Dungeon, Ninth Floor.
In the complex labyrinth of passages, a young man cut a swathe through a monster-infested chamber.
Wielding twin swords, he continuously swung his weapons. With every swing, a monster's life was reaped.
Despite carrying a heavy backpack, his agility showed no sign of faltering, as if he bore no burden at all.
His footwork was nimble, moving left and right through the monster horde like a willow swaying in the wind, making him impossible to grasp.
With eyes and ears attuned to everything, he closely monitored all enemy movements. Even with overwhelming strength, he never showed any sign of underestimation.
With no blind spots in his vision, he effortlessly nullified enemy attacks — blocking or dodging as needed.
At this moment, he was a completely different person from ten days ago.
This figure was none other than the Loki Familia's new recruit, a traveler from another world — Shirou.
After eliminating the last monster and glancing at the magic stones scattered on the ground, Shirou's mood brightened: "Another day of rich harvest!"
As time passed, Shirou's basic stats had all reached over 600, and his Magic attribute had even surpassed 800.
This made facing former opponents exceptionally easy.
For the past ten days, he had been fighting on the Eighth and Ninth Floors, with no intention of entering the Tenth Floor yet. After all, from the Tenth Floor onwards, he would enter a mist-filled area.
The terrain there was much wider, but limited visibility made it somewhat dangerous for him.
Shirou was very clear about his own capabilities. Even though he had once cleared the Holy Grail War overnight, that was in the past.
Now, he was just an ordinary magus who had prematurely learned his Reality Marble.
He was surprisingly similar to the protagonist of the original story, Bell, at this point.
Leaving aside their growth rates, both were "pay-to-win" players wielding first-class weapons.
Whether Bell's Hestia Knife or Shirou's projected Kanshou and Bakuya, both were divine weapons far beyond what adventurers of their level should wield.
In terms of magic, without using a big move like Reality Marble, his Broken Phantasm was probably superior to Bell's Firebolt in destructive power.
Adding his experience from participating in a Holy Grail War, he realized, I'm the enhanced version of the protagonist.
Jokes aside, the previous Shirou was concerned about his combat power, so he had no intention of going to the Tenth Floor.
But now, he felt the time was ripe.
However, before that, he needed to go to the Hephaestus Familia to learn forging techniques.
Although the matter of learning forging techniques had been arranged by Loki, Shirou didn't immediately go because his "hardware" wasn't sufficient.
Joking aside, he was just an ordinary high school student before — lacking stamina for such heavy labor!
Without stamina and strength, learning forging techniques would only yield half the results for twice the effort.
But now, with all his attributes above C rank, he was fully qualified.
"That's enough for today. Tomorrow, I'll go to the Hephaestus Familia to learn forging techniques. Once I've learned forging, I'll sprint full throttle, constantly delving deeper until I level up."
Shirou already had a clear plan for his future direction and path.
Now, he just needed to follow the pre-planned route.
After some twists and turns, Shirou successfully returned to the surface. Although many of this world's settings resembled a game, the lack of teleportation devices and reliance solely on two legs for travel was a definite downside.
Not to mention he was carrying a load.
The reason he doubled as a supporter was merely for training. With his combat experience, it was difficult for monsters to hit him, so the increase in his Endurance was the slowest among all stats.
But with a load, even if the growth rate wasn't much faster, it was still better than no load.
As the saying goes, "Every little bit helps."
As for encountering danger? Once Reality Marble was activated, no danger was truly dangerous.
If it weren't for simple slaughter not improving his abilities much, Shirou would have already pushed to the middle floors.
Putting away the money bag he had just exchanged for Valis, Shirou stepped out of the Guild and took a deep breath of the cool air.
Indeed, the surface was better!
Looking at the vast world above ground, Shirou couldn't help but grumble, "The Dungeon environment is too oppressive. Although it's not as gloomy as I imagined, the cavernous terrain is just too narrow."
"People who live in caves long-term won't have good mental health. I should quickly enter the Tenth Floor. The terrain from there onwards will be much wider."
Carrying a bulging money bag, Shirou didn't immediately return to the Familia but headed to the shopping district for some purchases.
After ten days of hard work, Shirou now had a good amount of Valis. He was no longer the penniless person he once was.
With quite a bit of spare cash in hand, he also started furnishing his room.
"Perfect!"
After some arrangement, Shirou's room suddenly became much cozier.
Shirou was extremely satisfied with his decorated room — after all, he possessed Housekeeping Skills at EX rank!
Comfortably lying on his soft bed, Shirou couldn't help but think of his sister, Miyu.
"I really wish I could bring Miyu here too!"
Recalling the beautiful times of the past, Shirou soon fell into a drowsy sleep. That night, he slept very soundly.
---
"Is this the Hephaestus Familia's headquarters? It truly lives up to being Orario's most famous blacksmith Familia."
Looking at the building, no worse than the Loki Familia's Twilight Manor, Shirou cautiously walked inside and asked, "Is anyone here? I am Shirou of the Loki Familia. I believe there was a prior arrangement."
"Oh, so you're the Loki Familia member who wants to learn forging techniques?"
Hearing Shirou's call, a woman with black hair, red eyes, and an eyepatch over her left eye appeared before him.
"I am Tsubaki of the Hephaestus Familia. Lady Hephaestus has entrusted me with teaching you forging techniques!"
"I didn't expect Miss Tsubaki herself to teach me. I'm truly grateful!"
Shirou was well aware of the woman's identity. She was at the pinnacle of the Hephaestus Familia, Orario's greatest blacksmith — the captain of the Hephaestus Familia, Tsubaki.
Looking at Shirou's great respect, Tsubaki stepped forward, patted his shoulder, and smiled, "Don't be so formal. Our two Familias are good friends, you know. Speaking of which, it's been a long time since I've seen Finn and the others. How are they doing lately?"
Shirou awkwardly rubbed the back of his head and said, "I'm still just a newcomer. I haven't even met the captain and the others since I joined the Familia."
Indeed, Shirou had only joined the Loki Familia about half a month ago, and the main force was still on expedition.
Tsubaki regretfully slapped her forehead: "Look at my memory! I didn't realize that staying in the forge for too long made me forget even simple things like this. Finn and the others were here to procure supplies before they left, actually."
With that, she said heartily, "Come on, kid! I'll personally teach you forging techniques! This is the true teaching of Orario's number one blacksmith, so you better learn well!"
"Yes, Lady Tsubaki!"
Shirou quickly responded.
--------More Bonus Chapters!!!!
Every 300 power stones = 1 Bonus Chapter