'Inside Babel, Hestia discussed with Hephaestus…'

"I told you already, they will bring him back in one piece, now let's go back…" Said Hephaestus as she tried to convince her friend from doing something stupid

"NO! I will be going there!" Said Hestia as she put on her cape and went to the door

"..."

At least she has calmed down a little, she almost had a heart attack a few minutes ago…

Thankfully she can feel the blessing again… Else…

"Look, it's against the rules for a God to enter the Dungeon…"

"Enter? Who said I entered the Dungeon?" Said Hestia with a sly smile

"..."

Please! Just stop and wait…

Although I understand her, what she is feeling is definitely stronger than what I feel right now…

"Look, I sent Tsubaki and a few other High-Level adventurers, they will find him. So let's not risk your safety as well, okay?" Said Hephaestus

"..."

'Hestia looked visibly pissed, but she stayed put as she grabbed the tea cup.'

/GULP!/

'She drank all of the calming tea in one go.'

"... He will be alright right?" Asked Hestia in a sad tone

"..." Hephaestus was silent

'She wanted to say he would, but she also didn't want to give her friend false hope…'

SHIT!

I hope I am doing the right thing...

"He will, I am sure of it…"

…

'Sometime later in the Middle floors…'

"Is this the place?" Asked a man with a large backpack

"16Th floor… This is the place. It's time." Said Tsubaki as she looked towards someone on the side

"Yes sir!" Replied the girl

"~Little little light, come to me and bless my sight…~" Said the girl as she started to chant

'After a while, a small, glowing, and circular pebble formed on the ground.'

'The rock started to "jump", but it stopped after a while.'

"I found it." Said the girl that summoned the rock

'It started to roll towards a certain direction…'

"Let's go!" Said Tsubaki

…

'After walking for around half an hour, killing every monster that dared cross them, they finally arrived at a hidden path inside a cave.'

'After passing through the hidden path, they arrived at an open space, Silver training area for the past month.'

"To think there would be such a hidden section…'' Said a man with a large shield on his hands

"... I smell blood." Said Tsubaki

"!" x 3

'The other four members got combat-ready as they continued to follow the rock'

'The little rock continued to roll, eventually arriving at an area filled with blood and…'

"This is…" Said the guy with the backpack

'Blood and body parts everywhere… Brutality at its finest.'

"Wait, the rock didn't stop." Said the girl who summoned the rock

"This feels like a battlefield… Wait! Look at their attire!" Said the guy with the backpack

'Dark cloaks and masks…'

'Tsubaki ran and checked their necks, and lo and behold, the mark was there.'

'As the captain of the Hephaestus Familia, she is more than qualified to know how the investigations were going.'

'Even if she didn't participate in it herself, she has many connections, information just poured in on its own…'

"Now this is getting complicated…" She said as she took out her sword

Did the boy get ambushed by these guys?... If so, how are their bodies like this?

Most importantly why? Was this a sad coincidence? Or are these guys plotting something?

If they managed to infiltrate the Dungeon, this means they passed through the blockage and escaped the investigators.

I will have to talk with Hephaestus about this later and see how we are going to report this to the Loki Familia…

What a mess the boy had to fall into… I hope he is fine.

'She shook her head and continued forward.'

'Everyone else continued to analyze the bodies on the ground.'

"Looks like they were killed by a very strong monster, but I don't remember there being such a monster on the Middle floors, much less one that makes such a mess…" Said the guy with the shield

The most I can think of is a minotaur, but they stop after killing their prey…

"... We need to move on! We can check this later." Said Tsubaki

'They continue to follow the rock, eventually arriving at a large hole.'

"More surprises…" Said Tsubaki

'A large open area leading to a dark hole, Tsubaki noticed a strange trail that went from the corridor all of the way towards the hole.'

'It seemed like… Minotaur steps. But to cause this much damage... It had to be a pretty strong Minotaur...'

"Is that?…" Asked the man with the backpack

'In the middle of the room laid a body, it was mangled and bloody due to the many open wounds on its chest.'

"Another one of those… And this seems to have been killed by stab wounds. The blood has yet to dry, but I would say it has been at least half an hour." Said the girl as she analyzed the body

(There are 2 girls and 2 boys in this group)

"This is good, it means he survived this fight and we should be near him…" Said Tsubaki

Or at least his body…

'The rock continued on its way, jumping into the hole with no fucks given.'

(LEROYYYYYY)

"Did he… Fall? Looking at this hole, it's at least a floor deep, but the next floor is Rivira, and I don't think this hole connects to that place…" Asked the other girl in a worried tone

"I didn't expect to find such an entrance in this place." She said

"..." x3

'The four adventurers had terrible expressions. If the boy was a Level 3 or higher, then he would've been able to survive the fall, but for a recent Level 1…'

"So it was too late…" Said the guy with the shield as he dropped his head

"No matter the result, we need to confirm it for ourselves… We are going down…" Said Tsubaki as she approached the hole

'She went to the edge of the hole and looked down, trying to estimate the fall.'

