One week after exploring the dungeon.

Sen Hyunyunmun

Level One

Strength I 47

Vitality I 26

Dexterity H 117

Agility I 39

Magick I 43

This is the result of dancing, singing, reading, learning, practicing, sharpening, polishing and sweating. Three times a day Sen would journey to the first and second floor to enter every path of that underground creeping dungeon.

First to test the ground for traction, then to test the walls for firmness then jumping up and down until their legs felt flexible enough to trounce his enemies.

Practicing dives and rolls if acrobatics were to be worked on in the second floor.

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Finding alternate paths in the early part of the third floor. Then retreating to listen for monster movement. Or making way for a small party to pass after downing the last enemy in the room.

Scouting three paths, looping through one that connects to the next and then scouting each path from there before sneaking back and aggroing a group of monsters after another loop was my signature-newbie-tactic.

Just one wrong step and two groups of monsters would be shambling at you. Thankfully, I was careful and somewhat prepared each time.

I started carrying more than two daggers to ensure my success.

I would break the stance of any two-legged enemy then slash at the second enemy.

If there are an odd number of enemies then delaying their advancement in a room would make it easier to get out of.

With sword in hand and a shield in my grasp, I harken myself before entering combat encounters.

Goblins and Kobolds no longer provide a challenge unless in groups of three. Though I don't allow myself to enter fights with too many enemies. Not until a single attack is enough every time.

I assume that the brutally dense broadsword I wield would be good for more Strength-based fighters but I'm relying on the durability of this weapon to deal more damage with each attack. Not to practice my sword fighting abilities.

This “affordable yet deadly” broadsword is one of many gifts given to me by my Goddess. As long as I recover the metal from it's final confrontation, then it won't be wrong of me to rely on a brutal way of clearing a floor. As long as I don't sharpen it too much in one night.

One week of adventuring and exploring, that is what I've managed to accomplish. An entire week of delving into the dungeon for the first time. The first two days were followed by a third day with a nap.

Then a day of introductions from deities and local familias from an established alliance.

Mostly recently started shops and recently made familias.

Interacting with various groups as the only member so far is highly exciting.

Especially the groups of girls and goddesses seeking my attention.

I'm only 18 years old but they make me feel younger than now. Or maybe giving me attention allows them to feel even younger than their youthful figures show them to be, here in the lower world.

The insistence of burying me in their bosoms melted my resistance.

I was instilled with many rules and etiquette. Being informed of how the guild and Orario are run every year. Of the why and how.

It was so much fun. We planned practice and sparring on different days. As well as group lessons on how to handle different scenarios.

I opted to ask all of the smaller and shorter adventurers to seek me out to practice ambushing or many-on-one battles.

I asked to work on shielding and deflecting clubs for improving our ability scores by even the smallest number. Since the blessing made it possible to overcome the shackles of mortal ability. 

Some of the skilled newbie adventurers of these familias asked me to spar with them using a spear while they used a sword.

They were saying that my unpredictable movements and serious temperament allowed them to concentrate on improving rather than observing the surroundings.

I agreed. They arranged for group meet-ups where we warm-up together then wear away the faults of our approaches.

So far I've been pinned down by the amazonian girls countless times during spars when weapons were not allowed.

Learning about the backgrounds and stories of each of them and their friends made it clear to me how they came to be here. In the city built over a dungeon.

I asked the more experienced members of the allied familias how starting out as an adventurer was like for them. They couldn't really give specific examples about their own starts but recommended that I listen to my guild advisor.

There were more than twenty deities allied to each other- though the more tame familias with only one party decided to practice apart from the children of “our?” side of the alliance.

Our alliance was made up by deities whom agreed to provide support when expanding or challenging other families… such as when we inevitably cross them during War Games.

It seems I won't be seeing those parties from now on. I'll be sure to not draw attention to them in professional settings. Perhaps my behavior and choices may influence the allied parties I may be potentially working with in the near future.

