"You've got to be fucking kidding me."
After tearing through five War Shadows, Rayleigh stepped up to collect their Magic Stones, only to realize the monsters looked like a Swiss cheese!
The fine grains of sand that shredded the War Shadows' bodies had also blasted their Magic Stones to dust!
With a light squeeze, a Magic Stone crumbled into powder and blew away in the wind.
'Guess I have to shelve that attack from now on.'
The fact that he just blew a couple hundred Valis out the window made Rayleigh's chest tight.
'I am so broke.'
Thinking about cash reminded Rayleigh about Ardi Varma, the girl from the Ganesha Familia.
'Didn't she say she wanted to buy a Zanpakuto?'
If he could just lock down that deal, he'd go from dead broke to loaded in a heartbeat.
Fifty million Valis!
With that kind of money, he could pay the Goibniu Familia to build him his own private workshop.
Before long, this city was going to get hit with some terrifying incidents.
The Hephaestus Familia had his back, but nothing beat the security of having real power in your own two hands.
Now that he wasn't just watching this city through a screen anymore, he couldn't afford to sit on the sidelines.
Who knew if he'd get dragged into the mess?
'I need to get stronger, fast.'
'At the same time, I need to power up some trustworthy allies.'
He already had a few people in mind.
First on the list was Ardi Varma.
She was kind, had a strong sense of justice, and was loaded with potential.
If anyone deserved to carry his Zanpakuto, it was her.
Plus, she was a Level 2 right now and closing in on Level 3, which was bound to pull some serious attention.
If her reputation got tied to a Zanpakuto, the Excellia from her feats would definitely trickle down to him.
Sure, Level 5 or Level 6 Adventurers had way more clout, but pulling off a "great feat" at that level was nearly impossible.
With that in mind, his target demographic was the up-and-coming rookies.
Ardi, the Astraea Familia, that tsundere werewolf, Wallen whatever-her-name-was...
They were all still growing into their power and leveling up fast.
He had plenty of options.
Now, it was all about who he ran into first.
...
Rayleigh burned over half the day on the 6th Floor, chugging down seven or eight recovery potions in the process.
He lost track of how many monsters he had slaughtered.
All he knew was that his bag was stuffed full of Magic Stones.
Just as Rayleigh was grabbing his last haul, a five-person party came up from a lower floor.
The party was entirely made up of cute girls!
They were taking their time, chatting as they walked.
"Ryuu rushed ahead again today. Alise, you really need to chew her out this time."
"What? Kaguya was charging way ahead too, wasn't she?"
"You're five years too early to try and compete with me, you useless elf!"
"You... you said it! You said it again! I'm not useless!"
"Sigh, these two are always at each other's throats."
"Haha, it's fine, Neze. It just means they're close."
"Who the hell is close with her?!"
"Who the hell is close with her?!"
They yelled it at the exact same time.
'Huh?'
"Hey, look! What the hell is that?!"
A girl named Neze pointed ahead, sounding shocked.
Ryuu and Kaguya, who were still bickering, turned to look.
The first one to get a clear look was the party's leader, a red-haired girl named Alise.
"It's Magic Stones! Magic Stones are flying around the Dungeon!"
Alise stared at the weird sight and spin around to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.
Nope, everyone else saw it too!
"Hey, let's go check it out!" Alise yelled, hyped up.
But she didn't just stand there—she bolted right for it.
Screaming in the Dungeon, breaking formation, running off alone—these were massive red flags for any Adventurer, but these girls didn't give a shit.
There was only one reason they were acting so reckless: they were in the Upper Floors!
The odds of anything here actually threatening them were basically zero.
...
Rayleigh reached out and caught the Magic Stone Haineko carried back, shoving it into his bag as he got ready to head out.
Right then, he heard fast footsteps closing in.
He listened closely.
It didn't sound like a monster, and it didn't sound like someone running for their life either.
After a second, he gripped Haineko in his right hand and pulled his Asauchi with his left.
He stayed tense for a few seconds before someone suddenly burst out of the shadows.
"A girl?"
Rayleigh saw a beautiful girl with fiery red hair tied up in a high ponytail.
He dropped his guard a bit, angling his blade toward the floor.
"Huh?" Alise stared blankly at the guy in front of her, totally surprised to see anyone else here.
Her showing up was like a green light.
One by one, more beautiful girls filed in behind her.
The second a certain "useless elf" popped up, Rayleigh knew exactly who he was looking at.
It was the Astraea Familia!
"Whoa, it's a handsome guy!"
