Chapter 8 - Listening To Eina
Adventurers go on various adventures to increase their Excelia.
If you don't take risks, your Excelia will grow very slowly.
Orsted has been able to increase his Excelia so quickly thanks to his skill.
If you only fight monsters that pose no threat, it's not really an adventure.
It's no surprise that Excelia won't accumulate much in that case.
Orsted understands this well.
However, unlike reckless adventurers who throw themselves into danger, Orsted takes calculated risks.
He only fights monsters that are a little challenging but still within his ability.
He's careful and steady when it comes to adventuring.
After exploring the sixth floor and killing hundreds of kobolds, Orsted followed the map to find the entrance to the seventh floor and went in.
When he arrived on the seventh floor, the Dungeon greeted him with its usual hospitality.
A large group of killer ants emerged from the ground, walls, and ceiling.
This time, there were no kobolds.
Kobolds tend to appear more often on the upper and middle floors.
The lower you go, the less likely they are to show up. Orsted didn't encounter any on this floor.
Seeing the swarm of killer ants surrounding him, Orsted gripped his sword, dashed forward, and started attacking.
Swish!
With a single strike, Orsted killed several of killer ants.
The other killer ants weren't scared.
If anything, they seemed angrier and swarmed toward Orsted even faster.
Another slaughter began.
With Orsted's strength, dealing with these killer ants wasn't a problem.
He could have even gone as far as the tenth floor without much trouble.
But Orsted didn't rush.
He decided to take it floor by floor, getting used to the strength of the monsters at each level.
In the anime, Bell reached the tenth floor and ventured into the Labyrinth District while still Level 1.
But Orsted wasn't going to take such reckless risks.
After checking the area and making sure no new monsters were spawning, Orsted started collecting the magic stones scattered on the ground.
Once he had gathered all the stones, Orsted looked at his pouch and felt a little worried.
His system was a bit unusual.
It had a random sign-in function, but it didn't come with the usual system storage space.
If it had storage, he wouldn't have to worry about carrying supplies and loot.
"I hope the two pouches I brought are enough," Orsted muttered, patting the bag at his waist.
"Maybe I should find a supporter," he thought, and the image of a certain girl came to mind.
"I'll talk to Hestia about this when I get back," Orsted said to himself before setting off again.
In just two hours, Orsted had gone from the fifth floor to the ninth floor.
By then, both of his pouches were completely full.
"They're full, and it's getting late. Time to head back," Orsted decided.
Yesterday, his pouches were only two-thirds full, and he'd earned 110,000 valis.
This time, with both completely full, Orsted estimated he could exchange around 300,000 valis.
"I'm going to get another lecture from Eina," Orsted muttered as he walked through the dim passage.
The return trip took a little over half the time it had taken to go down.
In just over an hour, Orsted was back on the surface.
When he went to exchange his valis at the Guild, Eina scolded him, clearly worried about his safety.
Eina even left her work at the front desk to pull Orsted into a private room for a serious talk.
This was part of her job as Orsted's adventurer advisor.
"Orsted, do you even listen to me?" Eina asked, looking both frustrated and concerned.
"Adventurers shouldn't take unnecessary risks."
"You've been ignoring my advice, haven't you?" she said, her tone sharp.
Eina didn't ask which floor Orsted had gone to today, but judging by the Valis he had earned, she knew he must have gone as far as the tenth floor.
Only the magic stones dropped by monsters on the tenth floor were large enough to be considered alot.
In other words, Orsted had jumped from the fifth floor to the those floors in a single day—a much bigger leap than his previous gradual progress.
Eina was worried that such a sudden increase in difficulty could lead to disaster.
As an adventurer advisor, her main job was to keep the adventurers under her care safe.
Over the years, she'd seen too many adventurers meet tragic ends, and she didn't want Orsted to share their fate.
"Eina, I'll say it again: I value my life. I only take on challenges I can handle, and I never act recklessly," Orsted finally said when Eina paused for breath.
"Are you saying you're strong enough to handle the those floors?" Eina asked, her frown deepening.
Orsted didn't answer directly but just smiled.
Seeing his expression, Eina's eyes widened, and she took a deep breath.
To gain the strength to tackle the tenth floor in just five days—that was an incredible rate of growth!
Recovering quickly, Eina told Orsted to keep his strength a secret.
It was shocking enough that he'd reached such a level just five days after becoming an adventurer.
After all, five days ago, Orsted had been a complete rookie.
Seeing Eina's concern, Orsted smiled slightly and nodded.
"I understand."