Spring had already arrived.
The greenery in Twilight Manor was gradually blooming with the rich colors of the season. A gentle breeze blew through, rustling the leaves and bringing with it the refreshing purity of nature.
Ryoji, who had been instructed by Airmid not to engage in any intense physical activity for two days, had no choice but to put his morning runs and training on hold and focus entirely on resting.
In the courtyard that morning,
Ryoji could only sit and watch Ais practice her sword techniques in front of him. Her flurry of slashes created a continuous stream of sword winds, her attacks as fierce as a storm. As expected of someone at Level 5, she could unleash dozens of strikes in mere moments.
He was itching to move, eager to test out the power of his level-up, but when he glanced down at the bandages wrapped around his body, he knew better. For the sake of his recovery, he could only helplessly abandon the idea and longingly watch Ais train with enthusiasm.
"No, the speed of that last strike was off. You need to slow it down a bit. Don't let your body's instincts take over."
Ryoji suddenly spoke, causing Ais' sword to falter mid-swing.
"...Such a difficult sword skill."
Ais lowered her gaze slightly, showing a hint of frustration.
Several days had passed under Ryoji's guidance, but she still hadn't mastered this particular sword skill. Even though she practiced diligently every day, mistakes continued to happen.
"Don't rush. It's hard to resist your body's instincts. Be patient." Ryoji comforted her gently.
And it was only natural that it was hard. After all, this was a sword skill still in its developmental stage, far from complete. Ryoji was essentially using Ais' hands to help improve and refine it.
"Also, don't skip meditation. The more anxious you are, the harder it'll be to succeed." Ryoji added.
"Got it." Ais gave a small nod, her expression calm and obedient.
Under Ryoji's guidance, her sword technique had indeed made steady progress.
"Jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"
"Jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"
From both sides of the fountain, two hostile stares were cast in their direction.
They came from a white-furred wolf-man and a black-haired Amazoness. Almost every morning when Ryoji and Ais trained together, the two would appear here, staring at them with either jealous or aggrieved eyes.
"Ryoji! I want to learn swordsmanship too!"
"Quit it."
Tiona couldn't help but rush over, requesting to learn swordplay, only to be gently refused by Ryoji's kind gaze, leaving her looking wronged and pouty.
"Grrrrrr!"
From behind the fountain came the gritting teeth of the wolf-man.
His dissatisfaction was likely reaching its breaking point. It wouldn't be surprising if he suddenly exploded one of these days.
"Then it's settled."
After finishing breakfast, Ryoji exited Finn's office, looking very pleased.
Just now, Finn had agreed to let him join the expedition team.
After Ryoji had defeated Goliath, the previous conditions were scrapped, and upon reporting his level up, Finn gave him a green light with no further conditions.
In high spirits, Ryoji returned to his room, grabbed a bag full of coins, donned a black cloak, and left Twilight Manor.
Since he was going on an expedition, he needed to make the necessary preparations.
Things like all-purpose potions were a given, but he also needed to prepare several sets of weapons and armor.
His previous gear had been destroyed in the battle with Goliath, so he had to buy two new sets. Considering that Goibniu Familia was probably busy, he planned to buy ready-made equipment directly at the Tower of Babel.
"Oh right, I need to report my new level to the Guild."
Midway, Ryoji turned toward Northwest Street, heading to the Pantheon.
"To achieve wealth and not show it off is like wearing fine clothes in the dark."
This phrase means: If a person doesn't act cool, then what's the point of living?
"Eeeh?!!! You leveled up to Lv.2?!"
As expected, the moment Ryoji revealed the news, Misha's loud voice echoed throughout the entire Guild headquarters hall.
"Yes, that's right."
Ryoji wore a very modest expression, playing it low-key.
In reality, he was feeling extremely smug inside, inwardly shouting: Let the praise rain down harder!
It wasn't that he was being arrogant, it was just that the level-up record had been shattered by too large a margin. Ais had taken a year, but he had taken only twenty days, a difference of over tenfold.
Misha, hands trembling, brought over the registration form and had Ryoji update his Level and the highest floor he had reached. When she saw that his highest floor was the 18th Floor, Misha once again fell into complete chaos.
"Then I'll be going."
Ryoji left the Guild Headquarters with the satisfied smugness of someone who had successfully acted cool.
It was only after quite a while that Misha came back to her senses. She hurriedly reported the matter to her section chief, and then it got escalated all the way up to the Guild President.
Shortly afterwards, the title of "strongest rookie" spread like a storm across Orario.
At this point, however, Ryoji was completely unaware of any of it.
He had just entered the Tower of Babel.
Stepping into the arched entrance, Ryoji didn't go toward the central shaft in the main lobby on the first floor. Instead, he headed for the staircase along the tower wall and climbed up to the upper levels of the Tower of Babel.
The Tower of Babel was a facility operated by the Guild.
To provide convenience for Adventurers, the Guild had constructed many public facilities here.
For example, the first-floor hall was surrounded by hundreds of shower rooms, so blood-soaked Adventurers could clean up before heading out again, thus maintaining city hygiene.
The second floor housed simple cafeterias and healing stations, while the third floor had a few exchange counters identical to the ones in the Guild Headquarters, where adventurers could trade in magic stones and drop items.
Starting from the fourth floor and above, the floors were rented out by the Guild to various Familia-run shops.
Ryoji took the stairs to the third floor, and in a corner found several elevators powered by magic stones. He used one to go up to the fourth floor, arriving at a shop run by Hephaestus Familia.
"So expensive!"
He walked into a random store and immediately noticed a red dagger displayed as the highlight piece on the most prominent shelf.
Ten million!
You could definitely sense the sharpness from the dagger, but to think it would sell for ten million! This was undoubtedly top-tier gear in Orario. Aside from Level 5 adventurers, very few could afford it.
"It's probably just a showpiece."
That was Ryoji's guess as he walked further into the store.
When he came out, there was a wooden crate strapped to his back.
Inside lay a full set of silver-white light armor, hard yet lightweight, categorized as second-tier equipment in Orario, worth over five million valis, typically worn by Level 4 adventurers.
"All in, for the expedition!"
"Money, well, if the old doesn't go, the new won't come. And valis can only be used in this world anyway. Good steel should be used on the edge of the blade."
To be honest, having just received 100 million valis, he didn't even feel a shred of guilt about spending.
After buying the armor, Ryoji planned to get two katanas. Since they were only meant for disguise purposes, he didn't need high specs, just similar shape and weight to his real weapon, Vrring Blade.
Ryoji wandered around the fourth floor for a while but didn't find anything he liked, so he decided to head upstairs.
"Iya~!"
At a stairway landing,
Caught off guard, Ryoji bumped directly into a cloaked passerby.
Ryoji was fine, but the other person yelped and fell right onto the ground.
The cloak slid off her body, and a cascade of long, silver hair spilled down.
(End Of This Chhapter)
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