Not long after Takatsuki returned to the Hearth Manor, the girls came back.
Takatsuki, leaning on the sofa, caught Nana as she laughingly pounced toward him.
"Did you have fun playing outside?"
"Yeah! I had so much fun! Look, look, Kiana bought me new clothes."
The young girl, who looked no different from a human, beamed with a smile. The clothes on her body were different from when she left; from the outside, she looked just like an ordinary ten-year-old girl.
It seemed that because Bell was not the one who discovered the Dragon Girl this time, although Bell agreed to let Nana stay, he didn't pay too much attention to the matter. He had already gone to the Dungeon to adventure with Haruhime earlier that morning.
Takatsuki told the others the result of his "deal" with Loki. Mei said with some concern, "Are you going on an expedition again? Or with other people? Why don't I go with you?"
"If Mei is going, then I'm going too!" Kiana immediately jumped out and said.
Takatsuki: "I originally planned to ask you all to go together, and not just us, Nana has to go too."
"Ah? Why? Nana can't fight, right? Otherwise, wouldn't her disguise be broken?" Kiana was very puzzled by Takatsuki's arrangement. With their combat power, they didn't need to find another Nana at all.
Takatsuki just shook his head at this.
"Kiana, have you forgotten our identities? We can't take Nana in forever. Aside from anything else, this disguise alone requires me to maintain it constantly."
Now the Gaia Foundation was still in Takatsuki's equipment slot, because if it wasn't placed there, Nana's disguise would be broken.
"Although it's a bit cruel, Nana's home is not the surface."
Speaking of this, Takatsuki thought that Enyo's goal was to let monsters reach the surface. Those Xenos who longed for the surface would surely provoke the humans on the surface.
"But we can't just throw this child back into that Dungeon! How can she survive in the Dungeon alone!" Kiana did not agree with Takatsuki's view, but Takatsuki already had a plan: "So this time we need to find her kin. The Xenos have their own organization in the Labyrinth; they are even more familiar with the floors than adventurers."
"But!"
Kiana wanted to say something more, but Fu Hua, behind her, placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her head.
"Class Monitor?"
"Kiana, I can understand your feelings, but Takatsuki is right. Nana does not belong here."
"We can't take care of her forever; we have to leave eventually."
Fu Hua spoke to Kiana with patient guidance: "All good things must come to an end. After we leave, Nana will be alone on the surface, given Bell and the others' strength..."
Fu Hua shook her head. It was also fortunate that Bell and the others weren't there that she could say such things.
Kiana looked at Nana in her arms. The young girl did not yet know what she was about to face; at this moment, she had no perception of this world, nor did she understand that several people were discussing her future.
Faced with this scene, both Mei and Bronya remained silent.
In the evening, several girls took Nana, who had returned to her original form, to the bathroom to bathe together. Everyone knew that their time together would not be long, so they wanted to be a little better to her during this period.
At night, Takatsuki was alone in his room, constantly activating "Projection" to refill the stock of his King's Treasure.
This behavior had been going on for several months. Magic power was just like physical strength and power; it could be improved quickly through consumption and training. Coupled with the effect of the "Falna," his daily actions not only increased the weapon stock in his King's Treasure but also accelerated the growth rate of magic power within the Falna.
From originally making eighty or ninety swords a day and being too tired to open his eyes, after LV5, Takatsuki could increase the weapons projected in a day by eight or nine times, projecting over seven hundred at a time. Moreover, the quality was higher than previous projections. This was under normal circumstances; after obtaining Hestia's "Everlasting Protection," his recovery speed in battle was also exaggeratedly high.
He once went to the Dungeon to test it. With his current exaggerated magic power, after triggering the recovery effect in battle, it only took an hour and a half to recover his completely drained magic power to full.
So while others were relaxing, he often came to the Dungeon with Fu Hua for "Involution" (intense competition). This was one of the secrets of his fast leveling; after all, Fu Hua was also an extremely disciplined "Involution maniac."
He also had the [Close at Hand Yet Worlds Apart] ability that reached the destination directly ignoring floor levels, making the cost of going to the deep floors of the Dungeon extremely low. Mei would sometimes go with him and Fu Hua to train.
"Takatsuki-kun."
Five swords appeared simultaneously, falling into the golden ripples on the ground. Takatsuki looked up at Hestia, who had opened his door.
"Goddess, what's wrong?"
Hestia walked into Takatsuki's room: "I'm here to remind you about some things. Regarding Loki, you need to be a bit careful."
Next, Hestia told Takatsuki some things Loki had done in the past, proving to Takatsuki how crafty Loki was. Just when Takatsuki was a bit speechless, thinking Hestia was badmouthing Loki because of their personal grudges, Hestia changed the subject.
"Loki, after establishing her Familia in Orario, the whole god changed. When she was in the Heavens, she always wanted to cause trouble, perhaps because the Heavens were too boring."
"So among all the deities, if you say the one who cares most about this Orario is Ouranos, then the second is Loki."
"It's just that the reason Ouranos cares is that he is like God of Death, because they are children of the lower world, as long as it's not a major mistake, he won't intervene. Loki is different; what she wants is not just maintaining the current life, she only wants to protect her own Familia. So as long as she feels there is an existence threatening Orario, she will definitely step in and nip it in the bud."
Hestia's words made Takatsuki drift off a bit. He didn't expect that Hestia, who usually seemed so flighty, could actually think to this step.
"Ah! Takatsuki-kun is badmouthing me in his heart again!"
Just as Takatsuki finished thinking, Hestia immediately flared up. It seemed her intuition was truly accurate.
"No, no, I was just thinking about the things on Loki's side."
However, Hestia wasn't angry either. She crossed her arms and looked at Takatsuki seriously: "In short, be careful on this expedition. She will very likely try to test you. Most likely, she wants to test that special skill of 'fast leveling' that you revealed before."
Takatsuki thought of Loki saying she could bring the others along; only after Hestia's tip did Takatsuki realize the true meaning of those words.
As expected of a Great Goddess who has lived for billions of years. The purpose of those words was to test whether they really had a unique skill that allows people's leveling speed to increase. Loki, who has updated her Familia's status for decades, naturally knows the growth speed of her own Familia. If the growth speed hasn't increased by then...
As expected of the God of Lies and Deception; she doesn't even trust the power of a deity and has to verify it personally.