Adama himself swung by Miach Familia after parting ways with the others. He convinced Naaza to use most of his remaining ingredients to make a wide variety of potions for him as an express order. He paid a premium for speed, but that was fine. Adama was obviously in a rush.
Ishtar Famila obviously had Alura, but they also had a few other elites at Level 4 and one at Level 5. Adama obviously would struggle against Alura alone as he was right now, much less all their high Level adventurers at once. And Emi certainly couldn’t make up the difference, because Adama was counting on her to handle all Isthar’s minions at Level 3 and below. Emi and Take Familia would have their hands full with Ishtar’s lower-level forces, even assuming she reached Level 4 and Take Familia got stronger. Adama would need to deal with the elites alone, which was impossible for the current him. Adama wanted to be at least Level 5 by the end of the next 2 weeks, and he knew exactly how to make that happen.
While Adama was waiting for Naaza to finish his order, he took care of a few other things. First, he contacted Fels and called in a few favors from the skeleton mage. His retrieval of Wiene had earned the swordsman a lot of grace in the eyes of both Fels and their Xenos allies. Sure, the Xenos had helped him in turn by hiding Haruhime, but Adama was able to leverage his past contributions to secure a few benefits. Money changed hands, promises were made, and the swordsman walked away largely content with the dealings. Adama’s wallet was empty, and he might end up owing the skeleton a favor, but at least he had a good backup plan.
All that handled, he scheduled a last-minute training session with Aiz and Take. They had a good time for over six hours, finally finishing up after Tim called things off. He probably still had a few hours until Naaza finished his potion order, but he wanted to be fully rested before finally tackling what would be his longest Dungeon expedition ever. Once Adama got back to the inn, he had Hestia update his stats one final time:
Level 4,
Swordsman: F, Spirit Healing: F, Strong Body: F, Hunter: G, Mage G, Chain Attack: G, Abnormal Resistance: G, Mixing: H
Strength: F394 -> E422
Defense: G225 -> G263
Dexterity: G292 -> F354
Agility: H176 -> G265
Magic: E418 -> E438
Spells:
Rippling Sword
- Swift Strike Magic
Endless Sword
- Mid-Grade Magic
- Chant: “Endless Sword”
Hidden Sword
- Low-Grade Magic
- Chant: ”Look for a Weapon”
Skills:
Predator
- Increased Growth
- Killing Monsters provides increased Growth.
- Killing more Monsters in a short period of time results in an even greater bonus
Mind of a Swordsman
- Automatic Reception of the Swordsman and Spirit Healing Abilities. These Abilities are automatically raised to grade H upon reception.
- All Grade I Abilities the user possesses at the time this skill is obtained are also promoted to grade H.
- Swordsman and Spirit Healing increase in potency as long as the user can maintain a cool head in grave danger.
Flowing Sword
- Active Skill
- When Activated, the User’s weapon is coated in silver light. The effects of the Ability Chain Attack are multiplied exponentially.
- Obtain the Ability Chain Attack and upgrade it to Level G
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He’d received some decent benefits from all the training he’d been doing, and his fight with Alura, but Adama’s Predator skill only worked well when he was killing things. Given his recent failure to kill his enemies, he had resigned himself to relatively meager gains. His Agility had practically skyrocketed, eclipsing Defense and no longer acting as his weakest stat. That was by design, since the blind footwork training with Aiz focused primarily on improving Agility, from a Status standpoint. Whipping that particular metric back into shape had been one of Adama’s objectives in designing his training.
With that finished, he spent the final few hours of prep time resting with Hestia. It was just the two of them, and they spent it mostly in silence within the inn’s common room. Adama took a catnap in front of the fire, then started lovingly cleaning Hearthblade for the millionth time. Hestia had gone back to painting, creating a picture that looked suspiciously like Tim and his friends fighting a mob of faceless warriors. They spent the time basking in the warmth of companionship; however, the inn’s hearth could never fully replace the one they’d lost. That pain created a subtle tension within the silence, like a strong undercurrent beneath a lake’s placid surface. It bothered them both, but it only further stoked Adama’s desire for victory. He’d avenge their home. He’d build it back, better than ever before. Hestia’s emotions were as inscrutable as always, yet Adama hoped she shared his desire.
