Chapter 11 - Knowledge. (Patreon)

Rose's words struck Kael right in the heart. 'Don't die.'

He didn't say anything to Rose, but he thought to himself, 'Don't worry. I'm not going to die.' He was feeling very confident.

Kael still didn't fully understand his own limits, but he was willing to learn from his mistakes. And exploring the sixth floor without taking proper precautions certainly hadn't been a good idea.

However, his Falna had now been updated.

Would he still have so much trouble killing those three War Shadows with his current stats?

'It would probably still be a little difficult. But thanks to the increase in my Magic stat, I won't get exhausted so easily from using my Teleportation ability several times in a row.'

As soon as Kael reached the Tower of Babel again, he took a deep breath before entering the Dungeon.

'Now that I've registered as an adventurer, I need to collect magic stones and sell them to help the Hestia Familia. I want to help Hestia move somewhere better. But that'll take some time.'

Kael was getting ahead of himself.

He needed to raise his stats quickly and farm as much EXP as possible over the next few days to reach Level 2.

Once he reached Level 2 and increased his Teleportation ability's level a few more times, he would start thinking about finding a new home and figuring out how to make the Hestia Familia stronger.

But when the time came, the plan was simple: increase his own strength and recruit characters he already knew. Characters who would become incredibly powerful in the future. Using his knowledge to achieve that wasn't against the rules.

With a smile on his face, Kael entered the Dungeon.

He hurried down the stairs, gripping his new sword.

The weight of his new sword felt different from that of his old one. Every time he swung it, he could feel the difference in craftsmanship between the two, even though he didn't know much about the subject.

When he encountered a monster, Kael didn't use his Teleportation ability. Instead, he decided to test his new stats. And just as he had expected, his growth was remarkable, even though all his stats were still at Rank I.

He was faster, and his body responded better to his movements. He decapitated the Goblin with ease.

The following monsters were just as easy to kill, even when he encountered groups of them.

As he approached the second floor, Kael received another system message.

[The ability "Swordsmanship LV1" has leveled up]

It wasn't a long, special message like the one he had received when his Teleportation ability leveled up.

Kael's eyes glowed golden, and he froze as he stared at the message. Within seconds, a flood of information invaded his mind. He felt a slight headache, followed by dizziness.

"Argh!" Kael clutched his head and staggered.

Then, the pain disappeared, along with the dizziness.

He looked at the sword in his hand.

In a matter of seconds, he had gained a great deal of knowledge about swordsmanship, even though he hadn't intensified his training.

'So this is how an ability works.'

It was practically divine, and there was no explaining it.

You didn't need to train. The knowledge was simply granted to you without much effort.

Kael wondered whether he was the only one with this advantage or whether everyone's abilities worked the same way.

####

Time passed.

[EXP +4]

[EXP +4]

[EXP +4]

[EXP +8]

[EXP +8]

[EXP +8]

[EXP +8...

Kael continued killing monsters on the first few floors with ease, rarely using his Teleportation ability. His stats were changing in real time, and that excited him.

It was just like an RPG, something he really enjoyed.

"Unfortunately, my Falna needs to be updated for the changes to take effect." He sighed, then drank some water before continuing toward the fourth floor of the Dungeon.

The moment he stepped onto the fourth floor, Kael began taking things more seriously.

The monsters still weren't particularly strong, but he had become more cautious.

The monsters kept appearing one after another, which surprised Kael. The number of monsters he encountered on that floor was much greater than it had been the day before.

'Could it be because there were so many adventurers around here yesterday?'

Kael had encountered many adventurers there the previous day, even though the Dungeon floor was enormous. That was probably one of the reasons there hadn't been so many monsters.

But now, his EXP was increasing rapidly.

More and more groups of monsters appeared, consisting of both Goblins and Kobolds.

However, each monster killed on the fourth floor only gave him 16 EXP points, which wasn't enough for Kael. If he kept killing monsters there and nowhere else, it would take him an entire month to level up.

He needed to keep descending, and that's exactly what he did.

As he killed monsters, now using his Teleportation ability more frequently, Kael eventually reached the sixth floor of the Dungeon. It was the same floor where he had gone through such a terrifying experience the day before.

However, he was surprisingly calm.

Breathing steadily, Kael walked slowly through the wide corridors of the sixth floor.

He was eager to find a War Shadow, but the monster he encountered was a Frog Shooter, just like the first time he had reached that floor. He used his Teleportation ability again.

Like a speck of dust, Kael vanished from the frog's sight before it could even use its tongue.

In the next instant, the frog's body was nearly split in half, and it died without being able to react.

Kael collected its magic stone and put it into his bag, which was much lighter now that he had sold all his previous stones at the Guild.

"I already have plenty of magic stones... Too bad they're all from weak monsters."

The money he would get for them wouldn't amount to much.

Huff~~

With a sigh, Kael continued forward, searching for a War Shadow so he could test his new strength, which wasn't all that different from his previous strength.

However, to his dismay, he didn't find just one monster.

'Were these sons of bitches waiting for me or something? This makes no sense.'