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From the fifth floor onward, the monsters finally start to become a real threat to adventurers.
These monsters all share one thing in common — they're highly specialized in one particular ability or trait.
Take the Frog Shooter for example: it's not that strong in terms of offense or defense, but it has lightning-fast attack speed, making it perfect for training your Agility.
Or the Shadow Warrior, the strongest creature on the sixth floor — its attacks hit like a truck, ideal for toughening up your Endurance.
Then there's the Needle Rabbit, small and unbelievably fast — you've got to boost your Dexterity if you even hope to land a hit.
Killer Ants? Their shells are like armor, and they hit hard. Even worse, they can release pheromones that summon swarms of their buddies. Fighting them helps train your Strength and practically every other stat.
And the Purple Moth? It sprays poisonous powder everywhere. Getting poisoned multiple times in the dungeon is a death sentence. The best counter is magic, which helps level up your Magic Power.
So, if someone can solo their way down to the seventh floor easily, it basically means their skill and combat tactics are top-tier for their level, and their attributes are ready for an upgrade.
But outside of solo freaks or battle maniacs, hardly anyone does that as a newbie...
Most people stick to the safer, team-based approach.
The kind of lunatics who go solo like that? Most of them belong to Freya's familia.
That's exactly why everyone's so shocked by how fast and well-rounded Dan is growing.
He's like a sponge — absorbing all their teachings in no time.
"Too bad though…" said Celty, the elven mage of the party, walking up slowly with a hint of regret in her tone. "Without receiving a Falna (blessing), Dan probably won't be able to learn magic. Otherwise, he could start training techniques like Parallel Chanting right now…"
She couldn't help but daydream a little."If Dan could copy magic too, that'd be even more amazing…"
Asta scoffed and shot the elf a glare.
"There's no such thing as perfect, y'know? Magic is, at its core, a spiritual power drawn from the purest part of your soul through the Falna. It's not something that can be shared."
"To use someone else's magic would mean you and that person have completely synced hearts or souls or something! That's just not possible!"
Not far away, Dan caught that line and glanced at Ryuu. She tilted her head in confusion, wondering if her clothes were out of place or something, and quickly adjusted her collar. When she saw nothing was wrong, she blushed and shot Dan a glare.
Dan sighed to himself.
No, actually… you're looking at someone who can do something like that.
Asta's logic wasn't wrong for normal people. But this world had its share of broken cheats.
In one possible future, Asteria's Memoirs — a magic that inherited all the spells of her fallen familia members — might've had a thin thread of logic behind it. But the Thousand Elf, who hadn't even appeared yet, was just straight-up unfair.
Wait a sec…
A sudden thought hit Dan, and his eyes narrowed.
If Lefiya could use a special magic to access other elven spells, then that meant different magics weren't fundamentally incompatible with each other.
And Ryuu had inherited not just her familia's will, but even managed to use magic from other races — meaning race-based limits weren't absolute either.
Then… if his Sharingan could already see the flow of magic power, and if he could just get the incantation down…
Dan's breathing grew heavier, and his eyes gleamed with excitement.
"Even though Dan can't get magic through a blessing, we can still try giving him a Grimoire, right?"
"Oh yeah! Grimoires force magic to manifest. Not sure if they work on someone without a Falna though."
"They're probably expensive as hell. We'll need to earn a ton of money — gogogo!"
"Hahaha! If Dan masters all our combat techniques and then picks up magic on top of that, he might even challenge that dummy Alise for top spot!"
"Well… maybe it's wrong to say this, but I would kinda love to see Alise break down crying..."
At some point, the conversation had shifted to:"Let's make money to buy Dan a Grimoire."
Dan stayed quiet for a moment, then looked up to meet Lyra's eyes — she was watching him with her arms crossed. He smiled helplessly.
"You guys… are really something else. I feel like I owe you all more and more every day."
Lyra shrugged, her eyes softening.
"We keep calling Alise an idiot… but honestly, we're all idiots too, drawn in by her."
She stood on tiptoe and gave Dan's shoulder a gentle pat.
"So stop worrying about it. Just accept everyone's kindness with a clear conscience."
Dan took a deep breath and nodded.
He didn't dream of becoming a hero of justice or bringing happiness to the whole world.But at the very least, he did want to protect the smiles of the girls right in front of him.
One by one, the names of dark familia started flashing through his mind. His eyes narrowed with a cold gleam.
It's not enough. I'm still not strong enough to drag those twisted gods and lunatics straight to hell.
But if my theory's right…
"..."