In DanMachi, Freya Set Her Sights on Me from the Start! Chapter 22

"Are you Miss Tsubaki?"

"You know me?"

"You're Orario's greatest master smith. How could your name be unfamiliar?"

"You really know how to talk~"

As a smith, she was naturally delighted to have her forging skills praised.

Especially since Cao Ye was quite the handsome young man himself, Tsubaki had a very favorable first impression of him. Especially after what had just happened—he had held on for so long.

Even an Lv.2 probably wouldn't have been able to endure a Monster Feast of that level.

An Accident? No, It Was a Scheme!

Tap—tap—

Two figures emerged from the Dungeon entrance one after the other.

Basking in the sunlight, Cao Ye took a deep breath, then let out a long sigh. This time, he had truly been dealt a solid wake-up call.

No matter what world one was in, if one wanted to live freely, one needed capital.

Before transmigrating, that capital had been money and power. In this world after transmigrating, it was strength. Only strength was the foundation for everything.

Ding—

At that moment, a pleasant sound rang out beside his ear. Cao Ye glanced over and saw that the mission had been completed.

[Special Mission: Dungeon's Malice!]

[Completion Requirement: Leave the Dungeon alive]

[Mission Reward: Diamonds x500, Time-Limited Card Pool unlocked]

He then opened the card-drawing interface. Cao Ye smiled. Although he had nearly died this time, his luck had been good. He had been rescued, and he had even gotten acquainted with Orario's greatest master smith.

[Name: Cao Ye]

[Current Card Pools: Fate Jujutsu Kaisen · Seven-Day Limited Time]

[Diamonds: 530]

The new card pool was something Cao Ye hadn't expected. He had originally been guessing which world it would be from—perhaps one of the three worlds of Death, Naruto, and One Piece, or some other world.

He had never considered that it would unlock a Jujutsu Kaisen card pool, which left Cao Ye somewhat surprised.

Still, it didn't really matter. The new card pool had a time limit, so he would put the Fate card pool aside for now. This time, Cao Ye would use all his draws on Jujutsu Kaisen.

"Mr. Cao Ye?"

At that moment, a familiar voice called out. Cao Ye subconsciously turned around.

Not far away stood the half-elf advisor in her Guild work uniform, holding several documents in her arms. She had evidently been passing by.

"Miss Aina~"

"Mr. Cao Ye, you're..."

The scars covering his body, his clothes dyed red with blood, and the missing section of his finger all showed that Cao Ye must have encountered something terrible in the Dungeon.

"Well, I ran into a little accident, so I ended up like this."

Cao Ye took it rather calmly. Though his injuries were serious, as long as he was given a little time, he could recover completely, including his severed finger.

But in Aina's eyes, it only meant that Cao Ye had been terribly unlucky and had nearly died in the Dungeon.

"Mr. Cao Ye, did you go 'adventuring'? Didn't I tell you already? Adventurers absolutely must not 'adventure.' Why won't you listen?"

"Miss Aina, this really wasn't me acting recklessly. My luck was just too bad. I ran into a Monster Feast. I never expected it either."

"Monster Feast—"

As a Guild employee and an adventurer advisor, she was naturally no stranger to Monster Feasts.

For Cao Ye, who had joined a Familia less than half a month ago, to encounter a Monster Feast in the Dungeon was beyond mere bad luck.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Cao Ye. I thought..."

"It's fine. Miss Aina was only looking out for me. But I won't chat with you any longer. These injuries are a little serious, so I'll head back first."

"Ah~, all right. Do you need me to help you back?"

"What are you talking about? I'm a grown man. Why would I need a girl like you to support me? No need. I'll be there once I take the elevator."

"All right, then. But please be careful."

"Got it~"

Waving to the advisor, Cao Ye headed toward the elevator inside the Guild.

The floor he walked across was marked by one bloody footprint after another. Though the bloodstains were faint, Aina covered her little mouth when she saw them.

He had suffered such serious injuries and lost so much blood, yet he had chatted with her as though nothing had happened. He had even joked with her. Meanwhile, she had actually scolded him just now. She had been far too harsh.

"Mr. Cao Ye~"

Watching Cao Ye's departing figure disappear, the half-elf girl felt a faint trace of guilt in her heart.

"Next time, I have to apologize."

Aina said this, then entered with the documents in her arms. However, from that day onward, her attention was no longer on her work.

In her heart was a blood-soaked figure that left her deeply worried.

Meanwhile, after entering the elevator, Cao Ye also let out a long breath. He knew the condition of his own body. Even with All the World's Evil repairing him, his injuries were already recovering.

But it would still take some time before he recovered completely.

Looking at his blood-soaked clothes, Cao Ye sighed softly. If Black Mud had not continuously repaired his damaged body and even replenished his blood, he would probably have died from excessive blood loss.

