The raven haired transmigrator took a deep breath as he made his way down into the Dungeon in the late hours of the night, Bifrost glinting in the light from the crystals within the ceiling.
As he'd expected- nobody else was down in the Dungeon. It was only him, alone with everything about the Dungeon at his fingertips to do with as he pleased.
He barely made it twenty feet before a Goblin emerged out of the darkness, wielding a dagger as it glared at him with hatred simply on account of his mortal heritage.
Zomo merely smiled...
A black miasma began to surround Bifrost's blade as he activated the power of Dia Kaos, enchanting his blade with the most dangerous attribute he knew of- Void.
He suddenly surged forwards, orange flames shooting out of his back as he charged forwards...
And completely overshot the Goblin, landing on the ground behind it. He blinked in surprise and looked back at the Goblin which was looking around in confusion as its 'prey' suddenly vanished.
"I see," he spoke aloud, causing the Goblin to whirl around. "It is my first time using Dying Will Flames, after all... It's no wonder I overshot it... Oh well, I'll have plenty of chances to get used to it. Adapting to the Hard Flames when I obtain access to them is going to be a pain in the ass..."
The goblin, not understanding, merely roared as it charged at him.
Earlier in the day, Zomo would have been a little cautious of the goblin... However, he was no longer the person he was earlier in the day. All of his physical stats had leapt up- the first floor itself was only a stepping stone for him now.
He swung his sword- cutting through both the dagger and severing the Goblin's head in a single swing.
The surprise came after as the black miasma began to devour the Goblin's body, making even Zomo step back in surprise. In only a few seconds, the body was gone- leaving behind only the magic stone.
Golden eyes sharpened as he looked down at the black miasma surrounding Bifrost.
"Could it be... A Sentient Skill?"
Sentient Skills. Such skills were on par with Growth-Type Skills in terms of rarity- in other words, one of a kind. The only skill he knew of as being sentient was Ais's Avenger.
The very incarnation of Ais's anger and rage, when Ais activated the skill, she underwent a drastic personality shift. Like a monster in human flesh, using any and all means to tear apart anyone in her path. Ais could suppress this secondary personality through her own willpower, but even still she had been warned about Avenger potentially consuming her.
Dia Kaos... Dear Chaos.
Chaos. The primordial entity from which all things emerged in endless mythologies. Giving birth to all. And, when it all faded away, it would inevitably return to Chaos to be born again in a new form.
Zomo stared intensely down at the Miasma surrounding his blade...
He was starting to connect some dots within his mind... Given the Miasma had devoured the monster's body and left behind the magic stone- as if it knew he wanted it for himself- it showed that the Skill certainly held some form of intelligence. Otherwise, it would have devoured everything, including the magic stone.
"Questions for later, Dungeon for now," he shook his head.
However, Dia Kaos at least was making things easier for him. He picked up the magic stone, dropping it into his pouch. Now he wouldn't have to cut open monster bodies and dig around for Magic Stones- which, in a way, made it more like the anime rather than the Light Novel.
He snorted at people's misconceptions of monsters thanks to the anime. Monsters didn't disappear immediately after death- instead you had to cut them open and take out their magic stone before their bodies would vanish. It was why Supporters were such a crucial job- they'd handle cutting open monsters and getting the magic stones.
Of course, that still didn't stop them from being treated like second class citizens by idiot adventurers.
Zomo cracked his neck and began to tear his way through the first floor of the dungeon, cutting down monsters whenever he came across them and using his Dying Will Flames- DWF, if you will- to increase his speed for pure efficiency.
Truthfully, Zomo didn't know how long he was down in the dungeon. All he knew was that he left with a full pouch, and the sun was starting to rise by the time he was finished. Of course, he was also hiding his pouch- he didn't want to run around practically screaming, 'I have money, come and rob me.'
With the sun rising, Orario was starting to become more active. As he made his way down the streets, he saw people were already heading into the guild. They were getting up early to head down to the Dungeon and start the daily grind.
He took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly as he made his way into the guild, heading straight for the exchange counter- pouring out the magic stones onto the table.
The employee at the counter looked surprised and gave Zomo a slightly appraising look, before he shook his head and took the magic stones- meticulously counting them and ascertaining their quality.
Soon enough, the tray was pushed forwards- full of coins. Zomo put them into his pouch, a pleased smile on his face...
Going to the Dungeon at night was, indeed, a great choice for him. It would fuck his sleeping schedule for a bit, but in exchange for that he was making some decent money which was very good for him and Hestia.
Since Hestia outright owned the land that the church was built on- a 'final' gift from Hephaistos- and both land and property taxes didn't exist in Orario, it meant that their expenses were limited only to food and dungeon equipment.
Zomo hummed and hid his pouch once again, but he didn't leave immediately. Instead, he walked up to the front desk- and thus got his first meeting with Rose.
