscles had foretold a specific kind of movement. Riveria was only barely able to figure out some of Isaac''s plan of action, and only because of the heightened perception being a Level 6 adventurer provided her.

    Jakk, on the other hand, wasn''t so lucky. He couldn''t catch a glimpse of the chessboard-like world. All he could see was a weak adventurer seemingly miraculously and barely avoiding any and all attacks aimed at him. There were just too many close shaves. If the two ridiculously powerful women next to him hadn''t stopped moving, he would have charged in to help long ago. While he was on the edge of his seat, gripping his fists tightly and couldn''t really believe what he was seeing, Isaac''s face showed no signs of panic or even emotion while he smoothly beheaded the last three kobolds. His movements seemed just like a dance of death. They seemed like he was dancing on a precipice. If he fell off, he would be dead. But if he succeeded, he would have achieved something incredible.

    ''I didn''t take him for such a brave yet insane risk taker!''

    Without being fully aware of how much he had just impressed his roommate, Isaac had finished picking up all of the magic stones and putting them into the leather pouch on his belt. He was covered in vast amounts of sweat from head to toe, his equipment was completely soaked by this point. He was quite out of breath and his muscles trembled in an uncontrolled and painful manner from all the strain they had been put through in the past eight and a half hours.

    [ Achievement Progress: Kill 1000 Level 1 monsters. (81/1000) ]

    After the final monster had turned into dust, Isaac sat down on the ground to catch his breath and rest for a bit. Over the past few hours, he had perfected his grinding technique a lot. He was quite proud of that. During the fight, he had already noticed the three new arrivals enter his range of perception but after he had checked the map and saw Ais was amongst them, he ceased to worry.

    As soon as he had sat down, Ais was the first one to rush to his side.

    "I forgot to take food and water with me this time¡­"

    With a wry smile plastered on his face, Isaac looked up at the golden-haired beauty and confessed his awkward situation with a parched throat and hoarse voice. His stomach grumbled loudly as if on command as well. This humorous revelation blew away any air of seriousness previously present.

    When Isaac had been in his transcendent state before coming to this world, he didn''t have to eat or drink. And as time hadn''t existed there either, such a basic but then unneeded thing as eating and drinking just slipped his mind. He had been reminded of his need to sleep when he had seen the darkness of the night the day before. Other bodily functions related to hygiene also made themselves known during the time he took a bath. But because his body, when entering this world, had been at its peak, and therefore satiated to the brim and devoid of thirst, he hadn''t even thought about his need for these two basic supplements. Sure, he had seen a few food stalls and restaurants when he first made his way to the Twilight Manor, but it just completely escaped him.

    Quite an embarrassment indeed. While there were various foods and drinks available in the system store, he didn''t want to waste even more of his precious AP. Instead, he had planned to leave before it turned into a serious problem and buy some food on his way back home, with the money he would earn from exchanging his magic stones.

    Right now, he wasn''t too far off from his predicted limit, so he would have had to stop wandering further into the dungeon soon anyway, even if he hadn''t met Ais'' group.

    The spectating Riveria, of course, didn''t know about all of this. All she saw was how a perceived genius was sitting down on the floor exhausted, starved and parched, while complaining about having forgotten to think about two of the most basic of needs. This young man was able to take absolutely everything into account while fighting his enemies, but would miss such a simple thing, the very essentials. How amusing and ironic.

    A faint smile appeared on Riveria''s lips, while she was watching Ais pulling out a flask of water from the small satchel she had taken with her and handing it to the young man carefully. Following that, she sat down next to him, observing his almost utterly exhausted and overly strained body worriedly. This scene made Riveria think about the usually quite eccentric behaviour of the golden-haired girl and a certain thought flashed across her mind.

    ''Geniuses, huh? They''re all such oddballs.''

 Chapter 11 - The Mother Henâ€™s Interrogation

    In the darkness that veiled his eyes after having closed them, Isaac concentrated on envisioning his entire body, down to the tiniest details. At this point, he perceived even red blood cells to be incredibly massive. After a few moments, everything in this new body he had created the day prior was under his absolute and conscious control. Now, it was time to begin the restoration process.

    A normal human body would only allocate a small amount of resources to the restoration of the body after a tough workout. Even many hours or days later, depending on how much the muscles were strained and the body was exhausted, the human body still wouldn''t be fully restored. But that didn''t mean a human body couldn''t speedily deal with these issues. In fact, only a few minutes would be needed for the initial restoration to be completed, if a significant amount of resources were allocated to it. But as the human body normally allocated them to many different senses and body functions, that may not always be needed, it was terribly inefficient.

    In his concentrated state, Isaac consciously paused processes that his body didn''t need for now, and made his body focus almost fully on restoration, only keeping other essential functions operational. Because it was he who had built this body with the help of the system, he had a much better understanding of it than anyone else, and it only took him a few minutes, before his formerly irregular breathing returned to normal. His muscles didn''t contract and spasm anymore, they relaxed and began their recovery processes. What would have taken a few hours had been condensed down into a much shorter period of time.

    When he returned his body''s operations to normal and opened his eyes, the first person Isaac saw was Ais. She was currently sitting next to him and seemed to be quite happy to witness his speedy recovery. A barely perceptible smile had flashed across her face when she noticed him opening his eyes.

    At the same time, Riveria was fascinated by what she had just observed. It had only been five minutes ago that he had asked them to guard him while he rested for a short time. She had initially thought they would be here for a lot longer, so she had observed the ragged and exhausted body of Isaac while he had been resting, as she had nothing else to do in the meantime. What surprised her greatly was that, even without any items or spells to boost his recovery, the body in front of her, which had seemed like an overdrawn bow, recovered to peak performance faster than should have humanly been possible. Just how did Isaac do this?

    About five meters away, Jakk had been guarding the group from approaching monsters, as that duty had been assigned to him. He had originally thought that he''d have to do this for a long time, but just five minutes after he had started to concentrate on observing his surroundings, he turned around upon hearing someone stand up. To his surprise, it was Isaac, his room mate.

    ''He has already recovered?!''

    Jakk couldn''t help but be baffled. But even more than that, he was excited. This meant that he would be able to leave the group and venture into the dungeon himself far earlier than he had expected.

    "Have you recovered?"

    Seeing the young man in front of her stretch relaxedly, Riveria asked to confirm her suspicions.

    "Yes, Lady Riveria. I''m ready to go back."

    With a relaxed smile, Isaac ensured Riveria that he was fine.

    "When we get back, I''d like to have a talk with you. In private."

    When hearing these next words, the relaxed smile on Isaac''s face froze for a moment, before he almost started to sweat nervously. He was well aware of how important of a position Ais held in the high elf''s heart. If he somehow happened to screw up this coming interrogation¡­

    Thoughts like these occupied Isaac''s mind for a moment, before he shook his head slightly, clearing it of such distractions. He just had to tell the truth, nothing more. It was just a simple interrogation by Ais'' guardian, nothing to worry about.

    Before Ais, Isaac and Riveria separated from Jakk, Riveria gave the Hume Bunny youth a stern reminder to not overdo it. If he came back home with too many injuries, she would have to assign him to a party. Only when there was no reason to doubt his ability to stay safe on his own would he be allowed to roam the dungeon solo.

    The group of three left the dungeon soon after. While still in Babel, Isaac hurried to the Guild''s exchange counter to convert today''s earnings into usable currency. All in all, he had 43 goblin magic stones, 32 koblin magic stones, two goblin fangs and one kobold nail. The latter two were drop items. Similar to magic stones, drop items were parts of a monster''s body that were left behind after their destruction due to a huge acc.u.mulation of mana in a specific area. Contrary to magic stones, which were the core of every single one of the dungeon''s monsters, drop items were random and seemingly quite rare.

    A goblin fang sold for 300 valis, a koblin nail for 500. All in all, he had earned 6450 valis. Quite the respectable sum for his first real trip to the dungeon.

    Other than Isaac''s increase in wealth, nothing else of note happened on the way back to the Twilight Manor.

    Sadly, it seemed like Isaac wouldn''t get a chance to take a shower before being interrogated by Riveria, as the noble elf led him straight towards her study immediately after they arrived in the entrance hall. Having nothing else of major importance to do, Ais tagged along and decided to just wait outside the room while her mentor talked to the young man.

    Shortly before reaching the study, the three of them came across a group of four girls walking along the hallway, chatting excitedly.

    The one surrounded by the other three girls was someone Isaac recognized: Ais'' friend, Lefiya. Right next to her was a girl he didn''t know, however. She was the only human of the group and had shoulder-length, slightly curly, brown hair that was partially bundled into a short braid on her left side, towards the back of her head. Over her white blouse and short dark blue skirt, she wore an open, lavender blue mantle with white highlights and decorative designs. The rest of her outfit was comprised of a brown belt and sural-length white socks mostly covered by short dark brown boots. Just like the rest of the group, she was only slightly taller than the young elf next to her.

    Flanking these two was a pair of Amazoness twins that Isaac instantly recognized. They were Tiona and Tione Hiryute, Ais'' close friends. Both of them wore pretty revealing clothing, as customary for Amazonesses.

    Tiona had short, dark-brown hair with two golden pieces of jewelry at the ends of short braids, which started from around her temples. Around her neck, wrists and ankles, she wore some more ornamental, golden jewelry of the same style. Only a simple strip of white cloth was wrapped around her almost flat chest. To cover her lower body, she had knotted a huge, beige piece of cloth with green edges into the shape of a skirt, which she wore over another piece of dark brown cloth she had wrapped into the shape of underwear. Just like her sister, she walked around barefoot at all times.

    Tione, on the other hand, had long dark-brown hair, while the pieces of jewelry at the ends of her similarly short braids were silver-coloured. Just like her sister, she wore various pieces of jewelry at the same places as Tiona, they were just silver instead of golden. One major difference between the twins was Tione''s well-endowed chest, which she held in place with a crimson-coloured bra. Underwear of the same colour could also be seen on her lower body, barely covered by a small beige cloth with green edges, knotted to be like a short skirt. Her legs were mostly covered by stockings of the same shade of red.

    As soon as the four girl noticed Ais, Isaac and Riveria, Tiona had already bolted off to give her friend a welcoming hug. And contrary to what had happened with Loki, Ais didn''t try to dodge the physical affection. Instead, she let the bubbly Amazoness hug her and snuggle up against her tightly. It seemed like Tiona had already mastered this kind of innocent and happy hug, as she stopped hugging Ais right before a small frown could even begin to form on her face.

    After Tiona had acknowledged Riveria, who had been watching the affectionate hug amusedly, with a happy smile, she finally noticed Isaac. The young man had been standing next to Ais the whole time and didn''t look familiar, so he had to be the one Lefiya had been talking about earlier. Interestedly, she sized him up, but besides noticing his good looks and moderately well-built physique, she soon noticed that he was incredibly weak compared to other adventurers. That wasn''t too much of a surprise though, seeing how Isaac had only just started out.

    "You''re pretty weak, but you seem like a good guy!"

    As blunt as always, Tiona spoke her thoughts and then patted the young man''s shoulder encouragingly. Accidentally, however, she put a little bit too much strength into her pat. When she realized this and wanted to apologize for hurting Isaac, she noticed something that surprised her. Even though it had to have been pretty painful, the calm expression on Isaac''s face showed no single sign of change. While Tiona was able to consciously ignore pain below a certain threshold so it wouldn''t impact her combat effectiveness, she would still let the fact that she was doing so show on her face.

    While the lively Amazoness just stood there with an amazed expression on her face, the rest of the girls caught up. Tione had, of course, noticed her sister''s blunder and couldn''t help but facepalm a little in shame. Would that airhead ever learn to control her strength better?

    "Sorry about that, I hit you too hard, didn''t mean to. You''ve got to be the Isaac Lefiya told us about, right? Nice to meet''cha! I''m Tiona Hiryute."

    Even though she was already a Level 5 adventurer, Tiona was still extremely impressed by Isaac''s self-control prowess, that he had unintentionally showcased just now. Meanwhile, Lefiya was blushing madly at having her gossiping nature exposed like that. She was embarrassed that Isaac now knew she had been talking about him and Ais to her friends and couldn''t help but hide her face. The human girl next to her started giggling while quietly poking fun at the uneasy elf, while Tione introduced herself before Isaac had a chance to say anything.

    "I''m that idiot''s twin sister, Tione. Nice to meet you, Isaac."

    Contrary to the bubbly and bright Tiona, Tione spoke with a gentle and sophisticated tone of voice, clearly trying to appear like the older of the two. Had Isaac not known how pervertedly she behaved in the novels whenever her beloved Captain was around, he would have thought her to be a refined and mature lady.

    Not wanting to be outdone by the others, the human girl introduced herself with a bright smile as well.

    "I''m Lefiya''s room mate, Elfy Colette. Lefiya has been talking about you constantly, you know? Anyway, nice to meet you!"

    These words made Lefiya even more embarrassed. So much that she hid her face on Tiona''s back while Tione patted her back gently. Isaac, on the other hand, could only laugh awkwardly upon hearing this. The way Elfy had said this made it almost seem like Lefiya was interested in him in a particular way, which he was sure wasn''t the case. Still, before he could finally respond to their introductions, a delicate hand gripped his right sleeve and pulled on it.

    When he turned around, he saw Ais pouting unhappily, clearly a bit annoyed at what Elfy''s words had insinuated. While he was sure that the young girl had only meant to tease him and the adorable elf a little, Ais seemed to have been even more responsive to these subtleties than him. Seeing her care about him this much made him smile warmly, which caused Ais to relax her grip on his sleeve in response.

    As the other girls saw Ais'' reaction to the situation, they were a bit surprised at first, but soon came to accept that what Lefiya had told them about this weird connection between their friend and the newcomer was indeed the truth. Ais expressing feelings of jealousy was something they had never seen before, so for a moment, the entire group showed smug smiles while looking at the still pouting golden-haired beauty. This moment of quiet finally gave Isaac enough time to respond.

    "Nice to meet you all. I''m Isaac Blackshaw. I think I''m probably ''that Isaac you heard about''."

    Now that he had confirmed his identity himself, there was no chance they mistook him for someone else. With an excited look on her face, Tiona asked her next question.

    "Wanna join us for dinner with Ais tonight? We wanna get to know you!"

    Yeah, Isaac truly couldn''t say no to such a heartfelt and friendly invitation. The bright smile of the brown-skinned airhead made it even more impossible to refuse.

    Before he could respond, however, Riveria interrupted the merry interaction by coughing loudly, to get their attention. Isaac easily understood what she wanted him to do.

    "I''d love to. But for now, I''ll have to talk to Lady Riveria for a bit. Sorry about that, but I''ve got to go."

    Once Isaac had excused himself and followed Riveria into her study, the four girls surrounded Ais tightly, eager to hear about her thoughts and any new developments. No matter which world it was, gossip would always be a popular pastime.

    Riveria''s study was mainly made up of bookshelves and a few desks, covered in a plethora of orderly arranged books. If Isaac hadn''t known it was her study, he would have thought it to be a library.

    After he had glanced around the room and sat down at one of the desks, across from Riveria, the high elf started her interrogation.

    "First of all, welcome to the familia. I already introduced myself to you in the dungeon, and I''m sure you already heard about me even before that, but it''s still nice to meet you, Isaac. I''m sure you know why I wanted to talk to you. You are quite close to my student, Ais, and I don''t know much about you. So tell me. Who are you and where did you come from?"

    A wry smile couldn''t help but find its way on Isaac''s face when he heard this question. He had already expected Riveria to ask about his circ.u.mstances. Nevertheless, they weren''t something he could casually share. The most he could do was make her an offer, just like he did when he met Ais and Lefiya for the first time.

    "I''m Isaac Blackshaw. As for where I come from and anything related to that, I have to ask you to keep that a secret after I tell you. If you won''t promise me this, Lady Riveria, I won''t be able to tell you, it would be too dangerous."

    As an elf, Isaac''s polite way of speaking appealed to Riveria quite a lot. What made her frown was the content of these words. A promise to keep his circ.u.mstances a secret? What did he have to hide? While she was quite sure that whatever danger would come their familia''s way if Isaac''s origin were publicized wouldn''t be a problem, she also wouldn''t betray someone''s trust after giving her word. And honestly, how outstanding could his origin even be? It was highly unlikely to bother her much. Thinking about how much Ais trusted this man, she finally made her decision.

    "Alright, I promise I won''t tell anyone about what you''re going to tell me. I will reserve the right to judge you based on what you tell me, though."

    Her reply made Isaac smile brightly. He wouldn''t have it any other way anyway. If someone as intelligent as Riveria was to give him a free pass just like that, he would be worried about the future of the familia instead.

    Isaac spent a couple of minutes telling Riveria exactly the same things he had shared with Ais and Lefiya when he first came to this world. Of course, he made sure to point out the answer to the question Lefiya had asked him: How he came to this world in a different way compared to the gods. But where her young prot¨¦g¨¦ was entirely overburdened by such revelations, Riveria remained relatively calm and collected.

    It would be a lie to say she wasn''t surprised and shocked, though. She had never expected the young man''s origins to be so extraordinary. The only reason she was able to keep her calm was that as a long-lived mage, she had indeed researched into the gods'' descent upon the Lower World before, so the concept of world travel in itself was even more accessible to her than to the commoners of this world. She shook off the mental blow of meeting someone capable of things even the gods couldn''t ever achieve relatively quickly and resolved herself to research this kind of world travel a bit in the future, whenever she had time.

    Now, she fully understood why Isaac had wanted her to promise him not to share his secrets. If it became known what kind of a curiosity he was, every single god and goddess would try to obtain him for their collection. Even Loki would be hard-pressed to protect him, if the rest of the godly community wanted to use him for research purposes. Even just the revelation that worlds outside of their own existed would already be enough to make these enjoyment-starved immortals, and any other researcher, drool uncontrollably.

    The main reason she chose to believe these outrageous words by the young man was that she he didn''t seem to be lying. Everything he said had no hint of subterfuge and his eyes remained crystal clear throughout his whole explanation, never clouded by a hint of guilt. Additionally, as gods were already world travellers, having another kind of world traveller didn''t cause Riveria to experience cognitive dissonance at all. It was astonishingly easy to accept these circ.u.mstances. Of course, she didn''t believe he told her the entire truth, there were definitely parts he didn''t bother to mention. Nobody would tell their entire life''s story and all their secrets so easily. Still, he had told her more than enough.

    "Thank you for sharing that with me. I have another question for you. What are your feelings for Ais? Are you in love with her?"

    This question was the one that had made Isaac the most uncomfortable when he had thought about which questions he might possibly be asked during this interrogation. Talking about his romantic feelings wasn''t something he usually did. There was no reason to shy away from answering though, he only had to reply honestly. No matter how embarrassing or unsure it may sound.

    "I do indeed like Ais. I like her a lot, more than anyone I''ve ever met before. Being around her makes me feel like I still have something to look forward to in life. I feel happy when I''m with her. I can''t tell whether that really is love or if these are just budding feelings for now, but I have never felt these kinds of affections for anyone before. Of that, I am certain."

    Although he had already answered Riverias question, Isaac continued with what he thought to be important talking points she would ask him about later anyway.

    "I''m aware that these kinds of feelings sprouting so quickly after having met one another is rare and can lead to overly hasty decisions. Most people usually regret these in the future. Also, Ais is still quite young. In the world I came from she wouldn''t even be considered an a.d.u.l.t yet. So I don''t intend to pursue these feelings too seriously or hurriedly. I only want to spend time with Ais and grow stronger alongside her. I want both of us to live happy and fulfilled lives, without any rash decisions."

    Riveria honestly hadn''t expected such deep and self-reflective thoughts from a man of such a young age. This only served to make Isaac seem even more outstanding in her eyes. He felt more like an old sage than a young man barely out of his teens. His words had accurately pinpointed all the things she was worried about and reassured her. Of course, Riveria wouldn''t just take these words for granted, she would still cautiously watch over Ais. But now she could do so with a lot less weight on her shoulders.

    "I will keep an eye on you both, so be aware of that. Also, while I''m sure you wouldn''t do this, if Ais ends up getting hurt, there will be hell to pay. Do I make myself clear?"

    Isaac couldn''t help but show a sad smile when he responded. He had to try quite hard to keep the loneliness hidden away this time. If it were to momentarily overwhelm him by thinking about a time without Ais, someone so similar to him, a time like before he came here, he might inconvenience Riveria.

    "I understand. But Ais getting hurt would already be much worse of a punishment than what you could ever possibly mete out, Lady Riveria¡­"

    Yet again, the young man''s words stunned the high elf. This time, it was because of the pure sadness and loneliness they conveyed. It was almost heart-wrenching. She didn''t know what to say.

    So after a few moments of confusion, she allowed him to be excused and fell into deep thought. Especially the secrets he had revealed to her had given her a lot of food for thought.

    Outside of Riveria''s study, the four girls were still surrounding Ais when Isaac returned. He didn''t know what they had talked about in the meantime, but judging by the slight blush on Ais'' face, it was probably something embarrassing he shouldn''t ask about.

    When Ais noticed Isaac''s return, she was the first one to make her way over. And just like before he had left for his interrogation, she grabbed his sleeve. Only then did she seem to be satisfied.

    While this was undoubtedly an extremely adorable and affectionate action, it made Isaac smile awkwardly. His sweat-soaked clothes and equipment had only recently dried on the way back from his morning exercise. And while all adventurers were used to sweat and dirt, he didn''t want the girl of his dreams to be stained by his dirty clothing.

    "Ahem¡­ Ais. I haven''t had a chance to take a shower since coming back from the dungeon..."

 Chapter 12 - Approaching Inevitable Demise

    After having finished taking a shower as well as cleaning his equipment and clothes, Isaac decided to check his Status to see how much he had grown today.

    [ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Race: Human ]

    [ Level: 1 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-10 (+ 214) ]

    [ Endurance: I-10 (+ 211) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-10 (+ 215) ]

    [ Agility: I-10 (+ 223) ]

    [ Magic: I-10 (+ 233) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ None ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ None ]

    While these huge numbers certainly looked impressive at first glance, Isaac soon noticed how his stat gain had noticeably slowed down. Even though he had killed many times more monsters than before, the result was kind of underwhelming. While hunting goblins and kobolds would likely still lead to relatively large stat gains, he wouldn''t be far ahead of the competition anymore if he continued like this for a while.

    ''It seems like I''ll have to start going down to lower floors next time.''

    One of the reasons he had to do this was to encounter new and stronger monsters, which would provide him with more excelia and therefore more stats. Another one was to figure out at which floor his actual limit lay while still being at the absolute minimum stats. When would Isaac actually start being in danger when fighting monsters?

    Once he finished putting on the clothes he had worn back when he came to this world, Isaac made his way to the entrance hall, where he had promised to meet up with Ais and the group of girls accompanying her. As he was now more familiar with the layout of the Twilight Manor, it only took him a minute or two to see the five girls bunched together in a corner, happily talking to each other.

    Apparently, Ais had also taken a shower in the meantime and changed into some casual clothes while he was gone. Her long golden hair was still a little bit wet. Together with the short-sleeved white shirt and simple black shorts she was wearing, this painted yet another beautiful picture Isaac hadn''t seen before. He blanked out for a moment, then continued to make his way towards the group.

    The first one to notice his approach was Tiona, as she had been looking in the direction of the hallway he came from. When she saw him, she waved enthusiastically, just in case he hadn''t seen them.

    Before he had taken his shower, Isaac had already announced to the group that he wanted to borrow Ais later, so he could talk to her in private. After all, ever since they had met, they hadn''t had time to themselves. There were many things he wanted to talk to her about. And a few questions he could only provide answers for when they were alone, as they weren''t suitable to be discussed in public. So, after a few minutes of small talk, he and Ais bid farewell to the four girls and walked out of the entrance hall. They had arranged to eat dinner together later. Since there were still a few hours left until then, there was plenty of time.

    "Do you know a place where we''ll be able to talk?"

    Seeing how he wasn''t perfectly familiar with the familia''s home yet, he decided to ask Ais about where she thought would be the most suitable place for their chat.

    The only thing he got as a reply was a short nod, then Ais led the way towards the female dorms.

    When he noticed where they were heading, Isaac was a little bit surprised, but also excited. He hadn''t expected Ais to invite him to her room, but, when thinking about it more, it also made sense. Her room, her base of operations, would absolutely be the safest and most private place for the two of them to talk. Nobody in their right mind would try to steal into the Sword Princess'' dorm room.

    Why was he excited? Contrary to the most popular expectations, it wasn''t because of some dirty thoughts. No, his reason was that he would be able to learn a bit more about Ais. The manner in which one treated their own room reflected one''s personality. Also, letting someone enter their room was a show of trust. Of course, Isaac would be happy about that.

    It didn''t take long to arrive at Ais'' room. It was about as spacious as the one he and Jakk shared, so Ais had double the space for herself. That wasn''t surprising though, seeing how she was one of the Loki Familia''s Executives. Just like his room, the walls had simple but high quality white tapestries with a few fancy golden patterns close to the ceiling.

    The contents of the room were as elementary as they could get, though. A simple bed, a desk and two chairs. With only these things, the room definitely felt a bit empty. That wasn''t a surprise, however, seeing how Ais was practically always either in the dungeon or training her swordsmanship. She treated her own room as a place for temporary rest and didn''t put too much effort into making it homely.

    On the top of her desk, however, Ais had placed a few things she cared about. There were less than five books, neatly stacked up. All of them were filled with this world''s fairy tales, like the ''Dungeon Oratoria'' mentioned in the DanMachi novels. In fact, that very fairy tale was placed at the very top of the pile of books. Right next to that was a paper bag full of potato snacks. Seeing how these kinds of foods usually would be edible for a few days, Ais probably bought them earlier today and planned to eat them sometime soon.

    After he and Ais sat down in the two chairs, they were facing each other in silence. Isaac couldn''t help but be nervous. Before now, he had never talked to her in a private setting, with just the two of them.

    To break the slightly awkward silence and get rid of his nervousness, Isaac decided that now was the time to fulfill the first promise the two had made. Ais was already in love with him, so telling her about his other goal when coming to this world would probably not lead to a negative outcome. It would still be embarrassing, nonetheless. After clearing his throat, he began to explain.

    "I told you how I gained some knowledge about this world from books, right? What I didn''t tell you back then was that these books also talked about you and quite a few other people. While reading about you, I had always felt like we would get along well if we ever met. So when I finally got the chance to visit this world, which I thought to be imaginary before, my other goal besides increasing my own strength was to meet you, even just once."

    While talking, a genuinely happy smile couldn''t help but appear on Isaac''s face. He also blushed slightly, as telling the girl of his dreams how he had wanted to meet her for a long time was quite the awkward thing to admit.

    Although Ais was a bit surprised by the revelation that she and the ones close to her were mentioned in a book Isaac read in the world he came from, the system had given her a much larger shock before. Compared to that, such a small thing didn''t really disturb her at all. When she heard him talk about how he had wanted to meet her, though, her heartbeat quickened and, just like the young man she was looking at, she started to blush. To be honest, she was happy. Really happy. At the same time, she was embarrassed because she didn''t think too highly of herself. Was she really worth traversing worlds over? Ais truly didn''t think she was anyone special.

    "I''m¡­ glad we met."

    These words packed full of gratitude left her lips without her realizing. To distract herself from her embarrassment and calm down, she quickly decided to ask Isaac a question.

    "Why were you so nervous when we brought you to the Twilight Manor for the first time?"

    Of course, Isaac noticed that Ais only changed the topic due to her embarrassment. He couldn''t complain about that, though, as he felt the same way. So after thinking about her question for a while and releasing a short sigh, he replied.

    "The books I''ve read mentioned a young werewolf named Bete. He was stated to be quite aggressive and also interested in you, Ais. In a romantic way. So I worried about me and him clashing before I joined the familia. If he had seen me accompanying you, he would certainly have taken issue and tried to keep me as far away from you as possible. That won''t happen now, though, as I have already joined the familia."

    Hearing Isaac casually reveal that Bete was interested in her romantically surprised Ais quite a bit more than the book-revelation. She had only ever thought about the werewolf as an arrogant annoyance. If he hadn''t occasionally protected members of the familia and wasn''t a good guy deep down, she might have even beaten him up before. Still, she couldn''t deny that Bete would definitely clash with Isaac if the two met, seeing how she had grown really close to the latter. The main reason for that would be Bete''s strong dislike for the weak. And that was just who Isaac was right now: a weakling.

    Before she could mention any of that, though, Isaac continued.

    "You don''t have to worry about me and him. I''m aware that he''ll think I''m a weak eyesore when we meet, so I can only grow stronger quickly to shut him up. If he happens to want to start a fight, I''ll just have to hide behind you. I''m too weak right now, it''d be tantamount to suicide to physically go against him. Until I''m strong enough, I''ll just have to endure the arrogance and mocking for a bit. That can also work as an additional motivation, though, so I welcome him to mess with me. In case you were thinking about it, you don''t have to go out of your way to distance yourself from me just because of Bete. I''ll deal with him, I promise. So don''t worry about it."

    Ais couldn''t help but smile a little when she heard these last few words. For some reason, she believed him when he said he would be able to deal with these difficulties. She felt like there was no need to worry at all, so she decided to leave it to him, just like he wanted.

    Now that he had provided her with an answer to her previous question, it was time for her to ask him a new one. It didn''t take her long to think about one related to the system. To be exact, she wanted to know more about a few of the functions, as she didn''t really understand them in detail.

    The next few hours, the two were talking about the system, a topic they couldn''t usually talk about with anybody. So now that they were alone, there was no need to bottle up all the questions that had acc.u.mulated over the past day or so. Interestingly enough, they discovered that they were able to talk to each other using the system at any time. This way, no matter how far they were apart or in which situation they were in, they were able to communicate. After deciding to only use that in emergencies or when something urgent came up, they moved on to the next topic of discussion.

    Time flew by and before they knew it, it was already shortly before dinner time. Isaac''s system clock, which he had now also introduced to Ais, showed the time to be 6:20 p.m. when the two finally made their way downstairs, towards the familia canteen. As Isaac hadn''t been there before, Ais led the way while explaining how a Loki Familia dinner usually went.

    All of the food they were going to eat would be prepared by the Loki Familia''s cooks. Before it would be delivered to the tables by the familia''s waiters and waitresses, Loki would have to give a signal. There were just as many non-combat personnel members of the familia as there were adventurers. Usually, everyone who wanted to partake in the dinner would arrive in the canteen before it began. If one wanted a specific drink, they could just ask one of the waiters once they served the food.

    When they arrived at the canteen, Tiona, Tione, Lefiya and Elfy were already sitting around one of the smaller tables in the wide hall, it was just large enough for six people.

    "Ais! Isaac! Over here!"

    While pointing at the only two seats at the table that were still empty, Tiona loudly and excitedly made her location known, just in case the two hadn''t noticed her before. As endearing as her voice was, her words made the two the center of attention in a heartbeat. Quite a few others were seated at the rest of the tables, close to a hundred. More than half of these, which he mostly didn''t recognize, stopped their conversations and focussed on the young man walking right next to their Sword Princess.

    Many interested gazes were shot Isaac''s way, but of course, even in this familia, there were quite a few people who had a crush on someone as beautiful as Ais. Seeing a man walking right next to her and the two of them seemingly being quite close caused a few jealous and hostile stares to appear. Pretty much every familia member in the room was aware that he had to be a new arrival, though: After all, nobody knew him. If he had been a part of the familia for a long time, they would have met him before sometime.

    Being pressured by all of these gazes, Isaac didn''t feel nervous at all. In fact, he consciously ignored all of them besides the hostile ones, which he took note of, just in case. If the owners of these gazes were to encounter him later in private, they might even raise a hand against him in their annoyance. Therefore, it was better to be prepared for all eventualities.

    After he and Ais had sat down, Tiona, who sat right across from him, leaned over and whispered a few words with a smug look on her face, just loud enough for him to hear them.

    "So¡­ what were you two doing for so long¡­ all alone~?"

    Isaac didn''t even need to see the playful smile on her lips or the embarrassed but interested looks on the other girls'' faces to know that Tiona had just implied¡­ well, indecent acts. While the mention of such things made him blush slightly, having been asked such a question amused him quite a bit, so he replied just as quietly.

    "Nothing of the sort you''re thinking of."

    His reply elicited a guilty laugh from the bubbly Amazoness.

    Soon, the last few minutes before dinner would start flew by while the group conversed happily, ignoring the occasional gazes sent their way. During that time, the final batches of people arrived in the dining room.

    Accompanying Riveria were the other two Top Executives of the familia.

    Finn Deimne, the familia''s Captain, was only about 120 cm tall as he was a pallum, the shortest race in this world. If Isaac hadn''t known he was already more than 40 years old, he would have taken him for a young boy. He had medium length, messy blonde hair and calculative blue eyes that showed a wisdom beyond his perceived age. He wore a yellow vest with purple highlights over a purple long-sleeved shirt. His lower body was covered by purple trousers under yellow shorts with the same purple highlights as his vest. The rest of his outfit consisted of a simple, brown leather belt and shoes.

    Even Gareth Landrock, a dwarf and the last of the three Top Executives, was still a lot taller than Finn, more than 30 centimeters, in fact. He was about the same age as Finn and had earthen brown eyes. His long, brown hair and similarly long brown beard almost covered up his entire face, so it was a bit harder to read his expression whenever he didn''t react much. He wore a simple green and brown tunic, a brown belt and sturdy, steel-reinforced leather boots.

    A moment after that group of three had taken a seat at the table in the very center of the canteen, the last two people arrived.

    One of them was Loki, the mischievous trickster goddess this whole host of people was dependent on. The other was the one Isaac had just previously talked about with Ais: Bete Loga. Just like Ais, he was one of the Executives of the familia.

    The werewolf''s amber eyes were intently searching the room for someone from beneath his medium-length, scraggly gray hair. This could easily be inferred from the pure hostility seemingly emanating from his gaze. His sleek tail stood on end, as if he was ready for a fight at any moment. The left side of the 21 year old''s face was mostly covered by a huge blue tattoo. He wore a short, open grey jacket that showcased his muscular upper body to whoever was inclined to look at it. Additionally, he wore black trousers, a golden yellow belt and black boots.

    Seeing how Loki showed Isaac a gleeful smile while she was walking past, he could easily guess that she probably had a talk with Bete, informing him about someone growing closer to Ais. Of course, she wouldn''t do that without a reason. It was highly likely that she did so to keep the aggressive nature of the werewolf in check. It was better to know about such a thing beforehand than to find out later, after all. Still, Isaac was everything but happy about it.

    Shortly after Loki had looked at him, Bete also discovered the table Ais sat at - and Isaac. Instantly, the bloodl.u.s.t in his gaze multiplied manyfold, causing poor Lefiya, who sat close by, to turn pale, look away and shiver in fear. Of course, the other familia members had noticed this commotion as well, as their lives depended on recognizing the kind of feeling Bete gave off right now. Before Riveria could stop everything from escalating, Finn held her back with an expectant look on his face. He wanted to see how the young man his Vice-Captain had praised would react to such a huge amount of killing intent. Most experienced adventurers would at least get tense when confronted with such a situation.

    To keep Ais, who had wanted to speak out against Bete''s current actions, from doing so, Isaac just sent her the words ''Leave it to me.'' via the system. This calmed her down instantly, as she now remembered the promise he had made in her room just hours prior. Her protective instincts had almost made her ignore these words. To be honest, she was a bit ashamed because of that.

    Contrary to what Bete had expected, the weak human didn''t budge under his probing gaze. Isaac didn''t even show the slightest sign of tension. He didn''t seem to want to dodge his gaze either. Instead, as a response to the bloodl.u.s.t, a relaxed smile slowly spread across his lips, infuriating Bete. While Isaac had meant his smile to be perceived as genuine and calm the werewolf down a bit, he had achieved the opposite. To Bete, his smile looked way too smug for his own good. So the killing intent and jealousy in his eyes increased yet another level.

    Isaac, however, wasn''t worried in the least. Bete was currently sober and every single one of his actions was in full view of the entire familia. He couldn''t do anything but bark. And as was commonly known, most dogs that bark don''t have much of a bite. Still, if he ran across him in private later, he would have to tread carefully.

    At this point, where even the familia''s Top Executives were impressed by Isaac''s mental fortitude, Bete retraced his bloodl.u.s.t and turned away, obviously unhappy. He had intended to teach the young sap a lesson. But little did he expect to actually gain a small ounce of respect for the guy. Had he been in the young man''s situation, faced with such hostility¡­ he would have at the very least turned nervous.

    ''Just you wait¡­!''

    With thoughts like these, Bete sat down at the table in the center of the room, next to Gareth, completely ignoring the young man he had been staring at so intensely before.

    Now that everything had calmed down again, and before the food would be served, Loki took her cutlery, stood up on her chair and used it to make some noise.

    "Everyone, your attention please!"

    Isaac didn''t even need to see her mischievous grin, directed straight at him, to have his back acc.u.mulate some cold sweat. But no matter how hard he begged for it to not be the case, he knew his suspicions were correct. What he hadn''t wanted to happen was about to take place.

    A few seconds later, when everyone''s gazes rested on her, Loki continued her announcement.

    "Today, it''s time to celebrate! As many of you probably already noticed, we have a new member in our familia. He just joined us yesterday, so I would like to introduce him to you all today!"

    Although Isaac didn''t have a problem with many people paying attention to him, there was one thing that made him very uncomfortable. Welcome parties. He had never been entirely sure why that was the case, though. Was it because he didn''t want to be introduced to too large a number of people at once? Maybe. He couldn''t say. Just as always, the foreboding feeling he had before was actually a sign for things to come. He felt no surprise at this, neither did he feel happy. And at the moment, he had no time to get even more distracted. Only one thought was on his mind.

    ''What did I do to deserve this?!''

 Chapter 13 - Everyday Tragedy

    At some point during the welcome party, Isaac had just blurred out everything that happened and functioned solely via autopilot. There were just too many people there and the vast majority of them came up to him to introduce themselves in a jovial manner.

    But even though he had mostly tuned out everything that was happening, he still decided to remember all the people he met. Everything they told him and all of his interactions with them were effortlessly stored in his memory as well. It was quite unlikely that the people he had talked to were aware of the fact that he wasn''t fully mentally present at the time. He did so just to be able to endure the whole ordeal a bit more. Anyway, if he met any of those people again, he would be able to recall them.

    After a short bathroom visit, Isaac exhaustedly lay down on his bed. It didn''t take more than a few moments for him to drift off into a deep sleep.

    [ Tiona Hiryute considers you a friend.

    Quest ''Make three friends.'' completed. 300 AP rewarded. ]

    [ Tione Hiryute considers you a friend.

    Quest ''Make four friends.'' completed. 400 AP rewarded. ]

    [ Elfy Colette considers you a friend.

    Quest ''Make five friends.'' completed. 500 AP rewarded. ]

    [ Riveria Ljos Alf considers you a friend.

    Quest ''Make six friends.'' completed. 600 AP rewarded. ]

    The first thing he noticed after waking up was that he hadn''t actually looked at these four system notifications before going to bed yesterday.

    To be honest, he was slightly surprised because of their contents. He had just easily earned 1800 AP, without doing much. Also, he was feeling slightly baffled by the fact that four additional people thought of him as a friend now. He had met all of them a short time ago, but after just spending close to half a day with each of them respectively, it seemed like they had subconsciously developed quite the positive opinion of him. Maybe that is just the way people work. The more time they spend with someone, the more highly they will think of them. Well, unless they just don''t get along.

    Once he had spent some more time to think about it, Isaac noticed that the vast majority of people he had known for some time already thought of him as a friend by now. There was only a handful of others who didn''t follow the trend yet, including Loki and Jakk. While he highly doubted he would ever be friends with the trickster goddess, it probably wouldn''t take too long until Jakk would think of him as a friend as well.

    So long as he continued his current behaviour and behaved quite socially, it would be easy to amass a lot of AP very quickly. But to be honest, Isaac would rather go into the dungeon and spend a few days slaying monsters instead. Excessive social interactions just weren''t something he was a fan of. Grinding monsters was a lot less mentally exhausting.

    With his goal being to start a daily routine, Isaac took a quick shower and brushed his teeth, before hurrying off towards the kitchen which currently was quite crowded as it was almost time for breakfast. After asking for a few flasks of water and some slices of bread, he went back to his room and put on his equipment, getting ready to head back into the dungeon. As nobody had told him he had to follow a specific schedule or showed any displeasure at his actions, he sure as hell wouldn''t stop going to the dungeon every morning.

    It was shortly after 6:30 a.m. by the time Isaac was ready to head out. Before he did, though, someone stopped him.

    "Hey, Isaac. Can you teach me how you fight that well and let me go into the dungeon with you?"

    Compared to yesterday, Jakk had woken up a lot earlier today. He was already fully geared and shouldering a backpack, filled with everything he would need for another day of dungeon exploration and monster slaying. Sometime yesterday, the hume bunny youth had resolved himself to ask his roommate these questions. While he was stronger on paper, Jakk was fully aware that he couldn''t even remotely grasp the realm of skill Isaac had already reached. As the young man hadn''t treated him badly even when he hadn''t been the most welcoming, he thought there would be a chance for Isaac to be generous and help him.

    Jakk''s words made Isaac fall into deep thought for a few moments. The bunny boy certainly had the right kind of studious and serious attitude when it came to the dungeon. There was no doubt in Isaac''s mind that he would be able to teach this young one quite a lot. While Jakk''s personality definitely had a few parts that needed to be worked on, Isaac wasn''t particularly bothered by these. Besides, if he educated the hume bunny, he would surely turn into a splendid, less-cringy individual. More importantly, though, having himself a lackey he could order to do some of the more menial tasks that would just needlessly take up his time would most undoubtedly come in handy in the future. Sure, it would take some time to turn this strong-willed roommate into his follower but being in a mentor position would make it a lot easier.

    "Alright, I''ll teach you. However much you grasp is up to you, though. I''ll allow you to come with me to the dungeon from now on."

    Another part of the reason why Isaac decided to take Jakk with him was that he could serve as a layer of security when roaming the dungeon. On the upper floors, it was quite hard to find something that could put a Level 2 adventurer at risk. Purely stat-wise, the bunny boy was leagues ahead of him and could protect him if something that was statistically unlikely to happen took place.

    On the way to the dungeon, Isaac spent 500 valis on a medium-sized sturdy leather backpack, which he filled with a blanket he got from the Twilight Manor, flasks of water and containers filled with food. The containers and flasks were wrapped in the blanket so they wouldn''t hit each other and avoid making sounds. He had decided to buy this backpack so he could use his Inventory even with Jakk present. After all, he could just reach inside and pull out something without the bunny boy having any clue whether or not it had originally been in there.His reason for filling it with quite a bit of stuff was to make it seem like it was packed close to full, therefore making him pulling out various things less suspicious. Even after being filled up by the things previously mentioned, the backpack was just the right size to not hinder Isaac''s movements and didn''t weigh him down at all. After all, most of the volume came from the blanket which barely weighed anything.

    While on the way to the dungeon''s second floor, which Isaac hadn''t explored on his own yet, he used the monsters they encountered on the way as teaching materials for Jakk. At the same time as he was slaying them, he explained his actions and thought processes. He also used the time in between monster encounters to teach his roommate about some basics of combat that could be helpful.

    He conveyed how it was a smarter decision to deflect an incoming attack than to take it head on and how to bait your opponent into reacting just the way you wanted them to. While for Isaac, these were just simple basics, for Jakk, who hadn''t formally been taught anything like it before, this opened up a whole new world of combat tactics. Of course, it was impossible for him to instantly understand everything Isaac taught him. No person would be capable of such a feat, after all. But this new knowledge opened up a lot of metaphorical doors for him that he could now venture into.

    No matter how logical something sounds and no matter how much one thinks they understand something, to put it into practice requires time, experience and effort. Jakk was aware of this. Nonetheless, he was still very impressed by the insights this young man shared with him. It felt more like he was listening to an old sage''s preaching and not the mostly emotionless explanations of someone barely older than himself.

    Although slaying monsters while in teaching mode took a few seconds longer than usual, it didn''t take much time for the duo to reach the second floor.

    Quite some time later, Isaac had dispatched a few groups of kobolds and goblins. They didn''t grow any stronger on this floor and the only difference he had noticed was that they always roamed around in groups of two at the minimum. Gone were the single stragglers he would mostly encounter on the first floor. At this time, the duo encountered the first dungeon lizard.

    It looked almost like a Komodo dragon, a lizard which had been pretty famous back in Isaac''s old world. The only huge difference between the two was that the dungeon lizard''s scales were of a purple colour. Its huge size of over two meters in length was still pretty small when compared with the largest Komodo dragons Isaac had heard about. It''s stats could reach up to H-150. According to Jakk, it was quite rare to encounter a dungeon lizard such as this one on the second floor and they would only become more common on the third.

    Quite excited about having a new species of monster to target now, Isaac got right back into his previously seen researching behaviour.

    Just like the kobolds and goblins before it, the dungeon lizard''s default behaviour upon noticing his approach was to charge at him. The only slightly more dangerous part about the whole endeavour were the lizard''s size and its tail. Due to its larger size, Isaac had to dodge a further distance. The tail attacks occasionally targeting him didn''t make his job any easier. While it was still manageable, its significantly higher speed than a kobold''s made the dungeon lizard most likely the strongest monster Isaac was currently able to kill without getting wounded himself. If he fought anything stronger without getting his Status updated, he would have to pay quite a price if he wanted to kill his opponent.

    Still, besides these observations, a single dungeon lizard wasn''t enough to be much of a bother. After more than ten minutes of mostly dodging and feigning attacks, Isaac commenced his heartless torture. Only the lizard''s reactions to actual attacks and injuries hadn''t been observed yet. Luckily, the dungeon lizard was a lot more resilient compared to the monsters Isaac had faced before, so by the time its mostly dismembered body finally powerlessly hit the ground, Isaac had almost finished his research regarding the species.

    As he had already warned his roommate about this kind of thing happening when meeting new monsters a while ago, Jakk didn''t ask him about what he was doing after witnessing his research. Nevertheless, the bunny boy still paled a bit. But after telling himself that this wasn''t even close to the most gory scenes he would witness in the future and that he couldn''t let himself get spooked by something like this, Jakk clenched his fists and calmed down decisively.

    Once his teacher had collected the magic stone from this mound of flesh and limbs, the two sat down to take a rest. Of course, they were still vigilantly observing their surroundings while eating a few slices of bread and drinking some water. After a minute or two, a system notification interrupted Isaac''s rest.

    [ Secondary host Ais Wallenstein has slain 1000 Level 1 monsters.

    She completed the quest ''Kill 1000 Level 1 monsters.'' and was rewarded with 100 AP. ]

    This didn''t mean Isaac''s own achievement relating to slaying monsters had been completed. Instead, secondary hosts had their own list of achievements. Still, this development gave Isaac even more drive to continue his dungeon grind. From what he had observed on the map, Ais had only been in the dungeon for close to an hour and had already killed such a huge number of monsters. Meanwhile, he had only slain 126 Level 1 monsters in total so far. To close this gap even just a tiny bit faster, Isaac ended their rest and continued deeper into the second floor with the fire of motivation in his eyes burning a lot brighter than before.

    Many hours later, in the afternoon, both Isaac''s and Jakk''s supplies had run low. They were still going to fight here for a little bit longer before turning back for the day, though. If they hadn''t rested quite often, Isaac would have been way too physically exhausted to continue onwards, just like yesterday. Compared to the state he had been in at the time, he currently wasn''t nearly as drained of energy. This was mostly because he had focussed a bit of time on restoring his strained muscles during their periods of rest.

    When the duo heard the sounds of fighting in the distance, they got ready to distance themselves so they wouldn''t run into other adventurers. After all, anything could happen in the dungeon. If they ran across other adventurers, it was quite likely they could be perceived as a threat. But compared to the previous times, where Isaac had decided to leave the fighting adventurers alone, this time, he decided against it.

    There was a simple reason for this. The number of monsters he heard howling in the distance far surpassed the groups he and Jakk had encountered on this floor. He could make out more than 20 of them from sounds alone. Comparing that to the already irregular group of nine the duo had run into before, it was clear that something was wrong. Any adventurer team faced with such a massive group on this floor would likely run into huge problems. Still, as Isaac was practically still untouchable here, he decided to check out this irregularity.

    While the duo was hurrying towards the origin of the fighting noises, they heard a heart-wrenching, pained scream echo through the badly lit hallways.

    "FAAATHEEERR!!!!"

    It was at this time that they had finally come close enough to observe what was going on.

    It seemed like they had come across some adventurers encountering a monster party. Such a phenomenon occurred occasionally and consisted of the dungeon suddenly spawning a huge number of monsters at once, more than should ever appear on the respective floor in a single group. It was quite rare to see, but it still happened. Encountering a monster party could only be chalked up to one''s bad luck and the whims of the dungeon itself. The monster party the duo was looking at right now still consisted of five dungeon lizards, 12 kobolds and seven goblins, even after having some of their numbers killed by the adventurers they were sieging.

    While there had originally been two adventurers, the middle-aged man in front had already fallen prey to the host of monsters surrounding him. Now, there was only one person left standing, the same one who had just loosened that scream full of despair. It was a young male human, who, in this world, would barely be of age. He looked to be about 15 years old and was clad in a brown, long-sleeved gambeson and brown trousers. Over these, he wore decently-made metal light armour, covering most of his body but still providing him with enough maneuverability. The spear he wielded was grasped tightly with his firmly clenched hands. His short brown hair, emerald green eyes and decently sculpted facial structure would have made the guy quite a looker. At the moment, however, the youth''s face was horribly distorted while looking at the dungeon lizard currently eating the dead man he had addressed as his father just moments prior. It was obvious that the middle-aged man had protected the youth with his life, as barely any sign of injury could be found on the latter.

    Without wasting any more time, Isaac ran towards the host of monsters after telling Jakk to protect the human as best as he could in the meantime.

    Why did he decide to do such a thing? Was it out of the pure goodness of his heart?

    Of course not.

    As there were a lot of monsters here, he could save a lot of time when trying to find them. The huge number of them could also serve as a bit of a training for him. While it was quite dangerous, he was confident in handling the situation. And as Jakk was a Level 2, he should be able to at least protect the human youth in the short time it would take him to kill all of the monsters. If he wasn''t confident in reducing the number of monsters quickly, however, he could have possibly consigned the hume bunny to death by sending a newly promoted Level 2 against so many Level 1 monsters. Quantity could trump quality in certain situations, after all.

    Another reason for helping the human was that saving someone would earn their gratitude. Now, that might not always turn out to be something useful but it certainly wasn''t a bad thing to have. Maybe he would end up getting some money or an item in return for the rescue. Or maybe the human would even end up helping him when he needed him to in the future. One simply never knew.

    So because he could potentially earn something and would still not lose out even if he just killed the monsters, Isaac decided to take action.

    He started his slaughter by quickly beheading two of the goblins situated towards the outer perimeter of the mob. With this, the nearest monsters had noticed his arrival. One of the kobolds was about to lunge at him but by that time, he had already lopped off its head as well.

    Finally, a huge part of the group of monsters surrounding the human youth turned towards him, leaving Jakk to only fend with two dungeon lizards, three kobolds and one goblin. He should easily be able to handle that.

    -----

    Just like every day, Kalin Myre had come to the dungeon with his father, Marv Myre, to earn their daily income. They had to feed themselves somehow, after all, and the best way that was available to the two of them was the hunting of monsters. The two of them weren''t adventurers, however, as they hadn''t been accepted into any god''s familia and given their blessing. Still, the Guild didn''t bar non-adventurers entry into the dungeon. They just wouldn''t be offered the same benefits as the adventurers. The Guild simply didn''t care about people like them. They would still gladly take their magic stones, however.

    Kalin''s father had been quite strong, especially for a non-familia Level 1 warrior. He himself¡­ wasn''t that strong. He could deal with a kobold or two on his own but that was about it.

    Besides earning money to earn their upkeep, the two could also grow just a tiny bit stronger by exercising their bodies. This was the only other way for the people of this world to grow stronger if they couldn''t get a falna, after all.

    Contrary to all the days before, today shouldn''t be a good day. While they had been in one of the corners of a huge cavern, the dungeon, as if to spell their inevitable doom, had suddenly spawned a huge monster party. It wasn''t as if the father-son duo hadn''t encountered one before. But every single other time, they had been able to escape. This time¡­ they weren''t able to leave this death trap.

    While Kalin had managed to kill three goblins and a kobold and his father had slain four kobolds and a dungeon lizard, the odds were still heavily stacked against their favour. There were just too many monsters. While fighting, his father had constantly protected Kalin and was wounded quite a lot in the process. And at one point, it was just too much to take. Marv had turned too sluggish to evade an incoming attack¡­ and died.

    Rage, fear, pain, hate and sorrow took hold of Kalin''s heart at this very moment, paralyzing him and making him unable to do anything but stare at the gruesome and gory scene in front of him that he just didn''t want to believe. At the dungeon lizard gorging itself while munching on his father.

    But right at this moment, a hume bunny youth about as tall as him suddenly charged in front of him, protecting him from the surrounding monsters with great power.

    Taken aback by this development, Kalin was able to keep the sadness at bay for a moment and concentrate solely on his continued survival for now. His father''s sacrifice would have been in vain if he didn''t live through this, after all.

    Just as quickly as the bunny boy had appeared in front of him, the vast majority of the monsters surrounding the two were drawn away from them, their behaviour reminiscent of an army planning to first deal with a strong foe.

    When Kalin noticed who the monsters were fighting against, he was rendered speechless. A young man, a human such as himself, was gracefully ''dancing'' through the host of monsters charging at him from all sides, leaving corpses in his wake wherever he passed by. Without being able to even touch him, the surrounding monsters dropped like flies and before even a minute had passed, only the dungeon lizard who had eaten his father was left, passively kept at bay by the hume bunny.

    The young man who had just effortlessly dispatched the monster party was weak, stat-wise. That, even Kalin was able to perceive. His instincts told him he could knock the guy out with just a single punch. But he was sure that his instincts were wrong this time. If it had been a simple match of raw power, he was definitely superior. But in terms of pure skill, the young man was simply to immeasurably strong for Kalin to even last more than a second against him.

    After taking a short few breaths to regain some stamina, the young man turned to the hume bunny and told him to restrain the dungeon lizard. Having given a short nod in response, the hume bunny youth changed his modus operandi from defense to offense. He quickly jumped above the monster and stomped down on its back, just slightly below its neck.

    With a loud cracking noise, the dungeon lizard''s spine broke, paralyzing the monster. Not being able to move any of its limbs anymore, it could only howl to make its pain and desperation known.

    "Go ahead, kill it."

    The young man''s cold words didn''t need any further explanation. Kalin knew why his saviours had acted the way they did. He knew why they had spared the monster that had devoured his father''s corpse. They had left it for him, so he could get revenge on the one that had taken his family from him.

    With tears uncontrollably rolling down his cheeks and rage warping his face into a mask of despair, Kalin gripped his spear harder and approached the downed dungeon lizard. After looking at the hateful visage for a short while, Kalin pulled his spear back and loosened a heavy stab towards its skull. A short moment of resistance, which he overcame with pure strength, later, the spear''s tip embedded itself deeply in the creature''s brain. After a second, its death throes subsided and finally, everything was quiet.

 Chapter 14 - Gotta Teach â€˜Em All

    In a private room of a small restaurant, Isaac was seated at a table next to Jakk and across from Kalin. While eating the noodle dish he had ordered, he observed the youth in front of him, especially the pendant around his neck. It was made with a sturdy string and held a small stone ring, nothing special. Still, the accessory made him look back at how they, this group of three, got here.

    Shortly after Kalin had slain the dungeon lizard, the three of them introduced themselves to each other. While doing so, Kalin had searched the mangled and unrecognizable pile of flesh and bones that was his father for anything salvageable he could take with him to remember him by. That was when he found this ordinary pendant amongst the remains and took it with him after cleaning it.

    For some reason Isaac didn''t know about, the adventurers generally avoided taking the corpses of their companions out of the dungeon. And that was even though they knew that the dungeon would absorb those to seemingly feed itself. Honestly, it didn''t make much sense. Why would anyone leave the corpse of their companion to such a fate if they could just bring them back outside? But for both Kalin and Jakk, it seemed like the logical thing to do. They didn''t even question it. This intrigued Isaac a bit, so he resolved himself to investigate these circ.u.mstances in the future if he found the time.

    Still, with that, at least the three didn''t have to carry a bloody mess with them to the outside. He was quite glad about that.

    When they finally left the dungeon, Isaac''s monster slaying quest was at 180/1000. His earnings for today amounted to exactly 11.000 valis. A dungeon lizard''s magic stone turned out to be worth 200 valis, while its drop item, one of its scales, was worth 1000. The entire harvest consisted of nine dungeon lizard magic stones, one dungeon lizard scale, 34 kobold magic stones, four koblin nails, 38 goblin magic stones and three goblin fangs.

    After both Jakk and Isaac had used the Guild''s equipment maintenance rooms and showers to clean away all the filth that had acc.u.mulated over the past few hours, they were surprised to see Kalin still waiting for them. The youth then practically begged both of them to let him treat them to a meal to show his gratitude. Of course, Isaac was aware that this was just a cover Kalin planned to use to ask something of them. Or to be more exact, of him.

    What slightly amazed Isaac for a moment was that Jakk agreed to this invitation and didn''t just go home while ignoring the miserable youth. But after observing the bunny boy for a moment, Isaac could see pity and empathy in his eyes. Never before had Isaac seen his roommate show such feelings. It didn''t take long for Isaac to come up with a conjecture: Jakk had a tragic past as well. Seeing Kalin go through such an ordeal had softened the antisocial hume bunny''s heart a bit and made him want to cheer the young human up. Whether that was true or not, Isaac couldn''t say for certain. If he ever was sufficiently bored and had the time, he would ask Jakk about it.

    The death of loved ones was even more frequent in this world compared to the world Isaac had lived in previously. From what he understood, many different gods with related divinities had created kingdom-style familias and led them to wage wars against each other non-stop. As there were many gods related to the dark side of society as well, many shady things took place on a daily basis with no-one to stop it. Besides a few places, the entire world was constantly in chaos. The areas dominated by monsters didn''t help out either. Even here in Orario, the most beautiful pearl of this entire world, many despicable acts took place every day, even the Guild couldn''t stop it.

    Isaac only stopped ruminating on thoughts like these when he finished his noodle dish. He hadn''t really paid attention to its taste while being distracted. To get rid of the slight and pleasant aftertaste, he took a sip of his glass of water. He was the only one in the room who chose such a basic beverage.

    Jakk chose a drink similar to lemonade, while Kalin decided to order some beer to drown his sorrows, at least a little. If Kalin had been a friend of his and this wasn''t such a devastating time for him, Isaac would have heavily criticized such behaviour. The consumption of alcohol was entirely harmful to the brain, after all. No matter how much his past society normalized it because of sheer idiocy, Isaac obviously was very well informed about what kind of poison it truly was. Still, unless it was someone who was really important to him, like Ais, he had long since decided to just let people do whatever they wanted to. He simply wouldn''t bother with them. Even just explaining in detail about what kind of horrible idea it was to drink alcohol always took up a lot of time, which was better used elsewhere.

    "Again. Thank you, both of you."

    After expressing these words of gratitude, Kalin took a while to continue, seemingly in deep thought. He honestly felt a little bit apprehensive about what he planned to ask the young man, even a little bit guilty. His life had been saved by him but instead of being grateful, he was going to shamelessly ask something of him again¡­

    This hesitance didn''t escape Isaac, while both he and Jakk assured Kalin that helping him out hadn''t been a problem at all. Only after that did the youth finally ask what had been on his mind the entire time.

    "Isaac¡­ I know this is presumptuous, but¡­ could you teach me how to fight?"

    The ember of hope in his eyes couldn''t be hidden. As someone without a falna, improving his technical skill to a level approaching Isaac was his only real way of growing a lot stronger. He had to feed himself, after all, so he couldn''t really stop going to the dungeon. Not that he wanted to, either. Ever since his father died, his desire to slaughter monsters in revenge wasn''t something he planned to repress. He had taken his first step on a path of slaughter, with no end in sight.

    While he wasn''t particularly surprised at Kalin''s request, as he had already expected something along these lines, Isaac still found it humorous that on the very same day, two people had asked him this question. If he hadn''t known better, he would have almost believed that he was playing a student collection game right now.

    Once he got rid of these distracting thoughts, Isaac gave his response.

    "I''m currently already teaching Jakk. So if you''re fine with not being my only student, I''ll teach you as well."

    His reasons for such a decision were pretty simple, almost the same reasons he had when he accepted Jakk''s request. Kalin could be a useful minion. Additionally, because he wasn''t an adventurer yet, he could be of use to one of Isaac''s plans as well. It was not a devious plan at all, by the way. Not at all.

    Although he was still in a devastatingly bad mood, Kalin felt quite happy about this reply, he even showed a slight smile. His worries over whether or not he would be accepted as a student flew away, replaced with pure relief.

    "Should we ask Loki to accept him into the familia?"

    When Kalin heard Jakk''s question to Isaac, he almost dropped his glass. His eyes opened wide in disbelief while he stared at the two in front of him unblinkingly. He was simply awestruck and it took him a moment to collect himself and ask a question.

    "Are you two from the Loki Familia?"

    Kalin''s shock wasn''t a surprise. At the moment, the Loki Familia was one of the two top familias in the entirety of Orario. Even just interacting with one of their members was something that most people would never have the chance to do. So when his saviours acknowledged that they were indeed from such a place he never even dreamed of reaching before, Kalin was incredibly excited. Now that he could possibly join such a prestigious familia, he started to have all kinds of heroic fantasies. Also, at this point, he wasn''t surprised by Isaac''s inhuman skill level anymore. As someone from the Loki Familia, anything and everything should be possible for him. As someone on the bottom rung of society, Kalin didn''t even question such prowess and took it for granted when it was connected to a top level force.

    Before Kalin could start getting overly excited, Isaac''s words interrupted his delusions.

    "Calm down for a moment. Even if we recommend you to Loki, she might not accept you into the familia. But there is no need to be discouraged. I''m working on something that I can''t talk about yet. It will take a few weeks. I can guarantee that what I''m working on will be just as good if not better for you than joining the Loki Familia. And I can guarantee that you will get a falna. You don''t need to worry about waiting for so long either. Excelia is always acc.u.mulated, even if you haven''t been blessed yet. I promise you that you won''t lose out. What do you say?"

    The one who was the most dumbfounded by these words wasn''t Kalin, but Jakk. When he thought about what Isaac could possibly mean with the words ''better than joining the Loki Familia'', he paled and asked a question in sheer disbelief.

    "You couldn''t be thinking about leaving the familia, right?!"

    Although Jakk didn''t know of any familia offering better conditions to an adventurer than his own, this was simply the only option he could think of. Nothing else even made sense.

    In response to this worry, Isaac showed a gentle smile.

    "No need to worry, I won''t leave. What I''m planning also won''t hurt the familia one bit, it will only help."

    There was no reason for Isaac to leave the familia that was Ais'' home. If he did that, he would be insane. After all, how else could he be close to the girl of his dreams so easily?

    Having observed his two saviours'' interactions and thinking about Isaac''s words, Kalin finally came to a decision.

    "Alright, I''ll wait. Let''s see what you have in store."

    It couldn''t hurt to wait for a bit longer, after all. Also, Kalin couldn''t deny that he was quite intrigued by what could possibly rival membership in such a prestigious familia.

    As if she had known that Isaac had been thinking about her a bit just a few minutes of small talk prior, just when the group was leaving the restaurant, a system notification briefing Isaac about Ais'' monster slaying progress appeared.

    [ Secondary host Ais Wallenstein has slain 4000 Level 1 monsters.

    She completed the quest ''Kill 4000 Level 1 monsters.'' and was rewarded with 400 AP. ]

    ''So fast! She has 1000 AP in total already.''

    Slightly distracted by thoughts like these, Isaac said goodbye to Kalin for the day. They promised to meet at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning at the northern entrance of Babel.

    "I''ll go back to the Twilight Manor now, what about you?"

    In response to Jakk''s question, Isaac showed a mysterious smile. Ever since they had ran across Kalin in the dungeon, he had already made plans.

    "I still have something to do, I''ll be back sometime after dinner."

    The system clock showed the time to be 4:03 p.m. when Jakk left. There was still plenty of time for what Isaac planned to do. So after blurring his existence yet again, shielding himself from the eyes of others, he quickly made his way towards the more dilapidated and lawless areas of Orario. Towards the alleyways around the south-eastern main street.

    The south-eastern main street was close to both the entertainment district on one side and the impoverished district housing the Daedalus street on the other. Just as one might expect, the entertainment district was this city''s red light district. In this world, slavery and human trafficking, along with a whole host of other crimes, was even more rampant in such an environment than in Isaac''s old world.

    Isaac decided to go to the alleyways surrounding such a tumor of society to recruit more minions for the future. As Ais was currently still in the dungeon, according to the system map, he had nothing better to do anyway.

    Now that he had already accepted two students, it wouldn''t hurt to get a few more. With the way things were going, Isaac was sure he would run across someone who wanted to be taught by him again sooner or later. So he would rather get all of these encounters out of the way as soon as possible, so most people joining him would be at around the same starting line. If the discrepancies in strength were too massive, it would be annoying to have to avoid certain dungeon areas just because of that, after all. If he wanted to form a sizeable cohesive unit of around the same strength, he would have to pick up people suitable to be his future minions, people with a strong desire for strength and growth.

    Admittedly, Jakk already being a Level 2 adventurer was somewhat not to Isaac''s liking. After all, everyone else who would join him would be significantly weaker than Jakk for some time. Still, if he succeeded in polishing his roommate''s character and personality a bit, he could be somewhat of a leader figure amongst his lackeys.

    Once his group had grown big enough, he wouldn''t have to worry about accepting new people either, as he could just let a few of the ones he had taught for a longer time accompany the newcomers in their fledgling state.

    One might wonder why Isaac would even try to create such a group in the first place. He was part of the Loki Familia and didn''t have to worry about not having anyone to explore the lower floors of the dungeon with. After all, down there, there wouldn''t even be time to rest if a force wasn''t large enough to fend off monsters nonstop by rotating members. The Loki Familia could easily solve that problem. So why create a seperate force?

    It was simple. The Loki Familia wasn''t under Isaac''s control, they had to listen to Loki''s orders and whims. If Isaac wanted to move separately or the main force of the familia wasn''t available at the moment, he needed his own party. Additionally, the Loki Familia wouldn''t be able to do everything they could possibly want, they were bound by certain rules all gods and their familias had to follow. Isaac didn''t know about the details, but he was already preparing to work outside of such a strict framework.

    Maybe it would have been barely sufficient for his purposes to only rely on the Loki Familia if he planned to exclusively live in this world. But as he had far greater plans, building up a force he could take with him was necessary. He couldn''t just take the entire Loki Familia and leave, after all, too much chaos would ensue.

    Because of this goal, he was roaming the most desolate alleyways of Orario in search of people in dire straits. Without anyone noticing, he passed many groups of small-time crooks and criminals.

    After such encounters became more frequent, he briefly thought about getting rid of one of these groups to test how the system would react to such actions. What stopped him from doing so, however, was the presence of a Level 2 adventurer in every single one of these small criminal groups. While a Level 2 wasn''t someone Isaac had to be scared of, he wasn''t entirely confident in instantly getting rid of them without using his existence-blurred default state. And using that felt akin to cheating, something he would feel slightly bitter about doing. If he just fought a group containing a Level 2 head on, who knows what might happen. If they lasted long enough, many reinforcements could arrive, even his familia could somehow get involved if some bystander reported everything to the Guild. It was just too much trouble that Isaac would rather avoid.

    Of course, he could just take the easy way out and cheat, but unless he had a good reason to do that, he wouldn''t.

    Technically speaking, using his default state was part of his strength, there wasn''t really a reason to restrict himself like that. He was just following his principles and avoiding having everything handed to him too easily. Basically, he was handicapping himself.

    During the next few hours, Isaac wasn''t that lucky. At one time, he had just slightly been too late to prevent the murder of a potential minion. Many other crimes had also taken place under his watchful eyes. Still, it took him until around 7 p.m. to finally encounter a promising situation.

    It was a situation happening all too often here in the labyrinth city.

    -----

    Mina Teagle was a 16 year old chienthrope girl. Chienthropes were a race quite similar to hume bunnies. Instead of the bunny ears and tails, they had various different dog ears and tails. Mina had come to Orario in the company of her parents for the first time today. Her parents were farmers from a village not too far from the city. Now that it was still winter, they had a lot of free time. They also had a good harvest last season so with enough money, they wanted their daughter to see the world a bit.

    Mina wore her dark-blonde hair in a shoulder-length ponytail, her bangs were long enough to almost cover her eyebrows. She had droopy, long dog ears and light brown eyes, filled with innocence and naivet¨¦. Her clothes weren''t extravagant whatsoever, she just wore a simple brown linen dress and cheap leather shoes. That was already the best her family could afford. Of course, like every other person, she also wore undergarments, but that shall not be further discussed here.

    Shortly after they had entered the city, while the group of three was still touring around and dazzled by the prosperity of the city, Mina''s beauty caught the eye of a certain group of five men.

    They were slavers.

    Seeing such a young, naive and beautiful girl with obviously no powerful background, they determined her to be their next target. After all, no-one would miss a small farmer family. And even if someone did, they weren''t influential enough to be a problem or even possibly find out what had happened. Immediately, the group formulated a plan as to how to best capture her and sell her to one of the brothels in the entertainment district.

    A series of small plots ensued.

    And at their end, Mina found herself desperately running through empty alleyways, trying to escape. Her parents had already been murdered in cold blood. Tears were still unabatedly streaming down her cheeks when she thought about how her father sacrificed himself just to buy her enough time to escape the encirclement. She had to escape, or else everything was in vain!

    Without caring about the mess at all, the slavers just left the corpses of Mina''s parents right at the scene of their ambush. After a few minutes, they were already hot on her heels. Like fishermen using an inescapable net, they led her right where they wanted her to go. After all, the girl didn''t know anything about her surroundings, while they knew them like their own backyard.

    Soon, they had led the young farmer girl to a dead end.

    When she saw the wall in front of her, with no way out and no way to climb it, even more tears burst forth from her eyes uncontrollably. Mina was desperate and scared. Upon turning around, the entire alleyway was blocked out by the five men. Their faces were twisted with sadistic pleasure from having driven her into a corner. The hate she felt for them ever since they had killed her parents got even stronger when their revolting gazes wandered all over her body, seemingly wanting to strip her n.a.k.e.d.

    Less than thirty meters of alleyway were left between Mina and a lifetime of suffering. The group of men slowly and menacingly walked closer, trying to break her spirit by delaying the inevitable.

    Yes, it was quite the clich¨¦ situation. A damsel in distress, stereotypical villains¡­

    Because of that, Mina couldn''t help herself from wanting someone to save her. Like in the fairy tales she had been told when she was younger. Besides that, she also longed for one other thing: revenge. If she wasn''t almost scared out of her mind, her eyes when looking at these villains would be entirely dominated by hate.

    Sadly enough, Mina was a smart girl. She knew there wasn''t any help coming. So even that hope of hers died almost as soon as it appeared, the spark extinguished by her rationality.

    Right at that moment, one of the slavers walking towards her tripped a little, as if he had been shoved aside by someone for a moment. But there was no-one there. So after a moment or two of slight confusion, the slaver determined he probably just tripped over his own feet accidentally and continued onwards.

    Seconds later, a young man, a human, appeared in front of Mina. His silver light armour and black clothes gave him quite the dashing look. Coupled with the young man''s handsome face and the timely moment of his appearance, Mina felt like her Prince Charming had finally arrived. The extinguished spark rose again like a phoenix from the ashes, her heartbeat quickening.

    The slavers were taken aback by someone just appearing out of nowhere as well, so they cautiously eyed the newcomer. While keeping track of the group of five, the young man turned to Mina and addressed her.

    "I can save you and give you strength. In return, I want absolute loyalty. Deal?"

    These words instantly shattered Mina''s expectations. He didn''t swoon all over her, treating her like a princess. He didn''t even save her out of the goodness of his heart. He wasn''t comparable to the valiant hero she had expected at all. Instead of the care she expected to see on his face, it was cold and emotionless while the only feeling his eyes conveyed was overwhelming loneliness. This man was the complete antithesis of the ideal prince she had wanted to be saved by.

    At this point, the slavers had already recovered from their shock and shouted something Mina didn''t pay attention to. Neither did the young man in front of her, he was waiting for her answer.

    The moment he had appeared, Mina''s only focus was on him.

    Instead of being shocked for too long, her thirst for revenge, her wish for the men who murdered her parents to suffer, whispered to her that she should accept this deal. She was aware that, if she did so, from this day forward, her life would change forever. The freedom to make her own decisions in every possible situation would disappear. Instead, she would have to follow this young man''s orders. Her life would be in his hands. Still, even if it wasn''t for the desire for revenge trying to convince her, he was also currently her only hope, her only way to escape a tragic fate.. It felt like a bittersweet deal with the devil.

    She steeled her heart. Her eyes turned cold and the scared expression on her beautiful, tear-stained face changed into a mask of viciousness when she directed her gaze towards the slavers, who were still shouting and getting closer and closer. Of course, she completely ignored their words in their entirety.

    "Deal."

    The moment this word had left her lips, the young man in front of her turned towards the group of slavers.

    Ten seconds later, five decapitated heads hit the floor.

 Chapter 15 - The First Subordinate

    When he was following the group of slavers as they were chasing the chienthrope girl around, Isaac patiently waited for the most opportune moment to jump in and save her. After all, as long as people didn''t really feel like they had no way out, no way to escape, they wouldn''t truly be grateful and indebted to their saviour.

    But as he was waiting for that perfect moment to arrive, he realized that he had to change his planned approach a little. If an individual of the opposite gender ended up saving someone in their time of need, it was quite normal for people to fall for them, to think of them as their hero. Isaac really didn''t want this to happen, especially as he planned to recruit this girl as his subordinate. Such feelings would only get in the way and make things awkward.

    Therefore, he decided to partially get rid of the mask he wore when interacting with people normally. He wouldn''t show any emotion, so as to emphasize that he didn''t hold any special feelings towards the dog girl. Additionally, he decided he would offer her a deal for strength and revenge, in return for loyalty. If she didn''t take it, he wouldn''t mind leaving the girl to her cruel fate and waiting for another promising situation to happen.This way, their roles would be abundantly clear and it was entirely up to her whether she wanted to be saved. Even more than being her saviour, him being her superior would be the most important part that her brain would register.

    It was the best plan he was able to come up with in the short time he had, so after the young chienthrope agreed to the deal, he quickly killed the slavers who didn''t pose much of a problem. Contrary to the other groups of criminals he had come across on his search, these ones didn''t include a Level 2. They were also quite weak even for someone at Level 1, only slightly stronger than the average person. But as they acted smartly and only chose easy targets, their superiority in numbers made up for their lack in strength.

    As Isaac had been around humans very similar to the humanoid races of this world for a very long time, his observations as to how the human body could move and its body structure were more than sufficient to be practically invincible amongst humanoid enemies. As long as there wasn''t an insurmountable difference in stats. There was literally no other way for him to die against humanoid enemies of the same level of strength except for there being too many of them and tiring him to death with an unceasing assault.

    After getting rid of the small fry, a new system notification popped up. But as he hadn''t even taken a look at the ones that appeared when the dog girl had sworn her loyalty, he had to check out quite a lot of them now that he had the time.

    [ Mina Teagle has sworn her loyalty to you.

    Hidden Path ''King'' has been unlocked.

    Related achievements have been unlocked.

    ''Subordinates'' feature has been unlocked.

    1000 AP rewarded. ]

    [ Quest ''Have one subordinate.'' completed. 100 AP rewarded. ]

    While Isaac was slightly surprised about unlocking this new feature so easily, its existence was already expected. After all, how could he have forgotten about a tool to manage his subordinates?

    [ Achievement Progress:

    Kill 1000 Level 1 monsters. (185/1000) ]

    Interestingly enough, the five Level 1 slavers were just counted as Level 1 monsters. While it might seem outrageous, in Isaac''s eyes, there wasn''t any difference between the two. An enemy would be killed, a friend would be cherished. A simple philosophy. Now that he had made sure that the system did count eradicating sc.u.m as progress, he at least wouldn''t feel like he was wasting his time if he ever eradicated some more. He was well aware, though, that he wouldn''t gain any excelia from doing that. Killing a member of the sentient races didn''t award anything at all, that was just one of the laws of this world.

    Compared to killing monsters, however, it was apparently a lot more profitable to take out the trash. The slavers had a huge sum of money, 54.638 valis, with them. Isaac most certainly wouldn''t complain about such a generous donation.

    When he finally turned around to observe the chienthrope girl the system had referred to as Mina, Isaac gave the system a mental prompt to show him her Status, one of the things he thought the subordinates feature should be able to do.

    [ Name: Mina Teagle ]

    [ Familia: None ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate ]

    [ Race: Chienthrope ]

    [ Level: 1 ]

    [ Age: 16 ]

    [ Loyalty: 65/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-15 ]

    [ Endurance: I-27 ]

    [ Dexterity: I-18 ]

    [ Agility: I-43 ]

    [ Magic: I-10 ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ None ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ None ]

    There had been quite a few additions to the information the Status displayed previously. Both the ''Affiliation'' and ''Age'' parts were new, as well as the ''Loyalty'' stat. Most likely, this stat showcased how likely it was for her to follow his orders, as the name implied. The lower the stat, the higher the chance of betrayal or refusal of orders. Also, the lower the stat, the easier it would be able to drop further. On the other hand, the higher the stat, the easier it would be for it to rise even higher. After all, a fanatical loyalist would only turn more loyal upon experiencing something positive, something reinforcing their loyalty.

    As Mina''s loyalty was at 65/100, it could be considered a pretty good start. Most likely, subordinates would only desert him once the stat dropped to zero. Therefore, it would be smart to do his best to raise this stat. Still, Isaac didn''t plan to go out of his way to do so. If he did that, he would feel like he was the subordinate in this relationship.

    He had originally planned to take a look at his own Status right now as well, as he wanted to check his daily dungeon grind progress and how it had been upgraded thanks to the subordinates feature. But Mina growing more and more confused and worried over the past few seconds he had just spent staring at her made him decide to first get rid of the awkwardness in the air. As she obviously couldn''t see the system interface, she could even potentially think of him as a creep if he continued acting like this. Not exactly what one would want their subordinate to think about them, ideally.

    Right when Mina had grown more and more uncomfortable under the cold, emotionless gaze directed at her and was about to ask whether there was anything wrong, Isaac walked towards her. This surprised her quite a bit and made her want to retreat a little instinctively. It was too bad, however, that she was already with her back to a wall.

    While the fear she had felt just moments before still clouded her mind, she was getting more and more afraid of what this person could do to her. After all, she had sworn her absolute loyalty. Could he possibly want to use that against her? Many scary and embarrassing thoughts filled her mind.

    Contrary to her expectations, Isaac had only moved closer to shake her hand and introduce himself. So her delusions were yet again wiped away by his actions.

    "Nice to meet you, I''m Isaac Blackshaw."

    Mina returned his handshake distractedly. She finally realized that she didn''t know anything about this man who called himself Isaac. Her assuming things would only lead to misunderstandings. So, from now on, she decided to trust him a little bit and wouldn''t irrationally assume the worst. He was her saviour, after all.

    "I''m Mina Teagle.. umm¡­ Milord?"

    She wasn''t sure how to address him now that she was his subordinate. Calling him by his name may or may not offend him. So the first thing that came to mind was the way knights addressed their kings in the few fairy tales she knew of.

    After sparing her a slightly confused glance, Isaac didn''t remark on that way of address and chose to just accept it. It made the hierarchy between the two of them clear and wouldn''t allow her to grow too close to him. That was exactly what he wanted. Still, it would take some time to get used to it.

    "I did tell you that I would give you strength, didn''t I? I plan to teach you about ways to get stronger and train you in return for your loyalty."

    While Isaac said this to hopefully clear up all the doubts on the chienthrope''s mind, he noticed that there was something making Mina nervous. Of course, he instantly figured out what it was. Now that the tense, life-threatening situation was over, the girl obviously had time to think about her parents. Anybody would do the same in her situation. As it had been his plan to do something about that anyway, he wasn''t bothered by it.

    "Follow me."

    With these words, he lead the way back to where the family of three had been ambushed.

    Luckily, he could use this time to finally inspect his own Status without attracting attention.

    [ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: None ]

    [ Race: Human ]

    [ Level: 1 ]

    [ Age: Unable to measure ]

    [ Charisma: 14 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-10 (+ 341) ]

    [ Endurance: I-10 (+ 337) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-10 (+ 336) ]

    [ Agility: I-10 (+ 352) ]

    [ Magic: I-10 (+ 365) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ None ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ None ]

    Just as expected, his own Status had changed as well. The only stark difference to Mina''s was that instead of loyalty, he now had a charisma stat. As there was apparently no maximum for this stat, the low number of 14 seemed even more pitiful. But Isaac couldn''t disagree with that evaluation, he wasn''t very charismatic. Besides that, his age was displayed as ''Unable to measure''. This made sense, as when he had transcended existence itself, time had ceased to have a hold over him. It was no wonder that because of this, his age was now immeasurable.

    Still, Isaac couldn''t help but frown slightly when he noticed how much his stat growth had slowed down. Only the dungeon lizards and kobolds gave him more than 10 stat points when killed. That would sound like heaven to any normal adventurer, but for Isaac, it was far from enough. In the next few days, he would have to get Loki to update his Status if he didn''t want to waste any time, it seemed.

    It only took a few minutes to arrive back at the scene of the murders. Even now, there was nobody in the abandoned alleyway. Mina''s parents'' corpses were lying in the dirt, huge pools of blood blossoming like the petals of a flower beneath them. The slavers had been very thorough with their kills. When Isaac checked for a pulse just to make sure, he couldn''t feel anything. They were as dead as they could be.

    Of course, Isaac didn''t disturb Mina when she had kneeled down next to her parents and cried her heart out. He wasn''t a jerk, he knew she needed to let those feelings out if she ever wanted to have a chance at moving on from this tragedy. Surprisingly, it only took a short five minutes until the girl''s tears dried up and she leaned over to close her parents'' eyes. She was more mature than she looked.

    Before she could ask anything of him, he had already stepped next to her.

    "Tell nobody about what you''re going to see now."

    Giving her no time to react, he stored both of her parents'' bodies in his inventory. He most certainly didn''t want to be carrying two corpses around the city, that would just attract attention.

    As soon as he had finished putting them away, he quickly explained what he just did so Mina wouldn''t think he had destroyed the corpses, or something along those lines.

    "I stored them away safely. Now, follow me. We''re going to find a place to bury them."

    Wordlessly, Mina could only follow along. She was just a simple farmer girl. Magic was something she didn''t understand or know anything about. What happened just now therefore looked just like magic to her. A layman like her couldn''t recognize anything extraordinary about it. As for why she shouldn''t tell anybody about this, she thought it might be to keep Isaac''s capabilities a secret. And she wasn''t wrong about that.

    During their journey along the south-eastern main street, the two didn''t attract much attention. Too many people were walking to and fro. Without any complications, Isaac bought two shovels for 600 valis in one of the many stores facing the street. He made sure to quickly store them only when he had made sure nobody was looking at him.

    Even when they had arrived at the gate and left the city, nobody paid the newbie adventurer and farmer girl any attention. There were just too many people just like them constantly streaming through the gates. Even Mina''s beauty didn''t earn her more than a handful or looks. So without any problems, the two of them quickly headed into the woods surrounding Orario.

    Isaac didn''t really want to go all the way back to the village he assumed Mina to come from, as that could take quite a lot of time. There were also no cemeteries nearby that he knew of, besides the adventurer graveyard. Which was only for adventurers registered with the guild, not random farmers.

    It took the two a while until they found a lonely but quite charming clearing. Deciding that this would be the place, Isaac took out the shovels again and handed one of them to Mina.

    "Alright, let''s dig a grave."

    During the entire hour it took the two of them to finally make a grave large enough for both of her parents, Mina didn''t speak or complain. Although it was quite apparent that she had been exhausted from the slavers'' previous chase, she didn''t let this exhaustion stop her from resolutely relocating more and more earth. Isaac silently approved of this mentality.

    When they were finished, Isaac directly placed both of the bodies into the grave, then motioned to Mina to do what she had to do. He didn''t know about burial customs in this world and had no clue what he should do in this situation. So although his gesture might have seemed magnanimous to the young chienthrope, it was just a way to disguise his utter lack of knowledge.

    Mina didn''t do anything extraordinary, she just knelt down in front of the grave, closed her eyes and prayed silently for a while. Isaac had no clue what she was thinking about at all, he wasn''t a mind reader. So while standing next to the kneeling dog girl, he just waited until she was finished.

    "Dad. Mom. Goodbye."

    With a silent whisper, these words left her mouth. She then opened her eyes again and stood back up. Without having been prompted by Isaac, she began to shovel up the grave. Not wanting to lag behind, Isaac followed in her footsteps.

    When they had finished, the sun had already set a long time ago. Thankfully, the night wasn''t that dark as the moon and stars in the sky weren''t obstructed by clouds caused by pollution. To mark the grave, the two had only been able to drag one of the bigger stones nearby over. It wasn''t majestic, it wasn''t extravagant. But still, it was a heartfelt burial.

    At this time, when Mina looked at Isaac, the wariness in her eyes had already disappeared. During the burial, she had made up her mind. While this young man in front of her seemed cold and distant, he wasn''t someone to mistreat those following him. Sure, everything she had went through could have just been an act. But she doubted Isaac would go through that much trouble just to deceive her. He just didn''t seem like that kind of person. She wouldn''t mind following such a man.

    "Thank you, Milord."

    She directed these words at her saviour with a gentle smile, fully showcasing her natural beauty. She wasn''t trying to charm anyone, she was just happy and being herself.

    [ Mina Teagle''s loyalty has increased by 15. ]

    This was the result of all of Isaac''s previous actions. Partially as a response to the beautiful smile, but mostly because of the system notification making him pleased, Isaac showed a rare smile of his own before turning around to walk back towards the city gate. He was sure that Mina would follow along without him having to say so.

    Little did he know that his first real subordinate was currently awestruck. She hadn''t expected her lord to be able to smile. And to smile so beautifully! A slight blush couldn''t help but creep on her face, as she hurriedly forced herself to snap out of her distracted state. She couldn''t get left behind.

    [ Mina Teagle''s loyalty has increased by 10. ]

    Isaac almost tripped over his own feet when just moments after the first increase, for no discernible reason, Mina''s loyalty increased yet again. But after not being able to figure out the exact cause, he just put it aside. It wasn''t important why her loyalty increased, he was just glad that it did.

    His celebratory mood didn''t last long. When the two of them returned to the city gate¡­ it was closed.

    At this moment, Isaac couldn''t help but feel incredibly stupid. While facepalming, he thought about why it had come to this.

    In the novels, it had never been mentioned that Orario''s city gates would be closed during the night, at least not in the volumes he had read. So he had just kept his modern day mindset, where it was normal to be able to enter a city at any time one wanted to.

    Back when he had forgotten to bring supplies to the dungeon, Isaac already felt bad enough and decided to take all the details into account. It seemed like he failed to do so, however. Subconsciously, he had been influenced by the way his old world had worked. But now that he was in a medieval fantasy setting, of course he had to adapt. In medieval times, which city would have their gates open during the night? Especially in such a dangerous environment. It was obvious that the gates would be closed!

    Scolding himself again and again in his mind, Isaac forced his subconscious to separate from his modern way of thinking. For a normal person, this would take them many years of adjustment. For Isaac, however, it only took him a couple of seconds. This time, he was sure he would take into account all of the details in the future. Nothing would be missed.

    The one thing to be glad about would be that he hadn''t made any horrible mistakes before becoming aware of this problem. That was something, at least.

    While Mina was successfully holding back her laughter upon seeing her lord act in such a distraught manner, Isaac contacted Ais via the system. He had already made sure that now, at 9:34 p.m., she had returned to the Twilight Manor a long time ago. She most likely had eaten dinner as well.

    Upon hearing about his current predicament, Ais couldn''t help but chuckle. As he also informed her about taking in a subordinate and the details of how he had recruited her, Ais felt quite happy. If he had kept it a secret from her, she would have been disappointed instead. Him sharing all of this with her was a sign she very much approved of. Not that she had ever doubted him, but it still felt good to get some confirmation.

    "I''ll be there right away."

    After instructing him to wait outside of a specific section of the wall, she stopped their system communication with these words.

    Mina was almost panicking when she finally realized that they were most likely forced to stay outside of the city for the entire night. To calm her down, he told her that someone was going to come and pick them up soon, then motioned her to follow him.

    Five minutes after they had arrived at the specified spot, Ais, wearing the same casual clothes from yesterday, almost soundlessly appeared in front of them. She had simply jumped down the city wall, but Mina hadn''t noticed it whatsoever. Her sudden arrival felt like teleportation to her inexperienced eyes.

    It didn''t even take a second for Mina to realize who it was that was standing there, right in front of her. It was the one and only Sword Princess! Even a village girl like her had heard about this valiant warrior. Unparalleled strength and beauty, the fastest adventurer to get to Level 5¡­ stories about her were spread far and wide. They included detailed descriptions of her looks as well. So once she saw that angel-like face and the long golden hair, she exclaimed.

    "Sword Princess?!"

    In response to the stunned farmer girl, Ais just nodded expressionlessly, before turning to face Isaac. As if spring had just arrived, her face bloomed into a beautiful and wide smile upon seeing him again after a whole day of being apart. Isaac, as well, showed a genuinely happy smile when gazing upon the girl of his dreams yet again. He would never tire of this breathtaking sight.

    While the two lovebirds were staring at each other, totally ignoring everyone around them, Mina - also known as everyone - instantly realized that these two had a close connection. Upon seeing the difference in treatment between her and Ais Wallenstein, she didn''t get distraught or jealous. No, she grew excited instead. For the lord she followed to be this close to the most popular adventurer, he most likely wasn''t a simple person either. He might even be from the Loki Familia.

    When he felt Mina''s excited gaze, Isaac reluctantly ended his and Ais'' little moment. He already knew what the chienthrope girl was thinking. So just like with Kalin earlier in the day, he proceeded to explain which familia he belonged to and that he had a different plan for her. He ensured Mina that she wouldn''t lose out.

    To Ais, who heard about all of that for the first time, he just said that there was no need to worry and that he would tell her about the result of his plan once it succeeded. As he wasn''t entirely sure of how it would turn out, he couldn''t really tell anyone more than a few points he was certain of.

    After his explanations finished, Mina suddenly got put into a princess carry position by Ais. Before she could even react, she had already been put back on the ground on the other side of the city wall. When she turned around after a bit of confusion, she saw that even her lord had already arrived. But as for why he was blushing a bit now, she had no idea.

    Of course, Isaac had only turned this embarrassed because he had found himself yet again in the same position as when he and Ais had met for the first time. He was just glad that this time, nobody else had actually witnessed this sight, as Mina had been too confused to pay attention to it.

    Upon deciding to settle down Mina in an inn close to the Twilight Manor for now, as he couldn''t let her live anywhere else before his plan bore fruit, the group made their way back to the northern part of Orario. Mina''s rent turned out to be a staggeringly high 1000 valis per day - but that also included breakfast and dinner, so there was a good reason for the price. So after paying for five days and instructing her to wait for him in front of the inn at 6 a.m. sharp, he bid her farewell for the day. As she had been a farmer until not long ago, waking up very early in the morning when it was required wasn''t something Mina had to feel worried about.

    When they returned to the Twilight Manor, Ais and Isaac wished each other a good night and reluctantly separated in the entrance hall.

    Once Ais had finally laid down in her bed after taking a quick shower and changing into her sleep wear, she decided that now was the right time.

    Earlier in the day, she had already gotten enough Achievement Points to purchase ''Isaac''s Past - Episode 1'' from the system store. At that time, she had still been in the dungeon, so the system cautioned her. It told her that she should only activate the product once she was in a safe environment where she wouldn''t be disturbed.

    The dungeon was far from that. Therefore, she had to wait until she was back in her room at the Twilight Manor, during the night where everyone was asleep. She couldn''t think of any more fitting place or time than then.

    Ais'' heartbeat quickened in excitement as she ordered the system to let her experience her earlier purchase. She would finally get to know something about the past of the mysterious man she had fallen for.

    Without a warning, everything around her turned into a pitch black void.

    Before Ais could even register where she was, this was followed by a blindingly bright light enveloping her, which forced her to shut her eyes tightly.

 Chapter 16 - Early Childhood

    "It''s a boy!"

    These were the first words the young boy perceived after being born. Of course, he couldn''t understand them yet.

    "He''s so beautiful! Just like you, dear."

    After having his tiny body handed over to another person, the boy finally opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings upon hearing this second male voice. He was currently being held by a man of about 25 years of age. His face was a little rugged but an observer would still be able to see a little bit of resemblance with the young boy. The position of their cheekbones was practically the same.

    When the boy turned around to check where the sudden sound of delicate weeping came from, he saw a young and beautiful woman in a hospital bed whose side the man he instinctively recognized as his father sat on. She looked quite exhausted and tears were streaming down her eyes. Those weren''t tears of sadness, however. They were tears of joy upon finally being able to look at her own son. This woman was his mother.

    Contrary to what the young couple expected, their son didn''t start to cry to announce his presence or show a smile in response to their teasing. The boy just expressionlessly observed them and his entire environment. Upon not finding anything of note that could ignite his interest, the boy''s shockingly intelligent eyes closed as he decided to just passively listen to his parents to be able to converse with them sooner. Looking around would just exhaust him quickly, after all.

    Seeing their son behave so disinterestedly, a look of worry flashed across the father''s face for a moment before he shook his head and got rid of the random thoughts plaguing him.

    "He is probably just exhausted¡­ Let''s let him sleep for a bit."

    Just like this, the boy soon fell asleep in his mother''s arms, feeling completely safe.

    This young boy was, of course, Isaac. Everything about him was normal, besides one certain feature.

    It was his monstrous intelligence. There was no real reason as to why he had been born with it. Some people might call it a blessing or winning the lottery. Little did they know it would turn out to be nothing but a curse for the boy. A curse and a blessing, they were two sides of the same coin, after all.

    With his intelligence came a disinterest in everything he already understood. It was too easy for Isaac to get bored of something. No matter what, if it wasn''t somehow related to other worlds, which he couldn''t observe yet, Isaac would turn out to be unable to find interest in any part of his own world.

    While a normal human being would have a dream, a wish or an interest, Isaac would have nothing of the sort.

    Of course, at this point in time, the young boy didn''t know about any of this. In his heart, he still held hope. He wanted to find something interesting, nothing more than that.

    Just like every human when they were younger, Isaac couldn''t yet appreciate what he took for granted. He was born to loving and caring parents in a first world country, giving him a very good start in this world. Still, how would he, as a newborn, be able to comprehend such concepts when even most a.d.u.l.ts still took everything they had for granted?

    Observing all of this was the immaterial form of a girl with golden hair. There was no way for her to interact with what she was seeing. Neither could any part of this world react to her presence. All of this was just a memory, after all.

    Right after she had opened her eyes again, Ais had noticed that her body had turned almost see-through. She couldn''t touch anything at all. At the same time, she was standing in a hospital room, witnessing the birth of a young boy. Although her environment and the outfits of the people around her felt very foreign, it wasn''t hard to understand what was going on. Nevertheless, the quite bloody scene surprised her a little. She had never seen a woman give birth before, after all.

    Shortly after the young boy was born, Ais noticed how inside of her, she seemed to have a second set of feelings and thoughts. When cautiously interacting with them, it didn''t take her long to realize they were the young boy''s. If she hadn''t been able to figure out that this young boy was Isaac in the situation she was in, she would have been an idiot, considering how she had just minutes ago decided to experience his past.

    Over the next few days, Ais got more and more used to focussing on the young Isaac''s thoughts and feelings, while observing patiently. As this was a new world for her as well, she felt quite a lot of surprises whenever different and seemingly inconceivable things happened.

    A while after having been born, Isaac''s parents finally left the hospital with him. When he experienced his first car ride, that was the first time he showed any sign of interest in something. As a toddler, he obviously had no idea what was going on and could only note this baffling experience down mentally as a target for future research.

    After all the time in the hospital, Isaac was already able to more or less understand the words his parents spoke. Of course, not all of them. Whenever a new word was used, he had to first figure it out by cross-referencing many different contexts before finally adding it to his dictionary.

    While his mother had been sleeping, Isaac had tried to pronounce a few words stealthily. For some reason, he didn''t want his parents to hear him speak before he was able to do so properly.

    This behaviour of ''not wanting to show off one''s slight skills in front of an expert'' made Ais chuckle quite a bit.

    The house Isaac''s family lived in was quite large and had enough room for four to five people to live in comfortably. It wasn''t anything special, however, as pretty much every other house in the small countryside town was about the same size.

    It only took about a week for Isaac to grow unhappy with his own inability to walk. So he decided to take this as on opportunity to talk to his parents as well.

    "Mama. Papa. I want to walk."

    When the toddler in her arms suddenly started speaking this fluently, Isaac''s mother thought that she had heard wrong. But when she met the eyes of her husband, who was equally as shocked, she couldn''t hold back her tears of happiness.

    Her son was already able to speak. They didn''t even try to teach him anything and yet he was able to. She wasn''t even aware of how much of a seemingly heaven-defying act this was. Instead, she was just incredibly happy that his first word had been ''Mama''.

    While his mother was a very emotional person that cried easily, Isaac''s father almost seemed like the opposite. Although he did show some emotions on his face every now and then, he never let them control him. So in response to his wife''s outburst of happiness, he just smiled warmly and held both her and his son gently.

    Isaac, however, wasn''t having any of this. He couldn''t really understand why his mother showed such extreme happiness, although he could make a few guesses. What baffled him the most, however, was that he hadn''t been set down on the floor. He thought he had made himself perfectly clear. To make sure he didn''t misunderstand the words he spoke, he repeated himself exasperatedly.

    "I want to walk."

    This time, Isaac''s father finally decided to act. He took the boy from his mother''s arms and set him down on the floor gently, observing him curiously.

    Admittedly, the first try went pretty badly. Although Isaac had been able to stand up, he soon fell back down as he hadn''t gotten used to the change to his center of gravity.

    Seeing the young boy fall flat on his face and having a really unhappy look after the fact, his parents were still able to hold back their laughter. The observing Ais, however, didn''t need to worry about the young boy''s mentality and giggled amusedly.

    On his second try, after having calmed down and analyzed what went wrong, young Isaac was able to walk for a few meters before his untrained legs gave out underneath his weight.

    Over the next few weeks, with a ravenous pace, Isaac learned new words by talking to his parents. He also got up to walk many times per day, so he quickly was able to do so for prolonged periods of time. Reading was also something young Isaac was drawn to quickly after he had seen his father do so and asked him about it.

    It took Isaac only a single day to memorize the few dozen letters and one whole week to finally be able to read. Compared to learning how to talk, it was extremely easy. And so, he started to devour book after book whenever he had the time.

    Time passed by very quickly. Shortly after Isaac had turned one year old, children''s books stopped having any appeal for him. So after a discussion with his parents, they decided to let him read some textbooks and educational material. Funnily enough, it was Isaac who had requested these. He craved knowledge in his search for understanding and something that would retain his interest.

    By the time Isaac turned four years old, he had already finished a lot more than what elementary and middle school education would cover. At a time when he was already this mentally developed, it was mandatory by law for him to go to kindergarten. His parents didn''t think of that as a huge problem and thought he could get to know other kids of his age and make friends.

    Sure, they knew that their child was a prodigy. But how to deal with human interactions and strangers was something he still had to learn.

    Needless to say, when Isaac finally arrived at his kindergarten, he didn''t expect the kids he was supposed to get along with to be so¡­ stupid. He didn''t have any fun playing with them and just decided to sit far away and read. For him, the kind of simple and mindless fun the other kids were having was purely a waste of time. Still, as he had been properly raised, he knew it would be wrong of him to deny them their fun, therefore he just distanced himself from everyone else. To each their own, a peaceful coexistence.

    Of course, after a while, one of the other kids, Elias, didn''t appreciate Isaac''s kind intentions anymore. Instead, he repeatedly threw things at him or tried to separate Isaac from his books. At the beginning, it might have just been an attempt to make him play with the rest of the kids.

    Understandably, this kind of behaviour annoyed Isaac. Still, he didn''t retaliate and just got as far away from the aggressor as possible. When one of the child care workers saw this, she tried to convince him of playing with Elias. In response, Isaac just showed her that he was currently studying a high school textbook. She left him to his own devices after that, utterly dumbfounded.

    It didn''t take long for Elias to get annoyed by Isaac''s lack of a positive response to his behaviour, so a few days later, he decided to give that arrogant nerd a beating.

    Isaac had never been physically hurt before, so when that tiny fist suddenly hit his face, he could only fall over and stare at Elias, temporarily unable to decide on how to act. Before he was able to run away, his small body took a few more hits.

    If Ais had been able to, she would have protected the young Isaac. Still, she was aware that this was just a memory. And she wasn''t able to do anything at all.

    When one of the child care workers saw Isaac run away bleeding, she asked him about who had beaten him. As his mother had taught him to always tell the truth, he did exactly that.

    On the next day, however, Elias came back with a vengeance. Apparently, he had been scolded heavily for his actions. And the only thing on his young and irrational mind was now to make Isaac feel just as terrible. Of course, he happily ignored the fact that the initial aggressor had been him. Who told Isaac to not participate in playing with the other kids? It was obviously his fault that he was beaten up. At least according to Elias'' logic.

    Not many people were able to admit their own shortcomings. It was always a lot easier to blame someone else than to learn from one''s own mistakes. Therefore, such behaviour wasn''t anything out of the ordinary.

    This time, Isaac didn''t just take the beating. He had already decided that he would respond in kind should he ever encounter such a situation again. And as he was able to control his body a lot better than Elias, he effortlessly pummeled him to the ground without receiving a single hit himself.

    Just five minutes after the beaten and bruised Elias had run away with his tail between his legs, he came back with one of the child care workers while crying her a river. His words, which painted Isaac as the villain, were taken for fact.

    When Isaac stated that it was Elias who started it, he just got dismissed. According to the child care worker''s words, it only mattered who got hurt, not who initiated it. Such a thing seemed incredibly irrational and stupid to Isaac, so he just wordlessly sat there, while the young woman decided that he had to go to anti-aggression therapy sessions. Passively, Isaac just took all of that information in and wondered about what he had done wrong. He couldn''t understand it.

    The only other thing he noticed at that time was the gleeful look on Elias'' face. He openly took pleasure in Isaac''s unjust fate. This caused a sharp and dangerous glint to flash across Isaac''s eyes for a moment.

    Even when his mother came to pick him up, the child care worker spoke badly about him and made her promise to make him take part in the aforementioned therapy. She made him out to be a very aggressive bully who regularly beat up the poor and innocent kids. Of course, she had just been mislead by Elias, so she wasn''t lying about this intentionally. Still, such disingenuous and one-sidedly naive behaviour disgusted Isaac. This was the first time he noticed how easy it was to mislead others by feeding them one-sided information.

    This whole time, Ais was just clenching her fists tightly, feeling enraged at such despicable behaviour. Although it wasn''t anything massive, to a young boy growing up in a safe and protected environment like this, its impact could be enormous.

    At home, it took Isaac a few minutes to finally convince his parents that he wasn''t at fault. As he had never lied to them in his entire life, they readily believed him and told him they would talk to the child care worker about this, so he didn''t have to worry. Still, there was one problem left. A snake called Elias.

    Later that day, Isaac found some time to talk to his father alone, as he knew his mother wouldn''t like the topic he planned to discuss.

    "Can I kill Elias?"

    This question utterly shocked Isaac''s father. He didn''t expect his son to be so bloodthirsty. Still, as Isaac had always been a smart child, they hadn''t really taught him about death yet, as there had been no need to. Both he and Isaac''s mother had just assumed he would eventually pick up on it himself. Quite apparently, this was the case. Admittedly, they had slacked in his education on common knowledge.

    So, with no other option, Isaac''s father began his explanation.

    "No, you can''t. It''s wrong to kill someone."

    These words just earned him a simple question in response.

    "Why?"

    When Isaac''s father started talking about the inherent value of life and similar things, Isaac dismissed most of it after thinking about it deeply. It was simply irrational. Just like with any animal, it was natural for humans to kill their enemies. So Isaac brought up that point in defense.

    "Unlike animals, for us humans, there are laws we have to follow, as we live in a society. If we don''t follow these laws, we''ll have to face very bad consequences."

    Isaac''s father took multiple hours to teach Isaac about society and the law. Gradually, the young boy understood why wanton killing was not a good idea. If it was allowed, society itself would crumble. At the same time, he thought about his past actions again. He had really stuck out like a sore thumb. When living in a society, however, it was best to conform and compromise. Humans instinctively treated anything they perceived to be dissimilar to themselves differently. Elias'' behaviour had been the result of such a phenomenon. Even the child care worker''s actions made sense to him now. He had never behaved like a normal kid, it was obvious people would develop prejudice.

    Although he had only experienced a very minor incident, it was plainly obvious that these kinds of prejudices wouldn''t be a good thing for him in the future. Unjust treatment was certain to ensue, most likely even in more serious situations. Would he be held responsible for a crime next? Thoughts like these drifted across young Isaac''s mind as he was deep in thought.

    "Thank you, papa. I know what to do now, you don''t need to worry."

    With these words, Isaac bid his father farewell for the day.

    The next morning, to everyone outside of his home, the distant and scarily mature Isaac had disappeared. What replaced him was a pure and innocent kid, running around the playground with the other kids, seamlessly fitting in and laughing happily. As all of his previous complaints with Isaac had disappeared just like that, Elias soon forgot all about the previous conflict.

    Like this, the days of young Isaac observing humans, their behaviour and their society began. Faceless within the crowd, not sticking out in the least, he locked his true self away. Around this time, he first noticed the root of loneliness hidden deep within his heart.

    For the sin of having been born simply too smart, he could either be ostracized or permanently wear a mask.

    -----

    When Ais returned from the memory, she was quite disoriented for an hour or two. After all, she had just spent multiple years in there. It took her a while to finally come to terms with her current situation. But as soon as she did, she panicked. Only once she checked the time and date via the system did she calm down.

    Contrary to her expectations, in the world she came from, only a few hours had passed. Most of that time was spent staring at her ceiling after she had returned from the memory, as well. It was no wonder that the system had recommended this kind of safe environment to her previously. Her mental state had been very unstable upon her return, after all.

    Once she had taken a few deep breaths, Ais reflected on what she had just witnessed.

    Never had she expected to experience even Isaac''s early childhood. She had thought she would just witness a few key moments of his life to be able to understand him a little better. Obviously, this wasn''t the case. During her stay in the memory, she also realized why.

    If she had only experienced key moments of Isaac''s development, she would miss the majority of his life. Every experience of a sentient being would shape them in some way or form, even the most mundane ones. Apparently, Isaac intended to make her truly understand him, not just superficially. Another one of his purposes was probably to let her experience the same world as he did. This way, even more barriers between them would be shattered.

    Over the course of her stay in the memory, Ais had slowly but surely learned about Isaac''s past world while accompanying his past self. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. Quite a few things caught her interest. The only thing that truly baffled her was the lack of any kind of magic or strong fighters in general. Up to this point, all the people the young Isaac met or even heard of were just simple commoners in Ais'' eyes.

    Still, she was aware that all of this was just the tip of the iceberg. So far, only the masks Isaac was wearing in normal social situations were explained. There were so many things she wasn''t yet made privy to and didn''t understand. Her desire to earn Achievement Points to unlock ''Episode 2'' was burning strong and bright. After all, the most boring part of a human''s life, their early childhood, was now out of the way. It could only go uphill from here on out.

    While thinking about her future plans, the mental exhaustion finally caught up with Ais and she drifted off into a peaceful and deep slumber.

    The older you get, the more experience you will acc.u.mulate.

    The more experience you acc.u.mulate, the higher you can climb.

    The higher you climb, the more of the world you will be able to see.

 Chapter 17 - Million Valis Chicken Dinner

    At 5:30 a.m., Isaac and Jakk had finished their preparations for another day of dungeon diving. They were fully geared and had gotten enough supplies from the kitchen. Just to make sure, Isaac had taken twice as much with him, for Kalin and Mina. While Kalin would most likely bring his own supplies, Mina definitely wouldn''t. She didn''t have any money to do so, after all.

    Speaking of the devil, Isaac decided that now, while he was already leading the way to the inn Mina was staying at, it was the best time to bring up his new subordinate to his roommate, as they were bound to meet within minutes. Without going too much into the details, he described Mina''s circ.u.mstances and that he had decided to teach her from scratch. As yet another person shouldn''t be too much of a hassle, Isaac didn''t think Jakk would have any problem with it.

    As expected, while Jakk wasn''t exactly excited about it, he didn''t complain. In fact, upon hearing vaguely about her backstory, he seemed to be slightly sympathetic.

    This harmonious state of things suddenly changed, however, when the two of them arrived in front of the inn.

    "Good morning, milord!"

    After having washed up, although she still wore her old clothes, Mina''s beauty was showcased a lot more than yesterday. Coupled with her standing at attention like a soldier and the words she just spoke, Jakk couldn''t help but have weird thoughts.

    It wasn''t l.u.s.t sparked by the girl''s beauty. No, he already had a person he was interested in. If every good looking girl was able to turn his head, he wouldn''t know what to do in the Loki Familia, where a lot of stunning beauties were gathered. Instead, he couldn''t help but assume that Isaac had told Mina to behave in the way she just did. His misunderstanding began with this wrong base assumption.

    ''So he is into that kind of thing, huh?''

    With thoughts like these, Jakk wordlessly sized up his chosen teacher again. He felt like he was looking at a brand new man. A man who openly chased after his own embarrassing fetishes. A man Jakk truly could respect. If Jakk had been born in Isaac''s old world, he would have called him a ''man of culture''.

    [ Jakk Maytin considers you a friend.

    Quest ''Make seven friends.'' completed. 700 AP rewarded. ]

    When Isaac suddenly got this notification, he felt quite confused. He didn''t know what had transpired to make the bunny boy see him in such a different light. He did have a few disturbing suspicions, however. To make sure whether or not those were correct, he turned his head to glance at Jakk.

    As soon as he saw the peaceful and understanding look his roommate gave him, Isaac almost started to sweat nervously. Even though he really didn''t want to be, he had been correct. While Isaac had already thought about how other people would judge Mina''s interactions with him, he hadn''t put too much thought into it. He should have known that Jakk, who was unable to even have a normal conversation with the girl he liked, would interpret the current happenings in such a way. Being the weirdo that he was, he would be very supportive of his own delusional conclusions.

    Still, Isaac didn''t plan to clear up this misunderstanding. It was pointless to do so anyway. People usually had their own views and opinions of others. No matter what one did, to change their picture in someone else''s mind wasn''t easily achieved. It just wasn''t worth the effort. Also, he got some more AP without any effort, that was something to celebrate.

    After introducing Mina to his roommate, the three made their way towards Babel. The reason Isaac had told Mina and Kalin to meet him at the same time was to test his new and potential subordinates¡­ or at least, that was what Isaac told himself. Sure, part of it was to test whether the human youth''s determination to be taught was strong enough to endure a little bit of waiting. And he had also expected the dog girl to get ready before the promised time, just to be safe.

    But the reason he had to repurpose such a simple action as meeting up with his allies, was that he hadn''t really paid attention to what time he had agreed to meet with Kalin yesterday. In his thoughts, he had already been planning how to gather new minions, therefore, he had just nodded and agreed to whatever time Jakk and Kalin had decided on. When he finally remembered this tiny detail before falling asleep yesterday, Isaac felt very unhappy with himself. He had made yet another slight blunder that day¡­ it really hadn''t been a day to be proud of.

    The determination to not overlook anything, no matter how minor, made him pay even more attention today. This let him discover a little problem with Mina following him, Jakk and Kalin into the dungeon the way she was. She simply didn''t look the part. If they just brought a normal farmer girl in there, they would be suspected of all manner or shady things.

    A solution was easy to find. He just had to buy his subordinate a large backpack, so she would seem like a random supporter. At the same time, after packing it with some food, blankets and other miscellaneous items, the backpack was relatively heavy. It could be used for simple stamina training. Thankfully, a fitting backpack only cost 1000 valis, something he could easily afford.

    Now, why would Isaac want to bring an untrained farmer girl into the dungeon in the first place? Wouldn''t she be entirely useless? Well, yes. Still, she had to start to get used to the dungeon, monsters and dangerous places as soon as possible. As Isaac''s subordinate, she was bound to accompany him to all manner of places - most of them the polar opposite of peaceful. So by bringing her into the dungeon and letting her observe his fights and the lessons he would give the more experienced fighters, Jakk and Kalin, she would slowly build up a little bit of knowledge. She would also get used to how to behave in the dungeon and what to look out for, vital skills for any adventurer.

    Because of the time spent shopping for a good backpack, the group of three finally entered Kalin''s line of sight around 6:03 a.m. - thankfully, the human youth didn''t have a way to accurately measure the current time, so he didn''t feel like anything was wrong. Isaac still felt kind of guilty for the three minutes of wait, though, but decided to just let it go. It was wiser to do better from today onwards than to dwell on past, minor mistakes.

    Compared to the weird atmosphere when he had introduced Mina to Jakk, Kalin''s reaction wasn''t anything out of the ordinary. Kalin simply said he hoped for them to get along well before shaking hands with her. It was kind of anticlimactic. Not that Isaac was complaining about that.

    To give his subordinate a means of protection, just in case, and also a weapon for the future and her training, Isaac led the group to the sixth floor of Babel. At the simple weapon store he had bought his own sword, Mina quickly found a relatively cheap sword of average length that felt fitting to her. Of course, while it was ''cheap'', it still cost 20.000 valis. A hefty sum.

    While the chienthrope girl strapped the sheath to her waist carefully, as if she was handling the most precious of treasures, Isaac observed her overall outfit. It was definitely necessary to get her some armour as well, although that would almost dry up his funds.

    So, with a heavy heart, he led the way to his armour store of choice. Thankfully, it was quite easy to find fitting protective measures. As Mina would be in the role of a supporter for now, was weak and needed to be light on her feet, anything too heavy was out of the question and simply overly cautious. Instead, Isaac told her to choose a gambeson top, some padded trousers and sturdy shoes. After a few minutes, Mina left the fitting room wearing a blue top, simple, dark blue trousers and brown leather boots. It really wasn''t anything extraordinary, but it was still a lot more impressive looking than the rough dress she had worn before.

    Yet another 21.000 valis went down the drain.

    On the way to the first floor of the dungeon, Isaac couldn''t help but think about a certain exceedingly rare monster whose drop item could entirely solve his money problems. As people had an awfully low chance of running into it, however, he decided to not bank on it. It was more rational to just slowly and steadily earn more valis, than to gamble on a ridiculously lucky break.

    As soon as the group got far away from other adventurers, Isaac had Kalin protect Mina, while Jakk would take care of both of them. It might be a little overly vigilant to get into such a formation on the first floor, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. On the way towards the second floor, Isaac behaved the same way as he did with Jakk yesterday. Every fight, he explained all of his actions while the group was watching from safety. If anyone had any questions, he was ready to answer them as well.

    Still, as Mina had no foundation or experience, she couldn''t fully take advantage of these lessons. Therefore, he told her basic survival tips in between his fights, just as planned. There were many things in the dungeon she had to be wary of, after all. Simply the fact that monsters could spawn everywhere, at any time, was a dangerous variable one had to keep in mind. Later on, after they left the dungeon, he would start to train her in wielding her newly-bought weapon. Although Isaac wouldn''t formally be considered a master of the sword in this world, as he didn''t have the corresponding development ability in his Status, he was able to even more accurately determine the most efficient ways to wield a sword - for every individual person.

    Just like the day before, it didn''t take Isaac long to get close to the second floor. Unlike back then, however, shortly before the group was about to descend, both Jakk and Isaac momentarily noticed the presence of a monster. At the same time, the monster noticed them as well and hurried off extremely quickly, making it quite hard to track.

    A small smile spread upon Isaac''s face when this happened. The very unlikely situation he had decided to not bank on had occurred. This was exactly the monster he was looking for. It almost seemed too good to be true. Still, there was no use looking a gift horse in the mouth too closely.

    "Wait here for me for a while. I''ll be back shortly. I''m just going to hunt this monster."

    Without giving any more explanations, Isaac hurried off after his prey. Out of the three people left behind, only Jakk was a little worried about whether Isaac would succeed. He had taken note of that thing''s unbelievable speed and was sure he couldn''t catch up to it even if he tried. As for Isaac, there just wasn''t a chance at all. Still, Isaac wouldn''t have gone after it if he didn''t have a way to dispatch it.

    Even if his teacher failed, he would just come back unharmed. Comforting himself with thoughts like these, Jakk vigilantly guarded the two weaker members of the team.

    It only took Isaac a few seconds to get outside of Jakk''s range of perception. Once he did, he immediately blurred his existence. There was simply no other way to catch up to his current prey, he could only rely on this particular ability of his.

    What he had just encountered was an incredibly rare spawn on the first floor of the dungeon: the Jack Bird. It was quite similar in looks to a rooster with fluffy, yellow-green feathers. It was even about the same size. Still, its abilities didn''t match those of a normal rooster at all. Its speed was even faster than a Level 3 adventurer, a speed almost impossible to catch up to for most of the people that would ever encounter one. It wasn''t aggressive and had practically no offensive power at all. Whenever it sensed an enemy or foreign presence, it would desperately run away until it reached safety.

    Even more shocking than its speed, however, was just how rare it was. Not even one in a million monsters that spawned on the dungeon''s first floor would be a Jack Bird. People wouldn''t have even cared about this oddity, however, if it wasn''t for the glorified rooster''s valuable drop item: a golden egg. Of course, it wasn''t just simply made from gold. Sadly, Isaac had no more information on its peculiarities or why exactly it was worth a lot more than 1.000.000 valis. Isaac had only read about the Jack Bird in a short side story released at the same time as the second DanMachi volume. It wasn''t even mentioned anywhere else.

    The best feature of the Jack Bird was that its drop item was guaranteed to remain after its death. With other monsters, an adventurer had to gamble - but a Jack Bird was a certain ticket to riches.

    After a few minutes of leisurely pursuit, Isaac finally got to see the Jack Bird he was chasing. It was even smaller than a regular rooster, seeming as if it had only just recently grown up from a chick into an a.d.u.l.t. Its fluffy feathers made the bird look incredibly cute. Had someone else who cared about such things chased after it, it wouldn''t have to face a gruesome end. Isaac, however, didn''t care about it being adorable at all. The small bird had already stopped running away as it hadn''t noticed anyone chase after it for a long time, so now it just relaxedly strutted around, none the wiser to the reaper lurking next to it.

    Isaac smiled widely when thinking about how this little fellow would single-handedly make him a millionaire in a few moments. Happily whistling, he swiftly brought his sword down upon the unsuspecting avian creature.

    "I should have lost them by now¡­"

    An immature, boyish voice suddenly broke the deadly silence, forcing Isaac''s blade to an abrupt halt just centimeters above the rooster''s head. If Isaac hadn''t paid full attention to the bird when he was about to kill it, he probably would have thought that someone else had been the origin of this voice. But that wasn''t what happened. He was sure that it was the damn bird that spoke a moment ago.

    Sadly, Isaac wasn''t a mindless killing machine. He would only kill those he branded his enemies. Before, even though the Jack Bird was a monster that solely ran away, he could still categorize it as a mindless minion of the dungeon, an enemy. Now that it had displayed the ability to have a conversation, however, Isaac couldn''t just kill it before making sure whether it should be classified as friend, bystander or foe.

    It felt like a resounding slap to the face. One moment, Isaac had felt like all of his immediate worries had been taken care of in the most convenient way imaginable. The next, his optimistic hopes were extinguished. An apt way to describe what he was feeling was the phrase ''he was about to cough up blood'', that Isaac had frequently encountered in literary works in the past.

    For quite a while, he just stared at the Jack Bird with an unresigned look on his face, trying to convince himself to murder it in cold blood. In the end, he couldn''t bring himself to go against his principles just for the sake of convenience. So with a heavy sigh, he finally put away his sword. Of course, there weren''t only downsides to what happened. Isaac had to admit that he was quite intrigued by this unusual monster. At the time of his departure, not too many DanMachi volumes had been released, so he wasn''t sure whether or not seemingly mutated monsters like these were a part of the original work.

    Very swiftly, he picked up the rooster from the ground and held both of its wings down to prevent it from trying to fly away. When being held in this position, the rooster also wasn''t able to easily reach his hands with its beak. Still, even if it tried pecking him, he wore gloves¡­ and the strength of the Jack Bird was, as previously mentioned, just like a normal rooster''s. There was simply no way for Isaac to be injured.

    A terrified caw escaped the young rooster''s beak as it turned its head to look at the one who had captured it. As Isaac had already stopped blurring his existence at this point, because it was pointless to do so now that he had already captured his prey, the small beady eyes were able to size him up without a problem.

    Seeing how its captor didn''t look too imposing and had a nice, amicable smile on his face, the rooster got a little c.o.c.ky. To its inexperienced eyes, Isaac seemed like a pushover.

    "Let go of me! Let me down right this instant!!"

    In response to the arrogant orders of the rooster, Isaac just showed an even more amicable smile, giving off the feeling of a generous and magnanimous saint. This gave his following words an even more disturbing effect of dissonance.

    "Tell me everything I want to know. Otherwise, I''ll have fried chicken for dinner today."

    Before today, Isaac had never expected a rooster to be able to grow paler. Well, this one did. Its face grew as pale as a ghost upon hearing this threat. It nodded its head vigorously, desperately trying to save its life.

    Even though Isaac hadn''t had high hopes on learning much, he was still very disappointed by the result of his impromptu voluntary Q&A session. Besides the fact that it had been born here on the first floor of the dungeon a few days ago and been capable of speech ever since its birth, the young Jack Bird only knew that it wanted to reach the surface, to leave the dungeon. As to why this was the case, it had no idea. It had no clue about what it was, why it was able to speak or anything of importance whatsoever. Its mentality was barely more developed than a child''s.

    Still, although he hadn''t learned anything of importance, this encounter wasn''t entirely worthless to Isaac. He had confirmed the existence of monsters capable of speech, which weren''t necessarily his enemies. So to gain a few more benefits, he decided to give the bird an ultimatum.

    "I will take you to the surface and won''t kill you. In exchange, you have to follow my every order. Deal?"

    There were quite a few reasons as to why Isaac thought it would be a good idea to subdue this weird bird. On the one hand, he could study it a little more and possibly experiment on it after it had sworn its loyalty. On the other hand, he wanted to find a way to get the Jack Bird''s drop item somehow without killing it. This was admittedly the main reason. Just like every other monster''s drop item, the golden egg was already somewhere within the body of the rooster. After its death, it would be left behind.

    It was important to note that, although the Jack Bird looked like a rooster and would therefore, according to Isaac''s old world''s logic, not be able to produce eggs, it still did so in the world of DanMachi. Even though it sounded like it was a male. Still, another world''s logic really didn''t help Isaac here. So if he could somehow make this weird creature produce lots and lots of golden eggs and harvest them, he would have an endless valis generator. Forget the small riches he could gain from slaying a single one of its species - he could even become the richest man in the world!

    Well, these were honestly just outlandish hopes and theories. While Isaac was relatively sure he could at least get the first golden egg somehow without killing the bird, he had no way to know whether it would produce another one after the initial egg was removed. It could just be a golden egg-shaped part of the monster, for all Isaac knew. Maybe it wasn''t even an egg and only the visual similarities caused it to be known by this name. No matter what, clearing this up would have to wait. Even though the chance of creating an endless valis generator was extremely low, it was certainly worth a try.

    Having a chance to survive dangling right in front of it, the naive bird didn''t even think about the consequences before agreeing to the deal hurriedly. For some reason, it didn''t doubt the words the man restraining it spoke. To it, the man''s words just automatically sounded like the truth. Whether that was caused by its still naive mind or the intrinsic aura Isaac gave off at the moment, that was hard to determine. Most likely, it was a mixture of both.

    The moment the rooster agreed to the deal, which totally wasn''t a disguised slave contract at all, a new system notification appeared in Isaac''s field of view.

    [ A Jack Bird has sworn his loyalty to you.

    Quest ''Have two subordinates.'' completed. 200 AP rewarded. ]

    While this notification did confuse Isaac for a moment, he quickly figured out what had happened. Originally, he had expected the system to register the rooster as a pet and for him to unlock some kind of pet-related system feature. But as the bird could be considered as part of the sentient races of this world, it wasn''t treated as a pet. Instead, in the system''s eyes, it wasn''t different from Mina, his other subordinate, at all. This fell right in line with Isaac''s own way of thinking.

    To be honest, he wasn''t entirely happy about this occurrence. This was simply because one of his subordinates¡­ was now a glorified rooster. It was just¡­ lame. Still, Isaac being the way he was, there was no way he would fret over this for too long. In less than a second, he found some resolve. He would include this adorable creature in his future strengthening-related plans. To not let other people look down on him for having a rooster as a minion, he would make it the strongest rooster of all damn time!

    Without being distracted by these thoughts of grandeur any longer, Isaac took a look at the Jack Bird''s Status for more insight on his avian money printing machine.

    [ Name: None ]

    [ Familia: None ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate ]

    [ Race: Jack Bird ]

    [ Level: 1 ]

    [ Age: 7 days ]

    [ Loyalty: 60/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-2 ]

    [ Endurance: H-152 ]

    [ Dexterity: I-5 ]

    [ Agility: SSS-1483 ]

    [ Magic: I-0 ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Atalantan Accelerate ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ None ]

    As expected, the rooster''s loyalty was a little lower than Mina''s when she had sworn herself to his service. This was most likely due to Isaac being both the threat of death and hope of life in this case, contrary to just being the latter for Mina. The agility stat of the Jack Bird was what truly looked incredible. Still, even though it was this unbelievably high, the rooster wouldn''t be able to escape from a Level 3 adventurer with only that. The reason for its seemingly impossible speed for its level lay in its sole skill.

    [ Atalantan Accelerate: Triples the user''s speed in exchange for tripling the user''s stamina consumption. ]

    If an adventurer was ever able to get ahold of such a skill, they would instantly soar to stardom. Thankfully, it wasn''t very likely for that to happen, so such threats could be mostly ignored for now. Still, such a useful skill gave Isaac a positive outlook on his rooster-rearing plans. As to why the damn bird had a skill named after the famed huntress Atalanta, he couldn''t say.

    There was one other thing that caught his eye when inspecting the rooster''s status. It didn''t have a name. Referring to it as ''bird'' or ''rooster'' wasn''t something Isaac wanted to do in the future. Because of that, he decided to name the fluffy bird.

    "From now on, your name shall be Averin."

    Isaac didn''t plan to give Averin a well thought-out name, so he just took the word ''avian'' and butchered it until it sounded barely acceptable.

    [ Averin''s loyalty has increased by 15. ]

    In response to the irresponsible whims of his new master, the young bird cawed happily. An inexplicable happiness overcame him as an invisible force made Averin''s fragile soul instinctively subservient to what this world could perceive of Isaac''s.

    ''So naming a previously nameless soul will activate the laws of this world in such a way. Quite curious¡­''

    A process like this, which slightly involved miniscule parts of his own soul, couldn''t escape Isaac''s eyes at all. He could have easily resisted this bond of servitude his subordinate was put under. More than that: It was easy for Isaac to break it anytime he wanted to. But as it was currently beneficial to him, why destroy it? It even enabled him to very shortly glance at the fundamental laws governing this world, which were normally hidden. If his own soul hadn''t been involved, he would have to actually put quite a bit of effort into sensing them under normal circ.u.mstances.

    Happily smiling about this good fortune, Isaac walked back towards his group of students. This would admittedly make for quite the handsome picture¡­ if it weren''t for the fluffy rooster sitting on his shoulder.

 Chapter 18 - The One Year Challenge

    Contrary to his two companions who were relaxedly leaning against a wall of the dungeon, waiting for their teacher''s return, Jakk was quite nervous and a bit excited. Shortly after Isaac had told them to wait here for his return, he had remembered reading a few old notes about a certain monster: the Jack Bird. As part of the Loki Familia, it wasn''t a surprise that he knew about this obscure rarity.

    Still, like before, Jakk didn''t think there was any way for Isaac to deal with the extremely valuable bird. But what if he did? That would signify baffling riches - and that''s exactly why he was a bit excited now. No matter how unlikely it was and even though he wouldn''t be the recipient of this windfall, the sheer possibility got him fired up.

    While he was watching out for any monsters spawning nearby, Jakk heard a pair of unhurried footsteps approaching their group of three. He instantly recognized them as Isaac''s. Of course, he notified the rest of the group.

    "Everyone, Isaac''s back!"

    In response, Kalin and Mina, who had been relaxing just moments before, swiftly got ready to continue further into the dungeon and looked in the direction from which they too could now hear the footsteps approaching.

    It didn''t take long for Isaac to come into view, so Mina devotedly greeted him.

    "Welcome back, Milord!"

    Whilst glancing him over to check whether or not he got hurt, she suddenly noticed the fluffy rooster comfortably sitting on Isaac''s shoulder.

    "What''s with the rooster?"

    Before Isaac could reply to her question, to make Averin''s introduction as painless and quick as possible, the damn bird had already responded in his stead.

    "This Lord Bird is the great and mighty Averin!"

    Amongst the group of three students, Jakk was the only one who knew that the rooster was actually a monster. Even more than the fact that Isaac had managed to catch the damn thing, the fact that Averin could talk made Jakk think he was stuck in a dream. A talking monster was something he had never encountered before.

    Kalin was also baffled by that fact, he just didn''t know he was dealing with a monster here. Still, these words oozing with arrogance didn''t make him think positively about the bird.

    Contrary to the two men, Mina''s eyes were already sparkling with adoration when she had first set her sights on Averin''s feathers. She could only imagine how good it had to feel to pet them. When the adorable animal opened its beak to speak, she instantly exclaimed in surprise.

    "It can talk?!"

    Isaac just nodded in response to his subordinate''s question, before grabbing Averin off his shoulder and staring at him annoyedly.

    "What ''Lord Bird''? You''re one of my subordinates, just like this lady over here. Her name is Mina and she has been my subordinate longer than you. The other two are Kalin and Jakk, they are my students. Get along with them. You have no right to act high and mighty here, you got that?"

    Even though he was anything but happy that Isaac had rained on his parade, Averin acquiesced to this hierarchy after a short discussion. After which, Jakk finally couldn''t hold back anymore and demanded an explanation on what was going on.

    It didn''t take long for Isaac to describe what had happened while he was gone. He also asked the rest of his party to keep all of this information a secret, to which everyone agreed without a fuss. Compared to the two oblivious newbies, Jakk was even more interested in what was going on with the talking rooster. Seeing how Isaac had decided to subdue and keep it, he could only applaud the decision in his head. After all, even if one had the million or more valis one could get for the Jack Bird''s drop item, one wouldn''t be able to find a bird like Averin even if one searched for it on the market. Its value was much higher alive than dead.

    -----

    At around 1 p.m., the party left the dungeon. Averin was safely stowed away in Isaac''s backpack. Even though it was a little stuffy in there, it was the only possible way to smuggle the odd bird out of the dungeon without attracting attention.

    Before they had left, Isaac had already told his rooster underling that he would have to endure this treatment for a while. Secrecy was key, so Averin couldn''t make any noise, until Isaac got everything settled. After that, they could explore the surface together unhindered. This final part was what broke the camel''s back and made the stubborn bird agree without acting up.

    Today, they had only gone down to the fourth floor, just like the day before. Isaac''s monster slaying quest had also reached 291/1000 by the time they left. The total gains for today''s dungeon exploration reached 13.950 valis, which was a little bit more than yesterday. The bigger size of their party was the most likely reason for this. Depending on how many people were exploring in a group, the dungeon birthed a certain amount of monsters in response to the intruders.

    The group spent a little bit of time at a small inn, eating lunch for 400 valis. Of course, the new rooster owner Isaac didn''t forget about Averin and fed him under the table, away from prying eyes. Now that they were all sated, it was time for the second phase of Isaac''s lessons to begin. So without further ado, he lead the party to the Pantheon.

    He had planned to teach his students about wielding their weapons individually and to spar with them for a bit. The Twilight Manor had the perfect facilities for this but Isaac couldn''t bring Kalin and Mina there yet according to his plans. The next best option was to ask the Guild for help. His dungeon advisor, Yolanda, had told him to come to her if he had any questions or problems related to the dungeon. Sparring with and teaching his party members was directly connected to his continued survival, so it definitely fit the bill. Also, Isaac was pretty sure the Guild would have some related facilities he could rent. It simply wouldn''t make sense for that to not be the case, after all.

    It didn''t take long for Isaac to spot the seductive Amazoness amongst all of the Guild employees manning their desks. Just as his luck would have it, Yolanda also didn''t have any adventurers to deal with at the moment.

    "Well, if it isn''t my newbie! Hey there, Isaac."

    When Isaac had knocked on her desk to get the attention of the absentminded Amazoness, Yolanda happily beamed at him with a brilliant smile once she recognized who had just distracted her from her daydreams.

    Right after she had welcomed the new Loki Familia member, Yolanda''s eyes wandered over the people accompanying him. She didn''t know any of them and that made her quite curious. Sadly, before she could ask him about his companions, Isaac had already decided to cut her off with his request.

    "Does the Guild have a sparring or training area I can rent?"

    Even more surprise could be seen on Yolanda''s face when hearing this. She hadn''t expected for a Loki Familia member to request outside help with such a matter. This obviously led her to speculate about a few things, but she didn''t let it show on her face.

    "The Guild indeed offers isolated courtyards for this purpose. We simply call ''em ''training areas'', so just ask for that in the future. For 100 valis per hour, ya can rent one as long as ya like. Well, as long as there are some up for grabs. To be honest with ya, though, there are always way too many available, as most adventurers just use their familia''s training areas. That''s why the prices are that low."

    Isaac smiled delightedly upon hearing that. He had thought he might have to spend quite a sizable sum. Thankfully, that wasn''t the case.

    "Alright, I''d like to rent one training area for 3 hours."

    Without a moment''s hesitation, Isaac put 300 valis on Yolanda''s desk. His reason for only renting it for such a short amount of time was that he wanted to get home a long time before dinner today, so he could search for Loki to update his Status. By now, his stat growth had slowed down enough to make it seem like a pain to him.

    "I''ll have to remind ya of one thing, Isaac. Don''t use any large scale magic or damage the property. Oh, and there are practice weapons provided by the Guild, ya can use ''em if ya want."

    -----

    The training area turned out to be about half the size of a soccer field and was completely surrounded by high walls that would be impossible to peer over from the outside without the help of a ladder or something similar. Half of the training area was a smooth but non-slippery stone floor, while the other half was simple earthen ground. By having two different sorts of ground, the people training here could more easily get used to fighting on differing terrain.

    After leading the party here, Yolanda told them that she would get them from here in three hours. Then she left through the only entrance to this courtyard. Once she was gone, everyone put their backpacks in a corner, right next to the wall with the practice weapons made of wood. There were swords, spears, daggers, et cetera.

    Only after Averin had promised to not be too loud and be ready to hide inside the backpack at a moment''s notice, did Isaac let the rooster out of the backpack. Even though it had been stuffy in there, it didn''t seem to have any effect on the energetic bird. He just looked around curiously and quickly got drunk on the fresh air he had never been able to breathe down in the dungeon.

    Everyone got themselves a practice weapon, then they lined up in front of Isaac.

    The first order of business was to check which standards of mastery they had reached with their weapons, so Isaac had them perform against an imaginary opponent for a short time. Of course, Mina wasn''t able to impress here, as she just aimlessly waved her sword around. Jakk and Kalin, however, were able to simulate a battle in their minds and amaze Isaac with their actions a little.

    The second step in Isaac''s training schedule was to perform simple strikes and stabs with his sword or spear, depending on which student he was teaching. From what he had glimpsed of their individual weapon mastery, he devised strikes they should ingrain next to improve. For Mina, however, he just simply let her start from the very basics. Of course, whenever one of his students made a mistake, he made sure to properly explain to them what they did wrong and perform the strike or stab he wanted to see himself, so they had a reference.

    To the students'' surprise, Isaac was able to display these actions in slow motion, as he had perfect control of his body. This way, he was able to let them see the same action performed at different speeds, making it easier for them to comprehend it.

    Almost an hour passed like that, then Isaac decided he would spar with each of his students individually. Only Jakk would be requested to hold back his strength a little, as Isaac was still incredibly weak. Instead, all of them should only rely on their techniques. Most of the next two hours were spent with Isaac rotating between sparring with all of his students, who were able to catch a breath while the others fought. Of course, even here, Isaac always told them how to improve or pressure him more.

    Just like every skill, weapon mastery couldn''t be improved without perseverance and continuous training. Only someone like Isaac, who already had perfect control over his body and mind, was exempt from these essential requirements. That was also why he didn''t expect for his students to improve rapidly, he wasn''t unreasonable.

    By the end of today''s lessons, he was already happy that Mina had learned to wield her blade without being in danger of harming herself. Jakk and Kalin had shown much less improvement compared to the chienthrope who had started from nothing. It was always easier to improve when one started from the very beginning, after all. Still, the two of them had been shown a few new paths they could follow towards improvement, they only had to continue persevering for now, before they could reap huge rewards.

    The last ten minutes of their allotted time were spent resting and drinking some water. The whole group was completely exhausted. Averin, who had been quite interested in the stick-wielding show in the beginning, went back into the backpack only ten minutes after they had started the training. He had been sleeping in there this entire time.

    Once he had made sure to wake up the rooster and let him know they were leaving, so he had to be quiet again now, the group left the Guild''s training area just as Yolanda went to notify them that their time was up.

    Kalin said goodbye to the group for today when they left the Pantheon and they agreed to meet him at around 6:30 a.m. tomorrow, in front of the northern entrance of Babel. When the group arrived in front of the inn Mina was staying at, Isaac told her to be ready at around 6:10 a.m. tomorrow, which she agreed to by saluting in a devoted and serious manner. This made Isaac smile wryly, because it made Jakk look at him with a weird look in his eyes again. Anyway, this time, Isaac was sure he hadn''t overlooked anything in his planning.

    Back at the Twilight Manor, he first went back to his room and unloaded his backpack. Averin, who was finally free of the backpack''s restraints again, was introduced to Jakk and Isaac''s room and was told which half of it belonged to his master. He could only feel at home on that side and shouldn''t annoy the bunny boy if he could help it.

    After making sure there wouldn''t be any problems and the damn rooster wouldn''t explore beyond the bounds of this room, by promising Averin to resolve these problems today, Isaac went and took a shower. He also cleaned his equipment before changing into more comfortable clothes and making his way to Loki''s study.

    Although he didn''t know whether Loki would be there or not, it was currently slightly after 5 p.m. and Loki ate with her familia almost every single day. So now that it was less than an hour until dinner, she would surely be around the manor somewhere. As he had no idea where else to look, the study was a good place to start.

    Thankfully, after knocking on the door, Loki''s cheerful voice had invited him inside. Isaac was quite happy with how lucky he was¡­ until he saw who else was inside the room.

    It was the werewolf, Bete. He sat across from Loki and either just had a talk with her or got his Status updated, who knows?

    Loki had planned for the two of them to have a run-in for a long time now. She had told the werewolf about Isaac''s peculiar relationship with Ais almost immediately, as she knew Bete was interested in her Sword Princess. Of course, she did so mostly as a warning to leave the new member alone¡­ but to be honest, she also wanted to see the two of them clash a little for her entertainment. So when she saw it was the mysterious Isaac who had entered her study at this time, a mischievous smile spread across her face.

    As soon as Bete took a look at the newcomer, he abruptly got up and walked up to Isaac menacingly. He exuded a heavy killing intent and bloodl.u.s.t, trying to intimidate the pathetic weakling in front of him. Of course, just like before in the canteen, Isaac just smiled relaxedly in response to this amusing display, which made the werewolf even more annoyed.

    "A worthless weakling like you has no right to stand next to Ais. You will never catch up to her! So keep away from her and don''t dirty her with your presence."

    Even though these words were arrogant to the max, Loki had to agree with at least parts of what Bete had just said. It would be quite hard for Isaac to catch up to the one and only Sword Princess, the fastest growing adventurer in Orario. No matter how extraordinary he was, she just couldn''t see it happening. Of course, Loki didn''t approve of Bete''s words in their entirety. In her opinion, the connection between Ais and Isaac was already too much to be severed by minor issues like that. Still, she wanted to see how Isaac would react to such a provocation.

    In response to these jealousy-filled words, Isaac just sighed and shook his head, clearly conveying that what he just heard was pathetically stupid.

    "Is there something wrong with what I said, wimp?"

    Of course, Bete was fully convinced of the content of his previous words, so he arrogantly challenged Isaac into retorting. As if he had waited for this, Isaac''s relaxed expression suddenly changed into a supremely serious one, catching the werewolf off-guard.

    "Where should I begin? First of all, it doesn''t matter whether I am weak or not. Secondly, who Ais spends time with isn''t any of your business, she is her own person. You don''t own her. Most importantly, however¡­"

    At this point, Isaac displayed a very derisive and pitying expression on his face.

    "Catching up won''t be a problem at all. Loki, please update my Status and let Bete see the result as well."

    The look on Isaac''s face had enraged Bete a lot. But he decided to wait, for now. Usually, he wasn''t someone who made overly hasty decisions. Now that the weakling in front of him wanted to challenge him with his Status update results, he could just crush Isaac''s hope once he had seen it. It was a better choice than making a fool of himself by risking a metaphorical slap in the face, should Isaac truly have an ace up his sleeve.

    Even though Loki was quite sceptical when hearing Isaac''s claims just now, she happily agreed to updating his Status. Ais definitely had a good eye for talent and even Riveria had told her that Isaac was special, so he shouldn''t be too disappointing. So after Isaac had removed his shirt and laid down face-first on one of the green sofas, Loki started to update his Status.

    Once she was finished and he felt vast amounts of power course through his entire body, Isaac let the system display his Status to have a look.

    [ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: None ]

    [ Race: Human ]

    [ Level: 1 ]

    [ Age: Unable to measure ]

    [ Charisma: 14 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: E-480 ]

    [ Endurance: E-482 ]

    [ Dexterity: E-484 ]

    [ Agility: E-493 ]

    [ Magic: D-511 ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ None ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ None ]

    Loki had already been shocked speechless while she had looked at the vast amount of excelia Isaac had gathered in a mere few days. When she finally finished the update and wrote everything down on a sheet for him to have a look, she couldn''t hold back her curiosity anymore.

    "I just can''t believe this! What kind of monster are you?!"

    His growth had completely shattered everything she thought of as normal. Back when Ais had joined her motley crew, her growth had already baffled Loki. But even Ais'' growth speed couldn''t compare to this mysterious youth''s. Loki doubted anyone had ever grown as fast as him!

    When Bete heard his goddess'' exclamation of disbelief, he got a bad feeling about this. Inwardly, he already praised himself for not running his mouth even more earlier, he definitely would have regretted it. Still, he couldn''t help his curiosity.

    "What''s going on?"

    Instead of replying to the werewolf, Loki just looked at him with pity, before sighing and handing the sheet of paper displaying Isaac''s previous and updated Status to the man in question. Isaac had just finished putting on his shirt again and glanced over the information he had already had his system display for him moments prior, before smiling happily and handing the sheet back to his goddess.

    "As expected."

    Hearing this reply, another sigh escaped Loki''s mouth.

    "You''re really impressive. Just how did you do it? I''ve never seen anything like that before."

    These words made Bete even more curious, so he walked towards Loki and Isaac unhappily, clearly annoyed at being left out.

    "Don''t keep me in the dark!"

    While Bete was handed the sheet, Isaac responded to Loki''s question with an innocent smile.

    "I just killed monsters vastly stronger than me, in huge numbers. I couldn''t go further than dungeon lizards, though."

    Loki had already known that when she looked at the excelia acc.u.mulated in his body before, so this reply didn''t tell her anything new. Bete, however, who had just looked at Isaac''s previous and current Status and was already impressed enough by the perceived weakling growing about 500 points in every single stat in a few days, almost didn''t want to believe his ears and stared at Isaac with disbelief.

    "You killed a dungeon lizard with the pitiful amount of strength you had before?!"

    Admittedly, the werewolf''s widened eyes almost made Bete look a little bit adorable. Isaac, however, didn''t get distracted by that, so only Loki got some enjoyment out of the sight. Sadly, however, Bete regained control almost immediately after Isaac had replied to his question with a simple nod. The werewolf honestly grew a little bit scared of this monstrosity before him. He knew that he would never be able to kill a dungeon lizard with such a pitiful amount of strength. Still, Bete''s competitive side didn''t let him give up just like that, so he issued a challenge.

    "If you can surpass me in two years, I won''t even make a peep or complain about your relationship with Ais."

    In his head, Bete had already calculated the advancement speed of the man in front of him based on the limited amount of information he possessed and judged that Isaac would just barely be able to catch up with him in that timeframe, he couldn''t surpass him. Isaac was very well aware of this, as he had thought about his development speed before as well. Still, there were a few ways he had thought of to accelerate his growth beyond anyone''s wildest imaginations. Contrary to DanMachi''s protagonist, Bell, however, he wouldn''t use any overpowered skills amounting to cheats to achieve this.

    Isaac unhurriedly responded to Bete''s challenge.

    "I''ll do it in one year."

 Chapter 19 - Will You Leave Me Behind?

    Bete''s expression changed into a mixture of disbelief and blatant derision when he heard this. As a veteran adventurer, he was all too aware of how hard it was for someone of a higher level to reach even greater heights. His original challenge at least gave the man in front of him a sliver of a chance - who knew Isaac would throw even that away instantly.

    When he studied his opponent''s face carefully to expose his foolishness, however, Bete only discovered absolute faith. Isaac seemed to be fully convinced of such a preposterous statement, to the point where arguing with him or showing him the reality of the situation wouldn''t have any meaning at all, he would just be met with deaf ears.

    Loki, on the other hand, didn''t think Isaac was simply boasting without having any plans to rely on. She had already been shocked enough by his Status'' ridiculous improvement. By now, she wouldn''t belittle this new child of hers any longer. Still, she was very curious as to how he planned to complete such a seemingly impossible task.

    "... Fine. I''ll be waiting."

    Having decided to teach the wimp a harsh lesson once the time was up, Bete left behind these words before he left the study with an unsatisfied scowl on his face. As that was pretty much his default look, he most likely already had put this encounter behind him for the time being.

    Isaac was very well aware of what Bete had been thinking about just now. Still, there was no point in arguing, he would just have to produce results to shut the proud werewolf up in the future.

    Now that this was over and done with, he finally had time to take care of the last problem he needed to deal with. For now, at least.

    "Loki, I need your help with something."

    These words snapped the distracted goddess out of her preoccupied state of mind. She had tried to think of anything that could be the foundation for Isaac''s confidence but couldn''t come up with anything for the time being. Seeing how he had just asked her for help, she hoped it would be related to this trump card of his.

    "Hmm? What is it?"

    Sadly, Loki would have to be slightly disappointed this time. Instead of relating to his path to strength, Isaac was simply about to request for his newest subordinate to be allowed to stay here.

    "I''ve tamed a talking Jack Bird today. Can I keep it in my room and let it live in the Twilight Manor? I''ll make sure to educate it properly."

    Nevertheless, although it wasn''t the topic she had wanted to talk about, Loki was anything but disheartened. Instead, she thought Isaac was just full of surprises. Positive ones, at that.

    Contrary to the vast majority of people, she was indeed aware of the very rare possibility of dungeon monsters showing much more intelligence than usual and a few of those oddities even being able to talk. This was such an uncommon phenomenon, however, that one wouldn''t get to know about it, unless they had a certain amount of influence related to the dungeon. It was hard to encounter such monsters, so there were mostly only notes left behind by people who had such an encounter.

    As for the reason why these monsters existed or what they were, Loki wasn''t privy to this knowledge. She had an inkling that Ouranos, Zeus, Hera and a few others might know, but as she had only descended upon the Lower World relatively recently, 27 years ago, to be exact, she hadn''t yet gained as much experience related to the dungeon as Zeus and Hera had before their downfall.

    Hearing Isaac talk about encountering such an interesting specimen and even taming it, Loki was very excited, so much so that she almost forgot to reply to his question. Well, almost.

    "No problem at all! Just let me see it later. Where did you encounter it? How did you tame it?"

    Seeing the mad desire sparkling in Loki''s eyes, Isaac was honestly a little spooked. He had been aware that this world''s deities were basically starved entertainment addicts. Still, his goddess was almost drooling right now, wasn''t this a little bit exaggerated? Why would anyone get excited to such a degree simply when something relatively novel was mentioned?

    There was no use wasting more time thinking about such things, so Isaac just gave Loki a run-down of everything that had happened earlier today that was related to Averin. Of course, he didn''t mention anything about his own secrets. There was no need for her to know about them, after all.

    By the time this discussion finished, there were only twenty minutes left until the familia''s dinner would commence. Before Isaac had an opportunity to get up and leave, Loki quickly took this chance to inform him about something she had previously forgotten to mention, as she had been way too distracted.

    "You know that to reach a higher level, an adventurer has to fulfill two criteria, right? First of all, they have to reach at least D rank in one of their stats. Secondly, they have to perform a feat that impresses even the gods."

    In order to not interrupt Loki''s explanation, Isaac obediently nodded and kept quiet, already more or less aware of what she was going to tell him.

    "That second part is actually not something we gods can influence. Once a person performs a feat deemed very, very difficult by the world itself, we gods will recognize this when updating a Status. From that point on, we can rank up the adventurer any time we please."

    Although Isaac hadn''t been able to confirm this fact before, he had had an inkling. The gods of this world had always seemed more like immortal beings manipulating certain systems that were already in place, rather than true gods. To him, at least. To be fair, for the mortals, there wouldn''t be much of a difference, really.

    "I''m telling you about this, because you had already fulfilled that second requirement when you beat a kobold with the pitiful amount of stats you had before. Don''t even mention the dungeon lizards, okay? Even a goblin should have been extremely hard to defeat with your previous Status, so such a ruling isn''t really surprising. So, well. I just wanted to tell you about that, so you know you''ll be able to rank up soon, should you so wish."

    Finally, Loki''s slightly lengthy explanation came to a close. Having his initial suspicions confirmed, Isaac smiled brightly. No matter how easy his feats felt, this world would obviously not judge everything by his standard. He was an outlier, someone who shouldn''t even exist in this place. Still, with this, he had confirmed that he wouldn''t be bottlenecked by rank up requirements, as expected.

    "Thank you for telling me. I don''t want to rank up until I have maxed out the stats I can gain, though. So it will be a little while before then."

    Whenever one grew stronger, they had to build a sturdy foundation. Sure, it was faster to just rank up whenever one had the chance to. A higher level meant vastly improved strength, after all. Still, if one got many more stats than others in lower levels, while it might not enable one to fight while transcending levels initially, after a few levels of acc.u.mulation, the additional stats one had gained would be able to bridge the vast gap in strength a higher level provided. Because of this, Isaac wanted to acc.u.mulate as much strength as possible before ranking up. If one included the fact that one''s stats would basically be multiplied by a certain amount any time one ranked up, that made someone ranking up while having close to maxed stats even more terrifying.

    Because of all of this, Loki was really happy to hear Isaac''s reply. The more strong familia members there were, the safer all of them would be, after all.

    Ten minutes before dinner time, Loki and Isaac left the study and ''coincidentally'' met up with Ais on the way to the canteen. While the two of them had been conversing, Ais had sent Isaac messages via the system, informing him of her return. So after she had taken a shower, they made their way to dinner together happily.

    -----

    After dinner, a group of six girls was following Isaac and Jakk back to their room. Normally, such a situation would have most males very excited. But Jakk wasn''t having any of this. If one of the aforementioned females hadn''t been his goddess, he would have probably even openly voiced his frustrations. Now, though, he didn''t really have a chance to say anything.

    Loki and Isaac had already struck a deal pre-dinner, which stated that he would introduce Averin to her after they had eaten. Then, during their meal, the girls Isaac had shared a table with had been made privy to the odd rooster''s existence because he had told Ais about it. Of course, they had all wanted to take a look and so Lefiya, Tiona, Tione and Elfy came along as well. If Isaac hadn''t put a stop to it, they probably would have invited even more of their friends¡­

    So although Isaac was feeling a little apologetic when he saw the downtrodden bunny boy, whose only retreat was about to be invaded by a group of noisily chatting girls, he had already prevented the ultimate MCA.

    The target of all the girls'' interest was happily dozing off at the foot of Isaac''s bed when the group barged into the room. Annoyed at having his pleasant dreams interrupted like this, Averin cawed unhappily.

    "Who dares to wake the great Averin?!"

    This arrogant voice immediately enabled everyone to pinpoint Averin''s location, however, which only accelerated the rooster''s ''doom''.

    "Whoa, this bird is really talking!"

    Before he knew it, Averin was already caught by Tiona, who eyed him curiously. Not even a second later, the content of the rooster''s field of view changed from a flat board to a mountainous valley, as Tione had snatched the bird from her sister.

    "It''s so fluffy and cute!"

    Once these words left her mouth, the rest of the girls swarmed around the busty Amazoness and took turns admiring the poor, confused animal. Even Loki didn''t forget to join in on the fun, mostly because she found Averin''s misery amusing. Also, she wouldn''t pass up the chance of poking and prodding at such an unusual monster, especially because everyone around her was a capable adventurer. She was completely safe to do so.

    While Ais had been a lot more subdued than the rest of the girls, she also ruffled the fluffy feathers, her eyes brightening up ever so slightly at the comfortable touch.

    By now, Averin had finally caught a glimpse of Isaac through all the surrounding girls. He was truly terrified. While a few of the weaker girls were ones he could get away from if he was able to freely move, about half of them were so strong that his instincts were telling him they could squish him like a fly any time they wanted. Being surrounded by such a fearsome pack right after waking up almost made the poor rooster go insane. So when he saw his final ray of hope, he grasped on to it desperately.

    "Master! Please save me!"

    In response to the watering eyes of his subordinate, Isaac could only feign ignorance, as he had no real way to deal with this curious mob. Inwardly, he mourned Averin''s suffering, although he was aware that the situation wasn''t nearly as dire as it would seem to the bird.

    At that moment, Jakk walked up next to Isaac. He had been observing the situation for a while now and a weird glimmer could be seen in his eyes. A knowing smile spread across his face, then he elbowed his roommate slightly to get his attention, before whispering.

    "What masterful innuendo! Six girls surrounding and playing with your co-"

    Before he could finish, Isaac had already forcefully shut Jakk up. While he was keeping the bunny boy''s mouth shut with his hand, he could feel a trickle of cold sweat running down his back. He was very well aware that one''s senses would vastly improve when one ranked up, that was why he really hoped that no-one had heard Jakk''s words just now.

    Thankfully, the girls were still way too obsessed with the fluffy rooster to pay any attention to the two actual residents of this room. Because of this, a bloodbath had been avoided.

    Pointing out certain aspects of an innocent situation and making it seem like something vulgar. This was the power of a pervert.

    While chiding Jakk heavily via eye contact, Isaac realized for the first time what kind of a ticking time bomb he would be around for the foreseeable future¡­

    -----

    The sun had already set a few hours ago. In this period of darkness, beneath the clear and starry sky, a man, a woman and a rooster were sitting on one of the roofs of the Twilight Manor, relaxedly taking in the beautiful view.

    Ais, Isaac and Averin had come here after the introduction of the rooster had come to a close. Thankfully, it hadn''t taken the bird long to calm down and resignedly accept the shower of affection. After being questioned by Loki about his origin and goals, he had been allowed to live in Isaac''s room officially. Loki would make sure to tell everyone that the talking rooster was the newest familia member''s tamed monster, so nobody should get too surprised when seeing him.

    Still, the group had spent almost an hour in the small room, talking and laughing. Jakk had been extremely relieved once they actually retreated for the night to go to sleep. At that time, Isaac had asked Ais whether there was some way he and Averin could get on a roof of the manor, to have a look around. As the Twilight Manor was very tall compared to most of the buildings in Orario, the rooster would be able to get a very good initial look at the surface he had longed for.

    Ais chose the roof closest to her sleeping quarters and brought the man-rooster duo there, joining them as well.

    After letting Averin stare at their surroundings in wonder and marvel for a few minutes, Isaac finally broke the silence.

    "Your wish had been to go to the surface. Now that you''re here, did anything change?"

    Hearing his master''s question, Averin''s eyes were clouded by confusion and he replied, deep in thought.

    "Not really¡­"

    When he saw that the damn bird didn''t want to elaborate on this any more, Isaac continued questioning him.

    "So, what is your goal now? You''ve already achieved your old one, after all."

    As if a veil had been lifted, the confusion in Averin''s eyes disappeared as he stared at Isaac with an excited look on his face.

    "I want to see more of this world. As much as I can!"

    It was such a simple wish that Isaac had to suppress the wish to laugh by smiling awkwardly. He had expected the bird to have higher aspirations than being a simple traveller. Nonetheless, in some sense of the word, Isaac himself was just a traveller himself. Because of this, he responded with a particular promise.

    "In the short term, that won''t be possible. But I promise you, after this initial rough patch, not to mention this one, I''ll let you see many different worlds."

    A normal person would have frowned at such a statement or taken it to be an exaggeration. But Averin was just a monster who had grown up in the dungeon. He was still very young and had pretty much no common sense. Paired with the close connection he felt to his master thanks to the laws of this world, he took Isaac''s words as facts and got even more happy.

    While Averin was dancing on the roof because he couldn''t contain his excitement, a system notification appeared in Isaac''s field of view.

    [ Averin''s loyalty has increased by 5. ]

    Suddenly, Isaac could feel Ais gripping his sleeve tightly, so he turned to look at her, only to see her with an unusually concerned and slightly fearful look on her face. He instantly realized why his words had caused her to react this way and her following words only confirmed his suspicions, making him feel a little guilty.

    "Will you leave me behind?"

    He should have been aware of what kind of misunderstanding his words would cause, therefore Isaac showed Ais an apologetic smile before gently taking the hand that was grasping his sleeve. He hoped to calm down her fears at least partially with this action.

    Ais blushed slightly, but she didn''t have any averse reaction to this little bit of intimacy. After all, holding hands was entirely harmless. Additionally, because Isaac was one of her loved ones, she quite enjoyed this showcase of affection. Coupled with Isaac''s next words, her worries evaporated.

    "Unless you want me to, of course not. Also, I''ll be staying in this world for quite a while, as I still have goals to accomplish. One of them being to see you accomplish yours. If you want to come with me after that, I''d be more than happy. I have to warn you, though. The journey could very well end up taking an eternity."

    Being made aware of one of Isaac''s goals being to help her warmed Ais'' heart profusely. Even his cautious warning was filled with nothing but care for her. A wide smile spread across her already breathtakingly beautiful face, making her seem even more ethereal.

    "I''m looking forward to it."

    For a few hours, a woman and a man with a rooster nonchalantly sleeping on his shoulder spent time beneath the clear and starry sky, enjoying each other''s company and the lovely scenery.

    They hadn''t stopped holding hands this entire time.

    -----

    An hour before midnight, Ais had gotten ready to go to sleep. Or, well, she was planning to experience ''Isaac''s Past - Episode 2'', which she had purchased from the system today. Due to her astonishing monster slaying speed, she didn''t have a shortage of Achievement Points whatsoever.

    Because of her already having done the same thing yesterday, she was very relaxed and excited, not anxious at all. She laid down and closed her eyes, commanding the system to replay the memory for her to look at.

    But instead of being transported into that strange yet familiar world yet again, a system notification appeared.

    [ Cooldown until ''Isaac''s Past - Episode 2'' can be experienced: 5 days 23 hours 37 minutes 4 seconds ]

    Ais couldn''t help but be baffled at this. A cooldown? Why did she have to wait?

    In response, the system gave her a short explanation.

    [ If one''s mind is disconnected from reality for too long, experiencing a different world or timeline, it will be hard for one to distinguish between that and the reality one came from.

    The longer one spends in such a disconnected state, the more severe the consequences.

    A safety mechanism has been included by the creator, which forces someone experiencing his past to recover their minds for one week in between episodes, to prevent any accidents or mental repercussions. ]

    Although she was a little bit annoyed at not being able to already experience more of Isaac''s past, the system''s explanation made sense to her. When she had returned from the memory the last time, she had been quite confused, after all. If she were to spend more and more time away from here, from where she belonged, without rest and reprieve, she could pass the point of no return without noticing.

    Frustratedly, Ais gripped her bedsheets. If Isaac hadn''t thought about such a thing happening beforehand, she would have made a horrible mistake. While she was happy about his foresight being this impressive, Ais was still disappointed with herself for not thinking about this. Especially because she had felt the confusion and disconnection merely one day ago firsthand.

    After a while, she decided to let it go and learn from this experience. It had been a close shave, but the disaster had been avoided. There was no need to further dwell on ''what if'' scenarios.

    Consoling herself like that, Ais soon fell asleep.

 Chapter 20 - Rapid Descent

    A solitary goblin was wandering the halls of the dungeon''s first floor, while just outside of the range of its perception, Isaac''s party was watching it attentively.

    "Alright, this one will be yours, Mina. Do your best. In case of an emergency, we''ve got your back."

    Finally, it was time for the timid farmer girl to slay her first monster. At her lord''s order, Mina tightly gripped her sword before making her way out into the open, towards the lone monster. As she didn''t make any effort to move stealthily, the short humanoid quickly discovered her and charged at her with a disgusting shriek.

    Contrary to the worst expectations, Mina didn''t freeze up upon seeing this. During yesterday''s training, she had already become a little accustomed to reacting to quick changes in a combat situation. Now, although she wasn''t very proficient with her weapon, she would at least get a chance to use it.

    After a short few seconds, the goblin was close enough to attack Mina, so it jumped up to attack her throat, trying to end her in one move. Mina was too inexperienced and slow to dispatch the goblin right when it left the ground, still, she barely managed to dodge the jumping goblin by side-stepping. It took her a short moment before she collected herself and turned around to bring her sword down on the goblin''s exposed back. With how sluggish and disoriented her opponent was, however, this short pause didn''t end up being a problem.

    That one strike severed the goblin''s left arm, which caused it to roll around on the ground in pain, shrieking as loud as it could. Moments later, Mina beheaded her downed opponent. She had picked up this particular method of dealing with humanoid monsters from her lord, who pretty much always used it.

    While she was staring at the corpse of the first monster she had slain, Mina relaxed and almost fell down, before catching herself again. A proud smile spread across her face.

    There was just one thing that was out of place in this scene of triumph.

    And that was her shaking sword arm. Mina wasn''t exhausted¡­ rather, her body and mind subconsciously reacted to her first time killing a living being. Even on her farm, she had always left the killing of the livestock to her parents, she hadn''t wanted any part of that bloody business. Now, however, she had killed.

    Even though it was just a monster and she couldn''t care less about it, her whole body began to shiver more and more, while she tried to keep it under control. To no avail.

    With a loud clang, her sword fell to the ground.

    Before she had a chance to pick it back up, a hand grasped her shoulder and she was turned around, to be face to face with her lord, Isaac.

    "I-It''s nothing, milord! Nothing to w-worry about!"

    Her pleading eyes weren''t very convincing, as anyone could easily tell she wasn''t okay at all from the way she was shivering and the cold sweat she was shedding. Obviously, someone as perceptive as Isaac didn''t get fooled. But contrary to his subordinate''s expectations, he wasn''t here to chide her. Instead, he showed a gentle and approving smile.

    "Well done. Here, take Averin for a while to calm down."

    With these words, he grabbed the lazy rooster on his shoulder and handed the fluffy bird to Mina.

    Isaac was already more than pleased with Mina. she had managed to kill a goblin without so much as getting scratched. Her fighting instincts were quite impressive, yesterday''s training could only help awaken them little by little. Sure, she was still at the starting line but with a little polish and lots of hard work, this farmer girl would turn into a splendid soldier. She hadn''t hesitated when killing her opponent - this was vital. These post-killing symptoms were only to be expected, so he wasn''t surprised.

    "Don''t I get a say in this?!"

    "Nope."

    Of course, Averin''s complaints were shot down instantly.

    After the cute and fluffy Averin had entered her arms, Mina soon stopped shaking as severely and regained a lot of her composure. Rather than thinking about the fact that she had just taken a life, her mind got taken over by thoughts of playful bliss. With a wide smile and a happily wagging tail, she got engrossed in hugging the soft creature.

    "Alright, you can carry Averin for now. Let''s continue."

    Following this, the group made their way all the way to the stairway leading to the fifth floor of the dungeon. Isaac hadn''t descended further in his monster-slaying endeavours so far.

    When they arrived at this point, he asked Jakk to protect Mina, Kalin and Averin, while he continued down further alone, to test his current strength. So far, every single monster they encountered had been so incredibly weak that Isaac honestly had been pretty bored. His group of students could just train themselves here in the first four floors.

    Isaac instructed Jakk to only let Mina fight goblins, whereas Kalin should fight goblins and kobolds. As for the rooster, it should try to gain some fighting experience against all kinds of monsters that could be found. Even Averin would be able to kill everything up here, once he got used to using his speed as a weapon, after all.

    Although the bunny boy heaved a resigned sigh, he accepted Isaac''s wish. This was mainly because he was looking forward to today''s training and knew babysitting would be a worthwhile price to pay for it. Jakk was well aware of Isaac''s increase in strength, so he knew that their training session would be even more efficient today. After all, he now didn''t have to hold back his own strength as much.

    Before he left, Isaac assured them that he had a way to locate them and they didn''t need to agree on a meeting spot. He only reminded them to never split up. Of course, he didn''t tell them that the reason he could find them anywhere was that he could track his subordinates on the map, now that they were connected to the system.

    Starting with the fifth floor of the dungeon, the previously light blue-coloured walls changed to a light green colour. The hallways and caverns also got a little bit more spacious. Additionally, the spawn rate of monsters was markedly increased.

    It didn''t take Isaac long to find the new monster species that started to appear on this floor, the killer ant. As the name implied, it looked just like an ant. It had a hard, red carapace and was about one and a half meters long. Its highest stat could reach up to G-200 and it was widely known as the new adventurer killer, simply because most new adventurers would have a hard time to hit its joints and get rid of it that way - which often lead to their deaths.

    As Isaac was taking his time, slowly researching his new test subject, an unexpected phenomenon started happening once he had damaged the ant to a certain degree. With an unhappy screech, the ant spread a pheromone which soon made lots and lots of its brethren come to its aid.

    When faced with this group of more than ten killer ants, Isaac would have had to retreat before his Status update. Now, however, this kind of predicament didn''t even make him break a sweat. Instead of being annoyed at the fact that more monsters had arrived, he was just a little bit surprised. Then, he turned even happier, as he now had more than enough monsters to perform experiments on. Additionally, this kind of swarming behaviour would come in handy with a later plan of his.

    In less than an hour, Isaac reached the sixth floor.

    Just like on the floor before this one, a new monster species joined the fray from here on out. This time, Isaac was even more lucky, as the first monster he encountered on this floor was already this new one he had been searching for. It was the frog shooter, a more than one meter tall frog with a single eye. Compared to the monsters he had previously run into, it proved to be more of a challenge.

    This was simply because it attacked by shooting out its tongue - its range was up to ten meters. As its highest stat could reach around G-250, these fast, long range attacks were quite a threat. Well, not for Isaac. Even though he had been a little surprised at the oversized frog''s range, his own stats vastly eclipsed his opponent''s. Therefore, he didn''t even need to predict anything to easily evade the frog shooter''s attacks.

    Of course, Isaac wouldn''t let his guard down like that and stop his prediction mode when in combat, therefore, the frog shooter didn''t stand a chance and joined the ranks of the slain after experiencing a few tortuous minutes of a lab rat life.

    As the monsters wouldn''t be able to endanger him for quite a while longer, Isaac only stayed on one floor long enough to complete his new monster species research, before hurrying off towards the next one. The increased monster spawn rate didn''t hinder him at all, as he was able to dispatch them in the shortest amount of time and with the least amount of stamina spent.

    Additionally, now that his Endurance had increased so drastically, the short few seconds and minutes between fights were more than enough for him to focus on recovering it. Unless he encountered an enemy that was tough to deal with, he could continue like this almost indefinitely. Well, he still needed to sleep, there was no way around that. For now.

    Quite close to the stairs leading to the seventh floor, Isaac finally came across a monster only rarely found on this floor. It was very common from the next floor onwards, though.

    The war shadow. It was a dark, humanoid monster about as tall as Isaac. Its physique seemed more akin to a shadow than a flesh-and-blood body. Long arms that ended in three sharp claws were its weapons, whereas its highest stat could reach up to F-300.

    For Isaac, this monster simply wasn''t threatening at all. While he was enjoying his research, the war shadow suddenly dissipated after it had taken a certain amount of damage, leaving behind a pristine magic stone. Before that, it had nigh instantly recovered from its wounds, which had delighted Isaac. Now, however, his enjoyment was cut short, which annoyed him.

    As he needed a lot more test subjects for the research of this particular monster species due to them dissipating after a certain amount of damage was dealt, Isaac hunted them a lot more fervently than all the other new kinds of monsters so far.

    Once he reached the seventh floor, three new monster species could be found. The currently spawning monsters would stay the same until the tenth floor.

    The first new monster species on this floor was the purple moth. Its highest stat could reach up to F-350 and it was a huge, purple moth. Yeah, nothing surprising at all. Still, it was a lot more annoying to deal with compared to other monsters before it, because it spread a powder in the air. Isaac didn''t even try to get in contact with that and dodged it wherever he could. It was only obvious to assume that it would lead to adverse effects were he to be covered in it. For his next exploration, Isaac decided to prepare the necessary countermeasures for this powder. If he asked around a little, he would be sure to find something quickly. He could have even asked Jakk about it in advance, now that he thought about it.

    The second new monster species was the needle rabbit, whose highest stat could reach up to E-400. Just as the name implied, it was a rabbit with a horn on its head. Even its size was only marginally larger than a normal rabbit. It preyed on adventurers by sneak attacking them with its horn using its incredible speed.

    Compared to the purple moth, this monster was extremely easy for Isaac to deal with. Averin''s speed was many, many times higher than this slow rabbit''s. At the same time it couldn''t even escape his perception, even if it tried. Fortunately, Isaac didn''t feel bad about researching on such a cute looking monster at all.

    As for the last new monster species, it was really rare and Isaac only encountered one when he was already half-way through the seventh floor. It was the blue papilio, a huge butterfly with four blue, see-through wings. Its highest stat could reach up to E-450, so Isaac had expected it to put up a little bit of a fight. Sadly, however, it seemed to have absolutely no combat capabilities and no way to fight back at all. So Isaac''s usual research turned into a one-sided beating.

    Wait, wasn''t it always just a one-sided beating? Oh well, doesn''t matter.

    When Isaac got his first drop item from the harmless butterfly monster, the system notified him of it - the wing of the blue papilio - being able to secrete a powder that was able to heal others. Wounds that didn''t damage the organs or bones could be easily recovered if one used it. This not only made it a hot commodity amongst adventurers, it also explained what this peaceful monster''s job was here in the dungeon.

    Whenever there was another monster fighting adventurers, the blue papilio could just swoop in and heal its comrade, dooming the adventurer to be unable to kill their opponent. Of course, this only worked if the adventurer wasn''t strong enough to deal with the opposing monster quickly.

    As Isaac had only encountered the blue papilio when there weren''t any other monsters around, he hadn''t noticed this before now. While he had the idea to use a blue papilio to heal his test subjects to make them last longer, he had already finished researching all of the monsters here on the seventh floor. Because of this, he could only decide to collect the butterfly''s drop items to use them as potions, if needed.

    On the eighth and ninth floors, the size of the dungeon''s caverns increased yet again, whereas the hallways in between got shorter. The ceiling''s height changed from three to four meters on the previous floors to almost ten meters. Instead of a light green, the dungeon''s walls'' colour changed to brown. Moss began to grow on the walls, whereas the ground was covered in short grass. Close to the ceiling, there grew a second kind of moss, a phosphorescent one, which made the hallways and caverns of these floors almost as bright as regular daylight.

    The only difference, monster species-wise, was that the goblins and kobolds spawning on these two floors got a lot stronger. Their strongest stats could reach up to E-400 and E-450 respectively. Still, these were the only changes, which meant Isaac didn''t have to separately research them again. The appearance of these stronger versions of monsters from the very beginning of the dungeon was likely meant to catch adventurers off guard. Admittedly, that was not a bad strategy.

    When Isaac finally reached the stairs leading to the tenth floor, it was around 11 a.m. and no monsters had been able to make him break a sweat. He had expected to be able to reach his limits today but as he had already met so many new monster species whose research took up quite a while, he had to postpone this goal for tomorrow. Still, until he had to make his way back up to the surface at around 12:30 p.m., to make it in time for his lunch and training plans, Isaac would continue to delve down further.

    Looks-wise, the tenth floor wasn''t too different from the eighth and ninth floors that Isaac had just been through. The average size of the caverns and hallways didn''t change - the only difference was the mist clogging up one''s vision. It was really hard to see further than about ten meters away. If Isaac''s perception hadn''t already been trained to a ridiculous degree, he would have had to proceed very carefully here.

    Accompanying the environment''s change was a complete change in which monster species'' were able to spawn here. Gone were all the species Isaac had already researched, they were replaced by three new ones.

    The weakest of them all was the imp. It looked kind of like a lilac-grey, emaciated goblin with slightly pointy ears and black eyes. Its highest stat could reach up to D-500, which was higher than all but one of Isaac''s stats. Still, as he was a master of facing stronger opponents, this monster which was about as strong as him wasn''t a challenge at all.

    A new aerial monster species also joined the fray, the bad bat. As the name implied, it was simply a monstrously huge bat with sharp fangs. With its highest stat reaching up to D-550, it was quite a bit stronger and faster than Isaac. Additionally, it had the ability to slightly hamper one''s concentration with its sound wave attack. Well, it was still not enough to hinder Isaac but for someone less experienced in maintaining their focus, this would easily have deadly consequences. A person like Jakk, who had even more delicate ears than a human due to being a hume bunny, would have a very tough time facing a bad bat.

    As for the strongest monster species appearing on this floor, it was the first large category monster that adventurers could come across in the dungeon, the orc. With a height of about three meters and its highest stat reaching up to C-600, it was very difficult to deal with. It had an ugly pig head and wore old hide at the waist, akin to a skirt. Some orcs could even be seen carrying around large wooden clubs.

    Well, they were actually trees they had ripped out of the ground to use as clubs. Only further away from the staircase leading down to the tenth floor could Isaac finally find the grey, leafless trees.

    Whilst the orc''s vast amounts of fat and thick skin provided it with a decent amount of defense, it still had glaring weaknesses. Mainly its speed, which was a lot slower than the other monsters on this floor. This would enable even a normal adventurer to more-or-less outmaneuver it and get a few hits in, slowly whittling it down. As for Isaac, he decided to slit the orc''s Achilles'' heels before beheading it once it either fell down or to its knees.

    Because of the sheer size of the monster, it was rare for Isaac to come across a situation where he was able to dispatch an orc with a single, swift attack. Therefore, he spent a little bit more time on this floor than on the previous ones while making his way to the stairs leading to the eleventh floor.

    When he finally arrived there, he only had about half an hour left until he had to start to make his way back towards his students. As he was pretty sure there would be even more new monster species on the next floor, he decided against going down for a quick look. He would feel very reluctant if he had to postpone finishing his research because he didn''t have enough time or luck with encountering the right monster species.

    So during the next half an hour, Isaac just hunted as many monsters as possible on the tenth floor, finally managing to start exhausting himself because of his dramatically increased pace.

    -----

    "Sorry to keep you waiting, everyone."

    When the resting group of four heard these words, they instinctively gripped their weapons tightly and turned their heads towards the source of the voice. As soon as they realized it was Isaac who had returned and talked to them, they heaved a collective sigh of relief.

    "Can you please not sneak up on us like that?"

    Upon hearing Jakk''s plea, Isaac gave it a thought and decided that it would probably be bad to blur his existence when he entered their range of perception, as he had just done. Giving others a jump-scare wasn''t his goal, after all. So he nodded in response.

    "You got hurt? Let me see."

    It only took Isaac a few seconds to notice that Mina''s right arm was tightly wrapped in a slightly bloody bandage.

    "I got scratched when I was fighting three goblins¡­"

    After the dejected Mina had reached out her arm obediently, Isaac took off the bandage and inspected the wound. It wasn''t too deep and as it had been properly cleaned before applying the bandage, there wasn''t much risk of infection. Well, even if there was, it wouldn''t matter with what he had prepared.

    "Hold still for a moment."

    Under the others'' watchful eyes, Isaac pull out a blue papilio wing from his backpack and spread the powder it secreted on Mina''s wound. It only took half a minute for the centimeter-deep wound to close up as if nothing had ever happened.

    "That thing is worth 100.000 valis! And you used it to heal a small scratch?!"

    Jakk couldn''t believe what he was seeing. Mina''s small wound would have healed in a week or two and wouldn''t have hindered her too much, especially because it wasn''t on her sword-wielding arm. And yet, Isaac just spent an exorbitant amount of money on healing her?

    "So what? It''s just money. I used it to speed up the recovery process, thereby enabling her to not lose efficiency while growing stronger. If I hadn''t done so, Mina would have been slightly hindered for at least a week. If I can speed up the progress of her growth in strength with money, why shouldn''t I?"

    To be honest, Jakk really couldn''t understand this pay-to-win strategy of Isaac, he simply didn''t earn enough money in the dungeon to afford such expenditures. Still, he recognized that the two of them valued money differently and there wasn''t any use arguing. It wasn''t his own money that was being wasted, after all. Kalin, on the other hand, just thought that his teacher was a very generous and caring man.

    Even though the rooster in her arms didn''t care about this money business at all, Mina was so touched that her eyes became a little red, she was about to cry. Only barely was she able to keep her emotions in check, that''s how moved she was. Such a vast amount of money was spent just to support her slightly. With how poor she had been previously, it was no wonder why Mina reacted the way she did.

    [ Mina Teagle''s loyalty has increased by 5. ]

    In a happy mood, the party left the dungeon for the day, ready to fill their bellies before their second round of daily training.

    Isaac''s monster slaying quest had progressed to 707/1000, whereas he got a mind-boggling amount of valis from the magic stone and drop item exchange: 236.300. It was no wonder why the strongest adventurers could spend millions of valis on equipment and supplies without batting an eye: the higher quality of magic stones and drop items from monsters deeper in the dungeon easily netted them that amount. That fact, coupled with Isaac''s inhuman efficiency, had netted him a small fortune, even though he hadn''t sold his last blue papilio wing.

    Not mentioning Isaac''s party, even the Guild employee at the exchange looked visibly impressed when he handed over such a huge amount of cash.

    After seeing how outstanding his income already was at such an early point, the amount of money Isaac''s rooster rearing plans could generate didn''t seem so impressive anymore.

 Chapter 21 - A Close Shave

    On the next day at around 8 a.m., Isaac had made his way back to the stairs leading down to the eleventh floor once again.

    With a confident smile, he unhesitatingly continued downwards. As the tenth floor hadn''t been a challenge at all, he hoped to meet some worthy opponents today.

    Environment-wise, the eleventh floor wasn''t any different from the tenth one, so Isaac was a little bit downcast. If nothing changed, why would there be any new monster species? Thankfully, these worries were unnecessary, as just a few moments after entering the first spacious cavern beyond the stairs, Isaac noticed a monster he hadn''t encountered yet.

    It looked just like an armadillo, only a lot bigger: the hard armored. Its body was almost two meters long and its shell covered nearly the entirety of its exposed body. Stat-wise, it could reach up to B-700 which was quite a hefty jump from the orcs on the last floor. Still, it wasn''t strong enough to be too much of a problem for Isaac.

    The hard armored''s trademark attack started with it bundling up into a shape resembling a car tire and then rolling towards its opponent as fast as it could. Evading this attack wasn''t a problem. Its hard shell was.

    During his usual research, Isaac soon noticed that he had no way to damage this monster''s shell at all, no matter what he did. He was simply too weak. Only its eyes and the soft belly could be injured. And that is exactly why the shell, coupled with the rolling attack, was such a huge problem - neither of those were exposed when the hard armoured was in its tire-mode! Because of this, harming and eliminating the resilient monster took quite a lot longer than Isaac would have liked. He had to wait until it was done rolling around and showed its face again.

    Nonetheless, he was still able to deal with a single hard armored in about a minute after he was done with his research. The next new monster species Isaac ran into would test his patience a lot more, however.

    It was a species Isaac, as an avid DanMachi reader, was all too familiar with - the silverback. If one imagined a huge gorilla with red eyes and white hair, one only had to triple its size to have a silverback. As the name suggested, the part of the monkey''s mane that was located right above its spine was silver instead of white. Still, that difference was barely noticeable. Now that Isaac finally faced one of these monstrosities, he was able to determine their strength - one of the silverback''s stats reached up to A-850, almost double of his!

    Fortunately, the mountain-like monkey still wasn''t fast enough to actually hurt Isaac. Sure, his margin of error became a lot smaller, as the speed picked up a lot. Additionally, he would probably end up dead if he took a single of the monkey''s hits head on. But no matter what, the only thing the monkey could do was to waste Isaac''s time with its resilience. After he had dealt with the first few victims of his research, Isaac still had to spend a few minutes to deal with a single silverback.

    Sometime during his early research after entering this floor, Isaac got a notification from the system.

    [ You have killed 1000 Level 1 monsters.

    Quest ''Kill 1000 Level 1 monsters.'' completed. 100 AP rewarded. ]

    Finally, Isaac''s monster slaying efforts bore fruit! With his ridiculous pace, it wouldn''t be too long before he racked up quite a lot of AP. Thoughts like these made Isaac smirk happily while torturing the ''innocent'' monsters.

    During the next few hours, Isaac slowly got used to fighting silverbacks and it got progressively easier. While he had been very close to his limit when facing a single one before, he slowly managed to defeat two and even three silverbacks at once later. All of this made Isaac realize that most likely, this monster species still wouldn''t be able to actually make him reach his limit, no matter how many of them he was facing.

    Luckily, after Isaac had dealt with yet another group of three silverbacks and came out unscathed, the shadow of another massive monster could be seen in the distance. That was definitely a new one!

    With an excited smile, Isaac got closer to the monster to observe it from a distance.

    It was about four meters tall, ten meters long and resembled a western dragon if you clipped its wings off. It had beautiful dark blue scales and exuded a certain majesty and beauty. Of course, Isaac didn''t care much about such irrelevant aspects.

    As it started to spawn on the same floor as the silverback and hard armoured, this infant dragon should still be within the bounds of a Level 1 monster, no matter how strong it was. At least, that was Isaac''s conclusion and his reason for attempting to fight it, sure of his ability to escape relatively easily.

    Little did he know that rather than a normal monster, the infant dragon was considered to be a rare spawn, a boss monster. It was almost twice as strong as all of the other monsters of this floor! That was because it had already reached Level 2, with stats reaching up to I-50. Now, while that sounded pathetic, if one were to try to convert its stats to Level 1, they would be up to SSS-1450. With almost triple of Isaac''s stats, what Isaac was eyeing so covetously wasn''t the next part of his research, it was deathly danger.

    Right after he had started his assault, Isaac immediately noticed something was wrong. While he had already expected his opponent to have a breath attack, as it looked just like a dragon, its reaction was simply too fast! He had barely moved a step, when the infant dragon had already looked his way, opened its mouth slightly and a slight ember glow could be seen from its throat. For the first time since he had come to this world, Isaac felt the shadow of death looming over him.

    He knew he had vastly underestimated his opponent. There was simply no way for him to deal with this monster by relying on his speed alone - he would easily be burned to a crisp. Still, there was nothing to fear, he still had one possible avenue of survival - psychological manipulation. If all else failed, this one was always a reliable ace in the hole.

    If he wanted to cheat and blur his existence to escape, he could. It was simple. Still, that would be too easy. Isaac craved a challenge and hardship. That was why he was handicapping himself in the first place. If he died in the process, so what?

    Without a moment of hesitation, Isaac feigned fleeing towards the left, making the infant dragon assume his path of escape. The very moment the breath attack was triggered, he instantly fled towards the right instead. It wasn''t a complicated maneuver by any means, but if he hadn''t had such near-perfect control over his body, Isaac wouldn''t have been able to execute it with the speed he did.

    Even though he had managed to dodge the first attack by more than a meter, the left side of his body and most of his equipment had heated up to an uncomfortable temperature already, causing Isaac to sweat a little.

    Not wasting any time on being happy that he had prolonged his life for a few seconds, Isaac used the short amount of time the infant dragon needed to recover before using its next breath attack to scan his surroundings for anything that could be of help. Luckily, as he was in the dungeon, there were many nooks, crannies and boulders he could use to hide temporarily.

    Seeing this, Isaac''s confidence grew - he should be able to escape!

    While he was taking cover behind different obstacles and dodging breath attacks, he had enough time to think about his next course of action. Speed-wise, he couldn''t escape from the infant dragon. For some reason, however, it didn''t use any other means of attack besides its breath - most likely because Isaac hadn''t entered its melee range yet. Still, he couldn''t just run around the dungeon forever, he had to get rid of this damn lizard tailing him somehow. Just keeping up his risky dodging maneuvers took quite a toll on his stamina that seemed so endless yesterday.

    Two breath attacks later, Isaac finally came up with a plan: he would make his way towards the stairs leading back up to the tenth floor. For some reason, no monsters from the lower floors could be found on the upper ones. There had to be a reason as to why monsters didn''t leave the floor they spawned on, except for on very rare circ.u.mstances. Was there something keeping them from doing so? Some kind of instinct? Admittedly, it wasn''t much to rely on, but it was better than nothing. Only a few times during the DanMachi novels had monsters actually left for different floors. Because of how statistically unlikely it was to happen, it was the best thing Isaac could bank on.

    Like this, Isaac slowly but surely made his way back towards where he had come from a few hours prior. Very, very painstakingly. The consumption of his stamina was insane. Luckily, whenever he met any monsters on his way, they would ease his burden a little, as they could be used to block another breath attack.

    By the time he had finally made it back to the very cavern the stairs were connected to, Isaac was beyond exhausted. He was sweating buckets and barely able to control his spasming muscles. Compared to when he had reached this state previously, he had a furious infant dragon on his tail and most of his skin was slightly burned simply from being in the vicinity of extremely hot breath attacks for too long.

    But at least, the goal was in sight¡­ or it should have been. As if to spit in Isaac''s face for having been so unbelievably lucky ever since he arrived, a group of seven silverbacks was bunched up right in front of the stairs. If anyone had told Isaac this was just a coincidence, he would have wanted to beat them black and blue. Either this dungeon was sentient, or there was a dungeon master! There was simply no statistically likely other way such a thing could happen. The biggest group of silverbacks Isaac had run into on this floor had been two. Whenever he had wanted to up the difficulty during his previous fights, he had to manually lure another one. But now, right as he was about to escape his doom and was exhausted beyond measure, a monster party just had to appear before his only avenue of escape? Ridiculous.

    When the silverbacks noticed his arrival, they immediately got into a formation, trying to seal all of his possible escape routes. One shouldn''t underestimate these particular monsters. Most likely because they were based on monkeys, their intelligence and teamwork were leagues beyond other monsters, who mostly got in each others'' ways.

    Sadly, Isaac had no time to appreciate such a fascinating phenomenon right now. Still, he noted it down for future research.

    While seven silverbacks wouldn''t be hard to escape from for Isaac under normal circ.u.mstances, now that he was at the end of the line, there simply were literally no paths of escape from this situation that could be found within the world akin to a chessboard. Well, there were actually quite a lot of them, they all would lead to more or less severe injuries, though. A better way to describe what was going on was this: There was no way for him to get out of this unharmed.

    As Isaac had never tried to take on a silverback''s attack before, he could only attempt to choose the one route that was least likely to get him killed.

    Isaac unhappily gritted his teeth. Not to prepare himself for the coming pain but because he was annoyed at having to choose to get injured in the first place. Still, he didn''t hesitate.

    Very easily, Isaac slipped by the first perimeter of three silverbacks, which had surrounded him from the left, right and front. This also made the silverback who had previously been in front of him eat a delicious breath attack. Thanks for the assist, friend!

    The second perimeter of four monkeys was the real problem. While Isaac had dodged around the first three, the other four had already launched their attacks towards him. Worst of all, they were very good at tracking him with their fists even after they had thrown their punches. So without another choice, Isaac got right between one of the silverbacks and the stairs, before turning to face the incoming punch he couldn''t dodge.

    ''If I was faster, I could have dodged all of these attacks so easily¡­''

    Resignedly, he crossed both of his arms in front of where the punch would land, the left one with the vambrace on top.

    If Isaac had challenged himself to a ''no hit run'', he would have lost right now.

    A fraction of a second later, Isaac could feel a heavy impact and the vambrace on his left arm shattered almost instantly, very quickly followed by a cracking noise and a sharp burst of pain from that very arm. Thankfully, his right arm and the rest of the body got off lightly and ''only'' got bruised. The rest of the impact, however, lifted Isaac off his feet and made him shoot out towards the stairs with high velocity. If he continued just like this, he would end up with a broken spine if he got off lightly.

    Thankfully, Isaac''s backpack was filled with many blankets to make it seem like he was actually using it, instead of relying on his inventory. Now, this came in handy and was the very reason for Isaac to judge this path to be the safest.

    Isaac was only airbound for a second before he crashed heavily right onto the stairs. Even though the many blankets acted as somewhat of a cushion, Isaac still felt two more bursts of sharp pain - two of his ribs had been broken. Additionally, they stabbed right into a few of his organs. His heart and lungs were fine, though. By carefully, planning, Isaac had also managed to avoid hitting his head.

    As soon as he was able to, Isaac got up on his now wobbly feet and dragged himself further up the stairs. By now, he wasn''t even able to run. Too much of his stamina was spent and most of his upper body was bruised and battered, sapping him of strength.

    While he got further away from the pursuing monsters, he didn''t forget to keep track of them. And finally, he seemed to be in luck again. For whatever reason, neither the silverbacks nor the infant dragon set a single foot on top of the stairs. They just waited down there, roaring at their wounded prey. The infant dragon even let loose quite a few breath attacks but they were unable to reach Isaac, as he was far enough away from them by now.

    Apparently, unless there were very specific circ.u.mstances, monsters really wouldn''t use these stairs, which made them a temporary safe haven for Isaac. Having determined his next course of action, Isaac plopped down on the stairs and rested against the wall of the dungeon. Then, with his still somewhat intact right arm, he reached out and had a blue papilio wing appear from his inventory.

    Although those could normally not be used to recover organ damage or broken bones, it was all Isaac had available for now. He was also quite confident in being able to get an even better healing effect if he manually controlled the process. Therefore, he swallowed the powder secreted from the wing and closed his eyes, concentrating fully on his recovery.

    Loud cracking sounds soon rang out from his body, as he forced his dislocated and broken bones to snap back into the right places simply by using his own muscles. This caused him to spit up a few mouthfuls of blood.

    ¡ª¡ª-

    An hour later, Isaac made his way out of the dungeon towards the Guild''s healing center. He was moving very slowly and carefully, trying to keep his injuries under control. In the healing center, which Yolanda had mentioned to him yesterday after his training session, some of the Guild''s members and contracted mages would offer healing services in exchange for a fee. They would use the spells one paid for respectively.

    As Isaac had already stabilized quite a bit, he only went with the 250.000 valis option. It wasn''t like he could afford anything more expensive than that anyway. Just like that, he had lost almost all of the fortune he had amassed over the past few days. Well, he still had many magic stones to exchange for valis later, so he wasn''t really in as bad of a position as his current savings would let one assume. By his own calculations, today''s grind had earned him even more than yesterday''s.

    If Isaac hadn''t stabilized his condition down in the dungeon, he would have most likely died very quickly on the way back to the surface, because of internal bleeding. But yes, he was able to prevent that. He would have even been able to recover all on his own in a few days. Was there really a need to waste so much time, though? He would rather go with the pay-to-win method and pay for his instant recovery.

    After having dealt with his ''little injuries'', Isaac took a shower and cleaned his equipment at the Guild''s facilities in Babel, even though he still planned to go back into the dungeon today. That was because he didn''t want his students to worry about him. In the end, nothing too serious had happened - he hadn''t died, after all, and was perfectly fine now. No need to let them know about today''s setback.

    While he was on his way back to oversee his students for another hour or so, Isaac inspected his Status for the first time in two days.

    [ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: None ]

    [ Race: Human ]

    [ Level: 1 ]

    [ Age: Unable to measure ]

    [ Charisma: 14 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: E-480 (+401) ]

    [ Endurance: E-482 (+ 400) ]

    [ Dexterity: E-484 (+ 402) ]

    [ Agility: E-493 (+ 394) ]

    [ Magic: D-511 (+ 396) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ None ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Huntsman ]

    Upon looking into it further, Isaac noticed that any monster with less stats than him barely even gave him a single stat point, no matter how many of them he killed. As for monsters with higher stats, they enabled him to gain a lot of them. He was quite happy with how his Magic stat would already reach S if he had his Status updated again.

    Still, there was one slight problem. The strongest monsters he could deal with at the moment were silverbacks. In the beginning, they gave him almost 100 stat points, but towards the end, the stats he gained from a single one of them dwindled down towards the lower double digits. If he updated his status now, he would probably gain less than one stat point from them - the difference was just that large. It would enable him to deal with that pesky infant dragon, though.

    Should he continue grinding without updating until silverbacks didn''t give him practically any stat points? Or should he update his Status and continue his grinding with stronger monsters?

    To be honest, the latter was the wiser choice, especially because there was no reason for him to artificially slow down his growth and make life more difficult for himself. Honestly, it was quite ironic for someone who already handicapped himself in a lot of ways just to make life more difficult for himself to think so.

    Just as before, there was only one reason for Isaac''s stat gain to be this terrifying - his ability to battle foes well beyond his own realm of strength. Normally, an adventurer would only be able to battle against enemies who had about the same stats. The strongest and most talented of adventurers would be able to battle foes who were about 200 stat points stronger than them if they gave it their all. As for adventurers being able to fight against adventurers of a higher level than them, the reason for that was almost exclusively them having acc.u.mulated significantly more stats on the lower levels before ranking up than their opponents. Isaac, on the other hand, was able to battle against foes with about 400 higher stat points than him right now. The excelia gained would be nigh exponentially more.

    The more stat points he acc.u.mulated, the vaster the stat difference he could bridge, which would lead to faster and faster stat gain over time. The only thing that would be slowing Isaac down in the future was the amount of time it would take him to reach the lower levels of the dungeon. If one factored in that he could spend AP to teleport¡­ he was simply broken.

    Now, to address the elephant in the room. Isaac had unlocked a Development Ability, that he could choose to imprint on his Status with the next rank up. Only one of those could be chosen every single time an adventurer increased their level. This specific Development Ability was exactly what Isaac had been aiming for.

    [ Huntsman: When battling a monster one has already gained excelia from previously - 2% increase in all stats, 2% increase in excelia gained. ]

    Most people were only privy to the Development Ability ''Hunter'', who could exclusively be gained while an adventurer was Level 2. It had a similar effect and was very hard to get, as the prerequisites were quite insane. 1000 Level 2 monsters had to be slain within three days, while the adventurer was still Level 2. For most adventurers, this was impossible, as they had a very high stamina usage due to moving their body in inefficient ways during combat and having a slow stamina regeneration.

    As for ''Huntsman'', it was the Level 1 equivalent, which could only be gained if an adventurer killed 1000 Level 1 monsters while still being Level 1. Without even specifically aiming to do so, Isaac had already achieved this. Now that he had confirmation of the Development Ability''s existence, Isaac''s suspicions were confirmed. Most likely, every single level, an adventurer could gain such a Development Ability. Why would most of them choose a different one when ranking up? To get ones like ''Swordsman'' or ''Blacksmith'', the ones directly related to their profession and combat power. Although the ''Hunter''-series of Development Abilities also gave a combat power increase, it would be negligible until one stacked a lot of them. Additionally, the excelia gain increase from the skill wasn''t even known, from what Isaac remembered from the DanMachi novels. Most likely, when only one of these was in effect, it was barely noticeable, that''s why it had flown under the radar so far.

    But enough with all of this rambling. What all of this meant was that Isaac''s stat gain would increase even further¡­ if the Development Abilities stacked, that is.

    In conclusion: Someone like Isaac shouldn''t exist.

    At that moment, Isaac remembered his one year challenge with Bete.

    ''Maybe I should slow down a little so he doesn''t get too terrified?''

    There were at least two kinds of people: Ones who used cheats to make every obstacle in life a breeze and ones who gave themselves as many handicaps as possible to overcome challenges.

    Isaac''s whole existence was a cheat, and yet he tried to make life difficult for himself. One who wasn''t in his position would more often than not fail to understand such a decision.

 Chapter 22 - Crossing The First Line

    "That''ll be 40.000 valis."

    "Here you go."

    Isaac carefully scrutinized his purchase again while leaving the armour store. As his last vambrace had gone into early retirement yesterday, he had needed to replace it. The new one he got was black as well, just quite a lot tougher and five times as expensive.

    Even though adventurers earned millions of valis, this job consumed almost as much as it spat back out. While normal adventurers would rarely have to replace their equipment and could therefore acc.u.mulate quite a lot of wealth, as they grew stronger rather slowly, Isaac''s expenses would barely be able to be covered by his income. Thankfully, yesterday''s magic stones and drop items had given him 391.200 valis, quite a hefty sum.

    When he reconvened with his party in front of the store, Jakk walked up to him quickly, before whispering something into Isaac''s ear with a confused expression on his face.

    "Why are they here?"

    The ''they'' in his question had referred to Ais, who was sticking close to Isaac just like a shadow, and a group of four girls happily chatting away: Tiona, Tione, Lefiya and Elfy.

    A forced smile spread across Isaac''s face before he replied to the bunny boy''s inquiry.

    "They had nothing better to do and wanted to accompany me today¡­ sorry."

    Isaac apologized both because he couldn''t bring himself to tell the whole truth, as to not worry him, and also because he knew Jakk didn''t enjoy being around large groups of people.

    Being well aware of how free-spirited his superiors usually were, Jakk could only sigh resignedly and accept the temporary increase in party size. As there was no way around it, complaining wasn''t of any use.

    Yesterday, after Isaac''s return to the Twilight Manor, Ais had immediately noticed the missing vambrace and asked him about what had happened. At the time, she had been in the company of the other four girls. As Isaac wasn''t a liar and also didn''t feel a need to hide his experience from the others, he told Ais that he had been in a slightly dangerous situation which lead to the destruction of the vambrace. Of course, she had then asked him about the exact circ.u.mstances, so he retold the story in full.

    Lo and behold, the entire group decided to accompany him today, which lead to the current ''predicament''.

    Ais had decided to come along just in case Isaac got himself in trouble he couldn''t deal with. Even though everything had turned out fine, her protective instincts were stirred up when she had heard about him having such a close shave with death. Now that she was here, it would be easy for her to protect him in case something unforeseen happened. Lefiya only wanted to stay close to Ais, so she decided to tag along as well. And Elfy, well, she had nothing else to do.

    As for the Amazoness sisters, they were bored out of their minds. Even though Finn, Riveria and Gareth were painstakingly making preparations for the next expedition, those two wouldn''t be of much help, so they were left to their own devices in the meantime. Because Lefiya had bragged about it a lot before, they had wanted to see Isaac fighting anyway. So now that they had a chance, why not take it?

    Thankfully, Isaac had already asked all of the girls to not interfere with his monster slaying activities by leaving monsters they came across for him to deal with. Now that they had agreed to leave them all to him, he wouldn''t be wasting his time. Nonetheless, it was a weird feeling to have this small audience follow him around. They also attracted quite a lot more attention than Isaac would have liked.

    Just like the two days before, Isaac left behind his group of students under the protection of Jakk and made his way down the dungeon quickly. As all of his battles ended instantly, with a single move, there was no chance for the audience to appreciate that world akin to a chessboard, they could only be amazed by the efficiency of his kills.

    Sometime after yesterday''s dinner, Isaac had asked Loki to update his Status yet again, after which she had run off to god-knows-where in a hurry. She had seemed even more shocked than before, after his speed of growth had soared yet again. Still, to Isaac, it didn''t matter where she went, as he highly doubted Loki would plan to do anything to hurt him. He was part of her familia, so harming him would basically just be harming herself, after all.

    Because of his sharp increase in strength, Isaac found it all too easy to deal with the hard armored and silverbacks on the eleventh floor today. After all, his stats were even higher than an average silverback''s now. The enemies that took him a long time to take down yesterday were slain with a single sword stroke.

    He didn''t plan to go out of his way to search for the infant dragon he had crossed paths with yesterday. Mostly because infant dragons were an incredibly rare spawn and it would take him many, many days to come across enough of them to fully research the species, if he spent all of his time on this floor. Therefore, he decided to just hope for a lucky encounter every time he ventured into the dungeon - one day, he would have come across enough of them to complete his research.

    Contrary to his rather pessimistic outlook, nobody had slain the infant dragon from yesterday. So when he arrived back at the area he had encountered it before, the same large frame soon entered his eyes.

    When she saw the cold, emotionless smile on Isaac''s face, Ais instantly knew what was about to happen and signaled for the chattering girls to stay back and observe.

    Another torture sessio- ahem, some more research was imminent.

    Without an ounce of nervousness, Isaac made his way straight towards the infant dragon, without bothering to hide. Although the monster had a 500 stat point lead on him, such a small gap was all too easily bridged by his sheer skill, there was no need to worry.

    Even before the monster noticed his approach, he had already entered his focused state again. This time, before the first breath attack had been launched, Isaac had easily outmaneuvered his opponent and was far from where it was aiming at. By the time the stream of fire had left its mouth, Isaac had swiftly closed in and was less than one meter from the infant dragon. This finally caused the monster to launch a hurried melee attack of its own, which he had already anticipated. Leaning back slightly, Isaac dodged the sharp claws.

    Very soon, it was clear that no matter what kind of attack the dragon launched, it couldn''t touch or endanger Isaac. It was simply too slow to do so. Although Isaac found it hard to give it major injuries as well, he was able to pierce its scales when he attacked them directly. Still, who would ignore their opponent''s weaknesses and target their strengths? But if Isaac targeted the monster''s eyes and the inside of its mouth, the fight would be over way too quickly.

    Over a period of twenty minutes, the pained and agonized cries of the infant dragon could be heard from hundreds of meters away.

    Ais and Lefiya were already used to such a spectacle. By now, even Lefiya didn''t have any majorly adverse reaction to such a sight, she only sighed resignedly every now and then, pitying the poor monster. Elfy, on the other hand, was dumbstruck when she saw how Isaac toyed with this infamous floor boss. Compared to Lefiya, she also wasn''t able to notice the special state Isaac was in, so she only thought of what was happening as an amazing and horrifying performance. Now that the dragon had lost all of its limbs, it still tried to put up a resistance¡­ wait, did it just¡­ cry? Yeah, that was probably Elfy''s imagination¡­ or was it?

    Tiona and Tione, on the other hand, were able to immerse themselves within Isaac''s world of prediction just like Ais. They got completely absorbed by what they saw, not even paying attention to the passage of time. The two of them were occasionally very brutal and excessive when fighting monsters anyway, with Tione often times just using her bare fists to pummel them, so they weren''t particularly weirded out by Isaac''s research.

    [ Achievement Progress:

    Kill 1000 Level 2 monsters. (1/1000) ]

    When the battle had ended and Isaac had put the magic stone into his inventory stealthily, Tiona ran up to him with a fervent look in her eyes. While breathing heavily, she grabbed his shoulders quite hard, almost to the degree of breaking his bones. Clearly, she wasn''t in full control of herself right now.

    "That was awesome!!"

    Of course, Isaac thanked her for the praise, but he was still a little weirded out by her unrestrained behaviour and the peculiar look in her eyes. She almost seemed like a predator¡­

    Thankfully, it didn''t take long for Tione to arrive and hit her on the head to snap her out of it.

    "Sorry about that. But really, well done. I''m impressed."

    When he saw Ais'' pouting face as she pulled on his sleeve, Isaac finally put the pieces together. As an Amazoness'' goal was to have powerful offspring, they scoured the land for the strongest males they could find. For an Amazoness, an impressive fight would be quite the seductive sight to witness. As Tiona wasn''t obsessed with someone, unlike her sister, what happened was basically the equivalent of a single man seeing a woman put on a very sensual performance.

    Once he realized this, Isaac couldn''t help but smile awkwardly. He had never thought about what kind of effect his battles would have on the Amazoness sisters, so he honestly felt a bit guilty for failing to take their differences into account. Additionally, he had no interest in the bubbly Tiona whatsoever.

    "What a breathtaking battle. So that''s why Lefiya is so obsessed with you!"

    Elfy''s words just earned her a ''beating'' from the fl.u.s.tered elf.

    After the humorous situation had calmed down again, the now clear-headed Tiona started to drag Tione away hastily, with fighting spirit burning in her eyes. Besides arousing her, this battle had also shown her a path forward she had never been aware of.

    "I can''t grow complacent. I gotta train harder!"

    These words seemed to awaken something within Lefiya, as the still slightly blushing elf''s eyes instantly turned resolute when she heard them. Hurriedly, she followed the two Amazonesses.

    "Wait for me!"

    Seeing everyone else leave, Elfy felt that it would be a little awkward to stick around and decided to follow her roommate. Before she hurried off, however, she winked mischievously.

    "Have fun, you two~"

    Thankfully, Ais didn''t really understand the implications of these words, so she just tilted her head in confusion. Isaac, however, blushed almost imperceptibly.

    After clearing his throat to get rid of his embarrassment, he continued further into the dungeon.

    To his disappointment, the dungeon and the monsters spawning didn''t change on the 12th floor whatsoever. Additionally, he also didn''t come across another infant dragon for his research, so he could only speedily make his way through the floor unimpeded.

    When he arrived on the 13th floor, however, a wide smile spread across Isaac''s face. From here on until the 17th floor was an area the adventurers referred to as the ''middle floors''. Everything about the dungeon changed yet again at this point, earning the area yet another nickname: Cave Labyrinth. Even the entrance of the 13th floor was called the ''First Line'', as beyond it lay the first significant spike in difficulty an adventurer would have to deal with. Most adventurers would earn their qualifications to rank up to Level 2 in these floors. In all seriousness, though, the vast number of nicknames was almost over the top.

    The surroundings were now made of bedrock, while the layout got a lot more intertwined and complicated. Contrary to before, this dungeon floor wasn''t all just located on the same horizontal level. Now, there were upper and lower tunnels that twisted and weaved around each other, making it nigh impossible for one to know their location, unless one was very familiar with the terrain.

    While the mist from the previous floors cleared up, the air got a little more moist and the lighting got significantly less reliable. Not to the extent where it was hard to see if one concentrated, though.

    To make things even more confusing, many vertical holes leading to the lower floors could be found seemingly randomly throughout the entire middle floors. What truly made this place almost impossible to traverse for the usual solo adventurer was the almost doubled monster spawn rate. For Isaac, however, this was more of a blessing.

    Although the new research subjects weren''t much of a challenge, five new monster species made up all of the monsters spawning on the 13th floor.

    The first one he came across was a pack of hellhounds. Contrary to its fear-inducing name, it was just a slightly larger, black dog that could launch balls of flame from its mouth. Its stats could reach up to A-850, which was on the same level as a silverback, and its method of attack wasn''t much of a problem now that Isaac had come across monsters with long-range attacks multiple times. For another adventurer, dealing with a large pack and the many angles attacks could possibly come from would be difficult, however.

    Another new monster, that spawned quite frequently, was the almiraj. It was a white rabbit monster with a horn, quite akin to the needle rabbit Isaac had encountered before. Still, its stats that could only reach up to A-800 made it the weakest monster species in the middle floors and unless they were in huge groups, Level 1 adventurers found it quite easy to deal with them.

    The battle boar was rarely encountered in packs, but as its stats reached up to S-900, huge packs of them could effortlessly overwhelm normal adventurers. As the name implied, it was a huge boar standing two meters tall when it was on all fours - it was simply massive and charging at an opponent was the most lethal attack of its repertoire, thanks to its impressive weight. Because of that, however, it was quite hard for it to turn while it was charging, which enabled Isaac to deal with it way too smoothly.

    With pink scales, the wyverns spawning on this floor looked a lot more comical than dangerous at first glance. Still, their stats went up to S-950, so he had to take the five meter long dragon subspecies a little seriously. Well, when he was fighting, he was never slacking, so such a situation wouldn''t come to pass. As there was barely any room to perform flying maneuvers down here, as the ceiling could only reach up to fifty meters in some of the larger caverns, the wyverns couldn''t fully exploit their 3D maneuverability, but even if they could, they would only be more of a timesink than a danger.

    As for the last new monster on this floor, it finally brought something new to the table. The dungeon worm could randomly attack from within the walls, ceiling or ground of the dungeon. It didn''t look too pleasant to the eye, as it was an enormous, slimy worm with a huge mouth. Besides that, it didn''t have any noticeable features. Amusingly, its stats could also reach up to S-950, just like the wyverns.

    Besides making Isaac more alert to his surroundings, the only other thing his encounter with the dungeon worms changed was his thoughts pertaining to the huge holes leading down to the lower floors. Were those made by gigantic dungeon worms? He couldn''t be sure, as the aforementioned worms were only about two meters in diameter. To make such huge holes, worms ten to twenty times that diameter would be required. What a terrifying thought...

    In any case, Isaac could finally spend a lot of time on research again, so it took him almost two hours to make his way to the stairs leading to the 14th floor. It was already 10.30 a.m., but he still had a lot of time until he needed to get ready to return to the surface again.

    With that said, nothing changed on the 14th floor, so Isaac reluctantly blitzed through it in less than thirty minutes, not wanting to waste any more time here. At least the monsters here had started to give him a handful of stat points again each time he killed one. Before he had entered the 13th floor, he had barely gained any when slaying the even weaker ones, they could only give him more progress on his monster slaying quest and give him a little bit of valis. Besides that, they were a waste of time. Of course, the infant dragon was an exception to that.

    Although Isaac had been a little tempted to follow in Bell''s footsteps and jump down one of the holes leading to the lower floors to hasten his journey, he at least wanted to explore this floor the normal way first, in case he ever needed to use the path he had determined now.

    On the 15th floor, another change took place. It was only to the monsters spawning on this floor, however, not to the dungeon itself. The almiraj and dungeon worms from before had stopped to appear, in their stead, there were two new monster species.

    Both of them were Level 2 monsters even stronger than the infant dragon from before - and Isaac had briefly come across both of them before as well, right after his arrival in this world. Today would be his first time actually clashing with them, though.

    The first of the two that he came across was a lone minotaur. Minotaurs were bull headed humanoid monsters that stood almost three meters tall and could occasionally be seen wielding a weapon, most likely pried from their previous victims or generated by the dungeon itself. Its stats reached up to H-100, which would translate to 1550 if they were converted to Level 1. Now that he finally faced one of them, Isaac was quite eager to battle.

    But even though the minotaur was the strongest monster he had fought so far, it couldn''t escape its inevitable fate and became one of his totally voluntary research subjects as well. As it had a mostly humanoid frame, the only thing Isaac had to even research was its use of its horns, which made him end his research on the species quite quickly.

    Although it sounded simple, Isaac actually had to spend a lot of stamina when facing this lone minotaur. He knew that he was close to his limit and wouldn''t be able to deal with monsters significantly stronger than minotaurs in his current form. Thankfully, he didn''t have to face a minotaur specifically trained by a certain Freya Familia member¡­

    Another thing to be happy about was that lygerfangs, the other new species of monsters starting to spawn on this floor, were not significantly stronger than minotaurs. Their stats only reached up to H-150, which translated to 1650. Sure, that was about double Isaac''s stats and he had to spend even more stamina to deal with a single one of them, but he was still barely able to hold on. During his first few fights with the oversized tigers, he almost got hurt a few times, though. Still, if he didn''t encounter more than one of them, he was able to kill them. Otherwise, he would be able to get away without too much of a problem.

    On this floor, it took Isaac significantly longer to deal with a single monster than before, almost up to minute after he had finished his research. Additionally, he had to be at the top of his game all the time, which led to a ravenous consumption of his stamina. It was no wonder why even the usual Level 2 adventurers preferred to fight these monsters in a group - it was nigh impossible for a single person to hold on for too long.

    Even Isaac''s stamina was close to bottoming out at around 12 p.m. when he had to leave to head up to the surface again. It had been an anticlimactic day compared to yesterday, but Isaac was honestly glad about that. Who would want to needlessly put their life in danger, after all?

    On his way back to his students, Isaac examined his sword concernedly. There were now serious signs of wear and tear, it was even chipped in a few places. The minotaur and lygerfang hides were simply too tough for the material his sword was made from to handle.

    ''I guess there''s no way around it, it''s time I upgrade my equipment.''

    When he left the dungeon for the day, Isaac took note of his progress. His two monster slaying quests had progressed to 1648/2000 for the Level 1 and 19/1000 for the Level 2 monsters respectively.

    With the money he got from the exchange today, a total of 687.050 valis, Isaac officially became a millionaire. That was definitely enough to give his equipment a major upgrade.

    Ais'' presence during Isaac''s sparring session with his students didn''t bring about any major changes. She just contentedly watched the entire process from a corner of the courtyard, while petting the lazy Averin. If there was one thing that changed, it was that Jakk didn''t need to hold back any of his strength in his sparring match with Isaac anymore, which made the normally reclusive hume bunny youth burn with vigorous fighting spirit.

    Time flew by quickly, and soon, today''s training came to an end. Finally, Isaac had some time for himself, so he decided to upgrade his equipment now. Because he didn''t want to leave out the patient beauty, who had been with him the entire day, he turned to Ais and asked her a seemingly harmless question.

    "I''m going to buy some new equipment. Want to come with me?"

    To his surprise, Ais blushed a little bit in response, before she looked at him with a shy but expectant look in her eyes.

    "... a date?"

 Chapter 23 - Attracting Attention

    Ais'' words blindsided Isaac as he hadn''t expected her to be aware of what the term ''dating'' actually referred to. Still, he nodded in confirmation. No matter how one looked at it, both of them spending some time alone together could be considered to be a date, technically.

    "Yes. How do you know what a date is?"

    Feeling no need to hold back his curiosity, Isaac tried to find out who had introduced his pure Ais to such ''a.d.u.l.t'' knowledge.

    "I consulted Riveria."

    -----

    It was the middle of the night and Riveria was still in her study. She was diligently burning the midnight oil and brooding over the supply line organization for the next expedition to the dungeon''s lower floors. After she would finally finish coming up with a proposal, she would then introduce it to Finn and Gareth to get their opinion on the matter and make any necessary adjustments.

    "We can leave this part to Orba¡­"

    As the mature elf was diligently writing down her ideas, a sudden knock came from the door of her study. Without looking up, Riveria just gave a short and distracted reply.

    "Enter."

    When she looked up for a moment to take a look at who wanted to speak to her so late at night, she was a little surprised, as it was Ais, who usually never went out of her way to bother her at such an hour.

    "What''s wrong?"

    Even though she had already turned most of her attention back to the expedition-related plans, Riveria''s tone of voice was still very caring and concerned.

    "What''s a ''date''?"

    Distractedly, Riveria answered Ais'' question while basically on auto-pilot.

    "A numbered day in a month, often given with a combination of the name of the day, the month and the year."

    This dictionary-style definition did only confuse the golden-haired girl further, so Ais tilted her head slightly and murmured.

    "Then what does ''taking someone out on a date'' mean¡­?"

    These words finally got her Riveria''s full attention. The elegant elf had hastily turned around to face Ais, a shocked and slightly angry expression on her face.

    "Who did you hear these words from?"

    While Ais didn''t understand why her trusted friend was so interested in this, she unhesitatingly replied.

    "Tiona and Elfy asked me whether Isaac had ''taken me out on a date yet''. I didn''t know what they meant."

    Even though she had originally been incensed at whoever had introduced her little Ais to such a thing, Riveria knew that it was only a matter of time until she would have to explain things of such nature to the ill-informed girl formerly only chasing after revenge. Ever since that young man had joined the familia, things were bound to change. Still, she hadn''t wanted it to be this quickly.

    ''These girls¡­!''

    Because she knew there was no use in crying over spilt milk, Riveria soon regained her composure and looked deep into Ais'' eyes before clarifying.

    "There is a second meaning for the word ''date''. It refers to a planned social meeting. It''s usually between two people who are or might soon be in a romantic relationship."

    When Riveria saw Ais'' eyes light up with excitement, she suddenly felt compelled to add another detail to her explanation.

    "Slaying monsters in the dungeon would usually not fall into this category. Most people only consider time spent in non-combat related situations to be an actual date."

    -----

    Isaac couldn''t help but smile wryly. Riveria could practically be considered Ais'' foster mother at this point. But honestly, to ambush the overworked elf at such a late hour...

    Before going on their date, they decided to return to the Twilight Manor to take a shower first. Even if one ignored the whole date-part, Isaac still didn''t feel comfortable in trying on new equipment when he was still covered in dirt from the dungeon. It would just be a very inconsiderate thing to do, especially because most likely, other people still had to try it on later, as well.

    At around 5:30 p.m., both Ais and Isaac arrived at Babel, wearing casual clothes instead of their adventuring outfits. All along the way, Isaac had earned the envious glares of Ais'' fans and stalkers. However, he wasn''t really bothered by it, no matter how creepy a feeling it was. He knew that by being so close to Ais in a crowded place like Babel, he was just inviting disaster. But if he couldn''t deal with the consequences, why would he have ever decided to meet Ais in the first place?

    Compared to the last time they were here earlier in the day, they now went to slightly more high-end stores of the Hephaestus Familia. Not the flagship ones, however, as Isaac wouldn''t even be able to afford a single piece of equipment showcased there. Additionally, the better the gear, the less blacksmiths could produce it. So in the foreseeable future, Isaac would have to directly contact an experienced blacksmith to make his equipment. Otherwise, his chances of finding fitting gear would be rather low.

    Only a few minutes after they had entered a store, Isaac found himself stuck in a changing room with Ais constantly bringing him new and more optimal sets of equipment to try on. Contrary to what one would expect, Ais didn''t do so just to see him in different outfits or to judge the overall look. Instead, she evaluated what she was seeing based on how useful the gear would be against the foes Isaac would have to face in the future and whether or not it restricted his movement. Additionally, the set also needed to fit him perfectly size-wise.

    Even though Isaac wasn''t too happy about having to change more than twenty times, he didn''t mind doing so as Ais was only putting him through this for his own safety. At the same time, upon being in such a clich¨¦ situation with the girl of his dreams, his heartbeat quickened. Of course, he blissfully ignored the fact that their roles were more or less reversed.

    After about an hour of Isaac changing in and out of various equipment sets, Ais was finally satisfied with her choice. And although it would make him 530.000 valis poorer, Isaac was happy with the result as well.

    He still wore the same black vambrace he had bought earlier today, as that was already one of the best he could find in the other armour store - it would be of sufficient quality for now. Besides that, he wore a dark-red shirt-style gambeson made of fur and leather gathered from beyond the 18th floor. As both he and Ais hadn''t focussed too much on the visual aspect, there weren''t any decorations whatsoever. It was just a supreme quality, extremely comfortable and non-restrictive gambeson. It would be more than good enough for even the strongest of Level 2 adventurers. Padded trousers and leather boots made of the same material rounded off that layer of his equipment.

    Just as before, a set of light armour was chosen for him to wear above the gambeson-layer. It was simply to provide him with the easiest, most dexterous movement possible and didn''t differ much in shape from what he had previously been wearing. Instead of the steel his old armour was made from, this one was made from green-silver metal scales, which had been melted in the crafting process. The weight of the armour was even above a standard suit of medieval plate armour: around 30 kg. Still, as it was made for Level 2 adventurers, who could easily disregard such a pitiful amount of weight, and it had to survive monstrously strong hits, the weight wasn''t much of a surprise. In fact, Isaac considered it to be rather light. It wouldn''t be hard to forget that he was actually wearing armour.

    Even though he didn''t wear anything ornamental or fancy, the sheer quality of his dungeon delving equipment made Isaac appear quite dashing. He seemed like a usual Level 2 or 3 adventurer, from his equipment alone. Usually, it was recommended for adventurers to not wear equipment that was too far out of their skill''s reach, as they would grow dependent on it and stunt their growth. Luckily, this simply wouldn''t be the case for Isaac, so he had no reason to artificially hinder himself.

    After paying, Ais and Isaac made their way to a weapon store. This time, Ais didn''t try to help Isaac with his selection, as weapons were only able to be properly evaluated by the one who actually had to use them. Luckily, the store''s weapons were professionally organized, so it wasn''t hard for Isaac to find weapons within his 500.000 valis price range. He could further narrow down his search by only looking at one-handed swords, whose blades were about 80 cm in length. Once he had asked the nearest clerk for permission, he swung each of the eleven remaining blades for a while, to see which one felt the most natural to him. As every person had a different center of gravity and arm length, only an ideally weighted sword would feel like an extension of one''s arm.

    The one Isaac finally decided on was a sleek, seemingly fragile blade made of the melted down weapons of minotaurs. Apparently, its hardness was just slightly below damascus. Contrary to his original world, however, damascus steel was a lot more impressive in this one - it was simply stronger and more durable, most likely because it was infused with magic. Even though the sword looked more on the delicate side, according to the clerk''s words, he wouldn''t have to worry about it getting damaged before he reached Level 3. In other words, Isaac would have to get a new one when he became one of the stronger Level 2 adventurers out there, as he was simply unreasonably skillful.

    Yet again, his weapon of choice came with a plain, black leather sheath, which admittedly made it quite pleasing to the eye. Satisfied, Isaac paid the 480.000 valis and left the store. Now, he only had less than 60.000 valis left. From a millionaire to a pauper¡­

    As the two of them were leaving Babel, Ais suddenly grasped Isaac''s sleeve shyly, after she had refrained from doing so for quite a while. If Isaac didn''t realize what she wanted him to do, he would simply be an idiot. Bracing himself for what was to come, Isaac grasped her hand.

    The moment he did, what had been just envy and jealousy before instantly turned into killing intent showering him from multiple directions. Still, the people it originated from didn''t make a move. It would be foolish to attempt to harm someone the Sword Princess was intimate with in her presence, after all. No matter how irrational and obsessed these few people were, they wouldn''t recklessly throw their lives away.

    ''What a bother¡­''

    With thoughts like these and an exasperated sigh, Isaac chose to ignore the stalkers, as simply by being with Ais, he was perfectly safe. He then lead Ais back home, hand in hand. Although they had done so in private before, to hold Ais'' hand in public was a whole new step. An innocently happy smile spread across Isaac''s face.

    At this point, it was inevitable for people to look into him and his acquaintances. Once the rumour about the Sword Princess dating someone spread far enough, it would be hard for his students to avoid all of the prying eyes. He had to take some precautionary measures to protect his party members as soon as possible. Thankfully, he was already prepared for all of this.

    -----

    "All alone here, little beauty?"

    With these words, a man about 25 years of age, wearing a long-sleeved green-beige shirt and khaki trousers, abruptly sat down opposite of Mina. His brown gloves innocently played with the feathered hat he was wearing, as he flashed her a smile from the other side of his light-brown scarf. Without exuding a hint of danger, his orange eyes stared at her from beyond his unkempt blonde hair.

    Just minutes prior, Mina had come back to the inn she was staying at, taken a bath and ordered dinner. Usually, nobody would talk to her here. With a confused and cautious look she glanced at the amicable newcomer.

    "Yes¡­"

    This wary answer made the good-looking man display a pitying expression. He sighed a little before showing an innocent smile.

    "So distant¡­ If you''re like that, have you been able to make any friends in this town?"

    After the horrible reception she had received, it was no wonder why Mina wasn''t exactly open to people approaching her anymore.

    When she heard the word ''friends'', however, Mina''s mind immediately wandered to her lord, which made her eyes light up in excitement. She only stayed like that for a short moment, before she turned back into her cautious self.

    Why did this stranger want to know about such a seemingly random topic? Before she could give him a reply, however, the friendly man in front of her had already continued speaking.

    "No need to be afraid, I''m not going to hurt you."

    As if he wanted to pat her head, the handsome man reached out his right hand towards Mina. At that moment, a plethora of alarm bells suddenly went off inside of her head. Although he seemed just like a normal, nice and concerned person, who might be hitting on her a little, for some reason, something inside of her was screaming at her not to trust him. She couldn''t be sure about what exactly it was, however.

    Before she could get ready to dodge, someone had already caught the man''s hand with a speed faster than her mind could even process.

    "What do you think you''re doing?!"

    The one who was grasping the man''s hand was a young woman with aqua blue hair and cyan coloured eyes, which were hidden behind her glasses. She wore a white cloak dr.a.p.ed over a beige, long-sleeved gambeson that reached down to the middle of her thighs. Besides that, she wore many leather pouches, brown leather gloves, a corset-like belt and knee-high caligae, which were a kind of sandal.

    Staring at the obtrusive man with an annoyed look on her face, the blue-haired woman pulled him up and away from Mina without giving him a chance to reply, before turning around and giving the chienthrope girl a slight bow.

    "I apologize for his bothersome behaviour. Have a nice evening."

    Before Mina could even react, the woman had already grabbed the unusual man''s arm and dragged him away, towards the exit. The strangest thing was that the man, even though he was handled so roughly and complaining about it, did look more than happy with how he was being treated. If one paid attention to the blissful smile spread across his face, that is.

    "I haven''t done anything. I''m innocent!"

    After the weird pair had finally left her sight, Mina had some time to eat dinner. Thinking about how unusual of an encounter this was and recalling the frantic warning bells that went off inside of her head, she decided to tell her lord about this matter tomorrow. Better safe than sorry. If even Isaac didn''t know what was going on, nobody did.

    Whether this implicit trust almost bordering on delusion was the product of Isaac being her saviour from certain death, his competent lectures and training or the system''s influence on his subordinates was hard to tell. Most likely, it was a combination of all of these factors that was slowly fostering an unshakeable belief in her lord.

    Upon leaving the inn, the blue-haired woman finally let go of the man she had been dragging around without resistance, before chiding him harshly.

    "You were far too rash, Lord Hermes! If you''re going to be this direct, we won''t be able to investigate, our behaviour would simply be too suspicious. Our mission is to investigate the irregularity ''Isaac Blackshaw'', with him being none the wiser, you got that? How could you mess up like that?!"

    In response to her accusations, Hermes scratched his cheek with a guilty but pleading look on his face. Some of his actions had truly been a little too rash - most people would be freaked out by them..

    "But Asfi, I just couldn''t resist talking to the girl. She is such a cutie!"

    As soon as these words left Hermes'' mouth, he already regretted them a little. After all, Asfi was now giving him a brief death glare and pouting unhappily, clearly disappointed with his amateurish, skirt-chasing behaviour. Before she could say anything to voice her displeasure, he hurriedly clasped her hands.

    "I''m sorry, okay? You''ll always be my number one, don''t worry!"

    Instead of responding positively to his words, Asfi just looked away annoyedly.

    "As if I would want that."

    -----

    "What''s with this commotion?"

    A figure clad in a black robe, expertly hiding all of her features, was walking along the northern main street. Although nothing else could be discerned about her, her especially pleasant voice made her seem female.

    In the distance, she could see multiple quite obviously shady people hiding along the rooftops, apparently following someone. Upon closer inspection, she realized they were observing a young couple, which was happily strolling hand in hand.

    When the figure observed the two, lamenting their current situation and the tragic fate they probably couldn''t escape in the near future, her glance suddenly fixated on the young man.

    Yes, he was quite handsome and wouldn''t have a problem sticking out in a crowd. That physical aspect was not what caught the figure''s attention, however. Compared to everyone else in her field of view, he didn''t seem to harbour that flame of life - a soul. As if he was hidden behind a dense mist, no matter how hard she focussed, the figure wasn''t able to register anything important about the young man. The harder she tried, the less of his figure she was able to perceive. It was as if a veil was dr.a.p.ed over her eyes, one which she couldn''t pierce through.

    Right at that moment, the young man cast a seemingly random glance in the figure''s direction, before ignoring her promptly.

    "Did he notice me? No, that can''t be. It was probably just a coincidence."

    The figure reassured herself like that, before a strong desire started to sprout inside of her. After all, she had never encountered someone whose soul she couldn''t see, someone hidden from her eyes. The young man was a mystery that just begged to be solved. Someone interesting and fascinating.

    "Just who are you¡­?"

    In an effort to try to find out as much as she could about the young man for now, the figure focussed on his companion, an exceptionally beautiful golden-haired girl. The moment she did¡­ she promptly froze up.

    "Loki Familia!"

    These words escaped her mouth under her breath. But although the figure was visibly surprised, she calmed down quickly. She took a last look at the young man and disappeared in the crowd as if she had never been there in the first place.

 Chapter 24 - Reeling In Small Fry

    Just like every morning, Jakk left the Twilight Manor to get started with his daily dungeon activities. This time, however, he wasn''t accompanying Isaac.

    Yesterday evening, his roommate had explained the current situation to him. And even though the hume bunny youth was everything but happy about what he had now been asked to do, he knew that complaining was of no use. It had to be done, as the situation was quite unfavourable.

    A few minutes after Jakk had left, he emerged from the maze of small alleyways surrounding his familia''s home and finally set his sights on his first stop - a small, unremarkable inn by the name of ''Bard''s Respite''. Just a few meters from the entrance, a beautiful young chienthrope girl was gripping the hilt of her sword and excitedly waiting for someone.

    When Jakk entered Mina''s field of view, she excitedly checked whether her lord was following him, only to be disappointed. Because she had no clue about what was going on, as she hadn''t been informed of any changes to today''s schedule, she walked up to the antisocial bunny boy.

    "Why isn''t milord with you?"

    Upon hearing that question, Jakk could only smile wryly. Having such a beautiful young girl refer to Isaac with a title like this and being close to the breathtakingly beautiful Sword Princess¡­ anyone would be jealous of that, at least a little. Very quickly, though, Jakk steeled his heart. His heart had already been stolen by someone, therefore such greedy desires wouldn''t rattle his beliefs.

    Before his lack of a response could make the girl grow any more confused, Jakk explained the situation.

    As Ais and Isaac had attracted a lot of attention yesterday because of their close relationship, Isaac was worried that someone would make trouble for his students. Therefore, he had already left the Twilight Manor earlier and made his way to the dungeon, without bothering to hide his presence at all. Even more, he was trying to attract the attention of everyone spying on him. With this, the risk to his acquaintances was severely reduced. For today''s training, his students were to train alone in the dungeon until they would leave to have a lunch break. After that, they would have to rent a training area from the Guild, specifically from Yolanda, and wait for him to join them there.

    To clear up the last remaining specks of Mina''s confusion, Jakk proceeded to explain how the Sword Princess had many very obsessive suitors, who would harm anyone that got too close to their idol.

    When she realized the severity of the situation, Mina grew a little panicked, before realizing that making a scene and attracting attention would be contrary to what her lord had in mind. Upon calming herself, she asked a question that suddenly came to mind.

    "What about Averin?"

    "He''ll have to stay at the manor for now. We can''t bring him with us into the dungeon, just in case someone is observing us. It''s too dangerous."

    Isaac didn''t even know about the short encounter Mina had with Hermes and Asfi yet. But even without factoring that in, the chances of someone observing his companions were still pretty high, so he had taken the necessary precautions. As for the rooster¡­ he would just have to laze around at home for a few more days, until Isaac''s long-standing plans would bear fruit.

    Once the hume bunny youth and dog girl made their way towards Babel, an unremarkable passerby was following along, seemingly coincidentally.

    It was a young chienthrope woman with short black hair, light brown dog ears and a medium length tail of the same colour. Her bronze coloured eyes stealthily followed the two youths through the crowd, while she was strolling along the street with her red-brown boots. She wore a matching leather jacket, shorts and a crimson scarf, under which she was clad in a revealing black shirt. A sheathed dagger was securely fastened to her black belt, while her hands were protected by gloves made of the same kind of leather.

    She didn''t seem out of the ordinary at all, as most people in the crowd wore outfits of a similar style.

    "They''re finally on the move."

    These mumbled words weren''t loud enough to enter the ears of any of her fellow passersby.

    When Jakk and Mina met up with Kalin, their current situation had to be explained to him as well, in hushed tones. Contrary to Mina, who had reacted in a worried manner, Kalin''s face twisted into a mask of rage when he heard how his benefactor was being treated. He was barely able to hold back his anger.

    This rage was aimed at the unreasonable people who would go so far as to make trouble for someone''s associates simply because of a crush. That was insane! But as he was well aware of how many sc.u.mbags and self-righteous people walked this city''s streets, he couldn''t say he was surprised. Orario was a melting pot of all the world''s strongest and most exceptional beings. Many came from their own villages or countries, where they were the cream of the crop, the very peak. When these frogs left their wells, they wouldn''t just suddenly lose their overbearing behaviour. Additionally, their behaviour would teach others to behave the same way. The effects could be seen everywhere.

    Still, there was no use obsessing over it. Kalin knew that he couldn''t be of much help as he was now. He could only continue refining his arts and acc.u.mulate just a little bit more strength. With Isaac''s promise of letting him join something akin to a familia in mind, Kalin tightly grasped his spear, a fire of motivation burning in his eyes.

    Just like every day, the group of students quickly distanced themselves from other adventurers once they entered the dungeon. They didn''t notice the young chienthrope woman following them just outside of their range of perception, however.

    Once they had finally found a suitable spot, Mina and Kalin got to their daily training routines and killed their goblin and kobold opponents remarkably swiftly and easily. Isaac''s training was nothing to scoff at.

    The only outsider who witnessed this surprisingly skillful slaughter was the chienthrope woman. She silently whistled, clearly impressed with what she was seeing.

    "Sure enough, even though they''re weak, they''re well trained. We''re on the right track."

    -----

    Deeper within the dungeon, Isaac had already reached the 13th floor. Compared to yesterday, however, he was now sweating quite a lot and clearly exhausted. He was running low on fumes.

    After finishing a battle with a group of almiraj, he finally had some time to catch his breath. Gone was his breathtaking combat skill, replaced with an ordinary one. The eight almiraj had been a very tough ordeal, there had even been a few close calls where he had almost been injured.

    Isaac sat down and leaned against the dungeon''s wall to relax his strained muscles. Just a few meters away, hidden behind an unremarkable crevice, was a large hole leading down to the lower floors. If one wasn''t intimately familiar with this floor, they wouldn''t know about this emergency exit.

    To quench his thirst, Isaac got one of the flasks of water from his backpack, which he had set down next to him, and took a sip. When he tried to put it back, however, the situation suddenly changed. Before he could react, a crossbow bolt knocked the flask out of his hand and nailed it to the wall.

    While Isaac instantly sprung into a combat ready stance, his sword drawn, a focussed look on his face, a group of eight entered the cavern he was in from one of the connecting caves. They didn''t bother to hide their appearances, so Isaac was able to ascertain that there were six men and two women, one of which held a crossbow - she was the one who had loosened the bolt.

    "Oh, nice reactions for a weakling. But it''s too bad, you won''t have much more time to grow stronger."

    A quite handsome men with short brown hair commented, a derisive sneer on his face. His equipment was a little bit better than the others'', although it wasn''t extravagant. A decently decorated sword was sheathed at his waist. Still, it''s quality couldn''t compare to Isaac''s.

    "What do you want?"

    Isaac was quite tense in this situation, his eyes darted to all of the cavern''s exits, seemingly trying to check which one to use for his escape.

    "We want to give you an early burial. What better place than the dungeon, a place impossible to monitor?"

    Before the man could continue with his explanation, one of the women joined the conversation. She wasn''t particularly beautiful, but her long dark hair and passable face made her look above average. She was wielding a huge bastard sword, ready to attack at any time.

    "How dare you think of hogging our wonderful Ais?! A pushover like you isn''t worth of her!"

    In response to the fierce and hateful tone of her voice, Isaac stayed remarkably calm. With a nod, he confirmed his suspicions.

    "So that''s what this is about."

    This comment wasn''t aimed at his adversaries, therefore he didn''t give them any time to respond, before asking them another question.

    "All of you are here to kill me, is that correct?"

    To the group of eight, it sounded just like a desperate plea, while in actuality, Isaac was just making sure whether or not one of them just tagged along without really intending to follow through with this. If they didn''t grasp this chance¡­ too bad.

    "Let''s hurry and kill him already, before someone else sees us."

    The man who uttered these words completely ignored Isaac''s question. His body was mostly covered in plate armour, while he was wielding a cheap shield and axe. The face mostly covered by his helmet was scarred from a long history of fights.

    Judging from the vast amounts of killing intent all eight of them showered him with and the lack of any evidence to the contrary, Isaac surmised that none of them had any lingering doubts, so his formerly tense guard relaxed, which didn''t escape the woman with the crossbow. This was her chance!

    "What? You want to surrender? As if we''ll let you!"

    With these words, she loosened a bolt, sending it on a straight path to Isaac''s face with a speed she herself wouldn''t be able to react to.

    But Isaac had already predicted she would do that, as he had paid close attention to when she would pull the trigger. After moving just slightly out of the way, Isaac charged at his opponents.

    Of course, everything up until now had been an act. He wanted to lure everyone currently following him out into the open before ascertaining their motivations. Once he had made sure that there was nobody else hiding in the other caves leading to this cavern, he decided to make his move. His opponents consisted of one Level 2 and seven Level 1 adventurers. The former was the better equipped swordsman, who would most likely be the only slightly tougher opponent in this confrontation. The best he would be able to do was give Isaac the smallest amount of pressure, though, as he wasn''t one of the stronger Level 2 adventurers around.

    Such a fast dodge and reaction took his attackers by surprise, so before he arrived in front of them, three of the men had already formed into an attack formation in response. They were trying to box him in but their teamwork was clearly lacking - obviously, they weren''t part of the same party in their everyday lives. Sadly, this group of three didn''t even serve as a warm-up for Isaac. While charging at them, he had shifted his position slightly, so as to hide his right arm and sword from their field of view. This enabled him to already start his attack before they visually recognized it. Instantly, the left attacker had been decapitated.

    This, in turn, stunned the other two men in the improvised formation, giving Isaac enough time to decapitate the middle one without resistance. The man situated to his right was the one equipped with the shield and axe. Contrary to his compatriots, he hadn''t taken long to shake off his shock and had already brought down his weapon upon Isaac with a mighty swing¡­ which was effortlessly sidestepped.

    After this, Isaac turned and used the gained momentum to power up his next attack, which he aimed right at the axe-wielding man''s neck. Probably due to his relative poverty, the man wasn''t wearing chainmail under his plate armour, just a plain and cheap gambeson. That wouldn''t be enough to cause Isaac''s attack to even pause.

    At this point, however, the Level 2 leader of this ragtag group had arrived by his companion''s side, ready to block Isaac''s sword stroke with horror displayed on his face. They had vastly underestimated their rival in ''love'' and paid dearly for it. Before they even had a chance to react, two of them were already dead¡­

    Besides the woman wielding the crossbow, the rest of the group finally approached as well, attempting to restrain Isaac by sealing off all of his possible paths of escape. But to Isaac, their attempts were akin to a newborn''s - simply not effective at all.

    Before Isaac''s sword clashed with the blocking leader''s, he suddenly spun a little, leaned back and redirected his attack at the same time. Contrary to the leader''s expectations, Isaac wasn''t aiming at one of the gaps in his defense. Instead, he was aiming his sword stroke at a completely different direction.

    Thanks to his perfect calculation, Isaac hit the approaching crossbow bolt precisely at the right spot and with enough force to make it change its course without losing nigh any of its kinetic energy whatsoever. The only one of the opponents who even realized what was going on was the Level 2 leader, whose eyes almost sprung out of their sockets. He just couldn''t believe what he was seeing!

    Well, whether or not he did wouldn''t make a difference. A fraction of a second later, the redirected crossbow bolt perfectly hit the plate-armour wearing man in his left eye and penetrated his skull. His last remaining eye was coloured in shock, pain and horror, while it was rapidly losing the light of life.

    By the time the man fell to his knees, the rest of the group finally realized what had happened. They paled and shivered, clearly intimidated. Finally, they realized that they were in way over their heads. That didn''t matter to Isaac, however. He had already closed in on his next victim, the bastard-sword wielding woman. When she realized that she had been singled out, she hastily swung her sword out of pure instinct, but Isaac delicately twirled around her descending slash as if he were dancing. Before anyone knew, he had decapitated the lady in one smooth motion.

    "Nooo!!"

    A desperate, heart-wrenching scream came from one of the last two men besides the leader. For all Isaac knew, he might have been pretty close with the woman. Not that he cared.

    Instead of focussing on their make-shift encirclement, the man charged at Isaac with eyes red with rage. This only made him a lot easier to deal with. Although the Level 2 was already breathing down his neck and had launched his attack, Isaac was prepared for just that. Swiftly, he deflected the leader''s attack, which in turn numbed his right hand a little as a result of the difference in their strength stats. At the same time, the single step he was forced to take back made Isaac smoothly avoid the spear thrust of the incensed man. As soon as he had stabilized himself again, Isaac ended the guy''s turbulent emotions once and for all, by making yet another head tumble to the floor.

    As for the woman with the crossbow, she was already trying to run away, after she had realized how horribly wrong the situation was developing. Isaac had been paying attention to her all along, so he didn''t miss this. There was only one man situated between them, so he charged at him and feinted an attack. Shortly before they would clash, he stepped around the guy and left him there unharmed, mainly focussed on finishing off the escapee. This also put the man between Isaac and the leader, which would hinder the latter for at least a few seconds - plenty of time.

    Using his speed, which was vastly superior to the woman''s, Isaac arrived behind her in less than five seconds and beheaded her as well. Then, he turned around to face the last two opponents.

    At this point, the Level 2 leader was fuming with anger. Yes, he was scared. Anybody would be if they were in his situation. He had even thought about running away before he had clashed swords with this slippery eel of an enemy.

    His companion had already fallen onto his butt and was staring at Isaac as if he was a horrific, inhuman monster. He had no will to fight left. The leader, however, was different. During their brief clash, he had noticed that his strength was vastly higher than his enemy''s. Because of this, his thoughts steered away from trying to escape, which he could most likely manage to do with his superior speed, and towards aiming for victory. In the first place, their collective goal had been to murder this eyesore. Why give up on it now that there was a ray of hope?

    Little did the leader know that this was all just part of Isaac''s plan. After all, why let an enemy get away if one can help it? The roots of future conflict had to be ripped out as soon as possible.

    With a guttural roar and gathering all of his strength, the enemy leader lunged at Isaac. Upon seeing his plan come to fruition, a happy smile flashed across the latter''s face, while he focussed on the challenge at hand. This opponent would be quite hard to insta-kill. He wouldn''t be too much of a challenge either, though, as his stats were barely higher than a lygerfang''s. Especially after yesterday''s update, this confrontation shouldn''t pose a problem anymore.

    That said, Isaac deflected the leader''s attack yet again, this time not bearing any of the impact himself. He then rapidly aimed his sword at the enemy''s neck, which prompted the leader to hastily block Isaac''s strike. Because he had been too scared of being beheaded and focussed solely on the approaching sword arm, the leader hadn''t paid attention to the rest of Isaac''s body, which was a mistake.

    At the very last moment, Isaac redirected the strike, aiming straight for the gap between the opponent''s neck and left shoulder plate. With most of his strength behind the strike, Isaac''s sword cut through the man''s collarbone and shoulder like butter, separating the man''s left arm from his body.

    For a short moment, the leader''s face scrunched up in pain and he instinctively wanted to grip his left shoulder to stop the pain somehow. However, his mind quickly cleared up and made him realize that that would have been a foolish move. Pain wasn''t important right now, survival was! By surpassing the limit of his pain tolerance, the leader denied Isaac this opening with gritted teeth.

    Well, he thought he did. It was all for naught. The split-second distraction was enough for Isaac to be just a little bit faster than his opponent. Before the leader''s responding strike could reach Isaac''s sword, he had already been decapitated.

    Still, after the beheading, the leader''s attack still collided with Isaac''s sword with full force, almost knocking it out of his hand. The impact was enough to make Isaac stumble back a few meters and rub his reddened wrist. His muscles there had almost snapped, they had been strained close to their limit. While letting his right wrist focus solely on recovery, Isaac took his sword into his left hand and walked up to the last survivor.

    [ Achievement Progress:

    Kill 1000 Level 2 monsters. (20/1000) ]

    "D-Don''t come any closer! I surrender. I give up! Please, spare me!"

    All of these desperate pleas fell on deaf ears. With no other option, the man could only back up quickly until he hit a wall. Without giving him another chance, Isaac showed him a gentle smile¡­ and beheaded him.

    [ Achievement Progress:

    Kill 2000 Level 1 monsters. (1717/2000) ]

    "Oh well, time to check if they have anything useful."

    While mumbling this, Isaac discreetly peered deeply into one of the connecting caves, then he winked happily, before focussing on his loot.

    Far away, beyond where Isaac''s range of perception should have ended, Bete was leaning against one of the dungeon''s walls. When he saw that annoying wink, he gripped his fists tightly. With a ''"tch", he turned around to leave.

    "Cheeky brat."

    Spitting out these words between his clenched teeth, Bete made his way deeper into the dungeon, prompted to redouble his efforts of getting stronger thanks to what he had witnessed just now. This level of skill was simply mind-boggling. If Isaac grew at the same rapid pace, he would be losing the challenge he put forth way too easily. Still, Bete was a little glad that he didn''t have anything to worry about with this new familia member. Not that he would ever let anyone hear him say that, though.

    When Bete finally left his actual range of perception, Isaac smiled warmly. He knew that the werewolf''s harsh words and insults were his own way of showing his caring nature. Because of some past trauma, he sought strength and despised his own weakness more than anything. Therefore, whenever he saw someone else not treasuring what they had or putting enough effort into protecting it, he got angry. Most of this anger was directed at his younger self, however.

    Bete wouldn''t let a member of his familia die on his watch, ever. He would complain about having to save them, though.

    Most likely, as he was also one of Ais'' admirers who paid attention to any news related to her, Bete had heard about what had happened yesterday and decided to see whether Isaac needed assistance when dealing with any of the inevitably attracted lunatics. If his help was needed, he also would have put Isaac in his debt. No matter what, Bete could practically only win.

    Although Isaac didn''t support Bete''s behaviour in regards to strength, as it was simply too narrow-minded, he could appreciate well-meant intentions.

    After he had finished looting, Isaac had practically stripped all of the bodies down to their underwear. Or, well, nothing, in case they didn''t wear any. He gained a few low quality weapons and armour pieces that he could potentially sell or give to his subordinates. Some of the pieces of equipment his assailants had worn, however, would need to be repaired should he ever aim for them to be used. Besides that, there were a few miscellaneous items and 280.970 valis, all of which was stored in his infinite inventory space. Sadly, however, the group didn''t carry their entire fortune with them, so Isaac didn''t make much money - for him, grinding in the dungeon would be way more efficient.

    While thinking about what to do with the partially n.a.k.e.d, decapitated bodies, Isaac decided on another experiment. How long did it take for the dungeon to absorb a body? There was only one way to find out.

    In the next hour, Isaac''s right wrist fully recovered while he hunted some monsters that spawned in and around the cavern he had been ambushed in. Finally, after exactly one hour, the absorption process began.

    It was basically the reverse of a monster''s birth.

    Before a monster was born, it grew in a cocoon located on the other side of one of the dungeon''s walls. Once it was born, it broke open the cocoon and the wall before being left alone in the dungeon. As for the reverse, the absorption of bodies, a gash opened in the dungeon''s floor, which had enough room for the body to fit in. It would then close and the body would be absorbed by the dungeon or whatever entity was controlling it.

    Interestingly enough, however, such a thing wasn''t known to happen with living people, so the dungeon''s absorption targets would have to be dead and not move for exactly an hour.

    Now, as for what to do with this knowledge, Isaac wasn''t sure yet. But it would certainly be useful someday, right?

    Thankfully, the hour he had been spending here wasn''t wasted, as he had been able to kill more monsters for his Level 1 monster slaying quest and gather their magic stones.

    Having finished all of his business here, Isaac took the shortest way down to the lower floors: the hole he had been close to this entire time. He had already planned out a route back down to the 15th floor, where he had been forced to stop yesterday. The route made use of the holes in the dungeon that were both relatively close to each other and covered the shortest vertical distance. If he accidentally fell into one that was multiple floors deep, Isaac''s body wouldn''t be strong enough. While he would be able to survive the fall, he would certainly be injured, which was something he - and any sane person - would prefer to avoid.

    Within ten minutes, at 8:15 a.m., Isaac arrived on the 15th floor. As he had upgraded his Status yesterday, the minotaurs and lygerfangs that had proven to be quite the tough opponents before were now significantly easier to deal with. While they still gave him generous amounts of excelia, it had been reduced just as significantly.

    The deeper the floor one was on, the longer it would take to get to the stairs leading to the next one. Because of this and his quite thorough exploration, it took Isaac a whole two hours to make it to the last room before the stairs leading to the 18th floor. It was a truly gigantic cavern with slightly crystalline, semi-transparent walls, which housed the floor boss reigning over the entirety of the middle floors, the Goliath. Another name by which these more significant floor bosses were usually referred to was ''Monster Rex''.

    All Monster Rexes had two things in common. First, it took a long period of time for them to respawn. It could take from one week to a few months. Second, they were multiple Levels stronger than all the monsters leading up to their spawn location.

    A normal adventurer would have to be at least Level 4 to stand a chance against the Goliath, whereas Isaac would most likely be able to slay it while he was still Level 3. Thankfully, there was no need to do so right now, as it was still in the middle of respawning. From its current shape and size, which he could vaguely make out through the crystalline wall, it had most likely been slain very recently.

    As he would have to make his way back to the surface relatively soon, Isaac didn''t go and check out the 18th floor and the city within, Rivira. It wouldn''t be worth it to go there unless he had a lot of time at hand to study it in detail. After all, he would have to stay there quite often in the future, therefore it would be better if he knew as much about the place as he could.

    With nothing better to do, Isaac decided to spend the next two hours slaying minotaurs and lygerfangs, trying to get his stats maxed out for this Level. He wasn''t entirely sure if he would make it today, as the monsters kept giving him less and less excelia the more he acc.u.mulated, but ten minutes before he had to head back up to the surface, he finally got the system notification he had been waiting for.

    [ Post-update Magic stat has reached the maximum. No further Magic-related excelia can be gained until your Level increases. ]

 Chapter 25 - Level 2

    At every Level, one''s stats were capped at 1500 each, which was the peak of the SSS-rank. Any more than that and the body wouldn''t be able to withstand it without ranking up into a higher level. If one forced themselves to surpass this by even a single point, one''s body would burst and death was the only available outcome.

    Thankfully, Isaac didn''t have to worry about this, as his system dispersed all excelia gained past that point. So after his next update, he would reach SSS-1500 in all his maxed stats without having to fear for his life.

    Amongst adventurers, this wasn''t common knowledge, however, as most people would never exceed S-999, no matter how hard they tried. Contrary to popular belief, this wasn''t because they were prevented from growing any stronger than this. Rather, this was an artificial cap the dungeon introduced. After one had grown strong enough to kill wyverns, they were only able to gain a certain amount of excelia before they wouldn''t even gain a single point no matter how many years they continued their wyvern slaughter. They couldn''t subdue minotaurs either, as there was a huge gap of 600 stat points between them and the wyverns - an insurmountable difference.

    Therefore, the only option for adventurers was to rank up and increase their Level. This would multiply the stats they had gained during their previous Level by 150%. By doing so, they would now be able to bridge a huge part of the aforementioned gap.

    Thanks to all of this, only the gods knew of the actual maximum of a stat. As none of their children ever showed any hope of getting there, though, most of them never mentioned it.

    Still, this only made the dungeon seem more suspicious in Isaac''s eyes. Without having been purposefully designed in a way which would limit the potential stat growth in each Level, there was simply almost no way this could have occurred naturally. Yet another dungeon related mystery to explore later, huh?

    While on the way to the surface, Isaac continued slaying minotaurs and lygerfangs. Twelve kills later, he finally reached today''s goal.

    [ Post-update Endurance stat has reached the maximum. No further Endurance-related excelia can be gained until your Level increases. ]

    [ All stats have reached the post-update maximum.

    Quest ''Reach the Level 1 stat limit.'' completed. 1000 AP rewarded. ]

    When he left the dungeon, Isaac made sure to blur his existence again, contrary to what he had done in the morning. As no-one had tracked him within the dungeon, besides a few sorry fools, whoever was curious about his whereabouts would just think he was still in the dungeon if he didn''t show himself.

    After getting some food from a street vendor, by slightly unblurring himself for a short while, Isaac relaxedly ate it while on the way to the Pantheon. As he had nothing else to do, he just waited in front of the entrance for his students to show up, while observing the crowd and thinking about his future plans.

    Maybe because they had been careful to not be late and make their teacher wait, the group arrived a whole thirty minutes early, which made Isaac chuckle to himself amusedly.

    Once the group had entered the building, Isaac focussed his gaze on someone who had attracted his attention moments prior: the chienthrope woman following his students. To anyone who didn''t pay close attention, she would just seem like a normal passerby, but her well-hidden glances in the direction of his students didn''t escape him at all. He also instantly recognized the young woman.

    Her name was Lulune Louie and she was a member of the Hermes Familia. While she didn''t play one of the major roles in the DanMachi novels, she was still a relatively important and distinctive character. Having identified the party shadowing his students, a knowing smile played about Isaac''s lips.

    ''It seems like Ouranos is just as careful as I expected.''

    Even a minor detail like the fast increase of magic stone and drop items sales of continually higher quality by a single adventurer was reported to him quickly. Most gods would have thought it beneath them to investigate such an exclusively positive, although irregular, development. But Ouranos immediately tried to get to the bottom of it, as it wasn''t something that was supposed to happen in that grand plan of his. The overall increase of magic stones and drop item sales wasn''t a problem, the sudden intrusion of an unknown, new variable was.

    Of course, Ouranos wasn''t foolish enough to send someone to squish that new variable in the bud. Rather, he would evaluate it carefully and try to use it for his benefit by adjusting his own plans before even thinking about taking such a drastic action. That was why he had hired the Hermes Familia to scout out everything related to this irregularity that they could. While Hermes couldn''t really be called one of Ouranos'' subordinates, they were most certainly rather close and more or less in the same camp.

    Because he was aware that she didn''t pose any danger and was just one more pair of prying eyes, of which there were plenty around, Isaac didn''t startle Lulune and allowed her to do her job. She didn''t even enter the Pantheon to continue her scouting mission, as the Guild prided itself on its privacy, especially when it came to the training areas adventurers were able to rent. Ouranos wouldn''t feel the need to go against his own organization''s values just to look into a small matter. If his actions were found out, people would lose the trust they had in the impartiality of the Guild, after all. Trust was easy to lose but hard to gain, it was a valuable resource.

    Going completely unnoticed, Isaac entered the Pantheon and followed his students and Yolanda, who was leading them to their rented training area. As soon as she had left and his students had set down their respective backpacks, he undid his blurred state and knocked on the door, which attracted their attention.

    "How did you get in here?!"

    The one who was the most startled was Jakk, as he took pride in his good presence detection skills. Still, he hadn''t noticed Isaac at all until he made himself known, which made cold sweat trickle down the hume bunny youth''s back uncontrollably. Kalin and Mina, however, quickly recovered from their momentary shock and welcomed Isaac enthusiastically, clearly relieved that he was okay.

    Before they started today''s training, Isaac made them all sit down in a circle to exchange information about what had happened, so they would all be on the same page.

    Starting off with his own experiences, Isaac reported about the ambush he had encountered in the dungeon and that it had been easy to deal with. Nonetheless, this just proved that their cautious methods were working, as danger was diverted away from the weaker members of the party.

    When she heard that her lord had been attacked, Mina''s normally peaceful demeanor was replaced by an ominous, enraged aura. Still, as the perpetrators had already been punished, she calmed down relatively quickly and was just relieved that Isaac came back unharmed.

    Kalin hit the ground in anger when he heard about the reasons for the ambush. Although he wouldn''t have been of much use, he wished he had been there at the time, mostly because he wanted to give such lowly people, who would go so far as to kill someone for their own selfish desires, a good beating.

    Contrary to the less experienced two, Jakk had fully expected Isaac to return to them bearing this kind of news, so he didn''t react much, besides nodding in approval when he heard about the deaths of the attackers.

    Now that she finally had a chance, Mina reported yesterday''s strange encounter to her lord. She did her best to describe the two suspect people, which Isaac instantly recognized. A man wearing a feathered hat and a blue-haired bespectacled beauty? This duo was just way too recognizable.

    After praising Mina for relaying this information, he also informed his students that they had likely been tailed the entire morning and described Lulune in detail, so they could recognize her the next time they saw her. Before their expressions of shock at not having detected such a thing at all could even set in, he quickly explained to them that the party who was spying on them, which also included the ones Mina had met yesterday, didn''t mean any harm so far. Therefore, there was no need to get agitated. They could just ignore them and go about their business as usual. No matter what, once one got stronger and attracted attention, prying eyes would follow them everywhere, no matter how hard one tried to avoid it.

    Once his students had reported on their daily dungeon progress, Isaac reminded them to not expose their deepest secrets when out in public, under any circ.u.mstances. Averin''s existence had to be closely guarded, for now. Additionally, they shouldn''t mention anything weird that he, Isaac, was capable of. Like appearing and disappearing at his leisure, for example.

    The last point on his agenda today was that Isaac would get Loki to rank him up to Level 2 after he returned to the Twilight Manor later. This revelation gave rise to another wave of surprise amongst his students. Mina was the one who was least affected, as she was purely happy for her lord. Kalin, however, was astonished at this ridiculous rank up speed, but after thinking about Isaac''s offer, his confidence in doing something similar in the future made him giddy with excitement.

    Jakk, on the other hand, was shell-shocked. He had always thought of himself as an outstanding genius. Maybe not the best of the best, but pretty close to the top. Although he had been aware of Isaac''s fast growth before, he had subconsciously forced himself to ignore the reality of the situation, to avoid growing discouraged. It had taken Jakk two years to reach Level 2, which was already considered to be really impressive. And now there was Isaac, who took only 8 days¡­

    The bunny boy''s rueful sighs didn''t escape Isaac, but as he had expected this reaction, he had come prepared. To prevent Jakk from feeling like nothing he did was worth the effort, Isaac decided to rekindle his motivation by explaining how exactly excelia gain worked.

    By the time his explanation finished, Jakk''s bad mood was a thing of the past. His path forward was clear as day: improving his skills. Anyone could replicate Isaac''s feats if their skills reached his level. Adventurers normally only had such low excelia gain because they focussed on fighting monsters with similar or lower stats than them. This entire world''s system, which put more emphasis on the stats and skills displayed in one''s Status, while making one''s actual combat skills an afterthought, was deeply flawed. Obviously, Isaac wouldn''t let his students walk such an inefficient path.

    Because Jakk had gone into the dungeon for a few hours after dinner the past few days, he had been able to acc.u.mulate his own share of excelia, so his growth wasn''t stagnating, even though he was taking care of the newbies.

    Nothing else of note happened during today''s training. Shortly before Yolanda came to notify them about the time they had rented the training area for having passed, Isaac blurred his existence again after warning his students in advance. Nonetheless, he still got to chuckle at their baffled faces, when he simply disappeared from their field of view as if he hadn''t been there in the first place.

    When he returned to the Twilight Manor, Isaac had already informed Ais, who had been practicing her swordsmanship at home today, of his upcoming plans via the system. Both of them took some time to take a shower and a bath respectively, before they met up and made their way to Loki''s study. All the way there, they were holding hands, as there was not really any reason to abstain from doing so anymore, when everyone had pretty much already heard about their relationship. This earned the two a few knowing smiles from their fellow familia members when they were walking down the hallways.

    Currently, Loki was sitting on one of her sofas and relaxedly drinking a few glasses of wine while reading a book and giggling to herself. She was so engrossed in it that it took her a while to notice that she had company. When she looked up from her book, though, she almost spit out the expensive wine she had been drinking.

    Her eyes widened in disbelief as she looked at the hand holding couple and unrealistic fears started to well up in her mind. Was Isaac here to ask for Ais'' hand in marriage or something? Had they already progressed to such a degree? It had only been a few days! Could the lovely and pure Ais have already been defiled, with her own goddess none the wiser?!

    Very quickly, though, Loki realized that all her fears had been simply irrational. Just because Ais and Isaac were holding hands, that didn''t mean much besides that they liked each other. Additionally, Isaac would have given off a completely different feeling if he was here for a more serious issue. Therefore, she decided to first hear the two out before jumping to any conclusions.

    "Good evening, Loki. I''m here for the usual update. Oh, and please rank me up to Level 2 after that."

    Loki would have been lying if she said she hadn''t been at least a little bit relieved after hearing these words. The surprise she should have felt at one of her familia members only taking a little more than a week to reach Level 2 had already faded a few days ago, as she had been expecting it for some time. In fact, Isaac could have ranked up well before today, he had just been acc.u.mulating more excelia. Therefore, Loki was quite excited to see which state he had managed to reach. With that in mind, she wasted no time and motioned to one of the sofas.

    "Alright. Off with your shirt, then."

    Although this wasn''t the first time Ais had seen Isaac''s bare upper body, she had become a lot more aware of him since then, so she wasn''t able to hide the deep blush on her cheeks at all. She quickly noticed that Isaac''s body had lost almost every single gram of fat over the course of the past few days. His muscles got a lot more durable as well, even though his lithe form didn''t change at all. Even Loki would have reacted in an impressed manner, if she hadn''t already been privy to this sight a few times before.

    Once Isaac had lain down on his usual spot on the sofa, Loki got on top of him and dripped a drop of her blood onto his back.

    "What the hell?!"

    The moment she laid her eyes upon his now updated stats, Loki almost fell off the sofa. Were her eyes playing tricks on her?! This lunatic had somehow managed to perfectly max out his stats. Had he been off by even a single point, she would have been showered in blood by now!

    "Don''t scare me like that!"

    After hitting Isaac''s shoulder lightly in an effort to voice her complaints in a physical way, she continued her work and started initiating the rank up. At the same time, Isaac quickly explained what had lead to Loki''s shock to the worried Ais via the system. He also made it a point to emphasize that he hadn''t been in any danger. Right when the two finished their quick conversation, Loki asked Isaac an important question.

    "There are two Development Abilities that you can choose from. Swordsman and Huntsman, both are at the I-rank. Which one would you like to choose? Do you want me to give you a quick rundown of the two of them?"

    To not arouse too much suspicion, Isaac gladly accepted Loki''s offer, while he took a look at the Swordsman Development Ability himself via the system, just to see if his goddess'' explanation was missing anything.

    [ Swordsman (I): Improves comprehension speed of sword related skills and abilities by 10%. Increases all stats by 5% when equipped with a sword. ]

    Most likely, he had been presented with this choice because he had exclusively been wielding a sword while killing his enemies. He had already somewhat expected this, so it wasn''t a tough choice to make. Huntsman would be a lot more useful for his future plans, especially if he stacked Development abilities of this kind.

    After Loki''s explanation, he quickly informed her of his choice and the rank up process concluded. Within an instant, his strength, which had already increased just moments prior, was increased by 50% yet again, which made a happy sigh escape his mouth.

    [ You have ranked up to Level 2.

    Quest ''Rank up to Level 2.'' completed. 500 AP rewarded. ]

    Once he put his shirt back on and Loki had handed him his Status sheet, Isaac took a look at his Status in the system as well. He made it a point for the system to, from now on, also include the total of each of the stats if they were converted into Level 1, as it made it easier to compare his stats with monsters'' and the Status'' of others.

    [ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: None ]

    [ Race: Human ]

    [ Level: 2 ]

    [ Age: Unable to measure ]

    [ Charisma: 14 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-0 (2250) ]

    [ Endurance: I-0 (2250) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-0 (2250) ]

    [ Agility: I-0 (2250) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 (2250) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ None ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Huntsman (I) ]

    Upon seeing the many 2250''s in his Status, Isaac''s eyes beamed with self-satisfaction for a moment. It really had been a good choice to postpone his rank up. If his Level''s currently gained stats were always multiplied by 1.5, he would quickly rack up an astonishing stat total, that could put most First Class adventurers to shame. Another thing of note was that every stat point gained in a Level would always be the equivalent of two stat points gained during a previous Level. This made adventurers of a higher Level nigh untouchable to anyone below, once they had some time to acc.u.mulate enough stats.

    Isaac couldn''t help but smile wryly as he thought about how ridiculously strong the denizens of this world could possibly get. Thankfully, most people found it harder and harder to advance to higher Levels the stronger they got. Part of this, besides most people simply not being able to exceed their perceived limits, was that monsters usually ranked up into higher Levels with a lot more stats than the average adventurer. After all, most adventurers ranked up shortly after they reached the 500 stat point requirement, whereas monsters of a higher Level would always have 900 stat points in all of their previous Levels. This acc.u.mulated to quite a staggering difference with increasing Levels.

    "Before you leave, there are a few things I want to talk to you about."

    These words of Loki quickly stopped Ais and Isaac, who had already planned to leave, in their tracks and they sat down on a sofa opposite of their goddess, waiting for her to continue.

    "Starting from when one of our adventurers reaches Level 2, we require them to donate 5% of their earnings to the familia, to feed everyone and so it can be used for the familia''s expenses. Is that okay with you?"

    Honestly speaking, Loki was a little bit worried whether or not Isaac would accept this condition. Normally, as Level 1 adventurers wouldn''t make too much money anyway, they would be sponsored by the valis the stronger familia members earned. As it took a long time, multiple years even, for someone to advance to a higher Level, they would grow to appreciate the concern they were shown in their starting days and happily agree to donate some of their income. As Isaac hadn''t been a part of the familia for long, however, Loki wasn''t sure whether or not he would already realize how important of a system this was.

    "No problem at all. I''ll be doing so from now on, then."

    Naturally, Loki''s worries were unnecessary. Isaac hadn''t planned to just live off his familia without giving anything in return anyway. In fact, he had been quite surprised that such a taxation system hadn''t been introduced at the very beginning, right after he joined. But seeing how the Loki Familia mainly consisted of high Level adventurers, it was no wonder that the pitiful amount of valis they could gain from their weaker members wouldn''t be worth the trouble. It was a smarter choice to build up some gratitude in those early stages in exchange.

    Amusingly enough, Ais had never really paid attention to these monetary matters and completely forgotten about them. Ever since she had joined the familia, Riveria had been taking care of her and handled these matters in her stead. Ais never had to waste time micromanaging her income.

    "I''m happy to hear you say that!"

    A wide smile spread across Loki''s face when she heard his response. Although she had been somewhat aware of it already, she hadn''t really paid Isaac''s intelligence much mind before. It was clear now that her expectations for him, while already very high, had still been too low. But there was no use ruminating about that, so she continued with the next topic she wanted to inform him about.

    "Now, let''s continue. I had planned to let you join the next expedition to the deep floors, which will set off in a little more than a week, to familiarize yourself with them. That is, if you reached Level 2 before then. But as you just did that, I''d like for you to join the expedition in the role of a supporter and report to Riveria about the matter tomorrow at the latest. I think it will be a valuable experience. What do you say?"

    Back when she had noticed that Isaac''s growth didn''t slow down at all, Loki had already hurried to Riveria to inform her of this decision. The lower and deep floors were extremely dangerous, mainly because of the endless flood of monsters. With the rapid pace Isaac was developing, it would be good for him to calmly study what lay ahead for a bit and get a feel for the threat level, before he got himself into a situation that was out of his control.

    Seeing Loki''s somewhat uncharacteristic warm and caring smile, Isaac realized for the first time just how deeply she cared for the ones she called her children - the members of her familia. She may be a trickster goddess, but she wouldn''t even think of harming those she decided to add to her ''family''.

    With positive thoughts like these, Isaac showed a genuine smile in response, before he agreed to this matter as well. Loki was right, this would be a valuable experience for him, although it wasn''t entirely needed. The only problem was that he now had to hurry up his AP gathering plans. Until now, he had only gathered 6889 out of the 10.000 he would have to acc.u.mulate to upgrade his body''s blood to ichor, which was the first step of his next plans. So far, he had been taking it slowly, as there was no deadline he had to meet. He could just acc.u.mulate AP naturally over time. Today, this changed.

    While Isaac was carefully brooding over his next moves, Ais'' eyes were sparkling excitedly when she thought about how he would be accompanying her on the next expedition. She had been kind of distraught at the thought of being apart for so long, even though they could always just talk to each other via the system. Now, she didn''t have to worry about that anymore.

    What she didn''t realize was that her reaction made Loki''s smile grow even wider. The mischievous goddess hadn''t only wanted to help Isaac gain experience, she had also wanted to avoid Ais growing distracted during the expedition because she was thinking about the man left behind on the surface. Such a thing could potentially lead to injuries, especially because this sensation, this yearning, was still entirely new to Ais. Therefore, the situation had to be handled with care.

    After a few minutes of small talk, the three of them left Loki''s study to head towards the canteen for dinner. During their walk there, Isaac secretly informed Ais about his decision to visit the dungeon later to farm some AP. He wouldn''t be in any danger whatsoever, as he would be focussing on Level 1 monsters to exploit the Achievements feature of his system for easy AP. Once he had given his body a quick examination after his rank up, Isaac had also noticed that he needed significantly less sleep. Just six hours every two days would be more than enough for his body''s metabolism to function unimpeded. As for exhaustion of the mind, that was entirely irrelevant for him.

    Ais didn''t discourage him from his decision. She already knew about his ability to blur his existence after he had demonstrated it to her when they had been alone together one of the previous days. Because of this, there was no way for him to be detected should he decide to enter or leave the Twilight Manor - or any place for that matter - at his leisure. Ignoring the security concern this posed, the only reason Ais didn''t venture off into the dungeon during the night on her own was that she wasn''t able to perfectly recover from her acc.u.mulated exhaustion, which was why Riveria forbid her to excessively dungeon delve. Because of this, Riveria would automatically be notified of Ais'' departure by the magical formations encompassing the familia''s home. However, if Isaac sneaked out secretly, there would be no way for him to get caught. He didn''t even need to worry about the recovery part.

    Right when everyone had gathered for dinner, Loki looked at Isaac with her trademark mischievous smile, before she stood up with her cutlery in hand. An unpleasant feeling of d¨¦j¨¤ vu washed over Isaac''s mind like a tidal wave, making his face scrunch up unpleasantly. This, however, only spurred Loki on even further.

    "Everyone, I have an announcement to make! Our newest member, Isaac, has just ranked up to Level 2!"

 Chapter 26 - First Contact

    While his rank up had caused quite a commotion, the situation didn''t get nearly as out of hand as Isaac had feared. Most of the gathered adventurers just rationalized the astonishingly fast rank up speed by attributing it to Isaac already having high stats before joining the familia. After all, how else could one gather that much excelia in such a short amount of time?

    For the ones who were aware of exactly how weak Isaac had been when he joined, the announcement was a wake up call. To say they were astonished would be an understatement. Although most of them knew that he was growing quickly, they hadn''t fully comprehended it yet. Now, however, it almost seemed like Isaac was hot on their heels.

    After he had eaten dinner and somehow managed to get away from the masses of people wanting to congratulate him with friendly smiles on their faces - a most terrifying situation, I might add - Isaac made sure to leave behind a letter for Jakk to read, so as to clear up any possible confusion. It would have been pretty bad if his roommate grew worried about him when he didn''t return home tonight, thought he was in a sticky situation and alerted the entire familia, after all. Once he had made sure time and time again that the bunny boy couldn''t possibly miss the letter, as it was placed in a very eye-catching and prominent position, Isaac blurred his existence and relaxedly made his way towards the dungeon.

    Amusingly, Isaac''s Level 1 monster slaying quest had been on hold at 1999/2000 when he left the dungeon earlier today. As he hadn''t seen a need to go out of his way just to get a handful of AP earlier, he couldn''t be bothered to change his plans and find that last monster, even if it would have only taken a few seconds. For most people, the slight perfectionistic urge to finish a task they had begun when it was so close to completion would have won out and they would have spent that miniscule amount of time to quench their thirst for perfection. Well, Isaac didn''t do this, so he was rewarded with 200 AP the very moment he slew the first monster he came across.

    Once he reached 3000 eliminated Level 1 monsters, Isaac would be rewarded with more AP yet again: 300. The entire structure of these achievements and the continually increasing AP rewards for the same amount of work might seem like an easy exploit and to be honest, that''s exactly what they were. Isaac could have just instantly achieved anything he wanted without implementing an achievement feature into his system. He could have even forgone the system entirely and gotten everything he ever wanted without a moment of delay. But that wasn''t what he was after. He wanted to experience the journey, so he had to set artificial roadblocks in place to prolong it. Still, Isaac wouldn''t be mad enough to increase the AP rewards for achievement chains endlessly - that would be entirely unbalanced the longer it continued. But although he was sure he would have decided on a cap, Isaac currently didn''t know where it was. Well, there was only one way to find out.

    Before he focussed entirely on taking out monsters, Isaac took a minute or two to get used to his vastly increased physical abilities. Even though he had perfect control over his body, it still took him a while to test everything until he was confident he wouldn''t be making any mistakes, no matter what happened.

    Over the course of the next five hours, there was a certain goal besides just racking up Level 1 monster kills for AP that Isaac was working towards. He had decided he wanted to map out the entirety of each dungeon floor while he had the opportunity. During all of his previous descents, he had only taken paths that led to a single staircase: the one Ais and Lefiya had used when they escorted him to the surface. As he rarely encountered any other adventurers in its vicinity, even though the dungeon''s upper floors were seemingly packed to the brim with these fortune seekers, the only conclusion Isaac could come to was that there were multiple paths leading downwards.

    To be honest, though, there wasn''t much of a reason as to why Isaac wanted to map out the dungeon''s floors besides having nothing much else to do. It didn''t matter what kind of Level 1 monsters Isaac killed for his monster slaying quest, so he might as well find out more about the structure and overall size of the dungeon while he was at it. That knowledge might come in handy someday, who knows?

    Even though the monster spawn rate on the first floor of the dungeon was lower than in the middle floors, because there were currently almost no adventurers in the dungeon, there were still more than enough monsters for Isaac to proceed at a satisfying pace. He still had more than a week''s time left, there was no need to operate on full efficiency and lose track of potentially interesting side ventures.

    [ You have killed 4000 Level 1 monsters.

    Quest ''Kill 4000 Level 1 monsters.'' completed. 400 AP rewarded. ]

    Now that Isaac had reached Level 2, he was able to move at speeds of around 80 km/h for pretty much as long as he wanted. As he moved in the most efficient manner possible and was able to spur on his body''s stamina recovery to insane heights, he could vastly outstrip adventurers with the same stats, that might only be able to keep that speed up for a few minutes. To think adventurers of higher Levels would be even more superhuman¡­ quite the surreal thought, when viewed through the lens of normalcy one would acquire in Isaac''s original world. Anyway, by the time the newest achievement rolled around, he had already explored more than 400 kilometers of the windy and interconnected paths of the dungeon''s first floor. As expected, he came across a multitude of stairways leading to the second floor, with all of them arranged in no perceivable pattern. For now, at least. If he wanted to discover whether there actually was a pattern or not, he would have to take the following floors'' staircases into account as well.

    By now, Isaac had almost mapped out the entirety of the first floor. From what he could glimpse via his 3D map, the entire floor was contained within an overall circular area with an eight kilometer diameter. If the entire area was just flat land, it would be quite easily mapped out and hard to get lost in. Because the entire area was underground and split into nigh innumerable paths, caverns and chambers, which were very labyrinthian in nature and arrangement, it seemed incredibly massive, however. People already found it difficult to find their way out of hedge mazes. Now, if one increased such a standard maze manifold in size, put it underground, gave it suboptimal lighting conditions and populated it with life-threatening monsters, it would be near impossible to not get lost in.

    As he was about to finish mapping the first floor, Isaac suddenly came to a halt. There was something¡­ unusual that he came across.

    The wall he stood in front of now was a slightly different colour compared to all the other walls he had seen so far. Admittedly, it was almost impossible to tell the difference, especially when taking the current lighting into account, but the difference was as clear as day for Isaac. Additionally, the overall shape of the weirdly coloured wall was way too regular to occur naturally.

    Of course, the first thought that popped into Isaac''s mind was that this was some sort of manmade doorway. If that was the case, it definitely wasn''t something he had expected to see in the dungeon. Where would that door even lead to? Some secret room, containing a treasure? Or a different, sealed-off part of the dungeon itself?

    It didn''t take long for Isaac to make sure that he had indeed been correct when assuming this to be a doorway. After checking the surroundings for a while, he found a less noticeable, but still off-colour tiny outcrop that seemed to be a hidden lever.

    When he pulled it, Isaac was surprised by the sheer lack of sound coming from the opening secret door. It had been fitted in so well with the surrounding rocks, that the slight scratching sound of its movement was barely audible at all. If one stood just ten meters away, one wouldn''t be able to hear a thing.

    Trying to find out a little bit more about this discovery, Isaac carefully peered into the unknown territory. What came into view was a long corridor made from close to perfectly arranged stone bricks, which led farther than the eye could see. On the walls, there were magic stone lamps placed at regular intervals, while a granite lever, that was most likely responsible for opening the door from the other side, could be found as well.

    To be honest, Isaac had no clue what to make of this so far. A manmade labyrinth that connected to the dungeon? Who would even waste time to build such a thing? Its only use would be to hide one''s most likely criminal activity from the prying eyes of the Guild. Nevertheless, it was an interesting discovery.

    Normally, a person would jump at such an opportunity. Most might even instantly venture into the unknown depths to explore this curious structure and make a name for themselves. Isaac, however, did no such thing. Without ruminating over whether or not he should explore this new path for too long, he closed the secret door again and continued his dungeon mapping project.

    There were just too many unknowns. Were there monsters or other enemies in this new labyrinth? If yes, were they the same strength as the monsters of the respective dungeon floor? If he was unlucky, the opponents waiting for him in the labyrinth could obliterate him with little more than a thought. It just wasn''t worth the risk. Without knowing what exactly he was looking at, Isaac would rather observe it from the outside and prepare properly before venturing into it. But more importantly, he had already decided to map out the dungeon for now, so he didn''t want to get sidetracked before he completed this task he had set out to do. If he always got distracted whenever he encountered something new, he would never finish any of his projects.

    Isaac decided to keep a look out for whether such a secret doorway could be found on other floors of the dungeon as well, before asking Ais if she knew anything about this. On second thought, scratch that. Ais definitely wouldn''t know about it, as she had been way too focussed on her goal of revenge and her craving for strength before his arrival. Therefore, she wouldn''t have paid attention to any stories about a labyrinth connected to the dungeon even if there were any. It would be a smarter idea to just ask Riveria about it. If anyone knew about what was going on besides the ones who built the labyrinth in the first place, it would be her. At least, that was the impression she gave Isaac.

    Anyway, there was a new mystery to shelve for now: Why did the dungeon, a seemingly living creature, allow the intrusion of a foreign object like this?

    Yet another five hours later, at around 5 a.m., Isaac finally finished his 6000 Level 1 monster slaying quest. He had already gotten 500 AP from the 5000 one and now he had been rewarded with another 600. This brought his total up to 8689. It wasn''t much further until the 10.000 he needed for the blood upgrade.

    As for the vast amounts of goblin, kobold and dungeon lizard magic stones and drop items in his inventory¡­ yeah, that could turn out to be a problem. The sheer number of them was just too massive to exchange it with the Guild all at once, as he had nothing he could store them in while avoiding to arouse suspicion. He really didn''t want to expose his inventory to the masses, as he didn''t want to be treated like an experimental subject by gangs of entertainment-craving gods, so he could only opt to sprinkle in parts of today''s gains over the next couple of days, to slowly convert this huge pile of loot into usable currency.

    Still, it was quite likely that he would just acc.u.mulate more and more magic stones from now on, so it was probably a good idea to keep ahold of a few more than he needed to keep his magic-stone razor charged. Up until now, Isaac had never made use of the vast amounts of magical energy, mana, that had been gathering in his body with the increase in his Magic stat. He just didn''t have the time. It would be a lie to say he wasn''t interested in exploring this part of his newly acquired strength sometime in the future, however. And for that, it most likely wouldn''t be a bad idea to have magic stones, which were also filled with mana, at hand for some in-depth research. Oh well, it was too early to worry about such things for now.

    By the time Isaac had made his way back to the Twilight Manor to take a shower and clean his equipment, he had managed to map out a huge portion of the dungeon''s second floor as well. It seemed to be about 1.5 times the size of the floor above. If this trend continued just like this, a single floor would soon reach massive proportions. Taking into account that the furthest point adventurers had reached so far was the 59th floor, that would make the diameter of the circular area the floor was located in more than 196 billion kilometers. If one further took into account that the 59th floor might not even be close to the end of the dungeon¡­

    But yeah, these were all just assumptions. Isaac couldn''t be sure of whether the dungeon floors increased in size in this same pattern all the way to the eventual bottom. But if it did, this part of the lower world most likely wasn''t a planet. Or if it was, it was a truly massive one, making the Earth, a part of Isaac''s original world and his home planet, seem like less than an atom in comparison.

    It was very likely, however, that the size of the floors didn''t escalate that rapidly, as Isaac knew of at least a handful of floors, mostly the safe floors and some others, that were stated to be way smaller than they should be if they were following this speculated pattern.

    A more important discovery, however, was that directly below the secret door connecting to the dungeon''s first floor, there was another one connected to the second floor. As he had wanted to confirm its existence immediately, Isaac had started his clean sweep of the next floor at roughly the spot he had expected the next labyrinth entrance to be at. So far, the only thing that could be gleaned from this was that the labyrinth was located somewhere to the east of Babel. If Isaac had some time in the future, he would have to fine-comb that area to check for any entrances to it aboveground.

    One thing to lament was that even though Isaac had slain thousands of monsters tonight, he hadn''t gained any excelia at all. Most stronger adventurers encountered this problem quite a lot, so they fell back to old and proven methods that people who didn''t have a falna used as well: bog-standard training. By simply exerting oneself, it was possible to acc.u.mulate stat points over time. Still, in all the time since he had come to this world, Isaac hadn''t gained a single stat point this way, so the efficiency was more than horrible. It was definitely not something he ever wanted to bank on.

    Just like yesterday, Averin was snoring away in a corner of the bed, blissfully indulging in procrastination. Once he got everything sorted out and it was safe for the bird to reenter the dungeon, Isaac would probably have to whip the lazy rooster into shape again.

    At around 6 a.m., it was time for Isaac to head out and attract the attention of his various stalkers again, so his students could have a safe and productive day. If one didn''t know he had been up all night slaying monsters, one would have thought he had just woken up and gotten ready for his regular morning training. This was mostly thanks to his vastly decreased need for sleep, which made him seem refreshed even though he had been fighting for about ten hours straight just a little while ago.

    When Isaac got to the main courtyard of the manor, he discovered that he hadn''t been the only one to sneak out tonight, because he came across a curious scene.

    -----

    Lefiya was kneeling in one of the courtyard''s corners, with a very tired and exhausted look on her face. Her clothes were already quite dirty, so kneeling like this really didn''t make much of a difference anymore. Right in front of her stood her mentor, Riveria. She had an annoyed look on her face, crossed arms and heavily creased eyebrows - she seemed like the very epitome of displeasure.

    "I thought you knew that you aren''t allowed to sneak out at night. And you even went into the dungeon¡­ alone!"

    Because she had been raised as a mage by the familia, Lefiya was little more than a one-trick pony. She would be fine if she was in the backline, casting a single spell every now and then. But in close combat or other dangerous situations, she was less than mediocre, mostly because she hadn''t gained much stats in the respective attributes and received no corresponding training at all. Even though she was already Level 3, Lefiya''s Strength stat was even below Isaac''s before he had ranked up¡­

    "Why would you even do that? Do you want to throw your life away just like that?"

    Riveria''s scolding didn''t seem like it would come to an end anytime soon. But Lefiya had already expected this when she had set out, so she wasn''t angry at her mentor. In fact, she secretly felt a little bit happy about being cared for that much. While it may have been wiser to just stay silent and get the scolding over with, she at least wanted the wise elf to know the reason for her unusual behaviour.

    "I just want to get stronger!"

    Even though she was very close to tears, because she honestly wasn''t a fan of getting scolded, Lefiya had a very resolute look on her face when she interrupted Riveria''s monologue.

    Yesterday, when Lefiya had heard about Isaac already ranking up to Level 2, she had been shaken to the core. For more than a year, she herself had been stuck at Level 3, with seemingly no way to rank up any time soon. This was mostly because she could only gain excelia when she was part of an expedition, as only then would she be able to reach monsters with high enough stats. But still, she couldn''t gain a lot of excelia, as her spells used up an exorbitant amount of mana, so she had to use them sparingly. Because of all of these factors, her growth, which was already heavily tilted towards the Magic stat, was also stunted quite a bit.

    Now that the one Ais was closest to was growing with such a mind-blowing speed, Lefiya felt like she would be left behind if she didn''t put in extra effort. Sure, for her idol it might not matter if her good friends were vastly weaker than her - but for Lefiya, it did. She had long dreamed about getting stronger and stronger to one day be able to stand next to Ais and truly be of help to her. If she just continued to stay the way she was, she just couldn''t see any way of catching up to Ais at all. Therefore, a maddening desire for strength had sprouted inside of her.

    Riveria, of course, knew all of this. Lefiya didn''t even have to tell her, she was very well aware of it. To be honest, she had expected her prot¨¦g¨¦ to do something along last night''s actions the moment she realized Isaac was close to ranking up. She had originally planned to have a talk with Lefiya after dinner, to keep her from doing something dangerous, but the young elf had already sneaked out of the manor at that time. So now, she could only thank the gods that Lefiya had returned unharmed and nothing bad had happened.

    Right at that moment, another person entered the main courtyard, attracting the attention of the two elves.

    -----

    After having listened to the scolding for a few seconds, Isaac decided that now was the time to make his entrance.

    He hadn''t known that Lefiya had also spent the night in the dungeon. After all, as she hadn''t been on the first or second floor, there was simply no chance the two could have come across each other.

    Now that he saw her pitiable state, which was obviously caused by his impact on this world, it would be a lie to say that he didn''t feel responsible. Every single day since he came here, he had been talking a lot to the adorable elf, who had a propensity to blush quite often while in his presence. The main reason for that was that Lefiya was always around Ais when she had the opportunity. As she always behaved well, Isaac didn''t mind her company and had a favourable opinion of her.

    ''So convenient.''

    However, the main reason for what he was about to do was something else. Just a little earlier, he had been thinking about researching the mana in his body and the related Magic stat. And here there was a quite capable magician aiming for more strength. Wouldn''t she make the perfect guinea pig to test his theories? There was no need to worry, though, he wouldn''t do anything to harm the familia''s elf mascot. Still, it would be quite nice to have a mage under his wing.

    When Isaac entered the courtyard, Riveria looked at him with a conflicted look on her face. On one hand, she was happy about his fast increase in strength. On the other hand, she almost wanted to admonish him for the unintended consequences brought about by just that. Still, if anyone was at fault here, it was Loki¡­

    While Riveria was lost in thought, Lefiya began to blush and lower her head in shame when she saw who had just discovered her plight. It was just way too embarrassing to have Isaac witness such a sight. Her long ears drooped down in a resigned manner.

    Giving the elf currently cosplaying as a tomato no chance to fall further down the rabbit hole of self-loathing, Isaac slightly bent his knees and reached out his right hand to the kneeling girl. He spoke to her with an innocent smile on his face.

    "So you want to become stronger? I can help you."

    Although her face had grown a shade more red when the young man had offered to help her up, his words that cut right to the heart of Lefiya''s current desire made her forget about that almost instantly. If there was one person in this world who would be able to help her grow stronger very quickly, it was the one who had performed the feat of monstrously rapid strength increase that caused her to feel pressured in the first place. Sure, Riveria would be able to help her grow stronger as well, but definitely not as fast. Therefore, there was no reason to deny such an offer, right?

    After a few seconds of being lost in thought, Lefiya steeled her heart and got over her embarrassment. There was no use in getting distracted by the petty societal standards of the elves right now and to refuse to take a man''s hand, after all.

    "Thank you for the offer. Please help me get stronger."

    With these words, she grabbed Isaac''s hand.

 Chapter 27 - Towards The Under Resort

    "Hold on a minute."

    Without giving the situation any more time to grow out of control, Riveria interrupted the two.

    When she noticed her mentor staring at her hand, which was still grasped in Isaac''s, as he had just helped her up, Lefiya grew very fl.u.s.tered again and hurriedly distanced herself from him, looking down at the ground in shame.

    As she was well aware that this small amount of skinship literally didn''t amount to anything in human society, Riveria chose to ignore how inappropriate it would have been seen as in elven culture and focus on the problem at hand. With an inquisitive gaze, she asked Isaac a question.

    "So you want to help Lefiya grow stronger. How exactly do you plan to do that?"

    Isaac had obviously been prepared for being asked such a question when he decided to offer Lefiya his help. Still, now that the conversation had started, it was only a matter of time until the perceptive mother hen would notice his own troubles, which had originally been something he wanted to keep under wraps for a little longer. Now that he basically poached Lefiya to his side already, though, it was a sacrifice he was ready to make.

    "First of all, I would like to train her in close quarters combat. Lefiya is most likely heavily lacking in this aspect and it would help her massively whenever she is venturing outside of the manor on her own. Secondly, I would like to help her further her studies into magic. While I can''t really elaborate on the specifics of that right now, as I''m pressed for time, it''s an important topic of study to me as well."

    Before Riveria could notice his hurried state herself, Isaac simply talked about it frankly from the beginning, as there was no use in hiding it. Also, it could be used as a smokescreen to cover for his temporary lack of knowledge about the field of magic. While he was sure he would be able to pick up on the entirety of it relatively quickly, he would be caught with his pants down if grilled about specifics right now, as his studies hadn''t even begun.

    Even though Riveria thought very highly of the potential of the young man in front of her, she was very skeptical about his magic related claims. Lefiya was the same as well, although she had less doubts than her mentor when she thought back on the curious unexplained phenomenon she had come across when they first met.

    After she had shrugged off her concerns for now, as there was no use dwelling on it, the astute, mature elf noticed that Isaac had mentioned being in a hurry right now. As she had initially planned to talk to him a little more, Riveria had to inquire about what was going on.

    "What''s the hurry?"

    Of course, Isaac''s next lines had already been prepared well in advance, so his reply was nigh instant.

    "I have to show myself on the streets to attract the attention of all the people stalking me ever since Ais and I walked around in public while holding hands. I wouldn''t want those people to think about harming my students and subordinates just because I don''t show myself, so I''ll take the heat. I''m the one responsible for all of this negative attention anyway."

    Riveria''s brows, which had just started to relax, furrowed up again when she heard this. She was probably the most well versed about all the forces and people who had shown interest in or tried to woo Ais, as she had been observing them herself, to see whether they would plan to harm the naive girl. Thankfully, Ais'' growth in strength had been too fast for the shadier fraction of her admirers to be of any danger to her. But now that Isaac, a way weaker adventurer, was attracting their ire, these forces would most likely not sit still. A heavy sigh escaped the stern-faced elf''s mouth.

    "Why didn''t you two think about the consequences of your actions? Now, we''ll have a host of rabid dogs lurking in the shadows whenever you go out¡­ Oh well, what''s done is done. What about those students and subordinates that you mentioned? Will you train Lefiya together with them, at what I assume to be the Guild?"

    Now that her prot¨¦g¨¦ would most likely end up getting involved with the maelstrom of danger Ais'' and Isaac''s actions had unleashed, Riveria wanted to make sure that she would be in a safe environment. Therefore, when Isaac confirmed that her assumption was indeed correct, she told him that the Loki Familia had many unused courtyards intended for the training of their members, which were located within the formation protecting the manor''s grounds. She offered for him to use one of them for his training sessions, so no harm could come to everyone involved in the meantime. After Isaac agreed to this, as turning down a free training ground wouldn''t do him any harm, Riveria''s protective instincts kicked into overdrive as she asked him yet another question.

    "I assume that besides that youngster Jakk and Averin, there are still some others you are teaching. Would you like to ask our goddess about letting them join the familia so we can keep them safe?"

    With an apologetic smile on his face, Isaac responded after seemingly thinking about the offer for a second or two. Of course, he had already decided on a response to this a long time ago.

    "No thank you, I do have other plans for them."

    Although she was quite surprised, Riveria decided to not pry into what those plans of his were, seeing how Isaac didn''t seem like he wanted to share them for now. Then, while Lefiya was still quietly and obediently waiting for the two to finish their conversation, Riveria made Isaac another offer. Or rather, she notified him of what would be happening, whether he wanted it to or not.

    "I''ll ask Tiona and Tione to accompany you to the dungeon today, to protect you. They don''t have anything else to do besides lazing around at home or beating up monsters that are way too weak for them to gain any excelia from. It''ll be good to have them do something useful for once."

    A somewhat hesitant expression appeared on Isaac''s face when he heard this. He kind of wanted more fools to ambush him and donate him their belongings in a wonderful display of selfless generosity. But it seemed like he would have to put that aside, for now.

    "Thank you, Riveria. Still, even though you might not believe me when I say this, I''m not in any danger. Their protection isn''t needed, although I''ll gladly accept it."

    To Riveria, the young man''s words sounded a lot like the c.o.c.ky ramblings of one who didn''t realize just how in over their head they were, so she chose to ignore them for now. In the end, he had still accepted the helping hand she offered him and would be safe for today. And wasn''t that all that really mattered?

    "Wait here for a moment, I''ll get the twins for you."

    Before Riveria could walk away, Isaac''s hurried voice made her stop in her tracks and look back, patiently waiting for what he had to say.

    "Please wait a moment. If it won''t be a problem, I''d like to book one of the courtyards you mentioned this afternoon, at around 1:30 p.m.. Also, Loki asked me to report to you and talk about the expedition, do you have some time for that this evening?"

    After there were no more questions thrown her way, Riveria responded with a simple nod, before leaving the quietly waiting Lefiya and Isaac alone in the main courtyard. Inwardly, she lamented her heavy workload. It seemed like she would have to pull yet another all-nighter today...

    As the two of them were now alone together, Isaac didn''t want Lefiya to get her head in the clouds again, especially because he had no feelings of that sort for the adorable elf. Therefore, he lead the way to one of the stone benches lining the sides of the courtyard, where they sat down and talked a little bit about the other people Isaac was teaching.

    Just like Riveria, Lefiya had been aware of Jakk and Averin, but she hadn''t known about Kalin and Mina. After he told her a little bit about their tragic backstories, Lefiya had yet again been close to tears. If she had been alone right now, she would have probably cried her eyes out while lamenting such pitiful fates, but as she wasn''t in private, it would be too embarrassing to do so, so she bravely kept up a strong front.

    The rest of their time waiting was spent talking about Lefiya''s current combat standards. There was no need to beat around the bush: they were extremely horrendous. If she didn''t have such high stats, she probably would only be a match for a kobold in a one-versus-one battle. Without her magic, Lefiya was just a sitting duck, waiting for slaughter. While her familia had done the strategically correct thing by protecting her and making her use her AoE magic to wipe out large groups of enemies every now and then, which reared them a powerful weapon, their protection now seemed more like a curse than a blessing. Good intentions could often have undesirable consequences. Lefiya didn''t want to have to rely on others all the time. She wanted to proudly stand on her own feet, chasing after dreams of her own choosing. But if she couldn''t even go outside alone without putting herself in danger, she couldn''t grow without being a burden to others. To correct this fatal flaw of hers would take time, but Isaac was confident he could teach her how to protect herself.

    To bridge the times where Lefiya was deep in thought, Isaac used the system to inform Ais, who was already awake and diligently training her swordsmanship in one of the courtyards Riveria had mentioned, about his plans for today and how they had just changed a little. Of course, he didn''t leave out how Lefiya had chosen to rely on him for help. As he didn''t want to interrupt Ais'' training more than necessary, he didn''t let their usual small-talk continue on for too long and after wishing her a productive day, he focussed fully on his new elf student again.

    Pretty soon, the Amazoness twins arrived at the main courtyard, with Riveria nowhere to be seen. The moment Tiona, who still looked to be a little sleepy, saw them, she jogged up to them, stretched and yawned a little bit. She then first addressed Lefiya.

    "I''m supposed to tell you that you gotta meet Riveria in her study as soon as you can. Good luck!"

    The happy smile that was meant to encourage her only made Lefiya remember the scolding she had the pleasure of enjoying just minutes prior. With a pale face and drooping ears, she hurried off quickly, too distracted to even remember to excuse herself.

    After Lefiya had disappeared into the manor, Tiona turned to Isaac with a bright and cheerful smile and gave him a thumbs up.

    "Seems like we''ll be having your back today. No worries, you''ll be perfectly safe!"

    Contrary to her sister, Tione seemed to be a little downcast about the whole situation and muttered unhappily to herself.

    "I had originally planned to be with the Captain all day. What if he needs my help while I''m gone?"

    Both Isaac and Tiona smirked at her lovestruck antics. Ever since she had joined the familia after Finn had bested her in combat, Tione had been infatuated with him. It was too bad that the heroic and selfless Pallum didn''t reciprocate her feelings at all.

    "He''ll get more work done if you''re not there to constantly interrupt him, though~"

    With a mischievous smile on her lips, Tiona dodged the playful punches of her sister, who had a slightly enraged blush on her face.

    Once Tione had vented her frustrations by chasing Tiona around the courtyard for a while, the group of three finally left the Twilight Manor.

    Compared to yesterday, Isaac garnered even more attention this time. So in a way, his plan was now working even better than before, thanks to the addition of the two brown-skinned beauties accompanying him. While Tiona and Tione were exceedingly good-looking, what actually caught most people''s attention was their celebrity. They were both famous Level 5 adventurers and Loki Familia Executives, after all.

    In opposition to what he had been somewhat cautious of, Tiona didn''t behave in any worrisome manner, even though Isaac had unintentionally appealed to her a little a few days prior. Seeing how the twins would be watching him dispatch many a monster today, he had originally been a little worried that Tiona could be swept up in her battle hungry state yet again. But as his fights currently all ended in an instant, there probably wasn''t much for the bubbly Amazoness to get excited about. And just in case, he could just use Tione as a shield.

    Because she had mentioned that they didn''t have breakfast yet, the group stopped at a potato snack stand and the twins bought a few of them. Just like Ais, they both were also very fond of the crunchy treat and would try a lot of different flavours whenever they had the chance.

    After they had entered the dungeon, there were still a few hostile presences tailing them. Even though none of them seemed to be a match for the Amazoness sisters, it still wasn''t a pleasant feeling to be spied on. Therefore, Isaac lead the sisters around the labyrinthian and convoluted paths of the first floor using his system map and shook off their tail, effectively turning his supposed bodyguards into a glorified peanut gallery. Once he had confirmed once and for all that nobody was following them, the group of three relaxedly sat down in a small cave, that had previously housed five kobolds, as if they were trying to have a picnic.

    While Tiona and Tione casually nommed on their potato snacks, Isaac explained his plans for the day.

    "I''ll be making my way down to the entrance of the 18th floor as quickly as I can. I''ve been meaning to check it out yesterday but ran out of time. Today, I plan to explore the floor a bit, but I''ll probably have to postpone taking a look at Rivira. I''ll have to be back at the surface at around 12:30 p.m., after all."

    Most likely, it would take Isaac a few of his mornings to properly check out the entirety of the safe floor, also called a safety point, simply because it was that massive. Even an entire town could be housed down there, with plenty of space to spare to get lost in.

    "Hmm¡­ how about we give you a tour of Rivira today instead?"

    Tione''s recommendation earned her an approving smile from Isaac. He hadn''t wanted to ask them to guide him, simply because he didn''t want them to feel like they were being exploited. Nonetheless, an introduction from someone who was familiar with a place was always a welcome thing. So now that it had been offered, it would be foolish of Isaac to deny their goodwill. Additionally, it didn''t really matter at which part of the vast floor his exploration began. One thing was for sure, though: he wouldn''t be descending into the dungeon with the twins every day, so this was a rare chance.

    "Thanks. Then I''ll be relying on you when we get there!"

    Once he had accepted, Tiona sprang to her feet in a hurry, with excitement written all over her face.

    "Let''s get a move on. I can''t wait to show you around!"

    He hadn''t expected Tiona, who didn''t even make the offer, to be that happy about acting as what was basically a tourist guide, so Isaac took a moment or two to collect himself before getting up from his comfortable rest.

    "Oh well, I guess I''ll hasten my pace a little, then."

    Originally, Isaac had planned to take it easy on his way down. Now that he saw how Tiona was barely able to hold herself back from dragging him along, though, he decided there was no need to conserve his stamina. He could just recover while strolling around the safe floor, after all. There was no need to risk getting dragged to death just so he could be tardy.

    Even while rushing all the way, Isaac made it a point to swiftly kill every single monster he came across. It would have simply been a waste not to, after all. Still, even though he did this, it only took them around 30 minutes to arrive at the boss room he had just stood in yesterday.

    Once they had reached this point, the chipper Tiona took the lead and ran down the stairs leading towards the 18th floor, while Tione stayed behind, taking her job as a bodyguard a little more seriously.

    Compared to all previous floors, the staircase leading to the 18th floor seemed to go on forever. Because of the surprising length, it took them a few minutes to catch up with Tiona, who waited for them at the floor''s entrance..

    "Let me introduce you to this little slice of paradise down here, Isaac!"

    With her arms spread out widely and proudly sticking out her almost nonexistent chest, Tiona laughed happily and motioned at the impressive sight behind her, which was stretching out as far as the eye could see.

    Forests and lakes dotted the entire landscape, while some hills and small mountains jotted out of the ground every now and then. Far into the distance, a massive tree of at least two kilometer height could be spotted. And even though it couldn''t even be seen from here, right beneath that enormous tree was where the town of Rivira was located.

    It turned out that there was a pretty simple explanation for the uncharacteristically long staircase - the height of this floor''s ceiling. About three kilometers above their heads, the entire ceiling was filled to the brim with brilliantly shining crystals. Because they came in two colours, blue and white, and the white ones formed a shape akin to the sun, one could easily mistake the ceiling for the actual sky on the surface, if one didn''t pay close enough attention. On the ground, pretty much scattered everywhere, were many blue crystals as well, which reflected the light from the ceiling, making the entire floor have a bit of a pale-blue glow.

    Even though Isaac hadn''t seen it yet, he had heard about how the amount of light the crystals emitted changed with the respective time of day on the surface. This way, the floor was able to mimic a perfect day-night cycle. Quite the curious place indeed. It granted adventurers a short respite and gave them a sense of familiarity and security, before luring them further into the dangerous depths.

    Most of the adventurers that made it all the way down here called this floor the Under Resort. As a little side note, that nickname was already in use way before the town Rivira was founded.

    Interestingly enough, there was a ten meter wide, apparently very frequently travelled, simple dirt road stretching out into the direction of the enormous tree. As far as Isaac could see, there had been swathes cut through the few forests that happened to be in the way, so the heavy carts, that expeditions into the lower floors made use of, could make their way their to Rivira without having to take any detours.

    When he took another cursory glance around the tiny part of the floor he was able to see from here, Isaac remembered how a certain goddess had caused the dungeon to spawn a variant Goliath from somewhere in this floor''s ceiling. Variants were individual monsters that were at least half a Level worth of stats stronger than all other members of their species. The aforementioned Goliath had been one of the major opponents of Bell early on in his adventure.

    Anyway, Isaac probably wouldn''t be encountering such a situation himself. Unless he decided to kidnap a god and force them to unleash their divine aura down here in the 18th floor¡­

    "Had enough of the view yet?"

    Isaac''s nefarious thoughts were interrupted by a grinning Tiona, who poked his cheek in amus.e.m.e.nt. Before he had noticed it, he had been lost in thought and staring at the vista for more than a minute without making a sound. He had probably looked like an idiot, getting all distracted like that.

    With an embarrassed cough, Isaac grabbed Tiona''s finger before she could poke him again, then nodded with a sagely expression on his face.

    "Yes, it was quite exquisite."

    Before he could even let go of Tiona, Tione interjected from the side with a teasing smile on her face.

    "So you''re into flat chests then, huh?"

    It was at this moment Isaac realized¡­ he f.u.c.k.i.e.d up.

 Chapter 28 - An Introduction to Rivira

    Tiona didn''t know whether she should charge at her sister to give her a well-deserved beating or to be embarrassed because of the situation she found herself in. Either way, her cheeks were turning progressively more red the more time passed.

    To avoid any more potential embarrassment, Isaac quickly let go of Tiona''s finger and smiled awkwardly. Saying anything to try to explain himself would only make everything more troublesome, no matter what, so there was really no point in doing so. The wisest decision would be to ignore what just happened and to move on with what they came here for.

    By clearing his throat, he got the twins'' attention.

    "So, when are we gonna start the tour?"

    This question was a lifesaver for Tiona, who still hadn''t been able to decide on what to do. Now, she finally had a way out of her predicament. As if nothing had happened, she turned around and led the way into the distance, waiting for the others to catch up to her.

    While clicking her tongue unhappily, Tione followed along. But she wasn''t the only one not entirely happy with this result. Because she hadn''t gotten an answer, Tiona''s curiosity had been ignited. What exactly did Isaac think about flat chests like hers? One day, she would try to find out¡­

    It didn''t take long for her to start to point at specific places they were passing and recounting tales about them. Well, they weren''t heroic tales or anything along those lines, though.

    "Do you see that tree over there? When we first came here, Tione and I had a race with it as the finish line. The loser had to do everything the winner wanted for a day!"

    Most of her descriptions were like that, which made Tione blush a little, as it felt a bit weird to have their past childish behaviour getting exposed without shame.

    Although it started out with harmless stories like the previous one, there was a weird glimmer in Tiona''s eyes, and soon she finally found a chance to get her revenge for the embarrassment she had felt moments prior.

    "Ah, that hill! I remember Tione REALLY had to go to the bathroom that one time, and-"

    "YOU!!!"

    As per tradition, Tiona got chased around by a furious Tione yet again for a few minutes. Meanwhile, Isaac had just been nodding, smiling and asking miscellaneous questions all the time, as if the situation wasn''t weird at all. But even though the twins didn''t notice it, his back was already drenched in cold sweat. He really didn''t want to know all of this.

    ''There is such a thing as too much information, you two¡­''

    While he was being lead by the Amazoness sisters, they came across quite a few smaller paths leading off into different directions, branching off from the main dirt road. Tiona pointed one of them out, stating that it lead to the campsite their familia always used when they stopped here on the way to and back from an expedition. As for the other paths, when Isaac asked about them, Tione explained that they all lead to a few other strong familias'' usual camping sites on this floor, which really wasn''t much of a surprise.

    Because they didn''t want to stray too far from the path, they decided to not take a look at the Loki Familia campsite today. Isaac could always take a look at it himself later, when he was busy exploring the rest of this floor.

    After about 30 minutes, a town could finally be made out beneath the mind-bogglingly huge tree ahead. From this distance, it still looked extremely small, kind of like a weirdly-shaped anthill.

    "Let''s have a race! And Isaac. Try to keep up!"

    Giving the other two no chance to voice any possible disapproval, Tiona shot forward like a bullet, leaving behind Tione and Isaac in a cloud of dust. Of course, the competitive Tione would not just let her sister beat her without a fight, so as Isaac was getting ready to start running himself, Tione soon caught up to her sister and the two were egging each other on, getting faster and faster in the process.

    A heavy sigh escaped Isaac''s mouth, then a vague smile played across his lips. He knew he had no chance whatsoever of catching up to the twins, as they had many multiple more stats than he did. Nevertheless, it would not be too bad to go full speed when sprinting with this body, every now and then. So after taking a deep breath, Isaac slowly accelerated and put his entire focus into running as fast as he could.

    Even though he gave his absolute best, it still took him ten minutes to arrive in front of Rivira''s gate, right next to the waiting Amazonesses. He was sweating quite heavily, but not enough to make his partially drenched clothes seem like he had just jumped head-first into a lake. It took him a few moments to catch his breath, during which both Tiona and Tione gave him a thumbs up, as they hadn''t expected him to arrive that quickly.

    There were quite a few adventurers passing by, entering and leaving the town while the three of them stood off to the side, waiting for Isaac to recover a little first. Most of the passersby just cast them a curious glance or two but then minded their own business. They clearly had more important things to do than to ogle at two scantily clad Amazonesses, which weren''t too rare of a sight in the dungeon anyway.

    When she thought he had perked up enough, Tiona grabbed Isaac and Tione and dragged them to the large wooden gate, fastened above which was an ancient-looking wooden plaque with the words ''Rivira'' carved into it. On the sides of the gate, just observing everyone who entered the town, were two adventurers reclining on chairs. They were the ones who were stuck with guard duty for now.

    Seeing his questioning look, Tiona explained that because Rivira was a town built solely by adventurers, it didn''t have a real policing system. Still, everyone who wanted to be a resident here would be entered in a guard duty rotation, so they had to do their part when the time came. After all, it was always important to keep some semblance of order.

    The vast majority of the buildings in the town were made out of wood from the abundant forests covering the vast majority of this floor. There were also a few stone houses every here and there, whereas another huge number of buildings were just dressed up caves in the cliffs and hillsides the wooden town wall enclosed.

    From where Isaac stood, the town looked a lot bigger and flourishing than he expected. There were many shops and inns at the sides of the main road, bustling with activity. Admittedly, though, some of the establishments here looked a little bit shady.

    Taking his prolonged silence while observing the town in detail as an opportunity, Tione chimed in from the side and explained that Rivira had been razed by monsters spewing forth from the lower floors more than 300 times already. Every time, though, the inhabitants had gathered together again and rebuilt their precious homes. Maybe because of that, they didn''t really go out of their way to build the most extravagant of buildings and mostly settled for wooden ones, seeing how it was very likely that they would have to rebuild them at some point in the relatively near future.

    When Isaac asked about why they would want to rebuild it that many times, Tione continued her explanation. Down here, the Guild and other political powers had no influence whatsoever. Sure, they had most likely stationed their own people down here as well, but they didn''t have enough strength to pose a problem. Therefore, things that were illegal on the surface could be traded down here without a care in the world. Additionally, living here gave the people a sense of freedom, as they didn''t have to conform to the whims of everyone on the surface. Gods also practically never entered the dungeon, so the residents here wouldn''t have to worry about potentially offending an immortal entity by accident.

    Because of all of this, lots of people who ran into problems on the surface escaped down here and were still able to live fulfilling, albeit often a bit dangerous, lives. Well, if what awaited them outside of the dungeon was even more perilous a situation, then this town would seem like a safe haven for them.

    If lots of mostly non-law abiding people gathered in one place, lots of bad things were bound to happen if there were no rules whatsoever. Therefore, the residents of this town had decided to collectively punish everyone who went out of their way to stir up significant trouble down here, if it could inconvenience everyone''s lives. No-one wanted to lose this place, after all. These were the reasons why even though many criminals regularly assembled down here, it was a far, far safer place than huge parts of Orario itself.

    "So, I assume there is someone in charge of all of this, some kind of leader?"

    Upon hearing Isaac''s question, Tiona nodded and led the group to one of the few stores on the main street that were built on a stone foundation - a clear sign of wealth. It seemed to be a weapon, armour and general goods store, from what Isaac could gather from the various products on display. The inside of the building felt quite cozy and homely, nothing like the rushed work Isaac had originally expected.

    When they entered, Isaac noticed a tough-looking muscular man sitting behind the counter. He had very short black hair and green-blue eyes, the left one of which was covered in a black eyepatch. A nasty scar could be made out beneath it, reaching all the way down to slightly above his mouth. He wore a grey, open jacket that showed off his abs, whose sleeves looked like they had been torn off, followed by black, leather gloves covering all the way up to his elbows with small metallic plates located above his knuckles, non-restrictive matte blue pants, standard, brown-black leather boots and a belt, whose buckle looked like a red monster''s head, whose species Isaac wasn''t able to conclusively determine for now. Above that, he wore some brown monster fur around his waist, which looked a bit like a skirt¡­ truly an odd choice to round out his outfit.

    "Ah, you lassies came around again?"

    Although the man''s voice was a little bit higher pitched than he had expected, it only took Isaac a few seconds to adapt to it and feel like it fit the buff man surprisingly well.

    In response to his question, Tiona just laughed heartily and nodded, then turned around to Isaac and introduced the new face.

    "That''s Bors Elder. He''s the City Representative of Rivira and also the strongest person living here: a Level 3."

    Apparently it wasn''t anything unusual for people to introduce him to others, so Bors didn''t even show any notable change in his expression. Instead, he was carefully sizing up Isaac. He was very well aware of how strong the twins in front of him were. Anyone introduced by them wouldn''t be someone simple. Most likely, at least.

    While Bors was sizing him up, Isaac was doing the same to him. Overall, Bors gave off a slightly threatening, but friendly aura. It was obvious he often had to put up an intimidating front to deal with the various rabble arriving at town. Still, hidden beneath that were the shrewd senses of a businessman, trying to gauge how much money a customer would be able to leave in his store, while also wanting to visit it again.

    "Well, nice to meet you! So, who are you, lad?"

    After the basic introductions and a strong handshake were out of the way, Isaac decided to use this opportunity to buy himself a ranged weapon. For a while now, he had feared the dungeon floors'' ceilings, which were continually increasing in height, would give rise to some truly hard to deal with flying monsters at some point. If he was just on the ground, with no way to deal damage to them, he wouldn''t be able to retaliate most of the time, which would prolong his encounters and be a real nuisance.

    Thankfully, Bors'' shop did indeed have a few bows and crossbows in stock, so Isaac was able to find one that suited him pretty well. In the end, he decided on buying a 1.5 meter long shortbow made from this dungeon floor''s wood by one of the few bowyers living in Rivira. The wood here was a lot tougher, more resistant to the elements and extremely malleable compared to most kinds of wood from the surface, thanks to the vast amounts of ambient mana it absorbed during its life cycle. It was a premium material for bows, only a bit inferior to the best wood from the elven forests. Because of that, the bow had a very expensive price tag: 700.000 valis.

    Still, that wasn''t even close to the massive sum Isaac was able to easily afford, therefore he didn''t even blink when exchanging the money with Bors, whose businessman senses were tingling when he saw with what disregard Isaac treated his valis. He would definitely have to try to incite the young man into visiting his shop more often in the future, just like he had originally planned.

    With a hearty smile on his face, Rivira''s leader bade farewell to the group of three, who then continued their tour around town. As for why Isaac hadn''t stocked up on arrows in Bors'' shop¡­ that was because their prices were extremely high. He would be able to buy the same quality of arrow for one fifth of the price back on the surface. Because he didn''t need to use his bow anytime soon, there was no need to waste his money senselessly. The reason as to why goods were generally more expensive down here was that they had to be brought down here by adventurers, which was a dangerous and costly endeavour. Nobody would put their life on the line without a hefty reward, after all.

    It only took them around two hours to walk along all the major roads and check out a few interesting places. One of those was one the various caves that led to the deeper floors. After a cursory glance, Isaac mentally noted down that they were entirely natural caves with wooden walls, ceiling and ground, until suddenly, one of the dungeon''s stereotypical staircases appeared 50 meters in, leading downwards. Still, he didn''t want to continue further into the dungeon today, as his research would just arouse Tiona again, which he really didn''t want to happen. Therefore, a closer inspection of the following floors had to wait

    When they were finished with their tour, Isaac concluded that the entire town had about 5.000 permanent residents with many more adventurers passing through every single day. All of them were above or at Level 2, as they had to be at least that strong and organized in parties to even make it here.

    As it was around 10:30 a.m. right now and they still had some time until they had to make their way back to the surface, the group of three found themselves a seat at one of the few outdoor restaurants in Rivira. While they were wolfing down numerous noodle dishes and a few hefty portions of various kinds of meat, which were also many times more expensive than they would have been on the surface, they were absentmindedly watching the many adventurers passing by.

    The newly bought bow was leaning against the table because Isaac hadn''t been able to put it into his inventory yet. In fact, he wouldn''t be able to do so until he returned home today, as its sudden disappearance would definitely confuse his Amazoness companions.

    When Isaac randomly looked up to check out the enormous tree''s canopy, as he had nothing better to do at the moment, it was so expansive that he could only barely make out the blue light from the ceiling''s crystals somewhere at the very edge of his field of view. It was truly an impressive sight.

    "Come to think of it, is there a reason this town is called ''Rivira''?"

    In response to Isaac''s question, Tiona just shrugged, obviously having no idea. When she saw that, a smug smile appeared on Tione''s face, and she proudly explained this bit of curious trivia, while the rest continued their meal.

    "It''s meant to honour the one who founded the first settlement down here, an adventurer by the name of ''Rivira Santilini''."

    When their early lunch was about to come to an end, Isaac suddenly remembered something important he had put off all this time, as he didn''t really feel like doing it before.

    "Now that I think about it, I should probably tell the Guild that I''m a Level 2 already."

    After garnering the agreement of the twins, they made their way up to the surface to take care of that and meet Isaac''s students, to inform them of the change of plan. They were strolling quite leisurely, though, as they had more than enough time.

    At around 12 p.m., they finally arrived in front of the Pantheon. As they still had about ten minutes until his students would usually make their way here, they could easily finish their business before then. Of course, the group didn''t attract less attention than they did early in the morning, but there was no-one coming up to them to make trouble, so everything was well and good.

    When the three came up to Yolanda''s counter, the youthful Amazoness stood up with excitement written all over her face. At first, Isaac had thought she simply was that happy to see him, which weirded him out a little, but after he had exchanged a greeting with her, he soon noticed that his initial worries had been for naught.

    "Well, if it isn''t the Hiryute sisters. Nice to meet ya! I''m Yolanda Filura, Isaac''s dungeon advisor. What brings you here today?"

    Seeing the fervent gaze of her fellow Amazoness, Tione showed a wry smile. The twins were somewhat of a legend back in their home country, Telskyura. By the tender age of seven, the two of them had already surpassed the vast majority of Amazonesses in strength and skill and were allowed to roam the world freely by their goddess Kali. Many other Amazonesses craved for such an opportunity, such strength and being let go from the Kali Familia, as they simply had aspirations they couldn''t work towards there. Even Yolanda, who was in her early twenties now, thought of the two living legends in front of her as heroes. It was a little bit awkward because the twins were a lot younger than her, only being 16 years old right now.

    "We were just returning from the dungeon with Isaac and he said he had to stop by here, so we accompanied him."

    After successfully directing Yolanda''s attention away from them, Tione breathed a sigh of relief when she was sure no-one was watching her. She found it quite awkward to interact with most of her fellow Amazonesses, as she couldn''t deal with this fangirl-like behaviour at all.

    "So, what are you here for today? Need some advice?"

    As familias weren''t allowed to hide the Levels of their members from the Guild, Isaac didn''t intend to do so at all. He was sure it would cause quite a stir, but with the Loki Familia at his back, there was almost no-one that would dare kick up too much of a fuss. Most likely, the vast majority of people wouldn''t even believe him, as his rank up speed was simply unheard of. Looking forward to what kind of expression Yolanda would make, Isaac dropped the bombshell.

    "Nothing much. I just wanted to inform the Guild that I ranked up to Level 2 yesterday evening."

    For a few seconds, Yolanda didn''t really process what she had just heard and simply jotted down the information dutifully. When she read it again, however, the hand holding her feather began to shake uncontrollably, before her eyes widened to a scary degree, as her face turned into a mask of utter disbelief. Even though she had only just sat down again, she hastily stood up and slammed her counter heavily, causing the wood to creak in pain. She stared at Isaac, who upon further inspection really didn''t look like he was joking at all, with bloodshot eyes as if he was a terrifying monstrosity and screamed in disbelief.

    "What?! You''re already Level 2?"

    Honestly, Isaac hadn''t expected things to get this out of hand. No-one that he had told about his rank up speed before had reacted in such an almost scary way. He could only stare back at the rabid clerk girl with an apologetic smile on his face and nod, while thinking to himself.

    ''What the hell? Such an overreaction...''

 Chapter 29 - The First Twilight Manor Training Session

    Compared to Yolanda, the other Guild employees and adventurers that noticed her outburst didn''t have any strange reactions at all. In fact, most of them didn''t even pay much attention to her. After all, they had no idea what exactly was going on and had their own troubles to deal with, so a random Guild clerk''s surprise wasn''t enough to attract their attention for long.

    Still, there was one person who stepped in to rein in the panicking Amazoness. Actually, there would have been two, but Misha, who Isaac noticed out of the corner of his eye, retreated back to her own desk after she had noticed who had already come to help out. The relieved smile on her face clearly showcased that the one who showed up was more than qualified to resolve the problem.

    "Calm down, Yolanda."

    With a tranquil and comforting smile, a young woman gently pat Yolanda''s shoulder. She had almost shoulder-length brown hair and green eyes akin to polished emeralds. Besides the usual Guild attire, she only wore a pair of glasses. The only thing peculiar about her were her ears. They weren''t as long and pointy as an elf''s, while they were still clearly a few centimeters longer than a human''s and had slightly more pointed tips.

    As anyone who had read even just a few pages of the DanMachi novels would know, this was Eina Tulle, Bell''s dungeon advisor. She was a half elf, which was a race that was considered to be pretty rare, as interspecies relationsh.i.p.s were, all in all, very uncommon. Especially elves tended to look down on other races and saw them as inferior. The causes for this were primarily their extremely long life spans and high magical aptitude, which other races just couldn''t compare to. But although they were important, interspecies relations didn''t have much of a connection with the current situation.

    Even though he was successfully hiding it, Isaac was observing Eina curiously. Amongst the novels'' cast, she was one of the few characters he was impressed by, mostly because of her professional yet warm and friendly attitude. It wasn''t easy to keep one''s amicability when working in the service industry. Seeing Eina appease her coworker by whispering a few words into her ears and showing a genuine smile elicited a small smile from Isaac as well.

    After she had dealt with Yolanda''s overreaction for the time being, Eina greeted Tiona and Tione, who most Guild employees were more or less familiar with, before focussing on the one who had been the cause for this slight mishap.

    "Sorry about that and nice to meet you. I''m Eina Tulle, a senior dungeon advisor."

    Waving his hand dismissively to try and defuse the situation, Isaac introduced himself as well.

    "No problem at all. I''m Isaac Blackshaw from the Loki Familia. Nice to meet you, Eina."

    As soon as he was finished, Eina moved on to the next point on the agenda, while curiously sizing up this newcomer to one of the city''s most influential familias.

    "As you''ve reported to have ranked up to Level 2, the Guild has to ask you to go through with a simple verification procedure to confirm this. Is that okay with you?"

    It would have been a lot more unrealistic for the Guild to simply accept the words of adventurers without any proof. After all, many people would lie about their strength to either get attention they didn''t deserve or to make others underestimate the threat they posed, often for less than admirable purposes. Because of this, Isaac had already expected the Guild to have prepared certain measures to ensure adventurers weren''t lying about such basic information.

    There were a few possibilities as to what kind of measures the Guild could take. First of all, they could simply use a Status Thief, an item which would display someone''s familia crest without their god''s permission, and have someone capable of reading the gods'' language read the adventurer''s status. Still, that wasn''t likely to happen, as it was illegal to use items like these, although they could be easily purchased down in Rivira. A second option would be to use an item which worked similarly but only displayed the adventurer''s Level. Sadly, Isaac had never heard about such a thing, therefore he doubted it existed, even though it would be extremely useful. As for the third option, one could always have a short battle against someone well versed in approximating their opponents'' Levels, a simple combat test. As for the last relatively likely option that came to mind, it was a testing apparatus, built for the express purpose of measuring someone''s stats.

    After following Eina and the very distracted Yolanda to another room, it turned out that what the Guild had prepared was the last of the possibilities Isaac had thought of. There were five different apparatuses situated in this room, which, according to Eina, could determine whether someone had reached the bare minimum of Level 2 in a specific stat. They had been built in collaboration with many crafting-focussed familia and had cost a fortune, so their functionality was guaranteed. If someone passed the threshold, a green light would activate, whereas if someone didn''t pass, a red light would flash ominously.

    The device to test one''s strength looked just like a punching bag. It worked just the way one would expect it to as well. If one punched it, the force of the impact would be measured. Once it surpassed a certain point, one would be recognized as a Level 2.

    It was significantly harder to test one''s endurance, therefore the apparatus to do so looked akin to a torture device. It would deal a certain amount of damage to an adventurer and if it was able to deal damage to them, they would fail.

    For dexterity, one had to solve a certain puzzle as quickly as possible, with no mistakes, whereas to test one''s agility, one had to be able to run on a treadmill-like device at a certain minimum speed. The magic stat was a lot easier to measure, as one only had to insert a little bit of one''s mana into a specialized and repurposed magic stone, until, yet again, a certain threshold was surpassed. Well, if someone couldn''t control their own mana, this test would be a problem.

    Thankfully, one didn''t have to go through all of these. To pass one of these tests was more than enough to prove one had ranked up. After all, one only had to reach a certain standard in a single stat to be eligible to do so. Still, because of the nature of the testing devices, if one didn''t focus on their endurance, one would pretty much never interact with that nightmare-inducing device, if one could help it.

    Still, this system was heavily flawed. After all, if one only had to reach the minimum amount of stats to be considered a certain Level, Isaac would surpass his peers by at least a Level very quickly, which would make the tests inaccurate. But to be honest, besides having a look at one''s Status, there wasn''t really any way to make one hundred percent sure, so Isaac didn''t fault them too much in his mind. What he did fault them for was the way they tested an adventurer''s dexterity. Solving a puzzle quickly and without mistakes might be a worthy test if one had already solved it in the past, but if one hadn''t, it was more of a test for the mind than the body.

    Without wasting any more time after all these explanations, Isaac walked up to the punching bag and gave it a casual swing. Just in case the devices could be damaged if he used too much strength, he only used the equivalent of 1500 stats in his punch, which would be the very maximum someone would be able to have if one ranked up after reaching the perceived stat ''limit''. The guild would have accounted for some adventurers being able to accomplish this, so their machines should be able to take it.

    Just as expected, Isaac easily passed the test, while the apparatus didn''t get damaged. While this might have been a cause for celebration for most dungeon advisors, Yolanda had a very conflicted expression on her face when Isaac''s claims were confirmed. The incongruity of the situation still left her baffled. She had been sure about his strength when they first met. How could someone grow that quickly?

    When Isaac, Tiona and Tione left the Pantheon a minute or two later, Eina could be seen taking Yolanda aside again, possibly to reprimand her a little for her unprofessional behaviour and to make sure she was okay. The last thing Isaac saw before they left was the slightly exasperated look on Yolanda''s face, which caused him to shake his head and sigh a little. If he had enough time to waste, he should have a nice and long talk with that advisor of his someday.

    While the group of three was waiting for the imminent arrival of his students, Isaac got teased by the Amazoness sisters about what had just happened. Normally, one didn''t attract that much attention at the Guild, so to actually cause a scene would certainly make him a little well-known there. Still, it wouldn''t make him famous or anything like that. Cases of people ranking up shortly after registering as adventurers weren''t exactly rare, as many people often already had some foundations before going into this kind of life. The more annoying part was that the two teased him about making a beauty lose her cool.

    As Isaac didn''t really want to listen to this anymore, he was glad when he saw his roommate''s bunny ears appear within the crowd. With a smile, he lead the twins towards his students, happy to be able to dodge having to talk about annoying topics any longer. He really wasn''t interested in his dungeon advisor, or any other girl besides AIs, for that matter.

    Jakk was a bit startled when he saw Isaac already here, waiting for them out in the open. His surprise became even bigger when he saw that he was accompanied by two of their familia''s executives. The original plan was to simply meet within the Guild''s training area, just like yesterday - but that had obviously changed.

    While most other young men would have blushed and become excited when seeing the scantily clad Amazoness sisters, Kalin didn''t show much of a reaction at all. For many years, he had entered the dungeon and came across vast numbers of Amazonesses on the way there and in the city. At some point, he simply got used to the sight and grew numb to it. As the two seemed to be somewhat close to his teacher, however, he paid a little bit more attention to them than he would a random passerby.

    Right next to him, there was someone who was blushing madly, however: Mina. Although she had been in Orario for a few days, she hadn''t encountered many Amazonesses yet, besides Yolanda, who was still appropriately dressed. Now that she saw Tiona and Tione, who wore little more than underwear, she couldn''t help but be baffled by their raunchy clothing choice. If Mina had ever dressed like that in public, her parents would have probably cried themselves to sleep¡­

    But after she saw Tiona wave at her and give her a wide grin, paired with Tione''s mature aura, Mina''s embarrassment lessened a little and she warmed up to the two, as they seemed to be nice people. She decided to not judge books by their cover and interact with them more first, before finalizing an opinion.

    It didn''t take long for everyone to finish their introductions, so Isaac finally had some time to explain the change in plans. He told his students about Riveria giving him ''bodyguards'', that they would train in one of the Twilight Manor''s courtyards today and about someone else, a young elf with the name Lefiya, henceforth joining them in their training. While he was talking, he also observed their surroundings a little and soon found Lulune paying attention to them, just as he expected. But as she wasn''t a threat, he promptly ignored her. If things continued like this, at least it would be pretty easy to get in contact with Hermes, should it ever be necessary.

    Being able to train in the Twilight Manor, the home of the prestigious Loki Familia, was something that made Kalin and Mina very excited. To have such an exceptional opportunity was cause for celebration, so their mood rose by a huge margin. A happy and relaxed smile could be seen on Kalin''s face, while Mina tried to keep her facial expression under control, so as to not embarrass herself in front of her lord. Still, her happily wagging tail betrayed her. As it was quite the amusing sight, it caused the corners of Isaac''s mouth to rise slightly.

    When the group of six arrived at the Twilight Manor, the two new faces earned a few intrigued looks from some Loki Familia members, who were currently passing through the area around the main entrance. As they had other things they had to deal with right now, though, they mostly just went on their way. There was one person who didn''t do so, however.

    A cute elf was nervously grasping her flowery staff, patiently waiting for Isaac''s return. Lefiya had been waiting here for about ten minutes already, as she had come to the entrance a little earlier, just to make sure to not miss him. When the group finally arrived, Lefiya showed a happy smile and quickly jogged closer to them. Before she could even welcome them back, however, a Tiona-shaped projectile had already collided with her and the bubbly Amazoness was happily hugging her and rubbing her cheek against Lefiya''s.

    "Awww~ You couldn''t wait for us to come back, could you? I missed you too!"

    The sudden intimate contact made Lefiya blush madly, even though it wasn''t exactly a rare occurrence. When she finally saw the two new faces, who she assumed to be Kalin and Mina, staring at her curiously, her head almost started producing steam. While she hid her face in a vain attempt to make the current situation less embarrassing, she ''suffered'' a little more under Tiona''s skinship, until Tione finally dragged her sister away from the short-circuited little elf.

    To try and get everything on the right track again, Isaac gave Lefiya a small smile, before addressing her.

    "I see you''ve been waiting for us, Lefiya. Thanks for going out of your way."

    This simultaneously introduced their new fellow student to Kalin and Mina, while making the adorable elf''s face radiate with a proud and happy smile. It was really easy to brighten up Lefiya''s day, as she was extremely receptive to praise.

    Once she had calmed down a little again, Lefiya finally had a chance to explain what she was doing here, although her purpose was pretty easy to guess.

    "I''m here to bring you, Jakk, Kalin and Mina to the courtyard reserved for our training. Because you haven''t been there yet, I''ll lead the way."

    Taking this as their cue to leave, Tiona and Tione said their goodbyes and walked to the direction of the women''s baths. This behaviour of not wanting to intrude on their training earned them an appreciative nod from Isaac, as he wasn''t too fond of uninvited guests sticking around during his training sessions.

    While Lefiya was leading the way through the vast grounds of the Twilight Manor, Kalin and Mina were more than a little stunned by the sights. The sheer extravagance of the place was impressive, as there were many beautiful buildings that they couldn''t even guess the purpose of. The gardens were impeccably maintained, with a few fountains sprinkled in between whenever the various small paths intersected. Even more than that, the high towers of the main buildings of the manor were simply breathtaking.

    Because Lefiya wasn''t treating her own home like a tourist attraction and simply led the group towards one of the many courtyards, this only gave the two stunned bumpkins a little over five minutes to sate their curiosity, at least for now.

    The courtyard they arrived at was pretty similar in layout to the training areas the Guild provided. Still, there were a few differences, which Lefiya happily elaborated on. Apparently, there were a few smaller magical formations responsible for sound-proofing and strengthening the structure. The sound-proofing was simply so other people wouldn''t get annoyed if someone produced very loud noises during their training. As for the strengthening, that was to deal with someone accidentally losing control over their attack and destroying the entire building. Especially during training, where people polished skills they hadn''t yet mastered, such things were prone to happen.

    Isaac had to admit that he was pretty interested in magical formations as well and would like to study them later, but for now, he had his students settle in and get themselves their respective wooden training weapons. He explained that he would only be gone for a few minutes to get Averin from his room, so the lazy bird could get integrated into the group and observe them again.

    A few minutes later, when Isaac came back with the rooster on his shoulder, he could already see Jakk and Kalin do practice swings in the back, trying to get some warm-ups in before their daily training. As for the two girls, Mina and Lefiya were sitting down, both blushing a little and shyly talking to each other. As both of them were rather bad at approaching others on their own, their amusing attempts at conversation were actually quite impressive.

    This little conversation came to a halt, however, when Isaac entered the courtyard with Averin. Immediately, Mina''s eyes fixated on the previously relaxed rooster, who couldn''t help but tense up. Then, way faster than one would have expected, the frail chienthrope girl grabbed her ''hug pillow'' and snuggled Averin happily, enjoying the fluffy sensation she had missed so much yesterday.

    Although he could have easily escaped such a fate, Averin was well aware that it wasn''t actually that bad to be held by the girl, so even though he wasn''t the biggest fan of it, he tolerated the situation. He made sure to complain a little under his breath, though.

    "If this is the fate of ''cute'' beings, I don''t want to be cute¡­"

    Now that everyone was gathered, Isaac had them all sit down in a circle again, while he explained that in two days, they would take a break from their usual dungeon delving and training sessions, as regular rest was a very important part of increasing one''s strength. Well, this didn''t apply to Isaac, as he didn''t build up sequelae in his muscles over time, but for normal people rest and recovery were paramount.

    He proceeded to tell them that on that day, his plans related to Mina and Kalin would come to fruition, which caused both of them to show a very excited expression, whereas Lefiya was just simply¡­ confused. She hadn''t been told anything about his plans, so she didn''t know what exactly he was talking about. As to where the group would meet up in two days, Isaac informed them that he would tell them tomorrow, after he had dealt with a few matters.

    Although Isaac had to get some sleep tonight, as his body would suffer a little if he didn''t, he had more than enough time to grind the last AP he needed for the ichor upgrade tomorrow night. When thinking about this, an excited smile played about his lips.

    Once the pre-training discussion was dealt with, the session began as usual. As it was her first time participating, Isaac focussed a lot on Lefiya, as his other students all already had a certain foundation they could build on. He only needed to show them a certain movement and attack and have them repeat it many, many times while regularly giving them tips and correcting their mistakes in execution. All in all, they could be left to their own devices for short periods of time, at least during the first half of the training.

    To start things off, Isaac had Lefiya attack him to properly gauge her current close combat skill. It turned out to be a little worse than expected, though, as she simply didn''t know what to do and threw very clumsy punches at him, reminding him of a young child. Even though Lefiya had many capable adventurers around her, she had never tried to observe and learn their skills, as it had never been expected of her.

    While the adorable elf was blushing heavily in shame with drooping ears and expected to be chided, Isaac didn''t mind her inexperience and simply decided to start from the very basics. One by one, he had her repeat a few simple punches, strikes and guard positions, hundreds of times. He was very patient and helped her to slowly perfect her execution, praising her whenever she got better and telling her whenever she made a mistake. This always kept the nervous elf motivated and enabled her make slow but steady progress.

    During the second half of the training, as usual, Isaac had all of his students spar with him, so he could pressure them into overcoming their limits. Also, this helped them to use their techniques in actual combat, which was a lot more helpful than just exchanging blows with an imaginary opponent and perfecting their form.

    Isaac didn''t show any noticeable leniency when attacking Lefiya, as he wanted to make her subconsciously respond with the correct guard position to deal with his attacks. Admittedly, it took her many, many tries until she finally even managed to pull off a single successful guard, but it was a step in the right direction. Lefiya was still very far away from actually being able to use her newly acquired basics in a true, potentially deadly combat scenario, but over time and after taking short breaks while watching her fellow students'' spars, she at least got proficient enough with the two guard positions she had learned today to respond to all of Isaac''s attacks correctly. The vast majority of people would have given up before then, as people usually hated to confront their own weaknesses.

    At around 4:30 p.m., today''s training session ended. As Lefiya had relatively horrible stamina, she was lying down on the ground, heavily breathing and drenched in sweat. She had a lot of bruises all over her body, although they weren''t anything too bad, as Isaac had only given her a slightly painful reminder every time her hit her, so as to make her learn from the pain. He didn''t ever hit her hard enough to actually reduce her combat power or to make her keep these slight bruises for longer than a day or two.

    Mina had proven that her potential was extraordinary again today, as she had shown an impressive increase in skill. While she was also very exhausted by the end, she only sat down for a moment and didn''t completely let go of herself, like Lefiya. As for Kalin, although he was a lot more experienced than Mina, his talent for combat simply wasn''t on her level. Still, by training with Isaac, he would be able to increase his combat skill seemingly without a limit as well.

    As for Jakk¡­ well, he was the biggest ''monster'' out of Isaac''s students. He did have a lot of experience and his learning speed was extremely quick. Coupling that with his edgy and originally antisocial behaviour and the dense, pathetic behaviour when it came to his love interest, Isaac couldn''t help but think that the young hume bunny was somewhat reminiscent of a ''protagonist''. Although that might have been a slight exaggeration, Isaac was sure the boy would turn into someone influential later, if he didn''t get snuffed out too early. Still, it would take Jakk a long time to polish his combat capabilities to a level where he could steamroll opponents of slightly higher stats.

    All in all, it was yet another productive day. Shortly after the training finished, Kalin and Mina left the Twilight Manor for the respective inns they were staying at. Tomorrow morning, they would meet up with Jakk as usual. Still, the situation was anything but ideal. While they were living far away, they were in quite a bit of danger. To deal with this problem, Isaac had already planned to talk to Riveria about a few things during their scheduled meeting in a couple of minutes.

    As Lefiya and Jakk had already gone to their respective bathrooms, Isaac decided to take a quick shower and clean his equipment before he met up with Riveria.

    Exactly at 5 p.m., he knocked on the door to her study.

    "Enter."

 Chapter 30 - One Drop At A Time

    Riveria taught Isaac a great deal about how he would have to behave during the expedition. For more than an hour, he patiently listened to the normally a lot more taciturn elf''s explanations.

