"Stop."
Eina's tone was serious, "The problem lies exactly here. It's necessary to correct these wrong ideas of yours, which is why I said we have to start from negative numbers."
She turned and wrote several big characters on the blackboard, "The Difference Between Combat Against Humans and Combat Against Monsters."
Eina put down the chalk and turned to face them, "First point, you must understand, combat against humans and combat against monsters are completely different types of battle styles. This, you must deeply understand!"
Lunoire and Chloe were indeed very strong, but the problem was that their ability system, combat experience, and thinking mode were all developed around 'combat against humans,' and an extremely assassination-based style at that.
But in the dungeon, such thinking absolutely does not work. Dungeon adventuring is a war of attrition that is most incompatible with their style.
For these assassin-type girls whose specialties lie in quick fights and rapid assassinations, dungeon adventuring is completely contrary to their past experience. When facing a large number of monsters, prolonged battles, tight defense, and coordinated teamwork are the keys to survival.
Therefore, in a sense, the two Lv.4 girls might need basic guidance about the dungeon even more than Haruhime.
The half-elf girl's tone allowed no doubt, "You three, you don't need to memorize all the Lv.1 monster guide entries completely, but you must at least have an impression. As for information on Lv.2 and above monsters, you must memorize all of it, without any omissions."
As she spoke, Eina pulled out four thick monster guides from under the table, slapped them onto the table with a "bang," and placed them in front of Anya, Chloe, Lunoire, and Haruhime.
The four books were like four small mountains, making the girls gasp in shock.
"As for you—"
Eina turned to the little fox girl Haruhime, "You must also memorize all the information on Lv.1 monsters."
Chloe: "Eh? Do I have to do Lv.2 too..."
Eina pushed up her glasses and said seriously, "Of course. Lv.2 monsters, in certain situations, also have the ability to kill high-level adventurers who are careless."
"For example, the group breath attack of Hellhounds. If you don't understand their behavior patterns and habits, you might not even have the chance to defend. To avoid such situations, you must memorize their data and be well-prepared."
Eina briefly introduced her teaching plan, "The course lasts seven days, fourteen classes, totaling twenty-eight teaching hours. Today I will start with explaining the precautions in the first level of the dungeon maze. Make sure to listen carefully, and also, take notes. There will be a quiz before class ends. If you fail, you'll get extra copywork as punishment."
"As for specific monster information, I won't go into detail, there's material in the book, you must study it seriously at home. It will be on the next class's quiz, and also in the final exam."
"Your overall grade consists of the final exam, usual performance, and a major assignment. The final exam accounts for 60%, while daily performance and the major assignment each account for 20%."
"If your total grade doesn't reach excellent, that is, above 85 points, you're not allowed to go dungeon adventuring, that's what I agreed upon with Mr. Emiya from the beginning."
The guild's training courses for new adventurers wouldn't be this detailed and strict, but Eina had always been extremely serious and responsible about her work.
Since Mr. Emiya paid a large amount of extra tutoring fees, she felt she couldn't let that money go to waste.
Anya: "Why! We cats just want to go dungeon adventuring, why do we have to study and take exams!"
———
Fourteen days later, the girls finally passed Eina's assessment.
As for why the originally planned seven-day course took two weeks to complete. Naturally, it was because they failed.
Aside from Lv.1 Haruhime, who passed the exam directly on her first try, the disgraceful Lv.4 seniors, Anya, Lunoire, and Chloe, all failed completely.
It wasn't until the makeup test on the seventh day that they barely managed to pass. Among them, Anya only passed with the exact minimum required score, almost failing again.
When they finally got their passing grades, tears nearly burst from their eyes.
Eina was just too strict, and the high salary offered by Emiya further stimulated her sense of enthusiasm and responsibility.
She designed a whole detailed guidance plan. Eina broke down the plan into the specific content of each class, covering dungeon basics, types and traits of monsters, team cooperation techniques, and even included in-depth analysis of practical cases.
But the teacher-cum-examiner's seriousness was torture for the students.
"Cats hate studying nya...", Chloe lay flat on the table, making a lifeless sound, her tail weakly hanging to the ground.
At this point, she no longer knew whether exams were more terrifying, or dueling a first-class adventurer was scarier.
