Thank you for the patience!
About 5.7K words long.
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—
/High above the city…/
Freya stood before her translucent window, staring into the horizon beyond the city.
/Creak…/
"… Ottar. You're back. How was your little outing?"
The giant man stepped inside the elegant room, "Ordinary." he spoke plainly as he put his arms behind his back.
"That's to be expected, given its only the Middle Floors. The King cannot stumble in such a place… though I saw something interesting when you were on the 17th floor…" She said playfully as she approached him
Putting one of her fingers on her lips, she inquired, "You met him, didn't you? What do you think of him?"
"Weak."
She seemed to pout slightly, frustrated at his plain and incomplete answer, "Ottar, everyone is weak to you. Be more specific."
"… Interesting."
Finally somewhat satisfied, she stepped back with elegance. Using one arm to support the other, she continued as she played with her hair:
"Do you think he is worthy of joining our ranks?"
"If that's your will. It shall be done." He said as he looked down
Her eyes grew serene, her playfulness washing away as she turned around, walking back to her throne, "That's not what I asked."
"He's weak. His presence would tarnish your prestige. He's not yet fit to undergo baptism. He may have the skill and tenacity, but he's still far beneath others."
Freya nodded in acknowledgement. Finally, a decent answer… she seemed to think as she walked away.
"Indeed, I suppose he needs a little more time… I wanted him to join us sooner, but I think he can still bloom a little more."
She grabbed her cup of wine, "When the time comes and he reaches the height of his potential, that is when I will come to collect."
'If he wilts or shines even further afterwards… it shall be under my eyes and none else's. The light I met by chance…'
"That's unlike you." Ottar suddenly said from behind her
"…"
Freya froze. Indeed, this was unlike her… "… I suppose I'm a little curious… to see where his spirit will lead him."
"I'll let him remain with Hestia a little longer too. Unlike most, she's one goddess I respect quite a bit… and I'd rather not shatter her enjoyment this soon. When the time comes, I'll be the senior and teach her how things are in the lower world."
Her tone was heavy, carrying a dangerous intent… "Until then, I'll let her enjoy him a little longer before I claim him. I still need time to get ready for the tantrum she'll throw when that happens." She said with a chuckle as took a sip of her wine
"…"
Ottar did not respond, which made Freya smile. A playfully gaze passing by her face, she gave Ottar a side glance, asking:
"He caught you by surprise there, didn't he?"
"HM!"
Ottar shook faintly at her unusual statement, and Freya laughed gently, "You can't hide it from me Ottar, how long have we been together? I saw everything."
"It won't happen again."
"I know… that's to be expected of the King." She said as she looked down at the city
"But… I don't think he'll use those again against you either. I'd be disappointed otherwise."
'I'm curious to see just what else he has hidden…'
Freya's gaze fell on the bustling city below, her thoughts revolving…
…
/Later that day…/
As the sky grew orange, Silver finished yet another day of Dungeon exploration as he dusted off his gloves and shoes. This would be his seventh time doing so ever since he joined a Familia.
"… and that should be it for today. Excellent work, my adventurer." Loiju proclaimed as he finished signing a few papers. With Silver's commissions finished, soon enough, his payment would arrive
Not all paid things up front. While the Guild was trusted to get someone's request done, not always were they given the funds to pay in case the request was indeed completed.
Silver was proud. Smiling, he shrugged faintly, "Just another day of work."
Loiju smiled as well as he reached out underneath the counter, "Sure is… Now, you wouldn't mind reading this, would you?"
"Hm? What exactly… ugh!"
Loiju placed a small paper before him. It seemed to be a report on the 17th floor… it went through how he… yes, HE, returned with Goliath's Magic Stone… amidst a few other things like he claiming the bounty for the Goliath and even returning with the children of the Loki Familia.
"Care to explain what you were doing on the 17th floor, mister "I'm not going beyond the 13th floor"?" He asked as he gave Silver a dangerous glare
"I, uh… was lost."
"…"
"…"
"Was that a joke? Because if it was, just give me the cue to when I should start laughing."
Silver looked around before exhaling, "Arg… my bad…"
"Your "bad"? Man! Not only did you disregard my warnings, you went above and beyond! How did you get on the 17th floor and in a fight against Goliath of all things?!"
"I wanted to… fight it…"
Loiju's glasses seemed to crack, "You are mentally insane."
"I won though."
He frowned, as his forehead tensed, "That doesn't matter!… Really?…"
"Yeah, I did."
