I followed Elana out of the city hall.
I was about to head straight to the rented lodging,
"This way."
but Elana guided me not to the rundown shack in the corner of the city, but somewhere else.
It seemed she wasn't staying in the shack either, but somewhere different.
The place we arrived at by following her was an inn near the city center that looked expensive at a glance.
To afford a place like this... Hunting just the underground 1st floor of the dungeon wouldn't come close to covering it.
"Come on in."
She opened the door, revealing a neatly arranged lodging.
Inside the lodging were not only a dining table and simple furniture, but even cooking facilities.
"I'll make the Bearhog dish right now!"
Elana placed a large chunk of Bearhog meat over the flames, and soon a delicious aroma filled the room.
I sat at the table and waited for the cooking to finish, and soon perfectly grilled, mouthwatering Bearhog meat was placed in front of me.
I cut along the surface with a knife, and the meat sliced smoothly.
I brought a piece to my mouth.
"...How is it?"
"Delicious."
It melted away in my mouth like it was dissolving.
She looked like she wouldn't be able to eat for a while, so I should eat plenty now.
"Ah, Rain, have you seen the other trainees too?"
"Trainees... You mean the basic training group?"
"Yes! They're all new faces since coming here, so I felt close to them without realizing it."
Basic training classmates... Whether they were classmates or not, I wasn't sure.
Anyway, I had met one.
The man who joined the Dawn Guild and was blocking the path to the treasure chest.
The family crest engraved on his chest was definitely... from the kingdom.
"You noticed that all six people I saw yesterday were from noble families, right?"
"Yes."
"Isn't it surprising? Some of them already joined a mercenary guild."
Elana sliced her meat and brought it to her mouth.
A short silence fell as she chewed.
"Someone joined a famous guild too. The Dawn Guild, I think his name was... Berdan?"
"I met him too."
The man I met today must be named Berdan.
In the early stages, even if you joined a guild, you'd just get dragged into annoying chores, and they wouldn't let you join any substantial high-floor dungeon explorations.
That guy ended up standing guard at the treasure chest room too.
"Ah! You met him today? Then you saw it too, right? The family crest he had engraved."
Elana's demeanor shifted in an instant.
"That guy was from the kingdom too. From the Benhatan Family in the south."
The south of the kingdom has long been home to families loyal to the crown for generations.
Among them, the Benhatan Family... I remembered them as a house that maintained their line by clinging to high nobles despite lacking any real ability.
The reason for their downfall was simple.
The earl family they leeched off went completely bankrupt, and the Benhatan Family naturally followed suit into decline.
"What do you think of the kingdom, Rain?"
"Do I have to answer?"
"It's up to you, but... I want to hear it. If it's hard to answer, I can go first."
Elana continued with her coldly raised gaze.
"I want to rip apart the kingdom and everyone loyal to it. All those knights outside too."
A chilling voice emerged.
Her expression was utterly serene, as if every word was sincere.
Only then did I recall Elana's family name.
Elana Frilia.
An earl family with a long tradition even in the kingdom.
The downfall of the Frilia Family, which had been loyal to the kingdom for ages, was a bit more complicated.
When the previous king died suddenly, the kingdom's first prince failed to properly inherit power or secure the palace.
Taking advantage of the gap, the second prince launched a rebellion.
The kingdom split in two, leading to a short civil war.
The result was the second prince's victory.
The second prince's next move, after beheading the first prince, was utterly ruthless.
He purged all forces that supported the first prince.
Naturally, Elana's family faced extermination.
And this... applied to my Astria Family as well.
"You feel the same, don't you, Rain? I tremble with rage just looking at anything from the kingdom. How could someone ignore legitimacy and kill their own blood?"
...Asking me about that.
Elana simply stared at me with her coldly sunken eyes, as if urging an answer.
Even with eyes like that, I couldn't give her the response she wanted.
Sorry, but I had no particular grudge against the kingdom.
Just in case, I quietly opened my status window and moved an emergency escape scroll to my inventory.
This scroll returned to the dungeon entrance inside the dungeon, but outside, it went to a pre-set location.
In my case, the rented lodging.
"You're not? Rain Astria. I remember the Astria Family was in a similar position to us Frilias."
"..."
Answering something like this wouldn't lead to anything good.
I quietly set down my knife and fork and stood from my seat.
"Oh. You could finish eating before you go."
"It's fine. Thanks for the meal."
"But... No, never mind. I must have spoken out of turn."
Elana stood and saw me off all the way outside.
"Truth be told, I wanted to talk with you since yesterday. I missed the timing then, but I'm so glad we met again today."