...
The Goddess of Justice and Order, Astraea.
Her beauty held up just fine even against the "Goddess of Purity," Artemis.
Driven by her ideals, her Familia was all about justice. Even with just eleven members, they were basically the city's guardians.
Rayleigh matched their faces to his memories.
He recognized three of the five girls in front of him.
The bubbly one with the long red ponytail was Alise Lovell.
The girl rocking a kimono, long princess-cut black hair, and Far Eastern features was Gojouno Kaguya.
And the elf with the long blonde hair and that cold, drop-dead gorgeous vibe was Ryuu Lion.
Rayleigh stared hard at Ryuu, like he was trying to burn her look into his brain!
'Damn right I am. This is basically a limited-edition skin!'
'After all the crazy shit goes down later, this elf is going to go into hiding and dye her hair green with magic. If she kept this look for the main story, Wallen whatever-her-name-is wouldn't stand a chance.'
Ryuu wasn't blind.
She noticed him staring and furrowed her brow.
Rayleigh looked away and stepped aside to let them pass.
Everyone in the Astraea Familia was Level 2 or higher.
If he let them take the lead, they'd clear out all the monsters on the way up, giving him a free ride to the surface.
But he didn't expect them to walk right up to him.
"That emblem... are you with the Hephaestus Familia?" Alise asked.
Rayleigh gave a casual nod. "Yeah."
A girl named Neze stepped up, looking curious. "A blacksmith running the Dungeon solo?"
Rayleigh shrugged. "I just got to Orario. Haven't found a party that clicks with me yet."
'Soloing the Dungeon? That's some insane thing even a cheater couldn't pull off.'
This world had three Great Quests: the Great Tree Sea, the Dragon Valley, and the Dungeon.
The Dungeon had been around for over three thousand years.
It was a massive hole at the edge of the continent that kept spitting out endless hordes of monsters, and they were way tougher than anything on the surface.
These monsters' stats easily matched Adventurers who had received Falna.
Honestly, they usually outclassed them.
Going by stats alone, your chances of winning were fifty-fifty at best.
And that wasn't even factoring in that these bastards moved in packs and actually knew how to use tactics.
Rare boss monsters had stats that blew Adventurers out of the water, making them a total nightmare to deal with.
So, if you wanted to go deeper, you needed a party.
Exploring solo like this? Hitting the 10th Floor was pretty much the hard limit.
Imagine getting swarmed by a dozen Adjuchas-class Hollows.
Even a Captain-level Shinigami would be fucked!
This was the Age of Gods!
The power scaling here was on a whole other level compared to low-magic worlds. Heroes popped up everywhere and Cheaters were a dime a dozen.
"You're being way too reckless! You just got to Orario and you're already down on the 6th Floor? If your luck was even a little worse, you'd be dead by now."
The one talking was a Pallum with short pink hair and a cute face.
That was Lyra.
Rayleigh smiled and nodded. "Thanks for the heads-up."
"Hey, don't just brush it off! Lyra's right, the Dungeon is no joke," Alise said, suddenly fidgeting.
"Actually... I chased after you because I saw a flying Magic Stone..."
'A flying Magic Stone? Oh. So that's what this about. No wonder she looked like she was holding back a question.'
Rayleigh drew his sword.
The second his blade left the scabbard, the four girls backing up Alise went on high alert.
He didn't bother explaining things. He just activated his Shikai.
"Growl, Haineko."
Rayleigh released his Zanpakuto.
Right in front of the girls' shocked eyes, Haineko's blade turned to ash and dissolved into the air.
"What the hell?"
"The blade's gone!"
"Did it break?"
'No, that's not it. It didn't just vanish!' Ryuu and Kaguya noticed the dust swirling around Rayleigh.
This wasn't some natural breeze!
Right in front of them, Rayleigh controlled the dust to wrap around a Magic Stone and yank it up into the air.
"It's floating!" Alise gasped. "Holy hell, what is this?"
"Magic? Sorcery? A trick?"
Kaguya's face turned dead serious.
"You idiots," she said. "Alise, look closer. There are fine particles in the air."
"Wait, what!" Alise squinted, staring hard like she was trying to read the fine print.
Finally, she saw it. "Whoa... so that's how it works."
'This is a perfect sales pitch!'
Seeing he had them all hooked, Rayleigh deactivated his Shikai.
The dust flowed right back to the hilt, snapping back into a normal blade.
The girls just stared, totally dumbfounded.
'The dust turned back into a sword!'