Eventually, the time came, and Adama stood up. Naaza should be done by now. He hugged Hestia and said goodbye, but then he fully met her gaze for the first time. Within her amber eyes burned a flame far beyond anything Adama had ever seen from her before. They glowed with an emotion so intense, so complicated, and so fascinating that the world itself seemed to tremble. Adama caught anger, sadness, introspection, resolve, anticipation, faith, hope. But above all, he saw love. Motherly love. Adama was a little taken aback, though he did his best to project stability in response. He would go out and rebuild their home. Adama hadn’t failed before, and he didn’t intend to start.
They shared a quick nod, and the swordsman was off.
…
Emily stared down at her status with a strong mixture of excitement and embarrassment, the changes brought about by her level-up both powerful and disconcerting:
Level 4,
Mage: F, Spirit Healing: G, Magic Resistance: I
Strength: I0
Defense: I0
Dexterity: I0
Agility: I0
Magic: I0
Spells:
Attack Magic:
Reprolapidem
- Mid-Grade Magic
- Chant: “Cornerstone”
Intertio
- Low-Grade Magic
- Chant: “Rejection”
Defense Magic:
Calx Aeterna
- Mid-Grade Magic
- Chant: “Rock of Ages”
Arma Dei
- Low-Grade Magic
- Chant: “Armor of God”
Buff Magic:
Fortis Pugnator
- Mid-Grade Magic
- Chant: “Mighty Protector”
Velox Offendas
- Low-Grade Magic
- Chant: “Swift Dash”
Skills:
Magia Terrae
- Boosts Magic Power and Effects.
- Drastically increases magic recovery when earthbound.
- Enables Chant Connection.
Vinculum Potens
- You share a powerful bond of love and respect with a certain person.
- Growth is connected to the person with whom you share this bond.
- Can create new, lesser bonds with others to allow them to share in the growth.
The extra magics were one thing. While gaining three whole new “spells” was a remarkable boon and extremely unique, it wasn’t entirely unprecedented. What really embarrassed and interested Emi was the skill. Vinculum Potens didn’t specify who she was bonded to, but a certain green-eyed face flashed through Emi’s mind before she whisked the image away with a few embarrassed head-shakes. Now wasn’t the time to get too bogged down with the specifics. The bottom line was, Emily would likely be seeing some improved growth in the future. And she’d be able to connect others to that kind of growth as well.
Hestia Familia’s chances were looking up.
…
After Adama met up with Naaza and received his potions, he revisited Fels to take delivery of one of those benefits he’d purchased. It came in the form of a sturdy leather gauntlet with a small green gem embedded in the back of the hand. Adama’s eyes flashed with interest as he waved his hand over his belongings, channeling magic into the gauntlet as he did. Both the packs and the gem glowed with emerald light, and the packs suddenly vanished in the blink of an eye. Adama looked at the gem on the gauntlet and quietly marveled. He could feel each individual item within the gauntlet’s dimensional space and knew he could summon them at will. Without hesitation, he materialized a single health potion into the center of his palm, then dismissed it with a thought. It was just like a void key.
“I do good work, don’t I?”
Adama detected a hint of smugness in Fels’s voice as the mage watched him admire their creation. He couldn’t blame them. Using this world’s magic to create a void key was, according to what Adama had read, a remarkable triumph. Adama had noticed Fels wielding this kind of device earlier and had asked the mage to create something similar for him, but he was surprised that the mage had been able to create it on such short notice. In the grand scheme of things, it was insane that Fels had been able to create it at all.
Adama inclined his head toward the mage in gratitude, “You’ve outdone yourself, mage. Maybe you should embrace your title as Sage after all.”
Fels let out a surprised noise as Adama walked away. He didn’t have time to banter further with the skeleton. Now that he’d made his preparations, it was time to push for Level 5. He met up with the rest of his Familia one last time outside Babel’s, with Adama making sure everyone knew what they were supposed to be doing before he fully left them on their own.
Then, Adama entered the Dungeon.