On the way to the familia headquarters, Kuro opened the gift Granny Lan had given him before he left.
It was a sword wrapped carefully in cloth.
Drawing the sword in his hands, Kuro could feel its sharpness.
It was a good sword.
"Kuro-kun got a nice gift."
"Mm!"
Soon the two arrived at the Hestia Familia headquarters a run-down church.
Hestia scratched her face awkwardly, then said loudly to Kuro: "Our familia has just started. When you become stronger, Kuro-kun, we'll be able to live in a more magnificent headquarters."
"It's fine, this place is good!"
Hestia might not know, but Kuro knew why there was a ruined church in Orario, known as the center of the world.
Therefore, Kuro expressed satisfaction that the familia headquarters was here.
Kuro, without caring at all, walked in and, led by Hestia, arrived at a small room underground.
The room was very small, and the only furniture was a large bed in the center, with a wardrobe and sofa on both sides of the bed.
Putting down his backpack, taking out the things inside and arranging them neatly.
"Are you happy, Kuro-kun? Tonight you can sleep with a super beautiful girl like me!"
Hestia, who had followed them, jumped and fell on the large bed. She flipped over, propping her head up with one hand, then lay on her side and said to Kuro.
"I can just sleep on the sofa, cough cough."
"Wuu~" Hestia looked at Kuro who kept tidying the room and ignoring her. She ran over, hugging Kuro's head from behind: "As family, we should be closer and more intimate. How can we sleep separately?"
Feeling the surprising softness at the back of his head, Kuro put his hands under Hestia's armpits, lifted her up and put her back on the bed.
"Today we'll register at the guild, and I want to go to the dungeon tomorrow."
Ignoring Hestia's constant interference, Kuro quickly tidied up the messy room. He not only organized the daily necessities he'd brought, but also cleaned up Hestia's messy room.
After spending half a day tidying the small room, Kuro brought Hestia to the guild to register.
Whether by coincidence or not, Kuro's advisor was Eina.
"Congratulations, Kuro-san, you've finally joined a familia."
Eina smiled and congratulated Kuro.
As guild staff, everyone was very familiar with this strange man who occasionally came to the guild to apply to join familias.
Unfortunately, the man was quite old and very weak, and most fatally, he was sickly.
Their condition was even worse than the prum, so it was natural that no familia wanted to recruit them. Although Eina had tried to persuade Kuro to give up becoming an adventurer, it was all in vain.
"Actually, I was planning to recommend the Hestia Familia to you when you came again, but I didn't expect Kuro-san had already joined. But since you've become an adventurer, let's start the lecture. I'll introduce Kuro-san to basic precautions in the dungeon."
Seeing Kuro finally get what he wanted, Eina was very happy, but she was worried that the thin Kuro would die in the dungeon the next day, so she took the initiative to give a lecture for beginner adventurers.
The lecture lasted two days in total.
Even though Kuro's memories contained almost all the dungeon background, the pain in his body constantly reminded him that this was the real world.
So Kuro listened carefully to Eina's lecture so he could better understand the world.
"I'm going!"
Kuro put on his clothes, took his weapon, said something to Hestia who was dreaming in bed, and left the room.
Walking along West Street toward the center of Orario, the Tower of Babel.
Along the way, he met various kinds of adventurers.
Prum, elves, demi-humans, amazons, and many more.
Following the crowd, Kuro quickly arrived at the fourth floor of the dungeon. Even though his attributes had reached the minimum standard for exploring floors 8 to 10 of the dungeon.
But anyway, this was his first exploration, especially for Kuro who had never fought before.
Never mind the eighth floor—even the War Shadow known as the Rookie Killer that would appear after the sixth floor could kill him.
For safety, Kuro planned to explore the fourth floor first.
The fourth floor of this dungeon was an ordinary cave. The monsters that appeared on this floor were goblins, kobolds, and dungeon lizards. They were all the lowest level monsters that ordinary people could handle with weapons.
As Kuro was thinking about this information, he immediately noticed something strange coming from ahead.
Following his feeling, he saw the dungeon wall and an ugly green goblin hatching from it.
When the goblin came out, it saw Kuro and immediately pounced on him.
