Bell opened his eyes after a good night of sleep. It had been a few days since he last went to a dungeon. His cooldown timer was longer than last time.

Bell didn't know why, but his guess was that the system was trying to find a dungeon suited just for him. Or that was his working theory, as he knew the system had some form of sentience.

He did go to the dungeon under Babel, however, and got himself a few levels to tide him over. It seems the dungeon under Babel doesn't net him as much XP. Then again, he hasn't gone beyond floor 17 by himself.

"Hmm, maybe I could find a supporter, would certainly make things easier," Bell thought, looking at his stats.

Showing stats

Bell Cranel

Level 55

HP: 10,200

Strength: 63

Agility: 72

Intelligence: 75

MP: 1,000

Luck: 252

Sense: 89

Guns (15/?)

Blades( 17/?)

Duel wield (4/?)

Callback

Unlimited ammo

Thick skin

Magic reload

Fire bending

Changing the skills up a bit to make it easier to read and not have a whole mess of words

"Eh, I'll think about a supporter another time. Today's MonsterPhelia, meaning I get to spend the whole day with Elfy," Bell thought, smiling as he walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, what has you so happy? You finally taking Elfy out on a date," Maria teased, setting down a plate of biscuits and bacon.

Bell rolled his eyes as he grabbed the smallest biscuit. "It's not a date. We're just spending the day together."

Maira put her hand on her hip. "So it is a date," she joked.

"No, it's not. It's just two friends hanging out after not seeing each other for a while," Bell protested before looking away from Maria like a pouting child.

Maria just chuckled as she shook her head. "Uh-huh, sure. I remember how you two were always together. Like two peas in a pod. So when are you gonna ask her out."

Bell felt himself blush a little as he rubbed the back of his head. "I uh, well uh, I don't know. What would Elfy want with a fuck up like me."

Maria slapped his chest. "Language, and you're not a screwup Bell. Sure, you were dealt a bad hand in life, but you still managed to prosper. Elfy's also been with you every step of the way. She's never left your side."

Bell put his hands on his face as he leaned into the wall. "Yeah, but Elfy's actually made something of herself. I'm just some street urchin who did deliveries."

Maria walked up to Bell and wrapped him in a hug. "You can make something of yourself as well, Bell. What about that thing you can't tell me about until you fully understand it."

Bell sighed as he returned the hug. "I'm still no closer to figuring any of it out. But maybe you're right. Maybe I'm being too hard on myself."

Maura rubbed circles on his back. "You are, but then again, when are you not."

Bell let out a chuckle as he broke the hug. "Maybe this thing I have will make me a man good enough for Elfy," he mused.

Maria sighed at his oblivious nature. She didn't know how Elfy could put up with someone as clueless as Bell.

"Alright, Bell, I'm going to tell you a little secret. You and Elfy have been dancing around each other long enough. Work up the courage to ask her out on a real date. You'll see all of your self-confidence problems disappear after that," Maria said, done with the two dancing around each other.

"Maria, what are you talking about?" Bell asked.

Maria let out an angry sigh. "Alright, go to the festival before I rip my hair out."

Bell shook his head in confusion. "Wha-what did I do."

Maria pushed him out the door. "Out, and don't be back until the sunsets," she ordered.

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Bell let out a sigh as he shook his head. "Well, I still have a few hours to kill. Might as well browse the store," he thought, opening the store tab.

Bell rubbed his chin. "Hmm, let's see, weapons, ammo, potions, magic, skills? Wait a minute. I can buy skills."

Bell opened the skills slot and began browsing. "Hmm, most of these are passive skills which could be helpful, but I need something that can help in combat. As it is right now, I'm relying too much on my guns. I need something to help with my speed or strength to balance it out."

He browsed through the skills section for a few minutes before finding a skill that met his criteria.

Dash: 5,000 gold

Makes the user faster the higher their agility stat.

Cost: 0 Mp

"Huh doesn't cost mana, so I could just spam this to get a speed boost. Seems useful," Bell thought, purchasing the skill.

Bell then decided to check on some more guns as he wanted to learn more about these interesting weapons from another world. He kept scrolling as nothing really caught his eye until he landed on one certain pistol.

M1911: cost 15,000

Weapon rank: S

Chambered in the .45 ACP caliber, this weapon had been tried and tested in at least seven different wars and is used by modern-day police.

"Damn, an S-rank weapon for that cheap. Is this because of my luck, or is this store not going to be a rip-off?" Bell wondered as he purchased the gun.

The second the gun touched his hand, he knew how to use it almost as if it was an extension of his body. He didn't know how or why he had this information. Maybe it was the system or perhaps another otherworldly force helping him. But whatever it was, he'd take its help.

