"A title I want…" Su Mo paused, pondering her question. He already had several titles under his belt in various worlds, but compared to those overly dramatic, chuunibyou-style titles, he actually preferred something simpler and more straightforward. Something like Young Master Qin from next door or Uncle Zhang at the gate. Easy to remember, catchy, and immediately evocative. Sadly, this world didn't have the cultural foundation for such humor—a real pity.
Shaking his head, Su Mo smiled. "I don't really have any specific request. As long as it's not something terrible, I'm fine. Titles can always be changed later anyway."
Su Mo's leveling speed was actually even faster than the frequency of the Denatus themselves. So, in truth, he wasn't particularly concerned about these formalities.
"Well, that's good then!" Hestia sighed in relief and nodded. If that was the case, then securing a decent title wouldn't be so difficult after all. Usually, the gods wouldn't go out of their way to give adventurers awful or embarrassing titles. Yet, even with this reassurance, Hestia still felt a deep sense of frustration with herself. She couldn't even help Su Mo with something this simple. As the goddess of his Familia, she felt like a complete failure. Not only did she rely on Su Mo to provide for their daily needs, but emotionally as well, she always needed to lean on him for comfort. It was as if she had completely lost her dignity as a goddess.
At this point, she felt more like a pampered little pet raised by Su Mo. No wonder Hephaestus didn't believe that Su Mo was actually her Familia member. Someone like Su Mo was too rare, too perfect. Just hearing about him without proof would naturally make anyone think she had fabricated his existence. Thinking about this, Hestia clenched her fists and resolved herself. No, I have to work harder! Not only did she want Hephaestus to look at her in a new light, but she was also determined to properly help Su Mo justify his strength and smooth out any suspicions that might arise. She absolutely had to do her part.
The night passed without further incident. The next morning, after bidding Hestia goodbye, Su Mo made his way to the dungeon entrance as agreed with Ais the day before. He arrived punctually—actually fifteen minutes early—but when he got there, he saw Ais was already waiting at the entrance.
The blonde Sword Princess, with her goddess-like beauty, stood out even more than usual today. News of her reaching Level 6 had already spread across all of Orario overnight. As a result, she was drawing quite a bit of attention. Many adventurers sneaked glances at her from a distance, but no one dared to approach. A Level 6 adventurer, backed by the Loki Familia—no one had the courage to provoke her. Beyond courage, the combination of her beauty and overwhelming strength simply made most people feel too inferior to even try.
But Su Mo had no such concerns. The moment he saw Ais, he walked straight over to her. The surrounding adventurers couldn't help but watch with a mixture of curiosity and schadenfreude, assuming that Su Mo would surely be rejected—or worse, humiliated.
To their astonishment, however, as the man approached, the always stoic and cold Sword Princess actually revealed a gentle smile. Everyone watching was left dumbfounded. The famously unapproachable Ais Wallenstein, who never showed emotion, was smiling—at a man! Many adventurers who secretly admired her felt their hearts shatter on the spot. Others whispered among themselves, recalling the recent rumors that the Sword Princess might actually be in love.
"Good morning, Su Mo-Sensei!" Ais greeted him with unmistakable happiness in her voice. The Loki Familia had just completed the first stage of their expedition. With some time before the next major venture, they were in a period of rest, free to move around as they wished. Ais had decided to spend this entire break following Su Mo as his supporter.
"Good morning!" Su Mo responded, then noticed something. "You seem… stronger."
He could sense that Ais's aura had grown significantly since the last time they met. This wasn't simply a result of updated status—it was something more.
"Yes! I've leveled up!" Ais reported with a hint of pride. Learning Wind Step had already been a huge breakthrough for her, but she hadn't expected that just one dungeon run with Su Mo would allow her to not only refine her Wind Step technique but also shatter the bottleneck that had plagued her for over a year. She had finally ascended from Level 5 to Level 6. Gaining so much progress from just one dungeon trip with Su Mo made her even more attached to him, increasing both her respect and admiration.
Hearing her report, Su Mo couldn't help but smile. "Excellent! That means we can dive even deeper today." He was genuinely pleased by Ais's growth. The stronger she became, the deeper they could venture into the dungeon, allowing them to collect even more Philosopher's Stones. This, in turn, would help him gather the quantity he needed much faster. The increase in efficiency was significant.
