6 Chapter 5: Blacklist and Exploring the Dungeon Floor 1-4
Author's note: I hope you like the chapter and I'm sorry for the delay. I had some problems with how to write this chapter.
A little explanation of Danmachi for those who have never seen the anime and the dungeon.
words of the chapter: 5800.
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I don't remember how long I was getting information about things in Orario since I needed to catch up with all the knowledge people here in Gekai got. Fortunately, it wasn't difficult, as Sophie was one of the people who explained things correctly and in an easy-to-understand way.
It only took me a while to learn things because there was a lot of information that I had to learn from. Now I can say that I am much more familiar with the world in which I find myself.
The Guild is an organization that manages Families within Orario and provides services to adventurers. But their main goal was to manage the threat of the monsters created in the dungeon. The God Ouranos is the one in charge of preventing the monsters from leaving the dungeon, to achieve this Ouranos uses his "divinity" to keep it at bay. And by doing so Ouranos becomes a "neutral" god who watches over the safety of the world or at least that's how I understood it.
The Familias is a group of adventurers and helpers who were blessed by a god. And adventurers can become stronger thanks to Falna, the <Grace of the gods>. To improve an adventurer's <Status>, you have to get <Excelia> which was XP. There are two types of Excelia that one can get. The normal Excelia and the high-quality Excelia. <High-Quality Excelia> is obtained by accomplishing great feats, such as defeating stronger opponents.
<The level> of an adventurer was basically how strong and dangerous an adventurer could be. And they are classified into two different classes. The Low-Class adventurers and the High-Class adventurers. At the same time...
<High-Class Adventurers> are classified into Third-Class Adventurers, basically those at Level 2. Second-Class Adventurers, those at Levels 3 and 4. And lastly, First-Class Adventurers, these It has to be level 5 or higher.
Oh. And apparently, here the gods entertain themselves by giving nicknames or <Aliases> to the adventurers who become High Class. Every three months they have a meeting called Denatus, where they talk about many things and manage to give the adventurers nicknames. Although due to Evilus, emergency Denatus occur frequently.
Sophie gave me a map of Orario and showed me where I can buy mundane and everyday accessories, she showed me the shopping district, where I can buy all kinds of food, health, and mind potions (if that was a thing). Apparently to use magic you needed a mind that was like mana or something.
She also pointed out where I can buy the armor (she promoted me, that the Guild lends Armor and Blades for only 5000, 3600 respectively. Which I accepted because I didn't want to waste time looking for weapons elsewhere)
Luckily, the Valis that Persephone lent me was enough for me to buy armor to fit me and two blades in case one broke. I also wanted to learn to drive two at the same time. Y Buy three bags to store the Valis.
Mike Schmidt was going to start grinding resources, so I expect the dungeon to prepare up to the night guard's grand entrance.
But before going to the dungeon and hunting the monsters, Michael has a very important question to ask about one of Orario's districts, specifically district number 4.
"I have an idea of what might be in the entertainment district, but I want to be sure to avoid any misunderstandings," I said to Sophie. "Could you tell me exactly what's in that area?"
Sophie gave a look of disgust that made me feel uncomfortable "Although I consider it an inappropriate place and I don't like that place very much. It is a district in Orario that is owned by Ishtar Familia in charge of several brothels, although you can find one or another food establishment. If you want to go to that district I would recommend not doing it until you are strong enough. People with higher levels can hurt those with lower levels because of their different strengths. Not to mention that it may attract the attention of amazons In the area"
"So it's a place that allows prostitution?" I guess that makes sense considering the death rate of adventurers. Some of them would have some needs I guess...and are Amazons really that dangerous?" I exclaimed out loud curious.
"if it is allowed, and for the second. Not really," Sophie was honest. "But the Amazons are known for looking for strong men and not passing up opportunities. So some of them can end up too…sticky," she said with a hint of disgust.
"I see," I said thoughtfully.
That was something I have to get used to in Orario. Not only did the races of humans exist but there were other races as well. Like the Demi-human race of dark-skinned women. Amazon calls. There were only women and most of them come from an Amazonian country called Telskyura. Michael doesn't know much about that country, besides that man is enslaved and used like cattle.
I didn't like that fact. But I can't do anything, besides I already had problems to deal with.
