The One Year Challenge

Contrary to his two companions who were relaxedly leaning against a wall of the dungeon, waiting for their teacher's return, Jakk was quite nervous and a bit excited. Shortly after Isaac had told them to wait here for his return, he had remembered reading a few old notes about a certain monster: the Jack Bird. As part of the Loki Familia, it wasn't a surprise that he knew about this obscure rarity.

Still, like before, Jakk didn't think there was any way for Isaac to deal with the extremely valuable bird. But what if he did? That would signify baffling riches - and that's exactly why he was a bit excited now. No matter how unlikely it was and even though he wouldn't be the recipient of this windfall, the sheer possibility got him fired up.

While he was watching out for any monsters spawning nearby, Jakk heard a pair of unhurried footsteps approaching their group of three. He instantly recognized them as Isaac's. Of course, he notified the rest of the group.

"Everyone, Isaac's back!"

In response, Kalin and Mina, who had been relaxing just moments before, swiftly got ready to continue further into the dungeon and looked in the direction from which they too could now hear the footsteps approaching.

It didn't take long for Isaac to come into view, so Mina devotedly greeted him.

"Welcome back, Milord!"

Whilst glancing him over to check whether or not he got hurt, she suddenly noticed the fluffy rooster comfortably sitting on Isaac's shoulder.

"What's with the rooster?"

Before Isaac could reply to her question, to make Averin's introduction as painless and quick as possible, the damn bird had already responded in his stead.

"This Lord Bird is the great and mighty Averin!"

Amongst the group of three students, Jakk was the only one who knew that the rooster was actually a monster. Even more than the fact that Isaac had managed to catch the damn thing, the fact that Averin could talk made Jakk think he was stuck in a dream. A talking monster was something he had never encountered before.

Kalin was also baffled by that fact, he just didn't know he was dealing with a monster here. Still, these words oozing with arrogance didn't make him think positively about the bird.

Contrary to the two men, Mina's eyes were already sparkling with adoration when she had first set her sights on Averin's feathers. She could only imagine how good it had to feel to pet them. When the adorable animal opened its beak to speak, she instantly exclaimed in surprise.

"It can talk?!"

Isaac just nodded in response to his subordinate's question, before grabbing Averin off his shoulder and staring at him annoyedly.

"What 'Lord Bird'? You're one of my subordinates, just like this lady over here. Her name is Mina and she has been my subordinate longer than you. The other two are Kalin and Jakk, they are my students. Get along with them. You have no right to act high and mighty here, you got that?"

Even though he was anything but happy that Isaac had rained on his parade, Averin acquiesced to this hierarchy after a short discussion. After which, Jakk finally couldn't hold back anymore and demanded an explanation on what was going on.

It didn't take long for Isaac to describe what had happened while he was gone. He also asked the rest of his party to keep all of this information a secret, to which everyone agreed without a fuss. Compared to the two oblivious newbies, Jakk was even more interested in what was going on with the talking rooster. Seeing how Isaac had decided to subdue and keep it, he could only applaud the decision in his head. After all, even if one had the million or more valis one could get for the Jack Bird's drop item, one wouldn't be able to find a bird like Averin even if one searched for it on the market. Its value was much higher alive than dead.

-----

At around 1 p.m., the party left the dungeon. Averin was safely stowed away in Isaac's backpack. Even though it was a little stuffy in there, it was the only possible way to smuggle the odd bird out of the dungeon without attracting attention.

Before they had left, Isaac had already told his rooster underling that he would have to endure this treatment for a while. Secrecy was key, so Averin couldn't make any noise, until Isaac got everything settled. After that, they could explore the surface together unhindered. This final part was what broke the camel's back and made the stubborn bird agree without acting up.

Today, they had only gone down to the fourth floor, just like the day before. Isaac's monster slaying quest had also reached 291/1000 by the time they left. The total gains for today's dungeon exploration reached 13.950 valis, which was a little bit more than yesterday. The bigger size of their party was the most likely reason for this. Depending on how many people were exploring in a group, the dungeon birthed a certain amount of monsters in response to the intruders.

The group spent a little bit of time at a small inn, eating lunch for 400 valis. Of course, the new rooster owner Isaac didn't forget about Averin and fed him under the table, away from prying eyes. Now that they were all sated, it was time for the second phase of Isaac's lessons to begin. So without further ado, he lead the party to the Pantheon.

