Author's Note: Thank you to all of you who have favorited/followed and reviewed the story. I'm happy that after all these years Danmachi is still going strong!

Apologies to everyone who read the last chapter immediately after I uploaded it. You may have had some confusion with the characters internal thoughts. I did not realize that any italicized and bold words I had written went back to normal once I uploaded the chapter to this site. I edited chapter 2 and I'll be sure to include single quotes on any internal thoughts from this chapter onwards just in case.

Bell Cranel laid in the bed of his new room. Gareth was kind enough to provide him the key to it after his tour, the day prior. It wasn't the biggest room, but it had all of the basic necessities like a bed, desk and a small bookshelf. Most importantly, it also gave him the privacy he absolutely needed at the moment.

A beam of light from the freshly risen sun shone through the room's window and covered the still aching body of the white-haired boy. Still consumed by shame from the night before, he buried his face further into his pillow with a quiet groan.

'Ughhh, what should I do? Should I just act like nothing happened? I've been a member of the familia for less than a day and I've already caused trouble for my new goddess.' He lamented to himself internally.

He'd replayed the werewolf's words in his mind numerous times and came to terms with them. In his current state, he WAS weak. He thought back to how the sturdy dwarf absolutely decimated the minotaur in an instant. What was an insurmountable wall to him, was nothing more than an ant to his new senior. No, it was even less than that. To a Loki familia's executive, that great beast was nothing more than a fly in passing. These are the thoughts that flowed through him repeatedly with his anguish from last night still fresh in his mind.

'I never want to be embarrassed like that again…'

Knock Knock*

Startled out of his thoughts, the boy heard someone on the other side of his door.

"Breakfast time… The goddess told me to drop by and remind you in case you forgot." Said a girl plainly.

Immediately after, Bell heard her footsteps as she proceeded to walk away without waiting for a response.

He exhaled a large sigh as he decided to get this over with.

The dining hall looked massive to the fresh adventurer. In all of his time in Orario so far, he'd never been somewhere as expansive as the manor he now lives in. He got lost on his way there twice!

By the time he got there and lined up for food, almost every member was already served their breakfast and seated. After he exited the line, Bell felt the temperature in his cheeks begin to rise, as he searched anxiously for a seat in the packed dining hall. His nervousness skyrocketed even further as a few members he didn't recognize began to point at him and laugh to themselves quietly. While they did try and keep it reserved, to the self-conscious boy in the spotlight, it was as clear as day.

As Bell's face was quickly becoming redder and redder, his saving grace reached out to him! Line Arshe, the human girl he sat with yesterday at the bar, waved to him and gestured for him to sit next to her. Like a rabbit that made its escape, he dashed over to her and sat down with a feeling of relief.

"Thank you so much, Miss Arshe!" Stated Bell, expressing as much gratitude as he could.

"Of course, I was worried after what happened last night. No one could find you after you raced out of the bar, not that we could blame you." Revealed the soft-spoken girl.

As she looked him over now that he was closer, she noticed the numerous cuts and minor injuries on him from last night. Shock washed over her face, "Were you in the dungeon?!"

With this new information revealed, Bell felt even more guilty now that he knew he caused trouble for the people who searched for him. The crimson-eyed adventurer meekly looked down at his breakfast for a moment.

"Yeah, I was." He admitted.

"Be careful letting the executives know about this. There isn't exactly a rule against going in the dungeon alone, but that's because it's generally considered suicide to go in by yourself." The brown-eyed girl explained to him.

Bell nodded in understanding, and even winced a bit when she brought up the suicide part.

As they continued to eat their breakfast together, the girl fortunately provided Bell with a more in-depth explanation of some of the rules Gareth went over yesterday. The Loki familia was categorized as an exploration type familia by the guild, with their primary goal being to reach deeper into the dungeon. There was the main expedition party that was filled with the group's core elite members, like the ones Bell recognized from last night. Some lower level adventurers were typically allowed on these expeditions, but they mainly played the role of supporters. Outside of this main expedition party, there were multiple smaller parties within the familia for lower level exploration as well. Line elaborated that the blonde-haired Prum across the room from them was the familia's Top Executive and also the Captain of the main party.