    Honestly, most of the information he got were the very basics of the basics. As long as he diligently followed the orders he would be given and did his best, he would be perfectly fine. Although he wouldn''t get to personally fight against the monsters the expedition would encounter on its way towards the deep floors, at least in most circ.u.mstances, he would still be able to gain valuable insight into how other adventurers dealt with them as well as into the general layout and environmental hazards of the dungeon itself.

    As he had been aware of most of the things Riveria told him, most of his time spent in her study didn''t feel particularly productive. Still, the sheer amount of effort the elven beauty put into making sure he was aware of all the possible dangers he could face during the expedition made Isaac show a rare, genuine smile when he thought about this part of the conversation in private later.

    At the end of this part of their discussion, it was decided that he would have to meet up with the group of supporters, led by Line Arshe, within the next three days to get to know the people he would be working with and to be assigned his specific post. Depending on what the senior supporters would determine, he would have to either help with the wagons or to carry a lot of heavy backpacks.

    Admittedly, Isaac didn''t ''need'' to go on this expedition. It wasn''t necessary for his strength to grow. In fact, it would even hold him back, more than a little. Then why was he going? Because he wanted to. Ever since he had read the DanMachi novels, he had wanted to participate in an expedition, just to experience it once. Additionally, Ais would be going as well. That alone would have been reason enough for Isaac to go.

    Before he left Riveria''s study, Isaac didn''t forget to consult the wise elf about whether there were any safe places Kalin and Mina could stay at in the future. Because he had already explained that he didn''t plan for them to join the Loki Familia, Riveria couldn''t allow the two to simply live with the others at the Twilight Manor, even though that would be the safest option available. Instead, akin to a seasoned realtor, she introduced him to some promising property.

    Although the main manor wasn''t an option, there were a huge number of other, smaller buildings that were part of the Twilight Manor complex and therefore protected by the same magical formation. Because there were only a few hundred members in the familia and the grounds could easily house thousands, the vast majority of these buildings were empty. Therefore, Isaac could rent one of them to house his students. The rent wouldn''t be cheap, though, at 50.000 valis per day.

    While that might have seemed like a ridiculously high price in the past, Isaac could easily afford such expenditures nowadays. More importantly, the rent was mostly just a formality. After all, a familia couldn''t just let outsiders live under their own roof and offer protection without getting compensated for their troubles. Otherwise, the number of people who would want to enjoy their free service would be ridiculously high. Still, the aforementioned offer was an exception. Not everyone would be allowed to rent part of the manor grounds.

    Another point Isaac was made aware of was the status Kalin and Mina would enjoy while living at the house he would rent. The formation protecting the manor grounds would classify them as ''guests'', which would put them in the same position Isaac had been in when he first came here. Although he had been able to enter the main manor without a problem, as he had been accompanying an Executive like Ais, Isaac''s students wouldn''t enjoy these privileges. A vast majority of the manor''s grounds would be off limits to them, the formation itself barring their entry if they weren''t in the company of a Loki Familia member. Such company was also required if they wanted to leave the Twilight Manor again.

    Now, while that might seem excessive at first glance, it was actually very reasonable. Even most familia members had restrictions placed upon exactly when they were allowed to leave, so simple guests certainly wouldn''t be in a better position. Such relatively strict regulations also ensured that guests wouldn''t be able to steal from the manor or get away with most other crimes. At least not without notice. Additionally, familia secrets would be strictly guarded, as simple guests wouldn''t even be able to approach areas containing more sensitive information.

    By the time he left Riveria''s study, Isaac truly felt a little exhausted from the excessive amount of information he had been bombarded with. If it had all been stuff he hadn''t known, that would have been something to celebrate. But as it had mostly been things he was very well aware of¡­

    Thankfully, he was easily able to relax by spending time with Ais and her friends. Admittedly, the latter hadn''t really been necessary, as they just exhausted him a bit more, but at least today''s dinner had a relatively calm atmosphere, with not many people paying attention to him.

    At around 8:30 p.m., Isaac found himself staring up at his dorm room''s ceiling distractedly. He had already parted with Ais for the night and because Jakk had entered the dungeon for some pre-sleep training an hour or so earlier, he was all alone¡­ well, if he ignored the lazily snoring Averin.

    It would be a lie to say that Isaac wasn''t weirded out by Averin''s behaviour by now. If it had only persisted for a day or two, he would have just categorized it as a simple quirk of this subordinate of his. But the sheer lack of energy and sleepiness ever since the rooster hadn''t been able to enter the dungeon for a few days was more than just suspicious. Even though there didn''t seem to be any danger to his life so far, Averin did spend less and less time actually awake, so Isaac decided that he would take him with him during tomorrow''s nightly AP grind. There was no chance the two of them could be observed by others during that time and it would help Isaac validate some of his theories.

    Even after thinking about Averin''s apparent problem for a short while, there were still a few hours left until Isaac actually had to get some sleep. To avoid getting bored and wasting time, he finally decided to start his research related to this world''s magic. Or to be more accurate, the energy which this world''s magic system used: mana.

    Ever since he had gotten the falna and started to acc.u.mulate excelia, he had noticed an intangible energy acc.u.mulating in his body. Strangely enough, it didn''t seem to have any physical presence whatsoever, as Isaac couldn''t detect its location when concentrating on even the most miniscule parts of his body. He was honestly a little perplexed by this, as many of the worlds he had thought about visiting in the future had their respective energy literally flow within the bodies of their inhabitants. The DanMachi world, however, didn''t seem to follow this trend. There were no magic circuits, no meridians, nothing he had ever read about.

    Because Isaac originated from a world wholly without ''fantastical'' elements or an energy like mana, grasping how to even interact with it and locate it within his body proved to be a tough hurdle. For an entire hour, Isaac had been closing his eyes and trying to understand the concept, mentally experimenting. His penultimate experimental trial involved scouring his own soul for any sign of the mana, which also turned out to be a dead end. Of course, nothing in this world would be even remotely able to affect his transcendent soul. He had known that from the start, yet he still thought it was worth to at least check.

    Thankfully, this finally gave him a push in the right direction. Because his soul could be considered another ''layer'' of his being, Isaac tried to see whether any new layers had been added to his physical body. To his surprise and delight, there was indeed a new one.

    In his old world, there had only been the physical body, a single layer. But here in the world of DanMachi, for some reason, a layer beyond his physical body, which completely overlapped with it, existed as well. Around the chest area of this second layer, there was a completely stagnant ''lake'' of mana, waiting for him to interact with it. Frustratingly, as it had no physical form, Isaac wasn''t accustomed to controlling this part of himself whatsoever.

    As he didn''t want to ''cheat'' and brute-force this problem with the power of his transcendent soul, Isaac just relied on his current physical and mental capabilities. The latter were quite restricted by the former, as, well, he had a brain. While that might sound weird at first, one had to take into account that Isaac hadn''t been restricted to the computing power of a brain while in his soul state, therefore just having a brain again was already quite the handicap. Amusingly, the very magic stat that caused mana to acc.u.mulate in Isaac''s body''s second layer also further refined his brain and nervous system, so he was now capable of vastly superior feats of mental gymnastics compared to his original world''s self.

    Over the next half an hour, Isaac started to lament that he didn''t have a single Magic skill, or spell, in his Status. If he had one, he would only have to recite the respective chant and observe the changes the mana in his second layer would undergo. By emulating that, he could easily learn how to control it without the spell as a trigger.

    Still, after trying a plethora of different approaches and continually increasing focus, the stagnant lake finally showed a few ripples, before a single ''drop'' of mana started to extricate itself from it. Without letting the momentary happiness rattle his mind, Isaac continued to concentrate. Very slowly, the drop followed along invisible ''channels'' that Isaac hadn''t been able to perceive previously. After it had finished cycling through his second layer once completely, Isaac opened his now slightly bloodshot eyes, panting and sweating heavily.

    He had been wrong about his initial assumption. DanMachi''s mana was very similarly to what had been portrayed in the cultivation novels he had read previously. Still, the amount of focus needed to even move a miniscule part of this new energy was maddening. If he hadn''t already reached Level 2, Isaac was sure he would be nursing a strong headache right about now.

    Nonetheless, a confident glint appeared in his eyes, as he slowly recovered from the exhaustion. Now that he had taken the important first step, there wasn''t really anything that could prevent him from unceasingly climbing higher and higher. Sure, he would most likely have to put in a ridiculous amount of effort, but so what? Although he had been ''blessed'' with an unnatural amount of intelligence when he was born, Isaac had never been particularly talented at anything. In fact, he only advanced quickly because of the inordinate amount of effort he put into all of his research. Even when he wasn''t really interested in something, he would still focus all of his attention on it and spend all of his available time on it, until he arrived at the goal he had set for himself.

    Now that he finally had a chance to research something fantastical, something he had given up on in his original world, as it simply didn''t exist, a certain fervor could be seen in Isaac''s eyes. Even Ais, who had seen him show the largest amount of genuine emotions and expressions ever since coming here, would be very surprised if she saw his current state.

    Like a starved man eyeing an all-you-can-eat buffet in the middle of a desert, Isaac began to cackle happily, while he really had to hold himself back from drooling. Before he had taken his first step in controlling this new energy, he was able to easily put the research off for later. But now that he had his first taste of something that could potentially be something he was truly interested in? There was no way he would let simple mental exhaustion restrict him.

    Although he only had a little more than half an hour before he needed to sleep, that time was plenty. Slowly but surely, nursing a continuously worsening headache, Isaac moved two, three, then four drops of mana at once along the invisible channels of the layer he now called his ''mental body''. The speed at which he was able to circulate the mana also slowly started to pick up, filling him with an unfamiliar, incorporeal warmth, which he had never felt before.

    Even after Isaac simply fainted a few seconds after he hit the thirty minute mark, the broad grin on his face didn''t lessen. The vast majority of his mattress was completely drenched in sweat and a few drops of blood had dripped out of his nose thanks to the extreme headache. If anyone had nothing better to do than to open his eyelids now, they would be shocked to see that his sclera was almost entirely red from being bloodshot.

    The last mana drops circulation Isaac had completed was with 15 drops. With every single drop representing a single one of his magic stat points, that meant he was only able to control an extremely small amount of it, less than one percent. Nonetheless, it was a first step, so even when his unconscious mind was plagued with headache-induced nightmares, Isaac''s smile didn''t fade for a single second.

    -----

    The dungeon''s 19th floor was still part of the middle floors, although it was part of a new section stretching from the 19th to the 24th floor, called the ''Large Tree Labyrinth''. All of the dungeon''s surfaces, which on previous floors had been made from different kinds of stone, were now made from wood, making it seem as if one was inside of an enormous tree. Compared to the floors leading up to the 18th floor, this one was a lot more spacious, with caverns hundreds of meters large. It wasn''t easier to navigate than previous floors, though, as the paths connecting these caverns got even more confusing and seemingly random. There were lots of trees growing everywhere, giving monsters plenty of hiding places and further confusing unprepared adventurers. The lighting of the floor was provided by phosphorescent moss this time around, which shone in a slightly dim, blue light.

    According to what Isaac had been told on the way here, the monsters on these floors were almost all poisonous, so it was highly recommended to have the ''Abnormal Resistance'' Development Ability. Because he was absolutely sure that monsters on these floors wouldn''t even be able to scratch him, Isaac decided that he didn''t need to worry about this. But even if he, for some inexplicable reason, was actually harmed here, he was sure that his system would simply allow him to purge the poison immediately. Just like when it had informed him about Loki''s blessing and the invasion of her ichor, he would be presented with a choice.

    This morning, Isaac had gotten a little bit of an unpleasant surprise, although he had been somewhat expecting this development. Even though it was still early when he wanted to make his way to the dungeon, around 5:30 a.m., both Tiona and Tione were already up and waiting for him. According to their words, Riveria had told them to keep protecting him every single day for now, until he wasn''t in danger anymore. Because Ais was only allowed to enter the dungeon relatively rarely, as she had a habit of going out of control very easily in the past, making it hard for anyone to drag her back home again, she had to follow strict rules to forcefully get enough physical and mental rest.

    While he truly appreciated Riveria''s kind intentions, as simply giving him free bodyguards wasn''t a bad deal by any means, Isaac was a little bit annoyed about his bodyguards being the two Amazonesses. Tione wasn''t a problem, but Tiona was. She had gotten excited too easily when he conducted his monster species research, which really wasn''t something he wanted to deal with. He had originally planned to dive into new floors today but he almost decided against that when he saw who he was stuck with for the foreseeable future.

    Thankfully, he wasn''t alone with Tiona, so there was an easy solution for the troubles he feared he could face.

    By the time the group of three had reached the 19th floor, it was already 8 a.m.. After taking a short few moments to familiarize himself with the new environment, Isaac swiftly focussed his gaze upon the nearest monster. Before he hurried off, however, he left behind a few words, directed at the elder of the Amazoness twins.

    "If Tiona loses control, please help her snap out of it."

    This was the compromise the three had agreed upon on their way here. Even the feisty Amazoness was well aware of how disruptive and inappropriate her behaviour could be if she lost control of her instincts. So after Isaac had politely asked her to restrain herself and let him fight in peace, Tiona had assured him he wouldn''t have to worry. Still, only a fool would enter a battle without a back-up plan. That''s where Tione came into play.

    Now that Isaac was already charging at his first test subject, however, he didn''t have time to think about such relatively inconsequential matters any longer. What he had set his predatory gaze upon was an almost two meter tall black beetle walking on two legs. It was called ''mad beetle'' and primarily attacked with its sharp mandibles, uncharacteristically strong arms and the sheer weight contained in its carapace, which it used to ram others with. Just like every monster that appeared on this floor, it was a Level 2 monster, with its stats reaching up to G-250, which equaled 1850 Level 1 stat points.

    While it was a little amusing how an insect of pretty basic and boring design was even stronger than monsters based on the mythological creature that was the Minotaur, it truly didn''t pose any challenge whatsoever to the Level 2 Isaac. Its stats were so low that he wouldn''t even gain any excelia from slaying the monster. Still, just like always, he dutifully researched the new species without a hurry. Of course, he blissfully ignored how in the distance, Tiona''s breathing had gotten a little bit rougher when she saw him brutalizing the poor arthropod.

    According to what Tione had told him on the way here, there were five other monster species that could be found on this floor, although one of them was extremely rare, so Isaac didn''t bank on running across that one anytime soon.

    The second species that got blessed with a thorough scientific examination today was the bugbear. Its body looked pretty similar to a minotaur''s, even though its humanoid form had even more impressive muscles. But instead of a bull''s head, it sported a bear''s one, while its fur was a lot thicker. With its stats reaching up to F-300, aka 1950, it wasn''t much of a threat. To Isaac''s delight, however, it recovered from injuries extremely quickly, which enabled him to complete his research on the species while requiring a lot less specimens.

    As for the third species, they could practically only be encountered in groups - the lizardmen. Although their stats were the same as the mad beetles'', G-250 / 1850, with four or more of them acting at once, they posed a significantly higher threat to normal adventurers. They had glistening red scales and, as was quite common by now, a humanoid body. Still, they didn''t wear any armour and only used very basic weapons made from the surrounding wood. Of course, the monster spawn rate on this floor was ridiculous, so it was quite hard to only attract the attention of a single monster or group of monsters at once. During Isaac''s research, he often attracted many other monsters that had heard their comrades'' screams of pain and terror.

    The species that had interrupted his research the most often was the gun libellula. It looked just like a huge dragonfly and although it was ''only'' about half a meter long, it was the most annoying enemy on this floor, by far. It shot projectiles that looked very similar to needles out of its abdomen from a safe distance, which could easily poison an adventurer or even take their life if they weren''t careful. They weren''t much of a threat because their stats only reached up to F-300 / 1950, but Isaac didn''t look kindly upon fools who would dare to make his research last a little longer. Needless to say, they were put through even more thorough examinations by the time he was done with his other experimental subjects.

    There was another, albeit quite a bit rarer, flying monster on this floor, the firebird. As one would expect from such a genius name, it was¡­ simply a red-feathered bird that was able to shoot flames from its beak. Sure, it was almost a meter tall, with a wingspan of more than three meters, but it really was just what Isaac had expected when he first heard the name. No surprise whatsoever. Honestly, Isaac truly looked forward to exploring parts of the dungeon that weren''t explored yet and discovering unknown monster species. That way, he could name them himself. While he didn''t have the most confidence in his naming sense, he was sure he could come up with slightly better ones than whichever unimaginative adventurer had stumbled across almost every single monster he had encountered in the dungeon so far.

    As a side-note, the rare firebird''s stats reached up to F-350 / 2050 and actually gave Isaac an extremely small amount of excelia. He couldn''t help having a contented smile play on his lips when he finally earned a single stat point after reaching Level 2.

    The last new monster species on this floor was quite common, but truly imposing nonetheless. Although its name, mammoth fool, didn''t sound very imposing or ingenious, it was fitting. The about seven meter tall, red-furred mammoths were even more dimwitted than a simple goblin. They were probably the most unintelligent creatures Isaac had encountered ever since coming to this world. He had a hard time imagining a seasoned adventurer losing their life to such simpletons. Still, as mammoths had been an extinct species in his original world, Isaac could at least appreciate their imposing looks and dangerous, spear-like ivory tusks. Their high endurance stat of F-350 / 2050 was completely wasted on the seemingly brainless monsters, though.

    When Isaac finally finished his monster species research on this floor, he was honestly impressed with Tiona. Although she had gotten progressively more excited the longer she saw him battling, moving about in the chessboard-like world she couldn''t comprehend, the chipper Amazoness hadn''t charged at him again. Although he had been researching monsters for almost two hours, she hadn''t become a problem. By releasing her acc.u.mulated excitement by beating up ''innocent'' monsters every now and then, Tiona stayed remarkably calm. Now that he had confirmed that he could place more trust in her in the future, Isaac gave her an appreciative nod, before he charged ahead again, instantly slaying any monster he came across. Only the flying monsters took a few seconds longer to deal with, because of their vastly superior maneuverability.

    As he had no need to hold himself back any longer, Isaac quickly made his way through multiple caverns and pathways, until, ten minutes later, he finally found a staircase leading further into the depths. Considering that it would take him almost fifty minutes to get here from the entrance of the 19th floor, he showed a solemn expression. If he continued like this, he would only be able to probe into the next floor for less than half an hour before having to turn back to make it to the surface in time to teach his students. The increased floor sizes really started to show at this point.

    Thinking about a system feature he hadn''t used until now, Isaac looked at the Amazoness twins with a deeply contemplative look on his face.

    ''There is no risk. It''s time to use it.''

 Chapter 31 - Moving On

    In a remote corner of the dungeon''s second floor, Kalin was gripping his spear nervously. As his palms were a lot more sweaty than normal, he feared he would drop this old companion of his if he got distracted. He was uncharacteristically pale and the rhythm of his breathing had turned irregular, while his emerald green eyes reflected the cause of his current state - a dungeon lizard.

    Ever since his father''s death, he hadn''t fought against one of the two meter long lizards on his own. While Isaac, Jakk and even Mina had slain them, he hadn''t felt ready to face one himself. Today, even though he was undoubtedly still afraid, Kalin had decided he would finally face his trauma and get his revenge.

    A heavy gulping sound escaped his throat when the reptilian eyes of the lizard contracted slightly. Identifying this as an opening, it quickly charged at him, its vicious maw wide open, ready to tear him apart the moment he made a mistake.

    When there was only a distance of one and a half meters separating the two, a gap the monster could cross in but a short moment, Kalin hastily dodged aside, slicing open the lizard''s hide with the tip of his spear in passing. But instead of paying attention to the pained and enraged roars of his opponent, Kalin''s eyes opened comically wide, while only a single thought popped into his mind.

    ''... so slow!''

    While training with his benefactor and fellow students, it oftentimes was very hard for Kalin to follow their attacks with his eyes. He had to let instinct and muscle memory do most of the heavy lifting if he wanted to gain any significant advantages in their spars. He hadn''t noticed it much previously, as his stats, even without a falna, hadn''t been much lower than a kobold''s to begin with, thanks to many years of tough exercise. But now that he was facing a monster just like the one that had devoured his father, a monster that had become his nightmare¡­ it was a lot less threatening than in his dreams.

    Even though there had only been one clash, Kalin could already think of more than thirty ways to end the overgrown lizard''s life with ease, without even getting a single scratch. Upon that realization, the moment the injured lizard turned to face him again, hatred burning in its eyes, a wry smile spread across his face.

    With newfound resolve, the grip on his spear relaxed, while he slightly lowered his upper body and bent his knees. This time, before the lizard had the opportunity to charge, Kalin shot out of his slightly lowered stance. As he had expected, this prompted his target to lunge at him in response once he was about a meter away from it.

    In a single motion, Kalin slightly slid to the right and stabbed out with his spear at an angle he had predetermined, slightly upwards. Not even a second later, his spear''s tip pierced through the lizard''s left eye and its brain, until it hit the tough bone making up the back of its skull. At this moment, the full force of the lizard''s lunge came crashing down upon Kalin''s spear, so he stepped backwards, while also redirecting the force by pulling back his spear''s tip, pointing it downwards conforming with the lizard''s descent.

    A loud crashing noise resounded, before just a few centimeters before him, the now unresponsive body came to a halt, his spear still sticking out of its eye socket. Even though he had changed the grip on the shaft as best as he could, his left hand now situated very close to the tip, Kalin hadn''t been able to execute this maneuver flawlessly. His palms pulsed in pain, while his wrists felt a bit strained, because he hadn''t been able to redirect the initial impact.

    Still, all of this mattered little compared to the fact that the monster that had haunted his dreams now lay at his feet, slain.

    Out of the corner of his eye, Kalin noticed the strongest of his fellow party members, Jakk, visibly relaxing. For the entire duration of this fight, he had been ready to jump in and rescue Kalin, should he ever be in real danger. Thankfully, that hadn''t been necessary.

    "Well done."

    Although they were only a few curt words, the approving nod the hume bunny youth gave him was enough to make Kalin break out into a happy grin. The last member of his current party, the beautiful chienthrope girl Mina, didn''t take long to join in on the jubilant atmosphere either. Showing a bright smile on her face, she gave him a round of applause.

    "Awesome! You finally did it!"

    A short while later, when the moment of triumph had passed, Kalin collected the magic stone from the dungeon lizard''s body and watched it disappear without a trace as it turned to ashes.

    With a now relieved smile on his face, Kalin closed his eyes and gently grabbed the memento of his father, the pendant with an unremarkable stone ring. He couldn''t be entirely sure of it, but for a brief moment, he thought he felt a heartbeat from the ring. Whether that was because of his palms, which were still pulsating in pain, or just a product of his imagination, he couldn''t tell. Still, it didn''t distract him for very long, as his thoughts transformed into a kaleidoscope made up of memories of his father.

    ''Rest in peace, father.''

    In response to his silent prayer, one of the memories became more prominent. It wasn''t anything extraordinary, just his father looking at him with a gentle and proud smile. Still, Kalin had to try really hard not to choke up from the comforting warmth spreading in his chest.

    "We''re already here? Ahaha, that''s amazing!"

    An unrestrained and cheerful exclamation suddenly snapped Kalin out of his thoughts before he had a chance to break down into tears. It came from one of the tunnels connecting to the cavern his party was currently located in.

    Even though all of them had gotten into a combat ready stance in response to the unexpected arrival, they nigh immediately relaxed once they realized that they were already familiar with this voice. Seconds later, their suspicions were confirmed as a lively Tiona entered the cavern, skipping around ahead of Isaac and Tione, who came into view shortly thereafter.

    -----

    Prior to his exploration of the 20th floor, Isaac had taken a few minutes to discuss something with the Amazoness twins.

    As he had a way to teleport pretty much wherever he wanted, as long as it was part of his system map, enabling him to reduce travel time for a moderate amount of AP, he wanted to make use of it. Still, he couldn''t just suddenly disappear from here and leave the girls behind. They would just freak out and search for him, fearing for his safety. So if he wanted to make use of the teleportation feature, he had to either explain the situation to them beforehand and disappear on his own, or do the same and take them with him for a negligible amount of AP.

    Before he had decided that he would tell the twins about this part of his capabilities, he had already evaluated whether or not it was worth the risk. The two of them seemed to be trustworthy and thought of him as a friend - although Tiona might like him a little more than that, if Isaac''s apprehensions turned out to be true. Therefore, it was quite unlikely that they would tell other people about his secrets. But even if they accidentally slipped up or turned out not to be trustworthy after all, that wouldn''t really be much of a problem. He could pass it off as a skill or magic and would only have to convince Loki to join him for the charade.

    But even if he didn''t do that, what would actually happen? People would show an interest in him, some gods might try to get their hands on him, et cetera. So... nothing out of the ordinary. Even if he got more stalkers and people made more trouble for him, that wasn''t really something he feared. He could simply teleport away or blur his existence whenever he was in danger. And even if he encountered someone fast enough to transcend his reaction speed, someone who immediately went all out and managed to kill him, so what? Besides the pain he would feel, death wouldn''t really have any impact. His soul wasn''t part of this world''s reincarnation cycle and this current body wasn''t anything more than an avatar of his soul. Making a new one or even fully restoring the old one was surely something the system was capable of. And even if it wasn''t, he could just do it himself. If he still had control over even just a single cell of his, given enough time, Isaac was confident he could recover to peak shape. He never had the chance to try it before, but now that the cycle of life and death wasn''t something he had to worry about anymore, it most likely wouldn''t prove to be too difficult.

    Sure, all of this worst case scenario would be a hassle if it came to pass, but the thought of fruitlessly wasting time was even more annoying to him.

    With all of his admittedly pointless worries out of the way, Isaac had both Amazonesses promise to keep what he was going to tell them a secret. Then, after a short explanation of the system''s teleportation feature, he left the baffled sisters to their own thoughts and searched for more new monster species to research.

    On the 20th floor, the bugbear and firebird got replaced by two new kinds of monsters: the sword stag and the troll.

    The sword stag, as the name implied, was simply a larger stag whose antlers were akin to curved swords. Its highest stat was its Agility, which could reach up to E-400 / 2150, but as that was still below Isaac''s current stats, it was all too easily dealt with.

    As for the trolls, they were grey-skinned humanoid monsters that stood a little short of two meters tall. They were armed with various weapons made from the surrounding trees and couldn''t be encountered in groups less than three, no matter how hard Isaac looked. Back in his old world''s myths, trolls were known for their toughness and uncanny recovery ability. It came as no surprise, that this world''s version''s highest stat was their Endurance, at E-450 / 2250. Additionally, they recovered from most wounds in a matter of seconds, which dragged out Isaac''s research a little bit, as he had to continually wound them to study their reactions to his movements while either in specific amounts of pain or with certain injuries. Thankfully, this species left him with a handful of excelia, as their stats were about even.

    After almost one and a half hours of exploring this new floor, Isaac told Tiona and Tione that he wanted to teleport, so they both got close to him, as he couldn''t bring anyone outside of a five meter range from him along for the ride. He had made sure to explain that detail during their previous discussion. While he was patiently ignoring Tiona, who didn''t seem to understand the concept of personal space, Isaac checked his system map, searched for his subordinate, Mina, and created a marker near her current position.

    For the small fee of 12 AP, the group of three had found themselves in a completely different part of the dungeon. There was no transition or observable phenomenon - the teleportation was instant. Only the change in their environment made the two Amazonesses realize what had happened.

    -----

    By the time the group left the dungeon, it was almost 12 p.m.. As Isaac had already asked his students whether or not they wanted to move into the residence he had prepared for them and explained why it would be a good idea to do so, Kalin swiftly led the way down the western main street and through a few connecting alleys, until they arrived at a small but homely inn called Gorval''s Pub.

    For as long as Kalin could remember, he and his father had rented a room here. Even the grumpy old innkeeper the establishment was named after treated him warmly, as he had seen him grow up into a fine young man over the years. Now, it was finally time to leave this shelter and step on a path of his own choosing.

    Whether or not he should follow Isaac''s advice hadn''t been a hard decision. Kalin had already lost his only family member and while he did have a few friends around these parts of town, it wasn''t like he would never be able to see them again. The most important reason for his decision, however, had been the wish he had fostered ever since he was a young boy.

    Whenever he saw his father working hard so they could have a place to stay for yet another day, Kalin felt a burning desire to become stronger, so he could help shoulder some of this burden. Now that he was all alone, this desire didn''t fade. While it had been replaced with a yearning for revenge for a time, the wish to become stronger so he could one day provide for his family stayed with him all the while. Sure, he might not have a family now, but what about the future? If he only worked on his strength then, he would have wasted all of the years prior to that. Additionally, if he got stronger, he could deal with some of the annoying problems his benefactor seemed to attract¡­

    Because they had never owned a home of their own, Kalin''s family didn''t have much to their name, just some pieces of clothing, a few weapons, various trinkets, memorabilia and odds and ends, a few valis and some backpacks, bags, pouches and blankets. He could easily fit all of this into the backpacks. Thankfully, he didn''t have to carry this c.u.mbersome load on his own, as Jakk and Isaac both unsolicitedly grabbed two backpacks each to help him out.

    Showing an appreciative smile to these relatively new friends of his, Kalin got ready to say his goodbyes to old man Gorval. At the same time, a long overdue system notification appeared in Isaac''s field of view.

    [ Kalin Myre considers you a friend.

    Quest ''Make eight friends.'' completed. 800 AP rewarded. ]

    This brought Isaac''s AP up to 9677, extremely close to his current goal. Still, it made him feel a little baffled that his student only thought of him as a friend now that he actually helped him out on such a minor matter. Had his behaviour really been that off-putting before?

    ''I thought I was being pretty nice¡­''

    Little did Isaac know that the actual reason for the late appearance of this notification had been Kalin''s mindset. He had been too focussed on his trauma and his previously repressed thirst for vengeance to really think of the new people in his life as friends. While he had already been very friendly to them before, Kalin''s interactions became a lot more genuine from today onwards.

    When it came time for Mina to collect her own belongings, it didn''t take long. Besides the clothing she had worn when she came to Orario, a few pouches and the valis she had earned over the past few days, she didn''t have anything. But the young chienthrope didn''t let that dishearten her much, even when she inadvertently compared her own possessions with her companion''s. Her ears and tail did droop a little bit more, though, losing a smidgen of their usual energy.

    Once the group arrived at the Twilight Manor, Tiona and Tione bade their farewell for the day, while an excited Lefiya took their place. Judging from the way she walked, she still seemed to be sore from yesterday. Impressively, however, she didn''t mention this even once while she led the way to the relatively small abode Isaac had rented for his students.

    It honestly wasn''t very majestic compared to the other extravagant parts of the manor grounds, but it was enough to live in comfortably. The two-story building was made of stone bricks and various types of wood, while it provided enough rooms to house at least four people in. Although stronger adventurers were mostly resistant to the slightly lower temperatures during winter and it didn''t snow all too often here in Orario, as evidenced by the fact that it hadn''t snowed even once since Isaac came here, the building had a fireplace. Firewood wasn''t very expensive, so the Loki Familia had stocked up on a lot of it. Access to it was also included in the rent he had to pay, so his two students wouldn''t have to catch a cold in their sleep.

    Seeing how many unoccupied rooms there were, Isaac decided to relocate Averin''s living quarters to this new base of operations as well. This way, he would finally have regained full ownership of his bed. As for the aforementioned rent, he had already paid four weeks'' worth, 1.400.000 valis, to the dutiful Rakta, who had been awake and at her post since 5 a.m.. Of course, he had also given her five percent of his earnings ever since he became Level 2, which amounted to a relatively negligible sum of 44.378 valis. But even with these expenses taken into account, Isaac currently had a little more than 5 million valis...

    Under Lefiya''s instructions, it didn''t take too long for Kalin and Mina to settle in and get taught about the various restrictions and perks of their current home. Because of this, the daily training session started at around 13:40 p.m., quite a bit later than usual.

    -----

    In a secluded courtyard, a golden haired girl of almost ethereal beauty was working up a sweat. Her sword cut through the air at speeds faster than the n.a.k.e.d eye could recognize, yet there was an unhappy frown on her face.

    Even though what she fought was just an imaginary opponent, Ais wasn''t satisfied with how her training was going. Today, she had focussed on polishing her actual swordsmanship, something she often neglected due to relying mostly on her extreme speed. But ever since she had seen Isaac deal with his enemies with overwhelming skill instead of relying on pure stats, she had wanted to refine her own skills as well. Admittedly, she had improved a lot, so much that her Swordsman Development Ability had risen from H-rank all the way to F-rank. But still, it wasn''t enough. Not even close to enough!

    After a while, Ais finally noticed her acc.u.mulated exhaustion and decided to end today''s training. With an unhappy sigh, she sheathed her sword and turned to look at an empty spot just a few meters away. The moment she did, Isaac suddenly appeared there after having unblurred his existence.

    The first time he had picked her up after her training, Ais was quite startled when he popped up out of the blue. That had also been the time when Isaac had told her about his ability to blur his existence. According to his words, he hadn''t wanted to distract her with his presence, so he had patiently waited for her to finish, which was something she was grateful for. Because he had appeared at that same spot a few times already, Ais now proactively looked there whenever she finished her training in the early evening.

    What made Ais even more grateful and brought a small blush to her face was the velvety-soft towel Isaac handed to her. After he had finished training his students for the day, he had gotten it from one of the familia''s bathrooms.

    "Thank you."

    With a grateful and somewhat sheepish smile on her face, Ais wiped away the sweat from her face. Even though it wasn''t the first time he had seen her react in such a manner, Isaac couldn''t help his cheeks heating up a little as well, while he patiently waited for Ais to finish.

    For a few days now, the two had walked back to the main manor hand in hand after their respective training regimens had finished. They freshened up by taking a bath or showering in their respective bathrooms and then went to the canteen to eat dinner.

    -----

    Later that evening, Isaac had stolen outside of the manor again to resume his AP grinding and dungeon exploration. This time, he also took the previously almost permanently sleepy Averin with him. It hadn''t been much of a problem to blur the rooster''s existence as well, so the two easily cleared the formation protecting and monitoring the Twilight Manor.

    By the time they arrived in the dungeon, Averin suddenly got a lot more energetic, which confirmed Isaac''s suspicions. A minute or so later, when he got far enough away from other adventurers, he let the rooster reclaim his position on his shoulder. Admittedly, it was quite nice to have a talkative companion along for this repetitive task. As for why exactly the rooster''s vitality seemed to be linked to the dungeon, that could be further investigated once Isaac got the ichor upgrade, which should open a lot of new doors for the future.

    In less than an hour, Isaac finished mapping out the rest of the second floor and continued onwards to the third one. His first goal after starting to map a new floor was, as before, to check whether or not the manmade labyrinth connected to it as well, which it unsurprisingly did. There was no suspense, no surprise - the secret door was right where he had expected it to be.

    Just a few minutes after he had made sure of this, a welcome system notification interrupted his routine.

    [ You have killed 7000 Level 1 monsters.

    Quest ''Kill 7000 Level 1 monsters.'' completed. 700 AP rewarded. ]

    A contented smirk played across Isaac''s lips.

 Chapter 32 - Divine Blood

    After he had acc.u.mulated enough AP, Isaac didn''t immediately return to the Twilight Manor. He had already decided on getting the ichor upgrade tomorrow, in very specific circ.u.mstances. So in the meantime, he would at least finish mapping out the entirety of the third floor and gather some more AP in the process.

    By the time he left the dungeon, Isaac''s Level 1 monster slaying quests had progressed to 9563 out of 10.000, while his total AP had reached 12.077, quite a bit more than he currently needed. Still, he was sure there would be a need to collect even more in the future, therefore it wasn''t of a detriment for him to already work towards those future goals now.

    Isaac made sure to exchange as many of his magic stones with the Guild as he could carry in the huge bag he had bought for that express purpose, after which he left Babel, blurred his existence and spent 11 of his now abundant AP to get back home a little earlier.

    By now, it was quite easy for him to gather more AP, as his monster slaying quests rewarded him with boatloads of them, so there was no need to hold back from spending small amounts whenever they could be useful. He would make sure to not excessively spend them, though.

    "What the hell?!"

    When Isaac suddenly appeared in his room, fully decked in his dungeon delving attire and with a chattering rooster on his shoulder, the still somewhat sleepy Jakk almost dropped the dagger he was sharpening. It was a little after 5 a.m. right now, usually Isaac would have returned around the same time. Still, Jakk hadn''t expected him to just appear out of nowhere.

    But after he saw the apologetic look on Isaac''s face, Jakk chose to ignore the more than odd occurrence. He had already seen him appear in a manner similar to this before, so it wasn''t as had to accept as the first time. As there was no use grumbling about it, he returned his focus to his gear, to keep it impeccably maintained.

    Before Isaac''s arrival in this world, Jakk wouldn''t have been awake this early. Over the past few days, however, his body had grown accustomed to his current sleep schedule. So even though Isaac had already announced that they would take a break from training today, Jakk didn''t sleep in.

    A quick shower and equipment maintenance session later, Isaac changed into more comfortable clothing and dropped off Averin at the house he had rented on the manor grounds. While he was there, he quickly checked whether or not Kalin and Mina were awake already, but as they had acc.u.mulated quite a lot of exhaustion, they both took this rare chance to sleep in.

    When he returned to his room, Jakk had left for some light early morning exercise in one of the courtyards. The bunny boy just couldn''t sit still and relax, even on a break day. As Isaac had already told him not to overdo it before, he could only trust in the hume bunny youth''s judgement. If Jakk showed signs of overburdening himself, Isaac would make sure to intervene.

    Yesterday, he had agreed to get some breakfast with Ais at around 7 a.m., so most likely, she was still asleep. As Isaac didn''t want to potentially disturb her peaceful rest, he decided to just wait out the time by doing something productive.

    After he had sat down on his bed cross-legged, a practice that had been quite popular in cultivation-related fiction in his old world, Isaac focussed on his mental layer again. Ever since he had fainted from mental exhaustion before, he hadn''t circulated any more drops of mana because he had been a little busy with other matters.

    This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, however, as this time, while it was still very exhausting to circulate the drops, Isaac wasn''t in any danger of passing out again - it was significantly easier. After having broken in the pathways he used during the circulation previously, the whole process now went a lot more smoothly. Gone was the resistance and somewhat ''swollen'' feeling he had felt before. Now, there was only a feeling of comfort, spreading throughout his whole body.

    The state of Isaac''s pathways could have previously been compared to fresh wounds. While they were intended for the circulation of mana, they had never been used before, so the sudden utilization injured them in various ways Isaac couldn''t detect yet. The recovery period they had been through after the last circulation, however, enabled them to function properly now. Just like with well-oiled machines, there wouldn''t be any problems, unless Isaac unreasonably strained them.

    Over the course of two hours, Isaac slowly increased the number of drops he circulated simultaneously. By the time he heard Ais knocking on the door, he had gone all the way up to 179. Sure, that might not even be a tenth of his total mana, but this drastic speed of improvement was still something he was happy with.

    With a contented smile on his face, a somewhat sore and strained Isaac accompanied Ais to the kitchens connected to the canteen, where they got themselves a lavish breakfast.

    After this, it didn''t take long to gather everyone who should be present for Isaac''s upcoming plans. With his students now up and about, Kalin, Mina, Averin, Jakk, Lefiya and Ais were soon gathered within the living room of the house Isaac had rented, now simply called ''the base''. They had taken a seat on the various sofas and chairs gathered from all over the house and were watching Isaac, who had sat down in the armchair opposite of them.

    Although only Kalin, Mina and Averin would show a marked improvement in their strength today, it simply felt weird to leave out the rest. In essence, they were only here to bear witness to what Isaac imagined to be quite an unusual sight. Lefiya had been one of the two people he first met in this world and had decided to ask him for strength, so to make her witness his own increase in capabilities would help her confidence. Additionally, as she knew a lot more about his background than most of the others here, she wouldn''t be too spooked by what was going to happen. As for Jakk, Isaac invited him because the bunny boy had proven trustworthy by keeping his fellow students safe all this time. He also was privy to a few secrets, Averin''s existence only being one of them, which he had never revealed to any outsider. What was one more secret? Still, Isaac wouldn''t deny that another reason for having Jakk attend was that his talent for combat was outstanding. If he could incentivize him to become one of his subordinates, that would be extremely beneficial in the long run.

    And Ais¡­ yeah, her presence really wasn''t much of a surprise. It would have been a lot weirder if she hadn''t been here. Now that an expedition was imminent, she was forbidden from entering the dungeon by then. Even when Isaac didn''t have any big plans, as the two had grown progressively closer, Ais enjoyed spending time with him whenever she could.

    For the people that had known her for a long time, her rapid change over the past week was quite alarming. She had opened up to a previously unknown young man very quickly and become a lot more expressive in his presence. Loki''s previous momentary worry about Isaac asking for Ais'' hand in marriage hadn''t been random. Because Ais had mentally experienced a few years observing Isaac''s past, the closeness she felt for him was not something the people who knew her could possibly understand.

    Once the group''s chatter had subsided, Isaac closed his eyes, fully focussed on his body to observe the changes that were bound to happen and paid 10.000 AP.

    [ ''Upgrading host''s blood to ichor'' has been purchased. ]

    [ Commencing temporary spatiotemporal displacement. ]

    [ Upgrading process initiated. ]

    It only took a moment for the observing group to notice that something had drastically changed. The door leading to the hallway was now suddenly connected to a seemingly endless, black void. While it was an entirely new sight for Kalin, Mina, Averin and Jakk, both Ais and Lefiya had seen this before - when Isaac had appeared through a mystifying vortex.

    A curious glint flashed past Ais'' eyes, before she re-focussed on Isaac. She was well aware that this was just a footnote of the main event, nothing to get sidetracked by. The rest of the group, however, stared into the emptiness for a while longer. While it wasn''t a novelty for Lefiya, it was still just as fascinating as before. Thankfully, the absence of any phenomena akin to the vortex she had seen before enabled the curious elf to once again concentrate on more important matters after a short moment of distraction.

    Still, if Isaac hadn''t told the group to stay calm and seated before, no matter what they see, most of the group would have probably jumped out of their seats at the sudden change in environment.

    He had already expected something along these lines to happen, ever since he had noticed the laws of the world interfering when he had named Averin. His body''s blood upgrading to ichor would most likely have the laws show a much more spirited reaction during the process, which could easily draw unwanted attention to himself. Additionally, the laws could try to bind him or burden him with restrictions, an even more annoying matter. Of course, the system had already included a method to deal with all of this in the somewhat steep price of 10.000 AP.

    By temporarily removing a specified area from the world Isaac was residing in, the laws couldn''t intervene. There was no need to fear any of the usually associated inconveniences either, as the displaced area and the people contained within would be perfectly cared for and unharmed. As long as they stayed within the area, at least.

    [ The Skill ''Divine Blood'' has been obtained. ]

    [ Divine Blood: The user has the blood of a divine lifeform running through their veins.

    (Active) Exudes Divine Aura.

    (Passive) 25% buff to all stats. ]

    [ Further upgrade has been unlocked. Cost of upgrading host''s body to Divine Body: 15.000 AP ]

    Rapidly, Isaac could feel his bones, his muscles, his ligaments and all other parts of his body getting nourished by an intangible energy radiating from the cozily warm blood flowing through his veins. Not just his body felt a marked improvement, however, even his mental layer got impacted. Even though he had felt like the pathways had fully recovered previously, even the last remnants of strain had completely disappeared just now. With the energy spreading to his lake of mana, the volume increased at a startling rate.

    Observed from the outside, Isaac''s body had turned into a quite peculiar state. His skin and flesh had turned slightly transparent, so the golden blood quickly spreading through his blood vessels could be seen as clear as day. With every passing second, his body seemed to turn progressively more sacred, while it began to glow in a subtle, golden light. Even his immediate vicinity got shrouded in an incorporeal, golden mist, which made part of the observing group instinctively tremble.

    Although Ais, Averin and Mina, who had already become a part of the system, were spared from this, they were still just as awed as everyone else. Although the sight couldn''t even hope to compare to a god''s natural state, the gods living amongst mortals usually didn''t put their divinity on display.

    Once he had determined there were no more significant changes taking place in his body, Isaac opened his eyes again. Compared to before, however, they now seemed like torches in the darkness, drawing everyone''s attention to them. One had to note that it wasn''t actually dark in the surroundings and that Isaac''s eyes didn''t actually look any different, besides the almost imperceptible veins within having changed colour.

    At the same time as he had opened his eyes, without anyone immediately noticing it, the living room had returned from the endless, black void.

    "What did you just do?!"

    The first one to break the silence was the slack-jawed Lefiya, who stared at Isaac with lots of curiosity, confusion and a hint of instinctive reverence in her eyes. To be honest, though, her reaction was almost the tamest out of the bunch, if one ignored Kalin and Ais, who seemed to be only be slightly amazed and had raised their eyebrows. For Ais, this was because she simply wasn''t surprised, whereas Kalin most likely had no idea what he had just seen and was purely intrigued. The looks on Jakk''s and Averin''s faces were quite spirited, fairly similar to Lefiya, although it was pretty hard to make sure of that when looking at a rooster. As for Mina, her tail was wagging with a frightening speed, while her eyes were sparkling with excitement. There was no doubt her mind was currently singing praises to the magnificence of her lord.

    While Isaac took this chance to explain to everyone that he had just successfully upgraded his body''s blood to ichor, the blood of the gods, he took a glimpse at his Status while there was a moment of stunned silence.

    [ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: None ]

    [ Race: Human ]

    [ Level: 2 ]

    [ Age: Unable to measure ]

    [ Charisma: 19 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-0 (+ 26) (2250 x 1.25) ]

    [ Endurance: I-0 (+ 23) (2250 x 1.25) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-0 (+ 27) (2250 x 1.25) ]

    [ Agility: I-0 (+ 25) (2250 x 1.25) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 (+ 27) (2250 x 1.25) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Divine Blood ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Huntsman: I ]

    Besides the multiplier next to his stats, the only change Isaac was able to discover was a five point increase in his Charisma. As he had previously had no idea how to improve it, this was a welcome surprise. Contrary to his expectations, however, his race hadn''t changed. Because of the amount of Divine Aura he was exuding, he had thought he would be classified as a Demigod by now, which didn''t appear to be the case. It seemed like he would only be able to approach such a state after the next upgrade he had unlocked. This was just an assumption, however. For all Isaac knew, it could easily be even further down the line.

    After Isaac''s explanation had come to a close, Jakk had recovered enough to ask a question. While his eyes had regained their calm, his voice was still a little bit shaky.

    "So, are you a god now?"

    Before the bunny boy could get unsettled by the thought of being a god''s roommate, Isaac nipped his worries in the bud by shaking his head. To sate everyone''s curiosity, he brought up that he could view his own Status, which enabled him to make sure his race hadn''t changed. As his ability to view a Status would be exposed in a matter of minutes anyway, talking about it now didn''t make any difference whatsoever.

    While Isaac was explaining that he planned to give Averin, Kalin and Mina a falna, he turned off the Divine Aura his Divine Blood Skill had been emitting so far. In response, his still slightly transparent body turned back to normal again, while the group felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from their shoulders. At that point, however, Ais suddenly walked up to Isaac. Before he could even react, she had already sat down on the armchair''s armrest and started poking his arm in a few places.

    Even though a slight blush crept up on his face from the sudden contact, Isaac didn''t miss the earnest look on Ais'' face and the specific places she was pointing out. There were still a few visible veins which clearly exposed the now golden colour of his blood. Admittedly, one would only detect it if one paid extremely close attention.

    "Won''t people notice?"

    There was a concerned look on Ais'' face as she gripped Isaac''s arm a little tightly. She had a good idea of what would happen if the wrong people figured out his body now contained the blood of the gods. Although she wasn''t afraid of the trouble it would invite, she would still prefer it if there was no trouble to begin with.

    "Because I have just stopped using my Divine Aura, the gold is a little more pronounced than it would be under normal circ.u.mstances. But, yes. If people studied me very closely for extended periods of time, they might notice it. If I''m ever in a situation where I''m about to be found out and I want to hide it, however, I''m sure I can figure out a way to do so. And before you ask, I can control when to use my Divine Aura. So don''t worry about me waltzing into the dungeon with it active, okay? And even if I did, it''s extremely weak, I doubt the dungeon would react much."

    With a gentle smile, Isaac tried to placate Ais'' worries. Even if he didn''t buy some sort of concealment from the system shop, he could just try to shift the more exposed veins a little bit deeper into his body. He had never tried to do so before, but it certainly was possible. As for the part about the Divine Aura¡­ as soon as he had mentioned it, Ais abruptly showed an uncharacteristically stern expression.

    Even though he had tried, it wasn''t enough. He had only spurred on the protective Ais even further.

    "Please take this more seriously. Do you know why gods aren''t allowed to enter the dungeon?"

    What followed was the first ever time Isaac got lectured by Ais. She was normally very taciturn, so he was rather baffled by the sheer amount of words she was flooding him with.

    As he had already known before, the dungeon reacted to Divine Aura by spawning extremely strong monsters to try to purge the intruder. He had, however, been slightly overestimating how much of an amount of Divine Aura it would take to trigger this. According to Loki, who had mentioned this to Ais before in passing, if a god even just slipped up a little and let a tiny fraction of their Divine Aura leak out on accident, there would be a very violent reaction.

    In the past, some gods had accompanied their familias into the depths, keeping their auras in check all the while. At that time, it had already been well known that the dungeon would try its hardest to kill or chase out any intruding gods, so they were mentally prepared to hold back as much as possible. When one of the gods'' favourite familia members was killed, however, they accidentally let a bit of their Divine Aura trickle out, which ended up condemning the entire expedition to death. When none of them ever returned and the godly community finally got news about what had happened from their fellow brethren who had been expelled to Heaven after their deaths, they collectively decided to prohibit any gods from entering the dungeon. Apparently, the monsters that had been generated back then were quite the headache to clean up in the aftermath, even for the then-strongest Zeus and Hera Familias.

    Only after Isaac had promised her he would do his best to keep it under control and had reminded her of his ability to teleport, did Ais finally relent with a small smile. Still, even then, she didn''t move back to her spot right next to Lefiya and kept sitting on the armrest, holding Isaac''s arm all the while. As he had never seen Ais as concerned about him before, even though she was only thinking about a hypothetical scenario, Isaac felt very touched. Besides the warmth from his ichor, another incorporeal warmth spread through his chest.

    After Ais'' temporary interruption, Isaac finished answering the remaining questions of those gathered, before asking Kalin about whether he would like to get a falna from him.

    The only response he got was a confident nod.

    Kalin was more than a little excited about the future. The more of his capabilities his benefactor revealed, the smarter it seemed to follow him. He couldn''t even comprehend how most of the things Isaac did could even be possible. But as he had already decided on this course of action yesterday, he didn''t need to understand everything. He had a gut feeling that following along for the entire ride would only lead him to progressively greater heights, so why hesitate?

    Once Kalin had taken off his shirt and lain down on the last free sofa in the room with his back facing upwards, Isaac pricked his right index finger with a needle he had bought before on his way to and from the dungeon.

    The moment his blood made contact with Kalin''s back, a plethora of information flooded into his brain. If he had had less self-control, he would have winced slightly, as the sheer amount was simply overwhelming. All of Kalin''s experiences related to fighting monsters was clearly showcased in his mind. If Isaac wanted to, he could focus on any one specific instance and replay it in excruciating detail.

    Still, he didn''t want to get too distracted and waste time. After getting over the initial shock, he recalled the movement of Loki''s ichor at the time she had given him her blessing. To confirm a few of his suspicions, he controlled his ichor to move in certain ways and observed the effects. This testing period only took about a minute, then Isaac had deciphered the whole process. As he already had an example of how a falna should work, it was all too easy to figure out the specifics.

    After he had made sure that there wouldn''t be any adverse effects, Isaac erased his testing strokes and started from scratch.

    About five minutes later, there was only one step left: to create an emblem to mark the people he had given a blessing to. As he was never a person to get lost in excessive detail, Isaac had decided on a simple but fitting one many days prior, when the plan for his current actions had hatched in his mind.

    A few strokes of his bleeding finger later, a huge Roman numeral, ''I'', graced Kalin''s back. This both stood for the initial of Isaac''s first name and his desire for the people under his charge to be the strongest and most impressive they could be. If he had any say in their development, they were going to be the first under the heavens. Still, Isaac wasn''t excessively minimalistic either, so he put a small but ornate crown right at the top of the ''I'', inspired by the Hidden Path he had unlocked back when Mina became his first subordinate.

    Satisfied with his handiwork, Isaac nodded his head, checked once again whether he had made any mistakes and then pulled his bleeding finger away.

    "Alright, I''m finished."

    Before he had a chance to write down Kalin''s Status on a sheet of paper, multiple system notifications clogged up his field of view.

    [ Due to sufficient understanding and the perpetual availability of ichor, you can now update your Status whenever you choose to do so. ]

    [ Kalin Myre has joined your familia.

    Hidden Path ''Family Man'' has been unlocked.

    Related achievements have been unlocked.

    ''Familia'' feature has been unlocked.

    1000 AP rewarded. ]

    [ Quest ''Have one familia member.'' completed. 100 AP rewarded. ]

    [ Your familia is currently nameless. Please choose a name for your familia. ]

    While Kalin was getting overwhelmed by his sudden and drastic increase in stats, Isaac blissfully ignored the youngster''s plight, as a momentary confusion clouded his eyes.

    ''What''s the point in having both a Subordinate and a Familia feature?''

 Chapter 33 - Subordinatesâ€™ Progress

    Over the next few seconds, Isaac quickly compared the two features with each other. While they were mostly similar, there were a few notable differences.

    For one, familia members, contrary to subordinates, didn''t have their Loyalty portrayed in their Status. Even though both could be tracked on the system map, Isaac''s blood contained within the familia members'' falna gave them a few peculiarities. The first one being that they could expand his system map, just like Ais, as they were technically just carrying around a part of Isaac''s body. Secondly, they could be a sort of backup, as Isaac was theoretically able to revive himself using just a miniscule part of his blood, should his body ever be entirely destroyed.

    Even Isaac almost felt a slight shiver run down his spine when he thought about how such a revival process would look like from an outside perspective. He would literally be growing himself a body out of their backs, a horribly creepy scene. As there was no need to mentally traumatize those who decided to put their fate into his hands, he would simply create a new avatar for his soul from scratch. Another alternative would be to store away some of his blood at a secure location - there were simply too many other viable options.

    Admittedly, there were still a lot of things that Isaac hadn''t yet figured out about both features. More time was needed to familiarize himself with them. It would also be helpful to experience situations that made focussing on them a necessity, as that would likely accelerate the uncovering of their secrets.

    Towards the end of his comparison, an idea had bloomed within Isaac''s mind, but before he could order the system to put it into practice, it had already delivered.

    [ Due to significant overlap, the ''Subordinates'' and ''Familia'' features will be merged. ]

    [ The ''Subordinates'' feature has been converted into the ''Retainers'' sub-feature.

    The ''Familia'' feature has been converted into the ''Familia'' sub-feature.

    Both are now part of the ''Subordinates'' feature. ]

    While he was still mostly ignoring the somewhat disoriented Kalin, a quiet sigh slipped out of Isaac''s mouth. He had already realized exactly what had happened.

    The cause of this entire development was the fact that the system was self-expanding. Whenever Isaac needed or really wanted a specific feature, it would find a way to create it for him. Back when he had wanted to make Mina submit to his control and become his minion, the system had created the ''Subordinates'' feature. As there was no similar feature yet at the time, no potential problems could be observed and a generic term was chosen for its name. But when Isaac gave Kalin his falna, with the intent of helping him grow and nourishing his strength, this caused the system to create the ''Familia'' feature, which was only slightly different from the already existing ''Subordinates'' feature.

    To be fair, even if Isaac hadn''t noticed the similarities and wished for a change, the system would have gone through this adjustment anyway. It wouldn''t allow such imperfections to exist within its framework. They would momentarily exist, depending on the circ.u.mstances, but would be ironed out as soon as the system discovered them.

    What caused the system to rename the ''Subordinates'' feature into the ''Retainers'' sub-feature was the initial intent at the moment the feature was created. As for why it went with one of the more honorable options, compared to ''Lackeys'' or ''Minions'', that was because Isaac had also taken his first step on the Hidden Path ''King'' back then. A king''s subordinates represented him and his inviolable majesty. Even if they themselves weren''t anything special, they at least had to have a name that inspired respect.

    By now, Kalin''s irregular, laboured breaths started to normalize again. He was still sweating heavily, but he slowly began to regain control over his body. Honestly, if Isaac had paid more attention and warned him of this situation beforehand, he wouldn''t have been in any kind of precarious situation. But because Isaac had grown too unaccustomed to what it would feel like for other people to have their bodies suddenly change significantly, he had inadvertently forgotten to give him a reminder. He could have spared Kalin the transitory panic if it hadn''t slipped his mind.

    Once he had determined that the boy had recovered enough, he signaled for him to sit up. With a somewhat apologetic smile on his face, Isaac handed Kalin his Status sheet.

    [ Name: Kalin Myre ]

    [ Familia: Nameless Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Familia) ]

    [ Race: Human ]

    [ Level: 1 ]

    [ Age: 15 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-88 -> F-369 ]

    [ Endurance: I-23 -> G-220 ]

    [ Dexterity: I-99 -> E-429 ]

    [ Agility: I-96 -> F-398 ]

    [ Magic: I-17 -> I-53 ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ None ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Spearman ]

    Even Kalin''s stats from before getting his falna had already been very impressive and proved just how much work the young man had put into getting stronger. Without the ability to process his amassed excelia, his body had already been trained to a point that would have been mindblowing in Isaac''s old world. Now, after years of acc.u.mulation, this enormous amount of excelia had given rise to a qualitative change in Kalin''s stats and body.

    More impressive, however, was the fact that Kalin would be able to choose the Development Ability ''Spearman'' when he ranked up to Level 2 in the future. Only the most prodigious would unlock a Development Ability related to their fighting style at such a low Level. Most likely, what pushed the laws'' evaluation of Kalin over the edge was Isaac''s training. It was only the drop that tipped the scale, however. His foundation before then had already been rock-solid, another monument to his effort.

    After Kalin had made way for Mina, Isaac had him and Jakk turn around, so as to avoid embarrassing the pure Chienthrope girl. To make sure they wouldn''t do something as foolish as taking a peek at the young maiden, he asked Ais to keep watch over the two in the meantime.

    He didn''t do this because he gave his female subordinates special treatment, however. Previously, Kalin hadn''t shown any sign of being disturbed by the prospect of having to remove his shirt in front of a handful of girls. If he had seemed uncomfortable in any way, Isaac would have asked those girls to be respectful and give the boy some privacy. But it hadn''t been necessary. Mina, however, had been nervously fidgeting around with the edge of her shirt ever since the realization of what she would likely have to do had hit her. Her ears had drooped pretty much as low as they could go, while her tail had turned stiff and was wagging very slowly - telltale signs of her distress.

    When she noticed her lord''s efforts, Mina''s ears and tail perked up immediately, while a relieved smile played across her lips. As she didn''t want to delay the proceedings any further, she swiftly took off her shirt, exposing her moderately sized b.r.e.a.s.ts, held in place and covered by a cheap, grey linen bra.

    There was no hint of nervousness contained within Mina''s actions. Shortly after she had become Isaac''s subordinate, she had already determined that he didn''t want her to ''serve'' him and wasn''t interested in her in that particular way. That was more than fine with her, as it made her feel a sense of security during these troubled times.

    Just as she had expected, Isaac''s expression didn''t change whatsoever, neither did his eyes wander. Nonetheless, there was one person who was getting fl.u.s.tered by the current situation: Lefiya. She simply hadn''t thought that her new comrade would act in such a brazen and nonchalant manner.

    Before the panicky elf could delude herself into some weird fantasies, Isaac''s calm words interrupted Lefiya''s thoughts.

    "Lefiya, please take Mina with you on your next shopping trip. She needs some new underwear, as their current low quality will only harm her body if she exercises for prolonged periods of time. Of course, I''ll foot the bill for this upgrade of her equipment."

    As she had had very different expectations about what he was going to say, Lefiya felt that the way in which such a situation was handled swiftly and aboveboard was a little incongruous. Still, she was aware that the origin of this feeling was her mind wandering off to ''weird'' places, so she didn''t blame anyone but herself. Although she was still blushing, she nodded her head in response.

    Once Mina had lain down on the sofa in a similar position to Kalin and opened the clasp of her bra to give Isaac full access to her back, the falna bestowal process began again. After learning from his previous mistake, Isaac cautioned Mina about what was going to happen and told her to try to relax. To make sure she was prepared for the changes in her body, he had her take deep and regular breaths, to give her some kind of rhythm or perceived familiarity to cling to.

    [ Mina Teagle has joined your familia.

    Quest ''Have two familia members.'' completed. 200 AP rewarded. ]

    [ Name: Mina Teagle ]

    [ Familia: Nameless Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

    [ Race: Chienthrope ]

    [ Level: 1 ]

    [ Age: 16 ]

    [ Loyalty: 95/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-15 -> G-288 ]

    [ Endurance: I-27 -> G-218 ]

    [ Dexterity: I-18 -> F-307 ]

    [ Agility: I-43 -> G-266 ]

    [ Magic: I-10 -> I-58 ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ None ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Swordsman ]

    It came as no surprise that Mina''s stats were already almost on par with Kalin''s. This was partially because she had slain a significantly higher number of Dungeon Lizards than him, but the more significant reason was that Kalin''s stats had long since plateaued. It had become really hard for him to gain more excelia from the relatively weak monsters he had fought over the years. While his acc.u.mulation was impressive, it was also highly inefficient. But as he hadn''t been part of a familia and hadn''t been blessed with a falna before, that was to be expected.

    What made Isaac raise an eyebrow in amazement was the fact that Mina was already able to choose the ''Swordsman'' Development Ability when she ranked up to Level 2. While that was the same as Kalin, it showed just how extremely talented she was in regards to combat related skills. For a young farmer girl, who would very likely never have had the chance to pick up a weapon if she hadn''t met Isaac, this was more than simply impressive. It was outright scary, if viewed through the lens of this world''s common sense.

    There was one thing that made Isaac sigh, however. Although he had already been aware of it, to look at Mina''s almost maxed out Loyalty stat made him somewhat conflicted. On one hand, he was happy that her belief in him had grown to such an extent, as that would make it extremely unlikely for her to betray him in the future. But on the other hand, her fervently subservient behaviour would undoubtedly become more prevalent in the future, once her Loyalty increased even more. Maybe he should count himself lucky that it hadn''t increased even a single point in a few days?

    Thanks to Isaac''s precautions, Mina didn''t react too violently to the drastic increase in stats. She did feel slightly disoriented for a couple of seconds, but that faded away quickly. Unlike poor Kalin, her muscles didn''t cramp up uncontrollably, as her steady breathing kept her from tensing up in a panic.

    When it was time to give Averin his falna, Kalin and Jakk had been allowed to observe the process again. Compared to the previous bestowal ceremonies, however, this one was quite an unusual one.

    Averin was sitting in Isaac''s lap, so the latter had easy access to his back. But that wasn''t the cause for the uncanny feeling the observers experienced. Rather, it was the fact that instead of a humanoid, sentient being, Averin was a glorified rooster¡­ and a monster. Both of these usually wouldn''t be able to get a falna of their own.

    While it might be possible to give a normal rooster a falna, as far as the world at large knew, no-one had ever tried. As for monsters, there had been a few curious gods who tried to make them a part of their familia, but it simply had never worked out. The specifics as to why weren''t known to the general populace or the godly community, although a few select individuals may have gained some knowledge on that aspect in the one thousand years since the gods'' descent.

    Because Isaac didn''t just want to rip out all of the feathers on Averin''s back, he had to lift them up one by one with his other hand, to carefully spread the pattern of blood across the small rooster''s back. Very quickly, he realized that this would take significantly longer than the times before, so the entire group started chatting away, only paying a minimum amount of attention to what was happening.

    During the falna creation process, Isaac noticed no abnormalities related to Averin being a monster. He was still able to gain an in depth understanding of the struggles the young Jack Bird had gone through and could let the piled up excelia improve his body.

    Not everything went smoothly, however. When it came time to increase Averin''s Agility, Isaac almost made a fatal mistake.

    "Oh shit."

    When the group saw the somewhat baffled and annoyed look on Isaac''s face, they looked at him with inquisitive gazes. Before any of them could ask about what was going on, however, Isaac had already started to explain.

    "Averin''s Agility would have surpassed 1500 if I finished updating his Status just now. I overlooked how close he had already been to the maximum, so we would have almost had an exploding rooster on our hands."

    In response to his words, Averin''s body tensed up noticeably. But as the Jack Bird didn''t know whether or not it would be a good idea to move now, he kept as still as possible. Not giving him a chance of growing any more fearful, Isaac''s following words pacified Averin again.

    "No need to worry, tough. I''ll just let him rank up to Level 2. He will lose the handful of stat points past the maximum but that''s still a lot better than dying, right?"

    This news earned the now relieved rooster the congratulations of his companions, which uplifted his mood considerably. As to why Averin was even eligible for a rank up, that had a very simple explanation. Contrary to the sentient species, who had to perform acts even gods would praise them for to increase their Level, monsters didn''t have such requirements. Instead, their rank ups usually had a biological reason. Maybe they were born with a slight mutation, enabling them to reach a higher realm than their brethren. Maybe they stumbled across a certain material that caused their bodies to evolve. There were many ways in which monsters could increase in strength. Apparently, for Averin, there was also the gate of possibilities opened by the falna. So now that Isaac''s blood enabled his evolution, there was nothing barring his path.

    After more than an hour, the arduous process finally concluded.

    [ Averin has joined your familia.

    Quest ''Have three familia members.'' completed. 300 AP rewarded. ]

    [ Name: Averin ]

    [ Familia: Nameless Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

    [ Race: Jack Bird -> Jack Bird Variant ]

    [ Level: 1 -> 2 ]

    [ Age: 14 days ]

    [ Loyalty: 80/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-2 -> G-288 -> I-0 (432) ]

    [ Endurance: H-152 -> G-256 -> I-0 (384) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-5 -> F-382 -> I-0 (573) ]

    [ Agility: SSS-1483 -> XXX-1502 -> I-0 (2250) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 -> I-2 -> I-0 (3) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Atalantan Accelerate ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Beak Fighter: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Chain Attack ]

    Impressively, Averin had already unlocked two Development Abilities he could choose from in such a short time. The first one, ''Beak Fighter'', was one that had most likely never been seen before in this world. Due to his continued use of his beak to attack monsters in the dungeon and his impressive instincts, courtesy of being a monster, he had quickly gotten the laws to acknowledge him. The second one, ''Chain Attack'', had been unlocked due to the ridiculous amounts of continuous attacks it had taken for Averin to take down even a single Goblin. While his speed was impressive, his Strength was nearly nonexistent. He could leave shallow scratches and peck marks on his opponents with ease, but to take them down had taken ridiculous amounts of effort.

    During the rank up process, Isaac had made sure to ask Averin about which of the two Development Abilities he wanted to pick.

    [ Beak Fighter (I): Improves comprehension speed of beak related skills and abilities by 10%. Increases all stats by 5% when attacking with a beak. ]

    [ Chain Attack (I): If the user continues to aim his attacks at the same target, each successive attack will increase the user''s stats by 1% for the duration of one minute. Can be stacked up to a maximum of 10%. ]

    It didn''t take long for the pumped up rooster to settle on ''Beak Fighter'', as it would enable him to develop his own fighting style even further in the future. Although he had slept through most of the training sessions he had been a part of, he had still paid as much attention as he could, rapidly improving his understanding of combat as a result.

    ''Chain Attack'' was very tempting as well, but it wouldn''t help him in qualitatively transforming his combat skill. Still, as he always had the option of choosing it next time, it wouldn''t go to waste and could be a very powerful boon in the future.

    Out of all of his subordinates, Averin experienced the most drastic change right after Isaac was finished: he evolved. While he had previously only been about as big as a normal rooster, he grew to almost double the size in about a minute. The fluffy, yellow-green feathers kept their fluffiness but gained a somewhat slick look. Their feel wasn''t any different, though. While the usual ferocity of a monster hadn''t been able to be found within Averin before, his body now turned significantly more muscular underneath his feathers. Even his skin began to harden a little, while somehow not restricting his movements whatsoever. There was also another thing: the colour of Averin''s feathers changed into a deep green.

    One change that only Isaac noticed, however, was that ''something'' was trying to syphon off small parts of the energy contained within the blood making up Averin''s falna. It was most likely the same entity or mechanism that had led to Averin''s exhausted state previously. Thankfully, ever since Isaac had gotten the ichor upgrade, the energy contained within his blood was functionally inexhaustible. But even if the energy somehow started to get depleted in a noticeable way, he could simply let some of the affected blood cells fully devote themselves to regenerating said energy, which would produce a lot more than was currently being consumed. Thankfully, for some reason, the source of the syphoning had focussed on the energy in Averin''s falna now, which removed the negative impact it had had on the rooster previously.

    The evolution caught the entire group by surprise. At the same time, Kalin and Mina grew a little worried about the rooster. They had already experienced firsthand how difficult it was to adapt to extreme physical changes. And yet, what they had gone through could probably not even come close to what the poor bird had to endure¡­

    Almost to spit into the faces of the two worrywarts, Averin energetically got up to inspect his new and improved body right away. This earned him the relieved smiles of his fellow familia members. If they knew that he, due to being a monster, didn''t even have to worry about most things associated with drastic changes to the body and therefore felt no uncomfortability whatsoever, they probably would have coughed up blood instead.

    Before this gathering could conclude, there was still one elephant in the room which needed to be addressed. It was the ''Nameless Familia'' he had written down on his subordinates'' Status sheets.

    Thankfully, this wasn''t a matter that required tough decisions and a lot of thought. Rather, it was extremely simple. In this world, all familias were usually named after their gods. Because Isaac was the head of this familia, it was a given that it would simply be named after him. Heck, even if he wanted to give it another name, if the public ever got to know that he had his own familia, they would just call it the Isaac Familia anyway, no matter what he called it, as that was simply common sense in this world.

    After the system had recognized the name change, Isaac made sure to make everyone present promise to keep the existence of the Isaac Familia a secret. Even ignoring all the avoidable troubles that would come knocking on his doorstep, Isaac really didn''t want to get involved in the Guild''s restrictions and the godly community''s politics if he could help it. It wouldn''t be the end of the world if others found out about all of this, but it would still be very undesirable. Loki would surely start to ask questions soon, once she noticed the rooster''s drastic changes, so that was yet another matter to look forward to.

    As the entire meeting had taken a few hours, it was now quite close to lunch time. As Averin''s size had increased a lot, seeing him getting carried around by Mina like a hug pillow was an increasingly amusing sight. When sending off his subordinates to enjoy the rest of their day, Isaac once again advised them to relax. They could use the day to get used to the changes in their bodies, though, so they would have an easier time in tomorrow''s training.

    While they were strolling through the manor grounds hand in hand, Ais and Isaac tried to find a nice spot to have a bite to eat. What they finally settled on was one of the larger fountains in a relatively secluded place. As it was surrounded by a small hedge maze, people rarely made their way here.

    In peace and quiet, with only the sounds of the burbling water and the refreshingly cold winter breeze to keep them company, the two happily munched away on lots of different flavours of potato snacks.

 Chapter 34 - Fellow Supporters

    These moments couldn''t last forever, though. Only about an hour later, Ais and Isaac had to part ways again, because they both still had things they needed to take care of today.

    Although he had the option to meet the group of supporters he was assigned to tomorrow, it wouldn''t hurt to do so today. After all, he had purposefully taken the day off to take care of such matters.

    About twenty minutes after he had changed his clothes and started his search, Isaac finally came across the courtyard they were currently training in. It seemed like it would be a bad idea to interrupt them, so he patiently waited for the group of ten to pause their exercises. Observing them wasn''t a total waste, however, as he got a glimpse of what he would most likely be dragged into later as well. He couldn''t complain about that, however, as improving his cooperation and coordination with the other members of this group would surely be vital during the expedition. While it was highly unlikely for him to make a mistake, if he knew his teammates well, he could cover for their blunders as well.

    The first one to notice him was the one Riveria had told him to meet, the one in command of this team of supporters - a girl by the name of Line Arshe. Her bespectacled, copper brown eyes widened in surprise for a moment when she spotted him leaning against one of the walls of the courtyard. She didn''t want to keep him waiting for even longer, though, so she hurried to greet him, her impressive bust wobbling slightly with every step.

    It wasn''t the first time that the two had met, far from it. As she was quite close to most of the members of the main forces of the familia, they had run across each other on multiple occasions. The first time was when Loki had introduced Isaac as the newest member of the familia - Line had been one of the huge number of people to enthusiastically welcome him. While they may not be friends yet, by now, they could at least be called acquaintances.

    "Ah, Isaac! Sorry to make you wait. Lady Riveria told me you''d be stopping by."

    After finally arriving in front of the newcomer, Line happily clasped her hands behind her back. Although it was a little difficult to discern in this position, they were clad in long, white gloves. Her long black hair was braided into a tail that reached all the way to her lower back. She wore a white headband, a brown-white short-sleeved top with somewhat puffy shoulders, a white belt with quite a number of pouches, a short, brown skirt, black thigh-high stockings with a white band at the top and somewhat delicate black boots. Her attire was definitely different from when they had met before, as she had been in more casual clothes back then. As she was currently training, however, it made sense for her to wear her dungeon delving gear.

    "No need to apologize. I''m the one barging in, so I should be sorry for interrupting you guys instead."

    A few more pointless pleasantries later, Line brought Isaac to the other nine people in the courtyard, who had been resting and eyeing them interestedly. The moment Isaac got a good look at them, he had to admit¡­ they were quite a diverse group: Five Beast People, two humans, an elf and a Pallum. There was also another thing of note - he hadn''t met any of them before, even though he had stayed at the manor for quite some time now.

    "As you''re probably aware of, I''m the commander of this bunch. They are divided into two squads of five, the first one being led by Orba - ah, that''s him over there. The second one, the one you''ll be joining, is led by our lovely Randi here."

    Line took this time to introduce Isaac to each of the members he would be spending a lot of time with in the coming weeks, while explaining interesting bits and pieces about their roles during the expedition and the expedition itself. Apparently, their eleven supporters strong team was just one of many. Besides three of the main forces of the familia, three supporter teams would be descending down into the depths. The rest of the familia would stay aboveground to ensure their home could be defended during an emergency.

    The leader of the team''s first squad, Orba Hayes, was just a little taller than Line, while still being almost a head shorter than Isaac. He was a Chienthrope with short and wild brown hair, brown-black eyes, upright dog ears and an otter tail. His age was about the same as Isaac''s physical body''s, while his face was angular and could be considered to be quite handsome. He wore simple, black boots, beige trousers with strapped on pouches, a black gambeson undershirt and a dark-grey monster leather jacket with a frayed fur collar. Above that, he wore a black belt with a matte golden buckle, which fastened all of his attire together securely.

    From the warm-hearted welcome Orba gave him, Isaac gained quite a good impression of him, although he was a little worried that the guy might turn out to be a social butterfly. What impressed him, however, was that the guy was already a Level 3, whereas Line was only a Level 2. While not everything was governed by Levels, it was still rare to see lower ranked individuals in command of higher ranked ones. Therefore, Isaac could only conclude that Line''s organizational and command-related abilities were quite outstanding. At least compared to the rest of the competition.

    As for the young woman who was in charge of Isaac''s squad, Randi Dolph, she was almost as tall as Isaac, which was a rare sight in this world. She had shoulder-length dark-red hair with a couple of braids interspersed and - courtesy of her being a Boaz - relatively small boar ears, which barely stuck out from underneath her hair. Her small boar tail was almost unnoticeable as well. Although she was quite beautiful, her relatively thick and muscular neck easily diverted the attention of any observer. Well, her sizeable b.r.e.a.s.ts, which were only covered in a black, belly free shirt that didn''t cover much more than a bra, did so as well. Above this, she wore an open, reddish leather jacket, which further emphasized her front side, whereas her arms were partially covered by gauntlets made of the same material as her jacket. While her upper body''s attire somewhat reminded Isaac of an Amazoness'', her lower body didn''t follow that trend at all. Her legs were clad in black-red, baggy, padded trousers, which looked remarkably similar to cargo pants, and boots, which were yet again made of reddish leather. Besides that, there was also a black belt with a silver buckle. What Isaac''s gaze was focussed on, however, were her grey eyes, which sized him up without any shame whatsoever.

    Once Randi, who also was a Level 3, had finished her inspection, she nodded her head in approval, before suddenly walking up to Isaac¡­ and giving him an uncomfortably tight hug while laughing heartily.

    "You certainly look like you can carry your fair share of supplies. Glad to have you on board!"

    Even though he was anything but comfortable, Isaac didn''t feel any malice from Randi, so he decided it would be for the best to just endure this intrusion into his personal space for now.

    But another person had decided to make Isaac''s predicament even worse: a member of Orba''s squad, a male Cat Person by the name of Bryce Flores. With a mischievous smile and a playful glint in his blue eyes, the 17 year old Level 2 meandered over to Isaac as well and patted his shoulder.

    "Try not to let her suffocate you, okay~? Wouldn''t want even more victims on our hands."

    The moment he felt Bryce touch his shoulder, Isaac turned his head to take a closer look at him. He was slightly shorter than Orba and had almost shoulder-length dirty blonde hair. His long, plumed cat tail was of the same colour, while the ears tufts on his upright caracal ears were slightly darker. His face looked perfectly average, just like a person you could find anywhere on the streets, yet the naughty smile on his lips made him stick out like a sore thumb. He wore dark-brown boots, black shorts that were just long enough to cover his knees, a beige-brown short-sleeved shirt with a few pieces of boiled monster leather armour strapped above, a dark-brown shoulder cloak with a currently unused hood and gloves of the same colour. His thin belt, which was dark-brown as well, had a grey-silver buckle.

    If Isaac hadn''t glanced at the troublemaker before, he wouldn''t have noticed Bryce motioning at the two mounds that were slowly getting closer to his face at all. He didn''t get much of a chance to grow worried, however, as Randi quickly let go of him and focussed her attention on the cat boy instead. Compared to her genuine smile from before, her current one was a lot more sinister.

    "Brycey boy, let this big sister give you a hug~"

    Before the now somewhat pale cat boy could run away, Randi had already grabbed his tail and dragged him close, after which she gave him an even tighter hug than the one Isaac had just suffered through. If Isaac hadn''t seen the somewhat sleazy look in Bryce''s eyes when his face got submerged in certain mountains of fat, Isaac would have felt bad for the guy, as the creaking sounds that his bones gave off really couldn''t be healthy.

    Although it had escalated a little, the situation calmed down relatively quickly and Isaac got introduced to the rest of his new comrades.

    The other three members of Orba''s squad were Tanzi Doughtery, Kell Allaigh and Aselina Sceaga. All of them were Level 2''s.

    Tanzi was a human girl of the same age as Bryce. She was a bit shorter than him and had straight, dark blonde hair that reached halfway down her back, while her bangs partially covered her eyebrows. A perpetual smile played across her lips and her bright green eyes shone like lanterns from the inside of the white-ish grey hood of her cloak. She wore light-brown boots, a mint-coloured, padded gambeson dress that reached the middle of her thighs, a few pieces of boiled monster leather armour fashioned to look like a corset without actually being one, a brown leather belt with a number of pouches fastened to it and somewhat dainty, white gloves. Besides introducing herself, she didn''t talk much and mainly observed the conversation.

    Just like Tanzi, Kell also wasn''t much of a talker. Compared to her, however, the Pallum gave off a kind of depressed aura. It felt like he wanted to jump in and say something on multiple occasions but then decided that he would be better off if he just kept to himself. He had middle-length, curly dark-brown hair, which he didn''t seem to take care of much, even though it almost covered the left one of his earthen-brown eyes. Although he was already a 21 year old Level 2, due to his Pallum origins, he didn''t look much older than a young child, even his facial features were very soft. He wore black boots and gloves, long trousers of the same colour and a brown belt with a silver buckle. Underneath his light-brown gambeson, he wore a green, long-sleeved shirt. Overall, his attire reminded Isaac a lot of Finn''s, so he suspected that the young man had taken inspiration from their familia''s charismatic Captain.

    As for the last member, she initially gave Isaac an unapproachable feeling, mostly due to the icy look on her face. Surprisingly, however, the 18 year old Aselina didn''t shy away from conversation at all. Rather, Isaac got the impression that she simply wasn''t aware of how her expressions and actions impacted other people at all. So while she embodied the stereotypical ''ice queen'', it was entirely unintentional.

    Because she was a Raccoon Person, Aselina had grey-white raccoon ears sticking out of her greyish-white hair, which she wore in a ponytail of moderate length. Of course, she also had a raccoon tail. She was about as tall as Tanzi, had deeply black eyes and a somewhat round, adorable face. Her black boots were purpose-built to have a good grip, while her dark-brown, tight long trousers were sufficiently padded to cushion attacks from weaker monsters. Although Isaac was sure that it wasn''t her intention, her dark-blue, form-fitting, short-sleeved shirt made her b.r.e.a.s.ts stand out quite a bit. Most likely, Bryce had recommended this attire to his gullible comrade. The rest of her outfit consisted of a brown leather belt and dark-red arm protectors made from high-quality monster furs. On a side note, Aselina was also a Level 2.

    As for the last three, they were all members of Randi''s squad and therefore the ones Isaac would spend the most time with during the expedition. Their names were Claire Ingram, Auroch Baiman and Cedar Copseway.

    The first one, Claire, was quite the chatterbox. Although she was the youngest person in the entire team, being only 15 years old, she had bombarded Isaac with questions as soon as the self-introductions had finished. She was a little bit shorter than Aselina and had reached Level 2 only recently. Her raven-black hair was fashioned in a shoulder-length bob cut, while her eyes were of a stark icy-blue colour. Just like Line and Tanzi, she was a human. She wore almost knee-high dark-brown boots with black stockings underneath. Her blue skirt reached the middle of her thighs and was held in place with a thin, black belt with a silver buckle, while her dark-brown gloves almost went all the way up to her elbows. Beneath a beautifully decorated blue gambeson, she wore a sleeveless, black undershirt, both of which had a deep V neck, which was quite obviously intended to show off her moderate ''assets''.

    Auroch, on the other hand, was a lot more quiet. He was also just as tall as Isaac, which helped reduce the uncomfortable feeling Isaac felt from inadvertently becoming the center of attention in most crowds, simply due to his height. The 18 year old Auroch''s maroon hair was cut extremely short, so that even the places where his two large upwards horns grew out of his head could be made out without a problem. A Cow Person''s other features, the ears and the tail, were present as well, of course. Although Auroch''s body was the closest to a hardcore bodybuilder''s that Isaac had ever seen, he still had a little bit of baby fat on his manly face. In sharp contrast to what one might expect, his yellow-ish green eyes gave off an all-encompassing peaceful and relaxed feeling. He wore dark-beige padded trousers, black boots, a reddish-brown belt with an iron buckle, a light-brown undershirt, a heavily padded reddish-brown gambeson and a few pieces of metal armour, made out of standard quality steel. In short: He seemed very reliable and like the kind of tank anyone in Isaac''s old world''s MMOs would have wanted to party with.

    The last person, Cedar, was the one who attracted Isaac''s attention the most. This wasn''t because the 29 year old elf was a Level 3, no. Instead, it was because of the slight hint of hostility he could see in his lilac eyes. Although Isaac had a few ideas as to why Cedar could be showing this dislike for him, he couldn''t be sure of the exact reason. But because the elf didn''t meet him with open hostility and kept those negative feelings under a tight lid, Isaac decided to just wait and observe for now. If he ever turned out to be a threat¡­ well, that''s self-explanatory.

    Although Cedar was almost half a head shorter than Isaac, he was still considered to be quite tall in this world. Just like every elf Isaac had seen before, he also shared the usual elven beauty, complemented by his about 8 cm long elf ears. He wore quite long, stylish light-brown boots, grey padded trousers and a light-brown belt with an ornamental stone buckle. The dark-grey collar of his long-sleeved grey gambeson shirt was beautifully decorated with golden threads, while the rest was mostly covered by a boiled monster leather b.r.e.a.s.tplate. Above all of this, he wore a dark-green cloak.

    Even though it had felt like it would take forever, all these introductions and the following friendly banter soon came to a stop when Line attracted everyone''s attention with a few loud claps.

    "We''re not just here to play around. Let''s restart the training exercises, everyone! I''ll explain everything in detail, so pay close attention, Isaac."

    A supporter''s work wasn''t exciting. In fact, it could be considered to be quite a drag. Still, compared to normal adventurers, who faced terrifying monsters in direct combat, it was a very safe position to be in if one was part of a huge familia like the Loki Familia. Supporters had to carry all the supplies needed during their foray into the ''deep floors'' of the dungeon, which included food, water, materials for campsites, various tools, etcetera. Of course, those couldn''t all be transported just via backpacks and pouches, so during most expeditions, most of those things were loaded onto carts. Pulling those carts was yet another job for the supporters. Although it was quite easy to keep them steady, the environments in the ''lower floors'' and deep floors was sometimes quite unsuitable for the carts.

    So during the entire descent, supporters had to transport the supplies, while the main forces kept them safe. Occasionally, they had to fight off a few stray monsters themselves, if they managed to break through. After any battles had concluded, they had to cut the magic stones out of the monsters'' corpses, so there really was never any moment to take a rest.

    Even once the last known safety point, the 50th floor, was reached, a supporter''s work didn''t end. They had to build the campsite and do miscellaneous tasks all around, while keeping tabs on the supplies that remained and safely storing away the drop items, magic stones and other gathered resources.

    All of this required the supporter teams to work together seamlessly. To Isaac''s pleasant surprise, the team he was now a part of was already working like a well-oiled machine. During all the exercises, where they tried to simulate situations they would run into in the dungeon, they didn''t make any mistakes. At the beginning, he hadn''t always made the right decisions himself, as he had simply not been aware of how all of them usually worked together, but it only took him about an hour to get the hang of it completely.

    Usually, a supporter who would accompany an expedition would need a few weeks of training to be able to work together well with his fellow team members. But due to the short time span before the expedition would set off, Riveria had simply given up on letting Isaac go through the usual proceedings. Instead, she sent him to one of the best and strongest supporter teams, that could hopefully make up for his initial mistakes without great difficulties. While she was aware that the young man was a genius, it was better to be safe than sorry. If something happened and lives were lost, it would be too late for regrets.

    About half an hour before it was time for dinner, the training finally concluded. Everyone was in quite the jovial mood, as the new addition to the team didn''t seem to be a detriment. Most of them had been a little worried about Isaac joining them on such short notice, but those worries were pretty much null and void now. After an enthusiastical temporary farewell, which included Randi patting Isaac''s back a lot more heavily than he would have liked, he finally extricated himself from the group and went to take a shower.

    Thankfully, he didn''t have anything scheduled during the next four days, so he could finally refocus his efforts on growing stronger, his dungeon exploration and maybe even searching for some potential retainers.

    Today, Isaac had to get at least six hours of sleep just to keep his body perfectly healthy. Before this, however, he still had a few hours of time to work on circulating more drops of mana. After all, it was only about 7:30 p.m. by the time he had finished eating dinner. As Ais also excused herself pretty early today, at shortly after 8 p.m., Isaac had nothing better to do.

    Ever since he had gotten his ichor upgrade, Isaac hadn''t circulated his mana, so he was positively surprised when the whole process went even easier than before. The mental strain was a lot less than he had expected, so he wantonly increased the amount of drops he would circulate at a time. By the time all three hours had passed, he had worked his way up to 507 drops and he didn''t even feel exhausted, distracted or pained yet.

    Because of this, shortly before falling asleep, Isaac had an idea. What if he tried to circulate his drops of mana while he was busy with other things? If he managed to do so without diminishing his focus while exploring the dungeon, it could potentially be a major time safe. He even suspected there to be other benefits once he mastered this ability.

    -----

    Over in her own room, Ais was starting to get antsy. In only a few minutes, her week of waiting would finally be over. When she thought about how she would soon be able to experience and observe a huge portion of Isaac''s life again, her eyes glimmered in excitement. She had already mentally prepared herself and lain down on her bed. Now, she was simply staring at the system''s countdown patiently.

    It would be a lie to say that she wasn''t a bit apprehensive about the feeling of disorientation she would undoubtedly have to endure once her mind returned to the present. But compared to satiating her curiosity, that was a small price to pay.

    Finally, at shortly after 11 p.m., the system notification Ais had been waiting for finally appeared.

    [ Cooldown until ''Isaac''s Past - Episode 2'' can be experienced has finished.

    You can now experience ''Isaac''s Past - Episode 2''. ]

 Chapter 35 - Late Childhood

    At the age of six, Isaac had to start attending elementary school, just like all the other kids in town. To be honest, it was a blatant waste of time, even his parents could see that. After all, their son hadn''t been slacking these past few years. The educational materials he had consumed had already eclipsed the vast majority of university students, while he was fluent in twelve different languages.

    When Isaac''s parents had wanted to discuss letting Isaac skip a few grades with the authorities in charge, so he wouldn''t have to waste his precious, limited time, they hadn''t expected him to stop them. But after he had explained how he wanted to stick out as little as possible and begged them to never tell anyone about his capabilities, they relented. It would be a lie to say they weren''t worried or sad for the kind of life their son had chosen, but this was his choice - they didn''t have the right to interfere, they could only support him to the best of their abilities.

    It hadn''t been the first time they had had such a discussion. After all, Isaac had already pleaded with them to not brag about him to their friends and other family members before. Therefore, this wasn''t something completely unexpected. Still, it almost made Isaac''s mother break down into tears.

    Over the next year, Isaac never got any special results in his various exams and tests. He was always just about at the right spot to not be thought of as anyone out of the ordinary. Even his behaviour was just like all the other kids, as he often hung out with his ''friends'' on various afternoons. While the worries of his parents about this being just a massive waste of time were partially true, it enabled Isaac to observe the behaviour of kids his age and their lives. True, he could have just gained a very thorough understanding of it from books, but the authors of these works weren''t omniscient, they could easily miss details. Only by living through this part of life himself could Isaac truly understand it.

    When he finally got time for himself, Isaac used it to finish off the last remnants of educational materials and scientific notes he could get his hands on. Of course, by now, he had learned about the internet and already used it on a computer his father had given him as a present on his last birthday. At first, his parents had been worried about him possibly getting mislead by strangers, but by now, they really didn''t have to worry about such things. His father was sure that if anyone even attempted to harm Isaac, they would end up in a very bad condition. Anyway, the internet gave Isaac access to a vast amount of information, enough that he would be able to spend most of his life just absorbing it. Thankfully, he had already developed a method by which he could read tens of times faster than an average human¡­ and that pace was only increasing.

    By the time of his seventh birthday, Isaac had become fully convinced that most of the information he had consumed over his life was most likely false. In most cases, this wasn''t because people wanted to mislead others, rather, they just didn''t have a very thorough understanding of all of these topics either. Especially the perceived human history seemed to be riddled with more holes and blatantly wrong theories than anything Isaac could have even imagined. Still, he was sure that all other sciences were in a similar state and he just wasn''t knowledgeable enough to realize this yet. Because of all of this, Isaac started to read more and more novels, as his goal to gain insight and knowledge obviously couldn''t solely be fulfilled via study of scientific materials.

    Little had Isaac expected that reading novels would open up a completely new world to him. Fantastical battles, heroes saving damsels in distress, unimaginably strong characters¡­ it all seemed like a dream to the young boy. Besides the seed of loneliness, that had grown stronger and stronger in his heart over the past three years, a small seed of interest sprouted. Was it possible to achieve such feats himself? What if he could train his body to become practically superhuman?

    This perfectly coincided with another plan of Isaac''s - travelling the world. He had noticed the deeply rooted problems in societies all over the world via the internet a long time ago. But he couldn''t be sure of the truth if he didn''t see it for himself. There were only two things that he needed: money and the strength to protect himself. Money wasn''t much of a problem. After he had gotten a little bit of money on his seventh birthday, he had started to invest in some promising companies on the stock market. Although the entire concept of having a stock market was deeply flawed, Isaac didn''t feel bad for taking advantage of it to make his life easier. And now, he might have also found a way to become strong enough to be able to protect himself, no matter where he went.

    As he wanted to increase his basic fitness and foundation first, Isaac decided to start with martial arts training. But after he studied most martial arts from all over the world in detail, he soon found that they all had many, many flaws! The oldest ones were mostly focussed on their specific style. While they all had their own strengths and were definitely a powerful boon if learned, a lot of the moves were simply suboptimal or even just a total waste of movement, simply introduced to look the part. Some of the newer martial arts tried to amend that by focusing only on practicality, but they couldn''t really achieve too much success either. With no other option, Isaac created his own martial art from scratch. A few moves from some martial arts were usable, so he wasn''t adverse to adding them to his repertoire, but most were his own creations. He refused to name any of his moves, though, as he felt that it was just incredibly lame to do so. Not to mention that it was a waste of resources to have one''s brain inadvertently think about the name of a move when one executes it.

    While it was easy for young Isaac to create this martial art of his in his head, training his body to actually be able to perform it was ridiculously hard. Even with his advantage of always being able to recognize what mistakes he had made in his execution, there was only one thing that could help him improve: nigh endless repetition. So for at least eight hours almost every day, Ais observed the young boy slave away at his brutal training regime, straining himself way beyond his limits time and time again.

    A few months before Isaac''s eighth birthday, he finally had a breakthrough. While he had been able to perfectly execute all of the moves of his martial art even before then, he had always felt like there was something missing¡­ something he could improve on. So he had never stopped refining himself and his moves. Now¡­ he finally felt as if he had just¡­ understood something. Like a shackle had been broken. Suddenly, he could perfectly control all of his body''s movements. There were no errors anymore, all of his mental commands were flawlessly executed.

    Previously, he had always felt like he had to force his body to conform to what he was thinking. Now, however, it felt like his body had truly become a part of himself. This fascinating feeling distracted Isaac and, while he was observing his own body with interest, he didn''t even notice that more than an hour had passed since his breakthrough.

    When he finally came to, he was somewhat baffled at first, then he got extremely excited. He felt like he had just taken his first step on the path of cultivation! It was finally time to step upon this path and follow it to its end.

    Well, that is what young Isaac tried to do. He attempted the vast majority of cultivation techniques described in novels and old manuscripts¡­ none of them had any effect. In fact, the more he researched about the people who had claimed to be able to use some sort of unseen energy, the more he got convinced they were simply delusional or con artists. His excitement¡­ got quenched quite a bit.

    Still, he felt like he had been on the right track when he became able to perfectly control his body before, so Isaac decided to pursue this path further¡­ as far as he could. It had to lead somewhere, after all. Right?

    Even though young Isaac was trying to cheer himself up and keep positive, Ais felt the painful pangs of realization in his chest, so she let out a sad sigh. She was well aware that Isaac already theorized that this breakthrough¡­ had already been the path''s end.

    Over the next few months, while never stopping to educate himself and gather knowledge, Isaac didn''t give up on trying to improve further. Sadly, while he had finally begun to fully grasp his new abilities, he couldn''t find any way to do so. Sure, he was now able to even focus on every single cell of his body individually. He could even command them, in a way. And while this opened up more possibilities than any other human would likely ever have access to, if they only relied on their mind... there was no way to rise to further heights.

    Although Isaac''s heart was heavy and the seed of interest within it extinguished fully, he didn''t let this drag him down for long. So what if he couldn''t progress further? Wasn''t him reaching the peak of human body control and fighting techniques helpful for his future endeavours? It wasn''t a waste of time, he even had new insights. One of them being that fiction was ultimately just that¡­ fiction. Before now, there had always been a naive hope within him, craving for these fantastical things to be real. That was now gone.

    On his eighth birthday, after he had munched away at his birthday cake with a smile, Isaac''s expression turned serious.

    "Mama, Papa. I have something I need to talk to you about."

    As he only rarely addressed them with such a resolute look on his face, Isaac''s parents soon reigned in their festive mood and looked at their son with worry on their faces. His mother was just concerned about whether he had gotten himself into some kind of trouble, while his father already mentally prepared himself for the worst. Every time Isaac behaved in this way, he would usually challenge their world view or announce something they couldn''t easily accept.

    "What is it?"

    With concern on his face, Isaac''s father asked him to continue.

    "After I finish elementary school, I will be dropping out of the education system. I have already gained all I wanted from there, staying in such an environment further won''t help me."

    So far, so good. As Isaac''s father had already expected this, he just nodded his head.

    "As I''ve already earned millions via stock trading and cryptocurrencies, I''ll also refrain from working in the future. It would be a waste of time."

    In response to Isaac''s outrageous words, his parents had stupefied expressions on their faces. His mother even dropped her glass and stared at her son in disbelief. Sure, they had known their son was earning a little bit of money, but as they didn''t have access to his various accounts anymore, they hadn''t been aware of just how filthy rich Isaac was. His father could only smile awkwardly. He could understand that his son didn''t want to work if he could easily live the rest of his life without doing so. After all, a lot of people would choose to not work if they had the opportunity. He had expected his son to obtain such wealth in the future with ease, but not this early. Yeah, that was truly a bombshell. At least it had been a good bombshell this ti---

    "I will also travel the world over the next few years to study different countries, societies and historical sites in person. No need to worry, I already created all the necessary legal doc.u.ments to do so. I can hire people to accompany me, so you can continue your lives here. I''ll stop by whenever I can, don''t worry."

    With an expression of disbelief, Isaac''s father spat out the water he was currently in the process of drinking.

    "What?!"

    His mother immediately bolted to Isaac''s side and frantically grabbed his shoulders, while her face paled noticeably.

    "That''s too dangerous! I''m not letting you do that!"

    With a mostly expressionless face, Isaac shook his head in response.

    "It''s not dangerous. I can hack whichever systems there are so I won''t get flagged as suspicious. I can also hire as many bodyguards as I want, should they be necessary. The only danger would be someone specifically hiring a professional assassin to take me out from a distance¡­ but who would do that for a random child on the street?"

    Because his parents were already used to arguments of this kind, his words didn''t fall on deaf ears. Nonetheless, his mother still didn''t reduce the strength she put into grabbing his shoulders, so Isaac knew he had to placate her worries even more.

    "Mama, I can easily buy any kind of weapon for self-protection. Besides that, my skills in martial arts have reached the pinnacle. No matter how strong an opponent I meet, I can''t lose. Pair that with a firearm and there really is nothing to worry about."

    While his mother was still shaking her head in frantic denial, not wanting to let her baby boy leave the nest, especially for such an atypical journey, Isaac''s father released an exasperated sigh. He was well aware that there really was nothing they could say to make Isaac change his mind¡­ as there was no reason why he shouldn''t explore the world and travel. Just because he was a child? Wasn''t he already mentally superior to a.d.u.l.ts and more dangerous than a seasoned warrior? Besides that, most countries weren''t even that perilous, otherwise, going on vacation there wouldn''t be such a widely spread trend.

    "Can we come along?"

    His father''s question resulted in Isaac showing a conflicted expression for a short while, before finally shaking his head.

    "Not for all my travel goals, it would be way too dangerous to take you along. It would be too hard to guarantee your safety. But for most of my travels, you can come along. We''ll have some nice holidays."

    Not just Isaac''s father, even his mother almost couldn''t believe her ears. They were the ones that had to be protected?! As ridiculous as it sounded¡­ that really was the case. While their son''s physical strength might not be on par with a well-trained a.d.u.l.t, from what they had observed, his skill was so unimaginably superior that they couldn''t even imagine him getting hurt. But what if they were with him? They would just drag him down¡­

    His parents felt conflicted. On the one hand, they were proud that their son was as outstanding as he was. On the other hand, to have their young child tell them that they would drag them down really wounded their pride.

    The observing Ais wasn''t sure whether she should be laughing about the ridiculousness of the situation or feel sorry for the parents'' predicament. From all she had observed in the past few years, she thought that none of this world''s humans could pose a threat to young Isaac. After all, those humans¡­ were simply too incredibly weak. Only their advanced weaponry could pose even the slightest amount of danger. Well, if it was a weapon of mass destruction¡­ Isaac would be a goner with no way to resist. Even she herself, in her peak form, wouldn''t be able to endure such an attack. But there really was no point thinking about this anway, as if Isaac encountered such a danger, it didn''t matter whether he was with his parents or not - everyone would die.

    When the time came for Isaac to start his travels, his parents had more or less accepted his decision. As there were still many months until he would embark on his solo adventures, they would keep him safe before then and just hope for the best. Even if they warned authorities and begged them to keep their son from leaving, he would most likely just find a way to bypass them anyway¡­ so why even bother? Others might have branded them as irresponsible if they knew about all of this, but thanks to their abnormal son, they were simply powerless.

    Over the next few months, the three visited a lot of relatively safe countries and took in many impressive sights. While they were just tourists, this didn''t keep them from observing the lives of the locals, as they only had to deviate from the standard tourism routes to do so.

    If Ais had to sum this time period up in one word, it would be this: fun. The entire family really enjoyed their time and didn''t come across too many dangerous or disturbing situations. Sure, they encountered some small-time criminals and came across disgruntled natives more times than they could count, but that was the extent of it. Or at least it was the extent of what Isaac''s parents observed. Isaac¡­ he studied the political situation of each country and paid attention to the living conditions of different kinds of people. Often times, while his parents were sleeping, he was staring at the ceiling unhappily while reminiscing about what they had encountered today. Still, he did enjoy his parents'' company, even though they slowed him down somewhat.

    A month before his ninth birthday, Isaac and his family returned back home. This wasn''t so they could celebrate together, though. Rather, it was finally time for Isaac to set out on his own. After a tearful farewell, once he had promised to stop by every few months or so and call them nearly every day, Isaac packed his bags, hired a taxi and arrived at the airport. There, he soon found a middle-aged woman waiting for him.

    "Mr. Blackshaw! It''s nice to finally meet you in person."

    Nodding approvingly at the respectfully bowing woman, Isaac reciprocated the greeting with a bright smile.

    "Likewise, Mrs. Hopkins. Thanks for all your hard work."

    More than a year ago, after an extended period of searching, Isaac had finally found himself a trustworthy secretary - Emily Hopkins. She was a true professional, who didn''t care about his age whatsoever. Of course, Isaac wouldn''t trust her with his life, but some of the more menial tasks of his various money-making avenues were competently handled by her. As for why she had met him here, that was to handle the air-travel related matters for his future travels and to procure various items that he requested over their course.

    "It''s my pleasure. Now, please let me lead the way."

    It didn''t take long for both of them to be seated within Isaac''s private jet. He had vastly understated the amount of money he had amassed by now when he had told his parents about his future plans. Thankfully, it was nearly impossible to track or steal any of his wealth, as Isaac was leagues ahead of anyone else in those regards. If someone found out that a child owned more money than most of the people touted to be the richest men alive, all hell would break loose, after all.

    When the jet set down on foreign soil more than ten hours later, Isaac glanced at the five hardened men hired for its protection. While all of them were mercenaries and those usually had a very bad reputation, the men Isaac had selected seemed to be of upright moral character, so he didn''t worry too much about them stabbing him in the back. And even if they did, he was prepared. In either case, there was nothing that was truly risk-free.

    "I''ll see all of you in about a week. When I''m about to return, I''ll let you know."

    With these words, he left Emily and the security detail behind, setting foot in the civil war-ridden third world country.

    To be fair, the first day wasn''t anything out of the ordinary. The capital city, whose airport he had arrived at, was still in the tight grasp of the government and military, which kept the area relatively safe. Thanks to Isaac being able to speak the country''s language, he also didn''t have much of a problem with blending in. A lone kid might seem out of place if it stuck out too much, but Isaac expertly kept to the masses. While someone with his skin colour might be a rare sight here, in today''s globally connected age, most people didn''t pay too much attention to those things.

    On the second day, Isaac had reached the outskirts of the government-controlled territory. By now, the people he encountered always seemed to be on edge, while a lot of the usual smiles were lost. He couldn''t blame them for their behaviour, as it was perfectly reasonable. Who knew how long the military could keep the rebel forces at bay or when they would break through and attack these towns? Of course, Isaac was very much aware that neither side of this conflict was necessarily ''correct''.

    Contrary to what Ais was somewhat worried about, Isaac didn''t venture further towards the frontlines. Rather, he stayed within this area for three days, observing the daily lives of the people, occasionally talking to some of the friendlier individuals. It was all too easy to get them to talk about all of their frustrations, without giving them a chance to think about why a child was wandering around all alone. After all, Isaac''s acting skills had already reached a monstrous level.

    Then, on the fourth day, when Isaac had planned to make his way back to the capital to observe the contrast in the people''s lives some more, he encountered a certain tragic scene for the first time in his life.

    Within an alley, Isaac was observing one of the many brawls he had born witness to over the past few days. This time¡­ one of the participants had a large knife. Needless to say, the fight got out of hand and ended with two people heavily injured and one person having their throat slit.

    It wasn''t the first time he had seen someone get killed or a dead body, far from it. He had encountered a lot of these things via the internet before, after all. But now, in person, the whole experience was entirely different.

    Even though he didn''t know these people, the observing young Isaac still instinctively felt a shiver run down his spine. An irrational fear was trying to take over his mind, so he defiantly balled his hands into fists and clenched his teeth. But rather than mourning the death of a fellow human being, Isaac was annoyed at how his subconscious tried to dictate what he should feel. So what if someone just died? He knew he would encounter such a scene sooner or later and actively sought it out. Why did the death of a stranger impact him? It just didn''t make sense!

    The observing Ais didn''t even have more than a few minutes to feel pity for what Isaac was currently going through, before the young boy''s perturbed state came to an end. Isaac''s facial muscles relaxed and a small smile played across his lips, before he silently distanced himself even further from the scene of the crime.

    "As expected. Seems like there are still some mental weaknesses I have to work on."

    Right after these words were spoken, a familiar bright light enveloped Ais, which caused her to hastily close her eyes. When thinking about how she would most likely feel like after she opened them again, she released a resigned sigh inwardly.

 Chapter 36 - Stray Cats

    Although she had already succeeded in reorienting herself, Ais still hadn''t fully returned from her experience. With a somewhat forlorn look on her face, she sat on her bed, hugged her knees and leaned against the wall, while thinking about what had left the deepest impression on her.

    It wasn''t the start of Isaac''s journey, nothing of the sort. Rather, it was the fact that, while Isaac had kept up seemingly friendly relations with a few fellow students during his elementary school years, she was fully aware that all of this had just been an act. He hadn''t truly cared about those people or opened up to them. Even if any of them would have died, his persona''s smile wouldn''t have cracked in the slightest. He might have paid some lip-service and feigned care, but that would have been the extent of his reaction.

    All of this didn''t seem too big of a deal on its own. But, thinking back to her experiences with Isaac in the real world, Ais was sure that he thought of all the ''friends'' he had seemingly made here the same way. Even if it wasn''t exactly the same, it was remarkably similar. He didn''t open up to them at all. All they ever saw was what he wanted them to see.

    But rather than scolding Isaac for the mask he was wearing, Ais only felt a pang of pain in her chest. She knew. She knew that he was lonely. That he most likely wanted friends, people to rely on. But he simply couldn''t trust others. And even the few people he seemed to confide in were only the ones he could exert a certain amount of control over. He kept everyone at arm''s length.

    Just like Ais had done in the past.

    While it hadn''t been this extreme, she had been fully focussed on her quest for revenge and didn''t want to be distracted by other, less important matters. At the same time, the last promise someone had made to her had been broken¡­ and she had been left all alone, in the darkness. It had been hard for her to open up to others again. Still, over the course of a few years, her warm and affectionate environment had thawed the icy shell encasing her heart and made her form genuine friendsh.i.p.s. Ais was well aware that she was just beginning to understand these kinds of relationsh.i.p.s herself, but she knew that they had made a positive impact on her life. They would surely have a similar effect on Isaac''s.

    A heavy sigh escaped her lips, then she closed her eyes and rested her head against the comfortably cold wall.

    Helping Isaac form such bonds wouldn''t be easy. It would be a long and arduous process that couldn''t be hurried along just because she wanted him to experience this kind of joy and warmth earlier. Ais wasn''t even sure whether or not Isaac truly understood friendship itself. After all, from what she had seen so far, he never even attempted to make a friend. While he might have a general understanding of the concept, he clearly had no first-hand experience.

    Yet another sigh escaped her lips, then a resolute smile played across her lips.

    Thinking about all of this wouldn''t be of much help. No matter what, an answer wouldn''t just magically appear in front of her. She simply didn''t have enough information so far.

    Because of this, Ais decided to continue on her path - to stay by Isaac''s side and observe. Who knows, maybe an opportunity for Isaac to make a friend would present itself one day. At the same time, while Ais was aware that Isaac, judging by his actions, already had a place for her in his heart, she also made a resolution to become his friend as well. She knew that even she wasn''t yet allowed through all the walls and failsafes he had built around himself. Even if he ended up never making another friend, she wanted to be there for him.

    After all, she didn''t want him to be lonely.

    -----

    By the time Isaac, Tiona and Tione had arrived at a staircase leading down to the 24th floor of the dungeon, it was already 11 a.m.. It had taken almost two hours just to traverse the 23rd floor alone - the increasing size of the dungeon slowly made itself known.

    On the entire way, they had only encountered one new monster species - the Deadly Hornets. They were about twenty times the size of a regular hornet and their highest stat could reach up to D-500 / 2350. Contrary to what Isaac had expected when he first came across them on the 22nd floor, they weren''t particularly fast. Their attacks were extremely powerful and their stingers were easily able to pierce through most armours Level 2 adventurers would be wearing, though. What truly made them dangerous, however, was the fact that they moved around in large swarms of up to fifty individuals. Thankfully, Isaac only ran across groups consisting of about twenty or so, otherwise, he would have really had to step up his game significantly.

    Isaac''s biggest advantage when dealing with the Deadly Hornets - and all other flying monsters, for that matter - was his recently procured bow. This morning, he had purchased an ungodly amount of arrows from a multitude of shops, which he all secretly stored within his inventory. Now that he had the ammunition and didn''t need to worry about it running out any time soon, he could relaxedly shoot down any flying monsters that kept out of his range. Of course, he made sure to salvage all the arrows he fired, to reuse them later. While his Level 2 stats enabled him to jump quite high, it wasn''t nearly enough to be able to reach the flying monsters he was confronted with nowadays. This had often caused him to get a bit frustrated after the dungeon''s caverns had gotten more and more spacious. Now, however, he only had to pull out his bow when he was done dispatching the closest enemies and could snipe all those nasty eyesores.

    "We''ve still got some time. Want to continue?"

    As he had been standing at the staircase for quite some time, silently contemplating, Tiona couldn''t hold herself back and chimed in from the side. After gazing at the merrily grinning Amazoness for a moment, Isaac finally made a decision.

    Thanks to the twins, Isaac was well aware of the fact that many new monster species joined the fray on the 24th floor. No matter what, he wouldn''t have enough time to research all of them if he planned to return in time for today''s training session. Most likely, he would have to return right in the middle of his research, which was what had been bugging him a bit before Tiona had snapped him out of his distracting thoughts. Seeing how this was a trend that would likely continue in the future, he just had to accept it. While he would like to simply stay until he was finished, he had made prior arrangements that he didn''t want to renege on.

    With a small smile, Isaac gave a confident nod and led the way down towards the 24th floor.

    -----

    At the same time, Isaac''s students had made their way down to the 6th floor of the dungeon. After Kalin and Mina had gotten their Falna, their strength had soared and they easily blitzed through where they had previously been struggling. Then, at the current floor, they finally came across some new obstacles to overcome, the Frog Shooters and the War Shadows.

    While they had about the same stats as the Frog Shooters, they both only got a few light scratches before getting used to their fast tongue attacks. Besides those, the enormous frogs didn''t offer up much of a resistance and were easily slaughtered once the two had more or less figured out their movement patterns and range. Admittedly, that took an hour or two, but it wasn''t anything too difficult, especially because they were on equal footing.

    On the other hand, the War Shadows were a lot easier to deal with, even though they had higher stats. As their shapes were vaguely humanoid, their attacks weren''t any different than the ones they faced during their daily spars. The only thing to look out for, the fact that they simply regenerated and could only be defeated after having taken a certain amount of damage, was something they had already been warned about by Jakk. Because of this, they couldn''t be taken by surprise and the ghastly looking opponents turned into mere punching bags. Still, the group of three didn''t encounter too many of them on this floor, as they were a relatively rare spawn.

    Under Jakk''s watchful gaze, both Kalin and Mina slaughtered their poor monster opponents with nigh reckless abandon. If they hadn''t been cautioned about not letting their newfound strengths get to their heads, they would have probably overextended even further. Still, by now it was time for them to tone it down a notch, so they could be well rested for this afternoon''s training session.

    With that in mind, Jakk had the two take a rest in one of the numerous pathways connected to the cavern their most recent slaughter had just taken place in. As he barely had to fight so far himself, he was well rested. Therefore, standing guard and dispatching the occasionally approaching monsters wasn''t taxing whatsoever.

    While Mina happily munched away on a sandwich she had gotten from the Loki Familia kitchens this morning and Kalin was taking a huge sip from his waterskin, all three of them suddenly looked at the wall right next to them, about three meters away. As it had been relatively quiet, because there was no fighting going on right now, they had all heard the sound of rocks scratching against each other.

    What greeted them was an open door made of the very wall of the dungeon - a hidden doorway.

    The voices they could hear from within the unknown passage were what broke the group out of their stupor and made them get into battle-ready positions with their weapons drawn. It took a few seconds, but they soon could make out a sentence.

    "Why are we stuck with doing the dirty work again?!"

    Right after the deep, male voice had reached their ears, a group of four men appeared out of the secret doorway. Two of them were humans, one of them was a Chienthrope and the last one was a Cat Person. They all wore standard adventurer outfits and would have most likely just gotten some mistrustful, wary looks under normal circ.u.mstances, due to the dodgy air they gave off.

    Unluckily for them, these weren''t normal circ.u.mstances. Each of the four men had two bodies slung over their shoulders, all of which looked to be in terrible condition. Just from a quick glance, many bruises and open wounds could be made out, while they gave off a heavy stench of blood and mold.

    The students'' expressions immediately turned sour. Although they couldn''t be one hundred percent sure what was going on, they had already convinced themselves that they weren''t dealing with good people here.

    "Someone''s her---"

    Before the human who had walked at the far right of the group of thugs had even finished his sentence, his head had already been cleanly separated from his body.

    The instant she had seen the unknown arrivals, Mina knew. She knew they were just like the people who had destroyed her life. Those l.u.s.tful smiles, those arrogant, selfish glances and those bodies they were carrying around like pieces of garbage - she didn''t need to know or see anything else. Whatever their reasoning may have been, she had already decided to kill them. Any sc.u.m shall be exterminated!

    Mina didn''t immediately continue her assault, as the remaining three enemies had taken this chance to drop their burdens and draw their weapons. Nonetheless, she was glaring at them with unbridled fury burning in her eyes.

    Although he wasn''t nearly as incensed as his companion, Kalin''s blood was boiling as well. It might just have been a childish dream, but he believed in the concept of justice. These people who had, quite obviously committed acts of evil¡­ they had to be judged.

    This temporary stalemate didn''t continue for long, however, as Jakk quickly arrived in front of the other human opponent. While the thugs had drawn their weapons, Jakk had noticed that this one''s reaction speed had been remarkably faster than the rest''s, so he was most likely already at Level 2 and therefore not an opponent the other two could face. Thankfully, the man didn''t prove to be much of an opponent to Jakk, who had rapidly improved his strength over the past week or so as well - it had only taken three strikes to kill him. With the immediate threat out of the way, Jakk swept his gaze over the rest of the battlefield to observe how his two fellow students were faring.

    Since the very moment Jakk had engaged the Level 2 leader, Mina had been exchanging blows with the Cat Person. He was quite fast and had been able to dodge many of her attacks, while being unable to land any hits on her either. Right when the thug started to get frustrated with the skills of his opponent, he suddenly blankly stared at the position of his leader for a moment - this was right when Jakk had landed the death blow. This momentary lapse in concentration was his death warrant. Within a second, Mina had separated his head from his body.

    Whenever she could, Mina tried to follow in her lord''s footsteps and get rid of enemies in the same way he did. This, most likely, was due to her extremely high loyalty.

    Kalin had been clashing with the sword and shield wielding Chienthrope. His opponent''s attack speed was impressively fast, but he was a lot slower movement-wise and a novice when it came to maneuvering, so Kalin outmaneuvered him a short time after the start of the battle. He held back and only focussed on keeping him in check for now, though, until he noticed that both of his companions had already finished their battles. At that very moment, with extreme ease, he ended the fight with a lightning-fast stab straight through the heart.

    While the three of them caught their breath and inwardly celebrated their success, Jakk nodded in approval. Such common riff-raff simply didn''t pose much of a challenge to them. Very quickly, though, his smug smile froze and turned into a wry one.

    "We probably should have kept one of them alive to interrogate¡­"

    When Kalin and Mina heard those words, they hung their heads in shame. All three of them hadn''t really thought much about what the rational course of action should have been. Kalin had been consumed by his thirst for justice, while Mina had been trying to rid herself of a past trauma. Even the most experienced of the three, Jakk, had been distracted by a dreadful flashback. They had failed, plain and simple.

    After a few moments of reflection, the three carefully inspected the bodies the thugs had been carrying. Very soon, though, Kalin released a depressed sigh.

    "They''re dead."

    He had held out hope before, but after checking three of the bodies, he had given up. Instead of dwelling on something he couldn''t change, he turned his attention towards the well-equipped bodies of their opponents and dutifully freed them of their worldly possessions which they had so generously donated. Before he could get too absorbed in his new task, however, Mina''s sudden yelp made him rush to her side in a heartbeat.

    "This one''s alive!"

    The one she was talking about was an emaciated young man, who looked more like a boy thanks to the very small amount of nutrition he had gotten over a prolonged period of time. His ears and tail gave away that he was a Cat Person, but more than half of his grey hair had been ripped out in patches all over his head, ears and tail. Paired with the rags he was wearing, he painted the very picture of misery.

    Mina''s yelp hadn''t only gotten Jakk''s and Kalin''s attention, even the cat boy was startled awake and slightly opened his golden-yellow eyes. After glancing at the group of three for a moment and releasing a dry cough, his hazy, clouded gaze suddenly focussed on a frail body right next to his.

    Just like him, it was a Cat Person. This one, however, was a female and looked barely over ten years old. She might have actually been older, but it was hard to tell due to, again, the severe degree of emaciation. Just like the male Cat Person, her middle-length grey hair had been ripped out in patches all over her body, but additionally, she was also covered in a multitude of bruises of all shapes and colours. What made the group of students clench their fists in anger, however, was the fact that it was plain to see that she had been the victim of severe s.e.x.u.a.l abuse, which the thugs charged with disposing the bodies didn''t make any attempts of covering up in the least. Any last shred of regret the students might have felt over having just ended a number of lives moments prior was dashed then and there.

    All of this didn''t matter to the cat boy, however. With the last of his strength, he dragged himself over to the young girl and cradled her in his arms, then rested his head upon her chest and quietly listened for a heartbeat. When he couldn''t make one out even after close to half a minute had passed, his body suddenly started shaking and a small amount of tears escaped his closed eyes. With his lower lip trembling, he quietly whispered the young girl''s name.

    "Millina¡­!"

    After this, the exhaustion finally got to him and he collapsed, shedding a few more tears on the dead girl''s body.

    As they had felt like it would be inappropriate to interrupt the young Cat Person, the group of students had been observing the situation silently. Now that the boy had lost consciousness again, however, they concernedly gathered around him, while Kalin checked the boy''s and girl''s pulse.

    They had already checked for her pulse before and, as expected, no miracle happened this time. The boy, however, was definitely still alive, although he quite obviously was in a horrid condition.

    Kalin fed the cat boy one of the group''s Potions, which they had stocked up on back at the Twilight Manor. Potions, in most cases, were watered-down vials filled with Blue Papilio Wing powder, that were able to somewhat accelerate the restoration of minor wounds. While it wouldn''t be of much help, seeing how many wounds the Cat Person''s body was riddled with, it was certainly better than doing nothing.

    As she had particularly taken note of the dry cough from before, Mina got one of the waterskins from their supplies and carefully fed some water to the unconscious boy. A dry, parched throat was anything but comfortable and healthy, after all.

    Seeing how competently his companions were handling the situation, Jakk nodded appreciatively. He hadn''t even needed to say anything and they had already done their best, which was quite remarkable. Quite often, people would be overwhelmed in situations like these and wouldn''t know what to do, they would simply freeze up and space out, either waiting for everything to resolve itself or an outside impetus.

    While Mina and Kalin were treating the cat boy to the best of their abilities, Jakk carefully laid down all the bodies besides the young cat girl''s in the most respectful positions he could manage and gave them a short but heartfelt prayer within his mind, begging the gods to let these people live happier lives next time. The thugs'' bodies, however, were just thrown to the side unceremoniously and ignored. They had already been stripped of all their valuables, so there was no further use for them.

    After thinking about which course of action they should take now, Jakk decided that they would simply wait here for Isaac''s arrival in about an hour. Although he didn''t know how he did it, he knew that his roommate somehow had the ability to find them within the dungeon and would most likely meet up with them here, as they had discussed today''s plans before. Another reason to wait for Isaac''s arrival was that he was accompanied by two of the familia''s Executives, who would be a lot more suited to deciding what to do about the peculiar doorway they had discovered.

    With that in mind, the three simply defended their current position from all approaching monsters, warily glancing at the still opened secret pathway every now and then. They didn''t forget to move the young cat girl''s body every few minutes either, as they knew the dungeon would absorb dead bodies after a certain amount of time had passed. Thankfully, Isaac had told them the specifics in passing before, otherwise, the young girl would have disappeared shortly before Isaac arrived.

    Regarding the other bodies, none of the students made any attempts at trying to get them out of the dungeon or resisting its absorption process. If Isaac had been present he would have mentally taken note of their unusual behaviour, as it mirrored what he had born witness to before. Why were they not trying to give the bodies proper burials and just left them in the dungeon? No-one knew. As for why they kept the young girl''s body around, that was because the cat boy would most likely want to say his goodbyes, paired with the fact that it would be a lot easier to explain the situation to Isaac with her body present. After all, its condition spoke for itself.

    At around 12:30 p.m. three voices approached from the distance and soon, Isaac and the Amazoness twins strolled into Mina''s field of view. Instantly, she ran up to them with her tail wagging excitedly and smiled brightly at her lord.

    "Welcome back, milord!"

    As Isaac soon noticed, she was proudly glancing at the unconscious boy and the cat girl''s body, then back at him with an expectant look on her face. Her tail wags were speeding up recognizably, as if she was waiting for some kind of reward for the ''haul'' she had presented to him.

    ''Why do I feel like she''s more like a pet than a retainer?''

    With a wry smile on his face, Isaac thought about the possible causes for this gradual development. Did her high loyalty somehow trigger her animalistic instincts? After all, dogs were known to be ridiculously loyal to their owners, so it was definitely something worth looking into.

    Resigning himself to treating her well in either case, as loyalty should indeed be rewarded, Isaac released a sigh and patted Mina''s head while passing her by, walking up to the rest of the group with the curious Tiona and Tione in tow.

    "Good job, Mina."

    An even brighter smile lit up the happy Chienthrope''s face as she basked in the afterglow of the head pat.

 Chapter 37 - Preparation Is Key

    Within the Captain''s office, also dubbed ''the war room'' by a few members of the familia, Finn was seated behind his desk, sending contemplative gazes towards everyone else gathered here. Besides their goddess Loki, who was observing the proceedings with an interested grin on her face and was the one who had called for this meeting, both Riveria and Gareth, the rest of the top brass of the familia, were also present.

    As for the ones who had, up until this point, reported their findings, those were the Amazoness twins Tiona and Tione, as well as Isaac. But besides all of those, there were still two others who had joined the meeting: Ais and Lefiya.

    To no-one''s surprise, Tione was seated as close to Finn as possible, while Tiona and Ais flanked Isaac, who admittedly was feeling a little uncomfortable. If Ais'' presence didn''t provide him a sense of security, which made him tolerate the situation, he would have distanced himself from the clingy Amazoness a long time ago. But why was Ais here when she didn''t have anything to add to the conversation in the first place? Simply because she felt like it. As an Executive of the familia, if she wanted to listen in on a meeting like this, no-one would attempt to stop her. Compared to the golden-haired beauty, who was just uninterestedly watching from the sidelines, the one seated on her right side, Lefiya, had an actual reason for being here. Because she was being groomed as Riveria''s prot¨¦g¨¦ and successor, taking part in meetings like this was just another aspect of her daily training.

    This afternoon''s training session had ended a little earlier than usual, seeing how there were still about two hours to go until dinner time. But as the Amazoness twins had reported today''s unusual find to Loki right when they had returned, Isaac had to compromise and attend the meeting she called for. As a part of her familia, to do so was simply the least he could do.

    "Alright, I understand the situation now."

    With an appreciative nod and unintentionally suave smile on his face, Finn thanked the three people who had just recounted today''s happenings. Of course, he made sure to ignore Tione''s increasingly heated gaze.

    "Is there anything else you would like to report?"

    It was a routine question that Finn didn''t expect an answer to, so he flashed Isaac a look of surprise when the latter nodded and continued in his explanation.

    "Yes, I have already discovered entrances to this man-made labyrinth on the first, second and third floor previously. Needless to say, I know how to operate the secret doors as well."

    Everyone besides Ais, who didn''t seem to be bothered by this revelation, shot Isaac an incongruous look. The first one to break the silence, in attempt to find out the reason for his silence on the matter so far, was Riveria.

    "Why didn''t you submit a report about this sooner?"

    An apologetic smile played across Isaac''s lips, as he got ready to give a rather lengthy statement.

    "I wanted to first investigate how many floors deep this anomaly reaches, as I didn''t want to waste everyone''s time by simply revealing the tip of the iceberg, some superficial knowledge. Sadly, as I could only use my free time to acc.u.mulate information so far, I haven''t made too much progress. What I can confirm, however, is that the labyrinth seems to be connected to the rumour that Daedalus Street has its own entrance to the dungeon. After all, every single one of the entrances discovered so far is literally pointing in its direction."

    A moment after Isaac had finished, a somewhat saddened sigh escaped Loki''s lips, which caused her to be looked at with questioning gazes. So as to not disappoint the expectant looks on her children''s faces the mischievous goddess revealed a tiny bit of what she was privy to.

    "The godly community is aware that some of our more¡­ unsavory brethren and their familias have made Daedalus street their home. Of course, many people who are simply down on their luck can be found there as well. Anyway, any dam will eventually have a leak. Because of that, we''ve been aware of these familias and some other criminal organizations using an artificial construct beneath the area to enter the dungeon while escaping the notice of the Guild."

    This admission of knowledge didn''t surprise Isaac. No secret could be kept forever, and with gods being practically immortal, they would know about a lot of things that just floated around the town as a rumour. Before he could let his thoughts wander for too long, however, Loki''s words continued.

    "Because of the huge amount of backlash if Ouranos forcefully imposed his rules on that rather sizable portion of the godly community, we have been forced to overlook this unregulated variable so far. Still, just like the Entertainment District and other huge parts of the city, where horrific crimes are commonplace, the familias who made this labyrinth their home wouldn''t dare to create too much trouble. After all, if they stick out like a sore thumb, they could earn the displeasure of too many other gods, which would sign their death warrants. What I''m trying to say is this: It''s a somewhat negligible threat to the godly community, therefore, we tolerate it."

    Even though his goddess had tried to downplay the potential danger, Finn''s expression had darkened considerably. As he had to take the situation of the whole familia into account, he couldn''t just ignore this uncertainty.

    "No matter what, we should investigate this further. To have unknown dark forces in the shadows who could strike us at any moment is too much of a risk. Even our supply lines during expeditions are in considerable danger of a sneak attack."

    After hearing Finn''s assessment of the situation, Gareth felt like now would be the best time to offer his services.

    "Should I take a party down there and investigate?"

    Although his position in the familia wasn''t very influential, as he wasn''t an Executive of any kind, Isaac still felt a need to intervene. After all, he couldn''t allow things to develop in this direction for now.

    "Excuse the interruption, but that would be a bad idea."

    Seeing how both Finn and Gareth felt a little offended at this rookie butting in, Loki signalled to them to let Isaac speak, which made the two realize that she valued the new blood a lot more than they had expected. While they knew that she had huge expectations for Isaac''s potential, they weren''t aware that even his council was something she valued highly. This made Finn take another intrigued look at the calm man staring at him from his seat on the sofa. During all of this, Riveria stayed quiet and waited for Isaac''s following words.

    "As we don''t really know what kind of dangers we''ll encounter in the labyrinth, this could impact the plans for the expedition. The entire expedition could even need to be put on hold for a long time, depending on what we''ll find and how much of our efforts we''ll need to divert. As there are most likely already many promises and deals made with other familias regarding the resources we''ll bring back from the expedition, suddenly changing our plans like this would give us a bad image and could have long-term, trust-related consequences."

    A small smile played across Riveria''s lips. She had been worried about the same thing as well and would have stopped Finn and Gareth on these grounds if Isaac hadn''t done so. But from what she could see, the enigmatic man wasn''t even close to done yet, which raised her impression of him yet again. With a mind like this, he would indeed be suitable to protect the rather straightforward Ais...

    "Additionally, major changes to the expedition would attract a lot of attention, especially from those dark forces you eluded to. As they haven''t sneak attacked us so far, for many years, according to my knowledge, it is unlikely that this will change in the near future. Rather, sudden changes in behaviour could trigger them into acting against us in the first place. Seeing how we can''t judge how strong our opponents are, our losses could be more than we can afford to stomach. Still, these unknown threats also leave a bad taste in my mouth. Therefore, I recommend gathering more intelligence first. As far as we know, we don''t have any reason to hurry, so I''ll continue to spend my free time investigating this. After all, I can recognize those secret doors even in their closed, hidden state. Additionally, I would like to question the boy my students rescued earlier today. He might have a lot of helpful information as well. Once I can assess what we are facing, it''s not too late to land a well-prepared strike."

    As Isaac paused shortly at this point, Finn was just about to praise him for his thoughtfulness. But he didn''t get the chance to, which left him a little baffled. Just how many layers of plans had this man laid out in the short period of time he had been here?!

    "Once we successfully take down the forces using this illegal entrance, we''ll have removed a thorn from Ouranos'' side. This will gain us his favour, which will partially translate into a lot of monetary benefits we''ll receive from the Guild. Also, Loki will be able to take advantage of this and leverage it against him in her negotiations with him in the future. Another thing to consider would be the labyrinth itself. We aren''t required to publicize its location, after all, so if we manage to take control of it, we''ll have our own entrance to the dungeon, which would give us a plethora of options for the future."

    There was another thing that Isaac didn''t mention - the fact that he suspected the main antagonists of the DanMachi novels to have a large presence in the labyrinth. After all, the labyrinth had been alluded to quite early in the story, so it was likely that it would play a huge role later on. From what Isaac knew of the story, the protagonists and their companions were always in an underdog position, so the main antagonists would only exceed them in strength, not the other way around. As Ais was considered to be one of the two protagonists of the story, the forces they had to face were way beyond the current Loki Familia. It would be foolish to have them preemptively come into contact with such a huge threat. While he could guarantee Ais'' safety, and the safety of a few others, it was certain that a tragedy would ensue. He didn''t want Ais to go through something like that. Instead, what if he just became strong enough to shatter the threat in the first place, before it could take shape? Whether that panned out or not wasn''t clear yet, but he at least had to try.

    While Finn was already feeling happy about the fact that he wasn''t in a position to be schemed against by Isaac and wanted to finally get a chance to praise the young one for his insight, he soon became a bit exasperated as another person chimed in on the conversation - Lefiya, who currently had a worried and indignant look on her face.

    "But if we don''t act now, there will be many more victims of those criminals, which we could have saved!"

    Hearing this, Finn, Riveria, Gareth, Loki, Isaac and Tione exchanged knowing glances. All of them knew what needed to be done, but none wanted to be the one to take the first step and burst the lovable elf''s bubble.

    "Allow me."

    After a reluctant sigh, Isaac looked straight into Lefiya''s eyes with a serious look on his face. This made the pure elf blush a little, but she didn''t avoid his gaze and stared back at him defiantly.

    "Lefiya. Every day, countless actions we condemn as horrible crimes get committed all over the world. They are happening right this second as well, but we simply don''t know about them. As long as you aren''t an omnipotent and omniscient being, there is nothing you can do to stop all of them. Mind you, even the gods aren''t that powerful. Still, to try to save the people we know about is indeed a noble and nice idea."

    Lefiya smiled brightly when Isaac arrived at this part, but she was destined to be disappointed as soon as he continued.

    "But if you jump headfirst into unknown danger without a plan and lose your life in the process, you won''t be able to save anyone. It would be a pointless death, you wouldn''t achieve anything. It''s a great ideal but simply doesn''t work in practice."

    ''Unless you''re a broken, cheat-like existence of a main character with ridiculous amounts of good luck.''

    "So instead, in order to be able to save a greater amount of people, you have to be sufficiently prepared before taking action. That way, you''ll survive longer and be able to save more people during your lifetime. You might not be able to save absolutely everyone, but you''ll achieve the most you possibly can."

    Admittedly, this wasn''t a philosophy Isaac liked very much himself, as he didn''t aspire to be any kind of hero or saviour. He was aware that such a worldview could only bring about happiness in the short term. But simply by the nature of sentient beings having free will, conflict would inevitably arise again, no matter what. All of these lofty aspirations were something that could never be eternally realized, unless free will was taken out of the equation. Still, Lefiya didn''t need to know about all of this. Isaac would already be happy if she refrained from aspiring to be a suicidal hero and just did her best.

    The room''s atmosphere had turned a little glum, especially because everyone was aware that these words were indeed the truth. Although having the heart of a hero sounded like a great thing, without the support of fate itself, one could only end up dying in a hopeless pursuit. To stay rational and only save the people one could save might hurt one''s heart, but at least it would lead to a better situation overall.

    Besides Lefiya, who had turned meek and dejected after a short period of speechlessness, her long ears drooping sadly, the one who was the most affected by Isaac''s words was Tiona. Ever since her childhood, she had been fascinated by heroic tales, so although she had been very aware of how unreasonable it was to aim for such a lifestyle, to have it all plainly laid out in front of her wasn''t something she could swallow easily.

    Finally, after Finn accepted Isaac''s previous proposal and told him that he wanted regular updates about the situation, there wasn''t really anything left to discuss, so Loki dismissed the meeting, but not before asking to talk to Isaac alone. Even Ais was forced to stay away as Loki led the way to her study.

    When both of them were seated across from each other on the green sofas as usual, Loki opened her red eyes slightly further and allowed a small amount of her Divine Aura to emanate outwards, intending to pressure Isaac a little with that and her predator-like gaze. A frustrated sigh escaped her lips.

    "Did you think I wouldn''t notice?"

    Even under the intangible pressure of the Divine Aura bearing down on him, Isaac didn''t show any sign of panic and just smirked, before shaking his head. This admission, as well as the fact that her methods weren''t working at all, as she had already somewhat expected, made Loki reel her Divine Aura back in and close her eyes again, visibly relaxing in the process.

    "I knew you would notice."

    As Loki''s blood, a part of her, was still on Isaac''s back in the form of her Falna, she had a way to detect the changes in his body, especially if they were of such a massive scale. The Divine Aura he had exuded back when he got his ichor upgrade wasn''t something that could simply be overlooked. Although she had only been informed of it the moment the spatiotemporal dislocation had ended, Loki had been aware of Isaac''s peculiar changes to a certain degree since then. Although nobody else would be able to discern anything unusual easily, unless he unleashed his Divine Aura in public, Isaac had never even planned to escape Loki''s notice. Sure, he could have probably paid the system some AP to hide this fact from her, but it just felt like a waste of resources. As someone close to Ais and himself, Loki was bound to find something amiss sooner or later.

    While a slight smile played across her lips, Loki opened her eyes again and looked deep into Isaac''s, focusing hard on whether or not the answer he would give to her upcoming question would be the truth.

    "Will you stay in the familia?"

    Everything was proceeding according to Isaac''s expectations, so he nodded in response, before clarifying further.

    "I won''t leave the familia or harm it, as it is Ais'' home. Only if the familia betrayed Ais would I turn my back on it."

    As she couldn''t detect any kind of falsehood in his eyes or words, Loki smiled wryly in response. Why would she ever want to backstab Ais? Still, because of her slight distraction, before she could get to the next point on her agenda, Isaac had already addressed it for her.

    "I know you''re curious. Therefore, let me propose a deal. If you don''t interfere with me negatively, I will tell you all about what you''re interested in in due time. I won''t harm you or the familia, you have my word. So if you can simply refrain from scheming against me, what you want will fall into your lap anyway, without you having to do anything."

    To be honest, Loki was more than a little bit interested in the anomaly that was Isaac, as he certainly was different from every other sentient being she had met in the Lower World so far. After all, none of them could suddenly turn their blood into ichor. Still, as she literally had all the time in the world, and Isaac''s ichor would enable him to live for an inordinate length of time, there was no need to hurry. Why work for something if you can get it for free? If she knew just how much Isaac was hiding from her, she probably wouldn''t have been able to hold her curiosity back like this, but ignorance is bliss. In this case, Isaac''s bliss. The final factor for Loki''s decision was that she wanted to see just how high his potential could carry this child of hers.

    "Deal."

    Before Isaac could excuse himself, Loki''s next words made him stop in his tracks, slightly baffled.

    "Isn''t that private force you''re building more of a daycare for traumatized children?"

    After a brief moment of hesitation, a cheeky smile stole itself on Isaac''s face.

    "I could ask you the same thing."

    Now, it was Loki''s turn to be baffled. But soon after, the somewhat serious atmosphere in the room broke down completely and she laughed heartily, giving Isaac a thumbs up.

    "Touch¨¦!"

    Once the situation had calmed down again and they had stopped grinning stupidly, Loki asked Isaac a last question before he was allowed to take his leave.

    "I don''t need to worry about your private force becoming a problem, right?"

    With a confident nod and a smirk, Isaac replied.

    "No need to worry. There will only be less problems, not more."

    When Isaac finally left her study, Loki grabbed her glass of wine, sipped on it and chuckled to herself. She really wanted to see what this mortal was planning and which games he was playing here. It was a very interesting development to observe, that more and more gods would pay attention to in the future, that was for sure. Simultaneously, she began to speculate about Isaac''s origins. According to her knowledge, none of the later generations of gods had the ability to create such an unusual being¡­ Was Isaac perhaps a creation of the primordial gods?

    While Loki was racking her brains over him, Isaac was also chuckling to himself as he walked towards his subordinates'' base. Of course, he didn''t completely trust Loki, but he was well aware that she preferred to laze around if given the opportunity. That didn''t mean that she wasn''t a hard worker, though, just that she wouldn''t unnecessarily waste her time.

    As for why she would trust his words, the reason for this was her inhuman proficiency in spotting lies, thanks to her being a trickster goddess. Subconsciously, she wouldn''t even attempt to doubt someone''s words if she had already recognized them as the truth. This deduction was the reason for Isaac''s somewhat complacent behaviour. She would be in for quite a shock when Isaac finally departed from here, as the magnitude of what would be revealed to her wasn''t something she could even imagine. Naturally, this would only happen if she honoured their deal.

 Chapter 38 - Misery Loves Company

    The young man''s mind slowly bode farewell to the all too familiar darkness and roused him from his slumber. Still, he didn''t open his eyes. After all, if he just pretended to sleep for a little longer, he might not get their attention. For now. Another benefit would be that he didn''t have to see those horrid surroundings he had gotten so used to¡­

    ''Wait. What is this?!''

    Something had changed. In fact, everything he felt was different. His body was enveloped in pleasant warmth, entirely devoid of the rough fabric and invasive insects that had bothered him for a long time. He was still exhausted, but even the waves of pain that had pervaded his body nigh constantly before had receded by a noticeable amount.

    After slowly opening his eyes and sitting up, the cat boy noticed that his surroundings were completely different from what he had expected. The room he found himself in wasn''t especially extravagant, but it certainly couldn''t be found in the lower income-areas of Orario. Compared to the cold and hard stone floor he had used as his resting place until now, the cozy and warm bed felt heavenly to him. Upon closer inspection of himself, he noticed that the dirt and dried blood that he hadn''t had the opportunity to wash off in months was gone and his hair smelt¡­ well, normal. It didn''t stink, which was a pretty huge improvement. Most of his more severe wounds had been expertly bandaged, while he now wore comfortable, medium-quality cotton clothing.

    The entire situation admittedly confused the boy, while his warning bells couldn''t help but ring. Very quickly, however, they quietened down again, once he had taken some time to think. After all, if someone truly wanted to harm him, they wouldn''t have treated him so well.

    "Where am I¡­?"

    Right after he had muttered this question, the door to his room was gently opened and a pretty Chienthrope girl appeared. When she noticed that he had woken up, she smiled happily and turned around to notify her companions.

    "He''s awake!"

    Although he had just seen a beauty, the cat boy stiffened up in fear and worry and tightly grasped his bedsheets. He didn''t make a single sound while observing the group of four that entered his room one by one. There was the pretty Chienthrope girl, a rather good-looking human boy, a Hume Bunny boy who kept to himself and leaned against the wall just after he had entered the room and¡­ an enormous rooster with deep-green feathers?!

    "Do you like what you see?"

    Apparently, the boy had been absentmindedly staring at the rooster for too long, so it puffed out its feathers arrogantly and strutted around the foot of the bed.

    "It can talk?!"

    In surprise, the cat boy had already jumped backwards, all the way to the head of the bed, which was situated right at the wall. He had no way to escape any further, so he cautiously eyed the self-important bird warily. Before the situation could spiral even more out of control, however, the Chienthrope girl picked up the rooster and scolded it with a dissatisfied frown on her face.

    "Hey, don''t scare him."

    All she got in response was an irritated "tsk".

    Trying his best to further defuse the situation, the human boy slowly walked closer to the bandaged young man, having his arms raised and an apologetic, harmless smile on his face.

    "There''s no need to be afraid, you''re safe now. Oh, right. You''re probably wondering about who we are. I''m Kalin, this lady here is Mina, the rooster is Averin and the one observing from over there is Jakk. So... what is your name?"

    Just like the past few months, whenever somebody was talking to him, the cat boy''s instincts were screaming at him that he had to run away, that he was in danger. Yet, his rationality told him that this couldn''t be further from the truth. Would those people really have to use tricks if they wanted to harm him? No. His life was in their grasp anyway. Therefore, he might as well tell them. It wasn''t like it was any important information anyway.

    "... Quinn."

    Once he had calmed down again, as he still had to be careful with his injuries and recover further, Quinn sat down on the bed and leaned against the wall, contemplatively staring at the three who had taken a seat at the foot of the bed: Mina, Kalin and Averin.

    "Where am I?"

    Yet again, he asked this question. This time, however, he finally got a reply.

    "You''re in a residence that''s part of the Twilight Manor, on the Loki Familia''s grounds."

    No matter what, Quinn would have never thought that he was here, in such a prestigious location. Shock and surprise were evident on his face, while a tiny bit of idolization sparkled in his eyes, as he expectantly asked another question.

    "Then¡­ are you part of the Loki Familia?"

    The one who answered him this time was Mina, who was happily cuddling with the fluffy Averin.

    "Jakk is, but I, Kalin and Averin aren''t."

    Even though he was baffled that Mina thought it would be necessary to explain that the rooster wasn''t part of the Loki Familia - after all, since when could birds get a god''s blessing? - , Quinn decided not to comment on it. Rather than focusing on such a minor detail, something else had caught his attention.

    "What familia are you a part of then?"

    As he still remembered seeing all these faces in the dungeon for a fleeting moment, before passing out, Quinn thought they would have to be adventurers. After all, almost everyone who wasn''t part of a familia wouldn''t be able to delve too deep into the treacherous depths.

    Before he got a reply to what he thought to be a relatively simple question, Averin, Mina and Kalin looked at each other with a little bit of helplessness reflected in their eyes. They all were aware that it wouldn''t be a good idea to babble out Isaac''s secrets to every person they met. Finally, with a resigned sigh, Kalin answered the question.

    "That''s confidential."

    For the already somewhat guarded Quinn, this just rang even more alarm bells, so he eyed the three of them with suspicion in his eyes.

    ''So you can''t tell me, huh?''

    Before anyone could explain the situation further, the sound of the front door opening and closing could be heard, which made Mina''s ears twitch in response. Then, without any regard for her image, she dropped Averin, jumped up from the bed and hurried outside, with her tail wagging behind her frantically and a bright smile blossoming on her face. A few seconds later, her loud exclamation reached Quinn''s ears.

    "Welcome back, milord!"

    Soon after, he saw a tall young man entering the room, with Mina following him around like a happy puppy. Quinn had raised his guard even more when he had heard Mina''s words¡­ after all, wasn''t ''milord'' pretty much the same as ''master''? So¡­ was this guy a slave owner?! The only thing that kept him from unreasonably freaking out and giving in to despair was that calm and gentle smile on the man''s face.

    "Let me introduce him to you. Quinn, this is Isaac, my teacher."

    Kalin''s words were a decent ice-breaker and gave Isaac a premium opportunity to join the conversation, so he didn''t let that go to waste.

    "It looks like you''re doing better now, I''m glad to see it. Seems like these guys did a great job while treating you."

    Hearing the apparent care in Isaac''s words, Quinn relaxed his grip on the bedsheet a little and cautiously asked about what had disturbed his mind in the first place.

    "Why does she call you ''milord''?"

    Before Isaac had a chance to explain himself, Jakk, who had been keeping quiet so far, replied in his stead.

    "It''s a roleplay thing."

    Speechlessly, Isaac stared at his roommate, shaking his head in denial. Yet again, before he had a chance to explain anything, someone chimed in. This time, it was the furiously blushing Mina, who was staring at Jakk with a murderous expression on her face.

    "It''s not!! How dare you disrespect my lord like this?!"

    Having already anticipated such a response, Jakk just rolled his eyes and mumbled a few words under his breath.

    "I didn''t know you were into it to such a degree¡­"

    Although he had been quiet, everyone in this room had pretty good ears, so it didn''t escape their notice. Kalin just cracked an awkward smile, while Isaac''s smile had turned wry. Now, finally, he had a chance to explain the situation to the confused cat boy.

    "I saved her from some slave traders in exchange for her servitude."

    Right after these words had left Isaac''s lips, Jakk took note of the unflattering choice of words and interjected again, with a cheeky smile plastered on his lips.

    "See? It''s like I told yo---"

    Isaac''s sharp glare made the bunny boy swallow back the rest of his sentence.

    "Not that kind of servitude."

    In response to Isaac''s clarification, Jakk raised his arms in a gesture of surrender and complacently chuckled to himself.

    This entire exchange didn''t help lessen Quinn''s confusion at all, but it made him certain that these people¡­ most likely weren''t bad people. Right at that moment, when he relaxed a little, a memory he had suppressed so far finally bubbled to the surface. A frail young body, battered and bruised¡­ and dead. Akin to a desperate plea, a frantic question escaped the cat boy''s lips.

    "M-Millina! Is she really¡­?"

    The one who decided to be the bearer of bad news was Mina, who had just taken a seat again. Nodding sadly, she decided that rather than beating around the bush, she would be brutally honest.

    "Yeah, that little cat girl is dead."

    It wasn''t like the malnourished boy hadn''t expected it. Indeed, he had known all along. When he realized it, he had cried his heart out. Now, he didn''t even have tears to shed anymore, so Quinn just blankly stared down at his bedsheet, without particularly focusing on anything, and muttered to himself.

    "I see¡­"

    After a few moments of silence, with nobody rude enough to interrupt him, Quinn''s eyes regained their focus and a small smile formed on his lips.

    "Still.. Thank you all. For saving me."

    The three who had been responsible for his rescue, Jakk, Kalin and Mina, nodded their heads in response, the latter two even gracing the cat boy with a smile of their own. Before the mood could get too happy, however, Isaac still had a somewhat more serious topic that he needed to discuss with Quinn.

    "Do you want to let Millina have a burial tomorrow? As it''s a little late today, we probably wouldn''t have enough time. But tomorrow, in the late afternoon, we could arrange it."

    Shocked, Quinn stared at Isaac, looking at him as if he had just seen a ghost. He had expected his sister''s body to have been absorbed by the dungeon already. After all, why would anybody keep a corpse around? And how would they even get it out of the dungeon without attracting attention?

    "Where is she? Can I see her?!"

    Even though he had already expected this question, Isaac still had to smile wryly, before explaining the situation.

    "Her body is currently safely stored away. It would be a little awkward to take it out now, especially because we would have to clean the area afterwards¡­ You can see her tomorrow, okay?"

    Admittedly, Quinn was everything but happy. After all, he really wanted to see his sister. Still, he could also somewhat sympathize with the situation of these benefactors of his. It might just be for a stupid-sounding reason like ''having to clean up the mess after exposing the corpse'', but it made sense. Also, he didn''t want to be too selfish. Therefore, Quinn nodded in agreement.

    After wishing Quinn a good rest and continued recovery, Isaac told him that they would talk again tomorrow and left the room, which prompted Jakk to follow along after waving a short goodbye.

    Even after the two had left, Averin, Kalin and Mina still remained in Quinn''s room for a time and kept him company. They were just talking about their own experiences, not even expecting the cat boy to answer any questions they might have. Just like this, without Isaac even having to tell them that they should try to rope the boy into his forces, they had already started forming a bond. All of them had been miserable at some point in their life, so that was what they connected over. Although Quinn didn''t speak about his past, he sometimes smiled a little when the three were talking about some of their happier memories.

    -----

    As his rented residence had its own kitchen and supplies, Isaac didn''t have to worry about his student and subordinates not getting any dinner. After all, they weren''t allowed to take part in the daily familia dinner in the canteen, as the space was somewhat limited in the first place. Speaking of which, after they had eaten, Jakk went on his merry way to the dungeon, trying to squeeze in some more training before going to bed. Isaac, on the other hand, spent a few hours talking to Ais and her friends. They weren''t doing anything special, just playing some card games, but it was still a relaxing, enjoyable experience.

    By the time he had wished them a good night and retreated to his room, it was already almost 9 p.m.. Of course, he hadn''t been slacking today. Ever since he had come back from the 24th floor of the dungeon, besides the time he had spent actually sparring against his students, Isaac had been carefully circulating his drops of mana. He had even tried to do so in combat, but he soon realized that he wouldn''t yet be able to focus on both tasks simultaneously to a sufficient enough degree as to not commit any mistakes. Sure, if he cheated and used more ''mental power'' than his current body and brain would allow, he could easily do so. But that would go against his principles.

    In any case, even though the efficiency had been reduced significantly when he was circulating the drops in the background, without fully focusing on them, for the five hours he hadn''t been fighting since earlier today, the number of drops he managed to circulate had reached 862.

    Even now, Isaac didn''t know what kind of help this ability to circulate drops of mana would be, but the more, the better, right? Also, as he currently wasn''t otherwisely occupied, he took this opportunity to have a look at his Status.

    [ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: None ]

    [ Race: Human ]

    [ Level: 2 ]

    [ Age: Unable to measure ]

    [ Charisma: 19 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-0 (+ 687) (2250 x 1.25) ]

    [ Endurance: I-0 (+ 674) (2250 x 1.25) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-0 (+ 694) (2250 x 1.25) ]

    [ Agility: I-0 (+ 686) (2250 x 1.25) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 (+ 682) (2250 x 1.25) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Divine Blood ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Huntsman: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Swordsman ]

    Although none of them had been able to sufficiently pressure him yet, the monsters he had been facing these past few days were a lot stronger than Isaac, stats-wise, which gave him a lot of excelia. Still, until he ran into a brick wall that he couldn''t reasonably overcome otherwise or the excelia gain slowed down significantly, there was no need to update his Status.

    One thing he had taken note of was that his Divine Blood''s all stats-buff seemed to have been ignored by the laws which governed the allocation of excelia. Because of this, he was treated like someone who was 25 percent less powerful, which gave him a lot more excelia than he had expected to gain. Were gods exempt from these laws or was there another reason for this? For now, he couldn''t be sure.

    Another thing that perplexed Isaac a little was that his Huntsman Development Ability hadn''t increased in rank yet, even though he had slain 9563 Level 1 and 1487 Level 2 monsters so far. Just how many more would he have to kill until he saw some improvement here?

    As thinking about this any further would just be a waste of time, Isaac got rid of these distracting thoughts, blurred his existence and picked up Averin in his room at the base. Because he had informed the rooster about their nightly dungeon excursion in advance, Averin had retired to his room rather early today. So, after notifying the rooster of what he was about to do, Isaac teleported to where he had stopped his dungeon exploration and AP farming session the last time.

    Once they had arrived, Isaac put Averin down on the floor, as he had decided to allow the rooster to hunt monsters alongside him while they explored today. Looking at the staircase leading down towards the dungeon''s fourth floor, an almost imperceptible, but genuine smile flashed across his lips.

    "Let''s continue."

 Chapter 39 - Crossing The Second Line

    The optimistic mood Isaac had started out with didn''t last for too long and at the end of the almost eight hour period, it was entirely gone, replaced by an unhappy frown. This didn''t mean that nothing good had happened in the meantime, however. No, nothing of the sort.

    As he had started out in the general vicinity of where he expected the hidden doorway of the manmade labyrinth to be, he discovered it almost immediately after his search had begun. Additionally, his Level 1 monster slaying quest had progressed all the way to 13.438/14.000, which netted him 4600 AP, a very respectable sum for a night''s work. Even his Huntsman Development Ability, which had been stuck at the I-rank for the longest time, had finally ranked up after he had slain 10.000 Level 1 monsters since acquiring it.

    [ Huntsman (H): When battling a monster one has already gained excelia from previously - 3% increase in all stats, 3% increase in excelia gained. ]

    Still, none of this helped to improve Isaac''s mood whatsoever.

    What had happened was that, most likely, Isaac''s worst expectations regarding the dungeon had turned out to be true. Just like last time, the circular area containing the fourth floor had a fifty percent larger diameter than the one on the third floor, which meant that this was in all probability the pattern the dungeon was going to follow for most future floors. This increase might sound small, but the diameter had already arrived at 27 kilometers. Now, while Isaac''s exploring speed was certainly not slow and he never had to worry about treading somewhere twice thanks to his map, he had only managed to explore one sixth of the fourth floor tonight¡­ and there were still approximately 1900 square kilometers of this labyrinthian structure left, which would take him almost 38 hours to explore at his current speed.

    Even if this pattern of size increase only continued up until the 17th floor, it would take Isaac more than 4725 years to explore that one floor¡­ at his current speed. Of course, Isaac would easily be able to manage far faster exploration speeds with his continued increase in strength, but the ridiculous increases in floor size still wouldn''t make it simple to explore them in a reasonable amount of time. By now, it was no wonder to Isaac why the adventurers of this world had completely given up on that goal and just attempted to stumble upon a staircase leading to the next floor as quickly as possible. Anything else was simply unreasonable, especially because they didn''t have the tools Isaac had available, which made it even harder for them to not get lost.

    Judging from what he had observed so far, Isaac couldn''t help but admit that giving up on this dungeon exploration endeavour was the smartest choice, if everything continued like this. Still, he resolved himself to at least scout out parts of the next few floors after he was done with this one, just to make sure his assumption wasn''t mistaken. If there were no changes to the pattern on those floor eithers, Isaac would simply focus on finding the entrances to the manmade labyrinth and confirming how deeply into the dungeon it permeated, completing his research of rare specimens like the Infant Dragon and focusing his monster slaying efforts on specific floors that had monster species whose drop items would be very useful to him. One example of this would be the seventh floor and the Blue Papilios that inhabited it.

    Thinking about how, even after he reached the absolute pinnacle of strength and speed that a mortal could attain in this world, Isaac would most likely still need an eternity to fully explore the dungeon, he knew that his approach to this endeavour was heavily flawed. There had to be a better way. Some way that could enable him to explore it in a reasonable amount of time. Still, as of now, this was just another problem to shelve and deal with in the future. Isaac already had a few ideas as to what he could attempt, but those would still need months upon months to become viable, so there was no need to waste time thinking about them now.

    The only thing he could do for now was to continuously grow stronger¡­ quite a simple answer to a problem, that was for sure.

    When Isaac returned to the Twilight Manor via teleportation, with Averin in tow, he didn''t unblur his existence until he had brought the rooster back to his room in the base. Speaking of Averin, thanks to his speed-related skill and insane Agility stat, he could easily keep pace with Isaac and hadn''t dragged him down at all.

    -----

    Shortly after 6 a.m., Isaac, Tiona and Tione arrived on the 24th floor again. If one were to compare it to the 23rd floor, they would notice quite a few differences, chief of them being the ridiculous height of the ceiling at a few hundred meters. Additionally, adventurers would occasionally stumble across special trees whose fruits they were able to sell for a high price. The second to last real difference wasn''t one in appearance. Rather, it was yet again a difference in the amount of monsters roaming the floor. Although the quantity of monsters the dungeon would spawn in one''s vicinity most likely was related to the size of the party, the number of monsters per adventurer still increased every now and then, with this floor being one of these occurrences.

    Just like so many times before, new monster species appeared on the 24th floor as well.

    The most numerous new addition was the Dark Fungus, whose highest stat could reach up to D-550 / 2450. As was already expected, due to it being the most common monster on this floor, it didn''t have too many distinguishing features. It was simply an about one and a half meter tall grey mushroom with somewhat humanoid arms and legs. As its Agility was quite low, adventurers often underestimated it and then fell prey to the poisonous spores it could scatter. If one was attentive enough, however, one wouldn''t even be touched by those and could safely dispatch it. As Isaac''s Divine Blood gave him a huge increase in stats, the Dark Fungi were a lot weaker than him in all aspects and didn''t pose any challenge whatsoever.

    Another rather commonplace monster species was the Hobgoblin, whose highest stat could reach up to C-600 / 2550, making it slightly more of a threat than the Dark Fungus, if one only looked at their stats. As the name implied, Hobgoblins looked very similar to Goblins, they were just larger, more muscular versions of them. They could reach up to two meters in height and usually roamed the floor in a group of at least ten individuals. While Dark Fungi mostly relied on their spores to catch their enemies off guard, Hobgoblins made use of their somewhat proficient teamwork and natural weapons made from the trees and rocks of the dungeon, which made them a bigger threat. Still, as before, Isaac simply outclassed them in stats by now, so they could only helplessly be slaughtered whenever they ran across him. Even if he was weaker than them, their pathetic excuses for teamwork wouldn''t be able to put him into a tight spot.

    Now, let''s talk about one of the rarer monsters of this floor, the Bloody Hive, whose highest stat could reach up to B-700 / 2750. Interestingly enough, it was almost impossible to fight this monster on its own, as it housed swarms of Deadly Hornets. Depending on how many Deadly Hornets it harboured, its size could vary quite a lot, although its stats would stay more or less the same. Its body resembled a blackish-purple pinecone, which could either be situated right out in the open or hidden in the floors and walls of the dungeon, with only small holes enabling the Deadly Hornets to hunt. It was honestly a very fascinating concept, as Isaac hadn''t expected an inanimate object like a hive to actually be a monster in this world. But even after he had grown accustomed to this and attacked the visible ones on sight, some Bloody Hives simply burst out of the walls and floor whenever he walked past them, which could easily catch many adventurers off guard. Their method of attack was anything but pleasant as well. After spitting out a reddish yellow liquid and rendering adventurers unable to move, they would allow their residents to have a feast. As Isaac had about the same stats as the hives, they still didn''t pose much of a threat, but he worried about the time when his students and subordinates would get to this floor¡­

    Besides Bloody Hives, there was yet another rare monster species on this floor: the Moss Huge, whose highest stat could reach up to C-650 / 2650. Its entire body was made of moss, but one shouldn''t underestimate its strength at all. While it might look comfortable, it could harden its moss to ridiculous degrees. Also, even though the Moss Huges'' stats were below those of the Bloody Hives, they were the far more annoying ones to deal with. There was one simple reason for this: they could create clones of themselves. The clones also didn''t have magic stones of their own and didn''t give any excelia when defeated. As it was quite easy for Moss Huges to confuse their opponents after shuffling the original and the clones a few times, especially in the heat of battle, they were masterful escape artists and were even harder to kill than c.o.c.kroaches. Thankfully, Isaac wouldn''t be fooled by such simple tricks. He always successfully kept track of which one was the original and could dispatch it without a problem. It wasn''t like the Moss Huges didn''t try to stop him. Once they realized he was trying to eradicate the problem at its root, they literally threw their clones in front of him, trying to use them to buy as much time for their escape as they could. Needless to say, not a single one managed to slip away.

    Although Isaac had already started his research on all of these monster species yesterday, he had been far from finished and it took him until around 9 a.m. today to finally finish it.

    At around this time, after a lot of searching, Isaac finally came across the last and rarest monster species on this floor - the Green Dragon. A few hundred meters away, he could see its twenty-plus meter long, green-scaled body securely guarding a small tree. This wasn''t just any run-of-the-mill tree, however. It was a treasure tree, whose leaves looked like they had been carved from the finest pieces of jade. Of course, there were also a few precious fruits on the tree as well.

    When Isaac wanted to challenge this new foe without further ado, he was hastily held back by Tione, who told him a little bit more about what kind of opponent he was about to face. She cautioned him that Green Dragons could even give weaker Level 4 adventurers a tough time, depending on their age. The older they got, the more terrifying their stats got - while they started out at Level 2 C-675 / 2700, they would be able to rank up and even reach stats as high as Level 3 D-575 / 6350. With how mindblowingly huge the dungeon''s floors were, some Green Dragons could easily stay undiscovered for hundreds of years and would then be able to slaughter most adventurers passing through this floor in a heartbeat. Needless to say, Isaac wouldn''t be able to deal with the strongest of Green Dragons, no matter what. The sheer difference in stats wasn''t something he could make up for with skill and prediction.

    As for why a Level 3 monster could give Level 4 adventurers a tough time, this was because most of them ranked up as quickly as they could, not even attempting to gain many more stat points at their current Level. This made the gulf between average adventurers and monsters widen further and further with each Level.

    While Isaac was lost in thought over whether he should risk battling such a potentially deadly foe, Tiona chimed into the conversation with a bright smile on her face, trying to alleviate his worries.

    "This one isn''t that strong, it doesn''t look like it has reached Level 3 yet. It''s probably somewhere in between Level 2 and 3 right now."

    This gained her an inquisitive gaze from Isaac, who was hoping to find out which physical features she had used to determine this. Once he knew, he could reduce the time he needed to research this species significantly.

    "How do you know that?"

    Yet, Isaac was fated to be disappointed with the answer the blissfully and innocently grinning Tiona gave him.

    "Instinct."

    ''Are you kidding me?!''

    While Isaac was trying hard to not let his annoyance show on his face after such a ridiculously useless reply, a sigh escaped Tione''s lips. Why couldn''t that blockhead explain things more clearly? She wasn''t blind, she could easily make out Isaac''s trembling eyelid and stiff expression.

    "She isn''t incorrect, it really is instinct. After fighting with as many monsters as we have, we kind of get a certain feeling whenever we face an opponent, letting us know how much of a threat they will be to us. This makes it somewhat easy to figure out the strength of a monster that''s weaker than us. If I had to guess and convert it into that scale you''re using, it would probably be somewhere between 3150 and 4050 stat points."

    ''So somewhere between slightly stronger than me and a little too much to deal with. Gotcha.''

    After thanking Tione for her helpful input with an appreciative smile, Isaac informed his Amazoness bodyguards that he would give it a try and asked them to save him in the worst case scenario.

    As soon as Isaac approached a distance of slightly less than one hundred meters from the dragon, it lifted its head up and stared at him with a hate-filled but somewhat intelligent gaze. It seemed like it was giving him a chance and testing him, because it didn''t immediately attack him. After all, if it didn''t have to move, why would it? But seeing how Isaac didn''t slow down his approach, it soon stood up and released a loud, angered roar into the surroundings, warning other monsters to stay away while it was fighting here. If they dared to step into its territory¡­ it wouldn''t show mercy.

    Of course, Isaac didn''t have a way to know for sure what the Green Dragon was thinking, he could only guess its intentions somewhat. But soon, he didn''t have time to waste on such distracting thoughts any longer, as he fully focused on his chessboard-like world of prediction. A split second later, a blue flame breath with a green hue whizzed past where he had been standing previously.

    With this, by judging how difficult the breath had been to deal with, Isaac confirmed that its stats were most likely about 3900. With Isaac having almost 1100 stat points less, this would finally be a truly exhausting workout forcing him to his limits. At the prospect of being able to give his all again, Isaac''s lips formed a genuinely happy smile, while he dodged yet another two breath attacks and approached within fifty meters of the dragon.

    Seeing its seemingly frail opponent being somewhat hard to deal with, the rather intelligent dragon determined that it wouldn''t be a good idea to wait around in a stationary position and risk getting hurt, so it unfurled its wings and took to the skies in one mighty beat. A somewhat playful and arrogant light sparkled in its eyes, before it began to bombard Isaac with its breath from the skies.

    The moment he had seen the dragon take off, Isaac had already switched out his sword for his bow via the inventory and carefully aimed at it. As he wanted to research it, he peppered it with arrows fired with a differing amount of strength all over its body, while dancingly evading the breath attacks creating craters all over the dungeon''s floor. But even though Isaac wasn''t dealing any damage so far, he didn''t get discouraged. After all, not being able to penetrate the dragon''s scales with his arrows no matter how much of his strength he put into them was also a research result. And admittedly, his mind was mostly occupied with calculating the smartest possible movements so as to be able to avoid the numerous deadly attacks.

    When he finally felt like he had gathered enough data, Isaac aimed his next arrow at the dragon''s left eye. A split second later, a pained roar echoed across the skies, while the dragon dove straight towards Isaac, intending to tear him apart in close quarters. Now that it had taken some damage while having been unable to even touch its opponent, the furious lizard determined that it would only get put into a more disadvantageous position the longer it kept its distance.

    Shortly after Isaac had successfully dodged the dive attack, the dragon attacked him by swiping with its claws and tail. The latter had been a very close call, as the dragon was able to move the very tip of its tail a lot faster than Isaac had anticipated. Because of this, his right cheek began to sting in pain caused by the air flow surrounding the attack. His opponent had almost wounded him for the first time.

    Instead of growing incensed, the smile on Isaac''s lips grew a little wider, while he agilely got close to the dragon and managed to perfectly stab in between some of its scales with his sword a few times, enraging the mountain-like presence in front of him even further.

    But no matter what the Green Dragon did, this mosquito in front of it simply piled on wound after wound on its body and escaped unharmed time and time again! By now, besides the anger, a dread had settled into the dragon''s mind. Compared to some of the other monsters of the dungeon, it didn''t have particularly strong regenerative abilities. Even its blinded eye would take months to recover. If this situation continued, it would, sooner or later, get sliced into small pieces or bleed out. Neither of those were an option the dragon was particularly fond of.

    So, yet again, it took to the skies. This time, however, it continuously made sure to turn away its functioning eye every time it saw that isaac let loose an arrow. With its incredible speed, it wasn''t difficult to make Isaac''s attacks miss their target just slightly. Previously, the biggest reason for its injury had been that it had started to underestimate its opponent''s threat after they had failed to injure it for so long. Now, it wouldn''t be easy to catch it off guard again.

    The dragon and Isaac found themselves in a stalemate, with neither being able to injure the other. But no matter how frustrating the situation was, the dragon didn''t want to return and risk dying - after all, its very minor intelligence had already enabled it to fear death.

    After his attacks continuously failed, Isaac''s mood almost got spoiled, before he finally thought about the treasure tree the dragon had been protecting. Seeing how much it seemed to care about it, getting closer to it might trigger it to return and face him head-on again. And even if it didn''t do so, he wouldn''t leave here with empty hands - he could simply take the tree with him.

    Once he had decided on his course of action, Isaac charged towards the treasure tree, which the two had been getting further and further away from during their fight. Part of the reason why he had determined that the dragon cared about the tree to an exceptional degree was this very fact.

    When the dragon finally noticed that Isaac had stopped attacking it and saw where he was running towards, a look of panic flashed across its face, before it dove at him even faster than before, desperately trying to keep him away from the tree.

    Now that its weakness was exposed, however, the dragon''s fate was sealed. While happily smiling, Isaac''s research specimen slowly but surely turned into a more and more miserable lump of flesh and blood. While using its most precious possession to keep the dragon close, Isaac cut up the dragon like a psychotic butcher¡­ until it finally collapsed in exhaustion. But seeing how it wasn''t dead yet, Isaac''s experiments continued.

    It took a whole hour for the battle and research to conclude and for Isaac to cut out the enormous magic stone of the Green Dragon. Only then was the pitiful creature able to rest in peace.

    [ Achievement Progress: Kill 2000 Level 2 monsters. (1731/2000) ]

    While Isaac was still mourning the fact that the stingy dragon hadn''t given him a Drop Item, yet another unfortunate thing happened. The treasure tree, which Isaac had planned to take with him, shrivelled up and died in a couple of seconds.

    Even though this finally explained why the dragon wanted to protect it, as its lifeforce appeared to have been linked to the tree, causing it to wither right after the lizard''s death, the loss of such a breathtakingly beautiful plant was somewhat hard to stomach.

    ''I''ll just put the tree into my inventory before killing the dragon next time.''

    Although the main motivation for Isaac to decide on doing this was that he wanted to preserve the tree, he also wanted to find out what exactly would happen to the dragon if its tree suddenly disappeared. Would it simply die or would it still be linked with the tree even after it entered his inventory? Well, with how rare these Green Dragons seemed to be, it would most likely take Isaac a while until he stumbled across another one.

    The treasure tree wasn''t entirely gone, however. In fact, its four, jewel-like fruits hadn''t withered and remained in top condition, just waiting for Isaac to take them.

    When Isaac returned to the Amazoness twins victoriously, he saw Tione restraining the growling Tiona with a joint lock. Seeing how brutal and long the battle had been this time, it was no surprise that an Amazoness like Tiona became all hot and bothered by such an ''arousing'' display. After all, the more bloody a battle, the more attractive it would seem to an Amazoness. Tiona''s flushed expression, heavy breathing and predatory gaze made Isaac more than a little uncomfortable, so he shot a grateful look at Tione, who kept her nigh berserk sister under control.

    ''This is getting a little out of hand. I should probably inform Riveria about Tiona''s behaviour.''

    Because it would probably be a good idea to change the topic and distract Tiona a little and as he truly wanted to know more about them, Isaac showed the sisters one of the fruits he had collected.

    "So, what can I do with these?"

    Although it wasn''t easy, with Tiona getting slightly distracted by the beauty of the fruit and therefore somewhat reducing her resistance, Tione was able to explain all she knew about it through clenched teeth.

    "You can sell them for about 500.000 valis each. They¡­ god dammit, Tiona, keep still! They are used for making staves."

    Because 2 million valis wasn''t really a lot of money for him anymore, Isaac decided against selling the fruits. As they could be used for producing staves, they most likely had some magical conductive property or were able to improve a spell in other ways. After all, why else would they be used in the production of a mage''s primary equipment? Once Isaac got more proficient with his mana, he could potentially find some use for these fruits, so it would be wise to hold on to them.

    It took a few more minutes for Tiona to calm down again, after which she uncharacteristically turned a little bashful, clearly ashamed at her behaviour. But as Isaac honestly didn''t want to obsess over this topic any further, he chose to simply act as if nothing had happened. After all, that was what happened - nothing. Tiona hadn''t been able to act upon her instincts and harm him in any way.

    A short time later, the three finally made it to the 25th floor. Because the Amazoness twins hadn''t told him about what he was about to see, Isaac was honestly a little baffled when he first laid eyes upon the scenery. Even though it only took a couple of seconds for him to accept the reality in front of him, as it wasn''t really that weird if one thought about what other environments this dungeon had showcased so far, this rare moment wasn''t missed by Tiona and Tione, who had smug grins on their faces upon seeing him in such a condition.

    The entrance to the 25th floor was known as the ''Second Line'', as beyond this point, most adventurers would earn their qualifications to rank up to Level 3. It also marked the beginning of the ''Lower Floors'' and an area called the ''Water City'', which continued all the way down to the 27th floor. As one might expect from the name, these floors were also described as a paradise of water and along the many passageways, there were many lakes and smaller waterfalls leading deeper into the depths. All of this, however, wouldn''t be enough to baffle Isaac.

    These three floors had a single feature that made them stick out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the dungeon''s floors - they were essentially one floor. While there were still staircases leading down to the lower floors, making it possible to somewhat differentiate them, one huge and massive waterfall, the ''Great Fall'', connected all three of them. If one wanted to, they could simply jump down this waterfall into the basin at the bottom and skip having to go through two entire floors. Such a thing was unprecedented. While shortcuts to the lower floors had been around above the 18th floor as well, in the shape of giant holes most likely dug by Dungeon Worms, they only connected two floors, not three floors.

    And, well, the breathtaking aspect of this whole thing was the Great Fall. It was simply too large to describe. While its height was only a few kilometers and Isaac could see the 27th floor''s basin from up here, he couldn''t even begin to imagine how wide it was, as both the basin and the waterfall stretched all the way outside of his range of vision. This was, by far, the largest waterfall Isaac had ever heard of. It reminded him of old sailors'' tales about the ''edge of the world'' back when people had still believed that the planet Earth in the world he came from was flat¡­

    "You shouldn''t really have to worry about any monsters on this floor. Everything but the Monster Rex, Amphisbaena, is a lot weaker than that Green Dragon. Just don''t get careless and you''ll be fine. By the way, we''re planning to take care of Amphisbaena during the expedition, so there''ll be quite the show to watch. Oh, you''re wondering about what would happen if we met the Monster Rex? Just look at how massive these floors are. How likely is it that we''ll run across it?"

    -----

    Two hours later.

    Tiona dodged a stream of blue flames by a small margin, while carrying along the heavily battered Isaac at breakneck speed. At the same time, an ominous dragon''s roar filled with bloodthirst and madness could be heard from just a short distance behind them.

    "You just had to jinx us, didn''t you?!"

    With tears in her eyes and an expression even more diabolical than the two-headed Monster Rex she was escaping from, Tiona roared at her sister.

    Instead of replying, the pale Tione, who had guilt plastered all over her face, simply focused on trying to divert Amphisbaena''s attention away from the other two. While it might not be a deadly threat to either of the twins, Isaac''s life was hanging by a thread. Like a candle in the wind, one gust was all it would take to snuff it out.

 Chapter 40 - Pain And Comfort

    For these past two hours, Isaac had been everything but slacking. In fact, he had met ten different monster species already, while he managed to fully research seven of them. This was mostly thanks to the high number of monsters on this floor, which made it easier to encounter whole groups of whatever he wanted to research, helping him to reduce the time he needed overall by battling multiple of them at once.

    The easiest new species to deal with, and also the most numerous one, was the Raider Fish, whose highest stat could reach up to C-600 / 2550. They reminded Isaac of the piranhas he had seen before on Earth, the only difference was that they were a lot larger. Still, even though he had to fight them while knee-deep in the water, they were simply too weak to be of any threat. If they didn''t turn into ashes when their magic stones were retrieved, they might have even made a delicious meal.

    The second most numerous species was the Devil Mosquito, whose highest stat could reach up to C-650 / 2650. They were extremely annoying to deal with for regular adventurers, because they behaved exactly like normal mosquitoes, while barely being any larger. Sure, they were five times the size, but with their fast speed, it was extremely difficult to actually hit them while in midair. One''s weapon mastery had to have reached a moderate level to be able to dispatch them. The only thing Isaac was worried about, while taking care of the mosquitoes with absolute ease, was the possibility of the dungeon releasing a whole swarm of them as a Monster Party. One would need area of effect attacks to be able to deal with such a situation and he had none of those. With how small the Devil Mosquitoes were, he wouldn''t easily be able to find a way out of a swarm of them once he was surrounded. Luckily, though, swarms of thousands of the darn things had never appeared before, at least according to his Amazoness companions.

    With the next three species, there actually was a rather huge spike in difficulty - all of them could have their highest stats reach up to B-750 / 2850, which made them prime targets for regular adventurers to overcome in their attempt to reach Level 3.

    As he had taken them to be part of the floor''s lighting, Isaac was genuinely surprised when the quartzes that he hadn''t paid much attention to shot magical light beam attacks at him. Thankfully, they weren''t nearly as fast as the speed of light, as no adventurer out there would be able to deal with them if that was the case. Because he had noticed the attack early, Isaac was able to dodge and research the peculiar Light Quartzes. Their entire bodies were made up of a yellow-ish quartz material and seemed to be capable of movement solely thanks to the influence of some kind of magic. Whether that magic came from the dungeon or from the quartzes themselves, Isaac didn''t know, as he wasn''t even close to being proficient in the usage of mana. Still, although they looked like their bodies would be quite hard, they were actually extremely brittle. If one managed to dodge their surprise attacks and hit them, any person who had reached Level 2 would be able to deal with them in one or two attacks. Thanks to the Light Quartzes, Isaac now viewed even the light sources of the dungeon with heavy suspicion.

    As for the next two species, they had one thing in common: their upper bodies mostly looked just like beautiful, human women. Their lower bodies, however, were where the most differences lay.

    The Harpies'' lower halves resembled huge vultures or eagles with extremely sharp claws, while they had wings the size of tower shields instead of arms. Their attacks were quite simple to deal with, though, as they behaved just like birds and swooped down from the skies. So after Isaac had finished his research, which, due to their human-like appearance, seemed even more cruel than usual, he could easily pick them out of the sky with his bow.

    While they were quite similar to the Harpies, the Sirens were a much bigger threat to deal with. Instead of having their arms replaced, their wings grew from their back - this was the only real physical difference between the two. The aforementioned danger came from their sound wave attacks, which were the most potent ones that any adventurer would be able to come across up to this point. Besides disorienting their prey, they could even injure its ears if it was exposed to them for a prolonged period of time. Still, just like the Bad Bats from before, they didn''t pose too much of a threat to Isaac.

    Admittedly, if anyone besides some bloodthirsty Amazonesses had born witness to Isaac researching these two kinds of creatures, they would have probably attacked him - it was simply too gruesome a sight. Of course, as there was nobody here that had wanted to complain, Isaac had no chance to lecture anyone about their hypocrisy at all. If one only cared about beings because of their appearance, they were undoubtedly either a horrible or a severely misled person. Back in his original world, he had seen vast majorities of all societies behave in such a manner, which truly disgusted him. A huge number of people even spouted nonsense about equality, while still being just as or even more superficial than most others. Admittedly, there had been some true paragons of virtue, but they were so few and far between that they never really had a chance to change their society for the better. If one was able to see past the camouflage made up of lies, one could see that their great causes were turned into exactly what they had tried to fight against in the first place.

    The last two new monster species that he had finished researching were even a little bit stronger than the previous ones, as their highest stats could reach up to B-775 / 2900.

    Crystaroth Urchins were blue, ball-shaped creatures with lots of sharp, long and crystalline needles growing from their bodies. As they were only about one meter in height, they didn''t seem too dangerous at first glance, but once they started moving, most adventurers would begin to panic. With an incredibly high speed, they spun towards their targets and destroyed their surroundings by ejecting their needles. Once they closed in on their potential prey, they stopped their ranged attacks and simply ripped them apart while spinning, using the rest of their rapidly regrowing needles. Because they had such a huge number of projectiles, even Isaac would have been hard pressed to defend against them, had he not expected them to be capable of shooting their needles in the first place. After all, if he hadn''t even been prepared for such a possibility when glancing at this monster species for the first time, he would have been ashamed of himself. Once he had assumed that all of the urchins'' needles were projectiles and predicted their flight paths, it was relatively easy to deal with them. Admittedly, any slight slip ups would have led to an injury, so once he was done researching them, Isaac ambushed them whenever he saw them, not giving them a chance to attack first. Any time he did so, he felt a lot better because he had spared himself quite a hassle.

    Although their stats had the same maximum as the Crystaroth Urchins, the Mermen were a lot easier to deal with. Contrary to what one might expect from this name, they didn''t possess beautiful, humanoid bodies at all. While their overall shapes were still vaguely humanoid, they were entirely covered in blue scales and their faces had a lot more beastial features than would have been considered beautiful. Using their webbed hands, they wielded weapons made from the dungeon floor''s surroundings, fashioning the underwater plants and other materials into spears, shields, swords, etcetera. Their teamwork was the best Isaac had come across so far, so they would have at least been able to delay him for a while, if they didn''t have a fatal weakness. One of the members of their squads, who usually had slightly differently coloured scales, was the Mermen Leader, who had some kind of telepathic connection with the rest, his subordinates. Needless to say, when this individual was dealt with, the entire group began to panic and became disoriented. It felt like Isaac was picking on newborns¡­ Yes, it was disappointingly easy. Still, if one didn''t manage to take out the leader, one would have a horrible time and could possibly even be toyed to death.

    By now, Isaac''s excelia gain had also heavily slowed down. He could either decide to face Level 3 monsters from now on, which might be a little more than he was able to handle, or he could update his Status. Seeing how he wasn''t entirely suicidal if he could help it, he decided to do the latter sometime before the upcoming expedition set off.

    In any case, right after Isaac had dealt with another group of Raider Fish and wanted to leave the shallow edge of the large lake he had fought them in, Tione''s panicked shout made him redouble his efforts.

    "Watch out!!"

    At the same time, he finally noticed an enormous shadow approaching from the bottom of the lake. Its speed was so incredibly fast, however, that he hadn''t even been able to move more than a few centimeters away when it finally broke through the surface of the water less than five meters away from him. As this enemy was clearly aiming at him and wouldn''t be something he could deal with, no matter what, Isaac had already prepared to teleport away when he had heard Tione''s warning. But before he initiated the teleportation, something happened that changed his mind.

    Far faster than he could fully perceive, Tiona had appeared in front of him, hugged him and intended to shield him from the enemy''s ramming attack before escaping. The most reasonable response would have been to teleport away with her, but Tiona acting as a shield enabled Isaac to research something new: whether his Divine Blood had any influence on the recovery abilities of his body. It most likely did, but how could he be sure without giving it a try? So although anyone else would call him insane, Isaac decided to take the hit. With his Amazoness shield, the vast majority of the impact should be absorbed, right? He wouldn''t die¡­ probably.

    Yup, it was worth the risk. For science!

    Less than a tenth of a second later, a monstrous impact flung Tiona and Isaac hundreds of meters away. Even though she had been hit by a Level 5 monster and absorbed almost all of the impact, the Amazoness was perfectly fine and agilely landed on her feet, carrying Isaac with her carefully.

    But although there were a lot of loud noises around him and the scenery was changing far faster than his currently available processing power could handle, Isaac didn''t pay any attention to it at all. Or rather, he really couldn''t pay any attention to it. Right after the remnants of the attack''s impact had reached his body, the most severe physical pain Isaac had ever been exposed to assaulted his senses. He almost passed out while his bones were creaking dangerously, but they were still somehow able to deal with this amount of force. Still, his innards weren''t. Almost all of Isaac''s organs were injured heavily from the shockwaves they had to absorb, some of them had even completely turned into mush.

    Contrary to what might have been expected, Isaac didn''t spit out any mouthfuls of blood or innards, rather, he tried really hard to keep them all down. If he lost this biomass, it would be harder for him to recover, after all. Although the pain had been excruciating and still hadn''t reduced in the least, Isaac was still somehow able to keep conscious. Nevertheless, he felt weaker than he had ever felt before and most of his senses were entirely unavailable to him, thanks to his current injuries.

    Even if he had wanted to, he wouldn''t have been able to hear what Tione and Tiona were shouting about while frantically dodging attacks that were far faster than his cloudy but still opened eyes could catch up to. If there was one thing he would want to speak up about, it was that he wished they didn''t move around this abruptly, as that made it really hard to not throw up his innards¡­

    While the Monster Rex, who Isaac never got a good look at, was chasing after the trio, attacking from any lakes and water sources they passed on their escape, they slowly but surely managed to widen the distance. The reason for this was that sometimes, Amphisbaena simply didn''t correctly predict the direction the three would be escaping towards, wasting valuable time while trying to catch up. At some point in time, Tione, who had tried to distract the Monster Rex by herself, rejoined Tiona and Isaac, as Amphisbaena just didn''t pay any attention to her whatsoever. It seemed solely focused on Isaac after having determined that he was the only one it would be able to kill.

    In any case, Isaac didn''t pay attention to all of this. Rather, he was fully focusing on his recovery. With the increase in his Endurance stat, his cells had become progressively more resilient and efficient overall, which already helped a lot with his natural regeneration. At the very least, even without taking his ichor into account, Isaac wouldn''t immediately die from wounds like this, which was what had given him the confidence to try this in the first place. Thankfully, as he had expected, the Divine Blood coursing through his veins, which was currently mixed with a whole lot of his innards, also gave every single cell of his a seemingly magical ''buff''. Their efficiency, no matter what kind of work they were assigned, had been increased by 25 percent. While that might not seem like a lot, it was far more than what Isaac needed to swiftly make a full recovery from the state he was currently in.

    Very carefully, he maneuvered all the pieces of his body back to their original place, as if he was trying to solve a puzzle. Sadly, not all of Isaac''s cells had survived the shockwave baptism intact, so many of them had to be broken down and replaced with new ones. Still, compared to growing all of his destroyed organs anew, only stitching up the numerous cell-sized holes was a lot easier.

    When Isaac had finished applying some first aid and was confident in being somewhat stable again, he started paying attention to his surroundings again. After he checked the system map, he realized they had run extremely far from any place they had explored before they stumbled across the Monster Rex. Currently, Tiona and Tione were resting in one of the very few entirely dry passages of this floor. This was one of the scarce places they would be completely safe from the Monster Rex. Additionally, monsters only very rarely wandered here, as most of them were reliant on their water sources and didn''t like to or couldn''t leave them for prolonged periods of time. The most peculiar thing Isaac''s mind had come back to, however, were the soft, warm and fleshy pillows under his head and the hand gently stroking his hair.

    After they had finally gotten to safety, Tiona had started to give Isaac a lap pillow and carefully let him rest. As more and more of his colour was returning to his face over time, it seemed like it would be for the best to just let him recover for now and waited for him to tell them about his current condition. If she moved him any more than necessary, it could have a negative impact, after all.

    Contrary to what might have been expected, although Tiona''s body was extremely muscular, when she didn''t tense up those muscles, her lap was incredibly comfortable. Comfortable enough that Isaac truly didn''t mind the sensation. It was a rather soothing feeling to return to and made the mental strain from the agonizing pain he had been and was still partially in somewhat more bearable.

    "Are you okay?!"

    As they had taken note of the focus returning to his eyes and their curious glint as he glanced around, the Amazoness twins had immediately noticed and asked him with worried looks on their faces.

    Very slightly, Isaac shook his head and coughed quite heavily, before forcing out a few words to assuage their worries.

    "Give me twenty minutes¡­ and I''ll be okay."

    Once he had said this, Isaac tried his best to only focus on his recovery and to ignore the somewhat awkward situation he found himself in. After all, even if he wanted to, he wouldn''t be able to move too much right now¡­ he couldn''t escape Tiona''s clutches no matter what. But to be honest, those thighs were¡­ very snugly¡­

    With a wry smile on her face, Tione glanced at her sister, who was just blatantly taking advantage of Isaac''s current predicament. But besides that, there was something even more important on her mind right now, which caused her feelings of responsibility to well up again.

    "I''m sorry for jinxing us."

    Hearing her the pain and guilt in her sister''s voice, sadness flashed across Tiona''s face for a moment, before it was lit up by an apologetic smile. Trying to move as little as possible, so as to not disturb Isaac, she bowed towards Tione slightly.

    "Sorry for shouting at you before. I know it wasn''t your fault, it was just bad luck. Seeing Isaac get hurt made me a little¡­ irrational."

    About fifteen minutes after the twins had made up, right as they were getting a little bored, footsteps could be heard in the distance, slowly drawing closer. This prompted Tione to get up with a jump and raise her fists a little, ready to strike down anyone with bad intentions the moment they showed their face. Tiona somewhat shielded Isaac with her body as well, just to make doubly sure. It was highly unlikely for them to meet anyone who was able to threaten her sister down here, but nonetheless, it was still possible.

    "Ah, it''s Jormungand and Amazon! Relax, we come in peace."

    The ones approaching were two young women the Amazoness sisters only had vague impressions of. It felt like they had seen them somewhere before, but they couldn''t be sure. As the one who had talked just now used their Aliases, which were common knowledge, that truly didn''t help their case too much either. Anyone in the city got to know about them, because the gods decided on them during the Denatus, which was held every two months. An Alias described an adventurer''s past journey and the hopes the gods had for their future. Well, at least that was what they were supposed to be - oftentimes, the gods were just messing around.

    Seeing how her greeting didn''t make the Amazoness twins relax in the slightest, an awkward smile flashed across the face of one of the women momentarily. She had shoulder-length black hair with jackal ears of the same colour and her dark-brown eyes usually had a bit of mischief sparkling within them. Under her long, yellow skirt, she wore caligae-style sandal boots, while her long-sleeved black top covered the entirety of her arms. Her hands were clad in metallic gauntlets, while a bloody whip was fastened to her belt. It had obviously been used in combat just minutes prior. The only unusual part about her was that her aforementioned top barely even covered the top half of her b.r.e.a.s.ts and exposed the entirety of her upper body below that point. Although Amazonesses often wore similarly extremely revealing clothing as well, this Chienthrope girl couldn''t use her race''s culture as an excuse. She, most likely, simply had exhibitionistic tendencies.

    The woman''s name was Tabitha, and she and her companion, Suicia, had been on this floor for a mission. Coincidentally, they had been relatively close when they had heard the commotion caused by the Monster Rex, so, as they were already here, they thought it wouldn''t be a bad idea to check out who was currently facing Amphisbaena. As long as they kept enough of a distance, they would be able to escape relatively easily. So, simply out of curiosity, they followed the noise until it finally disappeared. After that, they randomly ran across the resting group of three, because they had been aware of this dry spot themselves and wanted to relax for a short while - chasing after the Monster Rex had been quite exhausting and they had to kill a lot of monsters on the way.

    Speaking about Suicia, she was almost the polar opposite to Tabitha. Not only was she dead silent, her body was nigh completely covered by a huge grey coat, under which she wore a green full body military outfit that covered almost the entirety of her skin. Even her nose and mouth were obscured by a grey mask - she really didn''t want to expose more skin than absolutely necessary, it seemed. As she was an elf, she also had the trademark of the race: long and elegant elf ears. Her long, dark-blonde hair was braided in the back and reached all the way beyond her shoulder blades. Additionally, it covered her left eye, so only the right one of her emerald green eyes was visible at all times. Strapped to the belt beneath her cloak were two longswords.

    Trying again to calm down the tension in the air a little, Tabitha spoke with an apologetic smile on her face.

    "We''re part of the Hermes Familia, so we can somewhat be considered allies, right? We don''t want any trouble, we only want to take a little break."

    These words finally made the Amazoness sisters mostly put down their guard, Tione even sat down next to her sister again. This wasn''t only because of the somewhat friendly relations between the two familias, however. After all, even though Hermes and Loki had always been on good terms, the peculiar god wasn''t someone one should put their trust in. Rather, they had only relaxed because they had somewhat figured out the strength of their opponents¡­ and they wouldn''t be of any danger whatsoever. They also seemed to be about as strong as they had expected the stronger Hermes Familia members to be, so their story seemed to fit.

    After Tabitha and Suicia had taken a seat in the passage as well, the exhibitionist''s eyes fell upon the fellow she had somewhat ignored before - Isaac. She sent an appreciative glance at his body but when she saw his face, her eyes widened slightly in surprise. While trying to be as quiet and unassuming as possible, she whispered in Suicia''s direction.

    "Isn''t that the one Hermes asked us to keep an eye out for?"

    Sadly, compared to Tabitha, Suicia was a lot worse at behaving in a restrained manner. When she recognized Isaac by comparing him to the drawing Hermes had shown them, her eyes widened in surprise as well and she nodded at Tabitha in a way too exaggerated manner. Well, to be honest, she just nodded normally. But when trying to not get noticed, that was a lot more movement than necessary.

    The moment the Amazoness sisters had noticed how the two Hermes Familia members were eyeing Isaac and whispering suspiciously, their lowered guard was raised yet again. Of course, Tabitha picked up on this and cursed her incompetent companion in her mind. But before she could explain herself, Isaac, who had been recovering until now, suddenly opened his eyes and sat up, looked straight at the newcomers for a moment and then got up completely.

    To be honest, Isaac had been fully healed for a minute or two already but when the two unknown women had made their appearance, he thought it would be better to keep a low profile and observe for the time being. It hadn''t been an excuse to enjoy the lap pillow for a little longer. Nope. Not at all. Anyway, seeing how now was an opportune time to bring this awkward atmosphere to an end, he decided to chime in.

    "Alright, let''s go."

    Once the Amazonesses had gotten up as well, Isaac flashed a bright smile at the two women from the Hermes Familia.

    "Sorry about this, but we''re in a hurry. We don''t even have time for introductions right now. Anyway, please tell Hermes to be at the Bard''s Respite at 7 p.m. tomorrow, we''ve got a lot to discuss. Until next time, ladies."

    With these words, Isaac left the stunned Tabitha and Suicia behind and soon, he and the Amazonesses had disappeared from their range of perception completely.

    After a few more seconds of feeling baffled at the situation, the two looked at each other and nodded, quickly departing from this place as well. Now wasn''t the time to rest.

    -----

    Compared to yesterday''s descent into the dungeon, Isaac''s students came across an annoying obstacle today. Before, they had been able to deal with the Killer Ants that began to spawn on the fifth floor easily, as they had been lucky enough so as to not encounter too many of them at once. But this time, although their enemies were a lot weaker than them and therefore quite easy to kill, they came across a huge swarm of them, almost at a Monster Party size. Still, Kalin and Mina somehow managed to deal with all of them, even without the help of Jakk.

    Nonetheless, their progress today had been impeded by this event, so they only managed to get to the seventh floor. The Needle Rabbits there weren''t much of a threat, as they weren''t fast enough to be able to harm Kalin and Mina if they paid attention to their surroundings. The Blue Papilios, who healed the surrounding monsters with the spores scattered from their wings, weren''t a problem either, as only rarely a monster didn''t die in one hit when faced with Isaac''s students.

    On the other hand, the Purple Moths were the most frustrating new monster species to deal with on this floor. Kalin and Mina weren''t yet like Isaac who was able to simply dodge the moths'' poisonous spores, so immediately after meeting their first one, they got poisoned. If their teacher had checked their Status at that moment, he would have noticed that they were now able to choose ''Abnormal Resistance'' as a Development Ability once they ranked up. Still, the poison wasn''t too huge a deal, as the group had packed a lot of antidotes in anticipation of this happening. The Purple Moths and other annoying monsters were some of the worst money sinks for rookie adventurers, as much of their daily income had to be spent on items to protect themselves from their peculiar attacks.

    After burning through tens of antidotes, at around 12:35 p.m., the three students finally reached the staircase leading down to the eighth floor, where they found Isaac, Tiona and Tione... relaxedly playing cards.

 Chapter 41 - Quinn Graham

    The still recuperating Quinn had observed this afternoon''s training session in its entirety from a chair placed at the outer bounds of the courtyard. As Mina and Kalin had talked a lot about how Isaac was teaching them yesterday, he had grown interested in the process and asked Isaac whether he could bear witness to it next time. To Quinn''s surprise, the enigmatic man agreed quickly, asking for nothing in return.

    But this afternoon, there was another unusual event, one that caused Isaac''s students to collectively raise their eyebrows: Ais'' behaviour had changed. While they had already seen her accompany their teacher many times before, this was the first time she simply straight up grabbed and held his hand for such a long time. She had been doing so ever since she had arrived on the scene after the training session was over. It didn''t look like she was planning to let go anytime soon either. Although they couldn''t be sure, they felt like she was staking a claim of some sort. Of course, Isaac knew why she did this. He had told her about what had happened in the dungeon, after all. In the beginning, he had been tempted to wait until he arrived back at the Twilight Manor to personally see her pouting face when she heard about the lap pillow but he decided against doing so. It would have just been petty, so he didn''t hesitate any longer and told her as soon as things within the dungeon had calmed down somewhat. Anyway, this outcome wasn''t something unwelcome for him at all. Holding Ais'' hand was a desired privilege, not a punishment.

    Sometime after their training session had ended and Lefiya had made her way to Riveria''s study for further learning, Mina asked Isaac if it would be possible to bury the young cat girl, Millina''s, body within the same clearing her parents'' grave was located in. This took Isaac by surprise, as he had already prepared himself to visit one of the graveyards outside of Orario and pay for a burial there. Also, he had assumed Mina wouldn''t want others to intrude upon that place. When he asked her about this, the brightly smiling Chienthrope girl explained that she wanted Quinn''s little sister to rest with good company¡­ and she would also feel better if her parents weren''t all alone out there. Although he had somewhat wanted to mention that all of this was just superstition anyway and that all of their souls had already left their physical vessels a long time ago, Isaac held himself back and just agreed to Mina''s request. It wouldn''t take longer and would save him money - it was a great proposal.

    As Averin would no doubt attract a lot of attention once he left the Twilight Manor, Isaac made sure to blur the rooster''s existence when they made their way to beyond Orario''s walls. After they had left the city, as they were still being followed simply due to Ais'' enormous popularity, Isaac made sure to blur the entire group''s existence, unbeknownst to them. This way, they easily arrived at that aforementioned clearing without anyone being able to track them. He actually couldn''t have blurred the entire group''s existence the whole way, as that would have put him under too much of a mental strain, at least for now.

    A little later, in the early evening, Isaac, Ais, Averin, Jakk, Kalin and Mina were silently waiting for the currently kneeling Quinn to finish his prayers and goodbyes in front of the smaller one of two gravestones. Yes, that''s correct. Gravestones.

    The last time Isaac and Mina had been here, Isaac hadn''t yet been in a condition to actually create a gravestone with relative ease, so they had simply used a large boulder in its place. This time, however, he only needed a few minutes and the simplest of tools to produce what anyone would call a professionally manufactured, beautifully designed gravestone.

    [ Mina Teagle''s loyalty has increased by 1. ]

    To Isaac, it had been such a self-evident act that he hadn''t expected Mina''s increase in loyalty at all. Still, such a thing wasn''t unwelcome. After all, the more loyal, the better, right? Her behaviour couldn''t possibly get any more eccentric¡­ hopefully.

    Only after the mourning cat boy had knelt in front of his little sister''s grave for more than thirty minutes did he rise again, quite unsteadily though. Thankfully, Kalin had rushed up immediately to help the stumbling Quinn regain his footing. Then, after having steadied himself, Quinn bowed towards his group of benefactors.

    "Thank you."

    He didn''t know what else to say and honestly, there wasn''t really any need for more words anyway. His gratitude was conveyed without a problem, a smile creeping across the group''s faces. Still, as she didn''t want the boy to continue bowing in such a subservient manner before her, Mina helped him to straighten up yet again, before the group set off on their way back to the base.

    Because it had taken them until 7 p.m. to return, Isaac and Ais didn''t have a chance to join the Loki Familia dinner in the canteen, so they decided to join the students for their meal today. Mina was pretty excited upon realizing that her lord would be dining with her today, so she tried to be even more fanciful with her cooking. But due to the fact that she had never really learned any special recipes and didn''t have any out of the ordinary ingredients, she had to settle on making a simple but hearty and filling meal. As he had been helping out in the kitchen before anyway, because he didn''t want to be a burden, Kalin helped her by cutting the vegetables today as well. Seeing them interact so naturally, Isaac grew even more appreciative of the two and a small, genuine smile flashed across his lips. During dinner, Ais finally let go of Isaac''s hand again for a while, as it would have been really awkward to eat otherwise.

    After they had finished eating, however, it was finally time to bring up more serious topics. When Isaac had carved Millina''s name on her gravestone, Quinn had already told him that his last name was Graham. But this pitiful amount of information was still quite far from what Isaac would need to know to be satisfied. So, without further ado, Isaac asked the cat boy, who was relaxedly reclining in his chair, whether or not he was comfortable with sharing what had happened to him and his sister.

    Although Quinn felt a little conflicted, as he didn''t really like talking about his past, seeing how he had been treated well and respectfully all this time, he felt like telling these people what they wanted to know would be the least he could do. By now, he was entirely convinced that the people here had no connection to his past foes. Of course, telling Isaac would bring him closer to one of his objectives as well.

    "It would probably be smart if I started from the very beginning¡­"

    Quinn and Millina had been orphans living in the very poorest of areas of Daedalus Street for as long as they could remember. Parents? Well, they definitely needed to have had some, but the elder brother didn''t remember anything about them. He only remembered his first and last name and that the extremely frail, young girl in his arms, who was barely old enough to walk, was named Millina. To be fair, he didn''t know whether or not she was really his sister, but seeing how they looked very much alike and had always been together, he simply treated her as such. Therefore, no matter whether it was actually the case, her being his little sister became his truth. In any case, for as long as he could remember, he had been living on the streets.

    While they were still very young, some caring and slightly less impoverished denizens of Daedalus Street occasionally gave them what little food they could spare, which helped the two kittens survive year after year, winter after winter. The moment the two finally found out about the many gods and their familias living in Daedalus Street, who were regularly handing out food and drinks to the poor, survival became a lot easier and the two didn''t really have to worry about what they were going to eat tomorrow anymore. So, for many years, they kept living in an abandoned, overgrown house and survived thanks to the generosity of others.

    Even though there were many compassionate people around them, the two also knew that this district harboured an unseen darkness. After all, why else would many of their friends, both kids and a.d.u.l.ts, suddenly go missing and never be seen again? It wasn''t just once or twice either. Everyone knew that something was going on, but nobody knew where all the missing people were going, so they could only continue to do their best to survive.

    It wasn''t like Quinn and Millina hadn''t tried to leave this place and possibly find some work before. But, maybe because of bad luck with the people they ended up meeting, whenever they left Daedalus Street, Orario''s citizens would look upon them with scorn and disgust, feelings that were never directed at them back at their home. They were treated like trash and unwelcome rabble wherever they went. They were outcasts. As they were still quite young, the two honestly were scared by this and after a few drunk adventurers had even thrown things at them to get them to leave their sights, the two never really made any other attempts to leave their impoverished home behind and strive for a better future. Yes, this had been a stupid and naive decision. But it was so much easier to continue living the lives they were used to than to take a painful plunge of faith. After all, people in general truly feared fundamental changes.

    Just like this, the two lived their own content little lives and many years passed by in what felt like the blink of an eye. Half a year ago, however, something changed. Something interrupted their daily lives.

    Late in the evening, Quinn and Millina were on their way to return back to their little abode, when they suddenly heard a friend of theirs, a young human boy by the name of Martin, cry out for help just a short distance away. Of course, even though they were aware of the potential danger, they couldn''t simply do nothing now that they were aware of his plight. Without further ado, the two hurried to his location, only to see him getting knocked unconscious by a group of four huge and burly men. Their faces were hidden underneath their hoods so they couldn''t be sure of who they were. Still, they had little time to think about this as the group carried the unconscious Martin away with them. Thankfully, as the two hadn''t rushed in mindlessly, they hadn''t been noticed yet. On the other hand, they had no way of freeing their friend from the kidnappers'' hands, as they would simply end up just like him if they tried to. So, with no other options, they followed the four men, intending to gather intelligence on whether they could free Martin from whatever place they were going to bring him.

    It didn''t take long for Quinn and Millina to regret their decision. When they saw which residence the men had entered, they felt as if their whole world was going to collapse. It was the Zagan Familia''s home, which, amongst many other familias, had often given out free food for all the homeless and struggling people around. The siblings had been guests here hundreds of times themselves and thought of the people here as their close friends. If they hadn''t seen all of this with their own eyes, even if somebody told them about such a charitable and respected familia possibly being connected to such a crime, they wouldn''t have believed it.

    Although the two had wanted to escape, they had already been spotted by the many sentries hidden around the residence''s perimeter long ago. Right when they turned to run away, they suddenly came face to face with one of the gently smiling middle-aged women that had served them free food before.

    "We can''t allow you to tell anyone about this. So sorry about this, little ones."

    Before they even had a chance to respond or defend themselves, the surprisingly swift woman had already disappeared from their field of view and a moment later, everything went black.

    An unknown amount of time later, when they came to, they found themselves in very bare-bones, adjacent cells in some kind of underground complex. The only light they could see came from magic stone lamps. Two men, who, if judged by their build and attire, were most likely amongst the men who had kidnapped Martin, were playing a board game outside of their cells but made their way towards them when they noticed that the two young Cat People had awoken. After what they would later refer to as a ''comparatively harmless beating'', the two men explained this place''s rules to the disoriented kids. This wasn''t their first rodeo, so the men were easily capable of making them understand.

    The rules were actually quite simple. They had to work hard if they didn''t want to get beaten or starve to death. While they worked, they weren''t allowed to make mistakes. Otherwise, what would follow was, again, a beating. If they made any non-work related sounds while working¡­ just as anyone would have guessed at that point, yes, they would get a beating.

    Their workplace was pretty similar to the picture that the word ''sweatshop'' evoked within Isaac''s mind. Many workstations, yet again only illuminated by magic stone lamps, were positioned in what was basically an assembly line. Every worker only had to do very simple and repetitive tasks, which would ultimately culminate in a mass produced finished product. None of the workers had any idea of what it was that they were actually manufacturing, as they always only worked on specific parts of the whole thing. One thing Quinn had taken note of, however, was that his step included slotting a few small magic stone fragments into very specific places. Obviously, it was some kind of magic stone powered device, but he couldn''t discern anything beyond that.

    The workers all around the two siblings were partially people they had known from before, but there were also many unknown faces. What they all had in common, however, was that they seemed like their souls had already left their bodies. There was no spark of hope in their eyes as they were only mechanically doing their respective tasks, time and time again. They were haggard, emaciated and showed clear signs of beatings all over their bodies. Whenever someone''s pace slowed down too much or they, for an unspecified reason, simply became an eyesore to one of the overseers, they would be whipped mercilessly and could only clench their teeth and continue to work without making a sound, ignoring the hot streams of blood trickling down their backs.

    As Quinn and Millina were barely old enough to not be considered kids anymore and quite weak, they did what everyone would have expected them to. They fell in line. Although they made a few mistakes in the beginning, that and the resulting beatings couldn''t be helped. Soon, they became just another two cogs within this merciless machine.

    At this point is his recounting of events, Quinn couldn''t help but tear up a little when thinking about what he was going to talk about soon. Still, even though he had been assured that he didn''t have to continue, after taking some time to recover, a small light of conviction had been lit within the cat boy''s eyes, as if he had just finalized some kind of decision. Shortly after, he continued his story.

    Quite often, some people at the assembly line just fainted or even died on the spot, due to exhaustion and their acc.u.mulated injuries. Many times, some others simply didn''t come back anymore the next day. The main reason for all of this was that the workers didn''t get enough food. Even when they did their best, they would just get barely enough to survive another day. If one factored in their heavy workload and the regenerative processes their bodies had to undergo time and time again, death was an inevitability. As the ones who controlled this whole facility, most likely the Zagan Familia, could just get new people to involuntarily join the workforce any time they wanted to, giving their workers just the bare minimum of food was an easy decision for them. So what if hundreds died? Learning to do these simple tasks was a matter of minutes, nothing difficult. Anyone could do it. Giving these people more food than absolutely necessary would have simply been a waste. Well, at least that was what the overseers sometimes said.

    Because the siblings had been doing their respective tasks for half a year already, the beatings they got had significantly lessened in the past few months. Their only problem was the very small amount of food they were allocated. By now, they were both already extremely weak, every night they weren''t even sure if they would be having the energy and strength to wake up the next morning. And then, even their work pace started to suffer, as they simply didn''t have enough strength to do everything swiftly. The beatings increased again¡­ This simply couldn''t continue.

    Very quietly, without any of the overseers hearing it, Millina told Quinn that they had to run away. After all, that was the only thing they could do. Otherwise, death was a certainty. Admittedly, the cat boy wasn''t a huge fan of his sister''s plan, as he couldn''t see this working out at all. But after looking at her sorry state, he agreed. He didn''t want her to die down here. Maybe he would be able to buy a little bit of time for her to escape if he sacrificed himself.

    As they were always either under surveillance or in their cells, the two didn''t have many opportunities to escape. Only when some of the overseers got distracted could they possibly get tens of seconds of time to attempt their escape. Yeah, obviously that wouldn''t be enough to escape from an underground facility whose size, scope, entrances and exits they didn''t know. They both knew this. But they were desperate.

    A few days later, when the overseers who brought them back to their cells got into a little argument and forgot to pay attention to them for a short moment, the two bolted off as quickly as their emaciated, frail legs could carry them. They had some idea of where they wanted to go, as they knew where the men and women who were their overseers would come from and retreat to every day. As it was unlikely for those people to also be confined to such an underground life, they had to be close to some kind of exit, right?

    Well, even if they were, the two would never find out. Even just a day or two after they had arrived here, they wouldn''t have been fast enough to outrun the overseers. In their currently pathetic state, they stood even less of a chance. Impressively, they managed to escape through four large halls, though, attracting the attention of many more overseers and even workers. Although they hadn''t intended to trigger such a thing, some of the newer workers even thought that this was their one and only chance and tried to escape themselves.

    It ended in a disaster. Many of the workers were simply cut down on the spot. Even Quinn and Millina couldn''t escape this fate. But after they had already been beaten close to death, one of the more devious overseers spoke a sentence that would haunt the cat boy''s nightmares forever.

    "Wouldn''t it be a shame if we didn''t at least sample the goods before getting rid of the brat?"

    Anyone would be able to tell what followed. They ravaged Millina there and then. All that Quinn was able to hear before fainting were his sister''s pleas and pained screams.

    Next thing he knew, he regained his consciousness in the dungeon.

    A short while after the entire group had expressed their condolences and tried to make Quinn feel better again, the cat boy unblinkingly stared directly into Isaac''s eyes. Although there were still tears clouding Quinn''s eyes, the conviction from before hadn''t faded. Instead, it had gotten stronger.

    "Can you teach me as well? I want to become strong enough to kill those bastards. Every single one of them."

    Quinn honestly was too weak right now. He might have already recovered a little, but if he wanted to get his revenge right now, he would be swatted to death as easily as a fly. While he had been watching today''s training session, even an amateur like him, with no combat experience, could tell that Isaac was someone special. He was skillful to the point of being baffling. Like a dancer or a phantom, he moved across the training grounds. Untouched, always aware of everything. All of the spars with his students seemed like fantastical dreams to the cat boy.

    In response to Quinn''s request, Isaac donned a more serious expression on his face, before giving his reply.

    "I will only do so if you accept my two conditions. First, swear your absolute loyalty to me. No matter what, you can''t go against my orders. Secondly, never speak about any of my secrets or anything unusual happening around me to any outsider. I could give you an order to do this, but it would mean a lot more to me if you could accept this out of your own free will."

    Before the overeager cat boy could reply, Isaac raised his right hand and stopped him in his tracks. It was definitely necessary to clarify a few things.

    "You have to keep in mind that I won''t allow you to die or leave after you got your revenge. Also, I will only let you get your revenge when the situation is favourable. After all, if the risk is too high, it''s better to wait for a while. This deal will be forever binding. If you don''t want to take it, I will let you stay with us until you''re fully recovered and then give you enough money to start a new life. You can either live a normal life or I can introduce you to some familias which you could make use of to get stronger. But your fate will be your own. No matter what you do, it won''t be my problem."

    Admittedly, Isaac''s words were quite harsh. But this wasn''t a charity. Isaac would never help people without receiving anything in return. Still, if the return was good enough, he wouldn''t mind behaving like what others would call a good person. From the very beginning, he had been a little intrigued by the young cat boy his subordinates had saved and had intended to make him join his forces as well. Still, he wouldn''t force the issue.

    Even though he had been cautioned and told to think about this decision a little more, it only took ten seconds before Quinn nodded and, with an air of unprecedented seriousness, voiced the following words.

    "I hereby swear my absolute loyalty to Isaac Blackshaw. I swear to never reveal any secrets or unusual happenings related to Isaac Blackshaw to any outsiders."

    [ Quinn Graham has sworn his loyalty to you.

    Quest ''Have three retainers.'' completed. 300 AP rewarded. ]

    The young cat boy had already determined that this man in front of him was his fastest path to strength and revenge. Those people¡­ if he could end them even a second earlier, he wouldn''t hesitate to even sign a deal with the devil!

    Now that Quinn had already agreed and wouldn''t be able to escape the grasps of the system any longer, Isaac saw no problem with revealing one of his secrets - his ability to bestow a Falna.

    [ Quinn Graham has joined your familia.

    Quest ''Have four familia members.'' completed. 400 AP rewarded. ]

    [ Name: Quinn Graham ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

    [ Race: Cat People ]

    [ Level: 1 ]

    [ Age: 14 ]

    [ Loyalty: 60/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-9 ]

    [ Endurance: I-4 ]

    [ Dexterity: I-15 ]

    [ Agility: I-6 ]

    [ Magic: I-2 ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Berserker ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ None ]

    Although this wasn''t the first time that one of Isaac''s subordinates had a skill from the very beginning, every time Isaac encountered a new skill, he was very interested in discovering what it could do.

    [ Berserker: Depending on how much hatred the user harbours for their opponent, their Strength, Endurance and Agility will be increased by up to three times. In exchange, the user''s Dexterity and Magic will get reduced by up to two thirds. Duration: As long as the user is in combat with an opponent they feel hatred for. ]

    Even at first glance, the drawbacks of this skill were plain to see. With less Dexterity, Quinn wouldn''t be able to control his body as easily as under normal circ.u.mstances and the reduction in his Magic would lead to his mind becoming a lot more cloudy than usual. Still, if he reached high enough stats, those things wouldn''t really matter - he could simply stand there and nobody would be able to harm him, thanks to the increased Endurance. And with enough Strength, even if he couldn''t hit his opponents as perfectly as he would want to, just the air pressure around his attacks and the shock waves battering his opponents afterwards would be enough to pulverize them. With the increase in Agility, his speed would simply be ridiculous - escaping from him would become almost impossible.

    Well, whether or not a monster like this would truly be born one day wasn''t set in stone yet. Just a single mistake could end this potential calamity in its early stages. Still, someone who could become a weapon of mass destruction like this wasn''t easy to come by, so Isaac would do his best to keep Quinn safe. Right now, the cat boy''s frail frame looked like he could simply be blown away by a strong gust of wind - he was a far cry from what anyone would associate with a berserker. But someday, he might become a fearsome deterrent to any enemy forces. Quinn only needed to be taught how to manipulate and control his hatred.

    A satisfied smile played across Isaac''s lips as he gave Quinn his Status sheet and explained its contents to the illiterate youth.

 Chapter 42 - Foundation Establishment

    There was one more item on Isaac''s agenda for today, so at around 8:30 p.m., he found himself seated across from Riveria, in her study. During dinner he had asked the motherly elf whether she would have the time to have a short talk later this evening and she had agreed to meet him here. Because she had already finished the majority of the organizational work related to the expedition and only some last minute changes had to be taken into account now, Riveria had a lot more free time than before - almost an hour per day. Yeah, it really wasn''t a lot. But compared to the many sleepless nights she had grown accustomed to, it felt like a relaxing vacation to her. This and the fact that she was quite interested in what Isaac wanted to talk to her about were the reasons why she so readily agreed.

    But now that he was here, Isaac had a concerned and conflicted expression on his face, which surprised the High Elf and made her wonder about what kind of problem he might have encountered. Surely, it had to be something perilous. Otherwise, he would most likely not ask for her help.

    "Tiona has repeatedly lost control of herself after watching my battles and tried to push me down on the spot. I highly suspect that she also has some kind of romantic interest in me. The problem is that I won''t be able to reciprocate her feelings. I''m not sure if I should tell her that, though. What would you recommend me to do?"

    An exasperated sigh escaped the beautiful elf''s lips when Isaac''s explanation arrived at this point. Interpersonal relationship advice wasn''t what she had expected this discussion to be about. Still, it wouldn''t be the first time she had given others advice on how to handle their love lives. While Riveria herself never had any relationsh.i.p.s of that sort, she had seen enough of the world to understand them deeply. It was always easier to have a neutral perspective on a topic if one hadn''t made personal experiences related to it. Of course, that wouldn''t prepare someone for the moment one experienced those things oneself. Still, it was enough to help others.

    "Just talk to her about this. If you make clear that you aren''t interested in her, she will most likely back off and control herself better. Now that she still feels like she has a chance, she doesn''t see a need to rein in her instincts at all. But if you have an honest conversation with her, I''m sure she will understand."

    Riveria''s reply caused a relieved smile to flash across Isaac''s face. Of course, he had already expected for this to be the wisest course of action. After all, he also preferred to talk things through with people whenever he had the chance. But because he honestly didn''t have too much knowledge about Tiona and her mentality from the DanMachi novels and the time he had spent here, he couldn''t be entirely sure if she would lash out at him if he rejected her. Sure, he thought it was very unlikely, but it was still a better idea to ask the woman who had practically raised the unruly Amazoness from a relatively young age. After all, her perspective on the matter would surely be better informed than his flawed one. Now that he had the confirmation, however, there was nothing he needed to fear.

    Before Isaac could thank the wise elf for her council and retreat for the night, Riveria momentarily stopped him in his tracks.

    "Please don''t have that kind of talk while we''re on our expedition. Although I''m sure Tiona wouldn''t be too affected by it, even a moment of distraction can be fatal within the dungeon. Either tell her before or after the expedition, alright?"

    Only after he repeatedly promised the stern elf that he wouldn''t compromise the expedition did she allow him to leave. A relieved sigh escaped Isaac''s lips. Riveria was nothing if not thorough - this was also most likely the cause for her many sleepless nights. Still, Isaac could relate to her mentality. As he was somewhat of a perfectionist himself, he got quite aggrieved whenever he actually forgot about a small detail.

    At about 9 p.m., when Isaac had just returned to his room, he suddenly noticed a major change. Without further ado, he sat down on his bed in a meditative pose and closed his eyes, fully focusing on his mental layer, where the cause for all of this lay.

    As he had been circulating ever increasing amounts of mana drops during the day, he had already arrived at the 999th drop. This one, however, was a lot harder to deal with than the previous ones. It felt like the channels he was using for his circulation of mana drops were almost filled to the brim. As they weren''t visible, he felt hard-pressed to find an opening he could use to insert the drop into the flow. Still, after some perseverance, he managed to circulate the 999th drop.

    Yet another change arrived: a throbbing headache, caused by what felt like the swelling of the channels on the mental layer. They were stretched thin and felt like they were about to burst at any moment. Because of this, Isaac held off on adding a 1000th drop for a bit, to see whether the channels would grow used to the burden after a while, whether they would be subjected to some kind of ''stretching''. Still, even after half an hour of enduring the headache, nothing had changed.

    What perplexed Isaac about the whole situation was that he, for an unknown reason, felt like he ''had'' to circulate another drop. It just felt ''right''. This kind of compulsion honestly wasn''t something he had ever felt before nor knew how to explain. After a few moments of confusion, he redirected his focus to his surroundings and could vaguely feel the laws of the world at work, which made him breathe out a sigh of relief. Apparently, his feelings had been induced by them and he wasn''t going insane¡­ or rather, irrational.

    Now, without anything to hold him back further, Isaac simply disregarded his worries and decided to follow the laws'' advice - he forcefully crammed the 1000th drop into the channels and, through excruciating effort, managed to have all of the drops finish a whole circulation.

    The moment he did so, the headache and the pressure on the channels disappeared as if it had been an illusion from the very beginning. A pleasant feeling of relief spread all the way through Isaac''s body, making him sigh in comfort. Only after a minute or so of being lost in this emotional state did Isaac notice that a system notification had appeared.

    [ The Development Ability ''Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment (I)'' has been obtained. ]

    [ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment (I): Enables one to interact with their surroundings by using mana. Reduction in mana expenditure: 1% ]

    A bright and genuine smile lit up Isaac''s face as he read through the notification. Even that small number at the end didn''t discourage him one bit - after all, it was just a small bonus. What was truly important and groundbreaking was the fact that he should now be able to utilize his mana. Up until now, he had only been able to circulate it and besides that, it had been useless. And although that small decrease in how much mana he would have to spend to achieve a desired effect didn''t seem like much right now, Isaac was sure that this number would only grow in the future.

    Of course, before the joyful Isaac could try to make use of his new ability, he made sure to inspect his mental layer again, as he had vaguely noticed a fundamental change there during the time he had been distracted. Ever since the breakthrough, for some reason, he didn''t have to circulate his mana drops anymore. Exactly one thousand of them were in a constant and unabated flow, which lessened his mental exhaustion simply by virtue of its existence. He also didn''t have to allocate some of his focus on keeping the circulation going anymore. It felt like a second heart had just started beating, alleviating some of his burdens.

    What he hadn''t noticed before, however, was that the number of drops he could circulate didn''t increase at all, no matter how long he observed the whole process. Upon further testing, it seemed like he had to manually increase the drops he could circulate, otherwise, there would be no changes. And as expected, after he added a handful more drops to the flow, the number of circulating drops stayed at that new total.

    Because he couldn''t discern any other changes in his mental layer, Isaac focused on his surroundings instead. And of course, at first, he didn''t feel like anything had changed. Nothing at all. Of course, he didn''t get discouraged by this, as it would have been weird for him to instantly notice something.

    After a couple of minutes of failing to discern any difference to before, Isaac changed his approach. Upon repeated inspection of the Development Ability''s description, he tried to compel some of the drops of mana in his mental layer to appear in his surroundings. Thankfully, this time, he was on the right track and immediately after he had started trying, a very small amount of mana gathered on the palm of his right hand - two drops worth.

    Isaac only had a few moments to observe the invisible energy, however, as just a couple of seconds after the mana had appeared, it had fully disintegrated and become a part of the world again.

    At this point, as the number of drops in Isaac''s channels had dropped, two more drops were extracted from his lake of mana and integrated into the flow automatically. It did take a couple of seconds for this to take place, however.

    With undisguised interest sparkling in his eyes, Isaac unceasingly continued his experiments. A couple tens of drops later, he figured out that he could ''will'' the mana to stay within his palm for about a minute, until it finally succ.u.mbed and disintegrated. This was the impetus for Isaac to focus on the effect of his ''will'' on the mana.

    Many hundred drops and almost half an hour later, Isaac managed to let the mana interact with the air above his palm and generated a gentle, small gust of wind, which abated relatively quickly. Upon trying to cause the same phenomenon again, however, Isaac decided to continue to feed more mana into it as it went on, which went swimmingly - he was able to maintain the gust of wind above his palm for a minute or two before he failed to provide enough mana in time due to a slight miscalculation.

    When this happened, Isaac took a step back from his excitement and stopped playing around. While the previous half an hour hadn''t been wasted, as he discovered many interesting things about mana and how to use it, he hadn''t really spared any thoughts on what he should focus on mastering first. If he continued to dabble in this without a goal, he would be treating his new ability like a toy.

    Now that his mind was calm again, Isaac decided to try to create some kinds of footholds within the air first. This was mostly just to give him more maneuverability in combat - if he didn''t have to rely on the environment too much, he could vastly improve his courses of action and be even more efficient. Also, any sentient opponents could be easily caught off guard. These were just a few of the nigh endless benefits he could think of.

    The method Isaac determined as the most likely to succeed was this one: He would increase the density of the air in a circular and very thin area, creating discs of some sort, which he would then make use of by stepping on or pushing himself off of them. While it sounded like a simple idea, reality, as always, proved to be quite a bit more complicated.

    The first problem was that increasing the density of even just a very small amount of air consumed enormous amounts of mana. While Isaac didn''t have a problem with micromanaging and delegating exactly which molecules and even smaller particles should be affected, introducing the changes he wanted somehow seemed to interfere with the ''natural order'' the laws of this world were responsible for. This very fact was why maintaining the effect he wanted was so very costly. Even just sustaining a disc the size of his palm for about twenty seconds cost him more than a hundred drops of mana.

    The second problem was that with the increase in density, the effect of gravity on the disc also increased. So just a fraction of a second after Isaac had created the disc, it would start falling towards the ground. Of course, when he applied force to the top of the disc, it accelerated even faster.

    Although both of these problems were admittedly quite annoying, they weren''t impossible to deal with. First of all, Isaac decided to abandon the thought of maintaining such discs of air for a prolonged period of time. After all, he only needed them the very moment he made contact with them anyway, so anything more than that was a waste. Of course, this meant that he couldn''t just create a disc of air and sit on it for a couple of minutes while observing his surroundings. While that sounded tempting, it wasn''t something he was capable of. Yet. Isaac was sure he would find a solution to this if he thought about it more in the future.

    This simple change already brought some more problems with it. Isaac had to get better at almost instantaneously creating the discs if he wanted to be able to use them. Thankfully, however, he was a fast learner. Although he failed a couple tens of times, he soon got the hang of it and was able to create a stable disc of air in a fraction of a second. It took a lot of his focus, but it was possible. Surely, it would get easier with more practice.

    With the first problem alleviated for now, it was time to attend to the second one. After a couple of minutes of thought, Isaac decided to try to counteract gravity and the force his weight would apply to the disc by using the wind. It was quite a simple concept, actually. He only had to create an airflow underneath the disc whose force would push it upwards. If he created enough force to counteract gravity and his own weight, the disc would stay perfectly stable.

    As always, however, what sounded easy in theory was extremely difficult to put into practice. To finetune his calculations, Isaac had stood up from his bed, raised his right leg and created a small disc of air just a small distance beneath his foot. Counteracting gravity with a bit of wind was easy and didn''t affect his environment much at all. But when he gently placed his foot on the disc, even though he tried his best, the disc still fell to the ground almost instantly. What was even worse was that the airflow he had made use of to lift it up spread all the way through the room, causing Jakk, who had just come back from his daily training in the dungeon at about 11:30 p.m. to be battered by gusts of wind when he opened the door.

    After welcoming his roommate back, Isaac continued with his research unabated, simply ignoring Jakk''s questioning look when he tried to make sense of the weird pose Isaac''s leg was in, for seemingly no reason.

    Very quickly, though, the bunny boy understood that it would be smarter to get far away, as every couple of seconds, a gust of wind that became progressively stronger swept over him. Hastily, Jakk put away all of his notes and anything else that could easily be brought into disorder if this got any worse and observed Isaac from a distance, warily.

    In the meantime, Isaac actually made progress. While the disc just instantly dropped to the floor before, he got it to wobbledy support him for a moment, before it lost its balance. To be fair, to be able to maintain a disc of dense air and lift it from the ground with wind was already a ridiculous feat of multitasking¡­ but for Isaac, it wasn''t enough. He wouldn''t rest until he perfected this first step!

    Almost twenty minutes later, after Jakk had already gone to bed and used his blanket to hide from the raging storm, Isaac could finally stand upon the disc of air for a short moment. He had repeatedly fallen and even hit his head, but it was all worth it. Everything was perfectly balanced. Of course, he quickly stopped exerting his influence on the disc, as it cost him a lot of mana to maintain it, and dispersed the airflow at the same time, returning everything to tranquility.

    [ The Magic ''Anemoi Steps'' has been obtained. ]

    [ Anemoi Steps: Creates footholds of dense air at target locations which are held in place by the power of the wind. Will require 50% less focus if activated via the chant.

    Chant: "O blessing of wind, I will scale the heavens!" ]

    Isaac''s celebratory mood was instantly dashed when he finished reading the system notifications. He looked like he had just swallowed a fly, while his eyebrows were scrunched up in displeasure. The cause for all of this was the mention of a chant¡­ and that it would be vastly more efficient to use it.

    Even when he had first come across characters shouting the names of their attacks or chanting their spells back in stories from the world he came from, Isaac had only ever had one thought about the whole thing: It was lame. Incredibly lame.

    Having to do this only proved one''s inadequacy. If one was proficient in the usage of magic or certain attacks, one didn''t have to rely on such toddler-level support wheels. And even more than that: It was incredibly lame.

    So now that his system had analyzed that the very laws of this world would alleviate some of his burden if he fell in line and also chanted his new Magic, he felt extremely unpleasant.

    A minute or two later, Isaac''s expression finally relaxed and a heavy sigh escaped his lips. He had made a decision.

    ''System, please lock this chant. I don''t want to be tempted to use it.''

    [ The Chant of the ''Anemoi Steps'' Magic has been locked. All related effects can''t be accessed until the lock has been disabled.

    Cost of disabling the lock has been determined: 25.000 AP ]

    A wry smile played across Isaac''s lips when he saw this ridiculous price. He wasn''t surprised about it in the least, however, as he had already expected himself to put such measures in place. If he had made locking and unlocking abilities incredibly easy, something that could be done without consequences, Isaac might still bank on his locked abilities in a pinch. Needless to say, that would take a lot of the tension out of any perilous situation¡­ which would make it boring. And boredom was something Isaac wanted to avoid.

    How did Isaac know that he could lock some of his abilities? He didn''t, it had just been an educated guess. After all, including such a feature made sense.

    As for the decision he had made just moments prior, it was this: He would follow this world''s path to greater heights, as far as he needed to go¡­ and then change the specific law of the world that supported chant-based magic. In Isaac''s eyes, it was nothing more than a plight upon this world and now that he had stumbled across it himself, he wanted to see it gone. It would take a bit of time to arrive at a point where he could enact such change, but it wasn''t too bad of a short-term goal.

    After playing around with his self-created magic a little more, gaining further proficiency in it, Isaac noticed that, while he still had drops circulating through the channels of his mental layer, the lake of mana was entirely dried up. Also, he had started to feel mentally exhausted.

    Previously, Lefiya had told him a lot about the magic of this world, which was where he learned that mages didn''t know about the existence of mana at all. Rather, they called the resource they used to cast their spells ''Mind''. If one got too mentally exhausted by casting spells and fainted, a.k.a. if the resource was depleted, that was called a ''Mind Down''.

    Well, it seemed like this world''s mages were victims of a severe misunderstanding. Its cause was understandable, though.

    Mind was simply mental strength. Everyone had different amounts of it. With the increase in the Magic stat, one would basically get an upgrade to their nervous system and brain, which would lead to an increase in mental strength. When casting spells, one had to mentally strain oneself to do so. The higher the Magic stat, the more spells one could cast. Therefore, it was only logical to conclude that Mind, mental strength, was what powered spells.

    This, however, was incorrect. Mana was the resource that powered spells, while one''s mental strength simply instructed the invisible energy. Both mana and Mind would get an increase if one''s Magic stat rose, so they could easily be seen as the same thing. Still, they weren''t. Every individual had a different amount of mental strength, therefore they had a different amount of Mind even without factoring in any stats. One''s mental strength could also rise and fall irrespective of one''s stats. If one had the same amount of Magic stat points, however, one would always have the same amount of mana.

    In any case, for Isaac, this whole situation highlighted a potential problem. To combat their inability to cast spells, mages of this world drank Magic Potions that would help them to restore their Mind, to recover from mental fatigue. Sadly, those didn''t help with recovering their mana at all. Still, as most mages would never be able to use all of their mana even in very prolonged encounters, no matter how many Mind-restoring Magic Potions they consumed, they would never notice this problem. The cause for this was that a person''s mental strength was usually very weak. For Isaac, however, if he followed in these people''s footsteps, he would most likely run out of mana before he entered a ''Mind Down'' state. This meant that he would have to research his own way to recover mana and couldn''t take a shortcut by following someone else''s path. As for other people, if their mental strength reached a certain level and they were in a prolonged engagement, they would simply run out of mana, while being completely unaware of it. They would think they were still able to cast spells, as they had just taken a Mind-restoring potion¡­ but they would be caught off guard and die. Quite a tragic fate.

    As he had no need to hurry and to artificially recover from his mental exhaustion right now, Isaac lay down in bed to let his nightly rest do so the natural way. Before he fell asleep, however, he paid attention to his dried up lake of mana. His Magic stat hadn''t fallen, so, as he expected, just seconds after he started paying attention to it, he noticed some spontaneously appearing, fresh drops of mana. The lake was filling itself up again on its own. As he had been busy with his research before, he hadn''t noticed it, but now he knew that there was some kind of passive regeneration at play here.

    Once the feeling of relief over having nothing to worry about had passed, Isaac thought about where those drops of mana could possibly be coming from. They couldn''t just appear out of nowhere, after all. The problem was that he couldn''t detect anything, no matter how hard he tried. Therefore, right before falling asleep, he ventured a guess that he would try to verify in the future: The Magic stat assigned to someone via their Falna - or whatever equivalent they made use of - told the laws of this world exactly how much mana they had to supply to every individual. Because expended mana disintegrated into the world itself, the freshly supplied mana was most likely simply drawn off the world itself. It was the lifeblood which connected every being and the world itself tightly together.

 Chapter 43 - Making It Worse

    Before he continued to research the last few remaining monster species on the 25th floor, Isaac - and his Amazoness bodyguards - spent about an hour with his students on the Upper Floors. They did so because Quinn had already recovered sufficiently to tag along, so Isaac took this chance to let the cat boy learn about many things to look out for. That way, it would be a lot easier for the other students to protect him. Of course, Quinn wasn''t in any condition to actually fight monsters yet. Still, this fast recovery speed was extremely impressive, especially if one compared it to Isaac''s old world. Here, in a world with magic and potions, if one didn''t die of an injury and could afford the treatment, it would only take a couple of days to recover to one''s peak.

    After he had imparted some of his research results to Quinn, Isaac left the cat boy under Jakk''s protection. Kalin and Mina still wouldn''t be able to shield him from everything the dungeon could potentially throw at them up here, but Jakk, who was already a reasonably strong Level 2 adventurer, was almost invincible on these floors. Unless the dungeon broke some of its perceived rules, even Monster Parties were something the bunny boy could scoff at and obliterate in a few moments, should he want to. Should something entirely unprecedented come to pass, however, Isaac had already prepared a few ways to deal with that as well.

    Back on the 25th floor, it took quite some time for Isaac to come across enough specimens of the last three monster species he still had to finish researching. The cause for this was that all three of them were quite rare. Not unreasonably so, though. Because of this, by the time his research had finished, there were only a couple of hours left until he had to leave the dungeon for the day.

    Two of the three monster species Isaac focused on had stats that could reach all the way up to B-775 / 2900. They were the Blue Crabs and Aqua Serpents.

    The former were simply five meter tall crabs¡­ with a few unusual gimmicks. Normally, crabs could only walk sideways, but these ones'' body structure was a little different which enabled them to move forward and backward as well. This actually caught Isaac off guard for a moment when he first encountered one, but it didn''t lead to any problems as he had given himself enough leeway to account for such mistakes. Another difference to usual crabs was that the Blue Crabs'' right pincers were incredibly sharp and could easily tear through pretty much any material below the Level 3 threshold. If an adventurer got careless, they would be sliced apart in a matter of seconds. Thankfully, as the crabs'' shells were incredibly tough and even had metallic properties to them, they also moved very slowly. So if one paid attention well enough and focused on chipping away at the gaps in their armour, the crustacean monsters fell very easily.

    As for the latter, the Aqua Serpents, while they had a majestic sounding name, they weren''t anything special either. Sure, they were more than ten meter long¡­ but they were simply slightly tougher snakes with light green scales that lived within the various underwater passageways that connected the Water City''s lakes, streams and other water sources. If one managed to lure one close to the shore, they were easily dispatched. Compared to the Blue Crabs, who focused on Endurance, the Aqua Serpents relied almost solely on their Agility. Still, as they didn''t overwhelm Isaac in that regard, he could deal with them without a care in the world.

    The last monster species on the 25th floor were the Crystal Turtles, whose highest stats could reach up to A-800 / 2950. They were ancient-looking turtles whose shell-diameter was about thirty meters. They were often mistaken for islands by adventurers, as they had lots of natural vegetation flourishing on their shells. Even the crystals that grew on them, the very origin of their name, didn''t help giving them away, as those crystals grew in many places on the 25th floor - it was just a part of the scenery. Thanks to the Crystal Turtles'' existence, most adventurers opted to just attack all islands they were trying to step on, just to make sure they were actually safe. Still, as long as one didn''t get close to them, the turtles usually didn''t bother with doing anything, as they were usually fast asleep.

    When facing these behemoths, Isaac finally started to have a tough time. Not because they were especially strong, no. Simply because they were just that enormous. While Isaac was able to damage the turtles'' shells without too much of a problem, that wasn''t a viable strategy, as his weapon would dull quite a bit before he was able to cut his way through. To combat this, Isaac employed vastly more brutal methods. He cut off one of the turtles'' limbs and started to carve his way into the turtle''s shell and body from that point onward. After he had finished analyzing them, it took him about two minutes to actually kill one of the turtles. Admittedly, he couldn''t research how the Crystal Turtles would react to losing their shells yet, but after yet another equipment upgrade, he could check that part off his list as well.

    If there was one thing to celebrate it was that while Isaac was rampaging about inside of the turtles'' shells, it was that Tiona couldn''t actually see him and get too excited about the carnage that he wrought.

    Before returning to his students, there was still enough time for Isaac to explore parts of the 26th floor but to his disappointment, no new monster species joined the fray there. It was exactly like the 25th floor. So with nothing else to do, Isaac found a staircase leading to the 27th floor in preparation for tomorrow and killed as many monsters on the 26th floor as time did allow. He didn''t gain too much excelia from killing them anymore, but there were still a few stat points he could grind out in this time. He also didn''t forget about the AP he would get from progressing his monster slaying quests.

    As it had been a very unlikely occurrence to meet it on these floors to begin with, of course Isaac, Tiona and Tione didn''t encounter Amphisbaena again today. The only surefire way to encounter it was to make a ruckus down at the enormous lake on the 27th floor, which was what the Loki Familia planned to do on their expedition.

    Needless to say, when Isaac emerged from the dungeon this time, he was covered in huge amounts of blood but as most of it had already dried, he didn''t let it bother him too much. After a quick but thorough shower and equipment cleaning session at the Guild''s bathrooms in Babel, he was as fresh as new. Still, this was one of the first times he had actually used those, as he usually left the dungeon entirely unscathed and mostly clean.

    In today''s training session, Quinn would participate a little for the first time. Slowly but surely, he would be integrated into the group of students but Isaac couldn''t rush things. Slow and steady wins the race, the cat boy had to be educated from the very basics.

    Speaking about education, he also had to be taught how to read and write. After all, that would enable him to take on a lot more tasks for Isaac in the future. In the end, all of his students and subordinates were just additional arms and legs that he was raising for his own convenience. Investing a lot of time into cultivating them was to be expected, especially in the beginning stages.

    But before the daily training, there were still bigger fish to fry. Or, well, Amazonesses to fry. Not literally, of course.

    As Isaac had promised Riveria to do so yesterday, he had fully prepared to have an honest talk with Tiona today. But as he didn''t want to potentially impact Tiona''s psyche before entering the dungeon or while in it, he hadn''t done so yet. After all, if something unforeseen truly happened and she wasn''t at the very top of her game, that moment of distraction could have disastrous consequences. Isaac wanted to avoid this if he could. Now, as they had already left the dungeon and Tiona would have ample time to deal with any emotional impact his words might have before they would dungeon delve again tomorrow, it was the perfect time. Admittedly, yet another reason was that Isaac had to start his students'' training session soon, so if he got into an awkward situation, he would have the perfect excuse to make a run for it.

    "Tiona, can I talk to you alone for a bit?"

    Discussing matters of the heart in public wasn''t something Isaac thought appropriate, so only after the two had gone out of earshot from the rest of the group did he finally explain to the somewhat worried but nonetheless excited Amazoness why he pulled her aside.

    "So, what did you want to talk about?"

    An apologetic smile flashed across Isaac''s face, before he resolved himself and started explaining. Crushing someone''s hopes was never fun, but it often had to be done if one wanted to nip a problem in the bud.

    "Tiona, I could be wrong about this, but I''m pretty sure you feel some kind of romantic attraction towards me. But I''m sorry, I just don''t feel the same way about you. I don''t want to give you false hope, lead you on or anything of the sort, so that''s why I''m telling you."

    The further Isaac progressed along his explanation, the more downcast the usually lively Amazoness became, which caused him to show a somewhat pained expression. He didn''t like to see people who thought of him as a friend in distress or plagued by sadness. It was even worse in Tiona''s case, where he had never actually seen her in too bad of a mood. So although he knew that it wouldn''t be of much help, he tried to make Tiona feel just a tiny bit better, no matter how slightly.

    "It''s not like I dislike you. I value you as a person and you''re fun to be around. But I just¡­ don''t see you in the way you might hope I do."

    After these words left his mouth, he decided to give the dejected beauty some time to digest what he just told her. It would have been unbecoming of him to ask her to hurry with sorting out her emotions, so he waited in silence.

    At first, Tiona seemed to be close to tearing up, but just a couple of seconds later, her expression shifted into a thoughtful one. By the time she raised her head and looked deep into Isaac''s eyes, her all too familiar bright and cheerful smile had already returned.

    "Thanks for being honest with me!"

    While he mentally heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing these words, a slight smile played across Isaac''s lips. It seemed like she had taken it well and accepted what he had told her. With this, he shouldn''t have to worry about being s.e.x.u.a.lly assaulted in the dungeon any longer.

    Before Isaac''s mental celebrations could start for real, though, Tiona''s words continued.

    "But I won''t give up that easily. Just because you aren''t into me now, that doesn''t mean your feelings can''t change. I''ll try my best¡­ and one day, I''ll make you fall for me. Just you wait."

    As if trying to show Isaac what he was currently missing out on, Tiona seductively licked her lips. Then, before he could even react to or come to terms with the situation, she winked playfully and skipped off into the distance, all the while giggling mischievously.

    Isaac''s previous smile had seemingly frozen on his lips, but it was turning progressively more awkward and forced by the second.

    ''So talking to her didn''t change anything¡­''

    [ Tiona Hiryute has fallen in love with you.

    Quest ''Gain two people''s love.'' completed. 200 Achievement Points rewarded. ]

    ''Nevermind, it changed things for the worst!''

    For the life of him, Isaac couldn''t conclusively figure out why things had developed the way they did. Did Tiona just appreciate his honesty that much? Or did she finally make up her mind about what she felt for him, which made her truly fall in love? There were too many possibilities. Isaac simply knew too little about the dark-skinned beauty to accurately assess what had triggered this major change in her emotional state. One thing was for sure, however: He was in trouble.

    How was he going to explain this whole situation to Ais? Sure, she had already been aware of Tiona being somewhat interested in him¡­ but now it was pretty much official. She had ''declared war''. What could he possibly do besides continually reject her? What if he got into compromising situations with her simply because she was far stronger than him and he couldn''t properly defend himself at this moment?

    Yes, Isaac, to some extent, was panicking. He had the option of disappearing for a while and getting strong enough to deal with Tiona physically. He could also kill her. But while both of these would indeed remove this one problem entirely, it would create many, many new ones. Also, he didn''t like killing his friends. No-one in their right mind would. Only if they slighted him in a manner that was truly unforgivable would he ever truly consider committing such a heinous act.

    Sometime later, once he had dealt with today''s agenda, he really had to have a long talk with Ais about all of this. Delaying the inevitable would just make it worse, after all. Maybe she had an idea about what he could do, besides just leaving this world behind as soon as possible. After all, Ais knew the Amazoness sisters quite well, so she was sure to have some unique insight of her own.

    With a somewhat pale face, still mentally tormented by the very unwelcome annoyances that could possibly come his way, Isaac returned to the rest of the group and led them way towards the training courtyard.

    Of course, when Mina asked him whether he was okay with a concerned look on her face, he just told her that there was no need to worry and gave her a well-earned head pat. Truly, there wasn''t a need to worry. He had many methods to deal with what could be coming. The bigger problem was that he didn''t want to deal with anything like that in the first place.

    -----

    All alone, Isaac left the grounds of the Twilight Manor at about 6:50 p.m.. He didn''t even bother to keep himself hidden in any way and just strolled towards the inn Mina had been staying at before, the Bard''s Respite, to meet with Hermes.

    It had taken a while to convince Ais to let him go alone, as she had initially wanted to accompany him to keep him safe. But because having anyone tag along with him would be counterintuitive to Isaac''s plans, he couldn''t allow for this to happen. Only after he had promised her that he would immediately teleport away once there was any sign of danger he couldn''t deal with, she relented. Of course, before this, the two had already agreed to meet up later tonight to discuss the Tiona-situation. While they could communicate via the system, a face-to-face conversation was always preferable, especially for such topics.

    Ever since the Hermes Familia had started to spy on Isaac''s students for Ouranos, Isaac had been planning to have a chat with the playful god to clear up a few things. Also, he had no other way to make sure of what to think about the seemingly whimsical god. Was he a potential ally, someone inconsequential or a small obstacle in his way? That was what he had to start figuring out.

    Five minutes of deliberate dawdling later, Isaac arrived at the inn. Of course, he had noticed that many people had started to pay attention to him or even track him ever since he left the Twilight Manor. Although it was in a somewhat remote location, more and more forces seemed to have positioned some of their members in the vicinity to keep an eye on things. A few of the ones observing him were definitely part of the Hermes Familia, while some others were the usual: Ones out to harm him. Their hostility was almost palpable, so there was no doubt about that. But still, there was yet another huge group that was entirely unfamiliar to him. Isaac had no idea who they were or why they were observing him. He was sure that they were from multiple different factions, though, as they didn''t cooperate well together.

    One of the main reasons Isaac wasn''t worried about the potential troublemaking bunch was that once they realized that he was here to talk to Hermes, a god, most of them would simply hold themselves back from annoying him for the moment. As for the others, the Hermes Familia surely wouldn''t let them interfere with their god''s meeting easily. So most likely, they would get a well-deserved beating.

    At one of the tables in the very back of the inn, partially hidden from prying eyes, Isaac found two familiar faces. Hermes and Asfi. Well, they weren''t truly familiar to him. But while he had never met them in this world, they did fit the descriptions he knew to a T.

    Because she was taking her role as the Captain of the familia very seriously, the bespectacled Asfi didn''t dare to relax and took note of every single thing happening in the entire inn with impeccable focus. At the same time, she made sure to kick Hermes'' shin whenever he tried to flirt with one of the waitresses. Whether she did so because of jealousy or because she thought that her god''s behaviour was bad for their familia''s image, that was unknown. To be fair, though, the Hermes Familia''s reputation was already about as shady as it could get without becoming directly associated with entirely unlawful organizations.

    Hermes, on the other hand, was lounging in his chair and sipping on his tea with a carefree smile on his face. Still, had he truly been carefree, he wouldn''t have been drinking tea - rather, he would have chosen an alcoholic beverage. But seeing how the one he was about to meet was pointed out to him by Ouranos himself, he thought it smart to not be too unprepared. Even for a god, liquor could still have a momentary effect on their judgement, especially so in their current, mortal-like forms.

    The moment Hermes and Isaac noticed each other, it was as if some television drama was reenacted. Both of them sported happy smiles that grew brighter the closer Isaac got to Hermes'' table. It seemed like they were two old friends who just met each other again after a long period of separation. Even Asfi, who was quite used to Hermes'' antics, was caught off guard by the two''s particular behaviour. Wasn''t this overexaggerated?

    "It''s nice to finally meet you, Hermes!"

    With words like these, Isaac sat down opposite of Hermes and Asfi, ordered some tea for himself and took a sip. He didn''t seem to be bothered by Asfi''s wary gaze and just gave her a polite nod, before focusing on the man with the hat again.

    After they had stared at each other with that same smile for a few moments, Hermes was the first to break the silence.

    "You''re quite the interesting lad. From what I can tell, you''re growing extremely fast. Scarily so."

    In response, Isaac''s smile turned a lot more polite, while he shook his head, as if to say he wasn''t worthy of such praise. In reality, though, he just felt like he wasn''t growing fast at all. Huge parts of his days, after all, weren''t spent increasing his strength. If he solely focused on growing stronger, most gods would probably faint should they hear of his exploits.

    "Someone like you¡­ has the potential to become a hero."

    Even though Hermes seemed to have grown more excited the moment he mentioned this, Isaac released a heavy sigh, before his whole demeanor changed. His polite smile changed into a blatantly calm and calculative one. To the spectating Asfi, it felt like she was staring at the scheming Loki, rather than a young mortal man.

    Before he replied, Isaac gazed directly into Hermes'' unfathomably deep eyes, but to the wanderer gods'' surprise, he didn''t get lost in them at all. Rather, Isaac didn''t even bother to hide that he was studying Hermes and observing him for any minute changes.

    Of course, all of this was exactly what Isaac had been doing all this time. He just forewent any and all measures of pretence. The cause for this was that Hermes had already, pretty much right after their little game had started, revealed one of his main goals: To create a hero. And Isaac heavily disliked that very concept. So instead of lying to him, Isaac chose to lay out some of his cards as well. Only after both of them had a grasp on what the other one wanted to achieve could they find a middle ground, after all.

    "I won''t become a hero."

    The moment she heard these emotionless words, Asfi''s expression changed for the worse. It felt like she was about to give Isaac a stern lecture at any moment. Meanwhile, Hermes, for the first time, let his mask slip a bit and momentarily revealed a bit of confusion, which only increased in intensity when he took in Isaac''s following sentence.

    "While I won''t become a hero, I''ll take care of the ''villains'' regardless."

 Chapter 44 - Alleyway Encounter

    "What do you mean by that?"

    Asfi was looking at the relaxed young man in front of her with a somewhat confused but stern and inquisitive expression. She honestly wasn''t able to figure out what exactly Isaac was implying. But instead of doing the ignorant thing and assuming that he was merely spouting bullshit, she decided to give him a chance to explain himself. After all, she wouldn''t want to make a mistake simply due to being close-minded. Yes, Asfi was a little perfectionistic.

    "It''s quite simple, really. No matter what, once I get strong enough, many people will start to pay attention to me. Especially many so-called evil forces. Because I don''t plan to stop growing stronger, I''ll have to come into contact with them sooner or later anyway. While I could join them to avoid a conflict, that would only change the side I would have to contend with, not solve the underlying problem. And as I don''t particularly agree with what the lower-rung members of these forces that I''ve either come across or heard about do¡­ Yeah, joining them isn''t an option."

    All the while during Isaac''s explanation, Hermes had a deeply contemplative look on his face. While Asfi didn''t look particularly convinced, this couldn''t be said for the fickle god. His emotions had calmed down again and a little sigh escaped Hermes'' lips, while a spark of interest was ignited deep within his eyes.

    In Hermes'' opinion, while Isaac might really not be fit to play the role of a stereotypical hero, it would be just as - if not more - interesting to observe an anti-hero this time. After all, the more ''weapons'' or ''trump cards'' he had access to, the better the chances of succeeding in his goals. Additionally, the young man was simply too intriguing to write off completely. From what Hermes could discern, he had already progressed quite deeply into Level 2, in an extremely short period of time. If this ember of possibilities wasn''t prematurely snuffed out, then Isaac would surely turn into a big player in this world, someone with a huge amount of influence. Even if he never turned into the hero or anti-hero that Hermes wanted to see, simply having some sort of connection with such an individual would already be very beneficial.

    After Hermes had made a decision, his playful smile reappeared and he nodded appreciatively towards Isaac before his familia''s Captain could disagree with the young man even further. Conflict was the last thing they needed.

    "Your answer more than suffices."

    Having put an end to this particular topic with these words, Hermes tilted his head slightly and smirked, before asking Isaac a question.

    "But you also have another purpose for coming here, am I right?"

    Of course, Isaac had already expected Hermes to know about some of his plans, as they really weren''t that hard to figure out, so he replied with a nod and a smile of his own, before taking another sip from his tea and stating his intentions.

    "I have a mission I would like to hire the Hermes Familia for."

    The moment she heard this, Asfi focused on the discussion properly again. As this involved potential work for her familia, she had to be as prim and proper as possible. Shortly after she had returned to normal, Hermes gave Isaac the go-ahead.

    "As I''m sure you''re already aware of, the Loki Familia will soon be heading into the dungeon for an expedition. I will also be part of that and therefore, I will be stuck in the dungeon for a long time. I can''t even say when exactly we''ll return, as that will depend on too many factors. In the meantime, I need someone to protect my students, as I can''t do so myself. While the Loki Familia will still have quite a sizable force here on the surface, I don''t want to stretch it too thin by letting them protect additional people. So yeah, there you have it. I would like to hire the Hermes Familia to protect my students from behind the scenes while I''m otherwise occupied."

    Because he had his trusty Captain at his side, Hermes simply looked at Asfi, flashing her a supportive smile. This was her time to shine, not his. Well, he might be using this as a chance to procrastinate a little as well, but that wasn''t important right now.

    "Mr. Blackshaw, I regret to have to inform you of our inability to carry out your request. There are many strong adventurers and criminals out there and with the limited strength of the Hermes Familia, should some of those decide to go after your students, we wouldn''t be able to protect them. Instead, if our members tried to shield them, they would be throwing their lives away."

    An awkward and somewhat pained smile flashed across Isaac''s lips for a moment when he heard this distant form of address again, but he knew better than to criticize Asfi, who was a ''strict secretary type''. So this time, he just let it slide and gave her a short nod, before explaining his request further.

    "That''s perfectly fine. Your people can leave immediately once a foe they can''t beat shows up. Still, I would like to hire you to take care of the weaker annoyances."

    Only after she had thought it over for a few moments did Asfi finally state a price.

    "We can do that. It will cost you 300.000 valis per day, though."

    "Alright, that won''t be a problem. I''ll pay you two weeks'' worth in advance and you''ll get the rest when I come back from the expedition and the mission has been completed. Deal?"

    Contrary to what she had expected, Isaac didn''t get scared off by the relatively large sum of money at all. This, yet again, baffled Asfi. How did this young man have so much money? Sure, he was able to earn quite the sizable income as a Level 2 adventurer. But his expenses would also be extremely huge. It was simply a mystery how he could promise to pay millions upon millions of valis without even blinking. Of course, Asfi didn''t know that Isaac''s monster slaying speed eclipsed that of any comparable adventurer and his expenses were only a fraction of the usual. She couldn''t be faulted for this, however, as she had never borne witness to Isaac within the dungeon.

    "Deal."

    Still, she accepted the mission without too much of a hassle. Honestly, she was positively surprised, as she hadn''t expected to be paid anything in advance. Although 3.120.000 valis wasn''t a lot in her eyes, it was still a good income for the slightly weaker members of her familia.

    After they had agreed on Isaac meeting them here again tomorrow to give them the promised money, the official business had concluded so Hermes took this as a chance to chime into the conversation again. This time, however, he had a somewhat pervy smile on his face, while he looked at Isaac with a knowing and approving gaze.

    "Word on the street is that you''re dating the Sword Princess. Is that true?"

    As this was pretty much the first time that anyone had asked him that to his face, Isaac was taken a little aback and it took him a moment to respond with a nod. He was genuinely embarrassed by this situation, however, so a sheepish smile played across his lips for a short moment. While Asfi didn''t pay attention to any of this, as she couldn''t be bothered with such topics, this rare display of real emotion didn''t escape Hermes'' trained eyes.

    "Then I suppose congratulations are in order!"

    With a hearty laugh, Hermes patted Isaac''s shoulder and gave him a thumbs up. Soon, the two had started to talk uninhibitedly about everyday topics. While they were eating some dinner, their meeting had devolved into an exchange of non-consequential conversation, which neither of the two men seemed to be particularly unhappy with.

    A short while later, however, Isaac excused himself and made his way back towards the Twilight Manor, while Hermes and Asfi stayed back in the Bard''s Respite.

    As soon as she was sure that Isaac wasn''t within earshot anymore, Asfi turned to Hermes with a contemplative expression on her face.

    "Are you sure that he can live up to his words?"

    In her honest opinion, that was just a pipe dream. While Isaac might have been growing faster than anybody else she had ever heard of so far, what he had said simply sounded too ridiculous and arrogant. How could he be sure his growth would continue in this manner unabatedly? Any number of factors could cut his path short prematurely. As he was currently still quite weak, he shouldn''t let his potential get to his head.

    After a resigned sigh escaped Hermes'' lips, the god shook his head.

    "If we only had to worry about the kind of foes a hero could deal with, then we could just leave it to the lad, sit back and relax. With his rate of growth, it''d be hard to not obliterate those on the way to the top."

    For a moment, even more confusion could be seen in Asfi''s eyes, before a noticeable amount of fear creeped on in. With a somewhat shaky voice, she turned to her god and asked, with a disbelieving expression on her face.

    "What do you mean? Who exactly are we fighting?"

    Embarrassedly, Hermes couldn''t help but look away from those eyes that looked at him with a miniscule hint of trust and hope. Then, under his breath, he muttered something he really didn''t want to admit.

    "I don''t know."

    A moment of silence later, Asfi grabbed Hermes'' collar and pulled him closer. She looked him dead in the eyes with disappointment written all over her face. This miscreant of a god... she really shouldn''t have trusted him, even for a moment.

    "Are you playing me for a fool again, Hermes?"

    Somewhat panicking, as he really hadn''t intended for the situation to develop in such a way, Hermes shook his head frantically while raising his arms in surrender. At the same time, he showed a rare serious expression.

    "Calm down, Asfi! Let me explain!"

    Although she knew better than to fully trust him, Asfi still gave Hermes a chance, yet again. Reluctantly, she let go of him and signalled for him to continue.

    "I truly don''t know who exactly we are dealing with. Still, in my long life, I have stumbled across a few hints which gave me a rough idea. But anyway, it''s nothing concrete yet. I''d rather not say anything than make an irreversible mistake. If I am wrong, it''d be disastrous."

    To be honest, Asfi had no clue whatsoever who Hermes could be talking about. But from the words he chose, she could guess that whatever they were facing¡­ it was something she couldn''t even imagine. If it brought so much worry to even Hermes, she shuddered at the thought of what it could be. Usually, even incurring the wrath of his fellow gods didn''t faze him at all...

    Before she could get too distracted again, however, her expression shifted drastically and she looked outside, in the direction that Isaac had left in just moments prior.

    "He is in trouble."

    "Alright, only interfere if it''s truly necessary."

    With these words, the pair hurried out of the inn.

    -----

    Shortly after Isaac had started to make his way back home unhurriedly, some of those who wished him harm had finally decided that they didn''t need to hold back anymore. So the moment he entered one of the secluded alleys leading back home, he found himself surrounded by seven impressively built men fully decked out in adventuring gear. All but one of them already had their weapons drawn and were glaring at him with hatred from beneath their hooded cloaks, which were somewhat concealing their appearances.

    The one who hadn''t gotten ready for combat yet was seemingly the leader of the group, a man with a huge and grotesque scar covering most of his exposed neck. Compared to the others, whose eyes only contained hatred, he looked at Isaac with a hint of arrogance as well. Rather than facing an enemy, it felt like he was looking at a piece of trash that he could deal with at his leisure. Not a pleasant way to be looked at, that''s for sure.

    Almost at the same time that this suspicious bunch had surrounded him, Isaac noticed Hermes and Asfi arriving in the distance, observing quietly.

    "Are you the one who killed Coltael?"

    A look of confusion flashed across Isaac''s eyes. Who the hell was Coltael? He didn''t know anyone by that name.

    "I''m sorry¡­ who?"

    Even though the leader of the group of seven was a little annoyed,he still kept somewhat calm and elaborated. After all, it wouldn''t do them any good if they got the wrong guy. That way, the real culprit would get away.

    "He was Level 2, had short brown hair and a mole right here, under his right eye."

    At this point, Isaac had finally figured out who the man was talking about but as this had also ensured the way in which this situation would develop, he felt like playing a little prank. So, in response, the look of confusion on his face only got worse, while he tilted his head and looked to be in deep thought.

    "Nope, still doesn''t ring any bells."

    By now, the leader felt close to bursting a vein, so his voice got louder, almost to the point of shouting, while he gripped the hilt of his greatsword tightly, trying to vent his anger in a non-destructive way.

    "He said he was going to round up some people and kill you. You really don''t know?!"

    Isaac eyed the man with suspicion, then, as if he had just remembered something, he slapped his forehead and, seemingly out of thin air, a beautifully decorated sword appeared in his hand.

    "I stumbled across some annoying insects in the dungeon before and one of them left this behind after I swatted it to death. Do you recognize it?"

    The entire group surrounding him got a lot more incensed when they heard his words, but their hatred truly bubbled over when they saw the sword he had just shown them.

    "Boss, that''s Coltael''s ''Princess'', no doubt about it! He even hugged it in his sleep every night, there is no way anyone but his murderer would have this weapon!"

    One of the underlings took this chance to explain the painfully obvious, which only helped to further incense the leader.

    "Shut up, I know! Bring me this bastard''s head!!"

    Without holding back any longer, the group of six launched their attacks towards Isaac from all directions, cutting off all of his escape routes. Well, they tried to.

    To Isaac, their encirclement and attacks seemed incredibly slow and sloppy. Although most of them were Level 2''s and one of them had even already reached Level 3 a short time ago, they simply had ranked up too early - almost immediately after they could. It was the same for most adventurers, though, so they didn''t stick out in a negative way when compared to the norm. Still, even the Level 3 was barely stronger than Isaac, stats wise. Them facing him was simply a joke.

    As he was relaxedly dodging all of their attacks with the minimum amount of movement possible, Isaac recalled the arrogant guy whose sword he was holding right now.

    ''Princess, huh? He even named his sword after Ais?''

    Although he himself was quite likely to do such a thing himself, for some reason, when others did it, the taste of displeasure spread in Isaac''s mouth. Once he paired that with the fact that the owner of this sword, Coltael, had even tried to kill him out of jealousy, a frosty smile played across his lips. Wouldn''t it be ironic if he killed his assailants with their companions'' beloved weapon?

    The moment he thought of this, Isaac''s movements suddenly accelerated and before the leader of the group could protect them, six heads hit the floor, with the bodies following soon after. The frosty smile on Isaac''s face hadn''t faded in the slightest as he was staring at the scarred man with a provocative gaze.

    "You little¡­!!!"

    By now, the leader was completely and utterly enraged. He truly had underestimated their opponent too much. After all, no matter what, this young man was definitely still a Level 2, if the Guild was to be believed. A single Level 2 dealing with that many other Level 2''s and a Level 3? That was unheard of!

    But if he had partaken in the battle as well, he could have saved the lives of his friends...

    A gut-wrenching feeling of guilt gripped the leader''s heart and his eyes turned scarily bloodshot. Without wasting any more time on talking, a guttural roar escaped his lips and he finally unsheathed his enormous greatsword.

    With a powerful lunge, he accelerated towards Isaac and expertly prepared to bring his sword down, slicing him in half. No matter what, Isaac wouldn''t be able to deal with this man - he was far stronger than any other human opponent he had ever faced.

    A few moments before this, when the leader had begun to make his move, Asfi revealed an alarmed expression and got one of her throwing knives ready, just waiting for Hermes to allow her to participate in the battle.

    From what she could see, Isaac was currently a rather strong Level 2¡­ but his opponent was at the cusp of being able to rank up to Level 4! This was simply an insurmountable difference. If she had known about Isaac''s system of classification, she would have told him that the scarred man reached about 5100 in Level 1 stats - almost twice those of Isaac.

    How could she be sure of this? Well, there was a way that most experienced fighters and experts used - some of them consciously, some of them unconsciously. A person''s everyday, subconscious body language would always give away their strength to a certain extent. It was extremely hard to detect these minor changes in movement, but Asfi, Hermes and many others had acquired the ability over the years, therefore, both of them could be sure of Isaac''s strength and the strength of his opponent.

    According to Asfi''s guess, Isaac wouldn''t even have a chance to properly respond to the man''s attack, so she looked at Hermes with a pleading look, basically begging for his command. Even though she usually put up a cold front, as soon as she got to know a person and didn''t absolutely hate them, then she didn''t want to see them die in front of her if she could help it. Still, seemingly, her wish wouldn''t be granted this time, as Hermes looked at her and shook his head. Before she could jump into the fray regardless of what he said, however, he explained.

    "Look at him. He doesn''t even seem inconvenienced by the current situation. I refuse to believe he can''t deal with this."

    These words, coupled with Isaac''s relaxed posture, finally convinced Asfi to stay down.

    Speaking about Isaac, he could still barely follow the scarred man''s attack with his eyes, which made even the last bit of doubt about how this situation would turn out disappear. As fast as he currently could, he aimed his own sword at the leader''s neck. Still¡­ it was simply too slow. At this rate, a long time before he would even have a chance to harm his opponent, Isaac would already be dead.

    When he saw his opponent''s last-ditch attempt, the leader couldn''t help but sneer teasingly and didn''t even dignify Isaac with an evasive action. With that¡­ he had fallen for the trap hook, line, and sinker.

    ''System, update my Status.''

    In less than an instant, the average of Isaac''s stats - if the buff his ichor provided was taken into account - almost doubled and reached 5340. Just like all the previous times when such an astonishing increase had happened, he didn''t lose himself within his new-found strength and didn''t need to spend time to learn how to control his body. As he had long stopped gaining significant amounts of excelia from the monsters he had been killing, Isaac had been waiting for an opportunity to update his Status. And this time, he could take an opponent by surprise, create an air of mystery around him and make all the observing parties unsure of how much strength he actually had¡­ it was a win-win-win situation!

    Before anyone even comprehended what had happened, Isaac had already slightly shifted aside, thereby avoiding his opponent''s attack, and had his own attack accelerate at a rate far faster than his foe was expecting. A moment later, another decapitated head fell to the ground.

    [ Achievement Progress:

    Kill 1000 Level 3 monsters. (2/1000) ]

    Completely relaxed, Isaac shook off the blood from ''Princess'' before sheathing it and taking his opponents'' valuables. After this, he waved at Hermes and Asfi with an innocent smile and quickly disappeared from their sight while glancing over his updated Status.

    [ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: None ]

    [ Race: Human ]

    [ Level: 2 ]

    [ Age: Unable to measure ]

    [ Charisma: 19 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: SS-1014 (4278 x 1.25) ]

    [ Endurance: S-999 (4248 x 1.25) ]

    [ Dexterity: SS-1022 (4294 x 1.25) ]

    [ Agility: SS-1013 (4276 x 1.25) ]

    [ Magic: SS-1007 (4264 x 1.25) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ Anemoi Steps ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Divine Blood ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Huntsman: H ]

    [ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Swordsman ]

    While Isaac left without another word, he left behind a shell-shocked Asfi,

    The poor bespectacled beauty felt as if her whole world-view was shattered. How did Isaac suddenly increase his strength by such a ridiculous amount? That should have been impossible. How did he abruptly change all of his subconscious, minor movements as well? Had he faked all of them before? That should have been almost impossible. Was this the extent of his current strength or was there still more that he was hiding from them?

    Asfi''s mind got more and more muddled and the somewhat cute, confused expression on her face made Hermes want to tease her a little. Still, he held back this time as that would only truly incense her, which he wasn''t a fan of. He liked his Asfi in a more agreeable mood. With a resigned smirk on his lips, Hermes shook his head, walked up to Asfi and patted her head gently.

    "See? There was no need to worry. Come on, let''s go back home."

    Even though Hermes didn''t know what exactly Isaac had done either, he knew it would be unwise to get distracted out here in public, with so many factions paying attention to this particular area right now.

    -----

    In yet another deserted and secluded alley, a figure wrapped in a black cloak was leaving somewhat hurriedly, getting further and further away from the Twilight Manor. She had paid attention to Isaac''s previous encounter but didn''t want to stick around any longer.

    Suddenly, the figure came to an abrupt halt and stared in front of her with a concealed expression of disbelief on her face.

    Just a few meters away, the young man she had been observing was leaning against the wall of the alley, seemingly waiting for her with a curious smile.

 Chapter 45 - The Stalker Goddess

    After a few moments of shocked silence, the figure briefly observed Isaac before continuing to move again. It was clear that she was trying to ignore and walk past him. From her somewhat hurried steps, one could easily gather that she was a little bit nervous, though. But all her hopes of simply slipping away were dashed when Isaac unhurriedly stepped in her way.

    "You can see me?!"

    Even though she had already suspected as much, to get the final confirmation still made the figure falter and actually exclaim her disbelief aloud.

    "I can indeed. Now, with whom do I have the pleasure?"

    Never being one to miss such a good opportunity, Isaac asked the question that had been on his mind for quite some time. However, when the figure didn''t answer even after a few moments of awkward silence, he released a resigned sigh.

    "Look, you''ve been following me for an entire week now. So we can''t really be considered strangers anymore, can we? I''m sure you''re fully aware of who I am. Can you fault me for wanting to know that same information about you, Little Miss Stalker?"

    Only after she had taken a few more moments to think about his words did the figure nod, which was quite hard to make out because of the cloak.

    "You''ve got a point."

    As she had just made the decision to not hide any longer, the figure pulled down her hood. What was revealed was a face unlike any Isaac had seen before. It was the face of a girl, or rather young woman, who looked to be about 17 years of age. While it was indeed beautiful, it had an almost supernaturally pure and innocent air to it. Still, there were many things seemingly marring that perfect picture. Her skin was as close to a deathly white as possible but also had an almost imperceptible, somewhat sickly blue tint to it. The heavy dark circles under her eyes more than rivalled the ones Isaac had sported in his old world, while her pupils were just as deathly white as her skin. Still, at least it was easy to make out where they ended and the white of her eyes began, as the pupils had a clear black outline. One of her eyes was partially covered by her smooth but messy, shoulder-length grey hair, which she didn''t make any attempt at trying to rein in to appear more proper. As for why Isaac had referred to her as ''little'' before, that was because she was only one or two centimeters taller than Ais, so she didn''t really seem that tall in his eyes.

    Because her grey hair was the first thing Isaac''s eyes fell upon, for a fraction of a second, he almost expected to see Freya or Syr, two grey-haired characters from the DanMachi novels. Of those two, seeing how she had also been hiding herself with a cloak before, Freya had been the more likely one. Still, Isaac almost immediately realized that his momentary expectations had been wrong. He couldn''t even help but mentally chuckle to himself. After all, what were the chances of actually running across either of them in this large city? If he didn''t proactively search them out, they were close to nil.

    A somewhat awkward, downcast and forced smile played across the strange girl''s lips. Even though she wasn''t particularly good at it, it was clear to see that she was trying to make a friendly impression.

    "I''m Hel. Hey there, Isaac¡­"

    ''Hel? I see...''

    Back in his old world, Hel was the name of the Norse goddess presiding over a realm of the dead with the same name - Hel. It wasn''t the sole afterlife destination in Norse mythology, however, and mostly just contained souls that fit none of the other netherworlds'' criteria. It was a realm for those left behind or those who didn''t excel at their particular roles. The old world''s Hel was said to impartially judge those souls with the authority that had been bestowed upon her by Odin. In later religions, the concept had been - mostly deliberately - distorted into ''hell'' and similar afterlives, which were solely regarded as realms of suffering for any and all that fell out of line. Interestingly enough, the Hel Isaac knew about was considered to be the daughter of Loki. Because of his rather close connection to this world''s trickster goddess, he would be lying if he said he wasn''t interested in how exactly they were related here as well. Still, as had often been the case, the DanMachi world varied drastically from his old world''s mythology. Maybe over here, there wasn''t even a connection between the two goddesses at all.

    Taking Isaac''s momentary distraction as a chance to snap out of her awkwardness, Hel immediately focused on more important things again. From one moment to the next, her gaze had turned somewhat fervent and knowledge-hungry.

    "How were you able to see me?! I was wearing my ''Shroud of Hel'', even most gods can''t notice me in that state!"

    Isaac didn''t even get a chance to answer, as Hel simply continued to bombard him with one question after another.

    "And why can I not see your soul? Do you not have one or something? And in case you do, what is preventing me from seeing it?!"

    It felt like a dam of silence had been broken and the repressed questions just flooded out without the goddess even taking a moment to catch her breath. As he felt like he shouldn''t let Hel get even more out of control, Isaac raised his arms in both surrender and defense to try to get a chance to actually say something.

    "Whoa there. Hold your horses. Ask your questions one by one. I still have time, so I''m not in too much of a hurry. What say you we''ll take a seat and talk this over step by step?"

    With these words, Isaac pulled two chairs out of his inventory. Their comfortable, green cushions were made out of the same material as the various pieces of furniture Loki had outfitted the whole Twilight Manor with. Yeah, it wasn''t much of a secret where these chairs came from. Earlier today, Isaac had ''borrowed'' them from his subordinates'' base for this express purpose. After all, it felt a lot better to have a talk when sitting down and relaxing.

    Even though Hel was more than a little baffled by the fact that two chairs had just appeared out of nowhere, this wasn''t even close to the weirdest thing about the enigma in front of her.

    "How¡­?"

    All she could do was tilt her head and whisper quietly to herself. Before she could figure anything out, however, a realization suddenly struck her and she looked at Isaac with an even more confused expression on her face.

    "Wait. If we talk out here, won''t pretty much anyone be able to eavesdrop on us?"

    In her opinion, this really wasn''t the right place to have a potentially secret-heavy chat.

    Still, Isaac simply shrugged and pointed at the space around them, making Hel take a closer look at it. It only took her a second or two to notice that everything around them seemed kind of¡­ blurred. If she had to wager a guess at what other people would perceive from outside of their location¡­ it was nothing. Nothing out of the ordinary. Their entire existence would be unable to be noticed, even by any gods particularly good at discerning such things. Hel couldn''t help but realize that even her prized shroud¡­ was quite shabby compared to this.

    After a sigh of regret escaped her lips, she quickly recovered and eyed the young man in front of her suspiciously.

    "Why would you tell me anything about you anyway? I''m just a strange goddess. We haven''t known each other prior to this. You could easily get rid of me now, without anyone being the wiser."

    Hel''s eyes were full of distrust and resignation. She felt quite sure about what was going to happen, so she had already mentally prepared herself for the death of her mortal body and to be ejected from the Lower World.

    In response to her words, Isaac showed an awkward smile and shook his head. Over the past week, he had been paying close attention to this stalker goddess whenever he was out and about and had determined that she didn''t have any negative intentions. She had never attempted to harm him or sent anyone after him to get the job done in her stead, as far as he knew. Rather, when he was faced with seemingly insurmountable odds earlier today, she had even tried to rush to his rescue. Sure, she had been too far away to make it and in any case would have been more of a hindrance rather than a capable helper, but the sentiment was what truly counted.

    The cause for Hel not being able to see his flame of life, his soul, was because it was far beyond anything she could possibly perceive. This wasn''t a case of the self-preservation instincts of the observer kicking in, however. Rather, it was because their senses and minds simply were not able to process the information they were receiving. Without being able to make heads or tails of it, it simply got disregarded. If an observer truly was able to interpret the information, however, they would probably have their mind literally blown. They would simply stop existing thanks to the insurmountable difference between their souls. Like a vessel trying to hold far, far more than it could, the observer''s soul would just pop. However, rather than transcending existence by making use of the process of stopping to exist and a self-taught special method, like Isaac did, they would just be¡­ gone.

    Because of this, Isaac had known that it would only be a matter of time until one of the entities capable of perceiving souls would take notice of him. An option to prevent this would have been to create a fake soul to distract them with, to put up a facade of normalcy - otherwise, he would just be seen as a soulless husk. Still, he didn''t have time for this yet and honestly, it would just be more trouble that it would be worth. In any case, Isaac had expected the first one to notice the abnormality about him to be Freya, as she was the only deity he knew to be capable of such a thing from the DanMachi novels. As it turned out, however, the information he got from these books was so far from being sufficient to actually be prepared for what this world had to offer that it was almost laughable.

    While Isaac was thinking about his reasons for wanting to talk to Hel, rather than attempting to get rid of her, he couldn''t help but think of a certain blonde, easily embarrassed Mesopotamian underworld goddess who always adorably tried her best. Yes, because of Ereshkigal, Isaac had somewhat of a soft spot for goddesses related to the underworld and death. As he knew about what alarmingly tragic pasts most of them had been forced to endure, it was hard for him to completely ignore them when he stumbled across them.

    With thoughts like these, Isaac sized up Hel once more, this time taking note of her gloomy, downcast and resigned aura. There was a hint of mourning in there as well. It really couldn''t be helped - in his mind, she had already been added to his ''must protect'' category.

    "You remind me of someone I know, so I won''t harm you. Come, let''s talk."

    Without standing on ceremony any longer, Isaac sat down on one of the chairs and patted the other one with an amicable smile, patiently waiting for Hel to join him.

    Although the glum goddess was very much aware that the young man could simply be misleading her, she also knew that she had no way to escape if he truly wanted to keep her here. Because of this, she didn''t feel like it would be a good idea to refuse his request. Better safe than sorry. Additionally, if it was at all possible, she wanted to know more about what she had asked him about previously. So without further ado, she took a seat and wanted to repeat her first question.

    Before she could do so, however, Isaac raised his hand to stop her in her tracks while a slightly mischievous smile crept on his face.

    "Why did you decide to stalk me instead of simply talking to me?"

    Just as he had intended, this put Hel into a somewhat uncomfortable position, so she pouted unhappily while thinking of an answer. After deliberating over whether or not to tell him, she finally decided on the former and replied with a fl.u.s.tered and defeated look on her face.

    "Because you''re from the Loki Familia."

    This time, it was Isaac''s turn to look at Hel with a confused expression on his face paired with a slight head tilt. A small amount of information like this didn''t tell him anything. Sure, he already had certain suspicions but they were just that: suspicions. Without more intel, he couldn''t confirm any of them.

    "Is there a problem with that?"

    "Yeah, Loki might get a clue as to where I''ve been and come to find me."

    Mentally, Hel defeatedly remarked that this was most likely going to happen now anyway.

    Seeing how the gloomy goddess was playing right into his hands, Isaac saw no reason to ease up on his one-sided questioning. So far, she seemingly hadn''t noticed anything amiss, so there was no problem, right?

    "And why would she do that?"

    A plethora of emotions flashed across Hel''s face for a moment: happiness, awkwardness, disgust, loneliness and trust. It was plain to see that she was very conflicted about her fellow goddess.

    "Loki is¡­ a friend. I''ve been living with her before."

    When Isaac heard this, most of the gears clicked into place and he had narrowed in on one of the many possibilities he had thought of before. Thanks to this, he felt a whole lot more relaxed as he continued his impromptu interrogation. Did he feel bad for using the dejected goddess'' honesty to gather intel? No, not at all.

    "So¡­ I assume you ran away?"

    Even though Hel only blushed very slightly, thanks to her stark white skin, it stood out a lot more than it should have. Somewhat demurely, she nodded her head and whispered her response.

    "I did."

    Thinking about how much she could have potentially struggled in the meantime, a hint of worry appeared on Isaac''s face, as his next few questions were asked in a gentler tone.

    "Then have you been eating properly? Did you start a familia of your own to help with your expenses?"

    Nonchalantly, Hel shook her head.

    "No, but the dead I''m in charge of often leave behind valis and other valuables. Rightfully, they should be donated to me. It''s my pay for taking care of them."

    A wry smile played across Isaac''s lips and all of his worry was basically nipped in the bud.

    ''So she''s a thief. Well, it''s not like I''m any better¡­''

    As Isaac eased up in his questioning a little, Hel finally noticed that it had only been him who had been asking her questions all this time. None of hers had been addressed! She felt both embarrassed and slightly angry for falling for this, which caused her blush to deepen a shade. Then, after taking a deep breath, she finally got the conversation back on track.

    "Let''s stop talking about this. How did you notice me before?"

    Of course, ever since Isaac had showcased his apparent expertise in concealment, Hel had already suspected that there might be some correlation between those. Still, that was just a theory and she couldn''t be sure of anything.

    "Illusions of any kind simply don''t work on me. Also, you can''t hide from a stealth-expert like me."

    While Isaac wasn''t lying when he said this, he also wasn''t telling the full truth. Yes, he was an expert at stealth but he didn''t even need to use that expertise - his existence-blurring was more of a cheat than a trained skill. At the same time, it wasn''t incorrect to say that no illusions would work on Isaac. If he wanted to put some effort into escaping them, he could easily do so. Still, he would most likely be at least momentarily affected by them. What truly gave Hel away was her Shroud of Hel, the very thing supposed to keep her hidden.

    At this point, Isaac could only venture a very well educated guess about why this was the case. Due to death being able to claim lives unseen, many death-related deities had been granted with items or powers manifesting that very concept, Hel wasn''t an exception to this. But because Isaac was a being beyond life and death - those two being just rather insignificant parts of existence as a whole - a power or item based on a concept that couldn''t possibly affect him at all was simply useless in front of him. He didn''t need to spend any effort at all, the Shroud of Hel just didn''t work against him. So while Hel had thought she had been invisible, he had seen her stumbling around in the background all the while.

    "Alright, I suppose that makes sense. Now, let me ask you again. Why can''t I see your soul? Do you not have one?"

    During the course of their conversation, Isaac had been trying to discern whether he should answer this question at all. While he could simply kill Hel''s mortal form or even entirely erase her existence, both of these would have far-reaching consequences he would rather not face. Killing her would send her back to Heaven, where she could plot her revenge and get others to join her cause - yeah, quite the bother. On the other hand, while erasing her from existence might sound like an end-all solution at first, gods weren''t simple beings. They were intricately connected with a part of the world and simply removing them would lead to a horrifying backlash - yeah, even more of a bother.

    By now, Isaac was reasonably sure that Hel was on amicable terms with the Loki Familia, so they could be considered to be part of the same camp. At the same time, the current Hel seemed like a lone wolf - and those were the easiest to deal with. Even if she knew the full truth, she wouldn''t be a danger to him or easily get over herself and tell others about it. Unless he completely fell out with her and made her his mortal enemy, pretty much anything he told a person like her would be as safely locked away as it could be. Still, he didn''t plan to tell her the full truth. Partially, that was because he simply didn''t trust her enough. After all, why should he? Compared to Ais, Lefiya and others, whose moral characters he had already become familiar with in the DanMachi novels, he knew next to nothing about Hel. Another reason was that even if he did, she wouldn''t be capable of comprehending it. So because of that, he decided to only tell her the basics. This would forge a closer connection between the two, which might come in handy one day.

    "As you already noticed because I made no effort to hide it, I have a few peculiar powers. The reason for this is because I''m not from this world. In fact, I''ve come here from a different one altogether. By the way, I don''t mean Heaven or Tartarus, as those and the Lower World can only be considered a single ''world'' in the first place. Oh well, that''s not important right now. What I''m trying to say is this: My soul doesn''t take the same form as the ones from this world, so you can''t perceive it. I''m outside of your jurisdiction. It''s as simple as that."

    Being able to see Hel''s expression of disbelief for the first time, as he had missed the previous ones due to her concealment, filled Isaac with a feeling of accomplishment. For some reason, expanding someone''s limited world view made him happy. Admittedly, however, that was to a lesser extent due to the feeling of self-gratification he got from validating his superiority in knowledge.

    While Hel was mulling over Isaac''s revelations and finally got to the conclusion that his words, if true, were indeed logical, the man in question was entirely devoid of the feeling of guilt for having misled her yet again. Isaac''s soul didn''t take the same form as the ones from this world, yes. But Hel should still be able to perceive any other soul in existence, even if it originated from another world. Unless it was hidden from her by using some peculiar techniques, that it.

    It took quite a while, but Hel finally seemed to come to terms with what she had just heard. Although she surely wouldn''t accept everything Isaac told her as the truth just like that, she would at least take it into consideration. So with a more upbeat smile than usual, she approvingly nodded at Isaac.

    "I accept your answer."

    This caused Isaac to smile in turn as well. Seeing how the heavier topics seemed to be dealt with for now, he decided that now would be a good time to inform Hel about his future plans. It was very likely that she would like to talk again in the future, so he didn''t want to just up and disappear without saying anything.

    "Just so you know, the day after tomorrow, I''ll be taking part in the Loki Familia''s latest expedition. I don''t know how long that will take, but I''ll probably be gone for a few weeks, if I had to guess."

    Yet again, Hel displayed a visibly shocked expression. Previously, she had been too preoccupied with stalking Isaac to pay attention to the bigger, Loki Familia related news. Had she done so, she wouldn''t have been caught off guard.

    "Are you telling me this because you plan to leave soon?"

    Why else would Isaac mention such a thing? It sounded just like something a person who was about to bid his temporary farewell would say. Honestly speaking, Hel didn''t want this conversation to end yet. After all, Isaac''s explanations had been anything but satisfactory. They raised far more new questions than they actually answered.

    "Kind of. It''s almost 9:30 p.m. and I have to be home in 30 minutes."

    After all, Isaac had already made plans with Ais tonight. They still had to discuss the Tiona-situation, which was a more pressing issue than this harmless stalker goddess.

    A resigned but also somewhat resolute sigh escaped Hel''s lips, before she clenched her fists and stared at him with a decisive glint in her eyes.

    "Alright, then I guess it''s time for me to return home as well."

    Once these words had left her lips, Hel seemed to be recalling something unpleasant, which caused her to frown deeply. A moment later, she smiled sheepishly before nervously looking at the ground.

    "Please protect me when you''ve got the time."

 Chapter 46 - Shift

    "If I feel like it."

    Isaac''s nonchalant response baffled Hel, but she knew that she had no way to force him into doing her bidding anyway and the two hadn''t known each other for too long. No matter what, Isaac''s lackadaisical statement was the best she could hope for.

    Because Isaac still blurred their existence on the way back to the Twilight Manor, it was entirely uneventful. Only shortly before they reached the magical formations protecting the Loki Familia''s grounds did Isaac stop doing so.

    His reasons for doing this were quite obvious. First of all, he didn''t just want to smuggle someone into the familia''s property without permission. Second of all, he wanted to see how Hel would be received by the formations. On the off chance that she had fooled him and was actually a known enemy, Loki would have surely taken appropriate precautions.

    When the familiar manor grounds came into sight, Hel released a heavy sigh. She was almost about to stop walking, but after a brief moment of slowing down, she clenched her fists and continued onward.

    The moment she stepped into the formation at the entrance¡­ nothing happened.

    While they were walking towards the main manor, though, a sudden, incredibly loud, surprised yelp could be heard coming from the building complex in question.

    "My baby is back?!"

    The sheer intensity of the words truly baffled Isaac. He wasn''t in the least bit surprised about Loki having found out about Hel''s arrival, as the formation had indubitably informed her about it. But did she have to be this loud? They were still more than 100 meters from the main manor and Loki was inside of the building. Sure, his hearing had increased a lot with the increase in his stats, but that was still¡­ a remarkable volume. Thankfully, most familia members were used to Loki''s strange antics by now, as she routinely made a ruckus whenever her favourite ''children'' returned.

    The moment she heard Loki''s voice, Hel winced a little while showing a smile tinged with both happiness and a little bit of fear. Still, she had already come this far and told Isaac that she would return home with him. No matter what, she didn''t want to go back on her words. With new-found resolve, she continued her advance towards the front door.

    Barely a few seconds later, the aforementioned door was abruptly opened, before something akin to a red flash barreled towards the grey-haired, cloaked girl with an incredible speed.

    Shortly before she would have crashed into her, however, Loki came to a sudden halt and looked at Hel with a face full of love and care. Her expression was so unbelievably gentle that Isaac almost doubted that she was actually Loki. After all, it felt so out of character. That was not to say that she didn''t care about anyone, rather, she never showed it in such a way.

    With a bright smile on her face, Loki walked towards the seemingly somewhat scared girl and wrapped her into an incredibly tender hug.

    "Welcome home."

    These words made Hel, who had still been incredibly nervous, finally relax completely. With a beautiful, elated smile playing across her lips, she reciprocated the hug and closed her eyes.

    Isaac had to admit that the goddesses'' reunion was like a beautiful picture. While Loki was barely a centimeter taller than the little Hel and usually did show quite the bratty attitude, she seemed to be the far more mature one out of the two right now. Seeing how happy they seemed to be to finally be reunited, he wordlessly stood at the side and gave them all the time in the world to enjoy this momen---

    ''Wait. Loki¡­ what the hell are you doing?!''

    Slowly but surely, without alerting her, Loki''s hands were wandering down the cloaked Hel''s back. Only after she had already reached her butt did the happy, delighted girl notice anything amiss. But it was already too late. Before Hel could get away, Loki had already grabbed her butt with a bit of force, a lecherous, perverted smile plastered all over her face.

    A shrill shriek later, the previous fear and disgust had reappeared on the stalker goddess'' face. Feeling completely helpless, with tears in her eyes, she looked at the speechless Isaac.

    "Help!"

    If he had ignored someone''s plea when they were in such a situation, Isaac would have simply been a monster. Honestly, Hel hadn''t even needed to say anything, as he had already been on his way to stop this.

    Before Loki could get even more carried away with her actions, a painful flick to the forehead made her let go of the fearful goddess and stumble a few steps back.

    "Ouch¡­"

    A couple of tears escaped the corners of the trickster goddess'' eyes as she rubbed her temple.

    "Why do you always have to be like this?!"

    The moment she had been freed, the shivering Hel had hastily hidden behind Isaac''s back and only dared to peek at the repeat s.e.x offender, Loki, from there with tears streaming down her cheeks. Every single time she started to trust Loki a little bit and gave her some leeway, the latter always took advantage of her almost immediately. Why did she, Hel, always have to suffer like this?

    A somewhat guilty expression appeared on Loki''s face but before she even had a chance to apologize, the grey-haired girl had already whispered a quiet "Thanks", started running towards the main manor and pulled up her hood, hiding herself from the trickster goddess'' view. Seeing how Hel didn''t escape towards the city, though, it seemed like she planned to stay here for a while.

    For a few moments, Isaac and Loki, who had been left behind, just wordlessly stared at each other, before Loki showed a somewhat sheepish but mischievous smile.

    "Welcome back to you as well, Isaac."

    At the moment, however, Isaac was a little bit too mentally distracted to respond. He had been thinking about all the times in the DanMachi novels that Loki had tried to take advantage of Ais. The only reason she failed was that Ais was more than strong enough to protect herself. However, that meant that she probably hadn''t always escaped the lecherous goddess'' hands while she was still weaker¡­

    [ The host''s current mental state has been analyzed.

    Unlocking ''Achievements'' subsection, ''Herculean Tasks''... ]

    [ Herculean Task One: Make Loki change her s.e.x offender ways. ]

    While Isaac had indeed been thinking about doing just that, the classification of it as a Herculean Task was what baffled him. After all, some of his current ''normal'' potential achievements were ''Destroy a continent.'' and ''Save a race from extinction.'', just to name a few. Honestly, both of those sounded plenty difficult for now but they didn''t even warrant their own subsection. Instead, what triggered the Herculean Tasks was his desire to reform a stray goddess¡­

    Even more than that, the task didn''t even list any rewards for completing it. Were there even any? This started to sound more and more like a Sisyphean Task instead of a Herculean one.

    Using Isaac''s distracted state as an opportunity, the mischievous goddess had already walked up to him and given him a tight hug out of the bluel. To be honest, she was only trying to play a prank on him. After he had witnessed what had happened to Hel, she fully expected him to escape her grasp in a heartbeat. Teasing him a little would be a lot of fun and she would be able to lord his escape from her over him for a time.

    Because of these thoughts and expectations, when Isaac wrapped his arms around her in response, Loki was completely taken aback. With a somewhat evil smile on his face, Isaac didn''t give the goddess any chance to react, then picked her up and slung her over his shoulder.

    "W-What are you doing?!"

    Loki was completely flabbergasted, but no matter how hard she tried to escape, she couldn''t do anything. As she was quite physically weak, she was completely at Isaac''s mercy. When she saw the way they were heading after entering the manor, she finally came to a realization and paled a little.

    "Is this really necessary?"

    Instead of replying, Isaac simply hastened his steps. In less than a minute, he found himself in front of a certain study and unhurriedly knocked on the door.

    "Please! Anything but that!"

    Loki''s pleas had become progressively more panicked, yet Isaac still ignored her. A moment later, a familiar, stern High Elf opened the door.

    When Riveria saw the somewhat inappropriate scene in front of her, she was a bit speechless. Instead of immediately reprimanding the young man for his blasphemous actions towards a goddess, however, she wasn''t naive enough to believe that Loki couldn''t truly deserve such a treatment. Therefore, rather than making ignorant assumptions, it was better to get to the bottom of this.

    "What''s going on?"

    A bright and innocent smile played across Isaac''s lips.

    "I''d like to report an instance of s.e.x.u.a.l harassment. An innocent girl has come to harm."

    As soon as she heard this, Riveria''s expression changed drastically and there was even a little bit of killing intent in her gaze. No matter what, she had always despised the way Loki treated some of the more gullible children. As Elves usually shunned almost all forms of physical intimacy, seeing Loki behave in such ways was simply outrageous. Needless to say, Loki had only tried such a stunt on her once.

    When Isaac had sufficiently reported Loki''s crimes, he learned that Riveria seemed to be one of the few people here at the Twilight Manor that knew Hel. Still, he honestly had no time to bother with the details right now, so after the mother hen dragged the struggling Loki into her study, Isaac hurriedly headed off to take a quick shower. After all, he had been out and about for a while, it would definitely be better to clean up again. Once he had done so, he made his way over to Ais'' room.

    A knock later, the breathtakingly beautiful, golden-haired girl wearing little more than a nightgown opened the door. The moment she saw that Isaac had finally arrived, Ais flashed him a beaming smile, then gestured for him to enter.

    "Come on in."

    Although Isaac had planned to just take a seat on the chair, Ais didn''t give him a chance to do so. Instead, after closing the door again, she sat down on her bed and repeatedly patted her thighs while looking at him with eyes full of anticipation.

    A somewhat awkward smile appeared on Isaac''s face, mixed with a little bit of guilt. It seemed like Ais was a lot more jealous of Tiona giving him a lap pillow than she had let on before.

    "Please¡­?"

    Because of his momentary delay, Ais had started to pout a little, trying to regain his full attention.

    "Fine, fine."

    Isaac hadn''t been hesitating because he didn''t want to be graced by a lap pillow from the girl of his dreams, no. Rather, he was simply embarrassed about the prospect. While he was normally nearly immune to all kinds of charms and most of the embarrassment he usually showed was anything but genuine, Ais always managed to break down his defenses instantly, without even trying.

    As he would hate himself if he let such a godsend slip away, he obediently took off his shoes, laid down on the bed and rested his head on Ais'' thighs. His cheeks turned a progressively deeper shade of red the longer he stayed in that position, however. It only got worse when Ais started to gently stroke his head and play with his hair. Sure, he had experienced such a situation before, but this time, it was Ais doing this. The difference between someone he had feelings for treating him like this compared to someone else was incredibly massive.

    "Just relax."

    With a happy smile, Ais looked down at Isaac''s bright-red face, a small blush creeping up on her cheeks as well. Because she had leaned forward while doing this, though, Ais''... assets became Isaac''s central focus almost instantly.

    In an attempt to calm himself down and to actually relax, as was the true goal of the heavenly privilege, the lap pillow, Isaac closed his eyes. Obviously, this was also to avoid staring at Ais'' chest for longer than would be appropriate. Even though the view did excite him quite a bit, he didn''t want Ais'' pure intentions to be tainted by thoughts like these. At least not now.

    The moment he closed his eyes, he was nearly overwhelmed by the feeling of comfort he felt, instantly washing away any somewhat perverted thoughts he might have harboured in the back of his mind. None of those felt like they were of any importance any longer, as from deep within his soul, Isaac felt something he was almost entirely unfamiliar with: security. This, paired with the feeling of having his head stroked so incredibly tenderly, made him truly relish what he was currently experiencing.

    Also, Ais thighs were simply¡­ perfect. Even though he was sure he was just imagining most of this, it felt like he was relaxing on a sea of clouds instead of a human body. Nonetheless, at the same time, he could still feel Ais'' body warmth and the smoothness of her skin against his neck.

    Before Isaac could completely lose himself in this sensation, however, a very familiar, melodic voice entered his ears.

    "How is it?"

    In response to Ais'' question, a pleased sigh escaped Isaac''s lips.

    "Divine."

    This was honestly the only word he could think of that could describe what he was feeling.

    A couple of minutes of pure bliss later, while still enjoying the lap pillow, Isaac opened his eyes again, this time not as affected by Ais'' irresistible charm as before. It was finally time they focused on the elephant in the room.

    Thankfully, Isaac had already explained everything that had happened between him and Tiona previously, so Ais was fully in the know.

    "What should I do? She doesn''t want to give up¡­"

    After putting on a thoughtful expression for a while, Ais replied with a question of her own.

    "Is reciprocating her feelings out of the question?"

    Very slightly, Isaac shook his head. Any more than that and he might have gotten distracted by how great Ais'' thighs felt¡­

    "I simply don''t love her. Besides that, if you wanted to be with someone else as well, I know I wouldn''t be able to stand it."

    Thinking about the implications of Isaac''s words, Ais'' blush deepened a little. Still, she didn''t get too distracted and focused on the matter at hand.

    "Isn''t it natural for males to be surrounded by multiple females? As far as I know, it''s a commonplace thing. If I were to use your old world''s words¡­ it''s a part of evolution, right?"

    These words made Isaac pause a little. He knew that she had spoken the truth. He was fully aware of it. After all, like she said, it was entirely natural. From a biological perspective, any other arrangement didn''t make much sense. Even in his old world, especially in the past, these things had been basically the status quo. And here in the DanMachi world, it was incredibly wide-spread as well.

    But still. Maybe it was the time period he grew up in which influenced him or just his wholly personal feelings on the matter, Isaac simply felt like he didn''t want to enter such an arrangement. He didn''t want a ''harem''.

    "That''s true. But it would be unfair to you. I''d be a hypocrite if I had multiple partners myself while not agreeing to you doing the same as well."

    A somewhat exasperated look surfaced on Ais'' face. From all she had ever experienced or heard of, any guy would jump at the opportunity she had presented Isaac with. It wasn''t like she was actually unhappy about his refusal, though. No, she was extremely elated about it. But there was a reason why she had brought it up in the first place.

    "She is one of my best friends. I''d be okay with it."

    Because Ais now knew just how amazing of a feeling love, romantical attraction, was, she didn''t want Tiona to suffer in this regard. After all, if her own feelings hadn''t been reciprocated at all, Ais didn''t know how painful it would have been. It would have been a kind of pain she had never felt before. This made her heavily empathize with the chipper Amazoness, maybe more than she should, and caused her to recommend this kind of arrangement in the first place. After all, if she could ensure her friend''s happiness by slighting herself a little, Ais would be more than fine with that.

    A small frown stole itself on Isaac''s face, before he began to understand Ais'' thought process. When he finally did, a gentle smile spread across his lips. Yet again, she had made him realize what an extremely caring girl she was. He reached up with his right hand and gently stroked her cheek, looking deep into her eyes.

    "But I simply don''t love her. No need to worry, though. I''m positively sure that there is someone out there for her. I even know who it is. But it will still take some time for them to meet, so I won''t tell you more about it for now¡­"

    Hearing this, while grasping the hand that was stroking her cheek gently, Ais finally relented and nodded. She knew that Isaac had some - sometimes vague, sometimes very specific - knowledge about this world and the people in it. While this should have probably creeped her out a little, instead, she didn''t mind it at all. It might just be because of the security she felt in his presence or because of all the years she had spent observing his younger self. There was one thing she knew for sure, though: He would never harm her.

    Now, it seemed like she didn''t need to worry too much over her friend''s future love life. Tiona might have to suffer a little in the short term, but the happiness she would achieve following that would be all her own. It seemed like it would be smartest for Isaac to just continue to reject her.

    While Ais was rejoicing over this, a heavily guilty expression appeared on Isaac''s face when he thought about the boy Tiona would most likely fall in love with, Bell Cranel. In the DanMachi novels, Bell and Ais might not have had any kind of romantic connection from Ais'' side. After all, considering the past they most likely shared, any kind of romantic relationship would have been highly improper. Still, Isaac felt bad about ''stealing'' the initial target of Bell''s affection and shattering whatever kind of future the boy and Ais could have potentially had. Of course, he didn''t care about Bell or his feelings at all. But how could he treat such an act as treating Ais fairly?

    "I''m such a hypocrite¡­"

    Although he had only whispered it under his breath, with Ais'' ridiculously good hearing, how could she possibly miss it? Without any care about how close this brought Isaac''s face to her chest, she leaned down considerably until only about twenty centimeters or so separated their faces. With as gentle a smile as she could muster, she whispered back.

    "But you''re my hypocrite."

    The combination of having almost his entire field of view taken up by Ais'' picturesque face and hair, having her chest touch his left cheek and the anything but subtle implications of her words left Isaac speechless for a moment.

    A moment later, he finally completely relaxed and laughed happily.

    It was as if some kind of mental blockage had just disappeared and, even more than before, he was clear on what he wanted to do.

    Yes, he wasn''t a good person. He had stopped being that a long time ago, so there was no point in trying to hold himself back by trying to be one. Even more than that, there was no good and evil to begin with, so this had been an entirely self-imposed and pointless endeavour anyway.

    From now on, no matter what kind of situation he found himself in, he would do exactly one thing: What he wanted to do. So what if he happened to do some things that would make him a hypocrite in the future? It didn''t matter. The only thing that mattered was whether he wanted to do those things or not.

    Well, there was also something - or rather, someone - else that mattered: Ais. With her at his side, he didn''t need to care about anything else.

    From an outside perspective, it might seem like Isaac and Ais hadn''t known each other for very long. This couldn''t be further from the truth, however. As far as Isaac was concerned, he had known about Ais for quite a few years now. She, as well, had spent many, many years watching his younger self''s development. In total, she had spent even more time with him and learning about him than she had with the Loki Familia - and that would only significantly increase in the future.

    Even though Isaac was sure that Ais was very well aware of this already, he felt like it was the perfect time to spell it out. With the most genuinely happy smile he had ever shown, the following words left Isaac''s lips.

    "Ais, I love you."

    To be honest, all his life, Isaac didn''t understand love at all. Previously, he had managed to rationalize attraction and s.e.x.u.a.l urges quite easily. But love? Love was something entirely different. When he arrived in this world, he was quite sure that while he did feel extreme attraction for this simply otherworldly beauty in front of him, he didn''t actually love her. They did have a special connection and compatibility, yes, but not more than that.

    Love seemed like it could only either begin to develop when people spent time together or in mentally especially impactful moments.

    After the shift in his mentality a few moments ago, Ais'' previous words had sent a feeling of unprecedented warmth and happiness throughout Isaac''s entire being. Never before had he felt anything remotely like it. He had no problem with openly admitting that he didn''t fully understand it. But there was one thing he instinctively knew: That feeling, it was love.

 Chapter 47 - The Day Before The Expedition

    At first, Isaac didn''t get a reply. This wasn''t a surprise, however, because Ais simply stared at him completely shell-shocked. Although she had been fully aware of his feelings, this was the first time anyone had confessed to her so genuinely. Usually, there was also a l.u.s.tful, possessive gaze accompanying the confession, but not this time. Isaac''s eyes were devoid of such feelings - even though she wouldn''t have minded them in his case. More importantly, however, this was the first time that she actually had feelings for the one who confessed to her, so hearing these words felt incredibly fulfilling.

    For a few seconds, Ais simply looked at Isaac, his words replaying themselves in her mind constantly. Then, they finally settled in.

    Ais had already been blushing a bit before, but now, more and more blood was rushing to her head. It was to the point that Isaac, who was calmly observing her cute reaction, grew a little bit worried. Could a human really blush this much? Was this still healthy? She might even faint if this continued.

    All of these distracting thoughts dissipated instantly when Isaac saw the amorous gaze and radiant smile the otherworldly beauty directed at him. Then, when a few words left her lips, he was put into a very similar situation to the one she had been in just moments prior.

    "I love you too, Isaac."

    For a moment, there were only these words. Even Isaac''s heartbeat seemed to have entirely stopped while these words engraved themselves on his soul. Of course, Isaac had known about Ais'' feelings for weeks now. After all, the system had notified him the moment she had fallen for him. But hearing her spell it out¡­ it was so much more than just a simple confirmation. Well, to be honest, it really wasn''t, but it certainly felt like it.

    When Isaac''s heart finally continued beating, it did so at a rapidly accelerating pace. Just like Ais, he also began to blush more and more heavily. At the same time, Ais'' face continued to get closer until their noses started to touch. In this position, where the two stared directly into each other''s eyes from such a short distance, Isaac slowly but surely snapped out of the all-encompassing happiness that had caused his mind to blank out completely. That didn''t mean that he was less happy, though, just that he had regained control over his body.

    ''Why are we suddenly this close? ¡­ Oh.''

    It didn''t take long for Isaac to figure out that it hadn''t been Ais who had been getting closer. Rather, he himself had slowly but surely raised his upper body until they were only a few centimeters apart. But rather than becoming uncomfortable, both of them just looked at each other in tranquil silence, needing nothing more than the other''s company. Of course, they could also feel each other''s breaths on their skin.

    After having been lost in this cosy, happy sensation for a while, Isaac''s gaze suddenly turned somewhat embarrassed. Taking the current situation into account, well, he had decided to do something pretty obvious.

    Yet again, Isaac got a little bit closer, then he planted a shy and reserved, quick kiss on Ais'' lips. Although it had only lasted for a short moment, his heart had already started to beat loud enough to overshadow all other sounds he had been hearing.

    It wasn''t like he needed to hear anything else at the moment, though, because, just like him, Ais had completely blanked out the moment after their lips had parted. Both of them had never felt such a sensation before. Sure, Isaac might have all the theoretical knowledge about romance and what was involved with it, but he had no practical experience whatsoever. And although his first kiss had only been a very fleeting moment, Ais'' lips had felt so seductively soft that he hadn''t wanted to part from them at all. It felt like they were inviting him, telling him to take yet another step¡­

    Still, Isaac didn''t want to and didn''t allow himself to get lost in these instincts. One of the main reasons was that he had promised Riveria to take things slowly but even more than that, he didn''t want to taint Ais with such physical desires yet. There was no need to hurry, they had an eternity ahead of them, after all. Rushing things would only make things¡­ imperfect. Not that he would be opposed to such a thing, but if he had the option, he would rather wait for them to grow a lot closer first.

    To snap Ais out of her bliss-induced absentmindedness, Isaac pulled away slightly.

    "Now, it''s your turn."

    In response to her adorably cute, confused head tilt, Isaac got up fully and sat down next to Ais, then, just like she had done before, he patted his lap. At this point, it really didn''t take a genius to figure out that he wanted to return the favour and give her a lap pillow as well.

    For the next twenty minutes or so, Isaac gently stroked Ais'' head while having her rest on his thighs. Both were simply stupidly smiling at each other, completely lost in their own little world.

    At that moment, out of the corner of his eye, Isaac suddenly noticed the time thanks to the system clock.

    ''What, it''s already this late?''

    Normally, he would have made his way towards the dungeon already. After all, today, it was time to hunt a few thousand monsters to gather more AP. Or, well, that had been the original plan. Should he still go or would he rather stay with the girl of his dreams? Even though it wasn''t such a hard decision, Isaac still grew a little restless while contemplating his options. And of course, Ais didn''t miss such obvious indecision. Even though she had become very shy after he kissed her and didn''t say a single word, mostly due to embarrassment, she had been paying very close attention to him this entire time.

    Unhappily, she began to pout, then her relaxedly closed eyes snapped open while she gently grabbed his left hand. She knew exactly what he was thinking about, because she knew his daily routine better than anyone else.

    "Please stay."

    These words caused a somewhat awkward but happy smile to surface on Isaac''s face. Although his perfectionistic mindset was urging him to finish all of his plans for today, he didn''t really need to enter the dungeon right now. He had so much leeway, there was no need to desperately throw everything else aside right now just to grow stronger by gathering AP. After all, he had been wasting so much time during the day on less important things, wouldn''t it be unreasonable for him to end such a lovely atmosphere, something extremely important to him? The answer was yes. So Isaac decided to stay here tonight.

    When she saw Isaac''s small nod, Ais'' pout immediately relaxed and a happy smile reappeared on her lips. Inwardly, she was giggling victoriously.

    An hour or so later, Isaac had changed into comfortable sleepwear. Although he knew that people would freak out if they knew that he stayed in Ais'' room the entire night, that was only if they found out. If he didn''t boast about it in public, there wasn''t really any way for anyone to know. And honestly, Isaac didn''t care too much about that. After all, they hadn''t been doing anything indecent, which Loki would easily be able to tell if she asked them. But even if something more had happened, it wouldn''t be anyone else''s business.

    ''She smells so nice¡­. like a refreshing spring breeze¡­''

    With thoughts like these, having placated his worries, Isaac peacefully fell asleep right next to Ais, who had asked him to stay with her until morning.

    -----

    When Isaac woke up at around 5 a.m., what first assaulted his senses were three different sensations, all originating from the same location, his left shoulder: weight, warmth and wetness. Thankfully, Isaac hadn''t forgotten that he was still in Ais'' room, so he didn''t react in a hasty manner and only opened his eyes, looking at the girl resting her head on his shoulder.

    Her breathing was very even and relaxed, somewhat tickling his neck, while she wore a perpetual smile on her face. Her hair, for some reason, didn''t really look like she had slept at all, as it wasn''t the slightest bit dishevelled. Still, there was a little bit of drool on the edge of her mouth and over the course of the night, quite a bit of it had found its way to Isaac''s shoulder¡­ hence, the wetness.

    An especially warm and genuine smile played across his lips. While some might have seen Ais'' act of drooling as a sign of imperfection, in his eyes, it only made her even more perfect. It was just too adorable. How could someone this adorable be anything but the epitome of perfection itself? Of course, Isaac had to admit that parts of his reasoning were most likely affected by the rose-coloured glasses he was wearing. But that didn''t really matter. What mattered was that Ais¡­ was adorable. He consciously had to hold himself back from poking her nose or cheek, or anything similar.

    While thinking about such things, Isaac had been staring at the ceiling for about ten minutes while stroking Ais'' back gently. He didn''t do so with the intention to wake her up, rather, it was simply something he had started to do subconsciously. It felt natural.

    Still, after a while of doing this, Ais'' breathing pattern noticeably changed and he perceived some movement, so Isaac turned his head to look at her again. This time, what greeted him was a pair of sleepy but well-rested golden eyes, which still had a little bit of post-awakening confusion clouding them. Yet again, a gentle smile blossomed on Isaac''s lips.

    "Good morning~"

    -----

    After Isaac had taken a quick shower and put on his adventuring gear, he met the Amazoness sisters in the main courtyard, just like every morning.

    Yesterday evening, Tione had told him that they had missed one monster species during their exploration of the 25th and 26th floors. Of course, as soon as he heard about this, Isaac immediately cancelled any other dungeon-related plans he might have had for today and focused fully on finding this one kind of monster.

    The reason they hadn''t encountered it before was that they hadn''t gotten close to the Great Fall during their exploration at all - and it only lived in the cliffs that were close to that. Still, even then, it wasn''t that common to actually come across it, but when one did, there was probably a colony of a few hundred nearby, who would start an unceasing assault together. The name of this species was Iguazu and their Agility could reach up to C-650 / 2650. Visually, they weren''t really impressive, as they simply looked like slightly bigger, crimson swallows. Still, because of their speed-focused nature, adventurers referred to them as invisible monsters. Of course, they weren''t actually invisible, most adventurers who made it to this floor just simply weren''t fast enough to properly react to or even perceive them until it was too late. As expected, however, this wasn''t a problem for Isaac. They were so incredibly slow in his eyes that dodging or dismembering them could almost be done in his sleep.

    There was one annoying thing about the Iguazus, however. That was their method of attack. It was incredibly stupid and suicidal: they simply dove at any nearby adventurers from the cliffs overhead. Thanks to their high speed and practically nonexistent Endurance stat, whether they hit their opponents or not, they would die on impact. The worst part about this was that they really didn''t have any other strategy. Regardless of their losses, the birds simply kept diving at their ''prey'', killing themselves in the process. Was there any point in bringing down your prey if you died while doing so?

    Thanks to this, Isaac had been completely baffled at first. Also, how could he possibly research the birds in detail if they continued doing this? There were only so many ways he could cut them apart while they were throwing themselves at the floor like kamikaze bombers. Still, there was a rather simple solution to this problem. So after a flock of about a hundred Iguazus had all killed themselves, Isaac climbed up the nearest cliffs and decided to search for the next flock up there instead. While he might have a little less footing, at least he would have the opportunity to research the birds before they entered ''suicide-mode''.

    In such a manner, even though Isaac''s stats had just increased by an extremely huge amount, he spent about two hours to finish his research on the brain-dead birds. But because he definitely didn''t have enough time to fully explore the 27th floor today, Isaac decided to not even attempt doing so for now and simply killed any and all monsters he came across on the 26th one.

    His reasoning for not entering the 27th floor was as follows: Tomorrow, the Loki Familia''s expedition would begin. At that point, he would most likely not have the opportunity to sneak off and kill monsters for a couple of days at least, so rather than begin something he couldn''t finish anytime soon, Isaac decided to wait for a bit and then do it all at once when the opportunity presented itself. Well, admittedly, there was also another reason: Amphisbaena. As the Monster Rex hadn''t been slain yet, entering the 27th floor and exploring it sufficiently would be a little suicidal, as it would appear the moment one got close to the seemingly infinitely big lake on that floor.

    In any case, Isaac''s monster slaying speed had increased quite significantly after yesterday''s update, so he acc.u.mulated quite a lot of magic stones. His Level 2 monster slaying achievement progressed to 3280/4000 by the time he left the dungeon as well, netting him 300 AP in the process.

    -----

    When it was time for dinner, Isaac left the Twilight Manor to meet up with Asfi and Hermes again. This time, however, he didn''t dawdle on his way and also made sure to blur his existence right until he stood in front of the Bard''s Respite.

    So when he suddenly entered the inn, both Asfi and Hermes were completely unprepared for it. Asfi almost dropped her cup of tea, while Hermes actually fell off his chair, as he had been doing a risky balancing act while waiting. Of course, even though he had attracted the attention of the entire inn for a moment, the wanderer god didn''t let it bother him in the slightest.

    Even after she had regained her cool, Asfi just continued to stare at Isaac with a perplexed face. How did he manage to make it past all of their sentries undetected? None of them had contacted her. She simply couldn''t figure it out. Even a mouse should have been picked up by them without a problem. Hell, if she didn''t use a very specific item which granted her invisibility, even Asfi herself had no way to evade them. But as she was the one who produced that item, there was simply no way Isaac could have gotten his hands on it without her noticing.

    Hermes, contrary to Asfi, just smiled even brighter when he realized what had happened. There was no doubt in his mind that this had been a deliberate display. Isaac showing off his ability to move undetected was definitely a sign of trust, something he was glad to see. Still, Hermes had been ''in the business'' long enough to be aware that this wasn''t all it was. It was also a threat. With them being unable to ascertain where he was, he could literally be anywhere. He could be watching them from a distance without them being aware of it anytime he wanted. In this way, the observers suddenly became the observed.

    ''Truly a marvelous move.''

    A bright smile played across Hermes'' lips as he silently reevaluated the man in front of him.

    Still, besides this slight act of showing off, this evening was rather uneventful. There was nothing new to discuss so after paying the Hermes Familia in advance for their services, like they had discussed yesterday, the three simply had a nice meal together while doing some harmonious small talk. If there was one thing of note, it was that Asfi seemed to have become a little more relaxed around Isaac compared to their first meeting. Whether that was due to what she had seen last night or simply because she had been employed by him, however, that was unknown.

    After Hermes wished him good luck in the upcoming expedition, a welcome gesture, Isaac left the inn. But before he blurred his existence yet again, he stole a glance at two women hiding on a distant rooftop: a jackal-eared Chienthrope and an Elf - Tabitha and Suicia, the two Hermes Familia members he had met on the 25th floor before. Seeing how they had come across each other again now, he thought it rude to leave without at least a greeting, so he walked in their direction and after he had made sure that the two had noticed him and were relaying his position back to Asfi, he showed them a radiant smile, looked directly at them and waved. A couple of seconds later, he blended into the crowd and disappeared, leaving the two women in a somewhat panicky state, which only caused him to grin mischievously while hurrying home.

    Tonight, Isaac had decided not to enter the dungeon to gather AP either. There was a simple reason for that: As he was about to go on an expedition, lots of unexpected things could happen. He might only need to sleep for a little less than four hours every two days now, but there was a chance that he wouldn''t be able to get any sleep during his first night in the dungeon. After all, who knew what the dungeon would throw at them? Admittedly, it was very unlikely for anything too out of the ordinary to happen and he should be able to get some sleep, but better safe than sorry. If he had to spend some time on recovery simply because he didn''t sleep enough and damaged himself in such a pathetic manner, Isaac would definitely feel discontented. He would also end up bogging the expedition down if he did so, which was far from his goal of staying mostly in the background and silently observing it. Well, he was sure that he wouldn''t be able to keep out of sight entirely, but he at least didn''t want to increase the attention he would attract deliberately.

    Of course, as Isaac did still have a few hours until he needed to sleep, he didn''t plan to slack off. Yet again, he focused on his mental layer, then he slowly started to add more and more drops of mana to his total. Yesterday, although he hadn''t spent much effort because he had been blissfully distracted, his drop count had already reached 1263. Today, before Isaac decided to practice his Anemoi Steps for another hour, he reached a somewhat staggering amount of 1679. Ever since he had reached Foundation Establishment, it had become a lot easier for him to increase his usable mana drop count.

    -----

    The next morning, at about 5:20 a.m., Isaac had just taken a shower. In about 40 minutes, all the familia members taking part in the expedition were supposed to gather in the main courtyard, so for once, the hallways were actually filled with people so early in the morning. Because of this, it had taken him a while to find an unoccupied bathroom. It seemed like usually, almost everyone liked to sleep in for a bit. Well, maybe it was just that Isaac ''woke up so damn early'', like the Amazoness twins always said.

    In any case, it was finally time. With a genuinely excited smile, Isaac pulled a new set of adventuring gear out of his inventory, then unhurriedly put it on in front of the mirror.

    "Quite dashing."

    A smug smile played across his lips when he observed the set of equipment he had bought yesterday, shortly before his students had left the dungeon. It really had been high time for him to upgrade his gear, especially because he was about to quite possibly face extremely strong monsters during the expedition. Still, there was one thing he probably had to take care of immediately after his return: To find a blacksmith to establish a personal contract with. It had been very difficult and time-consuming to find something that actually fit him at this high of a standard, mostly because almost anything at the Level 3 standard was custom-made.

 Chapter 48 - Setting Off

    Overall, Isaac''s new gear didn''t differ from his old one by much, as he had already settled into a specific preference. Still, partly because of the restriction this imposed, Isaac had had to hurry from store to store and piece together individual pieces of equipment until he had finally gathered a whole set. Slight differences in style, workmanship and material were now a minor feature of his outfit, as most parts had been made by different craftsmen. If one didn''t look too closely, however, these differences wouldn''t really stick out.

    Just like last time, Isaac chose a shirt-style gambeson and padded trousers, which he luckily found as part of a set. They were the colour of dried blood, which was because they were made from Bloodsaurus leather. The only thing Isaac knew about these monsters was that they were commonly found on the 30th floor, but besides that, he was clueless. If Tiona hadn''t mentioned them while he was picking out his new gear, he wouldn''t have known anything about the material''s origin. But even the Amazonesses didn''t have a clue what the boots he chose were made of. While they were extremely sturdy, they were also surprisingly malleable, so they shouldn''t be much of a burden while traversing different kinds of terrain. Their dark blue, almost black leather didn''t look familiar, however, so it had most likely been specially treated.

    The light metal armour pieces Isaac chose were all still made in the same agile, minimum-protection style and most of them were made from a dark grey material. The b.r.e.a.s.tplate, however, was a pitch-black one. Speaking about the colour black¡­ sadly, Isaac didn''t find another black, higher quality vambrace for his left arm. The only one that sufficiently fit him was made of the same aforementioned dark grey material. This time, however, it was a lot more dense and heavy, compared to the light weight it had sported before. This should enable the vambrace to easily withstand a few powerful blows. Thankfully, there was no need to worry about the weight of almost 50 kilograms either, as at this point, Isaac had already reached what could only be described as ''superhuman strength''.

    All of this was at the Level 3 standard and had cost him 3.53 million valis. But of course, this wasn''t the end of Isaac''s spending spree.

    Although there weren''t too many monsters whose stats were solely focused on Endurance, there were still a few on every floor. It was possible to slay those by only attacking their weak points but Isaac didn''t want to do so, as it would reduce the amount of research data he could gather from them. After all, how would he find out how these monsters reacted to having their strengths suppressed if he wasn''t able to do just that? This was the main reason he wanted to upgrade his weapon as if he only tried to kill his opponents, he would likely be able to slay even most Level 5 monsters with the one he had been using until now.

    To overcome stronger defenses, Isaac splurged quite a lot. He spent 2.1 million valis on a sword that even most Level 4 adventurers would envy. Usually, weapons of this quality weren''t sold in stores and only a handful of them were used as promotional material. There had been exactly one weapon which fit Isaac''s specifications: an about 85 centimeter long one-handed sword. Luckily, this one even felt perfect when he gave it a few test swings, so after sweet-talking the shop owner into it, he was allowed to purchase it.

    Contrary to his last weapon, which had almost seemed a little fragile because of its exceedingly thin blade, this one had some weight behind it. Still, it wasn''t any less elegant. It was made from the metallic bones that the Spartoi in the Deep Floors used for weapons but because it had been purified and reinforced a lot during the production, it was almost perfectly white, without a blemish. The hilt and accompanying sheath were made from simple black leather to further accentuate this aspect.

    After Isaac finally finished happily sizing up his new equipment in the mirror, he went back to his room and shortly after, both he and Jakk made their way to the subordinates'' base. Although the bunny boy wouldn''t be taking part in the expedition, that didn''t mean he wouldn''t have any duties while Isaac was gone, as he would have to take care of his fellow students and deal with a few other matters.

    The one who responded to Isaac''s knock was, unsurprisingly, Mina. A bright smile played across her lips when she saw her lord, but at the same time, there was a little bit of sadness interspersed within. After all, she wouldn''t be able to see him for quite some time starting today.

    "Please assemble everyone."

    A simple order and about a minute later, Mina, Kalin, Averin, Quinn and Jakk were gathered in front of Isaac, most of them still a little bit sleepy. But as they already knew that important matters were going to be discussed now, they tried to pay as much attention as they could muster.

    Isaac showed an appreciative smile while gazing at his quickly growing students and subordinates, then he cleared his throat and began giving them their instructions.

    To ensure that they would have enough supplies and - in case he didn''t get back in time - to pay for the base''s rent, Isaac had left 4 million valis with Jakk, which should be more than enough to cover for anything that could potentially come up. The rest of the money was to be spent on a little ''homework'' he gave them: to gather books. Any kind of book was fine, but each of them had to buy at least one book every day he was gone. Isaac didn''t explain his reason for giving them such a task, as it was related to certain plans he had for the future. As he wouldn''t be able to make time to delve further into them, besides giving his subordinates simple quests related to them, for a long while, there was no need to explain the details right now.

    "Although your main goal should be to grow stronger, don''t forget that your safety and survival is also of paramount importance. As you already know, the Hermes Familia will be protecting you from the shadows in my absence. If anything that they can''t handle comes up, follow the emergency protocol. Understood?"

    Only after they had all nodded and repeated the emergency protocol aloud did Isaac''s stern expression soften.

    Because it would simply be inhumane to leave Averin all alone here for the next few weeks, Isaac also gave his students permission to smuggle him into the dungeon secretly, so he could help them out and grow stronger himself as well. According to the terms he had discussed with Asfi, the Hermes Familia wouldn''t be allowed to question anything related to his students or interfere with them in any way that could potentially harm them. As it was only a matter of time until Isaac would let Averin accompany him openly, he decided to risk exposing him to Hermes'' ''children'' for now to see how they would react. If anything went awry, Averin''s mind-boggling speed could carry him to safety, after all. And should even that not be enough, there was always the aforementioned emergency protocol.

    Finally, it was time for temporary farewells.

    "Sorry for burdening you with taking care of them like that."

    A sigh escaped Jakk''s mouth when he heard this. He had already babysat everyone for quite a while now, so was this really any different? Their growth might be somewhat stagnant in Isaac''s absence, but that would also give them an opportunity to solidify their foundations.

    "No worries, I''m used to it."

    In response to the Hume Bunny youth''s resigned reply, a wry smile flashed across Isaac''s lips before he turned towards the next one in line, Quinn. They hadn''t known each other for long but as his future weapon of mass destruction, he had to take special care with this one.

    "Don''t grow impatient and focus on acc.u.mulating basic combat experience while I''m gone. Stay out of trouble, okay?"

    After Isaac patted his shoulder supportively, the cat boy nodded his head resolutely. He was well aware that he was incredibly weak right now and would only drag everyone around him down if he acted impulsively.

    "I promise."

    Satisfied with this response, Isaac crouched down and sized up Averin, before a slight sigh escaped his mouth. The damn rooster had already started to put on a bit of weight.

    "Just don''t laze around too much and keep in shape."

    These words didn''t impress the Jack Bird at all. Quite defiantly, he only showed an arrogant smile.

    "Why should I?"

    "Two reasons. First, you''ll be quite unpopular with the hens if you''re too lazy. Second, the fatter you get, the more tasty you look."

    While Averin had sneered at the beginning, thinking that there were no hens worthy of him anyway, the latter part had thoroughly shut him up. Cold sweat ran down his spine as he sneakily took glances at the people surrounding him. They wouldn''t really eat him¡­ right!?

    Leaving the distracted rooster behind after innocently patting his back a little, Isaac faced Kalin, who patiently waited for his parting words. Out of all of his students, he was probably the most stable. He was the one that Isaac should be worried about the least.

    "I''m counting on you to support Jakk, alright?"

    With a confident smile, Kalin nodded his head, before breaking out into a wide smile. There was a slightly competitive glint in his eye.

    "Just leave it to me. Next time we meet, you''ll be surprised by how much we''ve grown!"

    "I look forward to it."

    After giving a fleeting glance at the stone ring on the pendant around Kalin''s neck, Isaac finally faced Mina, whose ears and tail had been drooping lower than ever before all this while. Even her eyes had grown a little red and it looked like she was about to cry. Letting her wait until the very end truly felt a little cruel in retrospect.

    "There, there."

    Having already grown used to it by now, Isaac habitually started to pat Mina''s head, this time a lot longer than before. Because her reactions had always been so adorable, he had adopted her as a pet in his heart some time ago, so his actions didn''t feel out of line. Also, giving her a good head pat had never failed to calm her down.

    "Stay safe and be a good girl. Otherwise, there won''t be any head pats when I return."

    Although it was clear that she was just putting up a tough front, the somewhat blushing Mina resolutely nodded her head and replied to this horrific threat, trying her best to hide her sorrow.

    "Yes, milord! Have a safe trip!"

    -----

    Once he had bid farewell from his students, Isaac hurriedly made his way to the treasury. Although, according to his knowledge, there was no deadline for paying the familia tax, as he would be gone for a while, he thought it would be a good idea to pay it before he left. In an effort to not inconvenience Rakta too much, Isaac didn''t beat around the bush and simply handed the shy Hume Bunny girl a pouch with almost 1.5 million valis.

    "I''ll be part of the expedition for a bit, so here you go. My taxes."

    A surprised yell escaped Rakta''s lips when she inspected the money. With a panicked face, she shook her head and reminded Isaac of something she thought he forgot, while desperately trying to return the pouch.

    "That''s too much! You''re only supposed to give me five percent of your earnings! Five percent!!"

    As he was somewhat pressed for time, Isaac hastily pushed the pouch back onto her desk and explained himself.

    "These 1.498.323 valis are exactly five percent of what I earned from the dungeon since last time. Anyway, I''m off. See you later!"

    Giving her no chance to try to return his taxes again, Isaac quickly hurried away from the treasury, leaving behind a shell-shocked Rakta, who was staring at him absentmindedly while calculating his total earnings.

    Technically speaking, Isaac hadn''t exchanged all of his magic stones and drop items with the Guild, as he wanted to keep a bit of them on hand should he ever need them. So in a way, he did indeed pay the familia more than five percent of the valis he got. Still, he had calculated the precise value of everything he had gathered, so he wasn''t overpaying his taxes at all.

    About 15 minutes before the expedition party would set off, Isaac arrived at the main courtyard. After taking a quick look around and noticing a lot of familiar faces within the crowd, he soon saw the team of supporters he was temporarily assigned to and made his way over to them. As soon as they noticed him, he gave them a bright smile.

    "Good morning!"

    Even though most of them were still a little sleepy, they replied warmly. All but Cedar, that is. Isaac had noticed his unhappy glare right away but didn''t let it bother him, especially because the Elf had quickly looked away, clearly trying to stay professional.

    Isaac didn''t have much more time to think about it anyway, as Randi, the hearty Boaz, powerfully patted his back to gain his attention. If she had done this before his latest Status update, he might have been painfully inconvenienced by her strength, but this time, it didn''t impact him much, which made the redhead raise an eyebrow in surprise. She didn''t dwell on it for long, however, and pointed at two large carts and six enormous backpacks.

    "See those? You''ll be carrying one of the backpacks."

    Right after having been assigned his job, without wasting any time, Isaac tried on one of the backpacks to see how much they would restrict him. After all, compared to the expedition backpacks which were almost taller than him, his usual, personal backpack, which he kept at his side to conceal the use of his inventory, only seemed like a small pouch. The large backpacks were made from high quality, robust monster leather and a special wood and metal frame, which enabled them to hold many hundreds of kilograms easily.

    "You alright with carrying this? We''ll help you out if it''s too much, y''know?"

    Ever the helpful teammate, Claire worriedly asked, already getting ready to support him. After all, in the eyes of everyone else, Isaac was just a new Level 2 adventurer, such a huge burden should strain him quite a bit. Contrary to the team''s expectations, however, Isaac didn''t seem bothered by the weight at all, which earned him quite a few compliments.

    "No more playing around. Get ready to set off, they''re here!"

    Only after Line''s reminder did the team realize that the ones they had been waiting for had just entered the courtyard, so they quickly got their backpacks, grabbed the carts and got into position.

    With the arrival of Finn, Riveria, Gareth, Ais, Lefiya, Tiona, Tione and Bete, the entire expedition party had finally convened. Even Loki had come along, which brought the total number of people assembled in the courtyard to 58. Three supporter teams with eleven people each and three main forces with eight people each. Coupled with all the supplies and the six large carts, even this spacious place felt a little bit crammed.

    Very quickly, the chatter came to a stop while the entire party looked at Finn, Riveria, Gareth and Loki, who stood in front of the orderly arrayed teams. As expected, it was time for a speech or two and the first one who took the stage was the Captain, Finn.

    "We are about to set off on a regular expedition into the Deep Floors. But even though most of you are already veterans and quite used to this, do not let your guard down! After all, you never know what will happen in the dungeon. A moment of distraction is all that could be needed to end your or your comrade''s life. Never forget that and don''t become complacent."

    Seeing how none of the people assembled here showed signs of discontent at this warning, Finn nodded his head and continued.

    "I will only consider this expedition a success if every single one of you makes it back in one piece. I, myself, will give my very best to make this a reality, so I''ll expect all of you to do the same. I''m counting on you!"

    Although most leaders had a propensity to hold longer speeches than they should, Finn''s was short and concise. There was no need to waste more time talking about anything but the essentials, so after glancing at his fellow Top Executives during the short obligatory applause, he, Riveria and Gareth took their spots in front of the Executives of the first main force.

    Seeing so many of her children eager to set off, Loki scratched her cheek awkwardly, before her trademark mischievous smile reappeared.

    "Finn already mentioned almost everything I wanted to say. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now. Just remember to return home and that you''ve got comrades waiting for you here, in this familia, this safe haven. I''ll be missing you all a lot!"

    Towards the end, a few tears had appeared at the corners of Loki''s eyes but it was quite clear to everyone that she was simply exaggerating. Still, this heartwarming act brought smiles to most members of the party.

    While Loki was saying her goodbyes, Isaac noticed the still-cloaked Hel sneaking a glance at him from one of the windows of the main building. After making sure that nobody was paying attention to him, he waved at her stealthily, which made the gloomy goddess smile slightly. He hadn''t really had a good chance to bid her farewell in any other manner, so this should suffice for the time being. Hopefully, the little stalker would be fine in his absence, but honestly, there wasn''t really a need to worry. She could always just turn invisible should there be any sign of danger and he had already asked his students to take care of her should she come to them for help. Of course, he had also cautioned them to not get taken advantage of by her. So Hel should do just fine¡­ probably.

    Once the party had made its way through the small alleys and arrived on the northern main street, what greeted Isaac was very different from what he had become accustomed to. Usually, at this time of the day, not many people wandered the streets. After all, it was still quite early, not everyone was an early riser. This time, however, the streets were unusually lively, while people had generously left a huge amount of space in the middle of the street for the party to pass through.

    Understanding flashed in Isaac''s eyes as he observed the vast amount of cheerful observers, both old and young. An expedition wasn''t only a voyage the Guild required exploration type familias above a certain rank to embark on regularly, rather, it was a publicity tool. More and more people would be incensed to chase after their dreams in the dungeon if they laid eyes upon the very best adventurers resolutely marching towards an exciting adventure. Another reason for the huge reaction of the populace was the fact that once someone entered the dungeon, there was no guarantee that they would ever return. So wishing people the best before an expedition had become somewhat of a tradition. One could even call it a good luck ritual.

    The Loki Familia was in a rather unusual situation, however, seeing how there were even fan clubs for most of their strong adventurers, whose members cheered for the safe return of their idols. Such a thing happening, at least to a certain extent, couldn''t be helped, as the Loki Familia was one of the two most influential exploration-type familias in Orario. Its members were at the very top of the food chain. Admittedly, however, the main reason was that almost everyone in the familia was good-looking. Whether that was due to Loki''s careful arrangements or just a coincidence, Isaac couldn''t say.

    Still, even as a random extra, a faceless part of the background actors, having tens of thousands of people cheering for their party''s safe return¡­ didn''t feel too bad.

    Thirty minutes of travel later, the party finally reached Babel. This time, instead of entering through the usual northern main entrance, the supporter teams got their carts and moved to the northern cargo entrance before having the Guild perform security checks on their supplies. Obviously, if they had any illegal goods or otherwise questionable things with them, they would be stopped here. But how could one of the poster children of Orario possibly make such a blunder? Without a problem, the supporters entered the tower after the routine inspection.

    To descend to the first floor of the dungeon Isaac would have usually taken the spiral stairs but this time, they were taking the adjacent cargo elevator there. As it was built with the most advanced technology this world had to offer and was heavily enchanted with multiple magics, the elevator had no problem transporting the tens of tons of supplies the Loki Familia carried with them. Even by the time they returned, with lots of drop items and magic stones, which were a lot heavier, there wouldn''t be any problems. This was far from the Guild''s first rodeo, after all.

    When the main forces, who had taken the normal route into the dungeon, finally came into view again, it was time for Isaac to be stunned. Currently, they were besieged by hundreds of goblins and kobolds, way more than he had ever encountered at once in the dungeon. If they weren''t blocking the monsters'' advance, Isaac had no doubt that the cargo elevator wouldn''t have any space to descend. The monsters'' insane numbers only got worse once the entire party reconvened.

    Seeing the slight shock on Isaac''s face, Randi, who pulled one of the carts their supporter team was responsible for together with Auroch, explained the situation to the young man marching along next to her.

    "The more people are in close proximity to each other in the dungeon, the higher the chances of encountering a Monster Party. Now that there are this many of us, we will practically be assaulted by multiple simultaneous Monster Parties nonstop. Only very rarely will we be granted opportunities to catch our breath. Quite exciting, huh?"

    After thanking her for the information, Isaac refocused on his surroundings. Everywhere he looked, Loki Familia main force members were cutting a path of blood through an almost literal wall of monster flesh. Taking the many carts and supplies that would bog them down even more into account, it was no wonder why expeditions always lasted for a few weeks.

    Moments after advancing a few meters, Isaac tried to bend down and collect a few of the magic stones from the monster corpses all around. Before he could do so, however, his senior supporter, Randi, interrupted him again.

    "Don''t even bother. We only have that much storage space, it''s more efficient to only collect the highest value magic stones and drop items."

    "Okay¡­"

    Reluctantly, Isaac let go of the magic stone he had just ripped out of a goblin''s chest. Or he pretended to. Once it had hit the ground, he sneakily touched it with his boot-clad right foot and put it into his inventory. When he glanced at the thousands of monster bodies in the expedition''s wake, he felt his heart ache and his eyes became slightly bloodshot.

    ''Letting all this money go to waste¡­ such a tragedy!''

 Chapter 49 - An Uneventful Beginning

    As he hadn''t made any efforts to hide it, Randi noticed the unwillingness in Isaac''s eyes and decided to further elaborate on the situation. Thanks to this, it didn''t take long for him to realize that it wasn''t as simple as it had initially appeared to be.

    For big and rich familias with higher ranked adventurers, all the money the party left behind right now was nothing more than chump change. In a way, even the effort of kneeling down and gathering the stones wouldn''t be worth it. If they just focused on killing and harvesting magic stones from far stronger monsters, they could make the few millions worth of valis scattered on the ground in a couple of hours - the strongest adventurers could even do so in a matter of minutes. After all, magic stones became far more valuable the further one descended into the dungeon.

    This wasn''t the only reason for them to disregard the bodies, though. According to the knowledge adventurers had acc.u.mulated over the years, it took exactly 30 minutes before the dungeon would reabsorb a monster''s corpse. That included owner-less magic stones, as they were still considered a part of the carcass. For some reason, once they were in the possession of an adventurer, they were excluded from this process, although Isaac couldn''t yet pin-point the exact details. If he pointed at a magic stone on the ground and loudly proclaimed it as his, would the dungeon recognize his claim of ownership? There were many ideas of this kind floating around in his head, although he had to shelve all of them for later. In any case, the true issue with this reabsorption was that it took time to take a monster''s magic stone out of their body. Although it wasn''t a lot, it added up the more monster corpses one had to deal with. If one tried to salvage all of the magic stones they could potentially get from here, they wouldn''t even come close to finishing their task before all the bodies would become inaccessible. If one tried to combat this with numbers, however, the same phenomenon as with the expedition party would occur: an endless assault of Monster Parties, which would lead to yet more bodies to be harvested. It was a never ending cycle.

    But the worst part was yet to come. For a yet undetermined period of time after an expedition party had passed through parts of the dungeon, it would stay in a somewhat ''excited state'', as it was often referred to, where even if only a small party or an individual entered these areas, they were very likely to be assaulted by extremely large or even multiple Monster Parties. It was often called the ''aftershock'' by the adventurer community.

    Before this became a well-known fact, the Guild had still tried to somehow get their hands on all the wealth that was being discarded down here but after a few spectacular failures and many casualties, they forbade anyone from doing so and proclaimed the respective areas temporarily off-limit every time an expedition descended. Nonetheless, there were always a few parties or adventurers, who either due to their unfortunate situations or because of simple greed were forced to take this heightened risk. Most of them never saw the light of day again, while some lucky ones actually made a small windfall that could help their struggling familias survive for yet another day. Still, overall, the increase in the reward wasn''t proportional to the risk - it clearly didn''t seem worth it. It was clear why only the most desperate would succ.u.mb to this temptation.

