The Guild truly lived up to its reputation as Orario's oldest organization.
Though it appeared to be a minor Familia, in terms of wealth, strength, and knowledge, it stood at the pinnacle of Orario.
Of course, it still couldn't match the Loki Familia and Freya Familia with their expedition teams — it ranked just below those two.
Adam spent another seven days inside the Guild. He had now completely mastered all knowledge about the Hieroglyphs and Falna. He just needed to return to Axel to recreate a Falna, then have Aqua modify it into a version suitable for her.
Though these days were monotonous, he discovered some interesting rumors about Fels.
No, she should be called Phils instead — a female Level 4 Second-Class Adventurer granted the alias of Sage by the Gods.
Due to certain circumstances, she ended up living on as this skeletal figure. She would often say, self-deprecatingly, that she might as well just die completely.
{T/N: I couldn't find anything about this, so I won't confirm if it's OG, or Canon.}
Seeing her in such a dejected state, Adam couldn't bring himself to hold their past grievances against her, and instead politely kept his distance.
"Well then, you've learned everything about the Hieroglyphs and Falna, so you should head back now."
Phils showed no intention of asking him to stay, despite their amicable relationship these past few days.
"Mm, thank you for taking care of me these past few days, Phils." Adam said, making his farewells without taking offense.
"Don't forget your promise not to spread word about reaching Level 2."
"Rest assured, I will." He waved his hand to show he hadn't forgotten. After a moment's thought, he added, "But dealing with Goddess Hestia will be tricky. You know how she's the most unfortunate goddess in Orario — she won't miss this chance to boast."
"That's for you to handle." Phils said coldly, making it clear she wouldn't get involved.
Life wasn't easy, Adam thought.
Oh well. He'd consider it a small hurdle after receiving the reward. Fortunately, the pure-hearted Hestia was easy to persuade.
"Alright then, I'll take my leave."
Led by Phils, he went to the Guild's underground and returned through the secret passage again.
This return route was to ensure no one with ulterior motives noticed his movements, even though he wasn't famous yet.
After returning to the armory, Adam climbed out of the Dungeon alone and headed to the Guild through the front entrance.
This was only natural. To maintain appearances, he hadn't exchanged his magic stones for valis yet, so he needed to make this special trip.
And entering through the front was essential.
"Long time no see, Miss Misha."
Upon entering, he found his advisor. Noting her surprised expression, Adam raised an eyebrow.
"Um, you seem very surprised to see me. Did something happen?"
"No, I just didn't expect you to still be alive."
"Uh..." His mouth twitched. He couldn't understand why she'd assumed he'd died in the Dungeon just because he hadn't returned for half a month.
Looking at her pink hair, Adam had a revelation. As expected of a pink-haired girl — she was dark inside.
"Where have you been these past two weeks? Could it be you had a logistics occupation and don't need to enter the Dungeon?" Misha touched her lips thoughtfully, "No wonder you didn't need armor before, or maps or manuals either. So you don't need to go adventuring after all."
"No, you misunderstand." Adam, not wanting to waste time, simply poured out all the magic stones from his pockets, waist, and backpack, asking her to exchange them for valis.
Seeing her shocked expression, he smiled with satisfaction.
After paying the 5% service fee, Adam left for the familia residence carrying V$3,800,000, while Misha watched with greedy eyes.
After passing through three main streets and two alleys, he once again stood before that dilapidated church.
"I'm back, Goddess Hestia!" Adam called out loudly, then walked into the two-story building beside the church.
Hestia, who was sitting on the first floor, looked at him with delight as he walked in.
Hestia excitedly jumped up and patted his shoulder.
"Really now, you were gone for so long!" She pushed him inside while complaining, "When you left you said it'd only be seven days, but now half a month has passed. I was worried sick!"
"I apologize for making you worry, but you know how strong I am, Goddess." He wasn't bragging — merely stating a fact.
But Adam was still touched by her concern. After all, his intentions were obvious when he joined the Familia — only a goddess like Hestia, who treated Familia members like family, would give such genuine affection even after such an unfair deal.
"Oh my, I know Adam is very strong, but I still can't help worrying!" Hestia's tiny body suddenly found strength as she pushed him onto the sofa to rest.
"By the way, Goddess, where is Bell-kun?"
"In the Dungeon." Hestia pouted unhappily, "Thanks to your training, Bell-kun can now reach the 10th floor, and his status is increasing rapidly. He'll probably reach Level 2 soon."
"Is that so? But you don't seem very happy about it." Adam said puzzled, "You're not blaming me for training him, are you?"
"You had good intentions, and Bell-kun wanted to get stronger too, so I have no reason to blame you. It's just..." Hestia sighed deeply, shrugging her shoulders, "Bell recently awakened to magic, and now he's even more obsessed with exploring the Dungeon. I'm really worried about his safety."
"Magic, is it? He awakened to magic?" Adam's gaze sharpened.
So that meant that pervert Freya had already made her move?
To help Bell overcome his depression and sweep away the last traces of gloom in his heart, she had given him a grimoire to help him break through his mental block?
Well, that's fine. Earlier when Bell saw him using Magic, those eyes filled with intense longing had left Adam at a loss. He'd wanted to try teaching the kid Magic, but success would have caused major problems.
Unless under special circumstances, regular Adventurers could only learn three magic spells. If Bell, with his empty magic slot, learned magic through someone else's teaching, Adam would end up in a dangerous situation.
So the best solution was to not get involved. Pure self-preservation.
"By the way, how was your time in the Dungeon? Did you get hurt?" Hestia bounced around worriedly, "I heard there was a monster rampage on the 18th floor these past few days, and many Adventurers were injured."
"Ah, about that, I resolved the monster rampage incident."
Seeing her dumbfounded expression, Adam repeated, "So like I said, I dealt with those monsters."
"Ah, let's not talk about that, Goddess Hestia. I think I can Rank Up now — could you help me update my status?"
Before Hestia could react, he hurriedly pulled her to the basement.
Taking off his shirt and lying face-down on the sofa, Adam waited for her to update his status.
Hestia's mind had turned to mush, but she mechanically repeated what she did for Bell every day at Adam's request.
She lightly pricked her finger, letting divine blood drip onto his back. Dazzling light once again illuminated the basement — and whether it was her imagination or not, this time the light lasted longer and shone brighter than ever before.
Looking at the status values displayed on his back, even she, a Goddess, was shocked enough to cover her mouth.
"N-No way... Level 2, and all abilities are SSS?!!!"
T/N: If you want more chapters , check out my Discover more novels on NovelHub - your gateway to endless stories.50 you can access all the extra content, and descriptive images, costs only $2!
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)
https://www.Discover more novels on NovelHub - your gateway to endless stories.com/collection/770985