"Ha!"

'But instead, she smiled as she spotted a rather awkward and injured Silver climbing back from the hole.'

…

/Back at the surface…/

'Tsubaki led Silver, back to the surface while asking many questions.'

'And Silver answered them, he first told them he was ambushed by a strange group of people, and after that, an even stranger monster appeared and distracted most of them.'

'Tsubaki determined that those guys were after the Minotaur and that Silver was just caught in the Middle.'

'He then ran into a dead-end where he fought against one of the assassins to the death, not before being thrown into the hole by the monster.'

'However, due to his abilities, he managed to survive the fall.'

'To prove that he showed his "gliding" ability.'

'After arriving on the surface, Tsubaki led him to a shop and parted ways with him…'

'And this leads us to the present…'

…

"SILVER!!" Said Hestia as she hugged Silver with all of her strength

'She was currently sitting on top of Silver hugging him.'

'As soon as Silver arrived, Hestia jumped at him and hugged him.'

'No matter what he did, be it tell her he was fine or remove her from his body, she would just go back to her previous position like a magnet, so Silver chose to sit and wait…'

'This "sensual" scene has been maintained for the past minute…'

'Hephaestus did her best to calm Hestia, but after a while, she gave up and left the room.'

'She couldn't look at the scene without having a strange feeling and a little bit of envy…'

'And she hated herself for thinking that, so she left.'

"Hestia… Please… I am fine." Said Siver

"..."

/Sniff…/

"..."

Please, get away from me… I don't know how long I can control 'IT'…

Her… Everything is touching some very dangerous places right now…

And Hephaestus is just in the other room…

'While Hestia was ignorant to Silver's plight, she couldn't help but feel comfortable in his embrace…'

'And after worrying sick… She was now tired, so she eventually…'

'Fell asleep.'

"Hestia?... Did she?... Phew…"

'Silver very carefully moved Hestia away from him and placed her on the couch.'

/Creek…/

'At that time, Hephaestus noticed the decrease in noise so she opened the door to check things out.'

'She wasn't spying on them at all!'

"..."

"..."

'And she noticed something VERY odd…'

"..."

Oh my…

'Her gaze fell directly into Silver's pants and the immense bulge that seemed ready to tear a hole in his pants.'

"... Thank you for the help!"

'Silver knew there was no way out of this situation, so he just chose the easiest way.'

'He used his abilities to make the bulge disappear.'

"Ah!..." Said Hephaestus

'Like an illusion, the bulge disappeared in the blink of an eye, Hephaestus even doubted her sight.'

"There is no need to bow, I did it for Hestia."

'Her eye didn't leave his pants though…'

"In any case!... I heard you were … Ambushed. Would you mind telling me what happened?" Asked Hephaestus with a serious face

'Silver nodded, now much better since his pants returned to the norm.'

"In the past month, I stayed in the middle floors training."

'Hephaestus frowned, but continued to hear him.'

"Normally, I would finish my training and go back up, but today something strange happened."

"As I was training, a strange group of cloaked men appeared, they attacked me out of nowhere and I was pushed into a dead end as I fled."

"But suddenly, a Minotaur with white skin appeared and started to fight them. So I took the chance to escape."

'Hephaestus showed a shocked expression, but she remained silent.'

"But one of them went after me, and after being led to another dead end, I engaged in a fight against him and barely won…"

"But that wasn't the end as the injured Minotaur appeared and knocked me into a hole connecting with the 19Th floor, but thanks to my Magic, I managed to survive and climb back up."

"The Minotaur died, but I can't say if it was due to its injuries or the fall." Said Silver as he took out a white tendon from his inventory

'The tendon was fully white and somewhat translucent, however, you could see a tinge of blue on its inside.'

"Can I see it?" Asked Hephaestus

"Of course."

'She took the tendon and observed it for a long while…'

'She felt dense magical power in the long tendon, way above what a Level 2 monster like a Minotaur should have.'

At least a Level 3 material

'Of course, the magical power might've accumulated in the tendon after its death like in most cases, but even so, the overall magic power inside it is on par with Level 3 monster drops.'

"This is a nice drop item, bring it to a decent smith…"

'And then it clicked to Hephaestus…'

Wouldn't this be a perfect gift?!

However, I don't have a reason to give one to him…

'After an internal struggle, Hephaestus just gave the tendon back to him.'

Take it slow…

"I will look for a qualified blacksmith later, it might be small, but I can feel it will make a nice bowstring." Said Silver with a smile

"Of course." Said Hephaestus with a little bit of regret

"I will come back one of these days to personally thank all of those that came to my rescue." He replied

"Ah! It was nothing, it was just a…"

Wait! This is a chance!

