For example, he needed to understand exactly what effect magic stones of different sizes had on the seed inside his body. Sometimes control was built from that kind of painstaking precision. If you wanted to regulate appetite, then first you had to understand what kinds of food could fill you up, and what different degrees of fullness actually felt like.
At the same time, under the combined help of the training grounds and the Dungeon, he was gradually mastering his new power. His understanding and use of the power of Abundance had also risen to a new level.
His days could be described as extremely fulfilling.
Until one day, a familiar little girl arrived at the gates of their Familia.
"Hm? A little girl came looking for me?"
Xi'en, who had been in the middle of refining spiritual medicine, froze when he heard Iska call for him. He had not arranged to meet anyone today, so what kind of little girl could it be? Was it the half-elf girl looking for him? But under normal circumstances, wouldn't she just send him a message directly? Why come all the way here in person?
Carrying that question with him, Xi'en made his way to the gate of the Familia residence—only to find a figure that left him genuinely stunned.
The visitor was not the little girl he knew well, but another tiny cutie.
The future Sword Princess—Ais Wallenstein—stood there timidly at the entrance to their Familia, glancing around in uncertainty. The moment she saw Xi'en, the tension on her face visibly eased.
Walking over to her, Xi'en glanced left and right. After confirming that no one else was nearby, he finally accepted that she really had come to see him.
"You… came looking for me?"
"Mm!"
The little girl nodded.
"What for?"
"Please teach me how to become stronger, Master!"
The moment she finished speaking, the little girl dropped to her knees with a thud right in front of him, looking as though she was about to kowtow.
Xi'en was so forcefully stunned by the move that he hurriedly reached out and pulled her back up. If that kneeling actually went through, there would really be trouble.
"W-wait, wait, wait… hold it. What is going on here? Explain yourself first. Who tries to pull a stunt like this? Tell me—who taught you to do that?"
Completely dumbfounded, Xi'en could only stare. The little girl's actions were enough to shock him for a hundred years.
"No one taught me. I read it in a book. To become someone's disciple, you bow to show respect."
"…"
Xi'en pressed a hand to his forehead. At that moment, all he felt was tired.
"There are so many things wrong with this that I don't even know where to start."
Seeing that look in her eyes—the one that clearly said she would never let this go—Xi'en realized he had no choice. Fine. He had time right now. He might as well hear her out and find out what exactly had happened.
"Forget it. Come inside first. We'll sit down and talk."
With that, and without waiting for her response, he turned and walked back into the residence.
A short while later, in the reception room, Xi'en handed the girl a drink.
"All right. Start from the beginning. First of all—why did you come here?"
"I want you to teach me how to become stronger."
No, but wasn't that supposed to be Finn and the others' job? Hadn't they arranged training for her?
"You already chose the Loki Familia, didn't you? So what, you want to get stronger and Finn and the others just don't care?"
"They do make me train…"
Oh. So they had arranged it. Then that wasn't the issue.
"Well then, if they're not stopping you from getting stronger, why did you come all this way to find me?"
And how did you even find this place? It was not exactly close to the Loki Familia's base.
The little girl looked faintly embarrassed.
"Because… it's too slow… You only needed less than a month to level up, but I've already been training for almost half a month, and I still haven't even entered the Dungeon…"
Ah. So that was it. She was getting impatient. Honestly, a pretty normal problem—but then again, was this what it meant to be the heroine? Her talent for causing trouble was truly first-rate. Whoever ended up as her guardian was going to suffer.
Right now, she was basically just an unruly child.
A child who needed a good, hard lesson from reality.
"…I see. I think I understand now. You think your growth is too slow, and since I leveled up so quickly, you assumed I must have some kind of trick—so you snuck off to find me. Is that right?"
"Y-yes."
After a long silence, Xi'en made up his mind and stood from the sofa.
"All right. Since your showing up here is partly my responsibility too, I'll deal with it. Come with me. I happen to have some free time."
Hearing that Xi'en was willing to get involved, the girl's face lit up. Then, just as quickly, confusion followed.
