The Incompetent "Husband"

Time flew by, and soon it was the next day.

In the pale light of dawn, Thor opened the door, ready to head out with Bell.

Outside, Ais and Lefiya were already fully equipped, standing quietly in the morning light as if they had been waiting for a long time.

When they saw Thor, the two girls bowed in unison. Their voices rang out, one clear and cool, the other bright and crisp: "Good morning, Lord Thor."

Thor raised an eyebrow, a helpless smile tugging at his lips. "Didn't we agree to meet at the Dungeon entrance? You two are way too early."

"I-I was a little excited about starting the formal training today...and worried I'd be late," Lefiya replied, looking embarrassed, her cheeks flushed.

Ais silently nodded beside her, her eyes filled with pure anticipation and not the slightest trace of fatigue.

"Not getting enough sleep is a serious mistake." Thor shook his head with a teasing smile. "You'll find out how tough things are going to be this week. Don't come crying to me later."

"We'll stick with it!" Lefiya clenched her little fist, her voice firm.

Ais said nothing, but the fighting spirit in her eyes was answer enough.

"Good attitude." Thor said no more and started walking. "Then let's head to the Dungeon."

The group made their way down the street toward Babel Tower.

Looking around at the group, Bell couldn't help asking curiously, "Lord Thor, what about Miss Syr? Is she coming to the Dungeon with us today?"

Thor shook his head regretfully. "Syr has work to take care of at the shop, so she can't come with us for now."

He added silently to himself:

For a god to enter the Dungeon openly, the Guild wouldn't just wave them through. It would take quite a bit of negotiation.

The scene shifted. They were now on the sixth floor of the Dungeon.

Although it was still an upper level and the monsters weren't particularly strong individually, the situation around them was perilous.

Goblin after Goblin, Zanyin, and even Hellhounds that had no business appearing on this floor poured from cracks in the surrounding rock walls like a flood. Their numbers were enough to make anyone's scalp crawl!

"There are so many... This is ridiculous!" Lefiya cried out again as she watched the monsters swarm toward them.

She instinctively raised her staff and hurriedly began chanting in Elvish: "O proud wa—Uwah!"

Her chant had barely begun when a nimble Goblin slipped through a gap in Bell and Ais's defense. It howled as it rushed toward her, swinging a bone club!

The threat of death bore down on her. Lefiya's pupils contracted, and her instincts urged her to break off the chant and dodge backward.

"Keep moving! Keep chanting!" Thor's stern shout rang in her ears.

His words seemed almost magical, instantly dispelling most of Lefiya's fear. She forced down the urge to stop chanting.

Gritting her teeth, she tried to maintain the spell structure she had formed in her mind while forcing her heavy legs to move and retreat.

But with her physical coordination suppressed to Level 1, she was nowhere near as nimble as usual. Her attention was also focused entirely on the magic. Her left foot caught on a protruding stone, and she fell hard to the ground with a thud, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

"Ugh!" The impact made her see stars.

Worse, the Goblin was already lunging at her with a sinister grin, its bone club raised high and aimed at her head!

At that moment, a sharp whistle cut through the air!

"Whoosh—!"

A beam of pure energy pierced the Goblin's head with pinpoint accuracy, instantly reducing it to ash.

A Magic Stone about the size of a thumb dropped without anything to support it and landed with a smack right on the bridge of Lefiya's nose as she lifted her head.

"Ah!" Lefiya cried out in pain. The spell structure she had only half completed collapsed at once from the sudden shock and sharp pain, bringing her chant to a complete stop.

Clutching her aching nose, her eyes instantly filled with tears of pain and frustration.

Thor appeared beside her in a flash and held out his hand. "Are you all right?" he asked, his voice steady and concerned.

Lefiya stared blankly at the hand in front of her, her heart full of self-reproach and frustration.

She took Thor's hand and used it to pull herself up. Without bothering to brush the dust off herself, she spoke through a thick nasal whine and a sob. "S-sorry, Mr. Thor...I...I failed again! I couldn't complete Parallel Chanting..."

Thor let go of her hand. He didn't blame her; instead, his tone was gentle and encouraging. "Don't be discouraged. No one is born knowing how to run. Parallel Chanting is an advanced skill. It takes time and practice."

He looked at the redness around her eyes and at the tip of her nose, then slowed his speech.

"Start with the basics. Forget the monsters behind you. Pretend they don't exist. Try chanting clearly while moving your legs and running. Keep your balance and your chant flowing. Remember, I'll be right beside you the whole time."

His calm, confident voice held a powerful, soothing quality.

Seeing that Thor's eyes held no disappointment, only encouragement, Lefiya felt much of her deep shame and dejection fade.

She sniffed hard, bent down to pick up her staff, and steeled her gaze once more.

"Yes!" she shouted, as if turning all her frustration into strength.

Thor gently patted her shoulder, silently conveying his trust. "Good. Then let's keep fighting."

Time passed quickly amid the tense battles and Thor's strict instruction.

Before long, it was noon.

"Let's take a break here." Thor found a safe place.

A brief calm settled over the group after the fierce battle.

Ais and Lefiya relaxed, their muscles finally loosening. They immediately found a relatively clean section of rock wall and sat down.

Their hunger came rushing back. Both quietly took out the provisions and water flasks they had prepared and began replenishing their strength without a thought for appearances.