"Damn!… But if anything, this only makes things worse!!! You drive me nuts. I… I need a drink… seems like its time for me to pop open something from my stash."
"Come on, it's not that serious…"
"Don't get me wrong, friend… but at this point, I don't even know why I'm still your advisor."
"If you're going to neglect me like this, I might as well just call it quits now!"
"Man, don't be like that… we talked about this before."
"Yet you still disregarded me time and time again! Don't you get it? Conflicts between adventurer and advisor are common, but those are about something else and not this insanity! It hasn't even been a week, and I feel like I've been your advisor for years!"
"… I apologize, truly."
"For what? My job is to make sure you don't die, but if you can do all of this and still don't die, then it seems we need to change things a little, because otherwise, there really is no point in me doing this aside from getting a headache…"
"And the bonus pay?"
"That too, I can't forget that… being an advisor does give me a slight bonus, especially if my adventurer does well… ahem…"
"Let's do it like this then. Starting tomorrow and every day after until you become Level 2, I'll give you a few missions, and if you ever cannot complete even a single one of them, then you either start listening to me, or you graduate from my tutelage. Doesn't that make things simpler?"
"At least this way I can somewhat have you do something within my expectations… I'd rather not have the adventurer under me die out of nowhere."
'If I can keep you somewhere for even an hour, that'd be worth it. No matter how capable you are, the more experience you gather, the better you'll be able to make your own decisions.'
"… Very well. I comply."
"Of course you do. You're the most unreasonable adventurer I've worked… no, that I've ever seen. Even more so when the Sword Princess was starting out as an adventurer all those years ago." He spat out as he rolled his eyes
She crossed his arms, looking at a small sketch of Ais pressed on a billboard, "You know… when she came here for the first time, everyone kind of refused to be her advisor, and for a similar reason why I'm frustrated."
"Why?"
He approached Silver, squinting his eyes, "Because she had that look in her eyes… the look of someone who could think of nothing but the Dungeon, of someone who was ready to throw themselves at it for they had nothing else to live for up here."
"I'm not like that… I'm a reasonable person with lots of hobbies."
"Right, you're worse. You treat the Dungeon as if it were your backyard. As if you can step in and out of for groceries… when I first saw you, I knew you'd differ from others. Had I known it'd be to this degree though… I might've reconsidered associating myself with you."
"Man… you're making me feel terrible… is this what I get for paying for all the drinks?"
"Humph… a few coins here and there barely coverely the mental trauma you give me."
He sighed again, "I didn't want this either, but you have to understand my position. I've been here for almost two decades ever since I left my home. Over half of the adventurers I've ever tutored are dead… and I don't know if this is good or bad… but some of them didn't even die in the Dungeon."
"You can tell from the others too. Most people don't want to be advisors, and those that do are extremely selective… no one wants to send others to their death, even if its not their fault at all."
"…"
"Some were worse. They grew close to their adventurers. Some even went beyond… the good stories… are far too few… I also don't want to see another die, at least not like this."
"…"
Silver didn't know what to say. He just looked at the ceiling, feeling guilty.
Seeing his face, Loiju snickered, "Now, enough of this. If there is one thing worth praising about you, it is that you always do your research. I've seen many not even do the basics; at least you keep those in check… albeit you end up tilting to the complete other side of the spectrum."
"I have my eyes on you. Don't think I haven't heard of the books you've been requesting… details on strengthened and irregular monsters… you're on my watch list buddy."
"Cough…"
"Hum… let's end this here for today. Things will be getting busy soon." Loiju said as he packed up the documents on the table
"As you know, the new year is arriving, and with it, the usual festivities. The Winter Festival itself will start tomorrow. It's not as big as the two Great Festivals, the Elegia and Goddess Festival that occurred a month or two back, but its still quite large."
"Not to say the School District. They should arrive soon, given they're unusually late. They tend to arrive not long after those two festivals and before winter starts, but here we are halfway through the month."
"The School District?"
"You don't know? The educational institution: Maritime Academic Institutions Special District… more commonly referred to as the School District… The boat Hringhorni?"
"You don't have to say it like that; I'm not that disconnected…" Silver said with a plain expression, "I know that much; I was just surprised. Do they tend to be late often?"
'Even my grandparents know about it. The School District has been in operation for well over a decade after all.'
The School District is dedicated to preparing its students for different disciplines. The initial reason for its foundation was to gather many talented people from all over the world in Orario.
"Not really… I'd even say they're rather punctual. I'm not the one in charge of those things, so I don't know much… can't say the people are happy about it though."
