Changes

The Guild building is rather full, even this early in the morning, but it's a given considering the number of adventurers living in the city. I sat on one of the numerous green couches placed in the discussion area of the first floor, which was a bit secluded and allowed for more personal talks between adventurers and their advisors.

I waited for Eina, who requested a talk with me, to come.

Ever since I entered the main building and came face to face with my advisor, she kept looking at me with a gaze that felt both reproachful and disappointed, something that didn't please me in the least. I had always been susceptible to this kind of gaze after all.

She couldn't be here yesterday when Bella and I went into the dungeon for the first time together, therefore she patiently waited for her next occasion.

I know exactly why she looks at me like this, but I'm going to feign ignorance anyway.

The beautiful half-elf arrived after having taken care of an urgent matter, and sat calmly in front of me, with two cups of what I suppose is tea in her hands.

After thanking her for the drink, and sipping the hot beverage for a bit, I decided to start the conversation.

"Hello Eina-san, how are you doing today?" I ask her cheerfully. Considering how she was with Bell in the anime, I am genuinely curious about her character.

Of course, she doesn't buy my bullshit and responds in a very monotone manner.

"Hello, Tian-san. I hope that your… excursion yesterday to the dungeon was successful," she states. "Of course, I also hope that the books that I've kindly given to you also served you well… After all, learning that you went into the dungeon minutes after your visit to the guild building leaves me wondering how much information you've managed to get from the books you'd parted with…" she adds, her gaze never leaving mine.

I wonder if she thinks that because she keeps this face that I'm suddenly going to be sorry, if that's the case then she's in for a bad surprise.

"First off, I would like to know how you learned that we went to the dungeon immediately after we came here…" I trail off, looking at her for an answer. When she simply smiles knowingly and doesn't answer, I get the impression that Bella might have been part of this.

Now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure it's her.

"Alright Eina-san, I'm going, to be honest with you, I don't think Bella needs coddling when I'm with her, I'm more than capable of letting her grow sufficiently while protecting her from lethal threats, even if I'm a new adventurer. Before this, I was an experienced fighter and-"

"It doesn't matter what you did before becoming an adventurer, I knew far too many people like you that were hailed as prodigies in their villages, and ended up dead in a week because of their overconfidence," she interrupts me.

I… You know what, not even going to comment on this, I'm starting to get angry at how many things she's assuming about me.

"And also," she continues. "Your kind often overestimates the number of monsters the dungeon can deploy to kill someone. Being able to easily dispatch one of two goblins doesn't mean anything, Tian-san."

Her tone is starting to grate on my nerves. She's speaking to me like I'm a failure, and it brings too many bad memories for me to stay calm. I can't stop my eyes from narrowing at my words and my fist from curling up in a fist. My body feels tense as she continues to slander me.

I know that I haven't done anything great in the dungeon yet, but still… I don't like how she lumps me with the rest of the beginners.

Maybe I'm too prideful, especially over nothing worth being angry over, but I can't help it.

"But the worst of all, Tian-san," she says, getting in my face, clearly wanting to start an argument. "I would like you to not involve other people in your idiocy. Bella isn't as strong or as fast as you, so let her go through the dungeon at a safe speed. Although I don't like to say this kind of stuff but…"

"If you wish to die a stupid death in the dungeon, at least do so without dragging other people with you."

Seeing me not reacting except coldly looking at her, Eina sighs and stands up from the green couch where we were sitting, deciding to end the discussion.

"...That's bullshit and you know it," I say, well into her hearing range before she can leave.

She stops, waiting for me to explain without turning around. I speak in low volume due to the people around us, but I have no doubt she can hear me correctly.

"The safety you're trying to instill within Bella is only going to hold her back," I add, drinking the rest of the tea in my cup.

Eina finally turns around and looks at me with her arms crossed under her modest bust.

"No adventurers were able to make progress without taking some risks, considering how falna works, it's simply impossible to improve without putting your life on the line, and you know it."

Eina sighs in frustration, "Yes bu-"

"There's no but," I cut her off. "I understand why you're reacting that way with Bella, and I can't say that I understand what being a guild advisor is like, with people that you're supposed to take care of dying each day. However, Bella simply can't grow by following your methods. Being coddled that much simply won't help her."

"It's not being coddled, the books don't tell you to not push yourself, Tian-san," she sighs, rubbing her forehead in annoyance. "But there's a difference between going into the dungeon blind and preparing yourself for it."

