night visit from Loki & a chat with Riveria.

Bell was laying on his bed in his new room, it was already night outside, but he couldn't sleep. When Riveria finally got back with a sheet of blank paper, Loki didn't waste any time and copied his stats on it and show it to him.

He immediately recognized that his skills were the abilities to enhance spells from the overlord anime, and his shocked face was probably mistaken as a shock of awe by Loki as she laughed and slapped his back.

Bell had no idea why he had these skills, but it's no secret that skill in the danmachi universe acted in mysterious ways. Some skills you can get simply by being born into a certain race. Sometimes right from birth or sometime after birth, even before you get falna from a God.

For example, elves are expected to have a skill focused on magic before they hit their teenage years, with or without falna.

Dwarves on the other hand are expected to gain a skill related to strength or blacksmithing when they reach adulthood.

But some skills just pop out of nowhere! imagine eating a spicy dish and then BOOM! You have fire resistance! congratulations.

alright, that was a rather extreme and unlikely example, but who knows? it could be possible.

skill can also be made when someone does a certain action and is in a specific state of mind while doing it, but it can also be acquired by pure desire! Just like how the original Bell got his [Liaris Freese] which increases the speed of Bell's growth as long as his feelings last. Usually, the desire to catch up to the sword princess Aiz and the hope of her finally reciprocate his feelings.

Original Bell was a simp. The current Bell hopes he will not end up the same way.

"What a day." the boy let out a sigh and sat upon his bed. He once again looked at his status sheet. He stared at his magic stat before he shook his head and burned the paper via Lightning. He did it by simply visualizing the runes from {thunderlance} that generates lightning combined with a rune that symbolizes his hand and just...used Mind Mana on the image.

that's all it took, Bell didn't even imagine a magic circle, just runes. The resulting spell was thin lightning dancing between his fingers...it didn't shoot out of his palm like sith lightning, nor did it do any sort of noteworthy damage, to be honest, it just created a cool visual effect.

but burning a thin piece of paper? it was perfect for the job.

If Bell would need to put this spell somewhere, it would most likely be a 0 tier spell.

<the king of death is now offline>

the message made him blink.

'did he just watch me for the entire day?' Bell thought to himself a little crept out by the idea.

A knocking sound brought him back from his thoughts.

"enter," he said and watched as his goddess walked into the room and closed the door behind her.

"how's my white bunny doing?" she sang and walked up to him with a bounce to her step.

"White bunny?" he questioned as he watch her sit beside him.

"ya' have white hair and are cute like a bunny" the goddess replied, her voice still carrying that singing tone. "well, anyways, how do ya' like yer room?" she immediately grimaced once she looked around. "stupid question, it's empty and dull. Want me to buy ya' some things to fill it up?" the goddess offered and rest her head on Bell's shoulder making him go stiff.

Loki snickered silently at that.

'is that a rock with a face drawn on it?' Loki asked herself as she stared at the rock placed on the table in her son's room. Should she be worried?

"not really, I'm sure it will fill up soon enough with the stuff from the dungeon and other things I will gather on my own." he responded while stammering.

Loki raised a single eyebrow at that.

"didn't take ya' for someone to take trophies," Loki said, and truly meant it. Bell, in her mind, didn't look like someone who would collect trophies at all.

"don't judge a book by its cover"

"fair."

they spent a couple of moments like this, Loki still resting her head on his shoulder, and Bell slowly relaxing to this position.

<the king of death is online>

'didn't you just log off??' bell thought.

<the king of death apologies for interrupting an intimate moment and congratulates you>

<the king of death is now offline>

'wait, bone daddy, it's not what you think!!' the internal panic he felt inside right now was huge, he was embarrassed and had no way of explaining the situation to the undead sorcerer. All he could do was shed imaginary tears.

"Hmm, alright I better start telling ya' what I came for before I'll fall asleep" Loki took her head out of Bell's shoulder and started stretching on her son bed. "first, the requirements to level up is one D rank on a basic ability. Your magic stat already satisfies this requirement, now all it's left to do is for you is to get yourself a reputation."

Bell felt himself going wide-eyed, just like that? he can level up so soon? unfortunately, all his hopes were crushed in an instant by what Loki said next.

To make sure her next words will go into her child's head, Loki cupped both of his cheeks with her hands and made him look straight into her eyes. Normally she would tease him for his flushed look and while she did feel tempted, this was not the time for games.

"I will not level you up unless the rest of your stats go into or above F if you choose to go with a large group. If you want to go with a small group then your stats will need to reach or be above the D rank. understood." he nodded. "say it." she ordered.

She wanted to be sure after all

"I understand goddess, I will not bother you with a level up until I will reach your requirements." Loki stared at him for a while longer before she nodded and let go of his face.

"Alright, with that out of the way, the only thing left to say is that Riveria will take you out to the guild tomorrow so she can confirm your claim of joining my familia, as well as to give you a tour of the town and help you buy some things." the goddess said with her cheerful singing voice returning.