Lunoire wasn't doing much better. Her face was ashen, slumped in her chair, pen already fallen to the floor.
As for Anya, she was even more dramatic. She lay on the ground facing up, eyes dull, seemingly having lost the ability to make a sound.
These girls were skilled in battle and adventure, but it was indeed difficult to make them calm down to study and read.
On the contrary, Haruhime, who had loved reading since childhood, was clearly more composed when facing Eina's lessons.
Now, Eina, no longer stern, had returned to her usual gentle self. She said in a soft, comforting voice, "On the level of knowledge and theory, you now have the qualifications to enter the dungeon and face the labyrinth~ Congratulations, you all passed the assessment!"
"""Hooray!"""
The girls cheered.
———
While the girls were attending class seriously in the classroom, Emiya wasn't idle either.
In these few days, he explored the mid-levels of the dungeon during the day, adapting to his upgraded body through real combat and regaining his coordination under the new realm. At night, he honed his craft in the workshop, focusing on equipment forging.
After upgrading to Lv.3, Emiya unlocked the development ability [Smithing], which further improved the quality of the weapons he forged.
The brilliance of [Skadi of Ice] not only made Emiya famous but also attracted many adventurers to order custom gear. However, almost all of these requests were blocked by Goddess Hephaestus.
Now, Emiya already had quite a bit of work on hand.
First, the repair and upgrade of Ryuu's weapons, [Tsubame Gaeshi] and [Higanbana]. These two weapons had accompanied Ryuu through many battles. Although of high quality, years of use had worn them down somewhat.
Emiya's task was not only to restore them to their perfect condition but also to use his newly gained [Smithing] ability to further optimize them, enhancing their performance so that they would not only be as good as new but also perform even better in battle.
Also, the [Skadi of Ice] used by Alicia, the magic gem on this weapon had developed tiny cracks from high-frequency use and urgently needed replacement and upgrade.
Emiya inlaid it with higher-quality magic gems to ensure its effectiveness and power in combat would improve even further.
There was also Ais' new weapon, which had been pre-ordered by Riveria a long time ago. Although the forging wasn't completed yet.
In addition, Emiya needed to create new weapons for Anya, Haruhime, Lunoire, and Chloe. Preparing these weapons was his main task during this time.
"Mr. Emiya, please allow me to temporarily join your party."
This unexpected situation occurred when Emiya returned to the tavern, [Thousand Elf] Lefiya of the Loki Familia came knocking.
"I've already upgraded to Lv.3 now," Lefiya said.
Lefiya's upgrade was thanks to the dungeon riot two months ago. At that time, a large number of deep-level monsters surged into the upper levels.
In such a defensive battle, Lefiya, a powerful but less mobile mage, was able to make a huge impact.
She killed a large number of high-level monsters in that battle, accumulating enough deeds to level up, and her Magic stat rose to S.
Of course, the girl's other abilities were much weaker. Dexterity and Agility were only G level, and Strength and Endurance were still stuck at H.
However, for a turret-type mage like her, Magic is the only truly critical stat.
Emiya asked with slight doubt, "Is that okay? Aren't you usually teamed up with her Loki Familia companions?"
Lefiya gave a bitter smile and replied, "Well, about that…"
She then explained the reason: although Lefiya had leveled up, she still couldn't keep up with the high-level adventurers of the Loki Familia, who were Lv.5 and Lv.6.
And teammates who were Lv.3 or below were too weak for her, who had overpowered skills.
Among Lv.4 adventurers suitable to team up with her, [Noble Cat] Anakitty was focusing on breaking through to Lv.5 and was training with first-class adventurers lately, with almost no time.
Also, [Super Ordinary Guy] Raul had to manage the second team and couldn't often go on adventures together.
With a trace of expectation in her eyes, Lefiya said, "Actually, this was Lady Riveria's suggestion. She believes I should try more magic in daily adventures, and that I should learn from an adventurer like Mr. Emiya, who has multiple abilities."
"I'll still move with the Loki Familia during expeditions, but for regular dungeon exploration, I'd like to adventure with Mr. Emiya."
Emiya and Anya's group naturally had no objections to the girl's request. Don't look down on her being only Lv.3, Lefiya's magic firepower could rival that of Lv.5 adventurers and was definitely a strong reinforcement.