There were several groups of people speaking to the many adventurers already in the service of their deities.

I'm excited to see their improvement. I had the most fun speaking with them about developmental abilities and the potential for becoming mages. The ones I grew close to were as excited as I am.

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A few would-be parties are working on the visible deficiencies in their balance for battle. Though a small prum girl joked that we could simply have the mages bombard groups of enemies all at once. If it were ever possible.

We all had a private conversation on the possibility of ranking up and decided to cooperate whenever it seemed better for our start in this city. Even if it meant agreeing to doing something I've always cautioned people about before leaving the village. Up till here to become an adventurer.

We wouldn't party with annoying or useless strangers. Yes, even if it meant treating failing members like strangers. Of the combined 56 adventurers between 25 deities… 11 of them didn't meet our standards. It wasn't presumptuous of us to discuss this. Our lives were more important than petty mobbing. We would not accept any requests or offers from them. And then after showing enough results in a party, individual members of that specific familia would inform their deity.

I was happy we did this. It made sense and I wasn't going to spend a day supporting them, as busy as I was. Though it may sound like a joke to lower class adventurers that moved up in their familias’ hierarchy that way.

Anyways, moving on from that, we decided to form parties with that in mind so that there could be no complaints. Agreeing that stating trust as why they wouldn't help those lagging outcasts, was reasonable. As well as involving calculated numbers when being mindful of profits for the familias.

The fact that this left most of the commonplace males out of friend groups we made wasn't lost on us. We had already stated our intentions in the first few non-practice meetings and knew how these would align.

Some more solo-oriented adventurers among us agreed that this was more about their independence and seeking adventure. Parties made up mostly of villagers or nobles from their place of origin joined the same familia and agreed that this would lead to success.

Parties with more girls agreed with me when I suggested this and knew that I did so with the intent to provide support to adventurers seeking to be with their companions in a fitting setting.

The allure of always being with their girl companions convinced them fully.

The fact that we would have to be involved more with the management of one's own familia came through. Being present when interviewing and accepting new adventurers was agreed upon.

Though we also made sure to designate which familias we would redirect new adventurers to; those that didn't fit with our personal ideals for party-play but weren't lacking. Honestly, it means Hopeful Trickster-Sama and Destruction Trident-Sama were slated to be where we sent them. Recommending to our deities this strategy for successful cooperation between families.

We really had to make an effort to be sure our voices would be heard at the proper timing. Knowing well enough why we decided to be adventurers in the first place.

And then after those first few days, we confronted the less dungeon-minded deities about this and announced our intention to not work with the eleven we left out of spars. The deities had seen it before and chose to remove the falna from them. We didn't talk to anyone afterwards.

None of us felt guilty and many of us were actually relieved. Some were angry about this but a few of us stated we wouldn't be negotiating.

That very day we had two adventurers join while we were gathered together. One joined an incomplete party and one we placed in a familia with only one member.

This method of setting up groups pleased our deities. Yet it came with an obvious cost. Some familias were given priority when directing the more skilled newbies. But mostly to keep a balance of sorts.

Still, it was possible to form full parties for exploring the dungeon. The first two floors being our start. With plans to explore in a chain of parties so as to sweep entire sections of the dungeon once we had better statuses.

The first level being a good place to compare out stats and abilities.

We often had some smaller newbies encouraging one another to spar when you had matching Agility scores.

Or wrestling with matching or close-to-matching Strength scores.

We would trade books with each other when we felt it would be good for someone. Keeping larger and thicker books for when it seemed their Magick ability score was most responsive to improving.

I enjoyed being given so many stories to immerse myself in before preparing for bed.

The fact that my Magick stat improved was such a good sign to me. My desire to manifest Magick was strong and so was my intent to fantasize while climbing down towards the first floor.

Once I had a rhythm to improving my Strength, I saw correlated improvements in my Dexterity and then a rare observable rise in either my Agility, Vitality or Magick.

After forming my first party with allied adventurers, I started imagining how to guard their lives while delving.