Seeing Su Mo so happy because of her progress made Ais feel warm inside. Su Mo-Sensei really cares about me, she thought to herself. He's so considerate, adjusting the dungeon levels just for my sake. He's truly the best! Secretly, she made a vow to herself: I must always listen to him and repay his kindness.
Of course, it never crossed her mind that Su Mo's happiness was purely due to his assistant's improved work efficiency. Beautiful misunderstandings like this were how these things often began.
Neither of them was the type for unnecessary small talk. After a brief exchange, they headed straight into the dungeon. Su Mo's plan for the next few days was simple—clear out the deeper dungeon floors as much as possible, collecting as many Philosopher's Stones as they could. He was curious just how many they could gather in this run.
....
....
While Su Mo of Danmachi's world was busy grinding dungeon monsters for Philosopher's Stones, across in the world of Teyvat, another Su Mo had just woken up.
Thanks to registering as adventurers and earning enough Mora, they no longer had to squeeze into a single room. Now, each of them had their own room. Paimon, as usual, chose where to sleep depending on her mood, and last night she had stayed with Lumine—likely to enjoy some girls talk.
However, just as Su Mo finished his morning routine, a knock came at his door. Opening it, he found Lumine and Paimon standing outside.
"Good morning!" Paimon waved energetically. "Morning, Su Mo!" Lumine added with a nod. Su Mo nodded back, returning the greeting. But then he noticed Paimon circling him, inspecting him from head to toe with a curious gaze.
"What's up?" Su Mo asked, unable to hide his suspicion. This little creature was clearly up to something.
"Hehe!" Paimon scratched her head and admitted her curiosity. "I just wanted to see if you awakened any weird new powers again."
After all, Su Mo had awakened strange abilities upon waking yesterday. Paimon was half-expecting him to spontaneously gain something new again after another night's sleep, which was why she dragged Lumine along first thing in the morning to check.
Standing next to Paimon, Lumine also looked on with curiosity. After all, Su Mo awakened new powers far too frequently, and even she couldn't deny that Paimon's guess wasn't entirely unreasonable.
Hearing Paimon's speculation, Su Mo asked with a teasing tone, "Do you really think people can just get stronger by sleeping?"
"Well, when you put it like that..." Paimon scratched her head awkwardly, realizing how absurd it sounded. Gaining power while sleeping clearly went against common sense. Just as she was starting to think she had been overthinking it, Su Mo added calmly, "Well if you are thinking it… then you would be right."
"Eh?!" Paimon was startled by the sudden twist. "Su Mo, you mean you really awakened another power?"
Su Mo nodded. "Yes, though this time it's mainly related to alchemy. Nothing too exciting." Compared to the transformations granted by his Pokémon abilities, alchemy certainly didn't sound very thrilling.
Lumine, however, looked at him with undisguised envy. "Alchemy… that's amazing…" She couldn't help but wish she could also grow stronger just by sleeping. It was simply too enviable.
"Anyway, enough about that for now," Su Mo said as he glanced at the time. "It's about time for breakfast. We were supposed to meet Venti today to discuss the matter about Stormterror. Let's get going."
"Mm!" Lumine and Paimon nodded simultaneously. Although Su Mo suspected that for Paimon, the meeting with Venti was far less important than breakfast itself. This little emergency food was always hungry.
After heading downstairs, they quickly arrived at their rendezvous point—the Good Hunter restaurant. Originally, Venti had suggested meeting at the tavern, but Su Mo had flatly refused. After all, who drinks first thing in the morning?
"Hey, Bard!" Paimon spotted Venti, who was already seated, and flew straight toward him, with Su Mo and Lumine following behind.
"Whoa!" Upon reaching the table, Paimon gasped in surprise. "That's a lot of food! Is this really all for breakfast?"
In front of Venti was a full spread of Mondstadt's signature breakfast dishes.
"Of course not," Venti shook his head with a smile. "These are for you guys. Go ahead and dig in! These are some of Mondstadt's specialties—I highly recommend them."
The moment Paimon heard that, her eyes lit up like stars and she dove in without hesitation. "I always thought you were just a drunk, Bard, but it turns out you're actually a pretty nice person!" she said while stuffing a Teyvat-style fried egg into her mouth, handing Venti an unexpected nice guy card.