haziqsaffari2: Well...I think that's going to be more of a shared role between him and Welf.

King0fP0wers: It's something of a running gag with some of my OCs.

Sagicknight: No denying that!

"Alright." Silber scanned over the Silverback, still sniffing for its lost prey.

"I can take out its softer vital points like the knee pit or eyes with this-" He hefted his repeating crossbow, "You can go for the killing blow."

"Understood." Bell nodded,

"Alright! Let's go!" Silber stepped out of the alley and fired a volley of arrows towards its leg, causing it to roar out in pain and turn towards Silber.

Behind him, Bell sped out of the alleyway and vaulted off the opposite wall towards the Silverback, allowing him to slash at the bridle around its face, causing it to shatter.

Roaring with rage, the Silverback struck Bell with the chain on its arm, only for him to easily block and shatter it with the Hestia Knife.

When the Silverback fully turned to Bell, Silber fired several arrows into the backs of its knees, causing it to fall over.

"Bell! Now!" Silber shouted, nodding, Bell rushed forward and launched himself into the air before diving down on the back of its neck.

'I can do this!' Bell brought the knife down on its nape and the Silverback gave one last pained roar before dissolving into a cloud of black ash.

Silber fell to his knees, "Is it…over?" He wondered quietly,

"Did I…do it?" Bell asked of no one in particular.

Suddenly, people slowly began emerging from the buildings around them and after a few seconds of delay, began to cheer for the two heroes.

"You did it!" Hestia burst out of the crowd and threw herself at Bell, wrapping him in a hug.

Silber laughed in sheer relief and fell back onto the ground.

'I can't believe we're even still alive.' He thought to himself,

As he lay on the floor, a shadow descended over him, and Silber slowly cracked his eyes open to find a not-so-happy Tsubaki standing over him with a concerned and frustrated Hephaistos.

"...Hi?" Silber said nervously.

The Next Day…

"Ouch!" Silber hissed out as Hephaistos proceeded to apply more of the burning ointment.

"This is your own fault." Hephaistos admonished, "You were reckless! Honestly, what were you thinking?"

"Well…I mean, they were in trouble - Ow!" Silber winced again as Hephaistos continued to treat his wounds.

"Still! Neither of you should've been there!" Hephaistos smacked her hands - slathered in healing ointment down on his wounds, causing him to let out a high pitched shriek of pain through his teeth.

Hephaistos huffed, "There! Let me bind the wounds and I'm done."

"Y-yes…Hephaestus-sama…" Silber groaned, relieved his suffering was finally over.

After binding the last of his wounds, Hephaistos looked at his back contemplatively. "Well, since we're already here, might as well check your status." She sighed, and Silber went limp on the bed - in too much pain to resist his Goddess's orders.

Hephaistos placed her hands on his back, and then proceeded to balk at what she saw next.

"What the actual…" Hephaestus practically squinted and leaned on his back.

"Huh? Goddess-sama? What is it?"

"Well…you better just look at it." Hephaistos said, before placing a sheet of parchment on his back. The parchment glowed slightly as his stats were imprinted on it, and Hephaustus handed the paper to him.

Silber Perdix

Level 1

Strength: F-689

Vitality: F-768

Endurance: E-990

Dexterity: D-899

Agility: D-920

Skills:

N/A

"Is there something wrong with my stats?" Silber cocked his head curiously, "The numbers are a bit higher…"

Hephaistos sighed, and smacked her head. "Right…I forgot, you're practically a baby when it comes to all this." Sighing, she leaned into his face. "Listen, stats like this should take weeks - if not months - to get. You went from I and H Rank to F and D Rank. Your agility jumped 5 ranks. Dexterity jumped six. Strength jumped four, and Endurance jumped 3. Get the picture?"

Silber nodded, "Is there something…wrong with that?" Silber asked worriedly, and Hephaistos quickly shook her head.

"No! Nothing like that! It's just…surprising. That's all. Anyway, I just felt like you should know. That's all." She smiled at him, "Anyway, that's really all I have for today. Now, you should really take it easy - at least for tomorrow. I'll tell Tsubaki to cancel your training then"

Silber balked at that, "But-!" He began, but was swiftly cut off by a glare from Hephaistos.

"But what?" Hephaistos questioned. Her single eye glowering at him menacingly.

"...Nothing." Silber said quietly, and Hephaistos smiled again.

"Good! Now shoo! You're not my only Familia member!" Hephaistos practically pushed him out of the door before shutting it.

Leaning against the door, she let out a deep breath. "Only two people ever leveled up like that…" She said quietly to herself.

"I wonder…"

Rubbing the side of his head, Silber sighed as he left Hephastios's room. "That was really weird…oh well."

Returning to his room within the mansion, he slid on his clothes and proceeded to head down to the Hephaistos forges, but was stopped by Eliana.

"I heard about the mess with a Silverback!" Eliana took Silber under her arm and rubbed his hair, much to his embarrassment. "I couldn't believe it at first! Who knew that our little Silber could pack so much power. For a Level One like you - especially one just starting out - that's pretty amazing!"

"It really wasn't that big of a deal…" Silber said embarrassedly, and Eliana let go of him.

"Not that big of a deal?! You took on a monster that was as good as twice your rank and came out alive. Not only that, but you assisted in taking it down! I'd say that was a pretty big deal!" The elf woman patted him on the back, "I'd say it's a pretty damn big deal."

"Well, when you put it that way…" Silber looked to the side, and Eliana chuckled.

"Trust me. You'll do fine." Eliana pushed him forward, "Now - I don't want to keep you. And besides, I need to get back to work."

Silber nodded, and hurried off. As he traversed through the mansion, similar bouts of praise and congratulations awaited him. By the time he reached the forges, he wasn't sure if he wanted to sink into a hole out of embarrassment or begin celebrating out of joy.

