"Alright Bell are you ready?" I asked. After sleeping on the question a bit, I figured that the best way to teach him magic would just to let him figure it out like I did the night before. Bell himself looked like a kid on Christmas. "I'm going to leave my spellbook with you today while I explore the dungeon. You're going to study it until you either learn a spell or I return."

'Watch over that spellbook with your life Pride.'

While I could probably become a top adventurer with just the magic I have now, that doesn't mean I don't want the opportunity to become immortal with Clone or maybe be able to return home one day with Plane Shift or something. Even the more mundane damaging spells would be able to level entire sections of the city. Once I get access to those sort of spells I won't have to worry about a war game. I mean who's gonna fuck with the guy that can drop a miniature sun on you?

"So just study your spellbook?" Bell asked as he opened the book. As he started reading the spellbook his eyes began to cross and he made a really funny face. "Ah this hurts."

"Yeah, it will for a bit. It will be hard, but I have faith in you Bell." I said with a reassuring smile. Bell returned my smile with one of his own and a sparkle in his eyes. I really did believe in him. I may not of known him for long, but I just have a feeling he's one of those guys that will accomplish whatever he set his minds to.

"Yes Matthew-san I'll try my hardest!" He cried waking Lady Hestia. Our adorable little goddess arose with a stretch and yawn.

"Are you two heading to the dungeon?" She asked drowsily.

"No, it's just me today. Bell will be staying here to study my spellbook." I told her as her eyes shot open.

"You mean Bell will be staying with me today!?" She asked a little too enthusiastically. Bell is such a lucky bastard. Our beautiful goddess, that adorable waitress, and a stunning elf were all pinning for the kid. Stupid playboy. I wasn't really jealous though. Cute girls may be cool, but not quite as cool as fucking reality warping magic.

"Yes, but he needs to study so try not to distract him too much." I chuckled. You got this Hestia I believe in you. I did wish her luck. As far as I could tell Bell either wasn't interested in her or just unaware of her feelings. Maybe I could talk to him about it later. Though I would feel pretty foolish if Hestia only had a passing interest in him. I could just be wrong about her feelings after all.

"Ok." She said hugging Bell, "But don't go too far into the dungeon on your own. Remember what I said about you dying?"

"Yes Lady Hestia, I'm not allowed to die." I smiled. Even if I wasn't getting special treatment like Bell, it was still nice that Lady Hestia cared about me so much.

Making sure to grab a health potion I made my way towards the dungeon. I didn't think I'd need the potion, but it was better safe than sorry. As I was walking, I couldn't help but wonder what I would do with what is essentially a whole new life. I definitely had the potential to be the most powerful man in the world once I unlocked higher tier spells, but is it really worth just chasing power? Maybe I could be more of a superhero and use my magic for good. I never really did much charity work in my old life, with magic I could help a lot of people. My character, Matthew was supposed to be a sleazy businessman type with a heart of gold. The setting was a dark and drab country haunted by a crazed necromancer king. My goal for the game was to prop up the economy through undead labor and magic making life easier for the people of the nation. I could do something like that. Problem is though that I don't actually know anything about economics. I suppose if I can unlock eighth tier magic I'll have an eternity to learn though lol.

After reaching Babel I entered the dungeon proper and immediately began casting False Life and Toll the Dead on any monsters that popped by. Today the monsters seemed like they were spawning a little bit more aggressively. Yesterday with Bell the monsters seemed to be spawning more slowly though in higher numbers, and would spawn at multiple angles as if to encircle us. Today the monsters spawned solo more than in groups and their spawn rate was rather high. Not that a regular adventurer without magic couldn't handle them, but enough to where one would have to stay on their feet and constantly be ready. In fact I think a solo mage would struggle against this the most if they were relying on a limited pool of magic to draw from. I couldn't help but wonder if this is some sort of response to me being a caster to try and force me to run out of magic early during my delve. Why else would the spawning habits of monsters change?

The dungeon was strange though. It was clearly supernatural in some way or another given that it literally creates monsters. It made me wonder about the magic stones though. Bell told me that the magic stones were this worlds version of a battery basically. They powered lamps, ovens, refrigerators and all other sorts of things that don't fit in the fantasy genre. The real head-scratcher is what the hell does a battery has to do with that. A bit taken by my own curiosity I decided to grab a magic stone from my bag and cast Identify on it. Immediately after, my mind was flooded with information. Quite a few things were immediately apparent. Besides the fact that the stones acted as a pseudo heart, the first thing I learned was that these weren't just stones filled with magic. They were a crude, disgusting mockery of a spell. It was like trying to fit a square block into a round hole. Except the square went in anyways because the force used was so great it was smashed into place. The purpose of it was to instill hatred of anything not born from the dungeon and greatly weakening one's survival instincts. This was worrying because it meant at least three things. One, the dungeon is sentient, possibly fully sapient. Two, it is a malevolent being. Three... It's magical power is completely unfathomable. To pour that much magic into a single stone to force a spell that shouldn't be able to exist. It does this thousands of times everyday, if not hundreds of thousands.