    In any case, all of these problems only applied to other people, not Isaac and Ais. Although the latter''s inventory space was somewhat limited, Isaac could store anything he wanted in his, no matter the amount. So during all of his monster slaying sessions, he always picked up every single scrap he got, no matter how inexpensive it was. Still, in the current situation he was in, it truly wasn''t a good idea to derail the entire expedition party just for some small-time gains. With that in mind, Isaac stealthily added the few loose magic stones or drop items he came across into his inventory by touching them slightly with his feet while walking along. As the amount of focus it took him to do so was negligible, there was no reason to not do so. It was free money, after all.

    The way to the 18th floor was fraught with no dangers. In all honesty, it was more of a drag. A short trip that would usually take about 30 minutes now took almost ten hours, as every step of the way had to be carved out of a constantly assaulting horde of monsters. But even though nothing unusual happened and all the monsters they had been fighting had been incredibly weak compared to the main force members they were facing, none of the expedition party members lowered their guard for a single second. As they had spent many years in the dungeon already, they were painfully aware that the moment one relaxed just a little, there was the potential for a stray anomaly to be thrown one''s way. To be honest, part of this mentality was surely paranoia but if it helped them survive a little bit longer, it wasn''t a bad deal.

    No matter how strong the members of the main force were, however, ten hours of non-stop fighting and focusing on their tasks did take a slight toll on them. Even if it was only the exhaustion of repeatedly swinging their weapons for an ungodly amount of times, it was slowly but surely building up. It wasn''t even close to the point where they had to start to get worried or think about resting, but the burden was certainly there.

    Well, none of this applied to Isaac. While he, just like all the supporters, did pay full attention to his surroundings and to doing his job well, the amount of focus required to do so was honestly laughable. Thankfully, there were many things he could busy his mind with over this time, so he didn''t grow too bored of the situation.

    Then finally, after all this time, the party made it to the final room on the 17th floor. Here, in these crystalline walls, the Goliath - the dungeon''s first Monster Rex - was laying in wait for its prey. Maybe because of its presence, no other monsters usually dared to enter here and the unceasing assault from monster parties had stopped as soon as the entire party had made its way in. As they were still situated around the entrance, however, they hadn''t triggered the Goliath into action yet.

    "Raimond, take the members of the third main force and let them gain some excelia by facing the Goliath. Bete, I''ll trust you to keep them safe. The rest of you, follow me to the 18th floor."

    Before Finn''s decisive orders, Isaac had noticed the werewolf eyeing the faintly visible shape of the Monster Rex with a strong craving for battle. If Isaac had been strong enough to face it already, he would probably have a similar, although more hidden, reaction. Still, although he understood the feeling, the look of disappointment on Bete''s face upon having his 1v1 opportunity denied made the corners of Isaac''s mouth rise noticeably.

    Sadly, Isaac didn''t get to see much of the fight against the Goliath besides during the short period of time where the third main force members shielded them from its rage while they made their way to the staircase leading down to the 18th floor.

    As expected, the Loki Familia campsite that Isaac hadn''t had the chance to have a look at yet soon came into view. It was located in a huge clearing on the outskirts of one of the many forests dotting the landscape. Nearby, there was also a river that fed a few lakes carefully hidden by the trees, providing easy access to a water source. What was of note, however, was that the campsite wasn''t overgrown in the least, even though the Loki Familia only came here every few months. Seemingly due to the strain from having been used as a campsite for tens of years, the plants had taken some long-term damage that wasn''t easy to recover from in such a short time span. In any case, the specifics didn''t really matter. The important part was that they didn''t even need to prepare and clear the campsite extensively before being able to use it.

    "Alright, we''ll rest here for tonight and continue onwards in the morning."

    Finn''s decision was happily accepted by the entire party, who finally had a chance to somewhat relax. Of course, they couldn''t let themselves go completely, as there was still a chance that monsters could appear on this floor. While they weren''t able to spawn here because the 18th floor was a safety point, on rare occasions, they would wander in from the surrounding floors. Even though not many monsters would do so, considering the enormous size and seemingly endless monster population of the dungeon, that number was still a quite staggering amount. Thankfully, one only had to take out all monsters currently on the floor or in the vicinity to achieve a much higher degree of security on safety points like this, which made them so popular to begin with.

    Before everybody could start to kick back and relax, the members of the first and second main forces spread out into the surroundings to scour them for any possible threats and to exterminate those wherever they came across them. This would still not eliminate the need to station some guards on the perimeter of the campsite, but it would significantly lessen their workload.

    In the meantime, the supporter teams got busy as well. After setting down their burdens, the teams set up all of the party''s large tents and got to preparing some firewood from the surrounding forest. During all of this, Isaac smoothly fulfilled his role, seeming just like a seasoned supporter. The reason for this was that even in his old world, Isaac had worked with tents on multiple occasions. Factoring in the supporter crash course from a few days ago, where he had to help his squad members set up a few of the ones they now used as well, everything worked out without a problem.

    About an hour later, at around 6 p.m., the entire expedition party had reconvened at the campsite. Bete and the third main force had successfully slain the Goliath and joined the other main forces in searching the surroundings afterward. By now, everyone had taken a bath in one of the forest''s lakes as well. Of course, there was no mixed bathing and there was also always the option to take a bucket of water and clean oneself in a more secluded location. This, of course, was what Isaac chose to do, as he wasn''t particularly fond of walking around in his birthday suit in front of others.

    Everyone besides the few unlucky main force members who were chosen to be responsible for the night''s first watch had already started to make and eat dinner together. Because of the huge amount of people present, however, everyone sat around multiple bonfires and certain people flocked towards each other. Although nobody had told them to, everyone found themselves seated next to their fellow main force or supporter team members. Even Isaac followed this pattern, as he had just followed along with what the others were doing. So without any other pressing matters to take care of, he was having some small-talk over a bowl of stew. At that moment, however, his surroundings suddenly turned quiet and all of his fellow supporters froze up a little.

    Although he had been a little bit confused by the situation for a moment, once he noticed the envy on Cedar''s face becoming a little more pronounced, Isaac could already venture a good guess as to what was happening. And after turning around, his suspicions were confirmed, as he was greeted by Ais'' gentle smiling face.

    While observing the two love birds, who were just gazing into each others'' eyes with affectionate smiles, the first one of the supporter team members to break out of their surprise-induced stupor was Line. As she was quite close to most of the familia''s Executives, it wasn''t as much of a shock to her for the Sword Princess to approach her, although it was definitely a little unusual.

    "Do you want to eat with us today, Ais?"

    Before Ais had even gotten a chance to reply, Line had already motioned at the others to make some space right next to Isaac. As this was originally her plan anyway, though, Ais didn''t have a problem with this arrangement. With that in mind, she gave Line an appreciative nod.

    "Thank you."

    Without wasting any more time standing around, she sat down next to Isaac and joined the circle, who had still not regained its prior liveliness. But this time, it didn''t fall upon Line''s shoulders to deal with the awkwardness again, as Randi had also adapted to the unfamiliar situation and began to defuse it.

    "All of you, relax. Let''s welcome our princess with a nice feast!"

    Her roaring but encouraging laughter was accompanied by two heavy slapping sounds, as she had just patted the backs of the ones closest to her, which were now grimacing in pain. Thankfully, the pain was only fleeting and soon, the jovial mood from before had returned. Orba, who seemed to be quite the experienced cook and had therefore been delegated to that duty, happily made some more of the delicious but simple stew he had provided them with earlier.

    But a couple of minutes later, there was yet another interruption. With quite a lot of force, someone had suddenly jumped at and hugged Isaac from behind. He was even struggling to stay seated, while his back started to ache painfully. Well, by the absence of certain fat cushions, he could easily deduce the identity of his ''attacker''. To be honest, though, the smell, the skin colour and the fact that she was the only one in the entire expedition party that would assault him like this gave it away as well. It truly wasn''t a surprise - Tiona had arrived. What was slightly unusual, though, was that the first one the chipper Amazoness talked to wasn''t actually him.

    "Hey, Ais! Why did you sneak off to see him all on your own?"

    During her question, Tiona''s hug got progressively tighter which caused Isaac''s expression to turn a bit exasperated while his right hand, which had happily been held by Ais, twitched slightly. With his other hand, Isaac was hurriedly trying to remove the Amazoness'' arms from his body, although he was ultimately unsuccessful.

    In response to all of this, an unhappy pout stole itself on Ais'' face, while she swiftly helped Isaac out of his predicament by easily wrenching open Tiona''s vice grip with one hand.

    "Because I wanted us to be alone together¡­"

    Finally free again, Isaac turned his head to face Tiona and released a small sigh.

    "I have no problem with you hugging me, but please don''t crush my ribs next time, okay?"

    A wry smile played across his lips as he began to divert some of his attention to mending his slightly cracked ribs. The force Tiona had used before hadn''t been deadly by any means, but considering his current stats, it was still far beyond his Endurance threshold. Even though he wasn''t nearly as mentally affected by pain as other people, that didn''t mean he didn''t actually feel it, so he would much rather prefer to not have to suffer.

    While Tiona''s bright smile turned a little stiff for a moment, she soon laughed the entire situation off, as Isaac didn''t seem to be too injured. On top of that, he had even allowed her to hug him in the future, which was a big win in her book. Little did she know that Isaac viewed hugs a little bit differently than what she might have expected. For him, the act of hugging a person, especially one you considered a friend or a close acquaintance, was a perfectly natural thing to do. There was nothing depraved or ''lewd'' about it, although one could indeed make a hug uncomfortable or into a perverted action by touching places that were off limits. In essence, a hug was just a show of trust and comfort, nothing more, nothing less. And as Isaac didn''t dislike Tiona, he didn''t mind getting hugged by her. To be honest, he wouldn''t mind getting a hug from almost all the people he got along with so far, as there was no bigger connotation behind it in his eyes. Sure, if Isaac had feelings for the other person, the hug might feel a lot more significant, but as this wasn''t the case, it was just a friendly gesture.

    For the record, what had caused Ais to show a slightly displeased expression before wasn''t the fact that Tiona had hugged Isaac but rather, it was his reaction which told her that something was wrong. Of course, it would have been a different story if Tiona turned the friendly hug into something more s.e.x.u.a.l, but as it stood, it wasn''t anything weird.

    Of course, with Tiona arriving at the scene, Tione wasn''t far behind. Still, compared to Ais, the Amazoness twins were a lot better at fitting in wherever they went, as they had quite approachable and friendly personalities, compared to the Sword Princess, who usually gave off an air of aloofness. After all, Ais had been very quiet all this time, only occasionally praising the food and holding Isaac''s hand. If she was someone that could easily be overlooked and blended into the background, that wouldn''t be a bad thing, but because of her ethereal appearance and her now much more expressive face, she often accidentally became the center of attention.

    In any case, all in all, it was a nice evening. Still, some of the males in the circle couldn''t help but grow a little bit jealous of Isaac, as he was flanked by both Ais and Tiona. To their chagrin, he even continually avoided the advances and romantic actions of the cute Amazoness. Whether it were her attempts to feed him, the smooches she wanted to place on his cheeks or the times where she tried to hug his arm and rub her b.r.e.a.s.ts against it¡­ on second thought, maybe there really wasn''t anything to be envious off with the last one. Still, they couldn''t help thinking about how they would definitely act differently if they were in the situation he was in. But anyway, this slight amount of envy wouldn''t influence how they saw him, it was just a tiny bit annoying to have to look at.

    Surprisingly, Cedar didn''t act out this entire time. In fact, he was on his best behaviour yet. Ever since Ais had arrived, while he had initially looked at Isaac in displeasure, soon, a melancholic look appeared on his face. He didn''t try to make life difficult for Isaac at all and didn''t try to appeal to Ais in any way either. He just turned a lot more mellow than before, as if he had suddenly lost his edge. From time to time, a bitter smile flashed across his lips, but he hid that well enough so that nobody else really noticed it.

    No matter how fun of an evening it was, all good things had to come to an end. At around 9 p.m., when Tiona was still clinging to Isaac like a leech, she suddenly got pulled away from him, which caused her to turn around in annoyance. Right when she wanted to complain to whoever had interrupted her, she quickly quietened down, while she showed a resigned and sad expression. This quickly attracted the attention of everyone else, who focused their eyes on the new arrival.

    "It''s bedtime, girls."

    Doing her moniker of ''mother hen'' justice, Riveria had arrived to get Ais, Tiona and Tione to get some early rest. Although she knew that the three wouldn''t endanger the expedition by not getting enough sleep, they would surely cut back on it until they reached the bare minimum, which, in her opinion, wasn''t a good thing to do. As it had been anything but the first time she went to tug the girls in, the Amazoness sisters didn''t put up any resistance and just followed along quietly. Ais, on the other hand, did show a conflicted look while glancing back and forth between Riveria and Isaac, before finally leaving with the rest of the girls after wishing everyone a good night.

    Taking Riveria''s appearance as a cue, Line also ordered the team to go to their respective tents and rest up nicely. Of course, not everyone could have their own tent, so Isaac was paired up with the other two males on his squad, Auroch and Cedar. The former was a somewhat quiet but especially warm-hearted person who was really easy to get along with. He rarely got into any arguments and preferred a peaceful environment. The latter, however, did have his issues, so Isaac couldn''t yet tell how this would all turn out.

    The tents they were all resting in were quite large and had multiple partitions. The biggest one right at the entrance was determined to be the communal area, while three smaller partitions at the sides contained their sleeping bags. This way, they could all have some privacy and enough space to get some comfortable rest. Even a few portable magic stone lamps were available. In any case, such a relatively luxurious housing arrangement for the supporters wasn''t a huge surprise, as the Loki Familia was filthy rich. They could easily get the best of any kind of equipment and supplies they wanted and they certainly didn''t skimp on the expedition party''s living arrangements.

    After they had all changed into some comfortable clothes, the three decided to spend some more time in the communal area as it was still quite early. Too much sleep would be more of a bother than a help, after all. To Isaac''s surprise, Cedar simply ignored him and Auroch - although that was quite hard to do with their large frames - and took out his journal. Without paying them any attention, he wrote down some words that Isaac didn''t attempt to read, as he truly didn''t feel a need to infringe upon the elf''s privacy. This current change in behaviour was a welcome one, so Isaac didn''t mind it whatsoever.

    For about an hour, he and Auroch made some casual conversation before all three of them finally felt like it was about time to get some sleep, so they excused themselves and went into their own partitions before lying down in their sleeping bags.

    Although today might have seemed uneventful, Isaac had been hard at work this entire time. He had taken the opportunity to work on his mana cultivation and had steadily increased the amounts of circulating mana drops. So far, after he had reached Foundation Establishment, the only benefit those additional drops gave him were a slightly faster access to mana when manipulating his surroundings or casting magics, but if he continually increased the number, Isaac was convinced that something would change, although he couldn''t yet be sure what exactly it would be. His first goal would be to add all of the drops of mana in his mental layer to his channels. Now that he most likely wouldn''t be updating his Status for a while, this was the perfect opportunity to catch up with the growth of his Magic stat.

    By the time Isaac determined that both Auroch and Cedar had fallen into a deep slumber, he had made it all the way to 2397 drops. Now, it was finally time.

    Would Isaac simply waste the entire night? Obviously, he wouldn''t. While he had decided that he would still sleep about two hours every night, to reach that four hour minimum he had to satisfy every two days, the rest of the night would be used to gather some more AP and continue his dungeon exploration. After all, he could teleport anywhere whenever he wanted, there was no need for him to sit still. While there was definitely a chance that something could occur at the campsite while he was gone, the probability of somebody coming to find him first was pretty low. As Ais'' senses were quite sharp, she would likely be one of the first ones to wake up and if something truly happened, they had already agreed that she would send him a message via the system, telling him to come back immediately. Well, the only problematic thing that could happen would be someone checking whether Isaac was in his partition of the tent in the middle of the night, but as that would be a very creepy thing to do and it was very unlikely, especially with his tent mates fast asleep, he could risk stepping out for a while. Even if someone did notice his empty sleeping bag, they would probably just assume that he went to relieve himself.

    With Isaac''s masterful body control, it was easy for him to change into his dungeon delving attire without making a sound. Then, after checking the system map for where he had stopped his grinding session the last time, Isaac silently teleported to the fourth floor.

 Chapter 50 - All Bark And No Bite

    Thanks to recently updating his Status, Isaac''s speed had increased significantly. In fact, it had almost doubled compared to back when he had just gained his Divine Blood. As a result, his monster slaying and dungeon exploration speed had improved by leaps and bounds as well. So even though he only spent about four hours on the fourth floor tonight, his Level 1 monster slaying achievement had progressed to 17.290/18.000, while his AP had increased to 13.951 by the time he returned. Nothing unusual had happened tonight - after all, why would it? If something abnormal happened all the time, it would stop being abnormal and turn into the new normal instead.

    -----

    Because they had been informed that they would set off at 6 a.m. sharp today, Isaac left his tent fully clad in his adventuring attire at about 4:45 a.m.. This time, he hadn''t made any effort to keep the noise down while changing, instead, he had even consciously made a ruckus until he had made sure that his tent mates had woken up. He didn''t want them to bog down the party by sleeping for too long, after all.

    While taking a look around, he, somewhat surprisedly, noticed that only the occupants of one tent were already waiting outside - Line, Tanzi and Aselina. Seemingly, everyone else had a tough time waking up this early in the morning. If Isaac had to venture an educated guess, it would be that Line had been the one who had dragged the others out of bed.

    As if to provide further proof for his hypothesis, after exchanging "Good morning"s, Line resolutely rose from her seat and straightened out her attire.

    "I better wake everyone up, we don''t want to be late!"

    With these words, she hurried off towards the three tents whose inhabitants hadn''t assembled yet. But as he didn''t care about all of this, Isaac simply sat down next to the other two girls while waiting. He would have felt a little bit awkward if he was the only one standing.

    As both Tanzi and Aselina were usually quiet and didn''t initiate conversations of their own, besides the initial greetings, they didn''t exchange any other words. Line had been the one who had kept the previous chat going but now that she was gone, silence had descended.

    During this time, Tanzi, as always, had a calm smile plastered on her face and was observing Isaac, occasionally blinking. Honestly, it was somewhat unnerving. Isaac had never seen Tanzi show anything but a smile. He much rather preferred the company of the somewhat frosty raccoon girl, Aselina. After all, she only had a blank look on her face while giving off an unapproachable air, she didn''t stare at him.

    Nevertheless, the atmosphere was quite nice, as Isaac didn''t like to talk too much either. But as always, good things didn''t last long. The relaxing silence was interrupted by Kell, Bryce and Orba who were chased out of their tent by a stern Line, hurriedly putting on the last pieces of their equipment.

    "Geez, cut us some slack!"

    Bryce''s complaints were completely ignored by Line, who was already on her way to Randi and Claire''s tent. Auroch and Cedar had left their tent shortly after Bryce''s complaint, so almost everyone was gathered now.

    The cold attitude he had been treated with didn''t bother Bryce as all, as the mischievous cat boy let his gaze wander around before finally settling on Aselina. With a bright grin, he walked up to her and patted her head.

    "Good morning, Icey!"

    In response, the girl showed a small smile and nodded, clearly not really sure of how to handle the situation. Still, this didn''t bother the cat boy, as he simply sat down between her and Tanzi, showing no sense of shame. But because this kind of behaviour wasn''t anything unusual for him, nobody paid him much attention. Even the two girls in question didn''t react much to his boisterous actions. After all, they had grown used to it a long time ago.

    This all continued until Randi and Claire left their tent, which was located behind where Tanzi, Bryce, Aselina and Isaac were seated.

    Before the hearty boaz even had a chance to greet everyone, she noticed something. It was Bryce''s hand, which was slowly but surely creeping closer to Aselina''s tail. Most likely, he wanted to play a prank on or get some kind of reaction out of her - it wasn''t anything unusual. Still, Randi''s gaze turned noticeably angry.

    Seemingly perceiving something, Bryce suddenly pulled back his hand, almost instinctively, but the damage was already done. Before he could fully realize what was happening, two strong hands had grabbed his shoulders from behind, before raising him up and placing him down next to Isaac, far away from Aselina. And yet, the hands didn''t leave his shoulders.

    The moment he had seen Randi close in on the cat boy, Orba, who had been observing the whole thing, momentarily showed a gloating smile, before shaking his head exasperatedly and muttering to himself.

    "When will he finally learn¡­?"

    While the pressure on his shoulders was increasing by the second, Randi''s lively and seemingly harmless voice entered Bryce??s ears.

    "Seems like you''ve been playing around while I wasn''t looking, eh?"

    Aselina was somewhat socially inept - she honestly didn''t know how to behave or what even was considered to be appropriate in a social setting. Because of this, Bryce often took advantage of that to tease her a little. Still, he never really went too far. But even this already left a bad taste in Randi''s mouth as if it reminded her of something unpleasant. With that in mind, she tightened her grip even further, causing the cat boy to shed a few tears from his eyes and panickedly nodding his head.

    "I got it, I got it!"

    Only after he had yielded did Randi let go of him with a threatening smile, before finally relaxing and sitting down in Bryce''s former spot and giving the confused raccoon girl a gentle hug.

    "Just tell this big sister if someone''s bullying you, okay?"

    Although the look of confusion on her face only deepened, Aselina nodded. She had long ago realized that even if she didn''t know what was going on, if she simply nodded, everything would be solved.

    While Bryce was rubbing his shoulders with a somewhat exasperated and pained expression, a loud clap attracted everyone''s attention. To nobody''s surprise, the source of it was Line.

    "No more playing around. Eat breakfast and then get ready to pack up everything and depart!"

    Admittedly, Line''s stern expression looked a lot more cute than threatening, but nobody went against her order. After all, they weren''t stupid enough to ignore their tasks while on an expedition. There was a time and a place for everything.

    -----

    As the vast majority of the entrances to the 19th floor were located in the trunk and between the roots of the enormous tree next to Rivira, the expedition party had to pass through there as well. Obviously, nobody was stupid enough to bar their path and they got to the staircases without a problem. Some of Rivira''s residents even mirrored the citizens of Orario and cheered for them, wishing them good luck and a safe return. It was a lot more subdued than on the surface, though, because there were a lot less people here. In any case, they had nothing to lose from hoping for their success.

    What followed was almost a carbon copy repeat of what happened yesterday. Incredibly large numbers of monsters assaulted them unceasingly while the main force members cut them down as fast as they could, opening up a path for the supporters and the supplies they carried. Still, because the Loki Familia''s strength was at the very top of all familias, the mere Level 2 monsters that stood in their way were practically no different from the mostly Level 1 monsters they had faced yesterday. They simply weren''t a threat. Nonetheless, everybody kept alert, just in case something went horribly wrong.

    During all of this, Isaac noticed a couple of monster species that he hadn''t encountered and researched before and took note of the respective floors they found them on. Seeing how he only saw a handful of them even under these circ.u.mstances, they seemed to be incredibly rare and he would have to spend quite a bit of time to actually come across them on his own if he wanted to research them in the future. However, that wasn''t sufficient to deter Isaac from doing so.

    By the time the expedition party had reached the stairs to the 25th floor, the entrance to the Water City, seven hours had already passed. As it had taken them an hour to advance to each new floor, one might think they had kept a steady pace throughout, but this wasn''t the case. They had slowly been increasing their speed, because the distance between staircases got bigger the further down they went. If larger parts of all known floors had been mapped by adventurers so far, it might be possible to discover a more ideal path, but this simply wasn''t the case.

    Because Isaac was somewhat bored, even though he had been circulating drops of mana and focusing on his surroundings all this while, keeping a lookout for potential dangers, he suddenly thought of something. He had never gone past the Water City and had no clue about what lay beyond. With that in mind, he turned to Claire, who was walking in between him and Cedar. The three of them were following the cart that Randi and Auroch were pulling.

    "By the way, what''s the next safety point?"

    He had been wondering about when they were going to rest again. After all, the only other safety point he knew about was on the 50th floor but with their current pace, reaching all the way there in a day seemed utterly unrealistic. There were probably still a few floors that they would rest on until then.

    A surprised look flashed across Claire''s face, before a wide grin settled in.

    "I wonder¡­ should I tell you~?"

    Her surprise had to be expected, after all, to all his fellow supporters, Isaac had seemed exceedingly knowledgeable all this time. Only the people who had accompanied him on his daily dungeon delves knew that he didn''t know much and discovered everything step by step on his own. Because of this, when he saw her teasing expression, Isaac only showed a wry smile and didn''t blame her for it, before giving a short nod.

    "Please do. That''d be great."

    As if she had just heard something delightful, a giggle escaped Claire''s mouth.

    "I will tell you, but only if I get something in return. There is no free meal in this world, after all."

    Isaac rolled his eyes at her stinginess but didn''t mind it too much. After all, she was only teasing him a little. If he couldn''t even deal with something like that, how could he have survived his early childhood? Also, it wasn''t like he was averse to doing her a small favour in return, so he decided to hear her out. If he didn''t like the deal, he could always refuse and wait until they reached the next safety point naturally. His curiosity would simply be sated a little bit later, that was all.

    "So, what do you want?"

    Somewhat surprised by his non-refusal, Claire was stunned for a moment before returning to her senses. A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes for a second, before she carefully hid it and glanced at him while trying to appear a little seductive.

    "How about a massage?"

    For a moment, there was only silence, while Isaac tried to determine whether she was kidding or not with a somewhat blank look on his face. Then Cedar, who had been walking alongside them quietly, couldn''t take it anymore.

    Claire''s behaviour had only worsened over time and mostly thanks to a certain cat boy''s influence, she was slowly turning into a female version of Bryce. She always tried to play pranks on or tease the guys around her while gaining some benefits. While thinking of what her intentions might be, a vein almost popped on Cedar''s forehead. Did she believe she was the heroine of a harem story?!

    With every intention to ruin her current fun, even though he would be doing ''that guy'' a favour in the process, Cedar opened his mouth.

    "It''s the 29th floor."

    Hearing the otherwise somewhat hostile Elf''s words, Isaac was a little surprised but nonetheless, he shot Cedar an appreciative look before nodding gratefully. In response, Cedar simply looked away with a snort, not bothering with the conversation any longer. Still, Isaac was glad to see that the Elf''s attitude had only continuously improved.

    While looking at the now unhappily pouting Claire, a mischievous smile appeared on Isaac''s face and he pointed her previous words right back at her.

    "A massage, huh? There is no free meal in this world, so I wonder how I should let you pay me back?"

    Isaac had intended to make the girl think that he would actually give her a massage in exchange for valis or information. Then, when she fell for his trap he would refuse her by saying that he didn''t need whatever she offered, embarrassing her a little. Still, what happened was entirely unexpected.

    In response to his words, Claire''s face rapidly turned a bright red colour, while she quickly looked at the ground. She was behaving extremely shyly and hugging herself while slightly shivering. As if she was a little afraid, she slightly bit her lip. When she thought he wasn''t looking, she stole a glance at him before muttering under her breath.

    "Pervert¡­"

    A perplexed and somewhat exasperated sigh escaped Isaac''s lips. Yes, he had been aware of the incredibly minor, somewhat perverted implications his words could have. But he had chosen them carefully after analyzing all of her behaviour until now. He had thought that responding in the words he chose, which were quite similar to the way she always teased him, would have the best effect. As he usually didn''t behave in the way his words implied, it should be easy for her to realize he was just teasing her a little. Then, she would think about it a little and ''realize'' that he only meant non-sensual goods like valis and information. It might not have been even close to a perfect plan, but it certainly shouldn''t have turned out like this. Who would have thought that she was all bark, no bite?!

    Now that there had been a misunderstanding and her reaction had been so incredibly¡­ innocent, there really was a need to clear things up.

    "Claire, snap out of it. That''s not what I meant!"

    After hearing his words and observing the look on his face for a while, it seemed like the shy Claire was finally convinced and after calming down, she playfully hit Isaac''s shoulder.

    "Geez! Playing me like that¡­"

    -----

    It didn''t take long for the expedition party to reach the 27th floor, a place Isaac had never set foot in before. What made it so different from the 25th and 26th floors was that instead of many small caves and hallways, it was just a single, incredibly huge cavern, whose size couldn''t even be estimated. Most of the ground was taken up by a seemingly endless lake, while the land next to it did contain a few small mountains and cliffs. They were riddled with many water sources like ponds, lakes and rivers.

    On this floor, a lot of new monster species had joined the ones he had encountered on the 25th and 26th floors, but Isaac didn''t have any opportunity to research them right now. After all, it was about time for one of the highlights of the expedition party''s descent, the slaying of Amphisbaena. During this endeavour, the rest of the main forces besides the few that would be deployed to kill the Monster Rex would keep the attacking monsters at bay.

    Because Amphisbaena was a Level 5 floor boss, none of the main force members that weren''t Executives got the opportunity of fighting it - after all, they were still too weak. That was why Finn had already decided on the ones who would face Amphisbaena yesterday: Ais, Tiona, Tione and Bete. If one of the Level 6 adventurers - him, Gareth or Riveria - joined, they wouldn''t gain anything from it, after all.

    As soon as the four arrived at the shores of the incredibly large lake, the Monster Rex seemed to have noticed them and surfaced just a short distance away. As it didn''t move for a moment after that, possibly to observe its prey before the battle began, Isaac finally had a chance to take a closer look at it.

    Amphisbaena was at least 50 meters long and 20 meters wide, although a part of it was still underwater, so he couldn''t be entirely sure - it was just his best guess. Its overall shape was similar to a Western dragon without any wings. The only stark difference was that it had two heads instead of one. The left head''s eyes were blue, while the right one''s were red. Its scales were almost perfectly white. It felt somewhat holy and beautiful, even though its eyes were filled to the brim with bloodl.u.s.t.

    Sadly, Isaac didn''t have much more time to appreciate the view. Although Bete would normally be the most feral out of the ones chosen to fight, this time, his presence seemed incredibly weak next to Tiona. She exuded a completely different air than usual and even Ais seemed to be a little incensed, as she frowned deeply while looking at the twin-headed dragon. This baffled Bete a little, as he had no clue why his generally quite harmless-seeming companions had suddenly turned so vicious. This was far from the first time they fought this monster, after all.

    "It''s time for revenge!!"

    With rarely seen hatred burning in her eyes, Tiona squeezed out these words from between her lips, causing Isaac to show a somewhat guilty smile. Tiona didn''t give him any further time to think about his past decisions, however, as she barrelled towards Amphisbaena at full speed in the next moment, quickly followed by the other three.

    Sadly, however, the four Level 5 adventurers and the Level 5 Amphisbaena were far faster than what Isaac could follow with his eyes, which made the entire battle feel a little anticlimactic. Only every now and then did he catch glimpses of it. Again and again, blood fountains erupted, followed by breath attacks. A crimson mist surrounded the white dragon as well, which, after he had asked about it, was explained to be one of the dragon''s two breath attacks - a defensive technique that could diffuse magic. It was the main reason Lefiya and other mages, who could usually deal damage to far stronger opponents than themselves, weren''t included in the battle.

    The ground started to shake more and more and it almost made some of the supporters lose their footing. Occasionally, Tiona and Tione got flung away but when they got up again, Isaac could clearly observe that they had gotten stronger. The reason was most likely a Skill but as he wasn''t familiar with their Status'', he couldn''t be sure. Well, in any case, if the ever-growing mist of blood in the water wasn''t there, Isaac wouldn''t have been entirely sure of who had the upper hand.

    Ultimately, the battle continued for almost ten minutes, before it was concluded underwater. Sometime before, Amphisbaena had already lost one of its heads to one of Ais'' attacks. The fatal blow was dealt by Tiona, however, who ripped off the retreating Monster Rex'' remaining head with pure strength that had continuously increased during the battle. After she had done so, it felt like a huge burden was lifted from her chest and she quickly swam back ashore, leaving the task of looting the corpse to Tione.

    Speaking of, the salvaged magic stone was far bigger than any Isaac had seen before - it was multiple meters in diameter and was unhesitatingly stored on one of the supporter teams'' carts. It was sure to fetch quite the incredible price up on the surface. Additionally, Tiona also came back with what looked to be a huge organ, almost as big as herself. But as Isaac wasn''t an expert on Amphisbaena or dragon physiology, he had no clue what it was. Still, a drop item from a Monster Rex was sure to be worth a lot of money, so it was placed right next to the magic stone.

    Before Isaac could worry about whether the organ would slowly decay now that it was separated from its host and whether it needed to be stored in a different manner, a slightly wet and bruised Tiona charged his way and gave him a - compared to last time - more gentle hug, all the while laughing wildly.

    "Hehe, did you see that? I avenged you!"

    Judging from everyone''s confused expressions, that proved that they were still somehow able to divide enough attention to focus on such a pointless conversation while dealing with the many Monster Parties, Isaac felt like he needed to clear things up. Still, weren''t they quite a lot less strained than he had thought?

    "Yeah, you did great. But the way you said it makes it sound like I died."

    Although she was happy that Isaac was appreciatively patting her back in an attempt to reward her for her efforts, Tiona still pouted a little when she heard the latter part of his words.

    "You almost did¡­"

    For what felt like the n-th time today, a wry smile stole itself on Isaac''s face, while he tried to softly end the hug that had been going on for a little longer than he was comfortable with.

    "It would take a lot more than that to kill me, don''t worry."

    With that said, he shot a pleading gaze at Ais, who was approaching them steadily. Thankfully, the golden-haired beauty immediately understood and freed him of Tiona''s clutches, but not before asking Isaac for a hug of her own. Even though Isaac wouldn''t have minded that hug continuing until the end of time, Finn''s cough returned him to reality and made him scratch the back of his head in embarrassment. Hadn''t he decided to not bog down the party? Then what was he doing right now?

    Thankfully, nobody seemed to mind the slight hold-up too much, although a few people were certainly cursing the PDA under their breaths. Honestly, they couldn''t be faulted. It was just like a millionaire ignorantly flaunting his wealth in front of starving children - somewhat atrocious.

    With everything back on track, Finn grasped his spear and led the way towards the 28th floor.

    "The toughest of today''s battles has already been fought and we''re almost at the safety point. But don''t let your guard down just yet!"

    Even though most people would have grown tired of the repeated warnings by now, none of the expedition party members were foolish enough to ignore them. Their lives were at stake, after all. Although some small amounts of relaxedness couldn''t be helped, they would always stay vigilant.

 Chapter 51 - Ten Floors

    The 28th to 32nd dungeon floors were called the ''Green Wasteland''. Apparently, from here on out, it wasn''t unusual for safety points to ''interrupt'' thematic zones of the dungeon, rather than divide them. As for the name, it was rather perplexing if one hadn''t experienced the floors for themself. The ''green'' part had been chosen because the entirety of these floors was covered in rapidly growing, dense jungles, filled with many long extinct and alien-looking plants. Mountains, rivers and lakes also dotted the landscape. All in all, the floor normally looked like a beautiful painting, perfectly showcasing mother nature.

    Once expedition parties entered these floors, however, all of this changed rapidly. Due to the vast amounts of Monster Parties they attracted, the environment was all but destroyed in mere moments, leaving behind a barren expanse for as far as the eye could see.

    Ever since the beginning of the 28th floor, Level 3 monsters started to appear en masse, all of them reptilian and dinosaur-esque in nature. They had a clearly mesozoic vibe to them.

    Thankfully, none of them spawned on the 29th floor, so after cleaning up the few that wandered in from the surrounding floors, almost all of the breathtaking scenery was preserved. At this safety point, the Loki Familia also had something akin to a campsite. For a few years, before the Top Executives reached their currently high Levels, this had been the frontier they rested on during expeditions. But for a few decades now, it had only been used as a temporary stop to recuperate.

    In one of the mountain ranges quite close to the staircase they had entered the floor from, there was a hidden valley, only accessible by pushing aside several large, seemingly naturally arranged boulders that had been placed there to obscure the entrance. Honestly, after entering the several hundred meters wide and deep valley, it actually seemed to be more of a grotto or cavern. After all, light did only enter the place via a very small crack in the ceiling. It could be argued that it could be a cliff in between two mountains, but it just looked like parts of the ceiling of this cave had collapsed a long time ago.

    While the main force members were exterminating the few pterodactyl-like flying monsters that had made this place their nest, Isaac couldn''t help but have a bad feeling about the situation.

    Yes, it was indeed hard to find and attack this place from the outside. It was great for staying hidden and protected. But once one was found, the security and ''snugness'' this place came with could turn into an early grave. If the exit was blocked and the rest of the ceiling was made to collapse as well, one would be buried alive.

    Admittedly, nothing had ever happened to the familia''s expedition party while they were staying here over the years, but it still wasn''t a good choice. If Isaac was in charge, he would much rather prefer an elevated position or even just an open field. One would be noticed by their enemies a lot easier but one''s own forces would also spot dangers more quickly. In here, too many things could go wrong.

    Thankfully, Finn seemed to be aware of the precariousness of their resting place, as he stationed some of the unlucky main force members chosen to stand guard tonight right outside of the site of the cave in, overlooking the hidden valley from above.

    Once Isaac thought about it a little more, he realized that most of the party members would be strong enough to escape a collapse of this safe haven relatively easily, even while saving their weaker comrades. Maybe that was why the ones in charge didn''t seem too bothered about the danger and would rather focus on hiding their tracks. Still, most of the supplies they were carrying with them would get lost or damaged, as the carts and piles of backpacks couldn''t easily be moved away. So just in case, Isaac prepared some emergency measures. After all, one never knew what could happen, right?

    -----

    Of course, by the time the expedition party left their campsite and continued their descent at about 6 a.m. ¡­ nothing had happened. Isaac''s precautions were for naught. It was somewhat anticlimactic, but little by little, he was growing numb to this feeling of disappointment. He didn''t want Ais and her friends to be in danger but at the same time, he also didn''t want to be bored. Still, there was nothing he could do besides releasing a resigned sigh and doing his job the best he could.

    ''It''s only temporary¡­''

    Words like these constantly crossed his mind.

    Just like the night before, last night, Isaac had teleported out of his tent to further explore the fourth floor and progress his Level 1 monster slaying achievement. Because the main force members seemed to be a little more exhausted than before, everyone entered their tents a bit earlier, which gave him some more time to rack up kills. He ended his grinding session at 21.570/22.000, while his AP total reached 21.731.

    If he had wanted to, Isaac could have already bought his ''Divine Body'' upgrade. Still, he chose to delay this for now. The reason for this was that, after the upgrade would finish and he would return from the spatiotemporal displacement, it was unknown how his Divine Aura would be affected. After all, as far as he knew, the dungeon would go to crazy lengths to exterminate him if it detected even a hint of it. While he could easily completely conceal it right now, while only his blood had seen a qualitative change, he couldn''t be sure about having instant perfect control over it once his entire body changed.

    Isaac''s own safety wasn''t the problem. As previously stated, he could just regenerate even after suffering injuries that would kill any kind of being. Even death wasn''t a possibility. What worried him were the people around him, chief of all Ais. While it was unlikely for the dungeon to create a monster which was too fast for him to even teleport away from, it was still possible. In that case, his beloved may get harmed or even killed, while the rest of the expedition party would be hit by a horrific tragedy. If he was all alone, Isaac wouldn''t mind conducting experiments like this, even though they would most likely cause him a lot of pain. But under the current circ.u.mstances, the risk wasn''t something he was willing to take.

    With thoughts like these, Isaac decided on simply acc.u.mulating his AP for now. By the time they reached the surface again, he could then take many, many steps forward in quick succession. It would be an explosive growth that none of his future adversaries would be able to handle. Most likely, that is. There was always the possibility that he didn''t give them enough credit.

    Thankfully, during today''s march, Isaac''s boredom decreased a little bit, as their pace had increased by a lot. They were still only taking one hour to advance to a new floor, which caused some of the weaker supporters to get visibly strained. Not to the point of where they would keel over any second now, but only to where they would have to take a nice, long rest this coming evening, with little time to fool around.

    When the party reached the end of a staircase leading to the 32nd floor, everything seemed the same as on the previous floors. They had appeared at a slightly elevated position which enabled them to survey the surrounding jungle easily. But there was one thing that was different from before. Many kilometers away, Isaac could vaguely make out a moving hill. It wasn''t big enough to be called a mountain, as it definitely wasn''t thousands of meters tall. But from what he could gather by looking at its surroundings, it should at the very least be about 400 meters in height.

    And it was moving.

    "Is that what I think it is?"

    It had been a rhetorical question, but because he had spoken aloud, Isaac quickly got a reply.

    With a sympathetic look on her face, Claire patted his right shoulder, trying to cheer him up. She had judged his question to be a sign of worry or an expression of feeling inadequate, the same kinds of emotions she had experienced back when she first laid eyes upon that monstrosity.

    "Yep. That''s this floor''s Monster Rex, Tastrophanus. But no worries, a small elite force will split off and face him."

    After Isaac politely thanked her, Claire also mentioned that the floor boss respawned every two months. This was legitimately important information, as he would eventually research even the various Monster Rexes. That would obviously require some planning on his part, as they couldn''t be encountered in droves whenever he wanted to, like almost all other monsters. Knowing the timing, he could now more efficiently hunt them. Still, the respawn times of the various floor bosses were anything but a secret, so it would have been very easy to find out about them.

    Once the party had re-entered the jungle, Isaac lost sight of Tastrophanus for a couple of minutes, but he didn''t have to wait long for the environment to get utterly obliterated by the attacking monsters yet again. Because of this, he soon had a somewhat clear view on the battle that was about to take place.

    Riveria, Ais, Tiona, Tione and Bete were sent to deal with the Monster Rex. This time, even a Level 6 had to come along, so that clearly showcased how much harder this floor boss was to deal with than Amphisbaena, which hadn''t been too much of a threat. Well, at first, that might seem to be the reason, but it actually wasn''t. Tastrophanus was quite slow, even Isaac could somewhat follow the movements of the main body. Only¡­ its defense was orders of magnitude higher than anything encountered before this place. Way stronger firepower was needed to penetrate it.

    While the enormous creature bore more resemblance to a turtle than a dragon or dinosaur, simply because of the mountain-like shell it carried on its back, its head almost looked like a snake. Not like the head of a snake, an entire snake. The neck was extremely long and the head was protruding from the shell for more than a hundred meters. Even more ridiculous was its speed - Isaac couldn''t even see it once it started moving. And just like the rest of its body, it was covered in ridiculously hard, grey-ish scales that made most of the attacks thrown its way utterly useless.

    It would still be possible to overpower it with brute force, but everyone that had been sent its way was definitely not strong enough to be able to do so, judging from how, for an entire minute after the battle had begun, no wounds had been inflicted on Tastrophanus although hundreds of attacks had pelted it like rain. This all changed rather rapidly, however, when an all-engulfing inferno and a bone-chilling blizzard engulfed the hulking monstrosity in rapid succession. The sheer size of the area affected by the Magic honestly impressed Isaac, as, while it only barely covered the entire body of the Monster Rex, that was still hundreds of meters. In any normal scenario, the area of effect would be enough to wipe out thousands of opponents in a couple of seconds. In any case, after these two magical attacks, the previously impervious mountain got quickly shattered by the attacks of the melee combatants and the battle ended within a couple of minutes.

    A slight smile stole itself on Isaac''s face, while his opinion of Riveria improved by a significant amount. The concept of using rapidly changing temperatures to weaken its defense was one of the first tactics he had thought of while casually imagining the best attack strategies for the small elite squad facing Tastrophanus. But he honestly hadn''t expected the knowledgeable High Elf to be aware of the effect such a phenomenon would have. He had underestimated this world''s, or rather Riveria''s, acc.u.mulated wisdom. But instead of being disappointed in himself, he grew more excited. The more the people of this world knew, the more they could entertain him, after all.

    While the rest of the expedition party was on a staircase leading down to the 33rd floor, the split-off group returned with a huge haul. Both huge in value and huge in size, that is. Just like the two Monster Rexes the expedition party had faced before, this one also blessed them with a Drop Item, which made Isaac suspect that the chances for this to happen were significantly higher than usual. Normal monsters would only leave behind a Drop Item one out of ten times, on average. In any case, what Tastrophanus had dropped was an enormous scale even taller than Bete and a Magic Stone a bit bigger than the one from Amphisbaena. Isaac could easily steal a few glances at them whenever he wanted to, as they were loaded onto the cart Orba''s squad was responsible for, which was usually following right behind the trio of Isaac, Claire and Cedar.

    -----

    Haunted Halls. That was what the 33rd to 36th floors of the dungeon were commonly referred to as. The main reason for this was the staggering variety of undead monsters one could come across here. While there weren''t any intangible ones like ghosts or wraiths, there were plenty of skeletons, zombies and ghouls of all kinds. Of course, there were also a few monsters that didn''t follow this trend and were, instead, perfectly normal living beings. Still, the entire place gave off the same vibe Isaac would have expected from a necromancer''s lair, rather than the dungeon he was familiar with. Speaking of familiarity, the environment yet again changed into a labyrinthian layout, this time consisting of hallways, mausoleums and even caverns containing graveyards.

    As for the strength of the monsters endlessly rising from their eternal slumber to slaughter the intruders, some of them almost reached Level 4, while most of them were still Level 3.

    Even the most hardened of adventurers would grow pale at the sights that awaited them on these floors, so it was no surprise that quite a few of the supporters got weak knees and had a hard time keeping up with the pace of the party''s advance. This was just a temporary problem, however, as they quickly snapped out of the nightmarish thoughts clouding their minds. They were veterans and it wasn???t the first time they came here, after all.

    Although he was a little bit spooked by the change, Isaac didn''t let the waves of undead bother him too much. By the time he had decided to travel to new worlds, he had already expected to come across such ghastly scenes.

    What wasn''t temporary, though, was that the increase in the monsters'' strength was starting to take a visible toll on the weaker main force members. After all, they were just Level 4, so dealing with an unceasing assault of monsters that almost reached their standard was legitimately taxing. Only due to their stronger comrades could they hold on in such a situation, as the Level 5s oftentimes cleared out vast swathes of enemies to give their weaker companions some time to catch their breath. Still, in the near future, the combat strategy of the whole party would have to be adjusted.

    Finally, after four hours of very fatiguing battle, they had almost made it to the 37th floor, which marked the beginning of the ''Deep Floors''.

    "Why are we taking a different staircase this time?"

    With a somewhat perplexed look on her face, Claire asked Line, who had been passing by to support her squads while they were descending the stairs.

    "During their last expedition, the Freya Familia slew Udaeus, so we won''t be facing him during our descent. As it takes him three months to respawn, we''ll only get a chance to hunt him on our way back home. So now that we don''t have to stop at his palace, we can take this route, as it is overall slightly faster."

    The bespectacled team leader''s response was very satisfying, so Claire gave her a thankful nod, while a condescending smirk played across Cedar''s lips. It had been obvious what was happening. He had easily deduced the situation himself, so now that he had something he could stroke his own ego over, he wouldn''t miss the chance of doing so - in his thoughts, at least. And who could blame him? After all, he didn''t make a big deal out of it and kept it to himself.

    Observing the two, who were mostly as easy to read as open books, Isaac simply released a sigh while eagerly anticipating what lay beyond the horror movie-esque floors they had just progressed through.

    -----

    "Tsk."

    In short: It was more of the same.

    If he had to give a more detailed summary, it would be this: While the layout and environment had some major changes, a significant portion of the monsters on this floor still consisted of those filthy undead.

    Just for the record, Isaac didn''t dislike the undead simply because they were undead. In fact, he had no problems with them at all as long as they didn''t go out of their way to bother him. But after encountering way more than tens of thousands of them over the past few hours, he had grown a little tired at their sight.

    Another name for the 37th floor was the ''White Palace'', although most adventurers only referred to the main palace Udaeus - the floor''s Monster Rex - resided in when using that description. Besides that one, there was a seemingly endless amount of other palaces, which might even hold more yet undiscovered floor bosses. The reason the floor''s name contained the descriptor ''white'' was that the entirety of the floor - the walls, ground and ceiling - was of that colour. Seeing how skeletons were the only kind of undead still prevalent here made Isaac suspect that the material the environment was fashioned out of was some kind of bone.

    But what were those aforementioned palaces? In a way, they were similar to onions. Yes, the vegetables. If one peeled back a layer, there was another layer quietly waiting beyond, again and again.

    In the center of the palaces, there was an enormous, perfectly circular cavern called the ''Throne Room'', as that was where adventurers had first come across the ''ruler'' of this zone, Udaeus. In other palaces, it mostly just contained a huge number of monsters. Wrapped around that room were four areas known as the ''Knight''s Room'', ''Warrior''s Room'', ''Soldier''s Room'' and the ''Beast''s Room'', in that order. They got progressively larger in size and were divided by walls, which contained labyrinths and mausoleums that got increasingly more complicated in layout and difficult in strength requirement.

    Compared to the mausoleums on the floors they had just passed through, the ones on the 37th floor had a special gimmick: One could only advance past them once a specific amount of monsters had been slain. This could differ from mausoleum to mausoleum, but generally, the ones closer to the Throne Room required a larger number of kills.

    Of course, if one had the power, it would be possible to simply destroy the walls restricting one from leaving the mausoleums. But according to everything Isaac had heard since he had come to this world, it was never a good idea to damage the dungeon itself. As for why that was the case, he planned to find out firsthand in the future.

    All in all, nothing much changed for the expedition party. They were already besieged by endless amounts of monsters, so having to kill groups that seemed paltry in comparison to leave a mausoleum actually gave them some much needed time to catch their breath, rather than hindering them.

    "By the way, what''s between the palaces?"

    Because the staircase that had led them to this floor was located at the very edge of a Beast''s Room, Isaac hadn''t gotten an opportunity to examine how or if the various palaces were connected.

    "Just an endless labyrinth. It''s quite easy to get lost in there and unless you stumble across another palace or somehow find the way back, there won''t be any staircases."

    Although Claire''s reply was quite anticlimactic - as seemed to have become the norm by now - Isaac only got more intrigued. Was that really all there was to this floor? It was possible. But he couldn''t be sure unless he ascertained the truth himself. Wasn''t it quite likely for some rare monster species to be hidden in between these main pathways leading further into the depths?

    Well, no matter what, he couldn''t take a look at the moment. Still, the sheer existence of something in this world evoking his interest was already a win in Isaac''s book. Although the list of such things was ever-growing at the moment, there would inevitably come a day where he had researched it all. The longer it would take to get to that point, the better.

    Before he could become even more distracted, a stern but caring male voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

    "Don''t even think about exploring that area. Not many people have ever returned, as it''s so easy to get lost there. The labyrinths there¡­ are on a completely different level. Rather than monsters, the biggest obstacles are starvation, thirst and exhaustion."

    Orba, who had just been quietly listening to all of the group''s various conversations on the way, didn''t beat around the bush now that he spoke up. It was plain to see that Isaac was interested in exploring outside of the palaces in the future. It might still take him a long time to get the opportunity and strength to do so - Orba couldn''t grasp the speed of Isaac''s improvement yet - but the sooner he understood, the better. If a small party hadn''t made it back by sheer luck, today''s adventurers would most likely still know nothing about what lay beyond. The sacrifices had been way too grave compared to the basically nonexistent payout.

    It was painfully obvious what Orba wanted him to do. Still, ultimately, Isaac''s reply only consisted of a few words.

    "I see¡­"

    If Isaac had to sum up Orba''s personality and role in the supporter team with a single term, it would be ''a big brother''. He always tried his best to protect the ones around him, had a friendly disposition and struggled to keep things harmonious, while shouldering as many burdens as he could. Still, he wasn''t a pushover. If someone truly didn''t want to listen to his advice, he would become quite stern and hard to deal with. Because of this, Isaac didn''t want to cause the young Chienthrope man to try to stop him. It would simply be a hassle to deal with.

    Thankfully, although Isaac''s reply hadn''t been particularly enthusiastic, Orba didn''t doubt him, as they had gotten along splendidly over the past few days. Some downtroddenness over having lost an exciting adventuring opportunity was to be expected, there was no need to rub even more salt into Isaac''s wounds.

    So after giving his junior supporter some kind words of encouragement, Orba fully focused on his duties again. With a determined expression, he wiped off the bit of sweat that had acc.u.mulated on his forehead. It wasn''t much further until they would be able to rest again.

 Chapter 52 - S-Class Third Wheel

    Inhospitable.

    If one had to sum up the dungeon''s 38th to 42nd floors in one word, that would be it. The name of this thematic zone was ''Infernal City'' and from this point onwards, all the monsters encountered would be at least Level 4.

    Quite similar to the Water City, which was interspersed with a lot of water, the Infernal City was home to an abundance of lava. But whereas water was the liquid of life and would bring about a naturally bright and comfortable environment, the exuberant amounts of lava had made these floors into something quite close to the ''hell'' that specific religions had often warned of in Isaac''s old world.

    Charred stones, no vegetation, lava lakes as far as the eye could see. Truly, a horrifying place. Thankfully, there were vast patches of ground in between the various sources of lava, so the heat could still be endured and there actually was a path to follow. Additionally, the higher the stats and Level of an adventurer, the higher their resilience to environments like this with harsh temperatures.

    What should have been in danger were the supplies, carts and backpacks, as they didn''t seem to be fully made out of resilient materials. Thankfully, this wasn''t the case. As soon as the temperature had risen to a specific degree, lots of magical formations enveloped the carts and various backpacks of the supporters, keeping perfectly normal temperatures within. Such formations were incredibly expensive but any expedition party that could make it to these floors would easily be able to spend a few hundred million valis - or even more - on such useful trinkets.

    Isaac hadn''t even noticed the formations and their completely hidden magic stone power sources before, not even on the backpack he was carrying, so before they automatically activated, he had been about to ask one of his senior supporters about how they were going to keep the supplies safe. Thankfully, he didn''t have to.

    The monster species appearing on these floors were mostly made up of fire and lava based ones. Thankfully, there weren''t any elemental creatures or the like - after all, for most adventurers, it would be nigh impossible to deal with a monster simply made out of flames. How would they even hit or effectively damage it? This didn''t mean that there weren''t any dangers around here, though, as there was quite the devious species of lizardmen. Isaac singled them out as the most dangerous ones out of them all. They had the ability to swim and dive in lava and ambushed their enemies from there. Thanks to their relatively small and agile bodies, one couldn''t easily notice them from the lava''s movement either. There were some other, much larger monsters that could also traverse the lava lakes, but thanks to their enormous sizes, they would displace inordinate amounts of lava with every move, making it hard to not instantly spot them.

    In any case, due to the increase in the monsters'' Level, the weaker main force members wouldn''t be able to deal with them head on in these large numbers anymore. So finally, there was a change in the party''s battle strategy.

    Previously, all of the main force mages hadn''t participated in the battles, as it hadn''t been necessary. Everyone else also needed the combat experience and excelia as well, so they had just been on standby all this time. But now, all of them joined the battle, wiping out hundreds and thousands of monsters with area of effect Magics time and time again. Even Riveria had casted a few spells, wiping out all monsters in sight and giving the rest of the main force up to a minute of time to recover every time. While it was clear that the battles were now being taken more seriously, most Level 5 and 6 main force members had yet to truly do their best, they were very far from their limits.

    While the party was getting closer and closer to the stairs leading down to the 39th floor, Riveria was paying a lot of attention to Lefiya, her disciple. The young elf was calmly casting one spell after another. She had yet to fail or panic even once - and that was exactly what made her stand out.

    On all previous expeditions, Lefiya had messed up most of her spells. In fact, the number of spells she actually managed to cast couldn''t be more than a few dozen. The cause of this was quite simple: fear. Lefiya was incredibly afraid of monsters¡­ or to be more exact, of getting hurt. As soon as an opponent surpassed her in strength, although magic would make the difference in stats almost irrelevant, she couldn''t help but get weak knees or even close her eyes. Needless to say, doing something as difficult as casting a spell, which she was able to do flawlessly in a controlled environment, was a lot more difficult - if not impossible - while her mind was getting rattled by such feelings.

    Too often, the other main force members had had to save Lefiya from difficult situations. Still, due to her incredible magical potential and the fact that they were comrades, they had never discouraged her. Well, except for Bete. Everyone else had often told her that she needed to learn to trust and rely on them more, as they would keep her safe. There was no need to be afraid, she could just cast away. They would be her shield, her safety net. Still, while she had made some small steps in the right direction, it had never been enough.

    Now, Lefiya seemed almost like an entirely different person. She exuded a certain confidence and calmness, words that would have never been used to describe her before. While she would still most likely die instantly if the monsters that she currently slaughtered en masse managed to get too close to her, it didn''t look like she was too worried about such things anymore.

    The cause of this was Isaac''s training. Due to her improving her close quarters combat abilities, she had started to subconsciously believe that she wouldn''t be entirely helpless if she faced much stronger opponents. After all, compared to before, her acquired instincts would now enable her to move a few centimeters before she was slain. If she was especially lucky, she might even be able to redirect an incoming attack. Admittedly, the chances of the latter happening were quite small, but it wasn''t impossible. Ultimately, her end would still be the same: death.

    But while she would have previously been utterly powerless, without the ability to even attempt to resist, she would now at least be able to put up a vain fight. This subconscious knowledge helped her overcome her fear.

    Of course, trust in her comrades could have also achieved a similar effect. But only if it reached the absolute limits, transforming into a belief. But while such fanaticism could indeed enable one to surpass their limits, it was far from stable and safe growth. It could even heavily backfire - it was just a gamble. Lefiya''s subconscious belief in herself was far more valuable than what she could have gained from believing in her comrades. After all, if she one day lost her comrades, wouldn''t she then be completely unable to put up a fight and defend herself? Reliance on others wasn''t necessarily a bad thing, but only if one could also stand on one''s own two feet, facing dangers all alone.

    What was amusing was that Lefiya hadn''t even noticed her monumental change yet, while everyone else had. Bete, who had already prepared himself to ridicule her - as always - to spur on her growth just kept quiet. Most others simply smiled, happy about her progress.

    Riveria herself also gratefully and approvingly nodded her head, although she was a little bit vexed. For years now, everyone had tried to help Lefiya overcome her fears¡­ unsuccessfully. But now that Isaac came along, it had only taken him a couple of days to resolve the problem at its roots.

    A sigh escaped Riveria''s lips, while she thought about all the changes that Isaac had brought to the various members of the familia so far.

    Loki had reined in her deviant behaviour a little bit. Finn had acknowledged his wisdom. Bete had dug his own grave. Tione had found a new friend. Tiona had fallen in love. Lefiya had overcome her fears and Ais had begun to value something other than strength and revenge.

    The mostly taciturn, expressionless High Elf couldn''t help but smile slightly. Yes, even she herself had changed a little.

    Thinking about the specifics, Riveria''s smile turned a bit wry.

    She had gotten a lot more busy. Because there was now an additional person she had to worry about. Another child to care for.

    -----

    Sometimes, children grew up too fast and it was hard to let them go.

    Riveria showed a conflicted expression while she looked at Ais, who had come to talk to her shortly after they had arrived on the 39th floor, the safety point they would spend the rest of the day and night at.

    In just a couple of minutes, the main force members had slain all of the monsters around and the party had arrived at a place relatively far away from the nearest lava lakes. Here, the temperatures were almost normal, so they started to set up camp. Thankfully, they had brought a lot of water as part of their supplies, so they wouldn''t have to worry about missing a water source at this safety point. Still, as they wouldn''t be able to take baths today, everyone would at most be able to wipe themselves down. It was far from a thorough cleansing, but it would have to suffice. For adventurers, it wouldn''t be tough to not shower for a day. In fact, it was something extremely easy to deal with. After all, at the next safety point, they would be able to enjoy some quality bathing time again, so there was no reason to be distraught or think about it too much.

    After the supporters had started to set up the camp, most of the main force members had dispersed into the surroundings, cleaning up any monsters they stumbled across.

    In any case, to get back on track, what currently worried Riveria was what Ais had requested of her. While releasing a sigh, just to confirm whether or not she had misheard her, she questioned the young beauty.

    "So you want to share a tent with Isaac tonight?"

    Without much of a change in expression, Ais nodded. A light blush crept on her cheeks.

    Now that she had confirmed that Ais was serious, Riveria decided to first hear her out before potentially needlessly chiding her. Such a request wouldn''t just come out of the blue, after all.

    "Why?"

    "If Isaac is with me, I feel safer. And I really want to feel safe tonight."

    It was such a pure and innocent answer. Also, Ais truly wasn''t the kind of girl who would do obscene things in a place as dangerous as this. Due to this, Riveria couldn''t really bring herself to deny her. After all, there were quite a few couples amongst the familia''s main forces and supporters - and all of them got their own, separate tents. Nobody disagreed with that treatment either. Now that there was Ais, a girl wholly untouched by lewd desires, a girl who just wanted to be a little bit closer to the person she loved¡­

    Another sigh escaped Riveria''s lips. She had already been trying to steel herself, but she still felt like she had just grown a couple of years older.

    Isaac had already promised her that he wouldn''t mistreat Ais. And from everything she had observed over the past couple of weeks, he had been an exclusively positive influence on her little girl. After all, Ais had almost never shown a smile before, and now it was hard to see her without one whenever she was with him or thought about him. Previously, her heart had been burdened by an unquenchable thirst for revenge but now she had mellowed out a lot. And even more than that¡­ Isaac felt trustworthy. He had confided some of his secrets in Riveria, quite easily as well. Once someone showed another person a lot of trust, it was hard to not trust them to a similar degree in return. As that was a subconscious reaction, it couldn''t be helped.

    Yes, the mother hen had been won over a long time ago.

    "Fine, fine. But your bedtime will still be the same."

    Hearing these words, an incredibly bright smile blossomed on Ais'' face, one that almost made Riveria breathless. Although she had grown up surrounded by heavenly beauties, Ais was simply too extraordinary. Even a High Elf was easily outclassed.

    "Thank you, Riveria!"

    After a couple of seconds of distraction, Riveria snapped out of it and glanced at Isaac in the far off distance. Thanks to her high Level and stats, her eyesight was far beyond what should have realistically been possible. Currently, Isaac was helping his fellow supporters set up a few tents. While she was silently observing him, for a brief moment, Riveria''s motherly instincts overruled her rationality and hostility flashed in her eyes.

    ''I know you won''t do it¡­ but if you ever harm my little Ais, I will kill you.''

    Over at the campsite, Isaac suddenly felt a frightening amount of danger. It was as if a ferocious, immemorial beast had set its sight upon him, ready to tear him apart at the drop of a hat. Cold sweat started to pour down his back.

    Slightly surprised, Isaac raised an eyebrow and took a look around, trying to determine the origin of the dangerous gaze. But before he could do so, the feeling had disappeared and a look of confusion appeared on his face.

    ''What the hell just happened?''

    -----

    About an hour later, Riveria had asked Isaac to accompany her for a bit and she led him to one of the tents of the main forces, in front of which Ais and Lefiya were already waiting for them. Apparently, both of them had been called over here as well.

    "Alright, now that we''re all here, I can explain. Starting from today, Isaac, you will stay in the same tent as Ais."

    This declaration didn''t surprise the man in question much, as Ais had already told him via the system that they would be able to stay together tonight, so he could keep watch over her. Still, why was Lefiya here?

    Very quickly, that question resolved itself.

    "What?! Then where am I going to stay?"

    Although she had gotten a little bit distracted at first, blushing and fantasizing about quite a lot of indecent things, Lefiya quickly snapped out of it as she noticed a problem. Previously, she had been Ais'' tent mate, so now that Ais and Isaac were going to stay together, what about her?

    In response, Riveria only showed a relatively uncharacteristically smug smile.

    "You''ll stay here as well, to keep an eye on Isaac. Make sure nothing inappropriate happens."

    These words actually caused Ais, Isaac and Lefiya to blush. The first two simply hadn''t planned any actions of that kind, so Riveria bringing them up now was a tiny bit embarrassing. At the same time, Lefiya''s delusions got even more out of hand. Now the lewd scenes in her head even included herself as a participant, not just a voyeur¡­

    "Ehehe¡­ no problem¡­"

    Seeing Lefiya starting to drool a little, Riveria resignedly shook her head. This girl really was a lost cause. She even began to doubt whether it had been a good idea to burden her with such a responsibility. But when she thought about all the other options, she could only shake her head yet again. If she wanted someone to keep watch, just in case, then Lefiya was, by far, the best choice. While she was indeed a pervert and often lost in her e.r.o.t.i.c daydreams, she never let any of these ideas leave the realm of her imagination. In other words, she was a coward. If anything inappropriate actually happened in her presence, she would undoubtedly alarm the entire campsite in a matter of seconds with a high-pitched scream. There was simply no doubt about it.

    On the other hand, everyone else wasn''t fit to take on this role. The vast majority of the other girls weren''t too close to either Ais, Isaac or both, so it would simply be too awkward to have them stay with them. As for allowing another guy besides Isaac to sleep in the same tent as the Sword Princess? That would be insanity. Besides Finn and Gareth, who treated her like a daughter figure, everyone else was an absolute no-go. But those two had enough troubles to deal with already. As for Tione, if Ais was fine with whatever could potentially happen, she would surely turn a blind eye to it, not wanting to interrupt her friend''s fun. And Tiona¡­ to be honest, the chances of something inappropriate happening with just Ais and Isaac in a tent were incredibly low. But if the thirsty Amazoness was added to the mix, she would undoubtedly try to seduce the young man. She was one hundred percent out of the question, she would only make things worse.

    And as for Riveria herself, because she was somewhat of a motherly figure to Ais, both her girl and Isaac would surely not even be able to have a nice relaxing rest while she was around due to the awkwardness. Additionally, Riveria wasn''t at all comfortable with staying in the same tent as a man.

    So in the end, only the naive pervert, Lefiya, remained.

    -----

    "Auroch. Cedar."

    A couple of hours later, right after they had all eaten a filling dinner, Isaac looked at his two tent mates. While holding the silent Ais'' hand, he had a rarely seen serious expression on his face.

    "What is it?"

    With a tranquil smile on his face, Auroch turned his attention towards Isaac. Surprisingly, even Cedar, who he didn''t get along with that well, also decided to face him and listen to his next words.

    Quite clear on what was about to happen, a slightly apologetic smile flashed across Isaac''s lips.

    "It seems like I''ll be staying in Ais'' tent from now on. Riveria told me a short time ago and I felt like I should inform you two."

    Hearing this, Cedar''s expression turned significantly worse and without bothering to listen to anything else, he simply looked away, ignoring Isaac completely. For a brief moment, Isaac had even felt some hostility.

    Auroch, on the other hand, got quite sad and had Isaac promise him that they would still spend a lot of time together in the future. Although it had only been for a few days, their casual conversations had been very enjoyable to the warm-hearted fellow and he didn''t want their camaraderie to fade with time. Thinking about how Ais and the others would mostly be exploring beyond the 50th floor in the future, leaving the supporters and weaker main force members behind, Isaac quickly agreed. He would have a lot of time to spare, so why not?

    Besides some whistling from Bryce and Claire and the generally approving smiles from the rest, there was another person who had a memorable and huge reaction to this revelation. That was, unsurprisingly, Tiona. Just like on all the previous days, she had been clinging to Isaac all this time. At this point, he had pretty much grown numb to it. Thankfully, Tiona had slowly realized which lines he really didn''t want her to cross, so he didn''t need to spend too much time trying to escape her clutches. If she just wanted to hug him, he wouldn''t stop her.

    This time, a quite sour look appeared on Tiona''s face, accompanied by an unsatisfied frown.

    "How unfair! I''ll ask Riveria to allow me to stay with you as well!"

    With these words, she hurried away, only to return with a somewhat lifeless, defeated expression a few minutes later.

    -----

    At around 9 p.m., Lefiya was fidgeting nervously in her tent. All three of them had changed into comfortable sleepwear at this point, causing her to blush quite heavily. Never before had she allowed a man to see her like this!

    Well, in all honesty, she wasn''t showing off much, as she was wearing a long and plain, white nightgown, not some seductive lingerie. Nonetheless, she felt quite restless. Over the past few days, she purposefully hadn''t spent much time with Ais and Isaac in private, as she had wanted to allow them to spend some time ''alone'' together. Well, to be honest, that wasn''t really why she hadn''t joined them. The truth was that she found it very difficult to join new social circles. Compared to the social butterfly Amazonesses, she was a lot more shy and reserved. The past few days, she felt somewhat left behind¡­ and lonely.

    But now that she was occasionally stealing glances at Ais, who currently had gotten Isaac to give her a lap pillow, and the aforementioned man, all of this was forgotten. Instead, she got incredibly self-conscious and her face and ears started to heat up more and more.

    ''I''m a pure Elf, untouched by the desires of the flesh!''

    Even telling herself this had no use. Quickly, she got distracted thinking about how ''short'' her nightgown was and how much of her bare legs she was currently showing. Also, if this white clothing got wet, wouldn''t it turn see-through? Then, when Lefiya saw Isaac gently stroke Ais'' head, she couldn''t help but imagine herself getting touched as well¡­

    Looking at the S-Class pervert in front of him, Isaac, as so often, could only release a sigh.

    "Calm down, Lefiya."

    Just like during their training sessions, he kept his voice''s cadence steady and his tone stern, trying to snap her out of her rosy thoughts. And it worked.

    When she heard these words, Lefiya''s ears perked up and the redness on her face started to fade. Her eyes, which had turned a little bit watery and cloudy before, gradually regained their focus. She felt like a bucket of water had been poured on her¡­ and she was grateful for it. Her lips widened into a smile.

    Right. What was she worried about? These two were her best friend and her teacher. They were upstanding people. She could trust them. They would never let her see anything indecent or involve her in some kind of e.r.o.t.i.c actions¡­

    Or would they?

    A couple of minutes of small talk and relaxation later, Lefiya''s breathing had once more accelerated, while arousing delusions filled her mind to the brim.

    Dejectedly, Isaac shook his head.

    ''She is hopeless.''

 Chapter 53 - Early Preadolescence

    Shortly before 11 p.m., Ais and Isaac were preparing to retreat to one of the partitions of the tent so they could rest. Before they could do so, however, Lefiya stopped them by arguing that Riveria had told her to keep an eye on them. If they were to close off the partition, wouldn''t she be unable to see them? What if she then failed her duty?

    Thanks to this reasoning, they collectively decided to leave all of the partitions of the tent open. Of course, Isaac was aware that Lefiya had just talked them into this on the off chance that they really ended up doing something naughty. This way, she could be a voyeur without any problems, she didn''t even need to hide her gaze. After all, she was just doing what she was asked to.

    A sigh escaped Isaac''s lips when thinking about it, but very quickly, the small frown on his face was replaced by a loving and gentle smile. Looking at the gorgeous beauty in his arms, he just didn''t want to think about such slight frustrations any longer. He planted a quick kiss on Ais'' lips before whispering into her ear.

    "No need to worry, I''ll be right here. Just relax and see you soon."

    Smiling satisfiedly, Ais nodded, snuggled closer to Isaac and closed her eyes. But even in the subsequent darkness, she could still clearly make out the system message hovering in her field of view.

    [ Cooldown until ''Isaac''s Past - Episode 3'' can be experienced has finished.

    You can now experience ''Isaac''s Past - Episode 3''. ]

    -----

    With almost lifeless eyes, the nine year old Isaac stood in the middle of a graveyard, silently staring at a gravestone. There was a little bit of a drizzle, but as he hadn''t even thought of bringing an umbrella, he simply ignored all the water droplets constantly battering him. There was no one else visiting the graveyard at the moment.

    He was all alone.

    About half a year after Isaac''s solo travelling ''adventures'' had begun, Mrs. Hopkins had brought him a disheartening message. His parents, while on a regular grocery shopping trip, had gotten into a tragic car accident.

    The other driver had been on the phone and speeding far faster than he should have within the city. He was distracted and reckless, which led him to overlook the car of Isaac''s parents and crash into it with a speed of more than 80 km/h. From the tire tracks and eye witness accounts, it was plain to see that Isaac''s parents tried to avoid the incoming car, but their evasive measures simply weren''t sufficient. Just like that, the car was smashed sideways into a traffic light, getting pincered between it and the incoming vehicle. The airbags triggered without a problem but they were of no use. The other car mangled Isaac''s mother''s body almost beyond recognition, while Isaac''s father was a little bit more lucky, as he was seated on the driver''s side of the car. Due to that, at least his body was kept more or less intact. Still, the devastating force of the sideways impact was beyond what he could handle so long before any medical professionals arrived, both parents had passed away. As for the other driver? Although their car was totaled, their airbag had saved their life. Their only legal punishments were barely more than the equivalent of a slap on the wrist - losing their drivers'' license and having to pay for the damages.

    All in all, it was nothing out of the ordinary. Accidents like this happened every day and unfortunately, anybody could get involved in them at any time. There was no underlying motive to his parents'' death, it was simply an accident. A stroke of bad luck that ended two lives on a whim.

    When Isaac got Mrs. Hopkins'' message, he first felt a sense of disbelief. He temporarily couldn''t bring himself to acknowledge that such a mundane and everyday occurrence would befall his parents. And so early, at that. For a long time, he had already started to mentally prepare himself for an eventual forced and permanent separation in a couple of decades. But his parents had only been in their thirties right now! If it had been a violent crime that had taken them from him, it would have been easier to accept. But a thing just like this¡­ it was a way more bitter pill to swallow. In the former case, there would at least be a true reason for their deaths, besides a coin flip gone wrong.

    After that, what set in was a sense of panic¡­ and then sadness. Tears streaked down Isaac''s cheeks during the entire time it took him to travel back home, to the graveyard his parents were already laid to rest in. During the past half a year, he had oftentimes not gotten into contact with his parents for a week or two, as he simply wasn''t in a position to do so due to the various circ.u.mstances he found himself in. Because of this, he hadn''t even had a chance to see their bodies before they were buried as he hadn''t sensed anything amiss. Due to not having much contact with his other relatives, who were present at the burial which went off without a hitch, he had only gotten wind of what had happened by the time it was all already over. He had been negligent and hadn''t thought he would need to have some of his subordinates keep a look out for news regarding his parents, as he talked to them all the time himself. What naivet¨¦.

    His tears had already dried up when he finally arrived at his parents'' grave. He couldn''t cry anymore even if he wanted to. He just felt¡­ empty. Just like always, humans only realized how much they treasured something when they lost it.

    Like a puppet with its strings cut, Isaac fell on his knees in front of the gravestone, his body shaking ever so slightly. Many questions that he had always wanted to ask his parents continually poured out of his mouth as he despairingly whispered.

    "Why couldn''t I be like everyone else? So naive and stupid, unable to see the bigger picture. Happy with the delusions they build for themselves, delusions of a world worth living in. Why can''t I close my eyes and ignore what I see, what I deduce, what I know? Why can''t I just simple-mindedly live a normal life? I want to be interested in all these inconsequential things as well! I want to find love, start my own family, have people I can trust. Why can''t I do any of that? Why did I have to be born like this?! Why did you leave me all alone?!!"

    No matter how desperate young Isaac''s whispers became, he never got an answer. Even the somewhat translucent, golden-haired beauty observing him could only silently shed tears, unable to comfort this miserable memory.

    This was by far the moment Isaac was at his weakest. By the end, he simply lay on the ground next to his parents'' gravestone, hugging his knees. All the complaints and worries he had had during his life had finally been voiced by him, whispered in a somewhat sobbing, progressively more hoarse voice.

    Finally, after a couple of coughing fits and some lonesome silence, he got up from the ground again, his eyes filled with a resolute light. He had long since known that one day, he would most likely have to kill someone. So now that there was a target for ''revenge'', why not use that person to overcome this hurdle? It was best to sharpen ones'' weapons before a fight, after all.

    Sure, the driver hadn''t done any of this on purpose and was most likely filled with some temporary guilt over having ended the lives of an innocent, young couple. He also presumably had some family and friends that cared about him and would be hurt if he died. But so what? Even though it wouldn''t bring his parents back and most definitely wouldn''t even make him feel better in the slightest, that wasn''t the point. Isaac was simply using the man as an experimental subject. To see how he would react to killing someone.

    Additionally, he felt justified in punishing the man for his blunder. Only he, Isaac, had the necessary qualifications to judge right from wrong. The law and others'' opinions didn''t matter. Because he was himself and no one else could ever fully satisfy or understand his wishes. It was a twisted logic, from anybody else''s perspective, at least. But Isaac didn''t care. What was important was that he could do what he wanted to do. With all the mental strength he could muster, Isaac had already forcibly repressed most of his sadness. The seed of loneliness within his heart sprouted into a small sapling.

    A month later, all of Isaac''s meticulous preparations finally bore fruit. Far removed from any kind of surveillance, without giving others the opportunity to track him via his weapon, ammunition or his DNA, Isaac used a silent, self-made sniper rifle to flawlessly remove the stain that was his parents'' killer. He would have preferred a much more up close and personal waste disposal method but there were scarcely any others that could truly be untraceable if planned to the pinnacle of perfection. Thankfully, he had had enough time during his travels to easily master most firearms and older weaponry.

    When he saw the partially headless corpse powerlessly collapse through the scope, he hastily put away the rifle and kneeled on the ground, breathing heavily. He felt an almost irrepressible urge to throw up, right there and then. But he wasn''t nauseous at all, no. Rather, the cause for this was his subconscious which, due to the way he had been raised, tried to make him feel remorseful... guilty. Only by concentrating as hard as he could, Isaac slowly managed to repress the urge to vomit. Then finally, he relaxed completely.

    "That wasn''t as bad as I expected."

    With a calm smile on his lips and crystal clear eyes, Isaac packed up his equipment and set off again. Killing someone, while it had taken some effort and did indeed have a mental impact, was just that - nothing too big. Now that he had done it once, should he be forced to do so again in a dangerous situation, he wouldn''t be ambushed by this feeling and would therefore be a lot safer. No matter what came his way, he would be able to deal with it.

    For a long time, nothing extraordinary happened. Just like before, Isaac visited countries all around the globe, spending quite a lot of time understanding their cultures, social structures and deep-rooted problems. Many historical sites and old ruins couldn''t escape his scrutinizing eyes either. Still, after almost a year, something significant finally occurred.

    The mercenaries he had hired to be the security detail of his private plane got attacked by remarkably well-trained but unknown special forces out of the blue. At least, that was what it seemed like to the rather simple-minded but loyal men. Isaac, however, knew the reason for this attack.

    It wasn''t the emotion of greed that had moved them but rather it was the fact that Isaac¡­ had gotten too close. Too close to the ones behind everything on this planet. Due to the smallest clues he had picked up during all this time, it was all too obvious that behind the few elites that controlled the leadership of this world''s countries, there were still multiple layers of leaders and rulers, each of them either ignorant of or terrified to death of the ones in whose grasp they were. The closer Isaac got to uncovering more of those layers, the more dangerous his overall situation became. Although he had been sure that he hadn''t made his various deductions public in any way, simply by coming into contact with all of the tiny hints he had seen was enough for the one in power, the most influential person on this planet, to decide to get rid of him.

    Arguably, Isaac was pretty lucky, seeing how everyone else who got one or two layers deeper than the commonly known powers and got past the abundant false conspiracy theories had disappeared without a trace. Even those weaker, less influential people already had no problems killing them silently, with no one the wiser. While the first few layers beyond common knowledge still consisted of people whose names and identities were known, the ones beyond that - as far as the world was concerned - didn''t exist. There were no records of them, they didn''t appear in public or had any apparent connections, et cetera. Isaac himself had already gotten far further than anyone else ever had. Amusingly enough, he didn''t even try to. For him, it was just too easy to connect all these various dots, he hadn''t been able to resist solving this puzzle.

    In any case, the attack which should have wiped out him and his trusty mercenaries ended with only one of them getting a minor injury. The opposing special forces were completely annihilated, without any chance to resist.

    A slight sneer played across Isaac''s lips. Did that man, whose family had ruled over humanity for hundreds of years at the very least, really expect that Isaac wasn''t able to see through such obvious troop movements? All of the man''s actions were already within the palm of his hand. Once he had figured out his identity and whereabouts, he had started to keep a close eye on him and his forces. This miserable defeat was sure to rattle them and make them tread more carefully. Although he had had to participate in the defense personally, it wasn''t much of a challenge. Rather, it felt like a comfortable warm-up.

    One couldn''t be the ultimate and undisputed ruler of mankind without quite a lot of wisdom. Otherwise, one would slip up and show openings for others to exploit. Now that the man would face an enemy that could read him easily, continuing this war would be foolish. Only when one was perfectly confident should one strike and take down their opponent with a single, almost surgical move. After all, there was too much to lose otherwise. In the future, after seeing how young Isaac wouldn''t even attempt to interfere with the ruler''s plans, they could coexist in a strained but peaceful manner. One day, at least. After Isaac had proven that no matter what, the man''s forces could never rattle him.

    A certain wise but unfortunate man was about to face a lot of hardship. Sadly, only a handful of people would know about his plight and be able to share his burden.

    By the time of his eleventh birthday, Isaac had turned into a recluse, a hermit. For many months now, he hadn???t left his secure and minimalistic room. His research on humanity and this planet had already been finished, there was nothing else that he desperately wanted to know. All of his conflicts were over too. He had seen everything there was to see.

    On the whole, the negative aspects of humanity far outweighed the positive ones. It was infinitely easier to destroy something than to create it, after all. A few would be able to spoil something for the many. Still, this didn''t even need to be taken into account here - the negative parts were just that numerous, enough for the positive ones to lose out in the end. But most people closed their eyes to this irrefutable truth, as they desperately didn''t want to admit their own species'' infuriating reality. They couldn''t really be blamed for this, as it was part of the self-preservation instinct. As long as humans had something they wanted to live for, even if it only was a subconscious desire that they weren''t aware of yet, they found it extremely hard to accept the negative aspects of humanity and how far-reaching and massive they were. To admit that ones'' own species was a plague, a worthless and destructive entity, was far harder than to cling to the vain hope of the positive potential it possessed. Of course, Isaac would never not acknowledge all of the beautiful and amazing parts of humanity - he was well aware of all of them. Still, overall, Isaac was disgusted by humanity. Wholly appalled.

    Now that he had spent a long time thinking about this very conundrum and what to do about it, a heavy sigh escaped his lips.

    "I guess the least I can do for this world is to wipe out the pests and give nature another chance to try again. This attempt at a sentient, intelligent species was a failure, that''s for sure."

    Yes, Isaad had decided to completely eradicate humanity. Not just that, though, his wishes for the future were a little bit more thorough. He had searched for an excuse to allow humanity to continue existing for a long time now. But there simply was none. Even if it wasn''t for himself and his own wishes, if there were any other sentient beings out there that were not as flawed as humans were, he would be doing them a disservice if he didn''t clean up the mess that was his own people.

    A sharp and determined glint flashed across his eyes, before he sighed yet again and started to write down some notes on his computer. There were simply too many ways with which he could arrive at his goal. Humanity was far too fragile. Which one should he choose? And what about himself? What was he going to do from now on?

    While young Isaac was thinking about all of these questions and more, an all-encompassing white light greeted the somewhat conflicted Ais.

    -----

    When she exited the memory, Ais was yet again assaulted by the all too familiar feeling of disorientation, making her eyelids flutter in a slight panic. This time, however, there was another impactful sensation as well: Warmth. A pair of strong arms was gently holding her while Isaac, who had realized she had just returned, stroked her back in a calming manner.

    With a shy smile, Ais dove further into his embrace, lightly resting her head against his chest. Her heartbeat, which had quickened a lot due to the disorientation-induced panic, grew steady again after a couple of minutes.

    At this time, she was in deep thought. She understood young Isaac''s actions and his developing mindset. During her time in the memory, she didn''t necessarily learn and comprehend all of the same things Isaac did at that point in time, only as much as she could. After all, she couldn''t think nearly as fast and effective as him. Still, there were many things she took note of, especially his feelings, which were conveyed to her in full. If it had been up to her, after everything she had come to see and know about that godforsaken world, she would have razed it to the ground in a fit of rage and hatred a long, long time ago. She couldn''t help but agree with him on most major points. Thinking about it like that, young Isaac seemed far more composed than she did - he had held himself back from unreasonably lashing out for so long, after all.

    Ais couldn''t help but worry, though. What sort of enormous burden would the kind of actions young Isaac was in the middle of planning place on a merely eleven year old boy? She couldn''t even imagine it. In a way, she was somewhat afraid of finding out, but also excited. Would he really go through with his cleansing? She couldn''t be sure. And to be honest, she didn''t want to ask him directly. He would simply not tell her - it was a spoiler, after all. She only had to wait for a single week, that wasn''t too bad.

    In the end, she decided to not worry about it too much. No matter what had happened, it was all in the past anyway. There was nothing that could be done about it now. She would get to know about it in due time.

    At the same time, she felt like this entire arrangement was a little bit lopsided. No matter what, Isaac couldn''t know too much about her past while she was experiencing every second of his. This left a somewhat bitter taste in her mouth, before her eyes finally showed a determined glint.

    ''After I''ve experienced all of your past, I''ll tell you all about mine.''

    With a clear mind and a promise to herself, Ais looked up at Isaac with loving eyes, a happy smile on her lips. Taking care not to disturb Lefiya, she whispered.

    "Thank you for being with me."

    Then, for the first time, she took the initiative to give him a very long kiss. Well, just on the lips, though. The two of them had no experience with the ''deeper'', more a.d.u.l.t kind, after all.

    Meanwhile, from within her sleeping bag, a naughty Elf was stealthily staring at the two bold lovebirds, blushing so madly that it felt like it wouldn''t take long for steam to come out of her bright-red, long and delicate ears. While subconsciously biting her lip a bit seductively, Lefiya couldn''t help but curse a little in her thoughts.

    ''Do you have to bully single people like this?!''

    A few moments later, when their lips finally separated, she began to feel somewhat sullen and her thoughts took a drastic turn.

    ''I didn''t really mean it! Please continue!!''

 Chapter 54 - A Final Push

    When Lefiya woke up at around 4:30 in the morning., she felt a disconcerting, cold wetness on her right cheek.

    "Ugh¡­ what is this¡­?"

    While she was rubbing the sleep from her eyes, it took her a few moments to realize what was going on. Apparently, she had fallen asleep on her stomach yesterday and due to her drooling a lot, there was now a huge, wet patch on her sleeping bag.

    "Oh, you''re finally awake. Good morning!"

    Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a familiar, male voice. Looking up, Lefiya saw Isaac standing right outside of her partition of the tent, amicably waving at her while already fully clad in his adventuring gear.

    "Good morning¡­"

    A little bit shyly, Lefiya muttered her reply, before noticing something. Hadn''t there been quite the embarrassing reason for her to drool so much yesterday? All of a sudden, she recalled all of the naughty delusions she had had, causing her to feel ashamed of herself. How could she, a noble Elf, behave in such a way? But even more than that, considering the severity of the thoughts she had had, could there possibly be another wet patch on her sleeping bag¡­?!

    "I''m going to change!"

    With a beet-red face, Lefiya hastily closed her partition and shooed Isaac away, all the while hoping that he hadn''t noticed anything. Well, if there even was another patch. Time to find out¡­

    A sigh escaped Isaac''s lips, but not because he had been shut out while Lefiya was changing. After all, it would have been very unnatural for her to do so in his presence. Rather, he recalled just how long the little Elf had been asleep for. All in all, it was more than five and a half hours, which, for a normal Level 3 adventurer, might as well be two or three days worth of rest.

    Yesterday, Lefiya had fallen asleep quite early, even before Ais and Isaac. After the two had a couple of hours of shut-eye, Isaac had then put on his adventuring gear to venture forth on his daily monster slaying pastime. He hadn''t even needed to attempt to be quiet when doing so, as Lefiya was giggling loudly and happily in her dreams, wiggling around in her sleeping bag in a sheepish manner. She was completely unresponsive to any outside sounds, so he could even have a normal conversation with Ais without disturbing her at all.

    Originally, he had planned to tell her about his ability to teleport that night, but seeing how she would most likely not wake up anytime soon, he had decided to shelve this for now. There would surely be a chance in the near future.

    As for why he would tell her about it, that was quite simple. After all, he had even told the Amazoness twins about it and he had met those two quite some time after Lefiya. Besides that, Lefiya did know more about his past than the others as well, as she had been at the scene when he first arrived in this world. Also, she had decided to become his student and even borne witness to the upgrading of his blood. At this point, what was one more revelation?

    In any case, Isaac had returned from his monster slaying session to get ready to help out his fellow supporters with their daily duties just a couple of minutes before Lefiya finally woke up.

    Talking about his dungeon exploration, he hadn''t had much time to spend on the fourth floor, only about two hours. This was mostly because he had spent a lot of time with Ais, trying to make her feel safe and secure, properly settled in, after she had returned from the memory. In the end, he progressed to 23.478/24.000 Level 1 monsters slain and earned 4480 AP - after the deduction of the teleportation costs, that is. All in all, it was a satisfying haul.

    -----

    It took the expedition party a little more than two hours to arrive on the 42nd floor. But contrary to what Isaac had gotten used to during the previous thematic zones, they didn''t have the opportunity to face a Monster Rex this time. When he asked about why this was the case, it was explained that the enormous lava golem, Morhaeon, had been slain by a member of another familia recently and because it took four months for it to respawn, it had yet to make its return.

    As for who had slain it? There was only one other familia registered with the Guild whose members had the necessary qualifications and strength to do so besides the Loki Familia - the Freya Familia. Apparently, one of their members had stormed into the dungeon while in a very bad mood and had chosen the poor floor boss to vent. Originally, the Loki Familia had already secured the rights to slaying Morhaeon during this expedition in a past meeting with Freya, but now that it had already been slain, there was nothing either side could do about it. Due to breaching her contract, although it had been unintentional, Freya had apparently paid the Loki Familia reparations for what they would be missing out on. Sadly, the excelia the Executive members could have gained from fighting and taking down such an outstanding foe were not this easy to replace.

    In any case, because the two familias were on mostly neutral and arguably somewhat friendly terms, such a small mishap couldn''t strain their relationship much. It was just a shame that Isaac couldn''t gather any observational data on Morhaeon for now.

    Due to there not being any noteworthy obstacles in the expedition party''s way, they quickly made their way towards the next floor.

    The 43rd to 49th floors were collectively called the ''Desolate Frontier''. While technically, these floors consisted of two thematic zones, there were multiple reasons they were referred to as a singular whole. First of all, there were no safety points in between, so if a party wanted to make their way further into the depths, they would have to push through all of these floors in one go. Secondly, the first thematic zone was an odd one and didn''t have a Monster Rex presiding over it. Because of this, quite a few scholars had argued that it didn''t have the qualifications to be referred to as its own zone. And thirdly, their overall themes were quite similar.

    The first zone stretched from the 43rd to the 46th floor. The walls, ground and ceiling were coloured a burning red and rocks of all shapes and sizes were scattered across the floor. Both the rocks on the ground and the interspersed cracks on the walls were of a particular shade of black which made them look like they were carbonized. Every so often, an eerie red light would shine from inside the cracks. To this day, no one had discovered its source, although speculations ran rampant. They ranged from it simply being some kind of heat source to an invaluable, fortuitous encounter. Overall, the floor somehow seemed like the burnt-out husk of a giant tree. Everything had returned to a network of connected caves and caverns. There were no natural treasures to be found here, neither was there any water. The air was dry and slightly uncomfortably hot - still, compared to the Infernal City, it felt like a breath of fresh air.

    The monsters on these floors were mostly flame and beast-like in design and were quite a bit tougher than the ones the expedition party had faced before. Although they were still at Level 4, their highest stats most likely were up in the 300s, which was relatively hard to handle for most average Level 4 adventurers. Thankfully, all Loki Familia members were everything but average.

    Although the second zone consisted of less floor, going from the 47th to the 50th floor, it was a lot more dangerous. After all, it was a desert. Or, more accurately, the 47th and 48th floor were desert-like, labyrinthian caves and caverns, while the true desert would only be encountered on the 49th floor. In any case, the sand provided very suboptimal footing, so if one wasn''t used to handling such environmental dangers, they could easily lose their life due to a slip-up.

    When the expedition party finally arrived at the 49th floor, the moniker of this zone, ''Moytura Sands'', finally made sense to Isaac. After all, it somewhat loosely translated to either ''pillar sand plain'' or ''tower sand plain''. The Sands or sand plain part had obviously referred to the desert-elements of the environment. But only when Isaac saw the 49th floor did the pillar or tower parts find an explanation.

    The entirety of the 49th zone was a single, almost impossibly large room. Considering how deep into the dungeon they already were, Isaac didn''t even want to think about its most likely circ.u.mference or diameter. There was simply no end in sight, it seemed to stretch on for eternity. If there hadn''t been a rocky ceiling a couple thousand meters up above, coming here via a staircase would have felt like stepping into a completely different world. Ridiculously enormous but somewhat sparse rock pillars held up the ceiling at suspiciously regular intervals, enabling this underground world to continue existing without any need for magic or special powers to intervene.

    The monsters in this second zone were entirely made up of beast-like ones and, in the strongest cases, could reach almost all the way up to Level 5, only barely staying at Level 4.

    It had taken seven hours of non-stop battling for the expedition party to arrive on the 49th floor. During this time, they had used the same strategy all the way through: the mages would rain down area of effect Magics whenever they could, while the weaker main force members that were still only Level 4 would get protected by the stronger ones. Now that their enemies were almost at Level 5, however, the Level 5 and 6 main force members had to put in a lot more effort - they actually had to get a little bit serious. This way, the Level 4 main force members were always able to comfortably battle one or two monsters that were about as strong or just a little bit stronger than them, while the other main force members did their best to keep the rest of the monsters at bay.

    Of course, it would have been possible for the others to wipe out even these few stragglers, but they were a good opportunity for the Level 4 main force members to gain some excelia and improve their strengths, in a more or less safe fashion as well. So taking their future rank-ups into account, this was completely worth it.

    After they had made it to the 49th floor, instead of continuing their advance, Finn had the expedition party stay in place and fight off as many monsters as they possibly could over a period of almost two hours. The goal of this was simple: to lure out Balor, the Monster Rex of this floor. While he might not be the one furthest down in the dungeon, he was the unanimously agreed upon strongest floor boss that had been encountered so far. Now that they had the opportunity to slay him, they would obviously take it.

    When a sandstorm, accompanied by loud and quick footsteps, finally appeared on the horizon, Finn, Gareth, Ais and Bete split off from the rest of the party and headed its way, trying to face the Monster Rex as far away from their familia as possible.

    Considering how two of the three Level 6 adventurers of the Loki Familia chose to take part in the fight against Balor, he really couldn''t be an easy opponent. It was just a shame that Isaac couldn''t make out anything related to the fight at all. The damn monster was obscured by a sandstorm, after all. And even if he could somehow perceive some details through that layer of obstruction at this distance, his eyes still wouldn''t be able to follow the speeds of both the floor boss and the fighting adventurers.

    So, with nothing better to do, he asked Orba about Balor, seeing how the supporters had literally nothing to do besides standing and keeping themselves safe at the moment.

    "I don''t know much myself, but here is what I''ve heard from the main force members before."

    According to Orba''s words, Balor wasn''t actually that huge compared to most other floor bosses that one would come across this deep into the dungeon. Well, he was still a 50 meter tall humanoid beast, which dwarfed the vast majority of humanoid monsters up to this point. Overall, his design was similar to a Minotaur, as his entire body was covered in grayish fur, while sixteen sharp horns grew out of his head in a menacing fashion, somewhat reminding observers of a crown. He respawned every six months.

    Combat-wise, he didn''t have any ridiculous abilities, besides nearly nullifying any kind of magic attacks. That was why Riveria and any other mages would turn into simple bystanders if they were to face him. Otherwise, if she could have been even just a little bit of use, Riveria would have surely decided to help the others face Balor, as he was truly a terrifying opponent.

    The sandstorm that was obscuring him was caused by his ridiculously powerful physical body moving along extremely quickly. As this entire floor was a desert, the resulting sandstorm just couldn''t be helped. It was not a magical phenomenon at all, although it was quite scary due to it restricting one''s vision, making it very difficult to recognize even one''s immediate surroundings. Just like the Goliath, Balor also had regenerative abilities, another feature of his monstrous physical prowess. As for why this floor boss was referred to as a ''he''? Well, the reason for that should be plainly obvious. A simple hint: It was related to a different kind of prowess.

    Both Finn and Gareth were needed to face Balor head on, as his stats were extremely close to Level 7. Ais and Bete''s only job was to provide slight distractions so Finn could overwhelm its regenerative ability with well-placed attacks containing a sheer destructive might. As for Gareth, he would ensure everyone''s safety by tanking every single one of Balor''s attacks. If any one of them faced him alone, they wouldn''t have any chance of defeating him and could only beat a hasty retreat. Gareth, however, due to his relatively limited Agility stat, would have a hard time to even escape, although admittedly he could just endure all of Balor''s attacks until he reached a staircase leading to another floor.

    When the fight against Balor finally ended after almost an hour, the returning group was barely injured, thanks to Gareth''s protection, so everything seemed to have gone according to plan. Ais and Bete had a few bruises here and there, but with the heights their Endurance stats had reached by now, it would only take an hour or two for such minor wounds to completely heal on their own. In any case, they had brought back Balor''s drop item, which was the tip of one of his horns, and a gigantic magic stone. Even if one only took the drops from the Monster Rexes the expedition party had slain so far into account, they had undoubtedly already made a huge profit.

    With an order from Finn for "one last push", the entire party was reinvigorated and quickly made its way to the 50th floor, the last known safety point in the dungeon.

    Once they had entered the floor and cleared out the few stragglers that they came across, Finn released a pent-up sigh and muttered to himself.

    "Thankfully, everything went alright¡­"

    Ever since Isaac had brought those secret labyrinth entrances to his attention, he couldn''t help but worry about something going wrong during their descent this time. Seemingly, however, he hadn''t needed to do so, as everything worked out well. But why did he still feel so nervous? If he had to describe it, the current peace seemed akin to the calm before a storm. It felt like there was something or someone that could endanger them at any moment but chose not to, for whatever reason. The worst part for Finn was that neither Riveria nor Gareth could feel what he did, so he was left all alone with carrying this enormous burden. If he didn''t trust his gut feeling so much, he might have even thought he was growing paranoid, but thanks to numerous past experiences, he decided to listen to this foreboding warning and do his best to stay on edge.

    While Finn may not have had any idea about when the danger would hit them, he was sure that it would. Maybe it would only be after the expedition, but he simply couldn''t know for sure.

    -----

    The 50th floor was quite similar to the 18th one, seeing how it didn''t fit into any of the other thematic zones of the dungeon. Overall, it could be argued that it and the 18th floor were part of an entirely different thematic zone of their own.

    Just like the 18th floor, the 50th floor was a single, incredibly huge cavern. This time, however, its ends could hardly be imagined. There were luminous crystals lighting up the entire place in a day-night cycle, just like before. Even the natural environment was similar, as the entire floor was filled with huge forests, small lakes, many rivers and a plethora of hills of a few hundred meters in height. The only difference was that the trees'' bark was of an ashen gray colour and that they were exclusively firs - there was no more variety.

    Because there was nowhere to hide or stay less conspicuous in, the Loki Familia had simply declared one of the many clearings close to a couple of small lakes as their campsite. Seeing how the grass here was in just as bad of a condition as on the 18th floor, it was plain to see that there hadn''t been a need to change campsites before, as the only two familias who were known to be able to make it this deep into the dungeon didn''t even attempt to interfere with each other. If the dangers of the dungeon were to be disregarded, this could even be thought of as the safest place besides the grounds of the Twilight Manor.

    As the expedition party would be staying here for the foreseeable future, it took a bit longer to set up camp, about three hours. After all, they were making some more permanent resting places and improvised guard towers. As those were quite conspicuous buildings, they were often destroyed by the wandering monsters sometime after the expedition party had left for the surface. Therefore, there was a need to rebuild the vast majority of them every time they came here.

    All of this, combined with the fact that it had taken a lot longer for them to reach this safety point compared to the last one, led to it almost being 9 p.m. when everyone had finally eaten dinner. Of course, there had been plenty of opportunities to take baths as well, which were especially necessary because the previous zone had been a desert. And sand¡­ it easily got everywhere, especially into more sensitive places and areas. Getting rid of that discomfort had been welcomed by a chorus of exalted cheers.

    On the previous days, everyone had had plenty of time to rest by the time dinner was finished, but today, this hadn''t been the case. Coupled with the even heavier exhaustion - even amongst the supporters, who had had to carry their burdens for longer and even had to build this encampment from scratch - everyone besides the few unlucky people who were chosen to stand guard turned in relatively early for the night.

    Tomorrow morning, at about 6 a.m., Finn would have all Executives and team leaders - both of the main forces and the supporter teams - attend a meeting. Although most of what would happen from now on had already been planned in excruciating detail before they had even set off on the surface, it was always good to go over it again and to change some details should it be necessary. Besides the ones who had to attend the meeting, almost everyone else would be able to rest and relax to their heart''s content for now. Many days of straining travel and battle had left them weary.

    Shockingly, this evening, Lefiya didn''t even have the energy to get absorbed by her delusions again, she simply changed quickly and fell asleep almost instantly. She was completely spent thanks to firing off a plethora of Magics almost non-stop for an entire day. Honestly, she had earned her rest.

    Thanks to the little voyeur obediently going to sleep, Ais and Isaac also got some early rest as well.

    But would Isaac truly be Isaac if he joyfully recovered during this time like everyone else? Of course not. By now, he was very close to being bored out of his mind. The only thing that kept him from growing restless was the lovely girl in his arms.

    Still, after the bare minimum rest of two hours, both of them woke up again. With a gentle smile, he gave her a kiss and after smiling at him encouragingly, Ais went right back to sleep. She had no intention of stopping him. After all, they would only have the privilege of true rest and relaxation when they had climbed to the very top of this world''s ladder of strength. Ais was fully aware of this.

    -----

    By the time Isaac was ready to teleport back at about 5 a.m., he had gotten close to four hours of exercise, while his Level 1 monster slaying achievement had progressed to 27.277/28.000. If the teleportation costs were to be deducted, he had gained 9880 AP, bringing his total to a staggering 36.091.

    But shouldn''t he have gained even more AP? Well, something had changed. To be more exact, the way in which his continuous achievements rewarded him had changed. Ever since he had reached the 25.000 mark, instead of always getting one tenth of the c.u.mulative number of kills as an AP reward, he only got a flat sum of 2500. While 2500 was still a lot, it was less than what he had expected to get.

    Nonetheless, there was nothing he could do about it besides releasing yet another sigh. He was perfectly clear on why he would have put such a restriction in place - after all, getting any more than this would eventually snowball into having to do basically no work for endless benefits. It would be too convenient, to the point where it would grow boring.

    Thinking about this, Isaac''s blood inadvertently started to boil as he thought about an exciting possibility. Could there perhaps be only a finite number of AP to be gained via the various achievements? Would there come a day where slaying Level 1 monsters wouldn''t reward him with any AP whatsoever? It was certainly a possibility. And now that he had thought about it, it felt more like an inevitability.

    Admittedly, it would be relatively easy to deal with the problem of gaining no further AP this way - he just had to slay stronger monsters. Still, this would eventually lead him to a dead end. Just thinking of what plans he could have possibly devised to further his progress at that point made a spirited, childlike smile play across Isaac''s lips.

 Chapter 55 - Habitually Teaching

    Less than a second later, Isaac reappeared in his tent, only to be greeted by a voice full of confusion.

    "Wait¡­ what? How did you¡­!?"

    Lefiya had just woken up and was yawning unrestrainedly, when suddenly, out of nowhere, Isaac appeared right in the middle of their tent. Her mind was still a little bit slow and foggy, so she could only mumble to herself, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

    Thinking this to be as good an opportunity as any, Isaac took this chance to reveal yet another part of his capabilities.

    "I can teleport."

    Without thinking too hard about what he just said, Lefiya simply nodded her head.

    "Oh, so that''s why. Now it makes sense¡­"

    It took her a while to realize that something¡­ was off. But when she did, her eyes suddenly widened in shock, while all that weariness evaporated instantly. She was about to follow her instincts and shout in disbelief.

    But before she could do so, Isaac hastily grabbed her and sealed her mouth with his hand.

    He was aware that what he just did wasn''t really appropriate, but Lefiya hadn''t given him much time to do anything else. He didn''t want her to alert the whole campsite and possibly give people some wrong impressions, that would just be an annoying bother. At the same time, he didn''t want to waste AP by teleporting himself and the panicked Elf away. So, the only thing left was to forcefully shut her up.

    An awkward smile played across Isaac''s lips. He had perfectly controlled his strength, so besides some unavoidable discomfort, Lefiya shouldn''t be in any physical pain. Still, thanks to his abrupt actions, her eyes had turned unfocused and she seemed to be quivering in shock. But he couldn''t really let that bother him now.

    With the same tranquil and steady voice that was normally able to calm her down, he explained himself.

    "Sorry about this. I didn''t want you to alert the whole party. If you promise me that you won''t shout, I''ll release you. Okay? Nod if you agree."

    Thankfully, his words were still able to reach her, and Lefiya''s panic subsided near instantly. She had simply been taken aback by the suddenness of the situation but now that something familiar had helped her to compose herself again, she felt a lot more secure. With a now steady gaze, she nodded slightly and Isaac removed his hand, setting Lefiya down in the process. But before he could widen his distance from her, the young Elf seemed to lose all of her strength and leaned against him. Thankfully, though, she kept quiet.

    As this mistreatment had been his fault, Isaac decided to not bother the timid girl about the close physical contact and give her some time to rest. It didn''t look like she was doing it on purpose and the least he could do was give her a shoulder to rest on for the trouble he caused. Had he just talked to her in a more controlled situation or planned his return more thoroughly, Lefiya wouldn''t have panicked like she did. Considering how many unbelievable sights she had been exposed to by now, Isaac hadn''t thought she would have a hard time controlling herself in the face of such a comparatively harmless revelation. Well, quite obviously, he had been wrong.

    A couple of deep breaths later, a contemplative look appeared on Lefiya''s face as she thought about what he had just told her. With a serious glint in her eyes, she looked up at him, not even consciously realizing how close they were. And that she was only wearing her thin nightgown.

    "Is the teleportation a part of the ability that lets you travel between worlds?"

    No matter how foolishly she often behaved, Lefiya was quite the astute observer. Well, in all honesty, it wasn''t too outlandish to assume two travel-related abilities were connected in some way. Still, her deduction still earned her some praise in Isaac''s mind. Seeing no point in hiding it, he nodded.

    "You could say that."

    Both teleportation and world travel were a part of the system, which was his creation, his ability. Although Lefiya''s thoughts would surely veer off into a different direction, no matter what she thought of, she couldn''t really be wrong. No matter what it was, the system would be capable of it, after all. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that Isaac was capable of it, with the system just being a fancy limiter he forced upon himself to be able to experience an enjoyable journey.

    As Isaac''s answer hadn''t been a clear and dry "Yes", his words only caused Lefiya some more minor confusion. What exactly did his words mean? What was he implying? And most importantly¡­ how could Isaac make use of his teleportation ability in the best, most efficient way? Was there any way she could help him?

    More than a minute of being lost in thought later, Lefiya subconsciously shifted her body, which caused her to suddenly freeze up. Just now, she had accidentally buried herself into Isaac''s chest¡­

    Lefiya hastily hid her face while her ears were quivering in shame, getting increasingly more red by the minute. Rather than naughty thoughts, what filled her mind was just simple embarrassment. How hadn''t she noticed?! For all this time, she had just been nestled up against him, totally unaware? As if anyone would believe that, even though it was the truth! Would Isaac perhaps think less of her or would he assume she had tried to take advantage of him?! Also¡­ how was it appropriate for a noble Elf like her to be held close by a man, only covered by a thin cloth?

    Seeing her change in behaviour, Isaac judged her mental state to have recovered enough and his debt to be repaid. With a somewhat forced smile, he gently pushed her away a little, until they were about an arm''s length apart. To help her snap out of her distracting thoughts, he grabbed her shoulders somewhat tightly and looked at her with a stern look on his face.

    "Like always, please keep the teleportation a secret."

    The very slight pain in her shoulders jolted Lefiya ''awake'' and she hastily nodded, although she was still trying to dodge Isaac''s gaze a little. After all, she had behaved quite inappropriately. It would take her a while to regain her bearing.

    A heavy sigh later, Isaac stood back up and looked towards Ais, who had been observing the whole situation with an amused smile on her face. She was very well aware that Lefiya had no romantic feelings towards Isaac. After all, she didn''t give Ais the same gut feeling that Tiona did. Thanks to that, she didn''t even feel the slightest discomfort when seeing the young Elf so close to her beloved. Hadn''t Lefiya cuddled up to her in her sleep a few times before as well? And hadn''t Lefiya fallen asleep while resting on her shoulder when they were relaxing on a bench after shopping for new equipment? So wouldn''t it be weird for her to complain when Lefiya did the same or something similar with Isaac?

    While such close physical contact between a man and a woman would in the vast majority of cases not be looked upon in an innocent light, Ais knew that there was absolutely no danger of anything of that kind happening with Isaac involved. Especially because she was sure that he thought of the cute, young Elf as more of a ''pet'', just like with Mina. And she couldn''t blame him for that. After all, even she thought that Lefiya was adorable.

    Ais showed a small smile, then walked up to Isaac and gave him a quick peck on the lips. Although it was still a bit early, it wouldn''t hurt to assemble in the command tent a little prematurely and maybe talk to Riveria for a bit.

    With that in mind, she took one of Lefiya''s hands and helped her up, then dragged her along outside of the tent after waving at Isaac.

    "See you later."

    Taking a moment to relish the aftertaste of the kiss, Isaac only left the tent a couple of moments later. By that time, the two girls had already disappeared into the command tent.

    Because there wasn''t anything else he could do for now, Isaac made his way towards his supporter team''s tents, trying to see if any of them were awake already. Line would, most likely, not have left for the meeting yet and everyone else always liked to sleep in when they could, so he wasn''t too confident in encountering anyone.

    Still, he did. The always somewhat awkwardly cold Aselina was already clad in her full gear and busying herself against an imaginary opponent. Just because the supporters hadn''t had a chance to fight during the expedition didn''t mean that they could neglect their training. With quite a bit of force, she swung her two-handed blade, creating moderately strong gusts of wind in the process. While trying not to disturb her, Isaac silently observed her.

    Although her mindset was admirable, seeing how she was the only one who was training this early in the morning, very quickly, Isaac couldn''t help to shake his head disapprovingly. The way she used her sword was just too painfully amateurish. She lost more than two thirds of the power of her attacks due to improper handling. She also committed way too much to each slash, making it near impossible to change course or react to sudden changes. Basically, she was betting her life on every strike. Such an approach might work on weaker monsters who wouldn''t have a chance to resist. But what if she encountered stronger, smarter monsters or even opponents of the sentient races? The Raccoon girl would all too easily be played to death, falling for traps she wouldn''t be able to escape from.

    When he thought about this, Isaac couldn''t help but imagine what Ais would feel if such a thing came to pass. Most likely, even if they weren''t particularly close, she would be saddened by the death of one of her familia members. And that was definitely something he wanted to avoid.

    While pulling a couple of two-handed, wooden training swords out of his inventory, Isaac showed a reluctant smile before walking up to Aselina. Thankfully, he had long ago stocked up on training weapons of all kinds. They were remarkably inexpensive and to be prepared to teach his students at any time, he had put a shocking number and variety of them into his inventory. Thanks to the particular kinds of wood used in their production, the training weapons would even have about the same weight as a normal weapon, making them quite the effective training tool.

    "I''m sorry to interrupt you like this. But here, take this. Then watch and learn."

    Normally, if one was talked to in such a rude manner, one would feel a bit of discontent. Still, Aselina didn''t. She was way too socially inept to even recognize that Isaac hadn''t been especially polite right now. Still, even if she had realized it, it wouldn''t matter - she wasn''t one for useless sophistry. So after hearing Isaac''s words, she only showed a somewhat confused expression while laying down her weapon and catching the wooden one Isaac had tossed her.

    "First, let me show you how you moved just now."

    Without waiting for another word from her - she wouldn''t say anything anyway - Isaac replayed her previous attacks in slow motion.

    "Did you notice it? If you put a little bit less weight on your right foot and grip the sword''s handle one and a half centimeters further apart¡­"

    Yet again, he performed Aselina''s previous actions. This time, however, they were a lot more steady. By minutely shifting his weight, he could quite easily dodge any attacks as well. Having showcased this, he performed the same slashes again and again, getting faster each time, before even eclipsing Aselina''s maximum speed. Not once did he make any kind of mistake.

    Due to teaching Mina, Jakk and Quinn, Isaac had plenty of experience in including someone''s majorly differing physical features into his calculations and still performing in a way which they could perfectly replicate. If he went out of his way to change his body into perfect replicas of theirs - which wouldn''t be an impossibility - he would be able to show them even more efficient ways to move their bodies and stabilize themselves. Still, he could let them reach a similar level of proficiency by letting them rely on their instincts and pointing out the flaws he observed. There was no need to go that much over the top.

    "Now it''s your turn. Try it. Don''t worry if you don''t get it right immediately."

    With a small nod, Aselina tried her best to imitate what she had just seen, although she was quite clumsy at it. No matter how clearly Isaac had just shown her her flaws, she still had a major hurdle to overcome. After all, just like most others in this world, she had never been taught combat skills. She was entirely self-taught. And after fighting in a specific way for quite a few years, it was difficult to change one''s ways. Even more so if one wasn''t even entirely aware of what one was doing in the first place.

    That was exactly where Isaac''s pointers came into play. After each attempt, he helped her to slowly adjust her grip, shift her stance and iron out any perceptible flaws. Step by step, he brought her closer to the ideal he had shown her.

    While the two were immersed in their training, Bryce peeked his head out of his tent and watched them with interest. At first, he had thought Isaac was just taking advantage of Aselina, as that was what he would have done. Very quickly, however, he noticed how sophisticatedly Isaac showcased all of these different movements. It was truly breathtaking and baffling. For a moment, an excited but serious expression showed on his face, before quickly getting replaced by his usual mischievous one.

    After changing into some proper attire, he jogged towards the two and waved happily.

    "Good morning! Mind if I join you?"

    A calculative smile flashed across Isaac''s lips, before he replied with a simple nod. He had long since expected this development. After all, even an idiot would be able to recognize his competence in teaching others and combat itself. His bodily control was at a seemingly inhumane level, after all. Now that he was teaching someone out in the open, rather close to the center of the expedition party''s campsite, others were bound to take notice. And he planned to give pointers to all who approached him.

    The more likely they were to survive, the better. Ais wouldn''t have to be sad and the only force in this world that he could truly rely on - besides the one he was building himself - would be empowered. Although most of them would never be able to reach the heights he was aiming for unless he dragged them up there himself, they would still be able to deal with some of the minor rabble they would come across. Overall, he couldn''t devote much time to these people compared to his actual students. But while he was here and had nothing better to do, he would help them out a bit.

    -----

    "Alright, that''s all for today. You all know what to do."

    At about 11 p.m., the meeting finally ended. They had been talking non-stop for around five hours, so when they heard Finn''s closing words, everyone in attendance orderly made their way out of the command tent.

    The moment they left, however, their faces changed completely and they became rooted to the spot. They had just seen something incredible.

    "Hey, quit blocking the way you idiots!"

    Annoyed at having the others stop right in front of the exit, Bete pushed his way through before having a look at what had impacted them so much. Although he had wanted to complain, he quickly fell silent, before a somewhat angry but fearful look appeared on his face. Without any further comment, he hurried off into the distance, deciding that he would rather patrol the area. Out of sight, out of mind, after all.

    Finn, who - together with Riveria and Gareth - was one of the last three to leave the tent, was confused by this. What could have made the unruly werewolf react in such a manner? And even more than that, why was everyone just distractedly staring ahead?

    He didn''t need to wait long for an answer, though, because as soon as he saw what had the others so spooked, he understood. A wry smile played across his lips while Riveria just shook her head and released a relieved sigh. Gareth''s eyes opened wide in surprise, before he released a loud and bellowing laugh.

    "That kid ain''t bad!"

    While they had heard some noises coming from outside during their meeting, they just sounded like part of some regular training exercises. They didn''t let themselves get distracted. Now, they finally saw the full extent of what had been going on all this time.

    Every single expedition party member that was available was gathered in one of the larger open areas of the campsite. The only ones missing were the ones currently on guard duty, the ones who had been on guard duty last night and were currently sleeping, and them - the ones who had been in the command tent.

    Depending on which kind of weapon they used, be it a one-handed sword, daggers, an axe, a bow, et cetera, all of the assembled members were teamed up and lined up in an orderly fashion. Showing only complete focus on their faces, they were repeating specific movements time and time again, trying to iron out the few still apparent flaws.

    In the midst of all of this, Isaac was hurrying around, giving some general advice to each group and then giving some more personal pointers as well. Occasionally, he would spar with some of them for a few moves, helping them to sharpen their skills and trying to make them use their improved skills subconsciously. He didn''t spend much time on each of them, but even this was still a lot of help.

    Even the mages were taking part in the training, getting taught hand-to-hand combat skills¡­

    The entire situation had grown far beyond what Isaac had expected. Originally, he had thought that maybe only a few supporter teams would want his advice. But surprisingly, even the main force members had joined in. Even all of the ones who had openly been somewhat hostile towards him before due to their jealousy had asked him for help. It was truly astonishing. After all, it was really hard to admit one''s mistakes and gather the courage to ask others for support. Oftentimes, people would be too stuck in their own ways to do so. And even more than that, couldn''t they just have observed from the sidelines and still picked up a few things? Such thoughts would make it all too easy for them to escape making a real decision.

    It had all started with one main force member asking to join and then it snowballed until all of them were involved. Some of them might not have even wanted to do so, but their friends dragged them along. In any case, now it was too late to back out and they were improving comparatively rapidly, so there was no real reason to leave.

    No matter how strong they were or what they thought about him as a person, they were all able to appreciate Isaac''s skill. Even more than that, they knew that if they improved their combat standards, they would be able to live longer. There was no need to feel ashamed about asking for help, especially because they were part of the same familia - there was no need to stand on ceremony. In the end, their lives were more important than some petty squabbles. People with such mindsets were surprisingly not that common, showcasing yet again how only the elite of the elite could join the Loki Familia. Or, well, anyone Loki fancied.

    "Captain, can I go as well?"

    With an excited smile on her face, Tiona turned to Finn, who nodded in response.

    "Go ahead. But remember that we''ll set off in an hour."

    Finn''s words seemed to have opened a floodgate, with nearly everyone surrounding him swarming towards Isaac''s training group, leaving only the three Top Executives behind.

    "I didn''t expect him to be this skillful. How is this even possible?"

    With the level his eyesight had reached, it was exceedingly easy for Finn to follow each one of Isaac''s movements, which just caused him to become progressively more shocked. How could a person possibly have such fine-tuned control over their own body? He couldn''t detect any flaws at all, even with his wealth of experience. Was such a degree of perfection even achievable? It just didn''t make sense.

    Now that Finn was aware of this, he had to admit that it was no wonder that Isaac could raise his Level so quickly. In all honesty, it would be hard to not rise through the ranks like a shooting star.

    Yet again, Riveria released a relieved sigh. A small part of her burden seemed to have just disappeared.

    "I don''t know. But with him helping out, the kids will surely improve by leaps and bounds."

    Both Gareth and Finn couldn''t help but nod. Then, the stocky Dwarf suddenly showed a somewhat teasing smile while looking at his old Pallum friend.

    "Maybe he''ll be able to give our rusty bones a few pointers as well, eh?"

    Not even bothering to hide his excitement, Finn nodded. With such an opportunity for improvement dangling in front of him, it was hard not to be moved. For too many years, he had been stuck at Level 6. Maybe, with a little higher combat standards, he would be able to finally take a step forward again...

    "It''s quite likely. But there are already so many people surrounding him. Let''s find another opportunity to exchange some pointers with him later."

    Looking at these two veterans of many wars, who were reduced to little more than excited children now, Riveria showed a small smile.

    ''I haven''t seen them this thrilled in many years. Isaac¡­ you''re really a marvel¡­''

    The three of them calmly continued to observe the ongoing training. All the while, Finn had a somewhat contemplative look on his face. Finally, he nodded to himself, seemingly having made a decision.

    "Maybe we should change our campsite-related plans a bit. We can ask Isaac to regularly train everyone who has to stay here. That would be a lot more effective than having them train by themselves as usual. I wonder if he''ll agree to it."

    Riveria''s reply was almost immediate. By now, she had quite the good understanding of the young man.

    "He surely will. He wouldn''t have made such a huge scene on a whim. Even our reactions are quite likely part of his plan as well."

    For a bit, Finn raised his eyebrows in surprise, then he nodded. Riveria was right. He had forgotten again. That young man wasn''t ordinary in the slightest. The more he got to know about him, the more it felt like they were all just playing on the top of his palm, with everything under his control. But if he compared this feeling to the foreboding one that had been haunting him for a while, it was quite different. The danger he felt caused his thumb to tingle painfully, while what Isaac made him feel was a comfortable safety. It felt like everything would be taken care of if he just followed along mindlessly.

    Thankfully, Finn was experienced and smart enough to not fully rely on either of these feelings to make his decisions. They may be able to give him an indication of what would most likely happen in the future, still, that didn''t mean he could stop doing his best and trying his hardest. After all, even if his safety was to be guaranteed, he still had to grasp his dream with his own two hands. One should never be too comfortable if one wants to achieve their goal.

    -----

    All but one of the main forces had left for the 51st floor to take care of some preliminary scouting. If everything went according to plan, they would return in the late evening.

    It was around 3 p.m. now and Isaac was leisurely eating some bread while sitting next to Auroch and Claire. They had eaten some lunch and been watching Line and Cedar have a chess match after everyone at camp had gotten too exhausted to continue training.

    "Checkmate."

    A smug and confident smile played across Cedar''s lips, while Line''s shoulders slumped in disappointment. It had seemed like a very close match to her, but in the end, she had still not been able to deal with his strategy¡­

    Now that he had just won a game, Cedar was in an exceptionally good mood and looked at Isaac in a confrontational manner.

    "Want to give it a try as well? Don''t worry, I''ll go easy on you."

    Seemingly distraught, Isaac released a pained sigh and shook his head. This convinced Cedar even more of his hypothesis that Isaac wasn''t good at chess. After all, during the game, he hadn''t seemed interested in the slightest. He was surely only feigning disinterest to avoid embarrassing himself. After all, Isaac couldn''t be good at everything, right?

    Cedar didn''t mind lowering his head and asking for help during the earlier training, because Isaac was truly more skilled than him in that regard. It would be unbecoming of him to be petty about it. But chess? That was his true forte!

    "What? Are you afraid?"

    When Isaac nodded, Cedar''s smile widened, but after he heard his actual reply, his expression darkened by several degrees.

    "I''m afraid of beating you too badly, making you lose all hope and your will to live."

    Furious at having been ''underestimated'' to such a degree, Cedar irritatedly grumbled.

    "That won''t happen! Now, let''s have a match!"

    Yet again, a sigh escaped Isaac''s lips, before he shook his head and walked forward, sitting down next to the chess board. He looked at the arrogant Elf in front of him with only pity in his eyes.

    "Don''t say I didn''t warn you¡­"

    Instead of reacting to his words, Cedar had already fully focused on the chess board, choosing to ignore what he judged to be a provocation.

    -----

    Ten games later, Cedar was staring at Isaac with a pale face, his lips quivering in disbelief and fear. But still, he managed to mutter one - by now - all too familiar word.

    "A-Again¡­"

    Meanwhile, Isaac was drinking so water, ignoring the struggling Elf and smiling while immersing himself in conversation with the others. All this time, he had been casually moving his pieces while seemingly not paying any attention to the board at all. Yet, no matter what Cedar did, he couldn''t even get close to winning a single time¡­

    To be honest, Isaac was feeling a little apologetic. After all, it felt like he was bullying a newborn. No matter how complex chess might seem to others, the realm of prediction he entered casually every time he was in combat was infinitely more so. The two honestly couldn''t even be compared to each other. For Isaac, chess was too easy. A specific word to describe the sheer ease of it didn''t even exist yet.

    While outwardly laughing at one of Bryce''s jokes, in his mind, Isaac released a pent-up sigh.

    ''So boring¡­ it sucks that I can''t leave here during the day¡­''

 Chapter 56 - Too Much Of A Good Thing...

    The area from the 51st to the 57th floor was known as the ''Dragon Vase'', because - starting from the 52nd one - the Valgang Dragons inhabiting the 58th floor occasionally shoot a few breath attacks any invading party''s way. As for how they were able to perceive their enemies from thousands upon thousands of meters away, not to mention through walls and floors? That was a mystery. The other question one might have had about these nigh undetectable stealth attacks - exactly how the dragons'' breaths could possibly reach all the way through these floors, seeing how they were getting blocked by tons and tons of the material making up the dungeon - that was an easier one to answer. After all, one didn''t even need to think about it that much: the breath attacks were just that potent and powerful. Although they wouldn''t be much of a threat up on the 52nd floor, due to the many in-between floors eating away at the power of the attack, down on the 57th floor, the might of the attacks was almost at their peak - and therefore enough to burn almost any adventurer to an ashen death.

    Compared to this dragon breath minefield, the 51st floor, while identical in layout, was harmless. It almost felt like it was designed in such a safe way to lure the exploring parties into a false sense of security, making at least a few of them die to the dragons'' sneak attacks on the next few floors. But if that truly was the case, why did the dungeon increase the difficulty step-by-step and not just hit the invaders with an ambush they couldn''t survive, no matter what? If Isaac had been here, these would definitely have been some of the questions on his mind.

    The Dragon Vase''s floors'' design was quite simplistic, yet also bizarre. Almost all the floors consisted of were expansive, interwoven labyrinths, with the height of the ceiling being at - at most - a few tens of meters. The ground, walls and ceiling were also almost dangerously smooth, looking suspiciously man-made. No matter what was truly the case, they were perfect to a degree that people couldn''t help but think of them as creepy. The worst and also best part of these floors was that there were almost no blindspots for ambushing monsters - or cornered adventurers - to hide in. After all, the hallways were entirely free of clutter. This enabled adventurers to instantly notice when new monsters were ''born'' from the dungeon and it also gave them ample opportunities to move at their full speed. It was harder to do so when having to dodge many small obstacles, after all.

    All of this led to the 51st floor being regarded as a perfect monster-slaying spot. Still, because the ones appearing here were already at Level 5, not all of the main force members that had left the camp were capable of venturing here. The Level 4''s had been led back to the 49th floor to fight opponents they could deal with, while the Level 5 and above main force members and the mages had entered the 51st floor. There, they had decided to scout out a few key locations to plan ahead for the following few days. This included making sure that the layout of the floor hadn''t changed, harvesting a few rare materials and searching for some rarer and stranger monsters.

    Of course, Ais, Tiona and Tione were also given such a task. They had to find out whether one of the strongest monsters that had been discovered so far, the Cadmus, was currently at its lair, the Cadmus Spring. Although it wasn''t on the same level as a Monster Rex, Cadmus was still almost at Level 6, while residing in what was basically a beginner Level 5 area. It was no wonder why it was regarded with such respect. After all, far too many people had fallen to it.

    But if it had a lair and nobody had been down here for a long time, why did they even need to confirm whether it had respawned? Quite rarely, Cadmus¡­ just wasn''t there. Nobody knew why. It could have simply wandered off after a certain amount of time had passed, been slain by some other monstrosity that happened to pass by or maybe, it just had a very limited life span. Whatever the case, the three girls had been sent out to ascertain its current status. After that, they were to return to the main force''s meeting spot here on the 51st floor so that Finn and the other higher ups could decide on when and how best to face it.

    Because they had already fought Cadmus plenty of times, the three girls made their way to its lair without a problem. It was one of the very few large, circular rooms in the Dragon Vase, with a diameter of a couple of kilometers and a ceiling height of close to one kilometer. Inside, it housed an area akin to a miniature world. A couple of hills with steep cliffs, some trees and a small spring right in the middle, feeding into a pitifully tiny lake. This was the Cadmus Spring, whose water could be sold for ridiculous amounts of money. Still, there wasn''t much that could be taken from here on each visit.

    There was also an almost fifty meter long dragon, currently curled up around the lake, making it look even more pitiful in comparison.

    Yes, like quite a lot of monsters in the dungeon, the Cadmus was a dragon. Its scales were a somewhat subdued grey, while its very popular drop item was made up of a large patch of them. Weirdly enough, someone had decided to call it ''Cadmus Hide'', although it was a patch of scales.

    "Good, Cadmus is here. I guess it''s time to go back, then?"

    Because none of the monsters they had encountered on this floor so far had been a challenge, Tiona was lazily stretching, while the three girls observed the huge dragon from right outside of the entrance to its lair. While Tione nodded in reply and turned around, ready to depart, Ais was distractedly staring at the grey dragon.

    ''Why do I feel a lot less pressure from it than I normally do?''

    With a confused look on her face, she tilted her head, completely ignoring the Amazoness twins, who had already noticed her peculiar state of mind and started to eye her curiously.

    ''I feel like I should be able to kill it easily. But I haven''t improved that much since I was last here, right? So is that even possible¡­?''

    The more she thought about it, the more excited Ais became and subconsciously, she started to grip her sheathed sword''s handle. That, of course, didn''t escape her friends'' eyes.

    "Do you want to kill it now?"

    Bubbling with fighting spirit, Tiona wrapped an arm around Ais'' shoulder, now staring at the resting dragon with a ferocious gaze of her own. In response, she got a nod - but also a reply that she hadn''t expected.

    "Yes. But I want to face it alone. I''m sure I can deal with it. Please?"

    Seeing the serious and tranquil look on Ais'' face, Tiona could only smile wryly and release a sigh, while Tione also became a little disheartened. If they had all faced Cadmus together, the scolding they would get for going against Finn''s orders would most likely have been less severe. After all, it was a lot less dangerous with all three of them. Still, once Ais had truly set her mind on something, there was almost no way to snap her out of it. And besides that: both the Amazonesses were extremely hot-blooded. A duel between a fair maiden and a dragon would surely fire them up and would be quite the sight to see. While they would have preferred to take part in the battle themselves, they both stepped aside and left the stage to Ais without any complaints.

    "Then we''ll clean out any other monsters that might arrive here. You''ll be able to fully focus on your fight. I wish you the best!"

    Right after nodding at Tione''s encouraging words, Ais pulled out her sword and charged at the still resting Cadmus, while mumbling to herself.

    "Awaken, Tempest."

    This short chant activated her ''Ariel'' Magic, a type of enchant type magic that allowed her to imbue things with the power of the wind and control airflows. There were far too many possible applications for even Ais herself to have more than a very surface understanding of it for now, so at the moment, she relied on one of the most basic applications she had figured out: an armour of wind. Still, its effect wasn''t as simple as one would assume, as it vastly increased her own speed and the strength of her attacks.

    [ Ariel: A wind element enchant type magic that grants the user full control over the wind and surrounding air. Only limited by the user''s imagination and mana reserves. Will require 50% less focus if activated via the chant.

    Chant: "Awaken, Tempest." ]

    Although she had taken a look at the system''s description before, Ais hadn''t progressed in her usage of the Magic yet. Still, she saw many possibilities. After all, if these words were to be believed, she could use it without a chant¡­ and the only limit being her imagination basically meant that it could grow limitlessly.

    In an instant, Ais easily broke through the sound barrier and before the resulting boom was even heard, she was already within a kilometer''s distance from Cadmus. Thanks to her mastery over the surrounding airflows, she didn''t experience any significant air resistance. But even if she had been subjected to such a thing, her stats relating to her physique were high enough so that she could completely ignore its effects. It would have reduced her speed somewhat, but besides that, it wouldn''t even be an inconvenience.

    Even though Ais'' assault was incredibly fast and sudden, the grey dragon was still able to react in time. Right when she was about 600 meters away, it hastily and angrily spat a breath attack her way. But as this wasn''t the first time Ais had fought a dragon - or Cadmus, for that matter - she had already expected this.

    All of the times she had previously faced such an attack, she had concentrated some of Ariel''s power on the tip of her sword and blasted through the breath head on. This time, however, she instead opted to dodge the attack by a hair''s breadth while continuing to close in on the dragon. Maneuvering this exquisitely at such a high speed was also only possible due to her mastery over the wind. Only by using the surrounding air as a support tool could she possibly move fast and abrupt enough to escape the breath''s destruction. This was also part of the reason as to why she had always faced breath attacks head on before.

    Another part was simply that she had grown up in this world where the most wide-spread fighting ''technique'' was to meet force with even greater force and hit your opponents as hard as you could head on. As everyone did this and only very rarely were there ''outstanding geniuses'' who managed to see through combat more thoroughly, she had never thought about deviating from this norm. Only when she was sure that she would die if she took a hit head on would she even attempt to dodge, albeit mostly subconsciously.

    But now that she had observed Isaac''s battles many times, she had realized her folly. Or rather, the folly of this world''s inhabitants. Her mindset had changed. Dodging would consume a bit of energy, yes. But so would meeting an attack head on. In fact, the latter would be a lot more exhausting. Additionally, dodging and closing in on your enemy would enable you to finish a fight faster, which would conserve even more energy in the long run. It was truly baffling that she had never really thought about this before, but Ais honestly couldn''t be blamed for this.

    Thanks to her timely evasive maneuver, before Cadmus could even fire off another breath attack, she had already arrived right next to it and swung her storm-clad sword at the side of its stomach. A painful howl and a fountain of blood followed. But thanks to the wind wrapping her like a blanket Ais didn''t get stained by any of it, keeping just as flawless an appearance as before.

    In response to Cadmus slashing at her with its claws, she performed another close dodge before using the power of its own attack against it. While its left arm was passing by, she pressed her sword against it and let its own movement split open its scales and give it quite a deep wound. Even a few muscles were severed.

    At this point, Cadmus was enraged beyond compare and didn''t care about its own safety anymore. In close range, it fired off a breath attack, implicating its own body in the process.

    This time, there was no need for Ais to dodge. After all, she had long prepared her finishing move. While she had been harming the dragon''s arm as a distraction, she had started to channel Ariel to its fullest extent, surrounding herself with as much of its power as she could bear. She had dubbed this move ''Lil Rafaga'', but as it wasn''t actually a separate Magic or a functional chant, there was no need for her to say it.

    With her movements accelerating yet again and the wind pushing her stats far beyond what her Status would indicate, Ais completely disregarded the incoming breath attack. Without her even having to glance at it, it fizzled out at the edges of the maelstrom of wind enveloping her and making her seem like a living tempest. Without Cadmus being able to offer up any resistance, Ais sped up and beheaded it in one move. Well¡­ she did behead it, in a way. But it would be more accurate to say that the moment Ais got close enough to its head to actually attack it, the Cadmus'' head had already been ripped to infinitely small shreds by the wind surrounding her.

    Instead of stopping and rejoicing over her ''victory'', Ais didn''t let down her guard and sped forward into Cadmus'' neck - into its body - tearing apart everything that stood in her way. She was well aware of the non-negligible regenerative powers of most dragon type monsters, so she wouldn''t give Cadmus a chance to recover.

    In less than a second, she arrived right in front of the dragon''s magic stone, which thankfully hadn''t been harmed. After all, if it had been, it would have been worth a lot less. As to why it hadn''t been damaged, that was simply due to Ais'' incredible control over the wind: While it had ripped Cadmus'' body, bones and organs to pieces, she hadn''t allowed it to damage the magic stone in the slightest.

    Then, she placed her hand against the magic stone and put it away into her inventory, instantly killing the resilient dragon. But before it could fully disintegrate into ashes, she pulled the stone out again, holding it in her hand. She could have accomplished a similar result if she had just used her wind to fully extract the magic stone from the body, but it was a little bit faster to do so by using the inventory. She could also save a bit of energy this way.

    Just like that, a rain of ash revealed an otherworldly, blonde beauty, holding an enormous, spotless magic stone in one hand.

    Before Ais could even search for Cadmus'' drop item, Tiona had already charged at her and given her a bear hug, rubbing their cheeks together enthusiastically.

    "You were amazing! Cadmus couldn''t even defend itself! I feel like we''ll be left behind soon if we don''t improve, ahaha!"

    Instead of sadness, all the chipper Amazoness exuded was confidence and the unquenchable desire to improve. Jealousy over Ais'' progress was entirely foreign to her.

    "Just you wait, I''ll catch up!"

    In response to her friends'' words, Ais simply nodded, a small but encouraging smile spreading across her lips.

    "Okay."

    While the two had been celebrating, Tione had already picked up the Cadmus Hide and was making her way towards them, with a somewhat conflicted expression showing on her face.

    "Say, what do we do about the Cadmus Spring Water? We didn''t bring any containers with us. It usually dries up completely about thirty minutes after Cadmus has been slain and I doubt we can get any that quickly."

    Ais showed a confident smile, confusing her friends a little. Then, she explained that what she was going to show them was related to one of Isaac''s secrets, so it would be great if they could keep it to themselves for the time being. Of course, the Amazoness twins nodded and Ais had never doubted them - after all, Isaac had shared the existence of his teleportation ability with them before and they hadn''t made a fuss about it. So if even he had decided to trust them that much, wouldn''t she trust them even more than that, courtesy of spending so many years together? In any case, she had already discussed it with Isaac and he had told her she was free to tell anyone about whatever she wanted, should she feel like they were trustworthy enough. Maybe, besides a showcase of how much he trusted Ais, it was partially an attempt of his to create situations outside of his full control.

    Under her friends'' thrilled gazes, Ais walked up to the small lake and put her hand into the water, then stored it all into her inventory. It only took up one slot, as it was treated as a single item.

    "Whoa¡­ it all just disappeared¡­ that''s quite the impressive storage magic!"

    Tiona nearly keeled over when the entirety of the spring water simply disappeared. She had already prepared herself mentally beforehand, but it was still an almost unbelievable sight. Admittedly, it was something that felt a lot easier to accept compared to teleportation, but the seeming instant deletion of the spring water was just too baffling. Even the ground of the lake was completely dried up, as if all of the water had been filtered and sucked out of it, leaving only the dirt behind.

    While Tiona and Tione were waiting for more spring water to arrive before the spring would finally dry up in a few tens of minutes until a new Cadmus spawned, Ais had just discovered a problem. She didn''t have any containers for the water. How would she be able to take it out of her inventory? Would she have to ask for containers to be prepared and then drip it into them? She would have to expose the inventory''s existence to many others that way, but she really didn''t want to do that. While she trusted all of the familia members she was close to, there was always a chance for one of them to accidentally spill such a secret while they were drunk - and that would attract some more annoyances. It wouldn''t be a problem once Isaac had grown a lot stronger, but in the meantime, it would at least waste some more of the precious time Ais could spend with him.

    With no idea what to do, she sent Isaac a message via the system.

    "Do you have a couple hundred bottles? I put all the water from a spring into my inventory and now I don''t really know what to do."

    Although Isaac responded instantly, he sounded somewhat perplexed. Very quickly, Ais figured out why that was the case. He had told her that lots of things like the bottles she asked for could be found in the system store - and considering for how long Ais had already been using the system itself, he had expected her to already know about it.

    Isaac wasn''t the only surprised one, however. Ais was also utterly shell-shocked. She could buy other things besides the episodes of Isaac''s past in the system store? How had she never noticed that?

    Hurriedly, she opened the store interface and then mentally commanded for the list of items sold in there to scroll down. After she had passed the ones in the very beginning - the episodes of Isaac''s past, she arrived at a long list of miscellaneous items and many, many other things. Honestly, she could probably spend months upon months doing this without ever reaching the bottom. Some of the things sold here piqued her interest, like an increase in inventory slots, so she mentally noted them down in case she would need them in the future.

    She also saw the Divine Blood upgrade that Isaac had purchased before. If she hadn''t seen how large of a disturbance Isaac had caused while he had changed his body''s blood into ichor, she would have simply bought it right then and there. But upon thinking about it a little bit more, she decided to wait until they had left the dungeon again. She knew all about the effects of the Divine Aura and how violently the dungeon would react to it - and she was a lot less confident in controlling it than Isaac was. Still, why was the Divine Blood upgrade in her store as well? Were the two stores connected in some way? That was very likely, seeing how so many items from Isaac''s old world were here as well¡­

    After Ais found a search function within the system store and had zeroed in on a specific kind of unremarkable water bottle that could be found in this world, she opened her inventory and checked how many of them she needed for the spring water she had just gathered. And at that moment, her knees almost turned into jelly, causing her to have to sit down while staring at her inventory in disbelief.

    Did that really say one billion liters of Cadmus Spring Water?! Usually they were able to harvest about a few hundred liters from the small lake before it dried up. To be honest, even calling it a lake was already far too generous - it was more of a glorified puddle. But even if they normally missed a few liters here and there, the lake surely couldn''t contain more than 500 or so liters. What was she supposed to do now?!

    Feeling like she shouldn''t overwhelm the rest of her familia with a mind boggling windfall like this, Ais bought 500 of the water bottles for 1 AP each. She had long ago renamed her Achievement Points into AP, following Isaac''s example. There was not much of a point to it, she just felt a little bit closer to him like that.

    When Tiona looked away from the completely unresponsive spring, feeling somewhat disappointed, she noticed Ais sitting down, with a somewhat pale face. Hastily, she hurried over and grasped her hand, looking at her worriedly.

    "Are you oka---"

    Before she could even finish her sentence, the dungeon around them started to tremble, as if the very land itself was enraged. All over the walls of the room they were in, more children of the dungeon were born - and they were all Cadmus dragons!

    Looking at the ever-increasing army of mini-boss monsters in front of her, Ais eyed a specific one that was about ten meters taller than the rest, sporting nearly white scales. It stuck out like a sore thumb from the sea of dull grey surrounding it and gave off a far stronger pressure - it was a mutant.

    Shock flashed past the Amazoness twins'' eyes, while Tione mumbled to herself.

    "What kind of hornets'' nest did we stir up? What the hell is happening!?"

    A sigh escaped Ais'' lips, while she couldn''t help but smile wryly. She already had an inkling as to what had happened. Because the spring water had still been connected to the unknown reservoir supplying it, the system had simply taken all of it away. What should have been sufficient to provide this spring with a million years worth of sustenance was stolen suddenly and all at once. That, in turn, had either enraged the dungeon or triggered some sort of mechanism, causing the current predicament.

    Still, Ais didn''t look too worried, causing both Tiona and Tione to relax as well.

    "So, what should we do now? Fight our way out and meet up with the Captain and the rest?"

    While mentioning Finn, Tione started to squeal a little and couldn''t help but tremble in excitement. But while such behaviour might have seemed out of place under such threatening circ.u.mstances, that was how she always behaved when she talked about him, so everyone was already used to it.

    "You know¡­ I can teleport us as well. So let''s kill as many as we can."

    Why would Ais worry about anything at all when she could simply bring the three of them to whatever safe place she wanted to without any delay? Isaac had long ago shared the ability to create markers on the system map with her - and the meeting spot here on the 51st floor had already been marked by her long ago, just in case. These Cadmus dragons were strong, yes. But they weren''t strong enough to instantly obliterate them. For far too long had they had problems with finding monsters that would provide them with a lot of excelia - but all of these would. With the strongest escape technique that not even the world itself was able to hinder, why run away and pass up such an opportunity? Now that the dungeon was throwing so much delicious prey at them, they should use it as an opportunity to advance further!

    Hearing her friend''s words, Tione smiled brightly, cracked her knuckles and pulled out her dual swords, readying herself for combat.

    "I''ve long since wanted to have a go at a Cadmus. While I don''t think I''ll be able to kill it as easily as you, Ais, I should still be able to do it. So¡­ Tiona¡­ how about a punishment game? The one who kills the least loses, the winner decides the punishment."

    A competitive flame burst to life in Tiona''s eyes when she heard her sister''s provocation. She didn''t really care about the game itself, but she still wanted to win.

    "Fine by me. You''re on!"

    While the sisters were kindling each others'' fighting spirit, Ais took a glance at her current Status - after all, the Cadmus dragons were approaching from the very edges of the room and the outside hallways. They weren''t in a hurry and instead tried to encircle them and cut off their escape routes, giving the three girls a little bit of time to prepare themselves.

    [ Name: Ais Wallenstein ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Race: Human, Unknown ]

    [ Level: 5 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: D-554 (+ 39) (22678) ]

    [ Endurance: D-541 (+ 37) (22494) ]

    [ Dexterity: B-797 (+ 42) (32287) ]

    [ Agility: B-795 (+ 41) (32315) ]

    [ Magic: A-844 (+ 52) (32820) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ Ariel ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Avenger ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Hunter: G ]

    [ Abnormal Resistance: G ]

    [ Swordsman: E ]

    Seeing how she had acc.u.mulated tens of stats worth of excelia from killing the previous Cadmus, Ais got even more excited. She was aware that her Ariel Magic worked in a similar way to Isaac''s Divine Blood buff. Whatever laws governed the gain of excelia, they didn''t get taken into account when calculating the difference between the adventurer''s and the monsters'' stats. It was basically a hack.

    Now that she had steeled her resolve by showing herself proof of what kind of explosive growth she would experience if she got through this, Ais'' eyes turned cold and lifeless, while her face warped into a mask of hatred. Still, while it was twisted, it was impeccably beautiful nonetheless. She was a little bit surprised by the calmness of her mind, however.

    After all, she had just decided to use her ''Avenger'' Skill - her trump card against any kinds of dragons. Previously, when facing just a singular Cadmus, she hadn''t even needed to rely on it at all. But with hundreds of them surrounding the group of three and even a mutant amongst the ranks of the enemies... it was time to let loose a bit.

    [ Avenger: (Active) Makes the user succ.u.mb to their hatred. Based on the severity of the user''s hatred for a specific enemy, all stats will be buffed by up to 50% when in combat with them. If the enemy is a dragon, the stat buff will double, while the maximum increases to 100%. ]

    ''I''ll slay as many as you send my way, dungeon! So please don''t disappoint me.''

    Although she had just buffed her stats significantly with her Avenger Skill, Ais activated Ariel as well, further increasing her combat power. Then, without further ado, she followed in her friends'' footsteps and shot towards the hundreds of Cadmus'' that were slowly tightening their encirclement.

 Chapter 57 - An Elfâ€™s Troubles

    About two hours later, Riveria was pacing around nervously at the meeting spot. Due to there only being a few tens of people here, the assaults from monsters weren''t as overwhelming as during their descent and the vast majority could kick back and relax while a handful of main force members handled all of the occasionally approaching enemies.

    ''The girls still aren''t back! Are they okay!?''

    Although she tried to not let it show on her face, Riveria was very nervous. Usually, when given such an easy task, Ais, Tiona and Tione would return very quickly. Now that the agreed upon time was almost upon them, there was still no sign of them. Could they have run into some unforeseen difficulties?

    Out of the corner of his eyes, Gareth glanced at his worried comrade, then decided to stay quiet. He had a lot more faith in the girls, as he didn''t think anything on this floor could truly endanger them. They were probably just taking their sweet time or had discovered something interesting. Seeing no need to fret over it, he returned his attention to Finn and continued their casual conversation.

    At that moment, while Riveria was glancing over at a few hallways connecting to the room they were in, she noticed someone''s head poking out from one of them stealthily. It was Tiona! Just what was that girl doing? If she was here, she should just come on over.

    Right before she could call out to her, the two locked eyes and Tiona hastily raised a finger to her lips, begging the stern Elf to stay quiet. Then, she signalled for her to come on over. Seeing the somewhat guilty and panicked expression on the young Amazoness'' face, Riveria''s expression softened and a sigh escaped her lips. Telling the others that she would take a short walk, she excused herself and walked towards the hallway Tiona was located in.

    Considering how Riveria was capable of comparatively effortless Concurrent Chanting and even her physical stats were quite impressive, the weak Level 5 monsters on this floor couldn''t even dream of harming her. Because of this, nobody bat an eye at her request, as it wasn''t that unusual for the Top Executives to wander off on their own occasionally. Only Finn had noticed Tiona''s appearance, but he didn''t make a fuss about it. If the girls didn''t want to be noticed, he wouldn''t expose them. He was only glad that at least one of them was now confirmed to be safe and sound. In any case, Riveria would be enough to handle any situation the girls could be involved in.

    When Riveria turned a corner and got close enough to have a close look at Tiona and the accompanying Ais and Tione, she was saddened to see that they looked a little roughed up. Many bruises covered them and even a few burn marks could be seen. Parts of their armours had been damaged. Well, the Amazonesses didn''t really wear any armour, just relatively casual clothing, so only Ais'' armour had lost a bit of its splendor. Even more than the sadness, what filled the Elf''s heart was a powerful sense of relief. The girls were alive! Anything else didn''t really matter in the face of this.

    Before she could give them their well-deserved scolding for making her this worried, Riveria was surprised to see Ais raise one of her hands to get her attention, showing a rare serious look on her face.

    "Riveria. Please keep what you''re about to see a secret. It''s related to Isaac''s abilities and if they became common knowledge, it would be a bit annoying."

    Without any hesitation, Riveria nodded in compliance. Inwardly, however, she couldn''t help but become a little exasperated. What kind of trouble did he cause now? And how did it lead to her little girls getting harmed like that?

    "First, have a look at this. It''s a storage ability that Isaac shared with me."

    Giving the motherly Elf no more opportunity to ponder, a bottle filled with Cadmus Spring Water instantly appeared in Ais'' hand, out of nowhere. This shocked Riveria to the core. Of course she had heard of storage magic before, but wasn''t this a chant-less and instant one? Considering her current magical knowledge, this should be an impossibility.

    "I used this ability to store all of the water in the Cadmus Spring."

    To show that she wasn''t just spouting empty words, Ais had multiple additional bottles of the spring water appear in her hands.

    A satisfied smile spread on Riveria''s lips. They should have gotten about 500 liters if her estimates were correct. Usually, the expedition party didn''t have an opportunity to get all of it, so this was a great haul. Considering the girls'' roughed up states, they had probably sneaked up on the spring with this ability in mind and got hurt by Cadmus while they were escaping. Yeah, that would certainly explain everything. They hadn''t technically disobeyed any orders, as they had only been asked to not directly engage Cadmus in battle.

    Right when Riveria had deduced as such, Ais'' next revelations completely blew her mind. The usually calm and collected Elf couldn''t help but weakly lean against the wall, blankly staring at the ground in front of her.

    What poured out of the thin air were hundreds of Cadmus Hides! There was even a special one that seemed to have come from a mutant. At first, Riveria had still tried to convince herself that the three girls had simply slain a single Cadmus and used some sort of broken duplication ability - probably courtesy of Isaac - to create this many of the drop items. But what about the mutant Cadmus Hide? It couldn''t be explained if she stuck with that train of thought. The only option was that the three girls had faced hundreds of Cadmus dragons, with even a mutant one in the mix. While dealing with such a situation might be possible for her and the other Top Executives, she hadn''t thought the three girls were already capable of such a feat.

    "I wanted to fight Cadmus on my own at first, because I thought I could beat it without a problem. And I was right."

    Somewhat guiltily, Ais couldn''t help but look at the ground in embarrassment when she arrived at this point. After all, everything that had happened was due to her selfish desire. But before Riveria could even start reprimanding her for such a dangerous - albeit successful - decision, the explanation continued.

    "Then when I cleared out the spring, it seems like I accidentally took about a billion liters."

    As the Amazoness twins hadn''t been aware of this at all, they both joined Riveria in almost keeling over when hearing these news. What kind of monstrous haul was this?! Would anyone even be able to buy all of this off of them? They would crash the market if they even shared a tiny fraction of it with the public!

    "And then, the dungeon started to shake and hundreds of Cadmus dragons appeared from the walls, led by a mutant."

    Having her own suspicions confirmed like that was surprisingly a lot to take in, so Riveria sat down powerlessly to try to hasten the process.

    "After a few hours of killing, we noticed that we were running late and picked up all the drop items and magic stones we could find before teleporting here. Oh, teleporting is also an ability Isaac shared with me."

    At this point, Riveria was already numb to these shocking revelations. With somewhat lifeless eyes, she stared at the three girls while trying to accept that Isaac could grant Ais a teleportation ability. It was¡­ surprisingly easy to do. Mostly because just now she had given up on trying to understand the young man. It became painfully obvious to her that she had severely underestimated him. But that wasn''t really her fault. After all, not even the gods had such powers down here in the Lower World. Expecting a mysterious young man to surpass even them was anything but rational.

    But if an instant, chant-less storage magic and teleportation were just the abilities that Isaac had given Ais access to, how much more mind-boggling would the ones he was keeping for himself be? Well, there was no use thinking about it. Riveria was now fully aware of why it would be a bad idea for others to become aware of what Isaac could do, especially in his current state. It would even bring a lot of trouble to their familia''s doorstep, not just his. On second thought, scratch that. Isaac''s doorstep was the familia''s doorstep.

    After contemplating for a bit, Riveria realized that she couldn''t cover up what just happened in its entirety and decided on a somewhat ideal course of action. She had Ais take out a bit more of the Cadmus Spring Water, let her put away all but the mutant''s hide and magic stone and then let the girls carry their spoils of war towards the others. In any case, even if they only publicized this much, it was enough to explain the appearance of several more Level 6''s amongst them in the near future.

    Thinking about how her little girls would soon catch up to her, while she admittedly was feeling a bit of melancholy, Riveria was also truly happy for them. After all, if they got stronger, they would be able to keep themselves safe from more dangers.

    When the rest of the waiting main force members heard about the late arrivals'' exploits, they erupted into disbelieving cheers. Only Finn seemed to be unconvinced by the story Riveria told them, but as he was well aware that she wouldn''t obscure details without a reason, he decided to wait for a private explanation from her. There was no need to interrupt her plans.

    "Congratulations on your safe return and taking down a mutant Cadmus!"

    A bright smile spread across the Pallum''s handsome face, evoking a certain Amazoness'' excited gasps.

    Such a huge commotion obviously couldn''t escape Bete''s notice. While observing everything from the very back of the group, he stared at the three girls with disbelief painted all over his face. He was well aware of how strong a regular Cadmus was. While he might have a chance of beating it, he knew he wasn''t a match for a mutant at all. The only choice he would have was to run for his life and pray to their goddess, hoping for a miracle. And yet, his three comrades managed to slay such a foe and stay relatively unharmed?!

    Once he tried to think of an explanation for this, for some reason, Isaac''s visage couldn''t help but come to mind. He didn''t know why, but he was sure that the new guy had some kind of connection to what was happening, causing him to feel even more worried about his agreed upon duel with him in the future. Although he had increased his strength quite significantly in the past weeks, he felt like he was still too slow. But while this worsened his mood, it also made his fighting spirit burn brighter. With a rebellious snarl, he turned around and decided to help out the ones currently on defense duty, not listening to the excited uproar behind him any longer.

    -----

    After everyone had returned to the 50th floor and had eaten dinner, at about 9 p.m., Finn, Gareth, Riveria, Ais, Tiona, Tione, Lefiya and Isaac assembled in the command tent. Seeing that Lefiya accompanied the group as well, Riveria nodded to herself. It seemed like her young prot¨¦g¨¦ was in the know as well. This didn''t really come as a surprise to her.

    Thanks to Ais telling him all about what transpired today, Isaac had a pretty good idea of what was about to happen, so he wasn''t nervous in the least. Well, even if he was in an entirely foreign and unexpected situation, with Ais at his side, he wouldn''t lose his calm.

    Riveria shot Isaac a somewhat wry smile, then turned to face Finn and Gareth, who nodded at her supportively, before looking back at the young man.

    "Sorry for putting you on the spot like this. I''m sure you''re already aware, but Ais has shown me some of your capabilities earlier and - with her consent - I told Finn and Gareth about them. Know that we''ll take these secrets with us to our graves and that you don''t have to show or tell us anything. I just wanted you to know that you can trust us to keep your secrets."

    Now it was Isaac''s turn to show a wry smile, as the severity of Riveria''s words was truly a bit exaggerated. Well, it wasn''t really, but as the amount of danger he would need to be in to start to get worried was nigh unachievable, his own perceptions of such things couldn''t be fully relied upon.

    While both Finn and Gareth had a similar serious look on their face as their Elf companion, the girls just kicked back and enjoyed the show. All of this was nothing new to them and they were just bystanders right now anyway.

    "I appreciate it, but you really don''t need to be that concerned about it. Even if by some accident people find out about some of my abilities, they won''t be more than a slight annoyance in the short term. And after that, they might as well be dust. Anyway, let me just showcase and explain to you what you already know about."

    In quick succession, Isaac took out random items from his inventory and piled them up on the ground, then touched them to let them disappear again.

    "Although it might appear to be a Magic, it''s not. I call it the inventory and I can store anything I want in there. No matter the amount."

    Giving the three Top Executives no time to interject, Isaac suddenly appeared at the other end of the command tent. There was no time lag and no indication that he had prepared anything.

    "Teleportation is instant and any place that either Ais or I have visited ever since we met can be chosen as a target. As long as people are within a five meter distance from me, I can decide to bring them along as well. Oh, and it''s also not a Magic. You can ask Loki if you want to make doubly sure."

    While Riveria had already seen Ais use the inventory before, Finn and Gareth hadn''t. So they were anything but calm when Isaac showcased these two abilities back to back. Comparatively, Riveria was a lot better off, so she momentarily showed a somewhat smug smile when observing the others'' astonishment. Then, she told Isaac that there was no need to ask Loki about it - now that he had chosen to tell them about it, they would trust him fully.

    "I''m wondering¡­ could this inventory of yours be used to support expeditions?"

    After thinking about it for a while, Finn couldn''t help but show some interest in the logistical help it could provide. Of course, Isaac had already prepared an answer to this question weeks ago.

    "Theoretically, yes. I could take over the duties of all supporters easily, making expeditions go very smoothly. But I would highly advise against it. After all, I won''t be here forever and if everyone starts to rely on me too much, they''ll be incapable of advancing on their own the moment I''m not around. Also, our supporters would lose their jobs and lose opportunities to observe how the main force members deal with specific monsters. While they would be able to focus solely on the growth of their strength, these exhibitions of theoretical knowledge are important for their survival. Also, some people are just not cut out to be adventurers and would rather prefer being a supporter."

    Seeing Isaac shake his head and hearing his explanation, Finn couldn''t help but agree. Additionally, he felt a little reluctant about what Isaac had hinted at - his departure. Even if it took a few tens of years, hearing him say that this familia wasn''t his final destination was still saddening news. Even more so for the girls, who had grown quite close to him.

    As he had already expected such a reaction as well, Isaac showed a consoling smile and prepared to cheer them up a little again. He couldn''t just give them the stick - there also needed to be a carrot.

    "Fret not. I was only talking about official expeditions. If you want to delve deep into the dungeon less publicly, you can ask me or Ais to teleport you there or join you on your venture anytime we''re available. We won''t get held back by lots of manpower and can go to deeper floors than anyone else had ever been to. Just make sure to keep it a secret."

    Rather than just a carrot, this was a cake! Finn, Riveria and Gareth had long since stopped advancing, as they hadn''t been able to fully max out their Level 6 stats and face strong enough opponents to qualify to break past the wall to Level 7. The main reason for this was that they always had to bring along a huge group of people, which inevitably slowed them down. Of course, once those grew stronger as well, their investment would pay off and they could rise again. But now that they could potentially achieve this more quickly, with no downsides, why hesitate?

    Although Finn was a little aggrieved over Isaac''s refusal related to the official expeditions, once he heard his proposal, he finally let go of the short-term benefits. Isaac was right - if everyone relied upon him too much for their regular operations, they wouldn''t be able to do their job properly when he left. As for relying on him for some extra benefits? That was fair game.

    "In any case, now you know about some of my capabilities. Maybe you''ll find out about more of them in the future. No matter what, I can assure you that the familia won''t come to any harm."

    Seeing her three mentors tell Isaac that they didn''t doubt his words made Ais show an especially warm smile from the sidelines. It seemed to be strangely contagious, as the rest also started to sport happy expressions. But then, while smiling contentedly, Riveria remembered that she hadn''t scolded the girls yet. Instantly, her eyebrows scrunched up and a frown appeared on her face.

    "Ais. Tiona. Tione. I know everything worked out well. But you can''t go against the Captain''s orders on a whim! It''s a matter of principle. If everyone did whatever they wanted, how could we possibly keep everything orderly?"

    The girls were kneeling in front of the stern Elf with guilty expressions on their faces, trying their best not to show their relative boredom at having to listen to her rational complaints for¡­ however long it would take. Seeing his beloved getting scolded like a child made Isaac smirk amusedly, before Finn''s words distracted him and demanded his attention.

    "I have a proposal for you¡­"

    In the next few minutes, the two discussed a training plan for all the expedition party members, as well as the Executives and Top Executives. Isaac had long expected this and because he would have been doing something similar anyway, he agreed to giving the regular main force members and supporters pointers every two days. On the other days, it would be the Executives'' turn in the evening, while the rest of the time, he was free to rest and recover.

    Originally, Isaac had planned to request for a leave of absence to teleport to different floors for his own improvement. But no matter how safe he really was, he doubted he would be allowed to do so without being accompanied by some of the stronger familia members. Especially now that he had become such a huge factor in their future progress. Because of this, he stayed quiet on his nightly explorations - they would just worry needlessly if they knew about them, after all. And if worse came to worst, he might even have to endure one of Riveria''s scoldings...

    -----

    Later that night, when Ais and Isaac were about to sleep, the nightgown-clad Lefiya made her way over to their partition. Her usual dirty thoughts seemed to be entirely absent this time, replaced by an unprecedented air of seriousness.

    "Can I come in? I want to ask you something."

    Keeping himself from saying something along the lines of "We can hear you just fine even if you don''t.", Isaac glanced at Ais and upon seeing her approving nod allowed the young Elf to enter.

    After nervously having sat down in the now somewhat cramped partition, Lefiya stared right into Isaac''s eyes, took a deep breath and asked what had been on her mind ever since he had mentioned it earlier today.

    "Will you two leave this world?"

    A spark of understanding flashed in Isaac''s eyes as he realized where this conversation was heading. But as he didn''t see a need to deny that flow, he nodded his head.

    "Someday? Yes, definitely."

    Having her suspicions confirmed, Lefiya became a little sad and looked at Ais. This angel-like girl was her friend and also the one she looked up to the most. What would she do if Ais suddenly disappeared from this world forever? If it had been via death, she might have been able to accept it easier. But knowing she would still be alive after they would be permanently separated tore her up inside.

    With that in mind, she looked back at the enigmatic young man in front of her. She had long since observed the people he surrounded himself with and knew that his subordinates would most likely have the highest chances of getting brought along for the journey. Although she had an inkling that there would be no way back, she had already decided. She would pledge her loyalty to this man.

    It felt a little bit harder to speak the words she wanted to say when looking directly at him, so Lefiya closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then, before she could take that final step, she felt a strong hand gently patting her head and stroking her hair, while Isaac''s familiar, calming voice entered her ears.

    "I know what you want to do, but you don''t need to. If you want to, you can come along. Ais would certainly be happy. Also, you see me as your friend and I wouldn''t mind the company of such an adorable Elf."

    The main reason Isaac stopped her was that he hadn''t wanted one of Ais'' close friends to become one of his subordinates. This would tilt his relationship with Lefiya in a way too subservient direction. They were already teacher and student, anything beyond this would make the interactions between the three of them too awkward. If that hadn''t been the case, he would have accepted this lovely Elf into his ranks in a heartbeat.

    Another reason was that, if everything went according to his current plans, Lefiya would still be able to meet with Ais even after the two had left this world. It wouldn''t matter whether she came along. Because of this, he would feel a bit guilty if he lured her into making such a pivotal decision due to a simple misunderstanding. Still, there was no need to tell anyone of his long-term plans this early. They should just wait and see.

    Somewhat distractedly, Isaac continued to stroke Lefiya''s head, emulating how he usually treated Mina. Thinking about how he categorized one of his subordinates as more of a pet than a disposable tool, he couldn''t help but smile wryly. Who was he even kidding? No matter how neatly organized he tried to keep all of his relations with other people, they were already starting to become a mess.

    All of a sudden, Lefiya dodged his hand and buried herself into Ais'' confused embrace, shivering and hiding her face. Her ears were fluttering about madly, having turned completely red. A certain thought crossed Isaac''s mind, causing his smile to unnaturally stiffen.

    Only after she had recovered in her friend''s arms for a while did Lefiya turn back around to focus on him again, her eyes somewhat watery and a heavy blush all over her cheeks. After a few deep breaths, she shot him an accusative look.

    "Y-You touched my ears¡­ you have to take responsibility!"

    ''So it''s really a clich¨¦ development like this¡­''

    An annoyed sigh escaped Isaac''s lips, then, with an unprecedentedly serious look on his face, he stared straight into the nervous Elven maiden''s eyes.

    "I refuse."

 Chapter 58 - Coincidental Reemergence

    "Eh?"

    Surprised by his refusal, Lefiya stared blankly at the man in front of her. She really hadn''t thought that he would reject her. Of course, she hadn''t thought that he had any romantic feelings for her - no, nothing of the sort. Instead, she had assumed that he knew about what kind of special meaning there was behind touching an Elf''s ears and had decided on accepting the consequences regardless.

    Considering how Isaac had claimed that he had a bit of knowledge about this world even before he had come here and how he had already spent multiple weeks here, him knowing about something as ingrained in common sense as this had felt natural to her. She hadn''t even thought about the possibility of him not being aware of it.

    In fact, the only thing she thought about was that she wouldn''t mind getting involved in some of this couple''s ''plays''. And seeing such a great opportunity, how could she just let it pass? She wasn''t in love with either of them, but¡­

    Yet again, a heavy blush crept on her face. Luckily, nobody noticed this ''change'', as she had already been beet-red before this.

    As the only one who mostly understood both sides of this conversation, Ais couldn''t help but chuckle, which instantly made the other two focus their attention on her. After all, it was such a precious and adorable sight.

    But even while looking at her with a loving smile, Isaac didn''t forget to shoot Ais a questioning glance. He already had a few guesses as to what exactly could be going on, but without asking about it, how could he be sure?

    Neither Isaac''s quizzical gaze nor Lefiya''s wronged and pouting look did escape Ais'' eyes, so she decided to explain what exactly was going on.

    "An Elf''s ears are a very special place. As per tradition, they can only be touched by their spouse. It''s common knowledge that when someone of the opposite s.e.x touches an Elf''s ears and they don''t particularly dislike that person, they end up marrying them."

    What Ais didn''t know about was that in the past, after every long period of isolation the Elves underwent in their forests, their reappearance would lead to a lot of surprise and curiosity from the other sentient races. After all, most of them would have already mostly forgotten about them after a few hundreds of years, only regarding them as a myth. Back when there was no need for Elves to venture out into the world like today, where they journeyed far and wide to gain experience in Orario or to trade for some special products produced there, they had often shut themselves off from the rest of the sentient races for remarkably long periods of time.

    The curiosity of many people often led to them touching an Elf''s ears accidentally, which amusingly enough brought about a huge number of interracial marriages. Well, both this and the fact that the Elves were constantly out of touch with the rest of the world resulted in quite a bit of bloodshed as well. But that is a topic for another day.

    Now having a rough understanding of the situation, Isaac nodded and turned to face Lefiya again, which made her turn quite fidgety. There was one last thing he had to confirm. He practically already knew it, but he really needed to hear someone else spell it out for him.

    "What is so special about an Elf''s ears?"

    Even though it had seemed impossible before, Lefiya''s face reddened even more and Isaac even began worrying about whether the young Elf would slip into unconsciousness soon. While dodging both Ais'' and Isaac''s gazes, she whispered to herself, just loud enough to let the other two hear it.

    "It feels really good when they''re being touched¡­"

    While Isaac''s expression outwardly didn''t show any change, he was cursing inside. Of course, the damn ears had to be an erogenous zone! Everything made perfect sense now, great. What horrible luck, his worst suspicions had been confirmed! But how did all of this even make any sense? If this was the case, shouldn''t Elves try to cover their ears as much as possible so they wouldn''t get aroused by a gust of wind? How come he had never seen them do so at all?

    As so often, a sigh escaped Isaac''s lips. Ais'' reaction didn''t make the whole situation better at all either. She was confusedly blinking, trying to understand the exact meaning of Lefiya''s words. But Isaac didn''t want to stain her pure mind with such things yet, even though she had probably witnessed lots of them when experiencing his past. After all, young Isaac didn''t abstain from researching such topics. Luckily, he had always maintained a purely scientific mindset back then¡­

    "I''m really sorry, Lefiya. I had no idea about any of this."

    The blushing Elf would have had to be a very special kind of idiot if she hadn''t been able to vaguely figure out how Isaac planned to continue this conversation. And she was proven right almost immediately, as he didn''t give her much time to get more disheartened before continuing.

    "Please forgive me for this transgression. Also, please don''t ask me to marry you. While this was undoubtedly my mistake, I don''t have romantic feelings for you. So if you forced the issue and - by some miracle - got me to agree, it wouldn''t work out well for either of us. Once again, I''m sorry. I didn''t mean to make you feel this uncomfortable."

    At this point, Lefiya couldn''t do anything but sigh and nod. While she had initially hoped for a different kind of development, mostly out of curiosity, she had calmed down significantly again. By now, it was clear to her just how much of an awkward situation she had put Ais and Isaac in. She felt really fortunate that she hadn''t been violently assaulted by Ais, as Lefiya would have definitely chosen a more forceful approach if her beloved had been cornered like this directly in front of her face. Thankfully, the golden-haired beauty had a very gentle and forgiving disposition when it came to her friends.

    While Lefiya was still wallowing in self-pity and trying to reconcile the fact that her ear-touching v.i.r.g.i.nity had been taken just like that, a familiar hand started to gently pat her head, causing her worries to melt away very quickly. This time, Isaac was paying special attention to not accidentally make the same mistake again.

    It really was a shame. Her ears were just so cute, moving about in response to Lefiya''s feelings. It was truly a pity that he couldn''t touch them without creating quite the delicate situation. Touching a girl''s erogenous zones when he wasn''t even in a relationship with her was unacceptable. But why did these ears have to be so lovely!?

    After a couple more minutes of consolation, the now sleepy Elf left their partition. Finally, Ais and Isaac could get some well-earned sleep.

    -----

    On the following day, nothing extraordinary happened.

    The main force members returned from their scouting missions on the 51st floor and all of them reported a success. Nothing about the dungeon had changed in the past few months. With this confirmation, Finn''s plans could finally be put into motion.

    Every time an exploration-type familia went on an expedition, they would try to challenge their previous record and descend even just a single floor deeper. And as for the few who could make it to the 50th floor, they were also tasked by the Guild to gather as much knowledge about the mostly unexplored floors beyond that point as they could. So even if Finn had been fine with confusing the other expedition party members and had planned to abstain from going deeper, he would have had to report their progress to the Guild anyway. And if just one of the people here had accidentally slipped up about them not trying hard to break their record this time, it could have become a problem for the familia.

    But why would Finn even think of not attempting such a thing? That was because Isaac could enable them to come here anytime they wanted - completely unseen. It was far more efficient to have a few cards hidden than to be read like an open book. Even an arguably neutral force like the Guild still had to be looked at warily.

    So, for this expedition''s attempt, Finn, Riveria, Gareth, Ais, Tiona, Tione and Bete would be trying their hardest. Pretty much all of the Executives and above were dispatched on this mission. As for the rest of the main force, they were restricted to hunting on the 49th and 51st floors and protecting the campsite.

    As their attempt to break the record would only take about a day or two, the group wouldn''t need to bring any supplies other than a bit of water and some light snacks. At their Levels, they weren''t as harshly restricted by their bodies'' basic needs and it would be relatively easy to stock up on those in advance. As long as they wouldn''t be gone for too long, that is.

    Tomorrow morning, the aforementioned members would set off, so they would have to get a much longer rest than usual tonight.

    But how long would this expedition take anyway? Seeing how the attempt to break the record wouldn''t take much longer than two days, it would seem like their return to the surface was imminent. Still, that wasn''t the case at all. By now, the main force members had started to gather the Level 5 monsters'' magic stones and drop items on the supporters'' carts. Because they only explored the 51st floor in small parties, it would still take a few weeks to fill up all of that space. It would simply be a waste if they returned before they filled their pockets to the very brim. And even more importantly, this was one of the rare times where the Level 4 and weaker Level 5 main force members could gain a significant amount of excelia. Their following increase in combat power would be far more crucial to the familia''s future operations and survival than just some simple wealth.

    During all of this, the supporters didn''t have to do too much work. They mainly focused on helping out wherever some menial work was required and were left to their own devices for the rest of the time. If they hadn''t been in one of the ''three great unexplored regions of the world'', the dungeon, they might have even been able to kick back and relax without any worries.

    For Isaac, it was a period of extreme boredom. No matter how often he complained about it, it wouldn''t be enough. While he was grateful for the opportunity to learn from his senior adventurers and it was a good thing to get some insight into more floors of the dungeon, he would have probably made it almost halfway here already if he had been on his own. One thing was for sure: In the future, he would need to be given a far more active role.

    Because Finn had already explained the training schedule to everyone in the morning, only the main force members asked him for pointers today. All of the Executives abstained, although some of them - especially Tiona and Tione - were quite unhappy about it. Originally, they should have had the opportunity to improve, just like the others. But now that they needed to get some good rest to be prepared for tomorrow, it would be better to just sit back and relax for the day. Only that way would they be able to be in top shape.

    What positively surprised Isaac was that Lefiya didn''t hesitate to join the daily training. She didn''t even make things hard for him by acting in an embarrassed manner, so it seemed like now that she had had almost a day to think about it, she had gotten over yesterday''s embarrassment. Maybe she had realized just how unreasonably she had behaved? Isaac couldn''t be sure, but seeing his student refusing to slack on her studies momentarily brought a small but genuine smile to his face.

    -----

    The headquarters of the Hermes Familia was known as the ''Traveler''s Inn''. Just as the name implied, it was an actual inn. It even was multiple times larger than most other inns in the city because - besides its guests - it also had to harbour the members of the familia. One would hardly be able to gauge exactly how big the inn was from its storefront, as it seemed completely ordinary. But behind the small layer of neighbouring houses directly facing the small street its entrance was located in, the Traveler''s Inn spread out like a sprawled behemoth. Hundreds of people could easily stay here, without anyone being the wiser.

    Contrary to what might be expected, the inn wasn''t actually that popular. After all, Hermes had gone out of his way to build it in a remote location, so even though the Hermes Familia members provided great food and housing, not too many people would go far out of their way just to come here. And that was all according to Hermes'' plan, of course.

    Hermes'' office was located right in the center of all of the many guest rooms, while the familia members took up pretty much all rooms in its vicinity. Besides Hermes and his ''children'', nobody knew just how many of the guests staying at this inn were actually members of his familia - not even the Guild.

    Although Hermes'' office had the word ''office'' in its name, it was actually just a normal guest room, outfitted with a bed and cabinet like any other. The only difference was that Hermes had put a few bookshelves, a chair and a desk in here as well, making the room feel kind of cramped. But considering how he almost never spent his time here, it wasn''t a big deal to him.

    To Asfi, however, it was. And him always being out and about was exactly the reason she was glaring at him with a vengeful gaze right now. For an entire week, right after the payment for the mission to protect Isaac''s students had been received, the shameless god had disappeared to who knows where. It wasn''t enough that he had left her with all of the burdens of running this place and the familia, but if he got himself killed due to his negligence, they would all be in deep trouble.

    "At least tell me where you''re going next time. How else am I supposed to protect you!?"

    Asfi had lost count of how many times she had voiced this exact complaint to this troublemaker before. Of course, nothing changed this time. While reclining on his chair, her god ignored her question and stared at her with an amused and slightly apologetic look from underneath his feathered hat.

    "So, how is the mission going?"

    After tiredly sighing and sorting through her notes to make sure she didn''t forget anything, Asfi started to give her report. It really was no use arguing with him. But - if that truly was the case - why did she try it every single time?

    "Everything is under control. But there are a few things that need your attention."

    With a playful smile on his lips, Hermes nodded, signaling for her to continue. There was unconcealed curiosity in his eyes. After all, it wasn''t too often that Asfi judged something to be important enough to require him to do anything. Usually, she would just bombard him with the entire report and not even give him a chance to interject, as his opinion wasn''t needed.

    "Besides the youngest of Mr. Blackshaw''s students, the Cat Person by the name of Quinn Graham, all of them seem to have superb combat skills. They have rapidly advanced through the dungeon, far faster than the average adventurer. This seems to be because they are capable of slaying monsters stronger than them with relative ease. Considering how we have already observed such a development from Mr. Blackshaw, it is reasonable to assume that his proficiency at teaching others is superb. None of them, not even the Loki Familia''s Hume Bunny, Jakk Maytin, have been known to be particularly skilled at combat before Mr. Blackshaw''s appearance."

    So far, none of this was outside of Hermes'' expectations. He had hoped for Isaac to be a capable teacher when he saw him fight before, so it was great to get a confirmation for that.

    "There is one oddity, however. And that is the talking rooster, Averin. He looks quite similar to a Jack Bird, so Lulune guessed that he might be a Jack Bird Xenos. I''m also convinced of this. As to how Mr. Blackshaw managed to find and befriend it, we have no idea. Averin has been hunting monsters alongside the students and supporting them, so they truly seem to trust each other."

    This news was beyond anything Hermes had even dreamed of. Jack Birds were already some of the rarest monsters in existence, so how unlikely would it be for one of them to happen to be a Xenos!? Barely containable surprise coloured his face for a few moments, before he was able to control his emotions again.

    ''It seems like I need to accelerate a few things. This is¡­ very interesting indeed.''

    After he had made up his mind over how to continue, Hermes nodded and returned his attention to the patiently waiting, albeit slightly annoyed Asfi.

    "Did any enemies try to take out Isaac''s students so far?"

    For a moment, Asfi showed a conflicted smile, then she decided to humour her god and clarify.

    "Yes, I even had to send Tabitha and Suicia to support Lulune''s team. There were a lot more than we expected. Nearly every day, groups of weaker adventurers tried to make trouble for them. But before they could even approach them, we nipped them in the bud. Mostly, we managed to talk them out of whatever they were planning, as they only wanted to scare them a little. But quite a few of them needed some more violent measures. We even needed to kill 15 Level 2 adventurers. They were all from criminal familias and dead-set on killing the kids, so there was no other option. We could have handed them over to the Ganesha Familia after knocking them out, but it''s better if we eradicate such people whenever we have the chance."

    With an approving smile, Hermes gave Asfi a thumbs-up. Years ago, he had decided to change the way his familia operated. Now, whenever they could do so without anyone else noticing, they would ''take out the trash''. Quite a few harsh lessons had to be learned until he had finally been comfortable with directly opposing his fellow gods'' familias like that. Or, well, just his more problematic brethrens'' ones. It would put the entire familia into a lot of danger if his actions were to be exposed, however. After all, he often mingled in these unlawful circles as well, due to necessity. It would be foolish to avoid gathering information on them and what better way was there than to become an insider?

    At this point, he noticed that Asfi had started to grow a little pale, while she was clenching her fists. An uncomfortable feeling spread in his chest, while he had already made a certain guess¡­

    "Also¡­ we''ve run across some Remnants."

    As soon as these words left Asfi''s lips, Hermes instantly turned serious. He had hoped this wouldn''t be the case, but now that it obviously was, there were a few things he needed to clarify.

    "Did they aim for Isaac''s students?"

    Thankfully, Asfi shook her head in response.

    "No, I don''t think they know about or are paying attention to Mr. Blackshaw for now. It was simply a coincidence. We ran into them in one of the back alleys we were monitoring. They are still wearing these unsightly robes, so they stick out like a sore thumb. We weren''t able to interrogate them, because they had already swallowed a lethal poison and been beyond saving by the time we managed to capture them. So with the way they dressed and their ruthlessness in mind, we concluded that there was no doubt that they were indeed Remnants."

    "Tsk."

    For a moment, Hermes'' expression darkened considerably, then it softened again and he smirked to himself.

    Now that there was a ''hero'' on the rise, it felt like fate that the Remnants had reappeared. He had been fully convinced that they had been wiped out that time and had rejoiced at the thought of at least one minor problem having disappeared, but it seemed like he had been mistaken. While they were only one of many lethal weapons pointed at the people on his side, they were still a threat. With their reappearance, he had to yet again put some things into motion.

    "Keep an eye out for any of their movements."

    Before Asfi had a chance to continue her report, Hermes had already stood up and prepared to leave. The earlier he took care of all of this, the better.

    While someone else might have been fooled by his current serious look and heroic disposition, Asfi was no fool. She knew that he had simply judged the most important parts of her report to be over and didn''t want to continue staying here any longer. While he truly might have some relatively urgent things to take care of, they were definitely not that pressing. She would unrestrainedly laugh at anyone that tried to convince her that this shameless pervert didn''t have many aces up his sleeves that he had prepared for a situation just like this many years ago. But anyway, that wasn''t important right now. It was time for Hermes to properly do his job as this familia''s god!

    Her face emotionless from anger, Asfi forcefully grabbed Hermes'' shoulders and dragged him back to his chair, before ''helping'' him to sit down again.

    "You won''t leave before I''m finished."

    With an innocent smile on his face, Hermes hastily nodded, pretending to pay attention to her as best as he could. Inwardly, he couldn''t help lamenting. He really didn''t care too much about the finances of their headquarters and other miscellaneous things. Leaving them all to Asfi was good enough in his eyes. He would much rather prefer strolling through various pubs and ''establishments'' while setting his plans into motion.

    ''Seeing Asfi glaring at me like that is always a treat. She''s truly a beauty, so I''m not losing out by staying here.''

    Placating himself with thoughts like these, Hermes listened to Asfi''s report until deep into the night.

 Chapter 59 - Doggoâ€™s Diary

    It has been almost a day since milord''s expedition began.

    I decided to start writing down my daily experiences in a journal every evening from now on because I want to get a little bit better at expressing myself through writing. I can also look back on these records in the future should I forget about something important. But more importantly, I can just tell myself that I''m talking to milord when jotting things down here. I know it''s a little ridiculous, but I feel closer to him when I''m around books.

    I''m glad my parents taught me how to read and write, so I could one day take over their farm. It is very hard to survive without being able to read contracts, after all. Still, the main reason I want to get better at writing and reading is because I feel like milord''s future plans will have a close connection to them. Why else would he send us out to buy lots of books? Sure, he might just want to get surprised by some new, random reading material. But I don''t think that''s the reason. When he talked about our task, milord was unusually passionate, so I think it''s something close to his heart.

    Milord''s departure has left me a little bit sad, but I think I''ll be able to deal with it.

    In the morning, we brought Quinn to the first floor of the dungeon. This time, we actually let him fight a few Goblins, as he has finally fully physically recovered. He managed to kill quite a few of them while we protected him, but he also got exhausted really quickly, so most of his time in the dungeon was spent recovering from his fights. I''m really happy that he didn''t have to go through the same thing I did, though. When I killed my first monster, I felt absolutely horrible - but he didn''t. I know this sounds a bit weird, but I''m relieved. This way, he will grow stronger more quickly and will be able to support milord''s plans faster.

    When we returned home to eat lunch, we also stopped by at a few bookstores and vendors on the way. One of the clerks recommended to me a work of romance that is - apparently - quite popular amongst girls my age nowadays. Because milord said that it doesn''t matter which books we get, I decided to spend 500 valis and buy it.

    Quinn wouldn''t be able to keep up with us in the dungeon and needed to recover anyway, so we left him back at the base and spent the rest of our day, until the early evening, descending to deeper floors.

    Reaching a staircase leading to the eighth floor wasn''t too difficult, but I got a little bit worried when we got there. What kind of monsters would await us beyond that point? Well, I ended up quite disappointed. There were just more Goblins and Kobolds, although they were significantly stronger this time. If Jakk hadn''t warned us, we might have been taken aback and hurt. Considering the difference in strength, we might have even been heavily injured. Still, that didn''t happen and we managed to breeze through large parts of the eighth floor without a problem. After all, while they might have higher stats, their minds and resulting movements are the same. It''s incredibly easy to deal with them. It is still a little bit tricky to handle huge groups of them, so I only managed to fight against four Kobolds at once today. I have to admit that I''m a little bit jealous, though, because Kalin was able to fight with six of them at the same time.

    I know I shouldn''t be this competitive and I feel ashamed. I should be happy about milord''s forces growing stronger! I''ll do my best to become less foolish in the future.

    Averin didn''t hunt many monsters today and just kept Jakk company in keeping us safe. Still, he seemed to be quite happy to have the opportunity to accompany us from now on.

    Like always, I prepared a nice supper for everyone, then we all went to our own rooms to get ready to sleep. That was when I decided to write this.

    I hope milord is safe and sound. I can''t wait for tomorrow! After all, I''ll be one day closer to his return.

    -----

    I had a nightmare today. I saw¡­ something I really didn''t want to see. The death of my parents. Their faces. The pain and sorrow, and also that glimmer of hope in their eyes. And the lecherous gazes of the monsters that killed them.

    Why did this happen? Ever since I started to follow milord, I never had a nightmare, but today, I woke up many times and just sobbed uncontrollably. Is it because milord, my pillar of support, isn''t here? Is it the separation that makes me feel lonely, causing these memories to bubble up to the surface? I don''t know.

    I miss milord. I really don''t want to think about that day anymore.

    It seems like I wasn''t the only one plagued by bad dreams today, as Quinn also hadn''t slept well. After we all sat down together and discussed it, we decided that Averin would be spending his nights in Quinn''s room from now on. His fluffiness is very ther.a.p.eutic, after all. It can heal all wounds - or at least distract from them.

    Averin complained about having to do this but ultimately accepted his task. I think it is funny, though. Whenever he says he doesn''t like something, doesn''t he always ''reluctantly'' agree in the end? Why does he have to feign unhappiness like that when he seems glad to help? Oh well, it is amusing to watch, so I can''t really complain.

    In any case, we let Quinn fight some Goblins again today. He can''t really face Kobolds yet, as they are far too strong for him to deal with in his current state. But he doesn''t seem to have a hard time facing Goblins, as he somehow managed to make it through a two versus one scenario. Any more than that and he would have been in danger, though. Still, he only got a few scratches and they were healed quickly with a Potion.

    Today, I bought an old and tattered journal for 100 valis. It is written in a language that neither I nor the vendor can understand. I''m sure milord will be able to read it, though. Still, I have no clue what it could be about. For all I know, the most mundane and boring things could be contained in these pages. It could just be a bunch of scrap paper. But that will be for milord to decide, I''m not qualified.

    After lunch, we actually made it to the ninth floor today. There are still only stronger Goblins and Kobolds here, but I managed to face five of the latter at once today, so I improved! Kalin dealt with seven of them simultaneously, so I''m still feeling a little bit sad for lagging behind. But I think I can deal with these feelings, they''re not as annoying as yesterday.

    Because we have to face slightly more monsters with every floor we descend and the floors also get bigger, we didn''t make too much progress today. We just killed as many as we could before returning.

    Right after we returned to the Twilight Manor, Jakk left us to our own devices, as he planned to ask Loki to update his Status. I hope everything goes well! He did seem a little bit tired today, probably because he always spends so much time alone in the dungeon after he watches over us for most of the day. It certainly sounds exhausting, I really appreciate his hard work.

    Averin went to Quinn''s room to be used as a hugging pillow while everyone else went to bed as usual.

    I''m a little bit scared of having that nightmare again, but I think I will just think about milord as hard as I can. If his absence is really the cause for this, it might help.

    -----

    I felt a little bit better this morning. While I did have to see that gruesome scene again, it was only once. It seems like milord''s blessing protected me. I''m glad I thought about him that much. Still, I really want to see him again.

    In the morning, we accompanied Quinn to his usual training. Today, he even managed to fight three Goblins at once! If all of them had attacked him simultaneously, they might have been a problem. But their lackl.u.s.ter cooperation really isn''t too hard to deal with. With how smoothly everything is going for him, Quinn tried to get Jakk''s permission to face a Kobold tomorrow. He said he will try to use his skill against it, so it should work out somehow. That''s why Jakk agreed to let him try. He said he would intervene if it got dangerous, but I''m still a little bit worried. I know these fears are somewhat irrational... but I can''t help it.

    Jakk seemed a lot less exhausted today. Also, he is definitely quite a bit stronger. I have no idea how much he has improved, as he never needed to go all out before, but he was dispatching the surplus monsters more quickly than before. And with more ease.

    The book I bought today is called ''Argonaut'' and about a boy with the same name. It''s quite the funny heroic tale and a classic, so much that even I have heard about it before. Seeing that it cost just 800 valis, I couldn''t resist buying it. Milord will surely enjoy this story!

    In the afternoon, we finally found a staircase leading to the tenth floor, but Jakk didn''t allow us to go there yet. He said we should - for now - just get accustomed to the monsters we were facing at the time, so we stayed on the ninth floor for the rest of the day. I improved yet again and I can now face six Kobolds at once, while Kalin managed to fight eight of them. I''m glad he is still growing this quickly!

    Before we went to sleep, we had a short sparring session.

    Averin didn''t even complain about having to follow Quinn to his room today and even the boy seems to feel a lot better. The healing powers of these feathers are indeed strong.

    -----

    It has been four days since milord''s departure¡­ and I slept horribly again today. I''m so annoyed! Why does this keep happening!? I don''t want to see those harrowing scenes replay themselves in my mind again and again! I really don''t. I just want to forget all about them.

    When I was crying alone in my room, I noticed something weird for a moment. I thought that someone was looking at me. It was just a feeling, though. I didn''t see anyone.

    I really miss milord. I could really use a head pat right about now.

    Anyway, today, Quinn finally faced a Kobold. He said he didn''t have any problems with activating his skill, as the method to do so came to him instinctively. I honestly have no idea how he does it, it just seems like he randomly grows more powerful. In any case, he didn''t get that much stronger because he didn''t feel a lot of hatred for the Kobold, so it managed to leave a nasty gash on his arm. After that, his strength exploded and he got a little bit muddle-headed. Thanks to his power increasing so much, it wasn''t hard to kill his opponent.

    Even after we patched him up with some bandages and fed him a Potion, he was still exhausted as a result of the blood loss. Originally, we offered to give him some of the more valuable healing items we have, but he didn''t want them. Seeing how he fought the Kobold right before we wanted to return home for lunch anyway, Quinn said that it would just be a waste. He would feel better after a night of rest. I can''t really disagree but if he tries to pull the same stunt when we are still in the middle of our daily training, I''ll force him to take the more expensive medicine.

    The book I bought today contained some architect''s ramblings about a few houses he built. It is honestly nothing special but because it is a unique work, it cost me 300 valis. I didn''t spend much time at bookstores today and just took the first relatively curious book I found. I''m kind of annoyed that it turned out to be something so boring, though.

    In the afternoon, we finally made it to the tenth floor. Out of the three new monster species we can encounter there, Jakk only allowed us to face the Imps for now. They are quite sneaky and agile, but in a one versus one situation, I was still able to barely beat them. Kalin seemed to have a significantly easier time and he even requested to face two of them simultaneously tomorrow.

    This evening, something strange happened. Jakk disappeared quite early, telling us that he has to pay his familia taxes. But at the time, he was blushing and fidgeting with his clothes excitedly. Why was he reacting in such a way? Is the one responsible for collecting the taxes... the girl he likes? That can''t be it, right? My first guess can''t possibly be correct. I better keep my eyes and ears open for more information in the future. In any case, I have never seen him like that before.

    I don''t really want to go to sleep today, but I know I have to.

    -----

    This morning, I felt just as horrible as yesterday. It didn''t get any better at all. If anything, it is only getting worse. I honestly don''t know what to do about it, milord. Even after I wake up, I sometimes see their faces everywhere. The wall, the creases of my blanket...

    When I was crying my heart out, I felt like someone was looking at me - again. But I was all alone. Am I going crazy!? I might have been imagining things because of the slightly sleep-deprived state I was in. Or maybe it was just my general mental state playing a trick on me.

    I think the others noticed that I have been crying a lot. They gave me somewhat weird looks, so maybe my eyes were a little red? In any case, they were a lot nicer to me today. Wait. That sounds wrong. I don''t mean to say that they usually aren''t nice to me!

    I hope milord is safe and will return soon.

    Quinn managed to beat quite a few Kobolds without getting hurt today. He fought them one after another and thanks to the hatred he still feels for the one that injured him yesterday, he did a lot better against their whole species. But because he fought so many Kobolds and used his skill all the time, he was even more exhausted when we left the dungeon.

    I decided to splurge a little and spent 1500 valis on a collection of famous poems. It couldn''t have been easy to gather all of them into one book, so the price, albeit high, seems reasonable. I''m sure milord will enjoy it, even if only because this one has a lot more pages than the ones I bought before.

    Also, in the afternoon, Kalin actually managed what he set out to do - he fought and beat two Imps at the same time! I can handle one of them reasonably well by now, so Jakk decided he would let us face some Bad Bats in the next few days, depending on how much we improve.

    Speaking of Jakk, he actually stayed with us for dinner today. He even praised my cooking! I''m so glad he did, because that makes me feel like I''m improving. I want to cook for milord more often so I can make him happy - and the better my food, the more elated he will be.

    I don''t want to stop writing this journal entry. I''m afraid to go to sleep.

    -----

    Something weird happened this morning. Like before, I slept absolutely horribly. I woke up repeatedly and cried myself to sleep again and again, praying for milord to protect me and shield me from all of this suffering. Then suddenly, someone patted my head. At first, I thought that milord had mastered the mythical art of remote head patting somehow. But that wasn''t it. It took me a few moments, but I noticed that the hand patting my head wasn''t a familiar one, so I escaped its grasp as fast as I could, warily guarding myself from whoever had stolen their way into my room.

    In front of me stood a beautiful grey-haired girl about my age. She was wrapped in a cloak and felt a little bit pained and sad at my reaction. But she couldn''t really blame me for this, right? After all, she just barged in here and touched me.

    The girl introduced herself as ''Hel'' and told me that she was a friend of milord. Apparently, when he left, she decided to watch over us all for a bit. When she saw me crying so much, she couldn''t hold herself back and decided to intervene, to make me feel a little bit better.

    Don''t get me wrong, I appreciate it. But still, does this mean that she was the cause for that weird feeling I have been having these past few days? It feels a bit creepy, but even now, I can''t feel any hostility for her. My gut feeling tells me that Hel and milord truly are on somewhat good terms. Seeing how she is watching over us makes me feel a little less lonely. It can''t compare to the ultimate comfort milord provides, but beggars can''t be choosers, right?

    When I sorted through all of my thoughts and decided to thank her for her kind action, Hel just disappeared as if she had never been there in the first place. That confused me quite a bit at the time.

    Quinn''s training proceeded as usual today.

    Seeing how I bought a collection of poems yesterday, I decided to buy something similar today. So this time I got a collection of famous songs from the same vendor, for 1200 valis. I don''t really know too many of them, but a few of them had been performed during my hometown''s festivals. Speaking of, I wonder if I''ll have a chance to bring milord there one day? It''s quite beautiful and idyllic, compared to all these plentiful dark undercurrents here in the capital.

    In the afternoon, something almost went wrong. Before we could even face the Bad Bats, Kalin nearly got injured by the Imps he was facing. He still managed to defeat them but he looked at his own hands in confusion after doing so. He said he felt slightly weaker than before but couldn''t really explain why and how. Well, he soon got back into shape and managed to easily kill two Imps at once again, so it doesn''t seem like a big deal. Maybe he even imagined it. At the end of our daily training, I just barely managed to win a battle against two Imps as well. There are still so many ways to improve my ways of handling them, so I can''t wait to get back and fight some more.

    For today, Jakk had judged us a little bit ill prepared to face the Bad Bats, but I feel like we''re getting closer.

    I hope milord is eating well and staying warm and cozy. Is milady treating him well?

    -----

    It has been close to a week since milord''s departure.

    Today, I slept a little better. When I woke up crying for the first time, I felt a hand on my head, gently patting it. I immediately knew it was that girl Hel again. She really seems to want to help me cheer up whenever I feel sad. I didn''t escape her touch this time and just muttered a "Thank you" before going back to sleep. I hope she heard it. I didn''t have any nightmares during the rest of the night, so she definitely helped me out a lot. Well, my dreams still weren''t particularly great, but they weren''t as traumatizing.

    When I woke up for real, Hel was nowhere to be found. Still, I wasn''t surprised by that. She seems to like to stay in the background, undetected. Anyway, I felt like she was still around, watching over me, but I couldn''t pinpoint her location. Honestly, at this point, it really could have been my imagination. Yesterday, I already realized that I have absolutely no way to detect her when she disappears.

    Quinn''s growth is simply stunning - he managed to fight multiple Kobolds at once! The massive stat boost he gets thanks to his skill is scarily impressive. Still, I doubt he will be able to go any further than this for a long while, as he has to strain himself a lot to deal with more than one Kobold. He won''t be able to get his Status updated until milord returns, so the only thing he can improve for now will be his combat standards. Just like the rest of us. I''ll try my best to support him but I''m not really that good myself either...

    The book I got my hands on today is somewhat special as it''s a story I''ve always wanted to read myself. It is called ''Dungeon Oratoria'' and might just be the most famous heroic tale out there. Copies of the book are relatively rare, though, so it cost me 2000 valis. I still can''t believe I stumbled across it in a second-hand bookstore! For that price, it''s truly a steal. Even if milord won''t enjoy any of the other books I''ve bought I feel like he will really like this one. I don''t know why, but my gut tells me that he will value it highly.

    In the afternoon, we finally faced our first Bad Bats. Their soundwave attacks are annoying and disorienting, that is for sure. It took me a few minutes to get accustomed to them and shrug them off somewhat. In the meantime, Jakk and Averin protected us, so there wasn''t much danger. We somehow managed to deal with the bats. I honestly can''t see myself ever facing more than one of them at the same time - unless I get my Status updated, of course. That bat just suppressed me far too much and it was so hard to catch up to it.

    The Imps are still getting easier to deal with, though. Kalin managed to deal with three of them, while I''m still stuck at fighting two of them at once. There is some improvement, though, because my battles got a lot less dangerous. I occasionally had to take some Potions before but that is not the case anymore.

    During our return to the Twilight Manor, I also finally noticed something weird. Ever since milord has left, we haven''t been subjected to any unfriendly people. Sure, some of the vendors we talked to might have not been in the best of moods, but on normal days, we would often see ruffians and other unsavoury sorts in the distance, glaring at us. Jakk protected us from them before. As most of them weren''t Level 2 adventurers, they didn''t dare to approach. And the stronger ones didn''t want to mess with a member of the Loki Familia, in fear of provoking a calamity. But now, those people have completely disappeared. I haven''t seen any of them in a week!

    The only explanation I can come up with is that the Hermes Familia is the cause of this. After all, they are responsible for our protection. Still, if they really are the ones behind this change, it is truly impressive. I didn''t even notice anything for so long - remarkable!

    Well, it is not like I''m known for my observational expertise, so I probably shouldn''t praise them too much.

    I''m worried about milord''s safety and it is not a great feeling, so I hope he isn''t too worried about all of us here. As for the dreams¡­ I think I can handle them. At the very least, I''ll continue to try!

    Still, I really want to see you again, milord.

 Chapter 60 - Three Days

    The night before Ais'' short-term departure, Isaac chose to spend most of his time with her, sleeping comfortably in each other''s arms. Still, before they went to sleep, he made a short trip and spent about one and a half hours on the fourth floor, finally finishing his exploration of it.

    It had been many days since he started this task and he honestly felt relieved now that it was over. As he had stated before, from now on, he would only focus on finding the manmade labyrinth''s secret entrances and slaying a few specific monsters. It was a far more exciting task than monotonously speeding through a floor and mapping every single nook and cranny of it, all the while killing whichever monsters he came across. By the end, he had even been in what he was tempted to call ''autopilot mode'' - the amount of focus he had required for this simple and repetitive of a job was just that yawn-inducingly low.

    At the time he teleported back to the tent, Isaac''s Level 1 monster slaying achievement had progressed to 32,525/33,000, while his acc.u.mulated AP reached a staggering 48,541.

    Sadly, these explorations would have to come to a halt for a short time. While Ais wasn''t staying at the campsite, Isaac didn''t want to leave it unsupervised. Just in case of an emergency, he always wanted to have one of them around. While his own combat prowess was still not enough to deal with the opponents they could potentially have to face down here, he could at least get all of these people to safety. Ais cared about all of them to a certain degree and he really didn''t want her to get hurt. While saving them would expose one of the many aces up his sleeve to their enemies, it was a sacrifice he was willing to make. It wasn''t a very big one, anyway. Sooner or later, someone would find out.

    In all honesty, though, it was very, very unlikely for someone - anyone - to attack the campsite at this time. Only a year later would the antagonistic forces Isaac knew about start moving. While his intervention would surely speed this up significantly and would even lead to other, so far unknown enemies rearing their head, he hadn''t made too huge of an impact at this point in time. Even the attention he had attracted so far was relatively minor. However, this would all change in the future.

    -----

    Contrary to Ais, who had given him a long and loving kiss when they were still in their tent, Tiona''s way of bidding him goodbye attracted a lot more attention. While the whole expedition party was gathered and giving their strongest members as much encouragement as they could, she gave him a strong and hearty hug. Still, such a harmless and commonplace gesture was one that everyone had already grown used to, so besides a few people''s slight envy, this farewell didn''t drag any annoyances to Isaac''s doorstep.

    Right after Finn, Riveria, Gareth, Ais, Tiona, Tione and Bete had disappeared into a stairway leading to the 51st floor, it was time for the rest of the main force members to get to work. So even Isaac''s student Lefiya, who he had grown somewhat responsible for now that Riveria wasn''t around, went to the surrounding floors to amass excelia. With the protection of the others, she shouldn''t be in any danger, so he didn''t worry about her too much.

    With that as a cue, the usual boredom set back in.

    Everyone who stayed back got the opportunity to get some pointers from Isaac for a couple of hours, then their training session finished and it was time for lunch. After that, Isaac finally managed to extricate himself from the others and returned to his tent. Finally, he was alone.

    For the past eight days, he had spent almost all of his time together with his supporter team or some other acquaintances. Although they wouldn''t be able to tell, as he was extremely adept at masking his feelings, he felt a little bit strained after that long period of excessive, unwanted contact.

    The others probably felt that he just wanted to take a bit of a prolonged rest after helping them out with their training for so long. Even someone like him was bound to get tired sooner or later, after all. Or maybe some of them were of the opinion that he must feel pretty downtrodden now that he won''t have an opportunity to be with his beloved for a while. Still, it really didn''t matter what exactly they thought was the case. The important thing was that nobody came to disturb him.

    Being alone, for many people, made them feel somewhat suffocated and uncomfortable. They needed to spend time with others to truly feel alive. But for Isaac, this solitude was refreshing. Not having people around him all the time¡­ was nice.

    This was the first time since he had come to this world that he spent the majority of a day completely alone.

    Still, with Isaac being Isaac, he wasn''t really doing nothing. Unless he was with Ais, he would always find something to busy himself with.

    At first, he had planned to experiment with his mana a little and maybe figure out a new Magic or two. Researching this world''s magic was, after all, quite interesting to him. Still, he ultimately chose to not do so. It would just halt his progress as he couldn''t increase the number of circulating mana drops while he used them to affect the world around him.

    Because he was very close to achieving his short-term goal - adding all of his current mana drops to the circulating flow - he really wanted to get that out of his way first. If he had wanted to fully focus on efficiency, he might have decided on increasing his magical knowledge and then slowly, over the course of a few days, worked towards his goal. Because it would still be quite some time until Isaac''s Magic stat would have an opportunity to increase, there was no need to hurry. In any case, Isaac, for now, didn''t choose to follow the most efficient path.

    Maybe a part of him really wanted to thoroughly relax. By trying his very hardest at mana cultivation. Which was anything but a walk in the park.

    Unbeknownst to Isaac, a lot of time passed. He didn''t even step outside for dinner and just sat cross-legged in his tent, with his eyes closed. His full focus was on the drops of mana circulating through his mental layer. By the time Isaac felt like he was close to another breakthrough, it was a little after 9 p.m. and Lefiya had just returned after a full day of work and merry interactions.

    "Welcome back, Lefiya."

    A slight smile spread across Isaac''s face as he opened his eyes and looked at the visibly exhausted Elf. Her hair was still a little bit wet and she had changed into some clean and casual clothing. Judging from the pleasant smell accompanying her, she had just taken a bath.

    Merely a few days ago, the shy little Elf had still reacted in a very reserved and embarrassed manner whenever she came across Isaac in such a state. After all, her imagination easily ran rampant. But by now, she had grown far more used to his presence and didn''t let her mind wander too far. She didn''t mind him seeing her in such a relatively vulnerable state anymore and didn''t make a big deal out of it.

    Lefiya showed a weak smile in response, while barely being able to keep her eyes open. With wobbly steps, she made her way next to him then plopped down and rested her head on the table, using her arms as a pillow. This table was just one of the many things Isaac had taken out of his inventory to transform this tent into more of a ''home''. Letting the supporters carry such luxuries with them would have been a complete waste of space.

    "So¡­ tired¡­"

    Having used up the last of her mental strength to explain herself to him with two weakly muttered words, Lefiya promptly fell asleep in this somewhat awkward position.

    ''So fast!?''

    Isaac truly felt a bit baffled as he hadn''t expected her to doze off instantly. Why had she even walked over here, next to him, in the first place if she just wanted to sleep? A sigh escaped his lips.

    As he didn''t want her to feel horrible after waking up from a nap in a position as uncomfortable as this, he picked the delicate Elf up very carefully and tucked her in her sleeping bag. After having successfully dealt with the disturbance, he returned to his previous position and focused on his mental layer yet again.

    A couple of minutes later, it was finally time. His mana channels felt painfully filled to the brim. He had just added the 4999th drop and let all of them complete a whole circulation. That familiar, throbbing headache had returned, seemingly warning him to turn back. Thankfully, he had experienced it all before, so he felt a lot less apprehensive this time. Although it would be quite painful to do so, adding another drop to the flow was the solution. There would be no negative consequences, he would simply overcome a hurdle if he could grit his teeth and bear with it.

    Adding the 5000th drop was already difficult enough, but letting all of them complete a circulation through the entirety of his mental layer made him almost tear up from the excruciating pain. His entire body tensed up uncontrollably and his right eyelid twitched quickly and repeatedly. Thankfully, the pain was worth it.

    The moment the circulation had been completed, Isaac was yet again able to sigh in all-encompassing comfort. Although he couldn''t truly ''see'' his mana channels, he felt them widen far beyond the point he could currently perceive. All of the pressure was gone and it felt like a shackle had come undone.

    For a moment or two, Isaac simply ignored the system notification taking up part of his vision and enjoyed this feeling to the fullest.

    [ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment (H): Enables one to interact with their surroundings by using mana. Reduction in mana expenditure: 2% ]

    It wasn''t a major change, but it was still an improvement. While others might have gotten discouraged at the relatively minor pay-off for what they had just gone through, Isaac was instead elated. No matter how small of a step it was, he had still made progress. Why should it matter how little of it there was? Progress was progress.

    After spending a couple of minutes inspecting his improved channels and the slightly faster flow within them, he finally began to add more drops yet again. This continued for a couple of hours, until about 3 a.m., when Isaac had finally added all of his 5330 drops. Nothing major happened at this point - but that wasn''t what Isaac had intended anyway. His goal had simply been to catch up to his Magic stat''s total and have all of his mana at his beck and call instantly.

    With a small but satisfied smile on his lips, Isaac finally allowed himself a couple of hours of sleep until he would have to make it through yet another day of boredom.

    -----

    Valgang Dragons could grow up to 50 meters in length - if they stood on their legs they would be about 38 to 40 meters tall. They had fiery red scales and were, as the name quite obviously implied, of the dragon species. There were honestly not too many monsters or animals that were called a dragon that actually weren''t one. In any case, the aforementioned Valgang Dragons were the ones responsible for the name of this thematic zone - the Dragon Vase. While their ridiculously powerful and accurate breath attacks were already hard to deal with, they were even very close to Level 6, making them anything but a cakewalk for the ones that managed to close in on them.

    Currently, in an impossibly vast room whose 500 meter high ceiling and ground was made out of graphite, more than ten of them had surrounded a group of seven adventurers. To make things worse, a flock of hundreds of Ill Wyverns swooped in from overhead and constantly bombarded them with fireballs. The blueish purple wyverns were only three meters long if one took the tail into account, but their attacks packed quite a punch nonetheless. Even stronger Level 5 adventurers would be troubled by them - especially when they arrived in such huge numbers.

    "I don''t think we can hold out much longer!"

    Even though he still seemed to be a bit relaxed, Gareth''s voice had some urgency to it. With a quick maneuver, he expertly blocked two of the Valgang Dragons'' breath attacks at the same time. He had deftly attracted their focus - truly an outstanding tank.

    He didn''t shrink back in front of the powerful impacts and wasn''t even pushed back a full step, although the might of these breath attacks was enough to cut through multiple floors of the dungeon. Even his equipment only warmed up slightly, not in any danger of melting or getting too uncomfortably hot to wear or hold anytime soon. The Loki Familia had bought the best gear that money could buy, after all. It would be a shame if it got damaged by attacks of this caliber.

    The tank''s relaxed state might have caused an inattentive observer to conclude that this party was far from reaching its limit - but the mage''s furrowed eyebrows and slightly pained expression told another tale. Riveria had fired off far too many area of effect Magics during these past few days and her ''mind'' had started to bottom out. At this point, she could only prolong the time it would take until she passed out with potions, but she truly wouldn''t be able to bear this headache and support the team with many spells for much longer.

    This wasn''t the worst of it, however. The Level 5 ''kids'' were battered and bruised all over and quite obviously weren''t capable of continuing past this point. Monsters any stronger than this would wipe the floor with them. The sheer amount of monsters of equal or higher strength they had fought during this time was staggering. The only one in a slightly better state amongst them was Ais. Due to her Avenger Skill, the monsters of these floors, which had mostly consisted of dragons, weren''t much of a threat to her. She was even far less exhausted than the others. But still, she knew that this was as far as they could go.

    "You''re right."

    As if he had already expected for his staunch Dwarven friend to say these words, Finn smiled and nodded. During their last expedition, they hadn''t even managed to make it far enough into the 58th floor to encounter a staircase leading to the 59th floor. This time, however, they could finally see one in the distance. With this knowledge, they wouldn''t have to waste time mindlessly wandering around this floor anymore and could instead go there directly next time. After all, quite a few of the ''kids'' would grow stronger shortly, which would enable their familia to catch up to the previous record.

    The deepest floor that any familia had ever officially reached was the 59th. Both the Hera and Zeus Familias had made it there. According to their words, it was the starting point of the ''Glacier Territory'', so they would be battered by the fierce cold while making their way across snow-covered glaciers, with the occasional difficult to spot frozen-over lakes breaking up the monotony.

    Jumping from an extremely hot area right into a territory of freezing cold wouldn''t be easy and they were currently anything but prepared for it. Next time, however, they would add the appropriate clothing and supportive items to their supplies.

    "Alright, let''s start to make our way back now. Sorry about this, Riveria."

    Forcing a pained smile in response to her Pallum companion''s apology, Riveria hastily recited the chant for one of her signature Magics, Wynn Fimbulvetr. A couple of moments later, an extremely cold blizzard struck all of the surrounding Ill Wyverns and Valgang Dragons, freezing them in the process. The sound of every last one of the annoying flying monsters dropping out of the sky and shattering upon impact with the ground was a somewhat relieving albeit terrifying melody.

    When the party of seven finally started to head back the way they came, a slight smile played across Ais'' lips while a hint of excitement sparkled in her eyes. Although she was about ready to keel over, Riveria didn''t miss this and a wry smile stole itself on her face.

    ''Is she really that eager to return back to him? Well, they haven''t seen each other for a few days¡­ and it''s young love¡­''

    What the wise Elf didn''t know was that this was only part of the reason. Sure, Ais had indeed been a little bit sad because she had been separated from Isaac for three days. But because they had been able to talk to each other via the system anytime they wanted, it didn''t affect her too much. What made her so happy was the fact that one of her fears hadn''t come true. It was already a little after 4 p.m. and in just seven or so hours, the cooldown period until she could yet again experience an episode of Isaac''s past would be over. Initially, she had been somewhat afraid of missing that time by a couple of hours - but now she wouldn''t have to wait any longer than the necessary minimum! She was truly relieved.

    While the return journey would still be somewhat stressful and definitely not a fast one, it was always easier to retrace one''s steps than to progress further within the dungeon. After all, unless a party was practically already at death''s door, the dungeon wouldn''t waste additional resources and deliberately spawn Monster Parties close to it. Well, of course that was only superstition, as nobody was really sure as to how the dungeon operated, but it certainly felt that way. Because their party still had a lot of fight in them, it was very likely that they wouldn''t run into any significant problems on their way back. And in a truly dangerous situation, couldn''t she just teleport them away? It would alert Bete to the existence of this ability, but that was a lot better than¡­ well, dying.

    -----

    On the 10th day of the expedition, at around 9:30 p.m., the group of seven finally returned to the campsite. They were welcomed by bellowing cheers and loud applause. Without a moment of hesitation, the supporters on duty immediately got back to cooking and made them some food for a pretty late but hearty dinner. The entire group had expected them to return today, which was why even Isaac and Lefiya, who usually just spent the evening lazing around in their tent, were assembled out in the open with the rest of the expedition party.

    Before Isaac was even given a chance to reunite with the happily approaching Ais, a blood-soaked, brown-skinned bullet was already charging at him with a speed far faster than anything he could react to. It crashed into him with a bit more momentum than he was comfortable with, so he stumbled back a few steps. Of course, it was Tiona.

    While covered from head to toe in partially dried monster blood, with her usually already underwear-esque clothing partly ripped to shreds, Tiona gave Isaac a tight hug and nuzzled against his chest. She didn''t care about her actions being highly inappropriate at all.

    "I''m back. Did you miss me~?"

    Isaac didn''t bother to hide his exasperated and wry smile and tried to get her to let go of him - without any success. No matter how hard he tried to pry her away, she didn''t budge in the slightest.

    "I guess you could say it was a little bit boring without you around. But really, please take a bath before you hug me next time! I have to clean myself now as well, thanks to you¡­"

    Completely ignoring his sour expression and the blame in his eyes, Tiona instead got even closer to him before looking up at his face. With a playful wink, she seductively licked her lips.

    "Then why don''t you come take a bath with me? It''ll be fun~"

    Before Isaac had a chance to do more than shake his head in response, Ais had already arrived, clearly a little bit annoyed at her friend''s behaviour. Without standing on ceremony, she freed Isaac from the clingy Amazoness'' clutches and - seeing that he was already dirty - gave him a hug as well, followed by a quick peck on his lips, making quite a few of the surrounding maidens'' cheeks redden.

    With an expression as naive and innocent as always, she looked up at him before speaking words nobody had expected.

    "You can just take a bath with me."

    A slight blush crept on Isaac''s cheeks but before he even had the opportunity to let his thoughts get carried away, the killing intent and iciness he felt from Riveria''s stare made cold sweat pour down his back.

    ''This wasn''t my idea. I''m a good and proper son-in-law!''

    As if she had heard his internal prayers, Riveria didn''t let her piercing gaze linger on him for much longer. Instead, with a resigned sigh, she grabbed her staff and hit Ais'' head with it. A painful and surprised yelp escaped the breathtaking beauty''s mouth and she started to rub the spot that had been hit, feeling wronged.

    While she was passing by him, Riveria glared at Isaac once again, clearly delivering a warning, before turning to the onlookers.

    "It''s time to stop these little games. Everyone, eat dinner, take a bath and then get plenty of rest. We''ll have another tough day ahead of us tomorrow."

    -----

    About an hour later, Ais found herself wrapped in Isaac''s warm and gentle embrace and lying in her sleeping bag. She was still unhappy with Riveria''s interference and pouting to herself. In her eyes, there really was no problem with taking a bath with Isaac. Wouldn''t they end up seeing each other n.a.k.e.d sooner or later anyway? What was the harm in doing so a little bit sooner and bonding over a bath? Holding each other''s n.a.k.e.d body while indulging in a few kisses sounded¡­ pleasant...

    If Isaac had known that his pure Ais'' thoughts had already been stained to such a degree, he would have probably lamented her rapid - albeit inevitable - loss of innocence. Still, unless he had wanted to lie to himself, he wouldn''t have been able to deny that this knowledge would have made him a bit excited.

 Chapter 61 - Late Preadolescence

    [ Cooldown until ''Isaac''s Past - Episode 4'' can be experienced has finished.

    You can now experience ''Isaac''s Past - Episode 4''. ]

    -----

    Wiping out humanity wasn''t difficult by any stretch of the imagination. Still, there were many different ways in which it could be done, all with differing pros and cons. Because of this, it was necessary to weigh them against each other to find an optimal one.

    An option that was readily available was using an engineered virus. The knowledge to do so was already wide-spread amongst humans and even the smallest details could be tuned in whichever way the creator wanted. Making it exclusively target humans and transmit incredibly efficiently? That was very, very easy. It wasn''t even hard to erase any fingerprints left behind by the tampering, even for a relative amateur.

    Still, there were far too many problems with this plan for it to be viable. If the virus'' lethality was too high, even if it killed every single person that got infected and the world-wide reaction to it was slow, there was always a chance that it would burn out before all humans could be reached. Some would inevitably get away, maybe simply because they didn''t interact with anyone else. The recluses would persist. On the other hand, if the virus wasn''t lethal enough, it wouldn''t be able to wipe out humanity. Nevermind potential vaccines, due to their differing genetic make-ups, some humans would definitely be immune to it, especially amongst a sea of more than seven billion of them. While a virus could mutate, sadly, it couldn''t be engineered to only mutate into something extremely lethal after it had already infected every single human on the planet. And at the same time. While the possibility of that happening wasn''t zero, it might as well be.

    Another option was to study the field of nanorobotics and create nanomachines. Those were small robots whose sizes could only be measured in nanometers. They were incredibly tiny and would be able to easily make their ways into the bodies of every human on the planet undetected. None would be able to escape the cleansing if the code that controlled them was flawless enough.

    However, even those had several problems that needed to be dealt with before they could be deployed. First of all, humanity''s technology wasn''t yet advanced enough to produce them. Secondly, the amount of money and resources needed to create the quintillions of them necessary to wipe out all of humanity was simply staggering. All in all, it wasn''t unachievable, but it would take quite a few years of research and production to finally see results.

    Another relatively straightforward option was to incite war between the planet''s multiple countries, to fan the flames. This would be boredom-inducingly easy. After all, quite a few large scale conflicts were always on the verge of breaking out, only kept in check by a certain ruler''s efforts. Still, if young Isaac was to throw a wrench into these plans, all hell would undoubtedly break loose.

    This plan would basically have no cost at all. But yet again, it had a lot of flaws. Mainly the so-called ''weapons of mass destruction''. While nuclear warheads and hydrogen bombs could indeed wreak a hell of a lot of havoc and were always touted to be able to wipe out everything on the planet''s surface¡­ that really wasn''t the case. Humanity liked to overstate the lethality and destructiveness of its weapons a lot, it seemed. While an all-out nuclear war with no holds barred would most likely wipe out upwards of 95 percent of humanity and wipe clean vast swathes of civilization, all the while leading to horrible fallout that would be hard to deal with and deform future generations¡­ it wouldn''t truly wipe out humanity. Sure, some people would call it ''the end of the world'', but as so often, these words would only be exaggerations. Society would crumble, sure, but the ''world''? Not even close.

    There was one particular plan that caught young Isaac''s fancy. A plan that would be a true ''reset button'' for the planet, in a way.

    All of humanity''s history had taken place on an incredibly thin, cooled down crust on the outer reaches of the sphere that was planet Earth. It wasn''t even that stable, seeing how the tectonic plates still moved around every second of every day, leading to changes in landscapes and earthquakes. Over the course of millions of years, all of this led to large changes on the Earth''s surface. What would happen¡­ if this crust disappeared? If it got entirely obliterated?

    While sounding crazy at first, it was realistically achievable. After some calculations relying on the available data related to the Earth''s crust, Isaac found that if he detonated specific amounts of explosives in tens of thousands of locations deep within the Earth''s crust, all over the world and at specific points - all at the same time - it would create a certain resonance. Not only would the Earth''s mantle be disturbed, even the Earth''s core would be all so slightly influenced. All of this would lead to the magma within the Earth''s mantle to become far more active and restless, heating up more and more of the Earth''s crust and therefore affecting the tectonic plates. Many earthquakes and natural disasters would follow.

    But that wasn''t the worst of it - all of the Earth''s crust would be at the mercy of the rapidly rising temperatures and be melted down again, reuniting the material of the crust with the mantle. Only after a couple of hundreds of thousands of years would the relative cold of space cause the Earth''s outer reaches to cool down and form a crust yet again.

    With that, all of nature and all things that humans had ever interacted with on the planet would be destroyed. Life itself would disappear from the planet, for a while. After this, all could start anew. Whether a ''highly intelligent'' sentient species would ever be born again on the planet would be unknown, but at least everything would go back to the beginning.

    Even humanity''s strongest weapons wouldn''t be able to achieve such a change, but a certain planet-wide resonance between explosions deep within the crust would. If everything was perfectly fine-tuned, that is.

    Now, all of the aforementioned doomsday scenarios still ignored a certain problem. Humanity had already created various space stations which orbited the planet. To influence the astronauts stationed on them would be difficult with any but the last scenario. After all, there was always a chance for the astronauts to somehow figure out a way to recover.

    But if the Earth went through major changes like the reforming of the crust, the atmosphere would also be affected, causing the space stations'' orbit to be implicated. Even if one ignored this, the astronauts wouldn''t be able to rely on rations from the planet anymore, leading to their deaths.

    If the entirety of the crust hadn''t been obliterated, the astronauts would still have the opportunity to gather plants and similar necessities from Earth itself. But if they were all gone¡­? Tough chance. Still, at the end, maybe a genius would be born amongst them and they would figure out a way to miraculously survive, only relying on what they could find in space. Which was pretty much impossible. Still, just hypothetically speaking, if young Isaac waited with his eradication of humanity until only male astronauts were in space, then nothing could go wrong. After all, once a species couldn''t reproduce anymore, it was bound to go extinct. This wouldn''t even take long, as the number of female astronauts was extremely limited, mostly due to a lack of interest from most females to undertake such endeavours. Even those that wanted to could often not endure the rigorous training, mostly due to genetic reasons. All of this was a shame. But it was also something that made young Isaac''s job easier, so it wasn''t something he would complain about.

    With that in mind, he got to the drawing board and secretly hired a baffling number of scientists interested in researching the Earth''s crust from all over the world. Doing so was relatively easy, as his money and influence had already permeated all of human society. Whatever he wanted to do, he could accomplish. Whatever tools he needed to procure or produce, he could get or make.

    For the first half a year, his teams of researchers drilled at various spots of the Earth''s crust, measuring its thickness and material composition. While all of this seemed just like a normal, everyday job to them, Isaac used this information to fine-tune the exact locations of his explosives and the amount of them that he would need.

    After all of this effort, Isaac finally got his teams of scientists to drill the tens of thousands of holes he needed, at the exact spots. Nobody noticed anything out of the ordinary.

    As there was nothing to do while he waited for them to finish their work, Isaac spent his days training his physical body to keep in shape and reading novel series. While he had stopped doing so for a while, with nothing else better to do, he fell back into his old habits in his abundance of free time.

    While the sapling of loneliness continued to grow bigger and bigger, the seed of interest that had died in the past was revived from the ashes. It was small, tiny even. But fantastical, different worlds full of possibilities had an irresistible charm that young Isaac just couldn''t escape.

    He had already thought about travelling to other worlds before. Sadly, after considering all possibilities, he came to the conclusion that it was impossible. While other worlds might exist, reaching them from his reality wasn''t achievable. And the specific worlds humanity''s authors had created weren''t even real to begin with, so seeing them was even more of a pipe dream. Even ''escaping the simulation'' and other popular scenarios weren''t feasible or accurate. They were a nice fantasy, but ultimately not real. At least not in his world.

    But still, simply thinking about what he could potentially learn in those other worlds, what kind of interesting things he could encounter there, fascinated young Isaac.

    Over the course of half a year, the drilling operations finally came to a close. Even all of the inconsequential experiments he had his hired scientists run to obscure his true purpose came to an end. Soon, all of the research sites were abandoned, the holes safely secured but still accessible.

    After two years of a hermit-style life, young Isaac finally left his room again. Yet again, it was time to travel the world. While the person closest to him at the time, his secretary Mrs. Hopkins, believed him to check each of the scientists'' experiments'' results personally, this was as far from the truth as it could be. He had already created all of the explosives that he needed, only visiting the sites to personally deposit them deep within the drilled holes. Of course, he hadn''t forgotten to connect all of them together. Wires lead all the way up to the drilling sites, where a world-wide wireless network of Isaac''s creation welcomed them. During the planning stages, he had already created an algorithm that would take into account time delays during the data transmissions, which would enable him to detonate all of the explosives at exactly the same time, not even fractions of a second apart. If he were to be any less accurate than that, only failure would follow.

    While he yet again travelled the globe, he noticed a peculiar change. Whenever he was amongst other humans, they wouldn''t notice him at all. Even before, he didn''t have any difficulties with blending into the background, figuratively speaking. But after all of this time, he had apparently grown so ridiculously proficient at wearing a ''mask'' that other people would simply regard him as empty air. While subconsciously, they might still think that someone was in their vicinity, they wouldn''t be able to pinpoint him no matter how much they searched. They couldn''t see him.

    This observation didn''t really change much for young Isaac. Instead, it all felt natural to him. For all of his life, he had felt disconnected from the rest of humanity. They simply weren''t on the same wavelength as him. Now, with his ability to completely cut himself off from them strengthened, it just clarified something that had always been a bit up in the air before.

    Although a small smile played across his lips when he realized this, Ais knew that he was everything but happy. Neither was he sad. He was just lonely.

    He had always been. Even when his parents were still here, they hadn''t been able to understand him. He had felt very close to them, but in the end, even they had felt like a completely foreign species to him. Nobody had ever understood him. They all saw him as someone incomprehensible. He had always been different. He had always been alone.

    The sapling of loneliness grew into a small tree.

    If the next year had to be described with one word, young Isaac would use this one: weird. After all, his preparations to wipe out humanity had already been finished right after his journey across the globe had come to an end. He could eradicate everyone whenever he wanted. He didn''t even have a problem with dying alongside the rest of humanity. This wasn''t because he was suicidal, however. Instead, he just didn''t irrationally cling to life. Still, he didn''t detonate his explosives for a whole year.

    The reason for this was a simple one. He had started to read more and more novel series, even web novel series. Even with his inhuman reading speed, there were far too many of them to read to ever catch up to all of them. The day just didn''t have enough hours. Due to his mastery of all languages spoken on planet Earth, the sheer amount of stories he had access to was staggering. While the vast majority of them were either horrible, not that good or nothing out of the ordinary, that didn''t matter. He chose to read them all.

    This wasn''t because he liked reading, however. Well, if one asked young Isaac what he ''liked'', he would probably reply with ''reading''. The act of doing so was oddly calming as it allowed him to fully immerse himself within another world for a short time.

    In any case, he only read all of these stories because of all of the fantastical worlds they contained and portrayed. No matter how amateurish, there was always the shadow of a world that could be found within them. He couldn''t deny it. He was interested. Interested in worlds beyond his own. After all, he had already explored his home planet and had deducted far more about the universe and everything else than humanity as a collective ever had. And thanks to that, he realized that he wouldn''t find anything that truly interested him here. He couldn''t.

    Oddly enough, stories about other worlds interested him. As they were created by this world''s humans, they were a part of this world. So hadn''t he technically found something that interested him in this worthless world?

    In a way, yes. But also, no.

    Young Isaac wasn''t really interested in the stories themselves, but only the other worlds they let him dream about. It was like dangling a carrot in front of a donkey, just far enough out of reach that it could never eat it. This cruel torture was the closest he got to anything interesting in this world. These other worlds were something he could never truly see. As far as he understood, they weren''t real.

    During the year he focused on reading, a huge number of authors all across the globe suddenly got a lot of monetary support from a figure calling themselves ''The Librarian''. As always, many people began to speculate about who they could possibly be, even theorizing that it might actually be a group of people, seeing how many different languages that person would have to be proficient in to enjoy all of these different works. Still, nobody ever figured it out. As the amount of money that authors received from this mysterious figure was far more than enough to live their daily lives in peace and prosperity, a huge writing boom started, with many people who had previously not had the confidence to give up their day job switching to becoming authors instead. After all, anybody with even an ounce of skill got supported by The Librarian, there was no need to fear. There were many people on this planet with their own stories to tell. Due to the harshness of life, they often didn''t get the opportunity to do so. But now, the floodgates had been opened.

    All of this led to even more novels falling into young Isaac''s proverbial lap.

    Finally, on his 13th birthday, he pried himself away from what he was reading and took some time to reflect. Due to his indecisiveness, he had already ''wasted'' close to a year.

    Previously, he had weighed humanity''s positive and negative aspects from the most objective point of view that he could. This time, however, he was somewhat forced to look at things from a subjective one. A selfish one.

    He had to admit that a part of what humanity offered, stories about different worlds, was something that he valued greatly. It would be a shame if they disappeared.

    One might think that the solution to this problem would be to save all of these stories somewhere, create a self-sufficient base in space and live there after wiping out humanity, slowly consuming all of these tales. However, one would be wrong. After all, new stories wouldn''t be created anymore, neither would ongoing ones be continued or concluded.

    Sure, young Isaac could always just write his own novels. He could also always roughly figure out the ending to a story before it actually happened. Still, sometimes there were surprises in store, even for him. He had never been able to predict every single exact detail of a story, ever. After all, an author''s mentality, their development and practice would lead to a change that he couldn''t reliably foresee without knowing them very well personally. Thanks to this, stories contained many fresh experiences that he would never be able to get from anywhere else. He could peek into many different worlds. Worlds that could potentially be interesting. If they were real.

    With a wry and self-deprecating smile on his lips, he decided to spare humanity. For purely selfish reasons. In the end, he was also just a human. No matter how astonishingly different he was from everyone else, he was still a human. And to varying degrees, humans were inherently selfish. They were flawed - and so was he.

    For a moment, the shadow of an idea flashed across young Isaac''s mind - an idea that would finally give him a purpose. But at this current moment, he just barely missed grasping it.

    If humanity had been aware that its novels had earned it a pardon from the death penalty, most humans would probably see authors in a different light. They wouldn''t scorn them for trying to broaden other people''s horizons as often. Still, all of that would only be temporary. As always, no matter what lessons the past taught them, humans would forget about all of it after a while. No matter how often they would spout righteous nonsense about ''learning from the past'', they never would actually do so. All tragedies had happened before. And all lessons resulting from them had been forgotten.

    Humans, in their core, never change. They don''t improve. They don''t get smarter. They just acc.u.mulate more knowledge.

    -----

    After the momentary feeling of disorientation had faded and Ais had snuggled even deeper into Isaac''s warm and calming embrace, she thought about what she had just experienced, a happy smile playing across her lips.

    She was relieved that, in the end, Isaac had decided against killing all of humanity. While she didn''t like his old world at all, she hadn''t wanted him to carry such a massive, soul-crushing burden. Also, she hadn''t wanted him to die - even if his current status would then tell her that he somehow overcame death itself. After all, he was still alive.

    During all of this, Ais had discovered something that, most likely, Isaac wasn''t even aware of. Something that was buried deep within his subconsciousness. If she hadn''t clearly known which of the things she felt originated from young Isaac and hadn''t been able to even recognize his subconscious thoughts, she never would have noticed it.

    No matter how detached he seemed. No matter how disconnected from his subordinates that he was and how much he treated them as his disposable minions within his heart, he always felt some kind of connection to them.

    His secretary and his mercenaries, his trusty underlings¡­ he wouldn''t mind their deaths, if they were truly necessary. Still, he didn''t wish for their deaths. He wasn''t a deranged killer who took pleasure in the deaths of those who followed him.

    All this while, these subconscious connections that he felt led him to search for something, anything¡­ a reason to spare humanity. He truly didn''t want to kill his subordinates, he was wholly appalled by the idea. While suicide was nothing much in his eyes, he wouldn''t stain his hands with the blood of those that trusted him and followed his orders. But he didn''t know that he had had these thoughts. Well, maybe he just didn''t want to be aware of it. He didn''t want to know that he was merciful. No matter how deeply hidden in his subconscious mind that it was, it was still a part of him. He cared.

    He wasn''t an irrationally warm person either, though. If other people were to kill his subordinates, he would lash out at them. The reason for this would be them taking away something that belonged to him, which would annoy him. But as for killing them himself, with his own hands¡­ that was a taboo. Still, Ais was convinced that he was definitely not aware of this subconscious restriction.

    With that in mind, she suddenly hugged Isaac''s head and buried his face deep in her chest, beaming lovingly all the while.

    ''You''re a far better person than you realize.''

    While Isaac was fl.u.s.tered and not sure whether he should turn his head to get some air, Ais gently stroked his hair, eventually falling asleep while doing so.

 Chapter 62 - Tragedy Repeats Itself

    It was about 2 p.m. and the group of students had just made it back to the 10th floor a short time ago.

    With a swift and precise stab of his spear, Kalin stabbed through an Orc''s eye and straight into its brain, impaling it. In a fluid motion, he stepped on the enormous monster''s shoulder and pulled out his weapon, then he kicked the enemy away and performed a backflip, landing steadily on the ground. A moment later, with a loud noise, the towering body of the Orc hit the ground, lifeless.

    This Orc had been the last of a group of three. The first two had been slain by Jakk in a matter of seconds, then the bunny boy left the last one to Kalin and Mina. While they would definitely not be able to face Orcs on their own yet, if they worked together, they stood a chance.

    For the first twenty minutes or so, the two had tried to get used to the Orc''s attacks. Its stats were higher than them and it was therefore quite a bit faster. Still, by confusing it with quick maneuvers, they managed to slow it down enough to stay unharmed. Also, after a while, they noticed that its attacks had a very long wind-up time. Although the actual blows were very fast, there was a short time where the Orc had already decided on where to attack - and its posture gave it all away. Thanks to this, the two got accustomed to predicting its simplistic attacks quite quickly.

    When they finally got used to their opponent, Mina attracted all of its attention by slashing through its left heel, causing it to stagger backwards and kneel down. Enraged, the Orc then proceeded to try to bash the agile Chienthrope with its club, paying no heed to the spear-wielder next to it. This simple-mindedness was its fatal mistake.

    Kalin wouldn''t let such a large opening go, so he stepped on the Orc''s right knee and jumped, stabbing towards its right eye with his spear at the same moment. All in all, it was a smooth victory.

    Having observed the two''s battle to its conclusion, Jakk nodded his head in approval, a relaxed smile on his lips. Like always, he had been prepared to interfere should the two ever actually be in danger. Thankfully, this hadn''t been necessary, as his prediction had been correct. The two could indeed already face Orcs together. Happy at his accurate judgement, Jakk''s smile turned more and more smug.

    The pained shrieks of Imps could be heard nearby, because Averin was taking care of the surrounding monsters, enabling Kalin and Mina to focus fully on their battle.

    As everything had gone well and it was time to move on, Jakk clapped his hands loudly, trying to get everyone''s attention.

    "Well done. To recover a bit, face some Imps next."

    Seeing how the two were a bit strained from having to be at the top of their game all this time, they welcomed this change of pace and shot Jakk a grateful glance. With that, as Averin had just finished cleaning up all of the nearby Imps, the group set out again, trying to find new opponents.

    "AAAAAAAARRGGGGHHHHH!"

    "HELP!!!!!"

    "RUN, YOU IDIOTS!"

    Suddenly, a cacophony of screams sounded from the distance - some of them were cut off almost instantly. As these sounds were relatively close, the group of students grew tense. A hint of annoyance at having gotten so close to another team of adventurers could be seen at Jakk''s face. If that group brought them trouble, they could be implicated, after all. He didn''t want them to be dragged down by strangers.

    In the dungeon, parties usually tried to avoid interacting with each other. Not only because they would attract more monsters if they were together or because they didn''t want to drag others down. Most importantly, quite a few people were killing each other here every day, for a plethora of reasons. Even though the Guild forbade such actions, if there were no witnesses, nothing would happen to the murderers.

    Before the Hume Bunny youth could recommend for the group to be careful and scout ahead first, to see what was happening, Kalin had already rushed off without a word. Cursing the guy''s heroic tendencies under his breath, Jakk had no choice but to follow.

    ''It should be fine. Nothing on this floor should pose a problem to me.''

    Thanks to thoughts like these, he immediately felt a bit more safe.

    As soon as Kalin had heard the screams, he knew that he had to help. After all, their group was far too overpowered for this floor - nothing could endanger them. What kind of person would he be if he didn''t help out people in need when doing so wouldn''t even be a challenge? He could understand refraining from doing so if it put one in danger, but if not? There was no excuse.

    Although he had dashed off first, Jakk and Mina caught up in a matter of seconds, while Averin stayed behind the group and protected them from the back.

    Rapidly, the group made their way through four large caverns, obliterating all of the Imps and Bad Bats that wanted to bar their passage. They were pretty lucky to not encounter any Orcs on the way. As they didn''t plan to kill all monsters and instead just wanted to go from place A to place B, they weren''t slowed down at all.

    About a minute after they had started running, almost all of the screams had already been eternally silenced. Only one or two despairing voices still resounded in the hallways. Kalin''s expression turned more and more grave and unhappy. He didn''t want to be late. He wanted to save these people!

    Speeding up once more, he turned another corner and finally came face to face with the source of the cries.

    In a cavern about twice the size of the ones they had just passed through, a group of eleven Orcs stood amidst about a dozen or so torn-apart bodies. All around them were heaps and heaps of Imp and Bad Bat corpses, even a handful of Orcs seemed to have fallen. Yet, in the end, the entire party had been wiped out.

    Well, almost. An unarmed, red-haired girl was tightly gripping her broken arm, desperately dodging the Orcs'' unceasing assault. It was a miracle that she had managed to just barely evade all of the clubs trying to flatten her into meat paste. Her hair was a mess and most of her armour was covered in dust, dirt and blood. Nearly all of it was the blood of her companions and the slain monsters, but her right arm was in horrible condition. Scary amounts of blood were unceasingly dripping from her fingertips, while some bones stuck out of her flesh. If she hadn''t been holding on to it, the wound would have already gotten a lot worse.

    A Monster Party had befallen this group. Whether they had been taken aback due to being careless or overconfident, or whether they had simply been unlucky - none of that mattered right now.

    Without letting himself get distracted any further, Kalin steeled his resolve and, followed by the rest of the students, charged straight at the horde of Orcs. With his previous experience and the strength of their party, they shouldn''t have any problems. There was no need to hesitate.

    But before they could even get close enough to the Orcs to intervene, the girl noticed their approach. A smile spread across her lips. Seemingly having seen a glimmer of hope in the darkness, she dodged yet another attack, then turned around and fled right towards her potential saviours. Just a few steps later, however, she was hit straight in the back by an Orc''s attack. Due to having taken her eyes off the battle, she didn''t have any chance to prepare herself, so she was violently flug aside, crashing straight into the dungeon''s wall, headfirst. Listlessly, her body slid down to the ground, her hair slowly turning into a darker and more vibrant colour of red. Soon, most of her face was also covered in blood.

    Seeing how he had been just a few steps late, anger and disappointment filled Kalin''s heart and he gripped his spear tightly. Sure, the girl''s actions hadn''t been the smartest, but he couldn''t blame her. Most people wouldn''t be able to remain calm and rational in her situation.

    "I''ll see if she''s still alive!"

    After shouting these words, he left the Orcs to his companions and slightly changed his course, running towards the girl who was slumped against the dungeon''s wall. He was confident that with Jakk and Averin around, he wouldn''t even be needed - Mina would also be safe. For now, making sure that this person was safe was his top priority.

    From nearby, he could hear the angry roars and pained wails of the Orcs, as the massacre began. Hastily, he checked the girl''s pulse¡­ and heaved a sigh of relief. The girl was only unconscious - but she was losing a terrifying amount of blood every second.

    If her treatment was delayed much longer, she would undoubtedly die. Although he was a little reluctant to use this on someone he didn''t know, he didn''t hesitate for long and took out a small glass vial from his backpack. Before Isaac had left on his expedition, he had given each of his students one of these, filled with the powder secreted from three Blue Papilio wings. Thankfully, this wondrous powder was extremely easy to use.

    Carefully, Kalin spread some across the wound on the girl''s right arm, then he lifted her hair and poured some on the injury on her head. Lastly, he held her head, pried open her mouth and chugged the rest of the powder down her throat. That was the best way he could think of to let the powder deal with her various internal injuries.

    The battle in the background quickly quietened down and the surface-wounds that had caused the girl to lose so much blood in the first place were already healing at a stunning pace. Her internal injuries, however, would probably take a lot longer to heal. Also, the powder wasn''t good at healing broken bones. It would be better than nothing, but it couldn''t perfectly mend them. Thankfully, the powder could restore the blood that had been lost, so at least that wouldn''t be a problem.

    To support the powder''s effect and allow her body''s natural recovery to help out as well, Kalin took out a towel from his backpack and ripped it into a few stripes.

    "Do you guys see anything similar to a straight stick? Maybe a branch?"

    Kalin shouted these words towards his companions and Mina arrived quickly, carrying one of the Orcs'' clubs. All of those were simply trees growing in the dungeon, ripped out by the monsters and used as a weapon. Usually, however, they would snap off the branches from these trees. Well, the branches would snap off by themselves after having been slammed into the ground and walls enough times. This club, however, still had a few branches on it.

    Quickly, Mina found the straightest branch and broke it off, handing it to Kalin. With that, Kalin set the bones in the girl''s arm as best as he could and made a sturdy sling for it.

    Having just finished surveying the area for any more monsters or other irregularities, Jakk returned, took a look at the girl and sighed.

    "Let''s get her healed in Babel later. For now, it''s time to clean the battlefield. Maybe we''ll find some mementos we can give her."

    With that said, the group cleaned up the monster corpses and pocketed their magic stones and drop items. Then, with slightly disgusted looks on their faces, they sifted through the corpses of the group the girl belonged to. Sadly, they couldn''t find any identifying badges or symbols, so they couldn''t tell which familia or organization they came from. The only things they found were a few tens of thousands of valis and the weapons the group had been using. About half of them had been shattered or deformed, while the entirety of the rest of their equipment was in horrible condition.

    Mina cleared out her backpack and put its contents into Kalin''s, then she gathered all of the usable weapons and valis they had found and placed them into hers. After the girl woke up, they could simply hand all of this to her. While they would have a use for it themselves, it just wouldn''t feel right to profit from the dead while there was still a survivor around.

    Without a word, Jakk grabbed Kalin''s backpack and carried it as well, while Kalin carefully picked up the unconscious girl from the ground. He carried her as gently as he could, as he didn''t want any of her wounds to worsen or re-open. As he was also a little bit worried about her neck after that headfirst impact, he supported her head with his shoulder. They couldn''t just leave her to her own devices in such a state, it was time to hand her over to a professional.

    As fast as they could, the students returned to the first floor, where Averin quickly hid in Jakk''s backpack before he could be noticed by anyone else. He was used to this routine by now, so he didn''t even utter a single complaint. Although he was a bit sad about having to leave the dungeon early, he knew that they had an emergency on hand.

    Under Jakk''s lead, the group made their way straight to the Guild''s healing center.

    "Thankfully, milord has left us with a lot of emergency funds¡­"

    Delighted at her lord''s foresight, Mina took out a pouch with 500,000 valis and handed it over to the Guild staff in charge. This was, fortunately, exactly the price that a medium healing spell cost. In all honesty, it was a rip-off. Although the contracted healers did get a little bit exhausted after using the spell, it certainly didn''t warrant such an expense. But alas, unless one had a healer on their team, once one''s injuries surpassed a certain stage, any and all potions and spells that could combat them were ridiculously expensive. People would always clench their teeth and pay a premium for their lives, no matter which world they were in. And there were also always people who profited from this.

    Right before the group of students, the contracted healer chanted their spell and, in a matter of seconds, the red-haired girl''s injuries and broken bones were fully restored, leaving no sequelae. She was restored to a flawless condition.

    Jakk''s heart stung at the high expenses, but he could only heave yet another resigned sigh. He really didn''t like the fact that they were helping a random outsider, but the others wanted to do so. He couldn''t even blame them, as both Kalin and Mina wouldn''t be alive if they hadn''t been saved either. Even he would have felt a slight sting in his conscience if he had just left this girl without any treatment - and let her die. Anyway, Isaac had so much money¡­ he wouldn''t blame them for spending a bit of it to help others, right?

    Because the Guild''s healing center also offered baths to clean their patients, Mina carried the still-unconscious girl into one of them, then she asked Kalin to go and buy some fresh clothes. While the girl''s gear was still somewhat usable, it would have to be cleaned and repaired first before she could wear it again.They couldn''t just leave her n.a.k.e.d, could they?

    While both Jakk and Kalin - oh, and Averin - certainly wouldn''t have complained about that, they weren??t degenerate enough to deliberately put someone else into an embarrassing situation like that. So these thoughts could only stay within the deep recesses of their minds, while outwardly, they would be the gentlemen they were known for. Well, only Kalin was known for that.

    As Babel was the economic and literal center of the city, it was extremely easy to find cheap, generic clothing stores in its vicinity, so it took Kalin less than ten minutes to return. He had spent about 1,000 valis on the clothes - and yes, he hadn''t forgotten the underwear. A slight blush crept on his cheeks when he remembered how the store-clerk had looked at him with a knowing, encouraging smile when he bought these¡­

    "I''ll leave the clothes right outside of the door, okay?"

    When he returned, Kalin knocked on the bath''s door, notified Mina and put the clothes in a spot she couldn''t possibly miss. After this, he trotted back to the temporary room the Guild''s healing center had provided for them free of charge. The room only contained a simple bed. In case of an unconscious patient, they could rest in there until they woke up again. With every healing spell starting from the medium one, this service was included. It honestly wasn''t much, but it was better than nothing.

    As they had nothing better to do, Jakk and Kalin just waited, leaning against the wall and occasionally talking to each other. Averin also poked his head out of the backpack every once in a while, but after the waiting got too boring for him, he simply fell asleep while hiding.

    Well, it only took Mina twenty minutes to clean the girl and put the new clothes on her, so the rooster really didn''t have much patience - if any at all.

    Very carefully, Mina carried the girl to her room and tucked her into the bed. Finally, the group had an opportunity to take a closer look at who they had just saved.

    The girl was a human and about as tall as Mina. As for her age, she looked to be 15 to 16 years old, while her red hair was slightly curly at the ends and reached all the way below her shoulders. Her skin was surprisingly smooth and clean, white to an almost unhealthy but still charming degree. As for her figure, it was remarkably seductive, with impeccable curves at just the right places. Her face didn''t have any blemishes and was definitely on a level that would make countless men stop in their tracks and stare at her. All in all, she was a beauty.

    When Kalin noticed that he had been staring at the girl for a little bit too long, both Jakk and Mina were already giving him strange looks and smiles, causing him to blush slightly and look away. Straight at a wall. No matter how stupid it looked, this certainly succeeded in distracting him sufficiently enough.

    He had to admit that, while he had often seen beautiful girls - especially because they weren''t a rarity here in Orario - this particular one really made his heart race. He couldn''t explain why. Was it because he felt a connection to her because he had also almost been buried in the dungeon? Most likely, that only played a small part. As for the rest, he had no idea. But did people really need a reason to like others? The answer to this question was a resounding no.

    While he was still a bit distracted by the lovely girl he had just seen, a short bout of weakness overcame Kalin and he almost staggered a little. It wasn''t the first time this had happened, but this time, it was a lot worse than before. What exactly was happening? While he didn''t actually grow much weaker, there was still a minute difference. It always took him an hour or two to regain perfect control of his body. Still, because the gulf between his previous and current strength was so incredibly small, he was almost inclined to believe that he was just imagining things.

    ''Oh well, I''ll just ask Isaac about it when he returns.''

    Right when he had come to this conclusion, he heard the bed sheets rustle and turned his head. The red-haired girl had just moved!

    Her eyelids were trembling and she balled her hands into fists. Then, slowly, her eyes opened, revealing what almost looked to be a pair of glittering, emerald-green gems.

    Looking at her unfamiliar surroundings with confusion written all over her face, she soon noticed the three people next to her bed, who were looking at her with relieved, friendly smiles. But instead of what would have been the most reasonable reaction in such a situation, the girl didn''t grow wary. Instead, her eyes were clouded by even more confusion.

    Suddenly, she clenched her teeth a little and rubbed her temples, trying to suppress a violent headache.

    "Who¡­ am I?"

    -----

    "Ugh, being down here at this time is such a shame!"

    Pouting unhappily, Claire sat on the ground, wiping away her sweat with a towel. Just now, the training session had come to an end and everyone - besides Isaac - was exhausted.

    Hearing her complaint, Isaac raised an eyebrow. Was there something he was missing? He couldn''t recall any significant events at this time, so what was this girl so bummed out about?

    "Why?"

    As there was no other way to find out, Isaac simply asked her this question, earning him astonished looks from the surrounding supporters. After taking a moment to catch her bearing, Claire finally responded.

    "Tomorrow, the Monster Feria will start! Don''t tell me you don''t know about that!?"

    With an embarrassed smile on his face, Isaac scratched his cheek. He truly had forgotten about this event. Back in the beginning of the DanMachi novels, the Ganesha Familia had held this yearly festival. As it wasn''t heavily featured in the story and everything connected to it had been wholly uninteresting to Isaac, he had forgotten to keep track of the time and look out for it. Sure, the events connected to it had a huge impact on the overall story, but the festivities themselves were scarcely mentioned.

    "Sorry¡­ it slipped my mind. Thanks for the reminder."

    In the Monster Feria, tamers from the Ganesha Familia would bring captured monsters to the surface and tame them in front of a large crowd in the Colosseum. It was a huge and popular event that had the whole city in a celebratory mood and usually lasted for a couple of days. As for what was so exciting about it? Most ordinary citizens would never encounter the dungeon''s monsters in their lives and most weaker adventurers would never have a chance to see some of the tougher ones without dying. Having people tame them with their skills was a breathtaking experience.

    Of course, the event was accompanied by various other forms of entertainment as well. As always, the Ganesha Familia and Guild were jointly responsible for the security of the whole ordeal. Well, it actually was the same as usual, as the Ganesha Familia, amongst others, was similar to a police force in Orario all year round.

    In any case, Monster Feria would most likely be fun to experience if Isaac had the chance. Seeing how he would soon have a huge impact on this world, what would have happened during the Monster Feria a year into the future, during the DanMachi novels'' usual timeline, would most likely be accelerated. Thanks to that, he would be able to take part in a normal Monster Feria. Probably.

    Thinking about strolling past the street stalls with Ais, buying sweets and potato snacks and watching from the seats of the Colosseum made a small, genuine smile spread across Isaac''s face.

    ''I''ll definitely take a look at it next time.''

    While he was thinking about the ''monster taming'' of the Ganesha Familia, Isaac couldn''t help but remember Averin, the unusual roost--- ahem, Jack Bird. There were bound to be far more monsters like him in the dungeon. Should he look for them? After all, nobody seemed to mention them or know about them, so they could be a largely unexploited source of minions¡­ or rather, subordinates. For quite a while, he had been slacking on recruiting more of them, so he really hoped he would run into more of these kinds of monsters soon.

 Chapter 63 - The Wolf Howls

    Amnesia was a condition not unique to Isaac''s old world. Even here, in the Labyrinth City Orario, most people were aware of it. After all, while there were multiple different kinds of amnesia and there were a variety of causes, one of the most common ones was a head injury. Adventurers didn''t exactly have the safest work environment, so those weren''t a rarity. Therefore, it had only been a matter of time until people of this world found out about this ailment. Well, even before there was a dungeon, people already knew about it. Anyway, that trivia wasn''t important right now.

    "There isn''t really a way to combat or treat amnesia. You can only wait for her to regain her memories on her own. It might only take a few days¡­ or a few years. In the worst case scenario, she might never recover."

    This was the diagnosis of one of the Guild''s contracted healers. Immediately after the red-haired girl had asked the students about her own identity, they had called for assistance. Sadly, however, there seemed to be no healing spell or therapy that could be of use. As far as the healer knew, that is. Even in a world full of magic, the exact workings of the brain were still a mystery. In any case, as complete laymen, the students didn''t have any other option besides trusting the professional''s words.

    After the healer left, a sigh escaped Jakk''s mouth. He had a bad and foreboding feeling. And sure enough, just moments later, his worries came true.

    "I have a proposal."

    With these words and a resolute look, Kalin addressed his companions, before explaining his thoughts.

    "We still have rooms back in the base, so we can give her a place to stay. Only until she recovers, of course. As we have no idea where she is from, we would only have a few other options. First of all, we could rent a room for her here but that would be far too expensive. Secondly, we could let her stay at an inn. That would also cost money and come with some additional danger - who knows what could happen to an amnesiac there? With her looks, she might even attract the attention of a bad crowd. Now, compare this to our place: We''ve got unused rooms and we also get free food from the Loki Familia. It''s the perfect solution."

    As his argument was sound, Mina immediately seconded this and Jakk didn''t have a reason to go against it either. Besides the heartless option of leaving this girl alone on the streets, taking her back to the subordinates'' home was indeed the best option.

    "Alright, we''ll do as you say. But before this, we''ll go to the Guild and have them spread news about her. That way, it won''t take too long to find someone who knows her. Her organization or familia can then come to pick her up. We''ll only let her stay until that happens, okay?"

    While Jakk was anything but averse to having another good-looking girl around, he also didn''t want to bring back trouble to his familia. Having one more mouth to feed might not sound like much, but it was still a bother. Nevermind that they hadn''t even asked Isaac, who was renting the base in the first place, for his approval. All in all, Jakk was quite unhappy with the situation, but he wasn''t a heartless bastard, so he could only begrudgingly help this poor girl.

    Of course, nobody had any problems with the restrictions Jakk had set.

    A little later, the students had just visited the Pantheon and reported saving an amnesiac girl from the dungeon. One of the Guild staff had drawn a portrait of the girl in question and would replicate these along with a short description of the situation she was in. They would be posted all over town and if somebody wanted to know more, they would have to contact the Guild. They, in turn, would check whether there was truly a relation between the approaching party and the girl and only after it had been confirmed would they contact the students.

    This way, there was no chance for profiteers to take advantage of this girl''s plight. In the past, there had been quite a few innocents who had become the victims of slavery and other horrific arrangements due to the Guild handing over amnesiacs to the wrong person. It hadn''t happened too often, as amnesiacs weren''t too common to begin with, but there was still a sizable amount of people who had been wronged. When the Guild found out about this, it hurriedly revised its strategy and the current system was put in place.

    Before the students left, however, the Guild staff gave them a sobering warning. Quite often, when whole parties were wiped out in the dungeon and there was only a single survivor, there were no people left in Orario who were closely connected to them. If the party had been a part of a local familia, that wouldn''t be a problem, as the deity would wait back in the city. But once non-familia adventuring parties or people from a familia whose deity didn''t live in Orario were taken into account, quite often, nobody would be left to remember them or pick them up.

    Whether or not this was the case was anything but certain for now.

    On the group''s way back home, Mina gently held the red-haired girl''s hand and led her down the street. All the while, the girl curiously sized up her surroundings, with confusion still clouding her gaze just as much as before.

    "Do you recognize anything?"

    Although she knew that she shouldn''t hurry the girl, Mina still couldn''t help but ask this question. After all, this was a very well-known place in the city. Almost every adventurer had been to the Pantheon before. She didn''t have high hopes for a positive answer but just asking the question couldn''t hurt, right?

    A contemplative look appeared on the girl''s face, then a moment later, she shook her head.

    "Not really. I feel like I might have been here before, but I can''t put my finger on it. Sorry¡­"

    Seeing her so downtrodden made Mina''s heart hurt, so she smiled sweetly and grabbed her hand a little tighter.

    "No worries, that''s already a great start!"

    While the two girls were slowly growing closer to each other, Kalin was stealthily glancing at them every now and then. But no matter how much he seemingly wanted to, he didn''t attempt to join their conversation. This, of course, didn''t escape Jakk. So while the girls were in their own little world, he walked closer to Kalin and whispered, just loud enough for the young man to hear him.

    "Since you like her, why don''t you try to grow closer to her by taking care of her in her time of need, just like Mina?"

    Jakk''s opinion of Kalin was surprisingly high. While usually, he didn''t like to spend time with others, after they had been comrades in arms for a couple of weeks, he didn''t mind being around Kalin. He would still prefer being alone, though. In any case, because of his high opinion of the young man, when he saw him show interest in a girl for the first time since they had known each other, he thought it would be a good idea to give him some advice. As was so often the case with certain people, while Jakk was great at giving romance-related advice, when it came to putting his own advice into practice, he couldn''t possibly be any more incompetent.

    A slight blush crept on Kalin''s cheeks when he heard Jakk''s words, but he didn''t deny anything. Instead, he replied in a hushed voice.

    "I would feel bad if I interrupted them. They seem to get along so well¡­"

    Hearing this, Jakk shook his head and nudged him a little.

    "Nonsense. Just join them, they won''t mind. You''ve got to start somewhere, right?"

    In all honesty, what held Kalin back the most was fear. Although it was unlikely, he thought the amnesiac beauty could potentially dislike him if he tried to interact with her. There was no basis for this worry of his, of course, but he really didn''t want her to dislike him. So, instead of trying to talk to her, he adopted another approach - she couldn''t possibly dislike him if she didn''t know him, right?

    Now, hearing Jakk''s rational words, this cowardly side of his was finally suppressed and he took a deep breath. What his friend had said was nothing revolutionary. No, it was something completely obvious. Still, to finally take the first step, he had had to hear it. Kalin shot a grateful look in Jakk''s direction, then he approached the chatting girls.

    "So, do you remember anything at all?"

    For now, the two had still been talking about this topic. Mina had wanted to make sure that they weren''t missing any clues that could potentially aid the red-haired girl''s recovery, so she asked this broad of a question.

    A pained smile flashed across the girl''s face for a moment, before she yet again shook her head.

    "Just bits and pieces. I have yet to make sense of them."

    With an understanding smile, Mina nodded. Then, suddenly, the girl grew delighted and exclaimed.

    "But I think I''ve remembered a name. It appears so often in those snippets that it''s gotta be mine! So¡­ call me Valenoa from now on."

    Before Mina had a chance to reply, Kalin chimed in from the side happily.

    "That''s a beautiful name."

    While listening to this, Jakk''s face scrunched up because of how cringy that line was. Couldn''t he have been a little more eloquent? Which girl wouldn''t look at someone warily if they came up to her and praised their name out of nowhere? Sure, most people would feel flattered, but they would also suspect that person''s intentions instantly. Luckily, instead of making a fuss about Kalin''s unprofessional behaviour, Jakk held himself back. All the while blissfully unaware that he behaved far worse in similar situations. This slight imperfection was nothing compared to his facepalm-inducing levels of cringe.

    A bright and innocent smile played across Valenoa''s lips. Not even for a second did she doubt Kalin and simply took the praise at face value.

    "Thank you!"

    Kalin''s breathing sped up slightly when he saw this - her smile was just too breathtakingly beautiful! It was like a lethal dagger that found its way right into his heart.

    From this point onwards, all the way until they returned to the Twilight manor, Kalin, Mina and Valenoa talked amongst each other happily.

    After about thirty minutes of strolling later, the group finally arrived in front of the manor grounds. When they stepped into the area the magical formation covered, the Loki Familia members currently on guard duty immediately got a notification - some guests and a regular familia member wanted to bring an unregistered person onto the premises. Usually, such a minor matter would immediately be approved if an Executive or above accompanied the unregistered person. Normal members or guests would first have to explain the situation before asking an Executive, Top Executive or their goddess Loki for permission, though.

    Of course, Jakk knew about this arrangement, so he had Kalin, Mina and Valenoa stay back and walked towards the main manor by himself. On the way there, he encountered the guards and told them that Isaac''s students wanted to house an amnesiac girl in their base until she recovered. Seeing how the commotion seemed to be just a minor matter, the guards dispersed immediately, while one of them told Jakk to wait and went back inside to get Loki''s opinion. As she usually didn''t leave the manor while an expedition was ongoing, due to security reasons, most matters were handled directly by her. She often complained about the amount of work, but in the end, she still did her job, workload be damned.

    Five minutes later, the guard came back with a reply: The girl was allowed to stay. But she would only have a very restricted guest access, which Loki had already set up. Besides being able to use the pathways that led to the exit of the manor grounds, she would only be able to stay in the training area Isaac''s students usually frequented and the house they rented. While that was quite the harsh treatment, it was already sufficiently merciful. After all, an amnesiac wouldn''t need more than simply a place to stay, right?

    When Jakk returned to the others and explained the situation, Kalin and Mina heaved relieved sighs. Seeing how everything seemed to have worked out, Valenoa also showed a happy smile, then faced the others with a grateful look in her eyes.

    "I don''t really know what is going on, but it seems like I have troubled you a bit. Thank you again for your help!"

    Soon, the group reunited with Quinn back at the base. Averin also didn''t bother to hide anymore. If they were going to let Valenoa stay here for a prolonged period of time, she would run into him sooner or later anyway, so there was no harm in letting her see him. More importantly, she didn''t even think there was anything weird about a talking rooster. Amnesia could really be a blessing in disguise sometimes.

    While eating some snacks, they explained how they found Valenoa and everything they knew about her. Even though her confusion didn''t lessen in the least and she didn''t remember any of these events, she was still able to comprehend that these people had done her a favour greater than she would probably ever be able to repay. Wanting to survive was an essential instinct that even amnesia couldn''t easily wipe away.

    Yet again, Valenoa flashed them a bright smile and thanked them for their help. For some reason, she just couldn''t stop doing so. Time and time again, the moment she thanked them, she already discovered something else she should be grateful to them for.

    After they had finished their small meal, Jakk got Mina, Averin and Quinn to follow him to their usual training area for some sparring. Seeing how they had returned from the dungeon way earlier than intended, it wasn''t a bad idea to spend their time like this. Of course, all of this was just so Kalin could be alone with the red-haired beauty. Jakk had subtly been hinting at this to the others previously and they weren''t dense enough to miss his intentions. Well, Quinn was. He thought that Kalin simply got left with the job of watching over the amnesiac girl, so he didn''t complain. Still, the end result was the same.

    Jakk almost felt like patting himself on the back for being such an astounding wingman. As for the morality of enabling a young man to worm his way into an amnesiac girl''s heart¡­ yeah, he didn''t think there was anything wrong with it. After all, if two people ended up in a happy relationship, who would care about how exactly it came about? He certainly wouldn''t.

    Being left alone with the innocent beauty, Kalin felt a little bit panicked. It had been quite easy to talk to her when the others were around, but now that there were just the two of them, he didn''t really know what to say.

    Before he could decide on what to do, he felt someone pull his sleeve shyly.

    It was a somewhat embarrassed-looking Valenoa. Previously, when Jakk had told the story of how they saved her, he had made sure to make it abundantly clear that Kalin was the reason they even went out of their way to save her in the first place. Kalin was also the one who had administered the first-aid, without which she would have died, and the one who carried her out of the dungeon.

    This left Valenoa completely unsure of how to react. After all, as far as she recalled, she had never been in such a situation before. Now that she was facing the one who had saved her life, she didn''t know what to do or say.

    As her emotions showed on her face quite clearly, even Kalin could understand them without a problem, so he calmed down his hastily beating heart and showed Valenoa a comforting smile. This finally gave the redhead the courage to say what was on her mind.

    "I would like to know you better. Can you tell me a bit about yourself?"

    Unconcealed interest was displayed in these mesmerizing, emerald-green eyes of hers. Wanting to know more about one''s saviour was perfectly natural. Oftentimes, people wondered about what exactly had motivated them to prevent other people''s demise. The amnesiac Valenoa was no different. However, compared to others, who mostly held back from asking about these things as it might seem rude, she didn''t have any of these reservations.

    For the next few hours, Kalin told her all about his past, answering any questions she had. Although this afternoon didn''t perfectly follow the script in Jakk''s head, the two still grew a lot closer.

    -----

    In the late afternoon, Bete was rapidly making his way through the 54th floor, obliterating the tens of monsters surrounding him without them being able to put up much of a resistance. He had an irritated look on his face and even more bloodthirst than usual exuded from his body. It was like an apex predator had been unleashed upon the ''innocent'' monsters. If they hadn''t been out for blood as well, to the extent where they would disregard their own survival, they would have probably turned around and fled long ago.

    Ever since Ais, Tiona and Tione had overcome monsters he hadn''t even dreamed of facing on his own before, the brash werewolf''s mind had been a mess. What made it even worse was that he had seen just how far superior to everyone else Isaac was in technical skill. Coupled with the young man''s mind-boggling speed of growth, he knew that if Isaac ever caught up to his Level, he wouldn''t even have a chance to resist.

    Not only were Bete''s companions leaving him in the dust, making him feel weak and useless, even someone he had looked down upon once was improving at a breakneck pace. Everyone but the ''three old farts'' was growing stronger by leaps and bounds, only he was lagging behind, standing still.

    A certain memory flashed past his mind for a moment, casting a depressed shadow over Bete''s face, before he howled furiously and let anger forcefully take over his reasoning, trying to suppress it. He didn''t want to think about it again. He didn''t want to be weak¡­ again. He didn''t want to be a burden. He had to be stronger! No matter what, he couldn''t lag too far behind.

    Bete''s current resolve was beyond compare - he had never been as set on something in his entire life. Even when he had done his best to improve previously, he hadn''t tried his hardest - after all, he hadn''t felt too threatened by his companions'' rate of progress. But this time, it was different.

    He had been searching the dungeon''s floors for many days now, hoping to find something - anything - that could stand in his way. Anything that could help him gain the qualifications to rank up. No matter how many monsters weaker than him that he faced, he knew that it was of no use. Small fry might be able to drag him down if there were a huge number of them, but even overcoming such odds wouldn''t earn him anything, besides a meagre amount of excelia. Only fighting against a monster significantly stronger than him - and defeating it - would let him reach Level 6. This shackle that had held him back for so long would be broken.

    But where was he supposed to find a monster stronger than him? While he could barely make it to the 57th floor alone, all monsters on the way there were weaker than him, with their only strength being their huge numbers. Before any of the Monster Rexes on the other floors or Cadmus respawned, there was nothing he could do. Still, he didn''t want to give up, so he had been running through these endless hallways for many hours every day, hoping to encounter a strong monster or irregularity. After all, the girls had come across such luck before¡­ there was a precedent.

    Finally, after seeking out mortal danger for so long, Bete felt a stifling presence approaching from a nearby corridor. All monsters in the vicinity had long since been taken care of by him. While he was relaxedly dodging the Valgang Dragons'' bombardment, he was focusing on the place that his upcoming opponent should appear from any moment now.

    But no matter how much closer the presence got, Bete couldn''t hear anything. Whatever it was, it was able to move completely soundlessly, causing him to raise his guard even higher than before. Thankfully, he had excellent senses. Otherwise, he might have been ambushed by whatever monstrosity was approaching.

    A couple of seconds later, he could finally see it. It was a spider big enough to clog up most of the vast corridor. Thanks to spinning a web right in front of it and underneath its feet, it was able to move without alerting its prey. Its whole body was purple and there were a few black spots as well - they almost looked like scales. Its tens of eyes were of a dark shade of red and looking all over the place, observing its surroundings.

    ''It looks similar to a Deformis Spider¡­ but I''ve fought their mutants before and they didn''t look like this. They were also only about half of this thing''s size¡­''

    With confusion all over his face, Bete tried to analyze what exactly he was facing. Still, he didn''t get a chance to think for too long, as the spider near-instantly discovered him. Its pincers produced a somewhat unnatural, disturbing screech as it rubbed them against each other, then it charged at him quickly, not bothering to hide the sound of its steps with its web anymore.

    Now that the spider didn''t bother to disguise its strength any longer, Bete could sense it clearly. His eyes shook and his knees almost went weak in fear. He had felt something just like this before, when he had faced Tastrophanus, the Monster Rex of the 32nd floor. Every time the familia had faced it, they had had to rely on Riveria to defeat it. Now he was supposed to fight this spider on his own? Who was he kidding!?

    All of a sudden, Bete slapped his face as hard as he could, then he spat out a mouthful of blood. A ferocious look had appeared in his eyes and his knees had stopped shaking.

    So what if he had to face what seemed to be a roaming, as of yet undiscovered Monster Rex alone? Wasn''t that exactly what he had been looking for?

    Death? He wasn''t afraid of it. No, he was. But he couldn''t let himself be afraid. He wouldn''t allow it. Even if he died in the process, he had to try to grow stronger. He just had to! Not for anyone else¡­ but himself. He didn''t want to look at his reflection and see a weakling anymore. Never again.

    With rapid movements, Bete avoided the spider''s first attack, then he observed it for a moment. Compared to Tastrophanus, it should have a far weaker Endurance. After all, spiders weren''t really known for their physical resilience. So with that said, if he managed to deal enough damage, he should be able to defeat it. Theoretically.

    Bete took a deep breath and avoided yet another attack, before rushing off into the distance as fast as he could, creating some distance from the Monster Rex, all the while roughly predicting where the next of the Valgang Dragons'' breath attacks would come from. When the spider saw this, it was incensed and hurriedly tried to catch up. But what Bete wanted to do wasn''t escape - he couldn''t even if he wanted to - but gain about fifteen seconds. Although he hadn''t been able to master Concurrent Chanting, with his various speed-boosting abilities, he could often temporarily create enough of a gap between him and his opponent to use his Magic even in the face of danger.

    Rapidly, he began to chant the fire enchant type magic, Hati, while standing in a spot that should give him just enough time.

    "Chained Fros. The first wound, Gelgja¡­"

 Chapter 64 - From Reckless To Helpless

    With his boots clad in roaring flames which all somehow avoided harming him and didn''t even damage his clothes, Bete decided to test the spider''s defenses a little and sent a kick towards one of its legs, right after he had just barely dodged its attack.

    It felt like he had just struck a solid metal pillar and besides a few scratches on the surface, the only thing he got for his efforts was some throbbing pain in his foot, causing him to frown slightly. The result wasn''t anything surprising, though, as the legs were the hardest part of the body for this particular spider.

    ''Guess that won''t work...''

    But Bete was far from out of options at this point. After another successful evasion, he avoided a couple of the Valgang Dragons'' breath attacks and quickly made his way to the spider''s back. Once he got there, he attacked its body from behind. This time, he managed to crack the chitin shell slightly and his flames left a huge burn mark. Thankfully, he was just about able to injure this monstrosity. Still, although there was some hope now, Bete''s mood didn''t improve.

    Due to having to keep up his maximum speed and focus all the time, he was already starting to get a little strained. If he eased up for more than a couple of seconds, he would get drowned in breath attacks, nevermind the spider. This strain wasn''t much for now, but if he had to continue this way for half an hour or so, he would be completely spent. After all, it is ridiculously difficult to keep up one''s peak shape at all times. If he continued to fight like he currently did, leaving just a few shallow marks with each exchange, slowly whittling down his opponent, then he wouldn''t even stand a chance. Before he could kill the spider, he would run out of stamina and be done for. Although a Level 5 adventurer had ridiculous amounts of stamina, the stamina consumption of their peak states was also far higher - so in the end, it evened out.

    Having analyzed all of his options, Bete knew what his only path to survival was. To deal a devastating attack at the spider''s weak spot or deliver a lethal blow some other way. It didn''t matter that he hadn''t figured out how to do so yet. He just had to do it. As soon as possible.

    With a ferocious howl, he let rage consume his mind to aid in surpassing his limits. At the same time though, he stayed far more clear-headed than one would expect, keeping an eye out for a chance to strike.

    -----

    "I guess it''s time to stop for today."

    In a good mood, Finn placed down his wooden training spear and stretched a little. Ironically enough, after all of that exercise, his shoulders felt a little stiff. While he wasn''t tired or exhausted - not even close to it - it would be time to eat dinner soon and he had taken up enough of Isaac''s time as it was. He had already profited enough for one day, there was no need to overstay his welcome.

    Thinking back to all of the subtle flaws in his technique that the young man had pointed out in the hours prior, Finn felt a little giddy. If he didn''t have an image to maintain and responsibilities to shoulder, he would have probably already run off into a horde of monsters. He would have let loose completely to test just how much he had improved¡­ and could still improve. His current state was similar to a desert welcoming a heavy rainfall after hundreds of years - he felt truly refreshed, ravenously soaking up all of the pointers Isaac had given.

    While Finn was lost in thought, sporting a more cheerful smile than usual which even kept Tione from interrupting him, Isaac sat down on a nearby tree stump. Wordlessly, Ais passed him a flask of water. She had been watching them for a while and simply enjoyed a nice afternoon off.

    After nodding at her with a grateful smile on his lips, Isaac gulped down pretty much all of the water in one go. He had really felt a bit parched, as he hadn''t drunk even a single drop in the past about eight hours. Ais truly was far more attentive than most people would give her credit for - she had even noticed something so minor.

    "How unfair! I don''t have any water with me¡­"

    As so often when he and Ais were being lovey-dovey in public, inadvertently bullying all of the single people around, Tiona couldn''t help but grumble. She couldn''t believe that she hadn''t taken advantage of such a prime opportunity herself! And as always, Isaac simply ignored her complaints.

    Feeling a little bit weary, he slowly started to lean towards the right, intending to gently rest his head on Ais'' shoulder for a bit¡­

    But before he could do so, a pair of strong arms pulled him in the other direction and buried him in a tight embrace.

    "There, there. Rest as much as you like~"

    Even though she was patting his back gently, Tiona was holding onto him with enough force to make him feel anything but comfortable. It always took her a while to figure out exactly how much strength to use to keep him from escaping and not making him unable to breathe at the same time. With a pained smile on his face, Isaac was about to tell her to let him go - ultimately waiting for Ais to save him - when the entire group was interrupted by a huge commotion.

    "Captain, Vice-Captain! Come quickly! Bete''s injured!!"

    One of the guards that were responsible for keeping the perimeter safe had just made his way back to the campsite and was shouting at the top of his lungs, clearly not wanting to waste even a single second. The panic written all over his face turned the relaxed atmosphere into a tense and cold one in an instant. Now that one of their own was in danger, nobody could stay as laid back as before.

    "Let''s go."

    With a speed far faster than what Isaac''s eyes could catch up to, Finn disappeared from the spot he was standing at, quickly followed by a second gust of wind. Riveria had been nearby, observing the pointers - and watching over her lovely little Ais from a distance, of course. But even if she hadn''t been there, she would have heard the guard''s shout anywhere within the campsite.

    This sobering news caused Tiona to not be in the mood to fool around anymore and finally, she let Isaac go. Without a word, she hastily jogged in the direction that the guard had come from. But she wasn''t the only one - everyone who didn''t have an important job to do did the same, even Isaac was no different. The only reason they weren''t running as fast as they could was that Finn and Riveria had already gone ahead. They would just be getting in the way and be reduced to spectators anyway, so there was no need to arrive a handful of seconds earlier.

    Tens of seconds later, about 500 meters from the campsite, the massive group caught sight of Finn cautiously guarding a collapsed and bloodied Bete. Riveria was kneeling next to him, checking the severity of his wounds. A long trail of blood led all the way towards a staircase leading to the 51st floor and below the werewolf''s body, there was already a terrifying amount of it as well.

    Riveria had a huge frown on her face. Bete''s injuries were anything but light - in fact, they could be considered to be lethal. There was a huge and thick, two meter long spear sticking out of his stomach, penetrating all of the way through. About half of his organs had probably turned to mush and he was continuously coughing up mouthfuls of tiny pieces of them and quite a bit of blood. Anyway, it would probably be more accurate to call the ''spear'' a broken off part of a monster spider''s leg, because that was exactly what it was.

    Parts of Bete''s body had been burned black, filling the air with a charred stench. His eyes were already losing focus and he clearly wasn''t fully conscious. Still, despite being in such a life-threatening situation, he had a smug grin on his face. With all of the blood he was coughing up, it was quite the disturbing sight.

    "What happened?"

    Although her voice was stern, Riveria couldn''t hide the worry that had gripped her heart. Admittedly, she and Bete didn''t get along too well, but that didn''t mean that she didn''t care about his well-being. While she was paying close attention to his movements, she also curiously glanced at the spider leg a few times, trying to figure out its origin. She had never heard of any monster spiders down here that could grow large enough to have such legs. It was clear to see that this two meter long section was just a small part of the whole leg¡­ what the heck did this guy encounter?

    While he was about to fall unconscious, Bete could still hear Riveria''s voice and was able to vaguely make out her silhouette. But right now, he was too far gone to make out the exact words she had spoken. A relieved but somewhat arrogant smile played across his lips.

    "Is that you, old hag? I¡­ I defeated it. I won''t be¡­ left behind¡­"

    Towards the end of his words, the tactless werewolf finally couldn''t hold on anymore and fainted. But even though Riveria wanted to give this brat a well-deserved slap for addressing her in such a way, this kind of behaviour would be unbecoming of her. Also, she would probably make his wounds worse, so now was not the time for such things. With a sigh, she turned to Finn, motioning for him to come closer.

    "I''ll start the healing spell now. Please carefully remove the spider leg. You have to push it all the way through his body, as there are barbs at the top!"

    In situations like these, actions were the most important and words would just waste time, so Finn kept quiet and nodded, simply following his Vice-Captain''s instructions. Accompanied by the glow of magic, the two dealt with Bete''s wounds as quickly and expertly as they could.

    Luckily, the spider Bete had encountered didn''t seem to be a poisonous one - or maybe he had managed to avoid any attacks that could have poisoned him. In any case, it was a blessing because, while Riveria could pretty much heal all wounds short of death, she couldn''t do anything against poisons.

    About twenty minutes later, Riveria wiped a few beads of sweat off her forehead. She had clearly used up most of her ''mind'' just now and felt it a bit hard to keep standing.

    "That should do it¡­ He will feel exhausted for a couple of days, though."

    It was truly fortunate that Bete had managed to stumble his way back here from wherever he had faced his opponent. If he hadn''t or if he had been just a couple of minutes late, he surely would have died. While an adventurer''s Endurance could help them overcome far more grievous wounds than what normal people could deal with, excessive blood loss would still prove fatal. Riveria''s healing spell had managed to restore all of Bete''s wounds - besides the most horrifying one in his stomach area, there had been quite a few others. The spell had even recovered most of his lost blood.

    If she had wanted to, she could have even helped him fully overcome his blood loss and she could have borne the burden of the entire recovery with her own stamina - but she chose not to. Should an emergency happen, Riveria''s strength would be needed. Out of all of the people here, she could have the biggest impact on combat and various other situations, so keeping her in a combat-ready state was of prime importance. As for Bete having to be in an exhausted, immobile state for a few days? That was unfortunate, but nothing could be done about it. If he had been a little bit more polite before, she might have even decided to bear part of the burden out of the goodness of her heart, but...

    As everything important was already dealt with, Finn slowly broke up the surrounding crowd, making them return to the campsite to relax. Seeing as their comrade would be fine, there was nothing to worry about and the atmosphere had already started to improve.

    But before everyone could leave the scene, Riveria stopped the last few of them in their tracks.

    "I need someone to take care of Bete for a few days. He won''t be able to eat or drink by himself, or even move much at all. Hmm?? Line, you do it."

    Suddenly having been called out like that, Line blushed and froze up a little. She had been one of the last twenty or so people to stick around. With a disbelieving look on her face, she pointed at herself and stuttered.

    "M-Me?"

    In response, Riveria rolled her eyes and showed a small smile.

    "Silly girl, is there any other Line here? Now, please go and carry him off to his tent, will you?"

    Hurriedly, Line nodded, the blush on her face increasing in intensity. Very carefully, she grabbed Bete and carried him away. As she was already a Level 2, it wasn''t difficult for her to carry a single body. At the same time, she was also dragging along the spider''s leg - it was Bete''s battle trophy, after all. She couldn''t just leave it lying around in the dirt.

    While watching all of this go down, a slight bit of confusion crept on Isaac''s face, so he leaned a bit closer to Tione, who was standing next to him at the moment. Usually, his left would be occupied by Tiona, but right now, the Amazoness in question was hovering around his position like a satellite - for some reason, she was currently far too energetic to settle down.

    "Is there something I''m unaware of?"

    When Line had carried Bete away, quite a few people had given her knowing looks and encouraging smiles, so Isaac had a vague idea of what could be the case. Still, without asking about it, there was no way to know for sure. Assumptions would only get him so far.

    Tione snickered a little, then she turned towards him and patiently explained.

    "Right, you haven''t been here for long, I forgot about that. Basically, Line has a secret crush on Bete. And everyone knows about it, because it is that obvious. Anyway, she hasn''t confessed to him yet."

    As this answer had been exactly what he expected, Isaac nodded. Still, he couldn''t help but remark something.

    "Even if she does, I doubt it will end well."

    A sigh escaped Tione''s lips and she gazed into the distance, not really focusing on anything in particular. Although she didn''t outright look sad at the moment, this might have been the closest to that emotion she had ever been in Isaac''s presence.

    "Yeah, you''re probably right. I''m sure Bete already has some guesses about her feelings for him as well. Or, well, maybe he missed all of the signs? Who knows. Anyway, it will be better to get it off her chest instead of bottling it up for too long. That is also why Riveria gave her such a suitable opportunity, I think."

    ''Now that she has already bottled up her feelings for so long, what makes you think she will confess this time?''

    Although Isaac was tempted to say this, he ultimately chose to keep it to himself. There was no point in arguing about this as ultimately, it was all in Line''s hands.

    -----

    Slowly and weakly, Bete opened his eyes and was greeted by the inside of a tent that was only slightly illuminated by a magic stone lamp. From the lighting, he could guess that it was probably already late in the evening, possibly even night. A moment or two later, he panickedly realized that he couldn''t move his body much, if at all. Even just turning his head was a chore and far too exhausting. It wasn''t to the degree of sleep paralysis but it still felt restrictive.

    "Tsk¡­"

    While he wasn''t a stranger to such feelings, he was nonetheless annoyed. There was scarcely anyone who would be fine with being unable to do anything for prolonged periods of time, after all. Being a prisoner in one''s own exhausted body wasn''t fun.

    "Oh, you''re finally awake! Are you hungry?"

    From his left, he could hear a vaguely familiar, female voice. A moment later, a bespectacled beauty''s head came into view. Her ponytail almost swept past his nose, so she hastily held it back with her hands.

    It took him a couple of seconds to remember her¡­ Line, a supporter of the familia. She was kneeling on the ground next to him, holding a warm bowl of porridge in her hands. Just in case he woke up, she had kept it warm even after dinner.

    "I see the old hag made you look after me¡­"

    Bete''s voice was emotionless and he wasn''t even looking at Line. Instead, he was just monologuing to himself and trying to take in the entirety of the situation he found himself in.

    "Yup. Let me just check your temperature really quickly. Excuse me¡­"

    Without waiting for a reply, Line placed down the bowl nearby and put one of her hands on Bete''s forehead. She had only touched it for a short moment, then she hastily pulled it back.

    "You''re burning up! Wait a moment, okay?"

    ''It''s not like I can run away anyway¡­''

    As Bete was too exhausted to reply quickly or even bother with talking much at all, he was left alone, staring at the ceiling of his tent motionlessly. The delicious smell of porridge wafted into his nostrils and made his stomach grumble slightly.

    A part of him wanted to roar out in annoyance and lash out at Line, telling her to leave him alone and proving that he was fine. Still, he was too weak to do so right now.

    This left a somewhat bitter taste in his mouth but at the same time, he remembered what he had just overcome. That monstrous spider had been the toughest opponent he had ever faced. It should be more than enough to finally let him reach Level 6. He honestly couldn''t yet believe that he had succeeded, it felt a bit unreal. A being so overwhelmingly strong had ended up dying to his attacks¡­ although he had to exchange injury for injury and let it seriously wound him to get an opportunity.

    Because he had been the first one to discover this monster species, the right to name it belonged to him. With nothing better to do, he finally came up with the name ''Deformia''. Because the spider looked so similar to Deformis Spiders, why not use a similar name?

    If Isaac had been present and knew Bete''s reasoning, he would have felt somewhat speechless. How horrible a taste did one have to have to come up with such a name? Well, most monsters in the dungeon had bland and boring names, so at this point, Isaac had grown all but numb to it¡­

    While Bete was looking back on his fight with the spider, he suddenly felt a cold and slightly wet towel cover his forehead. Due to his high temperature, it was heating up at an uncomfortably quick pace, but it should still last for about ten minutes.

    "Sorry for the wait. I''m back now. Do you want to eat something?"

    As he was well aware that throwing a tantrum wouldn''t be of any use right now, Bete calmly replied to Line''s question. Thankfully, he had already gotten his rebellious thoughts out of the way while she had been gone.

    "Give me some water first."

    Although his words sounded more like an order than a request and his tone was still as rude as usual, Line showed a delighted, understanding smile. She didn''t seem to be bothered by his attitude at all. Steadily, she supported Bete''s head with her hand and helped him drink from a flask of water.

    Meanwhile, Bete was trying his hardest not to pop a vein from the anger he felt upon being in such a pathetic and helpless state. Secretly, he was very glad that the higher an adventurer''s Level, the less frequently they had to relieve themselves. If he had to let this girl help him with going to the bathroom, he would really rather die. Or even better, he would silence all of the witnesses.

    -----

    After a refreshing three hours of sleep, Isaac changed into his adventuring gear without making a sound. Then, he teleported to a spot on the fifth floor of the dungeon. A comfortable yawn escaped his mouth while he spent a couple of seconds killing all of the monsters in his imminent surroundings, then he focused on the system map and muttered to himself.

    "Alright, time to find all of the entrances into that other labyrinth."

    When he had finished exploring the fourth floor last time, he had already chosen to change his modus operandi. Now, it was finally time to find out just how many floors deep that manmade structure reached. Depending on what he found out, the threat it posed might have to be reassessed.

 Chapter 65 - Youâ€™re Not Supposed To Be In Here

    At around the same time two days later, Isaac teleported onto the staircase leading to the 18th floor. During these past few days, he had explored all the previous floors and found a secret entrance on all of them. They were always in about the same vicinity, so after around half an hour of searching and slaying monsters in the meantime, he found the all-too-familiar doorways. Nothing unusual happened and it was now time to take a look at the 18th floor.

    Compared to the previous floors, the 18th floor seemed very tiny, as it didn''t follow the usual formula. All other floors grew in size the further down one went - besides the 18th one. Most adventurers would brush this aside or point out that it was a special floor to begin with. After all, the 17th floor was the only one to have a dedicated ''boss room'' housing a Monster Rex, regularly and directly impeding adventurers'' progress. All other Monster Rexes could be skipped, so it was reasonable to assume that the place this monstrosity guarded was a little special.

    But was that really the case? Isaac was inclined to believe his own theory over all these other baseless assumptions. Nobody had ever explored the entirety of the 17th floor. In fact, the vast majority of it wasn''t explored. What the adventurers had glimpsed of it didn''t even amount to more than a single drop in an ocean - so it would be sheer idiocy to assume that there was only one ''boss room'' leading to an 18th floor. Yes, ''an'' 18th floor, not ''the'' 18th floor.

    What was called the 18th floor was just a massive, singular cavern with a huge tree housing the staircases to the 19th floor and beyond in the center of it. There was no reason to assume it was the only cavern like this on the 18th floor. What if there were many of them, all leading down to different parts of the 19th floor? It was quite likely.

    The one argument against this would be that nobody had ever found another boss room on the 17th floor or found a staircase leading up to a different cavern on the 18th floor. Still, that didn''t really mean anything. The vast majority of adventurers would never risk their lives by stepping past the trodden path. They wouldn''t face unknown danger for nothing. After all, monsters spawned everywhere, there was no need to go somewhere that nobody had stepped foot in before when the explored regions were more than sufficient. If something unforeseen happened, it was always important to know exactly which way to go to reach relative safety.

    But what about the spirit of adventure and exploration? That hadn''t died out, but most people with aspirations like that tried to venture to new floors, not to explore the ones others had already been on for many years. After all, it would be very unlikely to find an as of yet undiscovered monster species or anything else of note there.

    In the end, the only way for Isaac to prove his theory was to take a look himself. Still, with the ever-increasing floor sizes, he would have to figure out a way to explore them without physically running through the hallways. Until he did so, he could only put it aside for later.

    He had actually already arrived at the 18th floor yesterday but as he was short on time, he had teleported back to the campsite. With only half an hour left, he couldn''t really explore the entirety of this cavern - and that was exactly what was planning to do today. Sure, finding the secret entrance was his priority, but now that a floor was actually so much more reasonable in size, he couldn''t hold back from wanting to map out every inch of it.

    While glancing at the system map and taking an educated guess, he quickly ran all the way to one of the far ends of the cavern. The walls were made of stone until about twenty meters from the ground where the blue crystals emulating the sky started to sprout, so the method with which the entrance was hidden should be the same as before. Unless it wasn''t at ground level.

    "This should be the general area¡­"

    Mumbling to himself, Isaac slowly and carefully strolled past the wall, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

    An hour later, he came to a halt, showing an intrigued smile on his face.

    "Nothing at all? That can''t be. Let''s try something else."

    There hadn''t been anything that stuck out as weird to him all this time. Everything looked exactly as it should, not even the colour of the rocks was off in the least. There were no seams that he noticed either. So where exactly could the hidden doorway be?

    This time, Isaac decided to rely on sound to locate it. Every few centimeters he knocked against the wall and listened carefully, trying to make out whether there were any cavities behind it.

    A couple of minutes later, he suddenly stopped his monotonous routine and glanced at the stone wall, trying to find something in particular. And although it took him a while, he finally found it - a ''lever'' enabling him to open the secret passageway. Like before, it had been made to look just like any other small rock sticking out of the wall. If he hadn''t already grown used to this design on the previous floors and was therefore able to reference the general position the levers were usually found in in relation to the door, he would have taken a lot longer to discover it.

    Whoever created these passages truly did their best to hide this particular one. The most likely reason for this was that quite often when adventurers would be on this floor, they would relax. On the floors above, they wouldn''t have the time or mind to pay attention to much more than the monsters in front of them and their general surroundings but here at the Under Resort, any one of them would be able to notice a peculiarity should the entrance be as shoddily hidden as before.

    Before Isaac opened the secret doorway, he paid particular attention to the ground in front of it. It was, conveniently, one of the places where only dirt and rocks could be found, no grass grew anywhere near it. This was definitely a part of the design as well, as grass growing in front of the entrance could very easily give it away. Over a long period of time, if people stepped on it repeatedly, the grass would show signs of it and its unusual sparseness might attract unwanted attention. The rocks and dirt around here wouldn''t have any of these problems. Even footsteps wouldn''t appear as the bit of dirt in between the rocks had long since hardened.

    All this secrecy only made Isaac more excited about exploring the manmade labyrinth and finding out who created it. Still, he didn''t forget the mission he had been given - he was only responsible for locating the doorways and surveying them, making sure they could be used. The familia would take care of anything beyond that sometime after the expedition, so there was no need for him to venture in there alone. While he had many ways to avoid any and all forms of danger, he had agreed to this plan before, so he wouldn''t go behind his allies'' back now without a reason.

    After making sure that the lever worked and the hidden doorway opened without any problems, Isaac closed it again and relaxedly stretched. Thankfully, he still had far more than enough hours left to explore the entirety of this floor.

    The way he planned to do so was to follow the walls and move around the cavern on the edges, then slowly moving inwards from the sides. He would end up at Rivira and the towering tree it was located next to at the very end.

    Without any further ado, he sped off into the distance. Trees, rivers, mountains, lakes and crystals flashed past at a breakneck speed. Right when he had been about to circ.u.mnavigate the cavern for the third time, moving ever closer towards the center, the ground below him suddenly gave way.

    It happened out of nowhere. He had paid impeccable attention to his surroundings and hadn''t noticed anything weird about the ground he was stepping on. Now he realized¡­ that it was a carefully hidden pitfall.

    While falling, he stayed perfectly calm and used his Anemoi Steps Magic to create footholds in midair. Intrigued by this trap, he proceeded to make his way downwards, occasionally breaking his fall by creating more platforms. This hole was about seventy meters deep, which was enough for most Level 2 adventurers to die on impact. Even most Level 3 adventurers would be badly battered after having an intense and passionate rendezvous with the floor. Thankfully, Isaac could basically ignore such dangers - well, as long as his mana didn''t run out.

    The bottom of the pit was about thirty meters wide and filled about ankle-deep with a water-like, clear fluid. Instead of stepping into it and getting the outside of his boots wet, Isaac decided to continue stepping on self-created footholds above it. The reason for this was that many partially decomposed bones and pieces of equipment were strewn across the floor, sticking out of the liquid. As he couldn''t be sure about what exactly it was, he didn''t want to risk damaging his boots - or Loki forbid, his feet.

    Judging by how there were no complete skeletons around no matter where Isaac looked, the bodies must have been ripped apart by something. And there honestly wasn''t much need to search for a culprit, as Isaac had long since noticed the elephant in the room. Or rather, the plant in the room.

    It was red and grew from the ground in one of the pit''s corners and was fifteen meters tall, so it was one of the most massive lifeforms that had appeared up to this floor of the dungeon. It looked just like a pitcher whose opening was closed by a flap. Long leaves grew out of the plant''s back and were protectively hovering around it like tentacles. A single glance at them later, Isaac was sure that they would be able to hit anything at the bottom of this pit should they be able to stretch out like the octopus-appendages they closely resembled.

    A somewhat solemn look appeared on his face, while his eyes still showed a sparkle of interest. In his past world, he had come across pitcher plants, so he knew a thing or two about them. They were mostly carnivorous so it was likely that all the ones who had died here had been slain by its hands¡­ or rather, leaves. Anyone would be able to tell this. It also was obvious that this plant was a monster, which begged the question: How did it get here?

    Was it just an undiscovered part of the dungeon, a monster that spawned on the 18th floor - in a safety point? Had all its past discoverers been killed by it, enabling it to still be shrouded in mystery after all this time? Or had someone deliberately placed it here?

    Now that he thought about it, didn''t the Loki Familia have to fight against various plant monsters in the novels as well? Sadly, he had left his old world before he could find out much more about it. Still, even this small amount of information made him suspect that this pitcher plant had been put here by the enemy force he would undoubtedly have to face in the future. He wasn''t even deliberately putting on airs or trying to be mysterious by calling it ''the enemy force'', as he truly had no idea what it was called or if it even had a name. Of course he had a few assumptions but until he could prove those, he wouldn''t make any overeager moves.

    Luckily, due to him cushioning his fall and generally moving quietly, the plant had yet to notice him. The safest option would undoubtedly be to run away. But couldn''t he always teleport to safety once things got too dangerous? He would be able to gain some research data from this enemy even if he failed - and that was valuable.

    With that in mind, he drew his sword and forewent his stealth, loudly charging at the red plant to attract its attention. In this manner, he would be able to see one of its possible reactions to an average adventurer''s assault.

    Not even a second had passed before the flap of the pitcher plant opened and revealed what lay within. It was a yellow green¡­ something. Honestly, Isaac couldn''t fully tell the shape of this part of its body, as it was still mostly hidden from view. He could only make out a few patches of vibrant colours and then there was the most disturbing part - an eye. This plant had an eye.

    A stem grew out of the part of its body that had been hidden underneath its flap, at whose tip the eye was located. It actually had functional eyelids. Plant eyelids.

    Suppressing the shiver that ran down Isaac''s spine inadvertently at this bizarre sight, he paid close attention to the crown-like appendage above the aforementioned eye, which was staring at him with no particular emotion. Did plants even feel emotions? And would plant monsters with eyes be able to showcase them using this unfamiliar sensory organ?

    While Isaac was wasting time thinking about ''important details'' like that, the pitcher plant quickly realized that new prey had appeared and launched a sound wave attack from the crown above its eye. At the same time, it positioned its leaf-tentacles to cut off any paths of retreat. There was no escape.

    Because Isaac had only been trying to test it, he had never committed to his charge in the first place and the moment its flap had opened, he had already done his best to predict the plant''s movements. He was surprised to find out that just this casual movement was already far faster than his maximum speed! Just this single bit of data was enough to ascertain that he was totally outclassed - at least stat-wise. It was to the point that he wouldn''t be able to fight back at all. If he had to venture a guess, he would say that this plant was a Level 4 monster - it shouldn''t yet be at Level 5, not even close to that. After all, he could still follow its movements with his eyes quite reliably.

    When he then saw the crown-shaped appendage vibrate and noticed the slight distortion in the air courtesy of its released sound wave attack, whose speed even vastly surpassed the plant''s other movements, he released a small sigh and smiled, before instantly teleporting to the top of the pit he had just fallen into.

    ''Too soon, I can''t face it yet. My body isn''t even fast enough to react.''

    Isaac was many things - but he wasn''t suicidal and didn''t particularly like pain. So why would he fight a battle he couldn''t possibly win? Well, if he blurred his existence and harmed the plant in that state, he would definitely be able to slay it - but what would even be the point of doing that? Wouldn''t he just be taking the cheapest of cheap shortcuts? It would be boring. He would rather come back later and face this foe head-on, researching it to his heart''s content.

    Blissfully ignoring the rumbling and the high-pitched screeches below - does that plant also have vocal chords of some kind? - Isaac marked this location on his map before continuing onwards.

    To his dismay, over the next half an hour, he fell into seven more pits with similar pitcher plants at the bottom. But as he had already faced one and failed, he knew better than to attempt battling it again. Before he could descend more than a couple of meters, he already used his Anemoi Steps to escape the pits. So besides that first plant, none of the others even noticed his presence.

    After running into so many expertly crafted traps, he had also noticed something peculiar. Right after he fell into one of the pits, the vegetation at the edges of it already began to regrow, albeit slowly. There were only seemingly fragile roots at the bottom, stretching out into the pit, providing a stable footing for the pitfalls'' cover to regrow. Upon further inspection, Isaac finally managed to pinpoint the source of this phenomenon - or at least something weird that he didn''t fully understand yet.

    There was a magical formation hidden within the bark of the trees surrounding the various pitfalls. As he was only a novice when it came to discovering magic that didn''t directly influence him, he hadn''t noticed that he had stepped into the bounds of a formation at all. But even though he knew about the presence of these formations now, that didn''t help him in the least. He couldn''t yet sense the surrounding elements and mana well enough to detect any of them before or after he stepped into them.

    Fortunately, until about an hour later, shortly after 3 a.m., he hadn''t come across any more of these annoying pitfalls and continued his exploration of the floor successfully. But then, when entering one of the plentiful forests dotting the landscape, he suddenly felt that ''something'' was trying to affect his mind, urging him to change course. He instantly recognized it as the effects of a formation which tried to subtly nudge anyone entering its bounds in another direction.

    The vast majority of people would probably fall victim to it and avoid whatever it tried to distract from, thinking that they themselves had wanted to travel the way they were going. But now that the formation had tried to affect Isaac''s mind, it didn''t have any effect whatsoever. Instead, it made him wary and caused him to raise his guard.

    Judging from his previous experiences with formations on this floor, nothing good would come of them. This made him slow his steps and carefully observe his surroundings. He advanced cautiously, waiting for something to happen. Seeing how none of the pitfalls had been accompanied by a mind-influencing formation, he didn''t expect to run into any of them. Rather, he assumed that some new kind of danger would head his way. But when absolutely nothing happened for tens of seconds, Isaac''s steps halted and all of a sudden, he remembered a particular place.

    A grave in a forest on the 18th floor, usually only accessible by a single, particular person. A place no one else had managed to trespass since the day the grave had appeared there. It was a place that Bell had been led to in the DanMachi novels and could be said to hold quite a bit of significance.

    Now that he had recalled it, Isaac''s tense shoulders relaxed a little and he continued forward. It couldn''t hurt to take a peek and pay his respects to the ones buried here now that he was already that close, right? It was a location he knew about and that he planned to personally take a look at anyway. It held quite a bit of symbolic value. And even if going there hadn''t been one of his minor goals, he still planned to map out the entirety of this cavern - no blind spots could be left behind!

    Admittedly, Isaac felt a bit bad for just charging in here while the ''owner'' of the place wasn''t present - without permission, no less - but it was very unlikely for him to ever interact much with her anyway. They were currently strangers whose paths would surely only occasionally cross. No matter what, she would never know that he had been here, so there was no need to worry too much.

    Finally, Isaac had finished trekking through the forest and stepped into a moderately sized clearing. There was a mound with many weapons of all shapes and sizes sticking out of it at the very center. It looks like his assumption had been correct - this was the place.

    Before he even got a chance to appreciate the scenery, a somewhat blurry figure rushed towards him. He could have attempted to dodge its charge or even teleported away on the spot, but instead, a wry smile played across his lips.

    A fraction of a second later, the figure came to a standstill about a meter and a half in front of him, causing a strong gust of wind to assault him, messing up his already messy hair a bit further. The tip of a wooden sword was steadily pointed right at his heart, only tens of centimeters away from reaping his life.

    ''Seems like a correction is necessary. She now knows that I''ve come here. This is troublesome¡­''

    "Explain yourself. What are you doing here!?"

    She had a cold but calm and melodic voice and was glaring at him with stern, sky blue eyes. Her light-green hair was slightly less than shoulder-length and couldn''t cover up her long Elf ears at all. If her height were to be compared to Ais'', she would be a couple of centimeters taller.

    The rear half of her head was hidden underneath the flower-shaped green hood of her cloak, while the lower half of her face was concealed by a green mask. Judging from how messily it was put on, she had probably pulled it up in a hurry. She wore a sleeveless, white top and green shorts held in place by a white belt. A pair of elegant, long, brown gloves and boots covered most of her exposed skin.

    There was no doubt about it, he had run into Ryuu Lion of the Astraea Familia, whose fellow familia members were buried here.

    And he had just intruded upon this sacred ground right when she had happened to be here.

    ''What are the odds of this happening? Especially at such a time¡­ Such rotten luck!''

 Chapter 66 - Interrogation At Swordpoint

    After a long but fulfilling day of work, Ryuu prepared herself to head into the dungeon. Just like every year, she would have a day off tomorrow. Her co-workers, who at the same time were her closest friends, sent her off warmly. It was this very warmth that had allowed her to live a functional, normal life again.

    It was already very late into the night when she hurried to the 18th floor. As she had taken this path so many times before, she could probably find her way through these hallways with her eyes closed. Any and all monsters that attempted to bar her path were slain in a second or so, without any ability to resist. As her Status was that of a remarkably strong Level 4 adventurer, nothing on these early floors could challenge her in the slightest. Still, while in the dungeon, she never dared to fully relax - it would be foolish to believe that she was safe. She had seen enough irregularities popping up when one least expected or wanted them in her former adventuring career, after all. As a veteran, she wouldn''t make such a rookie mistake.

    Once she arrived on the 18th floor, she made her way straight to the grave of her friends. The hustle and bustle of Orario and the many dungeon floors she had passed had still caused her to take a while to arrive here, so it was now about 2 a.m.. Considering how the anniversary of their deaths was today, she wasn''t late by any means. Rather, she was extremely early.

    On the way to the dungeon, she had bought a bouquet of flowers, which she now gently placed right in front of the grave mound.

    "Everyone, I have returned."

    It was more of a formality, so of course she didn''t expect an answer.

    On her face, which was mostly expressionless, the hints of a smile could be seen. At the same time, overbearing sadness flashed past her eyes, before being replaced by a feeling of melancholy - and finally, happiness.

    Completely overcoming this sadness would probably be impossible, but she had long since decided to not let it weigh her down anymore. Instead of wallowing in misery at every opportunity, she would cherish her new life, letting the past be what it was - the past.

    "It''s been a while, so let me tell you what happened since last time. I think I left off on a bar brawl¡­"

    Sitting down in front of the grave, Ryuu spoke in a quiet voice, which was barely audible to anyone. It was not like she wanted anyone to hear her, though - besides her departed friends. She told a tale that was neither exciting nor anything too far out of the ordinary. A tale of her normal life as a waitress¡­ with a couple of occurrences that waiters in another city would call unusual. But here in Orario, where rowdy adventurers were aplenty, even those couldn''t be considered to be anything strange.

    It took about an hour for her story to conclude and after that, she lay down next to the grave mound, staring at the now-dark crystal ceiling of the 18th floor. There wasn''t really anything else to talk about, so she just wanted to rest here. She was remembering the time they had all been here and made a promise¡­ and she enjoyed what was left of their presence. To be fair, the latter was just her imagination. Their souls had long since departed this place, leaving only memories behind.

    In this comfortable silence, Ryuu noticed something. Someone was moving through the forest, right towards the clearing. As they were moving remarkably quietly, they were probably only a few meters away from stepping out into the open!

    A hint of confusion and panic appeared in her eyes, as she wasn''t able to figure out how anybody could come here. Only adventurers at Level 6 and beyond, with a very high Magic stat nonetheless, should be able to ignore the effects of the formation. But from what she could gather, the approaching person''s movement speed was far inferior to anyone that powerful. That aside, none of the adventurers of Orario that were strong enough to overcome the formation would do so - they knew about this place and avoided it out of respect.

    So that begged the question: How did this person get here?

    Hastily, Ryuu pulled up her mask and hood to at least hide her identity a little, just in case this newcomer happened to know her. Then, she patted one of her pockets to check whether she had dropped the key to the formation. Thankfully, the small wooden engraving was still there - but that meant she now had absolutely no idea how this person got here! On second thought, if she had lost the key, she wouldn''t have even been able to come here herself, so she should have been aware of this already.

    As she could see a silhouette stepping onto the clearing, she didn''t have any more time to think about what was going on and brandished her wooden sword, intending to get her answers from the intruder.

    Besides being able to tell that he was a human with a handsome face that could rival quite a few Elves, which would surely cause some women to turn their heads to get another look at him, the only thing that stuck out to Ryuu was that he wore extremely high quality adventuring gear. Judging from his movements, he should be an early Level 3 adventurer, so his gear was at least a grade above what he should be wearing.

    But yeah, that was it. That was all she managed to observe. She had no idea who this person was, at all. They had never met. She was sure of that, as her memory when it came to people was exceptional. Even if they had walked past her on the street once, she would at least vaguely recall seeing them. So what was this guy doing here? And why did he sport a wry smile?

    While pointing her sword directly at his heart, partially to intimidate him and also to have an easier time slaying him should he turn out to be an enemy, Ryuu furrowed her brows and stared deeply into the young man''s eyes.

    "Explain yourself. What are you doing here!?"

    After being unresponsive for a few seconds, the unknown man seemed to have come to a decision and his shoulders relaxed. A sigh escaped his lips while he glanced at the sword she pointed at him with before looking straight into Ryuu''s eyes, returning her gaze. Compared to hers though, his was completely tranquil. His voice had a calmness and gentleness to it, which instinctively made people feel a bit more secure and cared for when they heard it.

    "I am mapping out the entirety of the 18th floor, so of course I would have to come here as well. Besides that, I planned to pay my respects to the ones buried here."

    What he just said just served to bring up even more questions, so Ryuu didn''t relax in the slightest and moved her sword a little bit closer to him.

    "The Guild already sells maps of the 18th floor, so why are you mapping it out yourself?"

    While completely ignoring the weapon in front of him, a hint of pride appeared in his eyes when he replied.

    "I will only fully trust a map I have made myself. Others'' work is more flawed than mine."

    Although the content of his words seemed arrogant, his tone hadn''t changed to an arrogant one whatsoever. It was still the same calm one from before, stating things matter-of-factly.

    As she was unable to directly point out any flaws in his words, Ryuu skipped to the second question she had wanted to ask him regarding his earlier statement.

    "How did you know that someone was buried here?"

    With his gaze as unwavering as before, the man scratched his cheek in slight embarrassment before replying.

    "That would be a bit lengthy and difficult to explain in detail. The gist of it is that I heard about it and remembered this place when I stumbled across the formation."

    Hearing him mention the formation, Ryuu''s glare turned more serious and she was reminded of the very reason that she had been so bothered in the first place - nobody should have been able to come here! Especially not a relatively weak youngster like him.

    If Ryuu had known that him mentioning the formation had just been a conversational technique which was used to mislead her and divert the topic away from something the man didn''t want to talk about, she would have probably popped a vein. Thankfully, she would never know.

    "Speak. How did you get past the formation!?"

    Completely unbothered by neither the ever-increasing seriousness in her voice nor the sword tip that was slowly getting closer, the man shrugged before pointing at himself with an awkward smile on his lips.

    "I happen to be immune to mind-influencing effects of any kind."

    These words hit Ryuu like a sledgehammer and she almost stumbled backwards, a baffled look on her face. Of course! How could she have forgotten about this? There were countless rare skills out there, so for someone with such an ability to appear wasn''t anything weird - it was bound to happen sooner or later. She really felt a bit stupid for not thinking about this possibility herself. It should have been the first thing to cross her mind once she ruled out the other options.

    Noticing an amused smile on the man''s lips, Ryuu felt a bit embarrassed and cleared her throat, then she continued to glare at him, her eyes still filled with suspicion.

    "Fair enough. But why are you here now, on the anniversary of their deaths?"

    For the first time since the beginning of their conversation, something that the man hadn''t expected seemed to have happened. His eyes widened in surprise, he even showed a dumbfounded expression while not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

    "What? That''s today!?"

    After losing his cool for a moment, he recalled the situation he was in and replied, his entire bearing tranquil and calm yet again.

    "It''s a coincidence."

    The words "Do you really expect me to believe that?" almost slipped out of Ryuu''s mouth, but then she reminded herself of his apparently genuinely taken-aback expression from earlier and decided to temporarily accept his claim as the truth. Of course, it was possible that he had lied to her and his earlier exclamation was all just an act. Still, she had never met someone who could appear so genuine when lying, so it was extremely unlikely.

    That aside, there was something else that she had neglected to ask until now.

    "Who are you anyway?"

    For a moment, Ryuu thought she had heard the man mutter the words "Oh, so you finally remembered to ask me about that now?" under his breath, but even with ears as sensitive as hers, she couldn''t be entirely sure whether or not it was just her imagination, Because of that, she didn''t say anything.

    With a relaxed smile, the man introduced himself.

    "I''m Isaac Blackshaw from the Loki Familia, currently Level 2."

    His claim to be at Level 2 confused Ryuu, as he clearly seemed to be a lot stronger than that. But that was besides the point. What caught the majority of her attention was his claim to be from the Loki Familia. As she was on pretty friendly terms with most of their stronger adventurers, even back in the day before she became a waitress, she couldn''t just ignore his affiliation. Of course, it was reasonable to assume that he had lied just now, so she didn''t fully believe him, no matter what. Still, she decided to at least tune down her hostility somewhat. With that in mind, she lowered her sword but still kept on guard.

    "I will ask Lady Riveria about you the next time I see her. The truth will be revealed then. I hope you didn''t have the gall to lie to me."

    The man who had called himself Isaac nodded in compliance, seemingly happy with what she had just said. Then, he turned his head to look at the grave mound, causing Ryuu''s muscles to instinctively tense up a little. A moment later, he turned back to look at her.

    "Now that I''m already here, may I pay my respects to them?"

    As she would be around to restrain him should he try anything that differed from what he just said, Ryuu didn''t see a reason to stop him. Another person paying their respects to her dead friends was certainly not a bad or malicious thing. She also didn''t have much grounds to deny him this request as technically, this place didn''t belong to her - it was just a part of the dungeon. Only by virtue of her having the key to this formation could she treat it as her own backyard. Still, Isaac''s rare skill enabled him to do just about the same, so it would be unbecoming to antagonize him too much over such a thing. Especially should he really be a part of the Loki Familia.

    "Go ahead."

    An appreciative smile and a "Thank you" later, he steadily walked towards the grave mound, with Ryuu following behind closely, always ready to stop him should he be planning to do anything that would harm or desecrate this place.

    About a meter from where the mound began, Isaac stopped in his tracks and brought his palms together in a prayer-like pose, then he whispered, not bothering with keeping what he said a secret from the eavesdropping Elf.

    "It is nice to meet you, members of the Astraea Familia. I have come here to pay my respects to you. While I only know small bits and pieces about what you have accomplished and done in the past, it seems to me like you were all upstanding people. While I can''t say that I would have chosen the path you did, I can respect it. I''m sure we would have gotten along. So wherever or whoever you are now, I hope you''re doing alright."

    His words weren''t anything special and they showed that he didn''t have too clear of an understanding about what exactly had happened back then. Still, Ryuu didn''t hear anything she could complain about. And even should he have said something that went against her own beliefs, she wouldn''t go up and criticize someone when they were genuinely paying their respects to those who had passed away. That would be far too disrespectful - to the dead, that is.

    After Isaac''s words had finished, he faced Ryuu yet again and showed a small smile.

    "Now that I''ve done what I came here to do, I must be on my way."

    These words caused Ryuu to grip her sword tightly. He had to be dreaming if he expected her to just let him get away now that he had trespassed here. Should he turn out to not be from the Loki Familia after all, how would she ever find him again to find out who exactly he was and what else he had lied about!?

    "I''m afraid I can''t let you do that. Please do not resist and follow me until the Loki Familia''s expedition party returns to the surface. I promise you won''t get harmed in the slightest - unless you resist."

    As if her words and this entire situation were just an amusing joke to him, Isaac chuckled and stared straight into her eyes again, his own filled with confidence.

    "I''m afraid that you misunderstood. I wasn''t asking for your permission. Rather, I was just informing you of my imminent departure. As flattered as I feel about you wanting to hog me all to yourself for a couple of days, I''m afraid I have to reject you. After all, I''m already taken. Also, don''t worry about being unable to find me - once our expedition party returns, we''ll meet again shortly after. Take care of yourself in the meantime, Ryuu."

    Because she wasn''t an oblivious idiot, while she had been listening to him, Ryuu had already prepared herself to stop him should he try to run off, no matter which direction he chose. His words were a little disturbing, though, and she couldn''t figure out why he believed to be able to get away this easily. But when Isaac finally called her by her name at the very end, her eyes widened in surprise and shock - never had she thought he would actually be aware of her identity!

    ''How did he figure it out!?''

    There were far more than tens of thousands of Elves in Orario and quite a few of them had green hair just like she did. There weren''t really any distinguishing features about her that would give her away to people that didn''t already know her - she didn''t really stick out. Or, well, she purposely tried not to stick out.

    Did he know about her past, even though she had disguised herself? Or did he simply know about her current identity as a waitress and hadn''t been fooled by her clothing? It was all too confusing! The number of people that should know about her past was extremely small, so¡­ Wait, he said that he was a part of the Loki Familia, so had Lady Riveria told him about her?

    Before Ryuu could figure any of it out, Isaac had already disappeared into thin air. The spot he just stood at was empty and it felt like he had never been there in the first place. He was completely gone.

    A hint of panic appeared on Ryuu''s face as she gripped her sword harder and cautiously observed her surroundings. Only after being in such a tense state for tens of minutes did she finally relax and calm down. She hadn''t discovered anything. There truly wasn''t a point to her being on guard any longer, as she couldn''t tell whether Isaac had already left anyway. For all she knew, she had probably been staring into the empty air for a long time now, like an idiot.

    A sigh escaped her lips and for the second time today, she felt stupid. If he had been able to disappear as easily as that, it was no wonder that he hadn''t felt the least bit threatened by her at all. As long as he paid attention to her, she wouldn''t be able to get the jump on him and harm him, no matter how hard she tried. Well, maybe she could use an area of effect attack, but her only Magic that fit that criteria took a relatively long time to chant, easily enough for him to slip away¡­

    With yet another sigh, Ryuu plopped down in front of the grave mound again and decided to enjoy the rest of her time here.

    "Lyra, if you had been here, you probably would have figured out a way to deal with that weirdo, right? Or at least, you wouldn''t have allowed him to get away¡­"

    As if she had no further care in the world, Ryuu chuckled to herself and started to talk to her deceased friends again, all the while trivializing and downplaying her own abilities. In the back of her mind, she had already decided to tie Isaac up the next time they met, so that he couldn''t possibly disappear again until the matter of his identity was settled. But she was also aware that she wouldn''t be able to do so anyway, so she felt a bit helpless about it. Would they really meet again like he said, or had he just been playing her this whole time?

    -----

    Some distance away, Isaac was rejoicing over having managed to save 10 AP by blurring his existence to run away instead. Doing the latter had meant that he would still be in the vicinity, however, so it was a little bit more risky. That was why he had decided to throw the tense Elf off by mentioning her name - something he should have had no way to know - at the very end. And it had worked, giving him the second or two that he had needed to disappear without a trace and get far enough away so that she wouldn''t be able to harm him, no matter what she tried to do.

    He knew that the Loki Familia, especially the higher-ups, usually visited the Hostess of Fertility - where Ryuu was working as a waitress - when they returned from their expeditions. With how close a relationship he had with Ais, it was quite likely that they would drag him along, even if he really didn''t want to go there.

    Well, to be honest, he had wanted to take a look at the place anyway. After all, in the novels, the food there was highly praised. There should also be quite a few people there that he would be able to recognize, so he would appreciate the chance to take a look at the establishment.

    Anyway, because of this, once Ryuu had seen him, he knew that it would be pointless to slip away right then and there, as they would meet again later. If he had noticed her before he stepped onto the clearing, he would still have been able to avoid her without a problem, but she seemed to be able to somehow blend into nature a little bit. This had been aided by the fact that she had been lying down, making her even harder to detect. Until he had stepped onto the clearing, he hadn''t been able to perceive her presence at all - and then, it had already been too late.

    So being in the position he had been in, he decided to tell her as much of the truth as he could, as lying to her would only lead to more slight annoyances later on. Of course, they could easily be dealt with, but it would still be better if they never even cropped up. He had been trespassing anyway, so he felt like he owed her at least this much sincerity. Still, he didn''t tell her even close to everything, just enough to make her slightly less wary of him.

    When they met again in the future, she would probably have a hard time holding back and show a huge reaction. Well, a reaction that would be huge for a quiet, calm Elf like her - it most likely wouldn''t extend beyond dropping a platter or two, if he had to guess. Should her reaction be any more exaggerated than that, he could always just hide behind Ais or his other comrades, who could easily keep him perfectly safe.

    As for him being ashamed for hiding behind others - why should he feel that way? His current weakness was just a temporary state anyway and everyone started out at the bottom. He didn''t want to get hurt if he could help it, as it was unpleasant, so there was no reason for him to expose himself to danger when it wouldn''t benefit him in some way. Because of this, for the weak to hide behind the strong wasn''t dishonourable - it was the most logical and reasonable course of action.

    But had taunting her like he did at the end really been necessary? If he had just wanted to escape, simply mentioning her name would have sufficed, he wouldn''t have had to joke around like that. Well, seeing her overly tense and serious state, he had felt too amused to choose the most efficient method. He had to admit: Teasing Ryuu¡­ was kind of fun.

    After his graveside encounter, nothing else unexpected happened during Isaac''s exploration of the 18th floor and shortly after 5 a.m., he teleported back to the campsite.

 Chapter 67 - Of Taming And Imprinting

    The Monster Feria always lasted for three days.

    On the first day, rookie tamers would have the opportunity to show off their newly gained or improved skills in front of a massive audience. This was also when accidents were most prone to happen, as quite a few youngsters either overestimated themselves or simply got stage fright and messed up under the eyes of more than a hundred thousands spectators. It was a double edged sword, so only the ones most certain of their abilities or the most foolish ones would try to enter the arena.

    To make sure nothing untoward happened and no horrible injuries were shown to the public, many of the Ganesha Familia''s higher-ups were constantly stationed close by, to intervene should it be necessary. In any case, on this first day, only some weaker Level 1 monsters could be seen.

    As for the more experienced tamers, they got their chance to shine on the second day, where they tamed some of the stronger Level 1 monsters.

    The third day was by far the highlight, though. The Ganesha Familia''s strongest and most famous tamers, their aces, would showcase their skills in front of the masses. All of them were Level 5 adventurers!

    While the Ganesha Familia always kept a low profile, they had a shockingly large amount of Level 5''s amongst their ranks - eleven. This placed them firmly below the Freya and Loki familias in a ranking of overall strength. Not all of these eleven were tamers, but the vast majority of them were. They were able to easily tame Level 4 monsters, or even some of the weaker Level 5''s. The reasons why none of such monstrosities saw the light of day on the climax of the Monster Feria, however, were manifold.

    For one, it was hard to contain them. Without at least one Level 5 adventurer present at all times, they would escape their restraints. Another option would be to upgrade those restraints, but that would be a ridiculously costly endeavour. Still, nobody doubted that the Ganesha Familia had at least a few monsters of such a high Level hidden in their home - it would be stupid of anyone to underestimate this overall good-natured familia in such a manner. There was no god in this city who didn''t have at least a couple of trump cards to play, unless they were a new arrival.

    The main reason to keep the monsters'' Levels low was that average people couldn''t follow a monster''s movement once they reached Level 3. Even some of the faster Level 2''s and some extremely rare Level 1''s were too fast for their eyes to catch up with. If the people wouldn''t be able to appreciate the spectacle, then the entire festival wouldn''t have a point. Strong adventurers weren''t the target demographic - the regular people were!

    Needless to say, now that it was time for the highlight of the Monster Feria, even more people swarmed to the streets. On the eastern main street, next to which the Colosseum - in which the whole thing took place - was located, it was hard to move even a few meters forward. Throngs of people filled up nearly all available space. Due to the Colosseum being very close to the eastern gate of the city as well, a large number of tourists from outside also flooded into Orario, making the situation worse.

    Most people were just hoping to enjoy the festive atmosphere and some others actually planned to buy a ticket. As it would be impossible for the Colosseum to house all of the millions of people that wanted to attend, only tickets for specific time-slots were sold. Of course, there were tickets for an entire day - or even multiple days - but they were made to be far too expensive for most people to afford. This way, in between specific tamers'' solo performances or group shows, hundreds of thousands of people would be replaced by the ones who had bought tickets for the next time-slot, enabling millions to participate and attend the spectacle every day.

    At around 1 p.m., somewhere on the eastern main street, surrounded by more people than one could look at without getting dizzy, Kalin, Mina and Jakk were hastily making their way through the dense crowd, worried and guilty looks on their faces.

    In celebration of this day, they had ended their daily dungeon delving earlier than usual and planned to take Valenoa to the Monster Feria. Mina had also never been a part of it and was quite excited to take a look. Initially, the three hadn''t actually wanted to do this, as they were afraid of Valenoa''s mind getting impacted by some kind of trauma which most people who went through situations like hers had to deal with. This would worsen her mental state quite a bit - and cause a huge commotion. Still, the girl in question had smiled bravely and assured them that she wanted to go there. After all, it was all just a baseless fear for now. Who knew whether she had a trauma or anything would happen? And even if it did, at least they would then know it was something they had to look out for in the future.

    Ten minutes ago, they had arrived on the eastern main street and made their way towards the Colosseum. But somewhere along the way, Valenoa had gone missing! The three had been treating her like one of their own, subconsciously believing that she could follow them without a problem. They had forgotten¡­ that she was nothing but a frail, naive and amnesiac girl right now. Such a huge crowd of strangers would surely lead to panic and fear - she wouldn''t know what to do. Unless they kept her close, it was pretty much an impossibility for her to make her way through all of these people like they did. And they had failed to take notice of that fact.

    After retreading lots of their previous steps, finally, out of the corner of his eye, Kalin spied a familiar head of red hair. As quickly as he could, he made his way through the crowd, until he got close enough to make sure that it indeed belonged to the girl he was looking for.

    Valenoa was unnaturally stiff and her eyes were watery. She was looking at her surroundings in confusion and fear and often stumbled when someone brushed past her. Thankfully, she hadn''t moved too far from the path they had taken to get here, else it would have been far more difficult to find her.

    While she was remarkably beautiful, in such a huge crowd, nobody had the time or was in the mood to pay close attention to the throngs of people they walked past. Thanks to this, she had luckily gone unnoticed by everyone. Why luckily? Because there were far too many people who would take advantage of a girl in her particular situation¡­

    To make sure not to scare her by approaching her from behind, as her back had been facing towards him when he saw her, Kalin made sure to circle all the way around. Very quickly, Valenoa saw him, a familiar face, and her eyes lit up. Without much regard for the people between them, she charged in his direction, her eyes focused solely on him - although she wasn''t particularly fast. It was hard to move in this crowd. Still, a few moments later, they finally reunited.

    Before Kalin could apologize for losing her in this crowd, she dove into his arms and hugged him tightly, leaving him to blush madly, unsure of what to do.

    Jakk and Mina finally caught up with him at that moment and saw this scene. Before Mina could accidentally interrupt the two, Jakk held her back and wordlessly signalled for Kalin to reciprocate the hug.

    This snapped the fl.u.s.tered youngster out of his momentary inaction. Very gently, he hugged the shivering girl back, trying to provide her with some safety and security, although he felt pretty nervous himself. Still, he tried his best to seem steady and reliable. After all, it was partly his fault that they had lost her, and he felt really bad about it.

    "I''m¡­ I''m so glad I found you!"

    With a guilty smile on his face, Kalin listened to her whimpering voice, patting her back lightly with his hand in an effort to further calm her down.

    "I''m sorry. I''ll make sure to stay by your side this time."

    The only response to his apology was a quiet "Mhmm". Valenoa didn''t even raise her head, her face still buried in his chest.

    Thankfully, it only took her a couple of minutes to calm down. Still, ever since they had reunited, she didn''t even give Kalin a chance to separate from her. Not even by a centimeter. She clung to his side and hugged his arm tightly, forcing him to concentrate really hard on ignoring the soft mounds rubbing against him. From her spot next to him, she was cautiously eyeing the surrounding crowds, clearly afraid. Because of this, Kalin didn''t have the heart to point out how inappropriate their current positioning was. Not that he really wanted to anyway.

    Today, Valenoa was wearing relatively affordable, frilly black clothes that gave her a far more girlish charm than usual. Unsurprisingly, the one who had bought them had been Kalin - he even used his own savings. About two days ago, when the group decided to come here, he had insisted that they couldn''t let Valenoa outside in the extremely cheap, bog-standard clothes she wore back at that moment. They almost made her look like a beggar, and he didn''t want others to look down on her. The clothes she had now were a huge step up and made her appear like a cheerful, average woman. If only her clothes were taken into account, that is - her outstanding looks made them seem at least a few times better.

    These new clothes really accentuated her beauty and Kalin had actually already stumbled across and bought them on the day he made that proposition. Ever since he had started to follow Isaac, his income had markedly increased and the leader of their group even bore most of their expenses, especially the ones related to maintenance, equipment and housing. His savings grew rapidly, so he could afford to spend parts of it to get a cute girl a present. He didn''t even have any unsavoury intentions - he only wanted to make her smile. And that, he did.

    Jakk and Mina just shot them amused smiles when seeing the two''s ''entanglement'' and led the way towards the Colosseum, parting the crowds in front of them as best as they could.

    Although Kalin felt very awkward about this, he also felt happy. Especially when Valenoa''s hand somewhat subconsciously found his - while still clinging to his arm. He couldn''t resist his primal urges as a man¡­ and so it was that he held hands with a girl for the first time in his life.

    While they passed through the crowd, thoughts along the lines of ''Would others think we look like a couple?'' occasionally flashed past his mind, but he quickly and repeatedly forced himself to not get distracted by them. He had a task right now, and that was to safely escort this amnesiac lady to their destination.

    In such a manner, the group of four made their way to one of the Colosseum''s entrances. They deliberately didn''t even try to take the one situated directly at the eastern main street and switched to one located in the smaller streets branching off of it instead. While the density of people there wasn''t lower, there at least were fewer people overall that could be crammed in this space, leading to shorter wait times.

    About thirty minutes of standing in one of the many lines later, they finally got the tickets for today''s main show... which would start in about ten minutes, so they had to quickly follow the instructions of the various Guild employees and make their ways through the various hallways and staircases. Originally, they had planned to get here a lot earlier, but the previous mishap had caused them to lose a lot of time, causing them to cut it relatively close.

    Thankfully, due to the well-organized routes to the various seats, it didn''t take long for them to make it out into the open again. After they had followed such relatively narrow, almost cramped paths for a while, the open-air area of the Colosseum felt a lot larger than it actually was. Not that it wasn''t truly massive even without that stark contrast.

    There were about a hundred rows of seats all around, broken up into sections at various points by stairs and paths leading back into the Colosseum''s hallways. While the seats at the very back were higher up and would give people a better view, they were also the furthest away from what was actually happening in the arena itself. If one sat on those highest seats, at the outermost edge, a human down in the arena seemed barely taller than an ant thanks to the distance. At least that was what regular people would see. Adventurers could partially disregard this problem as the higher their Levels, the better their eyesight became.

    But as most people in attendance were just part of the average populace, the Ganesha Familia obviously wouldn''t ignore them. With the support of the Guild, they had procured special magic-stone powered devices that looked similar to gigantic mirrors. They could provide a much closer look to what was currently going on in the arena. Hundreds of them had been put up all around the spectator stands. That way, no one would have a problem following along. Even sounds, which would usually quieten down or even be inaudible over such a large distance, were transmitted by the mirror-like devices. If Isaac had been present, he would have probably raised an eyebrow at the modernity of it all and complimented the designer for taking into account the sunlight, which didn''t intervene with the view at all, no matter from which angle the mirrors were viewed.

    The group quickly found their seats, which were located about halfway up the spectator stands. Of course, Valenoa sat down right next to Kalin¡­ well, she hadn''t let go of him ever since they reunited. Mina sat down next to her to keep an eye on the two - just in case - while Jakk took the last seat. If one wanted to be poetic about the whole thing, then it could be said that the two guys were like walls, keeping the girls in their midst safe from strangers. For the record, that hadn''t actually been their plan, this was just how the seating arrangement happened to end up.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, it''s finally time!! Watch as our beloved Captain displays her terrifying taming prowess. Let''s hear a big round of applause for Miss Shakti Varma!!"

    An announcer of the Ganesha Familia, a man with an almost bare upper body and brown goggles covering his eyes, energetically shouted into the microphone-shaped magic device in his hands.

    The applause following his words was deafening. It was so loud that quite a few of the more aurally sensitive members of the audience had to put their hands over their ears tightly, a couple of tears close to escaping their eyes. Over this ruckus, the sound of two of the arena''s gates opening couldn''t even be made out at all.

    From one of them, a Mammoth Fool, a Sword Stag and a Troll marched out into the open. To be fair, marching honestly wasn''t the most fitting description. They were escaping.

    Whenever monsters left the bounds of the dungeon, they usually grew less feral and almost obtained intelligence rivalling a normal animal. Well, almost. At least they weren''t entirely made up of bloodl.u.s.t anymore, which was the reason that taming them was even possible in the first place. While still under the dungeon''s influence, no monsters could be tamed.

    With a few of the stronger Ganesha Familia members urging on these three monsters from the entrance they had come out of, they charged into the open field.

    The first thing they did the moment they took note of their surroundings was to run towards the walls surrounding the arena, no doubt trying to either scale them or crash through them forcefully. But before they could even touch the walls, a barrier made of magic stopped them in their tracks, making it impossible for them to advance forward by even a single centimeter. They weren''t injured, however. Instead, they were subjected to a lot of pain, which made it abundantly clear for the simple-minded beasts that the walls weren''t a viable path to take - they had to turn somewhere else.

    Because both the Ganesha Familia and the Guild were responsible for keeping everyone safe during this event, the Colosseum was outfitted with a huge number of state-of-the-art magical formations. Almost nobody would dare to make a ruckus here for fear of not having the ability to escape.

    After running against the barrier safeguarding the walls in multiple other places, the three Level 2 monsters soon noticed that even the two previously open gates had been closed - and the barrier extended to there as well. They were all alone, with no way out. The only other living being with them was a lone human woman who stood in the center of the about 500 meter wide arena.

    She had relatively short, azure blue hair that just barely covered her ears and eyes of the same colour. A uniform-esque, brown-orange dress with many clasps covered most of her body. Her shoulders were exposed, however, and so were most of her legs due to the very high cut of the dress that exposed them. Although it had most likely simply been chosen for the increase in mobility, the underlying thighs and stockings made certain parts of the audience quite excited - in a different way from the rest. A few pouches were strapped to her waist while boots made of white-ish metal and gauntlets of the same material rounded out her outfit.

    She clenched a long, wooden spear in her right hand and didn''t even wear any protective equipment under that dress of hers. Besides her feet and lower arms, any hits to her body wouldn''t get cushioned. Her face was focused and serious and she didn''t show the slightest bit of nervousness at all - as if the three monsters in front of her couldn''t possibly withstand her harmless, wooden weapon and wouldn''t be able to touch her at all.

    And she wasn''t wrong about that. After all, she was already at Level 5 and therefore one of the strongest adventurers in the city. Even the monsters could feel that she was far stronger than them, but attacking her was the only thing they could think of in this situation - no matter how afraid they were.

    Watching this mature and beautiful woman calmly dodge the monsters'' desperate attacks and giving them no more than the equivalent of slaps on the wrist time and time again, without ever being in danger, left the attending crowd on the edge of their seats. It looked too dangerous of a dance to the untrained eye, after all.

    Some felt like she had only been able to dodge an attack by a hair''s breadth, due to sheer luck, and clenched their fists tightly. Some others were able to comprehend that Shakti completely outclassed these monsters. And the rest, they simply cheered loudly.

    Valenoa fell into the first category and Kalin''s hand felt quite uncomfortable when she unknowingly used her full strength to grasp it. But like the heroic man he was, he didn''t let anything show on his face and simply blinked away the few tears that had been gathering in his eyes. At first, he had been worried that she had been overcome by some traumatic experience, but by looking at her expression, he was quickly able to ascertain that she simply felt very nervous for the beautiful lady in the arena.

    Kalin, Mina and Jakk fell into the second category of spectators. They felt their blood boiling from excitement and paid close attention to the spectacle, almost breathless. A little bit differently from most people around them, they knew that soon enough, they would also reach the heights that Shakti had already reached. Maybe it was a matter of months, or even years. But they would get there.

    When the first one of the monsters, the Sword Stag, took a subservient pose in front of Shakti, as it couldn''t possibly beat or resist her, she took a cut of meat out of one of her pouches and fed it to the surrendered monster. The other two didn''t even attempt to approach her and just kept a fair distance, staring at her in horror.

    As if to showcase that she had indeed tamed this beast, Shakti patted the stag''s head and it made a strange purring sound in response. It sounded somewhat revolting but oddly endearing, causing even louder cheers to erupt from the audience. With a tamer''s Development Ability at work, as soon as such a thing happened, something akin to a ''contract'' would be present in both the tamer''s and the tamed monster''s head, forming an inseparable connection. There would be no need to fear the beast''s revolt, as it would genuinely see the tamer as its master.

    Finally sure of the beautiful lady not being in danger, Valenoa relaxed her grip and somewhat weakly leaned against Kalin''s shoulder. There was no seductive intent behind her action, it was simply an instinctive behaviour. She wanted somewhere or someone to lean on after she had been on edge all this time and as Kalin was the one she was most comfortable around - Jakk would even occasionally mutter that she had imprinted on him - his shoulder became her chosen headrest. Although he knew about all of this, Kalin still couldn''t help but blush all the way to his ears.

    When he glanced over for a moment, Jakk smirked happily. The scene he saw was just too cute to keep a straight face. He was genuinely happy for his friend that such a beautiful girl felt so comfortable around him.

    At the same time, he wanted to punch himself for not having had the balls to ask a certain bunny girl out on a date himself. Well, judging from how shyly Rakta usually behaved and how she would choose to shun people whenever she had the opportunity to do so, it was highly unlikely for him to get the reply he wanted anyway, especially if he told her that he wanted her to accompany him to a place like this. Still, he hadn''t even tried. And it left just a little bit of a sour taste in his mouth.

 Chapter 68 - Unlocking A New Perspective

    Earlier today, before his daily routine began, Isaac had explored the 19th floor and beyond. Initially, everything went as usual, with an entrance to the manmade labyrinth being found on every floor. But on the 21st floor, something finally changed - even after searching for multiple hours, he couldn''t find a single hidden doorway. No matter how far and wide he searched, there was absolutely nothing.

    Still, he didn''t panic because of this and instead heaved a sigh of relief. There were a few things that could be the case, but one of them was by far the most likely. To see whether or not his assumption was correct, he backed up two floors and took a closer look at the entrances on them. When comparing them to each other, he finally found the puzzle piece he had been missing before.

    The entrance on the 20th floor seemed to be far newer than the one on the 19th floor. If he had to attempt to date them, he would say that the one on the 19th floor was close to a hundred years old, while the one on the 20th floor was barely older than ten years. Of course, Isaac couldn''t determine the exact years, but he could wager an educated guess. His clues were the varying degrees of signs of decay and abrasion on the stone, mostly caused by various footsteps over long periods of time.

    In the end, all these vague guesses gave him only one conclusion: The last entrance that he had found was the newest. Therefore, someone was either still expanding this labyrinth¡­ or they had at least been doing so up until a decade or so ago. Judging from what he had seen, it would still take at least a few tens of years for an entrance to appear on the 21st floor, so there was no need for him to worry about this for the time being. That meant that his search for secret entrances in the dungeon had finally come to an end!

    But before he would report all of this to Finn, he still had to scout out a few places. There were undoubtedly entrances to the manmade labyrinth in Orario as well and because Isaac didn''t want to allow for any fish to slip through his net, he would make sure that he knew about all possible paths of retreat in advance. In any case, exploring the city would have to wait until the expedition party had returned to the surface.

    By now, it was already the early afternoon and Isaac had finished training everyone who was left behind in the camp long ago. The main force members were all out to slay monsters on the surrounding floors, so he didn''t have any official duties to take care of at the moment.

    All alone, with his eyes closed, Isaac sat in his tent.

    He hadn''t just been slacking ever since he had finished adding drops of mana to the channels in his mental layer. For a couple of days, he had thought about what to do next and realized that there were two massive problems that he had to deal with. One of them, he had already encountered, but the other one he would only come across in the future. Still, it couldn''t hurt to be prepared.

    The two problems were as follows: Firstly, how could he reliably extend his range of perception to make full exploration of the dungeon more viable? And secondly, how could he deal with enormous monsters with regenerative powers quickly and without destroying their magic stones?

    After thinking about it some more, Isaac had realized that both problems could be solved by creating new Magics to specifically deal with them. So for the past two hours, he had been focusing on creating and researching one of them.

    It all started with a simple hypothesis: What if he could use his mana to sense things?

    To test this, Isaac had completely cut off all of his senses and slowly released small amounts of mana into the surroundings. Initially, nothing happened, as the connection between the mana and him would be automatically cut off if he didn''t give it any active commands. But when he tried to focus on keeping the connection intact, the darkness around him suddenly lit up as if multiple torches had been lit! He was able to make out the immediate surroundings of the mana he had disseminated very clearly, while the further away from it he looked, the more vague and shrouded the scenery became. The area that was perfectly clear extended for a couple of meters from the respective mana source. As long as he kept up the connection, he could ''see''. But the moment he either used the mana to influence the world or cut off the connection by not consciously sending repeated signals to it, this sight disappeared, leaving him all alone in an empty void.

    Of course, if Isaac actually used his senses, it wasn''t difficult for him to clearly perceive all things in an area of hundreds of meters around him. But that really didn''t matter, as that wasn''t the point. It was entirely unrelated to this experiment.

    A slight smile played across Isaac''s lips now that he had confirmed his earlier theory.

    From this point in his research onwards, he focused on finding out just how far bits of mana could be distanced from him while still keeping the connection stable. Very carefully, Isaac moved a single bit of mana further and further away from himself - and came across an interesting discovery.

