With the Grace baptism ritual concluded, Fujibayashi Yukino straightened her clothes.
Haimer finally raised his right hand, his fingers casually tracing a slit through the empty air.
An oval doorway of space, radiating a soft white glow, took shape within the room, its edges shimmering faintly at the rim.
"Miss Fujibayashi, I'll leave this place to you."
Haimer turned to look at Fujibayashi Yukino.
"Yes, Kami-sama." Fujibayashi Yukino bowed deeply, accepting the order. And with that, it was settled.
Haimer turned back and stepped straight through the doorway of light.
Inaba Tsukuyo followed close behind.
After giving Fujibayashi Yukino a slight nod, Narukami Koharu likewise strode into the white light without hesitation.
The light door swiftly contracted, until it vanished entirely.
Orario, the upper-class residential district.
When Haimer, Inaba Tsukuyo, and Narukami Koharu reappeared in the first-floor hall of Haimer's estate, Narukami Koharu planted her feet and immediately began sizing up her surroundings.
Just a moment ago she had merely stepped through a door made of light, and the very next second every furnishing in her line of sight had completely changed. The hall was enormously spacious.
The hall was enormously spacious. A massive Magic Stone chandelier hung from the ceiling, giving off a steady, bright light—a light source entirely unlike an incandescent bulb.
Haimer, meanwhile, glanced at the Magic Stone wall clock.
"There's still some time before Miss Shakti arrives."
"Tsukuyo, I'm heading out to make some preparations. You stay home."
"I'll trouble you to give your sister a detailed explanation of the rules of this world."
Haimer finished speaking.
"Tsukuyo understands."
Inaba Tsukuyo immediately nodded in reply.
Haimer said no more, turning and walking toward the estate's main door.
The heavy wooden door was pushed open, Haimer stepped outside, and the door swung shut on its own behind him.
Only the two sisters remained in the hall.
Narukami Koharu paid her younger sister no mind; instead she walked off on her own to the central courtyard and looked upward.
There, on the distant skyline, a colossal white tower soared into the clouds, piercing straight into the heavens.
"...That tower is called Babel Tower."
A familiar voice came from behind her.
Narukami Koharu turned her head to look at her younger sister.
"And so?"
"Start from the beginning. What exactly is the deal with this world?"
Narukami Koharu tilted up her chin.
"Then please, have a seat, honored elder sister—after all, there's quite a lot to explain."
Inaba Tsukuyo and Narukami Koharu seated themselves across from each other at a round obsidian table.
"First, regarding the basic structure of this world."
"The city we're in is called Orario—the only Labyrinth City in this world that possesses an entrance to the Dungeon, and also the center of the entire world. Adventurers from every corner of the continent gather here, all with a single goal: to conquer the Dungeon and obtain the Magic Stones and drop items within."
"Magic Stones?" Narukami Koharu rapped the table.
"A kind of crystal that drops when a monster is killed."
"Because this world's lighting, heating, and even the powering of devices all depend on Magic Stones, and killing monsters yields Magic Stones, adventurers usually earn their pay by exchanging Magic Stones through the Guild—which was founded by the first god to descend to the Lower World, the great god Ouranos. And the currency unit here is called Valis."
Narukami Koharu nodded.
Honestly, the logic was quite simple—stamina brings resources, resources buy strength.
In essence there was nothing different; only the form had changed.
"As for the Dungeon situated beneath the Labyrinth City, it's an extraordinarily vast subterranean labyrinth structure."
Inaba Tsukuyo continued.
"The known number of floors currently exceeds several dozen. The deeper you go, the more powerful and ferocious the monsters become. The upper floors, one through twelve, are where rookie adventurers operate; the middle floors, thirteen through twenty-four, are the battleground of the core forces; and the deep floors below that… are a domain only the very finest adventurers can set foot in."
"What floor did you reach?"
Narukami Koharu raised an eyebrow.
"Below the twenty-first floor—the Great Tree Labyrinth."
"But that doesn't really matter; you'll come to know it in the future, elder sister."
"Next is the most important part."
Inaba Tsukuyo's tone dropped half a degree.
"God's Grace."
"That thing that Kami-sama just did on my back?"
"Yes."
"Elder sister, you may think of it this way… God's Grace is a key."
"It doesn't create power out of nothing, but it unlocks and gives concrete form to a person's physical qualities, combat instincts, and even the talents sleeping in the depths of their soul."
"After receiving the Grace, our basic abilities—Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Agility, and Magic—are displayed on our backs in numerical form. Every battle, every act that pushes ourselves to our limits, causes those numbers to rise."
Numerical growth.
In other words—so long as you keep fighting, you can keep growing stronger, and the extent of that growth can be measured precisely.
