By the time he returned to the surface, Isagi saw the spring morning sun lazily sprinkling onto his face.
Unknowingly, a whole night had passed.
When they went to the Dungeon yesterday, it must have been after evening, around seven or eight o'clock?
This should be considered a daily routine for adventurers. Only low-level adventurers who wander the Upper Floors go to the Dungeon every morning and return in the afternoon or evening.
Once one reaches the Middle Floors, a round trip in a single day becomes somewhat difficult; and if one goes to the Lower Floors or Deep Floors, time is calculated in "weeks" or "months."
For example, the Loki Familia's Deep Floor expeditions generally last for several months.
This is also the reason why the adventurer town "Rivira" exists on the 18th Floor; it is a place for adventurers of the Middle Floors and beyond to resupply and rest.
Isagi had the inexplicable illusion of walking out of an internet cafe after an all-nighter...
Anya was still in quite high spirits, even asking if they wanted to go to the pub for breakfast. However, the boy recalled the time Cecil took one bite of a cat-girl maiden's lunch box, was instantly poisoned to the ground, and even had to drink two antidotes to wake up.
The meals at the Hostess of Fertility are very delicious, but the lunches the waitress maidens eat seem to have strange things mixed in. For the sake of safety, Isagi thought he'd better pass.
Thus, Anya escorted him and Lefiya back to Daedalus Street, helping to carry that Glimmer Greatsword along the way.
Finally, she waved goodbye noisily.
"That was so interesting, meow! Let's play together again on my next day off, meow!!"
Her face was full of unsatisfied longing.
Anya hummed, thinking only of going back to eat breakfast, sleeping a beautiful big sleep, and then working at night, meow!
Watching the maiden's energetic retreating figure...
Isagi and Lefiya also returned to the Familia base. After setting down their gear, the Elf maiden fell straight asleep. Isagi, on the other hand, ate breakfast. Learning from the Goddess that Cecil had already gone out to work, he decided the Fried Potato Snack stall would take a day off today, and then he also returned to his room...
...
When he woke up, it was already evening.
Warm orange light fell into the small room from the slanted window on one side of the attic. Isagi stretched his body and climbed out of bed, looking at the sun about to set in the west outside the window, and the city where Magic Stone lamps were gradually lighting up.
After staring blankly for a while, he rubbed his face, opened the attic "door" on the floor, and climbed down the ladder.
He arrived in Cecil's room.
The maiden's bed was placed under the window, hung with curtains. On the other side was another door; originally an empty room, but now Lefiya lived there.
The current temporary base of the Astrea Familia is just such a narrow, old, roughly four-story house located within Daedalus Street.
It is tall, but not spacious.
The only advantage is that there is a decent workshop in the backyard. This was the reason Isagi chose to rent here in the first place, because Cecil said that renting those forging Familia workshops in the city would be too expensive.
He lived in the small attic on the fourth floor—and there was only that one attic.
The third floor consisted of two rooms, currently occupied by Cecil and Lefiya respectively. Since the Elf maiden came to intern with the Familia, her clothing, food, housing, and transportation would naturally be here from now on.
The room on the second floor was for the Goddess, along with a bathroom and a storage room piled with various things.
The first floor was the living room, kitchen, and toilet, connected to the backyard which had a small open space and a forging workshop built of red bricks.
The sparrow may be small, but it has all the vital organs.
Currently, Goddess Astrea has planted some flowers in the backyard. Goddess Demeter also sent seeds and taught the Goddess how to plant radishes and greens, but for now, it will be some time before they are edible.
Isagi washed up in the bathroom on the second floor.
Only then did he find Lefiya and Cecil in the living room. The maiden had returned from work, and in the afternoon, she and the Elf maiden had taken the Magic Stones and materials he harvested from the Dungeon this time to the Guild to exchange for money.
"There's actually 200,000 Valis, Isagi!!"
Cecil was somewhat shocked by this.
After all, for ordinary adventurer parties hanging around the Upper Floors, the income each person could split after a day was only a few thousand Valis, or perhaps over ten thousand with good luck.
The gap was just too big, right?!
It was normal. After all, the monsters he encountered, even the Goblin Soldiers that looked to be the weakest individually, should have been close to the level of monsters in the Middle Floors (Floors 13-24), right?
So in reality, Isagi was actually adventuring in the Middle Floors, not the Upper Floors.
Moreover, the dropped Magic Stones were one thing, but mainly many of the materials were things the Guild and many production or commercial Familias who recycle such items hadn't seen before.
Therefore, the valuation was a bit higher.
Although he didn't sell anything particularly rare; mostly it was armor plates dropped by those Goblin Knights or Soldiers, or claws and teeth dropped by the furry Kobolds.
As for the Glimmer Greatsword he brought back, Cecil naturally didn't sell it; she wasn't stupid.
And according to the appraisal of this maiden, the professional blacksmith, this was also a quite excellent Third-Class Weapon. If taken to the market, it might be worth around a million Valis.
Of course.