There are other races besides the Amazons. Like the Chienthrope, they are a breed of Demi-Human that have a dog-like tail and ears. This race has a sense of smell and hearing just like werewolves, they also have the tail and ears of a wolf (which was obvious).
The bulls (cow people with a tail and ears), and the Renard (fox people with a tail and ears) this race is extremely rare and it is said that they can possess strange and unknown magic. Cat people (like the cares that surprised me), Sheep people. The Pallums were people, they were little people, who did not grow up and look like children, but they are not (like the strange girl named Lyra). At least now I know why they are small.
Dwarves also existed in Gekai. It was good to know that, it is said that they may have a talent for blacksmithing, plus they have much greater strength than other races. The elves who have a very long life and a very strict culture almost reminded me of one of the cultures of the Arabian continent. There were other breeds, but if I looked at them all, then I was going to be around all day so I settled for the ones I have.
I tried to find out if my race existed, but apparently, there is no race called Vengeful ghost. The closest were the spirits, but they are very different from the ghosts in this world. The spirits are natural beings that the gods loved the most, they were known for their great magical prowess that was much greater than the elves. And they cannot have children just like the gods.
Yep... It seems that in this world the gods can't have children. This means that what little knowledge I have about them won't be useful since these gods were born differently. Another curious fact is that different races cannot have children with another beast race. For example, a Renard cannot have children with a werewolf. Beast Races can only have children between the same race, humans or Amazons (although if they have a child with an Amazon, they will be born as an Amazon and may or may not acquire their father's traits such as eye or hair color). Fortunately for humans, they can mate with any race.
I shook my head to push away any thoughts. "The levels are like the layers of an onion, right? The higher the levels, the more layers they have. And for each new layer, the state will be reset. Am I correct?" I commented wanting to be sure of the evaluation. For that reason, it was dangerous for a high-level and a low-level to have relationships. Because the high level can't control the strength of it in a moment of excitement.
Sophie looked at me strangely for my comparison. "I suppose that's a good analogy. But you're right. Levels are like new skin on the body. The higher your level, the more layers of skin you have on your body. And even if the state resets once you level up doesn't mean you lose them. It just adds to your base state." Sophie nodded, satisfied with her explanation, and seemed pleased that she quickly understood.
For someone to level up, they must have at least one of the basic skills in rank D as a requirement.
We all start from 0 no matter how strong or how much experience one has had. Although if you have more experience, it may mean that they can gain more skills. As it was in my case. Although I was someone strong even without Falna. That doesn't mean that everything I did before my blessing was added as an Excelia. Everything I did before my blessing can't be added as an Excelia because I wasn't blessed, but that doesn't mean I can't have abilities due to life experiences.
The Status is displayed as a range and number. The higher the number, the higher the range, although apparently, the maximum Excelia one can have is 999. So the classification would be as follows. 0-99 is the I range, 100-199 is the H range, 200-299 is the G range. 300-399 is the F range, 400-499 is the E range, 500-599 is the D range, 600-699 is the C range, 700 -799 is the B rank, 800-899 is the A rank. 900-999 is the S rank.
The higher you got, the higher your rank would go in the states. Stronger was your base state. For example, if there were two level 2 fights with the same status on that level. The one with the highest rank at their base level would win. Let's say one leveled up by the time he brought all his stats to level 500, but the other leveled up when he brought them all up to S rank. Even though the level 2s were in the same range. The one who raised all of his stats to the S level would be much stronger than the one who raised all of his stats to the D level.
I gave a tired sigh. Now have a set goal. I have to get all my stats to S. I'm not going to settle for just reaching D rank. With the help of <Grim Determination>, I was sure I could get there much faster than all the adventurers.
But there was a problem, a big one. If he leveled up too fast, then he was going to draw attention. Not only from the gods but from Evilus as well. A current record holder is a person named Alfia (her nickname for her was Silence). The Incarnation of Talent, who belonged to <Hera Familia> and rose to level two in 1 year and 3 months. Which was a very difficult achievement to do, if you didn't have growth-accelerating abilities.
Most adventurers don't level up to level 2. Approximately 60% of adventurers stay at level 1. 30% get to level 2 and stop. Only the other 10% can go up to level 3 or higher.