Rose Fannett was a werewolf with crimson red hair and yellow eyes. She was once just like Eina, someone who was dedicated and smiling at Adventurers and giving them advice to help them through the Dungeon... Of course, many of those adventurers died- especially during the dark ages.
Rose slowly became disillusioned with her job and took on a much colder attitude as she lost adventurer after adventurer that had been assigned to her. She was unofficially called the 'Ice Queen' among the Guild Employees because of her cold and aloof attitude.
Even among Adventurers, she was rather famous for turning down any adventurer that asked her out. Her reasoning was very simple- she didn't want to be left alone after they died in the dungeon. Incredibly pessimistic, but entirely understandable.
"How can I help you?" Rose asked in a bored voice.
"I'm Eina's adventurer, is she in?" Zomo asked her.
"Oh, the new one," she just nodded. "Yes, she's in the back. I'll go and inform her, wait here," she stood up and slowly made her way to the back without a care in the world.
As she left, Zomo wondered if she also had a diary... He couldn't be sure; Rose was very hard to get a read on... Well, even if she did, he wouldn't concern himself with her for the moment. His focus was on poaching Eina from the guild and into the Hestia Familia when he got the chance.
How could he not want Eina? Not only was she beautiful, but she was good with paperwork, great with numbers, and dedicated to teaching others. On top of that was Eina's lineage.
The daughter of Aina Tulle, Riveria's distant relative and childhood friend. Even if she was a half-elf, there was no question in Zomo's mind that she had exceptional talent as a mage. Truly, it was a shame that she had decided to become a guild employee instead of an adventurer.
So, he would make sure to drag Eina into his Familia.
Speaking of which, Eina stepped out of the backroom and hurried over. "Ah, Zomo! I'm surprised to see you so early in the morning, how can I help you?"
"Mind if we talk in your office?" He asked her.
"Not at all," she shook her head without question and led him over to her office- the same place she'd taught him the previous day.
She took a seat behind her desk, and Zomo noticed the stacks of paperwork... Clearly, Eina took her work incredibly seriously- unlike Misha who constantly tried to find ways to push her work off onto others.
"So," she spoke once Zomo took a seat, the door firmly closed. "What do you want to talk about? And don't worry- the doors and windows both have soundproofing. Nobody can hear what goes on in here."
'She's lucky I know that she means that I can be honest, or I'd think she was trying to seduce me,' he thought to himself.
And he would absolutely fall for it- he had a very strong elf fetish and wasn't ashamed of it.
"Since you are my dungeon advisor, you need to know something important about me," he told her. "But you must not, absolutely MUST NOT share this with anyone. You cannot even write it down somewhere- this stays strictly between you and me, you cannot even inform your superiors at the guild."
Eina stared at Zomo with surprise and gulped at the seriousness of his voice. "If... If it something that endangers Orario, I can't promise that so long as it does not endanger Orario, then I promise I won't speak a word of it to anyone. You have my word."
Zomo nodded, not even questioning it. Eina's word as good as gold, after all.
"The truth is, I'm not like other adventurers," he told her. "And I don't mean that in an arrogant way- I'm simply different. I have a special skill that allows me to grow stronger, faster. For context, yesterday was my first day in the Dungeon. By only killing around ten goblins, I accumulated a total of over 300 points across four of my stats."
Eina's eyes widened in shock, staring at him dumbly at his words.
Eina knew he had a Growth-Type Skill; he had written about it in his diary after all... But 300 points over 4 stats? In a single day? Just by killing ten goblins?
That was more than she'd ever heard of! She knew raising stats wasn't simple. Some adventurers could only get 10 points a day, and even that was considered having good talent! But 300 in a single day?
Suddenly, Eina realised why he was telling her this. With his rate of growth, staying on the first floor for the same amount of time as other Adventurers would be impossible for him... However, how could he ever explain his growth to her under normal circumstances? So, he was telling her about his skill so that she would be able to sign off on him going deeper than normally he should be.
Of course, he didn't need Eina's permission to go lower- so the fact he was telling her showed that he trusted her and wanted to keep her in the loop.
Eina took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, running a hand through her hair. While outside she looked a little stressed, inside she couldn't deny to being incredibly happy.
While she had only known Zomo for a day, the fact he was willing to tell her this so early meant that they truly had a close bond in the future. Eina strived to be the kind of person who could be trusted like this, and it secretly made her pleased.
"Alright," she nodded. "There's no need to bring your status sheet, I believe you. You wouldn't ask for a private meeting and then tell me such an outrageous lie, I can see you're a very meticulous and cautious person after all. You have my word- nobody will find out about this from my lips. I'll do all I can to support you. After all, I'm your Dungeon Advisor."
Zomo smiled at her. "Thank you, Eina," he told her. "It means a lot to me... Since I'm here, how about I give you a report on my latest dungeon dive? Of course, my case is a bit different, but I'm sure it'll help nonetheless, right?"
The half-elf quickly pulled out a sheet of paper and a quill. Business waited for no one.