"Cough! I will have some time at the end of the month next week, make sure to come with Hestia next time." She said with a smile

"No need to say it twice…" Said Silver as he gave Hestia a piggy ride

'He went to the door and said:'

"Then… Until next week."

"... Until…"

/Cling…/

'Silver closed the door, and the usual ringing sound from the bell filled Hephaestus' ears.'

"I… I did it…"

Was I too direct?

Did… Did I take advantage of my friend?!

After all, he was hurt and…

"... Arg... Just a few more commissions... And I will be free for a while..."

'Hephaestus had once again fallen into an internal struggle…'

'Later, she received the report from Tsubaki and couldn't help but feel enraged. Getting to her feet and going directly to the Loki Familia.'

…

"Um… Sh… Shelvir…" Said Hestia as she mumbled in her sleep

"Um…Um?"

'Hestia woke up in her bed from her happy dream where she ate an infinite amount of sweets prepared by Silver.'

"How did I…"

/Sniff/

'She smelled a delicious smell in the air.'

"This is!"

Cake!

'Hestia got up from her bed as she ran to the side, meeting Silver on her way.'

"You woke up." Said Silver with a smile as he took out a cake from the oven

'It wasn't just any Oven, it was one powered by Magic stones.'

"Did you bring me from…"

"What do you think? Sigh… What do I do with you?"

"For now, let's sit down and relax, you need it anyway."

"..."

'She wanted to ask if he was alright, and what had happened but…'

He is always like this… He brushes off his problems and acts as if nothing happened…

But I can't bring myself to get angry…

I would just like it if he was a bit more open…

I would prefer to hear it from his mouth than from the Exelia…

'Hestia sighed and sat, excited for her cake.'

"..."

This girl… So obvious…

'The next few minutes, Silver told her what happened, he removed all of the excessive gore and decreased the danger of the situation in order to not make Hestia worry.'

'Although she knew he was omitting some things, she was happy that he opened up.'

…

"... These stats…"

'Hestia didn't know how to feel about this...'

If I told this to Hephaestus… How would she react?

'Hestia shook her head.'

"Here, take a look, Silver." Said Hestia as she gave him the paper

----------------------------------

Mellios Silver

Level-1

Strength SSS 1448 -> 1499

Vitality SSS 1455 -> 1499

Dexterity SSS 1421 -> 1499

Agility SSS 1476 -> 1499

Magic SSS 1499

Magic:

>Magnum Opus Ambrosia

Skill:

>Vit Alhjin

>Infir David Missimus

----------------------------------

... This si truly unbelievable...

My training really compensated, for several hours every day, I evaded the Minotaur's blows.

All of that culminated into my Dexterity rising so much…

I tried many things to speed the process, such as using a whip to fight monsters attracted by the scent bag.

And even other dexterity-based activities like carving.

My stats rose at a pretty high rate, and for them to reach the max value was as expected.

Magic was the first one to be maxed...

That was around a week ago.

And if it wasn't for the unbelievable amount of Exelia given by the monsters I hunted, the change in the Minotaur, and this small unexpected event...

Principally that illegal item, I might've taken triple the time to kill as many monsters as I did in the past 3 weeks.

Perhaps more… Change that. Definitely more.

'Silver stopped thinking, smiling.'

18 years and a lot of training... But my adventure is finally starting.

I wonder where it will lead me?

"... This is it, Hestia…"

The true limit…

I thought it would be higher, but it ended up being here.

Time to move on.

"I can't say I am disappointed…"

"TCH!"

'Hestia couldn't help but get annoyed at the sad tone of Silver, but she didn't say anything since she was also extremely proud!'

If only I could brag about this to that flat chest!...

"... It's time to Level up." Said Silver

But not before that…

'Upon hearing the word, Level up. Hestia couldn't help but open her mouth in shock.'

"So the day has finally arrived!" She said as she jumped in happiness, ready to update his status

Heh, that flat chest will have one hell of a surprise… Just wait till she hears that my Silver beat her Sword Princess by 8 Months…

'Hestia's smile was evil…'

"Not yet, there is one last thing I want to try doing…" Said Silver

'But Hestia intervened in a tone as if she had been wronged…'

'She grabbed his shoulder as she shook them.'

"HOW CAN YOU DO THIS?! You rile me up and now you are leaving me hanging! Don't you know that's forbidden to do with a lady?!" She said as small tears formed in her eyes

"Oi oi… Calm down…"

The way you are speaking sounds as if I did something else…

"It's going to be fast, I just want to finish a small experiment first…"

'Hestia just stared at Silver.'

"Sheesh! I will do it right now so please! Stop looking at me like that!"

'Silver got up from the bed and sat on the ground near the fireplace.'