A deeper understanding of the [God's Grace] that made oneself stronger.
Narukami Koharu gradually grew interested as well.
"So how do I view my own numbers?"
"For that, Kami-sama has to update the Grace."
Inaba Tsukuyo said.
"After receiving the ability, everyone's basic ability values start from the I0 stage, then go up in order—H, G, F, E, D, C, B, A—and above that are S, SS, with the highest being SSS."
"In this world, every letter stage corresponds to a numerical range. Generally speaking, for an adventurer to raise any single basic ability to the D or C stage at their current level is already considered excellent, and the number of people who've raised one above S can be counted on one hand in all of Orario's history."
"So then, Tsukuyo, have you reached S rank?"
Narukami Koharu raised an eyebrow.
"My Dexterity and Agility have already reached SS."
Inaba Tsukuyo answered.
Narukami Koharu understood at once.
No wonder.
No wonder her own Cloud Radiance had been so effortlessly knocked aside by Inaba Tsukuyo.
It seemed her little sister had already been raised into an utter monster in this world.
"Then, once the accumulation of basic abilities reaches a certain threshold, and after accomplishing a heroic feat known as a Deed, one can Level Up—that is, the rank sublimation I told you about, elder sister."
"Each time the level rises, physical qualities undergo a qualitative leap, and one also gains additional skills called Development Abilities. The price is—after leveling up, all basic ability values reset to zero and you accumulate them from scratch."
"From scratch?"
Narukami Koharu's brow furrowed.
"It's only returning to the I0 state."
"The original ability values don't disappear; they continue to accumulate as hidden ability parameters."
Inaba Tsukuyo added.
"The physical enhancement brought by leveling up is permanent. A Lv.2 adventurer, even if all their values are I, is still stronger than a Lv.1 adventurer with A in every attribute."
"Thus the gap between levels is fundamental—to cross one level is to cross a chasm."
And though elder sister was only Lv.1 for now.
"But judging from the way your talent is manifesting, elder sister..."
"Your rate of leveling up will likely be extremely fast, elder sister."
"You're that confident in me? How long did it take you to level up to Lv.2?"
"Less than three days."
"...Less than three days?"
Narukami Koharu raised an eyebrow, the smile on her face fading slightly.
"Yes."
Inaba Tsukuyo nodded.
"And what's more, every member of our Familia, from receiving the Grace to rank sublimation to Lv.2, spent only a few days."
"We broke the fastest level-up record previously held in this world by Miss Ais Wallenstein of the [Loki Familia]—which had been one year."
One day.
Versus one year.
Narukami Koharu clicked her tongue.
The gap was simply too vast.
It seemed she had indeed picked the right god.
The ones this god's Familia raised were, every single one, thoroughgoing monsters.
"Since we've come this far, let me introduce the other comrades of our Familia to you, elder sister."
Inaba Tsukuyo smoothly shifted to the next topic, her pace quickening a touch.
"First is a member who came to this world from the academy together with me—Amou Kirukiru. You surely remember her, elder sister."
Narukami Koharu nodded.
Of course she remembered.
The number of people in the world capable of reaching the ultimate goal—the realm of the Avatar Blade—could be counted on one hand.
Back when she'd heard that Amou Kirukiru had enrolled, she had kept a constant eye on her.
"That Amou clan…"
"Kirukiru is currently the member with the strongest overall combat power in the Familia."
"Besides her, there's also Onigawara Rin from our school."
Inaba Tsukuyo continued counting off names.
"Kikakujou Mary."
"Nomura Satori."
"Hanasaka Warabi, and the two bears at her side."
"So, are Hanasaka Warabi's two bears also Lv.2?"
"Yes. Kyoubou, and Little Bear—they too received Kami-sama's God's Grace and have already sublimated to Lv.2."
"Though it's quite incredible, Little Bear, despite still being young, seems to have fulfilled the conditions for rank sublimation in its sleep, purely by relying on its admiration for us, and sublimated to Lv.2 alongside us."
Inaba Tsukuyo's chatterbox nature was on full display before the elder sister she hadn't seen in so long.
But.
Hearing this news, Narukami Koharu was stunned, and opened her mouth to speak.
But after a moment's hesitation, she promptly closed it again.
Whatever. This was another world anyway; even a bear could be a prodigy.
Narukami Koharu decided not to dig too deeply, at this moment, into whether "a bear that sleeps all day and wakes up at the same level as a human" made any sense at all.
Inaba Tsukuyo, for her part, didn't notice and continued.
"Those are the members who came to Orario from our world."
"Beyond that, aside from our world, Kami-sama also brought back several comrades from another world."
"Another world?"
"Yes."
"A few days ago, Kami-sama went to another world."