He had planned to teach his students about wielding their weapons individually and to spar with them for a bit. The Twilight Manor had the perfect facilities for this but Isaac couldn't bring Kalin and Mina there yet according to his plans. The next best option was to ask the Guild for help. His dungeon advisor, Yolanda, had told him to come to her if he had any questions or problems related to the dungeon. Sparring with and teaching his party members was directly connected to his continued survival, so it definitely fit the bill. Also, Isaac was pretty sure the Guild would have some related facilities he could rent. It simply wouldn't make sense for that to not be the case, after all.

It didn't take long for Isaac to spot the seductive Amazoness amongst all of the Guild employees manning their desks. Just as his luck would have it, Yolanda also didn't have any adventurers to deal with at the moment.

"Well, if it isn't my newbie! Hey there, Isaac."

When Isaac had knocked on her desk to get the attention of the absentminded Amazoness, Yolanda happily beamed at him with a brilliant smile once she recognized who had just distracted her from her daydreams.

Right after she had welcomed the new Loki Familia member, Yolanda's eyes wandered over the people accompanying him. She didn't know any of them and that made her quite curious. Sadly, before she could ask him about his companions, Isaac had already decided to cut her off with his request.

"Does the Guild have a sparring or training area I can rent?"

Even more surprise could be seen on Yolanda's face when hearing this. She hadn't expected for a Loki Familia member to request outside help with such a matter. This obviously led her to speculate about a few things, but she didn't let it show on her face.

"The Guild indeed offers isolated courtyards for this purpose. We simply call 'em 'training areas', so just ask for that in the future. For 100 valis per hour, ya can rent one as long as ya like. Well, as long as there are some up for grabs. To be honest with ya, though, there are always way too many available, as most adventurers just use their familia's training areas. That's why the prices are that low."

Isaac smiled delightedly upon hearing that. He had thought he might have to spend quite a sizable sum. Thankfully, that wasn't the case.

"Alright, I'd like to rent one training area for 3 hours."

Without a moment's hesitation, Isaac put 300 valis on Yolanda's desk. His reason for only renting it for such a short amount of time was that he wanted to get home a long time before dinner today, so he could search for Loki to update his Status. By now, his stat growth had slowed down enough to make it seem like a pain to him.

"I'll have to remind ya of one thing, Isaac. Don't use any large scale magic or damage the property. Oh, and there are practice weapons provided by the Guild, ya can use 'em if ya want."

-----

The training area turned out to be about half the size of a soccer field and was completely surrounded by high walls that would be impossible to peer over from the outside without the help of a ladder or something similar. Half of the training area was a smooth but non-slippery stone floor, while the other half was simple earthen ground. By having two different sorts of ground, the people training here could more easily get used to fighting on differing terrain.

After leading the party here, Yolanda told them that she would get them from here in three hours. Then she left through the only entrance to this courtyard. Once she was gone, everyone put their backpacks in a corner, right next to the wall with the practice weapons made of wood. There were swords, spears, daggers, et cetera.

Only after Averin had promised to not be too loud and be ready to hide inside the backpack at a moment's notice, did Isaac let the rooster out of the backpack. Even though it had been stuffy in there, it didn't seem to have any effect on the energetic bird. He just looked around curiously and quickly got drunk on the fresh air he had never been able to breathe down in the dungeon.

Everyone got themselves a practice weapon, then they lined up in front of Isaac.

The first order of business was to check which standards of mastery they had reached with their weapons, so Isaac had them perform against an imaginary opponent for a short time. Of course, Mina wasn't able to impress here, as she just aimlessly waved her sword around. Jakk and Kalin, however, were able to simulate a battle in their minds and amaze Isaac with their actions a little.

The second step in Isaac's training schedule was to perform simple strikes and stabs with his sword or spear, depending on which student he was teaching. From what he had glimpsed of their individual weapon mastery, he devised strikes they should ingrain next to improve. For Mina, however, he just simply let her start from the very basics. Of course, whenever one of his students made a mistake, he made sure to properly explain to them what they did wrong and perform the strike or stab he wanted to see himself, so they had a reference.

To the students' surprise, Isaac was able to display these actions in slow motion, as he had perfect control of his body. This way, he was able to let them see the same action performed at different speeds, making it easier for them to comprehend it.

Almost an hour passed like that, then Isaac decided he would spar with each of his students individually. Only Jakk would be requested to hold back his strength a little, as Isaac was still incredibly weak. Instead, all of them should only rely on their techniques. Most of the next two hours were spent with Isaac rotating between sparring with all of his students, who were able to catch a breath while the others fought. Of course, even here, Isaac always told them how to improve or pressure him more.

