Insufficient PvP Experience

After heading to the Hermes Familia and confirming that he had accepted the quest,

Falan entered the Dungeon once again. Afterward, he could not help but marvel.

"This development ability, Darkness, is really a bit outrageous..."

It was a bit like watching the opening of the first Harry Potter film, where Dumbledore used the Deluminator to draw away the light.

Darkness had a similar effect. Once activated, all the lighting scattered throughout the Dungeon immediately went out.

It not only provided Falan with a massive boost in Night Form,

but also blocked the monsters' vision, allowing him to attack more effectively.

"It's just a pity I don't know how effective Darkness would be outside Orario."

In Orario's Dungeon, Darkness might well be a life-saving divine skill, but that only applied within the Dungeon.

After all, based on his current observations, Darkness's main ability was absorbing nearby light sources.

In an enclosed space like the Dungeon, its effect was naturally very potent.

It could also cause monsters to fall into confusion when their vision was obstructed, due to their instincts as living creatures.

But outside Orario's Dungeon, in that kind of open environment, with Darkness at its current level,

Falan truly did not believe it could achieve the same effect outside Orario.

At most, it could restrain someone for one or two seconds. Of course, even one or two seconds could be quite useful in battle.

"The 17th Floor... Was the newly revived Goliath farmed by some Familia again?"

Looking at the empty room, Falan could not help but laugh. When it came to Floor Bosses, Goliath had to be the most miserable one, right?!

As he arrived on the 18th Floor, he was greeted by the many adventurers of Rivira.

"Big Backpack, you finally came back."

"Yeah. Since I needed to take shelter, I accepted a quest from the Hermes Familia that requires me to leave Orario."

"A quest outside Orario? That really isn't simple."

The adventurers of Rivira could not help but sigh.

After all, while Orario had the largest number of adventurers and the highest average level,

compared with adventurers from Familias outside the city, Orario's adventurers were like flowers raised in a greenhouse.

In gaming terms, one was PvE and the other was PvP. Each had its own strengths.

But if the two sides ever fought, even if Orario's adventurers had higher levels, they might not necessarily win.

"Thanks for the reminder." As he chatted with the adventurers of Rivira,

Falan came to understand many things. For example, the former Evils Familia were mostly much more skilled at fighting people.

That was also why control of Orario had once fallen into the hands of the Evils.

"I really need to pay attention to this..." After bidding farewell to the adventurers of Rivira, Falan became especially vigilant.

After all, hadn't he wanted to become an adventurer in the first place because he did not want his life controlled by the strong?

Now that he was a Level 3 adventurer, he already possessed the strength to protect himself. Yet he had always been better at dealing with monsters and had paid far less attention to guarding against people. Even with surviving remnants of the Evils still in Orario, he could practically count himself lucky.

"I really am fortunate..."

Thinking it through carefully, Falan could not help but analyze everything he had done since becoming an adventurer...

It seemed that on his very first day, he had accidentally revealed Backpack, his spatial storage magic, and drawn the attention of all the Familias in Orario.

Not long after that, he had encountered the Freya Familia's expedition and directly leveled up to Level 2 after returning to the surface.

Then he had run into the adventurers of Rivira. They looked fierce and loved tricking people, but were actually a friendly and loyal bunch. After that, he encountered the Loki Familia's joint expedition. Even if the Evils Familia had wanted to make a move against him, they probably could not find an opportunity, right?

"Regarding this, I should go to the Adventurer Guild..."

After all, despite all the bug-like Life Magic on him, his absurdly powerful abilities in every aspect, stats comparable to a Level 4 despite being Level 3, and the powerful skill Child of the Dark Elf, combined with the dual development abilities Darkness and Mage,

his PvP experience was truly far too lacking. Before transmigrating, he had come from a peaceful world. After transmigrating, his abilities had kept him well protected. When it came to truly facing enemies who were also adventurers, Falan really had no confidence.

"Miss Eina, as my advisor, could you help me figure out how I should handle this?"

"Uh... this?" After listening to Falan's long explanation, the elf girl found herself in quite a difficult position.