The continuous, high-intensity fighting had taken a terrifying toll on their stamina, especially while they were suppressed to Level 1.

Ais nibbled at her bread, retaining a hint of cool elegance in her movements, though she was eating much faster than usual.

Lefiya, by contrast, was practically wolfing her food down, her cheeks stuffed full. She had completely lost her elven grace and felt utterly drained, as if she had barely survived a disaster.

Bell sat down nearby and was about to share his food. Just then—

"Hmm?"

A short, clear murmur escaped Thor's throat, breaking the brief sounds of eating.

It wasn't loud, but it instantly drew everyone's attention.

Ais, Lefiya, and Bell all stopped what they were doing and turned three questioning pairs of eyes toward Thor.

Thor's gaze was fixed on Ais—or, more precisely, it seemed to pass through her slender waist and settle on some unseen point deep in her abdomen.

The Stardust he had personally "planted" there.

At that moment, according to his special perception, that Stardust's growth rate...far exceeded his estimate.

A flicker of surprise crossed Thor's mind.

As he usually did, he tried to use the resonance between the Stardust fragments, focusing his thoughts in an attempt to recall the one that had completed its "harvesting" task.

But as soon as his mental reach extended toward it, he felt an astonishing sense of "heaviness."

That Stardust seemed anchored deep in Ais's life energy, not moving in the slightest.

"Looks like it's too heavy..."

It was like drawing water from a deep well.

The Stardust he had given Ais was like a bucket lowered into the well to draw water.

Normally, all he had to do to retrieve the bucket was pull it up with his thoughts.

But now the bucket in the well had filled with too much "water," making it incredibly heavy.

The "strength" he had at the moment wasn't enough to haul the overloaded Stardust up from the "bottom of the well"!

"What's wrong?" Ais's cool voice sounded. She had noticed Thor's gaze resting on her.

Thor came out of his brief assessment and met Ais's questioning gaze.

He shook his head lightly. "Nothing."

The growth had exceeded his expectations, but it was an interesting variable.

Thor considered the situation.

The fact that he couldn't retrieve this overloaded Stardust now didn't mean he never would.

Once the amount of Stardust stored inside him reached his target—say, a hundred fragments—the tremendous power would be more than enough to overcome this bit of "weight" and recover it intact.

This unexpected situation was still within his control.

"It's not a big problem," he added calmly.

Thor soon thought of the Stardust inside Syr's body last night. Its growth rate had also exceeded his expectations.

He finally understood why, in his second life, the wicked cultivators of the Hehuan Sect in web novels sought "cauldrons" to cultivate with.

The speed of leveling up really was incredible!

That evening.

Lefiya dragged her exhausted body back to the Familia.

All she wanted now was to hurry back to her room and throw herself into the bathtub.

"Lefi~ya~!"

A familiar voice came from behind, accompanied by hurried footsteps.

She didn't even need to turn around. Her body reacted before her mind, a "warning" instinct carved into her very being.

It was her goddess, Loki.

Just as she expected, a figure reeking of alcohol lunged at her with arms wide open!

The target was precise: her chest!

Some kind of combat response, forcibly roused within her exhausted body, kicked in.

Almost by reflex, she spun around and lowered her stance. Her heavy staff was no longer a burden; it was now the handiest blunt weapon she could ask for.

"Thud!"

A muffled impact sounded.

"Uwaah—! That hurts!!!"

The soft, warm embrace Loki had expected never came. Instead, she took a solid blow from the staff in midair, cried out, and crashed to the floor.

"Ow, ow! That really hurts, Lefiya-chan!" Loki clutched her head, her trademark Kansai accent tinged with tears.

Lefiya looked down at her goddess, sprawled on the floor without a shred of dignity. She was about to apologize when her sharp nose caught the strong smell of alcohol.

"Lady Loki," Lefiya said, her voice sinking, with a disappointment she hadn't even realized she felt. "Did you...drink again?!"

It sounded more like an accusation than a question.

"Ehehe~ Just a little! I was celebrating everyone's safe return from the expedition...hic!"

Celebrating their return from the expedition? That had happened two days ago!

Loki struggled to her feet, quickly switching back to her grinning, lecherous expression. She didn't care in the slightest about how she had just been knocked flying.

"Lefiya-chan~ Come on, you're back at just the right time. Have a drink with me! Pour me one! Let's sit down and have a heart-to-heart..."

Lefiya's expression darkened.

She immediately thought of the way Thor had treated Syr last night.

Then she remembered how patiently he had taught her in the Dungeon that day.

She suddenly felt an almost despairing gulf between them.

Lord Thor was humble, kind, great, and knowledgeable. He was even unfailingly courteous to others.

Then there was their own goddess, Loki: lecherous, fond of alcohol, and completely unreliable every day.

Lefiya hugged her staff tightly and blurted out what was on her mind.

"If I suddenly got an invitation...I...I really would hesitate!!!"

If Thor suddenly invited her to change Familias, she would have refused without a second thought before. Now, she really would hesitate!

And that wasn't even counting the powerful Ais.

If Lord Thor really invited her, wouldn't Miss Ais accept?

As soon as Loki heard that, she sobered up instantly.

She opened her eyes and asked in shock, like an incompetent "husband," "Huh? Who? What invitation?"

But Lefiya had already turned and walked away.

She didn't have time to help her goddess get her act together.

She had to bathe, of course, but she also had to pack her things right away and head to Thor's home for the evening training.