Bell's vision followed to where Line's finger pointed and marveled at the small but capable Captain in amazement. Not a moment later he noticed a mature looking Amazon woman come up from behind him, and attempt to tackle him with an enthusiastic hug in surprise. Smoothly, like he'd rehearsed it dozens of times, the Prum picked up his plate and ducked under her flawlessly.

Line noticed this interaction, but without even batting an eye, continued her explanation. "The secondary exploration parties vary greatly depending on what most of the party members' levels are and they always have at least one level 4 commanding them."

The black-haired girl gestured to a table opposite from where the familia's Top Executive sat and pointed out a plain looking, spiky black haired man and a similar color haired cat girl sitting next to him.

These were the captains that Bell would mainly be led by and who he now knew as Raul Nord and Anakitty Autumn.

As they finished their breakfast, the dining hall slowly began to empty out.

"If you need any help or guidance, don't be afraid to come by." The kind human girl finalized with a small smile. Bell smiled back and gave her one last grateful nod in return. With that, she proceeded to get up from the table and carried on with her day.

Bell continued to stay seated for a while longer as he gathered all of his thoughts. He was a bit overwhelmed by all of the information he was given. While the expeditions sounded exciting, it didn't sound like they would go on one everyday. He hoped that he wouldn't be stopped from doing his solo dungeon visits. As much as he realized the danger, he couldn't imagine being idle from the dungeon just because there wasn't an expedition that occurred that day.

As the crimson-eyed boy pondered all of this to himself, a dark-green eyed Amazon woman with black hair reaching down to her shoulders approached his table.

As Bell noticed this, he immediately snapped out of his thoughts and looked down in an attempt to not draw attention to himself.

'Oh no, I hope I didn't do anything to piss her off like last night with the werewolf.' Gulped the boy. 'Maybe she's just walking by me!' He optimistically thought.

He recognized her as one of the familia's executives from last night and made an oath to himself this morning to steer clear of causing any more trouble for his new goddess.

As these worried thoughts raced through him, the energetic girl finally came to a stop directly in front of him where he was still seated.

"Hey Rookie! Are you okay from last night?" bubbled the girl as she tilted her head cutely.

Bell finally looked up to make eye contact with the girl when he discovered that she only wore a simple tube top to cover up her chest with a long skirt tied around her waist. He was aware of the different fashion sense that Amazon women had, but seeing it this close was too much for him! As the realization of just how little clothes the girl actually wore dawned on him, the young boy's face took on a slightly lighter shade of red.

Stuttering for a moment, Bell finally muttered out, "Yes… I'm doing fine."

"Good, don't listen to Bete! That dumb mutt had way too much to drink last night. He was just upset that Ais turned him down and took it out on you!" Replied the girl with a sour look coming across her face as she recalled the events that happened the night prior.

"Don't worry though, my sister and I tied him up good after you left. He didn't remember anything after he sobered up, but we made sure to tell him exactly how much of a scene he caused for us." The amazon continued on with a sadistic look on her face.

Bell felt a shiver go down his spine as he thought about just how strong you'd have to be to tie up such a threatening high level adventurer. A few moments after she finished, the tanned girl suddenly leaned in closer to him with her hands held behind her back.

"Lefiya told us what you did for her." she began with a whisper. "That took guts rookie, be proud." Encouraged the vibrant amazoness.

Bell's face immediately took on an even brighter shade of red as he let out a quiet squeak. Not only did he not expect such kind words, but being so close to her overwhelmed the poor boy.

"Hahaha, you're cute!" Giggled the first tier adventurer. "My name's Tiona by the way. Be sure to ask for help if you ever need it, rookie!" She continued on with a big smile.

She looked him over briefly and noticed the cuts and bruises all over him. The amazonian girl who has been fighting from birth easily recognized that the injuries were of monster origin.

