"What is the situation, Isagi? How did your [Endurance] suddenly increase by so much!"
The long winter night.
On the second night after the teenagers returned from their Dungeon adventure, Astrea, who had just finished updating Isagi's Status, revealed an expression of incomprehension.
Half an hour ago, she had just updated his status panel.
As a result, Isagi ran over again just now, asking her to update it once more.
The Goddess was puzzled.
She wondered if the boy was sleep-addled?
Or was he just teasing her for fun? How long had it been since the last update? Why update again?
Then, she saw that Isagi's [Endurance] stat had risen by a full 100 points.
"?"
Astrea confirmed she wasn't seeing things!
In just this short while, the boy's Endurance had grown that much!
What did this child go do?!
Answer.
He ate an Immortal Pill.
It was a real Immortal Pill. The alchemy furnace Cecil built for him was ready. It was powered by Magic Stones. As for the principles behind it and why it could refine pills, Isagi didn't know either.
Anyway, as long as you throw the required materials in, start the fire, and refine strictly according to the time, you can get the final pill.
It was about the same as cooking instant noodles.
Isagi had just refined the few [Exquisite Internal Cores] obtained from fighting the BOSS in the Dungeon into an Immortal Pill—[Jade Lotus Minor Restoration Pill].
The effect was to increase his maximum vitality.
He refined three in total. He ate one himself and didn't feel much, so he ran to let the Goddess update his status to check.
The result.
He didn't expect the effect to be so good!
One [Jade Lotus Minor Restoration Pill] could increase [Endurance] by 100 points. If he got a few more to eat, wouldn't he casually break past two or three thousand on the panel?
Especially since his stats could still improve now. Later on, when he couldn't improve much, if he continued eating Immortal Pills, would it still rise that much?
Isagi also felt it was magical.
One can only say, as expected of "Cultivation"—
"Heavenly Immortal Pill?"
Astrea doubtfully placed the [Jade Lotus Minor Restoration Pill] he showed her in her palm.
The small pill smelled fragrant. It was crimson in color with gilded cloud patterns, faintly taking the shape of a giant dragon. It really was quite intimidating.
The Goddess could sense something similar to "Divine Power" from it.
She was initially a bit worried.
Did Isagi indiscriminately eat something given by other gods, or use some gadget related to other gods?
For example, those things called "Artifacts". Before the gods came to the Lower World, most of the time, mainly for "entertainment" and "fun", they were things thrown down to the Lower World.
But it seemed that wasn't the case.
Connecting it to the few large words "Path to Godhood" in the boy's skill panel.
Astrea felt a bit dizzy.
[Can a child of the Lower World really become a God?]
Such a thing was fundamentally impossible, nor would anyone know. Perhaps this was that so-called possibility.
If it were before, Astrea would definitely think she was crazy.
But after seeing Isagi, inexplicably, the Goddess felt... why did it seem somewhat reasonable?!
On the boy's side, even the most outrageous things seemed quite normal.
The winter night was quietly tranquil.
Tonight, only Isagi and Goddess Astrea were home.
Just after finishing the last adventure, Ryuu-senpai and the others received news that the Monster Rex Goliath on the 17th Floor was approaching its respawn time.
Thus.
The girls quickly headed to the Dungeon again, taking that fellow Cecil with them, preparing to participate in the Monster Rex raid battle to help the silly blacksmith girl farm [Excelia], so she could upgrade to Lv. 3 as soon as possible.
Ryuu-senpai, Lefiya, and Tiona all went.
To be honest, one Lv. 5 plus two Lv. 4s... even if they pushed the limit, three people were enough to kill Goliath.
There was no need to worry about them.
Putting away the remaining two Immortal Pills, planning to eat them later when his stats stopped rising.
Isagi left the Goddess's bedroom and returned to his own room. Snow was still falling outside the window. The dry heat brought by the charcoal fire in the room was strong; it was precisely the lazy time that induced sleep.
He soon lay down on the bed.
While taking off his clothes, he noticed the black ring he had placed on the bedside table.
It was the [Ring of Dark Covenant]. He had worn this thing the whole time while in the Dungeon before, and it didn't have any special effects.
But didn't the description say "Can establish a connection with the Mother of Darkness"?
Where is the connection?
Amidst his doubts, he put it on his left ring finger again.
The touch was cold and silky, possessing some inexplicable comfortable feeling, just like a young girl's cold small hand in winter.
Mm...
Not the slightly fleshy touch of Cecil, but closer to Ryuu-senpai's type—slender and very bony.
Lefiya seemed about the same?
Thinking carefully, the two Elf girls didn't differ much in age...
Lying on the bed.
Isagi inexplicably realized, why did he remember the touch of the girls' slender hands so well?
Did he touch them often?
Thinking carefully... it seems he really did!
His thoughts drifted away slowly. Unknowingly, he had entered dreamland.
