When I woke up the day, I looked at Hephaestus beside me. I turo her and ran my hand through her hair. Her eyes slowly opened.

  "Good m~~," she said with a smile.

  "Good m. Did you sleep well?"

  "Yes, I slept very well." Hephaestus hugged me and then kissed me. "Are you leaving already? Let's stay here a little longer, cuddling. You're so warm," she said as she pressed her body against mine.

  We were both naked, so our skin exged warmth.

  I embraced Hephaestus, aayed like that for several minutes before finally getting up. We went to the bathroom together and took a hot shower before leaving the room to head to the dining hall.

  As we sat down to eat, Hephaestus asked, "Are you tinuing your training today? Unfortunately, I 't help you since I have work during the day."

  "Don't worry, you've already helped me enough. The tips you gave me were really useful."

  "I'm gd I could help. But about that armor… Are you going to use it in the dungeon? I get you a better one if you'd like."

  "I told you before, didn't I? I like using what I fe. It's fihat armor is good enough."

  "Then please, don't go too deep into the dungeon. I don't want you getting hurt."

  "It's okay." I smiled fidently at Hephaestus. "But speaking of the dungeon, I think starting some proper training would be a good idea. I feel useless when fighting monsters."

  "Training, huh? Hmmm..." Hephaestus chewed her food as she thought. "I told you about Tsubaki before, right? I ask her to help you with your training. I'm sure she'll agree."

  "As long as it's not a bother."

  I thought I could improve my skills alone... and maybe the system would help me. But that doesn't seem to be the case. I need someone who knows how to wield a sword to train me.

  I'm good at learning, so I pick things up quickly if someoeaches me.

  ####

  I went to the training room where my armor and the sword I had left there were. I'm now fident that no one would steal the things I fed in this pce, so I started using ste for them.

  "Alright, let's do this."

  With some difficulty, I put on my armor by myself.

  After equipping it, I picked up my sword, which I had affeately named "Savior." The reason? Because its ability to enhance my magic saved me.

  Without it, I couldn't use "Lightning Lv2" frequently, nor could I i magito the sword whenever I wanted without w. I pced the sword in a sheath ahe training room.

  As I walked through the corridors, I entered some Familia members.

  They no longer looked at me with disdain as they used to—instead, they greeted me with smiles. Everyone who passed by even aowledged me. Before, I doubted they even knew my name, but now they acted as if we were friends.

  It felt like I was in a new world.

  Hephaestus had told me not everyoed me, but now it seemed like everyone suddenly liked me… or treated me with respect. Maybe news of my growth had spread through the Familia?

  Perhaps Hephaestus, Mikari, or Tsubaki had talked about it, and now the entire Familia knew of my progress.

  And these people admire petence.

  'Or maybe they're just pretending because of the Goddess.'

  Well, who cares?

  I left the house and headed for the tower. When I reached the entrance, I took a deep breath.

  'Hephaestus is probably talking to Tsubaki right now. My training should begin soo's see how far I go without proper training.'

  ####

  I ehe dungeon and advanced quickly through the first and sed floors without using skills ic. After my Falna's evolutioing through these floors had beuch easier.

  Before I k, I had already reached the fourth floor.

  Ssh~~

  I cut off the head of a Dungeon Lizard that had approached me.

  Then, I grabbed the water fsk at my waist and took a sip. Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I decided to sit down for a moment to rest. I opehe map to check if there were aals nearby.

  "There are a lot of red dots around here. Gatherials is good for earning points, but walking around searg for them is incredibly b."

  I only do it for the points since I've realized that the metal I find in the dungeon isn't of superior quality.

  "It could be useful for making money, but… I'm part of the Hephaestus Familia. Why would I gather metals to sell them? That makes no sense."

  The system probably added this metal-gathering meic to help me earn points because earning them solely through f is extremely difficult.

  "Alright, time to get some points."

  Havied enough, I started heading toward the red dots on the map. While colleg maals and dealing with the annoying mohat appeared along the way, I saw my points rise rapidly.

  Before I realized it, more than two hours had passed.

  Many monsters had been sin, and I had gathered many points aals.

  [445/10000]

  ####

  "Should I do this?"

  I was already tired of colleg metals. I was so bored that I wao leave as soon as possible.

  "But things might get more iing if I go to the 5th floor."

  Without thinking twice, I desded to the fifth floor of the dungeon.

  Feelied, I took my first steps onto the 5th floor. But somethi off. The dungeon walls suddenly began to ge. Before, there were many paths, but as I kept walking, fewer and fewer routes remained.

  It was as if I was being forced to follow a sih.

  My heart pounded, and I started feeling nervous.

  I looked bad to my surprise…

  "What the hell…?"

  It was just a straight li the end of the long corridor, the darkness seemed endless. Every hair on my body stood on end.

  Was this the system again?

  I opehe map to check if any monsters were nearby, but I was met with an unpleasant surprise.

  The map, now nearly empty, showed only a single route.

  I looked ahead and saw a siurn—to the right.

  Following it led to a long corridor, and at the end of it, there was an enormous red dot. A dot bigger than normal.

  "Is it some kind of special metal?"

  No… this eerie feeling I'm getting…

  Something is off.

  "Should I go forward, or should I turn back?"

  I strongly felt there would be n back if I moved forward. Either I did what the system wanted, or I would somehow end up dead.

  "Damn it!"

  So, I decided to turn back.

  Quiing my pace, I started running.

  However, after nearly ten minutes of running toward the darkness, it felt like I was still in the same pce.

  "No… I'm not moving. What the hell is this?"

  I opehe map and was still in the same spot.

  I was being forced to move forward!

  "I don't like this. This kind of system... A system that forces the protagonist to do things… That's what ruins a story! I've seen so many people pin about this.

  Is my system… the same?"

  Is this damn thing trying to lead me to my death?

  ParodyGirl