Surprises and a training montage

As Yuri patiently waited for the conversation to wrap up, her gaze remained fixed on the girl standing at the counter. She couldn't help but wonder why Lefiya, a well-known adventurer known for her use of robes and staffs, would be in a store that mainly specialized in selling blades and armor.

Sensing the stare, Lefiya turned around and met Yuri's eyes. Her shy demeanor caused her to stutter as she inquired, "I-is some-something wrong?" Yuri couldn't help but smile at Lefiya's slight blush and shook her head to reassure her before asking about her unusual visit to the blacksmith shop.

Lefiya explained that she was there to have a sturdy sword made for a friend's upcoming birthday, likely Ais, who was notorious for quickly wearing down her weapons.

Their conversation was cut short by Hephaestus, who informed Lefiya that the sword could be completed in three days. After expressing her thanks, Lefiya hurriedly left the shop.

Turning her attention back to Yuri, Hephaestus inquired about her recent dungeon trip, leading to an animated exchange as Yuri recounted her experiences.

Following the conversation, Hephaestus updated Yuri's status in a back room, handing her a sheet detailing her attributes, skills, and magic abilities. She commended Yuri for learning a new spell and noted the rapid pace of her progress, hinting at latent potential.

Name: Yuri Lance

Race: Human /?????

Age: 18

Level: 1

Strength: 103 H - 186 H

Endurance: 108 H - 193 H

Dexterity: 94 I - 179 H

Agility: 110 H - 200 G

Magic: 67 I - 165 H

Luck: B

Abnormal resistance: I

Skills:

Metallurgy

Fairy smith

Magic:

Needle rain

Chant: Bring forth the pestering rain downpour of needles needle rain.

Shortened: Downpour of needles needle rain.

After bidding farewell to Hephaestus, Yuri made her way back to Tsubaki's residence, where she was promptly summoned for a serious discussion. Tsubaki informed her that she would be venturing into the dungeon alone for six hours each day, followed by blacksmithing training. Upon mastering the basics, she would receive specialized training from a friend focused on crafting robes and light armor.

Overwhelmed with excitement, Yuri impulsively hugged Tsubaki, only to feel embarrassed afterward. Tsubaki, however, laughed off the incident, and from that night on, Yuri threw herself into her training with unbridled enthusiasm. Her days were spent exploring the dungeon in the mornings, heeding advice to avoid venturing below the fifth floor until her stats were sufficiently developed. Afterward, she dedicated herself to learning the intricacies of blacksmithing in Tsubaki's workshop, discovering the properties of different ores and their combinations.

Yuri spent her days following this schedule and after two weeks passed Tsubaki felt confident enough to start her on making small blades like knives and daggers.

It didn't take long for Yuri to once again, thank you adapt to making the knives and daggers. Her rate of progress took Tsubaki by surprise. And after only a week she was allowed to move on to short swords and axes.

Her progress continued at this fast pace. And after only a month and a half since her arrival in this world, she learned all the basics that Tsubaki had to teach. The last day of Tsubaki's teaching she was told that the only thing left was for her to gain experience and develop her own forging method.

And like that, Yuri was then introduced to Tsubaki's friend. Who showed her the ins and outs of working with cloth and leather to create not only robes and light armor but also regular clothing.

Yuri once again continued her training diligently. Before she knew it two more weeks passed. Much to the delight of both Tsubaki and Hephaestus, she seemed to absorb all crafting-related knowledge like a sponge.

With her training finished for the moment, Yuri spent more time in the dungeon leaving after breakfast and not returning till dinner time. At the end of her second month. While she was in the dungeon she stumbled across a young boy who was cornered by a war shadow. Which was supposed to be on the sixth floor or below but somehow was on the fourth floor.

Normally it is considered taboo to interfere in a fight between an adventurer and their prey but upon looking at the young boy she noticed that his weapon was broken and he had some wounds that appeared to need treatment.

Without a second thought not wanting the boy to die Yuri dashed to the side of the war shadow who focused on the boy didn't notice her approach. Upon arriving next to it she kicked the monster's side effectively giving them room. Hearing a quiet thanks from the boy Yuri just nodded and observed the war shadow. As she observed it she noticed that it wasn't normal. Instead of being all black with a red-eye, it had silver on its claws making them sharper when yuri noticed this she realized this was a variant.

Not knowing what else to do Yuri tossed a dagger she kept on her as a spare in case she couldn't use her scythe to the boy. She then told him to back her up and readied her weapon charged at the variant.

The battle lasted longer than any fight Yuri had been in before this. And the time fighting wore on her stamina heavily. She lost focus for a split second and if not for the boy fighting alongside her she would have paid the price with her left arm.

Noticing how close she was to being severely injured she stopped her mind from wandering and put all her attention back on the fight refusing to lose. After an intense fight, they finally managed to take the variant war shadow down.

Now that the fight was finished, Yuri finally got a look at the boy and noticed that it wasn't a boy at all but a small girl, and besides the broken knife the only thing she had on her was an empty bag. Upon closer observation, Yuri realized she recognized the girl it was Liliruca Arde or Lilly. The only reason she didn't notice before was the robe was torn in places and hanging loosely on her hiding her form from site.

After taking a few moments to catch her breath she decided to approach Lilly and introduce herself. Stepping closer to the injured girl Yuri raised a hand while saying hello. But stopped in her tracks when Lilly flinched and took a step back stumbling to the floor.

Confused it took Yuri a few seconds to realize that this was before the the main story and the Lilly in front of her hadn't met and been saved by Bell yet. Remembering how Lilly was treated by those she ventured into the dungeon with as a supporter and even those of her own famillia brought a sense of anger to Yuri.

After taking a deep breath to calm down she knelt on the ground in front of Lilly and asked if she was okay. The only response she received was a nod of her head. She tried again telling the girl her name was Yuri she then asked what she was doing alone here as she could tell from her equipment that she was most likely a supporter. She also asked where the adventures she was with were close by. After this question, she finally heard the girl speak. " they left me to distract the monster because they were unable to fight that monster they figured the best thing to do was run. So they left Lilly here to buy more time".

Hearing this angered Yuri and it took a minute to calm herself so that she wouldn't have anger in her voice when she spoke again. " well now that the monster is defeated how about I help you back out of the dungeon and we can speak to my goddess. She might be able to help you get compensation or something from those who abandoned you down here".

Getting a nod once again Yuri helped Lilly stand up again and they made their way back to the surface. The journey only took about an hour and once they got to the surface, Yuri took Lilly's hand and led the way to Hephaestus's workshop.

As they entered Hephaestus who was about to greet Yuri noticed she had brought along someone else today. Taking a moment to look at her unexpected guest she recognized her as someone that the guild warned her against letting get involved with her famillia members.

So with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, she greeted the two.

After telling Lilly to wait here for a moment she pulled Yuri to the back. And as she updated her stats listened to her recount of today's dive into the dungeon.

Name: Yuri Lance

Race: Human /?????

Age: 18

Level: 1

Strength: 186 H - 402 E

Endurance: 193 H - 450 E

Dexterity: 179 H - 400 E

Agility: 200 G - 480 E

Magic: 165 H - 388 F

Luck: B

Abnormal resistance: I

Skills:

Metallurgy

Fairy smith

Leatherworking

Sewing

Magic:

Needle rain

After her training, she had learned two new skills, and all of her diving into the dungeon her stats had more than doubled. Happy with her results she handed the sheet back to Hephaestus and then told her that they needed to talk.