The Journey Begins in DanMachi

The destructive power of this scale was already on par with the first stage of her wide-range annihilation magic, yet it didn't seem to cost Noah anything at all.

Even though it was his first time using magic, his mental strength and total mana capacity were likely already equal to her own...

As expected, this guy has the potential to become a true mage...

In that case, it was all the more reason to instruct (train) him with the utmost care (severity).

One simply couldn't let such a raw talent go to waste; to a mage, that would be nothing short of a crime.

"Ri, Riveria?"

Even though it felt like Riveria was smiling, Noah couldn't help but shudder.

"Is it nearly noon already?"

After pulling out a magic stone pocket watch to check the time, Riveria took out a map of the Dungeon.

"In my opinion, venturing to the lower floors on your first Dungeon exploration is already far too reckless. If possible, I would prefer we stop here for today and explore the remaining areas later, but—"

Looking at Noah, who was still full of energy, and Ais beside him, whose eyes were wide and eager, Riveria sighed helplessly.

"—I suppose you two wouldn't be very happy if we just went back now, would you?"

"The monsters up here can't challenge me at all. Calling the previous battles a warm-up would be an understatement. I want to see where my limits lie."

Gripping the hilt of his sword, Noah looked toward the depths of the cavern, as if locking eyes with the more dangerous monsters lurking within.

Even so, when Noah saw the backpack Ais was carrying—a pack several times larger than her own body—he hesitated.

"However, Ais..."

Before he could finish, Noah was interrupted by Ais.

"It's okay! I can still keep going!"

Adjusting the massive pack on her small frame, Ais pursed her lips, her young face filled with determination.

"Besides, the deeper parts of the Dungeon... I want to understand them!"

But if you keep doing this, I'm going to feel guilty for child abuse.

Facing Ais's small face, Noah felt a moment of conflict.

Watching the two of them stare at each other, a ripple of emotion stirred within Riveria's heart.

Long before Noah appeared, Ais had already reached the threshold of leveling up.

The reason Riveria, Finn, and the others hadn't told her about the requirement of a 'great feat' was because they all felt that, compared to her body, Ais's spirit needed more tempering.

Supported by hatred, the stronger Ais became, the closer she drew to death.

While they could look after Ais's daily life and teach her how to fight, they could never truly enter her inner world.

Until Noah appeared.

Riveria couldn't pinpoint it exactly, but there was no doubt that Ais felt a sense of yearning and admiration toward Noah.

Although this made the elven royalty, who had painstakingly cared for the girl for a year, feel a bit sour, she also felt a sense of relief.

In the spirit world of Ais, filled as it was with hatred, even a single ray of light was enough.

Besides, now that Ais knew about the requirement of a great feat, could she really restrict her from adventuring forever?

It seemed it was time to let go.

'Young people have their own epics to complete. We old folks can't walk the entire path for them. We must know when to let go. As long as we stand behind them and offer a helping hand when they are struggling or lost, that is enough...'

Recalling the dwarf's rough yet reassuringly steady voice in her mind, Riveria really wanted to punch him.

Who is an old person! I'm still young!

Having made up her mind, Riveria stopped struggling with the decision.

Since she couldn't stop them, she would just have to accompany them on their adventure.

Besides—

Stealing a glance at Noah, Riveria looked away, the corners of her lips curling into a crescent moon.

When she had snuck out of Alf Forest, it was to explore the 'unknown' of this world.

Did she really want to spend her days lecturing people, to the point where she was always teased for acting like a nagging mother?

It was all the fault of those unruly youngsters in the Familia!

But things were better now; with Noah, who would soon surpass her, leading the way, she probably wouldn't need to worry so much anymore.

Riveria was starting to understand Finn's joy more and more!

If one could serve as a Familia commander, then serving as the Familia's top mage simultaneously should be a breeze, right?

Just as he was struggling with how to help Ais lighten her load, Noah felt another chill.

Yes, another one.

A very familiar, chilling sensation.

Although there was no evidence, Noah still subconsciously looked at Riveria.

But Riveria had already withdrawn her gaze.

"Since you are all so insistent, let's eat something and continue forward. We'll sell the cheap magic stones and items to another adventurer party at a discount, and have them deliver the Valis to Twilight Manor once we return to the surface."

She unbuckled the backpack for Ais and began sorting and packing the items.

"I'll give you two hours; it's up to you how far you can get. After that, we must head back, or we might not make it out of the Dungeon before dark."

Although Riveria said she was selling them at a discount, when Noah watched her stop a Familia to negotiate, he was certain the price was essentially the standard market rate.

If sold at this price, it was effectively that Familia helping them carry the goods to the surface for free, with the added bonus of selling them.

Even so, that Familia still happily shouldered the magic stones and items and set off on their return journey.

After thinking about it for a moment, Noah understood.

While magic stones are all purchased by the Guild at a fixed rate, items can be sold to other Familias through negotiation.

Of course, under normal circumstances, unless they are rare item materials from the deep floors, it is difficult for adventurers to get a price they are satisfied with.

After all, if you don't sell, there are plenty of other adventurers willing to.

However, with such a large quantity of dropped items, it was a different story.

Currently, due to the interference of the Dark Faction, exploration activities in Orario were effectively in a slump. Familias with even a modicum of strength were being sent on mandatory quests by the Guild, which was the only thing barely maintaining Orario's output.

For production-oriented Familias, one or two item materials wouldn't change much, but such a large batch could sustain their production for quite some time, so offering some discounts was only reasonable.

