Troubles I

I watch Arde as she prepares to shoot. She takes slow deep breaths as she adjusts her aim. Arde now looks like a proper assassin, I bought her an all-black gear, she wears a skin-tight leather suit and a black coat while her vital points are protected by iron guards. Her new looks compliment her new purple hair, she looked like a mini assassin, I even bought her hidden blades arm guard. All in all, she looks adorable and not intimidating at all. And seeing a small girl wield a gun almost as tall as she was funny.

*Bang*

"As expected of the Assassin beyonders, they are all natural shooters. Good shot."

I complimented Arde as she took her 20th shot and her third bullseye in a row. Like the thief pathway, Assassin is a good shot.

"This!? Lily thinks guns are really fun to handle! Lily never knew such a weapon existed until now!"

Lily said as she takes to reload a gun. Arde was a fast learner. A tad bit too fast. It took me a while to get a handle on my revolver, but she took it like a breeze.

"Starting from now on, you'll learn to handle such weapons."

"Lily loves her new weapon Joker-sama! I love the mechanism and the booming sounds! and the swooshing bullet! And when it hits the target! How exhilarating and satisfying!"

Lily fired another shot at the stones I set for her target exploded into pieces when it was hit by the bullet. I have given Arde 200 bullets, half for training and the other for real use, but from the looks of it, she will only expend a little for training.

"This Joker thinks that's enough for now. You already know how to use it properly. Little Arde should stop for now and save bullets, this Joker is currently lacking in supplies after all."

"Aw...Lily wanted to shoot more..."

"Hehe, don't worry, once this Joker gets his supplies, you can shoot as many as you want! But for now, save as much as possible, you will need to train again tomorrow until you master it after all..."

By supplies, I mean system points. Damn, I need to get things done soon. I have so few points to use. And If I were to start a Beyonder organization I'll need loads of points.

"For now, I have a mission for you!"

Hearing my words, Arde straighten her back and tried to look serious. It failed because she looked too cute.

"Hai Joker-sama! Which evil familia Lily should punish?"

I almost spit out my saliva at her. Little girl, you're not even a teenager yet! worst yet, you just learned your beyonder powers. I smack her head.

"Owie!"

"Is my disciple so eager to die!? Why don't I just drop you in the deepest part of the dungeon and be done with it? Remember, beyonders does things with preparations!"

"Sorry, Joker-sama!" She said happily

You don't look sorry at all girl! You're even grinning happily. Now that I think about it, she seems to like it when I smack her head. How curious...

"Relax. This joker will only give you a simple mission! Here." I took out a thick stack of papers.

"You will post these posters on the busiest area of Orario while you act." I laid it out simply

"Lily will do it right away!"

It's good she's loyal, but as a beyonder, she needs to start asking questions.

"No questions...?"

She seems to catch on and decides to ask.

"What are these posters for and why do they all have the same drawing Joker-sama?"

On the papers, I have drawn a high throne, the backrest of the throne was styled as a grandfather clock, on the armrest were feather-like spikes, and behind the throne was a wide door. It will be my symbol from now on.

"These papers here are special, through a special ritual known as "Secret Letter" I made it so only the right people who unlocked a certain condition can see what is written there. And the throne is my symbol." I explained to her.

"Oh, so this is Joker-sama's symbol. How pretty and mysterious."

Thanks to Agile hands, my drawing was quite pretty. I nod in approval. But Arde seems more interested in my symbol than the contents of the letter, that's no good, I need to tell her then.

"Soon, Little Arde will be a senpai" I tease her

"Eh...? Lily is? Senpai?"

"Yes, this Joker-sama decides to expand his beyonder business in Orario. Soon you will have more companions!"

There was a sudden quiet, but she will soon realize what I meant.

.

.

.

"Eeehhhhhh!?"

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It has been almost a month since that interaction happened. I had met up with her two more times since that to explain to her the upcoming plan and gathering and guide her beyonder mysticism.

As I remember our interactions, I continue to drain the orc in front of me of blood. While the guild was unusually quiet about their findings of Rudra Familia, I was laying low while exploring the dungeon. This Orc blood is the last ingredient I need.

The Orc painful grunts as I drain blood from its torn limbs while I held him up to the wall. The dungeon exploration had become easy since I got the [Sword Dancer] perk, I bought a regular Mithril sword just for it, it was worth a whopping 2 million valis. And it was worth it for the cause.

"Nyeh, nyaspected, nyou take from me well, if only you were nya bit more skillful." The imp commented

I had digested the thief potion fully, my powers and ability are much easier to use and my understanding of it became much clearer.

Finally, I stabbed the orc to kill it, I had gotten the orc blood I needed. I looked around my surroundings, it was littered with monster crystals and drops. Most of the drops should be beyonder related.

"tsk."

I clicked my tongue at this. Every time I kill a monster there's a chance they will drop potion ingredients, I know this because the drops are all usually irregular drops and weren't on the adventurer guidebooks.

The drop made me think of the possibilities and theorize the origin of the dungeon. 'The dungeon could be a sefirah of the Original Creator.' I theorize, otherwise, why would it conveniently drop potion ingredients for beyonders?

But there's little evidence, I only haphazardly made this theory because a similar sefirah existed, it's known as Chaos Sea, and it gives birth to powerful beyonder creatures and items. Such as a certain god.

As I finish cleaning up the loot, I begin to head toward the surface, avoiding all monsters in the way. I move in haste, now that I have a complete Swindler potion, I only need to concoct it and drink it. I also feel I will level up soon, I only need to kill a sufficiently strong monster, perhaps an infant dragon or a horde of monsters on the higher floors.

As I entered the Guildhalls, I saw Misha Flott giving me a worried look, I only gave her a knowing nod. Ever since I started focusing on exploring the dungeon for my potion, she was pesteringly scolding me to take it easy, I told her I don't have the luxury to do. She got the point after that, but she would still give me worried glances from time to time, I would consult her for things I don't understand but that is the extent of our relationship. Right now I couldn't care for what reasons she looked worried, I was too excited to drink my potion after all.

And so I went towards to exchange counter to turn in my non-Beyonder loots not noticing a group of thugs eyeing me. It wasn't a surprise to anyone but me that once I was about to leave, I was blocked by the thugs.

"Oi! Come with us, boy! Zanis wants to meet you." Said the leading thug.

Zanis who? Did I mess with a clown named Zanis? I don't remember buying a ticket for a circus. Why the hell should I watch a clown play charades, I have more important things to do you know!? I sighed, my day is now ruined, well I guess it's time to deal with Zanis.

I pretend to take something from my coat, and they tensed up, but I was just really taking out [Mask Of Average] from my inventory. I begin donning the mask.

"What's with te' mask boy!? Well, will ya follow us or do we beat ya up!?"

"Pfft..."

I almost laughed, this bastard isn't intimidating at all. He looked like a wannabe yakuza. As if a bunch of Level 1s will scare me.

"Lead the way," I said trying to hold in my laughter.

"Dyas beat them nyup already nyeh." said the imp lazily.

I would beat you up too if I could, you little bastard imp.

"Well follow us, boy!"

"Gegege. You're in for a treat boy."

'Hehe' I'm indeed in for a treat, I should thank you for ruining my day. Behind the mask, I was grinning widely as I think about the things I'm going to do.

"Anyway, have you heard of...

Throughout the way, I begin annoying them with scientific facts.

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Chapter End

Thanks for reading.