I have the option to hide my level, but if someone questions then they might fine me, but I guess it all depends on how fast I can level up. If I go up too fast, then it would be better not to hide the level. Because if I went to level 3 too fast too, people would get suspicious. But if it takes at least 6 or 7 months then it will be better to hide it and wait for time to pass and when it exceeds the record time then I can allow announcing the level increase.
I looked at Sophie and nodded gratefully "I guess that's it. Thank you for helping me Miss Sophie, this chat with you has been very enlightening."
Sophie shook her head, giving me an approving smile. "I'm impressed with you, Mr. Schmidt. Most people who come to Orario to become adventurers don't look for the necessary information and let arrogance blind them. Not to mention that You understood things quite quickly so it made my job much easier"
Ah, right... I understood what she was referring to when I worked in a simulator pizzeria. As a day guard. I was able to find several people who could easily drive you crazy. And there was no shortage of the idiot who wanted to be clever.
Ugh, how pissed off those people are.
With what I needed to learn of this world out of the way. I could start heading to the dungeon.
I got up from my seat while looking at Sophie ordering the information that she had brought me to help me. I thought of helping her before dismissing me knowing that she was an elf. How the idiot I was probably accidentally touched her.
"Very good. The goddess will come to give credibility to my Familia. With her whatever it takes," I said, waving Sophie goodbye. I just hoped that the goddess wouldn't get mad that I'm going to use the Guild's showers (because you had to pay to use them), although I don't think she'd be mad about something like that.
Also, using the Guild showers is too doable to ignore. I don't want to be covered in blood when I'm walking back home. Since the walk from the Guild to Persephone's apartment was quite long.
I sighed. If only cars existed.
Sophie looked at me before nodding. "Okay...Yes, you need other information. Feel free to go to the Guild. As long as it's public information."
I didn't answer instead I gave her a thumbs up before leaving the room that was for meetings, then while I was walking near the Guild reception, a bulletin board where several sheets were stuck together caught my attention. I also noticed a few adventurers looking at the advertisements that were on the sheets.
My curiosity took my limit and I approached. They said that curiosity killed the cat, but at least the cat died knowing. This a saying that could be applied to me, literally (And it was like the cat, only instead of 9 lives. I got to have 1.5: since I lost a life, but I was left between life and death)
When I was in front of the poster, one, in particular, caught my attention among all.
Wanted: Highest Priority. Arachnia. Tentative level: 5. Dead or alive. Reward 100 million Valis.
The poster also had the face of the person. The drawing was very well-detailed.
The reasons why I was blacklisted left me disturbed. The murder of more than 3000 people, and destruction of private property among other crimes. And that was not the most disturbing thing, but it brought a warning.
"In case you find her, run away immediately and inform the Guild as soon as possible. DO NOT FACE HER ALONE FOR ANY REASON"
She wasn't the only one either, but that girl was on the top list as a top priority.
Look at the other wanted poster.
Wanted. Vendetta. Tentative level: (2-3). Alive or dead. Reward 25 million Valis.
The reasons are more of the same as the previous one, only with fewer deaths... much fewer.
God, that was…terrible. I can't imagine the horror that there is a person who has that kind of strength and the worst thing is that they use it for sadistic killing pleasure.
A chill ran through me as I looked into the yellow eyes of Arachnia that was on the wanted poster. That girl doesn't give me a good thorn. I only hoped I would never meet her.
"So these are the people who have wreaked havoc on all of Orario," said a male voice who was nearby looking at the posters.
"Did you not know who they were?" exclaimed another in disbelief.
"Hey. I knew those psychotic bastards were active, but I never came to the billboards to check who they are" the first voice said defensively.
"Silly. That's the first thing you should do with how difficult the situation is in Orario. I just hope Loki and Freya Familia do something about it." The second male voice said with a dismissive tone.
"What about the Astrea or Ganesha Familia?" asks first.
The second sneered with a snort "As if they could do anything. Besides they're not strong enough to do anything. The only good thing about them is that they can save a few lives but beyond that"
"I guess, even if the Lion girl just leveled up... Agh too bad I wish I could level up as fast as these girls do." The first complaint.
"Ha. You wish you... as cowardly as you are, you will never be able to level up."
The two walked away with one of the posters in hand to speak with one of the Guild receptionists.
What you said made me curious, so I looked on the Families or level ups bulletin board. There it was, even had a photo. With mask and everything.
Ryuu Lion: Gale. Astrea family. Raised to level 3.
