The Journey Begins in DanMachi

Without waiting for Ryu to react, Noah suddenly accelerated, shooting straight toward the surface.

The speed forced Ryu to press herself tightly against Noah's back, unable to even lift her head.

Yet, what occupied her mind at this moment was not the anomalies occurring on the surface, but—

My confession!!

That confession, gathered only after exhausting the courage she might have needed for the next decade!

Even the gods probably couldn't say when she would be able to muster enough courage to confess again!

Regret and pain transformed into resentment, causing Ryu to look up toward the surface. Her bitterness seemed to pierce through hundreds of meters of rock, glaring at a certain figure.

No matter who interrupted my confession, I will make them pay the price!

They must all die!!

As soon as Noah reached the surface, he saw Chang—no, Ais—beating a White-Haired Demon to a pulp.

The scene of the battle was very similar to his first encounter with Valetta.

Seeing Ais sent flying by a sword strike and Oliwas tossing out several items that were clearly explosives, Noah's heart tightened.

Only after seeing Clear Breeze manifest as an invisible fortress to shield the girl did Noah finally breathe a sigh of relief.

He scanned the area and spotted Oliwas hiding in a corner at the edge of the plaza.

Originally, Noah had intended to let Oliwas discover him only when he turned around, just to maintain his own sense of style.

But after watching this guy ramble on with his curses for so long, Noah lost his patience. He walked up and draped an arm over his shoulder, as if chatting with a good buddy.

"I don't think we need to wait for later. We can do this right now."

When Oliwas turned his head and saw Noah, he instantly experienced the feeling of a heart—no, a pulse—stopping.

"You, you?! You aren't dead? And Valetta?"

"Valetta? She, of course, turned into dear Valetta-char, and went on ahead to scout the path below for you!"

Grasping the meaning behind Noah's laughter, the complexion of Oliwas, already terrifyingly pale, turned even more ghastly.

"No! Impossible! Valetta is a lv5!"

Watching the collapsing Oliwas, Noah thought of the unrecognizable remains of Valetta and couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy.

What a beautiful display of camaraderie; seeing a teammate die, he was nearly falling apart.

As it turns out, even beasts have feelings.

Or perhaps, they were once childhood sweethearts who had promised to get married in their hometown after destroying Orario?

After much wild speculation, Noah found he couldn't bear to watch such a tragic drama.

So, he decided to send Oliwas to reunite with Valetta.

After drawing his sword, Noah saw Oliwas, having reached the peak of his grief, suddenly reveal a twisted smile that looked worse than crying. He felt a sense of comfort.

Look at that, the man is weeping with joy.

Sigh, I really am such a good person.

Accompanied by a Thunderclap and screams that echoed across most of Orario, the Dark Faction's assault on the city came to an end.

The result of this operation by the Dark Faction could not be called a total victory; in fact, it was a complete wipeout, with every investment lost.

The diversionary tactics on the outskirts of the plaza to lure away the main force of adventurers were one thing—no results, but no major losses either.

However, the two elite waves targeting the plaza festival and the Dungeon ambush were completely annihilated, and their executives were all lost.

When the news that a newcomer from the Loki Familia had slain the 'Killing Emperor' Valetta and the 'White-Haired Demon' Oliwas was confirmed by the gods and the Guild, it caused another massive uproar.

But once Noah's name appeared in the reports, most people felt relieved—Oh, it's him, then it's fine.

Thwarting the Dark Faction's attack was naturally a joyous event, and many adventurers spent the night drinking in taverns to celebrate, but for the city's upper echelons, there was no time for rest.

With even their commander, the Killing Emperor, dead, it was predictable that the Dark Faction would have to cease operations and go into hiding for a long time, allowing various long-stalled activities to resume rapidly.

The Loki Familia was no exception; the expedition was not canceled, but instead commenced the very next day.

The expedition lasted for half a month. With Noah acting as the vanguard, the Loki Familia's pace of advancement surpassed all previous records, with the main force reaching the 37th floor in just four days.

However, while passing through the 37th floor, the Loki Familia encountered a strike from the Dungeon.

First to appear were the Obsidian Soldier units.

Although these monsters were relatively weak in combat power, they possessed strong anti-magic properties, which greatly diminished the effectiveness of the Elven division's magical bombardment.

Coupled with their massive numbers, Noah was forced to leave the front lines to launch a counter-assault.

The Dungeon seemed to be waiting for this exact moment, deploying its trump card—a dragon-type creature with dark green skin, covered in spikes, and shaped like a lizard.

The three Peluda not only fired a rain of poisonous needles that shattered the Familia's formation in an instant, but also incinerated a large amount of supplies in one go.

If not for Noah's timely reinforcement, the Familia likely would have suffered casualties.

Even so, the Loki Familia, having lost a significant portion of their logistical supplies, was forced to halt their advance, harvest the 37th floor, and return to the surface.

If it weren't for the suspected activation of Noah Cipher's 'Luck', which allowed the Loki Familia to obtain three times the usual amount of drops, it would have been almost certain.