When Isagi realized something.
He discovered.
He seemed to have arrived in a completely pitch-black giant cavern.
Beneath his feet was a downward slope.
Barely, he could see some rugged gravel, as well as rock blocks protruding from time to time.
And before his eyes was boundless darkness. He simply didn't know where it ended, making one think with some fear from the bottom of their heart: if one were to trip, where would they fall to?
No.
Where is this?
Isagi didn't know why he came to this place, but there seemed to be a voice constantly calling him to move forward.
[At the end of that unreachable pitch-black profundity.]
[In the depths of that hollow where nothing exists.]
He simply didn't know how far he walked.
Gradually.
In the darkness, he seemed to be able to see some light, just like the fluorescence floating between walls or ceilings that always appeared in the Dungeon.
It was precisely by borrowing this very tiny, nearly non-existent light.
Isagi saw it.
A black sphere floating at the end of his line of sight—
[Mother of Darkness].
The moment he saw the other party, he understood that it was the Dungeon itself. Without any logic, it was as if he originally had cognition of it.
[It is still accumulating power.]
[It has not yet been born from the darkness.]
[She...]
"You're awake!"
The girl's face almost pressing up to his eyes made Isagi feel it was simply bizarre!
The reason was simple: the girl before him was Ma.
That incomparably conspicuous pale blue skin of hers could be said to be unique under the heavens. No matter what, he couldn't mistake it. Thus, in a trance, Isagi thought he was in the Dungeon, wondering what on earth was going on! How did he fall asleep while adventuring?!
Then he reacted—that's not right. Hadn't he already returned to the city from the Dungeon? How could...
"You're in a dream, oh."
Oh—
Understood! So I'm dreaming!!
That's fine then.
Wait! How could the Ma in the dream tell him he was dreaming?!
"Welcome to Mother's [Dark Hall]... this is... um... is... is what again..."
You forgot your lines again, didn't you?!
Wait, is it because of that [Ring of Dark Covenant] that he established a connection with the Dungeon, so he came to this place in his dream?
"That's right! That's it!!"
You didn't explain it clearly at all, did you!
"What this place is isn't important!"
This time you didn't remember at all, so you just stopped thinking about it, right?!
Can you be a bit more professional, hey!!
I don't know why, but facing the childish girl with a silly face before him, Isagi always felt there were countless retorts he needed to "pour" out.
Headache, my head hurts so much...
Although he already had rich experience facing idiots, Isagi felt that the Ma before him, even compared to Cecil, Anya, and Tiona, was an especially silly fellow.
The surroundings were deserted and cold.
After climbing up from the ground, Isagi discovered this seemed to be an abandoned castle hall.
Faint silvery-white moonlight falling from who knows where became the only light source, sprinkling among the somewhat mottled dark green bricks and stones.
Rotting tables, chairs, and benches were toppled messily to the side.
And surrounding this circular hall, there were several paths available for leaving.
"Anyway! Anyway!!"
Seeming to finally remember something, the silly girl Ma spoke towards him in a high profile, as if about to announce something.
"Mother says, let me make rings and amulets for you here!"
Saying so.
This guy handed him quite a few ancient portable notebooks that looked like they were obtained from some adventurer's relics.
Inside were drawn rather abstract doodles, like those of an elementary school student.
Roughly, it was this material plus that material equals a certain amulet or ring or something. Okay then, is this idiot going to be a fixed NPC existing in the [Dark Hall] from now on?
"Can the rings and amulets be used by others?"
"No!"
"Is that so..."
So it's exclusive equipment given to him by the Dungeon?
Tsk.
Could it be that increasing favorability really has a use, fam?
Isagi flipped through the notebook in his hand for a good while. He discovered that some of the materials required inside were "regular drops" of the Dungeon, while some should be special monster drops appearing due to his skill's influence.
Among them, there were actually a few rings and amulets that could be crafted with the materials he had on hand.
Then the problem arose.
How does he bring the materials into the dream?
Or is it...
"Ma is sleepy, going to sleep now. Play by yourself for a while."
"?"
The girl draped in a gray robe turned into specks of pitch-black starlight just like that, disappearing from sight. She acted like a netizen who had gone offline.
No.
As an important NPC, can't you be a bit more dedicated!
Forget it, can't have too many expectations for an idiot.
Just as Isagi was thinking that since he had nothing to do, he would wander around here for a while, suddenly, he discovered something falling from the sky.
"?"
"?!"
The girl descending from the heavens fell right onto him. Thus, in the blink of an eye, the two people rolled onto the ground together just like that.
"Ais?!"
When Isagi saw the golden-haired girl's indifferent, yet still beautiful-as-a-porcelain-doll face clearly, he couldn't help but let out an incredible voice.
Real or fake?
How could Miss Sword Princess appear here... appear in his dream?!
Did he dream of her, or is it—
____
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