Adventurers are like this; they earn a lot and spend a lot. Not to mention things like the Mind potions Lefiya drinks.
Finally, he had gone to take a look inside the Fog Gate on the 3rd Floor, which resulted in all the armor on his body being ruined. This included the brass shield and longspear, which were completely damaged beyond repair.
The armor was fine; it was standard equipment used by ordinary adventurers, costing only a few tens of thousands of Valis.
However, the shield and longspear were both Third-Class Weapons forged by Cecil. Although they were early works and considered "just passable" among weapons of the same rank, together they would still cost two or three hundred thousand Valis.
Isagi didn't feel it was a loss, though.
After all, it was a Boss to be conquered. Having exchanged blows and gotten a measure of it in his heart was good. No matter how expensive equipment is, it's not as important as life. At least now he determined that before reaching Lv.2, that Boss would likely be very hard to fight; the gap in stats was a bit large.
It was just that, breaking the weapons Cecil forged for him for the first time, Isagi had thought the maiden would be very angry. As it turned out, this guy didn't say anything.
She only asked him very seriously and solemnly.
Regarding the large bone fragment dropped by the "Goblin Guard" he brought back last time, the maiden's original plan was to make a set of full body armor (if she didn't make a shield, it was just enough for a set of heavy armor). But looking at it now, perhaps a shield was still necessary, so he would have to switch to light armor or medium armor.
Isagi considered it and also felt a shield was mandatory. As for armor, using standard stuff first was actually fine; if it was too expensive, he'd feel heartache when it broke.
With that decided.
Cecil quickly pulled out her carry-on notebook, seemingly drawing some design schematics on it. Before long, she ran "clomp-clomp-clomp" to her workshop in the backyard, not even eating dinner.
Isagi thought to let it be; he would deliver it to her later. When that maiden starts striking iron, she forgets food and sleep.
Lefiya was also in a very good mood right now.
The Elf maiden didn't lack money; a Mage's equipment was usually much more expensive than an ordinary adventurer's.
Because it required processing by professional witches or magic artisans using magic, and also consumed precious magic gemstones for inlaying (the cost of a staff largely depended on how precious the magic gemstone used was).
So although Lefiya's mage dress and the staff in her hand were also Third-Class Weapons, their value was jaw-dropping.
But making money for the first time just makes people happy.
The Elf maiden was in such a good mood that she even offered to cook dinner today, letting everyone taste her hometown dishes.
Also.
In the afternoon, Lefiya had already sought out Goddess Astrea to update her Status. Her Ability Scores had increased significantly, and she had also obtained some [Feats]. According to the Goddess, if she continued adventures like today's, then before long—perhaps at most three or four months—the maiden would be able to level up to Lv.3, joining the ranks of Second-Class Adventurers.
This reminded Isagi.
So after dinner, Isagi also asked the Goddess to update his Status in the living room as usual.
Then, sure enough—
"You can level up, Isagi."
The [Feat] was accomplished. Although she didn't know exactly what the boy had experienced in the Dungeon all night, Astrea's words were still very gratified; she was feeling happy for her child.
Leveling up, becoming stronger.
Ultimately, for adventurers, this is the most celebratory and happy thing.
Although the two not returning from the Dungeon all night yesterday caused the Goddess to stay awake all night as well, even making her think of that lingering, nightmare-like night...
But Gods can sense whether the Falna of their Familia children still exists, so that small warmth burning in her heart allowed Astrea to feel somewhat at ease.
Moreover, she knew she couldn't show a worried appearance, because if she did, Cecil would also become anxious.
That child didn't sleep last night either.
Really.
"Do you want to level up now? Your Ability Scores haven't reached the limit yet; you can continue to raise them."
The Goddess asked this.
At this moment, Isagi's Ability Scores, aside from [Magic], had all reached the "A" rank of over "800" points for [Strength], [Endurance], [Dexterity], and [Agility].
If he continued to improve, it would be the "S" stage.
Generally speaking, the absolute limit of Ability Scores is "999" points at "S", but there are extremely rare geniuses who can break through this boundary and reach higher values.
To Astrea's knowledge, there was only one such person: the "Monster" in the formerly strongest Hera Familia of the city, whom the heavens envied for her talent—
[Silence], Alfia.
"Then let's raise the Ability Scores first."
Isagi said quickly.
After leveling up, all Ability Scores return to zero and start rising again, while the previous Ability Scores equate to a foundation that has already been laid and cannot be changed by a hair.
Therefore, powerful adventurers will definitely wait until their Ability Scores absolutely cannot be raised anymore before choosing to level up. Even if experiencing an adventure might only bring growth of a dozen points, or even just a few points, it is worth it.
If building a foundation, one must build the best Heavenly Dao Foundation; if forming a core, one must form the best Grade One Golden Core!
Isagi still understood this logic.
So.
Continue adventuring in the Dungeon!
Thus, more than half a month passed quietly again. Twenty-three days after arriving in Orario, Isagi leveled up to Lv.2, becoming an Upper-Class Adventurer.
___
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