The announcement date was about three weeks ago. It went up to level 3 in 2 years within a few months. Pretty impressive. Although she didn't break the record, she came pretty close to it.
I frowned. This was information that should be kept especially in such a dark age. You are telling your strength level to the enemy.
I sighed and rubbed my forearm at the sudden discomfort I got.
This was going to be more troublesome than I thought... besides, I wonder how the girls are doing. I didn't know much about them, just our brief meeting and the little information I got. It is not enough to make a complete analysis of them.
Set those thoughts aside for future evaluation. I needed to go to the dungeon already wasted too much time. If I wanted to come back early I would have to go early.
Before leaving the Guild I looked at the clock that was hanging near the entrance.
5:46 AM.
I figured I can spend quite a while in the dungeon, collecting as many Excelia and resources as I can.
With that in mind, I head toward the dungeon.
.
.
.
The walk to the babel tower was long and tedious. Fortunately for me, the sun was just beginning to rise when I left the Guild. So I could easily guide myself through the city.
I stopped looking at the great tower of babel. I was used to tall buildings. But still, I had to give credit to the people who built this tower. It was well done. I was not an expert in architecture. But I could say that this tower could withstand strong earthquakes easily. Despite its strange shape and structure.
I couldn't help but make a face, for having imagined an inverted ice cream cone as a referential image... I hated ice cream, especially ice cream scoops.
I shook my head to avoid the depressing thoughts.
As I entered the Tower of Babel, I was accompanied by an incredible sight. I was able to observe a large amount of space where a large number of people could fit. In the middle of it, was a hole which I assumed led into the dungeon. There were three entrances that you could access to enter the lower floor of babel. In the corners, I could see that there were stairs to access the first floor of babel.
I quickly started walking towards the accessible entrance for the lower floor.
I didn't know what was waiting for me down there besides the monsters. But honestly, I'm not as nervous as I thought I would be. I've only been to three subways. At Circus Baby Rental and Entertainment. Pizza Simulator and the Poppy Playtime factory.
Once I was on the lower floor of babel, I walked towards the entrance of the dungeon. The ominous feeling that I felt from the entrance was getting stronger and stronger. When I got to the hole I could see stairs and they descended in a spiral.
I could feel large amounts of AGONY coming from the bottom. Although I couldn't detect the signature of AGONY and there was a large number of signatures. It boggled my mind a bit, but it made sense. Many people died tragically in the dungeon, so AGONY in this place would be easy to find.
I clenched my fist and frowned as I prepared to descend to the first floor of the dungeon. With the goal in mind, I quickly went through all my luggage. Seeing that I have everything ready, I began the descent.
Once I went down and was on the 1st floor. The walls of this floor were light blue and were quite large and several people could fit in this place. Then I was able to see a corridor with a wide space, much larger than the beginning of the floor, I began to navigate straight ahead until I reached a crossroads where it was divided into two areas. One for the left side and one for the right side. Typical of a maze.
Before I could decide which way to go. A shadow came out of the left tunnel and another shadow came out of the right tunnel blocking both paths, at the same time the sound of something breaking was heard. When I looked in the direction of the sound I could see the walls cracking and forming a kind of body.
In a few seconds, I am surrounded by ten bodies in total. I was ambushed at the very beginning. How lucky I am, I thought sarcastically as I clucked my tongue in frustration.
My eyes glowed an eerie purple through the white bear mask. My eyes darted over each enemy around me, making the muscles in my body tense in preparation.
The little shits around me were creepy. They were plump humanoid monsters with green skin and large crimson eyes that glowed with a mischievous tone that included unbridled rage and a great deal of bloodlust. I could easily recognize it as a goblin.
I flinched subconsciously as I looked at its elongated, sharp nails and teeth that could probably rip your frontal lobe off your head.
I took out my blade and moved my right foot in front of my left while leaning my spine forward. The goblins growled, I squeezed the handle of the blade in response.
Four of the ten goblins lunged forward, and at the same time, I lunged toward the one in front and approached. The goblin, seeing that the distance decreased, threw its claws forward intending to disembowel or cut me into slices. But my survival instinct kicked in instantly. I leaned in and dodged the attack easily as I ran my blade across its throat.