    After the distance in meters had reached a number one higher than the amount of mana drops he had added to the circulation in his mental layer - 5331 - the focus required to keep the connection stable multiplied by tens of times. Even though he had only used a very small amount of mana for his research, he still felt a negligible sting in his mind. This only lasted for a moment, then he had grown used to the feeling and the accompanying strain and was capable of fully disregarding it. While the mental load he had to endure right now was enough to make a regular person faint, he could practically disregard it. Even though his mind was currently heavily restricted by his weak body and brain.

    Following the pattern from before, at a distance of 10661 meters, the mental load increased by tens of times again, which caused Isaac to sweat uncontrollably. Even for him, it was somewhat annoying to deal with this. To keep up the connection, his mind needed to constantly calculate an exact path through all of the surrounding elements and mana, straight to the bit of mana he had sent out. Only that way could he contact it without any interruptions.

    During the first 5330 meters, his Magic stat, supported by the very laws of this world, had supported a huge part of these calculations. Following that, with every multiple of 5330, the support the Magic stat was able to provide to him was stripped away more and more significantly. Had it been a gradual incline, it would have been relatively easy to grow accustomed to it - but as it was extremely abrupt and steep, it was difficult to deal with.

    While other people might have gotten exasperated at this, Isaac only grew more excited. Such small obstacles weren''t able to douse the roaring flame that was his research spirit!

    When the bit of mana finally passed over the 15990 meter mark¡­ Isaac''s mind completely blanked. Moments later, he realized that his connection to the bit of mana had been lost. It didn''t take long for him to figure out that his currently restricted mind had just acted out of instinct. It had wanted to protect itself on a subconscious level. Had the connection not been cut off¡­ well¡­

    Even though Isaac was sure that he would have been able to deal with the resulting pain and suffering, the sudden increase in mental load would have led to some ugly scenes. The most harmless thing that could have happened would have been his body bleeding uncontrollably from all orifices. A more severe consequence could have even led to parts of his brain turning into literal mush and trickling out of his nose¡­ yeah, it wouldn''t have been pretty. He wouldn''t have died from it - mostly because he couldn''t die in the first place - but it wouldn''t have been the most joyous thing in the world either.

    With a small frown on his face, Isaac lamented the fact that he seemingly couldn''t explore any further for now. The word ''further'' referred to the distance, of course - there were still many things left that he could look into.

    He sent out more and more bits of mana, trying to test how many of them he could stay connected to at the same time in the different zones. Thankfully, he had already figured out long before this that he could let mana return to his mental layer if he stayed connected to it and didn''t actually end up using it. Even if he used it to ''see'', it would not be reduced in any way, so he didn''t need to worry about using all of it for his experiments and running out of it.

    Isaac referred to the area starting directly next to his body up to 5330 meters away as the ''first zone''. 5331 to 10660 meters away was the ''second zone'', 10661 to 15990 was the ''third zone'' and beyond that was the ''fourth zone''¡­ and definitely far more than that, he just couldn''t even touch those zones yet.

    In the first zone, Isaac could stay connected to all of his mana - 5330 drops worth of it - without a problem, while in the second zone, he could stay connected to a little more than 2000. In the third zone, this number dropped all the way to 20, while in the fourth zone¡­ well, he couldn''t even handle a single connection there before, so there was no need to test it again at this point in time.

    During his tests, Isaac noticed a peculiar thing - if he kept all of his mana within the first zone, a sphere of 5330 meters in diameter, he could perfectly ''see'' all of it at the same time! Absolutely nothing could escape his sight. All of his mana was just enough to leave no blind spots in this entire zone. This vastly exceeded his usual range of perception.

    The mental load of keeping up this sphere was negligible - but there was a problem. Should he ever need to use any of the mana, he would have to shrink the sphere. On the bright side, he could also use the mana at the very spot he had placed it at within the sphere as well, casting Magics over there. In a sense, it was quite similar to a minefield. Or rather, a magical minefield that Isaac had a constant, perfect vision of.

    When using all of the mana he could handle in the second zone, he could barely keep up the surface of the sphere at a diameter of 10660 meters. This could act as a kind of warning system, but nothing more. As soon as someone passed through the very edges of the sphere, he wouldn''t be able to ''see'' them anymore.

    Judging from how his Magic stat, which was always equal to his amount of mana drops, was also used as a demarcation line for the different zones and how everything else worked out, Isaac came to a conclusion. As his brain would also be improved when his Magic stat rose, he would always be able to keep up perfect surveillance of the first zone, while only being able to keep up a perimeter surveillance of the second zone - both of those had their uses. The only difference compared to now would be the size of the zones, which would continuously increase.

    He had been worrying about something else before slightly: Would the dungeon or other solid objects interfere with this ''mana vision''? Thankfully, they didn''t really do so. While the mental load was very slightly bigger when he positioned the mana anywhere within or beyond the dungeon''s walls, there wasn''t much of a difference. Normal objects didn''t pose any additional load at all. The reason why the dungeon''s walls were different was that they contained a lot of mana, enough to make the calculations Isaac''s mind had to perform a bit more difficult. Still, it was basically negligible, so he could just disregard the walls of the dungeon - for the most part.

    Anyway, now that he had concluded all of these tests, Isaac determined that it wasn''t necessary to spend all of his mana on maintaining surveillance on the entirety of the first zone. During normal daily life, it would be absolutely overkill. Still, it would definitely be useful when exploring, so it felt like he had finally taken a small step into the right direction regarding his dungeon floor mapping related problem.

    Under normal circ.u.mstances, it would be better to have a bit of mana at hand just in case of an emergency. While he could always use the mana he had sent out into the surroundings to do so, that would mostly not be even close to an optimal solution. In case he wanted to use his Anemoi Steps, he would first have to gather quite a bit of mana in a single spot, which would waste a lot of time.

    With all of this in mind, Isaac reduced the size of the sphere to exactly five kilometers in diameter, pulling the more than 1000 drops of mana that weren''t needed outside anymore back into his mental layer.

    All this while, Isaac hadn''t used any of his senses and his eyes were still closed. So there was still another hurdle he had to overcome. Having learned from his experience when he sent mana beyond a distance of 15990 meters, he became a lot more careful and slowly re-enabled his senses, one by one. It always took him a few minutes to adapt in between, but about half an hour later, he finally re-enabled his sight - the last one of his senses - and opened his eyes.

    It felt a bit confusing to have his usual sight and the ''mana vision'' enabled at the same time. For a couple of seconds, his head felt quite uncomfortable. Having two ways to ''see'', two ''senses'' who were responsible for very similar things, was quite¡­ well, weird. Still, after adapting to it for a short time, Isaac was perfectly fine.

    Finally, a system notification appeared, signifying his initial mastery of this self-created Magic.

    [ The Magic ''Eyes of Hermes'' has been obtained. ]

    [ Eyes of Hermes: Enables the perception of a large area via mana. Will require 50% less focus if activated via the chant.

    Chant: "Maidens of the world, it is I, thy lord of splendour. Fear not, for I shall protect thy honour! No scoundrels shall be able to approach thee without me knowing. I shall keep thee secure, I shall keep thee safe. Thy beauty shall be a secret scenery privy to only me." ]

    Although he had already planned to lock the chant of any new Magic before this, when Isaac saw the name of what he had just acquired, coupled with its chant¡­ he was speechless. Not only was it a long chant for a relatively simple, minor effect¡­ but it was also completely shameless. What the hell was this? A stalker''s or peeper''s manifesto!? Did the laws of this world truly expect him to speak such words!?

    ''System, please lock this chant. And increase the cost of unlocking it by a billion times.''

    -----

    While walking down an empty alley somewhere in Orario, a certain carefree god suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. With a shocked but intrigued look on his face, he looked into the distance, his eyes completely out of focus.

    ''Someone derived a Skill or Magic from my Arcanum?''

    Whenever someone obtained a new Skill or Magic and the one whose identity or power was referenced in its name was still alive, they would have the opportunity to notice the laws of this world reverberating slightly in a peculiar manner. Many gods and goddesses were already intimately familiar with this phenomenon and would instantly know what was going on. They wouldn''t be able to pinpoint who was the cause for this and the Skill or Magic would actually be completely independent from their Arcanum - their Divine Power. Still, the laws of the world would inform them that their name or power had been used as an inspiration and there had been a momentary connection between the two.

    A knowing smile spread across the god''s lips and the eyes hidden in the shade of his hat exuded a certain profoundness. With utmost respect and sanctity, he nodded to himself.

    "There is no doubt about it, a promising brother-in-arms has been born. I really wish I knew who he was! We could go peek on the bathhouses together¡­"

    The more he talked, the more perverted the god???s smile became. Luckily for him, he was all alone and there was no blue-haired, bespectacled beauty around to scold him for his behaviour¡­

    -----

    In the evening, a group consisting of Tiona, Tione, Ais, Lefiya and Riveria finally made their way up a staircase and back to the 50th floor. They hadn''t gone too many floors deep, mainly because they were responsible for protecting the relatively weaker Elf in their middle, but it had still been an exhausting day full of nothing but battle.

    "Finally back¡­ I need a bath!"

    While stretching relaxedly, Tione spoke the words that were on everyone''s mind. Nothing felt better than cleaning all the dirt off of your body after a long day of work.

    Needless to say, Tiona was on board with this idea and even Ais jumped on the bandwagon immediately. And while Lefiya had initially been a bit shy, she honestly didn''t care about that anymore. She had fired off far too many Magics today, she wanted nothing more than to relax - and where better to do that than in the water, while taking a bath?

    Riveria was the one who needed this convenience the least, as her clothing hadn''t even gotten dusty. Still, even if only to watch over the girls, she would surely follow along and take this chance to clean herself. Basic hygiene was an important aspect of life and it shouldn''t be neglected.

    Very quickly, the group arrived in the vicinity of the campsite - and Riveria immediately ground to a halt. While observing her surroundings carefully, her eyebrows furrowed and her expression became progressively worse with every moment.

    ''An inescapable net of mana is getting used to observe this area? Why did such a thing appear here!?''

    Although it was her first time coming across such a Magic, Riveria instantly realized what was going on. In a way, the principles behind it were remotely similar to the way that magical formations operated. Still, had she not been a Level 6 adventurer with an exceptionally high Magic stat¡­ and had she not been a High Elf, a race who were far more sensitive to mana than almost all other sentient races, she wouldn''t have realized what was going on. Someone was using a continuous Magic that spread mana perfectly evenly into the surroundings - and that someone was undoubtedly observing them!

    Right when she started to wonder about who could have possibly done this and began to worry about the safety of the campsite¡­ the net started to move - in her direction!

    Without saying anything, she tightly gripped her staff and was ready to start chanting at any moment. Noticing her unusually grave alertness, the girls didn''t stand on ceremony either and got ready for combat - although they were really confused by what was happening.

    A few moments later, the group could see a man approaching them from the direction of the campsite - it was Isaac. And accompanying him, his net of observation, his Eyes of Hermes, moved as well.

    As soon as Isaac had noticed the girls'' return thanks to his newly acquired ability, he left the campsite to welcome them. He didn''t have anything of particular importance to do right at the moment, so he simply felt like doing so. Life felt quite boring to him here, so every additional moment that he could spend with Ais in his free time was something to look forward to indeed.

    When she noticed him, all the misunderstandings were cleared up and Riveria hastily lowered her staff, signalling to the girls that everything was okay. Then she released yet another one of her famous sighs.

    ''Of course it''s him. I should have known.''

    The motherly Elf felt a bit stupid for not immediately linking this unusual phenomenon to the enigma in their midst. Whenever something unexplainable or out of the ordinary happened, the chance that he was connected to it was very close to 100 percent, after all. Back before he appeared, she would tend to link irregularities to the dungeon''s whims¡­ but nowadays, she wouldn''t even be surprised if those were somehow connected to him as well.

    Standing a few meters behind the group, while Isaac was shamelessly using Ais as a shield to escape from Tiona''s fiery ''reunion hug'', Riveria was carefully examining the mana around them. Very quickly, she got a rough gauge of the area that this net of mana covered¡­ and her eyes widened in shock. The distance between a certain water source and the campsite flashed past her mind. And finally, she figured out what this new development meant.

    By clearing her throat, Riveria interrupted the boisterous atmosphere and became the center of everyone''s attention. Seeing all these puzzled expressions, her demeanour turned a lot more stern than usual and there even was a bit of iciness in the gaze she shot at Isaac.

    "From now on, we should go to a lake far further away from here for our baths."

 Chapter 69 - Truly Unexpected

    Immediately after hearing these words, an awkward expression crept on Isaac''s face and he hurriedly made all of his mana return, deactivating his Eyes of Hermes. With a placating smile on his face, he slightly raised his hands in surrender.

    "You misunderstood, Riveria! That was never my intention. I only just learned a new Magic and was eager to try it out."

    Conveniently, he didn''t mention that even back when he was in the middle of creating it, he had seen far more of the various campsite dwellers'' lives than he had ever wanted to. But he couldn''t blame them for wanting to ''relieve some stress'' when they were alone in their tents'' compartments, with ''nobody'' being the wiser. He would never knowingly seek out such scenes of self-gratification. Still, it was far from the first time he had come into contact with such matters, so he managed to keep a straight face and completely ignore these scenes.

    Contrary to Isaac, the girls hadn''t understood what Riveria was getting at because they weren''t aware of the mana they had been observed by. They only showed confused looks and stared at the two, clearly not sure what they were talking about. They didn''t have to wait long for an explanation, however, as the mother hen was all too happy to let them know about what she had just observed.

    "Your new Magic enables you to see everything within a radius of multiple kilometers. Don''t think that I''m not aware that our usual bathing spot is also included in that area."

    Although Isaac''s previous words had sounded genuine and she was aware of his moral character, there was still a chance that when she wasn''t around to check whether or not the Magic was currently activated, one of the girls would decide to take a bath, leading to her unknowingly being taken advantage of. It wouldn''t matter whether or not it was an accident and Isaac didn''t actually want to do it - Riveria didn''t believe for a second that he would look away if he happened to stumble across the sight of a beautiful girl bathing.

    Isaac felt like cursing when he heard her explanation. The reason for this wasn''t that he had been figured out, no. After all, he had never intended to peek on anyone! He didn''t even care to do so. Rather, it was the imminent reaction of the girls that he was all but hyped for¡­

    The first one to spring into action was, unsurprisingly, Tiona. She skipped closer and poked his chest playfully, a seductive smirk on her lips.

    "Oho~? So you wanted to take a look at our bodies? You could have just told me anytime, y''know? My body is all yours for the taking~"

    By this point, Isaac had grown nearly numb to Tiona''s attempts at seduction. But even he had to admit that her current words were a new low¡­ or a new high, depending on the point of view.

    Before he could reply to her, a shy Elf grabbed his sleeve tightly and looked up at him with a face as red as a tomato. Lefiya''s breath had already quickened and she was panicking a little, her eyes turning a little watery. Tiona''s words had undoubtedly added fuel to the fire that was her imagination.

    "Have you¡­ changed your mind¡­?"

    To almost everyone else, her words wouldn''t make a lot of sense, as they didn''t know what she was referring to. Isaac, however, did. And no, he was still as adamant about rejecting her as before. By now, the awkwardness on Isaac''s face had been replaced by an apparent lack of any particular expression. His eyes turned somewhat lifeless and listless, clearly exasperated at the situation.

    To attempt to get some support from his trusted partner, he looked at Ais, but the normally reliable girl had apparently lost herself in delusions of her own. Usually, she would always be able to accurately guess what he was thinking about when they were looking at each other. At this point, they could practically communicate wordlessly, even without the system. But now, she was clearly too distracted by her thoughts to pay close attention to his exact mental state. She was staring at him with a far more heated gaze than he was used to and before anyone could react, she had already appeared at his side and grabbed his arm. With a completely straight face, she then spoke the following words:

    "Come, let''s take a bath together!"

    At this notion, Isaac''s disappointment faded a little, but he also felt conflicted. He hadn''t wanted to rush this relationship and wanted to give Ais at least a few months or even years to get used to their dynamic. But still, he had to admit that he wasn''t particularly off-put by what she had proposed, not at all¡­

    Three loud THUDs interrupted his thoughts before he could decide on a path of action. A second later, he was greeted by Tiona, Lefiya and Ais clutching their heads with a few tears leaking from the corners of their eyes. Next to them, Riveria menacingly held her staff and looked at them with a reproachful gaze. Even though her main stat was Magic, due to the massive difference in Levels, Isaac hadn''t seen her move at all.

    "How shameless!"

    It was clear as day that Riveria was infuriated by their behaviour. Had they acted like this when they were alone with Isaac, she wouldn''t have minded it too much, but currently, there were six people here - this situation was basically public, not private. No matter how close they were, they should at least behave appropriately, even in front of their friends.

    While Tione was snickering to herself in the background, rejoicing at the others'' unfortunate fate, Isaac nodded along with Riveria''s words. After all, she was correct. He didn''t want to be subjected to such affectionate words and actions in public either - and from two of the girls, he didn''t want any romantic affection in the first place!

    Speaking of, what was up with Lefiya? According to the system, she only considered him a friend, but she clearly behaved as if she saw him as ''something more''. She wasn''t in love with him, but she clearly didn''t mind a close, physical relationship. Perhaps it was just youthful curiosity that led her onto such a path¡­ or maybe, she was just too horny. Her behaviour was very out of character for a stereotypical Elf - but at least she wouldn''t get taken advantage of, as she only showed this side of hers in his presence, and he was a close, male friend¡­ or, well, whatever the hell he was classified as in that delusional brain of hers.

    As Isaac was a little lost in thought and occasionally showing obvious approval for parts of Riveria''s scolding, the High Elf in question noticed his behaviour and grew slightly annoyed.

    "What do you think you are doing, nodding along like that? Aren''t you the culprit who corrupted my girls!?"

    Her words left Isaac flabbergasted. While he couldn''t deny that the main factor for Ais'' rapid change had probably been him, Tiona had already been this shameless back when he first met her. And Lefiya also hadn''t changed at all - so how exactly was this his fault? Simply because he became the outlet for their affections? And more importantly, wasn''t she forgetting something crucial here?

    "Hold up. Weren''t you the one who made them imagine me peeking on them in the first place? If it weren''t for that, none of this would have happened."

    Now it was Riveria''s turn to be speechless. And although she was a bit angry at having her misstep pointed out like that, she couldn''t deny his words. Thankfully, she wasn''t an unreasonable person, so she didn''t lash out at him and only heaved a somewhat forced sigh before turning away. Without sparing him another glance, she resumed her scolding of the girls, doing her best to try to educate them on how to properly behave in public.

    What she didn''t know was that on the inside, Isaac was quite relieved. He had been prepared to face a strike from her staff at any moment and kept careful track of each of her movements. Had she started to take a step towards him, he would have instantly teleported away, as he didn''t want to fall prey to her scolding and join the girls kneeling on the ground. Thankfully, he could relax now.

    -----

    During the later parts of the night and until the early morning, Isaac returned to the 12th floor and mapped parts of it. Although it wouldn''t be entirely unrealistic to do so now that he was using the Eyes of Hermes, his goal wasn''t actually to complete his map of the floor. Instead, he planned to finish his Infant Dragon research. As they were incredibly rare, he hadn''t encountered anywhere close to enough of them up until now.

    Shortly before 4 a.m., he finally finished his research on the lizards. The rest of the time until he had to return to the campsite, he spent searching for and slaying Blue Papilios on the seventh floor. One could really never have enough of their Drop Items.

    -----

    At about 6 a.m., almost all members of the expedition party were gathered in a large open area of the campsite. Only the ones who were currently on guard duty weren''t here. In front of this sizable crowd, Finn stood on a barrel, his arms heroically crossed behind his back.

    "You have all probably noticed that we are slowly running out of supplies, and we''ve reached close to the limits of what we can bring with us on the journey back to the surface. This time, we had a much bigger harvest than expected, so even though our supplies would still allow us to stay for a couple of days longer, it would be wiser for us to head back as soon as possible, just in case we run into some unexpected trouble. We wouldn''t want to be stranded down here without food and drinks."

    Nobody was surprised by his words, as the supporter teams had already dutifully reported on this matter a few days ago. Everyone had been mentally prepared to head back and had done their best to spend as much time as they could slaying monsters. After all, every single increase in excelia could make a difference, no matter how small.

    "It''s time to pack up. We''ll set off in an hour! As you know, we have to make it to the 39th floor today, so we can''t afford to dally."

    Finn dispersed the crowd by clapping his hands. Shortly after, Isaac seamlessly rejoined his supporter team and helped them with their duties. During this expedition, this was his job. He wouldn''t behave like a spoiled, arrogant brat and request another position in the party just because the Top Executives had now gained a small insight into his abilities. But more importantly, he had grown quite close to these supporters after spending so much of his time with them - he didn''t mind their company.

    An hour later, Isaac yet again found himself in a position next to Cedar and Claire, The endless numbers of monsters had already formed a wall completely surrounding the expedition party, but just like before, this barrier of flesh had a bloody path cleaved through it without being able to provide any meaningful resistance.

    As so often, a sigh escaped Isaac''s lips.

    ''This is just too boring¡­ but at least it will be over soon.''

    There was only one event of note that happened during today''s ascent. On the 42nd floor, the Monster Rex, Morhaeon, had finally respawned - just according to plan. It was close to a hundred meters tall and seemed to just grow out of the floor itself. The heat it gave off when it was multiple kilometers away was enough for Isaac to determine that he wouldn''t be able to approach it easily in his current state, if at all.

    Because Bete had been tasked with watching over the party together with Gareth, the rest of the Executives and Top Executives split off to deal with Morhaeon - and yet again, Isaac couldn''t follow any of their movements with his eyes. The only thing he noticed was Riveria casting an AoE ice elemental Magic¡­

    A couple of minutes later, the small group returned to the party, an enormous magic stone and a metal-esque Drop Item in tow. The whole battle was just as anticlimactic as usual. But hey, at least he had been able to take a look at the lava golem once. Now he knew that he needed to prepare sufficiently to be able to resist incredibly hot temperatures. Admittedly, that had already been one of his many plans for the future, so nothing actually changed.

    Life as a supporter during a strong familia''s expedition¡­ was truly safe and uneventful.

    -----

    When Ais, Isaac and Lefiya had just returned to their shared tent in the late evening, suddenly, Claire''s voice came from the entrance.

    "Isaac, can we come in?"

    Because Isaac had noticed three pairs of footsteps approaching, he wasn''t surprised at all and questioningly glanced at the two girls, who both quickly gave the okay. Without their approval, it wouldn''t have been appropriate to allow others to set foot in their temporary shared residence.

    "Please enter."

    To Isaac''s amazement, the combination of people that appeared was quite unusual and rarely seen. Claire had already been a given, but she had also dragged her partner in mischievousness, Bryce, along. That much wasn''t anything weird, but the two were accompanied by Aselina. Leaving this naive girl alone with the two troublemakers¡­ What were the others thinking!?

    Even though Isaac was curious, he didn''t interrupt the three and let them take a seat at the table as well. He happily ignored their baffled looks - after all, there shouldn''t have been a table down here. As the ones partially responsible for everything the party carried with it, they were very well aware of that.

    "So, what have you come here for?"

    Clearly intent on not answering their questions regarding the elephant - or rather, table - in the room, Isaac showed a somewhat stern smile, changing the topic and snapping the three out of their confusion. It wasn''t every day that someone sought him out in private like this - actually, during the entire duration of the expedition, it had never happened before.

    "Ah, sorry! I got distracted. Ahem. Actually, we came here because Aselina brought up a question with us that she wanted to ask you - and we would also like to hear the answer to it."

    Both Claire and Bryce were unusually serious when the former said this. The latter hadn''t even made a single joke since entering the tent, neither did his eyes wander around shiftily.

    Seeing Isaac nod, thereby signaling for her to continue, Claire did exactly that and asked him the aforementioned question.

    "After the expedition ends, will you still give us pointers?"

    For them to ask about this wasn''t entirely unexpected. After nearly the whole expedition party had benefited from his training for a while, they were bound to grow used to the comfort of it. After all, he was always able to show them a path forward, a way to improve themselves. Nobody would be happy about losing such a fantastic opportunity to increase their combat skills.

    Still, Isaac was fully aware that he didn''t have an infinite amount of time every day. He had only helped everyone out because he had been bored and there was nothing much else to do. Once he got back, he would be busy - far too busy to spare the time to look out for people who weren''t his students or subordinates.

    With that in mind, he resolutely shook his head, causing Claire''s and Bryce''s moods to plummet before he had even said anything.

    "I''m sorry, I can''t. I will have a lot of things to do and it''s just not manageable to set aside the time. Maybe I''ll do it once in a blue moon, but I highly doubt I''ll feel like it."

    Bryce had a self-mocking smile on his face as he nodded and responded.

    "I can''t blame you. You''ll probably progress much further than we ever will. Honestly, man, I''m grateful for all the help you''ve provided me with during this time. Not kidding, I''ll remember this forever."

    Hearing Bryce talk in such a serious manner felt a little weird, but Isaac didn''t let it show on his face and reacted with a small smile and a nod. And because it was seemingly somewhat of a tradition to interrupt him before he even gathered his thoughts and formulated his actual reply, Claire stated her thoughts on the matter next.

    "Same here. Still, I''d be lying if I said I wasn''t bummed out about it. But no worries, I understand."

    As was the nature of conversations, they often progressed fast and without everyone being able to voice what they were trying to say. Claire''s words hadn''t even left her mouth for long when a somewhat cold and detached, but innocent voice chimed in. It was Aselina. Her raccoon ears seemed to be a lot less energetic than usual and the light in her eyes had dimmed a bit. It was clear that she was very distraught - although the extent to which it manifested on her face was only a small frown.

    "Is there no way to make you teach me again?"

    Never before in her life had Aselina had a teacher. Sure, there were senior adventurers that she looked up to that had imparted her with their acc.u.mulated wisdom. But compared to the tutoring that she had luckily stumbled across this time, the difference was insurmountable. Was she training harshly every day just for fun? Of course not! She had a goal that she wanted to accomplish at all costs - and for that, she needed strength.

    Back when she chanced across Loki, the seasoned goddess had nigh instantly decided to shelter and help her, clearly already used to scenarios similar to the little raccoon girl''s situation. Aselina wasn''t anyone special - but by joining the Loki Familia, she got a chance to become someone of worldwide renown. Well, it would still take many years for her to reach such a height - if she could even make it there in the first place. She was very well aware of this and now that she had tasted the sweet fruits that were Isaac''s pointers, she was unwilling to return to her previous diet.

    "I never said that. There are multiple paths that you can choose from that would allow me to teach you. The first one would require you to swear your absolute loyalty to me, the sec---"

    "I hereby swear my absolute loyalty to you. May the gods be my witnesses."

    [ Aselina Sceaga has sworn her loyalty to you.

    Quest ''Have four retainers.'' completed. 400 AP rewarded. ]

    Isaac wasn''t even in the mood to rejoice about the free AP or to take a look at her Status. Rather, he just stared at Aselina, completely speechless. Everyone else in the tent had a similar reaction.

    When Bryce and Claire had come here with her, they hadn''t expected their longtime friend to suddenly swear allegiance to Isaac! It was completely out of left field. Especially because Isaac had already said that there were multiple options. He hadn''t even stopped speaking or taken a pause to breathe yet, for Loki''s sake!! Who would interrupt someone in this manner, especially when the clearly milder and better terms were just about to be mentioned!?

    On second thought, scratch that. The socially inept ice queen was exactly such a person.

    Somewhat embarrassedly, Isaac coughed and showed an awkward smile. He had just been about to offer her to become his student, just like Jakk and Lefiya before her. He had only mentioned the loyalty part because he treasured honesty and transparency, so he laid out all of the options. Never had he thought that she would even consider the one she ultimately chose. After all, unconditionally following someone''s orders for the rest of one''s life was an enormous commitment. Still, the system had already spoken, so there was no way back now. He could only accept it and move on.

    "Well then, I guess I''ll be teaching you together with the rest of the students and subordinates from now on. Glad to have you aboard."

    In response to his words, Aselina showed a surprisingly solemn expression and bowed deeply, until her forehead touched the table. If there hadn''t been an obstacle in the way, she undoubtedly would have lowered her head even further.

    "Thank you."

    Trying to lighten up the awkward atmosphere after this reverential thanks, Isaac coughed and helped the raccoon girl sit up straight again, then he looked at the two troublemakers with a naughty grin on his lips.

    "So, do you two perchance want to follow in her footsteps~?"

    Hurriedly, the two shook their heads.

    "No way! I like my freedom."

    Claire fully agreed with Bryce''s words. They both preferred to be exempt from as many restrictions as possible. Their bond with Loki was already a kind of shackle, there was no need to add any more.

    Nodding at them, Isaac heaved a sigh of relief. If everyone that he had taught during this time suddenly wanted to become his retainer, he truly wouldn''t know how to react. The reason he intended to only teach those following him from now on was exactly because he didn''t have too much time. If everyone suddenly became his follower, then that whole plan would be pointless!

    This time, he had uncovered a potential major flaw with the system''s Retainers feature. What just happened could fall into one of two categories. The first one was that if someone pledged themselves to him, this decision would be accepted by the system, whether he wanted it to happen or not. As for the second one, it would require him to bring up the topic of loyalty first and only when the other person responded would the system accept the pledge. Ultimately that option would also ignore his wishes. If he ever even mentioned the word in passing, it would basically be a time bomb.

    No matter which of these the inner workings of the Retainers feature fell into, Isaac wouldn''t actually be forced to take care of these subordinates of his. He could just choose to ignore them. But even though he was anything but open to admitting it to himself, he found it excruciatingly hard to completely disregard those that wished to devote their lives to him. Subconsciously, a part of him felt somewhat responsible for them.

    All of that aside, a question still remained.

    With an intrigued look on his face, Isaac looked at Aselina, this sudden, new subordinate of his. He truly needed a better understanding of her to know what to do with her and to be aware of the motivations that had made her take this step.

    "Why?"

 Chapter 70 - Aselina Sceaga

    A look of confusion spread on Aselina''s face and she tilted her head slightly, staring at Isaac with a questioning gaze.

    "What do you mean?"

    For a moment, Isaac''s expression froze, before he reluctantly nodded to himself. No matter how easy to understand the question he had just asked appeared to be in his eyes, Aselina clearly hadn''t understood what exactly he was referencing. He needed to behave in a far more direct and obvious manner when interacting with her from now on, that was for sure.

    "Why did you decide to swear your loyalty to me?"

    Yet again, the greyish-white haired raccoon girl blinked in puzzlement.

    "Because you told me that it was an option?"

    Isaac''s reaction to these words was a smile that was more of a pained grimace. Ultimately, he chose to explain things even more clearly, because he was really interested in hearing the answer to his question. All this time, while he had grown closer to the members of the supporter team, they were just considered relatively chummy acquaintances for now. Of course they hadn''t shared their stories and motivations with him yet. After all, why should they? Seeing a chance to learn a bit more about his current companions - and in this case, one of his subordinates - he wanted to dig deeper.

    "That''s not what I meant. What reason did you have for accepting my offer? And for wanting to follow me to grow stronger. Please don''t tell me it''s ''because I want to get stronger''. That''s not what I want to know. Instead, I want to know ''why'' you want to become stronger in the first place."

    The cloudy look in Aselina''s eyes faded and she nodded her head in understanding, a surprisingly bright smile on her face. It wasn''t that she was stupid, neither was she particularly smart. She just found it hard to pick up on conversational cues and would oftentimes misinterpret what other people wanted to hear or what topic they currently talked about. Maybe, with further exposure to lots of conversations, this problem would subside a little, but even if it did, it was sure to take a long time.

    "My explanation is not going to be short, so I hope you won''t mind."

    After Isaac nodded and gave her the go-ahead, the raccoon girl told a rough and abridged story of her past.

    -----

    Aselina was born in the Sceaga tribe, a community of Raccoon People that lived in the far north of the continent that Orario was also located on. Their settlement was about 100 kilometers away from the Dragon Valley, which - just like the dungeon in Orario - was one of the ''three great unexplored regions of the world''. Well, if one wanted to be more accurate, one would have to replace the word ''world'' with ''continent'', but that wasn''t of importance at the moment.

    The Sceaga tribe wasn''t especially mighty or rich, they never even had any contact with deities. Still, they were far enough from the nearby dangerous region to not live in dire straits. Partially because only a small number of people ever wanted to brace that danger, they lived more or less peaceful lives. Even the wildlife around them was abundant, due to the low number of people hunting in this area.

    For many generations, the tribe had been safe and secure and even the occasional monsters that left the Dragon Valley weren''t too dangerous. After all, for their own protection, the tribe invested quite a lot of resources into training skilled warriors. As most monsters that lived outside of the dungeon got weaker and weaker with each generation, the few that came from Dragon Valley were the weakest of the bunch and could therefore still be slain by strategy and abundant manpower.

    It was in such a simple and reclusive place that Aselina grew up. She had loving parents, feisty friends and annoying bullies - a very normal, ordinary life. Not everything about it was great, and she frequently wished for change whenever something that made her feel hurt happened. Nothing was special about this wish either, as everybody thought along these lines at some point. All in all, it was an uncomplicated, happy time.

    But just like in all of these kinds of stories, the peace couldn''t last forever. Twelve years ago, when Aselina was six years old, a major change occurred.

    One of the warriors stationed close to one of the entrances of Dragon Valley - to take care of any monsters that wanted to leave the place - hastily returned, covered in deep and bloody wounds, completely out of breath from his harsh journey. Before fainting, he reported to the chief that thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of monsters had begun to charge out of the valley. Thanks to the dozens of warriors that were stationed there, they had been able to hold them back for a moment. Then, they had realized the gravity of the situation. Desperately, the rest of the warriors had sent him back, as he was the fastest amongst them - someone had to report the news and warn the tribe. Due to the sacrifice of his companions, his fast feet and the fact that the monsters were spreading out in all kinds of directions after they had left the valley, he had made it back in one piece, and before the wave of beasts arrived.

    Although the chief was shocked by the report, he wasn''t incompetent. He could see how dire the tribe''s straits were immediately and and didn''t hold on to idiotic beliefs like ''protecting one''s homeland'' or ''goind down with the ancestral land''. The survival of the tribe, that was the most important thing, by far. They could always return and rebuild, but each of them only had one life.

    In less than an hour, the majority of the tribe had orderly fled from their settlement, only bringing along the most important things that they could carry easily. There were a few that stayed behind to grab a few more essentials or even valuables, but one didn''t need to have a particularly vivid imagination to picture what happened to them - they all died.

    In fact, even quite a few of the fleeing tribesmen fell to the monsters'' claws and teeth as well. Most of them were warriors, hunters or other strong members that covered the escapees'' backs¡­ and paid for that with their lives. Their sacrifices left a deep impression on young Aselina, who for the first time in her life was being confronted with the deaths of her kin.

    Finally, after a few days of fleeing, the tribe seemed to have escaped the bounds of what they would later dub ''the Monster Wave''. They were able to find some food and water and built temporary residences before deciding how to continue from this point onwards.

    They had fled in the southeastern direction, as their ancestral maps reported for there to be many kingdoms in that region, with sprawling cities all over the place. Ultimately, the chief decided that they would build their new settlement relatively close to one of those nations, the Halksvaag Kingdom. It seemed to be the most peaceful one out of the bunch and the closest of its big cities, Vatki, was only a few days of travel away from here. Occasionally, a few tribesmen went there to trade some of their products and they had even made a few friends during those times. It all seemed like a good choice.

    And in all honesty, it was. Initially. For a few months, the Sceaga tribe managed to live a peaceful and prosperous life there. They had made their home in one of the unexplored forests and rarely sent some of their people to trade in Vatki, keeping mostly to themselves. But one day, one of the tribesmen who was sent to the city got drunk with a few of his local buddies and mentioned how the tribe had been living nearby ever since a tragedy had hit them. He didn''t mention much and was still wise enough to keep the details to himself, as he had been forbidden to talk about all of this to others. But unfortunately, the damage was already done. The wrong people had heard what he had had to say.

    In countries that enjoyed long periods of peace of prosperity - a time without a war - like Halksvaag Kingdom, corruption festered. That didn''t mean that such things weren''t present in countries that were in the opposite situation, but it was a lot less common in those. The longer no external enemy pressured the people, the easier it was for them to grow complacent and greedy - and that greed multiplied indefinitely.

    Long ago, the entire country had already been deeply permeated with crime syndicates of all kinds and sizes. Even a lot of the guards and soldiers of the kingdom were a part of it, as they had no way to earn too good of a living when their skills weren''t needed for the people''s survival. In other words, when there was no war, they were heavily underpaid. Most of them didn''t have bad intentions and only wanted to earn some quick valis, so they turned a blind eye to atrocities committed by some specific people. And others¡­ they carried out those crimes themselves.

    Powerless refugees were a prime target, so a group of corrupt guards assembled and stealthily followed the drunk tribesman back to the new and hidden settlement. There weren''t too many of them, they only made up about five percent of the city''s troops. Which still amounted to more than 100 people.

    They weren''t stupid enough to just storm out into the open and make a ruckus. Instead, they waited for people to leave the more populated areas before kidnapping them. In a single night, more than 50 tribesmen went missing!

    Such an occurrence, of course, couldn''t be hidden from the rest of the tribe. Very quickly, the previously drunk tribesman realized his mistake and everyone got informed about what was going on. The chief was furious when he found out, as he knew all too well that one should never show one''s weakness to other people - especially not strangers. People would take the most vile advantage that they could, leaving one with one''s back against the wall.

    In a hurry, everyone was assembled, with the few tens of warriors left guarding the group. But before they could even make a run for it to hide and then investigate what had happened, possibly even rescuing their fellow tribesmen, the corrupt guards noticed the commotion and tightly surrounded the settlement. They gave the tribe an ultimatum. They could either give up, get captured and sold into slavery - or they could fight a losing battle and quite likely die. The ones that survived would still become slaves all the same.

    The Sceaga tribe was anything but weak-minded and although quite a few of them hesitated, the ultimate decision was still to resist with all of their might and to make a break for it. As they were quite used to escaping from horrific odds by now, they quickly managed to charge through one of the sides of the encirclement.

    Sadly, less than forty members of the tribe were left by that time. And while running westwards for their lives, more and more of them were picked off. When they finally succeeded in shaking off their pursuers, only a bit more than ten of them were remaining. And Aselina was the last of her direct family members in this group. Both her mother and father had thrown themselves in the paths of the approaching guards to buy more time for their baby girl to escape.

    She sobbed uncontrollably, but it was of no use. The people she was with were all people she hadn''t had much contact with previously - people she didn''t know. She felt lonely. Nonetheless, she traveled with this group, further and further to the west. Why the west? It was just so they could get as far away from the Halksvaag Kingdom as possible.

    Months later, the group had shrunk yet again. Some had simply left during the night someday, without saying anything, some others had stayed at the villages they passed with the goal of starting a new life there.

    At that time, Aselina heard an elder at a village mention a certain city - Orario, the Labyrinth City. The place that gathered the strongest of the world, the place where one could grow until they reached unprecedented heights. A city where countless deities roamed the streets. The best place to become stronger, where heroes were born!

    By now, the almost seven year old girl had a very deep understanding of one thing: Strength was important. In fact, it might even be close to the most important thing of all. If one wanted to protect one''s home, one had to be strong. If one wanted to protect oneself, one had to be strong. If one wanted to protect one''s loved ones, one had to be strong. If one didn''t want to suffer in this world, one had to be strong. It was all very simple. If she and her fellow tribesmen had been stronger, would the challenges that they had been forced to face have ended in the same tragic way? No.

    With that in mind, she did various odd jobs around the village and saved up some money. During this time, the rest of her tribesmen had already left her behind. Although they had been travelling together for so long, she wasn''t particularly close to any of them, so now that she behaved just like other people before her - just like she wanted to stay and live here - nobody bothered to ask her any questions. The group continued on its path to no particular destination, while she embarked towards Orario on her own once she had saved up enough to pay for all the carriage rides she had to take to get there.

    Thanks to some lucky coincidences, she made it to Orario in one piece, with no further villainous people setting their eyes on her. It was truly a bit hard to believe, seeing how far too many people wouldn''t even blink before deciding to take advantage of a poor and lone little girl in a world like this. Or in any world, for that matter.

    A couple of days later, the young Aselina stumbled across Loki, and from then on, the story wasn''t a mystery anymore. She joined the familia, made friends and entered the dungeon a few years later, on her path to become a great adventurer. The years before that, she had been forced to get basic all-round training, so that she wouldn''t immediately die if she encountered an unforeseen situation. With the motherly and perceptive Riveria around, Aselina''s relatively weak constitution and her naive and ignorant nature weren''t overlooked.

    Currently, Aselina was close to Level 3 and had grown to this point in ''only'' eight years, which was about the average speed in this world. Seeing how she hadn''t really been getting many opportunities to slay monsters, as she had been a supporter all this time, it made a lot of sense. Not everyone could be as outstanding as AIs and grow out of that role incredibly quickly. Everyone who wasn''t a living hack was left behind, forced to go through relatively slow growth. Considering the position that Aselina was relegated to, to still catch up with the average growth speed of this world was actually quite impressive.

    -----

    Upon hearing her whole story, Isaac nodded, as if he had understood something.

    "So you want to grow stronger so that you can save your tribesmen or take revenge on the people and monsters that caused you to live such a tragic life?"

    His words quickly made Aselina return to her state of confusion. Blankly staring at him, she blinked perplexedly.

    "No."

    Now a bit exasperated, Isaac asked her to clarify.

    "Then why do you want to become stronger?"

    With an innocent look on her adorable face, her black eyes stared straight into his.

    "So I don''t have to suffer through such things ever again."

    ''Understandable, so she wants to be able to protect herself in the future.''

    In any case, Isaac felt the need to point something out. It was just in case, but he really felt like he needed to make sure.

    "You are aware that in order to grow stronger, you will have to suffer through hardship, right?"

    The raccoon girl nodded, her facial expression as cold and naively clueless as ever.

    "Yes. But when I become the strongest, there won''t be anything that will be able to make me suffer again. It will be fine to go through hardsh.i.p.s until I get there."

    A smirk played across Isaac''s lips. If she had continued to follow her previous path, then it would have been extremely unlikely for her to become ''the strongest'' or even anyone of remarkable renown in her lifetime. By choosing to follow him, she really had made the only choice that could get her what she wanted. No matter how she behaved, she really had a remarkably good head on her shoulders when it counted.

    "I understand now. And alright, I will help you reach that goal. But do you really think you''ll become ''the strongest'' with me in the picture?"

    Even though he winked playfully, Aselina completely missed that he was just joking around and her expression grew solemn. After some deep thought, her furrowed eyebrows relaxed and she took a breath. When she raised her head, she was sporting a happy smile.

    "You won''t hurt me, so it''s fine if I become the second strongest."

    Suddenly remembering something, she quickly glanced at Ais, then she added.

    "The third strongest is fine too!"

    A round of smiles and giggles later, Isaac''s expression hardened yet again.

    "Are you sure that you don''t want to take revenge or see if you can save your tribesmen?"

    Aselina released a small sigh before replying.

    "It''s not like I don''t want to do that, but it''s not a priority. The ancestral land and the Halksvaag Kingdom are so far away that it would take weeks or months to get there, even with my current speed, stamina and resources. Maybe when I''m stronger and when I''ll have the time to go there someday¡­"

    Noticing her plummeting mood, Isaac gently put a hand on her shoulder and flashed a confident smile.

    "I can''t tell you when I''ll do it, but I''m interested in having a look at that Dragon Valley you mentioned. It will probably still take a while, but when we go there, we can take care of these matters on the way. What do you say?"

    [ Aselina Sceaga''s loyalty has increased by 20. ]

    ''What a sharp increase!''

    Isaac''s eyes widened in a bit of shock, as he had never seen such a huge change in loyalty before. With that, he was quite certain that this new subordinate of his was overjoyed by this proposition.

    Aselina''s raccoon ears twitched a little in cheerfulness. But instead of agreeing, she decisively shook her head. She was a bit worried about whether or not her behaviour would seem defiant, but she felt like she had to honestly state her thoughts.

    "Thank you for the offer, but when we travel there, I would prefer to take care of my business myself. Feel free to accompany me, but please don''t interfere."

    With a smirk, Isaac shrugged.

    "As you wish, I don''t mind."

    Even though he kept calm on the outside, his mind was quite excited.

    ''Amongst all the subordinates I have gathered so far, she is the only one who doesn''t plan to rely on me too much. She is a lot more independent than I originally assumed - that could come in handy in the future. And even more importantly, I won''t have to do anything and will get to watch a good show. Perfect!''

    Now that both of them had come to a satisfying agreement, there was no need to discuss the topic further. A few more minutes of small talk later, both Bryce and Claire took their leave. They had noticed that there seemed to still be a few things that Isaac wanted to tell his new subordinate about. As those matters were currently classified, sticking around wouldn''t be appropriate.

    Seeing her friends leave, Aselina wanted to bid her farewell too, having completely missed all the obvious glances that Isaac had sent her way to nudge her thoughts in the right direction. Thankfully, he had already expected as much, so he carefully grabbed her arm before she could slip away.

    "Please stay for a bit. There are a few things you should know now that you''re one of my people."

    The words he chose were quite close to as direct as they could possibly be, so even Aselina realized what was going on and nodded, swiftly sitting down at her previous spot again.

    In the following half an hour, Isaac gave her a run-down of the abilities that his other subordinates knew he had. He did it so she wouldn''t be surprised by them in the future. Also, she would be able to incorporate them into her own strategies and--- Who was he kidding? He would be very surprised if she ever actually did such a thing. Just to be safe, he also told her about the emergency protocol.

    Needless to say, Aselina was completely baffled by what he claimed to be capable of, but after he demonstrated a handful of these ''miracles'', she fully accepted his words as the truth. Very quickly, she even grew a little numb to all of these mind-blowing claims. After all, if a person was too abnormal, it would be normal for them to be abnormal. One wouldn''t be surprised if they did something weird, rather, one would be shocked if their actions were aligned with common sense.

    Lastly, there was only one thing left to mention.

    "I can see your Status at any time, even if you aren''t present. So if you want to know whether it would be worth it for you to get it updated by Loki, you can ask me to inform you about your current excelia gains. I can also update your Status, so if you would prefer me doing so over Loki, please let me know."

    Now that he had mentioned it, he took this opportunity to take a first look at the raccoon girl''s Status.

    [ Name: Aselina Sceaga ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer) ]

    [ Race: Raccoon People ]

    [ Level: 2 ]

    [ Age: 18 ]

    [ Loyalty: 80/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: A-867 (+ 42) (3168) ]

    [ Endurance: A-859 (+ 46) (3149) ]

    [ Dexterity: C-624 (+ 28) (2280) ]

    [ Agility: D-593 (+ 17) (2176) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 (+ 0) (0) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ None ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Abnormal Resistance: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Swordsman ]

    Isaac subtly raised an eyebrow in surprise, as her stats were a bit higher than what he had expected. She was probably at the very forefront of elite Level 2 adventurers of this world. Truly, she had worked hard.

    When she heard him mention Loki''s ''update sessions'', Aselina began to shiver. That perverted goddess'' hands always seemed to nearly reach places she didn''t want her to touch¡­

    Her ears drooped at the memory, before recovering again. There was a resolute look on her face.

    "I would prefer it if you could update my Status from now on."

    To trust a man she had only known for a few weeks more than her own familia''s goddess when it came to such a matter spoke volumes about how far over the line Loki liked to step.

    In response to her decision, Isaac gave a short nod and smiled reassuringly.

    "Alright, I''ll get Loki''s permission when we get back. And if she doesn''t want to allow it¡­ oh well, I''ll do it anyway."

    The ability to update the Status of people that weren''t members of his familia was currently restricted to Loki Familia members, as he didn''t know how to unlock the Falna of other gods yet. As he had never mentioned that he could do this, both Ais and Lefiya were taken aback - but they quickly made a decision. Hastily, the two interjected from the side, with the latter blushing slightly.

    "Can you update my Status from now on too?"

    "I''d like to request that as well."

    Unbeknownst to him, with his previous offer, Isaac had kicked off a wave of change amongst the female members of the Loki Familia.

 Chapter 71 - Minor Troubles Along The Way

    With a more than sufficient three hours of sleep under his belt, Isaac returned to the seventh floor to continue his farming, aiming for as many Blue Papilios as possible. While he himself wouldn''t need too many of their drop items and could afford them easily as well, his students were far more prone to getting injured, so it could never hurt to have a surplus. Also, as he could get AP from his Level 1 monster slaying quest here, it wasn''t like he was wasting any time. There were no monsters below Level 2 that he hadn''t fully researched yet, so it didn''t really matter which floor he chose to be the venue of his grinding endeavours. These beautiful butterflies were by far the most bang for his buck, so to speak.

    By the time he returned to the temporary campsite on the 39th floor, his quest had proceeded to 48,163/49,000, while his AP stockpile had already acc.u.mulated to a mind-boggling 92,821. By now, Isaac even doubted that he would easily be able to spend it all as the next upgrade, the Divine Body, would only cost him less than a sixth of it. With no other option, suffering from success as he was, he decided to figure out what to do with his AP when he had time to look into it in the future. Who knows, he might just currently be underestimating the amount he would actually end up needing. It would never be a bad thing to have more AP.

    -----

    Usually, the expedition party would ignore Monster Rexes and only send a small party of Executives to fight them, while proceeding along their way. This time, however, on the 37th floor, their approach had to be different.

    The staircase they chose for their ascent led directly into the Throne Room, the location of Udaeus. Even though the area wasn''t small, it wasn''t sufficiently large enough to fight a Level 5 Monster Rex here while keeping everyone unharmed.

    Thankfully, there was a very easy solution to this problem. Everyone stayed back and waited on the staircase, which no monsters usually approached, while a team made up of Finn, Ais, Tiona and Tione faced the enormous, skeletal abomination.

    Udaeus was an around thirty meters tall black humanoid skeleton. Well, it didn''t actually have a lower body, as it seemingly grew out of the ground in the center of the room, so its true size couldn''t be determined. The main reason as to why it would have been dangerous for the rest of the party to enter the Throne Room was because of this very fact: Udaeus could attack from anywhere within this room using bones, be it the ground, walls or ceiling. It was like the visible part of his body was just the tip of the iceberg, with the larger part of the monster buried within the dungeon, in complete control of this area. Additionally, this Monster Rex could also summon additional skeletal monsters to the boss fight, depending on how many enemies it had to face. Well, it wasn''t actually known whether it was the dungeon that was responsible for this or Udaeus. Seeing how they seemed to spawn in relation to its reactions, everyone had just assumed that it was able to control this phenomenon somehow.

    While all of the expedition party members were glued to the fight, afraid of missing even the most minor detail, Isaac didn''t even bother with looking at Udaeus after he had taken a glance at its overall appearance. Currently, it was too fast for his eyes to follow its movements anyway, so there really was no point in him attempting to gleam something from the battle.

    Nobody else shared his sentiment, so he couldn''t even hold a casual conversation during the ten minutes that it took the small group to slay the beast. Its loot was, as always, an enormous magic stone, accompanied by a Drop Item - a small part of its ribcage. Apparently, this bone was suffused with a large amount of orichalc.u.m, a metal often encountered within the dungeon and also one of the specialty products of Orario. It was a material that blacksmiths would pay a premium for without even blinking and that could be made into armours and weapons of all kinds.

    With these two items deposited, all of the carts that the supporter teams were responsible for now looked like they were close to bursting at the seams. Staying on the 50th floor for even a day longer would have forced them to waste even more loot than they would already have to ignore on their descent and ascent, so the decision to return to the surface was a logical one. And a welcome one, as Isaac would finally be able to escape this boredom.

    The rest of the day''s ascent proceeded as usual¡­ is what you would expect. But no, this time, that wasn''t actually the case.

    It wasn''t rare for the expedition party to come across variants amongst the tens and hundreds of thousands of monsters that they plowed through with unstoppable force. And usually, those extraordinary monsters didn''t get a chance to make any trouble, as they would be quickly spotted and taken care of by the stronger main force members.

    On the 31st floor, just two floors before the day''s journey would have come to an end, another such variant appeared. This time, however, it wasn''t discovered in time. The reason for this was its higher than usual speed and its special ability. It could blend in with its surroundings to a degree, making it extremely hard to notice amongst the literal wall of monsters.

    The variant was a dark-lilac coloured, raptor-like dinosaur monster of about one and a half meters in size - the Venomsaur. Yes, the name was just as impressive as that of any other monster in the dungeon. Usually, Venomsaurs would be about a meter tall and light-lilac in colour, with their stealth-abilities not developed enough to truly obscure them from view. But if a variant spawned amongst them, they could cause a hell of a lot of trouble. After all, they were some of the strongest Level 3 monsters that could be encountered, extremely close to Level 4.

    "Oh shit! Watch out, one broke through!!"

    Taken aback by the variant, the people at the frontline made a mistake and allowed it to slip through, right into the vulnerable core of the party. And scarily enough, the Venomsaur seemed to be aiming right at the closest group of supporters! No matter how little reasoning monsters in the dungeon usually had, they would still be able to tell a weakling from a strong foe.

    Undisguised panic appeared on Cedar''s face as he saw the monster charge straight at the three of them. He knew that Venomsaurs were extremely hard to deal with. If one even got so much as a scratch from their teeth or claws, a bad poisoning would follow. Only with a sufficiently highly ranked Abnormal Resistance amongst one''s Development Abilities would one be able to disregard it. But he was only at Level 3 and his Abnormal Resistance was of the lowest rank. He couldn''t afford to get hit.

    With no other choice, the Elf grit his teeth and prepared to do his best to somehow dodge the charge. In a moment or two, an Executive was bound to come over here to dispatch the variant, but until then, he had to survive on his own. He then thought of the two teammates with him, Claire and Isaac, and hoped that they had come to the same conclusion as well. If they all did their best to evade, they might stand a chance!

    While he had these things in mind, Cedar slightly turned his head and glanced at Isaac, the teammate right next to him, to see which way he would be dodging. He didn''t want to accidentally run into him.

    The scene that greeted him was completely different from what he had been expecting and his eyes widened in shock. Instead of being afraid, Isaac seemed to be quite excited, a smile playing across his lips. At the same time, he had already raised his hands and drawn a bow, aiming an arrow steadily and proficiently. He seemed intent on fighting the beast.

    ''What is he thinking!? None of us stand a chance. And where did he suddenly get this bow from¡­?''

    A fraction of a second later, before Cedar could voice any of these thoughts or even give the man a warning, Isaac had already let go of the arrow, which accurately made its way straight to the right eye of the monster, penetrating all the way into the brain beyond. With a single shot, a monster that was close to Level 4 had been slain without being able to offer up any resistance.

    [ Achievement Progress:

    Kill 1000 Level 3 monsters. (3/1000) ]

    Ignoring the flabbergasted Cedar - and Claire, whose eyes were sparkling in fascination - Isaac turned away just enough to let both of them lose sight of his bow. Quickly, he placed it into his inventory.

    Admittedly, he was quite sad that he hadn''t had the chance to research this variant. But sadly, killing it instantly had been the only option, as he wouldn''t have been able to perfectly contain it by himself. Even though he wouldn''t have been in any danger and would have been able to play it to death, his comrades could have been hurt or even killed in the process. It wouldn''t have been worth the risk, so he could only choose the ''cheap'' way and use his archery skills to attack its suspected weak point directly. Had this guess been wrong, he would have had to fire a second arrow into its mouth, trying to injure it there to win some time. This would have been more tricky, but he still would have been able to pull it off.

    In any case, Isaac preferred to not use a bow unless it was necessary, as his current archery had a fatal flaw: It used up resources - arrows, that is. While he could easily afford hundreds of thousands of those, wasting all of these materials still didn''t feel great to him. There was always a relatively high chance that an arrow would be damaged once it was used, so most of them would end up being one-time-use ammunition. His sword could slay monsters without him having to worry about such a problem, so unless he would have to rely on his Anemoi Steps to become airbound and reach a monster that was far above him, he wouldn''t rely on a bow. Well, he still regularly used it against the flying monsters that he had already completely researched if they happened to be too far for him to reach them in a single leap, so it saw frequent use. He just didn''t use it all the time.

    "Wait¡­ where did that bow go!?"

    Cedar''s shocked voice interrupted Isaac''s thoughts, but he simply replied with a shrug, not giving the Elf an answer. He didn''t want to explain his abilities to him, especially not right now, so he would just leave it as a mystery.

    "That was amazing! I can''t believe you managed to kill it. And you made it look so easy."

    While being showered by Claire''s praises and ignoring the confusion in Cedar''s eyes - he was obviously still puzzled about the disappearing bow - the expedition party safely made its way to the 29th floor, the next safety point. As always, the supporters set up the campsite, while the main force members spread out to eliminate any nearby monsters. By the time all of the tents were set up, it was already late in the afternoon.

    As he had nothing else to do for now, Isaac planned to search for Ais to spend some time with her. But when he left the team of supporters he noticed that Aselina, who had already kept close to him whenever their work allowed it, was following a few steps behind him. It was as if she was a soldier following her general, or a duckling following her mother. In all honesty, it probably looked a lot more like the latter.

    Even when Isaac had finished searching through the entire campsite, he still couldn''t find Ais, so he concluded that she probably hadn''t returned from her duties yet. It was unknown how long she would take, so he returned to his supporter team, intending to wait there in the meantime. Now that he didn''t have anything else on his mind, and noticing the strange looks that the others sent his way, he finally turned to Aselina and sighed, intending to explain to her that she was doing something unnecessary.

    "You know that you don''t have to follow me everywhere, right?"

    Not really sure what exactly he meant, the raccoon girl tilted her head.

    "I know I don''t have to. But now that I''m yours, I thought it would be appropriate."

    Even before the first bead of nervous sweat could appear on Isaac''s forehead, he could already hear a cup shattering. With a stiff smile on his face, he turned his head to face the source of the sound.

    Randi had clenched her fist, completely pulverizing the poor liquid container previously cradled within, the drink spilling all over the floor and dripping from her hand. With a glare that seemed like she wanted to eat him whole, she intensely stared at him, ready to pull out her weapon at any moment. Slowly, she got up from her seat and walked closer until she stood right in front of him, sporting a smile that was anything but a smile.

    "So our cutie is ''yours'' now, eh? Explain yourself¡­ or die~"

    Isaac knew that it would be foolish of him to hope for anyone else to jump in and shed some light on the situation - after all, the rest of the supporters were glaring at him with equally as scary faces. Except for Bryce and Claire, who were doing their best to hold back their giggles, tears glistening in the corners of their eyes. As always, they were 100 percent unreliable. At least they were reliable in how unreliable they were.

    Disregarding the killing intent in his squad leader''s eyes, Isaac sighed and unhurriedly recounted what had happened yesterday. Very quickly, the atmosphere returned to normal, with Randi being noticeably relieved.

    "So that''s what she meant¡­ I really should have known."

    With these words, she shot a glance at Aselina, who was still blissfully unaware of just how much danger she had almost sent her new ''owner''s'' way. Trying to make up for how she had just treated him, Randi slung an arm across Isaac''s shoulder and smiled apologetically, then she whispered into his ear.

    "Now that it''s already come to this, I can only hope that you''ll treat her well. Please take care of her."

    Feeling as if her daughter had just taken another step into a.d.u.l.thood, Randi showed a caring smile when looking at the innocent raccoon, reminiscing about old times. Well, the energetic Boaz was only four years older than Aselina, so maybe she should be seen as an older sister instead. Meanwhile, Isaac felt yet another bout of helplessness, as the way Randi just spoke would only lead to further misunderstandings should anyone who didn''t know what was going on happen to have listened in. Which was quite unlikely, seeing how she had been speaking so softly.

    "I will, don''t worry."

    Although Isaac felt tempted to say that it should actually be the other way around, as it wasn''t him who had sworn his absolute loyalty here, he knew that it wouldn''t be a smart thing to mention this in the current situation. Especially with Randi''s arm around his shoulder, his neck in immediate peril. Anyway, unless something truly unforeseen and terrifyingly dangerous happened, his subordinates wouldn''t be in more danger than they would be able to handle. So he wasn''t lying. He didn''t intend to randomly throw away Aselina''s life as he pleased. He honestly couldn''t even come up with any reason for him to sacrifice his people. The time he had invested in them would only acc.u.mulate in the future, making their loss more and more unbearable. Nobody liked it when a project they had spent a lot of time on was destroyed or forced to end in any way before it bore sufficient fruit.

    Because the momentary storm had passed, everyone returned to their usual, jovial selves. While waiting for the return of his beloved, Isaac, with Aselina right next to him, chatted with Auroch, Claire and the rest.

    Half an hour passed this way, then suddenly, Isaac heard someone call his name and turned his head. It was Cedar - and he had a far more contemplative and serious look on his face than usual.

    "Can I talk to you for a moment¡­ alone?"

    Isaac was quite curious as to what he would have to say, so he nodded and followed the Elf for a minute or so, until they reached one of the more remote parts of the campsite, far away from the rest of the supporters. Thankfully, Aselina had listened to him when he asked her to stay behind, so she didn''t follow him this time.

    "Alright, here should be good enough."

    Having looked around to check whether or not anybody was nearby, Cedar took a seat on the ground and Isaac followed suit, then he waited for the slightly nervous Elf to start talking.

    "Ahem. Sorry for calling you all the way out here, but I didn''t want everyone to hear this. First of all, thank you for slaying that variant today. If you hadn''t stepped in, we would have been in grave danger, so I owe you one."

    Even though he really didn''t need Cedar to be indebted to him, Isaac simply nodded. He wouldn''t be able to change his mind if the normally arrogant Elf felt grateful to him. Well, it would be possible, but the effort that he would need to put into it wasn''t comparable to what he would gain. After all, he wouldn''t gain a thing.

    "Well¡­ onwards to the next thing, then. I''m sure you already noticed this, but I''m very fond of Ais. I''ve seen her grow up over the past couple of years and she has only become more and more outstandingly beautiful all this while. I have to admit, I feel attracted to her. That is also the reason why I felt enmity towards you when you suddenly stepped into the picture."

    Isaac couldn''t help but smirk. So that was the topic that he really wanted to talk about, huh? From Cedar''s current tone, he could already guess which way this was going to go.

    Not waiting for Isaac to say anything, as he just wanted him to listen anyway, Cedar continued, a resigned but happy smile on his lips.

    "I behaved foolishly and tried to prove that I was better than you a few times because I felt a need to compete with you. I might have even made you dislike me in the process. Sorry about that¡­ I was an idiot. I''ve kept a close eye on you two all this time and I realized that Ais is really happy when she is with you. You are also a far more outstanding individual than I initially assumed. I honestly can''t find anything to criticize about you two. So¡­ although this may be a little preposterous of me to say¡­ please do well by her! Let''s ignore the attraction I feel towards her for now. I''ve seen her grow up and care about her as a person as well. Ais'' happiness is more important than a stupid Elf''s selfish desire, right?"

    Self-deprecating humour was very unusual for Elves, who usually kept their true thoughts somewhat veiled or bottled up, preferring to keep up a certain image. Because of this, it was clear to see that Cedar really spoke from the heart.

    Chuckling to himself while thinking about his past actions, the Elf stared directly at Isaac, awaiting his reply. Then, after a few seconds of silence, Isaac finally spoke.

    "I accept your apology. From here on out, it''s all water under the bridge. And I''m well aware that quite a few people in the familia saw me as an enemy when they noticed my relationship with Ais - you were far from the only one. Still, for putting Ais'' happiness first and having the guts to tell me all of this, I respect you. I will do my very best, I promise."

    Once he heard these words, it was like a heavy weight had been lifted from Cedar''s shoulders and he flashed a genuine and relieved smile.

    The two talked more relaxedly with each other for a while after this, slowly growing more friendly with each other. Now that the hatchet had been buried, the two could finally attempt to get along. In a familia, it was always optimal when everyone was on good terms with each other, otherwise, it could lead to a division or even accidents on expeditions. Lives would be endangered. All in all, it was always best if everything was harmonious. There were enough external enemies to worry about, so there really was no need to add internal problems to the mix.

    -----

    In the early evening, Ais finally returned from cleaning up the monsters in the surroundings and took a bath. Today, there had been a lot more stragglers on this floor than usual, but it was still easily manageable. It had just taken a little longer.

    After a sumptuous dinner, Ais, Isaac, Lefiya and Aselina retreated to their tent¡­ wait, why was Aselina here as well!?

    As Isaac had grown so used to her following him around by now, he had thought that she only intended to follow him up until they reached the tent, leaving right after. But she had actually entered it - did she intend to stay here as well?

    With a strained smile, Isaac did his best to explain that he was completely safe with Ais around. In fact, even if he were to be alone, he would still be more than capable of protecting himself. There was no danger to his life. So there really was no reason for her to stay here.

    Well, apparently, Isaac had misinterpreted the reason as to why she had been following him, so all of these arguments fell on deaf ears.

    "But what if you need me for anything? Maybe a miscellaneous task of some kind. I should stay close, just in case."

    Even though Aselina''s words were resolute, spoken with absolute confidence in her reasoning, Isaac still didn''t want to accept having yet another girl living in his tent. Even though there would easily be enough space and he personally couldn''t care less about it, he would need Riveria''s permission to allow such an arrangement, and he didn''t want to go out of his way. He didn''t need even more judgemental looks sent his way today.

    It took a while, but he successfully reassured Aselina by letting her know that he would find her should he need any assistance and telling her that she would be allowed to stay by his side under normal, everyday circ.u.mstances. Excluding when he went to the bathroom, wanted to sleep or entered the dungeon, of course. Finally, the raccoon girl accepted these arrangements and relented. Seeing her leave, Isaac heaved a heavy sigh. She was extremely devoted, which wasn''t a bad thing. If only she were less oblivious¡­

    -----

    While Isaac was looking forward to returning to the surface, Ais was far more excited about something else. Finally, after a week of patience, she would be able to experience yet another part of Isaac''s past in a few minutes. Her eyes were already sparkling in anticipation, so while being a little more affectionate than usual, she snuggled up extremely close to Isaac in their sleeping bag.

    Very soon, the system notification she had been eagerly waiting for finally appeared.

    [ Cooldown until ''Isaac''s Past - Episode 5'' can be experienced has finished.

    You can now experience ''Isaac''s Past - Episode 5''. ]

    Before activating it, she glanced up at Isaac who was calmly looking back at her with a loving and caring look in his eyes. Then, a bit bashfully, she gave him a peck on the lips and rested her head on his chest, her mind getting whisked away to a different time and place soon after.

 Chapter 72 - Adolescence

    Ever since young Isaac had laid his humanity extermination-plans to rest, his journey turned from a primarily physical one into a mostly mental one. The world that he knew, he had already traversed sufficiently. There was nothing else that it could present him with - or at least nothing that could pique his interest.

    Thanks to that, he spent a lot more time lost in his thoughts than before. Well, it was the only significant thing besides reading that he still did. Just thinking, exploring his mind and thoughts.

    The first topic that he got really absorbed into was other worlds and the concepts behind them. In many different stories, the various worlds that characters traversed, the worlds that they ascended or woke up into, they were what stayed on his mind the longest. Maybe one of these methods would prove to actually work and be something he would end up interested in, something he could successfully replicate.

    Travelling to another world¡­ there were a plethora of methods to achieve this, at least in fiction.

    One of the most common ones was to simply die and be reborn in a new world one hadn''t stepped foot in before, oftentimes without any explanation. In some cases, the only reason given was that one of these other world''s deities had taken pity on the character and wanted to give them a chance at a new life. Or they just wanted to make use of them, that also wasn''t a rare occurrence. There were countless motivations and goals behind it. All in all, this method of world traversal wasn''t one that was easily tested in person, as it required one to die before one had a chance to encounter such a fate, blessing or curse. Unless one was sure of themselves getting reborn into another world, or being transmigrated there in some way, it was an irrational gamble without any known odds.

    Another aspect of such kinds of world traversal was that the ''different worlds'' were always a part of the same whole. Whether or not that ''new world'' was simply another planet in a far-off corner of the universe - which technically wouldn''t even make it a different world, just another part of the same one - whether it was some kind of alternate dimension or parallel universe or whether it was actually another world, which was in some mysterious way connected to the one the character originated from, it all ultimately boiled down to one thing: There had to be some kind of a connection, meaning it was all still a single world, in a way. The different worlds could also be interpreted as various ''sub worlds'' whose sum made up the entirety of a ''bigger world''.

    Some of the characters who were reborn or transmigrated into another world gained the ability to travel worlds, or to ascend into a higher one. In these stories, the concept of different worlds, or even sub and main worlds was very prevalent. Whether it was a certain level of personal power or enlightenment that was necessary to break past the bounds of the ''lower worlds'' and step into a ''higher realm'', or whether it was simply required to find a path there, it didn''t matter. Those worlds, as well, were all connected. They were all a part of a ''bigger world''.

    Of course, in some stories, even characters who hadn''t initially come from another world reached the heights of strength or enlightenment needed to travel or transcend worlds - it wasn''t just limited to the special existences that were main characters.

    A somewhat less prevalent method for characters to come to another world was this: Simple, bog-standard travel that didn''t involve death. The method of achieving this could be based in anything, whether it be science, religion or fiction¡­ it could be argued that the latter two are essentially the same, but for clarification purposes, they both had to be stated. In any case, just like before, there needed to be a certain kind of connection between the worlds in the first place for this to be achieved.

    There was something else that was often brought up in fiction, science fiction, philosophy and even ordinary science. What if the reality that young Isaac''s world''s humanity found itself in was just a dream, or a simulation of some kind? A world under the control of some higher power, some more developed civilization? There were far too many possibilities as to what the exact details could potentially be, but everyone who had a look at the theory had to admit that it was at least possible. There was no way to debunk it.

    In fictional works, some of the characters managed to ''wake up from'' or ''escape'' the bounds of these restraints, embarking on a new journey in these ''higher worlds''. Some of these stories even hinted at the fact that those higher worlds could, again, just be a simulation, a story or a dream of some kind. A controlled experience in some way, shape or form. A creation of an unfathomable being. Whether such a being was an alien race, a machine or robot civilization or a deity, it didn''t actually matter.

    Ultimately, it still led back to the same conclusion: Those various worlds, no matter how many layers of them there were, were connected in a way, making up a single ''bigger world''.

    There were far, far more possibilities and different methods of world travel, world transcendence, et cetera. But no matter which one that young Isaac took a look at, this same core conclusion followed. All of these worlds were always connected, they were always a part of a single ''bigger world'' - and one couldn''t travel between different ''bigger worlds''. As soon as travel between them was in any way possible, they would be connected, forming simply a larger sized ''bigger world'' together. In fact, it wasn''t difficult for such a ''bigger world'' to contain infinite worlds - size and numbers didn''t matter here. What did was the connection.

    While young Isaac had started out with the goal of finding a way to travel to a different world originally, he now finally realized that even such a feat wouldn''t be enough to satisfy him - it wouldn''t even be close to enough. His interest had vaguely been piqued by something else. What lay beyond? What lay beyond those ''bigger worlds''? What lay beyond that which already lay beyond spacetime?

    Speaking of, one of the scientific hypotheses that he came across alleged that space and time were actually one and the same thing, just perceived in two different ways. Them being intricately connected and unable to be seen independently wasn''t anything new - that''s why they were called spacetime, after all. But this theory claimed that they had always been the same thing from the very beginning. Human senses only perceived this in two different ways, giving them the peculiar experience of reality that they had experienced and observed ever since they came into being.

    Even though young Isaac agreed with this hypothesis, mostly because it sounded plausible and quite interesting, it also set off ripples within the tranquil lake that was his heart. Something that he had subconsciously always tried not to think about, to banish from his mind, suddenly became his focus.

    Everything, when it came down to it, was a matter of perception. In modern science, it was already known that every single human being perceived pretty much everything slightly differently, whether that be colours, sounds, shapes, textures, tastes, et cetera.

    This realization finally made young Isaac ask a very elementary question: Was anything ''real'' in the first place? ''Was'' there even anything at all?

    Most people would scoff at this question, regarding it as nonsense, simply because they were fully convinced by their experiences¡­ which was a mistake. Sure, it enabled them to live their current lives, but that would forever be their limit, with no way to go beyond. They would forever be confined to normalcy, to this prison of senses that they had always found themselves in. Subconsciously, they were afraid - and nobody could blame them.

    Ever since young Isaac''s consciousness had first sprouted when he was still in his mother''s w.o.m.b, there had only been one tool with which he was capable of perceiving the world, which were his senses. All the information he had ever gained came from these senses.

    The very existence of other people¡­ had been confirmed via his senses. All knowledge that anyone had ever researched and shared with others had also been brought to his consciousness through his senses. Everything he had ever touched, smelled, heard, seen, tasted, all of his perception of spacetime and various other, more minor things¡­ they had all just been perceived via his senses.

    Did he have any actual proof that any of it was ''real''?

    ¡­ No. All of his life, he had simply taken everything since before his birth at face value, as doing so was - seemingly - his only option. None of it had any basis in fact or was proven. After all, the only ''proof'' he could come up with were things that he had perceived with his senses - words of other people included. The brain being the origin of the mind? That was just information he had picked up with his senses. And so were countless other things. Everything was stained by the tinted glasses that were his senses, which meant all of it was inadmissible for being used as proof. Were the senses really reliable?

    Ultimately, all of this was a fatal flaw. And finally, young Isaac understood that he had just been running away from this realization for his entire life. After all, there was no way for anyone to live any kind of life, no matter in which world they may be in, if nothing they ever experienced was in any way, shape or form definitive.

    How likely was it for it all to be ''real'', or at least parts of it? Despair-inducingly enough, there was no way to know. There was no data, no way to even do anything but make random, unfounded guesses. There were endless possibilities, with the possibilities that any of it was ''real'' being an immeasurably small portion of them. If looked at from as objective of a point of view as humanly possible, the probability of anything being ''real'' was infinitely close to zero percent. It wasn''t actually zero, but it might as well be.

    This realization completely derailed young Isaac, so for a time, he didn''t even continue thinking about anything in particular. While he still continued to read stories, he had grown even more detached from this world, or any world for that matter.

    The small tree of loneliness grew without limits, easily surpassing the size of even mythical world trees. It was as if it made up the entirety of his being, as if loneliness was almost all he still had. After all, if nothing but his own consciousness was likely to be ''real'', wasn''t he all alone? Hadn''t he always been alone? Wouldn''t he always be alone?

    It wouldn''t even matter whether he actually found someone that understood him¡­ if there was no one in the first place.

    An even more scary thought then inadvertently came to mind¡­ which was: Was his consciousness even ''real''? There was no way for him to find out or even say anything about it. He desperately wanted it to be ''real'', but there was no way to know. No way to make sure. ''I think therefore I am?'' That was just a sentence used to placate one''s own fears. All of these thoughts slowly drove him further and further into loneliness and fear.

    A year passed in this manner. A year which young Isaac hadn''t even felt to pass by, as he had pretty much always been lost in thought.

    He didn''t come up with a solution. He didn''t figure out a miraculous way that could save him from this desperate state.

    Although the spectating Ais couldn''t comprehend all of his thoughts, not even close to it, as there were far too many of them that flashed by too frequently¡­ she did feel his overall emotions, which heavily impacted her. She had also been subjected to a similar kind of loneliness and fear before, although it hadn''t been to such an inconceivable extent. Although she wasn''t yet aware of it, a part of her mind had subconsciously blocked off parts of young Isaac''s thoughts that were related to his recent realizations. It would have been far too hard to stay sane otherwise.

    At this lowest point in his life, young Isaac suddenly smirked and perked up. The fear had faded. While it hadn''t disappeared entirely, the last vestiges of it were locked away behind two sentences of realization, the first one of which was: ''Does it really matter?''

    What he was referring to with these words was the fear of whether or not his own consciousness was ultimately ''real''. Yes, he couldn''t say. But it didn''t matter. It would never matter. After all, he was himself. Whether or not anything about him was ''real'', he was still himself.

    ''I am me.''

    This second sentence of realization was by far the most profound one he had ever thought of. One could spend the entirety of time thinking about it and still continue to notice different ways to interpret it. A person was their own biggest mystery. Finding oneself, exploring oneself, realizing what or who one was¡­ it was a never-ending journey. Was young Isaac really young Isaac? Yes. But possibly no. Still, he was himself. And that wasn''t something that could ever be taken away from him.

    Even should he be assimilated into a bigger, stronger consciousness of some kind, something he couldn''t resist. Even should he entirely disappear¡­ wasn''t he still himself? Even if he wasn''t anymore, he would still be himself. It sounded quite contradictory, but wasn''t actually at all.

    ''I am me.''

    It was this sentence that enabled him to yet again take a step forward. While it wouldn''t truly matter where he ultimately ended up, as nothing really mattered, he could still embark on a journey. He could still chase after a goal. Why? Because he wanted to, there didn''t need to be any other reason.

    Unfortunately, one thing that this sentence couldn''t help him with was the loneliness that had now become a core of his entire being. While he was himself, he was still alone. He would always be. Or at least he thought he would at this point in time. He was himself, and he was lonely.

    By the time young Isaac had finally found a goal, he was 14 years old.

    What lay beyond that which lay beyond spacetime? What lay beyond even existence itself? It was the furthest out of reach concept that he could even think of. After all, he couldn''t even vocalize it or describe it. There were no words which he could use, as they didn''t exist. And because of that, because of this ultimate sense of mystery, this was what attracted his interest, what became his goal.

    Yes, it might have been possible for him to figure out a way to travel to other worlds, or to transmigrate to them. He could have travelled within this ''bigger world'' he was in. But now, he wanted to go many steps further. He wanted to reach the ultimate goal he could think of, in a single leap. Taking a step at a time and steadily getting there in the long run? That was too boring. If he was assured of reaching a certain point, young Isaac would slowly lose his interest in it. What about trying something that even he himself thought to be impossible? That was a worthy challenge. Only by suffering through impossibility could his lonely and dead heart skip a beat, could his interest be piqued, could he feel a hint of excitement.

    But how could he actually do this? How could he transcend existence itself? He didn''t know. He didn''t even have any idea where to begin. And because of that, it became his goal. Because of that, it fascinated him. Because of that, it was all he spent his time on.

    Well, except for experiencing stories. They were something that never left his daily routine, that never left his life, his existence. He still felt some interest towards other worlds and liked to come into contact with them, even if they were only fictional. And now, there was even a layer added on top of it. The characters in these stories¡­ he was capable of feeling close to them. Well, at least closer than to anyone in his reality. Why was that? He felt that he knew that these fictional characters didn''t actually exist, while he always felt a doubt about the people in his reality, or even in existence. Without that doubt present, he could empathize with those characters and even form imaginary connections with them.

    While trying to come up with a way to overcome the impossible challenge he had set for himself, young Isaac spent another four years reading and thinking. Besides ensuring his body''s survival, he didn''t spend time on anything else, slowly growing completely detached from the world he was currently in. He had even recently stopped to keep his body capable of peak physical performance.

    It hadn''t been very exciting to observe this time - at least not compared to the time when he had travelled the world before. All this time, the spectating Ais had mostly been confronted with his feelings and thoughts, getting reminded of a period in her life where she was in a similar position.

    Young Isaac wasn''t so young anymore. He had already turned 18 years old.

    These years hadn''t passed in vain, though. He had at least slowly found what he believed to be the way to reach his goal. It was to completely cut off the emotions he felt for this world, and to cut off his entire being from it as well.

    ¡­ Yeah, it was far easier said than done. While he now knew what he had to do, it was still incredibly difficult to separate himself from these feelings. And it would still take a long time until he actually succeeded.

    ''Where there is a will, there is a way.''

    It was a popular adage, and it wasn''t necessarily wrong. If one was adamant enough, if one wanted something enough, they would get it. The only reason one would ever not achieve this goal was a lack of will.

    Did others snatch the opportunity one had planned to obtain oneself? Then one had lacked the will to overtake those people, to overcome them in any way necessary.

    Did one try to protect someone only to be forced to watch that person or these people die? If one came to a halt in such a situation, then one lacked the will to revive them, or to rewind time¡­ or to do whatever else would end up being required.

    Did one die before achieving what one planned to do? If one stopped because of that, then one hadn''t been determined enough to overcome life and death itself - one lacked the will.

    Was that which one wanted to accomplish ''impossible'', and one gave up because of that? Then one lacked the will to make the impossible possible. One lacked the will to break the shackles of rationality and to transcend logic. As long as one never gave up, no matter the circ.u.mstances, one could achieve anything.

    ''It''s impossible.'', ''It can''t be changed.'', ''That''s just the way things are.'', ''It can''t be done.'' - These sentences and many others like them were just a way of giving up, of despairing, of being restrained by logic and rationality - by life and death itself, and by reality.

    Never give up¡­ and even if you give up, it''s not too late to pick yourself up and try again.

    -----

    No matter how often she experienced it, the feeling of disorientation that assaulted Ais upon her return never fully disappeared. Thankfully, by being cradled in Isaac''s arms, she managed to shake it off after a short few moments. This time, however, she felt a little bit more mentally exhausted than before - enough for her to need to sleep really deeply tonight.

    Never before had she experienced as much of Isaac''s past as she did this time. It had always just been a handful of years, while in this instance, it had been quite a bit longer. Or maybe it had only felt significantly longer because it had mostly been spent in past Isaac''s mind. Seemingly, the more time itself lost its meaning for him, the longer the episodes that she would experience. Thankfully, she knew that there weren''t many of them left, as she had bought all of them with her abundant AP a long time ago.

    After checking the countdown, she saw that she still ''only'' had to wait for a week, and not more as she had fearfully anticipated. With this solace, she heaved a sigh of relief and nuzzled closer to Isaac, gently kissing his neck with her eyes closed.

    To be honest, she didn''t pay too much attention to her surroundings right now, as she felt perfectly safe in his embrace. She didn''t need to waste any thoughts on anything outside of her own mind.

    Finally, she had laid her eyes upon the cause of Isaac''s loneliness - and admittedly, she didn''t understand it. Or rather¡­ she didn''t want to understand it. She was vaguely aware that there had been parts of his reasoning that she had subconsciously been afraid to take a closer look at, afraid to comprehend. Maybe¡­ maybe she just didn''t want to experience the same loneliness he did. Her own had already been enough to deal with, and she was sure that he wouldn''t want her to fall into the same pit that he did. It was sufficient for her to understand just how far into this bottomless hole of loneliness he had plummeted.

    He had reached unfathomable depths¡­

    She didn''t know how exactly her existence impacted him, but just like how he made her feel less lonely, in the same way that he filled up that hole of loneliness at least partially somehow, she knew that she had a similar effect on him. He was definitely less lonely with her around. And that was enough. After understanding what he felt, she truly wanted to do her best to stay with him, to make him feel at least a little better. And to maybe one day fill that entire void of loneliness - but she knew that was a pipe dream. Still¡­ a girl can dream, right?

    At least she was fully aware of one thing: There was no need to worry about staying with him forever - it would happen. She knew. Although she didn''t know how she knew, she did. He would either have already found a way or find a way in the future that would allow them to always stay together, to travel the same path. So she didn''t need to worry about this.

    Now, there were only a few things that she was still curious about. Until the point in his past that she had reached, that story that he had mentioned - the one she allegedly was a part of - had yet to appear. When would it? And what kind of impact would it have on past Isaac?

    While Ais was still fully absorbed in thoughts like these, her exhausted mind finally couldn''t hold on any longer and she drifted off into a long and relaxing slumber.

 Chapter 73 - Returning Home

    For the City Representative of Rivira, Bors Elder, today had been a lot tougher than usual, as the Loki Familia''s expedition party had finally returned to the 18th floor. They brought along a huge number of stragglers, as far more monsters had spawned on the floors below thanks to their huge group''s passage. Usually, it was up to the party in question to deal with these should they need to, but on this safety point, there was a different tradition.

    As it was always a bother for such strong parties to deal with the small fries around these floors and because they wouldn''t be able to carry the resulting magic stones and Drop Items with them anyway, they allowed the residents of the 18th floor, the adventurers of Rivira, to get rid of them, earning them a quite sizable income.

    But this wasn''t as generous as it appeared. Far from it, in fact. Most entrances to the 19th floor were right in Rivira, so whenever monsters appeared from there, what choice did the residents have but to protect their homes? They could fight these monsters anytime they wanted to if they just ventured a floor deeper, so this assault by such a huge number of them was not only pointless but it also posed quite a challenge. In any case, they didn''t have much of a choice. At least they had the home ground advantage.

    Just like how people who chose to live next to the sea would have a not insignificant chance of having to deal with a tsunami every now and then, living in a dungeon''s safety point, right next to the entrances to the next floor, was just asking for a disaster. If one made their home at the foot of a volcano, one didn''t have any rights to complain when it inevitably erupted. The people here were just playing with fire.

    At least the Loki Familia had been polite enough to split off a small elite group from their main party and to send them ahead, to warn the people of Rivira of the incoming trouble. That had given them time to prepare and as this was far from the first or even the twentieth time that they had had to deal with such a situation, everything went smoothly.

    A certain other familia didn''t give the people here any face at all, though, so during their expeditions, everyone here would be on edge. It was clear to them that the other party didn''t care about them at all, so they could only stay in an alert state for weeks at a time. Comparatively, the trickster goddess'' familia was far more reliable. Which seemed a little inconceivable if one thought about it, but it really was the truth.

    During today''s battles, Bors had managed to snatch quite a lot of loot, so he honestly couldn''t complain. He wasn''t even annoyed at having this siege forced upon his town anymore, as he had long since come to terms with his situation. If one wanted to live down here, that was just what one had to deal with. There was no use in complaining. In any case, he would be able to make quite a lot of valis once he exchanged what he had gotten today - and that was always welcome.

    Slightly exhausted but with a smug grin on his face, he unlocked the door to his store and walked inside, then he deposited today''s gains somewhere behind the counter. He did his best to keep his valuables safe and his store hard to steal from, but he knew that if someone far stronger than him tried to take his things, he would be hard-pressed to resist them - to put it nicely.

    Suddenly, out of nowhere, a somewhat familiar, calm voice broke the silence.

    "Hey there, Bors."

    Taken aback, the man in question tensed up and grabbed the hilt of a sword that he kept underneath the counter. He looked up and stared directly in front of him. There, he noticed a young man with messy brown hair and clad in especially high quality gear leaning against the wall. A moment passed before Bors'' furrowed eyebrows relaxed again, a relieved smile appearing on his face.

    He knew this man. They may have only met once, but he was definitely on his list of promising talents to keep an eye on - after all, the Amazoness twins of the Loki Familia had introduced him a while ago. He was the Loki Familia''s newest member, Isaac Blackshaw. And more importantly, he was someone with a lot of money! In any case, for whatever reason, he hadn''t noticed him before, which led to his previous tense state.

    "Oh, it''s you. Don''t startle me like that!"

    A small smirk played across Isaac''s lips, then he simply shrugged.

    "It''s not like I intended to scare you, you know?"

    While he had indeed blurred his existence before Bors had returned, so as to not be noticed while the owner wasn''t here, he had stopped doing so shortly after he had seen the scoundrel in question arrive. Still, even though he had slipped into the store right after him, Bors hadn''t been aware of his presence at all.

    The buff man snorted at his remark, then he shook his head and motioned for Isaac to come closer.

    "Alright, nevermind. What are you here for? Anything I can help you with?"

    While walking up to the counter, Isaac unhurriedly explained the reason for his visit.

    "There are indeed a few things that I need. First of all, I have a few subordinates and students. They will definitely arrive here in the coming weeks, so I would like to ask whether I could rent a house for them here in town, so that they can use it as a base."

    Although this wasn''t the kind of request that he had expected, Bors wasn''t too surprised and only raised an eyebrow, before turning around and rummaging through one of his shelves that was filled with hundreds of maps. While trying to find the one he was looking for, he casually continued the conversation.

    "Let me get you a map of the available properties, you can choose from amongst them then. It''s not gonna be cheap, though. Anything else?"

    Although Bors couldn''t see him anyway, as he had his back turned to him, Isaac still nodded, purely out of habit.

    "Yeah, I would like to procure a bottle of ''Status Thief''. Money isn''t a problem."

    Upon hearing these words, Bors froze up for a couple of seconds, before resuming his search. Still, he hadn''t ignored Isaac. He had simply deliberated whether or not he should admit that he had these black market connections. But on second thought, he had realized that there were so many people in the know already, so there really wasn''t much of a point in hiding it. Unless someone went out of their way and reported him to the Guild, nothing would happen. And even then, the Guild wouldn''t bother with actually entering the dungeon, so there wasn''t any danger. This young man didn''t seem like he would rat him out anyway.

    "I can have it ready in a week. It''s gonna cost you 1,000,000 valis, though."

    Isaac replied without even blinking.

    "Deal."

    Shocked at how affluent this newbie was, Bors turned his head in astonishment, before coughing and looking at this major customer of his with a shifty look in his eyes. Because Isaac had agreed so easily, it meant that this wasn''t anywhere close to the maximum price that he could have chosen to state.

    "Ahem, I misspoke, my apologies. It''s actually going to be 1,500,000 valis."

    Contrary to the frown of reluctant acceptance that Bors had expected to see, Isaac simply smiled very calmly - but at the same time, formless killing intent appeared in his gaze, while he gathered some strength in his muscles, all to make a simple point: Bors couldn''t afford to offend him.

    A grim expression appeared on the dubious businessman''s face and he clenched his fists tightly. He had a plethora of combat experience and could easily tell that Isaac was probably around as strong as him, possibly even stronger. He didn''t know how that could be the case as not much time had passed since they last met, but he wasn''t foolish enough to ignore his instincts. He wouldn''t have survived this long and gotten to this point if he had allowed himself to be restrained by common knowledge.

    To defuse the situation, he coughed again and mumbled a "Nevermind, 1,000,000 valis it is¡­", which caused the intangible pressure to fade away instantly. The room returned to a relaxed calm, but Bors still had a few beads of cold sweat on his back.

    Very soon, he finally found the map that he had been looking for and spread it open on the counter. It showed the entirety of Rivira and had a few tens of houses circled, with a number, a name and price scribbled next to them. Both the circles and scribbles could easily be erased, so it was possible to update and reuse this map depending on the changing circ.u.mstances.

    "Any place that you fancy?"

    After glancing at the map for a while, Isaac nodded and pointed at the circled property closest to Bors'' store, which was only a couple of houses away. It had originally been a pub but the owner had disappeared one day, so the town''s leadership seized it. There was easily enough space there to house tens of people and the rent wasn''t cheap: It cost 20,000 valis per day, something which a regular Level 2 adventurer would find a little painful to afford.

    Bors'' expression darkened a little before he sighed in surrender. He knew exactly why Isaac had chosen this building instead of the ones that were cheaper and closer to the 19th floor''s entrances - it was the proximity to his store. Should Isaac''s people get in trouble, he would be close enough to get dragged into it, giving them a relatively decent, free protector. Seeing how he was the one who was responsible for renting them the place, he couldn''t easily ignore whatever was going on.

    For anyone in this town, there was always a certain probability that they would be targeted by criminal organizations of some kind, or a few small-time crooks. This chance increased when one was only at Level 2 or even weaker than that. Choosing the place Isaac did basically made use of Bors'' influence to get others to avoid harming his rented property for fear of repercussions. While not everyone would stay their hand, at least most of the rabble would choose to stay put.

    "Gotcha. When do you plan to start renting it? If someone else ends up renting it before you do, you will lose your opportunity."

    Hearing this reminder, Isaac contemplated for a bit, before nodding his head.

    "Even though I won''t be using it for a while, I''ll just start renting it from today onwards. It''s pretty cheap, after all."

    ''20,000 valis a day is cheap for you!?''

    A pained smile flashed across Bors'' face before he relaxed again. He really couldn''t compare to members of a top ranked familia like the Loki Familia. Even their newest member was so filthy rich! While he could also afford this rent, and would even be able to if it was a few times more expensive, it would still put a sizable burden on him. Meanwhile, Isaac didn''t seem to be the slightest bit influenced by the huge amount of valis he had just chosen to spend. Heck, it was more than a million valis!

    "For now, I''ll rent it for two weeks. When I come back for what I ordered, I''ll extend that time period. Here you go."

    Not caring too much about what exactly Bors thought of him, Isaac placed 140,000 valis on the counter. Then, after a bit of small talk, he left the store and quickly disappeared into the crowd. He smoothly blurred his existence again, as he had promised to not create any trouble.

    Once the Loki Familia had settled into their campsite again earlier, Isaac had told Riveria that he needed to make a short trip to Rivira. As she was well aware that he would be able to leave whenever he wanted to, she didn''t attempt to stop him and only asked him to not cause a scene, which was easy enough to do, so he agreed without hesitation. When she looked away for a moment and planned to assign someone to accompany him, he had already disappeared, leaving behind an annoyed mother hen with a vein throbbing on her forehead.

    His decision to try to rent a place for his subordinates and students hadn''t been a sudden one. While he would always have the option to reduce their travel time by spending AP and teleporting them along himself, he wouldn''t do this unless necessary. He didn''t want to turn into their trusty teleportation ferryman, after all. In any case, he had another plan up his sleeves and part of it was to procure a base of some kind at all safety points of the dungeon.

    One might think that it would have been smarter for him to just build a base of his own outside of Rivira, but as it happens, that wasn''t the case. Far too many people were able to make it to the 18th floor and it was actually relatively small. So no matter where he decided to build his base, unless he chose the restricted region around the Astraea Familia''s grave, he wouldn''t be able to keep it from being discovered. And that wasn''t an option either, as he didn''t want to disrespect the dead like that if he could help it.

    While having it be located in Rivira would make it known to the public, giving his enemies a way to monitor it easily, it also kept it relatively safe, as making trouble in the town wasn''t something that most organizations were keen on doing, especially because news of whatever happened almost always made it back to the Guild somehow. Additionally, Rivira was an important place to many forces that didn''t like to operate out in the open, as it allowed them to stealthily conduct their businesses. When there was an option to get rid of someone outside of the town rather than inside of it, most would take it as they didn''t want to mess up such a convenient place.

    Sure, not everyone would think this way, but most would. As for the rest that still wanted to make trouble for his subordinates, his students and him, they would just have to deal with them. But he would mainly leave it to the others, as that could also work as a form of training for them. He would, of course, support them should there be too dangerous of a situation, but otherwise, he wouldn''t interfere.

    There was no need to worry about creating a base on the 29th floor yet, as his people would still need to grow for a while before they would be able to reach it anyway. Considering the floor''s massive size, he would surely be able to find a place to nearly perfectly hide it.

    As for procuring some Status Thief? He had heard about the item and its effect of unlocking another person''s falna for all to see, so he had grown interested in it. Using his own falna to research it was his current plan, as that would enable him to see how exactly it worked and if it caused any damage to the blessing, he could easily repair it. Every god used slightly different methods to lock their children''s falna - so what kind of magical skeleton key was capable of opening all of them?

    When Isaac had finally made his way back to the campsite, the handful of main force members who had been sent towards the surface previously had also returned. To avoid troubles, the Guild required expedition parties to notify them when they were about to make their way back to Babel. So even though it wouldn''t be difficult or even take long to reach the surface from here, the party had to stay put until tomorrow morning. This would give the Guild time to prepare and notify the adventurers to stay out of the way during the time it took for the expedition party to leave. The Guild didn''t want the others to be caught up in the flood of monsters and be overwhelmed. They just wanted to reduce the number of casualties, and they couldn''t be blamed for that. It was just one more night, after all. It was truly no big deal.

    -----

    During yesterday''s nightly AP grinding time, Isaac''s Level 1 monster slaying quest had finally reached the point where he didn''t get rewarded with any more AP for his troubles, no matter how many that he slew. Right after he had reached 50,000 kills, the achievement disappeared and the system didn''t even keep track anymore.

    When this happened, Isaac had been slightly alarmed, but also relieved. Now he knew that he wouldn''t get an entirely unlimited supply of AP just from doing such simple tasks. With that in mind, he had continued amassing AP on the 24th floor, as there were two extremely rare monster species on this floor that appeared slightly more frequently there - and he had yet to research or encounter any of them. Well, one of the two could be found on all floors from the 19th to the 24th, but seeing as there was a chance to run into both of them here, he had chosen the 24th floor.

    Sadly, none of the monsters here were able to provide him with any excelia at all, not even the Green Dragons were an exception to that. Well, he didn''t run into any of them, but even if he did, the only thing useful about them would be the treasure trees that they were protecting. Anyway, increasing his strength during the time he worked on his monster slaying quests had never been the goal, so it didn''t really matter.

    By the time he left, his Level 2 monster slaying quest had already arrived at 10,459/11,000 and his AP stockpile had broken past the 100,000 mark and grown to 101,181.

    -----

    It was late in the afternoon. Loki had gathered everyone who had stayed back at the Twilight Manor about an hour ago and made them stand by in the main courtyard. Yesterday, the Guild had informed her that her children were about to return, so how could she miss the chance to welcome them back?

    After waiting and chattering with each other to pass the boredom, the group could finally hear loud cheers from the distance, coming from a huge number of Orario''s citizens who were celebrating the expedition party''s safe and triumphant return.

    If the group had immediately come here after they arrived at the surface, it wouldn''t have taken so long, but as usual, they let the Guild process all of their magic stones and a fair number of their Drop Items to exchange them for valis back at Babel, lightening their load. They still kept most of the very useful Drop Items, though, as those could be given to blacksmiths and other craftsmen who could use them to repair or upgrade their equipment. Anyway, because of these proceedings, it had taken a while until they had been able to leave. Still, it was just a regular procedure, so nobody complained about it.

    A few minutes after the distant cheers had abated thanks to the expedition party leaving the northern main street and making its way through the complicated network of alleys leading to its home, the gate to the main courtyard was finally opened. Immediately, Loki''s eyes began to beam with elation and she looked at the party of Executives at the very front. Her usual behaviour would have been to charge at Ais for a hug, but she had already accepted that, well¡­ they weren''t meant to be. Because of Isaac. So now, the target of her affection had shifted. To all the other girls. Which meant that it hadn''t shifted at all, as she had already constantly behaved in such a creepy manner towards all of them before. The only change was that Ais was exempt from this now.

    "WELCOME BACK! I MISSED YOU ALL SOOOO MUUUUCH!!"

    Crying out in her usual style, the overjoyed goddess ran towards the expedition party and first tried to hone in on one of the girls in the front. Sadly, everyone quickly got out of the way, even Lefiya, who had previously always been far too fl.u.s.tered to react. That led to a scene akin to parting the sea, as the entire first main force split in half, letting Loki charge right on through.

    Finally feeling a little bit of pity for her goddess, one of the members of the second main force, a young female Cat Person named Anakitty Autumn, called ''Aki'' for short, finally heaved a reluctant sigh and accepted Loki''s passionate embrace. Thankfully, she was experienced enough to restrain those wayward hands of hers and therefore, she didn''t need to suffer much, if at all.

    As the troublemaker had successfully been dealt with for now, the rest of the familia welcomed back their friends who had been in the dungeon for close to three weeks, 19 days to be exact. After Finn gave the order to store the carts, the loot plus the supplies and for everyone to freshen up, Loki came to her senses again and demanded everyone''s attention.

    "Congratulations on your glorious return! For tonight, take a well-deserved rest. As for tomorrow, as always, feel free to party to your heart''s content!!"

    The day after an expedition party''s return, the familia would usually welcome a festive atmosphere, with many smaller groups of friends visiting a plethora of bars, inns and other entertainment establishments around the city. This was also the time when Loki took her Executives and a few other members of the main forces to the Hostess of Fertility, as that was by far her favourite place to celebrate at. Except for the various parties organized by other deities, that is.

    Under a chorus of cheers, Loki entered the main manor, followed by Finn, Riveria and Gareth. They were to report the exact details of what had happened during the expedition.

    -----

    Because his subordinates and students had been informed about his imminent return, Isaac was quite certain that they would be waiting for him at the base. As it would be quite cold of him to ignore them, he made his way over there right after his supporter duties were now finally over for good.

    As Lefiya was one of his students, she obviously came along. Of course, the new addition to the subordinate roster, Aselina, wasn''t left out either, as Isaac planned to introduce her to the others today. Naturally, Ais accompanied the small group as well, which provoked Tiona into following along too. And because her beloved Captain was currently busy anyway, Tione decided to keep an eye on her sister. Lastly, there was Elfy who had been a part of the main force members staying back to keep the manor safe all this time. Now that her roommate was back, she wanted to spend some time with her, so she tagged along.

    Yeah, the group had grown a little bigger than Isaac initially intended, but he didn''t mind it too much. After all, they wouldn''t interfere with his plans and this place was as much their home as it was his. They were free to go anywhere they wanted to, except for some areas restricted to only Top Executives, or even only Loki herself, which probably existed somewhere. Well, he hadn''t come across any himself yet, but he would be surprised if they weren''t actually a thing.

    When he arrived in the courtyard in front of the base, its entrance burst open immediately, revealing Mina, whose tail was wagging in excitement at an unprecedented speed, even whirling up some of the dirt on the ground. Her eyes were somewhat teary and sparkling in anticipation. Without a care in the world, just like a dog that was welcoming back her owner after they had left for a day of work, she charged straight at Isaac.

    "MIIILOOOORD!!!!"

    [ Mina Teagle''s loyalty has increased by 3. ]

    As she now had the confirmation that her lord would undoubtedly return, even if he left for a while, a lot of the lovely Chienthrope girl''s subconscious worries and fears had evaporated into thin air.

 Chapter 74 - The Most Loyal

    Had the one running into his arms been Tiona, Isaac would have shown a reluctant smile and accepted his fate, as he wasn''t yet strong enough to escape her clutches. It also wasn''t easy for him to truly deny her such things, most because he truly didn''t mind hugs. If she overstepped her boundaries, he would definitely let her know. Fortunately, the one overwhelmed by her feelings was his faithful subordinate, one that he had even practically adopted as a pet at this point. Because of this, he didn''t even feel that last bit of aversion that he would have usually been subjected to in such a situation.

    Without attempting to evade, he allowed the loyal dog girl to hug his waist and rub her face against his chest in an exhilarated manner. As he was already used to doing so, he began to pat her head and play with those lovely ears of hers, further working on improving his pet handling mastery.

    Feeling that familiar hand caressing her again, Mina blissfully closed her eyes and subconsciously rubbed her head against it, basking in its comfiness. It was an "Aww"-inducingly wholesome scene that made slight smiles appear on the onlookers'' faces.

    All of a sudden, tears began to flow down Mina''s cheeks uncontrollably as, in the back of her mind, she had been reminded of the horrible memories that had haunted her after her lord had left. She didn''t want to let these images interrupt their much-anticipated reunion, however, and chose to try to suppress them, which didn''t make things any better.

    Instinctively, she tilted her head and tried to lick her lord''s hand, attempting to showcase her affection and loyalty while at the same time banishing those harrowing thoughts.

    When he suddenly felt a wet tongue licking his hand, Isaac''s eyes widened in surprise and he almost pulled it back, before recalling that this was just the way that dogs interacted with their owners. Admittedly, it was somewhat difficult to see this situation in such a light, primarily because the one performing such an action was a mostly human-looking girl, but he ultimately convinced himself that it wasn''t anything weird. Still, even with normal dogs, he didn''t like it when they licked his hands, or any parts of his body, that is. Then why did he allow Mina to do so? Well, he wasn''t entirely repulsed by the act and he could endure it¡­ and he chose to allow it because of how hard she was crying.

    Taking a deep breath, he ignored the judgemental and creeped out looks that bore into his back, then he pulled out a handkerchief and wiped away Mina''s tears with his other hand, awakening her from her mostly instinct-fuelled stupor.

    She absentmindedly took the handkerchief from his hand and wiped away the rest of her tears, then she remembered what she had been doing and blushed in shame¡­ while growing pale at the same time. It was a truly comical sight. Breathing irregularly, she stumbled backwards and stuttered.

    "I''m sorry, mi-milord! I hope... I didn-didn''t offend you!!"

    Before she could kneel down to plead for forgiveness in an even more overexaggerated manner, Isaac hastily grabbed her shoulders and helped her stand up straight, then he reassuringly patted her head for a moment, before pulling his hand away and stepping back. He had a calming smile on his lips and had just wiped his previously licked hand dry with yet another handkerchief.

    "It''s fine, you don''t need to apologize. Being overcome by emotions isn''t something to be ashamed of, it can happen to anyone. I''m glad to see that you''re welcoming me back so warmly."

    Isaac didn''t have a chance to explain what exactly he meant any further, or even to glance towards the rest of his students and subordinates, who had long since made their way out of the base, as an accusatory voice interrupted his thought process.

    "Wasn''t that a little over the top for just a welcome?!"

    Elfy had her hands on her h.i.p.s and a clearly fairly unhappy frown on her face. At the same time, she was blushing a little, as she had been taken aback by what she had just witnessed. It wasn''t hard to guess what kinds of thoughts were going through her head - she probably assumed that the relationship between this master and subordinate was a little more impure than it should be. Which in and of itself wouldn''t be wrong, but it could be, should one of the parties be pressured into it.

    Right next to her, Lefiya, who was fully aware of the reality of the situation, had her hands covering her reddened cheeks, while her eyes were glancing over in Isaac''s direction with a little bit of jealousy hidden in her gaze. While normally, a hint of l.u.s.t would be mixed in as well, this time, she had simply not been able to contain her desire of being treated so well herself, so all other emotions were suppressed. But wouldn''t she forever be prohibited from experiencing such bliss? Curses be upon you, oh erogenous ears!

    Not rattled by Elfy''s tone of voice, Isaac responded with a straight face and tranquil heart.

    "It was indeed more affectionate than I expected, but still within the bounds of what I''m okay with."

    Clearly, his word choice had been poor, as Tiona, who had been waiting for an opportune moment to jump in, hurriedly interjected. Her passionate and fiery gaze didn''t make any attempt at hiding her true motivations.

    "So it would be fine if I licked you from now on?"

    Instantly, a dark shadow was cast over Isaac''s face and he resolutely shook his head. When he turned to look at Tiona, the fearless Amazoness couldn''t help but shiver a little, because his eyes contained far more coldness than usual.

    "No, absolutely not."

    As she wouldn''t just back down like this, no matter how uncomfortable she felt, and because she felt like she was being treated unfairly, Tiona pointed at Mina, who was waiting at the side with a guilty expression on her face. She truly hadn''t intended for her lord to have to deal with such troubles just because of her inability to keep her emotions and instincts in check. Her ears and tail drooped down listlessly.

    "Then why are you okay with it when she does it?"

    As she had stepped right into the conversational trap he had laid and reacted just as he had expected, Isaac smirked to himself inwardly while still keeping a straight face. He planned to clear up any misunderstandings caused by Mina''s latest behaviour on the spot.

    "That''s easy. You are someone who wants to pursue a relationship with me and has lots of impure thoughts. Meanwhile, this isn''t the case for Mina. She harbours no such feelings for me and is simply my most loyal retainer, my faithful dog. Please don''t misinterpret why she is acting in such a manner, and why I''m fine with it in her case."

    The people who had previously glared at him with suspicion in their eyes had been Tiona, Tione, Elfy, Kalin and Jakk. Oh, and that unknown red haired girl as well. Come to think of it, who was she? Oh well, that question could wait until later. The rest of the group had never doubted him for a second, as they either knew him well enough or were familiar enough with Mina''s shenanigans. Possibly both. Of the first group, all but Jakk and Elfy seemed to be convinced the moment he explained the situation.

    Jakk¡­ well, he always seemed to get the wrong idea about anything connected to his relationship with Mina, but at least he never tried to deliberately make things difficult for him. So this pervert could just be ignored.

    Elfy, on the other hand, was a lot more rational of a person and could be reasoned with. She didn''t just take his words at face value and attempted to get answers out of the girl whose behaviour had caused this entire discussion in the first place. While she usually wasn''t averse to making suggestive jokes and being flirtatious, the moniker ''faithful dog'' irked her a little, as she was worried about whether the other party felt it to be appropriate. Thankfully, she wasn''t a moron and therefore didn''t lash out at someone just because of what she perceived to be an injustice towards another person. She knew it was far better to first hear out the potential ''victim'' in question.

    "Is that true, Mina? And are you okay with being referred to in such a way?"

    Contrary to her expectations, the moment she turned towards her, the Chienthrope girl had already entirely stopped being downcast. Instead, her glorious title was replaying itself in her head over and over again, causing her eyes to sparkle with pride and her ears to perk up. Her tail had resumed its rapid dirt-stirring operation.

    "Yes! I am milord''s most faithful dog!!"

    For a while, Isaac feared that she would start dancing in excitement, but now that the ripples in her heart that had been set off by their reunion had started to calm down, she was able to keep her emotions in check better. With a smile on his face, he heaved a sigh of relief.

    Even though she was still a little bit weirded out by this dynamic, mostly because she hadn''t interacted much - if at all - with Mina before this, Elfy finally released a resigned sigh and shrugged, then she smiled apologetically.

    "Alright. Sorry about the misunderstanding, then. I had just been a little bit worried about you."

    While Mina was reassuring the meddling human girl that it was no problem at all and that she felt honoured to be cared about, Aselina had just been staring at the whole exchange blankly. Finally, she tilted her head. To her, Mina''s previous display had looked natural and innocent, so she didn''t understand why some of the others had directed enmity towards Isaac. And for once, she had actually seen far more of the truth of the matter than some of the others.

    ''She called Isaac ''milord''... would that be the appropriate way to address him?''

    Unbeknownst to Isaac, his most recent retainer''s mind had already started to be corrupted by his most fanatic follower.

    Now that this small diversion had blown over, Isaac finally had some time to greet the rest of his people. He happily patted Jakk''s, Kalin''s and Quinn''s shoulders and picked up Averin to carry him around. Everything went as expected, with no more emotional breakdowns. Just like Mina, both Averin and Quinn had an increase in loyalty, with the former''s increasing by five and the latter''s increasing by 15. Compared to his most senior of retainers, they were still a long way off from reaching the maximum, but it was clear that they did also feel reassured now that he had returned.

    Surrounded by so many people who weren''t female, Isaac felt a little relieved. With them in the picture, the whole group was a lot more balanced and he would get far less envious stares from the ignorant passersby. After all, he was well aware of what kind of feelings a singular guy followed by a bunch of good-looking women would evoke in other people.

    Anyway, now that everything else had been dealt with, there was an opportunity to address what - or rather who - he had been wondering about this whole time.

    "Excuse me, but who is this young lady? I don''t believe we''ve met before."

    As she was suddenly being addressed, Valenoa shrinked back a little and grasped Kalin''s arm, subconsciously hiding behind him a little. At the same time, she shot Isaac a curious and inquisitive gaze.

    "I-I''m Valenoa. Nice to meet you, Isaa--- Mr. Blackshaw."

    Her voice sounded endearing and innocent, making everyone who heard it take an immediate liking towards her. But even though it hadn''t been intended, listening to a beauty address him in such a way when they were not in a business relationship made Isaac - again - want to cough up blood and the smile he showed in response therefore turned a little bit forced.

    "Please just call me Isaac."

    Of course, he wasn''t blind. He had noticed how close this girl was to his subordinate, so after she agreed to change her term of address, Isaac looked at Kalin with an inquisitive look on his face, clearly implying for him to explain what was going on. At that time, he noticed Kalin stumbling almost imperceptibly, as if he had been overcome by a sudden bout of slight weakness, before hurriedly catching himself again. Even though Isaac wanted to inquire about it, that would just further derail the conversation so he simply raised his eyebrow a little and stared at a certain very suspicious piece of jewellery for a moment before postponing looking into this any further until tomorrow.

    "Well, it''s like this¡­"

    As Kalin wasn''t oblivious, he had noticed what Isaac wanted him to do and explained how the group had come across Valenoa and what had happened since then. Jakk and Mina occasionally interjected from the side with some details that he had forgotten, so it didn''t take long to piece the whole picture together.

    ''An amnesiac, huh?''

    Because it seemed like he was blatantly sizing her up, Valenoa couldn''t help but grow a little shy and blush, while at the same time instinctively clutching Kalin''s arm again. Noticing that she was uncomfortable, Isaac turned to look away from the group, into the empty air. After a short moment, he nodded slightly, then a smile played across his lips and he faced the nervous redhead again.

    "Alright, you can continue to stay with everyone else. I don''t mind providing for your living expenses until your memories return. After or if they do, I will ask you to choose between staying in exchange for some terms or leaving, though, so be prepared for that."

    Hearing their leader support their independent decision, Kalin, Mina and Jakk perked up, clearly relieved. Even Valenoa, who had been a little bit apprehensive about the whole situation, showed a grateful, breathtaking smile.

    "Thank you sooo much!"

    Kalin blanked out completely when seeing this, causing quite a few people to send knowing smiles his way. Isaac also looked at him with a peculiar glint in his eyes, before talking to Valenoa again.

    "I hope you can understand that there will be some times where I can''t let you be present alongside my people. It''s simply for confidentiality reasons and nothing against you personally."

    Attempting to show that she understood, the red haired beauty nodded her head hurriedly, before trying to put him at ease with her words.

    "I know, I''m ultimately an outsider. I won''t take it to heart, so don''t worry!"

    Smirking at her remark, Isaac nodded his head, then he turned around and looked at Aselina, motioning for her to walk up next to him. With a hand on her shoulder, he smiled at the rest of his subordinates.

    "Allow me to introduce you to someone as well. This is Aselina Sceaga. She''s my newest subordinate and now one of us. I hope you can all get along with her."

    Realization flashed across the group''s faces and quickly, they surrounded the slightly overwhelmed raccoon girl. The one to be the most doting, by far, was Mina. Immediately after Isaac had introduced her, she had grasped Aselina''s hands and beamed at her enthusiastically. She didn''t mind the mostly expressionless, cold and confused face of the poor raccoon girl, as she had instantly felt close to her. After all, Aselina was a subordinate of her lord, had a tail, had animal ears and was a girl. They were really similar¡­ more or less. She felt like she had met a soul mate of some kind, or at least someone that would make her feel a lot more at home and relaxed amongst this group of primarily men. Yes, Valenoa had recently started to live here as well, but she wasn''t pledged to her lord - Aselina gave her a wholly different feeling.

    The rest also didn''t have any adverse reactions. Kalin welcomed the addition of a new comrade, Jakk shot a knowing smile in Isaac''s direction, clearly misunderstanding something again, and Quinn treated Aselina politely. He couldn''t just open up to her this quickly, so he was already doing his best by not shunning her. Getting used to her would take at least a few days. Meanwhile, Averin¡­ well, the rooster was doing fine, but once she noticed that this Jack Bird variant could talk - which she had previously seemingly missed - Aselina''s eyes widened in shock and she stumbled backwards. Mina quickly supported her, to keep her from falling.

    "A-A monster that can talk!?"

    Aselina''s eyes were trembling in far more confusion than usual. Something like this¡­ it shouldn''t be possible, right?

    "Hmph, of course I can talk! If I, the great Averin, wasn''t capable of a simple thing such as speech, would I still dare to use the word ''great'' to address myself?"

    With an arrogant sneer on his face, which somehow managed to look really adorable, Averin stuck out his chest, before he got unceremoniously picked up by Isaac. He had been standing on his shoulder this entire time, so he was close enough to not have any opportunity to escape.

    "He may be a monster, but that doesn''t matter. He''s sworn his absolute loyalty to me, so you can rely on him. More importantly, he''s fluffy."

    Without waiting for a response, Isaac placed Averin in Aselina''s arms, making her shrink back initially, before the comfortable and relaxing sensation of touching the Jack Bird variant''s feathers set in. Nigh instantly, her wariness subsided and she began to play with Averin as if he were a plush toy, causing the rooster to mutter about the injustice he was subjected to under his breath. Very quickly, Mina joined Aselina and the two cuddled with the Isaac Familia''s certified hugging pillow, its most potent cure for depression.

    Now that any and all immediate matters had been taken care of and everything had calmed down again, Isaac led the way inside the base. There was no need to stand around outside anymore, so they could just take a seat inside and loosen up. Soon after, the group got to eat a hearty homemade dinner courtesy of Mina - and Kalin who cut the vegetables.

    When they all had their fill, Aselina resolutely stated that she had decided that she would stay here at the base with the rest of the subordinates. Elfy, Lefiya, Tiona and Tione decided to escort her back to her room as she would have to pick up her belongings. They would also see if she needed help with packing her things. Admittedly, Elfy and Tione had just been searching for a chance to bid their temporary farewell and used this opportunity to drag their respective burdens along.

    With that group gone, the only ones left with Isaac were Ais, Averin, Jakk, Kalin, Mina, Quinn¡­ and Valenoa.

    Aware of the latter''s presence, he decided to use words that didn''t reveal too many details and could easily be interpreted in various ways.

    "Tomorrow, I''ll be having a look at how much all of you have improved while I was gone. Also, I''ll be inspecting the results of your homework, so please be prepared."

    Seeing everyone but Ais and Valenoa, who he hadn''t been addressing in the first place, nod, he relaxed on his sofa until they all heard a knock on the door and found Aselina standing outside, with a massive backpack filled with various odds and ends slung over her shoulder. She had successfully stuffed all of her belongings in there.

    In the following minutes, the group helped her settle into her new room, while Ais and Isaac watched them from the hallway, happily holding hands. Suddenly, he noticed Ais moving closer, getting on her toes and whispering in his ear.

    "When we talk to Loki tomorrow, I''ll be telling her that I want to be roommates with you from now on."

    There was a slight blush on her cheeks and she was eyeing him sheepishly, causing him to feel the urge to kiss her¡­ which he did, after blurring their existence slightly so they wouldn''t be accidentally ogled by others.

    There were far too many pairs of eyes here, so he would feel a little uncomfortable. If there were only women around, he would mind it a little less, as they would most likely not be looking at Ais with impure thoughts - he would be their only victim. But here, quite a number of men were also present and even though they were his people and were aware that any such thoughts about their leader''s beloved would be inappropriate, they might not be able to help it. As he didn''t want to have to reprimand them for something they were incapable of controlling, he didn''t allow the situation to develop in such a direction in the first place.

    Shortly after Aselina had been settled in, Jakk took his leave because he planned to delve into the dungeon for a bit, just like every late evening to early night.

    An hour or so later, everyone but Ais, Isaac and Mina had retreated to their own rooms to go to sleep. The first two were sitting on one of the sofas in the living room, with Ais having closed her eyes and leaning against Isaac''s shoulder. Meanwhile, Mina was fidgeting around next to them, clearly intent on talking about something.

    "What is it?"

    Somewhat startled by her lord''s voice interrupting her thoughts, Mina shuddered a little, then she looked up and directly into his eyes. Seeing how tranquil and unbothered they were, she calmed down a little and took a deep breath, then she sat down on his other side and bit her lips. After a few minutes of silence, she finally got the courage to explain what had been weighing on her mind, all the while clenching her fists and shivering slightly.

    "Milord, while you were gone, I''ve¡­ I''ve had nightmares. About my parents. About¡­ about what happened to them. I just¡­ their faces¡­"

    Towards the end of her words, the normally cheerful girl had started to uncontrollably sob, even though she was trying very hard to hold back, causing her to cough painfully while crying. She truly hadn''t wanted to bother her lord with this, but she just¡­ she just felt like she wanted to tell him. Like she wanted to confide in him.

    Having noticed the change in the atmosphere, Ais had already gotten up from her comfortable position, enabling Isaac to move a bit more freely, which he promptly did. Knowing how formidable of an effect his head pats usually had, he gently pulled the crying Mina closer and patted her head again, trying his best to make her feel better while she got all of this out of her system. Shortly after he touched her, it felt like the dog girl had lost the majority of the strength in her body and she slumped against him in a somewhat unnatural and uncomfortable way, ultimately making him decide to lay her down and let her rest her head on his lap. With a soothing smile on his face, he continued to pat her head and ears.

    Even though her lord was treating her so extremely well, Mina just couldn''t stop her tears and her dazed state was only interrupted when an as of yet unfamiliar hand suddenly started to caress her head as well. It was smaller than her lord''s and seemed to be far more fragile and ethereal, somewhat similar to the hand of a fairy. A bit taken aback by this, the Chienthrope girl opened her eyes and looked in the direction that the hand originated from. Her eyes were still overflowing with tears, so she could barely see anything, but even in her distorted sight, she could vaguely make out a familiar, angelically beautiful golden-haired girl subtly smiling at her.

    "Milady¡­"

    For a moment, Mina''s sorrow-filled face brightened up a little, an embarrassed smile on her lips, then her consciousness drifted away, causing her to finally fall asleep. Tears were still occasionally dripping out of the corners of her eyes, but her mental state seemed to have markedly improved.

    While he was continuing to pat his most loyal pet''s head, a slew of system notifications suddenly flooded Isaac''s field of view.

    [ Subordinate Mina Teagle has acknowledged secondary host Ais Wallenstein.

    Her loyalty towards the latter will henceforth be displayed as the stat ''Loyalty (Ais)''.

    Your secondary host will also be able to view this stat. ]

    [ Mina Teagle''s loyalty has increased by 1. ]

    [ Mina Teagle''s loyalty has reached the maximum.

    A new stat will be generated for her...

    Mina Teagle has been bestowed with the stat ''Devotion''.

    Quest ''Make one subordinate''s loyalty reach the maximum.'' completed. 100 AP rewarded. ]

 Chapter 75 - Nightmarish News

    Without giving Isaac''s eyes any chance to rest, even more system notifications appeared. This time, however, they were accompanied by a strange feeling. While previously, he had always sensed a link between everyone else that was a part of the system and himself, just now, between Mina and him, yet another kind of connection had bloomed.

    Compared to the stale and emotionless one courtesy of the system, this one seemed like a vigorous river that continuously provided both of them with a strange yet familiar kind of energy. The origin of this energy was both of them. Mina sent some of it Isaac''s way, while another portion of it was sent her way with him as the source. Neither of them lost any of their strength, but both were able to provide a very small amount of energy for each other. It might only be barely noticeable, but it was still there. If it hadn''t been for Isaac''s exceptional senses, he never would have detected it.

    [ The host and Mina Teagle have obtained the Skill ''Reverential Resonance''. ]

    [ Reverential Resonance: Users of this skill can be classified as either the benefactor or one of the beneficiaries. The beneficiaries will resonate with the benefactor and provide them with a certain amount of power, while in return, a percentage of the benefactor''s power will be added to their own. It is a permanent, passive effect. The exact numbers are determined depending on the beneficiaries'' Devotion stat.

    The benefactor will get an X% buff to all of their stats.

    The beneficiaries will get buffed with Y% of the benefactor''s stats.

    (X = total Devotion of all beneficiaries x 0.01)

    (Y = personal Devotion x 0.01)

    Benefactor: Isaac Blackshaw

    Beneficiaries: Mina Teagle ]

    Once he had taken a closer look at this unexpected new Skill, Isaac showed a content smile. While, for now, no world-shaking changes would take place, if he chose to proceed on this path of making more and more of his subordinates develop the Devotion stat, he would eventually be provided with an ungodly amount of stats. The maximum of the Devotion stat was 100 for a single subordinate, so they could only provide him with 1 percent of additional stats each, at the maximum. But as there was no upper limit to the stats that could be provided by this Skill, it wasn''t underwhelming at all!

    Even for Mina, the maximum of 1% of his stats that she could receive as a buff was anything but a small amount. While currently, it would only amount to a bit more than 50 for each stat, as his own growth would only speed up and not slow down in the slightest, this could translate to unimaginable benefits for his loyal dog girl. Because he had quite a bit of experience with these passive stat buffs by now, he could tell that the laws of this world also wouldn''t take this Skill into account when calculating excelia gains and rank-up qualifications.

    Was this broken? Yes. Would this make her path easier than others''? Yes. Was it unfair? Yes. But that didn''t really matter. As his subordinate, she would eventually outclass the masses anyway. It would have been weird if she wouldn''t have gotten any benefits from being such a loyal follower of his. Even if others would want to emulate her, they wouldn''t be able to just up and change their feelings regarding him. Maybe because of her Chienthrope heritage, it had been a little bit easier for her to arrive at this point. In any case, Isaac was sure that it would take everyone else a long time to catch up to her, and it wasn''t even guaranteed that they ever would.

    It had to be stated that this new Skill was quite similar to the way that deities increased their strength in a few of the fictional worlds that Isaac knew about. Their devout followers provided them with the power of faith, so in return, those followers would get blessed by their gods. The only real difference between this Skill and those deities'' arrangements was that the latter rarely ever openly shared their power with their believers. Even if they did, it usually came with a heavy price beyond just the faith energy that they were already being provided with. It was simply exploitation, or another form of slavery. Some even more self-centered deities wouldn''t even provide any miracles, powers or blessings in return for their followers'' faith. Had there been a god in Isaac''s old world, that being would have fallen into this latter category.

    All of this wasn''t to say that all of these fictional deities could be categorized as such, no. There were indeed some fair and just ones who didn''t skimp out on the benefits that they provided to their believers. Still, in all of the works of fiction that Isaac had consumed, those were a terrifyingly tiny minority.

    Loyalty and devotion - it was quite hard to pinpoint what exactly they were. Even Isaac couldn''t give an all-encompassing definition for either. However, he could use his own definitions, which he most likely had used during the creation of the system.

    Someone absolutely loyal to another would never betray them or their trust, no matter the circ.u.mstances. Still, that didn''t mean that they would offer up their entire life and being without a second thought. That latter part was the job of devotion. One would pledge their entire being, or increasingly larger parts of it, to a person or a cause.

    Of course, these two traits weren''t mutually exclusive, which was why someone loyal was also quite often devoted to the person they had pledged themselves to. But still, devotion wasn''t and never would be an inherent part of loyalty. Some called a mixture of loyalty and devotion ''true loyalty'', but at least for now, the system didn''t use this term.

    Because loyalty and devotion weren''t one and the same, Isaac was extremely glad that Mina had been bestowed with it. Or rather, with the ability for it to be displayed and some additional effects. After glancing at her Devotion stat, he was sure that she had already acc.u.mulated quite a bit of it before the stat had been made visible to him. It currently sat at 24, which seemed somewhat low, but as even a 1 would have been a good start already, this was truly outstanding. Isaac was already looking forward to what would happen if she ever reached the maximum, although that was sure to still take a long time.

    After patting Mina''s head for a few more minutes, Isaac stared at a specific empty spot in the room and sighed.

    "Please show yourself already. There is no need to hide."

    It took a few seconds, but suddenly, a head of somewhat messy, shoulder-length grey hair appeared out of nowhere, with a cloaked body following shortly after. On her sickly but beautiful face, Hel sported an unhappy pout, clearly annoyed at having to show herself in front of people that weren''t just Isaac.

    A hint of surprise flashed past Ais'' eyes, then she nodded as if she had just comprehended something.

    "Oh, it''s you. Nice to see you again, Hel."

    Even though they hadn''t met in a long time, Ais wasn''t a stranger to this girl. Or rather, this goddess. Still, in the past, they didn''t have too close of a relationship. Her own heart had been far more guarded towards others, so Hel had only felt like an older cousin that she didn''t interact with much. If they had met again before she had encountered Isaac, she wouldn''t have shown much of a reaction, but after seeing so much of his life and acc.u.mulating experience, now a slight and gentle smile played across her lips. She knew that Hel was an ally, a pitiful one at that, as she also had to suffer under Loki''s wayward hands. Because she had been the goddess that was the second closest to her in her life, Ais felt joyful at seeing her again.

    An embarrassed blush crept up Hel''s cheeks, looking a bit more blue than the expected red. She felt slightly guilty for having left the formerly young Ais in Loki''s clutches, which was exactly why she hadn''t wanted to show her face initially. But she knew how close of a relationship Ais and Isaac had, so it was inevitable that they would have to meet one day. If she intended to stay around him, that is. Thankfully, everything seemed to have gone far more swimmingly than she had feared.

    "Same here¡­"

    After mumbling these words under her breath, Hel sat down on the sofa directly opposite of the one the three others were lounging on. She then proceeded to stare at Isaac, waiting for him to break the somewhat awkward silence, which he did, with a wry smile on his face.

    "It''s been quite a while. I''m glad to see that you''re still doing okay. I hope Loki hasn''t given you any troubles?"

    With a relieved smirk, Hel nodded.

    "Yeah, she has been unable to catch me so far."

    A bit of small talk later, Isaac finally found a chance to say what he had been meaning to this entire time. Ever since he had seen Hel outside of the base, he already knew what she had been doing.

    "Thanks for keeping an eye on them, really."

    An awkward but slightly happy smile played across Hel''s lips, which was quickly replaced by a worried expression. She glanced at the sleeping Mina for a while, then she turned back to Isaac with a steadfast look on her face.

    "There were a few things that happened while you were gone¡­"

    It took almost an hour for Hel to recount everything she had seen during these past few weeks. She had watched over his people without having been asked to, simply because she felt the need to prove that she had some value. That way, he would feel more obligated to protect her. Well, those might have been her initial thoughts, but she couldn''t deny that she had grown quite fond of a certain dog girl over that period of time¡­

    In the end, no matter man or god, almost all people could appreciate cute things.

    Once they had finished chatting, Hel bade her farewell and went to her secret hiding spot to rest. If she had returned to her old room, then Loki would have undoubtedly found her already. The stalker goddess had also mentioned that she wanted to accompany Isaac when he went to visit Loki tomorrow, as their goals somewhat aligned.

    Now that the young goddess was dealt with, Isaac gently carried Mina to her room and tucked her in, then he and Ais left the base and returned to the main manor, casually strolling there while holding hands during this moonlit night. It was already close to 11 p.m. when they parted.

    Tonight, Isaac didn''t plan to do anything but get a fulfilling four hours of sleep. With that, he would be able to avoid having to sleep tomorrow. During the time that he had been accompanying the expedition party, he had honestly really missed the times where he could afford to only sleep once every two days.

    The handful of drops of mana that his new Skill provided him with were almost instantly added to the circulating flow, so he spent the last few hours before going to sleep training his Eyes of Hermes. In the end, he decided to test something and chose to survey the entirety of his subordinates'' base. He dozed off while attempting to continue to do so, which initially still worked out. But when his consciousness fell into a deep sleep, he finally lost control of his mana and the surveillance ended. This first attempt was a failure. Admittedly, while he had been able to see the base when he was only sleeping lightly, he hadn''t been capable of paying any attention to what was happening.

    -----

    At around 6 a.m. the next morning, Ais, Aselina, Hel, Isaac and Lefiya had dragged Loki to her study shortly after she had awoken. Or rather, shortly after they had forcefully woken her up by continually knocking loudly on the door to her room. Right now, the usually energetic goddess was still somewhat drowsy and trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes. She clearly hadn''t gone to bed early yesterday.

    "So, what do you all want?"

    Her Top Executives had already informed her all about what had happened during the expedition. Finn had also said that they would be able to do a few more secretive missions and expeditions in the future, but when she had asked him about how they were going to do that, or what exactly would be happening, he had said that those things would have to remain a secret for a while, as he wasn''t at liberty to say anything. Knowing that her familia''s Captain would never betray her and that he wouldn''t keep an outsider''s secret from her, she had been able to guess that it had something to do with Isaac and hadn''t inquired about it any longer.

    Was the reason that Isaac had decided to visit her today connected to that? Then why did her lovely Hel come along as well?

    The expression on the young man''s face was resolute and firm, so he clearly wasn''t here to joke around.

    "I''ve come to inform you that Aselina has sworn her absolute loyalty to me and become my subordinate."

    His words instantly woke up the yawning goddess completely. A member of her familia pledging their allegiance to another person besides her was indeed huge news.

    "What do you mean by that?"

    Loki''s slightly opened eyes were glaring at Isaac, causing him to release a helpless sigh.

    "It''s like this¡­"

    A lengthy explanation followed, revealing how exactly this situation had come to be. In the end, Isaac also tried to clarify what it meant for someone to swear their absolute loyalty to him.

    "Once I have offered someone an opportunity to do so and they pledge themselves to me, this agreement can never be broken, not even by dying and reincarnating. It''s an eternally binding contract. Aselina will, of course, still be a part of the familia, just like me, but she has now become one of my people and there is really nothing that can be done about it. Still, you shouldn''t worry about this, as I treat my people very well. The familia will undoubtedly welcome yet another rising star very soon. My faction can be considered either a sub-faction or a basically eternal ally to the familia, so all in all, the familia won''t take any losses."

    To take in all of what he had just said took Loki quite a while. In the process of doing so, she continually rubbed her forehead, frowning nearly constantly. In the end, she released a defeated sigh and looked at Aselina with a helpless smile.

    "I understand. Alright, I''ll accept it. It''s not like I have a choice anyway¡­"

    Even the dense raccoon girl understood what she was getting at this time and showed an awkward, guilty expression. She really should have only gone ahead with all of this loyalty business after informing her goddess.

    "Anything else?"

    Loki was quite certain that there had to be more than just this piece of news. After all, why else would Hel have come along? Ais and even Lefiya accompanying Isaac wasn''t anything out of the ordinary, but Hel? It was certainly rare to see her, to say the least.

    This time, different from what the trickster goddess had expected, it was Ais who spoke up.

    "I want to share a room with Isaac from now on."

    Although she had been preparing herself for words like these for a couple of weeks now, Loki still had to clutch her chest and double over, clearly in gut-wrenching pain. When Riveria had told her that Ais and Isaac had been sleeping in the same tent for almost the entirety of the expedition, she had already been aware that this day wouldn''t be far off, but still, to be asked such a question¡­ her heart wasn''t ready!!

    With slightly teary eyes, Loki glanced at the two lovebirds, who weren''t even embarrassed about holding hands, all the while seemingly ignoring her plight. She also turned to face the blushing Hel and Lefiya for a time, then she closed her eyes and leaned backwards, fully relaxing on her sofa. She felt like she had just grown a couple of decades older¡­ which didn''t mean anything, considering how ancient she was.

    "Fine. I''ll allow it. Isaac, you can stay in Ais'' room starting today. There is more than enough room for a second bed in there."

    If he hadn''t been a part of her own familia, and if she hadn''t been painfully aware that this day would inevitably come from the moment that she had decided to accept him as one of her children, then Loki would have never permitted this. Still, Ais was already an a.d.u.l.t and no matter how she behaved, Loki truly only wanted the best for her children¡­

    A grateful smile appeared on Ais'' face, figuratively lighting up the whole room. When Loki gazed upon this ethereal beauty, the heavy clouds over her heart were instantly dispelled and a slight smile played across her lips.

    ''I hope you''ll be happy, Ais¡­''

    While his goddess was basking in the glow of Ais'' breathtaking smile, Isaac used this chance to drop yet another bombshell. Even he felt bad for forcing her to accept so many clearly unwelcome news today, but there was no other choice as he had already given his word. Now that she was in a good mood again, it was the perfect chance to use this to lighten the heavy blow his words would deal. One had to strike while the iron - or in this case, the goddess - was hot... well, that sounded a little more inappropriate than intended.

    "I can update my own Status, and also the Status of anyone in the Loki Familia. I mentioned this when I informed Aselina about my various abilities, and she, Ais and Lefiya asked me to be the one updating their Status from now on."

    An expression of abject shock and horror spread on Loki''s face and she opened her eyes widely, clearly in disbelief.

    "Why? Why would the three of you want that!? Tell me this isn''t true!!"

    Even though their goddess was staring at them with pleading puppy eyes, all three girls had already steeled their hearts and looked back at her with single-minded, unmoving countenances.

    "You always s.e.x.u.a.lly harass us and we''re not okay with that. Isaac is far more trustworthy in that regard."

    Both Ais and Aselina nodded along with Lefiya''s harsh words, and even Hel showed her agreement. Seeing all of her girls turn against her, Loki could only accusingly glare at Isaac. She didn''t even care to think about the fact that he had basically just told her that her workload could be reduced by half.

    "This is all your fault!!"

    Helplessly, but with just as resolute of an expression as the rest, Isaac shook his head.

    "We both know that isn''t true. You''re the only one to blame for this. If you had treated them more respectfully and hadn''t tried to take advantage of them time and time again, they wouldn''t have chosen the first alternative that came their way."

    Loki wasn''t an idiot - of course she knew that he spoke the truth! Still, she enjoyed teasing the girls far too much. Who could blame her for attempting to cop a few feels when she was close to beautiful girls? Actually, quite a lot of people could and would, but of course, she wouldn''t acknowledge this.

    Shivering from sadness and a hefty chunk of rage, Loki clenched her fists tightly and lowered her gaze to stare at the table, refusing to look at any of the people around her. She appeared similar to a little girl who had been scolded quite heavily for her pranks. A little girl who was unrepentant.

    "While we''re on the topic, please don''t s.e.x.u.a.lly harass me anymore, Loki. You''re my family and I love you, but I really don''t like it when you do that. I want to live with you again and openly spend time with you. So why do you always have to drive me away?"

    Hel''s words only served to worsen Loki''s trembling, even a few tears could now be seen in the corners of her eyes. She had always been a s.e.x offender - it felt natural to her to take advantage of others. She didn''t really hurt them, she only made them feel profoundly uncomfortable. At least that was how she had always justified her actions to herself. This hadn''t only been going on for just a millennium or two - it had been millions of times longer than that! While there were indeed some reasons for it that she couldn''t control, which made her more inclined to performing such prank-like misdeeds, the main reason that it had become a part of her very being by now was the simply endless amount of times that she had performed such acts of deviancy. Having such an integral part of herself criticized so heavily and openly¡­ it hurt.

    "Loki."

    All of a sudden, Isaac''s voice interrupted her slightly hateful, annoyed thoughts. With tears in her eyes, she raised her head to look up at the young man who was now standing right in front of her.

    "I''m sure that there are a few people amongst the members of the familia who would be perfectly fine with you groping them or¡­ doing even more than that. If you asked them beforehand, that is. So don''t give up all hope, okay?"

    Indeed, he wasn''t wrong. Considering the air of otherworldly beauty around the gods and goddesses, surely a few of the women of the familia - and quite a few of the men - would be more than happy to allow Loki to touch them in inappropriate places. But there was a huge difference between suddenly ambushing someone... and asking them for permission before doing the same thing. Even someone who would be open to a physical relationship would oftentimes be appalled if such acts were forced upon them without their consent.

    Loki knew this, of course, so she only slightly nodded her head. Then, she was surprised to see Isaac put a hand on her shoulder and look directly into her eyes.

    For a moment, she subconsciously released a bit of her Divine Aura, intending to make him back off because she was really annoyed right now, but of course, that action had entirely no effect on him. He didn''t even need to rely on his own Divine Aura to cancel out hers.

    "Remember, Loki. You brought this upon yourself. There is nobody to blame but you. You can be better than this. I don''t mean to tell you that you have to treat absolutely everyone in a more respectful manner, but at least control yourself better when you''re around your children, okay?"

    His voice was oddly calming and rhythmical, while his eyes seemed unfathomably deep. Even Loki, who had originally planned to protest loudly, somehow got lost in them for a few moments, giving the group that had just visited her enough time to exit the study, leaving behind a conflicted, distracted and sad goddess.

    Now that she was all alone, the habitual trickster curled up on the sofa and wordlessly stared at the ceiling. Only after close to half an hour had passed did she finally release a heavy sigh. She couldn''t do anything about these girls who had chosen to avoid her ''love and care'' for the time being. It was their right to refuse her and she didn''t want to force them into following her clearly selfish wishes now that they had another option.

    With her gaze growing more and more decisive, Loki sat up again and clenched her fists, having made some kind of decision.

    ''I can''t let the damage spread. I''ll keep the other girls from getting to know about what just happened!''

    Little did she know that no matter how hard she tried, this alternative to their goddess'' s.e.x.u.a.l harassment would quickly spread via word of mouth.

 Chapter 76 - Confirmation At Last

    After they had eaten breakfast, Isaac, Ais, Aselina, Averin, Hel, Jakk, Kalin, Lefiya, Mina and Quinn assembled in the base. Today would be quite busy and even though Jakk wouldn''t get his Status updated, he had to tag along with the rest of the group to submit his homework, so it wasn''t just his own curiosity that brought him here. And Hel¡­ well, she was invisible again, so nobody but Isaac could see her, but she had decided to stick around for whatever reason. He didn''t plan to stop her.

    Because quite a few of the ones gathered here weren''t comfortable with taking off part of their clothes in front of such a huge audience, it was decided that the group would just wait in the common room. They would enter one of the as of yet unoccupied rooms of the base in alphabetical order, where Isaac would be waiting to perform his update duties. Luckily, they didn''t even need to tell Valenoa to give them some privacy, as the beauty was still sound asleep.

    The first one in line was Ais, so she just followed Isaac when he separated from the group. Fortunately - or rather, unfortunately - she already wore clothing that exposed her upper back, which was usually hidden underneath her long hair. While she also owned far less revealing attire, she had specifically chosen to wear this one as it made her Falna more easily accessible. When Loki had updated her Status in the past, she had always grown more excited when Ais had to take off her clothing to reveal her back, so she had bought this outfit to spite her a little. By now, she was used to putting it on whenever she got an update, so that was why Isaac didn''t get to enjoy the sight of her undressing. Quite a shame¡­

    Once they arrived at the unoccupied room turned Status update terminal, Isaac nodded at Ais with a gentle smile. He had her lie down face-first on a sofa that he had taken out of his inventory, then he brushed aside her hair and dripped a drop of his blood between her shoulder blades. Even though he could have gotten distracted by the smoothness of her skin, or just her general beauty, he focused fully on his current task - there was a time to fool around, and a time to be serious. Right now was definitely the latter.

    Soon, the Loki Familia''s emblem - a slightly ominous, mischievously grinning clown - appeared and Isaac''s focus peaked. Just like a story, he read Ais'' accomplishments, then he channelled her excelia into the respective parts of her Falna.

    As he wouldn''t just update her Status this time, but also make her rank up to Level 6, Ais had a choice to make.

    "Spirit Healing, Chain Attack or Mage, which one do you want?"

    Under normal circ.u.mstances, Development Abilities could only be upgraded to a higher grade during the rank up process. Or rather, that was what the vast majority of people were convinced of. It was actually possible to increase the grade of a Development Ability through personal effort. If one, for example, got far better at swordsmanship, then the grade of Swordsman would rise. It was just extremely difficult to do so, and therefore rarely seen. This, in turn, caused most people to subconsciously rely on the rank up process for their Development Ability advancements. And as they had already grown reliant on it, not being able to increase the grade of these abilities outside of ranking up had become their ''truth''. As more and more people heard about these claims, they would subconsciously develop the same reliance and wouldn''t doubt the experiences of their companions or teachers, thereby causing this vicious cycle to continue unabated. Oftentimes, the most widespread beliefs were also the most inaccurate.

    Thankfully, Ais had already shown herself to be capable of shattering these subconscious restraints, as she had been able to increase the grade of her Swordsman Development Ability through her own effort before. Back during the expedition, after she had asked him to update her Status from that point onward, she had told him that she would choose new Development Abilities during each rank up, as she could just increase the grades of the ones she already had on her own, somehow. Because of this, Isaac didn''t even list out her already acquired abilities when telling her about her available options.

    [ Spirit Healing (I): If the user doesn''t utilize any mana for five seconds, regenerates 0.1% of the total mana. ]

    [ Chain Attack (I): If the user continues to aim his attacks at the same target, each successive attack will increase the user''s stats by 1% for the duration of one minute. Can be stacked up to a maximum of 10%. ]

    [ Mage (I): The effect of any Magic will get increased by 5%, while its mana cost will get reduced by 5%. ]

    All three of these were tempting in their own right, and would one have the chance, they would choose to take all of them. Still, Ais had to make a choice. After carefully thinking about it, she picked Spirit Healing.

    Chain Attack didn''t have any drawbacks and would make Monster Rex fights easier, while Mage would help her signature Magic, Ariel, to become stronger. But Spirit Healing could help her achieve something the other two couldn''t - to fight for longer periods of time. For a Magic user like herself, her mana was just another form of stamina. While her Endurance provided her with a fair share of stamina, so much that it seemed almost inexhaustible, her mana would always run out a long time before she even noticed a decrease in her stamina. Her Ariel was simply too costly, and she wasn''t able to use it for too long during fights, as even though her Magic stat supplied her with a lot of mana, it would simply run dry. With Spirit Healing in the mix, she would only have to take short breaks in between using it to always stay topped off on mana. Of course, if she didn''t get any opportunities to cease using her Magic, she would deplete her mana at the same rate as before. Still, now she would theoretically be able to stay in top shape for longer, making her battles more consistent.

    After Ais had made her choice, Isaac finished her rank up and took a look at her Status.

    [ Name: Ais Wallenstein ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Race: Human, Unknown ]

    [ Level: 5 -> 6 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: D-554 -> S-971 -> I-0 (37118) ]

    [ Endurance: D-541 -> SS-1007 -> I-0 (38006) ]

    [ Dexterity: B-797 -> SSS-1340 -> I-0 (51695) ]

    [ Agility: B-795 -> SSS-1339 -> I-0 (51731) ]

    [ Magic: A-844 -> SSS-1458 -> I-0 (54308) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ Ariel ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Avenger ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Hunter: G -> F ]

    [ Abnormal Resistance: G ]

    [ Swordsman: E -> D ]

    [ Spirit Healing: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Chain Attack, Mage ]

    For the first time, Ais had been able to break past the perceived ''limit'' of S-999. And it wasn''t just by one or two stat points, instead, it was by hundreds. A part of the reason for this was that she had markedly improved her swordsmanship, enabling her to face far stronger opponents than before. But the most important part was definitely that she had been able to control her Avenger Skill during her battle against the huge number of Cadmus Dragons. Usually, she refrained from activating this Skill, as she would almost entirely be unable to control herself when she did. But thankfully, she was now able to keep a clear head. It was as if another hack had been added to her already hack-like abilities, as if a tiger had been given wings. If she hadn''t faced dragon-type monsters, she wouldn''t have had such a huge increase in her stats and would also not have earned as much excelia as she did.

    She had grown more during this single expedition than during the five or more previous ones combined. The main factor for this was that she had faced the most overwhelming odds, practically alone - Tiona and Tione had been far too busy fighting for their own survival to be able to help her. This showcased the inherent downsides to fighting in a party - the excelia gain would be vastly reduced. While it was safer, one would take tens or even hundreds of times longer to grow if multiple people attacked a single monster.

    Even though this wasn''t her first rank up and she had already mentally prepared herself, Ais still let out a surprised gasp upon feeling her vastly increased strength. So as to not accidentally hurt him, she softly motioned at Isaac to give her some space and performed some stretches, then she tested her reflexes. As they were currently indoors, she was too afraid to do any more than that, as she could end up destroying the whole building if something went wrong. There was no way around it, she would just have to take a look at how much more powerful she had become later.

    While Ais had been inspecting her improved self, Isaac had written up a Status sheet for her to give to Loki. Their goddess had the right to know about any and all changes to her familia''s members, after all. As she had already had a look at her current capabilities via the system, Ais didn''t even need to look at it and just grabbed the sheet carefully. Then, she whispered a soft "Thank you" before leaving. She knew that she shouldn''t hold him up for too long right now, as there were still quite a lot of people waiting in line.

    The next of which was Aselina. The cold-looking raccoon girl knew that her stats wouldn''t undergo an earth-shattering change today, but she still wanted to increase her strength as much as possible before heading back into the dungeon. Only after she had gone through more of Isaac''s training and gotten a chance to face a plethora of strong opponents would there be a transformation.

    [ Name: Aselina Sceaga ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer) ]

    [ Race: Raccoon People ]

    [ Level: 2 ]

    [ Age: 18 ]

    [ Loyalty: 80/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: A-867 -> S-909 (3252) ]

    [ Endurance: A-859 -> S-905 (3241) ]

    [ Dexterity: C-624 -> C-652 (2336) ]

    [ Agility: D-593 -> C-610 (2210) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 (0) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ None ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Abnormal Resistance: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Swordsman ]

    Now, it was Averin''s turn. As he hadn''t gotten a chance to face any monsters that were far stronger than him all this time, his Status hadn''t seen much improvement. His growth was currently held back by the rest of the subordinates, but once they caught up to him in a short while, he would be able to soar again. The young Jack Bird variant knew this, so even though he felt a little annoyed at his ''slow'' progress, he didn''t complain.

    [ Name: Averin ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

    [ Race: Jack Bird Variant ]

    [ Level: 2 ]

    [ Age: 14 -> 38 days ]

    [ Loyalty: 80 -> 85/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-0 -> H-135 (702) ]

    [ Endurance: I-0 -> H-148 (680) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-0 -> G-201 (975) ]

    [ Agility: I-0 -> I-11 (2272) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 (3) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Atalantan Accelerate ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Beak Fighter: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance, Chain Attack ]

    The next to enter the room was Kalin. The young man was quite obviously a little nervous, as he had felt himself growing weaker time and time again during these past few weeks. Now that he would get a confirmation about whether or not he was just imagining things, he couldn''t help but clench his fists and tremble a little. Being uncertain was sometimes more comfortable than facing the truth.

    "I know what you''re worried about, but there''s no need to be afraid. If there are any problems, I''ll deal with them."

    A powerless smirk played across Kalin''s lips. Of course. Of course Isaac had noticed what was going on. It would have been weird if he hadn''t, as Kalin had had a hard time hiding this problem. Even though others that didn''t have a clue about his teacher''s capabilities would scoff at him for thoughts like these, he felt like the man in front of him could brace any storm, that he could deal with all potential issues. So hearing such a figure say these words, Kalin grew visibly relaxed and let a drop of blood fall on his exposed back.

    Even though Isaac paused in his rank up progress for a bit and even raised an eyebrow, he didn''t say anything and just handed Kalin his Status sheet after he was done, calmly waiting for his reaction.

    [ Name: Kalin Myre ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Familia) ]

    [ Race: Human ]

    [ Level: 1 ]

    [ Age: 15 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: F-369 -> F-357 -> B-759 ]

    [ Endurance: G-220 -> G-208 -> D-506 ]

    [ Dexterity: E-429 -> E-417 -> A-870 ]

    [ Agility: F-398 -> F386-> A-808 ]

    [ Magic: I-53 -> I-41 -> I-68 ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ None ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance, Spearman ]

    As soon as he saw the results, despite his rapid progress, a cold frown stole itself on Kalin''s face. Just as he had suspected, he had grown slightly weaker before. Each of his stats had been reduced by 12 points since the last update - this was far too even a number for it to be a coincidence. But what could be the cause of this!?

    Seeing his subordinate worry like this, Isaac released a sigh, then he patted Kalin''s shoulder and snapped him out of his thoughts.

    "If you want to know the culprit, it''s right here."

    Confused, Kalin lowered his head and glanced in the direction that Isaac was pointing at¡­ only to become completely baffled. What his teacher was accusing¡­ was his father''s stone ring pendant.

    "Do you mean this?"

    With a conflicted look on his face, he grabbed this memento, hoping for Isaac to respond with a "No". Sadly, he was fated to be disappointed this time.

    "Yes, it''s this ring. I had my suspicions before, but now that I''ve grown more accustomed to sensing the mana around me, I can clearly tell that it''s syphoning energy off of you. While usually, the amounts are so little that they won''t even reduce your stats and will just get covered by your natural regeneration, when I saw you grow weaker before, it had taken a far bigger bite than normal."

    A shiver ran down Kalin''s back as he heard this and he hastily took off the pendant, placed it on the table in front of him and distanced himself from it. If anyone else had told him such news, he would have doubted them. After all, who would believe that an unassuming little ring would have such an ability? But because the one who told him this was Isaac, the person he currently trusted the most, he didn''t waste any time on being indecisive.

    Isaac couldn''t blame Kalin for his reaction, but he also couldn''t help but show a pained smile. Why was that? Well, there was a slightly convoluted reason for it.

    In the stories he had read, protagonist-type characters quite often encountered certain objects that had something unusual about them. They would initially consume their strength or curse them in some other way, leading to them having quite the miserable life. Then, suddenly, they would reveal themselves to contain some sort of overpowered inheritance or a ''senior'' of some kind, mostly in the form of a soul. This would make it possible for the youngsters to profit from that knowledge, allowing them to rapidly increase their strength, ultimately standing at the peaks of their worlds.

    It was a plot device that many people wished would appear in their own lives, enabling them to break the shackles of normalcy. And Kalin''s ring looked to be one of these kinds of items.

    But why was Isaac so seemingly unhappy about this? Partially, it was because for a moment, he had felt like he was being played.

    If he hadn''t come along and saved Kalin, would this young man have gotten a chance to grow stronger? No, he would have just died in the dungeon, with nobody ever the wiser. This ring would have been lost possibly forever, and Kalin''s story would have ended. But that wasn''t what had happened. The ring had switched owners from father to son, and the son had been saved, becoming the student and subordinate of a monstrously powerful existence.

    Had Isaac not been 100 percent sure that his actions hadn''t been influenced by anyone or anything, he might have believed that an unseen hand had been at play here, directing him towards this protagonist-type character. For a moment, he hadn''t been able to help himself thinking along these lines, but ultimately, he knew that nothing in this world had the ability to stay hidden from him should it try to affect him.

    But if that wasn''t the case, what was? Well, it was actually quite simple. And it was the main reason for Isaac''s current state of mind.

    Nobody had directed him to do anything, it was simply coincidence. Admittedly, it was quite unlikely to come across a protagonist-type character in a world, so unlikely, even, that its probability could be ignored under normal circ.u.mstances. But what if there were a lot of such people in a world? Isaac knew that amongst the cast of the original DanMachi novels, quite a few of them could be classified as such. Still, why hadn''t he ever noticed? Compared to other fictional worlds that he knew of, a far higher percentage of the people of this world had tragic backstories and arguably overpowered, unique abilities. This world¡­ it had a high density of protagonist-type characters.

    ''Everyone is the main character of their own story.''

    These words were a popular quote in Isaac''s past world and he couldn''t deny them. Everyone was indeed the main character of their own lives. But ''protagonist-type characters'' were a wholly different concept. Not everyone had the potential to stand at the top of the world, reigning supreme above all others. There would always only be a handful of people who would be able to rise up to the challenge. All others would either not be mentally capable of handling what this journey would entail, or they would simply not be talented enough.

    Not everyone had a talent, not everyone was outstanding. Simply by definition, only a small amount of people would ever ''stand out''. Because the reality of the situation would oftentimes lead people to become disillusioned, they chose to lie to themselves, as it was so much easier to live in fictitious ignorance than to be honest with themselves.

    In any case, if a world had far more people of such an exceptional caliber, that would lead to the average abilities and talents of the people there being higher as well. Someone who would be qualified to be a protagonist in another world would become an unassuming bystander. They wouldn''t get a chance to glow as brightly as they could have had they been born somewhere or sometime else.

    How many of such people had left the stage unceremoniously, because they simply hadn''t come across any opportunities or encountered a very unlucky situation? There were probably countless tragedies like that, and Kalin would have been one of them.

    ''The one who survives is the true genius.''

    Words like these, albeit often verbalized slightly differently, were also quite widespread in a part of the stories that Isaac was familiar with. They were often spoken by antagonist-type characters who either had just slain or were about to slay a young lad with a bright future ahead of them. These youngsters were usually the most outstanding and talented people around, which caused some others to grow jealous. In an effort to keep their descendants from being overshadowed, these hypocrites would kill countless geniuses, proclaiming their averagely talented offspring to be the brightest genius of their generation.

    In Isaac''s eyes, all of their words were just a pathetic joke, absolute bullshit. Yes, the one who survived was the winner. But they would never be the ''true genius''. Even if a person was dead, they would still have been more talented than others at some point. Even if their life ended, even if their tale was entirely forgotten, they would still have existed. They would still have been the ''true genius'' while they had been alive.

    The ones who survived the shameless pursuit of their rivals'' ancestors would usually be the protagonists, who would then grow in strength and take revenge, ultimately becoming the final winner. Still, an uncountable number of geniuses would have died before such a point was ever reached. And that was a shame. Some of them would have been far more talented than the protagonists, but they just weren''t lucky or fortuitous enough. In the end, one needed a combination of talent and luck to transform from a protagonist-type character into a real protagonist.

    "There is no need to be afraid of this ring. So what if you lose a few stat points every now and then? If you grow fast enough, you can just shrug it off."

    Isaac''s words caused the anxious Kalin to calm down a little, as he was very well aware that they were the truth. While wearing it would indeed not be entirely devoid of danger, the amount of strength that this ring syphoned off of him was actually very small. It was like a tiny mosquito bite - not really that painful, but still annoying.

    Seeing the youth markedly relax, Isaac''s smile softened and he nodded slightly. His manner became more saintly, as if he was personifying benevolence itself. Of course, all of that was simply meant to subconsciously lull others into a false sense of security.

    "Aren''t you at all curious to see what will happen if this ring is allowed to absorb more energy? Sure, something bad could come about. But it could also lead you to a fortuitous encounter. Anyway, you won''t be losing out on much, and I''ll take care of any troubles that could arise. What do you say, do we have a deal?"

    A contemplative look settled on Kalin''s face and he didn''t reply for a long time. He was no moron, he knew that what Isaac was asking him to do was to basically be a lab rat. Still, he couldn''t deny that he felt an itch of curiosity. He really wanted to know what exactly this ring was! After all, his father had been carrying it around for as long as he could remember. Was there a secret behind it that he didn''t know? Well, obviously there was, but he wanted to know the specifics.

    Finally, Kalin glanced at Isaac and nodded. Wordlessly, he grabbed the stone ring pendant from the table and put it back around his neck. Even though he tried to exude a serious air, the glint of excitement in his eyes betrayed him and made this solemn act of pretend heroism seem more like an excited kid eager to play with their new toy.

    "Thanks."

    Taking his Status sheet with him, Kalin rejoined his companions in the common room, signaling a fl.u.s.tered and blushing Elf that it was now her turn.

 Chapter 77 - Tremendous Improvements Across The Board

    Although she had been very nervous at first, completely unable to lie still, Lefiya soon realized that none of what she had somewhat ''feared'' had actually come to pass. Her chest hadn''t been fondled, her neck hadn''t been teasingly licked¡­ it was a far more relaxing and secure experience than Loki''s usual ''update procedures''. Just thinking of those usually made her shiver uncomfortably.

    Of course, she had been convinced that it would be like it was currently - that had been the main reason that she had chosen to trust Isaac over her oh-so-honourable goddess, after all. While a part of her felt a little bit disappointed at not having been taken advantage of, that was just a very small and insignificant one. For the most part, she felt relieved and happy.

    Even the shame she had felt upon showing her exposed back to a man had quickly faded. And that was despite the fact that she had been anxiously clutching her clothing in front of her b.r.e.a.s.ts, almost entirely hiding them from view.

    There was nothing more reliable than a professional - and that was exactly the feeling that Isaac gave off. In his eyes, there was nothing but the Status update, plain and simple. His hands didn''t wander, neither did his eyes. Not that he would have wanted to ogle the young Elf anyway.

    [ Name: Lefiya Viridis ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Race: Elf ]

    [ Level: 3 ]

    [ Age: 14 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-63 -> H-115 (909) ]

    [ Endurance: H-157 -> G-243 (1860) ]

    [ Dexterity: H-191 -> G-288 (2111) ]

    [ Agility: G-230 -> F-334 (2514) ]

    [ Magic: A-892 -> S-987 (8313) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ Arcs Ray ]

    [ Fusillade Fallarica ]

    [ Elf Ring ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Fairy Canon ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Mage: H ]

    [ Abnormal Resistance: I ]

    During this past expedition, Lefiya''s newfound self-confidence and the change to her fighting style had given her both far more excelia than normal and a relatively huge number in stats that weren''t just Magic. Previously, she had been quite cowardly and often didn''t manage to successfully use her Magics in combat, leading to her relatively slow growth. She also had been leaning extremely heavily into one stat, causing all others to be underdeveloped, dangerously so.

    While a part of the reason for this happening was her fear of monsters, which made it difficult for her to fight them in close quarters, the Loki Familia had also enabled this behaviour and turned her into a protected Magic turret that would crumble with the slightest breeze. Even though ''trusting in others to protect oneself'' sounded nice, it was just an excuse to neglect growing stronger until one could stand proudly on one''s own two feet. Yes, it wasn''t inherently wrong for different party members to have their own distinct roles, but one should always at least have the ability to protect oneself in case of an emergency.

    That was the exact reason why Lefiya had wanted to learn from Isaac in the first place, and while the gains could still be argued to be a bit little, her training had already started to pay off. Her growth had been sped up significantly and stats besides Magic had begun to develop as well.

    Still, Isaac couldn''t help but sigh inwardly. Lefiya''s slow growth, despite the tens of thousands of higher Level monsters that she had slain during this expedition, just further highlighted the downsides of party play in this world - and even more than that, it showed the odd position that Magic was in.

    Magic allowed the weakest of adventurers to overcome a gap of multiple Levels with ease. Even the laws of this world were aware of how imbalanced it was and regarded it as overpowered. Therefore, the excelia gain when one eliminated a monster using Magic was far, far lower than usual. It might not even be a tenth of a percent of what would have been gained should it have been slain in another way. Magic had explosive power, but it came with a heavy price and a burden to carry.

    To clarify things, support- or enchant-type Magic didn''t get discriminated against by the very world. They could be freely used to raise one''s combat power and to tear one''s enemies apart. But once one used attack-type Magic, one would be subjected to an extremely scarce excelia gain.

    For Lefiya, it would have been far more effective to just bash monsters to death with her staff rather than to follow the expedition party and use her Magics. But of course, that was only if the only one that was taken into account was herself. As expeditions were attempts by the familias to delve deeper into the dungeon, it was inevitable that some people would lose out and stunt their own growth for the group''s greater good.

    Before, Isaac had had a vague idea about the heavy restrictions that attack-type Magic was bound by, but now that he had actual proof, he felt a bit disgruntled. He would have been lying if he had stated that he didn''t want to use large area destructive Magics, just for the spectacle of it. Thanks to this current intel, however, he was now sure that he should only look into those once he had reached the limits of the Falna - if there even was one. Until then, he would continue to prioritize support- and enchant-type Magic. The next one he had in mind was, after all, an enchant-type Magic, and it would be a great boon to him in combat. If he could create it. As he already had a pretty good idea of how it should work, he felt confident.

    Another part of his student''s Status that was hard to miss was the abundance of Magics and her Skill. As he was sure that she wouldn''t mind, he took a glance at them just to familiarize himself with them. It was always good to know about one''s allies'' capabilities, especially when it was time to make plans and to assign roles.

    [ Arcs Ray: Forms a single arrow made out of pure, non-elemental mana and launches it at a specified enemy. Will track the target and can be manually controlled by the user. Will require 50% less focus if activated via the chant.

    Chant: "Unleashed streak of light, bow limbs of the holy tree. You are an expert of the bow. Shoot, sniper of the fairies. Penetrate, arrow of absolute accuracy." ]

    [ Fusillade Fallarica: Forms arrows made out of fire and launches them at enemies present in a specified area. Can be manually controlled by the user. Will require 50% less focus if activated via the chant.

    Chant: "Proud warriors, snipers of the forest. Take up your bows before the advancing plunderers. Answer the call of your brethren and ready your arrows. Tinge them with flame, the lamplight of the forest. Release them, the fire arrows of the fairies. Falling like rain, burn away the savages." ]

    [ Elf Ring: Enables the user to use any Elf''s or High Elf''s Magic if certain conditions are met.

    Condition 1: This Magic has to be activated first.

    Condition 2: The user has to be sufficiently knowledgeable about the Magic they are trying to use. At minimum, the chant and effects of the Magic have to be known.

    Will require 50% less focus if activated via the chant.

    Chant: "I wish upon the name of Wishe. Ancestors of the forest, proud brethren. Answer my call and come to the plains. Connecting bonds, the pledge of paradise. Turn the circle and dance around. Come, ring of fairies. Please - give me strength." ]

    [ Fairy Canon: Due to the user''s ancestry and outstandingly pure bloodline, they have a closer connection to nature and mana itself.

    The effect of any Magic gets increased by 50%.

    If the Magic used is attack-type, this doubles. ]

    When Isaac handed Lefiya her Status sheet, an ecstatic expression spread on her face and after putting her clothes back on properly, she clutched the sheet of paper to her chest while sporting a bright smile. The growth she had just experienced was one that she hadn''t seen in years. For a long time now, her development had been rather slow. But now, she knew that the path she had chosen to follow wasn''t wrong.

    "Taking you as my teacher was the best decision of my life!"

    Grinning from ear to ear, the overjoyed Elf tackled Isaac and gave him a hug, causing him to smirk slightly and pat her head once or twice. A few seconds later, Lefiya finally came to her senses and started to blush, then she hastily distanced herself and bowed a little, before rushing out of the room.

    "Excuse me!"

    Isaac stayed back, helplessly shaking his head slightly. It was truly baffling how this girl could be so lewd and innocent at the same time. But maybe it was because of that odd combination that he found her to be so endearing and amusing? In any case, he truly hadn''t minded that hug just now. There had been no seductive thoughts behind it, just pure delight. If only that other person with the habit of tackling him could behave in such a way¡­

    While he had been thinking to himself, Mina had made her way here and had already lain down on the sofa with her back exposed. She didn''t have any reservations at all and didn''t even waste a single thought on being ashamed in front of her lord. She was well aware of her role and wouldn''t ever think of overstepping her boundaries. Still, as she was thinking back to yesterday''s bliss, her tail began to wag in glee.

    After pacifying her with a quick few head pats, Isaac dripped a drop of blood on her back, then he finally took a look at her Status properly. He had only glanced at her Devotion before and had deliberately held back from reading the rest as he intended to look at everyone''s Status in one go.

    [ Name: Mina Teagle ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

    [ Race: Chienthrope ]

    [ Level: 1 ]

    [ Age: 16 ]

    [ Loyalty: 100/100 ]

    [ Devotion: 24/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: G-288 -> B-739 (+ 5348 x 0.0024) ]

    [ Endurance: G-218 -> C-646 (+ 5310 x 0.0024) ]

    [ Dexterity: F-307 -> A-829 (+ 5368 x 0.0024) ]

    [ Agility: G-266 -> B-701 (+ 5345 x 0.0024) ]

    [ Magic: I-58 -> G-270 (+ 5330 x 0.0024) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Reverential Resonance ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance, Swordsman ]

    Isaac was very satisfied with both Kalin''s and Mina''s growth. They could have grown even more had he been present to update their Status when their excelia gain had slowed down, but alas, he had been holed up in the dungeon for too long, letting them ''rot'' at their current state.

    Noticing the very small bonus his follower was currently getting, he smirked - it was barely more than a dozen points per stat. But once his own strength increased, Mina would probably be shocked at how much power she would be capable of wielding.

    When he handed the good girl her Status sheet, he made sure to properly explain the effects of her new Skill, causing her to grow absolutely euphoric. Not even in her wildest dreams had she dared to imagine that her feelings for her lord could transform into a tangible form, something that could help her in combat, even!

    Just by having mentioned the Skill''s details to her, her Devotion stat increased by another two points. Seeing how relatively slow its growth was compared to the Loyalty stat from before, it seemed like it would take a very long time for it to be maxed - but Isaac had already expected as such.

    Shortly after Mina had left, Quinn entered the room. He quickly did as he was told and obediently let a drop of blood hit his upper back.

    [ Name: Quinn Graham ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

    [ Race: Cat People ]

    [ Level: 1 ]

    [ Age: 14 ]

    [ Loyalty: 75/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-9 -> H-152 ]

    [ Endurance: I-4 -> H-144 ]

    [ Dexterity: I-15 -> H-163 ]

    [ Agility: I-6 -> H-148 ]

    [ Magic: I-2 -> I-74 ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Berserker ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Swordsman ]

    The cat boy''s growth had run into the same stumbling block as most of the other subordinates - Isaac''s absence. Still, it was absolutely ludicrous growth, percentage-wise. Compared to the insignificant stats that he had had before, his current ones were like day and night. While this transformation couldn''t even begin to compare to Isaac, of course, it still might have even more potential than a certain white-haired protagonist''s hack-like Skill.

    Quinn''s Skill enabled him to catch up to and possibly quickly surpass the rest of the subordinates - if they didn''t put in a lot more effort, that is. Well, considering the stat buff that Mina would receive from Isaac, maybe they would both still be about equal. In any case, just as he had expected, this boy would surely grow into one of the most powerful weapons in his arsenal.

    A content smile played across his lips and he patted Quinn''s head a bit, mostly out of habit, causing the boy to look at him in confusion. It wasn''t like he hated or disliked this treatment, but even such a simple thing as a pat on the head was entirely foreign to him.

    "Here you go, have a look. I''m proud of you."

    The words that accompanied Isaac''s handover of the Status sheet almost caused Quinn to involuntarily break down crying, so for some time, he found it a bit difficult to read what was actually written on there. It had to be stated that his comprehension speed when it came to picking up how to read was exceptional - he had actually long since graduated from being illiterate. When he finally blinked the tears away, he got absolutely stunned by his own progress. He had known that he had become far stronger - but never would he have expected such a massive increase!

    After the Status update, he had felt a peculiar feeling that he was unfamiliar with. It somewhat seemed like he was bursting with power, but at the same time, all of his senses had also improved. All of this now turned into a warm memory in his heart, one that he would always be proud of. This¡­ It was his first step.

    Standing up in an effort to excuse himself, Quinn used a little bit too much strength and almost fell over, so Isaac caught him and helped him steady himself.

    "I''ll have all of you grow used to your new and improved selves later. Let''s first return to the rest and inspect your homework."

    Slightly embarrassed about his blunder, Quinn compliantly followed behind Isaac and the two sat down in the common room again shortly after. A bit of jovial banter later, Isaac had Jakk, Kalin, Mina and Quinn submit their homework, a huge stack of books. There were a total of 76 of them, ranging from poetry to scientific journals, from fairy tales to tax returns. Wait, why tax returns? Who the hell would even sell those, and why? Oh well, nevermind.

    What caught Isaac''s attention the most was a certain book that was part of Mina''s stack - Dungeon Oratoria. Ais also owned this book, and it was a huge part of what had motivated Bell to want to become a hero. While it certainly wouldn''t be the most enrapturing story that Isaac would ever read, he supposed that it wouldn''t hurt to at least read it once. He did read basically anything, after all. So although he wouldn''t gain much from it, the book still held symbolic significance.

    His momentary focus on this specific fairy tale didn''t mean that he was dissatisfied with the rest of the books, not at all. In fact, he was secretly a little overjoyed. He didn''t feel like going out of his way to buy books himself yet, as he really didn''t have enough time for that. Or maybe he was just too ''lazy'', having gotten used to the comfort of his past world''s delivery services¡­ causing him to come up with this ''homework'' for his subordinates and students, turning them into glorified delivery men. And best of all, he wouldn''t know which books he would end up getting, it was almost entirely random. It felt a bit similar to a certain genre of games that he had dabbled in occasionally.

    Anyway, he decided to first put the books into his inventory. While he could read them extremely quickly, he decided to save them for his nightly AP grinding sessions. What could be better than strolling - or rather, sprinting - through the dungeon with a book in hand, absentmindedly slaying monsters? Adding the Eyes of Hermes into the mix, it sounded like both a mentally and physically exhausting time - it was perfect.

    "Well done, all of you. But don''t think your homework is over. I still expect to receive books from you regularly. As before, buy them using my money. Aselina and Lefiya, this also applies to you. You can either present them to me daily or every week, or even every month. As long as you bring me an average of one book per day, you''re good."

    Even though Jakk had been tempted to ask about what would happen if they didn''t fulfill these conditions, he chose to keep quiet. While he was sure that Isaac wouldn''t outright harm them, he might just refuse to teach them anything for a week or so, causing them to lag behind and potentially get hurt. Running around town to search for books for him wasn''t that troublesome anyway, especially because they didn''t even have to pay out of their own pockets.

    Secretly, he envied Averin a little. Due to his sensitive identity, the rooster couldn''t just walk around town in the open and was therefore exempt from homework duty, for now. But considering how he would have to turn into some kind of monster instead of his suave and handsome Hume Bunny self should he want to be treated in the same way¡­ yeah, the current situation wasn''t that bad.

    Once the homework-related business was dealt with, Isaac led the group to a training area, giving a few pointers here and there while everyone was mainly familiarizing themselves with their improved capabilities. During the hours that passed by, he often sneaked a look at his abundant AP reserves.

    ''Should I, or should I not?''

    -----

    Around noon, Loki was sitting in her study, with a huge number of Status sheets all over the table. She was currently clutching four of them: Ais'', Bete''s, Tiona''s and Tione''s. During the time when she had been busy updating everyone''s Status, Ais had dropped by and left her own results here for her goddess to take a look at later. Thanks to this, only now did Loki finally understand the magnitude of the massive change that her familia had gone through.

    An elated smile spread on her face and soon after, cackling laughter resounded as she was cuddling with the four sheets of paper and kissing them all over.

    ''They did it! They finally did it!!''

    Although to an ignorant observer she may often seem like she didn''t care too much about the matters of her familia, she was actually heavily invested in the lives of all of her children. Seeing four of them taking such a huge step in their development almost brought her to tears, tears of joy! It took her a couple of minutes to calm down, then a sinister smirk played across her lips. Her eyes opened ever so slightly.

    "I bet this will be a huge surprise to these morons at the Denatus."

    It wasn''t a secret that a fair number of the gods hadn''t made use of their eternity at all and consequently had quite underdeveloped mental faculties, to put it nicely. Sure, there were many that were extremely smart and slippery, and ones to watch out for. But all of them always seemed like idiots in her eyes. She respected a few of them as her opponents, but she had never truly put any of the gods in her eyes. Only the far more ancient ones amongst them, the previous generation, the primordial gods - and the ones that came before even those - truly made her afraid.

    Now that she had a chance to present four of her beloved children''s feats to such a huge audience of her kind, and to shatter lots of the plans that they undoubtedly had been hatching before they could even bear any fruit, she felt amazing.

    For years now, she and Freya, while they were allies, had had a strained relationship, mostly due to the goddess of beauty''s whimsical nature and her propensity for stealing other deities'' children away. Sadly, Freya''s familia had been half a step above hers in strength, sometimes forcing her into an uncomfortable position. But now, that gap had practically been closed.

    Thinking about all of this, she suddenly remembered something. Or rather, somebody. She hadn''t accounted for the massive impact that the newest addition to her familia, Isaac, would have. Now that he had returned from the expedition, he would undoubtedly take a short leave of absence¡­ and his obscene rate of growth would shatter all previously-held beliefs. All of the gods would aim for him, either out of curiosity, a desire to have him defect to their familia or, well, more sinister goals. Freya would undoubtedly be amongst the lot, as she was basically addicted to searching for and snatching talents.

    ''That''s strange, why am I not worried?''

    Considering her rival''s charm and her ability to have both men and women do her bidding, which even worked on most of the gods, Loki felt like it would only be reasonable to assume that Isaac would also be somewhat affected. But a strange premonition had appeared in her heart. She¡­ somehow felt like it wouldn''t be a problem. And she couldn''t explain why.

    Even though it would normally make her anxious to have limited information about something, it actually felt comforting this time. Smirking to herself, Loki sighed.

    "What a strange child. My curiosity is killing me! He''d better not make me wait for too long¡­ I want those answers."

    While her words contained threats, she didn''t intend to act upon them. After all, she would never betray or harm her children - unless they planned to backstab her.

 Chapter 78 - Divine Being

    If Isaac chose to upgrade his body to a Divine Body, a lot of annoyances could potentially come his way. In his current state, where he still only had his blood upgraded to Ichor, controlling his Divine Aura and shielding himself from the dungeon''s and almost anyone else''s notice hadn''t been difficult at all. But once his whole body underwent such a massive change, would he still be capable of passing himself off as an ordinary mortal?

    Should he fail at doing so, he could basically forget about delving into the dungeon in as controlled a manner as before. While he had planned to agitate the dungeon anyway, by releasing his aura once he was in an area that he felt completely secure in, strong enough to face any potentially spawning foe, if he wasn''t capable of controlling this aura, what he would have to withstand would be completely different from the experiences his students would have to go through - and he would also lose the opportunity to research all of the more common monster species in peace. Irregularities would become his new norm, and while fighting those was tempting and on his check list, he wanted the best of both worlds.

    Additionally to the dungeon-related troubles, everyone around him would notice his peculiarities and instantly think of him as a god, a deity of this world. He would undoubtedly be approached by the rest of his new ''brethren'' and be forced to follow their rules, whether or not he had actually fully become a god at this point wouldn''t matter. This would heavily impact all of his plans.

    Still, both of these huge problems could be dealt with. The first one would only require him to figure out a way to fully suppress his Divine Aura, which should be possible. After all, it would be a part of him, and a part of oneself could always be controlled. One only had to figure out the specifics and get a lot of practice. So should this turn out to be as major of a matter as it could potentially be, it would still only be a temporary problem - and more likely than not, this worst case scenario wouldn''t happen.

    Regarding the latter problem, this was also, yet again, a worst case scenario that was anything but guaranteed to occur. Even if it should, he could simply blur his existence and hide from all deities. This would restrict the amount of things that he could personally accomplish for a while, but as he could still use his subordinates to run errands, it wasn''t a huge deal.

    Lastly, once he grew strong enough, none of this would matter anymore - and the day that he would rise above at least all of the adventurers of this world wasn''t too far off.

    After having thought it through carefully, Isaac decided to go ahead with the upgrade. He had already restrained himself for weeks and although various annoyances could indeed end up arriving at his doorstep, it felt far more annoying to continue suppressing himself to his current state, while he had acc.u.mulated everything necessary to advance.

    Around noon, once his subordinates and students decided to take a break and sat down to have a quick meal here in the training area, Isaac took out a couple of chairs and sofas to let them be more comfortable.

    A few of the more perceptive ones quickly noticed that the current situation seemed a little similar to ''that time''... and their suspicions were soon confirmed.

    "Most of you are already familiar with what is about to happen. But to those of you that have joined me recently, this all will come as a surprise or even a shock. Just¡­ don''t freak out, no matter what you see. And don''t step into the void."

    Mentally, Isaac asked Ais to intervene should anyone attempt to leave the safe area during the upgrade period and upon getting a positive reply, he closed his eyes and paid 15,000 AP.

    [ ''Upgrading host''s body to Divine Body'' has been purchased. ]

    [ Commencing temporary spatiotemporal displacement. ]

    [ Upgrade process initiated. ]

    From one moment to the next, everything outside of the courtyard had turned into a seemingly endless, black void. This sight, thankfully, didn''t spook those who had been here before too much.

    Aselina and Quinn, on the other hand, were utterly speechless. It was the first time in their lives that they had witnessed such an inexplicable change to their environment¡­ and to be fair, the void also looked a little ominous. Still, remembering Isaac''s cautioning words, they remained seated and only curiously and slightly fearfully stared at the endless nothingness that began just a few meters away.

    Lefiya had learned her lesson from last time and didn''t pay their surroundings any heed. Instead, she unblinkingly stared at Isaac''s body, waiting for the main event.

    [ The Skill ''Divine Body'' has been obtained. ]

    [ Divine Body: The user has the body of a divine lifeform.

    While in the Lower World, heavy restrictions apply.

    Cost of circ.u.mventing these restrictions: 500,000 AP

    Current effects:

    (Active) Exudes more Divine Aura.

    (Passive) 25% buff to all stats. The user can control their Divine Energy to a degree. ]

    [ The host will no longer be subjected to any suppressive effects when in Heaven or Tartarus. ]

    [ Further upgrade has been unlocked. Cost of creating a Divine Soul imitation: 20,000 AP

    Warning! Should this upgrade be bought, the Falna will be completely erased. Cost of preventing this from happening: 50,000 AP ]

    Compared to before, the physical changes he experienced were far more prominent. Every single part of his body underwent an all-round improvement, starting from his heart and slowly spreading to the rest of the body. The energy that he had felt to be intangible before, the Divine Energy, was now something he was vaguely capable of controlling, and it imbued every single part of him.

    Slowly, his body turned into this energy, losing its physical form. While he was still present, his form was now that of an energy body, not one of flesh and blood. This wasn''t a permanent state, however, and rapidly, the energy body consolidated into a physical one again. While outwardly, his appearance hadn''t changed, on the inside, every single slight impurity and inefficiency in his body had vanished and been perfected. Even though he had thought that he had already achieved this back in his old world, he had quite obviously been constrained in his thinking and knowledge somewhat. Some parts which he had thought to be natural and flawless had turned out to be the polar opposites instead.

    Just this knowledge and the resulting even further improved control over his body were already more than what Isaac had ever hoped to gain from this upgrade. A wide smile spread across his face.

    Because even the brain that his current body had access to was simply better in every way, he now felt all mental tasks to be a lot less taxing. They took up a lot less focus, comparatively. Like last time, his mental layer had also experienced further changes, slowly turning from something invisible that he had to instinctively feel into a kind of second body that he could observe in full detail using his mind. Every part of it now glowed slightly golden, while many more drops had begun to fill up the dried up sea of not yet circulating mana.

    As if his very being had become a higher ''tier'', the power that he felt to be at his disposal was so impressive that even all of this world''s mortals added together wouldn''t amount to anything more than an ant. Compared to the strength that he had been capable of wielding before, this was an increase of at the very least ten thousand times.

    For the audience, the change to Isaac''s body was even more visually impressive than what they had experienced last time. Just like previously, his body had initially turned transparent, then he had started to exude a golden glow and to be surrounded by an incorporeal mist of the same colour. But that had just been the beginning. When Isaac''s body had lost its physical form, everyone was almost forced to close their eyes, as he had become a flickering, vaguely humanoid figure. His body had turned into a more condensed form of the golden mist and was incredibly bright. Still, the light they saw was gentle and didn''t harm them, rather, it made them feel secure and relaxed, temporarily washing away their worries.

    From the very bottom of their hearts, they felt a slight reverence sprout. Still, its effect was basically negligible, mostly due to the system suppressing this effect. As for those that weren''t enjoying these benefits, Jakk and Lefiya, they actually felt the urge to worship this divine figure in front of them, but successfully held themselves back through sheer willpower. They knew that there was no need for them to do this, as Isaac wouldn''t approve of it anyway. It was simply their instincts trying to compel them into acting this way - and such a fate wasn''t something they wanted to accept.

    When Isaac''s body turned back to ''normal'' again, it was plain to see that the golden glow that he gave off was far more intense than before. He was just like a torch in the darkness, blazing strongly and covering the entirety of the courtyard in pure and sacred light. Although he still looked just the same, anyone that looked at him in this state would undoubtedly call him a god.

    Suddenly, the genuinely happy smile was wiped off of Isaac''s face and replaced by a slight frown instead.

    The restrictions that the system had mentioned before had finally come into play. Prior to this, he had felt like nothing in that world could even withstand a single flick of his finger, like he could decimate an entire continent with his breath alone. Now, however, this feeling was gone. While parts of it still remained, he could clearly feel that the improvement to his stats wasn''t as mind-blowingly massive as what he had experienced before.

    Even though it felt like a bucket of cold water had just been poured on his head, Isaac knew that this was only to be expected. Although he was currently not in the Lower World, the system would have him return there after this was over - so it would be weird if it hadn''t taken the laws of the world that he would go back to into account. Had these restrictions not been placed on him, then he would be faced with these laws'' suppression once he was back, and while he could shatter that and the very laws themselves with a thought, that would feel like cheating. It was only fair if he played along.

    Just his very existence already broke whatever balance had been in play before. How was his system ''fair'' in any way, shape or form? Well, as he had placed these shackles upon himself, he felt excitement. As he had to put in effort to amass AP to upgrade his capabilities, to Isaac, this was good enough. He wouldn''t care about the feelings of others. Life wasn''t fair, and he had made it all the way here purely through hard work. Of course, others would envy him, would feel like this was unjust, but could they even imagine the things that he had had to go through to get to this point?

    While he wouldn''t be able to experience the natural process of becoming a god if he simply paid his way there, he could just work on understanding the kind of being that a god was in this world once he became one. Then, he could figure out the steps that would have to be taken to get there the normal way. Effectively, he would be able to instantly arrive at the goal and be able to figure out the smoothest path there, enabling him to lead others to this destination flawlessly.

    A heavy gulp interrupted his thought process. Yet again, Lefiya was the one to break the silence, her eyes sparkling with fascination.

    "This time, you became a god, am I right!?"

    With a smirk on his lips, Isaac shrugged. In his Status, the word ''God'' had appeared next to the word ''Human'', separated by a comma.

    "Yes, partially. But not yet fully. Oh, and I''m not actually done yet, so please stay seated."

    Seeing the crowd ready to surround and scrutinize him, he hastily motioned at the void that was still surrounding them. As the system was well aware of his intentions, it hadn''t bothered to return them yet.

    "Wait, what do you mean¡­?"

    Shock flashed across Lefiya''s face, while the rest of the group was just as baffled. Aselina and Quinn, who hadn''t even completely come to terms with what they had just seen, turned a bit numb. This was just¡­ too much at once. Still, both of them grew far more certain that they had indeed made the correct decision. After all, what kind of being was Isaac for him to be capable of doing what they had witnessed? They had no clue, they didn''t even understand it. And he was partially a god now? What did that even mean!? How was that possible?

    As he knew that explaining everything when the process wasn''t even finished yet was pointless, because that would mean that he would have to waste his breath twice, Isaac simply shut his eyes again and paid yet another 70,000 AP. His enormous stockpile had dwindled oh so quickly.

    He had already expected for the Falna to be in danger of disappearing once he became a god. Even though the price that the system stated was a bit steep, he had the resources and complaining about it wouldn''t get him anywhere. What about the problems that would ensue if he placed an imitation of a Divine Soul on himself, basically in plain sight? He would just figure it out. If necessary, he could just blur his existence for a while. The encounter with Hel had made it abundantly clear that there were many gods who could gaze at his soul - and they would see nothing, arousing their suspicions. So having a Divine Soul''s imitation would undoubtedly not go unnoticed by those deities.

    But as he already had the means to advance another step further, Isaac didn''t want to stop. He decided to go all in, consequences be damned. In any case, potential troubles wouldn''t be something that he would be unable to deal with.

    The reason he even had to create an imitation like this was that his actual soul was simply too much for any world to handle. Had this world been capable of even perceiving it - which was impossible and could never happen, even in theory - then its very laws would probably automatically classify him as the highest tier being to ever exist. Even that would be insufficient, but it would be the next best thing.

    [ ''Creating a Divine Soul imitation'' has been purchased. ]

    [ Upgrade process initiated. ]

    [ The Skill ''Divine Soul'' has been obtained. ]

    [ Divine Soul: The user has the soul of a divine lifeform.

    While in the Lower World, heavy restrictions apply.

    Cost of circ.u.mventing these restrictions: 500,000 AP

    Current effects:

    (Active) Exudes even more Divine Aura.

    (Passive) 25% buff to all stats. The user''s control over Divine Energy has been enhanced. Upon the destruction of the body, it can be reformed using the user''s Divine Energy. ]

    [ Due to their compatibility, the Skills ''Divine Blood'', ''Divine Body'' and ''Divine Soul'' will be combined.

    The Skill ''Divine Being'' has been obtained. ]

    [ Divine Being: The user is a divine lifeform.

    While in the Lower World, heavy restrictions apply.

    Cost of circ.u.mventing these restrictions: 1,000,000 AP

    Current effects:

    (Active) Exudes Divine Aura, dependent on the amount of Divine Energy.

    (Passive) 100% buff to all stats. The user can proficiently control Divine Energy. Upon the destruction of the body, it can be reformed using the user''s Divine Energy. ]

    [ Further upgrades have been unlocked.

    Cost of obtaining a Divinity of the user''s choice: 50,000 AP

    Cost of obtaining an Arcanum of the user''s choice: 35,000 AP

    Warning! If a Divinity or Arcanum that already belongs to a divine lifeform of this world is chosen, the one in question will be notified of the host''s existence. Should they be able to snatch that Divinity or Arcanum, they will have the opportunity to improve their own. Cost of circ.u.mventing this: 500,000 AP ]

    [ The Development Ability ''Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment (I)'' has been obtained.

    The same Development Ability has already been obtained before.

    Proceeding to upgrade ''Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment (H)''.

    ''Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment (G)'' has been obtained. ]

    [ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment (G): Enables one to interact with their surroundings by using mana. Reduction in mana expenditure: 3% ]

    The visual effects of what happened weren''t actually as impressive as before. Isaac''s body had already gone through the most major of changes and almost all of the people present were unable to notice the Divine Soul that was starting to form. Well, there was one person that was able to see it, and that was Hel.

    Needless to say, she had been rattled to her core during the previous events, enough to simply stare at everything unblinkingly and with indescribable shock written all over her face. The moment that they had been spatiotemporally displaced¡­ her connection to her Divinity and her Arcanums had been completely cut off. She knew instinctively that if her soul was to be destroyed in this state, things wouldn''t be the same. She wouldn''t return to nature and slowly reform over thousands of years. Instead, she would disappear. Forever.

    This kind of existential fear was something that she had never been confronted with before. Isaac''s changes had also been impressive, that was for sure. She had been unable to explain how he was achieving this metamorphosis, but it hadn''t rattled her nearly as much as having been separated from basically all of her power, being with her back against the wall. Thankfully, she was located at the outer edges of the courtyard and even though she was now visible, nobody had noticed her. Her black cloak helped a bit, making it easier to blend in with the endless void surrounding this place.

    Once a roaring, gigantic and golden flame of life, a deity''s soul, appeared in front of her eyes, however, her jaw dropped and she forgot all about the crisis she had been going through. Right in the space where she hadn''t been able to perceive anything at all previously¡­ was now a soul just like hers. It was pure and somewhat indistinct, and she couldn''t make out any details about it. It seemed like a perfectly blank slate. Still, although she couldn''t really focus on it, it was definitely there. What exactly was happening? Isaac didn''t have a visible soul before, so how¡­? Something¡­ something didn''t add up here!

    Instead of interrupting the proceedings, however, she simply silently paid close attention, afraid to disturb him. Afterwards, she intended to ask him about all of this in detail.

    [ ''Trickster Goddess'' Loki''s blessing, the Falna, has been upgraded to a Divine Falna.

    Once the host gains understanding of the substance it is made from and is able to control this substance, a Divine Falna can be bestowed upon divine lifeforms.

    There are no other differences between a Falna and a Divine Falna. ]

    Although the power coursing through Isaac''s body had increased by a lot, all of the previous changes becoming even more apparent and the golden glow around his body turning increasingly potent, nothing much had actually changed about his body. Well, at least compared to the drastic metamorphosis he had undergone before. In any case, it wasn''t like anyone could pay close attention to him, as the mist was now completely enveloping the entire courtyard, making it hard to see.

    The biggest change besides the addition of a Divine Soul imitation was that his mental layer''s body was now of a far more solidly golden colour. To what extent his mental layer differed from before couldn''t yet be determined, it would require careful research.

    When his Mana Cultivation''s grade had risen, something had become abundantly clear. While not all of the mana cultivators of this world - if there even were any - were gods, all gods were mana cultivators. Of course, it was unknown whether all of them were actually aware of this, but some were sure to have gathered quite a bit of knowledge about this inherent part of themselves.

    During this time''s upgrade process, Isaac had felt his body trying to reject the Falna on his back, attempting to push it out, as if to remove yet another impurity - this, however, had been prevented. The Ichor it was made up from had increased in purity and lost its golden colour, turning completely white. It was as if Loki''s blood had been refined time and time again, becoming something¡­ more. What exactly that was, however, was unknown.

    The system didn''t even attempt to analyze it, even though it had done so when his goddess had dripped a drop of her Ichor on him back then. There was an explanation for this that was quite likely: When he had created the system, he had put a rule into place that required him to come into close contact with a higher tier being before he could upgrade himself to match it. If he obtained anything related to such a being via the system, a.k.a. not via natural means, then it simply wouldn''t count.

    ''I wouldn''t want it any other way. Well done, me!''

    A satisfied smirk played across Isaac''s lips as he mentally lauded his ingenuity. This restriction suited him perfectly. If he could just directly upgrade himself to be at the top of any world''s hierarchy the moment that he entered it, it would remove huge parts of the joy that he would feel while exploring it. Now that he knew that he either had to follow the natural path to improvement of a world or at least meet with and fulfill certain requirements related to higher tiered entities before he could join their ranks, this made him relax.

    In this way, he wouldn''t lose interest in his journey. Otherwise, he could have just saved up enough AP to rise to the very peak before travelling to another world¡­ which would surely become boring after a short while.

    During the period of time when he had casually performed miracles that shouldn''t even be possible, Aselina''s, Averin''s and Quinn''s Loyalty plus Mina''s Devotion had seen major changes. They increased by 10, 7, 10 and 2 respectively. An event as unbelievable as this one had left a lasting impression on them. It would be very difficult for anyone to forget such a sight in their lifetime.

    Upon opening his eyes again, Isaac saw everyone staring at him with expectant looks, so he patiently began to explain the details of what he had just done while inspecting his Status. Of course, he didn''t fail to mention that he was technically a god now¡­ well, to be exact, an empty shell of a god.

    [ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: None ]

    [ Race: Human -> Human, God -> God ]

    [ Divinity: None ]

    [ Arcanum: None ]

    [ Level: 2 ]

    [ Age: Unable to measure ]

    [ Charisma: 19 -> 24 -> 34 ]

    [ Divine Energy: 8540 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: SS-1014 (+ 11) (4278 x 2.0028) ]

    [ Endurance: S-999 (+ 24) (4248 x 2.0028) ]

    [ Dexterity: SS-1022 (+ 9) (4294 x 2.0028) ]

    [ Agility: SS-1013 (+ 12) (4276 x 2.0028) ]

    [ Magic: SS-1007 (+ 15) (4264 x 2.0028) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ Anemoi Steps ]

    [ Eyes of Hermes ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Divine Blood (+ Divine Body + Divine Soul) -> Divine Being ]

    [ Reverential Resonance ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Huntsman: H -> F ]

    [ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment: H -> G ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Archer, Hunter, Mage, Spirit Healing, Swordsman ]

    During the past few weeks, his Huntsman Development Ability had its grade increased twice, simply due to the huge amount of Level 1 monsters that he had slain. The next Level''s respective Development Ability, Hunter, had also become available for him to choose. Sometime during his Level 2 monster massacre, it had silently appeared.

    As for the rest of the Development Abilities that were presenting themselves to him, he didn''t even bother to look at them. He already had a few ideas as to how he would be able to obtain them without making use of the process of rising to a new Level.

    Interestingly enough, the Divine Energy''s value was the same as the total amount of his mana drops, the same as his Magic stat. It seemed like he didn''t need to worry about having to figure out how to raise its limit. Together with his divine lifeform-related Skills, his Charisma had also seen a huge increase, which certainly would be able to display positive effects quite easily, should he find himself in a social situation of some kind.

    During his detailed explanation, he also tested something that he had been worried about and soon grew relieved. The proficiency with which he could control his Divine Aura was incomparable to before and he could easily completely retract it. Just to be safe, he would still spend a couple of hours on growing used to how to instinctively do this, so as to not accidentally leak some during his dungeon visits. But after that, he should be perfectly fine.

    ''Speaking of, why are we still here?''

    When he had already said everything that he wanted to, Isaac raised an eyebrow and stared into the endless void. By now, they should have already found themselves back at the Twilight Manor. All of his upgrades were finished, everything was dealt with.

    ''Wait¡­ don''t tell me¡­?''

    Slightly shocked, he looked at Ais, not bothering to hide the inquiring look on his face. As she already knew what he was thinking, she showed a small smile and nodded slightly, then she stood up.

    "Let''s switch seats, it''s my turn now."

 Chapter 79 - The Eye Of The Storm

    Only after Ais had confirmed that Isaac was still able to control his Divine Aura, even after all of these upgrades, did she choose to follow in his footsteps. Previously, she had been a bit worried about whether choosing this option, which basically amounted to a shortcut, would lock her out of entering the dungeon, therefore in the long term ending up being disadvantageous for her.

    However, Isaac''s apparently easy success finally gave her the confidence that she had needed. Even should it be difficult to suppress her Divine Aura, it definitely wasn''t impossible.

    As to why she hadn''t told him that she was able to buy the same upgrades? She had wanted to surprise him a little, which she undoubtedly succeeded at. Seeing that momentary astonished look on his face made the corners of her mouth curl up in amus.e.m.e.nt.

    Just like Isaac, she had held herself back during the expedition, as she could have bought the first upgrade then and there, or even before they set off. Still, as the detailed plans relating to their foray into the dungeon had already been made, she didn''t want to endanger everyone by adding an unknown variable into the mix, especially considering that she was one of the pillars of the familia. Because of Isaac''s lack of such a position, he had been able to throw caution into the wind easily - but she had a lot more things to worry about that served to restrain her actions.

    After switching places with Isaac, she emulated him and closed her eyes, giving the onlookers a clear sense of foreboding. Even a simpleton would be able to tell what was about to happen. Without wasting another second, she bought the Ichor upgrade.

    Before she had met Isaac, her most important goal had been to become stronger. Of course, this objective of hers hadn''t just disappeared. Instead, it had to step back to the second place on her priority list. Now, with an opportunity to grow far, far stronger placed in front of her, one with no apparent dangers at all, she simply wasn''t able to resist.

    Although Ais was a lot less experienced at sensing the changes in her body compared to her beloved, she still felt the blood in her body¡­ changing. Sadly, she wasn''t even able to put into words what exactly she was feeling, she could only silently look on and wonder. Her strength rapidly increased and a golden glow, accompanied by a mist of the same colour, surrounded her. This, coupled with her breathtaking looks, made the whole scene indescribably beautiful.

    Right before the system would have sent her a notification about her obtaining the Divine Blood Skill, however, something changed.

    A tingling pain erupted all over her body, and it felt like her blood had started to boil. Her veins were squirming underneath her skin and she couldn''t help but clench her teeth in discomfort. Moments later, the golden mist around her was picked up by a gust of wind, which slowly formed a cyclone around her. It grew increasingly faster and soon, the weakest amongst the spectators began to slightly worry about their safety, their hair madly fluttering in the strong air currents.

    Thankfully, it was at this moment, where they felt like they would lose control over the situation, that Ais'' expression finally relaxed. Everyone''s quickened heart beats calmed down markedly. Isaac couldn''t deny that he had been a little worried about her as well. He had his suspicions as to what exactly just happened, but he kept quiet, as he didn''t want to interrupt this process.

    Together with the Divine Blood Skill, the system notified Ais about another Skill, causing her to raise her eyebrows in surprise, before a sour feeling sprouted in her chest.

    [ Daughter of the Wind: (Passive) The effects of all Magics related to the wind increases by 50%. ]

    While the slightly indistinct figure of a golden-haired woman surfaced from the depths of her heart, a tear slid down her cheek. Still, it was quickly accompanied by a gentle smile.

    ''Mom¡­ you''re still watching over me, aren''t you?''

    After taking a couple of moments to reminisce, Ais steeled her heart and resolutely continued on this path to further strength. She knew that perhaps, she could have made it to the place that she was about to reach on her own one day. But arriving there earlier would enable her to grow so, so much more. And she knew that she needed to do exactly that.

    Just like what had happened to Isaac minutes prior, her body soon turned into Divine Energy, then reconstructed into an even more flawless physical form. Contrary to Isaac''s, her own Divine Energy contained a slight hint of green. Thankfully, this second upgrade hadn''t been accompanied by any unusual changes or violent storms.

    Finally, Ais arrived at the same last step. But the option that the system presented to her was slightly different. Instead of ''Creating a Divine Soul imitation'', it was ''Upgrading the secondary host''s soul to a Divine Soul'', while the cost was the same. The only reason that she noticed this difference was that her beloved had secretly told her the exact details of what he had done when she had asked him via the system.

    Although she knew that what she was about to do would differ slightly from what he had done, she didn''t hesitate. Her scarily large pool of AP got reduced by a somewhat noticeable portion. Of course, she had made sure to spend the additional 50,000 to keep her Falna intact.

    The soul was something that Ais had a hard time to even conceptualize. In fact, she didn''t know anything about souls and couldn''t detect them at all. Needless to say, she didn''t notice any of the true changes that she underwent. Still, there were a few things that even she couldn''t miss.

    It all started with her memories of the far-off past becoming less fuzzy. Very soon, she even began to recall the most minute of details, as if all of these events had literally just happened. This had both a positive and a negative effect on her. On the bright side, the smiles and warmth of her parents, which had grown incredibly vague over this exceedingly long period of time, began to reappear in her mind as good as new. On the other hand, though, there was the darkness. She had locked it away deep within the recesses of her memories, trying desperately to forget it, attempting to escape the seemingly endless loneliness that she had experienced. But now, all of it returned at the same time, causing her to tremble and shiver uncontrollably, unceasingly shedding tear after tear.

    She didn''t even realize that her strength increased by many times. She didn''t even notice that the system sent her various notifications. And she also wasn''t aware of the raging tempest thundering through the courtyard, with her being its origin. None of the changes that she and her environment were experiencing were perceived by her. There was only endless darkness.

    [ The Divinity ''Wind (I)'' has been obtained. ]

    [ Wind (I): One gains full control of the wind. In areas without air to manipulate, Divine Energy can be used to create it. ]

    After what felt like an eternity, a pair of strong and warm arms wrapped around her, enveloping her in a soft hug, like a ray of sunshine. With difficulty, her eyes opened, only to come face to face with a gentle and familiar smile. Soon, just like the ice after a harsh winter, the darkness weighing down on her melted away¡­ or rather, it disappeared for a time. With an expression of relief plastered all over her face, Ais smiled brightly.

    No words were necessary between them, and she also didn''t know what to say. She wasn''t blind. Even though her view was slightly distorted courtesy of the tears in her eyes, she could still make out that Isaac¡­ looked to be quite dishevelled. And so did everyone else. The entire group was desperately holding onto each other, they were all bunched together. Meanwhile, all of the chairs and sofas had disappeared.

    While patting Ais'' back gently and trying to provide her with some security, Isaac couldn''t help but smile wryly. He hadn''t expected for her to get assaulted by her repressed feelings like that. The reason as to why he was unprepared was that he hadn''t gone through the exact same upgrade to the soul, so he simply couldn''t have known that this would happen. He could have ventured an educated guess, but that would have been about it. Just the short moment where he had needed to come up with a plan was already enough to endanger everyone''s lives. After all, unless one was mad, one shouldn''t enter the surrounding void...

    Normally, Ais'' ascension to a divine lifeform would have undoubtedly been accompanied by strong winds of some kind - but they shouldn''t have been that out of control. Rather, they should have instinctively provided the entire group with protection. Thankfully, he had quickly managed to shepherd everyone together so that they could hold on to each other, making it harder for them to be blown away. At the same time, he had improvised and used his mana to create countercurrents to as many of the gusts of wind as he could, therefore lightening the pressure that they had to bear.

    Luckily, this had been enough. Otherwise, he would have had to¡­ well, he couldn''t have done anything else, besides spending AP to resolve the problem, which would have felt like a waste.

    A sigh escaped his lips while he waited for everyone to regain their bearings. Ais quickly returned to normal and reined in her Divine Aura. She was even surprised by how easy it was to do. Whilst the now even more ethereally beautiful girl smiled happily to herself and inspected her Status, rejoicing at seeing all of her stats having doubled just like that, enabling her to rival even the strongest of Level 7 adventurers once she utilized all of her Skills, the system returned them to the world they had come from.

    At this moment, the laws of the world noticed the changes that the two had gone through, but as they had already had restrictions placed upon them, they didn''t make a ruckus and didn''t attempt to suppress them.

    When she noticed that her powers had returned, Hel immediately hid under her cloak again, disappearing from view. During the emergency earlier, she had been revealed to everyone else, and most of them hadn''t even met her before. Quite a few confused looks were shot her way.

    Her cheeks were burning up and for now, she intended to sneak away, to calm her rapidly beating heart. The whole situation had just been far too embarrassing! But before she could get anywhere, a hand suddenly pressed down on her shoulder.

    "Where do you think you''re going?"

    Slowly and jerkily, like a puppet that hadn''t been oiled for a while, Hel turned her head and glanced behind her. The saintly, heart-warming smile on Isaac''s lips seemed extremely ominous to her right now. Still, she honestly didn''t know what to say. She hadn''t thought this far, so she completely blanked out.

    "Don''t you want to know more about what just happened?"

    These words made her tensed-up shoulders relax. The fear in her eyes nigh instantly switched to curiosity.

    "Yes! Please explain!!"

    Like a child excited to hear her parent''s story, she grabbed his arm with sparkling eyes, all the while staring directly at his Divine Soul instead of his face. There was something odd about it, but she just couldn''t explain what it was.

    After motioning to everyone to continue their training, Isaac brought both Ais and Hel to the main manor. He knew that it would only be a matter of time until their new brethren would notice something, especially after Ais had acquired a Divinity pretty much for free. It would be best if he took this chance to let Loki in on the ''secret'' as well. But was it really one if he didn''t even do much to hide it?

    -----

    For some time now, the trickster goddess had been subjected to a rollercoaster ride of emotions. When Ais, Hel and Isaac had entered the room, she had already noticed that¡­ there had been a change. But when both Ais and Isaac released their Divine Aura in front of her in full force, her heart became a complete mess.

    Partially, she was relieved about this development, as it meant that both of them would be as safe as they could ever potentially be, unless they did something remarkably stupid. At the same time, she was happy to have them join the ranks of the gods. Yes, she was also extremely confused as to how this had even happened, especially because the one who had undergone this metamorphosis wasn''t only Isaac - there was also her Ais! Still, she knew that they wouldn''t have exposed this to her if they weren''t prepared to give her an explanation.

    Coupled with all of these, what overwhelmed her was a whole slew of negative thoughts. She was afraid for them, as she knew that gods with the same Divinities or Arcanums would undoubtedly prey on them. But even more than that, she was heartbroken, because she thought that the two were now¡­ no longer a part of her familia.

    Seeing Loki''s expression change rapidly, Isaac helplessly shook his head, before hastily interrupting her pessimistic musings.

    "We''re still a part of your familia, you know?"

    These words caused Loki to blank out completely, she even blinked in confusion. This should be impossible, right? After all, they were deities now¡­

    "Just take a look at our Status."

    Shortly after, Loki was still staring at the two of them, her confusion not lessened in the slightest.

    "How did my Ichor turn into Primordial Ichor? I''m not one of the primordial gods."

    A slight smile played across Isaac''s lips, then he leaned back into the sofa.

    "Hold your horses. Let me explain everything from the very beginning."

    What he proceeded to tell both Hel and Loki didn''t differ from what he had told Ais and Lefiya back when he first arrived in this world. While both of them were shaken at the revelation that worlds besides their own existed, especially worlds that had no connection to theirs whatsoever, they weren''t too taken aback.

    Loki had already expected something unusual to be the case back when they first met, so although the theories she had come up with were wrong, as a result of her limited knowledge, she could accept all of this. She was also far too experienced at spotting lies to be unable to tell whether or not Isaac was speaking the truth. Fooling her was many multiples of times harder than deceiving most other gods.

    Hel''s thoughts didn''t differ too much from Loki''s. She had never met anyone like Isaac before, so what she had expected was something entirely new and different. This was why she managed to stay relatively calm. Well, she still grew antsy from excitement the moment that she realized that there was far more out there for her to lay her eyes upon.

    The reason that Isaac had decided to trust these two, or rather, to reveal so much to them, was that Loki was very close to Ais. Her behaviour was often unacceptable, but at her very core, she was still extremely caring nonetheless. While he had made his preparations, just in case, he truly didn''t think that she would betray their trust, especially once she realized that she could encounter more potentially interesting things by simply not getting in their way, or possibly even supporting them. Hel¡­ well, besides the soft spot that he had for her courtesy of Ereshkigal, she had done a lot for him over these past few weeks. Many of these things, nobody but the two of them knew about. There would come a time when they would see the light of day, but it certainly wasn''t now.

    Isaac didn''t fear betrayal, but he also didn''t aim for it to occur. These two ultimately seemed to be quite unlikely to stab him in the back, so it was worth a shot. If he should happen to be wrong, he could always rid himself of them.

    "But what does any of that have to do with me being unable to see your soul, and with what happened today?"

    Although his explanation had shed light upon a number of things, Hel was still far from satisfied.

    "I was getting to that."

    Isaac could only smile helplessly. She had interrupted him right before he had arrived at these points. Her timing¡­ really needed some work. And so did her patience.

    "To put it simply, the very laws of this world aren''t capable of perceiving my soul, as it outscales it too much. What I created today was an imitation of a Divine Soul that can now actually be recognized by them and can be seen by you and others. Oh, by the way, Ais got a bonafide Divine Soul."

    Just this small revelation already shattered the two goddesses'' worldview. What kind of concept was it for one''s soul to outscale their entire world? The sheer notion of it was mind-boggling and, admittedly, scary. Before they could even wrap their heads around this, Ais chimed in from the side.

    "Isaac gave me access to a few of his abilities. Because of those, I was able to do the same things as he did."

    It took a while, but finally, an exasperated sigh escaped Loki''s lips.

    "I see. Then what about the Primordial Ichor?"

    Contrary to the lengthy explanation that she had hoped for, Isaac simply shrugged.

    "I don''t really know anything about that. My ability allowed me to preserve my Falna even after becoming a god. It just happened to end up this way. I''ll look into it in the future."

    Loki grimaced a little but nodded, then she took a deep breath and glared at him warily.

    "If you''re that powerful of an existence, why are you here?"

    Hearing this question, Isaac couldn''t help but smile.

    "Did you forget? I told you already. One of my goals is to become an adventurer and grow stronger. As for why I''m starting out the way that I did¡­ wouldn''t it be boring to instantly achieve anything I want?"

    For a moment, Loki was reminded of their first meeting. He had indeed said one of these sentences back then as well¡­

    After she overcame this bout of nostalgia, she thought a bit about the rest of his words and soon had to admit that¡­ her thoughts were the same.

    ''I really don''t know what I even expected. Still, judging from the way that he is glancing at Ais, one of his other goals is obvious...''

    It took some time, but soon, all questions were resolved. Even though the two goddesses were clear that Isaac hadn''t told them absolutely everything, he had told them the gist of it. During their conversation, two system notifications had appeared.

    [ ''Goddess of Death'' Hel''s fundamental beliefs relating to the expansiveness of existence have been changed by your words.

    Quest ''Transform two people''s fundamental beliefs.'' completed. 200 Achievement Points rewarded. ]

    [ ''Trickster Goddess'' Loki''s fundamental beliefs relating to the expansiveness of existence have been changed by your words.

    Quest ''Transform three people''s fundamental beliefs.'' completed. 300 Achievement Points rewarded. ]

    While Isaac was inwardly rejoicing over gaining a few more AP and finally seeing this kind of notification again, Loki''s expression suddenly grew grave and she interrupted their jovial talk.

    "Hold up. I almost forgot about this, but you need to be careful. Especially you, Ais."

    -----

    The moment that Ais and Isaac had returned, a lot of information had been spread via the laws of the world. It could even be argued that all of the worlds that this one consisted of underwent an irreversible change. Of course, there were some who noticed this.

    -----

    In a temple made entirely out of solidified wind, an old but gallant man exited the shower, lazily drying his hair. He created wind of a particular speed and temperature at his fingertips and used it as a hairdryer. Suddenly, his eyes widened in shock, before that was replaced with curiosity.

    "So a new one''s joined the fray? And they are in the Lower World?"

    He hesitated for a while, then he nodded to himself.

    "These brats will definitely gang up on them. I can still remember what happened back in my day¡­ I guess I should help the newbie out a little."

    A fraction of a second later, the man had finished drying himself and had already changed into his regular attire. Immediately after, he disappeared from the temple.

    In many other places, gods and goddesses all perceived the appearance of another being that shared the same Divinity as them. Some only raised their eyebrows for a moment before ignoring this piece of news, some others grew excited at the spectacle that would soon follow. Yet another portion were overcome with greed and avarice, or even bloodl.u.s.t, before rushing out of their abodes.

    -----

    Multiple game boards of unimaginable size, looking somewhat similar to chess boards, were layered on top of each other. All of them were fairly indistinct, as if they didn''t have a physical form. Nonetheless, they were definitely present. If one looked closer, it could be seen that billions upon billions of pieces were placed all over. They had various sizes and forms, and were grouped into a few tens of different colours. Still, the ones that made up the majority were white and black. At least 95 percent of the pieces belonged to either of them.

    On these game boards, two unremarkable pieces suddenly changed their forms, becoming more prominent. The only weird thing about them was the colour that they sported - there wasn''t any. They were entirely colourless, not white. They seemed almost invisible, but could still be perceived.

    Two entities furrowed their eyebrows at the same time, and glared at each other across unimaginable distances. Seeing their own expression mirrored by the other didn''t surprise them in the least.

    ''Do you think that I will fall for this? I know that you are just playing me. You definitely had something to do with this!''

    Both of them thought along these lines and carefully scrutinized the unusual pieces, before adopting a wait-and-see approach. Many of the other pieces on the boards were already flocking towards these anomalies, so they could sit back and watch. The truth of the matter was sure to reveal itself in due time.

    With that small distraction dealt with for now, the two entities refocused on other areas of the boards, where countless numbers of their pieces were either clashing with or slowly inching closer to each other.

    They didn''t even bother to glance at the third entity observing the boards, as they knew that it wasn''t capable of doing anything. Because of this, they didn''t notice the sparkle of excitement in its eyes.

    ''Have the two of you grown senile? Do you not even understand what this lack of colour signifies!? Heh, this is going to be fun.''

 Chapter 80 - Not An Enemy

    "Alright, girls. We''ve got around half an hour until the Loki Familia will arrive. They reserved seven tables for ten, so let''s make sure to get everything ready on time. Go, go, go!"

    With a joyful, gentle smile and far more enthusiasm than most people usually felt for their work, a human girl was encouraging her co-workers. She had light gray hair, which she kept tied up in a short ponytail and enchanting eyes of the same colour. Her waitress-uniform consisted of a very simple knee-length green one-piece dress, over which she wore a white apron. Brown boots and black stockings rounded out her outfit. Anybody would have thought of her as just a regular tavern-employee, were it not for her unusually good looks and charming aura. As to why she performed the job that she did, that was anyone''s guess.

    Her name was Syr Flova, and just like Ryuu, she was working at the Hostess of Fertility, a very popular inn in Orario. She had earned the recognition of all of her co-workers, basically putting her in charge of them. To make sure that they would have everything in order once this evening''s big client arrived, she had the other four girls scurrying around and double-checking the respective tables to verify that they were perfectly A-okay.

    Keeping as silent as usual, Ryuu, who was clad in the same uniform, nodded. She approached one of the tables and started to wipe it clean with practiced movements, albeit a bit distractedly.

    ''So today is the day... I will have to ask Lady Riveria about whether that suspicious fellow is indeed a part of her familia.''

    Under normal circ.u.mstances, she wouldn''t inquire about another familia''s business, but as Isaac had intruded upon her friends'' gravesite, that had crossed the line. She only needed to make sure to ask the noble High Elf in relative secret, as she didn''t intend to blow the issue out of proportion. If she hinted at her intentions in passing, she should be able to make Riveria realize that she wanted to talk to her in private.

    As for the possibility that Isaac could be a part of the group that would come here today, she had acknowledged it, but she didn''t want it to come to pass. Why was that? If she didn''t ensure that she would meet the man on her own terms, with the best preparations in place, she felt like she would only be playfully teased and led around the nose without being capable of retaliating¡­

    "Are you really sure that you''re okay?"

    A worried voice interrupted her thoughts. By the time she managed to focus on her surroundings again, Ryuu was greeted by the sight of a slightly anxious Syr staring directly into her eyes, observing her up close and personal from about ten centimeters away. Fl.u.s.tered at having been caught this off-guard, the stoic Elf blushed slightly and stumbled a step backwards, before regaining her balance and clearing her throat.

    "I''ve told you multiple times already. I''m fine."

    Ever since she had returned to their shared bedroom here at the Hostess of Fertility, all of her fellow co-workers - her friends - had noticed that she was unusually on edge, almost like back during the days where she had yet to fully settle in. For Syr to spot such a change wasn''t anything unusual, as she was extremely perceptive - often almost scarily so. Lunoire, Chloe and May also were decently observant, so Ryuu hadn''t been surprised by them growing slightly suspicious. But what had truly taken her aback was that Anya, that seemingly dense and klutzy cat girl, had started to show her a lot of concern and even offered to let her have a portion of her own meal on multiple occasions.

    It had warmed her heart a great deal to see them all like this. Still, no matter how uneasy they were, this wasn''t that huge of a deal. She didn''t need to bother them and could just figure it out by herself. While, yes, she had been quite unsettled by that strange encounter, it wasn''t anything that she couldn''t deal with on her own. However¡­ the mistakes she had started to make during her work hours had become increasingly frequent. Just like right now, where she had just mindlessly been scrubbing clean the exact same spot on the table for a couple of minutes¡­ Maybe rather than saying that she had been making mistakes, it would be more accurate to state that she had been spacing out a lot.

    "... alright. But make sure to tell me if you need anything, okay? I''ll always be here to help."

    With a helpless smile on her face, Syr decided to refocus on her own duties. Just like that, with everyone but Ryuu having to take care of a far bigger share of today''s work than they should have had to, the minutes flew by.

    The Hostess of Fertility was usually open for business multiple times per day. They offered their services around lunchtime and into the late afternoon, then they were closed for a short few hours to allow a break for the employees, until about 7 p.m. in the evening, when they started to accept customers yet again. For their special occasion, their celebration, the Loki Familia had already informed them about their intentions in the morning before their business hours had even begun and paid a premium to reserve all of these tables. The inn never lacked customers, so denying such a request wouldn''t make them lose any money at all - but no wise businesswoman would say no to earning a little extra.

    "Ahaha, we''re finally here! Let''s wine and dine like kings tonight, my kids!!"

    Before they had even entered the building, a certain goddess'' rambunctious shout announced the arrival of the Loki Familia, causing Ryuu to involuntarily tense up. She had to consciously keep her strength in check, else she would have shattered the wooden tray that she was holding in her slightly trembling hands. Admittedly, she was nervous. If she found out that that Isaac person was indeed a part of this familia, that would be for the best. But still, there would be a lot of unanswered questions remaining.

    "Please follow me to your tables~"

    As she hadn''t expected her friend to be of any use right now anyway, Syr was the one that came forward to welcome the huge number of people entering the tavern. From a moment to the next, the previously calm building was filled with laughter and good-natured conversations. Just with a quick glance, the girl could already wager a guess at the smaller groups that this bigger one would undoubtedly separate into, causing her to nod to herself.

    ''Looks like we won''t be needing to prepare an additional table.''

    After making sure of this, Syr paid attention to the Loki Familia''s lead group, which contained all of the various Executives and their goddess. As she did so, she suddenly noticed a new face. It belonged to a young man that stood taller than most of the crowd and was surprisingly handsome. He had a certain otherworldly charm to him. For some reason, Syr felt like he had been repressing his presence somehow. She hadn''t been able to perceive him until her eyes had passed over the Sword Princess - only then had this person, who was walking hand in hand with the most sought-after girl in town, come into view.

    ''Strange, how did this happen...?''

    While she was still wondering about what had just occurred, the unfamiliar young man had noticed her gaze and turned his head to stare back at her, directly into her eyes.

    CLATTER.

    The still absentminded Ryuu was startled awake by the sound of a tray falling to the ground. Hurriedly, she looked in the direction that the noise had come from, only to see her otherwise calm and calculated friend Syr standing still, her face slightly pale. Her strength had momentarily waned, leading to her losing her grip on her tray. In all of their time together, she had never seen her like this.

    "Syr! What''s wrong!?"

    Afraid that something had happened, Ryuu quickly dashed to her side and grabbed her hands, intending to calm her down. She didn''t really care about the various glances that were shot their way, in part due to Syr''s blunder, which undoubtedly attracted a bit of attention, but mostly because of her intimate actions.

    After a few moments of silence, Ryuu finally felt her friend gripping her hands in return. The expression on the kind girl''s face had returned to normal. If she hadn''t seen her so out of it just seconds prior, she never would have suspected anything.

    "I honestly don''t know, but I''m fine now. Thanks for worrying about me."

    With an apologetic smile, she shook herself free and picked up the tray, before facing the Loki Familia''s lead group again.

    "I apologize. I didn''t feel well for a moment there."

    The blonde Pallum at the front of the group waved his hand diplomatically, as if to let bygones be bygones, and smiled encouragingly. He wouldn''t pry into what had just happened, as it was none of his business.

    "No need to worry."

    As the group was led to their table, they passed by Ryuu and the voice of a cheerful Amazoness reached her ears.

    "Is it just me, or did that girl freak out when she saw you?"

    The mention of her best friend was enough to catch her attention, so even though it wasn''t exactly polite to do so, she proceeded to listen to the conversation more carefully. Thankfully, she had a good excuse to stay close to the group, as she would need to take their orders shortly anyway. Because of this, she finally heard that familiar voice - the one that had somewhat haunted her these past few days.

    "She did, and I don''t exactly know why. I should probably feel bad for saying this, but it was an amusing sight."

    ''It''s him!''

    Like a hawk zeroing in on its prey, Ryuu turned her head with a sudden jerk, staring directly at this man that she had simultaneously wanted and not wanted to meet again. She had searched the other groups of the Loki Familia for his face when they entered, as she had automatically assumed that he wouldn''t be a part of the inner circle. Because of this oversight, this misguided assumption, she had failed to take note of him until now.

    Of course, as she had gazed into the abyss, he returned her gaze. With a playful smile, Isaac nodded at her while taking a seat at his group''s assigned table.

    "See? I told you we''d meet again shortly, Ryuu."

    Before the Elven waitress had a chance to say anything, a cold but gentle voice interjected with surprise.

    "Oh, you two know each other?"

    As she was wondering about when Isaac would have even had a chance to encounter this old acquaintance of hers, Riveria raised an eyebrow and took a closer look at the people in question. Ryuu sported an almost constipated, obviously angry look, while Isaac couldn''t wipe that darn cheeky grin off his face. Even a blind person would be able to tell that these two had some kind of history.

    ''What has he done this time!?''

    Feeling like she would pop a vein any second now, Riveria took a deep breath and glared warningly at the young man from across the table.

    "Explain yourself."

    Although he had expected her to react in such a manner, Isaac still felt a little bit awkward about the situation and embarrassedly scratched his cheek. Why did she always have to assume the worst? Wasn''t he an upstanding model familia member? A deep breath later, he sat up straight, his eyes now completely serious.

    "I ran into her while mapping the entirety of the 18th floor. It was also on a certain anniversary. I believe I don''t have to tell you anything aside from this information. It was honestly just horrible timing."

    Obviously, he didn''t mention that he had happily teased the mostly expressionless Elf, as that wouldn''t gain him any brownie points with the mother hen. Additionally, she also fell into the same category of people, so if he had teased one of them in the past, wasn''t it likely that he would do so to the other as well? It would be a miracle for him to get away scot-free, as Riveria would surely want to warn him a little in advance.

    His words more than sufficed to make the elegant High Elf understand exactly what had happened. As she was aware of his ability to teleport, she didn''t wonder about how he had made his way to a distant floor like that and only clutched her forehead while releasing a heavy, long sigh.

    "... how great. Thanks."

    The sarcasm in her voice was as clear as day. Wasn''t it amazing to get more work piled on one''s shoulders during a period of time when one had expected to be able to rest? It took the overworked High Elf a few moments to calm herself sufficiently and to decide on what to do next, then she rose from her seat.

    "You all go ahead and order without me. I will take the usual. Give me a couple of minutes to deal with this."

    After having said her piece, Riveria motioned at Ryuu to follow her. The two distanced themselves from everyone else, arriving at one of the more secluded rooms of the inn. It wasn''t the first time that the two had needed to interact in private, so the rest of the staff didn''t think of their behaviour as anything unusual. In any case, should Riveria want to enter any place in this city, then only the man known as the ''King'' could bar her passage.

    Once they were finally alone, Ryuu couldn''t hold back anymore and, while clearly still displeased at Isaac''s attitude, uttered one of her questions.

    "Who is that man?"

    Another sigh and a brief period of wondering about where exactly she had gone wrong in life later, Riveria responded.

    "He is the newest member of the Loki Familia, Isaac Blackshaw. He has been with us for a little bit over a month now."

    Slightly relieved that he truly wasn''t an enemy, Ryuu nodded and muttered to herself. At the same time, her eyes had also widened in shock, as the short time that Isaac had been with his familia indicated just how fast he had to have grown.

    "So he didn''t lie to me."

    Only when the young Elf stopped being lost in thought did Riveria continue speaking, this time with an apologetic expression on her face. Over the years, she had become quite adept at cleaning up others'' messes.

    "Let me apologize on his behalf. It sounds like the circ.u.mstances of your meeting were very¡­ suboptimal."

    Upon seeing this person that she respected from the bottom of her heart - Riveria - lower her head slightly, Ryuu began to panic a little and hurriedly waved her hands.

    "There is no need for you to go this far, Lady Riveria! It was, ultimately, only a minor matter!"

    She had to assure the sorry High Elf multiple times that she wouldn''t take what had happened to heart, only then did Ryuu finally recall that she still had other questions that she wanted to ask.

    "He knew about many things that shouldn''t be public knowledge. Did you tell him about me or the matters of the Astraea Familia? And was he a part of the expedition party?"

    "I did not. I have no idea how he could have come across that information. But I have noticed that he often seems to be aware of things that he shouldn''t have any clue about. As for your latter question, yes, he was. Before you ask¡­ him being in a different part of the dungeon during that time is confidential. I hope you understand."

    Even though the two could be considered to be friends, were it not for their huge age gap and the reverence that Ryuu felt for Riveria, not all secrets could be shared between them. This was only natural, as one always had to look out for their own first and foremost. They might be close, but they weren''t a part of the same tight-knit group. Thankfully, neither of the two would take such matters to heart.

    ''If even Lady Riveria hasn''t figured out how he knows about these things, then how am I supposed to find out? Do I really have to ask him directly¡­?''

    Without her being aware of it, an unhappy frown stole itself on Ryuu''s face. She really didn''t want to spend too much time with that man, as their previous encounter had left a bad taste in her mouth. Still, if she ever truly wanted to find out the truth, then there was only one way, and that was to hear it from the horse''s mouth.

    Seeing her in such obvious distress, Riveria could already guess that this whole mess was far from over. Her old friend was sure to make further contact with the troublemaker that she felt responsible for. In a way, it felt like two of her kids had gotten into an argument and one of them felt it hard to get along with the other afterwards. In any case, the best she could do was to try to clear up any misunderstandings that Ryuu might have about Isaac''s character.

    "He may be good at annoying people when he wants to, but he isn''t a bad person. In fact, I would say that he is quite reliable. I would have never given the relationship between him and Ais my blessing otherwise. So if you have some things that you need to clear up, just be frank with him. He might behave in a playful and teasing way, but he wouldn''t lie to you. That much, I can guarantee."

    Only rarely had Ryuu heard Riveria praise anyone this extensively, so she was taken aback. For her to speak up for Isaac to such a degree meant that the two of them had to get along exceptionally well. And someone that Lady Riveria was on such friendly terms with couldn''t be a bad person - she was far too observant and experienced to fall for these kinds of schemes, at least in the young Elf''s eyes. As for what exactly had spooked Syr so much earlier, she would try to figure out by asking the girl in question later tonight.

    The previous words had alleviated her worries somewhat, so Ryuu''s face returned to its mostly expressionless state. As she nodded, she showed a small and reserved, but thankful smile.

    "Alright, I will keep that in mind. Thank you for your guidance, Lady Riveria."

    The two''s conversation had already taken long enough, so they made their way back to the table. When they returned, they saw that the drinks had already arrived, while a mouth-watering scent had begun to waft over from the direction of the kitchen. The other waitresses were expertly making their way from table to table, taking orders and placing down trays full of various alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Quite a few regular customers aside from the Loki Familia had already filled up the rest of the place. While it wasn''t packed to the brim, it looked to be yet another successful evening for their establishment.

    This time, Ryuu managed to stay more composed and decided to take a closer look at Isaac again. But when she glanced in his direction, the situation he was in left her a little baffled.

    To his left was Ais, who happily leaned against his shoulder while sipping on her drink. All of the jealous gazes sent her beloved''s way by some of the customers and even a certain werewolf sitting at the same table didn''t even register in her mind. She was happy just to be next to him. To his right sat Tiona, who repeatedly pulled on his arm in excitement and tried to be as seductive as possible, despite her lack of ''goods''. And finally, to Ais'' left sat Lefiya, who glared at the unashamed Amazoness enviously, as she had wanted to sit next to her teacher as well. The center of all these people''s attention, Isaac, sported a helpless and slightly annoyed smile.

    Time and time again, he unsuccessfully tried to shake off the clingy Tiona, but although his stats had doubled, Tiona had ranked up to Level 6 as well. The gap between them had widened. Only when Ais intervened and separated the two with a wave of her hand did he finally get a brief period of rest.

    ''Serves you right.''

    The corners of Ryuu''s mouth curled up slightly. While most men would probably enjoy the attention of so many beauties, she wasn''t visually impaired. It was plain to see that he felt troubled instead. This apparent mindset of his slightly improved her opinion of the man. Still, because he had made her so fl.u.s.tered and panicked previously, she felt that it was only fair for him to have to endure these advances.

    Before she could feel smug for too long, though, her current state of just motionlessly standing around had caught Isaac''s attention and what she felt to be an ominous smile played across his lips. A feeling in between a cold shiver running down her spine and embarrassment overcame her, making her hurry off towards the kitchen in an effort to alleviate it. She needed to perform her waitress duties anyway, so this was her best chance of distancing herself for now.

 Chapter 81 - Worries And Incorrect Assumptions

    Seeing the Elven waitress hurry off caused a small smile to play across Ais'' lips - Ryuu wasn''t the only one feeling smug this evening. When Ais'' memories had fully rejuvenated during her ascension to godhood, she had also clearly recalled some of the more recent ones, the ones from after she had joined the Loki Familia.

    Not too long ago, there had been a very dark era shrouding the city, during which many of the more righteously aligned familias had tried to keep up a semblance of order. During that time, Ais had once faced a certain Elf in a pointless battle. They ended up at a standstill, with neither able to harm the other. However, as it had been too dark during their battle, she hadn''t been sure about the identity of the person that she had been fighting. Later on, when she had met Ryuu again, her memories of the previous encounter surfaced and she was briefly considering whether this Elf in front of her was the same one that she had confronted just days prior. Ultimately, her younger self had been made a fool of, as Ryuu had told her that the reason she recognized her was because they had once fought over potato snacks.

    When she had entered the inn today, she had fully recalled all of this, and to get a kind of vain revenge, she planned to play a prank on the cold and distanced waitress. Luckily, Isaac''s knack for teasing certain kinds of people worked out in her favour, allowing Ais to watch Ryuu squirm around uncomfortably without even having to lift a finger.

    Chuckling to herself at the other''s slight misery, Ais took a sip of the lemonade-esque drink she had ordered. Speaking of her choice of beverage, quite a few confused looks had been shot her way. After all, during the familia''s previous visits, she had partaken in alcoholic drinks as well, just like most of the others.

    But after she had spent so much time in Isaac''s old world - or rather, his memory of it - she had picked up pieces of knowledge here and there. The one relating to the effects of alcohol on the body hadn''t been complicated whatsoever, so she had understood it very quickly. Her newly-acquired understanding caused her to decide to never knowingly consume alcohol again. While she was fairly certain that the new body she had acquired, the one of a deity, could get rid of any potential damages completely, even without her having to put in any conscious effort to do so, she didn''t want to deliberately poison herself. After all, she was neither a masochist, nor was she mad. To begin with, she had never been a fan of the effects of alcohol, so now that she understood the truth behind it, she grew even more determined in her decision to avoid it.

    Thankfully, she wasn''t the only one at the table who hadn''t ordered an alcoholic drink. Both Riveria and Lefiya had always abstained from it, and then there was Isaac as well. Almost half of the people here chose to remain sober.

    This, however, didn''t dampen the festive atmosphere in the least. Besides the initial odd looks, everyone proceeded to ignore Ais'' choice soon after. Unrestrained laughter ensued, delicious food was wolfed down en masse and inappropriate jokes were aplenty - it was a celebration like any other.

    During this time, Ais and Isaac mostly communicated via the system, sending each other mental messages. Although they had initially intended to restrict the use of this feature, else they would grow too dependent on it, it was indeed perfect for situations like this one. Absolute privacy amongst a crowd, even without making Isaac blur their existence? That was the best thing that they could ask for.

    A little bit later in the evening, Ais suddenly felt Lefiya pull on her left sleeve, so she turned her head to shoot her an intrigued look.

    "Lefiya?"

    Under normal circ.u.mstances, what would have most likely greeted her would have been a heavily blushing Elf, but this time, her close friend seemed rather downtrodden. Her ears were drooping heavily and a dark shadow was cast over her slightly pale face. Even after Ais had talked to her, Lefiya didn''t immediately respond. It felt like she really wanted to say something, but stopped herself from actually doing so time and time again.

    Only after a few minutes had passed did she finally speak, albeit very quietly. What she wanted to address was obviously a topic that she didn''t want others to know about. And this atmosphere was actually the perfect time to talk about it, as there were so many loud sounds assaulting everyone''s ears that it was hard to make out even one''s own voice. Even with a high Level adventurer''s vastly improved hearing, it wouldn''t be easy for someone to listen in on their conversation, unless they got very, very close to the two girls.

    "Now that you''re a goddess¡­ do you think differently about me? About all of us?"

    While she spoke, Lefiya let her eyes wander over all of their friends and companions, letting Ais know exactly who she was talking about.

    Ever since the golden-haired beauty had followed in Isaac''s footsteps, Lefiya had been shaken to her very core. In her perspective, gods were beings that stood far above and apart from mortals like her. While her goddess Loki and some others seemed really approachable, at their roots, they were still beings that people like her could never aspire to reach or stand on equal grounds with. They were an entirely different kind of being.

    It had already taken her so long to finally work up the courage to grow closer to Ais, and now that they had become such great friends, it felt devastating to see her enter what felt like an entirely different kind of world to her. She felt like she - no, all of their friends, even - would be left behind, never again able to stand shoulder to shoulder.

    Before Lefiya could grow even more disheartened, she felt a slight sting of pain, making her hurriedly look up and rub the spot she had just been hit at. Ais had flicked her forehead and was still in the process of lowering her hand when the downtrodden Elf finally returned her gaze. Calming words proceeded to flow out of Ais'' mouth while she showed a slight but gentle smile on her face.

    "I understand what you''re worried about. But you don''t have to be. No matter what will happen, no matter what you or I will become, we will always be friends."

    Even though it felt comforting to hear this, Lefiya''s desire to become an equal to her idol had neither been placated nor addressed yet. The Elf had perked up a little and was clearly relieved, but there was still a hint of worry and sadness glistening in her eyes. Thankfully, Ais'' next words changed all of this.

    "What Isaac and I have taken is merely a shortcut. Becoming a goddess yourself is far from impossible. Ever since I''ve ascended to be one, that is the thing that I''ve grown the most convinced of. So don''t give up. Look at it as just another challenge instead!"

    A roaring flame of motivation was lit in Lefiya''s heart during this short explanation. She finally fully recovered from what she had borne witness to earlier today. Her back straightened and her gaze sharpened. She didn''t doubt Ais'' words, as her friend clearly had more first-hand experience with the matter than she did. Also, she ended up realizing something and shot a contemplative look at the harbinger of all the recent changes in her life.

    ''Right, how could I forget? With him around, seeing how quickly and easily he became a god, even if I don''t end up finding the correct path myself, I can just ask him. He''ll know what to do.''

    Lefiya honestly felt a little bit stupid for having been so burdened and stressed before. Her teacher had achieved things that she had thought to be impossible with ease, time and time again. Over this period of time that she had known him, a little more than a month, she had also come to know that he enjoyed to challenge himself. If she asked him for help, it was very likely that he would end up supporting her, simply because her request would prove to be an interesting problem that he could solve. Even if that weren''t the case, as she was one of his people, he surely wouldn''t reject her¡­ if she asked nicely enough, that is.

    Suddenly, out of nowhere, Lefiya heavily slapped her cheeks and shook her head, before her eyes turned serious.

    ''What are you doing, Lefiya!? You can''t just slack off and take advantage of him!''

    It was very tempting to just inquire about a puzzle''s solution, as solving it oneself would require one to put in effort. But would it be satisfying? Not at all! In fact, she would definitely end up feeling like a failure and a useless burden should she ask for her teacher''s help any time that she faced a difficulty, an obstacle in her path. She would only end up in the same situation that she had been in before she had decided to follow him. In other words, she would regress to a state that she was anything but proud of.

    Yes, catching up to her closest friend would be tremendously difficult. Some people would even call it impossible and give up right away. But that was not the kind of person that she wanted to be. Relying on Isaac''s teachings to improve herself was fine, but asking him to carry her all the way to the finish line? That would just be shameless!

    ''You can do this, Lefiya!!''

    Over and over again, she mentally encouraged herself, her conviction growing ever stronger.

    -----

    Visiting the Lower World wasn''t easy, at least for a regular god. Unless they had the help of a primordial god, it would be extremely difficult for them to create their own mortal body and descend. Thankfully, there were a few primordial gods currently in the Lower World, which offered their services to the rest of the godly community. In exchange for some small remuneration, they would help any applicants with their descent.

    The most popular out of all of these figures was Ouranos, the only primordial god currently openly operating out of Orario. Ever since his descent 999 years ago, he had used the Guild, an organization which he had formed, to regulate most matters related to the city - and absolutely everything regarding the dungeon. As the only place of its kind, it posed a fatal attraction to deities and adventurers alike, so the vast majority of gods chose to come to Orario when they wanted to experience a more mortal life in the Lower World.

    What Ouranos was asking for also wasn''t much. It was for them to comply with a few simple terms, like never deliberately harming the city and following the Guild''s arrangements when necessary. These agreements could be broken, but as his reputation was very close to immaculate amongst the godly community, very few ever chose to make a fuss or tried to rebel. Still, even if there weren''t many, they could still occasionally pose huge problems.

    In a room mostly devoid of light, only lit up by four raised braziers, an elderly but vigorous man with shoulder-length white hair sat upon a throne made out of some kind of stone. He wore a white robe akin to a tunic with a black hooded cloak dr.a.p.ed above. His sandal-clad feet tapped on the stone floor rhythmically as his sky-blue eyes quickly scanned through a thick stack of application forms made out of Divine Energy. In this small sphere of light amidst the darkness, he flipped through page after page with a deep frown on his face.

    The number of deities which had requested to descend here in Orario as soon as possible was simply unheard of. Normally, only one or two would choose to come down and play every couple of weeks, or even months. But this time, many tens of them had approached him at once. Considering the other primordial gods here in the Lower World, which would definitely have been asked for help as well, in total, there should be close to a hundred gods and goddesses who wanted to descend.

    ''What exactly happened¡­?''

    Whenever something that he couldn''t explain took place, Ouranos tended to become slightly nervous. It felt uncomfortable for something out of his expectations to happen. Sure, it wouldn''t always end up being a bad thing, but sometimes it would.

    Regarding this strange occurrence, there were plenty of possibilities he could think of that could explain it. For one, this group of gods could have planned some kind of group activity here in the Lower World or simply wanted to go on a collective tour, and he just hadn''t heard about it beforehand.

    There was only one problem with all of this, and it was the reason why he was so worried. All of the deities whose applications had come his way were related to the wind. They shared the same Divinity. Many of them were on everything but friendly terms, so there would surely be battles taking place once these arch enemies reunited. Thankfully, in their mortal bodies, the gods weren''t much of a threat. They could still rely on their Divinities somewhat and use their Arcanums, but the most dangerous and powerful ones would simply cause their bodies to disintegrate. Their mortal forms were unable to bear their own power, so they might not even get a single use out of some of their Arcanums. Therefore, the danger which these brats could pose was strictly limited.

    But all of that aside, what could have alerted all of these wind deities? There was a very likely scenario - someone had ascended to godhood and obtained a Wind Divinity. Something like this wasn''t that rare of an occurrence, although it hadn''t happened for a couple hundred years at the very least. Still, compared to the eternity that the gods had experienced, it might as well be the equivalent of blinking a few times. Normally, any newcomers would be sent to Heaven immediately, so for one to resist this and stick around in the Lower World was simply unheard of.

    ''Who could it be?''

    For a moment, the Loki Familia''s Sword Princess came to mind, but Ouranos quickly dismissed this thought and shook his head. She was still far from reaching ''there''. The only explanation left was that someone who he didn''t know about, in an area that he didn''t observe, had grown to this point. This was definitely possible, as there were quite a few places in the Lower World which could produce warriors on par with or even surpassing the adventurers of Orario. They were far away, with most of them having no connection to this continent whatsoever, so it wasn''t a wonder that he didn''t know about the specific person that had ascended to godhood.

    But as worrying about this any further wouldn''t be of any use, Ouranos chased away these distracting thoughts and refocused on flipping through the applications. When he was finished and set them down, an epicene, somewhat disembodied voice interjected from the side of his throne.

    "What have you decided to do, Lord Ouranos?"

    The one that spoke was Fels, his currently most reliable subordinate. They were wearing a black cloak that completely covered their face or any other distinguishing features, so they seemed just like a shadow or a simple silhouette in these subpar lighting conditions.

    With an indecipherable look on his face, Ouranos conjured a pen made of his own Divine Energy from thin air and signed all of the applications in a flash. Afterwards, with a wave of his hand, they disintegrated.

    "I want you to closely monitor their actions, just in case. Report back to me should you stumble across anything of importance. They will arrive in Babel in the early morning."

    As he judged that it wouldn''t be his own backyard that would be on fire, he couldn''t be bothered to deny these deities their entry into the Lower World. Some of them might even end up useful for his future plans, and should he refuse his services, they would surely just ask one of his brethren instead. Ultimately, they would make it to the Lower World, one way or another.

    Fels bowed slightly, then they slipped away into the surrounding darkness.

    "As you wish."

    -----

    A few hours later, shortly before midnight, most of the Loki Familia members were already almost knocked out, a few of them had even fallen asleep at their tables. As most of the adventurers ventured into the dungeon starting quite early in the morning, the Hostess of Fertility closed its doors at 00:30 a.m., because there was rarely anyone still out and about at that time, at least in this district of the city.

    Although some were still a bit reluctant to leave, mainly Loki and her most staunch drinking companions, they didn''t plan to make a scene or make things difficult for the nice tavern staff. After they had made their intention to pay their bill and leave known, the Captain had to bring out the familia''s wallet to pay off their scarily large expenses. Still, even compared to the most inferior piece of equipment on the Executives'' bodies, this celebration had been extremely cheap. The higher the Level, the more expensive the gear. By the time one became a First Class adventurer, even tens of millions of valis wouldn''t be enough to buy anything decent. A bill amounting to less than a twentieth of that? A familia of their size and strength could basically disregard it.

    "We hope to see you again soon~!"

    Syr''s beaming smile sent off the group at the inn''s entrance, and slowly, one after another, almost all of the members of the familia left the building. Some stumbled out with unsteady steps, some dragged along their sleeping friends and some others simply walked normally. The latter were mostly Elves, as their entire race viewed the consumption of alcohol very negatively. Of course, some still ended up giving in to peer pressure, but most were able to stand their ground.

    Many bad things could be said about the close-mindedness and arrogance of the Elves, but one thing was for sure: An arrogant demeanor was rarely based on empty air. For a group of people to grow convinced of their superiority over others, they first had to be in a truly superior position for a while. Only then could the rot that was patriotism, nationalism and racism slowly worm its way into the hearts of the people. But at the same time, bizarrely enough, whether the group of people had actually ever been superior to others in any way, shape or form didn''t really matter, as this belief could also be fostered through the usage of blatant and ignorant lies. In the case of the Elves, however, they honestly had their unique strengths and had made a lot of wise decisions in the past. But as was so often the case, what had started out as a genuinely impressive society had turned into a cesspool of conceit over the many millennia.

    In any case, before the inner circle of the Loki Familia, which had stayed behind until everyone else was gone, could leave, Ryuu stepped forward and only stopped when she got close to Isaac. She had stayed away from their table for the entirety of the evening, in an effort to avoid him. But now that he was about to leave, she didn''t have a choice aside from approaching him.

    Upon seeing the intrigued and slightly amused look on his face, she clenched her teeth and bowed her head slightly in a gesture of politeness.

    "I would like to have a word with you in private. Could you spare me some time?"

    Seeing as quite a few of his comrades seemed to be confused or wanted to ask about what was going on, Isaac hurriedly raised his hand to preemptively interrupt them, then he nodded at Ryuu. He really didn''t want to bother explaining the exact circ.u.mstances of his first meeting with their waitress.

    "Go ahead without me, everyone. I''ll meet you back at home."

    After he had basically unceremoniously shooed everyone away, he motioned at Ryuu to lead the way. Thankfully, his fellow familia members were dragged off by Riveria, so there weren''t any complaints directed at him. A certain werewolf did c.o.c.kily bark at the ever-reliable High-Elf for ordering him around, though, so he was met with frosty stares all around, causing him to clench his fists and curse under his breath. Still, he ended up behaving.

    The ones who were confused about what exactly was going on also included some of the other tavern staff, but as it was Ryuu''s request, they didn''t interfere. They would just grill her for the details later. After all, this was the first time that they had ever seen her asking a man for some of his time. Even though they highly doubted that anything ''spicy'' was actually going on, that wouldn''t stop them from teasing her about it. So if she wanted them to shut up, she would have to spill the beans.

    While he was following Ryuu to the exact same room that she had disappeared to with Riveria previously, Isaac shot a glance at Syr in passing before smirking slightly. Just this small and harmless action of his made the girl tense up involuntarily, but this time, she managed to keep her facial features in check.

    ''Heh, she''s actually more interesting than I expected.''

    When reading the first few novels, simply due to the many deliberate hints that were dropped, it was hard to not speculate whether or not Syr could have a close connection to the goddess Freya, or even actually be her. But the truth was a bit different from what Isaac had anticipated.

    ''While I''m already here, I should probably have a short talk with her as well.''

 Chapter 82 - Interrogation Atâ€¦ Traypoint?

    The very first thing that greeted Isaac after he had entered the private room was the sight of a wooden tray pointed right in his face. At the end of an outstretched arm was Ryuu, who was furrowing her eyebrows and was staring at him warily, temporarily unsure of what to say.

    ''Ah, how nostalgic¡­ even though it has only been a few days.''

    For a moment or two, he thought about teasing the stiff Elf again, but then he just released a reluctant sigh. Riveria had given him far too many hints during the celebration, so he knew very clearly what she wanted him to do. It wouldn''t do for him to create even more difficulties for her, right after she had just had to deal with one of his messes.

    Isaac''s silence and seeming obedience made Ryuu relax little by little, so the degree to which her eyebrows were furrowed soon decreased. After taking a deep breath, she steeled herself and finally managed to find the words that she had been looking for.

    "Thank you for your time. How do you know¡­ all of these things that you mentioned last time? We had never met before and I had never even heard about you. Please, tell me."

    Her words caused Isaac to feel a playful itch¡­ and he just had to scratch it. Mentally, he already apologized to Riveria for what he was about to do and justified it by saying that he would at least not be deflecting from the topic that the motherly Elf wanted him to discuss with Ryuu. So it wasn''t the worst thing that he could do, far from it!

    With a slight tilt of his head, Isaac stared directly into her eyes. The look on his face made it seem like he was convinced that he was looking at an idiot.

    "Why should I tell you?"

    At first, Ryuu was simply speechless, then she clenched both her tray and her jaw. Was he just playing her again? She was here to have a real discussion, not to perform as his clown!

    Her angry face made a small smirk play across the troublemaker''s lips. Before the incensed Elf could get a chance to speak, Isaac simply shrugged innocently and continued talking.

    "Just look at things from my perspective for a moment. Some person that I''ve only met once before requests for me to tell them about one of my secrets. What reason do I have to tell you? And how could I trust you?"

    His words stumped the Elf, and for a short period of time, even the threateningly raised tray wavered. Yes, he was correct. Why would he tell her anything? They had met twice, they couldn''t even really count as acquaintances yet.

    While Ryuu was worrying about which reason to come up with, Isaac, the source of her troubles, was calmly smiling to himself. He didn''t really care about any of this, he was just playing with her feelings for his own amus.e.m.e.nt. Hadn''t he already told far too many people about matters that most others would rather keep to themselves? At this point, what was one more? Still, everyone else had their own specific reasons as to why they had needed to be told about all of this. Ryuu, however¡­ just what could she bring to the table? Why would it be necessary to tell her anything about himself?

    "You have brought up some fair points. If you hadn''t mentioned something directly related to me, then I wouldn''t have any right to inquire about it. But as you know far too much about me and my familia, you made this my business. There you have it, this is my reason. So please tell me."

    Seeing the determination in her eyes, Isaac nodded to himself. She had reacted exactly how he had expected. But wasn''t she forgetting something?

    "Again, how could I trust you?"

    Ryuu tensed up a little, as she had hoped that he would overlook this point. Then, she took a deep breath and lowered her tray, holding it close to her body again. From her previous threatening stance, she had returned to a calm, professional and ''safe'' one.

    "I will give you my word. I shall never tell a single soul."

    Immediately after her words had left her lips, Isaac shook his head.

    "That''s not good enough. The word of a stranger doesn''t mean anything to me."

    Now a bit desperate, the Elf stuttered.

    "Th-Then what should I¡­ do?"

    A somewhat evil glint flashed past Isaac''s eyes as he unabashedly sized up Ryuu. Everywhere that his gaze passed, she involuntarily got goosebumps, and a slight fear welled up inside of her heart. This guy¡­ did he intend to ask her for her body!?

    Right before she was about to drop all pretenses and erupt in rage, the way that Isaac looked at her changed again, returning to his mischievous one from before.

    "Hold up. I don''t know what you were thinking about in that indecent mind of yours, but I just want you to swear an oath on justice itself. That should be easy enough, right?"

    Yet again, his words had taken the serious Elf aback and for a few moments, she just stood still, in absolute silence. Finally, she realized - she had been duped.

    In all honesty, in Isaac''s eyes, Ryuu was almost the one that he had to worry about the least in this world. As long as justice was involved somehow, she would be very easy to control. No matter what he told her, she would never go back on her oath. Sure, his ''secrets'' could still be extracted from her memories, or even her very soul. But that was always a possibility. Even gods weren''t safe from such a fate, so mortals were even worse off. Still, as it wasn''t really of importance to him whether anyone knew about his matters, as the worst that could happen was more slight annoyances popping up, he wouldn''t bother with being a worrywart or behaving too secretively.

    "I, Ryuu Lion of the Astraea Familia, hereby swear on justice itself to keep secret all of Isaac Blackshaw''s matters, for all of eternity. Should I break this oath, may the guiding light of justice never again lead me to a safe harbour. May it extinguish instead."

    Although these words would have sounded overly dramatic to any outsider, Ryuu was being completely serious. Even under the most normal of circ.u.mstances, she wouldn''t play a joke, so obviously, she wouldn''t do so now either.

    ''It''s really impressive that she could come up with this over-the-top oath on the spot. In a different world, she would have probably made a great screenwriter.''

    With a satisfied smirk, Isaac nodded to himself. Originally, he hadn''t planned to make use of this retired adventurer at all. She wasn''t necessary to his plans whatsoever, and their views on what justice actually was - amongst others - clashed heavily. But ever since their chance encounter, his thoughts had started to shift. He was already involved in her life now, so he might as well try to slightly change her views. It would be a waste for him to not make use of such a talented resource when it basically delivered itself to his doorstep. When he saw Syr today¡­ that was when he knew that his new plan would have a fair chance of success.

    "Alright. I won''t waste your time, then. First of all, let''s get this out of the way. I''m not from this world, I only traveled here about a month ago. Back in the world I came from, I once read a story about a world full of gods, set in a city located right above a dungeon that continually spawns monsters. A certain Elf also played a part in this story. Sadly, I have to admit that I didn''t get to the part where her past was explored to the fullest, so I only know bits and pieces. Like her name being Ryuu Lion."

    Although the Elf in question really wanted to say that his words were just lies or another trick that he had come up with, subconsciously, she started to feel an instinctive fear. What if his words were true? Without her being aware of it, she started to stammer.

    "So you''re telling me¡­ that what I really am is just a character in a story?"

    ''Oh, she''s actually the first one to pay attention to that part.''

    A slight but genuine smile stole itself on Isaac''s face, then he shook his head.

    "No. What I am saying is that in a story written in another world, there is a character that seems awfully similar to you. The difference in phrasing may seem minor, but it''s actually a huge deal. Still, don''t think too hard about this. You can start to worry about other worlds once you''ve dealt with your own problems."

    In his mind, he added a few more words.

    ''A character in a story, eh? No matter what, it''s a theory that can never be disproven.''

    His lengthy reply snapped Ryuu out of her daze, and almost immediately, her gaze sharpened, her eyes full of mistrust.

    "How can I know that you''re not lying to me?"

    Yet again, Isaac just shrugged.

    "You can''t, as I don''t plan to travel to other worlds anytime soon. But there is something else that I can prove. I can teleport myself and others to any location instantly. See?"

    In the process of talking, he had leaned forward in his chair. Then suddenly, before Ryuu could even blink, her entire surroundings had changed. What greeted her was an all-too-familiar clearing in a particular forest, with a grave mound with a variety of weapons stabbed into it to act as impromptu gravestones at its center. The smell, the quality of the air, the lighting conditions¡­ everything had changed!

    Completely unable to accept what she was seeing, Ryuu was slack-jawed. She even found it hard to think and felt like all of her gears had just¡­ ground to a screeching halt. If their chairs hadn''t accompanied them, she would have probably fallen on her butt without any chance to react. Repeatedly, she blinked to see whether the scene in front of her would disappear. She even pinched herself in an effort to determine if she was currently dreaming or caught in an illusion of some kind. Of course, these efforts were fated to be in vain.

    Not really bothering about his Elven teleport buddy''s troubles, Isaac searched the clearing for a while, before he found what he had been looking for. To one side, pretty close to the treeline, quite a few simple white flowers were blooming. Despite their plainness, they were actually really beautiful and reminded him of an untouched canvas.

    Once he had made sure that Ryuu was paying attention to him, he plucked one of the flowers, then he walked back to her and teleported them back to their previous location.

    "Yes, we were actually there. How else could I have gotten this?"

    Before Ryuu could even open her mouth, he had already preemptively answered her question and shoved the white flower in her face, causing her to have to suppress the urge to sneeze.

    With slightly watery eyes, she grabbed the flower out of his hand and subconsciously put it into one of her pockets, all the while hurriedly trying to calm down. What she had just witnessed should have been impossible. This went far beyond any kind of Magic that she had ever heard of - it was instantaneous, after all. She wasn''t even sure whether the gods would be capable of what Isaac had just done. Maybe they could do it when they were back in Heaven, but here in the Lower World, they could barely do anything. Comparatively, at least.

    "See? I told you the truth about my ability to teleport. All of my claims should appear quite far-fetched to you, so now that I''ve proven one, you should have a little less of a reason to doubt me."

    Reluctantly, Ryuu nodded. She couldn''t deny that he most likely hadn''t been lying to her before. With that in mind¡­ she actually grew a little disappointed.

    "I see. So you''re not connected to what happened back then¡­"

    With a slightly helpless smile on his lips, Isaac shook his head.

    "Sorry about this. I don''t even know what event you''re referring to exactly. I have my theories, but no concrete knowledge. Ultimately, I''m just someone whose presence makes no sense and will bring a lot of chaos."

    A heavy sigh and a few moments of silence later, Ryuu suddenly snapped out of her mental lamentations.

    "Wait a minute! What happened before, with Syr? What did you do to her!?"

    Yet again, she was up in arms¡­ and pointing her tray at him. DId she simply instinctively love to point things at others in an effort to make herself feel more secure? Even though he was distracted by thoughts like these, Isaac''s reply wasn''t late.

    "Oh, that. I can tell you what happened, but only if you really want me to. Be careful, though. It won''t be something you want to hear or know about."

    He really had no obligation to keep other people''s secrets. No matter what reason there was for Syr''s actions, he wouldn''t stand on ceremony if someone asked him about her. Had the one aiming this question at him not been an acquaintance like Ryuu - yes, she had successfully ascended from being a stranger - then he wouldn''t have even hesitated to tell them everything he knew. But of course only if doing so would be beneficial for him.

    Isaac''s words, yet again, sounded ominous. And yet again, Ryuu wanted to just dismiss them as lies, or as him making a fool of her. Still, she knew that now that he had ignited her curiosity and doubt, she wouldn''t be able to forget what he had said. She would start to look at her friend with different, uncertain eyes no matter what. After all, unless she had confirmation of the opposite, there was always a possibility of something being¡­ off.

    Therefore, she might as well hear him out. Doing so would either lead to the development that he had warned her about¡­ or it would calm down this tsunami of worries and delusional theories that was currently assaulting her heart. Either way, there would be a resolution.

    "Please tell me."

    After staring right into Ryuu''s clear and certain eyes for a bit, Isaac sighed and nodded.

    "Alright, but it would be better to do so when she is present. Can you please get her to join us? I planned to talk to her later anyway."

    As requested, Ryuu made her way out of the private room and sought out her friend. Thankfully, Syr had still not left the tavern, as she was waiting for Ryuu to finish her conversation first.

    "Syr, I asked the man I was talking to - Isaac - about what happened between the two of you before and he told me that he would prefer to reveal it when you are present as well. Will you please join us?"

    When this question reached her ears, the grey-haired girl''s shoulders stiffened, and so did the smile on her face. She seemed really unwilling for a moment, but before Ryuu could tell her that it was fine, that she didn''t have to accompany her, Syr released a heavy sigh, losing a bit of her usual liveliness in the process.

    "Okay. At this point, it was only a matter of time anyway."

    Without bothering to explain her words any further, Syr took a glance at her fellow coworkers and slightly shook her head while smiling to herself. Then, she led the way and confidently walked to the private room, with a confused and admittedly worried Ryuu in tow.

    ''What did you mean by that, Syr? Don''t scare me like this!''

    Isaac had been waiting for the two girls while relaxedly reclining on his chair and reading one of the books that his subordinates had obtained for him. When he heard footsteps approaching the door, he put it back into his inventory and raised his head.

    The confident stride of Syr halted the very moment that she laid her eyes upon him, and it took Ryuu poking her in the cheek for her to snap out of her rigid state. No matter how thoroughly she had tried to prepare herself mentally, she didn''t want this meeting to happen. Sadly, it seemed like she didn''t have a choice this time - the events would unfold, one way or the other. With a deep breath, she entered and sat down in a chair as well.

    Before Ryuu could explain anything, Isaac motioned to her to stay quiet. Then, with a peculiar smile, he looked directly at Syr.

    "Please forgive me. This might be rude, but it''s the easiest way. Why don''t you just drop this act, ''Syr''?"

    For Ryuu, these words felt like heavy punches to the gut. But while her mental alarms were already blaring, she tried to convince herself that everyone had their secrets, so it wouldn''t be surprising for her friend, her saviour, to have one as well, right? She didn''t need to worry¡­ right!?

    In response to Isaac''s words, Syr just innocently tilted her head, an expression of confusion on her face.

    "What do you mean?"

    With a smirk, Isaac started to release some of the mana from his mental layer and used it to surround Syr from all sides, causing her eyes to widen in surprise.

    "Do you want me to forcefully break it? I''m sure there would be repercussions, which I doubt you would want to deal with. I also don''t want to be enemies with you, if I can help it."

    Finally, after seemingly struggling for a few seconds, Syr heaved another deep sigh, muttered a "It was worth a try" and smiled defeatedly.

    "You say that, but you''re still forcing me to do this? What a bad boy~"

    Right in front of Ryuu''s and Isaac''s eyes, Syr¡­ proceeded to transform. She grew a little bit taller and her body became more voluptuous. Her grey hair and eyes became clearer, until an almost silver colour was reached. It was a little hard to notice this due to her having her hair tied up in a ponytail, but it also grew markedly longer. Even her face slightly changed, now having become far, far more beautiful than ever before. It was simply gorgeous and otherworldly, and robbed the spectating Elf of her breath. Ryuu didn''t even get a chance to think about anything before she was captured by this woman''s incredible charm.

    With a playful and seductive smirk on her lips, the woman played with her hair and glanced at the waitress uniform that she was still wearing. It felt awfully tight and was at least a size too small now that she had reverted back to her original body. Speaking of, her ''assets'' seemed dangerously close to bursting the blouse part of her clothing¡­

    "I have never actually worn clothes like these while in this state¡­"

    Compared to before, even her voice was different. Instead of the previous youthful, cheerful tone, it was now far more mature and melodious. Every sentence felt like a rhyme or song that was perfectly calculated to fascinate any and all listeners. After muttering to herself, the woman raised her head to look at Isaac.

    "So, are you happy with what you''re seei---"

    Before she could finish her teasing words, she fell silent, as she had noticed¡­ that the look in Isaac''s eyes hadn''t changed at all. What was more, now that she wasn''t Syr anymore, she had regained the use of her abilities¡­ and what she saw left her completely baffled. This man¡­ how could he possibly have a Divine Soul!?

    A knowing smile played across Isaac''s lips. For a moment, he shot a glance at the spellbound Ryuu, before proceeding to ignore her for now - she wouldn''t be able to escape from this plight for quite a while, it seemed.

    "Nice to meet you, Freya. And sorry for raining on your parade like that."

    All manner of stealth and illusions, even Magics that could alter one''s appearance, allowing one to become someone else¡­ they could easily be seen through by Isaac. But he hadn''t even needed to make use of that ability of his. As for his ability to see souls, he also hadn''t needed to depend on that one. Instead, he had only relied on his proficiency with mana to unravel this persona that the goddess in front of him had built up for so many years.

    But was Syr really Freya? There was far more to it than just that.

 Chapter 83 - Expectations And Reality

    Ever since the incident where Riveria had accused him of wanting to peep on the girls while they bathed, Isaac had grown far more cautious with his use of the Eyes of Hermes. Still, he didn''t stop using it completely, as it was simply far too useful of an ability to not utilize just out of consideration for others. What he did instead was to figure out a way to make it undetectable. After all, if nobody knew about it, then there was no problem.

    It didn''t take long for him to realize why Riveria had been able to notice it - the mana that he released into the surroundings didn''t behave like the naturally present mana at all. It stuck out like a sore thumb, making it possible for anyone with advanced enough senses in regards to mana to detect his surveillance.

    Thankfully, this problem was solvable. He only needed to let every single bit of mana perfectly follow the natural mana flow of the environment¡­ which was far more difficult than it initially sounded.

    Everything had to be controlled manually at all times - so far, so good. That was what he had been doing before as well. But now, he also had to analyze the mana flow at the particular spots at which he placed his own mana, then he had to follow these movements perfectly. The sheer mental burden of this was staggering, and during his first few tries, he had only managed to control a few tens of drops of mana sufficiently well enough.

    This number would have undoubtedly increased with practice, but before he even needed to rely on that, he had already ascended to godhood, giving him more drops of mana, a higher ranked Mana Cultivation and also a vastly improved brain. All of this combined led to him being capable of controlling hundreds of bits of mana perfectly!

    Of course, he didn''t need to keep up such a wide area of undetectable surveillance at all times, so he usually restrained it to just a few tens of meters around himself, which pretty much gave him what people would call ''eyes on the back of his head''. Only if someone attacked him from afar could they take him by surprise. But no matter what, an attack from further away would need to travel that distance, giving him ample time and opportunities to react once he detected it.

    Due to his continued close observation of the world''s mana, when he laid eyes upon Syr for the first time, he immediately noticed multiple oddities about her. First of all, her body seemed to fully consist of mana - or at least, the outer, visible shell did. There was no way for him to see anything past the surface. At the same time, although her body was constructed from mana, it was also an actual physical body. If one didn''t pay particularly close attention to her, one would never realize that something was off, no matter how sensitive one''s mana-related senses were. This certainly explained how nobody that Isaac knew of had ever noticed anything like this about the charming waitress.

    Secondly, there had been a very, very thin ''thread'' of mana connecting Syr to¡­ well, someplace else. He hadn''t actually traced it back to its source, as he doubted that even with his vastly improved mental faculties, he would be able to bear the load of sending out his mana that far. Orario was still a bit too large of a city for him to be able to theoretically reach every corner of it when using his Eyes of Hermes.

    All in all, Syr almost resembled a kind of marionette in his eyes. Combining all of this new information with the few guesses that he had already made when he had read the novel series back in the day, made him come to a conclusion. To make sure that this possibility was indeed correct, he still had to ascertain a few things, which was one of the reasons as to why he had chosen to unmask the poor girl.

    From what he had been able to observe, the physical transformation that had made Freya into Syr ran far deeper than just shrouding her in a different appearance - her whole body, literally, was altered. This, obviously, also included her vocal chords, as she had a completely different voice now that she had returned back to her normal self. Judging from the lack of Divine Energy in her body previously, she had truly been converted into a wholly mortal body, cut off from Divinity and Arcanums alike. It may have been one made of and held together by mana, but it was a mortal body nonetheless.

    "It''s fine, it has already happened. Now, is it my turn to ask questions yet?"

    Noticing how Freya had seemingly calmed down again, sporting an ever-flirtatious look on her face, Isaac simply smirked, apparently without a care in the world.

    "Sure, go ahead. I already have all of the answers that I wanted. I''ll need to ask something of you later, but until then, feel free to state your questions."

    His lackadaisical attitude slightly annoyed Freya, but she chose to not let it show. After all, she knew far too little about the man in front of her to make any overly rash moves. He was unaffected by the charm that she naturally exuded, which she chalked up to him being, evidently, a deity like her. As she had a lot of experience dealing with her kin, she knew exactly what to do.

    ''Let''s see how you react to this.''

    With an enchanting smile on her face, she used her Divine Energy to continually raise the intensity of the charm that she was exuding and funnelled it in his direction. But very quickly, she noticed something odd. No matter how much energy she poured in, the expected reaction didn''t happen. Normally, anyone, regardless of gender, would already be groveling at her feet, begging for her attention. She would have stolen their hearts and bodies, driven them mad with l.u.s.t and romantic desire. Even Ryuu, who she hadn''t focused on at all, also showed that she had grown far more affected - she was blushing up to the very tips of her ears.

    In stark contrast, the only reaction she got from Isaac was an appreciative glint in his eyes and a satisfied nod. Wasn''t that¡­ far too underwhelming!?

    Seeing her efforts produce basically no results, Freya furrowed her eyebrows and stopped wasting her energy, causing her charm-levels to return to normal. As Isaac had given her free rein with her questions, she didn''t bother beating around the bush.

    "Why are you not affected by my charm?"

    A somewhat embarrassed, but also conflicted expression appeared on Isaac''s face, then he released a sigh.

    "The reason is far more simple than you probably imagine. It''s no secret technique, and no special ability. It''s just¡­ while I can appreciate beauty, I am incapable of feeling s.e.x.u.a.l urges for that alone. Unless there is the basis of romantic feelings, beauty won''t affect me in such a way at all."

    This trait wasn''t unique to Isaac, but even in his old world, it had been exceedingly rare. So rare, in fact, that most people would simply scoff at the ones who stood out because of it. The masses could never truly comprehend the fact that others that weren''t them¡­ were simply different. The majority was primarily controlled by their bestial nature and propagation instincts, while an extremely small minority wasn''t whatsoever. Ultimately, there was nothing ''right'' or ''wrong'' about either.

    While this trait alone was already enough to withstand the goddess of beauty''s charm, there, of course, were other reasons as to why Isaac wasn''t affected as well. Chief of all was the fact that his soul couldn''t ever possibly be affected by Freya. As this body of his was, in essence, just an avatar that his soul controlled, even if she had been capable of influencing the body, it would never be able to reach his true self.

    In any case, there was no real reason to hold back the small crumb of information that he had just shared, especially because Isaac intended to be on friendly terms with this talent collection addict. Only a true madman genuinely wanted to make more enemies. Was there a need to deliberately offend everyone that he crossed paths with? Of course there wasn''t!

    Isaac''s explanation left the goddess stunned for a moment, then she started to massage her forehead with a resigned expression on her face.

    ''He just had to be the most troublesome kind of person¡­''

    In her exceedingly long life, Freya had come across many people who had been able to resist her charm. Some had possessed rare skills that enabled them to be immune to her influence, some had control over the same Divinity as she did. But the most difficult to deal with and also the least numerous group out of them all was the one that Isaac belonged to, which she had dubbed ''the romantics''. These people weren''t as.e.x.u.a.l, as they were indeed capable of feeling s.e.x.u.a.l desire. There was just a condition which first had to be triggered for this desire to come into play, that being ''being in love with someone''. Only the target of their affections would ever be able to flip that special switch that Freya had so much first-hand experience with.

    Once, she had been interested in such a person, such a romantic. She had spent a long time making them fall in love with her naturally, and had indeed succeeded in conquering their heart and body in the end. Because of this, she was aware of just how much investment would be necessary to control Isaac¡­ it was simply not worth it. There wouldn''t even be a novel experience involved.

    "Alright, I understand. Then here is my next question. You seemed like a regular adventurer, a mortal, to me before, but now I see that I was mistaken. Why do you play that kind of role?"

    When he heard her words, he just rolled his eyes.

    "Are you not doing the same exact thing?"

    Left slightly fl.u.s.tered, the goddess played it cool and cleared her throat.

    "... fair enough."

    "To tell you the truth, the reason for my current state is my desire for an interesting journey. I''m sure you can sympathize."

    He wasn''t lying to her, as his current incredibly weak and restricted self was indeed the result of him consciously restraining himself for the sake of this goal. Still, what he said successfully served to mislead Freya, as his words led her to assume something completely different. This wasn''t her fault, though, as she could have never even imagined what kind of entity she was currently sharing a table with.

    An understanding smile played across the goddess'' lips, as she nodded. What he had mentioned wasn''t all too different from her own circ.u.mstances...

    "I hope you can forgive me for unmasking you like this. I don''t have a habit of lying, and I sort of owed your friend here a favour."

    Isaac showed a somewhat guilty smile as he tried to explain his previous actions. Thankfully, with a kind expression on her face, Freya waved her hand.

    "It''s all water under the bridge. Let us not speak to others about our secret identities from now on."

    The reason as to why she behaved so magnanimously was that both of them had a grip on the other''s weak point right now. If she exposed that Isaac was a god, he would surely let everyone know about her identity as Syr as well. Both of them would end up having their lifestyles impacted heavily, and there was simply no need for this. Of course, she could take more drastic measures to shut him up, but once he was eliminated and sent back to Heaven, couldn''t he just spread the news there? In the end, a mutually beneficial agreement was the best option.

    After Isaac expressed his approval, he finally got a chance to state his aforementioned request.

    "Would you be so kind as to release Ryuu from her charmed state and explain the situation to her, at least vaguely?"

    A heavy sigh escaped Freya''s lips. Before she did as requested, she stared deeply into Isaac''s eyes, a dangerous aura shrouding her.

    "Thanks to you, I would have to do so anyway. But¡­ what are you planning in regards to her¡­?"

    In response to the ever-increasing threat that Freya exuded, Isaac stayed unnaturally calm and showed a gentle smile. Secretly, he felt relieved that his guess had been correct: The goddess actually genuinely cared about her Elven coworker.

    "Although she seems to have come to terms with her past, from what I have observed, she has also been unable to take steps towards the future. I want to give her an opportunity. Remaining stationary isn''t necessarily a bad thing, and can lead to an enjoyable life. But ignoring unresolved issues is always a suboptimal solution."

    Once she had processed Isaac''s words, Freya nodded slightly, then she consciously reduced the amount of charm that Ryuu was confronted with, causing the Elf to snap out of her spellbound daze and blink confusedly for a few moments. In her charmed state, she hadn''t been able to focus on anything but the goddess'' beauty, she hadn''t even been able to think. Not a single word that the two had spoken had been registered by her.

    Suddenly, she seemed to recall something and turned to look at Freya in absolute shock.

    "Goddess Freya, are you¡­ really Syr¡­!?"

    It wasn''t weird for her to recognize the identity of just who exactly it was that had been hidden behind the guise of her saviour. After all, she had met Freya before on multiple occasions in the past, when the Astraea Familia had still consisted of more than a single member. She had only seen her from a distance back then, and they had never spoken with each other. Nonetheless, this kind of beauty, a being embodying the very epitome of the word, wasn''t easily forgotten.

    A slight but gentle smile that was very reminiscent of the one that Syr would usually show appeared on Freya''s face.

    "Yes and no."

    The worried Elf hadn''t expected these words, so she widened her eyes in surprise and confusion.

    "What¡­ exactly do you mean by that?"

    Having anticipated this question, the goddess nodded slightly.

    "You see, one of my children, a lovely girl by the name of Helun, has a very special Magic that allows us to share senses. It can also make both of us transform. One of the forms we can take is the one you''ve grown so close to, ''Syr''."

    In all honesty, Ryuu didn''t know how to react to this revelation. Her thoughts and heart were currently an absolute mess. She didn''t even know what she was feeling anymore. Was she sad or afraid? Was she intrigued or excited? Was she hurt or flattered? She couldn''t tell.

    Right when she was about to break down into tears due to all of the confusion, a pair of hands grasped hers gently, and she looked up to see an unimaginably beautiful face right in front of hers. Although it was Freya''s¡­ her posture, her expression¡­ even the exact amount of strength that she put into her hands¡­ it was all so familiar.

    "I took the chance to become Syr because I wanted to live a normal, mortal life. While I''m her, I can fully rid myself of the burden of my Divinity and truly do what I want to do. I can be free. Please don''t think of me any differently now that you know who I really am. Syr is who I want to be, and both Helun and I see you as a friend. I understand that it might be hard to accept, with me being a goddess and all, but---"

    Before she could fully explain herself, Ryuu had already started to weep uncontrollably, completely disregarding Isaac''s presence¡­ well, maybe she had just forgotten about him. She wasn''t sad or heartbroken¡­ rather, she felt an indescribable warmth in her chest, and just couldn''t control her feelings any longer.

    In the past, Freya had always seemed to give off an unapproachable, high and mighty air. But right now, she truly seemed just like her friend and saviour, like Syr. Due to her, back then, she had found a reason to continue living. Due to her, she had experienced so much joy. She was just¡­ grateful. And happy to not have to lose the friend that she had finally made after all of that suffering.

    With a slight smirk on her lips, Freya hugged the crying girl to her chest, just like she had done a few times before. This time, however¡­ Ryuu had some more comfortable pillows to rest on.

    To be polite, Isaac had averted his gaze from the two. He would have preferred to let them have such a touching moment in private, but now that he was already here, the least he could do was to become as unassuming as possible. For a moment, he had played with the idea of blurring his existence a little, but then he discarded it. Doing so would just let Freya know more about his capabilities, which didn''t align with his goals.

    Inwardly, he was shocked at what the goddess of beauty had revealed. As he was far more adept at spotting lies than most people, he was certain that she had spoken from the heart. Her current image differed heavily from how she had been portrayed in the novels, where she seemed to almost be an antagonist at times.

    ''Is that the influence of a Divinity?''

    Until now, Ais hadn''t felt her Wind Divinity affect her in the slightest, her behaviour also hadn''t changed at all. The reason for this was the system, which warded off such outside influences automatically. Because of this, he hadn''t been sure about how exactly the minds of the ones who possessed one were affected. But seeing the drastic differences between the Divinity-ridden Freya and the person she truly wanted to be, Syr¡­ this personality-altering influence really couldn''t be ignored.

    It took a while, but Ryuu''s tears finally dried up. When she noticed that she had cried in front of a man - even worse, Isaac - she couldn''t help but blush in shame. Quickly, however, she managed to show a cold and expressionless face again, although it was plain to see that it was completely fake.

    As the situation seemed to mostly have been resolved and there was no need to remain as she was, Freya turned to face Isaac, a slightly annoyed frown on her face. It wasn''t directed at him, but something else.

    "I''m starting to feel uncomfortable in this form. May I turn back?"

    A quick nod to complete the formalities later, Isaac and Ryuu got to observe the transformation process again. It only took a couple of seconds, and it felt like they were watching a deflating balloon¡­ at least in certain areas.

    "Phew, that feels a lot better. Less restraining as well~"

    With a playful grin on her lips, Syr stretched herself and closed her eyes blissfully. Unabashedly ignoring the happy goddess turned waitress, Isaac focused on Ryuu, as there was still unfinished business.

    "To finally answer your previous questions, I didn''t really do anything to Syr. I''m just pretty good at sensing and observing mana, so I realized that a Magic was in play and figured out a few things based on that. As for your friend, she noticed that I had managed to see through her and was shocked. That''s all."

    Judging from what she had just experienced, Ryuu had to admit that his explanation made sense. It was very likely to be the truth. She was also relieved that nothing bad had actually occurred. Initially, she had feared the worst¡­ but thankfully, Syr hadn''t been harmed. Come to think of it, should she call her ''Freya'' now? Wait, that wouldn''t be fitting, as Helun was also a part of Syr, right? There had to have been a reason as to why the two chose to be known by that name. So¡­ she decided that she would just continue calling them Syr.

    Seeing the usually expressionless Elf sheepishly smile to herself while looking in Syr''s direction, Isaac couldn''t help but smirk a little himself.

    ''The foundation has been laid.''

    His plans related to Ryuu were a little more long-term than just this second encounter. Now that she undoubtedly had grown closer to Syr, in a way, she would feel indebted to him. One day, she might feel the need to repay him - especially if he happened to help her out on more than just this occasion.

    "Oh well, my job here is done. I''d better be on my way, I wouldn''t want to worry my familia too much."

    With these words, Isaac got up from his chair and was soon led out of the tavern by the two waitresses.

    "We hope to see you again soon~!"

    Sporting her usual behaviour, Syr waved their customer goodbye, while Ryuu only nodded at him and mumbled a "Take care".

    After waving back and shooting them a smile, Isaac quickly disappeared into the dark of the night.

    When the two were still gazing out into the streets, suddenly, both of them were hugged from behind by their coworkers. Syr was held in place by Anya, while Ryuu was embraced by Chloe - both of them were Cat People. Meanwhile, Lunoire, the other human employee aside from Syr, just stood next to the four of them with an expectant grin on her face.

    "So, why did you two not even bother introducing us to this ''friend'' of yours? He seems quite dashing! Don''t you know that sharing is caring?"

    The teasing tone in Chloe''s voice caused Ryuu to blush slightly from embarrassment. Quickly, she retorted annoyedly.

    "It''s not like that! Besides he''s taken, so don''t get any ideas."

    As usual, the words that the inexperienced Elf had chosen were all too easy to pick apart for the naughty cat girl that had wrapped her arms around her.

    "Oh~? So what you''re saying is that you would be getting ideas if he wasn''t?"

    They had known each other for a couple of years now, and she knew exactly which buttons to press to annoy Ryuu. Ashamed at having been played with like this, the prim and proper Elf popped a vein and her expression turned ice-cold from silent fury.

    "I swear I will give you a good beating today¡­"

    The very moment when she had pushed her too far, Chloe had already distanced herself and started giggling.

    "Hehe, then catch me if you can!"

    For ten or so minutes, the sounds of quick movements and mischievous laughter rang through the Hostess of Fertility, before being abruptly ended by two loud THUDs. As the two had been a little too unrestrained, Mia had decided to knock some sense into these troublemakers before they could make even more of a mess.

 Chapter 84 - Nope, I Didnâ€™t See Anything

    Not far from the Hostess of Fertility, on one of the many roofs close to the western main street, stood a male Cat Person with his arms crossed. He was slightly shorter than Ais, so even in this world, he would have been considered below average in height. He was entirely clad in black and had hair of almost the same colour. It was short enough for his cat ears to still be barely visible, but not long enough to reach his shoulders. His blue-green eyes were full of animosity while they were silently following a peculiar man''s silhouette.

    "Count yourself lucky today. If my goddess hadn''t ordered me to return¡­ Tsk."

    Unhappily, he clicked his tongue and tightened the grip on his spear, then he turned his head to look towards the roof of a building nearby, on the other side of the street.

    ''To be fair, with them around, I probably wouldn''t have been able to harm him anyway¡­ Argh, it''s too annoying!''

    Before he actually blew up at the sight of these acquaintances of his, he decided to leave without making a fuss. It wasn''t like he was afraid of them, no. Rather, his goddess had told him to behave and go back home now that his services hadn''t ended up being necessary. Causing unneeded trouble wouldn''t earn him any praise.

    -----

    "Finally, that arrogant shithead has left."

    Although his cheeks were still slightly flushed from the alcohol, Bete''s gaze wasn''t clouded whatsoever. He had been on high alert this entire time, only relaxing once he finally saw the other party retreat.

    His words caused Tiona, who was sitting next to him, to smirk to herself and break out into a giggle.

    "You calling him that is so ironic."

    A vein almost popped on the Werewolf''s forehead, but instead of what would usually follow - him turning very aggressive - he simply snorted and shot her an annoyed glare.

    "... shut it."

    After shrugging nonchalantly, the Amazoness stood up and stretched.

    "Alright, alright. Anyway, I''m surprised to see you watching over Isaac like that."

    Instantly, a slight amount of killing intent could be felt from Bete''s aura, and his gaze markedly sharpened.

    "No matter who they''re picking on, I won''t let anyone bully our familia''s weaklings. Especially not that bastard."

    Earlier, when they had left the tavern, almost all of the stronger adventurer''s amongst their midst had realized that one of the Freya Familia''s members, Allen Fromel, was paying close attention to the establishment that they had come from. Initially, most of them had planned to stay there just in case, to keep Isaac safe, but it was determined that this would have been absolutely overkill. After all, Allen was ''just'' a Level 6, which they now had plenty of. As their rival had been at this Level for years, though, they needed at least two of their own newer Level 6''s to keep an eye on him. Both Bete and Tiona had volunteered for this.

    What the Werewolf had just claimed wasn''t wrong. He truly hated it when those weaker than him were picked on, especially if they were a part of the group that he belonged to. That ''privilege'' was reserved to him, and him only. In any case, he didn''t do it because he derived enjoyment from it, it was for their own good, to motivate them. And even more importantly than all of that, he couldn''t stand Allen.

    To anyone looking at it from an outside perspective, their personalities seemed quite similar. They looked down on others, they generally behaved like jerks and they had a violent streak. Still, people most often hated those that closely resembled themselves, especially when they weren''t happy with their current selves to begin with. And Bete fell into that category.

    With a grin on her face, Tiona just nodded and didn''t comment any further on what her companion had said. After shooting a last look in the direction of the Hostess of Fertility, especially at a certain grey-haired waitress that seemed to be staring straight at her, she turned towards the north-east.

    "Guess it''s time to go back home¡­"

    Her mutterings were interrupted by a barely audible, distant and self-satisfied voice.

    "Way ahead of you."

    Tiona''s eyes widened in surprise, then she got slightly angry and stormed off - after Bete, who had already left her behind.

    "Hey! Wait for me!!"

    -----

    On this morning, Orario welcomed a never-before-seen spectacle. Although not everyone happened to be awake at this relatively early hour, those that were hastily woke up their friends and relatives just so they could witness it as well. Starting from shortly before 6 a.m., incredibly bright and seemingly endlessly long beams of light shot down from the heavens and unto the very top of Babel. Citizens of the Labyrinth City weren''t strangers to this phenomenon - every time a deity descended to the Lower World, such a sight would accompany them. This time, however, it didn''t just stop after one or two beams of light. Instead, tens of them, hell, more than fifty of them, all lit up the still slightly dark sky one after another!

    As one of the first few that had descended, Aparctias was observing his surroundings with interest. His brown-blonde, short and curly hair and the slight beard stubble gave him a mature but playful air, and his dark brown eyes always seemed to look far into the distance. Like many of the gods originating from his pantheon, he chose to wear sandals and a green tunic-style garment accented by white stripes. He carried himself regally and paid close attention to his image, so even though he was excited to step foot into this mostly unfamiliar world, he hastily changed his expression to an aloof one once more of his brethren arrived.

    He was one of the more fortunate ones amongst them, as he didn''t really have any enmity with, well, anyone here. This was partially because he was one of the weaker ones present, but mainly, it was because he had become a part of the Anemoi, a group of wind-related deities, shortly after his ascension. This backing had allowed him to escape most of the bullying and the repeated deaths that many other gods had had to endure back when they had been newcomers.

    "Why didn''t you tell me that you were coming as well, brother? With both of us here, this will be a lot more fun!"

    A god that was clad in the exact same attire, with the only difference being that there were light blue stripes on his tunic, quickly made his way towards Aparctias once he noticed him in the crowd. His name was Kaikias, and he also was a member of the Anemoi. He had been the one to introduce this brother of his to their group right after the latter had become one of their kind. Needless to say, they had been very close even before then, even Aparctias'' ascension had only been possible because of his friend''s support.

    Kaikias had light brown eyes and shoulder-length black hair which he wore in a ponytail. He gave off a less Grecian air in that aspect, but he honestly didn''t care about that too much.

    Seeing that his close friend had also come down here to hunt¡­ or rather, to play, a delighted smile stole itself on Aparctias'' face. At the same time, he turned a little embarrassed.

    "I was distracted and only made my mind up about the news very late, so I sent a last-minute application yesterday. I didn''t even know who else was coming. I''m glad to find out that I won''t be alone down here!"

    As the two of them were catching up with each other and leisurely chit-chatting, some of the gods and goddesses around them did the same. Another portion had already begun to furiously shout at each other, some others even got into brawls. There was no doubt that if they had been armed, a few would have already been sent back up to Heaven.

    Before the situation could grow even further out of control, many Guild employees stepped in and hurriedly broke up the fights, then they waited until everyone quietened down to make an announcement.

    "In order to let you acclimate to the Lower World as quickly as possible, Lord Ouranos has asked us to give you a short run-down of the current political situation. We will also introduce all of the things that you should pay attention to when interacting with mortals. I know that for most of you, this is your first time here, so I would highly recommend bearing with us for a few moments."

    The Elven Guild employee''s professional tone and attitude immediately won over a huge portion of the crowd, but some of the gods didn''t show too much of an interest in listening to them. They felt like they already had a good enough idea of what not to do, so without heeding the employees'' numerous calls and pleas, they simply swaggered off on their own and took the elevator down to the first floor of the tower. Both Aparctias and Kaikias were a part of this splinter group.

    Some of the veterans who saw this simply shook their heads and called them ignorant fools under their breath, but they didn''t bother to chase after or warn them. Nothing was more effective than tasting that uncomfortable bitterness firsthand. They wouldn''t stop them from embarrassing themselves. A rude awakening was better than no awakening at all.

    When the elevator arrived at the first floor and the staggering numbers of adventurers walking to and fro came into view, almost all of the gods'' eyes lit up in excitement. Moments later, they stormed off towards a few particular mortals that had caught their interest.

    "We should also get going, before they''ll get snatched away!"

    With hurried steps, Aparctias and Kaikias made their way into the crowd and soon noticed a few people that stood out to them. The first one was a very buff and dark-skinned Cow Person who had a massive claymore strapped to his back.

    "Hey there, big fellow. Yeah, you. I''m talking to you. What do you say, do you want to make something better out of your pitiful life and become my servant?"

    Even though the words that he spoke were dripping with arrogance, Aparctias didn''t feel like he was misleading anyone. To serve someone like him, a great and mighty god, was the honour of all mortals! Or¡­ well¡­ he thought it was.

    "... you''re lucky that I don''t want to get arrested, so I''ll let you keep your life for today. Scram!"

    Contrary to the naive god''s expectations, the buff man simply shoved him aside before leading a party of seven into the dungeon. All of them made sure to send the tunic-clad deity disdainful looks.

    His friend, Kaikias, had behaved a little more restrainedly, but he hadn''t had any luck either. The incredibly cute Elf that he had chatted up was already a part of a familia, and she wouldn''t jump sh.i.p.s for any price.

    In the following hours, the large group of mainly gods and rather few goddesses that had ignored the Guild''s - or rather, Ouranos'' - goodwill, was constantly met with rejection. Some earned a couple of beatings, some others got shouted at with enough intensity to almost make them piss themselves.

    After being rejected for the n-th time today, Aparctias sat down on the stairs leading up to the second floor and leaned against the wall exhaustedly. His brother, Kaikias, also didn''t have any luck yet.

    "These blind ants don''t know what''s good for them! I could squish them with just a thought if I had access to my real power¡­"

    Hatefully, Aparctias mumbled to himself. He wasn''t lying, if he hadn''t been forced into this mortal form, he could have reacted to the non-reverential attitude that he had been showered with with a mass slaughter. Admittedly, he wouldn''t have actually done that, he just wanted to audibly vent his frustrations, which is why his thoughts veered into such a dark direction for a moment.

    Kaikias, on the other hand, wasn''t feeling so resentful. Instead, he was overcome with remorse.

    "Maybe we shouldn''t have skipped the tutorial¡­"

    A reluctant sigh escaped Aparctias'' mouth, and he nodded.

    "I hate to admit it, but you''re correct. How are we going to find any servants like this? We need a place to stay, and some money¡­"

    Little did they know that many people would have indeed accepted their arrogant invitations¡­ but they had started their recruitment in the worst possible place. Here in Babel, almost all people passing by were already a part of a familia, or some other battle-hardened veterans. The only responses that they could get in such a place were rejection and humiliation.

    Not just the two of them and their fellow tutorial-skippers, even the gods who had stayed with the Guild employees to listen to their explanations - they all had a much more difficult road ahead of them than most of them realized. Did they think that they could just waltz down here, instantly command respect and hunt down the person that they were looking for without first acc.u.mulating sufficient manpower and resources? If they did, then they were living a pipe dream!

    -----

    Although there were now two beds in Ais'' room, they had pushed them so close to each other that they could basically use them as a double bed. Sleeping next to each other was just a vastly more comforting feeling than simply staying in the same room, so of course the two wouldn''t abstain from it. This was far from the first time that they had spent the night together, so both Ais and Isaac slowly grew used to these happiness- and safety-inducing circ.u.mstances.

    If there was one problem to point out, then it was the bathrooms. Parts of the Twilight Manor were classified as the male and female dormitories, and they all had their own respective bathrooms. While Isaac could have just made a long detour to the old male bathrooms that he had been using before, he honestly didn''t feel it to be necessary. After all, there were still single-person bathrooms, even in the women''s area. The rooms could be locked, so once he was actually in there, what would it matter?

    He soon realized his folly, after he finished showering and dressing himself in his adventuring gear. When he opened the door and left, ready to return to his and Ais'' room, he was greeted by the sight of Elfy, who was only clad in a simple white towel. Her hair was still slightly wet.

    "Huh? Why did this door suddenly open?"

    As her ears had picked up a noise, Elfy had instinctively turned her head, only to be greeted by an empty bathroom and a wide-open door. She had only just heard it move, so she had expected to run into someone. But¡­ there was no one there?

    Slightly creeped out, a shiver involuntarily ran down her spine and she silently muttered to herself, before hurrying off.

    "Must have been the wind¡­"

    By this time, Isaac had already returned to Ais'' room. The moment he had seen that he had bumped into someone who happened to be wearing¡­ well, basically almost nothing, he had immediately blurred his existence and been on his way. He really didn''t want to get involved in any annoying misunderstandings.

    So, as extremely wise as he was, instead of choosing to go to the male bathrooms from now on to avoid a repeat of what had just happened entirely, he chose to blur his existence on the way to and from the female bathrooms in the future. The sight that he had been confronted with moments prior, one that would have sent quite a few men into a l.u.s.t-driven frenzy, didn''t even faze him, neither was it what motivated him to continue using the female bathrooms. He simply didn''t want to bother walking a further distance when he could clean himself closer to his room without much of an issue. Because blurring his existence was even easier for him than breathing, it really was no trouble.

    As quite so often, the ones that were blessed with something extraordinary usually wouldn''t know how to appreciate it. Had some other men been in Isaac''s position, with all of his abilities, then the Loki Familia would have most likely had to welcome a baby boom in a couple of months.

    About ten minutes after his shower, Isaac set off from the Twilight Manor, with Ais and Tiona in tow. He had already talked to Loki, Riveria, his subordinates and his students about it, but he planned to focus more on the dungeon again for the time being. He had laid out his imminent plans related to each of these groups of people, which had ultimately led to both Ais and Tiona being made to accompany and protect him.

    Tione had felt slightly sad about being left behind, but once she had heard that her Captain would most likely be issuing her missions and asking for her help¡­ she had been more than happy to stay back!

    Just about a month ago, Riveria would have never allowed Ais to venture into the dungeon for too long and often, but now that she had observed her little girl''s change and knew about her ability to teleport there anytime she wished to, she didn''t bother restricting her any longer. She was the one who had recommended for Ais to accompany Isaac to keep Tiona in check as well.

    Both Loki and the motherly Elf had denied Isaac''s request of adventuring alone, as they still worried about his life and death. Even someone like him could potentially encounter danger that he couldn''t deal with, after all! So with that in mind, having bodyguards was the most sensible decision. The man in question didn''t really mind, especially because Ais would be coming along, so he had ultimately agreed without putting up much of a resistance.

    Only on this first day would he waste time walking to the dungeon with the two girls following him, then after that, he would just teleport their group to the exact point that they had explored to the previous day. To the outside world, it would simply look like the three were going on a longer venture into some of the deeper floors. As long as they didn''t take too long of a time - for example, multiple months - nobody would bat an eye at this.

    With huge backpacks to fool the onlookers strapped over their shoulders, the three, as always, attracted most of the attention of the crowd. It was a day like any other.

    Or, at least it should have been, but when the group entered Babel, an unknown, self-important blue haired god approached them and openly sized up Ais with a lecherous gaze, completely ignoring Tiona and Isaac in the process. Wait, he didn''t actually ignore the Amazoness, he sent a condescending look her way after glancing at her chest¡­

    "What a divine appearance for a lowly mortal! You are qualified to warm my bed. What do you say, do you accept such an honourable position?"

    As soon as the god''s words had left his mouth, Isaac was already finding it hard to keep his anger under control. But before he even had a chance to react in any meaningful way, Ais'' gaze had already turned especially frosty. Faster than anyone but Ais and Tiona could perceive, she raised her hand and slapped the arrogant prick''s cheek, sending him flying a couple tens of meters away, golden Ichor splattering all over the place.She had made sure to aim for a direction and place where nobody was currently standing and perfectly controlled her strength, so no innocent bystanders got hurt.

    "Whoa, quite impressive!"

    Realizing how well she had taken her surroundings into account, Isaac gave her a thumbs up, before his face turned grim again.

    "Mind if I get a turn as well?"

    Seeing her beloved showing a legitimately quite terrifying expression, Ais felt a warmth in her chest and nodded with a bright smile while blushing a little. Having gotten her permission, Isaac stopped holding back and quickly made his way to the shell-shocked and dazed god. He didn''t pay much attention to the curiously observing crowd.

    "Wait, what do you think you''re doing!?"

    Once he saw that the one approaching him was the handsome man that had stood next to the beauty that he had just tried to claim, the god started to pale and tried to get up and flee, but his legs betrayed him. The hit to his head had been quite severe, so his sense of balance was currently completely messed up.

    With a scarily benevolent smile, Isaac towered over him and stepped down on his upper body with his left foot, pressing him to the ground. No matter how desperately the god tried to escape this situation, whether it was by grabbing Isaac''s leg and struggling to lift it, or by futilely attempting to scratch and bite him, he couldn''t even tickle Isaac due to his high Endurance.

    "No need to be scared, oh respected deity! I simply noticed that you happen to not be in need of one of your body parts anymore, so I decided to be truly selfless. I will relieve you of its burden."

    His words only served to further increase the panic and terror that the god was already subjected to. No matter his behaviour, he wasn''t that much of an idiot - he clearly got the hint. Even a few of the surrounding crowd began to shiver slightly and subconsciously shield their private parts.

    "Do you know who you''re dealing with, brat? I''m--- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

    A guttural scream exploded out of the god''s mouth before he could even announce his glorious name. Isaac had stomped his other foot down right on his reproductive organ, with all of the strength that he currently possessed. In the process, he didn''t only completely obliterate these oh-so-precious parts, but he even heavily injured the god''s waist, shattering the bone in the process. Some of the internal organs were also heavily damaged.

    It was like a flood gate had been opened, and a huge amount of Ichor spread out on the floor, soaking the wailing god''s clothes in mere moments. Only his upper body was still capable of movement, however, so his legs lay limply in the pool of blood. Shocked gasps rang out in the crowd while Isaac casually strolled back to the two ladies, before disappearing into the dungeon.

    Yes, what he had done was against Orario''s laws, as this injury could very well lead to the death of a deity, ridding them of their mortal body and sending them back up to Heaven. But as most people were simply stunned and afraid because of Isaac''s over-the-top actions, and some others had already felt annoyed by the way that this unknown god had treated their idol - the Sword Princess - nobody stopped his advance. Some even went so far as to go in for a few more kicks while the miserable god was still incapacitated. They felt more secure in numbers and soon, a few tens of people surrounded him and hit him from all sides. By the time that some Guild employees came to break up the group and hastily carry the barely living god towards the healing center, there were already more people involved than the Guild would feel comfortable punishing.

    In the distance, a certain pair of gods was trying to hide as best as possible, they were both pale as a sheet of paper.

    "This Lower World is a lot scarier than I ever imagined¡­"

    Hearing his brother''s terror-laden words, Kaikias nodded, he himself still shivering because of the fear.

    "Whatever happens, we can''t afford to offend that madman."

    Ironically enough, they weren''t yet aware that should they try to achieve their trip''s main objective, they would end up doing exactly that.

    -----

    In a room enveloped entirely in darkness, Fels dutifully stared at multiple devices that were used for surveillance, all of which fed audio-visual signals back to them. In particular, they were paying attention to the first floor of the tower of Babel, where an unspeakable crime had just been committed.

    For a few minutes, the cloaked figure seemed to be deliberating something - or maybe, they were simply stunned. Then, they focused on another location''s signal and completely ignored what had just happened.

 Chapter 85 - Recommencing The Research

    As soon as Ais, Isaac and Tiona had sufficiently distanced themselves from the other adventurers roaming the first floor, they teleported to a staircase leading down to the 27th. This was exactly the same point where weeks prior, Isaac''s rapid descent had come to a halt.

    ''It has been so, so long!''

    Anticipation bubbled within his heart. As a result, he didn''t even waste a single second thinking about the huge scene that he had just caused. Usually, he wouldn''t hesitate to kill, so in his eyes, the punishment that he had doled out felt quite merciful. Admittedly, it was extraordinarily painful, but that was the point. Most others that had offended him had already died, so getting away with a generous dose of suffering instead wasn''t a bad deal.

    The two girls also didn''t bother bringing up what he had done, as they honestly didn''t care that much about it. While Isaac had indeed been a little bit ruthless, they wouldn''t have been the gentlest of maidens either should they have gotten a chance to further bash that arrogant god. In any case, they were now in the dungeon, so they should at least behave sufficiently cautiously. Being too relaxed when down here could spell one''s doom, no matter how strong one was - well, if one was unlucky.

    There was one major difference between the 26th and the 27th floor, and that was that in the latter, it was possible to venture far outside of the cave systems, all across the seemingly endless stretch of land at the foot of the Great Fall, which housed a lake of unimaginable size.

    This was the home of Amphisbaena, which would still take about ten days to respawn. In other words, because the owner wasn''t here, it was time to completely ransack the place.

    Although Isaac''s Level hadn''t increased, his stats had. And even before, when he had first made his way to the path leading to this floor three weeks ago, he hadn''t felt the monsters he had been fighting to be too much of a challenge. Needless to say, absolutely nothing on this floor could pose a danger to him, but he didn''t foolishly relax his guard because of that. In any case, he hadn''t come here to challenge himself today, but to continue his research. He was well aware that ever since he had acquired the Divine Being Skill, only enemies that were more than a whole Level stronger than him could truly put some pressure on him. But even that would only be temporary.

    All of that was why he chose to restrict himself during his research. Whenever he faced a new monster, he would use his impeccable control over his own strength and body to match its stats as best as he could. This didn''t inconvenience his research and had the added bonus that it made every encounter a bit exciting, as he had to figure out the most optimal way to tortu--- ahem, safely dispatch the creatures.

    The amount of different monster species on the 27th floor was far higher than on any previous floor. Aside from the twelve species that could already be found on the 25th and 26th floor, five new ones joined the fray.

    By far the weakest and also the most numerous of the additions were the Afancs, a species of blue-furred foxes with incredible swimming skills. Although they looked very beautiful and cute, they were extremely dangerous. They could shoot ''bullets'' of water out of their mouths so staggeringly quickly that they could easily penetrate through the human body, including the bones. Of course, when an adventurer''s Endurance started to rival the foxes'' Strength, they would only have to endure minor wounds¡­ but as the Afancs were slippery and acted in packs of up to 20, a constant barrage of water bullets and the occasional claw swipes intermixed with bites would rapidly wear down almost any and all Level 2 adventurers should they be travelling alone. Obviously, faced with someone who could near-perfectly observe and predict their movements - Isaac - they could only wait for their deaths. The Afancs'' stats could reach up to A-825 / 3000.

    Lamias, the next weakest new monster species, were slightly stronger, at A-850 / 3050. Their upper bodies looked mostly like those of human women, aside from the vicious claws and slightly sharper teeth. A few of the more horny adventurers truly enjoyed the sight of their bare melons¡­ The Lamias'' lower bodies, however, were simply long snake tails. This enabled them to showcase far more agile movements than regular humanoids were usually capable of, which could often take people by surprise. The snake women were frequently sighted alone, but they could also appear in huge groups of ten plus individuals - the specific number was all up to luck. This curious combination of a snake''s and a human''s maneuvers was quite fascinating, so Isaac spent slightly more time on researching this species than on most of the others, out of sheer curiosity.

    Slightly less common, but also far stronger, were the Dodoras, nearly twenty meter tall behemoths that looked surprisingly similar to¡­ elephants. Their skin was even thicker and a dark green colour, while they had six tusks instead of two, but that was pretty much the extent of the two species'' obvious differences. Just like the animals that they were reminiscent of, the Dodoras'' weakness was their Agility. While, yes, it was still high, it just couldn''t catch up to the rest of their stats, which could reach up to S-900 / 3150. But even without a speed advantage, once one got used to their incredibly obvious attack patterns, most adventurers wouldn''t find it difficult to stay alive when facing them. Needless to say, as Isaac''s weapon was of superb quality - far better than these low Level monsters necessitated - it could cut the Dodoras'' skin like paper. Dealing damage to or killing them was anything but difficult.

    One of the two strongest monster species on the 27th floor were the Voltimeria. They were fish with purplish black bodies which seemed to be made of or covered in stone. Although they could only grow to up to two meters in size, they had eight fins on their backs, at various locations that made it a lot easier for them to abruptly change directions while underwater. There was a huge, singular eye in the middle of their foreheads. Needless to say, their Endurance was extraordinary, it could reach up to S-950 / 3250.

    None of these features seemed particularly challenging, until Isaac was almost taken aback by their weird special ability. They would float out of the water and into the air for up to three meters, then they would charge at their opponents as fast as they could. If the opposing adventurer didn''t have enough Strength and Endurance, then they would simply shatter their futile resistance with their tough bodies. This kind of flight was enabled by a peculiar inborn Magic. As soon as they had started to affect the mana in their surroundings, Isaac had noticed it. Although it wasn''t really necessary to mention this, as it would be obvious to anyone paying attention to them once they started to levitate, their eyes turned slightly bloodshot when they did this. With that knowledge in mind, one could more accurately predict their actions, especially because the redness appeared shortly before they actually left the water.

    If it hadn''t been for Ais and Tiona, Isaac probably wouldn''t have stumbled across the Voltimeria anytime soon. They could only be found in regions of the lake where currents intersected in the depths. Thankfully, he hadn''t needed to dive down there, as these fish seemed to be quite territorial. As soon as he had approached one of their habitats while walking slightly above the water''s surface using his Anemoi Steps, they had begun to attack him.

    Speaking of walking on water, that ability was also a trademark of the Kelpies, the last new species on this floor. In terms of beauty and aesthetics, they could rival the Afancs and therefore stood out from the rest of these monstrosities. Well, there were also the various female humanoid monster species, but only the most desperate of men would seriously get entrapped by their looks. After all, those monsters were solely consumed by bloodl.u.s.t and seemingly unable to think - even the most avid of self-proclaimed monster girl fanatics from Isaac''s old world wouldn''t necessarily want to be ripped to shreds by them.

    Kelpies were dark blue skinned horse monsters with blue manes. While they did have hooves, they also had curiously shaped fins right above them, which enabled them to run on water as if it were land. Well, that was actually slightly exaggerated, as their speed did indeed drop slightly when they galloped over the lake. Their highest stat was their Agility, which could reach up to S-950 / 3250.

    Sadly, aside from their ability to emulate a certain religion''s influential figure, the rest of their skillset didn''t differ at all from a regular horse''s, so they didn''t post much of a challenge. If they hadn''t been mindless slaughter machines, Isaac would have loved to tame a few. After all, if he ever needed to cross an ocean without exhausting his own mana, then it would be very handy to have them around. Or, well, he could just ride a ship, that was always an alternative. But it was also a more boring option¡­

    Some time after Isaac had finished researching all of his poor test subjects, he left behind a path of destruction on his search for a staircase leading to the 28th floor. It was then that he suddenly heard a strange, beautiful voice. A song entered his ears, and almost instinctively, he felt drowsy. The desire to search out the source of this voice sprouted in his heart, whose beat sped up ever so slightly.

    It had only taken him an instant to notice these changes. Immediately, he focused on keeping calm. He manually slowed down his heartbeat and fought against the drowsiness, then moments later, although he could still hear the incredibly alluring, wordless song, his condition had returned to normal.

    A scientist''s curious smile played across his lips as he hurried off in the direction that the voice came from. There was only one explanation for what had just happened - he had finally encountered a Mermaid. Amongst the twelve species that could spawn starting from the 25th floor, this was the only one that he had never crossed paths with, at least during his own exploration. Throughout the expedition, quite a few of them had assaulted the expedition party, but seeing how just many other monsters there had been in total, their incredible rarity just became even more apparent. Isaac had originally planned to regularly return to the floors where these kinds of rare monster species could spawn, as the Mermaid wasn''t the only one that he hadn''t fully researched yet. Thankfully, even before he had to go out of his way, he had found one! It was an exceptionally good start.

    Mermaids had bluish white upper bodies that looked just like a charming human female''s. Contrary to the various other monster species of such a kind, they actually didn''t have any dangerous claws or teeth, so they looked even more lovable to the naive observer''s eye. They had green, long hair and entirely white eyes, which did look a bit unsettling. But paired with their enchanting smiles, this slight spice of mystery was even more enticing. Instead of legs, they had a huge fish''s fin for their lower body.

    Even though they looked relatively harmless, they were definitely amongst the most insidious monsters there were. Their voices, should they wish it, could have a charming effect on those that heard them. They were one of the main causes for people to go missing on these floors. With their heads filled with longing, weak-willed adventurers were pulled into a gentle embrace and lulled to sleep while being blessed by a quite tantalizing sight¡­ only to never awaken again. The reason for this was that the Mermaids would simply kill the poor victims in their sleep.

    For the most lonely of souls out there, a Mermaid was the most dangerous monster to encounter¡­ mostly because they moved their upper bodies extremely sensually and seemed to have a clear understanding of how to seduce their helpless prey. Due to this, in the past, some adventurers had argued that they had to be a sentient race, but it was soon determined that they relied on an instinct to perform these movements. Just like how animals were born with inherent knowledge that would enable them to live their respective lives a bit easier, Mermaids were born with the innate ability to seduce.

    But as for how a certain - arguably mad - scientist treated the lovely Mermaid that he came across¡­ well, her fate was ultimately a very gruesome one, which would have left most observers utterly terrified.

    It had been almost ten minutes of¡­ research, and the beautiful Mermaid lay shivering on the cold, rocky ground next to the lake. She couldn''t even move a single one of her torn muscles and was bleeding from hundreds of spots all over her body. Even one of her arms had been cut off and had ended up a few meters away, while her fin was split down the middle. Her blood formed a huge puddle underneath her, and more was unceasingly pouring out of her wounds. Nonetheless, she was still alive, and staring at Isaac with seductive eyes¡­ full of mindless bloodl.u.s.t.

    "Huh, that''s a surprise. I thought she would be dead by now."

    With an inquisitive, happy expression on his face, he observed the monster in front of him, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Of course, he long since had a few guesses, but he hadn''t confirmed anything yet. He had already noticed both Ais and Tiona growing a bit restless at the side - they both obviously knew the specifics. At the same time, they were aware that he would prefer to find out via his own effort. That was why they kept quiet.

    It didn''t take long for Isaac to notice that the Mermaid''s wounds... were slowly healing. Although she grew weaker due to the blood loss, that same blood also helped seal up her wounds, slowly making her recover to a state that was as good as new. Oh, wait, she was still missing an arm.

    ''So that''s how it is¡­ Good, I''ve decided.''

    With a bright smile, Isaac appeared next to the mostly-healed Mermaid before she could even react, then he knocked her unconscious. He didn''t bother restraining his strength right now, as he had already finished his research on this particular specimen.

    Using his sword, he cut away the skin and flesh that had formed over the stump that the Mermaid''s arm had previously been attached to, then he did the same to the dismembered arm. Although she was unconscious, the poor creature''s body still shivered in pain.

    Not bothered by this, Isaac placed the arm perfectly against the stump and patiently waited. In just a matter of minutes, he could see the blood do its work and start to connect the bones, to actually reattach the arm. Her recovery was almost over. Once he was sure that the arm was already sufficiently healed, he let it go. Then, he placed the Mermaid into his inventory.

    With such a precious healing resource right in front of him, how could he bear to let it die before he had acquired a sufficient reserve of it? Leaving the monster alive and fed would let him harvest its blood time and time again, it was simply fantastic! He had thought about doing the same with Blue Papilios before, but they were relatively common on their respective floor, so he could simply go there to slay a few whenever he was in need. The potency of their healing also wasn''t anywhere close to what he had just witnessed. Yes, he himself had been able to use the powder secreted from their wings to even heal bones, but it had taken a lot of focus and manual work. Anybody else would only be able to heal some flesh wounds. This Mermaid Blood, however, was clearly far more exceptional.

    Isaac wasn''t the first who tried to raise Mermaids as livestock. In the past, quite a few adventurers and familias had tried to smuggle them out of the dungeon for profit, to drain their blood repeatedly. Sadly, the Guild had forbidden such acts a long time ago, so there were now no known Mermaids kept in Orario, even though their blood had such miraculous properties.

    There were multiple reasons for this. Mainly, they were still Level 2 monsters and could pose a danger to the public. Additionally, almost no non-adventurers could withstand their charm, so should they ever have a chance to sing, it would endanger far, far too many people. Originally, when they had exclusively been held in secure, remote locations, perfectly gagged so they wouldn''t make a sound, the Guild hadn''t prohibited such arrangements. But after numerous accidents, which harmed a lot of innocents in the process¡­ and after quite a few indecent, perverse acts that these monsters had had to suffer through came to light, it became prohibited to bring them out of the dungeon. There were still a few kept in Rivira and in some other, secret locations under the control of the Guild, but almost nobody knew about those.

    The legality of what Isaac was planning to do was explained to him by Ais, which was how he got to know about all of this. But honestly, he couldn''t care less about the Guild''s regulations. He wouldn''t really be bringing Mermaids into Orario, neither would he be harming any innocents - well, unless those bloodthirsty monstrosities were considered innocent. As for those lecherous deeds¡­ yeah, not a chance.

    Ultimately, he decided that he was above the law. After all, a rule that he hadn''t personally and directly agreed to uphold would never be something that he would fully respect or care about. Even back in his own world, he had quickly learned that while laws were necessary to keep the rabble in check, they would never affect the truly powerful and influential.

    ''I can combine the Mermaid Blood Farm Proje--- wait, that sounds a bit dreadful, let''s call it the Mermaid Raising Project. I can combine it with that other plan that I''ve been working on¡­''

    Slightly lost in thought, Isaac whistled happily as he slaughtered his way towards a staircase leading to the 28th floor. With his increased speed in between battles, where he didn''t restrict himself, it had only taken him one and a half hours to complete his research of all of the new monster species appearing on the 27th floor.

    -----

    At around 7:30 a.m., Asfi was rapidly working through the mountains of doc.u.ments on her desk, not even paying attention to her surroundings. Every now and then, one of her assistants would carry a new stack of papers to her side and pick up the ones that she had already finished. As a Level 4, she could indeed go for a few days without sleep, and she had been living such a lifestyle for the past couple of years, only rarely ever getting a single break.

    While most others would complain about this unceasingly, she didn''t. At least not when she was alone. Occasionally, she would grumble to Hermes about it - whenever that whimsical man decided to show up - but that was the extent of it.

    Suddenly she heard a knock on the door, which was unusual. Normally, her assistants and most of the members of her familia would simply enter her office without a care in the world. This wasn''t her private quarter, but a working environment. Efficiency was key. Now that someone had actually been so formal, it felt weird.

    With a cautious glint in her eyes, she looked up from her doc.u.ments and towards the door.

    "Enter."

    What greeted her when it opened was first the sight of... nobody. Then, moments later and out of nowhere, a figure in a black cloak with a heavy backpack strapped over their shoulders appeared in her view. A few strands of grey hair could be made out, and this visitor''s overall body shape...she seemed to be a female.

    Because she herself had created an item which enabled the wearer to become more-or-less invisible, Asfi quickly recognized just how advanced this person''s invisibility was. For a bit longer, she continued to be on edge¡­ until she remembered a certain someone. A sigh of relief escaped her lips.

    "Welcome, Lady Hel. What do you need?"

    Somewhat clumsily, the hooded goddess came closer, then she rummaged around in her backpack, pulled out a huge, heavy pouch full of money and placed it on the desk. She had carefully searched for an empty spot, as she didn''t want for any of the doc.u.ments to get damaged.

    "I have a message from Isaac Blackshaw. Ahem, here I go! ''Here is the money that I owe your familia for the third week of protection. Additionally, I would like to hire your services for another four weeks. There you go, ten million and a half valis, not a single one less.'' I''ve already counted them, and everything seems in order."

    The more that the normally reclusive Hel spoke, the more flabbergasted that Asfi became. Did Isaac really just employ a deity to deliver his money? What kind of extravagance was this!? How did he even get her to agree? Also, how could he simply trust a goddess with his money? Wasn''t he afraid that she might run away with it? And lastly¡­ how did he get so much money!?

    For a while, Hel stared back and forth between the dazed Asfi and the pouch of valis on the table. Finally, she broke the silence.

    "If that''s all, I''ll take it as a yes and leave."

    These words finally helped Asfi to awaken from her stupor, and she hurriedly shook her head.

    "Wait a minute. The manpower needed has already been reserved for other missions. We would need to pay the penalty fees for abandoning or postponing those. Additionally, as this is such a last minute request, it will be very hard to arrange, therefore I''m afraid I have to ask for a more expensive rate. Instead of 300.000 valis per day, the requested four weeks will cost 350.000 valis per day."

    It wasn''t like Asfi wanted to extort exorbitant amounts of money out of Isaac, but in the end, they were in a business relationship. Although the Hermes Familia had agreed to guarantee that they wouldn''t abandon his mission - Hermes had agreed to this term before Asfi could reject it - they still had to treat the rest of their contracts and missions fairly. Such a sudden change to the familia''s plans was a really huge deal, and would be very costly.

    With a small nod, Hel smiled to herself and placed another bag of valis on the desk.

    "He already expected something like this, which is why he entrusted me with another five millions valis, just in case."

    Yet again, Asfi became speechless.

 Chapter 86 - Level 3

    Entering the 28th floor felt like stepping into a completely different time period. Jungles full of countless kinds of trees stretched as far as the eyes could see. Vitality-filled mountain ranges towered over everything. On the horizon, a few pillar-like mountains could barely be spotted, dotted across the landscape.

    Even though the nearest lakes, rivers and swampy areas were still quite a distance away, the air was really humid. While it felt extremely fresh, it also made one instinctively become uncomfortable. Most people didn''t like to sweat a lot, after all.

    A fake sky could be seen overhead, just like back on the 18th floor. This time, however, the ceiling was at a height of multiple kilometers, so it couldn''t be reached by the vast majority of adventurers that came here to explore.

    Seven, or rather, eight, completely new monster species inhabited this floor and the rest of this thematic zone. Finally, Isaac''s opponents had reached Level 3, and he could reliably amass stat points again.

    The weakest of them all didn''t provide him with much, though, only one or two every few kills. Armarosauruses were twenty meters long, three headed, yellow-scaled creatures that had spikes growing all over their bodies. They had club-like tails, which they used in just the way that most people would expect: to swing and hit their opponents. Because they had very high Endurance, which could reach up to I-50 / 4250, their deathly ''clubs'' were far more durable than what most adventurers'' gear, or their bodies, could withstand. Aside from that, they attacked by biting and ramming their opponents. Thankfully, they had no extraordinary abilities. That, coupled with the fact that their Agility was relatively low, made it possible to slay them relatively easily - if one had a weapon that could damage them, that is. Else, the fight would become far more dangerous, as only their joint areas had less sturdy scales.

    The next strongest were the Bloodsauruses, which Isaac felt a slight bit of appreciation for because he actually wore armour made from their leather. Just like his gambeson and pants, these dinosaur monsters were the colour of dried blood. Even though the leather was mostly covered in scales, it was quite hard to notice this at all, as their colour hue was the same. They could lift themselves up on their hind legs, which made them reach a height of five meters and enabled them to attack with their front legs as if they were using arms of some kind.

    Contrary to what might be expected, they actually turned very clumsy in that state, and they only entered it when all else failed, in an attempt to scare off their opponents. Their actual trump card was a sort of ''self buff''. By accelerating their blood flow, they could improve their Agility and become far more dangerous opponents. They could also use their blood to reinforce the toughness of their scales and the leather underneath. If one slew them before they had a chance to use these moves, then they were easy targets. In any other case, one had to prepare for a tough fight, as most of the Bloodsauruses'' stats could reach up to H-100 / 4450.

    Because he had finally encountered monsters that surpassed his base stats again, Isaac felt confident that he could actually max his stats on this floor. It wouldn''t take too long until he could finally progress again!

    Every now and then, packs of Pterofoveras harassed anyone who entered this floor. They were winged, pterodactyl-like creatures that were about three meters long. They had very weak bodies, but excelled at aerial maneuvers and were extremely fast. As they attacked from the safety of the skies, it was hard for most adventurers to retaliate. After all, not too many of them were mages, archers or had mastered some kind of long-range attacks. Although it was hard to intercept them during the times when they swooped down, as their Agility could reach up to H-150 / 4650, if they were caught, then their grey-red scales could barely resist any attacks at all.

    Needless to say, as Isaac was capable of fighting the flying menaces even when they were still far from the ground by using his Magic, he could easily research them. After he was done, he used his bow to shoot them down whenever he saw them, giving these annoying critters no chances at all.

    Castorasauruses were next on the list¡­ and they actually stumped Isaac a little. From the latter half of the name, he had expected something more impressive¡­ but it turned out that they were literally just two headed, scaled beavers. Sure, they were a little bigger than usual, at nearly seven meters in height, but they were disappointing nonetheless. Besides having a second head, their attack patterns were identical to those that a regular, rabid beaver would make use of, so they felt quite boring to face. There was one moderately interesting detail about them, however. Just like their regular animal versions, they built dams down here in the various rivers and lakes, and the sizes of these constructions could even sometimes rival those of the biggest man-made dams from Isaac''s old world. For regular adventurers, it wouldn''t be wise to underestimate these monsters, as both their Strength and Endurance could reach up to G-200 / 4850.

    Even stronger were the Chamsuryas, which were¡­ actually quite special. They were mostly scaled, humanoid monsters. But contrary to all the other species of that kind up until now, they actually had both male and female individuals amongst their ranks. Their lower bodies were clad in green-greyish crocodilian scales, which were a bit reminiscent of pants, and they had crocodile tails. The majority of their arms and their backs were covered in the aforementioned scales as well, while their feet and hands looked similar to draconian claws.

    They all had a singular horn on their heads, which they actually didn''t use for physical attacks at all. Instead, they were capable of channelling an amount of mana in there to blind their enemies with a piercing light, basically robbing them of their sight. Sadly for them, this ability was pretty much useless against Isaac, as he could simply close his eyes ahead of time and use his Eyes of Hermes to perceive his surroundings. Because the light didn''t assault his optic nerves when he did this, he didn''t even have to suffer through any discomfort.

    Another one of the Chamsuryas'' abilities was that they had very rudimentary control over a fire enchant type Magic, which they could imbue their claws with. Even though most of their stats were quite low, because they could appear in groups of up to 25 and almost all had Magic stats reaching G-250 / 5050, they were very dangerous to face - at least without specially-made protective goggles, which sold quite well on the surface.

    It was controversial whether or not the next species, the Treants, actually were a singular one, or should be broken up into hundreds of different ones, to better prepare adventurers for what they were about to face. Almost all of the ancient or alien-looking plants and trees in the Green Wasteland could potentially be one. The only way to know for sure was to search for somewhat human-like faces somewhere on their bodies, which were the sole giveaway.

    Depending on the specific plant, their abilities ranged from shooting vines or poisonous leaves, controlling their roots to attack from underground or sheer physical might backed by their extraordinarily sturdy bodies, to control over the surrounding swamps. The last one was especially irritating, as they could make enemies that were currently wading through it stuck there, by hardening the ground that they had just sunken into slightly. If one didn''t use a lot of strength, it was quite difficult to escape these traps.

    Treants were all stationary and not capable of moving from the spots that they were rooted in, but they could move the parts of themselves that weren''t hidden underneath the ground. During expeditions, they were actually the first victims of the approaching dinosaur monster tides, as they just couldn''t get out of the way, no matter what. Honestly, they were quite tragic existences. Partially due to these unfortunate circ.u.mstances, not all of their variations had been discovered yet, so Isaac mentally made a note of this - on his path to complete exploration of the dungeon, he would definitely take a look at them all.

    Although the Treants'' stat distributions varied, they all had something in common, which was that they could reach up to F-300 / 5250. Amusingly enough, just like most regular trees, all known kinds were extremely weak to fire, but if one didn''t have it at hand, then it was best to simply inflict enough wounds on their bodies to make them shed a lot of sap, leading to them dying from blood loss.

    Lastly, there were the Illusory Termites, and their queen, which could be counted as two different monster species, theoretically. Still, one of them did give birth to the other, so it was a highly controversial topic amongst academics.

    Just like the Killer Ants from the dungeon''s Upper Floors, they were capable of spreading pheromones, which allowed them to communicate with each other and to assemble quickly, should there be a need to. They were only around two meters long and were able to blend into the environment just like chameleons, even a bit better than that. Only while they were on the move could most people detect them, but more often than not, they were already surrounded by hundreds of them at that point. Their carapaces were actually really weak, but their mandibles were extremely strong and sharp, because their Strength could reach up to F-350 / 5450.

    As they were just showcasing their lackl.u.s.ter stealth abilities in front of an expert, Isaac had no problem at all with detecting them, but most who came here would have to either stay on their guard all the time, or to make use of special methods. An example would be scattering a certain kind of powder in the surrounding air to make the termites perfectly visible.

    Those towering, pillar-like mountains all over this floor? That was their work, as those were their mounds. Any adventurer that entered those before they had surpassed Level 3 didn''t survive, unless they had help from stronger companions. The reason for this was obvious - there were tens of thousands of termites in there, protecting their queen at all times.

    Contrary to what might be expected, the Illusory Termite Queen was extremely weak and easy to deal with on its own. It couldn''t move and its only ability was to spawn more of its children. Strangely enough, it only did so once its tribe''s numbers got reduced, then it would give birth to tens of them per minute, until that previously stable population had been reached again. If the queen got slain, then the tribe was fated to go extinct, which was deeply ingrained in the instincts of these termites, even the ones who mindlessly roamed the dungeon. While the queen''s Strength and Endurance both reached F-350 / 5450, it didn''t make use of them in the traditional way, as both were simply channeled into its reproductive abilities, which were extremely potent as a result. Well, because of that, even a kid without a Falna could potentially kill the queen, should it be all alone.

    Needless to say, after Isaac had finished his research on the regular termites, he had imposed on a few of the mound-like homes of their kind, to take a closer look at the tribes'' queens. Even though he was surrounded on all sides by the crawling termites, he wasn''t in any danger, and it didn''t take long for him to kill the last needed Illusory Termite Queen test subject.

    As he was in the middle of cleaning up the surrounding insects, he finally got a system notification that he had yearned for for a long time now.

    [ Post-update Dexterity stat has reached the maximum. No further Dexterity-related excelia can be gained until your Level increases. ]

    Thankfully, as his stats had always been more or less even, it only took a few more kills until all of the other stats followed suit.

    [ All stats have reached the post-update maximum.

    Quest ''Reach the Level 2 stat limit.'' completed. 2000 AP rewarded. ]

    With a relieved smile on his face, Isaac asked his two lovely bodyguards to, well, actually do their job for a bit - to protect him, just in case. After they arrived at his side, he didn''t hesitate any longer, and both updated his Status to the Level 2 maximum and also ranked himself up to Level 3 in one go. When he was presented with the various Development Abilities that he could choose from, he directly selected ''Hunter'' and didn''t even glance at the others.

    [ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: None ]

    [ Race: God ]

    [ Divinity: None ]

    [ Arcanum: None ]

    [ Level: 2 -> 3 ]

    [ Age: Unable to measure ]

    [ Charisma: 34 ]

    [ Divine Energy: 8540 -> 13546 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: SS-1014 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (6750 x 2.0028) ]

    [ Endurance: S-999 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (6750 x 2.0028) ]

    [ Dexterity: SS-1022 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (6750 x 2.0028) ]

    [ Agility: SS-1013 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (6750 x 2.0028) ]

    [ Magic: SS-1007 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (6750 x 2.0028) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ Anemoi Steps ]

    [ Eyes of Hermes ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Divine Being ]

    [ Reverential Resonance ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Huntsman: F ]

    [ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment: G ]

    [ Hunter: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Archer, Mage, Spirit Healing, Swordsman ]

    [ Hunter (I): When battling a monster one has already gained excelia from previously - 4% increase in all stats, 4% increase in excelia gained. ]

    From one moment to the next, the air Isaac gave off changed drastically, as his stats increased by more than fifty percent. Instead of undergoing a gradual process, his body changed so rapidly that even he found it challenging to keep track of everything. Every single cell of his underwent slight changes, which basically gave him an all-round upgrade. In his mental layer, thousands of new drops of mana appeared, seemingly out of thin air. The increase in his Divine Energy almost led to it growing out of control and leaking outside of his body, but thankfully, he was able to rein it in quickly enough.

    After thoroughly inspecting his improved body and finding nothing worrisome or unexpected about it, he stretched a few times and had already regained full control over it. While other people would usually take at least a few hours or even multiple days to adjust, he could do so in a matter of seconds - arguably, that could be called his most ''unfair'' quality of all. Little would anyone care about the effort it had taken for him to achieve this, as it was always much easier to bem.o.a.n other''s success, rather than to try to replicate it..

    Although only a short amount of time had passed, the two girls had already wiped out the surrounding monsters and were eyeing him curiously. Finally, a surprised gasp escaped Tiona''s mouth.

    "You''re already Level 3!?"

    Not bothering to hide it, Isaac nodded, a genuinely satisfied smirk on his lips.

    "Yeah, and it took me long enough."

    For a moment, even Tiona felt like punching him, as his words made all other people sound incompetent in comparison. Took him long enough? He had pretty much blazed his way to this point in a matter of weeks, while others had taken months upon months, or even years to make it there!

    Ultimately, the chipper Amazoness shook her head helplessly and sighed. Even though his words had indeed sounded arrogant, he was entitled to saying such things. No matter what, he was superior to everyone else she knew in combat skills - he was a true ''monster''. And because he hadn''t done anything for many weeks, it was understandable for him to feel like he had just been wasting away in the meantime, even though his results were still leagues ahead of the rest of the world.

    After sizing him up a little more, Tiona couldn''t help but make another observation.

    "From the way you move, you remind me of some of the stronger Level 4''s¡­"

    In response, Isaac simply shrugged.

    "If they had actually maxed out their stats before advancing, then the difference wouldn''t be so massive."

    Not bothering to converse for any longer, he walked off towards the nearest horde of Illusory Termites and began an even faster and more ruthless slaughter than before. He didn''t bother wiping them out, he only charged outside of their nest, to continue his path further down the dungeon. Now that he had researched all monsters that inhabited this floor, he didn''t bother wasting any more time.

    ''Maxing out stats, huh? I guess I should hold back on ranking up next time, I don''t want to fall behind too much¡­''

    While she felt somewhat sad about him catching up to her this rapidly, Tiona also felt a far greater motivation than ever before as a result. She was now certain that Isaac would surpass even Level 6''s like her very quickly, so a fiery ambition was lit in her heart. Him reaching further heights wasn''t a bad thing, as he could lead them to deeper floors of the dungeon, enabling them to finally have a chance to fight various monsters that could grant them with significant amounts of excelia again!

    Although she would just be chasing after his shadow, she would also rapidly grow stronger this way, to the point where even the most deep-rooted of her worries wouldn''t be a big problem to deal with anymore. Tiona wasn''t an idiot, even though her thoughts were quite often a bit simple. Even she could clearly see the glorious future ahead of her, and she was excited to step foot on that path.

    The observing Ais chuckled to herself when she saw how fired up her old friend had become. A black dragon''s shadow momentarily flashed past her eyes, causing her to grip the sheath of her sword tightly, her eyebrows were slightly furrowed.

    ''It won''t be long¡­ until he... no, until we change everything.''

    -----

    As the 29th floor was a safety point and he had already stayed there with the expedition party before, Isaac quickly searched for a staircase leading further down and left the floor as soon as he could. He would have to come back here in the future, but because he was capable of teleportation, that wouldn''t pose a problem. The 30th and 31st floors didn''t sport any new monster species and only slightly changing vistas, so as soon as the three came across a way down, they would take it. Due to how fast they moved, by the time that they arrived on the 32nd floor, it was only 9:30 a.m.

    If Isaac hadn''t always thoroughly researched all new monsters that he came across, then he would have only gotten faster in exploring the dungeon the stronger that he got. But even with this added timesink, he still managed to reduce the time that it took for him to traverse each floor little by little.

    As the Loki Familia had slain Tastrophanus, the Monster Rex of the 32nd floor, it was pretty much as safe as it could possibly be - for Isaac, at least. Because he had just advanced in Level, however, sadly, none of the new monster species here gave him any stat points, as they were simply too weak. For the record, they were still quite a bit stronger than the ones on the previous floors, though.

    The most numerous of the additions were the Arpaktikosauruses, which were about one and a half meters tall and looked raptor-like. They had dark-green, sometimes even slightly black scales and moved extremely fast. Aside from their speed, their pack-hunting skills were superb as well, enabling them to perform dangerous maneuvers that could easily outplay most inexperienced parties due to the confusion that they caused. It was actually easier to fight them when one was travelling alone, as that ability wouldn''t be as potent then. While most of their stats were relatively high, their pride was their Agility, which could reach up to E-400 / 5650. As they always roamed around in groups, most adventurers usually attempted to avoid them. Last but not least, the raptors'' claws and teeth were highly poisonous.

    Intermixed with Treants, which could already be found on the previous floors, on the 32nd floor, Grand Treants also started to appear. They were just a larger, more powerful version of their inferior brethren and could affect a more expansive area, as their roots had grown further. It was unknown whether or not Treants could become Grand Treants should they grow old enough, as such an occurrence hadn''t been observed in the dungeon, at least. Out in the wild, however, it might actually be the case. No matter which stats the various Grand Treants excelled at, they couldn''t exceed E-450 / 5850.

    Easily the most difficult monsters to deal with here, aside from the Monster Rex, were the Eochias. In essence, they were just extremely huge snakes. They sported brown-white scales, very tiny bumps akin to horns on their heads and were at least fifty meters long. They weren''t poisonous, but they didn''t need to be, as they could simply crush all opposition with their bodies - all of their stats, aside from Magic, reached up to D-550 / 6250. In all honesty, they had no real weaknesses¡­ well, aside from their intestines. Sometimes, when an adventurer happened to be swallowed alive and whole, they managed to slay them while in their stomachs. Aside from this suicidal approach, the only way to kill them was to overpower them, plain and simple.

    Even though Isaac would have aimed to reach even deeper floors today, luck wasn''t on his side. There was one other, really rare monster species on this floor, the Arachne. It had the upper body of a human woman and the lower body of a gigantic, grotesque spider. Just like most humanoid monsters, Arachnes didn''t look very appealing to the eyes, aside from certain assets. Their huge fangs and compound eyes made them even harder to appreciate. Aside from regular physical attacks, the spider women could also spit highly acidic liquids, which could easily melt flesh, and even some armour. Their stats could reach up to D-500 / 6050.

    Because they were so exceedingly rare, Isaac had to spend multiple hours searching for as many as he needed to finish his research. When the last of the primarily disgusting-looking monsters turned to dust at his feet, it was already close to 2 p.m.. As he had made plans to teach his students and subordinates every day at 3 p.m., he could only reluctantly search for a staircase leading to the 33rd floor before slaying as many monsters as he could while he still had the time.

    Level 3 monsters posed no challenge to him whatsoever when he didn''t overly restrain himself, and now that he had vastly increased his stats, his monster extermination speed had increased, by a lot. But even while he was speeding past the landscape like a ghost, he still made sure to pick up all the magic stones and Drop Items, leaving not even a scrap behind.

    By the time that he left the dungeon, the day''s results were truly extraordinary, completely incomparable to any days prior to this one. His Level 2 monster slaying quest had made it to 11,409/12,000, and had netted him 1100 AP. The Level 3 one was the one that had seen the most mind-blowing change, however, as it had already almost caught up to the Level 2 one! From a measly 3/1,000, it had increased until it hit 10,764/11,000 and had earned him a total of 5,500 AP. And that was although he had spent so much time on research¡­.

    In less than a day, he had even unlocked this Level''s ''Hunter''-series Development Ability, ''Experienced Hunter''. He could choose it the next time he ranked up. Slowly but surely, one of Isaac''s earlier plans started to bear fruit. His excelia gain would only snowball further in the future, as all of these were additive. As for the temporary, additional stats? They were just a nice bonus.

    [ Experienced Hunter (I): When battling a monster one has already gained excelia from previously - 6% increase in all stats, 6% increase in excelia gained. ]

    The requirement to unlock it, apparently, had been to slay 10,000 Level 3 monsters in a single day¡­ and he had ''accidentally picked it up''. As the number of people who had managed to get it before was extremely small, and currently, not a single known living adventurer possessed it, it showed just how difficult it was to obtain the qualifications. Well, with a bug-like existence like Isaac around, all of those records were meant to be broken anyway...

 Chapter 87 - Familias Sprouting Like Weeds

    In one of the darkest corners of Orario, it was a sight like any other. A pair of siblings was running away from ''the bad guys'' - men and women clearly belonging to the criminal underworld of the city. There was no hope for the two, their only potential solace being the chance for a swift death.

    Although it was such a common scenario that almost always ended in the exact same way, this time, it was different. The assailants were swept off their feet by a strong gust of wind. Before any of them had a chance to react or regain their footing, they were knocked unconscious by fierce and practiced blows.

    In the relative darkness of the alley, the old but anything but frail figure of a gallant man seemed like a rising sun to the shivering and terrified boy and girl, bathing them in warmth and security.

    "There is nothing to fear, kiddos, I''m just here to help."

    With a relaxed smile, the man sat down at a safe distance without attempting to further approach the traumatized siblings, then he told them about how he had been passing by and saw them in a tough spot and engaged in lots of other small talk. Slowly but surely, even without them needing to respond to everything he said, the two became less wary of him.

    After a while, a small sigh escaped the old man''s lips.

    "You felt pretty helpless and powerless today, I''m sure. That''s why I''m offering you a choice. How about joining my familia and receiving my blessing?"

    -----

    When their less ignorant and foolish brethren finally left Babel in huge numbers, Aparctias and Kaikias stealthily followed them into the city. They didn''t want the others to look at them like idiots for not taking the helping hand that had been offered to them out of good will, so they did their best to not get noticed. Well, ''their best'' wasn''t really any good, though. Although a couple of the veterans amongst the other gods saw them in the distance, their pathetic sneaking attempts only made them chuckle. Now that they had calmed down and reminded themselves of their goal, there was no need to make things even more difficult for their less smart kin. At least not until the competition really began.

    But why were the two following them anyway? The reason was simple, they just had no idea what to do, as seemingly nobody was interested in joining their ranks. Still, the Lower World''s mortals couldn''t possibly all belong to familias already, right? After their in-depth introduction to this place, the others definitely knew where to look.

    Sure enough, it took the two only a couple of minutes to realize how incredibly stupid they had been. The heart of the city that was gathering the strongest of the Falna-blessed warriors of these lands was the very worst place to search for newbies. But outside of it? Well, the search suddenly became a lot easier. At least that was what they thought when they saw a few of the others convince some of the children to follow them. They didn''t know what words had been spoken as they were too far away, but from the mortals'' behaviour, it really seemed like they had joined these particular gods'' and goddesses'' ranks.

    "We can''t just fall behind like this! You there, scrawny boy. Do you want to join my familia?"

    All that Aparctias got in response was an annoyed snort. Even after experiencing continuous rejection, the naively arrogant god hadn''t changed his approach sufficiently yet.

    Kaikias, however, was faring much better. What Magic did he use to achieve such miraculous results? None, besides basic respect and common courtesy, something quite foreign to a vast majority of the godly community. Well, in any case, he still ended up empty-handed and alone. There was a good piece of news, though.

    "It seems like the minor inconvenience of us being home- and penniless is more grave than I expected. All of these promising children ran away after we told them the truth of our circ.u.mstances¡­"

    With a heavy frown, Kaikias was massaging his forehead. His brother, however, just shot him a confused look, feeling like he was staring at an idiot.

    "Isn''t that problem easy to solve? Watch me!"

    The next one that Aparctias approached was a somewhat sturdy male Raccoon Person. After the usual introductions, finally, it was time for the most important question on most potential adventurer''s minds - the one that he had been anticipating.

    "What does your financial situation look like?"

    With a hand over his heart and a saintly, magnanimous smile, Aparctias spoke solemnly.

    "Mine might not be the richest familia, since we just started out, but we have a roof over our heads and enough money to feed us to last through our days. I won''t lie to you, it''s not the best, but it''s far from the worst. Also, there is a lot of room for improvement, especially with more promising children like you on board!"

    At first, the citizen had been quite wary, but that refreshing smile and these words that sounded like music to his ears melted away all of his worries. He bowed deeply and agreed quickly, afraid that he would miss this Heaven-sent opportunity. As he wasn''t shy and the two were in what could be considered more of a back alley with little traffic, the Raccoon Person asked his new god to give him his Falna right then and there, which the latter did happily.

    When all was said and done, Aparctias turned around with a victorious grin plastered all over his face.

    "How was that, brother? I already got my first on---"

    The scene that greeted him left him baffled and shell-shocked. A group of decently good-looking girls and women had formed around Kaikias, who seemed to be both flattered and slightly overwhelmed by their fervent attention. Even when compared with other gods, his suave looks and outstanding demeanour were enough to make quite a few maidens fall head over heels.