"Well, the Guild did warn people they were going to get late, but the reason why… I have no idea; it's not my department. If I were to guess, maybe they got stuck dealing with some country's issues as always."
"The people aren't happy?"
"Of course they aren't. The School District's arrival is a main event that only happens every three years. When they do so, their students are unloaded in the city, literal hundreds talents taught by extremely skilled individuals from all around the world."
"Their arrival fuels Orario's economy considerably since the school district itself is an amalgamation of multiple Familias, like a small district of the city. When they arrive, all of those skilled people are spread around, and Familias from all corners of the city gather to poach some of them."
"Their students become apprentices in other Familias, some enter the Dungeon, the material and money they gathered flows in and out… it becomes quite lively… and that's their whole point."
"The School District was set up with the sole goal of finding the most talented individuals from beyond Orario and shoving them here. They have the power of a nation and are comparable to an S-Rank Familia. Do you understand why its such a big deal?"
"It only makes me curious as to why they were late this time around."
"I get your point, it's not only you… In any case… The Guild itself will also shut down for a week during the New Year. Things will get quite hectic as we get the work done so we can put it all down later…"
"You should take this time to relax too. Take this time to walk around town or something… You missed the other two festivals before, right?"
"Haha… I came a little too late. I arrived in late November. The most I heard were the people talking about it."
"You really are a blockhead. Of all times to arrive, you choose exactly the time between where nothing happens… though in your defense, had the School District arrived sooner, things wouldn't be so silent."
"Try not to miss another festival, alright? They aren't really my thing, but even I don't go to work during those."
"Coming from you, that sure is a great compromise."
Loiju didn't bother with the tease at all, "It's good that you know… now scram. I have a lot of paperwork to file. I'm going to finish it all before taking my mandatory vacation tomorrow."
"Mandatory?"
'Since when was vacation mandatory?'
"Yeah, we have to take a few weeks of mandatory vacation, and I still have one left. Given the time, I have to take it now otherwise there won't be time… so here I am."
"You speak as if that were a bad thing."
"I kind of like working, if you hadn't noticed."
"And I'm the unsocial guy?"
Loiju opened his arms wide, "Have you looked around while you were out there? Everyone I know on a friendly basis works around me! That's the most social place in all of Orario for me! In fact, I bet I had more social interactions in one day than you do in an entire week."
""…""
The other staff looked at them from a distance, but neither of them seemed to care.
Silver snickered, "As if."
"From your face, I take it I'm right." Loiju added with a smirk as he pushed his glasses back
"Tche… fine… see you later or something…"
Silver shooed him off before turning around.
"You can meet me tomorrow, but after that I'll be on vacation. If you need me, go bother someone else instead."
"Sure, sure, I'll drop by your house later than."
Loiju's glasses split open (figurately), "And when did you figure out where I lived again?"
"Remember two days ago when we went to drink together? When you got so drunk I had to carry you home?"
He reached for his head in confusion, "I faintly remember that… no wonder I felt something was off… you should've said something sooner!"
"No words of thanks? And I went through the trouble and putting you right in bed so you wouldn't drown in your own spit…"
Loiju waved his palm dismissively with a disgusted expression.
Shrugging his shoulders, Silver left the Guild as the sun dove into the horizon.
His destination… his home!
…
/Fling!/
Hestia had just finished updating Silver's stats, eager to see just how much he had grown… but as her eyes fell upon his stats, she couldn't help but be flabbergasted by his growth, almost falling backwards from shock.
Even though she knew the reason for such fast growth, she still couldn't believe what was before her eyes.
Silver was the first to break the silence as he turned his head, "You are oddly silent. What? Did I gain another super-incredible Skill?"
"As if! If you gained another Skill, I would accuse you of cheating! And stand still! I need to write this down." She replied as she poked his cheek, pushing his face back forward
Silver eyes darted into the wall, growing distant as he became pensive, "Cheating against whom? The world?..."
"..."
'There he goes... What is he going to ask this time?'
Hestia had learned a lot about this adventurer of hers over the past week, including his overly inquisitive personality. There wasn't a single moment when he wasn't pondering some nonsensical subject… at least that was how it felt to her.
Last time, he was trying to figure out what her hair was made of. Had it not been for her fiersome opposition, Silver would've definitely plucked a few strands… or so she believed.
Silver always asked first, at least… though she couldn't decide whether that was good, or if the very fact he considered doing it was a bad thing…
"Hum… I have a question."
"Sigh… what is it?"
