Ji bun Yūji- 1

On the higher floors, 6th floor.

It wasn't that hard to get Haruhime into the Hephaestus Familia. I mean, I was already the pseudo-captain. The number of times when Tsubaki would try to give me the 'honours' of being the esteemed captain of the grand Hephaestus Familia were countless… She just wanted to free her time to focus on forging. I wanted to inform her that there would be no conceivable way for her to beat me in forging at this point. But, who knows? She might just pull some miracle from her ass. Or a magic level-up, as she usually calls my improvements.

The blessing did indeed work on me. It seems that Haruhime can grant 'Half' of a level up. That would amount to about D-500 rank in all stats, such a result was already broken for the average adventurer, as they seldom raise their stats above D rank. In fact, only one stat was needed to be at D rank to level up after impressing the gods... That was why adventurers aren't as strong as they could possibly be.

As for me, it was different. My cap was EX1999, unlike the usual S999. Naturally, she gave me a level up worth S999. However, it seems to take more Mind reserves out of her.

That was why we were here in the first place. She needed to get stronger, and I was not going to take it easy on her. I could have only trained her on the surface for the first level, I was confident she could get stronger quickly with the help of some items I made. But Haruhime needed experience.

[Excelia boosting Potion.]

A revolutionary potion, made by Akagi Ken. The user gains 50% more Excelia for the next 4 hours.

I of course didn't publicise that I can make such potions. Only two knew about it. It was Hephie and Tsubaki. I had offered a quick batch to Tsubaki to get her up to date, she's always been a good friend to me... But she refused it, saying that she would rather forge instead, and the potions would just be wasted.

I 'calmly' informed Tsubaki how stupid she was being. She might as well just gulp them down while forging. I never expected some sort of payment to begin with…

—

[Haruhime Sanjouno]

Level: 1

-Strength: I-10

-Endurance: I-10

-Dexterity: I-10

-Agility: I-10

-Magic: I-10

Skills: -

Magic:

-Uchide no kozuchi: The blessing of the Kitsune. The user can buff the level of anything, other than the caster. The effectiveness, duration, and cooldown-recovery speed depend greatly on the Kitsune's strength.

—

I still remember the knowing face Hephie gave me when she looked at her status. I suppose she must have realised what could have happened to her had she stayed in the Ishtar Familia. That skill was quite frankly disgusting. And everyone and their dead grandmother know about Ishtar's jealousy towards Freya.

*Swoosh*

I looked at the battle in front of me from the shadows of darkness. I would only step in if things get rough for her.

Of course, I was no demon… I did give her some rather good armour— personally crafted— to make sure she doesn't immediately die. It was a mixture of light and middleweight armour. The metal plates were of silver colour using an expensive alloy. I also had to ensure integrity despite the lightweight. It was an interesting project.

The offence, however, would be left entirely up to her. I only supplied her with the guild short sword.

[Frog Shooter- Lv1]

HP: 195

MP: -

*Swish*

"*Ugh*" Haruhime staggered back from the hit the frog managed to land on her stomach. Its tongue swipe was as deceptively fast as usual.

Luckily, the armour served to soften the blow, but not the knockback effect.

No longer was she the tame little fox that I had to force to end the goblins' miserable existence. I would bring their half-dead bodies to her and guide the weapon in her shaky hands to the middle of their skulls.

It was slightly hardcore, to be fair. But that was the only way she could get her shit together. Otherwise, she would just be an over-glorified level-up machine.

*Growl*

"…"

Or maybe she got her shit too together…

A low growl instinctually escaped the little Kitsune's mouth as she barred her teeth at the frog in front of her. Her fluffy tail rose to the sky in agitation.

The difference in stats was apparent, never mind the fact that Haruhime was still a bit clumsy. Years of being trained as a noble child to get married off will do that to you.

*Swoosh*

Another strike hit her. This time it was directly to her face. She fell down on her butt…

'Maybe it's too early….' I muttered, ready to interfere. We could always try another time...

"Don't!!..." I heard a scream. It was directed at the empty air, but it was surely aimed at me. I did promise her I would handle it if it gets too hard.

I halted the magic I wanted to throw at the frog when I saw her expression. Her green eyes shimmered in determination, she didn't have the eyes of someone that has given up. Nodding, I chose to respect her choice.

I was constantly on the edge of my seat, there were too many close calls. Haruhime naturally couldn't overwhelm the monster with speed or strength.

She dodged and dodged… I could swear I saw the moonlight seeping through the dark dungeon to further draw me into the fight.

The fight was something straight out of a hero tale. The small, weak hero fighting the big bad ugly monster and struggling to barely survive.

It was captivating.

[Forg Shooter- Lv1]

HP: 50/190

MP: -

The monster was on its last legs.

"*Huff* *Huff*" But so was Haruhime. Blood trickled down from her face onto the no longer shiny armour— it gained a blood crimson hue to it.

This was going to be the last sprint to either victory or defeat.

"Aaagh!" Haruhime shouted her lungs out as she charged at the Frog monster with the short sword in her hand, her long blond hair fluttered in the wind; she didn't care about the pain anymore. She only needed to cover her face. Haruhime trusted the armour she had been given.

*Swish*

The sword made contact with the frog's skin, and I tensed up. It was not enough to puncture it with her this exhausted. She didn't stop, despite that.

Haruhime gritted her teeth as she pushed the blade as far as she could into the toad's belly. It was getting pushed ever so slightly, all the while the toad struggled and shot out its slimy tongue randomly. Disregarding Guts and blood violently streamed out from the monster's belly, she never once let go of the short sword's handle.

The monster eventually stopped struggling.

*Poof* The sound of its magic stone followed right after.

But that didn't matter. With the monster no longer supporting her, Haruhime was about to fall down face first as the adrenaline loss sapped her strength.

I wouldn't allow that.

"Ken-Sama… I did it," she muttered, faintly, registering my appearance.

"Yes, you did. That was a good fight." I proudly informed her. But she had already passed out in my embrace.

---

[Akagi Ken]

Level:5-->6

HP: 12400--->15600

MP: 6200--->7800

STR: 160-->168

VIT: 160-->170

DEX: 160-->170

WIS: 160-->168

Unallocated Stat points: 156-->181

Valis: ~10mil

-Strength: EX1999-->E420

-Endurance: EX1999-->D521

-Dexterity: EX1999-->D530

-Agility: EX1999-->E460

-Magic: EX1999-->

Skills: Gamers Mind - Gamers Body - Instinct - Mind's Eye (True) - Mage - Mystery- MasterSmith- One-Handed Sword Mastery - Rejuvenation - Shapeshifting - Mixing- DivinTouch- Luck- Endless Libido- Battle continuation- Mana Burst.

Magic: Ele magic - Non-Ele magic - Inventory- Space-Time magic.

[MasterSwordsman: Lv9--->15]

[MasterElementalist: Lv7-->13]

[Dark/Holy ArchMage: Lv6.]

[SpacialTemporal Archmage: Lv3-->11]

[MasterSmithing: Lv14-->18.]

[MasterAlchemist: Lv1-->11]

[Divine Touch: Lv3]

if you want to help me out or read advanced chaps, pt/MunirSM