After transmigrating into the Danmachi world—especially when it came to meeting Lili of the Soma Familia—
with the current progress of his Sword Soul Template, helping her after finishing today's exploration,
updating his stats, and breaking through his adventurer level would actually be quite easy…
So long as there was enough motivation—like a richly priced reward!
"Heading for deeper floors…"
"The problem is that rare monsters are hard to come by; otherwise, my job level could rise even faster…"
Leaving the tunnel where the rare Blue Butterflies dwelled,
Liang Yue found the surrounding monsters had been completely cleared.
Taking advantage of this downtime, he checked the changes to his Sword Soul Template.
——
[Liang Yue]
Level: 21
EXP: 13.3%
Skills: Inner • Ghost Technique(Mastery), Triple Slash (Lv3), Moonlight Slash (Lv3), Backstep Slash (Lv3), Flowmind (Lv1), Flowmind·Pierce (Lv1)
SP: 60
——
A quick glance over his golden finger's template showed that the biggest gain after slaying the rare Blue Butterfly swarm
was the EXP increase—followed by SP points.
Yesterday, after unlocking all the level 20 skills, he had 40 SP left.
It seemed that because the EXP requirement for leveling had increased,
the SP awarded per level had now doubled.
"That's… actually good news."
…
With higher levels, skill unlock costs and upgrade costs would go up.
If he still only gained 10 SP per level, it'd be easy to end up short on points.
This change, however, was a pleasant surprise.
His next goal was to venture deeper; with enough skill points on hand,
it made sense to further increase his combat strength.
Glancing through his skill list, the one with the most combat boost potential was Flowmind,
which increased sword energy damage and range.
[Cost: 20 SP]
Flowmind (Lv1) → Flowmind (Lv2)
———
As for the remaining 40 SP, it was still a long way to unlocking a new skill.
And since SP gain had doubled, Liang Yue didn't hesitate when allocating them—
Moonlight Slash and Backstep Slash were both raised to Lv4,
while his strong gap-closing move Triple Slash was pushed to Lv5.
A balanced, all-round distribution.
Once his hunger was satisfied and the food digested into energy,
his tense muscles relaxed, and he recovered to an optimal adventuring state.
Facing the somewhat unfamiliar passages of the next floor, Liang Yue stepped forward decisively,
his goal for the day firmly set:
"Max out my stats…"
"…and then I can undergo a level-up."
——
With Flowmind upgraded,
the most noticeable change was the increased cutting power of his sword energy—
though at the cost of faster stamina drain.
Against Needle Rabbits, Violet Moths, and Killer Ants,
he was like an unstoppable war chariot, shredding any futile resistance.
Carrying this unstoppable momentum,
Liang Yue pushed his advance straight to the 9th floor.
Without encountering rare monsters, the EXP gain rate slowed noticeably.
"That's enough for today…"
The Dungeon had no true sense of time,
but what finally made him stop was the intense hunger in his body.
With a twist of his wrist,
the short sword in his right hand spun in a smooth flourish,
sending out sword energy that shredded the violet moth before him,
while the gust it generated blew away the poisonous powder.
Along with its deep purple magic stone,
the drop was "Violet Moth Wing."
Judging from his earlier encounter,
rare monsters like the Blue Butterfly should fetch a far higher price.
With that, paying off Hestia's debt to Hephaestus's shop shouldn't be a problem.
From there, his next concern was personal—
the day after tomorrow, he'd have to return these two second-class weapons.
Even with maintenance,
their quality was still limiting the full potential of his sword energy strikes.
This was something he had to address.
What's more, after adapting to dual-wielding swords,
going back to plain, unimproved weapons would lower his exploration efficiency.
…
Shaking off these thoughts, Liang Yue followed his memory of the route back to the surface,
moving with steady caution.
He arrived earlier than expected—just shy of dusk.
The main reason was that Flowmind had accelerated both his stamina drain and his exploration speed,
which he counted as a good thing.
The Guild was still open,
so he could exchange his loot for valis,
and later tonight, after updating his stats,
he could bring Hestia the good news—
declaring the end of her part-time work with the Hephaestus Familia!
…
Arriving at the Guild, Liang Yue scanned the area,
soon spotting a certain half-elf receptionist with rare free time.
Standing beside her was Misha Flott—
with her pink short hair draped over her shoulders,
and a figure that filled out the Guild's black uniform just right.
With fewer adventurers present,
Misha had time to chat with her friend Eina.
When Liang Yue—cloaked, and with his obvious Far Eastern features—walked in,
he immediately caught Misha's attention.
He was the adventurer her friend had been patiently assisting for some time.
She and Eina had been friends since their Academy days,
and in all her years at the Guild,
Misha had never seen Eina so warm toward an adventurer—
Liang Yue was the sole exception.
"Hey, hey, hey~"
Pulling her gaze back,
Misha nudged her friend with an elbow,
her smile half-hidden by her hand, teasing openly.
"Your adventurer's back~"
Even teased, Eina maintained her usual graceful demeanor—
though the unconscious push of her glasses betrayed a trace of fluster.
"The goddess herself has said that patiently assisting adventurers is our duty," she replied in a professional tone.
"And besides—
Misha, your nosiness is a bad habit you really should fix."
"...I'm not nosy!"
Still, as she walked toward Liang Yue,
Eina didn't realize that her lips had curved up ever so slightly,
and that she was feeling a quiet anticipation inside.
What kind of adventures would he share today?
Her smile was relaxed, without the polite formality of a receptionist toward an adventurer—
more like that of a close friend.
"You're back so early today, Liang Yue-kun."
"Of course."
Liang Yue nodded lightly,
his gaze flicking to the Guild's rest area.
With time to spare, he had a few questions he wanted to ask her.
Going straight to the point,
he asked casually,
"Eina-san, I'd like to learn about the monsters past the 10th floor."
"Of course, that's no problem—"
She began leading him toward the rest area, already considering what tea to brew,
but as the words left her mouth,
the key point struck her.
Her expression turned uncharacteristically serious as she turned back,
speaking slowly, enunciating each word:
"Did you just say… you want to know about the monsters after the 10th floor?"
Worried her sudden severity might frighten him,
Eina's face softened slightly—
but her voice carried the weight of caution.
"If you're joking…"
"…this isn't funny."
---
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