Mass Release Challenge!
If we reach 15 reviews in the next 48 hours, I'll drop 10 chapters in a single day as a thank-you to all readers.
Your reviews really help the novel grow, so let's make it happen!
.....
Ren Isana took the reforged Tang Dao from Hephaestus. The blade was slightly heavier than before, and the patterns on it had completely changed.
Looking at the weapon, Ren was extremely satisfied. However, to his surprise, the magic mark on the weapon had been erased; it could essentially be considered a brand-new weapon.
Ren inspected the weapon, then channeled his Magic Power to brand it with a new magic mark before storing it away.
Hephaestus was amazed by Ren's maneuver. She couldn't help but ask, "Does your world have this kind of magic? It looks very convenient. Can you summon it at any time?"
"That's right, it can be summoned instantly." Saying that, Ren demonstrated it once. A Magic Circle appeared in his hand, and the weapon was summoned in a flash.
This scene made Hephaestus's eyes light up. She eagerly asked, "Can this be taught to others?"
If the members of her Familia could master this magic, it would be incredible. They could directly store their forged weapons inside, eliminating the need for special maintenance.
When needed, they could just summon them directly. How much warehouse space would that save? So, if the conditions were right, she wanted to acquire it.
Hephaestus immediately thought of numerous applications for this magic, which was why she was so interested. As far as she knew, the magic from that world could be learned.
Hearing Hephaestus's words, Ren paused for a moment. After some thought, he asked, "Are you interested, Hephaestus? It's not impossible if you want it, but the price..."
Now it was Ren's turn to set terms. Learning it was fine, but it would cost extra. After all, this was a precious magic—at least in this world, it was highly valuable.
Although this world would eventually connect with Ren's world, that was a matter for the future. Because of that, for now...
Learning it would be quite expensive.
Hearing Ren say this, Asuna's expression turned a bit strange. *Good heavens, it looks like Ren is planning to sell this for a hefty price.* She didn't interrupt, simply listening quietly.
"Good kid. Tell me, how much do you want? This magic is very useful for our Familia; we can use it to store our forged weapons." Hephaestus felt a bit helpless but didn't mind Ren's conditions.
As the biggest arms dealer in Orario, the last thing she lacked was money. If this magic was truly useful, she naturally wanted to buy it. She could even resell it to others later; no matter how she looked at it, it wouldn't be a loss.
"If it's for storing weapons like an armory, then no. This magic has a limit on the number of weapons it can store—at most, just two." Hearing Hephaestus's words, Ren was rendered speechless. It seemed this deal was over before it even began.
She planned to use it as a warehouse? If that was the case, she should drop the idea early, because this spell simply wasn't suited for that.
This answer stunned Hephaestus. Frowning in confusion, she asked, "It's not used for storing weapons?"
"It is used for storing weapons, but it can only store two. Any more is simply impossible." Ren explained as he demonstrated again, pulling out his magic staff.
"Substandard product!" Hephaestus immediately critiqued the staff Ren pulled out. Then, she sighed in disappointment. If that magic couldn't be used to store a massive amount of weapons, it was useless to her.
Her interest in the magic plummeted. Thinking of this, Hephaestus said with a lack of enthusiasm, "Forget it. If it can't store a large number of weapons, I'm not interested."
"Not interested in what?" Right at that moment, Hestia walked in from outside. She looked at her good friend curiously. What were they talking about?
"I took a liking to a magic spell this guy has, but its effects aren't what I imagined," Hephaestus explained to Hestia with a hint of regret.
"Oh!" Hestia blinked, but she didn't ask too many questions. Yukino Yukinoshita had just told her a lot of things, and she understood now. It was best not to speak about certain matters regarding everyone.
So Hestia made up her mind to ask less and say less about certain things in the future, otherwise, it could cause trouble if word got out.
Ren also felt a bit regretful. She actually lost interest? What a pity. He had planned to use this opportunity to recoup some of his funds. Now it seemed he could only wait for the future.
Magic for Weapon Storage... it wasn't like he didn't have it, but Ren didn't plan on revealing that magic. Although it was a shame, he could only leave it at that for now.
With the weapon's refining complete, Ren paid the final balance to Hephaestus. Watching this scene made Hestia's heart ache. Although it wasn't her money, spending so much right after returning would make anyone's heart bleed.
