Isagi had four Development Abilities to choose from: [Hunter], [Chain Attack], [Spirit Healing], and [Misfortune].
To him, these belonged to the category of so-called "Passive Skills." They could only be obtained when leveling up and could be upgraded by continuing to perform the corresponding "actions"—for example, [Blacksmith] involved crafting weapons and equipment, [Mixing] involved creating various potions, [Pugilist] involved striking people with fists, and so on.
At the same time, significantly rarer abilities could also appear.
For instance, [Mystery], whose specific effects remained unknown and could only be broadly described as "capable of creating miracles that even the gods cannot comprehend";
[Tyrant Strike], which could reinforce the power of so-called "Ultimate Arts," drastically increasing their attack power and destructiveness;
And [Luck], which, seemingly guided by the unseen, allowed one to escape danger, find treasures, obtain more material drops, and even survive desperate situations.
Therefore, the bonuses [Development Abilities] provided to an adventurer were quite substantial, but the prerequisite was that they had to match one's fighting style.
Isagi had actually rolled two Development Abilities that could be considered rare, yet they left him a bit speechless.
One was [Spirit Healing]. Its effect was the continuous, slow recovery of Mind. It was considered essential for adventurers who used magic, like Mages and Magic Swordsmen. Since Isagi frequently used Battle Arts—and Battle Arts were abilities read by his magic, [Total Mastery], which indeed consumed "blue" every time he used them—he qualified for this Development Ability.
The other, [Misfortune], was even harder to evaluate.
Goddess Astrea didn't know this Development Ability. Even Goddess Demeter, who had considerable seniority and was among the first batch of gods to descend to the mortal world, had never seen this ability. There weren't even records of it in the Guild!
This left Isagi unsure of what to say for a moment. If he chose it, would the Dungeon's hatred towards him deepen further?
Was it just giving him an option to increase the difficulty?
Bro, no. I just started grinding a new account, my build isn't even finished yet. Don't mess with me!
The remaining [Hunter] and [Chain Attack] were both very common and practical.
[Hunter] was obtained by killing a large number of monsters of the same species. It was considered one of the most standard Development Abilities for adventurers. Simply put, the more Goblins you killed, the more your overall attributes would increase when fighting Goblins.
It was a very popular Development Ability, especially beneficial for adventurers who spent years "farming monsters" on a specific floor, yielding huge returns.
People who constantly headed to deeper floors, challenging themselves and exploring their limits, were always the minority.
For the majority of adventurers, this was just a job with high income efficiency and freedom. Many fellows entrenched themselves in the Middle Floors, farming monsters and gathering materials year-round, earning far more than the wages of ordinary work.
[Chain Attack], on the other hand, was simpler: it increased the damage and destructive power when continuously attacking the same target.
It was a favorite among adventurers with a high-speed fighting style.
While eating roasted potatoes with Anya, Isagi thought carefully and first ruled out the wrong answer, [Spirit Healing]. A Mage like Lefiya would certainly need it, but he didn't feel his Mind was insufficient at the moment, nor did he need to use it to save money on potions. If he felt it wasn't enough later, he could just pick it up next time he leveled up.
As long as he maintained his current fighting style, this Development Ability would definitely appear again later.
[Misfortune] was also ruled out. Although this thing was so rare it looked like it was custom-made for him, a transmigrator, there was no need to increase the intensity for himself right now. As the saying went, he could choose it later if needed.
So, between [Hunter] and [Chain Attack].
Isagi felt [Chain Attack] was better because he needed to continuously explore the depths of the Dungeon and wouldn't spend massive amounts of time farming monsters on the same floor. Besides, who knew if those Special Monsters and normal monsters counted as "one species"?
For example, did the Boss behind the Fog Gate on the 3rd Floor count as a "Dungeon Lizard," an "Orc," a "Minotaur," or a "Kobold"?
For him right now, the difficulty lay in first encounters with monsters and Bosses.
Enemies whose moves and characteristics were already known posed less of a threat, so [Hunter] actually wouldn't be much help.
Calculating by elimination like this, naturally, only [Chain Attack] remained.
Moreover, the [Glimmer Echo] magic he had obtained should also count as a "continuous attack," right? What was this called? This was called an extra "independent damage multiplier"!
Isagi understood this.
If you wanted explosive damage, the most important thing was learning how to stack multipliers.
And clearly, [Chain Attack] provided a considerable boost to his current strongest killing move...
...
After deciding on his Development Ability.
His training with Anya also concluded. The cat-girl ran back to the city on her own, while Isagi sat in the back of the carriage Cecil and Lefiya had brought to pick him up, slowly preparing to go home facing the spring evening glow.
Swaths of orange light sprinkled onto the inner parts of the bustling city.
The girls sat in the front, talking and laughing. It seemed to be about the Loki Familia's recent plans to start an expedition.
It was said that their target was to subjugate the Monster Rex of the 49th Floor in the Deep Floors, [Balor].
People like Cecil and Lefiya only knew the name of this Floor Boss and nothing else—although the Guild provided every adventurer with Dungeon data, it was limited to the Upper, Middle, and Lower Floors.
As for the Deep Floors beyond the 37th Floor, only "Exploration Familias" like the Loki Familia could obtain Deep Floor intelligence, and only upon completing Guild requests (such as mandatory expeditions) and transactions.
This was likely a method of mutual checks and balances.
The Guild established by the Great God Ouranos did not have adventurers, nor did any of its employees receive divine Falna.