"Who made this system? I mean, I cannot believe all the gods came to a collective agreement on how to bestow their blessings on a mortal. There had to have been some discussion of that."
'Although they may have come to an agreement long before they descended given the creation of Spirits and their interactions with the ancient people…'
"And there was... there are things beyond the acceptable."
"Oho? Such as?…"
She gave him a sharp glare, "… Why would I tell you that? I know exactly what you're going to do once I tell you!" Hestia said as she finished writing down his Status
"Oh, come on… such a killjoy." He said with a chuckle as he dropped his head
"Humph… the current thing you deem "system" is just a collective set of rules we abide by… don't ask me anything else!"
"Sure, sure… that said, how about we continue our previous conversation?"
Hestia tilted her head, "Which one?"
"Didn't you tell me about some issues up there? Something about not enough gods in heaven?"
Hestia raised an eyebrow as she went into deep thought, "Right… its nothing special. With so many deities descending, some issues have surfaced back in heaven. The only reason I could descend so easily was because…"
"You were jobless?"
"##!! Rude! I took my job very seriously back at my temple! My job is just not that essential down here… and it was an easy one to do…"
Her tone grew serious, "It's just that some guys had a pretty essential one to the lower world… if they were allowed to descend, the cycle of life or whatever would be broken since there wouldn't be enough people to manage it."
"They're already overworked; if some of them sneak out, then everything's going to collapse."
"Interesting… reincarnation…"
'Sometimes I forget I am indeed dealing with all-powerful, higher-dimension beings…'
"Since we are on the subject, care to go into detail about your, "very serious" job?"
"I don't like the way you said it, but fine…"
Hestia sat on the bed and kicked the air, tilting her head to the ceiling as if she were gazing at something, "I looked after the sacred flame. Well, I was one of the deities responsible for doing so."
"Now that I think about it, it was a pretty dull life, the only thing I did was clean the altars and temples while making sure the flame burned… though I wasn't unsatisfied. I wouldn't say I was bored either. Just a little monotonous."
"What is the Sacred Flame?"
"It was the first flame."
Silver wasn't convinced, "And in what way is that important?"
"IT IS THE MOST IMPORTNAT THING!!" She said angrily as she kicked Silver's leg
"Ouch…" Silver said as he cleared his ears
"Urg… my leg... dummy…" Hestia said as she held her leg in pain. She felt as if she had kicked a wall…
With a pout, she continued, "... The Sacred Flame represents the heat of every fire! Without it, the world would be cold, sad... and boring."
"So if the flames were extinguished, an ice age would happen?"
Hestia nodded awkwardly, "Far worse… far worse… this is actually making me remember some things." She said as she gnashed her teeth
"Humph… there was one time that 'PLANK-ton' tried to snuff it out for fun… I and a few others kicked her out. I remember Zeus kicking her butt!… However, what made her never try it again… was her nagging…" She added as she trembled
"… You talking about Loki? I did hear some rumors about how she used to be…"
'As for the other one she mentioned… it must be "her", right? The only goddess of her pantheon that would cause others to tremble at the mere mention of her name… Hera, a woman so psychotic even Loki ran away at first sight.'
"Who else? I was never one to retaliate, but I remember getting very angry…"
"How angry on a scale from one to ten?"
"One hundred!!" She exclaimed as she thrashed around on the couch, "Just thinking about it throws me into a frenzy!"
"How scary…"
'Mental note, not mention this matter to her when Loki is around…'
"Speaking of the Flame of Heaven… are there any other such objects in Heaven?"
Her head fell backwards as she went into deep thought, "Hum… There are some..."
She started to open and close her fingers as she counted… "Let's see… Hephaestus alone made mountains of such items, so let's take those out, and while we're at it, let's exclude weapons and armor since those are boring."
"Oh… why? Weapons and armor are the most common types of divine items in stories."
"That's exactly why! There are too many of them! All the deities knew to do was fight each other… I'm tired of it."
"…"
"Anyhow, erm uh… we have the Mímisbrunnr, there's that wicked box Hephaestus made when… uh… let's forget about that." She said as a bead of sweat fell from her forehead
"What else… hm… the Cup of Jamshid, the Seven Trumpets… Or was it nine? Mumumu… that's not from my area so I didn't bother much with it..."
"Ahhh whatever! There are too many to even count."
"What about you? Do you have any divine item?"
"Me? Nah… I didn't have any specific items, they were a bother to make, but I did have my temple... and a few gifts so I guess they'd be considered "divine items"…"
Hestia just fell backward and placed her head on a pillow, "Compared to that life, this place is much more interesting… All the children and their dreams, the food and comfort… Did I say the food? I really love the food of the lower world..."
