Chapter Nineteen: Transformation

Lying on the warm grass, Zhao Tianhe felt sore all over his body.

He still had no idea what had gone wrong with the Shadow Cavern—on the way back, even the first and second floors had spawned several little monsters, and as a result, he’d once again been pushed forward by Artoria for more training.

Still, there was a silver lining: Zhao Tianhe had reached level six. Starting tomorrow, he wouldn’t be able to rely on farming low-level monsters to level up as he had today.

‘Thinking about it, the Slime Cavern is probably more suitable for me... No, there’s an elite wave here every week; this place is still the best deal.’ Zhao Tianhe twisted his neck and glanced at the two girls eating nearby on the grass, his mood immediately brightening.

Thanks to Artoria’s overwhelming strength, this dungeon run had taken just over half an hour, so after returning to the surface, they still had time to enjoy a picnic like this.

“Oh, by the way, this Black Swordswoman is really similar to Miss Saber!” Lainis said, munching on her food as she played her game. “Miss Saber, where are you an heroic spirit from? Brother Zhao, your ability is amazing! You can actually summon heroic spirits!”

“That’s me,” Artoria herself replied, not bothering to hide her identity, pointing at Artoria Alter. “Impressive, isn’t it? My deeds were even made into a game in my world.”

“Ah? Really, the Black Swordswoman also uses a greatsword, and their voices are almost identical…” Lainis was quite shocked, pointing at the scene where Artoria Alter fired a beam in her Noble Phantasm animation. “So you can use that kind of awesome move too?!”

“Of course I can, though there’s no need.” Artoria spoke with no small amount of pride. “More importantly, Master—Zhao Tianhe’s talent is still too weak for me to unleash my full power.”

“Hey, I only awakened my talent a few days ago… If you were at full power, you could probably sweep through even A- or S-ranked dungeons, isn’t that asking a bit much?” Zhao Tianhe shook his head helplessly, walked over, and took a serving of stir-fried noodles from his basket.

Noodle dishes weren’t suitable for long-term storage, but Zhao Tianhe had found a clever solution: he didn’t fully cook the noodles, instead casting a temperature-preserving spell while they were still hot from the pot. This way, the noodles would soak in the oily broth, and after a few hours, they’d taste even better, with a crisp texture. It had taken him many tries to perfect this—a specialty only possible with magic. Of course, the spell had to be dispelled before eating, or it would burn your mouth.

“That’s why you need to work even harder. Swordsmanship and footwork both need serious training!” Artoria said sharply, snatching a chopstick’s worth of noodles from Zhao Tianhe’s lunchbox as she ate her oden and rice soup.

“Then I’d have no time to cook,” Zhao Tianhe replied with complete composure.

“Mm!” Artoria paused for a moment, swallowed her food, then said, “Well, I suppose I’ll just have to put in more effort myself.”

For some reason, her favorability toward Zhao Tianhe suddenly shot up by a hundred points, jumping straight to level four.

‘Did she realize how important I am? Hah, is this a hidden achievement? All that cooking wasn’t for nothing…’ Zhao Tianhe was so moved by the thought that he nearly cried.

“By the way,” Artoria suddenly reminded him, “don’t forget your daily quests. The food you eat in combat mode doesn’t affect your daily quest progress.”

With that, she quickly finished her food and vanished…

Zhao Tianhe looked at his basket, now less than half full, and couldn’t help but twitch.

At the Roguetown Dungeon Management Association, Liu Caier looked at Zhao Tianhe and Lainis’s entry cards in surprise and said, “Huh! The Shadow Cavern showed a spike in life energy today too! What’s going on?”

It turned out it wasn’t just the Shadow Cavern; according to reports from the other two teams, their dungeons were acting strangely as well, spawning extra elites and minor monsters.

“Geological fluctuations, maybe? Probably caused by the recent northern expansion, right?” Lainis, being a mage, was fairly knowledgeable about such matters.

“That’s possible, but we’re in a core region… It seems unlikely.” Liu Caier shook her head, frowning. “In any case, we should report it, even if it’s not too serious.”

Zhao Tianhe, for his part, didn’t care about any of that—he was too focused on the ring in his hand, his eyes shining.

Ring of Minor Might, E-rank equipment

Strength +3 (effective if base strength is under 10)

This ring was clearly a treasure for beginners—no seasoned hero would bother with it, but for someone as weak as Zhao Tianhe, it was a huge boost!

After today’s dungeon run, Zhao Tianhe had been thinking of spending his free attribute points from reaching level six on strength, but with this prize, there was no need.

‘If my strength hits ten, I’ll be able to crush the first- and second-floor monsters, and on the third floor I could handle four or five guards at once.’ Zhao Tianhe calculated. ‘If that’s the case, maybe I can clear the Shadow Cavern solo tomorrow, then head to the Slime Cavern’s second floor in the afternoon to hunt elites! But if I do that, the travel time…’

Zhao Tianhe hesitated—should he go all out?

“Screw it!” Zhao Tianhe looked at the eight silver coins in his hand and made up his mind. “But since it’s a team, Lainis should pitch in too…”

His plan was to rent a flying vehicle from the town’s transportation bureau; at five silver a day, he could afford it as long as they cleared two dungeons.

After discussing it with Lainis, she agreed as well. After all, mutated elites gave more experience and better loot, and with Artoria on their side, the two of them didn’t need her to escort them back anymore. They could go all out, and without worrying about Zhao Tianhe’s personal training, they could probably sweep the entire second floor in a single afternoon, each gaining at least one more level and picking up two or three pieces of gear.

As for leveling up too quickly and lacking combat experience—that wasn’t an issue at all. Zhao Tianhe was a summoner, and Lainis was a healer; neither had high personal risk. The only reason they’d been following the normal mode was to let them kill mutated elite monsters for gear in the dungeons.

Also, once dungeon equipment was bound to the equipment slot, it couldn’t be removed except by replacing it with new gear. The replaced gear would then disintegrate into unknown energy and vanish. That’s why previous generations of heroes hadn’t left any equipment behind—not because they didn’t want to, but because they couldn’t. All the gear on the trading platform was unbound.