In DanMachi, Freya Had Her Eye on Me from the Start!

Twilight Manor, the Loki Familia's residence.

The other Familia known alongside the Freya Familia as one of Orario's "Twin Kings."

Together with Freya, they had once driven the declining Zeus Familia and Hera Familia out of Orario, thereby ascending to their current "thrones."

"What did you say? That woman Freya kept a man on the street?"

Loki's face was filled with shock. It really wasn't her fault—this was Freya, the Goddess of Beauty.

Forget humans; even gods would come in endless lines at the mere crook of her finger. As for the children of the lower world, a single glance from her was enough to capture them completely.

The Freya Familia was so powerful, and Freya's charm had undoubtedly played a major role in that.

In order to earn the goddess's favor, every one of them worked and persevered desperately, all so they could become stronger and gain the goddess's recognition and praise.

Did a goddess like that really need to keep a child of the lower world?

"It's true. It happened on the street, and quite a few people saw it with their own eyes."

Finn, the captain of the Loki Familia, spoke up, a trace of doubt flashing across his face.

As the captain of a Familia, he was naturally no fool. On the contrary, he was extremely intelligent. For a goddess like Freya, what man could she not have? Why would she need to keep one?

This man who had been "kept" was definitely no ordinary person.

"Could it be that woman 'saw' another promising talent, which is why she did this?"

Although the gods' divine power was sealed in the lower world, some of their godly abilities could still be used.

For example, even without divine power, Takemikazuchi's martial arts remained extraordinary, enough to defeat Level 3 adventurers.

Hephaestus could forge weapons that mortals could never create even if they spent their entire lives trying.

The divine wine brewed by Soma would turn anyone who drank it into its slave for life, unable to escape its hold, aside from a handful of exceptionally strong-willed people.

Freya, meanwhile, possessed eyes capable of seeing souls. The more dazzling and brilliant a soul was, the greater its potential naturally became.

Combined with Freya's charm, it was no wonder she had been able to build such a massive Freya Familia.

Now that Freya had brazenly kept a man on the street, it was only natural for Loki to make such an association.

"I heard Ottar directly knocked him out and forcibly took him away."

Finn added another detail, making Loki even more certain of her guess.

"Damn it, she found another promising one. And for her to make a move right there on the street, he's definitely not simple."

As an old friend who still frequently worked with her even now, Loki knew quite a few things about Freya.

She used all sorts of methods to take the children she fancied into her possession. Even those who had already joined other Familias were no exception. Loki herself had a hand in some of those cases, after all, because Freya's payments were generous.

One Person, Two [Character] Panels!

Psh—

A flash of cold light. Blood scattered, and a Goblin fell into a pool of blood.

There were pools of blood all around, clearly showing that a slaughter had just taken place here. The culprit was none other than Cao Ye.

Having obtained Falna and awakened a skill, he naturally could not sit still.

"My overall strength has improved by a huge margin. Not only that, my strength, speed, and reaction time have all increased considerably. So this is Super-Domain Enhancement?"

Cao Ye could not help sighing. In the past, he had struggled through the Dungeon just to barely improve his strength.

Now, merely obtaining Falna and awakening a skill had increased his power this much.

The dual strengthening of his soul and body, and Super-Domain-level strengthening at that, had brought Cao Ye an absurd improvement.

On top of that, with Negative Effect Immunity, he would not have to worry about poison or anything like that in the future. It was practically perfect.

What was more, Cao Ye had discovered something: Falna and his original power were like two separate panels. Both belonged to Cao Ye, yet they existed independently.

It was like a single account having two [Character] panels at once, and they even stacked together without affecting each other.

That was great news. This way, even if something happened to Freya one day and his Falna was sealed, he would not become weak.

The gods' Falna was powerful. It could develop humanity's potential and even give rise to miracles like skills.

However, its drawbacks were equally serious. Just as Devil Fruit users feared seawater, Falna was bestowed by gods. If something happened to the god, the power they had granted would be gone as well.