"An apocalyptic world where humanity had been almost entirely slaughtered by monstrous viruses called Gastrea."
Then, Inaba Tsukuyo briefly explained the situation of the Holy Emperor's group.
"Tendou Kisara, Aihara Enju, and Kohina Hiruko, along with the Holy Emperor."
Narukami Koharu listened while running these few names through her mind.
She'd never met them, but anyone who could survive amid an apocalypse and still catch the eye of this god with such exacting standards would, no matter how she thought about it, be no meek little lamb.
"Fine, I've got it." Narukami Koharu waved a hand. "Besides these few from the academy and these four from the other world, is there anyone else?"
"And then..."
"There are also, within our Familia, a few… rather special existences."
At this point Tsukuyo's tone slowed further.
"Special how?"
"In that they are monsters known as Xenos."
"Monsters?"
"Aren't monsters the very things you hunt to exchange for resources?"
"Yes, but they're different."
"So, elder sister, although what I'm about to say may be a little hard to understand, please hear me out first."
"Orario's Dungeon does indeed spontaneously give birth to all sorts of monsters—Goblins, Killer Ants, Hellhounds, Minotaurs, a great many kinds. The vast majority of monsters have only the instinct to attack—no reason, no language, no emotion."
"But in a very small number—extremely rare—of cases, the Dungeon gives birth to monsters possessing a complete mind."
"Able to think, able to speak, possessing emotions."
"Because they differ from ordinary monsters, and are even hunted by other monsters."
"They gave themselves a new name—Xenos."
"Originally, because these Xenos had to face being hunted by both adventurers and other monsters at the same time, they were forced to hide for long periods in the secret depths of the Dungeon."
"Until not long ago."
"Kami-sama stepped forward and declared the Xenos to be under his own name."
With this, Narukami Koharu finally understood.
"So, you're now sitting here informing me."
"That I not only have a bear comrade who can level up even in its sleep, but also several comrades who aren't even human at all—monsters?"
"Yes, elder sister understands very precisely."
Inaba Tsukuyo nodded.
"Setting aside the internal matters of our Familia, let me also mention the outside."
Seeing how quickly her elder sister was accepting all this, Inaba Tsukuyo smilingly omitted some of the reassurances.
"Within the circle of the gods."
"There are three Familias with whom we're most closely connected."
Inaba Tsukuyo held up three fingers.
"The first Familia is the [Ganesha Familia]."
"They're known as the city's military police, and the Familia's captain is a woman named Shakti Varma—a very powerful and upright female adventurer."
"When we first arrived, Captain Shakti paid out of her own pocket to buy us our first estate here, along with a full set of furniture."
"The military police captain bought you a house?"
Narukami Koharu's expression suddenly turned rather peculiar.
Wasn't this getting a bit too wild?
"Yes. This matter is rather complicated to explain… but in any case, once Captain Shakti comes over shortly, you'll understand, elder sister."
Inaba Tsukuyo pressed down her second finger in passing.
"There's also the second Familia—the [Hephaestus Familia]."
"Lady Hephaestus is the God of the Forge, and her Familia is one of the top smithing factions in all of Orario."
"The weapons our Familia used at the start all came from the [Hephaestus Familia]'s treasury."
"The captain of the [Hephaestus Familia], Miss Tsubaki Collbrande, is a Lv.5 swordsmith, and she's been our guide ever since our very first day entering the Dungeon."
"Besides that."
"The third is the [Loki Familia]."
"As one of the strongest factions in Orario, it possesses several top-tier adventurers at Lv.5 and even Lv.6, and Lady Loki herself has a very deep friendship with Kami-sama from their time in the Heavens."
"The rare materials on the first-class equipment we currently use were all provided by the Loki Familia."
"…and the weapons were reforged with them."
"Besides that, there's only one more goddess of a rather special status..."
"A goddess?"
"Mm, a goddess… without a Familia."
"Because she's an old acquaintance of Kami-sama from the Heavens, she currently lives with us at the estate."
"Lives here?"
"Yes."
"The situation is somewhat complicated to explain."
"Lady Hestia seems to be fond of our Kami-sama and no longer intends to recruit a Familia, so she often makes a huge fuss over the women around Kami-sama."
"That said, she isn't a bad god either."
"By the sound of it, our Kami-sama has quite a few romantic entanglements."
"We wouldn't dare presume to comment on Kami-sama's affairs."
Inaba Tsukuyo lowered her head slightly.
"However, now that you've come to Orario, there are still a few things you need to understand, elder sister."
"Such as?"
"Gods are forbidden from using Divine Power in the Lower World."
"So regarding this point, Tsukuyo hopes you'll remember, elder sister, not to reveal to others that we come from another world."
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