72 CHAPTER 72(The Plan)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

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pat.treon:/Keanu_Eugene

CHAPTER START---

Yang Shen is not a morning person, thankfully neither is Thalie, which is why their days inside the dungeon tend to start later than other teams.

Sitting on some stone benches, made with Yang's magic, their little team can be seen having breakfast in a shady spot of the treeline around Yang's temporary training area.

"So are you training me this harshly because I can heal fast or because this is how you always do it, some of those cuts were kinda deep ya know..." Yang says, looking at his forearms as he eats some oats from his bowl.

"Yes, and yes, I wouldn't be training you like this in the dungeon if your skills weren't as absurd as they are, if we were above ground it would be a lot more...intense, but you'll experience that eventually," She confirms.

"Ohhh great, can't wait," He says with a deep sigh.

"Anyway that's not why I really wanted to take this third rest day, there was one thing we didn't really discuss that's been gnawing at me, probably at him too," she tilts her head toward Welf as he quietly eats his breakfast, observing till now.

"My leveling speed?"

"Got it in one guess, nice, so yeah. I hate to say it but you're the best 'Adventurer' here, whatever that means, but whatever it is you know how to do it better than us because the results speak for themselves, so can you help us, don't gotta tell us but we'd appreciate a helping hand. Right?" She asks Welf with an expectant smile.

"Yeah I'm with her on this, don't gotta spill your secrets but even some tips would be helpful man, especially if you wanna drag us down to the lower floors, I am ONLY level 3 and that probably won't change until you hit level 6 at this rate..." he meekly admits.

A few minutes pass between the trio as nobody takes another bite of their meal. Yang blatantly retreats into his own mind, compiling his own thoughts and mulling over how he should approach this delicate situation.

'What even made me level up fast, it's more than just the shard in my chest, every time I FEEL like I'm against the wall that's when the exelia would rush, right? I've been using video game logic till now and it's been working, whatever keeps pushing me has me walking past death every day and the old me never would have done that... but these are real people not just pixels on a screen, how the hell am I supposed to explain. Mmmm, I might as well just tell them how I think Exelia and Falna work and let them decide their path,' he concludes before taking a deep, calming breath.

"Alright, I can't exactly TRAIN you or anything like that, but I've got a pretty good understanding of what I've been doing till now, it's definitely not sane and even less safe, and if you mess up once you WILL die, completely up to you if you w---"

"Just get to the point," Thalie interrupts his prolonged warnings.

"Fine fine,"

"This sounds pretty intense..." Welf adds as he rubs the back of his head, not sure how to think.

"Yeah, well basically all I've been doing to level up in most cases so far was facing death and winning, pretty standard adventure,"

"Ok but everyone knows that.... so what's the extra part?" Welf asks with a raised brow.

"It has to be genuine, I THINK bigger familias will be able to get people to level 3 and 4 without too much of an issue, at least compared to levels 5 and 6. Because Threat=Exelia. If Loki's team wants to ever level up they either have to trust each other to allow a monster to kill their friends that are trying to level up, because if they step in to save them or have any intention of saving them it simply won't work. Or they have to go solo so there won't be any option but to win, either way, these are the circumstances." He says with a lopsided smile, not sure how they'll react.

"Ok that explains how you level up, that's the best explanation I've heard other than the usual HAVE AN ADVENTURE bullshit everyone spews," Thalie admits, before continuing, "But what about your stats, I mean..." She leans in, lowering her voice even more, "Above 1000 in every stat every time, that's unfair, how'd you do that?"

At this point, both his teammates were staring at him with bated breath, at the edge of their seats waiting for this life-changing advice.

"I don't think most people can go above S, so I might just be a freak there, the fast Exelia is the same reason as before, but it's probably because of my goals. I WANT, no, I'm desperate and I NEED to win more than everyday adventurers. They enter the dungeon for fame, wealth, women, or just to have fun. But I've got a goal that my heart and mind are set on, and that's all I care about. The Falna probably recognizes that, you've gotta just give in to your goals, single-minded determination and focus for only that, and I believe the Falna will recognize it.

Staring at him with surprise for a moment, Welf finally breaks the silence after giving Yang a strange look.

"That was pretty inspirational coming from you, pretty weird, but it makes sense, to me at least, how bout you?" He asks, looking over to Thalie.

"Yeah that's a good explanation, so we've just gotta basically what, be willing to watch each other die when we're having our big adventures? Dunno how I feel about that..." She says with a perplexed expression that appeared on her face.