The dungeon could make the decision to kill me at any given moment. It could probably overrun the world itself. It made me feel incredibly small. That wasn't even the end of the daunting information that Identify gave me. Worryingly, monsters could eat the stones for more power and would actively do so if stones were left behind. Worse yet, the spell was unstable and would fail in time. After going inert the control over the monsters would fall. The possibility of intelligent, more powerful variants was worrisome. Without doubt, whatever is at the bottom of this dungeon, is a world threat. I have to become so much stronger!

Thankfully, there was a saving grace. Destroying the spell would directly destroy the magic stone, killing the monster. Once I obtained counterspell, I would be able to take down any single opponent so long as they couldn't resist magic. Honestly though, that fact wasn't so reassuring knowing that the dungeon could just say "fuck you" and spawn a thousand goblins on me. None the less I couldn't allow this to deter me. I simply needed to get strong enough to defeat or otherwise nullify the dungeon. It may be relatively calm right now, but after that info dump, I knew the dungeon could cause a calamity at any given moment. I also knew that it would. The hatred and malice I felt from that spell was palpable. What would cause it to have such a deep hatred for everything above ground? I don't know. I just know I need to be there to stop it.

With a renewed vigor, I plunged myself into the fifth floor. Despite my paranoia that the dungeon would throw more at me than I could handle, I fought and collected the stones from every monster I found on the fifth floor. I went throughout the dungeon slaughtering every monster I found with gusto. Even with the unimaginable gap in power between myself and this entity I didn't want to fall into despair. I wanted to become strong enough to contend, if not outright defeat whatever eldritch horror waited at the end. The plan for now is to make a shit ton of money, then learn to get comfortable with casting in armor. There may be some fights where my magic simply doesn't cut it and I need to play defense for Bell. Sooner or later False Life alone won't be strong enough to keep me alive.

It didn't take long into my rampage before me to reach the stairs descending to the sixth floor. According to Bell, frog shooters and war shadows would begin to spawn here. War shadows were extremely fast by the standards of a level one and the frogs would shoot out their tongue hard enough to knock you down if you weren't careful. I didn't particularly care which I fought, they should both earn me roughly the same amount of val. Well that was the plan before I heard a girl cry. Rushing over to the voice I saw a demi-human man with raccoon ears punching a girl wearing what looked like literal rags.

"What are you gonna cry? Useless supporter!" He laughed throwing another punch. That piece of shit!

"Hey asshole, leave her alone!" I shouted! I really didn't want to fight another person, but I wasn't about to let him abuse that girl. Seems like this guy didn't have reservations about fighting himself as he immediately drew his sword. If this came to blows it could get bad for me. Sure this guy was no minotaur and running away would be easy, but that would require me to leave the girl behind. Convincing him to leave would be the best way to deal with this, but the snarl on his face and the deep purple bruise on the unconscious girl's face indicated he wouldn't like to work this out. Fighting was my best shot, but if I couldn't kill him quickly then he would chew through my temp health like a paper shredder. My magic may make me feel invincible, but I was no fool. After my short stint in the dungeon with Bell yesterday it was clear just how much stronger a flana makes you. Bell was quite simply superhuman, and he only started a week before me. This guy must be exceptionally strong.

"You really wanna die for the sake of some shitty supporter? Turn around and walk the other way. This has nothing to do with you." He snarled. Well, it looks like he doesn't actually want to fight either, but I wasn't about to let him get away with what he was doing.

"I could say the same to you. If you care so little for her, are you really about to die for her sake?" I asked in as intimidating of a voice as I could muster. The guy actually flinched but didn't back down.

"You're pretty slick with your words, but that doesn't change the fact that I have a sword and armor unlike you. What are you gonna do with that dagger anyway?" He laughed. Damn, I was really hoping this wouldn't come down to a fight. Looking to the unconscious girl the ugly bruise on her face made my blood boil. The decision was easy. I simply wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did nothing.