Blood splattered onto my arm and blade, but I ignored it. Before the Goblin crashed to the ground, I grabbed its forearm and immediately took all the weight off it with gravity control. Once the weight was removed from it, I picked it up like a sack of potatoes and tossed it toward another goblin.
The dead goblin crashed into another and they went rolling on the ground. Immediately upon throwing the hurt, I turned 90 degrees and kicked with all my might into another goblin's head and increased the weight of my leg to add force.
The goblin's head couldn't take the blow. Blood spurted out as the goblin's head was severed from the body. The body with nothing to control fell to the ground with a thud.
Once I finished putting my leg on the ground, my arm immediately went up instinctively to block the wooden club of one of the goblins. My eyes shone a violet tone with more force, my gaze on the goblin that tried to attack me, but failed.
Increase the weight of the goblin until it won't hold. The goblin immediately exploded into ash. After that, I dodged an attack from the remaining attacking goblin. Before I easily slit its throat.
The other six goblins now began to look at me warily (including the goblin that had rolled on the ground, now among them).
I looked at the blood on my arm with a frown. I didn't like the sticky feel of this one. Not wanting to drag out the battle any longer, I stretched my ghostly senses to the point that I could feel their gravity bodies. Then nonchalantly increase your weight to the point that it won't hold. The goblins couldn't defend against my gravity and exploded into ash leaving only the magic stone as evidence.
I don't know how many minutes I stared at the ground pensively, but I can assume that it was a few minutes. Nobody attack me while I was thinking.
In my mind, I could notice two things. The first was that I couldn't feel anything for the death of these creatures. I felt no sorrow, no anger, no sadness, no joy. Just the feeling of tiredness, not physically but mentally. The second is that I could tell that he was much stronger and faster compared to before he was blessed.
The Falna is something, I thought with a sigh as I looked at the goblin corpses. The disgust came to me when I learned that I had to remove the magic stone from their corpses.
I got closer as slowly as possible, and after a brief hesitation, I took out the stone that I could feel inside their bodies. Once I took out the magic stone from the goblin's body, the body turned to ashes without leaving any trace except the blood spilled on the ground.
Once I put the magic stones away, go through the entrance on the left, without worrying about any ambushes that might happen to me. I was continuing to kill goblins for several minutes.
I frowned at the abnormal amount of monsters the dungeon was throwing at me, I got the feeling that it was being too hostile against me. I didn't know what the normal amount of spam monsters the dungeon would throw at you was, but my intuition told me that this wasn't normal at all.
Something annoying that I came to notice is that my survival instinct took over by itself and many times instead of attacking, I became defensive and distanced myself. My gut was getting to me too much, but I figured it must be normal, and sooner or later my gut would adjust.
I never fought any Vengeful ghost head-on, I always ran away and lured them into ambushes or traps to free their souls. Even with the abnormal strength of a ghost, I couldn't do much against possessed items. My old rotting body prevented me.
Even though goblins are easy opponents to kill. My instinct that was focused on defense and survival was holding me back and preventing me from killing the goblins in less time. But it wasn't all bad, when a goblin got too close to me and I couldn't dodge it in time, my gravity skill acted in defense and brutally killed the unfortunate goblin that was able to reach my personal space.
I killed 57 goblins before I reached an area where some stairs went down many more underground. As a video game, I assumed that the more I descended the stronger the monsters were.
Without further hesitation, I descended to the 2nd floor. The walls and structures did not change much. The only difference that I could notice is that the apartment was much bigger than the previous one, but that was all.
While walking on the 2nd floor I was able to find two other types of different monsters. One was a humanoid body with the head of a dog that made my hair stand on end and the other was a large bipedal lizard. These creatures were quite tall, but even with their size. I was much taller than these monsters.
These bloodthirsty creatures were nothing compared to Ennard or Experiment 1006. As far as height was concerned they were absolute monsters.
I dodged a blow while I was reflecting before my arm crossed the chest of the bipedal lizard, with a great force I raised my arm that was holding the dagger handle to the left side, breaking the entire body of the poor monster in its path.
Blood splattered on my suit, but I ignored it in favor of looking at the dagger to see how much it had left before it broke. Luckily I could still keep cutting for quite a while. I continued exploring the 2nd floor. I reached many areas where there was a wall and I couldn't continue, generally the dungeon would send me a monster when I found those dead-end paths.
