Boredom and the World's End Mission

[Name]: Falan

[Level]: lv.3

[Ability Values]

Strength: i0

Endurance: i0

Dexterity: i0

Agility: i0

Magic: i0

[Development Ability]: Mage e, Darkness i (new) (Darkness attribute bonus; can briefly plunge an area into "night")

[Magic]: Life Magic

[Skills]: Child of the Dark Elf [See Chapter 25 for details] (Darkness: *1.1)

Witness of History [See Chapter 25 for details]

One-Man Caravan [See Chapter 30 for details]

"I finally reached lv.3. That sure wasn't easy..."

"I didn't choose Darkness last time, but it was still there this time, so I picked it. This ability actually feels pretty good."

The Child of the Dark Elf talent always needed nighttime. With the Darkness Development Ability and Mage, Falan's short-term explosive power had become even stronger, making him grumble about why he had not leveled up sooner.

In truth, Falan could have leveled up even before this joint expedition.

Just as Soma had suggested last time, Falan had chosen to raise his ability values a little more before leveling up.

In fact, the three little ones in his Familia had also improved their ability values quite nicely after returning from this expedition.

If Falan remembered correctly, Al was practically "Falan the Second." His average stats across all attributes were SS, with Strength standing out at SSS. His Magic was somewhat lower at only S. But these ability values had thoroughly stirred up Orario.

After all, one Familia producing two adventurers in succession with average ability values reaching SS clearly showed that their training methods were exceptional.

Quite a few Familias had started making plans, wondering whether they could get their own members into the expedition forces.

Of course, Falan merely smiled when he heard that. Without talent, what difference would joining an expedition force make?

It was said that every past joint expedition by the Loki Familia had included dozens or even over a hundred lv.1 supporters.

Yet not a single one had achieved average ability values of SS across all attributes. In fact, among the three little ones of the Soma Familia, only Al had managed it.

Yunika's level-up stats had only Magic standing out at SS, while all her other attributes were A. Liliruca was even worse, with A in every attribute. Of course, it had to be said that those values were still quite high among Orario's lv.1 adventurers on the verge of leveling up.

"I just don't know whether they'll choose to level up." Falan thought for a moment, then shook his head.

Given Soma's personality, He would definitely ask the three little ones to join another expedition before leveling up, right?

After all, Soma had suggested the same thing to him last time. In truth, there was nothing wrong with that approach. Most adventurers in Orario found it increasingly difficult to level up as they advanced, so it was best to maintain a certain level of ability values before each level-up.

This did not merely deepen an adventurer's foundation. Later on, adventurers of the same level would no longer be their match.

As for whether the people and gods of Orario knew this? In fact, everyone did.

It was just like when Falan had been eager to level up last time. Lv.1 was too weak. To gain a foothold in this world, he had to become strong enough himself.

So even if many people had sufficient talent, they would not choose to remain stuck at lv.1 for too long.

"Actually, I hope they all choose to reach lv.2 first..."

"Forget it. Why am I thinking so much?" Falan muttered to himself as he left the Soma Familia residence.

The joint expedition was already over, so his job as the nominal leader had become much easier. He planned to stroll around the streets.

After all, he had received so much money from this expedition. He needed to reward himself properly.

As he wandered the streets, buying whatever caught his eye, Falan eventually looked into his Backpack and found that it had been stuffed with over a hundred slots' worth of miscellaneous items. Feeling both happy and helpless, he found somewhere to sit.

"This is really kind of boring..." Ever since arriving in this world, his circumstances had constantly changed.

But this world clearly had its own patterns, and Falan suddenly felt bored.

Would he spend the rest of his life killing monsters in the Dungeon every day, then helping transport supplies to the 18th Floor, until he died?

"But that's normal, isn't it... No matter what world you go to, sooner or later, you have to become a wage slave..."

Having already entered the workforce in his previous life, Falan was quite mature inside. He understood that this was inevitable. After all, like in novels, where all sorts of strange incidents happened every day to make life colorful—that was what was abnormal, right?

After casually finishing his shopping, Falan arrived at the Adventurer Guild.

Even from outside, he could tell that it was extremely lively inside.

This made Falan walk in on his own and look around curiously.

"What happened? Why is it so lively?"

At some point, an elven receptionist had come up beside him.

"Isn't it because the Loki Familia's joint expedition brought back far too many resources this time? Every major Familia is fighting over them. In a sense, this is because of you. As one of the people involved, don't you know?"

"Cough, cough... Miss Advisor, I do know..." After all, I got such a huge sum of money.