In this world, gods were eternal and indestructible, but they could still be sent back. Once they suffered a fatal injury, their divine power would be triggered, forcing them to return to the divine realm.

Of course, if another god bestowed Falna upon him afterward, his previous Falna could be unsealed.

But what if an enemy came looking for him during that time? Wouldn't he be finished?

Now, however, Cao Ye no longer had to worry about that. Even without Falna, he still possessed formidable strength. After all, he had the system, and his future was bright.

"Mmm."

Holding the Magic Stone he had just obtained, Cao Ye watched as the magic within it began to be absorbed into his body the next second.

The entire process gave Cao Ye a blissful experience akin to ascending to immortality.

A few seconds later, it was over. Cao Ye came back to his senses with a little dissatisfaction. The Magic Stone in his hand had turned into transparent crystal fragments, its magic completely depleted.

"Good thing Freya gave me that crystal card. Otherwise, this really would have been troublesome."

No matter where one was, money was essential. Magic Stones were extremely useful to Cao Ye, so naturally he could not exchange them for Valis. As for dropped materials, how much money could those possibly earn?

He had been living in the slums of the Third District because he was short on money. Even his meals had consisted only of rye bread, and Cao Ye still remembered that taste vividly.

Crack—crack—

Noisy sounds came from the ground around him. Cao Ye looked over and saw monsters being born.

Within the Dungeon, every monster was nurtured by the Dungeon, their mother. The damaged Dungeon would repair itself, and more monsters were especially likely to be born near injured or weakened adventurers.

All of this had made adventurers realize one thing: the Dungeon was very likely alive.

Moreover, the Dungeon hated humans and gods. Thus, every human who entered it would be attacked by monsters without end.

And if a god entered the Dungeon, once the Dungeon noticed, it would cause an outbreak and spawn black monsters to kill the god.

Cao Ye was currently on the Dungeon's sixth floor. The monsters that appeared here were no longer limited to Goblins and the like.

A creature entirely black like a shadow appeared before him. It had a round face, eyes like large light bulbs, an extremely slender body, and sharp claws at its wrists. It looked like an upright shadow.

A War Shadow, a monster that appeared in the upper floors of the Dungeon, known as a "newbie killer."

Its nimble speed made it impossible for many novice adventurers to keep up with it, and they could easily be caught off guard.

Its sharp claws could effortlessly slice through an adventurer's armor and directly threaten their life.

There was another reason as well. After becoming accustomed to fighting on the earlier floors and easily defeating Goblins and other monsters from the uppermost floors, most adventurers would develop an inflated sense of confidence.

Under such circumstances, encountering a War Shadow could easily turn them into another soul beneath its claws.

Bang—

The War Shadow suddenly attacked. Cao Ye was caught off guard and was directly slashed.

Bloodied marks appeared across his shoulder. Cao Ye glanced at them and assessed the wound. Its attack could hurt him, but the injury was not serious—well within what he could endure.

Even if he traded injury for injury, he could kill it. After all, he was no ordinary person.

Clang—

The second attack came. This time, Cao Ye did not let his guard down at all, thrusting his sword forward.

The sharp claws pierced Cao Ye's arm, but his sword also passed straight through the War Shadow's body. With a bang, the War Shadow vanished.

"Hiss, that hurts. I really don't know how to fight. My fighting style isn't much different from a street brawl. I'm just stronger and faster now, that's all."

He had never encountered such things before, so how could he possibly have any experience? Even after half a month of training, he had only improved his reaction speed and sense of danger. As for combat experience, that was something Cao Ye simply did not understand.

Just as Cao Ye cried out in pain, the injuries on his body healed at a visible rate.

Rapid regeneration. Even if his hands or feet were severed, as long as Cao Ye had enough magic, they could slowly recover. As for why he was so certain, it was because on his very first day, Cao Ye had lost a hand.