    "They said that they want to work for me¡­ and be with me¡­"

    Helpless as he was, he could only stare at Aparctias, hoping for him to rescue him from the encirclement. Sadly, all he got in response was a glare filled with scorn, jealousy and amus.e.m.e.nt. Well, and quite a lot of confusion.

    ''What the hell happened? I only looked away for a couple of minutes, yet here we are¡­''

    Although everything seemed to be going splendidly at face value, in the near future, both gods'' familias would experience growing pains. A familia built upon a ''solid foundation'' of lies had a tough time lasting, same for one made up of lots and lots of unfortunate maidens l.u.s.ting after the same man. The Lower World hath no fury like a woman scorned. It was even worse if there were many of them.

    -----

    In the late afternoon, in Loki''s study.

    "It''s just as we feared, they''re all undoubtedly here for Ais."

    With a frown, Riveria was reading through the intelligence report about various previously unseen Wind-related deities filling out familia creation-forms at the Guild. Right next to that, there was a doc.u.ment containing information about the mostly comical and incompetent invitations that these gods had graced the populace with.

    The successful ones had either rescued their now-children like damsels in distress, had let their very influential names pull their weight or just happened to have very agreeable personalities. Of course, plenty of lies were employed too, leading to a plethora of complaints about the respective gods flooding the Pantheon. Still, despite all of that, close to thirty familias had been born in less than a day, some even with tens of members. For the lowest and weakest rung of familias in the city, this meant that there were now a lot more competitors¡­ but for the very top, nothing had changed, even ever so slightly - for now.

    The Loki Familia wasn''t the only one that had received this intel, far from it. As such a major and unusual event was easy to notice, most intelligence agencies in the city had made a lot of efforts to learn more about it and then forwarded all of it to their regular customers.

    "Most likely, yes. In all the time since I''ve come here, I''ve never seen something like this happen. Thankfully, most of them seem to have no idea about what they''re getting themselves into, or how big of an investment that they need to make to even resemble a small threat in the Lower World."

    Even though her mood was clearly far from perfect, Loki was still smirking to herself. Every now and then, she took a sip from a glass of expensive wine, relaxing increasingly more any time a mouthful of it made it all the way to her stomach.

    ''It seems like the old man has also decided to come and take a stroll. With his personality, I guess he is the only one that we don''t need to worry about too much. Anyway, I haven''t seen him in ages, maybe I should invite him over for a drink sometime¡­''

    Her Captain''s words soon snapped her out of her nostalgic thoughts.

    "A huge number of rookie familias out for one of our own''s blood is certainly¡­ new. But as long as we don''t let our guard down, I can''t see any way for them to pose a danger to us. The least that we should do, though, is to prohibit our weaker members to leave our home in small numbers, or even alone. Just in case."

    Both of the other Top Executives and their goddess agreed with Finn''s words and nodded resolutely. Underestimating an opponent had cost this city many talented and beloved adventurers in the past - they wouldn''t make the same mistake. They had even debated killing the newly arrived gods and goddesses along with their recently built familias but soon discarded that idea. Sending a god back to Heaven was bound to be anything but a stealthy act, not to mention that it was highly illegal¡­ just like killing innocents. Well, the latter was considerably easier to pull off, but it would leave a bad taste in all of their mouths, so they wouldn''t resort to it unless absolutely necessary. None of these new familias'' kids were aware of just what kind of dangerous, life-threatening game that they had unknowingly become pawns in.

    "Should we increase the manor''s defenses as well? You said that they are able to perceive her thanks to her Divinity, so wouldn''t they be able to follow that trail all the way here once she is back?"

    Riveria''s question made Loki shake her head, before ultimately shrugging helplessly.

    "They won''t be able to detect her as long as she makes sure to not exude any Divine Aura or use her Divinity. Only in those moments will they be pointed in her vague direction. So if she behaves smartly, we won''t ever have to worry, but we all know that accidents happen. It''s better to be safe than sorry."

    Her familias three leader figures were amongst the first that Ais and Isaac had revealed their changes to. They were extremely trustworthy and already knew a few of the mysterious man''s various secrets. What harm could one more possibly be at this point? Even more than that, the three had practically raised Ais together from a very young age, so they were extremely close to her. None of them could even imagine a situation where they would betray her. Amusingly enough, they didn''t have too huge of a reaction when they were told about her ascension to godhood, because they had all been convinced that she would make it there at some point in the future anyway, considering her past. Another reason was that they didn''t worship deities to an unreasonable degree - they were quite rational in nature, compared to most mortals.

    "All of that aside, was it really the right choice to allow Ais to enter the dungeon?"

    Gareth''s expression was full of worry and he was subconsciously clenching his fists. Not only would the dungeon do its very best to end any divine intruders once it noticed them, but it would also prevent the respective deity from returning to Heaven after their death, actually ''killing'' them, in a way. Well, none but a few knew what exactly happened to those unfortunate gods that perished in the dungeon, so this couldn''t yet be fully ascertained.

    With an unhappy harrumph, Loki suddenly downed her glass in one go, then she reclined further into her sofa helplessly.

    "We all know that we have no way of stopping her if she really wants to go there. Still, with that instantaneous teleportation ability, she should at least be able to brace all known dangers down there, and even most of those that we haven''t encountered yet. After all, she only needs a thought and there are not many things faster than that that we''ve heard about so far. As long as she still has a chance to react, she''ll be perfectly fine. Rather than during the time where she''ll be Isaac''s bodyguard, I''m more worried about what might happen to her throughout the next expedition, or whenever you all decide that it''s time to head deeper in secret. Those unexplored floors do pose the highest risk."

    The group collectively sighed, before Loki tried to cheer them all up.

    "On the bright side, should she decide to use her Divinity, although the dungeon would be enraged, she should be able to react to danger even more quickly, massively increasing the chances of a successful escape."

    It took a while, but they all managed to calm down. There just had been too much nigh unbelievable news recently for their nerves to not be stretched taut. Suddenly, Gareth remembered something else that had been buried underneath all the other points of discussion but was still on today''s agenda.

    "What about that sc.u.m of a god that the lad assaulted today? Any trouble that we need to look out for?"

    An even more mischievous smile than usual played across the trickster goddess'' lips.

    "We don''t need to worry about that. Let''s just let Isaac have his fun and enjoy the show."

    -----

    Late evening, in the healing center of Babel.

    Although he had been sent here in a really miserable state, the blue haired god had still managed to survive. The Guild''s best facilities weren''t just for show, neither were their extremely pricey healers'' services. Additionally, a god''s c.o.c.kroach-like lifeforce had played an important role in the speedy recovery as well. By now, the god was exhaustedly lying in one of the patient beds, still far too weak to move. Nonetheless, there was an unquenchable inferno of fury burning in his eyes.

    ''Who does that ant think he is!? Just you wait, I''ll make you pay for that a hundredfold, no matter what!''

    His previous goal for coming here had been completely forgotten. Now, he only wanted to get revenge. In all honesty, he had also intended on making all of his other assailants disappear from this world, but sadly, everything after Isaac''s ruthless stomp was just a pain-filled blur. His behaviour hadn''t made him any friends, so nobody would rat out the furious souls that had given him a beating, as most thought that it was the least that he had deserved. Ultimately, the god couldn''t remember anyone''s face but that devilish ant''s.

    ''On my name of Ferthur, I swear that I''ll rip your heart out and eat it in front of your loved ones!''

    With his hands balled into fists, the arrogant god subconsciously used the very last bit of his current strength, causing a small breeze to lift his blanket slightly. By the time that it had started to descend again, his consciousness had already slipped away.

    Little did he know that the next time that he would awake, he would soon faint again - this time because of the enormous debt now plaguing him thanks to the treatment and medical care.

    -----

    During the night, Isaac returned to the 24th floor to hunt for rare monster species that he had missed. Thankfully, he got lucky in the end, as one of them did actually cross his path.

    It was a Vouivre, a female humanoid dragon monster with blueish grey skin. They had a red jewel-like stone on their foreheads called the Vouivre''s Tear, which gave them the ability to subject their enemies to various mind-altering effects. It was similar to falling into a swamp of illusions, but as it was extremely potent, its mana expenditure was also enormous, which was why the monsters couldn''t keep it up for long. They had lengthy black nails akin to claws, long hair of various colours and could extend dragon-like sturdy wings from their backs. They shared all of the same weak points of the rest of the mostly humanoid monsters and when they weren''t capable of using their special ability, their only way of attack was their nails, while their only method of defense was to shield their bodies with their wings.

    In all honesty, they were tough opponents, especially for normal adventurers, but for Isaac, whose mind was all but impossible to influence this easily, it felt like a walk in the park. Still, he took note of them to warn his students to immediately escape from them unless they had prepared a fool-proof strategy.

    Sadly, just one specimen wasn''t enough for Isaac''s extensive research, neither did the Vouivre drop anything besides its magic stone. What rotten - or rather, completely reasonable - luck! From what he had learned, the Vouivre''s Tear sold for a pretty penny, so it was sure to be an interesting object worthy of extensive research. Oh well, maybe next time.

    By the time that he returned home, Isaac''s Level 2 monster slaying quest had progressed to 18,533/19,000 while he had gained another 10,500 AP.

    -----

    About one hour later, on a rooftop somewhere close to the Twilight Manor, a certain jackal-eared temptress was stretching, bored out of her mind. In stark contrast, her Elven companion didn''t even look away from the manor''s entrance for a single second.

    "I can''t believe that we drew the short end of the stick again¡­"

    Grumbling to herself, Tabitha finally settled down next to Suicia again, still anything but happy. Whenever they had been assigned to protecting Isaac''s students, they had to fight off a multitude of assailants - it was anything but any easy and relaxing job. Besides just the two of them, there were still quite a few of their familia''s members scattered in the surroundings, at regular intervals forming a massive surveillance formation. In any case, they had been chosen for the most important duty, which was to protect them from as close as possible.

    "Stop whining, here they come. Get ready."

    As the magical formation protecting the manor didn''t shield its entrance from view - perhaps deliberately - Suicia could soon see the group of Aselina, Jakk, Kalin, Mina and Quinn heading to the gates, at last giving her a reason to shut up her friend''s complaints. She wasn''t the biggest fan of her work either, but she would never slack while doing her job. And neither would Tabitha.

    "Fine fine, I get it. I really wonder when I''ll get a chance to meet these little ones'' hot teacher again¡­"

    With a cute yawn and another seductive stretching session that almost made her ample b.r.e.a.s.ts spill out from under the extremely minimal top that she wore, Tabitha grabbed her whip. From one moment to the next, her air changed completely, transforming her from an e.r.o.t.i.c seductress to a cold, emotionless hitman and mercenary.

    Even though she had been with her friend countless times during these drastic changes, they still made Suicia sigh in amazement every now and then.

 Chapter 88 - Crossing The Third Line

    At around 6 a.m., Ais, Isaac and Tiona found themselves back in the dungeon, right in front of a staircase leading to the 33rd floor. While the two girls couldn''t hide their slight frowns at the thought of having to enter the Haunted Halls again, as most monsters there were anything but a lovely sight, they had been there so many times that they had grown mostly numb to the experience. As for Isaac? He only showed a small smirk of excitement while anticipating all of the research that he would be able to perform here.

    The 33rd floor was also known as the ''Third Line'', because this was the place where most adventurers managed to obtain the rights to rank up to Level 4. Well, thanks to maxing out his stats at every Level so far, Isaac would at least have to pass another ten floors to even get close to ranking up again himself. By now, all of the benchmarks that regular adventurers had set had completely lost their meaning to him. Nonetheless, it still made it easier to compare himself to the average person - not that he did that often.

    As mentioned before, this thematic zone stretched all the way to the 36th floor and looked just like a necromancer''s lair. Confusing hallways and the familiar labyrinthian structure had returned. Only every now and then would there be larger caverns and mausoleums, or even massive caves that were at least a few hundred meters high. Some of them contained graveyards with blank gravestones, while the graves in front of them had undead monsters crawling out of them. Honestly, all this did was provide shock value, as the monsters were a lot easier to kill while they were still partially stuck in the ground and not fully aware of their surroundings.

    On these four floors, Isaac encountered and fully researched seven different species in total. Three of these were the most numerous, and also the reason as to why this thematic zone had obtained its name.

    The weakest of these undead species were the Skeleton Soldiers. They were about as tall as an average human and looked just like one would expect the vast majority of a necromancer''s army to look like - skeletons made of quite resilient bones with a blue glow haunting their empty eye sockets. They could be found wearing many different kinds of armours and weapons, which were mostly tattered beyond recognition, and almost none of the skeletons were exactly the same. It was speculated that adventurers who died on these floors would join them in their ranks, as quite often, Skeleton Soldiers who wore the exact clothes and wielded the same weapons as those who had recently gone missing in these halls had been encountered. Still, that didn''t really matter. In essence, they were all just reanimated skeletons that were only capable of relatively clumsy movements. They made up for this with their overwhelming numbers, though. None of the groups that Isaac came across had less than 40 members. The stats that they were the most proficient in varied from skeleton to skeleton, but none of them managed to surpass D-575 / 6350.

    Also about the height of an average human were the Zombies who really didn''t need too much of an introduction. After all, they were exactly what one would expect - rotting bodies that still managed to stumble towards their opponents with bloodl.u.s.t all over their faces. No matter how grievous the wound, unless one managed to destroy both their brains and non-beating hearts, they couldn''t be killed. Well, unless one made use of every monster''s weakness, which was their magic stone, but that would be wasteful and should only be done in emergencies. Zombies were quite slow, so most adventurers thought of them as simple ''walking bags of excelia'' that they could harvest anytime that they wanted to, once they got over the horror and disgust. Still, if one of them managed to get too close to their prey, then they could easily rip it apart with their Strength, which could reach up to C-600 / 6450. Just like their entirely boney ''friends'', they also appeared in huge groups, composed of at least 30 individuals.

    Third and last on the list of undead monster species were the Ghouls. They were also humanoid in nature and their height could reach around three meters when they stood on their legs. Usually, they would walk on all fours and propel themselves forward using the strength in their arms as well. They had grey dead skin, very small black eyes and no hair on their bodies whatsoever. Their mouths were almost unreasonably large, taking up at least a third of their heads, and were filled with sharp fangs and a long snake-like tongue. Both their claws and teeth could secrete poison, which, coupled with their extreme speed, could easily take their enemies off-guard. Usually, they hunted in packs of at least 15 and were capable of employing a few different formations and tactics, making it even more difficult for their prey to escape. To be fair, it was unknown whether they were actually undead or not - they were just assumed to be, as none of them had ever been discovered to have a heartbeat. Their Agility could reach up to C-650 / 6650 and by killing them, Isaac finally gained very small amounts of excelia again. It wasn''t much, but it was better than nothing.

    Ogres were up to five meters in height and, yet again, humanoid in nature. They either wielded huge stone clubs or any large weapons that adventurers had left behind in these halls, although the latter was a lot rarer, as most people that could make it here would make doubly sure that their party was more than sufficiently prepared to take on all potential dangers that they could come across. Only during the times when these floors had first been explored did a lot of people die here. The Ogres had blocky faces with unrefined features and sported huge tusks. Aside from those and their bones, they seemed to mostly consist of muscles, which their green-grey skin could barely contain. They had an even better recovery ability than Trolls and unless their vitals were attacked, any wounds would heal in a matter of minutes. Normally, they roamed the halls in groups of twelve and were quite adept at working together. Sometimes, multiple of such groups banded together to form a tribe of hundreds of individuals, which were a true nightmare to encounter for most parties. Both their Strength and Endurance could reach up to B-700 / 6850, which enabled Isaac to gain more than just a handful of excelia from them. His growth slowly started to return to the speed he had showcased before he had ranked up. What made him rejoice even more was that thanks to their astonishing regenerative abilities, he didn''t need more than a single group of them to fully research their species. Their abilities were in no way comparable to Mermaid Blood, but they were far more numerous¡­ which wasn''t a good enough reason for him to pursue mediocrity.

    The hardest to notice amongst the monster species populating these floors were the Gargoyles, which were mostly made up of ash-coloured rocks. They could be up to four meters in height, had dark-red eyes and usually appeared in groups of ten. The huge wings on their backs could only really be made use of in bigger rooms, as anywhere else, due to the limited space, they would be more of a hindrance instead. For monsters as tall as them, these halls felt very cramped, so they usually didn''t give chase once their prey left the rooms that they spawned in. Besides a heart, they had no internal organs at all, but even that weakness of theirs wasn''t easily attacked. Their Endurance could reach up to B-750 / 7050 and coupled with their sturdy bodies, harming them was easier said than done, unless a weapon of sufficient quality or an offensive mage was around. Besides their peculiar physical bodies, they had no special abilities, but that didn''t mean that they had no tricks up their sleeves. Usually, they engaged their enemies by ambushing them, which was remarkably effective. Quite large parts of these floors were made of the same material as their bodies, and there were a lot of statues of all kinds of beings and monsters scattered around. By hiding amongst those, they could take their enemies by surprise.

    Only in the largest of rooms in the Haunted Halls could the last two species be encountered, the first of which were the Gryphons. They needed such an environment to make use of their wings and superior mobility. While they were ''only'' three meters long and about as tall as the average person when they stood on all four legs, they were still dangerous opponents. More than half of a Gryphon''s body was that of a golden-furred lion, while its head, wings and front feet were those of an eagle. This, in and of itself, wouldn''t be that scary, as dispatching regular lions and eagles wasn''t even a challenge for most stronger Level 1 adventurers. What made Gryphons so terrifying to face were both their extreme speed¡­ and that all of their stats - aside from Magic - were equally as high, fixed at B-775 / 7150.

    By far the most dangerous monsters on these floors, however, were the Hippogriffs. They appeared alongside Gryphons and didn''t look all too different. Instead of a lion''s body, they had a white horse''s. Compared to their distant relatives, they looked less ferocious and more regal and imposing. All of their stats were even higher, at A-800 / 7250, even Magic was included this time. They were capable of using wind Magic and wind enchant type Magic to either attack their enemies by throwing blades made of air at them or to massively boost their speed. On the surface level, they seemed reminiscent of Ais. Still, as always, Isaac didn''t show the beautiful beasts any mercy. Even without making use of his Anemoi Steps, he could easily weave through their rapid attacks, staying completely untouched. Although the Hippogriffs'' air blades were invisible, they could still be detected, as when one looked right at them, there would be a slight distortive effect applied to everything they were currently in front of. It was an incredibly minor detail that most adventurers were wholly incapable of noticing, especially because the wind blades moved extremely quickly, but for Isaac, it wasn''t too difficult.

    In his old world, both Gryphons and Hippogriffs were said to guard treasures, but in the dungeon, there was nothing of value to find in the rooms that they built their nests in. That was¡­ mildly disappointing, to say the least. Thankfully, he wasn''t completely delusional and hadn''t expected anything in the first place, so he didn''t get too annoyed.

    When continuing to the 37th floor, the staircase led them straight into an unfamiliar palace, which was exactly what Isaac had hoped for. There was always the possibility that an entirely unknown Monster Rex resided here, although that wasn''t very likely. While he wasn''t sure whether he would survive an encounter with such a floor boss, especially this deep into the dungeon, wasn''t that what his two lovely bodyguards were here for? There was nothing to fear.

    Up to now, he had yet to even attempt to fight the Goliath, the very first Monster Rex of the dungeon. Speaking of, it should be respawning in six days¡­ so he should pay it a visit when it finally did. He was more than confident in being able to kill it, albeit by using a suboptimal strategy. Maybe he would have enough time to finish his preparations for his third custom Magic before then, which would make it a lot less annoying of a battle, but he highly doubted it.

    Fortunately, the group wasn''t as unlucky as to stumble across an as-of-yet undiscovered Monster Rex in the very first unexplored palace that they entered. Because of that, the only challenges that this floor provided were the various mausoleums which required a specific number of monsters to be slain before they could advance.

    Amusingly enough, however, some of the groups of monsters that Isaac encountered in between those ''challenges'' were actually bigger in number and therefore harder to deal with than the ones that he had to fight in the enclosed rooms. For regular adventurers, the mausoleums were death traps, but unless every single cubic meter in there was filled to the brim with enemies, he could still stroll through the place as if it was his own backyard. The less space there was, the harder it was for his enemies to move, while he was only slightly inconvenienced.

    Eight different monster species spawned on this floor, replacing the ones from before. The weakest of them all were the Skull Sheep, which were 1.4 meter long sheep skeleton monsters. They had dark skin dr.a.p.ed over their bodies starting from the backs of their heads, which made it hard to predict their attacks and made them seem as if they were just skulls hovering in the empty air if one didn''t look closely. As it was naturally quite dark on this floor, the sheep could easily camouflage themselves. They could shoot bone stakes at their opponents as well and usually gathered in groups of ten or more, attacking all at once. Their stats were heavily leaning towards Agility, which was all the way at A-825 / 7350.

    Next in line were the Loup Garous, whose height was very¡­ diminutive. They only reached up to 1.3 meters and had muscular, humanoid bodies with a wolf head. Groups of them had made it to the surface in the past before Babel was used to seal the dungeon, and they had attacked villages on moonlit nights. They were the main reason as to why Werewolves got a bad reputation, as to a terrified, ignorant farmer, both of them would seem one and the same. On the 37th floor, they roamed around in groups of multiple hundreds and used white bone knives or cudgels to fight, perfectly showcasing their Dexterity and Agility, which both were at A-850 / 7450.

    Obsidian Soldiers were monsters with a weirdly shaped obsidian body made of solidified lava. They had a single purple light in their heads, resembling an eye, and were quite slow compared to the other monster species. To make up for this, up to twenty of them would follow other groups of monsters around, waiting for those that they followed to engage an enemy and hold them back long enough for them to join the fray. Whenever expedition parties tried to force their way through this floor, they didn''t rely on their mages too much, as the Obsidian Soldiers amongst the incoming monster waves were extremely resistant to magical attacks. They could even shield other monsters from them, to an extent. Once they finally made it to their enemies'' sides, their high Strength allowed them to pummel them easily, although it was still slightly less than their Endurance, which capped at A-875 / 7550.

    There was also a stronger version of the Lizardmen, the Lizardmen Elite. Yes, it was a very ingenious name that made Isaac frown more than once after he heard it, but at the least it got the point across. They had blue scales that were extremely resilient, and often wielded crude bone weapons although they weren''t actually proficient with them. When it came down to it, they almost always threw them away and relied on their claws and teeth to tear into their enemies. Some amongst their numbers were even able to attack with small fire breaths, but it was quite rare, only one or two amongst their usual groups of 50 would be capable of it - and they would usually be their leader. While their Endurance lagged behind it slightly, their Strength was all the way at S-900 / 7650.

    If this had been a game, Isaac would have long since complained about all the ''reskins''. This notion just grew stronger when he encountered the first Barbarians. No, they weren''t actually humans, like their names implied. Instead, they were similar to the Minotaurs from quite early on in the dungeon. They were at least two meters tall and had two large and curved horns, black skin, red hair and yellow eyes. There were no surprises, they simply relied on their physical might to crush their opponents - both their Strength and Endurance could reach up to S-925 / 7750.

    Although the Spartoi were amongst the most numerous, they also made it into the ranks of the strongest monsters that could be encountered here. They were improved skeleton monsters that spawned with weapons and lances made of bones, and kite shield-like protectors. Contrary to many other monsters, they actually knew how to use their tools of slaughter, especially well even. They could use actual military formations and the bigger their group, the more terrifying the danger that they posed. Fighting less of ten of them felt like fighting a party of veteran adventurers, while any more than that made them feel like an overwhelming battalion. With Isaac''s prediction skills, they weren''t able to threaten him or to push him into a corner, but for anyone else, fighting a huge group of them solo while at the same Level was basically suicide. Both the Spartoi''s Strength and Agility were at S-950 / 7850.

    ''Lambton'' was the nickname that adventurers gave to the Worm Wells - and Isaac couldn''t really figure out why. What did ''Lambton'' even mean? The only two relatively likely possibilities that he could come up with were that it was the name of one of the first discoverers or victims of the beasts, or that it was literally meant to signify that they could eat a ton''s worth of lamb. The latter of which would honestly just be stupid, but it wouldn''t even surprise him at this point. Oh well, anyway, that wasn''t really of importance. They were relatively rare giant snake monsters that were five meters thick and more than ten meters long with blue skin and three sets of amber eyes. The closer one got to their tip, the sharper their heads got, but their mouths were still capable of swallowing a couple of adventurers whole. On the top half of their mouths, there were 18 holes which they used to sense heat, vibrations, et cetera. If those were damaged, they found it really hard to navigate, as they were accustomed to using both their eyes and these holes at the same time.

    Although they were rare, Isaac was lucky this time. As they could move between floors by burrowing into the dungeon''s walls, they often moved to the Haunted Halls as well, which was where he encountered a few of them. Usually, because their stats were so much higher than the monsters there - both their Strength and Agility could reach up to S-975 / 7950 - they would wipe out any parties that they came across. Well, not this time. Only rarely would any of them burrow down any further, as the temperatures there were too hot for them to be comfortable. The reason why Isaac hadn''t included them in his list of Haunted Halls monsters was because while they could make it to these floors, they didn''t spawn there, ever. At least according to his bodyguards.

    Lastly there were the Peludas, dark green dragon monsters with 20 meter long, snake-like bodies and four legs. They resembled porcupines, as there were lots of poisonous needles on their backs, which they could fire at their enemies. Even Abnormal Resistance, if not of a high enough grade, couldn''t defend against the poison''s effect. That wasn''t the only dangerous part about them, though. They could also stand on walls and breathe fire, the latter being a trademark of almost all dragons so it wasn''t really a surprise. While they kept to themselves and wandered the palaces alone, they weren''t actually rare, so if an adventurer was unlucky enough to stumble into multiple of them before finishing the earlier ones off, fighting a whole group of them wasn''t impossible. Every single one of their stats was at SS-1000 / 8050.

    By the time that Isaac was ready to move on to the next thematic zone, it was around 8:30 a.m., so only about two and a half hours had passed. Although his gathered excelia hadn''t soared through the roof, most of his Level 3 stats would still be at more than 300 should he choose to update. Still, because of his Divine Being Skill, he most likely wouldn''t even have a need to do so before maxing out his stats for this Level. Even now, if he went all out, he would already be strong enough to kill the strongest Level 4 monsters that had been found so far.

    -----

    With a last, defiant roar, a Minotaur collapsed to the floor, its body devoid of life. Seconds later, another two THUDs could be heard. This time, however, their sources weren''t carcasses, but Kalin and Mina, who were very much still alive. They were resting while leaning against the wall and breathing heavily, but there were wide smiles on their faces.

    All of the surrounding monsters were temporarily being taken care of by Aselina and Averin, while Jakk was off protecting Quinn who was still trying his hardest to catch up, growing stronger on some of the upper floors.

    It had taken Kalin and Mina everything they had to bring down this Minotaur. Such a feat was impressive, to say the least, as the beast had about double their stats, which was seen as a completely ''impossible'' battle in the eyes of this world''s inhabitants. Only some of Kalin and Mina''s stats had reached A. Before Isaac''s appearance, it was simply unheard of for anyone to beat a Level 2 monster without at the very least getting most of their Level 1 stats to S¡­ and having a full party to support them.

    Admittedly, if the two had faced some other Level 2 monster, their fight might have gone differently, they might have actually died. Thankfully, Minotaurs weren''t exactly known for their speed. Still, it couldn''t be considered their weakness either, especially because they were still faster than the two of them.

    Only by confusing the mindless beast by alternating their attacks and juggling its aggro did they slowly manage to whittle it down over the course of multiple minutes. Their training bore fruit, as it enabled them to predict quite a few of its attacks. If not for that, they wouldn''t have been able to last nearly as long as they had needed to.

    Both Kalin and Mina had long gotten the qualifications to rank up to Level 2, even far before fighting the Minotaur, but they decided against it, choosing instead to follow Isaac''s example and to try to gain as many stats as possible before advancing. While they would, most likely, not be able to max all of them, they at least wanted to be able to say that they had tried their hardest. The easy and mainstream way might be tempting, but it would leave them with many regrets. Slaying Minotaurs was currently their only way to still gain significant amounts of excelia, which was why they attempted it today, but only after a lot of preparations and consulting their teacher about the monsters'' attack patterns.

    A few minutes of rest later, Mina rose to her feet and reached out a hand to pull up Kalin as well.

    "Ready for the next one?"

    Seeing the confident smirk on her lips, Kalin couldn''t help but laugh and nod. As both of them had grown to be about equal, a kind of friendly rivalry had formed between them long ago. Neither of them would slow down while the other one still kept going.

    "I thought you''d never ask."

    It only took about ten minutes for yet another Minotaur corpse to hit the floor. If she had borne witness to such a feat before meeting Isaac, then Aselina would have been shocked out of her mind, but now, she was only impressed. At the same time, she couldn''t help but look forward to her own future exploits.

    The spectating Tabitha and Suicia, however, weren''t as indifferent as her. Although they had seen the students perform quite amazingly before, it had still been in the realm of what they thought to be reasonable. Only now did they truly realize just how outstanding they had actually become. A cold shiver ran down their spines.

    "Facing Minotaurs at their Level? They''re mad."

    Their initial thoughts were along these lines. They had thought that the two would have to be saved by their stronger companions, but very quickly, their worried whispers were replaced by astonished silence.

    Only after the fifth Minotaur was slain did Tabitha snap out of her disbelief.

    "... I haven''t felt so wanting in a long time. I''ll apply for a few days of leave to gain more excelia once we get back, will you join me?"

    At her friend''s inquiry, Suicia nodded slightly.

    "Right now, we''re understaffed, so the Captain won''t allow it. But in a few days, once the Vice-Captain''s group returns, we should be good to go."

    Even though the two were conversing with each other, they still paid close attention to their surroundings and the targets of their protective services. They gave their best.

    But it wasn''t good enough.

    Just slightly outside of their range of perception, a figure clad in a black robe was hiding in the darkness. Their face was hidden behind a veil and only their eyes were exposed. Judging from how they could stay hidden even around two relatively strong Level 3 adventurers and still managed to observe the students from so far away, they had to be at least Level 3 as well.

    After making sure that their eyes weren''t playing tricks on them, the figure furrowed their eyebrows tightly. With a deep, masculine voice, the unknown man whispered to himself.

    "It is just as we were told, they have too much potential. I need to report back as soon as possible, they need to be nipped in the bud."

    Without anyone noticing his presence, the man slipped away even further into the darkness and quickly followed a certain path, until he finally reached a familiar spot. After making doubly sure that nobody was around, he reached out to a hidden lever disguised as a part of the dungeon''s wall, opening a secret door that led to a manmade labyrinth.

 Chapter 89 - Yellow Alert

    Quite a few resplendent mansions could be found in Daedalus Street, and all of them stuck out like sore thumbs. Well, compared to the lavish mansions that were sprinkled all over the rest of the city, they looked somewhat shabby, but when contrasted by the worst slum that Orario had to offer, they reminded passersby of heavenly realms instead of simple upper-class residences.

    "I see. Fantastic work, Asim."

    In one of these aforementioned manors, a breathtaking woman sat upon a golden throne, casually eating expensive imported fruits. She looked not a day older than 20 years, had olive skin and soft facial features. Her dark-brown eyes were framed by a bit of black makeup, causing them to become a focal point for any observer. Her black hair was styled in a bun plait and the high quality, white kalasiris that she wore was mostly see-through. Obviously, there was underwear covering all the places that mattered - she wasn''t an exhibitionist, after all.

    She had just finished listening to her familia''s child''s report and she couldn''t repress her excitement. A confident smile spread on her face.

    "Rise. I want to see them eradicated as soon as possible, so assemble all the manpower that you need, we''re not lacking capable soldiers. Make haste, we can''t afford to give that bastard''s men the opportunity to get to them first!"

    Asim, the man clad in black robes, quickly rose to his feet and bowed deeply as a show of respect. Even though only the area around his eyes was visible because of his veil, the unwavering belief and reverence in his gaze couldn''t be concealed.

    "As you wish, Lady Petbe."

    Once she was left alone, Petbe unrestrainedly slouched down on her throne and giggled to herself, lost in her fantasies just like a young girl in love. This assignment might not be a difficult one, but it was still very important, as it had come from her beloved himself. Just thinking about his gallant and heroic figure as he had trampled various pantheons beneath his feet in a show of dominance made her go weak in the knees - thankfully, she had already been seated.

    Crazed love sparkled in her eyes and her breathing accelerated while she mumbled to herself.

    "I''ll be his favourite, no matter what!"

    -----

    Compared to the last time that he had come to the Infernal City, the thematic zone stretching all the way from the 38th to the 42nd floor, Isaac had a much easier time. Back then, he had still started to sweat and got uncomfortable whenever he got within a couple of tens of meters of the various sources of lava, like the lakes, rivers and lavafalls that made up at least 50 percent of these floors.

    Now, thanks to his vastly improved Endurance and his rank up, his greater resistance to high temperatures enabled him to get within about a meter of what had often been referred to as the Earth''s blood back in his old world, without even feeling uncomfortable. His clothing and equipment would get a bit hot, and any closer would be dangerous for them. Even if he were n.a.k.e.d, it didn''t mean that he could take a swim in there, of course not. But at least the lava wouldn''t pose too much of an issue as long as he avoided direct contact with this hot spring with attitude.

    He had already seen all of the different monster species that could spawn on these floors back during the expedition, so he knew that there were seven of them - and he was also well aware of a few things that he had to watch out for. All of the new species could be found starting from the 38th floor, so he planned to research them here and then blaze through the rest of the zone as quickly as possible.

    The species were already Level 4, which made their stats far, far higher than the ones of the monsters that he had faced before, giving Isaac so much excelia that it bordered on being ridiculous.

    The weakest and most numerous of the new monsters were the Rock Roaches. Their carapaces looked extremely similar to the various rocks that could be found in this zone, so they were easily overlooked or mistaken for something harmless. They only attacked once someone got close enough to them and lowered their guard. Usually, they gathered in huge groups, and if one of them got discovered, the rest of the swarm engaged as well. The upper limit of the groups they gathered in seemed to be in the hundreds, although it was hard to be sure, as the rest could just be playing dead¡­ or rather, playing rock.

    One could spot them by paying attention to their slight movements, their odd positioning in the landscape or even by noticing that lots of the rocks in the surroundings look oddly similar to each other. Besides their excellent Endurance of I-0 / 9450, which was even further supported by their stone shells, they weren''t too strong.

    Coal Treants could be found quite frequently and were just Treants in the form of burnt trees. They had been exposed to the high temperatures and periodic flames for so long that their bodies had mostly turned into charcoal. They were able to produce fire on their branches and their favourite method of killing was to embrace adventurers with those plant-limbs of theirs before roasting them. Not in the verbal way, of course. Up to a certain extent, they could also use fire Magic, to attack from afar.

    Still, just like in the Green Wasteland before, they were quite pitiful creatures. They still couldn''t move and often got accidentally trampled to death by other monsters. Even adventurers, once they had learned about their existence, simply attacked everything that even remotely resembled a tree, more often than not killing the tragic, unfairly abused monsters before they had a chance to resist or show their strengths. Due to their mostly carbonaceous bodies, they were quite brittle, and only their Magic stat wasn''t an embarrassment - it was at I-50 / 9850.

    The most annoying species of all were the Salamanders, yet another version of the Lizardmen. They had grey-black scales and mostly lived in the lava, attacking and ambushing their prey from within the deadly liquid in groups of at least 30 and at most 60. Besides their relatively fast speed and swimming skills, however, they weren''t anything special. Once the element of surprise was gone and one faced them head-on, they were just... frail. Their Agility was at H-100 / 10,250.

    As for the species that could form the biggest groups, those were the Golminas. They were humanoid creatures that were about four meters tall and had black skin contrasted by a yellow beard. There was a horn on their heads and they only had a single eye each, reminding Isaac slightly of the mythical Cyclops from his old world. They relied on a combination of fire breaths and their extreme physical strength to take down any opponents they encountered. Respectively, their two highest stats were Strength and Magic, and both were at H-150 / 10,650. Usually, they would roam the floors in groups of around ten individuals, but sometimes, hundreds of them would form a tribe, with no upper limit.

    A bit more annoying to face for the laymen were the Ash Golems. Most of their bodies were made up of ash and stone fragments, which could reach quite high temperatures depending on their surroundings. They could only be found on land and not in the lava, as they melted when they got too close to it. Their humanoid, three meter tall figures had only one weakness. In their chests, there were crystals that looked like red versions of mana crystals. They were their ''hearts'' or rather ''cores'' and shattering them was the only way to permanently kill them, else they would simply gather together a new body.

    Thankfully, there were still other mana crystals in their heads, so hunting them wasn''t unprofitable. To attack, they could let parts of their bodies form clouds of ash, slowly suffocating their opponents, or they could use basic wind Magic to create mini-tornadoes of ash and stone fragments, battering their enemies unceasingly. Once anyone got close to them, however, they were easy to kill. Their Magic stat could reach up to G-200 / 11,050 and groups of thirty plus of them could be found all over this thematic zone. Mostly, they acted as annoyances whenever other monsters were battled, but they still shouldn''t be foolishly underestimated.

    As for the rarest monsters, those were the Lindwurms. They were up to forty meters long and had deep-red scales, coupled with dragon-like heads and claws. Still, their bodies looked more like those of snakes. It didn''t really need to be mentioned, but they could also breath fire¡­ wow, what a surprise. The enthusiasm is through the roof today.

    When there were no opponents to face, they slept beneath the lava and when fought there, they were quite deadly¡­ mostly due to the fact that most adventurers couldn''t enter the lava without dying, so they couldn''t even reach them. Even when battled on land, they were still tough, as all of their stats were at G-250 / 11,450. They usually lived alone or - at most - in pairs.

    Luckily, they had no regeneration-type ability, else it would be really hard to kill such large monsters as most weapons would only leave relatively shallow wounds. Even beheading them in a single strike was impossible, under normal circ.u.mstances. Unless special Skills or Magic were used, or a weapon that was long enough to cut through a six meter-thick neck was available.

    Lastly, there were the Lava Turtles. Unsurprisingly, they were basically the same as the Crystal Turtles from the Water City. Quite often, they were also mistaken for islands within the lava lakes. They were about thirty meters long, and nearly as wide, and covered in a stone-like, black and charred shell. Their skin was light-grey and anything but fragile - it had to be capable of resisting being constantly submerged in lava, after all. Besides crushing someone with their weight, the only danger they posed was that they could submerge themselves or move too much while someone was on top of them, letting them take an unwelcome bath that would keep them warm for the rest of their lives. The turtles themselves weren''t too dangerous, but they were quite resistant to damage, as their Endurance could reach up to G-275 / 11,650.

    Isaac simply employed the same strategies as when he had faced the Crystal Turtles, cutting a bloody path into their bodies from one of the very few areas that weren''t covered by their shells. Just in case, he had to make doubly sure that he had lured them very far from the nearest source of lava before engaging them - he didn''t want to get drowned in lava should a turtle decide to run back there and submerge itself while he was making turtle sashimi.

    By the time that Isaac reached the 41st floor, another two hours had passed and his excelia gain had once again started to stagnate - the monsters that he slew barely even gave him a single additional stat point each. Still, should he decide to update his Status, then the average of his Level 3 stats would already reach more than 1200! It would have taken him tens of minutes longer if he hadn''t had his Hunter-series Development Abilities. Although a total excelia gain increase of eight percent didn''t sound like much, it was far from nothing.

    "At this rate, he''ll catch up with our floor record in about a week¡­"

    Tiona wasn''t sure whether she should be happy about it or not. It had taken all of them far too many years to get to the 58th floor¡­ and now she was watching Isaac close in on them so rapidly that it made her head spin.

    "Maybe not. Look at his weapon."

    With a slight smile on her lips, Ais pointed at Isaac''s sword. Tiona quickly noticed that it had already started to get dull in a few places, and there were even slight cracks as well. Clearly, it had been forced to go beyond its limits time and time again.

    "... okay, maybe it''s gonna take a little bit longer."

    Happily smirking to herself, she shook her head. Tiona knew well enough how difficult it was to find a fitting weapon once one planned to fight some of the higher Level monsters. The materials needed to create them were incredibly expensive, but that wasn''t a problem, as they could just collect those themselves. What was harder was to find a blacksmith who could actually handle them, as most of the more inexperienced or poorer ones would never even get a chance to work with the most expensive stuff on the market.

    "I''m thinking of introducing him to Lord Goibniu."

    Hearing her friend''s words, Tiona nodded approvingly.

    "Good idea, I''ll come along as well. I need to get my Urga checked, just in case I haven''t been maintaining it properly."

    Suddenly, the Amazoness almost doubled over - she had just recalled a key detail.

    "Wait, does he even have enough valis to afford one of Lord Goibniu''s works!?"

    Her worried expression made a smug smile appear on Ais'' face.

    "Definitely. I just wonder if the Guild has enough valis to pay him for all the mana crystals and Drop Items that he''s been hoarding."

    Of course, she was exaggerating. The Guild had more than enough funds to afford whatever he picked up in the dungeon. The main reason that Isaac didn''t make use of this, however, was that he was worried about accelerating inflation. To be fair, he had no idea how exactly the gods regulated the currencies in this world, but as he knew how stupidly the humanity from his old world had handled these issues, he couldn''t help but be concerned about it a little. There was no ''infinite money'', so if he continued to exchange everything he got, then either the Guild would run out of valis one day, or the value of each individual valis would fall as soon as significantly more of them started to circulate. Unless the gods had other plans which he wasn''t aware of, which was extremely likely.

    While Isaac was slaughtering his way through another swarm of Rock Roaches, carefully picking up their loot along the way, from one moment to the next, the entire dungeon started to tremble. It felt similar to an earthquake, but a little less violent than the ones that he had experienced in the past.

    Genuine rage appeared on Isaac''s face. He hated to be interrupted while he was in the middle of something. Couldn''t this have happened after he had arrived at a staircase leading to the 43rd floor!? But even more importantly, what truly pissed him off was that he knew exactly what was going on. Just because it had been inevitable, that didn''t mean that it felt any less infuriating. Some people really didn''t know that they should keep their hands to themselves.

    Not wasting more than a split second on being incensed or picking up the rest of his loot, Isaac turned to Ais.

    "Yellow alert."

    As soon as these words had left his lips, he disappeared.

    "Wait, what!? Did he just leave us here? And what did he mean by that?"

    Tiona was terribly confused. Was he worried about the dungeon collapsing and had run away? But if that was the case, why would he leave them here?

    "It means that emergency protocol E is in effect, so we''ll be on standby."

    Ais'' matter-of-fact tone didn''t help the Amazoness to understand anything either.

    ''Seriously, what is going on!?''

    -----

    Ten minutes earlier, on the 15th floor.

    "We''ve got company!"

    With a dark look on her face, Tabitha grabbed her whip and turned around, staring into the darkness slightly nervously. Suicia immediately followed in her footsteps.

    It didn''t take long for tens of black robed figures to fill up the entirety of the hallway, relentlessly marching closer to the two. A look of shock flashed across Suicia''s face as she instantly recognized this style of clothing. Those people¡­ they usually wore either black or white robes, coupled with veils of the same colours to hide their faces.

    "Evilus!"

    All members of the Hermes Familia had already been aware that Remnants had appeared recently, so it wasn''t too surprising that they would encounter them again somewhere. But¡­ why here and why now of all things?!

    "Bomani, Bennu, you two stall the Hermes Familia wenches. The rest, follow me."

    At Asim''s emotionless command, two of the black robed men shot forward, clashing with the prepared Tabitha and Suicia and making them step back in shock. Those two were definitely Level 3''s! But wasn''t this just a group of Remnants? How could they raise such outstanding warriors!? As far as the two girls were aware, almost every single member of Evlius had been slain back then.

    Without giving them any chance to stop their advance, the massive black robed group rushed past the stalled women and quickly made its way towards the students. Although their position was different from a few hours ago, that didn''t matter. They had found them without a problem. When Asim had spied on them before, he had marked them using his Skill, making it impossible for them to escape his detection, unless he died or they entered a place that could block even his Skill. The only drawback of it was that it had a time limit. If he wanted to track someone''s location for longer periods of time, then he would have to reapply the Skill as many times as needed.

    The moment that the fighting had started nearby, the students noticed the commotion and grew restless. They were well aware that the Hermes Familia was protecting them, so hearing a battle break out so close to them didn''t bode well, at all. As quickly as possible, Aselina finished off the rest of the monsters that had been holding them back, then the group ran into one of the hallways connected to the cavern that they had been in, as fast as they could.

    Sadly, they soon realized that they had made the wrong choice - just minutes after they had started to escape, they entered an empty room¡­ and noticed that it was a dead end.

    "Get in position!"

    With a deep frown on his face, Kalin gripped his spear. Quickly but orderly, the group gathered together, blocking the hallway in front of them. It was always easier to defend just one front than to let the potential enemy enter and attack them from all sides. Sure, monsters could spawn, but they hadn''t yet. For now, this was the wisest course of action. After all, they couldn''t kill monsters that hadn''t been ''born'' yet.

    Moments later, the huge group of black robed figures approached. Seeing their targets all prepared for a final showdown, Asim smirked and unsheathed his khopesh, pointing it in their direction.

    "Attack!"

    At his command, it seemed like a dam broke - a black flood rushed towards the students. They couldn''t help but gulp heavily, their knuckles white from how tightly they gripped their weapons.

    The first to clash with the opponents was Kalin, as he stabbed his spear towards the throat of one of the attackers in the front. The others weren''t slower than him, his reach was just further thanks to his weapon. It didn''t help him much, or at all, though. A woman''s voice snorted at his weak attempt and brushed his spear aside with pure strength, catapulting him backwards for a few meters. Only with difficulty did he manage to land on his feet.

    ''Oh shit, this is bad! We definitely can''t handle this!''

    After a moment of thought, he managed to assess the threat-level of their opponents. As none of them were too quick for him to follow with his eyes, only the stationary leader in the back could potentially fall into that category and be a huge problem. All in all, it wasn''t the worst that they could have faced, by far. Because they should still have the time to react, they should go with ''that one''.

    "Mina, yellow alert!"

    By the time he had shouted, the rest of the group had already been forced backwards. Aselina had voluntarily retreated to help protect Mina, consistently managing to keep two of the opponents in check, but the Chienthrope girl hadn''t fared any differently from Kalin. Averin was circling the two girls, quickly pecking at every opponent who got too close, giving them a headache. His speed was high enough to escape all of their attacks, but he wasn''t really of much help, especially because the enemies'' robes and veils seemed to be made from quite the decent material.

    Once she heard her friend''s assessment, Mina nodded and signalled to Aselina to protect her for a moment, then she reached her hand into her backpack, searching for something. Their enemies weren''t fools, though, and they momentarily managed to stall the slightly dangerous racoon girl. This made it possible for one of them to slip around her to attack Mina, to make sure that she wouldn''t be capable of using whatever item she was looking for.

    Still rummaging in her backpack, Mina jumped backwards while sweating bullets, but she wasn''t fast enough and could only helplessly stare at her opponent''s dagger approaching in slow motion. She was about to raise the threat-level and choose to follow another part of the emergency protocol, but then she heard an angry crow almost the volume of a dragon''s roar.

    "F.U.C.K OFF!"

    With all the speed that he could muster, even using Atalantan Accelerate, Averin dove beak-first into the side of the attacker, opening a large hole leading straight to the man''s innards. A guttural scream escaped the man''s throat as he heavily crashed into one of the walls even though it was more than ten meters away.

    The Jack Bird hadn''t come out of this unscathed, however. His Endurance was his lowest stat, it was pitifully low, even. He couldn''t handle the backlash of his own destructive attack. Blood dripped out of his beak and his scale-covered skin had burst in a few places. Slowly but surely, his feathers got drenched in blood, making the normally adorable, fluffy rooster seem oddly menacing. Although he kept up a strong front, in all honesty, he could barely keep standing.

    "Hurry up!"

    After looking at the dog girl with anger in his gaze, Averin turned back to the opponents, most of which had momentarily frozen in disbelief. Never would they have guessed that such an endearing creature would be capable of using such explosive power. Even Kalin and Mina were baffled and shocked, while Aselina had no time to waste - she was still fighting against multiple enemies, only barely managing to avoid getting any deep cuts. Her opponents'' stats weren''t too much higher than hers, but because she hadn''t been training with Isaac for too long, she still found it hard to deal with multiple stronger enemies at once. Comparatively, Kalin and Mina were just completely outclassed, as there was an unbridgeable gap in stats.

    -----

    Somewhere else on the 15th floor, a cloaked figure suddenly came to a halt, her blue eyes filled with anger and worry.

    ''That crow¡­ I''m sure that was one of my kin! I have to hurry!!''

    A split second later, the figure had already rushed tens of meters away. She was closing in on the source of the sound as quickly as she could.

 Chapter 90 - A Terrifying First Impression

    Back when Isaac had told his students and subordinates about the emergency protocol, he had let them know about three different threat-levels which matched three alerts - the yellow, orange and red ones, respectively. Amongst these, the yellow alert was a somewhat special existence, as it was only an option while both Isaac and the one who would be about to sound the alarm were in the dungeon. Everywhere else, only two levels of alert were accessible.

    To set the yellow alert in motion, only one ingredient was necessary: a small vial filled with Isaac''s blood. He had given one to each of his people, but because they felt that it would be overkill for every single one of them to carry a vial with them at all times, they had decided to only take along one per group. Jakk and Mina were the ones who were currently in possession of a vial each, and the latter was in a pinch.

    Mostly due to nervousness and bad luck, she had taken far too long to rummage through her backpack and still had yet to find the vial! The longer it took, the more perturbed she became, which didn''t exactly help either. Thankfully, after Averin''s valiant rescue, both her psyche stabilized and her misfortune came to an end - her hand finally found what she had been looking for.

    As quickly as possible, she threw the vial on the floor, shattering it in the process. Isaac had made doubly sure that the containers for his blood wouldn''t be all too durable - sturdy enough to survive a ride in a backpack, but not enough to resist a strong collision with a hard surface. Thanks to this, Mina didn''t have to waste any time to open the vial.

    When the opponents that were cornering her and Averin first saw her taking out something unknown, they braced themselves for the impact of an explosive or poison of some kind, only to scoff at her when her throw completely missed them.

    But as soon as they took a look at what the mysterious item was, their smiles froze, replaced with utter terror. They weren''t idiots, they had seen a god''s blood many times before and they knew exactly what was about to happen¡­

    Sure enough, once the blood touched the floor, the entire dungeon tremored in rage, causing a few of the assailants to trip over, incapable of maintaining their balance due to this unforeseen event. As the students had been long since prepared, they weren''t taken by surprise and used this short respite to distance themselves a bit, successfully regrouping in the process.

    Having his plans so blatantly disrupted, Asim''s face contorted in annoyance.

    "Everyone who''s still unoccupied, prepare to deal with the incoming monsters!"

    Up to this point, not all of the figures had managed to join the battle, as there had simply been no opportunity or space to do so. Normally, they would have been excited at the chance to show off, but now, they were slightly antsy and nervous. Back when the gods were still allowed to enter the dungeon, whenever their presence was noticed, they got attacked by special variants that were specifically spawned to deal with the divine intruders, to make them stay for good. Such outstanding hospitality!

    Even though most of the black robed figures were already at Level 3, as some regular monsters on this floor reached Level 2, their special variants could possibly rival them. Even worse was that their enemies'' numbers would be overwhelming.

    The students weren''t any better off. All the walls of the room that they had fled to broke open, revealing entirely black skinned and black furred Minotaurs, which were at least a meter taller than their normal versions. They even spawned with massive clubs and swords made out of a dark, unknown metal.

    Kalin couldn''t help but gulp nervously, yet at the same time, he was oddly calm. Even the madly roaring monsters didn''t worry him too much. After all, wasn''t this all a part of Isaac''s plan? Surely, he wouldn''t let them come to real harm.

    -----

    The blue-eyed cloaked figure had finally managed to arrive in the vicinity, when the sudden tremors of the dungeon made her widen her eyes in surprise. This was the first time that she had ever witnessed such an event, and she had no clue what was going on. Oh well, in any case, it didn''t matter. Only the safety of her kin was truly of importance!

    Just moments ago, she had rushed past four people that were embroiled in conflict, two of which had worn black robes¡­ but it had nothing to do with her. Humans preying upon each other wasn''t anything new to her, such scenes were a dime a dozen.

    A moment later, however, her thoughts started to change drastically.

    Not far away, two groups opposed each other, one clad fully in black, the other wearing all kinds of regular adventuring gear. That was beside the point, however. What caught her eye was the lovely Chienthrope girl who was cradling a heavily wounded Jack Bird variant in her arms, shielding him from harm while eyeing both her surroundings and the enemy faction cautiously. It was plain to see that she cared for the monster and handled him very gently.

    Disbelief and happiness overcame the cloaked figure at this sight, causing her to stop in her tracks to observe exactly what was going on in more detail.

    ''Her behaviour makes it clear that she cares for one of my kin. Nay¡­ the entire group does!?''

    The Jack Bird variant was kept in the center of the group. These protective actions of the Raccoon Person, the human and the Chienthrope girl caused a spark of hope to ignite in the cloaked figure''s heart. At the same time, it made it obvious who she would need to oppose. She momentarily felt a twinge of guilt for having left those two women to their own devices. With what she was now aware of, they should belong to this group of potential allies as well. Speaking of, why did the two women feel familiar? Had she met them somewhere before¡­?

    When she noticed the unusual Minotaurs emerging from the walls, her brows furrowed.

    ''This is the first time that I''ve seen these. Since when are the monsters here this strong? Could it be related to the strange tremors?''

    Of course, she ignored the black robed group''s plight as they were surrounded by powerful monsters on all sides. After making an educated guess, she was relatively sure that they would be capable of standing their ground, albeit with difficulty. Erasing the scraps that would make it through wouldn''t be difficult. What worried her was that her potential allies were also about to be besieged, and there was no escape route!

    ''Alright, it''s time for me to intervene.''

    Before she could even get moving and attempt to save them, an unfamiliar voice suddenly sounded from right next to her, making her jolt away in surprise.

    "Thanks, but leave this mess to me."

    For a moment, she could see a tall handsome man clad in adventuring gear to her left, respectfully smirking at her. She could only barely make out that when his eyes refocused on the same scene that she had been observing, they grew cold from rage. Then, he was gone, as if he had never existed.

    ''What was that!? How come I didn''t notice this guy before he said something?''

    While her mind still spun with far more questions than answers, all of a sudden, she caught sight of the mysterious man again - this time, he was right in front of the group that she meant to protect. With movements as elegant as a dance, as efficient as the very incarnation of slaughter and so fast and precise that she had to exert a bit of effort to keep up with them, all 16 of the black Minotaurs that had surrounded the students lost their heads. Before the first body could even hit the floor, he had already returned to his initial position, acting as a barrier between the black robed assailants and the group of adventurers.

    The expressions of the four lit up at his appearance, while the Chienthrope girl cried out excitedly.

    "Milord!"

    After taking a quick glance at them, the man turned around again. With a smile as saintly as it was frightening, he shook his head and unhurriedly walked towards the attackers.

    "Did you really think you could kill my students in my absence? It seems like a lesson in humility is in order."

    -----

    ''Isn''t that our prime target, Isaac Blackshaw? What is he doing here!? How did he just appear out of nowhere?''

    Even though Asim was taken aback by the sudden changes, he soon suppressed all of these distracting thoughts, as he wouldn''t be able to come up with a satisfying answer to these questions anyway. What truly mattered was that even Isaac had appeared - so if he managed to eliminate him and to complete the mission successfully as well, then he would be lauded to no end.

    ''He should still be a Level 2¡­ or maybe he has reached Level 3 already. If our prognoses are accurate, then my men should be able to deal with him.''

    In his zeal, he conveniently and subconsciously overlooked the power that his target had just portrayed. His mind justified it like this: Asim was also capable of slaying these beasts, albeit in a far less refined manner. But the essence still remained the same - Isaac hadn''t done anything that he couldn''t do.

    "Kill him!"

    At his command, the six black robed figures that weren''t tied up in a battle with the surrounding monsters bolted at Isaac with a speed that far surpassed the one of his relaxed steps in their direction. Their target''s words? They didn''t pay them any heed. Even the man that had been sent flying by Averin cautiously joined the battle. He had just used a High Potion, so even though he wasn''t fully recovered yet, he was convinced that he could be of some help.

    Assured that everything would be dealt with now that he had left the unexpected surprise guest to seven Level 3''s, Asim focused on supporting the rest of his team, slaying black Minotaurs as quickly as possible. The faster the monsters were dealt with, the faster more of his men would be free to complete their mission. While he was confident that Isaac''s demise was already inevitable, his students still needed to be overpowered as well.

    ''Strange, why is it so quiet?''

    Right when he was confused by the lack of any sounds of battle coming from the direction that his prime target was advancing from, repeated THUDs entered Asim''s ears. Once he dealt with his opponent and got a chance to look at the situation, what greeted him were the decapitated bodies of his seven subordinates. Their heads had already hit the floor, but their bodies were still in the process of falling. Not-so-slowly but surely, the fountains of blood were painting the surroundings in red.

    In their midst, completely untouched by the abundant shower of vital fluids, Isaac calmly took his steps and looked straight at Asim. The closer he got, the brighter his smile became, until it seemed to eclipse the entirety of the room.

    Shell-shocked by what he had just seen, Asim''s back began to be covered in cold sweat and he subconsciously took a few steps backwards. He finally acknowledged the truth that he had refused to face before - this man was stronger than him, in all aspects¡­ despite Asim being a Level 4! It was ridiculous, as by all accounts, he shouldn''t have reached this point yet. But he undoubtedly did.

    The faces of the few men and women that now had the opportunity to interfere thanks to the earlier efforts of their leader first grew pale, then determined. After noticing the resolution in each other''s eyes, they subtly nodded and coordinately charged at Isaac as fast as they could, their weapons at the ready. Asim''s heart stung as he watched his fellow familia members make their choice, but thanks to them, his troubled expression returned to an unwavering one.

    ''I will never forget your sacrifice!''

    -----

    When he saw the new group of fools rushing towards him like moths to a flame, Isaac chuckled, partly out of irrepressible anger, partly out of amus.e.m.e.nt. Did they really think that they stood a chance?

    Moments later, however, his expression shifted as he noticed a peculiar development.

    Ever since he had arrived at the scene, he had kept his Eyes of Hermes activated, therefore massive movements and changes in the surrounding mana couldn''t escape his senses. Just now, he had perceived all seven of the beheaded bodies focusing all of their mana into the area around their hearts, until the rest of their bodies were completely sucked dry. The temperature in their vicinity increased massively and rapidly, and their chests expanded. As for the worst part? They were scattered all around him, surrounding him in a prison of his own making.

    Although the phenomenon was magical in nature and only somewhat reminiscent of what he had encountered back in his old world, Isaac quickly put the pieces together.

    ''So these guys are all actually suicide bombers and whatever mechanism that has been implanted in them will also be triggered by their deaths.''

    The easiest way to escape this situation would be to simply teleport away¡­ but as he had more than just one alternative, he didn''t bother wasting his AP. After all, it just wasn''t necessary.

    With a small but sly smirk, he quickly tapped all of the bodies with his feet, storing them inside of his inventory, sealing them in exactly the same state that they had been in when they entered it.

    The people in the approaching group almost fell over in shock when the explosions that they had banked on didn''t occur and the corpses of their friends simply disappeared. Nevertheless, they didn''t stop their advance and only became even more determined to take out this unfathomable enemy in front of them. This wasn''t only because of their willingness to sacrifice themselves, rather, it was because they had no other way out of this.

    Before they had even gotten close to him, they had already activated the mechanisms hidden in their chests, quickly feeling all of their strength leave their bodies. They didn''t have any choice now, as there was no way for them to turn back time. Either they would succeed, or they would embarrass their cause! With the very last of their strength, they catapulted themselves towards Isaac from all directions. This charge would be their last, but also their most glorious one. Or at least that was what they were hoping for.

    What unsettled them was the calm look on their opponent''s face and his curious ability to make their friends'' corpses vanish into thin air. But¡­ they weren''t dead yet. He couldn''t possibly do the same to them, right!?

    Only after he was sure that he had successfully determined where exactly the explosive mechanism was located did Isaac move at his top speed¡­ and store all of the about-to-explode black robed assailants in his inventory.

    He would have been a fool if, during his own system''s creation, he had followed in the footsteps of most of the systems that he had read about in his old world. An inventory that wasn''t capable of storing living beings? What kind of idiocy was that? Not wanting to repeat the mistakes of others, he had chosen to make his inventory entirely different.

    It wasn''t just a simple space-based storage, rather, it was a storage which could perfectly ''pause'' any entity''s state of being. Neither time nor space, nor anything else that was a part of existence, would be capable of affecting whatever entered his inventory. Living creatures wouldn''t experience anything at all either, as even their thoughts would be ''frozen''. In fact, if Isaac ever wanted to save a handful of AP, then he could always just store every person that he wanted to teleport in his inventory only to release them again once he arrived at his destination.

    This was where his various self-imposed restrictions that weren''t already a part of the system came into play yet again. Storing the people close to him would make him feel like they were his ''possessions'', which in turn would lead to him being slightly uncomfortable, to put it mildly. Additionally, he wasn''t truly hurting for AP, so he could afford minor expenses in an effort to make his life more pleasant. Wasn''t that exactly why he had bought all of those toiletries?

    As for storing living beings that were his enemies? Obviously, he had no qualms about that.

    Did the inventory have limits? Technically, no. But as it would be a very boring journey if he solved everything by simply adding all of his troubles into his inventory, he chose to not rely on it too much. But why did he do so now? Wasn''t what he just did basically taking the easy and boring route?

    Yes, but he had already had another plan at the ready, which would have resulted in him getting nothing more than a couple of scratches but surviving easily nonetheless. The reason why he didn''t choose to go through with it was simple. He had had a sudden but great idea.

    ''I can just use these guys as explosives and chuck them at my enemies.''

    ¡­ he had collected magical suicide bombers to use them as disposable grenades.

    -----

    ''What¡­ just happened!?''

    A look of abject confusion and horror had spread on Asim''s face. He couldn''t believe what he had witnessed. His companions, even though they had chosen to perform the ultimate sacrifice¡­ had disappeared without a trace, leaving their enemy unscathed. This was unprecedented!

    It was only when he heard the sound of eerily obtrusive, unhurried footsteps that he was brought back to a reality just as grim as his doubt-induced fears.

    Still, he was a veteran of many battles, so he would never allow such a feeling to fully control him. Defiantly, he grinded his teeth, desperately trying to deduce what he had borne witness to. Thankfully, it only took him a fraction of a second to remember a certain detail, causing his eyes to light up in excitement.

    ''He needed to touch their bodies to perform his weird Magic! That''s it!!''

    Asim was sure that he could at least keep his distance from Isaac for a minute if he gave his best, so this was all the opportunity that he needed. He had long since abandoned any thoughts of escaping, as he knew that he didn''t stand a chance because his enemy was quite a bit faster than him - in the end, he would be caught up with. So the only other option was to somehow combust his life in an effort to kill Isaac. Before, he hadn''t thought that it would be possible, but now, he felt like he had a great shot. If he managed to stay just far enough away for his enemy to be incapable of reaching him and close enough to keep him in the blast radius¡­

    Unhesitatingly, he activated the mechanism in his chest, staring intently at Isaac who was still walking towards him. Now, only about ten meters separated them.

    Seeing his foe frown made a refreshed smirk appear on Asim''s lips, but it only lasted until he heard the man''s next words. The beads of cold sweat on his back turned into an effervescent stream.

    "I need you alive, so I can''t allow your explosion shenanigans."

    When the enemy suddenly accelerated, he was almost too fast for Asim to keep up with him.

    The key word was ''almost''. A smug grin was plastered on his face as he managed to bolt away utilizing his top speed, certain that he would be able to keep this up until his life came to an end.

    Just fractions of a second later, he suddenly felt a heavy impact on the left side of his body. He forcefully ground to a halt - he had smashed directly against the wall. Asim had been so focused on Isaac that he had completely failed to notice that his opponent had maneuvered him into a position which would inevitably lead him to collide with the wall¡­ should be barrel there directly, that is.

    A slightly flabbergasted expression appeared on Isaac''s face and he muttered to himself while making his way next to the disoriented victim of his small trick.

    "I expected to corner him, but not like this. What kind of retard runs straight into a wall?"

    These words hurt the black robed man''s pride greatly, but that was the least of his worries. He didn''t even get a chance to retort or to move a single muscle. With a perfectly aimed chop, Isaac knocked the man unconscious.

    During the time when the corpses had been about to explode, he had observed that only after absolutely all of the mana in the respective body had been acc.u.mulated in the mechanism did it start the self-detonation process. Thanks to his superb mana detection, he could clearly see that, with the current speed that Asim''s body was being deprived of mana, it would still take at least tens of seconds until he would bloom in a violent way. Because of this detail, he guessed that the higher a person''s Magic stat was, the longer it would take for an explosion to take place - but obviously, it would also be far more powerful.

    In any case, the predicted time was more than enough. A few seconds later, Isaac had already cut out the mechanism with surgical precision. It had been moderately difficult, because it had been located right next to the heart, but with his impeccable control, it hadn''t been a big deal. The pain awoke the non-anaesthetised patient, but without paying any attention to the shock and disbelief on his face, Isaac put the heavily wounded man into his inventory before chucking the mechanism far away, right into the midst of the prolonged battle between the black Minotaurs and the rest of the assailants.

    The moment that the connection between Asim and the device had been cut, Isaac had noticed that it had started to heat up, so his original plan of defusing it to study it in-depth wouldn''t work, for now. While he could store it, he also wanted to test it. Although it would be a shame to lose all of these other lovely explosives, he was sure that there would be plenty more where this group came from. But although these suicidal fanatics were an interesting novelty, he wouldn''t go out of his way to gather them. He himself could easily do as much damage as any of their explosives, in a way more targeted and controlled manner. Still, disposable weapons were meant to be used, so while he still had spares that he didn''t really need for his ''collection'', he could spare himself some exertion by making use of them. Also, it felt ironic to take care of his enemies by utilizing their own weapons. The look on their faces as the devious means they had relied on spelled their doom made a genuinely refreshed smile play across Isaac''s lips.

    Meanwhile, the blue-eyed cloaked figure couldn''t help but shiver at everything that she had witnessed. The massive explosion swallowing tens of humans and an even bigger number of monsters didn''t manage to reach her, only the resulting shockwave battered her a little, causing her cloak to flutter.

    This entire time, she had been effortlessly taking care of all of the black Minotaurs that had tried to attack her, showcasing a speed that far, far surpassed Isaac''s. Nonetheless, his benevolent and at the end even happy smile as he slaughtered his own kind left her deeply rattled. She wasn''t a greenhorn and had seen many a slaughter. She had even shed a lot of blood herself. Never before, though, had she seen anyone who behaved like him. The stark contrast between his expressions and his actions was far too unnatural.

    ''... what a scary man¡­''

 Chapter 91 - Youngster And Monster

    Once the immediate threats were dealt with, Isaac spent a few more seconds on cleaning up the few black Minotaurs that had managed to survive the blast, then he hurried to the side of his students, an unconcealed sign of worry on his face which was in stark contrast to the unwavering confidence he had shown before. By now, the dungeon had already stopped trembling and no new special variant monsters were spawning - after all, there had only been a couple of drops of Ichor, which were only enough to evoke a momentary reaction. As soon as they were absorbed by the dungeon, everything returned to normal.

    There were many things that Isaac wanted to say, but the severe injuries of his favourite emergency ration turned emotional support hugging pillow was the top priority. Impatiently, he waved his hand to dismiss the pleasantries and approached Mina who still held the now-shivering rooster in her arms. After giving him a quick check-up and assessing his wounds, Isaac heaved a sigh of relief and patted the bird''s head, before taking it into his hand and raising it upwards, seemingly so he could have a closer look.

    "You''re really in bad shape, little guy. Thankfully, I have picked up just the right thing. Hold that pose and open up wide, don''t spill too much of the Mermaid Blood!"

    Not bothering with further explanations, he pulled a seductively beautiful, n.a.k.e.d but rabid woman with a fish''s fin for a lower body out of thin air, holding her by the throat. All of the deranged, mindless struggles by the monster to somehow escape his grasp were useless, as it found it impossible to even leave a single scratch on him - may the stat difference be praised!

    He removed his other hand from the rooster, who managed to continue looking upwards and opening his beak on his own, albeit with difficulty. Averin was still a bit confused and baffled about what was happening, but he didn''t even get a chance to speak - not that he would have been strong enough to do so anyway. With his now-free hand, Isaac grabbed one of the Mermaid''s arms, held it in place right above the rooster''s mouth and used a bit of his mana to create a blade of wind that cut open the helpless monster''s wrist. By now, he had dabbled enough in mana control to more or less easily be capable of such minor tricks.

    A spray of blood went straight into Averin''s wide-open beak, down his throat and all the way to his stomach. After a few moments, during which Isaac repeatedly cut the Mermaid''s wrist because it was healing too quickly, he switched to showering the rooster in more of the monster''s blood, causing Averin''s surface wounds to heal in but a few seconds.

    The entire party was far too shocked to react, as they hadn''t expected for their teacher to pull a Mermaid out of nowhere and then use her as a portable blood dispenser! It was¡­ quite cruel, and even they, who were used to slaughtering monsters on the daily, felt their stomachs churn slightly at the sight, leaving a bad taste in their mouths. They would have surely thrown up had they borne witness to Isaac''s regular research. Still, they were aware of the effect of Mermaid Blood - it was common knowledge - and that their teacher was only doing this to help their companion, possibly even to save the bird''s life. So although they couldn''t help but feel a bit bad for the Mermaid, they weren''t braindead fools who would complain about its treatment. In the end, it was still a feral monster that would kill them as soon as it got the chance. Fighting for the rights of such a being was nothing but idiocy.

    Even the cloaked figure, after the initial shock at having a being appear out of thin air again, didn''t seem too bothered by the scene. Sure, it was cruel, but harsh times required harsh measures. She couldn''t argue with the efficiency of the medical care. If she herself had been heavily wounded, then she would rip apart a mindless Mermaid to heal herself without even blinking.

    By the time that Averin''s internal injuries had stabilized and, thanks to the exceptional healing properties of the blood, were already on the road to full recovery, Isaac put the ''blood bag'' back into his inventory, a relieved smile spreading on his face.

    Then, he couldn''t help but notice that Mina, who had been holding the Jack Bird this entire time¡­ was now also covered in blood. A slightly guilty smirk appeared for a moment, then he disregarded her dirty state and patted her head gently.

    "Sorry about the, ahem, unconventional shower. I sort of tunnel-visioned in on Averin''s injury and didn''t care much about anything else. Stay still, let me clean you a little."

    When she saw her lord pull out a wet towel from his inventory, Mina blushed from embarrassment, which thankfully wasn''t noticed because of all the blood splattered over her face. Contrary to others, she couldn''t really blush all the way up to her ears - or rather, the red skin was completely hidden underneath her hair.

    "Oh no, Milord, that''s not necessa---!"

    Before she could even finish her sentence, Isaac had already started wiping down her face with the towel, doing as good of a job as he could for now.

    "There, that''s a lot better."

    She would definitely still need a thorough shower after this, but at least she wouldn''t have to worry about blood getting into her eyes or mouth. Satisfied, Isaac nodded to himself and refocused on Averin, ignoring the others for the moment, as they were only in a slightly battered state.

    Mina pouted a little, but quickly couldn''t help but grin while blushing, feeling honoured by her lord''s personal attention. Truly, in the past, she had never expected to be treated well, as she would follow him no matter what, but she would be a liar if she said that this didn''t feel a whole lot better. Kalin chuckled at his friend''s expression, while Aselina smirked a little at these shenanigans. At the same time, however, her ears twitched faintly when she thought about the treatment that Mina had received. Maybe it was a kind of instinct, but she felt that it would be nice to get a head pat as well¡­

    In any case, after such a frightening encounter, this comfortable peace really warmed her heart. Admittedly, she had known that Isaac would come to their rescue, but even that knowledge hadn''t been enough to keep the fear of death and injury completely at bay. As she hadn''t been following him for too long, she didn''t have blind faith in him yet.

    Now having the reassurance that he would, indeed, come to her side in an emergency, made Aselina''s Loyalty rose by five, while his caring treatment of Mina caused a two point increase in her Devotion. The one who Isaac''s actions had the biggest impact on, however, was Averin. His Loyalty rose by seven, all the way to 99/100. He could clearly sense the pain in his body lessening rapidly, and even though he usually was haughty, he didn''t grumble at all when Isaac patted his head a bit now that he had mostly recovered.

    Seeing how everything seemed to be over and dealt with, the cloaked figure, who had stayed outside of the students'' range of perception this entire time, chose to come forward and approach them. Shocked at the newcomer''s arrival, they quickly entered a combat-ready state again, until Isaac hurriedly signalled for them to calm down.

    "She isn''t an enemy, don''t worry. If I hadn''t come, she would have been the one to save you from this mess. So please, instead of being wary of her, give her a proper ''Thank you''."

    His words both made the cloaked figure a little bashful, causing her to pause in her steps, and made the students bow slightly in respect and gratitude, happily thanking this unknown person who might have just been their saviour if the events had played out differently.

    Pleased by their performance, Isaac nodded to himself and then to the figure as well.

    "I thank you too. But before our inevitable little talk, there is still one matter that I need to deal with here. It won''t take long, and I promise that we won''t leave this place while you are gone, so could you please help out the two ladies still held up in a battle with some of these black robed assailants? While I won''t personally owe you should you decide to do that, I''m pretty sure that once you realize who they are, you would be quite devastated should your inaction have led to them coming to harm."

    A bit confused by the young man''s words, and still cautious of him because of his previous actions, the cloaked figure nodded silently, then she rushed off into the darkness so quickly that the students couldn''t even follow her with their eyes. Even for Isaac, it wasn''t easy to accomplish.

    ''He might be scary and definitely not what I would call a ''good person'', but considering how he treated the Jack Bird¡­ he should be trustworthy enough.''

    After the figure left, Isaac smiled at his students and silently signalled for them to stay put before they could bombard him with any questions. He hadn''t been kidding when he said that there was still a matter to handle - in fact, there were multiple, but some of them could wait. Yes, he could have easily teleported to Tabitha''s and Suicia''s side, eliminating their enemies in but a few moments, but with such a capable ''helper'' around, he could focus on the matter that was currently physically the nearest.

    Suddenly accelerating to his top speed without any prior warning, Isaac charged into one of the corners of the room and grabbed seemingly at empty air¡­ but what was soon revealed to the others was a white robed person about half a head shorter than their teacher. The person''s throat had been seized, while their attire looked exactly like the previous group''s, but it was white instead of black. Isaac made sure to grab their throat tightly enough to make it impossible to escape, but not enough to make it hard for them to breathe or speak.

    "H-How did you find me!?"

    The slightly pained and utterly shocked voice of a young man sounded, while the white robed person''s eyes widened in bewilderment. He just couldn''t explain how this man had unveiled him straight through his rare stealth Skill!

    A sheepish smirk played across Isaac''s lips, then he shrugged.

    "All manner of illusions and stealth are useless in front of me, simple as that."

    He didn''t bother explaining the details to a potential enemy, so he cut straight to the chase after adopting a more serious expression.

    "But enough of that. I noticed you snooping around the moment that I arrived. I only didn''t weed you out like the rest of these people because you don''t seem to belong to the exact same group. You also didn''t show any killing intent towards my students whatsoever. Instead, I saw your eyes sparkling in delight when I finished off the ones wearing black robes."

    Having been informed that every single one of his movements and actions had been monitored so clearly caused the young man''s skin to pale until it was almost indistinguishable from his clothes. Still, he didn''t speak, as he was too afraid of interrupting his captor and potentially infuriating him. He would wait until he was given a cue, only then would he risk his death by explaining himself.

    Reading his face like a book, Isaac continued.

    "I honestly am interested in what force you belong to and why you and the other group wear what I can only guess to be a uniform of some kind. But, I will probably have my hands full with the one who dared to target my kids for a while. In the process of that, I should also uncover your origins, unless there really is no connection between the two forces, which is highly unlikely. So, instead of putting you on the spot, there is only one thing that I want you to do. I promise to let you live and leave if you do it. Alright?"

    A hasty nod of the young man later, Isaac stated his demand.

    "Tell your master, your god, or whoever they may be, that because they haven''t attempted to harm my people so far, I can overlook this spying transgression. We can walk our own paths, and as long as they don''t interfere with me, I won''t care about what they do. No matter what crime they may commit, as long as it doesn''t affect those close to me, they can knock themselves out - just don''t let me witness it. But, here is my warning. Should your master not agree to this, should they want to oppose me, they and their force will be wiped out. You seem like a bright lad, so you should know that, although your master may have a few trump cards, I also have yet to show the aces up my sleeve. I trust you will convey the severity of the situation to your master. Now, go. Out of my sight."

    Not bothering to even glance at the young man any longer, Isaac let go of him and walked back to his students, making doubly sure whether any of them had any injuries that he had missed. Thankfully, there were only a couple of bruises, but nothing major. A bit of Blue Papilio Wing powder did the trick.

    Meanwhile, after coughing a bit, the white robed young man hurriedly stormed off into the distance, using his stealth to disappear from the students'' view a few moments later. He was still shivering and pale as a ghost, but he also felt like he had just been given a new lease on life. Deep within his heart, he almost wanted to thank this monstrous person for letting him leave - he knew far too many people who wouldn''t have given him such a chance, even if it was just for the express purpose of delivering a message.

    ''I''ll make sure that Lord Vidar will know not to mess with him! I have an extremely bad feeling about him. Even though our orders are to confront him, that would be foolish! Why would we just sign our own death warrants like that?''

    -----

    It barely took a minute for the cloaked figure to make her way towards the battle and dispose of Bomani and Bennu. As she had already learned of the hidden dangers they posed, she made sure to kick away their lifeless bodies with as much power as she could muster, letting them explode far away in the distance a bit later. The result wasn''t more than a slight gust of wind ruffling through Tabitha''s and Suicia''s hair.

    The two women only had a few cuts and bruises, they had fared well against their opponents. Still, they hadn''t been able to escape them or to strike any killing blows. They were quite good at fighting people of the sentient races, but their enemies were anything but beginners at such kinds of combat themselves.

    When a cloaked figure ended their battle with a speed faster than they could even react to, they didn''t rejoice but only raised their guard. They had been helped, but as they didn''t know who they were facing, they didn''t foolishly relax¡­ even though they wouldn''t be capable of resisting this person anyway.

    Smiling at them, especially now that she had taken a closer look at them and realized that they were a part of the Hermes Familia, one of her kin''s very few allies, the cloaked figure, rather than wasting time talking, pulled back her hood, revealing what was hidden underneath.

    She had a beautiful, unblemished face with golden feathers instead of hair, which was styled in somewhat of a voluminous ponytail. Closer to the tips of the feathers, they first turned cyan, then at the very tips, they reached a medium-dark tone of blue. Instead of regular human ears, while hers were located in the same spot, they were about as long as Elf ears and covered completely by small golden and brown plumage. Her eyes were sky blue and sparkling with intelligence.

    Pleasant surprise appeared on the Hermes Familia women''s faces, then Tabitha broke out into a wide smile.

    "You should be Ray, right? Thanks for the help!"

    The Siren nodded her head, but before she could even explain anything, the quick-witted Suicia realized what was most likely going on and her facial expression turned for the worse, clearly showing signs of worry.

    "Are you here for that Jack Bird Xenos? We should hurry then, so we can still make it in time to save him!"

    As the two hurried off, Ray quickly followed them after hiding her head under her hood again. She seemed unhurried, which caused the two others to be slightly confused.

    ''They truly seem like nice people, so concerned about my kin¡­''

    Tabitha''s and Suicia''s display of worry and eagerness to help pleased her greatly, so Ray happily explained that the Jack Bird had already been saved, by someone that the Chienthrope girl had called ''Milord''.

    The two women were well-informed, so they at least knew what Isaac''s various students preferred to call him. Still, hearing that he was actually here, on this floor¡­ their eyes widened in shock.

    "How did he get here? Didn''t he take a trip to the Lower and Deep Floors?"

    But no matter how doubtful they were, they knew that Ray wasn''t the kind of person to lie to them. And very soon, they saw the reality of the situation for themselves.

    In the middle of the dead end room that the students had ultimately been cornered into, the group plus Isaac was sitting in an incomplete circle, happily munching on various snacks, deservedly relaxing after a period of taut nerves.

    Seeing them approach, the mysterious young man in question pulled out a few more of Orario''s affordable, portable and easily-preservable specialties - yes, they were different flavours of potato snacks - from his inventory, masking its use by utilizing a backpack that he had prepared beforehand.

    "Come and join us, then we can talk. I''m sure you could all need a bite."

    Although Ray was a bit hesitant at the generous attitude that Isaac displayed, she followed the two women and sat down in the space which had been left open in the circle of people - it was quite apparent that they had been anticipating their arrival.

    Tabitha was the first to grab a potato snack and unrestrainedly munch on it. After a few bites, she was also the one who spoke up first.

    "I apologize if this is rude of me to ask, but how exactly are you here?"

    She was secretly hoping that her currently battered look, coupled with the damage that her originally already extremely skimpy clothes had taken, would at least soften the man''s heart and let some of his secrets slip out. But contrary to her slight hopes, Isaac simply shook his head and smiled innocently.

    "I don''t plan on telling you."

    Before she could even pout unhappily at having failed her roll for seduction, Isaac raised his hand to interrupt the budding conversation, then he looked straight at the cloaked Ray. The Siren''s heartbeat accelerated due to nervousness, but she still steeled herself for the questions that were inevitably about to come her way. He would surely be wondering about who she was, so seeing how close he already was to the Jack Bird Xenos, she would have to reveal her identity, explain to him what she and the rooster were and then convince him to let the latter have a better life amongst his kin.

    While she was still a bit lost in thought, choosing exactly which words to use, Isaac finally spoke.

    "Excuse me for being so direct, but you''re just like Averin, right? A sentient monster capable of speech."

    His gaze was filled with curiosity and warmth. It even felt genuine - his smile didn''t evoke the fear she had experienced before. But all of that wasn''t important, she was shocked! How had he seen through her this easily?

    "H-How do you... k-know?"

    Her voice was songful and graceful under normal circ.u.mstances, but right now, she was clearly stuttering from having been taken aback. A slight smirk played across Isaac''s lips.

    "When I arrived, you mainly focused on our Jack Bird friend here, and in your eyes, I could see the desire to help him and the rest of my students. This already made me a bit suspicious. But what gave you away was that I could see your feathers after looking a bit closer at your face hidden under the hood. By the way, there is no need to hide."

    Flabbergasted that he had even had the opportunity to size her up like that without her noticing anything, Ray froze for a moment, before realizing what his words implied.

    "You''re¡­ not afraid of me? Even though I''m a monster?"

    She was baffled at this and almost didn''t want to believe it. Sure, she knew that he treated Averin well, but that was a creature far weaker than him, and an adorable one nonetheless. Meanwhile, she obviously could kill him anytime she wanted to, and at least in her eyes, she was far more threatening of a monster. While the Jack Bird was her kin, to normal adventurers, the difference between them would be like night and day. Accepting a cuddly, fluffy rooster was so much easier than a dangerous Siren.

    Tilting his head slightly, Isaac showed a genuine, harmless and perplexed smile.

    "Why should I be?"

    It was as if Ray''s brain short-circuited. She hadn''t expected this reply, even though, just like most of her kin, she had secretly hoped to hear one like it. The only words that she managed to stutter were "I¡­ umm¡­", but Isaac didn''t show her any mercy - he didn''t let her regain her bearings before starting to explain himself.

    "First of all, if you had wanted to harm me, then you would have done so already. There is no need for you to aim for stabbing me in the back, as you''re more than capable of overwhelming me head-on. You also wouldn''t have intended to save my students if you were truly as malicious as you seemingly fear I may think."

    After a short pause to let the cloaked Ray comprehend his words, he continued.

    "But most importantly, I couldn''t care less whether you''re a monster or not. To me, there are only three different kinds of beings: My enemies, my friends and the ones that I don''t care about. Race or species don''t matter, only how the specific being treats me or the ones under my wing. You had intended to treat my people well, to save them even, so you''re already on the fast track to becoming my friend. I''d best introduce myself then. I''m Isaac Blackshaw, and it''s nice to make your acquaintance."

    By the end of his long speech, Ray, although she had had reservations about this ruthless person, had been moved close to tears. It all felt like a dream to her. Isaac''s attitude towards her kin, even though it could possibly be a lie, was exactly what they had always searched and yearned for. It both contained acceptance and fairness, both of which most of the members of the sentient races that they had encountered - the adventurers - had nearly never graced her kin with.

    Slightly tearful because of the irrepressible happiness, Ray used her cloak-covered wings to pull back her hood, smiling widely at this surprisingly charismatic young man in front of her.

    "Nice to meet you, Isaac. I''m Ray, one of the three leaders of the Xenos."

 Chapter 92 - Illusion Of Choice

    In truth, Isaac had already arrived at his students'' side quite a few seconds before he had actually intervened in the events that had been unfolding. At the same time as he had teleported, he had also blurred his existence, so as to have a chance to take a closer look at everything before getting himself involved. Simultaneously, he had also used his Eyes of Hermes, as the Magic enabled him to get a far better overview of the overall situation than he would have been privy to by only using his regular senses.

    Tabitha''s and Suicia''s situation had seemed stable, so he hadn''t worried about it. When he had seen the unfamiliar Ray, however, he had raised his guard for a moment, before he had figured out what exactly she was. At that point, after he had glanced at the observing white robed youngster, he had already formulated his plan - one that would give each attending party exactly what he had wanted them to see.

    He had spent a short moment to explain to Ais that her help wouldn''t be needed and had thanked her for having been ready to come to his side at a moment''s notice, then he had started his performance. Luckily, he hadn''t needed to act much, as all he had needed to do to achieve the intended effects was to clearly show the emotions that had filled a corner of his heart.

    His students got saved and his enemies obliterated, with one of their numbers even successfully taken alive, ready for an ''interrogation''. The unknown force that the peeping tom belonged to would get a warning, so if he had to slaughter them all later, he could at least say that he had tried to give them a chance. As for Ray, she both got to see his capabilities as well as his ruthlessness. He had wanted to convey to her that, should his reverse scale - his people - be touched, there would be hell to pay. Although he had been certain that she would end up one of his allies, or at least not an enemy, it was better to be safe rather than sorry.

    When he had portrayed how much he valued those that followed him, including Averin, a fellow Xenos, he had sneakily started to worm himself into the Siren''s heart.

    Isaac had long since believed there to be more monsters like Averin, he had just never met any of them. Whether or not they had formed a group had been unknown, but as long as their numbers reached a certain amount, then he had judged that it would be quite likely. Because of this, he had mentally prepared himself for this probability long ago.

    As for the connection between the Xenos and the Hermes Familia? He had had no clue whether or not there actually was one. He hadn''t known whether or not Hermes was in contact with them, but he had been quite certain that a slippery manipulator like the god of travellers would surely be aware of this faction. This guess of his had only been reinforced when the Hermes Familia had made no attempt to question him about Averin, or to even approach his students to get into contact with the rooster out of curiosity. Thanks to this he had been able to wager a guess that Hermes, at the very least, was aware of the existence of monsters like his Jack Bird subordinate.

    Should there be a group of them, then the god would likely know about them as well. As Hermes seemed like a man that wouldn''t hesitate to make use of everyone that he came across to further his own goals - which didn''t seem to be antagonistic in nature - he would have surely attempted to contact this group of sentient monsters, and positive relations between the two forces would nearly be guaranteed. Telling Ray about the two Hermes Familia women had been a gamble, but from how relaxed the two seemed to be around her, it looked like it had paid off, causing Isaac to smile to himself inwardly.

    As for the words that had ultimately settled deep within the Xenos leader''s heart and made her see a hope for the future? He had just stated the truth. He didn''t want to build a relationship, whether it be cooperative or competitive, on a lie. This positive outcome had simply been a result of luck - his mindset was in the ballpark of how the Xenos had always wished to be treated.

    They had been constantly abused and killed, so even without getting any preferential treatment from him, Ray had felt like the world had just brightened up significantly. This showed clearly in her bright and happy smile, which caused the group to fall silent for a moment after they got blinded by it.

    ''Are they¡­ afraid of me?''

    The Siren couldn''t help but fear that those new potential allies of hers had been scared away by her unusual looks, but soon, this worry dissipated entirely. The Chienthrope girl spoke up, fascination sparkling in her gentle brown eyes.

    "Wow¡­ you''re so beautiful!"

    The rest of the group nodded in confirmation, even Isaac, causing the Siren to both blush a little and to recover. With a small smile, she replied to them embarrassedly.

    "I''m glad that my appearance didn''t frighten you. Thank you for the kind words, umm¡­?"

    At this moment, she finally realized that she didn''t know the names of most of the people here, so she shot a pleading gaze at the girl who had praised her.

    "Mina, Mina Teagle. I''m milord''s faithful retainer!"

    All too proud to announce her allegiance, Mina introduced herself with a complacent smile. Before Ray could even ask her for further clarification, the mostly expressionless, icy Raccoon girl next to her also chimed in.

    "Aselina Sceaga, I''m also his retainer."

    Seeing that everyone was introducing themselves, Kalin decided that it would be wisest to join in. He shrugged and pointed at himself.

    "As for me, I''m Kalin Myre, and Isaac is my teacher."

    He chose to avoid mentioning that he was also a part of his familia, as the two Hermes Familia members with them didn''t know about Isaac''s ascendence yet - it would be foolish of him to reveal it just like that.

    Now, only Averin was left. He had already mostly recovered, so it wasn''t difficult for him to put on airs, like he usually did. He hopped on Mina''s shoulder, puffed out his chest and looked down upon all of the ones sitting on the ground. His beak was slightly raised upwards towards the ceiling and an arrogant expression spread on his face. Still, to all of the observers, he seemed more cute and adorkable than imposing.

    "This Lord Bird is the great and mighty Averin, a faithful retainer of the most prestigious of masters, the Lord of Transcendence and the future ruler of this world, His Majesty Isaac Blackshaw!!"

    Isaac almost choked on his potato snack when he heard his rooster''s self-introduction. He was already long used to the bird''s usual theatrics, but never before had he been included in his bragging. All of those fancy titles¡­ how did he even come up with them!? More importantly, however, Isaac wasn''t interested in the throne of this world at all! This was totally giving off the wrong impression, wasn''t it!?

    "Ufufu. I see, I see. So you really love your master, huh?"

    An amused chuckle escaped Ray''s lips and she couldn''t help but tease the young Jack Bird mirthfully. She didn''t take these senseless titles seriously, as they didn''t even mean anything to her. What was a ''Lord of Transcendence''? And why would it matter to her who ruled this world? Her kin worried exclusively about survival and having a place to belong, so the power struggles at the very top didn''t interest her. It was something that was simply too far removed from her life to even think about. Lastly, Isaac may be a powerful human, but he was undoubtedly still very far from such a prestigious position. All of this enabled her to see through to the truth of the matter. Averin really valued his master, even to the point of trying to lift him up alongside himself with his bragging. How adorable!

    "Y-You¡­!!!"

    Averin was both infuriated and speechless, he didn''t even know what to do. Thankfully, he calmed down very quickly when Mina grabbed him from her shoulder and hugged him again. The familiar sensation made him snap out of his stupor.

    ''Fine, I''ll forgive you this once!''

    Thoughts like these flashed through his mind as he poutingly glared at Ray from within the comfortable embrace.

    "Ahem, I have something that I need to talk to you about, everyone."

    Ray''s words were more of a formality, as she had already previously garnered everyone''s attention. Promptly, she continued.

    "You are probably wondering about what exactly the ''Xenos'' are. That is the name that we, the sentient monsters, have chosen for ourselves after forming a group. Averin here is undoubtedly one of our kin as well."

    Seeing that everyone followed her so far, she proceeded to explain.

    "Some of us are not capable of speech, or haven''t learned to speak yet. So if you ever encounter a monster that isn''t mindless and hostile, please be aware that it could be one of my kin!"

    Mentally, Isaac reviewed all of his battles, only to determine that he hadn''t met any unusual monsters besides Averin - and now Ray - before. So seemingly, Xenos were extremely rare, even rarer than variants. Speaking of variants, hadn''t he met almost none of those in all of his time within the dungeon? Regular adventurers came across them quite frequently, so why did they seem to avoid him like the plague?

    Shaking his head slightly to disperse these distracting thoughts, Isaac faced Ray and asked a question.

    "If we find a Xenos, what do you want us to do? Leaving them behind could endanger them."

    A thankful smile spread on the Siren''s lips, and she nodded.

    "You are correct about that. Regular monsters attack my kin, as I''m sure you''ve noticed before. So, if possible, it would be great if you could bring them to one of our hidden gathering spots, one of our ''villages''. Speaking of, I would like to request that you leave Averin in our hands as well. Surely, his life will become much more comfortable when amongst his kin."

    During the first part of her reply, the entire group had seemed amicable - during the latter half, however, the students grew somewhat hostile, or at least a little bit annoyed. Even Isaac showed a frown, but before anyone could make any rash decisions due to their impulse-fuelled emotions, he raised his hand to defuse the situation. Then, he looked directly into Ray''s eyes. This time, he was a lot more wary than before.

    "Why do you think so?"

    Contrary to what Isaac had feared, Ray didn''t see the students'' reaction in a negative light, instead, it made her feel happy for her fellow Xenos. To be cared about this much, it was something that she and the others truly longed for!

    "First of all, I''m sure you already know about the dream of us Xenos - to reach the surface and walk underneath the blue sky, revelling in and exploring the world. What you might not yet be aware of is that we also want to be accepted by the sentient races, to walk amongst them as equals. Only late in life did some of us realize that our dream wasn''t only to be taken literally. ''Reaching the surface'', or rather, ''seeing the light of day'' also means that we want to be accepted by others, for who we are."

    So far, so good. When thinking about what she was about to say, however, Ray uncontrollably sighed.

    "Sadly, there is one single problem which makes this nearly impossible, or at least very hard to achieve. It isn''t hard for some of us to disguise ourselves and leave the dungeon. But whenever we leave it, we grow weaker and weaker until we inevitably die. This means that we both can''t really live on the surface, and that because of this, the sentient races won''t have much contact with us. Everyone fears the unknown, so the less contact that we have, the harder it is for their prejudices to be proven wrong, for us to appear to them in a better and new light. The rare contact that we have had with others down here has also exclusively been negative, your group and our benefactor''s forces excluded. In any case, Averin here surely suffers whenever you bring him out of the dungeon, so wouldn''t it be better to leave him here with his kin until we can find a solution?"

    Towards the end, Ray''s expression turned into one of pleading, but what greeted her wasn''t the reluctant agreement that she had anticipated and hoped for, but slight amus.e.m.e.nt. Seeing the confusion written all over her face, Isaac smiled kindly and explained what was going on.

    "I''ve already dealt with that problem, at least in Averin''s case. I can''t say that I have found a ''solution'' per se, but I can indeed ensure that a Xenos won''t lose their vitality outside of the dungeon. As for the specifics¡­"

    With a short glance in Tabitha''s and Suicia''s direction, he signalled that they weren''t close enough allies to divulge this secret to.

    "I can''t disclose them at the moment. Still, I can tell you that currently, it involves a kind of ''sacrifice'' on the Xenos'' part, which Averin had gladly agreed to. I accidentally stumbled across this way of escaping the problem. As for a real solution, I have not yet researched the exact cause and effect of this phenomenon, so I haven''t come up with one yet. Of course, for the right price, I could always prioritize it and figure out a way. I will only claim my payment after I''ve been successful, so don''t you worry about me ripping you off."

    Shocked, Ray stared at Isaac in disbelief. Did he really think that he could get rid of the chain that had bound them for all their lives¡­ by himself? And this deal that he proposed, wasn''t it far too lenient? What if he worked for nothing? He wouldn''t gain anything and only waste his time futilely.

    Seconds later, a determined look appeared on the Siren''s face.

    "Before we talk about this, can you let me experience that accidental solution that worked for Averin? I am willing to shoulder any sacrifice for my kin!"

    ''Just according to plan.''

    A small smile played across Isaac''s lips, then he nodded.

    "Sure. But first, Tabitha and Suicia, can you please return to the surface? I will personally return this group of my students home, and although we are business partners, this is a confidential matter."

    The two women had already been preparing themselves for this for a while, so they stood up quickly. Stretching herself relaxedly, Tabitha smiled at the group and waved them goodbye.

    "Until next time, then! God, I really need a shower and a Potion, I''m hurting all over¡­"

    Once the two left his range of perception, Isaac''s expression turned serious.

    "Please keep what you''re about to see a secret. I will bring all of us out of the dungeon in a moment, so you''ll be able to observe that Averin really doesn''t grow weaker. Don''t be afraid, though, I promise to bring you back immediately should you choose that the ''sacrifice'' is too much."

    Not even a fraction of a second after his last word had left his lips, a very confused Ray, alongside the group of students and Isaac, found herself sitting on mossy ground. Fresh air like she had only smelled a handful of times entered her nostrils and sunlight shone right on her face, causing her to blink in surprise and bewilderment.

    ''This is¡­ the surface!?''

    She was in a small glade in a forest, with the wide expanse of the blue sky seemingly an endless distance above her head. Even if she flew upwards for weeks, she doubted she would ever reach an end. The leaves of the trees rustled in the gentle breeze and insects crawled about in a few places. The mossy patch that she was sitting on still felt a little bit wet, as the last vestiges of morning dew had yet to entirely evaporate. A small fox peeked around a tree in the distance, thinking itself to be far enough away to escape anyone''s notice. For Ray, however, perceiving it was effortless.

    Completely taken aback by this sudden change in scenery, Ray stayed quiet and smiled happily, her mind mostly blank.

    Moments later, however, she noticed that her vitality had started to wane, but only very slightly. It influenced her less than even a mosquito bite, but she still detected it, forcefully bringing her back to reality.

    "How did you bring us here?"

    Admittedly, Ray was a little scared, but she was also intrigued. Just how had Isaac done this?

    "Teleportation. We are currently outside of Orario, as I thought a place closer to nature, with less people, would be preferable."

    His explanation only brought up more questions. Still, it seemed like he didn''t want to give her a clearer answer. To return her focus to the matter at hand, he handed her Averin.

    "I''m sure you can tell that he isn''t growing any weaker. So, if you still want me to tell you why, I can provide you with an explanation."

    It didn''t take Ray long to become assured that Isaac''s words had been the truth. Although this weakening process was extremely slow, as someone who had experienced it herself multiple times, she could still perceive the very slight differences a little easier than others. The rooster, to her delight, really didn''t show any change whatsoever. Well, he was growing annoyed at having been tossed over to a stranger just like that, but that was about it.

    ''So he wasn''t lying!''

    With a relieved smile on her face, Ray looked straight at the mysterious man.

    "Please tell me."

    A nod later, the explanation began.

    "When Averin joined my familia and got bestowed with my Falna, I noticed that whatever siphoned off his vitality before started to focus on my blood instead. Still, my Ichor is a bit special and, for all intents and purposes, basically inexhaustible. From that point onward, he never had to worry about your kin''s problem again."

    When he stated it so openly, it would take an idiot to not notice the implications. In shock, Ray widened her eyes. She would have fallen over if she hadn''t already been sitting.

    "Y-You''re a god!?"

    Smirking slightly, Isaac controlled his body to have a drop of golden blood form on his fingertip. A slight amount of Divine Aura spread with him at the center, barely enough for the surrounding group to notice it. There was no need to cause too huge of a commotion, after all.

    "Yes and no. While I am a god, I am also very different from pretty much every other god in this world. All you need to know is this: I can freely move between the dungeon and the outside world with a simple thought, and if a Xenos joins my familia, then they can escape their chains. No other god that I know of can provide you with this service, as their Ichor isn''t inexhaustible like mine. The ''sacrifice'' that I mentioned before is simply that you or any other Xenos would have to become one of my people, and as a result lose a bit of freedom. But as you''ve seen, I treat those that follow me very well, so I wouldn''t call it a bad deal."

    Honestly, Ray didn''t understand what he meant when he claimed to be different from other gods. After all, it wasn''t like she had had much contact with deities. But she quickly picked up on the essential parts of his explanation: He was currently the only one that could definitely help them.

    Conflicted, she was lost in her thoughts for a while, before shooting him an inquiring gaze. She had just recalled one of his previous claims.

    "How confident are you in finding a real solution to my kin''s problem?"

    Isaac''s reply was immediate.

    "100 percent. I can guarantee it. Sadly, besides giving you my word, I can''t do anything else to convince you of that."

    Taken aback by this blatant and possibly exaggerated confidence, it took Ray a few seconds until she was ready to ask her follow-up question.

    "And what is your price? You said that we''d only have to pay you if you succeeded, but what do you want?"

    Suddenly, an innocent and saintly smile spread on Isaac''s lips, evoking in her heart a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. Involuntarily, she grew a little restless.

    "Nothing much. I guess your absolute loyalty would do?"

    With her eyes widened in disbelief, Ray stuttered.

    "W-What? Why!?"

    He shrugged while his smile turned a little more gentle and less terrifyingly righteous. The instinctive fear that any sufficiently perceptive observer''s heart got subjected to reduced as well.

    "I don''t run a charity and I can always use more capable subordinates. Your personality is likeable and I think you would get along with the rest of my people just fine. Also, more importantly, I think it''s an extremely good deal. Either, all Xenos can join my familia, or only you can become one of my people. In both cases, your outcome would be the same, but in the latter, your kin would finally be free."

    ''That''s true¡­ but¡­''

    Ray narrowed her eyes and glared at Isaac, suspecting him of wanting to take advantage of her. For a long time now, some members of the sentient races had been kidnapping beautiful female Xenos, no doubt ''enjoying'' their bodies or selling them to the highest bidder. Was the fate that Isaac was offering to her not a similar one?

    The more that she thought about it, the more she couldn''t help but disagree with her earlier assumption. First of all, as he had made her an offer, she would be choosing this fate out of her own free will. Secondly, she would indeed be doing a great service to her kin - it wouldn''t be pointless suffering. Thirdly, she would be freed of the dungeon''s shackles herself as well. And lastly, she knew that this man was at least capable of the first possibility that he had proposed, so he was trustworthy to a degree and also generous, for even presenting her kin with another option.

    A heavy sigh later, the Siren nodded resolutely. Even if it meant that she would potentially become this man''s plaything after he found a solution, she had decided to bear with it. For her kin''s future, her own happiness was something that she could part with.

    "I said that I was ready to shoulder the sacrifice, so I will. Please, help my kin!"

    Little did she know that the reason as to why Isaac had asked for her absolute loyalty was exactly what he had stated - to gain a powerful subordinate, not an outlet for his l.u.s.t. He simply thought that it would be great to add her to his ranks for pretty much free. Researching how to solve this problem was something that he would have done in the future anyway, so her request simply altered its priority in his mind. It was slightly taxing to let his Ichor constantly regenerate within Averin''s Falna, so removing this very minor headache would have been on his agenda sooner or later.

    Aside from that, he had to admit that her willingness to offer herself up as a tribute for her kin''s freedom was a kind of devotion that was optimal for a subordinate of his to have. Once she took a shine to his people, she would surely end up striving for their wellbeing as well.

    "Alright, I shall. Then let''s get started. Please let me inspect your body."

    Only when Ray blushed fiercely at his words did he realize just what kind of misunderstanding she had fallen victim to.

 Chapter 93 - Glimpsing Behind The Curtain

    It took a while to get the Siren to understand just how wrong her assumptions had been, which caused her to feel ashamed of herself - so even more blushing ensued. In any case, Isaac ultimately got a chance to observe her closely. His professionalism and sheer disinterest in even exploring her body with his eyes - mind you, it was still hidden underneath her cloak - made Ray feel a little conflicted. It was great that she wasn''t being taken advantage of, but at the same time, she felt like she was undesirable. Ultimately, however, she was far more relieved than aggrieved.

    Using his ability to sense mana, Isaac confirmed that a very small amount of mana, accompanied by an unknown but familiar energy, was constantly siphoned away from the Xenos, and into the ground - straight towards the dungeon.

    He could easily make a guess as to what this energy could be - vitality, a.k.a. life force. It was completely invisible, just like mana in its usual state. But unlike mana, which could both become visible to a trained eye and would also be observable by any laymen once it reached a certain concentration, even to Isaac''s mana senses, life force was still nearly invisible. He could only vaguely feel its existence and deduce its location through the movement of the surrounding mana.

    Nothing else besides the exact amounts that left the Siren''s body every minute could be observed, but Isaac hadn''t expected anything else anyway. He would need to observe the Xenos'' bodies both inside and outside of the dungeon, and figure out how exactly this mana connection influenced them. Severing it would be simple, but what changes would come about due to this? Also, if he wasn''t around, who would be able to perform the same ''mana surgery''? Oh well, those matters were for Future Isaac to worry about. For the next few days, there were more pressing issues to deal with.

    After bringing Ray back to a secluded spot on the 18th floor, they agreed to meet here again in three days. Isaac had to head to Rivira at that time anyway, so everything worked out nicely. A temporary farewell later, Isaac brought his students to the entrance of their base in the Twilight manor, before hurrying off towards the main building.

    -----

    With a resigned sigh, Kalin shook his head. When Isaac had announced that he wouldn''t have the time to teach them until this threat was dealt with, the entire group had become downtrodden. They understood why his decision was necessary, they really did. But it was undeniable that they didn''t feel happy about this development at all. In their hearts, the students grew even more hostile towards their enemies. They hadn''t only attempted to take their lives¡­ they had also taken something from them that they looked forward to every morning! Well, only for the time being, but it still stung!

    Even the scolding that they knew they were going to get for their suboptimal handling of the situation had been postponed. That, at least, could be considered a good thing.

    Before the group could split up further and head towards the baths, to clean off the varying amounts of blood and dirt all over them, hurried footsteps approached the base''s door.

    A moment later, the shocked face of Valenoa greeted them. While initially, it was filled with a bit of fear, it quickly turned into one of pleasant surprise instead.

    "You''re already back!? When I heard noises outside, I got a bit worried¡­"

    Her bright and relieved smile simply melted Kalin''s heart, and his eyes turned a little watery. He didn''t even mind the short bout of slight weakness that had overcome him again. Although today hadn''t been the first time that he had been in a life or death situation, it was still scary, every single time. No matter how convinced he had been that he would be safe, deep within his heart, he had still felt terrified. Monsters that were only slightly stronger than him, those he could deal with. But people that he couldn''t defeat at all? They made him feel weak and useless. While he hadn''t been as defenseless as a cuc.u.mber on a chopping board, it had certainly felt like it.

    "Are you okay?"

    Both Kalin''s teary eyes and the group''s new and stylish red spray paint-look made it easy for Valenoa to pick up on the fact that something quite unfortunate had to have happened. The anxious and empathetic look on her face made Kalin''s cheeks heat up a little.

    He successfully managed to blink his imminent tears away, then he cleared his throat.

    "I''ll tell you when we get back. For now, though, we all really need a bath."

    -----

    "Come on in."

    Having heard a knock, Finn looked up from the various reports that filled his desk and towards the door. As the sound of the approaching footsteps hadn''t been one of the few that he was all too familiar with, whoever wanted to speak with him couldn''t be a person that frequented his office.

    Seeing that it was Isaac who entered, Finn raised an eyebrow in surprise.

    ''I certainly don''t see him often. What could he want to talk about?''

    Before he could even vocalize his question, the young man already stated his business.

    "I won''t take up much of your time. Do we have a soundproof room somewhere? I need to ''interrogate'' someone who had the guts to attack my students."

    With a wave of his hand, Isaac showed the captured Asim to Finn for a moment, but before even a drop of blood could start to drip to the floor, he made him vanish into thin air again, as if he had never been there. Just this quick glance, however, made the familia''s Captain stand up with a solemn and dark look on his face.

    "A member of Evlius!? Where did you catch this pest?"

    Isaac showed an intrigued expression for a moment, before he began to explain.

    "In the dungeon. And before you ask, that huge tremor was caused by my students. I gave them something that would enable them to let me know that they were in danger when all of us were in the dungeon. Anyway, more importantly. What is Evilus?"

    Finn stayed silent for a bit, then he sighed and signalled for Isaac to follow him. They left the office and took several flights of stairs downwards, until they reached what could only be described as a heavily fortified prison. It was guarded by both a locked door made out of an unfamiliar but certainly supremely resilient metal, and the magical formation that covered the entire manor''s grounds. To enter or leave this restricted part required one to be accompanied by either Loki, the Captain or the Vice-Captain of the familia.

    "Evilus is the name of a group of familias that banded together for the sake of destruction and pursuing their own, twisted desires. They managed to nearly destroy Orario once, when both our familia and the Freya Familia were still a lot weaker than now. For four years, I''ve been convinced that they were already eradicated. But that prisoner of yours¡­ he sports the same exact clothes that all of their members wore back then."

    As this wasn''t the right time for an in-depth history lesson, Finn gave a very short rundown of what had happened. They passed by many cells with doors made out of the same material as the one at the entrance. Behind some of them, Isaac could clearly detect the presence of a living being.

    His curious gaze couldn''t be hidden from the seasoned Captain.

    "Most of the stronger law-abiding familias in the city have their own prisons. As the Guild is mainly focused on paperwork, they leave the matter of detaining some of the more dangerous convicted criminals to us. The worst of the worst get executed, but for the ones that were judged to still have a chance to repent, we house them in secure facilities and ensure their basic survival - nothing more, nothing less. You asked for a soundproof place, and here we are. We wouldn''t want their cries of perceived injustice to annoy us, so we used the formation to make sure that they can''t be heard outside of their respective cells at all."

    Although he showed a bit of annoyance at the Guild for making other parties deal with such matters in their stead, Isaac ultimately nodded in understanding. It wasn''t too surprising, and he was sure that even without the Guild''s requests and requirements, Finn and Loki would have built a prison anyway - they weren''t foolish enough to be unaware of how useful they could be.

    Finally, the two entered a large room at the very end of the hallway that the cell doors were adjacent to. Besides a few tables and chairs, it was mostly empty. There were some chains on the walls, in case prisoners needed to be restrained, but besides those, there was nothing else.

    "Whenever we need to have a talk with one of the prisoners, we bring them here. May I listen in? I''m quite curious to hear how the organization survived."

    A slight smirk played across Isaac''s lips, then he nodded.

    "Sure. Can you give me a hand while you''re here?"

    Expecting to be asked to do some odd jobs, like helping to hold down the prisoner, Finn nodded - a smoother interrogation was in his interest as well.

    "Alright, then please hold this Mermaid tightly. I''ll need some of her blood to close our friend''s wounds~"

    With a bright smile, Isaac pulled the trusty self-replenishing blood bag with regenerative properties out of his inventory and threw it over to the Captain, who caught it without a problem even though he was taken by surprise. Isaac had quickly glanced at the monster in passing and realized that very miniscule amounts of mana and lifeforce were absorbed from it all the time as well, but it wasn''t even enough to eclipse her natural regeneration. Aside from that, he noticed that by now, she looked a little pale¡­ he should probably give her some time to ''recharge'' outside of his inventory, like he had originally planned. Oh well, that could wait until later!

    When Asim reappeared this time and quickly found himself in chains, his mind managed to process what was going on. Seeing that nightmarish, benevolent smile yet again right in front of him, he got goosebumps.

    "LET ME GO!!"

    The terrified and pained howl didn''t even make Isaac flinch. Instead, he motioned for Finn to bring the Mermaid closer, then he cut open her wrist with a wind blade and let her blood drop into the wound on his prisoner''s chest, quickly mending it.

    The appearance of the famous blonde Pallum made Asim even more horrified, and he quietly stuttered to himself.

    "T-The Braver¡­!"

    The man in question just shot a charismatic smile his way, but kept otherwise quiet. He wanted to see how Isaac planned to play this out. Even just observing that small wind blade he had made had already shown him more of the young man''s capabilities - it was really intriguing. As for the ability to materialize living beings out of nowhere? He had already put the pieces together and deduced that Isaac''s storage ability wasn''t as limited as they had initially expected.

    Instead of talking to or even asking the man anything, Isaac took out long, metal needles from his inventory. Just in case, he had stocked up on them a long time ago. He was sure that he would need them someday, so they were necessary expenses. He had even paid a premium to make sure that they were made of the highest Level material that he could afford back then. Thanks to that, even a Level 5 adventurer''s skin wouldn''t be thick enough to withstand them. Well, unless they were afflicted with the ''arrogant young master''-disease.

    With slow movements, Isaac pushed the needles into specific spots next to Asim''s nociceptors - commonly referred to as ''pain receptors'' - evoking louder and louder irrepressible screams from the black robed man. Due to Asim''s physiology being pretty much the same as the one of a human from Isaac''s old world, he didn''t even have to reinvent the wheel.

    The chains kept the man incapacitated, so even though he was in more pain than anyone should ever reasonably have to endure, with his eyes bloodshot to the maximum, he wasn''t able to move his limbs at all. Attempting to use his teeth to reach and pull out one of the needles also didn''t work - his neck wasn''t long enough. As for moving the rest of his body? He couldn''t do so at all!

    Asim''s world was filled with unimaginable and constant suffering. His mind wasn''t easy to crack, and using regular torture methods, there was no chance at all that he would spill the beans quickly. Isaac assumed that this would be the case, as Asim was a madman who let somebody else implant a bomb inside of his body. That type of person was usually fiercely loyal, and even if he could slowly break him over time, he didn''t have the luxury of being able to waste too much of it right now.

    Right as Asim was living his worst nightmare and on the verge of passing out, somehow forcefully kept wide awake by the repeated signals arriving in his brain, a calming, steady and rhythmical voice entered his ears.

    "Listen closely to me. The more that you hear me speak, the less pain you will feel."

    ''Are you taking me for an idio--- huh!?''

    At first, with all of the mental strength that he could still muster, Asim sneered at his captor, taking his words as nonsense. But he quickly found out, to his delight, that it really was the case. The more that he focused on Isaac''s words, the less he felt the pain. It was still there, but being able to distract himself helped more than he had ever dared to imagine.

    A minute or so later of Isaac doing his best to spout some random sentences to keep Asim''s attention, the man noticed that he was quickly drifting off into unconsciousness. All of the pain and the contrasting respite that Isaac''s words offered made his mind sluggish. The words were his light in the darkness, and he clung to them for dear life. But instead of being wary of this development, he welcomed it. After all, once he fainted, he wouldn''t be able to feel anything. Even death sounded like a sweet release to him right now. One minute? To him, it felt like hours had passed...

    "In a few moments, I will count down from three. Once I reach zero, you will fall into a deep sleep and answer all of my questions truthfully. You will only wake up when I snap my fingers. Three¡­ two¡­ one¡­ zero."

    Even though Asim''s mind registered these words, all of his mental defenses had already been shattered by what he had endured. Under normal circ.u.mstances, it would have been impossible to hypnotize him, and the content of Isaac''s words didn''t change this. What truly mattered was the exact rhythm that they had been spoken in. It was what had lulled the tormented man''s mind into a false sense of security and regularity, making him relax to his fullest, even whilst his various nociceptors were still spamming his poor and overworked brain.

    Just like Isaac had said, Asim''s body ceased any resistance and fell into a deep, trance-like sleep. Quickly, he removed the needles, so as to not accidentally prematurely awaken him. He ignored the Captain''s flabbergasted expression, put the Mermaid into his inventory and started with his first question.

    "What is your name?"

    A calm male voice that sounded like it was sleep-talking responded softly.

    "Asim."

    "And your last name?"

    "I don''t have one."

    Witnessing this interaction, Finn heaved a sigh of relief. He had realized that Isaac planned to hypnotize this man early on, as hypnotism was also practiced in this world - albeit barely. Still, it was commonly known that it didn''t work during ''interrogations'' of this kind, due to the subject''s mental defenses being raised too high. Now that he had witnessed it being successful, he felt quite elated - they would be able to gain far more intel in a shorter time than he had ever expected. Soon, however, he noticed that Isaac didn''t only ask about the most essential matters - he had Asim pretty much tell him his life''s story, in an effort to understand as much as possible about their enemies.

    -----

    Asim grew up in a country far away, on a different continent whose name he didn''t know. Even in his first memories, he was already surrounded by young kids like himself and taken care of by Lady Petbe and her familia''s children. Apparently, all of them had either been born from relationsh.i.p.s within the familia or been taken from their real parents shortly after birth. But no matter which category he belonged to, young Asim didn''t care about any of this. He led a happy life.

    The country that he lived in was hot, and occasionally, sandstorms battered the resplendent tents that were the familia''s home. Everyone had olive skin, which could only occasionally be seen in Orario. The only information that young Asim managed to pick up was that the community of tents that their familia was a part of was considered the capital of the country of Albaria, Hadira.

    Very early on in Asim''s life, when he was barely four years old and still mostly playing around with his fellow children, Lady Petbe got an order from someone to move to a different location - to Orario.

    It took over two years of travel, but after crossing a desert, various jungles, fighting off monsters and crossing the sea on merchant vessels, the Petbe Familia finally arrived at the continent that Orario was located on, Peira.

    They managed to sneak into the city by bribing some of the merchants with exotic goods and avoided the eyes of the Guild with their help. Only when they had met up with their allies on the inside and been led to their future base of operations did Lady Petbe leave the city with a few of her children, to re-enter Orario the legal way, for appearances'' sake.

    That was twenty years ago. Most of this time, he and the others had spent in absolute secrecy. They never entered the dungeon using Babel, and instead utilized what their allies could provide them with: An alternate entrance into the dungeon.

    While on the surface, it looked like Lady Petbe and her familia lived in a manor in Daedalus Street, most of her forces were actually permanently stationed in a manmade, underground labyrinth connected to it - Knossos.

    A special key was needed to open the adamantite doors that could be found just a few hundred meters behind the various secret entrances, walling off all further progress at these points. Most important members of the Petbe Familia and their allies got provided with those keys - Asim himself had had one on hand when he got captured by Isaac as well.

    About six years ago, something major happened. Lady Petbe, as the head of the organization "Black Blade", had gathered many forces, made up of various familias. Long ago, this ragtag group had already started to call itself ''Evilus'' and made trouble with the local populace, going so far as to engage in wanton slaughter on a few occasions. Then, six years ago, the group that called itself Evilus engaged in an all-out battle with Orario''s strongest, after the Zeus and Hera Familias had been driven out of the city following their loss to their most formidable opponent, the One-Eyed Black Dragon.

    The Petbe Familia didn''t participate in this and observed from the sidelines, as they had been ordered to stay their hand by their mysterious master. This unknown being was also the one who had provided them with the blueprint to the bombs that they, as devout followers of Lady Petbe, implanted in themselves without hesitation. Even those madmen from Evilus followed in their footsteps, albeit for different reasons.

    Amusingly, a certain god joined these rampant underlings with two Level 7 adventurers on his side¡­ but in the end, Orario managed to prevail. The Level 7''s and most of the underlings died, while many of the familias subordinate to Lady Petbe lost their gods, as they were returned to Heaven - mostly as a punishment, but some were even sacrificed during the battle for numerous reasons.

    Lady Petbe was inwardly furious at her underlings'' behaviour and failure, but as her orders were clear as day, she didn''t even interfere when most of them were wiped out by the revenge-fuelled adventurers in an act of justified retaliation.

    She silently grew her own familia''s strength, and provided a safe haven to what would later be called ''Remnants'' of Evilus. Lady Petbe and her real allies hadn''t been harmed by this matter in the slightest, the only annoying part was that their uniform, the robes and veils, were now associated with a force of ''evil''. What was so irritating about all of this wasn''t the fact that she and her allies would be seen as evil - their goals could indeed be perceived as such - it was that they had to forgo their uniforms when they strolled through the city now. They were unable to portray the glory of their organization without attracting ire from literally everyone they met.

    In such a manner, while the familia stayed undercover, Asim grew stronger and stronger, until he finally reached Level 4. He wasn''t the first of Lady Petbe''s children who had managed to become this strong, but he still got allotted greater authority and people for him to command.

    Every now and then, he would be assigned various missions - kill these individuals, steal crates of some materials, incite conflict between two familias, et cetera.

    What Lady Petbe was the most cautious of wasn''t the Guild or the law-abiding familias - it was her ''allies''. They had numerous conflicts over the years and while they would never wipe each other out, they all competed with each other. It wasn''t to the degree that they wouldn''t band together should they have to face outsiders, but it was still a bloody contest that claimed many lives.

    Those ''allies'' were the "White Blade" and "Red Blade", led by their deities. Asim was only aware of the name of the White Blade''s god, Vidar. Seemingly, all of the various Blades had branches in most major cities around the Lower World, and Lady Petbe was the overall leader of the Black Blade, making the one in Orario its main branch. As for Lord Vidar and the local leader of the Red Blade, they were only high-ranking members of their own Blades, not the actual leaders. This was also why the competition between all of them was so fierce. For leaders of the various Blades to fight each other directly was forbidden, but for their subordinate branches to make trouble for another Blade''s leader was generally overlooked. Asim only knew about this bit of information because his goddess had thrown a huge tantrum once, after some of her strongest children had fallen to an ambush.

    As for the one who led all of these Blades, the one they were all devoutly following¡­ Asim had no idea who they were. Never in his life had he heard any relevant information about them. Occasionally, Lady Petbe would refer to them as ''he'' or ''him'' - it was clear that they were a male - but she never let anything else slip. Well, aside from her infatuation with them. Needless to say, however, they were sure to be a god as well. After all, such a huge number of deities wouldn''t follow a simple mortal.

    Asim''s life had generally gone well, and following the discovery of his rare Skill, he had only risen in rank. Until today, where he had encountered the most unfathomable opponent. But as Isaac knew all about this encounter, he didn''t bother asking too many questions after he established that attacking his students had also been an order from this unknown leader figure.

    -----

    Once Isaac had snapped his fingers and put the confused Asim back into his inventory, Finn was lost deep in thought. So much new information had been revealed that he had never been privy to. For Evilus, such a formidable foe of the past, to be just a bunch of unruly, lowest-rung subordinates of a much larger force¡­ was terrifying. Had they been kept in the dark about this for much longer, then no plans of his could even impact the eventual outcome of whatever that force was scheming.

    ''This runs much deeper than I ever expected¡­''

    Suddenly, Isaac''s voice brought him back to reality.

    "Hey, Captain. This should be the key that he talked about, right?"

    Within his right hand, he held an orb around the size of his closed fist. It looked very reminiscent of an eyeball, with most of its surface being a pure white. Some of it was covered in grey metal as well, with golden lines drawing magical formations all over the item. On one of its sides, a carved iris and pupil could be seen, the former of which housed a clearly visible letter - a red ''D''.

    Although it seemed to be an inorganic object, Isaac could feel a very faint but stale life force within it.

 Chapter 94 - Unavoidable Threat

    "Now that we''re aware of all of this, we can assume that the manmade labyrinth that Isaac found to be connected to the dungeon is called ''Knossos'', and we''ve just obtained a key to it. Any questions?"

    After Finn had gathered his thoughts, he had called all of the relevant decision makers and members of the familia to his office, seated them around a huge table and explained to them in detail what had happened just an hour prior. This was too big of a matter to just sweep it under the rug. They all needed to be made aware of it, so they could decide on a course of action.

    With an annoyed snort, Bete managed to become the center of everyone''s attention. The unruly Werewolf was leaning backwards on his chair, while his boot-clad feet rested on the table. Riveria had kept nagging him about this behaviour the entire time, but even though her gaze had become progressively more icy, he seemingly just ignored her.

    "Isn''t it easy? All these ''Blades'' in Orario, let''s just wipe them out in one fell swoop."

    His recommendation was met with disappointed silence all around. Only a few, like Tiona, seemed to not be on the same wavelength.

    "Huh? That sounds like a good idea to me, so why are you all so gloomy?"

    Noticing that the only ones seemingly on board with him were the ones that he liked to call ''idiots'' every so often, Bete''s expression got worse. Thinking a little more in-depth about what he had said, even he noticed the obvious flaws.

    But before he could correct himself, Riveria spoke up, a threatening smirk on her face. After having to endure the Werewolf''s appalling table manners this entire time, she wouldn''t let any chance to scold him slide easily.

    "It''s a horrible idea, Tiona. If we attack all of the exposed Blades, we will let whoever they are working for realize that we know a lot more than we should be aware of. If we could completely exterminate the threat at its roots, it would indeed be great to do so as fast as possible, but we don''t have any clear idea of what or who we are even facing."

    Glaring at Bete a little smugly, she continued.

    "We are strong, yes. But even here in Orario, the Freya Familia can rival us. Keep in mind, though, that this is only the case as long as we look at exclusively the forces that we know about. There is no way for us to even estimate the threat that an organization that has lain low for so long could pose. Even Evilus almost overwhelmed us back then. While I don''t doubt that we could chase all of the Blades out of Orario, that means that we will only be fighting the symptom, not the cause. We''ll give our enemy a minor flesh wound while letting them become aware of how dangerous we are. An unseen threat is far more tricky to deal with than one that we have knowledge of. The enemy could attack us at any time, and with any amount of manpower. We would have no way to guard against this."

    When she paused for a brief moment, Bete interrupted her, clearly a little desperate to display his smarts. Even momentarily being grouped into the same category as that braindead Amazoness caused him to shiver uncomfortably.

    "But isn''t that the case now as well? They can target us with however many forces that they want to muster, at any time. We won''t even know what hit us! Wouldn''t it be smarter to wipe out a part of their personnel first, so that we''ll have an easier time later?"

    In response, Riveria just shook her head, mostly out of pity. Talking to muscleheads that didn''t want to listen to her advice always gave her a bit of a headache. Lovely Tiona, on the other hand, was always so obedient. In her eyes, that stark contrast made Bete stick out a lot more unfavourably.

    "It won''t matter how many of their men that we deal with now. We have no idea who or where they are, besides the few local Blades branches. The enemy can simply bide their time, build up their forces, and then attack whenever they are fully confident in overwhelming us. Also, we have a huge advantage right now. They aren''t targeting us, only Isaac and his students. Our familia as a whole doesn''t seem to have caught their attention yet."

    Pleased with his Vice-Captain''s analysis, Finn nodded before taking control of the conversation. Even more derailing by the rebellious child of the family wasn''t welcome at the moment. There were bigger fish to fry.

    "Exactly. While it won''t hurt to prepare ourselves for potential ambushes, there is no reason for us to be any more on edge than before. Just because we have suddenly gained knowledge about an enemy that has always been present anyway, that doesn''t mean that we should let this change get to our heads. They haven''t acted so far, they didn''t even act back when we were with our backs to the wall six years ago. Unless we mess with them, I can''t see them targeting us."

    Still confused, Tiona raised her hand and, after having been given the okay, stated her question. On the side, Riveria smiled to herself, slightly teary-eyed.

    ''She is such a well-behaved child!''

    "But Captain, they are targeting Isaac. Doesn''t that mean that they are targeting us? Why else would they come after him?"

    Instead of replying to her, Finn looked directly at the man in question. Noticing this, Isaac, who had been staying quiet so far, cleared his throat and took it from here.

    "In essence, it''s because I''m growing at a pace that is considered to be ridiculous. You''ve all noticed it, and so have the various forces that observe me and my students. While their growth isn''t too bad, dealing with them is surely meant to either serve as a warning, or to lead me into a trap so that I can be killed off before I can really grow into someone that can threaten them. In other words, I assume that their actions were supposed to bait me. Along the way, they could get rid of my students, who are quite talented as well. It''s a perfect plan, in theory. It''s just too bad that their intel on me wasn''t accurate."

    Even Bete had to acknowledge that Isaac was correct. And after admitting this to himself internally, his face looked like he had just been forced to swallow a handful of bugs¡­

    "We''re stronger than you, though. Why would they focus on specifically you when we''re around as well?"

    Isaac''s words hadn''t managed to clear up Tiona''s puzzlement yet, so he continued his explanation.

    "It''s because of my growth rate. All of you have taken years to arrive at your current Levels. In that time, the enemy can also have their forces make the same progress, as your growth rates are still considered to be reasonable. It might take others a year or two longer per Level, but most outstanding talents can reach your height with enough support. I, on the other hand, grow too fast. If I''m left to my own devices for too long, then our enemy fears that I will grow too strong for any of their people to catch up with. Should that happen, all of their plans would be for naught. So the one that they are cautious of isn''t the current me, it''s the potential future me."

    Realization sparkled in the Amazoness'' eyes and she nodded. It all made sense now.

    With this question dealt with, Finn moved on to the next point on the agenda.

    "All of you now understand our exact situation, so what do you propose that we should do? Do any of you have any ideas?"

    Judging that this meeting had already taken long enough, Isaac raised his hand, intending to lay out his plans. Should nobody have a better idea, they all would be able to leave soon, which would enable him to deal with the enemy more swiftly.

    Only after Finn gave him the go-ahead did Isaac begin to speak.

    "I propose for the familia to do nothing besides preparing itself to be ready to defend or move out in force whenever necessary. Supplies should be stocked up on, everyone''s equipment should be upgraded as much as can still be considered to be affordable. At the same time, the familia should keep up an image of everything being normal. As an excuse for the purchases, ''preparations for a future expedition'' should work out. The important part is to not let outside observers suspect anything."

    Before he could be showered with criticism for his, so far, lackl.u.s.ter plan, Isaac finally got to the point.

    "Now comes the important part. I will wipe out the Daedalus Street base of the Black Blade by myself. I''ll do it in a manner which will clearly show that I''m not too aware of what I''m dealing with, and that I only retraced the assailants'' steps by sheer luck or coincidence. It could also lead the enemy to believe that one of their people slipped up and mentioned their goddess when assured of their victory. That way, they will think that aside from the Black Blade and the existence of the White Blade, I don''t know about anything else. Also, they won''t scrutinize the familia too closely, as I will act solo. My actions will only attract enmity to myself, while making it seem like I don''t fully trust the familia - after all, why else would I refuse to ask for your help? Instead of thinking that I''m foolish, our enemy is bound to assume that I''m too risk-averse to rely on others for important matters. This will make it seem like I''m quite easy to trap as well."

    A bit perplexed, Riveria couldn''t help but ask for clarification on a matter. Wasn''t his plan almost pointless?

    "But aside from setting yourself up as even more of a target, what use does all of this have? Even if you do nothing, you will continue to be the one that they are after."

    With a mischievous smile on her lips, Loki joined the discussion for the first time since it had begun. She preferred for her children to figure out things by themselves, and only if they were stuck or asked her direct questions would she usually intervene¡­ or, well, for her own amus.e.m.e.nt. As a veteran schemer, she had long since realized the crucial point of what Isaac had proposed.

    "You''re wrong, Riveria. His real goal is Petbe. If we can get our hands on her, we can attempt to extract information from her. Don''t you worry, we gods have our own methods to deal with our kin~ I can''t promise that they will work, but they''re worth a shot. Aside from that, the mansion in Daedalus Street is bound to contain at least a little bit of important information."

    Smirking to himself, not the least bit surprised at having been figured out, Isaac took a sip from his glass of water and nodded.

    "Loki is right. I''m certain that we can learn a lot more about who we are up against by doing this. Actually, my plan isn''t too different from Bete''s. It will still result in the enemy becoming aware that they were exposed to a certain extent. To be honest, ever since the Black Blade''s unsuccessful attempt on my students'' lives, they are bound to have grown at least a little alert, although they most likely will look at the other Blades for the culprit first. The only reason as to why I think my plan will work out better than Bete''s is because I''m sure Petbe would take her life to return to Heaven should all of you attack her familia at once. When it''s just me alone, she will most likely underestimate me a bit. At the very least, she should be confident in escaping. I''m completely certain that I can restrain her and keep her alive. Then, once we know who we''re up against, we can prepare. Dragging the confrontation out for too long, at least for myself, has never been an option. Now that I and my people were targeted, there is only one possible fate for them: Extinction."

    Bete couldn''t help but sneer at this arrogant finish.

    "Tough words, huh? But can you live up to them?"

    All of a sudden, a cold shiver ran down his spine. Isaac was looking at him with a saintly smile that seemed to radiate all of the benevolence in the world. It was legitimately terrifying. It didn''t matter how strong he was, the reaction was instinctual.

    "You''ll find out soon enough."

    The Werewolf wasn''t the only one who had his doubts about Isaac''s claim, but the rest kept quiet about it. Calling him out for his bragging would only lead to conflict, which they weren''t all too eager to have.

    In an effort to defuse the situation and to bring this meeting to an overdue end, Finn stood up and addressed the entire group. He and Isaac had actually already discussed the plan that the latter had just proposed beforehand, and they had decided to share it with the others only as a matter of formality. Both of them had worked out the few initial kinks in it and optimized it during the half an hour or so that they had had to wait for everyone else to arrive. Some of the details weren''t even mentioned, and only the two men were aware of them.

    "I can''t come up with a feasible plan that is better than this. We might not like it, but the fact is that there is an antagonistic organization out there, with unknown plans currently in motion. No matter what we do, we will draw their ire at some point. If we follow this plan, we will both earn more intelligence and will manage to drag out the eventual conflict a little, by making the enemy focus on Isaac alone for a time. Our peace will have a deadline, and we should all do our best to grow stronger in the meantime. Ais, can you bring us Executives to the 58th floor for a few hours every day? We need to acc.u.mulate as much excelia as we possibly can."

    As she had far, far more AP than she could even imagine ever spending, Ais nodded her head. It would only take her mere moments to teleport everyone down there, so it wasn''t a big deal. Confusion was plastered all over Bete''s face, but nobody bothered to explain anything to him. He wasn''t exactly known for his brains, so as long as he could contribute his brawns to the cause, it would be good enough.

    "Isaac, how long do you think it will take for you to join us down there? I need to know for how long Ais and Tiona will be unavailable."

    Hearing the Captain''s question, Isaac shrugged helplessly.

    "I told you all that I don''t need bodyguards in the first place, but nobody wanted to believe me. But fine. If I take into account my current pace, the time that I will need to deal with the Black Blade and some other matters¡­ four days in total. I should be very close to or already at Level 5 by then."

    CLATTER.

    "W-What!? Impossible!"

    This preposterous declaration caused Bete to fall off his chair, completely flabbergasted. He refused to believe the words that he had just listened to.

    "It''s not, I''m about to enter the 43rd floor tomorrow. If I were to focus solely on the dungeon, it wouldn''t even take this long. But alas, there are always more important things to deal with."

    Isaac''s follow-up just served to make Bete sweat bullets. He suddenly had a weird feeling in his heart, one that he had briefly felt before. That one year challenge¡­ wasn''t he really just digging his own grave? There were still about eleven months left, just how strong would this monster have become by then!?

    A heavy gulp later, he got up on his feet again and eyed Isaac cautiously, a hint of pleading in his gaze.

    "About that one year thing¡­ how about we change it to two months and have our spar then? You should be confident in being able to win by then, right?"

    Even though Bete did his best to suppress the fear within his voice, everyone else still clearly picked up on the slight trembling. Back when he had challenged Isaac, he hadn''t directly stated that they would fight each other, but both of them had understood exactly what had been written between the lines.

    Isaac shook his head exaggeratedly and a ''pained'' sigh escaped his lips.

    "No can do. I would be ashamed of myself if I were to do something as dishonest as to go back on my word."

    ''Who are you kidding, you just want to give me a more painful beating!!''

    Bete almost popped a vein at hearing this blatant lie. He felt a bit tempted to slap some sense into Isaac right then and there, but he didn''t dare to. If he killed him, he could avoid humiliation - but he wouldn''t live much longer, as Ais would undoubtedly slay him in her rage. Even that idiotic Amazoness would join her. And if he lashed out at Isaac in a non-lethal manner, then he would have to prepare for an even worse fate in the future. Maybe it would be smarter to not cause any more friction and to suck up to him¡­

    Right when he caught himself thinking along these lines, Bete got really angry at himself. Wouldn''t such behaviour mean that he would act just like a cowardly weakling!? So what if he had to suffer more in the future? He would welcome this fate with open arms. He wouldn''t back down in fear, and give his absolute best to shrink that inevitable gap!

    Noticing the confident and resolute glint that appeared in the Werewolf''s eyes, Isaac silently nodded to himself with a playful smirk.

    ''It''s good to see that he''s motivated. If he becomes stronger, then he can deal with some of the small fry in Ais'' and my stead.''

    -----

    In an underground room fashioned to look like a temple, a heartthrob-inducing middle-aged man was sitting on a throne made out of monster bones. While the corpses in the dungeon disappeared, all of the monsters that wandered the outside world left behind their bodies after their demise - it wasn''t especially difficult to gather their bones. These ones, however, weren''t just any bones. The entire throne was fashioned out of massive, especially resilient bones that had to have belonged to a beast many times larger than the members of the sentient races.

    The man''s cloudy, grey eyes glimmered in annoyance and his black eyebrows were furrowed. His hair and beard were masterfully trimmed and relatively short, so as to not get in the way. He wore embroidered monster fur armour and various jewelry. It seemed like he wanted to hit the sweet spot in between a warrior and an affluent noble - and with the bit of Divine Aura that he was exuding introduced to the mix, he succeeded splendidly.

    "So you''re telling me to cower in front of a moderately strong brat, Ivan?"

    Shivering panickedly, the same white robed young man whose life Isaac had spared to send a message shook his head. His god was known to not have the best temper, so he truly didn''t want to be doing this. But¡­ what other choice did he have? That man, he had been even more terrifying! He didn''t want to face him as an enemy, no matter what!

    "Lord Vidar, don''t shoot the messenger! If I hadn''t agreed to these terms, then I wouldn''t have had a chance to make it out alive, and to let you know how dangerous this Mr. Blackshaw is! We need to carefully consider how to handle him before making any rash moves."

    The frown on Vidar''s face only deepened. The words of this Executive of his were simply a disappointment. Had he failed in raising him? With a sigh, the god glanced at his Captain, Esja. Although only the area around her eyes wasn''t covered by the white uniform, her unconcealable curves would make any observer certain that she was a stunner underneath those robes. When contrasted by the emotionless eyes and the constant cold killing intent, though, most people would be smart enough to keep their eyes to themselves.

    "Ivan will be on house arrest for a month, to clear his head. In the meantime, try to find an opportunity to get rid of those kids. Make doubly sure that the Blackshaw brat isn''t around, as he could pose a bit of a danger, even to you."

    Wordlessly, Esja bowed slightly and turned around. A moment later, she was already at Ivan''s side, grabbed his collar and proceeded to drag him outside of the room.

    In a last-ditch effort to avoid disaster, Ivan held onto one of the floor tiles and gazed up at his god in genuine terror.

    "You are underestimating him too much! Even the Captain won''t stand a chance. If you mess with him, we''ll all be doomed!"

    Really disgusted by this unsightly behaviour, Vidar''s expression darkened further.

    "It seems like he has formed a shadow in your heart. I didn''t expect for your mind to be so fragile, my child. You are truly a disappointment. Do you have no confidence in me? Even if he were to be a Level 5 already - which is impossible - Esja could still kill him. I have already overestimated him as much as I could, even warning her to be careful although I''m personally convinced that he won''t be a threat. You, on the other hand, are simply being irrational. A man intimidates you a bit and you turn into a coward? Out of my sight, fool! Esja, he''ll have three months of house arrest. From today on, Ivan, you will be stripped of your title as Executive. In the future, until you redeem yourself, you''ll only be doing menial tasks!"

    Following a wave of Vidar''s hand, Esja dragged Ivan''s body even more forcefully, causing him to lose his grip. In less than a minute, he found himself in a pitch-black room without any furniture.

    The ground, walls and ceiling were made from smooth and cold stone. His Captain hadn''t even said a single word this entire time and thrown him in here like a sack of garbage. What hurt even more than the bruises was the feeling of helplessness. Hiding his eyes behind his hands, a silent sob escaped the young man''s lips while tears slowly dripped down his cheeks.

    ''I know that I sounded like a nutjob, but my gut is telling me to avoid that man at all costs! I had hoped that Lord Vidar would at least take some time to rethink the Blade''s course of action, giving me more opportunities to convince him¡­ What am I supposed to do now? I don''t want to die!''

    -----

    Just a few hundred meters from the Petbe Familia''s mansion, a relatively tall young man strolled through Daedalus Street. To any observer, it was obvious that he had a clear goal in mind, as he didn''t even hesitate whenever he needed to choose between different alleyways to proceed forward. He was fully clad in expensive, high-Level adventurer attire and wore a gentle smile on his face. His blue-green eyes, however, blazed with anger. A black leather sheath hung from his belt, while one of his hands was positioned next to the therein contained sword''s grip, ready to pull it out at a moment''s notice.

    On one of the surrounding rooftops, a person fully clad in a black robe, his face mostly hidden behind a veil, almost doubled over in shock when he noticed this ''passerby''.

    ''Isaac Blackshaw? Why is he here!? I need to inform Lady Petbe as quickly as possible!''

    Once Isaac realized that the observer disappeared from his spot and ran in the direction of his target, his expression didn''t change. Inwardly, however, he was quite pleased with himself, as everything went according to plan so far.

    Without turning his head, he used his Eyes of Hermes to look at a certain spot on a different rooftop, where a figure clad in a green cloak was located - and clearly a bit shaken.

    ''Even though I said that I''d be doing this alone, it would be a real shame if I didn''t invite an audience to the show.''

 Chapter 95 - Violent Godnapping

    When a huge number of her children had died in rapid succession, Petbe had immediately noticed. This wasn''t a special ability that was exclusive to her, though. Rather, all gods could sense the demise of someone that they gave their Falna to. When that person''s soul left their body, the Ichor that made up their Falna would soon follow suit. The energy contained within it would be returned to the world, whose laws would resonate, in turn informing the deity of their blessed one''s death. Regular gods weren''t too aware of the actual reasons behind this phenomenon or how it worked, it was only ''a gut feeling'' to them.

    Even when the first of her children had been slain, Petbe had already realized that something had to have gone horribly wrong. After a while, when the majority of the group that she had sent had been wiped out, the only thing that still gave her solace and hope was that Asim, along with some of his most trusted subordinates, was still alive. Whatever had happened, he had to have either gotten away or gotten captured. Especially the latter was a development that she wasn''t keen to see, but it was still a lot better than his death. Should she manage to free him, then she wouldn''t have to spend so much time and effort on raising another capable Executive like him.

    Petbe was anything but an indecisive wallflower. Swiftly, she had ordered her men to both increase the defensive net around their mansion, as well as to search for whoever had messed up an operation that, for all intents and purposes, seemed to already have been in the bag.

    ''It''s that bastard Vidar, isn''t it!? He''s been trying to hog my spotlight for so long!''

    The Red Blade''s local branch leader hadn''t even entered her thoughts, as they were usually quite reclusive and even relatively ''docile''. Only Vidar liked to make trouble at every opportunity. Since their children weren''t even that far apart in overall strength, he had been getting more and more uncontrollable recently.

    Even though most of the Petbe Familia''s manpower, led by the Vice-Captain, stayed back in Knossos to protect their main base of operations, two of the Executives and the Captain were sent to keep a close eye on the Vidar Familia''s home, to look out for any unusual movements, and - if at all possible - to free Asim and his men.

    Five more Executives, all at Level 4, went to the familia''s mansion in Daedalus Street, to protect their goddess, just in case. Knossos was a fine hideout, but for a woman who liked luxury and splendour - and most of all, sunlight - it was a horrible place to be holed up in.

    Hours after all of her troops had been rearranged, a shocking piece of news entered Petbe''s ears.

    "Lady Petbe, one of our members stationed at the outermost surveillance area has just reported that he has sighted our prime target, Isaac Blackshaw. He seems to be making his way directly towards this mansion."

    Taken aback, the goddess'' eyes widened. A moment later, she thought of a terrifying possibility and hastily addressed the messenger.

    "What about the Loki Familia? Are they with him?"

    "No, he is alone. We already sent more people to make sure, and aside from a rat observing from the distance, keeping an eye on him without his knowledge, there is nobody else."

    A sigh of relief escaped Petbe''s lip. For a moment, she had even contemplated fleeing her comfortable little nest. Still, if it was only Isaac alone, that didn''t make too much sense. Had the Loki Familia been in the mix, then it would explain how her children could have failed so miserably, and how they could have been captured. But only Isaac? Unless they underestimated him¡­

    Her expression suddenly darkened. Should this man of unfathomable potential really have advanced to Level 4 already, then it would be possible for him to overwhelm the group that she had sent out. After all, only Asim was a Level 4, while the rest were quite a bit weaker.

    After thinking about it for a bit, a smug smile played across Petbe''s lips.

    ''In any case, by coming here, he is only making my job easier. I have been asked to take care of him and his students, so that is exactly what I''ll do.''

    "Re, go and get Manu from the Knossos base! As for the rest of you, stall our target for as long as you can. Once Manu gets here, he will die without a doubt!"

    Addressing one of the fastest of her present Executives, Petbe sent him to get her Vice-Captain. As a veteran Level 5, Manu shouldn''t have any problems dealing with the talented young man. Keeping the, at most, Level 4 Isaac occupied shouldn''t be too hard for the four Level 4 Executives remaining at her side. Even the weaker members could attack from a safe distance, to be of some minor assistance.

    Jabari, a more than two meter tall hunk of a man with a bastard sword strapped to his back, stepped forward right after Re had left and bowed to his goddess, a passionate fire burning in his eyes.

    "Do we have your permission to kill the Blackshaw kid before Manu arrives, Lady Petbe?"

    With a pleased smile at his eagerness, Petbe nodded. She wasn''t entirely confident in these four Executives, but she was certain that they could at least wound their target. Jabari was the one amongst them who was the closest to advancing to Level 5, so it was reasonable for him to be assured of his victory.

    "It will take Manu about ten minutes to get here, so try your best!"

    After encouraging her children, Petbe sent them away, only keeping one of her handmaidens by her side. Certain of her imminent victory, she allowed herself to relax on her comfortable throne and closed her eyes, intending to meditate a little until everything was resolved. She knew that a few of her children were bound to die soon, most likely sacrificed to buy time, and she didn''t want to be mentally present to feel their passing - it was unpleasant, to say the least. Also, with a battle about to break out at her doorstep, it was bound to get a bit loud.

    -----

    At almost the same time, Isaac had already approached within fifty meters of the mansion. By now, no matter how labyrinthine this area''s layout was, he could clearly see the building and its surrounding garden. In only a few steps, he would be able to reach the encompassing fence''s only entrance.

    All of a sudden, more than fifty people shot out of the manor''s doors and windows, charging straight at him. From the surrounding rooftops, an equal number emerged as well. They kept a distance of a few meters between their group and Isaac, forcing him to stop in his tracks.

    Seemingly surprised by the sudden crowd and a little panicked, he raised an eyebrow.

    "So many!?"

    The hint of fear in his voice made quite a few of the black robed assailants grin smugly underneath their veils, while the towering man at the back, the one seemingly in command, laughed derisively.

    "You shouldn''t have come here, kid! But now that you''re already here, how about you stay forever?"

    As if he had just heard something unexpected, Isaac''s expression turned from one of slight fear into a troubled one. He shook his head and raised his hands in apology, clearly adopting a diplomatic approach.

    "I''m terribly sorry, but I''m really not into men!"

    The out-of-place words evoked chuckles from quite a few of the surrounding members of the Black Blade and served to incense their leader.

    "Enough talking! All of you, kill him!!"

    Jabari had originally intended to frighten his prey with numbers and to use the others to test Isaac''s strength, before jumping in himself and finishing the intruder off. This plan hadn''t changed now, but the implications behind Isaac''s words had certainly not been welcome!

    More than ten of the enemies began to chant, intending to attack Isaac with their magics safely from within the crowd. They were scattered amongst their comrades, bunched up in a few spots. Meanwhile, a group of more than ten surrounded him closely from all sides, intending to cut off all conceivable paths of escape before attacking him.

    While outwardly, Isaac seemed to be in a bit of a pinch, that was all just a facade.

    ''Four Level 4''s, 82 Level 3''s and 13 Level 2''s. For now, twelve have exposed themselves as mages. It''s about what I expected.''

    He had been keeping his Eyes of Hermes activated this entire time, so he was able to sense the flow and location of the mana of the Magics being casted, enabling him to more easily dodge or even interrupt them should the need arise. The latter would be more difficult and unnecessary, so he judged the former to be more than sufficient.

    Keeping up a misleading, slightly overwhelmed front, he yet again entered a mental world of supreme focus, just like every time that he battled. His surrounding enemies were read like open books, and a nigh endless amount of potential paths to victory were calculated by him.

    With a speed that was faster than his opponents had expected, Isaac disappeared from the spot that they had surrounded and unsheathed his sword, beheading four of them in a single motion. Only the fifth enemy that the strike had headed towards managed to block it - it was one of the Executives. He quickly realized that they couldn''t take this battle as easy as they had hoped initially, as the sheer impact of Isaac''s blow had forced him close to ten meters backwards.

    "Jabari, help! He''s too strong!"

    Hearing his friend and rival''s plea, the mountain of a man''s expression darkened. He had already realized that Isaac''s speed was only slightly slower than his own, so that meant that it would most likely be impossible for this group to kill him.

    With a mighty swing of his bastard sword, Jabari forced Isaac to dodge backwards, before trying to motivate his allies.

    "Don''t fret, Manu will be here in another eight minutes! We just need to hold on until then."

    Little did he know that his words had just significantly expedited his demise. With a calculative glint in his eyes, Isaac completely overhauled his plans on the spot. Before anyone could react, he kicked the four decapitated bodies towards the enemies. He had waited just long enough for the bombs next to their hearts to be on the verge of exploding. As he hadn''t moved towards them or outside of the bombs'' blast radii, nobody had attempted to get too close to him. It was clear that they had intended for him to take these post-death ''surprises'' head on.

    "Oh crap¡­"

    Seeing their allies'' bodies fly their way, the mages interrupted their chants in an effort to regain their mobility, but by then, it was already too late. Four deafening simultaneous explosions ripped their bodies apart and the shockwave hurled a few enemies that had stood too close to them into the distance.

    The deaths of the mages and some of the others also activated their own implanted bombs, or what was left of them, causing a chain reaction. In a short few moments, many of the surrounding houses had been razed to the ground and a huge part of the garden had been turned into scorched earth. Thankfully, for her familia''s safety, Petbe hadn''t allowed anyone to settle too close to her residence, so the buildings all around were abandoned and only kept there for appearances. In essence, they were just a second ''fence'' around her property.

    A few of the black robed attackers had been knocked unconscious by the explosions, while some were badly wounded, but wide awake..

    Their group had been reduced by about a fifth in a single move.

    "This sneaky bastard¡­!"

    Clenching his jaw, his eyes bloodshot, Jabari shot towards Isaac again, surrounded by his fellow Executives. He now realized that letting their weaker members test out this opponent had been a major mistake. He had basically given the enemy free explosive ammunition to use at their own discretion!

    ''That guy''s really an idiot. Oh well, most madmen usually are. Only a few are the polar opposite.''

    Implanting bombs in one''s own troops would always be just as dangerous to oneself as it would be to one''s enemy. It was a stupid move that left Isaac with nearly endless openings to exploit. Only if an opponent didn''t know about the bombs or had no possible way to evade would they ever lead to a successful outcome.

    After checking that some of the distant Petbe Familia members were indeed still alive and had just fainted, Isaac dropped his pressured expression. His face instantly returned to his real, nonchalant state.

    With a simple swing of his sword, he pushed back three of the Executives and used the recoil from colliding with Jabari''s weapon to gain some distance. While stretching himself in a relaxed manner, he loudly muttered.

    "I only have a few minutes left, huh? Looks like I''m on the clock. Alright, playtime is over."

    Eliminating all of these enemies wouldn''t be a problem, even with his current stats. But due to their sheer number, he would cut it pretty close. After all, he still had a goddess to kidnap and riches to plunde--- ahem, to confiscate!

    Without further ado, he updated his Status for the first time since he had reached Level 3.

    [ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: None ]

    [ Race: God ]

    [ Divinity: None ]

    [ Arcanum: None ]

    [ Level: 3 ]

    [ Age: Unable to measure ]

    [ Charisma: 34 ]

    [ Divine Energy: 13546 -> 23271 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-0 -> SSS-1211 (11594 x 2.003) ]

    [ Endurance: I-0 -> SSS-1205 (11570 x 2.003) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-0 -> SSS-1222 (11638 x 2.003) ]

    [ Agility: I-0 -> SSS-1208 (11582 x 2.003) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 -> SSS-1217 (11618 x 2.003) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ Anemoi Steps ]

    [ Eyes of Hermes ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Divine Being ]

    [ Reverential Resonance ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Huntsman: F ]

    [ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment: G ]

    [ Hunter: I -> H ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Archer, Experienced Hunter, Mage, Spirit Healing, Swordsman ]

    From one moment to the next, his entire bearing changed. The all-too-familiar sensation of every single one of his stats nearly doubling filled him in his entirety, but he didn''t get lost in that feeling or observe the changes too closely for now. Contrary to the last time, he was well prepared to control the vast increase in Divine Energy, so not a single bit leaked out.

    Before any of his opponents had a chance to blink, he rushed past the Executives and into the midst of the small fry hiding further away. Like an unstoppable reaper, he anticipated all of their movements and beheaded them in rapid succession. Tens of bodies hit the floor almost simultaneously.

    But that was not all. By the time that Isaac had dealt with the last conscious regular Blade member, he had ''coincidentally'' ended up right next to the spot where he had slain the first one. Right before the body exploded, he touched it and stored it into his inventory.

    While the horrified enemy Level 4''s were looking on, all of their companions'' bodies, besides a few that had fainted, disappeared into thin air. A field of heads was left behind, painting a ghastly image.

    With an extremely benevolent smile, Isaac turned to face these last four enemies, causing them to take a few steps backward completely subconsciously.

    Although he was utterly terrified, Jabari gritted his teeth and remembered his goddess'' command - they had to keep this monster of a man here until reinforcements arrived! He had no idea what method Isaac had used to suddenly become as strong as an average Level 5 adventurer, but no matter how puzzled he was, it didn''t matter!

    "Everyone, follow my lead! We will injure and stall him, even if it''s the last thing we do!"

    The Executives'' knees had been buckling in extreme fear, but Jabari''s words caused them to recall their devotion to their mission, to their goddess. Even if they died, they would accomplish her will! Collectively, they activated the mechanisms next to their hearts, ready to go out with a literal bang. They were all well aware that even by doing this, they might not be able to slow him down. Still, they wouldn''t go down without a fight, without trying their very hardest!

    Nodding silently at the resolve now sparkling in his enemies'' eyes, Isaac decided to give them a swift death. Well, he didn''t really have to change his modus operandi at all.

    Only Jabari could vaguely follow his movements with his eyes, but by mixing in feints, Isaac approached the group without anyone being able to react. It took him only two swings of his sword to behead all of them, and less than a fraction of a second to store all of their bodies. Even though he respected their stalwart will, he wouldn''t let such magnificent disposable grenades go. After shaking off the blood from his blade, he sheathed it, checked yet again that a handful of enemies had survived and only been knocked unconscious, then he entered the Petbe Familia''s mansion through its front door.

    It was decorated lavishly and there were many rooms. Still, throughout the fight, he had already used his Eyes of Hermes to check for any interesting or notable places that could be storing information. Of course, he had also found Petbe''s exact location.

    With about five minutes left, he rushed to a few rooms and stored all doc.u.ments, books and somewhat special items that he could find. Oh, and a few expensive goods as well.

    A vase made out of pure gold? Confiscated. A large mirror whose frame was encrusted with jewels? Confiscated. All the bags of valis that he could find, some even stored in hidden compartments? Confiscated. Elegant dresses made out of the most beautiful and exorbitant materials of the Lower World? Confiscated. Petbe''s lingerie collection? Confiscated.

    What? They were sure to be worth a pretty penny. Heck, maybe even some of his female associates would be happy about getting a chance to receive or buy these rare gems of the bedroom. And in the worst case scenario, he could just let them rot in his inventory until one of his friends or subordinates needed a present for a loved one that was similarly endowed as the still-meditating goddess.

    Speaking of, why was she meditating? Oh well, Isaac couldn''t be bothered about that. She was sure to have her reasons, but he really didn''t care. By the time that he arrived right outside of her throne room, only three minutes were left. The only one by Petbe''s side was a single black robed woman, who seemed to be Level 3 as well.

    She shook her goddess awake and charged at him right as he entered, but she was dealt with in less than a fraction of a second. Disposable grenades plus one.

    Seeing her very target appear right in front of her the moment that she opened her eyes, Petbe almost doubled over in shock. For a while, she didn''t know how to react, and it was as if her mental faculties had been frozen.

    Only after Isaac touched her golden throne and mumbled an "Excuse me", thereafter making it disappear into thin air, did she snap out of her daze. Luckily, right in time to break her fall and not land on her scantily clad rear.

    "How are you here!? What happened to my children?"

    She couldn''t help but ask these questions, even though she already knew the answers to them. As expected, Isaac didn''t even dignify her with a response. Instead, he stuffed a gag into her mouth to keep her from biting her tongue and searched her body for anything that could be used as a weapon. He only found a single dagger, which he promptly stored in his inventory. Then, while ignoring her pitiful attempts at clawing at his arms to break free, he took out some rope and bound the goddess tightly. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn''t move at all by the time that he was done.

    Without further ado, he slung her over his shoulder.

    After a last search through the throne room and storing whatever valuables that he could find, he still had about one and a half minutes left to make his escape.

    "Alright, it''s time to go. It''s a shame about the property, but I want to set the scene properly."

    Chuckling at his coincidental rhyme, he sprinted out of the mansion. On his way, he left behind numerous of the close-to-exploding Petbe Familia members in various spots. Even outside of the building, he put them in specific places to both simulate a battlefield and erase some of the traces of his passing - the close to a hundred heads on the floor. He could have just added them to his inventory, but maybe, just maybe, that would have felt ''wrong'' to him. A more likely reason was that he still wanted to leave a few traces of tissue, blood and bones behind, for realism''s sake.

    He had calculated everything and made sure that aside from making it seem like an intense battle had been fought here, leading to the death of all of the suicide bombers, the unconscious ones would be just outside of the various blast radii.

    By the time he reached the rooftops about a hundred meters away, the mansion was finally swallowed by a chorus of magical explosions. Pleased with his own work, Isaac nodded to himself, then he signalled towards a green-cloaked figure just a short distance away. With the show over, he hurried off into the distance, followed closely by his invited audience.

    -----

    When Manu finally got close to the mansion''s location, he heard muffled explosions in the distance. Soon, he was greeted by a trail of smoke, rising from the now barely recognizable remains of the building. He faltered in his steps and stared in shock at this place which he had considered to be a part of his home for the past tens of years. Very quickly, however, he managed to become clearheaded again.

    "Quick, we have to check if Lady Petbe is okay!"

    Manu was a man in his late thirties. Most of his frame was hidden underneath his robe, but it was clear to see that he wasn''t especially tall. He had a bow slung over his shoulder, a quiver fastened to his back and two khopeshes sheathed at his hip. His looks underneath his uniform were extremely ordinary. Aside from his olive skin, he could easily pass as a random farmer. Sure, he was a little muscular, but most of the regular folk were. Only the higher ranks of society and some adventurers had the luxury of not having a low body fat percentage.

    As he was too fast for Re to keep up with, Manu arrived at the smouldering ruins of the mansion first. When Re finally caught up, his Vice-Captain was exuding the strongest killing intent that he had ever experienced, causing him to freeze up in fright and stay silent. Only close to a minute later did the silence finally end, when Manu managed to calm down enough to speak. His voice was still trembling a little, though.

    "Lady Petbe isn''t here. She hasn''t been killed, because our Falna is still intact, but she has been taken. Let''s ask the survivors about what happened."

    The two quickly determined which one of their incapacitated companions was in the best shape, and used a bucket of water to startle her awake. After listening to the fearful and confused woman''s retelling of the events, they found out that there had only been one assailant, just as reported - Isaac. She had been knocked out early on, by an explosion, and the fighting had apparently lasted until just before Re managed to return with Manu.

    At first, Manu had expected that maybe the Loki Familia had ambushed them, but that didn''t seem to be the case. The combat power that his fellow Blade member had described Isaac to have would indeed be sufficient to eke out a close victory in about ten minutes, give or take. Or at least that was what Manu''s mental simulations told him.

    This realization just caused his expression to become progressively worse.

    "What should we do now, Vice-Captain?"

    Re''s words forced Manu to calm his nerves. Finally, he released a conflicted sigh.

    "We can''t chase him, as we don''t know where he went. We also can''t attack the Loki Familia, as they would wipe us out in a heartbeat. I honestly don''t know what to do. Let me find Mosi, explain the situation to him and let him decide. You stay back and tend to the wounded."

    In the end, the only thing Manu could come up with was to transfer this burden to his Captain.

 Chapter 96 - Like Taking Candy From A Baby

    Why hadn''t Isaac simply put Petbe into his inventory or teleported away with her in tow? It would have surely made his getaway far easier and faster.

    Well, there were many, many reasons for his decision.

    First of all, he wanted to emulate an actual, legitimate kidnapping. After Petbe got sent back up to Heaven, she would be able to communicate with her allies again, which would enable her to share everything that she had seen or heard. Had she been put into the inventory or witnessed Isaac teleporting, that would have surely alarmed both her and her allies, causing them to move more swiftly when dealing with him.

    He wasn''t worried about himself, as no matter what they did, even if they destroyed his body, he would still end up fine. But his allies would end up in a lot of danger. There was a solution for this problem, but he didn''t want to employ it, as it required him to either go against his principles or to waste a lot of AP - both not outcomes which he would like to see.

    Had he decided to completely erase Petbe, instead of sending her back to Heaven the usual way, then the laws of this world would definitely show a clear sign of her permanent demise, once they became aware of it. This would, in turn, alert the goddess'' allies yet again. Of course, everything could be dealt with by spending AP, but why do so when a far simpler method was readily available?

    Isaac didn''t bring his prisoner to the Loki Familia''s grounds either, as he wanted to make a point of not involving them, to fool the captured Petbe. The method that he was going to use to get to the bottom of all of this was actually far more simple than perhaps expected. He already had enough information to deduce quite a lot of things.

    He ultimately stopped in an unassuming inn room that he had rented beforehand. Next to him, the green-cloaked Ryuu was speechless, because nobody had even glanced at them while they were carrying a bound and gagged woman with them into the establishment.

    "Why didn''t anybody ask about her?"

    Seeing no reason to keep this doubt to herself, as soon as they were alone with the prisoner, she voiced her question.

    After placing the goddess down on the ground, making sure that she was facing away from them and could only hear their voices, Isaac turned to Ryuu and responded to her inquiry.

    "I have a certain Skill which allows me to camouflage myself and others in my immediate vicinity. Remember how I got away from you on the 18th floor? That''s how."

    Realization flashed past Ryuu''s eyes and she nodded to herself. She had suspected as much, but now that she got the confirmation, a lot of things suddenly finally made complete sense.

    A small smirk played across Isaac''s lips. By feeding his enemies this information via Petbe, they would explain all of the instances where he and his allies suddenly showed up at different spots than where they were supposed to be with this Skill that he had just made up. As long as they wouldn''t be able to ascertain that he and his allies had suddenly disappeared and reappeared at a different spot with almost no time having passed in between the two appearances, then the enemies shouldn''t find out about his ability to teleport. At least not immediately. Using his ability to blur his existence to make up such a convenient excuse was well worth it.

    Sharing information with the enemy did give them a glimpse of one of his abilities, yes. But it also would make them vastly underestimate the threat that he posed. He would stay a talented mortal adventurer in their eyes, which was exactly what he wanted them to think.

    Now that this most recent confusing event had been explained, Ryuu had time to think back on what she had witnessed. There was just something about what Isaac had done¡­ that she couldn''t agree with on a fundamental level. She didn''t like the way that he had handled the situation, and she made sure to let him know about it.

    "Was it really necessary to kill so many of them? Couldn''t you have spared them and gone straight for the goddess?"

    Noticing the accusatory glare that the Elf shot him, Isaac shook his head in resignation, before sighing deeply and then looking straight into Ryuu''s eyes, with a stern but unwavering expression.

    "Why should I have done that? So that they could have a chance to think about their mistakes and become ''good people'', ones that don''t stand in my way? Ones that aren''t a danger to those that I care about? I''ll admit, it''s possible that some of them could have followed this path. But at what cost? Only a small percentage of them would have changed, and I would have let far too many enemies go, which would only lead to more suffering and annoyances in the future."

    Although it was obvious that Ryuu wanted to interject, Isaac didn''t give her any chance, and continued with his speech. He clearly was a bit annoyed and wanted to get this point of contention out of the way, once and for all.

    "Aside from that, they all have a bomb implanted in them, as I''m sure you know. Almost all people in such a situation are either fanatics or unfortunate victims. But even should they turn out to be the latter, isn''t it likely that these bombs can be remotely activated as well? So to give the very small amount that both want to stay out of my way in the future and that also aren''t fanatics a chance, I would only have had two options. First of all, I could have removed their bombs. Let''s not even discuss the feasibility of this. As for the alternative, it would have been to eliminate every single person who can activate these bombs remotely. Needless to say, as I don''t know who or where they are, it''s impossible, for now."

    While mentioning getting rid of the bombs, Isaac strongly gestured, pointed at the prisoner and winked at Ryuu, making it painfully obvious that he wasn''t stating the full truth in their current situation, because of who was listening in.

    The Elf wasn''t an idiot, and even though she disdained lying herself, she wouldn''t go out of her way to expose the lies of others, especially not in this situation. With a small nod, she muttered to herself.

    "I see¡­"

    Moments later, she couldn''t help but add a few more words.

    "But¡­ seeing you kill them just didn''t feel... right."

    She was well aware of how hypocritical her words were, especially because she had lost herself in her revenge-fuelled rage after her familia''s tragedy herself. Many members of Evilus had fallen to her blade, she had ruthlessly ended their lives. In truth, she had felt like she didn''t even deserve to live or be happy ever again for a long time, until she had found her place in the world at the Hostess of Fertility, with her friends. Still, there was a bit of left-over sorrow and bitterness remaining in her heart, which would most likely never fully go away. Although she was criticizing Isaac''s actions, the one that she was really condemning was herself.

    Frowning slightly, Isaac shook his head. He had a vague guess about what was going on in her psyche right now, but there were some things that he wouldn''t easily compromise on.

    "It sounds like in your eyes, the act of killing someone is ''wrong''. In mine, however, ending a life is anything but. Sure, going out of one''s way to murder an innocent is tasteless indeed, but slaying one''s enemies? There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Imprisoning them would waste resources and food that could be spent on and fed to other people. It would also waste space. Meanwhile, killing them only requires one to get rid of the bodies afterwards, to forever be rid of their danger and threat - to protect one''s loved ones and one''s life. Look, I''m not going to say that your view on the value of life is wrong, but neither will I say that it''s correct. We simply don''t agree with each other, and that''s fine. I can live with that. But can you?"

    A long moment of silence followed, during which Ryuu was deep in thought. Finally, she sighed and nodded.

    "I can as well. I won''t mention it again."

    She wasn''t a rookie anymore, she knew how the world worked. Her rose-tinted glasses had shattered many years ago. While she wouldn''t stop chasing after the elusive ''justice'' that she yearned for, she wouldn''t chide others that didn''t follow her same exact path. Not everyone was the same, not everyone had identical goals in life. Not everyone defined ''justice'' in the same way that she did. From Isaac''s words, she could clearly sense that he thought himself to be ''right'', that his actions were ''just''. And she couldn''t bring any real arguments against this to the table. What he had said made sense, but a part deep inside of her just couldn''t agree with it.

    Shaking her head to get rid of these distracting thoughts, Ryuu suddenly recalled something else that she had been meaning to ask.

    "Why didn''t you bring her to the Loki Familia? It should be much easier to interrogate her there."

    The sudden smile that spread on Isaac''s lips took her by surprise. Unbeknownst to her, she had asked about something that he really wanted to explain while in Petbe''s presence. Before he started talking, however, he made it very obvious that he wasn''t going to tell the truth, as he pointed at their well-packaged guest on the floor multiple times, quite exaggeratedly even.

    "If you want something done right, you''ve got to do it yourself. I didn''t want to involve them in this, as I''m confident that I can handle it more cleanly myself. The only reason that I brought you along is that I knew about your grievances with Evilus and thought that you deserved to know more about what''s really going on behind the scenes."

    The latter half of this wasn''t a lie, or, well, not entirely. He hadn''t known that Ryuu had a history with Evilus for sure, as he had heard the name of the group for the first time today. But as Finn''s words let him know the time-frame of when Evilus had been the most active, combined with the fact that he knew that Ryuu hadn''t been working as an adventurer for quite a few years now, he only had to connect the dots. It was a bit of a gamble, but a justice-seeking Elf fighting against an antagonistic force calling itself ''Evilus'' seemed far too much of a clich¨¦ to be a coincidence. At least in the DanMachi novels, it would surely have happened this way, and although this world was only considerably similar to them, this detail was very likely to be the same.

    A conflicted look appeared on Ryuu''s face at the mention of her old foes.

    "Is everything that you said before, about Evilus being just a bunch of minions of this woman''s ''Black Blade'', really true?"

    Isaac nodded. Then, before he was about to give a reply, he again signalled to Ryuu that she should take his next words with a grain of salt.

    "Yes. One of her lackeys - unluckily for him - survived the blast of the bomb implanted in him. A bit of Mermaid Blood and some torture later, he was all too happy to spill the beans. But enough of that. It''s time to talk to our esteemed guest."

    Turning the bound goddess around, Isaac removed the gag in her mouth, and she immediately began to scream at the top of her lungs.

    "HEEEEEEELP!! SOMEBODY, SAVE MEEEE!!!!"

    He didn''t even attempt to stop her and only chuckled to himself. When she had shouted herself hoarse and wondered about why nothing had happened, Isaac finally explained her situation.

    "Remember that Skill that I mentioned before? You''re in its effective range. Nothing you do or say can be perceived by anyone outside of it."

    Despair appeared in his prisoner''s eyes for the first time, before quickly being replaced by a powerful conviction. Between clenched teeth, she spat out a few words of spite.

    "You''ll never make me talk. Torture me all you want, do whatever you like, I won''t tell you anything! There is no pain that I haven''t felt in my countless years!!"

    Contrary to what she had expected, Isaac didn''t get angry at her, neither did he attempt to find out whether or not she could live up to her words. Instead, he was looking at her as if she was a pathetic idiot, a brat who didn''t even realize the trouble that they were in. It both left her indignant and a little bit afraid.

    "Don''t you worry, I never planned to torture you. I would be very surprised if I got a deity to talk about something against their will. Instead, I just want you to listen to a few things that I have to say. Also, sorry about this, but I don''t want to be interrupted."

    She had only been freed from the gag for less than a few minutes, but now it had already been stuffed back into her mouth. Partially, this was to avoid her biting her own tongue, but currently more importantly, it was so she couldn''t distract herself from his voice by speaking. This way, she was literally forced to listen. She wasn''t in the best state of mind right now, so she couldn''t even hope to escape this fate by meditating.

    With his experience in reading people''s expressions and bodies, even the slightest movements or reactions wouldn''t escape Isaac''s eyes - which was exactly what he was banking on right now. Of course, this method of interrogation was only useful now that he had enough information to make educated guesses and deductions. Contrary to what he had stated before, he was sure that he could successfully break the spirit of some of the gods, as they shouldn''t be too resistant to torture - but he simply had no need to do this.

    "I already know that you, Petbe, are the leader of the Black Blade, and that Vidar is the leader of the local branch of the White Blade. Now, what do both of you have in common? You''re related to vengeance - and I''m certain that it''s also your Divinity."

    Petbe''s eyes widened in shock when she heard this, but she quickly calmed herself down again and closed her eyes. She couldn''t cover her ears, as she couldn''t move most of her body, but she wanted to make certain that she wouldn''t give away any information involuntarily. By this point, she had fully realized what Isaac intended to do.

    Without caring for her pointless struggles, he continued to speak.

    "I also know for a fact that the one that the various Blades are subordinate to is a male."

    This time, Petbe only twitched almost imperceptibly, but he still noticed it.

    "I think it''s reasonable to assume that this person should also be related to vengeance in some way. Now, there are only that many different possibilities. Is it Maxim¨®n?"

    No reaction.

    "Is it Takhar?"

    No reaction, yet again.

    "Is it V¨¢li?"

    Petbe had done her best to resist, but some of her muscles had still slightly twitched subconsciously upon hearing this name. It was incredibly difficult to control one''s entire body when lying, and once one got observed closely enough, it was almost impossible to get away with it successfully, or to not react at all. When asked a question, if one knew the answer, it was natural to react. To suppress this urge to a point where one didn''t show any physical reactions was something that Petbe clearly wasn''t capable of. She had lived a long life, yes, but she had never needed to become proficient at this. She was a goddess, after all! Most of the time, nobody would dare to harm her.

    A slight smile played across Isaac''s lips.

    "Thank you, that''s all that I needed to know."

    If this world''s gods hadn''t been so similar to those myths from his old world, then Isaac would have had a much harder time in finding out the mastermind''s identity. Also, there were actually a lot of deities here that had no counterpart in his old world, so he had lucked out this time. But, oh well, it was only to the extent of winning a coin flip, nothing extraordinary.

    Ignoring the crazed look in the goddess'' eyes, Isaac turned to Ryuu who was staring at him as if he was a monster. Not in the way that she had done before, when he had slaughtered close to a hundred people. No, she was simply so shell-shocked by how easily he had extracted all of the information that he had aimed for. It felt surreal to her, like something that really shouldn''t have been possible.

    Seeing her in such a distracted state caused Isaac to tilt his head a little.

    "Everything okay?"

    His words snapped her out of her thoughts, and she hurriedly nodded. She still had a lot of questions, one of which was how he had become about as strong as her in such a short time. But she knew to save those for later, as now really wasn''t the right time. Also, they had already agreed on something before. In exchange for taking her along, she would have to do him a small favour.

    After assuring him that she was fine, he showed a small smile and finally got to the point. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="/book/wish-fulfillment-system_14168375705541905/like-taking-candy-from-a-baby_50753240479878630">/book/wish-fulfillment-system_14168375705541905/like-taking-candy-from-a-baby_50753240479878630</a> for visiting.

    "Alright then. Now, would you please fulfill your end of the bargain?"

    A short nod later, the cloaked Elf disappeared from the room, while Isaac sat down on the room''s bed and talked to Ais via the system. On the side, he added new drops of mana to his mental body''s mana flow. All that he could do for now was to wait, and he didn''t plan to let this time go to waste.

    -----

    In a dimly lit but comfortably warm room, a group of thirteen black robed figures sat around a round stone table that had a black blade engraved on its surface. There were many vacancies around them, and the mood was heavy. All of the Black Blade''s remaining Executives, the Vice-Captain and the Captain were present.

    "What do you make of our situation, Mosi?"

    The unassuming-looking Manu looked directly at the slender but tall man to his right. He had just told everyone in the room about exactly what he and Re had encountered and found out earlier.

    For a few seconds, Mosi was mulling things over, then he finally broke the gloomy silence.

    "Blackshaw seems to mistrust the Loki Familia, at least to a certain extent. He put himself in considerable risk by attacking Lady Petbe'' manor. I don''t think that we need to worry about the Loki Familia''s interference here, as a man like that would surely not bring a captured goddess to his familia''s home. That would raise far too many questions. I suspect that he''s laying low somewhere else, so if we can figure out his location, we''ll get a chance to rescue our goddess."

    Not all of the Executives thought the same, but they didn''t speak up now that their Captain had already made his deductions known. In fact, some of them even got convinced by his reasoning and set their own doubts aside, as Mosi had rarely been incorrect before.

    Suddenly, a loud knock could be heard from the heavy door sealing the room.

    "Come on in."

    Upon getting permission, a black robed woman hastily stumbled in, the joyful smile on her face reaching all the way to her eyes.

    "We just found a lead! Isaac Blackshaw has been sighted to the west of Daedalus Street, with a bound and gagged woman slung over his shoulder. Only a few people saw him, as he was in a hurry. But later on, someone else saw him enter the ''Boar''s Foot'', a tavern situated between Daedalus Street and the adventurer graveyard. He was still carrying around our goddess at that point!"

    This well-timed news caused the group of thirteen to rejoice, but soon, Mosi had to put a damper on their festive mood.

    "The Boar''s Foot is in one of the most deserted parts of the city. While it''s possible that he went there to hide, as the chances of him getting spotted are somewhat low, it could also be a trap for us. Especially taking into account how quickly this reached our ears¡­ it''s a bit suspicious. Maybe I''m just overreacting, though."

    Manu couldn''t help but frown, a worry of his resurfacing in his mind.

    "Do you think that he''ll have the Loki Familia with him?"

    With a slight smirk, Mosi shook his head.

    "I don''t think so. Didn''t the survivors say that some ''rat'' was observing Blackshaw from a distance? It is likely that he hired some disposable help, people that he can get rid of after the job is done. He doesn''t seem like a man who would trust others easily, so we can expect some mercenaries or bounty hunters to be on his side. With his power alone, he might not be confident in beating us all - and rightfully so. But with others supporting him, it is likely that he feels optimistic. Also, again, keep in mind that this is just a possibility. Most likely, there isn''t even any trap at all."

    Still a bit unsure, Manu hesitated.

    "But the Loki Familia could be there, right? I think it would be foolish for us to step into this trap."

    Yet again, Mosi shook his head.

    "Even if they were there, we wouldn''t have any other choice. If Loki were to be involved, it would only be a matter of time before Lady Petbe would be sent back to Heaven. And if she isn''t, then we still don''t know when Blackshaw would kill her. It is likely that he wants to gain information from her, which is impossible. So he might just kill her in a fit of rage. Need I remind you about what happens when a god returns to Heaven? We''ll be in deep trouble. So even if it''s a trap, we''ll have to spring it."

    Finally, Manu understood just how deeply his Captain had thought about all of this, and he was full of respect. Still, he couldn''t help himself from mentioning something.

    "Just in case, only us Executives and above should go. Everyone else would just be cannon fodder. We wouldn''t want Blackshaw to use our secret weapons against us again."

    With a slight smile on his lips, Mosi finally nodded.

    "I agree, well observed. Even the Executives should only follow from a safe distance. The main burden will be on you and me. Also, remember. The goal isn''t to kill Blackshaw, but to get Lady Petbe back. Only once that is achieved can we spare extra effort and focus on getting rid of him."

    After everyone had assured their Captain that they had understood, they spent another hour to put together a detailed plan. When they were finally convinced that they had accounted for all possibilities, they moved out of Knossos, on a mission to save their goddess.

 Chapter 97 - Calculated Madness

    Regular gods were faced with a particular dilemma once they descended to the Lower World - they were nearly powerless. The only thing extraordinary about the new bodies that they had been granted was their ability to produce Ichor, but except for that, they were wholly mortal vessels.

    While they could still make use of their Divinities, because they had almost no mana or Divine Energy to rely on, the influence that they could have on their surroundings was very minimal. Even most of their Arcanums couldn''t be manifested here in the Lower World, as the laws of it prohibited their entry. Only a few of them, which were mostly utility-based, were judged not to be too huge a danger by these laws, and therefore free to be used.

    Not every god necessarily had an Arcanum that fit these requirements, so a few ended up entirely helpless once they descended. That was all well and good, as their very goal in coming to the Lower World, in numerous cases, was to experience a life quite similar to a mortal one, less fettered by their Divinities. In the end, however, most still ended up getting preferential treatment from the inhabitants of the Lower World, so a truly mortal-like experience was seldom achieved.

    Right now, the usually high and mighty Petbe finally got a chance to taste it, and it was anything but pleasant. Due to her weakness, she had been figuratively trampled upon. She was unable to resist her captor and was treated with blatant and unconcealed disrespect. It was absolutely horrible!

    During the time when Petbe had been mentally cursing her current state, the Lower World, and - first and foremost - him, Isaac had been primarily focusing on working on his mana cultivation. In recent times, he hadn''t had even close to enough time to catch up to his total amount of available mana drops, so he was lagging far behind. Still, it only took him close to an hour to finally break past the 10,000 drops threshold.

    He had expected there to be some sort of bottleneck here, which would then raise the grade of his Foundation Establishment by one after he broke through it. But by the time that he got to this point, he breezed past it without encountering any kind of resistance. As he had been somewhat prepared for this to happen, he immediately figured out what had most likely occurred - due to the unusual way in which his Development Ability had ranked up last time, he had basically skipped this bottleneck. Only when it came time for the next one would he be confronted with that familiar pressure yet again. All in all, he had saved himself a bit of discomfort and a few minutes of time. It wasn''t impressive by any means, but still better than, well, absolutely nothing.

    This entire time, Isaac had been using his system to chat with Ais, to take a closer look at some areas of the map and to inspect the items newly added to his inventory. Thankfully, mana cultivation didn''t require almost all of his focus anymore, like it did in the beginning stages when the brain that he had had access to had been far inferior.

    ''Looks like I picked up something interesting.''

    A smirk played across his lips as he finally arrived at one of the latest items to have been added to his collection - a certain dagger that had been hidden underneath the captured goddess'' clothes. He had only given it a quick glance before, and after mentally classifying it as a potential danger to the prisoner''s life, he had put it away. This time, he gave it a much more thorough examination.

    Hilt included, it was around 25 centimeters long. The blade made up about seventy percent of the length. What stood out about it was that it didn''t have smooth edges, rather, it had toothed ones - like a saw, just a lot rougher and bigger. There were even barbs on the teeth, which made the dagger''s prime purpose obvious - to cause pain. It wouldn''t be incapable of taking a life, but it would make the act of killing a lot less efficient than what was usually striven for. Both the blade and the hilt were a dark grey in colour, almost approaching black, and it was unknown which material they or the pitch-black sheath they came with were made out of.

    However, the unusual appearance wasn''t the reason for Isaac''s interest. Rather, it was the Divine Energy that he could feel originating from it. It didn''t have any visible form, and only conveyed feelings - hatred, conviction and justice. While the weapon was stored in his inventory, none of this energy could move or interact with this world in any way, so it was perfectly safe to observe. It was unnecessary to take it out as well, because everything that he had stored could be observed via usage of any of his senses at any time of his choosing.

    There was one quite likely hypothesis for what this dagger could be - one of Petbe''s Arcanums. Although Isaac had so far only had limited contact with them, he was aware that some could take a physical form, like Hel''s shroud, for example. The reason as to why he thought it to be his prisoner''s was quite simple - which god would give away their Arcanum? He could barely even fathom such a thing happening, especially after taking most deities'' personalities into account. Before he could decide on what to do with this surprising gain, Isaac''s expression suddenly turned serious and he sat up straight.

    ''Seems like all the actors for the second show are assembled.''

    Far away, at the very edges of the area that his Eyes of Hermes covered, more than ten black robed figures had just passed by his dispersed mana. They were approaching from every direction very quickly, but still cautiously. It would have been impossible to perceive anything amiss had he not created that personal Magic of his.

    After making sure that Ryuu, who was observing the situation from afar, was currently being ignored by the approaching enemies, Isaac smiled to himself and jumped to his feet. The sound of his boots hitting the wooden planks caused Petbe to flinch, before shooting a confused but wary glance his way.

    "Now that everyone''s here, it''s time to send you on your way home."

    Without further explanations, he pulled her up from the ground, grabbed one of her bound arms and carried her outside of the building like a handbag, right into the middle of the street. His speed was fast enough to make her surroundings seemingly blur a little.

    One of the enemies was currently only about ten meters away, while the rest was situated around the inn that he had been staying at in what resembled a circle. All of them were shocked at his unanticipated emergence, as they hadn''t expected to be noticed. This brief moment of hesitation had already sealed their fate.

    ''Damn it, this is because we didn''t take out the rat hiding in the distance, isn''t it!?''

    Manu''s expression turned sour. Due to their goal being to rescue their goddess, they had decided to leave everyone else that they met on the way alone. Even though they had been quite sure that the green-cloaked Elf was an ally of Blackshaw, as long as she didn''t attempt to hold back their group, then her death could be postponed until after Lady Petbe had been retrieved.

    "Go!"

    While his Vice-Captain was a bit distracted, Mosi quickly managed to become clear-headed again and to bring Manu''s mind back to reality. Right after this word had left Mosi''s mouth, however, he frowned deeply. He didn''t really want to admit it, but it looked like his worst worries were coming to pass¡­

    ''This is wrong, this isn''t how it should play out. Don''t tell me¡­!''

    Even though he knew what was about to happen, he wasn''t fast enough to stop it. It was what he had been most afraid of, and also the one thing that none of them could guard against in the least. That was why they had planned to make it a surprise attack, as that was their only way of preventing this terrible development. In the event that the ambush failed, their only option was to hope for their enemy to be reluctant to cross this final line.

    As Mosi was accelerating in Isaac''s direction, the calmly smiling man had already pulled out his sword from its sheath and slashed it into Petbe''s chest, directly through her heart. From there, he continued forcing it upwards, through the rest of her ribcage, her bountiful assets, her throat, her skull and even her brain. No part of her body was able to offer up any resistance at all.

    Usually, Isaac would have preferred a clean and swift decapitation - but he was pressed for time right now. Even after beheading her, her heart would still beat for a few moments, during which she most likely wouldn''t yet be recognized as dead. The same could be said for the heart. If it was damaged beyond repair, then the brain would still be capable of working for a while, until the entire body gave out. The easiest way to his goal was to destroy both in quick succession.

    Because she was still gagged, Petbe couldn''t even scream out in pain, only forced panting and grunting noises could escape her mouth. The agony set in a split second after Isaac''s attack, but by then, everything was basically already over. Petbe''s screams were only momentary, as almost instantly, she lost the ability to feel any sort of pain. Or the rest of her body.

    ''This bastard!! He actually dared to kill me!''

    It happened almost simultaneously. A pillar of golden light, made up of pure Divine Energy, disintegrated Petbe''s body and shot straight into the sky, far further than anyone could follow with their eyes. Isaac had been pushed a couple of steps away, while it forced all of the close spectators to freeze in their tracks, immobilized by its might - by the sheer difference in the two beings'' hierarchy of life.

    Mosi and Manu were within ten meters of Isaac when this happened, while the one who had previously been closest to him, an Executive, had fallen back to support the two from a distance. Right after the golden energy pillar''s appearance, all the black robed attackers felt their various stats fading. Their Falna turned inactive. It happened far too fast to even be called gradual. From a moment to the next, it was like they had been crippled, even though they were still far superior to regular humans. But with more than 95 percent of their power inaccessible due to their unresponsive blessing, they were basically helpless.

    With a small smirk, Isaac kept an eye on the pillar using his Eyes of Hermes. At the same time, he suddenly disappeared from the spot and charged at the nearest enemies, the now powerless Manu and Mosi.

    They couldn''t even see the reaper''s scythe approaching. Only after their heads hit the floor did they, very briefly, realize what had happened¡­ before their minds faded into darkness. Less than a minute later, all of the Executives had been slain as well, and Isaac found himself right next to the spot where he had killed Petbe. All of the bodies had been stored away, so as to not allow them to explode. Although the bombs'' power would be reduced by a lot due to the opponents'' loss of stats, even a regular human that was implanted with them was still dangerous enough - at least for the environment.

    By now, the pillar of light had disappeared.

    ''It lasted for about twenty seconds and only at the very end did her Divine Soul move upwards, at a speed that I couldn''t follow at all¡­''

    Deep in thought, Isaac went over the most significant system notifications that had appeared.

    [ Achievement Progress: Kill 1000 Level 5 monsters. (1/1000) ]

    [ Achievement Progress: Kill 1000 Level 6 monsters. (1/1000) ]

    [ You have destroyed a divine lifeform''s mortal vessel.

    Hidden Path ''Revolutionary'' has been unlocked.

    Related achievements have been unlocked.

    1000 AP rewarded. ]

    [ Quest ''Destroy a divine lifeform''s mortal vessel one time.'' completed. 100 AP rewarded. ]

    -----

    The last time that she had borne witness to a god being returned to Heaven had been quite a few years ago, during one of Orario''s darkest eras. This most recent sight made Ryuu recall these memories, causing both anger and sadness to well up inside of her heart. With slightly trembling hands, she finally managed to turn off the recording device that she had been using.

    A memory crystal. It was one of the many products that could be made using high-quality magic stones, and it functioned in a similar way to a camera with the ability to replay. By injecting mana into it, it could show whichever scene had been recorded within. Of course, not everyone could produce these, and they were usually worth a pretty penny. Still, most factions in the city had quite a few of them at hand. Finn had given this one to Isaac before he had left, as it was necessary for his plan.

    ''Why did he want to record all of this?''

    No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn''t understand the reasoning behind his decision. For a mortal to kill a god was a crime, no matter how corrupt or ''evil'' the deity in question had been. Logically speaking, Isaac should have been doing everything in his power to cover his tracks, so he could potentially get away scot-free. Creating a recording which would undoubtedly spell trouble for him if it got leaked was simply madness. Even before this, he had already let her spread rumours about his kidnapping of Petbe - but they were only word of mouth, after all. Unless undeniable proof could be found, he could still deny any and all claims leveled against him.

    Before she could come to any other conclusion, the madman in question had already arrived next to her. With a slight nod at the crystal and a relaxed smile on his face, Isaac snapped the Elf out of her ruminations.

    "Thanks a lot for the help, I appreciate it. Can you hand this to Syr when you get back?"

    Not waiting for a response, he grabbed the recording device from her hand and stuffed a sealed envelope into it. A moment later, he had already turned around with a wave and disappeared from the spot, leaving the fl.u.s.tered Ryuu all alone.

    ''He just grabbed my hand, didn''t he!?''

    Although his action had been very far from actual physical intimacy, and she had been wearing gloves, this already almost crossed Ryuu''s bottom line, so it took her a while to calm down enough to finally be able to think clearly again.

    Once she did, a sigh escaped her lips.

    ''Oh well, I''d better get going. It''s no use blaming him for his transgression anyway¡­''

    A sharp glint flashed past her eyes for a bit when she looked back at the spot where the goddess had been slain. All around it, the heads of the Black Blade''s members were scattered across the floor, scaring off most of the very small number of people that had made it here by now.

    -----

    For the first time in many years, a deity had fallen in Orario. Due to the vast amount of people who had seen the pillar of light shooting into the sky, this matter couldn''t be concealed. This brought a lot of worry and insecurity to parts of the populace that still remembered the old days, when such a sight had been a little more common for a time.

    Some people were delighted to seemingly have a more chaotic era approaching, while some felt curious as to who had committed this crime. Some others even started to hatch their own plans to get rid of a few eyesores. Should this particular deity slayer get away with their exploit, then they might just follow in their footsteps.

    Of course, the force that was the most affected was the Guild. As the prime lawmaker and law keeper of the city, it had a reputation and duty to uphold. Now that such a monumental event had occurred, it had to do everything in its power to find out who did it, and to swiftly bring them to justice.

    Before even an hour had passed, lots of quests had been posted for the adventurers, to investigate what had happened. Rewards had been put up for any information that would lead to an arrest, and for handing over the criminal. By late evening, almost every citizen had already heard about this, as the Guild did their best to loudly announce their peacekeeping plan to the entire city. Even the name of the slain goddess, Petbe, was revealed, so as to make the search for clues easier. With Ouranos in the city, the identity of a departing deity could easily be ascertained.

    The area where the goddess had been killed, along with the area that contained her old mansion, was soon swarming with all manner of people. Profit-seekers, self-proclaimed warriors of justice, detectives that wanted to get to the bottom of this... even various gods and goddesses were abound. Most of the influential familias of the city sent some of their people as well. The Loki Familia had a group led by Gareth take part, to keep up appearances.

    "The lad''s truly mad. What do the young''uns call it these days? A ''madlad''?"

    The Dwarf murmured to himself as he surveyed Orario''s situation. It had been a long time since this hornet''s nest full of adventurers had well and truly been stirred up. Lots of veterans had flooded the streets and this usually deserted part of the city was nearly packed chock full.

    -----

    "Lord Ouranos, what do you want me to do?"

    With their disembodied voice, Fels addressed their god. They truly didn''t know how to proceed at this point. Originally, it had been planned for them to slowly approach Isaac, to contact him and to bring him into their fold. But now that the young man had committed a crime of such magnitude, they knew that they weren''t qualified to make a decision pertaining to the matter. The foremost protector of the city, Ouranos, had to decide Isaac''s fate.

    Both Fels and Ouranos had been observing what had happened to Petbe - most of this city was under their constant surveillance, after all. Even though there were multiple blind spots, the area around the Boar''s Foot wasn''t one of them.

    For a while, there was silence, and the elderly god showed an indecipherable expression. He seemed to be deep in thought, contemplating the young man''s plans. Finally, he came to a conclusion and a small but hopefully smile stole itself on his face.

    "Let us give him a day at most. I am convinced that he will make a decision that is favourable for us. Contact the gods of all the most influential familias once the time is up, and invite them to a meeting. We will decide his fate together."

    Unhesitatingly, Fels nodded and faded away into the surrounding darkness.

    "It will be done." Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="/book/wish-fulfillment-system_14168375705541905/calculated-madness_50915454935420013">/book/wish-fulfillment-system_14168375705541905/calculated-madness_50915454935420013</a> for visiting.

    Once he was all alone, Ouranos muttered to himself, the amused smile on his lips growing ever brighter.

    "I shouldn''t be wrong about his intentions. He even looked directly at our means of surveillance a couple of times. I would be extremely surprised if he didn''t notice them for what they are. It is refreshing to finally have another promising, intelligent person around."

    Minutes later, Ouranos'' manner of speech suddenly changed, as if he was talking to someone directly.

    "I trust that you won''t disappoint me. After this, it will finally be time for us to meet."

    -----

    Isaac sat on the roof of the Pantheon, just out of sight from anyone on the north-western main street. Next to him, there was a white owl with heterochromatic eyes. One of them was blue while the other one was yellow.

    From its beak, he had just heard an unfamiliar, deep male voice - it wasn''t hard to guess who it belonged to.

    "Sounds good to me. Then I''m off."

    With the same relaxed smile that he had been sporting after Petbe''s execution, Isaac hopped down from the roof and landed in front of one of the Pantheon''s entrances, startling some of the adventurers and the Guild staff that were hurrying about.

    Not bothering to pay them much attention, he quickly made his way through the crowd and into the building, until he finally got close to the counter that he had been looking for. A certain Amazoness was sitting there, currently preoccupied with an enormous pile of doc.u.ments on her desk.

    "Hey there, Yolanda. Sorry to interrupt you when you''re busy like this."

    Noticing someone knocking on the wooden counter in front of her and hearing a familiar voice, the slightly worn-out Amazoness looked up from her workload and soon spied an adventurer that she was responsible for.

    A look of surprise flashed past her eyes. Days after she had seen him here following their first meeting, he had announced that he had ranked up. What was he here for this time? It couldn''t possibly be for that same reason, right? Yeah, she was definitely just being paranoid.

    Smiling to herself for even considering this ridiculous notion, she stood up and returned his greeting.

    "Welcome back, Isaac! Ya don''t come here often, ya know? As ya dungeon advisor, it would make me happy and my job a lot easier if ya stopped by more frequently, so I can check up on ya progress. Oh well, anyway, what can I do for ya?"

    A slightly mischievous smile played across Isaac''s lips as he replied, while stretching himself in a relaxed manner.

    "I got two matters to report to you. Let''s start off with the less important one. As of yesterday, I''ve become Level 3."

    The poor Amazoness first stared blankly at him, then his words suddenly settled in. The smile on her face froze and, slowly but surely, she fell backwards. What stopped her from making a scene were multiple nigh-invisible platforms of condensed air that kept her standing straight involuntarily

    Then, finally, a scream escaped her lips.

    "Are ya kidding me? AGAIN? Ya''re already Level 3!?"

    Contrary to what had happened last time, her words didn''t grab anyone''s attention. It was as if nobody had heard her, but she didn''t even notice this - she was only gawking directly at the man in front of her, unable to believe her ears at all. This was more than just an unheard-of record-breaking pace - it was insanity!

 Chapter 98 - Shameless Contract

    Isaac''s expression didn''t even change. It felt like the matter that he was talking about was inconsequential, or something that didn''t concern him at all - which only served to further baffle Yolanda.

    It took her a bit, but she finally regained her bearings. No matter how bollocks of a claim that he had made, it didn''t change the fact that she needed to do her job properly. The truth of the matter would naturally come to light over the course of the proceedings.

    ''I swear, if this fella only wanted to give me a heart attack for shits and giggles, I''ll slap him, consequences be damned!''

    A deep breath later, Yolanda at long last noticed something amiss. Although her legs had given out momentarily before, she was still perfectly upright. Even though she had made a commotion, nobody had come to check on her, or had even looked in her direction. But no matter how hard she tried to figure out what had happened, she couldn''t find anything amiss, so she carefully sat back down, put these matters to the back of her mind and faced her charge again.

    "Then would ya like to go through the verification procedure? Although I want to believe ya, my job forbids me from simply taking ya word for it."

    Both of them knew that the Amazoness was lying through her teeth, as a doubtful expression was still written all over her face. But to not prolong the conversation needlessly, Isaac simply shook his head and decided to not prod fun at her for being as easy to read as a picture book.

    "I could do that, but I told you that I have something else that is even more important to report right now. As for everything regarding my Level, please contact Loki about it. I honestly can''t be bothered, and her word should hold far more weight than mine."

    His response reminded Yolanda that he had indeed mentioned that his ridiculous rank-up pace wasn''t his prime reason for coming here. What could possibly be even more significant? She was legitimately intrigued.

    "Don''t leave me hanging! What is that other matter of ya''s?"

    As if he was carefully deliberating something for a while, Isaac remained silent for a few long moments, before ultimately sighing. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="/book/wish-fulfillment-system_14168375705541905/shameless-contract_51004314587547437">/book/wish-fulfillment-system_14168375705541905/shameless-contract_51004314587547437</a> for visiting.

    "I''ve noticed that there are some quite well-paying quests up for grabs. What would you say if I told you that I can fulfill two of the most important ones at once? I can both give you extremely solid information that could lead to the arrest of the person who killed Petbe, as well as the perpetrator themselves."

    What followed wasn''t the shocked outburst that he had expected, but instead utter and total silence. The Amazoness seemed like she had simply frozen in place. The only thing that made it clear that time was still flowing normally was that her slightly raised hand was slowly but surely lowering, gravity be praised. Only when it touched the counter did the sudden contact awaken Yolanda from this most recent stupor.

    "Are ya serious!?"

    She was too exhausted to even scream anymore. And maybe a little, she started to grow numb to Isaac''s unreasonable claims and exploits. It was too stressful to think about it all, and doing so just gave her a headache. So really, what was even the point of trying to understand anything at all?

    A bit embarrassed at seeing the resigned and tired look on his dungeon advisor''s face, Isaac scratched his cheek and nodded.

    "Yeah. I would like to accept both of these quests, but only under the condition that the Guild agrees to sign a simple contract with me. It''s just a formality, so don''t worry."

    From his backpack, he pulled two carefully folded sheets of paper, which contained the specific terms. They were the exact same and also handwritten, but extremely easily to read. Isaac had already signed them, and now it was up to a representative of the Guild to do the same.

    Yolanda had to admit that these were easily amongst the most beautiful manuscripts that she had ever laid her eyes upon. Very quickly, however, the fascination faded and she turned serious again. Carefully, she read every single word.

    After she was done, she heaved a long sigh.

    ''So basically, in exchange for the information and the perpetrator, he wants the reward for the quests to go not to himself, but to his familia. It''s a bit strange, especially as he wants to accept the quests as an individual and not as a representative of the Loki Familia, but it''s nothing outlandish.''

    Even though it wasn''t anything too weird, she still felt the need to report this matter to her higher-ups. One could never be too careful, maybe she had missed something.

    "Give me a moment to run this by a superior of mine, I''ll be right back!"

    It only took two or three minutes until the Amazoness returned to her counter. She wasn''t alone, though. A beige-haired Chienthrope man with small glasses followed after her. He was also clad in the standard Guild attire, so he was most likely the superior that Yolanda had mentioned.

    Right after the man arrived, he focused his suspicious gaze on Isaac, then he addressed him.

    "Are you telling the truth? Can you really live up to your claims?"

    With the most honest expression that he could muster, Isaac nodded heavily.

    "Yes, I wouldn''t gain anything from misleading you."

    A second or two of silence later, the man nodded with a slight smile. Then he read the two copies of the contract that were still lying on the counter and signed them with his name, Rehmer Kohm. One copy was returned to Isaac''s backpack, while one was taken and filed away by Yolanda.

    "Alright, then please hand over the information as soon as possible. The sooner that we can get this matter sorted out, the better. As for the perpetrator, I assume you will still have to get them from whatever place that you hid them away at. By the time that both terms have been fulfilled, we will give the payment of 40 million valis and one grimoire to the Loki Familia."

    While repositioning his glasses a little, Rehmer looked expectantly at the young man in front of him. And just as he had thought, Isaac hadn''t come with empty hands - but he had far more to offer than anyone was prepared for.

    "Here is the information. A clear recording of the exact confrontation that led to Petbe''s death."

    With a bright smile, Isaac put the memory crystal that Ryuu had handed him previously on the counter. His words, although they were spoken in a light and cheerful tone, carried a lot of weight, causing a bead of sweat to form on Rehmer''s forehead.

    ''Is he serious?!''

    Although the Chienthrope man was shocked, he didn''t let it show too much and instead asked Isaac and Yolanda to follow him to a more secluded location. The Guild had many rooms which were usually utilized for conversations between adventurers and their advisors. Normally, any matters that the former didn''t necessarily want to let the whole city know about were discussed here. Isaac, so far, had never really felt the need for such privacy, but in this particular case, he acknowledged that it would be necessary. The circ.u.mstances of Petbe''s death really shouldn''t be aired in the Pantheon''s main hall, for everyone to see.

    Once they were all alone, Rehmer injected some of his ''mind'', or rather, his mana, into the crystal and a smaller-than-life projection of the scene around the Boar''s Foot inn showed up in front of the trio. It started a minute or two before any of the Black Blade''s members had arrived, so for a while, they just stared at the city''s calm and peaceful regular scenery.

    Suddenly, the men and women wearing the uniform that Evilus was renowned for sped into the picture, at a speed far faster than the two Guild employees could follow. So to make it easier on their eyes, they rewinded a little and slowed down the recording enough to be certain.

    "By the gods! I had already heard that the heads that were found wore veils that were similar to Evilus'', but I didn''t want to believe it. Now it''s for certain, those were really our old enemies!"

    Rehmer had grown pale, but even though his hands were trembling, he forced himself to continue playing the recording. He was very curious about how all of this would play out.

    They didn''t have to wait for long, only about ten seconds in this slowed-down version. With a speed not inferior to most of the surrounding assailants, Isaac appeared in the middle of the street, with a tightly-bound Petbe dangling from his hand.

    Both Yolanda and Rehmer were too shocked to react, so the recording didn''t pause at this point. Although it all had happened very quickly back then, in this decelerated version, they could clearly follow everything. The terrifyingly fast Manu and Mosi first attracted their attention, but before the Guild employees could even grow too worried about the surrounded adventurer''s safety, it happened. They bore witness to Petbe''s brutal murder. That calm smile on the recorded Isaac''s face caused cold shivers to run down their spines, while the beheadings following the golden pillar''s appearance made their blood run cold.

    By the time that the entire recording had finished, the room was silent. Only after close to half a minute did Rehmer manage to clear his throat and look at Isaac with a wary expression. To be honest, he was absolutely horrified. He felt like he was staring at a ferocious beast, like the reaper was about to end his life at any moment. But still, he found the strength to speak up and look the calmly smiling young man, this deity slayer, directly into the eyes.

    "Is that you in the recording?"

    There was honestly no need to even ask, as he already knew the answer. But still, for some reason, he felt the need to make doubly sure, so as to not offend this person. He would probably feel compelled to stay silent and accept whatever excuse this man put forward, just to keep his head on his shoulders.

    A slight yawn escaped Isaac''s lips, then he nodded.

    "Did I fail to mention that? I already brought the perpetrator with me. I''m the one who killed Petbe, and I''m here to turn myself in. Don''t forget to send the rewards for my capture to the Loki Familia, okay~?"

    ''So that''s what this was all about! You just wanted to cheat some benefits out of the Guild before your inevitable capture¡­ tsk.''

    Even though he inwardly wanted to curse, Rehmer nodded his head. He wasn''t foolish enough to betray a contract, even though this one was a little¡­ unusual. To put it nicely. Also, he wanted this troublemaker to stay peaceful, so he could more easily be processed during the legal proceedings.

    "But of course. Could you please follow Yolanda here without making a fuss? She will bring you to your holding cell. I will immediately report this matter to the higher-ups."

    Leaving the escorting of the criminal to the still shell-shocked Amazoness, Rehmer stormed out of the room with the memory crystal in hand and sprinted towards the Guild Head''s office as fast as possible. He left his coworker alone, as he was well aware that neither of them could stop Isaac should he have the intention to resist.

    He also didn''t just throw her to the wolves to save his own hide, far from it. Instead, he was all too clear on the fact that he would have a far easier time of directly contacting the one in charge of the Pantheon. By delivering the information himself, this top-priority request would be dealt with far more quickly. It was all a matter of speed and efficiency.

    This entire time, Yolanda had been completely out of it. It felt difficult for her to reconcile the cold-blooded killings in the recording with the polite and handsome young man that she had grown to know a bit recently. Also, she had never seen such cruelty first-hand, which was honestly what had had the bigger impact on her mental state. Interacting with murderers? She had done that before. But seeing lives ended before her very eyes, even if it was only through a memory crystal? That was a first.

    Instead of walking away, escaping or threatening his dungeon advisor in any way, Isaac simply waited in silence, until she finally took a few deep breaths.

    "Huh? Where did Rehmer go!?"

    Only now did Yolanda realize that she was all alone with the man who had just slain a goddess, causing her to panic a little.

    "He said that he would report this matter, and left you behind to bring me to my holding cell. No worries, I won''t resist."

    Isaac''s words made her jolt back like a startled rabbit, before she calmed down again once she realized that he wasn''t going to harm her.

    "O-Okay¡­ fo-follow me¡­"

    A few stuttered words later, the two left the room and proceeded further into the Pantheon, down a few flights of stairs, until they ultimately reached a more reinforced area. They met a few guards which allowed the two to pass through once Yolanda stated their purpose.

    The holding cell that Isaac was brought to was quite small, just enough to fit a magic stone-powered toilet and a bed. It was of quite decent quality, but there were no windows. The only source of light was a small magic stone lamp on the ceiling. The door was heavily reinforced and only an idiot would have assumed that there was no magical formation in play to even further secure the place.

    When the two were alone in the cell, Yolanda tightly held onto the key. Finally, she asked him the question that had been on her mind the entire time that they had been walking right next to each other.

    "Why did ya turn yaself in?"

    Unhurriedly, Isaac sat down on the bed before staring at the ceiling in silence. After enough of a dramatic pause, he finally gave her an explanation.

    "I''m not naive enough to believe that I can escape the Guild''s notice, especially after such a high-profile action. It was only a matter of time until I was found out, so it was smarter to expect having to turn myself in from the very beginning. That way, I could spare myself the entire hassle. It would also enable me to bring all of the facts to the table, and to plead for a lighter sentence. Should I have resisted arrest, I would undoubtedly have to face a harsher punishment."

    His words made sense, but they weren''t the ones that she had hoped to hear. It wasn''t remorse but cold calculations that had brought him to make this choice, which felt extremely sad to her. Maybe it was because she, just like many others, had been raised to worship the gods, but his act went against many of her fundamental beliefs.

    "Thank ya for telling me."

    Not sure of what else to say, she left the cell and locked the door, before slowly wandering back to her counter. The entire way, the memory crystal''s content replayed itself in her mind, over and over again. The scenes were just far too gruesome¡­

    Because of this, it took her until a long while later to finally realize the key point that she had been missing.

    ''The Evilus members lost their Falna because of Petbe''s death! That means¡­ she actually was an enemy!?''

    When her thoughts reached this conclusion, Yolanda started to feel a little guilty for having shunned Isaac. In her mind, what had been cold-blooded murder before had now turned into a heroic act to save the city from one of its most well-known enemies. In a situation where he had been surrounded by enemies far stronger than himself, his only way out had been to eliminate the source of their strength, plain and simple. There had been no other way, unless his goal had been a swift reincarnation.

    Although the picture in her mind wasn''t entirely correct, she also wasn''t too far off.

    While sitting at her counter, the Amazoness nervously bit her lips.

    ''I hope the higher-ups will realize this as well! We can''t punish someone who has made this massive of a contribution to Orario''s safety too harshly.''

    -----

    "We need to immediately announce that the culprit has been caught, that the quests have been completed. As for that contract that you signed¡­ hmph. We don''t need to honour an agreement that was made with a criminal. Just get his copy as well and then burn them."

    The head of the Guild, Royman Mardeel, snorted unhappily. He had just finished watching the recording that Rehmer had brought to his attention and been informed of Isaac turning himself in. He didn''t hold any respect in his heart for someone who killed a goddess, as the simple act of doing so was nothing short of blasphemy in his eyes.

    Royman was a relatively stubby and fat Elf with short white hair and turquoise eyes. Clear signs of his age and the acc.u.mulated stress from his work could be seen, yet he sat perfectly upright in his custom-made black suit. It was similar to the outfit of regular Guild employees, but it was clearly made from far superior materials.

    At the mention of breaking a contract, Rehmer frowned a little. It just wouldn''t sit right with him to do such a thing, no matter who he had made an agreement with. The words of a contract were supposed to be binding, and they didn''t care about the feelings of the parties involved.

    Before he could raise his complaint, a magical hologram of their god, Ouranos, appeared on Royman''s desk.

    "Stop with this foolishness at once. I heard everything and already decided how the Guild will proceed. Take down the quests and announce that the culprit has been apprehended, but don''t disclose any other details. Tomorrow, the most influential gods of the city will decide Mr. Blackshaw''s fate. Until then, he will be treated with respect! As for the contract and the remuneration that should be sent to the Loki Familia, it shall be honoured. It would be a disgrace to break an agreement of this kind. I will inform you of the results of tomorrow''s meeting."

    As quickly as it had appeared, Ouranos'' hologram vanished again, leaving behind an annoyed Royman and a relieved Rehmer.

    "Wipe that smug smile off your face. Now, we will listen to Lord Ouranos, and follow his orders to the letter. You heard him. Leave and arrange for your little contract to be fulfilled."

    After shooing the Chienthrope man out of his office, the Guild Head slumped into his chair and sighed to himself, then he diligently started to fill out all of the doc.u.ments that would be necessary to let his subordinates know what to do. His personal views might conflict with his god''s, but he would never go against the latter''s wishes or requests.

    -----

    When it was announced that this shortly after the quests had been issued, everything had already been resolved, many adventurers grew sad at having missed the opportunity to make quite the decent sum of money. Even more, though, were interested in who it had been that had slain a deity. But no matter who asked the various Guild employees, they would always get the same reply.

    "It will be announced in due time, please wait for a few days."

    This was everything but a satisfying answer, but it was the best that anyone got. As there was no use in swearing at or threatening the employees, the crowds dispersed quickly, and wild speculation was soon abound.

    But no matter what, nobody actually thought of naming the man that had recently grown a bit famous, Isaac, as a potential suspect. He wasn''t too widely known, except for mostly in Ais'' fan club, and he also hadn''t made any really negative name for himself. Just because quite a few people were jealous of him, that didn''t mean that they were necessarily stupid enough to blame every single unwelcome event that happened on him. Could he be blamed for them stubbing their toes on a closet? No, so why would he have anything to do with the death of a goddess?

    Well, there were a few people who thought of the correct person, but they didn''t know his name. Aparctias and Kaikias both recalled the figure of a young man stomping the crown jewels and life rod of one of their brethren into mush and were reminded of the fear that they had felt just a few days ago.

    ''It couldn''t be him, right?''

    The divine victim in question also had a cold shiver run down his spine when he heard about Petbe being sent back to Heaven. Immediately after, however, a hate-filled smile played across Ferthur''s lips. What he thought of was nothing but a pipe dream, an unrealistic guess. But should it turn out to actually be true¡­

    ''If this was really this bastard''s work, then he''ll be in for a horrible time indeed.''

 Chapter 99 - Eight Deitiesâ€™ Round Table

    In a glamorous and massive temple in the middle of a seemingly endless desert, an olive-skinned, scantily-clad woman sitting on a golden throne suddenly opened her eyes. Just moments prior, she had been completely still, then a golden light had illuminated the entire room. It had taken a few seconds, but eventually, everything had returned to normal.

    Hatred filled the woman''s eyes and she snarled in rage, not even able to properly vocalize the feelings rattling her entire being. If Isaac had been here, then he would have instantly recognized her to be Petbe, the goddess that he had slain today.

    It took her close to an hour, but she eventually managed to calm down. That didn''t mean that she would let bygones be bygones, however - her Divinity was Vengeance, so such a thing was completely out of the question. With an icy glare, she methodically analyzed what had happened earlier, before coming to a decision.

    ''I have to update the others about this. Although that bastard is just a mortal, he could eventually grow into an actual threat to us. It''s no wonder V¨¢li told us to take care of him, he is too smart and dangerous for his own good.''

    Right when she had made her decision and was about to leave in a hurry, she suddenly felt a minor sting in her heart that she hadn''t noticed before due to her previous outburst. It was like something was¡­ missing. She couldn''t properly explain what she was feeling, as this was completely foreign to her. The closest she could get after some thought was the term ''phantom pain''. It felt like a limb or a part of hers that had been with her for literally ever¡­ was simply gone. Where it should be was a void, but she could still feel ''something''. She just had no idea what it was. Maybe it was the absence itself?

    ''Wait, what''s going on!?''

    Confused, she searched every nook and cranny of her body, but soon found nothing to be amiss. This only served to further bewilder her. Then finally, it was as if she had just realized something terrifying and she grew extremely pale. She closed her eyes and began to sense her Divinity, and then following that, she mentally inspected all of her Arcanums. Finally, she realized what it was that she was missing.

    ''My ''Wails of Judgement'' is gone!!''

    A high-pitched shriek escaped her mouth, reinforced by her out-of-control Divinity. The entire temple, her haven here in Heaven, was trembling heavily. If she hadn''t built it exceptionally sturdily, and if it hadn''t also been reinforced by her Divinity, then it would surely have collapsed then and there.

    -----

    By the time that the sun had started to set, all relevant gods and goddesses had been invited to a conference room in Babel tomorrow, at 10 a.m.. There were only ten of them, and not all of them had the time or the nerve to attend - still, notifying them had been a necessary formality. Ultimately, they would only have themselves to blame if they didn''t make time to take part and a decision that went against their wishes was made.

    This night was a rather quiet one, especially for Isaac. Usually, he would be down in the dungeon slaying monsters, or at least sleeping next to Ais. For the first time in a long while, however, he did neither of those things. The reason for this was simple. He didn''t know whether or not anyone would check up on him during the night or the early morning, so he didn''t want to risk them encountering an empty holding cell. This problem should only be temporary, at least if his plans panned out, but for tonight, he had to restrain himself and sit tight.

    That didn''t mean that he just wasted his time, though - of course he didn''t. He did sleep for a more-than-sufficient four hours, but aside from that, he did the best that he could. While chatting with Ais, who was in a slightly sour mood because of having to be separated for this period of time, he added more and more drops of mana to the mental layer''s flow. He had gotten many times faster at doing this by now, but it still took him until shortly before 9 a.m. to arrive at yet another bottleneck - the 20,000th drop.

    After overcoming it and basking in the resulting refreshing comfort for a while, he glanced at the system notification that had sprung up.

    [ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment (F): Enables one to interact with their surroundings by using mana. Reduction in mana expenditure: 5% ]

    ''I wonder if Development Abilities cap at S-grade, or whether they are actually the same as stats and can go past that point¡­ Either way, I doubt any significant changes will happen until I get there.''

    For now, the only thing that he could do was to continually increase his stats and forge ahead. At some point, the sheer quantity of mana would inevitably lead to a qualitative change - or at least he hoped so.

    As he was worried that he would run out of important things to occupy himself with, Isaac consciously slowed down his speed of progression a little - he only had a bit more than 3,000 more drops to add, and he didn''t want to finish before the deities'' meeting ended. With that in mind, he glanced in the direction of Babel and narrowed his eyes a little, before smirking to himself.

    ''Even though I can only influence it a little, that much should be more than enough.''

    -----

    Freya had arrived before anyone else, excluding Ouranos'' hologram. The elusive primordial god never attended any of the deities'' gatherings personally, as he needed to be in a specific location to keep the seal constraining the dungeon stable.

    With an enchanting but also polite smile, the goddess nodded at her senior before taking a seat at the round white marble table at the center of the room, to his left. She didn''t say a word and only calmly waited for the others to arrive.

    As there were still plenty of minutes left, her thoughts drifted a bit until something that had happened yesterday came to mind.

    After Ryuu had returned from her temporary leave and started to help out Syr and the others at the Hostess of Fertility yet again, she had given her a sealed letter. The wax seal showed an ''I'' with an ornate crown on top, which first confused its recipient a little, as she had never seen this symbol before. This was only momentary, however, as it didn''t take a genius to figure out that this represented Isaac. It was painfully obvious.

    A bit intrigued, Syr, or rather, Freya, used her next short break to read the letter, only to start giggling in amus.e.m.e.nt. It contained a request, but at the same time, it didn''t.

    Isaac knew that he didn''t really have much grounds to stand on when it came to requesting anything of her, unless he wanted to become her enemy. So instead, he informed her of the meeting that was sure to happen, at least if his predictions would turn out to be correct, and of what his desired outcome would be. He didn''t specifically ask her to support his goal, instead, he only told her to please consider helping him should the evidence that would be presented convince her to do so - or should she feel like it. The letter also clearly stated that he wouldn''t be offended at all if she chose to not do any of this.

    How could Freya, a goddess who had borne witness to a plethora of schemes in her life, not realize what he was doing? To be fair, he didn''t even attempt to hide it. But all he did, this entire letter¡­ it was nothing more than a formality. He was already certain of what she would choose to do, of which side she would support, so it was only a failsafe to make doubly sure that she knew what needed to happen for his plans to proceed.

    Back when Ryuu had taken her leave, Freya had already been aware that this matter undoubtedly involved Evilus, and she only had to put two and two together after seeing a deity getting returned to Heaven earlier.

    ''At least he has manners. If he hadn''t even contacted me and simply expected my support because ''the enemy of one''s enemy is one''s friend'', then I might have decided to mess with him a little. Still, why did he request something this¡­ weird?''

    What snapped Freya out of her thoughts was the arrival of a pair of red-haired goddesses that couldn''t be any more different. One had a short ponytail and seemingly closed eyes. A mischievous grin played across her lips constantly. The other had short but wavy hair and a black eyepatch over the right one of her ruby-red eyes. Both of them wore more casual clothing - the former''s was somewhat reminiscent of an adventurer''s, while the latter''s consisted of a white shirt, black gloves and pants, as well as brown boots. But if both were so similar, where did the aforementioned huge difference lie? It lay in their body shape. While they both were exactly the same height, the former was flat as a board and the latter was quite well-endowed. They were Loki and Hephaestus, respectively.

    Hephaestus'' familia was fully composed of smiths, and she was as close to the authority in this field as possible. While many other deities could rival her abilities in the forge, her familia was the largest and most influential, by far. As this was anything but the first meeting of the three goddesses - in fact, most deities that lived in Orario encountered each other quite frequently - they simply exchanged a few light-hearted greetings before the two new arrivals took their seats.

    Loki sat down on Ouranos'' right, while Hephaestus took her place next to the trickster goddess. Freya''s eyes rested on Loki for a bit longer than usual, then she turned away and slightly smiled to herself.

    Shortly after, a god and a goddess arrived together, seemingly on quite friendly terms. They were old acquaintances and while the former was a little unusual, he was good-natured, which was exactly the reason as to why they got along so well.

    The god was easily more than a head taller than the goddess, and remarkably muscular. He had tanned skin and wore an orange sash over his right shoulder, which was wrapped around his waist. Under this sash, he wore white pants, which were stuffed into his gold-rimmed dark brown knee-high boots. He wore gauntlets and a leather plate over his stomach, both were of the same design as the boots.To appear more extravagant, he wore golden arm bands around his upper arms and a thick golden necklace. His long shaggy black hair spilled down all the way to his shoulders, while his eyes couldn''t be made out behind the red and yellow elephant mask that covered the entire top half of his face. He was the host of the Monster Feria, Ganesha.

    Smiling ever so calmly and reassuringly was Demeter, the goddess accompanying him. She was a stunningly beautiful mature woman with long and flowing golden honey coloured hair, and orange eyes. She was clad in a light pink dress that was long enough to drag along the floor when it wasn''t lifted up a little. Besides a golden belt around her waist, she was free from any other embellishments. Her familia was agricultural in nature and almost single-handedly fed the entire city. As almost all of its members were non-combatants, it was quite weak, but it sported the - by far - highest member count.

    Upon seeing her, Freya''s eyes lit up a little, and the two goddesses'' mood markedly improved. They had been friends - close friends, even - for a long time, but usually, they didn''t have too many chances to interact. So even though they were to take part in an official matter, they were still joyful at having the opportunity to spend time together again.

    "I hope you all know that I''ll do my absolute best today. And why''s that? Because I''m Ganesha! AHAHAHAHA!!"

    Roaring with unabashed and annoying laughter, the elephant-masked god took his seat next to Freya, while Demeter sat next to Hephaestus. Tacitly, they all decided to ignore the boisterous Ganesha and paid more attention to the entrance of the room, as there were still two deities who had announced that they would participate but hadn''t shown up yet.

    About seven minutes before the meeting was scheduled to begin, an olive-skinned white haired god hurried into the room and hastily took a seat right next to Ganesha. His attire was actually quite similar to his neighbour''s, as he wore various jewelry made of gemstones and gold - a massive necklace and various arm bands - and his upper body was completely bare aside from those. His light pants were white in colour as well, but he was barefoot. His black eyes had small dots of yellow within their irises, making observers think of grains of sand.

    "Phew, looks like I''m not the last to arrive. Sorry for almost being late, I overslept."

    Slightly apologetic, he bowed towards the others, who assured him that it wasn''t a problem. He, Set, was one of the old guard. He had been in the Lower World for close to a millennium now, and his familia had once contended for the spot of the most powerful with the Zeus and Hera Familias. It went pretty badly, and Set''s familia never again recovered to its peak state, but they still had enough influence in the city and the godly community to be invited to a meeting like this. If his desire for glory hadn''t been entirely shattered back during his loss against Zeus and Hera, then he wouldn''t get along with the current stars of Orario''s godly community, Freya and Loki, nearly as well.

    Finally, the last deity arrived¡­ a minute before the start of the meeting. It was a goddess that was slightly taller than Demeter. She had brown skin and belonged to the more well-endowed category. Even compared to regular Amazonesses, she wore extremely revealing clothing. There was only a single, thin red-orange piece of cloth loosely hung around her neck. It barely covered the most important bits of her b.r.e.a.s.ts. She also wore a pareo of the same colour around her waist that reached all the way down to her ankles. Just like Set, she was barefoot, and - like Ganesha - she was also covered in golden jewelry aplenty. There were bracelets, anklets and multiple necklaces, but she even sported a jewelled crown on top of her long purple hair that was styled to have a ponytail at the back. When her brown eyes fell upon Freya, they were instantly filled with anger and jealousy.

    "Oh, so you finally decided to bless us with your presence as well, Ishtar."

    Adding fuel to the fire that had never really extinguished for all these years, Freya mocked the latest arrival slightly, as the look in her eyes was a bit of an annoyance to her.

    With a smile that was anything but a smile, Ishtar sat down at her seat - in between Set and Demeter - and stared daggers at the woman that she had always called her rival.

    "Not all of us can have the privilege of living just a few floors from the meeting room. I had to come all the way here from the Entertainment District, dear Freya~"

    What she had brought up was correct - Freya practically lived next door, so it made sense for her to be able to easily make it on time. Still, that didn''t excuse Ishtar for cutting it so close. It was considered to be good manners to arrive about ten and at least five minutes early to their meetings. Set had at least apologized for his almost-transgression and been dishevelled from having run all the way here, but the ''Queen of the Entertainment District'' hadn''t even bothered to accelerate her steps.

    "Ahem. Now that we''re all assembled, let us begin."

    Before their arguing could continue and potentially grow out of hand, Ouranos cleared his throat and, right on time, kicked off what they were actually here for.

    "As I hope all of you are aware of, our fellow deity, Petbe, was unlawfully sent back up to Heaven yesterday. We have gathered here today to inspect the circ.u.mstances of this crime and to determine the fate of the criminal."

    Without further ado, Ouranos'' hologram waved its hand, and the memory crystal that had previously been resting at the center of the table rose into the air.

    "Yesterday, the killer himself supplied the Guild with this recording of his deed. He also turned himself in without any resistance whatsoever. The secret as to why he did this lies within this memory crystal."

    Ouranos'' words served to garner the curiosity of the assembled deities, and he succeeded. They all made their own speculations in their hearts, then they motioned at the old man to finally stop leaving them hanging.

    Only a moment later, mana got injected into the crystal, and they all got a good look at the recording.

    Exclamations of surprise and shock echoed through the room, and by the time it had finished, most of those assembled had thoughtful expressions on their faces.

    The first to speak up was Hephaestus, who was rubbing her chin with her glove-clad hand.

    "So Petbe and her familia were a part of Evilus too, huh? That certainly comes as a surprise. While she has always been a bit shady, I didn''t think she''d be a part of¡­ that crowd."

    Most of those present nodded. Petbe had never given away a single clue when they met for official matters. Although none of them had been too close to her, they had all thought that they had at least had a vague grasp on her personality and overall alignment.

    "That aside, who is that man? I''ve never seen him before, and I think we should get to know more about him if we are to decide his fate."

    Although Petbe''s secret was stunning, Set didn''t forget about what they had come here to do. Sure, a god being a part of Evilus would have inevitably led to them being sent back to Heaven - but for a mortal to take that into their own hands wasn''t acceptable. According to the laws and rules that the godly community had decided upon, it was illegal.

    With a glance at Loki, Ouranos nodded and finally revealed this part of the information.

    "His name is Isaac Blackshaw, and he is a member of the Loki Familia." Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#%E2%80%99-round-table_51076461179754597">#%E2%80%99-round-table_51076461179754597</a> for visiting.

    Taken aback by this, it took a while for the first deity to speak up again. Just like before, it was Hephaestus. She looked directly at her old friend and business partner, with surprise written all over her face.

    "You''re involved in this!?"

    A helpless sigh escaped the trickster goddess'' lips and she shook her head.

    "I''m not. I had no idea that he was going to do something like that."

    At her denial, an unamused snort sounded from the other side of the table.

    "Oh please, I call bullshit. How could you possibly not be aware of this matter? He''s a part of your own familia, after all. With your personality, you would never let something like this happen behind your back."

    Ishtar''s words were very confrontational, but most of the others had to admit that she had made a good point. Loki was well-known for her schemes, so nobody would believe her if she said that she had had no clue about this before it finally happened.

    But instead of admitting it, Loki shook her head exasperatedly and sneered at the brown-skinned goddess of beauty.

    "I really question your brain sometimes. If I had truly had something to do with this, then I never would have let him kill Petbe. After all, I could have just done it myself. I would never let my children bear negative consequences for something that I could easily get away with scot-free if I did it myself. You should know this about me by now, right? So tell me, why would I let him commit such a crime if I knew about it?"

    By the end of her explanation, Ishtar''s expression had markedly worsened, but she wasn''t yet ready to throw in the towel.

    "How would I know!? Maybe you have some other plan. The fact is that he is a member of your familia, and you definitely knew about this. The fact that you didn''t do anything to stop this makes you complicit."

    This time, it was Demeter who responded to her, in her usual, calming way.

    "Now, now. Even if that were to be the case, Loki is a goddess, so killing another goddess would be perfectly legal. Still, there also is no proof for this, it''s only speculation. Let''s end it here and return back to the topic at hand, shall we?"

    Nodding at her gratefully, Ouranos ignored the unhappy frown upon Ishtar''s face and continued with the script.

    "The only facts that we have at hand are that this man, Mr. Blackshaw, has rid the city of Remnants of Evilus. As you undoubtedly noticed, the two in the lead were a Level 6 and Level 5 respectively, while the rest were Level 4''s. None of them were registered with the Guild. Such an act would usually result in public eulogies and ample rewards, but the method by which Mr. Blackshaw achieved this was to destroy the mortal vessel of one of our own. Under normal circ.u.mstances, this would lead to either execution or life-long imprisonment. Now, what do you all propose?"

    After a bit of thought, Ganesha was the first one to speak up.

    "I think that due to his heroic act, we should be more lenient. But how exactly!? I haven''t the faintest idea. I just know that¡­ I am Ganesha!!"

    Because they were used to ignoring about half of what he usually said, the deities didn''t even blink at his borderline-insane need of introducing himself over and over again.

    "I agree. Maybe we could even make an exception for him? After all, he didn''t hunt down an innocent deity, but judged a guilty one instead. While that isn''t okay, I think we can let him get away with a warning this time. Don''t forget, he turned himself in and didn''t make any trouble. There is no doubt that he only did what he thought to be best, with no intention of evading the consequences of his actions. In my eyes, that''s brave and admirable. It deserves at least a little bit of respect and mercy."

    With a gentle, motherly smile, Demeter was looking at her old acquaintances, hoping to find agreement amongst their numbers. What greeted her first, however, was the opposite.

    "We can''t do that. If we are too lenient, then many of us will follow in Petbe''s footsteps. Don''t forget, we are mostly powerless here in the Lower World."

    Set shook his head with a heavy sigh. Personally, he didn''t really want to condemn the young man to such a fate, but all of their mortal lives were at stake here - he couldn''t play favourites.

    His words quickly got followed up with by Ishtar, who nodded in approval.

    "We should just execute him to send a message. Look, I''m sorry about this, Loki, but your child has got to go."

    Contrary to what she had expected, Loki didn''t antagonize her immediately, instead, she simply smiled regretfully and sighed.

    "You aren''t entirely wrong. Even I agree that we can''t let him off completely, as that would set a dangerous precedent. He has also betrayed my trust by going behind my back like this. But I think that our previous sentences, execution or life-long imprisonment, are both too harsh to be applicable in this case."

    Before Ishtar could retort, Freya joined the conversation for the first time since the meeting began.

    "I agree with Loki, and I also have a proposal. Instead of going with all or nothing, why don''t we go with something that''s in the middle? That way, if we also publicize how he has contributed to the safety of the city, we can still send a message to all those unstable elements. They would know that only in such exceptional circ.u.mstances would we ever be a bit lenient. At the same time, it would make them horrified of what they themselves would have to face should they ever get caught."

    After a quick pause to give everyone some time to think about it, Freya continued.

    "The sentence that I propose is a short-term imprisonment, maybe for a few weeks - but in harsh conditions. What is the worst part about being locked away? The loneliness, the solitude, the absence of human contact. By putting him in solitary confinement and only giving him the bare necessities to survive, this sentence will both evoke fear in others and will also teach him a much-needed lesson."

 Chapter 100 - A Meeting Long Overdue

    Originally, the plan had been for Loki to bring all of this up, and then for Freya to support her, hopefully swaying enough of their fellow deities with their reasoning. Instead of following that arrangement, however, Freya took it upon herself to bring up the punishment that Isaac was aiming for, causing the trickster goddess to momentarily grow silent.

    There were many reasons as to why Freya chose to do this, the least important of which was to antagonize Ishtar, who had always been an annoying eyesore. Although she and her familia amounted to nothing more than starving dogs barking at a behemoth, they were still a nuisance.

    Besides that, she intended to support her fellow disguised-as-a-mortal deity. There was nothing to be gained from exposing Isaac - at least for now - so as they were seemingly in similar situations, to build positive rapport with him was preferable. Should Isaac get executed for his crimes, then during the destruction of his mortal vessel, it would become apparent what his true identity was. This would bring up far more questions than answers, and cause a lot of public unrest and chaos.

    Of course, Freya was also personally of the opinion that any mortal who contributed this heavily to Orario, by eliminating a deity that was a part of Evilus, shouldn''t be treated too harshly.

    Lastly, there was the main reason for her decision - curiosity. Why had Isaac acted the way that he did? Why had he killed a deity in broad daylight? Why had he turned himself in? And why did he gun for this particular punishment? For each of these questions, Freya could make various guesses - but that was all that they were, just guesses. She couldn''t be certain of anything, and wanted to know for sure. The easiest way to accomplish this would be to ask the man in question directly, but that would be her last resort. For now, she intended to let all of this play out and to observe from the sidelines. She would try to solve these mysteries on her own, as it would be more fun that way.

    Shortly after Freya''s words had settled in, Ishtar snorted in annoyance and shook her head.

    "I don''t like the direction this is going. I''m fully convinced that we should eliminate this child. Nothing you say can or will change my mind. These rules weren''t just decided upon on a whim, so we shouldn''t bend or outright ignore them."

    Disdain sparkled in Freya''s eyes for a moment. For her fellow goddess of beauty to espouse such righteous ideals sounded so utterly ironic that it simply appeared pathetic. If it weren''t for the fact that Ishtar wanted to butt heads with her, she would never have supported laws or rules. After all, it was an open secret that she broke far too many of them on a daily basis.

    With a contemplative look on his face, Set interjected before the two''s bickering could grow any worse.

    "I do see reason in Freya''s proposal. And Ishtar, while I would ordinarily agree with following the rules that were set, in this case, this isn''t the wisest move. These rules are completely outdated, as they didn''t take into account that some of our fellow deities might create antagonistic organizations that would aim to harm the majority of us and our children. Petbe was an enemy of Orario, that''s undeniable. Getting rid of her should have been our job, but she was disposed of by Loki''s kid. Mr. Blackshaw was in a situation where he would undoubtedly have died if he hadn''t taken her life, so normally, I would chalk this up to self defense. But, well¡­"

    Seeing the curious and inquiring gazes of his fellow deities, Set finally spilled the beans, with a reluctant sigh.

    "I''m sure you''ll all be hearing about this in the coming days, but Petbe''s manor in Daedalus Street has been razed to the ground. It happened before she was sent back up to Heaven. There was clearly enough time in between for Mr. Blackshaw to deliver her to us and gain protection from her remaining forces. There was absolutely no need to expose himself to such dangers, so I''d bet my life savings on this being his plan all along. At some point, he found out that Petbe''s familia belonged to Evilus, which he had some kind of vendetta against - just like far too many people do. Then, he overpowered the few guards at her manor and captured her. The exploding corpses were responsible for the manor''s eventual destruction. After this, he waited for Petbe''s children to assemble and surround him, then he killed her and did away with the now powerless forces in one fell swoop. It was a trap for them from the very beginning, and, regarding our fellow deity, was premeditated murder. That is exactly why I don''t think that we can just let him go free. But, as he ultimately still did Orario a great service, I agree with what Freya proposed."

    Realization flashed in Demeter''s eyes, and she nodded to herself. What Set said did indeed make a lot of sense. If his information was correct, that is - which most likely was the case.

    "So the child wanted to take revenge, and obediently turned himself in after he achieved it, intending to face the consequences of his actions with his head raised high. Truly respectable!"

    Judging that it was his time to speak up, as a proposal had been presented and sufficiently discussed, Ouranos cleared his throat.

    "Ahem. Who is in favour of sentencing Mr. Blackshaw to a month of solitary confinement and publicizing his deeds?"

    As she was the one who had brought it up in the first place, nobody batted an eye when Freya raised her hand nigh immediately.

    "I am."

    She was quickly followed by Loki, who seemed to be a bit reluctant. Sentencing a child of her familia definitely didn''t feel good, no matter how relatively light of a punishment it might be.

    "I am as well."

    In quick succession, Hephaestus, Demeter and Set also raised their hands. The last one to give a positive response was Ganesha, whose jubilant laughter and repeated self-introductions got completely ignored.

    The only one who hadn''t cast their vote yet was Ishtar, whose beautiful face was distorted by her clear annoyance and anger.

    "I know it won''t make a difference, but just for the record: I am not in favour of this. I think we''re making a mistake."

    Ouranos only gave her a short nod in response.

    "Noted."

    The goddess of beauty almost popped a vein at the old man''s lack of a real reaction, but she was well aware that he acted as the neutral party here - there was no use in going against him. Not only was he far more powerful, he also didn''t even give himself the right to vote on any of the matters that needed to be discussed.

    Now that all of the votes were in, Ouranos looked at all of the assembled deities and announced the verdict.

    "The Guild shall be responsible for Mr. Blackshaw''s solitary imprisonment, and for publicizing the news to Orario''s residents. I thank you all for your time. Dismissed."

    -----

    Close to an hour after the deities'' meeting had ended, Isaac sat in an entirely dark room underground. To get here, he had been led many flights of stairs further down from his quite cozy and luxurious holding cell. Then finally, he had arrived here - a place that nobody in their right mind would want to stay at.

    The walls and the door were made out of adamantite and there was no light source at all, neither was there a bed or any other furniture. There were only two openings besides the one that had brought him here. One was a small hole in the ground of one of the room''s corners, only big enough to fit bodily excrements, the other one was led to a tiny hoistway. It was far from big enough to fit a body, and was used to deliver trays of food at fixed times.

    When he had been brought here, Isaac had been informed that there would be one meal a day, which would be accompanied by enough water to survive. It would arrive via this small elevator shaft every day at 1 p.m., right around lunchtime, and the tray had to be placed back in the hoistway before 1:30 p.m., as that was when it would automatically be brought back up. Isaac had only nodded and smiled at this explanation, his calmness unsettling the poor employee who had led him here.

    Once he was left alone, he immediately noticed a clear difference from before - contrary to his holding cell, this solitary confinement cell wasn''t protected by the magical formation that encompassed the entire Pantheon. Or rather, it usually was, but this part of it had been ''mysteriously'' turned off. A person not adept at sensing mana would have a very hard time noticing this, and considering that his punishment was to not interact with any other sentient beings for the entirety of his stay - or at least, that was what it was on paper - nobody would ever find out about this ''malfunction''.

    A small smirk played across Isaac''s lips as he waited for a handful of minutes, sitting silently in the darkness and conversing with Ais all the while.

    Finally, the door leading to his cell opened, and what greeted him was both the dim light of the hallway and a figure wearing a black cloak. The area around their hood was unnaturally dark, and he could clearly sense that this was achieved by manipulating mana. Still, this wasn''t enough to keep him from seeing the true face of who it was that he had just met.

    ''Oh? Interesting¡­''

    Slightly taken aback by what he saw, Isaac raised an eyebrow. He truly hadn''t expected for this¡­ being¡­ to literally only be a skeleton. Judging by its ability to use Magic, if he used his old world''s classifications, it should be either a Skeleton Mage or a Lich - but he highly doubted that either of these terms were actually in use in this world.

    A bit startled at having quite obviously been seen through, the skeleton paused in its tracks. Moments later, an epicene, disembodied voice came from its mouth. As it had no actual vocal chords, or anything else besides its bones, this phenomenon was quite¡­ intriguing.

    "My name is Fels. It is nice to finally make your acquaintance, Mr. Blackshaw. I have been sent here by Lord Ouranos."

    While blatantly sizing up Fels, Isaac responded with a harmless smile. His research senses were already tingling - this was the first time that he had ever met a sentient, undead being after all. If he hadn''t known that he would sooner or later meet more of them - although that would probably be in another world rather than this one - then he would have found it far more difficult to repress the urge of taking poor Fels apart bone by bone, to sate his curiosity. This was despite them obviously being allies.

    "Hi there, Fels. I assume I''m being invited over?"

    A cold shiver ran down the skeleton''s spine, and it hurriedly nodded. Fels felt like it was being stared at by a mad predator and honestly had the urge to just turn on their heels and run away. Still, they had a job to do, so they couldn''t just chicken out.

    "Yes. Please follow me."

    After Isaac got up and followed Fels into the hallway, it didn''t take long until they arrived at a dead end. Nothing but a plain stone wall was in front of them. Because he could already guess where this was going, Isaac focused on his senses a little more than usual and observed his skeleton guide''s actions.

    Just as expected, Fels raised their right hand to a specific spot on the wall and injected mana into it, causing the wall to silently retract into the ceiling, opening up a new path in the process. The two encountered the same kind of door two more times before they finally reached Ouranos'' throne room. By then, Isaac had already figured out how exactly these doors worked.

    It was a simple concept. Anyone could open them, as long as they injected mana into them. Well, if they did it at the right spot, that is. If any other part of the door was the target, then they could still inject mana into it, but nothing would happen.

    If it were to be visualized as a regular door, it would be a door almost entirely made up of keyholes. The mana was the key, and it could be inserted into every single keyhole - but there was only one which would allow the door to open.

    The spot to inject mana into varied from door to door, but by using his Eyes of Hermes to sense the insides of the doors with his mana, Isaac could see exactly which spots to target. Because of this, he also noticed that there was a certain mechanism - if mana was injected into the wrong spot too many times, then something would happen. He couldn''t be sure exactly what it would be, but it didn''t take a genius to figure out that it should be some sort of alarm coupled with a complete lockdown of the respective door, maybe even the entire underground complex that they were in.

    The throne room was rather large, and there were eight secret doors leading to it, two from each direction. The only light sources were four raised braziers, which were placed all around the stone throne in the center. Upon seeing who had arrived, the white-haired elderly man sitting on it smiled slightly and nodded.

    "So we''ve finally met, Mr. Blackshaw."

    By the time that Isaac replied with a polite nod of his own, Fels had already arrived behind Ouranos'' throne, seemingly in an effort to use their god as a protective barrier.

    "I agree. This has been a long time coming, Lord Ouranos."

    Before he had even left his new cell, Isaac had made a somewhat risky decision - he had chosen to abstain from blurring parts of his existence a little, which would have allowed him to hide the fact that he was now a god. He did hide all possible visual clues, however, by shifting the positions of some of his veins. There were two reasons for his choice. First of all, he wanted to figure out whether or not primordial gods could detect deities in some way, or if they could see souls. Secondly, if that were to be the case, then he wanted to test how Ouranos would react. It wasn''t too likely to come to this, however.

    The former of these needed to be determined at some point, as Isaac would undoubtedly meet other primordial gods in the future. The only one that he knew a little bit about from the first few DanMachi novels was the old man in front of him, Ouranos, and he seemed to be leagues ahead of regular deities in both wisdom and integrity - which honestly wasn''t too difficult to achieve. Still, there was no better candidate for this experiment, at least for now.

    Quickly, Isaac made a judgement based on the lack of any particular reaction or surprise on the old man''s calm face.

    ''Either he hasn''t noticed it, or he has chosen to not say anything about it.''

    "It has been indeed. I invited you here to talk about multiple matters. Firstly, I would like to know why you acted the way that you did. I can only speculate, so could you enlighten me?"

    With a slight smile, Isaac produced a chair out of nowhere and sat down - this would probably take a while. He didn''t even need to hide this ability of his at all here, as it had already been exposed in the recording that he had submitted to the Guild.

    Isaac started with explaining what exactly had exposed these Remnants of Evilus, or rather, these members of the Black Blade. Then, he followed up by recounting the events that had transpired so far, filling in any gaps of knowledge that Ouranos might have had. When he mentioned V¨¢li, the old man''s expression markedly darkened. Lastly, he finally laid out his plan.

    "As our enemy has long since taken note of me because they are cautious of my rapid growth, I needed to make them believe that, for a time, I would be standing still. That''s exactly why I aimed to be imprisoned. And yes, as you undoubtedly already guessed, I do have a way of entering the dungeon from within my cell, completely undetected. This ruse will only work if I continue growing in strength while the enemy is convinced that I''m temporarily out of the picture, after all."

    There was simply no need to hide this ability from Ouranos at all. While Isaac believed that the old primordial god would smuggle him into the dungeon secretly somehow if he asked for it, that was a waste of time and effort. So even though his ability to teleport was now somewhat exposed to the old man, that would only raise Isaac''s importance in his eyes. After all, he had already shown two seemingly space-related Skills or Magics - that was undoubtedly extremely rare, if not unprecedented. It would make him a valuable asset.

    Intrigue flashed across Ouranos'' eyes for a moment, then he nodded, with a somewhat concerned look on his face.

    "Thank you for sharing this with me. In the future, I may have some missions for you. Aside from that¡­ V¨¢li is a problem. But not one that you should need to worry about. Here in the Lower World, he shouldn''t cause too much of a ruckus. His forces will be the real headache, so grow stronger, just like you planned."

    What the old man chose to avoid mentioning was that V¨¢li wasn''t someone that he could personally handle at all. The only way to describe him was ''the strongest primordial god'' - he was simply a monster that nobody else wanted to deal with, as there was only one possible outcome when facing him: defeat. But what use would this knowledge be to a simple but brilliant mortal man? It would only cause unnecessary fear.

    "Alright."

    After Isaac''s affirmation, Ouranos could finally bring up the next point on his agenda.

    "I heard that you''ve recently met with Ray, a leader of the Xenos. She seems to be quite smitten with you herself, but not all Xenos share her opinion, which caused some conflicts. As you most definitely already figured out, the Xenos and I have a cooperative relationship. Because of this, I would like to know your opinion about them."

    Just to be safe, Isaac had made it clear to Ray that him being a god wasn''t to be shared with anybody. The reason for this was that he didn''t want the Hermes Familia to know about it. Or anyone else who might be in contact with the Xenos, for that matter.

    Seemingly without giving the matter much thought, Isaac shrugged.

    "They are nothing special. In my eyes, there is no difference between them and the so-called sentient races. In fact, dividing beings by their race or species is - in this case - pointless, because to me, only their behaviour matters. So if a Xenos treats me well, I will reciprocate in kind. If a Xenos does the opposite, so will I."

    Slightly taken aback for a moment, Ouranos soon gave a relieved nod of approval.

    "This kind of mindset is rarely seen, but I am in favour of it. Now that I''m certain that there is no need to worry, I can tell you this: I plan to get the Xenos accepted by the sentient races, as they - like you said - are just like them. Ganesha and Hermes have been helping me on that front. This will take a long, long time, as first of all, people''s fears of monsters and their irrational reactions to the Xenos need to be overcome. Would you help me out as well?"

    Although the elderly man was smiling at him warmly and expectantly, Isaac could only shake his head after a few moments of deliberation. He just simply didn''t care about this particular matter, and he didn''t think he needed to put up a fake heroic, selfless facade right now. It would surely lead to Ouranos getting a bit disappointed, but Isaac preferred to make things relatively clear from the get-go.

    "Only if the price is right. In all honesty, it sounds like a pain. You are right, it shouldn''t be impossible, but it will surely take a long time and lots of patience. Which I don''t have, at least for this matter. I expect that I would grow incredibly annoyed by and frustrated with how pathetic and disgusting quite a few people are, and I might even go on a killing spree in response to these feelings. I will definitely not oppose your efforts, and I will help out on the side if I stumble across some nice Xenos in need. But anything aside from that would require special remuneration."

    With a bit of a frown, Ouranos responded with a question.

    "What kind of remuneration?"

    Isaac could only shrug helplessly.

    "Well, anything that interests me. I don''t care much for valis or wealth, as it is far too easy to earn. But anything out of the ordinary should do. Knowledge is always appreciated."

    After a few moments of silence, Ouranos finally nodded.

    "Very well, should I ever have a need for you in my Xenos-related plans, I will prepare sufficient payment."

    Inwardly, the elderly man could only ruefully shake his head, as he was saddened by the thought that a young man such as this was already so disillusioned with the world and had become what other people would call ''heartless''. Ouranos couldn''t blame him, but it would have been far easier and preferable for his plans if Isaac had been a selfless martyr. This wasn''t just because those were always the easiest ones to take advantage of.

    ''Oh well, this is still better than nothing.''

    "Those were all the topics that I wanted to discuss for now. Your primary goal should be to prepare for V¨¢li''s forces, everything else can wait."

    With a glance at his oddly timid subordinate, Ouranos continued.

    "Fels, give Mr. Blackshaw an ''Occulus'' and bring him back to his cell."

    Once the young man had risen from his seat which then mysteriously disappeared, Ouranos added.

    "The Occulus will enable someone to interact with the person who holds its twin. Both audio and visuals can be transmitted. If there is ever a need, just inject your mind into it to contact Fels. Now then, until we meet again."

    Both the mysterious young man and the oddly vigorous old man gave each other a knowing smile and a respectful nod, then Isaac followed behind Fels and disappeared from the throne room.

    As soon as he was alone, Ouranos released a pent-up sigh and helplessly shook his head.

    ''With so many pressing issues at hand, I couldn''t ask him for help with ''that matter''. Being forced to stay right here is sometimes quite the bother¡­''

    Suddenly, the old man couldn''t help but chuckle a little.

    ''I''m certain that he barely told me anything. But if I called him audacious for doing this, I''d be the pot calling the kettle black.''

 Chapter 101 - Level 4

    The publication of Isaac''s deeds, his crime and his respective punishment caused a huge uproar in Orario. Thanks to how well-connected the Guild was, very quickly, the vast majority of citizens got to know about it.

    "Can you believe it? Evilus was still around! What if there are even more of them that we don''t know about yet, hiding in the shadows!?"

    Fears like these gripped the hearts of those people which had survived the dark times that had befallen the city a few years ago. The traumatic experiences of back then resurfaced, making many citizens break down in tears. They had been completely helpless back then, nothing more than a burden. Was that time about to repeat itself?

    Regarding Isaac''s fate, most were in favour of the decision that the deities had made. But of course, there were also those that were of different opinions. Outcries to free the young hero from his unjust imprisonment were heard in many parts of the city, while a nearly equal number of people made known that they thought the sentence was far too merciful for such a sacrilegious crime.

    Those who had looked forward to killing some deities themselves quickly changed their plans and continued to lay low, as they most definitely wouldn''t be able to escape the harshest of punishments that there were should they go through with them. Only if they were ready to embrace death would they even think of ending a god''s mortal life. Isaac''s circ.u.mstances were quite the successful deterrent.

    All of these things aside, the most major impact that this matter had had was that ''Isaac Blackshaw'' was now a household name. Almost everybody had heard of the deity slayer, the one who had protected the city from Evilus'' resurgence. While he had been moderately famous in some small circles even before this, the ordinary people now began to pay attention to him.

    "You say that he is in a relationship with the Sword Princess? Damn it, I''m too jealous! Still, only an outstanding young man such as him could ever potentially be worthy of her¡­"

    Remarks like these were the most generous, and relatively rare. Most citizens just didn''t care about an issue as irrelevant as this relationship. Only a few were fully opposed to it, as in their eyes, Ais had been an untouchable goddess ever since her rise to fame - to have her image sullied by the presence of a man at her side unsettled them. But as they had already been opposing Isaac before this¡­ well, nothing changed on their end.

    -----

    An especially dark expression hung upon Vidar''s face while he read through the latest intelligence reports. Finally, he couldn''t help but sigh and rub his forehead, trying to ease the slight headache that had crept up on him.

    ''I can''t believe Petbe underestimated him this much. From what I''ve heard from both the escaping remnants of her forces and what has trickled down the gr.a.p.evine from Heaven, she only had a few Level 4 guards at her residence. It''s no wonder that she got kidnapped. Still, I have to admit that this Blackshaw brat is especially smart. He could pose a danger to me if I lower my guard too much. I should at least keep a Level 5 close to me at all times. Thankfully, he won''t have an opportunity to grow for some time.''

    Without speaking a word, the tough-looking middle-aged god looked at the ever-expressionless Esja for a moment, then he shook his head.

    ''I should leave hunting the Blackshaw brat''s students to someone else. After all, they aren''t strong enough to even resist a single one of my Executives. It''s just a shame that ever since they have been attacked, they have been turtling up in the Twilight Manor.''

    With that thought in mind, Vidar cleared his throat.

    "Esja, station more of our men around Babel and the Twilight Manor. As soon as the students show up and there is a chance, have them eliminated. As for you, from now on until the release of the Blackshaw brat, you shall focus on improving your strength in the dungeon. After that, you shall be my private bodyguard until further notice."

    Without saying a word, the Vidar Familia''s Captain nodded and disappeared from her god''s side. Not even for a moment did Vidar think of releasing Ivan from his house arrest. After all, the youngster had behaved far too cowardly for his god''s taste.

    -----

    Attentively, Ais stood in a very remote area of the 17th floor of the dungeon and observed her surroundings. She didn''t expect any adventurers to have made it this far from the regular routes, but she still kept an eye out, just in case.

    Of course, she wouldn''t even need to be this careful had she been alone, but she wasn''t this time. Isaac''s students, save for Lefiya and Quinn, were also here. Ais had brought all of them from the base to a training courtyard in the morning, after which she had asked them to never speak of what they were about to do to anyone that wasn''t present. If they were asked about what they had done all day, they were to reply that they had been training in his courtyard all this time.

    During the first few hours, she had teleported Quinn to a floor that he could deal with, so that the young cat boy could grow stronger and catch up with his fellow students. She did her best to give him bits of advice whenever she could. After that, she had brought everyone else to the 17th floor, leaving only her Elven friend behind so she and Quinn could do some close combat training.

    It had been Ais who had proposed this kind of arrangement to Isaac, who had originally planned to reduce his own training time in order to accompany his students. Ais didn''t want him to have to slow down his pace even further, though, so she asked him if he would be fine with only having Tiona as a bodyguard while she ''took care of the kids'' for him in the meantime, until this mess was dealt with.

    ''It should be about time now¡­ I hope Tiona will behave. If she won''t¡­ hmph!''

    Ais couldn''t help pouting as she thought about her jubilant Amazoness friend. Even though she had originally been fine with the idea of her close friend''s love not being unrequited, ever since Isaac had made it clear that he wasn''t interested in Tiona at all, Ais had grown considerably less fond of such a development.

    She didn''t let herself get distracted by thoughts like these for long. Soon, she focused on observing the students yet again. They were still unceasingly growing more proficient at facing the various monster species on this floor. Whenever one that they couldn''t deal with appeared or a Monster Party occurred, Ais swiftly eliminated the threat.

    -----

    Shortly after 1 p.m., Isaac, accompanied by a certain chipper Amazoness, teleported to the 41st floor, to exactly the spot where he had been forced to stop his monster slaying endeavours yesterday. He had obediently eaten his prison food and returned the tray to the hoistway, just so nobody would grow suspicious. If he had refused to eat anything, people might grow worried and check on him in his cell, after all. Thankfully, the food hadn''t been anything bad, just some day-old bread. If it had been something that he wouldn''t have been able to stomach, then he would have just incinerated it or put it into his inventory so that he could dispose of it later.

    "So, it''s just the two of us here today¡­~"

    Completely ignoring the various monsters in their surroundings, Tiona walked closer to Isaac and gazed at him with a teasing and slightly seductive expression on her face.

    For a moment, Isaac was speechless, then he turned around and quickly disposed of every monster that stood in his way, continuing his search for a staircase leading to the 42nd floor.

    "Remember, we''re not here to play around."

    His words made Tiona frown unhappily, but then she heaved a reluctant sigh and followed after him, further into the dungeon. She had just been kidding, as even she wouldn''t disregard the potential dangers of their environment just to ''have some fun'' - at least not under normal circ.u.mstances. While irregularities would almost never appear in the dungeon, when they did, they often proved deadly. So, in order to live a bit longer, it was paramount to get one''s head out of the clouds.

    Earlier today, Ais had teleported all of the familia''s Executives and above to the staircase that they usually used to reach the 58th floor. They would meet again in the early evening, at the same spot, so she could bring them back home. In the meantime, they would all have the opportunity to grow stronger.

    When Isaac and Tiona arrived on the 43rd floor, about half an hour had passed. As there were no new monster species to research on the way, they just sped by all enemies that they encountered, with Isaac taking out only the ones that stood directly in their way - which still amounted to a shocking number. Still, by now, he only occasionally glanced at his monster slaying quests. He had slowly started to develop a habit of ''taking inventory'' of all that he had achieved and amassed during the day in the evenings.

    Having made it back to the first half of the Desolate Frontier, which stretched from the 43rd to the 46th floor, a motivated smile flashed across Isaac''s lips. He took a deep breath and enjoyed the markedly lower temperatures here. After the hell-like landscape that he had been traversing just a floor prior, this husk of a burnt out massive tree that he was now confronted with was like a ray of sunshine in the darkness. Although the heat from before hadn''t managed to harm him in any way, it was still slightly annoying, like a very minor itch that just wouldn''t go away. It could be ignored, and after a while, one would forget that it even existed - but when it actually disappeared for good, it felt extremely liberating.

    According to what he had taken note of back during the expedition, there should be seven new monster species to ''observe'' on these floors. Yet again, a slight smile played across his lips. If he wasn''t wrong, then they should be more than enough to allow him to reach a certain milestone.

    Without further ado, Isaac rushed into the labyrinthian caves, detecting the presence of every monster far before he even came across it - Eyes of Hermes be blessed. Of course, he didn''t forget to restrict his strength to the exact same stats as the various opponents that he encountered, as elsewise, he wouldn''t even get a chance to research them before they died in the blink of an eye.

    The weakest of the new additions were the Red Devils. Their names might have sounded imposing, but all in all, they were just stronger versions of the Imps that he had faced before. They still mainly relied on their huge numbers, their Agility - which could reach up to F-300 / 11,850 - and sneak attacks, but now, they could use fire enchant type Magic on their stone daggers and claws as well, which did provide a little bit of added challenge. Still, for veterans who had made it all the way here, they were far too easy to deal with.

    Next in line was the species that was by far the most numerous one on these floors, the Flame Rocks. They were stone golems with flame-like cores. Although they were considered to be relatively small, they were still about two meters tall. When huge groups of them swarmed an enemy, they could bury them beneath their weight alone easily. As probably already expected, their Endurance could reach up to F-350 / 12,250¡­ but their Magic could as well. Once the damage that they had suffered exceeded a certain point, as a last resort, they would ignite their flame-like cores to produce a huge explosion, whose might could easily reduce inattentive adventurers to a bloody pulp, or even ashes and bone fragments.

    The easiest way to avoid this fate was to simply distance oneself a bit, as the signs of the impending detonation were extremely conspicuous. During expeditions, these golems were usually taken care of as quickly as possible, because if they got enough time to use their self-destruction Magic, the ones holding up the frontline would be heavily burdened. Thankfully, if they were killed before they oh-so-graciously deleted themselves, they would drop their flame-like cores. These crimson-coloured rocks were also called ''Kaenseki'' and would explode if they were exposed to high enough temperatures. They could be used as impromptu grenades if used in tandem with fire, and quite a few blacksmiths were interested in researching what other potential uses they could have.

    A bit more rare were the Fallen Meliae. They looked like humanoid tree nymphs of legend - that is, if those had been exposed to a forest fire. Their hair was ashen grey, and their bodies were clearly carbonized in a lot of places. A fiery glow could be seen emanating from within, just like embers in an almost extinguished fire. Their eye sockets didn''t contain eyeballs - instead, they were replaced by small balls of fire.

    Amusingly, they looked like they were on their last legs even when they were in the most optimal of conditions, and their physical bodies truly could barely take any damage before they crumbled. Their main mode of attack was magical in nature, which was also reflected in their stats - Magic could reach up to E-400 / 12,650. Their control over fire was simply outstanding, they could even combine their attacks into more powerful ones.

    Thankfully, due to Isaac''s ability to sense the mana in an extremely wide area, he didn''t need to worry about these abilities at all. Whenever a Magic was cast, he would instantly notice it. He even tested his Magic interruption theory on them, and quickly got results. Even just slightly messing with the mana that fell under the control of his enemies would enable him to either completely snuff out their attacks or to make them explode in their faces. He hadn''t yet succeeded in manipulating the Magics'' more finer details, but it was a good start. Still, should he face someone who had also dabbled in Mana Cultivation, Isaac was certain that what he had achieved so far would amount to nothing more than a cheap parlor trick.

    Fourth on the list were the Burnt Treants. As the name implied, they were literally just mostly carbonized Treants. They were far stronger than their weaker brethren, obviously, but that was it. Just like their regular versions, they had a lot of variations with differing abilities, so researching every single one of them fully would be a long-term project. They were still somewhat weak to fire, but not nearly as much as before - after all, they had already almost succ.u.mbed to a red-hot death, what was a little more of that familiar pain? Their various stats could reach up to E-450 / 13,050.

    Although they were basically just reskins, they did finally enable Isaac to arrive at the point that he had been looking forward to.

    [ All stats have reached the post-update maximum.

    Quest ''Reach the Level 3 stat limit.'' completed. 3000 AP rewarded. ]

    With a smirk, Isaac chose to go through with the update and to rank himself up to Level 4 as well. The qualifications to advance in Level were far too easily acquired, so much so that he had honestly stopped paying attention to them entirely. As soon as he killed a monster whose stats - without the Divine Being-buff being taken into account - were higher than his own by about 200, he was already golden. What other adventurers had to slave away at for months on end was achieved effortlessly. Well, to be honest, he did put in the effort, he just found it to be easy - it was a matter of perspective.

    [ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: None ]

    [ Race: God ]

    [ Divinity: None ]

    [ Arcanum: None ]

    [ Level: 3 -> 4 ]

    [ Age: Unable to measure ]

    [ Charisma: 34 ]

    [ Divine Energy: 23271 -> 31547 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: SSS-1211 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (15750 x 2.003) ]

    [ Endurance: SSS-1205 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (15750 x 2.003) ]

    [ Dexterity: SSS-1222 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (15750 x 2.003) ]

    [ Agility: SSS-1208 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (15750 x 2.003) ]

    [ Magic: SSS-1217 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (15750 x 2.003) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ Anemoi Steps ]

    [ Eyes of Hermes ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Divine Being ]

    [ Reverential Resonance ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Huntsman: F ]

    [ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment: G -> F ]

    [ Hunter: H ]

    [ Experienced Hunter: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Archer, Mage, Spirit Healing, Swordsman ]

    Isaac had prepared himself as well as he could and, although he was tempted to just relax and let his Divine Energy run rampant, he was careful to not let any of it leak at all. Now that he had done so a few times, he had become far more proficient at it - unless he truly wanted to gain the dungeon''s attention, there was simply no way for him to slip up in regards to Divine Energy or Divine Aura anymore.

    Of course, like all the times before, he chose this Level''s Hunter-series Development-Ability. Three of his plans relied upon them, and only the short-term one - faster excelia gain - had come into play so far. As for the other two, they were still a long while off.

    With a refreshed sigh, Isaac didn''t bask in the post-rank up euphoria for long and instead continued his research on his poor victi--- ahem, the horrific monstrosities inhabiting these floors. Although he wouldn''t gain any more excelia for a short while, thanks to the boost in every single aspect of his vessel''s being that the rise to a higher Level had provided, unraveling the mysteries of new specimens was always something that he looked forward to. He also needed to continue racking up Level 4 monster kills to unlock the next Hunter-series Development Ability.

    ''Come to think of it, the Guild should be keeping records of all the monster species and the best strategies to fight them. While I don''t doubt that the ones regarding weaker monsters are pretty solid by now, the ones concerning the monsters from the Deep Floors shouldn''t have been fully figured out yet. I wonder if I should provide them with the information that I gained so far? Alternatively, if they won''t want what I have gathered until now, once I surpass the previous floor record, they should be desperate for my insights.''

    Even though he was patiently dismemberin--- researching the monsters, Isaac still had plenty of focus to spare on some of his minor plans for the future.

    The fifth and sixth new monster species which he encountered were actually both quite interesting, as they excelled at camouflage. They also achieved this in different ways.

    The former, the Ashen Ghosts, were essentially just scaled-up versions of chameleons. They relied mostly on Agility - which could reach up to D-500 / 13,450 - and attacked with their tongues. In an environment like this, where the lighting was far from ideal, they had an easy time picking off unsuspecting adventurers. Sadly, they couldn''t hide from the Eyes of Hermes.

    As for the latter, they were a bit more difficult to deal with. Their name was ''Black Goo'', and that was almost literally what they were. They were slimes that were entirely black due to the huge amounts of charcoal that they had absorbed over their lifetimes. Their very essence were small cores, which they could hide anywhere within their bodies - each individual had a single core. They could manipulate their bodies to cling to the walls, ceiling and ground and look just like a part of the surrounding caves, similar to some mimics which Isaac had seen in his old world''s video games.

    The moment that anyone stepped into the Black Goos'' traps, they would collapse upon them from all sides and start to digest them. Their bodies were relatively resistant to most physical attacks because they relied mainly on Endurance, which could reach up to D-525 / 13,650. This enabled them to disregard most of their preys'' struggles.

    Usually, adventurers would let their party''s mages use wide-area attacks to somehow get rid of the Goos'' cores. Isaac both didn''t have that much mana to waste or a need to follow this path at all. By using his mana to sense the insides of the Black Goos'' bodies, he could easily locate their cores. In that process, he also found out that they were far more likely to hide them in the most remote corners that they could find, which made sense - after all, they were living beings and had to have at least some sort of life preservation instincts. After multiple encounters, Isaac came up with a rule of thumb - the cores were generally in the area located the farthest away from where the respective Goo''s attack began.

    The last new monster species was yet another reskin, which made Isaac sigh in disappointment. He had originally expected for them to at least showcase some new abilities, but that hadn''t been the case. Although the Shadow Fiends - the higher Level, blood-coloured versions of War Shadows - had by far the highest stats on these floors, with all of them but Magic reaching up to D-550 / 13,850, even their regular versions had been a let-down to him back when he had encountered them. On the bright side, as they could recover from ridiculous amounts of damage before their bodies dissipated, he didn''t need to waste much time on seeking out too many of them - the first group of twenty plus individuals which he stumbled across was far more than enough to end his research on their species.

    ''Come to think of it, Tiona has been behaving quite well today¡­''

    Usually, Ais would have to at least hold her back once or twice every hour, but until now, she had yet to charge at him like a brainless homing-missile of l.u.s.t. Positively surprised by this development, Isaac shot a glance at his Amazoness bodyguard. Even though Tiona tried to keep up a bright smile all the while, he could still occasionally see a glimpse of desire flashing in her eyes.

    When he was about to compliment her for the hard work she had put in, as he had been told about just how strong an Amazoness'' primal urges were and he truly respected her effort, he suddenly froze in his tracks.

    ''Phew, that was a close one! I bet she would lose control if I were to be too nice to her right now.''

    Shooting her another glance - this time a slightly wary one - Isaac finally led the way down a staircase leading to the 47th floor.

    ''I guess I could pull an all-nighter to finally get this all over with. I wonder what the others would say if I make it to the 59th floor before them?''

    After taking note of the current time, a chuckle escaped his lips as he finally stepped into the latter half of the Desolate Frontier. Only two and a half hours had passed, it was about 4 p.m.. Now that he finally could focus entirely on delving deeper, he approached the secrets hidden in the unexplored depths at a breakneck pace.

 Chapter 102 - Crossing The Fourth Line

    Since the day''s early hours, the Loki Familia''s five person party had been continuously battling monsters on the 58th floor. Usually, they would only have four or five hours of time once they made it here during their expeditions, partially due to their schedule, and partially due to the stamina that they lost on the floors that they needed to fight their way through to make it this far. This time, however, thanks to the borderline game breaking teleportation ability that Ais could make use of, they could focus a lot more on this ultimate frontier of the dungeon.

    With deafening roars, massive numbers of mostly Valgang Dragons surrounded the party, shooting their fiery breaths and swiping at them with their claws and tails. For anyone else, this would have been a terror-inducing situation, but none of those assembled here had anything to fear. Every single one of them had ranked up to Level 6 by now, so these monsters, which were amongst the strongest Level 5 monsters that had been encountered so far, didn''t pose too much of a threat.

    Accompanied by calm and unhurried chanting, Riveria summoned an enormous blizzard that assaulted hundreds of the surrounding monsters and froze them to death, acquiring some breathing room for her party members in the process. Because she, Gareth and Finn gained basically no excelia from killing opponents as weak as these, they had mostly left the killing to Tione and Bete, who could still profit from the battles. This, however, did put both of them under a lot of pressure, so whenever they looked like they were about to be overwhelmed, one of the veterans would intervene.

    With a small frown, the motherly Elf looked to the side, at her old Pallum friend, the Captain that they all relied on. For a while now, Finn had been pacing up and down nervously, the expression on his face anything but a positive one.

    "What is going on?"

    There wasn''t even a need to ask whether or not something was wrong - after all, the answer to that question was obvious. So as to not distract the two fledgeling Level 6''s amongst them, Riveria chose to whisper her inquiry, barely loud enough for Finn and Gareth to hear it.

    Her words caused the former to stop in his tracks and to hesitate for a moment, then he sighed and responded just as quietly.

    "Ever since we found that staircase leading further down, my thumb has been throbbing like crazy. I''m positive that should we descend there right now, things would go horribly wrong."

    This revelation made Riveria furrow her eyebrows, and only after a while did she wager an educated guess.

    "Is it because Ais isn''t here with us? All the supplies that we prepared to brace the ''Glacier Territory'' are with her. So without those, we''re completely unprepared for the potential environmental dangers. If it''s not that, it might be an especially strong Monster Rex."

    Even though what she had said did make sense, Finn could only shrug and shake his head helplessly.

    "I don''t know. Both of these don''t feel entirely correct, but I just can''t put my finger on it. I guess for now, we should just wait for Ais, Tiona and Isaac to join us, then we should be able to brace the risk."

    From the side, Gareth had been listening in all along and nodded in approval. He usually left all of these decisions to his two old friends to make, as they were considerably more talented at these mental gymnastics. While he wasn''t a musclebrain by any means, thinking things through thoroughly just wasn''t the area that he most excelled at. It was neutral territory for him, so there was no point in arguing with the field''s experts.

    Unbeknownst to the three of them, somewhere on a staircase leading down to the 59th floor - far out of anyone''s range of perception - an athletic woman with a frosty expression was leaning against one of the dungeon''s walls, paying attention to their conversation. She had relatively short, blood-red hair and green eyes, and was about half a head taller than Ais. Her attire seemed like a patchwork put together from multiple adventurers'' outfits, as her armour pieces didn''t match, and neither did the clothing underneath.

    ''Why is there someone down here!? From what my master told us, none of the familias of Orario should have been here at this time. Then why is the Loki Familia here? I need to report this. Thankfully, they don''t seem to be planning to head any further down for a while, so I will let my master know about this during our next scheduled meeting.''

    Although she looked unperturbed on the surface, the woman''s heart was all but calm. Never before had her master''s information been flawed, so when she had noticed the muffled sounds of intense battle coming from the 58th floor, she had initially frozen up in disbelief for a couple of moments. Only after quite a while had she been able to come up with a plan of action on the spot.

    ''Oh well, for now, I''ll continue to observe them. Once they leave, I''ll go back down to continue my work.''

    -----

    The 47th and 48th floors still fully consisted of connected caves, but this time, the temperatures were even a little bit colder than before - well, basically, it was still extremely hot. What had changed was that the carbonized tree-look had been swapped with sandstone and a hell of a lot of sand. For now, the environment wasn''t a problem at all, so Isaac could fully focus on researching the various new monsters. Just like in the first half, seven different species populated these floors. Well, and the Monster Rex, Balor, who wasn''t even close to respawning.

    There was one more noteworthy detail about the 47th floor - it was also referred to as the ''Fourth Line''. Just like the previous ones, this one marked the spot where regular adventurers would usually gain the qualifications to rank up to Level 5. It was also the very last ''Line'' that there was at the moment, simply because not enough people had reached Level 6 yet to determine which floor should be called the ''Fifth Line''. Maybe nobody had even reached that floor yet - after all, most of the outstanding adventurers of these times had only made it as far as they did by slaying variants and Monster Rexes.

    Occasionally, Isaac would stumble across groups of hundreds of Desert Lizards, who seemed to just be waiting for potential prey to enter their territory. They weren''t rare by any means, but they didn''t wander around like most monsters did. Also, they looked quite unassuming - two meter long, earthen-coloured salamanders whose only strengths were their physical bodies just weren''t much of a surprise or challenge to anyone who had made it this far. Their stats could reach up to C-600 / 14,250, and their only real tactic was to swarm their enemies and bite them to death. Yes, it was that simple.

    But even unremarkable monsters like these couldn''t escape the - arguably mad - scientist''s grasp. Even trivia such as whether or not they could shed a part of their tail just like some of the reptiles from Isaac''s past world were thoroughly put to the test. For the record, they could. Many poor lizards had attempted to retreat and regroup with their brethren, and displayed this ''diversion'' ability in the process.

    The next most numerous were the Fomoires. Whenever any adventurers thought about the Desolate Frontier, they were what came to mind first, simply because they roamed absolutely everywhere in this latter half. In essence, they were similar to Minotaurs, the only difference was that they had goat heads instead of cow ones. Also, as probably expected at this point, they were far stronger, with their Strength and Endurance reaching up to C-650 / 14,650. The groups that they formed usually would consist of close to a hundred individuals.

    They could also use rudimentary tactics and some natural weapons found in the dungeon, such as sticks and stones, or the weapons of slain adventurers. Still, because barely anyone made it all the way down here, these occurrences were now few and far between. Whenever a familia ventured this deep, they were usually accompanied by experienced and strong veterans, who would clean up any opposing monsters or at least secure the corpses and belongings of their fallen from the monsters'' maws. So, the sight of Fomoires carrying manmade weapons had only been prevalent back when these floors had been the furthest that anyone had ever made it.

    Fomoires were extremely simple-minded and relied far more on their muscles than their smarts - needless to say, they didn''t pose much of a challenge, not even to regular adventurers. Once one knew how to deal with the Minotaurs, one basically already knew what to expect from these goat monsters.

    Occasionally, massive herds of Old Bisons would cross Isaac''s path. They followed in the footsteps of all the other monsters that were just scaled-up, stronger versions of animals that he knew from his old world. Besides the fact that their hides were quite durable and one of the favourite materials to make protective clothes from for the higher Level adventurers, there was almost nothing else to mention about them. Well, besides their Endurance stat, which could reach up to B-700 / 15,050.

    Even some more reskins could be found on these floors, in the form of Sand Worms. They were - obviously - stronger, desert-themed versions of the Dungeon Worms that could be found in the Middle Floors. They still attacked from within the dungeon''s various walls, the ceiling and the ground, just like before. One thing that set them apart was that they apparently could move far more quickly when submerged in sand, so whenever Isaac entered bigger caverns that contained massive amounts of it, they would behave like rabid piranhas in water. Their Agility could reach up to B-750 / 15,450. Their one saving grace was that they did provide him with stat points in the single digits again, but only for the first few kills.

    With just as original of a name as the Sand Worms, the next strongest ones on the list were the Sand Scorpions. Initially, Isaac had expected for them to be just like the Old Bisons, but they had given him a positive surprise - aside from the now far more noticeable amounts of excelia that they provided. The scorpions could actually fire poisonous needles from their tails, at a speed that made it extremely difficult to evade. Even Isaac had almost been grazed by one of these attacks, so it was no wonder that usually, adventurers would need to carry some sorts of Elixirs with them or to have a competent healer along to handle the detoxification process.

    Because the poison got augmented by the scorpions'' mana, their Magic stat was quite high - it could reach up to A-800 / 15,850. Their Endurance was the same, which showed in their resilient chitinous carapaces. Still, just like most lifeforms that relied on these, once their defenses were broken, they were living on borrowed time and could only wait for their deaths. In the Sand Scorpions'' case, this bleeding-out process took exactly 12 minutes and 41 seconds. To test this, Isaac had kept one of them in such a state and observed it with his Eyes of Hermes while continuing his research on other specimens.

    Although the Sand Scorpions had been a pleasant surprise, the following Vulture Hunters, sadly, were anything but. They were far bigger versions of vultures from Isaac''s past world, nothing more. Admittedly, they were a lot faster, more powerful and more resilient than those birds, but that was what was to be expected from a monster. Aside from their Magic, all of their stats were at A-825 / 16,050. Only when Isaac made it to the 49th floor could they even make use of their full abilities, as the larger caverns that they had resided in previously had just been far, far too small compared to the seemingly endless singular room that the last floor of the Desert Frontier consisted of. But even then, due to Isaac''s Anemoi Steps, they had nowhere to escape, and their mobility advantage was all for naught. Even if he hadn''t had such a convenient Magic at hand, the bow and arrows in his inventory would have been far more than sufficient to snipe them out of the sky.

    Lastly, there were the Basilisks - and they were finally relatively interesting opponents to look forward to again. While they weren''t able to cause death with a single glance and neither could they petrify their opponents, like the various myths from Isaac''s old world claimed, this world''s kings of the serpents were still extremely deadly. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#%!d(string=14168375705541905)/crossing-the-fourth-line_%!d(string=51442810095721242)">#%!d(string=14168375705541905)/crossing-the-fourth-line_%!d(string=51442810095721242)</a> for visiting.

    Their bodies varied in size from about twenty to fifty meters in length. They weren''t actually serpents, but rather eight-legged, wingless dragon type monsters. Needless to say, the toughness of their scales was exceptional, and they also had fire breath attacks in their arsenal. But those weren''t what made them so dangerous. Rather, it was the constant flow of overpowering poison that flowed from the gaps in between their scales. In other words, they were wet and slippery, even in this climate. They left literal rivers of poison in the wake. Not only would anybody who touched these toxins be paralyzed, but if they weren''t treated within a specific timeframe - which differed depending on the victim''s Endurance - whoever touched the poison would simply die. Most regular Elixirs weren''t able to treat it, so it was quite expensive to get rid of its effects. During expeditions, parties would usually let their mages deal with the few basilisks that they would inevitably encounter. All of their stats were equal and could reach up to A-850 / 16,250.

    It was at this point that Isaac ran into a bit of a problem - one that he had ignored previously, as there just had been no time at all to deal with it. His weapon, the perfectly weighted sword that he had managed to buy some time ago¡­ it simply wasn''t strong enough to deal with the Basilisks'' scales. Even after a single clash to test their durability, the sword was already close to shattering, so he had no choice but to put it away and into his inventory. Ais had long since advised him to upgrade his equipment once again, and he had intended to take her up on this offer. He had even planned when to do it¡­ but due to the attack on his students, his plans had changed.

    All of this didn''t mean that Isaac was out of options, however. Just using his body to attack directly would be enough to obliterate these enemies, even when he restricted himself to the same stats as the monsters that he was facing. The poison that he would come into contact with would be a bit of a momentary headache, but not an obstacle that was impossible to overcome. But thankfully, there were still other options.

    Back during his battle with the Black Blade, he had slain the Petbe Familia''s Captain, and also obtained his weapon in the process - a khopesh made out of a material that could easily overcome most Monster Rexes'' defenses, and obviously the Basilisks'' scales too. The problems with it were that Isaac personally preferred regular, bog-standard swords over these sickle swords, and it also hadn''t been custom-made for him, so it felt a bit awkward to use.

    ''Oh well, this will have to do for now. I''ll see to it to commission a new sword with that blacksmith that Ais wanted to introduce to me later in secret. For now, time to forge ahead.''

    With a reluctant sigh, Isaac swapped to Mosi''s khopesh and swiftly continued his research. By the time that he found a staircase leading towards the 50th floor, another two and a half hours had passed. Still, he didn''t immediately descend, contrary to what he had done all of the previous times. Instead, he continued to stay here on the 49th floor for another forty minutes, during which he stopped restricting his stats, as his research was already complete.

    The reason as to why he had stayed in place for now was that he hadn''t unlocked the fourth Level''s Hunter-series Development Ability yet, and all monsters past this point would be at Level 5 already. Originally, he had expected to only need to slay 15,000 Level 4 monsters, but only when his monster slaying achievement arrived at about 20,000 did the Development Ability finally grace him.

    ''This is insane! If this one follows the previous Levels'' requirements, one would need to slay 20,000 Level 4 monsters in a single day, while still staying at Level 4 oneself. No wonder nobody has ever seen this one before. For regular adventurers, it might as well be impossible to achieve.''

    Isaac couldn''t help but click his tongue in disbelief. The increase in required kills would have been quite exhausting even for him to deal with had he not obtained the Divine Being buff. Sure, he still would have made it in time easily, but he would have been considerably exhausted by the end of it.

    ''That said, if I could go back in time¡­ wait, I can actually do that. Let me rephrase that. If I chose to go back in time, I would still not choose any other Development Abilities to focus on.''

    Smiling smugly to himself, Isaac glanced at the details of the Development Ability that he would soon obtain. His intuition told him that there would most likely be a nice surprise waiting for him once he found the time to grind all of them to their maximum grade.

    [ Veteran Hunter (I): When battling a monster one has already gained excelia from previously - 8% increase in all stats, 8% increase in excelia gained. ]

    -----

    After she had brought the students back to the training courtyard, Ais bid her farewell to them and quickly arrived on the 57th floor, right next to a staircase leading to the 58th. What greeted her were the battered figures of Tione and Bete, as well as her three mentors, whose clothes were still mostly spotless.

    "Took you long enough."

    A low grumble escaped the Werewolf''s mouth while he was resting on the floor, trying his best to recover from all these hours of intense fighting.

    The golden-haired beauty''s mood, which had been excellent so far, took a slight hit at this tactless remark, and the lid of her right eye twitched almost imperceptibly. Still, instead of lashing out, she chose to ignore Bete and focused on the rest of the party instead, sporting a slight smile.

    "Everyone, gather around."

    Merely a second later, they were already back in yet another one of the familia''s training courtyards. These were simply the easiest excuse that could be found to mask their dungeon delving trips, so there was no need to come up with a new one just for the students.

    Now that she was finally almost done with her transportation services for the day, an excited grin appeared on Ais'' face.

    "I''ll go and get Tiona. After that, I''ll stay with Isaac for a bit."

    Leaving these words behind, the girl disappeared into thin air. Riveria had only just opened her mouth to say something, but then she shook her head and smiled wryly to herself.

    ''There is no need to worry, they won''t make it that deep anyway. She has been looking forward to spending some more time with him all day now, so I''ll avoid burdening her with ''that'' for now.''

    Seconds later, Ais reappeared with a slightly disgruntled Tiona, before vanishing yet again, her eyes sparkling with happiness. Slightly curious, Riveria approached the usually cheerful Amazoness.

    "How long does Isaac plan to stay in the dungeon? And how far has he progressed?"

    It only took a couple of breaths for Tiona to rebound from her less than optimal mood, and a bright smile soon spread across her lips. She giggled haughtily in Riveria''s face, and started to brag about Isaac''s achievements a little.

    "Hehe, we''ve just arrived at the 50th floor. He said that he would pull an all-nighter today, so I wouldn''t be surprised if he broke our floor record."

    She hadn''t known that Isaac had originally planned to surprise his allies with this achievement, so she revealed it all without hesitation. Well, she couldn''t be blamed for this blunder, as he hadn''t communicated these thoughts to her at all. In fact, he had behaved somewhat distantly from her. Tiona wasn''t that much of an idiot, and she had long realized that the stronger that Isaac became, the more of her unwanted advances he gave the cold shoulder to. When she was alone, she would sometimes sit in depressed silence for a few minutes, simply because her mind had already realized that there probably wasn''t a place for her in his heart. Still, whenever she saw him achieve brilliant feats of martial skill and strength, her Amazoness-self acted up again, almost overpowering her reason. The body and heart wanted what they wanted, and only time would help the harshness of reality to truly settle in.

    While falling in love was easy, falling out of it or coming to terms with an undesirable development were extraordinarily difficult.

    Suddenly, a pained groan interrupted Tiona''s stray thoughts.

    "Captain!? What''s wrong?"

    Her sister, Tione, had already rushed to Finn''s side. The usually steadfast Pallum had grabbed his right hand''s thumb tightly. His expression, for a moment, was not as calm and unperturbed as it usually was. This didn''t last for long, however, and quickly, his face returned to normal. With an appreciative smile in Tione''s direction, clearly grateful for the worry that she had shown, Finn explained what had happened.

    "I''m fine, my thumb has just started to throb a bit more intensely than usual when I heard that Ais and Isaac might make it to the 59th floor alone. I''ve been having a very bad feeling about that floor for a while, and it seems like my intuition doesn''t like their current odds one bit."

    A deep breath later, his gaze hardened and he turned to Riveria, Gareth and Tiona.

    "We can''t communicate with Ais and Isaac while neither of them are present. Bete and Tione are too exhausted, so the four of us will have to do. No matter what, we have to reach them before they arrive at the 59th floor. Let''s move out, at full speed!"

    By the time that his last words had left his lips, the four had already charged out of the Twilight Manor, at a speed too fast for most people to even notice them.

    Moments after they made it back into the dungeon, Tiona frowned heavily and asked the question that had been on all of their minds.

    "What if they won''t take the same path that we did? We might not even make it in time then, even if we get to the 58th floor first."

    With unhappiness written all over his face, Finn heaved a forlorn sigh.

    "I know. Our chances are abysmal, but should we fail, we''ll at the very least be able to tell ourselves that we tried our best."

    His reply didn''t inspire confidence, but there honestly wasn''t much of a bright side to look at.

 Chapter 103 - Level 5

    Whether they strolled through a peaceful environment or a monster-ridden place filled to the brim with mortal danger, as long as Ais was with him, Isaac felt noticeably happier than he usually would be. Ever since she had joined him for the evening, he had felt more at ease, and his research flowed more smoothly. Or, well, maybe all of these things were just imaginary, and there really hadn''t been any significant difference in his performance. It honestly didn''t matter to him.

    When Ais noticed him using a khopesh to slay his opponents, a slight but smug smile stole itself on her lips. Her expression clearly told Isaac "I told you so". This made him a little bit embarrassed, but he didn''t attempt to talk his way out of his slight slip-up. Aside from a few chuckles, Ais didn''t rub any salt into his wounds, so he quickly managed to refocus on his dungeon exploration.

    Because the 50th floor was a safety point, the two of them rushed past it without a pause. Due to there barely being any monsters on this floor, it took them only twenty minutes or so to spot a staircase leading further down, which they then descended. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#%!d(string=14168375705541905)/level-5_%!d(string=51564816694835563)">#%!d(string=14168375705541905)/level-5_%!d(string=51564816694835563)</a> for visiting.

    The 51st floor was where Isaac would have the opportunity to expand his knowledge once again. He hadn''t actually made it here during the expedition, but because Ais was with him, he quickly got to know about all the species that he needed to ''examine''. Well, one of them, the Cadmus, seemed to refuse to spawn for the moment, so that one could be struck from the list. Still, there were five other monster species remaining that could be encountered at the beginning of the Dragon Vase.

    As quite so often, the weakest and also the most numerous ones were the first to get a taste of Isaac''s expert scientific research. They were called Black Rhinos, and looked just like slightly bigger rhinoceroses with black and tough skin. In a way, they could be considered to be monster-versions of regular animals from Isaac''s old world. What set them apart, however, was that the Black Rhinos could stand on their hind legs and showcase movements akin to a humanoid. They were brute strength type fighters which didn''t have many hidden cards to play, which was why the research on them finished quickly and without a hitch. Usually, they would roam in groups ranging all the way from five to more than a hundred individuals. Amongst their stats, both Strength and Endurance could reach up to I-50 / 21,050, while the rest weren''t anything spectacular.

    Between the monsters roaming the 49th floor and those encountered here on the 51st, there was a massive gap of close to 5,000 Level 1 stat points. This was because any monster encountered from this point forward would, at the very least, have reached Level 5. For regular adventurers, it would be a massive undertaking to bridge this gap, but it wouldn''t be impossible by any means. Once some of the stronger adventurers reached Level 5, their stats would be around 18,000 if converted to Level 1 stats, so they ''only'' needed to slay these Level 5 monsters in a party for a couple of months until they would be capable of facing them on their own.

    Well, for Isaac, no gap like this existed. Only the Cadmus, the one monster that he couldn''t fight at the moment, did surpass his current stats, and that was only by a ''small'' difference of about 4,000 - if converted to Level 1 stats, of course. As for every other monster that he could encounter here, he could still rely on the tried and true method of restricting himself to the same stats for a more comprehensive and and at least slightly challenging research experience.

    After Isaac had slain the first Level 5 monster, he was almost drowned in the enormous amount of excelia that he gained. At the very least, he wouldn''t have to waste any time on slaying monsters that didn''t help him grow stronger, for now, which was quite pleasant to say the least. He would surely arrive at a point like that again relatively soon, but for now, he could enjoy the status quo.

    Next in line were the Deformis Spiders. They could grow to a size of about three or so meters, which would easily give any arachnophobes a heart attack. Thankfully, Isaac didn''t fall into that category. While he agreed that arachnids looked quite disgusting, they weren''t too different from other monsters in his eyes.

    The spiders'' bodies were mostly purple, with a few red spots dotted all over them, the same colour as their eyes. Usually, they would ambush their prey from hidden corners in the dark labyrinth that was the 51st floor. Sadly, not only could Isaac clearly see their webs, even their hidden bodies were plainly visible to him. The role of the ambusher and the ambushee had been reversed. With that, the spiders'' only advantage, their Agility which could reach up to H-150 / 22,650, wasn''t of any help at all. The pained screeches of suffering and dying arachnids echoed through the otherwise mostly silent halls.

    The next monster species that had the ''pleasure'' of being on Isaac''s list were the Venom Scorpions. They were honestly amongst the most disappointing new additions, as they couldn''t even compare to the Sand Scorpions in terms of originality - this time, they were simply scaled-up versions of the most generic scorpions from Isaac''s past world. Yes, their poison would quickly kill most adventurers that didn''t have Abnormal Resistance at a decent grade, but they couldn''t even scratch Isaac in their wildest dreams, so why even bother? Their Agility and Magic reached up to G-200 / 23,450, which wasn''t too bad, but they evoked nothing but a disappointed sigh from Isaac once he was done with them.

    Silver Worms - the name for this monster species really was quite unflattering. They presented Isaac with a positive surprise, however. After all, they weren''t actually worms, but snakes. Whoever had named them really had to have had a vendetta of some kind against them, after all, they looked to be considerably regal creatures. Their silver scales looked breathtaking in this barely-lit environment, and even aesthetically, they were amongst the most beautiful snakes that Isaac had seen so far. Really, who had thought that calling them ''Silver Worms'' was a good idea!? He couldn''t figure it out. Thankfully, he wasn''t here to find out which fool had had such a plainly terrible naming sense.

    The not-actually-worms mostly acted as distractions for the other monster species on these floors. After all, they stuck out a lot, so most adventurers would have their eyes glued on them, which would lead them to a quick death, or at least quite a bit of pain. But even on their own, the Silver Worms weren''t all too easy to deal with. They excelled in all stats but Magic, and could reach up to F-300 / 25,050, which was more than enough to require an experienced Level 5 adventurer to take care of them.

    Against Isaac, their tactics were useless, but their Drop Items were anything but. These silver-coloured scales were more than sufficient to create outstanding armour from, and they would surely fetch a high price on the market. After all, they were amongst the best Drop Items to make metal-based armour from that had been discovered so far.

    Here on the 51st floor, Isaac could only encounter one more new monster species, the Thunder Snakes. They were almost ten meters long and yellowish-golden in colour. Contrary to the Silver Worms, their scales weren''t all that tough, but they didn''t need to be. After all, their main mode of attack was to spew bolts of electricity at their targets. If one even so much as touched their actual bodies, one would also be subjected to a relatively weaker electric shock. Then, once the prey was paralyzed or otherwise out of commission, the Thunder Snakes could crush them with their strong bodies easily. Both their Magic and Strength reached up to F-350 / 25,850. Regular adventurers took care of them with ranged attacks, but even then, the Thunder Snakes'' bolts were still a nuisance to deal with that sometimes couldn''t be evaded.

    This latter part wasn''t a problem for Isaac. Simply by observing their heads'' movements closely, he would always know where they would aim at next, so he could easily dodge. Another option which he had available to deal with this was to use his Eyes of Hermes to detect the mana gathering within their throats. Well, he still did this, but it wasn''t even necessary.

    For himself, killing these snakes wasn''t difficult. He didn''t even need to use his bow, he only needed to disrupt the mana in the snakes'' scales right before he was about to hit them with his khopesh. That way, he wouldn''t be touched by the electric currents at all. Still, this wouldn''t work for regular adventurers. As he was always thinking about strategies which his students could employ as well, he quickly came up with a few possible solutions.

    First of all and most obviously, they could use ranged attacks, whether they be Magic, bows, crossbows¡­ heck, even slingshots could work. Aside from these, there were two ''relatively simple'' methods that relied on close combat. The easiest of these would be to use weapons made out of non-conductive materials, and to avoid direct bodily contact with the scales. This would only require custom weapons that needed to be prepared specifically for facing this monster species. The harder-to-achieve method would be for the students to create weapons out of mana itself, and to use those to attack. But this required quite the high level of proficiency in Mana Cultivation¡­

    ''Custom weapons it is.''

    With a small nod to himself, Isaac collected a magic stone from a cruelly chopped-up Thunder Snake''s remains before continuing onwards.

    When he made it to the 52nd floor, he soon got confronted with the Valgang Dragons'' breath attacks, which made it all the way here from the 58th floor. This phenomenon caused him to raise an eyebrow, and he started to pay far closer attention to his environment than usual. Still, he couldn''t figure out anything special about it at all. Nothing was different from any previous floors that he had stepped in, at least not in any major way that stuck out.

    Suddenly, he sidestepped another relatively weakened breath attack and stopped in his tracks momentarily.

    ''Wait, maybe that''s it. There really is no difference at all. I shouldn''t be looking for a change, but should closely examine everything that hasn''t changed instead.''

    With that thought in mind, he made use of all of his senses yet again, but only once he used his mana to sense the insides of the dungeon''s walls, ground and ceiling did he finally find what he had been looking for. In fact, he had previously taken note of this particular phenomenon, but it never seemed to have any effect on anything else at all, so he had pushed it to the back of his mind - to the shelf that was filled to the brim with questions that he still hadn''t found the exact answers to, at least for now.

    In regular intervals, about every half a second, an extremely weak signal was sent through the mana that was omnipresent in the dungeon''s structure. This pulse didn''t extend into the air, only into the aforementioned walls, ceiling and ground. It also ran along the exposed parts of these, and whenever it encountered an obstacle that shouldn''t be present, this information would be sent back to whatever sent out these pulses in the first place. It could be likened to echo location, in a way¡­ more or less. There were many differences, and it wasn''t even the polar opposite, but it worked relying on some of the same principles.

    Some time after the information had been obtained, a Valgang Dragon''s breath attack would target the spot which had been detected earlier, leading to the illusion that the dragons could somehow perceive adventurers, even from this far away. What was far more likely to be the case was that they simply got supplied with the information that the dungeon had obtained and made use of that.

    To make sure that it really was this mana pulse that caused the breath attacks to be sent his way, Isaac used his Anemoi Steps to move in the air for a while, and no more attacks appeared by his side. Only Ais was targeted by the dragons.

    A slight smirk played across Isaac''s lips, then he nodded and stopped using his Anemoi Steps. It would be a waste of mana to stay in that state any longer, and he also didn''t need to rely on this Magic in the first place. Now that he had figured out the exact intervals, he would basically always know where and when the next breath attack was going to hit. Heck, even regular adventurers had figured out that much after a couple of months of coming to these floors. They just didn''t know the exact reasons for the phenomenon, while he now had a pretty good idea of what was behind it, at the very least.

    Just to be safe, Isaac devoted a bit of his focus to observe the mana pulse with his Eyes of Hermes - if it changed in any way, then that could mess up his predictions of the breath attacks. But even if they hit him, they wouldn''t be able to harm him too much. Also, he still had a sphere whose diameter was multiple kilometers all around him, which he observed by using his mana - courtesy of, yet again, the Eyes of Hermes. He could evade the dragon breaths by just relying on that information alone, with his eyes closed. Still, it never hurt to be extra careful.

    On the 56th floor, finally, one other monster species appeared. Ill Wyverns weren''t actually, like the name implied, sick members of a lesser dragon species, not at all. Their blueish purple coloured scales just caused them to look a little sickly, so whoever had had the opportunity of naming them went with this name. There was no doubt in Isaac''s mind that this was the same person that had been responsible for the travesty that was the name ''Silver Worms''.

    That aside, Ill Wyverns were actually rather unusual compared to any other dragon species that Isaac had seen in the dungeon so far. Most of the others had been rather massive in size, but the Ill Wyverns were only about three meters long, if their tails were included. They were rather tiny. They also didn''t attack their opponents directly, but only buzzed around in some of the bigger rooms'' airspace and shot fireballs from a distance. Their Agility and Magic reached up to E-450 / 27,450, but all of their other stats were abysmal - a single hit from any Level 5 adventurer would obliterate them. Here on the 56th floor, where they still didn''t have much room to maneuver, they were only a slight headache, but on the 58th floor, which was yet again a nigh endlessly massive, singular room, they were akin to a nightmare. On the 56th and 57th floors, they only appeared in groups of less than twenty, but on the 58th one - although they weren''t the main monster species there - well, there was no upper limit to their group size.

    Aside from not being a labyrinth anymore, the 58th floor only differed from the 51st to 57th ones in one way - it was quite hot there, and occasionally, even lava lakes could be found. They were quite a bit rarer than in the Infernal City, however. The 58th floor''s walls, its ground and its ceiling were still made from graphite, just like the rest of the Dragon Vase. It had taken Isaac close to five hours to make his way here, and it was now close to 10 p.m..

    Finally, the last addition to this thematic zone''s monster species list could be found, the Valgang Dragons. These red, gigantic dragons even posed a challenge to the strongest of Level 5 adventurers as absolutely all of their stats reached up to D-500 / 28,250. Coupled with the huge numbers of Ill Wyverns attacking from the skies, adventurers would be bathed in breath attacks and fireballs if they weren''t good at dodging or defending themselves.

    To Isaac, this didn''t pose a challenge. He calmly walked through the seemingly all-encompassing net of fiery attacks and didn''t even get grazed. Sometimes, he would stop in place for a fraction of a second, then he would suddenly accelerate again. It felt like he was dancing to a rhythm that only he himself could perceive. Using his observational skills and the Eyes of Hermes Magic, the world that he was moving in, the one akin to a chessboard, appeared even clearer in the eyes of Ais, the only observer. No matter how many times that she saw it, it still fascinated her. She usually dealt with this by using Ariel and surrounding herself in protective gales of Wind, taking everything head on, but Isaac''s method was far more graceful. That aside, it also saved a lot of mana.

    Regarding the Valgang Dragons, even though Isaac paid particular attention to them, he couldn''t find any perceivable connection between them and the dungeon. Not even their life force was connected to the dungeon, like he had observed with the Xenos. In conclusion, whatever way that the dragons got their information, it couldn''t be via mana or life force, else he would have noticed it.

    As he had no way to obtain more information regarding this for now, he would just have to figure it out at a later date. So, with a slight shrug of his shoulders, Isaac unceremoniously ended his research on the first Valgang Dragon specimen. Many other dragons were currently injured to various degrees as well, but this one had served its purpose.

    [ Post-update Magic stat has reached the maximum. No further Magic-related excelia can be gained until your Level increases. ]

    Seeing that it was finally time, a beaming smile spread across Isaac''s face, but he didn''t excitedly rush his research. Even though he kept the same pace, only about five minutes later, the Valgang Dragons had absolutely no more secrets to hide from him - aside from how exactly their minds were connected to the dungeon, as mentioned before. With nothing holding him back anymore, many more dragons ''peacefully passed away''.

    [ All stats have reached the post-update maximum.

    Quest ''Reach the Level 4 stat limit.'' completed. 4000 AP rewarded. ]

    Now that he didn''t need to bother with restricting his stats any longer, Isaac quickly dealt with a huge number of the surrounding monsters, then he turned to look at Ais in the distance.

    "Can you protect me for a moment or two? I''ll rank up."

    A nod and a doting smile later, Ais arrived at his side and shrouded the two of them in her Ariel Magic, keeping every assaulting Level 5 monster at bay. She didn''t even need to pay particular attention to this, because these monsters'' stats¡­ they were simply too low. Ever since she had become a goddess, even without using any of her Skills and Magics, some of her stats still exceeded 100,000 - these monsters wouldn''t even be capable of harming her if she stood still and relinquished all resistance.

    Isaac shot Ais a thankful gaze, then he focused on his Falna and initiated the update process, following which he ranked himself up to Level 5. Of course, he didn''t forget to select Veteran Hunter from amongst all of the Development Abilities that he could choose from.

    Because the increase in stats would be considerably major again this time, he wanted to make doubly sure that nothing would go awry with his Divine Energy, although he was certain that he wouldn''t mess up. Still, making doubly, nay, triply sure was the wisest choice here. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have bothered to ask for Ais'' protection.

    While his mortal vessel proceeded to vastly exceed its limits yet again and waves of pleasant and refreshing power welled up inside of him, Isaac kept a clear head and took a look at his updated Status.

    [ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: None ]

    [ Race: God ]

    [ Divinity: None ]

    [ Arcanum: None ]

    [ Level: 4 -> 5 ]

    [ Age: Unable to measure ]

    [ Charisma: 34 ]

    [ Divine Energy: 31547 -> 67601 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (33750 x 2.003) ]

    [ Endurance: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (33750 x 2.003) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (33750 x 2.003) ]

    [ Agility: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (33750 x 2.003) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (33750 x 2.003) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ Anemoi Steps ]

    [ Eyes of Hermes ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Divine Being ]

    [ Reverential Resonance ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Huntsman: F ]

    [ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment: F ]

    [ Hunter: H ]

    [ Experienced Hunter: I ]

    [ Veteran Hunter: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Archer, Mage, Spirit Healing, Swordsman ]

    -----

    At the same time, the small figure of a blonde Pallum shot out from a staircase and arrived on the 50th floor.

    Riveria and Gareth didn''t really have a focus on Agility in their stats, so they were considerably slower than their Captain, Finn. Tiona, although she had only just ranked up to Level 6, was already about as fast as these two mentors of hers, so the three of them had decided to travel together. Although just Finn alone would be enough to deliver the message, should he be too late, a battle might have to be fought - in that case, the other three would be much needed reinforcements.

    Finn himself didn''t excel in his Magic stat as much as Riveria did, and he also lagged behind Gareth in terms of Endurance. Still, he was somewhat close on their heels in both. In all other stats, he had an unbridgeable lead over the other two Level 6 veterans. In all of the Loki Familia, the sum of his stats was the highest. Even now that Ais had ranked up to Level 6 and doubled her stats due to the Divine Being buff, she still wasn''t able to catch up completely.

    Usually, Finn would leave the fighting to others and focused on the strategy aspect of battles. This wasn''t because he didn''t excel at direct clashes, however. Rather, he rarely met any opponents that would warrant his personal interference in the battle. In all of Orario, only the publicly acknowledged strongest, Freya Familia''s ''King'', Ottar, could defeat Finn. Even then, it wouldn''t be a short battle by any means, although Ottar had long ago reached Level 7. Just like Ais and many other outstanding adventurers, Finn had Skills and Magics to rely on to vastly boost his various stats, to ridiculous heights. He was an exceptionally tough nut to crack.

    In just a little under five hours, he had made it all the way to the 50th floor from the surface, while the others still lagged behind and were only now entering the early 40s.

    Suddenly, the rushing Pallum''s expression drastically changed, but he didn''t slow down in the slightest.

    ''The throbbing in my thumb has reduced markedly. Something has to have changed. But what could it be?''

    It didn''t take him long to come up with a plausible explanation - and one that was also the most likely.

    ''Has Isaac ranked up again? Good gods, his advancement speed simply boggles the mind!''

    Even though he was inwardly rejoicing about this piece of news, Finn didn''t dare to dally.

    ''Now matter what, there still is a hint of danger in the air. I don''t think I need to worry about Ais'' and Isaac''s lives for now, but the situation should still be relatively threatening.''

    He had to admit that a load had been taken off his mind, but because the two still weren''t safely back home, what he had to do didn''t change. He needed to warn them before the two could enter the 59th floor, and if that failed, he needed to come to their rescue.

 Chapter 104 - The Lead Found After A Millennium

    As he had reached Level 5, Isaac didn''t gain any more excelia from the monsters on the 58th floor. Also, because the next thematic zone should still consist of monsters that were at Level 5, he didn''t need to stick around here to unlock this Level''s version of the Hunter-series Development Abilities.

    "If you need some warmer clothes or other items to battle the cold with, just let me know."

    With a relaxed smile, Ais arrived at his side. They had just made it to a staircase leading towards the 59th floor and could now casually stroll downwards hand in hand, as no monsters would attack them here.

    "Thanks for the offer. I''ll see how bad the environment is down there first, and if necessary, I''ll take you up on it."

    According to Ais'' explanation, the Zeus and Hera Familias had made it to the 59th floor in the past, but because they didn''t have the necessary supplies, they were forced to turn back at this juncture. They did explore huge parts of what they called the Glacier Territory, though, so they left the next generation of adventurers enough nuggets of knowledge to sufficiently prepare for the challenges ahead. Well, to be honest, even the name itself already gave enough clues.

    Somewhat coincidentally, Ais and Isaac weren''t actually too far from the staircase that the Loki Familia had discovered earlier. This was because although he oftentimes explored more remote areas than regular adventurers did, Isaac had still chosen to descend relatively closely to the already trodden path. Only during his complete mapping of every floor would he bother to explore the furthest reaches of the entire dungeon. Because of this, while the two were outside of the range of perception of the woman who had observed the Loki Familia''s party earlier today, they still hadn''t made it out of a certain region.

    By the time that the end of the staircase came into view, Isaac furrowed his brows, and so did Ais. Both of them had realized that something was wrong here.

    "It''s not cold enough."

    It even was relatively¡­ warm. This really shouldn''t have been the case if this next area actually was the Glacier Territory.

    Having realized that things were not as they had expected them to be and what they had prepared themselves for, Isaac increased his speed and stepped out into the 59th floor, with Ais following right after him. As they had anticipated having to face monsters very quickly after arriving here, they had already stopped their intimate hand holding and returned to their combat ready states.

    Upon seeing what lay before them, the two were stumped for a moment. Then, when Isaac more closely observed their surroundings, a somewhat excited sigh escaped his lips and the corners of his mouth curled up a little.

    "Seems like this really is the Glacier Territory... but there are uninvited guests."

    The staircase that the two had taken led close to the border between two areas of the 59th floor. They had arrived in the considerably warm one, whose landscape was dotted with dunes of ash. In the far-off distance, the very edges of a massive jungle could be made out.

    On the other end of the aforementioned border, there was a frozen scenery. Mountains almost entirely made up of ice were everywhere, and heavy snowfall obscured one''s vision, making it impossible to gaze too deeply into the area. The shadows of a few massive white silhouettes could be momentarily spied every now and then.

    What separated the two zones was a close to ten meter thick wall, made out of an unknown material. It was venomous green in colour and looked a bit like hardened tree sap. It had certainly been a liquid before solidifying into this shape. The wall stretched all the way to the more than five kilometer high ceiling, and far further into the distance than either Ais or Isaac could make out. The only thing that he could say for sure was that it had a certain curvature to it. Further observation led him to grow reasonably certain that this wall ran all along the edges of a circular region.

    Whenever new snow fell upon the wall, it immediately evaporated into the air and, soon after, yet again descended in the form of snowflakes. This clearly depleted the energy stored within the wall, but this was where the ''uninvited guests'' came into play.

    Purple caterpillars with a length of tens of meters and a height of about a fifth of that were directly connected to the wall with their mouths. They could be found all over the ground and the ceiling right next to the wall. By using small amounts of their own energy, they constantly ''recharged'' its energy, keeping this seemingly unnatural zone stable.

    For a moment, Isaac was tempted to research the purple caterpillar monsters first, but then he shook his head. Doing so might cause this carefully upheld balance to crumble, which would lead to the dungeon floor reclaiming the entirety of this terraformed area. First, he wanted to explore it to his heart''s content and make sure that he didn''t miss anything. Afterwards, he would always have time to return here for his studies.

    ''These caterpillars'' overall design reminds me of the pitcher plant monsters that I found on the 18th floor. If I''m not wrong, then this should be one of the important bases of the antagonistic force that is responsible for both.''

    Even though he was basically certain of this, Isaac didn''t falter in his steps in the slightest. After all, what did he have to fear? Rather than feeling apprehensive, his heartbeat started to quicken due to excitement. With close to his top speed, both he and Ais made their way towards the jungle in the distance.

    On the way, the two came across a few curious scenes. One of which were numerous holes which contained the aforementioned pitcher plants. They weren''t the only monsters in there, though. Various regular monsters from mostly the floors in the 40s orderly stood in line in front of the plants and walked up to let themselves get eaten and absorbed. The degree to which they disregarded their own lives was rarely seen even amongst the dungeon''s spawn, so it was clear that they were under someone''s control.

    Sights of apparently mind-controlled monsters feeding themselves to others could be made out all over the place the closer that the two got to the jungle. Thousands of massive green caterpillar monsters, equally as many man-eating flowers the size of four-story tall buildings as well as a handful of even more enormous flower-type monsters that bore a bit of a resemblance to massive snakes joined the pitcher plants in their sumptuous buffet. It wasn''t too difficult to evade all of these monsters'' senses, mainly because they were fully focused on eating their prey. Ais and Isaac didn''t even need to take any special precautions, aside from moving silently and staying hundreds of meters away.

    The reason for them taking such an uncharacteristic approach was that Isaac planned to get an overview over which monster species could be found here first, only then would he start his research. As these monsters didn''t seem like the usual inhabitants of the dungeon, he was relatively certain that they wouldn''t infinitely respawn. He couldn''t risk killing too many of them in a reckless manner that would keep him from furthering his studies.

    When the two entered the jungle, the air had become far more humid, but not to an uncomfortable degree. It felt like a nice refreshment in this warm place.

    There was one other change that could be observed here - yet another species of flower monster, this time one with rather massive stems, had started to appear. Contrary to the previous ones, they moved entirely above ground and only used their roots to absorb energy from there every so often. They actually fed on both regular monsters as well as the green caterpillars alike.

    ''It''s likely that there are a lot of them, else their creator wouldn''t risk causing them to go extinct.''

    -----

    A few kilometers away, in the center of the jungle, a red haired woman was sitting on the ground with her eyes closed, seemingly deep in thought. While she didn''t show many signs of exhaustion, it was clear from the drops of sweat on her forehead that she was exerting herself in some manner.

    From one moment to the next, her eyelids suddenly flew open and she stared into the distance with astonishment written all over her face.

    ''Someone is here!? How could that be? I know all staircases leading here that have been discovered so far, and they are all within the bounds of the central area. But these intruders¡­ they clearly come from outside of the jungle.''

    Setting aside how the hell anyone could even make it down here, especially when the only ones who had ever surprised her since she had been stationed here had embarked on their return journey to the surface hours earlier, the woman was more baffled by the fact that someone had strayed so far from the explored path.

    ''Whoever they are, they can''t be easy opponents. I''ll have to pull out most of the stops to face them. I''ll explain the situation to my master after I clean up this mess. This isn''t only my fault, after all. Master was the one who gave me flawed information in the first place.''

    Her expression markedly darkened and she rose to her feet. The only thing that she could hear were two sets of soft footsteps far away - if her hearing hadn''t been this unreasonably good, then she never would have picked up on it. The fact that all the monsters hadn''t noticed the sounds was to be expected.

    With a deep sigh, she picked up a sheath housing a plain longsword from the ground and strapped it to her waist, then she shot off into the distance at a speed that only a Level 6 adventurer would be able to match. Seconds later, many thousands of monsters started to converge towards the same spot.

    "Huh? Where is she going?"

    The voice of a young woman rang out in the spot that the red haired woman had just left. It would have sounded pleasant if not for the fact that it gave the impression that multiple people were speaking at the same time. While those voices meshed well, their result would seem uncanny to any listener.

    -----

    "Looks like we were discovered."

    A wry smile played across Isaac''s lips. The moment that the monsters had started to move, he had - of course - noticed the changes immediately. He was paying extremely close attention to them, after all.

    Right as he was about to charge into their midst and start his research, to at least get these few monster species out of the way, he quickly turned his head and looked further into the jungle, where just seconds later, an extremely quick presence approached.

    ''Guess it''ll have to wait for a bit. This has to be the person who discovered us. I wonder how they did it? Their senses reached further than even mine, which is impressive.''

    An excited glint flashed past his eyes. If any of his past specimens had gotten the chance to bear witness to it, then they would have cried in fear and attempted to take their own lives. That was, if they had enough control over their own actions to do so.

    Ais and Isaac didn''t have to wait for long. Even before the nearest monsters could arrive at their side, the figure of a woman appeared in their field of view. Her attire was anything but stylish, but with just a glance, it could be determined that it was of very high quality. Only Level 5 adventurers and above could afford such equipment and wear it without coming to rely on it too much. A plain longsword was held in her hand, and the look in her emerald-green eyes was full of emotionless killing intent.

    ''Wait, doesn''t she look awfully similar to that girl Valenoa?''

    Although just matching hair and eye colours could be found everywhere, even the woman''s facial features were remarkably close to Valenoa''s. While it was still possible for this to be a coincidence, it was just as likely that there was some sort of connection between the two.

    Smiling slightly at a relatively confirmed guess of his, Isaac nodded to himself. But before he could even do anything else, the red haired woman''s expression suddenly turned to one of shock and intrigue as she halted in her tracks. It had happened when she had laid her eyes upon Ais who was right beside him, with her sword, Desperate, held in hand.

    "Are you¡­ Aria?"

    -----

    The moment that this name entered her ears, Ais froze up completely. A mixture of surprise, astonishment, fury, hatred, sadness, yearning and a plethora of other emotions flashed across her face in rapid succession. Finally, it turned completely serious. There was an icy chill in her eyes.

    "How do you know that name?"

    Instead of attacking the woman, she really wanted to know the answer to her question. Isaac had realized this as well, so he stayed put and didn''t interfere with the situation in any way.

    ''Aria''. It was a very nostalgic name to Ais, as it was the name of her mother. Ever since their separation close to a millennium ago, reuniting with her - or at least hearing some news about her - had been one of her chief goals. To be honest, she had a pretty good idea as to what fate most likely had befallen her mother, but she still held on to a tiny sliver of hope all this time.

    The present day had disappointed her greatly - only in the heroic tale that described her father''s journey in very vague detail, the Dungeon Oratoria, was her mother even mentioned, and only as the Spirit who had bestowed her favour upon the greatest of heroes, Albert Waldstein. No accounts of her ultimate fate were given, and she was barely even included in the story. All this time, Ais had searched for clues and even had Riveria help her in this regard while she focused on growing stronger, to achieve her revenge. But nothing had come of it.

    Now that she had heard her mother''s name, all her attention was focused on the woman in front of her. No matter what, she just had to know!

    "You look just like her, so you have to be her."

    While the woman mumbled to herself and completely ignored Ais'' question, the monsters that had been charging towards them slowly encircled Ais and Isaac completely, yet they didn''t attack.

    Suddenly, Isaac''s brows furrowed. A second later, the uncanny voice of a young woman, or rather, a chorus of voices resembling the voice of a young woman, entered everyone''s ears.

    "Revis, why didn''t you bring me with you when there is something fun going on? Only feeding grows stale after a while."

    From behind the trees, a massive shape approached. The monster - if it even was one - had two distinct parts. The lower one was the majority of the body of one of the flower monsters that inhabited this floor, the one that even fed on the green caterpillars. It was at least a size bigger, though, and the green, red and violet colours of it were far more prominent. Parts of this half''s body had changed and now somewhat resembled the shape of a dress that was wrapped around the entire body.

    The upper part was still seamlessly clad in that red and blue ''dress'', and was in the shape of a gorgeous, humanoid woman. Even its size wasn''t much taller than the average human upper body. The only differences lay in the skin colour and the eyes. The ''woman'' had long and flowing green hair, while her skin tone was of a slightly lighter green. Her eyeballs were entirely golden, and no pupils or irises could be found.

    When this newcomer noticed Ais, both of them froze up momentarily.

    ''This¡­ being. It feels similar to my mother! It''s just a very vague resemblance, but I''m certain that there is some sort of connection. Could she be some sort of Spirit?''

    While Ais was deliberating about this, the green woman-monster-hybrid started to exude a terrifying killing intent, while a joyous expression spread all over her face of heavenly beauty.

    "Aria! I finally found you. Don''t resist, and let me devour you, ARIA!"

    By the end of her short speech, the ''Spirit'' was roaring at the top of her lungs and directly charging at Ais. Her Agility was clearly already at Level 6 as well.

    The red haired woman who had been referred to as Revis couldn''t help but frown at this sight, but then she shook her head. Letting the ''Spirit'' absorb Aria had always been the plan, so even though things weren''t proceeding exactly according to the original plan, because things would still work out somehow, this development was fine.

    ''I''ll take care of the male, then.''

    Right as she focused her emotionless gaze on Isaac, the latter sent a certain message Ais'' way via the system, interrupting her scrambled thoughts.

    "The green one is acc.u.mulating a lot of mana. I''ll play with her until you''ve dealt with the red one, okay? I''ll keep her alive and capable of responding, so don''t worry."

    A slight smile spread across Ais'' lips, then she whispered the words "Awaken, Tempest" and shrouded herself in her wind enchant type Magic, raising her speed and the power behind her attacks by a huge percentage in the process. While this wouldn''t effectively double her Agility and Strength, it wasn''t too far from achieving this effect.

    Although Revis would be capable of overwhelming most Level 6 adventurers in terms of her stats, before Ais'' partially buffed state, she could do no more than raise her sword in defense in an attempt to respond to Ais'' charge.

    A slightly amused smile stole itself on Ais'' face as she effortlessly changed the angle of her attack and aimed at Revis'' shoulder. The latter barely managed to evade, but a relatively deep cut was still left behind. All of her protective equipment had been completely useless.

    While shock and trace amounts of despair appeared in the cornered woman''s eyes, she retreated hastily and commanded all of the surrounding monsters to attack ''Aria'', wisely leaving a lot of space around the ''Spirit'', as that would just sacrifice the monsters'' lives in vain.

    ''How could Aria be so strong!? I have never met an opponent more powerful than her, that''s for sure! I can only pin my hopes on ''her'' now.''

    If Revis knew that she was only alive because Ais didn''t even take the battle seriously in the slightest, then she probably would have fainted from shock. Still, Ais couldn''t allow her to die before she got to hear what she needed to know.

    With relaxed movements, a few swings of her sword were enough to send violent gusts of wind into the thousands of monsters approaching her. They were instantly obliterated, with no way to resist. Some of them exploded upon their deaths, along with their magic stones, but some others had at least a few scraps remaining.

    "I''ll ask you again. How do you know that name?"

    Seeking to gain some time, Revis'' expression hardened and she actually chose to speak, to survive for now. Once her backup arrived, she would figure out a way to get out of this mess. Hopefully.

    "I heard ''her'' mention your name and describe you to me, Aria."

    Before Revis'' sentence had even ended, a cold blade had already been pressed on her throat, drawing a fine line of blood. Ais'' gaze was cold enough to freeze over every single circle of hell as she stared directly into the desperate woman''s eyes with a slight frown.

    "Who is ''she''? Don''t speak in riddles."

    Legitimately terrified, Revis gulped heavily, then she mustered up the courage to reply.

    "Titania, the Demi Spirit over there."

    With deliberately non-threatening movements, she pointed towards the east where Isaac was facing the green woman-monster-hybrid. She followed her outstretched finger with her eyes, and right as she hoped to be greeted by the sight of Titania coming to her rescue, that last spark of hope was extinguished. The life in Revis'' eyes almost disappeared, as plain despair was written all over her face.

    What she had seen was so far from her expectations, and so devastating to her mental state, that it had momentarily completely broken her. If she had been in the position of a neutral observer, then she might have been in the mood to crack a smile and chuckle, but right now, she truly couldn''t appreciate the hilarity of the situation that she bore witness to in the slightest.

 Chapter 105 - Straight Up Bullying

    Even though Titania was already a bit faster than most novice Level 6 adventurers, Isaac had no problems whatsoever keeping up with her. On the contrary, he was vastly surpassing her.

    Before she could move far from her initial position, he had already arrived in front of her and given her a strong kick, straight into the center of gravity of her body''s monster half. If he had simply aimed to topple her, then this would have been a pretty suboptimal move, but he honestly just wanted to show this Demi Spirit that there was a vast, unbridgeable gap between their stats.

    A guttural groan mixed with a pained shriek escaped Titania''s lips as she was violently flung backwards. She flew through the air and crashed through a huge number of trees, for close to fifty meters. Only then did her body finally land and she got a chance to get up on her ''feet'' again. Her expression, which had already been abnormally joyful before, became even more unnatural as abject annoyance, pain and a bit of hatred got mixed within. With fury burning in her golden eyes, she stared at the calmly smirking Isaac and opened her mouth to chant. Ever since she had targeted ''Aria'', she had been acc.u.mulating her mana and gotten into a combat-ready mental state.

    "Pierce, spear of lightning. Your envoy beseeches you, Tonitrus."

    Unhurriedly listening to her, Isaac raised an eyebrow in surprise. Contrary to any other mage that he had met before, this woman could actually chant multiple lines of her chant at once. This might have been due to the nature of the multiple voices that made up her actual voice. It was certainly extraordinary.

    ''Interesting, this essentially cuts the chanting time in half. If she could chant even more lines simultaneously, then this ability would be even more outstanding. The drawbacks of wasting time on chanting certainly get alleviated substantially this way.''

    He had to give her praise where it was due. Nonetheless, the smirk on his lips didn''t fade. With little more than a simple thought, he used some of his mana to mess up the flow of Titania''s Magic, causing the mana that it was made up of to go haywire.

    "Incarnate of thun--- W-What!?"

    Accompanied by a look of shock, the mana that had been coursing through the air in front of her suddenly went out of control and her chanting got interrupted. The mana started to react in ways that she hadn''t intended, and ultimately, it blew up like a powder keg of pure energy.

    After the screaming had subsided and the dust had settled, what greeted Isaac was the slightly battered visage of the baffled Titania. It was written all over her face that she simply couldn''t believe what had happened. Luckily, she didn''t blank out for long and quickly recovered from her stupor. She was still in a combat scenario, and even though her opponent only calmly stood still, he had positioned himself in between her and her prey.

    Yet again, she started to chant, but this time, she paid very close attention to her surroundings, especially the male in front of her. She was reasonably certain that he was the one responsible for what had just occurred, but to make doubly sure and to exclude the possibility of her Magic being to one at fault, she had chosen to use another one of her Magics to cast this time.

    "Freeze over as though the eternal permafrost, untold blades. Your envoy beseeches you, Undine."

    It wasn''t only Titania who was more focused this time, however - Isaac was as well. Although he had interrupted many Magics while fighting monsters before, he didn''t often manage to make them sizzle out without a problem. Although the mana explosion from before could indeed damage his enemies a little, and could be useful sometimes, he also wanted to grow capable of dispelling a Magic without causing any harm. Only if he could perfectly control the outcome could he truly claim that he had mastered this ability, after all.

    Titania''s unconventional chanting had surprised him previously, which was why he hadn''t perfectly controlled the mana which he had used to mess up her Magic''s mana flow. This time, though, as he was more familiar with her increased chanting speed, he succeeded in stopping it quietly.

    All the mana that Titania had controlled just moments before now silently dissipated into the surroundings, because she had no way to recycle it like he did. The mana that she used to cast her Magics would be used up, no matter whether she succeeded or failed.

    Yet again, the Demi Spirit''s words ended abruptly and she stared ahead blankly. She had already mentally prepared herself for an explosion of some kind, but¡­ nothing happened. Even after blinking a few times, there were no changes. Ultimately, she shot a very wary gaze at Isaac, unsure of whether he had truly intervened with her chanting.

    "You¡­ what have you done!?"

    In response to her accusatory question, Isaac innocently tilted his head, but the mocking expression on his face clearly gave away that he was somehow responsible for what had occurred. Even more anger welled up inside Titania''s heart, and the look she gave him became several degrees more hostile and vicious.

    She was deeply aware that she stood no chance whatsoever against this person in a physical fight - their earlier collision had made this painfully clear. His physical stats were undoubtedly much, much higher than hers. Only Magic could give her an edge, a possible advantage.

    ''So you can mess up my long chants, can''t you!? Then watch this!''

    After a deep breath, she decided to use the Magic with the shortest chant that she had in her repertoire. So what if he could interrupt her when she took a long time? She would simply finish her chant before he could do anything!

    "Rage, wrath of heaven."

    Right when these words left her lips, her entire body got clad in golden arcs of electricity that both shielded her like an armour and would zap her enemies if they got close. This added element would make all of her attacks more destructive, by a fair margin. That wasn''t all that there was to this card of hers, but simply the fact that she had managed to succeed in chanting a Magic gave her a lot of confidence. A smug smile played across her lips as she looked straight into Isaac''s eyes, expecting to see a hint of panic therein.

    She was fated to be disappointed. While Isaac could indeed not prevent her from finishing her chant this time, that didn''t mean that he couldn''t deal with her Magic. Most monsters that he had fought against didn''t use any chants, and while there also were periods when they would acc.u.mulate their mana, sometimes, when there were massive groups of them, they actually succeeded in using their Magics. So, of course, Isaac had developed countermeasures against this.

    In fact, these were based on the same principle. Instead of messing with the mana flow during the chant, he simply had to mess with it afterwards. This was even multiple times easier than trying to prevent a Magic from being cast. It was far less complicated to throw a wrench into a finished and running machine whose workings you could clearly observe than into a not-yet-shaped whirlpool of relative uncertainty.

    Shaking his head slightly as if out of pity, Isaac decided to spice things up a little and to mess with his opponent''s mentality even more. Right at the moment when he inserted some of his mana into the electric enchant type Magic and defused it, he snapped the fingers of his right hand.

    "Huh¡­?!"

    Flabbergasted yet again, Titania stared at her body worriedly. She had just prepared to employ a wide area attack based upon her Caelum Veil, the Magic which she had just activated, but before she even got a chance, it had already disappeared.

    The way that she looked at Isaac now was¡­ complicated. On the one hand, she was legitimately scared, because she had never encountered such a situation before. But at the same time, her prey was so close! She couldn''t give up now. The hatred and annoyance in her eyes grew in intensity, and she rapidly retreated into the distance while chanting. Maybe this Magic dispelling ability had a distance limitation?

    "Flash, rays of light. Tear through the darkness. Your envoy beseeches you, Lux. Incarnate of light, Queen of luminosity."

    Even while she was backing away, Isaac was following her at the same speed, never more than fifty meters away. She had somewhat expected this, but even by the time that her chant had finished, he had yet to do anything at all, which didn''t make any sense to her.

    ''Does he intend to take an attack type Magic head on!? Oh well, be my guest.''

    "Light Burst!"

    Usually, the name of a Magic didn''t actually need to be spoken at the end of its chant, as it would still activate successfully. Still, ending a chant by uttering its Magic''s name did increase the effectiveness of the result somewhat. It was almost imperceptible, but there was a difference. In situations where the mage didn''t have a lot of time, they usually forewent this final part of the chant, but when there was an opportunity, why not take it?

    An entirely white blast of light that was as thick as a tree trunk rapidly shot towards Isaac. Its output was a bit weaker than the strongest of lasers used in industrial laser cutting back in his old world, and even though his Endurance stat could grant him incredible resilience, he would still get hurt quite badly by this attack should it actually hit him. After all, usually, laser beams would be focused on a very small spot to achieve such incredible output, but every single part of this massive beam would be able to cut most metals apart easily! If it could be focused even further, the strength of this attack would be far, far more ghastly.

    Confronted with this, Isaac didn''t falter and casually snapped his fingers again. Careful as always, he had already prepared himself before the attack was even sent his way. Before it could cross even half of the distance, the mana of the light beam suddenly dispersed, leaving him entirely unharmed. Admittedly, if he had only reacted after the Magic had been activated, then he wouldn''t have been quick enough to do much. Light did, after all, move at an extremely fast speed. Although this beam''s speed couldn''t even be compared to the speed of light that had been determined in his old world, it was still far faster than him. He wouldn''t even have been able to get out of the way. And even if he could have succeeded in shifting his position slightly, the caster of the Magic could always alter the trajectory with a simple thought.

    When even her fastest attack failed to do any damage, Titania halted in her tracks, completely speechless. What kind of monstrous freak was this person!? His superior stats could be explained, as she hadn''t been feeding for long. But this ability to make each and every one of her Magics useless¡­ it was simply despair-inducing. She still had a few which she could attempt to chant, but¡­ what was even the point?

    Even though she was extremely sullen, she still refused to give up.

    "Run wild, darkness. Devour the light in night''s peace. Your en---"

    Snap.

    "M.o.a.n, mighty earth. Rise, rise, rise. Husk of the earth. Sheet of iron. Hammer of---"

    Snap.

    "Arise, flames. Rage---"

    Snap.

    ''This is¡­ this is so unfair!!''

    Even after she had unsuccessfully chanted all of her remaining Magics, Titania tearfully refused to surrender and continued to attempt to chant her previously used Magics again. But every single time, what interrupted her was that cursed sound. ''Snap.'' The snapping of fingers, it would probably haunt her nightmares. That was, if she was even capable of dreaming. Even when she arrived at her shortest chant Magic a second time, she didn''t get a chance to successfully cast the electric enchant type Magic again. Snap. Only the first syllable had left her lips when her mana dissipated into the world.

    By now, her face had paled a fair amount, and she knew that she had almost no mana left. Her thoughts had become hazy, and should she attempt to chant another Magic at this point, then she would simply pass out. That was something that she absolutely couldn''t allow to happen, no matter what!

    Suddenly, the young man who had thoroughly frightened her took one step forward. To her horror, he slowly and calmly walked closer, step by step. His provocative smirk from before had been replaced by a tranquil smile that seemed detached from worldly affairs.

    Titania started to tremble, and her body told her to flee, to run away as far as she could. Still, she couldn''t do anything but shiver uncontrollably and stare directly at the approaching Isaac in despair. She knew that she couldn''t escape from him, because he was far faster than her. He most likely had more stamina than her as well. She couldn''t fight him with her body, and her Magic was utterly useless as well. Even should she get the opportunity to successfully chant her most powerful Magics, it would be pointless. Yes, her mana could recover, enabling her to cast more Magics. But so what? She still wouldn''t be able to harm this person. It was as if she was looking at a steep and unclimbable mountain that she had already failed to scale countless times. By now, her spirit was broken, and she couldn''t even work up the courage to try again.

    Like a scared child, her body flopped to the floor and she hugged the part of her monster half that was about where a human''s knees would be.

    As if he was amused by the sight, Isaac smirked very slightly, but his expression had returned to the same tranquility as before by the time that he arrived right in front of Titania. Although her monster half was gigantic, due to her currently collapsed posture, they were practically on eye level.

    "Do you give up? You might live if you cease all resistance."

    Isaac''s words caused the green woman to shudder, as her heartbeat quickened due to entirely unromantic reasons. Still, even in this state, she managed to turn her head slightly to glance into the distance, at the golden haired girl that she wanted to devour. But when she saw that ''Aria'' had already subdued Revis without a hitch, she lowered her head and balled her fists. This wasn''t a sign of unwillingness or forced compliance, rather, it was an attempt to calm herself down, to resist the terror brought about by this incomprehensible ''monster'' in front of her.

    "... Yes. Please spare me! I don''t want to die like this."

    After nodding at her reply, Isaac added a few more words of clarification.

    "That decision is up to Ais, not me. Oh, Ais is the one who you call ''Aria''. In any case, I promise that I won''t harm you if you abide by our agreement. As for attacking Ais¡­ I would highly advise against doing so. I''m far, far weaker than her, after all."

    His explanation utterly destroyed what was left of Titania''s fighting spirit, as well as her last hope. She knew that from this moment forward, she would be entirely at the mercy of these two humans. Not even the one that Revis called her master could possibly save her.

    Satisfied with her behaviour, Isaac looked in Ais'' direction and gave her a reassuring nod. He had spectated her short ''battle'' during his scuffle with the Demi Spirit as well, so he knew about all developments on her end. This nod was simply a signal to notify her that everything was wrapped up. Revis'' current mental state was blatantly apparent, so he determined that he wouldn''t have to be much on edge. Of course, he wouldn''t let his guard down, but at least he wouldn''t need to spare too much of his focus.

    -----

    The monster half of Titania was surprisingly well suited to seat people. It was tens of meters long, and although it was just the massive stem of a plant that happened to look like a dress, with various roots that were basically leaf-topped tentacles below, it had similarities to the horse half of a centaur. When Isaac had first sat down on her monster half''s back without even giving her a warning, Titania had shuddered in fear, but hadn''t made any attempts to stop him. Moments later, the happily beaming Ais joined him and grasped his hand happily.

    She had dragged the mostly unresponsive Revis with her and dropped her in front of their new Demi Spirit turned sofa. It was a little bit uncomfortable for the seat in question to turn her humanoid half''s body around and face her captors, but she managed somehow. Titania was surprisingly flexible - but maybe that was to be expected, she was basically a plant, after all.

    After the two lovebirds had found a comfortable seating position, Ais'' expression hardened again, and her grip on Isaac''s hand tightened. With an unforgiving glint in her eyes, she looked straight at Revis and began her interrogation.

    "You said that Titania is a Demi Spirit. But what exactly are Demi Spirits?"

    With an expressionless face, the red haired woman thought for a few seconds, then she opened her lips and uttered a reply. While Revis had indeed submitted to her two enemies, she wouldn''t say anything that could implicate her master - after all, she was loyal to them. Still, if the information could be gained by simple research, or wasn''t too important, then she wouldn''t hesitate to share it to save her own skin.

    "They are what is born when a monster gets contaminated by a Jewel Fetus. Think of them as a fusion of some sort of Spirit and a monster."

    With a glance at her sofa, Ais nodded, then she refocused on her prisoner. Meanwhile, Titania was simply trying her hardest to be as immovable and cosy as possible - maybe she could earn herself a ticket to guaranteed survival this way.

    "And what is a Jewel Fetus?"

    This question left Revis observably conflicted, but she ultimately still nodded her head slightly.

    "To be honest, I don''t exactly know what they are. I can only assume that they are a kind of Spirit, or a form that a Spirit can take. After all, why else would the result of them contaminating a monster be called a Demi Spirit? As for why I don''t know more, I never asked about what they are. I don''t need to know the details to do my job."

    Noticing the displeasure on both of the listeners'' faces, Revis hastily added another sentence.

    "One of them is on this floor, a few kilometers from here."

    For a moment, Ais wasn''t sure how to continue. Should she have her prisoner get the item - or rather, the being - in question, or should she proceed questioning her? Ultimately, she chose the latter. After all, the former could be achieved at any time. There was no need to interrupt what she was currently in the middle of.

    "We will have a look at it later. Now, who is the one that is giving you your orders?"

    For the first time, a look of defiance appeared on Revis'' face and she spat out her words aggressively.

    "I won''t tell you."

    Upon seeing the frown on Ais'' face, Revis'' expression turned even more serious.

    "Do your worst. Torture me, **** me, kill me, whatever. I won''t tell you."

    Before Ais could respond, Isaac increased the pressure on her hand slightly - he had given her a signal. She nodded at him and let him go, looking forward to what he was about to do. The saintly smile on his face made both of their prisoners'' faces turn even more ashen than before, to a degree where one had to wonder if there was even any blood left in the respective veins, but she found it endearing instead.

    For a few minutes, Isaac stabbed Revis with long, metal needles in certain spots. When she showed no reaction whatsoever, he cut her with blades of wind, and even though she should have felt some pain, she didn''t react much at all. A bit later, he finally finished his preliminary research.

    "Her body is quite dissimilar to a human''s. The position of her nociceptors is different, and even the pain that she does feel when they get directly stimulated is noticeably less. This can be attributed to two factors. First, the very weak pain signal that gets sent to her brain. And second, her mental pain resistance. She has long grown used to physical suffering, so it would be nigh impossible to break her with it. All in all, torturing her this way is meaningless."

    Via the system, Isaac sent Ais a few more words that the sofa and the specimen didn''t need to hear.

    ''It''s possible to read her memories, but that would cost quite a hefty sum of AP - and there is only a finite amount of those. We can figure out who she serves in other ways, so there is no need to waste the points, it will just require a bit of patience.''

    A deep breath later, Ais gave Isaac an appreciative nod. He returned to her side, making the sofa shiver slightly when he sat down again. Revis'' body, which had quite a few wounds after the superficial research, was already healing at a remarkable speed.

    "Fine, we will just figure out your master''s identity another way. I assume that you are the one in control of all of the monsters on this floor. In other words, you are their tamer?"

    Back to being dead-eyed and expressionless, Revis nodded her head, waiting for Ais'' next words, which promptly followed.

    "After we are done here, provide Isaac with a few specimens from each species. He prides himself somewhat of a research enthusiast, so this will make things a little bit more convenient for him."

    Once her last sentence had been spoken, Ais felt Isaac gently stroke her hand with his thumb, his eyes full of gratitude, so she blushed slightly. These lovey-dovey shenanigans made Revis'' left eyelid twitch a little, but the captured woman stayed silent.

    Right when Ais was about to ask another question, she noticed Revis'' eyes opening widely in shock.

    "What is going on?"

    Before the prisoner could give her an answer, Isaac also raised an eyebrow in surprise.

    "What is he doing here?"

    -----

    It had been about half an hour since the throbbing in Finn''s thumb had ceased entirely, yet he hadn''t stopped charging ahead, sometimes even straight through the bodies of the monsters that attempted to barr his path. As if they were made out of paper mach¨¦, they were blown apart without being able to offer up much of a resistance - they didn''t even slow him down.

    Still, due to the change in the situation, Finn couldn''t help but frown slightly.

    ''I can''t be sure whether they died or successfully made it through the danger. Of course, the latter is far more likely, but I''m still worried. Should they be wounded or in need of protection, I hope that I''ll arrive in time!''

    Always the responsible Captain, Finn had a few of the highest quality Potions and Elixirs in a small pouch that he carried with him at all times. One never knew when they would be necessary, after all.

    Finally, the staircase to the 59th floor, the one that his party had found earlier today, came into view. Without any hesitation, he ran straight down. With his speed, it only took him a little less than a minute to arrive at the bottom, and just like Ais and Isaac, he was greeted by a scenery very unlike what he had expected.

    "A jungle? Here!? This¡­"

    For a moment, he was rendered speechless and slowed down, but he didn''t forget to check his range of perception for anyone that he recognized. Barely a second later, a slight smile stole itself on his lips. Only a couple of kilometers away, he could feel two familiar presences.

    This method of detection was, in essence, a very inferior version of Isaac''s Eyes of Hermes, one that almost every adventurer could make use of to varying degrees. Heck, even people from Isaac''s old world could potentially learn to detect presences and grow proficient in distinguishing between people that they could only observe in this manner. Someone''s presence would be determined to be in a certain direction, and a certain distance away, and thoughts along the lines of ''It feels like this is person X'' would come to mind. Needless to say, it was a mostly unreliable method of detection, but due to the improved senses that adventurers of higher Levels were blessed with, it became their bread and butter when no visuals or sounds could be made out.

    Finn also noticed a couple of other presences next to Ais and Isaac, and even some monsters scattered about, but he didn''t worry about those. Not wasting any more time, he ran towards the two members of his familia with a relieved smile on his face.

    ''Thank goodness, they''re still alive!''

