Bete looked at me suspiciously and asked, "You don't know where you are? What do you mean by that? You're inside the dungeon."
"I know I'm inside the dungeon, but I walked around too much and ended up getting lost."
"Are you kidding me?" Bete asked, clearly impatient. This guy is really unpleasant. I looked at Ais, hoping for help, but she said nothing. Fortunately, Tiona stopped Bete from continuing to intimidate me.
He probably wouldn't attack me or anything, but I'm glad she tried to calm him down.
"Relax, Bete. He seems to be telling the truth. How long have you been lost?"
"I've been stuck in this same area for a few hours now. Here." I pulled a few magic stones out of my pocket and showed them to them. "I was attacked a few times, but I managed to kill them."
"You don't have a bag to carry your magic stones?" Tiona asked.
"No, I don't have anything like that. Honestly, I entered the dungeon on impulse, just to train." I scratched my head and laughed, acting like an idiot. Tiona sighed and turned to Bete.
"See? He's just an idiot." Hearing that bothered me, but I didn't say anything.
"All right, that's enough." Tiona's sister, Tione, stepped forward. "We're leaving now. You can come with us. Just don't try to do anything stupid."
"I don't agree with this." Bete refused to accept it, but Ais shot him a look, and he finally stopped arguing. He clicked his tongue and started walking without looking back.
"Thank you, thank you very much." I bowed my head in gratitude, and Tiona smiled.
"I'm only doing this because you're handsome," Tiona said before moving ahead.
I stood there, unable to believe what I had just heard. I know I'm very handsome now, but she was way too direct. I gave a bitter smile and started following Ais's group, trying to get out of this place as quickly as possible.
Later, I can come back to continue farming experience. First, I want to get used to the outside world.
Even though I have some idea of how this world works and know about some monsters and dungeon floors, I don't know everything. In fact, I'm completely lost.
I need to study the dungeon and the monsters a bit more.
'I wanted to summon a clone and leave it inside to keep killing monsters, but there are still a few minutes left on the cooldown.'
####
After some time, we finally reached the outside of the dungeon. I had to climb long spiral staircases to reach the exit. As soon as we got out, Tiona asked me, "Which Familia are you part of?"
Hearing her question, I didn't know how to respond.
If I didn't have a Familia, why would I be inside the dungeon? Is that even allowed? I can't remember.
'Damn it, what should I say?'
"Tiona, let's go." Her sister called her.
"Well, see you around then." Tiona gave up on the question and turned to leave. I watched their backs as they walked away and disappeared into the crowd. There were many people around.
I looked around and noticed that many people—especially women—were staring at me. My appearance really draws attention.
I sighed and moved on, looking for a place to gather information. The best place to get information about monsters and the dungeon is probably the Adventurers' Guild.
But I need to be registered with the guild for that… And to register with the guild, I need to belong to a Familia.
Should I join a Familia?
'I just don't feel like doing that. I have my own status and can evolve. I don't need a falna.'
Would obtaining a falna double my strength? Maybe it's possible for me to gain power from both the falna and my system. But that seems unlikely.
'If I were to join a Familia, which one would it be?'
The Freya Familia is out of the question. I simply don't trust her. The Hestia Familia could be a good option since it's basically a Familia with no members.
Joining such a small Familia could be beneficial for hiding my abilities.
'But the Familia that interests me the most is the Loki Familia. I simply like Loki and the members of her Familia, like Ais, Tiona, Tione, Finn, and Riveria...'
After thinking about it for a while, I gave up on that idea.
Besides not wanting to make my abilities public right now, I'm still far too weak to join a Familia like the Loki Familia.
I let out a sigh and then accidentally bumped into someone.
It was a woman shorter than me, with a pretty appearance. An NPC.
"Hey, watch where you're going!"
"I'm sorry about that." I smiled at the woman, which definitely made her heart race.
"As long as you know it's your fault!" What is this? A tsundere?
"Excuse me, can I ask you a question?"
"Hm? What is it?" The woman seemed to be expecting something, but my question was about information. I asked her where I could get information about the dungeon and monsters besides the Adventurers' Guild.
"Information about the dungeon and monsters… I think you can get that if you go to that place." The woman pointed to a beautiful building nearby. "It's a library."
"Ah, thank you for that." I bowed my head in gratitude and started walking away.
"Hey, what's your name?" the woman asked before I could leave her sight.
"My name is Bernard," I replied.
"Bernard…"
####
Leaving the woman behind, I headed toward the library. As soon as I reached the entrance, I was charged an entrance fee. In other words, if I want to read, I have to pay. I felt like I was going to lose my mind.
'I don't have any money, damn it!'
That was when the system appeared to save the day.
[ Inventory Acquired ]
[ Monetary Conversion Initiated ]
[ User "Zane" has received 6,445,003 Valis ]
'How convenient.'
I slipped my hand into my pocket and took out the money needed to pay the fee from my supposed inventory. Simply wishing for it was enough.
Once I entered the massive hall of books, I made my clone appear.
"You look for interesting and important books on that shelf, and I'll search this one."
The clone nodded.
A clone is perfect for acquiring knowledge twice as fast.