After some of what seemed like a long walk and kill, I reached the stairs leading down to the 3rd floor. I explored and killed several monsters on the 3rd floor, then reached the stairs leading down to the 4th floor and repeated. For each floor that went down, the monsters were stronger and more monsters began to emerge from the walls.
The spam was so much that they hurt me multiple times and I was forced to kill them all with my <Gravitational Control> skill. One of my daggers broke and the other was half worn.
I spent several hours on the 4th floor, mainly because I got lost and didn't know where to go, I could swear I was going through the same corridor for the third time, but since all the walls were the same, then I couldn't be very sure. Something I noticed is that the AGONY was much higher on the fourth floor than on the first. Although the difference was not much, I could easily notice it.
Two of the three bags I bought to fill Valis were full and the third was just short of full. Not to mention that some monsters dropped some items, For example, the dog-headed monster dropped what looked like a nail, the Goblin dropped a fang and the lizard was a stingy monster that didn't drop anything.
After a few minutes and a miracle, I was able to find the floor that descended towards the 5th floor. And as much as I wanted to keep going down because the many were too weak for me. I thought better of it and made a tactical withdrawal for another day.
I was satisfied with what I had achieved. I could go down, but my dagger was about to break and I would be forced to fight with just my gravity ability and bare fist. So I decided it was better to go back.
Plus I had a lot of things to do other than just farm loot from monsters. With my dungeon work done, I started my way up to the safety of Orario.
I spent about 30 minutes looking for the 4th-floor exit and every time I was starting to get more frustrated. The damn creatures don't stop appearing, even a fucking goblin surprised me when he jumped on top of my head, managing to hurt my shoulder.
Fortunately, thanks to <Cursed Body> I was able to recover from all the injuries the monsters managed to inflict on me. And since negative feelings abound inside me, it was not a problem for my recovery. Unfortunately, I couldn't say the same about the suit he was wearing. And the armor I bought for 5000 Valis was broken and deformed, now it was useless.
One 5000 armor and two 3600 daggers went to waste, great I thought sarcastically. They didn't even last more than a day. I didn't know how to feel about it.
After a great challenge and stress from Michael. I was able to find the stairs to the 3rd floor. While exploring the 3rd floor, I found a group of adventurers, they walked past each other, and I only nodded in brief acknowledgments.
They just looked at me warily and tensely. I didn't blame them because I had my mask on and with it, I could be quite intimidating, especially with my height. I went the same way the adventurers came, then I went the way I more or less remembered for the return. After a while, I got to the stairs that went up to the 2nd floor. Once I was on the 2nd floor my way up was much easier and it didn't take long for me to leave the dungeon.
When I left babel I could see a large number of adventurers and civilians. I looked up at the sky and apparently, it was going to start getting dark soon. So I spent a long time in the dungeon. I went directly to the Guild.
The first thing I did when I got to the Guild was head to the showers and wash off all the grime and blood.
"Remember. Michael uses cold water to remove the blood"
The memory of my father's words came to my mind. I could only cluck my tongue in frustration before he started washing the blood off with cold water.
Once I finished cleaning myself. Walk towards a trading desk being careful not to catch Sophie's attention. Fortunately, she was not at the reception so she must be busy. I could only notice a rather beautiful red-haired werewolf girl. With a sigh, I shook my head to put those thoughts away.
I handed over my bags full of magic stones and Drop Item. To the counter and the receptionist was surprised by the amount.
"A lot of monsters ambushed me in the dungeon" I explained before the receptionist started to speak.
"Ah" The receptionist nodded in understanding "Strangely, the dungeon ambushes an adventurer several times, but it's not abnormal. Although I see that you handled yourself well... Let's see... If all these items are in good condition 45,000 Valis per the Drop Items and 67,000 Valis for the magic stones, a total of 112,000 Valis." Then the receptionist handed me two bags of 50,000 Valis and another bag that had 12,000 Valis.
I was surprised by the amount of money I got, with that amount of Valis I could return all the Valis that Persephone gave me. Also, from what I understood a party of 5 level 1 adventurer was collecting at least 25,000 Valis a day.
So what I got in a single day brought me some satisfaction and pride. Even though I was wandering around like a fool in the dungeon several times, due to getting lost. It was not entirely in vain. Since I earned enough money for my first time diving into the dungeon.
Once I finished my business in the guild, I started to head back toward Persephone's apartment.
