Time passed slowly.
With Leo and Ouka clearing the way and Mikoto responsible for scouting the surroundings, the group returned to the surface smoothly without any accidents.
However, just as Leo was preparing to head to the counter to exchange today's loot for Valis, a familiar voice came from not far away.
"Leo! You're finally out!"
"Hestia? Why are you here?"
Leo turned around, and a petite but 'well equipped' figure appeared in his sight.
"I heard from Hephaestus that it's easy for children to get injured during their first Dungeon exploration. I was worried something might happen to you, so I came to check."
Hestia jogged up to Leo and quickly circled around him. Seeing that he wasn't injured, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"What do you know, it doesn't look that dangerous. Hephaestus just likes to scare me."
"Actually, it was still quite dangerous. Thanks to this set of equipment you bought for me, I didn't get hurt."
Leo patted the armor on his body.
Although Thunder Breathing could boost combat power, it also rapidly consumed physical strength.
In order to save stamina to kill more monsters and maximize the training results,
Leo hadn't used Thunder Breathing at all before the members of the Take-Mikazuchi Familia arrived.
Without relying on Thunder Breathing and only using the physical fitness of three people to face the siege of a monster army, even Leo inevitably got grazed a few times.
If it weren't for this armor recommended by Hephaestus being sturdy enough, he would have been wounded in at least a few places.
"I see. Then I've misunderstood Hephaestus. I'll have to thank her properly later."
A self-deprecating smile appeared on Hestia's face.
It was quite embarrassing to have just complained about Hephaestus only to find out she had been a big help.
"By the way, who are these people?"
Hestia looked to the side, changing the subject.
Leo introduced them, "They are members of the Take-Mikazuchi Familia. I ran into them while hunting monsters in the Dungeon."
"Oh, you're Take-Mikazuchi's children."
Hestia tilted her head, curiously sizing up Ouka and the others.
Hmm, they're average.
Leo is still better!
On the other side, seeing Hestia's tone was so familiar, a look of curiosity appeared on Ouka's face.
"Goddess Hestia, do you know Lord Take-Mikazuchi?"
Hestia nodded, "Of course I do. We used to work part-time at the same shop."
Not long ago, after being kicked out of her residence by Hephaestus, Hestia had worked at a fried potato puff stall for a while to earn a living.
The one who had started working with her at that time was none other than the God of War, Take-Mikazuchi.
Both had friendly personalities, and after a few conversations, they became friends, often chatting about daily topics.
And among those topics, what Take-Mikazuchi mentioned most was his own Familia members.
"So you're the Goddess Lord Take-Mikazuchi mentioned," Ouka realized.
Because they were supported by their Familias, not many deities would go to work at a fried potato puff shop.
Regarding Hestia, Take-Mikazuchi had mentioned her a couple of times during their daily chats.
It was just that at the time, the other party had referred to Hestia as the 'Loli Goddess', which caused Ouka to not react when he first heard Hestia's name.
"Speaking of which, Leo seemed to have said just now that he wanted to visit Lord Take-Mikazuchi."
"Since Goddess Hestia is also here, would you two like to come to our Familia as guests?"
"Visit Take-Mikazuchi?"
Hestia looked at Leo.
"I heard Take-Mikazuchi is a God of War, so I wanted to ask him some things."
After explaining, Leo looked at Ouka: "My Goddess and I have other things to do. We won't disturb God Take-mikazuchi today; perhaps tomorrow."
...
After saying goodbye to Ouka and the others, the two exchanged their loot for Valis and returned to the church basement.
After finishing dinner as usual, Lin Dong pulled Hestia to the bed to start the official business.[ Not that kind of business. ]
[Leo—LV.1]
[Strength: H101→H167]
[Endurance: H113→H134]
[Dexterity: H107→H190]
[Agility: H116→H198]
[Magic: I0]
[Magic: None]
[Skill: Oneness]
"Eh? Why did it increase so much?"
Looking at the freshly updated ability points in her hand, a look of surprise appeared on Hestia's face.
Although adventurers who have just received a blessing find it easier to improve than high-level adventurers, Leo's growth speed was clearly abnormal.
In one day, excluding Magic which couldn't be trained, the four dimensions increased by a total of 252 points.
If you said this outside, nine out of ten people wouldn't believe it.
As for the remaining kind-hearted person, they would send you to the hospital to see a doctor.
"It should be due to the influence of the skill." Leo was also somewhat surprised by this growth rate.
After some thought, his gaze turned toward the recently awakened [Oneness].
[Oneness: The greater the number, the stronger the effect]
Compared to the descriptions of other skills, the description of Oneness was much shorter.
Influenced by the atmosphere of the the mist Plaza, Leo had understood its effect as: the more otherworldly counterparts he came into contact with, the higher his physical stats would be.
Now it seemed that this skill also possessed the effect of accelerated growth, allowing Leo to gain more ability points while fighting monsters.
"Growth acceleration... I didn't expect there to be this type of skill."
Hestia fell into deep thought: "If you can maintain this speed, Leo, you should be able to break through to Level 2 very soon."
Leo calculated: "Including the time to obtain achievements, it should take about two to three weeks."
"That's already very fast."
Hestia let out a sigh of admiration.
The current holder of the fastest breakthrough record in Orario was the Sword Princess of the Loki Familia.
It took that person a full year to break through from Level 1 to Level 2.
But even that record paled in comparison to Leo's growth speed.
"There's no rush for the breakthrough; I need to find a way to get a magic book first."
Leo looked at his Magic stat, which remained at zero.
Mist Plaza connects different worlds, and it's highly likely that a Leo from a magical world will arrive in the future.
To lay a good foundation for his future self, he couldn't afford to have major weaknesses. He needed to master at least one spell to grind his Magic stat to S-rank.
Hestia: "A magic book... I recall those are special items that can only be written by beings who have pushed the rare abilities of [Magic] and [Mystery] to their limits. We can't afford that."
"Yeah, we can't afford it."
Leo nodded.
A magic book can guide an adventurer to master the Magic best suited for them; its value was self-evident.
Even if there were a purchasing channel, it would cost tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of Valis.
Leo had spent the entire day hunting in the Dungeon, maintaining high-intensity combat throughout.
After deducting the costs for maintaining his weapons and armor, his total income was seventy thousand Valis.
Saving at this rate, it would take him at least two years to gather enough money for a magic book.
"It seems I'll have to use unconventional means."
"Unconventional means?"
"Yeah, I'm planning to initiate a War Game."
War is the fastest way to achieve primitive accumulation.
Compared to saving money bit by bit, initiating a War Game to plunder the wealth of another Familia was undoubtedly simpler.
"Eh? Is that really okay?"
Hestia hesitated.
As a homebody goddess, Hestia's personality leaned toward Lawful Good.
Asking her to be the instigator of a War Game was truly pushing her out of her comfort zone.
"This is my goal. If you still think it's inappropriate after reading this, I can give it up."
Leo knew Hestia's personality, so he pulled out the materials he had prepared in advance and placed them on the table.
"The Developmental History of the Sumo Familia?"
Looking at the seven large characters on the cover, Hestia picked it up and flipped to the first page.
Ten minutes later, Hestia set the document down with a serious expression.
"Is this intelligence true?"
"It's true."
"How certain are you?"
"One hundred percent."
"Let's get them."
Hestia declared.