When Liang Yue left the Familia's residence, Hestia was still fast asleep in bed. After readying himself for another dive into the Dungeon, he wasted no time.
The two weapons that Tsubaki, captain of the Hephaestus Familia, had lent him were essentially on their last day of the "trial card."
As for today's objective—
He had already planned it out before setting out: squeeze every last drop of value from these borrowed weapons and push as deep into the Dungeon as possible.
Through battles with monsters, he would sharpen his abilities in every aspect.
The process was, of course, the same monotonous grind of Dungeon exploration, but for Liang Yue, the hunger for battle today was stronger than ever.
"Can I… during today's dive…
Push every stat except Magic to S-rank?"
When an adventurer "levels up," their displayed stats are reset to zero—but only on paper.
The actual improvements from training remain, meaning one's real strength only grows.
On top of his current foundation, he would keep pushing those stats higher.
Maxing out every category before advancing would allow him to accumulate enough to fight far above his rank.
For his future development, Liang Yue's goal was clear: rely on the Sword Soul Template for skills while using the Falna system to boost his physical abilities.
Combine the two—
And he would eventually become a stat monster with no weaknesses in all of Orario… and perhaps the entire Danmachi world.
——
If someone accused him of "cheating," he would think they were shortsighted—focusing only on his golden finger and numbers, without seeing the sweat and effort behind them.
Take, for example, Orario at 5 a.m.—
The Central Plaza was empty of adventurers.
After yesterday's experience in the Dungeon, Liang Yue knew endurance was key.
So he had woken the Hostess of Fertility's owner early to buy two portions of food, along with a clean jug of drinking water.
The Ganesha Familia guards stationed at the Babel Tower checked his adventurer credentials and waved him through without questions.
Descending the spiral staircase into the depths, the sight of the familiar floors didn't stir much reaction on his face—but inside, he was eager.
"Let's go!"
Past the safe floors, goblins and kobolds lurking in uncleared tunnels reacted instinctively to his footsteps.
But with his improved stats, better weapons, and the Sword Soul job level-up, plus the boost from his pre-activated Ryūshin skill—
A casual swing of his sword sent sword energy slicing them apart.
His exploration goal was clear.
He didn't even bother picking up drops from these weaklings—their magic stones weren't worth more than the time he'd lose collecting them.
Lizardmen and wall lizards fell the same way, unable to slow his advance.
When a long corridor had a higher concentration of monsters, he didn't hesitate to burn stamina—
Threefold Slash!
Each kill not only counted as training, but slowly grew his experience as well.
Floor 6.
Floor 7.
Floor 9.
Luck wasn't with him today—no rare blue butterflies, just the occasional horned rabbit that thought ambushing from below was a good idea.
These deeper-floor monsters dropped magic stones worth picking up—small steps toward better future weaponry.
"This passage… leads to the 10th floor?"
With the current area cleared, Liang Yue stopped in front of the passage ahead, curiosity in his eyes.
Eina had told him yesterday that traps and environmental hazards would start appearing here.
The most dangerous of these was the thick mist that obscured vision, making it easy for adventurers to miss incoming threats.
Without the Asura killing intent sense, he relied purely on the hunter's instinct forged through recent battles.
The danger ahead couldn't stop him—but unlike his earlier speedrun pace, his steps grew more cautious.
Winding passages led him into the more dangerous 10th floor.
The environment changed dramatically—not like the twisting caves of previous levels, but—
A dead forest. No sunlight. Leafless, withered trees. The mist clung to everything like a malignant growth.
"Visibility's awful.
If horned rabbits were here, they could hit you before you even saw them…"
From the relative safety of the entrance tunnel, Liang Yue scanned the surroundings and quickly concluded—
Rushing here would be unwise.
This was also where orcs would appear for the first time. While nowhere near as dangerous as a Minotaur, they were still a step up in threat.
He pressed on.
The mist here cut visibility to barely five meters.
Even though this was still accessible to Lv.1 adventurers, Liang Yue knew better than to get careless just because his stats were inflated.
The danger wasn't so much the orcs themselves—it was the cover the mist gave them to launch silent ambushes.
"Easy to lose your bearings…"
A snapped branch underfoot echoed unnaturally loud in the still air, heightening the eerie atmosphere.
Then—battle-honed instinct screamed.
He dove to the side just as a massive axe swept out of the mist, splintering a dead tree into pieces.
Pulling back to a safe distance, he finally got a good look at his attacker—
Just as described: a hulking, man-shaped body bulkier than a Minotaur's… topped with the head of a pig.
Scarlet eyes glowed in the mist.
"An orc?"
"…Tch."
As polite payback for the ambush, Liang Yue swung his sword, sending a wave of sword energy crashing toward it.
The force of the strike cut through the mist, briefly clearing the air.
The grotesque features of the pig-headed orc came into view—but it had no chance to counter.
The slash tore through its massive body, reducing it to grey dust.
The magic stone dropped soundlessly onto the dirt.
"Feels like the training intensity still isn't enough…"
With the Ryūshin buffs active, no upper-floor monster could withstand his strikes.
In other words—
Having finally reached this floor, what he craved was a real challenge to push his stats higher.
From that brief fight, he realized—
The real danger on Floor 10 wasn't the orcs, but the mist-shrouding trap that made the terrain so unpredictable.
"So…
What's the trigger for a Monster Feast?"
His brow furrowed in annoyance. Yesterday, he'd forgotten to ask how to actually provoke a monster feast.
He couldn't very well put all his hopes for maxing his stats on the rare chance of running into a baby dragon boss…
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