On the night they returned from the expedition, Noah finished his bath and headed to the Divine Chamber of Loki.

Two minutes later—

"Noah has leveled up!!"

Loki's screeching shout echoed throughout Twilight Manor, bringing a chaotic, storm-like clamor to every corner of the mansion.

Noah Cipher Lv1 Strength: SS1320 → SSS1999 Endurance: SS1241 → SSS1999 Dexterity: SS1354 → SSS1999 Agility: SSS1496 → SSS1999 Magic: SSS1551 → SSS1999

"Hmm, it seems you've hit the limit, and your achievements are sufficient. Shall we level up? Shall we?!"

Feeling that the one behind him wasn't a goddess, but a monkey jumping around on a red-hot iron pan, Noah couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Let's level up."

After this expedition, Noah also felt that he had basically reached the limit of his abilities; breaking through the next limit would likely be incredibly difficult.

To level up after only one month of joining the Familia and only half a month of entering the Dungeon—this was undoubtedly the fastest progression in the history of the Lower World!

Loki stared at the stats, all of which were off the charts and had reached double the limit of normal abilities, save for Endurance; she found it hard to even breathe.

This was the capital that would allow her to act as she pleased and enjoy life to the fullest in Orario from now on!

Not to mention, there was also Ais waiting to level up outside!

Double the joy!

With trembling hands, she reached out and slid her fingers over the 'Ability' stats, which were glowing and rippling with continuous waves.

As the divine blood merged, the stats on the Divine Grace rotated like a counter.

After the level, a [2] rose from below, replacing the [1], symbolizing that Noah had officially promoted to a high-ranking adventurer.

At the same time, Loki nervously browsed through the massive amount of text that emerged after the Grace update.

"Hiss!! Abnormal Resistance, Mage, Mystery, Hunter, Magic Breaker, Light Annihilation, Luck, Dark Radiance—there are actually eight new Development Abilities! And four of them I've never even seen before! Which one are you going to choose?"

"...Mystery, I suppose."

This answer caught Loki off guard. "Really? I thought you would choose a unique Development Ability?"

"Is there a problem?"

"From the Familia's perspective, there's certainly no problem. In fact, I'd welcome it. Once you make some fun things to sell, we won't have to live on scraps anymore. After all, we have to tighten our belts every time we return from an expedition, wuu wuu—"

As if the Loki Familia could ever be poor enough to suffer.

A trash goddess who knows the Familia is broke yet buys expensive divine liquor every single day!

However, Loki wasn't wrong about one thing: Noah's choice of Mystery was indeed related to that reason.

This expedition made Noah feel more deeply where the difficulty of Dungeon exploration lay—it was supplies.

Just the journey from the first floor to the thirty-seventh floor would take at least two days, even if Noah ran at full speed without stopping.

Even if the sea of monsters posed no threat to him, the consumption caused by dealing with them was inevitable.

Unless Noah reached a point where he didn't need to eat, drink, or sleep, he had to carry supplies to restore his body.

The deeper the target floor, the more supplies needed to be carried.

The more supplies, the larger the team required to transport them.

The larger the team, the faster the consumption.

The faster the consumption, the shallower the floor they could reach, creating a vicious cycle.

Throughout the expedition, low-level members could still fight in the middle and lower floors, but once they entered the deep levels, their existence seemed to be nothing more than carrying supplies for the others.

Riveria had told Noah that during expeditions, it was common for the combat-ready members to still have energy, but they were forced to retreat early because supplies were exhausted or low-level members were injured.

There was only one way to solve this situation: they had to be strong enough to clear the upper-level monsters faster, allowing more supplies to reach the deep levels in good condition to support their continued exploration.

However, Noah wanted to try another possibility: developing items that would allow supporters to carry more supplies.

"Since you're willing, then I won't hold back. Hehehe, Feifei-chan, give up your title as the richest Familia in the city—"

After selecting the Development Ability, Loki saw that the Grace interface for triggering Development Abilities hadn't changed, and her expression stiffened as a guess formed in her mind.

"Noah-chan... it seems you can choose another one!"

"Hmm, is that so? Then let's just pick 'Mage'. If I can create grimoires, I'll reward you with two later so you can drink to your heart's content."

Hearing Noah's calm voice, Loki narrowed her eyes, revealing a trace of twisted killing intent, her teeth grinding together with a creaking sound.

What the hell!

Is having a rare skill that lets you choose two development abilities at once really that impressive?

And what do you mean by "reward"?

You brat, show some respect, will you?

As a dignified deity, do you really think I would lower myself for two Mage books and a mere few hundred million Valis--

"Then I'll thank you kindly! My dearest Noah-tan!"

A god can't just throw away money for the sake of dignity, right?

That's hundreds of millions of Valis! If I scrimp and save, that's enough to buy divine wine for years!

However, just as Loki thought it was over, a glance caught something new.

"Hiss, another new skill appeared!"

Noah Cipher

Lv.2