"It's just different from usual, so I'm not used to it."

"This is a rare occurrence, so you don't need to pay it too much mind. Did you come to see me for something today?"

"Cough, cough. Miss Eina, I wanted to ask whether the Adventurer Guild has any missions outside Orario?"

"Missions outside Orario? Why are you asking?"

"..." Falan thought for a moment. He could not exactly say that he did not want to keep working as a porter, so he casually came up with an excuse.

"First, let me tell you this. I reached lv.3 after coming back this time. I leveled up a little too quickly, and I feel like I might be targeted."

"..." After a brief silence, the elven woman spoke. "So?"

"Why does it feel like you aren't surprised at all, Miss Eina?"

"You spent the past two months running back and forth between the 1st Floor and the 18th Floor, joined an expedition army, and organized your Familia's adventurers to defeat Goliath together. It would be stranger if such a 'great feat' didn't let you level up. Tell me the truth."

"Fine. Look, everyone is fighting over these resources right now. If the people who fail to get any decide to focus their attention on me, that'll put me in a difficult position. I probably won't even be able to stay in the Dungeon peacefully, so I want to find somewhere to lie low."

"I see." After hearing Falan's words, the elven woman showed that she understood.

Falan's title, "Big Backpack," was not exaggerated in the slightest. This expedition had seen him store vast quantities of precious resources found only in the deepest parts of the Dungeon, making Falan a hot commodity once again. At a time like this, it was not strange at all for him to want to run away for his own safety.

"Let me take a look..." As she began flipping through the records, Eina finally found the section on missions outside Orario.

"Little brother Falan, I remember that you seem to have a pretty good relationship with Lord Hermes?"

"It is pretty good." After all, as a god of "commerce," Hermes had gained substantial commercial benefits from all the goods Falan brought to the Dungeon's 18th Floor. As a beneficiary, Hermes naturally had a good relationship with him.

In fact, after meeting Hermes in this world, Falan discovered that he was rather different from the Hermes he had imagined. If he had to describe him, the man was incredibly unreliable. Falan had seen him lead members of the Hermes Familia to peep into the women's bathhouse several times.

He was rather like Jiraiya—usually dependable, but also lecherous enough that people found it hard to trust him.

"Then I recommend that you take a look at this mission."

[Issuer: Hermes

Mission Details: Head to World's End and support the exploration of ancient ruins.]

"Ancient ruins?"

"To explain that, we need to go back more than a thousand years."

"I think I know a little about that. Argonaut, the 'First Hero' known as the 'Fool'?"

At the same time, Falan wanted to point out that Argonaut also meant the ship of heroes. According to this world's setting, he had been the First Hero, the one who inspired others to resist in that era.

"Uh, yes. The Tale of the Argonaut tells of how, in that era before the gods descended, an anomaly occurred at World's End, and vast numbers of monsters emerged from there. Other than the few 'heroes' capable of breaking through their limits, few people could resist the monsters."

"The ancient ruins involved in this mission are said to be connected to that era. After the heroes defeated the monsters, the fairies sealed World's End, bringing the monsters in this world under control. That was how Orario's Dungeon came to be."

"I see..." It was similar to a rule of the world. Since monsters could no longer be born from World's End—like a biological instinct—the Dungeon naturally emerged as a new monster spawning point after World's End had been sealed off.

"So what about this mission?"

"It is said that now, over a thousand years later, the altar in those ancient ruins has undergone a mutation. At Lord Uranus's request, Hermes was ultimately tasked with gathering intelligence and is currently searching for a suitable Familia to carry out the mission."

"..." What a pain. There were at least several hundred Familias in Orario, right? Yet they still could not find anyone?

Seeing what Falan was thinking, Eina spoke somewhat helplessly. "After all, not every Familia is so responsible."

"In fact, most of the responsible Familias were destroyed while fighting the Evils."

"..." All he could say was that this world was truly troublesome. Being too responsible was no good, but being too irresponsible led to situations like this, where the Adventurer Guild had issued a mission but no Familia would accept it.

"I'll take the mission, but surely you aren't sending just one lv.3 adventurer to World's End?"

"Hehe..." Eina could not help showing an awkward expression. "You're right. But no Familia is willing to accept it. In any case, you're leaving Orario to avoid trouble, so if you have no other objections, go speak with Lord Hermes first."

"..." Falan silently accepted the commission form Eina handed him, signed it, and turned to leave.

After all, as Eina had said, leaving Orario was his main goal right now.

In that case, regardless of whether he would carry out the mission alone, going to find the Hermes Familia first could not be wrong.