"Where are we going?"
Xi'en turned to glance at her.
"I'm going to see what you can do. If you're decent enough, then I'll grant your request and take you into the Dungeon for a look."
With Xi'en's current strength, protecting a little girl in the upper floors of the Dungeon would be easy. As for the Loki Familia, he could send them word afterward and explain.
"Okay."
The moment she heard that Xi'en might take her into the Dungeon, the little girl immediately brightened, her steps unconsciously picking up speed.
It did not take long for Xi'en to bring her to his Familia's training grounds.
Naturally, they drew the attention of the members they passed on the way.
Once Xi'en briefly explained the situation, everyone looked enlightened.
So this beautiful little girl was the child who might originally have joined their Familia? Ahhh, she was so adorable. What a shame.
Those who were interested followed them to the training grounds. Those who were not, or who were too busy, simply went about their business.
Xi'en placed a wooden training sword in the girl's hands and gestured for her to attack whenever she was ready.
"Come on, then. Let me see exactly how strong you are. Attack me with everything you've got and show me what you've learned these past few days."
The girl immediately went on guard, but when she saw Xi'en simply standing there with no intention of taking up a weapon, she hesitated.
Looking at what felt like blatant disregard for her, the girl became a little annoyed. Her temper flared. She wanted to teach this guy who was looking down on her a lesson.
So she charged.
Holding the wooden sword, she attacked Xi'en the way she had been taught these past days.
All one could say was that she really was a genius. In just a little over ten days of training, her movements already surpassed many freshly minted beginners.
—Her stance and forms were solid enough, but looking at the way she committed to each move without leaving herself any way out… her temper was definitely not small.
Through his Transparent World perception, Xi'en could even see the way her strength almost instinctively flowed along the most efficient paths. He could not help but marvel inwardly. A genius really was a genius. What ordinary people needed endless time to gradually fumble their way toward, she could hit in one lucky pull.
That was the true difference between geniuses and ordinary people: brute-force trial and error versus one-shot revelation. The amount of time saved was enough to let them reach heights that ordinary people could not even dream of touching.
How were you supposed to compete with that?
To be honest, if Xi'en had not started out with the system cheating on his behalf, he absolutely would not have been able to compare to the little girl before him.
She had been born for the sword.
On the other hand, the little girl was feeling worse and worse.
She couldn't hit him.
She was aiming every strike right at him, but she simply could not connect. Every time it felt like she was just a little short, just a little, just a little—why was it always just a little?
Refusing to accept it, the girl poured every bit of strength she had into her attacks, but it was useless. Until the very last shred of energy had been exhausted, she never managed to touch Xi'en even once.
In the end, she had no choice but to accept a reality that was hard to swallow:
Xi'en was vastly stronger than she was.
"Am I… really that weak?"
Collapsed on the ground, the girl tried to get up, but her body refused to listen. Her will and body were out of sync, and after pushing herself too hard, she had completely run out of strength.
That, too, was one of the signs of her immaturity. She still had no clear sense of where her own limits were. In that state, going into the Dungeon alone would have been suicide.
But Xi'en did not keep pressing the point.
"You're not bad. At your current level, you could probably wander around the first few floors…"
The boy's words gradually brought the light back into the little girl's dimmed eyes.
"You mean…?"
"Mm. Exactly what you think. I can take you into the Dungeon for a look."
"T-that's great… huff, huff… but… right now, I don't have any strength left."
"That's easy."
As he spoke, Xi'en extended a hand toward her.
The power of Abundance activated.
Emerald life energy, glittering like tiny stars, wrapped around the girl, restoring her strength and healing even the hidden injuries caused by her earlier overexertion.
The girl immediately felt a warm sensation spread through her body. The strength she had lost began returning in a way so unbelievable it was almost magical.
One second later, she was back to how she had been before training started, as though nothing had happened at all. Only the sweat still clinging to her body and the lingering sensation in her muscles proved that the previous training session had really taken place.