"Sure, but how many people are listening to this information?" I ask, looking into her emerald eyes.

"Far too few," she admits, biting her lips and looking down on the ground at the same time.

"No, that's not what I mean... Eina-san, among those that listen to this," I say, waving the book she gave me about the first four floors and how adventurers should tackle them. "How many of them get above level 5?"

"W-What? Tian-san, do you know how hard it is to even get to level 2? Setting up goals that high is not a healthy way of progressing," she shouts, getting the attention of a few other adventurers. She blushes, and excuses herself for the volume, before sitting back on the couch in front of me.

"So? I don't think you understand what Bella wants, Eina-san. She doesn't want to be like all those other adventurers, rotting in the low levels, waiting for time to pass and getting the bare minimum done each day," I say, my voice getting more and more serious as memories of a time where I also had a dream coming back.

Before I was advised, like Bella is being advised, to be 'safe'. That my dream wasn't worth the possible danger it could bring.

"She wants to be a hero, Eina-san."

"A... hero?"

"Yes, that's what she wants to be," I state, standing up and looking straight in her eyes, not able to hide the disdain I felt for her. "So please, miss guild advisor-"

I know that I shouldn't project the people that ruined my dreams on her, that it wasn't fair on Eina, who just wanted to not have another death on her conscience.

But still…

"-Stop forcing your mediocrity on the ones that want to be great."

I decide to leave before I say something that I'll regret but to be truthful, I think it's already too late.

#####

The following days were rather peaceful for the Hestia familia. Bella and I managed to adapt to our new schedules wonderfully, and the results were very clear to see. The white-haired rabbit-like girl that I had gotten attached to wasn't that talented, but she was motivated and always pushed herself to the limit.

She has a fire inside of her that was honestly quite endearing. For someone that came from a fighter background like me, albeit in a much less dangerous world, I couldn't help but like that aspect of her. It was something that never struck me when I watched the anime male version of her, but then again in just a few days, I learned much more about both her and Hestia than I did while watching the anime.

Honestly, nothing beats real-life interactions with people when it comes to getting to know them.

During this time, I also learned that Bella kept in contact with Syr Flova, despite my initial advice about her. I think that the reason why she is so eager to talk with Syr all the time is that she is the only girl her age she can talk to. Even though Hestia is also a woman, it is clear that she isn't the same age as Bella when they talk together. Hestia is very affectionate, very protective of us and I have no doubt that she loves us very dearly, but it creates a certain gap between her and Bella that indicates that they can't be friends the way Bella and Syr are.

Despite her general childlikeness, Hestia sometimes gets these moments where she makes you realize that she's indeed a god with wisdom beyond what a mortal can have. It was also something that I missed or wasn't shown in the anime.

And to be frank, it only made me like her more.

Regarding the situation with Bella and Syr, I believe that she doesn't need me trying to control her every move. She's a responsible person and will deal with the consequences if things come to that. I am a fellow familia member, not her dad.

I can only give her my opinion, whether she listens to it or not is entirely up to her.

Still, I decided to keep an eye on this Syr Flova just in case—since she doesn't strike me as someone that would meet people just for the sake of it. I feel like she has a hidden motive in seeking out Bella and I don't like that.

Hopefully, I won't get caught off-guard if things turn south.

While thinking about the relationship between Bella and Syr, I dodge the attack of the Killer Ant in front of me.

A lot of things have been distracting me lately.

For one, the surprise Hestia has for me—something that she announced to me a while back—is something that has been in the back of my mind ever since. I was never good at being patient after all. I remember being a kid and throwing tantrums when my parents wouldn't let me see the gits for Christmas in advance.

She also managed to hide my status—no doubt thanks to Hephaestus.

My conversation with Eina is the second thing I can't help but think about because of how my petty anger might have fucked up things with her and the guild.

I should be able to trust Eina's professionalism, but so far I've been getting slaps in the back of my head every time I try to use whatever information the anime conveyed to make an opinion regarding people in this world.

Therefore, I can't know if what happened between me and Eina had bigger consequences within the guild. After all, one asshole was able to get a sweet 2000 bonus in his pocket from me just by abusing his power, what could happen now that I went against Eina.

Realizing that this is a world filled with real people is something that is not that hard to get, but the implications of my actions can be problematic for the people around me isn't something I am used to.

After all, I didn't have the best relationship with my parents in my past life and my objective had always been to become independent as soon as possible. The number of friends that I had was very limited and even then, if I fucked up there was no way they would suffer from it. We weren't close enough to have this kind of repercussion on each other.