"Binding Ice!" I snapped shooting a torrent of frost from my hand. As the frost reached him it began to cling and grow. In under three seconds the ice reached to his feet and clung to the ground. he tried to bash the pommel of his sword against the ice, but it was ineffective and the ice continued to grow around his legs. I almost felt sorry for him as it was incredibly unfair for me to rob him of his movement during a fight like this, but I wasn't going to die for the sake of a 'fair' fight. He would definitely kill me in melee so there was no possibility for a fair fight in the first place. Either me beating him in the first move or him tearing me to shreds.

"What the hell did you do to me you bastard?" He snarled while continually bashing at the ice to no avail. It was kind of pathetic.

"Sorry pal, you were right in a way. If I didn't take you out in one hit I definitely would have died. Ice Knife." I said as a dagger of ice flew from my hands impaling the bastard before it exploded in frost causing the already cold man to start shaking like a leaf. I didn't have any reservations about killing this man seeing as he was beating a helpless woman, but I didn't want him to suffer. Though I was down to two tier one spells and other than Toll the Dead, Ice Knife is my only really offensive spell. No, I'll have to get this girl to the surface and unless I run into another minotaur then there will be no strict need for more tier one spells.

"Ice Knife." I said coldly as another knife hit him and exploded. At this point the man was completely covered in frost yet he wasn't dead.

"You'll pay for this. When Zanis finds out, you're dead! Dead! You hear me you bastard!" The man screamed, spitting out blood. Yeah buddy, Zanis can try.

"Ice Knife."

My final spell cast the man finally died. I didn't really feel as bad about it like I probably should have. The problem with letting him live was twofold. First being his familia. Not only would they put myself, but my own familia in danger. Second was the guild. I'm new to this city and don't know the law, but murder obviously couldn't be allowed. Maybe they have legal clause to protect others, but I wasn't hopeful. Logically he had to die if I wanted to save that girl. Emotionally I could justify it easily enough, but something still felt wrong about it. Maybe I'll talk to Hestia about it tonight. No, I have to leave her and Bell. Once this guys familia finds out about what I've done they'll target Bell and Hestia.

Putting those thoughts, I went to check on the small girl. Checking for a pulse I was relieved to find she was still alive, just barely. Grabbing my potion, I poured it onto the girl. Her skin began to absorb the potion, the bruises she had began to disappear while her breathing became more normal. Even after that has happened I could breath a sigh of relief. For a moment I had almost wished I was a cleric. As a wizard I didn't really have a way to heal people outside of potions, not to mention a cleric would be able to truly bring people back. Luckily I didn't need any of that since she was still alive.

Looking to the girl I wondered what to do with her. I couldn't leave her here while she was unconscious, and if I waited for her to wake up she would know it was me who killed the guy she was with. Maybe if I take her to the guild she'll stick up for me when I tell Eina what happened. Ugh, this is gonna be a pain in my ass. I don't regret it though, if I had the chance I'd do it again.

"Uugh," The girl moaned opening her chestnut eyes, "What happened?"

"I won't hurt you." I said immediately regretting it. That sounds so creepy, why did I say that?

"You did that?" The girl asked looking at the corpsicle.

"...Yes" I admitted looking away. I guess my fate is in the hands of this girl now. She could report me to the guild, or just to this guy's familia. I didn't think about it before, but they were probably in the same familia.

"Why?" She asked meekly sitting back down. Here it comes, she was about to freak out about the man's death and call me terrible things. I probably deserved it to. "Why would you help Lili?"

"Because you needed it?" I asked more than answered. Why wouldn't I help her? The girl, Lili, only seemed to be confused by my answer. Is her familia the really selfish sort? Besides, now that I could actually get a good look at her was quite petite. Standing she would probably only be as tall as my pecs, and she was so skinny that it made me worry if she had anything to eat. I sat there for a moment longer to see if she had anything else to say, but she looked at me as if she was doing the same.

"Are you safe with your familia?" I asked. It was subtle, but I saw her frown at that. I don't think she will want to come with me after my violent display, but I didn't want her to go back to her familia if it wasn't safe.

"Do you have somewhere safe you can go?" I asked. She didn't respond. If I hadn't heard her speak before I would have thought she was mute with the oppressive silenced that surrounded the two of us. Oddly enough, minutes have passed and not a single monster has spawned. Not since I fought the raccoon man. Was the dungeon aware of the fight? Why wasn't it sending monsters to kill us? No, I can investigate the dungeon later. What's important now is Lili.

"If you don't have anywhere safe to go, you can come with me. I won't hold it against you if you say no though." I said looking to the man. I wanted her to know that she wasn't in danger. I probably wouldn't want to be near me if I was in her position either.

