Ch.3 Twilight manor
The following day, Aidan woke up at seven in the morning. The first thing he did was to add more magic in his 'shield' card, making it slightly stronger to defend under more potent hits. Once done, the golden-eyed boy took his sword and cards before going to wash behind the inn. He was lucky since he found the previous day that his clothes were magical and could clean and repair themselves.
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At some point the previous day, when he was walking through the woods towards Orario, he had unknowingly stepped into a small puddle that had dirtied his pants. Back then, he had been quite unhappy about it until his clothes seemingly cleaned themselves on the spot. The tiny stain completely disappeared. A bit later, while he was fighting one of those little green monsters, he had cut his shirt with a tree branch. However, a bit later, he saw that his shirt repaired itself. That day, he discovered that his clothes had a cleaning and repairable function, which made him quite happy as he wouldn't have to buy too many clothes in a short time.
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Ten minutes later, Aidan walked back inside the inn and gave the room's key to the same young man from the previous day, and he left the inn to go to the Twilight manor. According to the man from last night, he still had an hour and a half before the start of the recruitment. However, Aidan wanted to arrive in advance. If he was unlucky and got lost or the man was messing with him, he would have time to find the actual recruitment station. It was unlikely since he was just a kid, but he never knew.
Walking for a few minutes towards the tower of Babel with his sword over his shoulder due to its length, Aidan finally saw the stall where he had bought his food the previous day. Walking to the man operating the booth, he got into the queue and waited for a while until the other clients were gone.
"Oh, hello there! I take it you liked it enough yesterday afternoon?" Asked the bald man as he recognized Aidan.
"Yes, I loved it. I want to buy four. No, five of those snacks." Aidan said as he pointed to the snacks. He had just noticed that he was starving and attributed it to using his magic power non-stop.
"Ohoh, understood, young man. It'll be 150 Valis." He said with a smile.
Smiling back in return, Aidan gave the Valis to the man as he packed them up and gave them to Aidan, who was waiting for his snacks. "Right, mister. Do you know where is the Twilight manor from here?" He asked as he wanted to be sure that the man last night hadn't fooled him.
"Yes. Go to the tower of Babel and when you reach it, turn right. It will be a big manor with a few towers. It's the biggest building on that side. You won't miss it." He answered as he started to cook some more food for the other customers. "Alright, thank you, mister." He answered before leaving towards the tower.
A dozen minutes later, Aidan reached the tower and was surprised by the number of adventurers walking inside it. However, by listening to their conversations, he understood that the dungeon, located under the tower and that adventurers usually entered early in the morning to earn their income.
With this new piece of information, Aidan turned right towards the Twilight manor of the Loki familia and just as the man at the bar and the bald man selling snacks said, he immediately saw the estate from a distance. It wasn't challenging. There were towers higher than the other buildings around and a large manor in between the four towers. It looked like a small modern castle.
Walking in that direction, he saw a few more adventurers also making their way towards the manor. If he had to go by what he knew, there was a great chance that most of these adventurers were going to the Loki familia to join as either supporters or fighting members.
Not bothering about them anymore as he only had to do his best to join, he walked towards the Twilight manor. By the time he arrived, there was still one hour to wait until the beginning of the recruitment. From what he saw while walking, the other adventurers who should have also come for the recruitment stopped at various bars or stalls to talk with each other or to eat and drink.
Aidan, however, didn't bother to stop anywhere. First, he didn't know anyone and second, he wanted to see the Loki familia estate. As he approached the recruitment ground, which was on the training ground of the Loki familia, he saw that there was a stand which was for registering their name and age before the start of the recruitment.
Seeing that there was no one yet, Aidan walked towards the recruitment stand to register. Behind the registry was an adventurer. He could tell as he was wearing metal armour and had an axe on his back. The man had black hair and eyes and a scar on the left side of his face. With his muscular stature and his towering height, Aidan did not doubt that he was powerful.
While stature meant nothing in this world since the level and parameters represented your strength, he did not doubt that he was strong by the aura he released. However, Aidan never looked away as he started talking. "Hi, I would like to register for the recruitment."
"Oh? And do you think you have what it takes?" Asked the man as he increased his presence, trying to scare Aidan.
"I want to become strong." Said Aidan with unwavering enthusiasm in his voice as he looked directly at the man.
"I see." Answered the man as he showed a slight smile, which immediately disappeared from his face. "Fill this form." He continued as he handed over a pen and a form.
As Aidan looked at the form, he wrote his name, age, and as for ancient familia, he didn't write anything as he had never joined one before. Looking at the form and seeing that it was only this, he returned it to the man before the man shooed him away to wait until the recruitment started.
Walking back to the side, he took out his fireball card and started injecting more magic into it. His magic had only this use currently. So, even if he used it all to improve his cards, it wouldn't change his performance at all. However, he decided not to go and release magic over his limits as it would give him a headache and lower his chances of passing the test.
Concentrated on the card, he spent about ten minutes filling his magic into it, strengthening the fireball spell inside of it. If previously his fireball card could only hurt the weakest adventurers of level one, then now, it would be able to damage stronger ones.
Taking back his attention from his fireball card, Aidan looked up and saw that adventurers had started coming into the recruitment ground. However, it seemed as if they were disinclined to write on the form. "Hey, they want us to write our information on those forms. I'm amongst the strongest in the level 1 adventurers and will surely become level two within the year. I'm already a genius to be able to level up before I'm twenty-five years old. Why should I do the same as the weak?" Said an arrogant guy with a sword strapped to his waist.
"Yeah! I am now level two, already a high-class adventurer. With our group, we will reach Rivira on the eighteenth floor within the year or when you level up. We are already heads and torso above the other adventurers. Why should we have the same treatment as them?" Said his friend with an arrogant expression as he looked down on the other adventurers around.
As Aidan looked at those group of people, refusing to register because of pride, he shook his head. What was pride if you didn't have the strength to back it up? As Aidan was looking around, he took out his previous snack, which was still hot, thanks to the bald man's packaging. Taking a bite out of it, he exhaled a breath as he confirmed that he loved the taste.
As he was eating his snack slowly, he heard a grumble not far from him. Turning around, he saw a girl of his age with golden hair and eyes just like his own, staring at him, or more specifically, at the snack in his hand.
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(Author note: I'll go like this in the future for the card strength: The strength of the fireball is level 1. It's equal to the weakest adventurers of level 1. 1.1 means level one with approximately 100 points in all stats. 1.9 means the top of level 1 with about 900 points in stats, and then it increases to level 2, which is level 2 adventurers, well you get it. The higher the spell's strength, the more magic is needed to strengthen it, and the magic is compared to perfect adventurers with 900 stats or more before they level up. Adventurers in danmachi need at least one stat in the D-rank (600 stat point) to level up, equivalent to 1.6 in the spell. If they level up, they get an overall boost (in this novel, it would be about 20%), so 1.7 to 1.8 would hurt the weakest of level 2, who were the lowest in level 1. well, you'll understand somehow eventually.
As for the 20% in levelling up, it's because they seem always to have a power boost every time they level up, so I decided to make it as some refinement of their physique and soul or something which gives the +20% of their parameters when they level up although not written in their stats. )