'He took out several smaller objects, including what seemed to be a thin book.'

'It was his research notes he made over the years since he got his powers back.'

"... I think I am ready to try this out." Said Silver

"What are you doing?" Asked Hestia as she looked at the book

'She saw several dozen drawings of the Human body and organs.'

'Including a full-size body of what seemed to be Silver, however, her main target didn't seem to have been drawn…'

"Tch..."

"..."

I know what she is looking for...

/Poof!/

'Silver closed the book.'

"Where do you think you are looking?" Said silver

"!"

'Hestia turned around and acted as if she wasn't doing anything…'

"Sigh…"

'Silver picked a strange yellow potion and drank it.'

"What are you doing?"

"Something I didn't have the capability to do earlier."

'Silver stomach started to… Glow?!'

"WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" Asked Hestia in distress

"Humm."

How do I explain it to her in a way she can understand?

"As you know, my power allows me to change my body."

"By changing it, I get access to these special abilities you are already used to."

'The light got stronger…'

"However, those changes tend to be temporary, disappearing once I stop feeding them with Mind." He showed Hestia his hand.

'Purple crystals started to grow in it as lightning started to appear...'

"However, I had long ago theorized that it was possible to change it permanently… Or at least give my body an effect that could last for very long periods of time."

A fancy way of saying Gene modification...

'Silver stomach started to get slightly translucent…'

"It's nothing too great, I researched for many years and I know what I am doing, but I wanted to wait until this point just to make sure nothing went bad."

I will follow the path from my past life…

It's time to enhance my body past the weak shell of a normal Human...

To live longer, in a healthier body… I will be simulating Gene Tonics… To a meager degree.

I can't just simulate something like permanent invisibility or metallic bones in just a day… Not exactly a day as I have been thinking about this ever since I awakened this power.

Although I admit I could go beyond everyone else with just the Status alone, I can't help but utilize all of my knowledge to its fullest.

However, I was truly skeptical if this was going to work, so I had to research for many months to make sure this was even feasible in the first place.

And today will be my first try, and hopefully not my last one.

"... You know what you are doing right?" Asked Hestia as she looked at the bizarre yet amazing scene

"Yes, I do. And if anything goes wrong, I am confident in minimizing the side effects."

'A gray bottle filled with a strange purple liquid flew into Hestia's hands.'

"This is?"

"Something in case of emergencies. Just feed me its contents and I will be fine." He replied as he smiled

In fact, that is just colored water, I could do it by myself and even if something went wrong the side effects wouldn't be significant.

This is just to make Hestia happier and less anxious.

"Okay." Said Hestia as she nodded

…

'The process continued as the strange light continued to shine in every single part of Silver.'

'After half an hour, Silver started to sweat, Hestia could see blood rupturing inside of Silver due to the light.'

"..."

'She grasped the bottle tightly as if Silver's life depended on it.'

…

'Two hours have passed, Hestia was very tired, but she remained there, looking at Silver.'

'She couldn't miss anything… She didn't want to.'

"..."

'The light had already gone to every single part of Silver's body, Hestia couldn't understand what was going on no matter how much she thought. This went against common sense, even for a God like her.'

'She couldn't grasp the changes happening inside Silver's body right now… That might've been different if she had access to her Arcanum…'

'Or if she was a God specialized in anatomy.'

…

/GASP!/

'Silver started to gasp for air, however, Hestia did not intervene as he himself moved his hand and did a positive sign.'

'4 hours had passed…'

"ZZZzzz"

'Hestia had fallen asleep…'

"Urg…"

"Gulp!"

'Silver started to sweat profusely, but he continued to power the process after taking a Mind potion.'

Almost there… It hurts but if I can't resist and end up falling unconscious, my body may suffer tremendous damage.

Focus...

'He didn't notice, but on the bed near him, his scarf started to glow…'

…

/COCKRICKOOOOOO!/ Screamed a rooster outside of the house

"Huh?"

'Hestia opened her eyes in surprise, she was actually in her bed?… She… Fell asleep?!'

"Silver!..." She said as she jumped from her bed

'She looked around and didn't find Silver.'

'Concern overwhelmed her before she calmed down.'

"If he isn't here it means he is fine…"

/Shuaaa…/

'It was then she heard the sound of a shower.'

"So he was taking a shower…"

That dummy! Worrying me like that!

Humph!

'She looked to the side and noticed there was some food on the table, it was slightly warm, meaning it had been made recently.'

/Chomp!/

'Hestia bit into her small cupcake.'

"It's too sweet…"

…

/Creek./

'After 10 minutes, Silver opened the door and left the bathroom.'

"Ah Silver! Good morning…" Said Hestia before she dropped her toast on the ground

/GASP/

"Who are you?!" She said as she jumped towards Silver

…

.

.

.