"What is this…? It feels so good. It's amazing…"
For the first time, she had experienced a kind of power that was not meant for destruction, and she could not help but become curious.
"I'm a healer, remember? This is my healing ability. All right, let's go. I'll have Ryuu help you clean up first. Then we'll head to the Dungeon, and I'll show you just how cruel it can be."
"Okay."
Rather than being frightened by his words, she only seemed even more excited.
They found Ryuu, who looked completely baffled. Once Xi'en explained the situation, she looked as though she wanted to say something, but Xi'en silenced her with a glance.
It seemed the boy had already made his decision.
Understanding that, Ryuu did not hesitate any longer and took the little girl away to wash up.
Inside the Astrea Familia bathhouse—
Watching the girl diligently wash herself all on her own, Ryuu did not know what to feel.
They had all heard about what had happened before. The girl before her had a past that ordinary people could not easily understand. Her choice was not hard to understand, but it was impossible to truly empathize with it.
Ryuu only felt that forcing such a young child to experience the cruelty of the Dungeon this early might be too harsh.
But since Xi'en had already decided, she chose to trust his judgment.
Besides, with his abilities, and with him personally there, the worst that could happen to the little girl was that she would suffer a bit.
"You're… Xi'en's companion?"
"Mm…"
"Do you know why he's so strong?"
The little girl seized the chance to ask the older girl a question. She wanted to hear how others saw him.
Ryuu did not hide anything. She answered honestly, stating her true thoughts.
To be honest, she herself had changed a great deal lately. It was incredible. Elves were supposed to grow slowly, yet with her, that had changed.
By staying at that boy's side, she had grown without even realizing it—not only in strength, but in heart as well.
To keep pace with him, she had forced herself to mature quickly. Only that way could she protect him in the dangers he faced.
"As for that… I think it's because he is someone who has mastered the concept of power."
"Mastered… power?"
Little Ais's head filled with question marks. She could not understand what that meant.
"Yes. In his hands, power is an extension of his will. He controls power—it does not control him."
"I don't get it…"
"Sorry. I started talking to myself. Just remember it if you can. You'll probably understand little by little in the future. All right, you're cleaned up. Go on."
After helping the little girl straighten her clothes and tidy her hair, Ryuu smiled and waved her off.
The little girl, feeling the other girl's kindness toward her, returned it in her own somewhat stiff way.
"Mm. Thank you, Ryuu, right? I'm glad I met you."
"I feel the same, Ais. One last word of warning—don't let hatred take hold of you. Otherwise… you'll break."
Although the meaning did not fully register, the concern on Ryuu's face was clear enough that the girl still nodded to show she would remember.
When she stepped outside and found Xi'en waiting, the two left the residence together and headed for the Adventurers' Guild.
But halfway there, a figure suddenly appeared before them, making Ais freeze in surprise.
The instant she saw her, the girl's expression visibly tightened, and half her body instinctively hid behind Xi'en.
"Ais, your little outing is over. Come back with me. You are not allowed to disappear without a word like this again."
It was the elven princess, Riveria.
After discovering that Ais had vanished, Riveria had been frantic, searching everywhere. The moment she received Xi'en's message, she had rushed over as fast as she could. She had not expected to run into them halfway, but that made things simpler. She intended to take Ais back immediately. She could not allow her to keep fooling around like this.
She did not ask Xi'en's opinion, because in her view, Xi'en would not mind.
And yet, when she looked at that face—the face that could no longer leave her heart undisturbed—even her tone unconsciously softened. Before she had realized it, she had begun to care very deeply about what the boy thought of her.
"I'm not going back. Xi'en already agreed to take me into the Dungeon. I'm not going back with you."
The little girl's words made Riveria freeze.
Then she turned to look at the boy in shock. She did not believe the child would lie, which meant this was really—
"What…? Xi'en, you…"
Xi'en smiled faintly and spread one hand helplessly.
"That's right. I did agree. If her strength met my standards, then I'd take her into the Dungeon for a look…"
....
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