The experience and techniques gained from battle accumulate. When Liang Yue once again faced the "Monster Feast," it was far easier than his first time.
Thanks to the overwhelming number of enemies, the experience points and magic stones collected were quite considerable.
There was no real sense of time passing.
The most direct evidence was physical exhaustion. Maintaining high-intensity combat for so long wasn't necessarily dangerous—it was just that the sheer number of monsters was excessive.
Only after clearing out every last monster in the current area did a wave of exhaustion threaten to swallow Liang Yue whole.
He had lost count of how many monsters he'd killed.
Leaning back against the trunk of a dead tree, his chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. His body was drained to its limits, but mentally—he wasn't relaxed.
Strictly speaking, he was excited.
After speed-running to the 10th floor and accumulating experience points from nonstop combat—especially this cathartic Monster Feast—
His Sword Soul template class had finally reached Level 25.
"Whew…"
That alone was enough to keep his mood high despite the fatigue. His gaze drifted to Lili not far away.
She was busy collecting the dropped magic stones and monster materials.
Now would've been a great time to have auto-loot. After clearing the area, there was no danger left. Full of anticipation, he opened his golden finger.
——
「Liang Yue」
「Level: 25」
「EXP: 0.003%」
「Skills: Hidden Ghost Swordsmanship (Mastered), Triple Slash (Lv5), Moonlight Slash (Lv4), Backstep Slash (Lv4), Flowing Heart (Lv2), Flowing Heart: Pierce (Lv1)」
「SP: 80」
「New skill available for learning. Would you like to view it?」
——
「Weapon Beyond Limits」
「Level Requirement: 25」
「Cost: 20 SP」
「Skill Effect: Temporarily forces a weapon to exceed its durability limit, increasing sharpness but rapidly decreasing durability.」
——
Upon reaching Level 25, a new skill became available. The description was direct and to the point.
Enhance weapon sharpness, at the cost of faster durability loss.
It only cost 20 SP to learn. There was no reason not to max out this one—especially when normal monsters could already be handled with sword auras alone.
But when facing high-defense bosses?
The weapon sharpness buff from Weapon Beyond Limits might become the critical deciding factor in battle!
"Maxing out Weapon Beyond Limits it is."
It's not like he was mooching off the Hephaestus Familia or anything… though he suddenly remembered what Tsubaki had said yesterday about raising weapon durability limits.
Now that he'd leveled up and learned an active skill that burned through weapon durability…
Was this risk hedging?
Thinking about it, Liang Yue glanced at the second-grade weapon he'd bought from a regular shop. Of course, at that price, after-sales service wasn't included.
"If I'd spent a little more and bought this from Hephaestus's shop…"
"Would I have gotten free maintenance?" His expression turned a bit strange. If he wanted to keep Weapon Beyond Limits active—
The best solution might be to commission the Goibniu Familia to craft a weapon.
Something like Aiz's Desperate Sword—a high-tier weapon with the "unbreakable" attribute. Cost wasn't something he could consider right now.
With normal weapons, the constant repairs would be a massive expenditure of valis.
He didn't dwell too much on the distant future. After learning Weapon Beyond Limits, he closed the Sword Soul interface.
His current combat tools hadn't evolved drastically.
Instead, most of them—like Flowing Heart and Weapon Beyond Limits—were active enhancement skills that boosted combat performance across the board.
"To gain more combat options… I still have a long way to go."
"The road to leveling up is long and hard!"
From here on, the leveling process would slow significantly, but Liang Yue felt the effort was entirely worth it.
Skills like Sky-Breaking Ascending Strike and Sheath Draw Slash—
Would offer massive power boosts whether used against dungeon monsters or other adventurers.
Once every last monster drop had been collected, Lili finally approached Liang Yue. This expedition had truly been fruitful.
This was equivalent to a full day's harvest for a normal adventurer party.
Dungeon monster density wasn't usually this high. And honestly, no sane adventurer would willingly choose Liang Yue's "special training" method.
With the Monster Feast fading—
The mist blanketing this floor slowly dissipated. Lili took out pre-prepared supplies, processed them briefly, then handed them to Liang Yue.
She looked up at him with concern. "Drink some water. Want to eat something to recover your stamina?"
"Sure."
Liang Yue didn't refuse. The aching muscles and deep fatigue weren't the only issues—he was also starving from the energy burn.
He didn't care whose canteen it was.
He downed several gulps in a row. Only when the burning sensation in his throat eased did he turn his full attention to replenishing energy.
Seeing the boy wolfing down food in front of her, Lili couldn't help but smile.
But thinking of how recklessly he'd pushed himself just moments ago…
She tried to keep a straight face and finally spoke up: "This stretch… the situation was pretty unusual. From a supporter's perspective…"
"…Actually…"
Actually, Lili wanted to express concern. His actions had clearly placed himself in danger, but due to her tsundere nature—
The words came out sounding off.
"I hope you'll care more about your own safety. Even if you don't consider yourself, at least think about how your teammate feels."
"Just because I'm working for free doesn't mean I'm ready to die with you!!" She turned away, avoiding his gaze as she added the last part.
——
There was no sun or moon to mark time here. The only way to measure it was by how many meals they'd had. The deeper they ventured, the stronger the monsters became.
It was a perfect match for Liang Yue's goals. The dungeon floors grew more complex, but with Lili as the guide, there were no major incidents.
They steadily explored the upper floors.
But once they reached the first floor of the middle levels—the "First Dead Line"—an area that required Level 2 adventurers to safely navigate…
Liang Yue finally came to a stop.
With his current stats, he didn't need to worry much about his own safety. What concerned him more was his supporter, Lili.
Without full knowledge of the monster types, encountering a Monster Feast in the middle levels would make it hard to keep her safe.
Stopping their advance, Liang Yue looked at the small Pallum girl with the oversized backpack and asked bluntly, "How much supply do we have left?"
"Two flasks of water, and just some dry rations."
After doing a quick inventory, Lili raised her head, her expression serious. "Liang Yue, should I return to the surface for resupply?"
"No need."
"Let's head back for now."
With supplies running low, Liang Yue saw no need to remain in the dungeon. Killing monsters still granted XP—
But continuing the high-intensity training… he could tell the stat gains had slowed to a crawl.
It had already been two days since the fall of the Soma Familia. Regardless of whether the Ganesha Familia or Guild had caught on—
Not returning overnight would at least make Hestia worry.
And besides—
He was genuinely looking forward to seeing how much his overall stats had improved from these two days of relentless dungeon grinding—aside from the undeveloped magic stat.
On the way back to Orario behind Lili, Liang Yue found himself thinking about the weird way "heroic feats" were judged.
His mood grew oddly complicated.
Sensing the sudden heaviness in the air—
Lili stopped, turned back to face Liang Yue. The tension was likely due to the aftermath of the Soma Familia incident, and in this moment—
All she could do was encourage him.
With a warm smile on her face, she even switched to an awkwardly formal tone. "Liang Yue…-kun. I don't really know what to say, but I believe in you."
"I'm just a little confused."
"Hm? I might not have any good advice, but I can at least be a listener." Lili tilted her head slightly, trying to lighten the burden he carried.
But the moment Liang Yue voiced his "confusion," her rare gentle patience evaporated, replaced by a deep, bitter glare.
"Killing the entire Soma Familia… That won't count as a heroic feat that helps level me up, right?"
"…?"
"Do you hear yourself right now?"
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