"You're too kind master." she said tiredly, "Lili will follow you."

Okay so she is willing to come with me, but what was with that master bit? I suppose it doesn't matter, she must be shaken up pretty badly. Rather than verbally responding I simply nodded, stood up and began go back the path I came. Soon after I heard footsteps began to follow behind me. Sure enough this is when the dungeon decided to start spawning monsters on us again. Three war shadows began to crawl out of the wall, before they even fully emerged I cast Toll the Dead on the first. The second two had fully formed before I could cast my spell a second time, but the second one wasn't able to reach us before I could. The third actually didn't even target me, it tried to hit Lili. Jumping in the way I felt the shadow dig its claws into my side as I cast Toll the Dead for the last time.

"Master you're bleeding!" Lili shouted as False Life began to patch my skin. Lili, seeing the wound close on its own covered her mouth in a gasp.

"Don't worry about it Lili. As long as I'm here, nothing can hurt you." I said trying to sound cool, but it just came out as really lame. Lili wouldn't even look at me after I said that. It hurt my pride as a man. Thankfully though, the rest of the way out of the dungeon was relatively uneventful. I couldn't really handle much more excitement today.

Deciding to skip turning in my magic stones at the guild entirely I began heading home with Lili in tow. The entire time I dreaded how I would greet them. Bell had either learned a spell by now and would be overly excited, or he hadn't and will be expecting me to teach him when I get back. That would only make what I would have to do so much worse. Reaching the Church I mentally prepared myself for what was about to happen. Entering the Basement I was greeted by a rather interesting sight. Bell and Hestia were holding hands jumping like little kids that just found out that school is canceled tomorrow.

"Am I interrupting something here?" I asked trying not to think about the conversation that would come next. Bell looked at me with an excited spark in his eye and jumped at me for a hug, while Hestia jumped in surprise.

"Matthew-san I leaned magic!" Bell said excitedly as he tightened his hug. God damn it Bell, This conversation will be so much harder if you go around acting like that.

"You're back early Matthew, and who's that girl? A new recruit?" Hestia asked a little bit more dejected than she should sound if she thought this was a new member.

"Hestia, Bell, this is Lili. I found her in the dungeon being assaulted in the dungeon by another adventurer... I killed him." I admitted. Hestia visibly recoiled, however Bell didn't have a particularly strong reaction. Lili however just hid behind me.

"Are you alright Matthew-san?" He asked in a more serious manner, the excitement from earlier gone. He didn't look angry, or even upset, but relieved. I simply nodded to his question. "I'm glad you're safe Matthew-san. Now would you like to hear about my spell?"

"...Did you not just hear me admit to killing someone?" I asked incredulously. Bell struck me as the idealistic hero type. Did he really not have a problem with with me killing someone? Looking at his face their was a faint sign of something, I couldn't quite tell what. He wasn't angry though, he should be angry at me or something.

"I know it must be hard, but you did it to save that girl right?" He smiled. Bell you dolt. Even if we completely disregarded the fact that I killed someone, their familia still exists.

"The rabbit is right master, Adventurers kill each other in the dungeon quite often. You did it for a good reason. Don't waste your kindness on that man." Lili finally spoke up. I understood the sentiment, but that wasn't all there was too it.

"And what about his familia?" I asked before turning to Hestia, "It would be better for you if I left."

'Creator, you really are stupid sometimes' Pride chastised.

"Where is all of master's confidence? Didn't master say he would protect Lili from anything? Is master not strong enough to protect three people?" Lili asked causing me to choke on my own spit. I did say that.

"I'll still protect you Lili, I just don't want to cause trouble for my familia." I explained.

"If Lili's familia finds out they will be mad, but no one needs to know what master did. Lili isn't going back to Soma until she can leave his familia, so she won't tell." Lili said with a smile.

I felt arms wrap around me as Hestia pressed against my back. "I won't pretend to understand how you feel, but we're a familia. We will stick with you no matter what sort of trouble you find yourself in. So please, don't ever think about leaving again."

"And did you really think I would judge you for carrying out my own dream?" Bell asked looking at me as if I was a hero. A reminder of how naïve he was. Heroes don't kill people like that.

Was this really okay? What I did will only cause trouble for them in the future, but they don't seem to care. Taking a deep breath I realized that these two would never fold, so it would just be better to give in. Even if I decided it would be better to 'disappear' latter.

"Fine, I give up, but we need to make plans in case the Soma familia does find out and want revenge." I told him and he nodded along.