I wouldn't mind that much if my words displeased the guild, after all, that is my honest opinion.

I pause.

Scratch that, I would mind if it is the case, but I would be more bothered if they took it out on Bella as well. I don't think I can stand the fact that someone else would get punished for something I did.

Problem is, as impulsive as I am, I already went ahead and said what I thought…

Sigh.

Well, it could be that I am thinking too much into this—I don't think what I've said is truly that important in the end, and I don't know if I can get in trouble for it.

I slap my head while dodging the next strike of the Killer Ants.

I didn't bother staying on the first floors again since my first expedition, except when I am with Bella.

The monsters there are simply too weak for me.

So here I am, on the seventh floor facing perhaps the most dangerous monster for new adventurers. The red shell covering the body of the ant is too hard for me to simply pierce through with my hands, even with the increase in strength I got from cultivation. These shells can resist even steel weaponry, and it's very clear that my body isn't up to this standard yet.

However, considering the way its shell is caved in all around its body, and the increasingly weaker cries of the monster in front of me, I don't need to pierce through its defense to kill it. Although it takes a bit more time than I would like to get rid of them, the Killer Ants aren't necessarily dangerous for me. I was faster than them and had way more stamina. This allowed me to simply outrun the waves of other Killer Ants each would call whenever they started to suffer from my strikes.

Taking into account the number of other adventurers on the large seventh floor, I wasn't too worried about accidentally killing any of them by sending them the horde of monsters that was following me. Also, since I was able to sense the life energy of any living beings, I had no problem escaping any possible encounters with other adventurers, that were busy with monsters on their own.

I slowly but surely dwindled the number of Killer Ants that were on the floor, something that I am sure will help me progress in my status, that would have pretty much stagnated if I stayed on the first few floors.

It was the first time that I genuinely felt a little bit exhausted in this world after all.

There's no doubt that part of my reasoning for doing this is because I know that Eina is somehow keeping an eye on me. Spite can be a powerful motivator after all.

My arms ache a little bit from hitting the hard red shells of these annoying creatures, and the claws of the Killer Ants often nicked at my body when I couldn't dodge in tight corridors and other closed spaces. The pain in my legs from running burned through my mind and the feeling of escaping death make me smile. It is a perfect scene for someone like me.

Of course, If I want to, I can just sprint away from the monsters running after me, but that would defeat the point of the exercise.

Maybe telling Bella to take it easy when it came to the dungeon is a bit hypocritical coming from me after all.

After a few times on the floor, I memorized the general paths to take to not encounter dead-ends, something that would have killed me if I went into these areas—areas that I am pretty sure the dungeon made on purpose. The number of Killer Ants spawning on this floor is simply too much for even experienced adventurers without any abilities that would hit all of the monsters at the same time.

That's why Killer Ants are named new adventurer killers.

I am getting used to circulating my ki around in my body, and even though I sometimes stop in dire situations or when I'm distracted, I can crudely use my body the way it's intended to be used.

Thanks to this, little by little, the horde was taken care of, and I'm able to sit down and catch my breath. The corpses of the monsters stopped disappearing after the fourth floor for some reason—so I'm left with a sea of red scattered on my path.

Well, maybe not a sea, but very close to it. Carving out the magic stones from Killer Ants is honestly very difficult for someone like me that has no sharp edges available to him. But I learned how to extricate them after a while. Without a supporter, and with the way I am running around the floor killing one at a time, there is no way I could escape the major losses in my income. Adventurers that would see killed Killer Ants on the floor wouldn't simply let their magic stones untouched.

However, considering the number of kills I make in a day, it doesn't matter to me if I give a bit of extra income to random adventurers.

As I extract yet another magic stone, I realize that my bag is nearly filled up.

Things are looking good for me, the money I bring each day is enough to make Hestia cry in joy each time, and my cultivation is steadily progressing.

I wasn't able to find a perfect way of cultivating so far, but I made some progress over this week. Despite there being five main elements, the affinity of any cultivator could be found within the lesser-known elements.

Lightning, Air, Light, and Shadow are all external elements that aren't present originally in the body of a cultivator. They are more difficult to master than the five original elements. At the same time, these elements demand constant external output of energy since the human body can't naturally create the corresponding ki at the lower stages of cultivation.

You have to train your body into creating foreign elements or use pre-established techniques that guide you through it.