"Yeah, that parts a bit tough, but it sounds pretty manly to me, and always pushing yourself is what being an adventurer is about right, so I'm in. I've been level 3 for years and Yang just walks into Orario and runs past me in barely 2 months, if it works for him I've gotta try it, even if I can never fully catch up, how about you, gonna let the new guy show us up?" Welf says giving Thalie a small nudge with his elbow.

"Well when you put it like that, ONLY if we're all in agreement that this is what we want, I'm willing to die for my goals, but I can't speak for anyone else," Thalie says, with finality.

"I am," Yang adds, with no hesitation whatsoever, they both look toward Welf.

"You don't have t---"

"I'm in," he cut off Thalie's words, "I ran from my sins when I left Rakia, I'm gonna get stronger than any of my ancestors, and make something that will make up for all the blood spilled by our creations, if I'm not willing to die for that then how can I call myself a man!" He gallantly announces.

"Huh, where'd that come from?" Yang asks, a hint of surprise on his face.

"I-I gave it some thought the night after our heart-to-heart, you're right. The dungeon is too dangerous for us not to give it our all, and I'm gonna be dead weight if I don't start stepping up, that's why I've got a request, Yang." He says, turning toward his teammate.

"Uh, yeah?" Yang answers, uncertain what to expect.

"The materials that your weapons need, Udeaus Black Sword and the cheating material, I'd like to make something for myself as well out of them, my request is that if there isn't enough after your switchaxe, I'd like you to duel Udeaus again for me, please," Welf says with a deep bow.

"Sure, but why so dramatic?"

"It's dishonorable for me to make a weapon for myself if I can't gather the materials with my own hands, but I think, I need to put my pride aside. Like you say, keep moving forward right." Welf says with a wide smile.

"Yeah well honour tends to get people killed, so yeah we'll get you what you need, don't sweat it."

With this casual remark, Welf lifts his head and returns to eating his breakfast as if nothing happened.

"So Mr Expedition Leader, what's the adventuring plan?" Thalie asks, a small smirk on her face.

"Well now that you ask, I'm thinking every day we head to the valley floor, if after a few days we can't find the cheating material then we scale the walls and head to the land above, whatever it is might of just fell into the valley from above, after we clear out the valley we can head to the coliseum and fight the endless waves until our stats are high enough to the point that we want to level up, sounds good?" Yang asks eyes closed trying to look wise.

"Uh-huh, except how do we know when we're ready to level, I mean I assume you're gonna level up before we head back up, but our goddess isn't here soo..." Welf adds.

"I've actually got something for that..." Thalie murmurs, unsure how they will react. Naturally, she was met with two pairs of wide eyes, as if they were trying to leave their sockets.

"Well, care to explain?" Welf asks, unsure how to feel about this.

"Well, Bete brought something this morning after Hephaestus, Tsubaki and I had a long talk about how to proceed from here," She admits, giving Yang a meaningful look, completely confusing him.

"But how does that---"

"She'll explain further when we get back to babel, but for now just know she gave me a bottle of..." Leaning forward they all meet in the middle of the group as she whispers as quietly as possible," Status Snitch." (See LN Volume 17)

The words hang in the air, both men completely confused as to what the hell she's talking about.

"Um..." Yang groans, completely ignorant.

"Right, you guys aren't really into shady stuff, it's a potion like Status Thief, status thief reveals a Falna, Status Snitch updates it without a god having to be there, but I can't actually read what it'll show so she sent a rough sheet so I can translate the lines with your basic stats, it should go without saying but DO NOT speak about this." She says, giving them a stern look as they all return to their original positions.

"Why does she even have that?" Welf asks, unsure how to feel about this development.

"She runs the biggest equipment familia in the world, she can get anything and if it interests her she likes to buy something and tinker with it, it's her nature as the god of crafting," Thalie replies with a shrug.

"That, makes sense. But why did she suddenly give it to you, I mean, I'm weirdly strong but I'm a rookie, this seems like a volatile situation..." Yang asks, still uncomfortable and unsure of the consequences of having such an item.

"She trusts me to not do something stupid with it, and as for why, she'll explain more back at Babel, that's all," Thalie says with finality in her voice.

"Ok, so we've got the plan and everything we need, for now, we've got around 2 months until Udeaus respawns anyway so best to build our strength right now," Welf summarises for the group.

"Not like I could solo him now anyway so even if he were up that wouldn't help us, alright let's finish eating and head down to the valley floor, we've got work to do," Yang says as he takes another bite of his oats.

END CHAPTER---

Yeah LN 17 Summary was used on the wiki, planned to incorporate this item since I've been plotting this book.

This was a triple upload to celebrate 4K people saving this story :p