That was right. He had looked down on Goblins as "minor monsters," only to have one bite off his hand.

That day, Cao Ye had thought he would bleed to death. Yet he had been stunned to discover that fresh buds of flesh began growing from his severed wrist in less than half an hour.

By the next morning, his missing hand had completely regrown. It was downright horrifying.

That was what gave Cao Ye the confidence to fight so crazily by trading injury for injury. Otherwise, only an idiot would risk his life like that. It was practically asking to die.

Getting a Free Advisor!

At last, after becoming familiar with his current strength, Cao Ye left the Dungeon.

It was also his first time coming to the Guild, the true giant of Orario. In name, every Familia was under the Guild's jurisdiction.

After all, standing behind the Guild was the great god Ouranos, who had founded Orario with his own hands.

There were many adventurers in the Guild hall. The staff serving them were almost all beautiful young women—elves, dwarves, humans, and beastkin alike. Without exception, they were all young and attractive.

"Hello, what can I help you with?"

When Cao Ye arrived at the counter, he was received by a young elf girl with pointed ears.

She had short brown hair, emerald-green eyes, and glasses, giving her an intellectual beauty that made Cao Ye unable to resist looking at her a few more times.

However, when the elven beauty looked at Cao Ye, a flicker of discomfort passed through her eyes.

Elves were a race that revered nature and prided themselves on purity. They instinctively rejected "filth." Although she could not sense it directly, Cao Ye, who bore All the World's Evil, subconsciously left a worse impression on her.

"Hello. This is my first time at the Guild. I'd like to register, and also withdraw some money."

"Certainly. May I ask which Familia you belong to?"

"The Freya Familia!"

"The Freya Familia?"

Aina was slightly startled. After all, members of the Freya Familia were rarely seen in Orario.

Newcomers were even rarer. The Freya Familia's standards for accepting new members were undoubtedly the strictest in Orario. Every member had to receive the approval of the goddess Freya before being qualified to join.

"Is there a problem?"

"No. Please fill out this form."

As she spoke, Aina took out a form from the desk drawer.

In Orario, no one would dare impersonate a member of the Freya Familia. That was simply courting death. Besides, it was only a registration with no other significance, so there was no need to conceal or falsify anything.

Cao Ye accepted it and found that there was not much to fill in: name, age, level, affiliated Familia, and some other basic personal information.

As for why Cao Ye could read this world's writing, he did not know either. It was probably the system's help.

Back in college, he had not even passed the College English Test Band 4. Yet after arriving in this world, he had instantly learned an entirely new language and script. Even he found it unbelievable.

"All done."

Cao Ye quickly filled in the information and handed the form to Aina through the counter window.

Aina glanced over it, but when she saw the age field, she looked at Cao Ye again. Twenty-six. He clearly looked about eighteen, yet he was already twenty-six.

Cao Ye could only say that after transmigrating into this world, his body seemed to have been turned back by time.

The reason was still unknown, but Cao Ye had no intention of pretending to be younger. He was however old he was. He was not going to be like those webnovels where a man in his thirties or forties insisted on calling himself a seventeen-year-old boy.

After confirming everything was correct, Aina stamped the form with the Guild seal and put it away.

From that moment on, Cao Ye was an officially registered adventurer, affiliated with the Freya Familia.

"It's been processed, Mr. Cao Ye."

Although she did not understand why he had only left one name, Aina did not think too much about it.

She did not know that Cao Ye was his full name; it was simply different from the naming conventions of this world.

"Thank you for the trouble, Miss Advisor."

"You can just call me Aina."

Although her instinctive impression of him was not great, she did not dislike Cao Ye as a person. Besides, as a Guild advisor, she naturally had to maintain a proper attitude while working.

"All right, Miss Aina. I'd also like to withdraw one hundred thousand Valis."

As he spoke, he took out the crystal card Freya had given him and handed it through the counter window.