Silver looked at his excited Goddess and smiled. He was already used to her sudden explosions of words. So he rested his head on the couch and got ready for yet another long session...
"Right, how was your day?"
"Well, I first went to…"
…
/Scrible…/
"So much happened in one week…"
He stretched his arms, 'I'm done recording my progress. I can now move on…'
Later that day, Silver could be seen writing something on a piece of paper amidst a series of tubes and beakers… After talking for an entire hour, Hestia got tired and fell asleep. Given the time, she'd wake up eventually, so he decided to work on his "project" while he waited for her to awaken.
Once he was finished, he thought about his status again, checking it as he pulled it from the corner:
—
Mellios Silver
Level 1
Strength F 368 -> D 511
Vitality E 453 -> A 813
Dexterity F 329 -> E 473
Agility F 356 -> C 695
Magic D 518 -> A 882
Magic:
>Magnum opus Ambrosia
Body manipulation-type magic?
Skill:
>Vit Alhjin
Body strengthening-type Skill.
Raises the starting ceiling of basic abilities to H-100, reducing the difficulty of raising them by one rank in the process.
Passive magic interference from all sources, beneficial, or even self-originated.
>Oculus Davidis
Conditional and growth boost-type Skill.
Activates in challenging scenarios, supersizing rewards from a given situation.
—
'Things are progressing quite nicely.' He thought with some pride as he checked his status
When he first saw it, he noticed the extra details. When he asked her about it, Hestia bragged for quite a few minutes before explaining things to him.
In the past week, as she grew used to her duties as a goddess, she began contacting some of her old friends from Heaven, learning from them how to run things. This was something he suggested on a whim, but one he didn't expect her to do, much less successfully keep it a secret from him.
This was just a basic detail Hephaestus suggested to her. It made things a bit tidier… a small detail, but one she was quite proud of. Silver didn't see it as that big of a deal, but he wasn't going to say it and shatter her self-esteem.
What he cared about, however, was the fact that she had hidden it from him… it only came to show how disconnected from her he was. He was happy she was seeking to improve by herself, but a little disappointed he wasn't there to accompany her a bit.
Silver often walked around with her at night, but that wouldn't be enough if he planned on staying around for long. He was in a Familia at the end of the day, just sleeping in the same room and eating dinner together wouldn't cut it.
As for the rest, his stats had risen by a lot, with an average of around 450 points per day spread around his five basic abilities.
As expected, and as intended, his magic stat was the one that rose the most, followed by his vitality for obvious reasons. Silver would always get himself buried in injuries, fighting to the point of extreme exhaustion where the only thing he could do was either drink a potion or teleport away to safety.
And that was while fighting plenty of monsters. The sheer number of creatures he slew each day would probably equate the number of what parties encountered every week! The Excelia alone would raise anyone's stats considerably, much less his with his Skill.
Coupled with his challenges here and there, descending to the Middle Floors, fighting Goliath and even Ottar… the Excelia from his actions accumulated into a considerable tide.
That wasn't even counting his slight… experiments… if he could call them that.
Silver experimented fighting with weights, poisoned, or even while under other abnormal effects. Most of them he sourced directly from monsters in the Dungeon, but most of them he made either at his workshop, or with his abilities.
He, however, preferred to "work" with local-sourced materials…
Silver also began experimenting with training exercises to raise his stats. Now that he had spent a week without updating his status, why not spend the next one updating it constantly to test the effects of that?
There wouldn't be a better chance than this one. In the future, things were only bound to grow harder for him to try himself unless he found others to experiment with.
While it was obvious to consider applying some hardship to oneself was going to improve Excelia gain, Silver wanted to know just how effective each of his ideas were. His grandparents gave him some ideas, having him inherit much of the wisdom of their Familia, but there was still much to learn from others.
What he learned was that most Familias kept such knowledge extremely private, which he found a bummer… even the Guild didn't share much with him, which he found odd but understood to some degree.
The Guild would never share potentially fatal methods with people who already put their lives on the line. To get access to the real gritty stuff, he'd have to dig deeper and raise his authority in some manner… or grow closer to other more affluent Familias.
Regardless of it all, his progress was already speedy. He knew things would slow down, he could already tell given how "little" his stats rose despite his tremendous efforts.