"Alright, I have good short and medium-range weapons. Something long-range could help. Any ideas system" Bell asked.

Try a sniper rifle. You could shoot someone from miles away if you're good enough

"Any recommendations?"

Try, and M24A3 fires .338 Lapua. That'll mess someone up if you want it to

Bell opened the Sniper's section of the store and found the M24A3, and observed it.

M24A3: 35,000

Weapon rank: S

You wanna fuck someone up, this is the gun to use. If you really wanna fuck someone up, go get a Barrett .50 cal

"Price is decent, and it could help in the long run. But I wonder why these prices aren't too bad," Bell wondered as he purchased the sniper and instantly knew how to use it.

What you think I'd charge outrageous prices to make you stronger? This ain't some shitty story where all the useful items cost a shitload

"T-that's fair," Bell replied as he put all his gear in his inventory.

Since I'm so nice, here's a free sword. You look like a sword type of guy

Anti-magic katana

Weapon rank: A

Coated in anti-magic, any magic it touches instantly gets canceled.

Now go be some protagonist and have fun at your date

"It's not a date," Bell complained as he started walking to the meeting spot.

Whatever you say, dense boy

Bell clicked his tongue. "Who you calling dense."

You shithead

Bell growled and mumbled out a series of curses as he continued his walk down the street.

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Bell was walking down to the fountain by Babel. It's where he and Elfy had agreed to meet. On his way there, he popped into the Hostess of Fertility to check on Syr.

"Nya Bell is back," Anya said, hugging the boy.

He chucked as he accepted the hug from the girl. "Hey Anya, is Syr around," Bell asked as the broke the hug.

Anya's tail wagged as she pointed to the locker room. "Syr's in there getting changed for Monsterphelia Nya. You should go peek in on her," she teased.

Bell shook his head as he elbowed Anya. "I'm not doing that."

"Nya nya nya. You know she wouldn't mind, right"

Bell nodded. "I know, which is why I won't do it. Won't give the girl material to tease me more."

Their conversion was cut short as Syr exited the locker room dressed in her casual clothes. Upon seeing Bell, she ran up and hugged him, Bell catching her in his arms.

"Ah, Bell, I missed you so much!" she yelled.

"I've only been gone for a few days," he replied.

Syr pouted as she hit Bell's chest. "You said you'd visit every day, you liar!"

"Nya, so Bell's a liar," Anya mused, having a detective's hat and notepad out.

"Where did you even get that!" Bell yelled.

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After calming down the two girls, Bell was finally able to leave the Hostess to meet up with Elfy. Once the two knew where he was headed and who he was meeting. They relentlessly teased the boy about his crush on Elfy.

"Honestly, those two," Bell muttered as he arrived at the fountain. He looked around in the crowd and didn't see Elfy. Looks like he got here early.

Good job, lover boy, you arrived early

Bell shook his head. "I'm not losing that title, am I"

Bell looked back out on the ground watching vendors yell out and broadcast their wares while some people stopped to look and others moved on. He watched as some crates of monsters were being moved.

"Looks like we acquired too many this year," a guard said.

"Yeah, but lucky for us, lady Ishtar said we could store our excess there until it's time for them to be used."

"Uh, how much did she charge the guild for this."

"Surprisingly, nothing, said she'd do it free of charge."

"That doesn't sound like her."

"I know"

Bell couldn't hear any more of the conversation as the two guards were out of his earshot. Bell clicked his tongue, thinking about Ishtar.

Don't confront her

"I won't. Still pisses me off that she lied to me for almost a year. Wonder what other shady shit she's involved in" Bell wondered as he took a deep breath to calm himself.

You'll find out when you're strong enough

"When will that be," Bell asked.

Once you reach level five

"Well, hurry up and find me another dungeon to clear then," Bell asked, wanting to hop back into danger like the reckless idiot he was.

Alright, fine, I'll make a deal with you. Double XP for every monster you kill until I find another dungeon. Fair

"You're very generous. What's the catch?" Bell asked.

No catch. I want you to get stronger at a fast rate. Remember, you're my host, and I don't want you dying too easily

Bell shrugged his shoulders. "Fair"

Bell then waited another five minutes before he heard her voice.

"There you are, Bell. Were you waiting long" Elfy asked, approaching Bell.

Bell shook his head. "Nah, not really. Only about 10 minutes."

"Oh, that's good. I was worried I kept you waiting. Come here. I want you to meet some friends of mine," Elfy said, pulling on his arm.

Bell followed her lead and, after clearing the crowd, was met with three girls. One was an orange-haired elf who looked at Bell quizzically. The other two were twin amazons.