What was needed in battle? For a beginner who didn't know anything, fighting only required swinging a sword at the right time.
When the goblin was only about a meter away from him, Kuro swung his sword following the goblin's movement.
The goblin hit in a vital spot died immediately, its body turned to ash, and a purple magic stone fell to the ground.
He stepped forward, picked up the magic stone and put it in his pocket, his brow furrowing.
This sword wasn't ideal.
Actually what he wanted to do was just cut off the goblin's head, but he didn't expect to cut somewhere else.
"It seems fighting is very different from what I imagined. I need to practice basic movements more when I get back."
As he continued walking on the fourth floor, several monsters would appear from time to time.
But each time, Kuro would sense them first.
More often he encountered beginner adventurers and senior adventurers passing through. When meeting them, Kuro would nod then firmly avoid them.
After several tests, Kuro discovered part of his "High-Level Player" skill he could sense all living beings within a ten-meter radius while actively concentrating.
This applied not only to monsters, since Kuro had also sensed other adventurers nearby.
There were three goals for exploring the dungeon this time.
The first was to make money. Maintaining weapons, buying armor, and potions all required money. Kuro currently only had the sword given by Granny Lan.
The second was learning how to fight. The best way to learn on your own was through practice and summarizing experience.
The third was experimenting with his three skills.
When he woke up two days ago and learned he had three skills, he was more shocked than seeing his endurance suddenly increase to E.
Kuro didn't know where the "Suffering Mask" skill came from. It was the most realistic portrayal of the past few years in this different world constantly enduring all kinds of pain, both physical and mental.
As for its effect, he'd already experienced it deeply.
His pain was increased to the limit, and his endurance grew extraordinarily.
For comparison, he used his arm to block a goblin's bite and was once hit by a dungeon lizard.
The result was that where the goblin bit felt like being cut with a knife, and where the dungeon lizard hit felt like being struck with a sledgehammer.
However, the actual damage received didn't change where the lizard hit was just a red spot.
Only the pain from injuries was magnified.
"Revenge Flame" also reflected Kuro's true current mindset.
Yes, Kuro wanted revenge, and wanted to pay back the pain that had been inflicted on him dozens or hundreds of times over.
So even when he lost his memories, Kuro's heart kept reminding him to become an adventurer, because in this world, strength was everything.
This world needed strong people, so even the gods wouldn't ignore the wishes of the strong.
To honor these strong people, the gods even gave them special and noble titles—"Hero."
When the first monster appeared, Kuro had already tried to identify it as a revenge target, but he never used his skill even once.
Regarding the last skill "High-Level Player," honestly, even though Kuro's memories had somewhat recovered under Hestia's stimulation, most of it was memories related to this world.
Kuro knew this skill might be influenced by his past life.
If given a choice, Kuro actually didn't want the first two skills, even though both brought countless benefits.
Soon the day ended, and with the return of adventurers from the lower floors, it could be said that basically no monsters spawned on the upper floors.
He went to the exchange office and lined up to exchange the magic stones harvested today at the guild, receiving 1,300 valis.
That amount was more than Kuro's earnings from selling potato balls yesterday.
When they returned to the church, Hestia was already home. When she saw Kuro return, she immediately pounced on him.
"Welcome back, Kuro-kun."
That night, after reporting to Hestia about the day's activities in the dungeon, the blessing update began.
Kuro Lv1
Strength I17→I29
Endurance E404→E473
Dexterity I0→I16
Agility I0→I13
Magic I0
Magic:
Skills: Revenge Flame, Suffering Mask, High-Level Player
Except for endurance, the rest only increased by a dozen or so points.
This was still the early growth period for newcomers, and Kuro had already seen the prospect of single-digit growth after he hit bottlenecks in later stages.
"Well, everyone grows like this, so don't worry too much."
Maybe understanding what Kuro was thinking, Hestia patted Kuro's shoulder and comforted him.
Both quietly didn't mention the "Revenge Flame" skill. Hestia didn't want Kuro to live in an ocean of hatred.
And Kuro also didn't want Hestia to worry that he would take extreme actions for revenge and ultimately bring destruction.
Adjusting his mindset, Kuro took his sword and went to the church hall upstairs to practice sword swings.