Finally somewhat calming down, Silber let all thoughts of the previous day's battle slip out of his mind as he began to work on his next crossbow.

Another day later - Hephaestus Shop, Babel Tower

"As requested - another fifteen crossbows. And thirty full magazines for each." Silber said proudly as he gestured to the boxes in the warehouse section of the shop.

"I honestly can't thank you enough for these." The clerk said, "Demand is skyrocketing, especially after your little escapade in Daedalus Street." The clerk lifted one of the boxes, "I'm sorry to bother you with this, but do you think you can help carry these to the upper floor? We're in the middle of store hours, so there isn't really anyone else around to help…"

"Oh it's no problem at all!" Silber smiled and quickly waved it off dismissively as he picked up one of the boxes, and was surprised at how light it was.

'It's a lot lighter than before…that stat boost wasn't for show after all.' Smiling, he followed after the clerk and the two of them took a service elevator to the upper floors.

Eina led Bell through the upper floors of the Hephaestus Shop.

"You see, you might think many of the works in the Hephaestus Shop are way out of your reach, but that's not the case." Eina explained. "In the Upper Floor of the Hephaestus Shop, a lot of beginner smiths are up here selling their wares. In fact, there's a particular repeating crossbow that's become popular up here lately. But I'll let you decide what you want."

Bell nodded, "I'm going to check out everything they have!" He said eagerly, before running off, much to Eina's dismay.

"Oh well…" Eina shrugged, before smiling to herself.

Bell looked on in amazement at the sheer variety of weapons and armor available.

"There's so much stuff…how am I supposed to choose?" Bell wondered.

He was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts by the sound of boxes thumping to the ground nearby.

"That should be the last of it." Silber's voice came from around the corner, "Will that be all?"

"Yes. Thank you Silber-san." The clerk bowed and Silber poked his head around the corner, and noticed Bell looking up at him.

"Ah~ Bell!" Silber looked at him excitedly,

"Silber-san…do you work here?" Bell asked,

"I mostly do my forging at the estate, but I drop by every once in a while!" Silber said cheerily, "Are you looking for something in particular? I can help."

"Mhm! I'd appreciate it!" Bell nodded, "Although…I don't really have anything in mind." He glanced over the assortment of weapons and armor.

"Well. With the Hestia Knife you have, you're pretty much set for weapons. Although you may want to consider a secondary knife. Right now, however, you should probably focus on getting some kind of armor. I'd say light armor probably." Silber scanned Bell over.

"Alright…do you know where I could get some?" Bell asked as the pair walked side by side.

"Hmm…" Silber tapped his chin thoughtfully, "I think I know what I can get you. Hold on." He quickly turned around and ran to a box in an unnoticed corner of the shop, before rifling through it for a few seconds and finally pulling something out.

"A friend of mine made this." He hefted the set of light armor, "He said it's called Pyonkichi MK-II. It's made using metal rabbit fur, so it's light and durable." He smiled before adding, "It's not too expensive either! Only 9,900 valis!"

Bell looked slightly mortified, "9,900 valis?! That's everything I have on me!"

Silber threw his arm around Bell's shoulder, "Trust me! It's worth it! Welf-sama worked really hard on this!"

"Welf-sama…?"

"Mhm! Welf Crozzo! He made this armor!"

"Well…if you say it's good…" Bell finally relented.

"Ah, there you are Bell…and you must be Silber Perdix!" Eina leaned onto the boy, "Karen told me all about her latest adventurer. You're making a lot of money selling those new crossbows."

Silber blushed slightly, "I wouldn't say a lot…"

"Please, for 10k valis each and at the rate you're selling? I'd say that's pretty impressive for an adventurer just starting out." Eina said to him, "Hey…now that I think about it, why don't you two form a party together?"

"Party…" Bell began confusedly

"Together?" Silber finished.

"Yes. From the way you two fought, I think you could make a great pair. A quick sniper like you and an agile fighter like Bell will make an excellent team on the upper floors. It would be better if you two had a supporter though…" Eina trailed off before shrugging,

"We'll give it some thought. Unless you're already in a party, Silber-san?"

Silber shook his head, "I mostly just help out Hephaistos Familia parties as a supporter of sorts."

Watching the two talk, Eina couldn't help but giggle slightly.

The following day…

Bell finally arrived at the entrance to Babel, where the morning rush of adventurers were entering the dungeon.

'A party huh…?'

"Bell-san!" A boy came over to him, it was a few seconds before Bell finally recognized him.

"Silber-sama?!" Bell said in surprise.

"Yep! I was hoping to find you here." Silber said, "Have you made up your mind yet?"

"Made up…my mind?" Bell thought about it for a moment before remembering, "Oh! You mean about us partying? Well, since we're both here, I don't see why not."

Silber smiled, "Alright!"

"Now if we only had a supporter…" Bell sighed,

"A supporter, you say?" A small voice piped up from behind him.

Bell looked behind him, to find a small brown-haired girl looking up at him from behind.

"Huh…? Aren't you…?" Bell said questioningly,

"You know her, Bell-san?" Silber raised an eyebrow,

"I think she's the Prum I met yesterday…aren't you?" Bell asked,

"Prum? I'm a Theanthrope." As if to prove it, she took off her hood, revealing her two canine ears.

"Huh…?" Bell tugged on them curiously, causing her to whimper. "Uh…sorry!" He quickly backed off, seeing her apparent discomfort.

"Well…anyway. We don't have a supporter in our company. We could really do with someone like her." Silber said thoughtfully,

"The miss is right!" The beast-girl nodded, "A supporter is really important for a good party!"

"I'm not a girl…" Silber nodded, but the Beast-girl clearly didn't hear him.

Bell looked between the two, then nodded.

"Alright."