Techniques that I don't have.

Despite my major affinity being with Air.

Sigh…

Still, not all is lost considering that my other affinities are with Wood and Light.

I take out the sealed vial of water that I crafted yesterday. It was crudely made, but it fulfilled its purpose. The moment my pure ki touched the liquid, the water starts to gain a certain color, according to my affinities.

First comes the yellow, for Air. Then, the green, for Wood. And finally, the white, for Light.

It became apparent the reason why I was able to release enough wood ki to heal Bella's broken wrist, to begin with, is because of my affinity with the Wood element, therefore I decided to take the route of a healer for the time being.

While the Wood element doesn't offer only healing—since I can use it to moderately and temporarily increase my durability with it—the main appeal of the wood element is that it promotes growth. Especially the growth of my body.

When I realized that I could stimulate the increase in the stats I was getting from my falna by myself, I was ecstatic. And when I noticed just how hard it would be to get any substantial improvement with the amount of ki I had right now, that happiness quickly died down.

With it, my growth would be like a snowball, getting bigger and bigger as it descends from the mountain.

But right now, I need to scrap everything I can.

'What a hard life I have,' I jokingly say to myself, knowing how blessed I am to end up with cultivation. I have no delusion that I would be able to catch up to the higher leveled adventurer without it.

I pause when I sense a group of adventurers coming near me in the dungeon. I barely manage to get everything magic stone I could in the vicinity to fit in my over-filled bag, and I know that an encounter with greedy adventurers wouldn't be the best right now. Despite having time to rest for a bit, I'm not in the best condition possible, and a fight with a group of armed level 1 adventurers confident enough to go down the seventh floor isn't optimal for me.

At the same time, I am not able to run away from them, considering the way the dungeon was built around these parts. I decide to leave my big bag hidden away in a nearby dead-end and prepare myself for the worse.

"You gave us a tough time to find you, Ant-Killer," says the middle-aged man appearing on the upper part of the corridor I am in. He is very short, barely reaching my shoulders if I have to guess, and has a very distinct glint in his eyes. He approaches me with a friendly expression—with his six buddies.

I can feel like I recognize this man from somewhere…

"Who are you?" I ask, not moving from my spot, steadying myself.

"Me? The name's Canoe…" he introduces himself when we are at a reasonable distance. A distance where he could take advantage of the fact that he has a sword with him and I do not. Still, I don't let that scare me, and nothing changes in my posture. I am sweating internally but I don't let that show on my face, simply looking at him with a nearly bored expression.

When he saw me not move, Canoe smirked a bit before crouching down to inspect the dead body of a Killer Ants that I couldn't dissect since my bad was already full.

"Did you know that we've spent a good time searching for the one that managed to kill all of these Killer Ants on the seventh floor?" He says, rampaging through the dead monster's body with his sword, taking out the magic stone and inspecting it in front of me.

This fucker, he knows that he has the advantage here.

"I'm flattered to know that you've been searching for me," I respond, looking at the faces of his goons. All of them are trying to look relaxed—poised even—but despite their smirking expressions, they look ready to take out their weapons while they observe the discussion between me and their leader.

"You see…" he pauses, looking at me.

"Tian," I say, knowing that he doesn't know my name.

"You see, Tian, we've noticed that during your rampages, you leave a lot of dead Killer Ants on the way. So much money wasted… You can understand how hard it is for us to see this, as a fellow adventurer, right?"

I can't stop my eyebrow from raising at his words. I doubt that he just wants in, after all, he wouldn't have come to me with 6 other armed and dangerous people if that was the case.

Seeing me not answer, he continues his speech, "So that's where we come in," he says, keeping his annoying grin and twirling the magic stone around in his hand. "You seem to require a supporter, and we happen to have one in our familia that is searching for a brave adventurer to sail through the dungeon with."

I… couldn't say that I don't. Honestly, if there was someone with me willing to collect the magic stones of each Killer Ants I killed after I drew the horde away, it would result in no losses for me and allow me to be much more efficient in my dungeon experience. However, that would require a lot of trust in this supporter from me.

Trust that I won't give to a member of the Soma familia.

After he tells me his name, I realize who this fucker was. The looks weren't striking enough for me to remember who he is, but his name is. Canoe from the Soma familia, a greedy and scheming bastard that is with certainty planning on backstabbing me the moment he can and reap all of the benefits.