Leaning her head in the direction of his face, she enjoyed his look of panic before she kissed him gently on his forehead. "a goodnight kiss...what did ya' think I was gonna do?" she teased.

when all that came as a reply was a bunch of mumbling she let out a loud laugh and started to walk to the room door. "alright go to sleep ya' brat, you have a long day tomorrow!" with this, she left the room, leaving a flustered Bell behind.

ultimately he just went back to lying on his bed.

"did Loki in the anime ever referred to her familia as sons and daughters?" maybe he is in a version of danmachi where Loki or even other gods take the role of the patron of their familia seriously? if yes, then this means that he is not in the world that he knows from the anime. But maybe he is overthinking? maybe it's just nothing at all?

well, either way, Bell is going to find out sooner or later.

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Riveria is a serious no-nonsense woman, and it was incredibly awkward to walk with her. The fact that both of them didn't speak at all except a casual greeting in the morning made the situation even more awkward than it would normally be.

'damn it Bell, just start a conversation!' the boy yelled at himself mentally.

"umm, do you think I will be able to buy some book about the dungeon and its floor somewhere?" Bell started and earned a small smile from the elven princess, a smile that unfortunately was hard to notice, but a smile nonetheless.

"yes, in fact, the guild offer's free guidebooks and a dungeon advisor to new adventurers." the elf spoke "and for some reason everyone ignores them..." Bell picked up a slight tinge of frustration in the elf voice but didn't comment on it. "It's good to know you thought about it by yourself." Riveria said and gave the boy an approving look.

"well, I know some things about the dungeon and the first floors monsters, but I want to make sure I know EVERYTHING. It would be embarrassing if something happens to me just because some monster I don't know anything about just pop out of the wall and kill me." the memories of thousand fanfictions where the MC got himself into a near-death state just because of something that wasn't in the original story happened taught him enough. And now that he is an Isekai protagonist in an anime world nonetheless, he would a fool to not learn from their mistakes.

Riveria couldn't help but smile more at the boy, her smile becoming more noticeable.

"umm, how much can we spend on my gear Lady Riveria?" In all honesty, Bell would not hesitate to buy as much shit as possible, it is after all one of the main reasons he wanted to join a rich familia!

"Lady Loki told me to buy you whatever you want if I deem it necessary or useful inside the dungeon. money is not a problem." the elven princess could not help but notice Bell sigh of relief. "you can call me Riveria, no need for the 'Lady' before the name".

"Sorry, I just wanted to show some respect for my senior"

"I assure you, your intentions are appreciated," the elven princess told him and found herself liking the new recruit more with each word coming out of his mouth. "now, what kind of items do you want to buy?"

'let's see just how clever you are.' she thought and tried to guess the first item on his list. Her guess was a staff.

she was wrong.

"light armor, maybe leather, or something else that's not heavy and allows more free movement?" his words made the elven princess stop in her steps and look at the boy.

Feeling her stare at him, Bell turned around and saw that Riveria was standing in place while looking at him without blinking.

"y'know... I don't have anything that would protect me as I don't know any defensive spells to defend my body with." with his reasoning explained, Bell looked at the green-haired elf and saw her expression change. A few silent laughs escaped her as she tried and failed to hide them behind a hand covering her mouth.

"you are truly a breath of fresh air Bell" She said in between laughs

"thank you?" he had no idea if what she said was a compliment or insult, but he decided to treat it as the former.

"Alright, we will get you an armor that will not restrict your movement and isn't too heavy. Anything else?" finally recovering from her sudden wave of amusement, Riveria once again started to lead Bell to the guild.

"well maybe a couple of vials of mind potion, nothing too big, just enough to save me from a tricky situation if I run out of Mind inside the dungeon." he began and stopped for 3 seconds to think before he decided to continue. "a bag for magic stones, potion's, and other necessaries. I know there are people who you can invite into a party that Carries those for you, but it's still good to have some of it near you, at hand reach."

stoping once again Bell thought of anything else he would need.

"if a monster actually will manage to get close to me I already have a knife for such emergency" he then took out the knife hidden under his jacket to demonstrate he is telling the truth. "actually I will probably need a couple of vials of healing potions, or at the very least a first aid kit since I also don't know any healing spells" another necessary came to his mind so he didn't hesitate to speak once again. "and a staff. Any self-respecting mage needs one, I just didn't see it as a major priority so I didn't mention it sooner...aaannddd....that's all I guess." with nothing else coming to mind, Bell just shrugged his shoulder and waited for Riveria response.

Riveria is the vice-captain of the Loki familia, she helps manage the entire familia together will Finn and Loki. With such an important position Riveria should not play favorites...

yes, she shouldn't but that never stopped her with Aiz and Lefiya.

And it will not stop her from favoring Bell.