"We can discuss that tomorrow. You two look exhausted, let me update your flana and get you to bed." Hestia said in an almost motherly voice. I didn't notice it until now, but I was rather out of it. So I took my shirt off and lied down on the couch. Soon after I felt the weight of my goddess on my back along with a single drop of blood.

Matthew M. Mathers Lv 1

Strength I 5 - I 9

Defense I 27 - I 35

Dexterity I 14 - 18

Agility I 7 - I 12

Magic I 63 - H 177

Skills

Arcane Spellcaster III - Rather than drawing from a pool of mind to cast spells, user expends spell slots. Ritual spells do not expend spell slots. Chants do not expend spell slots, functions as if Arcane Spellcaster is not in use

Available spell slots - I (4) II (2)

Spell slots recovered via long rest or study of spellbook.

Arcane Student III - Ability to learn new spells up to tier II through study of spellbook

Arcane Tradition Necromancy I - Necromancy comes naturally. Study of spellbook reveals necromancy spells quicker, ability to cast necromancy spells as if they were one tier lower.

Spells

Mending (cantrip), Toll the Dead (cantrip), Minor Illusion (cantrip), False Life (I), Find Familiar (I, ritual), Identify (I, ritual), Ice Knife (I), Tasha's Hideous Laughter (I), Shield (I), Crumbling Dead (I, ritual), Cause Fear (I), Expeditious Retreat (I), Binding Ice (II), Invisibility (II), Sightless/Soundless (II)

Command Hatred (V, chant, incomplete) "Old rivalries, bad blood, hated enemy, destined foe. Let rage flow through your veins, an endless sea of fire. You are mine, my wrath yours"

"Oh is that what chants are?" I said absentmindedly thinking about the pallum at the bar who said chantless magic was impressive. Does the chant also mean I could use a tier five spell when I shouldn't be able to? It does say chants allow me to cast spells without a spell slot. I was also curious what incomplete meant. Could I refine the dungeon's spell?

"A new spell?"

"How did you learn a new spell if you left your book with me?"

"Ah well... I may have used Identify on a magic stone. Turns out that they don't just act as a heart, but also contain a crude attempt at a spell." I explained.

"The dungeon can cast spells!" Hestia cried worriedly.

"I don't understand, but I'll trust you on this Matthew-san." Bell said.

"Yo-" Lili began before cutting herself off and looking away again. She was rather hard to read.

"The dungeon is aware of what it's doing, and has immense magical prowess. Regardless of if the Soma familia becomes a problem or not we need to get much stronger. I don't understand the dungeon's motives or desires, all I know that it is filled to the brim with immense hatred and could cause calamity at any given moment." I explained.

"That's great!" Bell shouted causing Hestia and Lili to snap their head at him in shock. I understood what he meant. Heroes shine brightest during times of crisis, but the way he said it and how the two women reacted was so funny to me I couldn't help but laugh. "I mean the dungeon creating a disaster is terrible. I just wanted to be a hero."

"Okay Bell, I want to see your update now. I need to know what I'm working with. We have to get a lot stronger and fast." I told him as he began to take his own shirt of and laid down.

Bell Cranel Lv 1

Strength I 97 - I 97

Defense I 24 - I 24

Dexterity H 114 - H 114

Agility G 203 - G 203

Magic I 0 - I 47

Skills

#*

Spells

Booming Blade - "Let lightning strike my foe, true as blade"

I saw Hestia begin to write something down under his skill section before quickly smudging it out. She then stopped and looked at me with a glare. Message received, it's a secret skill. I put my arms up in surrender as Hestia sighed.

And Booming Blade? Not bad. If I remember correctly it caused anything struck by your weapon to be hit with additional thunder damage. Not bad for a assassin type. I don't know how long the enchantment lasts, but if he could cast it on our way to the dungeon and recover mind during the walk, that would be pretty cool. Of course we're not going to test it outside of the dungeon.

"So what now?" I asked the two of them.

"Well for now I say we get a goods night's rest. Tomorrow we'll talk about the Soma familia and start training hard in the dungeon." Bell said with conviction.

"Sounds like a plan." I said laying on the floor. Lili took the couch while Bell and Hestia went to the bed. "Hey, if we're gonna have her here, we'll need to get a second bed."

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow then."

Haziq Saffari: Thank you, its always nice to hear when someone appreciates your work. I still appreciate everyone who faves and follows but sometimes I doubt myself lol

Striker Sigma and Sagittipotenta: Thank you both, good to hear