"Bell, this is Lefiya, Tiona, and Tione. They're the friends I've made in the Loki familia," Elfy introduced.

"Oh, so you're the one Elfy won't shut up about," Tione asked, leaning forward.

"Yeah, she's always talking about Bell this and Bell that. So you've gotta be an amazing person, right" Tiona asked, leaning forward as well.

Lefyia said nothing but had her arms crossed as she looked at Bell. At the same time, Elfy blushed at what Tiona said.

Bell rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, I don't know what Elfy has said about me, but it's a pleasure to meet you three."

"Human. What familia are you a part of" Lefiya asked, pointing at Bell.

Bell quirked an eyebrow. "I'm not part of a familia. I'm falnaless."

The three their eyes in shock. This human has the strength of a level three without a falna. Just what was he?

Elfy sensing the three about to yell, quickly put her hands up. "Alright, Bell and I are going to wander around. Come on, let's go, Bell," Elfy said, dragging him away again.

"Somethings fishy about him," Tione said.

"Level three without a falna. There's no way," Lefyia angrily mumbled. It took her years to reach level three, and some falnaless brat have the strength of one.

"But he seems nice. So he can't be that bad," Tiona defended.

Bell didn't seem too bad, and besides, he was Elfy's best friend. They should give him a chance before judging.

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"So, level three already. You've already caught up to me in a few days. Makes me kinda jealous at your growth," Elfy pouted, taking a bite out of her crepe.

Bell chuckled as he looked at her. "Well, what can I say? Maybe I'm just fortunate."

Elfy nodded her head. "Yeah, you are. Man, if I had whatever you had, I'd be lucky."

"Eh, you're plenty strong as is. Not many people can say they're a level three adventurer. Even fewer as good at fire magic as you," Bell comforted.

Elfy had a goofy smile on her face. "Heh, heh. Yeah, praise me more, Bell."

Bell just shook his head before patting Elfy's. "There this better."

Elfy's face broke out into a blush. But since Bell was looking out at the street, he didn't notice.

"Y-yeah, that's fine," Elfy said.

"Hmm, oh my gods, Bell is petting me. Calm down, Elfy. You can't freak out too much and have him notice. Oh, but this feels nice. Maybe we could do more things like this someday. But he's so oblivious to my feelings. What other friends cuddle in the moonlight with their faces so close together" Elfy thought as Bell kept patting her head.

Bell started to take his hand away as he didn't want to make Elfy feel weird if he touched her for too long. What he didn't expect was for her to grab his hand and keep it on her head.

"E-Elfy w-what are you doing" Bell stuttered out.

"Just keep it there. Please," she cutely asked.

Bell let out a sigh as he continued patting her head. "Alright. Care to tell me why."

Elfy blushed a bit more as she looked away. "It was just really tough in the dungeon, and I missed you."

Bell turned his attention away from the street and to Elfy, and it was then he noticed her blushing. He quickly looked away before Elfy realized, and he felt his heart start to race.

"No, there's no way. There's no way that Elfy likes me like that. She couldn't love some fuck up like me," Bell thought as he still patted her head.

"Well, maybe there's one way he'll understand my feelings," Elfy thought as she finished her crepe.

Reaching her hand up to Bell, she grabbed his chin and turned his head toward her. She began to lean in closer as Bell's mind started to race a mile a minute.

"What is she doing? Wait, she's getting closer. No, no way is she trying to kiss me?" Bell wondered as he started to lean in closer as well.

SCHREEEEEW

The sound of rubble breaking and a monster screeching stopped the moment as people began to run and panic.

Bell and Elfy separated and quickly shot to their feet and took off running to the commotion.

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Arriving at Main Street, Elfy and Bell saw Tione, Tiona, and Lefiya fighting some type of plant monster.

Neither knew what it was, but they knew they had to help.

"I only have my backup wand. What weapons do you have" Elfy asked?

"Nothing you're familiar with," Bell answered, taking out his sniper rifle. Elfy looked at the weapon in confusion, but now wasn't the time for questions.

"Alright, you do what you need to do with whatever that weapon is. I'll help with the evacuation since I can't use my stronger spells with the backup wand," Elfy ordered.

Bell nodded before scaling a building and landing on a roof. He laid on his stomach and looked through the scope.

"Less than 200 meters away, no wind. Should be an easy shot," Bell thought before pulling the trigger.

The bullet traveling faster than the speed of sound impacted the skin of the plant monster, and only left a small dent.

"What the hell," Bell thought as he used observe.

Viola

Level: 125

????????

Bell's eyes widened in shock. The system had no information other than its level, and if Bell's math was correct, it had the strength of a level six.

Bell pulled the bolt back on his rifle and fired again. Another dent, the bullet didn't pierce. He fired again and was met with the same results.