"Hmm, also be careful in the dungeon! I'll see you around!" She finished with an animated wave as she walked back towards her sister.

Still a bit flustered from that exchange, Bell was now beginning to feel a lot more positive about his stay here.

Almost immediately after leaving the dining hall, Bell fortunately found Raul waiting for him, propped up against a wall in the hallway exiting the dining hall. As he followed one of his new captains, he essentially got the same rundown that Line had provided him earlier.

Raul further elaborated on the scheduled expeditions for the lower level familia members as he showed the young rookie to where the manors training grounds were. Since Bell was a completely fresh level 1, he was going to be on support duty for the first few trips. The plain looking man mentioned that this was so he could get acclimated to the dungeon and its monsters from a safe distance. The secondary captain even threw him a dungeon equipment starter kit! It was explained to him that everyone starting out is provided one of these for free.

As they reached the courtyard, Raul noticed that while the boy looked happy, he still had a somewhat pensive look on his face.

"Anything wrong Bell? I know Bete was a little intense yesterday, but I promise he isn't usually like that… At least to that extreme." Hesitantly the spiky-haired man spoke, ironically still a bit scared of Bete himself.

"No… it's not that." Bell said with a small smile in appreciation for his Captain's kindness. "Um, I was wondering… is it fine for me to do solo trips to the dungeon? I want to become stronger as fast as possible!" The rookie adventurer ended confidently.

Raul had a look of understanding on his face as he expected the boy was going to bring this up. He noticed the injuries on the boy and had a suspicion that they were from the dungeon and the white-haired rookie just confirmed it.

"I'm sorry Bell, but it's just too dang-" The Captain began just as he was cut off.

"Please Mister Nord!" Bowed Bell deeply. "I've been exploring the dungeon for weeks on my own already without a status! I promise I'll be careful! I won't go to any of the deeper floors!" The familia's newest member requested desperately.

Raul's leader persona slightly cracked in front of such a heartfelt plea. As his inner anxiety peeked through, he timidly looked around and found some people holding back laughter as they watched him and the new rookie. Ignoring them the best he could, he looked back to the boy who still bowed deeply in front of him and thought deeply with a hand to his chin.

"V-Very well. That should be fine. You're not allowed to go deeper than floor 4 though! Also you still have to attend all of our scheduled expeditions!" The Captain stumbled on, a bit embarrassed that he gave in so easily.

Bell immediately propped back up, eyes beaming with an excited smile.

"Thank you Captain! I'll be off right now then!" The rookie excitedly spoke as he prepared to go back to his room to gather his dungeon equipment.

"No worries Bell, if you ever need advice, don't hesitate… Wait what!" Responded Raul in shock. "You're still hurt! At least let me set you up with a guild advisor first!" Finished the boys concerned superior.

Bell paused for a moment with a quizzical look on his face.

"Guild Advisor?" He spoke as if hearing those words for the first time.

Raul immediately facepalmed in disbelief.

'Loki, what type of trouble have you brought to us this time?' The second tier adventurer thought to himself, stressing out more and more by the second.

The day turned out to be extremely productive for Bell Cranel. After his conversation with Raul, Bell received all of the necessary paperwork to go to the guild and officially was assigned an advisor for the dungeon!

The newbie adventurer learned that the Loki familia typically worked with a pink-haired woman named Misha as their primary advisor, but due to her being swamped with too many assignments he was instead pushed over to her coworker, Eina Tulle. Eina was a beautiful half elf woman with shoulder length brown hair and emerald colored eyes. She wore glasses and was in the same formal guild uniform as Misha.

Score! Bell swears he doesn't have a type, but if he did it'd be mature older elves!

She was a bit strict, but it ended up being incredibly needed as it turned out. Bell had a general idea that there was something like this available, but he was so worried the guild wouldn't cooperate with him when they found out he didn't have a familia yet.

After a cramming session and convincing Eina that he's been down in the dungeon before despite only just now registering with the guild, he finally got her blessing to go in.