Hestia's pained expression as Ren settled the bill was entirely taken in by Hephaestus, whose lips couldn't help but curl up slightly.
Seeing her friend suffer made her feel great. Accepting the Valis Ren handed over, Hephaestus couldn't help but say to him, "Wait here for a moment!"
After saying that, Hephaestus turned and left. Once she was gone, Yukino Yukinoshita's gaze shifted over. The meaning in her eyes was clear: she was asking if Ren had learned it.
Noticing her gaze, Ren nodded without explaining anything, but Yukino already understood, causing the corners of her mouth to lift slightly.
This meant Ren could forge on his own in the future. Thinking of this, she couldn't help but suggest, "Since we're already here, do you want to buy a set of forging tools to take back and practice with?"
The implication in her words was to buy a set of tools so he could forge weapons himself later. The tools here were complete, so they might as well get a set to take back.
"That works. Let's get a set of tools then." Ren nodded, not refusing. It was indeed a good idea to get a set of forging tools.
"Then I'll go find that girl named Tsubaki." Seeing this, Yukino immediately left to find the girl named Tsubaki. There was no need to bother Hephaestus to buy forging tools; going directly to Tsubaki was fine.
Yukino left, while Ren and the others waited in place. It didn't take long for Hephaestus to return. She handed a notebook to Ren and said, "Here, read this. Memorize as much as you can!"
Hearing this, Hestia couldn't hold back anymore. She blurted out, "Hey, hey, hey, aren't you making things difficult for him? 'Memorize as much as you can'? Ren can't even read the text of this world yet!!"
In Hestia's eyes, this was just making things difficult. Ren had just arrived in this world; how could he read the text of another world? Wasn't this bullying an honest person?!
"I suppose that's true? In that case, I'll give it to you. You read it to him." Hephaestus thought about it and realized she was right, so she simply handed the notebook to Hestia.
She would let Hestia read it to Ren. Moreover, she trusted her best friend; her friend would absolutely not leak her notes.
Hearing Hephaestus's words, Hestia snatched it up and said righteously, "Then I'll return it to you once Ren has learned it."
Actually, Ren really wanted to interject and say that he *could* read it, but after thinking about it, he decided against it. In their eyes, he was still a newbie. Even if he said he had already learned everything, probably no one would believe him, right?
Since he had to pretend, he might as well make it look convincing. Having made up his mind, Ren formulated a plan. He wanted the notebook, and he also wanted Hestia to read it to him.
This wasn't just for Hephaestus to see, but for everyone else as well. When out and about, maintaining one's persona was extremely important. Thinking this, Ren voiced his thanks.
"You're welcome. If there's anything you don't understand, you can come ask me anytime. I actually quite enjoy being a teacher!" Hephaestus looked at Ren with a smile.
From beginning to end, she never thought Ren would actually be able to learn anything from it. This was just doing him a favor so that if he ever considered jumping ship in the future, he would think of her Familia.
Hestia treasured the notebook and carefully put it away. The group's visit to the Hephaestus Familia had come to a perfect conclusion.
Ren went to find the others and stored away the set of forging tools Yukino had purchased. The tools were relatively cheap and didn't cost much.
"We'll be taking our leave then! We still have a lot of things to handle. See you at the banquet tomorrow night!" Hestia waved at Hephaestus, leading Ren and the others away.
"See you later!" Hephaestus nodded. Her main reason for seeking out Hestia today was to deliver this news: the Denatus would be held tomorrow night.
And the main character would be Hestia. This was considered a tradition in Orario; every time a new god descended, a banquet would be held, and Hestia was naturally no exception.
Not to mention, Hestia had brought back so many people right after descending. How could the other gods not be curious? Therefore, the banquet had to be held.
After parting ways with Hephaestus, Ren and the others headed to the talent market to find suitable people to bring back to the Familia, such as maids for cleaning and chefs for cooking.
These were all things Ren and the others needed to do today, so everyone was going to be busy. Upon arriving at the market, Ren had everyone split up.
They began to handle these tasks, while also having some people go purchase ingredients and the like. After all, they couldn't just eat the supplies they brought with them forever, right?
