Chapter 33: Skill Effect
Perhaps it was a psychological effect, but Liam always felt exceptionally refreshed when he woke up after enjoying Hestia's special treatment.
The physical exhaustion caused by Dungeon exploration had completely vanished.
After getting up and a simple wash-up, he looked at Hestia sleeping soundly on the sofa.
The young woman's tranquil and gentle sleeping face, the corners of her mouth curved into a lovely arc. When she occasionally turned over, he could even faintly hear her soft murmurs.
"."
"Pretty good."
It could barely be considered a warm daily routine, but Liam had no time to enjoy it now.
Tomorrow, he had to return these two Mithril short swords. The sharpness of the weapons would directly affect his efficiency.
As for his next goal.
Utilize the advantage of the last two days of the weapon trial card to push his Dungeon progress to the 10th floor!
"Figure out the dangers of the next few floors..."
"The matter of increasing the Sword Soul class level can be appropriately slowed down."
Continuing to soak in the 7th-floor area, relying on the sheer number of Killer Ant swarms to raise his level.
There was an effect, of course, but the speed would decrease.
And monsters that posed no combat pressure would also result in less improvement to his ability scores during training.
"Let the weapon create the final ripple." (JoJo reference to Hamon/Ripple)
To comprehensively improve his ability scores, and then achieve a great feat to raise his adventurer level – this was Liam's plan.
Making preparations before Dungeon exploration, first was checking his weapons.
As works of Orario's strongest smith, Tsubaki.
The sharpness and durability of the Second-Grade armaments exceeded his imagination.
Even after experiencing high-intensity Dungeon exploration, they still retained their original sharpness.
The bodies of the swords, which bore the brunt of the sword aura slashes, also showed no issues with their structural integrity.
"The weapons are quite good."
"It's just that the selling price is a bit high..."
The weapons had no flaws and were very handy to use. The expensive price was just his own problem.
After leaving the Familia home, he headed to West Main Street to buy supplies needed for Dungeon exploration.
As if waiting here in advance, Syr, standing at the entrance of "The Hostess of Fertility" restaurant, noticed the familiar figure passing by.
She held a pre-prepared bento in both hands.
Noticing Liam's arrival, the young woman's charmingly pretty face and smile gave people a refreshing feeling like a spring breeze. She didn't make any demands on Liam.
Only while handing over the bento.
Syr's deliberately stern face, her light gray eyes revealing a teasing smile.
"Liam-kun."
"I hope today's Dungeon adventure goes smoothly. This is the lunch bento I prepared for you!"
"Thank you."
Thinking of that deliberately orchestrated encounter, he didn't actually think it was Syr's scheming.
It could only be said to be an expected event.
Holding the slightly warm lunch bento, Liam looked up, his gaze revealing a hint of confusion, "There aren't any additional conditions, are there?"
"None at all."
"I just hope Liam-kun can adventure safely in the Dungeon." Syr squinted her eyes, her smile full of slyness.
She didn't say the latter half of the sentence, because at this moment, Liam carried the aspirations of many people.
"Syr Flova."
Liam had a relatively deep impression of her.
To be precise, she was the manifestation of Goddess Freya's girlish personality, including the plot developments in the original work.
Launching a Familia war to forcibly take Bell.
After failing and half-disbanding her Familia, she didn't cause any trouble behind the scenes, choosing to become a cook at The Hostess of Fertility restaurant.
As long as they weren't on opposing sides, his attitude towards Freya was relatively indifferent.
She finally got her wish and possessed Bell. If he wasn't mistaken, the "Single-Minded Aspiration" skill should be bound to himself.
It was just that when he thought of this matter, Liam always felt an uncontrollable sense of strangeness. From another perspective, wasn't this also a kind of safety guarantee?
"."
"Let's explore the Dungeon first. After raising my adventurer level, I can rest for a few days."
Babel, towering in the center of Orario, was like a succubus's cave that drained one's energy, yet full of extreme temptation!
Every day, it attracted an endless stream of adventurers to explore. Although the rhetoric was a bit abstract.
In reality, it was no different from what Liam thought.
His gaze swept over the central plaza in front of Babel. In the early morning, many adventurers had already gathered.
His white demonic hand, covered by the cloak, allowed Liam to blend into the crowd, no different from an ordinary adventurer.
If there was a real difference…
It was that compared to others who formed groups, he appeared much more solitary.
"I hope today's exploration goes smoothly."
Liam smiled, full of anticipation, as he looked up at the adventurers queuing to enter Babel ahead.
Compared to usual, today's exploration was filled with more unknowns.
The information he had obtained from the half-elf Miss Eina only went up to the 7th floor.
His impression of the deeper areas was relatively vague, but it was often this sense of the unknown that could further stimulate his desire to explore the Dungeon!
Liam passed through the safe zone of the starting floors. He didn't deliberately search for monsters.
Relying on his memory of Dungeon exploration during this period, he casually cleared away the monsters blocking his path.
Like War Shadows, Dungeon Lizards, Killer Ants…
The meager experience points provided after killing them had already made him lose interest in searching for them.
"Flowing Stance skill…"
"It can enhance the damage of sword aura, but I don't know if the slash range will change?"
"."
About to head to the 8th-floor area, Liam looked at the winding passage before him, filled with curiosity about the skills he had mastered after leveling up.
Assuming it could enhance the damage and range of his sword aura slashes.
Activating the "Flowing Stance" skill effect to amplify his own strength, at the cost of increased stamina consumption – he considered this very worthwhile!
There was simply no room for hesitation. Liam directly headed towards the passage.
A pitch-black cave environment, relying on the lantern fruit growing on the walls to provide faint illumination.
The floor passage was considered a safe zone in the Dungeon.
Soon.
An unexplored, unfamiliar area appeared directly before Liam's eyes.
"Today's exploration starts here!"
After exploring for this period, it could even be said that most of his energy had been spent lingering in the Dungeon, fighting various monsters.
Without the nervousness of a new adventurer, Liam calmly scanned his surroundings. There were no other adventurers around.
He drew the two short swords from his waist.
The chilling sword edges appeared exceptionally cold in the faint, cool-toned illumination.
"Flowing Stance."
"."
Stacking buffs before a battle was a habit Liam had developed in his previous life. Skill casting required a process. If he truly encountered Dungeon monsters.
He would appear tense and flustered.
And as the effect of the buff skill "Flowing Stance" activated, there was no physical enhancement.
Instead, his gaze turned to the short swords held in both hands. The gray-black sword bodies, forged entirely from Mithril, had a faint layer of flowing light flash across their surface.
Adding an inexplicable chill to the sword's edge!
"The stamina consumption is also lower than I expected."
Carefully feeling the slow drain of his stamina, after updating his ability scores, this consumption could be ignored.
Liam didn't hesitate.
Just as he was about to begin exploring the current floor, the combat proficiency developed through this period of training.
Instantly…
Allowed him to detect danger approaching from not far away!
(End of this chapter)