The problem is that I can't exactly take on 7 adventurers, even if they are weaker than me, in the closed space we are in right now. All of them have steel weapons and armor and can gang up on me easily. They aren't Killer Ants that I can outsmart, and I am not willing to leave my bag out there, therefore running away is not an option until I am sure that I'm in danger.

Diplomacy is the best way out of this.

It's not because I'm a battle addict that I am willing to die like an idiot, thinking that I can take so many people at the same time when they're armed. I had experience fighting humans from my past life, a lot of it, and I know that I am not winning a 7 on 1 at the level I am.

So I just smile and make myself look interested in his proposition.

"Now that you're saying it… I could indeed use a supporter," I state. "But how do I know that you have one trustworthy supporter ready for me?"

Canoe laughs at my words, before stepping into the range where I could hit him and looks at me in the eyes.

"What we're proposing you is a trial period, where you don't have to pay the supporter we're lending you. It's a common practice since not many adventurers worth their salt are ready to trust another person with their hard-earned money out of nowhere," he says, his expression reminding me of a greasy businessman. Just like Syr.

I have to stop the disgust from showing on my face.

"For a week, the supporter will collect the magic stones for free, and after that, the adventurer has to pay them accordingly. Of course, some adventurers pay less, some more, but more often than not it's around the 20% mark for quality supporters," he explains, gesturing to the person hiding behind a wall to come forth.

Of course, the small person didn't escape my notice, but I was still surprised to see this pallum, clearly female by the way her body looks, standing in front of me. She has chestnut-colored strands of hair sticking out of her torn red and white hooded top. Her eyes, the same color as her hair, are giving off the impression that she was shy but eager to be my supporter.

Of course, I know that it was completely fake.

But I thought that she was supposed to be working alone.

Maybe my arrival in this world already changed a lot in the way things are supposed to happen.

So instead of Bella, I am the one that had to stick with Liliruca…

I have to think about why I was approached by Canoe this way.

The people of the Soma familia are always greedy for more money, but I know that Lili and Canoe are not exactly what would I call work partners. Canoe bullied Lili for the little money she made, and Lili stole from adventurers to make try to escape from the Soma familia and endure Canoe's extortion.

I didn't know that Canoe pushed Lili towards potential targets. Their relationship is much more twisted than I thought.

Still, I have a role to play.

"So you're the supporter?" I ask, smiling at the pallum in front of me. My smile makes Canoe gain a crooked smile and a glint in his eyes.

The way his eyes narrow… Pure greed.

"Y-Yes I am sir Tian!" she answers, faking her stutter and trying to appear cuter to me. If I didn't know her background, I would have hated her as much as Canoe.

I hum, looking at the big bag that she carries on her back, faking thinking about this offer. After all, nobody would readily accept this proposition without having any contract behind it.

Except for Bella.

"Alright, do you have somewhere we can meet to discuss this more in private?" I ask, looking at Canoe.

He seems a little bit surprised by my decision, probably thinking that it would take more convincing, but he composed himself very quickly and shook my hand.

"Y-Yes we do... " he smiles. "Do you know the Hostess of Fertility?"

Of course, it's there that he wants to go…

"I do."

"This place is quite secure, the owner of the bar is a high-level adventurer that retired, therefore if some sort of… crookery happens, you can rest assured that she'll put an end to it."

This fucker really just said that…

Although, could it be possible that both of them work together? I mean, the staff from the Hostess of Fertility were painted as good guys in the anime, but I can never be sure. I know too little and I'm not stupid enough to paint everything in black and white after being proven multiple times that the people here are real.

Too many things have deviated from what I know already.

"Alright then. Let's meet up tonight at the Hostess of Fertility. Bring out a contract and we'll look over it," I say with a nod of my head.

I want to get out of this sticky situation as soon as possible, and since using brute force isn't an option, I have to make it out with what I had.

"You've made a very good choice friend!" He proclaims boisterously, laughing. "See you tonight!"

He offers me goodbye while he and his group left. One even dares to send me a thumbs-up and tap me on the shoulder.

I may be in trouble...

#####

I have a chapter in advance on my ! Just search for HiddenSword if you'd like to read it a couple of days earlier.

So, things start to move due to butterfly effect!

The thing with Eina is the start of their rocky relationship, and Bella will be the only link between the two of them. Also, Tian is slightly overreacting to Canoe's appearance, since it contradicts completely what he knows of canon. So he's a bit confused because in his eyes he didn't do anything yet, and things have already changed that much. All of this will be explained in the next chapter on what changed exactly.