"It has been a long time, but please let go of me first."
Hephaestus pushed the clingy Hestia away speechlessly and straightened her messed-up clothes.
This also made Takumi look back with regret, but then he said with a mischievous smile: "I think you knew they would be back soon, so you came here every day lately. How about it? Are you moved?"
"What?"
When Hestia heard this, she couldn't help but rush toward Hephaestus again.
"Wow! Hephaestus, I'm so touched that you care about me so much."
"Hey! Wait! Get off me!"
Unlike Hestia, Hephaestus is obviously more serious and self-conscious.
So, under Takumi's gaze, she did not want to have too much close contact with Hestia.
Thus, these two people—one clinging desperately and the other trying to push her away—remained in a stalemate.
"Why does this scene seem familiar? Loki and her Familia of beautiful girls?"
Takumi, who was admiring this scene, suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu.
Of course!
Isn't this a daily occurrence for the Loki Familia!
At this moment, Hephaestus finally managed to suppress Hestia.
After all, because of the seal, everyone is at the level of ordinary people.
Hestia, a small shut-in who is not very athletic, is at a disadvantage against Hephaestus, who is tall and frequently works at the forge.
"Did you do this on purpose?"
Hephaestus, having broken free from Hestia's entanglement, glared at Takumi and asked.
But what she didn't expect was that Takumi actually nodded.
"Yeah, isn't that obvious?"
"..."
Takumi was so confident that Hephaestus found herself at a loss for words.
However, Takumi obviously didn't care about her glare. When he saw the three sisters coming down, he smiled and called them over.
"Kanae, let me introduce you."
"This is Hephaestus, Hestia's best friend and the Goddess of Forging."
"She has also been to our place and is currently the only insider here besides Hestia."
Compared to Takumi's boldness in joking with Hephaestus, Kochou Kanae and Kochou Shinobu were much more reserved.
After hearing Takumi's introduction, they quickly led Kanao and gave a polite salute to Hephaestus.
"Hello, Lady Hephaestus. We are the new members of the Hestia Familia. I am Kanae, and these are my sisters Shinobu and Kanao. Please take good care of us in the future."
"Hello."
Hephaestus responded with a kind smile.
"They are all very polite and good children, unlike someone..."
As she said that, Hephaestus glanced at Takumi, her meaning self-evident.
Takumi simply ignored this.
Seeing this, Hephaestus didn't pay him any more mind.
"Since your Familia already has official members, you still need to register later, so I won't disturb you any longer."
"I have seen that Hestia is back safely, so I feel relieved."
"If you need equipment, you can come to my shop. For Hestia's sake, I will give you a discount."
"Also, I will help you look into what you mentioned, Takumi."
After saying that, Hephaestus left. It could be said that she left as quickly as she came, like a gust of wind.
Hestia did not hold her back because they indeed had things to do.
"So, let's go to the Guild first."
Hestia was about to pull Takumi along, but he refused.
"You guys go ahead. I still have some things to deal with. Let's meet at the entrance of the Dungeon later."
"Okay, Kanae, let's go."
When Hestia saw this, she didn't ask Takumi what he was up to. Instead, she took Kanae and the others away first.
...
If Takumi wanted to stay, of course, he had something important to do.
In fact, just after he arrived here, several prompts popped up in the system, but he had ignored them at the time.
Looking around to ensure he was alone, Takumi looked them over again.
"Congratulations to the host for completing the reception of the visitor 'Hestia,' fulfilling her request, and receiving the reward: [Exclusive Magic Awakening Opportunity] x1!"
This was Hestia's reward for visiting the 'City of Dimensions'.
However, Hestia had lived in the 'City of Dimensions' for more than ten days, and Takumi himself had almost forgotten about it.
The content was very easy to understand, just like using a Grimoire to induce awakening here.
It allowed Takumi to awaken a magic unique to him according to his heart's desire.
It was a quite excellent reward.
After all, as a traveler, Takumi has a lot of knowledge. Compared to the natives here in DanMachi, his thoughts and desires for magic are much broader.
If he was lucky, he would probably get a cheat-level magic.
Even if he was unlucky, the practicality and strength of this magic should not be too bad.
However, Takumi was not in a hurry to use this opportunity.
Instead, he looked at the prompts following it.
"Ding! Sensing that the host has passed through the Dimensional Gate and arrived in the 'DanMachi World,' triggering tasks based on the current world."
"Task trigger completed!"
"Mission 1: A Small Test: Go to the Dungeon and kill ten Level 1 monsters. Reward: [Point Redemption Mall Opened (Local Version)]!"
"Mission 2: Conquer the Dungeon: Clear the Dungeon. Each level conquered will be rewarded with [Floor Number x 100 Points]!"
"Mission 3: Boss Hunter: Kill the Floor Master. Reward: [Floor Level x 1000 Points]!"
"Mission 4: Infinite Slaughter: Kill monsters. Reward: [1 Point Base, doubled for each higher level]!"
"Additional tasks are yet to be triggered. The host is encouraged to explore independently."
Takumi carefully read these four tasks and couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
"It's actually a point redemption type of gameplay."
It was a common trope...
"But for this world, it is surprisingly appropriate."
Wasn't that right?
The theme of DanMachi is to defeat monsters and upgrade.
Gaining points by defeating monsters and then using those points to strengthen oneself—isn't that also a way of defeating monsters and upgrading?
The Dungeon is massive. Aside from this, are there any other ways to play?
No!
As for the tasks to be triggered later?
It might be plot events or something similar.
But Takumi was too lazy to think about it. After all, these few tasks alone were enough for him to play for a while.
"Okay, let's go to the Dungeon and kill ten monsters first. I want to see what good things are in the exchange mall."
After making the decision, Takumi stopped delaying and headed out toward the towering Tower of Babel.
Along the way, Takumi also took in the city.
The lively atmosphere made the time spent in the wilderness over the past month feel like a distant memory. Takumi couldn't help but feel a little strange; everything he looked at seemed fresh.