The entire day passed without many incidents. Since yesterday was a bit complicated, I rested the whole day. When night fell and we ate at the dining room, I finally had time to talk with Hephaestus.
She had spent the entire day working while I rested at home.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, showing concern.
"I'm fine, don't worry."
"Didn't you feel any pain during the day?"
"Hahaha." I chuckled. "I'm fine, you're worrying too much."
"When I remember that you had a leg ripped off, I can't help but worry!!"
"I already told you, I'm fine."
After showing a bit more of her concern, Hephaestus asked again about what had happened inside the dungeon. I only gave her a summary and left out the details.
I told her about my skill and how it created a sort of "Mission" for me, making me face 50 War Shadows.
I hadn't mentioned the number of monsters I fought before, so she was shocked.
"50 War Shadows!? Sure, they're monsters from the upper floors, but they're strong. Probably the strongest monsters in the upper floors! How did you manage to fight 50 of them!?"
"Of course, I didn't fight them all head-on, I…"
I explained what I had done.
"So you tricked them and didn't fight all at once. That was smart. If you had faced all 50, you'd definitely be dead by now. I don't even want to think about it…" Hephaestus' expression darkened.
"If you had died, I…"
"It's better not to finish that sentence."
"..."
"But that plan wasn't anything special. Anyone who knows they can't handle that many at once would have thought of the same thing. I also had a bit of luck. Everything I tried worked out."
It's like a script written by someone who loves making the protagonist seem stronger than he actually is. I'm not that strong. I only have some power because of my swords.
"From the way you're telling me… you really were lucky. If that monster had hit your leg just a little higher, you would have bled to death…"
"I also had the script on my side."
"What do you mean?"
"Everything worked out. The monsters didn't all attack at once, I had time to think. Those monsters seemed aware and got too overconfident. In the end, they were playing with me."
"In the end, what matters is that everything turned out fine…" Hephaestus took a bite of her food, chewed, and swallowed. "I wonder how long it'll take before you go back to the dungeon after all this."
"I plan to go back soon."
"Aren't you afraid?"
"If I said I wasn't afraid that something similar could happen again, I'd be lying… But I'm quite confident. Don't worry, next time I'll bring even stronger weapons."
"Speaking of which, I'll update your Falna today. You killed a lot of monsters, right? Maybe you've leveled up a lot."
"If only it were that easy…"
We finished eating and returned to our room.
After bathing together, Hephaestus climbed on top of me and got ready to update my Falna.
I felt the touch of her hands on my back.
"Your hands are cold," I said, burying my face in the pillow.
Hephaestus put more of her weight on me and pinched my waist.
"Stay still, I'll finish this quickly."
"Alright~~"
Hephaestus quickly updated my Falna. When she finished and looked at the paper in her hands, she became restless.
"Hey, look at this! Something new appeared! It's a skill!"
I lifted my face from the pillow and sat up, throwing Hephaestus onto the bed.
"Hey!"
"Let me see that!" I grabbed the paper from her hands.
####
I read through all my stats, and they had increased more than I expected.
Strength: 35
Endurance: 71
Dexterity: 54
Agility: 44
Magic: 37
Especially my Dexterity and Agility. Both had increased significantly. And the skill Hephaestus mentioned…
The name of the skill is Soulforge, a skill that doesn't exist in the Danmachi world.
At least, not that I remember.
"Hey, have you ever seen this skill before?" I asked Hephaestus.
"No, I've never heard of this skill before. I don't even know what it does."
"There's no description… How am I supposed to figure out what this skill does!?"
"The name makes it clear that it has something to do with forging. Maybe it's a new skill that enhances your ability to forge items?" Hephaestus suggested.
She might be right. That's probably it.
Then, a message from the system appeared before my eyes.
[ Your Falna has been updated! ]
[ The last reward has been delivered ]
[ The skill "Soulforge" has been added to the user's Falna ]
[ The skill "Soulforge" allows the user to gain Falna experience through the forging process! ]
"Oh!" I instinctively reacted upon reading the last system message. This is amazing. This skill is so overpowered!
But what's with this? The system was forcing me to go into the dungeon to get materials for the Familia, and now it's giving me a skill like this? Now I don't need to go into the dungeon to earn Excelia and level up my Falna!
Though, the Excelia gain is probably much lower through forging than by fighting monsters.
"What's wrong? Why are you staring at the wall and grinning like that?"
"I figured out what this skill does."
"What? Does it have something to do with your strange ability?"
"That's right."
"So… what's the effect?" Hephaestus seemed hesitant to ask.
"This skill lets me gain Excelia through forging items," I said.
When she heard my words, Hephaestus was silent for a few seconds, her mouth slowly opening in shock.
"That shouldn't be possible." That was all she said. She was stunned by my new skill.
She thought there was no way I'd receive another incredible skill like this.
And I'll gain many more in the future.
####
Read more chapters on my patr eon: patr eon.com/parodygirl
By subscribing to my Patr eon you encourage me to keep writing. I'm planning lots of new fanfics (mainly danmachi) ^^
Next chapters: Chapter 66 - Items. / Chapter 67 - New hammer and rings. / Chapter 68 - Giant hammer. / Chapter 69 - Forge me a sword. / Chapter 70 - Discomfort. / Chapter 71 - Who do you think I am? / Chapter 72 - Should I get close to him?