The Girl's Disappointment

The fight between Leo and Ais continued until the sun rose high in the sky, illuminating the entire Twilight Manor.

That's all for now.

Ais Leo was already swaying precariously, a hint of doubt flashed briefly in Ais's golden, transparent eyes before she spoke.

"Shall we continue tomorrow?"

Ais asked quite seriously.

"Let's continue."

Leo took a deep breath, suppressing his erratic breathing and the pain in his body, before gritting his teeth and nodding.

Since I've decided to walk the path of a magic swordsman, swordsmanship is a must-learn skill; otherwise, I won't be able to go to the front lines.

After reaching Lv.2, Leo also plans to ask the Mage in his familia for tips on Parallel Chanting techniques and how to use magic in intense battles.

Generally speaking, regardless of the type of magic, extreme concentration and correct incantation are required. Otherwise, distraction will lead to loss of control over the Demonic Power, resulting in Demonic Power explosion that not only fails to harm the enemy but also harms the caster.

Therefore, when using magic, people invariably stand still, focusing solely on chanting to prepare for the spell, and cannot perform any other actions.

This is why Mage need the protection of their companions; without their protection, they cannot concentrate on chanting and casting spells and can only stand still and passively endure enemy attacks.

However, some high-level Mage are able to perform other actions while maintaining focused concentration on their spellcasting.

Attack, defend, move, dodge—a skilled Mage can maintain focused concentration while performing these four actions, casting spells and freeing themselves from dependence on companions. Even without teammates' protection, they can maneuver through hordes of monsters and freely unleash magic to annihilate enemies; this is called Parallel Chanting.

Unfortunately, Mage are already rare, and Mage who can Parallel Chanting are even rarer; even within the Loki Familia, there are very few who can do it.

However, for a magic swordsman who needs to fight on the front lines and launch magical attacks while engaging in fierce battles with the enemy, Parallel Chanting is an essential skill.

Before this, although Leo could also cast spells in battle, he did not cast spells while fighting enemies. Instead, he would stop when he needed to cast a spell, and like other Mage, stand still, abandon all actions, concentrate on chanting, and then cast the spell.

If any other Mage did that, it would undoubtedly be suicide, but because [Meteor Dance] is a spell with a very short incantation, Leo doesn't need to spend much time chanting it, so he can find opportunities to stop and cast the spell during battle.

Because the incantation is extremely short and the time required to cast the spell is minimal, Leo was able to manage to do this even in the shortest possible time.

However, this is only possible because the battle is not intense. If it were a battle where there was no time to stop and chant spells, and not even a moment to catch one's breath, then Leo would be unable to cast spells.

Therefore, Parallel Chanting is also something Leo must learn.

It's alright now; he's only adventuring in the upper levels of the Dungeon, where it's rare to encounter those intense, life-or-death battles where there's no chance to catch his breath. So, he doesn't really need to use Parallel Chanting. But once he enters the middle levels, the number of monsters he needs to deal with will surge, and the difficulty of the challenge will increase dramatically. Then, he won't be able to find opportunities to cast spells with such ease anymore.

Therefore, Leo plans to formally learn Parallel Chanting after reaching Lv.2.

This shouldn't be difficult to do.

Although Parallel Chanting is difficult to learn, and even among the strongest city-state clans like the Loki Familia, only a small number of people can do it, Leo's magic only requires very short incantations. In intense battles, only a few spells need to be chanted, making Parallel Chanting easier to execute.

If he possessed a quick-attack spell that required no chanting, like the protagonist in the original story, then he wouldn't even need to learn Parallel Chanting; he could simply raise his hand to activate the spell, and he could do it even in the most intense battles.

For now, learning swordsmanship from Ais is more important.

An adventurer's combat strength is not only determined by their own stats; skills and strategies are equally important.

If one's combat skills and strategies are sophisticated enough, it is even possible to defeat a stronger opponent with a weaker one.

The Chief God of the Take-Mikazuchi Familia is a perfect example. As the god in charge of "martial arts," he possesses martial arts skills that surpass those of adventurers in the Lower World, making them practically divine. Even with his divine power sealed and only possessing abilities equivalent to ordinary people, he can still defeat twenty Lv.4 adventurers solely through martial arts. In one-on-one situations, he can even contend with or defeat Lv.5 adventurers, which is simply outrageous.

Such an outrageous thing could only be done by gods, and only gods whose domains are related to combat. It is impossible for people in the Lower World to possess such combat skills that have reached the realm of gods. Let alone defeating a first-level adventurer with the abilities of an ordinary person, it would be extremely difficult to defeat an opponent of a higher level simply by relying on martial arts.

At least, Ais, Orario's strongest female swordsman, couldn't do that.

Even with pure swordsmanship, this genius female swordsman wouldn't be able to defeat an enemy of a higher level, unless the opponent is a completely mindless monster.

Of course, this is on the premise that one relies solely on swordsmanship.

If we don't limit ourselves to swordsmanship, then with Ais's unique magic and skills, fighting across levels wouldn't be impossible.

Thinking of this, Leo couldn't help but look at Ais.

Perhaps noticing Leo's gaze, Ais hesitated for a moment, then asked softly.

"Want to go to a restaurant for breakfast together?"

Upon hearing this, Leo snapped out of his reverie, smiled, and shook his head.

"No, I'll just grab something quick and easy when I get out."

Even after officially joining the Loki Familia and shedding his apprentice status, Leo still almost never eats at the restaurant.

There's no way around it; if you run into someone who doesn't like you, you're bound to get humiliated.

Leo had no interest in being humiliated by that arrogant werewolf, which is why he rarely went to the restaurant to eat with everyone in his clan.