After all, adventurers were usually wary of one another in the Dungeon, and conflicts were far from uncommon.

Someone like Falan, who had absolutely no experience fighting people, was truly a rare case.

"How about I come up with something for you? What do you think, little brother Falan?"

"Tell me first. I don't know whether it would suit me."

"All right." The elf girl stood up, then loudly addressed the Adventurer Guild.

"Everyone, please pay attention. This person here is Big Backpack Falan, the one you were all eyeing a while ago."

"He needs your help because he lacks experience fighting people."

"..." Falan immediately broke out in a cold sweat, feeling as if people were staring at him.

No, scratch "as if." He was being stared at.

He slowly turned around and saw countless adventurers staring at him with reddened eyes.

Terrifying... Falan silently thought. Sure enough, his experience dealing with enemies was still far too inadequate.

Fortunately, this was the Adventurer Guild, and there were quite a few people here he knew, barely enough to count as acquaintances.

After taking a beating all afternoon, Falan left the Adventurer Guild in pain, his entire body aching.

"I really don't know whether this counts as a gain or a loss..."

It was a gain because after this experience, if someone truly targeted him, he would not be caught off guard. He would not stand there stupidly and take a beating for nothing like he had at the start. But it was also a loss...

After all, he had now been beaten practically everywhere on his body. If this had not happened in the Adventurer Guild, where there were many acquaintances he had chatted with before, his injuries might not have been this minor. He might even have had to **lie in bed for several days.

"Hey! Brother Falan."

"???" After thinking for a moment... it turned out to be an old acquaintance from the Golden Ring. "Brother Luo En, hello. It's rare to see you."

"Hehe, isn't it because you haven't come back to the Golden Ring in so long? The manager and the rest of us have missed you."

"Well... Didn't I just return from the joint expedition with the Loki Familia?"

"Stop lying. You've been back for two or three days. Did you really think we wouldn't know?"

"Okay, my fault. Stop patting me there... There's a wound there—ah, it hurts!"

"..." I know, which is why I patted you there. Who told you to forget to come see us after returning from your expedition?

"There's a wound? Hiss... It really does look serious. The Golden Ring is only a few steps away. Come with me."

"..." Falan silently followed. His injuries really were rather serious now.

When they arrived at the Golden Ring, it was just preparing to open. The manager and senior Fafna, whom he had not seen in a long time, were both inside.

"Long time no see, senior Fafna."

"Mhm." The aloof senior Fafna was preparing the food for opening and did not have time to pay much attention to Falan.

No way... Is even senior Fafna sulking because I forgot to visit?

Seeing this, Falan helplessly shook his head. "Um, Brother Luo En, you should go help first. Senior Fafna seems upset because you went slacking off."

"Fine, fine. I'll go now. Go find the manager yourself and have him look at your wounds."

"..." Since he had already been brought here, Falan could only silently walk over to the manager, who was seriously working through the account books.

Sensing him approach, the manager looked up. "Falan? It's been some time."

"Yeah. Sorry I didn't come find you all immediately after returning from the expedition."

"It's fine. One or two days makes no difference. Luo En is just particularly fussy about it."

"Is that so... By the way, could you give me a place to treat my injuries?"

"What happened?"

"Uh... How should I put this?"

Falan quietly explained what he had heard in Rivira,

then how he had become afraid of encountering the Evils, gone to the Adventurer Guild to discuss it, and ended up getting beaten up.

Even the serious and steady manager could not help laughing.

Falan gave a helpless bitter smile. Naturally, he had no idea that the manager's reason for laughing was not what he thought it was.

After all, the surviving remnants of the Evils Familia that had supposedly targeted Falan had already been dealt with last time,

when Luo En and Fafna, who had secretly followed him, used Falan as bait and handled them in the shadows.

"Fafna, come over. You're better at healing."

"Do I really have to? Fine..." [Spring Breeze, gently blow across my fingertips. Wounds, be blown away! Fatigue, be blown away!]

"???" Falan was instantly dumbfounded. That was magic, right? Did that mean senior Fafna was also an adventurer?

Or should he add the word "former" to that?