    When he made it out of the jungle and could finally see the situation clearly, he suddenly became speechless.

    ''What are you two doing, sitting on a monster in such a relaxed manner? That isn''t a lounge chair! Wait¡­ is that even a monster? It looks like a plant, but also like a woman. And that expression... it seems remarkably sentient. Speaking of sentient beings, who is that roughed up red haired woman on the ground? Thankfully, Ais and Isaac are both in perfect health, but what in damnation happened here!?''

    As Finn''s mind was bombarded with a flood of questions that threatened to overwhelm him, and while he was quietly assessing this absurd situation, a mischievous smile stole itself on Isaac''s face.

    "What are you doing down here, Captain? Well, no matter, have a seat."

 Chapter 106 - Furniture Acquired

    After Finn had joined Ais and Isaac on their new sofa, the interrogation soon proceeded to focus on Titania, who had been doing her absolute best to stay quiet and unassuming all this time. Maybe it was because she remembered her prior opponent''s words, but she didn''t show any ounce of greed or hostility towards ''Aria'' anymore when the golden haired beauty in question started to demand answers. With her very fate depending on the mood of someone that she had considered mere prey before, she was trying her hardest to redeem herself and be as truthful as she could be.

    At a few points, Revis'' brows furrowed slightly, but the cold woman ultimately didn''t interfere. It was likely that she wasn''t all too pleased with what information was revealed, but she ultimately judged it to be not vital enough to make an, albeit futile, last-ditch effort.

    Titania''s life began after a Jewel Fetus had been used to contaminate a Titan Alm, the plant monster species that half of her body represented. Her first memory was from far before that, however. It was the still image of a beautiful golden haired Spirit, who looked to be a young woman. Both the woman''s name, Aria, and the desire to devour her were intrinsically connected to this very first memory.

    From what Isaac could guess, this wasn''t a memory that the sof--- ahem, the Demi Spirit, had made in her state as a Jewel Fetus. It sounded more like a mission that was implanted in her mind by somebody. As to who exactly, he couldn''t say, although he had a plethora of guesses and theories at hand. Still, as they were entirely unsubstantiated for now, he wasn''t sure which of them would turn out to be true.

    The entire time that Titania had been down here, she had mostly been in the company of Revis, who was her tamer. Maybe it was because only half of her could be considered to be a monster, but the woman didn''t actually have too huge of an influence over her. She could freely decide whether or not she would heed her tamer''s orders.

    Aside from Revis, only one other ''person'' had made their way down here before - a black robed figure who was called ''Ein''. They had never interacted, and she only knew their name because she had listened to Revis complain about them. Speaking of that tamer of hers, as they had spent most of their time together, she could be considered to be the Demi Spirit''s only ''friend''. Or, well, ''acquaintance'' would be the more fitting term.

    As she had primarily been feeding on monsters, her life was anything but interesting. Her sole pursuit was growing stronger by devouring her prey, or to be more precise, their magic stones. Aside from that, the only relevant information that Titania had to share was that besides the Jewel Fetus that was currently on the 59th floor, there existed at least one other one. Originally, there had been three of them in this base, and she was the first one to be born. Close to a year later, Revis had disappeared with the second one to an unknown place, and now only the third one was left here.

    Because the tamer in question didn''t let even a single word slip when asked about this matter, the group could only reluctantly accept her silence. Nonetheless, Revis couldn''t help but grow more nervous, as she could clearly feel that she became progressively less important in the eyes of her captors.

    Suddenly, while Isaac was curiously sizing up his new sofa in relative boredom - mostly because being a mere bystander required basically no focus from him at all - his eyes widened in elation. A pleasant idea seemed to have come to his mind. When Ais'' interrogation was basically over, he took this chance to ask a question.

    "Titania, can you use those tentacles of yours to grasp objects precisely?"

    Stressed about suddenly having been addressed by him, and perplexed by the seeming haphazardness of the inquiry, the sofa stiffened, then the Demi Spirit nodded her head. In an effort to reduce the number of questions that might be sent her way, she carefully explained the gist of the matter.

    "Y¡­ Yes. They are just like additional hands."

    A relieved smile spread across Isaac''s face and he nodded happily, then he theatrically waved his hand, causing a small table to appear on the ground in front of them. On top of it, there was a tea set, a container full of steaming hot water, as well as a box full of tea leaves. Due to his almost ridiculous wealth, he had occasionally bought various odds and ends during his strolls through Orario.

    "Great! Then please, make us some tea. I noticed that the Captain seems a little bit out of breath, and we could all use a small relaxing breather."

    Isaac''s words didn''t only stump Titania, everyone else was also baffled, albeit for different reasons. Ais and Finn were briefly stunned due to the apparent randomness of the request, while Revis'' mind was even further blown than before. Not only had objects appeared out of nowhere, but asking a monstrous existence like a Demi Spirit to perform an act this subservient appeared¡­ absurd.

    At first, Titania almost instinctively felt a slight urge to retort, but when she recalled what situation she was currently in, she stiffly nodded her head and moved clumsily to meet Isaac''s expectations. Although she struggled a little at first, as she had rarely handled such delicate tools, the control that she had over her own body was astonishing, so she didn''t break anything and soon adjusted. Even the basics of how to make tea weren''t hard to guess. After all, there were only hot water and tea leaves here - it didn''t take a genius to figure out that the leaves would have to be placed within the water.

    Thankfully, Isaac wasn''t completely unreasonable. Sometimes. Like a generous saint, he patiently explained that she had to put some leaves in the tea pot first, then she would have to add the water and let the leaves steep for about five minutes. He carefully laid out every step, but it would have been slightly more complicated if the tea pot hadn''t been preheated. The reason for this was that he hadn''t wanted to waste much time while making tea, so before putting various tea pots into his inventory, he had warmed them up to the correct temperatures. Sadly, since then, he hadn''t found the time to actually make any tea, which was why he didn''t have any readily available. Yet.

    During his tea making lesson, his companions looked at him oddly, but also with interest. Ais, at first, hadn''t figured out his goal, but it didn''t take her long to understand what he was aiming for, which caused a small smirk to play across her lips as she nodded to herself. Finn, on the other hand, didn''t have nearly as well of a grasp on Isaac''s thoughts as Ais did, so he couldn''t be entirely certain about what was going on. In typical strategist fashion, however, he already had multiple theories about the young man''s potential motives.

    While Isaac had Titania give the first cup of tea that she had ever poured to Finn, he patiently waited for the Pallum''s evaluation. No, he didn''t use his Captain as a lab rat, banish the thought!

    After taking a sip, Finn closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them again and showing a small smile. At this point, he didn''t even bother going against the flow anymore, and just followed along with what his two young companions had in mind. It felt relaxing to not have to be steering the ship for once.

    "Quite delectable, an outstanding first try."

    Hearing this, Isaac smiled a little smugly and nodded to himself, as if he had just accomplished something grand. Well, his input had indeed led to this positive result, but it still hadn''t been him who had performed the actual labour. Not that anyone really cared about that point. Besides Titania, who felt slightly offended at the sight of that damn smile.

    ''He praised me, okay!? Not you!''

    Only after Ais and Isaac had also been handed their cups of tea did the totally legitimate ''saint'' face the poor sofa again.

    "I''m impressed, you''re quite useful. Although we were enemies before, your reason for offending us makes sense, and can be forgiven. You have potential."

    Completely taken aback by what she was hearing, Titania blinked her terrified golden eyes in disbelief. Finn only showed a surprised look, before silently nodding to himself. As for Revis, she was outwardly taken aback, but sported a condescending sneer on the inside.

    ''No matter what you do, you won''t be able to control her. I wonder what face you will make when you realize that? I can''t wait to see it.''

    Due to the absence of any interruptions, Isaac''s words continued unabated.

    "I can make you a deal. Swear your absolute loyalty to me, and you will live. But if there ever comes a day when you truly want to betray me, I will eradicate your very existence immediately. In other words: Serve me, or die. I believe this offer is already generous enough."

    This decision of his hadn''t been made out of the blue, far from it. First of all, Titania was strong, which was never a bad thing. Still, it wasn''t a requirement, as anybody could become strong given the time and opportunities. What was so great about her was her peculiarity. Not only could she function as a sofa, there were also multiple purposes that she could be used for, the most obvious of which would be to have her be a mount. Not only that, she could also work as an autonomous defense system for anyone relaxing on her back. Even better, she could even perform the chores of a maid or servant of sorts - heck, even a whole group''s worth of chores, considering how many tentacles that she had.

    On closer look, those were entirely selfish reasons, but so what? She was his enemy, and she could already be glad enough that he didn''t kill her for the offense of aiming for Ais'' life. An eternal existence in servitude was undoubtedly a blessing compared to what grim fate would have otherwise awaited her.

    Of course, he had already asked Ais about her opinion beforehand, during the time where they had waited for the tea to be ready. Although she hadn''t been entirely enchanted by the idea, she also saw how useful this Demi Spirit could be. Additionally, now that she had heard Titania''s side of the story, she didn''t really blame her for her actions anymore. Sure, her mother had been aimed for and she had been angered, but in the end, this woman was just a tool being used by someone unknown. It was foolish to blame the weapon, and wise to blame the murderer. While this statement wasn''t one that was universally true, it did apply in this case. Because of this reasoning, she agreed to Isaac proposing this offer.

    The young man''s words had flabbergasted Titania, and she fell silent for a long while. It would be a lie to say that she was at all enthusiastic about his proposal, but she also knew that there was no other way that she could even hope to survive. In her heart, she had long since made her decision, like a drowning woman grasping a piece of floating wreckage and holding on for dear life in a rapid stream that threatened to submerge and devour her. Still, she was afraid. After all, she knew that she wouldn''t be capable of swearing true allegiance to this man immediately. They had just fought each other, and she resented him and everything that had caused her to be in this position. So if she allowed these thoughts to reign, wouldn''t she be eliminated very quickly? Her only choice was to consciously try her hardest to adapt to her new life¡­ which would be difficult.

    With clenched teeth, she finally nodded and lowered her head in a gesture of forced servility.

    "I, Titania, hereby swear my absolute loyalty to you."

    As if it had taken her all the energy that she had left, she grew silent and exhausted like a deflated balloon, but Isaac didn''t mind her defeated expression, as some new system notifications had sprung up before his eyes.

    [ Titania has sworn her loyalty to you.

    Quest ''Have five retainers.'' completed. 500 AP rewarded. ]

    [ It has been detected that three entities have varying degrees of control over your new retainer, Titania. These connections will automatically be severed in one minute.

    Warning! One of them is divine in nature, and the act of severing it would be noticed. Cost of preventing this: 1,000 AP ]

    A calculative glint flashed past Isaac''s eyes momentarily.

    ''Three connections, huh? As expected.''

    One of these was undoubtedly the one with Revis, who was Titania''s tamer. The divine one should be leading to whatever god Revis was working for, the mastermind of this particular antagonistic force. Lastly, that other non-divine one was likely to be connected to whoever had created the Jewel Fetuses. Simply by their names, it was quite obvious to guess that they were ''birthed'' or ''created'' by a Spirit of some sort, but more couldn''t be said for certain yet. In any case, the last connection should lead to the Spirit who had implanted the goal of hunting down Ais'' mother in Titania''s mind.

    Without even sparing a glance at his copious savings of AP, Isaac paid for the option that the system had offered. Truthfully, he didn''t actually need to do this, as even with just the power that he commanded now, he was certain that he could lay waste to this particular antagonistic force all by himself.

    There were a few reasons as to why he had decided that he would rather spend the AP, however. Even though the deity at the other end of the connection would only know that they had lost their connection to Titania, and not exactly what had happened to her, this alone was enough to arouse their attention. After all, in that deity''s eyes, Titania would have most likely died, which meant that powerful foes had to have invaded one of their bases. In the end, while trying to contact Revis, they could potentially also take manual control of all of the strange new monster species here.

    Isaac was certain that not only Revis held their reins, as he would certainly leave a backdoor for himself should he ever decide to create a monster species - so it was likely that this deity would have done the same. As long as one wasn''t an idiot, one would always leave themselves an ace up their sleeves. It was that simple. Anyway, he wouldn''t want those monsters to run away and evade his research, so he would much rather spend some AP to keep their ultimate puppeteer in the dark for a while longer.

    Not bothering to ask for her permission, as this specific subordinate''s wishes didn''t truly matter to him, Isaac stood up and walked on the sofa part of Titania, all the way until he came face to face with her humanoid half.

    "Turn around."

    With a slight smile but a commanding tone, he had the Demi Spirit show her back to him, then he blurred the existence of the area around his hand, as well as Titania''s back. A moment later, now that nobody else but him could pay any attention to this area or what was happening, he extracted a drop of ichor and painted a familiar symbol, an ''I'' with an ornate crown on top. Yes, he had given her a Falna. To make sure that the dungeon wouldn''t detect his blood, and also to hide this part of his identity from Revis, just in case she could transmit information telepathically over long distances or had any other annoying ability, he had made sure to use a foolproof method of concealment.

    [ Titania has joined your familia.

    Quest ''Have five familia members.'' completed. 500 AP rewarded. ]

    And with that, she had at least paid for the expenses that her circ.u.mstances had caused.

    "Alright, I''m done. You can turn back around."

    Giving Titania his blessing hadn''t actually increased her stats in any way, as she already had the ability to grow them previously. There was no stored-up excelia that he needed to channel into her various stats, neither were there any Skills or Magics that she hadn''t yet had access to. As for Development Abilities, she had already naturally acquired some, but there were others which she could choose in the future.

    Because Titania hadn''t actually felt anything happening to her back, as it had been blurred from existence, she hadn''t even felt Isaac touching it. Even though her entire being had been suffused by the Falna, she hadn''t been able to detect it at all, mostly because no major or minor changes besides the simple addition of its presence had actually occurred. So, with a confused look on her face, she turned back around, only to find Isaac sitting back in his old spot again, right next to Ais.

    Noticing that she was looking at him in confusion, he didn''t bother to explain. He just gave her a nod and raised his cup.

    "Another one, please."

    Just because she was now his servant didn''t mean that he would mistreat her and act as if he didn''t have any manners.

    ''He is probably thinking along these lines now, right? I wonder how long it will take for him to start caring about this child as well¡­''

    An amused smile played across Ais'' lips as she observed her beloved. She knew that originally, he hadn''t cared about his subordinates at all, but at one point or another, they had all silently wormed their way into the outer edge of his conscience. He somewhat cared about them, even if it was infinitely less than for the people which occupied a spot in his heart. Still, should anyone truly harm them, there would be hell to pay. Regarding this newest addition to the growing subordinate force, while they were basically still mostly hostile to and distanced from each other, should Titania grow more loyal to him, she would undoubtedly join the others'' ranks in his mind.

    ''Still, he will excuse it by saying that he just appreciates how versatile of a sofa she is.''

    Taking a sip from her tea cup to hide her wide smile, Ais giggled inside.

    In the meantime, Isaac was carefully taking another look at this glorious multipurpose tool''s Status.

    [ Name: Titania ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

    [ Race: Demi Spirit ]

    [ Level: 6 ]

    [ Age: 5 ]

    [ Loyalty: 25/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: E-404 (52453) ]

    [ Endurance: F-369 (49008) ]

    [ Dexterity: F-350 (48400) ]

    [ Agility: E-401 (52357) ]

    [ Magic: E-452 (56314) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ Firestorm ]

    [ Meteor Swarm ]

    [ Thunder Ray ]

    [ Icicle Edge ]

    [ Light Burst ]

    [ Caelum Veil ]

    [ Dark Roar ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Creature - Origin ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Mage: E ]

    [ Spirit Healing: F ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance, Magic Resistance ]

    Obviously, her stats and Level far surpassed any of his other subordinates'', and this was expected, just like her pathetically low Loyalty. Not even the huge amount of Magics in her repertoire caused Isaac to raise an eyebrow - only her age and her Skill did. Before, he hadn''t known exactly how long she had spent down here - the time was a little shorter that he had expected. Seemingly, she had only been born shortly before the end of that period of danger that Finn had told him about, the one when Evilus had been wreaking havoc.

    Then, there was her Skill.

    [ Creature - Origin: The user of this Skill can contaminate magic stones with their lifeforce, turning them into the same kind of magic stone that they harbour themselves.

    If a compatible living being consumes these contaminated magic stones, their race will change into ''Creature''. Creatures are beings who have up to two vastly enhanced senses and the ability to consume magic stones to obtain excelia, which can be used to directly strengthen their stats. If the living being consuming the contaminated magic stones isn''t compatible, their body will experience a strong rejection reaction which can lead to death. ]

    Curiously, Titania seemed to have at least some things in common with these Creatures, as she could also feed on magic stones. It was quite likely that this ability of hers was an inherent ability of Demi Spirits.

    Looking at it from that angle, Creatures seemed like a somewhat lesser fusion of a being sporting a Falna and a Demi Spirit - after all, some of their senses would be vastly enhanced. Adventurers would usually gain boosts to all of their senses with each rank up as well, while these Creatures were restricted in the number of senses that could be boosted. On the flip side, if Revis was any indication, these sense boosts were far stronger than what regular adventurers would be blessed with. Just how a blind person would have far better hearing than a regular person, if less senses were getting boosted and the total boost amount stayed the same, then the ones who did get boosted would far surpass those of regular adventurers.

    But why did Isaac think that Revis was a Creature? To be honest, the ''enhanced senses'' had given it away. She had been able to detect him before he had detected her, which was simply ridiculous, especially considering that he had kept his Eyes of Hermes active at close to half of his maximum range at the time. There were still many other possibilities, for example that she had the ability to use the trees of the jungle as extensions of her senses, but it was far more likely that she was a Creature. That is, if he applied the principle of Occam''s razor to his reasoning this time. He couldn''t be absolutely certain yet, but it seemed to be an incredibly likely estimation.

    "I guess congratulations are in order. A subordinate like this¡­ is unique, to say the least."

    Finn showed an amused smirk as he observed from the side. He wasn''t at all worried about his familia becoming the target of a brainless witch hunt for the perceived sin of harbouring a Demi Spirit like this one, because Isaac¡­ well, he could just put her into his inventory to carry her around. And he could also teleport her to any place that he aimed for. Unless a major slip up happened, nobody would be able to find out about this until Isaac was ready to face the consequences that publicizing his subordinate choices would bring. At least, that was what the Pallum believed.

    As Isaac was exchanging pleasantries with his Captain, Revis'' face was completely ashen. Although she hadn''t understood what had happened, she had clearly felt her connection to Titania being severed. Never before had she encountered something like this! She was aware that her master also had a connection to all of their monsters, but if she could be cut off just like that, wouldn''t her master be in the same boat? After all, this was an unknown, never before seen phenomenon! Usually, she would only lose contact to her monsters like this when they died, but Titania here was very much still alive¡­

    While the red haired tamer was being plagued by her justified worries, the voice of the golden haired ''monster'' that had defeated her with ease resounded in her ears.

    "Lead us to the Jewel Fetus."

 Chapter 107 - Sated Curiosity

    Obediently, Revis led the group close to the spot where she had been when she had detected intruders before. Not far away from it, there was a pathetically shabby makeshift hut. It was clear that whoever had built it really had no clue about architecture at all. Thankfully, maybe by a stroke of luck, it was relatively sturdy, so even with the occasional slight tremors in the distance due to various monsters'' movements, it still stood tall.

    The captured tamer was the only one who was forced to walk all the way here, while Ais, Isaac and Finn enjoyed a comfortable ride on Titania''s back. Mind you, it wasn''t a slow one, because both the Demi Spirit and Revis could achieve speeds that normal adventurers would think of as incredible. But even though the air resistance battered them and any regular human being would have been injured by it, they could shrug it off without any problems.

    Lots of odds and ends were kept in the hut, although they were mostly daily necessities and food. A few more sets of armour, weapons and clothes, most likely obtained from fallen adventurers or bought from the stores of Rivira, were stacked up in a corner. As for the Jewel Fetus that they were looking for, it was safely stowed away in one of the various bags that were used to store food. Underneath multiple layers of loafs of bread, there it was.

    When Revis brought it in front of the others, Isaac nodded at Titania to accept it from the tamer''s hands and hand it over to them. As was quite so often the case, once one acquired a cosy piece of furniture, one wouldn''t really want to part from it unless it was necessary. And clearly, this minor matter didn''t move the relaxedly reclining young man enough to rise to his feet.

    After he had gotten his hands on the Jewel Fetus, Ais and Finn peeked at it curiously from the side as well. It was a seemingly perfectly round sphere with a diameter of about thirty centimeters. Its surface seemed similar to glass, but also vaguely reminiscent of an egg shell, and was dark green in colour. As its opacity wasn''t high and the ''shell'' was transparent, they could also observe its interior.

    Hovering within a transparent fluid that filled up the entirety of the inside, resembling amniotic fluid, there was a ''baby'' that was about twenty centimeters in size. It looked as if a human fetus had been crossed with a mandragora and had gotten blessed with tentacles atop its head that were eerily similar to the mythical Medusa''s hair - thankfully, these ones weren''t actually snakes. This being had its eyes closed as if in a deep slumber.

    Usually, Isaac would mentally mock the naming sense of whoever had cursed the monsters roaming this dungeon with their currently used monikers, but this time, even he had to admit that the name for this ''baby'' inside of what was basically an artificial w.o.m.b was appropriate. It looked like a fetus, and was encased in a shell that was jewel-like. It just¡­ fit.

    Of course, he didn''t only use his eyes to observe this being, he also utilized his Eyes of Hermes, a.k.a. his mana, to sense even more about this oddity. Sadly, he didn''t come across anything particularly useful. Just like all living beings, the Jewel Fetus had mana as well as lifeforce coursing through it, but there was nothing else out of the ordinary. As always, he committed all the information that he had gathered to memory - the detailed body structure got saved in his mental archives. It was unlikely that it would ever be of importance, but he had stored even far, far less significant details. Simply for the sake of knowing them, with no other goals.

    Because he had finished his examination, Isaac handed the Jewel Fetus to Ais, as she seemed like she wanted to take a closer look at it. The moment that she touched its shell, however, the unborn Demi Spirit''s eyes suddenly opened widely, and it stared directly into hers, taking her aback.

    With trace amounts of shock in her breathtaking facial features, she returned its gaze, unsure of what or who it was that she was looking at. She had observed that the fetus gave off the same feeling as Titania, so the story about her being born from one of these oddities definitely checked out.

    A few seconds later, the Jewel Fetus closed its eyes again. Ais was left with a contemplative gaze, furrowing her brows slightly.

    ''This look¡­ it feels familiar. I''m sure that I''ve been subject to it before¡­''

    Seconds later, a frosty glare appeared in her eyes momentarily, before her expression softened and she shot a gaze at both Finn and Isaac.

    "I''m certain that I''ve indirectly met whoever controls these Demi Spirits in the past, before I came to Orario. When I was still with my parents, this person seemed to have glared at me from a distance a few times, from far out of my field of view, just like a stalker. I don''t know who they are, but I noticed that they only seemed to bother me when my father wasn''t out adventuring. Those¡­ are all the clues that I have."

    She didn''t bother hiding anything, and tried her best to give the clearest and most concise information that she could, earning her an approving smile from Isaac. Finn was momentarily surprised that she would share this much with him, but soon happily accepted this fact. He - as well as Riveria, Gareth and Loki - was aware of her past to a certain degree. Still, it always felt nice when she opened up about it a bit more.

    "I paid close attention, and the moment that the fetus'' eyes opened, there was no change in its mana or the mana surrounding it. Not even its lifeforce had any odd movements. Either this method to gaze at you regardless of distance is also capable of perfectly masking its tracks that it would otherwise leave behind in both of these energies, or it simply doesn''t utilize them at all. My best guess is that it''s based on a Skill, as those seem to be capable of ignoring a lot of the fundamental laws of this world, to a certain degree."

    Reliable as usual, Isaac already had a barebones theory at hand, which he also didn''t bother holding back. After all, they were amongst friends. Well, with the exception of Revis, who was staring at him with palpable distress in her eyes. This only further confirmed his guess, however. Sadly, upon questioning her, she refused to spill the beans yet again.

    With a resigned sigh, Ais stuffed the Jewel Fetus into her inventory and asked Revis to gather up a few tens of the various exotic monster species under her control, to enable Isaac to research them easily. Lots of them arrived in waves, each one only consisting of a single species. Of course, for a more realistic experience, she had Revis avoid controlling them, so that her beloved could observe their natural behaviour.

    As the heartless research progressed, Titania put her hands over her ears and closed her eyes tightly, shivering uncontrollably. Her new master''s brutal behaviour made her fear for her own safety, so she desperately wanted to avoid spectating any of it. Just imagining being sliced apart piece by piece, like these various flowers and caterpillars, almost gave her nightmares. Mind you, she wasn''t a pure damsel, she had been devouring monsters and their magic stones herself before. Still, visualizing these various things happening to her own body left her in deep terror.

    Amusingly enough, her Loyalty rose by 5, purely out of fear. She really, really didn''t want to defy this young man.

    Even though Finn was a bit appalled by Isaac''s research, he didn''t comment on it. Instead, he informed the two lovebirds about why he had gone out of his way to come here in the first place. This earned him the embarrassed apologies of the two, because neither of them had given much thought regarding the fact that they couldn''t be contacted in any way should an emergency arise and both of them were unavailable.

    In the back of his head, Isaac noted down that he would have to work on giving them ways to communicate with him sooner than originally planned. At the same time, he kept quiet about a certain detail. Technically, they would have been able to gain his attention, should they have attempted to kill his students. One of his alerts would have been triggered, summoning him to the scene. But, yeah¡­ he obviously wouldn''t let this information slip. That would just lead to a hell of a lot of awkwardness the next time that something untowards happened. Maybe, one of the kids would even get seriously hurt.

    All in all, there were six never-before-encountered monster species under Revis'' control. Four of them had strength at Level 4, while the other two were at Level 5. With their tamer here to state their names, Isaac didn''t even have to baptize their species or make random guesses.

    The weakest of the bunch were the Virgas. They were the green caterpillars that Isaac had seen huge numbers of before. Compared to the purple ones, they were a little shorter, reaching only a length of barely ten meters. They had purple and red coloured patterns on their bodies, which looked both intriguing and a little disturbing, although they didn''t actually form any distinct shapes or forms. All of their stats were at I-50 / 9,850, so they shouldn''t have been any problem at all.

    Well, that wasn''t the case. From their heads, they could spew a purple corrosive acid that most of their bodies were filled to the brim with. Even the best metals and materials would slowly get eroded away, and physical attacks would leave one with only a grip left after a couple of swings of one''s sword. Thankfully, Isaac had waited for them to attack him first, so after he had dodged the acid that they had spewed at him, he had been able to observe a huge chunk of the dungeon''s floor falling victim to it, making him far more cautious. He had then switched to using small wind blades to damage them instead, and had avoided losing any of his equipment during the research.

    The Virgas didn''t seem to have any particular weak points, aside from their magic stones - just like all monsters. Aside from their dangerous acid, there was only one other thing that stood out about them. After they were killed, instead of leaving their magic stones behind, they would explode and obliterate that very loot in the process. Immediately, Isaac saw parallels to the Blades'' suicide bomb mechanisms, but these monsters actually had this feature built into their very biological blueprint. Mind you, this hadn''t been what he had judged to be most likely to be the case when he had first witnessed their post-death fireworks. Still, he was reasonably certain that whoever had chosen to create these monsters in this way had at least been partially inspired by V¨¢li''s fanatic followers.

    By using wind blades to proficiently and safely cut out the magic stones from the Virgas'' bodies, he was able to secure a few and scrutinize them without losing them to the explosions. They had a slightly green-yellowish tint to them, compared to the regular magic stones'' purple one. Aside from the colour difference, at first glance, they didn''t appear to be too dissimilar. As he hadn''t even studied regular magic stones in detail yet, Isaac decided to store these weird ones in his inventory for now. He would take a closer look at them in the future.

    Next in line were the Violas, who were primarily green coloured, man-eating flowers that towered twelve meters out of the ground. Just like the Virgas, parts of their bodies were also purple and red in colour. They were somewhat similar to icebergs, in that parts of their bodies - their roots, to be exact - were actually hidden underground. Compared to the Titanic''s nemeses, however, those parts weren''t actually that big. If their roots were included, their total size was twenty meters in height. As for their stats, all of them but Magic were at H-150 / 10,650.

    They actually weren''t much of a problem to deal with, they even had a weak point - their roots. Aside from their relatively resilient stems and their quick attacks, they felt quite average to face. That was, until a Magic was cast. When Isaac attempted to cut them with a wind blade made from his mana, the Violas that he had been facing entered a berserk state, which buffed all of its stats by about 50 percent. Apparently, they had the ability to sense any unnatural changes in the surrounding mana, and would then react violently to it. In essence, they were anti-mage monsters that regular adventurers would obliterate in mere moments. If the Virgas were especially effective against melee combatants due to their acid, then the Virgas would give the magical long range combatants a headache instead.

    Just like normal monsters would, they left behind their magic stones and didn''t explode upon death. As before, their magic stones were of a green-yellowish colour as well. This, alongside the colour palette of green, purple and red, was what all of these monster species had in common. With a smile and a merry whistling sound, Isaac put the Violas'' corpses into his inventory, not intent on feeding the dungeon his prey.

    The mostly purple caterpillars that he had seen when he had first come to this floor were called Vesios. Although they were about twice the size of the Virgas, and their stats were quite a bit higher, at E-450 / 13,050, they basically had no combat ability.

    Yes, they could attempt to squash their opponents with their bodies, and they could spew a bilious green liquid from their mouths. Still, the fluid didn''t deal any direct damage, and only slowly hardened into the same material that the wall that surrounded this area was made of. Unless one stood still and deliberately got encased by it, offering up no resistance at all, one wouldn''t be in danger. But if one, for example, were to be asleep and got trapped by this material unknowingly, one would find oneself trapped like a fly in fossilized amber in a matter of minutes.

    This ''amber'' had a heat-insulating effect and was also relatively warm by itself, or even a little hot. But aside from this, the Vesios didn''t offer up any interesting discoveries. Some of their corpses, as well as their magic stones, soon got stowed away into a certain diligent researcher''s inventory.

    To take a look at the Venenthes, Isaac actually had to go to the various pits that they resided in. While they could move slowly and awkwardly, they wouldn''t be able to offer up much of a resistance in that state, and he wanted to face them at their best. So, followed by Ais and Finn atop Titania and Revis who got unceremoniously dragged along, he returned to the spots on this floor where he had seen the pitcher plant monsters after their arrival here. Back when he had first encountered one on the 18th floor, he had had to avoid it due to its superior speed and dangerous sound wave attacks. This time, however, he didn''t have to have any reservations, even though these plants'' stats were the highest of any of the Level 4 monsters down here, at A-800 / 15,850.

    It was very easy for him to dodge the attacks of their tentacles, and even to withstand the sound waves that they shot at him. Admittedly, if he had a dangerously low Endurance, a couple of thousand stats beneath the Venenthes'', then he would probably be heavily injured by them. But in his current state, where he restricted himself to the exact same stats, he only paused slightly upon coming into contact with the first sound wave. After testing how strong these attacks were, he never got hit by them again, as he could easily predict their trajectories. Even should he not have been able to do this, he could still just observe the slight distortion in the air along the attack''s path, and dodge by relying on that information alone.

    In an effort to come up with a foolproof strategy and while exploring the plants'' weaknesses, he found out that should a Venenthes have its crown shaped appendage cut off, it would be incapable of attacking by using sound waves - it also wouldn''t be able to regrow this part of its body. Aside from this, he found no other weakness. Even damaging the plants'' ''eyes'' didn''t do anything, as they weren''t actually eyes in the first place.

    Still, there was one more thing to be noted: Just like the Violas, they would go berserk if they detected a change in the mana in their surroundings. This, however, could simply be avoided by not using Magic - it really wasn''t a difficult problem to solve. As for mages, as long as they stayed outside of the range of their tentacles and sound waves, they could still easily obliterate them, as the pitcher plants were almost stationary.

    The weaker of the two Level 5 monster species were the Visc.u.ms. They were, by far, the largest non-dungeon generated monsters on this floor, and similar to the Violas in that their roots were hidden underground. All in all, they reached a length of close to fifty meters and were mostly green in colour, just like all monster species here aside from the Vesios. They only consisted of a single stem, at whose end was a flower that looked a little like both a snake''s head and a spear''s tip, adorned by flower petals and a couple of two meter long tendrils.

    They attacked just like the animal that they were reminiscent of, with quick, abrupt thrusts that threatened to either swallow or pierce their enemies. Their stems were also covered in a scale-like pattern, which made their extreme Endurance apparent. Of their stats, all but Magic reached up to D-500 / 28,250, which was at the same standard as the Valgang Dragons. One other thing that had to be mentioned was that they stank horribly, just like rotting corpses. Because of that, fighting them wasn''t the most pleasant of experiences.

    Sadly, after Isaac had figured out their attack patterns, they became nearly powerless to resist. While they could move relatively quickly below the surface, and attempted to escape in this manner, the tremors that they caused during their movements and the holes that they left behind were extremely easy to follow. They had one blatant weak point, their roots. If those were damaged, then they would automatically freeze up and be unable to fight back. Should one want to get rid of them quickly, then they would only have to calculate the exact spot where their roots were hidden, and attack there - easy-peasy.

    Last, and strongest of them all, were the Titan Alms, whose stats - aside from Magic - could reach up to B-750 / 32,250, providing Isaac a miniscule bit of excelia upon slaying them. They were slightly smaller than Titania, and looked a lot like her. If one removed her humanoid part and the dress-like pattern along her monster half, that is. At the spot where Titania''s woman half would be connected to the massive stem underneath, there was what looked to be a face with a massive mouth. Anything that they got their hands - or rather, tentacles - on, would be devoured. Their human-like features were just like those of the Treants, so the Titan Alms were probably created with them as a basis, and therefore their distant relatives.

    They attacked by using their tentacles and would attempt to drag their prey into their mouths, eating them once their meals arrived at their doorsteps. Sadly, although their stats were quite high and they had dozens of dangerous ''limbs'', Isaac could easily predict all of their movements and therefore evaded them nearly effortlessly. They were agile but simple muscleheads that were of no danger to him whatsoever.

    Even though he tried to find some weak points of them that could be exploited, he ultimately didn''t find any - it really didn''t matter where they were attacked. Sure, cutting off their tentacles would make them far less threatening, but it didn''t deal them any extra damage. Their ''faces'' were the same as well. In the end, their only relative weaknesses were their Agility, which lagged behind their other stats very slightly, and their inability to use any Magic.

    By the time that Isaac had successfully finished his research and after he put a couple of living specimens of all of the encountered species into his inventory, to preserve them just in case, the group noticed three other people appearing on the 59th floor - Gareth, Riveria and Tiona.

    It didn''t take long for them to meet up with each other, especially because Isaac had quickly led the group in their direction the very moment that they had entered the range of his Eyes of Hermes.

    Before they could even exchange any greetings, Tiona shot at him like a ballistic missile, with a relieved and excited smile on her face upon seeing him unharmed. He couldn''t help but show an awkward expression, but he eventually accepted the hug and patted her back a few times in apology. Due to his vast increase in stats, he only got slightly breathless due to the initial impact, but he could otherwise handle this emotional assault quite well. Still, he only allowed her to embrace him for a couple of seconds, before pressing his hand against her shoulder, making it clear that he wanted to separate from her.

    He noticed the disappointed and sad look on her face, but only shook his head exasperatedly. Thankfully, she didn''t try to stick close to him after he had given her such a clear sign, and she soon let go of him, only to give Ais, who had been sitting next to him, a hearty hug afterwards.

    The new arrivals were extremely relieved that the two were fine, with Riveria checking Ais for any injuries from head to toe with a stern but loving gaze. Soon, they asked them about what had happened. After they were clued in, they then sent hostile and intrigued gazes at Revis, who was breaking out into an uncontrollable cold sweat. With even more formidable and monstrous opponents nearby, her chances of successfully trying, well, anything were now even more infinitely closer to zero percent. As for the silent Titania? She had calmed down slightly now that the horrible monster slaughter was over, and didn''t panic too much when even more people were lounging on her body. After all, there was no need to go crazy, right? She would be safe as long as she performed her job well.

    "What do you plan to do now?"

    Hearing Riveria''s concerned question, Isaac thought for a moment and discussed with Ais via the system for a bit, before nodding slightly and laying out their plans.

    "It''s not that late now, only shortly after 1 a.m., so I don''t need to go back to my cell anytime soon. For now, I plan to put away anything of note in this area, and then I will fully explore the Glacier Territory beyond. After that, it would probably be unwise to challenge a new thematic zone, as I would have to return to the surface in the midst of it."

    With a glance at his new servant, he continued.

    "I think it will be better for you to go back quickly, to inform Loki and the others that everything is fine. Ais said that she will teleport you back, and accompany you in the Twilight Manor for now. I will continue alone and you can contact me by talking to her at any time. As for Titania here, I will be taking her with me for the time being. I can''t bring her to my subordinates'' base, after all, as she wouldn''t be physically able to fit in there. Don''t worry, though, I''ll figure something out."

    A frown reared its head on Riveria''s face as she realized what he was implying.

    "So you intend to go deeper without a bodyguard?"

    Isaac couldn''t help but sigh helplessly at her worries. Still, a part of him felt flattered at her motherly care.

    "Yes. You really don''t have to lose any sleep over my safety. Even should this body of mine be obliterated, I wouldn''t die. And I have yet to encounter any real danger anyway. I can always escape, and bringing someone who can''t teleport themselves along would only be a burden if we were to get into a tight situation and be separated by some distance. Don''t forget, others need to be close to me for me to bring them along."

    At the word ''burden'', Tiona lowered her head slightly, clearly not too happy about being referred to as such. Still, she wasn''t emotional enough to not be clearly aware of the fact that he was speaking the truth. Now that they were about equal in stats, it would be far faster for him to teleport away than to wait for her to run towards him and then do so. It just¡­ didn''t feel too good to hear him say it.

    Having felt the disheartened mood of the young Amazoness, Gareth cleared his throat and changed the topic.

    "What about that lady over there? I believe you called her Revis, right? What do you plan to do with her?"

    With a small smirk, Isaac exchanged glances with Ais.

    "Do you want to do the honours, or should I?"

    She gave him a small nod and an amused smile in reply, then she stood up from her comfortable seat. With unhurried steps, she walked toward Revis. The woman in question trembled a little, clearly fearful of what might be about to happen.

    Then, before she could utter any panicked questions or attempt to futilely resist, Ais extended a finger, touched her and stored her in her inventory. Isaac wasn''t the only one who had noticed her physical similarities to Valenoa, and until this last matter of interest was resolved, she wouldn''t just kill this particular defenseless enemy.

 Chapter 108 - Into The Unknown

    Amidst the sounds of snoring, Loki sat in her study, reading a book to keep her busy mind distracted. For now, she couldn''t do anything but wait patiently, as she wasn''t able to have any other influence on the ongoing situation.

    The warm light of the magic stone lamp on her desk illuminated the room just enough for her to avoid any damage to her eyes - not that she wouldn''t have been perfectly capable of recovering from that due to being a goddess. Two of the sofas in this room were currently occupied by Bete and Tione, who were using this time to recover from the previous day''s exhaustion.

    Suddenly, the trickster goddess raised her head and stared straight at one of the walls, seemingly capable of seeing straight through it. A small smile showed on her lips before she whispered to herself and closed her book.

    "They''re back."

    Less than a minute later, a knock could be heard from the door, which made the two rookie Level 6 adventurers snap out of their hopefully pleasant dreams.

    "Come on in."

    While Bete and Tione were still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes, Finn opened the door to the study and entered, followed by Ais, Gareth, Riveria and Tiona. In response to Tione''s beaming and welcoming smile, the Captain showed a slightly awkward but appreciative one himself, then he looked at the goddess of his familia.

    "I hope you''re not tired, Loki, because my report won''t be short."

    -----

    High above the expansive city below, Freya stood in front of one of the windows of her residence on the top floor of Babel. From here, she could see almost all the way to Orario''s walls during the daytime. As it was about 2 a.m. right now, she could only vaguely guess their outline due to the occasional miniscule lights courtesy of the watchtowers and the magic stone lamps carried by the patrolling guards in between.

    She was wearing little more than a bed sheet wrapped around her captivating body. The vast majority of people would nearly get their souls snatched from them at the entrancing sight. There was a contemplative look on her face, and a glass of ridiculously expensive wine in her right hand. Even though its smell constantly tickled her nose, she didn''t pay any attention to it.

    ''Why did they enter the dungeon in such a rush, and only for such a short time?''

    Her mind was fully absorbed with analyzing the information that she had been presented with a couple of minutes ago.

    A few hours prior, less than a handful of strong adventurers coming from the direction that the Loki Familia''s Twilight Manor was located in had charged all the way into the dungeon, passing by Rivira in a time so short that it was certain that they all had to be at least Level 6. Although nobody could be sure of who exactly they were, it wasn''t hard to narrow the list of suspects down to a handful.

    What baffled all who had received this intel was that they couldn''t figure out why exactly this group had even needed to display such urgency. Usually, the Loki Familia''s members would be far more composed, and at least wouldn''t display their outstanding power here at the surface. Anyone thinking about this unusual behaviour would undoubtedly make the connection to the familia''s newest member, the one who had become the talk of the town since yesterday.

    What made the situation even more confusing was that shortly before 2 a.m., the same group had charged past Rivira, out of Babel and towards the Twilight Manor. Just like when they had entered, they had been too fast for anyone to determine their identities, or even their numbers. Also, the biggest questions of all remained unanswered. What had they been doing down in the dungeon for such a short amount of time, these couple of hours? Why had they been in such a hurry, not only during their descent, but also upon their return?

    News centered around Orario''s strongest, no matter how minor they may be, would be discussed by the public on a daily basis. But the ones who paid even closer attention to these matters were the various influential factions of the city, who did anything but completely trust each other. If they didn''t know the exact positioning of all of the most dangerous forces serving their competitors, then they could possibly be in danger. It was in their best interest to always stay informed as best as they could. Even the goddess of the strongest familia in the city, Freya, was no different.

    The frown on the goddess of beauty''s face deepened over time, and a hint of confusion could be seen in her eyes. Contrary to everyone else, she was focused on a much bigger picture - Isaac''s detailed plan, which she intended to unravel.

    Had this maneuver been an attempt to attract attention and divert it from another place? Was the Loki Familia working on a secret project down in the dungeon, and something went wrong that had required their immediate attention?

    Try as she might, she couldn''t figure it out. There simply wasn''t enough information to make heads or tails of it yet. Still, she was confident - sooner or later, she would be able to piece the entire puzzle together.

    Little did she know that what she was trying to fit in currently was only very remotely and indirectly connected to the riddle that she wanted to solve.

    -----

    A relieved sigh escaped Loki''s lips when Finn''s recounting of the events finally drew to a close. She was clearly happy about her children not having been hurt, and also ecstatic to hear that Isaac had yet again increased his Level at a breakneck pace. Most of the people here were already used to this mind-numbing speed of advancement at this point, so they only felt happy for him. After all, once one got used to the extraordinary, it would become the new ordinary. Bete, on the other hand, had grown pale before storming out of the room - he clearly didn''t want to be around anyone for now.

    "Still, artificially created monsters on the 59th floor, ones with unusual abilities at that, as well as Demi Spirits and Creatures¡­ that is a whole lot of unexpected information to take in."

    Sighing yet again, Loki muttered under her breath and shook her head in exasperation. While they had already known that the dungeon''s floors up until the twenties had entrances to Knossos and were being used by the illegal organizations living in the shadow of society, she hadn''t thought that even floors that nearly nobody had ever set foot in before would have manmade dangers lurking about.

    "Thanks for the report. All of you, you''ve worked hard. Take some well-deserved time to rest, and sleep well. We''ll talk about this again in the evening."

    Noticing that she had kept them all around for quite some time already, the usually mischievous goddess showed her caring side, and hurried her children out of her study. When she was left all alone, she plopped down on her chair again and massaged her forehead in annoyance.

    ''Who could the one behind this be? Which of these bastards is causing trouble again?''

    There were more than a few candidates who came to mind, but as far as she knew, none of these deities should currently be in Orario. If that was the case, it was likely to be the work of someone who she simply hadn''t ever considered before.

    A couple of minutes of thinking later, she opened her eyes a little and glanced at a corner of the room, at another comfortable sofa that seemed to be empty.

    "What do you think, Hel?"

    She waited for a long while, only to not get an answer.

    "Hel?"

    Even upon repeatedly calling out to her, nothing changed. The worst part about it all was that she couldn''t even be certain whether the gloomy goddess was simply asleep, ignoring her¡­ or present in the first place.

    With a vein popping on her forehead and an expression of exasperation, she grabbed a relatively heavy pillow from a chair nearby and got into a throwing position.

    "There is only one way to find out¡­"

    Seconds later, a panicked and disoriented yelp sounded from Loki''s study.

    -----

    Before Isaac ventured past the wall that was dutifully being maintained by the ridiculous numbers of Vesios, he combed through the entire terraformed area, picking up whatever caught his fancy. All of Revis'' supplies and belongings, as well as the occasional fruit or plant got stuffed into his inventory. By the time that he was finished, more than an hour had already passed.

    "I assume that you will be able to defend yourself. Do your best to keep up with me, and don''t interfere with my research."

    He shot a glance at the obedient and silent Titania, who had docilely carried him all the way to the wall, before jumping off her back and taking the khopesh out of his inventory. Although this newest servant of his behaved in a very servile and weak manner, he was aware that purely stats-wise, she would probably be able to easily obliterate any and all monsters that could be found in the Glacier Territory, and even a bit beyond. Well, that was with the exception of Monster Rexes.

    With a couple of quick slashes, he cut open a hole bit enough for both him and Titania to fit through. After they had arrived on the other side, he put the piece of wall that he had cut out back into place again. It wasn''t that easy, mostly due to the vast temperature difference between the two areas, but as he had been prepared for this, he managed to tide through it without a problem. Just seconds after he had sealed the wall back up, his cuts had already disappeared, due to the dutifully working Vesios injecting their energy into it to make up for any and all flaws.

    Now that he had entered the true Glacier Territory, Isaac quickly felt the weapon in his hand growing almost unbearably cold. If he had been a normal human, or even a regular Level 6 adventurer, then it would have been impossible, or at least highly difficult, to move around in this region without any source of heat. Even as a god who had Ichor flowing through his veins, he found the environment to be highly unpleasant. Sure, he could warm up his body to a sufficient degree, and avoid any hypothermia-related problems, but he still needed to expend a bit of energy to maintain this state. It was not enough to be able to compete with his natural regeneration, but it was still enough to be noticeable.

    With a slight frown, he searched his inventory for a bit, before deciding on a piece of clothing for himself. It was a long coat that went all the way to his knees, made out of Old Bison wool and Lindwurm scales. Apparently, it had been enchanted by a Spirit that was classified as a Salamander - no, not the monster species. There were various different types of Spirits amongst those that could be considered of a lower tier amongst their kind, one of which were the Salamanders. Due to their mastery over fire and heat, a few of them made a pretty penny by selling various enchanted items to adventurers, such as this Salamander Woolen Trench Coat.

    After wearing it, Isaac nodded to himself and mentally thanked Ais for handing him a couple of sets of the supplies that the Loki Familia had prepared for their venture into the Glacier Territory before she had left. While he was still leaking body heat, and therefore energy, via the areas that weren''t covered by the coat, he could handle this minor expense far more effortlessly. Although he still had various items on hand that could shield him from the cold more thoroughly, they would only hinder his movements and senses even more, which wouldn''t be a worthwhile trade-off in his eyes.

    Before he could set off into this uncharted territory, however, a shivering and terrified voice sounded from next to him.

    "M-Master! I''m ve¡­ very cold. I''m sorry!"

    He turned to look into the panic-filled eyes of Titania, who had curled up her body in a desperate attempt to preserve more heat. Her nose had already turned runny, and she was shivering heavily, enough for her teeth to clatter. Maybe she had it even a little bit worse than a regular Level 6 adventurer would have, as she was a plant¡­ and one that wasn''t very adept at surviving in low temperatures. She had lived her whole life in a warm jungle, where it stayed at around 25 degrees Celsius all year round. Now that she had entered an area that was at least 50 degrees colder than that, the shock had to be immense.

    For a moment or two, Isaac stared at her silently. Admittedly, he was simply speechless by how little of a cold resistance she had. He honestly had expected more from a Demi Spirit. Still, he wouldn''t hold such a minor matter against her, especially because this was entirely out of her control.

    Wordlessly, he focused his gaze on his inventory and settled on a huge amount of items, which he soon piled up in front of her. Amongst them was clothing made out of the same material as his coat: another trench coat, gloves, a beanie, a woolen mask used to cover most of one''s face, as well as a scarf. Lastly, there were a few tens of magic stone-powered heating pads, which could be held close to the body to basically be used as heat batteries. All of these, undoubtedly, had cost a small fortune - thankfully, due to the mind-boggling value of drop items and magic stones that could be acquired in these depths, these expenses would only amount to a drop in the bucket.

    "Alright, put these on. We''ll set off once you''re finished."

    Once he had provided her with a small mound worth of resources, Isaac turned around to observe his surroundings in more detail. Everything that he saw reminded him of some of the ill.u.s.trations in textbooks from his old world. Back during the various ice ages of that world, the coldest of regions wouldn''t have looked much different from this place. There were no trees to be found, nor was there any vegetation. Heck, everything he laid his eyes upon was covered in snow and ice, sometimes piled up to mountainous heights of close to five kilometers. If he scaled some of these peaks, he would even be able to touch the ceiling of this floor!

    Not too long after he had pinpointed all of the surrounding monsters of various new species, he noticed that Titania was now all packaged up in the warm and cozy clothes that he had given her. She was hugging her waist tightly and pressed the heating pads to her monster body with her tentacles, looking a little miserable. Still, her state was far better than before.

    "Time to set off."

    From the movements that he had observed, it wasn''t difficult for Isaac to determine which monster species present here was the weakest, so he carefully dashed right into the direction that housed the biggest group of its individuals.

    There were at least a couple hundreds of humanoid-shaped figures staggering through the snow, each of them about three meters tall. Their bodies, albeit humanoid, looked like they hadn''t eaten in years, and white, sparse hair was growing all over their bodies. Some of them looked to be male, while others were obviously female. What made this group look different from most other humanoid monster species was the fact that they had pieces of their flesh missing, and bite marks covered huge portions of their bodies. The flesh and blood that was exposed to the elements both seemed to be frozen and oddly wet at the same time. However grievous these wounds appeared to be, they didn''t impact these monsters at all.

    After engaging them in combat, Isaac noticed multiple things. First of all, their Strength and Endurance stats were at D-550 / 29,050. And secondly, they seemed to behave even more brainlessly than most research specimens that he had come across so far. No matter in which way or how much they were damaged, they would simply stagger or crawl in his direction again, completely obsessed with taking a bite out of his delicious snack of a body.

    While he would have felt flattered and disturbed if he had been surrounded by a group of regular people that harboured such intentions, zombie-like creatures that wanted to tear him apart limb by limb didn''t exactly make him feel comfortable either. Oddly enough, however, he would choose this situation over being surrounded by a group of thirsty beauties any day - after all, he could slaughter the dungeon''s monsters without having to bother about any consequences whatsoever. Not that he would fear accusations of rampant murder and manslaughter, but those would still be moderately annoying to deal with.

    It took a while for him to completely dismember these seemingly undead monsters, and in the process of cutting them into tiny pieces, he finally found their weak point. Right next to their magic stone, there was a five centimeter tall ice figure that looked just like a sleeping human. If those were shattered or sufficiently damaged, then the monsters would instantly die. In fact, it was the only way to actually kill them that was even remotely energy-efficient. No matter how thoroughly that he cut them apart otherwise, unless he literally obliterated them, they would still be considered ''alive''.

    Subconsciously smiling happily to himself like a kid who had gotten a new toy, Isaac decided on a name for this heretofore unknown monster species: Chenoo. It wasn''t the most original of names by any means, but as these beings seemed almost like carbon copies of creatures of myth and folklore from his old world, he wouldn''t bother with coming up with an entirely new moniker. It sounded appropriate and evoked the most closely fitting imagine in his mind, so it would suffice.

    The reason that he was delighted to name his discoveries wasn''t because he wanted to create the most outstanding names in history, or even because he wanted to avoid naming monster species after beings that he had read about in his old world - after all, that was literally what he had just done.

    No, there was only one purpose to his actions - to avoid having these monsters named even worse, just like a huge portion of those that he had come across before. To prevent a tragedy, he would forge ahead. He would give these pitiful creatures the respect that they deserved - while tortur--- researching them thoroughly, of course.

    To his surprise, Titania didn''t behave as cowardly anymore when he was experimenting with every nook and cranny of the Chenoo. While she still shivered a little occasionally, that was most likely mainly because of the cold. For a moment, he felt taken aback by her shift in behaviour, especially considering how terrified she had been back when he took those artificial monster species apart, but then he realized what was going on.

    Most sentient beings would feel a considerably heavy mental impact upon bearing witness to the suffering of beings that were relatively similar to them. It was far easier to instinctively imagine themselves to be in the same situation, which was why they would feel so horrible. It wasn''t just because of empathy, far from it. Just like how most humans from Isaac''s old world wouldn''t throw up uncontrollably and faint upon seeing a random animal or insect getting killed, a plant monster wouldn''t feel more than slightly displeased upon having zombie monsters be slaughtered in front of it. Back when Titania had been confronted with the horrifying experience of having her fellow plant monsters massacred as lab rats, she had understandably felt as appalled as a human would have felt if the same had happened to their fellow humans.

    Nodding his head in understanding, Isaac finished his Chenoo-related research and quickly eliminated the rest of their numbers, before speeding off to another place in the distance. All the while he didn''t notice that Titania had been staring at him with a different kind of shock evident in her eyes.

    ''He has a cute side to him!?''

    She had blissfully ignored what would amount to the most grievous of war crimes taking place right in front of her, and focused on the unexpected and pure positives. That smile that he had shown for only a few moments, it had shaken the poor Demi Spirit who had subconsciously twisted Isaac''s existence into the most vile of demons in her mind. Not that it wouldn''t be more than possible to argue that he wasn''t exactly a normal and peaceful person. Still, this ray of light made her notice that, while he was indeed a nightmarish figure, he also had good parts about himself. And if she did what was asked of her, then she would probably not be treated too badly.

    A firm determination settled in her heart, and she silently followed behind him, using a few of her spare tentacles to get rid of the occasional monsters that were ignoring her master and charging at her from time to time.

    ''I''ll do my best, I promise!''

    [ Titania''s Loyalty has increased by 5. ]

    Taken aback by this sudden notification, Isaac momentarily turned his head to look at his servant.

    ''Her Loyalty is rising awfully quickly. It kind of reminds me of what happened back when I first met Mina. Still, back then, I actively helped her out, so the increase was reasonable. I did give Titania some supplies before, but shouldn''t her Loyalty have increased earlier if those are the catalyst for this change? Why would they take so long to show an effect? Is it because she was worried about whether or not I would take away the clothes that I gave her?''

    Ultimately, as this was a matter that concerned the heart of another person, he wasn''t able to come to a definitive conclusion. Thankfully, he had far more interesting matters to focus on - the rest of the monster species inhabiting the Glacier Territory.

 Chapter 109 - Arctic Exploration

    Boreal Mimics - that was the name that Isaac bestowed upon the next research specimens. Just like the Black Goos from the Desolate Frontier, the Boreal Mimics were, in essence, just slimes. This time, their bodies were white instead of black, but their weak points were still their cores.

    There were two major differences between the Boreal Mimics and their weaker brethren - first of all, they were far stronger, with their Endurance reaching up to C-600 / 29,850. Lastly, their behaviour differed, as there were no cave-like hallways that they could hide in on these floors. In order to make their prey fall into a trap in such an environment, they hid underneath a thin layer of snow, and once any distracted adventurers had ventured far enough into their trap, they would jolt up from underneath and engulf them from all sides.

    Needless to say, Isaac had already perfected his slime-fighting strategy when he had faced the Black Goos, so these Boreal Mimics did neither pose a threat to him, nor did they make him spend extra time on researching them. In this thematic zone, they were probably the species that he finished dealing with the quickest - and that was quite the achievement, considering how many of the others weren''t that time-consuming to deal with either.

    Although the next monsters weren''t particularly extraordinary, they at least made Isaac smile wryly. Their bodies were up to five meters tall, covered entirely in white fur, and their eyes were a deep red, akin to dried blood. Overall, they had ape-like shapes and were capable of walking on their hind legs. The biggest group that he happened to come across was a tribe of multiple hundreds. As they could use basic formations to encircle him, they would pose quite the threat to any adventurer that wasn''t extremely skillful or already completely outscaled them. As for their stats? They relied mostly on Strength and Agility, which were both at C-650 / 30,650.

    For a while, Isaac was simply baffled, as these monstrosities seemed exactly like the Yetis that had been portrayed in the pop culture of his old world. But little did the majority of the people there know that most relatively trustworthy eye witness statements that had been made concerning these creatures had actually described their fur to be a dark brown colour. Due to this, while he had initially been tempted to just call them Yetis and be done with it, he chose to go with a less inaccurate term - White Rakshasas. Their man-eating, bloodthirsty nature was what finally convinced him to make this decision.

    But while they now bore a relatively formidable-sounding moniker, these glorified oversized apes were all too easily dispatched. They had no special abilities to speak of, and only their group tactics were worthy of note. All in all, Isaac didn''t pay them special attention for long - which was probably for the best.

    After all, if this hadn''t been happening in the dungeon, where the monsters'' minds were warped beyond any redemption or rational thought, then there surely would have been a surviving young White Rakshasa somewhere that would have miraculously gone unnoticed, allowing it to tide through the heartless and inhumane slaughter. After Isaac''s departure, it would then have embarked upon a path aiming for revenge and immortality. It would have ultimately failed, but what a journey it would have been!

    Speaking of disappointments, the Glacier Golems were nothing to write home about either. They were literally just ice-themed and stronger versions of the Flame Rocks which could be found in the Desolate Frontier - their Endurance and Magic reached up to B-700 / 31,450.

    If there was one minor thing of note, it was that their icy explosions were actually quite annoying to deal with, because they would momentarily make the surrounding temperatures drop even lower, causing a slightly increased energy expenditure for Isaac. Of course, as he only allowed them to showcase this ability a handful of times, it couldn''t even hope to put more than a slight dent into his perpetually regenerating reserves. As for the icicle shrapnel? He easily evaded or deflected it.

    Only found in regions around ice-bound lakes were the Nykar, horse-like monsters quite similar to the Kelpies from the 27th floor. At first glance, the only real difference between the two was that the former were made entirely out of ice. Sometimes, they looked more like inanimate objects than living beings. Initially, Isaac had been more than a little let down by them, as he had thought that they would just be another reskin.

    This time, however, he finally got a positive surprise. The Nykar had the ability to change their shapes - mostly into many quadrupedal animals. In fact, even during the entire thirty minutes that he dedicated to this species'' research - about three times the amount that he would usually spend - Isaac didn''t manage to make them reveal all of their possible shapes and sizes.

    Bears, different breeds of horses, elks, even rats - there seemed to be nearly no limits to their ability. Still, each one of their transformations was somewhat flawed: a missing claw, a tail that was twice as long as it should be¡­ these minor mishaps were a part of every one of their forms except for their Nykur one.

    For a while, Isaac was under the impression that they could only transform into quadrupeds, and that this was the limitation of their shapeshifting - well, he was wrong. They even had various humanoid forms, but these really seemed to be the only non-quadruped ones that they had access to. Another thing of note was that in contrast to their non-Nykur animal forms, the humanoid ones didn''t have any obvious flaws - except for being made out of ice, of course.

    This caused Isaac to speculate a little. What if the Nykar originally had both a horse and a human form? To switch between them wouldn''t need them to make use of whatever ability they were using to shapeshift into other forms besides these two inborn ones, and it would explain why the unnatural ones always had minor but clear flaws.

    Because he hadn''t seen all the shapes that they had to offer yet, Isaac stuffed close to a hundred Nykar into his inventory, so he could give them the proper attention that they were due later. Their weak points had already been discovered - just like golems and slimes, they had a core, upon whose destruction they would die. As for their stats, their Agility and Magic were at B-750 / 32,250.

    It had to be mentioned that even someone as careful as Isaac had almost been taken aback by the Nykar''s ability to transform once, when they first showcased it to escape some of his attacks. For a regular adventurer, if they weren''t warned in advance, they could easily fall prey to these deceptive horses.

    Towering at a height of over thirty meters, with dark brown, long fur, an elephant-like frame and sporting three massive tusks on each side of their trunks - those were the most apparent features of the Woolen Terrors. Yes, they were basically just massive mammoths. Usually, they would use their weight as a weapon, and would charge at any prey that entered their sight - still, due to their poor maneuverability, they could easily be dodged. Well, if they were alone.

    Their herds consisted of more than a hundred individuals, and having such a hulking and massive wave of fur and tusks flooding towards oneself was a humbling experience, to say the least.

    ''You may be able to dodge me, but can you dodge all of us?''

    If the Woolen Terrors were capable of thought, that was most likely what would be going through their thick skulls.

    Even Isaac decided that it was a far smarter decision to vault onto their backs at the first chance that he got, because evading them on the ground may be possible, but it would be extremely burdensome - the bigger the herd, the bigger the trouble.

    Once one arrived on top of them, however, one had to face the next wave of devastating attacks, whose origins were their trunks. With a Dexterity that one wouldn''t expect from such huge monsters, they could accurately pinpoint their prey simply by aiming at the spots on their backs where they felt a slight itch. It was quite similar to how one would squash a mosquito.

    While it was possible for Isaac to completely circ.u.mvent this problem by utilizing his Anemoi Steps, he didn''t need to do so, because the trunk attacks were a walk in the park to deal with. If he was too annoyed, he could even just cut them off.

    As was reasonably often the case, the stronger the thematic zone''s monster species got, the more of their stats were outstanding - for the Woolen Terrors, their Strength, Endurance and Dexterity were all at A-800 / 33,050. At this point, a slight trickle of excelia finally came Isaac''s way again.

    Aside from the Nykar, there was one more monster species that sported a human-like appearance - this time constantly, not just occasionally. They seemed to be women of many different ages, clad in white robes that were almost transparent. Their skin was ghastly and colourless, and so were their eyes - even their hair was white most of the time, although other hair colours could occasionally be spotted.

    For regular adventurers, some of these women would indeed appear to strike a quite seducing figure, they might even be led astray. But some other women, especially of the older variety¡­ they would probably cause the opposite effect, to put it nicely.

    Usually, these women would sport a plethora of different facial expressions, all aiming to get their prey to come closer to them, into their chilling embrace. Still, due to them having been spawned by the dungeon, they all still had a kind of bloodl.u.s.t lingering in their gazes. Admittedly, that could easily be missed, especially if one was to be distracted by their oftentimes mesmerizing assets, but it was still present. In other words, unless one was a helplessly affection-starved pervert, one would be fine.

    After all, which kind of fool would jump headfirst into a honeytrap? Well, not Isaac. To test them, he attacked the women from a distance using his bow and wind blades, which caused them to fully reveal their true colours. Their expressions shifted into ones of abject fury and killing intent, while they screeched unintelligible sounds at a high pitch. Just seconds later, massive snow storms would start to form and trap their prey. Occasionally, they would also produce icicle-like projectiles which they could fire at their enemies at will.

    The screeches were also rallying calls, which would quickly result in up to eighty of them making their way to their sister in need, bombarding their prey from all sides with their Magics. Even in close quarters, they were still a little dangerous. Using mana, they would form icy claws on their fingers with which they would attempt to rip apart their opponents.

    Needless to say, after Isaac allowed himself to experience all of their Magics firsthand, he simply used his mana to interrupt them and made them fizzle out into nothing. A cold shiver ran down the spectating Titania''s spine at this sight¡­

    The women''s stats weren''t anything impressive, except for their Magic, which was at A-850 / 33,850. Still, usually they wouldn''t need any other weapon, as Magic was extremely overpowered in this world, to say the least. But against Isaac, they could only line up not-so-obediently and be slain. Just like regular humanoids, the most efficient method to kill them that he came up with ultimately turned out to be a clean and swift beheading yet again.

    After he concluded his research on them, he decided to call them Yuki-onnas. They were far too similar to these figures of folklore from his past world, and he didn''t see any reason to desperately try to be creative. If he left it up to other adventurers, these women would probably be cursed with a name like ''Cold Babes'', or a similarly horrifying one.

    All the while until he reached the 61st floor, at around 5 a.m., he didn''t encounter any new monster species, nor any significant change in scenery. Then, finally, new kinds of specimens joined the fray.

    For the first time since he had come to this world, Isaac truly felt like he was facing actual dragons. Yes, he had fought many of their kind before, but none of them had made him mentally exclain in any kind of admiration before, and none of them had made him truly think that they were the dragons that he had occasionally pictured in his head. These ones, however, did.

    Their scales were snow-white and had a certain beauty to it, while their bodies, from their heads to the tip of their tails, were about 40 meters in size. As for their wingspan when they took to the skies - or rather, the airspace of this floor? It was almost 100 meters.

    In Isaac''s old world, most people only knew two kinds of dragons - the Western and the Eastern ones. The ones that he had encountered now definitely looked like the former. While they were beautiful and regal, and evoked a sense of wonder and respect, they also had an air of danger to them, as well as the appearance of apex predators. Their claws appeared as if they could rip apart any opponents, their quadrupedal bodies were muscular and imposing, and their heads were just plainly fear-inducing.

    An approving smile played across Isaac''s lips as he observed these monsters. He had always preferred Western dragons over Eastern ones. This wasn''t because he had come into contact with the former first, far from it - the earliest depiction of a dragon that he had ever seen was that of an Eastern one. The real reason as to why he had developed such a preference over his life was simple - he felt like Eastern dragons looked a little comical. Yes, it was just a matter of personal taste, nothing more.

    In an effort to give these newly discovered dragons a more original name than the other ones that he had chosen today, out of pure appreciation for them, he chose to call them Zimsmoks. Admittedly, he hadn''t tried hard, but at least he hadn''t settled on the name of a creature from folklore or mythology this time. In other words he hadn''t been completely lazy.

    The Zimsmoks were most often seen in groups of five, but never more. Occasionally, they would roam the floor all on their lonesome. Needless to say, they could also make use of breath attacks - ice-elemental ones, which really didn''t come as a surprise. Even though they were truly gigantic in size, they still had a lot of airspace to maneuver through, as the ceiling, by now, was close to ten kilometers in height. Honestly, they were an absolute pain to fight and kill. Their stats were all at S-900 / 34,650, which at least gave Isaac a handful of stats worth of excelia per slain dragon.

    Still, it took him quite a while to end even a single one at first. Monsters with enormous bodies would need to be dealt far bigger injuries than smaller monsters to achieve the same effect. With only a khopesh in hand, the amount of damage that he could deal was very limited.

    If he couldn''t have made use of his Anemoi Steps, he would have only been able to rely on some improvised Magics and his bow. But even when he successfully aimed for their eyes, he was soon disappointed - due to the flimsy material of his arrows and bow, they couldn''t pack much of a punch and even the transparent membrane that always covered the Zimsmoks'' eyes was enough to resist his attacks. The worst that he could do was to give them a slight itch. He should really upgrade his weaponry sometime¡­

    Even when Isaac got close to them, his khopesh could only barely overcome the durability of their scales. After using this to wound them, he quickly decided that he shouldn''t clash directly with their defenses, as this temporary weapon of his was already beginning to dull. Admittedly, if he just made use of all of his power and didn''t reduce his stats to match his opponents anymore, he could have simply obliterated these dragons with a casual punch, using only his physical body - but that would have been far too easy, and it would not have resulted in thorough research either.

    Because the breath attacks could effortlessly be dispelled by him, they didn''t trouble him at all, and he could carefully size up the Zimsmoks'' bodies in detail. Truly, if he had a better weapon, he would be able to simply cut them apart piece by piece, as usual. But as he couldn''t do that now, his options were a little more limited. At first, he had hoped that some of their scales would be less resilient, that they would have particular spots where they were less developed. Still, that wasn''t the case.

    Ultimately, he came up with three feasible approaches. The first two required him to dispel their breath attacks and charge into their mouths, attacking them from the inside. The best choice here would be to follow their throats all the way to their stomachs and to use mana manipulation to keep their gastric acid at bay. That way, he could quite easily cut a path to their hearts. The less ideal choice in the ''entering the dragons'' bodies''-scenario was to stay within the mouth and try to attack the brain directly. That was far more difficult, as he would have to overcome a layer of bone, and his weapon was simply too brittle for that.

    The last idea that he had had was to attack their eyes directly. Using his arrows had been ineffective, but if he caught them by surprise, he was confident that he could easily stab through the membranes protecting the eyes before they could shut their eyelids, all the way through the holes in their skulls that allowed their eyes'' optic nerves to connect to their brains. This was a far easier and less unpleasant experience than to enter the bodies of the beasts, so it was the choice that he went with the majority of the time.

    But of course, to test out the feasibility of all three paths, some beautiful, snow-white dragons were shredded brutally from the inside, causing them to attack their own stomachs in a desperate and futile frenzy, attempting to get rid of the unwelcome intruder. They ripped their scales and flesh open in the process - those were truly tragic sights.

    Sometime while he was rushing through the 62nd floor, carefully looking around for any other new monster species to grace with his presence, Isaac suddenly tensed up and got both himself and Titania to grind to a halt.

    "What is wrong, master?"

    A confused expression was plastered on the shivering Demi Spirit''s face. Never before had she ever seen him the slightest bit nervous or on edge, but he clearly wasn''t in as much of a casual mood as before now. Still, she couldn''t make out any reason for his sudden change in behaviour.

    Without looking back at her, he focused on something far in the distance and spoke quietly, just loud enough for her to barely be able to perceive it.

    "I think I just found this zone''s Monster Rex. The one before this one was already relatively close to Level 7, so this one should have reached it. If you stay here, you will most likely get hurt, or even die. You remember the way to the staircase we came from, right? Carefully make your way back there."

    They had only been on this floor for less than ten minutes, so of course she recalled this information. In fact, they hadn''t travelled far from the staircase at all. Thankfully, due to monsters usually avoiding these places, it should indeed be the safest place nearby. Slightly happy at her well-being having been considered by her master, she whispered an obedient "Alright."

    Then, she grew a little bit worried, and after a moment of silence and indecision, she finally voiced a question.

    "What about you, master?"

    With a slight smile playing across his lips, Isaac turned his head slightly and looked back at her. There was a fire of excitement burning in his eyes, which seemed almost fanatical to her. He gave off the aura of a suicide-bombing moth about to dive straight into a flame. At the same time, he appeared to be oddly filled with confidence.

    "I''ll go and fight it."

    Before she could even try to convince him otherwise, he had already ran into the distance, completely soundlessly. Sighing to herself, Titania shook her head and cautiously and quickly went back to the staircase that they had descended before. As most monsters on the way had already been slain when they had first come through here, only a few stragglers needed her to dispatch of them.

    When she had arrived back on the staircase, which was found in the side of one of the mountains that reached all the way to the ceiling of this floor, carefully hidden from view by copious amounts of snow, she looked into the direction that Isaac had headed and couldn''t help but feel conflicted.

    On the one hand, she wondered what would happen if he were to die - would she be free again? For some reason, her gut feeling told her that even if that happened, it wouldn''t be the end. On the other hand, she felt like cheering for him, as aside from their previous conflict and the unfortunate position that she found herself in, wasn''t he a good guy? After all, he had sent her out of harm''s way at the first sign of real danger.

    Suddenly, an almost ear-splitting roar assaulted her senses and stirred up a massive blizzard that threatened to engulf her entire field of view.

    ''This is absurd! How many kilometers separate me from the source of that roar? It''s probably at least 20!! How can the blizzard still reach me, and this quickly?''

    In an instinctive effort to get to safety, Titania retreated a few more meters into the staircase, before she noticed that it somehow kept most of the assaulting winds and ice at bay already.

    Amidst the enraged roars and ear-shattering impacts that caused the land to tremble, she thought that she could make out peals of elated laughter. Subconsciously, she clenched her fists a little and whispered under her breath, so quietly that not even she could register the words that she had uttered.

    "Master, please be safe¡­"

 Chapter 110 - One Perilous Hour

    Due to his Eyes of Hermes, Isaac was able to observe an unusual shape in the distance. While from afar, it looked just like a ridge of snowy hills that was close to 100 meters tall, which was nothing too remarkable in this arctic hell, he had taken note of some breaths being exhaled. They came from two spots that were about ten meters apart and whirled up miniature snow storms that ebbed and flowed following the same rhythm as the breaths.

    When he had used his mana to stealthily probe a bit further, he had soon realized that these breaths came from the nostrils of a truly enormous beast. He could have spent some more effort on getting a closer look at it by using his mana to penetrate the massive layers of snow, but simply by relying on these relaxed breaths, he could already tell that this monster''s stats far surpassed his. Now, he needed to conserve as much energy as he possibly could. After all, he would get to see the beast soon anyway once the battle commenced, right? A bit of patience would do the trick.

    To make sure that he wouldn''t have to spend a considerable amount of effort on reclaiming his new servant''s soul and fashioning her a usable vessel, he thought it wise to send her to safety. He had never intended for her to be much of a soldier anyway, so why throw her life away futilely?

    Once she had left, his heartbeat had already started to quicken, and he could barely contain his excitement. Although he derived a lot of joy from his usual research, from the acquisition of new knowledge and from spending time with his beloved, he also longed for truly challenging battles. What did some people call it again? ''A man''s romance''? Well, it was similar - he liked to give his best, and to test his limits. To be forced to improvise and improve.

    While he could achieve a similar effect by restraining his stats, the feeling that he got would never be the same as when he truly had to go all out or face dire consequences for his negligence. Admittedly, there was always the option of breaking the shackles that was the system and to overcome any and all difficulties with a simple thought, so in a way, he would never truly be able to experience what others had to endure during life and death moments. Still, what he would be able to feel now was a close second, and the best that he could achieve currently.

    In the early days after his arrival, he had still faced actual challenges every now and then, but for a long time since, he had missed this feeling. Now, it had finally returned! And all it took was a Level 7 Monster Rex.

    With swift and silent steps, Isaac crept closer to the massive monster, intending to test up to which point he would be able to approach it without blurring his existence - that was yet another ''cheat'' that he wouldn''t use unless necessary, or unless he just didn''t care about what he was doing at the moment. In any case, during a one-on-one battle, he preferred to avoid utilizing it.

    When he was less than two kilometers away, close enough to easily make out some details of the snowflakes that covered the small hill ridge, he felt the ground beneath him rumble. The shape that had been hidden underneath the snow finally showed itself, with massive amounts of wintry downpour pelting the surrounding land, causing a small avalanche in all directions.

    The monster he saw was both the strongest that he had ever laid his eyes upon - an awe-inspiring figure - as well as one that made him smirk a little in speechlessness. It was a tiger, a white one with black stripes. While it stood on all fours, it was close to 200 meters tall, and about 600 meters long. It was, by far, the biggest creature that he had ever seen. It honestly felt surreal.

    But what truly perplexed Isaac was that this Monster Rex looked just like what he had personally always imagined yet another mythological figure from his past world to look like.

    ''Isn''t this just basically Baihu?!''

    Well, not exactly. After all, that White Tiger was usually associated with autumn, not winter. This one, apart from the colour of its fur, was therefore simply not the one that had initially come to Isaac''s mind.

    ''Eh, I''ll still call it Baihu. It''s majestic enough.''

    It wasn''t like he had all the time in the world to come up with a great name for this floor boss, so he simply went with that first thought of his. Nobody in this world would know who or what Baihu was anyway. Hopefully.

    Fully awakened from its pleasant slumber, the mind-bogglingly huge tiger focused its gaze on the incredibly small ant in front of it. Even its pupil''s diameter was almost twice the height of this insignificant little thing. If Baihu had been encountered in the wild, then it would have surely ignored Isaac, or only reacted once he had made a ruckus on its body. After all, which animal would rise from its slumber just to squash a little louse? Only when there were many of them would they arouse its vexation. Still, this was the dungeon, so whenever an adventurer got close to a monster, the latter would give in to its inherent bloodl.u.s.t and try to tear them to pieces, no matter how pathetically weak the prey may be.

    In an effort to use the distance between them to guess the white tiger''s stats more accurately, Isaac stared back at it without moving, only for it to suddenly roar towards the heavens - not that there were any in this place - and stomp strongly on the ground, shooting in his direction.

    The sound of the outcry was so loud that he found it difficult to keep a clear head, and the sound waves rattling his body didn''t make things any easier - still, he managed. Its speed was a whole other issue, though. Using his expertise to judge its various movements, he made a bone-chilling judgement - its Agility was at Level 7, at I-50 / 88,250, to be exact. This was more than 20,000 stat points higher than his own. However, it wasn''t like he hadn''t expected this.

    While, yes, this was only around 30 percent higher than his own Agility, a gap that he had easily been able to bridge in the past with sheer skill and prediction¡­ things were a little more difficult now.

    An example: If someone was capable of moving at a speed of ten kilometers per hour, and another person managed to be 30 percent faster, they would move at 13 kilometers per hour. All in all, while the difference was 30 percent, it would still be easily bridgeable, and one could effortlessly follow the faster one with one''s eyes. But if one person moved at 1,000 kilometers per hour, and another at 1,300 kilometers per hour, then the situation would be very different. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to keep track of the faster one, from the slower one''s point of view.

    This problem was somewhat alleviated by the vast improvement to all senses that adventurers got blessed with during every rank up. Still, the gap between Isaac and Baihu was far vaster than a measly 300 kilometers per hour - to be exact, Isaac could currently reach top speeds of about 2,500 kilometers per hour, while Baihu¡­ even the tiger''s effortless movements allowed it to reach more than 3,100 kilometers per hour.

    One thing that had long since baffled Isaac about this world was that none of the fast-moving adventurers or monsters that should have broken through the sound barrier many times, because the speed of sound seemed to be around the same as back in his old world, actually produced any sonic booms.

    This seemed highly unscientific at first glance, and he truly had no final explanation for it yet. One of the ways that this could be explained was that someone who was in control of the related laws of this world had simply eradicated the existence of sonic booms. Judging from how weird some of the gods'' behaviour was, the ones reigning far above them would undoubtedly have some curious characters amongst their ranks as well. He wouldn''t be surprised at all if one such being had suddenly decided to remove sonic booms in their entirety "because they are loud and annoying".

    Of course, during this high-speed battle, Isaac had no time whatsoever to actually think about any of this. After he had approximated his enemy''s speed, he barely managed to react before the massive tiger barrelled past him. By less than a meter, he had managed to slip through its legs. He had made use of his Anemoi Steps to avoid having to step unto the trembling ground, as his footing would be anything but stable there.

    A look of irritation appeared on Baihu''s face - it had noticed that the ant was still alive and now buzzing about in the air. Incredibly quickly, it came to a stop, whirling up many tons of snow in the process and shattering the side of the mountain that it landed on. With a powerful lunge, it propelled itself towards Isaac again, this time also making use of its paws to swipe at him.

    There were good news and bad news.

    The good news was that the tiger had moved for close to ten kilometers before it had come to a standstill, so the distance between the two was now bigger, giving him far more time to react, to feint and to get out of the way.

    As for the bad news¡­ well, a blizzard had long since started to batter him. It had appeared when Baihu had first roared - this one sound and its accompanying sound waves had already been enough to stir up a lot of snow. The tiger''s movements, which had incredible amounts of force behind them, just stirred it up even more. Isaac was also certain that a little bit of mana manipulation had been at play as well, helping the blizzard to kick off very quickly. But honestly, in the current situation, he would be hard pressed to dispel this massive Magic.

    There also weren''t many reasons to do so. First of all, he didn''t know how many times the tiger could use it, and he needed to keep his Eyes of Hermes active at all times to cover his blind spots and to have a far superior field of view. Wasting mana on an uncertainty with no clear finish line would be a fool''s errand. But more importantly, now that the blizzard had already progressed to this point and would only be further invigorated by the many future movements of Baihu, the impact that dispelling the tiger''s magic would have would be very minimal. By now, the forces of nature had taken over the wheel, and the white tiger was only occasionally feeding the driver a snack of mana from the passenger seat.

    Isaac''s body fluttered about like a leaf in a hurricane, and anybody else would have grown nauseous or disoriented. As usual, he had yet again entered the realm of supreme focus, the world akin to a chessboard. This time, his senses were stretched taut, and even though he was multitasking and sweating slightly, he didn''t look nervous at all. Almost subconsciously, in his delight, he began to laugh in elation. Maybe it was his way to deal with the last bouts of nervousness that he felt when confronted with this never-before-encountered challenge.

    While the tiger got closer in what would feel like the blink of an eye to any observer, Isaac accurately predicted the movements of all the chaotic gusts of wind around him, as well as the plentiful amounts of ice and snow that were mixed within in all shapes and sizes. With what seemed to be ease, he strategically placed short-lived footholds of dense air with his Anemoi Steps and allowed his body to be blown around by exactly the gusts that could help him accelerate in the direction that he wanted to go. It seemed like a random pattern at first glance, but it was one that still afforded him the luxury of not letting any sharp objects harm his body. Due to the timely support of good old mother nature, he evaded the tiger''s entire charge - by far more than just a small margin this time.

    His laugh grew louder and more unrestrained, and the excitement in his eyes burned hot. It looked as if he was having the time of his life playing with this big cat. But really, it was far from easy. More and more beads of sweat acc.u.mulated on his forehead, and most of his muscles were being forced to their limits. Only due to his basically perfect control could he achieve what nobody else with stats like him would be able to do - to seem like a leisurely, playful kid in this apocalyptic scenario.

    Once more having been slighted, Baihu grew even angrier this time. It had flattened a more than 500 meter tall hill with its latest attack, razing it to the ground and adding a few more projectiles to Isaac''s Touhou-esque bullet hell, one where he had heavily restricted movement opportunities.

    Roaring repeatedly in rage, Baihu continued to accelerate further, soon only using its top speed to attempt to knock Isaac out of the air. If it had been a bit smarter, and less influenced by the dungeon, then it would surely have realized that a major reason for its failure was the natural calamity that it had kicked off - it was one of Isaac''s greatest assets at the moment.

    For a while, the two were at an impasse, as neither of them could hurt the other. Isaac didn''t even attempt to get close to Baihu - as that would only lead to a successful death speedrun - and only used the last vestiges of his focus to closely observe the tiger, intending to figure out any weaknesses that it could possibly have. He had put the khopesh back into his inventory even before he had gotten close to the snowy hill ridge, as he had known that it couldn''t be of any help at all.

    He was well and truly stumped - just how could he possibly harm this tiger? Even if he found some weak point, how could he actually exploit it? He didn''t have an elemental enchant type Magic like Ais, which could be used to achieve devastating, large-area effects. He also didn''t have any strong Magics at his disposal - at least none that could do noteworthy amounts of damage. Lastly, he was missing equipment which could allow him to bypass the tiger''s defenses, and to maximize his own stats.

    Nonetheless, he laughed in a carefree manner, while he was forcing his brain to nearly overclock like an expendable hardware component. The amount of simultaneous calculations that it was being subjected to was nearly unfathomable.

    When there finally was another lull in the tiger''s countless attempts to make Isaac slip up even once, after close to twenty minutes, the laughing madman finally quietened down. Taken aback by the sudden change, Baihu furrowed its brows for a moment, but sadly it wasn''t capable of ruminating about what exactly was going on. Still, its beastial instincts told it that its prey had to be weakening.

    This couldn''t be further from the truth, however. Isaac had only stopped expressing his joy because he truly had to get ahold of all of his available resources now - nothing could be missing.

    If he had been a musclehead, he would have charged at the tiger directly, and assaulted it with punches and kicks. While those wouldn''t really deal any damage to its hide, the shock waves would still travel through the inside of its body, possibly causing some harm. However, this would likely be very limited in effectiveness, because usually, a Monster Rex''s stats were all the same. So, with an Endurance of I-50 / 88,250, could Isaac''s measly Strength really put a dent in this thing? The answer was no.

    Instead, what he had focused on all this time was a new kind of Magic, one that he had been conceptualizing and occasionally working on for a long while. He had failed countless times, and was still in the middle of fine-tuning it. Its essence wasn''t considered to be anything extraordinary - at least in Isaac''s old world - laser cutting. Here in this world, a Magic like it may exist, but the principles behind it would surely not be fully understood, neither would the Magic have been created by a member of the sentient races, or even a deity.

    By using his mana to affect the environment in a plethora of different ways, he constructed an artificial laser in the air. As the pump source, he made use of electrical discharge, the voltage and frequency of which was already hair-raisingly difficult to control. For the laser''s medium, he chose a gas mixture of primarily Carbon Dioxide, but also traces of Helium, Nitrogen, Hydrogen as well as water vapor. He had already confirmed that the air''s composition here was basically identical to that of his old world - using his mana to very carefully control its composition was possible, and the most difficult obstacle that he had been faced with ever since he had decided on creating this laser cutting Magic. Thankfully, he had overcome it days ago.

    Creating the optical windows, as well as lenses, had successfully been dealt with already. Admittedly, he was simply improvising and putting together a patchwork product - this magical construct would only be capable of lasting for a short bout of attacks. Finally, he arrived at the last step - creating an optical resonator by using his mana. The silvering and optical coatings, especially the high-reflection coating for the high reflector, were the parts that he still had to fine-tune.

    Luckily, nobody but him needed to fully understand the broad scientific knowledge necessary for this magical construct to function. If he bombarded anyone else with all of these terms, they wouldn''t understand a thing, except for a couple of scientists from his old world. He wouldn''t go out of his way to bore any of his new acquaintances with these trivialities, unless they really wanted to endure many years worth of science lectures.

    Still, wasn''t jumping from something as ''simple'' as the mana control required for his Anemoi Steps and his Eyes of Hermes to a feat thousands of times more complex a little rushed? Especially in such a dangerous situation, where he couldn''t really fully focus on the task at hand!? Yes. But it wasn''t like Isaac had any other cards up his sleeves at the moment, so he would just try his absolute best. Working under pressure could oftentimes produce far greater results compared to what one would be capable of under normal circ.u.mstances.

    Unsurprisingly, the first attempt of using the laser cutting Magic right above the tiger''s neck failed. Not because it noticed that some of the mana in its surroundings acted strangely and disturbed its casting, not at all. While it did realize that something was weird, even Baihu wouldn''t have been quick enough to react in time. Isaac had simply messed up at one of the last steps, just like thousands of times before.

    Even though he had used a non-negligible amount of his mana reserves, and he was still burdening his brain to its very limit - if not further - he didn''t get discouraged in the slightest. After all, he had just eliminated another possibility thanks to this failure. Well, in any case, he didn''t even have the energy, time or brain power to spare to feel much at the moment.

    The minutes passed by slowly, with Isaac using every single possible opportunity to attempt perfecting his laser cutting Magic. Hundreds of times, he failed, but slowly, he got closer to his goal. In the process of the battle, he had even been grazed by a handful of icicles and rock shrapnel, causing some minor wounds. As he hadn''t been in any mortal danger, he had chosen to ignore these particular projectiles, although he was well aware of the comparatively dire circ.u.mstances that would be sure to follow.

    As Isaac and Baihu were still ''dancing'' with each other while being accompanied by a deadly blizzard, the first drop of Ichor dripped upon the dungeon''s floor, causing it to tremble in rage. All over the 62nd floor, black variants of the various monster species that inhabited this thematic zone started to spawn. Far in the distance, thousands of kilometers away, one of the mountains trembled, as a massive black tiger with white stripes slowly awakened from its comfortable slumber in the dungeon''s floor.

    Finally, when Isaac had used up nearly half of all of his available mana, he succeeded at activating the laser cutting Magic - it was fully stable! Using its maximum output without a care, he sliced down upon Baihu''s neck, intending to sever it or to at least damage it severely. A cut almost three meters deep appeared on the regal white tiger''s neck. The Magic had successfully started to nick one of its vertebrae.

    Sadly, at this point, the temporary magical construct grew unstable and fizzled out, but Isaac was undeterred. He completely ignored the Ichor dripping from his cheeks and expressionlessly activated the Magic again. There had been a system notification when he had first successfully used his new Magic, but it simply wasn''t possible to pay any attention to it right now.

    In quick succession, he assaulted the tiger''s exposed vertebrae again and again. Although Baihu seemed to be able to heal from injuries relatively quickly, that only referred to flesh wounds - its bones couldn''t get restored nearly as fast. In between Isaac''s laser attacks, the tiger didn''t even manage to recover its marred tissue by more than ten percent - it could only continuously acc.u.mulate the damage. Any monster that wasn''t controlled by the dungeon would have long since tried to escape, but the white tiger only had one command in its mind: To slay this annoying ant.

    After the 17th cut, the vertebrae was finally severed, and Baihu''s head fell downwards against its will, in the process ripping open even more of its neck. After the 19th cut, the head was entirely severed from the body. Still, the tiger didn''t die straight away. Its head continued to glare at Isaac with bloodl.u.s.t. This would have carried on for a few minutes if Isaac hadn''t quickly utilized his newly acquired Magic to attack its brain directly, through the hole in its skull that was located right behind its eyes. He had used a similar strategy against the Zimsmoks not too long ago.

    To make doubly sure, he also directly cut apart the heart of the massive tiger. In total, he had to cast the laser cutting Magic 24 times before he was awakened from his supremely focused state by a most welcome system notification.

    [ Achievement Progress: Kill 1000 Level 7 monsters. (1/1000) ]

 Chapter 111 - The Legacy They Left Behind

    Under normal circ.u.mstances, Isaac would have preferred to calmly take in the fruits of his victory, but right now clearly wasn''t the best time. During his battle with Baihu, he had noticed the thousands of black monsters charging at the site of their battle from all sides. After all, it wasn''t like they attempted to hide - it was basically impossible to miss them.

    Thankfully, due to the blizzard, none of them had managed to approach too closely, and those that had had been torn to pieces by the icicles and rock shrapnel mixed within. Yet again, mother nature had had his back, enabling him to completely disregard the monsters'' existence. Now, however, the blizzard was slowly settling down.

    With a slightly pained expression, Isaac hastily approached the massive tiger corpse and stored all of it in his inventory. It had yet to turn into dust, as he hadn''t extracted the magic stone.

    ''If I wasn''t so exhausted and the situation wasn''t so dire, then I would take my time with this, but now¡­''

    He could only regretfully sigh as he rushed past the approaching monsters with incredible ease. On the way, he cheekily put a few individuals of each species into his inventory - he wouldn''t just let such a great opportunity pass by this easily. Usually, he would have fought these variants to his heart''s content, studying them in detail, but this far into the dungeon, it would be nigh braindead to do so.

    The normal variant monsters weren''t the problem, the variant Monster Rex was! If the dungeon could produce these black, stronger versions of regular monsters, then it would be foolish to assume that it couldn''t do the same with floor bosses - and Isaac was even certain of this, beyond the shadow of a doubt, thanks to the first few volumes of the DanMachi novels!

    Baihu had forced him to break through his current body''s limits, so a stronger Baihu would absolutely obliterate him. He would still be able to escape by either blurring his existence or teleporting away, but a fair one versus one battle? There was no chance at all of that happening. He might be able to kill the beast, by unfairly assassinating it, but he didn''t want to do so.

    As he was charging to the nearest staircase leading to the 61st floor, he used a bit of his focus to support his body''s regeneration manually. First and foremost, he stopped any more Ichor from escaping his wounds. Sadly, the blood that had already touched the ground couldn''t be recovered, as the dungeon had fully absorbed it, like a parched wanderer in a desert that had been offered a water flask.

    The tension slowly subsided. If he had just relaxed for a single moment, if he had stood still for a fraction of a second¡­ even if he had directly attacked Baihu''s physical body and therefore rooted himself into place¡­ then he would have died. Any simple attack of the beast would have destroyed his body, he was certain of that. While he had behaved like a battle maniac earlier, upon reflection, he couldn''t help but smile a little wryly. It had truly been close...

    ''I really need to upgrade my weaponry, I can''t delay it any longer. Had I had a decent bow and some resilient arrows, then I could have killed this cat with a single shot.''

    While chuckling silently, he couldn''t help but chide himself for his failure. Ais had even repeatedly warned and advised him, but he simply hadn''t had the time to--- no, that was just an excuse. He had chosen to not have any time left to upgrade his equipment. While some matters definitely had been unavoidable, he would have easily been capable of sparing a few hours, or even more than that. Still, he had been so obsessed with the rush of researching and growing stronger that he had put off such a fundamental issue.

    When he finally arrived at the staircase that he had sent Titania to, he immediately saw the shivering Demi Spirit peeking out into the 62nd floor. Worry was plastered all over her face. It was clear that close to an hour of being exposed to intense battling had taken a toll on her, as she had been constantly on edge. Ultimately, none of the black monster variants had charged up the staircase, as they had all been focused on him, and she had been perfectly safe. Still, the earth had trembled unceasingly - first, due to the battle, then later, due to the dungeon being provoked by his Ichor.

    Smiling amusedly at her behaviour that was akin to a scaredy cat, he rapidly approached and soon came to a stop right in front of her.

    At first, she recoiled in shock, but when she realized that it was him, she beamed delightedly.

    "Master! You''re back!"

    But soon, the relieved joy on her face got replaced by an awkward expression. Hurriedly, she averted her eyes, not sure how to react.

    "Umm¡­ your clothing¡­"

    It was then that the battleworn Isaac finally took a closer look at the state of his clothes and armour. Up until this point, he had mostly been focused on picking up his loot, storing interesting specimens for the future and healing his body. He had also taken a glance at his mana reserves - 65 percent of them had been consumed by his first Monster Rex battle.

    When he saw that most of his armour had been shredded into pieces, in a state far beyond any repair, and that his tattered clothing was just barely covering a very small total surface area¡­ an embarrassed cough escaped his mouth. Quickly, he pulled out another set of clothes and changed into them at a speed that made it seem instantaneous. As for his armour pieces¡­ yeah, he would just have to buy new ones.

    In an effort to gloss over the fact that he had just committed a blunder, he mentally praised himself for his decision to buy multiple sets of clothes. After all, one never knew when they would get destroyed, so having more than just a single set had definitely been the right choice. It was just a shame that his gambeson and pants were a little bit more unique and expensive, so for now, he could only replace them with some of the cheapest but most comfortable clothes that he had gotten his hands on in passing before.

    "What happened? Did you win the battle, master?"

    Also adamant to change the topic, the eager Titania brought up the question that had been on her mind ever since the blizzard had died down. Even with her various Magics, she wouldn''t have been able to last long against that force of nature. Aside from that, the opponent would most likely have been able to crush her easily with physical force alone. Had he truly triumphed over such a beast?

    With a small smirk, Isaac nodded, then he walked even closer to her, causing her to freeze up a little instinctively.

    "I did. I''ll show you the spoils of the battle later, there is not enough space here. Anyway, it is time to return to the surface. I accidentally poked a hornets'' nest and will have to make myself scarce for a bit."

    Glancing at the rapidly approaching hordes of black monsters that continuously got closer to the staircase that they were standing on, he teleported the two of them into one of the Loki Familia''s empty training courtyards.

    About one minute later, a massive black tiger that sported white stripes finally arrived at the site of the battle that had finished not too long ago. It stood still, its mind blank because it couldn''t detect the one that it was supposed to kill anywhere in the vicinity. Another minute or two later, the dungeon slowly stopped trembling, and the ground underneath all of the various black monsters opened, absorbing them back into where they had come from.

    Nobody on the surface, or even in Rivira on the 18th floor, noticed this disturbance, as it had taken place so deeply underground that it could barely be felt anymore once the tremors travelled through all of the floors in between.

    -----

    In one of the Loki Familia''s training courtyards, Isaac was enjoying Ais'' lap pillow with closed eyes and a relaxed but tired smile on his face. The golden haired beauty was caringly stroking his hair, simply enjoying the moment.

    If there was one thing that was odd about this peaceful scene, it was that the two of them were seated on Titania''s back. Still, compared to before, the massive Demi Spirit had grown a lot more accustomed to her role and didn''t freeze up in fear anymore. Well, not entirely, at least. She managed to distract herself by curiously sizing up her surroundings. Actually, she was tall enough to look out of the courtyard, if her monster half was included. In an effort to avoid getting noticed by anyone not in the know, she kept relatively low and only peeked over the edge, quickly hiding again whenever anyone even gazed into the direction that the courtyard was in.

    This was the first time that she had left the dungeon, so everything was new to her. The most sophisticated work of architecture that she had ever seen before was the pathetic little hut that Revis had somehow put together. A breathtaking, enormous building complex like the Loki Familia''s Twilight Manor shocked her to the core - she had never even imagined buildings like this in all her handful of years of life! She was like a young child that had gotten an opportunity to look at a real castle for the first time. Her eyes were sparking with fascination, and due to this, she almost completely forgot about the two terrifying existences currently making use of her as a sofa.

    Right after Isaac had returned, he had felt the exhaustion catching up to him. If Ais hadn''t been there, he would have had to put in significant amounts of effort to even stay on his feet. Thankfully, due to being very accustomed to each other by now, she instantly noticed that he was basically running on fumes and had grabbed him before finding a comfortable resting place for them. Needless to say, that hadn''t been very difficult.

    Now in the safety and comfort of his loved one''s embrace, Isaac finally found the time to gaze at the system notifications that had appeared back when he had put the finishing touches on his newest Magic.

    [ An unnamed Magic has been obtained. ]

    [ Unnamed Magic: Creates the magical construct of a laser cutting device, which can be powered by the user. Will require 50% less focus and be twice as stable if activated via the chant.

    Chant: As of yet undetermined. ]

    [ Your new Magic is currently nameless and does not have a corresponding chant. Please choose a name and a chant for your new Magic. ]

    [ Three Magics have been obtained. The limit of the Falna has been reached. ]

    [ Divine Falna detected. Previous limit does not apply.

    Current limit for Skills and Magics: 5 each

    Cost of acquiring further slots: 5,000 AP per slot ]

    [ You have created a never-before-seen Magic.

    Hidden Path ''Pioneer'' has been unlocked.

    Related achievements have been unlocked.

    1,000 AP rewarded. ]

    [ Quest ''Create one never-before-seen Magic.'' completed. 100 AP rewarded. ]

    There was a lot to unpack here, first of all the matter of one only being able to acquire a limited number of Skills and Magics. Isaac hadn''t had any idea that this was the case previously, which caused him to highly appreciate that his Divine Falna came with two extra slots each. After all, whenever he created a new Magic, it would automatically appear in his Falna - unless he went out of his way to prevent it from doing so, which would be a hassle.

    If there hadn''t been a way to circ.u.mvent the limit, then his maximum growth in all aspects would have become heavily restricted. He would have even had to think about tossing aside the Falna completely once he reached the realm of deities properly. It was no wonder why no gods that he knew of made use of this blessing - or rather, the Divine Falna. It wasn''t just because they didn''t want to join the camp of a primordial god, it was also because their growth would be very limited. For mortals, the Falna provided a path to grow incredibly strong in a short amount of time, but the upper limit of this wasn''t actually all that high. Sure, for people from Isaac''s past world, it would still seem like the realm of gods and superhumans, but compared to the actual deities that walked the land here, and their far superior powers, it was nearly nothing.

    The second matter, and the one that stood out to him the most, was his new Magic. His brows furrowed a little - partly due to amus.e.m.e.nt, but mostly out of annoyance - when he saw that this time, chanting would provide him with even more bonuses. What had given him the biggest headache before was the stability of his new magical constructs. Now, he was offered a helping hand. He could even set the chant of this unprecedented Magic to be a single letter if he wanted to!

    Admittedly, it was a tempting offer. Still, Isaac chose to lock the chant, just like all the previous ones. It was a matter of principle - he wouldn''t walk back on his words only because his path would be easier should he choose to do so. Additionally, would he truly be in full control of his Magic if he relied on the laws of this world to support him with training wheels? Absolutely not!

    He didn''t bother to waste too much time thinking about this issue and quickly focused on the more important matters. This time, he had created an entirely new Magic. As such, not only did he gain a small amount of AP - which was appreciated - he also got the right to name it.

    Thinking back to his pleasant stroll through the dungeon earlier, he heaved an emotional sigh. Today really was full of naming opportunities, wasn''t it?

    Contrary to what had happened back with the newly encountered monsters, he deliberated about his Magic''s name for a long time. Well, it wasn''t really that long, just a couple of minutes. At first, he considered whether he should follow the more mystical path that his other two Magics complied with. Still, he ultimately discarded this train of thought and settled for the more minimalistic one. What use was there in grandiose titles if they barely got across what the actual use of the Magic was? Sure, the name shouldn''t be too simple, or even misleading, but there was no need to make it needlessly complicated. One should be able to figure out the essence of the Magic with a single glance at its name.

    [ Laser Cutting Construct: Creates the magical construct of a laser cutting device, which can be powered by the user. Will require 50% less focus and be twice as stable if activated via the chant.

    Chant: As of yet undetermined. Locked.

    Cost of disabling the lock: 25,000 AP ]

    Complacently, Isaac nodded to himself. The name wasn''t a travesty, and it was quite simple. It was exactly what he had set out to do. On a side note, he would probably be notified by the laws of this world if someone else ever created a Magic that was quite similar to his own.

    Lastly, there was the matter of a new Hidden Path getting unlocked. So far, there had been four: King, Family Man, Revolutionary and now Pioneer. Were they only ways for him to obtain more potential achievements to complete? He truly couldn''t say, but knowing himself, he could make a few guesses. Still, he simply didn''t have enough information at the moment to be able to say anything for sure. Ultimately, his only option was to be patient - all would be revealed in due time.

    With a refreshed sigh, he opened his eyes and looked directly at Ais, who had been absentmindedly staring at him. The two both quietly smiled at each other for a while, before Ais broke the silence. A slightly pouting expression had stolen itself on her face.

    "What do you plan to do today? Will you finally go visit Goibniu''s workshop with me?"

    Slightly embarrassed, Isaac''s smile turned awkward and he hastily cleared his throat.

    "Ahem. You said you would bring the kids into the dungeon soon, right? I will contact Fels in the meantime. After you''re back, I will take you up on that offer. You''re right, my equipment, in all aspects, has been sorely lacking for a while now. As for the rest of the day, I will probably give the kids some pointers. Didn''t Loki say that she would assemble us all in the evening? I''ll definitely attend that meeting."

    Hearing him admit his faults, Ais felt vindicated, and her pout transformed into a smug smile.

    "Alright, it''s a date."

    -----

    About half an hour later, Ais left for another training courtyard, to go about accompanying the students and subordinates - except for Titania, who was still performing the duty of a faithful sofa.

    With a reluctant sigh, Isaac sat up straight and took out the Occulus from a pouch at his waist. Before his battle with Baihu, he had stored it into his inventory, to avoid it getting harmed. As far as he could tell, he hadn''t been contacted in the meantime.

    Effortlessly, he inserted some of his mana into the small ornate and crystalline ball, only enough for an audio connection to be established. His skeletal acquaintance didn''t need to know about his new servant. Also, he didn''t have the habit of wasting his mana when it was neither necessary nor desirable. This wasn''t a video chat with his beloved, after all.

    "Fels, can you hear me?"

    A few seconds of silence later, a surprisingly clear, epicene voice came from the ball in his hand. None of the expected static or slight distortion inherent in electronic communication was present.

    "I can, Mr. Blackshaw. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

    As he had already mentally prepared everything that he wanted to say, Isaac rattled off his list.

    "Because I need to acquire some funds, I would like to exchange some drop items and magic stones with the Guild later, in large quantities. Also, I made it all the way to the 62nd floor today, and would like to report the discovery of multiple new monster species, all the information about them that I managed to obtain, as well as the names that I have chosen to give to them. Are there rewards to look forward to for my achievements?"

    Very quickly, Fels'' reply arrived.

    "I will visit your cell after your daily food is delivered. Please exchange the drop items and magic stones with me at that time. As for the new information that you mentioned, I am all ears and will note it down. After you are finished, I will sum up the rewards for you."

    Now that he had been given the green light, Isaac unhesitatingly divulged a large amount of observations of the Glacier Territory. When his words came to an end, he patiently waited for Fels to respond - only to be met with close to five minutes of silence. A slight frown formed on his lips and he was about to speak up when the friendly skeleton''s voice finally could be heard again.

    "Excuse the wait, Mr. Blackshaw. Lord Ouranos has just ordered me to provide you with some confidential information. Please keep what I am about to tell you to yourself, or at least don''t let it spread too far!"

    Just these words were already enough for Isaac to get a pretty good idea of the situation, and a wry smile played across his lips. After agreeing to the terms, he didn''t interrupt Fels because he wanted to know the exact details.

    "The truth is that the Zeus and Hera Familias ventured far deeper into the dungeon than what is publicly known. Their actual floor record is the 85th floor. The monsters that you reported to have discovered have already been named by the members of those two familias. The Chenoo that you described fit the image of the Blizzard Maneaters, the Boreal Mimics the White Goos, the White Rakshasas the Snow Yetis, the Glacier Golems the Ice Rocks, the Nykar the Ice Kelpies, the Woolen Terrors the Big Mammoths, the Yuki-onnas the Snow Women, the Zimsmoks the White Dragons, and lastly, the Monster Rex Baihu the Monochrome Tiger."

    Hearing all of this, Isaac''s right eye twitched in disbelief and he couldn''t help but curse the Zeus and Hera Familias in his mind. The names that they had chosen were not the absolute worst, but they clearly were extremely uninspired! He was now almost certain that the most horrifically bad names that he had encountered had originated from these two gods'' familias¡­

    ''You''re lucky that you''re dead, or I would give you all the lecture of your lives.''

    -----

    "HACHOOO!!!"

    A loud sneeze escaped a white-haired old farmer. The straw hat on his head almost fell off. With conflicting emotions, he looked into a certain direction.

    "Grandpa, are you okay?"

    The worried voice of a boy that was on the cusp of turning into a young man entered the old farmer''s ears, causing him to clear his throat, wipe away some snot and turn around. With a bright grin, he patted the boy''s head and ruffled his white hair.

    "Never been better. Somebody was probably just talking about me. Maybe it''s a beauty that was reminiscing about our youthful trysts back in the day?"

    For some reason, an excessively cold shiver ran down his spine at this thought, so he shook his head in an effort to get rid of the feeling. With his calloused hands, he grabbed a few seeds from one of the pouches at his waist and put them into the boy''s palms.

    "Anyway, you know what to do, right? Just like last year, plant them with ten centimeters gaps in between."

    By now, spring was about to arrive, and the first vegetables could be planted again. Although technically speaking, winter wasn''t over yet, the worst had already passed long ago, and this year''s cold season had been an especially mild one.

    "Leave it to me, grandpa!"

    With a bright and pure smile on his face, the boy happily got to work in the fields.

    Staring at this grandchild of his, the old farmer heaved a somewhat reluctant sigh.

    ''It is already almost time, only nine more months are left. This will be the last spring that we will be able to spend together. I really don''t want to leave, but this is for the best¡­''

    With a doting smile, the grandfather banished these thoughts from his mind and joined the boy in the fieldwork.

 Chapter 112 - Meeting The Craftsmen

    "Would it be possible to change these names? Their blandness makes my skin crawl."

    Upon hearing Isaac''s deadpan request, Fels became speechless for a moment.

    ''The names that you chose aren''t much better either!''

    At this point, after so many years had passed, Fels was more than used to the gods'' and their children''s generally horrible naming sense. Only occasionally would decent or acceptable names slip through. The skeleton had long since given up and only impassively kept track of any new Aliases and monster names.

    "I am sorry to have to disappoint you, Mr. Blackshaw."

    Fels'' voice sounded even more lifeless than usual to Isaac''s ears. Before he could attempt to convince his ally with rational reasoning, however, they had already continued, clearly intending to change the topic as soon as possible.

    "In any case, the reason as to why we can''t openly divulge the confidential information which I just mentioned is simple. Back when the Zeus and Hera Familias were obliterated in the battle against the One-Eyed Black Dragon, the next strongest forces in the city were only at Level 5. Only one person, the King, had barely made it to Level 6. The Level gap between the two familias and the rest of Orario was massive. Just for reference, most of the Zeus Familia''s members were at Level 7 or higher, while the Hera Familia''s Captain had reached Level 9 years ago."

    Surprise flashed in Isaac''s eyes as he listened patiently. Level 9!? He honestly hadn''t expected anyone to have made it there. The past rulers of the city were far more outstanding than he had originally thought. Still, he didn''t feel discouraged even in the slightest - after all, he knew that he would make it to this point in the relatively near future himself.

    "But even with forces like these, their battle with the dragon was completely one-sided. This was when the Guild decided to sweep the two familias'' achievements under the rug, at least until enough adventurers had grown stronger. This was in an effort to avoid discouraging the populace, or even destroying the people''s fighting spirit. Most adventurers never manage to make it to Level 3 in their entire lives, after all. Each progressive rank up gets more difficult, mainly because of the adventurers in question becoming more risk-averse. They already obtained superhuman powers, so they wouldn''t want to end their lives prematurely. This is also why deaths are relatively uncommon in the lower floors of the dungeon, and why progress is so excruciatingly slow. If such people were told that even familias that could eradicate the current Orario in mere minutes, that could slaughter all of the millions that are gathered here with ease, weren''t even able to put up a fight against the One-Eyed Black Dragon, then the majority would succ.u.mb to despair. Some people, undoubtedly, would only grow more motivated, but their numbers would be negligible. The more adventurers that arrive at higher Levels, the more the overall fighting prowess of the city rises. Considering all of these issues was what convinced the Guild to make this decision back then."

    Even though Fels couldn''t see him, Isaac showed a resigned smile and nodded. When confronted with a wall that seems impossible to overcome, only a miniscule amount of people would even attempt to scale it. And amongst those that do, would anyone ever succeed? There was no guarantee whatsoever. Still, should such a person appear, they would indubitably become an unfathomable existence, at least in comparison to the regular folk.

    If Orario only had to contend against the One-Eyed Black Dragon, then this would be a viable path for the city to take. But unfortunately, there were many outside forces eyeing the massive community centered around Babel. The ordinary residents would suffer a lot if Orario didn''t have a huge number of capable fighters. While solitary experts could potentially help out with the situation, it wasn''t certain that they would appear. Raising the overall fighting strength of the entire city, even if most of it would be comprised of what those like Bete referred to as ''small fries'', was a more responsible decision that took the needs of the entire populace into account.

    "I understand. Don''t worry, my lips are sealed."

    When Fels responded to his assurance, their voice was more jovial than usual.

    "Thank you, Mr. Blackshaw! I am aware that it would be awkward and difficult to keep such a secret from your familia, so you can share it with those in charge. Loki, undoubtedly, won''t compromise the situation, and neither will the Braver. In a gesture of good faith, Lord Ouranos has included the Executives and above of the Loki Familia in those that will be allowed to be made aware of this information."

    Some pleasantries later, Isaac returned to an earlier topic.

    "Regarding our exchange later, please bring at least 50 million valis with you. Also, how do you plan to transport all that I will hand over to you? It''s quite a lot."

    Due to their shock at this outrageous amount, Fels kept silent for a few moments, but soon managed to gather their thoughts again.

    "I will be sufficiently prepared, thank you for notifying me of the scale of the transaction in advance. Is there anything else?"

    After he expressed that there was nothing else to discuss, Isaac bade farewell to his ally and stopped injecting mana into the Occulus. While reclining on his comfortable sofa, he closed his eyes and decided that it would be wise to get some more rest. With that said, he spent some of his focus on recovering the last of his internal injuries and severely strained muscles. At the same time, he added more drops to the mana flow on his mental layer.

    Like usual, even though he was ''resting'', he was still working hard. Only when he was with Ais did he ever truly allow himself to take a breather.

    Time passed by quickly in this manner. Close to five hours later, shortly before 1 p.m., when he would need to be present in his cell for a moment to accept his food to continue the ongoing facade, he finally arrived at a familiar bottleneck.

    With effort that would be excruciating or even deadly to most, he added the 30,000th drop. All of the discomfort that had built up was instantly washed away as if it had been a lie, and an ecstatic feeling of refreshment coursed through his entire body. While all changes had exclusively happened on his mental layer, his physical one also rejoiced in the process. Yet again, his mana channels expanded, and another shackle had come undone.

    [ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment (E): Enables one to interact with their surroundings by using mana. Reduction in mana expenditure: 7% ]

    ''It increased by two percent again this time.''

    Making a mental note of this in passing, he opened his eyes, jumped off his comfortable seat and stretched. With a glance at the by now docile and slightly tired Titania, he spoke.

    "While I''m gone, stay here and avoid getting noticed."

    Only after the obedient plant had nodded did he teleport into his pitch-black cell. Less than a minute later, he could hear the sound of a small elevator making its way down with a barely noticeable load.

    "Dry bread, a bit of salad and water, huh? Could be worse."

    Murmuring to himself, he unhesitatingly dug in. Two minutes later, the now empty tray had already been placed back on the elevator. Until Fels arrived, Isaac patiently waited in the darkness.

    Their transaction took close to an hour. First, the friendly skeleton led Isaac to one of the many secret warehouses underneath the Guild, one that had been emptied out in advance. Then, while Isaac continually placed magic stones and Drop Items from his inventory into it, Fels carefully assessed them and calculated the total amount of valis that he had to hand over. As Isaac had to wait for Ais to return from the dungeon anyway, he was in no hurry and only sat at the side silently. In the end, he was presented with a hefty bag filled with nearly 50 million valis - to be exact, he got 49,995,000 valis. To arrive at a better number, he handed Fels the magic stone of a Blue Papilio, then he put the now precisely 50 million valis into his inventory before getting escorted back to his cell.

    Of course, he didn''t stay in that dreary place and instantly teleported back to the dozing Titania''s side and stealthily entered the baths to take a shower. While he had cleaned himself roughly when he had returned from the dungeon, he wanted to be proper now that he was about to go on a date. A bit after 2 p.m., Ais returned to the courtyard. She had already taken a shower as well, after coming back from protecting the kids during their daily grind.

    With a bright smile, she took his hand in hers and pulled him along.

    "Let''s go!"

    As he was currently a convicted criminal and Ais always was the center of attention wherever she went, Isaac blurred their existence somewhat, enough for people to entirely disregard them. This way, they could stroll through the city in a lovey-dovey manner and didn''t get bothered. While they crossed the northern main street, they picked up some potato snacks, which Ais delightedly nibbled on all the way until they arrived at their goal.

    The building complex in front of them wasn''t located on the main street but adjacent to one of the many side streets that ran through Orario everywhere. From afar, one could already see huge amounts of smoke rising into the air from various chimneys and windows. The sound of loud hammering assaulted one''s ears and the heat here made it slightly uncomfortable for the normal citizens that occasionally walked by. Only adventurers and those that were accustomed to warmer climates found this place comfortable. The two had mainly chosen this time, a little after lunchtime, for their date because most adventurers would still be in the dungeon, and it was highly unlikely that they would have to wait in line.

    Although the buildings themselves were nothing out of the ordinary, tens of them were connected together, all making up the home of one of the city''s most famous smith type familias - the Goibniu Familia.

    With unhurried steps, the two entered the main workshop, which usually was occupied by the god himself as well as his most outstanding disciples. What entered their view were tens of forges and furnaces, manned by even more blacksmiths. Their severely focused expressions, tense and muscular bodies, the suffocating smell of sweat and soot¡­ yeah, this place was anything but pleasant. Still, for some men and women with peculiar taste, this would probably be heaven.

    Isaac quickly glanced through the crowd, before his gaze settled on a short old man with long, swept-back white hair and a beard that reached his bare chest. He wasn''t as stocky as a Dwarf, but he definitely had a sturdy and strong build. His blackish-brown eyes were unwavering as he observed the other blacksmiths. He might not have stuck out too much in this place full of barely-clad metalworkers¡­ if he hadn''t been a god.

    "Lord Goibniu."

    Ais'' voice attracted the god''s attention, and he turned to face them in a calm manner. Isaac had already stopped blurring their existence from him, so Goibniu wasn''t confronted with the ghastly situation of hearing Ais'' voice but being unable to see her.

    "Oh, Sword Princess. What brings you here?"

    The old man raised an eyebrow at seeing the usually expressionless girl sporting a perpetual smile on her face and holding the hand of an unfamiliar young man. He sized him up and his eyes widened slightly in realization, before he shook his head and got rid of these unnecessary and distracting thoughts.

    ''It''s obvious who he is, and he shouldn''t be walking around in the open. But eh, it''s not my problem.''

    These thoughts were apparent on his face and also the reason why Ais hadn''t felt like it would be dangerous to confront this particular god and his familia. They didn''t have the habit of interacting much with anyone, or leaking information. In fact, they just didn''t care about anything outside of their work. While there was always a danger that some of the members might spill something, there was an easy countermeasure for that. Isaac was still mostly blurring both his and Ais'' existence from the rest of the blacksmiths, making them appear to be regular customers that they didn''t need to commit to their memory.

    After Ais gave him a glance, Isaac replied to the god''s question in her stead. She mostly preferred to be silent and to observe from the sidelines, and it was him who they were here for anyway.

    "I would like to request new equipment. Light metal armour, a vambrace and a one-handed sword."

    Goibniu didn''t show much of a reaction to this and replied with another inquiry.

    "Then why come to me directly? Any one of my children can fulfill that request."

    A slight smirk played across Isaac''s lips.

    "I would like to commission you directly, Lord Goibniu. Money is not an issue. Also, the quality of the products should be good enough to handle Level 7, if not Level 8 monsters. I need the best of the best. I will also provide the necessary Drop Items."

    Surprise flashed across the usually a bit grumpy god''s face and he looked at Ais with a questioning gaze. When he got an honest nod in response, he grew quiet for a while, before nodding to himself and focusing on Isaac again.

    "Alright, then let me take your measurements. Follow me."

    The old god led them to a side chamber and personally took a measuring tape to get all of the necessary information. All the while, Isaac answered his questions about how he would like his new equipment to look like, and which areas it should cover. Goibniu grew more and more flabbergasted the more he listened to him.

    ''How did he come up with all of this!?''

    What Isaac put forth was so perfect in design that it stunned even him. Usually, armour would get in the way at least a little bit, or would negatively impact a person''s balance. Isaac had accounted for all of that.

    As if he wanted to try his best to give the old blacksmith a heart attack, Isaac also took out a few sheets of paper which were filled with sketches of the designs and lots of other information. They were so detailed and simply flawless that they seemed lifelike.

    ''Is he the secret descendant of a god of arts?''

    Thoughts like these occupied Goibniu''s mind and he couldn''t help but evaluate Isaac even higher. Little did he know that the man in question had simply made use of his perfect bodily control and focus - drawing a lifelike design that was on the same level as the most advanced 3D models of his past world was about as easy as breathing to him at this point.

    "Good, I''m finished here. Now, what about the materials that you mentioned? When can I expect them?"

    With a polite smile, Isaac looked at the relatively small room that they were in and shrugged.

    "I have them with me, but this place is a little too cramped. Can we enter an open area? One without too many watchful eyes would be best."

    This only filled the god''s mind with even more unanswered questions, but he nodded and led them to a secluded courtyard located further inside the familia''s home. Some large crates full of Drop Items were stored here, but there was still plenty of space. Tens of square meters, to be exact.

    "Perfect."

    With a wave of his hand, Isaac placed various Drop Items on the ground. Almost all of them came from the Glacier Territory, except for a mound of Basilisk Scales. Then, to top it all off, there were the stars of the show - materials from the Monochrome Ti--- Baihu''s corpse.

    Yes, items in the inventory wouldn''t change at all, but that didn''t mean that Isaac couldn''t influence them while they were in there. In fact, they were under his absolute control, so taking a tooth from the massive tiger''s mouth and some fur from his back was as easy as flipping his hand.

    Technically, this meant that he could just put his enemies in there by touching them, after which he could dismember them or do whatever else that he wanted, without them even being aware of it¡­ But as this was too cheap of a way to deal with his troubles, he wouldn''t resort to measures like these. A non-omnipotent person who came in possession of such power after a long journey would definitely make use of this all the time, but not Isaac. If he had actually had found a good place to pull out the towering corpse of his latest prey, then he would have just extracted his materials the normal way. For the time being, however, he didn''t have access to a place like that, so he reluctantly had chosen to do it like this.

    Even though it was one of the smaller teeth of the tiger, it was originally still more than ten meters long, so Isaac had cut off only a third of it¡­ which was still massive enough to completely dwarf the god who now stood in front of it.

    This time, abject shock was written all over Goibniu''s face. Originally, he had expected some rare Monster Rex loot, which he could then refine to barely achieve what Isaac had asked for. But this? He recognized all of these materials, how could he possibly not? During the reign of the Zeus and Hera Familias, he had already been one of the most well-established blacksmithing gods. In fact, there was nary any craftsman in the city who wasn''t aware of the fact that materials from beyond the current ''floor record'' had been circulating widely back in the day. As those never leaked out of the two ruling familias and the circle of craftsmen, however, the secret had been well kept.

    ''This kid¡­ he actually made it all the way down there?''

    The eyes with which Goibniu now looked at Isaac were slightly different. While before, he had felt like he could still somewhat see through the man, he was now aware that he wasn''t capable of doing so. A smile stole itself on his lips.

    "Thanks to you, I can finally work with these again. I''m actually looking forward to your commissions now. It will take me three days until I''m done, so come back then. As for the price¡­ as you provided the materials yourself, let''s go with 100 million valis. Bring the payment when you come to get your finished equipment."

    Even though that was more than what he currently had on hand, Isaac still showed a calm smile. He had so many more magic stones and Drop Items stacked up in his inventory that he could easily pay this price. He just hadn''t had any idea exactly how much money he would need, so his preparations had been insufficient. In all fairness, items for higher Level adventurers were usually ridiculously expensive, and what Goibniu had offered him was still considered to be relatively tame. Most likely, due to his great mood thanks to the high-quality materials that he had gotten his hands on, he had given the promising young man a significant discount.

    Inwardly, Isaac couldn''t help but sigh in amused disbelief. It seemed like reputable craftsmen would never lack money in this world.

    After saying their goodbyes, the two lovebirds were almost chased away by the enthusiastic old god, who couldn''t wait to get started with his work. As for his thoughts related to the mysteries revolving around Isaac? They were already gone, he honestly couldn''t care less - after all, he had a job to do! Goibniu''s blood ran hot as he started to heat up his furnace.

    "You still need new protective clothing as well as a bow and arrows, right? Then we need to stop by somewhere else."

    Beaming happily at being able to spend more time together, Ais led Isaac further into the north-north-western district of the city, until they finally arrived at a massive store that took up the space of nearly five of the adjacent buildings. This time, only one of the chimneys exuded a lot of smoke, and it wasn''t uncomfortably hot at all. A magically reinforced glass pane made it possible for people to easily windowshop. Hundreds of expensive pieces of equipment, ranging from nearly all kinds of weapons to a plethora of varying armours could be seen here, some with prices up to 40 million valis. An emblem of two hammers that were crossed over a volcano was all over the place - it was the emblem of the Hephaestus Familia.

    Usually, people would flock in through the main entrance, but there was also a side entrance for VIPs. And as the Sword Princess, the cherished diamond of the Loki Familia, Ais - of course - had a pass for it.

    As their existence was still blurred from the various passersby, she didn''t need to bother with being stealthy and pulled out a golden coin with various engravings directly from her inventory. It was about five centimeters in diameter and had the Hephaestus Familia emblem on it, with the words ''VIP'' written beneath it.

    Isaac noticed that the ''engravings'' were actually runes which he, even though he had an automatic translator in his system, couldn''t read. Most likely, this was because they weren''t actually a ''language'' - he already had various theories about them and took note of the mana gathered within them, as well as their shapes.

    When the coin was held in front of the doorknob, the runes on it resonated with those on the knob and the side entrance opened, allowing them to enter the shop unhindered. The door closed right behind them.

    What greeted them was a cozy antechamber that had a few impressive pieces of craftsmanship lining the walls. Still, although it was a part of a shop, it looked more like a reception room or even a lounge. At the room''s center, there were two red leather couches with a table in between. A magic stone-powered device made sure that the teapot atop of it maintained a perfect temperature, and two boxes, one full of tea leaves and one overflowing with cookies, were placed on the table, alongside the rest of a tea set.

    While waiting, both Ais and Isaac ate a few of the cookies and relished in their taste - they were extremely delicious! There was no doubt that they were quite expensive, so it could be seen just how outstandingly well the Hephaestus Familia treated their VIPs.

    It took about ten minutes, but then the door leading further into the store finally opened, revealing a red-haired woman that was of the same height as Loki but really couldn''t be more different. While both of them had red hair, this one actually had a truly mature body. As for Loki¡­ her state was too pitiful to even mention when put next to this bombshell. Even comparing Tiona to her sister Tione wasn''t as extreme of a difference. There was no doubt that many men had fallen for this woman over the years.

    She wore a plain white shirt that was drenched with sweat and covered in a bit of soot, black gloves that went all the way to her elbows, pants of the same colour and knee-high brown shoes with a bit of a heel that made her appear to be taller. Her hair was neck-length and tousled. A black eyepatch covered the right one of her crimson eyes. There were still some beads of sweat on her forehead. It was clear that she had been working, but made some time to see her VIP customers.

    "Well, if it isn''t the Sword Princess. It''s nice to see you stopping by, Ais. And you¡­"

    With a glance at Isaac, who had a calm but friendly smile on his face, she smirked amusedly and shook her head, before plopping down on the sofa on the other side of the table.

    "Unless I''m going blind, you''re Isaac, right? Loki told me about you, and I was wondering about when we would eventually meet."

 Chapter 113 - Steady Growth In Numbers

    After a polite nod, Isaac responded to the hardworking goddess. He wasn''t surprised by her statement at all. Even though he hadn''t known just how close the Loki and Hephaestus Familias were, he had been aware that the two deities were relatively close-knit. They were probably not best friends, but regular friends or very close acquaintances would be appropriate terms. Because of this, back when he had informed Loki about parts of his plan to get himself incarcerated, he had assumed that she would try to convince Hephaestus, who would also be attending the meeting, to go along with it. Of course, this meant that the blacksmithing goddess in front of him knew very well that all of it had been a ruse to confuse the public and a hidden enemy. Considering that Freya had also been clued in to a certain degree, that meant that three out of the eight deities deciding his fate had been ''paid actors''. Everything would have had to go horribly wrong for him to ever not get his wish with this solid of a number of votes already in his pocket.

    "It''s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Hephaestus. I hope Loki didn''t speak too badly of me."

    Looking at his respectful smile and his courteous bearing, the red haired goddess couldn''t help but roll her eyes. His behaviour reminded her of her old friend Loki, who sometimes chose to show such a side of her to others as well - needless to say, it was all fake, or at the least overexaggerated. Still, at the very least he wasn''t being a jerk.

    "Cut it out with those pleasantries, they make me uncomfortable. Anyway, I assume that you''re here for a reason?"

    Realizing that she probably was in a relative hurry and wanted to finish whatever she had been working on before they had arrived, Isaac didn''t beat around the bush. He also chose to respect her wishes, so his demeanour turned a lot more casual and relaxed.

    "You''re correct. I happen to need some new protective clothing, to be worn underneath pieces of armour that I''ve commissioned somewhere else. Here is a sketch, if you want to look at it. Aside from that, I heard that you''re also a capable bowyer, right? I desperately need a new bow and many thousands of arrows. All of this equipment should be made to Level 7 standard at the very least, and I''ll provide most of the materials myself."

    Many people weren''t aware of this, but Hephaestus wasn''t only known for her blacksmithing abilities. In fact, her main Divinity was Craftsmanship, with a few not really developed ones thrown into the mix. Craftsmanship encompassed various fields, some of which reinforced each other, such as blacksmithing, metalworking, metallurgy and technology in general. There was also carpentry, bow making, leatherworking, artistry itself, as well as stone masonry and sculpting. As for her two minor Divinities that looked a little bit out of place at first glance, they were Fire, as well as Volcanoes. Of course, those were just the things that Isaac recalled about his old world''s Hephaestus. It was very likely that this woman in front of him surpassed what he had assumed, or had a slightly different skillset. Still, from what Ais had told him, the goddess had indeed been commissioned to make bows and clothing before.

    The more of his requests that she heard, the more surprised Hephaestus became. Isaac''s sketches of the armour that he would be getting soon helped her a lot with designing the protective clothing that would be worn underneath, so they were highly appreciated. As for that last claim of his¡­ could he really live up to these words?

    She didn''t have to wait for long to find out, because Isaac told her that he had the materials with him at the moment, but he would need an appropriate space to take them out. He didn''t want to ruin this comfortable room with heavy monster parts that weren''t entirely without an unpleasant stench. After the goddess led them to an empty room with a resilient floor and good ventilation, he took out various Drop Items from the Glacier Territory''s monsters again. He was basically overflowing with them, so he didn''t need to hold back on using them. Also, as he had stowed away Baihu''s complete corpse, he wouldn''t run out of its fur anytime soon.

    Just like Goibniu a little earlier, Hephaestus grew excited when she saw the prime materials that she would soon have the opportunity of working with again, and just like the old man, she also didn''t inquire about how he had gotten his hands on them. Admittedly, she had her own theories, but she knew that asking for more information would be crossing a line, so she abstained from doing so.

    She took some measurements and asked for his specific requirements, then she stated a price: 70 million valis. As she was currently already occupied with another commission, she would only be able to start working on his requests tomorrow, and it would take her another two days to finish everything. A chuckle almost escaped Isaac''s lips when he heard this - didn''t this mean that all of his equipment would be completed on the same day? It was amusing how things worked out sometimes, and this was a very pleasing development indeed.

    After all was said and done, Ais and Isaac bade farewell to Hephaestus and strolled back to the Twilight Manor, taking in the scenery of the city in peace.

    Originally, Isaac had debated over whether or not he should ask for a growing weapon from Goibniu, but he had ultimately discarded the idea. In this world, for now, it was an entirely new concept, after all, but that was not what had caused him to make this decision.

    While he had known about growing weapons due to the DanMachi novels, and while those would indeed be able to accompany him all the way to the Level cap, they would syphon some of the excelia that he gained to strengthen themselves. This would result in his progress being a bit slower - not by much, mind you, but it would still have an impact.

    Waiting for new equipment to be ready before challenging higher difficulty thematic zones or Monster Rexes would also force him to come to a stop for a while every now and then, but overall, there shouldn''t be much of a difference between the two scenarios. Aside from that, he would have time to focus on other matters in between, instead of charging straight to the finish line in one go. With how many things that he had to take care of, the occasional breather was highly welcome.

    By the time they returned, it was already 4 p.m., so there were only three hours left for Isaac to give pointers to his students and subordinates. Considering that there were still two other matters regarding this group that had to be dealt with before that, he probably wouldn''t be able to help them much today - oh well, there were still many days to come, and a little help was better than none at all.

    Because there were quite a few people that shouldn''t be aware of the fact that he wasn''t actually in his cell, even here in the Twilight Manor, Ais went to gather the kids herself, before leading them to the training courtyard that Isaac was already waiting in.

    "Wakey-wakey! My subordinates and students are almost here, and it''s time for introductions."

    While he and Ais had been gone, Titania had used that time to catch up on some much-needed rest. Only after her master shook her a little did she slowly open her eyes, yawn and stretch herself.

    Thankfully, she managed to rub the sleep out of her eyes before everyone arrived, or she would have presented herself as more adorable than she would be comfortable with.

    Aselina''s, Averin''s, Jakk''s, Kalin''s, Lefiya''s, Mina''s and Quinn''s eyes collectively widened in surprise when they saw the massive monster half of Titania''s body, but they didn''t recoil in fear. Although this situation had been unexpected, they had been confronted with far more mind-boggling sights during the time that they had followed Isaac.

    As quite so often, the first one to snap out of it was Mina, who soon wagged her tail happily and charged into her lord''s arms, earning herself a few head pats. Even while beaming as if the whole world was an extremely beautiful place and basking in this momentary joy, she still managed to look at Titania with interest and fascination in her eyes.

    "Milord, who is that cute plant lady over there?"

    Titania almost had a coughing fit when hearing her innocent words and looked at the lovable Chienthrope girl with a flabbergasted expression.

    ''''Cute''? Since when do I look cute!?''

    As her thoughts were so painfully apparent, Isaac chuckled to himself before replying.

    "She is my newest subordinate, Titania. She is a Demi Spirit, which is basically a mixture of a monster and a spirit. We had originally been enemies, but¡­"

    While he was recounting the heartwarming tale full of totally-not-bullying that led up to gaining his new premium-quality sofa in about as much detail as they all needed to hear, and cautioning them to keep this a secret, he noticed that Aselina was creeping closer, her ears twitching from time to time. Although her expression was about as icy as usual, it was obvious what she wanted.

    A sigh escaped Isaac''s lips and he smirked slightly, then he raised his other hand and motioned for her to come closer. In a flash, he found himself patting the heads of not only his faithful dog, but also the raccoon that he had stumbled across a little more recently.

    ''Why do I feel like this is turning into a petting zoo?''

    During the time that Isaac''s mind was occupied with thoughts like these, Jakk recoiled in surprise at this new development. Aselina had always been a reliable pillar of the group, so to see her behave just like the Isaac-mad Mina - albeit in a different, more expressionless and harder to read way - left him completely astonished. Soon, however, a knowing and somewhat dirty smile appeared on his lips, and he muttered to himself.

    "I see, I see. No wonder she said that she ''belongs to him''..."

    Next to him, Kalin only shook his head and rolled his eyes. He was already used to the barely-hidden degeneracy of his comrade in arms, and he knew that there would be no point in trying to tell him what was actually going on. The amount of effort that it would take to rescue him from his youthful delusions¡­ it just wasn''t worth it.

    After Isaac''s retelling of events had ended, he let go of the two unwilling animal girls who had been enjoying the head pats for a good while. Then, he collected the books that Aselina, Jakk, Kalin, Lefiya, Mina and Quinn had bought and explained this ''homework'' to the new addition, Titania. While she, just like Averin, would be exempt from this for the time being, she would need to perform this duty in the not-too-far off future as well. Currently, however, none of the subordinates was able to roam around freely, due to the presence of the various Blades that were still in the city. Because this matter was out of their hands, he wouldn''t blame them for it and collectively excused them from their homework until they could walk the streets again.

    "As it has been a while since I last updated your Status, please have a seat, everyone! Let''s take a look at how much you''ve grown."

    Pointing in the direction of his obedient new servant, Isaac got everyone to climb on Titania''s back, before hastily interrupting them before they could even attempt to take any of their clothes off. Not only would it be embarrassing for them to do such things in front of others, but it also was entirely unnecessary now. After all, there was something that he wanted to attempt.

    "Hold on! Please, keep your clothes on, everyone. I''ll try something new this time, so just sit down and stay still."

    Confusion could be seen in all of their gazes, and this only intensified when Isaac closed his eyes. Moments later, he had a few drops of blood emerge from his pores, before manipulating mana to transport them safely towards the backs of everyone but Ais, Jakk, Lefiya and Titania.

    The corners of his mouth rose ever so slightly, partially because he was relieved that he could still perfectly control his Ichor from a distance, just as he had assumed, but also because almost everyone was staring at him with their mouths wide open. Never before had they seen a god use their blood in such a manner! Was he trying to update multiple Status at once, and from afar!? Why ''almost everyone'', though? Ais simply wasn''t surprised and Aselina was generally not very expressive - as for Titania, she didn''t even have any idea about what was going on, or even about what Ichor was or signified.

    With even finer control, he had the drops of blood permeate through their clothing without any loss, before directly touching and unlocking their Falnas. He could use two methods to ''see'' exactly what he was doing. The first one was to feel the Falnas themselves via his Ichor, and the second one made use of his Eyes of Hermes to directly look at everyone''s bare backs.

    Yes, this meant that he could technically spy at people''s n.a.k.e.d bodies as long as they were in range, whenever he wished. Usually, he avoided doing so, however, as he wasn''t interested. Only when he suspected there to be danger or for someone to be an enemy of some kind did he behave rudely and scan them in their entirety. Seeing how ''powerful'' this ability was, one could only imagine what would happen to Hermes should Asfi ever get wind of the scenery that her god had been able to see each and every day¡­

    ''They''ve been working hard!''

    Pleased by what he was observing, Isaac raised his eyebrows. He didn''t let himself get distracted for too long, though, and refocused on his current task quickly. Not long after, Aselina, Averin, Kalin, Mina and Quinn felt varying amounts of new strength well up inside of them. The cat boy was the most surprised and needed to heavily focus to withstand the massive increase that he had just experienced.

    [ Name: Aselina Sceaga ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer) ]

    [ Race: Raccoon People ]

    [ Level: 2 ]

    [ Age: 18 ]

    [ Loyalty: 80 -> 95/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: S-909 -> S-924 (3,282) ]

    [ Endurance: S-905 -> S-922 (3,275) ]

    [ Dexterity: C-652 -> A-887 (2,806) ]

    [ Agility: C-610 -> A-891 (2,772) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 (0) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ None ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Abnormal Resistance: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Swordsman ]

    [ Name: Averin ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

    [ Race: Jack Bird Variant ]

    [ Level: 2 ]

    [ Age: 38 -> 42 days ]

    [ Loyalty: 85 -> 99/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: H-135 -> E-482 (1,396) ]

    [ Endurance: H-148 -> D-510 (1,404) ]

    [ Dexterity: G-201 -> E-493 (1,559) ]

    [ Agility: I-11 -> H-175 (2,600) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 -> I-24 (51) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Atalantan Accelerate ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Beak Fighter: I -> H ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance, Chain Attack ]

    [ Name: Kalin Myre ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Familia) ]

    [ Race: Human ]

    [ Level: 1 ]

    [ Age: 15 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: B-759 -> B-751 -> SSS-1,254 ]

    [ Endurance: D-506 -> E-498 -> SS-1,059 ]

    [ Dexterity: A-870 -> A-862 -> SSS-1,295 ]

    [ Agility: A-808 -> A-800 -> SSS-1,203 ]

    [ Magic: I-68 -> I-60 -> D-521 ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ None ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance, Spearman ]

    [ Name: Mina Teagle ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

    [ Race: Chienthrope ]

    [ Level: 1 ]

    [ Age: 16 ]

    [ Loyalty: 100/100 ]

    [ Devotion: 24 -> 30/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: B-739 -> SS-1,083 (+ 67,601 x 0.003) ]

    [ Endurance: C-646 -> S-947 (+ 67,601 x 0.003) ]

    [ Dexterity: A-829 -> SSS-1,190 (+ 67,601 x 0.003) ]

    [ Agility: B-701 -> SS-1,019 (+ 67,601 x 0.003) ]

    [ Magic: G-270 -> C-677 (+ 67,601 x 0.003) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Reverential Resonance ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance, Swordsman ]

    [ Name: Quinn Graham ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

    [ Race: Cat People ]

    [ Level: 1 ]

    [ Age: 14 ]

    [ Loyalty: 75 -> 85/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: H-152 -> C-637 ]

    [ Endurance: H-144 -> C-629 ]

    [ Dexterity: H-163 -> C-649 ]

    [ Agility: H-148 -> C-632 ]

    [ Magic: I-74 -> B-776 ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Berserker ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Swordsman ]

    Although Aselina''s Status had seen noticeable improvement, it really wasn''t much. Because she had been babysitting Kalin and Mina together with Averin, in floors where she could barely earn any stats, the amount of excelia that she had gained was already incredible. Luckily, from what could be seen from everyone else''s Status, she would soon get a chance to truly grow.

    Averin was much in the same boat as Aselina, but as he had only excelled in one stat before - Agility. He had used this time to hone his other stats thoroughly. Still, because he hadn''t really encountered many challenges that actually provided him with excelia, his Agility had barely risen. Somehow, however, he had managed to upgrade the grade of his Development Ability, which usually was almost impossible for most people to do. He had to have been fighting tooth, or rather, beak and nail for that to happen.

    Like before, Kalin had lost a few points in every stat - eight this time - to the unassuming stone ring on his necklace. Still, he had come extremely close to the stat limit, breaking through the ''limit'' that regular adventurers deluded themselves into accepting with ease. Isaac''s training definitely had been effective, else he never would have been capable of fighting opponents that were that far stronger than himself. He was still a few small steps away from ranking up, but it wouldn''t be much longer now.

    As for Mina, although she had experienced about the same growth curve as Kalin, she had an OP boon that he wasn''t blessed with - the Skill ''Reverential Resonance''. Due to Isaac''s vastly improved stats and her higher Devotion stat, she now got an additional 203 points added to all five main stats'' totals, enabling her to barely surpass her spear-wielding companion.

    Lastly, there was Quinn. His improvement was absolutely massive, although it didn''t look as impressive at first glance. Still, from what Isaac had been told, Quinn could now somewhat control his ''Berserker'' Skill up to a multiplier of 2.2 without losing the last bits of his rationale. He was usually quiet and restrained, and some people barely even took note of him - and yet, he had been working the hardest. Keeping a cool head while being consumed by rage and being capable of making sound decisions in such a state was incredibly hard for most people, yet he had somehow managed to do it for many hours on end. While in his ''buffed'' state, he now actually surpassed both Kalin and Mina in stats. He had made it all the way to the tenth floor before this update, while the other two had arrived on the 17th floor some time ago. After helping him rush through the next few floors, the group would finally be able to advance together!

    What Isaac had taken note of as well was that almost everyone''s Magic stats had increased. For most of them, this was likely a sign that they had thought and strategized a lot - they had most definitely picked that up from him. As for Quinn, his growth in this stat surpassed them all yet again. The mental effort needed to stay rational in his Berserker-sate was indubitably nigh unfathomable, and overcoming these difficulties had brought him this far. Out of all of his subordinates, Quinn probably had the strongest motive for growth, so Isaac wasn''t taken aback by the boy towering over the rest.

    When he was finished, Isaac opened his eyes and quickly wrote down a stat sheet for everyone. He gave them some advice and quelled their worries, until everyone was content and had recovered from the major changes that their bodies had just gone through. Before the training began, he told the group to help Quinn with clearing the last few floors that still separated him from the rest, so that they could move in one unit afterwards.

    Anyway, before he could begin, there was one last thing. With an approving smile, Isaac walked up to his ex-roommate and patted his shoulder.

    "By the way, Jakk. Congrats on ranking up to Level 3!"

    A smirk played across the Hume Bunny youth''s lips and he shrugged slightly, as if telling himself that the current situation couldn''t be helped. Seeming as if he had been wronged, he sighed heavily.

    "I originally wanted to surprise you while sparring, but you already saw through me now. What a shame..."

    Isaac only shook his head and turned around, before making his way to the center of the courtyard and clapping his hands.

    "Alright, let''s begin!"

    -----

    At around 8 p.m., after everyone had eaten a sumptuous dinner, the various Executives and above, plus Isaac and Lefiya, slowly began to congregate in Loki''s study, to discuss everything that had happened one more time and in more detail. Last time, Isaac hadn''t been here, and they hadn''t had the time to calmly consider everything, so even though this meeting most likely wouldn''t be very impactful, it was still a necessary procedure.

    "By the way, I didn''t see you two at all today. Where did you go?"

    A bit confused, Tiona tilted her head and looked at Ais and Isaac, who sat right next to her. Remembering the happy date that they had enjoyed, the golden haired beauty smiled widely and didn''t bother hiding anything.

    "We went out to commission new equipment for Isaac. Our first stop was the Goibniu Familia¡­ Why are you looking at me like that?"

    Confused by her friend''s uncharacteristically grumpy and angry look, Ais interrupted herself, unsure of what was going on. Tiona only rolled her eyes and harrumphed coldly, not meeting her gaze. Still, it was obvious that despite all of this, she wasn''t really mad - she just wanted to make Ais realize that she had messed up.

    "Hmph! I told you that I need to fix my Urga. I also told you that I wanted to come along when you two visit Lord Goibniu, and you agreed. But of course, you forgot¡­"

    With an overly dramatic pained smile, Tiona shook and subsequently lowered her head, before stealthily glancing at Ais from the corner of her eye.

    For a moment, Ais was stumped, then a slight bit of guilt appeared in her eyes and she furrowed her brows.

    "... oh."

    On the couch next to them, Riveria quietly listened to the two''s playful banter with a slight but amused smile.

 Chapter 114 - Emerging A.d.u.l.thood

    [ Cooldown until ''Isaac''s Past - Episode 6'' can be experienced has finished.

    You can now experience ''Isaac''s Past - Episode 6''. ]

    -----

    When Ais returned to observing Isaac''s past, the circ.u.mstances that she was confronted with didn''t differ at all from the ones that he had been in when the last episode had ended. After all, not even a second had passed in between back then and the beginning of this memory. It would have been rather strange if any huge changes had already taken place.

    For more than a year, past Isaac''s life proceeded exceedingly uneventfully. Each day, the majority of his time was spent on perfecting the method with which he aimed to transcend existence itself. While he didn''t make much progress, Ais could at least recognize that he slowly but surely took steady steps forward. Attachments which he had held for some of the more inconsequential parts of his reality were cut off one by one. Sometimes, it took him months to get rid of a single one, other times, he managed to eliminate more than one in a single week - it heavily fluctuated. Yet even after a year, his ultimate goal was still impossibly far away.

    The other activity that took up a significant amount of time was reading inordinate amounts of stories and newly published papers - pretty much every single time something new was posted, he was one of the first people to lay his eyes upon it. His mind-boggling reading speed enabled him to devour treasure troves of knowledge at a speed unlike anything humans had ever seen before.

    During this year, Ais patiently anticipated the day when the story that featured someone quite like her, the one that had made him take an interest in her, would appear. And finally, a little less than two months after past Isaac had turned 19 years old, all of her waiting was rewarded.

    It was the 15th of January and he held a new novel in his hands. Even in this day and age, he still occasionally bought the physical releases of some books. As they usually cost a little bit more than the digital ones, he was able to support authors a slightly better this way, so he primarily bought the physical copies of works that had been penned by new authors, ones that didn''t have a huge following yet. The extra income would enable them to more quickly and stably focus on continuing to write their stories, which was preferable. More reading material was always welcome. Of course, for those that excelled in their field, he frequently sent them sizable donations, to enable them to focus on writing full-time. There were far too many people that only silently consumed the works of others, without ever thinking about the welfare of those that supplied them with their enjoyment, so countless authors would never get a fair shot at doing what they excelled at and loved.

    At first, the story that he was reading didn''t stick out in any way, and past Isaac wasn''t too intrigued by it. While it wasn''t a bad one, or even a sloppily written one, as a person who had consumed humanity''s entire available acc.u.mulation of stories and knowledge up to this point in time, it really just didn''t qualify to stand out. But still, he read the whole first volume. Even if it had been garbage, he would have still finished it.

    Compared to him, Ais was the one who felt way more passionately about this work: DanMachi, the story that an ''Ais Wallenstein'' was a part of. From the descriptions of the character, and the drawings included within the light novel, she quickly determined that this character really was extremely similar to her. She also noticed that the story took place a little later in time - about one year after Isaac had arrived in the world that she came from, if she had to guess.

    What somewhat annoyed her a little was that past Isaac wasn''t too partial to the fictional Ais in the book, and only had a few passing thoughts along the lines of ''Oh, she''s cute.'' and ''Her personality is a bit interesting, I wonder what caused her to develop into such a person.''. It wasn''t like she couldn''t understand why this was all that he felt, but in a corner of her heart, she had hoped for more - like a ''love at first sight'' kind of scenario.

    If there was one other thing that left her puzzled, it was the fictional Ais'' interest in the main character of the story, Bell Cranel. She wasn''t a fool and quickly realized that there had to be something special about him, but she simply couldn''t figure it out - there was too little information, mainly because the author chose to not disclose it to the readers at this point. As she had never met anyone like this white rabbit in her actual life, she had no clue what about him could have fascinated her fictional self so much.

    During the year that followed, a total of four volumes of the story were released, all of which past Isaac dutifully read on the day of their publication. All this while, he didn''t develop any special feelings for the fictional Ais whatsoever, only considering her a ''mildly intriguing character'', just like countless others. That was until the 15th of January, exactly one year after the first volume had been released. On that day, the first volume of a spin off series of DanMachi, Sword Oratoria, was made available to the public. It focused mainly on the fictional Ais and the Loki Familia that she was a part of, and finally gave the readers deeper insights into these mostly mysterious characters.

    Past Isaac''s interest in the fictional Ais was finally piqued, because he could vaguely guess at her backstory even from the very small amount of information that he had available at the time. All of this only intensified when the next few volumes were released. More and more realizations flashed past his mind, nearly fully laying the story of the fictional Ais'' life bare to him. Admittedly, most of this was purely conjecture, but it wasn''t actually hard to piece together the bread crumbs that the author had left.

    When past Isaac deduced that the fictional Ais had been subjected to nearly a millennium of absolute solitude, his tranquil heart beat a little faster for the first time in a long while. Partially, this was because of empathy, and partially, it was because he felt like this fictional girl would probably understand his plight to a certain degree. At the same time, he was aware that he could only form this imaginary bond with her¡­ because she ''didn''t exist''. This didn''t discourage him, however, as he had long since accepted that he would only be capable of feeling close to people like that. It would seem utterly pathetic to the rest of his species, but that really didn''t matter to him.

    For the first time in his life, past Isaac decided to use a certain term that he had picked up on the internet to describe someone - ''waifu''. The fictional Ais Wallenstein had qualified for it.

    This moniker had nearly as many definitions as there were people, and it was used even in completely contradictory ways by some. Isaac''s definition of the term fell in line with a sizable group of others - ''the ideal wife''. It described a fictional character that one was convinced would be the ideal wife for oneself - but of course, only in one''s imagination and dreams, as fictional characters ''didn''t exist''.

    The observing Ais felt flattered and embarrassed when she experienced all of past Isaac''s detailed thoughts on the matter. Many emotions that he had never showcased before now occasionally appeared in between his usual thoughts. She almost felt a little guilty for getting to look at all of them, and some of the more indecent ones left her transparent self blushing deeply. Still, she didn''t avert her eyes, no matter what she saw.

    In any case, she also finally realized something else - exactly why her fictional self had gotten interested in the white rabbit. It was a conclusion that wasn''t hard to come to, as it was obvious. Even without relying on past Isaac''s observations, she had made the same deductions as he did. Bell Cranel¡­ was a little bit similar to her father. Admittedly, the resemblance wasn''t too deep, but her fictional self had been reminded of the man that some called ''the greatest hero''. It wasn''t because of the boy''s qualities or personality, or even his looks - they were all quite different from her father''s. Rather, it was just a feeling that he gave off.

    ''Could it be that he really is the reincarnation of my/her father?''

    This was the conclusion that both she and past Isaac had come to. Of course, neither of them could be certain, but the observing Ais at least was tempted to find out more. As for the topic of reincarnation, it was heavily hinted at countless times during even these early stages of the story of DanMachi - one had to be blind and deaf to miss it. The author had sprinkled so many bread crumbs everywhere that the only thing that they hadn''t done yet was to literally spell everything out in a clear and concise manner. With just a tiny bit of independent thought, any reader would notice the clues.

    A little after the sixth volume of the main series of DanMachi had been released, the fourth volume of the Sword Oratoria spin off was scheduled to be published. But at that point, something unexpected happened. A week before the day in question, the publisher of the series announced shocking news to the dedicated readership.

    "We regret to inform you that the release of the fourth volume of ''Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria'', which was supposed to get released on the 15th of December, will be cancelled. Due to private circ.u.mstances regarding the author, both the main series, ''Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?'', as well as the spin off series, Sword Oratoria, cannot see another release from this point forward."

    The announcement continued after that, but it was mainly just full of apologies to the faithful readers and fans of the series - no other important information got conveyed.

    Past Isaac was taken aback by this piece of news, as at this point, he had become invested in the fate of the fictional character, Ais Wallenstein, so he spent a negligible amount of effort to look into the situation - something which he would have otherwise never bothered with.

    It didn''t take him long to find out what had really happened, and what he now knew left him in anything but a great mood.

    The author of DanMachi had died prematurely. One day, during a shopping trip to a nearby convenience store, they had been unlucky and gotten involved in a robbery. One of the other customers in the store was feeling brave and attempted to disarm the robber, but during the scuffle, the gun was fired¡­ and the author who had patiently been observing the situation from afar, unsure of what to do or how to leave the store, had gotten shot and killed. They had died of the spot, and by the time that the situation was resolved, there really was absolutely no way whatsoever to help them. Reviving the dead wasn''t something that could be done in this world, after all.

    Due to this freak accident, the story that past Isaac and the observing Ais had been looking forward to reading for years to come was left without an ending. Heck, it hadn''t even really started yet!

    With a displeased snort, past Isaac took a few seconds out of his day to arrange the death of the robber of the convenience store, who had been successfully apprehended by the police back then. It truly didn''t require any relevant amount of effort at all. He didn''t even need to think about it, and felt fully justified - for the crime of depriving him from this story that he had taken a fancy to, death was a suitable punishment. Considering that he had even planned to eradicate humanity before, ending the life of a sole human being didn''t amount to anything in his eyes, even more so now that he was in the process of cutting off all of his emotional attachments to this world.

    It didn''t take him long to accept what had happened. In his heart, he enshrined this first ''waifu'' of his, even though her story was never going to be completed. He was grateful for having had the opportunity to experience even this beginning part of her journey, and didn''t spend any more time on mourning what would never come to pass. It wasn''t difficult for him to make some assumptions based on what he already knew, and a considerable time ago, the fictional Ais had already grown into an existence that was special to him in his heart.

    Once again, past Isaac''s life returned to its previous monotony, although it wasn''t as dreary anymore now that the fictional Ais occasionally distracted his thoughts.

    Nearly half a year after his 21st birthday, something else of note finally occurred. A mobile game by the name of ''Fate/Grand Order'' was launched. As it also had a story, he of course began to play it to experience it. The observing Ais wasn''t aware of the significance of this event yet, but as always, she paid close attention to all details of his life. Because of that, him adding this game to his routine wasn''t missed by her.

    The game itself wasn''t anything special, and its story was barely better than mediocre, especially during the beginning stages. It was a part of a bigger franchise, which - as a whole - actually managed to stand out slightly from the vast ocean of stories, so past Isaac was hopeful that the game would improve over time.

    His hopes weren''t misplaced, and over the next one and a half years, the quality of the story consistently improved. It never reached any kind of greatness, but it at least was now far better than average. Still, when compared to the many other stories that he had read, it didn''t manage to truly stick out yet.

    That all changed on the 7th of December, relatively shortly after he had turned 23 years old. The seventh Singularity, Babylonia, was released. At first, it didn''t seem all too impressive, but it was still better than all those chapters that had come before it, yet again improving the quality of the story. During the course of this Singularity, a character named ''Ereshkigal'', based on the Mesopotamian goddess of Kur - the underworld - appeared for the first time and played a significant role in the story.

    Most people who played the game grew to appreciate her, although the majority of them were solely attracted to her due to her having her personality meshed with one of the oldest characters of the franchise that Fate/Grand Order was set in, Rin Tohsaka. She was popular all around the world, and now that her personality and being had been combined with the queen of Kur, it created a new facet of her character that countless people grew fond of. In the story, Ereshkigal even fell in love with the main characters, the player! While she wasn''t the first to do so in the game, it was still a rare occurrence.

    Contrary to nearly everyone else, what attracted Isaac''s attention wasn''t the adorableness of the fictional Ereshkigal, nor her feelings for the player character. No, yet again, he was captivated by her backstory.

    Right after she had been born, the goddess had been cast into the underworld, never to see the light of day or walk amongst the people. While she did occasionally get some temporary company down there, she still spent at least tens of thousands of years in solitude, yearning for the surface. It wasn''t like she was entirely unable to leave, but she was so devoted to her duty and determined to do her job well, to try her hardest, that she almost never acted irresponsibly, contrary to nearly every single other deity that was a part of Mesopotamian mythology.

    She sacrificed her own dreams, her own aspirations, and so much of her time, to do her best and to care for the departed. At her core, she was a devoted and caring being, who wanted to provide those that had died with a safe, secure and comfortable shelter. Still, the price that she paid for it was unfathomable for most. She had been locked away like a bird in a cage for all of her life. Never, not even once, did she have the opportunity to follow her dreams, to do what she truly wanted. Her duties were what shackled her.

    During the events of the game, the hybrid of the goddess Ereshkigal and the girl Rin Tohsaka finally managed to make her first human friend, the player character, and maybe because of the countless years of solitude and longing weighing down upon her, because the player character was a simple but good person, her feelings spiralled way past simple affection in no time.

    As the spectating Ais had experienced all of past Isaac''s feelings, she quickly realized where this was going and heaved a resigned but amused sigh. It was just like what had happened back when her fictional self had appeared. Due to the backstory of this fictional Ereshkigal, past Isaac happened to empathize with her and slowly but surely made a sport for her in the tranquil lake that was his heart. The second ''waifu'' was born.

    Both the fictional Ais and the fictional Ereshkigal were quite different in personality, but they shared a most important similarity - the loneliness that they had experienced. Well, their hair colour was also nearly identical, as both of them sported shades of long and golden hair. This wasn''t actually a factor that had influenced the past Isaac, however, but he certainly grew to appreciate it. In this case, the question of whether the chicken or the egg came first could be conclusively answered. He developed a liking for blonde hair due to the two of them.

    Why had only these two managed to worm their way into his heart? There were many other characters that had experienced similar amounts of loneliness, or that had suffered through far worse circ.u.mstances - admittedly, though, the latter group was extremely small in size. Still, why hadn''t they managed to sway his feelings? To be honest¡­ there was no specific reason.

    Sometimes, people felt attracted to others for no discernible reason. Some described what had convinced them as a ''special something'', while others insisted that it was just based upon the compatibility of the hormones of the two people in question. The truth, as almost always, was found somewhere in the middle, or rather, on both sides. There were cases where people simply weren''t aware of factors that had caused them to become attracted to others, which mistakenly made them assume that it had to be due to a ''special something''. But on the flip side, some people truly had no reasons to become attached to specific others, and just did. It was often argued that this was surely because of some scientific phenomena that hadn''t been discovered or explained yet, but what if that wasn''t the case in a miniscule amount of cases? It certainly wasn''t impossible.

    Now that past Isaac''s thoughts were occasionally interrupted by ones that were about a fictional character that wasn''t similar to herself, Ais grew even more embarrassed upon bearing witness to them all. She really wasn''t spared any details, as Isaac hadn''t tried to cover up any part of his past, no matter how shameful or humiliating it would be to let others witness it. Yes, this naturally included ''private moments'' that no self-respecting person would ever want others to witness, full of momentary thoughts way too raunchy to openly vocalize.

    Only about a year later, when past Isaac had turned 24 years old, did another significant change occur. With a small smile, he opened his eyes and absentmindedly stared at his ceiling for a few moments. It seemed like he was amused by himself.

    He had yet again realized something important and had come to a decision - getting distracted by these affections wasn''t beneficial to his goal. Yes, this wasn''t exactly something difficult to understand, but even if one did, it was excruciatingly difficult to truly leave these things behind. One could swear the most solemn oaths to oneself and claim to forsake any kind of romantic thoughts, but to actually do so was nearly impossible for most. At least subconsciously, a part of these kinds of thoughts would still remain.

    Past Isaac was aware of this, and he knew that just because he wanted to follow the path that he had chosen, because of the two diversions that he had run into, it would become a little bit harder than he had expected. If he had been a regular human being, he would have gotten angry at himself, or at least wanted to chide himself for slipping up, but he chose to keep entirely tranquil. The occasional ripples that disturbed his heart became increasingly less frequent over time, and the observing Ais never again was ''forced'' to bear witness to any shameful acts. Which, admittedly, was the opposite of what she wanted, which caused her to become quite ashamed of her own vulgar thoughts.

    She had seen countless acts of s.e.x.u.a.l nature or knowledge related to it while she was in Isaac''s memories - but none of them had been related to himself. He had only come across the knowledge and studied it, just like he did with everything else. She had been somewhat bashful the first few times that these things had happened, but as even the - at the time - very, very young Isaac hadn''t been impacted by it, it had been easier for Ais to stay rational herself. But when her fictional self and the fictional Ereshkigal had entered the scene, for the first time, even past Isaac''s thoughts had veered from the entirely scientific approach. She couldn''t help but fantasize about certain acts herself¡­

    Thankfully, his return to normalcy and to fully devoting himself to his goal allowed her to banish these thoughts to a remote corner of her mind. She wouldn''t want to show Isaac an embarrassing side of herself after returning, after all.

    Not long after, this part of the memory came to an end.

    -----

    Because she had mentally prepared herself in time, it only took her a few moments to shake off most of the aftereffects of returning to her original world and time. For her, about five years had passed, but here, it was as if time had stood still. Even though she had become a goddess, her mentality was still extremely far from that of her senior deities, who had mostly roamed this world for countless years, so she behaved just like a regular mortal would.

    As always, the dear feeling of being held in Isaac''s arms, as well as his familiar scent, supported her recovery immensely. At the same time, however, she inadvertently recalled some of her dirty thoughts from before, causing her to flinch slightly and hide her red face in her hands quickly, not wanting him to notice. Even though she had wanted to avoid this, she had failed almost immediately¡­

    Hiding was a futile endeavour, and she knew it. The very moment that her cheeks had started to flush, he had already taken note of it and become a bit fl.u.s.tered himself. Thankfully, he was tactful enough to not embarrass her any further and just continued to provide a safe haven for her to slowly but surely gather herself again.

    Admittedly, this was far from the first time that Ais had thought about certain intimate acts when with him, and she had even asked him to bathe with her before. Sometimes, she also snuggled her body extremely close to his. Still, as she had never before felt him truly having any of these intentions towards her clearly, it had never felt ''real''. This time, even though such thoughts had only been very occasionally and mildly directed at her fictional self, it was different.

    Shyly, she finally raised her head to look into his eyes, only to see a somewhat perturbed but reliable expression.

    She had been with him for a very long time now, mostly thanks to experiencing 24 years of his past, so it didn''t take her long to understand vaguely what was going through his head. He had some apprehensions regarding the amorous deeds that had occupied her mind. It wasn''t like he was disinterested - after all, she knew what pervy and scandalous scenarios he had thought about before - it was just that he felt a little guilty, and simply not ready yet.

    But why would he feel guilty? Well, there were multiple reasons. First of all, his past thoughts had been solely about her fictional self, and not her real self - in essence, they were two different people, although they were very similar. Not only had he had these thoughts without her consent - which really wasn''t a problem - they had technically been about a ''different woman''. Still, that had been in the past. Aside from that, he had also shown her all of these thoughts and experiences, which made him feel like he was manipulating her somewhat by exposing her to them. That certainly was true, but it had been her own choice to take a look at his past. Lastly, there was the most major of reasons - the fictional Ereshkigal. Now that he had well and truly fallen in love with the Ais that he had come to know ever since arriving in this world, he felt a bit ashamed of his past thoughts not only about the fictional Ais - who could still barely pass as the actual one - but also about the fictional Ereshkigal. Not to mention, even both of them. Yes, all of that had happened in the past, but it was human nature to blame oneself for their past actions and thoughts, and to look negatively upon what one had done years ago. One''s younger self was always an embarrassment.

    As for why he didn''t feel ready yet, that was a way more difficult question to answer, part of which was that he hadn''t fully worked through his own emotions at this point. It was his first time to fall in love with someone for real, and while Ais had had many, many years to think about the two of them while experiencing his past, he had only been with her for a month and a week at this point.

    Maybe there was more to it than this, but that was all that Ais could gleam from their silent but bashful exchange of gazes - and it was enough to make her understand at least one thing. Isaac needed time more than anything, time to think about them, and to ready his heart completely.

    With a glance at the system, she saw that there was only one single episode of Isaac''s past remaining - episode seven. She had already resolved herself to show him her own life after that, and although she wasn''t certain how she would be able to accomplish this, she was convinced that the system would show her the way. After all, it was called the ''Wish Fulfillment System''. If it couldn''t even help with making such a simple desire come true, wouldn''t it be a total failure?

    Suddenly, a mischievous smile stole itself on her lips, and she approached him for a kiss, like usual. Even though Isaac sensed that something was up, he didn''t resist at all, instead becoming intrigued by her uncharacteristic behaviour.

    ''This much should be fine, right?''

    As their lips touched, he twitched a little in surprise when he sensed her lips parting. Soon after, the two were engrossed in their very first deep kiss. The sensations that assaulted them were far more intense than before, and both of them felt their cheeks and bodies heating up rapidly. Only after a minute or so did they finally part, their eyes a little hazy and their breathing heavier than normal.

    If Isaac had been like most people, a being principally controlled by its primal urges, then he would have undoubtedly thrown his worries and thoughts aside at this very moment and not been able to hold himself back. Still, he wanted to approach this relationship properly and not rush anything. Better late than never - and now, it was certainly far too early.

    Ais was inwardly celebrating her success and relishing in the aftertaste, when she saw an amused grin appear on her beloved''s face. Before she could react, he had already pecked her lips once more, then he proceeded to hug her a little more closely.

    ''How petty.''

    She couldn''t help but smirk as she was nestled against him. His quick kiss had just been an attempt to have the last laugh, but even though he had won this battle, she considered herself to have won the war. After all, hadn''t she advanced their relationship by about half a step?

 Chapter 115 - Business To Take Care Of

    Almost soundlessly, Ais yawned and stretched herself. Even though she had only slept for a little over five hours and the sun hadn''t even begun to peek over the horizon yet, she was well rested. To be honest, her body didn''t even need this much sleep, so it was pure luxury.

    When she was finished rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she noticed that Isaac had seemingly already awoken some time ago. He was sitting next to her, with his back leaning against the bed''s headrest, and had a wooden board on his lap upon which were placed a few sheets of paper that he was absentmindedly scribbling away on. The scene was illuminated by the gentle light of a magic stone-powered bedside lamp.

    Intrigued, and not yet ready to fully part from his embrace, Ais snuggled up closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. When she looked at what he was writing down, she only saw a lot of numbers, which at first glance didn''t make much sense to her.

    "What are you up to so early in the morning?"

    A slight smile played across Isaac''s lips as his eyes regained their focus. After turning his head, he planted a soft kiss on her forehead, causing her to blush and beam in happiness.

    "I woke up a while ago and couldn''t go back to sleep, so I focused on mana cultivation. On the side, I went through my inventory to sum up how much valis I currently have on me and could exchange for using all of my magic stones plus Drop Items."

    Even though he had surpassed 35,000 drops a short while ago, he hadn''t reached another bottleneck, which was expected. If his guess was correct, then only at 40,000 would he have the opportunity to advance his Development Ability again.

    With a swift motion, Isaac wrote down the final result of the calculations that he had done in passing. 2,762,388,317 valis - he had long since become a billionaire! A look of shock appeared on Ais'' face for a moment, then she chuckled to herself.

    "You do remember that you still have to pay the familia taxes, right?"

    Smirking, Isaac nodded and penned down yet another number.

    "Yes, but I doubt that the rate will be the same. If I could still get away with only paying five percent of the earnings of my hunts, then I would have to pay 92,173,412 valis. But seeing how I''m a First Class adventurer now, I will probably have to cough up more. Oh well, not that it matters."

    There were quite a few loopholes to the familia taxes. He only had to give the familia a certain percentage of the money that he earned from killing monsters and exchanging their loot. Technically, if he never asked the Guild to convert these into money, then he wouldn''t have to pay anything at all - still, he didn''t plan to do this, as he genuinely wanted to help support this familia that Ais cherished so much. He did, however, plan to make use of two other loopholes.

    Firstly, the magic stones and Drop Items that he had picked up passively during the expedition were exempted from the taxes, because they were simply goods that the familia had discarded - nobody in their right mind would request for him to pay up in this case, although far too many greedy businessmen from his old world would probably froth at the mouth if they were to know that he was pocketing a huge sum of money in this specific situation, ravenously filing lawsuit after lawsuit. Secondly, the valis that he had obtained from slaying beings of the sentient races, as well as those that he had gained from robbing the Petbe Familia''s mansion, simply didn''t fall under the stipulated terms.

    Mind you, this was no insignificant amount. The whole encounter had gifted him with more than 400 million valis, and that didn''t even include all of the various other valuables that he had rightfully pocketed to save them from the explosions. Yes, that was the only reason.

    As for why his wealth had snowballed to such an incredible degree, there were many causes for this, but some of the main ones were the following.

    To start things off, he had barely spent any money on equipment compared to all other adventurers, which, to anyone else, would have been a fatal mistake. Then, he hadn''t bought any supporting items that would have helped him on specific floors, or would have made battling certain monster species easier. Next on the list was his infinite storage, the inventory. It enabled him to carry as much as he wanted, so he didn''t need to restrict himself to only the most valuable magic stones and Drop Items that he came across.

    If one wanted to go into even more detail, then him using his teleportation ability to get rid of the need to commute to and from the dungeon, and the specific floors, also had a significant impact. All in all, there was simply no way for him to not end up with a staggering surplus of valis.

    "After you''re officially a free man again, don''t forget to visit Rakta to get your taxes sorted out."

    In response to Ais'' reminder, he only nodded and closed his eyes. In comfortable silence, he wrapped an arm around her. Just like that, the two enjoyed the other''s company for the rest of the early morning.

    Isaac hadn''t only taken a closer look at his monetary gains before Ais had woken up, he had also glanced at his acc.u.mulated AP: 91,927. It was a respectable number, but for what he had in mind regarding the relatively near future, it was still very far from enough.

    ''I will be gaining a significant amount soon anyway, so I don''t need to worry.''

    -----

    "Hey Fels, are you up yet?"

    While casually reclining on his trusty sofa, Isaac called his calcium-rich acquaintance. He didn''t have to wait for long, because an epicene, disembodied voice soon resounded from the other end of the connection.

    "I don''t need to sleep, so of course I am. How can I be of service, Mr. Blackshaw?"

    Not really surprised by this revelation - most people would have already guessed it, after all - Isaac habitually nodded to himself before stating his business.

    "I realized that I didn''t exchange enough of my loot with you yesterday, as I will be burning through a significant amount of my savings in a bit. Do you have time for another transaction, a bigger one?"

    "At the same time as yesterday, I assume? I will arrange my schedule, then. If I may ask, how large of a transaction should I prepare for?"

    Because he had already decided on a number earlier today, Isaac didn''t need to hesitate in his reply.

    "500 million valis."

    What greeted him was absolute silence. Only after half a minute could the stupefied voice of Fels be heard again. It wasn''t like Isaac was left hanging without anything to do in the meantime, however, because he enjoyed a refreshing sip of the tea that Titania had brewed a short while ago.

    "Excuse me, did I mishear you by any chance, Mr. Blackshaw?"

    Amused by their reaction, Isaac shook his head and smirked to himself.

    "No, you heard me correctly. 500 million valis. Also, would this afternoon, at 4 p.m., be a good time for you? I have a few things to take care of today, so I will most likely not be able to make it any earlier than that."

    It wasn''t clear whether or not Fels was simply too shocked upon getting this confirmation, or if they were anything but pleased at having to clear up even more of their schedule to have enough time to meet Isaac''s demands. In any case, for yet another minute or two, silence was Isaac''s only companion. Aside from Titania, of course.

    "Alright, I will meet you at your cell at that time."

    When a reply finally came, Fels ended the conversation from their side, with a clearly hurried and stressed voice. To accommodate such a large transaction was surely anything but an easy and inconsequential matter.

    ''Maybe I rushed them a little bit too much. I still have enough money on hand, and I don''t exactly need the valis right now. Next time, I should be a bit more understanding.''

    Shaking his head and sighing at himself for projecting his tendency of overworking himself beyond any rational limits unto others, Isaac jumped from Titania''s back and landed on the ground. With an inquisitive gaze, he sized her up in detail, making her a little fl.u.s.tered. The green on her cheeks grew a shade deeper.

    "W-What is it, master?"

    With a short nod, seeming as if he had understood something, Isaac''s expression turned considerably serious as he replied.

    "I just thought about it, but you do need to bathe, don''t you? We already got the issue of feeding you sorted out, as you seem to like the food that the familia''s kitchen provides us with, but this cleanliness one, as well as the one regarding your resting place have yet to be dealt with."

    Surprised by his sudden care about her wellbeing, Titania blushed a little deeper. She felt honoured, but also embarrassed for having such a topic brought up.

    "I''m fine, master! Just basking in regular rain water should be enough every now and then."

    While she said this, a system notification popped up in Isaac''s field of view.

    [ Titania''s Loyalty has increased by 5. ]

    Smiling slightly at this positive development, he shook his head at her words.

    "Nonsense. You are my sofa and my servant, I can''t let you get dirty, can I? The showers here aren''t big enough to allow you to use them, so I''ll bring you to a good spot in a bit. As for the resting place that I mentioned, that will have to be put on hold for now, but you won''t have to wait for too long."

    Overcome with emotion, the Demi Spirit nodded, her eyes slightly watery.

    Ais had already left with the strongest party of the Loki Familia, to teleport them to the dungeon''s depths and support them on their descent. Maybe she herself would also gain an opportunity to grow soon. Considering her current base stats, however, she would probably only encounter monsters that were strong enough to qualify for that beyond the Glacier Territory. Well, unless she ran into the Monochrome Tig--- Baihu.

    Today, Isaac would be leading the students and subordinates into the dungeon, like in the ''good old days''... which actually weren''t that long ago. He knew exactly which paths to take to avoid any prying eyes, and he also needed to make his way to the 18th floor for two matters. Because he had known that he would be spending the night with Ais yesterday, he had announced that they would set off at around 7:30 a.m., a little later than usual.

    With more than enough time to spare, Isaac chose a fitting spot on the 50th floor and teleported both himself and Titania there. Due to her body''s massive size, she wouldn''t be able to enjoy a bath at pretty much every facility in the city, so he had scoured his map until he had found a sufficiently large and deep lake, with a waterfall many tens of meters high feeding into it. It was located far away from the Loki Familia''s campsite and he had discovered it during his recent rush to surpass the publicly stated floor record. Thankfully, this floor, just like some of the other safety points, had healthy and drinkable water. It was definitely more than good enough to enjoy a nice bath.

    "Go ahead and clean yourself properly. Don''t worry, I won''t peek."

    After leaving behind these words and a deep-green Titania, Isaac strolled into the woods and found a clearing relatively nearby, where he sat down and closed his eyes. With his Eyes of Hermes only active in a very small radius all around him, not enough to steal any glances at the bathing plant, he focused on adding drops to his mana flow. When he actually put some effort into it, it proceeded a lot faster than usual.

    By the time that his comfortable sofa entered the range of his Eyes of Hermes, her hair still a little damp, more than twenty minutes had passed. As for the number of drops that he could now manage? It was 37,041.

    -----

    While Isaac had been accompanying the kids from the tenth floor all the way to the 18th, he had gotten a closer look at their growth, and he was overall more than satisfied. Even though he - as usual - always managed to find some flaws, every single one of them had already vastly surpassed their initial capabilities. Now, they were able to fight those considerably beyond their own stats.

    Quinn, in his Berserker-state, was the most surprising sight, however. Contrary to what he had expected to witness - a bloodthirsty and mad killer - he was faced with the cold and calculating kind instead. Through sheer power of will, the cat boy had managed to not even let his expression be influenced by his activated Skill. Well, actually, this was an exaggeration. His face did turn a little stiff, but that was it. Calmly anticipating his enemies'' moves, Quinn never acted too early, no matter how trigger-happy his current state made him be. Truly, this self control was an exceptional achievement.

    Less than three hours were enough to let him experience all that the floors before the 18th had to offer, so about an hour before Isaac''s scheduled meeting with the Xenos, the group found itself not too far from Rivira, in a rarely traversed forest. Not every single staircase leading to the 19th floor was located in between the roots of the massive tree at the very center of this part of the floor. A few of them were actually situated in the forests that were dotted all over the landscape. Still, it would be far safer to simply go to the Under Resort and use the more frequently treaded path, which was exactly why the place was so extraordinarily popular.

    "I don''t know how long I''ll take, but it will be at least a few hours, I assume. I will join you again once I''m done. Be careful!"

    With these words, Isaac bid his students and subordinates a temporary farewell. Even just Jakk and Aselina were enough to keep the group safe from regular monster encounters, and now that he had made Titania follow along, almost nothing would be able to endanger them. And even should something unforeseen occur, then there were always the various alerts to fall back on.

    Now mostly worry-free, Isaac made his way into Rivira. As he was blurring his existence slightly, nobody took notice of him. Very quickly, he zeroed in on Bors'' store. There actually was a customer present when he entered, so he kept motionless until the poor Level 2 adventurer reluctantly paid for Bors'' overpriced wares and left, no doubt cursing him behind his back.

    While the eyepatch-wearing man gleefully counted his valis behind the counter, Isaac stepped up and cleared his throat.

    "Ahem. It''s nice to see that your business is going well. Now, do you have what I asked for?"

    In his surprise, Bors dropped some of the coins that he had been playing with, only to annoyedly search for them on the ground once he realized who it was that had just spooked him.

    "Do you have to do that every time you come here?"

    Only when he had managed to find the last coin and had some time to cool down did the keen-eyed businessman realize something - a crucial detail that he had overlooked.

    "Wait, aren''t you supposed to be in solitary confinement? How the hell are you here!?"

    In response, Isaac''s pleasant smile, from one second to the next, turned saintly and unsettling. It was too pure and holy to be real, but at the same time it lured in observers with a promise of salvation. A cold shiver ran down Bors'' back as he got a very, very bad feeling about this¡­

    "What do you mean? I am in solitary confinement. We didn''t meet. And if I hear any rumours cropping up, about me not being where I''m supposed to be, I will know exactly who is responsible for them."

    The look in the young man''s eyes turned both icy and compassionate at the same time, that unnatural contradiction evoking even more fear in the by now shivering storekeeper.

    "I don''t need to tell you what will happen to people who can''t keep the cat in the bag, right?"

    Sweating bullets as if he had just run a marathon, Bors hastily nodded his head, desperate for this weird and creepy situation to end already. Thankfully, Isaac obliged. As if nothing had ever happened, his expression returned to being natural and polite. With a wave of his hand, a bag filled with exactly one million valis appeared on the counter.

    "Here you go, your payment. Now, can I get my goods? Oh, and I would also like the key to the property that I rented last time."

    Although it felt like he had just come extremely close to prematurely hitching a ride to the afterlife, the trembling Bors still opened the bag and counted the coins. Only after he had confirmed that everything was in order did he accept the valis and go to rummage around one of the cabinets in his store. Hidden within a secret compartment, there was a small vial filled with a dark golden liquid. It wasn''t as bright as the Ichor of deities, but it certainly was very reminiscent of it.

    "Here you go, one Status Thief. Also, here is the key. I promise I won''t say anything, okay!?"

    With an almost pleading, desperate gaze, Bors placed a small, metal key and the vial in Isaac''s hands. In response, the man in question nodded and quietly left the store just like he had entered it - it was as if he had simply disappeared.

    When he was sure that Isaac was gone, Bors collapsed to the floor and massaged his still trembling legs. They had partially cramped up before and it was extremely uncomfortable to stay in such a state.

    ''Wasn''t he only a Level 2 the last time I saw him? Even if I ignore that mental pressure¡­ his subconscious movements were way too fast to keep up with! I''m certain he can crush me easily now.''

    By the time that his thoughts reached this point, the experienced adventurer turned as white as a sheet. Only after a few minutes did he manage to put this encounter behind him and collect himself again.

    ''In any case, I don''t plan to snitch. Even if he hadn''t threatened me, I wouldn''t have been stupid enough to do so. For him to be able to avoid the punishment means that he has very powerful connections - ones that I don''t want to piss off.''

    -----

    Under the shade of a tree, three figures of various sizes were waiting for someone. One of them was patiently sitting on the ground and playing with the grass, while another was leaning against the aforementioned tree with crossed arms and sharp eyes. The last one was pacing up and down in front of the others, clearly very nervous.

    An amused smile played across the beautiful Siren Xenos'' lips as she observed her dear friend''s antsy behaviour from her spot on the ground.

    "Calm down, Lyd. he will be here on time, I''m sure of it. We''re just far too early."

    The one that she had addressed was a Lizardman Xenos who was slightly shorter than her. He was clad in ragtag pieces of gear that they had scavenged from adventurers that had attempted to - unsuccessfully - hunt them down over the years. Instead of the fierce look that he usually showed in battle, he sported a panicked face right now.

    "That''s not it, Ray! I''m just worried that I''m expecting too much and that my hopes will be dashed again."

    Even though she understood her companion''s worries, Ray reassuringly shook her head and smiled. When recalling the mysterious god that she had met, she would be filled with an unusual sense of security and conviction, although she couldn''t explain why.

    "Please trust my judgement. I''m certain that he spoke the truth."

    Right as her anxious friend began to calm down, a cold snort interrupted the two. It came from the silent Gargoyle Xenos who had been looking at the two unhappily while leaning on the tree all this time.

    He, who went by the name ''Gros'', was even a bit taller than the rest of his species, towering at a height of four and a half meters. If this particular tree hadn''t been considerably massive as well, then the sheer weight of his ash-coloured stone body would have caused it to bend and ultimately break. His red eyes were filled with a deep distrust and although he had his wings folded, he seemed ready to throw himself at any enemy as soon as they entered his range of perception.

    "What a joke. A mystery man who promises to deal with our biggest problem all by himself? Just you wait and see, he will turn out to be a kidnapper like the rest of these abominable surface dwellers. Someone who only wants to take advantage of us for their own gain. I will prove it to you! And once you''ve seen his true colours, I will crush him like a c.o.c.kroach!"

    With fury blazing in his eyes, Gros clenched his fists, remembering the many times when beloved friends had left his side forever, all due to the lies, deceit and enmity of the beings of the sentient races.

    Before Ray, who had furrowed her brows and was ready to speak up, even had opened her mouth, an amused, familiar voice resounded from overhead, from one of the branches of the tree that the three of them were gathered under.

    "Oh? I''d love to see you try."

 Chapter 116 - Signed And Sealed

    Isaac had arrived a few moments ago and gotten the opportunity to observe the Xenos that he was about to meet. As he had been about half an hour early, he hadn''t intended to show himself immediately. Instead, he had planned to gather some data and prepare himself for the conversation to come. Still, it really didn''t take him long to get a good overall picture of the three, so when the Gargoyle amongst the group started to talk big, an amused smile played across his lips and he couldn''t help but join in.

    Due to him unblurring his existence and the sudden appearance of his voice, the Xenos were alarmed and surprised, albeit for very different reasons. Lyd was just taken aback and glanced in his direction a bit warily, while Ray got over the initial bewilderment very quickly and shot him a welcoming smile. At the same time, there was a hint of worry in her gaze. She couldn''t help but look back and forth rapidly between him and the Gargoyle.

    As for the stone creature in question, he jumped away from the tree and turned around to glare at the newcomer. Usually, he couldn''t be sneaked up upon by just anybody, so he instantly became guarded. That was when the words that Isaac had spoken finally rang a bell.

    "So you''re the mystery man? Seeing how you offered yourself to me on a silver platter, I won''t be impolite!"

    His expression turned violent almost instantly, and with a speed only top Level 5 monsters would be able to match, he accelerated towards Isaac, who was still standing on a branch of the huge tree. Ray''s eyes widened in shock, but due to the extreme speed that everything took place at, it felt like her expression was changing in slow motion.

    As Gargoyles only had one major weakness - their heart - Gros made sure to shield his chest slightly with one of his arms, using the other to reach out towards his prey, ready to rip the young man''s arrogance to shreds and subdue him. A flap of his wings further heightened his speed, making his charge seem inescapable. Even though he appeared to be consumed by rage, he still managed to protect his vitals - after all, he wouldn''t make the mistake of severely underestimating a being who could sneak up on him.

    Before Ray could even shout the warning that was about to escape her mouth, something that seemed almost irreconcilable with the image of the Isaac that she had met three days ago occurred in a split second.

    Like he was swatting an oversized rock mosquito, Isaac calmly waved his hand at a speed that was nearly undetectable to her eyes. The back of it collided with Gros'' outstretched arm, then pushed it backwards and to the right until it was pressed directly on top of his other arm that had protected his chest. The impact didn''t end here, however. Now in contact with the Xenos'' center of gravity, the full strength of the seemingly nonchalant attack erupted, sending the Gargoyle flying away with a speed far, far faster than the one with which he had approached. Gros was utterly helpless and didn''t even have a chance or the strength to mount any resistance whatsoever, neither could he change his flight path. His body was completely out of his control and crashed into the earth a few tens of meters away, rocking the surroundings violently, whirling up a massive amount of dirt and producing a nearly eardrum-bursting rumbling sound.

    Ray could only stare perplexedly at the slowly settling dirt cloud, her wings awkwardly spread, ready to take off. The words that she had originally planned to utter were swallowed back down when she saw the state that the impact site was in. A crater about twenty meters wide and fifteen meters deep had formed in the mostly earthen ground. Still, the uppermost rock layer beneath it had already been reached and partially shattered.

    As for Gros? Aside from the cracks that ran all over his arms and chest, as well as his back and wings - so basically the majority of his body - he seemed fine. Because Isaac had stayed his hand, his heart had only been slightly shaken. His mind, however, was ringing alarm bells at a never before encountered volume. Only now did he realize that he wouldn''t even be able to leave a scratch on this enemy, even if he gave his best. The look in his eyes momentarily changed to one of fear, before slowly settling into one of suicidal determination. With a low growl, he lifted himself out of the hole and positioned himself in front of his two companions, more wary of the mystery man than ever. Still, no matter how afraid he was, he couldn''t let the others come to harm!

    The troublemaker in question only smiled relaxedly at the whole situation before staring directly at the braggart of a Gargoyle.

    "Do you still think you can squash me easily?"

    Gros clenched his fists tightly upon being subjected to this blatant mockery, but he stayed silent, patiently waiting for the young man''s next move. Seeing that he wasn''t in the mood for talking, Isaac focused his attention on the other two.

    Lyd had already grasped his sword and was cautiously glancing at him. Still, he wasn''t charging in his direction like an idiot. The emotions in his reptilian eyes showed clearly that he was hesitant to make any rash moves. Gros was clearly the one who had initiated the aggression, but the Gargoyle was still his friend and it didn''t feel good to see him hurt. Nevertheless, wasn''t this standoff a bit bad? This really wasn''t how he had wanted his day to go!

    Ray, on the other hand, wore a resigned and helpless smile. She could understand the responses of both of her long-time friends, but she was also convinced that Isaac had shown no actual hostility. If he had wanted to kill Gros, then he would have died already. He had only wanted to let him know that he was not to be provoked. As for how his strength had increased this rapidly? It probably was related to him being a deity somehow. Because she was the only one amongst the three Xenos present that had a decent understanding of the mysterious god, she naturally had the clearest picture of the situation.

    "Lyd, Gros, stand down. He''s not the one who started it."

    Trying to mend the two sides'' relationship at least a little, she walked forward, past the Gargoyle who had been attempting to shield her, and in front of her benefactor, before turning around to face her comrades and speaking in the most pacifying tone that she could muster. Due to her vocal abilities courtesy of being a Siren, this had more of an effect than one would expect, an almost magical one. Lyd almost immediately sheathed his weapon and scratched his head in embarrassment, while Gros slowly lowered his arms. Still he did not let his eyes leave Isaac even for a single moment.

    ''Phew, that went well enough.''

    Inwardly rejoicing over her success, she turned to face the one that she would be serving in the near future, a grateful smile on her lips. She was well aware that he was under no obligation to keep his word, but he had still done so and met her here. While he wasn''t offering her kin free support, any help at all was already highly appreciated.

    "Thank you for making time to come and meet us, Lord Isaac. I''m happy to see you again."

    Isaac raised an eyebrow at her decision to refer to him less casually now, but ultimately accepted it. After all, most deities were called ''Lord'' or ''Lady'' here in the Lower World. If the Siren wanted to follow such etiquette, then he wouldn''t stop her. Reciprocating with a smile of his own, he replied.

    "Likewise. I told you that I''d be here, so here I am. But let''s leave the pleasantries for later. I think our small scuffle here might have attracted some unwanted attention, we should change locations."

    His recommendation was unanimously approved, so the four quickly travelled to another spot on the 18th floor that was similarly secluded. With all of them being at Level 5, their speed allowed them to rapidly traverse enormous distances.

    Now sitting in a small and remote clearing, the group exchanged introductions. All three of the ones who had come today - Lyd, Gros and Ray - were considered to be leader figures amongst the Xenos. They were the strongest, and the peak of their kin. While they weren''t the ones who had initially rallied the Xenos together and formed their society - or at least this iteration of it - they had come to represent them over time.

    "Well, let what happened before be water under the bridge. I couldn''t help being on edge after seeing Gros wounded¡­ Anyway, thanks for being willing to help us, Isaac!"

    The Lizardman was really friendly and easygoing now that everything had calmed down. He felt particularly excited to get a chance to talk to someone from the surface, someone who would even help them deal with their biggest problem. Although he was being quite informal compared to his Siren friend, he was the kind of guy that nobody could really be mad at. Not that Isaac actually wanted to be referred to as ''Lord'' anyway, so this was more up his alley.

    When Ray had returned to the Xenos'' hidden village a few days ago, she had informed her kin about her decision to serve a mysterious deity in the future, in exchange for their help on the issue of the Xenos being unable to leave the dungeon for too long. Of course, there had been an outcry amongst their ranks, but most quickly came to support her choice when noticing how determined she was. Also, all of them did want to walk under the sun one day, so someone sacrificing oneself for that purpose was far from a rare occurrence. Well, usually, those sacrifices were made to fend off ''villains'' from the surface, but this time, it was a bit different.

    As fellow leaders, Lyd and Gros naturally couldn''t accept her decision easily and demanded to come along when she would go to meet that deity again, to make sure that she wasn''t being fooled, and also to potentially be of help with the research needed to free them from their shackles. While they saw the dungeon as their ''mother'' and appreciated ''her'' for giving birth to them, they also wanted to leave this nest one day. Being chained up in their birthplace as if they were prisoners left a sour taste in their mouths, to say the least.

    "Hmph. I admit I''m not your match, but if you try to harm my kin, I will resist until the bitter end. So tell me, what do you want? What do you plan to do to Ray? What''s the catch?"

    Even though he had already been humbled, Gros was still quite hostile, but at least he had calmed down to the level where one could have a conversation with him again. Considering how impulsively and aggressively he had behaved when confronted with an unexpected encounter, that was already a lot of progress.

    With just one look at him and keeping his earlier words in mind, Isaac had been able to make many inferences about the Gargoyle and his personality. He was the kind of being who cared a lot about his comrades, possibly more than most. Due to this, he would be affected far worse than others when inevitable partings came around or some tragedy hit. Many years of combat and hostile relations with the vast majority of those from the surface had turned him cynical and prone to violence, as well as suspicious of everybody. It would take time for him to lower his guard in front of strangers, but once one occupied a place in his heart, he would be fiercely loyal.

    An indiscernible smirk appeared on Isaac''s face for a moment. This kind of being wouldn''t make for too bad of a subordinate, but he carried far too much baggage. That could be clearly seen from the violent clash that they had had minutes prior - someone with a short fuse wasn''t ideal. Admittedly, Isaac was also partially at fault for the escalation, as he could have handled the situation very differently, but the one who had chosen to lash out was still the Gargoyle. Although he could understand why Gros had developed the way that he did, that didn''t mean that he would be excessively lenient with him.

    "You probably think that I want Ray''s services for some depraved reasons, am I correct?"

    When the Gargoyle nodded, Isaac quickly glanced at the other two before continuing to speak. Lyd was attentively listening, while the Siren who was the topic of the conversation felt embarrassed and unsure of how to behave.

    "Well, you''re wrong. I''m already in a relationship, and happy that way. I would rather end myself than to betray my beloved. As for what I actually want Ray for, that''s simple. To lessen my burdens. I''m just one man, and I already burden myself a lot. While helping Ray grow to the point where she can be truly helpful to me will require some investment, in the long run, it will be worth it."

    Even Gros'' expression couldn''t help but change as he saw the solemnity in Isaac''s eyes when the young man was talking about the one in his heart. It wasn''t easy to fake emotions like these, so there was a reasonably high probability that he spoke the truth. Lyd therefore grew more fond of him, while Ray seemed both relieved and a bit disappointed at the same time. Even though she had no romantic interest in her benefactor, it still didn''t feel good to get outright and cleanly rejected by someone of the opposite s.e.x.

    "Let''s assume you''re telling the truth for a moment. Why Ray and not someone else? I''d gladly offer myself in her stead."

    Changing his tune now that he took Isaac a little more seriously, Gros made an offer that took his two friends by surprise.

    "Hey, Gros! I should be the one to go, not either of you two! Isaac, if you really have a need for one of us in exchange for your help, let me be the one to go, okay?"

    Hastily pleading with him, Lyd made the Lizardman equivalent of puppy eyes, which managed to look far more disturbing than cute, causing Isaac''s right eyelid to twitch a little. After noticing that Ray was about to jump into the conversation as well, he quickly waved his hand and audibly cleared his throat, intending to gain everyone''s attention and clear some things up once and for all.

    "Ahem! Thanks for the offers, you two, but there is a reason as to why I prefer Ray over you two fine gentlemen. And no, get your thoughts out of the gutter, it''s not because she is a woman!"

    Noticing how their gazes had changed during his explanation, he got slightly annoyed and glared at them for a moment before carrying on.

    "She has already met my people and meshed well with them personality-wise. Overall, she is thoughtful, smart, friendly, caring, empathetic and loyal. Her temperament doesn''t even have any obvious drawbacks. I''ve long since made my decision in regards to her. She would be the ideal subordinate."

    Both Gros and Lyd felt wronged when they realized what his words implied. Was he saying that the two of them didn''t check all of these boxes? But upon some honest reflection, they indeed realized that they were a little bit lacking. Neither of them was as smart or thoughtful as Ray, and Gros was even especially prone to aim hostility at any stranger that he met. While Lyd was an overall better choice out of the two, he was still a bit simpleminded.

    Ray felt weird upon being praised like this. Usually, others would compliment the look of her feathers, her beautiful appearance or her enchanting singing voice. Having her character evaluated also wasn''t a first, but the conclusion being that she was ''the ideal subordinate'' certainly was. So while she was happy, her smile was a bit forced due to these words being completely unprecedented.

    After having thought it over for a bit, Lyd released a heavy sigh and slowly nodded his head. He had already understood that he wouldn''t be able to convince this man in front of him, but still, he chose to at least try one more time.

    "Do you really need her to swear her loyalty to you? What about some other form of payment?"

    With the consoling smile of a businessman who was about to close a big deal and wanted to appear compassionate, Isaac shook his head.

    "A person like Ray is hard to come across. Any physical rewards that you could offer simply can''t measure up. Also, I could procure those at any time, because I have a lot of money to spare. Even dungeon specialties aren''t hard for me to acquire, as well as the knowledge that the Xenos hold. After all, Ray should be privy to that information as well, right? I could just ask her."

    An embarrassed smile played across Lyd''s lips and he nodded, then he stayed silent and looked at the Siren that they had been talking about all this time. Ultimately, the decision rested on her shoulders.

    Noticing that she had become the center of attention, Ray snapped out of the happiness of having been referred to as a ''person'' and gulped a little, then she spoke up.

    "Thank you for worrying about me, Lyd and Gros, but I don''t think my life will be bad if I follow Lord Isaac. There are no free meals in this world, and I''m perfectly content with such a small sacrifice if it can help our kin become truly free. I believe that the two of you will be more than enough to keep everyone safe and well-fed until that day."

    Tears had formed at the corners of the Lizardman''s eyes by the time that her words had arrived at this point, so he quickly wiped them away and blinked repeatedly in an effort to prevent his tear ducts from producing even more. His emotional voice cracked a little as he responded.

    "I understand. We won''t let you down, I swear!"

    Gros silently nodded as well. While he was clearly not happy about this deal, he also knew how to think about the bigger picture. He didn''t trust Isaac, but at the very least he wanted to believe in Ray and the path that she wanted to take. Still, if she should ever be in danger or be mistreated, he would fight through heaven and hell to save his dear friend! The determination in his eyes was burning as strong as ever. If Isaac showed even the slightest hint of the depravity that he wanted to protect the Siren from, then he would instantly throw himself at him again.

    "Calm down, all of you! I won''t whisk Ray away and keep her from interacting with you and the rest of your kin. Well, maybe one day, but certainly not now. Stop it with the farewells! I need to observe more Xenos to create a method to deal with your problem anyway, and to convince you once and for all that I''m not scamming you. Could you lead me to your village? I will need to stop by occasionally to further my research, so let''s just start today while I''m already here."

    Isaac''s request, although it made sense, was a monumental one. Leading him to their safe haven would mean that they would be exposing their weakness to him, so if he wanted to harm them, then they would be inviting a wolf into their flock of sheep. Everyone here was aware of this, but as the Xenos were the ones who were in need of his help, rejecting a reasonable demand like this would simply be counterproductive in creating a ''cure''. They could only choose one of two options: To take the risk, or to wait for another opportunity that may never come.

    They chose the former.

    With a heavy nod, Lyd stood up immediately.

    "Then let''s not waste any more time here. The location of our hidden village changes regularly, but we''re currently quite a few floors away. Introducing you to everyone will also take some time, so it''s best to get it out of the way as soon as possible."

    Before the overeager Lizardman could hurry off, Gros held him back and soberly eyed Isaac.

    "Wait a minute. Aren''t you forgetting something? Ray hasn''t sworn her allegiance yet."

    In essence, this meant that the contract wasn''t signed. They had only made the verbal agreement to perform the deal, nothing more. While he didn''t trust this man as far as he could throw him - he wouldn''t even be able to successfully approach him - there was still an order to these things that shouldn''t just be violated. If they were going to do this, they should either do it correctly, or not at all. Yes, this man could potentially endanger their entire kin if he decided to go back on his word and weed them out by the roots, but now that they had already resolved themselves to take the plunge, they could only hope that Isaac would be as upstanding as he presented himself to be.

    "Good point. Then this is your last chance to back out. Are you sure you want to do this, Ray?"

    His face sporting a serious expression, Isaac turned to the enchanting Siren. If he was facing an enemy, then he wouldn''t mind forcing them to do his bidding, and if he was facing a neutral party, then manipulating them into doing as he intended was a valid course of action. But due to Ray''s friendly intentions, he had long since classified her as an allay. At the very least, he would respect her wishes, so long as they wouldn''t harm him or those at his side. She had an outstanding personality, but if he got to meet all of the Xenos, then finding someone else similar to her would most likely not be impossible. And in the worst case scenario, he could just settle for Lyd. One thing was for sure, though, he wouldn''t be walking out of this place without another Xenos subordinate.

    A bit surprised by the offer, Ray blinked blankly. She then recalled how he had treated his people back when they had first met, and a certain warmth spread through her chest. She realized that, although she wasn''t even officially following him yet, he had already extended an olive branch of kindness to her.

    Yes, he was holding the salvation of her kin hostage, in a way, but she didn''t blame him for that. To work for free, for nothing but gratitude - that was an attitude that not many people could afford to showcase, even if they wanted to. It simply wasn''t a viable way to live one''s life. One would toil away on solving other people''s problems until the day one inevitably bit the dust, never once prioritizing one''s own goals and dreams. While those one had helped would love having a person like that around, as it would make their lives markedly easier, everything still boiled down to the exploitation of a kind-hearted individual at its core. It wasn''t inherently ''wrong'' to help others because one thought that it was ''right'' to do so, but it certainly wasn''t the most responsible course of action in every scenario. Actually, more often than not, it was the exact opposite.

    With an appreciative smile, the Siren walked towards her benefactor and came to a stop two steps in front of him. In a smooth motion, she got down on one knee and reached out to lift his right hand with the tip of her left wing, then she lowered her head in a subservient manner.

    While Isaac had turned speechless due to her overly ritualistic actions, she planted a symbolic kiss of allegiance on the back of his hand, then she raised her head and looked directly into his eyes with a solemn expression.

    "I, Ray, a former leader of the Xenos, hereby swear my absolute loyalty to Lord Isaac Blackshaw. From this day forward, I shall be his faithful servant."

    [ Ray has sworn her loyalty to you.

    Quest ''Have six retainers.'' completed. 600 AP rewarded. ]

    Ignoring the welcome system notification, Isaac inwardly lamented.

    ''Why does she need to be so theatrical about this?''

    Little did he know that the Siren''s perception of what an oath of allegiance should look like had long since been tainted by the stories of knights and their kings or queens. Even in this world, many adventurers - mainly of the female variety - loved to loudly gossip about topics like these when they rested. Because observing those who came from the surface was essential, not only to prepare for any potential dangers, but also to learn about how to become friendly with them, Ray had had plenty of opportunities to listen to generic tales of heroism and romance over the years.

 Chapter 117 - Bird Shenanigans

    "Ahem. Please rise, then show your back to me. I''ll give you a Falna."

    Hearing Isaac''s words, Ray got excited. She had aimed to escape the shackles that the dungeon had restrained her kin with for many years now, and with a temporary escape from them finally within reach, her heart couldn''t help but beat a lot faster.

    After she had done as he had instructed, something suddenly occurred to her, causing her to frown in worry and glance at him with concern.

    "What about the dungeon? If it detects your Ichor, then¡­"

    In response, the young man only shook his head and gave her a reassuring smile.

    "Don''t worry about it, this isn''t the first time that I''ve given someone a Falna while still in the dungeon. I have my ways of concealing it."

    Successfully having placated her with his confident demeanour, Isaac repeated the procedure that he had tested on Titania a short while ago. Needless to say, it went a lot more smoothly this time. He didn''t mind the other two Xenos curiously observing everything from the side and mainly focused on avoiding even the slightest slip up regarding blurring the existence of his Ichor from the dungeon.

    He could have also attempted to give the Siren a Falna from afar, but there was no need to complicate matters. What if he actually, against all odds, messed up and caused the dungeon to react, purely because he wanted to increase the difficulty for his own enjoyment? It was fine to put himself at risk, but implicating others - at least the ones that weren''t irrelevant - wasn''t one of his favourite pastimes, not in the slightest. He could experiment with combining both of these techniques another time.

    Although she couldn''t feel his Ichor coursing through her back, a certain warmth still spread through Ray''s body shortly after Isaac had begun. She closed her eyes to concentrate on the sensation, a radiant smile spreading on her lips. For a while, or maybe just a moment, she was lost in this state. She wasn''t clear how much time had passed when she finally opened her eyes again. Right after Isaac''s finger had left her back, her entire body had started to feel... ever so slightly different.

    Leaving the Siren to thoroughly inspect the very minor changes that were a result of his blessing, the god responsible for it all spared some time to glance at her Status via the system, as well as to read the notification that had appeared in the process of giving her a Falna.

    [ Ray has joined your familia.

    Quest ''Have six familia members.'' completed. 600 AP rewarded. ]

    [ Name: Ray ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

    [ Race: Siren Variant ]

    [ Level: 5 ]

    [ Age: 19 ]

    [ Loyalty: 70/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: B-789 (31,047) ]

    [ Endurance: B-780 (31,101) ]

    [ Dexterity: A-893 (34,295) ]

    [ Agility: S-958 (37,129) ]

    [ Magic: S-957 (37,134) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Siren''s Voice ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Hunter: G ]

    [ Flying: F ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance, Spirit Healing ]

    It was no wonder that Ray had been taken aback when they met again - after all, the last time that she saw him, her stats had been about two and a half times his own! And even now, they were still markedly impressive. Most veteran Level 5 adventurers wouldn''t be her match, even by the time that they would finally get a chance to rank up.

    What caught Isaac''s attention first was her abnormally high Loyalty from the very beginning. While this would make the path to maxing it a bit shorter, which was welcome, it still caused his right eyelid to twitch a little upon recalling how she had behaved just moments prior.

    In an attempt to clear his head from these distracting thoughts, he focused on something else - the fact that she had the ''Hunter'' Development Ability. She could have only obtained it when she was still at Level 2 - in other words, shortly after she had been born. As monsters attacked Xenos as well, it wasn''t hard to imagine how harsh her early life had to have been, all alone in the depths of the dungeon, surrounded by enemies on all sides. Somehow, she had made it through, but only after leaving a veritable bloodbath behind.

    Even adventurers who tried their best to accomplish the necessary feat to unlock ''Hunter'' frequently didn''t succeed no matter how thorough their plans were, yet a lonely Xenos had done what they could not. But if looked at from another perspective, maybe this was only natural - those who ultimately managed to survive down here could only have done so by slaying countless monsters. Another reason for the Xenos being so exceedingly rare to encounter could also be that most simply didn''t survive this ferocious baptism and succ.u.mbed to their endless foes.

    Right underneath ''Hunter'', there was a Development Ability that Isaac hadn''t seen before - ''Flying''. It really didn''t take a genius to guess its effects, but even if it was just to acquire the exact numbers for future reference, Isaac still set aside some time to take a glance at it.

    [ Flying (F): Supports the stability of flight, decreases air resistance and improves the comprehension speed of three-dimensional maneuvers by 18%. Increases all stats by 9% during flight. ]

    Of course, her as-of-yet-unknown Skill didn''t escape his eyes either.

    [ Siren''s Voice: The user has the voice of a Siren.

    Enables the user to infuse mana into the sound of their voice to achieve various effects that are mainly dependent on personal understanding. Enhances the user''s hearing, making echolocation possible. ]

    Most likely, every single Siren in existence relied on this Skill, so it was no wonder that Ray had it as well. It was similar to Averin''s ''Atalantan Accelerate'' in that it was inborn. Compared to that pure Agility-enhancement, however, it had far more potential because it didn''t have a predefined limit of any sort. Depending on one''s effort, it could produce vastly different results.

    Thinking about the very miniscule amount of excelia that had been present when he had given Ray her Falna - not even enough for a single stat point - Isaac recalled something that he had wanted to ask for a while now.

    "Ray, I have a question."

    Taking note of his voice, she stopped observing the changes in her body, turned around and raised her head to look at her new lord.

    "What is it, milord?"

    For a considerable amount of time, she had thought long and hard about what to call him when finally ending up under his command. Originally, she had expected to only be in this position when he successfully found a way to rid all of the Xenos of their shackles, but due to Gros'' determination to perform a proper deal and Lyd''s and her own wordless acquiescence with his decision, she had become one of Isaac''s people far earlier than planned. In any case, because she was already somewhat familiar with the way that some of her new comrades called the young man, she had long since chosen a proper way of address that fell in line with the others - or, more specifically, with Mina. Maybe it was due to the stories that Ray was infatuated with, but the term ''milord'' seemed to have a nice ring to it¡­

    A moment of silence followed her query. The expression on Isaac''s face appeared to be frozen.

    ''It''s spreading.''

    Although he had never been the most ardent fan of being called ''milord'', he wasn''t against it either. Rather than feeling unpleasant, it felt¡­ surreal. If one of his goals actually would have been to become a conventional ruler of some kind, then he wouldn''t have even blinked an eye at this, but none of what he currently had in mind was even close to such a future! Still, because he had grown somewhat accustomed to Mina calling him this, and because it didn''t make him feel uncomfortable, this new development - albeit taking him by surprise - only made him pause for a bit, followed by a short sigh. Without allowing himself to dwell on the topic any further, he voiced his inquiry.

    "Before today, you couldn''t earn excelia in the same way that adventurers do, so how did you all manage to grow stronger?"

    At first, Ray was surprised, as she had expected him to already know about this matter, then she nodded in understanding.

    "Ah, I see. Milord, you probably found Averin before he discovered this himself. We Xenos can digest other monsters'' magic stones and improve our strength that way. I assume that the ''excelia'' you mentioned is acquired in that process."

    Isaac raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. Wasn''t that similar to the way that Titania grew in strength? Then maybe, this quality wasn''t inherent to Demi Spirits, but rather to monsters in general. Because the regular mindless ones would never attack each other, they also would never get an opportunity to notice this. But because the Xenos, as well as the Demi Spirits, were sentient, they had succeeded where their lesser brethren had failed.

    ''Wait a minute¡­''

    As if he had suddenly realized something, a smirk played across his lips.

    So far, Averin had only gained excelia by defeating monsters, due to having been bestowed with a Falna. But if what Ray said was true - and there was no reason to doubt her - then wouldn''t it be possible for him and all other monster subordinates to gain double the excelia gain per slain foe if they simply ate the magic stones afterwards? Ray had grown to this point purely through magic stone consumption, so it wasn''t hard to imagine that she would soar far, far faster in the future.

    Of course, that was only if his assumption actually was the case, which was relatively likely. Perhaps a reason as to why it hadn''t been possible to bestow a Falna upon monsters was that the ''balance'' would have been broken otherwise. But then why had Isaac been able to bless them? As always, the answer to this question was - probably - the system, which simply disregarded such rules and barriers. Because it hadn''t even deemed it necessary to notify him of this, it couldn''t have been too fundamental of a law of this world that had been circ.u.mvented, else he would have had to fork out some AP to actually achieve this feat.

    ''I guess I finally have a use for all of these magic stones.''

    Even if he wanted to lavishly spend his money, Isaac would still have a huge surplus of magic stones piling up in his inventory. He would need a decent number of them to study them in detail, but there would still be many leftovers. So instead of letting them rot away or exchanging them for more valis than he would ever need, he could just feed them to his numerous monster subordinates!

    With these thoughts in mind, Isaac fished out a Nykur''s magic stone from his inventory, masking its use with a pouch that was fastened to his belt as usual.

    "Thanks for telling me, now it all makes sense. Here, dig in."

    The Siren''s eyes sparkled when she saw the ''delicious treat'' in her lord''s hand. It wasn''t actually that large, maybe four or five bites would be sufficient to consume it whole. Because she didn''t have hands, Ray couldn''t truly hold anything and would usually awkwardly place her magic stones in a spot that was easy to eat from. As long as she didn''t have to kneel down and eat them from the ground, then she was already happy. Hadn''t Isaac given her a direct order to consume this stone? Didn''t his hand make the perfect plate? As he was taller than her, she wouldn''t have to do much more than to lower her head a little¡­

    CRUNCH.

    An awkward smile hung on Isaac''s lips when he saw his new subordinate literally eat out of his hand. It felt like he was feeding a pet, but due to Ray sporting the face of a beauty, the whole situation turned a little uncomfortable. He had originally planned to test whether Ray could somehow hold the magic stone herself by pressing her wings together - although he didn''t have high hopes for that - and would have levitated it in front of her after making sure of this. Well, due to his admittedly suboptimal word choice, he had given her the impression that it was already time to eat, so he hadn''t had any time to implement or even mention this plan of his.

    Due to her high stats, Ray didn''t have any problems shattering the magic stone with her teeth, and the resulting sharp shards couldn''t injure the inside of her mouth either. When coming in direct contact with her saliva, the shards melted at an incredible speed, causing Isaac to forget the discomfort of the situation and take note of this phenomenon. He hadn''t noticed any oddities regarding the Sirens'' saliva during his previous research, and admittedly, he highly doubted that there was anything special about it in particular. Instead, it was a lot more likely that this reaction was a result of the monsters'' inborn ability to devour and digest magic stones. In any case, he would look into it in the future.

    Right after Ray had gulped down the last of her snack, Isaac pulled his hand away quickly. For some reason, he felt like she might lick it clean otherwise, just like a cat lapping up the last remnants of her food. Thankfully, magic stones didn''t actually stain his hand with any residue at all, but he just wanted to make sure.

    Wordlessly, Isaac took out another Nykur magic stone and made it float right in front of Ray''s face, before looking at Lyd and Gros, who both sported similarly awkward expressions. At this point, he really didn''t feel like testing Ray''s physical capabilities in detail.

    "Lead the way."

    All three of them wanted nothing more than to dispel the sensitive atmosphere, so they quickly hurried to a staircase leading to the 19th floor, one of the ones that weren''t located in Rivira. While they were rushing through the next few floors, Ray silently munched away on the various magic stones that her lord sent her way. Although she felt extremely embarrassed for having misinterpreted his words and instinctively eaten out of his hand in the beginning¡­ it wasn''t too bad a memory.

    [ Ray''s Loyalty has increased by 5. ]

    Whether this notification popped up due to the happiness that resulted from getting fed a steady stream of nutritious delicacies, or because he hadn''t openly chided her for her unbecoming behaviour, that couldn''t be determined.

    About half an hour later, the group of four arrived on the 24th floor, in a region quite far from any of the ones that adventurers would usually explore. Another five minutes after that, Isaac, who had been using his Eyes of Hermes all this while, perceived something at the edge of his mana-based vision.

    A distance of multiple kilometers away, deep within this labyrinth of trees and caves, a huge cavern could be made out. Hundreds of monsters, consisting of plenty of different species that shouldn''t be on this floor, could be found within, all interacting peacefully with each other. Some of them behaved remarkably human-like, while others only had the light of sentience shining in their eyes. The chatter of several hundred individuals entered his ears at the same time.

    "I wonder when Ray will come back? Is that mysterious deity really as dashing as she said?"

    A Harpy was drowning the Arachne next to her under a flood of words, starry-eyed and excited like a teenager talking about the latest celebrity news. Although the only answers that she got were distracted "Mhmm"''s and "I see"''s, she blabbered on nearly unabated.

    "Have you eaten already? If not, I''ll whip something up."

    Seemingly, the Xenos didn''t only feed on magic stones and the nutrients obtained from Pantries - which Isaac had yet to study in any relevant detail - but also consumed regular food. Some of the plants growing down here in the dungeon could be cooked and would make outstanding meals, and a few of the Xenos gathered here had picked up the necessary skills. One of them was the amicable-looking Hobgoblin currently talking to a Needle Rabbit who had just awoken from her midday nap.

    Many heartwarming scenes laid themselves bare to Isaac, but there was also some conflict that would never be absent when there were people. It was a lot less prevalent than usual, mostly because all of them were legitimately in the same boat and doing their best to survive together, but a few individuals couldn''t help but stir up trouble or mutter unhappily under their breaths, cursing their fellow kin for perceived injustices. In other words: same old, same old.

    None of all of this surprised Isaac, what actually did was the fact that all the paths leading towards this cavern led to nowhere. Or rather, straight into walls.

    He had seen such a method of concealment before, back when he had discovered the manmade labyrinth, Knossos. But this time, all of these walls were completely natural and couldn''t be told apart from the rest of the dungeon under normal circ.u.mstances.

    From what he could gather at a quick glance, there were mainly two ways to notice this particular massive cavern and the associated peculiarities. Firstly, if one created a 3D model of the surroundings, one would notice that there was a larger empty space than normal, so one could possibly deduce that there might be ''something'' there. And secondly, by comparing the mana flowing through the walls, one could observe that it was a tiny bit less dense in the portions of the walls that hid the caves that led straight to the cavern.

    Honestly, without the ability to do either of these things - or to directly see it, like Isaac just did - it would be close to impossible to stumble across a place like this.

    Very quickly, the group arrived in front of one of the walls that Isaac had taken note of. After looking around cautiously, to make sure that nobody else was around, Lyd turned to Ray. The Siren nodded, closed her eyes, opened her mouth and let out a sound. Although it couldn''t be heard by anyone aside from her due to its frequency, Isaac could still pick up on the powerful soundwaves. Seconds later, she opened her eyes again and gave a reassuring nod.

    "It''s all clear."

    These words observably lightened the burden on Lyd''s and Gros'' shoulders, so after relaxing a little, the Lizardman decided to address Isaac.

    "Right behind this wall is one of our hidden villages. We just have to break down this obstacle and mother will ensure that it will perfectly recover in a matter of minutes. Oh, ''mother'' is what we usually call the dungeon, by the way!"

    Isaac didn''t bother to reveal that he already knew about what lay beyond, so he asked a question instead.

    "How did you find this place if it is so well hidden?"

    In response, Lyd awkwardly scratched his head, as if searching for a proper answer. It wasn''t like he was trying to mislead him, rather, what he was trying to explain was simply difficult to put into words.

    "I¡­ I don''t know. Sometimes, one of us just ''feels'' like there is a safe place nearby. It happened to me once. I had the gut feeling that if I broke down a specific wall nearby, I would discover another hidden village. But really, I honestly have no idea why that happened. We Xenos just assume that mother is guiding us, as well as providing safe havens for us."

    After a short pause, the friendly Lizardman continued.

    "There aren''t actually too many of these places. They start to appear on the 19th floor, and in all the time that our kin has been around, we have only found less than a handful of them on each floor. But anyway, it''s time to enter. We shouldn''t keep everyone waiting."

    While Gros was getting into position to charge straight through the wooden wall, Isaac nodded to himself. Lyd''s explanation had answered another one of his questions: Why hadn''t he found any of these places himself so far? If it truly was as Lyd had claimed, and they only started to show up in the latter part of the Middle Floors, then it was no wonder. He hadn''t fully explored any of these floors - far from it - and as these hidden areas seemed to be few and far between, he just hadn''t come upon any ever since obtaining the Eyes of Hermes. Yet again, what was at play was simply probability.

    With a loud crash, the wall in front of the group gave way to Gros'' massive body. Wooden splinters shot in all directions, so everyone shielded their eyes in advance to avoid getting injured in those most delicate spots. Well, admittedly, due to Isaac''s high Endurance stat, he didn''t have much of a need to actually do this. His Agility would also enable him to dodge every single one of them...

    "Come on in, milord!"

    Sporting a smile, Ray led Isaac into the revealed pathway that was connected straight to the Xenos'' hidden village, following right after Lyd and Gros who were trotting ahead.

    When they arrived at the end, right where this long cave opened up into the massive cavern, the huge assortment of monsters was already waiting for them. This was only to be expected, as the method of entry to this place was extremely loud. Most of them were excited, happy to welcome back their leaders, the pillars of their spiritual support. Then, when they finally noticed that the three had brought someone along, the majority became guarded. Yet, there was still a sizable portion that mainly eyed Isaac with gazes full of curiosity and many other positive or neutral emotions.

    "Everyone, we''re back! This is our benefactor, Isaac Blackshaw, who will help rid us of our shackles. He''s the one who Ray mentioned before."

    With a cheerful grin, Lyd opened his arms wide and walked towards his fellow kin, introducing Isaac in the process, to dispel the wary atmosphere a little.

    Upon hearing his words, most Xenos began to cheer, which sounded quite¡­ odd. The voices of many different monster species blended together, resulting in a weird chorus. Still, their joy and welcoming intentions were clearly conveyed. Some shed tears upon finally seeing a glimmer of hope at the end of this dark tunnel, while others cautiously glanced in Gros'' direction. Only upon seeing him - reluctantly - nod did they allow themselves to show joyous smiles as well.

    The Xenos were a tragic community bound by an unfortunate fate, so even though this could just as well be a false hope, a hoax, most of them still allowed themselves to fall for it. Being cautious is all well and good, but when one''s back is against the wall, one doesn''t have the luxury of missing out on a chance that may never come again. They were well aware of this.

    "RAY!"

    After she had overcome her initial surprise at encountering a stranger, the same Harpy that had gossiped about Isaac moments prior flew directly at Ray and used her wings to envelop her in a tight hug. It seemed like the two of them were quite close, judging from how the Siren beamed happily and hugged her back.

    "You don''t need to worry about me every time I go out, Fear. It''s only been a few hours this time, too¡­"

    Cheeky laughter escaped the Harpy''s mouth, then she looked up at the Siren that she thought of as her elder sister and stuck out her tongue.

    "No matter how many times you tell me, I''ll still do it!"

    As Ray was smirking helplessly, Fear seemed to remember something and turned her head to look at Isaac, the interest in her eyes blazing at maximum output.

    ''Introductions, especially when meeting such massive crowds, are always a pain¡­''

    Even though the young man inwardly complained, he only showed a likeable smile on the outside, preparing himself to listen to hundreds of names and to shake just as many hands¡­ or wings¡­ or whatever other appendages that his conversation partners actually had instead of the standard ones. That was when Fear let go of Ray and rushed up to him, gazing at him from up close. She seemed naive and innocen---

    "You''re even hotter than Ray said! Can I have a turn as well~?"

    Nevermind, scratch that. This one was a free-spirited pervert.

 Chapter 118 - Making Headway

    With his smile instantly turning oddly deadpan and rigid, a single word escaped Isaac''s lips in response.

    "No."

    Of course, he could have spent a lengthy amount of time to explain the exact reasons for this reply, to fully convince the admittedly quite charming-looking Harpy to back off, but he just couldn''t be bothered, especially at the moment. Hundreds of Xenos were already swarming him, some a lot more cautiously than others, intent on sizing him up and getting to know him. He really didn''t have any time to waste on Fear.

    Usually, the Xenos would avoid strangers like a plague, but that wasn''t because they actually weren''t interested in interacting with them - quite the opposite. Many of them were social butterflies that, due to their unfortunate circ.u.mstances, only rarely got to spread their wings. Now that they had already classified him as an ally, mostly due to the endors.e.m.e.nt from their respected leaders, the vast majority of them didn''t stand on ceremony any longer. They felt like a never-ending tide, fully consisting of monster species originating from up to the 51st floor. Due to the near endless expanses that the floors turned into by that point, it was quite likely that other Xenos from beyond there simply had never made it here, or had congregated elsewhere instead.

    Most of the Xenos were rather unassuming and didn''t stick out in any particular way. While Isaac did commit their names to memory, he usually archived all information anyway - they weren''t special. Only a few of the stronger individuals managed to make an impression¡­ as well as some of the rarer and weirder ones.

    One of the leaders left over from the previous generation was a massive Green Dragon going by the name of Gryuu. This was only the second one of this species that Isaac had encountered in the dungeon, so he took special note of him, as well as the fact that he seemingly wasn''t connected to any treasure tree. Maybe, this was the reason for his slowly deteriorating body. Usually, dragons wouldn''t be enc.u.mbered by the influence of old age, but rather be empowered by it - this individual, however, was the opposite.

    There was a single Mermaid here in the hidden village, at most times confined to the pool of water located in the center of the cavern. Her name was Marie and Isaac quickly realized that she was an innocent and pure little thing. She had a childlike sense of wonder, and - contrary to that darn Harpy - had no unseemly intentions whatsoever. Even if he didn''t have a Mermaid stowed away in his inventory that he could research and extract blood from at any time, he still wouldn''t be able to convince himself to harm this one. Well, unless she was the only Mermaid in existence, then¡­ hmm, the option was at least on the table.

    So far, there was only one single monster species that he hadn''t encountered in the dungeon - the Unicorns. Here in the village, he finally saw his first one. It looked pretty much as anyone would expect, like a regal white horse with a single horn of the same colour growing out of its forehead. It - or rather, she - looked completely harmless and went by the name of Yuno.

    Unicorns were a curious bunch, as they could apparently be found on any floor of the dungeon - they were just ridiculously rare. Even the Loki Familia had only ever encountered a single one of them in here. Finding one on the surface was even more rare, but apparently the High Elves were keeping a few of them. Usually, regular Unicorns only approached female v.i.r.g.i.ns, but Yuno here didn''t seem to be constrained by that admittedly bafflingly weird and creepy trait at all. While she didn''t try to get excessively close to Isaac - thankfully - she behaved like a friendly, middle-aged lady that loved to endlessly make small talk about the weather, the neighbours'' kids and other inconsequential things that nobody in their right mind actually cared about. It took quite a while for him to extract himself from the conversation, only to suffer through the other Xenos'' ramblings immediately after.

    Some adventurers might have shunned the more unpleasant or scary looking monsters, but he didn''t give a damn about looks under regular circ.u.mstances. This absence of aversion even got him into the good graces of the more reticent and cynical Xenos - for example, the Arachne that Fear had talked with before his arrival, Ranye. Most people would at least be a little bit creeped out by her massive spider half, but Isaac didn''t show any of the expected disgust on his face at all.

    While, admittedly, he didn''t find spiders aesthetically pleasing in any way, that didn''t change the woman''s personality at all, right? Because of this mentality, he didn''t let superficial matters influence his conduct towards Ranye. It was plain to see that she had a deep distrust of the sentient races - which wasn''t surprising at all - but she didn''t treat him too badly. Most likely, this was because he was a deity, so he wasn''t put into the same mental category.

    Amongst the female Xenos, there was a certain annoying group - all of them behaved a little bit like Fear, which meant that they were very open about their s.e.x.u.a.l attraction towards him. This was likely due to them having very little opportunity to vent these base needs of theirs down here, and considering his outstanding looks, it was no wonder that they all swarmed to him like moths to a flame.

    There were Laura the Lamia, a whole flock of Harpies and Sirens led by Fear, whose behaviour made Ray want to bury her head in the floor out of shame, the Champsuryas Zoi and Lati, an extraordinarily lovable two-tailed Afanc by the name of Maia---

    Hold on, why was there a literal fox monster in the mix? The others, at the very least, were humanoid in nature, with some monster parts ''spicing'' them up. This one, however, was just 100 percent monster! While a certain group of socially ostracized people in Isaac''s old world would have loved such an opportunity with all their heart, it successfully managed to unsettle him. While none of the others stood a chance with him at all, this one¡­ yeah, that would just be absolutely cursed!

    Thankfully, after he had made it abundantly clear that he wasn''t interested in any of them, and that he was already taken - yes, he had to explain his detailed reasons in the end anyway, as there were too many thirsty Xenos to ignore them any longer - they respected his wishes. While he could still feel their hot stares from time to time, with some of them openly puffing out their chests or trying to visually seduce him in far more embarrassing and stimulating ways whenever he happened to look vaguely in their direction, at least they didn''t surround him like a crowd of mad fangirls any longer. All in all, it was progress.

    One important part of his deal with the Xenos was one that he got all of them to agree to during these introductions - and that was to not disclose that he was a god to anyone else. While most of them got confused by this request, they didn''t mind it. Everyone had their secrets, and they wouldn''t needlessly spill those of others. The only ones here who had an Occulus to communicate with Fels were the leaders, which all were more than trustworthy enough. They wouldn''t spill the beans.

    And even in the unlikely scenario that they did, the only one who would be made privy to this knowledge would be Ouranos, who may or may not already have been aware of it. In the latter case, nothing much would change, Isaac was reasonably certain of this. Also, sooner or later, he planned to reveal his ascension anyway, as hiding it honestly was a tad bit annoying.

    In the process of meeting with all of the inhabitants of the hidden village, only a handful of which greeted Isaac with a smidgen of hostility, he got to take a closer look at the cavern as a whole. Even though it was called a village, it hardly resembled one. It didn''t actually have many ''houses'', but there were a few makeshift huts in a couple of places. Most of the Xenos either lived and slept on the bare ground, or on what looked to be mattresses made out of various plants gathered from the surrounding floors. There were a couple of storage areas, as well as that aforementioned pool of water that the Xenos who were reliant on a water source to stay in good health - like Marie - were occupying.

    Inspecting that pool made Isaac convinced that this place had been deliberately arranged by the dungeon to house the Xenos - it was connected to a tunnel system that, according to the Xenos, led to many other water sources throughout the dungeon. The part of the tunnels that he could observe at the moment was shaped perfectly to ensure that this cavern wouldn''t be flooded by the water sources located on higher floors. It really seemed like the appreciation that the Xenos had for their ''mother'' wasn''t entirely misplaced. As for exploring these tunnels in detail, that wasn''t a pressing issue and, as so often, could wait until he found the time for it.

    When it got close to 4 p.m., the time that he had scheduled to meet Fels at, he bade farewell to the Xenos for today. He would come to their hidden villages quite often in the future, so the temporary goodbye was accepted without a hitch, even by the most clingy of their kin.

    "Milord, what should I do from now on?"

    The one who was left the most conflicted was Ray. She didn''t know whether she should be following him back, or if he had something else in mind for her.

    With a glance at the many Xenos that were already getting back to their usual daily activities, Isaac showed a small smile.

    "You don''t want to leave your kin yet, right? So stay with them for now. If I need your help with something, or if my subordinates do, I will request your presence. But as I will be researching here for a while anyway, you can hold down the fort in the meantime."

    Before the genuinely touched Siren could even start tearing up due to this unexpected joy, he continued to explain.

    "Also, don''t bother to go out of your way to inform me should your kin migrate to another hidden village. Becoming one of my people has made it possible for me to detect you, anytime and anywhere. So as long as you stay with them, I can find them easily."

    With a glance at the system''s clock, Isaac turned around and walked away, waving his hand casually in the process.

    "Anyway, see you tomorrow."

    Only after the Siren hurriedly shouted the words "Take care, milord!" did he teleport back into his cell, accompanied by a certain system notification.

    [ Ray''s Loyalty has increased by 10. ]

    -----

    On their descent, the Loki Familia''s party noticed that the unnatural tropical area on the 59th floor was slowly being reclaimed by the Glacier Territory. Only a few trees were still partially visible, with most of the area covered beneath multiple meters of snow and ice. The purple Vesios and all other exotic monsters had already disappeared completely.

    Everyone easily came to the most likely conclusion as to what had to have happened here - Revis'' master had realized that something had gone horribly wrong, and had relocated the forces on this floor to some other place. This had been unavoidable, so it didn''t come as a surprise, but it was still a noteworthy event.

    Thanks to the in-depth information that they had gotten from Isaac, facing the monster species of the Glacier Territory wasn''t that difficult. Additionally, they came with enough supplies and equipment to fully resist the cold, so the biggest obstacles were already dealt with. If one ignored the monsters'' higher stats, then the absence of the ridiculous amounts of Valgang Dragon breath attacks made the 59th and 60th floors a bit of a cakewalk. The Amazoness twins would probably have subconsciously let their guard down a little if it wasn''t for the stern reminders from Riveria to keep their eyes peeled and their weapons at the ready.

    Compared to when Isaac had tackled these floors, the amount of monsters that they had to face was multiple times higher due to their increased party size. It wasn''t nearly as bad as during expeditions - the numbers couldn''t even hope to compare - but it made their progress considerably slow. That, combined with their careful, slow and steady approach to clearing floors, made them take close to three hours to advance a single floor. This couldn''t even hope to match up to Isaac''s speed, but it would have been unreasonable to expect that in the first place.

    The White Dragons on the 61st floor were finally a big enough hassle for Ais, Finn, Gareth and Riveria to step in to support the others from time to time, and with their assistance, no truly dangerous situations came to pass. Still, it took them about five hours to finally make it to the 62nd floor, where Isaac had fought his most challenging battle to date.

    "Are you sure that this is a good idea, Ais?"

    Standing at the bottom of the staircase and gazing into the snowy distance, Finn turned around to look at the eager golden haired Sword Princess. They had already discussed this plan before, and while it sounded like madness at first, it would indeed save them a lot of time and present them with an invaluable opportunity¡­

    In response, Ais nodded confidently.

    "Yes. Luring out and beating a variant Monster Rex here would give all three of you the qualifications to rank up again. You have been held back by the rest of us for so long, so now it''s time for you to advance again!"

    When her words were over, Tione walked closer and put an arm around Ais'' shoulder. She didn''t look at her friend, however, but at the love of her life - her Captain - instead. Contrary to what would usually happen, she didn''t swoon over him, but showed a serious expression.

    "Captain, leave the small fries to us! Become stronger so I don''t surpass you too quickly, okay?"

    By the end of her words, her tone had turned more playful and a little bit dangerous. Her hungry eyes made her feel like a predator staring at her delicious prey, sending shivers down Finn''s spine. He hurriedly glanced at his old friends, Gareth and Riveria.

    "Ais will protect the others, while we will face the Monochrome Tiger. Or¡­ should we call it the ''Black Tiger''? Anyway, it should be fine. We can always escape back here and let Ais teleport us away."

    The rational Elf''s analysis gave Finn a lot of confidence.

    "Mwahaha! It''s time for us old folks to go on an adventure again, isn''t it? We''ve not had a dangerous fight in so long¡­ I hope you two haven''t grown rusty! What are you waiting for? Let''s go!"

    With a hearty laugh, Gareth simply led the way into the icy landscape ahead, not giving Finn any opportunity to back out of this or to rethink their plan.

    A wry smile played across the Captain''s lips as he acknowledged his comrade''s words. While the three of them were the strongest, they hadn''t been exposed to danger for many years now, and had barely grown at all. Due to focusing on raising the next generation and consolidating the power of their familia, they hadn''t put themselves at risk and had therefore not earned the qualifications to rank up to Level 7. All the Monster Rexes before this one weren''t strong enough in comparison to them to qualify them for a rank up if they defeated it in a group, or even alone. Even the regular Monochrome Tiger''s stats wouldn''t be enough - not that it would have respawned yet - but with those black variants in the mix¡­ they now had another option, a shortcut to take.

    When she saw Finn nod, Ais slit open the tip of one of her fingers, just deep enough for a few tens of drops of her golden Ichor to drip to the dungeon''s floor, before the wound closed up again on its own.

    Suddenly, they felt like they were in a subway tunnel during a devastating earthquake - the dungeon all around them trembled! They didn''t have to wait more than a few moments before thousands upon thousands of black variants of the various monsters that they had faced up until this point appeared all around them, immediately setting their sights on the place where the dungeon had absorbed the blood of a deity, and therefore on their group.

    "Stay safe and watch each other''s backs!"

    After these cautionary words from Riveria, the Executives hurried into the distance, leaving their three leaders behind. It quickly became quite difficult for Bete, Tiona and Tione to deal with these vastly stronger enemies, but thanks to the Sword Princess'' timely support, they weren''t in any danger and could pick off a few of the black variants every now and then. Ais herself was already strong enough to fight head-on with the Black Tiger, so obviously, she wasn''t even remotely pressured. The only reason as to why she left this enemy to her mentors was that it would be far simpler for her to gain the rank up qualifications than it was for them. Also, she could just try to make the dungeon spit out another one later¡­ right?

    When the group of four rookie Level 6''s had distanced themselves a few tens of kilometers from the staircase, an unprecedentedly loud roar, followed by a thunderous collision, could be heard from where they had come from.

    ''Finn, Gareth, Riveria¡­ you can do it!''

    Even though she was convinced that they would prevail in the end, Ais couldn''t help but worry for them. They knew what they were about to face, even about the regular version''s various attack patterns and its Magic, so they should practically have this fight in the bag. Still, she didn''t want them to get hurt and cheered them on in her heart.

    Very quickly, the outer edges of the anticipated blizzard rapidly grew closer to them, and only after running for another thirty kilometers, wading through black variant monsters on the way, had it reached its maximum size.

    -----

    All in all, the confrontation lasted for four hours.

    By then, the black variants of the other monsters had long since stopped to spawn, leaving the group of Executives in complete safety. After what they had just gone through, the normal monsters of this thematic zone were barely any threat at all. In this short period of time, although they had been protected by Ais during crucial moments, they had mostly fended for themselves and been forced to grow if they didn''t want to feel the pain of their skin and flesh being torn apart. Their stats hadn''t increased yet because they hadn''t gotten their Status updated, but their combat techniques and movements had been refined markedly!

    In stark contrast, Finn, Gareth and Riveria hadn''t had the luxury of leaning back to relax for even a single moment and had been run ragged. Their group''s composition was great, with Gareth being the main tank, clashing head on with the tiger, and Finn being the physical damage dealer who harassed the enemy at every opportunity. Riveria both supported them with magical shields and attacks, having more of a versatile role. Due to the constant assault of the blizzard, she was forced to mainly focus on defense and buffing her allies, only rarely getting a chance to unleash her devastating attack Magics.

    And this was where the problem lay - they couldn''t deal enough damage! The Black Tiger, just like a certain Black Goliath that only Ais and Isaac knew about, differed from the Monochrome Tiger in one key aspect. It had mind-bogglingly effective regenerative powers. Oh, and its stats were vastly higher as well. All of them reached D-500 / 117,050¡­

    Usually, Magic made it possible to one-shot opponents like this, effectively nullifying their regeneration altogether. This time, however, this wasn''t an option, as the blizzard all around them would start to heavily maim them - or even tear them apart, in the squishy Riveria''s case - should the Elven mage not keep up the various shields surrounding them at all times. Even then, her mind consumption was already terrifying. Only due to the most excellent Magic Potions did Riveria manage to last through this tortuous time.

    Finn and Gareth were running on fumes as well, but the latter had it slightly better. As his attacks couldn''t heavily damage their enemy anyway, he focused exclusively on defense and controlling the tiger''s movements. The Captain was the one who had to use all of his Skills and Magics without abandon. In his extremely buffed state, he vastly surpassed the Black Tiger in all of its stats, but because it regenerated so quickly, he almost grew mad while stabbing and cutting away at it.

    His spear wasn''t very useful when cutting, but it had to suffice this time. The only real way to deal significant amounts of lasting damage was to cut off pieces of the tiger''s towering body. But the darn monster was one and a half times as big as the one that Isaac had faced! The 119 cm tall Pallum¡­ really just felt like a mote of dust.

    Ultimately, this plan didn''t work, so Finn charged his way straight into the body of the tiger, cutting a path directly to its magic stone and shattering it. There had been no other way - even when its heart and its brain had been destroyed beyond what any being should be able to recover from, it had been back on its feet in peak condition in a matter of seconds!

    It was very dangerous to enter the tiger''s body directly, as it could just charge into a mountain and the impact from that would directly be transferred to Finn as well. Also, in a last ditch effort, it could attack itself, giving him no way to dodge at all. Still, with Riveria''s shields and his currently buffed Endurance, the Pallum was perfectly confident. Although he had originally intended to keep the magic stone in one piece, it just wasn''t meant to be.

    Heaving heavily and covered in tiger blood from head to toe, Finn stood upright next to the pile of magic stone shards and the piece of Black Tiger hide that had generously appeared as a Drop Item. Gareth plopped on the ground next to him and laid down limply, while Riveria fell to her knees with an ashen face, furrowing her brows and uncomfortably coughing. Her headache caused by the ridiculous consumption of her mind had grown so bad that if she hadn''t been in the dungeon, she would have definitely allowed herself to faint. Additionally, due to her constant and rapid chanting, he throat had become sore and dry, even though she had gulped down so many potions.

    The blizzard slowly ebbed off around them, so the shields that had protected them weren''t needed anymore. With the death of the variant Monster Rex, the dungeon returned to a state of calm. For a while, the three didn''t make any sounds, then they saw a group of four rapidly come closer.

    ''Good, we''re safe now.''

    Finally, Finn allowed himself to let go of his tightly clenched spear and showed a weak smile. With no energy left in his body, he fell over and landed on Gareth''s body. His heart beat was strong and fast enough to drown out any other sounds, so he didn''t even hear the displeased and pained grunt escaping his old friend''s bloodied lips. The last thing on his mind was the happiness at having overcome a ridiculous foe, to finally have grown again.

 Chapter 119 - Advanced Grinding

    Motionless, Isaac sat on his bed and leaned against the wall with closed eyes. Ais had already told him about the events of today, so he was now patiently waiting for her to arrive at their shared room. Although about an hour had passed since the Executives'' return to the Twilight Manor, she still had to take a bath and eat dinner with the others - that obviously took some time. Under normal circ.u.mstances, he would have mingled amongst them, but due to his current ''incarceration'', he had to make himself scarce.

    Luckily, he had a lot of things to keep himself occupied with - far too many, in fact. All day long, he had been adding drops to his mana flow. He had easily surpassed the bottleneck at 40,000 drops even before he had met with Bors.

    [ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment (D): Enables one to interact with their surroundings by using mana. Reduction in mana expenditure: 9% ]

    Since then, he had patiently kept at it and had now reached 54,668 drops, which wasn''t too far from the next bottleneck, and also encompassed the majority of the mana drops that could currently be found in his mental layer.

    It was at this point that a knock on the door interrupted his focused cultivation and he opened his eyes. Of course, this was just a formality - Ais simply wanted to announce her return, she naturally didn''t have to wait for him to invite her into her own room.

    But when the door opened, Isaac raised an eyebrow in surprise. Behind Ais, whose hair was still a little bit wet, Tiona and Tione followed into the room, both in casual outfits that looked a bit too skimpy for regular sleepwear. But for Amazonesses, this was to be expected, so he didn''t bat an eye. Just¡­ why were they here? While he could make a good guess, it was still better to not jump to any conclusions, lest he suggested something that hadn''t even been on their minds. Anyway, because he hadn''t kept his Eyes of Hermes active during his cultivation, he now was met with a situation that he hadn''t been properly prepared for. Not that it mattered, though.

    With an inquisitive smile on his face, he tilted his head slightly.

    "Tiona, Tione. What brings the two of you here?"

    As if this place was her home, Tiona plopped down on the chair in front of him sloppily and showed a wide grin.

    "What other reason could there be? A sleepover!"

    Before Isaac could even shoot Ais a confused look, Tione had already bonked her sister on the head a little more forcefully than perhaps necessary. She shook her head and sat down next to the sullen Amazoness, then she smirked at Isaac apologetically.

    "It''s nothing of the sort. I really don''t want to intrude on the two of you. We''re here to get our Status updated. Loki usually lets her hands wander all over us¡­ and just the thought of that makes shivers run down my spine. You''re hundreds of times more trustworthy. Care to help us out?"

    ''Just as expected.''

    Nodding to himself, Isaac showed an understanding smile.

    "Sure thing. Hold still for a minute or so, then we should be done."

    Seeing two drops of Ichor gather on his fingertip, Tiona became confused and let a bit of her true motive shine through accidentally. Messily disguised panic had stolen itself on her features.

    "Wait! You don''t need us to take off our clothes so we can show you our bare backs!?"

    Smirking relaxedly, Isaac controlled the two drops and made them fly towards the Amazonesses'' backs.

    "I hate to disappoint you, but that''s unnecessary now. Anyway, just hold still and be a bit patient."

    Cutting off any potential retorts, Isaac closed his eyes simply to seem like he had to concentrate for what was about to come. Well, the truth was that updating only two Status at once wasn''t difficult for him at all anymore, especially after he had already updated many more than that during his first time that he had used this technique.

    Easily, the Ichor arrived on the twins'' backs and unlocked their Falnas. It didn''t even have to bypass any clothing - their backs were sufficiently exposed, with only the upper third of their blessings hidden underneath their bras. As he didn''t have to see their Falnas and could just feel them with his Ichor, there really was no need for them to take off their sorry excuses for clothing at all.

    Moments later, while finishing the updates, Isaac glanced at their Status via the system.

    [ Name: Tiona Hiryute ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Race: Amazoness ]

    [ Level: 6 ]

    [ Age: 16 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-0 -> H-190 (49,780) ]

    [ Endurance: I-0 -> H-186 (49,121) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-0 -> I-93 (42,653) ]

    [ Agility: I-0 -> H-131 (46,522) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 (0) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Berserk (Variant) ]

    [ Intense Heat ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Fist Strike: F ]

    [ Diving: G ]

    [ Abnormal Resistance: H ]

    [ Crush: H ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Fist Fighter, Chain Attack, Swordsman, Healing Power, Strong Body ]

    [ Name: Tione Hiryute ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Race: Amazoness ]

    [ Level: 6 ]

    [ Age: 16 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-0 -> G-219 (49,392) ]

    [ Endurance: I-0 -> H-167 (45,420) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-0 -> H-176 (46,029) ]

    [ Agility: I-0 -> H-180 (46,349) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 -> I-48 (18,110) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ List Iorum ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Berserk ]

    [ Backdraft ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Fist Strike: F ]

    [ Diving: G ]

    [ Abnormal Resistance: H ]

    [ Healing Power: H ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Fist Fighter, Chain Attack, Spirit Healing, Swordsman, Strong Body ]

    What greeted him was not only chock-full of terms that he had never seen in any Status before, but it was also impressive. If the Ais from before she had become a goddess had tried to fight against either of these two while both didn''t use a weapon, any Magics and any Skills, then the Amazonesses would have won against her in a one versus one battle every single time. Well, putting herself in such a disadvantageous position would have been stupid, but this was just for comparison''s sake.

    It was clear to see that during all previous Levels, Tiona had surpassed her sister in stats. While Tione had caught up with her somewhat right now, that was only because she had managed to obtain more Level 6 stats - overall, when both would be approaching their limits and be about to rank up, Tiona would have pulled ahead by a considerable margin again. Still, Tione had something that her younger sister didn''t - a Magic, as well as a somewhat decent Magic stat.

    [ List Iorum: Forms snakes made out of mana that will attempt to restrain a target. Both the chance of succeeding at this as well as the time that the target will be impeded depend on the user''s Magic stat. Will require 50% less focus if activated via the chant.

    Chant: "My desire that was sunk in the sea, my longing that was nurtured in the sea - the time has come. Shape yourself, bare your fangs, and become a snake. Escape the sea, cross the land, and cover the world. Capture time, stop time, and trample over time." ]

    Most definitely, this was part of what allowed her to stand side by side with Tiona. Although all that this Magic would provide her with would only be occasional small openings due to her relatively low Magic stat, if she succeeded in casting it, that would be more than enough. Even a second was ample time to make a world of a difference at the Level that she was at. Well, like all Magics, this one was a pain to chant as it would need more time than most combat scenarios would allow for, so it was no wonder that her Magic stat hadn''t risen much in all these years.

    On the other hand, her little sister didn''t even have an ounce of controllable mana in her body''s mental layer¡­ Just like Aselina, both of them were the farthest from a born mage that anyone could possibly be.

    What genuinely took Isaac by surprise was the fact that Tiona had an affix behind her ''Berserk'' Skill. He had never seen such a phenomenon before, so he compared the two sisters'' Skills to ascertain what exactly this signified.

    [ Berserk (Variant): (Passive) Every time that the user takes damage, increases Strength by 10 Level 1 stats. This effect can stack up to (Level of the user x 500) times. From the moment of application, each stack lasts five minutes. ]

    [ Berserk: (Passive) Every time that the user takes damage, increases Strength by 10 Level 1 stats. This effect can stack up to (Level of the user x 500) times. From the moment of application, each stack lasts five minutes.

    Based on the severity of the user''s anger, the total amount of obtained Strength will be increased by at most 50%. ]

    A smirk played across his lips when he saw the clear difference. Tiona was basically never consumed by rage, so it wasn''t really a wonder that the anger-related parts of the regular Berserk Skill were missing in her variant. Speaking as objectively as possible, this made hers a worse Skill numbers-wise, but it truly did fit her personality. In any case, depending on what exactly was judged as ''taking damage'', these Skills could be abused via very slight but constant self-harm, to permanently keep the maximum amount of stacks applied¡­

    The sisters'' other two Skills were what allowed them to even the scales again.

    [ Intense Heat: (Passive) Increases all stats by 50% for one minute.

    Will only activate when at least one of these conditions apply:

    1) More than 50% of the user''s body has been severely damaged.

    2) More than 90% of the user''s stamina has been depleted. ]

    [ Backdraft: (Passive) Increases Strength by 50% for one minute.

    Will only activate when at least one of these conditions apply:

    1) More than 50% of the user''s body has been severely damaged.

    2) More than 90% of the user''s stamina has been depleted. ]

    While Tiona''s ''Intense Heat'' gave her an all-round upgrade to her stats in a pinch, Tione''s ''Backdraft'' only further raised her Strength. The younger sister would be able to more deftly handle any dangerous situation, while the older one would have to bash her strengthened fists straight through whatever obstacle was holding her back - or die trying.

    Their respective combat styles were supported by their Development Abilities, whose grades were amusingly enough exactly the same. Tiona''s comparatively slightly lacking offensive power got increased by her ''Crush'', while Tione''s ''Healing Power'' would at least lengthen the path to the grave that her suicidal bloodrush would otherwise lead her to. There were also a few other Development Abilities that Isaac hadn''t seen before, both amongst those that the twins had already obtained as well as those that they could select the next time that they ranked up, so while he was already at it, he chose to browse through them all. One of these, he had ignored for far too long¡­

    [ Fist Strike (F): The damage dealt by the user''s fists is increased by 25%. ]

    [ Diving (G): Supports the body''s stability while underwater, decreases water resistance and improves the comprehension speed of underwater maneuvers by 14%. Increases all stats by 7% while underwater. ]

    [ Abnormal Resistance (H): Negates the effects of various poisons and abnormal conditions. The higher the grade, the more dangerous the poisons and abnormal conditions which the user will be immune to. ]

    [ Crush (H): When the user has a higher Strength stat than their opponent, further increases Strength by 6%. ]

    [ Healing Power (H): If the user''s body has been injured, regenerates 0.2% of the damage every three seconds. ]

    [ Fist Fighter (I): Improves comprehension speed of fist related skills and abilities by 10%. Increases all stats by 5% when attacking with one''s fists. ]

    [ Strong Body (I): Increases Strength, Endurance, Dexterity and Agility by 5%. ]

    As he was committing all of these to memory, Isaac wrote down Status sheets for Tiona and Tione, so they could personally inspect their current growth.

    "So much!?"

    A shocked gasp escaped Tiona''s lips. She couldn''t believe how many stats she had gained since her rank up a few days ago! Although the monsters that she and her sister had faced last time were still beneath them in terms of pure stats, the methods with which to catch their weaknesses, as well as their overwhelming numbers, had made it quite difficult to hang on at times. Of course, in a pinch, they both could have relied on their trump cards and wiped the floor with all of them, but the situation had never been nearly dire enough.

    What snapped her out of her thoughts was a resigned sigh.

    "It''s not bad, but¡­ you two should really fight far stronger monsters if you want to grow any further. You still gained some excelia this time, but you pretty much won''t be getting any more of it from monsters that are as strong as those that you faced today, no matter how many of them you kill in the future."

    Isaac''s words dampened Tiona''s excitement a little, but she ultimately had to admit that he was correct and his advice sound. If the two of them were to get completely serious, then they could rush through the 62nd floor - except for its Monster Rex - in a few minutes. Still, for now, that wasn''t an option.

    "... too bad we won''t be going back for at least three days. Gareth''s equipment needs to be repaired, and Riveria and Finn need to recover from their exhaustion."

    Although the Amazonesses were downhearted because of this, Isaac wasn''t in a bad mood at all. Rather, these developments gave him a slight bit of breathing room - which he desperately needed. Even though there were far too many things to do, his current bottom line was to clear the upcoming floors before the Loki Familia did. Not only would that allow him to scout out potential dangers, he also just didn''t want to be overtaken now that he was in the lead.

    Some more chit-chat later, the twins thanked him for the help and wandered off to their own bedroom to sleep off the fatigue. Ais also was a bit tired - not physically, but mentally. Once the girls were gone, she laid down in bed and rubbed her forehead, sighing to herself.

    "Taking care of the others is¡­ taxing."

    Paying attention to multiple places simultaneously was something that she wasn''t yet fully used to, so it was no wonder that she felt weary. With an adoring smile, Isaac sat down at her bedside and held her hand, then he leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss.

    "Sleep well. I''ll be back in the morning."

    He had already informed her previously that this time, he planned to head out for most of the night, especially considering how his need for sleep had plummeted thanks to his recent rank ups. Even if he slept for only an hour every week on average, his body would still be in perfect shape. As for mental fatigue? At this point, reaching a point where he would have to mentally recover was extraordinarily hard. So because of all of this, he planned to stay the night whenever Ais experienced an episode of his past, or once they couldn''t bear to be apart any longer. In that case, even all of his pressing matters would just have to wait.

    A few moments later, he had changed into robust clothes - his adventuring gear was still in the making - and teleported to the 14th floor of the dungeon. Because the Loki Familia wouldn''t be delving any deeper for the time being, he now had a chance to step by step take care of a few of the things that had acc.u.mulated. He also would be testing a couple of hypotheses that would be significantly supported by his vastly increased mana drop count.

    With a deep breath, Isaac went over his calculations again and then activated his Eyes of Hermes. Still, the radius of the fully observed sphere around him was kept at ''only'' about 13.75 kilometers, which was a fourth of the current maximum range in which he could perfectly observe every single detail by utilizing all of his available mana drops. Here above the Under Resort, every floor was a little less than one kilometer deep, so the very top of the sphere reached the upper end of the first floor, while the very bottom of it reached¡­ into the 23rd floor. It almost got to the 24th floor, but fell a little short.

    Confidently, Isaac focused on every single monster that he could discover like this - even the few Venenthes hidden away in camouflaged holes on the 18th floor. Straining himself a little further, he used a small portion of the mana drops that were still available to him to perform the easiest form of Magic that he could: To accelerate the air and create wind blades. Maybe it was because his very first Magic, Anemoi Steps, had forced him to become ridiculously adept at manipulating air, but ever since then, this had been as easy as breathing to him. And that was even though he made more than ten thousand wind blades at once.

    Because he was aware of all of the various monsters'' weak points, he only needed one swift slice to kill them - none of the Level 1 and Level 2 monsters that he had targeted could put up any resistance, only the Venenthes required him to attack more than once. In a short moment, he had killed a huge portion of the monsters that his Eyes of Hermes had revealed and countless system notifications had popped up, informing him of having progressed in his Level 2 monster slaying quest. As for the Level 1 achievement? He had already gotten all potential rewards from it.

    Then why was he still slaying Level 1 monsters instead of focusing on Level 2 and Level 3 monsters to gain more AP? The answer to that question was extremely simple.

    [ Huntsman (E): When battling a monster one has already gained excelia from previously - 7% increase in all stats, 7% increase in excelia gained. ]

    [ Hunter (G): When battling a monster one has already gained excelia from previously - 10% increase in all stats, 10% increase in excelia gained. ]

    That''s right, the Hunter-series Development Abilities were about to be grinded as far as they could possibly go! Now that he had slain more than 75,000 Level 1 monsters, Huntsman had advanced in grade. He didn''t even need to keep track of the exact number himself, the system still did it even though it wouldn''t give out any more AP rewards. As for Hunter, slaying 25,000 Level 2 monsters had done the trick. This had also netted him a fair sum of AP in the process.

    Nonetheless, this was only the beginning. Isaac had planned much further than just this initial slaughter. Utilizing a little more of his still available mana - which was far more than half of it - he sent a single mana drop each directly towards the magic stones of the fallen monsters, even though they were still housed safely within their carcasses. Thankfully, the bodies didn''t put up any resistance to his mana. A thought later, all of the magic stones got stored in his inventory. He had to ''touch something and think about adding it'', right? Well, his mana was also a part of him.

    Admittedly, instead of slaying the monsters first and picking up the loot afterwards, he could have just sent his mana drops directly to their magic stones and pocketed them like that. Without their cores, the monsters would die, helping him progress in his achievements all the same. Still, that felt far too ''cheap'' to him - this way, he at least still had to put in considerable effort.

    When the corpses had disappeared, he used the same method from before to pick up the Drop Items. Thankfully, all of this didn''t consume any of the mana drops, unlike the air manipulation.

    By the way, during his first wave of attacks, Isaac had finally noticed a few of the rare variants that he had never encountered before. Very quickly, his intentions of researching them as well as his happiness were cut short, however. As if it was in a hurry, the dungeon absorbed all of the variants within the range of his Eyes of Hermes. Feeling as if he had just swallowed a bug, his expression markedly darkened.

    ''So it was your fault all along, was it!? Why can''t you let me research and kill these, oh mighty dungeon?''

    But even if he had asked this question aloud, he wouldn''t have gotten an answer. With a resigned sigh, he shook his head to clear it of these distracting thoughts, then he refocused on his current tasks. At the same time, he made sure to keep an eye out for any potential Xenos - during his mass killings tonight, he didn''t want to accidentally exterminate any of Averin''s and Ray''s kin.

    While he was busy dealing with the second staggering number of monsters that had the displeasure of being within the range of his Eyes of Hermes, the last piece of the puzzle came into play. With the final remaining bit of expendable focus, he attempted to manually help the available mana drops in his mental layer recover. Initially, he observed exactly how they suddenly appeared ''out of nowhere''. Retracing the drops'' metaphorical steps, he quickly arrived at the conclusion that his mental body literally ''breathed'' in the mana from the surrounding physical world through its pores and converted it somehow. Not that it actually had any pores¡­ that was just the image in his head.

    After attempting to directly support this process for more than an hour - all the while moving through the dungeon, slaying monsters, gathering their loot and being drowned in system notifications - he finally succeeded in his endeavour! What it had taken was to visualize ''breathing through his pores'' - his mental body''s ones. That was¡­ far more difficult than he had initially anticipated. Although he had only managed to quicken the process a little, at least the constantly dwindling amount of mana drops in his mental layer had now achieved an equilibrium with their expenditure.

    It was at this moment that another two system notifications appeared. Thankfully, Isaac had already been expecting them, so he hadn''t accidentally missed them.

    [ The Development Ability ''Spirit Healing (I)'' has been obtained. ]

    [ Spirit Healing (I): If the user doesn''t utilize any mana for five seconds, regenerates 0.1% of the total mana every three seconds. ]

    A relieved smile played across his lips. While he hadn''t been entirely certain about this, he had assumed that manually influencing the recovery of his mana would enable him to naturally gain this Development Ability. It turned out that he had been correct! While this one didn''t actually help him much at the moment, some downtime mana regeneration support was always welcome. Oh well, for now, as he was spending mana like no tomorrow, he still had to directly support this whole ''machine'' himself - there was no way around it yet.

    With excitement burning in his eyes, he continued his previous efforts. By now, he had moved far from the place where he had originally entered the dungeon. Even though hundreds of monsters respawned every few seconds, that speed wasn''t fast enough to keep up with his massacres in the slightest. Like a farmer tending to his crops, he moved to different ''fields'' - areas of the dungeon - while waiting for the previously troubled ones to recover sufficiently. The massive sphere around him repeatedly became a silent zone of death.

 Chapter 120 - Intermission: In Faraway Lands

    On the same day, a few hours earlier.

    Although it was afternoon in the Lower World, here in Heaven, the concept of day and night only had any relevance whenever the deities responsible for them wished for it. Usually, most gods would just regulate the lighting within their respective territories.

    In a certain corner of Heaven, amidst a vast city of breathtaking splendor, which harmonically blended countless architectural styles together, there was a majestic Norse temple situated quite close to the very center of the entire territory. It was tens of stories in height and made primarily out of resilient bones and blackened wood. Luxurious golden engravings ran all over the building, forming the spectacular outlines of wolves, dragons, birds, darkened clouds and countless other motifs.

    Within that temple''s main hall, there was a raised platform housing a domineering throne fashioned out of dragon bones. Not far from it, on ground level, there stood a lithic round table that was surrounded by twelve smaller thrones, each one having a different design matching the person seated atop of them. Currently, there were no empty seats in this hall, aside from the towering throne overlooking all others. One thing was notable about the figures gathered here: Nine of them were merely lifelike holograms - they weren''t actually physically present.

    "So you''re saying that Isaac Blackshaw has somehow ''stolen'' one of your Arcanums?"

    Looking at the fuming Petbe across the table, someone raised an eyebrow. At first glance, the middle-aged man looked quite ordinary here amongst this circle of gods. He wore a plain white Greek tunic fastened with a reddish brown belt and simple sandals made out of the same leather. While he looked like he regularly worked out, he was definitely past his prime, because the vestiges of age had crept on his face. Barely trimmed black beard stubbles as well as ear-length messy same-coloured hair made him appear even more average. None of the deities assembled here dared to look down on him, however. Anyone with a perceptive eye would notice the countless scars marring the majority of his body, as well as the sparks of fire flickering in his wise eyes. Even though he wasn''t the only primordial god in the room, he was highly respected.

    Rolling her eyes at the man, but not daring to snap at him despite her barely contained wrath, Petbe nodded. Still, she couldn''t help but hurl a little insult his way as she replied to his question.

    "I literally just said that. Is your memory failing you in your old age, Prometheus?"

    With an unperturbed smile on his face, the man in question didn''t take it to heart and simply shrugged.

    "It sounded so outlandish that I had to make sure."

    Right after his words had finished, a derisive snicker could be heard from the side, causing both of them to turn their heads and look at the origin of the sound. It was the hologram of a young man in his early twenties¡­ who looked probably the most extraordinary out of the whole bunch.

    He sported a similar skin tone as Petbe did, but most of his exposed upper body was covered in black and violet tattoos. When looking too closely, it was hard to make out any kind of pattern, as there simply were so many of them. And from afar, at different angles, one would suddenly see different images on his body - a laughing devil, a crying old man, an ocean of blood and bones¡­ That baffling matter aside, the man only wore beige linen pants, and even his bare feet and smiling face were covered in tattoos. His eyes were a poisonous green, and so was his hair that was just long enough to cover his left eye when he tilted his head. His entire appearance screamed ''unnatural''.

    "Can''t blame you for that, old Prom! She lost so pathetically to a mere mortal, and now she''s even telling us such a high tale? Sounds like absolute bogus to me. I just don''t know why ''Lady'' Petbe would wish to embarrass herself to such a degree."

    These venomous words made the goddess clench her fists tightly. Under her breath, she hatefully muttered the weird god''s name to herself, trying to come up with a witty response in the meantime.

    "Aeshma¡­!"

    Luckily for her, someone else intervened in the derailed discussion and brought it back on track.

    "Stop it. There is no reason for her to lie to us about such a thing, as you rightfully pointed out. Let''s not waste any more time. Whatever the cause of this may be, it most likely is the result of a Skill. Learn from Petbe''s example and take precautions. Don''t have your Arcanums lying around carelessly when you encounter Isaac Blackshaw."

    The one who had spoken up was the hologram of a bespectacled young woman with a stern look in her eyes. Her wavy blonde hair reached down to her shoulders, while her body was clad in a long white dress that went all the way to the ankles of her bare feet. It looked a bit similar to an airy nightgown, actually. Well, maybe like a very expensive nightgown, considering it sported highlights made out of threads of pure gold. Compared to Prometheus, her face''s fascinating beauty made her look a lot more at home in this assembly.

    ''Of course, it had to be her. Curse you, Nemesis!''

    Even though the despicable Aeshma had been reined in successfully, this help left a sour taste in Petbe''s mouth. Due to Nemesis'' hardworking nature, the blonde goddess had been classified as a very strong ''rival'' in her mind. She may even be one of the foremost threats to her position of V¨¢li''s favourite!

    Just for the record, she never actually held that title.

    "Noted. How do we plan to deal with Petbe''s failure? I highly doubt that my own men and Aite''s branch in Orario will be enough to hinder our target for long once he gets released in 29 days."

    The hologram of a scarily buff man with very short red crew cut hair was the first to respond to Nemesis recommendation. He was at least a head taller than everyone else and his chiseled muscles couldn''t be hidden under his white linothorax that sported the emblem of a crossed shield and spear hovering above a raging flame. Black gambeson-style protective pants, covered with dark brown greaves and resilient boots rounded out his outfit. Although he looked like a musclebrain, he was a genius military strategist. His name? It was Mars. Vidar was one of the gods under his charge.

    Glancing at him for a moment before deciding to stay silent was the hologram of the goddess he had mentioned - the leader of the Red Blade, Aite. She looked like a fun-loving, beautiful girl in between her teenage years and a.d.u.l.thood. A calculative glint could almost constantly be made out in her grey, stormy eyes. Although her features couldn''t compare to those of the most beautiful goddesses out there, the long and straight black hair framing her face gave her quite a bit of possibly unintentional charm. Her skin tone was a little bit lighter than Petbe''s and she wore a frilly red dress that was more suited to a picnic than a ballroom.

    "I volunteer to send my little Mai to bolster our forces. She should be able to make it in about two weeks."

    Agreeing with the god of war''s judgement, another hologram raised her hand. It belonged to a flamboyant dark-skinned woman who seemed to be in her early thirties. She had a merciful smile on her full lips, and her earthen yellow eyes shimmered with kindness. Her curly black hair partially hid two golden hoop earrings. As for her clothing, it was both considerably skimpy and extremely colourful - all colours of the rainbow could be found on her dress that barely hid the essentials.

    "Just like Dantor, I''d like to volunteer. I can leave my main branch to Lugh and head to Orario myself."

    Not hesitating any longer, the arm of another hologram shot into the air. The one who had spoken was a lady with a ghastly white skin tone, but the looks of a nation-toppling beauty that was commonplace amongst deities. She wore a conventional long green dress and was pretty much the opposite of a temptress. What made her stick out from most crowds up in Heaven were the two goat horns that poked out from underneath her shoulder-length light brown hair. Although there were quite a few deities who chose to sport demihuman features, they were still just a minority.

    "I guess I''ll join the ladies. Bitol is quite free nowadays, so I can send him."

    The last to speak up was the hologram of a bare-chested brown-skinned man. He wasn''t as ridiculously muscular as Mars, but he was most definitely not out of shape. He wore a long blue skirt over which he had fastened a white hip cloth. Even though his head was clean-shaven, most women would probably sneakily steal glances at him due to his undeniable aesthetic beauty. Still, there was a ferocity underneath the calm that he usually portrayed. Even a hint of madness occasionally flashed past his black eyes. If one managed to look past his attractive appearance and at the amulet fashioned from human bones resting on his pectoral muscles, then one would know to stay careful around him.

    "Thanks for coming forward, Dantor, Uaine and Nohochacyum. Consider all three of your offers approved. In addition, the two of us will send Tilphousia. She will reside over all matters regarding Orario."

    Even though the voice that was so rudely assuming command of them sounded childlike, none of the addressed deities uttered a word of discontent, because it belonged to a rather special existence. Seated on one of the thrones around the table was a pair of small twins that seemed barely ten years of age. The one who had spoken and was subconsciously shielding his shivering sister from the gazes of the rest was a boy with short, dark grey hair. His brown eyes were narrowed slightly and the expression on his face constantly made onlookers feel as if he was mocking them. Just like his sister, he wore a simple black tunic of Roman design. As for his aforementioned twin, her eyes were always red as if she had just cried her heart out, while her facial expression was dull and empty.

    They were the twin gods, Momus and Miseria. What made them so special was a plethora of factors. Not only were they the only ones at the table who led one of V¨¢li''s Blades together, but even their Divinities and progression in power had been intricately linked ever since their birth countless eons ago. They might look like they were just children, but they were amongst the oldest of all gods in existence. While that alone didn''t qualify one to rank amongst the primordial gods - as those were higher lifeforms than even regular gods - the two of them had long since advanced to that point hundreds of thousands of years ago. Lastly, what gave them the right to command the other Blades'' leaders was the fact that the Blade they were in charge of was the first one ever to be created. They were the oldest companions of V¨¢li, and their force was simply called ''V¨¢li''s Blade'' - it didn''t even follow the naming scheme of the other Blades.

    With a mischievous smile, Momus glanced at Petbe, who involuntarily shivered a little upon noticing the invisible pressure hidden under his harmless, childlike visage.

    "You won''t be descending again anytime soon, Petbe. Take a few years to reflect and to control your forces remotely. If you wish, you can let one of your subordinates descend to take over what remains of your main branch. Just contact Prometheus when you decide on someone. Leave the matter of Isaac Blackshaw and your Arcanum to us. Brother asked us to take care of that young man before he went into seclusion, so he won''t be able to escape no matter what he does."

    Noticing the slight unwillingness and rebellious spirit in Petbe''s gaze, Momus turned his head and dotingly looked at his sister. For a moment, the two seemed to communicate telepathically, then the lifeless, sad eyes of the young girl shakily focused on Petbe. A voice lacking any kind of motivation sluggishly resounded.

    "Don''t worry¡­ if there is anything left of him¡­ we''ll leave him to you¡­"

    Seeing Petbe nod, Momus showed one of his trademark mocking smiles and resumed addressing the entire gathering.

    "I already calculated how long it should take your forces to make it to Orario. You have three weeks. The meeting spot will be the Beol Mountains. I shouldn''t have to tell you how to contact each other once you''re in that close of a vicinity. Don''t be late! Dismissed."

    After clapping his hands, Momus originally expected for all of the holograms to fade, and the meeting to end, but even after waiting for a few seconds, absolutely nothing happened. Slightly annoyed, with a louder voice, he shouted.

    "Dismissed!!"

    Yet again, he was fated to simply stand there in silence. The others began to smirk to themselves secretly, inwardly mocking the primordial god of mockery - quite ironic indeed. Of course, Momus noticed this, but he would never blame them for these thoughts, as they weren''t the ones at fault here. As for the one who was¡­

    "HERMOD! WAKE UP, YOU BASTARD!!"

    With a resounding roar, even though he was currently just a mere hologram, he formed a fist out of pure Divine Energy and punched the bearded man who was sleeping with his head resting on the table merely a few meters away, knocking him back upright and into his sturdy throne.

    "Ack! Cough!! What the hell, man!? Why did you punch me?"

    After violently hacking for a bit and massaging his back, the eyes of the sleepy Hermod opened and blankly stared in the direction of the twin gods. He wore a blue gambeson that was more comfortable than it was protective, green pants with cloud motifs stitched on that made them look suspiciously like pyjama pants and simple grey socks. His unkempt beard and shoulder-length blonde hair were impeccably clean, but still tousled up quite heavily. A trail of saliva had escaped his mouth and onto the table during his slumber, making him feel a slightly cold breeze against his right cheek upon his awakening.

    Hastily, Hermod wiped his face with a handkerchief, then he noticed that Momus was only silently and judgingly staring at him, seemingly intent to beat him up even further. With a look at everyone else, something finally dawned on him.

    "Oh, are we already finished? Why didn''t you just say so?"

    "I di---"

    Catching himself very quickly, Momus calmed his rapidly beating heart and closed his eyes. Eventually, he proceeded to speak very slowly, his voice trembling from barely suppressed frustration.

    "End the meeting. We''re done here."

    With a yawn that escaped his lips as he was stretching, Hermod nodded and waved his hand.

    "Alright, see you all again next time, then."

    From one moment to the next, the lifelike holograms of nine deities disappeared as if they had never been there. The one who had been essential for all of them to come together in the first place while the majority was occupied in the Lower World was Hermod, the primordial god of messages and communication.

    Just like others who followed V¨¢li, he hadn''t originally started out at such a high position of power, but rather had worked his way there. Seeing how lazily he behaved nowadays, it was hard for anyone to imagine him actually putting any effort into, well, anything. Still, what most weren''t aware of was that him sleeping was only the result of keeping a Heaven- and Lower World-spanning observation network active at all times. Admittedly, he only monitored some key parts of the latter, but the former was almost entirely ''wired''. Because of his remarkable strength and the diligent work that he had contributed to their cause, Momus would usually accept his behaviour. What set him off, however, was that Hermod seemed to never pay any attention to their meetings at all¡­ even though they contained the most important information to take note of.

    That, coupled with him embarrassing Momus in front of the others time and time again, was the reason for his earlier outburst. By now, this had become somewhat of a routine.

    Only four people were left behind in person now that the others had been disconnected: Prometheus, Hermod, Petbe¡­ and a young man clad in a Roman tunic.

    He seemingly hadn''t listened to the meeting at all either, as he was constantly engrossed in the notebook that he was holding. From time to time, he would jot down something, before shaking his head and being deeply lost in thought again. He had curly white hair and green eyes that sparkled with both wisdom and lunacy. Around his shoulders and above his yellow tunic, he wore a scarf made of goat hide. Most of his exposed skin was nicely tanned, but in a few places, it seemed like he had suffered from severe burns that had yet to fully heal. Not that this was much of a problem for a deity. If he wanted to, he would easily be able to make these wounds disappear, but he was far too obsessed with his research to care about such non-essential matters.

    With a last quick glance at the rest, he disappeared from the spot, no doubt directly returning to his laboratory. Shaking his head at this behaviour, Prometheus showed an understanding smile and muttered to himself.

    "Vejovis, Vejovis¡­ if you don''t even greet me, how will the youngsters believe me when I tell them that we are old friends?"

    Just like Hermod, Vejovis was also a primordial god. When V¨¢li had first risen to power, the two of them, alongside Momus and Miseria, had been his only followers. Back then, when they hadn''t fully devoted themselves towards their cause yet, they had oftentimes hung out with each other and traveled the lands. Still, ever since ''back then'', his old friend had changed¡­

    Noticing that Hermod had already gone back to sleep by the time he snapped out of his nostalgic recollections, Prometheus looked at Petbe, who seemed to be in deep thought. Patiently, he waited for her eyes to regain focus, before speaking up.

    "Contact me if you make up your mind. I would personally recommend sending Apophis, but that''s just me. I''ll stay here in the capital until further notice."

    The beautiful woman stayed quiet for a second, then she nodded. Leaving a resigned "Thanks" behind, she left the temple.

    After getting a blanket and putting it over the sleeping Hermod''s shoulders out of habit, Prometheus sat back down and closed his eyes, smiling to himself. For a moment, childlike wonder flickered across his features.

    ''How did this happen? According to my divinations, Petbe shouldn''t have been sent back here, and her Arcanum shouldn''t have been stolen either.''

    -----

    At the bow of a sailing ship that was cruising through the ocean at least twice as fast as would be considered rational, a god wearing a feathered hat was calmly looking into the distance, far further than the horizon.

    Although he had a playful smile on his lips, he didn''t seem to be in too good of a mood, because his eyebrows were a little furrowed. He completely ignored all of the sailors that were rushing around on board, as well as the devastating storm that they were caught in. The water from the assaulting waves, the heavy rain and the strong winds did no more than ruffle his hair a little. He didn''t even get drenched. During his travels, the god of wanderers had quite a few perks to make use of.

    ''I can''t believe she sent me to pick up a Killing Stone¡­''

    After he had taken care of some matters back in Orario and the surrounding kingdoms, one of his entirely untrustworthy clients - Ishtar - had asked him a favour. So as to not blow his cover, he had pretended to fall for her charm and undertaken the mission after only a single night of riveting pleasure. Needless to say, all of it was an act, but in order to know more about her operations, he couldn''t behave too pridefully. Well, it also wasn''t like he didn''t enjoy the Queen of the Entertainment District''s skills in bed.

    For a moment, the bespectacled face of his most dearly loved Asfi flashed past his mind, and he felt a slight pang of guilt, but then he shook his head slightly. His personal feelings shouldn''t ever stand in the way of taking note of the bigger picture.

    ''I really don''t want to see Ishtar''s plan succeed. But who can thwart her? Isaac won''t easily be convinced to help. Still, if I explain the details of what is going on, it might work. But he''s already ridiculously busy, from what I heard. Hmm¡­''

    Suddenly, Hermes slapped his forehead and chuckled to himself. How could he have forgotten?

    ''Wasn''t there a particularly righteous fellow amongst his students? The full moon is still far away, and once they can safely walk the streets again, I can just get him to help me with this. He wouldn''t decline saving a maiden in need, would he?''

    Grinning like a Cheshire cat, the god continued on his return journey, a bit more optimistic than before.

 Chapter 121 - A Costly Foundation

    [ Veteran Hunter (SSS): When battling a monster one has already gained excelia from previously - 60% increase in all stats, 60% increase in excelia gained. ]

    [ Veteran Hunter has reached its maximum grade.

    Quest ''Make four Development Abilities'' grades reach the maximum.'' completed. 4,000 AP rewarded. ]

    With a refreshed smile on his face, Isaac finally ended his horrific slaughter. Taking a deep and relaxing breath, he grew a little nostalgic about what he had accomplished tonight. It completely blew all of his earlier efforts out of the water - it was absolutely ridiculous.

    About two and a half hours after he had entered the dungeon, his indiscriminate killing of Level 1 monsters had borne fruit. When his system showed that he had slain a total of 250,000 of them, his Huntsman Development Ability had finally been maxed.

    [ Huntsman (SSS): When battling a monster one has already gained excelia from previously - 15% increase in all stats, 15% increase in excelia gained. ]

    [ Huntsman has reached its maximum grade.

    Quest ''Make one Development Ability''s grade reach the maximum.'' completed. 1,000 AP rewarded. ]

    This was when he first took note of a peculiar development. Every single grade before the SSS one, Huntsman''s effects had increased by ''only'' one additional percent. For the last grade, however, the change was now thrice that amount - three percent. Admittedly, when numbers that were this small were involved, to an outsider, it wouldn''t look like anything impressive. Still, considering the higher Level Development Abilities of the same series, there was much to look forward to.

    When eliminating Level 1 monsters wasn''t of much use to him anymore, Isaac teleported to another spot in the dungeon to continue his grinding efforts - the depths of the 25th floor. Although he couldn''t reach as many floors from here as before, his sphere of death still encapsulated areas from the 19th to the 30th floor. This allowed him to begin working on increasing his Level 3 monster kills as well, because starting from the 28th floor, the Green Wasteland thematic zone that these last few floors were a part of spawned Level 3 monsters.

    One and a half hours later, it was yet again time to rejoice when the 250,000th Level 2 monster fell without any resistance.

    [ Hunter (SSS): When battling a monster one has already gained excelia from previously - 30% increase in all stats, 30% increase in excelia gained. ]

    [ Hunter has reached its maximum grade.

    Quest ''Make two Development Abilities'' grades reach the maximum.'' completed. 2,000 AP rewarded. ]

    Just like before, this last advancement provided him with a percentage increase that was three times as high as it had been previously. From two to six percent, the difference was now far more noticeable. With this second example, Isaac could be close to certain that this same pattern would persist through all other Hunter-series Development Abilities.

    Now that he was done with the Level 2 monsters as well, he had to choose another spot to teleport to. Ultimately, he decided on the 34th floor. While this would only enable him to barely extend his area of influence upwards to the 30th floor, the 29th one was a Safety Point anyway, so it would be a bit of a waste for him to include it. The lowest point of his sphere reached slightly into the 38th floor, allowing him to kill a very small amount of Level 4 monsters while primarily focusing on the Level 3''s. As the depth of the dungeon''s floors only increased the deeper one descended, it was still a monumental feat to cover this much ground at once.

    Because more than 95 percent of the monsters that he slew during this time were at Level 3, even though Experienced Hunter required him to kill 275,000 of them to achieve its maximum grade, it only took him a little less than one and a half hours to get to this point. The ratio had been closer to 85:15 when he had been working hard on getting Hunter maxed, so now that this had changed, even though the requirements had increased, the time that he took to reach his goal was almost the same.

    [ Experienced Hunter (SSS): When battling a monster one has already gained excelia from previously - 45% increase in all stats, 45% increase in excelia gained. ]

    [ Experienced Hunter has reached its maximum grade.

    Quest ''Make three Development Abilities'' grades reach the maximum.'' completed. 3,000 AP rewarded. ]

    His next destination was the 46th floor. From here, he could only influence an area from the 43rd to the 49th floor considering the currently designated range of his Eyes of Hermes. Because he had yet to unlock and obtain the 5th Level''s Hunter-series Development Ability, he didn''t even bother with slaying any Level 5 monsters for now and only focused on the very strongest - and most valuable - of the Level 4''s.

    Then, at 5 a.m., after 300,000 of them had met their end, his killing spree had finally come to a stop. After seven hours, he could allow himself to lessen the mental burdens that he had piled on top of his shoulders.

    While he still maintained his Eyes of Hermes, he freed up the rest of his focus except for a bit of it which he diverted to supporting his manual mana drop recovery.

    Speaking of, his Spirit Healing had made considerable strides forward as well. While it couldn''t even hope to catch up to the four others that he had maxed, it was nonetheless still progress.

    [ Spirit Healing (G): If the user doesn''t utilize any mana for five seconds, regenerates 0.3% of the total mana every three seconds. ]

    He had also managed to discover a metric with which he could keep track of his progress in the training of this Development Ability. By comparing his rate of mana drop recovery from before his successful manual intervention to afterwards, he could calculate the amount of mana drops which his direct support had been responsible for. During these past six hours, he had been going at a rate of about 10,000 per hour. The last time that he had gotten a notification about Spirit Healing advanging in grade had been at 50,000, and before then it had appeared at 25,000 - these numbers seemed far too ''planned'' for this to be a simple coincidence.

    When looking at the total bonus to his stats and the increased excelia gain, Isaac couldn''t help but grin to himself - 150 percent! With this, the amount of monsters that he would have to slay to reach the next Level would be markedly reduced, and his growth further accelerated. Even more important was the stat increase, which he would have a certain use for in the not all too distant future.

    In any case, while his Development Ability-related gains had been impressive to say the least, the AP that he had gathered in the process were truly mind-boggling. Even after his teleportation expenses were deduced, he had still made a net profit of 246,305 AP, placing his total at 339,324 AP. This was all thanks to obtaining every single AP that he could get from the monster slaying quests for the Level 1 through 4 monsters. Only by continuing further into the dungeon could he ever come across such a staggering sum again.

    ''With this¡­ yeah, I finally have more than enough.''

    Smiling happily, Isaac nodded. If he hadn''t already chosen what he would do with his ''sudden'' wealth, then there would have been a few paths which he would now have the ability to tread.

    First of all, he could buy himself a few Divinities and Arcanums. Still, doing so would alert any divine lifeforms that shared the same abilities, and circ.u.mventing this was even more expensive than what he could currently afford: 500,000 AP. Of course, Isaac had no specific need to hide, but as he simply had no use for these divine powers at the moment, especially considering that he was still very, very far from mastering his control over mana and fully understanding magical formations, et cetera, this would only give him more things to work on. No, he definitely wouldn''t choose this route, at least not for now - also, he already had some clues as to how to acquire these abilities, so there was no need to waste the AP.

    Secondly, he could save up even more until he arrived at one million AP. This was the amount that he needed to circ.u.mvent the heavy restrictions that prevented him from accessing the vast majority of his inherent divine abilities and power while he was in the Lower World. In other words, doing this would enable him to be close to completely invincible here. Maybe in a direct confrontation with the strongest primordial gods, he would still not have the upper hand, even though they would be in a painfully handicapped state, but he would certainly be able to keep this vessel intact.

    In Isaac''s eyes, the second option was the worst waste of AP. Not only would he be able to get rid of the shackles binding him if he ascended to Heaven, the only thing which he could prevent by being this irrationally unrestrained and powerful down here was his own body''s demise¡­ which he already had numerous countermeasures for anyway. And even in the worst case, he could simply use the system to create a new vessel for him, one at the peak state before his previous one''s demise¡­ for 5,000 AP. Yeah, it was - comparatively - dirt cheap, and more of a formality. As his real self, his soul, was incapable of being harmed in any way, no matter what happened, reconstructing a vessel would be ridiculously easy. Considering this, paying 5,000 AP for it was actually already a rip-off.

    His only other gain from spending one million AP would be the ability to trample over everyone like an invincible and arrogant overlord, which wasn''t something that he felt any particular need or desire for at the moment. Sooner or later, he would arrive at that level of strength anyway - let''s be honest, it would be ''sooner''. He had never found it difficult to be patient and also had no inferiority complex-induced need to show off. Of course, he wouldn''t abstain from a little bit of refined flexing here and there, but he would never go out of his way for it.

    Lastly, there was a third option, and the one which he had decided on a considerable while ago.

    After teleporting back and enjoying a swift shower, he got enveloped by the recently awoken Ais'' arms while he scrolled through the system store. Very quickly, he found the entries that he was looking for.

    [ Product - Cost ]

    [ ... - ... ]

    [ Teleportation node - 1,000 AP ]

    [ ... - ... ]

    [ Teleportation network - 50,000 AP ]

    [ ... - ... ]

    [ Private world creation - 200,000+ AP ]

    [ ... - ... ]

    During his initial assessment of the system store, he had noticed how nearly all items on sale were practically just for his own convenience. For a while, he had even disregarded the store after obtaining all necessary products with the valis that he had earned in this world, only occasionally making use of it on two occasions to upgrade this vessel into a divine lifeform. That was why it had taken him quite some time to notice that many new items had been added while he hadn''t been looking. Thankfully, the system was generous enough to retroactively tell him the unlock criteria for the new products that had appeared.

    Teleportation-related entries were added after he had spent 1,000 AP in total on teleporting himself and others across the system map. After this apparently satisfactory amount of AP expenses, he had gotten the option of saving AP in the long term via expensive investments.

    As for the creation of a private world, this one had been added back when the first spatiotemporal displacement had occurred. In fact, that term wasn''t even sufficient to explain all of what had happened during those times. Not only had he been disconnected from this world''s spacetime, he had been temporarily removed from it in its entirety, returning him to the ''void'' between worlds. For his duration there, an impromptu, miniscule world had been created, whose laws had emulated those of the world that he and the ones accompanying him had come from, at least on the surface. That way, nobody would feel any discomfort. Of course, minor matters such as ''not having enough Oxygen'' had been dealt with automatically by the system as well.

    Due to his return to the place where he had been for the short amount of time before transmigrating into this world, and the system already having created a temporary, private world during those aforementioned instances, it gave him the option of making use of this feature to procure a more permanent accommodation within the void.

    After making all necessary adjustments in the various windows that popped up before his eventual purchase, Isaac was finally satisfied with the cornerstone of the world that he wanted to create to serve as his private residence - and, later on, so much more.

    With a last confirmation, he forked over 207,000 AP, not at all unwilling. Then, just as he had anticipated, he noticed a new addition to his system map. He could now switch between the world of DanMachi and¡­ ''Isaac''s Private World''. Yeah, the name wasn''t anything extraordinary, he honestly hadn''t even bothered thinking about one for now and had just settled on the default one that the system had generated for the time being. When he switched ''tabs'' on the map, he could now gaze upon the entirety of the newly created little haven.

    Still, he didn''t plan on getting engrossed in the sight, because he would go there in person shortly anyway. Instead, he bought the ''Teleportation network'' and set the ''home node'' at one of the edges of his new world. It could be moved around later, so he didn''t need to make thorough plans about its final placement at the moment, saving him a lot of time. He then proceeded to purchase six more nodes, spending a total of 56,000 AP. Depending on future explorations and changes, he could both alter their locations and buy even more of them, so there was no need to worry about running out.

    The first node was - temporarily - placed close to a wall of the training courtyard that Titania was still staying in. Later on, he would move it to one of the rooms of the base in the Twilight Manor that he had rented for his students and subordinates many weeks ago.

    The second to fifth nodes were placed at the various Safety Points of the dungeon. The 18th floor had an obvious choice - he simply put it in a room inside of the house that he had rented in Rivira. On the 29th, the 39th and the 50th floors, he had long since taken note of a few well-hidden and naturally sheltered places. The 29th and the 50th floors were perfectly inhabitable, so it hadn''t been difficult to choose secluded and safe locations - in the latter''s case, he had even found a good place close to Titania''s designated bathing lake. But the 39th floor was an extremely hostile environment - it was a part of the Infernal City, after all. The best that he could do was to choose a relatively ''cold'' area far from any lava. He settled on a small, uninhabited cave, in which he unceremoniously put the node.

    As for the last node, he placed it very close to the Xenos'' currently used hidden village. To make its use less conspicuous, he chose one of the paths leading to the massive cavern that they all resided in, to get them to think that he or anyone else using it had come from there. Of course, if they checked whether or not the wall in that direction had been damaged, they would realize that nobody had actually properly used the passage. But anyway, he was already sufficiently polite by not appearing right in the middle of the place that seemed like the ''town square'' of their village and giving them a fright. He may or may not have scared some of them when dropping off certain individuals there earlier today.

    With a satisfied nod, Isaac rose to his feet, reluctantly leaving Ais'' warm embrace. With a small smile, the otherworldly beauty opened her golden eyes and climbed out of bed as well. She tilted her head slightly and asked a question.

    "Have you finished preparing what you want to show me?"

    Grinning happily in response, he gently took her hand.

    "Yeah, finally! For now, it''s not even a very bare-bones skeleton of what I plan to build, but it''s a first step. Let me bring you there."

    As he had already announced that he wanted to take her somewhere in a bit back when he had returned from the dungeon, Ais had changed from her sleepwear into casual clothes - that way, she at least didn''t have to be too embarrassed to go outside.

    Although she already had a vague inkling of what it was that he had done - she could see the teleportation nodes popping up on the system map, after all - she didn''t want to ruin his fun of showing her the specifics and also didn''t want to spoil the surprise for herself, so she had completely ignored the second tab that had appeared on their shared map.

    Barely a minute of casual strolling later, conveniently avoiding any and all eyes even here in the Twilight Manor, the two arrived at Titania''s training courtyard and entered. As they didn''t bother to hide the sound of their footsteps any longer, the coiled plant quickly sprung up from her relaxed slumber, ready to defend herself if need be. When she realized that it was her master who had returned, she heaved a sigh of relief.

    "Phew, false alarm¡­ Good morning, master! Is it already time to set off?"

    Because he had told her that he would give her the opportunity to bathe every morning, Titania had looked forward to him teleporting her back to that lovely spot on the 50th floor ever since close to a day ago. An expression of eagerness was plastered on her face, one that she was completely unable to hide. Although it wasn''t necessary for her survival, and the little bit of filth that she would acc.u.mulate was barely worth mentioning, it still felt great to clean oneself every now and then - even for her.

    "Yes, but we''re not going to the place that you''re thinking of. At least not directly."

    Seeing the strange smirk on her master''s face, Titania became bewildered. Where else did they need to go? Still, she didn''t think about it for long, as she had no need to. She would just obediently heed his orders.

    "Move fifteen meters in that direction, then stop."

    After both Ais and her master had taken a seat on her back, the sofa confusedly proceeded to do what she was told. But before she even had any opportunity to wait for further instructions or to give voice to her puzzlement, the world around her changed in an instant. She was already familiar with this phenomenon, as her master had teleported with her in tow numerous times before. This time, however, they arrived at a place that she had never been to.

    Due to the outstanding eyesight of a Level 6, she had no problems making out the entirety of the area. If viewed from above, one would see a circular landmass with a radius of ten kilometers. Beyond that¡­ there was¡­ nothing? Or at least not anything that she could discern. There was just an endless, black void. Contrary to what might be expected, it didn''t make her feel fearful or like she was staring into a bottomless abyss. She just¡­ felt nothing in particular about it, as if her brain simply accepted that ''there is nothing beyond that point''. Venturing out there didn''t even cross her mind.

    As for the landmass, it was luscious, but the only vegetation was grass that was softly blowing in the gentle wind. But where did the wind come from? She honestly had no idea, it was just¡­ present.

    There were countless questions that one could have upon seeing this place. During the day, one would ask oneself ''How is there sunlight if there is no sun?'', and during the night, one would be confused by dim moonlight painting a darker but nonetheless beautiful scenery even though there was no moon in the sky. Well, rather than that, there was no actual sky. So how was there even a day-night cycle?

    Honestly, the amount of perplexing things about this place was nearly endless. Many things that, according to the knowledge that most people had, were considered to be ''impossible'' could be found everywhere. It ''didn''t make sense''... of course, this statement only applied to those who didn''t have a sufficient amount of understanding - in other words, almost everyone.

    Aside from the baffled plant, Ais was also taken aback by what she was seeing. She didn''t fully understand everything about this place - very far from it - but due to her previous experiences during the spatiotemporal displacements and the many years that she had spent observing Isaac''s past, she had a good idea as to what was going on.

    Looking at his beloved from the side and appreciating the gusts of wind that were gently swirling around her as if inviting her to a dance, Isaac showed a gentle smile, getting lost in the heavenly sight.

    He had chosen a ''plane'' type world out of the numerous options that were currently available to him. It was by far the most practical one for his purposes - not only for now, but also in the future.

    For comparison''s sake, if he had gone with a ''universe'' type world instead, then he would have needed to design a celestial body of some sort on which to house what he was planning to build. There was just one problem with that: He could only afford a ridiculously small one! In the future, upgrading it would be possible, but due to having to obey a few laws that celestial bodies were bound to - of course, more AP could be ''wasted'' on circ.u.mventing or changing these as well - lots of space would have to be occupied by the interiors of the eventual planets, et cetera.

    Expanding a plane type world was ridiculously simple, and not much space needed to be ''wasted'' on the aforementioned interiors of any planetoid spheres. While the type of world that he had chosen could have a depth, it was not a requirement.

    One way to visualize this - albeit not 100 percent accurately - would be to compare 2D objects to 3D ones, from the perspective of a three-dimensional being. A 2D object would seem just like a flat drawing on a sheet of paper, one with no depth at all. A 3D object would actually¡­ well, ''take up space'', or rather, take up the space that was relevant to a three-dimensional being. The reason that this example didn''t entirely apply to the situation was that a plane type world would be two-dimensional if it wasn''t given a depth, while it would be three-dimensional if the creator chose to do the opposite.

    Although a regular human being from Isaac''s past world would feel more at home in a universe type world, those simply weren''t cost efficient enough for Isaac. He wasn''t yet in a position where he could splurge on entirely useless luxuries like that. Maybe one day, he would choose to overhaul this place from the ground up, but for now, a plane type world would more than suffice.

    "Master¡­ what is this place?"

    The voice of his most faithful of plants - not that she had any competition - made him snap out of his Ais appreciation-induced daze. With a smirk on his lips, he turned his head to face Titania.

    "Oh, this? It''s a world I created today. It''s not very impressive a sight right now, but this is the foundation that will be built upon. It''s also your new home."

    Even though that was just the very beginning of the long explanation, Titania had already opened her eyes so widely that Isaac grew a little worried that they might potentially pop out of their sockets¡­

    ''This¡­ M-Master¡­ he¡­ created a world!?''

 Chapter 122 - New Abode Crash Course

    It took a fair bit of time, but eventually, Titania managed to recover from her shock. Upon thinking about the unprecedented situation a little further, she realized that the notion of a god creating a new world wasn''t as far-fetched as it felt. While it was generally believed by the inhabitants of the Lower World that it had taken all of the deities to create their world, in a collaborative effort, nonetheless, a world this small¡­ one god might just possibly have been enough to make it, right?

    Noticing that his servant had returned to a more composed state, Isaac continued his explanation. There were still many things that he had to mention, but some of them would have to wait for later - he didn''t want to repeat himself too many times, after all. As for Titania''s slight misunderstanding, even if he had known about it, he wouldn''t have bothered to clear it up, at least not for now. In the future, she would find out just how wrong she had been anyway.

    "Remember that spot from which we entered this world? I temporarily placed a teleportation node there. Basically, when in contact with a node like this, there are currently four methods to teleport someone."

    First of all, he would be informed whenever someone interacted with the node - even if they just stood in it momentarily. He could then decide to teleport that being to another node, or even let them enter his private world. This also could be exploited as a surveillance tool, but it would have a ridiculous AP cost that simply wasn''t worth it.

    Secondly, just like when teleporting normally via his system map, everyone in a five meter radius around him or Ais could be taken along with them when teleporting. There was no additional cost, as the nodes made the entire ordeal a free one.

    The third method was a little more ''novel'', at least to the listening plant. By registering someone with the teleportation network, Ais and Isaac could allow them to autonomously make use of it. Of course, the two could restrict them to only being able to choose between specific nodes, or they could time them out for a while - there were far too many settings that they could control. Aside from that, once someone was a registered user, the most extraordinary part would come into play. Whenever a user was in contact with a teleportation node that they were authorized to use, a system notification would pop up in their field of view, listing the possible destinations to choose from.

    Needless to say, while he had Titania test this feature, she shrieked and jolted backwards, out of the node, when she saw an unfamiliar blue dialogue box pop up out of nowhere, accompanied by an emotionless, robotic voice that had infiltrated her head. Her extreme reaction wasn''t because Isaac had been a jerk and had refrained from warning her in advance - he had done the opposite. It was just that the entire phenomenon was too startling, as well as¡­ creepy. After all, a voice suddenly communicating with someone''s mind¡­ at the very least, it would feel extremely odd.

    Luckily, as she had already been shocked too many times today, the resilient plant grew slightly numb to these entirely foreign concepts. This allowed her to silently accept this new feature that she could now make use of. She teleported back and forth between here and the training courtyard that they had been in tens of minutes prior, simply to try it out.

    When she had cooled down again, Isaac proceeded to explain the fourth and last method. Every registered user could scroll down to the very bottom of the system notification, where they would find an option to request permission to bring along one or even multiple guests. This would directly inform him and Ais, and also provide the two of them with information regarding whoever the respective user pleaded for. Once the request had gotten approved and the guests had gotten temporary permission to accompany the user, they could then proceed on further.

    "Anyway, go and take a bath for now. Just select the ''50th floor'' option. When you''re done, come back. I have a few other things that I need to elaborate on, but I''ll only do it when everyone has been assembled."

    Nodding happily at her master''s words, Titania disappeared from this world in a matter of seconds, leaving behind only Ais and Isaac. As if they had come to a telepathic understanding, they entered the teleportation node after a short kiss, separating for a short while. Ais was going to gather the rest of the students and subordinates, while Isaac had to make a quick trip to pick up Ray. He also had to give the Xenos a tiny bit of an explanation¡­

    -----

    Ever since around midnight, the hidden village had been in both an uproar and a festive mood. Out of nowhere, around every hour or so, a new and unknown brethren of theirs had appeared, right in the center of their settlement, seemingly out of thin air.

    Most Xenos wouldn''t even have realized that something had happened, had the new arrivals not made various surprised and startled noises. They couldn''t be blamed for this, however.

    Sully the Sword Stag had been feeding on a couple of magic stones in a somewhat hidden alcove on the 24th floor after a hard-won battle, when she abruptly found herself in an entirely unfamiliar place. What made it even worse was that she had been munching away on her food before, but now, she only got a mouthful of dirt and stone for her efforts!

    Her introduction to the rest of her kin were disgusted spitting noises coupled with a frustrated but confused roar. Thinking that they were under attack, the few Xenos that had been asleep woke up at a moment''s notice, and the entire group surrounded the newcomer. When Sully realized that she was face to face with hundreds of monsters, a huge portion of which were definitely far stronger than her, the poor Level 3''s knees almost gave out. Thankfully, Lyd managed to quickly defuse the situation, and instead of crying out of fear, tears of joy soon ran down the doe''s face.

    Although nobody could explain what had happened, this was still a joyous occasion, so an improvised ''feast'' was held, consisting mostly out of a couple of cooked meals, fruits, as well as some magic stones that had been stowed away for a rainy day. Not that it actually ever rained down here.

    Right when they were all still happily chatting up the bashful Sully, a shocked shriek could be heard from the exact spot that she had appeared at about an hour ago. Afterwards, this exact scenario played out three more times.

    Micean the willow Treant had - unsuccessfully - been pretending to be an ordinary tree after barely escaping from a Monster Party, then he had been spirited away out of nowhere. Ban the Obsidian Soldier had been ripping apart a massive group of Loup Garous. By the time that he came to, his blood-drenched body that was still exuding heavy killing intent stood right in the middle of a party. When a heavily injured Fallen Melia, Nora, eventually appeared, the Xenos had already prepared themselves for any other unannounced arrivals, and luckily could get her treated in time for her to make a full recovery. Lastly, shortly before 5 a.m., Harell the Old Bison got dropped into their midst.

    The vast majority of Xenos had no idea what could have possibly led to all of these strange appearances, but a few of the smarter ones at least speculated that it might have something to do with one of their allied deities. As for the leaders, they were entirely convinced that it was Isaac''s doing - the reason for this was that they had contacted Fels to inquire about what was happening, only to be met by confusion on the friendly skeleton''s end as well.

    In time, their discussion had led to Fels revealing that Isaac may or may not have the ability to teleport, or to phase through walls - that was when all the puzzle pieces finally fell into place. Although Lyd and Gros were a bit indignant at not having gotten any warning or explanation, they weren''t really angry. They had no idea what situation the mysterious god was in. He had managed to save a few of their kin, and that was already more than enough. All the grumbling was just to vent their petty frustrations before he actually appeared, so as to avoid souring their cooperative relationship through a slip of tongue.

    Finally, at about 6:20 a.m., the troublemaker in question strolled in from a connected passageway. Because they had been waiting for him, as soon as Ray noticed him with her echolocation, the three leaders hastily made their way over to greet him.

    "Milord, welcome back!"

    With a smile that was a touch more gentle than yesterday, Ray saluted the young man in front of her. Due to the rescue of so many of her kin, right after Fels had revealed Isaac''s teleportation ability to them, her Loyalty had increased by a whopping 10.

    Polite and friendly as always, Isaac returned her smile and then faced the other two, who had been one step slower and only just arrived.

    "It''s nice to see you all. But I''m sorry to have to say that I won''t be sticking around for long. I will come back later, though! For now, I need to borrow Ray for, at most, a couple of hours."

    He really didn''t want to be held up for as long as yesterday, especially because he still hadn''t introduced his world to everyone who was relevant yet. With that in mind, he ignored the slightly disappointed looks on Lyd''s and Gros'' faces and hurriedly continued to speak.

    "Also, I apologize for bringing so many of your kin here unannounced. I was extremely busy and couldn''t come along with them, but I didn''t want to leave them behind in the dungeon either. I hope that didn''t cause too much trouble."

    Seeing him bow very slightly, Lyd panicked and hurriedly waved his hands.

    "Oh, it''s no problem at all, Lord Isaac, really! These slight inconveniences mean nothing at all in the face of bringing some more of our kin into our fold, and saving their lives!"

    Even the silent Gros nodded, supporting this statement. Relieved by the fact that they hadn''t taken it to heart - after all, that would have complicated their work together unnecessarily - and also happy that he had dealt with this minor issue quickly, Isaac''s smile widened.

    "That''s great! Now, I''d really love to stay longer, but I simply can''t. Ray, please follow me."

    Peppering his words with the necessary pleasantries, he motioned at the Siren and turned around, walking back into the passageway that he had come from one or two minutes earlier. Smiling and waving at her companions, Ray hurriedly chased after him, leaving them in the dust.

    A while afterwards, the fluttering of wings could be heard next to Lyd and Gros, causing them to turn around. An excited Fear had made her way over from afar and was searching the area with a confused look on her face.

    "I could swear I just heard Lord Isaac''s voice. Where is he? And where did Ray go?"

    With a resigned sigh, Gros decided to break the news to the lively youngster.

    "They''ve already left."

    -----

    When Isaac and Ray arrived back at his world, the Siren curiously sized up her surroundings, just like everyone else who had come here before her. Right as he was about to drop the ''Welcome to my world'' bombshell on her, a message from Ais arrived via the system.

    [ I just picked up Lefiya, and ran into Riveria on the way. I''d like to bring her with me, would that be okay? ]

    A small smile played across Isaac''s lips as he thought about it for a moment, then he replied with a ''Yes''. While the motherly Elf wasn''t one of the people under his command, he knew that Ais cherished her greatly. He didn''t know the exact extent of what Riveria had done for her in these past years, but it wasn''t hard to make some educated deductions. And even if that connection hadn''t been there, he wasn''t averse to letting the mother hen have a look at the foundation of his long-term project.

    Although she could be stern and cold on the outside, it was plain to see that she cared a great deal about those that she was responsible for. Now that he also was a part of that group, he would be lying if he said that he didn''t appreciate her kind nature at all. Additionally, she had long since known about a considerable amount of his less important secrets, and had kept them well. She was trustworthy. And even if she wasn''t, this world couldn''t be invaded, damaged or even perceived by anyone unless he allowed it. There was absolutely no danger to granting her entry at all.

    So with that in mind, Isaac postponed explaining what was going on to Ray for a minute or so longer, then Ais, accompanied by the others, appeared right next to them. Even a now no longer concealed Hel was amongst them, doing her best to hide without the use of her trusty Arcanum.

    As veterans who had been through at least one spatiotemporal dislocation, everyone but Riveria quickly came to terms with their new environment. Most of them simply ignored the black void, but Lefiya noticed that it was different from before¡­ it felt like there was some kind of barrier in between them and the beyond - or rather, the barrier was thicker than before.

    While her disciple was getting distracted, Riveria herself was completely taken aback by what she was confronted with. Because she had been studying magic for a long time and also was far more sensitive to mana than most, courtesy of being a High Elf, she realized that this place was¡­ fundamentally different from where she had just come from. But how was that possible? What she currently perceived to be ''mana'' might not even be mana¡­ What was this nearly empty plane!?

    If she hadn''t been overwhelmed by this first mystery already, then countless other questions would have flooded her mind, there was no doubt about it. After all, according to common sense, far too many things about this world were ''wrong''. Still, her mind was stuck on the first matter, confusing her so utterly that she was stunned entirely speechless.

    No matter what any of them were thinking, the sound of a certain person clearing their throat soon got their attention.

    "Ahem! You''re all here, so I''ll start with the explanation."

    Preempting any questions, Isaac quickly told them exactly the teleportation network-related information that he had informed Titania about earlier, eliciting even more astonishment from them. The system notification was the chief reason why many of them staggered backwards or grabbed the empty air in front of them, staring dumbly.

    The ones who adapted the quickest were Averin, Mina and - surprisingly - Aselina. The boisterous Jack Bird being the least impacted by all of this was to be expected, especially since he was still very young. As his worldview wasn''t as rigid yet, it was a lot easier for him to accept new and stunning information. Mina never really seemed to have trouble to do so either, specifically when something was related to her lord. But because Aselina hadn''t been a part of the group for as long as some of the others, her coming to terms with it all so fast made Isaac raise an eyebrow.

    Eventually, after everyone had somewhat settled down again, Titania returned from her bath, only to be greeted by a huge number of people, two of which she had never seen before - the winged woman standing obediently behind Isaac, as well as the grey-haired girl futilely trying to hide behind gusts of wind. It really didn''t need to be explained why she failed.

    "Titania, you''re back. That''s great, I can finally begin. Also, this should be the first time that you meet Ray and Hel, right?"

    Getting the introductions out of the way quickly, Isaac took a seat on his sofa''s back. Everyone else sat down on the many chairs that he had pulled out of his inventory for them to recline on whilst listening to his lecture.

    "First things first. Welcome to my private world! I created it earlier today, and while it''s currently just the cornerstone of what it will become in the future, it is already useful in many ways. I wanted to share news of its existence with you all."

    Before he could get any further, he noticed that Riveria was already on the edge of her seat, furrowing her eyebrows and about to ask a question. Deliberately pausing, he gave her a chance to speak up. He also glanced at the shell-shocked Hel for a moment. Out of everyone here, she was probably the clearest about just how ridiculous and impossible of a feat creating a world was, at least for a deity of the world that she had come from. One sentence: It couldn''t be done.

    "You claim that this is a new world? And that you created it? How are you even capable of this?"

    Even though Riveria''s questions sounded confrontational, they really weren''t. The High Elf was just so intrigued that she needed clarification - also, it would be foolish of her to immediately believe literally everything that she was told. While she had no reason to suspect him of lying, because this was way beyond her expertise - and even beyond what she had expected him to have the ability to do - she simply needed more information and proof before she could be fully convinced.

    Not taking any offence, Isaac showed a sympathetic smile.

    "This is indeed a new world. A plane type world, to be exact. It is entirely disconnected from your own world. Just check back with Hel if you want to make sure of that. Lastly, I am capable of everything. The question isn''t ''if I can do it'', it is ''when I will do it''. To prove that I, at the very least, am in control of this world''s laws¡­"

    With a glance at the system, Isaac changed a few settings. Very rapidly, the environment switched from day to night, and back again. This repeated for a few tens of times. All the while, heavy gusts of wind battered everyone present, before settling down once more.

    "This should suffice, right? I could do far more, but that would eat into some of my resources, and I''m not a wastrel."

    Upon looking at Riveria once more, he noticed that she was completely awestruck. For a while, he wondered if she had short-circuited, but she eventually recovered her senses. Silently, she nodded at him, asking him to continue. It was very clear to her that there had been no Magics in play, and after realizing how antsy Hel was now that she couldn''t hide anymore, the answer couldn''t be any more clear. If she had just noticed the young goddess'' plight earlier, then she wouldn''t have even doubted Isaac''s claims. Even though her expression didn''t change much, he could see the tips of her ears grow slightly red from embarrassment.

    Smirking but deciding not to make her any more uncomfortable, he finally had a chance to fully elaborate on some of the important features of this world.

    The elephant in the room was this question: If this was another world, would the flow of time be aligned with the DanMachi world? The answer to this was simple: Yes, because he had chosen for it to be that way. It felt far too ''cheap'' to simply hide away in this world for a few years to fully research all new things that he encountered in Ais'' world. While it was possible to do this, and he might change his mind on this matter one day, for now, he decided to keep this world''s flow of time parallel to the world of DanMachi''s. If a day passed in one, a day would pass in the other, and vice versa.

    Regarding the various inexplicable phenomena, like the lighting, the temperature, the air composition, et cetera, he didn''t go into too much detail - it was sufficient to say that he had set all of them to be reminiscent of the world that the others had come from. It had only taken him a bit of time to choose all of the correct settings in the system back when he had created this world, and he could even adjust them on the fly. After seeing some of the others sport confused faces, he realized that the easiest way to make them understand was to clarify this: He could control everything about this place, no matter what it was. Of course, he had also shared this authority with Ais, but the others didn''t really need to know about this. If she felt like it, then his beloved could tell them about all of that herself.

    It was important to let them all realize that this was a perfectly secure haven - nothing and nobody could influence it, even in the slightest, unless he gave his express permission. To alleviate any potential worries, he even made Hel attest to not having been able to perceive this world, or the teleportation node leading to it, at all.

    This world''s landmass extended ten kilometers in every horizontal direction from a central point. Overall, the world''s form was cylindrical. The ground was two kilometers deep, while the ''sky'' extended upwards for another three kilometers.

    Next on the list was what Riveria had previously been baffled by, this slightly different ''mana''. Isaac explained that he had simply made the energy inherent in all things - no matter which world one was in - emulate the mana that they were all used to. Functionally, it was no different, and he would be able to use it for his research. Still, to someone attuned to the nature of a particular world, like a certain motherly High Elf, for example, the feeling that the two different kinds of mana gave off would not be entirely the same. This could, of course, be adjusted, but as that wouldn''t influence the functionality at all, Isaac couldn''t be bothered to increase his expenses.

    Lastly, there was still one other matter that he wanted to touch on before getting into the first step of the plans that he had for this world''s future.

    As this wasn''t the Lower World of the DanMachi world, the restrictions placed upon him and Ais that prevented them from making use of all of their divine abilities and powers should have not applied in this place. Still, he had chosen to keep them intact, as it would feel highly uncomfortable to be repeatedly released from the shackles, only to be bound again. If either of them ever felt like their wrists had gotten too sore, then they could unlock them and recover, reveling in their current peak capabilities for a while, but it was unclear whether or not that would ever actually be necessary. It also was a bit dangerous - after all, once one was used to comfort, letting go of it was quite difficult. While that wouldn''t be a problem for him, it might trouble Ais for some time. She would, of course, eventually overcome it - he had every confidence in that - but there was no need to put her in such a position in the first place, right?

    While most of the others weren''t too clear about what exactly he was talking about when he told them about this last point, Ais'' eyes widened in realization, and she showed a gentle smile. She hadn''t even thought of what could have happened should he have failed to take such a precaution.

    With a deep breath, Isaac''s expression suddenly shifted into a more solemn one, making a few in the audience gulp audibly.

    "You might be wondering what I plan to do with this place, so let me tell you. I will build a central base for all of my people here, as well as research facilities to house some of the specimens that I have gathered. One example of these would be the Mermaid that I picked up in the dungeon. But all of these are just side hustles. The main focus will be on two other things. Firstly, a comfortable home for myself and Ais. I''m sure it will come in handy during our future travels. And secondly, a library."

    Seeing the realization dawning on almost everyone''s faces, a bright, genuine smile spread on Isaac''s face.

    "You''re correct, that is why I gave you that homework. I will build myself the greatest library in existence!"

 Chapter 123 - Rising Undercurrents

    Ais showed a warm and loving smile. Amongst all of the people gathered here, she was the only one who could understand just how much that library meant to him, thanks to experiencing his past.

    From the beginning of his life, Isaac had always absorbed and analyzed knowledge like a sponge, most of the time in written form. At some point, he had then gotten intrigued by the countless stories that the humans of his old world had created. For all these years, his closest companions had been books, both physical and digital ones. They were the one thing that could be called a ''constant'' in his life.

    Which person that loved books didn''t sometimes think about how great it would be to run a bookstore or a library? Even Isaac hadn''t been entirely immune to these occasional musings. He had wanted to make his own sanctuary, a library containing all the knowledge and stories that existed. Of course, when compared to his original, primary goal of transcending existence itself, such a fleeting thought had never been of particular importance, but upon reviewing his life, it was clear that this wish, this ''dream'', had always been there, albeit to a very minor degree.

    Now, he had already transcended, and had embarked on a journey through the countless worlds in existence. He had even met Ais, one of the girls of his dreams, and had truly fallen in love with her! Wasn''t it high time to set the foundation for that library of his? With that in mind, and to satiate his craving for reading, he had told his people to gather books. He had all the time in the world, quite literally, so there had been no need to rush them. With the creation of his private world, slowly but surely, it could all begin.

    "Where will we get the construction personnel and resources from? Do you need us to bring them here?"

    Kalin''s voice eventually broke the silence. He had a thoughtful look on his face and was subconsciously scratching his chin. While he couldn''t comprehend this whole world creation business, now that architecture was involved, he had at least a basic understanding of the topic.

    Contrary to the young man''s expectations, Isaac shook his head.

    "That''s not necessary. I alone am all the personnel needed. I won''t stop you from gathering materials that you think could be useful, though. I already bought lots of the readily available ones, but if you find anything extraordinary or special, just bring it with you. I''m not just talking about mere building materials here, by the way. If something looks intriguing and you can get your hands on it without any major problems, just bring it here, to me. Still, you don''t need to go out of your way for these things, just keep an eye out."

    As he nodded, Kalin showed a wry smile. He honestly wasn''t surprised anymore whenever Isac revealed or claimed that he was capable of something. He rarely, if not never, found himself doubting him anymore. There was simply no reason to.

    It took a while, but eventually, all immediate questions were cleared up. While Lefiya and Riveria undoubtedly still had many more that they wanted to ask, they would simply have to do so later, because not everyone was interested in hearing about the more integral parts and details regarding this world, aside from the two Elves.

    The first building that would be built here would be the base for the subordinates - mostly because Titania needed a place to stay. Also, it was best to start with the easiest parts first. Even just the planning of the basic layout of the first iteration of the library, for example, would take a considerable amount of time, after all.

    Because he still needed another teleportation node that could be moved around to wherever he wished, to be used as a pathway to anywhere that someone needed to teleport to - for example, to continue the exploration of the dungeon at a specific point - he bought another node for 1,000 AP.

    Initially, his plans had only encompassed the more permanent nodes, but now that he had already dealt with those, he still needed to consider everyone''s daily routine. Titania''s big frame - and the fact that she was half monster - was a huge deal, so he couldn''t just let her teleport to the building that he had rented in Rivira. The entire town would erupt in turmoil and panic! Only after he made it publicly known that she was under his command could he openly let her use that node. So although it required him to manually adjust the position of the new node that he had bought, he spent a fraction of a second to set it right at the spot of the 19th floor that the subordinates had ended their daily dungeon delve yesterday. Speaking of, he should probably update their Status again soon¡­

    After bidding Aselina, Averin, Jakk, Kalin, Mina and Quinn farewell, Riveria stepped forward to sate her curiosity about this world a little more. Sadly, Isaac had to excuse himself already, as his schedule for the day was already full to the point of bursting. He gave his permission for the two Elves to stay here and come back whenever they wanted, however, so that they could research on their own as much as they pleased.

    Once he had exchanged a meaningful glance with Hel and handed her a bag of valis plus a note, Isaac gave Ais a kiss and left his private world with Ray in tow. Moments later, the stalker goddess also disappeared from this world and soon invisibly hurried out of the Twilight Manor.

    ----

    One thing that Isaac''s subordinates and students weren''t lacking was a secure training environment. With the extremely strong Titania looking after them all, even should an irregularity or emergency occur, she would still be able to destroy any monster that could appear on the 19th floor. But her help wasn''t even necessary, as Aselina, Averin and Jakk were dispatching the entire surplus of monsters that they ran into.

    Kalin, Mina and Quinn could completely focus on their respective opponents and didn''t need to worry about something sneaking up on them. Or at least that was the arrangement that anyone would expect if they were told about the Levels of all the members of this group. While this overall assumption wasn''t entirely wrong, it also wasn''t correct either.

    Such an environment would make it easy for the students to grow accustomed to relying on someone having their backs at all times, which could prove fatally dangerous in any scenario where that simply wasn''t the case, so Isaac had instructed them to avoid toning down the difficult too much. The three of them that could still improve their stats by hunting the monsters on this floor would get a few chances to safely fight against a new species one on one first, to acclimate to them, but afterwards, their protectors were instructed to let a few additional monsters through to harass them during and after their fights - only randomly, of course, so as to avoid them getting used to it. Of course, if the approaching monsters were far too strong for the ones that were busily acc.u.mulating excelia to meaningfully react to, then they wouldn''t let them get anywhere near them, but if a second Mad Beetle came their way while they were dueling another¡­ then they would just have to deal with two. No warnings would be sent their way either, unless it was absolutely necessary, so as to keep them on their toes at all times.

    Ever since their last Status update, both Kalin and Mina had nearly effortlessly dispatched the Minotaurs and Lygerfangs that had given them considerable headaches before. Even Quinn didn''t have any troubles fighting them on his own, although he couldn''t deal with them as easily as the other two. Because of this, they had all already progressed past Rivira yesterday. They could have gotten a significant boost to their stats again, but they decided to reach their limits first before getting another update.

    So far, the only monsters here that they could defeat were the Mad Beetles and the Lizardmen, because they had the lowest stats. Although the gap was still quite considerable, it wasn''t impossible to bridge it.

    With her ears standing on attention and her eyes squinting at the two Mad Beetles that she was facing, Mina waited for the left one to start charging at her, before shooting towards the side and around the right bipedal beetle as fast as she could, causing the two massive black carapace-clad monstrosities to collide with each other and collapse to the ground. The disturbing sounds of huge insect legs hitting stone and wood echoed through the hallways as the monsters tried to rise again.

    But it was already too late. Without giving them any time to recover, Mina aimed at the joints of their legs and quickly cut them off. Ignoring the clacking of their scary mandibles, she got rid of the rest of their limbs too, leaving them no way to pose much of a threat to her.

    With two quick stabs of her sword, she ended them and breathed a short sigh of relief, before getting serious again and hurrying off towards a group of three Lizardmen nearby. They had been kept at bay by Averin, because she had previously told him that it was time for her to up the ante a little.

    Looking at Kalin, who was facing four of these scaly monsters in another direction, she grew both excited and competitive.

    ''I don''t want to lag behind!''

    She wasn''t aware that her quick improvement had made the young man feel pressure as well. He had always been the slightly stronger one of the two, so how could he just give up his spot without trying his damn hardest?

    Thankfully, his spear was the ideal weapon to face a large group of opponents. Most people thought that once one closed the distance to a spear wielder, one would have the advantage and that they could easily be overrun by numbers in that state - that couldn''t be further from the truth. Any kind of polearm could also be used as a staff! That was one of the most basic lessons that Isaac had imparted to him, and by making use of it, Kalin effortlessly deflected three of the Lizardmen''s attacks in quick succession.

    This fighting style still had a few weaknesses, chief of which was the reliance on a good spear shaft - but thankfully, his current weapon was still of sufficient quality to deal with the wooden weapons and sheer strength of the Lizardmen. Otherwise, it might break¡­ Of course, by getting more proficient at deflecting, only a fraction of the actual impact would be transferred to the shaft, but ideally, one would also want it to be made out of the best material available, just in case. To avoid making a potentially fatal mistake.

    After defending for a while, Kalin finally saw an opening. He deflected all four of his opponents'' weapons at close to the same time and used the last one''s impact to spin about 180 degrees, to increase the strength and speed of his spear, and to stab straight through the right eye of one of the staggering Lizardmen, killing it nigh instantly. Using the short window of time where the other three still had to stabilize themselves, he yanked his weapon back and returned to a defensive stance.

    One by one, the monsters fell, never to rise again. When only one was left, he didn''t even need to wait for an opening - it was effortlessly slain. With a deep breath, he shook off the blood from the tip of his spear and shouted at the distant Aselina.

    "A bigger group next, please! Five Lizardmen would be ideal."

    With a small nod, the raccoon girl rushed into the distance to lure them over. At the same time, Kalin heard a buzzing sound and hurriedly trained his eyes on a small Gun Libellula in the distance, his face even more serious than when he had fought his last battle. Half a second later, he hastily dodged towards the right and just barely managed to avoid the needle-like projectile that had been shot his way. By waiting until the exact moment before the monster had fired, he managed to get out of the way a fraction of a second in advance. Else, he wouldn''t have been able to escape and been painfully wounded, because the speed that the needles were shot at was simply far faster than what he could react to.

    Immediately after, the annoying insect got split in half by a leaf-tipped tentacle. Glancing at its source, Kalin could see Titania giving him an approving nod, before the tentacle continued towards the bodies of the monsters that he had just eliminated. It ripped out their magic stones and delivered them to the dutiful plant. She boredly nibbled away on them, looking at her surroundings with a helpless expression. Everything here¡­ even taking care of the others and challenging them according to her master''s specifications¡­ it was too easy.

    An awkward smile stole itself on Kalin''s lips as he realized how comical their encounters had to seem to this powerful companion of theirs. While he was waiting to face his next enemies, he turned to spectate Quinn''s fight a few tens of meters away.

    When he had first heard about the cat boy''s Skill, he had expected him to crush his opponents with simple brute force, but thankfully, that wasn''t the case. Mainly due to Isaac''s advice and training, Quinn was all too aware that mindlessly rushing in and facing opponents head-on were some of the stupidest things one could do in combat. If it was unavoidable, then it couldn''t be helped, but ideally, one should rely more on positioning and tactics to deal with one''s enemies. Of course, the importance of mostly evading and deflecting attacks had also been taught to him.

    Out of all of the subordinates, Quinn was the one who had adopted Isaac''s initial fighting style the closest. Like him, he only relied on a one-handed sword. If he had gotten a chance to procure himself a vambrace, then Kalin had no doubt that he would have taken it.

    While Mina also used the same kind of weapon, and also had internalized their teacher''s lessons, most of her actions weren''t actually planned, and simply done out of instinct. She oftentimes used shrewd maneuvers, but not really consciously - they were spur-of-the-moment decisions. Quinn, on the other hand, tried to predict many moves in advance and lure his enemies into as many traps as he could. Instinct played barely any role in his battles.

    One the surface, the two''s fighting styles seemed similar, but when looking closer, they were actually almost polar opposites originating from one specific set of Isaac''s teachings. That didn''t change that the outcomes and courses of their encounters were nearly identical, though.

    During his battles, Quinn sported a frosty expression and oozed killing intent. He was constantly doing his very best to suppress the all-encompassing rage and hatred that threatened to devour him. Instead¡­ he turned scarily calm. The angrier he got, the more composed he became. This kind of trait wasn''t actually all that rare, but it also wasn''t a common sight.

    Hearing a bunch of angry Lizardmen shouts coming closer, Kalin turned in their direction and gripped his spear a little tighter, then he walked a few steps forward and got into position. If all went well, then today would be the day that he acc.u.mulated enough stats to rank up. His heartbeat quickened at this thought. Then momentarily, he felt that familiar feeling of his stats weakening ever so slightly yet again.

    ''--- trus---''

    "Huh?"

    All of a sudden, his eyes widened, then he rapidly refocused on the five Lizardmen that were charging towards him, chasing after Aselina who was relaxedly jogging in front of them, just out of reach.

    Even though Kalin felt like he had just heard something for a fleeting moment, he didn''t have the time to waste on such matters right now. What kind of idiot would allow himself to get distracted during a life-and-death battle?

    -----

    In the massive plaza around Babel, hundreds of adventurers were going to and fro, some standing around and chatting with their friends.

    "So, did you finally manage to kill a Bugbear yesterday? Or did you chicken out again?"

    "Ugh, don''t remind me¡­"

    A Dwarf was teasing a disheartened Chienthrope youth, smirking smugly upon seeing the latter''s scrunched up face.

    "He told me he will marry me if I rank up to Level 3! Can you believe that? That''s basically a proposal!"

    "Why is he so obsessed with your Level? You''d better look for someone else¡­"

    "Yeah, that sounds fishy as hell."

    A group of girls was desperately trying to convince their friend to rethink her questionable life choices.

    "Isn''t that so unfair? That Blackshaw guy killed a goddess of Evilus, and what did he get for it? A punishment! Those bastards¡­"

    "Yeah, I know, right? They just sit on their asses all day long and preach about working together, but once someone snuffs out true evil for once, they condemn them for it."

    There were also a few tens of unhappy individuals complaining about Isaac''s fate in a loud voice. One of them was a hooded figure that clearly didn''t want to broadcast their identity, but their small stature still revealed them to be a Pallum.

    "I wish we could do something about this injustice. But what can we do?"

    An old man sighed and shook his head, a pained expression flickering in his eyes. He had undoubtedly been here during those dark days, when Evilus ran rampant. The others who were gathered here were either a part of his generation, or hot-blooded youngsters who felt the need to uphold justice.

    "What if we protest? If our voices are loud enough, the gods will be forced to listen. Don''t forget, they rely on us just as much as we rely on them."

    The hooded Pallum''s tone was a little more hushed than before, clearly not wanting to attract the attention of those that weren''t a part of this circle of riled up folk.

    "You know¡­ that could work. You make a fair point!"

    Slowly, the old man''s face lit up with realization and he glanced at his old friends, who nodded at him in return.

    "We just need to make a ruckus, eh? That''s what I''m good at!"

    A hearty Boaz hit his chest and laughed mischievously.

    "It won''t help us if we''re disorganized. Why don''t we choose this plaza as the site of our protest, and try to gather other like-minded people for a week? I''m sure we''ll have enough of an impact by then! One week, same time, same place. What do you say?"

    Yet again, the hooded Pallum was the one to steer the course of the conversation, and to build up the momentum. But none of the others realized it. Well, maybe some did, but because they were all of one mind, they were simply happy that someone had taken charge. Not everyone wanted to be a leader or to have responsibility.

    Scenes like this could be observed all over the city, wherever adventurers gathered. The people who kicked off these discussions were often hiding their faces, or simply unremarkable in appearance. Considering that a significant portion of the population preferred to keep a low profile, no adventurers would bat an eye at the occasional hooded figure.

    Ever since Isaac''s sentence had been announced to the city, a significant portion of the populace had already voiced their displeasure, mostly in private. Sometimes, the Guild had to get involved to quell some conflicts stemming from this issue, as drunk adventurers occasionally started to brawl because of it. Still, it hadn''t been anything major, or organized. It fizzled out relatively quickly and quietly, with most people keeping this unhappiness locked away in a corner of their minds and going about their days normally.

    All that was needed was a spark to light the fuse. And now there was a carefully controlled, lit match in the picture.

    -----

    A small island was located in the sky above an endless desolate wasteland. As far as the eye could see, it was the only thing that broke up the monotony of that same exact landscape. Still, the island wasn''t anything special either - it was home to a tiny lake and a few trees, but the only thing about it that would stick out to a mortal was that it was hovering in midair. Here in Heaven, such a sight was common, even in the deserted areas in between the various deities'' and pantheons'' territories.

    CRASH!

    Suddenly, the absolute silence was broken by a deafening impact. Something had landed not that far away, creating a massive crater that was multiple kilometers deep. It took a long while for the dust and debris to settle.

    "Cough, cough! Oh f.u.c.k, that was close. They almost got me this time¡­"

    A slightly deep, male voice could be heard from the center of the crater. It was too bad that there wasn''t anyone around to actually listen to it, as it sounded quite pleasant to the ear. The speaker cleared his throat a few times and spat on the ground, then he slowly stumbled out of the impact area. A deep breath and a single step later, he already was on the island and sitting down with a pained wince.

    "This better not leave a scar¡­"

    Muttering to himself, occasionally coughing and spitting like before, the man got a few bandages, towels and an antiseptic from seemingly out of nowhere. Clenching his teeth, he slowly started the arduous task of cleaning his wounds, constantly shivering in agony. Still, at the same time, he felt somewhat relieved.

    His body was a horrifying mess. More than one third of his flesh was gone, leaving his bones to glisten ghastly in the sun. As for the flesh that remained, there wasn''t even any skin covering it, and multiple deep wounds from cuts and burns ran nearly bone-deep and had malformed his body severely. Even a few of his internal organs could be made out, all of which were damaged. Usually, a god would recover from wounds like this in mere moments. If they weren''t killed immediately, it would take them less than a minute to return to their peak state - as long as they still had Divine Energy left, that is. This relatively tall man clearly had plenty of it remaining. In fact, the sheer power that he constantly exuded would probably cause some of the weaker deities to flee in terror. Yet, he wasn''t using his Divine Energy to heal. Or rather, he couldn''t. While his wounds did mend ever so slowly, it was like a snail''s pace compared to normal.

    Minutes later, the man cupped his fully intact right hand and got some water from the lake, gulping it down as if relishing in divine wine. And that wasn''t even all too inaccurate of a comparison - here in Heaven, many things were filled to the brim with Divine Energy, just like this water. If a mortal were to drink it, living for tens of thousands of years wouldn''t be a problem. It would also taste¡­ well¡­ divine.

    After releasing a satisfied burp and coughing up a bit more of his lifeblood - a little less than before - the god sighed and stared at his empty right hand, all the while grinning to himself. Because there was barely any skin or flesh remaining on his skull and one of his eyeballs was missing, this sight would have appeared ghastly to any observer.

    "I finally did it! Just wait¡­ a little longer. Only a few million years more! I''m almost there. Saria, Thoren, Miru, ¡­"

    The god spoke the names of many tens of people as if in a trance, a gentle light in his one remaining eye. Finally, his words came to a close.

    "It''ll all be over soon. I didn''t forget."

    With a last glance into the distance, he fully laid down on the ground and closed his eye, his flesh gradually regrowing. The rate of his recovery increased a little now that he had allowed himself to rest, but it would take him at least a few weeks to fully heal.

 Chapter 124 - Runic Mysteries

    Returning to the Xenos'' hidden village brought with it exactly what Isaac had expected. In a matter of minutes, he found himself surrounded by all kinds of friendly monsters again, all of which were either staring at him with interest or chattering non-stop.

    Thankfully, as he had already suffered through the introductions last time, he now didn''t need to feel impolite for cutting them off quickly and demanding to be left only with the people that he would study.

    Speaking of this, he didn''t explain what he had to do too in-depth, he simply stated that he had to observe many different Xenos to gain a greater understanding of them. He gave them his word that none of them would come to harm, or would feel any pain at all, so nobody complained. While a few weren''t eager to volunteer because they weren''t comfortable with being stared at, he didn''t need to study too many of them in the first place. A few tens should do, probably.

    With that in mind, the first ones to be closely scrutinized were the other two leaders aside from Ray. He already had a good understanding of the SIren, even more so since she had joined him as a subordinate, so now it was Lyd and Gros'' turn to be put under the figurative microscope.

    Somewhat surprisingly, both of them still got some of their life force syphoned away, even though they were currently in the dungeon. The only difference from when they were outside was that, via the same channel, their ''mother'' seemed to be sending them life force back as well. This should theoretically be possible to do when they were on the surface as well, because the connection between the two would still be stable. But as this wasn''t the case, it was quite likely that the Xenos'' fate was intentional. To shackle them here, to keep them away from the surface, that was the goal. Admittedly, however, it was also a possibility that something unknown restricted the equal reciprocation of the dungeon, and made it impossible for it to send its ''children'' its life force while they were away from ''home''.

    Upon spending another half an hour to scrutinize this phenomenon with other Xenos happily playing the roles of willing research subjects - luckily not the ones that the dungeon''s regular monsters so often got turned into - Isaac made two peculiar discoveries.

    Firstly, this channel that connected each Xenos to some part of what he speculated to be the dungeon was very similar to an umbilical cord, one that just had never been cut and also wasn''t as one-sidedly supportive as usual. This became clear almost immediately.

    Secondly, the part of the Xenos''s bodies that it was connected to was the magic stone - or rather, somewhere within the magic stone. At first, this had just been a hypothesis, but upon having taken a close look at tens of Xenos, whose magic stones he could both locate by using his mana to sense them directly, as well as already knew the magic stone locations of due to having researched their brainless distant cousins, it was evident that the channel truly originated from their very cores.

    This meant that cutting the connection would be a very dangerous thing to do, at least as long as he didn''t understand exactly what effects doing so would have on the magic stones.

    Although he had run into an obstacle during his research, his eyes were bright as he reported his progress to the Xenos'' leaders.

    "In conclusion, I have to thoroughly study and understand magic stones first, before being able to solve the problem once and for all."

    A downhearted and panicked expression spread on Lyd''s face as he heard this. He couldn''t help but interject to inquire about what was worrying him.

    "Won''t doing that take a long time, possibly even tens of years? Magic stones are our cores, there is no way they''re easy to figure out!"

    With a relaxed smile, Isaac shook his head, not even changing the cadence of his voice during his reply.

    "In the worst possible scenario, I would have to fully devote a few months to exclusively this field of study. While I''m a busy man, you definitely won''t have to wait longer than a year or so. In fact, I highly doubt it will even take as long as a month. This will give me a reason to finally look into all the stones that I''ve gathered so far as well, so I would say it''s ultimately a good thing."

    Relieved gasps escaped the mouths of all three leaders. Ray showed a brilliant smile, Gros nodded cordially, and Lyd¡­ he almost teared up.

    "That''s great! No, it''s amazing!! Even if our generation wouldn''t have had the opportunity to experience true freedom, I would have still patiently supported you, Lord Blackshaw. But now that I know that even the old fogies amongst us will still have the opportunity to look forward to it¡­ I''m happy, I truly am! Thank you, so, so much!!"

    Looking at the emotional Lizardman who was grasping his hands with not-yet-shed tears shimmering in his eyes, Isaac''s smile turned a bit wry for a moment, before he expertly escaped Lyd''s grip and brushed him off politely.

    "No need to thank me, I already got the remuneration for my efforts, after all. I won''t go back on the agreement that I''ve made with you. Oh, by the way, once I gain a good understanding of magic stones, I will still need to continue to observe your kin closely, but that time, I will be comparing the magic stones of regular monsters to those of you all."

    While they were all patiently listening to his explanation, Isaac rose to his feet and stretched lightly.

    "With that said, I''m done here for now. I will be returning once I''ve made sufficient progress. Of course, Ray can contact me at any time, and so can Fels. If there is anything you need, let me know. As long as I can profit from it somehow, or it can be of help to me in a way, I''ll send support or even stop by personally."

    Even though he had just sat back down again, Lyd shot up hastily when he heard Isaac''s parting words, a look of dazed surprise plastered on his face.

    "You''re leaving already? Why don''t you give us a chance to be good hosts? We''ll throw you a party before you go!"

    Flashing an awkward smile in response, Isaac courteously shook his head.

    "Really, I appreciate the good intentions, but I''m not a fan of large gatherings and would much rather avoid them. I like to bury myself under mountains of work, so I''d honestly prefer to get some peace and quiet to make more progress instead."

    After staying silent for a while, Lyd sighed sadly and nodded his head, then he bowed slightly.

    "Then stay safe, and I hope the research will go smoothly. See you soon, Lord Blackshaw."

    Gros supported his words with a nod from the side, staying ever so silent. Ray was the one who was the most taken aback by this development. She had expected him to need to visit this village for days, if not weeks, on end. Wouldn''t she barely get to see him if he up and left now?

    "Milord, what about me? Is there anything I should do?"

    Taking note of her almost stumbling over her own words, as well as the desperate gaze that she looked at him with, Isaac smirked amusedly.

    "Like I said before, you can stay here and be a supporting pillar for your kin until further notice. But if you want to visit me, or to make use of what I introduced to you earlier for the sake of travel, then feel free to do so. You are one of my people, you can come see me whenever you want. I can''t promise that I''ll be home at all times, though."

    His words reminded her that there was, basically, a portal leading straight to her lord''s ''castle'' only a few hundred meters away, one that she had the permission to utilize. She had even tested it alongside the others just a few hours ago.

    Finally, her tensed up shoulders relaxed, and she directed a subservient but happy smile at him.

    "Then I''m relieved. Stay safe, milord. I will stop by regularly."

    -----

    Isaac began his magic stone-related research by grabbing a Goblin''s magic stone from his inventory. As the weakest and first monster that he had ever encountered, he decided it would make a very good starting point and reference. It was reasonable to assume that the stronger the monster and the more mana the magic stone contained, the more complicated its inner structure would be. He wasn''t the kind of person that would start reading a book from its last page only to loudly complain about nothing making any kind of sense. In other words, he wasn''t an idiot.

    He hadn''t risked peering directly into the magic stones of the Xenos before, especially since he didn''t know what kind of effect inserting his mana to ''see'' their interior would have. If he had caused an accident, then that would have been a stain on his prestigious record for all eternity.

    Very carefully, he moved his mana to observe the inside of the magic stone.

    At first, he couldn''t see anything clearly, but upon allocating the majority of his focus to the task, what came into view was¡­ a bit baffling. The magic stone''s physical vessel was a simple container, holding pure mana in its core¡­ which was in the shape of runes. Yes, the exact same ones that could be found in magical formations, Magic Items, and pretty much every single magic stone-powered device that he had seen. There was something else unusual about them - he recognized none of them. During his stay in Orario, he had gotten a chance to memorize plenty of different runes - thousands, in fact - but none of them could be found here. Still, even if he had known any of them, he also didn''t understand what any of them meant, stood for or signified. He was a complete novice in this field, lacking any and all basic knowledge.

    Smirking to himself helplessly, Isaac soon found himself knocking on the door of Riveria''s study. She was most definitely the person most qualified to help him with this.

    "Enter."

    Once the door closed again, the hard-working High Elf looked up from the countless doc.u.ments and books that were cluttering her desk and raised her left eyebrow in surprise.

    "Oh, Isaac. What brings you here? I didn''t expect to see you today. Didn''t you say you were busy?"

    Still sporting the same helpless smile from before, Isaac nodded. Without holding anything back, he reported exactly what troubled him. During his recounting of events, Riveria''s eyes grew wider and wider, until she finally closed them, rubbed her forehead and sighed powerlessly.

    "So let me get this straight. You want me to help you kick-start your rune-related research? Do you want me to teach you? That could be¡­ problematic. I''m a bit swamped right now, as you can see, so you would have to wait until the most immediate matters are taken care of."

    Showing a look of understanding, Isaac reassuringly shook his head.

    "No worries, I haven''t turned blind yet. Do you have a book discussing the basics, or even just one expounding on the meanings of a handful of runes? That should be enough to get me started."

    A bit taken aback at the prospect of not having to pull even more all-nighters like she had expected, it took Riveria a few seconds to gather her thoughts. She glanced at the bookshelves that took up the majority of this room''s space and finally recalled the exact information that she had been trying to remember.

    "The third bookshelf to your right, left side, fourth row from the top. There should be a book called ''Runic Mysteries'', penned by Celdia Ljos Alf."

    ''Haven''t I heard that name somewhere before?''

    Upon flipping through his memory, Isaac soon realized that a character named ''Celdia'' had appeared in the heroic tale ''Dungeon Oratoria''. She was also called the ''Queen of the Elves''. Because this author shared the same surname as Riveria, it was rational to assume that they were also a High Elf, therefore they would have had the qualifications to become a candidate for the ruler of all Elvenkind. It was reasonably likely that both Celdias were one and the same person, or at least related to each other. Still, there was a sure-fire way to get an answer to all of these questions.

    "Thanks! By the way, is that the same Celdia who accompanied Albert Waldstein on his adventure? Is she perchance your ancestor?"

    For a moment, Riveria stayed silent and raised an eyebrow yet again. Then, she nodded.

    "Yes. And while she isn''t my direct ancestor, her younger sister, Rishena, is."

    A thankful nod in her direction later, Isaac quickly made his way to where she had told him to search. It only took him a couple of seconds to find the tome that she had mentioned. It was wrapped in a plant-based leathery material, most likely made out of the leaves of a tree from the Alf''s Royal Forest, and had the still mana-imbued letters ''Runic Mysteries'' written in stunningly beautiful penmanship on its spine.