He saw the twins struggling with the vines, and he got an idea.

"If your shell's too hard to pierce, I'll just shoot your vines," he thought.

Pulling the bolt back again, he fired another shot and watched as the bullet pierced through the vines. He fired again and was able to free Tiona from the vines who looked for her mysterious savior and saw Bell firing another shot.

He saw Lefiya starting to chant her spell as the amazons distracted the creature. Thanks to Bell's heightened senses, even before he had the system, he felt a slight vibration out of place.

Dropping his sniper, he used dash and cleared the 200 meters in less than a second. He tackled Lefiya to the ground right as a vine appeared where she was standing.

He pulled out his 1911 and unloaded an entire mag into the vine. His gun reloaded itself as he kept shooting the vines away.

"ARE YOU OK" Bell shouted to Lefiya?

"Y-yeah, it was like that thing targeted me when I was chanting," Lefiya answered, confused on how Bell arrived so quickly.

Bell swapped to his M4 and took down multiple vines. "Start chanting again. I'll make sure none of those vines reach you," Bell ordered.

He kept shooting as Lefiya started chanting once again. The Viola looked at her, and its vines began targeting her once more. Yet none of the vines could reach her as Bell's bullets severed them in half. He found it annoying how they kept regrowing. But the monster was probably getting annoyed with him not running out of ammo.

"Wynn Fimbulvetr," Lefiya said, finishing her chant and freezing the monster. Thanks to a skill Lefiya has, she's able to copy any magic an elf has after learning it. So yay, lucky her.

"The hell is that thing," Bell asked, pointing at the Viola.

"Looks like some new dungeon monster," Lefiya answered while panting.

"You ok? You don't need to sit down or anything, do you," Bell asked, ready to catch her should she fall.

Lefiya shook her head. "No, I'm good. I just used a lot of mind with that spell."

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Two figures stood atop a roof not too far from the chaos. One was dressed in a white robe with a porcelain mask on their face. While the other was a redheaded woman with emotionless green eyes.

"Hmm, that boy is interesting. Have the Violas grab him and bring him somewhere secluded. Then grab him. I want to study him," the masked man said.

The woman said nothing except jumping from rooftop to rooftop to a secluded location and waiting for Bell.

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Bell used callback on his sniper rifle, and once it was in his hand, he put it away discreetly. He knew a lot of questions would be asked as well as attention which he didn't want. But he also didn't regret his decision as people were in trouble.

Right now, he was currently with Lefiya, who was still feeling the effects of high mind usage.

"You feeling any better," Bell asked, handing her a bottle of water he bought from the shop.

Lefiya took it as she nodded her head. "Yeah, thanks for the water."

Lefiya started drinking the water as the twins, and Elfy approached him. More like Elfy ran up and hugged him as she was worried about his safety.

Bell hesitantly hugged her back as he remembered the kiss they almost shared. Once the hug was broken, however, was when the questions started.

"What was that weapon you were using, and how did you clear that distance so fast," Tiona asked as she saw the whole thing.

"Another question is, where did you store those weapons? It's like they disappeared into thin air," Tione added.

"And how are you so fast? Aren't you falnaless," Lefiya asked, not trying to be rude to her savior but was still curious nonetheless.

Bell, in all his infinite knowledge of how to deal with girls.

Shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."

The four looked at him like they didn't believe a word he said. But before they could call him out on his bullshit, before a vine wrapped around his leg and dragged him away.

"BELL" Elfy yelled out as she began to give chase, followed by her friends.

Bell reached into his inventory and grabbed his trench knife, severing the vine, and began falling. He slammed into someone's roof before rolling off it and landing on the ground.

He felt the air exit his lungs as his back slammed on the hard ground. He began coughing as he pushed himself to his feet. Looking around and seeing people in white robes opening cages, Bell knew where he landed.

Seeing the locks from the cages clatter on the ground and hearing the roars of monsters, Bell gulped as he got himself ready.

"Of all places to land, it had to be here. Hope you enjoy the show, Ishtar," Bell thought before grabbing his 1911.

Emergency quest:

Kill all the monsters and Evilus members in the pleasure district and keep the falnaless prostitutes safe. Double XP is granted.

Bell calmed his breathing and got ready for one of the hardest fights of his life.

The first battle of the pleasure district had begun.

Well, Bell seems screwed. He's alone against who knows how many monsters and Evilus members, and the icing on the cake is that Ishtar will know about it.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and hopefully, the next chapter will be out soon if I can just force myself to sit down and write and not be distracted by the tiniest things.

Anyway, I hope Bell and Elfy's relationship isn't going too fast, as they have known each other for their whole lives, but it might be. Who knows.