Therefore, to maintain its prestige as well as the order and normal operation of the city, aside from cooperating with benevolent gods like Ganesha, various types of information and intelligence, along with logistical support and coordination, were the bargaining chips the Guild used for negotiation.
"Incidentally, they should also be subjugating the Monster Rex of the 37th Floor, [Udaeus]."
"Oh, is that so?"
"They say it's because Miss Ais is about to level up to Level 5. This expedition is probably to accumulate [Great Deeds]."
"That's amazing. No wonder the Loki Familia asked for so much food recently."
The two girls were chatting about this topic.
This was because these past few days, Cecil and Lefiya had been delivering a lot of vegetables, fruits, and meat to the Loki Familia's encampment, the Twilight Manor, every day.
Of course.
Most of Lefiya's news actually came from the School District.
Currently, the School District had not yet left the port city of Melen. The Elf girl would occasionally meet classmates in Orario, and being quite popular, she naturally obtained a large amount of "intelligence" from them!
Boys and girls studying at school loved to chat about all sorts of gossip when they had nothing else to do.
"Miss Anakitty and Miss Alicia have both gone back too..."
Lefiya lowered her voice, speaking quietly.
Both were executives sent by the Loki Familia to serve as recruiters in the School District. Their departure upon completing recruitment further confirmed the authenticity of the expedition.
[Familia Expedition].
This was the most important event for an Exploration Familia. Going deeper into the Dungeon than ever before, defeating powerful Monsters and the Monster Rexes guarding the way, tempering themselves to gain Status points and [Great Deeds], while also acquiring rare materials from the Deep Floors to maintain the Familia's operations...
The 50th Floor, huh?
The Loki Familia held the current record for the furthest Dungeon exploration among the city's Familias.
Of course, that was "now." It was said that the Hera and Zeus Familias, once the strongest in the city, had already reached places beyond the 70th Floor. What kind of world would that be, and what kind of enemies would be there?
Just thinking about it made one's heart surge!
Naturally, for him right now, it was better to first clear the Fog Gate on the 4th Floor. One had to eat rice one mouthful at a time and walk the road one step at a time.
The carriage moved leisurely.
After a long while, they passed through Orario's Central Park and headed towards Daedalus Street.
Most adventurers had already come out of the Dungeon by now.
Many set up stalls directly around the plaza, selling the Monster materials harvested today, along with some random odds and ends—such as equipment or items dropped by other adventurers. Some were still stained with blood, but no one was picky about that.
Monsters would eat the corpses of adventurers, but often, weapons, armor, and backpacks containing various tools and supplies would be left behind.
Maybe they were picked up by luck, or maybe...
The Dungeon was never safe. In the surface city, the Ganesha Familia was there to maintain order, but underground, it was purely a jungle where the weak were prey to the strong.
Not all adventurers were good people. Where would such a world exist?
Isagi's gaze swept across casually, and he actually discovered some familiar items among things laid out on furs or cloth.
He saw armor plates that only those special Goblins would drop, as well as teeth and claws dropped by Kobolds.
Presumably, when he was on the 3rd Floor earlier...
Some adventurers had also gone to attack those Goblin camps and outposts, which led to their drops appearing in the market circulation.
Regarding the "abnormalities" appearing in the Dungeon, the Guild had merely released a message telling adventurers to stay away from those strange monsters and not to approach them, nothing more.
It seemed they didn't intend to investigate further.
Isagi had asked Goddess Astrea, and she said the gods hoped to see change, so there was no need to worry.
Gods really felt like riddlers...
Thinking this, Isagi withdrew his gaze and, feeling a bit drowsy, returned to the Familia's temporary base with the two girls.
The Goddess had already made dinner.
When they returned, she was sitting by the table, sewing clothes for him as always—broken armor was generally repaired by Cecil, while clothes torn by monsters were invariably handled by the Goddess.
Since returning to Orario, Astrea had been learning to do housework.
To the Goddess, the children of the Familia were out running around every day, whether working part-time or adventuring in the Dungeon, all to keep the Familia going.
So as a deity, she couldn't just stay at home doing nothing every day. This was probably the "Justice" she presided over acting up.
She even said that after eating dinner and showering today, she wanted to give everyone a massage to relieve their fatigue.
Regarding this.
Both Cecil and Lefiya felt a sense of being overwhelmed by an undeserved favor.
After all, how could they let a Goddess give them a massage?!
But Isagi just silently lay down on the old sofa. He knew that with Goddess Astrea's personality, once she decided on something, no one could persuade her otherwise.
This was also a stubbornness unique to the Goddess.
Those who carried out "Justice" were inevitably stubborn to some degree. Moreover, he felt that this "Fairness" of the Goddess was inexplicably somewhat cute.
Isagi simply closed his eyes on the sofa and began to enjoy the Goddess's massage.
It was obviously very amateurish, likely something she had just learned, and she would need to accumulate "combat experience" to improve in the future. But there was plenty of time ahead, so it wasn't a big deal.
By the way.
The Goddess also updated his Status. Training with Anya for a day had increased his total Ability Points by nearly a small hundred.
Not bad.
As expected, training with a high-level adventurer was a way to quickly improve one's strength.
Unknowingly, Isagi even lazily fell asleep.
When he woke up, Cecil and Lefiya had already returned to their rooms. Goddess Astrea was still sitting by the table, reading a letter by the light of a Magic Stone lamp.
A letter?
Isagi climbed up from the sofa with a bit of slight confusion.
And Goddess Astrea, not treating him as an outsider at all, beckoned him over to read the letter together.
That was.
A reply from the Familia's senior, [Gale] Ryuu Lion.
___
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