Just like every skill, weapon mastery couldn't be improved without perseverance and continuous training. Only someone like Isaac, who already had perfect control over his body and mind, was exempt from these essential requirements. That was also why he didn't expect for his students to improve rapidly, he wasn't unreasonable.

By the end of today's lessons, he was already happy that Mina had learned to wield her blade without being in danger of harming herself. Jakk and Kalin had shown much less improvement compared to the chienthrope who had started from nothing. It was always easier to improve when one started from the very beginning, after all. Still, the two of them had been shown a few new paths they could follow towards improvement, they only had to continue persevering for now, before they could reap huge rewards.

The last ten minutes of their allotted time were spent resting and drinking some water. The whole group was completely exhausted. Averin, who had been quite interested in the stick-wielding show in the beginning, went back into the backpack only ten minutes after they had started the training. He had been sleeping in there this entire time.

Once he had made sure to wake up the rooster and let him know they were leaving, so he had to be quiet again now, the group left the Guild's training area just as Yolanda went to notify them that their time was up.

Kalin said goodbye to the group for today when they left the Pantheon and they agreed to meet him at around 6:30 a.m. tomorrow, in front of the northern entrance of Babel. When the group arrived in front of the inn Mina was staying at, Isaac told her to be ready at around 6:10 a.m. tomorrow, which she agreed to by saluting in a devoted and serious manner. This made Isaac smile wryly, because it made Jakk look at him with a weird look in his eyes again. Anyway, this time, Isaac was sure he hadn't overlooked anything in his planning.

Back at the Twilight Manor, he first went back to his room and unloaded his backpack. Averin, who was finally free of the backpack's restraints again, was introduced to Jakk and Isaac's room and was told which half of it belonged to his master. He could only feel at home on that side and shouldn't annoy the bunny boy if he could help it.

After making sure there wouldn't be any problems and the damn rooster wouldn't explore beyond the bounds of this room, by promising Averin to resolve these problems today, Isaac went and took a shower. He also cleaned his equipment before changing into more comfortable clothes and making his way to Loki's study.

Although he didn't know whether Loki would be there or not, it was currently slightly after 5 p.m. and Loki ate with her familia almost every single day. So now that it was less than an hour until dinner, she would surely be around the manor somewhere. As he had no idea where else to look, the study was a good place to start.

Thankfully, after knocking on the door, Loki's cheerful voice had invited him inside. Isaac was quite happy with how lucky he was… until he saw who else was inside the room.

It was the werewolf, Bete. He sat across from Loki and either just had a talk with her or got his Status updated, who knows?

Loki had planned for the two of them to have a run-in for a long time now. She had told the werewolf about Isaac's peculiar relationship with Ais almost immediately, as she knew Bete was interested in her Sword Princess. Of course, she did so mostly as a warning to leave the new member alone… but to be honest, she also wanted to see the two of them clash a little for her entertainment. So when she saw it was the mysterious Isaac who had entered her study at this time, a mischievous smile spread across her face.

As soon as Bete took a look at the newcomer, he abruptly got up and walked up to Isaac menacingly. He exuded a heavy killing intent and bloodlust, trying to intimidate the pathetic weakling in front of him. Of course, just like before in the canteen, Isaac just smiled relaxedly in response to this amusing display, which made the werewolf even more annoyed.

"A worthless weakling like you has no right to stand next to Ais. You will never catch up to her! So keep away from her and don't dirty her with your presence."

Even though these words were arrogant to the max, Loki had to agree with at least parts of what Bete had just said. It would be quite hard for Isaac to catch up to the one and only Sword Princess, the fastest growing adventurer in Orario. No matter how extraordinary he was, she just couldn't see it happening. Of course, Loki didn't approve of Bete's words in their entirety. In her opinion, the connection between Ais and Isaac was already too much to be severed by minor issues like that. Still, she wanted to see how Isaac would react to such a provocation.

In response to these jealousy-filled words, Isaac just sighed and shook his head, clearly conveying that what he just heard was pathetically stupid.

"Is there something wrong with what I said, wimp?"

Of course, Bete was fully convinced of the content of his previous words, so he arrogantly challenged Isaac into retorting. As if he had waited for this, Isaac's relaxed expression suddenly changed into a supremely serious one, catching the werewolf off-guard.

"Where should I begin? First of all, it doesn't matter whether I am weak or not. Secondly, who Ais spends time with isn't any of your business, she is her own person. You don't own her. Most importantly, however…"

At this point, Isaac displayed a very derisive and pitying expression on his face.