    Isaac carefully took it out of the shelf and got surprised by the fact that it didn''t seem like a millennium-old book at all - in fact, it felt as good as new. Riveria and any previous owners had clearly looked after it extraordinarily well. There were no creases or dog''s ears anywhere, and the ink still appeared as fresh as if it had only just dried hours ago. If he had been a pervert, he probably would have noticed that one could still smell the pleasant natural scent of the author wafting from the pages. The reason for all of this quickly dawned on him - one the corner of every single page, as well as on the binding, a rune could be found. It had been carved hundreds of times.

    Very delicately, Isaac closed the book again, then he put it into his inventory. After thanking Riveria one more time and getting shooed out of the study because she truly was busy, he returned to his private world, where he pulled out a sturdy and clean table as well as a chair first, before placing the newly acquired Runic Mysteries on top of the former.

    ''Let''s get started.''

    Even though all of his movements were as meticulous as possible, so as to not harm this book in any way, it only took him five minutes to read through the entire tome. Hundreds of pages worth of information had entered his mind and had already been internalized by him. Usually, his reading speed would be many times faster, but due to how cautious he had been, he had been left with more than enough time to even get a bit distracted while he was turning the pages.

    Many realizations dawned on him as he thought about the most important parts that he had learned one more time.

    By relying on his system''s automatic translation feature, he had once again confirmed that the runes were not a language, or at least not a language according to the specific definition that he had based this part of the system on.

    And yet, the book claimed that the runes were a language. Every single rune had a specific meaning, and when many of them were put together, they could actually be read by the learned, as well as achieve combined effects.

    New runes could be created as well, but the process of doing so was only touched upon in passing - most of the book was focused on introducing as many of the runes that the author knew about as possible. To make a new one, one had to ''designate a shape and imbue it with meaning'' - that was all that was stated. In essence, this was also how new words for regular languages came about. Combinations of letters, or wholly novel symbols, would be combined or used to convey a specific meaning, thereby becoming ''imbued'' with it.

    Still, something didn''t feel quite right about this to Isaac. If this book''s explanation had been correct and the system had been wrong, then the latter should have automatically added this new language to its database, henceforth enabling him to read all runes that he came across. Needless to say, this hadn''t happened. But why was he so certain that this was how the translation feature worked? He wasn''t, but because he was the creator of the system, he would be very baffled if he forgot to include such basics. So while this didn''t 100 percent guarantee that this assumption of his was correct, it was at least a considerably reliable guess.

    ''There aren''t too many possibilities. Most likely, it''s a kind of ''formal language''.''

    Contrary to ''natural languages'', formal ones didn''t come about naturally. Yes, the wording literally gave it all away immediately, and it was really just that simple. To give an example from Isaac''s past world, programming languages were considered to be formal languages, while English was a natural one that had continuously evolved over the ages.

    ''But that isn''t it either, at least not exactly.''

    The ability to create new ''letters'' - new runes - was what set it apart from regular formal languages. Normally, these would consist of a given alphabet, and new additions to it would not result in expanding the original formal language, but rather result in the creation of an entirely new one. However, in natural languages, new letters came about every now and then. While it wasn''t to the extent that anyone could simply create a new letter and add it to the language whenever they felt like it, on average, every few hundreds years, new ones would inevitably trickle in.

    These runes were an unusual combination of both formal and natural languages, cranked up to eleven. They seemed to be considerably different from the both of them, and had created something novel, something Isaac hadn''t seen before. And he didn''t recognize it as a legitimate language - there was a simple reason for it. Even if it had been a regular formal language, he wouldn''t have the system translate it for him. Only natural languages qualified to be ''real'' languages in his eyes, because they had evolved over long periods of time, mostly without any sort of blueprint. They had simply come about, and not been deliberately designed. And while these runes did have some similarities to natural languages, they weren''t the same. Did this mean that his system''s translation feature wasn''t preparing him for any and all eventualities? Yes, but that would also enable him to have some fun while he would be figuring out unfamiliar and strange languages that didn''t fit the specified criteria that he had set.

    There was another realization that he had come to after reading about the individual runes that Celdia had mentioned, as well as how exactly the interactions between them changed their effects. Runes¡­ they were just a mana-powered programming language. For example, every rune could be considered to be a ''function'' - this was what the phrase ''imbue it with meaning'' referred to. Or at least that was Isaac''s interpretation of it.

    ''That''s all well and good, but how do I actually create new runes? And how am I supposed to find out what the runes in the magic stones mean?''

    Nowhere in the whole tome was there any mention of how unknown runes could be deciphered. Maybe it was just too advanced of a topic to be covered here, maybe the author had run out of pages before arriving at this issue, or maybe it was considered to be impossible. Isaac had no idea which possibility was the most likely, he was lacking all relevant information.

    The Goblin''s magic stone, at this point, might as well have been a black box to him.

    As he was coming up with lots of different theories and approaches, the hours passed by.

    ''Oh, would you look at the time¡­''

    It was already close to 1 p.m., a.k.a. when he had to be present in his cell to feast on his sumptuous meal. Or, well, his pathetic prison food. Yesterday, he hadn''t gotten a chance to stop by, because he had been busy being swarmed by hundreds of Xenos and being dragged around like a ragdoll. Fortunately, after having contacted Fels, the skeleton had disposed of his lunch for him, so as to avoid arousing any attention.

    After a quick teleportation trip to his cell to fill his stomach with some delectable water, stale salad and hard bread, he immediately returned to his private world.

    An hour later, he finally made a breakthrough - it was a small one, but it was progress nonetheless.

    When drawing the shape of a new rune with his mana, he chose to try to influence it in the same way as he would usually do with his mana when he wanted to achieve a certain effect. This didn''t work at first, because it simply made the mana produce the phenomenon immediately, not caring about what kind of shape it was currently in. As a stopgap measure, he tried to prevent this by clarifying that the rune-shaped mana should only activate after it got imbued with even more mana, and that actually worked¡­ but he knew that he had strayed unto the wrong path.

    Nevertheless, even failures would lead one closer to one''s goal, as there was always something to be understood - even if it was just ''what not to do''. In the failed rune creation''s case, however, the lesson learned was a far more important one.

    The second approach to creating a new rune led Isaac to using his pure mana on a piece of rock, carving out the shape of the rune that he wanted to make. Afterwards, he returned the mana to his mental layer, before having it reappear in the same spot as before and designating it the exact role that he wanted it to play. For simplicity''s sake, he went with what he dubbed a ''wind blade rune'' - whenever mana was inserted into the shape of the rune that he had carved, it was supposed to convert it into a wind blade that shot off in a defined direction, with a certain speed.

    This¡­ it actually worked! Even reusing the same mould, the same ''formation rune'', wasn''t a problem.

    In just a few hours, Isaac had comprehended the basis of how to create magical formations. While he was still very far from understanding the actual ''grammar'' of this rune language, he could now at least create the most rudimentary of fundamental magic formations. It required him to understand how to make a phenomena happen with mana first, and to then imbue an engraved rune with just that purpose. This was completely different from how magical formation masters created their complicated formations nowadays. None of them actually fashioned anything new from the ground up, they had simply studied the grammar of the rune language, as well as learned the meaning of thousands of runes that had already been in circulation for countless years.

    While the path that Isaac had embarked on was an innovative one, what he was currently capable of would only lead to him getting mocked by narrow-minded industry professionals. But as fortune would have it, this time, he was fully aware that he was advancing in the correct direction.

    Be that as it may, why were the runes in the magic stone made out of pure mana, and not carved into its vessel? Would carving them only enable one to use them in formations and not result in the wondrous enigma that was a magic stone? To begin with, just what did have to happen for them to become ''mould-less''? And lastly, again, how could he ''read'' these runes whose meaning was entirely foreign to him?

    At this point, Isaac didn''t yet have an answer to any of these questions.

 Chapter 125 - Success And Sleepover

    Early in the afternoon, his research got temporarily put on halt because his subordinates and students were due to return from the dungeon. Once he had put a teleportation node next to their current position on the 19th floor and made his way there to fetch them, they reassembled in the private world.

    As only three of them - Kalin, Mina and Quinn - had had the opportunity to grow significantly since last time, he only bothered to update their Status today. If he did so every handful of stat points that anyone gained, then it honestly would just be a waste of his time.

    [ Name: Kalin Myre ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Familia) ]

    [ Race: Human ]

    [ Level: 2 ]

    [ Age: 15 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: SSS-1,254 -> SSS-1,246 -> SSS-1,454 - > I-0 (2,181) ]

    [ Endurance: SS-1,059 -> SS-1,051 -> SSS-1,269 -> I-0 (1,904) ]

    [ Dexterity: SSS-1,295 -> SSS-1,287 -> SSS-1,496 -> I-0 (2,244) ]

    [ Agility: SSS-1,203 -> SSS-1,195 -> SSS-1,401 -> I-0 (2,102) ]

    [ Magic: D-521 -> D-513 -> A-886 -> I-0 (1,329) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Spearman: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance ]

    Finally, the young man had made it to Level 2! If his entire journey, ever since he had entered the dungeon for the first time, was counted, then his rank up-speed would be perceived to be about average. But considering that for the majority of that time, he hadn''t even been able to make any progress due to not having a Falna, the close to 40 days since he had met Isaac had seen him soar to incredible heights. This speed even put Ais'' old record to shame! But, well, compared to the less than six days that it had taken for Isaac to achieve the same, it felt like an extremely ordinary feat. This was also the main reason as to why all of the students didn''t get drunk on their accomplishments. They constantly compared themselves to their unfathomable teacher, and felt very small in comparison - not dejected, but grounded.

    [ Spearman (I): Improves comprehension speed of spear related skills and abilities by 10%. Increases all stats by 5% when equipped with a spear. ]

    Just as expected, Kalin had chosen to focus on the Spearman Development Ability first. While Abnormal Resistance would indeed not have been a bad pick by any means, he could always add it to his repertoire later.

    If there was one thing that stuck out at all, then it was that the speed at which Kalin lost his stat points had exactly doubled. Should he have truly wanted to, then Isaac would have been capable of taking the stone ring apart and studying it in detail, but he already had enough on his plate for now. Additionally, he felt like interfering with whatever was going on wouldn''t be a good idea. It was just a gut feeling, but those usually tended to be extremely accurate in his case, so he settled on staying his hand and letting this phenomenon unfold fully. Well, he was also quite certain that he already knew what was transpiring, so he was expectantly looking forward to the final result.

    [ Name: Mina Teagle ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

    [ Race: Chienthrope ]

    [ Level: 2 ]

    [ Age: 16 ]

    [ Loyalty: 100/100 ]

    [ Devotion: 30/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: SS-1,083 -> SSS-1,436 -> I-0 (2,154) (+ 67,601 x 0.003) ]

    [ Endurance: S-947 -> SSS-1,252 -> I-0 (1,878) (+ 67,601 x 0.003) ]

    [ Dexterity: SSS-1,190 -> XXX-1,553 -> I-0 (2,250) (+ 67,601 x 0.003) ]

    [ Agility: SS-1,019 -> SSS-1,324 -> I-0 (1,986) (+ 67,601 x 0.003) ]

    [ Magic: C-677 -> SS-1,078 -> I-0 (1,617) (+ 67,601 x 0.003) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Reverential Resonance ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Swordsman: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance ]

    Like Kalin, Mina also more than qualified for an advancement to Level 2. While in the former''s case, him losing eight of his stat points had managed to keep his Dexterity barely within the limits of what his vessel could contain, the faithful Chienthrope girl''s Dexterity had shot way beyond the safety line! It took Isaac a slight amount of effort to extract the surplus excelia from her Falna and have it dissolve into the surroundings safely. Because he already had some experience with this back when he had first updated Averin''s Status, it wasn''t too difficult. If he hadn''t been here and any other regular god had attempted to update her Status, then she would have died, there was no doubt about it. Luckily, her lord was quite special indeed.

    To no one''s surprise, the Development Ability that she chose was Swordsman. The number of monsters which were relatively dangerous to face without relying on Abnormal Resistance wasn''t all that high, so the risk of improving her bladework first wasn''t a huge one. It wasn''t like they were lacking in valis, so they could always carry plenty of Elixirs with them, just in case.

    Due to her Reverential Resonance Skill, Mina now surpassed Kalin in every single stat, and even without it, she more than rivalled him. This caused the fire of motivation to burn even brighter in the young man''s c.h.e.s.t, while his teacher just showed an amused smile from the sidelines. Isaac didn''t say a word about what he speculated to soon be the case, as it would be great if Kalin could grow faster. Snuffing out his drive and making him become complacent would simply be counterproductive.

    It wasn''t the two of them who stood out the most, however. Rather, it was the unassuming cat boy who had joined their ranks a bit more recently. His excelia gain rate¡­ it was simply astonishing. His broken Berserker Skill had enabled him to surpass both Kalin and Mina in a little more than four weeks.

    [ Name: Quinn Graham ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

    [ Race: Cat People ]

    [ Level: 2 ]

    [ Age: 14 ]

    [ Loyalty: 85/100 ]

    [ Strength: C-637 -> SSS-1,318 -> I-0 (1,977) ]

    [ Endurance: C-629 -> SSS-1,312 -> I-0 (1,968) ]

    [ Dexterity: C-649 -> SSS-1,330 -> I-0 (1,995) ]

    [ Agility: C-632 -> SSS-1,316 -> I-0 (1,974) ]

    [ Magic: B-776 -> SSS-1,493 -> I-0 (2,240) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Berserker ]

    [ Swordsman: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance ]

    Although he was ''only'' at Level 2, just like the other two, and his pure stats couldn''t yet contend with Mina''s, once he activated his trump card and multiplied all of his stats by 2.2, he vastly exceeded these seniors of his.

    One might expect that he now entirely eclipsed them, but this wasn''t the case. Even though the grades of their Development Abilities were the same, their individual skill with their respective weapons varied greatly. Quinn simply couldn''t catch up with Mina, who had been following Isaac for a lot longer than him. He could achieve the same - or even better - results as she did with in-depth planning and strategizing, but when only the two''s swordsmanship was compared - for example, during spars - then he couldn''t last more than a handful of exchanges. And Kalin¡­ he was even more outstanding than Mina! Admittedly, the gap between the two wasn''t that big, but the young man had confidently kept his lead in the realm of combat skills all this time.

    Details like these simply couldn''t be glimpsed from a person''s Status. Perhaps in the future, the grades of their Development Abilities would eventually give others a more accurate idea, but for now, they all appeared to be at the same starting line.

    A relieved smirk played across Isaac''s lips as he thought about his plans for the time to come. All of his subordinates were growing well, and just as he had expected, Quinn was going to become a terrifying weapon of mass destruction if he continued along this path. Even his achievements on the martial path wouldn''t be that important once he reached further heights - his sheer advantage in stats would overwhelm most opponents.

    ''I should try a bit harder tomorrow, I don''t want her to fall too far behind.''

    With a glance at Mina, his most loyal retainer, Isaac resolved himself to sleep well tonight, so that he could make the most of his new dungeon delving equipment as soon as possible. If his assumptions were to turn out to be correct, then Mina''s ''cheat'', the Reverential Resonance Skill, was by far the weakest in this group of three, at least in Isaac''s current state. So even if it was just to give her an opportunity to compete with the two boys for longer, he felt like he shouldn''t slack off too much.

    Yes, he considered his groundbreaking achievements and mind-blowing rank up-speed to be ''slacking off''...

    For today''s training, the group returned to the same Twilight Manor courtyard as always and met up with Lefiya, who had been obediently studying. Most of the time was spent on helping the three newly advanced Level 2''s to get used to their improved bodies, so they didn''t make too much progress overall. Isaac also included Titania in the spars and helped her to develop more dangerous attack patterns for her leaf-tipped tentacles. While she didn''t make much progress yet, she at least tried to improve.

    When it was time for dinner, his teachings concluded, and everyone went to take a bath or shower, even Isaac. But of course, even as he was standing under a showerhead and letting the water droplets cleanse his body, he was still deep in thought.

    ''Aside from Lefiya and Titania, I don''t think the others will be capable of comprehending the concept of the mental layer. Well, maybe Quinn will stand a chance - he seems quite smart, after all - but he definitely won''t be able to do it anytime soon.''

    Because he had made significant improvements in his understanding of Magic recently, and would only further refine it in the future, he decided that it was high time to confront his people with the realm of mana as well. Still, because most of his subordinates and students weren''t especially talented in this regard, he would have to rely on certain alternatives. Just by looking at their mostly impressive Magic stats - Aselina was clearly the black sheep here - it was clear that it would be a real shame if they couldn''t make use of them to support themselves in battle.

    Also, according to Isaac''s observations, while Mina wasn''t entirely mindless when she fought, she relied so much on instinct that her massive growth in the Magic stat couldn''t solely be explained by her mental activity. On the other end of the spectrum was Aselina, who had become far more methodical during her fights, so she should have started to acc.u.mulate Magic-related excelia - but this wasn''t the case. Most likely, the presence and respective growth of this stat was also reliant on a person having an inborn talent for it, or on Magics already slumbering beneath the surface, just waiting to awaken.

    Pursuing this train of thought even further, Isaac deduced that these Magics had to be a part of their very souls, and most likely had something to do with the respective person''s previous lives. The fact that souls reincarnated was pretty much common knowledge in this world, so assuming that previous lives were entirely wiped clean and had no influence on the present would be simply naive. Isaac had already been quite certain that at least a person''s fundamental personality was relatively consistent, even over the course of many lives, but even Magics being a part of this was an intriguing new hypothesis.

    On his way back to his private world, Isaac pulled out the Occulus that Fels had given him and injected some of his mana. Once he had made sure that the skeleton was listening, he stated his request.

    "I would like to buy six grimoires, would that be possible? I''ll pay in magic stones."

    About half a minute later, a reply finally arrived.

    "Mr. Blackshaw, that would be 600 million valis worth of magic stones. I can have the grimoires ready by tomorrow morning, but are you sure that you have enough money?"

    A heavy sigh escaped Isaac''s lips and he nodded. Even before his recent slaughter of hundreds of thousands of monsters did he have more than enough to afford such a paltry expenditure. His pockets had grown ridiculously heavy, and his wealth felt like a burden sometimes - more specifically when he had to keep track of it.

    "Yes, I''m sure. I''ll drop by my cell at around 6:30 a.m. then. Can I just leave the magic stones with you, pick up the grimoires and depart again? Should there be any discrepancies or missing magic stones, then you can always contact me, after all. Also, please deal with my lunch again, I won''t be able to return to my cell at the respective time tomorrow."

    When they finally answered, the helplessness in Fels'' voice was palpable. They felt like an exploited office worker that was being ground to the bones, and yet¡­ they already had only bones remaining! Maybe that was why nobody seemed to feel bad about burdening them with ever-increasing amounts of tasks.

    "As you wish. Have a good night, Mr. Blackshaw."

    Clearly not in the mood for a chat, Fels hastily cut the connection before Isaac had any chance to pile even more things on their plate. Prior to Ouranos'' meeting with this young man, while Fels'' daily life hadn''t been an idle one, they at least hadn''t had to burn the midnight oil every single day. Now, however¡­ they were toiling away every waking hour - 24 hours per day - and still felt like they were slowly being submerged.

    -----

    Humming a light-hearted tune from her childhood, Mina stood in the subordinate base''s kitchen. Her dark-blonde hair had grown about two centimeters longer since she had first met her lord, but when fastened into a ponytail, it was still about shoulder-length. She had shortened her bangs a few days ago because they had started to get in the way, and now they were back to barely reaching her eyebrows. When she had come to Orario, she had worn rough linen garments, but since a few weeks ago, she could enjoy the comfortable cotton clothing that she had bought on a shopping trip with Lefiya and her friends.

    Currently, she wore sky-blue socks over white stockings, and her fluffy tail partially stuck out from underneath a close to knee-length, azure pleated skirt. Her upper body was clad in a sleeveless grey blouse, over which she had dr.a.p.ed a simple white apron. With a wooden ladle, she rhythmically stirred the vegetable beef stew on the magic stone-powered stove in front of her.

    After holding her hand over the pot to check the temperature, she happily nodded to herself and turned off the stove. With practised movements, she scooped out a few ladlefuls into a soup plate and took out a spoon from a drawer nearby.

    Happily whistling to herself, she stripped off the apron and hung it over a nearby chair, then she securely balanced the plate in her hands and hurried out of the back door of the base. Even though she was moving at a speed that most people would have difficulty to keep up with, and carrying the stew with her while she was at it, she didn''t spill any of it and quickly arrived at the training courtyard that they had all been at barely half an hour ago.

    Moments later, she used the teleportation node to move to her lord''s private world, where she found him sitting at a table not far away, seemingly deep in thought. A book and a magic stone were placed in front of him, but there was still plenty of empty space.

    "Milord, please have a nice meal!"

    With a bright grin on her face and a nimbly wagging tail, she placed the plate and spoon on the table, careful not to set them down too close to her lord''s research materials.

    Showing an amused smile, Isaac lifted his head and turned to face her, causing her tail''s movement speed to rapidly increase. Unhurriedly, he reached out and patted her head, which she had already lowered in expectation.

    "You know, you don''t need to go out of your way to bring me food. But still, thanks for the hard work."

    Even though he had told her this many times before, she still insisted on providing him with something to eat whenever she could. Although this was the first time that she had delivered it to his private world - after all, this place hadn''t been around for long - he had already felt it a bit excessive when she had knocked on the door to his and Ais'' room in the past, always carrying with her some simple but hearty meals.

    "But I''m not going out of my way, milord! Being of service to you is my utmost goal and makes me happy."

    Despite the fact that she had her eyes closed and was basking in the bliss of the gentle head pats, Mina took the chance to explain herself, eliciting a resigned but benevolent chuckle from her lord.

    "Fine, fine. Just don''t make the others wait for too long. I''m sure they''re really hungry."

    Reluctantly separating from his hand, Mina nodded.

    "I understand. Then, may your research be fruitful, milord! See you tomorrow!"

    With speedy footsteps, she turned around and walked back to the teleportation node. On the way, she noticed a certain Demi Spirit in the distance, who was munching away on a mountain of hundreds of magic stones.

    "Bon app¨¦tit, Titania!"

    Leaving behind these words, she disappeared from sight.

    ''They all call him ''milord'' instead of ''master''. Am I the weird one?''

    Unbeknownst to her, the plant was too deep in thought to even register what she had said.

    Less than a minute later, Mina arrived back at the base. Searching around the kitchen for a moment, she found the white potholders that she had placed on one of the shelves and grabbed them, using them to carry the still steaming pot of stew into the dining room. She placed it on the heat-resistant table mat and heaved a satisfied sigh.

    "Everyone, dinner is ready!"

    Shouting just loudly enough to notify everyone who was currently here in the base, she went back into the kitchen and got seven soup plates as well as just as many spoons. She also didn''t forget to bring the ladle along.

    By the time she returned, Aselina, Averin, Jakk and Quinn had already sat down, while Kalin and Valenoa were only just arriving, the beautiful girl clinging to his arm with a breathtaking, innocent smile on her face. But because such intimate behaviour between the two had slowly but surely turned into normalcy, nobody batted an eye.

    "Let me help."

    Before Mina had a chance to say anything, Aselina had already risen from her seat, grabbed the ladle out of her hand and was scooping out stew into the soup plates that Mina had just set down.

    Even though the raccoon girl hadn''t waited for her answer, Mind just showed a slight smirk and finally allowed herself to sit down and come to a well-deserved rest.

    Amidst the customary bragging of Averin, who successfully managed to eat without the use of a spoon, the antisocial silence of Jakk and the ''knowing'' looks that he shot in Kalin''s direction, they all enjoyed a filling meal.

    Kalin and Mina were the ''soul'' of the table, and the ones who usually drove the various conversations, while Averin, Quinn and Valenoa just followed along. Aselina was mostly silent, but paid close attention to everything around her. She would probably be capable of reciting the entire chat in detail if she were to ever be asked about it. Jakk was a bit more of a recluse when it came to participating, but occasionally, he would whisper something to Kalin, who was sitting to his left. The two of them had grown quite close since their first encounter all those days ago.

    Soon after they finished their dinner, the group separated again. As usual, Quinn dragged Averin off into his room and went to sleep, making use of the most superior of fluffy hugging pillows. Jakk excused himself and wandered off, most likely to enter the dungeon on his own again in mere moments. Kalin and Valenoa returned to their own respective rooms as well.

    In Mina''s room, she and Aselina were sitting on the bed, now clad in far more comfortable pyjamas.

    "You crossed the Beol Mountains all alone?! Whoa, wasn''t that scary?"

    Hugging a pillow and leaning against the wall, the Chienthrope girl''s eyes widened as she listened to her friend''s recollection. Ever since Aselina had joined their ranks, she had rapidly developed a liking for her and she soon began to see her as somewhat of a best friend. The raccoon girl was an expert listener, and not nearly as icy as she appeared on the outside. When given the chance and asked the right questions, she would also turn into a chatterbox on occasion.

    "It was, but I asked some hunters who lived nearby many questions before I ventured across. They gave me lots of useful information, about how to recognize the local monsters'' tracks, as well as how to avoid their notice. It all worked out remarkably well. For two weeks, at least."

    As if she had just remembered something unpleasant, Aselina''s brows furrowed and she wrapped herself a little tighter into the blanket that she had enveloped herself in.

    "Knowing about the monsters was helpful, and I wasn''t bad at traversing mountains either. But in the end, I still tripped and fell, straight off a cliff. Well, luckily, I landed in the net of a Deformis Spider that had chosen to nest nearby¡­"

    Realizing the implications, Mina grew pale.

    "You mean¡­"

    With a sigh, Aselina nodded.

    "Yeah, I almost died right then and there. I heard that in the dungeon, those spiders are at Level 5, but the one I encountered was pretty weak, even for a Level 1. I don''t know if it was a newborn or whether these spiders have weakened a lot over however many generations have passed since they came to the surface. Anyway, I was still a seven year old girl at the time, and couldn''t possibly defeat it. Even a Goblin would have been able to easily kill me."

    Pausing for a moment, the raccoon girl stared at the ceiling.

    "I didn''t know it at the time, but I had to have landed on a spot in the net that was quite fragile, because it couldn''t hold me for long. It wasn''t as sticky as it probably should have been either. My backpack got stuck and I had to leave it behind, but I somehow struggled free. I fell the last three meters or so to the ground, then I chanced upon a small cave that the spider couldn''t fit in. I followed it for a few days, living off the moss that grew inside and a small underground spring, before seeing the light of day again. Thinking about it now, there were countless things that could have gone wrong¡­ Just imagine, that cave could have been inhabited by some other monsters, or I simply could have missed that net¡­"

    Aselina couldn''t help but smile a little wryly, not sure what to think about it all. While she had managed to escape certain death through a lucky string of coincidences, it had still been a harrowing experience nonetheless.

    Hugging her, Mina showed a sunny smile in an effort to cheer her up. Just like that, the two girls talked until deep in the night. Finally, they got exhausted and fell asleep, inadvertently having a sleepover. An hour or so later, someone invisible fixed their unhealthy sleep positions and tucked them in properly. If they had been awake, they would have heard a pleasant voice whispering to herself, clearly a bit annoyed.

    "I swear, these girls... You can''t just do this every day, think about your health! You might catch a cold."

    -----

    ''-o--- tru-- ---t ----!''

    Knock knock.

    Feeling a sudden burst of slight weakness, Kalin''s weary eyes shot open and he stared at the ceiling, into the darkness. He had fallen asleep just three hours prior, and that simply wasn''t enough rest for his body that had been significantly exhausted yesterday.

    "Ugh¡­ did I just¡­ hear¡­ something?"

    Mumbling to himself, he calmed his rapidly beating heart. Whenever that ring of his absorbed some of his stats, his body would usually become more active, as if it had detected a foreign threat and needed him to prepare himself to fend it off.

    Absentmindedly rubbing the stone ring on the pendant around his neck, he slowly succeeded in clearing his head again.

    Knock knock.

    "Huh?"

    This time, his tired self actually realized that someone had knocked on his door.

    ''Who could it be?''

    Never before had anyone awoken him this deep in the night, so he slowly sat up and stretched, readying his worn out body for movement, should it be necessary. One never knew, maybe their teacher was summoning them for something?

    "Come on in. What is it?"

    At his words, the door opened, revealing the tear-stained face of a red-haired beauty. She was clad in only a nightgown that had slipped down her right shoulder while she had rolled around in bed. It hardly even covered her c.h.e.s.t anymore, causing Kalin to blush deeply in pleasant surprise. Still, her red, teary eyes quickly snapped him out of it.

    ''You idiot! Can''t you see that she''s feeling horrible? Now''s not the time for this!''

    He would have heavily slapped himself if he was alone, but now, he needed to appear to be reliable. Hastily, he stood up and grabbed her shoulders, carefully sizing her up. She hadn''t gotten hurt, had she?

    "What''s wrong? What happened?"

    In response to his question oozing with concern, the shivering Valenoa dove into his arms and sniffled.

    "I had a nightmare¡­ I don''t want to be alone. Please, please¡­ let me sleep here tonight!"

    Any other day, such a request to share the bed with him would have flooded Kalin''s mind with dirty thoughts - most of them courtesy of the bad influence that was Jakk, of course - but considering her current condition, he would have to be a real sc.u.mbag to be entirely overcome by them. This wasn''t to say that a voice somewhere in the back of his head wasn''t whispering l.e.w.d ideas into his ears, but that simply couldn''t be helped. Most people would, at least subconsciously, have these thoughts in such situations - especially with a bombshell like Valenoa in their arms.

    "Alright."

    His voice as gentle and calm as possible, Kalin c.a.r.e.s.sed her back and closed the door, then he led her to his bed, where they snuggled up together. Valenoa quickly fell asleep, but she occasionally clutched onto him tightly, clearly having encountered something terrible in her dreams.

    For more than an hour, Kalin found it hard to relax, especially when the reality of the situation slowly settled in. Having her in such close proximity to him, breathing her pleasant scent, feeling her body heat and her soft skin¡­ it was overwhelming. He needed most of his self-control to keep the embers of l.u.s.t at bay.

    Ultimately, he found himself too tired to even think about anything, and the acc.u.mulated fatigue engulfed him, causing him to drift off into slumber.

 Chapter 126 - The End Of The Breather

    Five hours earlier, at around 8 p.m., a gallant old man clad in a black suit with a faded-green tie approached the Twilight Manor. His eyes were a stormy blue and his ear-length hair as white as they come. It constantly fluttered about as if caught in a strong breeze, even when there was no wind around. While his face was clearly marked by the ages, his build was exceptionally sturdy and firm. Even whilst walking, he gave off the air of an experienced martial artist. But instead of appearing imposing or scary, the calm, gentle and wise smile on his face made him look like a loving grandfather.

    What reinforced that image of his was the group of seven kids of various ages following after him. Although some of them clearly showed signs of malnourishment, there was a certain fire, a motivation, burning in their eyes. They didn''t appear as listless as beggars, but more like people who had been given a new lease on life.

    At the forefront of these kids was a pair of Boaz siblings that appeared to be around 12 years of age. Even a casual observer would notice that they were considered to be the leaders of this group of young ones, or at the very least had earned the respect of everyone else. Whether that be due to their relatively muscular statures or something else, that couldn''t be determined.

    Normally, there wouldn''t be anyone waiting at the Twilight Manor''s entrance, because most of the guard and notification duties were taken care of by the magical formation encompassing the manor grounds. Today, however, a black-haired cat girl and a young human man with relatively short, somewhat spiky hair were standing by. Once they saw the old man and his entourage approach, they politely opened the gate and greeted them.

    "Lord K¨¢ri, thank you for responding to our goddess'' invitation. Welcome to our Loki Familia''s pride and joy, the Twilight Manor!"

    Sporting a practised smile on her face, the cat girl led the group towards the main manor, somewhat clumsily followed by the young man next to her.

    "No need to be so courteous to a geezer like me. It''s been a bit since I''ve seen that lass Loki, so I agreed to come. By the way, could you please take care of my kiddos in the meantime? I haven''t found a home for us yet, and I couldn''t just leave them behind."

    Far more casual than would be expected of someone wearing such a high-quality suit, K¨¢ri glanced at the seven kids that behaved like little ducklings chasing after their mother. In his gaze was warmth, a hint of sadness, as well as genuine care. If Loki had been here, she definitely wouldn''t have missed this chance to throw out a witty comment.

    "That won''t be a problem! Raul, please bring Lord K¨¢ri to our goddess'' study, I''ll play with the kids."

    Leaving the simple task of being a guide to her companion, the cat girl - Aki - showed a far more genuine smile as she faced the children, before coaxing them with kind words and leading them around the courtyard, letting them inspect the place. She seemed quite adept at dealing with kids, so the old man quickly breathed a sigh of relief and entered the main manor.

    A few minutes later, he found himself seated on a green sofa and sipping from a glass of wine, staring across a table at a familiar red-haired goddess with a mischievous grin, as well as a short, blonde Pallum who was sitting next to her. He didn''t make the foolish mistake of underestimating this man, however, and he easily recognized him as the Loki Familia''s Captain, Finn Deimne. If he hadn''t at least heard about this legend amongst men in the five days since his descent, then he would have really done a piss-poor job at basic intel gathering.

    "Thanks for the invitation, Loki. You hadn''t barged into my place for a couple of decades, so it was a tad boring. I see you''ve made quite the name for yourself down here. Nicely done, kiddo."

    With a slightly taunting but genuine, carefree grin, K¨¢ri nodded at the goddess in front of him, before turning to face her most trusted child and addressing him without giving Loki any chance to flare up. This wasn''t his first rodeo - handling her was something that he had grown to be very adept at.

    "Also, it''s nice to meet you, Braver. I know I''m new around here, but in a couple tens of years, if my children can be of help to you in fulfilling your goal, I wouldn''t stand in their way. After all, it''s a noble but harsh path that you follow."

    Showing a civil smile in response, Finn beamed at their guest.

    "There won''t be a need, but I appreciate the gesture."

    Finally grasping a chance to speak up, Loki snorted and spiritedly glared at K¨¢ri, playing with her wine glass all the while.

    "It''s been about time for you to show your face here in the Lower World, old man. I''m glad to hear you missed me so much that you bothered to descend. While it couldn''t have been too costly for you, your sacrifice still moves me to tears."

    Blinking away a few fake tears, she heaved an exaggerated sigh and shot her old friend a ''moved'' and happy grin.

    Snorting amusedly at her display, the old god took another sip from his drink.

    "You''re still as shameless as ever, I see. I''d be lying if I said that I didn''t miss your quips at least a little bit, though. Anyway, you should know exactly why I''ve come here, right? You''ve never had too bad of a head on your shoulders, after all, so don''t disappoint me now."

    Already content with having gotten her old friend to admit that he had looked forward to their reunion, Loki''s expression returned to her usual mischievous one, then she nodded her head.

    "Of course I do. You came here with all the other wind-related deities, so there has to be someone who newly ascended, someone with that Divinity. Judging from your usual behaviour, you probably plan to guide them as a mentor, and to beat back a few ignorant idiots in the process. You''re quite good at combat, even without access to our divine powers, after all. Have I missed anything?"

    Even though Loki''s tone made her seem confident and victorious, K¨¢ri still shook his head, with both fake sorrow and amus.e.m.e.nt glittering in his eyes.

    "Not quite. You know that I''m far more experienced with this than most, so I know that the newly ascended deity is being harboured here in your little Twilight Manor. It''s all too easy for me to gauge their general direction, and then it''s just a matter of walking around the city a little, and basic triangulation¡­"

    Loki''s expression darkened a little, although she had already expected this development. Still, she had hoped to keep this fact a secret for a little while longer. But seemingly, there was nothing that she could do about it anymore. While K¨¢ri wasn''t the most senior of all wind-related deities, he was still amongst the most powerful ones. For who knows how long, he had been almost about to ascend and become a primordial god, so it wasn''t too unusual for him to more clearly detect Ais'' presence than the common rabble.

    "I have a pretty good idea as to why you aimed to mislead me, and I won''t blame you for it. Just know that you can always rely on me, alright? Hell, I''ve been taking care of you pretty much ever since you were born, so you should really know this by now."

    "Sorry about that, but I can''t let anyone know. Even you being aware of this already brings with it a bigger risk. Still, thanks. While you honestly won''t be of any help for now, maybe, as you said, after your familia grows into more than just an impromptu orphanage, it won''t be too pointless for them to get involved."

    Not in the least annoyed by her harsh word choices, K¨¢ri gulped down the last of his wine and set the glass down on the table. He was well aware that Loki''s habit of adding troubled children to her familia, and giving them a chance to grow to greater heights, had been partially inspired by himself. She knew that he wasn''t bad at raising an impressive force of his own, and it would just take a couple of tens of years, at most - to immortal deities like them, in retrospect, that amount of time didn''t feel like more than the blink of an eye.

    "Fine, fine. I won''t prod into this any more for now, then."

    Right when Loki began to feel relieved, his words continued. The playful and gloating smirk on his face caused her to tense up involuntarily.

    "Anyway, I was also asked to deliver a message to you by Angrboda. ''You promised me that you''d return home for a visit twenty years ago, but you''re still not here. Do I have to descend as well and drag you back myself?'' Really, I usually don''t involve myself with matters like these, matters of the heart, but aren''t you treating your lovely wifey too harshly? Oh, I wonder how she''ll react when she hears that you''ve been ''playing around'' with mortals behind her back again¡­"

    At the mention of Angrboda, Loki''s entire body froze up instantly. Cold sweat began to drip down her back and her smile became oddly forced. Even Finn, who had been with her for many decades, had only rarely seen her like this. That aside, this was also the first time that he heard about his goddess¡­ actually being married.

    ''That''s good to know, I''ll remind her of it the next time that she tries to take advantage of me during a Status update.''

    As her Captain was rejoicing inwardly, Loki couldn''t help but utter curse after curse in her own mind. She had forgotten - or rather, temporarily repressed - this matter for many years now, almost constantly ever since her descent. This had enabled her to have many a fun time during her days here, even developing what could be described as consensual s.e.x.u.a.l relationsh.i.p.s with a handful of past and present familia members. Admittedly, the vast majority of her children didn''t appreciate her perverted nature at all, but there had been a few over all these years that had indeed wanted to pursue the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.es of the flesh with her.

    "Ahaha¡­ good old Angrboda, she still loves to joke around as much as she used to."

    In an effort to further repress the reality of the situation, a comically fake and mechanical laughter escaped the panicking Loki''s mouth. Still, her artificial delusions were quickly shattered.

    "You know as well as I do that she never jests. If I were you, I would make sure to get rid of as much evidence as you can, sort out your relationsh.i.p.s well, and prepare to receive her. She was already in talks with Ouranos when I left Heaven. This isn''t the first time, so you should have some experience in dealing with this. Lie in the bed you''ve made, you can''t escape anyway. At least not for long."

    K¨¢ri''s words were akin to blades cutting deep into her heart. She knew that he spoke the truth, and that he had given her some heart-felt advice even while smirking so excessively gleefully. He really was a good man, one who always went out of his way to help, no matter what. Still, she was hurt. Not by him, but by the guilt that threatened to overwhelm her. She loved Angrboda, she truly did, but she also wanted to frolic in freedom every now and then¡­

    It took her a while, but the trickster goddess eventually regained control over her emotions and returned to a state of calm. She had prepared for such a moment for a long time already, so she wouldn''t be caught entirely by surprise.

    In any case, all of this was for tomorrow''s Loki to worry about. With a grin, she took another gulp from her wine glass and asked Finn to give them both a refill. Then, with a more relaxed tone, she continued the conversation with her old friend.

    "Anyway, the night is young, so let''s drink! Your children can stay the night, we have far more than enough empty bedrooms. Finn! Go and let Riveria know, she''ll handle it."

    At the same time, a certain High Elf felt a slight headache.

    -----

    Even though Isaac had allowed himself to rest for the majority of the night - he had even slept for close to six hours, which was an excessive luxury - that didn''t mean that he hadn''t done anything at all.

    The process of adding every single last drop of mana that was currently available to him to his mana flow had successfully come to a close early last evening, which now placed him at 67,601 drops in total. When he had passed the 60,000 mark, he had also improved the grade of his Development Ability again.

    For now, he would have to wait for another increase in his stats to travel further down this path.

    The second matter that he had taken care of was a loose end. Back when he had temporarily retreated from the dungeon to avoid its wrath, he hadn''t yet unlocked his current Level''s Hunter-series Development Ability. And because he hadn''t killed the required number of monsters in a single day, he had to start from scratch. This would still increase his monster slaying achievement, so it was not a complete loss, and it would also allow him to gather more valuable loot, but it certainly hadn''t gone perfectly. Oh well, plans couldn''t always go off without a hitch.

    Because there was no need to restrain himself any longer, as had already finished his studies on the monsters inhabiting the Glacier Territory, he managed to kill the required 30,000 of them in around two hours. Mainly because his stats didn''t eclipse them as overwhelmingly as they did the monsters of lower Levels, and because he was aiming for the very strongest Level 5 monsters that he could find, his regular advanced grinding technique barely had any use. Most monsters down here could easily shrug off attacks made by wind blades that he had formed with minimal mana investment, so he had to spend a lot more of it and his focus to reap their lives efficiently. This forced him to reduce both the size of his sphere of death, as well as his advancement speed, by a lot. He even occasionally had to take short breaks in between to give his mana enough time to recover.

    Still, eventually, his investment paid off, as he could spy a new Development Ability amongst the list of those that he could select during his next rank up.

    [ Expert Hunter (I): When battling a monster one has already gained excelia from previously - 10% increase in all stats, 10% increase in excelia gained. ]

    In the process of finally opening up this opportunity, Isaac had collected all 74,000 AP that he had still been able to gain from his Level 5 monster slaying quest, and had arrived at 50,977 kills. The first 20,977 didn''t count towards his future progress in Expert Hunter, because the ''counter'' only kicked off starting from the kills that had allowed him to actually qualify for this Development Ability - a.k.a. his last 30,000 - but that was just an incredibly minor annoyance, one that he could live with.

    Aside from this, he had also made very good progress towards increasing the grade of his Spirit Healing again, but he was still a couple of thousand mana drops off.

    After he returned from his quick little slaughter in the dungeon, he entered his private world and, in the company of Ais, sketched out the foundations for his subordinates'' base. He also compiled all the building materials that would be required. Quite often, he would ask Ais for her opinion, and in the end, they decided on going for a more medieval style, reminiscent of the buildings of Orario. While the ''modern'' houses of his old world also weren''t bad, this architectural style - one mixing magic stone-powered technology as well as medieval-ish buildings - simply had far more charm, at least in the eyes of the two.

    Once the plans were finished, Isaac took out lots of different kinds of wood, as well as many types of stone, and started to process them according to the requirements. Originally, he would have had to rely on physical body for this, or even on recreating machines from his old world, but now that he had advanced in both magical knowledge and power, he could simply let his wind blades and his Laser Cutting Construct Magic do the work. In the latter''s case, because he didn''t need to focus solely on the strength of the output, it was quite ''simple'' to keep it stable for prolonged periods of time - at least after a few tens of tries.

    Even though forming the ''building blocks'' wasn''t the most exciting of pastimes, staying with Ais made it a very enjoyable experience. He mostly babbled on about architecture and the exact reasons as to why he cut certain logs in a specific way, why placing them at this spot in relation to a part of the ceiling would make them bear the optimal load, et cetera. To be honest, Ais didn''t really care about all of this, and neither did Isaac - they both just were happy to spend some time alone together now that the kids had already long left for the dungeon. It truly didn''t matter to them what they talked about.

    When it was around 2 p.m. and the two made their way towards the Goibniu Familia''s workshop, Isaac had already used his absolute control over his world to excavate a perfectly square-shaped hole that was more than 100 meters deep and one kilometer wide. Yes, he had decided to give his subordinates'' new home quite a few layers of bas.e.m.e.nt, and this wasn''t going to be just a single building either - he needed to plan ahead a little, after all! Regarding the location of the dig site, he had chosen the southern part of the landmass, far enough removed from the world''s edge, but also not close enough to its center to interfere with any of his other plans.

    In the evening, after his students and subordinates'' training session had concluded, with 170 million less valis in his inventory, Isaac found himself in front of a mirror that he had placed in his and Ais'' room.

    He had already put on his new and improved adventuring attire and couldn''t help but marvel at it. His own designs had turned out fantastic, so he couldn''t help but praise himself for a job well done. Of course, he also didn''t do the deities who had put in the manual labour a disservice.

    ''Goibniu and Hephaestus are truly amazing. To produce such fine works in such a short time, and while restricted to the bodies of comparatively frail mortals¡­ It really makes one wonder about just what heights they can reach when they''re in Heaven.''

    Over his u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r - he obviously wasn''t n.a.k.e.d underneath his gear - he now wore a black gambeson-style shirt with white highlights. In style, it looked a bit similar to the one that he had picked shortly after he had first arrived in this world, but it was a lot more form-fitting. It was made primarily from the fur and a bit of leather of the Monochro--- Baihu, and had been expertly reinforced by Hephaestus. His pants followed the same style, and were made out of the same materials. As for his black-and-white boots, they had been fashioned entirely out of Baihu''s leather as well.

    All in all, these clothes wouldn''t tear or get damaged even if a Level 7 monster battered them. That didn''t mean that the impact would be cancelled out, however, so it still wouldn''t be a smart idea to be hit. It was far better than no protective clothing, and would indeed dampen any attacks by a significant amount, but that was it.

    Securely fastened over this layer of gambeson-style clothing, there was an extremely simple, black light metal armour, consisting of shin guards, a right arm guard, a b.r.e.a.s.t plate and a plate that covered the upper back, as well as a vambrace on his left arm.

    Honestly, they looked entirely unassuming at first glance, because they were purely focused on effectively reducing any harm that could possibly come his way. Aesthetics? He had no need for those. They were not only useless, they would most likely even be harmful! If he, for example, wore an armour that was as exaggerated as those often featured in the games of his old world, then he wouldn''t only hinder his own movements, he might even hurt himself with his own armour.

    Two things about those ''armours'' were painfully obvious.Firstly, they were only designed to look impressive. And secondly, the people who had created them had nearly no clue about how to properly protect a human being. Well, at least when compared to an enigmatic oddity like Isaac.

    If one looked a bit closer, then they would notice that all armour parts aside from the solid vambrace, even those that appeared to only consist of a single part, were actually made up of countless individual scales, similar to scale mail, but somehow had far more structural integrity. Although this led to a miniscule decrease in overall protection - it would have been many times worse if not for Isaac''s revolutionary design - it moderately counteracted one of the main issues of plate armour - namely, deformation. If plate armour got dented in by an attack, then although the wearer wouldn''t necessarily die immediately depending on the circ.u.mstances, the now malformed metal would continue to restrict, pressure and injure them. Even taking the armour off would be far, far more difficult and painful, if not impossible depending on where and how severely it had been damaged.

    Goibniu had had to bring his A-game to follow through with Isaac''s design, as it had been a novelty even to him. The armour had been forged from smelted Basilisk scales, and because nearly all impurities had been removed from the orichalc.u.m contained within, it was easily up to Level 8 standard. Due to the added ''Durandal'' attribute, its defensive capabilities and durability only got increased even further.

    Isaac hadn''t even asked the elderly god to apply this attribute - mostly because he wasn''t well versed in this particular field - so it had come as a surprise bonus. From what he understood, ''attributes'' could be imbued in equipment by a blacksmithing deity or someone with the Development Ability ''Blacksmith''. As for the specifics, he simply hadn''t had the time to look into them.

    Speaking of, there might actually be many other attributes that had been added to his equipment without his knowledge, but the gods that he had commissioned hadn''t bothered to inform him about them. The only reason that he even knew about the Durandal on his armour was because Ais had mentioned that it gave her a ''familiar feeling'' - her favourite weapon, the sword ''Desperate'', also had the Durandal attribute.

    ''Another matter to look into in the future, I suppose.''

    Upon deciding to spend a bit of time inspecting his new armour with his Eyes of Hermes, he noticed miniscule runes entirely consisting of mana, hovering at key parts within. This was different from magical formations, and more reminiscent of what he had observed in the Goblin magic stone. This led him to conclude that, very likely, he would also unlock knowledge about the attributes if he continued his rune-related studies.

    As a side note, he did indeed end up discovering mana runes in every single piece of equipment that he had ordered.

    With a new line added to his extremely long to-do list, he scrutinized his new quiver, bow and arrows.

    The arrows'' shafts were made from some of the most resilient wood that could be found on the 50th floor, while their fletching was created from the bark of the same trees. Regarding the arrowheads, they were forged out of a smelted and purified fang of Baihu.

    The bones of nearly all monsters in the dungeon were suffused with orichalc.u.m, and depending on how thoroughly it got purified, several different alloys could be obtained. Of course, pure orichalc.u.m would be far superior to them all, but generally, the deeper into the dungeon that one descended, the better the orichalc.u.m alloys that could be made from the monsters'' bones and fangs. While the blacksmithing deities were definitely capable of extracting pure orichalc.u.m, it would simply be overkill to waste it on disposable ammunition.

    As for the quiver, it was fashioned out of the same leather as his new boots, while his bow was made out of another orichalc.u.m alloy, extracted from the same Baihu fang that he had provided Hephaestus with. The bow was extremely light-weight - even less so than the carbon-fiber based bows that were popular in his old world - but still shockingly sturdy. The string had been produced from a miniscule part of one of Baihu''s sinews, and the blacksmithing goddess had even given him a few spares.

    A black belt and a couple of leather pouches gave his outfit the finishing touches.

    Lastly, there was the sword at his waist. Its sheath was unimpressive, and yet again made out of the black-and-white leather of Baihu. Still, the weapon contained within, although its grip, pommel and cross-guard were entirely simple and straightforward, was anything but. It had actually been forged from 100 percent pure orichalc.u.m! If Isaac hadn''t provided him with a prime source of the material, then Goibniu would have easily been able to charge him a billion valis, just for the material costs of this sword. So far, monsters that could sufficiently damage this metal, once completely purified, had yet to be discovered.

    The relatively thin, double-edged blade itself was 72 centimeters in length, while the sword''s total length was 86 centimeters. It had been weighted so perfectly that it truly gave Isaac the impression that it was a real extension of his body.

    When he had first held it, he had even grinned happily for a few seconds, completely distracted by this sensation. Such perfection was something that he had only dared to theorize about, but as he didn''t have the necessary skills to produce such wondrous weapons yet, he hadn''t gotten his hopes up. This fascinating work of the elderly god was clearly the greatest masterpiece that he had picked up today.

    "Are you going? Or do you plan to stay lost in the mirror for a while longer?"

    Ais'' amused words finally brought him back to reality. Quite embarrassed, he blushed a little and cleared his throat. With a quick thought, he put his bow, quiver and arrows back into his inventory, then he sheathed his sword and gave the beautiful girl standing next to him a gentle hug.

    "Alright, I''m off."

    After a loving kiss, the two separated.

    Moments later, he found himself back on the 62nd floor.

 Chapter 127 - Level 6

    Because he had already researched all of the species in this thematic zone, Isaac didn''t bother to waste any time on fighting the monsters here and only eliminated those that got in his way towards the nearest staircase. Due to the impressive range of his Eyes of Hermes, it only took him a handful of minutes to find one, and to make his way down to the 63rd floor.

    Considering that this was a Safety Point, he wasn''t held up for long here either. Just like in the rest of the Glacier Territory, all there was on this floor was ice and snow, but because no monsters could spawn here, only a miniscule amount of them could be seen wandering around. After searching for a staircase leading further down, he scanned his surroundings thoroughly until he found a relatively sheltered cave in one of the many mountains that dotted the landscape. He quickly bought another teleportation node and left it in there, but only after making sure that he had labeled it correctly..

    The 64th floor was where things finally changed for the better again, as it was the beginning of a new thematic zone that stretched all the way to the 68th floor. Following a familiar naming pattern, it was called the ''Mushroom City'', and it really wasn''t difficult to understand why.

    Once Isaac stepped off the staircase, he found himself in a short cave that led out into the wider environment of this floor. Like before, the ceiling could be made out many kilometers above¡­ wait, it couldn''t, at least under normal circ.u.mstances. Only due to Isaac''s mastery of the Eyes of Hermes could he spy it - a regular adventurer without some kind of night vision ability would never be able to see it. The reason for this was simple: Everything was shrouded in darkness, and the only light sources around merely reached up to, at most, one kilometer from the ground. Just like when one tried to gaze out into the night from the comfort of a campfire, one simply wasn''t able to see much further than the range of illumination.

    But enough about that, and back to what had given this zone its moniker - the mind-boggling amount of mushrooms of all forms and sizes that grew everywhere in this seemingly endless, massive cavern! A few of them were luminescent, which made it possible for one to get a decent grasp of one''s imminent surroundings, but there were also occasional flashes of light streaking through the air, momentarily shedding even more light upon the areas that they passed by. Everything looked a bit alien, and like a wonderland at the same time. It was quite literally a jungle of mushrooms, quietly growing in the relatively damp darkness.

    Although he had already been told that the Mushroom City didn''t have a Monster Rex presiding over it, Isaac wasn''t disappointed. In fact, he was even quite entertained by what he was seeing. Most previous thematic zones of the dungeon had been¡­ well, nothing out of the ordinary, and while mushroom-themed biomes weren''t really a rarity in the stories and works of his old world, they at least weren''t as common as crypts and dragons. Because of that, this environment felt a little bit like a fresh breath of air - although the air was actually anything but.

    Speaking of breathing, the first kind of monster had already approached Isaac, in huge numbers, at that. Due to the subpar lighting all around, it was incredibly hard to make out that massive clouds of tiny bugs could be seen all over the place. They weren''t more than half a millimeter in size individually, and pitch-black. If one didn''t pay extremely close attention, one would easily miss the nearly soundless beats of their wings as well.

    The name of these stealthy insects was ''Suffocating Spores''. While it was simple and clearly inaccurate - they were bugs, not spores - it wasn''t as insufferable of a name as some others. It felt like the people who had named them had quite a bit of respect and fear for them. Every single one of these countless insects was at Level 6, just like all other monsters from here on out. The reason for such apprehension towards them, however, weren''t their physical stats, which were all not even comparable to those of a Goblin, or their Magic stat, which could reach up to H-100 / 45,050 - it was their method of attack.

    Usually, before the adventurer would notice, the Suffocating Spores would get breathed in in huge numbers, allowing the bugs to attack the body from the inside. But still, their physical stats weren''t high enough to even leave a scratch on any of the insides of anyone who made it to this point, so while their presence would be disgusting, it wasn''t dangerous or lethal. Because almost everyone chose the Abnormal Resistance Development Ability, the considerably dangerous poison in the bugs'' bodies also wouldn''t be able to overwhelm their opponents.

    Well, that was if one had only swallowed a few hundred of them. But once a single one of them managed to enter into an adventurer''s body, the entire swarm would go mad and try to enter the same body through any and all of its orifices - a truly gruesome sight to behold. This was where the former half of their names came into play. They would literally suffocate their victims to death, either by preventing them from breathing in an effort to keep them out, or by rushing into their bodies until they simply couldn''t breathe anymore. Needless to say, even the prestigious Zeus and Hera Familias had taken grievous losses back when they had first advanced to this thematic zone, because the Suffocating Spores had been too unexpected - and even after they knew about them, it was difficult to employ countermeasures. Only after a considerable while had they developed Magic Items similar to gas masks and other protective equipment that allowed them to ignore these pests. Although the bugs'' stats didn''t pose a danger, all in all, they were still the most major threat.

    Even if Isaac hadn''t been warned about the Suffocating Spores by Fels, he wouldn''t have been taken by surprise. It was slightly difficult, but relying on his regular eyesight and focus, it wasn''t too hard to notice the bugs once they were about 100 meters away. If his exceptional hearing was included in the equation, then he could even deduce their positions in a radius of close to double that distance all around him, leaving no blind spots. Of course, if he relied on his Eyes of Hermes, then the bugs could only find themselves in an even more harmless position.

    For close to ten minutes, Isaac observed the surrounding swarms, easily dodging them successfully whenever necessary. He baited them into specific attack patterns, and tested whether or not they would respond differently once only certain amounts of survivors were left. What he discovered left him a bit disappointed, but also relieved at the same time. Contrary to what he had mentally prepared himself for, the bugs were truly only simple-minded killing machines, who couldn''t employ even the most rudimentary of formations. Once one wore protective equipment, one could completely ignore them, and they wouldn''t be able to pose any threat at all.

    As he hadn''t come here with any special gear of that sort, he had to rely on different methods. First of all, he could simply evade all of the bug swarms, which he opted to do whenever it was feasible. But occasionally, they would rudely intrude upon his research on other monster species, so he had to decimate their swarms. The easiest way to do so was, yet again, to rely on his trusty wind blades. Because they were physically frail, the bugs couldn''t offer up any resistance. He only had to create a few hundred wind blades and manipulate their paths to completely eradicate a swarm consisting of tens of thousands.

    Aside from the Suffocating Spores, there were five other monster species that could be found starting from the 64th floor.

    Pure stats-wise, the weakest of which weren''t actually the omnipresent black bugs, but another type of small insect - the Glowbugs. These monsters were practically no threat whatsoever. They moved alone or in groups of a few tens at maximum, and were simply oversized fireflies that were about five centimeters long. Admittedly, their physical stats were relatively high, especially their Agility, which could reach up to I-50 / 43,450, but they could only damage their opponents by flying head-first into them. There were no tactics, they had no hidden weapons, and they were literally glowing, announcing their presence loud and clear. In other words, they were light sources that could slightly harass adventurers. Honestly, even Isaac couldn''t really imagine anyone falling prey to them.

    Next on the list of anticipated research targets was another glowing monster species - the Luminescent Weasels. For once, their name was actually quite flattering, at least in Isaac''s eyes. While weasels had been considered to be pests in his old world, they at least could be described to look reasonably cute - however, the same couldn''t be said about these monsters.

    Their overall build was nearly identical, just enlarged by a few times until they reached close to five meters in length, but they didn''t have any fur or eyes. Their pale-white flesh and the blue-ish veins pulsating and glowing underneath, squirming like worms in the process, left any observers with a healthy dose of disgust. Gone was the cuteness, replaced by the strange and alien look of a creature whose species hadn''t seen the sunlight in thousands of generations. At first glance, it honestly made no sense that creatures that were glowing would lose their eyesight, and even disregarding that, they still lived in a decently illuminated area. But once one considered that they hadn''t actually come about by natural evolution and had been created by the dungeon, then their existence could be more easily accepted.

    Aside from being interesting to observe and dissect, the weasels were actually a bit dangerous. While three of their stats - their Strength, Dexterity and Agility - could reach up to H-150 / 46,650, this wasn''t actually what made them threatening. Their similarities to anglerfish, however, were. Most of their body was emitting light, attracting the attention of their prey, but their tails were entirely left in the dark and quite scorpion-like, even sporting a sharp stinger at the end. The weasels would engage their opponents and wait until they showed an opening, then they would strike, skewering them in the process. If one didn''t scrutinize them carefully, then one could easily lose one''s life.

    The Fungus Treants weren''t especially interesting. Although they posed a bigger danger than the Luminescent Weasels, mostly because of their higher stats that could reach up to G-200 / 48,250, they were basically just mushroom-themed reskins of the Treants that Isaac had encountered multiple times already. Just like before, there were many variations of them, and he could indeed spend a lot of time researching all of their specifics, but they didn''t stand out in any particular way. Occasionally, there would be groups of them mixed into the surrounding massive mushrooms, which made it possible for them to ambush unsuspecting travellers, but honestly, any adventurer worth their salt would know to deeply distrust their environment by this point.

    The Shroom Crawlers fell into the same category. Although they looked a bit different from the Killer Ants and Illusory Termites - their carapaces were completely overgrown by mushrooms - and had the ability to rapidly regenerate by relying on the fungi''s vitality, they were, in essence, yet again just reskins. They didn''t even have a central existence like the Illusory Termite Queen to lead them and were simply relying on their huge numbers to overwhelm their enemies. Groups of them could range anywhere from a few tens to many thousands, and they could call for aid using similar pheromones to those that the Killer Ants employed. The Crawlers'' Strength and Endurance could reach up to G-250 / 49,850, which was the last noteworthy detail about them.

    Thankfully, the strongest monster species on this floor, the Preying Mantises, actually were an entirely new monster species again. Appearance-wise, they were up to fifteen meter tall praying mantises with pitch-black carapaces. They relied mostly on their Strength and Agility, which could reach up to F-300 / 51,450. Usually, a praying mantis would hide in plain sight and then attack once their prey got close enough, but down here in the Mushroom City, the Preying Mantises behaved a bit differently. They stuck to the shadows, deliberately seeking out places without any nearby light sources. As for what came next, they behaved just like the regular insects from Isaac''s old world. Once their prey approached them, they would attack, but this time from the veil of absolute darkness, and without making much of a sound at all. They were like silent reapers that could behead their foes with their sickle-like arms before anyone even knew what had hit them. In conclusion, they weren''t the most fascinating species that Isaac had come across - far from it - but at the very least they weren''t another reskin.

    Close to two hours after he had entered the dungeon, he finally arrived on the 67th floor, where two other new monster species started to appear.

    The weaker ones were the Long-Tailed Hounds, whose Strength, Endurance and Agility could all reach up to F-350 / 53,050. They¡­ actually were monsters who had fallen prey to that horrible naming sense again! Out of all of the creatures that he had encountered in this entire thematic zone, they were by far the most regal - honestly, they looked quite impressive! It truly felt like someone in the Zeus or Hera Familia had had a personal vendetta against any genuinely majestic monsters - after all, most of them had been branded with the most pathetic names in the book.

    The hounds actually looked very similar to a mythical creature that Isaac had read about in his old world, the Alphyn. They were only about two meters tall when standing on all fours and most of their body was that of a grey-brown wolf, but their neck was surrounded by a lion-like mane. Instead of regular paws, their forelegs ended in the talons of an eagle. Furthermore, they had a seven meter long, tufted tail that they had a remarkable amount of control over, enabling them to perform stunning maneuvers. They could even use their long and sharp tongues to catch their prey off guard. Usually, they would roam the floor in packs of twenty or more, and they could also make use of relatively advanced formations and positioning, making them expert hunters.

    As for the stronger new monster species, they were called the Shadow Stalkers. They relied on their long claws to ambush from the shadows and behaved quite similarly to the Preying Mantises, but relied more on repeated attacks than one-hit KOs. This also showed in their stats - their Agility and Dexterity could reach up to E-400 / 54,650, but their Strength was quite a bit lower. A single group of them numbered in the hundreds, so even though the damage of a singular attack wasn''t that high, one would quickly find oneself sliced apart from all sides, experiencing a ''death by a thousand cuts''.

    What was perhaps the most unusual about the Shadow Stalkers was their appearance. Yes, they did have sharp claws, but what they were connected to¡­ was a little strange. They were white-eyed humanoid monsters that were about two meters tall - so far, so good - and their entire bodies were formed from hyphae. Yes, they were made up of the same material as the rest of the mushrooms all around, with the only differences being a circulatory system and a brain-like structure quite similar to those of a human, as well as a magic stone embedded next to their heart. Of course, the reason Isaac found out about these details doesn''t really need to be stated, does it?

    On the 68th floor, there was one last monster species that he had to research. They were most likely why the dungeon had felt it unnecessary to put a Monster Rex here, because the overwhelming danger that these monsters posed couldn''t be understated. They were even far more dangerous than the nigh omnipresent Suffocating Spores.

    Once Isaac stepped foot into this environment, he instantly realized that, although the surroundings looked to be the same, they were entirely different. He didn''t even need to rely on his Eyes of Hermes to observe the strings of mana connecting nearly everything like a puppet theater - simply the movements of the various monsters that he could see instantly made him realize that everything was¡­ ''wrong''. They carried themselves a lot more robotically and efficiently than before, and they seemed to systematically patrol the area. Even the swarms of bugs in the air felt more like squadrons of fighter jets defending their airspace.

    Back when the Zeus and Hera Familias had first come here, this had been a point where they had taken grievous losses again. They had come to expect for the monsters to behave in the same ways as before, and been taken by surprise - but this wasn''t even close to the worst of it. All of the monsters were connected, and could call upon seemingly endless reinforcements. It was like all monsters on this floor could sense their position starting from the very moment that they first got spotted. Additionally, all of the monsters completely disregarded almost all of their injuries, and crawled closer to them even when dismembered, just like Zombies from the Haunted Halls. To find the cause of all of these strange phenomena had taken the two familias multiple decades - only after they had secured the help of an Elf who was outstandingly adept at sensing mana did they even stand a chance.

    There was something else that the two old hegemons hadn''t been able to conclusively confirm - none of these monsters were actually alive. Killing them awarded no excelia whatsoever, and it didn''t count towards Isaac''s Level 6 monster slaying quest either.

    Although there wasn''t much to be gained aside from monster loot, he still dispatched all monsters that swarmed in his direction, all the while closely observing his surroundings and walking through the floor. He didn''t want to expose the culprits behind all of this by using his Eyes of Hermes, as that would simply be ''too easy'', so he chose to rely only on his regular senses instead. Thankfully, they didn''t let him down, and after about ten minutes, he finally spotted something that hadn''t been present on all the previous floors - a singular, small white mushroom that was only about one centimeter tall. It had been hidden in the shadows of many other, much bigger fungi and honestly didn''t stick out at all. If one hadn''t paid ridiculous attention to every single detail of all other floors of the Mushroom CIty, then one never would have ever suspected it to be the cause of all of this - or, to be exact, a part of the cause.

    Little Whitecap, that was the name of this monster, who had pretty much no physical stats whatsoever. Its Magic, however, could reach up to E-450 / 56,250. Right after spawning, every one of these mushrooms would start to use their mana to parasitize every monster in the surrounding kilometer or so, and kill them off in the process, turning them into their manually controlled limbs, connected to their immobile main bodies via threads of mana. They were like puppeteers pulling the strings of their zombie puppets, but they also weren''t foolish enough to tighten their defenses the closer their prey got to their main bodies - after all, that would give away their positions. Truly, their instincts were top-notch amongst the monsters of the dungeon.

    All of this wasn''t what made the Little Whitecaps so dangerous and the rulers of this floor. Rather, the fact that all of them were connected as well and could share both their puppets as well as their obtained intel made them a nightmare to face. They had a hive mind. Every adventurer who stepped on this floor would quite literally have to face every single monster on this floor, and even killing a Little Whitecap would only temporarily create a safe zone, which would be flooded by the troops of the other mushrooms in mere moments. Only by eradicating many of the Little Whitecaps in a row and constantly staying on the move while looking for a staircase downwards had the Zeus and Hera Familias managed to proceed to the 69th floor back then.

    During Isaac''s research on the tiny mushrooms, there came a point where additional results could only be gained via usage of his Eyes of Hermes. What would happen if he cut the mana threads that were connecting the Little Whitecaps to their puppets, or even those linking them to more of their own kind?

    When attempting the former, the lifeless puppets would instantly stop moving, and it seemed like the mushrooms had no way to take control of them again. Apparently, they relied on sensing the life force of the other monsters to target them, so once they were dead and disconnected, they could only perceive them as a part of the scenery.

    If the Little Whitecaps got isolated from their brethren, then the others would send vast armies to their territory, because they judged their fellow mushroom to have been eliminated - therefore, there had to be prey in the area that they had lost contact with.

    Lastly, what Isaac wanted to find out was why the mushrooms had not attempted to parasitize him as well, and he soon found his answer - their mana threads were connected to the magic stones of the monsters. Once he realized this, he noted it down and put the issue aside for the future. When he finally understood magic stones in their entirety, then he would return to this place.

    [ All stats have reached the post-update maximum.

    Quest ''Reach the Level 5 stat limit.'' completed. 5000 AP rewarded. ]

    Usually, it would have taken him one or two more, even stronger, monster species to gather all of the necessary excelia, but his many Hunter-series Development Abilities were finally starting to pull their weight.

    Taking a deep breath, he retreated far into the hundreds of kilometer wide zone that he had cleared so far and found a spot that would be safe for at least a couple of minutes, then he contentedly closed his eyes.

    Seconds later, accompanied by a relieved sigh, he opened them again, a confident glint flashing within. His body had undergone a ridiculous improvement again, in any and all aspects. With another rank up under his belt, he decided to do some warm-up exercises while studying his updated Status, to get accustomed to his enhanced vessel. His stats had more than doubled, and such experiences were hard to get used to, even for him. Anyone else would have at least been lost in blissful euphoria for minutes or hours on end.

    [ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: None ]

    [ Race: God ]

    [ Arcanum: None ]

    [ Level: 5 -> 6 ]

    [ Age: Unable to measure ]

    [ Charisma: 34 ]

    [ Divine Energy: 67,601 -> 139,709 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-0 -> SSS-1,500 -> I-0 (69,750 x 2.003) ]

    [ Endurance: I-0 -> SSS-1,500 -> I-0 (69,750 x 2.003) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-0 -> SSS-1,500 -> I-0 (69,750 x 2.003) ]

    [ Agility: I-0 -> SSS-1,500 -> I-0 (69,750 x 2.003) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 -> SSS-1,500 -> I-0 (69,750 x 2.003) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ Anemoi Steps ]

    [ Eyes of Hermes ]

    [ Laser Cutting Construct ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Divine Being ]

    [ Reverential Resonance ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Huntsman: F -> SSS ]

    [ Hunter: H -> SSS ]

    [ Experienced Hunter: I -> SSS ]

    [ Veteran Hunter: I -> SSS ]

    [ Expert Hunter: I ]

    [ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment: F -> C ]

    [ Spirit Healing: G ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Archer, Mage, Swordsman ]

    He had just finished reorganizing his Development Abilities a little when he suddenly thought of something.

    ''So Mina will be getting a bonus of 419 Level 1 stat points in every stat, huh? Not bad, but not good enough. Now that I''m done here, I shouldn''t loiter.''

    [ Mina Teagle''s Devotion has increased by 5. ]

    A small smirk played across his lips and he couldn''t help but chuckle at this timing. It seemed like the huge improvement in her own strength hadn''t gone unnoticed.

    ''Alright, it''s 489 now.''

    Not bothering to restrict his stats to those of his opponents any longer because his research on this floor was over, he rapidly sped into the distance, directly barging through any and all monsters in his way. As he had already long since spotted a staircase leading further into the depths, in less than a minute, he disappeared from the Mushroom City.

 Chapter 128 - Archery Practice

    ''Well, this is new.''

    Chuckling to himself, Isaac curiously gazed at the thematic zone that he had just arrived in. It had turned midnight a moment ago, and a new day had begun, but he was still very far from ending his current dungeon exploration.

    Precarious Path, that was the name of this zone, and it was¡­ actually quite fitting. It wasn''t even bad. While it didn''t give one a good idea of what was to come, contrary to what so many of the other zones'' monikers did, it at least sufficiently warned one about the dangers ahead. This thematic zone was the first one that felt like it went all in on the fantasy aspect, at least from a very superficial perspective.

    The staircase that Isaac had come from ended just a few hundred meters underneath the ceiling of the 69th floor, which was sporting the same kinds of day and night cycle-emulating crystals that could be found on the 18th floor - the entire area ahead of him was currently dimly illuminated, as if enveloped by gentle moonlight.

    One might wrongfully assume that the vertical size of this floor was smaller than that of others before it, but it had actually stayed about the same. The spot at which the staircase had emerged was simply very high up. Tens of kilometers, to be exact. Of course, it didn''t just float there - it was a part of a massive stalactite structure that was close to a thousand meters long.

    Every few kilometers or so, a stalactite that was just as big could be spotted extending from the ceiling, with a few smaller ones interspersed in between. Naturally, stalagmites of comparable size were growing from the bottom of the cave all over the place. Without his Eyes of Hermes, however, he never would have been able to look upon the very bottom of the cavern, because there was a close to five hundred meter deep layer of purplish, poisonous mist obscuring it.

    Although the absence of any particular source of water, which should be necessary for such a place to form naturally, could already be described as ''fantastical'', it wouldn''t catch more than a sliver of Isaac''s attention. No, what made him so fascinated were the rock pieces of various sizes floating in between the countless stalactites. They led further into the distance in a manner that seemed deliberately organized, like multiple paths.

    How were these rocks hovering in mid-air? That was exactly the question on Isaac''s mind at the moment. He very quickly could strike ''mana'' as well as ''runes'' from the list of possible causes. The former''s influence would be all too easily observed, and even the latter would need some sort of energy - be it mana or life force - to perform their job.

    ''Alright, just a quick glance.''

    As he was quite curious at the moment, he temporarily allowed himself to take a direct look at the laws of this world - of course, without scrutinizing them too closely. There was something that he suspected to be the case, and he merely wanted to confirm it.

    What he saw made his eyes widen slightly, then he quickly sealed that ability of his again. He returned to his previous state, one in which he would only be made privy to the laws of this world if they directly interacted with him. There was such a thing as ''too much information'' - it would spoil significant amounts of his enjoyment if he could clearly read the laws directly all the time.

    ''It is as I expected.''

    The laws of the world that affected the large rocks that were hovering in mid-air had subtle differences compared to the laws that affected the rest of this floor. Gravity simply couldn''t affect them in the way that it would otherwise be supposed to. Even though he had had a few theories for a while, it was still a noteworthy discovery that the dungeon, seemingly, had the ability to influence the very laws of this world. Whatever it was, it clearly far surpassed regular deities. If Isaac had to go out on a limb, then he would wager that even primordial gods were inferior to its power. Regarding the actual identity or realm of power of the dungeon, however, he couldn''t say anything. He was missing far too much knowledge to make an educated guess.

    SCREEEE!

    His intrigue-fuelled happy mood suddenly got interrupted by a shrill roar that sounded like both a dragon, as well as a bird. Slightly frowning, Isaac returned all of his focus to the hundreds of monsters that had already started to approach him from afar. He hadn''t completely disregarded them before, but it still felt a little bit irritating to have to put his mental musings on the back burner because of them.

    "I''m sorry to keep you waiting. I''ll be right with you."

    A flock of Feathered Dragons, the second strongest monster species on this floor, had made their home on a nearby stalactite. As was common with monsters that had already reached Level 6, their senses allowed them to perceive presences that were more than two kilometers away, and with him just standing there for a long while, it would have needed a miracle for them to disregard him.

    The dragons had serpentine bodies that were quite rare amongst all species that were being called ''dragons'' in this world. They were about 25 meters in length and had green feathers growing from in between the gaps of their dark grey scales. Their wings were very reminiscent of those of a falcon, just far bigger, and there was a sharp bone spike protruding from the ends of their long tails. Even their snouts looked a lot more like a beak than a dragon''s maw. Still, due to their ability to shoot breath attacks at their prey, their heritage was undeniable. Relying mostly on their Agility and Magic stats, which both could reach up to C-650 / 62,650, they usually harassed their enemies from a distance.

    During his initial research of the dragons, Isaac only utilized his orichalc.u.m sword and his Anemoi Steps - as well as perfect positioning and balancing acts using the floating rocks as a basis - to take them apart. It didn''t take him long to study the movement patterns and behaviours that they showed when he wasn''t anywhere near them and when he chose to face them in close combat, the Agility that was so integral to them couldn''t give them any hope of escape. Once he was done with this scientific effort, he switched to his bow and arrow - this was a routine that he followed for all of the monsters of this thematic zone. First, he would finish studying his specimens, then he would use them as archery dummies.

    Needless to say, there was a reason for this. Ever since he had come to this world, there hadn''t been a good chance for him to progress in the combat skills that he had already acquired in his old world. Although he regularly used swordsmanship, a bit of archery, as well as the various martial arts and weapon masteries that he needed to instruct his students, he didn''t make any progress in them. He had full and perfect control over his body, which was primarily what he used to deduce the most optimal way to use any and all weapons. In theory, as well as in practice, he had refined them to the pinnacle.

    Well, this statement only held true if viewed from the perspective of his old world, where mana, as well as any other ''magical'' elements, did not exist. Here, in this world that was similar to the one in the DanMachi novels, a new path to further refinement had been opened.

    He didn''t immediately begin embarking on it, however. At first, he gave himself time to grow used to his new bow, and attempted a ''new'' method for retrieving his arrows - to attach some of his mana to each arrow, and to use this to store them back into his inventory once they had fulfilled their purpose. Due to their high quality and his flawless skills, not a single arrow was even noticeably damaged while fighting the monsters on this floor!

    Aside from the Feathered Dragons, there were four other monster species that started to appear on the 69th floor.

    The weakest of them all were the Draconic Bats. Their flocks numbered in the thousands, and just as the latter part of their name implied, they hung upside down from small protrusions in the ceiling, as well as the stalactites. They wrapped themselves in their Western dragon-style wings when resting, completing the picture. The rest of their bodies looked like emaciated Lizardmen, with longer and sharper claws. Their scales were a dull green, intermixed with purple, and they could even shoot very small, but nonetheless threatening, breath attacks - as was customary. Their highest stats were their Strength and Dexterity, which could both be at up to D-500 / 57,850, and they preferred to surround their prey tightly as a swarm. They fought upfront, only using their breath attacks as slight distractions to support their close and personal battle style.

    A bit stronger than them were the Poulimen. Just like Minotaurs, most of their bodies were humanoid, but they sported a non-human head - this time, that of an eagle. And similarly to angels, wings grew from their backs, even though they didn''t look nearly as sacred. Because they only sported a height of a little over two meters, they used some of the smallest stalactites as natural weapons, as impromptu spears. They were also very proficient in army-style formations and flying maneuvers. While their pure firepower would never be able to compare to the Feathered Dragons, getting encircled by them would feel like stepping into a swamp - it was very hard to escape. Their Agility and Dexterity were both mostly at D-550 / 59,450, with their other physical stats not too far behind.

    The next monster species on the list made Isaac''s expression darken - solely because of their name: ''Healthy Wyverns''. He had expected an absolute joke of a name like this to come up at some point, especially because some bright genius had already dubbed another wyvern species as ''Ill Wyverns'' before. But still, when the moment ultimately came¡­ even though Fels had already told him about it¡­ it felt annoying.

    To be honest, the Healthy Wyverns really lived up to their title. They weren''t haggard in the slightest, and really muscular. They had an air of imposingness around them, even though they couldn''t measure up to actual dragons. Their pure physical might was astonishing, and even the fireballs that they could shoot at their opponents instead of breath attacks were terrifying. Just like their sickly cousins, they had no forelegs, which was the main difference between them and proper dragons. Their wings were similar to those of Sirens and Harpies - at least in overall structure - but as one would expect, they didn''t have any feathers. Overall, these wyverns were extraordinarily strong, with every single one of their stats reaching C-600 / 61,050. Considering that they roamed this floor in groups of hundreds, any ill-prepared party would easily be wiped out due to them alone.

    Last on this part of the list were the Hovering Turtles. They were by far the rarest of the bunch, and only one or two of them could be encountered every few kilometers. Yet again, they were a victim of someone''s horrible naming sense - or rather, someone''s inaccurate naming sense.

    Previously, monsters like the Crystal Turtles and the Lava Turtles had appeared in the dungeon, which replicated a part of their surroundings - islands, to be exact - and were actually turtle monsters whose shells simply tended to milead some reckless adventurers. The Hovering Turtles were indeed similar to them, because they appeared just like any other rock that was floating in mid-air at first glance. They were an environmental hazard that could cause anyone that stepped on them to plummet to the ground - not that most people who made it here would die from this. Although there were no sonic booms, there was still air resistance... and a terminal velocity. By building up a high enough Endurance stat, it became close to impossible to be damaged from falling or the following impact on the ground. There were other dangers at the bottom of the cavern, though, but only one of them was actually present this early into the thematic zone: the poisonous mist.

    As Isaac had night instantly noticed, Hovering Turtles weren''t actually turtles. While they did have a rock shell, their insides were pretty much indistinguishable from the bodies of the Goos. Yes, they were basically slimes, and one ''merely'' needed to destroy their cores to kill them. But considering how massive these slimes were - they could fill up to an area of a few hundred cubic meters - that was easier said than done for a regular adventurer.

    Still, why call this slime mimic a ''Hovering Turtle''? Just because it would evoke caution in the adventurers who had already encountered the other turtles of the dungeon? That was most likely the reason, but this laziness and sheer inaccuracy still left a bad taste in Isaac''s mouth.

    He didn''t tarry for long, and at around 2 a.m., he found himself on the 72nd floor. This was the second to last floor of the Precarious Path, and four new monster species joined the dungeon''s lineup here.

    First of all, there was another reskin, this time of the Iguazus, which were called ''Blinkers''. Their Strength and Agility could reach up to B-750 / 65,850, and their only purpose was to send hundreds of their own numbers at their prey, bombarding them to death. They didn''t care about their fragile bodies shattering on impact, which caused them to only be able to damage their enemies once - after all, they weren''t trying to live, their only purpose was to kill. Compared to the Iguazus, they were, of course, many times stronger, as well as twice as big. What made them stand out a bit more was that they didn''t only have the ability to throw themselves at their prey from an elevated position, but they could assault them from literally anywhere, as long as enough charging room was available and there were no obstacles. But, as might be expected, they weren''t very notable.

    As for the Rockclimbers, while they did look very similar to enlarged, grey geckos, they at least were more of a fresh sight here. Yes, lizards weren''t uncommon, but how many of them clung to the walls and kept still, trying to drag their prey towards the depths and a swift death? So far, none. Just like chameleons, they had the ability to change the colour of their scales to blend in with their environment - it was even a bit more advanced, because it incorporated mana to veil the senses of anyone within a few meters of them, making it more difficult for them to be spotted once one got closer. Their Strength, Agility and Dexterity were all at A-800 / 67,450, which finally blessed Isaac with a very miniscule amount of excelia again. It honestly was barely worth mentioning, but because he hadn''t earned any ever since his rank up, it felt nice to have at least trace amounts of it trickling in now.

    There was only one more monster species that could be fought if one chose to continue battling while following the path laid out by the hovering rocks and stalactites - the Dark Birds. Their names¡­ they were absolutely facepalm-worthy, but not surprising. Earlier in the dungeon, Isaac had encountered the ''Firebirds'', which had truly lived up to their names - they honestly weren''t worthy of prestigious titles like ''phoenixes'', because they weren''t anything special whatsoever. But these birds were different.

    They were close to twenty meters in length, and their wingspan was more than sixty meters! Black feathers covered their entire bodies, while a mist of the same colour surrounded them and veiled them in what seemed like a regal robe of darkness. Like rulers of the night, they silently shuttled through the ''sky'', the flaps of their wings barely disturbing the air flow. Inhaling the mist that surrounded them caused weaker-willed adventurers to have hallucinations, and would at least be disorienting.

    Even though the Dark Birds didn''t have the ability to shoot fire from their beaks like the Firebirds, they didn''t need it. Their overwhelming physical strength, coupled with their stealthiness, their breakneck speed, as well as their black mist, had been more than enough to deal fatal blows to some of the Zeus and Hera Familia members when they first came here. Although they hadn''t lost anyone until they came to the 72nd floor, which was a blessing compared to the slaughter that they had had to face in the Mushroom City, these avian monsters finally posed a significant threat again. All of the Dark Birds'' stats, aside from Dexterity, were at A-850 / 69,050.

    As for the strongest monster species of this thematic zone - aside from its Monster Rex - it could be found on the ground, within the now one kilometer deep layer of purple, poisonous mist. The monsters sported dull scales of the same colour, which made them stick out even less, and had caused the Zeus and Hera Familias heavy casualties back in the day. They had grown used to the bottom of these caverns not having any dangers - the mist could easily be taken care of by their Abnormal Resistance, and they would just have to scale one of the stalagmites to return to the mid-air path - and although most of them had stayed reasonably cautious, the results proved that they still hadn''t stay vigilant enough. In retrospect, it was clear as day that complacency had led to nearly all of these past hegemons'' troubles.

    And as usual, the name for this dangerous monster species was boring and simple to a point that would leave any sane person disappointed - Purple Dragons. Yes, they were proper dragons, and their scales were indeed purple. But reducing them to just this felt truly pitiful. Although they normally wouldn''t take to the ''skies'', as they preferred to stay within the mist, they had strong and massive wings with a wingspan of over 100 meters. Including their tails, they were close to 80 meters long, and when lying flat on the ground, their height was more than 15 meters. They weren''t the biggest monsters of the dungeon - far from it - but just like the Basilisks, they were extremely poisonous. Their breath attacks expelled toxic, purple flames that even caused lots of the surrounding mist to combust. This only occasionally resulted in a dust explosion, but when it did, then it increased the devastating might of their attacks even further.

    The easiest ways to fight them were to either lure them out of the mist by targeting them from the outside, or to enter the mist while surrounded by a barrier of some kind that kept it at bay. At least for Isaac and Ais, this was easily accomplished - thanks to his air manipulation, and her wind. The safety of his research environment could even be vastly increased by using his magically created wind to generate a large area devoid of the mist, and keeping the dragons within. Naturally, during the initial stages, he didn''t do this, so as to experience the most dangerous environmental hazards and tactics that the dragons had in store, but due to his ridiculous movement speed and reactions, as well as his flawless predictions, he didn''t even come in contact with any of the mist directly, keeping his - admittedly pointless - record of not having unlocked Abnormal Resistance. Obviously, this was only because he had managed to keep his wind barrier intact. If it had been hit directly, the outcome would have been different.

    While he was searching for the nearest staircase to the 73rd floor, which should be found at one of the bigger stalagmites, Isaac returned to the floating rocks above and fired his arrows at any and all monsters that entered his field of view.

    Shortly after he had mastered his arrow-collection technique, he had begun to incorporate mana a lot more directly into his shots. Sometimes, he would use it to slightly change the trajectory of an arrow, to wound a monster from an angle that wouldn''t otherwise have been targetable at the specific time that he had loosened the arrow. At other times, he would utilize it to make the arrow spin, achieving somewhat of a drilling effect. This wasn''t actually very useful, because it reduced the arrow''s velocity, but he was just casually experimenting with what he could do. There were countless other things which he could attempt as well, but air manipulation was still near and dear to his heart. It wasn''t like he couldn''t try other kinds of magic, but he simply had no need to do so at the moment.

    When he was combining the trajectory alteration and spinning arrow techniques for the 179th time, finally succeeding in his endeavour, the system demanded his attention, causing him to stop in his tracks once he had made sure that he was in a safe spot.

    [ The host''s comprehension and mastery of archery has significantly surpassed the host''s previous prime state.

    Archery-related Skills, Magics and Development Abilities can now be naturally obtained. ]

    [ The Development Ability ''Archer (I)'' has been obtained.

    Grade insufficient to represent the host''s skill, upgrade initiated.

    The Development Ability ''Archer (H)'' has been obtained.

    Grade insufficient to represent the host''s skill, upgrade initiated.

    ¡­

    The Development Ability ''Archer (SSS)'' has been obtained.

    Grade insufficient to represent the host''s skill, upgrade initiated.

    The Development Ability ''Archer (SSS)'' has advanced to the Development Ability ''Supreme Archer (I)''. ]

    [ Archer has reached its maximum grade.

    Quest ''Make five Development Abilities'' grades reach the maximum.'' completed. 5,000 AP rewarded. ]

    Ever since he had come to this world, this was the first time that he had learned of Development Abilities having the potential to advance past the SSS-grade. He had suspected that it might be the case, but had never found it necessary to inquire about it, because he was certain that he would reach this point in due time.

    Now that he had finally fulfilled the self-imposed requirements to unlock this Development Ability - ones which he had only theorized about, and had never been certain of - he wouldn''t say no to the benefits. The increase to his stats was significant, and could definitely be exploited if necessary. He could just sling the bow over his shoulder and count it as ''equipped'' after all, right?

    With his lips slightly curving upwards, he pulled another arrow out of his inventory and nocked it, then he aimed at a Feathered Dragon that was just a handful of kilometers away. He could only see it with his Eyes of Hermes, as it was hidden behind a massive stalactite. To wound it, he would have to alter the trajectory of his arrow far further than before, but such a drastic change would reduce its velocity markedly. Instead, he chose to slightly alter its trajectory multiple times, which, as a result, only reduced the velocity by about a tenth of what it would have been reduced by if he had chosen to change it in one go. The arrow hit and pierced right between the scales that he had aimed for, flawlessly. Another Feathered Dragon silently bit the dust.

    For the first time ever, Isaac experienced a weird feeling. The laws of this world¡­ they were slightly nudging him in the correct direction. Not in his decision making, but in how to exactly calibrate his actions to achieve a d.e.s.i.r.ed result. He would normally have to find out how to do this with far more trial and error, and countless calculations. But now, it felt like there was a soft whisper in his subconsciousness, one that gave him very slight hints, or at least told him the general direction of what he was searching for. Admittedly, it was¡­ strange. And a bit invasive. It even reduced the challenge that he faced, but only by a miniscule amount. If he hadn''t been so accustomed to acquiring knowledge on his own, to progress by purely relying on his personal effort, then he would have never noticed this change.

    ''Is this¡­ what people call ''talent''?''

    He couldn''t help but ask himself that question, and felt that it was likely to be the case. Although the majority of people used the term ''talent'' for anything that someone was good at, irrespective of whether or not they made it that far via back-breaking effort or without doing much of anything at all, it should only apply in the latter case. When one had to put in way less effort than someone else to improve at something, and it wasn''t because they had exhausted themselves mentally to deduce the optimal route to take, then this ''gut feeling'' of what one should do could really only be explained in a handful of ways, one of which was ''talent''. Some people were talented. And now, Isaac understood that they, most likely, were quite literally supported by the laws of the world that they resided in.

    His smile turned wry as he realized that he had indeed never been talented at anything before. Sure, he had vastly surpassed everyone that he had ever heard of in his old world - in most things, at least. But the only reason for this was the excruciating and unfathomable physical and primarily mental effort that he had put into it. He was hardworking, incredibly so - even an unprecedented workaholic, when he decided to aim for something. Effort could easily trump talent, but it still felt slightly bitter to finally know for sure that others had had a much easier path.

    Why should he say no to something that he had earned the qualifications for, even if it made a small part of his life easier? That would be foolish. Still, it wasn''t like he hadn''t done things that had disadvantaged him before - such as locking the chants of his Magics - but he had always had his reasons. This supportive effect was so minor that it was barely even there. It would only very slightly accelerate his path, and lessen his workload. So ultimately, he decided to let it stay.

    There was only one thing that he cautioned himself of. He couldn''t grow dependent on it. If one accepted the recommendations of the laws of a world as the optimal path, then one would always be restrained by that world''s limits. To go beyond them was most definitely one of his goals, so locking himself in a subconscious mental cage was the opposite of what he wanted to do. He would treat this ''talent'' of his just like a wise king would handle a court advisor - it was an additional perspective to occasionally learn from, but not an evermore reliable guide.

 Chapter 129 - Of Calamities And Cataclysms

    His eyes glittering with a hint of excitement, Isaac gazed at a gigantic monster slumbering in the distance, wholly enveloped by a blackish purple mist. A staircase leading towards the 74th floor could barely be made out in a stalagmite less than a kilometer from the creature, but it wasn''t the center of attention because the entire rock formation was dwarfed by the beast''s size.

    ''This is getting a bit ridiculous. How much bigger are these things going to get?''

    Even he couldn''t help but frown slightly upon laying his eyes upon the nearly three kilometer long Monster Rex. It hadn''t even stood up yet, but its body already reached 900 meters in height. Glancing at the less than a meter long sword in his hand, he couldn''t help but smirk to himself. He was certain that he could easily wound the specimen, but it would probably take a considerable while to properly research it.

    When he had reached the 73rd floor, he had nigh instantly noticed a few changes. Compared to the previous parts of the Precarious Path, there were far fewer paths of floating rocks leading in different directions from the end of the staircase. Before, there had always been at least ten, but now there were only three. Additionally, the purple mist that lingered at the bottom of the cavern had reached a height of one kilometer, and its density had increased.

    For no particular reason, he had chosen the path to his south and followed it for around ten minutes at his current maximum speed. Five minutes into that journey, he had observed that the colour of the mist had started to darken, and another four minutes later, it had turned almost entirely black. Still, what he had been looking for hadn''t yet appeared, so he had calmly continued onward.

    After another minute had passed, he had finally been able to make out the floor boss of this thematic zone in the distance, albeit only due to his Eyes of Hermes. The mist at the bottom of the cavern had turned so dense and dark that, from above, it seemed like the rolling waves of a blackish purple underground ocean. If one only relied on their eyesight, then absolutely nothing could be made out beneath its surface.

    No Purple Dragons were anywhere close to the center of this area - it was unknown whether they were frightened away by the Monster Rex, or if they were somehow incompatible with this differently coloured mist.

    The floor boss'' body, which appeared somewhat like a small mountain from afar, had four legs and its overall shape reminded him of an ox - albeit, one that was overgrown with dark-brown, nearly black stone-like scales. It had a tail that was seemingly made out of the same material as well and the ground around it had merged with it a little, making it appear as if it had naturally grown from the stone over a period of countless years. There were two twisted demonic horns jutting out of the monster''s temples, as well as two similar protrusions extending from somewhere underneath its chin, akin to a beard. Even when it had its mouth closed during its slumber, one could easily make out the sharp fangs slightly sticking out of its closed maw. It had two pairs of eyes that were covered by heavy eyelids, but still faintly glowing in a pink-purple light that leaked out from underneath. One of these pairs was a little smaller than the other, and situated right about where the head ends of a human''s eyebrows were usually located - just for the record, this creature didn''t actually have any eyebrows.

    ''Young Behemoth¡­ the latter part of the name is quite fitting. But if this is only the fledgeling, then the m.a.t.u.r.e, actual Behemoth of legend had to have been an even more impressive beast. What a shame that it''s not around anymore.''

    Normally, Isaac would have snorted at the Zeus and Hera Familia members'' horrifying naming senses, but he couldn''t really criticize them this time - the word ''behemoth'' was simply too apt. Also, the entire name was actually of particular significance.

    About a millennium ago, the Guild had issued the ''Three Great Quests'' to the adventurers of this world. Each one of them was simple to understand, as they only requested the subjugation of a terrifying monstrosity that had escaped from within the dungeon''s depths long before most deities had descended, and before the Seal of Babel had been put into place.

    Leviathan, Behemoth and the One-Eyed Black Dragon - those were the monikers of the three monsters.

    The Leviathan was the ruler of the sea, while the Behemoth reigned over the land. As for the One-Eyed Black Dragon, it was both the sovereign of the sky¡­ as well as the most terrifying out of them all.

    For a long time, adventurers had been wondering about where exactly these three had come from, as none of them had been encountered in the dungeon up to that point. But when the Zeus and Hera Familias had reached the 73rd floor, they had finally figured it all out.

    All objectives of the Three Great Quests could indeed be fought in the dungeon, but only weaker versions of them. All three of these monsters had originally been Monster Rexes, and after leaving their birthplace, they had managed to evolve further and to become significantly stronger, to varying degrees. The longer that they lived, the more dangerous they became.

    What had led to this deduction was that the Monster Rex of the Precarious Path looked just like a ''baby'' version of the Behemoth that had still been occasionally wreaking havoc upon parts of the surface. It had travelled from continent to continent and couldn''t be bothered to wipe out all eyewitnesses, so many paintings of it had been made over the years. This floor boss was far too similar to the Behemoth for this to be a simple coincidence.

    With these thoughts in mind, the familias had deduced that Leviathan had to be a stronger form of Amphisbaena from the Water City. After all, they hadn''t encountered any other sea-based Monster Rexes, so it seemed like a logical conclusion. Additionally, it was commonly believed that the Leviathan had escaped from the dungeon via an underwater passage that was directly linked to the bottom of the massive lake on the 27th floor. So what other Monster Rex could it possibly have been originally?

    The only reason for the continued use of the name ''Amphisbaena'' after this revelation was that it had already stuck - for hundreds of years, everyone had been calling the floor boss by this moniker, so why change it? Still, there had been no such reservations when it concerned the freshly discovered Young Behemoth, who had still been nameless at the time.

    After defeating it, the Zeus and Hera Familias had delved further into the dungeon, at almost a crazed pace. Now that they had been made aware that the escaped Monster Rexes could grow stronger over time, it had felt like a fire had been lit underneath their proverbial butts. They had occasionally rested on their laurels before, because there had been no need to be hasty, but due to the newly obtained knowledge, every second had counted.

    They had prided themselves the heroes of the sentient races and had wanted to rid the world of the last remaining dangers. Originally, they had intended to steadily increase their strengths, and to then overcome all of the Three Great Quests with ease, but when they had discovered that their subjugation targets hadn''t just been lazing around all day, free time had become a wasteful luxury. After all, what if those Monster Rexes reached an unprecedented Level and destroyed the world before they could slay them? They couldn''t allow that to happen!

    Drunk on their comparatively easy triumph, and confident in being able to rush through all Three Great Quests in a single bout and create a timeless legend, they had ventured forth and hunted down the Leviathan and the Behemoth in quick succession. Admittedly, those battles had been tough, but aside from a handful of casualties, they had been able to tide through them stably mostly due to the rare Skills of some of their Executives. Convinced that the One-Eyed Black Dragon wouldn''t be able to endure their assault, they had tracked down its location¡­ and got annihilated.

    6,107 years ago, a Level 5 Amphisbaena had escaped into the seas. 16 years ago, the Level 8 Leviathan had been slain by the Hera Familia.

    2,073 years ago, a Level 7 Young Behemoth had left the dungeon. 15 years ago, the Level 8 Behemoth had been slain by the Zeus Familia.

    1,000 years ago, a Level 9 Young Black Dragon had descended upon the surface. 14 years ago, the One-Eyed Black Dragon had wiped out almost all of the members of the Zeus and Hera Familias.

    From this information, it could be gleaned that it took around 2,000 years for a Monster Rex to advance one Level, so shouldn''t the One-Eyed Black Dragon have been far from reaching Level 10? Yes, but even an incredibly strong Level 9 monster had still been more than capable of wiping them out. In their arrogance, the two familias had failed to keep the dragon''s growth in mind, because they had been convinced that they could already face ''any monster that is weaker than Level 10''. The reasons for this confidence had been the Hera Familia''s Level 9 Captain, as well as the two familias'' Executives'' extremely powerful Skills that could provide them with ridiculous stat bonuses and other benefits.

    But even if they hadn''t grown overconfident, this line of reasoning would still have been flawed. What if the One-Eyed Black Dragon had managed to grow stronger even faster than the other two calamities? Relying on a perceived average would work out in most situations, but it was still considerably risky. Due to every single Zeus and Hera Familia member who had fought the beast about one and a half decades ago being dead, nobody could accurately determine just how strong the former Monster Rex had become.

    ''In any case, this one shouldn''t be a threat.''

    Quite relaxed, Isaac heaved a sigh and stopped thinking about all of the information that Fels had conveyed to him. Right now, the only thing of importance was to systematically dismantle his specimen.

    Taking a deep breath, he once again entered the realm of impeccable focus, his chessboard, and nocked an arrow. In one smooth motion, he pulled back the string and got into the perfect position, then he let go of it. The arrow dived into the ocean of mist, straight into one of the Young Behemoth''s nostrils, to get its attention.

    An eardrum-shattering roar let him know that he was successful. With a speed that was nearly unimaginable for a being the size of a small mountain, the upper half of a horned head - one that was nearly 300 meters in height on its own - rose above the blackish purple waves of mist, stirring them up as if there was a tempest brewing. The two pairs of eyes opened and glared at him with annoyance and a bit of fury in them, before the Young Behemoth roared at him a second time, opening its terrifying maw widely in the process. The accompanying gusts of wind would have blown Isaac off of the rock that he was standing on if he hadn''t been prepared for them beforehand.

    ''All stats are at S-900 / 142,650, as expected.''

    With an excited smile, he kicked off of the rock and shot towards the Monster Rex, shattering his previous foothold in the process. Usually, there would have been no need to restrain his stats, because his opponent''s stats were a bit higher than his own, but with the stat bonus from his Supreme Archer Development Ability in the mix, he could currently completely outclass this fledgeling. So, like most of the time, he restricted himself to even the playing field.

    First things first, he quickly enveloped himself in a wind barrier to keep the mist at bay. Earlier, after chucking in a Purple Dragon from his inventory, he had seen that it had quickly shrivelled up as well as disintegrated. Because he didn''t feel any particular d.e.s.i.r.e for engaging in self-mutilation, he decided to protect himself.

    Noticing the Young Behemoth''s change in posture, he created a foothold of dense air with his Anemoi Steps in less than a fraction of a second and changed his trajectory, evading a swipe of the monster''s left foreleg. It looked like he had only barely made it, but his facial muscles were naturally relaxed. He even looped his bow over his shoulder at the same moment.

    Unsheathing his sword in mid-air, he casually slashed it across the floor boss'' arm to test the durability of its earthen scales, as well as the performance of his new weapon. His eyes lit up a little when he felt barely any resistance at all.

    Suddenly, his expression changed, and if the Young Behemoth had been a sentient being, then it would have felt a cold shiver run down its spine. The aura that Isaac gave off was that of a knowledge-hungry unscrupulous scientist wielding an incredibly sharp scalpel¡­ and the floor boss was in the position of the desperate victim that had been strapped to a chair with bloodshot eyes, desperately struggling to escape.

    Even the Monster Rex'' Magic couldn''t pose a threat, as all of the battlefield was in Isaac''s field of view. The Young Behemoth grew stone pillars and spears out of the ground under the cover of the mist, trying to take its opponent off guard, but it didn''t know that the sea of mist didn''t impede his vision at all, so he could account for them easily. When it collapsed stalactites far above them in an effort to crush him underneath, his expression didn''t change either - he merely noted down the exact specifics and extent of its abilities within his mental archives.

    As for physical attacks? They were even less of a threat. Compared to the battle with the Monochro--- Baihu, this fight went off just like his usual scientific endeavours: without a hitch. He somewhat missed that dance of death, but he enjoyed his research even more. There would surely be other opponents that could pressure him in the future - maybe in Heaven, or in other destinations of his journey - so he didn''t need to put himself in too much of an underdog position.

    If anyone had observed this bloodbath, then they would have concluded mainly one thing: the Young Behemoth was truly pitiful for having come across Isaac. For close to two hours, it was closely scrutinized and repeatedly harmed in countless ways. Its wounds did recover quite quickly, but it simply couldn''t keep up with the innumerable injuries appearing all over its body in rapid succession.

    Sometimes, arrows would momentarily rob it of its eyesight, at other times, its limbs would be hacked off by tens of successive attacks. For a period of time, Isaac even entered the Monster Rex'' stomach through its maw and sliced it apart from the inside, making it flail on the ground and smash itself against the surroundings in a desperate attempt to kill him and end this suffering somehow.

    By the end of the ''battle'', there was quite a heap of Young Behemoth limbs, horns, eyeballs, organs and various other body parts littering the surroundings. A blind, limbless and headless floor boss with an eviscerated stomach lay limply on the ground of the cavern. Next to it rested a decapitated head, its wounds only closing a millimeter at a time. As far as the eyes could see, a one meter deep lake of blackish blood stretched into the distance.

    A last low gurgling noise escaped the pitiful Monster Rex'' snout, then it finally escaped this torment forever. Moments later, Isaac walked out from one of its eye sockets, his entire body untouched by blood or dirt due to his wind barrier''s protection.

    ''Because I didn''t use Magic to directly wound or kill it, I earned quite a bit of excelia, unlike last time with Baihu.''

    Happily whistling to himself, he picked up the countless body parts strewn around and put them into his inventory, not missing even a single scale. It wasn''t that he was lacking money, but he simply couldn''t stomach the thought of letting this much precious material go to waste. Had he truly been desperate for wealth, then he would have just kept the floor boss - or any other strong monster with significant regenerative capabilities - alive and harvested the body from time to time.

    Making doubly sure that he hadn''t forgotten anything, Isaac turned around and entered the staircase leading towards the 74th floor, which should be a Safety Point, if his source of information - Fels - was to be believed.

    Right as he descended, he froze in his tracks and a surprised but relieved expression spread on his face. The system had just notified him of something that he had been looking forward to for quite a few days now.

    -----

    Right as the first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon, a brief pillar of light descended from Heaven upon the Beol Mountains, coinciding perfectly with the sunrise and masking itself in this manner. There were barely any people living out here, and only someone within the surrounding few kilometers would have been able to tell that another deity had come to the Lower World.

    Deep within a valley nestled between three steep mountains, entirely shielded from the outside, there could be found a massive fortress built out of dark stone. It had sturdy walls, more than one hundred watchtowers, many buildings of varying sizes and a main keep. Deep marks left by the weather of the seasons told of a many thousand years old history. Figures clad in black robes patrolled the surroundings and walls, occasionally killing the few weak monsters that were foolish enough to come close.

    The man was topless and only wore a white wrap around skirt that was belted at the waist. It was incredibly plain, and no jewelry could be found on his body. He looked to be around 22 years old, had a healthy olive skin tone and a lean but strong build. Still, anyone that looked at him would be cautious due to the icy and piercing gaze in his black eyes. Hair of the same colour fell unkempt onto his shoulders. While he was undoubtedly beautiful, just like all of his brethren, the god didn''t care for luxury or extravagance whatsoever.

    "What''s your name?"

    With a steady but emotionless voice, the man turned to face the one who stood in front of the other sixteen people that had been waiting for him. It was a young woman about twenty years of age, whose above average looks were almost entirely hidden underneath her uniform robe. It was obvious that she was the one in charge here before his arrival, or at least the one that the others had pressured to shoulder the burden of leadership, so it was natural for him to address her first.

    "It''s Nane, Lord Apophis. All of us are thrilled at your descent! If there is anything you need, just let me know. We prepared a feast for you in advance, would you like to partake?"

    Although she seemed a little nervous, the woman still soldiered through her anxiety and properly rattled off the words that she had prepared beforehand.

    In response, the god only shook his head slightly and gazed into the distance, towards Orario.

    "There is no need. Even in this mortal vessel, I don''t need to consume any food. Now then, Nane. You are the strongest of the ones that are left of the Black Blade, am I correct?"

    Taken aback, mostly due to Apophis'' complete disinterest in what her Lady Petbe had loved to take part in before - opulent parties - Nane paused for a second, blinking in confusion. This invitation had just been a formality. Everyone had expected for him to agree and follow them off the relatively frigid roof.

    Noticing Apophis looking at her with no expression whatsoever, she gulped audibly and nodded.

    "Alright then. You shall be the Captain of the Apophis Familia. As you already know, I will be taking over the operations here in the Lower World in our Lady''s stead. I was already briefed on the situation from her, but I would like to know all of the details."

    Luckily, this request wasn''t out of Nane''s expectations, so she pulled out a handy notebook from her robe and dutifully informed her new leader of all that had happened recently, as well as all of the information that they had gathered. By the time that she was finished, the entirety of the sun was already clearly visible.

    "From what we have gathered, in five days, there will be a massive protest at the plaza in front of Babel, where the people will request Isaac Blackshaw''s release. We can use the turmoil to our advantage and acquire more resources. The Guild and the peacekeeping familias will be forced to focus on the plaza, so we can pillage some of their warehouses."

    Ending her report with a recommendation of her own, Nane looked up at Apophis with a hint of expectation on her face. But all that she got in return was the same deadpan expression as before, as well as a shake of the head.

    "If we know about it, then the Guild surely does as well. They will have made preparations already. We don''t have enough forces to contend with them at the moment. Pull back everyone and have half of our men focus on the Knossos base and on growing stronger. We are too weak right now and can''t afford to do anything. As for the other half, they''ll renovate this place and prepare sufficient accommodations. We''ll leave all the troubles to the other Blades whose armies will arrive here soon. The earliest group is scheduled to arrive in 11 days. In three days, I will let all of you join my familia to give you back your powers. Until then, only bother me when you have new information. That''s all. Dismissed."

    After shutting down a flawed suggestion and providing the group with all orders that he deemed necessary, Apophis turned to look in the direction of Orario again, his face growing slightly darker.

    Not wanting to disturb him, the slightly disheartened Nane nodded and led the others away in silence, leaving the god to his own devices.

    A strong gust of wind blew past, causing him to squint a little, appearing even more hostile than usual. But beneath that facade, bits of melancholy and hatred bubbled within his pupils, having quietly seethed for myriads of years.

    "The closer I get to this place, the more I get reminded of the Cataclysms¡­ I hate this."

    Muttering these words underneath his steady breath, Apophis clenched his hands into fists subconsciously, the disturbing emotions in his gaze intensifying.

 Chapter 130 - Not Doing Anything Crazy

    The scene of a young man with medium-length, ruffled black hair, a maroon scarf and white-ish grey light armour, holding a silvery longsword and elegantly cutting apart a leaf into hundreds if not thousands of uniform pieces had been imprinted on Ais'' mind for more than 1,000 years.

    Ever since she had been barely four years old, the young girl had been entranced by the occasional glimpses of her father''s swordsmanship. She had sat in her mother''s gentle embrace, with stars twinkling in her eyes, excitement written all over her face. After some time, her father had even calmly taught her how to wield a sword - albeit, only a beautifully carved wooden practice sword.

    But after 992 years of oppressive darkness and isolation, most of those memories had turned extremely vague. When she had joined the Loki Familia eight years ago and picked up a sword again - for the first time in what had felt like an eternity - to embark on her path of revenge, her only references had been fragmented shards of shadowy recollections that she had endlessly tried to imitate and live up to.

    She had become known as the Sword Princess after just a handful of years because her refined swordsmanship, although it had been very rudimentary, had still impressed the adventurers and deities that had seen it. In an age where combat skills had markedly regressed, she had appeared like a sparkling diamond in the mud that took the world by storm. And although outsiders didn''t know about this, she had even managed to increase the grade of her Swordsman Development Ability without a Status update once.

    Still, she hadn''t even been close to satisfied with her progress. At this point, she had been nigh infinitely far away from reaching the apex of mastery that her father had reached. Although she had been able to vaguely follow some of the movements, due to the ridiculous amount of stats that she had built up, her attack speed hadn''t been a result of her proficiency, but rather one of pure strength.

    42 days ago, Isaac had appeared in this world, out of nowhere. Needless to say, her entire life had been turned upside down, almost to the point where people would easily believe that she had a happy twin sister. But one thing that hadn''t changed was her ambition, her craving for more strength. After all, how else was she ever going to get her revenge, and to save her mother? Still, the intense pressure that she had felt before had lessened a lot. She wasn''t single-mindedly chasing after only one goal anymore. At some point, she had realized that there was more to life than just revenge. Her previous years with the Loki Familia had already partially taught her that, but she had now fully come to accept it.

    During these past weeks, next to her indistinct memories, a new kind of swordsmanship had settled into her head. It was methodical, perfectly calculated and flawless. It made ideal use of every single movement to bring about only the most exemplary results. It was Isaac''s swordsmanship.

    Compared to what she had been able to remember of her father''s sword strikes, what she had the opportunity to observe from him wasn''t fragmented, and had allowed her to take many, many steps forward. Once again, she had made rapid improvements which vastly surpassed those that she had made in the years prior. Her Swordsman Development Ability''s grade had advanced to D-grade eight days ago.

    Every minute that she had been able to spare in between spending time with her beloved and taking care of some matters, she had always been in her usual training courtyard in the Twilight manor, constantly polishing her mastery of the sword and striving for further heights.

    Then, when she had become a goddess via the system, her memories, which had degraded over those countless years spent in solitude, without even having been able to move, had gotten fully restored. When she had been alone, she would often get lost in recollections of her small but happy family, and the few friends that had visited them. Melancholic but happy smiles had appeared on her face far more often than before - they had been pretty much nonexistent.

    Something else that had gotten restored were the scenes of her father practising his swordsmanship, as well as his performances and instructions. Even a time that she hadn''t wanted to recall, when he had pushed his body and soul past any and every limit, had become clear as day. This had brought her both joy as well as sadness. Still, it had enabled her to take further steps to catch up to her father''s understanding of and control over the sword.

    For more than a week, she had been even more excessive with her private training. She had exhausted herself both physically and mentally to the point where, despite her high stats and Level, she had still needed to sleep for four to five hours every day to stay in shape. Of course, she had also gotten plenty of rest when she had been with Isaac, but the mental exhaustion simply hadn''t been able to be fully accounted for in any other way.

    One day ago, she had finally managed to raise the grade of her Swordsman Development Ability to SSS - the pinnacle that most sentient beings would absolutely never reach in their lifetime. But even then, she had felt like something had been missing. She had still not been able to perfectly emulate her father''s movements, or to fully understand them. Sure, she had been able to produce the same results, but she had been far more open to counters during her attacks and had made countless wasteful movements.

    Her father''s swordsmanship, the ''Breeze Style'', had been free and unfettered, but also mysterious. With a swing that seemed casual, he had been able to exhibit incredible strength and destructive power, but also accuracy and finesse. By now, Ais had become certain that, while her father had been physically stronger than she had been at this point, what he had exhibited in front of her hadn''t made use of the majority of his power or agility. Only ''that time'' had she truly seen him go all out, and even beyond that. Then why was it that she, with superior physical stats, had still been unable to reproduce what her father had achieved?

    At first, she had thought of making use of her Magic to support her swordsmanship, breaking past the ''wall'' that she had perceived in this way. Still, she had always been doing that. She had constantly reinforced her strikes with the wind, and had even used the air to form blades of their own to assist her attacks. None of it had brought her any closer to her goal. To be honest, she had gotten frustrated many times. However, she hadn''t given up.

    ''It''s fundamentally impossible.''

    Upon brainstorming about it for many hours on end, Ais finally realized why she hadn''t been able to bridge that gap, why she still couldn''t replicate those movements at all, no matter how hard she had tried. Even if she surpassed her father''s speed, so what? She was still moving far less ideally and leaving too many openings. The reason for it had revealed itself to her when she had compared her father''s swordsmanship to Isaac''s. The latter''s represented the pinnacle of human perfection, while the former''s¡­ was something more. It was inherently not possible to recreate those movements with a human body.

    A bright smile played across her lips once she comprehended this.

    ''The answer is¡­ magic.''

    While the usual way that she used her Ariel Magic wasn''t that helpful here, she had also obtained the Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment Development Ability when she had become a deity, just like Isaac. Admittedly, she still didn''t grasp or understand it fully, but a hazy feeling as if she could somehow influence the mana all around her with her will had still been present all this time. She had experimented with it as well and had realized that she could further increase the output of her Ariel with this, but had never used it in any other way. Now, she knew how to proceed.

    With a peaceful expression, she repeated a simple sword swing thousands upon thousands of times, relatively slowly. At the same time, she tried to move the air around her sword at the same time as she swung it, in a supportive way, to further increase the speed.

    It was 1 a.m. when she began, and for two hours, she failed countless times. Beads of sweat had formed on her forehead, but she was still as unperturbed as before. She had been training for untold hours during all those years, so a bit of repetition, even hundreds of thousands of the same exact movements, weren''t enough to bother her.

    Finally, for a fleeting moment, she managed to accomplish what she had tried and failed to do so many times. She had visualized the wind pushing the sword and accelerating it, and for a split second, things didn''t go wrong. All previous times, either nothing had happened, or the wind had hindered her strike instead of aiding it. But this time, for a third of the very straightforward move, her weapon had sped up by a fraction.

    She stood there blankly for a few seconds, trying to process what had happened. It had felt like the sword had led her, rather than the other way around. But due to her being the one in control of the mana, she had still been the one indirectly leading her movements¡­ even though it hadn''t felt like it. It was a peculiar sensation.

    Taking a deep breath, she refocused on what she had been immersed in prior. Now that she had found the correct path, she only needed to walk a little bit further!

    It took her merely a minute to succeed in slightly but positively influencing her sword again. She had done it once before, so accomplishing it again wasn''t too difficult. The road to improvement, however, was.

    Two hours and close to half a million tries, this was how long it took her. During that time, she slowly but surely increased her proficiency in manipulating mana, and around twenty minutes in, she managed to minutely influence her sword swings just like she had before, every single time. From there, it could only go uphill.

    With a look of utmost concentration on her face, she swung her sword for the umpteenth time. Even though her movements weren''t particularly fast, her sword suddenly rapidly accelerated right when her strike began. Such a thing should have required a more forceful wrist twist as well as a different posture, but it still occurred. The speed of the sword was three times higher than it should be.

    ''Too fast!''

    Shocked, Ais found it difficult to keep a hold of her sword and stumbled forward half a step when her plain strike concluded. Fascination sparkled in her eyes as she looked upon her weapon and recalled what she had just experienced. It had felt both terrifying as well as liberating, odd but welcome.

    Only after a few minutes did she stop relishing in the sensation and take a look at the system notifications that had appeared.

    [ The Development Ability ''Swordsman (SSS)'' has advanced to the Development Ability ''Supreme Swordsman (I)''. ]

    Although she was incredibly happy about having broken past the ''wall'' that had stopped her, Ais soon smiled wryly.

    ''Not good enough. I''m not even close.''

    Still, she didn''t get disheartened. Before, she hadn''t even been able to grasp where exactly the difference between her and her father had lain, but finally, she was able to vaguely approximate the heights that her father''s swordsmanship mastery had reached a millennium ago. This was already astounding progress, one that less than a handful of mortals would ever be able to make. Well, she was technically a goddess now¡­

    ''In any case, I''ll take a short break.''

    She was completely drenched in sweat and really needed to catch her breath for a while, so she decided to focus on that for a few minutes. Right as she sat down on a nearby bench, Isaac''s congratulatory words arrived via the system, causing her smile to brighten.

    -----

    Early in the afternoon, the Loki Familia''s Executives and above had already made their way to the 67th floor. Under the protection of the newly advanced Finn, Gareth and Riveria - the three Level 7''s - Bete, Tiona and Tione didn''t have to worry much. They could constantly approach and surpass their limits, and the group would still be able to continue for one or two more floors. Only due to Isaac''s impeccable information about what obstacles to prepare themselves for did they have such a smooth ride. Still, Ais hadn''t been pressured at all and was honestly bored out of her mind. Her mentors had taken care of any and all real problems, so she hadn''t even needed to intervene at all.

    Sporting a serious expression, she approached Finn who was currently not needed to uphold the frontline and was surveying the battles instead, occasionally shouting orders.

    "Finn."

    "You want to go, right? Then do it, we''ll only hold you back. Let''s meet back at the Safety Point on the 63rd floor at around 6 p.m., okay? Stay safe, and don''t do anything crazy."

    With a grateful look in her eyes, the golden-haired beauty nodded, then she abruptly vanished from the spot that she had been at. She had teleported.

    Immediately, she found herself on the 74th floor, close to where Isaac had entered it seven hours ago. He had already told her all the information about all of the monsters in the thematic zones that he had researched, as well as what to look out for while fighting their Monster Rexes. But because she honestly wasn''t interested in facing all kinds of monsters like Isaac was, she simply chose to go to a place where she could finally earn significant amounts of excelia again.

    ''If Isaac''s theory is correct, then there should be multiple Monster Rexes on all floors that house one.''

    First of all, she decided to seek out a regular Young Behemoth, so she shot into the distance at her maximum speed, in the opposite direction that Isaac had headed in when he had been here. No monsters could even make her pause for a moment and all of the ones that were unlucky enough to be situated directly in her path simply exploded upon contact.

    ''As expected, he was correct.''

    Just like what her beloved had experienced, around ten to fifteen minutes after she had set off, she could clearly detect the presence of a massive monster slumbering peacefully in the ocean of mist. The distance that she had traversed was many times that of the diameter of the continent that Orario was located on - if Monster Rexes on the floors above were also this distant from one another, then it was no wonder that adventurers had believed for there to be only one of each for so long. Heck, even if they were significantly closer, they could have easily missed them all.

    "Awaken, Tempest."

    Without pausing her steps, she surrounded herself with her trusted Magic, which formed a wind barrier and vastly increased, amongst other things, her attack power, then she sped towards the head of the Young Behemoth below.

    "Too weak¡­"

    As she was muttering to herself, an unfamiliar system notification appeared in her field of view.

    [ Post-update Magic stat has reached the maximum. No further Magic-related excelia can be gained until your Level increases. ]

    ''I ranked up prem.a.t.u.r.ely before, but this time, I''ll do it right!''

    Her Magic stat had exceeded all of her other stats for a long time, and had been the only one that had grown noticeably ever since she had ranked up to Level 6. It didn''t surprise her that it was the first one to reach the maximum, especially because she mostly relied upon Ariel in all of her battles. Normally, she wouldn''t have had any other option to continue at this point, but the system enabled her to still work on all of her other stats without worry.

    With a resolute but nonetheless calm expression, she slit her finger and dripped many tens of drops of blood on the ground, before the wound ultimately healed. A familiar rumbling sound had already permeated this thematic zone of the dungeon by the time she was done, and the surroundings trembled severely. If her control over her body had been lackl.u.s.ter, then she probably would have stumbled to her knees during this ''earthquake''. Instead, she only joyfully looked into the distance, anticipating the black, stronger variant of the Monster Rex that was sure to arrive soon. The cautioning words of Finn had already been completely forgotten - or rather, she didn''t feel like she was doing anything too dangerous.

    She didn''t spare the regular black monsters any attention and instantly obliterated them with a few sword swings. Then, minutes later, a massive black figure finally appeared on the horizon, about one and a half times as tall as the gigantic creature that she had just slain.

    Obviously, she didn''t wait for the beast to slam into her and charged at it the moment she noticed it. In a fraction of a second, the two clashed, and her all-out attack only left a small wound. She was knocked back tens of meters before she came to a halt. A bit of excitement surfaced on her face, then the air around her changed. Literally.

    "Tempest - Avenger. Nizel."

    At that moment, she activated her Avenger Skill, further boosting her stats by around 30 percent. She didn''t feel any particular hatred for this floor boss, so she felt it hard to pull out even more strength than that, but it was already far more than enough. Accompanying the activation of her Skill, the wind around her turned from an indistinct pleasant green to a dark shade of grey, almost black. It was as if the world had lost its colour and joy. Before she had obtained the system, she would have lost control of at least a part of her rationale at this point. But due to its influence, her mind was akin to a tranquil lake, unsoiled by wrath or turbulence

    Not giving her prey any chance to recover, she shot towards it with a speed that tremendously surpassed it and ripped a hole with a diameter of eighty meters through its entire body, leaving it on the brink of death. The dark grey wind around her was far more destructive than before, and even her sword Desperate would only be able to endure this state for a few minutes, despite its Durandal attribute.

    "Oops¡­ that was a bit too much."

    A hint of embarrassment surfaced on Ais'' cheeks as she hastily finished off her foe and looked around in an effort to make sure that nobody had borne witness to her blunder. This was, of course, pointless, but she had felt the need to do it anyway. She had practically killed a mosquito with a flamethrower when a simple smack of her hand would have more than sufficed. Hastily, she disabled the combined and reinforced state of her Ariel Magic and her Avenger Skill, then she slit open her finger again and ''fed'' the dungeon a few more drops of her Ichor.

    Appearing like an innocent girl ordering another serving of food, she politely spoke a few words.

    "Another one, please."

    As if it had been further incensed, whether that be due to the additional drops of blood or due to what she had said, the tremors grew even more intense, making it a bit more difficult for Ais to keep her footing.

    More than two hours later, around 5:40 p.m., Ais had finally achieved what she had come here to do. She stood in the midst of an enormously vast expanse of black monster remains, tens of which were as big as small mountains. If she hadn''t stood atop one of these carcasses, then the tens of meters deep sea of blood on the floor would have submerged her. The dungeon had been shaking unceasingly all this time, and huge waves of blood collided against the bodies of the monsters, which also tumbled around all over the place. Even amidst such an apocalyptic scene, the girl''s eyes were shimmering in delight.

    [ Post-update Strength stat has reached the maximum. No further Strength-related excelia can be gained until your Level increases. ]

    [ All stats have reached the post-update maximum.

    Quest ''Reach the Level 6 stat limit.'' completed. 6000 AP rewarded. ]

    Only after she celebrated for a while did she take a look at the system map and zero in on a particular area on the 63rd floor.

    ''I''m a bit early, but there is no point in staying here any longer.''

    With a mere thought, the Sword Princess disappeared from the area of carnage that had been left in her wake, the dungeon still raging like a maddened mental asylum inmate. Even when she arrived on the Safety Point oh so many kilometers above, she could still slightly make out the tremors.

 Chapter 131 - Level 7

    Due to Ais'' progress in swordsmanship, a slight smile was plastered on Isaac''s lips as he entered the 74th floor, which happened to be the last Safety Point that the Zeus and Hera Familias had discovered back then. From here on out, a new thematic zone of the dungeon began, one which stretched all the way to the 79th floor - the ''Realm of Light''.

    Admittedly, the name sounded impressive, and a faint image of a mythical heavenly scenery had briefly appeared in his thoughts when he had first been told about it. But as was the case with so many things in life, reality was often disappointing.

    What greeted Isaac when he stepped foot in this zone were only silence and painful brightness. Due to his highly developed senses, it was even more agonizing to deal with the latter. Ultimately, he had to close his eyes to not be assaulted by unending waves of torment and blindness. Thankfully, he could still depend on his Eyes of Hermes, which were barely impacted by the overwhelming radiance, so although he ended up proceeding further without relying on his regular eyesight, he wasn''t inconvenienced too much. He could have chosen to follow in the footsteps of those that had come before him and set out to acquire a Magic Item that was quite similar to sunglasses in function, with a magical touch to it - the Ilioulia - but he had wanted to brace all of the dungeon''s dangers unassisted, to determine whether or not he could deal with them himself. And as expected, he could.

    The scenery that was revealed to him was boring to a fault. All that he could see was an endless cavern with a few pillars holding up the ceiling - they contained the staircases that led both towards the surface as well as further into the depths of the dungeon. The stone all around was white in colour and there was no vegetation at all. There were some lakes and rivers, but due to the water''s transparency, they didn''t offer any colour of their own. Regarding the reason as to why everything was so irritatingly bright, this phenomenon was the result of the mana all around. In this thematic zone, the naturally present mana was somehow continuously influenced to brighten up its surroundings. That was all that there was to it, at least if Isaac''s findings could be believed.

    After placing down a teleportation node in a place that was quite close to both a staircase leading up to the 73rd floor as well as one that led down to the 75th one, he got started with his research.

    The first set of monsters, again, consisted of five different species. All of them were at Level 7, so he could finally leave the Level 6 monsters behind - none of them could provide him with any excelia anymore anyway.

    Speaking of, he had made sure to acquire the qualifications to obtain the next Hunter-series Development Ability before advancing any further. With the overwhelming monster density in these depths as well as the vast distances that he had to traverse, getting the 40,000 Level 6 monster kills had honestly been a cakewalk - he hadn''t even needed to try.

    [ Professional Hunter (I): When battling a monster one has already gained excelia from previously - 12% increase in all stats, 12% increase in excelia gained. ]

    Being the most numerous and the weakest amongst the new monster species, the Rainbow Motes were the first ones that got the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e of making Isaac''s acquaintance. They appeared to be balls of differently coloured light that were about half a meter in diameter, with no other distinguishing features. Only their Magic stat was even worth mentioning, because it was at I-50 / 88,250. They seemed just like a part of the floor''s lighting system and didn''t attack anyone at all. If someone stumbled into them, however, then the light balls would absorb some of the mana in their bodies. Still, there wouldn''t be any other injuries - they weren''t even hostile.

    Contrary to what might be expected, these beings weren''t sentient. In fact, it was difficult to argue that they even were ''beings'' to begin with. They didn''t move, they didn''t react, and aside from working as an environmental mana drain as well as even more light sources for adventurers to deal with, they had no other functions. They hadn''t even been regarded as monsters, until someone had the ''bright'' idea to attack them with a Magic¡­ and they dropped a magic stone upon their demise.

    The reason that the initial attacker chose magical means to harm them was that physical attacks were useless against them. They passed straight through them without doing any damage whatsoever, or even disturbing them at all. Only by manipulating mana could they be injured. As for why they would leave behind a physical object, that wasn''t known.

    Well, until Isaac came along. Making use of his mana to sense their insides, he observed that the Motes had a ''core'' region which consisted entirely of the same sort of runes that he had encountered when researching the Goblin magic stone. Therefore, for now, he theorized that their magic stones were always present, they simply altered their state from an intangible one to a physical one after the light balls were disposed of. He could even see this happening, but it was instantaneous. Sadly, it was not the gradual process that he had hoped for, which would have been much more helpful and would have answered some of his questions. Still, many new doors opened in his mind when he realized what his findings implied, but because he hadn''t ventured too far on the path of rune and magic stone analysis yet, he simply kept all of these thoughts in the back of his head - rushing such matters would be extremely foolish.

    With that positive surprise out of the way, the next specimens on his list provided him with exactly the opposite - disappointment. Still, because he had ventured this far already, he had grown accustomed to being let down and didn''t make too much of a mental fuss. The name of these new enemies, however, made his right eye twitch in familiar annoyance. ''Obsidian Generals'', that was the name that some imbecile had chosen for these monsters. As expected, neither of these words were even remotely fitting at all.

    Quite similar to the Obsidian Soldiers from the Haunted Halls, the Generals were around two meters tall and moved relatively slowly, at least compared to other monsters of their Level. Their bodies were made out of a bizarrely shaped white volcanic glass and in their heads, there rested a single white spot of light that resembled an eye. Like their weaker brethren, they were highly resistant to Magic. Their Strength and Endurance could reach up to H-100 / 91,450. Yes, they were obviously reskins, which could somewhat excuse the chosen name. Still, obsidian was a black volcanic glass, completely unlike the one that the Generals consisted of. And while a general would usually be someone in charge of the soldiers beneath them - so the latter part of this monster species'' name appeared fitting at first glance - a single group of these Obsidian Generals numbered at least in the hundreds! An ''army'' entirely consisting of ''generals''... What kind of nonsensical madness was this!?

    Silently cursing whoever had bestowed them with such a moniker for the nth time, no doubt disturbing their peaceful and eternal rest, Isaac put a couple of Obsidian General remains into his inventory to study the material that they were made of later. He had never encountered such pristinely white volcanic glass before, so he wanted to know more about it.

    Life is a series of ups and downs. The next monster species that met a gruesome fate brightened up Isaac''s dampened mood considerably again. Their name - Deathtrap Fish - was a bit simple, but not too bad overall, because it got the general idea across. They resided in the bodies of water that could be found on these floors and were similar in appearance to tens of meters tall anglerfish. They hid at the bottom of the lakes and rivers and appeared like simple white rocks in their dormant state. As for their stats, their Strength and Agility could reach up to H-150 / 94,650.

    Their illiciums were transparent and could barely be made out with the n.a.k.e.d eye, so taking the visual restrictions of this thematic zone into account, they were pretty much invisible. Their lures looked remarkably similar to the Rainbow Motes and got moved around to attract their prey''s attention. Most adventurers would be intrigued by this because all Motes were usually immobile - but once they entered the water and came close enough, the fish would rush at them and try to devour them. Even should they face regular animals in a normal environment, the Deathtrap Fish would still easily be able to attract them over - after all, most beings get fascinated by shiny things.

    If Isaac had been a pervert - or even just a regular male, for that matter - then the monster species that was next on the list would have been a sight for sore eyes. The Winged Lamias, as the name implied, were reskins of the Lamias that he had encountered in the Water City. However, while those had looked considerably feral and vicious, these stronger versions appeared a lot more refined and holy. Their lower snake-like bodies were covered in beautiful white scales and the wings that sprouted from the backs of their b.a.r.e upper bodies were remarkably similar to those of the angels that had been mentioned in various myths from Isaac''s past world. The Winged Lamias didn''t even sport any noticeable claws, and their teeth looked just like those of regular human women - not like fangs at all.

    It turned out that all of the ferocity was simply hidden underneath the surface. Once they noticed their prey and they got into melee range, they would instantly switch from the appearance of flirtatious and exotic maidens to the bloodthirsty monsters that they really were. Their claws and fangs were retractile in nature, so they could spring them on their foes in a startling ambush. They were even quite proficient at flight, but they didn''t excel at it - it still offered them a bit more maneuverability, though. As for their stats, all of them but Magic could reach up to G-200 / 97,850.

    Leaving the blood and disfigured carcasses of charming humanoid monsters in his wake yet again, Isaac finally proceeded onwards to the fifth new monster species, the Bright Figures. Their names weren''t that shoddy - they were quite fitting, actually. In essence, these were humanoid, larger versions of the Rainbow Motes, with the main differences being that these ones could move and attack. They also didn''t only syphon off mana, they could even leave behind actual wounds on their targets! Also, like the light balls, they couldn''t be harmed by physical means. Most of their stats were extremely low, but their Agility and Magic could be at up to G-250 / 101,050. Researching them was surprisingly quick, because he had already taken an in-depth look at the Rainbow Motes earlier, so Isaac could swiftly proceed onwards to the next floors.

    At around 7 a.m., he arrived on the 78th floor, where another massive change finally took place. Instead of the usual bleak and bland scenery that had been omnipresent in all other parts of this thematic zone, what he saw now was a mixture of the white rocks and water bodies from before as well as a massive mirror maze. Due to the huge contrast between this area and the floors above, the Zeus and Hera Familias had dubbed the last two floors of the Realm of Light as the ''Mirror Labyrinth''. Four new monster species joined the fray here, and they all formed a very peculiar interplay. Entrapment and deception were the names of the game here, and there was no shortage of metaphorical pitfalls for one to fall into.

    First on the list were the White Moths - their names described their appearances perfectly. They were barely a third of a meter tall and could be found fluttering about all over the place, remarkably silently. They could spread a certain white powder from their wings, which would cause their prey to fall into a deep slumber and become extremely vulnerable to the other dangers that were afoot here. Due to their stealthy nature and the highly impaired vision that regular adventurers would have to deal with on these floors, it was all too easy to fail to notice this powder and fall victim to it. Thankfully, an Abnormal Resistance at D-grade or above would render one immune to its effects. Isaac simply dodged out of the powder''s way, and whenever he couldn''t do so in time he used a wind barrier to keep it at bay. Regarding their stats, the moths'' Agility and Magic could reach up to F-300 / 104,250.

    Two kinds of mimics inhabited this mirror maze, the first of which were the ''False Mirrors''. As undoubtedly plainly obvious, they impersonated mirrors and would assault any unsuspecting adventurers. It was nearly impossible to distinguish them from the other mirrors, unless one was able to discover the very small, white eyes peeking up from the ground or the higher density of mana in their bodies. Well, all of that only applied unless one saw their true form. The ''mirror'' was only their forehead, and it fit in seamlessly with the environment. The rest of their body was akin to a starved, vicious hound with remarkably long limbs. Usually, a huge portion of their heads would be buried underground, with only their mirror-foreheads and eyes sticking out and facing one of the labyrinth''s paths. Once they realized that their prey had come close enough and hadn''t noticed that something was amiss, then they would spring their trap on them. Their Strength and Agility were at F-350 / 107,450, but the rest of their stats weren''t anything impressive. If one could tide through the initial assault, then their comparatively fragile bodies could relatively easily be dealt with.

    As for the other mimics, they posed even more of a threat than the False Mirrors - they were called the ''Mirrored Selves''. Even though they weren''t what had come to mind when Isaac had first been told about them - he had read a lot of xianxia novels and had almost jumped to conclusions - they were still quite dangerous. But thankfully, they weren''t as exaggeratedly powerful as he had mentally prepared himself for. They were simply a kind of slime which would transform itself into a replica of the nearest adventurer. Groups of them would always be situated in front of various mirrors all around, and it was very difficult to tell which of the countless reflections all over the place were actually just slimes in disguise.

    These mimics would even copy some of the movements of the replicated adventurers, in a mirrored manner, and gradually get closer to them, until they could finally engulf and digest them in one fell swoop. As for their stats, their Strength, Endurance and Magic were at E-400 / 110,650.

    While the other three new monster species on this floor were mainly focused on status afflictions as well trickery, and on supporting the weaker monsters that Isaac had sufficiently researched earlier, the last new monster species was an entirely different beast to tackle and fell more in line with what the dungeon normally threw at its challengers. Pure and una.d.u.l.terated power, as well as numbers, with no deceptive strings attached.

    The species'' name¡­ yes, it was horrible: ''Multicoloured Crocodiles''. But after a token curse at the Zeus and Hera Familias, Isaac focused on the more important matters. These monsters looked pretty much exactly how he had visualized certain mythological creatures from his old world - the Chalkydri. They were around three meters tall and the base of their bodies was undoubtedly a male humanoid, with most of their upper and lower bodies looking pretty much normal, albeit oversized. However, they sported crocodile heads with scales that sparkled in all colours of the rainbow, as well as the feet and tail of a lion. On their backs, there were six sets of angelic wings that honestly seemed like they would get in the way or interfere negatively with each other - but surprisingly, the crocodile men could maneuver them expertly and move in dazzling, mesmerizing ways that most adventurers would be entirely unable to respond to. All of their stats, aside from Magic, were at E-450 / 113,850.

    Groups of them consisted of multiple hundreds at the least, and they patrolled the innumerable parts of the endless mirror maze in a perfectly arranged military formation. They wielded various weapons and shields made out of the white stone of the thematic zone, as well as mirror shards, and behaved like a well-trained phalanx. Facing them was like fighting an entire army at once. What was remarkable was that there wasn''t a ''heart'' or a commanding officer that could be taken out to reduce the threat that they posed - all of them worked nigh flawlessly with each other, completely out of instinct. No matter whether they were marching or flying through the air, they moved as one whole unit.

    The Multicoloured Crocodiles were what the Zeus and Hera Familias had used to train the cooperation between their members to new heights, because unless one had overwhelming personal strength or tactical ac.u.men, one could only fight them with the support of a group or ''army'' of their own. If those dead veterans had had the opportunity to watch Isaac play these impressive foes to death as if they were toddlers trying to encircle a jetpack-wearing a.d.u.l.t, then they would have turned in their graves.

    During the exploration of this thematic zone, Isaac had finally made progress in his Spirit Healing Development Ability again. He had surpassed the 75,000 mark of his manually regenerated drops of mana, even though he hadn''t been progressing anywhere near as quickly as when he had been performing his advanced grinding method. This was because he had been utilizing far less mana overall, so he couldn''t recover that much of it manually. There simply hadn''t been enough expenditure. In any case, Spirit Healing''s grade had advanced.

    [ Spirit Healing (F): If the user doesn''t utilize any mana for five seconds, regenerates 0.5% of the total mana every three seconds. ]

    But that wasn''t the end of the good news - not at all. Due to his current 160 percent boost to acquired excelia, he had finally been blessed by a very welcome system notification, one that Ais would also get to see later today.

    [ All stats have reached the post-update maximum.

    Quest ''Reach the Level 6 stat limit.'' completed. 6000 AP rewarded. ]

    Without further ado, Isaac quickly cleaned up all monsters in the surrounding few kilometers and got on with a process that he had become intimately familiar with over the past around seven weeks. He guided the Primordial Ichor on his back and updated his Status, then he ranked up to Level 7 immediately after.

    For a few seconds, he relished in the feeling of refreshment that accompanied the vastly increased quality and power of his vessel, then he took a glance at his Status. As for his Divine Energy, it wasn''t even at a risk of ''spilling out'' anymore. Now that he had been in possession of it for so long, it felt just like another limb to him - quite easy and natural to control. While he hadn''t had the chance to research it yet, that didn''t change the fact that it had long since become a part of him.

    [ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Race: God ]

    [ Divinity: None ]

    [ Arcanum: None ]

    [ Level: 6 -> 7 ]

    [ Age: Unable to measure ]

    [ Charisma: 34 ]

    [ Divine Energy: 139,709 -> 283,996 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (141,750 x 2.0035) ]

    [ Endurance: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (141,750 x 2.0035) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (141,750 x 2.0035) ]

    [ Agility: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (141,750 x 2.0035) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (141,750 x 2.0035) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ Anemoi Steps ]

    [ Eyes of Hermes ]

    [ Laser Cutting Construct ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Divine Being ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Huntsman: SSS ]

    [ Hunter: SSS ]

    [ Experienced Hunter: SSS ]

    [ Veteran Hunter: SSS ]

    [ Expert Hunter: I ]

    [ Professional Hunter: I ]

    [ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment: C ]

    [ Spirit Healing: G -> F ]

    [ Supreme Archer: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Mage, Swordsman ]

    Although this terrifying increase in overall power should have left him ecstatic, Isaac couldn''t help but pour cold water over his excitement almost immediately.

    ''My Mana Cultivation is really lagging behind. I can barely control around a fifth of my available mana at a moment''s notice. I''ll have to slow down and focus on adding more drops to my mana flow again for the time being, else I''ll have an extremely unstable foundation and most of my Magic stat will be almost entirely a decoration.''

    Even as he was chiding himself in such a manner, he didn''t fail to calculate the exact Level 1 stat bonus that his loyal retainer Mina was getting now that he had progressed one step further: 994. Especially this early on in her development, this was a staggering amount - and more than double of what it had been until this moment.

    ''Any second now¡­''

    [ Mina Teagle''s Devotion has increased by 5. ]

    Upon seeing the anticipated system notification, a smirk played across his lips. Yet again, his stats had slightly increased, and in response to her increase in Devotion, Mina''s had as well. Now that his stats had reached a certain threshold, the numbers involved were so huge that the lovely Chienthrope girl couldn''t help but immediately notice the change - after all, the bonus went from 994 to 1,136 in an instant.

    [ Mina Teagle''s Devotion has increased by 5. ]

    As expected, a temporary positive feedback loop was formed, with more and more system notifications popping up in quick succession. Only after a few minutes, when Mina had seemingly grown numb from the continued increase in overall strength and had arrived at a point where the Devotion that she felt for her lord couldn''t improve any further with this method did her admittedly crazy power surge finally come to an end.

    ''Her Devotion is at 80/100 now¡­ which leaves me at 284,634 Level 1 stats and provides her with a 2,277 bonus. She has really profited immensely this time. I wonder how the other kids will react when they notice her shooting for the stars so suddenly.''

    Chuckling to himself, Isaac cleaned up the few monsters that had either spawned in the meantime or had crept closer, then he set off towards the 79th floor, where he had one other matter to take care of before he would return to the surface as well as his own world to progress in his Mana Cultivation - the Realm of Light''s Monster Rex, ''Apsinthos''.

 Chapter 132 - Making The Rounds

    There had seemingly always been an unwritten rule in the dungeon when it came to floor bosses - they would be many times taller than a regular person, and, in most cases, continually increase in size. That, however, wasn''t the case for this one. Back when the Zeus and Hera Familias had first run across Apsinthos, they had been stumped and had even tried to make contact with him. As for the reason? He looked almost entirely like a being of the sentient races.

    Well, aside from the three pairs of white-feathered wings sprouting from his back. The upper and lower pairs were relatively small, maybe about a third of the size of the middle one, which was growing out of the ends of his shoulder blades. The other two pairs supported the main one, and enabled him to guide his path more expertly and minutely.

    Apsinthos was a bit less than two meters tall, which already made him at least a size bigger than most of the relatively short inhabitants of this world. He had pristinely white, almost transparent skin, but his blood vessels didn''t visually stick out in any way. A faint and subdued glow exuded from him, which bizarrely even managed to overshadow the extreme brightness all around. His blonde hair rested upon his right shoulder in a braided ponytail, in a neat and tidy manner which completely exposed his Half Elf-like ears. He wore a pure white robe that flowed around him as if billowing in the sea breeze. A plain white belt was strapped around his waist, to which was fastened a golden-white sheath that housed a delicately decorated longsword.

    Honestly, due to his resting pose, even Isaac was momentarily inclined to believe that this was a simple visitor to the dungeon, or at least a sentient being - not a Monster Rex. Apsinthos sat silently on a raised portion of the floor, his legs crossed and his b.a.r.e feet exposed to the elements. A staircase leading further down, towards the 80th floor, was situated a couple of kilometers behind him. He blocked the only path that led straight there.

    Because his eyes were closed and the faint angelic smile on his face was ever-present, it wouldn''t be weird to assume that he was just an angel who had somehow ended up here.

    But Isaac wouldn''t be as careless as the past hegemons of Orario had been. Even had he not already been aware of this being''s identity, he would have still stayed on guard all the same. After all, whether Apsinthos was a sentient being or a monster didn''t truly matter - what did was whether he was hostile. As always, he would at least consider the possibility of any- and everybody trying to harm him. It wouldn''t be the case in most instances, but when it was, then he would at least be both mentally and physically prepared.

    ''Still, it''s interesting. I had assumed that I wouldn''t encounter any monsters that so closely resemble the human body. Looks like I was wrong.''

    It had indeed been foolish to expect that the dungeon wouldn''t nigh entirely base an opponent off of the human body. Sure, there had been those enemies that had gotten close - the rotting and decaying Zombies, or the various humanoid monsters like the Sirens and Mermaids - but never before had any of them borne this close of a resemblance to a healthy sentient being from the surface, one that was in pristine condition. Yes, Apsinthos had wings, but that was really the only physical difference. Maybe one day, Isaac might even encounter beings that 100 percent replicated those from the surface? It was at least a possibility.

    Without attempting a dialogue, he casually walked closer to the angel floor boss, seemingly off guard - of course, he had already entered the realm of supreme focus, as usual. Once he passed the 200 meter mark from Apsinthos'' seat, the man stood up, his holiness instantly perverting into a bloodl.u.s.t that nearly blazed from his now-opened eyes. His expression didn''t change whatsoever, adding to the eerie strangeness of the scene. With movements so quick that most Level 7 adventurers would have a hard time following them, he kicked off from the ground and unsheathed his immaculate weapon.

    ''More than halfway through Level 8. His stats are at D-550 / 241,850. The difficulty spike is quite extreme here, I better caution the familia.''

    Still, there was no need for Isaac to panic, as his recent advance to Level 7 had made him surpass even this opponent - and if he had been weaker, he wouldn''t have become nervous either. Admittedly, he wouldn''t stand a chance without his passive Divine Being stat buff, but due to it, he outclassed his enemy immensely. Being a god¡­ it simply broke the scales.

    Sidestepping calmly, he evaded the angel''s charge by a small margin, the air that had been displaced by one of the Monster Rex'' wings brushing against his face. As if further enraged by this close call, the mana density around Apsinthos rapidly increased and his robes got suffused in holy white light, which ultimately formed what appeared to be a suit of overly glamorous armour. It didn''t get in the angel''s way, however, because it just passed through his body whenever his movements would have normally been restricted, as if it was insubstantial. But after testing it with a random wooden stick from his inventory, Isaac confirmed that this result of a light enchant type Magic did still collide with regular physical objects.

    His eyes glittering with excitement, the intrigued scientist remained composed in the face of the overall stat boost of the floor boss and only eased the restraints that he had put on his own stats a little, so as to continue matching his specimen''s strength. This quite ingenious application of magic was at least worthy of a closer examination and the unusual pairs of wings did require him to study them for some time until he could properly ''read'' them.

    Still, Apsinthos'' one-sided aggression couldn''t last forever. Once Isaac had gathered all knowledge that he could in this way, he unsheathed his own sword and got to work, repeatedly injuring the angel. He started small, with only cuts across the arms and waist, ones that weren''t too deep. This was intended to probe the test subject''s response to such minor pangs of pain. In this manner, the suffering began.

    Right when Isaac thought about making use of his Mermaid Blood Dispenser to give Apsinthos a second wind, the floor boss suddenly stopped attacking and hurriedly chanted in gurgling noises, his voice still relatively pleasant despite the blood clogging up his throat. Although the sounds appeared grotesque in nature, it turned out that they really were the words that made up a language, because the system''s automatic translation function got to work.

    "Soldiers of eternity, lend me your splendour. Reinstate what was broken, for the judgement has not yet ended. No mercy for the wicked, until my last breath. Return me from the doorsteps of death. S?iz¨­ Tous Efseve¨ªs."

    A ray of light even brighter than the surroundings suddenly descended from around ten meters above the lacerated angel''s head and enveloped him completely, shielding him from regular eyesight. At a speed that was almost inconceivable, all of his wounds recovered and his missing body parts grew anew. His complexion became healthy again, and only the density of mana within his body dipped extremely slightly. He would easily be able to perform the same Magic hundreds of times. Other Monster Rexes had almost endless passive natural regeneration, while this one needed to cast a Magic to achieve a slightly subpar result - maybe this handicap was what was supposed to ''balance the scales'' after such a ludicrous spike in floor boss stats.

    ''What a cooperative guy, he''s even saving me the trouble of having to heal him myself!''

    Obviously, Isaac wouldn''t be discourteous to such a kind fellow and allowed Apsinthos to recover to his peak. Little did the dungeon''s minion know that it had just voluntarily entered a hell of torment.

    About two hours later, Isaac finally left the dungeon and returned to his private world, patiently waiting for his students to come back from their daily grind. While he was steadily utilizing most of his focus to add more drops to his mental layer''s mana flow, he inspected the most important piece of loot that he had acquired after stuffing the abused corpse of Apsinthos into his inventory after the specimen''s death - the Monster Rex'' sword.

    The dungeon sometimes generated weapons for its monsters, which could vary in make and quality. This one was definitely the best one that he had come across so far. Usually, after the collection of the magic stone, these weapons would also disappear alongside the monster carcasses, but his inventory enabled him to simply ignore this ''law'' and snatch everything.

    The sword was 120 centimeters long, with the grip accounting for one sixth of the length. It was suitable to be wielded with two hands, but would also work well as a one-handed weapon. It had a weight that would have made it impossible for regular people to properly use it, but it felt nearly weightless to him - it was close to twenty kilograms. As if a craftsman god had produced it, it was perfectly weighted, but it hadn''t been personalized for Isaac. Its intended user had obviously had marginally longer arms and a slightly taller stature - Apsinthos. Isaac couldn''t determine what kinds of exact materials this weapon had been made from, but he could still vaguely analyze them. The grip had been fashioned out of some kind of bone, while the double-edged blade had been crafted from a white metal that was suffused with mana - he had never encountered either of them before. The sheath had been made out of the same kind of bone as the grip. Regarding the angelic decorations all over the grip, pommel, guard and sheath, they looked to be shaped out of gold - but the actual metal was, yet again, unknown. Overall, its quality wasn''t inferior to the sword that he had spent a fortune on recently, from what he could tell.

    ''Not bad. I should get it adjusted and keep it, in case I ever find myself in need of a proper longsword.''

    Around 1 p.m., a bit before his students and subordinates would return for their training, he felt a familiar suffocating and uncomfortable feeling crop up - a bottleneck in his mana channels, which were filled to the brim. Ever since he had ranked up to Level 6, he had spent all of his surplus focus on adding drops to his mana flow, so although his speed of advancement only increased extremely minutely every so often, he had still made it this far in a bit more than half a day.

    It took ridiculous amounts of effort and perseverance to add the 80,000th drop, but his expression only stiffened a little. With a sudden jolt, the pain passed, and instantly, his entire vessel revitalized and recovered from the precarious state that it had been in previously. A joyful sigh escaped his lips as he carefully surveyed his physical and mental layers for changes - but aside from his mana channels expanding yet again, enabling him to progress yet another step further on the path of Mana Cultivation, there was nothing else.

    ''Seems like any big changes will only occur once I surpass the Foundation Establishment, I''d wager.''

    [ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment (B): Enables one to interact with their surroundings by using mana. Reduction in mana expenditure: 17% ]

    After making sure that there weren''t any hidden problems that he had missed, he continued to devote himself to adding more drops, until he noticed a group of people approaching from the home node.

    Before he had even opened his eyes, a certain Chienthrope girl had already rapidly ran up to him, wagging her tail excitedly, her eyes sparkling with fascination, happiness, gratitude and unswerving devotion.

    "Milord!! Congratulations on having become stronger!"

    When she noticed that he was looking at her, Mina controlled her emotions a little and obediently saluted him in an adorkable manner, her tail still stirring up a lot of dust. She had been in the middle of battle when an extreme stat increase had come her way, and although she had been slightly startled and had even made a mistake, Titania had covered for her and had kept her opponents at bay until she had managed to adjust herself to the continuous sudden power surges. The loyal dog girl had immediately realized that this was her lord''s doing, and that her Reverential Resonance Skill was the reason for this unforeseen boon. And as expected of the most faithful retainer, the happiness that she had felt over her own improvement had been completely dwarfed by the euphoria over her lord''s rank up.

    With a smirk, Isaac got up and patted her head a little, then he turned to face the rest of the group. During this time, Lefiya had teleported here from the Twilight Manor as well and joined them, looking forward to today''s training.

    "Before we begin, I''ll update the Status of Averin, Kalin, Mina and Quinn. During the past few days, you should have made considerable strides forward again."

    The ones that he had mentioned showed excited looks, while Aselina felt a little disheartened. He shot her an apologetic look, and she nodded in understanding - there simply hadn''t been any monsters that allowed her to earn a good amount of excelia on their path yet. But on the bright side, now that they were about to cross the Second Line and enter the Water CIty, her time to shine would finally arrive!

    Casually, while continuing to pat Mina''s head - she hadn''t left his side yet - Isaac took a look at the four''s progress and gave them their Status updates.

    [ Name: Averin ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

    [ Race: Jack Bird Variant ]

    [ Level: 2 ]

    [ Age: 42 -> 46 days ]

    [ Loyalty: 99/100 ]

    [ Strength: E-482 -> B-701 (1,834) ]

    [ Endurance: D-510 -> B-714 (1,812) ]

    [ Dexterity: E-493 -> A-802 (2,177) ]

    [ Agility: H-175 -> G-232 (2,714) ]

    [ Magic: I-24 -> H-193 (389) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Atalantan Accelerate ]

    [ Beak Fighter: H -> G ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance, Chain Attack ]

    Surprisingly, the arrogant rooster had actually been putting in a lot of effort to support his boasting and helped out his fellow subordinates a lot, in the process advancing his stats by a large margin. Even his Development Ability had increased in grade, and only in four days! While that was partially due to the supreme quality training that he had gotten to enjoy, it was still a feat that would leave countless adventurers speechless. It had only been in the early stages of his Development Ability, and it wasn''t comparable to Ais'' recent accomplishments, but the Sword Princess was a publicly acknowledged genius, while Averin was¡­ just a Jack Bird. To obtain the opportunity to be mentioned in the same breath as Ais, he had to have worked ridiculously hard.

    An appreciative smile flashed past Isaac''s lips as he nodded approvingly. This rooster didn''t disappoint him at all. Just¡­ that last point of not-yet-obtained Loyalty irked him a little.

    [ Name: Kalin Myre ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Familia) ]

    [ Race: Human ]

    [ Level: 2 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-0 -> H-159 (2,499) ]

    [ Endurance: I-0 -> I-97 (2,098) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-0 -> G-203 (2,670) ]

    [ Agility: I-0 -> H-136 (2,374) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 -> G-281 (1,891) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ None ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Spearman: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance, Chain Attack ]

    Raising his left eyebrow a little, Isaac mentally noted down that Kalin had actually lost a whole six Level 2 stat points in all stats this time, in two days. That was 50 percent more than before, in a comparable time period. The young man would have been a bit further along into Level 2 if that hadn''t been the case. Still, because Isaac had a good idea as to what was to come, he simply shook his head a little and didn''t comment on it - Kalin''s progress was still outstanding, he had even obtained the qualifications for the Chain Attack Development Ability. Speaking of, how come he hadn''t unlocked that one for himself yet? He would have to look into it sometime.

    [ Name: Mina Teagle ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

    [ Race: Chienthrope ]

    [ Level: 2 ]

    [ Age: 16 ]

    [ Loyalty: 100/100 ]

    [ Devotion: 30 -> 80/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-0 -> H-153 (2,460) (+ 284,634 x 0.008) ]

    [ Endurance: I-0 -> I-85 (2,048) (+ 284,634 x 0.008) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-0 -> G-217 (2,684) (+ 284,634 x 0.008) ]

    [ Agility: I-0 -> H-101 (2,188) (+ 284,634 x 0.008) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 -> I-68 (1,753) (+ 284,634 x 0.008) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Reverential Resonance ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Swordsman: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance ]

    Although Mina''s regular stats were about the same level as Kalin''s, the 2,277 point increase in all of them had her suddenly catch up with the most outstanding novice Level 3 adventurers in terms of pure stats. Even Jakk wasn''t that much stronger than her now. Still, while this Skill might seem like a broken blessing in the beginning Levels, it would only give her an insignificant bonus at higher Levels. Only if Isaac advanced to further heights would she be able to keep such an impressive lead over the rest.

    But for now, her growth alone was already more than satisfactory. With that in mind, he gave her head another gentle rub, eliciting more happy tail wags.

    [ Name: Quinn Graham ]

    [ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

    [ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw''s Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

    [ Race: Cat People ]

    [ Level: 2 ]

    [ Age: 14 ]

    [ Loyalty: 85/100 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-0 -> H-170 (2,317) ]

    [ Endurance: I-0 -> H-163 (2,294) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-0 -> H-176 (2,347) ]

    [ Agility: I-0 -> H-168 (2,310) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 -> G-219 (2,678) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ None ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Berserker ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Swordsman: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance ]

    There was nothing but praise that he had for the cat boy''s stat growth, but the absence of any recent increase in Loyalty stuck out.

    ''It seems like I should kick off that operation soon, possibly right after I''m ''free'' again.''

    If his plans worked out, then doing this would provide Quinn with a huge chance for mental development, and to confront his fears. Isaac would do his best to lend a helping hand to him then, so that Quinn could become a fantastic retainer in the future.

    With what seemed no more than a flick of his wrist, Isaac pulled out sheets of paper from his inventory and wrote down all their new Status information, then he handed it to the four to give them a good idea of what changes had taken place. While they could feel the differences in their bodies themselves, to have it all presented in black and white made it a lot easier to grasp in detail.

    Once he judged that he had given them sufficient time to adjust, he clapped his hands and became the focus of attention.

    "Alright, it''s time to start today''s training session. Ready yourselves."

    Because it hadn''t been convenient for Titania, they had relocated from the regular training courtyard to a corner of Isaac''s private world yesterday. This enabled him to teach his trusty sofa a lot more efficiently, because she didn''t need to hold back any longer.

    Four hours later, the spars came to an end - but before everyone could disperse, he gathered them all once more. In response to their confused expressions, he showed a slight smile and pulled out five books from his inventory. They didn''t look all that special, but they were all considerably hefty and expertly bound - truly high in quality. The only confusing part about them was that none of them actually contained any words, but nobody present aside from him was aware of this.

    "Starting from tomorrow, we will devote a portion of our training session to studying magic. Aselina, Averin, Jakk, Kalin, Mina. The five of you will each get one of these books, a ''grimoire''. These will bestow the potential to have a personalized Magic added to one''s Status to the first person who reads them. As for Lefiya, Quinn and Titania, I will teach the three of you personally. You can tell Riveria to attend as well, she should have quite a lot of insights to share, which will also be of benefit to me. Elfy can come as well - and any other trustworthy mages of the Loki Familia."

    Although Lefiya was a bit shocked at him handing out such valuable goods as if they were cabbages, she quickly nodded and didn''t make a fuss. She already had three Magics listed in her Status, so a grimoire would have been completely useless to her anyway.

    Noticing the bewildered looks of the five who had just been bestowed with their own extremely costly opportunities, Isaac released a helpless sigh.

    "Don''t look at me like that. You''re all free to attend as well, but I''ll be honest with you: I highly doubt that you''ll be able to grasp what I''ll be teaching. I won''t stop you from trying, though. Maybe you will be able to surprise me."

    His confrontational words successfully served to further motivate Kalin and Mina, but the others were pretty much unaffected - they hadn''t expected to make much progress in Magic anyway.

    A quick stop to the Xenos'' hidden village later, to give Ray her very own grimoire, he successfully escaped without being seen by any clingy Xenos girls and returned to the Twilight Manor for a shower.

    When he came back to his and Ais'' room at around 6:30 p.m., his beloved had already changed into casual clothes and freshened up as well. She bounced up from their bed and approached him with an excited spring in her steps, then she gave him a strong hug and showed a bright smile.

    "Welcome home~"

    Slightly blushing, Isaac reciprocated her hug and the two got lost in a lovey-dovey kiss for a while. Thankfully, they were in private, else some people would have been frothing from the mouth due to excessive jealousy.

    Only after a while did the two separate - well, not really, they were still holding hands. To calm his heartbeat a little, Isaac changed the topic to something that they had already discussed earlier.

    "Want me to update your Status now?"

    Nodding with a look of anticipation on her face, Ais sat down on their bed, took off her white shirt and exposed the delicate white bra as well as her breathtakingly shaped upper body underneath. She knew that it wasn''t necessary for her to do this, but she was in the mood to tease him today, so she flashed Isaac a sheepish smile and laid down with her back facing upwards.

    Sighing helplessly, with his cheeks a tone darker than before, he sat down next to her and traced her back with a drop of Ichor on his fingertip. He worked a little slower than usual, to get a bit of ''revenge'' on her for tempting him like this. Minutes later, he was finally done.

    [ Name: Ais Wallenstein ]

    [ Familia: Loki Familia ]

    [ Race: God ]

    [ Level: 6 -> 7 ]

    [ Age: 1007 ]

    [ Divine Energy: 252,616 ]

    [ Stats ]

    [ Strength: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (109,118) ]

    [ Endurance: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (110,006) ]

    [ Dexterity: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (123,695) ]

    [ Agility: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (123,731) ]

    [ Magic: I-0 -> SSS-1500 -> I-0 (126,308) ]

    [ Magic ]

    [ Ariel ]

    [ Skills ]

    [ Avenger ]

    [ Development Abilities ]

    [ Hunter: F ]

    [ Abnormal Resistance: G -> F ]

    [ Supreme Swordsman: I ]

    [ Spirit Healing: I ]

    [ Mage: I ]

    [ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Chain Attack ]

    She had already told him in advance that she wanted to obtain the Mage Development Ability this time, so the whole process was completed wordlessly. Ais had buried her face in a pillow some time ago, and when she finally looked up again, the two of them were both furiously blushing like idiots.

    "Ahem. May I invite you to dinner?"

    With a wave of his hand, Isaac pulled out a few varieties of fresh potato snacks as well as a couple of delicious non-alcoholic drinks and put them on the table. He also replaced the magic stone lamp with a few lit candles, in a painfully clich¨¦ romantic fashion.

    "You may."

    Snickering a little at this display, Ais grasped his outstretched hand and allowed him to pull her up, then they made their way over and sat down at the table to enjoy a candlelit dinner. Consisting of solely potato snacks...

 Chapter 133 - His True Heart

    Around this time, Jakk would have usually found himself surrounded by the inhospitable environment of the dungeon, as well as dangerous monsters lurking around every corner. He would have been immersed in cutting a path through them all by his lonesome - an approach to adventuring which was considered to be a highly foolish endeavour by the masses. But instead of all of that peril and excitement, he was enveloped in a veil of silence with a scowl on his face, all alone in his room. The only light source around was a lit magic stone lamp on his desk.

    Staring at a heavy book that he hadn''t started reading yet with hesitation in his eyes, he sat on his chair, occasionally changing his pose to a more comfortable one.

    ''Ugh, I really don''t know if I can accept this¡­''

    Although he hadn''t made a fuss back at the end of the training session and had received his grimoire without complaint, he inwardly felt quite conflicted. In all honesty, ever since Isaac''s arrival in the familia, Jakk felt like he had taken advantage of the young man who had become his teacher.

    At first, he had still felt relieved that he could at least watch over the other students to repay Isaac''s favour - all the guidance that he had been blessed with - and it truly had seemed like he wasn''t doing anything wrong. It had been simpler times, and they had both benefited. But after a while, he realized just how incomprehensible of a being that former roommate of his truly was. If joining the Loki Familia was considered the greatest fortune of a lifetime, then encountering that enigmatic man and being on friendly terms with him was¡­ what? The fortune of a few tens of lifetimes, perhaps?

    His combat skill had soared, and he had rapidly advanced through Level 2, even far more than halfway through Level 3. All of this should have been nigh impossible in such a short period of time, but it had actually happened. Jakk was under no illusion that he could have progressed as quickly as he did without Isaac''s teachings.

    This posed a problem, however. How would he ever be able to repay him? The Hume Bunny youth might not be the biggest fan of social interaction - admittedly, that was a huge understatement - and he might not seem like too friendly of a guy at first glance, but he always aimed to repay any acts of kindness.

    Ever since the others had gotten stronger, there had been less and less matters that he could help out with. Soon, they would all be about as strong as he was, and then he would lose even the last opportunity to give a helping hand.

    Today, he had even been handed a grimoire. While some of the others might not know, he was well aware just how expensive these items were. It would take a hundred times as much valis as he had currently saved up to buy a single one of them. This book was worth a fortune! But that wasn''t the most important part - what this Magic Item signified, however, was. To any regular adventurer, this was a new lease on life, nearly a guaranteed ticket to entering a higher Level and obtaining far more influence. It was a ticket to a ''new realm'', so to speak.

    But what if he decided against reading it? Wouldn''t he seem like an ingrate then? After all, it had already been handed to him. He had failed to clearly reject it from the outset.

    ''I''m stuck between a rock and a hard place, dammit!''

    A sigh escaped Jakk''s mouth as he absentmindedly and repeatedly tapped on the table, then he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

    Honestly, what was the point in worrying about this so much? Wouldn''t it be stupid of him to deny a chance to increase his strength? He knew how desperately he had been striving for it, so even though accepting this benefit would make him uncomfortable, wasn''t getting wounded in a fight even more painful? He couldn''t just shrink back because he wanted to avoid such slight troubles.

    "F.u.c.k it, I''ll just read it. I''ll figure out how to deal with this mess later."

    With strong resolution in his eyes, he finally flipped the book open and looked at its first page.

    ''Huh, why is it empt--- nevermind.''

    For a split second, it seemed like he had simply gazed upon a blank page, but after blinking once, he realized that his mind had to have played a trick on him. After all, weren''t there words on the page now? They couldn''t just have appeared out of nowhere, right?

    ''The veterans weren''t kidding when they said that grimoires are... weird. Seriously, ''The Philanderer''s Guide to Magic''? What kind of title is this? Who would write something like this?''

    Amongst the more experienced familias that could afford these luxurious items regularly, it was well-known that a grimoire''s content was always at least a little bit over the top, as well as mysterious. Even those that had crafted them had no idea what words the grimoires contained. But thankfully, it didn''t even matter what was written on their pages, one simply had to read on for a bit to trigger the book''s effects.

    ''Just like the breathtaking flowers all over the world that are ready for the plucking, Magic is an area of expertise that most never dive too deeply into. There are countless Magics, and just as many different kinds of flowers.''

    An amused smile spread on Jakk''s face as he read the first paragraph. As a seasoned pervert, how could he possibly not understand what was implied here? His interest piqued, he continued on.

    ''To obtain the right to utilize a Magic, one first has to seduce it - to make it one''s own. Just like every flower needs a slightly different courting ritual, each Magic''s chant has to be thoroughly understood with the whole body and mind, as well as perfectly internalized. But beware: Not everyone can handle a whole bouquet of flowers, and not many can be loved by more than a handful of Magics.''

    It had sounded like mostly nonsense at first, but by this point, the Hume Bunny youth had to admit that there was a certain logic to it. He didn''t fully agree with it, but it still made sense. Maybe he was just a little too ignorant to understand magic''s finer details?

    Jakk didn''t even realize it, but he had successfully been pulled in. Even if he had wanted to stop reading, he wouldn''t have been able to. He wouldn''t even have managed to let his eyes leave the pages, no matter how hard he tried. It was as if he was in a trance.

    ''Just like one has to decide on which flower to pluck first, around which the rest of the bouquet will be arranged in time, one has to choose one''s initial Magic carefully. If you want to obtain one of your own, then dear reader, please ask yourself this question: What is magic to you?''

    All of a sudden, Jakk felt like he wasn''t looking at a book anymore, rather, he was staring into a mirror. The him that was reflected within looked nearly identical to his regular self, but it was made up out of letters of different colours. Still, in his current state, he couldn''t think about the why or how any of this was happening. It was as if he was being guided along, and unable to do almost anything but tell the truth.

    Subconsciously, Jakk muttered his reply to the book''s question.

    "It''s a tool that can take innumerable shapes. It''s a miracle that can enable anything that one d.e.s.i.r.es. It''s the path to strength, and the path to protecting one''s loved ones."

    A knowing smile spread on the face of the self in the mirror, then it asked another question.

    ''Why do you strive for strength, and to protect?''

    Before giving him a chance to answer, the reflection in the mirror changed. It was as if it had suddenly turned into a window that was gazing into the past, into Jakk''s own memories.

    In a valley surrounded by a few tall hills and a plentiful forest, there was a small village consisting of around a hundred houses. It was clear that the inhabitants weren''t rich by any means, but most of them had smiles on their faces and a peaceful air around them, despite their simple lives. It wasn''t all sunshine and rainbows, of course, but everyone got well enough along to not allow any major problems to happen.

    Most of the people here were Hume Bunnies, but there were also a few human and Dwarf families around. There weren''t many children, and only two of them were Hume Bunnies - a five to six year old boy, and a girl who was around three years older. The two had been growing up together for as long as they could remember, and often played in the surrounding forests. Because of the many proficient hunters in the village, there were pretty much no monsters or any other dangers in the few kilometers around the village, so the a.d.u.l.ts didn''t mind the children scampering off into the woods every now and then, as long as they behaved and came back in time for dinner.

    The tranquil scene suddenly changed, and the village was shrouded in smoke and flames. The sun was just about to set, bathing the surroundings in shades of red and orange, which made the whole picture appear a lot more diabolical. Groups of strangers were filling the streets, slaughtering the old and capturing the young. Any and all valuables were seized, and the wooden houses had been set aflame. All kinds of depravity could be observed, with many terrified and despairing screams painting the soundscape.

    Just about a hundred meters aways from the village, on one of the surrounding hill''s cliffs, partially hidden by the forests all around, two young Hume Bunnies were huddled together, too scared to move or to even make a sound.

    They didn''t want to look, they didn''t want to know. All these people¡­ their neighbours, their parents, the nice lady that had been selling groceries down the street. They didn''t want to see them getting hacked apart, stomped into the dust and violently ravaged against their will. But they couldn''t look away. They didn''t want to believe what they were seeing, they wanted it all to turn out to simply be a nightmare that they would eventually wake up from.

    Even when their eyes grew blurry from all the tears that they had shed, and when vomit leaked out of their mouths, they didn''t look away. Maybe, just maybe¡­ they hoped for a miracle to occur. For all these people to be saved, for someone to escape. But none of that ever happened.

    In front of the mirror, Jakk clenched his fists tightly and bit his lips, trails of tears running down his cheeks. He wasn''t sure if all of this had been shown to him because he had thought of it, or if these memories had resurfaced because he had been confronted with them - but honestly, it didn''t matter. He finally gave voice to his answer.

    "I don''t want to experience another tragedy. And I want to walk the path that she couldn''t continue on."

    Next to his self in the mirror, another being took shape - the young Hume Bunny boy that he had seen seconds prior. The boy stared at him for a bit, then he nodded with a bright smile, before fading away. Afterwards, another self of his appeared, one that looked about his current age, but had a wretched smile on his face.

    ''I know that''s not your only reason. Don''t you want to impress her as well? So that she''ll finally accept your affection?''

    In response, Jakk chuckled.

    "What is there to be ashamed of? I''ve always loved her. My feelings for her have just become romantic in nature over time."

    A sneer appeared on the wretched self''s lips, then it shook its head.

    ''Your feelings aren''t entirely pure. You also want something physical, don''t you?''

    Slightly embarrassed, Jakk coughed, but then ultimately nodded.

    "Yes, that''s a part of it."

    As if it had been waiting for these words, the wretched self grew more solemn and respectful, then it faded away as well. All alone again, the first self that had appeared in the mirror opened its mouth.

    ''What kind of strength is it that you want to obtain? What will allow you to best protect those that you love?''

    For a few moments, this inquiry was met with silence, then Jakk had found his answer.

    "Knowledge. If I know when my loved ones are in danger, then I can do my best to resolve that danger."

    Originally, he had wanted to reply with ''strength'', but he had quickly dismissed this idea. While it was true that he would be able to squash most perils easily if he was strong enough, he could obtain that power simply through ranking up further via his own effort. Also, if he wasn''t present when his loved ones were faced with a threat, how would his strength be of any use then? Sure, if he was omnipotent, then there would be no problems, but that was a bit too unrealistic of a goal to strive after. Instead, with his Magic, he wanted to obtain an ability that he had no way to get otherwise - one that would let him know when something bad was about to happen to those that he cared about.

    ''A wise choice. One that I was sure that you would make. As expected of myself.''

    Smirking slightly, the self in the mirror slowly faded away. When the last few letters that made up its existence scattered, Jakk felt a sudden urge of sleepiness overcome him, then his memory turned fuzzy.

    Once he opened his eyes again, he found his head resting on the table, a bit of drool dripping out of the corner of his mouth and onto the grimoire below. It had already been drenched a little, and quite a few of the words had turned illegible.

    "I didn''t ruin it, did I!?"

    Panicked, Jakk jolted up and wiped his drool away, then he scrutinized the book in front of him. A few of the pages were a little wet, and although it was a bit tough to make out most of the words due to his ''mishap'', it should be fine¡­ right?

    For a moment, he was confused and disoriented, because he had no idea when he had dozed off, or even why he had done so when he had barely started to read this grimoire. But then, he finally recalled that this was supposed to happen. One would usually fall into a daze, and only wake up after an hour or two. Of course, one wouldn''t recall what had happened, but during one''s next Status update, one would be greeted by a welcome surprise.

    ''So¡­ did I succeed?''

    After being a bit skeptical at first, Jakk soon accepted this result and closed the book. He got up from his chair and stretched a little, then he made his way outside and wandered through the hallways of the main Twilight Manor, until he arrived at Loki''s study.

    ''She should still be awake around this time, right?''

    Announcing his arrival with a knock, he waited for his goddess to respond, but nothing happened.

    ''Has she already gone to sleep? Or maybe she didn''t hear it?''

    Again, he knocked and patiently waited. Right as he was about to resign himself to heading back to his room, determined to come back tomorrow, the shockingly depressed voice of the usually playful Loki sounded weakly from beyond the door.

    "Come on in¡­"

    With confusion and a hint of concern flashing in his gaze, the Hume Bunny youth entered the study, only to be shocked by what he saw. The massive pile of empty bottles that had previously been filled with various kinds of alcohol weren''t surprising, neither was the disgusting stench of so many beverages'' smells intermixing. What had taken him aback - although he had already tried to mentally prepare himself when he had heard her voice - was that Loki was powerlessly slumped upon one of her many sofas, her body half covered by empty bottles. Her gaze was vacant and dead, as if she had given up on life. Usually, when she partook in these kinds of drinks, she would be in an elated mood, so what had happened for her to become this miserable?

    "Are you okay!?"

    Hastily, he made his way to Loki and dug her out from underneath the bottle pile, then he sat down next to her and checked her pulse, trying to discern¡­ well, anything. He honestly had no idea what to do, but he couldn''t just do nothing when the goddess that had taken him in was in such a sorry state, right?

    As if she was slightly amused by his actions, the dejected Loki showed a minute smile, then she slowly shook her head.

    "My body is fine. I''m a goddess, after all. You won''t find anything amiss¡­"

    Her words made Jakk let go of her wrist and frown a little. With a determined look, he gazed deep into her eyes.

    "Tell me, my goddess, what''s wrong? What reduced you to such a state?"

    Chuckling derisively at herself, Loki coughed a few times, then she finally replied.

    "I did. This is all the result of my own actions. Now I''m just awaiting the day of my execution."

    Jakk almost jumped in shock as he heard this, but he managed to control himself. Nonetheless, his voice quivered a little.

    "E-Execution!? How come? What did you do? You can''t die, we need you here!"

    A little entertained, Loki reached out her hand and patted the Hume Bunny youth''s head. It was clear that Jakk was uncomfortable with this, but he seemed to be bearing with it, maybe because he thought that his goddess didn''t have much more time to stay in this world.

    "I won''t die, but my freedom will be restricted. If I can''t live my life as free as the wind, then how am I different from a shackled corpse?"

    Noticing the acc.u.mulating confusion in her child''s eyes, the goddess continued her explanation. Her voice was still as feeble as before, and she often needed to take a break to breathe.

    "My wife will be descending soon, and the punishment for all the love that I have shared with others in the meantime¡­ it will come. She will put me on a leash. I don''t want this¡­"

    When she arrived at that point, Jakk''s expression had hardened, and he rudely slapped away Loki''s hand from his head. It was clear that he had previously misunderstood what was going on here, and of course, his goddess had taken this chance to take advantage of him. He glared at her for a moment, then he released a sigh.

    "In other words, you cheated on your partner, and now you''re scared to face the consequences. I wouldn''t be surprised if your relationship fell apart, or if your wife filed for divorce."

    As if she had heard a particularly funny joke, Loki giggled, which was accompanied by a few more coughs. When she had finally calmed down again, she stared lifelessly into the distance, looking far beyond the horizon.

    "She won''t do that. This is the 1,672nd time that this has happened, after all. The days ahead¡­ they are dark¡­"

    The Hume Bunny youth couldn''t help but look at her as if she was a special kind of idiot. He was truly puzzled by this situation.

    "To me, it sounds like your wife absolutely isn''t okay with your actions, so why don''t you honour your marriage and stop doing these things? If you want to ''love'' others as well, first make sure that your partner is okay with it! And if they aren''t, then either break up, or don''t cheat on them. Honestly, this isn''t hard to understand. My goddess, why do you keep doing something so extremely stupid?"

    Sighing to herself, Loki helplessly shook her head.

    "Why indeed? I just can''t help it¡­ So many of you mortals are lovely, how could I resist eating you up when the feelings are mutual?"

    The look in Jakk''s eyes darkened markedly, and he ultimately decided to drop the topic altogether. All he knew was that his goddess was the one at fault, and he wouldn''t pity her no matter what her penalty would end up being. While it would be a lie to say that he, as a healthy young man, didn''t have harem fantasies occasionally, he was decent enough of a person to stay loyal when in a relationship. Or at least that was what he thought about himself - after all, he had never been in one, so he couldn''t know for sure. Daydreaming about such things was fine, but putting them into practice was, simply put, one of the biggest taboos if it wasn''t consensual. It was completely unacceptable, no matter what.

    "Anyway. My goddess, I came here to ask you to update my Status. Isaac gave me a grimoire today, and I should have obtained a new Magic."

    Slight surprise flashed in Loki''s eyes, then she slowly got up and stretched her weary body. It nearly instantly returned to her peak performance, the wear and tear of a worthless alcoholic disappearing in a blink. While her expression was still quite dismal, she at least seemed to be in good enough shape to do her one and only job.

    "I see, then let''s take a look. Show me your back."

    She had originally resolved herself to deny any and all update requests today, to allow herself to wallow in self-pity, but a new Magic appearing for one of her children was always quite the interesting event. Even in her current state, she wouldn''t allow herself to miss or postpone it.

    During the practiced procedure, the look on her face brightened a little, and she glanced at the unhappy Hume Bunny youth beneath her with a hint of motherly affection. When she was done, like a proud parent, she handed him a sheet on which she had noted down all relevant details of his new Magic - aside from that, no huge changes had taken place, so it would have simply been a waste for her to list his entire Status.

    "There you go. It''s quite¡­ cute."

    Having successfully put his shirt on again, a bewildered Jakk grabbed the sheet of paper and soon left the study in a hurry, blushing all the way to his ears. If Isaac had been present to take a look at his old roommate''s Status, then he would have noticed the following new addition.

    [ Heart of Soteria: (Passive) Should those that the user classifies as allies be in danger, or should their physical wellbeing be compromised, then the user will be alerted to the threat.

    (Active) To confirm the exact position(s) of the concerned ally/allies, mana expenditure is required. The exact costs depend on the distance between the ally/allies and the user. Will require 50% less focus if activated via the chant.

    Chant: "Dear protection''s goddess, your help I require. But forgive me, as the time is dire. My loved ones may in peril be, so please, reveal their whereabouts to me." ]

 Chapter 134 - A Burden Atemporal

    "Remember, don''t open your eyes, okay?"

    With a stern voice and an awkwardly cute frown on his face, Averin glanced at Quinn, who was seated next to the desk that he currently stood on. In front of them lay a grimoire that was titled ''Modern Magical Theory - On Monsters''.

    "Yeah, yeah. You''ve told me three times already."

    Dismissively sighing, the cat boy closed his eyes and grabbed the side of the front cover, ready to enable the rooster to get a good look at the book''s contents. Because it would have been extremely awkward - if not impossible - for Averin to flip the pages with just his wings, beak and legs at hand, he had convinced Quinn to help him. It was more than a fair trade, considering that the youngster had benefited from his hugging pillow depression cure services for a good while now. It was only natural for him to request some assistance with this matter, right?

    "You may begin!"

    Even though his boisterous words only got a small smirk out of Quinn, the cat boy still dutifully did his part. Immediately, Averin''s eyes were drawn to the letters on the pages. Although Isaac had initially intended to spend some time on teaching him how to read, that hadn''t even been necessary - the rooster had picked it up extremely quickly, as if he had just recalled something that he had already known before.

    ''Contemporary research is mainly focused on the Magics of the sentient races, and great achievements have been made in that regard over the past millennia. I, however, am convinced that ignoring the various Magics that monsters can employ innately, and without a bothersome chant, is simple foolishness. Because of this, I set out on a journey. I now proudly present to you the findings that I have made over the past 147 years.''

    A glimmer of interest sparkled in Averin''s eyes. He wasn''t much of a reader - in fact, he hadn''t read much aside from his Status sheets and the occasional street sign - so he had braced himself for the period of time before the grimoire''s effects would kick in to be a boring one. ''Luckily'', this subject matter just so happened to genuinely intrigue him.

    ''We of the sentient races are wholly dependent on chants. Even after the gods graced us with their blessings, this didn''t change. But our eternal foes have never, since time immemorial, needed to rely on these crutches. Why is that? Is there a fundamental difference between the two of us? As it turns out, there is not - at least not in this regard. In short, what we use today is a system of magic that has been simultaneously over-simplified and over-complicated, in its entirety.''

    This second paragraph partially went over the rooster''s head. Apparently, the author of this tome had expected their readers to already possess a certain foundation of magic-related knowledge, which was why they hadn''t bothered to explain the very basics. Still, Averin somehow managed to understand the gist of what he was reading.

    "Next page, please."

    ''Both monsters and us, the people of the sentient races, rely on channeling our mind through our bodies in certain ways which then results in our respective Magics. Whether or not a Magic is activated via a chant, this foundational principle doesn''t change.''

    All of a sudden, the tone of the words changed, but the Jack Bird didn''t notice it. His mind had already entered a peculiar condition.

    ''Why is this the case? To solve this mystery, an elementary question has to be answered first. As one who aims to attain a Magic of your own, dear reader, please ask yourself this: What is magic to you?''

    Suddenly situated in front of a huge mirror, Averin was faced with a reflection of himself. The deep green-feathered, huge rooster was staring back at him with an inquisitive look in its eyes.

    "It''s the key to comprehensive control. It allows one to influence the world in more ways than anyone could ever imagine. All is in magic''s grasp. Magic is the path to functional godhood."

    A familiar, arrogant grin spread on the mirror self''s face as it asked its second question.

    ''Why do you want to ascend to such heights?''

    Unconcealed confusion momentarily coloured Averin''s eyes as he stared at the now-different scenery reflected in the mirror. What was shown to him wasn''t a memory of his, yet it still felt intimately familiar for a reason that he couldn''t determine - even less so in his current state.

    Right in the middle of a vast plain of l.u.s.trous green, there stood a behemoth of a city. Its walls rose many tens of meters into the sky, and patrolling soldiers could be spotted respectfully fulfilling their duties atop of them. Countless people flocked towards this metropolis, and all lined up orderly outside of the city gates, waiting for their turns to be granted entry.

    Even when compared to today''s Orario, this city might not necessarily lose out in scale - both housed millions of residents! But instead of Babel, the centerpiece of this megalopolis was an extravagant marble palace that exuded both elegance and opulence.

    Despite what might be expected, there weren''t all too many slums or shady areas in this city, and from a bird''s-eye view, it was obvious that the layout of every single street and alley had been meticulously arranged. Due to the surprisingly commendable discipline of the king''s soldiers, nearly nobody dared to commit crimes, and the occasional corruption would be exterminated to its roots whenever it reared its ugly head.

    If there was one significant source of worry in this near-perfect kingdom, then it was its crown prince, a young a.d.u.l.t that was around twenty years old. Due to long-lasting peace, the dashing man had mostly ignored making advancements in his martial prowess, although it nonetheless had to be admitted that he still stood head and shoulders above most others. But even the majority of his court-related duties and lessons had often been skipped, in favour of roaming about the capital and indulging in the various delicacies that it had to offer - not only food, but also more hedonistic p.l.e.a.s.u.r.es. In other words, he was a silkpants, the worst kind of descendant that a long-lasting dynasty could hope for.

    On one of his usual adventures in the metropolis, while he was dragging his entourage of friends and servants along merrily, the crown prince stumbled and came to a sudden halt. The earth underneath his feet had started to rumble and tremble all of a sudden, which had taken him by surprise. He grew cautious and observed his surroundings, trying to assess the situation.

    A mere moment later, amidst the fearful shrieks of his country''s people, he realized that something terrible had just begun. Buildings were crumbling like sandcastles, and huge fissures appeared all over the city. Families were crushed under the rubble, and passersby were swallowed by the depths.

    With a heavy expression on his face, he rushed to the aid of whoever he could, and ordered his people to do the same. But despite the outstanding relief efforts, the situation only got worse. The earthquakes didn''t stop and only grew in intensity. Soon, the whole megalopolis had been shattered into tiny pieces of land, which got drawn to the south.

    It wasn''t only the city that was affected, however - as far as the eye could see, everything was fragmenting and drifting in the same direction, as if attracted by a great force.

    Desperate, the most powerful individuals around, the crown prince included, carried away as many of the children as they could, escaping from the disaster. If they could make it out and protect this next generation, maybe there was still hope. But no matter how fast or far they ran, the land underneath their feet only continued to break apart and slip away at an ever-increasing speed. Soon, the weakest of the group collapsed, only to be overwhelmed by the earth, silently breathing their last.

    For more than a month, the crown prince ran, carrying a carriage sheltering tens of children above his head. His feat had long since surpassed the realm of what people would consider superhuman, and he had more than exceeded even his extraordinary limits. And yet, he hadn''t managed to move out of this disaster''s zone of influence yet. What was even worse was that overall, he had lost far more ground than he had gained. If anyone had observed his situation from far above, then they would have noticed that he was now hundreds of kilometers closer to the source of the engulfment than when he had started. This wasn''t for a lack of trying, though.

    Step by step, he set foot on the precarious footholds that had progressively gotten smaller over time. The children atop the carriage had grown silent long ago, and even the last of them had run out of tears days ago. Two of them had plainly died out of fear, while the rest were close to meeting their maker as well - they hadn''t eaten in so long, and even the barrel of water that had been stored on the carriage had been emptied already.

    The crown prince¡­ he was the last one still resisting the destruction. Everyone else, all of those powerhouses¡­ they had long since disappeared into the south and met their untimely ends. But the desperate man couldn''t spare any thoughts on this, his whole focus was on forging a path out of this mess, and on saving those that he still could.

    Yet, it ultimately proved to be futile. Although he ended up running for another half a month, the children had all died¡­ and he had arrived at the origin of the disaster - a giant hole that had been devouring everything around it indiscriminately. When his strength finally ran out and he was rapidly pulled underground, his body getting mangled and compressed by the extremely heavy rocks and earth around him, the expression on his face was not one of excruciating pain, but one of deep regret.

    As if giving voice to the dead prince''s sorrows, the hazy-eyed Averin responded to his mirror self''s question.

    "If I had been stronger, then I would have been able to escape. And if I had been in control of a Magic, then I possibly could have stopped it."

    Next to the regular mirror self, the figure of the near-death crown prince appeared for a split second, shooting him an approving glance. A moment later, it had faded into darkness, replaced by the indulgent silkpants self from earlier in the prince''s life.

    ''You know as well as I do that nobody could have put an end to that disaster.''

    The hedonistic self hadn''t expected a retort, so it was taken aback when Averin opened his beak.

    "No, master could have."

    Unconcealed doubt showed itself on the faces of both selves in the mirror, then the silkpants self shook its head dismissively and continued the conversation. Entertaining such seemingly absurd claims wasn''t even worth its time.

    ''In any case, you know that you couldn''t have done it. And while you truly wanted to protect those people when the end arrived, in all honesty, that is not your greatest driving force now, is it?''

    Saddened, Averin nodded.

    "I want to be able to forgive myself, for having been you."

    A self-indulgent grin spread on the hedonistic self''s lips, then it playfully saluted the cloudy-eyed Jack Bird, before disappearing from view. Yet again, it was the regular mirror self''s turn to speak.

    ''You already have fast legs with which to escape, and wings with which to take flight. What, then, do you wish for?''

    Averin didn''t have to think for long, because the depths of his heart had long since known the answer.

    "The power to carry the world upon my shoulders, so I can bring it along with me, to safety."

    He knew very clearly that his body''s physical weakness was his most fatal of flaws, and he had been doing his very best to make up for it. As the reflection in the mirror stated, running away was already his specialty, so he didn''t need to further emphasize it. Succeeding in making a break for it was all well and good, but what use was it if he would be the only one left?

    ''To compensate for one''s shortcomings is a valid approach. You''ve chosen well, me.''

    An appreciative nod and a gentle smile later, the mirror self disappeared. Almost like a puppet with its strings cut, Averin crumpled to the floor in front of the mirror, his mind quickly fading into darkness.

    When he finally awoke, completely disoriented, what greeted him was a familiar face that was staring at him with furrowed brows. It was Quinn, who had been responsible for turning the pages.

    "Why are you staring at me like that?"

    In response to the rooster''s disgruntled tone, the cat boy smirked and relaxed. It was plain to see that he had been on edge for a considerable amount of time, and had finally been bestowed with the luxury to loosen up.

    "You''ve been sleeping for about an hour now, and before then¡­ you were trapped in a weird state, to say the least."

    It took a few moments for Averin to recall that he had just started to read a grimoire¡­ but what had happened after that? Why did he doze off? As the only witness of the proceedings, gathering information from Quinn was vital if he wanted to find out more.

    "What do you mean with ''weird state''?"

    Leaning back in his chair, well and truly at ease, the young man explained what he had seen.

    "About five minutes after you told me to turn to the next page, I grew worried because you hadn''t given me any further instructions. My patience was also about to run dry. At that point, I assumed that the grimoire had already started to do¡­ well, whatever it was supposed to do, so it would be fine to open my eyes. And that I did, only to notice something¡­ off. Your eyes were clouded over and glowing ghastly white, while the grimoire''s pages were exuding the exact same radiance. Not going to lie, that was a bit creepy. It lasted for more than thirty minutes in total."

    A cold shiver ran down the rooster''s spine when he imagined being confronted with such an event himself, as an observer. While he usually wasn''t easily scared, the threat of death and the ''unexplainable'' both did genuinely terrify him¡­ at least a little.

    "Oh, in case you were wondering, while you were out cold, I checked on the others who had received a grimoire as well, and they all had entered the same state. I wanted to make sure that what I was witnessing was a result of the Magic Item working as intended."

    Getting told that he wasn''t the only one did help the rooster regain his calm. Only a minute or two later, he was back to his old self, back to being the great Lord Bird that all manner of horrors would have to do their very best to avoid!

    "If everything went well, then I should have acquired a new Magic. So¡­ should I ask master for his help now, or wait until tomorrow?"

    Before his cat-eared companion could weigh in, a golden drop of Ichor suddenly appeared in the room, seemingly out of nowhere. It quickly arrived at Averin''s back and unlocked his Falna, leaving him wide-eyed. Because he knew that this was his master''s handiwork, he obediently stayed still, but even Quinn was a little taken aback by the situation, to say the least. There was just one question on his mind: How? But when he recalled that the enigmatic young man had created a private world recently¡­ his surprise vanished. This small trick wasn''t even worth mentioning in comparison.

    Half a minute later, Averin released a pleased sigh. He could feel that ''something'' was different about him, yet he had no idea what it was. Right as he was about to open his mouth and voice those concerns, a sheet of paper settled down on the desk, right next to him.

    "I wonder what I got."

    With excitement welling up in his c.h.e.s.t, he took a look. Quinn also didn''t bother to stand on ceremony, unabashedly peeking over the rooster''s shoulder.

    [ V¨¢ros ¨¢tlas: Consumes mana or life force in order to increase the user''s Strength and Endurance for ten minutes, by a maximum of 200%. The exact expenditure depends on the percentage increase chosen. Will require 50% less focus if activated via the chant.

    Chant: "Enduring one, pass on your burden. Punished one, lend me your strength. Only if bolstered by your brilliance, can I support the sky in your stead." ]

    Confusion was written all over his face as Averin internalized this knowledge about his newly acquired trump card. He couldn''t figure out why exactly he had been bestowed with this Magic, but he had to admit that it would be quite beneficial to him. Deep inside, he had hoped for something more ''flashy'', something that would make him the star of the show - a real head turner.

    ''Oh well, beggars can''t be choosers. It''s better than nothing.''

    His contemplations were cut short when Quinn''s voice brought him back to reality.

    "How about trying it out? It doesn''t sound destructive in nature, so you can probably do it here. To be safe, you''d better get on the ground first, though. It might just increase your weight."

    His eyes sparkling excitedly, the rooster decided to do as his friend had recommended. Slowly but carefully, he started to chant.

    "Enduring one, pass on your burden. Punished one, give--- Ouch!"

    A sharp but stinging pain erupted in his consciousness when he accidentally said the word ''give'' instead of ''lend''. Even though he wasn''t accustomed to having mana flow through his body, he still noticed that it most definitely had taken a wrong turn somewhere and felt a little awful, causing him to grimace.

    "Are you okay?!"

    Taken aback by Averin''s agonized reaction, Quinn kneeled down and inspected him more closely - not that there was anything that he could really help with. Fortunately, just a few deep breaths later, the rooster judged himself to be in good shape again. It turned out that the discomfort had just been temporary.

    "It''s fine. Let me try again! Stand back."

    This time making doubly sure that he recalled each word correctly, Averin proceeded to chant for the second time.

    "Enduring one, pass on your burden. Punished one, lend me your strength. Only if bolstered by your brilliance, can I support the sky in your stead. V¨¢ros ¨¢tlas!"

    As the last word left his lips, it felt like all the pieces of a puzzle had suddenly fit themselves together, when they had been a disorganized and incomplete mess before. An unfamiliar comfort filled his entire being, then the Magic finally took effect.

    The muscles in his deceptively puny body started to swell, while the scales that were so well hidden underneath his fluffy feathers grew many times harder than steel. They gave off a metallic glint, even while they were still nigh completely hidden from view. His skeletal frame grew more sturdy and his beak sharpened. Many other changes took place as well. It felt quite similar to his evolution back when he had ranked up to Level 2 - but this one was only temporary.

    While the rooster was relishing in his new-found power, he suddenly got assaulted by a mental exhaustion unlike any that he had ever experienced before. Even a regular human being who had stayed awake for more than five days wouldn''t be objected to such weariness. And the worst part about it was that this feeling assaulted him all at once, seemingly out of nowhere! It felt like his brain had been hit by a fatigue truck, and well a truly been run over. He was only barely hanging on to his consciousness, and his vastly increased physical prowess was of absolutely no use.

    "Tch¡­ curses!"

    Too worn out to do much more than utter a few words, the currently buffed rooster collapsed, unable to move despite his Strength and Endurance having close to doubled.

    "Your mana reserves are pitifully lo---- Ahem. To put it in other words, this Magic consumes quite a lot of mana, huh? No wonder it s.u.c.k.e.d you dry."

    Taking note of the Jack Bird''s worsening expression, Quinn changed his tone to a more courteous one on the fly, to cheer Averin up a little and make him feel more confident in himself. For the next ten minutes, he watched over his feathery friend, who managed to struggle to his feet after around half of that time had passed.

    When the effect of the Magic was about to end, Averin got a hunch that he only needed to think about expending more mana for this state to be maintained for another ten minutes, but when he tried to do so, he sensed danger enveloping his heart, causing his breathing to quicken. Without hesitation, he chose to forfeit this chance of extending his Magic. If he wanted to activate it again, then he would have to flawlessly rattle off the chant once more.

    ''If I''m not wrong, then V¨¢ros ¨¢tlas would have consumed some of my life force if I had kept going. Scary stuff¡­''

    At the moment, he was too weak and could barely cast his Magic once - it would even hurt him, should he make a grave mistake. One thing was for certain: He had his work cut out for him.

 Chapter 135 - Ask A Vague Question And Receive An Und.e.s.i.r.ed Answer

    The Unawakened - A Comprehensive Analysis

    Since time immemorial, there have been those amongst the beings of the sentient races who were found to be unable to learn to use any kind of magic. Even after the descent of the gods, this didn''t change - they couldn''t obtain a Magic after being blessed with a Falna either. Races that are usually highly attuned to magic, like the High Elves, aren''t immune to this either. They would also occasionally have one or two of such individuals appear.

    Only after inquiring with many a deity did we mortals finally begin to understand as to why this was the case. The gods called these people ''the Unawakened'', referring to their inherent magical capabilities not having been awakened yet. This, however, resulted in more questions than answers.

    As a small number of people are found to have magical capabilities, even right after being born, this led to the majority of magic researchers considering one particular possibility. Whatever it was that awakened a person''s magical potential, it could happen while they were still in the w.o.m.b, but also later in life. For quite a few years, huge amounts of effort were concentrated on pursuing this train of thought.

    One day, however, a primordial god of magic blessed us with a revelation. All beings of the sentient races had been reincarnated countless times, and nearly all awakenings had taken place in everyone''s previous lifetimes.

    So far, only one possible way for awakening the Unawakened has been identified: Using a grimoire.

    Therefore, dear reader, as one who has obtained such an invaluable opportunity, should you wish to obtain a Magic of your own and become whole, please ask yourself this: What is magic to you?

    -----

    "It''s the one stat that I haven''t gained any excelia in yet. It still remains at 0 even to this day, and I don''t know why."

    This unexpected answer caused Aselina''s mirror self to widen its eyes in disbelief, and to fall silent for a while. It stared at the greyish-white haired raccoon girl as if it was looking at an idiot, before an understanding smirk played across its lips.

    ''So it turns out that you''re an Unawakened. That adequately explains why your first answer to this question of mine was one of such peculiarity. Now, let me ask you again, aside from what you have just stated, what is magic to you?''

    Still wearing an icy expression as always, the absentminded Aselina seemed to be confused for a moment, before her mind settled on a second appropriate response.

    "It''s a method of combat that is most reliable when fighting as a member of a party. In any one versus one - or one versus many - scenario, it''s a shortcut to an untimely death. The reason for this is the highly inefficient chant system, which leaves countless openings for strong enemies to exploit."

    Apparently, that was not the reply that the mirror self had wanted to hear either. Upon the usually not-very-expressive face that it was mimicking, a vein on the forehead had started to throb. By this point, it had clearly become annoyed. Just how little fascination for magic as a whole did this awkward child have? And why did she have to mock the chant based system that countless beings had taken for granted all this time?

    "Again, for the third time. Aside from what you have told me the previous two times, please tell me, what is magic to you?"

    It took even longer for the raccoon girl to come up with an answer. For minutes on end, the two simply stared at each other in silence - one exuding a lot of patience, and the other deep in subconscious thought. Finally, Aselina''s eyes sparkled a little, as if she had just found a light switch after stumbling around helplessly in a dark room.

    "It''s a method which is used to manipulate a certain kind of energy that is omnipresent in this world - namely, mana."

    Utterly unimpressed, the mirror self shook its head. A slight scowl had begun to show itself. Still, it kept calm in the end.

    ''That is not your own understanding, you are simply regurgitating the words of someone else. What I need you to tell me is what you yourself think about this matter. So, for the last time, aside from what you have told me the previous three times, and ignoring anything that you have not comprehended yourself, what is magic to you?''

    The following silence lasted far, far longer than the one before. Even the self in the mirror began to grow impatient, even a bit worried. Could it be possible¡­ that this problem child honestly had never thought about magic in the way that was required for the grimoire''s effects to work?

    Fortunately, the wait didn''t last forever, and the mirror self''s speculations turned out to not have been the truth. Aselina finally found another answer, in the farthest reaches of her mind.

    "It''s an additional kind of strength to make use of to overcome one''s opponents."

    Clearly relieved, a bright smile spread on the mirror self''s lips. Considering that it possessed Aselina''s face, however, this expression appeared a little unnatural¡­ or rather, unusual. It surely would have charmed quite a few people should they have had the chance to bear witness to it, though.

    ''Good, good! That is what I wanted to hear. Then let me ask you the second question. Why do you want to obtain this strength?''

    This time, the raccoon girl''s response was immediate. The reflection in the mirror didn''t even have an opportunity to show her a different scenery to help her along.

    "To become stronger."

    Yet again, she had successfully stunned the mirror self into silence. In incredulity, it muttered to itself.

    ''She wants to obtain strength to become stronger. And to become stronger, she wants to obtain strength. It''s¡­ so simple and straightforward. So¡­ pure?''

    After a short pause to gather itself, the self in the mirror decided to continue on, as it felt that there would be no point in trying to obtain a better answer. Accompanied by a sigh, the mirror suddenly began to show the homeland of Aselina''s tribe, and her childhood.

    It replayed the events that had led up to the fall of the ancestral land, and the series of tragic incidents which followed it. Even the young girl''s journey towards Orario was included.

    All that time, Aselina clenched her fists tightly, strong emotions bubbling underneath her frozen expression. When the mirror''s reflection returned to normal, she elaborated on her previous answer. If Isaac had been here, then he would have found her words to be very familiar.

    "I want to become stronger, so that I don''t have to suffer through such tragedies ever again."

    Next to the mirror self, the small figure of a younger Aselina, one that was not even seven years old, appeared, before just as suddenly exiting the picture again after a resolute nod. What took its place was an Aselina that was maybe three years younger than her current self - 15. It faced its actual self with a cold glare bordering on disgust.

    ''So, you''ve given up on your d.e.s.i.r.e to become the strongest just like that?''

    The raccoon girl only nodded calmly.

    "Yes."

    This response sharpened the dangerous glint in her younger self''s eyes, its tone of voice far more hostile and desperate than before.

    ''How could you!? Have you lost all of your ambition? Without becoming the strongest, you will suffer again!''

    Instead of growing panicked, Aselina shook her head and replied in a matter-of-fact way.

    "I won''t. The only ones who I know I won''t be able to beat in my lifetime, no matter what, are milord and milady, and they would never hurt me."

    ''Don''t you think your blind belief in them is misplaced? It is likely that they will not live up to your expectations.''

    Scarily unperturbed, the raccoon girl shook her head and shot the younger girl a look of undisguised pity.

    "Only because you don''t know milord, and how much he has changed milady, do you think this way. You wouldn''t act any differently in my shoes."

    Furrowing its brows, the younger self looked deep in thought for a while, before returning to Aselina''s standard expression. With that seemingly emotionless frosty look on her face, it gave its older self a nod, before fading out of existence.

    Again, the one facing her was only her mirror self, and another inquiry was made.

    ''What kind of power will allow you to overcome your obstacles and the agony that you fear so much?''

    "Invulnerability. It will shield me from harm, and take my opponents by surprise. With it, I will be able to employ far more varied combat strategies. By forsaking a part of my defense, my offensive power will soar."

    Although she wanted to become stronger, that didn''t mean that she simply chased after physical power. ''Being strong'', to her, only meant that one could defeat their opponents. As for how exactly one accomplished this, that wasn''t actually important. Admittedly, her wish to obtain a way to become invulnerable was partially motivated by her d.e.s.i.r.e to avoid suffering, but that was only a minor reason as to why she had ultimately chosen this path. What she had told the being in the mirror, those were the main ones.

    ''A sensible choice. Looks like I didn''t end up disappointing myself after all.''

    With an amused and somewhat relieved smirk, the mirror self excused itself from the stage, allowing the raccoon girl''s mind to come to a rest.

    -----

    The next sensation that entered her mind was a certain wetness on her face, which left her at a loss. With heavy eyelids, she raised her head and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, groaning in a bit of pain. Only now did she realize that she had been napping in a very uncomfortable position.

    A few hours earlier, she and Mina had convened in the Chienthrope girl''s room, where both had sat down on the bed and pulled out their grimoires. They had felt it to be more secure to tackle this together, so if anything untowards ended up happening, they would be able to support each other.

    Before she had started to read her grimoire, Aselina had sat down cross-legged and rested the book on her t.h.i.g.hs. When she had fallen asleep¡­ she had ended up leaning forward, until her face had been planted right in the pages of the book. Because of this, her back now ached a little, and felt strained. As for the source of the wetness that she had felt? It was her own drool, which had soaked through quite a few of the book''s pages.

    Her unusually white cheeks reddened a little and she hastily wiped her face clean, then she looked towards her right, at her friend Mina. What greeted her¡­ was quite the embarrassing display. The dog girl had apparently laid down on the bed, grasped her grimoire and held it overhead, reading it in the same manner that some people from Isaac''s old world would check new messages on their phone before going to bed. And needless to say, the exact thing which was usually prone to happen in these cases had indeed occurred - the heavy book had left her grip, and was now covering her face.

    Smiling slightly, Aselina picked it up and placed it right next to her friend, then she shook Mina''s shoulders a little, trying to awaken her.

    She waited for a bit, but nothing happened. A bit concerned, she then shook her somewhat harder.

    "Mina, wake up."

    Yet again, there was no change in the dark-blonde haired girl''s state. Her breathing remained as steady as ever, as if Aselina''s words and actions simply hadn''t reached her.

    Frowning a little, the raccoon girl thought back upon what had happened to herself¡­ only to realize that she didn''t recall anything that had taken place ever since she had opened her grimoire. Considering how she had awoken from a slumber herself recently, maybe Mina''s current state was simply¡­ natural?

    With no better alternative, she decided to stay here and watch over her friend for a few hours. If her condition worsened, or if she didn''t wake up that entire time, then she would rush to her lord''s side to request his assistance with this matter.

    Right as she was settling down, a golden drop of Ichor appeared in front of her eyes, and unhurriedly made its way to her back, unlocking her Falna. A familiar sensation enveloped her entire being, and a relieved smile momentarily spread on her lips, thawing the ice.

    ''If milord can update my Status from afar, then he is surely aware of Mina''s current state as well. It seems like she isn''t in any danger. That''s great!''

    Shortly after, the refreshing feeling of obtaining a new power surged within her, and a sheet of paper settled down on the bed, answering all the questions that had just started to emerge within her mind.

    [ Pyrgos Aias: (Passive) Increases the user''s Strength by 20%.

    (Active) Expends mana to construct a bulwark surrounding the user, which will negate a certain amount of damage from physical, magical and mental attacks. The exact amount that will be guarded against depends on how much mana is consumed to construct the bulwark. Will require 50% less focus if activated via the chant.

    Chant: "Fortify." ]

    A wave of comfort overcame Aselina as she glanced at that last line. She had dreaded a long chant, mostly because it would take up a lot of focus and time during combat to actually deploy the Magic. Her new acquisition was clearly intended to take her enemies aback, or to be used in dangerous situations - usually, those didn''t just announce themselves beforehand. A super short chant Magic like this one may not be completely ideal, but it at least didn''t suffer from as many drawbacks as any Magics with a longer chant did.

    Suddenly, her eyes fell upon the second to last sentence, and realization struck.

    ''It can be activated without the chant as well?''

    Surprise flickered on her face, then she hastily tempered her expectations. Considering that it would require more focus to accomplish the same result, it really wasn''t a direct upgrade. In essence, it was just a version of the Magic that could be used in even more dire straits, when she wouldn''t even have the opportunity to utter a single word.

    ''Should I try it once?''

    Admittedly a bit excited as well as afraid at the prospect of trying something entirely new, Aselina stood up and distanced herself from every furnishing in the room. She didn''t want to accidentally damage them with her Magic. Well, she didn''t yet know if that would actually happen, but better safe than sorry. Taking a deep breath, she steeled her nerves and recited the chant, as well as the Magic''s name.

    "Fortify. Pyrgos Aias!"

    Expectantly waiting for something to change, the raccoon girl stayed highly focused, for around a minute or two. But nothing happened. It was at this moment that she realized something vital.

    "My Magic stat¡­ is zero. I can''t actually cast any Magic."

    She wasn''t sure whether she should sheepishly bury her head in a pillow or wail in dejection, so in the end, she simply wordlessly stared ahead, her expression a blank one. After a while, she shook her head and chuckled to herself, then she sat down next to Mina again.

    It took about ten minutes for her to feel a twinge of boredom, which motivated her to pick up her grimoire once again to read the first few pages a second time. Unexpectedly, this actually managed to cheer her up.

    ''If I read this correctly, then I should now be able to gain Magic-related excelia. So while I can''t cast any Magic at the moment, that will change in the future, so long as I train hard.''

    Before she knew it, she was engrossed in the book, but in a different way than before, when its effect had been activated. She didn''t realize this, but the words that had requested the reader to ask themselves a question had disappeared, leaving behind only a ''simple'', regular book. Aselina, admittedly, didn''t understand much of it, but because it seemed like she had been one of those ''Unawakened'' - at least before she had read the grimoire - it had piqued her interest and she read it in its entirety, in one sitting.

    By the time she was finished and had put the book aside, it was already close to midnight. It was also at this moment that the lovely Chienthrope girl next to her finally opened her eyes.

    "Mina! How do you feel? Is everything okay?"

    Mostly at ease due to her friend''s return to the world of the non-sleeping, Aselina rattled off a few uneasy questions, before realizing that Mina had to be very confused right now. Maybe overloading her brain with all of those inquiries wasn''t the best idea.

    However, contrary to Aselina''s expectations, her friend''s eyes were devoid of any bewilderment and only showed gratefulness for her concern.

    "I''m fine, just a bit annoyed. I hope I don''t have to meet that being in the mirror again."

    Now it was the raccoon girl''s turn to blink perplexedly.

    "Umm¡­ what are you talking about?"

    Frowning slightly, Mina sat up and sized up her friend, as well as the book that was next to her.

    "You obtained a Magic from your grimoire, right? To do so, you also had to interact with a being in a mirror, correct?"

    Innocently, Aselina shook her head. She had no idea what her friend was talking about.

    "I don''t know. I don''t recall anything that happened after I started to read the grimoire."

    Mina''s eyes widened, then she seemed to come to some sort of realization and her mood worsened.

    "I knew it, that being isn''t to be trusted. Why else would they erase the memories of someone that met them? Wait, hold on, why do I remember them, then?"

    A bold guess surfaced in Aselina''s mind, so she cautiously wagered it.

    "Maybe it was only a dream? After all, you fell asleep, right? It''s possible that whatever you believe that you saw¡­ is just something that your mind made up."

    Helplessly, Mina shrugged. Yes, she hadn''t thought of that possibility before, but it honestly didn''t change anything.

    "It''s possible. But it''s also possible that it really happened. Who can say?"

    Feeling just as powerless as her friend, Aselina nodded and plopped down on the bed, staring at the ceiling for a while, then she thought of something and turned her head to glance at Mina.

    "What did that being to do annoy you anyway?"

    Whether or not it had actually been a part of a dream, the raccoon girl was still curious. Usually, her Chienthrope friend was quite docile. Just what could have taken place to affect her like this? She had never even talked badly about the enemies that had ambushed them before - but to be fair, that was probably because they hadn''t survived the encounter.

    As if she was recalling something unpleasant, Mina furrowed her brows, then she released a pent-up sigh.

    "That being constantly asked me question after question, all while putting on the air of someone enlightening an inferior lifeform. That already rubbed me the wrong way, but then it started to spout off ignorant nonsense."

    While listening, Aselina nodded along. So far, the encounter definitely sounded like the unpleasant sort - in other words, just as expected. Sometimes, one would meet people that had their noses so high up in the air that they were solely looking at the sky, sparing no effort to observe where it was that they were actually planting their feet. They expected others to serve them willingly and without question, because of an overly inflated ego. Needless to say, running across these sorts of people was never great. She could certainly understand where Mina was coming from.

    Up to this point, Aselina had only been calmly sitting at the side, feeling a bit of pity for her friend. All of that changed, however, when the Chienthrope girl''s next words reached her raccoon ears.

    "Worst of all, it even dared to blaspheme against milord!"

    Both girls - usually behaving obediently and appearing like attractive young maidens - suddenly exuded an overwhelming bloodl.u.s.t. The being''s behaviour had clearly crossed the line, and touched their reverse scales.

 Chapter 136 - Lifeâ€™s Greatest Gamble

    There was only a finite number of different books whose contents a grimoire could display. Depending on the personality, species and past experiences of the person setting its effects into motion, one of these would be selected, to more easily get them engrossed in reading and facilitate a smooth procedure.

    If there was one area where the variety of potential books was more than a little lacking, then it was ''monsters'', or rather, any publications discussing monsters'' peculiar inborn Magics. Therefore, it was no surprise that Ray, just like Averin, had her grimoire assume the content of ''Modern Magical Theory - On Monsters''. There probably were a handful of other tomes about this topic, but simple probability had resulted in both of Isaac''s Xenos subordinates getting to read the same book.

    After Ray had gotten her hands - or rather, her wings - on her grimoire, she had asked her fellow leaders, Lyd and Gros, to watch over her while she would read it, as well as to not make a big deal out of the whole ordeal. The two had agreed and stood guard a few meters away, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible - however, that had only served to make them appear like suspicious henchmen protecting a VIP. They had successfully kept most of the other Xenos away, though, aside from Fear, who had been curiously glancing at Ray over their shoulders.

    Right after the Siren opened the book, which she had placed on a raised stone platform, she realized that it would be extremely difficult to turn the pages - not only for her, but for most of the Xenos. With an awkward blush on her cheeks, she read the first page, then she leaned forward as well as downwards and managed to flip to the second page using only her lips. She didn''t get to mentally dwell on this embarrassing and clumsy display for long, though, because the very next paragraph succeeded in fully triggering the grimoire''s effect.

    So she asked herself: What was magic to her?

    "A path to freedom, as well as a catalyst for romance to bloom. It''s one of the origins of miracles."

    Looking right back at her from within a vast mirror, there was another her, one that was entirely made up of letters. It smiled at her somewhat dotingly, then it mouthed another question.

    ''Why do you yearn for all of these?''

    Accompanying its words which sounded straight in Ray''s mind, the surface of the mirror rippled a little, as if a small stone had just been dropped into a serene lake. Following these undulations, what it displayed for her to see had changed completely.

    In the midst of a massive forest of towering trees that were at least several hundred meters tall, there lived a race of people that looked almost the same as the Elves of the present. Their ears weren''t as long, and their beauty not as otherworldly, but their way of life was pretty much identical.

    They lived in harmony with nature, and it wasn''t rare for some of them to survive until their ages had to be expressed in four digit numbers. Up until their late teens, they would age like regular humans, upon which their aging process almost entirely grinded to a halt. Sometimes, the inhabitants of these woods would be blessed with many years of peace, but at other times, they were forced to violently contend with hordes of monsters, or with other races that wanted to intrude upon their homeland.

    For thousands upon thousands of years, they successfully repelled any and all invaders, and developed an efficient system of education, as well as a top-notch military force. Although this race had never yearned for these achievements, the hardsh.i.p.s that they had to face every so often had forced them to adjust their way of life.

    From a young age, their children would be taught by their elders, and all who seemed particularly talented in the martial ways, or any who fervently wanted to protect their homeland, would be separated from their peers and more thoroughly trained, to become supremely qualified soldiers and elites. Any one of these could easily handle an entire squad of the other races'' forces, but due to the long-eared race''s relatively smaller population and slight fertility issues, there was only ever barely enough manpower to keep up the balancing act.

    One year, a pair of fourteen to fifteen year old youths got admitted to the military facilities, a boy and a girl. They had been childhood friends, and had always had each other''s back. Many of their acquaintances even treated them as an ''item'' already, because even the simple thought of living without the other had never crossed the two''s minds.

    In the following years, each of them grew a lot stronger and more proficient at their respective roles. But what had also changed was the nature of their relationship. While they had never partaken in any l.e.w.dness, they had nonetheless already promised each other to marry, and to always stay together. They would have to do their duty and perform their military service first, before they could happily retire, but for a long-lived race like theirs, what was a hundred years but a short wait?

    When the girl turned 19 years old, the decennial selection of the long-eared race''s most elite military force, the Gryphon Riders, was underway, and it was detected that she was uncommonly talented at interacting with the beasts. This opened up a whole new career path for her, one that countless of her peers envied her for. She would become one of the heroes of her people, easily overshadowing all of their life-long efforts!

    Her beloved was overjoyed for her, but both of them were a little saddened at the realization that she would have to endure even harsher training from now on, all alone. She was transferred to the Gryphon Riders'' headquarters, and was instructed in their ways there. Every few months, she got to exchange letters with her loved ones, which made the excruciatingly tough days a bit more bearable.

    Then, after ten years, she had finally risen to become an official Gryphon Rider, the pride of the long-eared race. Because there was currently no war ongoing, she didn''t have to immediately rush to one of the forest''s borders to reinforce the troops, and was granted a few weeks of leave, which she had been looking forward to all this time. She couldn''t wait to see her beloved again! From the letters that they had exchanged with each other over these years, she knew where he was currently stationed, and with her newly obtained authority, getting to spend some time with him was no issue. In an effort to surprise him, she didn''t notify him beforehand, and made her way to the barracks that he lived in, straight to his residence.

    What greeted her after a few knocks, however, was the face of an unfamiliar woman, who had clearly had a ''good time'' just moments prior. Her beloved''s voice could be heard from the bedroom, inquiring about who the one who had interrupted their fun was.

    Before the surprised woman could even notify the man of the arrival of a prestigious figure with the emblem of a Gryphon Rider on her shoulder, the young woman in question had already bolted away. Her face had paled and tears were streaming down her cheeks, as the reality of the situation settled in.

    Many things that she had wondered about these last few, most recent years, finally made sense to her. She had continuously swept these slight nagging feelings of discomfort at the back of her mind under the rug, not even entertaining the possibility that her beloved could betray her like this, but in retrospect, she felt really stupid. The signs had already been there for so long! They could have had the opportunity to meet a few times during the past five years, but the one who she had thought would become her husband in the future had continuously recommended to postpone their meeting, to avoid ''distracting her from her training''.

    Wallowing in grief, the now 29 year ''old'' young woman spent all of her leave in her own home, slowly coming to terms with everything. Her life had changed completely and abruptly, and it took her a while to find any meaning in it again. Ultimately, she chose to devote herself fully to the defense of her homeland.

    Over the following years, she never interacted with her ex-beloved again, but couldn''t help but occasionally keep tabs on him. She told herself that she only did this to ensure that he was safe, and to get some peace of mind, but deep inside, she knew that she simply couldn''t forget him, despite the betrayal.

    She slowly became a more prominent figure in the military, achieving the rank of battalion commander of the Gryphon Riders at age 112. All of these years, she had devoted herself to her duty, and had refused any and all attempts of courtship from her many admirers. For one, she couldn''t forget about her first love, and even aside from that, she didn''t think that she would ever be capable of growing to trust someone again, at least in a romantic way. War was very different from the battlefield of love, after all.

    It was that year, during her regular bout of nostalgia, that she realized that her first love¡­ had died. A few months ago, during the invasion of one of the many raiding parties that a neighbouring kingdom had sent into the forest, he had been on patrol, and not a single member of his squad had survived. The woman that he had grown close to in her ten years of absence had been a part of that group as well.

    Emptiness assaulted her heart, and familiar tears streaked down her cheeks again. In her sadness, she took a prolonged leave, and only half a year later did her emotions settle down again.

    She had always been a very devoted person, and her love pure. From the moment that she had made that promise to her first love, her heart''s path had been set in stone. There would never be space for another man in her life. She would have even endured it if her husband-to-be had taken a second wife, or a concubine, as long as he had been honest about it from the start. After all, she had been way too madly in love with him to ever want to dull his happiness - in other words, she would have been easily exploited and taken advantage of. What ''saved'' her from such a fate, what had truly hurt her to her very core¡­ was that he had kept such a relationship from her, that he had lied to her for all of those years in their letters. Such a betrayal, she simply couldn''t forgive. And yet, her heart ached at his passing, as the space that had always been occupied by his shadow now was left with a gaping hole.

    Never again in her life did she ever entertain thoughts of romance. She spent all her years in the military, and later on turned into the chief instructor for the younger generations. After dying from natural causes at the age of 1,293, her funeral wasn''t a lonely one, because countless people had benefited from her teachings and had grown to deeply respect her.

    Nobody knew, however, that during her last moments, she had lamented that she had never allowed herself another chance for romance. All these years, although she had been surrounded by many people, in actuality, she had always been alone, without a confidant that she had truly trusted, or someone that she had loved from the depths of her numb heart.

    With a somewhat reminiscent look on her face, the cloudy-eyed Ray sighed.

    "This time, I want to be free and unfettered, and I want to find love."

    An old woman''s figure nodded at her gently from within the mirror, before dissipating. Then, the figure of a young long-eared woman appeared, its eyes reddened from tears. Between gritted teeth, it mockingly spat out a few words.

    ''Won''t you just get betrayed again?''

    These poisonous words didn''t affect the Siren at all, however. She simply showed a resolute smile.

    "Who knows? It''s possible. But how would I know without trying?"

    Cl.i.c.k.i.n.g its tongue, the teary-eyed self shook its head dismissively.

    ''But what if it happens again? Won''t you just turn into me again, and retrace all of these steps?''

    As if she had expected these exact questions, Ray shook her head. She didn''t even need to think to know which words to respond with.

    "If I don''t even try and stagnate due to my fear of getting hurt, then I''ll also be you. So I''d rather take the plunge and see where it leads me."

    Taken aback, the teary-eyed self widened its eyes a little. A few moments of silence later, it smiled mockingly at itself and shot the Xenos one last complicated look, before fading away just like that. All that was left now was Ray''s reflection, which was staring back at her with an indecipherable look on its face.

    ''Love is a matter of the heart, one that magic should not directly interfere with. How, then, can magic help you to fulfill your wish?''

    Due to the complicated nature of the inquiry, it took the barely conscious Siren a few minutes to figure out a satisfactory answer.

    "What I need is time. If I live long enough, then I will eventually stumble across what I''m looking for. Before then, I can''t allow the dangers of this world to lay their eyes upon me."

    Craving for a longer lifespan would be all well and good if she resided in a safe environment - but the dungeon, and even the entire Lower World, was anything but. What use was there in being capable of living for thousands of years, if one slight misstep could spell her end at any moment? Therefore, she wanted to evade the gazes of those that would wish to do her harm. If they couldn''t see her, if they didn''t know about her, then they wouldn''t raise their malevolent knives against her, and she would live longer as a result.

    ''That is certainly one way to go about it. Not too bad, me.''

    Eyes glimmering in understanding, the mirror self accepted her decision and bade its farewell. Moments later, the all-encompassing darkness around her slowly engulfed the Siren.

    She found herself resting on a familiar feathery l.a.p, and upon moving her head a little, she saw the worried Fear staring down at her, looking her straight into the eyes.

    "Ray! You''re finally awake. Everything alright?"

    Although the Harpy was usually cheery, her brows were furrowed a little right now. Apparently, Ray being in an unresponsive state for a few hours hadn''t been that great of an experience.

    Smiling slightly, Ray took a few seconds to recall what she had been doing before she had lost consciousness, then understanding flashed in her eyes.

    ''Ah, I see. So this is the grimoire''s doing.''

    With a glance to the side, she discovered a closed book nearby, which convinced her of her hypothesis. Before dealing with anything else, however, she first had to pacify this ''little sister'' of hers.

    "I''m fine, Fear. Thanks for taking care of me."

    Not entirely reassured, the young Harpy tilted her head and looked at her inquisitively.

    "Are you sure?"

    "I am! Really, I''m good now."

    After spending some more time with her close friend, Ray finally managed to extricate herself and get some privacy. With a relieved sigh, she glanced at the grimoire that she had brought with her.

    ''I should have obtained a Magic now, right? Then¡­ what''s next?''

    As if her thoughts had been a trigger, a drop of golden Ichor appeared in front of her eyes out of nowhere. It somehow didn''t give off any Divine Energy whatsoever, so it didn''t attract the dungeon''s attention. Ignoring the surprise written all over the Siren''s face, the drop of deity blood made its way to her back and started to update her Falna.

    Because that sensation was still quite unfamiliar to Ray, she shivered and her breathing accelerated. Aside from that, however, she managed to keep a cool head and didn''t embarrass herself. It didn''t take long for the procedure to come to an end, and for her to feel the emergence of something ''new'' within her.

    The next moment, a sheet of paper sporting Isaac''s handwriting materialized in front of her, then it steadily floated over to the closed grimoire and settled down on top of it. Successfully intrigued by this display, the Siren inspected the sheet''s content.

    [ Shroud of Hel: (Passive) It will be 50% more difficult for other beings to notice the user. The sounds of the user''s movements will be softer, the user''s body will give off less odor, and they will more easily blend into a crowd.

    (Active) The passive effects will be reinforced. It will be 95% more difficult for other beings to detect the user. Even the user''s life force will be veiled to a degree. While in this state, every five seconds, a certain amount of mana will be consumed. Will require 50% less focus if activated via the chant.

    Chant: "Renounce me, life. Engulf me, death. Oh veil that separates the realms, please shelter me!" ]

    Taken aback by the nature of her new Magic, Ray blinked blankly. Why would she obtain something death-related? Only after reading through the description for a second time did she finally understand. This Magic was, essentially, a stealth enhancement, and nothing more. If that was the case, it wasn''t too unusual for her to get something like it. She usually attacked her opponents from out of sight anyway, and this would only further reinforce that combat style.

    ''Wait, why does this name seem so familiar? Haven''t I met a Hel recently? Yeah¡­ there was a sickly girl with that name in milord''s world that one time. Don''t tell me that''s her?!''

    She hadn''t really expected that the girl introduced to her offhandedly a bit more than two and a half days ago would turn out to be¡­ another deity! And even more unbelievable than that was that she had now been gifted with a Magic that bore Hel''s name.

    ''I should probably talk to her about this when I get the chance. Maybe she''ll even be able to give me some tips, or to tell me what to look out for.''

    Accepting this revelation remarkably quickly, the Siren stood up straight and decided to give her new Magic a spin. It was now a part of her, after all, so it was only natural for her to attempt to get accustomed to it.

    "Renounce me, life. Engulf me, death. Oh veil that separates the realms, please shelter me!"

    Out of nowhere, an immaterial mist enveloped her entire body. Strangely enough, it didn''t actually seem to do anything, or to even exist. She couldn''t feel it on her skin at all. If there was one difference from before that stood out to her, though, then it was that there was a very slight grey hue dr.a.p.ed over everything that she was seeing.

    When she tested the Magic''s performance by silently walking around the Xenos'' hidden village for a while, she realized that nobody seemed to pay any attention to her, even when she stood right behind them. Waving her hand in front of their eyes also didn''t result in any reaction at all. It felt like she was a ghost that was separated from everyone else, as if she was on another plane of existence entirely, one that the others couldn''t interact with - and yet, she could still partake in the events on their plane easily.

    With a giggle, she hugged Fear out of nowhere, scaring the Harpy half to death, before the Siren dispelled her Magic and explained the situation to her. Ray had kept the Shroud of Hel active for more than ten minutes, and yet her vast mana reserves hadn''t been reduced by much.

    -----

    In the empty living room of Isaac''s subordinates'' base, a sudden exclamation interrupted the tranquil silence.

    "Eh?"

    Hel, who had been reclining on the sofa and casually relaxing, suddenly shot to her feet. The shroud that she kept constantly wrapped around her body, her trusty Arcanum, had just sent her a rare but familiar feedback - one that involved the laws of this world.

    ''Someone has just obtained a Magic or a Skill related to my Shroud of Hel?''

    After overcoming the surprise, she settled down again, before falling into deep thought. This could be both a positive and a negative development. She just really hoped that no enemy had gotten their hands on this almost broken ability, because even though it would surely be less powerful than her Arcanum, it would still be one of the most threatening stealth enhancements out there.

    From what Isaac had told her, she knew that there had been two people amongst the members of the Blades that they had encountered so far who had mastered stealth-related Skills, but both of these people had only been capable of misleading those with weaker senses. In other words, at most Level 4 adventurers. An ability derived from her own, however, would be far more potent than that right out of the gate, and even a Level 6 or 7 adventurer''s senses might not be s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e enough to unveil its user.

    ''I should warn Isaac about this.''

    Furrowing her brows, the perpetually pale goddess stood up again and was just about to make her way towards Ais'' and Isaac''s room¡­ when a sheet of paper appeared on the table in front of her, attracting her attention.

    ''Ray is the one who obtained your ''Shroud of Hel'' via her grimoire, so all is well. Thanks for worrying, though.''

    Smirking at the ink that had yet to dry, Hel giggled to herself and plopped down on the sofa for the second time in less than a minute. In her head, she was already considering which lessons she should impart to the friendly Siren. Not for a moment did she hesitate - after all, she had boarded this train a long time ago, and she had no plans of disembarking.

 Chapter 137 - The Keepsakeâ€™s Warning

    ''D---t --ust tha- --rl!''

    ''B- -are--l of -ale--a!''

    Over the past two days, Kalin had become increasingly convinced that ''someone'' was trying to communicate ''something'' to him, but he honestly couldn''t understand what they were saying. If he had had some knowledge about Isaac''s old world, then he would have compared the phenomenon to trying to listen to someone on the phone, with that other person having an exceedingly bad connection. He was barely able to make out that someone was speaking, but that was all.

    Every time that he was being contacted, he felt a bout of weakness well up inside of him, so he had already connected this phenomenon to the stone ring on his pendant. Was it a transmitter of some kind, or was there a consciousness attached to it, or was it making him hallucinate in some way? He had already told Isaac about it, but the man in question had kept oddly quiet and only assured him that it wasn''t a problem - or rather, that it wouldn''t be one, as he would make sure of that, if necessary. Aside from that, Isaac had left the whole situation alone, happily acting as a mere observer.

    Only after Kalin had eaten dinner and told Valenoa that he would need some time alone did he have the opportunity to take a look at the grimoire that had been handed to him today. Right as he was about to flip to the first page, he felt a part of his acc.u.mulated strength disappearing.

    ''-on-- r--- --!''

    He waited for a few seconds, to see whether or not any more information would come his way, then his expression darkened. Under his breath, he couldn''t help but complain.

    "If you want me to do something, then at least speak clearly. I have no idea what you''re saying!"

    As expected, there was no response. Without further ado, he opened the book which was titled ''Magic, the Key to Your Hopes and Dreams: Achieve Success in 138 Easy to Follow Steps!''. Admittedly, when he had first taken note of it, he had been in disbelief, because the title¡­ it honestly just sounded stupid, or like a scam. But because he knew that his teacher wouldn''t pull one over on him like that, he chose to give this tome a fair shot.

    ''If there is one thing that every child dreams of, it is to tame the elements and to perform miracles. While one can earn respect via mastering the art of combat, magic has always been fascinating to the vast majority of the population. And who can blame them? Compared to swinging a sword around, blowing up one''s enemies with a ball of fire appears far more impressive.''

    Furrowing his brows, Kalin slightly shook his head. Although he also had an interest in magic, he didn''t think that the traditional means of combat were necessarily inferior. He didn''t share the same sentiments as the author of this work, at all. But really, there was no point in arguing with a book.

    ''Don''t -ead it!''

    Yet again, his body grew a bit heavier, but because the grimoire''s effects had already activated, he didn''t notice the words that an unfamiliar voice had desperately mentally transmitted to him. Instead, he simply continued to read.

    ''Whether it be just to look cool, or to stand out via reciting impressive-sounding chants, even the simple process of casting a Magic is already one that can make the user stand head and shoulders above the crowd. If one''s pursuits are more heroic in nature, then magic will be a fantastic tool for the job as well. Even during everyday life, it can make one''s burdens far easier to bear. Of course, all of this only applies if one obtains a Magic that is suited for them.''

    How vain did one have to be to want to be the center of attention? Whenever Kalin had met people with such aspirations in his life, he had always felt puzzled. Did they truly enjoy the spotlight so much? Only one part of this paragraph successfully struck a chord within him: the mention of heroic pursuits. Although he had never wanted to become a hero, he had always believed that heroes did ''the right thing'', which he aimed to emulate. After all, was there anything wrong with attempting to be the best person that he could be?

    ''Speaking of, that is also the first step that you, dear reader, will have to take. That is, should you want to embark upon any of the numerous paths mentioned above, or any others that could be assisted by the acquisition of a Magic. Clear your mind, and only focus on answering a single question, as thoroughly as possible: What is magic to you?''

    By now in a trance, Kalin found himself staring into a mirror that showed him a reflection of himself. If there was one thing that was entirely out of the ordinary about it, then it was that his mirror self didn''t have a stone ring pendant dangling from its neck, and the one that he wore appeared slightly different - as if it was out of focus.

    "It can be both an overwhelmingly powerful weapon and a versatile support tool. In either case, it should be used to save oneself and others from difficult situations."

    Instead of responding to him, or even deigning his answer with a single ounce of attention, the self in the mirror glanced at the stone ring that was resting upon Kalin''s c.h.e.s.t, a complicated expression showing on its face. It was a mixture of intrigue, annoyance, amus.e.m.e.nt, pity and indifference.

    ''It''s been a while, last of the Archai. Didn''t I tell you to never let me see you again? You''re putting me in quite a difficult spot here.''

    As if it had heard the mirror self''s words, the stone ring flickered, acc.u.mulating the slightest hint of power that it could muster, in an attempt to shatter this entire space. Before it could unleash it, however, the self in the mirror released a sigh.

    ''We both know that you can''t succeed, so don''t waste your energy. Considering that this situation was out of your hands, I won''t make a move against you. This will be my final warning. Next time, I won''t be able to afford to be so merciful anymore. I will see myself forced to purge the worlds of the last Failure.''

    A bit of slight struggling later, the stone ring calmed down again, returning to normal. Still, compared to before, it had become even fainter. Finally having dealt with this ''acquaintance'', the mirror self refocused on the task that it was actually here for. With a supportive smile, it asked Kalin another question.

    ''Why do you aim for the salvation of both yourself and others?''

    From one moment to the next, the mirror suddenly reflected something different - a memory of Kalin''s, the one which had had the strongest emotional impact upon his life.

    It was his father''s death, and Kalin''s sorry hide getting saved by Jakk and Isaac in the nick of time. Even though it had been more than a month since then, Kalin still felt bouts of extreme sadness whenever he was confronted with what had happened back then. A major event, like the death of a parent, simply couldn''t be overcome in such a short time - or, maybe, ever.

    Still, there had been two rays of light guiding him in that ocean of darkness that had threatened to drown him, and that were his teacher and his now-close friend - Isaac and Jakk. Afterwards, many other friends that he had come to cherish had also entered his life. Due to having first-hand experience with it, Kalin knew how impactful and relief-inducing it was to get saved from the brink of death. Ever since then, possibly to help himself overcome the ever-present grief that he mostly successfully repressed, he had wanted to help others.

    Before this traumatic experience, while he wouldn''t have shied away from saving other people, he wouldn''t have done anything reckless, but nowadays, he wouldn''t hesitate for long before taking risks if it meant that he could rescue someone. Ultimately, his core motivation for doing so was still a selfish one - however, did that really matter if the results were a net positive for everyone?

    The memory that he had just been forced to re-experience left Kalin''s cloudy eyes tear stricken. As he vocalized his answer, his voice trembled in anguish.

    "I don''t want others to feel the same pain that I had to experience. Whenever I see anyone in a similar situation, it makes me recall that day, and it hurts. I know that what happened back then wasn''t my fault, but I still feel guilty."

    Next to the mirror self, another reflection of Kalin appeared, one that was a bit less muscular and only very slightly younger. It stared at its real self with a touch of regret in its eyes.

    ''You''re trying to atone for staying alive. Have you thought about how your father would feel if he knew that? He sacrificed himself for you.''

    Even though he was in a deeply muddled state at the moment, Kalin still clutched his c.h.e.s.t in pain, his expression warping into a more agonized one.

    "He would feel saddened, to say the very least. But even though I know that, these feelings of mine simply won''t go away!"

    Reflecting the same pain as the real Kalin, the younger mirror self forced a compassionate smile on its lips.

    ''Are you sure about that? Maybe you just don''t want to let go of them, because you don''t want to risk forgetting your father - especially not his last moments.''

    Stumped, Kalin stared ahead blankly for a while, then he nodded at his slightly younger reflection, some realization dawning in his eyes. Although he wouldn''t be able to retain the memories of what he was currently experiencing, his subconscious thoughts would still change. This past self of his had just done him a great favour - but instead of sticking around to rest on its laurels, it simply dispersed into nothingness after nodding back at him.

    Again left all alone with Kalin, the regular mirror self asked its third question.

    ''The kind of forgiveness that you seek isn''t one that others can grant you. Only you can do so. But when saving others is concerned, then magic can indeed be of service. What, exactly, do you need?''

    "A way to shield others from afar, until I can hurry to their side to protect them in person."

    He wasn''t powerless anymore, and he would only grow in strength in the future. So the only way that others could still end up getting harmed in his presence was for him to neither be close nor fast enough to rescue them. But instead of wishing for an increase in speed, which might turn out to still not be adequately fast, Kalin chose an alternative route that he judged to be more ideal - to keep others safe from the moment that he realized that they were in danger, until he arrived next to them.

    ''So you chose a comparatively advanced solution. I approve of your decision, me.''

    Clearly positively surprised, the mirror self showed a pleased smile, before fading away as if it had never been there to begin with.

    -----

    Feeling a little lightheaded, Kalin opened his eyes and sat up straight, then he stood up from the chair that he had been resting on and stretched a few times. As he was walking around a little to get his circulation going, he stumbled over an obstacle on the floor, and almost fell. Thankfully, he managed to catch himself.

    "Hm? What was that?"

    With bewilderment written all over his face, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and glanced at what had almost caused him to kiss the floor without his consent - it was a heavy book that was clearly four- to five hundred pages thick. Wait, why did it look so familiar?

    "Ah. The grimoire!"

    ''Yup, I definitely read it. I vaguely remember these words. So, if everything went well, then I should have obtained the qualifications for a Magic, right?''

    Perfectly timed, at that very moment, an event that his fellow students and subordinates would be familiar with after today played out. A drop of Ichor appeared in front of him, which Isaac used to update the young man''s Status remotely, then he left a freshly-penned sheet of paper on Kalin''s desk.

    His brows furrowed because he wasn''t entirely sure what exactly about him it was that had just changed, he grabbed the doc.u.ment and studied it carefully, searching for answers.

    [ Himayat Rahshaf: As long as the user can perceive specific beings, objects or areas, they can envelop them in barriers of extremely high voltage electricity, which can be utilized offensively as well. While at least one barrier is active, the Agility of the user will be increased by up to 100%. Depending on the amount of mana that is consumed, the duration, offensive potential and durability of the barriers, as well as the exact Agility buff that the user will experience, can be adjusted. Will require 50% less focus if activated via the chant.

    Chant: "Embrace." ]

    Moments of silence ensued. Then, finally, Kalin''s eyes reddened, and he almost crumpled up the sheet that he was holding. How could he possibly not guess why he had obtained such a Magic? Although a wave of grief momentarily assaulted him, what washed it away was the gratitude that he felt. He knew that, at the very least, he would now be able to be a far better protector than before.

    It took a while, but eventually, his emotions calmed down enough for him to want to test out this new ability of his. The chant was extremely short and simple, so he memorized it in an instant, took a deep breath and focused on a shoe that he had placed on the floor, in the middle of the unoccupied area.

    "Embrace."

    Feeling¡­ ''something'' leaving his body, not even a split second later, a flickering veil of electricity had encapsulated the shoe. Kalin couldn''t tell how strong or weak the barrier''s protection was, but he could observe that it lasted for around twenty seconds, and that he felt maybe ten percent faster whilst it was active. Seemingly, this was the current default state of his Magic.

    "Phew, it works. Then¡­ what about this?"

    Because it wasn''t mentioned directly in the Magic''s description, he wasn''t sure whether or not he could protect himself within a shield of lighting as well. But the wording¡­ it didn''t specify that he couldn''t use it on himself, right? With that in mind, he selected himself as the target and chanted once more.

    "Embrace."

    This time, a bigger amount of the ''something'' - the mana - that he had taken note of before left his body, only to surround it in a layer of electricity right after. It had formed a sphere that was just a little bit further away than where his outstretched limbs would still be able to reach, and it also moved alongside him - he didn''t need to worry about touching it at all. He could still feel the Agility-enhancing effects as well.

    "Damn, this is awesome!"

    Cheerful, Kalin took a few steps, careful to not actually bring the dangerous sphere anywhere too close to anything conductive - thankfully, the floor and the ceiling were made out of wood, so he didn''t need to worry about them. He didn''t even recall the nails that were embedded within, but for some reason, no problems ensued despite their existence.

    Twenty seconds later, the effects of his Magic ended. Calmly, he sat down on his bed and reflected upon what he had just observed. This Magic would safely protect him, and if he ran directly into a monster while enveloped in it, then the electricity would surely hurt it as well. Was that what the description meant when it stated that it could be used offensively? Or were there other methods of attack besides that one? In any case, it would prove a valuable tool to escape, to rush to other people''s side and to support his combat style - well, he would still have to figure out that last one in further detail. For now, he might even hinder himself if he tried to wield his spear while surrounded by that sphere. Lots of training to get accustomed to it, and more, was definitely in order.

    If there was one downside to the Magic, it was that the mana cost for protecting himself for a mere twenty seconds was quite steep. Although he didn''t yet have a concrete understanding of mana, he could still feel a vague mental exhaustion. Approximately, he would be able to use his Himayat Rahshaf five more times on himself before fainting. Of course, he could be slightly off about this, but he didn''t intend to test it - what kind of madman would experiment on themselves like that, to the point of even losing one''s consciousness? Well, maybe Isaac, but not Kalin!

    A sudden knock woke him from his contemplative thoughts.

    "Wait just a moment!"

    Intrigued as to whom it might be, he stood up and unlocked the door. Just to make sure that he wouldn''t be disturbed during a crucial moment of his Magic''s acquisition, he had locked it a few hours ago.

    "I stopped by before, but you didn''t answer. Are you okay?"

    Clearly worried, as soon as the door opened, a breathtaking redhead in a plain nightgown made her way in, sizing him up anxiously. Noticing Valenoa''s slight panic, Kalin showed a warm smile and grabbed her shoulders gently, his voice calm.

    "I am. Sorry about earlier, I had no idea that you stopped by - you see, I was sleeping. I told you that I''d be busy, right? Well, I got a grimoire today. That''s a book which, once read, will bestow upon its first reader a customized Magic. Apparently, it also causes the reader to nap for a while¡­ so, yeah, that''s what happened."

    Hints of shock, confusion and happiness clouded Valenoa''s eyes - it appeared like she hadn''t fully understood what he had explained to her just now, but she was glad that he was alright. With a bright smile, she opened her arms wide, signaling to him that she wanted to hug. He blushed a little, but then pulled her close to allow the wholesome embrace to take place. To be honest, he actually felt quite stimulated by the situation, seeing as the only thing that separated him from Valenoa''s bombshell of a body were a few layers of cloth...

    "Next time, please warn me in advance, if possible. I was really scared¡­"

    Although she sported a relieved smile, traces of unease could still be made out in her voice, and she was shivering slightly. She had gotten closer to the others as well, but she had mainly bonded with him. An hour of agonizing over his wellbeing had really not been that great of an experience.

    Distracted from the inferior temptations of the flesh by the pangs of guilt that her words caused him, he patted her back quietly for a while, before ending the hug a minute or two later. In an effort to cheer her up a little, with an excited grin on his lips, he pointed at a shoe on the floor, the same one that he had used during his previous experiment.

    "Please stand back a bit, I''ll demonstrate my new Magic to you!"

    Quite thrilled by the prospect, Valenoa moved a meter or so backwards, then she gave him the okay.

    "I''m ready."

    With a nod, Kalin turned his head and focused on the shoe, then he uttered the short chant for a third time.

    "Embrace."

    After he had confirmed that the barrier had successfully appeared, he focused on Valenoa again. Seeing her surprise, but also her fascination, he couldn''t help but feel a little accomplished, and a bit of pride welled up in his c.h.e.s.t.

    "Whoa¡­ amazing! It''s so beautiful..."

    Her emotional words only further elevated those feelings, but they also made him a little embarrassed. Subconsciously, he grabbed the stone ring on his pendant, attempting to distract himself, but that was when he noticed it.

    ''Why is it so cold!?''

    Usually, it would neither be too cold, nor too warm - but currently, the ring felt uncomfortable to the touch. It wasn''t cold enough to make him detect it through his shirt, but now that he had grasped it directly, the difference to before took him aback.

    Suddenly distracted from his performance, he picked the ring up and scrutinized it, only to notice that it had lost some of its l.u.s.ter. While it hadn''t been any different from a regular stone ring before, it now felt frail and weak. Wait, how could a mere ring even appear that way? Was he going crazy?

    Right as he was questioning his sanity, a familiar but at the same time unfamiliar feeling welled up in the back of his mind. He vaguely felt someone begging him for help, but also asking for his consent. He could somewhat intuit that it had to be the stone right asking to absorb some of his strength again. But why was it doing that only now, and not before?

    For a few seconds, he contemplated in silence. During that time, his Magic''s effect had already come to a close, and Valenoa had asked him something, but he had been too deep in thought to hear her. She had moved closer to him and was staring at his serious face in confusion by now, but he simply didn''t notice her.

    ''Should I help it?''

    As he was repeatedly asking himself that question, the ring seemed to slowly but surely grow ''weaker'', although he had no idea why or how he could even determine that. It felt like he was watching a counter tick down, and he grew increasingly uncomfortable.

    ''Oh well, f.u.c.k it. I consent. Do what you have to do!''

    Right as he mentally responded to whatever was contacting him, he felt an unprecedented bout of weakness overcome him, and he stumbled backwards, only being kept upright by Valenoa, who had hurried to support him.

    Compared to before, where he had only lost one to four of each stat every time, he had clearly lost at least tens of them right now, at once. To be honest, it could have even been more than that, he just didn''t know. Thankfully, the ring stopped afterwards, and its physical appearance, as well as its temperature, returned to normal. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that it actually grew a little warmer.

    Ultimately, the reason as to why he had chosen to help the ring out was that it was the only memento that his father had left behind. He was interested in what secrets it held as well, but the person that it reminded him of was so much more important than that.

    While he was in the middle of assuring Valenoa that he was okay, and that she really didn''t have to worry, he heard a voice in the back of his head again. Only this time, the connection seemed to be very stable. It was the voice of a girl or a woman - he couldn''t entirely be sure - and it sounded pleasant to the ears, or rather, the mind. He didn''t get to wallow in that sensation, however, as her tone was serious and her words contained an entirely unexpected wake-up call.

    ''Thank you kindly for your help. I will be unable to contact you for a while after this, unless there is an emergency, because I have yet to sufficiently recover. I''ve been trying to give you this warning for a long time now, so while I still can, let me do it successfully for once: Don''t trust that girl! Be careful of Valenoa!''

 Chapter 138 - Otherworldly Confrontation

    Battle Maid Training Regimen - Volume Seven: Magic

    The duties of a battle maid consist of housework and cooking, bookkeeping, the mastery of a multitude of weapons, espionage and counter-espionage, assassination and stealth, horseback riding, mastery of at least one Magic, and lastly, ''night duties''.

    By studying this seventh volume, any maid in training should be set on the right path to obtaining magical capabilities. But why would this even be necessary? Wouldn''t the court magicians already be sufficient to fulfill tasks of a magical nature? Of course not. As the servant of a prestigious lord, a maid''s duty is to be competent in all areas, and to be capable of fulfilling their lord''s every wish, no matter what it might be. It is irrelevant whether or not other people, or other servants, could carry out a particular task - a battle maid has to be able to do it herself.

    Due to the harsh and staggeringly diverse nature of magic, however, such an ideal state can not be achieved, even by the most dedicated of maids. It is therefore recommended to focus on one of the other seven kinds of duties, and to choose a supplementary Magic which will enable the maid to excel in it even further. This way, the maid can at least be an outstanding servant in her particular area of expertise.

    The path to such greatness all begins with the most fundamental decision: Choosing the correct Magic. Even you, dear reader, will have to make such a choice. Consequently, please answer a simple question: What is magic to you?

    -----

    "What in the world is this place!?"

    With wide eyes, the shocked Mina scrutinized her surroundings cautiously. Right in front of her, maybe three meters ahead, there stood a rectangular mirror that was five meters wide and about seven meters tall. She herself stood upon a white platform in the middle of an endless darkness. This area that housed the mirror was the only one that was illuminated, but she had no idea why or how.

    At first, this place reminded her of those expanses of emptiness that had accompanied her lord''s trips beyond this world, and that also bordered his private world - but instinctively, she felt that this darkness¡­ it was different. She couldn''t determine the details, though.

    In any case, this wasn''t the most important, and scariest part.

    Her body felt strange, as if she could barely exhibit any of the strength that she had recently acquired. It could just have been her imagination, but she appeared to be even weaker than back when tragedy had befallen her family.

    Suddenly, a voice that sounded almost exactly like her own spoke directly to her mind.

    ''I asked you a question. What is magic to you?''

    Frowning unhappily, the Chienthrope girl glared at her reflection in the mirror. It was a bit hard to make out at first, but the self that she could see within it was most definitely made up of letters of various colours.

    ''I ignored it for a bit, but this mirror really is weird. Why is it using my reflection to talk to me? Is this¡­ a part of the process that I need to go through to obtain a custom Magic? For now, I should probably comply and see what happens.''

    While she was spending some time thinking about how to respond to the inquiry, the mirror self stayed silent, calmly waiting for her now that she had chosen to play by its rules. About a minute or so later, she had an answer that she felt to be sufficient.

    "It''s a miracle which can turn the tides in desperate situations, but can also be of aid during daily life. It has the potential to be very useful in almost all scenarios."

    The mirror self stared back at her with a slightly doubtful expression, but eventually nodded its head. Ever since the beginning, when the new arrival hadn''t behaved as she should have, it had felt like there was something amiss, but due to Mina''s current compliance, it couldn''t yet determine exactly what it was. Of course, it could make some educated guesses. In any case, aside from that, her answer was indeed accurately enough portraying her true thoughts on the matter, so it could proceed.

    ''Why do you want to obtain the qualifications to wield such a miraculous tool?''

    Without waiting for a response, the mirror self disappeared and was replaced by a scene that Mina couldn''t be more familiar with - the day on which her parents had died and her lord had saved her as per their agreement. It was the day when everything had changed - simultaneously for the better, and for the worse.

    Utter confusion could be seen on the dog girl''s face. Why was she made to watch this memory of hers? And how was this even possible? Was this an attempt to torture her, or to daze her? It might even be possible that this was supposed to confront her with her core motivation, to enable her to come up with a good answer. Maybe, it was a combination of all of those - she simply couldn''t tell. Only one thing was for sure: It was really weird and rude for someone to ask her a question, only to leave immediately after.

    Although her parents were yet again being murdered in front of her very eyes, and her desperate escape had led her younger self to a dead end, the spectating Mina stayed remarkably calm. Her eyes reddened a little, and there was deep sadness reflected in her gaze, but this memory still couldn''t rattle her any more than that. She had recalled these events countless times, and these scenes had haunted her. By now, she had grown numb to them, at least partially. The pain was still there, but she had become used to it, which was why she wasn''t showing much of a reaction.

    Once the mirror returned to ''normal'' and her reflection reappeared, she had gathered herself again. With a slightly hostile glare, she looked straight into the other self''s eyes. Dabbling with her memories like that was a little too intrusive for her liking, so she couldn''t help but vent her frustrations, even though doing so definitely wasn''t the wisest choice.

    "Why show me this? My nightmares already do a good enough job of that, I don''t need you to follow in their footsteps."

    Slightly taken aback, the mirror self blinked twice, then it showed an understanding smile. For some reason, Mina thought that it looked a bit too smug and satisfied with itself.

    ''I see, that explains it all. You were never in any kind of trance to begin with. I had my suspicions, but I hadn''t been entirely certain before this. Remarkable. For your mind to withstand such a high tier automated control influence, it has to be especially strong, or devoted to a sole purpose.''

    Noticing that the young woman was growing annoyed at it having ignored her words of inquiry, the mirror self didn''t continue to beat around the bush any longer.

    ''Just like you have already suspected, that memory was specifically chosen to help you find an answer to the second question that I asked you. I apologize, but to enable you to see clearly, it had to be the most impactful memory of your life. This way, you will be able to figure out a path towards realizing your ambitions and wishes.''

    After a second or two, Mina''s eyes widened in alarm and she staggered a step backwards, hastily adopting a combat-ready stance. She knew that it was most likely futile to do this, but it felt better than doing nothing at all.

    "So you''re telling me that you can read my thoughts!?"

    An amused smirk played across the mirror self''s lips, then it shook its head. The gaze with which it looked at her was similar to a maths professor observing an elementary schooler incorrectly solving an equation on the same level of difficulty as one plus one equals two.

    ''No, I cannot. The truth of the matter is far more simple than that. I have all the memories that you have made before you came here, so I can guess what you will think when confronted with certain situations or problems. As for why I have those memories? I am you, or rather, a part of you.''

    Highly skeptical, Mina lowered her guard just the slightest amount. She obviously wouldn''t fully trust her reflection. Its behaviour was off, and she highly doubted that she herself would ever behave in such a patronising manner towards herself.

    Clearly seeing through her, however, the mirror self shook its head again.

    ''Although I am a part of you, I have only come to be because of the grimoire. Therefore, I am slightly different from you, and only exist to fulfill a singular purpose - to ask you questions, which will lead to you obtaining the qualifications to acquire a custom Magic of your own. With that said, please answer my second question: Why do you want to obtain the qualifications to wield such a miraculous tool? Take all the time in the world, there is no need to hurry.''

    Because it was very well possible for the mirror self to have told her the truth, Mina grew silent. Upon reflecting upon this whole situation, she realized that it would be best for her to go back to playing along, primarily because her lord expected her to gain benefits from this grimoire. Wouldn''t it be bad if she messed up because of a failure to abide by the rules of the Magic Item?

    It took her more than ten minutes of self-reflection, but she ultimately found her answer deep within her heart.

    "I want to become stronger. Not only for myself, but also for milord and milady. Having my own Magic would enable me to serve them better."

    Right next to the slightly bewildered mirror self, another reflection of Mina appeared, one that was still wearing the simple brown linen dress that she had sported on that fateful day. This younger self blinked at her with watery eyes, clearly emotionally unstable, but also curious.

    ''So, this lord of yours¡­ is he the one who saved you?''

    Sporting a proud smile, Mina nodded, her tail wagging happily. Even the simple mention of him could already cheer her up significantly, no matter what situation she was in.

    "Yeah! There is no greater honour than being his faithful dog. Milord is the meaning of life."

    A gentle, warm smile appeared on the younger self''s lips, and an embarrassed blush caused its cheeks to redden, then it faded away quietly as if it had never been there. At that very moment, Mina experienced a burst of contentment and serenity, and her shoulders felt like a small burden had just been lifted from them.

    This wholesome moment was rudely interrupted by the voice of the mirror self. Its expression had become increasingly confused over the past minute or so, but it still fulfilled its task dutifully.

    ''Exactly what kind of strength will enable you to serve your lord and your lady the best?''

    When she attempted to answer, Mina realized that she couldn''t come up with anything good, so she chose to take her reflection up on its previous offer - she took close to a quarter of an hour until she finally made up her mind. But once she responded, it was with confidence.

    "Something that will weaken my enemies and make myself stronger at the same time."

    With her weakening their enemies, they would be able to take part in fights against stronger opponents earlier than they should, which would become catalysts for their improvement. Her lord would always be able to end battles in an instant, but he would also leave some of the small fries to his subordinates to let them sharpen their blades. Wouldn''t it be a shame if a number of their own wouldn''t be able to participate in such a battle simply because they weren''t strong enough? With her weakening their opponents, they would be able to play a role and advance further on their martial path.

    ''So basically, you want the best of both worlds - to become stronger, and to make your enemies weaker, thereby becoming even stronger in comparison. Fine, I approve of that overwhelmingly voracious appetite of yours, me.''

    With an delighted grin, the mirror self nodded, then its eyes became clouded by puzzlement once again. Now that it had fulfilled its purpose, it really couldn''t hold back its own questions any longer - those that were unrelated to the grimoire''s regular proceedings. It didn''t even realize that it had slightly misinterpreted Mina''s intentions and motivation.

    ''Forgive me for asking you about this out of the blue, but why do you think so highly of Isaac Blackshaw? He saved your life and he is extremely talented, but I can''t see anything warranting such excessive devotion in your memories.''

    Furrowing her brows, the Chienthrope girl shook her head in disbelief. Was her reflection crazy? To doubt her lord''s qualifications, that was completely uncharacteristic of herself. She couldn''t even imagine doing that.

    "What do you mean? Milord has performed countless miraculous feats, and has earned my absolute loyalty long ag--- oh."

    All of a sudden, she shot backwards, right until she reached the very edge of the small platform. Her ears and tail stood on end, and she now saw this ''being'' in only one way. As an enemy to keep on guard against!

    "How could you possibly not know about how outstanding milord is? You really aren''t a part of me, after all."

    Displeased by her reaction, but also entertained at the same time, the mirror self tilted its head, possibly in an attempt to appear cute. It had been momentarily confused as to why Mina was reacting in such a manner, but couldn''t yet come up with an answer. Was there something that it was missing, perhaps? Well, that shouldn''t really be possible. Regardless, there was a need to clarify what had caused the dog girl to resolutely make such a claim.

    ''What makes you think so?''

    A hostile glint flickering in her eyes, Mina puffed out her c.h.e.s.t and snorted.

    "It''s quite simple, really. You claimed that you are a part of myself that has access to all of my memories, up until the point when I read the grimoire. But that can''t be true, because any me like that would never show any disloyalty or doubt towards milord!"

    Speechless, the mirror self just stared at her for close to twenty seconds, then it shook its head and sighed.

    ''It really doesn''t make any sense. Where does your devotion come from? I can''t see anything that would justify it. There is only one explanation, and that is that someone has hidden those memories from me. Interesting¡­ let me take a look at who it is that has such capabilities.''

    Accompanying a sudden shift in demeanour, the entire space that Mina was located in froze. She couldn''t move anymore, and only her thoughts could continue on unabated. This wasn''t due to any technique whatsoever - it was due to the descent of some sort of power into the self in the mirror. Or rather¡­ the self outside of the mirror.

    ''When did it¡­?!''

    Her eyes would have widened in shock under regular circ.u.mstances. At an unknown point in time, the reflection of hers that was made up entirely out of letters had somehow left the mirror in front of her and now stood less than a meter away. Its passively exuded presence made her feel like an insignificant speck of dust that could be brushed aside with even less than a simple thought. A slight panic began to well up inside of her mind, before being replaced with indignation.

    Whatever or whoever it was that was currently imitating her appearance, it reached out its left hand and placed it on her forehead, a slightly apathetic but intrigued look on its face. A couple of seconds later, it lowered its head and frowned a little, while muttering to itself.

    ''It''s really true, there are gaps in her memories when I try to observe them. The most likely conclusions are that they have been hidden from me, or deliberately deleted. They all seem to relate to that Isaac kid. Seems like he is even more capable than he appeared. But such a flimsy protection won''t hold on for long. Break, and reveal your secrets to me!''

    When the mirror self''s voice increased in volume at the end of its speech, a power that felt unfathomable to the poor dog girl entered Mina''s mind, which was currently all over the place. For one, she felt violated by and extremely angry with this being, but its disrespectful words had also earned it even more of her ire. It dared to treat her lord like some random kid!? Who did it think it was? Lastly, the being''s words had also enlightened her to something else - her lord had seemingly placed some sort of protection upon most of her memories related to him¡­ so the attempt of uncovering these, when it was so clearly against his will, was simply and clearly blasphemy!

    A flame of rage ignited deep in her bosom, but it was useless - she couldn''t do anything at all. She could only watch as vaster and vaster amounts of an unfathomable power poured into her head¡­ before it all of a sudden abated, accompanied by a panicked shriek.

    ''What in tarnation is this?!''

    Right as she regained control over her body and saw the being that had posed as her reflection tumbling backwards in terror, blood consisting of letters gushing out of every single one of its orifices and even the majority of its pores, her vision went black. She had been gently enveloped by the darkness, and it wasn''t long until her mind blacked out as well.

    -----

    In an unknown place, far removed from any other being at all, there hovered a humanoid mass of a certain energy that resembled a wizened old man with a bit of a hunchback. If Isaac had been present, then he would have surely taken note of the nearly countless laws of the world that were intertwined around this figure, connecting it to all sorts of places and beings. Not only the laws of the Lower World, but even those of other worlds such as Heaven were revolving around this being.

    Occasionally, it would interact with a few of these laws to achieve a multitude of things. This could range from simply altering one slightly, to making copies of multiple laws, to utilizing those copies to edit and combine them into new laws, as well as countless other undertakings. The old man was in complete control of these laws. Or rather, that was how it had always been.

    Out of nowhere, a deathly pale expression crept on the being''s face, and all those laws that it had been handling oh so proficiently earlier escaped from its grasp instantly, encapsulating it within. An innumerable amount of them were aimed directly at it, seemingly reinforced as well as sharpened into ''spears'' that could endanger its survival and snuff it out as easily as a tornado would a candle''s flame. Another number of laws promptly formed the shape of a few words.

    ''This will be your sole warning, so don''t complain that I didn''t extend any mercy on account of your ignorance: F.u.c.k off, and keep your hands to yourself!''

    Only after a few seconds did the words dissipate and the laws of the world return to normal, as if they had never been affected by anyone''s control at all. And yet, the figure of the wizened old man didn''t even dare to move a finger. If it had been capable of sweating, then it would surely have lost a few buckets worth of water by now.

    Minutes later, the being finally muttered to itself.

    ''That was close. Is that Chienthrope kid being raised by one of ''them''? Wait, what am I even doing!? I shouldn''t ask any questions. It would be wisest to not think about this incident ever again¡­''

    Deep fear and respect was evident in its eyes as it attentively recommenced its regular activities.

    -----

    After she had shared the details of her miserable experience with her best friend, Mina suddenly recalled something that she had forgotten in the wrath that had consumed her upon recounting the sheer audacity of that unknown being. She should have obtained a Magic, correct? Or did that whole incident at the end mess everything up?

    Worry and slight guilt at potentially having failed her lord''s expectations caused her ears to droop. She was about to become truly disheartened, when out of nowhere, a drop of Ichor hovered in front of her face.

    "M-Milord¡­!"

    With teary eyes, a relieved Mina settled down obediently and happily allowed Isaac to update her Status. About half a minute later, the comfortable sensation that had temporarily saturated her began to fade, and a sheet of paper arrived in her hands. With expectant curiosity written all over her face, she eagerly proceeded to read it.

    [ Phagein Aeon: As long as the user is aware of them, any enemies within a certain distance of the user will have a portion of their life force absorbed, leading to a decrease in their stats as well as a reduction of their vitality and lifespan. In relation to how much life force was absorbed, the user will see an increase in all of their stats, as well as obtain a buff to their vitality and lifespan. Depending on the amount of mana that is consumed, the area of effect, the duration and the amount of life force that will be absorbed can be adjusted. Will require 50% less focus if activated via the chant.

    Chant: "Heed this call, life universal. Return to your origin. Let me become a magnet for your splendour, maintain this oasis at the cost of the desert. Consume all that defy me, for their energy shall serve me well. Devour to your heart''s content." ]

    Noticing how villainous her new Magic appeared on paper, especially its chant, Mina couldn''t help but smile abashedly. It fit the criteria that she had stated, that was for sure, but it would certainly make her sound like an evildoer, wouldn''t it? Had there been a misunderstanding at some point that she wasn''t aware of?

 Chapter 139 - Isaacâ€™s Perspective

    Even a long time after they had eaten dinner, Ais still couldn''t help but occasionally blush in embarrassment when she thought back on what had happened earlier. Due to her not having fully acclimated herself to her newly upgraded physical body, she had crushed a couple of potato snacks accidentally while simply trying to grab them. She hadn''t noticed anything wrong when she had taken Isaac''s hand before that, but because of his high stats, even if she had grasped his hand a little too forcefully, he wouldn''t have been hurt at all. However, her poor potato snacks weren''t as resilient.

    A soft sigh escaped her lips as she calmly explored her improved body, and adjusted herself to it. The process was a bit slow, especially considering how astonishingly many stats that she had gained this time, but she still made progress over time.

    Glancing at her from his seat on the bed every so often, Isaac, who was immersed in Mana Cultivation, smiled gently. It had been two hours since they had eaten, and all of his subordinates were currently enjoying their grimoire-induced naps.

    Due to the presence of his Ichor in their Falnas, a part of himself had also been ''transported'' in front of their respective mirrors. This blood was still a part of himself, even though it wasn''t currently in his body, so he could send some mana from his mental layer into it to observe the whole process. He didn''t pay close attention, however, because he didn''t feel it necessary to intrude upon everyone''s privacy like this - aside from that, he also aimed to try out a grimoire himself at a later date. The main reason for him watching over them was so that he could be there, just in case something dangerous happened.

    To his annoyance, the being responsible for the bestowal of the Magics had actually taken a very unwelcome interest in his most highly regarded subordinate, Mina! Initially, this was because she hadn''t been in a trance upon arrival. The reason for this was indeed mostly as that being had deduced - it was the presence of her Devotion stat. This both gave her the mental fortitude necessary to withstand such influences on her own, as well as a stronger connection with the system, which would also have canceled out the ''high tier automated control influence'' should the Chienthrope girl not have been capable of doing so herself.

    Afterwards, the being had become far more aggressive when it had realized that some memories weren''t accessible to it. However, it had been mistaken about the cause of this. Isaac hadn''t actually protected any of Mina''s memories in particular. Instead, when that being had acquired the dog girl''s memories, the system had just automatically filtered out any that would reveal its existence, or were too closely connected to it. And when that being had tried to read Mina''s memories directly, it had done the same thing once again.

    The reason for this was simple: That being hadn''t been ''given access'' by Isaac or the system. When he told somebody about his secrets - whether directly or via showing them to someone - then that person would henceforth not be blocked from acquiring and accessing memories about these topics. It was an automated process, one that Isaac hadn''t even been aware of before this incident had occurred. Only by making certain deductions and then asking the system to let him know whether his speculations were indeed correct did he become certain of this.

    Just like countless other features, this one had been built into the system by his past self. As to why, he could only theorize yet again: Was it to protect himself - unlikely - or those close to him? Whatever it may be, it was certainly welcome.

    What had been anything but was the insolence of that being. It had even attempted to attack the system itself directly, albeit unknowingly! Not that that would have actually been possible, but the intention had been there.

    When his favourite subordinate had been cornered like that, for a bit, the spectating Isaac had lost a part of his cool, so he had lashed out by tracing the laws of the world back to the being in question, manipulating them into destroying the part of its consciousness that had mimicked Mina''s reflection and then utilizing them once again to intimidate it.

    Honestly, he had been capable of performing feats like this ever since he had arrived in this world. It was clearly a power that only beings that were far more powerful than even primordial deities should have control over, but because he could easily see through the laws of this world whenever he felt like it, doing what he had done¡­ had been easy. He had only previously refrained from ever doing so as it would have been¡­ well, too easy. It would have made his journey less enjoyable in the long run.

    Because of this moment of hotheadedness, he realized that his ability to dabble in things like this was a problem, therefore he contacted the system, to put another restriction in place.

    ''System, I have a request. Please deduce 10,000 AP from my current savings as a penalty. As long as I haven''t obtained the rights and or power to manipulate a particular world''s laws by following the path of advancement of that world, lock this ability of mine behind an AP cost of at least 10,000. Depending on each specific world''s circ.u.mstances, I''ll leave the exact number up to you.''

    [ Primary host''s input confirmed.

    While he was waiting for his subordinates'' awakening, Isaac didn''t just laze around - well, to be honest, when did he ever do that anyway?

    Primarily, he was focusing on adding more of his mana drops to his mental layer''s mana flow, but there was only so much that he could do. After a certain point, he couldn''t increase the speed of his advancement anymore. Currently, it was limited to around 1,000 drops per hour, which was already extremely good. But because he had so much leftover focus, he enveloped the entire Twilight Manor grounds and the immediate surroundings around Ray, who was currently far, far away from him, in his Eyes of Hermes.

    In the process, he discovered something great: The restriction that kept him from sending his mana drops further than a certain distance from his body could partially be circ.u.mvented by making use of a loophole. Because he could still contact and control any part of his body, like his Ichor, even when it wasn''t physically connected to him, he could theoretically split off parts of his physical vessel and utilize each one of them as a point of origin for that certain distance restriction. That way, he would be able to cover far more ground.

    However, this wasn''t actually all that useful for his dungeon exploration plans as it appeared at first glance - he only had that many mana drops, and he would always only be capable of fully covering a certain sphere around him fully with his Eyes of Hermes. Even if he could make use of a few miniscule tissue samples of his to send them out into the distance via manipulation of the wind - originating from the mana sent to these parts of himself via his mental layer - he would still only be able to cover a certain amount of three-dimensional space with his mana thoroughly. There was an upside, though. If he didn''t want to go somewhere with his physical body, he could simply split off a microscopic part of himself and send it on a journey of dungeon exploration - or anything else, for that matter - in the main body''s stead.

    In any case, the current minor usage of his Eyes of Hermes didn''t need much of his focus, so he still had some left over, which he utilized to research some future Magics for himself. He made use of an empty training courtyard somewhere on the Twilight Manor''s grounds and continuously created magical phenomena remotely. His progress was slow, but steady - as usual.

    Around 9:30 p.m., the first to rise again was Averin, so Isaac quickly handed him information about his new Magic. While its chant was a real mouthful, its effects were extremely convenient. They made up for two huge weaknesses of the rooster, so Isaac couldn''t be happier. Additionally, they also reminded him of something else: He could make use of his mana to reinforce his physical stats further. He would have to observe Averin''s use of the Magic quite a bit in the future to figure out its detailed workings, before he could then dedicate himself to creating his own - optimized - physical enhancement Magic.

    A little closer to 10 p.m., two other events took place.

    Firstly, Jakk, who had awoken around the same time as Averin, got his Status updated by Loki. Because Isaac currently had all of the Twilight Manor under his casual surveillance, he of course didn''t miss this and unabashedly read the Status sheet that the mischievous but currently downtrodden goddess handed the Hume Bunny youth. He was positively surprised by how wholesome Jakk''s new Magic was and looked forward to how it would be utilized in the future.

    Secondly, Ray had finally escaped Fear''s clutches and had found a secluded spot, so he swiftly updated her Status and let her know about the new addition to her abilities. He couldn''t help but smirk amusedly when he saw which Magic that she had obtained, and also penned a note to Hel shortly after, to alleviate her of her worries. He and the underworld goddess had been working together on a few plans and projects over these past few weeks, and she had long since decided to join¡­ well, whatever this collection of misfits and oddities should be called - his faction, perhaps? In conclusion, it was only fair of him to inform her of Ray being the one who had gotten her wings on a Magic based upon her Shroud of Hel.

    What was worth mentioning was that Ray''s Loyalty saw an increase of 5 after he displayed his remote Status update capabilities to her. Maybe, she had simply felt thankful to him for silently looking out for her from afar.

    Thirty minutes after these matters had been taken care of, it was Aselina''s and Kalin''s turn to wake up. To his surprise, both the raccoon girl and the young human had actually obtained a defense-oriented Magic. While Aselina''s was solely focused on protecting herself, Kalin''s was a lot more versatile in nature, and even had offensive potential.

    After smiling a bit at the raccoon girl''s adorable attempt at using Magic without even having a single drop of mana available to her, he soon bore witness to another noteworthy event - aside from Aselina''s Loyalty increasing by 2, that is.

    Over the past few days, he had already been aware that Kalin''s stone ring - as expected - had been trying to pass messages to him. While he had the capabilities to listen in, he felt it inappropriate to do so, so even when the young man finally heard what the female Arch¨¥''s voice coming from the ring had wanted to tell him - yes, Isaac had paid attention to what the being in the mirror had said - he was none the wiser about the exact details. However, it wasn''t difficult to infer a few things based upon Kalin''s change in expression and his confused glances at the red-haired enchantress cradling him in her arms with worry glittering in her slightly teary eyes.

    Isaac''s brows furrowed momentarily, before relaxing again. While what had happened wasn''t perfectly in line with his plans and had indeed caused him to need to restructure them a little, the whole situation also had its upsides.

    After having rearranged everything in accordance to this development, he closed his eyes again to fully focus on his three concurrent activities. He was a bit baffled at how long it took for his faithful dog to rise and shine, but he wasn''t annoyed by it - he needed quite a few days to ''stabilize his foundation'' anyway - in other words, to add all of his available mana drops. It was therefore actually preferable if not too many events took place simultaneously during that time. His focus had an upper limit, after all.

    Finally, shortly before midnight, the loyal Chienthrope girl finally got up again. As he took a look at her Phagein Aeon, he couldn''t help but be speechless. Out of all of the Magics that his subordinates, as well as Jakk, had acquired, this one was by far the most ''broken''.

    Even if he ignored everything else, the ability to absorb one''s enemies'' lifespan and take it for oneself was enough to hand her functional immortality. If she played her cards right and hunted enough monsters - or other opponents - then she would live forever, unless she got killed. He had assumed that it would take his kids a little longer to reach this step, but Mina had grown far faster than he had predicted. Admittedly, this wasn''t due to her legitimately making it to this point, but it was rather a result of him using his overly abundant valis to gift her with a ''pay to win'' benefit. To be honest, he hadn''t expected grimoires to be this¡­ potent.

    Oh well, what was done was done.

    This had given him a good insight into what these Magic Items were capable of, so it most definitely wasn''t a loss. There had to be some limits as to the Magics that could be granted by them, but as long as one stayed within those boundaries, pretty much every wish or d.e.s.i.r.e could be fulfilled.

    That sounded great on paper, but the problem was that nearly nobody could prevent themselves from falling into a trance upon reading a grimoire, so one couldn''t just directly aim for the most benefits. Only if one''s utmost d.e.s.i.r.e just so happened to be one that would result in a ''broken'' Magic like this one, could such a situation occur. Or, well, if one managed to be like Mina and to stay fully conscious during the entire process. Judging from that being''s reaction, it wasn''t unheard of for this to happen, but it certainly wasn''t a common occurrence.

    Amongst Isaac''s subordinates, Mina had also, yet again, seen the most impressive stat increase. Because of what she had been led to believe during her confrontation with that being, her Devotion had risen by another ten points, having now reached 90. Beyond this point, any more stat growth should be even more difficult.

    Sometime during the night, Ais decided to get some well-earned rest, as she had gotten mostly accustomed to her post-rank up body. Because Isaac had been sitting on the bed and leaning against the wall this entire time, she cuddled up next to him, rested her head on his shoulder and dozed off peacefully. A doting smile played across his lips as he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, before closing his eyes to regain his full focus.

    -----

    Can I trust the one in the stone ring? Is there really something off about Valenoa? Or is she just trying to play tricks on me, to make me go paranoid?

    Countless questions just like these swam around Kalin''s mind for the entire night, and he only got about a handful of hours of sleep because of that. He had used the excuse of feeling a little under the weather due to having just acquired a new Magic and overusing it to pacify Valenoa and get some privacy, then he had been overwhelmed by all of these doubts. They hadn''t left him alone even in his dreams.

    On the one hand, he felt like this lovely girl that he had been with for so long now couldn''t possibly be a danger to him. But on the other hand, now that someone had warned him to be careful of her, even if he fully trusted her, his subconscious mind would still question her every so often. The only reasons as to why he seriously considered the words of the one in the stone ring were because they were connected to the object that his father had left behind¡­ and because the voice had sounded extremely genuine. But perhaps that was just another devilish method used to warp his mind and mislead him? The more that he thought about it, the more confused he became.

    Honestly, the only possibility that he could think of that would allow both the one in the stone ring and Valenoa to be ''innocent'' was that the owner of the voice had realized something about pre-amnesia Valenoa, and that information had made her incredibly wary. The memory-less Valenoa, however, simply didn''t have any current connection to whatever it was that the voice was worried about, and therefore wasn''t a danger at the moment.

    Of course, that was just wishful thinking. What if Valenoa had misled him all this time? It was certainly possible, but¡­ would anyone really be capable of that? Of keeping up such a flawless disguise for so long? Then what if the voice from the stone ring had lied to him? It was also a possibility, one that was far more likely. But then¡­ why did he feel like believing what she had said!?

    With both mental and physical exhaustion written all over his face, he had left the base and made his way towards Isaac''s private world a little earlier than when the students and subordinates would usually convene there to set off into the dungeon. Just as he had hoped, he found his teacher waiting for him, reclining on a chair and simulating some magical phenomena somewhere in the distance, too far for him to make out anything in particular.

    The response that he got was not one that he had hoped for. With an apologetic smile on his face, Isaac sighed and shook his head.

    "I''m sorry, but I can''t solve this riddle for you. Mind you, that''s not because I don''t know the answer to it. From the very beginning, I''ve been well aware of the essence of what is troubling you now. However, this might make you wonder: Why am I not telling you what you want to know?"

    Slightly disgruntled and dazed, but still obediently listening, Kalin nodded his head. That was indeed the question that had just come to his mind.

    Showing a more encouraging expression, Isaac''s explanation continued.

    "You are one of my students, and one of my subordinates. I can''t do everything for you. In the future, you will often have to rely on yourself to deal with hardsh.i.p.s or to solve mysteries. Now that there is such an opportunity for growth and experience in front of you, if I were to resolve the problem myself, that would be a complete waste. It would also cause you to subconsciously rely on me even more, which wouldn''t be a good thing. Basically, I want you to learn how to fly, how to stand proudly on your own two feet and how to overcome challenges head-on. Of course, I will still intervene if things escalate too much, but it would be better for your own future growth to not have me step in more than absolutely necessary."

    Sporting a slightly stern, but nonetheless friendly smile, Isaac fell silent, waiting for Kalin to take in all that he had just confronted him with.

    It took a while, but eventually, the young man heaved a sigh and shot a grateful smile at his teacher.

    "I understand. Thank you."

    Although he was still deep in thought, and his troubles hadn''t lessened by much, at least he now had the assurance that this entire situation was still within Isaac''s control. It felt more like a ''test'' than a crisis, so a part of the burden on his shoulders had quietly disappeared.

    There were many reasons to feel thankful, but the main one was this: From a teacher''s perspective, it would have been better for Isaac to leave him completely in the dark, as that would have enabled him to learn more in the process of solving and overcoming this problem. But at the same time, he would have probably come to slightly resent Isaac for never telling him anything. By revealing that he was aware of what was going on, Isaac had let part of the teaching opportunity slip away, which could be considered a sacrifice on his part, depending on how one looked at it.

    Watching his more heroically inclined subordinate leave, Isaac could clearly deduce what he was thinking based upon the slight changes in his expression. An amused smile momentarily appeared on his lips. Kalin wasn''t incorrect, this was indeed not the most optimal path that Isaac had initially charted, but the sacrifice wasn''t as large as Kalin had assumed either. Originally, even in Isaac''s best plan, there had still been a need for him to step in at the very end, to deal with a few problems that the young man simply wasn''t equipped to handle yet.

    A couple of hours after he had bidden farewell to his students and subordinates, as well as Ais who was bringing the Loki Familia''s strongest party to the dungeon again, for a fair few hours of combat and excelia acc.u.mulation, at around 9 a.m., Isaac eventually arrived at another bottleneck in his Mana Cultivation.

    Because he had been anticipating it, before he attempted to add the 100,000th drop to his mana flow, he had stopped his magic research and focused entirely on this particular task. Although some ignorant people might claim that he always ''easily'' advanced further, he wasn''t actually taking any shortcuts here whatsoever. He simply shouldered the - for others - unbearable mental strain and pain, and overcame these obstacles with unswerving determination and effort.

    This time wasn''t any different. With a relieved sigh, he momentarily allowed himself to bask in the wave of comfort assaulting the entirety of the physical and mental layers of his body. Very quickly, however, he gathered himself again and read the system notification that had appeared.

    [ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment (A): Enables one to interact with their surroundings by using mana. Reduction in mana expenditure: 21% ]

    ''Judging from the pattern in which the required mana drops for each advancement in grade have increased so far, the next threshold should be at 140,000 drops. Following that logic, the last one should be at 220,000, but I''m reasonably certain that it will be higher than that. After all, the advancement to SSS-grade brings a lot more benefits than previous grade increases, so the requirement should also be significantly higher.''

    Some calculations and guesses later, Isaac resumed his research on new Magics as well as his Mana Cultivation. At the same time, he picked up the Occulus that Fels had given him before utilizing the teleportation nodes to form a temporary connection with the DanMachi world.

    "Sorry to bother you, Fels, but please patch me through to Lord Ouranos. There are a few more details that we need to discuss."

 Chapter 140 - Fundamental Basics

    A huge number of the comfortable chairs of a temporarily put together circular auditorium had been occupied. There were 18 people gathered here, all noisily waiting for the one in charge of today''s lecture to arrive. Quite a few of them had never been here before, but upon vaguely being clued in as to what kind of astonishing place this was, and repeatedly being warned to never speak a word about this world''s existence - else, the only ones that they would put in danger would be themselves - they avoided breaching the topic again.

    The Siren, the Jack Bird Variant and the Demi Spirit amongst the group turned quite a few heads, and had even initially evoked slight hostility in some, but upon realizing that they were just as capable of civilized interaction as they were, no more friction occurred. A certain fluffy rooster actually ended up with far more adoring attention from the females in attendance than he had aimed for.

    ''Let''s see, who did she bring here? Finn, Gareth, Tione, Alicia, Cynthia and Julie. Huh, I didn''t expect her to trust those last two this much.''

    Aside from those that he had specifically invited to attend, he had also allowed Lefiya to bring along all the magic users of the Loki Familia who she felt to be trustworthy enough. He had already expected to see Finn, Gareth and Tione, as well as Alicia, who could be considered to be on quite friendly terms with the rest of this bunch. But as for Cynthia and Julie, he only knew the former from back when he had trained the familia''s members during the expedition, and the latter from running into her on the manor grounds once or twice.

    Alicia Forestlight was a relatively m.a.t.u.r.e, 25 year old Elf with light honey-coloured hair that cascaded about halfway down her back, as well as brown eyes. She was just slightly shorter than Riveria, who could be considered to be quite tall amongst the women of the familia. She wore a deceptively sturdy gambeson-esque pale pink dress with orange highlights that went all the way to just above her knees. Underneath, she wore black stockings as well as nearly knee-high adventuring boots. Usually, she would also wear some more gear above her current clothes, but as she was only here to attend a lesson, she had probably felt like she didn''t have to fully suit up.

    Isaac had never really spent much time with this woman before, and they had only occasionally exchanged a couple of words. Of course, this Level 4 adventurer had also been amongst those that he had given pointers to for a time back in the dungeon, which had apparently earned him her respect. Originally, she had been slightly wary around him, but that had all evaporated once she had realized that he wasn''t driven by his lower head. In other words, she really didn''t like perverts.

    As for Cynthia Plumwind, she was a newly advanced Level 4, and also an Elf. She was actually a year older than Alicia, but both of them were considered to be very young by Elven standards. The previous expedition had been her second one as a member of the fighting force, and it was expected for her to still take a couple of years until she would be able to advance in Level once more.

    The bangs of her shoulder-length brown hair were parted in the middle and revealed most of her quite appealing face. Her forest green eyes couldn''t help but dart around nervously - it was clear that she had definitely not taken in the entire situation yet. Her clothing was rather simple, because she preferred to dress in a way that stood out less. A plain green skirt and shirt, casual leather shoes, a brown belt¡­ and a long beige hoodless cloak that almost hid the entirety of her body from view. Yes, that actually served to make her stand out more.

    Lastly, there was Julie Aedevain. As a mere Level 2, she was amongst the many supporter teams of the familia, and had been left behind in the Twilight Manor during the last expedition. She was a 16 year old human with medium-length curly black hair and very light blue eyes. Underneath her navy blue skirt, she wore black stockings and comfortable boots, while her upper body was clad in a long-sleeved dark grey shirt with white flower patterns.

    Just like a few of her companions, she was clasping a staff in her hands - a Magic Item used to support the casting of her Magics. It looked relatively simple, basically like a slightly longer and more dapper walking stick - clearly, it couldn''t have been too cheap, but the familia hadn''t exactly invested millions into her equipment yet. Because she was currently in the presence of most of the familia''s higher ups, and because she wasn''t actually on casual terms with any of them at all, she was quite fidgety and nervous, which she really couldn''t be blamed for.

    Although he was a bit baffled regarding her inclusion in this group, Isaac decided to not make a fuss about it. She would also have her use very soon, so this would speed things up a little.

    With extremely quick movements that seemed akin to teleportation to the weakest amongst those that were present, Isaac suddenly appeared on the podium in front of them, right next to a blackboard that he had borrowed from Riveria. He shot a polite smile at everyone and nodded, then he put the teacher inside of him onto the driver''s seat.

    "It''s great to see you all gathered here. Welcome to my first lesson on magic. I plan to hold these frequently in the future, so I encourage you to return. Even should you fail to grasp certain concepts in their entirety immediately, over time, you will surely make considerable progress."

    With these formalities out of the way, he paused for a moment, before sending an amused gaze into the audience.

    "Let us begin with something basic. What is the nigh omnipresent energy that is all around us, the one that we use to cast various Magics?"

    Ever the honour student when it came to her area of expertise, the first one to raise her hand was Lefiya. Noticing the adorable Elf excitedly staring his way, her ears fluttering slightly, Isaac smirked inwardly before nodding in her direction, giving her permission to vocalize her thoughts.

    "It''s Mind."

    Because she had expected him to give her a short but appreciative nod before continuing with his line of questioning, Lefiya was stumped when Isaac shook his head instead.

    "That''s incorrect. Some of you might already be familiar with the term ''mana'', right? I assume that you simply equated it to Mind, or thought that it was my personal term for Mind."

    Lefiya, Titania and Ray - those who had gotten their Status updated by him and that were aware of some mainstream magic-related knowledge - nodded, a bit of confusion in their eyes. If that wasn''t the case, then what exactly was mana?

    "Mana and Mind are actually two different resources, which are both consumed when using magic. Mana is the energy all around us, and the one which we acc.u.mulate within ourselves as we get higher Magic stats. Mind refers to our mental strength, which also increases when our Magic stats rise."

    With her brows furrowed, Riveria raised her hand and, upon being given the go-ahead, voiced her concern.

    "If both of them rise with our Magic stats, and both of them are consumed when we cast a Magic, then what makes you think that the two are separate? Or that there even are two separate resources?"

    Shooting her a grateful nod, having entirely expected her interjection at this point, Isaac calmly continued his explanation.

    "It''s actually quite simple. There is a clear difference between the two. Our available mana can only increase if our Magic stats increase, but our Mind can be enhanced further in many other ways aside from just that one. Overcoming traumatic events, maturing mentally, solitude¡­ they all can influence our Mind. That is why I instead refer to it as ''mental strength''. It can be enhanced or weakened by many factors aside from simply our Magic stats."

    After taking a slightly longer breath to allow the audience enough time to let his words settle in, he answered yet another question that had indubitably come to the DanMachi world''s mages'' minds by now.

    "It isn''t difficult to prove that both of them are separate. If one continually casts Magics and replenishes their Mind with Magic Potions, there will come a point where one will mentally be perfectly fine, but won''t be capable of casting any Magics anymore, because one has no mana remaining. Now, to showcase this, I''ll need your assistance, everyone. Because my Mind and mana are far too vast to deplete them in a timely manner, I''ll have to rely on one of you to demonstrate this. Julie, can you help me out?"

    Placing a few mana potions on a desk next to one of the empty areas that he had marked out nearby, Isaac shot a harmless smile towards the nervous girl. She froze up in shock, not having expected that she would be singled out like this, or that she would be asked to use her Magic in front of everyone else. Still, noticing the expectant gazes upon her, she gulped and nodded, then made her way to where Isaac was waiting for her.

    "Whenever you''re ready, please go ahead. Take all the time you need. Everyone else will have to cast their Magics later on anyway, so there is no need to be too nervous. They''ll all get plenty of chances to embarrass themselves."

    Smiling encouragingly, ignoring the indignant looks that some of the others sent his way, Isaac gave the girl a thumbs up and waited patiently.

    After a few deep breaths, Julie managed to steel herself and ignore the fact that she was the current center of attention. With a deeply focused expression, she uttered the chant of her Magic.

    "Holy maiden of flame, bestow upon me your breath. With a soft sigh, burn away my enemies. Wesion Breath!"

    With the tip of her staff as the origin point, a conical inferno of flame spread out nearly twenty meters in front of her, burning away all of the uniformly trimmed grass and scorching the ground. Slightly worried about this result, Julie shot a guilty look at the master of this place, but when he simply gave her a warm smile and nodded, she obediently continued.

    After she had cast her Magic seven times, she felt that she was extremely close to a Mind Down. To get rid of this very uncomfortable sensation, she grit her teeth and shakily gulped down an entire Magic Potion, before continuing to chant resolutely.

    It was after she had taken her fifth Magic Potion and had grown a bit sick of them, after having chanted her Wesion Breath 25 times in a row. Although she felt like she should still be capable of doing it two more times¡­ she couldn''t. Also, a wholly unfamiliar feeling of semi-physical exhaustion and emptiness assaulted her, causing her to double over in confusion.

    She was caught swiftly by Isaac and brought back to her seat before she knew it, sparing her any further embarrassment. However, she was far too focused on that strange sensation to pay full attention to her surroundings.

    "What is this¡­?"

    In response to the question that she sent his way after snapping out of her dazed state, Isaac gave her a short nod before giving another explanation.

    "If we were to follow the previous naming scheme, then that state should be called ''Mana Down''. However, that sounds a bit too¡­ amateurish to me, so let''s go with ''Mana Deficiency''. As you''ve just personally experienced, it''s an entirely different feeling from the Mind Down that most of you mages should be intimately familiar with. Now then, Riveria, I assume that this demonstration sufficiently proved my previous claim? Of course, you can also try to experience this state yourself. However, I would highly advise against it, as your body might burst solely from the consumption of an overwhelming number of High Magic Potions."

    Although she felt a little irked by the slightly smug look on his face, the motherly High Elf wasn''t too close-minded, so she only helplessly nodded. Even just thinking about the taste of those potions made her stomach churn. The battle that had allowed her to break past Level 7 was still fresh in her mind. She would have to consume far more potions now that her stats were even higher, so it would be an even more nightmarish experience to try to enter the state of Mana Deficiency personally.

    Seeing that the most well-versed mage amongst the audience seemed to have accepted the result, at least for the moment, Isaac smirked slightly, then he continued his lesson.

    "Before any of you start to feel stupid for not having realized this sooner, let me give you some words of encouragement. The entire Lower World has simply fallen victim to an inevitable false equivalence, a common logical fallacy. There were so many similarities between mana and Mind that it would be only reasonable to equate the two, at least until the information that I have just presented you with would come to light. I simply sped up the process. I have no doubt that it would have happened naturally sooner or later. Also, now that you''re aware of this, you can avoid some potential dangers in the future. What if you run out of mana in the midst of a battle, while still having far more than enough Mind to continue on? To know your mana pool''s limits can be vital. See this as an opportunity to remove a risk factor, not something to reproach yourself for."

    As he had taken note of the slightly downcast expressions of Lefiya, Elfy, Cynthia and Tione, Isaac had judged that he needed to lay out a few more of the facts to make this revelation easier to swallow. After all, it was only the most rudimentary one that they would be confronted with today.

    "Now that this first matter is cleared up, let''s continue onward to the second one. Don''t you all want to learn how to do things like this?"

    With a wave of his hand, Isaac created many magical phenomena in the scorched area that Julie had left behind - because this was his private world, it was really easy to fix and couldn''t even be damaged unless he allowed it. There were tornadoes, crackling flames, pillars of ice that were repeatedly cut into pieces by powerful blades fashioned out of pure water, as well as many others. They were all no more than circus tricks to Isaac, but to the present mages that hadn''t borne witness to his magical feats before, they felt like miracles beyond their understanding.

    This time, the one to raise her hand first to request permission to make an inquiry was Alicia.

    "Excuse me, how are you casting Magics without chanting? And how are there so many different effects? Are you even casting Magics in the first place? Could this be some otherworldly trick that is only possible in this¡­ odd place?"

    The Elf couldn''t help but doubt what she was seeing - after all, it went against everything that she had been taught about magic up to this point in her life. Even the revelation that mana and Mind might both exist and be separate resources hadn''t taken her aback as much.

    "Yes, I am casting Magic. However, contrary to what most of you might be convinced of, chanting isn''t necessary to do so. Rather, the term magic simply refers to the control of both our own mana, as well as the mana around us. We fashion it into whatever phenomena that we need, and are only limited by our imagination and proficiency."

    Taking a piece of chalk out of his inventory, Isaac began to draw on the blackboard, until the outline of a very accurate rendition of a human body could be made out. Then, on top of it, with a differently coloured piece of chalk, he drew yet another human body that was more indistinct in nature. It felt fleeting, and as if it wasn''t really there. Yet, at the same time, both of them made up a greater whole. In the c.h.e.s.t area of this ''second body'', there lay a stagnant lake of some sort of liquid.

    "When I first attempted to research this world''s magic system, I aimed to locate the mana within my body. However, no matter how convinced of its existence that I was or how long that I searched through my physical body, I couldn''t find it. I knew it had to be somewhere, because I could feel it acc.u.mulating inside of me every time my Magic stat increased, but I didn''t know where it was. That was when I made a discovery."

    Pointing at the second body on the blackboard, he showed a reminiscent smile.

    "What you see here is a simplified representation of the reality that I encountered. Aside from a physical body, people of this world also have a mental one. That, however, is not their soul - that is actually an entirely different topic that I shall not dive into at this moment. Just know that they are not the same. Anyway, I refer to the soul as the ''soul layer'', the physical body as the ''physical layer'' and the mental body as the ''mental layer''. But why is that?"

    He took out three sheets of paper from his inventory, atop which he wrote the words ''soul'', ''physical body'' and ''mental body''. After showing them to the audience, he then placed them on top of each other. To their surprise, once the words were superimposed, they somehow formed a new one: ''self''.

    "It''s simple. Each of these three make up a layer of your current existence, your ''self''. Only by combining all three of them do you all come to be in your current forms. If even one is lacking, then while you would still be partially yourself, you also wouldn''t be. But let''s leave these advanced topics for another day - they aren''t even related to magic either."

    Clearing his throat to give everyone enough time to take in his words - not that any of them could truly fully understand or accept them in an instant anyway - Isaac pointed at the blackboard again.

    "What you need to know is that most people can only perceive their physical layer. However, it is also possible to discern the mental layer and the soul layer. Your mana, the result of your Magic stat related efforts, is located on the mental one. This, however, begs the question: How does one perceive the mental layer?"

    With a slightly helpless expression, Isaac shook his head and heaved a sigh.

    "Sadly, as I had no Magic or mana utilizing Skill to rely on like you all, I had to walk a far more difficult path to do it. However, that also means that because all of you have a Magic - don''t worry, I will update your Status soon, Aselina, then you will also have some mana of your own. Ahem, as I said, because all of you have a Magic, there is a far simpler path for you to take. Just close your eyes and ''feel'' the path that your mana takes through your body while you are casting your Magic. The more experienced ones amongst you may already be familiar with this."

    Confirming his guess, Riveria, Lefiya, Titania, Alicia and Elfy nodded their heads.

    "That is the first step. The second step is to locate the source of your mana in your mental layer. A few of you have unknowingly discerned this elusive layer of your being many times before, but you have never explored it. This time, instead of only focusing on the channels which your mana follows, try to find its source. As for the rest of you who aren''t familiar with that feeling yet, please come forward and cast your Magics in one of the prepared fields. Again, closing your eyes may help you in discovering the flow of mana within you, but feel free to keep them open if that feels more natural to you."

    Right as the last word left his lips, an excited Mina had already bolted towards one of the marked out empty areas nearby. Her tail was wagging joyfully and her eyes beamed with anticipation. However, before she even chanted anything, she suddenly froze and turned her head to look at her lord, clear confusion written all over her face.

    "Milord, I can only use my Magic if enemies are nearby. What am I supposed to do?"

    With a sigh, Isaac clapped loudly, garnering everyone''s attention once again.

    "Hold your horses, everyone. Some of you have Magics that can only be activated under specific circ.u.mstances. For those, I have made some preparations. Mina, I picked up and restrained some monsters for you. Jakk, here''s a plushie that has some monster lures sewn into it. Just think of it as an ally and protect it from the monster that I will place in its vicinity."

    Making trips to the dungeon to kidnap unsuspecting monsters was as easy and fast as taking a breath at this point, so of course, he had prepared sufficiently for this first lesson of his. Once he had dealt with the two that had to fulfill certain requirements to cast their Magics, he focused his attention on the two who couldn''t follow in the others'' footsteps.

    "Aselina, as I stated before, I''ll update your Status in a bit to give you your first few drops of mana. But until you have enough to successfully cast your Magic, you won''t be able to join the others. However, you can take part in Quinn''s training if you want to. I don''t think you''ll be able to succeed in that way, but you''re free to try. As for you, Quinn, you''ll have to take the hardest path - the one that I took."

    Clear signs of bewilderment surfaced in the cat boy''s eyes. There was something that had been bugging him for a considerable while now, so he chose this opportune moment to inquire about it.

    "If having a Magic already would make it easier, then why didn''t I get a grimoire?"

    Relieved that the youngster had picked up on this, the corners of Isaac''s mouth rose.

    "Grimoires aren''t entirely free lunches, at least according to my understanding. I''m honestly not confident in the others taking the same path that I did, but I think that you do have a fair shot. I believe that you will be able to do it. But prepare yourself, it''s going to be excruciatingly difficult."

    Realizing how much confidence his master had in him, an embarrassed but proud smile spread across Quinn''s lips. At the same time, however, Aselina''s appearance became sullen as she was confronted with the fact that her lord didn''t have such expectations for her.

    Heaving a weak sigh, Isaac reached out and patted her head. After having known her for more than a month, her thoughts were way too apparent to him, despite her barely changing expression.

    "Do you really think that you are talented in magic? You don''t even have any mana of your own yet. Before trying to take the hardest path that there is in something that you have never attempted, make sure that you have at least some sort of foundation. Not everyone can excel at everything. It''s good enough if you refine what you are good at to the pinnacle, and cover all of your weaknesses sufficiently to still make it to the top. You can worry about mastering many other things when you have made significant progress in one thing first. Understood?"

    Only partially listening to him - because she was primarily enjoying the head pats - Aselina nodded with an uncharacteristically cheery smile on her face. What did she have to worry about? She would just become the strongest - correction, the third strongest - in her own way. Everyone had their own path, and if she could enjoy her lord''s attention on the way, then wasn''t that already considered a major win?

    [ Aselina Sceaga''s Loyalty has increased by 2. ]

    Upon noticing this system notification, Isaac''s hand froze for a moment, before continuing to pat the raccoon girl''s head. For the nth time, he was baffled at how easy it was to raise his head pat-loving subordinates'' Loyalty.

 Chapter 141 - Steps In The Right Direction

    Updating Aselina''s Status only blessed her with a couple of dozen stat points worth of mana, which was far from what she needed to cast her Pyrgos Aias. It didn''t even allow her to make use of its passive effect yet. However, at the very least, her training could now well and truly begin.

    As Isaac was mainly instructing the raccoon girl and Quinn, Ais shot them a short glance from the distance, before smiling slightly and refocusing on her own progress. Very quietly, she muttered the words "Awaken, Tempest." and enveloped herself in a thin layer of wind. Following her beloved''s instructions, she closed her eyes and tried to focus on the origin of the mana that was flowing through her body and influencing her surroundings.

    Admittedly, amongst all of the ones that had gathered here, she was the one with the biggest advantage - apart from Isaac, of course. She had long since obtained the Development Ability ''Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment'', so it was countless times easier for her to actually perceive that stagnant lake of mana within her mental layer, as well as that layer itself. She had a clear guide pointing straight towards it, making it nigh impossible for her to fail at achieving the goal that had been set. Nevertheless, it still wasn''t an easy process. Many times, she hastily stopped using her Magic, Ariel, just before she lost control of it. Focusing intently on many things at once made it very easy for one to mess up, and even minute stumbles could lead to catastrophic results.

    She wasn''t the only one with such problems. Nearly all of those that were attending had lost control over their Magics at least once, and some even tens of times. Those that were more accustomed to the manipulation of Magic, such as Riveria, Lefiya, Titania, Alicia and Elfy, didn''t have too many troubles with reining their rampaging mana back in, but especially the novices amongst them - chief of all, most of Isaac''s students - were often about to experience Ignis Fatui. ''Ignis Fatuus'', that was the name that this world''s magical community had chosen to bestow upon the phenomenon of a mage losing control of their Mind, causing it to explode and damage the user. Thankfully, Isaac was present to resolve such issues with casual snaps of his fingers.

    Snap.

    A certain plant was overcome with terror every single time that this noise reached her ears, as if it was reminding her of an horrifying experience that was deeply rooted within her heart. It even made her lose control over the Magics that she was casting every now and then, resulting in more of those cursed sounds.

    The source of these troubles, Isaac, didn''t intend to stop either. Yes, he could have soundlessly dispelled all of those haywire Magics and he didn''t actually need to disturb his favourite sofa''s mind. Still, he was aware that she had been traumatized by how easily he had bullied her back during their first encounter. At that point in time, he had felt it useful to cause her such mental damage - after all, she had been an enemy - but after extorting her and succeeding in making her swear allegiance, this useful mental shackle had turned into nothing but a wasteful hindrance instead. Therefore, he had long decided to resolve this issue.

    There were many ways to rid oneself of mental traumas, at least if they weren''t too deep-seated. Usually, people would prefer to use the more doting ones that made the patients feel safe and secure. But in this case, Isaac decided to utilize another, harsher, one - he directly confronted Titania with her fears, over and over again.

    In her brain, the Demi Spirit had long since associated the sound of the snapping of fingers with helplessness, despair, anxiety, frustration, dread and numerous other negative emotions that she had had to endure during her ''battle'' with her master. These feelings resurfaced time and time again when she heard that terrifying noise, but over time, her subconscious mind would also begin to associate one other thing with it - that nothing bad actually happened to her, aside from that one first incident.

    Consciously, Titania was very well aware of this already, but to mould her subconsciousness until those boatloads of emotions didn''t overwhelm her any longer would take quite a bit of time. And that was exactly why Isaac was being so ''disrespectful'' and made use of superfluous actions.

    Amongst those that had seen some improvement already was Lefiya. Her being regarded as a prodigy of Magic wasn''t just unearned praise and empty words, but a fact. Although she had failed many times in locating the source of her mana, she had succeeded in tracing it back a little bit further with each try.

    "Proud warriors, snipers of the forest."

    Her chants rang out unabated, and her sheer persistence was praiseworthy. While she didn''t usually excel at most things, and had even seen herself as nothing but a burden in the relatively recent past, even back then, she would always give her absolute best during magic practice. After gaining a huge confidence boost and significant close combat skills because of Isaac''s training, she was even more devoted to standing out in the one discipline that she was truly talented in.

    Smiling proudly at her prot¨¦g¨¦''s display and behaviour, the occasionally observing Riveria turned her eyes back on her own progress. Needless to say, she wasn''t lagging behind at all. To avoid ruining parts of this world and making more trouble for its owner, she had chosen to only chant her defense Magics - truly, such a responsible person.

    Regarding the magic of the DanMachi world, there was a technique that was considered to be difficult to master, which was ''Concurrent Chanting''. This wasn''t a formal Skill or anything of the sort, but rather the ability to chant Magics while on the move or in combat.

    There were a few ways of achieving this. One was to simply ingrain the chants of one''s Magics so deeply within one''s mind that one would be capable of flawlessly reciting them in one''s sleep. Of course, for those who had Magics with relatively short chants, that was quite simple to do. Another way was to train one''s mind until one could split one''s attention into two, and follow two trains of thought at the same time flawlessly. While that was far more difficult to do, and would seem ''pointless'' to the common rabble, it opened the door to countless possibilities for those that had the capabilities and tenacity to make use of them.

    Riveria and Alicia were currently the only members of the Loki Familia that had mastered Concurrent Chanting via the second method. Because of this, they had an innate advantage in achieving the goal that Isaac had set for them. Whilst both of them had yet to be successful, they found it far less demanding to progress than Lefiya, who had to put in more blood, sweat and tears to reach the same thresholds of improvement.

    Due to her comparatively ''easy'' time advancing, the motherly High Elf allowed herself the spare time to let her thoughts wander occasionally. Of course, the main topic of these mental notions were Isaac''s revelations.

    If she had been confronted with all of them directly after his arrival in her world, or via someone else, then she would have nearly fully disregarded what she had been told. Of course, she would have thought about it every so often, and might have come to the same conclusions over the years. However, because her little Ais'' beloved had performed countless incredible and mind-boggling feats, ones that had honestly seemed impossible to her, all of this new information that he had told her was far easier to swallow.

    In fact, she didn''t even doubt the young man much, if at all - from what she had observed, he wasn''t one to mislead the ones that he cared about. Or even those that were of importance to his loved ones. Hadn''t he revealed what seemed to be a significant part of his secrets to her very early on? At this point, after having accepted so many otherworldly characteristics and matters about him, Riveria really didn''t find it in her heart to excessively doubt him. That wouldn''t change, even if what he said were to completely shatter her current perception of reality.

    Shaking her head and smirking to herself, the High Elf chanted her Liv Ilusio - the first level of her defense Magic - one more time. As she had done tens of times before, a part of her thoughts followed one of the streams of mana, attempting to find its source. It had been two hours since she had started, and she honestly had no idea how much overall progress she had made. After all, while she mentally observed the mana, she couldn''t successfully locate it at any particular spot in her body.

    Suddenly, this half of her focus encountered something that she had never before laid eyes upon. The remaining half of her attention hastily scrapped the chant that it had been immersed in, leaving the clean up to the observing Isaac.

    What stretched in front of Riveria''s mental perception felt almost like another world. There was a tranquil lake of mana extending seemingly endlessly far in front of her. During her observation of the mana flow that had made its way through her body, she had often noticed this particular energy. Although it appeared to be in liquid form, it also¡­ didn''t really seem to be a liquid. Besides that, its colour was hard to describe. It didn''t appear to be of any particular colour, as if all of them were absent, but it also was neither black nor white. In any case, as soon as she had mentally approached this overwhelmingly large lake full of it, she felt her perception change in a way that she found equally as puzzling to explain.

    Fortunately, she recalled Isaac''s chalk drawings, so she attempted to sense that mental layer that he had expounded upon, setting that lake of mana as the point of origin. This time, it felt like the fog of war had been lifted, and her mental body revealed itself to her in its full glory. Well, she couldn''t actually make out its form in detail, but it seemed similar, if not identical, to her physical one. The only thing that she could observe clearly, though, was the fact that the acc.u.mulated mana was indeed situated within her c.h.e.s.t area.

    ''Seems like I''ll have a lot left to explore in the future.''

    The smile on her lips being uncharacteristically enthusiastic, Riveria opened her eyes and looked in the direction of Isaac, who was still fruitlessly diverting most of his efforts towards Aselina and the cat boy.

    Her emotional gaze couldn''t escape Isaac''s notice, so when he turned his head to shoot her an inquisitive look, the High Elf proudly presented her achievement.

    "I''ve done it. I''ve found the lake, and I''ve perceived my mental layer."

    Positively surprised, Isaac halted his instructions and made his way over to the mother hen to inquire about the exact steps that she had taken, as well as to present her with her next goals.

    Recently, an ever-growing number of adventurers and regular citizens of Orario had been talking about a certain topic, getting increasingly convinced by the righteousness of their choice. Even the original masterminds behind this phenomenon didn''t need to involve themselves personally anymore, as the ball was already rolling downhill - it wouldn''t stop again easily. Any further incitement of the populace was unnecessary.

    The Hostess of Fertility, as a popular inn that quite a few decently well-off residents of the Labyrinth City frequented on the daily, also had that topic circulating around every so often.

    "Only four more days, brothers and sisters! Then, we shall let the gods know that we won''t stand for their unfair judgement!"

    A slightly drunk, muscular patron slammed his jug on the table and attracted the attention of most of the ones present. While such behaviour would have earned him a few unhappy frowns or even a beating a few days ago, the sentiment that he had expressed had now already spread to the vast majority of Orario''s inhabitants, so it instead pulled other drunks to his side.

    "Hear! Hear! They''ll torture a hero just like that, only because the villain was a deity? None of us will stand for such a thing. Am I right, everyone?"

    Nodding at the scarred Amazoness'' words, most of the patrons of the inn got distracted from their own conversations and paid full attention to this one instead.

    "Nobody should be punished for ridding this place of evil. Else, that would simply be tyranny!"

    One scholarly man''s nearly heretical words even got some of the deities in the audience to agree with him. Amongst them, a handsome young man with fiery red hair decided to chime in.

    "I''ll join you all in your protest. My brethren have clearly made a mistake here, and it has to be rectified. There is a flaw in our current rules and laws, and now that it has been exposed, we have to change them!"

    "Most of us are a part of a familia, so we know that the deities aren''t infallible, at least in their current state. Our mortal laws become outdated over time and have to be overhauled frequently, so the same thing occurring with the laws of the gods shouldn''t be much of a surprise."

    Yet again, that one scholarly man''s insights garnered him a lot of approval, and even a free drink or two. While that hadn''t been his goal, he still accepted them and showed a reserved smile.

    If Isaac had been here, then he would have noticed the nine remaining members of his old supporter team sitting at one of the more remote tables. They didn''t actively involve themselves in the ongoing, noisy discussion that had taken center stage, but they clearly weren''t opposed to its notions.

    "I assume we''re all going to that protest as well, right? I know that you''re all pissed about what happened."

    Speaking just loud enough for his companions to hear him, Cedar leaned forward and looked at them closely, clearly personally invested as well.

    "Yeah. It''s a pity that our goddess couldn''t protect Isaac, but if we can have a part in reducing his punishment, that''d be great."

    Smiling peacefully, the towering but extremely docile Auroch nodded. He had only had a few chances to interact with that old friend of his after the end of the expedition, which was a crying shame. Although they hadn''t been too close, he at the very least had felt quite disturbed when he had heard about Isaac''s deeds and the fate that had accompanied them.

    "Oh? Cedar, weren''t you the one who was raging the most when we heard the news? You almost stormed Loki''s study, remember? How is it that you''re now trying to sound like that never happened?"

    Interrupting the positive vibes and bringing somewhat of a playful and confrontational air with him, Bryce grinned at the still relatively stuck-up Elf.

    Before the fuming Cedar could even make a move, two people had already started to brutally pinch the mischievous Cat Person''s sides, causing him to flinch uncomfortably and almost let out quite the embarrassing sound.

    "Shut up already. We''re all in the same boat, for once. No need to ruin it."

    Her expression overcast, Randi silenced him. The Boaz woman had felt particularly saddened by the news about Isaac''s imprisonment. Because she had been in charge of him during the expedition, she had thought that he would at least let her know if he was going to do something so outrageously dangerous. As a reliable ''older sister'', she could have helped, after all.

    Well, that was what she had been convinced of at first. After thinking it over again and considering the average Level of the opponents, it did indeed make sense for her to be left out, but it still had left a bitter taste in her mouth - one which she had been trying to wash down with plenty of different drinks ever since. She had always been the overly caring type, and once someone had been left under her command, she would do her absolute best to help them resolve their troubles.

    Alongside her squad leader, Claire was also glaring at the mischievous Bryce, warning him to be quiet for once. While she usually didn''t mind his behaviour, and even encouraged it at times, they currently really didn''t need any pointless infighting. Especially not when such a huge and rowdy crowd was gathered in their favourite inn. If anything that they did resulted in troubles for the employees, then they might even get banned from here! Obviously, that would be an utterly unacceptable outcome.

    "Now, now. Let''s all calm down again. I also agree that we should at least attend that protest and make our stand. Isaac was one of us, after all, and I still see him as an honorary member of this team, although he has long since surpassed us. I''m sure you all feel the same way."

    Reliable and soothing as always, Orba shot a bright smile at his friends, eliciting agreement and markedly reducing the embers of conflict that had started to rear their ugly heads. Compared to Randi''s oppressive and forceful handling of the matter, due to her own emotions being a little messy at the moment, his approach was far more appropriate.

    "I agree, and I''ll also take part. What about you, Tanzi and Kell?"

    In between sipping on her drink, the one actually in charge of this whole bunch, Line, joined in as well. Usually, she was left with the duty of keeping them all in check, but during these rare retreats, she happily left everything in the hands of the squad leaders and allowed herself to relax.

    "Count me in."

    Not one for many words, the perpetually smiling Tanzi gave an elegant nod, while Kell only replied with a thumbs up. The dark-brown haired Pallum simply didn''t feel like he had the energy for a better response, and just rested his head on the table.

    Two hours later, the only ones still left in the Hostess of Fertility were its employees.

    As had been the case for the last two or three days, Syr seemed to be a little distracted and lost in thought, but she still dutifully cleaned the place. Nevertheless, there was clearly something on her mind, which often caused her to smile slightly in an amused manner, as if she had figured something out, or was piecing together a particularly fun puzzle.

    Suddenly, Ryuu, who had been keeping an eye on her closest friend, had an arm wrapped around her shoulder out of nowhere, causing her to stiffen up and turn her head to face the complacently grinning Chloe. Quite close by, a knowingly smiling Anya was also creeping up on her.

    "That hot loverboy of yours has the whole city talking about him nowadays. Are you also going to join the protest?"

    Her mischievous co-worker''s words caused the quite prudish Elf to blush madly. A combination of embarrassment and indignation surfaced in her sky blue eyes.

    "What do you mean with ''loverboy''!? I told you, he is nothing of the sort!"

    Only even more emboldened by these words, her grin widening at this easily teased friend of hers stepping into her ''trap'', Chloe came a bit closer and naughtily whispered into Ryuu''s ear.

    "You say that, but you even asked Mama Mia for some time off to spend time with him. You might not have directly stated that it was for this purpose, but don''t think you can fool me and successfully sneak off on a secret lovey-dovey date without me knowing! Also, might I remind you, you didn''t deny that he is hot."

    Clearly incensed, Ryuu slapped the misbehaved cat girl''s arm away and distanced herself, her ears and cheeks an even deeper shade of red. Chloe''s words had reminded her of that brief moment when her - gloved - hand had been grabbed by Isaac. Although there had been not a single improper intent behind it, it was nonetheless¡­ a touchy subject for her. It was also the only thing that could - if one did ridiculous mental gymnastics - be considered somewhat ''date''-like, which made her feel¡­ caught. As for that last comment of her friend, it conveniently slipped her mind for the second time.

    "That wasn''t a date! Get your mind out of the gutter!"

    Raising her eyebrows at the truly a bit exaggerated reaction, the smug expression on Chloe''s face only intensified, and she snickered impishly.

    "Oho~ So it seems that something ''did'' happen, eh~?"

    All of a sudden, her body froze. Because there was now a bit of killing intent exuding from Ryuu''s piercing gaze, some nervous sweat began to trickle down Chloe''s back and she hastily raised her arms to capitulate.

    "Calm down, I was just kidding! I know it wasn''t a date. It was related to those old enemies of yours, right? Evilus? Anyway, as Isaac got in trouble because of dealing with them, I think he doesn''t deserve such a punishment. I actually just wanted to ask you if you want to attend the protest together, but felt like playing a bit of a prank."

    Ryuu''s angrily furrowed eyebrows relaxed a little at her friend''s now-honest words, and she nodded. But just when she was about to verbally agree, the previously quiet Anya tilted her head in confusion as well as undisguised shock and poked her right cheek with her right hand''s index finger.

    "Huh? You really weren''t on a date!?"

    Her words left both Ryuu and Chloe speechless and elicited an entertained giggle out of the observing Syr''s lips.

 Chapter 142 - The ProtÃ©gÃ© Surpasses The Mentor

    More than a day after his first magic lecture, at around 3 a.m., Isaac''s mostly peaceful state got disturbed, as a notable event took place. That wasn''t to say that nothing worth mentioning had happened in those 30 plus hours, but it had just been more of the same.

    Ever since the last breakthrough in his Mana Cultivation, he had made considerable progress. Confirming his earlier suspicions, when he neared 140,000 drops, a familiar sensation that was a mixture of - amongst others - restriction, pressure and pain began to resurface. But instead of growing distraught at having to face this challenge yet again, a small but excited smile caused the corners of his lips to rise.

    Although he seemed outwardly relaxed, nearly all of his energy and focus was concentrated on overcoming this one hurdle¡­ which he successfully did. Not that anyone would have expected a different outcome - there really wasn''t any suspense.

    His tense facial muscles relaxing and pure relief enveloping his entire vessel, Isaac glanced at the system notification that, like usual, had popped up.

    [ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment (S): Enables one to interact with their surroundings by using mana. Reduction in mana expenditure: 29% ]

    Because everything had gone according to his predictions, he quickly closed his eyes again, refocusing on his magic research, and on adding more drops to his mana flow.

    He wasn''t all alone in that private world of his, however. Titania, at this point, had practically become a permanent inhabitant, and just a few meters away, Ais was also immersed in her own Mana Cultivation

    Initially, she had lagged behind Riveria a little, only managing to mentally arrive at her lake of mana a few minutes after her. That, however, was when their paths significantly diverged. Even until now, the motherly High Elf had not managed to successfully add even a single drop to her mana flow. On the other hand, due to already being in the possession of the Development Ability that Isaac had only obtained after painstakingly manually adding 1,000 drops to his own mana flow, Ais could nearly effortlessly reach that milestone. That was where her advantage finally came to an end, though. Any further drops required her to put in extraordinary amounts of effort. She had spent almost all of her time on it, but had only made it to a total of 1,287 drops.

    Even though she was only slowly inching forward, the golden haired Sword Princess didn''t get discouraged at all. She could directly ''see'' her improvement, after all. When she had used her Ariel again earlier, it activated less than a split second quicker than before, because a small part of the required mana was directly sourced from her mana channels, while the rest had to be extracted from the stagnant lake, which took slightly longer. According to Isaac, this already considerable benefit wasn''t even the starting line yet, causing Ais'' heartbeat to quicken in excitement whenever she recalled his words. And for once, it wasn''t only because of her feelings for him.

    -----

    With dangerously red eyes and clear exhaustion written all over her face, Asfi sorted through the hundreds of doc.u.ments that had transformed into a mountain range on her desk, rapidly taking notes all the while. Despite not really needing much sleep to stay functional, the constant mental exhaustion had begun to gnaw at her. She hadn''t allowed herself any rest for five days, but there was still so much work to be done. It was maddening!

    Suddenly, a knock resounded, and someone entered her office before she could even speak up - a regular occurrence in her daily life. Asfi didn''t even bother raising her head and just quickly pointed at one of the two chairs not too far from her.

    "Leave the doc.u.ments on that chair."

    Whenever there was no space left on the table, she would usually let the work pile up elsewhere. The chairs first, then the floor. Not that she had to make use of the latter one too often - thankfully.

    Contrary to what she had expected, the visitor didn''t immediately do as she said, but came closer, causing her to frown slightly and look up¡­ only to be greeted by the annoyingly handsome face that she had both dearly missed and grudgingly resented these past weeks. Right as her brows started to furrow and she was about to ''welcome'' her god with an annoyed tirade, the feathered hat-wearing skirt-chaser suddenly reached out with his hand and lovingly stroked her cheek.

    "Oh Asfi, it''s so great to see you again. All that time while I was braving the high seas, I never stopped thinking about you. I hurried back as quickly as I could, eager to return to your side."

    A deep blush spread on the startled Asfi''s face, reaching all the way to her ears. At first, she hastily averted her eyes instinctively, the beat of her heart involuntarily quickening, but then the look in her eyes changed from one moment to the next as she came to terms with this unexpected situation. Before the bold god could even realize what had happened, she had already grabbed him by his collar and dragged him closer.

    "Umm¡­ Asfi? Are you finally ready to take that next step in our relationshi---"

    Hermes quickly shut his mouth when he saw the utter fury burning in his familia''s Captain''s gaze. Although she was clearly dangerously close to fainting from overwork, she still had more than enough strength to subdue a puny little powerless deity like himself. Recalling what he had been up to recently, he began to sweat nervously, actually feeling a miniscule pang of guilt.

    "You bastard, stop it with your lies! Two hours ago, our men reported that you were spotted leaving the Entertainment District. So what''s that nonsense about coming straight back home? You had the audacity to go on a little whoring trip instead of doing your goddamn job again, am I right?"

    Raising his arms in a desperate effort to seem less threatening and to maybe even support his imminent claims of innocence, Hermes hastily shook his head. His lovely Asfi only rarely ever confronted him like this, and when she did, the cause was that she couldn''t even control the most minute of her emotions any longer. He felt genuinely bad to see her stressed to a point when she had long since strained her mental endurance far past the limit.

    "You misunderstood! I only went there because I had to deliver the item I got from the Far East! You remember that it was Ishtar who hired me to fetch it, right? I arrived in Orario this morning, made a trip to her home to drop it off, then came straight back here. I admit, I may have wandered around the streets to gather some intel, but I really didn''t delay much."

    It was just as he had feared - Asfi had gotten the wrong impression due to the unfortunate timing of his activities. That was the downside of having a nearly city-wide information network that fed her intel constantly: Even his own movements couldn''t be easily concealed from her oh-so-alluring eyes.

    Still, what he had told her was actually the truth. No e.r.o.t.i.c incidents had taken place - at least not this time. That short mental addendum, however, was also why he felt slightly ashamed. Before he had set off, to keep up his disguise as an easily charmed fool, he had allowed the goddess of beauty to bed him. Well, he had also enjoyed himself immensely, but if he had had the luxurious option to only partake in the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.es of the flesh with those that he actually genuinely cared for, then he never would have allowed for these things to happen.

    Due to many such incidents having taken place in the past, he couldn''t blame Asfi for not trusting him when it came to such matters. He had indeed deliberately built up a quite deplorable facade of debauchery over the years. Even though he was certain that she was smart enough to figure out that he wasn''t actually fond of these behaviours, he had undoubtedly still hurt her a lot.

    A reluctant and pained sigh escaped the bespectacled beauty''s mouth. She let go of her god''s collar and leaned back on her chair powerlessly, staring at him with slight vestiges of annoyance remaining in her features.

    "I''ll rest for a bit. Do some damn work in the meantime, or we''ll have a problem."

    Right after she spoke these words, Asfi''s eyelids turned impossibly heavy and deep fatigue overwhelmed her. Within a few seconds, she had already drifted off into a deep sleep.

    Looking at her defenseless state, Hermes felt a bit remorseful, but also only came to adore her even more. He smirked to himself, then shook his head and walked up to Asfi, carefully picking her up in a bridal carry. Being extra attentive and making doubly sure that he didn''t accidentally cause her to bump into anything, he silently carried her to her bedroom, where he tucked her in with practiced movements. One would have expected him to take advantage of a maiden in such a situation, but he didn''t. After all, where was the fun in doing something when he couldn''t even relish in her adorable reactions?

    Once he returned to Asfi''s office, the sheer amount of work that awaited him made the god of wanderers shudder uncontrollably. For a moment, he even considered to just up and leave again, to act as if he had never heard her words. But because he currently had no reasonable excuse for disappearing for a long period of time, as his services hadn''t been requested by anyone, doing something like that would really just be extremely selfish.

    It wasn''t that easy to convince himself of tackling this monumental obstacle, however. In an effort to escape his responsibilities for a few more moments, Hermes recalled what he had observed after his return to the city. Soon, he showed an intrigued grin.

    ''Even without taking a look at our transaction records, I''m certain that the current upheaval of the populace has been caused by Isaac. Judging by how it hasn''t been quelled before really kicking off, old man Ouranos is certainly supporting it from the shadows as well. Have the two of them met already? If so, then Isaac definitely isn''t actually being imprisoned, the old man''s not that ruthless and impartial. Also, considering that Isaac has taken care of Petbe''s mortal vessel, there is a fair chance that he''s gained some intelligence about Vali''s group. But the question is: How much does he know? And why are they after him in the first place?''

    Once he had finished mentally working through a few other matters that had caught his immediate attention, Hermes finally sat down on Asfi''s chair and reluctantly picked up where she had left off. He was reminded of the first few months after his current descent, and the time when he had to personally lay the groundwork for the familia and its inner workings. Initially, he had been the only one who could deal with all the paperwork, at least until he had succeeded in grooming his first Captain. Ever since then, the succeeding Captains only further improved on their efficiency, having long since left his own proficiency when dealing with doc.u.ments in the dust.

    ''I''m tempted to just not do anything until Asfi wakes up, to get her to punish me. But if I don''t help her at all, she won''t have any surplus energy to grace me with some ''skinship''~ Oh well, maybe it won''t be too bad to get blessed by her regular gratitude, for once.''

    Even while he was rapidly working through the overwhelming quantity of forms and contracts, Hermes still had more than enough spare focus to occasionally let parts of his imagination reach into R18 territory, and for a perverted smile to spread across his lips. If he actually stopped doing that, he would certainly be more efficient at his work.

    -----

    As they were descending towards the entrance of the Green Wasteland, the 28th floor, Aselina''s grasp on her two-handed sword tightened in excitement. While the Water City had allowed her to gain a considerable amount of Magic-related excelia, her overall stat improvements hadn''t even been worth mentioning. This was because the monsters had still been simply far too weak. However, now that a significant challenge and the resulting growth was extremely close, even her usually expressionless face turned a bit more animated.

    Ever since she had sworn her absolute loyalty to Isaac, she had made countless enhancements to her actual combat capabilities and weapon proficiency, but her stats had barely risen. Still, she wasn''t an entitled brat who would only be happy if matters instantly went her way. She understood that it would be more convenient for the entire group of students and subordinates to advance together, so she never complained, although she felt quite restless at times, especially when seeing her companions and friends improve by leaps and bounds. Nevertheless, she had already been patient for so many years, and had even endured far too many days as a mere supporter who partook in no actual combat. These few more days of waiting hadn''t notably impacted her.

    Even the weakest monster species of the Green Wasteland, the Armarosauruses, had a stat that was far higher than all of her own stats, but fortunately, it was just Endurance. Her overall speed was still superior, and because she had observed these monsters'' movement patterns many times during expeditions, she felt it remarkably easy to deal with them. She usually only faced difficulties when she was put against monsters that had outrageously high Agility, because her two-handed sword was slightly slower to wield than a one-handed one would be, although not by much - especially after Isaac''s spars and pointers. However, when faced with slow colossuses like the Armarosauruses, she had ample time and opportunity to put her all behind her swings, and to maximize her attack power. Thanks to this, in less than a minute, she had felled the three-headed monstrosity. All its heads had been cleanly decapitated. Yes, she might have taken some inspiration from her lord''s ''signature technique''.

    When she was about to ask Titania to let another Armarosaurus through, so that she would have a new opponent to face, she took note of how her fellow companions were faring.

    Jakk wasn''t participating in any battles, and only took care of a few stragglers that came his way - he had already become too strong for this thematic zone some time ago. Averin was ruthlessly pecking apart another Armarosaurus, which, due to his miniscule stature, looked both oddly bizarre and terrifying. Despite his considerably low stats, Kalin was weaving in and out of a group of three of the same monsters, igniting Aselina''s competitiveness a little. Quinn was faring even better than all of them, and soloing two Champsuryas, his in-depth planning making them appear utterly powerless. But when her eyes landed on Mina''s part of the battlefield, Aselina grew genuinely eager to overcome her own limits, to throw at least a bit of caution to the wind.

    "Titania. Four Armarosauruses, please."

    With a smirk, the reliable plant nodded and grasped four of the twenty meter long giants with her tentacles in a manner that made them appear like helpless babies that were entirely incapable of fighting back. She placed them down in an area that had been designated as Aselina''s battlefield, and saw the now extremely motivated raccoon girl charge into their midst. After having been trained by Isaac for so long, even Aselina found it relatively simple to force opponents to hinder each other, making the area in between them actually the safest to be, because they would accidentally run into and attack each other repeatedly.

    Nodding approvingly, genuinely impressed by how far she had seen the girl come even only in the short time that they had known each other, Titania proceeded to glance in Mina''s direction to check up on her, only to look away again shortly after, her expression somewhat ghastly.

    ''I absolutely, never ever, want to be her enemy!''

    Due to the huge amount of bonus stats that Mina had been blessed with courtesy of her Reverential Resonance Skill, she had chosen to battle a group of five Treants, all of which should have been about equal to her in a one on one fight, at least if only their post-buff final stats were concerned - a.k.a., under regular circ.u.mstances. But these were anything but.

    Before her first fight had even begun, Mina had chanted her Phagein Aeon and activated the spell for the first time outside of her magic training. She had used about enough mana to ensure that its area of effect would only encapsulate her own little corner here, and that her opponents'' stats would be reduced by at most ten percent. Because she had extensively tested the Magic''s effects in a controlled environment before, she had gotten a decent grasp on how it actually functioned, and how to manipulate it a little.

    The stat difference between her and her enemies had originally been quite small, almost to the point where it could be ignored, so now that she had not only reduced their stats by a tenth, but also increased her own stats by the same amount that she had absorbed, the Treants had turned into nothing more than a joke. Not that she wouldn''t have been more than capable of obliterating them before using her Magic.

    Even better than that, however, was that her increased stats had also provided her with more mana, effectively making the spell ''free'' to cast. She had actually gotten more new mana than what had been utilized to activate it! Once she cancelled the Magic, any surplus that surpassed her usual limit would dissipate, but she could still essentially ''recharge'' her mana endlessly.

    Enveloped by a gentle red aura, which seemed to be the visual result of the life force absorption that the now-withering Treants had to endure, she charged at them and slashed apart their suddenly-more-fragile bodies effortlessly. And this wasn''t the first time that she had done this - this was already the fourth group of Treants that had fallen without being able to offer up any resistance.

    After having made sure that the creepy trees were as dead as a doornail, Mina turned around to face Titania and thought for a bit, then she nodded resolutely.

    "I would like to battle five Illusory Termites next."

    She was completely unaware that the huge plant was instinctively shivering a little as she laid her eyes upon the red glow around Mina''s body. In the eyes of others, especially those who could sense life force to a degree - which Demi Spirits of the plant variety apparently could - her ability was simply terrifying. She was like a black hole that s.u.c.k.e.d in this kind of energy and then converted it to use it for herself. There was no way to resist, and escaping was the only option. What if she turned up the intensity of the absorption and reduced her prey''s stats by a lot? Would there even be anyone who would still be capable of running away?

    Titania suddenly disappeared for a few seconds, only to return with many of her leaf-tipped tentacles wrapped around futilely struggling Illusory Termites - there were at least 30 of them. She had already prepared for the future, because there was no doubt in her mind that five of them wouldn''t hold up long against Mina. Heck, she could probably throw her into one of their mounds and none of the hundreds if not thousands of them would be able to really harm her. And even if they did, the surplus life force would heal her just as efficiently as the most expensive Elixirs. What an absolute freak!

    "Thank you!"

    A bright smile played across the innocently tail-wagging Chienthrope girl''s lips, causing even the slight terror that had crept into Titania''s heart upon observing the effects of her new Magic to be snuffed out. Her expression softened, and she felt like she had begun to understand why her master - or should she just call him ''milord'' like the others already? - adored this girl so much. She was simply too cute and precious!

    The multifunctional sofa placed down Mina''s five new opponents and encouraged her in her mind, deliberately suppressing the annoying unease that cropped up whenever her eyes landed on that deceptively warm and gentle red aura that brought only decay and death to its targets.

    Deeply focused, Riveria slowly extricated one single drop of mana out of the massive lake, causing it to ripple a little. Her back was already drenched in sweat, but she didn''t let that disturb her. Recalling the path that her mana had flowed through earlier, as well as the barely perceptible channels that had been used, she utilized all of her mental energy to slowly move that single drop towards the entrance of the respective channel, and to steadily guide it along the intended route.

    All day yesterday had been spent on researching the path that the mana had taken while she had casted her Liv Ilusio. By now, she was certain that she had it down correctly, so following a full cycle with the drop should be possible, and should result in it automatically circulating within her - that was, if this particular theory was correct.

    Sadly, it seemingly wasn''t.

    After she had nearly completely mentally exhausted herself, the High Elf had managed to force the mana drop to do a complete cycle through her mental layer, following the route that she had observed while her Magic was being activated. But at the very end, after it was supposed to continue on its own, it simply and unceremoniously returned to the lake.

    "It didn''t work!"

    A bit frustrated but also confused, she called out to Isaac, who was still mainly schooling Aselina and Quinn. In the raccoon girl''s case, that was because she had only just obtained enough mana to cast her Magic and she needed to be instructed again from scratch, just to make sure that she could follow along with the rest, while the cat boy was being put through what Isaac had referred to as the ''elite course'' with a smug grin.

    "Can you explain what went wrong in detail? Did you really not make a single mistake?"

    His expression particularly hard to read, he arrived next to the sweat-drenched Riveria and handed her both a towel and a flask of water, which she gulped down like a parched wanderer in a desert that had just come across an oasis. Clearly, all the sweating had heavily dehydrated her.

    "I made sure this time. I''m certain that it all went perfectly. Are you sure that I should follow the path of my Magic?"

    "No. I didn''t have any Magic back when I made this discovery, and I still don''t have any non-original Magics now, so I don''t know what happens when you let the mana drop follow such a path. However, there is a relatively high chance that any Magic would follow the correct path. Still, have you tried doing as I recommended and observed the paths and patterns of two different Magics, to see whether there are any differences?"

    Regarding his question, the High Elf could only shake her head. Upon further reflection, she realized that following that recommendation would probably have been the wisest choice, even if it was just to be certain whether or not she was on the right path. However, his first hypothesis had already sounded sufficiently logical to her, so she had ignored the rest of his words, for a time.

    The longer one had been deeply immersed in a topic, the easier it would be for one to come to false conclusions based upon shaky evidence that seemed to confirm or expand one''s previous findings. It was just one of many variants of confirmation bias. As someone who had researched Magic for over 80 years, she also couldn''t entirely escape that subconscious behaviour.

    This was what led to her losing the opportunity to be the first one to successfully add a drop to their mana flow. That glory was obtained by none other than her hardworking student, Lefiya.

    Having followed Isaac''s advice, the young Elf realized that the mana flows of her Magics - Arcs Ray, Fusillade Fallarica and Elf Ring - were significantly different. It hadn''t taken her long to notice it, because even the beginning portions of their cycles were like apples and oranges. After having confirmed this, she had formed a hypothesis of her own: What if there was a ''natural'' cycle for the mana drops to follow? That would explain how Isaac, who had no real reference point, had found a working path without a lot of trial and error.

    Quite quickly, she managed to confirm that her theory had to have some merit, because as soon as she separated a single drop from her mana lake and loosened her control over it a bit, it would slightly budge in a certain direction, before returning back into the lake.

    Ecstatic at her discovery, she forgot to even say a word about it and was fully immersed in figuring out the entire path that the drops wanted to follow, unraveling it bit by bit at a time. She had to start from the step of separating a single mana drop from her lake 124 times before she had charted the entire course, and when she did it for the 125th time, she pushed the drop all the way through this particular network of mana channels, before letting go. Just as she had hoped, after that one guided cycle, it continued on its own!

    Coincidentally, this happened around thirty minutes after Riveria''s previously mentioned failure.

    The normally adorable Elf opened her completely bloodshot eyes, her face as pale as a ghost. Her clothes were drenched in their entirety, and even the ground underneath had turned wet from excessive sweat. Her body was shivering, and clearly close to giving out, yet she forced a few hoarse words out of her painfully dry throat.

    "I¡­ succeeded!"

    Afterwards, her consciousness faded and she collapsed. In a matter of seconds, her various concerned friends were assembled all around her, and Riveria had even chanted her Van Alheim, her strongest healing Magic, in a panic. Only after Lefiya woke up and had been fed a lot of water, plus some delicious snacks, did everyone calm down again and come to understand her monumental achievement.

    Observing from the side, Isaac couldn''t help but sigh, both powerlessly and slightly approvingly.

    Lefiya had genuinely done something foolish. She had vastly overstrained her mind, as well as her body, even though she could have easily taken short breaks without encountering any setbacks. Only the process of leading the mana drop through the correct path had to be done in one go, after all. This had been a part of his second lecture, so she should have been aware of this information. Still, even though she had acted in a manner that was anything but wise, he couldn''t help but admire her mental fortitude and sheer grit a little. Suffering like that wasn''t easy to endure for anyone.

    What she had done was stupid, yes, but it was impressive nonetheless.

 Chapter 143 - His Pastâ€™s Conclusion

    With quite a bit of excitement in her heart, Ais happily snuggled up to Isaac, relaxedly closing her eyes. Today was the day that she had been looking forward to for the entirety of the past week - she was about to re-enter that world of memories once again, for what seemed like the final time.

    As she felt safest within their room and when held in his arms, the two had left his private world to spend the night in the Twilight Manor, which they had refrained from staying at for a couple of days due to their busy schedules. However, Ais'' current matters had a far higher priority than achieving the most efficient training speed and perfecting their preparations for incidents that would occur in the near future.??

    "You might experience something unusual during this last part. Just remember, don''t panic. Nothing bad can happen to you."

    For the first time when it came to these trips down memory lane, her beloved whispered words of caution into her ear, causing her to open her eyes again slightly in surprise. After shooting him a questioning gaze, he only shook his head and smiled calmly.

    "You''ll know what I mean once you experience it."

    Although she was certain that a large part of the reason for not explaining what he was talking about was his d.e.s.i.r.e to avoid spoiling it for her, Ais simply heaved a sigh and nodded. There surely had to be another reason as well, and she had every confidence in his judgement. Resting her head against his c.h.e.s.t, she glanced at the all-too-familiar cooldown that was just about to hit zero.

    "Well then, I''m off."

    [ Cooldown until ''Isaac''s Past - Episode 7'' can be experienced has finished.

    You can now experience ''Isaac''s Past - Episode 7''. ]

    Merely a thought later, her surroundings turned into a pitch-black void that was nigh immediately parted by overwhelmingly bright rays of light.

    Not all attachments that past Isaac had to his world were that difficult to cut off. There was a way to take a shortcut for a large number of them, which he unhesitatingly made use of: To personally resolve the root causes of what had resulted in the sentiments before doing the usual and letting them go. It was countless times easier to cut them off after weakening the emotional connection first, after all.

    Over the 24 years that he had been devouring the knowledge and information that his species had acc.u.mulated, he had learned of a fair number of crimes that felt entirely revolting, even to him. Most of them had been perpetrated in the past, so they weren''t difficult to lay to rest permanently. However, quite a fair number of them had been committed in recent days, often with no punishment being doled out whatsoever.