I nodded lightly and headed to my lodging.
"Next time, let's talk longer."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Tiring."
Creak.
Opening the door to the rented shack in the shantytown, it creaked already.
I hadn't noticed in the morning, but coming back from Elana's place, the interior felt suffocatingly cramped.
I squeezed through the cramped space with barely room to stand and threw myself onto the bed.
Creak, creak.
The old bed frame groaned in protest.
Sigh. This damn hole-in-the-wall.
I opened the auction house from my status window first to check for any good listings.
⚙ System Notification ⚙[You can only purchase items matching your current floor.]
— Current Floor: 1
[Remaining Auction Items: 0]
— Next Participation: 29 days 23 hours
Forget listings—the auction house was, as expected, completely empty.
But there was new text at the bottom.
"29 days until next participation?"
It seemed there was a 30-day cooldown each time you participated in an auction.
In that case, it looked advantageous to progress further in the dungeon floors before using the auction house.
"A bit disappointing."
I wasn't sure if just participating consumed the cooldown, but it seemed better to buy something and leave.
"Then... Time for pulls."
The dungeon boss respawns tomorrow, so to join that, I needed new magic anyway.
I opened the shop window as best I could.
1st Circle Item Gacha— Remaining Tickets: 87,450 [1 Pull] [10 Pulls]
The gacha tickets I bought last time still had over 87,000 left.
"First... Let's tidy up."
Item Storage0 / 100
I pulled out all the items from the cash item storage and destroyed them.
Emptying the storage whenever it filled up was quite the chore.
But it was a necessary process.
I reached for the gacha.
I planned to stay up tonight until I used them all.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
『 1st Circle Magic Awakening Rune x3 』
"Hoo."
The reward for an all-nighter was sweet.
As morning sunlight filtered through the window cracks, illuminating the room, three runes emitting a brilliant golden glow floated above my palm.
The result of over 80,000 pulls.
My body creaked with fatigue, but my mind was sharper than ever.
"Alright then."
Without hesitation, I pressed the first rune to my chest.
Woooooong—
A different sensation from awakening Chain Lightning.
This time, sharp, precise streams of information pierced through my mind like a needle.
⚙ System Notification ⚙[You have awakened a new magic!]
[1st Circle: Mana Bolt]
[Rank: Legendary]
— Compresses and fires mana. The fired mana bolt tracks the target. Ignores a certain level of defensive effects.
"Got it."
A smile crept across my lips.
Mana Bolt was the most single-target specialized among the three legendary 1st Circle magics.
Single target, tracking, defense ignore.
Just these traits showed it was made for boss fights.
All bosses had protective magic on their bodies, but the 1st floor boss couldn't resist Mana Bolt's defense ignore.
If I timed it right, landing the killing blow would be easy.
I remembered all the boss's weak points too.
"Whew."
I gathered my focus briefly and picked up the second rune.
This time, a sense of space twisting enveloped my body.
Like crossing a gate.
⚙ System Notification ⚙[You have awakened a new magic!]
[1st Circle: Blink]
[Rank: Legendary]
— Teleports the caster up to 15 meters in the direction they are facing.
"Hm."
Blink would be very useful up to underground floor 3.
Used well, it could shorten travel time, and it was equally handy for kiting monsters.
However, from underground floor 4, teleportation magic became unusable, which was a shame.
There were teleportation scrolls usable below floor 4.
The ones from the 3rd Circle shop gacha that opened at 3rd Circle allowed Teleport.
But there might have been changes, so I'd have to check.
Alright then.
I picked up the last rune.
I brought it to my chest.
Crack! Like lightning striking my mind, my brain buzzed.
This feeling... no way.
⚙ System Notification ⚙[1st Circle: Chain Lightning magic has broken through its limits!]
[1st Circle+: Chain Lightning]
[Rank: Awakened Legendary]
— Fires two lightning orbs connected by electricity at enemies. Targets hit by the lightning transfer it to other targets.
Chain Lightning had awakened, advancing to a higher realm.
Now it produced two lightning orbs, but mana cost remained the same—effectively doubling efficiency.
And on top of that.
⚙ System Notification ⚙[Your magic has stepped into a new realm. Experience gain greatly increased.]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
— Current Level: 7
The Chain Lightning awakening boosted my experience, raising my level by 4.
This should be enough for underground floor 2.
It was then.
"Urk...!"
A headache like my skull was splitting hit me, and strength drained from my entire body.
Likely the backlash from using three 1st Circle Magic Awakening Runes in a row.
Different from mana depletion—it was mental exhaustion.
I collapsed onto the bed and fell into a brief sleep.