At that rate, they would run out very quickly. Ren had the classmates act together, splitting the forty-plus people into four groups. Ren took his own team and Sora's team to the talent market to recruit people.
In Orario, there were people specifically dedicated to this line of work, and this talent market was also a product of the Guild, so there was no need to worry about loyalty issues.
After Ren stated his requirements, he quickly hired the necessary personnel. They were all female, even including races like beast-girls and dwarves.
As long as they could work, Ren didn't care what race they were. After confirming the hands he needed, Ren signed contracts with them on the spot. Once everything was settled, he sent them to report to the Hestia Familia.
"Let's go buy some books!" Passing by a bookstore, Hestia suddenly suggested that Ren buy some books to take back.
This way, she could read to pass the time when she had nothing to do. After all, when Ren and the others went down into the Dungeon, she wouldn't be able to help much anyway.
Hearing Hestia's words, Ren didn't refuse, because he also had a need for them. The books in this world might contain some useful information.
"Alright, find an old bookstore, and we'll just pack up the whole thing and take it with us." Ren wasn't planning on buying just one or two books. He remembered that in the anime, Hestia had worked part-time at an old bookstore.
Since that was the case, they might as well go over and buy out all the books in the store. It wouldn't cost that much anyway.
Hestia was startled when she heard Ren say he wanted to pack up an entire bookstore. She said hesitantly, "Is that really a good idea? Won't it be too wasteful?"
"It's not a waste. It'll be useful anyway, don't worry." Sora chuckled, directly pulling Hestia along. They knew Ren's abilities all too well.
It probably wouldn't take long for Ren to devour a whole pile of books, so no matter how many they bought, it wouldn't be a waste. Furthermore, everyone would support it.
"Alright then!" Since that was the case, Hestia had nothing more to say. She immediately ran off excitedly to ask around and see where there was a bookstore.
After all, it was her first time in Orario too, so she wasn't very familiar with where the bookstores were and had to ask people.
Ren, Asuna, and the others followed silently behind. Moreover, Ren had kept his perception ability active the entire time, which further confirmed some of his suspicions.
"Asuna, we're going to buy some materials later. I need to set up an Array in our base," Ren stated directly.
Hearing this, Asuna frowned. She looked at Ren in confusion and asked, "Set up an Array? For the entire base? If that's the case, you'll need to buy quite a lot of materials, right? Can our funds handle it?"
The implication in his words was that he wanted to set up a large-scale Array. If it were just a normal Magic Circle, Ren wouldn't even need to tell her; buying a few random materials would be enough.
"It shouldn't be a problem. The main issue is that we just arrived in Orario, and yesterday we spent so much money buying the Guild base and everything. We're already being targeted," Ren said calmly to Asuna as they walked.
As soon as he said this, Asuna, Yukino, and the others immediately looked over. Asuna lowered her voice and asked Ren, "Really?"
*Is this a joke? Are you sure we're being targeted so quickly? The locals are way too unfriendly, aren't they?*
"Yeah... really. There are a few rats in the alley behind us who have been following us. They aren't strong; they're probably people who specialize in this kind of thing." Orario was full of all sorts of shady characters; being targeted was entirely normal.
Everyone's expressions turned serious upon hearing this. If Ren hadn't spoken up, they really wouldn't have known. None of them turned their heads, simply continuing to follow Hestia.
"I'll go take a look," Megumi Kato said quietly at that moment, then broke away from the group. Her departure didn't attract the attention of the people behind them—or rather, those people hadn't noticed Megumi from the very beginning.
"Will she be okay?" Seeing Megumi leave, Asuna was a bit worried. She even wanted to go with her.
"It's fine. Those guys aren't strong, not even Tier 2. They won't be able to notice Kato at all." Ren wasn't panicked in the slightest; it was all within his perception range.
If anything really happened, Ren could just use [Intermediate Blink] to get there instantly. Megumi Kato was just backtracking the way they came, and the other party hadn't even noticed. What could possibly go wrong?
"I see. That's fine then." Asuna was completely reassured. She trusted Ren implicitly. If Ren said so, it must be true.
"Ren, do you have a perception ability?" a classmate from Sora's team suddenly asked. She was incredibly curious about this.
Ren clearly hadn't done anything, so how did he know there were people over there? She hadn't seen Ren cast any magic either.