Chapter 13 - You leveled up! (Patreon)

Kael was inside the Dungeon, on the ninth floor. He didn't feel afraid, after all, he had already explored that floor for practically the entire day before.

He was already quite familiar with the monsters on these floors.

As he walked through the increasingly spacious chambers, Kael opened his status to check how close he was to leveling up.

Name: Kael

Title: Teleporter

Familia: Hestia

Level: 1 (99,650/100,000)

Strength (STR): A 895(955)

Endurance (END): A 823 (899)

Dexterity (DEX): A 832 (851)

Agility (AGI): A 896 (957)

Magic (MAG): A 810 (833)

Abilities: Teleportation (EX) LV3 / Swordsmanship LV3

"Oh?" When he saw the amount of EXP in his status, Kael smiled. "I didn't expect to be this close. I only need to kill one more monster."

Every monster on that floor gave Kael exactly 500 EXP, so he only needed to kill one more.

He hadn't managed to kill many monsters the previous day, which was why he hadn't leveled up despite spending practically the entire day hunting there.

In the days before that, he had spent most of his time on the sixth and seventh floors.

He could have earned more EXP if he'd been a little bolder.

But his level wasn't the only thing that mattered! His abilities had also leveled up over the past week, making him even more powerful. His swordsmanship had improved by more than 50% after gaining just one additional level.

Kael had gained knowledge he had never imagined he would possess. He could now replicate strange sword techniques that shouldn't even exist in the world of DanMachi. However, there were only a few of them.

Of course, they required magic to activate.

But Kael didn't use these techniques because there was no need. Want to kill a monster? Just teleport and kill it with ease. After his stats had increased so much, even killing the strongest monsters on their respective floors had become an easy task.

Nevertheless, he gladly accepted these techniques. Kael felt they would be useful in the near future.

"All right, just one more, right?"

Since his Teleportation ability had leveled up, Kael could now teleport up to 60 meters away. Having already explored much of the ninth floor, he began teleporting around.

Through a corridor...

Then into a room...

Suddenly appearing right behind a group of adventurers before disappearing again like a ghost. Kael kept doing this until he found a monster, which took no more than a minute.

Kael teleported MANY times within that one-minute interval, but he didn't feel unwell. If he had tried doing this a few days earlier, he would have felt a little dizzy, and not just because of his lack of magic.

Teleporting caused a certain amount of discomfort in the mind and vision. The user needed time to get used to it. And, of course, Kael was already accustomed to it.

Kael appeared in front of a giant red ant with four legs. He didn't give the ant time to react before attacking. He struck the creature, which had a tough shell, twice within a matter of seconds.

Its shell cracked, and Kael plunged his sword into the ant, tearing through its insides and killing it.

The ant let out a grotesque sound before dying.

However, before it died, the ant had released pheromones to attract more ants, which began approaching.

[You have leveled up!]

But when he saw the message in front of him, Kael was so happy that he began teleporting back and forth in celebration.

Before he even realized it, he had already returned to the eighth floor.

'Finally, fuck yeah!' Kael celebrated in his mind like a teenager who had just ranked up in a competitive game, despite mentally being a man over twenty-five years old.

####

Kael continued celebrating in his mind as he made his way out of the Dungeon. As soon as he reached the surface, he went straight to the Guild to sell everything he had collected inside.

He left the Guild carrying a bag of money and then headed to the church.

As soon as he entered, he found Hestia sitting on the sofa, drinking tea and reading a book. It was a rare sight.

He tossed the money onto the table and said, "Here's all the money I made today."

"Did you set aside your share? You need to pay for your inn, don't you?"

"Don't worry, I have enough money for that. Oh, and I'd like to do that again."

"Again? You're asking me to update your Falna every single day."

Hestia set her book aside, and Kael took off his shirt right there. His Falna was on his back. As soon as she looked at the Falna on Kael's back, Hestia thought, 'This is...'

Her eyes slowly widened, but she didn't say anything.

Kael lay down, and Hestia updated his Falna as she did every day.

Hestia had already grown accustomed to this because Kael's growth was incredibly rapid, even faster than Bella's. He was a very talented boy. Even Bella was impressed by Kael's achievements.

However, Bella had never let Kael know that she was impressed by what he had accomplished, nor had she congratulated him. In fact, she treated him rather coldly.

Finally, Hestia finished updating Kael's Falna.

As soon as she saw the information on his back, she became extremely confused.

His stats had been "reset" to 10, just like those of every other adventurer, but something immediately caught Hestia's attention: Kael's abilities. His Swordsmanship had reached Level Three, but that wasn't the ability that caught her eye.

A new ability had appeared.

"What is this?" Hestia murmured.

On the paper, beside the Swordsmanship ability, another Level Three ability had appeared.

&$%&”@##$(*%#

However, the ability's name had been replaced by strange symbols.