"Catching up won't be a problem at all. Loki, please update my Status and let Bete see the result as well."

The look on Isaac's face had enraged Bete a lot. But he decided to wait, for now. Usually, he wasn't someone who made overly hasty decisions. Now that the weakling in front of him wanted to challenge him with his Status update results, he could just crush Isaac's hope once he had seen it. It was a better choice than making a fool of himself by risking a metaphorical slap in the face, should Isaac truly have an ace up his sleeve.

Even though Loki was quite sceptical when hearing Isaac's claims just now, she happily agreed to updating his Status. Ais definitely had a good eye for talent and even Riveria had told her that Isaac was special, so he shouldn't be too disappointing. So after Isaac had removed his shirt and laid down face-first on one of the green sofas, Loki started to update his Status.

Once she was finished and he felt vast amounts of power course through his entire body, Isaac let the system display his Status to have a look.

[ Name: Isaac Blackshaw ]

[ Familia: Loki Familia ]

[ Affiliation: None ]

[ Race: Human ]

[ Level: 1 ]

[ Age: Unable to measure ]

[ Charisma: 14 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: E-480 ]

[ Endurance: E-482 ]

[ Dexterity: E-484 ]

[ Agility: E-493 ]

[ Magic: D-511 ]

[ Magic ]

[ None ]

[ Skills ]

[ None ]

[ Development Abilities ]

[ None ]

Loki had already been shocked speechless while she had looked at the vast amount of excelia Isaac had gathered in a mere few days. When she finally finished the update and wrote everything down on a sheet for him to have a look, she couldn't hold back her curiosity anymore.

"I just can't believe this! What kind of monster are you?!"

His growth had completely shattered everything she thought of as normal. Back when Ais had joined her motley crew, her growth had already baffled Loki. But even Ais' growth speed couldn't compare to this mysterious youth's. Loki doubted anyone had ever grown as fast as him!

When Bete heard his goddess' exclamation of disbelief, he got a bad feeling about this. Inwardly, he already praised himself for not running his mouth even more earlier, he definitely would have regretted it. Still, he couldn't help his curiosity.

"What's going on?"

Instead of replying to the werewolf, Loki just looked at him with pity, before sighing and handing the sheet of paper displaying Isaac's previous and updated Status to the man in question. Isaac had just finished putting on his shirt again and glanced over the information he had already had his system display for him moments prior, before smiling happily and handing the sheet back to his goddess.

"As expected."

Hearing this reply, another sigh escaped Loki's mouth.

"You're really impressive. Just how did you do it? I've never seen anything like that before."

These words made Bete even more curious, so he walked towards Loki and Isaac unhappily, clearly annoyed at being left out.

"Don't keep me in the dark!"

While Bete was handed the sheet, Isaac responded to Loki's question with an innocent smile.

"I just killed monsters vastly stronger than me, in huge numbers. I couldn't go further than dungeon lizards, though."

Loki had already known that when she looked at the excelia accumulated in his body before, so this reply didn't tell her anything new. Bete, however, who had just looked at Isaac's previous and current Status and was already impressed enough by the perceived weakling growing about 500 points in every single stat in a few days, almost didn't want to believe his ears and stared at Isaac with disbelief.

"You killed a dungeon lizard with the pitiful amount of strength you had before?!"

Admittedly, the werewolf's widened eyes almost made Bete look a little bit adorable. Isaac, however, didn't get distracted by that, so only Loki got some enjoyment out of the sight. Sadly, however, Bete regained control almost immediately after Isaac had replied to his question with a simple nod. The werewolf honestly grew a little bit scared of this monstrosity before him. He knew that he would never be able to kill a dungeon lizard with such a pitiful amount of strength. Still, Bete's competitive side didn't let him give up just like that, so he issued a challenge.

"If you can surpass me in two years, I won't even make a peep or complain about your relationship with Ais."

In his head, Bete had already calculated the advancement speed of the man in front of him based on the limited amount of information he possessed and judged that Isaac would just barely be able to catch up with him in that timeframe, he couldn't surpass him. Isaac was very well aware of this, as he had thought about his development speed before as well. Still, there were a few ways he had thought of to accelerate his growth beyond anyone's wildest imaginations. Contrary to DanMachi's protagonist, Bell, however, he wouldn't use any overpowered skills amounting to cheats to achieve this.

Isaac unhurriedly responded to Bete's challenge.

"I'll do it in one year."