章 73: Departure

Day 16.

Charlie woke up from his sleep due to the noisy activity outside the tent.

After a while, his consciousness gradually became clear.

"This is... Oh, right... Yesterday, I met Aiz and Tiona, at their invitation, I slept at the Loki Familia campsite."

"Mhm~..."

Next to him, Aishia also slowly woke up.

"Good morning, Charlie."

While sitting up, she rubbed her eyes, her dress falling to reveal her white and soft skin.

"Gulp..."

Seeing this tempting sight, Charlie swallowed hard and quickly turned his face away.

It was common knowledge that morning was the time for men to be at the peak of their arousal.

'I'm worried it's only a matter of time before my faith crumbles and I become a beast attacking Aishia...'

Not wanting to lose his mind, Charlie rushed out of the tent, leaving Aishia who looked confused by his reaction as if he was running away.

"Huft... Since when has my self-control been so bad? Maybe it's because this new body is different from my previous one? Therefore, all the training results ingrained in my muscles are gone?"

The environment of Floor 21 was overgrown with lush trees and exotic plants, so Charlie breathed in fresh air that he couldn't feel in Jakarta, the sixth most polluted city in the world.

Looking around, many people were already awake besides him. Since their relationship wasn't close, they didn't exchange greetings.

Charlie didn't mind this. With his Water Spirit Art, he washed his face.

The cold water completely washed away any remaining drowsiness. After that, he warmed up before starting today's activities.

Meanwhile, Aishia came out of the tent. Naturally, her appearance attracted the attention of men and women from the Loki Familia.

The Loki Familia members didn't dare to look again, worried about leaving a negative impact. After all, once someone saw the Goddess of Beauty, it was hard to be attracted to other people of the opposite sex.

Finn had warned them to ignore Aishia as much as possible because he didn't want their attention to be distracted during the expedition, which would affect everyone's performance and their own lives due to carelessness.

Even though Aishia wasn't the Goddess of Beauty, mortal women couldn't compare to her unparalleled beauty.

"What do you want to eat?"

Seeing Charlie doing push-ups, Aishia decided to prepare breakfast. Even though her task was trivial, namely taking food from the Space-Time Cache.

"I'll leave the decision up to you." Charlie said.

"So diligent~, no wonder you're so strong, Charlie."

Still in a push-up position, Charlie looked up to see Tiona coming towards him, still accompanied by Aiz.

"Morning, Tiona, Aiz."

"Good morning, Charlie." Aiz greeted softly.

"Adventurers can easily become strong just by obtaining Excelia from defeated monsters. It's rare to find adventurers who still train traditionally like you." Tiona squatted in front of Charlie, with her hand holding her cheek.

"I disagree with you, Tiona. In my opinion, adventurers rely too much on Status. Status is not the main determining factor of an adventurer's strength. Using defensive skills, martial arts, highly perspective decision-making skills, observation skills, and other aspects. Besides, how many people can level up in a short time? Instead of just focusing on collecting Excelia, it's better to hone your fighting skills as well."

"Of course, that's just my personal opinion."

Charlie hadn't been in Orario for long, but he had seen most adventurers were only Level 1. They relied too much on Falna, ignoring training that could strengthen themselves.

"I agree with what Charlie said." Aiz had the same mindset.

"Many adventurers are too caught up in their status.... That's what the First-Class Adventurer said, and I agree. Not only strong, your thinking is already the same as a First-Class Adventurer. I wonder how long it will take you to level up to the next level? What do you think, Aiz?"

As a First-Class Adventurer, Tiona knew there was a difference in perspective between High-Level Adventurers and Low-Level Adventurers.

For High-Level Adventurers, basic ability stats in status were not the determining factor of how strong someone was. Conversely, Low-Level Adventurers considered status to be everything, and became negligent in training other aspects.

Tiona turned to Aiz who couldn't take her eyes off Charlie who was sweating while doing push-ups.

The masculine scent in the air felt pleasant to her. Somehow, Aiz felt her body temperature rising and she felt itchy between her thighs.

"Maybe one to two months?" Her answer was uncertain.

Considering Charlie reached Level 2 in just eleven days, and now he was on an expedition on the Middle Floor, it wasn't surprising if he leveled up to Level 3 in one or two months.

"Charlie will be promoted to Level 3 after returning from the expedition." Aishia expressed her opinion with full confidence.

"Impossible! No matter how talented Charlie is, it's impossible for him to level up again in just a few, right? After all, leveling up isn't just about Excelia, but also achieving great feats to level up."

Knowing how difficult it was to level up, Tiona didn't believe Aishia's claim.

"Charlie is special. He can do what others can't." Aishia looked at Tiona without changing her expression.

"This..." Tiona was speechless.

"Aiz-san, Tiona, let's have breakfast together."

Suddenly Lefiya came, then dragged them both away while secretly looking at Charlie with hatred.

"Well, Aishia, did I do something wrong to that Elf?"

Finishing 100 push-ups, Charlie wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked at the backs of the three girls. With his sixth sense, he could feel hatred from Lefiya.

He was sure he had never interacted with her. Why was Lefiya showing hostility towards him?

Charlie believed there was no effect without cause.

He might have offended Lefiya without realizing it.

"I don't know. Maybe her period has come. That's why she's so easily offended."

"That's an unexpected answer."

"Hm?"

"It's okay. Let's have breakfast then go."

Glancing at Aishia's innocent expression without malicious intent, Charlie smiled wryly.

Fortunately, Lefiya didn't hear the contents of this conversation. If not, who knows what kind of expression she would show.

Breakfast was simple, just bread and fresh milk. Then, they both stored the tent, bed, blanket, and pillow in the Space-Time Cache.

Charlie and Aishia met Finn and the others to thank them for allowing them to stay at their campsite for one night. At the same time, they said goodbye and continued their expedition.

"Don't be sad, Aiz. It's not like you're parting forever."

Noticing the sadness in Aiz's eyes, Riveria felt helpless in the face of the girl who was in love. What confused her the most was how Aiz fell in love with that man in such a short time?

Knowing Aiz's personality, who was obsessed with pursuing power, it was unthinkable that she would fall in love.

"Um. I'll become stronger so that Charlie doesn't catch up to me." Aiz felt a sense of urgency to become stronger as soon as possible.

"Aiz-san doesn't need to worry, it's impossible for that man to be stronger than you!"

As a big fan of hers, Lefiya couldn't accept the closeness between Aiz and Charlie.

"You don't know, Lefiya. Charlie... It's only a matter of time before he surpasses all the adventurers in Orario."

"Oh, this is the first time I've heard you evaluate someone this highly."

Finn felt Aiz knew something they didn't.

"..."

Realizing she had spoken too much, Aiz was worried she would be asked about Charlie, so she went on patrol.

"She's hiding something." Riveria said, looking at Aiz's figure.

"Come on, mama. Aiz is not a child anymore. It's normal for her to have one or two secrets."

"Shut up, smelly Dwarf!"

Riveria glared angrily at Gareth.

"Charlie Avalon, huh... Even Aphrodite-sama is interested in him. I wonder what kind of change he will bring to Orario. Hopefully it's a good change."

Finn stopped thinking about this problem and returned to his duty of organizing everyone.