    Whether that be due to the incompetence and corruption of the various countries'' justice systems, the skill with which the perpetrators had concealed their trails, or the fact that nearly nobody had ever even found out that these crimes had taken place, it ultimately didn''t matter. Due to the information that past Isaac had gathered so far, the vast majority of the culprits, as well as their methods and deeds, were crystal clear to him. This knowledge had been a miniscule part of his reason for wanting to end his species once and for all. Even years later, he still hadn''t entirely forgotten about it.

    Now that he was in the process of getting rid of such sentiments altogether, however, he carried out an unprecedented purge all over the entire planet. Where it was appropriate and realistic, and where the incredibly rare few honest as well as law-abiding politicians and judges were in control, he left them to deal with the disgusting filth that had infiltrated and rotted their system nearly to its core. In other places, where the ones in power were entirely beyond any kind of redemption, he spread their deeds, as well as undeniable proof of their actions, to the populace and manipulated them into taking matters into their own hands.

    But not all of the culprits of humanity''s worst and most repulsive criminal offenses were influential men and women, far from it. Quite a few of them were everyday folk, and a significant portion were basically hermits, sneaking around on the edges of society every so often and eyeing their prey. All of those, his own forces could easily silence without any annoying uproars.

    Past Isaac was under no illusion that he was bringing about a positive change, or doing ''something good''. He was well aware that he led multiple countries into civil wars, which would only cause more atrocities - albeit ones that were far less abhorrent than those that had been committed by the culprits that he selfishly eliminated.

    By all accounts, if the amount of blood on one''s hands were to determine the worst criminal, then he would have climbed into the upper-middle tier in one go. However, at least in his eyes, that was not the case. What he evaluated as the ''worst crimes'' had often even only resulted in the loss of a singular life. Even more than that - sometimes, not a single person had died. The determining factor was the circ.u.mstances that those who had died, or those who had been forced to endure an existence countless times worse than the sweet release of death, had had to endure. Even the most seasoned of internet denizens would, at the very least, throw up repeatedly if they had to bear witness to these tragic fates.

    At this point, past Isaac was entirely untouchable by the singular ruler of the planet. Still, he had refrained from throwing too many wrenches into that man''s overall grand design. It wasn''t that he agreed with it - it was fundamentally flawed - but it wasn''t something he cared overly much about.

    He also didn''t truly bother with the consequences of his ruthless purge. They were not what he was concerned with at this point. Only the vague sentiments that he held for the culprits who had yet to be punished for their absolutely inexcusable crimes were of importance to him.

    Over a period of less than a year, he managed to cut off every single one of them. He had made sure that his own forces - the soldiers and mercenaries under his command, all other staff that were affiliated with him, as well as their families and loved ones - were kept as safe as they could possibly be in the ongoing global upheaval. That was the least that he could do for them after their years of loyal service. Some of them had only followed him out of fear, others due to the money. Still, their motivations didn''t really matter to him any longer. What was important was that they had followed his orders to the letter and done their jobs successfully.

    As he arrived at this point in his journey to existential transcendence, a small smile suddenly played across his lips. The face of his first-ever employee, his trustworthy secretary, Emily Hopkins, had come to mind. By now, the woman was in her early forties and had three children to look after. And yet, she still reliably did her job like a trooper. To be honest, he had really lucked out when he had stumbled across her job application back then - without her, he would have had to waste a significant amount of effort on menial tasks.

    In a somewhat uncharacteristic gesture, he set upon writing a letter of gratitude to Mrs. Hopkins, one which would be delivered once he laid his various enterprises in this world to rest. Of course, he also ensured that the woman and her family would experience as close to a ''happily ever after'' as he could make it. Only freak accidents could possibly spoil the lives that he had laid out for them. He could confidently say that he had tried his best.

    After having double-checked everything once again, past Isaac distanced himself from his numerous companies and operations, only leaving himself access to a stash of money that he had set aside to support any expenses that he might have to make. Finally, he had cut off any and all direct human connections. Even the b.a.r.e necessities for his survival, nutritious food and a bit of water, were now automatically being delivered to him via certain drone networks that he had set in place.

    It was incredibly difficult, but over the next year, he managed to, step by step, cut down upon the amount of information that he consumed via the internet. As one who craved knowledge and understanding, to let go of scientific exploits and worldwide news, as well as intel from various agencies and secret organizations¡­ it hurt, it really did.

    Even as a mere observer, Ais was forced to endure a constant gut-wrenching pain during this year. Multiple times, she feared that past Isaac might descend into temporary insanity, but he ultimately endured. This time, he had been unable to continue using his shortcut method, and all that was left were attachments that were anything but easy to sever - they were some of the major cores of his being! Attempting to cut them off felt even worse than continuously tearing at one''s own limbs and organs. Every second of every day seemed like an hour, and the pain just wouldn''t go away. Well, at first.

    The mind is a curious thing. After enduring even the worst experiences imaginable for a sufficient amount of time, it will learn to dull the impact that they have on one''s mind. It will develop defenses. In some cases, these will manifest in a way that simply entirely blocks out the existence of the outside threat, while in other cases, they will help the mind to gradually sharpen and m.a.t.u.r.e. Of course, there is also a high probability of it breaking before either of these states are ever achieved.

    In past Isaac''s case, this gruesome mental torture had served to make the cutting off of all subsequent core attachments a lot easier.

    He had long since abandoned the thought of keeping his physical body in its prime state, and hadn''t exercised in years. The amount of food and water intake into his body had already been reduced to the absolute minimum that he needed to survive.

    Regarding his reading endeavours, one by one, he finished certain authors'' works, or simply stopped reading them. As might be expected, the first ones to be left behind were those with both the worst writing quality and story, followed by the ones that only disappointed in one of these categories. Then, by the time that he turned 27 years old, past Isaac had even succeeded in cutting off his attachments to some of his favourite novels and authors of all time.

    Considering how he had discarded all but his life''s very essentials at this point, it became clear just how important these stories had become to him over the course of his life. They had occupied the most prominent spot in his heart, and one of them had even turned into his most fundamental attachment. Upon realizing this, he couldn''t help but chuckle to himself. He hadn''t started out this way, not at all, but life had most certainly changed him and made him an avid reader. Admittedly, maybe one that was a little bit too avid.

    Two months later, there was only a singular web novel that he was still reading religiously whenever new updates were being posted.

    Another four months later, there was still only that one singular web novel that he just couldn''t let go of. He had tried and failed to do so thousands of times, but its impeccable writing quality and fascinating story, one that was unlike the vast majority of others that had come before it, kept him hooked.

    Yet again, four months passed. At this point, the initial frustration at having failed to cut off this attachment had already long since disappeared. In his many days of free time, he had analyzed that the story would soon come to an end - so instead of forcing himself to succeed before it did, he would wait. Once it was over, he would be able to leave it behind with a heart that was fulfilled and at ease. Should he have come to the conclusion that the epilogue was still way out of sight, then he would have indubitably soldiered on and brute-forced it. Thankfully, he didn''t have to do so.

    Over the next two months, past Isaac felt oddly serene. His heart had become tranquil like never before, and even the impossibly large world tree of loneliness within it had stopped in its previously unceasing growth. Maybe it was the knowledge that he would soon be capable of taking that last step and leaving this world behind that caused this change. Another possibility was that this was simply the natural state that one who had cut off the vast majority of their affections would reach.

    By the time that the aforementioned epilogue of his favourite story finally hit the web, past Isaac had long since confirmed that he was capable of severing any and all fundamental attachments aside from the one that chained him to this particular literary work. However, as he would fail if he cut them off out of order, he hadn''t taken these steps yet. Instead, he had patiently waited for this day to come.

    "I guess it''s finally time."

    After finishing the last few words of the epilogue, for the first time in months, past Isaac broke the ever-present silence. As Ais observed the deathly pale, emaciated and weakened state of her beloved while he scrutinized his reflection in the mirror, a deep sadness overcame her. Although she knew that this wasn''t his end, she couldn''t help but feel like crying when she saw him in such a helpless, frail state. His voice was so feeble and powerless! For all intents and purposes, he appeared like he was on his deathbed.

    "I''ve really let myself go a bit, haven''t I?"

    Although she knew that past Isaac was only stating the plainly obvious to himself, Ais felt the need to agree.

    ''Yes, you most definitely did. More than just a bit, I might add.''

    Of course, she had no way to vocalize these thoughts - and even if it had been possible, then this mere recollection would still not have been capable of reacting to them in any way, shape or form. So, unsurprisingly, she was ignored.

    Prepared to go forward with the final steps of his plan, past Isaac''s eyes lost the last vestiges of the loneliness that had perpetually shrouded them for all these years. Any and all emotions had successfully been banished from his gaze.

    "Let''s see what lies beyond existence, shall we?"

    His borderline mechanical voice and empty eyes were what finally drove Ais over the edge and made her cry. Or, well, attempt to cry. It wasn''t like she could actually produce any bodily fluids in the peculiar state that she was in.

    She was in the middle of choking on her sobs when he closed his eyes¡­ then his thoughts abruptly disappeared. They had accompanied her all this time, but now¡­ they were suddenly gone.

    ''Huh?''

    Taken aback at first, Ais got distracted from wallowing in dejection because of his current mental state. She focused on what little information was still being sent her way and as the reality of what he was doing finally and truly settled in, her eyes widened in astonishment.

    All of his fundamental attachments got severed one by one, in rapid succession. They put up no more resistance than withered branches to a nuclear explosion. He had already cut off his sentiments regarding sustenance like food and water half a week ago, so the first ones that had to go now were his attachments to his various senses. Afterwards, to parts of his body. And finally, even to his brain. But this wasn''t where it all ended.

    The human mind in this world continued to exist even once the bodily vessel was gone. It wasn''t truly in the form of a soul, but relatively close in concept. So, of course, it also had to be left behind. Everything that could possibly anchor him to this world¡­ it had to go! Connections to remnants of his conscious mind that Ais had failed to perceive? Severed. Those linking him with his subconsciousness? Severed.

    If he hadn''t set this process into motion before his thoughts came to a halt, then it would have been impossible to do all of this. But because he had managed to get the ball rolling beforehand, it proceeded smoothly.

    Minutes after this whole final process had begun, cracks began to spread through past Isaac''s body, as well as the space surrounding him. Then, all of a sudden, everything shattered.

    Right at this moment, time froze to a halt and an unexpected system notification appeared before the confused Ais'' eyes.

    [ Warning: Your mind is currently incapable of fully perceiving or understanding parts of the primary host''s experiences from this point forward.

    Choose one of the following options:

    1) Skip this part of the Memory Journey.

    2) Continue onwards regardless.

    Reminder: Any part of any episode of ''Isaac''s Past'' can be revisited whenever your mind has recovered sufficiently. ]

    At first, there was only bewilderment. Then, it got replaced by slight indignation. Did the system really have to be this frank with her? Couldn''t it have chosen nicer words? Yes, she was aware that her mind was incredibly lacking, even compared to that of a very young Isaac, but---

    Suddenly, the text on the notification window changed.

    [ Warning: Your mind is currently not yet ready for parts of the primary host''s experiences from this point forward.

    Choose one of the following options:

    1) Skip this part of the Memory Journey.

    2) Continue onwards regardless.

    Reminder: Any part of any episode of ''Isaac''s Past'' can be revisited whenever your mind has recovered sufficiently. ]

    Momentarily speechless at the system having instantly followed her unintentional instructions, she soon shook her head and smirked to herself.

    ''Please revert to the previous, default state. I don''t really want to be excessively coddled.''

    Her wish was the system''s command.

    Left with only her thoughts and the system notification hovering in front of her eyes, Ais contemplated her options. On the one hand, she didn''t doubt the system''s evaluation, so the most cautious and reasonable approach would be option 1. But on the other hand, she really couldn''t detect any actual danger in picking option 2. Sure, she - allegedly - wouldn''t be capable of understanding what was happening, but where was the harm? Isaac had guaranteed her that there wouldn''t be any - and she definitely trusted the system''s creator even more than the system itself. That ''unusual experience'' that he couldn''t explain simply in a short amount of time was sure to be connected to this choice as well.

    But most importantly of all, she didn''t like to do things halfway, therefore:

    ''I choose option 2.''

    Right as her resolute mental command had been expressed, the notification disappeared and time started to flow again. Or¡­ did it?

    Wait, where was she? Where was past Isaac? Where was¡­ anyone? Or anything? What¡­ what was going on?

    In the midst of a colourless void, a lone Ais was left behind. Wait, was she even there in the first place? She¡­ she didn''t understand! Nothing¡­ nothing made any sense at all. It was as if all the laws of any world that she had ever experienced¡­ were suddenly gone. As if everything had disappeared from one moment to the next.

    Various disconnected thoughts, emotions and impressions assaulted her mind from past Isaac''s side, both at the same time, and also at completely different times! There was information sent her way, yet she couldn''t grasp any of it. There was too much of it, and yet too little. It was too easy to comprehend, and yet too difficult. It was as if everything was contradicting each other¡­ and yet it was not.

    How long had she been here? Seconds? Minutes? Days? Months? Years? Centuries? Billions of years? Did it even matter?

    Was this the ''place'' which ''lay beyond existence''? Was it even a place to begin with?

    Her spatiotemporal perception wasn''t working at all. She was used to fashioning her thoughts after it, yet it didn''t work. And so, her mind couldn''t properly operate. After what might have been a mere instant, or an infinite amount of time - possibly both - her mind blacked out.

    When she abruptly felt coherent, ''normal'' information returning to her head, past Isaac''s soul was situated in a seemingly endless, pitch-black void. She knew that he was somehow present, but she couldn''t really perceive him. As for the system, it had now appeared for the first time on past Isaac''s end - and was asking him to input the data for this tutorial transmigration.

    While past Isaac promptly filled out the blanks, a deep blush spread on Ais'' cheeks. She had finally realized how exactly their initial encounter had come to be. Additionally, his reasoning behind his choices made it clear to her that quite a few of the attachments that he had previously cut off had returned. Or¡­ had they? They were somewhat different, but they still felt familiar to her.

    It was at this moment that she realized exactly what had happened - considering that she had borne witness to everything firsthand, it would have been surprising if she had actually managed to miss it. Past Isaac had only cut off any and all attachments to his old world, but not those to ''fictional characters'' or worlds that weren''t his own and ''didn''t exist'', at least according to his knowledge. These sentiments caused him to return from where he had transcended to, and combining this information with what she had heard from him previously, it all became clear. He had learned that these ''fictional worlds'' weren''t so fictional after all - or rather, that worlds just like them existed, somewhere out there. Because he didn''t want to give up even these last attachments without exploring them first, he embarked on his journey. A journey whose first destination had been her general vicinity.

    During the time when Ais had come to this realization, past Isaac''s body had already reformed and was on the verge of transmigration. Inwardly, the minutely blushing observer couldn''t help but complain about the fact that his body had reformed in a clothed state - so there had been no additional eye candy. On a side note, she could vaguely discern that a small tendril of his actual soul had connected to this newly reformed body, using an incredibly miniscule part of his being to power and control it. As for the greater whole? She still couldn''t perceive it at all.

    After the system''s five second countdown finished, she got to experience their first meeting from his point of view¡­ as well as the rest of the 45 days that he had spent in her world so far. She had known about most of his experiences during this time, but not all of them. Some of his schemes and plans were now also fully revealed to her, stunning her due to how much foresight he had shown time and time again. His feelings towards her, and how they had changed from simple affection for a fictional character that resembled her to real love for the actual her, they melted her heart. Sweet smiles blossomed on her lips time and time again.

    When she finally arrived at the moment when she bade him a very temporary farewell after his slight warning and was securely nestled in his arms, this very last memory drew to a close.

    -----

    Having just shared Isaac''s senses and thoughts, it felt weird for Ais'' nose to suddenly register his scent instead of her own again. The sudden perspective shift felt disorienting to say the least, but it was still far easier to get accustomed to than the feeling of extreme disconnection that she would usually experience after these multiple year long journeys through the past.

    For a minute or two, she silently listened to his heartbeat and calmly went over everything that she had learned and experienced once again. Finally, she came to a conclusion.

    Whatever he had encountered back then was not something that she needed to worry about now, because it would simply be useless to do so. Compared to his past self before his transcendence, he had changed a lot. Even during these comparatively few days since he had entered her life, his mentality had already shifted on multiple occasions and he had grown considerably.

    He really, truly loved her. There was no doubt about it. She also finally understood his concerns regarding partaking in physical intimacy of the s.e.x.u.a.l nature with her. There were far too many of them to brush them off just like that, so they should take it one step at a time.

    With a gentle smile decorating her charming face, she opened her eyes, looked up at him and gave him a loving, deep kiss. She didn''t give her body''s instincts free rein and behaved relatively tamely, not reaching any new heights of seduction or arousal. When their lips eventually parted, she softly whispered, her aureate eyes rippling with sincerity.

    "No matter how long it takes for you to be ready, I will wait for you. With eternity ahead of us, what do a few more days, or even years, amount to? Don''t you dare rush into this for my sake, or I''ll get angry."

    Her beloved was stunned at first, then he nodded, a sheepish expression on his face. Very tenderly, he stroked her back with his hand as they silently enjoyed their embrace. To be honest, even this was already so much more than enough for her. Sure, a small but noisy part of her craved for even more love and physical affection, especially of the naughty variety, but she as a whole wasn''t selfish enough to disregard the mental state of her partner just to achieve a goal of mere carnal nature.

    Her immersion in their lovey-dovey cuddling waned a little when she suddenly recalled something important. She was certain that - should it be possible to do this - it would cause quite a few of the worries that Isaac still had in the back of his mind to disappear.

    ''System, can you convert my past into the same format as Isaac''s and make it available to him?''

    The response to her inquiry came immediately, but it wasn''t exactly what she had hoped for.

    [ Command can currently not be executed. A fully recovered mind is required for one''s past to be analyzed and converted. Due to the creator''s safety mechanism, a compulsory recovery period of one week has been initiated to prevent any accidents or mental repercussions. ]

    [ Cooldown until ''Ais'' Past'' can be converted into Memory Journey format: 6 days 23 hours 44 minutes 57 seconds ]

    A mixture of annoyance and amus.e.m.e.nt overcame her. Would she ever be able to escape this oh-so-familiar kind of notification? Honestly a bit disappointed, but also looking forward to the future, Ais recalled a line from a song that had been very famous in her beloved''s old world and parodied it in her head.

    ''Hello cooldown, my old friend. I''ve come to stare at you again¡­''

 Chapter 144 - Independence And Advancements

    "Come again?"

    The burly merchant''s dazed reaction made Jakk furrow his eyebrows in displeasure. When he wasn''t with those that he was comfortable with, he always preferred to get his ?ssignments over and done with as quickly as possible. But now, Rivira''s City Representative was slow on the uptake and kept him from rejoining the rest of his party in their daily dungeon exploration.??

    "Fine, let me tell you again. Isaac''s presenting you with two options. First, for him to continue with the current agreement and to keep renting your property. If that''s your choice, then I''ve brought 1,120,000 valis with me, to rent it for another eight more weeks. As for the second option, it''s to allow him to permanently buy the ?sset. Isaac''s offer is 15 million valis, which is a little bit more than the income you''d get from renting it out for two years. Which one do you choose?"

    Although his bunny ears made him seem a little less threatening, even harmless, Bors was well aware that the youngster in front of him had already slightly surpassed him in stats. As Jakk was a member of the Loki Familia, slighting him unreasonably wouldn''t end well for him. What legitimately frightened Bors, however, was the man under whose orders Jakk had actually stopped by, Isaac Blackshaw.

    Even down here he had received plenty of news about the upcoming protest that was to take place tomorrow on the plaza in front of Babel. Combining that with the knowledge that Isaac wasn''t actually locked up at all gave him a relatively decent glimpse at the game that was being played here - and he was fully aware that it was completely out of his league. After all, he was just a small-time merchant! One who was involved in a plethora of illegal activities, but nonetheless only a minor character in the big picture.

    The reason that he was so taken aback by Isaac''s offer was that he had thought that the young man had already forgotten about the place that he had rented. Nobody had ever entered it and it had just stood there - empty, silent and unattended. This had caused Bors to conclude that it may have been a simple insurance of sorts, one which this enigmatic business partner of his hadn''t needed to make use of. But today, on the last day that Isaac was still his tenant, a certain Hume Bunny youth had barged into his place in the early morning hours and had presented him with an offer to buy the property. Having his previous expectations overturned so suddenly made Bors'' mind stagnate for a bit. However, after catching an annoyed look on Jakk''s face, he hastily returned to reality, cleared his throat and put on his most professional smile.

    "My apologies, I was simply overwhelmed by the honour of being graced with such an opportunity, causing my mind to waver. Thanks for explaining it once more. Of course, I''ll accept the second proposal! I have a small request, though. I wonder, would you hear me out?"

    Hiding the disgust that he felt for such shameless and fawning behaviour, Jakk put a remarkably heavy bag of valis on the counter and nodded.

    "Go ahead, I''m all ears."

    The older adventurer didn''t even dare to count the money that he was being presented with and hastily explained himself, trying to ?ssume the least threatening posture possible. Well, he succeeded, but he looked extremely awkward as a result.

    "Could you ask Isaac to let me continue operating my humble business in peace? In exchange, should he need my ?ssistance or connections, I''ll support him to the best of my ability."

    Not wanting to stay any longer, as he was genuinely feeling creeped out by this excessive bootlicking, Jakk nodded once more and rushed out of the store, back towards where he had come from - the building in Rivira that Isaac now owned.

    Once the bunny boy was finally gone, the usually vigorous Bors collapsed on his chair in exhaustion, a relieved smile on his face. All the tension had finally disappeared.

    ''Phew, that was a close shave.''

    Although his behaviour had honestly been pathetic and obsequious, he felt like he had made the smartest decision. He had no regrets.

    Admittedly, the price that he had been offered was way below what would have been the norm for a property in a stable and secure environment. For example, in Orario, one would have to at least present five years worth of rent to convince most landlords to sell their treasured ?ssets. However, in a place like Rivira, which usually had to be rebuilt once every two years, the price that Isaac had proposed was considered to be quite generous. Even for a man like Bors, who made a lot of black money, it was a hefty sum.

    He would have accepted the offer even if it had only consisted of a single valis, though. And there were plenty of reasons for that decision. After observing the mind-boggling growth speed of Isaac, it was clear that he had already become someone that he couldn''t afford to offend - and he would only become an even more prominent figure in the future. But that wasn''t the scary part. The fact that the Guild had hidden the truth about him from the masses, as well as his ability of inciting that very populace so easily, was far more dangerous. It made it clear that he wasn''t someone who would necessarily care about the legality or morality of his actions, or someone who even needed to be concerned with such inconsequential worries because he was basically untouchable.

    Bors himself knew that while he would be able to fend off most of the outlaws of Orario, someone in such a lofty position as Isaac wasn''t a threat that he could deal with in any way at all. Thinking back to how he had attempted to swindle him out of a little bit more valis back when the young man had requested a Status Thief from him, he began to shiver.

    It was imperative that he was allowed to continue his various dealings, as he would lose more than just his City Representative role if he were to be deprived of that income. Even if Isaac wasn''t fully aware of his operations yet, he could just ask the Braver for more information and ruin him whenever he wanted. Compared to the Loki Familia, which preferred to operate above board, the enigmatic young man was the far bigger danger.

    ''Still, I actually profited this time. Well, not only me, but also Rivira.''

    A small smile began to blossom on Bors'' face. Now that he had an even deeper connection to Isaac, he might profit off of it in the long run. After all, he was capable at what he did, and his services would surely come in handy someday. Aside from that, now that a figure like him owned a property in Bors'' city, Isaac surely wouldn''t watch it get destroyed and would intervene when real danger struck. In a way, Bors hadn''t only been paid money - Rivira had also been blessed with a protector. At least that was what he was telling himself.

    When he later got some intel from his men that were spread throughout the city, he became even more glad that he had done his best to not offend Isaac in any way during today''s meeting.

    It was reported that Jakk hadn''t entered the city through any way that they were aware of, and he had also not left Isaac''s property after entering it either. This got some observing adventurers curious, so they asked one of the few with a detection Skill to scout the place, only to find that there wasn''t anyone inside. It was as if the Hume Bunny youth had simply appeared out of nowhere, and then disappeared into thin air after his business was taken care of.

    Of course, Bors did his best to make those in the know swear oaths of silence, but certain rumours of a ghost having appeared in Rivira still began to spread. Still, because they sounded so surreal, nobody really believed them. At most, some suspected that a formerly unknown monster species had reared its head, while some others considered a rare Skill to be responsible.

    -----

    At around the same time that Jakk paid a visit to one of Isaac''s old acquaintances, the one who had sent him there also bought the rights to the subordinates'' base in the Twilight Manor.

    There wasn''t much of a reason for doing so, except for wanting to avoid the hassle of having to pay the rent again and again. Now that he had more money than he could easily spend, he talked to Riveria for a bit until she agreed to sell it to him for 50 million valis.

    Of course, it was still under the protection of the familia and the formation that enveloped the manor grounds as well. Because he was a part of the familia himself, there was no problem with extending such a benefit to him. Honestly, Riveria would have tried her best to convince Loki to give him the place for free, but Isaac insisted on paying them some valis and spared her the trouble.

    Ever since about a day ago, when Lefiya had become the first one to succeed in adding one of her drops to her mana flow, three more students had achieved this as well: Riveria, Titania and Alicia. With all the guidance, and the successful example of Lefiya to encourage them and lead the way, these veterans of magic had progressed to the same stage relatively quickly.

    The motherly High Elf had been the fastest, followed by Titania shortly after - and that was despite the comfy sofa''s trauma, which caused her to stiffen up every so often when a certain finger snapping sound reached her ears. Lastly, around two hours ago, at 5 p.m., Alicia had also managed to officially take her first step on the path of Mana Cultivation.

    Seeing his teachings bear fruit and the efforts of his students paying off, Isaac felt a little accomplished. However, he didn''t relish the sensation, because something momentous needed his nigh immediate attention. To get everyone up to speed, he loudly clapped his hands and waited until they had stopped casting their Magics and had turned to face him.

    "My apologies, but we''ll have to interrupt the practice for a few minutes. I''m close to a breakthrough and it wouldn''t be smart of me to split my focus at this point. I don''t want any of you to suffer an Ignis Fatuus while I''m occupied, so please stay put for a bit."

    Disregarding their surprise, he sat down in a relaxing, meditative pose and cut off nearly all mental connection to the outside world. Not only was he surrounded by those that he was reasonably certain wouldn''t try to harm him, but Ais was also present - so there really wasn''t any need to be on too much guard. If something unexpected and dangerous truly happened, then he would still be capable of reacting in less than a fraction of a second before being seriously injured. Not to mention his ability to regenerate from the most grievous wounds, and even the death of his vessel¡­

    Turning all of his attention inwards, he guided the 180,000th drop of mana into his mana flow. Excruciating pain accompanied his motions, and he felt like his mana channels were about to burst at the seams. Thankfully, he had experienced this same agony multiple times before, so he didn''t hesitate at all - not that he had ever done so on prior occasions anyway.

    Three minutes later, the mana drop had finally been integrated into the flow, and all the agonizing pressure had disappeared as if it had all been a lie, a mere illusion. The channels uniformly expanded a considerable bit further, clearly following a designed pattern. As if shackles that had been holding them back had been broken, they increased in size until they reached another invisible and undetectable threshold.

    By now, he was relatively certain that these bottlenecks were tests or ?ssessments of sorts, not fully natural occurrences. If one managed to withstand the overwhelming pain and keep a clear enough head to force the drop onward the entire way, one ''passed''. To be honest, he felt quite inclined to study what would happen if one ''failed''...

    Showing a relieved smile and breathing out in the comfort brought about by overcoming this hurdle, Isaac glanced at the expected system notification.

    As he opened his eyes again and took in his surroundings, he quickly realized that most of those present were sending intrigued or questioning gazes his way. Preempting their inquiries, he spoke up.

    "I just added the 180,000th drop to my mana flow. At certain points, you''ll encounter thresholds which are painful and difficult to overcome. The first one is at 1,000 drops, so you won''t have to worry about it in the short term."

    While almost everyone grew solemn when they heard about the risks ahead, one person was different. Far more concerned about her lord than about the danger that she herself could face, Mina hastily rushed up to him and inspected him closely. Her eyes had already turned slightly red, as if she was about to shed tears.

    "Are you alright, milord? You said it''s painful, so¡­"

    A bit helpless at her adorable and caring display, Isaac sighed and stood up, then he patted her head in order to hold back the waterworks.

    "Don''t worry, I''m fine. Sometimes, pain is necessary to advance further. Overcoming difficulties also feels extremely rewarding, in some cases even almost ecstatic, so overall, it''s really quite the good deal."

    His affectionate head pats and reassuring smile quickly melted the icy thorn of worry that had stabbed into the Chienthrope girl''s heart, and she happily returned to her respective area - as well as the helpless monster that she had left behind - eager to restart her magic practice.

    But before everything could return to normal, a grey-haired girl mostly covered in a black shroud hurried over from the entrance to the private world, a complicated expression clouding her features. Not only was she clearly uncomfortable with so many people turning to stare at her, but there was also something else on her mind. Only when she arrived in front of Isaac did Hel''s speedy steps eventually come to a halt.

    "Isaac, Hermes has secretly come to visit, and he requests a meeting with Kalin."

    Immediately, it was apparent as to why she was so distraught. Hermes wasn''t exactly known for his trustworthiness amongst the gods, as a number of them knew that he liked to pull the strings behind the scenes. Well, at least the more perceptive deities were aware of this. Some others, like a certain foolish Queen of the Entertainment District, were far too preoccupied with stroking their own ego to truly pay attention to this mere god of wanderers. Now that Hermes had come to meet with Kalin, the normally already quite paranoid Hel couldn''t help but fear the worst.

    "Huh? Why does he want to meet with me?"

    Plain confusion was written all over the young man''s face. He had never interacted with the deity in question, so how come he was suddenly being sought out, completely out of the blue?

    Smirking slightly at Kalin''s flabbergasted state, Isaac unhurriedly revealed the truth of what seemed like a huge mystery to his subordinate.

    "His request should only be a cover. One part of his goal should be to meet me. However, he can''t just tell everyone that he knows that I''m not actually in solitary confinement, not even the members of the Loki Familia. After all, he doesn''t know who is aware of this and doesn''t want to ruin my plans. So, in order to attract my attention, he requested a meeting with you. When all is said and done, something like that would surely reach my ears. Anyway, if you''re ready, then let''s go and meet him."

    Even though parts of the bewilderment obscuring his eyes had evaporated, Kalin was still puzzled about something.

    "But if that''s true, then he doesn''t actually want to see me, right? Why do I need to come along?"

    Showing a certain smile that Asfi would have found intimately familiar, Isaac explained further.

    "Like I said, all of that should only be a part of his goal. He has never met you before, but he has requested to meet you. That can''t solely be for the purpose of alerting me. Should that have been his entire goal, then he would have just asked to meet Mina, who he had a run-in with before. I suspect that he has some other matter to discuss, one that involves you."

    Finally accepting these words as the answer that he had sought, Kalin nodded to himself and got up to leave. But before they could go anywhere, Riveria hastily interjected.

    "Wait! Does this mean that the break is going to continue? What should we do in the meantime?"

    A calming smile on his lips, Isaac extracted a drop of blood from his fingertip and let it hover in mid-air via manipulation of the air around it. Its golden colour made the two who hadn''t been clearly told about Isaac''s current state of being - Cynthia and Julie - widen their eyes in shock and belated realization. On second thought, it should have been obvious, shouldn''t it? He owned a world of his own. Who aside from a deity would be capable of such a feat?

    Not really caring about what the peanut gallery was convinced to have figured out, Isaac stayed silent for a second or two, before nodding very slightly and finally responding to Riveria''s questions.

    "You can continue with your practice as before. Now that a part of me is here, I''m able to use it to keep track of what is happening. Should any Ignis Fatui occur, I''ll be able to interrupt them. Talking to you all will be a bit tough, though, so I''d like to avoid it until I''m back. With that said, see you in a bit, and do your best!"

    Waving at his students casually, he walked towards the home node with Kalin and Hel in tow, disappearing from his world just seconds later.

    For a bit, many were a bit undecided and cautiously glanced at the resplendent drop of Ichor floating in the sky.

    Contrary to those who were hesitating, Isaac''s subordinates didn''t waste any time questioning their master''s words and resumed what they had been doing before the interruption. As the one who was still the most unfamiliar with her Magic, Aselina was the first one to mess up and almost had it explode in her face¡­ but then, a familiar sensation enveloped her, causing the rampaging mana to dissipate safely.

    Realizing that his words had indeed been the truth, because no Ignis Fatuus had occurred, the last few that had still been on the fence finally started chanting their Magics once more.

    Only one person had been immersed in their own practice this entire time, even when Isaac had gotten everyone else to stop: Quinn. As the only one without a Magic, he couldn''t suffer from it blowing up in his face. Aside from that, he was also the only one who had yet to perceive his mental layer. Everyone else had a shortcut available by relying on their Magics, but he¡­ he had to take the ''elite course'' and get there on his own.

    More ignorant folk might not be aware, but discovering one''s mental layer wasn''t as easy as it sounded. In fact, even ''listening inwardly'' and mentally scanning one''s physical body was tremendously difficult. Some people were innately able to do it, and some naturally acquired the ability to do it over the course of their lives - but most would never become capable of following in their footsteps in any way. Interacting with one''s mental layer was similar. Most people would never even think about doing so¡­ because they weren''t aware that it existed. Even mages, who did know at least that, didn''t understand what it really was. Only after having been taught about Isaac''s deductions did the puzzle pieces finally fall into place for them. In the end, those that had not acquired the shortcut - a Magic - were left behind.

    Quinn had no specific way to ''feel'' his mental layer''s existence, or to inspect it. He had been told to look for something that, allegedly, was a part of him, but that he had never been aware of before. It was a search for something invisible and intangible, without any guidepost to lead him. Honestly, he was just flying completely blind. If his trust in his master hadn''t been extremely great, then he would have already given up due to sheer frustration by this point.

    For three days, during his magic practice, he had done nothing but think. He was supposed to look inward and discover something entirely new. He didn''t know what he was doing, and the only thing that drove him was his willpower - the urge to not give up, the d?s?r? to succeed, and also the conviction that this mental layer was there, and was real. After all, others around him had already found it, so he should be able to do so as well! The problem was that he wasn''t ''playing on easy mode'' like the rest of them¡­

    On the second day of his training, he had wanted to curse loudly multiple times, but had stayed silent because he had wanted to avoid disturbing the other students. He also was aware that it wouldn''t have looked good for him to complain like this, and it even would have reflected badly on his master. Eventually his annoyance had faded as he had dived deeper into his psyche, shutting off nearly every connection to the outside world unknowingly.

    When his master had gotten everyone''s attention, he hadn''t even noticed it - Isaac hadn''t wanted to disturb him either - because he had been far too focused on his mind¡­ or rather, on something that he didn''t understand, and couldn''t really explain.

    In truth, he had already started to gaze upon his mental layer hours ago, but he simply wasn''t aware that he had succeeded. His thoughts had slowed to a crawl, and the only thing moving him forward was his d?s?r? to find his goal - no matter what.

    As if he was lost in perpetual darkness, he took steps forward in an unknown direction, one by one. He didn''t know how much time had passed, and he wasn''t even fully conscious anymore. It was at this point that he stumbled across a sprawling lake that served as the only source of ''light''. At first, he didn''t have any reaction, but then his mind was slowly startled awake.

    ''I found it! I really found it!!''

    Very close to tears, Quinn hastily stabilized himself. He made sure that he didn''t lose this particular feeling and the mental path that he had taken to get to where he was. Then, very cautiously, he emerged from this state and opened his eyes. A minute of deep breaths later, he closed them again and attempted to find the mental layer once more. After all, if he couldn''t replicate his success, then he hadn''t truly reached his goal yet.

    Fortunately, now that he clearly recalled the peculiar feeling that had overcome him before, he just ''knew'' how to re-enter his mental layer with his mind instinctively. He honestly couldn''t explain this phenomenon, but he didn''t ponder about it for long before allowing himself to feel relieved at finally having succeeded.

    Tears glistening in the corners of his eyes, he laid down on the ground and relished in the sensation of accomplishment that overcame him. A smile much brighter than the ones that he usually showed spread across his lips.

    In that moment, the very last vestiges of doubt that his subconscious mind had harboured for Isaac and his teachings evaporated.

    At the same time, in another world, a system notification appeared in front of the eyes of the teacher in question.

 Chapter 145 - To Save A Soul

    His gait casual and unhurried, Isaac arrived at Loki''s study and opened the door.

    Rather than the star of the hour, the guest, the one that his gaze fell upon first was Loki, who was still wallowing in self-pity. She looked miserable and didn''t even seem to pay full attention to her surroundings. Like a limp rag, she was slouched on one of her sofas, the ground around her covered in bottles that had previously contained various alcoholic drinks. Despite Hermes sitting just a few meters away, she didn''t bother with him - if Isaac had to guess, she had probably only greeted him lifelessly before returning to her pathetic state.

    A hint of disappointment and disgust flashed past his eyes, then he proceeded to ignore her. He had listened in to what she had told Jakk when she had last updated the Hume Bunny youth''s Status, so he was well aware of the cause of her current condition. It was because of that knowledge that he couldn''t find any compassion for her in his heart. Rather, it was the opposite: He was already looking forward to her well-deserved comeuppance.

    His momentary emotional fluctuations obviously couldn''t escape the notice of Hermes, who had been sipping on a cup of wine while he had been waiting. The god smirked a little because both of them had decided to do the same thing - to disregard the owner of the manor entirely.

    "It''s been a while, Hermes. Has everything gone well for you in the meantime?"

    The bright smile on Isaac''s face just as vibrant as if he was meeting an old friend, he sat down on the sofa opposite of Hermes and leaned backwards, shifting around a bit until he was sufficiently comfortable.

    Still just as confused as when he had been given the news that a deity was here to see him, Kalin took a seat next to his teacher, cautiously scrutinizing the one who had called for him. For the record, he was also turning a blind eye to a certain goddess. Loki''s state had elicited a short gasp from him when he had first.entered the room, but he had quickly adapted and had stopped paying any attention to her.

    "You''re right, it''s been a little over a month. My various undertakings have indeed mostly panned out as I had expected, so I can''t complain. But it seems that you''ve grown far more than I could have ever even dreamed of. Looks like I vastly underestimated you. Maybe the ''role'' that I had in mind for you truly isn''t a fitting one."

    Because Isaac had made no conscious effort to hide his current Level, Hermes could easily approximate some of his stats by paying attention to the most minute of his movements. That just gave him a very general idea, but even despite being restricted to a mere morsel of information, Hermes was honestly shocked. Intrigue sparkled in his eyes as he reciprocated the enigmatic young man''s sunny expression.

    "It''s nothing much. I''ve b?r?ly had the time to focus on raising my stats, so what you''re seeing now isn''t a me that I''m particularly proud of - at least not when it comes to my Level."

    Under normal circumstances, the god of wanderers would have mentally scoffed at such boisterous claims, but because he could very clearly determine which of Isaac''s words were the truth, he instead raised an eyebrow in surprise. He was very confident in his ability to detect lies or even someone''s intentions to mislead others, so there was no need to doubt his own judgement.

    ''It looks like he vastly exceeds any and all metrics that could be used to ?ssess him. No wonder he caught V¨¢li''s attention.''

    "That goddess whose mortal vessel you''ve slain, Petbe¡­ she belongs to a certain group, a pantheon of gods. Are you aware of this, and of the potential backlash that you might encounter?"

    A small smile played across Isaac''s lips as he nodded.

    ''As expected, he knows about them. I would have been sorely disappointed if he had been oblivious of a faction as major as this one.''

    "I am. They are subservient to a primordial god called ''V¨¢li''. I have already made arrangements and sufficiently prepared myself for what may or may not come."

    Surprised at the young man in front of him even being cognizant of the name V¨¢li, Hermes grew a bit more serious. He paused for a few seconds, then he spoke slowly, an indecipherable emotion in his voice.

    "There are many things that are still too early for me to tell you, but I can say this: Try to avoid conflict with them, with those who called themselves ''V¨¢li''s Pantheon''. They aren''t the enemy. Although it''s a lot more complicated than that, fighting them would practically be the same as engaging in friendly fire."

    Now it was Isaac''s turn to be taken aback by his conversation partner''s statements. While he had considered the possibility of the entire conflict not being as black and white as it seemed on the surface, Hermes'' words painted those gods in a much better light than most of his speculations had made them out to be. Admittedly, though, he had been - and was still - lacking too much information.

    ''Too early to tell me, huh? So he just doesn''t want me to mess with anything too vital yet. More importantly, his words can''t be taken as gospel either.''

    "I''ll keep that in mind. However, no matter their identity, if someone lays their hands on my people, I''ll make sure to retaliate. Petbe''s people tried to kill my students, so they had to be eliminated."

    As the patiently listening Kalin''s heart grew warner at these words, Hermes was overcome with complicated emotions, and a confusion that he had already fallen victim to earlier, when he had read his familia''s report about what had happened on that day.

    ''Why in tarnation did they attempt to do that? I know they have been unruly these last few hundreds of thousands of years, but they wouldn''t be blind to such an opportunity, right? Clearly, somewhere along the line, something has gone horribly wrong.''

    With a helpless sigh, Hermes nodded his head.

    "I understand. Your actions make sense from your point of view, and I can''t criticize you for them. For now, I''ll try to find out more about what led to this situation in the first place."

    After this comparatively heavy topic was dealt with, the mood brightened a lot and the two smiling men exchanged pleasantries and small talk that completely went over Kalin''s head. Was there some intel hidden within that he simply couldn''t make out, or were they truly just having a good old time? Right as his doubts were about to reach their peak, the god with the feathered hat finally turned to face him.

    "My apologies for leaving you hanging for so long, but I had a lot to discuss with your teacher. I wanted to get it out of the way first, before getting to the main reason for my visit. You see, there is a certain situation that I want to tell you about¡­"

    Hermes'' first few sentences didn''t serve to clear up any of Kalin''s puzzlement at all.

    With there being temporarily no need for him to take part in the conversation, Isaac finally made use of his copious amounts of spare focus to check out a number of system notifications that had appeared a few minutes ago.

    [ Quinn Graham''s Loyalty has increased by 15. ]

    [ Quinn Graham''s Loyalty has reached the maximum.

    Quinn Graham has been bestowed with the stat ''Admiration''.

    Quest ''Make two subordinates'' Loyalty reach the maximum.'' completed. 200 AP rewarded. ]

    Isaac couldn''t help but smirk amusedly at this news. He had long since been looking forward to the second one of his subordinates reaching this threshold, but he had been relatively sure that it would be Averin. However, for whatever reason, the rooster was stuck at 99, while the cat boy suddenly jumped from 85 to 100. It was a honestly baffling development, which shouldn''t have taken place under normal circumstances - heck, even under most extraordinary ones.

    ''So he''s made considerable progress in his path to Mana Cultivation, I ?ssume. It''s too bad I can''t inspect others'' mental layers yet, else I could confirm this. That aside, this achievement somehow triggered an increase in Loyalty as well. It''s not something that is entirely outside of the wildest of my expectations, but I definitely wouldn''t have banked on it. Lastly, this development finally confirms that my subordinates can obtain differing stats after maxing their Loyalty¡­ interesting.''

    Just like when his faithful dog had maxed her Loyalty, a peculiar kind of connection formed between him and the young Cat Person. It was not identical to the one that he had to Mina, but it was a bit similar. He could feel the potential to receive energy from Quinn''s side, but he wasn''t entirely certain about what his side gave in return. Intending to confirm which one of his speculations was actually on point, he continued to read the last two new system notifications.

    [ The host and Quinn Graham have obtained the Skill ''Inspiration Incarnate''. ]

    [ Inspiration Incarnate: Users of the Skill can be classified as either the inspirer or one of the inspired.

    (Active) The inspirer can initiate a resonance with their inspired, which will provide them with a certain amount of power. The exact amount is determined depending on the inspired''s Admiration stat. A period of one hour has to pass between the end of one activation and the start of the next activation.

    The inspirer will get an X% buff to all of their stats. It can last up to Y seconds.

    (Y = total Admiration of all inspired x 1)

    (Passive) The inspired will find it easier to follow the path of the inspirer. Improves comprehension speed of all that is encompassed in the inspirer''s path by a certain percentage. The exact numbers are determined depending on the inspired''s Admiration stat.

    The inspired''s aforementioned comprehension speed will be improved by Z%.

    (Z = personal Admiration x 1)

    Inspirer: Isaac Blackshaw

    Inspired: Quinn Graham ]

    Although it seemed a bit lengthy at first glance, the essence of the Skill wasn''t anything complicated.

    Inspiration goes two ways. The one who inspires others can draw temporary strength from the Admiration of others, while those who get inspired by the inspirer''s actions will find it easier to chase after them and to replicate their various successes. A big factor playing into this is the close attention that the inspired pay to the inspirer''s path. They grow more familiar with it via their various observations, and therefore find it easier to replicate.

    Basically, Isaac gained a Skill that could temporarily buff him, with endless growth potential but a currently b?r?ly noticeable effect, while Quinn would now enjoy the support of the very laws of this world, at least as long as he tried to advance upon the path that Isaac had already trod.

    Some ignorant folk might be tempted to decry Inspiration Incarnate as a worse Skill than Reverential Resonance, but Isaac thought differently. While the former wouldn''t give him any permanent benefits - just a semi-permanent buff in the later stages - the inspired would find it far easier to grow stronger. Instead of having been given strength directly, they were provided with the opportunity to grow their strength more easily.

    ''Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.''

    Isaac''s smile couldn''t help but grow a bit weird as he recalled that particular quote. Although he didn''t have much respect for the religion that had treated the work of literature that this quote originated from as its sacred scripture, he wasn''t pointlessly petty enough to refuse to admit that many of the lessons taught within that book were useful.

    ''Anyway, back on topic. I''ll give my congratulations to Quinn later. Let''s first get this Renard business sorted out.''

    Although he had used fractions of his focus to skim through all of the latest system notifications, Isaac had still made sure to listen to what Hermes had to say, and it was¡­ a lot.

    He told the tragic tale of a young woman from the Far East who fell from nobility into slavery and prostitution, obviously against her will. She was a Renard - a race that only differed from humans in their fox ears and tails - which meant that she was considered a rare commodity in this part of the Lower World. Her origin as an upstanding young lady only made her even more sought after. Around four years ago, shortly after her capture, she had been sold to a brothel in Orario - but on the way there, she had caught Ishtar''s eye. Even though she had gotten bought by the goddess of beauty, she had still gotten treated as nothing more than a slave and a harlot, despite having become a part of the Ishtar Familia. Well, every single member of that familia was a s?x worker, so that wasn''t really a surprise¡­

    If that was where Hermes'' story would have ended, then it would have been a somewhat tragic one indeed, but not one that particularly stood out. There were countless tragedies taking place in this city every hour of every day, after all. Also, the reason for his retelling of the whole thing wouldn''t have made sense. However, the tale didn''t end here.

    Apparently, this poor woman had ended up with a supremely useful Skill or Magic, one that had convinced Ishtar to make a drastic decision. A little more than a month ago, she had approached Hermes and commissioned him to get her a ''Killing Stone'' from the Far East, an item that was extremely difficult to obtain and could host the soul of a Renard within. The way it worked was a bit convoluted, but at the end of the day, it basically turned a person into a piece of equipment, whose Skills and Magics could be freely accessed.

    Of course, to get this stone to house the soul of a fox person, one had to remove that soul from their mortal vessel and move it into the stone, which could only be done during a full moon - in other words, one had to kill the Renard. But even after having been made aware of this, her''s was still not a fate that stuck out to Isaac. Death was just death, after all. In this world, the unfortunate young woman would obtain the opportunity to be reborn again after the Killing Stone lost its effectiveness and crumbled to dust. That would take some time, possibly hundreds of thousands or even millions of years, but it would happen. Well, that was under regular circumstances.

    All of this only worked if the soul was intact. However, Ishtar planned to shatter the Killing Stone into pieces to distribute it amongst her children, to enable each one of them to make use of the Skill or Magic that the young Renard lady had gotten ''blessed'' with. However, due to the special state that the soul would be in when housed within the stone, this was actually one of the extremely limited known ways to damage a soul. The woman''s soul would be shattered into pieces!

    Even Isaac raised an eyebrow at this, as prior to this conversation, he hadn''t actually encountered any ways in which to harm a being''s soul in this world. This made the scientist inside of him beam with excitement. How exactly did it work? He just had to know!

    He was well aware that he still had almost innumerable other matters to research first, and this world was a true treasure trove of knowledge for him to dive into. But hey, one more bullet point on his exceedingly long list couldn''t hurt, right?

    As for his feelings regarding the poor woman? He felt pity for her, because what Ishtar had planned for her was truly an excessively terrifying fate. While he wouldn''t usually blink an eye at anyone''s death - as long as he didn''t know the person, that is - preventing someone from reincarnating intact was crossing a line, one past which he felt a slight itch to extend a minimal amount of effort to prevent whatever irked him. It wasn''t much, but at least he was a bit moved.

    Aside from that, he felt quite intrigued by whatever Skill or Magic it was that had convinced Ishtar to take such drastic steps. Even a woman like her - not that they had ever met, therefore he really didn''t know her - should have some affection for those blessed with her Falna, so to sacrifice one of them in such a brutal and thorough way definitely needed a good reason. But even if there was no affection to be found, then the cost of procuring a Killing Stone alone should have caused the goddess of beauty to at least consider her actions carefully. In conclusion, Isaac could only ask himself one question: What secrets did this Renard woman hold?

    Contrary to his teacher''s relatively unaffected state, Kalin was overcome with emotions. By the time Hermes arrived at the end, he was clenching his fists in anger. Disregarding proper etiquette, he glared at the god of wanderers. He wouldn''t get rightfully incensed at any old injustice, but this¡­ it truly went above and beyond any fate that he could still stomach others enduring! His own worries and doubts that had plagued him for the past few days, that had robbed him of plenty of sleep, were wiped away, temporarily forgotten.

    "And despite knowing all of that, you brought Ishtar a Killing Stone!? If everything goes according to her plan, then you''ll be partially responsible for the destruction of the girl''s very soul! How could you just silently participate in this? Why didn''t you do something about it!?"

    His smile as calm as ever, Hermes appeasingly raised his arms in defense.

    "But I''m doing something, am I not? After all, I''m here now and telling you about it. Due to my own circumstances, I couldn''t refuse Ishtar''s request, because that would have had worse consequences than the death of a single person. Still, I''m not comfortable with letting it end just like that either."

    On the side, Isaac shook his head slightly, smiling to himself. It wasn''t hard for him to tell that the god wasn''t exactly being truthful at the moment, but the general essence of his statement should still be somewhat accurate. He wouldn''t inform his student about this observation, though.

    After having taken in the deity''s claims, Kalin''s excessive anger slowly receded, to be replaced by a more controlled demeanor. Still, there was a distrustful glint in his eyes.

    "My apologies for my outburst. If what you said is true, then I just overreacted. But why did you tell me about all of this? Do you think a weakling like me is somehow able to make a difference? Shouldn''t you have asked my teacher for help instead? Or are you trying to pressure him into solving this mess by convincing me to join your cause first?"

    Positively surprised by how deeply this youngster had thought about any potential schemes and pitfalls, Hermes'' smile brightened, turning a lot more genuine in the process. Unhurriedly, he shook his head and explained himself.

    "I''m not trying to do that. Instead, I was hoping to convince both of you that there is something to be gained from helping that girl. Your teacher has definitely long since seen the benefits that he could obtain, but he should be unwilling to play the most essential ''role'' in this ''play''. From what I understand of him, he would think of it as ''annoying''. But you? You fit it perfectly, and it should also be mostly aligned with your heart''s d?s?r?."

    After glancing at Isaac for confirmation and getting a short nod, Kalin focused on Hermes again. There was still something that didn''t make sense to him.

    "But why me? And what exactly is that ''heart''s d?s?r?'' that you mentioned?"

    Flashing a bright grin, the man wearing a feathered hat spread his arms widely as if attempting to encompass the entire world in his embrace. Excitement was written all over his face.

    "To prevent injustice when you see it. To save others. In other words, to perform heroic deeds!"

    He deliberately didn''t make use of the sentence ''To be a hero!'', because he was certain that it wouldn''t entirely resonate with this young man. The d?s?r? to be a hero, and the d?s?r? to save others and fight injustice were quite different from each other, after all. While the end results of both might be very similar, the motivations that led to them could be almost entirely unalike.

    A short pause later, Kalin finally took in the god''s words and blushed slightly. It was true that he didn''t want others to suffer, and that he would try to prevent unjust acts from occurring should he be in a position to do so. But to call those ''heroic deeds'' was a bit much, wasn''t it? At most, he thought of himself as someone who tried to be a good person, nothing more. And even then, he was aware that he wouldn''t always be able to help others whenever he wanted to. That was just how life was.

    Shaking his head, Kalin dispelled these thoughts and gave the expectantly staring Hermes a response.

    "You''re not totally off. And I do indeed want to help that girl. After hearing about her circumstances, I''d feel horrible if I didn''t at least try to do something. But¡­ the Ishtar Familia is very strong, and I can''t stand up against them on my own. I''d just¡­ well, die."

    Slightly hesitating, Kalin turned to face Isaac, clearly nervous.

    "Teacher, he said that you''re also interested in saving that girl. If it''s not too dangerous for us to get involved¡­ then I''ll play whatever ''role'' that I need to play. But I don''t want to get us all into trouble just for the sake of one person who we don''t even know! So, if it''s too much, then let''s not do it."

    By the end of his appeal, Kalin had grown quite anxious. He really didn''t want to negatively impact the plans of his teacher too much, or to put everyone else in danger. Mentally, he had already prepared himself to attempt to get over the pangs of guilt that he would feel for not being able to help out in such a horrendous situation.

    And yet, when he saw the reassuring smile that stole itself on Isaac''s lips, his worries disappeared almost as quickly as they had come.

    "It''s fine. By now, a mere Ishtar Familia isn''t a problem anymore. I''ll leave the weaklings to you, while covertly getting rid of all of the problematic roadblocks without anyone being the wiser. Anyway, the next full moon should be in 17 days, so there is plenty of time. I''m quite interested in finding out what made Ishtar so obsessed with that Renard woman."

    Before Kalin, whose face had brightened up in relief and joy, could say anything, Isaac hastily continued.

    "But before the full moon arrives, we have some other things to take care of, which could very well prove to be far more dangerous. So by the time we''ll get around to saving that woman, it might be a little too easy of a matter to involve all of the students in. Maybe you alone will be enough."

    Feeling the burden on his shoulders growing heavier due to the high expectations of his teacher, Kalin''s expression turned more solemn, and he nodded. Then, suddenly, he recalled something that had been nagging at him in the back of his mind. With an inquiring gaze, he addressed Hermes.

    "We''ve been calling her ''girl'' and ''woman'' all this time, but really, what''s her name? Now that we''ve determined that we''re going to save her, it would be really awkward if we don''t even know how to address her when the time comes."

    The usually composed god of wanderers abruptly froze up and a sheepish smile formed on his lips. He coughed into his fist a few times, then he scratched his slightly reddened cheek.

    "Oops. I actually forgot to tell you, didn''t I? Her name is Haruhime. Sanjouno Haruhime."

 Chapter 146 - Dawn Of The Protest

    Somewhere along the western edge of the plaza in front of Babel, a massive stall had been set up. Thousands of people were queueing up in front of it patiently - and sometimes quite impatiently - waiting for a chance to get their hands on the innovative product that was being sold here.

    "Just 250 valis for a protest sign. Buy three, get one for free!"

    Shouting as loudly as she could in an attempt to get her voice heard despite the ambient noise of hundreds of thousands of people overwhelming this part of the city, the jackal-eared Tabitha was waving around a wooden sign that had been connected to a pole of the same material. Although it clearly wasn''t made to be especially sturdy, it still looked durable enough to withstand anything outside of a combat encounter. The words ''For freedom, for the future. Release Isaac Blackshaw!'' were written on it in bold colours. Many signs just like it were showcased all around the Hermes Familia''s stall. There was even an area behind it where many more of them were constantly getting produced. But despite all of that, they could b?r?ly keep up with the demand.

    "I still can''t believe we''re doing this. That''s a new low for us, isn''t it?"

    Feeling powerless, Asfi released a sigh and rubbed her forehead. The conflicting emotions that currently ?ssaulted her were causing her a mighty headache. On the one hand, they were making considerable bank, and had already acquired more than a few million valis, but on the other hand, they were supporting a pure farce of a protest and even shamelessly leeching off of it. As for the worst of all? That was the man sitting right next to her.

    Hammering a nail through a sign and into a pole with practiced motions, Hermes turned his head to face her, a somewhat childish, bright smile on his lips.

    "As long as it''s fun, who cares, right? It''s not like we''re harming anyone."

    Because she knew that it would be useless to argue with him, Asfi just shook her head and hopped onto a nearby roof, intending to get some ''fresh air''. Not that the air''s quality was any better up there. Shielding her eyes from the light of the sun, she blinked a few times to get used to the increase in brightness and looked into the distance, taking in the mind-boggling headcount.

    Usually, the plaza could house a little more than 400,000 people at once - but it would be very cramped. Now, there were more than 500,000 people ?ssembled on the plaza alone, most of them regular civilians. Some of the stronger adventurers had taken seats on the various buildings'' roofs all around the plaza. Thankfully, those structures were especially well-built, so they weren''t in any danger of getting damaged. Some of the house owners had even rented out the rights to use their rooftops and had made some nice extra income. However, all of the people mentioned so far only made up a little more than half of everyone who had come to partake in the protest. The main streets all around were clogged up to varying degrees, with one of them having it by far the worst.

    Aiming her gaze towards the north-west, making use of her unassuming glasses which were actually a Magic Item, Asfi enhanced her eyesight and soon helplessly shook her head. The full extent of the situation felt very hard to come to terms with - after all, this was the first protest of such scale that had ever taken place in Orario. The street in front of the Pantheon, the headquarters of the Guild, was just as crowded as the plaza, with thousands of people holding signs and just as many shouting for Isaac''s release - for justice to be done.

    Frankly, most of those that had gathered were only here to join in on the fun, they were merely hangers-on who wanted some part of the unusual action. A smaller portion of the whole was truly passionate about the cause or had some history with Evilus that they wanted to address and get off their ?h?st. Their slogans got echoed by the majority, which further increased their spread. Only a miniscule amount of people actually cared somewhat about Isaac, or even knew the man personally - and yet, such a huge movement had been kicked off, all because of him.

    Of course, not everything went smoothly. Whenever such a huge number of people is gathered, problems and conflicts will inevitably arise. Small brawls were a common sight, and yet there were those that kept the order.

    Many of the law-abiding familias had deployed their members to the site of the protest to support the Guild in trying to de-escalate the situation wherever necessary. It wasn''t just the usual suspects - the Ganesha Familia - this time either. Joining them were nearly all influential familias of the city, even the Loki and Freya Familias. Thankfully, none of their members were stupid enough to try to suppress non-troublemakers - not even the usual problem children.

    "Having to deal with these annoying weaklings¡­ it''s such a pain. I hate it."

    A certain Werewolf broke up a small scuffle with a clearly unhappy frown on his face, while an arrogant Cat Person separated five fighting adventurers with his gaze alone.

    With many of the city''s strongest and brightest all over the place, even should someone with a low Level want to make a scene, they would be surgically targeted and removed in mere moments. None of those that were supervising the crowd dared to say anything about the protest''s cause, but anyone who stepped out of line definitely couldn''t have chosen a worse time to do so.

    -----

    Because they had arrived relatively early, were considerably powerful and had lots of connections, Syr, Ryuu, Chloe and Anya had managed to claim one of the more prominent rooftops adjacent to the plaza for themselves. As the only one without a Falna amongst the group, Syr had been carried there by her good friend Ryuu in a pose that had elicited shameless whistles from Chloe - a standard princess carry.

    About half an hour after they had arrived, Ryuu began to furrow her brows and muttered to herself.

    "It''s so loud¡­"

    She was already trying her best to ignore most of the noise, but the chorus of voices was only increasing in volume over time. Truly, it was unpleasant.

    ''Oh well, I''ll just have to deal with it¡­''

    As she was shaking her head, she saw Anya speed over from afar. The dorky cat girl had run off about ten minutes ago after spotting something of interest in the distance. They had originally wanted to follow her, but she had ?ssured them that she wouldn''t be long. Now that she returned, she held a couple of wooden protest signs in her arms, her eyes sparkling in excitement.

    "Look, look! I got us some nice signs! Now we can also join in properly, like everyone else. And before you ask, I paid for them myself. I didn''t steal from your piggy bank this time, Chloe."

    A shadow crept on the black-haired cat girl''s face.

    "How did you even know that I got myself a new one? I thought I hid it as best as I could!"

    Innocently blinking as if not sure what her friend was talking about, Anya tilted her head, bewilderment now shimmering in her eyes.

    "Huh? I didn''t even search for it, though? But since I feel bad about last time, I''ve decided to never take any of your savings without informing you ever again! So don''t worry."

    Obviously not buying a single word that her fellow cat girl had said, Chloe chose to move on and glanced at the wooden signs that Anya had placed down next to the four of them.

    "What do they say any--- Pfft! Ahahaha!! Who in Tartarus makes these? They''re ridiculous! I''ll be taking this one."

    Tears gathering in the corners of her eyes, the cat girl was holding her stomach, her other hand clutching one of the protest signs.

    Intrigued by her reaction, Syr and Ryuu finally paid some attention to the signs as well.

    ''Let the tyranny end! Let the Guild repent!''

    ''Vigilante justice is still justice.''

    ''Deity slayer, my heart belongs to you. Release my beloved, oh unjust ones!''

    ''Isaac Blackshaw, I want your babies!''

    The signs got progressively worse and off-topic. Of course, Chloe had chosen the very last one for herself and was grinning like a Cheshire cat, the look in her eyes a playful one.

    "I''m so sorry, Ryuu. I know you actually wanted this one for yourself. Still, first come, first served~"

    Blushing up to the very tips of her long ears due to a mixture of shame and indignation, the Elf in question clenched her fists tightly, very close to turning this rooftop into a catfight arena. Still, she ultimately only heaved a deep sigh and ignored the taunt.

    "This one''s mine."

    With sparkling eyes, Anya grabbed the ''vigilante justice'' sign and waved it around enthusiastically, eliciting an adoring chuckle from Syr. Seconds later, the grey-haired waitress noticed a certain problem.

    "Well, well. There are only two signs left. Which one should I choose? I wonder~"

    Smiling mischievously, just like a certain cat girl right next to her, she grabbed the most innocent sign that was left and shot an amused smile at her prude Elf friend.

    The redness of her cheeks intensifying by a notch, Ryuu resolutely shook her head.

    "No chance. I won''t be taking that sign."

    "What a shame. Then I suppose I''ll just have to take both."

    Although she was aware of the grey-haired waitress'' real identity, Ryuu still couldn''t really stomach the thought of Syr behaving overly flirtatious and ''cheap'' with a man out of nowhere. For a moment, she was about to free her friend from the burden of the more improper sign, but then she caught herself.

    ''I can''t fall into her trap!''

    Snorting unhappily, she turned away and scanned the crowd, unsuccessfully trying to reduce the amount of blood that had rushed to her head. Delusions of Syr confessing her undying love to a certain man couldn''t help but come to mind constantly and¡­ they disturbed her.

    With their daily task of Ryuu-teasing checked off, Syr and Chloe snickered impishly. On the side, Anya simply tilted her head, seemingly not entirely sure why things had turned out this way.

    -----

    "It feels weird. It''s like we''re on display."

    Furrowing her eyebrows, Mina shook her head in displeasure. The students and subordinates - except for those that couldn''t yet see the light of day, like Averin, Ray and Titania - had made their way to the site of the protest as well, because it would look a bit unusual if Isaac''s own people weren''t even there to fight for his freedom. To keep them all safe from anyone that might potentially try to harm them, they were accompanied by Ais and Lefiya. To be honest, the charming Elf was more of a decoration, because the current Sword Princess alone could easily decimate almost the entire city in a few minutes.

    "Yeah. Seems like master was correct. Most influential forces know that we''re his people, so they pay more attention to us."

    Still practically glowing with self-esteem due to having been praised heavily yesterday evening after his successful detection of the mental layer and even his lake of mana, Quinn showed an uncharacteristically wide smile as he accompanied the rest of the group. Even such an undesirable situation didn''t seem to dampen his spirit. For the moment, for once, he felt quite good - and he would enjoy it while it lasted.

    "Remember what teacher told us. If anyone tries to network with us, or tries to get in our good graces, we should be noncommittal, and brush them off if possible."

    A bit concerned about the entire ordeal, Kalin cautioned the rest of the group.

    "Of course! I''d never forget a single one of Milord''s words!"

    Puffing out her ?h?st with pride and wagging her tail a little, Mina nodded, a fire burning in her eyes. Not literally, of course. In any case, her actions still caused a few of the more ??wdly inclined people in the vicinity to gulp audibly. She had always been gorgeous, which was what had led to her unfortunate past of having been targeted by slavers. Now that she had been blessed with high quality adventuring gear as well as clothing, extremely good bathing facilities and even a Falna, she had only turned into even more of a charmer. While she paled in comparison to the simply otherworldly beauty of the illustrious Sword Princess, her body was still seductively shaped. Due to this fact, puffing out her definitely not modest ?h?st was like lighting a fire next to a wardrobe full of moths.

    To be fair, their group was especially eye-catching. While most mortals in this world were quite good-looking, there were still four women here whose appearances were far above average. Therefore, it was only natural to attract attention. Still, some people should really try to hide their degenerate thoughts a little¡­ Seriously, some of them were even drooling.

    Having long since taken note of the various perverts around, Ais shook her head in exasperation before ignoring them. Ever since she had experienced so many years of Isaac''s past, she had stopped being naive when it came to these matters. Thinking back on her life so far, she realized how many people had sent indecent gazes her way, which only served to make her feel uncomfortable. Still, there was nothing that could be done about it. The easiest solution was just to pay it no heed, and to be powerful enough so that if someone stepped out of line, one would be able to beat them to a pulp.

    Shaking her head to get rid of these pointless thoughts, Ais focused back on the lovely Chienthrope girl quite close to her and showed a small smile.

    ''In any case, she''s really adorable.''

    Whenever she saw Mina and Aselina cozying up to her beloved, she didn''t feel threatened at all. Not only was she aware that Isaac had no feelings of that sort for the two beauties, but she also understood that the two wouldn''t even dare to harbour such thoughts for their most revered lord. Therefore, why wouldn''t she think of them as adorable?

    "Excuse me, you''re the students of Orario''s most recent hero, Isaac Blackshaw, right?"

    Just like they had expected, it didn''t take long for the first observer to make their approach. Almost as if trying to embody some stereotype, the man that stood in front of the group could best be summed up with the word ''sleazy''. He was the spitting image of an almost cartoonishly corrupt politician from Isaac''s past world, just clad in the clothes of this world instead. He even used a monocle. Ais had to do her best to suppress a chuckle at the absurdity of the situation.

    Not even daring to stare at a figure as prestigious as the Sword Princess, the sleazeball kept his eyes on the other youngsters instead, doing his best to appear prim and proper.

    "We are indeed. And who do we have the p???sur? of becoming acquainted with?"

    Protectively stepping out in front of the rest of the group, in both an attempt to shield them from wandering eyes as well as any and all bad intentions, Kalin shot back a polite smile that he had picked up from Isaac. It wasn''t nearly as practiced, but it sufficed.

    "Forgive my rudeness, I should have introduced myself immediately. I''m Brandolin Jayklair, a diplomatic envoy from Meilstora. And what should I be calling you, young man?"

    Bowing in a gesture of goodwill, the man''s lips curled upwards courteously.

    "It is nice to meet you, Mr. Jayklair. I''m Kalin Myre, Mr. Blackshaw''s second most senior student. Now that all of the pleasantries are out of the way, could you please enlighten us as to what has brought you here? Surely, you didn''t just come to greet us."

    Putting to use all of the second-hand diplomacy proficiency that he had acquired yesterday evening during his observation of Hermes and Isaac, Kalin quickly got to the heart of the matter. He could already see others inching closer, almost none of them appearing to be respectable figures. Honestly, he just wanted to get it all over with. He had no need to be excessively accommodating, because he could always rely on Ais to pull them out of troubles - well, these weaklings wouldn''t even be capable of withstanding a single one of his strikes, they were b?r?ly at Level 2. Only the ones that he judged to be upright folk had advanced further than that. He couldn''t even accurately determine the stats and Levels of some of them.

    A bit displeased, but still keeping up his well mannered facade, the diplomatic envoy nodded.

    "What a sharp mind at such a young age! You remind me of myself when I was still a lively youngster."

    ''In your dreams!''

    Of course, Kalin didn''t vocalize his disrespectful thoughts, but that didn''t stop Jakk from almost choking during his attempt to suppress his laughter. The bunny boy had been very uncomfortable this entire time, so he enjoyed nothing more than getting to distract himself from the very much excessively social environment that he was currently in. This pathetic comedy of a conversation was like a fresh breath of air for him.

    Thankfully, Mr. Jayklair didn''t seem to mind the disrespect - at least not on the surface.

    "Ahem. Anyway, let me get to the point. My country would like to form a business partnership with your teacher, Mr. Blackshaw. His likeness would be a fantastic way to market our wares, so---"

    "Hold your horses, my old friend! My homeland Sharm also has an interesting proposal for the young hero."

    "Right, right. Meilstora isn''t the only country that wants to foster close relations with this new rising star! My Jorling Kingdom also wants to extend an olive branch of partnership."

    "Hmph, don''t you see that you''re overwhelming the nice youngster, you old bats? My Andromeda Islands won''t stand for this. Mr. Myre, why don''t we find a less noisy area to get acquainted with one another? I know this nice brothel¡­"

    "My Halksvaag Kingdom won''t accept being left out like that! Move on over, give me some space!!"

    Before the group knew it, a number of shady diplomats from various countries had swarmed Kalin, pushing each other in a fervent frenzy. Even more of them were eyeing the rest of the students, but they didn''t dare to come too close, due to the deterrent that was the Loki Familia''s Ais Wallenstein. Still, that didn''t help Kalin much, because he had stepped out too far.

    "Hey, are you okay?"

    With a worried look, Mina whispered into Aselina''s ear. She had noticed that her best friend had suddenly grown more icy and was exuding a bit of killing intent. Quite concerned, she inquired about what was going on.

    "That man¡­ he said that he is from the Halksvaag Kingdom. I''m sure you recall what happened there."

    After she mentally processed these words, Mina froze and slowly nodded. She hadn''t paid much attention to these annoying flies before, but now that Aselina mentioned it¡­ wasn''t that kingdom the one where the Sceaga tribe had all but been obliterated?

    "I understand that you might be very angry right now. But let''s not make a scene, okay?"

    Anxious, she gently grasped the raccoon girl''s hand in an attempt to calm her down.

    "Don''t worry, I won''t. This man is just from the same country, and while it''s obvious that he''s a suspicious character, I won''t ?ssume that he''s with those that harmed my tribe on such a shallow basis."

    Successfully reining her emotions back in again, Aselina gave her best friend a grateful nod before returning her attention to the extremely uncomfortable Kalin.

    "Shouldn''t we¡­ do something?"

    Not sure what to do, but convinced that things couldn''t continue like this, she addressed the elephant in the room. Or rather, the buzzing insects on the plaza.

    "Yeah, we should step in and dissolve this mob. Let''s--- Huh?"

    Right as Mina was about to bravely venture out into the horde of disreputable flies, the situation changed.

    "What are you doing, you disgusting pigs!? Leave the young lad alone, will you? Some of us here genuinely just want to make friends, so fu?k off! Get your filthy faces out of my sight."

    "You heard what Her Majesty said! I''d recommend for you all to leave. Else, we might have a diplomatic crisis on our hands."

    Accompanied by a group of four guards who - according to Ais'' observations - were all Level 4''s, one of the female observers that had been overtaken by the corrupt rabble entered the scene.

    She was about as tall as the Sword Princess and had long black hair that she had styled in a braid that reached all the way to her lower back. Her eyes were a deep green that was shrouded in purple, and although her smile was an unruly one, her face was one of gentle, regal beauty. On her head, there rested a small golden tiara without many embellishments. Aside from that unusual accessory choice, the rest of her outfit fell more in line with regular adventuring standards. It was mostly fashioned from the skins and pelts of monsters, and very far from as skimpy as normal Amazoness clothing. Still, it wasn''t entirely prim and proper either. The brownish-red leather pants were extremely tight, and the black gambeson-style short-sleeved blouse didn''t leave much to the imagination either.

    The woman had an extraordinarily elegant metal bow slung over her shoulder and a quiver fastened to the back of her waist, to a white belt sporting scale patterns. One other weapon was sheathed at her hip - a curved machete that looked a bit similar to a kukri.

    Her appearance only got even more perverts to salivate at the mouth, because she didn''t fall short of the other four extraordinary women. Thankfully, nobody was foolish enough to say anything, because the towering guards at her side were quite the threat - their expressions were excessively menacing. As for the guards'' outfits, they wore primarily light metal armour strapped over blue gambeson-style protective clothing and each had a variety of weapons at the ready: Pikes, spears, swords, bows and one of them even had a staff fastened to his back. All of them had at least one or two scars exposed here and there, even the woman who they had referred to as ''Her Majesty'' - on the back of her neck, there was a long and ghastly one.

    The five people looked a lot more lawless than a regular royal delegation, but the respect that the four men had for the one that they were accompanying was most definitely as real as it could get.

    None of that was remarkable in Ais'' eyes, though. Rather, she raised an eyebrow at the around 20 year old woman.

    ''Impressive! She made it to Level 5 at that age. That means that she can only be one of a handful of people¡­''

    Her identity didn''t remain a mystery for long, because the various envoys quickly distanced themselves from Kalin, as if they were trying to escape a terrifying foe. Still, their warped faces looked like they had been force-fed a generous handful of feces. One of them couldn''t hold his tongue for long and shot back some venomous words before charging through the crowd as fast as he could.

    "This won''t be the last you hear of me, Upstart Queen of Mystldom! My Andromeda Islands will be filing a formal complaint with your kingdom before long. Enjoy your peace while it lasts!"

    The man''s words served to incense the accompanying guards. Right as they were about to give chase, the casually raised hand of their queen stopped them in their tracks. With a derisive snort, the woman shook her head.

    "Don''t waste your time. We shouldn''t make any trouble in Orario right now. You can search for him later. Make sure you ''take care'' of him then."

    Her words caused the rest of the envoys that had dared to stick around - aside from the few virtuous fellows that were still patiently waiting nearby - to grow pale in fright and to depart with due haste. Nobody wanted to offend that madwoman.

    Quite confused by the entire situation, Kalin tilted his head a bit and then bowed very slightly. He felt like he should portray at least a smidgen of etiquette in front of someone who fashioned themselves the ruler of a country. Before he could even open his mouth to extend a greeting, however, he was suddenly interrupted and became speechless.

    With quick steps, the woman had walked up to him and placed her hands on his shoulders, forcing him perfectly upright again. She flashed him an amused grin and powerfully patted his right shoulder twice.

    "No need for all of that nonsense. I''ve tried and failed to convince these damn blockheads to stop it with the excessive etiquette for a long time already, so please don''t join their ranks."

    When she pointed at her guards with her chin, they only cleared their throats and innocently looked away as if they hadn''t heard her, focusing on keeping the perimeter secure. Shaking her head with a forlorn sigh, the queen finally introduced herself properly.

    "As that piece of trash mentioned, I''m the Queen of Mystldom. Not sure if you''ve heard of me before, but it doesn''t matter anyway. I don''t want to rely on my title to get what I want. My name''s Phelia Nihara - just Phelia or Pheli is fine. Nice to meet you all."

    Looking at every one of Isaac''s people in turn, Phelia''s grin widened. She didn''t even shy away from looking directly at Ais, although her warning bells went off when she did so. It felt like she had just made eye contact with an unfathomable beast that could rip her apart in less than a fraction of a second. Usually, people would show some amount of fear at that prospect, but it was unknown whether she felt any of it at all, because her expression remained unchanging.

    Pretty much everyone but Mina and Quinn widened their eyes at the queen''s introduction - apparently, she was quite the famous personage. Well, Ais was another exception to the rule, because she only nodded slightly and gave a mental remark.

    ''As expected, it''s her. Aside from her, there are only three other female Level 5''s in their early twenties that are active outside of Orario. Well, there might be some that I don''t know about. In any case, the ''Upstart Queen'', or rather, the ''Pirate Queen'' from the Dizara Region to the south-west, huh? She''s not bad. Not bad at all.''

 Chapter 147 - An Invitation Of The Highest Order

    Noticing how taken aback the youngster in front of her was, Phelia showed a smirk that was both amused and a little pained. Considering her influence on a more worldwide scale, it was only to be expected that someone who was still in the midst of climbing the ladder to success would feel like there was a certain distance separating them. This could come in quite handy when it came to political business, but when trying to make friends, it was a real hindrance.

    ''I swear, this happens every time¡­''

    However, before the queen could grow any more saddened, Kalin''s features relaxed and his smile became a bit genuine. It had to be mentioned that, although none of the males that were a part of Isaac''s group looked below average, Kalin was the one that stood out the most - aside from Isaac himself, that is. A friendly smile from him could easily turn women''s heads, and Phelia wasn''t entirely unaffected either. It was a pity, though - although he was already considered an ?du?t in this world, he was still relatively young, all things considered.

    ''Give him a few years, and he''ll be my type.''

    These were the thoughts that came to the queen''s mind.

    "Fine, then I won''t stand on ceremony. It''s nice to meet you too, Phelia."

    Initially, Kalin had felt quite pressured by the other party''s status, but upon recalling the unfathomable enigma that was his own teacher, and the speed at which he himself had advanced in strength, that mental burden faded away completely.

    He wasn''t the only one who reacted like this - pretty much everyone here only showed a short period of surprise, followed by acceptance and a return to a more relaxed state. Well, except for Ais and the two that were entirely out of the loop, Mina and Quinn.

    Speaking of, the cat boy only regarded Phelia with a moderately warm nod and a short "Hello.", while Mina casually strolled to Kalin''s side and sized up the woman in front of them with innocent eyes, an amiable smile on her face. Contrary to the others, she preferred to address the queen in the most casual way possible.

    "Happy to meet you, Pheli! I''m Mina Teagle, and I came under milord''s wing right after Kalin. If I recall correctly, you said you''re here to make friends, right? Did you mean us¡­ or perhaps milord?"

    Although the Chienthrope girl''s Level was anything but a threat to Phelia and her expression was one of kindness, the queen felt like there was a danger hidden within. Stat-wise, Mina shouldn''t be able to harm her - still, she had the vague inkling that she shouldn''t underestimate this girl.

    But more than that, what left the most profound impression on Phelia was the general behaviour that Mina displayed - it reminded her a lot of her own guards, and of the way that they would eye those that deemed themselves her potential suitors. It was not jealousy or envy, but rather, a protective instinct. The queen could appreciate this, and she even found it cute, but she still couldn''t help but show a wry smile.

    ''Hey, hey. Girlie. I didn''t come here with the intention to make a move on the beloved of the Sword Princess, okay!? First of all, I don''t even know the guy. And secondly, I''m not suicidal!''

    She chose to refrain from giving voice to these words, however, as she wasn''t sure whether or not Mina was even conscious of what she was doing, and because it would make the atmosphere quite¡­ awkward. Instead, she chose to simply answer the question, as honestly as possible.

    "Both, if possible. I can see that you all show promise, and I also want to meet the man of the hour. There are countless rumours about him, after all. We were in the area and after hearing about his exploits, I wanted to stick around to get to know him."

    Seemingly satisfied with this response for now, Mina nodded and was just about to begin a more casual conversation with this potential comrade slash worrisome milord chaser when another voice interjected - yet again, it belonged to one of the few observers that had stuck around until now.

    "Excuse my intrusion, but I''m not fond of wasting time. I''ll be out of here before you know it, but let me state my piece first, alright? I have no intention of starting any diplomatic squabbles, Queen Nihara."

    Accompanied by his own squad of guards, all clad in dark grey heavy armour and their expressions hidden from view by their close helmets, a man approached. Even though he was most certainly another diplomat, he didn''t give off the same sleazy air as the other individuals that had arrived before. His posture was upright and confident, his stride strong. Competence practically radiated off of him. He was not like the queen that they had just met - he was a mere Level 3 - but his guards were on par with Mystldom''s.

    His eyes were a bright blue and his short hair a dark brown. His facial features were strong and rough, but still relatively appealing when it came to terms of beauty. As for his height, he was about half a head taller than both Ais and Phelia, which was about the average height for men of the Lower World. In other words, he didn''t particularly stand out in that regard.

    However, his outfit was quite unusual. Instead of relying on adventuring equipment, he wore what looked to be a modestly decorated military uniform. It was made in gambeson-style, as primarily protective clothing, and didn''t particularly aim to look fashionable, but the dark grey uniform''s simplicity made it appear quite impressive nonetheless. Securely fastened to his belt, there was a sheathed sword that seemed to be far more practical than ceremonial in nature, judging by the unadorned nature of its hilt. If Isaac had been present, he surely would have mentally praised the man''s choice of arms.

    Frowning at the interruption, Phelia turned to face this new group, only to sigh to herself and shake her head slightly.

    "Alright, but make it quick."

    Even though her words sounded confrontational on the surface, it was clear that she had no intention of going out of her way to antagonize the other party. Previously, even when she had been addressing the diplomatic envoys of a huge number of nations at once, she hadn''t bothered with being polite or showing them any respect whatsoever - not that they would have deserved it - but this situation was different.

    Political power bred corruption and incompetence, especially amongst those who possessed no personal prowess to speak of. Many would start out their careers with good intentions and, over time, become warped by the influence that they got a hold of, turning into nothing more than pathetic creatures unfit to represent even the livestock of their nations. Whether it be due to nepotism or incompetence, quite a few countries failed to root out such issues in their upper ranks.

    There was a flip side, however - both on the personal as well as the national level. While there were those who became twisted after getting into a position of power, there were also those who stayed steadfast and did their jobs properly. This diplomat was one such example of this. Nations where nepotism was severely frowned upon and where strict or even brutal standards had been set in place to ensure one''s competence also existed - this envoy''s motherland was known to be most outstanding in this field.

    "I intend to."

    After succinctly responding to Phelia''s remark, the man finally faced Isaac''s students. He also gave a short nod in Ais'' direction, which she unenthusiastically reciprocated.

    "Contrary to what Queen Nihara has claimed, I''m not here to make friends. Rather, I, Valeric Dulhim, am here to represent the Empire in extending an invitation to your teacher, Isaac Blackshaw. From the intel that we''ve gathered, he appears to be an outstanding individual, and the Empire highly values talent. Our embassy is located in the vicinity of the inn known as ''Season''s Harvest''. We hope that he will pay us a visit soon. Please relay this message to him after you have reunited with him. Well then, I bid you adieu. May the protest go well."

    Bowing ever so slightly out of professional courtesy, the man left as abruptly as he had arrived, with his guards not uttering a single sound from start to finish. Kalin didn''t have an opportunity to do more than just nod before the Empire''s delegation had already disappeared into the crowd. Only then did the reality of the situation finally settle in.

    "Wait, did Mr. Dulhim say that he is from the Empire!?"

    In the northernmost region of the Peira continent, there lay a country that simply referred to itself as ''the Empire''. It didn''t have a fancy name by any means, but its mention struck fear into the hearts of most inhabitants of the Lower World. Just like the majority of other strong nations of this world, it originated close to the ocean, with most of its initial territory consisting of islands.

    Outside of the ''three great unexplored regions of the world'' that those living on Peira always spoke of, there was one other ''unexplored region'' that surrounded all of the continents, and that naively was usually just an afterthought for those who lived on the continents - the sea. It was unknown how many monsters had escaped there from the dungeon in ancient times. Even nowadays, after the only known connecting tunnel to the dungeon had been sealed, it was still speculated that there might be further paths that had yet to be closed. If one ignored the adventurers of the Labyrinth City, then the ones who found it the easiest to advance in Level were seafarers, due to the sheer amount of monsters haunting the depths. However, their path was also fraught with more uncertainty, as there was never a guarantee that an opponent that they could conceivably handle would rear their head.

    The Empire was the most successful result of this environment - a nation with overwhelming military prowess that slowly ate up the continent''s territories ever since making landfall on Peira a few hundred years ago. There was only one obstacle in its path of advance - Dragon Valley. If not for this dangerous region, they would have swept past nearly every nation on Peira already. But because they seemed to be aware of just how threatening of a place the Dragon Valley was, they had mostly halted in their military exploits and only occasionally took over a nation or two when they felt comfortable enough to spare a few troops.

    In other words, the Empire was a looming threat. While it could be considered one of the most fair and just countries of Peira, as it didn''t discriminate against any of the sentient races and anyone who was capable enough would be able to rise in its ranks, its warlike nature still made it even more dreaded than the most violent, barbaric nations located deep in the Kaios Desert. Many children would grow up in considerable fear of the Empire, and Kalin wasn''t an exception. Although he might not be afraid of it anymore - especially since his personal prowess had skyrocketed - he was still aware of just how massive of an existence the Empire was.

    "Yeah, he did. I''ve come across him a few times before, so he can be considered somewhat of an acquaintance, I''d say."

    Sighing yet again, Phelia shrugged off the annoyance that had enveloped her like a blanket. Her own homeland, Mystldom, could be considered to be a fledgling Empire - an island country slowly rising to power. But where Mystldom had only just started out on that path, with her spearheading its growth and influence, the Empire had progressed for many hundreds of years. It wasn''t a gap that was easy to bridge by any means. It was fortunate that vast distances separated the two nations, else she would have had to worry about potential conflicts even more than she already did.

    Sensing that now might be a good time to greet Isaac''s people, because the queen was a bit distracted, some other observers walked up and expressed their friendly intentions. They didn''t overstay their welcome and did their best to avoid getting on Phelia''s nerves, so she didn''t mind them. Some of them might not have been genuine, and only a few of them could compete with the Pirate Queen or an envoy of the Empire in status or influence. Nonetheless, there were some notable ones amongst them.

    Zonn Kirios, a rogue mage from Altena, a country famous for its magic research. A deity with the appearance of a young man with fiery hair called Ishum. Lastly, a common wanderer by the name of Jilia. Wait, what was so noteworthy about that last one?

    She was a woman of slightly taller stature than Ais and looked to be in her late thirties or early forties. Her appearance was just about average and she was clad in a simple brown robe that covered most of her body. Her grey eyes held a motherly gaze within them as she let them wander across the youngsters. None of this was extraordinary, but something peculiar made Ais perk up a little - she could feel very indistinct traces of Divine Energy from her. It was almost imperceptible, and judging by the fact that the fire god Ishum hadn''t noticed anything, this woman had very expertly hidden herself.

    The only reason as to why Ais did detect it was that Isaac had a far better control of his Divine Energy than this woman and had taught Ais to restrain it and her own Divine Aura as perfectly as possible - nothing was leaking out. Due to this, she had unknowingly become far more perceptive of it. Any hint of Divine Energy would be picked up if she paid a bit of attention to her surroundings.

    Noticing the young woman''s inquisitive gaze resting on her for a moment longer than would be considered ''normal'', the ordinary wanderer turned to face her and showed a calming smile, before shaking her head very minutely.

    She soon bade farewell to the group of youngsters, clearly having only come with good intentions, and left, appearing just as unremarkable to the masses as before.

    It was obvious that the goddess didn''t want any trouble or attention, and seemed to have only stopped by out of some sort of concern, so of course Ais didn''t bother exposing her, because there simply was no reason to do so. She somewhat suspected that the woman might have figured out that she also was a goddess, as it was unheard of for mortals to be this s?ns?t?v? to Divine Energy, but she couldn''t be certain. Well, not that it mattered overly much. There were already plenty of plans in place should the worst come to pass, and this particular woman didn''t strike Ais as the troublesome sort.

    "Phew, finally some relative peace and quiet."

    After the other visitors had excused themselves, Phelia heaved a sigh of relief. Speaking of, she had been sighing quite often today, hadn''t she?

    "Yeah¡­ by the way, do you plan to stay here for the entire duration of the protest?"

    Staring at her with mostly confusion in her eyes, Mina tilted her head. The others had all left, so why was this woman still lingering around? It was a bit perplexing.

    In response to her question, Mina got a wide grin.

    "If I want my chances of meeting Isaac Blackshaw to be the highest, then I should stick with all of you, right?"

    ''That''s true, but I''m not sure whether I should let you meet milord¡­''

    Right as the faithful Chienthrope girl was furrowing her brows and contemplating about how to answer, Ais spoke up - for the first time since they had arrived at the plaza.

    "That''s true. Feel free to stay with us until he is freed."

    As if she had just borne witness to a divine decree, the last vestiges of worry dissipated from Mina''s mind and the gaze that she sent Phelia''s way became a lot more welcoming than before. After all, her lady had spoken. Ais had already seemingly evaluated this queen to be someone that they wouldn''t have to worry about, at least not at the moment, so who was she to question this decision?

    Relieved at not having been turned away, Phelia smiled widely. She had also noticed the shift in Mina''s behaviour when the Sword Princess had spoken up, but she didn''t comment on it. All in all, she was just thankful that she hadn''t been chased away. She knew how her actions could have been interpreted, but she really had only been nearby and had wanted to make the acquaintance of the one that everyone was talking about. She felt like she and Isaac might get along, and just wanted to make a friend. Sometimes, things were truly as simple as they appeared on the surface. Due to her straightforward and even brash personality, her royal status and her own strength, she rarely made real friends, so it was worth a shot. A deity slayer surely wouldn''t care much about all of that nonsense, right? This group of students and Loki Familia members had also shown surprising promise already. Truly, today was a great day.

    ''Wait, I think I''m forgetting something¡­ oh right! That envoy from the Andromeda Islands. Oh well, if they want to start a war, I''ll be their guest. It''s not like our territories are especially close to each other anyway, so only some trade routes might get disturbed. It''s easy enough to deal with.''

    -----

    "Sir, we have tried everything that we could think of, but this protest¡­ it''s simply too massive! We can''t handle it alone. Please, contact Lord Ouranos! This is out of our league."

    Looking at his exhausted and pleading employee, Royman closed his eyes, massaged his forehead and sighed deeply. Even in here, he found it difficult to drown out the pervasive noise from the outside. He had already done all that he could and had expended significant amounts of valis to enlist the help of the city''s most influential and strongest familias. They needed all the manpower that they could get, after all. He had done admirably, but he was still just as far from bringing the protest to an end as he had been in the very beginning. It was only fortunate that no truly horrendous problems had cropped up so far¡­

    Well, aside from the pride and feelings of some of the Guild members getting hurt. Too many of the more rude and unreasonable protesters swore at them constantly, and the signs that they were carrying with them also weren''t flattering. To be more or less sieged by such an incensed mob and occasionally showered with obscenities wasn''t good for anyone''s mental health.

    "Fine. I''ll ask for support. I only hope that Lord Ouranos will forgive us for the Guild not being able to overcome this difficulty on its own."

    Pressing a bu??on on his desk, a hologram of his god, Ouranos, appeared. The elderly man was the picture of calm itself, in sheer contrast to the panicked expressions of the Guild''s higher ups, almost all of which had been gathered in Royman''s office.

    "Lord Ouranos, I''m sure you''re well aware of everything already. Forgive us for not living up to your expectations. Please instruct us on what to do in order to deal with this protest."

    -----

    Amidst the sea of protesters, atop a certain building''s roof, Anya, Chloe, Ryuu and Syr were munching on various snacks that they had prepared for themselves before they had set out, as well as a few that they had bought from the numerous street stalls. Even in this atmosphere, there were still some opportune businesspeople who had decided to set up shop and sold food and refreshments at somewhat reasonable prices.

    "Ah, that''s the life¡­~"

    Although they had already been here for a while, the novelty of such a huge gathering, one that was still proceeding in full swing, had yet to wear off. Even now, Chloe was waving around her scandalous sign without any perceivable hint of shame, and countless people were shouting at Babel and the Pantheon, hoping to change¡­ well, something.

    It was at this time that a Divine Aura descended with Babel as its center. It spread out for tens of kilometers, quelling the noise in its entirety. It was as if the innumerable mortals were mere ants in front of a supernova - there was no comparison. It was a humbling experience, to say the least, despite the one that the aura belonged to not exuding any ounce of ill will.

    A massive hologram of an old but healthy man, sitting on a simplistic stone throne, appeared overhead and addressed the silent crowd that teetered somewhere between fear and worship.

    "Dear citizens of Orario, your voices have been heard. In the name of Ouranos, I call upon every deity in the city to come to Babel within the hour. We will discuss how the issue of Isaac Blackshaw''s punishment shall be handled, and whether or not any of our rules and laws need to be amended or overhauled. In at most five hours, we deities will give you all an answer. I hope that you can wait patiently until then. Additionally, please refrain from harassing your fellow mortals over an issue that originated from us gods. With that said, farewell."

    This was the first time that almost all citizens of Orario had laid their eyes upon the one that had been in charge of and protecting their city, Ouranos. It was also the first time that most of them had experienced the vast gulf in strength between them and the gods - it was so exaggerated that they couldn''t even form thoughts of rebellion. There was no point at all, it would simply end in annihilation. Still, thankfully, they had spent many years with deities at their side, and knew that they were reasonable beings. As long as they didn''t overstep their boundaries, there was nothing to fear - from the vast majority of gods and goddesses, at least.

    Shortly after Ouranos'' words had finished and his Divine Aura had faded, the silent crowd started to chatter again, this time far more respectful to the Guild than before. They still bemoaned the unfairness of the current state of affairs, but they didn''t even dare to think of lashing out at the unfortunate few that their influence could reach.

    After finishing her current snack, Syr got up from her seat, eliciting the questioning gazes of the two cat girls.

    "I just need to go to the restroom for a bit, I''ll be right back!"

    With hurried steps and an embarrassed smile, she made her way over to a hatch in the roof and down the ladder that led into the building. Of course, there were sanitary facilities in the property whose roof that they had chosen to view this event from, and they had gotten permission to use them. By the way, they would have easily been able to make their way up to the roof by going through the building, but the other three had thought it easier and faster to simply jump.

    Anya and Chloe didn''t think much of what was happening - it was just a visit to the restroom, after all - but Ryuu was well aware.

    ''She''s switching with Helun.''

    Just as she had expected, minutes later, Syr reappeared and joined them again, but it was clear to the perceptive Elf that she wasn''t Freya this time - well, not that it mattered that much, because she was friends with this girl as well.

 Chapter 148 - Assembly Of A Thousand Deities

    It wasn''t long after Ouranos'' decree had been issued that deities started to pour into Babel. Quite a few of them had already been a part of the crowd, so it didn''t take long for them to make their way through. Some others arrived from different parts of the city, often accompanied by some of their more outstanding familia members that opened up paths through the crowd through which they could proceed onwards.

    For the few lonesome deities - or the deities without any strong children - that wanted to attend, the stronger familias that had been hired by the Guild escorted them to the unfathomably tall tower in the middle of the plaza. This wasn''t to protect them, though. After Ouranos'' ''little display'', even the most reckless amongst mortals wouldn''t dare to raise their fists against these seemingly immeasurably powerful beings, at least not in the short term. At the moment, the only goal was to chaperone the deities to their meeting place in a timely manner.

    -----

    "Oh, you''re already here, brother?"

    His eyes widening in pleasant surprise, Aparctias sat down next to his fellow member of the Anemoi, Kaikias. The two of them and their familias were extremely close-knit, but occasionally, they would still go their own ways. This morning had been one such occasion.

    The hall that they found themselves in at the moment was actually the one that was commonly used during the Denati. Just like the meeting room that had been utilized when Isaac''s fate had been decided upon, there was a round table in the center of the hall, having just enough space for 25 people. Aside from that, however, there were many rows and tiers of seats arranged like in an amphitheater. In total, there were about 2,000 seats - truly a huge number, and one that had never been filled in the around a thousand years since this Babel''s construction.

    "I attended the protest with my children. They seem to be really smitten with that Blackshaw kid, so¡­"

    With an awkward smile, Kaikias shrugged. He truly felt conflicted about the behaviour of his familia members. He had only recently descended to the Lower World for the first time and didn''t yet personally see any issues with how matters had been handled by his fellow deities, but he also didn''t want to cause too much trouble for his children who had been working so hard to put food on their table. Therefore, he allowed them to indulge themselves, and followed along.

    ''That scary kid is too lucky. Even my brother''s girls show affection for him, despite there already being a divine beauty at his side¡­ tch.''

    A bit of jealousy couldn''t help but crop up in Aparctias'' heart, but it was quickly extinguished by the fear that threatened to overwhelm him every time that he thought back on how that especially annoying fellow deity had been treated by Isaac.

    ''Speaking of, that guy''s name was Ferthur, right? Is he going to attend too?''

    While he was making some casual small talk with his brother, Aparctias scanned the crowd, searching for a familiar head of blue hair - and he didn''t have to look for long. Amongst the 200 or so deities that had already gathered here, the one who had undergone Isaac''s selfless reproductive organ removal surgery in the past was present, the expression on his face an extremely dark one. There was no doubt that his emotions were in deep turmoil.

    ''If I were in his shoes, then I probably wouldn''t be faring any better. After all, the one who humiliated and hurt him is being praised as a hero by the mortals right now¡­''

    Shaking his head in pity, Aparctias dispelled these thoughts and glanced at the round table in the center of the hall. From what he had learned over these past twelve days, only a total of eleven deities were currently qualified to be seated there - one of them, of course, being Ouranos, the head honcho of this part of the Lower World.

    So far, seven of these eleven had already shown up: Ouranos - as always present in his hologram form - Freya, Demeter, Hephaestus, Ganesha, Set and Dian Cecht.

    That last god was one whose attire stunk of opulence. He wore a silken white robe with far too many golden trimmings and nearly all of his fingers sported expensive rings with various gemstones embedded within them. To make matters worse, he even had the absurd habit of carrying a hefty bag of valis with him at all times, flexing it at everyone who made the mistake of shooting him a glance.

    Despite his white hair and wrinkles, he had quite the sturdy physique for an old man. There was a confident smirk on his lips at pretty much all times, and his grey eyes were especially crafty. He seemed to think considerably highly of himself - and for a good reason. After all, his Dian Cecht Familia was the foremost medicinal type familia of the city.

    It didn''t take long for two more of the seats to get occupied, by Ishtar and Loki. Although she hadn''t made any attempt to arrive early, the goddess of beauty had still come far too timely for her liking. When those who had been at the last meeting shot her amused gazes, she snorted unhappily and ignored them. As for the trickster goddess, she still sported her mischievous grin, but she couldn''t entirely hide the dread deep within her eyes from these people that had known her for far too many years.

    "Angrboda?"

    In response to Hephaestus'' question, Loki shivered slightly and nodded, then proceeded to ignore any and all attempts to address the topic any further. Soon, nobody at the table brought it up again, although some most definitely would have wanted to. However, because this same development had already played out far too many times, it was old news by this point, therefore it wasn''t that interesting, especially compared to an official gathering like this, one that had a certain primordial god presiding over it.

    Still twenty minutes before the deadline that had been stated would arrive, the last two of those who were qualified to take their seats at the round table finally made an appearance. However, due to the much longer distance that they had had to traverse, nobody made a fuss.

    "We hurried here from Melen as quickly as we could, but it still took a while. I''m glad that we still made it in time. We have your familia''s Nine Hell to thank for that, Loki."

    Sporting a charming and innocent smile, the young Sancus addressed the b?r?ly mentally present goddess. He wore a simple but pricey scholar''s robe made from exotic blue cloth and carried a heavy leather-bound book with him at all times - his business ledger. Every part of him was prim and proper, but none of it appeared unnatural or over-the-top. His short brown hair was a little wavy but well-kempt, and his yellowish-green eyes sparkled with purity.

    With Divinities relating to trust, honesty and oaths, he had found it remarkably easy to establish a huge trade network that extended all over Peira and provided Orario''s citizens with the opportunity to purchase many goods that they would otherwise only get their hands on with extreme difficulty. While Sancus occasionally lost out to certain merchants who flouted the rules and didn''t operate above board, his sheer competence still made him stand out and excel.

    In the recent few decades, he had been mostly focusing on opening up new trade routes via the sea, even exchanging goods with some other continents. Of course, his own familia could only take care of the business-related matters. As for the one who provided them with protection and the necessary seafaring experience? That was the man that he had entered the hall with.

    After the Poseidon Familia, the Lir Familia was the second most prominent when it came to anything related to the ocean. Lir''s sole Divinity was the Ocean and it was of similar rank to that of Poseidon. While the latter had obtained a few minor Divinities, Lir had always been the kind of deity who went all-in on something that he had decided upon. Sadly, despite his single-minded pursuit of one sole Divinity, he had never been able to outpace his rival. Ever since the Poseidon Familia had left Orario to chase the lofty goal of exterminating all monsters in all the oceans, the Lir Familia had swallowed up their old businesses and grown exponentially. But even before then, they had still been renowned enough to be hired by the Sancus Familia - the two familias had been in a partnership ever since.

    Lir wore what looked to be little more than rags compared to everyone else, who was far more luxuriously dressed. That was only because he helmed his ships frequently, braving the elements directly, resulting in his clothing turning the worse for wear. His previously red pants had become washed out and had clearly been patched up in numerous places, while his white shirt and black waistcoat jacket were quite shabby as well. Still, he could have just prepared another set of clothes for more formal occasions, couldn''t he?

    Age-wise, Lir looked to be around 50 to 60 years old, but his full beard that reached all the way to his ?h?st didn''t even have a single grey hair yet. Even the rest of his very short black hair was the same. Although he didn''t interact much with the others, his deep-blue eyes still scanned every other deity in attendance carefully.

    "No problem. Glad you made it here in one piece."

    Despite the fact that her treasured Riveria was being praised by the most genuine deity out of this whole bunch, Loki still couldn''t bring herself to express much excitement. As a veteran of the social battlefield, Sancus quickly picked up on this and avoided any further interactions with her, because he realized that it was just ''that time'' again. There was simply no use in wasting too many words on the red-haired goddess whenever that was the case.

    Right as he entered the hall, Hermes stopped for a moment, causing the short goddess behind him to be caught unawares and run into him.

    "What the heck, Hermes?! Don''t just suddenly stop walking!"

    Glaring at him unhappily, she pushed past him and beelined directly towards a group of her friends, sporting a displeased scowl.

    "Sorry about that, Dia!"

    After hurriedly apologizing for his mistake, Hermes returned to the entrance of the hall, stepped outside for a few seconds, then entered it again. Once this short, odd display was over, he quietly and obediently made his way to a free seat that wasn''t close to anyone particularly chatty and sat down, deep in thought.

    ''I''m sure I didn''t imagine it - someone is using a Magic derived from my Eyes of Hermes to observe this place. Well, everything but this hall, to be exact.''

    As the one whose Arcanum the Magic had been fashioned after, he was generally far more perceptive to it than any other gods. Aside from him, nobody would be capable of detecting it at all, because it had been seamlessly integrated into the natural mana that pervaded the entire Lower World itself. The only reason as to why he had even noticed something amiss was that a certain magical formation was protecting this ?ssembly hall, keeping all foreign mana at bay. This had alerted him to the usually imperceptible difference in the mana, and he then belatedly realized that nearly all of Orario had been under someone''s surveillance for¡­ well, he didn''t know for how long. At least the entire day, that was all that he was certain about.

    ''It can''t be a coincidence that I felt someone obtain a Skill or a Magic related to one of my Arcanums 18 days ago. That was the only time in the last few hundred years, too, so there can be no mistake. But who could it be? For them to have already mastered it to such an astonishing degree, and to be able to encompass such a huge area¡­''

    All of a sudden, he thought of a possibility and wanted to laugh out loud - however, his current location made him suppress this urge. Instead, he simply smiled widely.

    ''I''m a fool, aren''t I? It''s obvious, after all. There is only one person who has grown by such a staggering amount in the past few weeks, and that is Isaac. If he was the one who obtained it, then the unfathomably quick advance in proficiency and the extensive mana reserves needed to support the Magic while it covers such a large area¡­ they would all make sense. Of course, it can not entirely be ruled out that some other adventurer at Level 7 or above is the one responsible, but for them to almost master the Magic this rapidly¡­ it''s highly unlikely. Isaac, Isaac¡­ every time that I think I''ve approximated your true capabilities, you surprise me again¡­''

    Silently chuckling to himself, Hermes waited for the show to begin.

    -----

    The second that it turned 12 p.m., the doors connecting the rest of the tower to the ?ssembly hall closed. They entered a state in which they couldn''t easily be opened again until four hours had passed. Any and all potential latecomers would have to wait outside, with no opportunity to participate in the ?ssembly. Ouranos had given them a deadline, and they had missed it - such treatment would therefore be their fate.

    Taking a glance at the 1,127 deities in the hall, Ouranos nodded to himself, before reinforcing his voice with a tiny amount of his own Divine Energy, silencing the subdued chatter in the process.

    "Thank you all for gathering here on such short notice. I believe that most of you are aware of the circumstances that have led to this emergency ?ssembly. In the case any of you are still out of the loop, the first half an hour will be spent on explaining the detailed circumstances to you, as well as to present you with any and all information that you need to be aware of in order to make a proper judgement. With that said, please begin, Set."

    During the time that they had been waiting, the old primordial god had delegated the simple duty of bringing everyone up to speed to Set, who appeared to be the most reliable of the bunch that had been present at the time. As someone who had attended the meeting that had decided Isaac''s fate, he was more than qualified to give a recap of it and to showcase the evidence from back then.

    Not entirely happy about the role that he had to play, Set heaved a deep sigh and then stood up, before bowing slightly.

    "I shall. Let us start at the very beginning¡­"

    During the next ten minutes, the god rattled off the details about Isaac''s deeds, before finally pulling out a certain memory crystal and playing the recording that was stored within. Ouranos had had a Guild employee hand it to him some thirty minutes ago.

    For the second time, Isaac''s crime of slaying a goddess was shown to a group of deities, only this time, their numbers were manyfold greater. Surprise, shock, horror, disgust, excitement and fascination appeared on the faces of the various gods and goddesses, but none of them caused a huge disturbance.

    Set''s explanation continued after the recording had been shown. Eventually, he ended it all with the following words.

    "Due to Isaac Blackshaw turning himself in, having no apparent intentions to avoid the consequences of his actions, most of us were won over by his brave and admirable demeanour. Because he had not killed an innocent deity, but unlawfully judged a guilty one instead, we decided to let him get off with a warning. A slap on the wrist, so to say. The punishment that we decided upon for this young hero was a month of solitary confinement while his deeds would be published. It''s been ten days since then, and more than a million mortals have ?ssembled to plead for his release, amongst other things. This ends my summary. A period of open discussion shall now begin. If one of you has something to say, you can speak up now. But please make sure to avoid interrupting each other. We want this all to proceed in an orderly manner."

    Amongst those that had been listening, two particular gods had grown exceedingly pale - of course, they were Aparctias and Kaikias. Although there were some others that had picked up on the fact that Isaac could surely not be as heroic as he was currently made out to be, these two had been present when the young man had violently ?ssaulted their fellow deity.

    Ever since then, that benevolent, well-meaning smile on Isaac''s face had occasionally haunted their dreams. Although he hadn''t sported it to such an overblown degree the time that he destroyed Petbe''s mortal vessel, it had still been present - and now that they subconsciously ?ssociated it with the slaying of a deity, it left an even deeper shadow in the two''s hearts.

    ''A hero? What a joke! That man''s a madman, nothing more! Why are some of us vouching for him!? Are they blind?''

    Right as Aparctias was about to speak up, Kaikias hurriedly grabbed his arm and squeezed it, causing some clarity to return to the more impulsive wind god''s mind. A bit calmer, he turned to face his brother, his gaze full of questions.

    "Don''t say anything. There is far more going on here than meets the eye."

    Whispering quietly, Kaikias cautioned him, a clear hint of worry all over his face. Still a bit confused, Aparctias asked him to elaborate, and so he did, whilst keeping his voice down as much as possible.

    "It''s not actually important if the Blackshaw kid is a hero or a madman. What is of far more significance is the incensed state of the mortals, and their wishes. We have to appease them, or those of us who have come here to experience mortal life - in other words, most of us - won''t be pleased. Also, I bet that some of the round table, and possibly even Ouranos himself, are in on¡­ something¡­ and want to achieve some sort of goal. I just can''t tell what it is."

    Aparctias opened his eyes widely in shock as he heard this, and his heartbeat accelerated. He had never even considered whether there could be something greater at play here, but now that he thought about it¡­ it was all too suspicious! Hadn''t the populace become enraged and organized a protest far too quickly? Hadn''t the choice to publicize Isaac''s deeds been an irrational one? After all, if the Guild had never told anyone, then the public would never have been any the wiser¡­

    All of a sudden, everything related to this situation, and even many matters that had no connection to it at all - at least on the surface - came to the flabbergasted wind deity''s mind. Was he growing paranoid? Or was all of this really a huge conspiracy? But¡­ how? And who was behind it!?

    Yet again, a familiar smiling face came to mind, causing him to shiver involuntarily.

    ''Don''t tell me¡­''

    Searching for invalidation, he turned to face his brother again, but the complicated emotions in Kaikias'' eyes made the cold shiver that had already been running down his spine turn up a notch in intensity.

    The two were far from the only ones who smelled something foul at play here, but most simply didn''t have enough information to figure anything out, or were not as overly paranoid as the two wind deities. Some suspected that Ouranos wanted to change some of their rules and laws, and had manipulated the public into staging a protest after a useful opportunity had presented itself. At most, a few theorized that Isaac was just a pawn of the elderly god, one that had been used to kick off this entire sequence of events. Still, nobody dared to vocalize these suspicions, because at the end of the day, they were just that: Suspicions.

    In stark contrast, most deities merely took everything that had been presented to them at face value, and a considerable amount of them were quite¡­ simple, to say the least. Whether that be because they just wanted to unwind and left all their responsibilities back in Heaven, or since they just weren''t the brightest bulbs of the bunch, that depended on the individual. In any case, to make a ruckus now would only evoke the furious opposition of that majority, so of course, none of the smarter deities risked such an outco---

    "You fools! Don''t let that monster in human skin pull the wool over your eyes!! The Blackshaw brat is no hero, and not commendable in the least. I have no doubt that he would have killed Petbe even if she had been innocent, and some of you might even fall victim to his vile deeds in the near future!"

    With ''righteous'' anger burning in his eyes, a certain blue-haired gentleman rose from his seat and shouted into the crowd. He was the first one to speak up after Set''s explanation had come to a close, so of course he attracted everyone''s attention. Up until now, the rest had, at most, been whispering with their neighbours, or been in deep contemplation.

    "What an idiot! Why would he risk speaking up now? Doesn''t he realize that he''s just painted a target on his back? Even if what he said has some merit, his choice of words is far too venomous, and his timing couldn''t be any worse. What an unlucky guy¡­"

    Murmuring softly, Aparctias yet again shook his head in pity. Right as he was about to lament Ferthur''s fate further, his brother''s shaking voice entered his ears.

    "Unlucky? This¡­ w-what if this is all a part of the plan? The B-Blackshaw kid¡­ he is that vindictive!?"

    Kaikias'' eyes were rippling with terror as well as paranoia, and he was gripping his seat''s armrests so tightly that his knuckles had turned pure white. He couldn''t tell whether he had gone too far down the rabbit hole, but wherever he looked, he saw that young man''s fingerprints. His web was all-encompassing, and Kaikias couldn''t help but feel like even his own actions and thoughts had been a part of a big plan all along. His breathing accelerated for a while, then he finally managed to discover a shred of sanity in the mental ocean of madness. He hung on tightly, as if his life depended on it.

    ''That''s right, there is no proof for any of that. I''m just overthinking things. Still, it''s undeniable that the Blackshaw kid has had some part to play in all of this. From now on, we really have to live by what I said before: Never, ever offend or mess with Isaac Blackshaw, no matter what!''

 Chapter 149 - Several Revelations

    "What kind of nonsense are you spouting, Ferthur?!"

    "Yeah, that''s just bullshit! Do you have some kind of bone to pick with this child or something?"

    "Explain yourself. Why do you ?ssert such things?"

    Some of the deities sympathizing with Isaac''s situation reacted with anger at their fellow god''s statements, while some others aimed to investigate the reason behind his clearly hate-filled words. There was one thing that they had in common, however - they all waited for the others to finish first before speaking up themselves.

    During their regular ?ssemblies, their Denati, such exemplary behaviour was exceedingly hard to come by, and everyone would talk whenever they wanted, interrupting others at many opportunities, et cetera. It was a far more casual and unruly atmosphere, but there was a reason for it. Every Denatus could last for up to multiple days, and the godly community had never actually put a time limit on them. Therefore, they could waste as many hours as they wanted with banter and poor etiquette.

    In sharp contrast to that was this emergency ?ssembly, which left them with only a couple of hours to decide upon how a specific issue should be handled. Efficiency was key.

    Snorting glumly at his outburst having been received lukewarmly at best, Ferthur carefully mentally drafted his response before putting it into words, his expression a pitiful one.

    "The reason that I had to speak up, and also the reason as to why I''m so incensed, is that I have personally fallen victim to the Blackshaw brat''s wickedness in the past. We encountered each other only once, shortly after I had descended to the Lower World a few weeks ago. That time, I admit that I chose my words rather poorly when addressing him and his entourage, but that shouldn''t have been grounds for him to heavily injure me! I would have lost this mortal vessel of mine, if not for the Guild''s timely ?ssistance and healing. Watch out, my brethren! This young man is really not as he appears!"

    By the time that his small speech had come to a close, tears glistened in the corners of Ferthur''s eyes. Even just recalling that horrendous incident that would have cut off his bloodline had he been a regular mortal almost overwhelmed him with indignation, fear, shame and shades of pain. He didn''t need to lie or to put up a front. He truly felt like he had been mistreated to an entirely unreasonable extent!

    Some of his fellow deities began to waver in their opinion on the matter due to his sincerity. Had there truly been such an incident? Did they perhaps only have a very shallow understanding of the situation?

    "A load of crap, that''s what this is. Can''t you see that he''s only trying to lash out to get some payback for the perceived humiliation that he received? I''m certain that there is something that he isn''t telling us - the man that has slain Petbe and protected our city wouldn''t have simply attacked him out of nowhere. Also, who is to say that what he claims even happened in the first place? He could very well be lying."

    His white-ish blue eyes glowing with annoyance, a certain god with fiery red hair refuted the miserable Ferthur''s words. It was Ishum, the man who had paid a visit to Isaac''s people right before coming here, and also one of the earliest supporters of the protest.

    Amongst the deities, there were some who had been more heavily affected by their Divinities, and Ishum could be argued to be one of them. His personality had been shaped to be like fire itself. At times, it would be warm, caring, gentle and protective, but on other occasions, it might just turn into a blaze of irrepressible wrath that scorched the earth. At the moment, he was still very much in control, but to those a little bit more perceptive, it felt like there were sparks in the air, and the gentle flame was about to turn into an inferno.

    Of course, Ferthur was very much aware of this. While he hadn''t had too much contact with Ishum before, he at least had enough awareness to somewhat read the room. Still, because this concerned his vengeance, he couldn''t just back down without trying.

    "Why would I have the need to lie? I''m certain that the Guild has recorded the details of my injuries, as well as the nature of the incident. I think it would be best to present these as evidence, wouldn''t you agree, Ouranos? After all, this concerns the moral character of the Blackshaw brat and we should avoid making any overly hasty and flawed decisions."

    Glancing at the smugly smirking wind god that had involved him in the discussion, Ouranos nodded slightly.

    "Very well. I anticipated the possibility of this event being brought up today, which is why I had my children provide Set with the memory crystal that has recorded the incident that you spoke of. It happened here inside of Babel, and most of the tower is under constant surveillance. Now, please play the recording, Set."

    Not really picking up on how weird it was for Ouranos to be aware of his encounter with Isaac but the young man never having been brought to justice despite all of that, Ferthur stared straight at the b?r?-chested Set with joy and hope sparkling in his eyes. He hadn''t known that there would even be a recording of that day! While that would expose how shamefully he had been treated, it might also garner him some more sympathy, which would definitely further his goals.

    Because the duty of injecting a bit of mana into a memory crystal wasn''t anything noteworthy or bothersome, Set didn''t complain about it and simply took out the second and last crystal that had been handed to him earlier. Without standing on ceremony, he replayed the events for everyone to see.

    It began about five minutes before the ''fated encounter'' and showed Ferthur trying - and failing - to recruit someone to his familia, as well as unsuccessfully attempting to convince a few breathtakingly stunning women to become his concubines. His choice of words already made nearly all of the deities present - especially those that had been in the Lower World for a good while - frown, but they didn''t comment on it. They understood that some of their brethren were indeed this high and mighty when they descended for the first time, and that they desperately needed a reality check. Living in Heaven and under the suffocating, considerably mind-altering influence of their Divinities was anything but mentally healthy, and after spending up to hundreds of millions of years in such an environment, a massive ego was a common byproduct.

    Things didn''t get any better when that agonizingly rude and embarrassing prelude was finally over, though. This wasn''t helped by the fact that Ferthur had chosen even more ridiculous words to address the next target of his affection. To the shock and abject disbelief of the majority of the ?ssembled deities, his new prey was their idol, Ais Wallenstein!

    "What a divine appearance for a lowly mortal! You are qualified to warm my bed. What do you say, do you accept such an honourable position?"

    Puffing out his ?h?st in pride and seeing nothing wrong with these words that the recording had just replayed, Ferthur nodded to himself. Everything was going according to plan! He had clearly observed that some other, primarily male, deities had shown infatuated expressions when that girl had appeared, so they should be on his side now, right? Wait, was it just his imagination or were they glowering at him?

    Even Loki, who hadn''t bothered to do more than listen along so far sat up straight, her usually perpetually closed eyes opening a tiny bit. Those who knew her well were aware that this state of hers screamed danger. Had they been in Heaven, then she would have already charged at her poor opponent with overwhelming power without any hesitation. In the event that she couldn''t handle them personally, she would have begun to hatch a long and contrived plan to bring them down. Although she had often attempted to molest Ais, she truly did care about her a lot, even in a motherly way - to witness her treasured girl be the subject of such s?xu?? harassment, especially when she wasn''t the cause of it, was simply asking for a painful death.

    Luckily for the pompous wind god, the next scenes absolved him from the majority of the punishment that would have befallen him otherwise.

    Ais'' swift and impeccably controlled slap earned her the respect of nearly a thousand deities in one go, and the polite way in which Isaac had asked for her permission to have a go at disciplining the impudent scoundrel who had dared to disrespect his beloved like that only made him appear like more of a hero in the hearts of the gods.

    Well, as soon as the recording arrived at his terrifyingly benevolent smile and the accompanying ruthless obliteration of Ferthur''s private parts, that appreciation was considerably marred by a cold shiver that ran down their spines. Many couldn''t help but shield their crotches subconsciously and audibly gulped. Even some of those who had been angry with Ferthur before now sent short glances of pity his way.

    By the time that the recording was over, most of the accumulated rage of those who were a part of the Sword Princess Fan Club had somewhat abated - but it most definitely hadn''t disappeared completely.

    "Hmph, he got what he deserved."

    "If I had been in the Sword Princess'' shoes, then I would have burned his genitals to a crisp."

    Not only the gods, but also some goddesses indignantly remarked on what they had seen. Ais Wallenstein was somewhat of a sacred existence to them. Not only was she holding the record for the mortal who had advanced in Level the most rapidly in the last few hundred years, but she also had a divine grace to her that they truly admired. Amongst a world of mortals who had mostly stopped advancing their weapon proficiencies and combat skill in favour of focusing on pure stats, she was a shining star reminiscent of an age that had long since passed.

    Their reactions only served to confuse Ferthur. Why had things not turned out as he had expected? Wasn''t it only natural for him to want to make such an outstanding woman his own? Yes, he had failed. And yes, he could have definitely chosen his words more carefully. But was any of that grounds to antagonize him like that? Dazed, he uttered his questions.

    "What''s wrong? I didn''t say anything false, did I? That brat overreacted, and even that wench did. However, due to her outstanding beauty, coupled with my rather suboptimal phrasing as well as the fact that she was careful to not harm me too severely, I chose to forgive her. Wait, why are you all staring at me like that?"

    Some of those who had only just entered the Lower World at the same time as this ignorant wind god sent him gazes full of condolence, while nearly everyone else appeared to want to devour him alive.

    ''Ah, he''s truly a fool¡­ even I know about the legendary Sword Princess. While many harbour raunchy thoughts about her, they keep them to themselves. She is adored by many, and to choose to refer to her as a ''wench''... is Gravedigging perhaps one of your minor Divinities?''

    Sighing at the misfortune that was sure to follow his fellow wind deity''s path from here on out, Aparctias smiled wryly. Back when he and his brother had borne witness to the incident that had sparked Ferthur''s d?s?r? for revenge, they had been just as ignorant of the Lower World as him - but definitely not as excessively condescending. To see him have to pay for his sins weeks after the fact felt equal parts satisfying and terrifying. What if they had made a mistake like that as well and just hadn''t found out about it yet?

    "I see, so that''s why Ouranos never did anything about what had happened - he tacitly agreed with Ferthur''s punishment. He would have left it at that, because he felt like that fool had already paid sufficiently, but some people are just too blind to their own faults and misdeeds¡­"

    Murmuring softly to himself, Kaikias nodded. As a generally observant deity, he had long since speculated that this might be the case, but today''s events served to confirm it.

    "You''re lucky that we have more pressing matters to attend to, else I''d challenge you to a duel to the death right about now."

    "To disgrace the Sword Princess and call her a lowly pr?st?tut?¡­ you have balls, I''ll give you that. Mind if I rip them off and shove them down your throat? I promise I''ll be gentle."

    The sort of dense, arrogant god became the target of ever-increasing animosity and hostile remarks. At some point, even Loki chimed in.

    "After today is over, you better leave Orario for good. Else, if I ever see you here again, I''ll send you right back up to Heaven myself."

    By now, Ferthur was beginning to feel legitimately nervous and a bit afraid. Even he had heard about the might of the Loki Familia over these past few weeks, and while he could ignore nearly everyone else, the tomboy-ish red haired goddess that had just uttered this most recent threat could truly make his time down here an absolute nightmare. He couldn''t forget that he hadn''t only come here to seek vengeance on the Blackshaw brat, but he also wanted to locate the newly ascended wind deity and take their power for himself¡­

    ''Deep breaths, Ferthur. Priorities¡­ get your priorities straight. Growing stronger is more important. Just bear with the humiliation for now, you can pay it back manifold in the future as long as you continue on your path¡­''

    Pacifying himself mentally, the wind deity balled his hands into fists and forced out a few words between his painfully clenched teeth.

    "... fine. I''ll be out of your sight by tomorrow."

    Right as the situation was calming down and the conversation was about to get back on track again, a particularly keen-eyed goddess suddenly interjected.

    "Hold on a moment. This second recording, how long ago was it made?"

    "Twelve days."

    Furrowing her brows slightly, a bit of anticipation bubbling underneath the surface, the goddess continued her line of questioning.

    "And the first recording?"

    "Eleven days."

    Beaming brightly due to her suspicions having just been confirmed, the goddess presented her findings to the rest of the crowd, some of which - like her - had also figured out the same thing.

    "During the first recording, Isaac Blackshaw portrayed the strength of an average Level 3 adventurer, but during the second recording, he was suddenly as strong as a moderately experienced Level 4 adventurer. Did he grow that fast in just one day?! That''s¡­ just simply unbelievable! What do the Guild''s records have to say about this?"

    Despite being questioned repeatedly, Ouranos didn''t lose any of his calm. Even the - by now - quite stirred expressions of a fair portion of the ?ssembled deities didn''t faze him.

    "47 days ago, Isaac Blackshaw registered with the Guild as a Level 1 adventurer from the Loki Familia. 35 days ago, he reported that he had ranked up to Level 2 a day earlier, which means that it was 36 days ago. According to his next most recent report, he ranked up to Level 3 twelve days ago. Keep in mind, however, that between these two rank ups, he spent 18 days as a supporter on an expedition of the Loki Familia, where he couldn''t have made any progress."

    By the end of Ouranos'' matter of factly statements, there was pindrop silence. Not only those who saw themselves as supporters of Isaac, but even those who had held some animosity for him were absolutely flabbergasted. An advancement speed like that¡­ wasn''t it entirely unheard of? It had to be stated that Ais, who had taken about a year to rank up for every Level until she had hit Level 4 was regarded as the most outstanding prodigy of the Lower World in recent years. And now, there was a young man who could rank up two times in about a month!?

    "This¡­ Loki, did you use your Divine Energy to help him advance artificially?! Didn''t we all agree not to meddle with the mortals'' lives to such an extent? How could you!"

    With undisguised disgust and rage in her eyes, Ishtar sent a death stare in the direction of the trickster goddess. Even she, who liked to skirt the rules at times, would never sink so low as to break the agreement that they had all sworn to uphold. Artificially advancing a mortal in Level was also fraught with danger and would ultimately cut off their path to further advancement - and any Divinity. In a way, it could be considered a crime that could prevent some of their potential future brethren from ever achieving ascension!

    Clearly annoyed by the allegation, and the many hostile looks that she was now garnering, Loki snorted and shook her head.

    "Who do you take me for? Of course I didn''t do that! I had originally ?ssumed that I would only have to expose his astonishing growth speed during the Denatus, but then the whole Petbe business came up unexpectedly¡­ luckily, I prepared early."

    Scrutinizing her carefully, Ishtar frowned.

    "What do you mean? Do you suggest that you have proof at hand that can exonerate you?"

    Shrugging languidly, truly not in the mood for all of this, Loki sighed.

    "If I hadn''t been reminded of my coming doom recently, then I would have enjoyed this moment a lot more¡­ but there is no helping it now. Here you go. Have a good look, then get on your knees, kowtow five times and apologize."

    Her movements listless, the normally mischievous goddess pulled out a sealed envelope from one of her pockets. Upon laying her eyes upon the insignia and feeling the slight but nonetheless palpable Divine Energy that was radiating off of it, the Queen of the Entertainment District''s face turned multiple shades darker, but also somewhat conflicted. She knew that symbol, the ''calm well''...

    Unceremoniously, Loki handed the envelope over to Set, the one who had been put in charge of these various menial matters today. Just as surprised as many of the others to see an item like this appear at this junction, and down here in the Lower World to boot, the white-haired god carefully opened the envelope and took out a sheet that was emitting a very pure Divine Energy from within. After clearing his throat, he read the gracefully penned words aloud.

    "I have been commissioned by Loki to ascertain whether or not her following statement is the truth: ''Outside of granting him a Falna, I have not ?ssisted Isaac Blackshaw with my divine powers.'' The result: It is the truth. Signed: Veritas"

    Once more, many deities almost couldn''t believe their ears. It wasn''t so bad for those who had only recently descended and weren''t acclimated to the current state of the Lower World''s inhabitants yet - but those who were aware of the details knew just how monstrous of an existence Isaac had to be for him to achieve such growth without divine ?ssistance.

    As for why everyone had stopped doubting the trickster goddess'' words? That was because the one who was vouching for her was the renowned Veritas, one of the very few deities whose Divinity was ''Truth'' itself. Many had tried to dabble in it on the side over the eons, but the drawbacks were simply too severe, so they had discarded it - they would be entirely unable to lie or speak falsehoods in any way, shape or form. Maybe it would be different here in the Lower World, but up in Heaven, they would be completely incapable of ever lying to anyone. It was well-known that Veritas, and the other deities whose main Divinity was Truth, had never left Heaven, so her words had to be genuine. This letter even carried her Divine Energy signature, so it couldn''t be fake.

    More importantly, Veritas couldn''t only tell what she herself perceived to be the truth, but she could even ask the world itself for guidance - although only to a very rudimentary degree. By expending a lot of effort, she could ask the world a question, and it would return one of two results: ''true'' or ''false''. Resulting evidence simply couldn''t get any more reliable than that.

    But if it was so effective, why wasn''t this method used all the time? That was because of how extraordinarily costly it was. For one, Veritas - and the handful of truth deities that could also communicate with the world in the way that she could - couldn''t perform this act too often. Many decades of rest were necessary after every attempt. What made most deities even more reluctant to rely on these services was that they would have to pay a huge price to secure such help. Of course, Veritas and those like her wouldn''t just work for free or out of the goodness of their hearts. Everyone had aspirations, and they weren''t any different. Loki had to have made a huge sacrifice, which was admirable.

    Smirking slightly at their reactions, the red-haired goddess looked at her brethren one by one.

    "Those expressions of yours are simply a treat, and one that I''ll make sure to savour. It was totally worth it to ask for Veritas'' help. Even though I''m not in the mood to ridicule you too much right now, I''ll remember this."

    With her ''ominous threat'' out in the open, the faces of those that usually clashed heads with her at every opportunity, and that had shown her displeasure as well as traces of animosity after the goddess of beauty had jumped to a conclusion, grew more solemn. Once the whole Angrboda situation was tided through yet again, they would surely find a goddess knocking on their doors, her sole goal being to make a mockery of them...

    "Fine, I apologize for my rash accusation. But you can forget about the kowtowing, do I make myself clear?"

    Despite how unrepentant she sounded, Ishtar truly felt a bit guilty about what she had said earlier. At the same time, she was relieved - thankfully, nobody had broken that promise, else the Lower World would have devolved into absolute chaos in a short time - after all, where there was one, there would be many. Inwardly, she also felt conflicted about Isaac: On the one hand, she was impressed by his spectacular performance, but on the other hand, she felt like he might very well turn out to be a thorn in her side. Oh well, no mortal could resist her charm, so she was really just overthinking things.

    "Alright, alright. Let''s get back on topic, then. You all surely wonder how my Isaac could advance this quickly, and there is no need to keep it a secret. His combat skill is simply many times superior to anyone else. Recall the times before our descent about a thousand years ago. Whenever the mortals don''t have a Falna, many still find ways to advance themselves, and the chosen path is often to advance their skills in combat as well as in handling their weapons. Some of us here have even ascended due to achieving godhood by pursuing that path during the past millions of years. Now, if such a person with supreme expertise in combat was to obtain a Falna, how fast would he advance through the ranks? Look no further, my Isaac is the prime example."

    After she had forced herself to explain all of that, Loki deflated again, clearly disinterested in talking any further. Her words had already had the d?s?r?d impact, because many of those present recalled the glorious past, or their own achievements. Their eyes glittered in excitement coupled with tinges of regret.

    "Doesn''t that mean that he could have already achieved a far higher Level if he hadn''t been imprisoned? What a shame¡­"

    "He might actually become one of us in the future. It would be a good idea to foster friendly relations while we still have the chance."

    "I wonder what his main Divinity will be?"

    Finally, amongst the enthusiastic chatter, another question arose.

    "Wait, but why did he seem like a Level 3 adventurer when he was supposed to be at Level 2, and like a Level 4 adventurer when he was allegedly still at Level 3?"

    Quickly, however, Ishum brought up some potential explanations in an effort to dispel the remaining doubts and puzzlement.

    "It''s most likely the result of a rare Skill, but it could also be that he has managed to amass more stats than others before ranking up. After all, the only reason as to why the children believe there to be a ''stat limit'' at S-999 is that their combat proficiency is wholly inadequate. Maybe, there''s even a combination of both of these factors at play."

    For a while, the thousand plus deities got distracted by theorizing about this potential future comrade''s exact circumstances, but after about ten minutes or so, the sound of Ouranos clearing his throat - accompanied by a bit of his Divine Energy - reminded them of why they had actually been ?ssembled.

 Chapter 150 - The Deitiesâ€™ Decision

    Because of everyone''s embarrassment, it took a few breaths for someone to gather the courage to speak up again. Having waited for just such an opportunity, a particular god finally took center stage. It was Hermes, who had a placating grin plastered on his lips.

    "Enough playing around, everybody. I love pleasant distractions as much as all of you, but sadly, we''re on a bit of a timer here. Let''s get this show back on track, shall we? With that said, please forgive me for being straightforward. Instead of focusing so much on the matter of Isaac Blackshaw, we should address the underlying issue as a whole. His case is merely a single example, one that has pointed out a clear flaw in our rules and laws. Wouldn''t it therefore be pertinent to focus on these? In the process of doing so, we''ll surely resolve his case as well."

    These words earned him many approving nods. Quite a few deities utilized this opportunity to make themselves seem like they had wanted to get to the heart of the matter in the first place, and as if they had had no part in the previous time-waste. Their behaviour earned them disdainful sneers, but nobody really bothered to comment on it.

    Smiling gratefully, Sancus was the one who decided to carry the torch of conversation further.

    "I agree with you, Hermes. Our rules and laws are outdated, because they were decided upon back when some amongst us descended about a thousand years ago. Back then, there had still been a lot of pride in our divine bones, and we hadn''t seen ourselves as equals to the mortals. Keep in mind, that was despite our d?s?r? to experience a life more like their own. Over the years, we have learned to empathize with them more, and the long escapes from our Divinities'' influence have enabled us to realize many things. I''ll come right out and say it: I don''t think that there is anything inherently wrong with destroying one of our mortal vessels, as long as there is a good reason for it."

    The moment that his argument came to an end, many disgruntled snorts echoed throughout the hall. The majority of them originated from a decent number of the many wind deities that had descended just weeks prior. One of them had gotten particularly annoyed by what he had just heard, so he decided to retort.

    "Oh, and what is that reason? It''d better be a damn good one, or I''ll never agree to this horseshit!"

    Not even blinking at the use of relatively rough language like that, a genuine smile appeared on Sancus'' face, reaching all the way to his eyes. The overwhelming integrity sparkling within them was somewhat blinding.

    "I''m glad you asked! We deities will only suffer a little if our mortal vessels get destroyed, and we can always commission a new one. For us, the death of our mortal selves is not the end. But for regular mortals, it is - while their souls may live on, their lives are over. What I suggest is to put anyone who commits deicide on trial. If the reason for their actions is deemed to be a valid one, or if the one slain was a clear enemy to Orario''s godly community, then they will be pardoned."

    During this explanation, Dian Cecht had been stroking the goatee-part of his short beard, his frown growing more pronounced over time.

    "Hold up, Sancus. Wouldn''t that mean that we''d be entirely putting ourselves on the same level as the mortals? Although we came here to live like them, I don''t think it would be correct to go all the way. If we truly wanted to do that, then we would have just found ways to truly become entirely mortal and cast off our divine selves. In a way, all of this is but a sort of holiday. What kind of vacation would it be if we cut off each and every single path of retreat for ourselves? There have to be limits."

    His counterargument earned him the approving looks of many, whilst others couldn''t help but shake their heads. This time, it wasn''t Sancus who responded to dispute the critic''s reasoning, however - the gently smiling Demeter stepped in. Despite her generally easy-going and friendly expression, her eyebrows were ever so slightly furrowed. In other words, she was currently very annoyed.

    "In my opinion, Sancus'' proposal doesn''t go far enough yet, but I won''t press the issue because we should take this one step at a time. Isn''t aiming for the destruction of our mortal vessels to be treated exactly like the actual murder of a mortal already inherently unfair? In truth, we aren''t even all that disadvantaged by it. Therefore, the proposal would still allow us to keep these limits that you mentioned in place. At the same time, it would also earn us the goodwill of the children, which is never a bad thing."

    The old money-grubber didn''t detect any flaw in her rationale, so he simply shrugged and refused to respond. Even the usually ever-displeased Ishtar reluctantly agreed with her.

    During the meeting that had decided Isaac''s fate, one of the main reasons as to why she had taken such a harsh stance was that she didn''t want excessive numbers of deity murders to take place. Not only could that put her in a bit of danger, but it would also cause far more chaos than she actually wanted. There had to be a clear punishment for those who crossed the line, else the godly community would appear like all bark and no bite. However, in truth, there was no need to be overly tyrannical either. A best-of-both-worlds proposal wasn''t bad at all - it might even curb the deicide d?s?r?s of some who felt unfairly treated.

    "I concur. Most of our rules and laws don''t consider any exceptions. They are far too rigid. We shouldn''t have been this thick-headed in the first place. It was only a matter of time until something or someone that we hadn''t accounted for appeared."

    Unconcealed disdain flashed in Freya''s eyes as she listened to her fellow beauty goddess'' partially insincere remarks. For the biggest detractor during the previous meeting to now speak such righteous words was simply hypocritical. Still, she wouldn''t sink so low as to waste her breath on this matter - at least not now. With a chuckle that rang as melodious as wedding bells, the grey-haired embodiment of beauty became the entire ?ssembly''s focus.

    "We all know that the majority of those who are responsible for putting our rules and laws in place aren''t here with us anymore. Some have returned to Heaven - out of their own free will, or via less than peaceful means - while others have distanced themselves from Orario for one reason or another. Only a few handful are still present. In a way, we can view this as a ''generational change''. Almost all of us weren''t involved with the creation of the rules and laws that the mortals and us are now bound by, therefore, why should we accept them without question? I agree with Sancus'' proposal. At the same time, I would like to propose going even further. Let us discuss not just the rules and laws that relate to deicide, but all others as well. There are sure to be many parts which we will find lacking. We can''t do so now, but the upcoming Denatus would be the perfect place and time, wouldn''t you say?"

    Shocked murmurs sprang up everywhere in the hall. Most hadn''t expected an even greater matter to be addressed today, so they weren''t immediately certain of what to say or how to react. Of course, there were a few exceptions.

    Nodding happily and roaring in bellowing laughter, Ganesha slapped his th??h loud enough for some to worry about his physical wellbeing.

    "Well said, well said! Even I, Ganesha, couldn''t have done any better. I applaud you, oh beautiful one! The past is the past, and times ultimately change. Even us deities grow and improve, so why should our rules and laws be allowed to lag behind? I won''t stand for it! Why, you ask? Because I am Ganesha! AHAHAHA!!"

    Amidst his primarily annoyingly pointless sentences, some morsels of wisdom were sprinkled throughout, which were easily picked up on by the divine audience. Only some of the newcomers who hadn''t made the elephant-masked god''s acquaintance before felt like they wanted to slap some sense into him - everyone else had long since given up.

    "Let''s revisit that issue when it is time for the Denatus, okay? For now, we should really get back on topic. Is there anyone who wants to argue against Sancus'' proposal?"

    Taking the reins again, Set put the less important issues aside. There were b?r?ly two hours left before they had to announce a result, but it was still important to get any possible discontent out of the way and to give everyone the opportunity to speak up should they wish to do so.

    At first, nobody uttered a sound. Due to the nature of this ?ssembly, any points that were made would need to be solid enough to convince the majority of attendees, else it would be useless to even say anything. All previous complaints had been quickly brushed aside, which only further emphasized the need to actually make reasonable arguments. Individual opinion wasn''t of that much importance at the moment.

    Right as Set was about to steer the ?ssembly onwards and let the voting commence, one particular deity heaved a reluctant sigh and finally broke the silence. It was a middle-aged man with shoulder-length grey hair who was clad in a stylish black tuxedo. The yellowish-green eyes peeking through his unadorned glasses showed a hint of hesitation - he clearly wasn''t happy to have to go out of his way, but because nobody else said anything, he had to do it. A pair of goat horns grew from his temples. Just like many other deities, he had chosen a physical form quite similar to that of one of the many sentient races.

    "Yes, I do, for I take issue with it. Wouldn''t giving in to the mortals'' pressure set a dangerous precedent? While I agree that Sancus'' proposal, if judged in a vacuum, does indeed sound promising, it will also make us appear like pushovers. Won''t the mortals just do the same thing over and over again whenever they want something changed from now on? This time, it might have been a reasonable request that sparked them into action, but will it always be? This whole situation just seems like the starting point to a slippery slope to me. Please tell me: What shall we do about this?"

    His words echoed the thoughts of the less experienced deities. Not only mortals, but also the gods and goddesses would grow arrogant as well as conceited if they got what they wanted too easily. Taking a step back in favour of reason wasn''t always the optimal decision, even if it sounded great on paper. If the world were a place full of loving, understanding and honest people, then everything would go just swimmingly. But many individuals were far more problematic than that. Give them an inch, and they''ll take a mile. Make one concession, and they''ll ask for countless more. Help them once, and they''ll take it for granted in the future.

    All the gods and goddesses who had descended a huge number of times already simply shook their heads, despite the valid concern that had been brought to their attention. They had dealt with this exact issue on many occasions, and it hadn''t actually been particularly difficult.

    Showing a patient and understanding smile, a gallant old man clad in a black suit that sported a faded-green tie - K¨¢ri - turned to face the goat-horned ''youngster'' and took it upon himself to explain the veterans'' experiences in detail.

    "Zagan, your worries hold water, but they are easy to placate. In the past, situations like this one have cropped up countless times, and we made concessions to the mortals of those days. Some indeed let it go to their heads, but those were easy enough to deal with - a simple show of force was usually sufficient. However, after a while, we came up with a great method that would avoid most of these troubles entirely. We allowed the mortals to present us with their petitions for change in written format at designated times. Like that, most unrest would be quelled before it ever began, because the mortals had been given a voice. If they brought up anything that we couldn''t agree with, we also could always simply dismiss their petition. Some problem children still chose to revolt against our decisions every now and then, but there will always be those foolish or brave enough to face our wrath. The majority of any potential friction can be avoided by giving the mortals an official outlet that allows them to let the godly community know of their frustrations, and by at the very least making it seem like their issues aren''t falling on deaf ears."

    Surprise flashed in Zagan''s eyes as he took in this information that he hadn''t previously been privy to - his first descent to the Lower World had been a mere 100 years ago, so although he had become acclimated to its current state, he was entirely in the dark about what had happened all those millions of years before. Very quickly, he saw the reason within this solution to the problem that he had brought to attention, but there was still one minor issue remaining.

    "Thank you for your advice, K¨¢ri. All of that is well and good, but who will undertake all of the organizational work that''s necessary? I''m certain that the vast majority of us here wouldn''t exactly be rejoicing over having such a burden forced upon ourselves."

    Many deities voiced their agreement - they had come to this world to enjoy themselves and wanted to spend most of their days leisurely, so such a considerable responsibility was one that most would much rather want to avoid. Some therefore turned to face the calmly observing Ouranos, who took this as his cue to dispel some of the unnecessary worries.

    "The Guild will take care of it, so none of you will have to bother with it. I created the Guild with the intention of having them handle most of these miscellaneous tasks, after all. If there is nothing else, then let us proceed to the vote. Those amongst you who are against Sancus'' proposal, raise your hands."

    Although a number of deities had wanted to at least give voice to some more of their dissatisfaction, they knew not to make a fool out of themselves now. Ouranos had spoken, and the only thing that they could still do was to ''go down with a fight''. In other words, to vote against the proposal so that they could at least claim that they had done all that they could. There really were no good arguments left that they hadn''t already tried to bring up.

    Glancing across the crowd, Ouranos counted 108 votes and nodded. Almost all of them had behaved just as he had expected - the arrogant Ferthur and his ilk made up the majority of that number, while a few of the more dubious characters in the crowd also followed along. Those who had originally shown displeasure with the proposal had mostly not changed their mind, even after hearing what the more experienced amongst the godly community had had to say. To his surprise, Zagan had actually abstained from voting against the proposal - it was considerably rare for a deity not to be unreasonably stubborn. Ishtar was another example of this. Last time, she had been fully against any sort of leniency, but this time, she had apparently experienced a change of heart.

    "Let''s continue with those who are neither for nor against the proposal. In other words, those who, for whatever reason, want to abstain. Raise your hands."

    This time, the number of voters was smaller: 15. That wasn''t anything out of the ordinary, though. Those who wanted to stay on the sidelines weren''t that many, because most deities usually didn''t shy away from making decisions. Only those who were currently in precarious situations and couldn''t afford to offend someone who had voted differently from what they thought to be the correct choice, and those who simply didn''t care at all, would choose this course of action. Well, most of the latter hadn''t even attended the ?ssembly, else the number of participants would have been about five percent higher.

    "Lastly, those who agree with Sancus'' proposal, raise your hands."

    "Very well. With an approval rating of 89 percent, Sancus'' proposal has been accepted. Henceforth, any and all times that a deity''s mortal vessel is destroyed, the killer will be put on trial. Should they be able to produce evidence that exonerates them or should the deity in question have been an enemy of Orario, then the killer shall be pardoned."

    Letting his gaze rest on a small portion of the ?ssembled deities, the primordial god''s expression turned sterner than usual.

    "To clear up any potential misunderstandings in advance, let me state this: Anyone who oversteps our agreed upon rules and laws by too much will be considered an enemy of Orario. What qualifies as ''too much'' will be up to my discretion. You can rest ?ssured that I will be wholly impartial regarding this matter. Should any evidence of a considerable misdeed be found, then not only will the Guild take action, but some quests to eliminate the offenders in question may also be handed out. This is not up for debate."

    By the end of his statement, a terrifying amount of Divine Energy had seeped into his voice, shaking those whose crimes were already tangentially known to him to their cores. In a way, this could be considered Ouranos'' final warning to them - he had already been very lenient with them due to their various services to the city, and because they had hidden too deeply for him to officially accuse them of anything. That didn''t keep him from making it abundantly clear that he had good reason to suspect them, though.

    Despite the fact that most of the ones who had been targeted by the primordial god were unhappy, they didn''t dare to complain aloud. The majority of them simply resolved to hide even deeper and more thoroughly, so that their extremely shady and immoral businesses couldn''t possibly be exposed, but a small number chose to turn a new leaf. To them, all matters relating to the Lower World were just a game, but now that the risk had become too big and tangible, it simply wasn''t worth it to continue on this path.

    Because he had not stood out ever since his sole contribution to the ?ssembly, Hermes had no eyes on him at the moment, so he allowed himself to smirk gleefully. He had already been notified in advance that such a warning would be given today, and a number of secret quests had been issued to his familia. On the surface, Ouranos'' words of caution might sound like a gesture of kindness to some, and while that wasn''t entirely untrue, they were also a trap. No matter whether some would try to conceal their crimes further or attempt to wash their hands clean of their dark pasts, they would need to rush to get it done, so mistakes and slip-ups would inevitably occur. This could give them the evidence that they needed, and any that were found to have stepped too far over the line would not receive any mercy.

    ''I''m really looking forward to it. It''s high time for some spring cleaning.''

    While the god of wanderers was busy rejoicing, the collective mood inside the hall grew brighter again because Ouranos retracted his oppressive Divine Energy. Those who had nothing to hide had gloating expressions blossoming on their faces, not even feeling the slightest bit bad about the fates that might befall their shady brethren in the future - if they played with fire, then they had to be prepared to get burned.

    For ten minutes or so, no particular progress was made and the ?ssembly devolved into casual banter once more. This time, however, no primordial deity intervention was necessary, because they still had around one and a half hours left to finish all that they needed to discuss. With only one matter still partially unaddressed, there was now no need to rush. However, at least one person didn''t see it that way.

    "Hold up, I just want to get something straight. Us having accepted Sancus'' proposal means that Isaac Blackshaw will be set free, right?"

    Ishum''s question caused a considerable number of deities to stare at him as if they were looking at an idiot. A few even started to guffaw, causing the fire god to furrow his brows and turn a little incensed. Had they been in Heaven, then a region many times larger than Orario would have already been incinerated due to his aggravated state.

    "What are you clowns laughing at!? This is a serious matter! Yes, it might be obvious, and we would eventually address this issue offhandedly and get it done with. But every minute that we''re wasting here now that his fate has almost been decided, he will have to suffer in unjust isolation and darkness! We might not be bothered too much by something like that, but that''s only because our minds have turned very resilient after our ascension. However, that doesn''t mean that a regular mortal can endure the same - it''s pure torture to them! We''ve basically already agreed to pardon him, right? Then what are we waiting for? Let''s free the poor guy already!"

    Some who had previously championed for Isaac''s rescue but had allowed themselves to get distracted once they had felt the matter to have pretty much been dealt with already blushed in shame, while the few who still weren''t on board with letting a deity slayer walk free - or with anything that had been decided upon today - cursed within their minds. Still, none of them bothered to speak up, as there was no point to it any longer.

    With a smile full of appreciation, Ouranos listened to the words of the young fire god. They were filled to the brim with genuine empathy. A deity like Ishum might not be rare, but they weren''t all too common either. Every single one of their number was one that had to be treasured and cherished. Before any more time could be wasted, he exuded a bit of Divine Energy to regain everyone''s attention anew.

    "We have successfully resolved all issues for today. In mere moments, I will unlock the doors to this ?ssembly hall and you may all go about your business again. I will announce the results of our discussion to the public and Isaac Blackshaw will be released. There is no doubt that the public will want to have a good look at him, to celebrate his deeds to their fullest and to ensure that he has truly been freed. However, he might not be in a state to meet them yet, because solitary confinement takes a heavy toll - I will let my children ascertain whether or not he judges himself to be ready to bear such a burden already. Should he not be in any condition to do so or should he not wish to confront the protesters for any reason, then I will personally relay that information to the masses and face the potential backlash. Any other changes regarding our rules and laws shall be discussed during the next Denatus. Dismissed."

    -----

    When there was still more than one hour to go until the deadline that Ouranos had stated, the hologram of the old god appeared once more in the skies above the plaza in front of Babel. Only a few handfuls of people had left in the meantime, while the rest had grown a little more quiet than before but had continued to wait for the news that was to come. This was a monumental occasion, and to miss it was simply out of the question.

    The mood grew heavy when the people laid their eyes upon the unfathomably powerful deity for the second time. In their eyes, there was a mixture of fear, respect, anticipation and dread. Some judged the early reappearance as a good sign, while others thought negatively of it. Now that their waiting had come to an end prematurely, they felt like their hearts weren''t ready to handle the result of their protest yet. The tension was palpable.

    "Dear citizens of Orario, the godly community has come to a decision. Regarding the issue of deicide, our rules and laws have been amended. While any offenders will still be heavily punished like before, should there be evidence that can justify this deed in front of us deities, or should the slain deity in question have been an enemy of Orario, then the killer will be pardoned. Due to the circumstances surrounding the deicide of Petbe, it has been judged that Isaac Blackshaw will be pardoned. She was an enemy of the city, and removing her and her underlings was a meritorious deed on his part. He has already been released, and the Guild is currently determining whether or not he is in any condition to step into the spotlight. Should he need time to recover, I hope that you all can show some understanding for his circumstances."

    After he said all of this, Ouranos'' hologram fell silent, but he didn''t disappear. Whilst some were clearly unhappy with what he had stated in the end, because they wouldn''t be capable of dispelling their remaining doubts if they didn''t see the man of the hour with their own eyes, they couldn''t make a fuss while this powerful god was presiding over the premises.

    The silence continued for almost ten minutes, then the elderly man on the stone throne nodded slightly and showed a soft smile which brought relief to many people. His previously unchanging, impartial expression had weighed like a heavy boulder on their hearts.

    "I have been informed that Isaac Blackshaw is willing to meet you all. Both his physical and mental state seem to be in sufficient condition to handle this situation. He will leave the Pantheon in a little bit, so look forward to it. Any further details regarding this protest and how similar situations will be handled in the future will be presented to you all by the Guild after the next Denatus. Now that this matter has been dealt with, I shall take my leave. Enjoy the rest of your day."

    At first, everyone stayed silent out of respect, reverence and fear, but about ten seconds after the hologram had faded into thin air, people started to exclaim in joy and jubilation one after another. The volume quickly became deafening and even a bit painful, but almost nobody really cared about that. They had made a tangible difference and caused the deities to rethink one of the decisions that they had made in the past - the result of this was a euphoria that they had rarely felt before.

    Whilst he was climbing the stairs leading to the ground floor of the Pantheon, Isaac could hear the thunderous chorus of victory as clear as day. A small smile with an indecipherable meaning stole itself onto his lips.

 Chapter 151 - Under The Spotlight

    The further down into the earth that they descended, the more aghast Yolanda''s expression became. Just about five minutes ago, she - alongside a few of her colleagues - had been sent to release Isaac from the solitary confinement cell that he was currently being held in. At first, she had just expected him to be imprisoned in a slightly more secure location than where she had last seen him, but this ?ssumption couldn''t have been further from the truth.

    ''Only the worst kinds of criminals are ever being held here¡­''

    Originally, the cells that they had come across had still had some manner of civilized furniture, but the deeper that they went, the more the cells resembled cages used to house ravenous beasts. It wouldn''t even be much of a surprise if some of the dungeon''s monsters had been restrained in them at some point in time.

    When they reached the seventh basement level, the doors leading to the cells stopped having the vision panels that had previously allowed those on the outside to peek into them at their leisure. The number of cells grew smaller with every floor, and the lighting became far more gloomy as well.

    Finally, they arrived at the deepest reaches of the Pantheon. On the tenth basement level, there were only two cells, the right of which being the one that Isaac had been confined to for the past ten days.

    Yolanda''s eyes widened in shock as she realized that every single inch of this floor had been made out of adamantite - that really was about as high-security as it could possibly get. This entire journey downwards had been an eye-opener to her. Previously, she had never descended further than to the holding cells, because there had never been a need for her to do so.

    "Please stand back, I''ll turn off the formation."

    Taking a deep breath, the nervous Rehmer took out an object from one of his pockets. Yolanda couldn''t tell exactly what it was, but it looked round, a bit like a ball. After a bit of hesitation, the Chienthrope man smiled to himself and shook his head, as if dispelling the very last of his doubts, then he pushed the ball into a small groove on the wall, right next to the door. Seconds passed, then a slight vibration was transmitted through the ball and into Rehmer''s fingers, letting him know that the magical formation that had been protecting this cell had successfully been disabled.

    "Get ready, everyone! Spending ten days in darkness and solitude can have a heavy toll on even the most resilient minds. Mr. Blackshaw might be in an unstable state at the moment and his physical health might also have been compromised to a degree. Healers, prepare yourselves!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    In response to their superior''s reminders, the other four Guild employees nodded their heads solemnly. One of them was a retired Level 5 adventurer who had been sent along to act as a guard just in case the about-to-be-released inmate had lost his sanity, while two were relatively competent healers who should be capable of dealing with most physical maladies. Lastly, there was Yolanda, the dungeon advisor in charge of Isaac - as a familiar face, she might possibly be able to mediate between the group and him easier, should it be necessary. But even more importantly, she had been dispatched by their deity personally for some reason, so there was no question at all that she had to come along.

    Having steeled himself, Rehmer took out an adamantite key from his pocket and unlocked the cell door, pushing it inwards gently in an attempt not to startle Isaac - it never hurt to be a little more careful.

    "Ugh¡­"

    A somewhat pained, hoarse groan resounded from the darkness. Peeking into the cell from behind her coworkers, Yolanda could make out the figure of a young man leaning against the wall opposite of the door that they had just opened. But what greeted her was not the good-looking, charming man that she had known - well, not exactly, at least.

    His skin had markedly paled and taken on an unhealthy tone. There were deep and dark circles underneath his eyes, speaking volumes of his many sleepless nights. The whites within his eyes were quite bloodshot, but not too much to be overly worrisome. A bit of weight had been lost, and his mind was clearly still murky, because it took him close to ten seconds to react to the pale light flooding his cell. Weakly, he raised his left arm and shielded his eyes from the invading brilliance. All in all, while he didn''t look terrible - mostly due to how handsome his default appearance was - Isaac seemed quite a bit under the weather, to say the least.

    "Someone¡­ is here? But hasn''t it only been¡­ ten days?"

    His slow words were filled with confusion. He had to squint his eyes and blink repeatedly to somewhat grow used to the dim light that he had been cut off from for so long.

    "Please remain calm, Mr. Blackshaw. This is Rehmer Kohm speaking, we''ve met before. I come with great news! You''re being released."

    Rehmer noticed that while the young man''s mind had grown somewhat sluggish, his sanity was still more than intact. With nothing to worry about, he breathed a sigh of relief and slowly stepped closer, reaching out a hand to help him up. Upon noticing the wary glint in Isaac''s eyes, however, he took a few steps back and nodded at Yolanda, whose support Isaac finally accepted.

    He almost fell over when he got to his feet and had to hold his head with a pained expression. Clearly, having sat around for so long, his legs had fallen asleep and this abrupt change to his center of gravity had caused him to have a headache. Thankfully, Yolanda wrapped one of his arms around her shoulder and held him upright, else he probably wouldn''t have been capable of moving around efficiently anytime soon.

    Some quick first aid Magics and a few gulps of water later, morsels of strength returned to his limbs. Slowly, he was led outside of his cell and up the many flights of stairs that separated him from the surface. As if he had finally truly come to, his gaze sharpened and he sent an inquisitive look in Rehmer''s direction.

    "May I ask why I''m being released?"

    Pleased by the young man''s speedy mental recovery, the Chienthrope man showed a smile and nodded, explaining the circumstances as they went.

    "But of course. News of your incarceration and your deeds spread amongst the citizens of Orario. Many felt that the way that the situation was handled was unjust, so more than a million people gathered and staged a protest to ask for justice. The deities convened for an emergency ?ssembly, and they decided to change the laws in regards to deicide. In essence, should a deity that qualifies as an enemy of Orario be slain, then the perpetrator will be pardoned and not face any punishment whatsoever. Thus, you''re free to go!"

    Unconcealed shock flashed past Isaac''s face and he grew silent for a few moments. Eventually, though, he calmed down again and asked another question.

    "Let me guess. I''m expected to meet with the masses in order to let them know that they''ve succeeded, right?"

    Nodding as if he had already expected this inquiry, Rehmer''s smile widened and turned more appreciative. This young man''s wits were still especially sharp, despite having just suffered through horrendously tortuous days that would have driven most mortals insane. He honestly couldn''t help but begin to genuinely respect him.

    "You catch on quickly, Mr. Blackshaw. It would indeed be best if you could placate the public''s worries, but Lord Ouranos has stated that it won''t be a problem for you to refuse if you don''t feel up for the task - whether that be mentally or physically. The Guild is currently not in a position to make any demands of you, so don''t worry."

    For a minute or so, Isaac seemed to be lost in deep thought, then he raised his head, his eyes flickering resolutely.

    "Many thanks to Lord Ouranos for the offer, but I''m fine. Well, fine enough. I''ll meet the people. Please let him know."

    With gratitude written all over his face, Rehmer gave a short nod towards the accompanying Level 5, who hurried upstairs with incredible speed in order to let the higher-ups know about this immediately. To be frank, the Guild truly didn''t want to face any more backlash, so Isaac agreeing to this was saving them from a lot of irritating problems.

    The next five minutes passed in a flash. Finally, they had arrived on the fourth basement level, where the shouts and cheers of the protesters could be heard.

    When Yolanda turned her head to glance at this charge of hers in order to check up on him, she noticed that a small smile had formed on his lips. Her heart grew warmer at this sight and she felt compelled to whisper a few words into his ear.

    "They''re all cheering for ya. Don''t be afraid or overwhelmed, alright? I''ll stay at ya side for now. Someone''s gotta be ya crutch, after all."

    A chuckle escaped his lips and his smile broadened. His body, which had started to grow more tense the closer that they had gotten towards the surface, slowly relaxed again.

    "Thanks, then I''ll rely on you for the time being."

    Pride welled up in the uniform-clad Amazoness'' ?h?st. Finally, for the first time since they had met, she could actually do something significant for this adventurer of hers. Usually, whenever she was put in charge of someone, she would have many regular meetings with them, during which she would inform them of dangers that they had to watch out for, advise them on dungeon-related matters, and even work as somewhat of a therapist. However, due to Isaac''s exceptional status as a member of the prestigious Loki Familia, she hadn''t gotten a chance to do any of that. To have encountered an opportunity to help him felt legitimately refreshing.

    Before they knew it, the young man and the Amazoness had made their way in front of the door leading outside of the Pantheon. The noises coming from beyond it had grown a little quieter, but they were still deafening. Due to security concerns, all entrances to the Guild''s headquarters had been tightly locked before, but now, they got ready to open this one in order to release the unrightfully imprisoned Isaac into the city.

    Pretty much every Guild employee that the enigmatic man had come to know so far was ?ssembled, aside from Fels - the friendly skeleton couldn''t really appear in public. Isaac exchanged polite words and courteous nods with all of them, Eina and Misha included, then Rehmer unsealed the front door and swung it upon.

    As he was led outside by Yolanda, many thousand pairs of eyes instantly focused on him and the surroundings turned quiet enough for people''s heartbeats to seem ear-shattering. There was even a familiar feeling mixed amongst all of these gazes that he - at first - couldn''t place. Very quickly, however, he realized that it had to be Hermes'' version of the Eyes of Hermes. All throughout the city, many small floating ''mirrors'' fashioned out of Divine Energy had appeared which showed him stepping outside of the Pantheon, supported by a gorgeous Amazoness office worker.

    ''Not a bad idea. I should try to replicate this myself. Well, it''ll have to wait until I actually have the time.''

    The moment of extreme silence quickly passed. From one moment to the next, clamorous shouts and yells threatened to submerge the duo of adventurer and dungeon advisor.

    "My hero!! You''re finally free!"

    "Praise Isaac Blackshaw!!!"

    "Lord Ouranos didn''t lie to us, he''s really been released!"

    "That''s Isaac Blackshaw? Huh, he looks a bit more sickly than I imagined."

    "Duh! Of course he does! Spend ten days in solitary confinement and you won''t look any better yourself."

    "Can I have an autograph?"

    "Marry me!"

    As if ?ssaulting him with words wasn''t already enough, many people charged at Isaac with a plethora of emotions glistening in their eyes. The only ones who actually caused him visible discomfort were the considerable number of women who were drooling and panting.

    ''How thirsty can you get?! I clearly look like a frail wreck right n--- wait, maybe they''re into that?''

    Before anything untoward could happen, while the tsunami of people was still around ten meters away, three figures appeared in front of Isaac, shielding him from the masses like sturdy bulwarks. They were a familiar High Elf, Pallum and Dwarf - Riveria, Finn and Gareth.

    Seeing these celebrities of their own right appear and exude their pressure, the people backed off but still shot fiery gazes in Isaac''s direction. Their cheers and shouts also only intensified in volume.

    Furrowing her eyebrows at this, Riveria chose to ignore it and turned around, pulling out a flask of water and a handkerchief from her pockets. With practiced motions, she moistened it and thoroughly wiped Isaac''s face, ridding it of the bits of grime that had accumulated there over the past ten days.

    "Good, that''s better. You look a little bit more presentable now. But when we get home, you will have to take a shower."

    Feeling a bit sheepish at her scolding, he scratched his cheek. With a glance at Yolanda, he muttered a few words of apology.

    "I hope my body odour isn''t bad yet. If it is¡­ then I''m sorry."

    Hastily shaking her head, the Amazoness shot him a reassuring, pure smile.

    "Not at all! I''m actually surprised by how pleasant ya smell is!"

    This statement of hers only earned her the baffled and speechless looks of not only Isaac, but also Riveria. It took Yolanda a few moments, but she eventually realized how weird her words had been - if she hadn''t been ordered to accompany her charge until he returned to the Twilight Manor, then she would have already tried to escape this embarrassing situation somehow.

    "Ladies and gentlemen! An end has finally been put to injustice, and our hero has been released. In the name of the Ganesha Familia, I thank the gracious Lord Hermes for his ?ssistance in providing us all with clear live footage of the scene. We''d like to invite you, dear Isaac Blackshaw, to the stage, to address the people. Please make your way to the plaza in front of Babel, we will be patiently awaiting your arrival."

    Because the man who had shouted these words into a microphone-shaped magic device was also the one who usually represented his familia during the Monster Feria, the citizens were already familiar with him. Their applause erupted even more thunderously after his message had been delivered. Almost as if they had rehearsed it in advance, everyone hastily opened a route towards the plaza, allowing Isaac and those who were accompanying him to get there relatively unobstructed.

    Smirking slightly, Isaac nodded at Yolanda as well as his familia''s three heavyweights and embarked on the cleared path. A few of the more unrestrained men plus women clearly still held the d?s?r? to swarm him, but three Level 6 adventurers were far more than enough of a deterrence to keep them somewhat civil and at bay.

    ''Seriously, that Hermes¡­ I didn''t pay too much attention to what he wrote on the signs before this, but some of these¡­ does he plan to have me be a s?x symbol of some kind?!''

    As he was reading the contents of the seemingly countless signs that people were raising, Isaac''s smile stiffened on more than one occasion. Although he had never let up on his surveillance of the entire city, he hadn''t thought it relevant to read each and every single word on these countless signs - it would have just been a waste of mental strength. Now that he finally got to take a direct look at them, some truly were simply outrageous. The amount of people who professed their love to him via signs, or claimed to want to bear his offspring, was staggering. Worst of all was that a significant number of them truly had that weird, seductive look in their eyes that made it very clear that they were being serious¡­

    When the five of them had made it half-way to the plaza, another group of people came running towards them - this time, however, the Loki Familia protectors didn''t bother to block them.

    "Isaac!"

    With a smile that could bring the light of hope to even an apocalypse-stricken world, a girl whose otherworldly beauty had caused a fair few goddesses to become stricken with jealousy rushed towards her beloved and enveloped him in a hug. Relief and joy was painted all over the breathtaking facial features of the Sword Princess, her golden hair swaying ever so slightly in the gentle gusts of wind that surrounded her.

    In front of the entire population of Orario - all of whom were currently watching them because of Hermes - she softly interlocked her fingers with Isaac''s and planted a loving kiss on his lips. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and so were those of her beloved, but the two didn''t really pay much mind to their surroundings. The delight caused by seeing each other again after having been separated made them disregard the hurt feelings of their admirers entirely. Well, to be fair, they would have also ignored them under normal circumstances.

    Shortly after Ais had arrived at his side, Isaac''s students followed. Most of them just gave him a quick hug or a pat on the shoulder, but Aselina and Mina didn''t let go of him until he had given them a few head pats.

    Suddenly, Isaac''s right eye twitched a little and he turned his head to look towards the direction which his people had just come from. Someone who he hadn''t had all too much contact with in recent days, due to her trying to come to terms with her own feelings, was barrelling towards him akin to a missile. It was Tiona.

    Like the others, she hugged him - but a lot more tightly, clearly happy that she didn''t have to restrain herself any longer. No matter how hard she squeezed him, his body wouldn''t get crushed. It was fantastic! Usually, she would have done a few more sensual things and would have let her hands wander, but today, she was being oddly¡­ docile.

    ''This wasn''t exactly a part of the plan. Anyway, I''m glad that she didn''t go too far¡­ hugs are fine.''

    After letting go, Tiona joined the rest of the group with an innocent smile on her lips. There was a bit of sadness in her eyes, but she didn''t seem to be overcome by it - it was merely a tiny trace. Raising his eyebrows a little, Isaac thought of a few possibilities, but ultimately decided to shelve thinking about them for now. At the moment, there were far more important matters to deal with. For example, the five people that he hadn''t personally met yet.

    In response to the inquisitive gaze that he shot in her direction, Ais introduced them to him.

    "This is Phelia Nihara, the Queen of Mystldom, and these four are her guards."

    With a broad and unrestrained grin, the Pirate Queen walked up to Isaac and reached out her hand for a greeting.

    "Nice to finally meet you! Just call me Phelia or Pheli, alright? Want to be friends?"

    Apparently a bit taken aback by the frankness of her request, Isaac froze for a moment, then a smile formed on his lips as well and he grasped her hand, giving it as firm of a shake as he could manage.

    "Sure. It''s nice to meet you too, Pheli."

    Despite his currently feeble appearance and the relatively weak nature of his handshake, the spirited goodwill in his eyes caused the queen''s evaluation of him to rise. At the moment, he might still not be on her level, but his determination appeared rock-solid, and his nature amiable. Inwardly, Phelia loudly rejoiced at her success - she had actually been quite worried that she would fail here at the very first hurdle and be met with a far more distant approach.

    "Mind if I tag along? I can come back another time if you''re feeling too exhausted."

    Despite how casual she sounded, there was a hint of genuine worry in the queen''s voice. In his current condition, this new friend of hers might very well need some rest and a good night''s sleep. If her continued presence extended the period of time that it would take until he would get a chance to recover, then she''d prefer to take her leave for now.

    Shaking his head, Isaac smirked, the look in his eyes a mysterious one - nobody was able to tell what exactly he was thinking.

    "No need, just come with us. I''m going to be as good as new soon enough. Anyway, we should probably continue onwards, else some people might start to get violent."

    Isaac''s reminder woke the rest of the group from their reunion-induced daze. They had been standing here for a few minutes already, and the crowd was getting even more noisy. Raucous complaints for them to move on already had been shouted a few times, and it would surely only get worse if they made them wait for too long. Everyone could spare some sympathy for this freshly released hero and his loved ones plus friends, but it had a limit. At some point, people''s selfish d?s?r?s would take over and make them urge others on, in an effort to avoid having any more of their own time wasted.

    "Excuse me, but can you leave him to me?"

    Smiling gently, Ais poked Yolanda''s shoulder and finally freed the Amazoness from her, by now, quite flustering fate. While her charge had been getting kissed and embraced, she had still been acting as a support pillar for him. It had felt incredibly awkward to almost be included in a group hug, and to be in such close contact with people that she didn''t really know. Now that the Sword Princess had swooped in like a saviour who would allow her to blend into the background until she had fulfilled her duty, she happily switched places with Ais. Honestly, she even felt a bit ashamed for not having brought up this transfer of responsibility herself - it had kind of made it seem like she had wanted to hog Isaac for herself, had it not? But, in all honesty, she had never even thought of that.

    After this minor matter was settled, Isaac and his entourage hastily made their way towards the plaza in front of Babel.. They didn''t move all too quickly, because they still had to keep his weakened state in mind, but it nonetheless didn''t take them all too long to arrive there.

 Chapter 152 - Taking Centre Stage

    "Look, look! He''s finally coming into view."

    Grinning brightly, Anya pointed towards the north-west, straight at the figure of the man who this entire protest had been organized for. Although he was still far more than a kilometer away, due to the excellent eyesight of Level 4 adventurers, nearly everyone on this roof could make him out clearly - with the exception of Syr. Previously, they had only been able to gaze at him via Hermes'' mirrors, but now, the actual person was finally approaching.

    "Guess it''s time to stop slacking off!"

    With renewed vigor, Chloe waved her protest sign in the air, the scandalous words emblazoned upon it not really sticking out from the crowd as much as they should have due to the huge number of the exact same signs that the god of wanderers had produced.

    ''I honestly can''t tell if she''s serious or not¡­ but I really hope that she isn''t.''

    Speechless, Ryuu glanced at the energetic cat girl and shook her head. She was more than 90 percent certain that Chloe was just messing around - as usual - but her acting was so convincing that even she had started to doubt her own judgement.

    ''In retrospect, maybe I should have stayed back at the Hostess, just like Lunoire and May.. Well, those two actually wanted to come along, but Mama Mia said that two of us had to be present at the very least¡­''

    Honestly, Ryuu was just glad that nobody would pay any attention to the sign that she was reluctantly holding up. Yes, she had actually been talked into hoisting the ''deity slayer'' one that professed one''s love. She only did it because she wanted the others to finally stop teasing her. Due to so many others holding similar ones, it felt less humiliating. Staying incognito amidst the mob and blending in, that was the goal.

    ''Looks like he''s had it rough¡­''

    A hint of worry and pity flashed past her pupils as she got a full, direct view of Isaac''s weakened self. While she didn''t necessarily agree with his way of handling evildoers, that didn''t mean that she wanted him to suffer. She wasn''t that heartless.

    Suddenly, she noticed his head turning in the direction of the rooftop that the four of them had rented for today. Inevitably, she couldn''t help but have a bad feeling about this¡­

    ''He doesn''t see me. He doesn''t see me. He doesn''t see me!''

    Despite telling herself this over and over as well as hastily lowering her protest sign, the slightly wooden expression that had stolen itself upon Isaac''s face, as well as the almost imperceptibly raised corners of his mouth, told her otherwise - so she froze in place. A blush that was multiple shades deeper than any that had come before it spread on her cheeks and all the way up to her ears, whilst the rhythm of her heartbeat grew irregular.

    ''... he definitely saw me.''

    Right as she was feeling like her life was practically over due to this humiliation, Isaac''s gaze wandered over to Chloe. His slow but steady advance to the stage halted and his eyes lost their ?uster as well as their life for a few seconds. Before anyone complained about his behaviour, though, he sported a bright, gentle smile and waved, causing raucous cheers to erupt.

    "You see that? He definitely waved at me!!"

    "Shut your trap, he locked eyes with me!"

    "Are all of you blind? I''ve walked past him on the street before, so he most definitely recognized me and wanted to acknowledge me!"

    Quite a bit of confusion spread amongst the crowd, but only the Hostess of Fertility''s waitresses knew that they were the ones who that greeting had been extended to. With smug grins, both Chloe and Syr turned to their entirely crimson-faced Elven friend.

    "Aren''t you happy, Ryuu? Your feelings finally got through! And if I''m lucky, then I might even get a baby of my own~"

    The cat girl''s suggestive words managed to snap the mortified Elf out of her daze. Taking a few deep breaths, she quelled the embarrassment and rage that were bubbling deep within her heart, then she turned her head slowly, looking straight into Chloe''s eyes. A smirk crept on Ryuu''s lips.

    "Oh really now? I''ll make sure to inform Isaac that you''re actually serious about it, then. Who knows? You really might have found ''the one''."

    Taken aback by her co-worker''s witty response, Chloe panicked a little, before her smugness saw a resurgence. Still, she couldn''t hide the unease in her voice - clearly, she had gotten far more than what she had bargained for out of what was supposed to be a not-so-innocent joke.

    "G-Great! Yeah. Y-You do that!"

    -----

    Whilst Ais was helping him up the stairs, she whispered into Isaac''s ear with a mocking grin plastered on her face.

    "Well well, so many young maidens are thirsting for you. Aren''t you a popular one?"

    Although she was well aware that nobody in this world could compete with her for the affection of her beloved, witnessing thousands upon thousands of women profess their love to Isaac via protest signs - and sometimes via their words and scandalous actions - had caused her to become slightly disgruntled. It didn''t even matter whether they were serious about it or not. When she saw that even an old acquaintance of hers, Ryuu, had taken part in this, she really couldn''t help but make fun of Isaac for it, to let off some steam.

    Shooting her a helpless smile, he sighed.

    "Hermes really overdid it this time. I told him to make signs and to contact Ganesha to prepare a stage, but¡­ I expected some unreasonable affection from the crowd, but this is a bit too much."

    "No need to give me such a serious answer, I was just kidding."

    Winking playfully in response, the corners of Isaac''s mouth rose.

    "I know."

    After the two''s little banter, they finally arrived at the top of the stage. The rest of their group had been asked to wait down below, so as to avoid crowding it too much. The member of the Ganesha Familia that had kept the people entertained so far - a tanned man sporting a mostly b?r? upper body who wore brown goggles that covered his eyes - walked closer and pressed a second microphone-shaped Magic Item into Isaac''s hands. There was a switch on the side which had already been flipped and he could make out the mana operating within, so he ?ssumed that it was currently turned on.

    The first to speak was the man of the Ganesha Familia, who led Ais and Isaac to the seats that had been made ready for them. Due to the frail physical condition of today''s main star, it would have been unreasonable to expect the man in question to stand on stage for a prolonged period of time, so a sofa had been prepared for him to relax on. There was also a table in front of it, on which various drinks and snacks had been arranged, as well as a comfortable chair on the opposite side. Thanks to Hermes'' help, there was no need to worry about the crowd not seeing them properly, so they could all sit down in peace.

    "Please take a seat over there, Mr. Blackshaw and Sword Princess. This Ibri Achaa is delighted to make your acquaintance."

    After they had all taken their respective seats, Ais grasped Isaac''s hand and held it tightly, evidently afraid of him disappearing again if she let go. With a warm smile on his face, Isaac brought the Magic Item closer to his mouth and addressed the well-disposed announcer.

    "It''s nice to meet you too, Mr. Achaa."

    With a nod and a grin, Ibri acknowledged his response and got on with the show.

    "Do you have anything that you''d like to say to the crowd?"

    Taking a deep breath, Isaac turned to face the countless people that had ?ssembled, his smile turning even brighter. Those that saw his sickly but nonetheless attractive features on Hermes'' mirrors couldn''t help but become slightly charmed by it, as the pure relief and appreciation sparkling in his eyes appeared overwhelming. The ones who had turned into rabid fangirls already proceeded to screech excitedly, earning them confused and dumbfounded looks from their fellow, more reasonable protesters.

    "Really, thank you all! Without your help, I would have had to rot in absolute darkness for many, many more days. Truthfully, I cannot thank you all enough. I know that not all of you have come here specifically to fight for my freedom, but instead to demand just treatment from the deities - still, I thank you nonetheless, because your support and voices have allowed me to see the light of day again, as well as enabled me to reunite with my loved ones a lot earlier."

    At first, the crowd kept quiet for a few moments, but then, thunderous applause rang throughout the city. Once it had calmed down a bit again, Ibri cleared his throat and spoke up.

    "Ahem. Well said! I know that it''s a lot to ask you to make your way here and speak to us, especially after you''ve just escaped such a torturous punishment. You have both my thanks as well as my respect."

    "I''d feel ungrateful if I didn''t come here, especially after all that everyone''s done for me."

    As usual, Isaac''s words were accompanied by cheering, which forced Ibri to wait for another chance to continue.

    "I don''t want to beat around the bush, so let me be upfront and ask you directly: Do you have anything else that you want to get off your ?h?st while all of us are gathered here today?"

    Seeming to be in deep thought for a while, Isaac stayed silent. Eventually, he nodded and turned to face the citizens of Orario.

    "I have, but it''s going to be a bit of a lengthy speech. I don''t mean to dampen your enthusiasm, everyone, but I''d like to request for you to listen to me until the end. Would that be alright?"

    "I''ve noticed that many of you refer to me as a ''hero'', but I don''t think that is a fitting term. What is a hero? It''s a person who actively fights against injustice, and stands up against any wrongdoings for everyone, not only the people that they know and care about. I, however, am different. Although the actions of a hero would indeed mirror my own in this particular instance, that won''t always be the case. I only took care of Petbe and her familia because they tried to harm my students. To be honest, I''m not sure whether I would have intervened at all if that had never happened. That is why I don''t think that someone like me should be called a hero."

    His surprisingly self-deprecating words diminished the euphoria of the crowd a little, with some people muttering unhappily or shaking their heads. Still, they kept silent, so as to let him finish his piece first.

    "I''m not completely selfless - in other words, I''m no different from all of you. Don''t get me wrong, though, I''m not criticizing you. We''re all just¡­ normal. My actions may have very well resulted in me preemptively saving some people from pitiful fates that would have befallen them otherwise, and they have saved my students. I cannot deny that, nor do I want to try to do so. But I think that there is an important lesson that can be learned from all of this, one that each of us should take heed of: We all have the potential to be someone''s saviour!"

    Sweeping his gaze over the masses, Isaac took note of the collective mood being on an upward trend again. Apparently reassured, the smile on his lips turned a little brighter.

    "Of course, it''d be unrealistic of me to expect others to become heroes. But isn''t it reasonable to hope for everyone to step up if the ones that they care for are in trouble? Just look out for your loved ones and friends - if everyone does this, then almost everyone will be cared for and protected. If you see others fighting against injustice, then join them! Today''s experience should have taught us all that once many of us come together, we can even change the deities'' minds."

    Pausing once more to let it all sink in, Isaac took a deep breath. When he continued to speak yet again, his expression had become a solemn one, completely unlike the one that he had shown earlier.

    "Despite the outward splendour of Orario, we''ve all seen many dreadful crimes taking place in this city, some of them far worse than others. Think of the danger that robbers, murderers, slavers, drug dealers and even more wicked folk pose to those that you care about. Maybe they aren''t an immediate threat right now, but will that always be the case? What if it''s your house that will be broken into soon? What if your niece will be abducted by slavers the next time she goes out to procure groceries? What if your best friend turns into a drug addict? What if your son is going to be the victim of one of the serial killers that have been running rampant in the shadows for a long time?"

    Right as the crowd''s mood had markedly improved, these chilling reminders caused it to plummet again. Many clenched their fists or cried because of the losses that they had experienced in the past. Although Isaac had claimed that he didn''t want to dampen everyone''s enthusiasm, he had clearly done just that.

    "When we''re alone, we''ll feel powerless in the face of those travesties, and we''re too afraid to step up to try to prevent them. After all, by our lonesome, we''re too weak. That''s especially the case if our Levels are low. However, this can be counteracted to a degree. If many of us step up when we see these kinds of things happening, then we can prevent them. As they say, there is safety in numbers. Still, I''m not asking any of you to be a hero, as that would be hypocritical of me. If you bear witness to a situation that you and those around you cannot comfortably deal with on your own, then report what you have seen to someone who can. Whether that be the Guild, powerful familias, or someone else - it doesn''t matter. Just¡­ don''t stay silent. Do the best that you can for those that you care about, and for yourself. Do what is within your power. Don''t try to carry the weight of the world''s horrors on your shoulders alone, because you''ll inevitably collapse. That evildoer that you cannot do anything about might just be squished to death like a bug by a First or Second Class adventurer. In the same vein, if an issue won''t take much effort to resolve on your part, should you have the time, please help out."

    "Remember, this is Orario, the Labyrinth City. Beneath us lies the dungeon, which boasts both plenty of danger as well as opportunities for growth. You don''t necessarily need to rely on others to help you, because you can become strong enough to deal with all potential troubles on your own. All you need is to do your best, and to exceed your limits!"

    For a few moments, the crowd wasn''t sure whether or not he was truly finished. At the same time, many were also feeling conflicted about the things that he had said. Still, after a while, cheers erupted once more, drowning huge parts of the city underneath their overwhelming volume. Only after more than two minutes did the people return to a calmer state, giving Ibri another opportunity to talk.

    "You weren''t kidding when you said that it''d be a lengthy speech. Still, what you said contained quite a bit of truth. I can only represent the Ganesha Familia myself, but I can guarantee that should someone contact us with information relating to a crime, we will do our best to solve it. Our deity, Ganesha, is the god of the people, after all!"

    -----

    More than a hour later, Phelia found herself having followed Isaac''s entourage into the grounds of the Twilight Manor. Because she and her guards were being treated as guests by the Loki Familia due to Ais having allowed them in, they didn''t get obstructed by the magical formation. On a side note, the confused Yolanda had also been brought along. But had she not been supposed to return to the Guild after escorting Isaac back to his familia''s home? Then why had she been asked to stay around? She had yet to find out the answers for these questions.

    Eventually, they were led to a meeting room, which the entire group settled down in. It got a bit cramped, but there was still ample space for everybody. Phelia didn''t know it at the time, but this was Loki''s study, and the goddess had permitted them to make use of it for now.

    "You said that you want to be my friend, right? Then there is no need to keep up appearances."

    In response to Isaac''s puzzling words, Phelia turned to face him, only to become stunned. All of a sudden, his tired and physically frail appearance started to change in real time. As if many hours, if not days, passed in a matter of seconds, his body recovered and returned to his usual, perfectly healthy peak state. He was practically glowing with vigour, and his handsomeness had risen by at least two levels. There was an amused smirk on his lips - surely, his current appearance would have been even more lethal to his various admirers amongst the protest''s crowd.

    "Oh, surprised? I hope you enjoyed the show."

    When he waved his hand and bowed in a joking manner, Phelia finally noticed it. As if a veil had been lifted, the enigmatic man''s entire bearing had changed - his stats included. Well, it would be more accurate to say that what she perceived his stats to be was now different.

    ''What is this!? How could he possibly be so strong?!!''

    The queen''s eyes widened in unconcealed shock, and for a moment, a hint of panic settled in her usually fearless heart. If Ais had seemed like an unfathomable monster to her before, then she couldn''t even put into words how frightening and overwhelming Isaac''s presence appeared now that he was no longer obscuring it. To be fair, purely stats-wise, he was a bit superior to Ais, but if both he and the Sword Princess were to activate all of their Skills, then they would be more or less on equal footing. Still, at the moment, he came across as the far bigger threat. Thankfully, he exuded not even the slightest hint of hostility, so Phelia quickly managed to calm her erratically beating heart again.

    "Don''t tell me¡­ are you a Level 8 already?!"

    In response to her inquiry, Isaac shook his head, his eyes scrutinizing each and every one of her reactions closely.

    "Nope, just a Level 7."

    Before anyone else who hadn''t been in the know could come to terms with this bombshell, a scream escaped Yolanda''s lips - huh, she really reacted like that quite often, did she?

    "WHAT!? How did ya suddenly become a Level 7?"

    Calmly reclining on the green sofa, Isaac shot a smile at the agitated Guild employee.

    "That''s easy. I was never imprisoned in the first place. It''s all for show. I struck a deal with Ouranos, and that''s also why you''re here today, my dear Yolanda."

    Growing even more nervous, cold sweat began to pour down the Amazoness'' back. Stuttering slightly, she did her best to remain as composed and rational as possible.

    "Pl-Please explain."

    Pausing for a moment, Isaac seemed to organize his thoughts, then he nodded.

    "Very well. I won''t go into detail, as we''d be here for days if I did. All that you need to know is that there is a force that seems to be antagonistic to Orario which wants to get rid of me and my students. Petbe is a part of it, and I used her mortal vessel''s elimination to conveniently disappear from the spotlight for a bit, increasing my strength whilst keeping my enemies in the dark and underprepared. Ouranos also seems to be wary of the force that Petbe belongs to, but he also had some other motivations to strike a deal with me. There are many reasons as to why we cooperated to kindle the flames that set today''s protest into motion, but those would also take far too long to expound upon, and it''s not really too important for you. You''re here because you''ve been promoted - or rather, you''ve been given a special ?ssignment because you''re already familiar with me. Catch!"

    With a casual motion, Isaac retrieved an Occulus from thin air and threw it to Yolanda, who managed to catch it despite her jumpiness. This was a different one from the one that he had first been given by Fels. It had been handed to him by the friendly skeleton some time before he had been officially released from his cell.

    "That''s an Occulus. You can think of it as a communication device. To activate it, simply pour your Mind into it. Anyway, you can get accustomed to it later. The one on the other end, Fels, will teach you all that you need to know about it. Just so you''re aware, Fels is Ouranos'' direct ?ssistant. You must be wondering about what your new job actually is, right? Well, it is to be a bridge between me and Fels, or rather, between me and Ouranos. You''re basically my employee and handle the communication between both sides. It''s probably going to be a lot less work than what you''ve had to deal with at the Guild, so don''t worry. As for your remuneration, it will only be a lot higher. It would be vastly preferable for you to live here at the Twilight Manor while you are working for me, but it''s not a strict necessity. What do you say?"

    Utterly overwhelmed by this flood of words, it took Yolanda nearly twenty seconds to react to Isaac''s question. There simply had been too much information to take in, and it felt like her life had completely changed from one moment to the next. It was¡­ difficult to wrap her head around it.

    "I¡­ umm¡­ That''s fine. Yeah. I''m somewhat of ya secretary when it comes to Guild-related stuff now, right?"

    Nodding happily at her having understood so well, Isaac gave her a thumbs up.

    "Exactly!"

    Whilst they had been conversing, Phelia''s expression had become a lot more guarded than before. Although she had extended an offer of friendship towards this young man earlier, his complete and unexpected change, as well as the various clearly s?ns?t?v? matters that were being revealed in her presence were making her anxious. Was there perhaps some specific reason as to why she had been brought along? Was she in danger? And more importantly: How many layers of veils were still obscuring the real Isaac Blackshaw from her eyes even now?

    Swallowing down her worries, the Pirate Queen gathered the courage to give voice to some of her thoughts.

    "Why am I here?"

 Chapter 153 - Raidâ€™s Eve

    A reassuring smile adorning his face, Isaac didn''t let the apparent anxiousness of Phelia get to him and replied unhurriedly.

    "To get an opportunity to really become my friend."

    Puzzled, the queen tilted her head a little. This certainly wasn''t the response that she had envisioned. Although she felt like she was currently just dancing on top of this man''s palm, she chose to indulge him.

    "What do you mean by that?"

    Indubitably having expected exactly such a reaction from her, the corners of his mouth rose a little further.

    "Firstly, I needed to drop the act that I had put up for the public. A friendship built on layers upon layers of masks isn''t an especially stable one, after all. Anyway, this matter is already taken care of. Although I won''t lie to you and tell you that I''m currently being entirely myself, I at least am only overplaying the vague emotions that I do feel, so our interaction will flow a little smoother.. I''m afraid that the ''real me'' isn''t that conducive to relaxed social interaction."

    Unfathomable loneliness flickered past his expression for mere fractions of a second, momentarily engulfing the room in its dreadful atmosphere. However, before anyone could properly react to it, it had already disappeared, as if a fleeting dream.

    "Secondly, I also want to get to know you. How could I possibly be friends with someone that I don''t truly understand? That one is a more long-term matter that cannot - or rather, should not - be rushed. This evening is merely our first actual encounter."

    After waiting a little for Phelia to fully absorb what he had said, he arrived at the last part of his answer.

    "Thirdly as well as lastly, I want to give you the opportunity to ask me anything. You surely have a lot of questions, so shoot. I''ll answer all that I can. Like I said earlier, if we are to get along in the future, then being honest is an important part of the foundation of our friendship."

    Despite these many kind words, the queen hadn''t entirely let down her guard yet. That short flash of strong, desolate emotion that he had shown had served to significantly reduce her wariness, though. Now, with this offer that would likely resolve nearly all of her puzzlement on the table, she couldn''t resist.

    "Alright, I do indeed have lots of things that I want you to enlighten me about. What was that rousing speech on solidarity actually about? If you say that you spoke those words solely out of the goodness of your own heart, then I''m afraid that I won''t be able to believe you."

    With a smirk playing across his lips, Isaac scratched his right cheek somewhat sheepishly. This Pirate Queen was indeed perceptive - there had been far more going on than initially met the eye.

    "Looks like you''re starting to understand me a little better. Yes, that wasn''t why I did all of that - or rather, not entirely why. In some corner of my heart, I do genuinely hope that the people can learn to work together, can be kind to one another and can stamp out crime and suffering whenever they encounter it. However, I''m all too aware that although such a societal state can be achieved, it cannot last. Therefore, even though I hope that my words had a positive impact on a few handfuls of individuals in the audience, I''m not expecting too much. Rather, what I wanted to achieve were a couple of other things. One: To motivate some people to do good deeds and fight crime, which would in turn reduce the amount of potential annoyances that I could run into. Two: To shift the burden of being perceived as a ''hero'' and being expected to strive for the greater good from my shoulders, at least in part, while still retaining the positive perception related to this incident and myself. I made it evident that I''m not a miracle worker and showed a path forward, while keeping the image of someone who wants the best for everyone in the public''s hearts. And three: To inspire more adventurers to grow stronger, in turn improving the public security of the city that my beloved Ais'' familia resides in. If they''re safe, then she''ll be happy. And if she''s happy, then I''m happy."

    The bright and entirely innocent smile that revealed itself on his lips as he finished his lengthy explanation served to both wash away the last bits of anxiety that had plagued Phelia''s mind and to make the cheeks of the astonishingly gorgeous young woman seated next to Isaac redden slightly.

    ''Those two are kind of adorable, aren''t they?''

    Upon being bathed in the wholesome aura that the two lovebirds exuded, Phelia chuckled inwardly. Only a couple of moments later did her mind return to the numerous questions that still desperately craved for an answer. His previous words had served to more than settle one of them, so she was looking forward to what else he would say.

    "Thanks for clarifying - it all makes a lot more sense now. By the way, why did you decide to accept my request for friendship anyway?"

    Isaac glanced at Ais with tenderness in his eyes.

    "Well, Ais here judged you to be someone that I would most likely get along with. She informed me about it, and I trust her judgement. Just so you know, my impression of you thus far does seem to confirm her thoughts."

    Whilst the two had been conversing, the rest of the group had been chatting amongst themselves, with only a couple of them listening in from the sidelines from time to time. Over the next hour or so, many matters that had left Phelia at a loss slowly got cleared up one by one.

    Due to his glorious return to freedom, when it was time for dinner, the Loki Familia hosted a massive gathering in the canteen, celebrating to everyone''s hearts'' content. The Pirate Queen and her guards were also invited to take part, as well as Isaac''s students, so they didn''t stand on ceremony. Even Loki appeared a little bit less crestfallen during this joyous occasion.

    At close to midnight, everything finally died down again - no matter how much everyone wanted to let loose, a certain mother hen sternly reminded them that they still had plenty of duties to take care of, and that there was an important operation that would be carried out tomorrow. Maybe, today''s nearly excessive merriment was in part spurred on by the dangers that they were about to face.

    Recalling the clear relief in Isaac''s eyes when Riveria had finally freed him from being the center of attention and had scolded everyone for staying up too late, Phelia couldn''t help but snicker. As she was reminiscing, before she knew it, she and her guards had already arrived at the entrance of the Twilight Manor''s grounds. They were accompanied by Isaac''s students - the man himself had already taken his leave, because he was considerably busy.

    "See you in two days, then?"

    In response to Kalin''s slightly saddened, hesitant farewell, a broad grin stole itself on the queen''s lips. Despite his relative weakness, she had grown particularly fond of this young man. Admittedly, it might partially be because she was subconsciously looking forward to the person that he would come to be in the future, but mostly, it was because of just how approachable and genuinely friendly he was. Aside from him, she had hit it off well with Lefiya and Mina. Now that the lovable Chienthrope girl didn''t suspect her of chasing after her lord anymore, there were no mental barriers preventing their harmony. As for the rest of the students, they got along decently with her - none of them were particularly social in nature, so it would have needed a once-in-a-century miracle to make them become chummy with her immediately.

    "Yeah. Stay safe tomorrow, you hear? I want to see you all still in one piece when we meet again, okay?"

    Thinking about what they would have to face soon - Isaac had clued her in a little after she had touched upon the topic during his earlier AMA - Phelia grew a bit concerned before dismissing these worries in their infancy. With Isaac''s support in the background, they should be safe. Probably. That enigmatic man was not someone whose means she could fathom.

    "Relax, we''ll be fine!"

    Kalin''s confident grin served to wipe away most remaining traces of her unease, and Mina''s heartwarming smile got rid of the rest in their entirety.

    "With milord to watch our backs, we can only be victorious. As long as we trust in milord''s judgement, we will have nothing to fear or doubt."

    Scratch that - for a moment, she had forgotten that this girl was too much of a fanatic.

    "Well then, we''ll take our leave. See you then! Nikyos, hurry it up, for goodness'' sake!!"

    One of Phelia''s guards, a man no older than 25, winced at the mention of his name and hastily put the book that Jakk had secretly slipped him into one of the bags that were strapped to his belt. Nikyos was by far the youngest of the guards, and could be called the second most promising fighter of Mystldom. There was just one problem with him: He was very much interested in pursuing the more ?r?t?? paths of life, but due to being a soldier, he hadn''t gotten any chances to become involved in romantic relations. Having met a like-minded man of culture in the Hume Bunny youth, the two somehow grew closer without most being the wiser. Birds of a feather flock together, after all.

    ''I''ll just pretend that I didn''t see that.''

    Phelia''s eye twitched as she caught a glimpse of the title and cover of the book that her personal guard had just pocketed, but she didn''t make a fuss about it. As long as they weren''t on duty, her soldiers could do whatever they wanted to do in their private lives, after all. Although Nikyos was technically still on the job, she made a special exception due to today''s extraordinary circumstances. With a shake of her head, she purged the words ''Solo on Melen''s Beach Vol. 73'' and the bikini-clad cat girl beauty seductively posing beneath them from her mind.

    Even though he was clearly embarrassed at having been caught red-handed, Nikyos shot a knowing and grateful smile in Jakk''s direction, while the bunny boy gave him a covert thumbs up. No words needed to be spoken between these two ?r?t??a-versed gentlemen.

    Some waving later, the group from Mystldom vanished into the night and the students made their way back to the base.

    -----

    Contrary to what he had done during all those previous times when he had been primarily focusing on his Mana Cultivation in his private world, Isaac didn''t work on researching new Magics at the moment. Instead, he was reading through his massive backlog of system notifications. During the protest, three different kinds had appeared, some leaving him more speechless than others.

    [ Eliana Ilaria has fallen in love with you.

    Quest ''Gain three people''s love.'' completed. 300 AP rewarded. ]

    [ ... ]

    [ Susanna Voivaine has fallen in love with you.

    Quest ''Gain 37 people''s love.'' completed. 3,700 AP rewarded. ]

    Aside from the million plus people that had directly stood up for him, the rest of Orario''s population had also had the opportunity to gaze at him via Hermes'' mirrors after his release. Considering how enormous the final number was sure to be, it had been inevitable for some individuals to grow overly attached to him - despite being aware of this, Isaac was still dumbstruck at how many maidens had truly fallen for him.

    Curiously enough, he couldn''t spy even a single male name amongst this list, which surprised him. He had somewhat expected a few gay men to have been recorded here too - purely statistically speaking, it was likely - but it seemed like none of them were as mad as these 35 nutcases.

    [ Terry Jorvas considers you a friend.

    Quest ''Make 29 friends.'' completed. 2,500 AP rewarded. ]

    [ ... ]

    [ Phelia Nihara considers you a friend.

    Quest ''Make 2,372 friends.'' completed. No AP rewarded. ]

    As predicted, an unhealthy amount of people had also formed a parasocial friendship with him. Ever since the system had told him that Kalin considered him a friend all those weeks ago, only his fellow supporters, members of the Loki Familia and a certain Elven waitress working at the Hostess of Fertility had been mentioned in these notifications, making up a total number of 28. But now, more than 2,000 people that he didn''t know at all suddenly thought of him in such a light. Being a public figure, and being exposed to these unhealthy obsessions, felt quite disturbing. Having the ability to conclusively determine who and just how many had gone too far didn''t make it any better.

    The ray of joy that made him brighten up again was the very last friendship-related notification. Seemingly, over the evening, Phelia had come to truly see him as a friend - somehow - regardless of their relatively rocky start. It was a bit quick, but matters of the heart often didn''t care about the amount of time that two individuals had spent together.

    [ Tsukikitsune Kaede''s fundamental beliefs relating to the power of solidarity have been changed by your words.

    Quest ''Transform four people''s fundamental beliefs.'' completed. 400 AP rewarded. ]

    [ ... ]

    [ Estelle Brown''s fundamental beliefs relating to the power of solidarity have been changed by your words.

    Quest ''Transform 42 people''s fundamental beliefs.'' completed. 4,200 AP rewarded. ]

    By the time that he got around to skimming through this last batch of notifications, he had already grown numb to them and didn''t know what to remark inwardly any longer. For 39 people to have undergone a thorough mental awakening due to his little speech simply felt surreal. Still, upon thinking about it once more with a clear head, it did make sense - within a crowd that was larger than seven digits, a couple of handful of individuals might just coincidentally be in the right state of mind to internalize something like this.

    Regardless, far more important than these unknown people''s fates or circumstances was his astonishing AP income: 214,700. To be honest, today''s performance had netted him an almost unbelievable amount. Because he was highly averse to doing such publicity stunts, and as he didn''t have a desperate need for AP that would drive him to overcome this displeasure more often, this windfall would certainly be a one-off occurrence. At least for the foreseeable future.

    One other thing to note was the difference in AP rewards when it came to these three different kinds of achievements. Friendship rewarded him with an increasingly higher amount of AP - 100 more for each successive achievement - until the 25th one, after which it stayed at 2,500 AP all the way until the 50th one. Once that point had been reached, no further AP were rewarded. As for the love and fundamental beliefs achievements, they followed the same pattern as the friendship ones, but their rewards didn''t stagnate at 2,500. So far, Isaac also had no idea where their limit was. Would it also be at 50?

    ''Oh well, I''ll find out someday. Back to magic practice we go.''

    Dispelling any distracting thoughts, Isaac focused all of his surplus mental strength on chipping away at researching some new concepts for Magics again, and on slowly studying this world''s magic itself.

    Yesterday night, a sealed letter had appeared on Ryuu''s nightstand. Judging from the insignia of a minimalistic ''I'' with an ornate crown on top, she had quickly realized that it had to have something to do with the recently released Isaac.

    Although she had wondered about how in tarnation he could have possibly come here and left this message for her, she had decided to read it first. Whatever the case, the wrongdoer in question hadn''t been present, so it would have been pointless to blow her top.

    By the time that she had arrived at the elegant signature at the end, her expression had turned especially grim and solemn, even a bit icy. With hurried steps, she had proceeded to Syr''s room, to indulge in both the comfort of her close friend, as well as in the counsel of a wise goddess.

    "What''s wrong?"

    Upon having noticed her distressed state, the usually playful grey-haired enchantress hadn''t bothered to beat around the bush and had ushered the agitated Elf towards her bed, where they had both sat down.

    "Have a look. I¡­ I think I''m going."

    Once she had quickly skimmed through the contents of the letter, everything had become crystal clear and a rare softness had glimmered in the disguised goddess'' eyes. She had pulled Ryuu close and had enveloped her in a gentle hug, during which she had patted her back to both cheer her up and support her.

    ''So that''s what''s going on. I was wondering about what he was aiming for. With that, a few more pieces of the puzzle fall into place.''

    Instead of uttering these selfish thoughts of hers, Syr had chosen the appropriate words for the situation.

    "I will tell Mama Mia. The girls and I will cover for you, so don''t worry. Your safety is the top priority, though. Okay?"

    While having been immersed in a painful memory, Ryuu had simply shivered a little and had let out a b?r?ly perceptible "Mhmm". Ever since she had fully accepted her friend''s real identity, she had grown a lot closer to her - using her embrace to quell mental echoes of the past had been a first, though.

    Eventually, the Elf had fallen asleep in the arms of her undercover goddess friend. When she had awoken six hours later, Syr had already left for the Hostess.

    At 9 a.m., Ryuu found herself in front of the gates to the Twilight Manor. She had donned her adventuring outfit again, the green cloak hiding her mostly exposed limbs from view. As she waited in silence, she couldn''t help but recall the events that had led up to this point and blushed a little.

    "Ms. Lion, you''re cleared. P-Please follow me to the Captain''s office."

    A young man who was even more nervous and awkward than the current her by the name of Raul Nord led the fidgety Ryuu into the manor''s grounds. Soon after, they entered the main manor itself. The way in which this relatively new Level 4 adventurer behaved quickly made her ease up, however. One time, he forgot to open a door before entering it, another time, he tripped over nothing¡­ all the while, he was stuttering nervously, introducing the various parts and areas of the manor to her. Honestly, for a Second Class adventurer to appear so unreliable both made her fear for the future of this familia as well as calm down entirely.

    Finally, they arrived at the ''war room''. Two knocks later, they were asked to come in.

    With a glance, Ryuu took note of everyone who was ?ssembled. Loki, Finn, Gareth, Riveria, Ais, Isaac, Tiona, Tione, Bete, Lefiya, Aki, Alicia¡­ as well as pretty much every other Level 4 plus adventurer of the familia. All in all, with her and Raul included, there were 35 people.

    The moment that she stepped into the room, everyone suddenly grew quiet and 33 pairs of eyes focused on her, causing her to halt in her steps momentarily. This stand-off didn''t last for long, however, because she saw Isaac beckoning her to take a seat next to him and Lefiya - he seemingly had saved her a spot.

    Relieved at having been handed an escape route from the spotlight, the tense Elf made her way over to him and took him up on his offer. Meanwhile, Raul closed the door and sat down next to Aki.

    Nodding calmly, the blonde Pallum overlooking the crowd from behind the most prominent desk rang a small bell that stood atop it to get everyone''s attention. Once the various murmurs had died down, Finn smiled elegantly and spoke up.

    "Alright, we''re all here now. As all of you already know, we''re about to raid a manmade labyrinth that is located beneath Daedalus Street, known by the name of Knossos. The specifics of the operations will now be laid out to you. With that said, I''ll let the one who has drafted them, the organizer of this whole event, take over. Isaac, would you be so kind?"

    Rising to his feet after having been addressed, Isaac gave a small, polite bow and waved his hand in a nonchalant manner. What happened next caused nearly everyone who attended this pre-raid strategy meeting to widen their eyes in shock.

    An unbelievably detailed miniature model encompassing the entirety of Knossos took shape in the middle of the room. If one were to look close enough, then one would notice that it was made solely out of dust of various colours, held perfectly in place and sculpted by gusts of wind that couldn''t be perceived by anyone who was further than a few millimeters away.

    Such a feat of chant-less, manual magic was entirely unprecedented.

 Chapter 154 - Entering The Labyrinth

    "If you want to survive, then take up a weapon and fight until you are the only one left standing. Now, begin!"

    In between munching on the expensive fruit slices that were being fed to her by her b?r?ly-clad attendants, a drop-dead gorgeous woman spat out words as venomous as a lethal poison. She was reclining on a luxurious but comfortable armchair. Aside from her private parts, which were mostly covered by her very inviting, black lingerie, the rest of her marble-white skin was fully exposed. Her shoulder-length black hair framed her impeccably sculpted facial features, while her lime-green eyes observed the situation just a few meters below with amusement and anticipation, as well as a hint of intoxication.

    The name of this woman was Kakia, and this massive underground hall was located in the basement of her familia''s home. Just like in the Colosseum, there was a fighting stage that was situated lower than the seating area from which the goddess and many of her familia members were enjoying the spectacle.

    A group of thirty people, consisting of both young and old, of both men and women, and belonging to many sentient races, had been thrown into the arena, which had piles of various weapons strewn throughout. Their eyes had already turned dead, mostly devoid of hope, but when the goddess'' words fell upon their ears, some determination welled up within most of them, who then proceeded to scrutinize their surroundings carefully.

    For weeks, if not months, they had been living as captives of this familia. Any last vestiges of rebellious spirit had been violently forced out of them.. Those who hadn''t submitted had long since departed the world of the living. Originally, when they had first come to after having been abducted from various corners of the city, or after having been bought from slave merchants, they had still tried to call for help, but had quickly realized how futile it was to hope for salvation.

    Their guards had laughed in their faces and had explained to them that when this mansion had been constructed, they had paid a hefty price to get a magical formation set up. One of its effects was to soundproof the entire area. This was actually a common feature that many familia homes would incorporate for the sake of privacy and security, so it hadn''t been weird for them to request it as well.

    ''Go on, fall!''

    As she was watching the people in the arena, some of which were already sneaking off to grab weapons - maybe to protect themselves, or perhaps to end the others'' lives faster so that they could live a little longer - Kakia''s right hand wandered down her abdomen, until it reached her p?nt??s. A rosy blush spread on her cheeks, and her breathing accelerated. Noticing how even some of the captives momentarily shot her entranced looks, she slipped her hand further down, beneath the fabric, a twisted sense of p???sur? overcoming her.

    ''Fall faster! Show me! Come on already!!''

    Shouting inwardly, she bit her lower lip and stared at a middle-aged man who had picked up a spear from the ground. The look in his eyes was a conflicted one, but he somehow managed to disregard his last reservations and charged at an elderly lady who had just grasped a dagger. The man seemed to have a reason as to why he couldn''t allow himself to die here¡­ but the same was true for most of them. Only two children and an old man didn''t make any attempts to defend themselves even when they realized that everyone else was arming themselves. Whether that was due to fear or because they had already given up, nobody could know for sure.

    Right as the middle-aged man had started his charge and the goddess was about to start pleasuring herself with practiced movements, a beautiful but cold voice oozing clear killing intent spoke from right behind Kakia''s leather armchair.

    "We''ve got enough. Take out the trash."

    Startled, Kakia and her familia members turned around, only to notice a gust of wind rushing past them faster than they could react. A fraction of a second later, any and all conflicts within the arena had been put an end to without anyone coming to harm, and a golden-haired figure clad in a white-black battle cloth plus a couple of pieces of grey-ish silver metal armour had appeared amidst the captives. Her golden eyes stared straight at the bewitching goddess, her expression containing clear traces of disgust. Despite Kakia''s ravishing outward appearance, the hideousness of her personality couldn''t be concealed. Being stared at like this made the goddess uncomfortable and become offended. Who did this girl think she was for her to dare to look at her with eyes like that?!

    However, before anger could overwhelm her, the rational part of her mind managed to catch up with the rapid changes in the situation. Finally, she realized who she was looking at.

    "S-Sword Princess! So the Loki Familia¡­"

    Instead of finishing her sentence, she grew silent as the pained and panicked screams of her children reached her ears. They filled both the mansion above, as well as the seating area around her. Due to her attention having been directed at Ais for these short few seconds, she hadn''t even realized that tens of Loki Familia members had stormed her home, instantly overwhelming each and every kind of resistance within.

    They didn''t hesitate to slay the Kakia Familia members who they came across, although some of them were clearly hesitant in doing so. Amongst the group, a woman clad in a green cloak stuck out the most, because she was the only one to merely knock out her opponents, avoiding to kill them. There was a deeply disturbed expression plastered on the Elf''s face, especially as she came across the cells that held tens of abused victims while accompanying the Loki Familia members who were sweeping the place.

    Amidst those who were locked up, even some corpses were present - seemingly, nobody had bothered to get rid of them yet. The majority of captives were not only malnourished, but also had bruises all over their bodies. Some had an arm or a leg missing, or possibly ''just'' a few fingers or toes. A couple of women didn''t even bother with trying to preserve their dignity any longer and just lay on the ground, in exactly the same shameful, biofluid-drenched states that they had been left in. After what they had had to endure, their minds were utterly broken.

    ''How could anyone treat other people like this? Do they still deserve mercy?''

    Although Ryuu had killed many members of Evilus in a fit of rage a few years ago, she had since mellowed out again due to the time that she had spent in the Hostess of Fertility. Her original sense of justice had been rekindled, and she had once more felt that ending the lives of others was against her principles. And yet, what she saw here today made her question her beliefs. Did people who committed such atrocities truly qualify to receive a second chance? Weren''t they, in some ways, even worse than those Evilus members who she had faced in the past?

    Deeply shaken and confused, she provided some first-aid to the people that the group had rescued, before leaving the follow-up to the Loki Familia members around her. Not only the higher-ups and Level 4 plus adventurers were participating in this operation, nearly every single member had been sent out. Although the weaker adventurers and supporters couldn''t necessarily overcome the bigger threats, they could still deal with some small-fry and handle the relief efforts.

    When Ryuu arrived in the basement arena, she came across Ais grasping an almost-naked, ravishing beauty by the neck, strangling her to the point where she couldn''t speak, but was still b?r?ly able to breathe. Tears were streaming down the goddess'' cheeks as she miserably tried to pry away Ais'' arm, but she couldn''t even scratch her skin.

    Taking note of the Elf''s arrival, Ais turned to face her, the murderous look in her eyes turning down a notch.

    "Oh, you''re here. Is everything finished aboveground?"

    With a short sigh, Ryuu nodded. She already knew what was about to happen, and yet she didn''t plan to stop it. There was no reason to, after all.

    "Yes. It was exactly like he said - two Level 3''s, seven Level 2''s and 18 Level 1''s. Some of the rookies suffered very minor injuries, but they''ll be up and ready to go within a minute or so."

    Relieved at the good news, a smile spread on Ais'' lips, then she gave the Elf a short but grateful nod. Once more, she turned to face the goddess.

    "There you have it. It''s time for you to go. Don''t even think about coming back. Bye-bye!"

    With movements far faster than any that Kakia''s mind could follow, Ais rushed outside of the mansion, straight to the small lawn area next to its entrance.

    After waiting a few more seconds, she nodded as if she had just received a message, then she unsheathed her Desperate and lightly threw the goddess up into the air. A single casual, swift strike later, Kakia was reunited with the ground, only this time, she had been cut into two from top to bottom. Her expression was one of utter disbelief as she slowly fell apart, her golden Ichor staining the ground.

    But before she could fully come apart, a golden pillar of light, made up solely of Divine Energy, dissolved the gruesome mess that was her body and carried her off, back to Heaven. It persisted for about ten seconds, before disappearing as if it had been a lie. The only evidence confirming its existence was the faint burn-mark that it had left behind on the lawn.

    At exactly the same time as Kakia had been returned to Heaven, two other pillars of Divine Energy had also broken through the sparse clouds - three deities had been slain simultaneously. Noticing the pained and reminiscent look in the observing Ryuu''s eyes, Ais was reminded of similar scenes that had occurred in the past. That period of time also had a direct connection to the Astraea Familia''s grim fate. Judging that it would be smarter to avoid speaking about that matter, Ais walked up to the Elf and waved her hand in front of her face, trying to get her attention.

    Snapped out of her memories by the sudden movement, Ryuu realized what was going on and felt embarrassed at having spaced out like that. To hide this fact and move on from this incident, she cleared her throat and changed the topic, her cheeks a little flushed.

    "Ahem! We''re done here. Do we continue, then?"

    Smirking ever so slightly, Ais pulled back her hand and nodded. By now, she felt like she understood why her beloved liked to tease this girl so much - her reactions were quite entertaining. Those random thoughts aside, she turned to face the leaders of the two squads of familia members that had been ?ssigned to her command.

    "Cruz, Elfy. Gather the others. We''ll advance to the nearest entrance to Knossos."

    The Chienthrope man with short brown hair nodded and hurried off, followed by the somewhat pale Elfy. She had been rather sheltered by the familia before today, and although she had heard about the evils of the world, she had never directly seen them¡­ or killed a person. Despite her considerable mental fortitude, such things had still taken a heavy toll on her.

    ''I''m sorry, my friend, but we can''t protect you forever¡­''

    After lamenting the unfortunate fate of the innocent girl for a moment, Ais shook her head and casually advanced towards the north, followed by Ryuu and the majority of the familia members that she had come with. Only a few were left behind to tend to the injured and handle various follow-up affairs. There was no need to worry about their safety, though - after all, sufficient measures had been taken to ensure it.

    Two minutes of marching later, Ais'' group had entered the basement of an abandoned building located about half a kilometer north of the Kakia Familia''s mansion. There, behind a suspiciously placed, difficult-to-move cupboard, they found a secret passage leading further underground. The hallway''s walls were made out of neatly arranged stone bricks and every ten or so meters, magic stone lamps had been placed to light up the area. They automatically turned on once someone entered the surrounding fifteen meters. As for the corridor, it quickly grew bigger until it reached more than seven meters in height and five meters in width, at which point they came across an expected obstacle: A massive gate made entirely out of orichalcum.

    One other observation could be made as well. The walls, floor and ceiling were now fashioned out of adamantite. Considering how pricey this material was, and that - according to Isaac - every part of this manmade labyrinth from this point onward consisted of it, it was no wonder that whoever had created this place had stooped to crime to earn an income.

    "Just in case, please step back, everyone."

    Once she had sufficiently cautioned her group, Ais pulled out an eyeball-shaped object from her inventory, masking its use by making it appear as if she had pulled it out of a pouch, and injected some of her mana into it. Then, she walked up to the gate that appeared immovable. When the distance separating the two got smaller than five meters, it rumbled and opened, allowing the group passage. No traps of any kind had been triggered. If they hadn''t had access to these keys and had attempted to force their way inside, then they surely would have had a far more difficult time as well as faced a lot of resistance.

    "Let''s go."

    After having made sure that everyone had entered, Ais passed this checkpoint as well, the gate closing shut behind her.

    -----

    On Knossos'' second floor, around ten minutes before Ais'' party had entered the labyrinth, a dashing gentleman with waist-long, flaxen hair was strolling through a corridor, his arms clasped behind his back. His clothing was quite extravagant, with many ornaments and embroideries spicing up his red long-sleeved coat and grey-blue pants. Despite how comical this getup would look on anyone else, due to his noble-seeming demeanour and the gentle glint in his blackish-brown eyes, he didn''t appear displeasing to those who saw him.

    And yet, he felt totally out of place here. The two men and three women walking behind him were dressed in fur-based adventurer clothing and sported many a scar, whilst this corridor housed a fair number of cages at its sides, which housed a large variety of feral, but relatively weak, monsters.

    Their howls and roars shook the air, causing the man to frown a little, only to shake his head and smile again right after. With a glance behind him, he got the attention of the woman leading his entourage, an Amazoness that was at least a head taller than him - considering that the man that she was being compared to was already considered to be above average in height, this woman was truly impressive. She was dressed more conservatively than most of her kin and didn''t have a flirtatious air around her either. Rather, she exuded the aura of a battle-hardened warrior.

    "Do you need something, Lord Sabnac?"

    His smile as intoxicating as the fresh spring breeze, the god was just about to praise his familia''s Captain for having brought them another huge haul, when he suddenly froze in place. The expression on his face turned uncharacteristically gloomy.

    "Three were returned to Heaven at the same time?! What is going on? From their Divine Energy, I can tell that they were¡­ Kakia, Dipsios and Sabaktes. Does that mean that they were exposed?!"

    From one moment to the next, his casual air was completely gone. His gaze as he looked upon his children had changed - he was clearly extremely worried and shaken.

    "Quick, spread my orders! Prepare to defend this place!!"

    He had expected the members of his familia to heed his words immediately, but they instead sent him confused glances. The Amazoness Captain was the one who eventually put into words what they all thought.

    "Lord Sabnac, even if the three of them had their crimes exposed, how would anyone come to know about this place? And how would they enter it? We should avoid the city for now, yes, but preparing for an ?ssault? Wouldn''t that just be overreacting?"

    Almost livid at her ignorance, Sabnac needed to take a few deep breaths to calm himself down. When he felt his emotions to be stable again, he deigned to explain his line of reasoning.

    "Do you really believe that those three fools didn''t leave behind any evidence related to this place in their homes? Also, they should have a couple of keys as well. It''s only a matter of time until someone finds out how to use them. Additionally, this was clearly a coordinated, premeditated attack. I don''t believe for a second that someone who has the means to organize such an event doesn''t have the capability to sniff out intel about Knossos! Now, how much time do you plan to waste?! Libin, Klait - you two escort me to the shelter. The rest of you, prepare to repel the invaders. But if they are too powerful, make haste and escape into the dungeon!"

    Although many wanted to refute their god and call him paranoid, they didn''t say anything and did as they were instructed. Time would prove that his fast reaction speed had indeed been the best available course of action. Many of his brethren didn''t move as quickly, or underestimated the threat. It was just a pity¡­ that all of Sabnac''s efforts were fated to be for naught.

    -----

    "Why is this happening?! Things are moving far too quickly!! My plan¡­ it isn''t ready yet! If only I had another year¡­ no, half a year would already be more than enough!"

    In some of the deepest depths of Knossos, a handsome man with medium-length blonde hair was overcome with rage. A goal that he had chased after since a thousand years ago, a ''foolproof'' plan that had finally started to blossom into success since that event five years ago¡­ Why, just why did a wrench have to be thrown into his plans now?!

    With an immeasurable amount of hatred in his eyes, he stared towards the surface. If looks could kill, then any and all invaders that had made their way into this place would have turned into dust right at this moment - not that he could actually directly see anyone. Just like Sabnac, he was fully aware of what the fall of these three deities signified, that was why he knew: Someone was coming.

    "My Lord, not much is lost. We might have to take some drastic measures, but if we manage to wipe out everyone who has dared to step in here, as well as every other familia calling this place their home, then we can collect all the keys and buy ourselves the time that we need."

    The words of the black-haired Elf standing nearby caused the god''s madness to recede a little, and some rationality returned to his eyes. Beaming at this favourite child of his with appreciation, he eventually nodded and heaved a sigh.

    "Yes, yes, you''re correct! Although I don''t know who has come, because nobody knows of our real trump cards, we should be able to take our enemies by surprise and overwhelm them. Let''s allow them to eradicate our ''neighbours'' first, to lure them further in, then spring the traps. You better get yourself ready as well. I will let Olivas contact some of the Evilus kids to stage a diversion in the meantime. Go!"

    Shooing off his most faithful follower with a wave of his hand, the god took a deep breath before a deranged grin stole itself on his lips. He grabbed a black hat, a black-and-white mask, as well as a black coat that had many other masks fastened to it, and changed into the attire that he normally used to interact with those who served him.

    Not too many rooms from where he had been, he found the man that he had been looking for: Olivas Act, a man who had been a member of Evilus in the past, but had turned into a Creature since then.

    The white-haired man was currently feasting on a generous diet of magic stones, chewing and swallowing them with reckless abandon. Once he noticed that the god had entered the room, he hastily stopped his consumption and stood at attention. Although the one in front of him wasn''t the one that he truly served, he was currently under his command - therefore, he had to at least put in minimal effort and show some respect.

    "Olivas, gather your men and contact the Remnants of Evilus. Knossos has been breached - so go and repel the invaders. Use the members of Evilus as cannon fodder and lure the enemy in as far as possible, so we can obliterate them in one swift strike."

    In response to his orders, Olivas grabbed a horned skull mask from a nearby cabinet and put it on, the look in his eyes one that was full of anticipation. Even though he had had a few chances to prove his mettle in the ''outside world'' in the past years, he had still mostly been confined to Knossos. With a chance to finally let loose again, and an opportunity to experience his newfound, rapidly increasing power, why wouldn''t he be happy?

    "As you command."

    Staring at the back of the disappearing Creature, the god shook his head, both in pity as well as in amusement.

    ''That''s most likely the last that I''ll see of him. I''ll have to ask her for reinforcements soon. I''ve already been delaying to do so since Revis'' disappearance, but once Olivas will be gone too, I''d be dangerously low on competent manpower.''

    As for why he didn''t expect this pawn of his to return? Considering how arrogant he was, Olivas would surely overestimate himself severely. With no real support from the god''s personally created monster species, and with only the Evilus members to support him, it would actually be considered quite impressive if he could fulfill his role of a bait slash diversion properly. To expect even more of him would be plainly foolish.

    "Next, it''s time to awaken ''them''¡­"

    Mumbling to himself, the god descended one floor further, to the 21st floor. It was still far from completion, but he had gotten permission to occupy the majority of the parts that were structurally sound. This was where his ''secret weapons'' were hidden.

    If he had known that their existence had already been exposed, he would have likely searched for an opportunity to escape - but even then, it would have been too late. The net had already been reeled in.

 Chapter 155 - Difficulty Lies In The Eyes Of The Beholder

    There was a conflicted expression on Tione''s face as she led her party into Knossos. If it hadn''t been for the importance of this mission, and for the responsibility that she was shouldering, then she would have wanted some time for herself to work through her emotions a little. However, that wasn''t currently an option.

    ''I¡­ I just killed a god¡­''

    Recalling the angered and hate-filled visage of the helpless Sabaktes a moment before she had crushed both his heart and his head with her b?r? hands, the Amazoness instinctively shivered. It wasn''t the act of killing another humanoid being that bothered her or the gruesomeness of this particular act, no. Even in some of her earliest memories, she had already been fighting and killing, so she had grown used to it to a degree. Still, killing a deity had been something that she had never even contemplated doing up until a few weeks ago. As an inhabitant of the Lower World, despite her frequent contact with gods and goddesses here in Orario, she had grown up to have an inherent reverence for those of divine origin. To overcome this mental obstacle and to slay a god''s mortal vessel hadn''t been as easy as she had made it seem.

    Suddenly, a smile stole itself on her features.

    ''Finn has to be experiencing more or less the same feelings at the moment¡­ so it could be said that this is an intimate experience that the two of us share!''.

    Her love for her familia''s Captain was as pure as it could get, she had no doubt about that. Therefore, when she made use of it to delude herself into a romantic scenario in which the slaying of deities was merely the backdrop, many of her negative thoughts ceased almost in their entirety. In their place were familiar daydreams about a dashing, blonde Pallum who whispered sweet words into her ear¡­

    "Hey, Tione! Get yourself together. We''re about to make contact with the Dipsios Familia. They may have lost the majority of their strength, but we should still be careful."

    A partially amused, but mostly stern voice caused Tione to snap out of her pleasant fantasies. Slightly disgruntled, the Amazoness turned to face the white-haired Elf who was walking next to her. Of course, she wasn''t angry at her at all, she was merely mourning Imaginary Finn''s embrace which had so abruptly ended.

    "Ugh, I know, Chiffon, I know! We''ll clear their base swiftly and smoothly, then we''ll continue onwards according to our orders."

    Although Tione was an Executive of the Loki Familia, she didn''t usually find herself in a position of leadership, so a few moments of being distracted on the job couldn''t be helped. Partially to support her, and also to build a solid command structure that was nearly identical throughout all seven Loki Familia parties that had nigh-simultaneously entered Knossos, the Amazoness'' party had a vice-leader: Chiffon Verglacia. She was one of the more veteran Level 4''s of the familia and usually led her own party during expeditions.

    "As long as you understand."

    "Only seventeen of them are currently lucid enough to have realized that their god has been returned to Heaven. They have started to hunker down in their base, seeking safety in numbers. Split up into three teams and cut off all of their paths of retreat. Also, prepare yourselves for quite an unpleasant sight."

    Upon hearing Isaac''s voice speaking to her as if he was standing right next to her, completely out of nowhere, Tione halted in her steps for a fraction of a second, before continuing onwards. The first time that he had spoken to her whilst not being physically present, she had anxiously searched her surroundings and had almost grown paranoid. Only once he had explained that he had been using magic to contact her like that had she calmed down. As for how exactly it worked? He had explained it to anyone who had wanted to know, but she hadn''t understood it at all. Sound waves? Vibrations? What had he even been talking about at that point?!

    Taking heed of his reminder, Tione took a deep breath, then her casual demeanour changed into an air of seriousness, akin to a warrior who had fought thousands of battles.

    "Cynthia and Thyra, take your squads and approach from the western and eastern routes respectively. Chiffon and I will take the northern one. Be mentally prepared! Apparently, what we''re about to see won''t be pretty."

    They had been briefed about their exact paths before they had set off, and each of the party leaders, party vice-leaders and squad leaders had been outfitted with detailed maps of the areas of Knossos that they would be responsible for. Their planned routes had a lot of detail put into them, accounting for even the most minute nooks and crannies.

    Following their leader''s commands, the party split up after confirming their exact paths of advance once more and proceeded to encircle the Dipsios Familia''s territory swiftly and silently. Two minutes later, when they had all gotten in position, as if flawlessly directed by an unseen hand, they all advanced as one.

    "Oh shit, enemies incoming!"

    It didn''t take long for them to get noticed - after all, they literally stepped through the three only paths that led to this place, which could be thought of as the front doors.

    A somewhat chubby but muscular man with very pronounced, dark circles beneath his eyes had chosen to act as a sentry and spotted the intruders first. Hastily, he closed the adamantite door that would protect this underground complex¡­ or rather, he tried to do so. For some reason, there seemed to be some resistance when he tried to force it shut, somewhat reminiscent of a strong gust of wind.

    "Fuck! Why now?!"

    His eyes widening in despair, he gave up on sealing off the entrance and jumped behind an impromptu barricade made from an ?ssortment of furniture pieces. In one swift motion, he grasped his bow, nocked an arrow and pulled the string taut. He was accompanied by four of his fellow familia members, the same ones who had helped him to set up these defenses in a hurry.

    Sadly, even though he tried his best, due to having lost nearly all of the powers that his Falna had bestowed upon him because of his god''s demise, he could only helplessly stare as an Amazoness appeared in front of him before he could react. Despite how fast her movements appeared to him, she was carrying herself as if she was just taking a casual stroll.

    Instantly disposing of three of the defending Dipsios Familia members with a few rapid movements, breaking their necks like dry twigs, Tione stepped over their still-twitching bodies with a disgusted frown on her lips. The accompanying Chiffon made short work of the two other defenders that had been in her way. Due to what they could already hear clearly now that they were this close, her cheeks had turned red - not so much due to embarrassment and shame, but due to rage.

    "These bastards¡­!"

    Moans of pain and p???sur? ?ssaulted them from all sides, as well as the stench of alcohol, bodily fluids, blood and some other smells that they weren''t familiar with. This familia''s base really lived up to their god''s Divinity: Revelry.

    The three parts of Tione''s party faced nearly no resistance as they forced their way into this ''private property''. Honestly, even had their god still been in the Lower World, the Dipsios Familia couldn''t have put up much of a fight. Their strongest member had been a Level 4, while this single party of the Loki Familia already contained four of those. It would have been a longer battle, yes, but the outcome would have been the same. All of that was discounting the presence of Tione, of course.

    Once they swept through the various rooms, Tione''s party was once more confronted with absolute depravity. They had already come across some in the Sabaktes Familia''s home, but this was much worse. Not only were most of the Dipsios Familia members in an inebriated state - or even high - they were also happily ravishing the many men and women of all ages that they had imprisoned here. Some of their victims had been reduced to their base instincts by the drugs that had been fed to them, so those few didn''t actively fight back, but most still had despair and hatred colouring their gazes as they were being abused in whichever way these people longed for.

    In the process of rescuing them, the members of the Dipsios Familia were swiftly eliminated, whilst the victims were healed with Potions as well as Magics whenever necessary, and otherwise cared for. Some of them, however, had to be knocked out due to the delirious broken state that they still found themselves in.

    Having expected this to have been the worst that this place had to offer, the party forged deeper and through a few laboratories that had been producing various drugs until recently - on a side note, the ones that had actively fought against them had been sober because they had been working here.

    Finally, the party came across the center-most area, where those with weaker stomachs couldn''t help but throw up.

    Held in cages like wild animals, even more people had been imprisoned here. But whilst the previous ones had ''merely'' been forced to endure the Dipsios Familia members'' s?xu?? d?s?r?s, the ones here had been used as test subjects for various concoctions that were still in the planning stages. Some were in better shape than others, but a few had mutated or experienced severe growth of cancerous tissue. There were those that had little more than rotting bodies left, whilst it was unknown whether they had already crossed over to the other side.

    The sheer variety of experiment outcomes was staggering, in more ways than one. The sickly-sweet stench of rot, paired with all of the other, disgusting smells, wasn''t something that most people could handle.

    Amidst those that they encountered here, many simply asked for a swift death, or were too far gone to ever recover, even if the best Magics were to be used to ?ssist them. It was common knowledge that there was a limit to the effect of even the most outstanding healing Magics, after all.

    "K-Kill me. Pl¡­ ease."

    In response to a wholly disfigured woman''s request, Tione gave a solemn nod and pulled out one of her Zolas - a kukri-style knife made by the Goibniu Familia. Although she couldn''t even fathom the original appearance of the person that had now turned into a mass of cysts and lumps, she showed no disrespect and gave her blessings.

    "Rest well. May your next life be a happy one."

    One incredibly swift and precise slash later, the woman''s suffering had come to an end before she had even felt any of the pain.

    For around twenty minutes, the entirety of Tione''s party stayed in the Dipsios Familia''s base and helped out the ones in need, then they left a few of their weaker members behind and ?ssembled outside, ready to delve deeper.

    "If that''s only the first floor, how much worse will it be from here on out?"

    Upon recalling what nightmarish scenes she had just been faced with, Tione couldn''t help but utter these words out loud. Perhaps, many of the others were also thinking the exact same thing, so when their ears picked up her remark, they nodded along. Truthfully, the Amazoness had just been speaking to herself, so she hadn''t expected a response - however¡­

    "Depending on how you look at it, this could be considered the worst area. It will be more dangerous from now on, yes, but you shouldn''t encounter anything even more repulsive than what you''ve already seen. My apologies for having burdened you with this place."

    Out of thin air - actually, literally out of air - Isaac''s voice addressed the entire party, catching them by surprise. Still, most eventually showed understanding smiles. There were some who wanted to condemn him for not taking care of this underground complex on his own, but they stayed silent. After all, he was currently the commander of this operation, and they were also aware that their complaints were purely selfish in nature.

    "It''s fine, someone had to do it. In a way, maybe this experience was even a blessing! It allowed us to open our eyes to true atrocities. If we overcome the shadows of this day, we''ll definitely experience a huge increase in mental maturity."

    Giving a thumbs up at a random wall, Cynthia showed a small grin. Admittedly, she wasn''t feeling too great right now either - ''horrible'' would be a more apt description - but wallowing in misery really wouldn''t be of any use. As someone who had picked up quite a deal of worldly knowledge during the pursuit of her magical studies, she had an inkling of insight into the matters of the mind, and therefore successfully gave her fellow party members a morale boost.

    Once their next target had been confirmed, they made their way down a staircase. No change had been made to the initial layout of their operations yet.

    -----

    Panting heavily, a Chienthrope man with a garish scar running across his neck bolted through the maze-like corridors of Knossos'' second floor, hastily fleeing in one direction as fast as his legs could carry him. Originally, a few more people had been following in his footsteps, but they had long since disappeared - most likely, they were all dead.

    Thinking back at the scene of his familia''s Captain - a stout, powerful Amazoness who had reached Level 4 - being blown apart by a single kick of the Werewolf who had led the party of intruders that instantly overwhelmed their defenses, a cold shiver ran down his back.

    "But if they are too powerful, make haste and escape into the dungeon!"

    ''I''m¡­ the only one left.''

    Despite the despair that this knowledge brought him, he nonetheless only further increased the frequency of his steps. The most important thing on his mind was survival - nothing more, nothing less.

    ''Almost there!''

    Spying an orichalcum gate in the distance, his eyes brightened up and he pulled out one of the spherical keys that his familia was in possession of, pouring his Mind into it. When he got close enough, he waited until there was just enough space for him to slip through, then he charged past and cut off his supply of Mind. In an instant, the gate snapped shut behind him.

    "Phew¡­ finally¡­"

    Close to tears, the weakness slowly caught up to him. Spotting a comparatively comfortable spot along the wall, he attempted to take a few more steps forward, only to suddenly stumble backwards.

    "What the¡­?!"

    In utter disbelief, he rubbed his nose, feeling as if he had just run against a wall. But there was absolutely nothing in front of him!

    This time more cautious, he extended his arm forward, only for his hand to touch an invisible barrier that felt as solid as metal despite only consisting of air. It was b?r?ly discernible to the n?k?d eye and only appeared when he arrived at a certain distance from the gate that he had come through. He tested this by repeatedly reaching out with his hand and pulling it back again.

    "I''m not hallucinating, am I?"

    Rubbing his eyes in an attempt to wake up from what he judged to be an exhaustion-induced nightmare, the man didn''t acknowledge what was happening. Within his heart, however, panic had begun to appear. Finally, it fully erupted when he heard the gate behind him opening once more.

    "Couldn''t you have stopped him before he went through here? Because of you, I needed to waste some of my Mind just to get rid of a piece of trash. Come to think of it, why didn''t you exterminate him yourself?!"

    Glaring annoyedly into the empty air, the very Werewolf with scraggly grey hair that had left a traumatic experience in his mind made his way towards the escapee whose legs had already given out. The man''s eyes were wide open in terror and disbelief as he stared at this madman who was talking to himself. But then, a voice that he hadn''t heard before responded to the rude accusations, causing him to freeze entirely and pale even further.

    "Yes, I could have easily done both of these things. Still, this is about principle. I agreed to stop anyone who escapes only once they get to a specific point, so I''m doing exactly that. I gave you ample information about what you were about to face, but you attacked on your own to ''overwhelm the weaklings in one fell swoop'', letting many escape. The rest of your party managed to eliminate most of them, but I told them to leave this specific one just for you. Keep to the plan next time, understood? Despite how confident you might be in yourself, if you act out on your own for no reason, then dangerous variables can come into play. Your rashness could result in some of your allies coming to harm due to being implicated by your handiwork."

    His face distorting into a visage of humiliation and annoyance, the Werewolf clenched his fists, cursing under his breath. There were many things that he wanted to say, but he kept them all bottled up inside. In retrospect, when he thought about what he had done once more, he couldn''t help but agree with Isaac''s words. No matter how annoying he was, the man certainly had a point¡­

    Finally, with his mental struggles sorted out, he nodded.

    "Alright, fine. I shouldn''t underestimate this place."

    Attempting to do what he had come here to accomplish as soon as possible to distract himself from the servile response that he had just given, Bete turned to face the man that he had been chasing, only to frown and furrow his eyebrows in confusion.

    "Wait, what''s going on? Is he playing dead?"

    As far as he could tell, the man in front of him didn''t have a heartbeat any longer. He had also stopped breathing and moving, lying there as if a not-yet-cold corpse.

    "Nope. He actually died - of fright, due to the combination of my ghostlike voice and your appearance. Additionally, he already had a foot in the grave before this, and would have needed many months to recover from his extreme exhaustion."

    Once more having to listen to Isaac''s voice, Bete instinctively wanted to swear, but he kept it down. Glaring at the dead body of the escapee, he spat on the ground and turned around, re-entering the depths of Knossos through the orichalcum gate.

    "What a fu?k?n? waste of my time¡­ He should have just keeled over earlier."

    A minute or so later, despite knowing that everything that he said would still be heard by this operation''s peculiar commander, he allowed himself to vent a little. With rapid steps, he moved to reconvene with his party.

    While he had been gone, they had cleaned up all of the remnants of the Sabnac Familia that had been on the second floor, then they had eliminated the caged monsters to get rid of any potential trouble. Of course, there hadn''t been any Xenos amongst these - otherwise, Isaac would have protected them.

    Although the Loki Familia parties were rapidly advancing through Knossos'' hallways and making them seem like child''s play, even slipping past any antagonistic forces that weren''t ?ssigned to them without a sweat, this manmade labyrinth really lived up to its name. Most of it consisted of long and winding corridors, interspersed with various rooms of many different shapes and sizes. Some areas were designed to be living quarters, but they were extremely hard to reach due to the confusing layout.

    Overall, the design was very reminiscent of the dungeon, but it wasn''t exactly the same. It had been combined with areas that were clearly intended for human inhabitation, but it was still as bewildering to navigate. If one didn''t have a map, if one didn''t proceed carefully or didn''t take any other precautions, then one could easily lose oneself in these halls for months on end. There were simply that many superfluous areas whose sole purpose was to perplex and slow down all intruders. Thankfully, due to Isaac''s help, the Loki Familia parties didn''t even need to bother with advancing step by step - they could directly charge at their intended targets like heat-seeking missiles.

    "Are you okay? You aren''t hurt anywhere?"

    When Bete arrived at the spot where his party had been waiting for him, a bespectacled, black-haired young woman ran up to him, causing his heart to jump a beat. Obviously, that was only due to the mesmerizing motions that her ?h?st underwent while she moved, nothing more. She couldn''t possibly have touched him with her kindness. Not at all. That was definitely not it.

    "Obviously, I''m okay! Do you think trash like that can even harm a single hair of mine?!"

    Speaking loudly, Bete shoved his hands into his pockets and proceeded to moodily stare at Line, who was in the process of scrutinizing him carefully. Even though she was only a supporter, and only a Level 2 at that, she was also one of the few healers of the familia. Therefore, for her to inspect him like this was natural. Well, maybe she was overdoing it a little, because Eydis and Dom - two of the Level 4''s of Bete''s party - were stealthily grinning in their direction.

    "Phew, I''m glad you''re all good! If you get hurt anywhere, be sure to let me know immediately."

    After ignoring his boisterous claims and making sure that he was fine, Line realized that she had gone a bit overboard and a blush stole itself on her cheeks. Regardless of her resulting anxiety, she didn''t avoid the Werewolf''s eyes and confidently made a request. However, her somewhat sporadic movements betrayed her actual state of mind.

    "... sure."

    His reply not as hostile as expected, Bete walked past her and towards his second in command, Arcs. He left behind a Line who was clenching her fists victoriously, as well as a couple of amused observers amongst his party. Today marked the first occasion during which he hadn''t bothered to make too much of an ill-tempered scene and had seemingly somewhat accepted her good intentions. Progressing to this point had been anything but easy, but to her, the strenuous effort had been worth it.

    For a couple of weeks now, the supporter had continuously tried to spend time with him, or to catch his attention. Outwardly, Bete seemed almost unaffected - except for the fact that he wasn''t treating Line as excessively rudely as most others - but internally, he couldn''t help but admit that she had grown on him. Ever since she had nursed him back to health, treating him carefully and never once making fun of his pathetic state during his recovery¡­ maybe, just maybe, he had warmed up to her.

    ''This might not actually be a bad thing. Perhaps this time, no tragedy will occur¡­''

    Hopeful thoughts like these snuck their way into his subconsciousness as he was being brought up to speed about how the Sabnac Familia had been dealt with, as well as when they would be ready to proceed further.

    Today, one more secret had been added to the list of matters that Bete would silently take to his grave. Even if he was tortured to death, he would never admit to it!

    The reason as to why he had so rashly charged in to overwhelm the opposition was to reduce the amount of danger that Line would be in. It had been an instinctive, spur-of-the-moment decision, and a stupid one in hindsight. As for what had motivated him? He never wanted to lose anyone that he considerably cared about ever again.

 Chapter 156 - Proper Payback

    Aside from the seven Loki Familia parties, two other groups had also entered Knossos at the same time. One of them consisted entirely of Isaac''s students and subordinates. They entered the manmade labyrinth from the sixth floor of the dungeon - to be exact, from the secret door where Jakk, Kalin and Mina had encountered Quinn for the first time.

    The cat boy, who had been on the brink of death at the time, had grown significantly since then. No more was he a feeble, emaciated husk who could b?r?ly even move on his own. He had already reached Level 2 and had two Skills under his belt!

    What hadn''t changed, however, was the hatred that he felt bubbling inside of him when he thought back upon that unspeakably tortuous time in the Zagan Familia''s underground sweatshop. On the contrary, it had only increased since then.

    As they stepped into the magic stone lamp-lit hallways leading further into Knossos and opened the orichalcum gate, the memory of his little sister''s terrible fate forced its way back to the forefront of his mind. He clenched his balled-up fists tightly and began to tremble. Tears almost snuck their way down his cheeks, but his d?s?r? for making those that had hurt her disappear from the face of the world kept them somewhat in check.

    Noticing the unstable emotional state of their companion, Kalin and Mina exchanged a glance and approached him, placing one hand each on his left and right shoulder. This sudden physical contact didn''t entirely snap him out of his joyless remembrance, but it made him raise his slightly lowered head and look at the two of them with a questioning gaze shining through his eyes, which were still rippling with suppressed psychological pain.

    "I know that you''re suffering, but recall that original d?s?r? you had when you joined our familia. You wanted to kill every single one of the bastards who hurt you and your sister. Can you confidently say that you can do that while you''re this shaken up?"

    Although she usually appeared friendly and easygoing - even adorable, when her lord was present - Mina''s words were somewhat harsh this time. To expect a 14 year old youngster to swallow his trauma for a bit to focus on what he wanted to do was a tough order, one that might make ignorant observers think that she didn''t understand what he was going through. However, due to her own experiences, she was very well aware of how difficult it would be to put her advice into practice. Her gaze stayed calm and unswerving while she waited for his response.

    Of the opinion that she might have been a little too abrasive, Kalin chimed in as well, with a bright but slightly embarrassed smile on his lips.

    "Just remember that we''ll have your back. If you, at any point, feel like you can''t go on or need a helping hand, just give us a signal. You don''t need to force yourself, okay? We''ll be here for you, after all!"

    Despite his currently chaotic mental state, Quinn managed to squeeze out a stiff smirk at his words, then he nodded at the two of them and glanced over at the rest of his party members. Even though they hadn''t all come up to talk to him just now, their concerned looks and reliable, reassuring presences made it clear that they thought along the same lines as Kalin and Mina. Once more, the two''s words echoed in his mind, before his thoughts that had been akin to a stormy sea weakened until only a partially forced, calm breeze took over.

    ''That''s right, focus! I can cry and wallow in misery all I want later. I''ll be getting revenge today, so I should at least stay clear-headed until that''s over and done with.''

    Telling himself things like these didn''t help much, but it served to anchor his conscious mind to a firm objective. His tense body relaxed once more and a cold, calculating expression replaced his previous, miserable one.

    "Thanks. I''m fine now."

    His response to their worries was short and concise, but nobody complained. Now that his steps had turned steady again, Kalin and Mina returned to their original positions and the party proceeded onwards.

    The only one who still had a bit of difficulty with wrapping her head around how exactly the young male Cat Person was feeling right now was Titania. Out of everyone gathered here, even taking Averin into account, she had the least understanding about what exactly a sibling was, and what kind of emotional connection most people would feel to their close kin. She had grown to like Isaac''s students and subordinates quite a bit during the time that she had spent with them, but although losing one of them would probably make her a little sad, or even angry, she couldn''t fully comprehend Quinn''s exact sentiments. Due to that, she had mostly eyed the cat boy with curiosity during his unstable moments.

    ''He spent more than ten years with Millina, right? So if I multiply the negative emotions that would ?ssault me should I lose one of these people here by approximately 350¡­ would that amount of suffering be approximately the same as what he is going through? In any case, even imagining that is¡­ painful.''

    Titania couldn''t be criticized for a lack of trying, though. She really was doing her best to attempt to understand what was going on. During her time in the dungeon, she had never really needed to take heed of others'' feelings and mental states, so considering that, she thought that she had been doing quite well so far.

    After Isaac had shown them the exact layout of the Zagan Familia''s Knossos territory, Quinn had realized that he and his sister had actually almost made it out of there back then. If they had managed to escape two rooms further¡­ then they would have stepped into Knossos proper. They probably would have still gotten caught, but it hurt quite a bit when he understood just how close they had come.

    There were four paths that led to the underground sweatshop and they had long since decided who would be blocking them. As for Quinn? He would be the wolf set upon the flock of sheep.

    Unsurprisingly, Titania would play the role of an unsurpassable wall at the northern path. Mina would head to the western one alone - her recently acquired Magic made her more than strong enough to be a one-woman army. Lastly, Jakk would block off the southern path whilst Aselina and Averin would go take care of the eastern one.

    Only Kalin hadn''t been ?ssigned the same duty as the others or Quinn. Instead, he would follow behind the cat boy and help out as needed. Of course, he wouldn''t be getting in his way at all - his presence had another purpose.

    "Everyone, split up. The ?ssault on the Zagan Familia''s base begins now!"

    At Kalin''s orders, the party members separated into five groups and ran off in different directions. Well, all except for one person. Jakk simply had to slowly advance upon the same exact path that they had been taking so far. He had no need to traverse any large distances, unlike the others.

    "Off you go. Stay strong."

    With a wave, he bade a temporary farewell to Quinn and stared at the young man''s back as he charged into the distance. He was hopeful that everything would go well, but he wasn''t too worried about it all. Not only had he confidence in his companions, but also in his teacher who would step in if the worst happened.

    Because they were already aware that Zagan wasn''t at his familia''s secret site today, they knew that nobody at the sweatshop would be prepared for their arrival, or would even be aware that a raid on Knossos was currently ongoing.

    Choosing to face this hurdle earlier rather than too late, Quinn conjured an imaginary opponent and activated his Berserker Skill, then he slowly let it get stronger bit by bit. He controlled the amount of anger and hatred inside of him to build up the stat multiplier step by step, until he finally made it to around 2. He didn''t dare to go any further than this, because he feared that he wouldn''t be able to stay rational enough to suppress the mental upheaval that would inevitably come if he did so.

    Using this Skill of his was far from as easy as it might sound. His Dexterity and Magic had now been nearly halved, which made it more difficult to move his body exactly as he intended. It also took far more focus to send mental commands to it manually while not being overcome by bestial, rage-filled instincts. Those were the ''hidden'' side-effects of this Skill, which had been plainly obvious due to its name.

    Half a minute after he had separated from everyone other than Kalin, Quinn stood in front of a closed adamantite door. Thankfully, his teacher, Isaac, had prepared all parties for such situations. With both speed and calm, Kalin took out a newly-made key from one of his pockets and unlocked the obstacle that had been barring their path forward.

    "Huh?"

    A b?r?ly audible sound of confusion rang from the other side, which served to further incense Quinn. He could accurately pinpoint exactly who had been making that noise just now - it was Leeron, one of the overseers who had been in charge of the hall in which he and Millina had been forced to work. It looked like he was on guard duty today.

    Giving him no chance at all to question whether the clicking sound that the lock had made was just a product of his imagination, Quinn opened the door and unsheathed his sword in the same motion. His steps only further accelerated as he took in his surroundings.

    ''As expected, I''ve never been here.''

    The room that he had entered wasn''t big, maybe only twenty or so square meters in size. There also was only a single door leading further into the relatively straightforwardly laid-out base. The simplicity of this structure made it easy to defend against outside invaders, but once all four of these rooms were breached, it transformed the whole place into a deathtrap.

    With a quick stab straight into Leeron''s heart, Quinn overwhelmed him before he had even fully realized what was happening. The eyes of the two other guards widened in shock, but they clearly couldn''t keep up with his speed either.

    One slash later, the head of the second guard to fall to his blade had been separated from his shoulders, while the last one had b?r?ly managed to step backwards and grasp his own weapon in defense.

    "The heck is going on?! Who are you? Why are yo---"

    Plainly ignoring the questions that spilled out of the man''s mouth, Quinn outmaneuvered him with steady steps and cut off the hand that had been holding onto his sword. With his left arm, he pushed the man against the wall and impaled him in the same motion using the blade that he was grasping in his right hand. His eyes didn''t even shake as he did so.

    ''I recall him as well. He was one of the many people who were handing out free food to the homeless in Daedalus Street. Scum.''

    Glancing at the incredulity and fear in the dying man''s eyes with disgust, he shook off the blood from his weapon and moved towards the only door that led further into the place that had so generously provided the scenery for his nightmares far too many times.

    "Hey, Boris. What''s going on out there?"

    Apparently, despite how quickly he had taken care of everyone here, his intrusion had still been noticed. Or, well, the guard''s reaction to it, at least. A group of four had been relatively close to the door that he had just opened, so they rushed towards the guard post with worried expressions.

    "Fuck. INTRUDERS!! Everyone, get your weapons!"

    The moment that he stepped through the doorway, the woman leading this group noticed him and shouted as loudly as she could, alerting not only everyone in this hall, but also many others all across the base as well. Even though someone forcing their way into this place was one of the least likely occurrences, she had nearly instantly wrapped her head around the situation.

    ''Quite competent - as expected of a Level 2.''

    Everyone else that he had encountered here so far had only been at Level 1, while this woman had managed to advance one step further on the path towards strength.

    "Encircle them!"

    "Who are you? Why are you barging in here like this?!"

    Even though he was aware of her thoughts, Quinn halted in his steps and raised a corner of his mouth in an amused smirk - as might be expected, the smile didn''t reach his frosty eyes.

    "I''m here to pay you all back."

    The sound of footsteps getting closer reassured the halberd-wielding woman, so she continued her line of questioning.

    "For what? What did my Zagan Familia do to you?"

    Honestly, she could think of many people that they had slighted over the years, and far too many innocents that had gotten hurt or died. In the name of profit, they had abducted thousands of the homeless that were roaming around Daedalus Street and even ventured out of Orario to ?ssault remote, little-known villages to capture their inhabitants. Was this young man perhaps someone who had managed to slip away during one such incident?

    Before Quinn had any opportunity to respond - not that he wanted to converse any further anyway - the first group of reinforcements had arrived in the hall. It was a group of seven, who had all properly armed themselves before coming here. Their leader, yet again, was a woman - and wouldn''t you look at that, she was a familiar face.

    "Quinn?!"

    It was the middle-aged woman who had knocked him and his sister unconscious with a gentle smile on her face, giving an empty apology in the process. She had seemed impossibly fast to him back then, but now, her advance appeared like a slow crawl to his eyes. Amongst the many people that he wanted to kill, she was close to the top of the list.

    ''Ugh!''

    Just as he had predicted, the sight of this dastardly backstabber invoked even more hatred in his heart, causing his Berserker Skill''s stat multiplier to instantly skyrocket to 2.4. This was a little bit higher than what he could comfortably handle, but because he had prepared himself for this spike, this mental impact, he quickly managed to quench the flames of his wrath a little and returned to his previous, collected state.

    "Shouldn''t you be dead?"

    His few seconds of pause had given the middle-aged woman enough time to regain her bearings and to grow pale. He didn''t know whether she was fearing that he was a ghost who had come to haunt her or whatever, but the clear terror in her shaking voice brought a small, genuine smile to his lips.

    Instead of responding to her question, he leaned forward a little and kicked off the ground, bolting towards the Level 2 woman who had alerted the Zagan Familia''s base to his presence. Before she could do more than to reposition her weapon so that it would pierce straight through his heart should he advance any further, he side-stepped the halberd and pushed it to the side with his elbow, causing her to stumble. That alone was more than enough of an opening to quickly stab her throat. With two more steps, he positioned himself behind her and pushed his blade straight through her heart, then he grabbed her body and kicked it towards the one of her subordinates who was closest to her - a spear-wielder. The reinforcements would still have to cross half of the hall until they would be close enough to pose a danger to him, which gave him plenty of time to clean this group up in ''peace''.

    "Lori!?"

    The spear-wielder hastily moved his weapon aside in fear of further injuring his companion, which spelled his death. Quinn had been following behind the body of the Level 2 woman and had approached closer to him unseen. A casual slash in passing caused another decapitation to take place.

    As for the two axe-wielders and the three enemies that were armed with swords, they had all decided to take care of Quinn first and were ignoring the calmly-observing Kalin for now. The immediate threat had to be taken care of before anything else could be tackled.

    Sadly for them, they were simply too slow and weak. Their attacks couldn''t reach Quinn at all and they were all taken care of in a few dozen heartbeats.

    "... shit."

    Growing even paler at this sight, the advance of the middle-aged woman ground to a halt. She ignored her still-advancing subordinates and the huge number of loud footsteps that originated from other halls. Out of everyone currently in this room, she had the clearest idea of exactly how strong this cat boy was. After all, she was one of her familia''s Executives, a veteran Level 2 adventurer!

    "He is stronger than the Captain¡­"

    Losing almost all will to fight, the woman mumbled these words under her breath. Before she could regain her mental footing again, four out of the six people that she had come with had already been eliminated. As she snapped out of it, she saw Quinn take another four steps and two more bodies hit the ground - one of them had been impaled, while the other one had been beheaded.

    "Your turn."

    The cold smile on the youngster''s face scared her witless, but she still managed to raise her sword to put up a defense. However, before she knew it, she had already been disarmed, her weapon clattering to the ground.

    "Bye. Die."

    Thrusting his sword through her hastily put-on armour, Quinn stabbed it straight into her heart, staring directly into her eyes all the while. He took in all of the dread, the pain, the desperation and the shock that flickered within. With a dead-pan expression, he watched her cough up mouthfuls of blood and move her shaking hand upwards to her ?h?st in complete bewilderment. With tears welling up in her eyes that were slowly glazing over, she quickly lost strength and fell backwards, off of his outstretched blade.

    As her body hit the floor, the next group of reinforcements had finally entered the hall as well.

    "ZULLIE!!"

    A heart-wrenching cry escaped the throat of the leader of these forces as he saw his wife bleeding out on the floor. Although his voice had cracked due to emotion and it had been many weeks since they last met, Quinn''s tail lowered and his hair stood on end at the man''s voice. With slow movements, he looked up from his most recent kill and into the eyes of the leader who had just arrived. He wasn''t trying to entirely ignore the other 13 people, but this one person inevitably took up most of his focus.

    By all accounts, this man was clearly handsome. Even in Orario, he wouldn''t have any problems with sticking out of the crowd and having a successful love life. He was tall, muscular, had breathtaking facial features and possessed a somewhat scholarly demeanour. His greyish-blue eyes were as deep as the sea, and he even had the strength of a veteran Level 2 adventurer. And yet¡­ and yet!

    ''This is the bastard who said that they should ''sample the goods''!''

    Quinn knew that this would happen, and yet he couldn''t control the overwhelming surge of hatred that overcame him at the sight of this disgusting creature, and at hearing this voice. Never before had his Berserker Skill activated to such lengths, to the absolute maximum! He felt his rationality slipping away nearly instantly, no matter how desperately he tried to retain it. All of the plans that he had made for approaching this situation methodically were thrown out of the window, with his bloodshot eyes only focusing on this singular foe.

    "Stall him! I''ll get the Captain!!"

    Perhaps the man had noticed that he was facing an opponent that he couldn''t possibly overcome, or maybe the almost tangible killing intent pouring out of the young cat boy had legitimately scared him. Whatever it was, he bolted for one of the exits of the hall and left his subordinates behind, not wasting any more thoughts on them or on his recently-deceased wife that he clearly cared about a great deal. In the face of pretty much certain death, his flight instincts took precedence over any other emotions.

    Overcome with bloodlust, Quinn passed right by everyone else before they could fully adjust to their circumstances and left them in the dust. His chase wasn''t a long one. Halfway through the next hall, he finally caught up to the one person that he wanted to kill the most in this world.

    Obviously, the man had taken note of his approach, so he made a split-second decision to try his hand at something that just might save his skin for the time being. He grabbed one of the workers who hadn''t dared to stop their monotonous labour despite the current emergency situation, terrified of the punishment that might potentially come their way.

    Holding the feeble woman that was b?r?ly more than skin and bones in front of him like a shield, he shouted at the charging Quinn.

    "Stop! Any closer and I''ll kill her! I''ll also kill all of the others!! You came for revenge, didn''t you? And to save them, I ?ssume? So¡­ s-stop!"

    Despite his best efforts to appear confident and threatening, the man still stuttered at the end as he observed the cat boy who had halted his advance a mere two meters away. Somewhat emboldened by the clear conflict that he could make out in the youngster''s eyes, and the hesitation that was dulling his killing intent minutely, the man''s erratic heartbeat recovered to some degree.

    "Good. Now drop your weapon!"

    The hostage situation had allowed Quinn to b?r?ly regain some extent of control over his Berserker Skill that had been running rampant. He definitely felt a little bit uncomfortable with letting an innocent person die just to kill his enemy, but at the same time, he also had no intention of following along with this fiend''s demands.

    Just as he was caught in a state of indecision, he heard a weak voice.

    "Don''t do it¡­ Kill¡­ this bastard. Don''t care about me."

    The eyes of the woman who had been taken hostage were extremely resolute, far more than could have ever been expected from someone in her position. The hostage and the bloodthirsty cat boy looked at each other and seemed to come to an understanding.

    Seeing his monstrous opponent nodding his head and getting into position to charge forward once more, the vile scumbag got ready to throw aside this apparently useless baggage and reached out towards another worker who stood nearby, unsure of where to go or what to do. Perhaps this one would be a little bit more attached to his life.

    Before he could potentially harm either of them, however, he heard an unfamiliar voice mumbling something. It originated from behind Quinn.

    "Embrace."

    Both the woman that he had taken hostage and the young man whose arm that he had been trying to grab suddenly got enveloped in a sturdy barrier crackling with electricity. Because he had already been in such close contact with both of the targets of these barriers, the man''s flesh convulsed and his arms as well as parts of his torso got scorched black. A burnt scent wafted through the air. The pain that ?ssaulted him out of nowhere made him stumble backwards and away from the two workers. Eventually, he fell on his bu??, his expression speaking volumes about how aghast he was.

    "Argh! A¡­ a Magic?!"

    Even more horrified than before, the man felt his pants grow warm and wet. As quickly as his injured arms allowed him to, he crawled backwards and away from the two youngsters that had achieved the prestigious status of genuine nightmare fuel in his mind. While he did so, he didn''t notice that every single worker in this entire hall had been enveloped in electric barriers - not just the two that he had been next to - and that the young human who had cast this Magic wasn''t even bothering with him. Instead, Kalin was simply running towards the next hall, whispering the word "Embrace" once more when he got there.

    "Be less of a monster in your next life, will you?"

    Sighing at this pathetic display, Quinn didn''t even bother with any torture, he simply beheaded the panicking man right then and there. Yes, he had wanted to get revenge, but simply in the form of extinguishing the lives of everyone involved in his sister''s demise. As for letting them suffer inordinately before they died, he didn''t really feel like it - the sooner that they left the stage, the better. In his opinion, they shouldn''t even have the opportunity to cling onto life any longer. Torturing them might feel a bit fulfilling, but it would only waste his time in the end. He had more important things to do.

    Even though he told himself these things internally, he couldn''t help but stab the decapitated head a few more times, before stepping on it so hard that it burst and was squashed underfoot. The cerebrospinal fluid, the pieces of brain matter, the bone splinters and the blood which mixed with all of them painted a gruesome picture, but he didn''t really pay attention to it.

    Deep inside, he hoped that at least a little bit of the pain that these actions should have caused was still transferred to this dying fiend before he had entirely bit the dust.

    A deep breath later, Quinn finally managed to calm down slightly and to regain full control over his Berserker Skill once more. With the stats multiplier now at around 2.3, he steeled his mind again and set out to get rid of each and every single Zagan Familia member who was fortuitous enough to be here today.

    Despite the aforementioned Captain having reached Level 3 about a year ago, with Quinn''s enhanced stats, he didn''t prove to be a problem. They had been almost equal in stats, but Isaac''s training had taught Quinn to face opponents far stronger than himself from the very beginning, therefore, the battle wasn''t difficult.

    There were 63 Level 1''s, eight Level 2''s and the Captain in this base. Around ten of them tried to run away during the twenty minutes that it took for Quinn to kill them all. Of course, they didn''t get past Isaac''s students or subordinates who blocked their escape routes. As a result, they could only wait for their demise whilst Quinn checked all directions and carefully skimmed through the entire underground complex to make sure that he hadn''t left any Zagan Familia members alive. With them having nowhere to go, he slaughtered them all.

    Yes, the entire ?ssault on this place hadn''t been a challenge. Rather, it had been a massacre.

    As he was standing in front of the cells that he and Millina had been held in back during their half a year of hell, he deactivated his Berserker Skill and allowed his tears to fall. It felt like he could finally breathe again, despite his sobs making exactly that very hard to do. Kneeling down on the ground, he cried his heart out while his companions were checking up on the many workers that had been imprisoned in this base. They fed them and healed some of their wounds with potions, as well as paid their respects to the few fallen that they came across in their thorough sweep of the base - these people had died long before they had ever made it here.

    Nobody bothered Quinn as he was lying on the ground in a fetal position, clutching his ?h?st and shivering. At some point, his shedding of tears had become entirely silent. They all stopped by to check up on him, but he clearly needed some time for himself.

    Around half an hour later, Quinn rose to his feet once more and wiped away the snot and tears with a couple of handkerchiefs that he had brought with him just in case. He put on a calm expression once more and, to reconvene with his friends, walked into the hall adjacent to this room that housed the cells. It was at this point that he ran into someone who he hadn''t expected to ever meet again.

    "Is that really you, Quinn?"

    Waiting by the door was a young human boy who looked to be about twelve years old: He probably would appear a couple years older, if he wasn''t this excessively malnourished. His whole appearance was very reminiscent of Quinn''s condition from back when he and Millina had staged their failed escape. The human boy''s scraggly, shoulder-length black hair and his amber-coloured eyes slowly overlapped with a figure that had become merely a shadow in the cat boy''s memories over time.

    Quinn''s eyes widened in both pleasant surprise and disbelief. This guy was actually still alive?!

    ".... Martin?"

 Chapter 157 - Sweeping Clean

    At around 4 p.m., a short distance from one of the entrances to Knossos that were located in Daedalus Street, an almost middle-aged man clad in a red robe observed the Sword Princess from afar as she made her way back into the manmade labyrinth. A heavy sigh escaped his lips, but he quickly shook his head and turned around to face his subordinates, some of whom were clad in the same red robes that he was sporting, but most of whom were wearing regular adventurer gear that would enable them to blend into any crowd in the city seamlessly. If there was one thing that made them stick out currently, it was the inordinate amount of bags, ?h?sts and backpacks that they were all carrying.

    "Captain, are you sure that we made the right choice?"

    A young-sounding woman whose exact features couldn''t be made out due to how thoroughly she was wrapped in her robes approached the nearly middle-aged man, Gael, and inquired cautiously.

    Thinking back upon the choice that they had been faced with just half an hour earlier, Gael''s expression grew resolute and he responded with a vigorous nod, before leading his around 50-strong group to another part of the city.

    -----

    "It''s an emergency! Our outpost has been surrounded from all sides. Captain, come quickly!!"

    Startled by his fellow Red Blade member''s outcry, Gael charged out of his office and towards the one who had rang the alarm. On his way there, he unsheathed the dagger that he always kept at his hip and got combat-ready. Considering how serious his subordinate had made the situation out to be, he couldn''t afford to waste any time.

    "Identity of the enemy?"

    The succinct query of his Captain didn''t faze the Red Blade member at all, but he couldn''t hide his nervousness entirely, despite how thoroughly he had been trained for emergencies just like this one.

    "It''s the Loki Familia. Nine Hell is leading them! They have only surrounded us so far, cutting off all escape paths. It seems like they''re waiting for our response before making a move."

    His lips turning into a frown, Gael grasped his dagger more tightly and stayed silent for a few seconds to deduce the optimal course of action. Once he had made up his mind, his face turned tranquil but serious.

    "I''ll meet with Nine Hell. Maybe, we can avoid a battle. Let us find out what they want from us. Lead the way!"

    Accompanied by the one who had delivered the news as well as close to ten of his other subordinates who had managed to ?ssemble in the meantime, Gael rushed towards the entrance that the Loki Familia''s Riveria Ljos Alf was reported to be waiting at.

    When the group finally arrived and walked out of the adamantite door that had separated them from the intruders, Gael froze up, his steps halting abruptly. It took him little more than a single glance to realize that Riveria, who he had occasionally observed from a distance over the past few years, had grown far, far stronger than ever before. He couldn''t quite tell what heights that she might have reached, but he was certain that she was now so far ahead of him that he wouldn''t even be able to touch the corner of her clothes if they were to battle.

    ''Did she finally rank up to Level 7?! This is big news. A second Level 7 has appeared in Orario again¡­ wait, that''s not it! There are more important matters to worry about right now. Get your shit together!''

    Shaking his head very slightly, the veteran Level 5 Gael''s shock subsided and he returned to normal. It had only been a fraction of a second since he had stopped walking, so nobody had taken note of his momentary distraction - at least as far as he could tell.

    "Lady Nine Hell, what brings you here? Why is the Loki Familia surrounding us and pointing their weapons at us?"

    With a composure that not many people would be able to showcase under these circumstances, Gael''s respectful words broke the tense silence that had been maintained so far.

    "You''re the Captain of the Red Blade''s Orario branch, I ?ssume?"

    The very first sentence that the stern-faced High Elf spoke made Gael widen his eyes in unconcealed surprise, but he quickly extinguished the sparks of panic and gave a short nod of confirmation.

    "Good. Then, as the authority figure who is in control here, I will leave the decision to you. We''re here to clean out Knossos so that it can properly be put under the Guild''s jurisdiction. Most familias involved with this place have been confirmed to have committed unspeakable crimes, but your Red Blade is one of the few that hasn''t overstepped any boundaries aside from your repeated illegal entry into the dungeon - at least according to our knowledge. We ask you to grab your belongings and vacate the premises within ten minutes. You will then be led to the surface. Will you resist, or will you comply?"

    The expressions of Gael''s subordinates had grown dark over the course of Riveria''s words. This situation, in which they were faced with such an abrupt ultimatum, left a bad taste in their mouths. Their Captain wasn''t in much of a different position himself, but he was also aware of the weight of responsibility that had now been placed on his shoulders.

    ''If we resist, we''ll definitely lose. Either we''ll be caught, or we''ll all die. The outcome most likely depends on how desperately we fight. But giving up our outpost just like this¡­''

    Right as his indecision was vexing him, Riveria spoke up once more.

    "If you comply, you will have this place returned to you after all official matters are dealt with. You''ll only need to visit the Guild and sign a few documents to formalize the ownership."

    Gael''s hand, which had been tightly grasping his dagger before he heard this, finally relaxed and a small self-deprecating smile played across his lips.

    ''This carrot is too sweet. I can''t possibly bring myself to choose the stick now, can I?''

    He had never truly considered for his people to face the Loki Familia head-on. Rather, he had been contemplating how they could talk their way out of this entire mess peacefully. He wouldn''t just throw away his subordinates in vain, after all. Now, with such a tempting offer on the table¡­ there really was only one reasonable decision that he could make.

    "Alright, we''ll comply. Everyone, pack up as quickly as possible and meet back here within five minutes! Tell everyone about this arrangement, and only grab the essentials."

    After a quick nod in the direction of the staff-wielding High Elf, he rushed back into the outpost and returned to his office, where he hastily put any and all documents as well as items that he could find into various ?h?sts, backpacks, bags and pouches.

    Due to the considerably high stats of nearly everyone in the Red Blade''s outpost, they could gather their possessions many times faster than regular people. Only four minutes had passed by the time that they had all arrived in front of Riveria''s group, carrying with them pretty much everything that hadn''t been nailed down.

    "We''re ready."

    Upon getting Gael''s confirmation, Riveria nodded and led the way through the twisting, complicated hallways of Knossos'' tenth floor. Meanwhile, the Loki Familia members that had been blocking off all possible escape routes reconvened with the group that Riveria was with and surrounded the fifty or so Red Blade members, observing them carefully, just in case any of them tried to do something ''funny''.

    Once they reached the eighth floor, they met up with another one of the Loki Familia''s parties that were roaming around Knossos - the one that was under the command of Ais.

    "Our Sword Princess will take over escort duty from here on out. Follow her without making a fuss, else I can''t guarantee your safety."

    It took Gael far longer that he would like to admit to mentally process Riveria''s instructions this time - after all, when he had laid his eyes upon the Sword Princess, an even more overwhelming terror than the one that he had felt when he had come face to face with Nine Hell had chilled him to the bone.

    The young woman who appeared mostly emotionless under regular circumstances stood at a height that he couldn''t even comprehend any longer. His gut feeling told him one thing: If she wanted him to die, then he wouldn''t even have an opportunity to move a single muscle in defense. He would bite the dust before he knew what hit him.

    ''... a third Level 7?!''

    -----

    With a helpless sigh, Riveria lowered her staff, the Magna Alfs, and took in the aftermath of her Magics. Tens of bodies had turned to ash, whilst an equal amount had been shattered into shards of ice that were quickly melting in the remaining heat. She had frozen them into icy statues before the mechanisms within their hearts had activated and had caused them to explode. If the walls in this place hadn''t been this exceptionally durable, then they would have malformed or even cracked due to the rapid change in temperature that her hellfire- and ice-based Magics were responsible for.

    Contrary to what had happened with the members of Orario''s branch of the Red Blade, when her party had encircled the outpost of the White Blade on Knossos'' eleventh floor, their offer had been met with violence.

    Perhaps, this was due to the fact that neither the Captain nor the Vice-Captain had been present this time, with the remaining Executives not having had enough wisdom and experience to properly judge the circumstances that they had found themselves in - or maybe, these members of Orario''s branch of the White Blade had simply been a more aggressive bunch.

    In any case, once they had lashed out in an attempt to kill members of the Loki Familia''s party to defend their outpost, any and all diplomacy had been taken off the table.

    Because she had already expected it to turn out this way, Riveria had been making use of a new technique that she had grasped over the past few days: Pre-casting her Magic and keeping it on standby until it was needed. This could be done by manually halting the normal activation of a Magic and continuing to circulate the mana in a state just before the very last step, which was the one that would result in the manifestation of the Magic. When the Magic was needed, one simply had to let go of the reins and let it follow its regular course of activation once more.

    Her Rea Laevateinn''s flames had enveloped the charging enemies as soon as they had gotten too close to her party, then she had quickly chanted her Wynn Fimbulvetr to finish off the last few opponents.

    "I''ll leave the rest to you. Always stay clear of any corpses and all incoming enemies. Don''t get caught up in the explosions!"

    The last tens of White Blade members throughout the outpost couldn''t put up any kind of successful defense before being obliterated by the overwhelming might of Riveria''s party. She didn''t even have to lift another finger during the five minutes that it took for the sounds of battle to die down.

    Compared to most other familias that had settled down in Knossos, the three Blades'' bases didn''t contain anyone who needed to be saved, so the clean-up and post-battle procedures went a lot quicker than usual. Despite that, all 21 party members below Level 4 were left behind to organize the White Blade''s belongings and to search through their files for valuable intel.

    The rest of the party set out once more, with their new destination being the 13th floor - the Black Blade''s outpost on the 12th floor was already being taken care of by another party.

    -----

    Just like Riveria, Gareth was also a leader of one of the Loki Familia''s Knossos raid parties. Around the same time as the High Elf had entered the manmade labyrinth from the 10th floor of the dungeon, he had arrived in Knossos from the entrance found on the 14th floor.

    Instead of facing opponents that belonged to the sentient races, his party was confronted with a monster species that had never been seen before. They were around one meter tall water spider-like creatures with six legs instead of eight. The hairs that covered their bodies were greyish-brown in colour and appeared velvety from afar, but were actually far more resilient than they seemed at first glance. There were multiple small red crystals lodged within the main bodies of these water spider monsters, which always lit up around half a second before they shot corrosive acid out of their mouths.

    On their own, they weren''t much of a threat, despite them being Level 4 monsters that had reached D-500 / 13,450 in all stats. However, they almost filled up the entirety of this floor of Knossos with their stupendous numbers. There were more than tens of thousands of them on the 14th floor alone! According to Isaac''s reports, they also inhabited the 13th, 16th and 17th floors. Because of that, Gareth''s party only consisted of five members, all of whom were at least at Level 4. Sadly, anyone weaker than that would only drag them down unreasonably in this place. Even the four Level 4''s were a legitimate hindrance to the Level 7 Gareth, but they had been brought here because they could still defeat the spiders and earn some excelia during the battles.

    "Carmilia, you''ll support me in blocking the acid. Narvi, Coco, Anju - you attack as soon as you see an opening!"

    The stocky Dwarf grabbed the massive shield that he had brought with him and hoisted it in front of him, then he moved in front of the party and quickly caught three of the acid attacks by minutely changing the positioning of his mobile defensive barrier. Both his and Carmilia''s shields were extremely expensive, sturdy products that wouldn''t get damaged by the water spider monsters'' corrosive spit in the slightest - fortunately, they had obtained information about them via Isaac before they had come here.

    A mere moment of hesitation later, Carmilia, who was one head taller than the Top Executive that led her party, followed in Gareth''s footsteps and defended her companions as well. They were only faced with a few tens of the spiders at the moment, so it wasn''t too difficult for her to anticipate which of them would attack them from afar next, and where they were aiming at.

    With a mere casual movement of his right arm, Gareth pushed away the five monsters that had charged at his shield, then he glanced over at the youngsters in his care and gave an approving nod.

    Carmilia staunchly blocked any and all ranged attacks by the spiders and even occasionally managed to dispatch one of them with a swing of her club. Narvi was agilely stabbing the monsters whenever they showed an opening, just like a snake lying in wait. Anju''s halberd found its target very consistently as well, its rhythm as steady as her breathing. As for Coco, her arrows flew from behind their unwavering wall and quickly picked off the rest of the spiders that they were battling, including the five that Gareth had just pushed back.

    Once the party had left the area in which they had previously fought in, the corpses of the water spider monsters disappeared into thin air, as if they had never been there in the first place. Gusts of wind that were mixed with flames cleaned up the gruesome mess that were left behind all over the ground, floor and ceiling, erasing the last evidence of the spiders'' existence.

    Minor battles like this one repeated for close to ten minutes, before the Dwarf gave the party new orders.

    "Now that you''ve grown accustomed to them, we''ll speed up a little. According to Isaac, there are still 21,203 of these pests on this floor, and we''ll be taking care of every single one of them. I''ll be putting in more effort from here on out as well."

    Although the four girls were a bit nervous, they nodded firmly and followed along the quickened steps of their familia''s Top Executive without hesitation.

    The next group of monsters that they ran into consisted of more than a hundred individuals, but half of them were killed within seconds. Like flies that had hit a windshield, the spiders burst into pieces and gore once they came into contact with the enormous shield that the charging Gareth held in front of himself. The Dwarf completely ignored the acid and other disgusting fluids that flew all over. Even upon direct skin contact, he was immune to the corrosion due to his extremely high Endurance stat. In all honesty, sending Gareth against these water spider monsters was simply overkill.

    Under Isaac''s directions, the group of five ran around the entirety of Knossos'' 14th floor over the course of the next two hours, after which they met up with another group of five - Riveria''s party.

    "All done?"

    In response to the short question of the High Elf, Gareth nodded and glanced at the eight Level 4''s that were currently lying on the ground, overwhelmed by their exhaustion. Every one of them had slain at least 1,000 of the spiders in rapid succession, and they had now finally been blessed with a long-desired moment of rest.

    "Yes. By the way, Isaac. Is everything still going according to plan? Are we needed anywhere?"

    As he was talking to the empty air, Gareth took out a handkerchief and wiped off some of the various monster fluids that had stained his face. He didn''t have to wait long for an answer to his question.

    "There are only three more floors that need to be conquered, so make your way to the 19th floor whenever you feel like it. Maybe you''ll still make it in time to take part in the last few battles. Only you two should go, though. Everyone else is already weary enough and might be in danger if we let them go down there. I''ll lead them safely back to the surface once they catch their breath."

    Exchanging excited glances, the High Elf and the Dwarf felt the corners of their lips rise a little. Of course, they were happy that the depravity in this place was about to be taken care of, but they were even more thrilled at the prospect of getting to fight in a potentially slightly challenging battle. Ever since they had reached Level 7, they hadn''t had any chances to truly run wild, and although today wouldn''t be much different, they might be able to warm up a little. That alone was already something to look forward to.

    "You heard what he said, right? We''ll be joining the others down on the 19th floor. Follow Isaac''s instructions as soon as you''re ready to move again."

    Nodding at Riveria''s words, the tired Alicia shot her a reassuring smile and leaned against the cold wall behind her, calmly observing her surroundings out of habit despite the fact that they were about as safe as they could possibly be.

    Satisfied by her vigilance, both Top Executives proceeded to descend the nearest staircase, eager to partake in the crescendo of this ''spring cleaning''.

    -----

    "Are you certain about this, Gael?"

    An emotionless, female voice resounded in the main office of the Red Blade''s Orario branch''s home. It originated from a relatively tall woman who was sitting behind the most prominent desk in the room, partially buried underneath mountains of paperwork. There were a few secretaries that were helping her persevere through her workload - they all had their own desks in this office as well.

    Although the woman''s figure was quite muscular overall, this only served to spice up the trademark beauty of a deity. The only thing that marred her image was a ghastly scar that ran all across her face, from the upper left of her forehead to the lower right of her chin. Usually, beings like her could easily get rid of such an imperfection with little more than a single thought, but for some reason, she had chosen not to do so. Her hair was as black as the night and tied together in a ponytail, while her yellow-green eyes peered at her familia''s Captain through a cheap pair of glasses. Her attire consisted of a simple blue long-sleeved blouse and plain grey trousers that could be found in the most economical of clothing stores. Clearly, she was a frugal individual who didn''t waste any money on looking fashionable.

    "Yes, Lady Adikia. The Sword Princess and Nine Hell should have reached Level 7. I can confirm that they are significantly stronger than they have ever been before."

    Bowing respectfully, Gael calmly waited for his next instructions in the center of the room, which was one of the few spaces that had not yet been encroached upon by the towers of documents. Even though many mortals and deities alike, for solely superficial reasons, would make fun of the goddess that he served, he had nothing but undying respect for her.

    "I see. Then it''s safe to ?ssume that Braver and Elgarm have also become Level 7''s. The three Top Executives were bound to arrive at that point sooner or later, but the Sword Princess'' progress is truly astonishing. Most likely, this has some relation to Isaac Blackshaw''s appearance."

    Mumbling to herself, Adikia analyzed the situation as proficiently as she could and made a few educated guesses. Considering that the Red Blade that she was a member of was the division of V¨¢li''s organization that was mainly responsible for information gathering, the judgements that she could make were leagues more sophisticated than what could be expected from other deities that were part of the Blades.

    "You''ve made the right choice, Gael. According to Vidar, everyone who was stationed in his White Blade''s Knossos outpost¡­ died. You would have met the same fate had you been obstinate. Thank you for bringing everyone back home safe and sound."

    The very faint, almost imperceptible smile on his goddess'' face wiped away all residual worries from Gael''s mind. He was just about to allow himself to fully relax when he heard her speak up once more.

    "In any case, now that you''re here, get back to your desk and help with our work. Also, Rosa, contact operative LI-1. We need as much information about today''s Knossos raid as can possibly be uncovered."

    His shoulders slumping weakly, Gael nodded his head obediently and made his way to one of the unoccupied desks in the relatively big office. He was both intimately familiar with it and dreaded it more than any other piece of furniture. Seconds after he had taken a seat, the secretaries who had been sorting through papers and reports with bloodshot eyes happily placed a few thousand pagers worth of documents in front of him, causing him to almost tear up in despair.

    He would never actually admit this, but the main reason as to why he hadn''t been all that happy after leaving the Knossos outpost was because he was terrified of the amount of paperwork that he would have to tackle once he returned home.

 Chapter 158 - Another Facet Of Magic

    Led by Ray, Lyd and Gros, a group of 25 Xenos snuck into Knossos from the dungeon''s 18th floor. They had been as careful as possible to avoid all prying eyes in the Under Resort and successfully made it to the secret entrance without much of a hitch. Considering that they had a certain someone - Isaac - keeping watch over them all along, their caution had quite honestly been excessive, as there had never been any real danger of them getting discovered. Still, better safe than sorry.

    Channeling some of her mana into the eyeball-shaped key that had been fastened to a plain necklace, Ray opened the orichalcum gate that had locked them out of the manmade labyrinth''s depths. Due to how awkward it would have been for her to clasp a small sphere in between her wings, her lord had taken out a few different kinds of strings and various leather strips to transform the easily losable key into a pendant. The Siren had been over the moon with happiness when she received this gift, affectionately hugging the sighing Isaac and almost breaking out into tears.

    "Quieten down, everyone. We''re almost there! Split up according to Lord Isaac''s instructions."

    About five minutes after they had stepped past the nigh indestructible gate, Lyd raised his right arm to silence the last bits of soft chatter that had kept the group''s spirit relaxed. The look in his eyes gradually transformed into a focused and bloodthirsty one, vastly different from the one that he usually sported. His muscles tensed up as he stealthily crossed the last corner that had separated him from those that had imprisoned some of his kin. The red-scaled Lizardman''s grip on his scimitar and his longsword tightened until the scales right over his knuckles appeared a fraction of a shade paler than normal.

    "Yo, boss! When will we be going out to hunt again? It''s already been two days and I''m getting restless."

    A bald, muscular mountain of a man with a black tattoo accentuating the area around his left eye sat on top of a seven meter tall cage and stared excitedly at a man of about the same height who was currently standing next to the blood-drenched body of a Ligerfang. It was one of the about a dozen or so monsters which were imprisoned in the tens of metal cages that were lined up on the walls of a massive underground chamber.

    "Now that you mention it, I have to admit that we still haven''t caught enough of them yet for a proper sale. Fine, we''ll head out again in an hour. Let the rest of the familia know, will you?"

    Pushing up his bloodstained goggles to reveal the calculating, red eyes underneath, the ''boss'' - the Captain of the Ikelos Familia, Dix Perdix - turned to face his enthusiastic henchman. Although he had been immersed in stabbing and cutting the helpless Xenos in front of him until mere moments ago, there now was no hint of the desperate lunacy from back then casting shadows upon his facial expression any longer. Instead, a calculative, self-assured smile played across his lips. As he was wiping off the blood from the knife that had just been used to torture his victim, he exuded a calm that made it seem as if nothing would be capable of affecting his own tempo, as if everything was always in the palm of his hand.

    "Gotcha! The others will be more than happy to hear it, I''m sure."

    Watching the tattooed man, Gran, as well as a few other Ikelos Familia members scampering off into the distance, towards the other chambers and halls that made up their cosy base down here, Dix smirked to himself and sheathed his knife, then he picked up his trusty two-pronged spear and twirled it around for a bit out of habit.

    Suddenly, he noticed a rapidly-moving shadow approaching from the hallway that Gran was about to step into. In his surprise, he failed to pay proper attention to his weapon and dropped it, but before he even had a chance to reach out to catch it or to warn his underlings of the imminent danger, a hairless, decapitated head had already been separated from its body.

    "Shit! WE''RE UNDER ATTACK!!"

    Despite these questions - and far too many others - overloading his conscious mind, he couldn''t afford to waste any time on clearing his head right now. All that mattered at the moment were the numerous powerful monsters that were pouring in from all the entrances to this chamber. Due to their behaviour which significantly differed from that of the dungeon''s regular denizens, it took him only a second or two to realize that they were of the same kind as the ones that he and his people had imprisoned.

    ''So you''re here on a rescue mission, eh?''

    Taking a step to the side, Dix dodged a wave of Siren feathers that had shot towards him out of thin air, then he charged towards the Gargoyle who had just broken the ribs of one of his favourite henchmen, Mekell.

    "Go to Tartarus, you abhorrent statue!"

    To his astonishment, the Gargoyle didn''t crumble instantly when his spear collided with its claw - instead, it was he who was being pushed backwards, overwhelmed in a contest of pure Strength and Endurance.

    ''It''s Level 5 like me¡­ fu?k!''

    As he stabilized himself by allowing his body to take a few steps away from this monstrosity, his usually tranquil expression morphed into a warped mask of annoyance as well as anger. He hastily threw himself to the side to avoid yet another volley of feathers that had come out of nowhere, then, with a quick glance across the room, he noticed a group of five of his stronger underlings that were still holding on successfully against the unexpected onslaught. Having formulated a plan, he ran towards them.

    "Cover me for four seconds!"

    They all sent Dix knowing glances when they heard his words and redoubled their efforts once more. While they didn''t manage to do more than scratch their opponents, they were sufficiently strong enough to hold them up for a period of time and serve as a wall between their familia''s Captain and the Xenos.

    If the situation had been a little less hectic, then Dix would have undoubtedly taken note of the fact that no new feathers had been shot his way for a while, but at the moment, he couldn''t afford to waste any of his brainpower on distracting thoughts like these. Instead, he began to chant rapidly. Usually, he would have put on some theatrics whilst doing so, but he chose to forgo the superfluous bullcrap this time.

    "Become lost in an endless nightmare. Phobetor Daedalus!"

    Almost instantly, an oppressive red wave of light washed across everyone in the room, causing them to slow in their movement and actions immediately after. The eyes of all of the Xenos, both those outside and those inside of the cages, had turned the colour of fresh blood. As if a switch had been flipped, they raised their claws or weapons and looked around frantically. They searched for their allies, but all that they could gaze upon were some of their most feared enemies, which were surrounding them from all sides. Those with weaker wills amongst them either broke down or charged at the horrors, while those with higher mental fortitude frowned and simply kept to themselves, not intending to fight anyone. However, they soon found themselves forced to defend against attacks from all sides.

    "Heh, these mere beasts are like lambs to the slaughter now. It''s very impressive every time I see it, boss!"

    Now that the danger had passed, one of the surviving henchmen took the chance to perform some well-practiced, shameless bootlicking. Even though it was far too blatant, a small smirk still stole itself on DIx'' face. Finally, he could relax a little¡­

    With the Xenos trapped within his illusion, the initiative had returned to his hands again and he didn''t need to fear a confrontation with them any longer. They wouldn''t have the opportunity to pay him any heed in this state, after all. As he looked at the cursed spear within his hands, a weapon which would leave behind wounds that were extraordinarily difficult to heal in the short term even if one employed Orario''s best and brightest healers, his smile widened until it became almost unnatural.

    "Now then, scream for me!"

    With anticipation and excitement bubbling in his voice, Dix once more charged towards the Xenos that had just killed a fair number of his familia''s members. Partially in an effort to vent but more so to drown out the overwhelming cravings of his cursed blood, he wished for nothing more than to see these monsters keel over in pain.

    Before he could reach them, however, four expertly aimed feathers hit both of his arms and legs, knocking him to the ground and his trusted spear out of his hands. Astonishingly, the projectiles had penetrated to a depth of about two centimeters but had somehow managed to avoid any major arteries.

    "... the fu?k!?"

    Right as he was looking in the direction from which the feathers had originated, a few more of them flew past him, but this time, they hit his remaining underlings'' heads and ended their lives in one fell swoop. The drop-dead gorgeous Siren who had just sent them off on their journey to reincarnation looked back at him with fury slightly distorting her alluring face. However, to Dix'' surprise, she chose to ignore him soon after and paid more attention to her bewitched comrades¡­ and the empty air right next to her?

    "Milord, can you save them?"

    ''Who in tarnation is she speaking to?''

    Dix, who was currently in the process of pulling the feathers out of his wounds and standing up again, got quite confused by her words. Was there anyone else present here that he couldn''t see, like this Siren that had attacked him? Because he hadn''t managed to find her previously, he had failed to target her, unlike the others. But now that she was otherwise occupied, he should just chant once agai¡ª

    "That won''t be a problem. Don''t worry, I protected their vitals while they were fighting¡­ but I also took that chance to observe them for some time. So, let me apologize for being a little late as a result."

    Snap.

    Before he could even come to terms with what was happening, a somewhat familiar, male voice echoed from literally nowhere, accompanied by the bizarrely threatening sound of someone snapping their fingers. Instantly, Dix felt the connection to all those that he had bewitched getting severed at the same time, waking them from their nightmares and giving him one heck of a headache.

    The Xenos stared at the ''horrors'' that they had been battling until this moment blankly, not sure whether or not what they were seeing right now was actually real. Only those who had stayed on guard up to this point - like Lyd, Gros, Gryuu, Four, Ranye and Let - heaved sighs of relief and quickly adjusted to the abrupt change.

    "Who are you? What did you do just now?! Show yourself, you coward!"

    In an attempt to overcome the panic that was viciously ?ssaulting his mind, Dix grasped his spear more tightly and rapidly retreated from the mob of Xenos who were slowly encircling him. He had never come across a situation like this, one during which his bewitchment had been nullified by someone else. Worst of all was that he couldn''t even see the person who had done it! Were they perhaps the mage responsible for veiling the Siren from his senses previously? If only he could bait them into revealing themselves and put a swift end to them¡­ then maybe, he could pull off a chant once more to save his skin?

    Unfortunately, Dix'' hopes were fated to be crushed into fine dust today.

    "You aren''t qualified to meet me. While I have to admit that your little trick was an intriguing discovery, now that I''ve seen through it, there is no reason to keep you around any longer. Say hi to your local netherworld deity from me! Ray, please do the honours."

    Neither hurried nor slow, the voice responded to his request and sentenced him to death. After a short but respectful bow, the Siren waved her wing and sent another feather in Dix'' direction - however, it was multiple times faster than before. By now, he had subconsciously grown accustomed to the projectiles'' previous momentum, so he slightly misjudged how quickly he had to respond to the attack¡­ and found a feather stuck in his ?h?st a fraction of a second later. Due to seeing how deeply it had penetrated inside, he already knew that it had stabbed straight through his ribs as well as his heart before his nerves even informed him of the excruciating pain.

    When he felt his strength quickly waning, he couldn''t help but kneel down. All of a sudden, he recalled where he had heard the voice of the invisible man before. A disbelieving, self-reproaching grin spread across his lips and he coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood while he muttered to himself.

    "Isaac¡­ Black¡­ shaw. You son of a¡­ bitch."

    ¡ª--

    At the same time as his loved one, friends, students, subordinates and acquaintances started their Knossos raid, Isaac was still located back on the Twilight Manor''s grounds. He could currently distance his mana up to around 284 kilometers from himself without feeling any increase in mental burden, so he could comfortably employ his Eyes of Hermes throughout the entirety of Knossos as well as its surroundings from the comfort of home, without needing to make use of any of the tricks up his sleeve. Even though he was pulling off something that even the most famous mages in the Lower World''s history could never have accomplished, he still had more than 80 percent of his mana and 95 percent of his focus left to spare.

    Admittedly, magically talking to upwards of fifty people at the same time while observing the entirety of Knossos and continually manipulating his mana into shielding endangered individuals, opening doors or performing some other acts did drain a sizable chunk of that surplus focus, but there were still some mental resources that he hadn''t allocated to any tasks yet. Therefore, he kept himself busy by using one of the Loki Familia''s currently empty training courtyards to stealthily work on new Magics and mana-related techniques.

    Minutes before all nine parties entered Knossos, he performed a small experiment. While Ais, Finn and Tione were about to simultaneously kill three deities, he wrapped their attacks into a thin layer of his mana and ?ssisted them ever so slightly, thereby contributing to the gods'' and goddess'' demise a little. The system notifications that popped up in his body''s field of view right after the pillars of light shot up towards Heaven caused a bright smile to surface.

    [ Quest ''Destroy two mortal vessels of a divine lifeform.'' completed. 200 AP rewarded. ]

    [ Quest ''Destroy four mortal vessels of a divine lifeform.'' completed. 400 AP rewarded. ]

    Obviously, despite rejoicing at his suspicions having been confirmed as usual, he didn''t forget to inquire with Ais about whether or not she had gotten her 100 AP reward for slaying one deity''s mortal vessel - thankfully, she had.

    Both of them had played a part in Kakia''s death, therefore the system recognized both of them as having gotten the kill. This information would most definitely prove useful in the future, especially for AP gain min-maxing purposes. Sometimes, achievements couldn''t just be progressed haphazardly - for example, there were only that many mortal vessels of hostile deities here in the Lower World - so now that they knew that it was possible for both of them to eat their proverbial cake after acquiring it, Isaac could account for this in his plans.

    Right after entering Knossos, Tione''s party got rid of the Dipsios Familia on the first floor, Bete''s party destroyed the Sabnac Familia hideout on the second floor, Ais'' party captured Lytta on the third floor and exterminated her familia to the last, Finn''s party took care of the Kakia Familia remnants on the fourth floor, Tiona''s party killed off the last of the Sabaktes Familia members on the fifth floor, the students'' and subordinates'' party stormed into the Zagan Familia sweatshop on the sixth floor, Riveria''s party negotiated with the Red Blade''s members on the tenth floor, Gareth''s party performed exemplary pest extermination duties on the 14th floor and the Xenos'' party set their sights on the Ikelos Familia on the 18th floor.

    What captured the majority of Isaac''s attention was the last one of these encounters because he bore witness to a hitherto unfamiliar kind of Magic there - a Curse. Due to partaking in some of Riveria''s literature collection over time, mostly some books about magic, he had already been aware of the existence of this kind of mana application before he stumbled across it today.

    The Lower World''s inhabitants generally differentiated between Curses and Magics, treating them as two wholly disparate categories of Mind utilization which had a couple of similarities at most. On the other hand, most serious magic researchers and all deities were aware that Curses were simply an offshoot of magic - in other words, a subcategory.

    If parallels to Isaac''s past world''s knowledge had to be drawn, then Curses could be equated to debuff spells. They were Magics that burdened beings other than the caster with negative effects. Well, technically, a mage could also target themselves with their own Curse, but there were b?r?ly any circumstances in which such an action would make any logical sense.

    From what he could tell, there were three ways to combat Curses, one of which was practically exclusive to him at this point in time.

    Firstly, one could kill the caster. This was by far the most straightforward and simple method that any layman could make use of.

    Secondly, one could have a high enough grade of the Abnormal Resistance Development Ability so it could resist the Curse that the enemy mage attempted to afflict oneself with. The exact required grade of Abnormal Resistance depended on the opponent''s Magic stat and on how much mana they used while casting. This was the option that a decent number of strong adventurers had access to.

    Thirdly as well as lastly, one could utilize one''s own mana to dispel the foreign mana that was flowing through the victim''s body. Usually, whenever Isaac dispelled a Magic, he would have to target the caster''s mana flow, but when it came to Curses, he had to target the mana flow of the one or the ones afflicted with them instead.

    In all honesty, if this was everything that was noteworthy about Curses, then he would not have wasted more than a second or two on observing Dix'' actions on the 18th floor. Presently, determining all that was mentioned above took Isaac little more than a single in-depth glimpse.

    However, before he could resolve himself to intervene, he realized that something about the Ikelos Familia''s Captain changed when he finished his Curse''s chant. All of the goggle-wearing man''s stats dropped by a significant margin, by almost an entire Level! While Isaac could determine the exact numbers in play, he couldn''t make sure exactly how or why they were changed. As always, if he wanted to find out more, then he would have to personally perform some thorough research.

    What he could ascertain, though, was that the laws of the world that governed magic seemed to expressively distinguish between regular Magics and Curses. Even though the latter was derived from the former, the treatment of their casters was vastly dissimilar. It felt a bit like whichever entity or being was in charge of the magic-related laws frowned upon Curses due to personal bias and had therefore implemented a cost requirement into their phenomena''s realization. There was also the possibility that this was done to balance the scales due to the extreme devastation that Curses could bring about¡­ but this was unlikely, considering how staggeringly powerful and versatile regular Magics could already be.

    ''I''ll have to test exactly where the limits lie and which kinds of magic get classified as Curses later. Mina''s Phagein Aeon also plagues her enemies with plenty of negative effects, but it doesn''t get treated as one - I would have noticed it if she had to pay a price of some sort, after all. And even if I had failed to do so, she certainly would have told me about it. My best guess so far is that it is not treated like a Curse simply because it also has positive effects on her. But if that theory turns out to be accurate, then couldn''t I circumvent the demerits of any kind of Curse that I might create by adding a self buff into it?''

    At the thought of exploiting this admittedly prejudiced magic system and giving a certain insolent being some troubles, Isaac couldn''t help but chuckle. He wouldn''t make excessive use of what he had discovered, that was for sure, but because he had already planned to create a Magic that would most definitely be classified as a Curse upon completion under regular circumstances, depending on how severe the demerits of a Curse were, he might just allow himself to squeeze through this loophole.

    Once all of the members of the Ikelos Familia that had been in Knossos had so graciously been gifted with a chance to lead a new life, the Xenos fed their previously imprisoned, mostly heavily wounded kin some of the High Potions and Elixirs that Isaac had handed to them before they had entered the manmade labyrinth. Most of the captured Xenos had no clue that others like them existed out there until they had been dragged into this chamber and seen the prisoners in the other cages. When they learned that a Xenos community which numbered in the triple digits had formed tens of years ago, every single one of them wanted to venture there as quickly as possible. All 20 members of the Xenos party that were below Level 5 got dispatched to help the wounded and to lead their new comrades back towards their hidden village, where they would undoubtedly be welcomed with much rambunctious jubilation.

    Ray and the other four that remained in Knossos then followed Isaac''s instructions and ascended to the 17th floor, where overwhelming numbers of monsters awaited them. The weakest of them were Level 4''s, while the strongest of them were Level 5''s - all of them were members of the six monster species that Revis had had control over back when Ais and Isaac had encountered her on the dungeon''s 59th floor.

    As he was glancing at a blonde-haired man who was busy with scuffling about on the 21st floor of Knossos, doing everything in his power to salvage what he had left, Isaac''s face lit up with a saintly smile that caused any observers to fall into a slight trance due to its sheer purity and gentleness.

    ''You''re the one who would have ended up bothering Ais quite a bit if I wasn''t here, so prepare yourself.. I won''t go overboard, but I certainly won''t show you any mercy.''

 Chapter 159 - In Need Of Therapy

    Regarding the previously mentioned onlookers, there was only one of them currently present in this peaceful, small courtyard - it was Valenoa, who had just entered it to ask her sweetheart''s teacher about something that had been bothering her as of late. She was ''fortunate'' enough to find him exactly at the moment when his angelic smile blossomed, so her mind blanked out for a few seconds and her steps subconsciously ground to a halt.

    The Twilight Manor''s grounds sported many tens of courtyards, and this one was rather close to the subordinates'' base. There was a simplistic but elegant fountain in its center, around which there were placed four wooden benches, one facing each cardinal direction. The man that she had been searching for sat gracefully atop one of them, holding a casebound book within his right hand. His left arm was resting on top of the bench''s metal armrest, whilst his left hand was supporting his casually reclined head. Maybe it was just her imagination, but the rays of sunlight only served to accentuate the magnificence of this man''s delightful looks.

    Admittedly, his comparatively laid-back, unrefined pose would have turned someone who wasn''t as pleasing to the eye as he was into a bit of an eyesore, but due to the inescapable charisma that he gave off, paired with his divine image as well as the otherworldly smile on his lips, he achieved the exact opposite effect. Anyone who wasn''t aware that he only put on an expression like that when he felt an extreme bloodthirst would stop whatever they were doing to appreciate the sight for a while.

    Valenoa only snapped out of her daze when the gaze of Kalin''s teacher had shifted from the pages of his book to her face. Slightly embarrassed by her own conduct, her cheeks reddened a little as she hurriedly cleared her throat and walked up to him.

    "E-Excuse the disturbance, Mr. Blackshaw! I hope you can forgive my intrusion upon your invaluable reading time."

    The unapproachably holy smile upon Isaac''s face turned more natural and shifted into a somewhat amused, understanding smirk. Unhurriedly, he patted the mostly unoccupied bench that he was seated on.

    "Don''t worry about it. You look like you''ve come here to ask me about something. If that''s so, then don''t stand on ceremony, take a seat. Being on your feet all the time, especially during a conversation, is bound to be quite uncomfortable."

    Clearly relieved at his offer and at the realization that he wasn''t miffed about her arrival, Valenoa walked closer and sat down next to him. The two then adjusted their seating positions a little so that, should the need arise, they could look at each other without turning their heads too much.

    For half a minute or so, the red-haired enchantress nervously grasped her skirt and stared at the ground, quite unsure about how she should get the ball rolling, or how exactly she should even vocalize her somewhat erratic thoughts. This was also the first occasion during which she was completely alone with Isaac, so she hadn''t grown to be fully at ease around him yet.

    Despite her silence, he didn''t pressure her into speaking up and only occasionally sent a glance her way to check up on her. The rest of the time, he observed the expertly trimmed hedges surrounding the courtyard, the birds that were chirping in the trees nearby, as well as a squirrel that was rushing through the bushes. He exuded serenity, like a part of nature. That was also why the evidently somewhat shy girl eventually started to talk.

    "Just like you guessed, there is something that has been on my mind lately, and I just can''t get it out of my head. Can I ask for your advice?"

    When she looked up, Valenoa noticed the corners of Isaac''s lips rising. He nodded reassuringly and gave off a supportive aura, one that made her feel like it would be safe to confide in him.

    "Certainly. Take as much time as you need, I have plenty."

    Some of the wariness that had kept her heart closed off silently disappeared and a bit of courage returned to the amnesiac girl''s mind. Subconsciously, she straightened her back and sat more upright as she finally attempted to get to the point.

    "You see, recently, it feels like Kalin has put some distance between him and me. It happened out of nowhere, and it makes me uneasy. Oh, wait! You might not know this because you''ve been imprisoned for a while, but¡­ K-Kalin and I¡­ uhmm¡­"

    Once she arrived at this part, she blushed all the way up to her ears and stared at the ground again for a while, mumbling soundlessly to herself. She ''stealthily'' stole a few quick glances at Isaac, but he didn''t seem to have been particularly affected by what she had said. He didn''t make fun of her or tease her either, which wiped away some of the panic that had emerged within her heart. After some time, she managed to continue her explanation.

    "Ahem¡­ we''re¡­ I felt like we were about to become a c-couple. That''s exactly why I feel sad now that he''s suddenly keeping me at arm''s length. What do you think might be the problem?"

    With her question finally out there, Valenoa''s heartbeat quickened due to both anxiety and excitement. She knew that it was unrealistic to expect Isaac to have the solution to this troublesome matter, but perhaps, just maybe, he could spot something that she had overlooked. He had known Kalin for some time before she had met him, after all, so he might know something that she didn''t, a detail that she had missed. Also, an outside perspective was often extremely helpful.

    "Let me be frank with you, I haven''t been asked for relationship advice in a very long time, so I''m probably a bit rusty. Still, I''ll try my best. Do you mind if I run a few questions by you before I attempt to come up with a hypothesis? It might help me with figuring out the core issue."

    For a moment, Valenoa was a bit taken aback by his request, but she quickly ended up nodding her head. It only made sense for him to want to know more information because he hadn''t been around for most of her and Kalin''s day-to-day life, or for their interactions. The incredibly short rundown of the situation that she had given him¡­ admittedly, it simply wasn''t good enough.

    "Alright then. How did Kalin behave around you in the past?"

    "Usually, he wouldn''t shy away from physical contact. We would often hold hands, and he''d let me hug him whenever I wanted. W-When I had nightmares¡­ I asked if I could sleep n-next to him, and he allowed it. We often spent hours talking to each other, and he would also bring me to places or show me items that he thought might make me remember something."

    "What about all of that has changed now?"

    Letting the past week or so pass by in front of her eyes once more, Valenoa hunched over a little without realizing it. Her expression turned somewhat grim, with copious amounts of sadness in the mix.

    "Well¡­ everything did, kind of. He tries to be polite with me, but he always brushes me off whenever he can. We''ve b?r?ly talked during these past six days and he''s even ignored me when I knocked on his door. Although it seems like he''s attempting to hide it, he''s clearly avoiding me."

    Her voice cracked a little as she recalled the wary, rather distrusting look in Kalin''s eyes during the times when he closed the door on her. Realizing that she was struggling with her emotions, Isaac kept silent for a while, allowing her to gather herself again.

    "I see. Thanks for sharing this with me, it couldn''t have been easy. I have one final question."

    To the visibly distraught Valenoa, her sweetheart''s teacher felt like a very warm person. He showed plenty of consideration and made it easy for one to think of him as a friend that one could open one''s heart to. He enveloped one in care and comfort, just like a blanket by the fireside in the winter. That was exactly the reason why the red-haired enchantress had lowered her guard entirely and allowed herself to become vulnerable. As a result, she got mentally shaken when he made his last inquiry.

    "Do you genuinely love Kalin?"

    The look on Isaac''s face hadn''t changed in the least, neither had his posture or his body language. However, all kindness had vanished from his eyes. His gaze had turned cold and oppressive, making Valenoa feel as if she was suffocating due to an invisible, unfathomable pressure bearing down on her entire body. It felt difficult to breathe and she began to sweat. She knew that she had to be stuck in a delusion, but that didn''t help her become less flustered.

    Before she knew it, she had already opened her mouth and stuttered the response that her heart wanted to give.

    "Ye-Yes, I-I do."

    Her eyes widened in shock when she realized what she had just done, but she managed to calm down again quickly and pacified her worries. Affirming her love for Kalin had always been the plan, so although she hadn''t had a chance to think through her reply before she gave it, it had all turned out okay in the end. Yes, that definitely was the case!

    With some remnants of fear still aching within her heart and her emotional protective walls raised once more, she carefully peeked at Isaac¡­ only to find that the terrifying aura that had scared her witless was gone. His blue-green eyes radiated understanding as well as benevolence, just like before.

    ''Huh? Was that just my imagination going haywire? Yeah¡­ it must have been. A regular person can''t suddenly change like that. Phew! Really, mind, why did you play a trick on me?''

    Convincing herself that this was the most plausible explanation, Valenoa regained her confidence. Waiting for her conversation partner to continue now that he had apparently gathered all the intelligence that he deemed necessary, she patiently leaned back and rested against the backrest. She didn''t have to bide her time for long.

    "I''m pretty sure I''ve figured out what is going on, but it may not be what you''d like to hear. Should I still tell you?"

    The worried look on his face only further convinced her that she had only daydreamed what she had witnessed before. Still, his words served to unsettle her a little. Gulping out of nervousness, she gave her consent with a resolute nod of the head.

    "This might be a bit lengthy, so please listen until the end. I advise you not to jump to conclusions prematurely. Ahem."

    Clearing his throat in preparation, Isaac closed the book that he had been reading intermittently whenever there had been long periods of silence and placed it aside. This ?ssured Valenoa that he wasn''t playing around, further improving her impression of this outstanding teacher. It didn''t even cross her mind that he couldn''t possibly have derived enough intel solely from what she had told him.

    "Sometimes, a relationship can become strained or change without you realizing why. This isn''t really uncommon and the reasons for this phenomenon are countless. The smartest thing that you can do is to try to examine the most likely ones, to see whether or not any of them fit the bill. If none of them do, then you can only observe the situation in detail for a prolonged period of time and hope to find out more. In any case, I don''t think that will be necessary this time. In fact, I''m certain that I''ve already pinpointed the exact reason - however, me telling you about it directly won''t help as much as me leading you to figure it out for yourself. So, let''s do just that."

    Secretly, a part of her couldn''t help but be annoyed that he didn''t just directly tell her, but she knew that this was just her being selfish. If he thought that this was the best way to do this, then the least that she could do was to let him try. After all, wasn''t she the one who had asked for his help in the first place?

    "Before aiming the dagger of scrutiny at others, it''s always paramount to look inward and ask yourself a few questions: Have I made some sort of mistake? Am I the one at fault? Is it something I did that caused this? Now, before you blame yourself, keep in mind that even if the answer to any or all of these questions is yes, that doesn''t mean that you should treat yourself harshly. Instead, you should choose forgiveness. We all make mistakes and it''s pointless to beat yourself up over them. Accepting them and moving forward is the way to go."

    Valenoa had found it difficult to pay attention to everything that he had said because the three inquiries that he had asked her to reflect over had shaken her once more. In an effort to hide this fact, she almost gave a snarky remark aimed to deflect the blame, as that was what most people usually did. However, recalling how genuinely Isaac had treated her, she chose to refrain from doing so. Instead, she decided to take a leap of faith and cease this stubborn mental resistance.

    Although she tried to not let any ripples of emotions show on her face, they couldn''t escape his watchful eyes. There were far too many feelings that momentarily surfaced. Remorse, resolution, anger, sadness, pain, longing and plenty more less concrete sentiments were amongst the mix.

    Judging one of his theories to be even more likely to be correct now, Isaac patted himself on the back inwardly. Under normal circumstances, he would have never wasted so much effort on someone in Valenoa''s position, but due to her deep involvement with one of his people, he had chosen to pursue one of the least efficient paths. Still, he reminded himself that he couldn''t cross certain lines and that he had to be careful to make sure to entangle himself in this situation as little as possible. The more of this web of mystery that Kalin dismantled himself, the more he would grow. Accumulating this experience would most certainly be beneficial.

    "You look like you''ve figured it out by now. Don''t worry, you don''t need to tell me anything. Whether you should continue as before and jeopardize everything, or whether you should choose to pursue those feelings that you treasure¡­ that''s up to you to decide."

    Initially, Valenoa was stunned by Isaac''s reply. It just hit far too close to home and made her grow suspicious of him¡­ but then she figured out that what he had said was reasonable. Actually, she should have expected to hear words like these from a more philosophically inclined person like him.

    Choosing to take his advice at face value and not to think too deeply about it for now, she gave a short but grateful bow and jumped to her feet spiritedly. Turning around to face him, she flashed him a dazzling but respectful grin.

    "Thank you for your help, Mr. Blackshaw! I''ll carefully weigh my options. Bye for now!"

    With that said, she hurried off out of the courtyard with a bit more of a spring to her step. Although there was still something nagging her in the back of her mind, the simple action of sharing her troubles with someone else had already lifted most of the burden on her shoulders. Of course, she somewhat overplayed her liveliness in an effort to showcase that she was indeed feeling better, and that the time that Isaac had invested hadn''t gone to waste.

    Amused by her display, he shook his head and picked up his book once more. In one smooth motion, he returned to the same exact pose that he had been in prior to Valenoa''s interruption. However, he couldn''t help but mutter to himself.

    "I hope you''ll have made your decision when the time comes."

    While he had been engaged in conversation, he had of course not stopped doing any of the things that he had been previously busying himself with. He had still been supporting everyone during the Knossos raid and had kept up his stealthy magic-related experiments. In the b?r?ly twenty minutes that had passed, nothing much had happened. Most parties were just about to deal with the second item on their agenda.

    It was at this moment that he observed something that attracted some more of his attention.

    ''The White Blade''s members refused even when we presented them with this generous of an offer, huh? What a shame. From their attitude and the fact that they''ve continued to spy on the kids without any good intentions all this while, it seems unlikely that they took the message that I had that youngster deliver to them 12 days ago seriously.''

    Resolving himself to stop by the White Blade''s home in the near future to ''have a nice chat'' with Vidar, Isaac temporarily shelved this matter. His significant progress in Mana Cultivation had made it almost impossible to miss where this enemy force usually congregated, as all of Orario easily fell under his Eyes of Hermes'' influence whenever he felt like it. He was also aware of a certain young man''s struggles, because he occasionally checked up on him.

    ¡ª--

    How long have I been here in utter darkness now? I honestly can''t tell.

    They''ve brought me water eleven times and food four times, so if I ?ssume that they give me something to drink once per day, then it''s been almost 12 days.

    I''m surprised that I can still hold on to my sanity more or less. Don''t they say that when people are isolated like this and left to only their own thoughts, they start to go crazy after around a week? Well, in any case, there really isn''t much to do here.

    Time passes by painfully slowly. Usually, I would have gone to the dungeon to train or would have painted the landscape in my free time, but both of those aren''t an option here in this lightless shithole.

    The first thing that I did after I came to terms with my current circumstances was to rethink the decisions that led me to this point. I''ve reflected a lot, but the result is definitely not one that Lord Vidar would endorse.

    I''m certain that I did the right thing. Our White Blade is making a mistake that will cost all of us our lives!

    When I realized this once more, I panicked, but even that state didn''t last for too long, merely a few days. My pleas for another conversation with Lord Vidar were ignored and everything that I said, everything that I cautioned those that brought me food about¡­ it simply went in one ear and out the other.

    With nothing else to do, I explored this relatively small room while solely relying on my sense of touch, but I didn''t come across anything of particular interest. Eventually, I started to do some physical exercises to exhaust myself and make my mind fuzzy. Sleeping off as much of my time as possible felt like a great idea at the time.

    As for getting out of here? I know best that it isn''t possible for me to damage these walls, or to break the door. There are no windows either. All of this¡­ it''s made out of pure adamantite. V¨¢li knows where Lord Vidar hired a craftsman this proficient in metalwork. It couldn''t have been another deity, because he generally only relies on those within the organization when it concerns confidential matters.

    I couldn''t even have fought my way out of here while my comrades delivered me sustenance. They only shove my b?r? minimum necessities through a small hatch on the lower half of the door. Also, why would I even resort to violence anyway? They are a part of my familia, after all.

    At least that''s what I thought until a few days ago. Now¡­ I''m not as repulsed by the idea any longer.

    I''m no stranger to suffering or punishment. Of course, I don''t enjoy either of them, but I can handle them. If necessary, I can tough it out somehow. But every stressed mind needs a pillar of support, doesn''t it? My pillar¡­ was my familia. They were the people that I wanted to protect. But when the pillar that is supposed to protect you turns against you, then even the most resilient of minds slowly start to crumble under the strain.

    Maybe all that I''ve been saying is simply an excuse, a way for me to more readily accept the violent, hateful thoughts that have crept up all too often. Who knows?

    They started to plague me right around the time when I realized that I couldn''t physically exhaust myself in here, no matter what I did. That''s the demerit of surpassing the limits of a regular person, I suppose¡­ Some doors open, while some others close.

    Whenever I think back to my encounter with Isaac Blackshaw, it feels like I''m being submerged in a barrel of ice-cold water. I''ve already tried to downplay my fear of him, and it worked for a time, but then it rebounded after a while. That man¡­ he terrifies me, he really does. I know that this isn''t rational, that I shouldn''t feel this excessively horrified of someone who, according to conventional logic, shouldn''t be capable of threatening the White Blade. And yet, I just ''know'' that he will be the end of us. Of all of us! Submission is the only path to survival.

    The longer that I''ve been here, the more I tend to listen to this gut feeling of mine. It becomes more and more persuasive, seducing me into a mental state of utter, endless terror.

    Heh, these inner monologues are also just a method to cope with everything. Well, primarily, with my fear.

    I don''t want to die, yes. But it''s not like I would let go of my dignity in the face of death. So why is it that Isaac Blackshaw makes me even more afraid than the prospect of death?

    I don''t know. I don''t know, damn it!

    I just¡­ I can''t allow myself to be that man''s enemy. What will he do if he finds me here? Would some kind of misunderstanding somehow occur? Would he view me as a foe, even in this state? Would he blame me for not succeeding in convincing Vidar?

    I have no idea. Still, the sheer possibility of anything like that happening frightens me.

    What can I do to ensure that I won''t end up facing the sharp end of his blade?

    If I just stay here, won''t it seem like I never put in any effort at all? Shouldn''t I at least contact him to let him know that I failed? If you are honest about your mistakes, people are more likely to forgive you, after all.

    But how can I accomplish anything while still locked up by these bastards!?

    I need to escape. I need to try to let him know.

    I can''t stay here any longer.

    I don''t want to go down with this ship.

    These bastards won''t help me, so I can''t rely on them. I was always there for them and obediently took care of all of my Executive duties, didn''t I? And yet, they treat me like this.

    Yeah, fu?k them. You''ve brought this upon yourselves. I warned you, didn''t I?

    I already did my best.

    We''re done. Go ahead and die for all I care.

    Even if I run to the ends of the Lower World, Isaac Blackshaw might still find me. I have to confront this dread to be able to rest at ease. I''ll have to tell him. I''ll have to beg for forgiveness.

    It''s the only way.

    Don''t blame me, Latham, Toril. I''ll get out of here the next time you bring me water. It should be easy enough, I just have to make you worry for me. When you open the door to check up on me, I''ll slip out. You''ll surely get into trouble for that, but that will be the least of your worries.

    My gut is telling me that Isaac Blackshaw, that monster, will come here soon.

    Good luck.

    I hope you die a quick, painless death.

    ¡­ I''m sorry.

 Chapter 160 - A Priceless Cartload

    Following his unhesitating escape, Sabnac led two of his most trusted aides along the shortest route to the nearest secret emergency shelter, which was hidden away on the 5th floor of Knossos. He wasn''t familiar with the majority of the confusing layout of this place, but he had paid special attention to this specific path, just in case he ever needed to make use of it. To be honest, he had hoped that a day like this would never come, but alas¡­

    A depressed sigh escaped Sabnac''s lips as he rested his back against the cold wall whilst hugging his knees. It had taken him and his two guards a mere quarter of an hour to get to safety and lock themselves in the shelter, but during that time, almost the entirety of his familia had been obliterated. The connections that he had felt to their Falnas had been cut off repeatedly in rapid succession. Whatever enemy that they had come into contact with had completely outclassed them, there was no doubt about that.

    "Back then, I never should have agreed to the proposal that Ikelos'' brat made me¡­"

    With an ever-increasing number of tears trickling down his cheeks and his eyes reddened due to all the crying, Sabnac showed a pained smile. He recalled the faces of all of his children who by far and large had been decent citizens before he had been tempted by that alluring promise. Only because he had chosen for their familia to step into the shadow of Orario''s society did things end up the way that they did. They had endangered the Lower World by selling monsters to whoever d?s?r?d to own them, they had silenced the few people who had come too close to the truth or had witnessed something that they really shouldn''t have seen, and so much more. It truly had been a slippery slope that had started with nothing more than the d?s?r? to earn a few extra valis and provide a better environment for his children.

    ''I should have known that a day like this would come. How could that geezer possibly leave a place like this alone for too long? He surely struck at the first opportunity¡­ which just happened to be now. Everyone, I hope you can forgive me. If I had known that you wouldn''t even be able to escape, I would have taken you all with me and wouldn''t have asked you to hold your ground at all!''

    Noticing their god''s shoulders twitching as he silently wept, Libin and Klait hastily knelt down next to him, the latter putting a hand on his shoulder. The worn and torn, about 40 year old male human, as well as the female Cat Person in her late teens both had concern written all over their faces. As a veteran of many battles and the one most accustomed to permanent partings, it was up to the experienced Libin to raise their god''s spirit.

    "Lord Sabnac, don''t blame yourself. I was there when you asked all of the higher-ups of the familia about whether or not to accept Mr. Perdix'' proposal. It wasn''t a unanimous decision, but we all eventually determined our course of action together. It''s fine to mourn everyone who was lost, but don''t let their deaths bog you down. They wouldn''t want that, would they? Look at the bright side: We''re still here. All that we need to do is to do better from now on and learn from this mistake."

    At his side, Klait nodded her head, her grip on Sabnac''s shoulder tightening a little to get him to lift his head. Through his tear-blurred vision, he could vaguely make out her toothy, reassuring grin. She was clearly only forcing herself to put up a tough front, but in his current state, he couldn''t spot it. Her tail had turned puffy some time ago, but she had consistently been hiding it out of view behind her back.

    "We have enough rations in here to last us for a couple of months, so let''s stay here for a few weeks and then sneak out into the city via the dungeon. When they don''t hear from us within three days, everyone back at home should be following the emergency procedures that you drilled into us, so they should be fine. Let''s just¡­ leave Orario and start anew somewhere else, okay?"

    Feeling even more guilt-ridden because of how understanding and caring his children were, Sabnac choked up a little more momentarily, but then he slapped his cheeks and proceeded to take deep breaths, calming himself down ever so slowly. Approximately five minutes later, although he hadn''t made it all the way back to proper form as his long hair was still dishevelled and dirty, his noble bearing had started to return.

    "Alright, we''ll do as you recommended, Klait. Thank you for helping me gather myself, you two."

    A bit embarrassed, the cat girl scratched her ear while Libin composedly nodded his head. However, even he couldn''t hide the small smirk that had stolen itself onto his lips.

    ''I''ll build you all a proper memorial when this is over, I promise.''

    Right when Sabnac had found his inner peace once more and the three of them felt as if they had successfully figured out where to go from here, a noise that they had heard just ten minutes earlier made them jump to their feet in alarm. Those rocks sliding against each other¡­ when they had opened the secret door, it had produced the exact same sound!

    ''But how!? How could anyone possibly know which torch sconce to turn and, while right in front of it, to inject the key with mana once more? Did one of the three fools who got done in earlier write that information down and leave it in their home? That''s the only way in which this could have been leaked! Wait¡­ could there be a traitor!?''

    The moment that he laid eyes upon the person leading the around two dozen strong party that blocked the entrance of the shelter, Sabnac didn''t bother with thinking about any of these questions any longer. His eyes almost popped out of their sockets in extreme shock, but fractions of a second later, the look within them turned more resolute than ever. Before his guards could react, he had already prostrated himself on the ground and shouted at the top of his lungs.

    "BRAVER! PLEASE HEAR ME OUT!!"

    What followed were tens of seconds of agonizingly tense silence. Thankfully, Libin and Klait weren''t foolish enough to cause a scene now, despite how pathetically he behaved. With the weapons of the Loki Familia aimed at them, they wouldn''t rashly make any moves. Well, that was what Sabnac hoped for.

    Eventually, when the back of his vest had become drenched in sweat, an unhurried but threatening voice finally responded.

    "What do you have to say?"

    Not daring to look up even though he had been granted the chance that he had bargained for with his dignity on the line, completely disregarding the status disparity between a lofty deity and the Loki Familia''s Captain in front of him, Sabnac lowered his head until it touched the ground.

    "Do anything you want with me, but please let the Guild give my children a fair trial. I was the one who dragged them into this and far too many of them have already paid the ultimate price."

    Stumbling backwards in incredulity at this development, Libin and Klait were flabbergasted for a moment, then the more emotionally driven cat girl teared up and shouted in defiance, stepping forward right next to her god.

    "Lord Sabnac, what are you saying?! We followed you out of our own free will! Sir Braver, please let me and my partner shoulder the brunt of the punishment that is to come instead!!"

    Deeply shaken by her sacrificial spirit, but also terrified of the last glimmer of hope that he had just fought for possibly getting extinguished due to her outburst, Sabnac banged his head against the floor until his forehead started to bleed, leaving a golden stain on the cold rock.

    "Braver, please. As their god, as their figurehead, I am the one to blame. I beg of you, don''t listen to her."

    "AHEM!!"

    Clearing his throat as loudly as possible, Finn interrupted this melodramatic farce. He was certain that the two would just continue this back and forth for a long time if he didn''t intervene. While it was amusing and somewhat touching to witness moments like these, he also currently didn''t have the luxury of excessive time.

    Putting on a stern, icy expression, Finn walked a bit closer and raised Sabnac''s head with the end of his spear, staring straight into the unwavering eyes that set their sights on him in the process.

    "What makes you think that any of you will escape your due punishment?"

    With his last hope dashed just like this, the light in Sabnac''s eyes slowly began to fade, a deep sadness settling in to replace it. Before it could fully manifest, however, Finn''s next words reached the despairing god''s ears.

    "All of you will be handed over to the Guild when we''re out of here. Don''t even think of getting off scot-free!"

    Not bothering to waste any more of his time on this, the Pallum turned around and motioned for his party''s second in command, Raul, to come closer. He didn''t want to hear any exclamations of gratitude from the criminal that they had just caught. When it came down to it, he wasn''t the one making the decisions during this operation. What happened to everyone in this place was solely left up to Isaac''s discretion, Finn had merely played a part in helping with some details in the planning stages.

    "Get the rope and tie that trio up. Set aside some people to guard them as well."

    "Understood, Captain. Leave it to me!"

    Somewhat overeager, Raul saluted him and then got busy. As he was observing him perform his duties, Finn slightly distanced himself from the rest of the group and whispered into the empty air, not even loudly enough to hear his own words.

    "Why did you ask me to spare the two guards?"

    He was already aware that there was not enough incriminating evidence against Sabnac in this place to execute him on the spot, so he would have to be handed over to Ouranos'' side for proper processing. However, according to the original plan, every single member that the Sabnac Familia had stationed here in Knossos should have been eliminated. There were a few theories floating around his mind regarding what could be going on, but he couldn''t be certain of any of them yet. Therefore, he was eager to find out which one of them was actually what had spurred Isaac into making this decision.

    "Out of all of the forces here, from what I''ve observed, the Sabnac Familia can be considered the least devious. There might be other crimes that they have committed that make them truly deserving of death, but trafficking non-sentient monsters alone isn''t enough to qualify them for total extermination. I''ll let Ouranos have the ''pleasure'' of figuring out how to handle the Sabnac Familia''s circumstances and settling on an appropriate sentence. Killing everyone aside from the two guards can be excused as them failing to comply or having been collateral damage, so it''s not a huge issue. I chose to end them to help the Guild send a message that Ouranos wouldn''t be able to bring himself to push: Don''t fish in murky waters without being prepared to pay the ultimate price. Arrows don''t have eyes, so they might just hit you in the heat of the moment."

    Staying silent for a bit to think it over, Finn eventually nodded his head. Still, some last crumbs of confusion remained. He was pretty certain that he had already figured it out, but he needed one more confirmation.

    "But all of that could have been achieved by simply leaving the Sabnac Familia members in the city alive. Aside from Sabnac, only Dipsios, Kakia and Sabaktes had bases in the city. We purposely didn''t aim at the Sabnac Familia home because you intended to let the Guild handle the people there, right? Then why did you suddenly add the two guards to the list of survivors?"

    Apparently slightly flustered, Isaac didn''t reply for a few seconds. When he ultimately gave a response, he sighed resignedly because he knew what was to come now that he was being honest.

    "I heard them console Sabnac earlier when he was struggling with the loss of his children. Later, when I witnessed him stand up for them, that girl doing the same for him in turn and the old-timer in the back clearly intent on joining in as well, I developed a modicum of respect for the three of them. It wouldn''t hurt to let them live, so that''s why I did."

    Smirking smugly at Isaac''s repose, Finn chuckled to himself. Sometimes, the degree to which Ais'' beloved could emotionally detach himself from those that he wasn''t close to surprised even the Loki Familia''s Captain, who had frequently had to steel his heart to make difficult decisions. However, these moments when Isaac exhibited some genuine compassion reassured Finn time and time again that there was nothing for him to worry about.

    "... if you''re done, then get moving and go to the 7th floor already. Tiona has everything ready."

    Complying with his orders with a small, cheeky bow, Finn relayed Isaac''s instructions to the rest of his party. The restrained Sabnac Familia trio was put on a cart that had been prepared beforehand and brought along for this express purpose, safely protected and monitored. Even on the off chance that they could wrestle free from their extremely durable restraints, those movements would immediately be perceived and they would be knocked out as a result.

    Around ten minutes later, Finn''s party approached the chambers which the Ignavia Familia had been treating as their home up until just a quarter of an hour ago, when a lively Amazoness and Riveria''s treasured prot¨¦g¨¦ descended upon them with more than 20 other Loki Familia members.

    According to Isaac''s observations, the Ignavia Familia had been deeply involved in the slave trade. They would regularly venture to the surface - and sometimes even into the dungeon - to capture unsuspecting individuals. Down here, those who put up too much resistance would have to go through a ''reeducation'' process, which left them in a state fairly close to death. The healer of their familia then patched them up to be as good as new, sometimes using expensive High Potions if the wounds were too grievous. Perhaps unexpectedly, this was a worthwhile expenditure, because the Ignavia Familia''s slaves were highly rated by the buyers due to their extraordinary obedience. Many customers were more than willing to hand over a few tens of thousands of extra valis due to this reputation - it achieved the same effect as a brand name.

    Ignavia herself wasn''t actually involved with her familia''s wrongdoings, she had simply gotten dragged along by her children and ended up in this place somehow. It was unknown whether or not she minded any of this, though, because as the goddess of sloth, she had never bothered to intervene. Amongst the myriad of deities, she was definitely amongst those who were the most affected by their Divinity.

    All of this was also the reason as to why Isaac had decided to hand her over to the Guild for judgement, just like Sabnac. However, because slavery tended to be heavily frowned upon in Orario - even more so than monster trafficking - her inaction, despite her special circumstances, would most likely lead to her current stay in the Lower World getting cut short prematurely.

    When Finn''s party arrived, Tiona handed over a tied up Ignavia who still looked as if she didn''t really care about anything that was happening. She hadn''t put up any resistance back when her familia''s hideout had been stormed, and she didn''t fight back now either. Nay, she didn''t even raise an eyebrow. Like a sack of potatoes, she silently let herself get carried over to the cart that the Sabnac Familia''s remnants were on, then she closed her eyes and fell asleep immediately after she got there. As for her fellow captured deity? She didn''t even acknowledge his existence in any way.

    The next target of Finn''s party was on the 9th floor, while the five members of Tiona''s party who were at least Level 4 needed to head to the 16th. That being the case, they advanced together for a while, but parted ways as soon as the Captain''s party arrived on their target floor.

    Once more, it had taken them around ten minutes to travel a two floor distance and approach the next base that they needed to visit, the home of the Metus Familia. Bete''s party had just finished dealing with all matters here a couple of minutes ago.

    This time, what awaited Finn''s party was not an unharmed deity, but instead a beaten and bruised man of about average height whose real features couldn''t even be made out any longer. His golden Ichor was dripping from his open wounds in excess and his face was so swollen that his eyes couldn''t be seen any longer. All of his limbs had been broken and the area around his crotch had been kicked so heavily that his ''equipment'' had been forcefully stuffed into his body. Well, what was left of it, at least. Metus really didn''t have any of the dignity of a deity remaining, at all.

    Although he felt a cold breeze between his th??hs when he looked at the state that Metus was in, Finn didn''t criticize Bete and simply commanded Raul to get someone to carry that piece of filth to the cart in the back. The value of its cargo once more increased by an inestimable amount.

    There was a good reason for the brutal treatment that Metus had received. Just like Ignavia, he chose not to resist the effects that his Divinity had on his mind at all¡­ but it was a lot worse, as he was the god of dread and terror. He had chosen the most depraved individuals that he could find on the streets of Orario to become his familia''s children and taught them how to torture others in the most painful ways - how to break their minds into pieces, fix them back up again and then shatter them anew¡­ repeating ad infinitum, like an inescapable cycle.

    He obtained great satisfaction from witnessing the spectacle so he had spurred his children on by condemning the ones whose monthly performance was the weakest to join the torment themselves. In that way, he had successfully sparked the dormant ingenuity in his children as well as fostered a spirit of competition, which let him often catch sight of abuse that he himself had never even thought of before.

    Of course, all of this wasn''t only done ''just because'' or due to his Divinity''s influence. By gaining a deeper understanding about dread and terror, he could advance his Divinity to further heights! It was considerably more difficult to do so while taking the hands-off approach and observing from Heaven, so his objective when he descended to the Lower World had always been to create a place like this, filled with people who were experiencing the worst nightmares that they could ever imagine.

    His familia had become infamous long ago, even before Evilus had risen to prominence, but because they had been based here in Knossos for a long time and had almost never ventured outside on their own aside from the times when they bought slaves or kidnapped someone, the Guild and the law-abiding familias of Orario hadn''t had an opportunity to deal them a decisive blow. It only got worse since the Ignavia Familia, which was focused on slave trade, had settled down in these depths years ago - the Metus Familia members had appeared in the city even more infrequently.

    Just like his familia''s members, Metus would have to kiss his mortal vessel goodbye before long. He would be providing both Ais and Isaac with some sweet AP relatively soon. The only reason as to why they hadn''t killed him on the spot was that the beam of Divine Energy which would transport his Divine Soul back to Heaven would also completely obliterate anything in its path - it really wasn''t a good idea to allow a deity to die down here.

    With the handover of the criminal completed successfully, the two parties then set off deeper into Knossos - Finn''s towards the last deity that needed to be picked up, and Bete''s to the 16th floor where Tiona''s party had ventured to mere minutes earlier. Of course, only those at Level 4 or above were allowed to go.

    They stuck together for around half an hour, until they made it to the 15th floor, where the Ker Familia had been living. Currently, they were still locked in combat with Tione''s party.

    Waiting patiently, Finn''s party rested at a distance of a few hundred meters and listened to the sounds of fighting. The battle raged on for another five minutes, during which a few of those that were standing by grew worried about their fellow familia members. Fortunately, they were aware of the fact that Isaac would have notified them if their help had been necessary at all. Because that hadn''t happened, it was safe to say that their friends were doing just fine. This eventual realization caused most of the fidgety ones to calm down once more.

    There were good reasons as to why this battle had taken ''so long''.

    Firstly, Tione''s party had only made it to the 15th floor shortly before Finn''s had come here, so the conflict hadn''t actually been going on for that long - actually, everything was progressing remarkably fast.

    Secondly, the Ker Familia had been quite impressive, boasting five Level 4 adventurers and one who had reached Level 5 a short while ago! Tione''s party only had four Level 4''s, but because she was a Level 6, they hadn''t been in much danger. She had easily subdued the Level 5 and the strongest of the Level 4''s, then she spent her time occasionally stepping in when the others made a mistake or couldn''t hold on any longer. But aside from times like these, she left them to fend for themselves. It was important for her comrades to grow stronger, after all!

    Why did the Ker Familia have such excessively powerful forces? In truth, almost nobody in Orario was aware that they were in the city, or that they even existed. This was because they had infiltrated from the outside over a long period of many years, slipping in their members one by one. This all had taken place decades ago, and since then, they had rarely left Knossos.

    Due to having utilized his Eyes of Hermes to study all of their documents and having listened to their interactions, Isaac found out that they were a secret weapon of¡­ some country. They never actually mentioned where they were from and simply used the term ''the homeland'' or ''the motherland'' when referring to it, even in all of their paperwork. Considering that there were plenty of youngsters in their ranks, Isaac suspected that those individuals might not even know which government they were serving. To find out more later, he had stealthily whisked away one of the older but weaker members of the Ker Familia before the ?ssault on their base had begun.

    More importantly, their illegal entry into the city and residence in Knossos alone didn''t qualify them to get put on the chopping block, so what did? It was their trade.

    They were an ?ssassination organization who put themselves up for hire. That alone would already be extremely condemnable, because they regularly sent their members to slay innocents all across the continent. Sometimes, it was due to the orders from their masters or customers, but at other times, it was simply to gain experience or to refine their art. Their goddess encouraged such trips and even accompanied them a lot herself, as her Divinity of Violent Death could only grow in the presence of such events. Occasionally, massacres of unknown villages had been performed in her name. However, contrary to Metus'' situation, this method of advancement was actually less efficient than simply watching from above, because she could only pay attention to a limited number of deaths at a time. In conclusion: She was only here to thrill-seek.

    Once the battle had been concluded, Tione dragged the bound and gagged, one-armed Ker over to Finn, gazing at him with expectant puppy eyes while covered from head to toe in blood, intestines, bone fragments and Ichor. Where did the Ichor come from, you ask? Well, Ker did still have two arms when she ate breakfast this morning¡­

    "Here you go, Finn!"

    With a resplendent beam on her gore-covered face, Tione threw the incapacitated goddess over to her beloved Captain, trying to use this opening while he was focused on catching Ker to sneak over and hug him. Regrettably, Finn instantly saw right through her. He was capable of moving far faster than her, so he grabbed the ''goods'' out of the air and delivered them to the deity-bearing cart faster than the affection-starved Amazoness could react. Feeling as if he should give her at least a little something for her efforts, he patted her shoulder and strolled off. It had actually not been as simple as it sounded to reach all the way up there considering his height, so he had had to very slightly jump to make up for the difference.

    "Good job."

    These two words were more than enough to rekindle the motivation in the downcast Amazoness'' heart and make her swoon in delight. During the time she was submerged in d?s?r?, ???k?n? her lips in longing, breathing heavily and gazing at Finn as if in a love-induced haze, the target of her tender feelings chose to ignore her - he simply fulfilled his duties.

    Everyone who hadn''t reached Level 4 yet was to return to the surface with the captured deities in tow, to wait there for the conclusion of the raid. Many other parties had already sent their weaker members there, so they could all merrily wait there and reflect on today''s happenings while taking care of all those that they had saved from this place.

    "Raul, Aki, Nicole. You three will follow me to the 16th floor!"

    -----

    Gazing at what remained of the around 20 members of the Black Blade that had been in their outpost on the 12th floor, Ryuu sighed helplessly.

    She had been made aware of the exact relationship between her nemesis Evilus and this subordinate organization of a certain primordial god named V¨¢li by Isaac, so most of her hatred for these black robe-wearing people had disappeared. After all, they weren''t the same people who had caused her friends and her so much suffering.

    And yet, when she saw their scattered bodies after the mechanisms in their hearts had caused them to explode, she couldn''t help but feel somewhat saddened. She knew that they were Isaac''s enemies, and that they had tried to kill his people and aimed for his life as well. Still, it was difficult for her to feel all too positively about their deaths because she herself hadn''t been harmed by them directly.

    ''Oh well, he did capture one of them for interrogation purposes, so that girl might survive¡­''

    Feeding her justice-obsessed heart a smidgen of delusional hope, she took a deep breath and turned away from the devastation. Suddenly, she perceived some rapid movement nearby and was about to get into a defensive position, then she recognized who the new arrival was and halted in her actions immediately.

    Having successfully escorted the Red Blade''s members to the surface, Ais had casually ran back all the way down to the 12th floor in about ten minutes. She had seen no need to waste any AP on teleporting to cover such a miniscule distance, especially when there was nothing to worry about - with the trusty Gale, Ryuu Lion, as the vice-leader of her party, she could rest easy and leave the Black Blade to the Elf in the green cloak.

    "It seems like you took care of everything already. Thank you for your hard work!"

    Shooting her an otherworldly smile full of praise that would have caused most members of her fan club to die of blood loss, Ais stunned Ryuu into awe for a moment or two. When she finally snapped out of it, her eyes hastily darted away and she revealed a light blush. Coughing to dispel her embarrassment and to distract from what had just happened, she nodded at her party''s leader, extending her greetings.

    Her teasing having successfully produced this adorable display, the corners of Ais'' mouth twitched in amusement. She rejoiced even more when she realized that her beloved had probably also cracked a mischievous grin because of this. Still, as she was aware that they had bigger fish to fry for now, she chose to leave it at that and informed everyone of what they needed to do next.

    "Ryuu, Cruz, Elfy - follow me to the 17th floor. As for the rest of you, please return to the surface under Liza''s command.. Don''t fully relax just yet, but be aware that your part in this raid is most likely already over. You''ve all done very well today!"