This time in the dungeon, Bell was a lot more level headed, despite the urgency of wanting to go deeper still being there. He obtained special permission from his new Captain so he made sure to take it easy on this trip. His main focus was to get as much funds as possible for weapons and armor, as well as to make sure his wounds did not become any worse. After all, he needed to conserve his energy for the rest of the week, if he planned on being able to beat his previous floor record. He did his best at collecting magic crystals from his solo expedition and even ended up with a few drop items. Exchanging everything he had at the guild kiosk accrued him over 10,000 valis!

These were all of the events that led to the refreshed Bell Cranel getting his status updated in his goddess' office after dinner.

The ruby-red eyed boy felt slightly nervous as he sat shirtless in front of his new goddess, Loki. While she was a literal deity, the goddess was still a woman.

Of course the rookie was oblivious to how fortunate he was to not be constantly sexually harassed like some of the other familia members.

"I didn't expect you to want a status update so soon, but I guess it's understandable since you're still starting out. Even Ais still can't wait for it the moment she gets back from an expedition." The goddess chuckled to herself.

Loki pricked her finger and a droplet of blood spread across his back and took the shape of an adventurer's status that she was all too familiar with.

"Jeez kid, you've been busy. It's only been a day and you've already gained this much Excelia?" Loki muttered out loud as her eyes scanned the numbers for his stats.

'Wait a minute, did he already gain a skill?' The red haired deity's eyes widened a bit. 'I'm pretty positive he's a human so he shouldn't have any racial skills' She thought as she reevaluated her first impression of the boy.

[Realis Freese]

Rapid Growth

Continued Desire Results in Continued Growth

Stronger Desire Results in Stronger Growth

Loki looked over the skill so many times she lost count. She'd been in Orario for many years and she'd never heard of a skill like this before.

'A rare skill? He's been adventuring for a little over a day and already has a rare skill? Is the brat a prodigy or something?' Loki recalled Bete berating the boy in the bar last night and wondered if his harsh words might've changed something within the boy. He was already insane enough to take a Minotaur punch straight to the stomach without a status after all.

"Is there a problem goddess? You've been quiet for a while?" The boy shyly asked.

"Just finishing up, it'll only take a few minutes more." Responded the deity.

Loki began to mull over whether she should actually let the boy know about this. Rare skills were highly sought after in Orario. Depending on the skill, some people would stop at nothing to get their hands on one. While her familia was powerful, the boy was still far too inexperienced, and he was the picture of innocence to boot!

'Can he even keep a secret to save his life?' The goddess pondered. 'At least for now, until I have time to research it a bit more, I'll hold off on telling him about it.' She concluded as she blocked out that part of his status sheet.

"All done!" Loki clapped as the boy eagerly turned around to face her. "Don't let it go to your head, everyone has a big jump in the beginning before it starts to slow down." She pointed out as she handed him the status sheet.

Status Level 1

Strength: I0 - I32

Defense: I0 - I13

Dexterity: I0 - I41

Agility: I0 - I63

Magic: I0

A massive smile spread across Bell's face as he looked at the progress he made. When compared to all of Orario these stats weren't much, but to the boy, this was proof of him finally moving towards his goal. All of those bloody nights spent in the dungeon were finally paying off!

Loki had a good idea what the young rookie was thinking to himself as he looked at his stats. After all, she'd seen the exact same look many times before on a certain golden-haired girl.

"Try not to focus on the numbers too much. Keep your goal in front of you and the status will follow. Oh and don't forget to have fun!" The deity finished with a smile.

"Yes goddess!" Responded Bell with an equally bright smile.

As the boy put his shirt back on and readied himself to leave, Loki had a contemplative look on her face.

"Hey Bell, before you go." The red-haired goddess took on a more serious face as she looked at the boy. "How're you holding up after last night?"

Bell solemnly looked down for a moment, breaking eye contact with his concerned goddess.