Nonetheless, he believed that within his first month, he'd definitely be able to reach S-999 in at least one stat. If he kept his intensity, hunted the Goliath again, or something interesting happened in between, another stat might reach that level.
Excelia alone wouldn't do to raise those heights. Equivalent dangers and challenges were needed to push his body beyond its limits!
What mattered was that at its core, Silver could already Rank Up, which shocked both of them. When he first updated his status, while his stats qualified for it, he hadn't accumulated enough high-ranking Excelia… maybe because it had been his very first update, but now he had enough.
Multiple encounters with Level 2 monsters like the Minotaur and beyond such as Goliath and even Ottar had pushed his blessing to the next level. All that was left was to enhance it… which he declined.
If there was still room for growth, both he and Hestia believed it was better to wait than push his overworked body upward… even when the time came and he reached his limits, Silver believed spending some time training was still better than ranking up.
Now, compared to his first day, Dexterity didn't rise by a lot. That's because there isn't much form to improve. Monster attack patterns on the Upper Floors were simple to counter, so even though he fought a lot, it didn't increase much despite how much he bled for it.
Strength rose a bit more, but it wasn't the core of his training. It served as a supporting stat to what he did the most, and that was throwing himself into a frenzy with his Plasmids.
Although he mostly avoided blows from some monsters, the ones he blocked counted towards this development. And at the same time, all actions where he put some effort with his body counted a little to its growth.
However, with his strength catching up to most monsters on the Upper Floors, its slowing was but a defined outcome.
To better contextualize, Silver's combat style focused on either parrying or blocking most monsters' attacks and creating openings with his Plasmids. This was both his preferred method of combat and training as it involved multiple basic abilities.
As for those moves that were too strong for him… he evaded them… or tried to at least… If an Orc's strike were to hit his arm… it'd break, no questions asked. So he evaded it.
But one thing was to evade its empty hand, and the other was to evade it when the same hand was holding a club the size of a tree trunk…
While he preferred to end things with his 'magic', he knew he needed to give space for his body to train. Even though he had yet to decide on what type of adventurer he wanted to be, a Magic Swordsman that fought with magic on the frontline was likely the natural outcome given his abilities.
For that not to end his life, some degree of physical training to sustain his magic was needed.
Lastly, his Agility rose as a consequence of everything combined. His strength rose when he blocked, his vitality rose when he was hit, and his agility rose when he evaded and moved around. The trinity of stats, where his decision making stood at its center.
But most of this stat came from his experiments, of course… what he called his "Morning Training Run", where he would find a Minotaur and inject it with poisons before proceeding to run with all his might.
He'd run with nothing but his bare body until it expired naturally… some lasted longer than others, others were faster than others… yesterday he almost died when he grew overconfident…
The natural course of things.
"Hm… it's getting late."
Silver looked at the clock hanging on the wall and pushed his chair away from the table.
'Let's continue this late. There's still a lot of time before I Rank Up… I'll succeed by then; progress has been swift ever since I left the village and got some privacy.'
Silver looked at the schematics on the table, most of those things were written in plain English and not in the common tongue. They depicted complex formulas and notes regarding his experiments… mostly a sequence of experiments and the results each of them produced.
'Plasmids are but temporary, a blessing builds upon the Vessel, strengthening it…'
"But what if I were to build upon the Vessel itself?"
'Demi humans already possess near-inhuman power. So, I believe its just fair for me to attempt something similar. To strengthen my body to their level if not beyond it!'
'Issue is… I'm going mostly from my own memories here. I can do much work with my Plasmids, but I can't help but miss my old laboratory and the research stations… I feel like a troglodyte trying to sharpen a rock on a riverside…'
He scrambled his hair in frustration, "Sigh… even if I have to crack this into a dozen parts…"
'Step by step, I'll alter my DNA… and reach Ambrosia just the same! The eternal body that I once dreamed of… is now within my grasp. All I have to do is bide my time… and not die in the Dungeon.'
He smiled, "But how can I resist it?"
'This is everything I've always dreamed of.'
He left his workshop, the papers over his table… gone.
…
.
.
.
Notes
In terms of timeline and progress, I think we're now far better settled.
While there is no confirmation of time, I at least know (after reading most volumes) that they have yet to go through winter despite Bell being in Orario for well over eight months.
Assuming he arrived in Spring, most of the events I planned for should fall within 1-2 months of where they'd be in their canon continuity.
I don't have much intention of being 100% faithful to the canon when there are so many gaps everywhere, but respecting the source material is something I like to do.
As for his progress itself, we can leave that for another time...
Thanks for reading, peace!