Even if they only made a small profit on each item, with such a massive quantity, it was still a significant income.

Noah, who started out burdened with a debt of fifty million Valis, didn't care for this small amount, but for small and medium-sized Familias, it could allow them to live comfortably for a while.

This was likely why newcomers all wanted to join large Familias.

In the early stages of becoming an adventurer, the two biggest problems are lack of experience and lack of money.

No matter how much potential an adventurer has, they are extremely weak in the beginning, and this is when the mortality rate is highest.

Although shocking deaths of high-level adventurers occasionally break out below the deep floors, in terms of total numbers, the number of adventurers dying in the middle and upper floors overwhelmingly exceeds those in the deep floors.

Secondly, relying on fighting monsters in the middle and upper floors to earn money and save for equipment is a very long process for new adventurers; after all, equipment from Hephaestus Familia starts at hundreds of thousands or millions of Valis.

And the wear and tear on cheap weapons further delays the speed at which new adventurers can save up for gear.

There are often unlucky adventurers who, in order to save money, use cheap equipment, only to die in the Dungeon because their weapon broke just as they were about to have enough.

In large Familias, both of these problems can be well resolved.

Having senior high-level adventurers on the front lines to provide protection and guidance is far safer than relying solely on written advice from Guild advisors while exploring in person.

Moreover, even if a newcomer just acts as a supporter for high-level adventurers, picking up the 'trash' the seniors don't want, they can easily earn several times the income of an adventurer party of their own level in the same amount of time.

These two advantages attract newcomers, which in turn strengthens the powerful Familias.

After resolving the weight issue, the three resumed their exploration of the Dungeon.

Or rather, they began their charge toward the lower floors.

With dark blue arcs of electricity surging around his body once more, Noah recklessly charged into the monster swarm, unfolding a one-sided slaughter.

Like a thundercloud descending into this abyss, the continuous sound of electric chirping accompanied by explosions rang out, and the dark, brilliant blue light flooded the field of vision like a tide.

After the roar that made one's skin tingle, the ferocious howls of the monsters immediately turned into wails, only to be reduced to ash in the explosions.

However, Noah kept his goal in mind and began to adjust the magic power surging around his body while advancing and striking.

As the assault and slaughter continued, the lightning arcs gradually became restrained, no longer emitting a dazzling radiance that illuminated everything.

By utilizing the arcs wrapped around his body, Noah significantly reduced his magic consumption while his speed and defense increased dramatically.

The originally silver-white blade, after being enveloped by the dark blue arcs, was instantly stained to look like crystalline ice.

Yet, such an object, beautiful as a work of art, silently spoke of its terror through the scene of dozens of monsters being shredded by a single swing.

Occasionally, a 'Dungeon Worm' drilling through the walls would suddenly burst out, opening its abyssal maw lined with dozens of rows of sharp teeth toward Noah.

Noah's figure did not show the slightest hesitation; he raised his hand and, like a chef with exquisite knife skills, split the disgusting, ten-meter-long monster in two from head to tail.

The middle-floor monsters that had just made Noah feel the joy of battle now became completely devoid of challenge under the augmentation of his magic.

Even when they broke into the seventeenth floor and encountered the Minotaur, rated by the Guild as the strongest standard monster of the middle floors, nothing changed.

Whether it was skin tempered like red copper or the bulging, massive muscles all over its body, nothing could stop Noah's sword.

As they continued to push forward, the scale of the surrounding caverns gradually expanded, the forks in the road decreased, and the paths became increasingly wide and tall.

The frequency of monsters appearing in the vicinity also showed a cliff-like drop, suddenly decreasing as if in fear.

This feeling was as if the Dungeon was deliberately preparing for the appearance of a massive monster—

After arriving at a vast and expansive hall, Noah confirmed the guess in his heart.

This was a hall shaped like a smooth rectangular parallelepiped, formed from coarse, jagged rocks.

But only the structure of the left wall was different—it was a pure white stone surface that looked as if it had been polished by a craftsman, covering the entire wall like a mirror.

In this environment, its beauty and neatness only served to instill a sense of intense unease.

The Wall of Sighs, the place that births the floor boss of the seventeenth floor, Goliath.

"Phew, let's call it a day then. We need to head back quickly, or there's no telling when we'll be able to return to the surface."

With a backpack even larger than it had been before they lightened the load, Riveria decided that today's exploration had finally come to an end and turned to walk away.

However, there were no footsteps following her.

"Hm? Noah? Ais?"

Puzzled, Riveria turned around, only to see Noah standing motionless, staring intently at the distant Wall of Sighs.

"Riveria, if I recall correctly, it's been over half a month since Goliath was last defeated, right?"

Upon seeing the trace of an excited smile on Noah's lips, an ominous premonition instantly surfaced in Riveria's heart.

"Hey! Noah!"

40 Floor Boss and the Blonde Elf

"Um, Riveria, could we—"

Turning his head, Noah hadn't even finished his sentence before Riveria cut him off with a triple-barreled barrage.

"No! Impossible! Don't even think about it!"

Riveria's willow-leaf brows arched high, and her emerald eyes erupted with a level of anger and severity far beyond anything she had shown before.

"You want to fight a floor boss on your very first Dungeon exploration?! There's a limit to how reckless you can be!!"

The Goliath that appeared on the seventeenth floor possessed strength equivalent to a Level 4—though that was the official assessment, given the monster's unique brute strength, massive size, and regenerative abilities, it remained a formidable foe that required multiple Level 4 adventurers working in tandem to defeat safely.