"I'm doing… fine. It was a good wake up call to how much work I'll have to put in to reach them. I want to become strong, goddess." The boy resolutely declared, speaking his true wish to his deity.

Loki thought about how to take this declaration as she looked him over with a critical eye.

"Hmm, Bete was a weakling at some point too." Said Loki, shocking the rookie in front of her. "Look, I said this same thing to Ais a long time ago. If you keep running at full speed, you'll eventually fall flat on your face." She continued. "All of the top execs and I are here to help you if you need it, don't forget that Bell." Finished the deity.

Bell stood frozen for a moment, completely taken aback by his goddess's kind words. Even after he caused so much trouble for her, she wasn't upset at all!

"Thank you so much, goddess! I will keep that in mind!" Bell bowed deeply in appreciation.

The next day, Bell woke up at the crack of dawn. He was ecstatic at his growth the day prior, but after he mulled it over in bed, he realized just how small his growth had been compared to the number of monsters he slew. He thought back to his lessons with Eina and recalled just how deep the dungeon actually went. Despite the sheer power and ability of his peers, they hadn't even reached the bottom. No, they didn't even know if there WAS a bottom. This information rattled him to his core.

His half elf advisor didn't hold back when she went into great detail about just how long it took the strongest adventurers of today to reach those heights as well. The record for the fastest level up to level 2 was a year! A whole year! The boy realized he would be lying to himself greatly if he tried to act like this information didn't dishearten him massively.

As he thought back to the werewolf's cruel words with this newfound context of what it was to be an adventurer, he understood that it would take more than simple guts to lift him to the heights he wanted.

He thought back to his first day in the dungeon, to that fear and frustration he felt fighting monsters for the first time. Then to the Minotaur who almost ended his life. He has just been repeatedly throwing himself at the dungeon. He needed to be smarter with his strategy from now on. He'd continue to grind as much as he could but he needed to study up on the dungeon to become as efficient as possible on his trips, on top of still being ready for his familia's expeditions.

Those were the thoughts Bell Cranel was trying to focus on as he trekked through the city to accomplish an early morning trip in the dungeon. Unfortunately, for the past few minutes he felt like he was being watched. The boy thought he was mistaken at first and tried to shrug it off, but after a few more minutes went by, the feeling undoubtedly grew even stronger. As he looked around the city he saw nothing out of the ordinary, just the typical vendors and stores opening up like normal. No matter where he looked, he couldn't pinpoint where the source of his distress was coming from. His heart rate started to rise as he quickened his pace down the street, trying to gain what little distance he could from this invisible threat. He'd felt this before in the dungeon. The eyes watching him, looked at him as if he was prey, looking for an opportune time to snatch him up. Reflexively his right hand went to the sheathed dagger at his side, ready for something to pounce.

"Excuse me, did you-"

As Bell spun around in a panic, he stopped his knife mid-slash, inches away from a human girl's face. She wore a white blouse and a light green, knee-length skirt that he immediately recognized as the uniform the workers wore from the Benevolent Mistress.

Her innocent blue-gray eyes focused on the knife that was an inch away from her face with pure terror.

Both were frozen for a moment until Bell reeled back and started bowing profusely.

"I'm so sorry!" Shouted the panicked boy, immediately putting away his knife. "Are you hurt? Did it touch you at all?" He frantically asked as he looked her up and down.

"No, no! It's my fault! I'm sorry for startling you!" The girl repeatedly apologized back. Her blue-gray hair was tied in a bob and ponytail combo and swayed back and forth with each head movement she made while she apologized.

'What the hell is wrong with me today? Pulling a knife on an innocent girl? Get it together!' Bell chastised himself.

"Um, can I help you?" The rookie asked with his heartbeat finally calming down.

"Oh…yes. I believe you dropped this."

A bluish purple crystal was in her palm that she gestured out towards the boy.

Bell's eyes glanced at the monster crystal in her hand and then to fist sized pouch on his hip that he used to store his own.

