Dinner was handled rather casually.
Mainly because of the medieval setting—if one wanted to eat something decent, the only option was to cook it personally. What Ron could choose from were merely foods that tasted passable but were enough to fill his stomach.
But none of that was important.
After returning to the "Collective Dormitory," he did not rest and instead immediately began the update of his status.
After the high-intensity battles within the Soulslike Dungeon, just how much his own abilities would improve—Ron's heart was filled with anticipation over this.
"I'm ready."
"Then let's begin!"
The girl once again chose to straddle Ron's waist. Compared to when he had first received the "Blessing," his physique back then had still been somewhat slender.
And the effort he had put in during this period—
Those gradually becoming distinct muscle lines were the best feedback!
After Hestia pricked her finger with a silver needle, she squeezed the crimson blood onto his back. Her eyes were full of expectation, having referenced the situations of other adventurers.
It always felt as though every time Ron's abilities increased, it was like opening a blind box.
"Mm…"
...
Ron
Level: Lv1
Strength: E420 → D553
Endurance: E457 → D580
Dexterity: F378 → D529
Agility: E401 → D536
Magic: I0 → H101
...
What first came into view was the comprehensive qualitative transformation of Ron's abilities, once again achieving the remarkable feat of leaping across rank tiers. Her gaze simply swept over the panel.
To be honest—
Hestia was already gradually getting used to it.
In her view, encountering battles in the Dungeon that could threaten one's life— even if the ability values gained from each increase were doubled—would still be entirely reasonable.
She spoke with deep emotion, her tone full of feeling: "The Magic attribute has changed…"
"But Ron, what stands out the most about you is still your physical Endurance."
"You really are quite resistant to getting beaten up."
Ron did not feel surprised by this.
The Endurance attribute was essentially the body's toughness. Relying on the HP-locking property of the Heal magic, growth in this area would naturally be faster than in other attributes.
He slightly adjusted the position he was lying in.
Feeling the weight of the girl straddling his waist—though more than anything, it was the softness of her body.
'Refuse showy pressure.'
As a man who was physiologically and psychologically healthy and normal, Hestia—whether in appearance, figure, or personality—perfectly matched Ron's XP.
It was difficult for him not to be tempted, yet not being tempted was also impossible.
Ron could only shift his attention away. "What about the other aspects?"
"Oh, let me take a closer look… Mm, you've mastered a new Combat Art again!"
However, as Hestia clearly saw the usage method of the brand-new Combat Art, her initial surprise gradually turned complicated. She examined these special skills…
Combat Art: Bloody Slash.
Lowering one's stance, spreading one's own blood across the blade, and unleashing a blood blade that tears through enemies over a wide area.
"Wait a moment…"
Seppuku.
Bloody Slash.
Why does it feel like all of them are fighting styles that trade injury for life?
Such scenes, which could be described as bloody, when combined with the magic and Revival methods Ron possessed, actually formed a kind of nearly eerie internal logic…
Cutting his belly at the slightest provocation.
There were even slashing attacks that enchanted weapons with blood. If things continued to develop at this level, what kind of direction would Ron's combat style evolve toward next?
Just imagining the scene was enough to make Hestia's eyelids twitch uncontrollably.
But just as she was about to hand the parchment over to Ron, she noticed the spontaneously increased "great feat." Although it had not yet reached the level of ascension.
Even so, this alone was already shocking enough!
If she remembered correctly, Ron seemed to have explored only the Dungeon's Floor 1 areas.
There was no way that, within the Dungeon's malice, he had encountered powerful monsters comparable to rare juvenile dragons or floor bosses like Goliath in the shallow layers, right?
And not only that—he had even successfully defeated them!!
"…"
The girl fell into an unusually rare silence.
She carefully counted from the time she had picked Ron up, ignoring the two days when the Dungeon was shut down. The time since he had truly begun exploring seemed to be less than six days in total…
In the blink of an eye, Ron was about to reach a great feat that ordinary adventurers could never achieve in their entire lives?
After weighing it in her heart, Hestia finally chose to tell him the truth: "Ron, besides that—there's also some good news I need to tell you."
"That is, your great feat is already very close to level ascension."
"I don't know what you're thinking."
"…"
According to the rules of DanMachi's status system, as long as an adventurer has at least one attribute that reaches the D rank, and has accumulated sufficient "great feats," a god can help them undergo level ascension.
After leveling up, all ability values would be reset, transforming into one's base foundation.
After hearing from Hestia that his "great feat" was close to reaching the breakthrough standard, Ron suddenly felt that his encounter battle with the Goblin Guard made perfect sense.
He carefully reviewed the attribute changes on the parchment.
Without hesitation, he replied, "I don't have any plans for now. My ability values haven't reached a bottleneck yet—ascending a level so quickly feels like a waste of talent."
Simply wanting to break Ais Wallenstein's record and become Orario's fastest legend?
Ron felt there was no need to forcibly pursue such empty fame. With a bright smile, he added, "I think it should at least be when improvement is no longer possible."
"At that point, we can consider level ascension."
...
Southeast Street.
Located beside the "Hostess of Fertility," the Soma Familia's base remained brightly lit even late at night. Adventurers who had finished their Dungeon explorations all gathered here.
The main reason was that the captain, Zanis, was distributing divine wine.
Based on the gains from exploration, this wine—which allowed people to forget all worries and experience supreme bliss—made everything worthwhile.
However...
Compared to the usual atmosphere of revelry, tonight felt somewhat heavy.
"Wald."
"You're saying that Bruno and the others all died on the Floor 2 area?" As the Familia captain, the Lv.2 adventurer bearing the title "Gandharva," Zanis asked.
He looked at the young man before him with an expressionless face.
Although he inwardly despised all the addicts of the Soma Familia, in a public setting like this, he still had to maintain the stance befitting a captain.
The middle-aged man wore rimless glasses. Beneath his seemingly refined demeanor, his eyes were filled with gloom.
"Y-yes… that's right."
"However, from the wounds on their bodies, it looked like all of them were caused by some kind of monster." Intimidated by the captain's authority, Wald's voice trembled.
He did his best to recount the situation at the scene.
But knowing full well the nature of his Familia members, Zanis almost instantly realized that the truth was definitely not as simple as this man was saying.
He raised a hand to push his glasses and emphasized: "I need the real reason."
"Well, Mr. Bruno encountered a newbie adventurer over at the central plaza. The equipment on his body was all produced by the Hephaestus Weapon Shop."
"And then…"
By this point, Zanis had already sensed the intent. His voice turned cold. "Then you planned to surround him, but failed to find him."
"And ended up being killed by the special monsters from the Dungeon's abnormality?"
"…"
"That's how it was," Wald nodded dejectedly.
These trash were bad enough that they couldn't make any money…
The key problem was that they also loved dragging trouble onto the Familia. Feeling the gazes of the Familia members around him, Zanis felt a splitting headache, yet still explained with a cold face.
"As for what the truth really is."
"I'll send people to investigate it. If they died at the hands of mutated monsters, then it was simply because Bruno and the others were not strong enough. You all should be more careful when exploring in the future."
"Of course."
"But if it turns out they were murdered, I will definitely give everyone a satisfactory answer!"
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