How to notice their talents or in what ways their efforts would give them the most results.

A complicated yet satisfying form of exploring.

Keeping in mind how the dungeon behaved to our presences.

I was put into a party with most of the favorites of the deities.

The prum girl with a slowly increasing Magick ability score and an elf girl with a steadily increasing Agility ability score from Strong Horns-Sama.

With a young werewolf girl with a solid foundation added by Oak Staff-Sama after a lot of discussion.

As well as the acrobatic amazoness from Light Steps-Sama.

This was how I glided through the second floor and explored the ends of tunnels.

Two supporters, one attacker with myself and our wolfgirl as the defenders with our two shields. 

We did well. Very well. To the point where we ran with this set-up several times in one day after meeting with a healer from Strong Horns-Sama. The healer would practice without entering the dungeon yet and we would have more energy for gaining experience.

After two days of cooperation we reformed parties to access our results.

I was very happy with the results, to be honest. I took the initiative to gather them again and a party from one single allied familia to do what I called “Edging”; which for some reason was really humorous to the leader of the second party.

We would practice passing by while taking shots at monsters before rounding the corner and measuring where a party may be discovered before relaying with the scouting party in the lead. The most efficient way to improve our partying. Being honest about what hits downed what monster so as to split the crystals evenly.

Finding out more about the dungeon in this way as well. Explaining the intent behind our actions filled with fantastical purpose.

We agreed to have the same composition for both parties. Supporters with spears, attackers with someone covering them with a shield while everyone had a dagger and pouch. One supporter from the second party would have a backpack for gathering crystal cores.

If more than three monsters appeared, supporters would pincer the previous group of monsters and attackers would support the scouting party.

This worked so much better than any of us had any idea of. Our supporters saw more results and the second party found out someone gained a skill.

Their attacker learned a skill called ‘Charge’, it would increase Agility and Strength when running to attack groups of enemies.

This was such an unexpected gain. I thought of it as something to do with their personality after seeing how they moved.

I recognized my imagination had recently started deconstructing ideas of grandeur and why amounts were considered when making judgements.

Staring up at the stars and to the night sky when I woke up in the middle of the night helped ease my mind. Sharing that moment with someone would calm my heart but I knew that required companions I could trust.

This was true to me and continues to be true. After I increased my status, I would start recruiting for my familia directly.

Finally returning to my bed, I planned to commit to this rhythm.

One day for solo delving while practicing in the morning. Then the next for “Edging” as two parties and then exploring in the parties set-up by our deities.

Next week we would be reforming parties again to gain flexibility in our tactics.

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The prum girl and elf girl both confided in me that they felt comfortable around me with the intent to form a strong business relationship. I was happy to agree. As well as exchanging knowledge with the prum girl while the elf girl provided both of us with higher tier knowledge she could explain in detail.

Mostly myths and stories of elven adventurers. Our shared excitement for magick bringing us together.

For the sake of professionalism, we'll call the prum ‘Ruby-San’ because of the ornate ring she wore with a shiny ruby in it.

For the sake of professionalism, we'll call the elf ‘Sapphire-San’ because of her sparkly blue eyes.

They made an amazing combination though they filled the same party niche. I assume they plan to be together and support themselves as a duo. Which seems accurate.

On my own, I walked around Orario and saw the outer ends of the aboveground maze called Daedalus street. This was after I learned the main roads. Daedalus street was more of an overlapping, stacked and redeveloped set of neighborhoods and outcropped districts.

It was named after the architect that worked on it before being arrested for attempting to build down into the dungeon.

I was measuring the overall extent of each part of the area. The shapes that larger paths were based on.

Which routes could be found naturally and which exits could be taken after navigating it were what I found. Memorizing the sidelong pathways to the other side of Daedalus street. Promising myself to do this ever so often, just in case.

With the full force of a mallet, I plan to strike it rich while seeking adventure.

*music trill*

Pon/ Pon-Pon, puripuri, ponpon~