'Did I really drop this crystal? My pouch is fastened like usual.' He pondered to himself. 'Who am I kidding? I've been on edge all morning.'

"Thank you so much!" The boy gratefully said as he took the crystal from her hand and deposited it in his pouch.

"Don't mention it, I'm glad I was able to help!" A smile blossomed on the girl's face in response.

Bell matched the beautiful girl's smile with one of his own before the fact that he just pulled a knife on her caught up to him again. He quickly felt more awkward by the second as his shoulders slumped.

"I…remember you from the other night." The blue-gray eyed girl slowly broke the silence.

The brakes screeched to a full stop in Bell's head. This was a worst case scenario. He glanced at her uniform one more time.

'She works at the Benevolent Mistress! Of course she would've seen me!'

He never wanted to show his face in that bar again after that night. The young boy could've sworn he felt steam coming out of his head with how quickly his face heated up. The thought of running away came across Bell's mind before he shoved it down, determined to accept the consequences of his actions.

"I'm… a fan of yours." The cute maid softly admitted with a small smile.

Bell's thoughts WERE at a full stop, now they started going in reverse.

"Huh?" He muttered blankly.

"That night… when that mean werewolf berated you. Even though his words were so terrible, I could tell by the look on your face. Actually giving up never once crossed your mind right?" She brushed a strand of hair back behind her delicate ear. "Isn't that why you're here so early in the morning? To head to the dungeon?" The cute maid finished innocently.

The still shocked boy stuck on autopilot just nodded his head in response to her question.

"I think that's really brave." She finished with both of her hands covering her mouth along with a slight blush on her cheeks.

That was the finishing blow for the innocent boy who barely hung on by a thread. The heat he felt on his cheeks earlier was nothing like it was now. He felt like he was about to explode in embarrassment.

"Oh… tha… thank you… so much." Stuttered the boy in a bumbling mess.

The blue-gray haired waitress cutely chuckled at the boy's reaction as he flailed around.

'You were right grandpa, it was the right choice to come here after all. I'll never doubt you again.' Bell solemnly swore to himself.

GrRRrrrRRrr*

Right when Bell thought he couldn't get anymore embarrassed, his stomach just outed the fact that he skipped breakfast this morning due to his excitement to get to the dungeon. He couldn't believe how misfortunately timed this was. The human girl's eyes widened slightly.

"Haha, do you happen to be hungry?" She questioned.

Unable to even look her in the eye anymore, Bell shyly nodded his head looking down.

"Wait right there!" The waitress exclaimed as she quickly raced into the bar.

The human girl walked back out of the bar with a small basket that had bread and cheese sticking out of it. .

"This isn't much… but will this do? They're my morning rations." She offered.

"What?! I could never! What will you eat?" Bell fired back as he shook his head.

The blue-gray haired girl's eyes drifted to the ground as she shyly pouted.

"Please, I won't feel right if I let a brave adventurer like yourself go hungry. If you want to make it even, then come back to the bar later and spend lots of money! I'll be waiting for you!" The girl finished as she resolutely held out the basket towards the still nervous rookie.

Bell hesitated as he thought it over, but eventually reached out and grabbed the basket.

"How could I possibly turn that down? I'll be back tonight then!" Accepted the crimson-eyed boy.

Her smile absolutely beamed as he accepted the basket.

"Perfect! I'll look forward to it!"

'She's a lot easier to deal with now that I know what she's like. Maybe she's one of those inner beauty types.' Bell reflected.

As the boy began to walk back towards the dungeon, a thought struck him. He turned back to her once more.

"I'm… Bell Cranel. What's your name?"

A moment passed as Bell looked at the beautiful waitress, waiting for a response.

"I'm Syr Flova, Bell." She responded with one last sparkling smile and waved goodbye.

As Bell ate dinner that night at the Benevolent Mistress, he realized his impression of Syr Flova was completely wrong. Inner Beauty? She was a demon. The rookie adventurer's poor wallet was not a survivor during his true battle that day. May it rest in peace.