However, Emiya still asked the goddess, mainly because this involved Haruhime.
Goddess Hephaestus nodded easily. At this point, the existence of Haruhime didn't need to be hidden from the Loki Familia anymore.
Thus, a new adventurer party was formed.
Emiya Shirou, swordsman, Lv.3.
Anya, lancer, Lv.4.
Lunoire, pugilist, Lv.4.
Chloe, assassin, Lv.4.
Lefiya, mage, Lv.3.
Haruhime, enchanter, Lv.1.
———
"Shirou, are we going to the dungeon tomorrow?", Chloe asked curiously.
After going through Eina's classes and training, the girl had let go of her disdain toward the dungeon, as well as the arrogance stemming from her own strength.
However, facing the unknown adventure, Chloe still couldn't suppress her excitement.
"No need to rush. There's some prep work to do first," Emiya replied.
Before officially entering the dungeon, Emiya gathered all members of the adventurer party to distribute equipment and potions.
In dungeon exploration, especially in the lower and deeper layers, combat is only the final phase, thorough preparation beforehand is the key to victory or defeat.
"These are the weapons I prepared for everyone," As he spoke, Emiya raised his hand and opened several weapon cases.
"First, Lunoire's weapons."
He took out a pair of gauntlets and a sword-shield set.
Right arm gauntlet: [Hrunting Kai], First-level Armament.

This gauntlet was crafted based on the magic sword [Hrunting], with claw-like engravings etched into it.
The original Hrunting was a magic sword that could automatically track enemies after smelling blood and unleash the most suitable slash. With every strike, blood would flow into the blade, emitting a red glow. Emiya preserved this feature during the modification.
Whenever the gauntlet hits an enemy, the blade portion absorbs blood, the weapon glows red, and its attack power becomes even more brutal.
Left arm gauntlet: [Naegling Kai], First-level Armament.

A pitch-black gauntlet based on [Naegling]. It was originally a shorter weapon than the Hrunting. Rather than a sword, it was more like a steel bludgeon, designed for smashing and explosive power.
Emiya remodeled it into a gauntlet, retaining its heavy impact feel. The serrated structure on the gauntlet resembled snake scales, brimming with a beauty of strength. Each strike carried immense intimidation, like smashing the enemy with a steel hammer.
These armaments were created by Emiya combining [Mystery], [Forging], and [Unlimited Blade Works], along with his understanding and analysis of those Noble Phantasms.
Unlike the weapons Emiya had previously forged, [Tsubame Gaeshi], [Tsubame Gaeshi], which were highly unique 'mythical armaments' that even he wasn't confident in replicating, [Hrunting Kai] and the like lacked potential for growth. However, their performance still exceeded what this world typically considered First-level Armament.
According to the goddess Hephaestus, the main difference between these weapons and works like [Ice of Skadi] was in the 'content'.
They lacked the support of [Great Feats] and [Records], and thus weren't true 'prototypes of Noble Phantasms,' but rather 'pseudo-Noble Phantasms,' a type of armament with special properties.
As for the sword-shield apart from the gauntlets, they weren't that special. [Barrier's Guard] and [Resolute Blade], Second-level Armament, crafted by Tsubaki.
Both emphasized endurance rather than attack power, part of a frontline gear series.
Although Lunoire was a martial artist, Emiya still prepared a sword-shield set for her.
Because in certain dungeon scenarios, the martial artist's fighting style might not be suitable. In those moments, Lunoire would need to switch to a sword-shield warrior and serve as the frontline of the team.
Lunoire's Strength and Endurance stats were both at B-rank, more than enough to handle the role of a heavy-armored warrior.
Emiya patiently explained the gear's features to Lunoire, but the girl's mind was already in turmoil. She felt a bit dizzy, to the point she could barely hear what he was saying.
"Wait a second, Emiya, you said, this gauntlet, what level of equipment is it?", Even though she had already heard it clearly before, and the specs of the gear had allowed her to make a rough judgment, Lunoire still couldn't quite believe her ears.
"First-level Armament," Emiya answered simply, then added, "However, it and the other gauntlet aren't a pair. They are two separate First-level Armaments."
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