Ais clearly knew this too, which is why she hesitated just now.

"----Um."

Ais pursed her lips and nodded.

The two agreed to train (spar) at the same time the next day before parting ways.

Leo walked towards the tower where his room was located, intending to change his dirty clothes and wash off the grime.

Ais didn't need to do that; she hadn't even broken a sweat, let alone gotten dirty. Leo at this stage wasn't capable of doing such a thing.

Only----

"That's a bit strange----"

Gazing at Leo's departing figure, Ais was filled with confusion.

In the past, when fighting against himself, Leo would inevitably end up covered in wounds, making Ais, who couldn't control her strength, feel very ashamed.

This time, although Leo also looked dirty, Ais noticed that he wasn't injured.

Even after rolling over a pebble-strewn ground, Leo didn't suffer a single scratch today. This level of "durability" shouldn't be something a newcomer who has only been an adventurer for less than half a month should possess.

Furthermore, during the fight just now, Ais also keenly noticed that Leo suddenly tried to move several times, but then suddenly stopped himself from making any small movements.

He looked as if he was restraining something.

Ais couldn't understand why Leo was behaving this way.

She realized only one thing.

That is, the man she brought back from the Dungeon was hiding something (a secret) from her.

As this thought flashed through Ais's mind, a sudden sense of loss welled up inside her, a feeling she herself was unaware of.

"Leo —he has secrets from me now."

A clear look of frustration appeared on the girl's usually emotionless, delicate face.

Leo was unaware that his deliberate suppression of his abilities had already aroused Ais's suspicion, and even made the emotionless girl feel frustrated and lost.

After returning to the tower, he immediately washed himself, changed into clean clothes, and then left the room for Finn's office.

Just now, a member told him that the leaders of the clans wanted him to come to them after his training.

Is something the matter?

Despite his doubts, Leo walked quickly and soon arrived at Finn's office, where he met the three leaders of the Familia.

"Did I take up too much of your time, Leo?"

Finn sat behind his luxurious desk as always, like a child imitating an adult at work, in a seat that seemed completely out of place, and smiled at Leo as he entered.

--

"Of course not." Leo shook his head and asked, "Is there something you need from me, Commander?"

"There is something," Finn nodded, not wanting to waste time, and cut straight to the point, saying, "Loki told us that you want to hire a supporter outside, is that right?"

Leo did mention this to Loki when he updated his stats last night.

"Yes, I do want to hire a support person."

There was no point in hiding it, and Leo readily agreed.

"You've gotten this far too? That's fast," Gareth remarked, sitting beside him. "We thought you'd have to spend months training in the early levels of the Dungeon before reaching this point."

Upon hearing this, Leo roughly guessed that his extraordinary growth rate had probably been discovered by the three clan leaders before him.

Upon closer reflection, this isn't surprising at all.

The emergence of such a member in the clan, whose growth rate is extraordinary, may go unnoticed by others, but these three clan leaders certainly need to know.

Loki isn't the kind of god who would gossip. Even among his own clan, the seemingly eccentric Chief God is surprisingly reliable and acts as a responsible parent, not readily revealing his children's secrets.

Leo's existence has already had a significant impact on the development and future of the Familia, so Loki will definitely tell Finn and the others about it.

Finn and his companions must have known about Leo's inexplicable special ability.

The ensuing conversation confirmed this.

"With your current abilities, as long as you don't venture into the middle levels, you shouldn't encounter any danger on the upper levels," Riveria earnestly advised. "But you are still a newcomer, and you lack experience in dealing with unexpected situations in the Dungeon. Therefore, neither we nor Loki feel comfortable letting you hire outside support."

No outside supporter is as trustworthy as one's own family.

They only accept jobs from adventurers to earn money and do odd jobs for them. If they encounter danger, they will definitely turn around and run without saying a word. They might even use the adventurers who hired them as bait to buy themselves time to escape.

In Dungeon, it's common for adventurers to betray and steal from each other. Most adventurers enter Dungeon to get rich, for fame, or for treasure.

What if Leo hired a treacherous helper who, seeing Leo raking in Magic Stone and looting items and about to become incredibly wealthy, suddenly becomes greedy and tries to monopolize the spoils?

This is exactly what Finn and the others are worried about.

Perhaps, with Leo's current strength, he won't encounter any dire situations in the upper echelons, but if he were to be double-crossed or framed by greedy competitors, that would be far more dangerous than facing a desperate situation.

Even experienced adventurers can fall for this trick, let alone Leo, a newbie who has only been an adventurer for less than half a month.

Leo had certainly considered this possibility before.

"But if I don't hire someone from outside, who in my clan would be suitable to be my supporter?"

Leo gave a wry smile.

Then he heard these words.

"Why do you think there's no one in the Familia suitable to be your supporter?" Finn chuckled, as if reading through Leo's concerns. "There aren't any newcomers in the Familia at Level 1 like you, but not everyone is a combatant."

"Within our clan, there are still some non-combatants who don't go to the front lines and work full-time in rear support."

"If you don't mind us old folks meddling, we can introduce you to a suitable supporter."

This is the main reason why Finn and the others called Leo here.

Leo's eyes lit up when he heard Finn's words.

"Will this be alright?" Leo asked hesitantly. "Won't it be too much trouble for that person?"

"Of course not." Riveria shook her head, reassuring her, "That child isn't a combatant. When there's no need for expeditions, she basically handles miscellaneous tasks at base camp. Letting her come with you to the Dungeon wouldn't be a bad thing."

"We've already called them over," Gareth said, stroking his beard. "They should be here soon, right?"

Gareth had barely finished speaking when there was a knock on the office door.

"Um—may I come in?"

A voice rang out from outside the door, tinged with tension.