Ding—

Soon, the elevator reached its destination. Cao Ye stepped out and went straight back to his room.

The moment he entered, Cao Ye stripped off all his clothes and tossed them directly into the trash basket. Then he walked into the bathroom. He couldn't stand the bloody smell all over his body anymore.

Splash—splash—

He turned on the magic stone heater, which heated the cold water into warm water before it poured down.

"Hiss~~"

As the warm water soaked Cao Ye's wounds, a burning pain instantly surged through him.

Letting wounds come into contact with water carelessly could easily cause inflammation. Cao Ye naturally knew that, yet he still did it because he wanted himself to remember today's events forever.

As for inflammation, with his current recovery speed, even a severed hand could regrow in a single day. There was no need to worry about something like that.

Outside Cao Ye's room, a figure emerged from the shadows.

Knock~ knock~

The figure then walked straight to Freya's door and lightly knocked on it.

"Ottar?"

Freya's voice came from inside.

"It is I, Lady Freya~"

Ottar spoke from outside the door.

"Come in~"

Creak—

Only after receiving permission did Ottar push open the door and enter.

Inside the room, Freya was still seated upon her throne. Through the enormous floor-to-ceiling window before her, she overlooked all of Orario.

"You completed this task very well."

"Yes~"

There was no need for many words. To him, the goddess's will was the meaning of his existence. Thus, no matter what it was, he would carry it out without hesitation, even if it cost him his life.

"After going through this, that brat probably won't be able to remain so complacent. With such potential, letting it go to waste would be a terrible waste."

Cao Ye never would have imagined that the Monster Mobilization he encountered on the seventeenth floor had actually been arranged by Freya herself.

The Jujutsu Kaisen Card Pool, a Massive Haul!

Click—

After washing all the blood and grime from his body, Cao Ye walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist.

If anyone entered at that moment, they would see wounds of all sizes covering his body. Many of them had even split open, exposing pink tender flesh.

[Name: Cao Ye]

[Current Card Pools: Fate Jujutsu Kaisen · Seven-Day Limited Time]

[Diamonds: 530]

He had saved diamonds for three days, while the Jujutsu Kaisen card pool lasted for seven days. That meant that on the final day, he could still do another ten-pull.

If that was the case, Cao Ye planned to keep saving those thirty diamonds for now.

Someone had forgotten that today was already the first day of the seven-day time limit, and today's [Daily Mission] had already been completed. In other words, on the final day, he would have ninety diamonds, not one hundred.

"Hoo—"

Looking at the card-drawing interface, Cao Ye took a deep breath and calmed himself down.

He then tapped on the Jujutsu Kaisen card pool. The next second, a card-drawing interface that was basically no different from the Fate card pool appeared.

"Let's begin. Draw cards—"

This time, Cao Ye did not pray to gods or ancestors. He simply began.

As he selected the [Ten Draws] option for [100 Diamonds], Cao Ye's diamonds instantly dropped by one hundred. Then, a card pack emerged from thin air.

The familiar sequence, the familiar scene. The card pack was torn open, and card after card flew out.

[Shanghai-Style Cheongsam] [Beijing-Style Cheongsam] [Suzhou-Style Cheongsam] [Cantonese-Style Cheongsam]...

Unlike the various thigh-high stockings from the Fate card pool, the Jujutsu Kaisen card pool actually produced all kinds of cheongsams.

Moreover, every card featured a graceful and beautiful woman, her cheongsam perfectly displaying her charm.

[Cursed Technique · Puppet Manipulation]

He got something good on his very first ten-pull, and Cao Ye was somewhat excited.

Puppet Manipulation... This seemed to be the cursed technique of that Jujutsu High principal from Jujutsu Kaisen, the technique that could create Cursed Corpses.

Panda, one of the second-years, was a Cursed Corpse made by him, though Panda was an abruptly mutated Cursed Corpse.

Though he was a Cursed Corpse, he possessed self-awareness and could grow, developing from a young panda cub into the adult Panda seen when the story began.

Immediately afterward, after fusing with the cursed technique of Puppet Manipulation, an enormous amount of information appeared in Cao Ye's mind.

All knowledge related to cursed techniques flooded into his brain. Though he had only just acquired it, he understood it completely.

The only pity was that there was no information on how to create abruptly mutated Cursed Corpses.

It was probably like experiments in a laboratory. Most experimental results came from a coincidence, or even an accident.

Panda's birth was likely an irreproducible accident. Otherwise, Panda would not have been the only one.

Hadn't his older brother and sister both failed, later becoming part of Panda?

This was a great start, so Cao Ye intended to keep up the momentum. He still had four more ten-pulls.

Second ten-pull:

[Cheongsam] [Cheongsam] [Cheongsam]... [Grade 1 Sorcerer's Cursed Energy]

Third ten-pull:

[Cheongsam] [Cheongsam] [Cheongsam]...

Fourth ten-pull: