章 12: Getting Stronger

"What happened? Is something wrong?"

The sudden brief silence seemed to not affect Riezel as he calmly asked the lady receptionist who stared blankly at him.

"No-Nothing wrong!"

The receptionist realized what she had done, hastily apologized, and continued filling out the registration form for him. However, whether it was his misconception or not, the receptionist's hands seemed faster than before, accelerating the registration process.

The surrounding silence was once again filled with noise as if nothing had happened. Yet, if one listened closely, there were still many people discussing one after another.

"Is he really from Loki Familia?"

"Just registered as an adventurer? A rookie, right?"

"Loki Familia added another rookie..."

"It's probably not a simple guy."

"Human, huh? Seems to lack good racial skills compared to other races. Could he be someone with outstanding personal skills?"

"Who knows..."

The discussions continued endlessly, and some of it reached Riezel's ears. However, he paid them no heed.

After all, it wasn't something particularly strange. As one of the strongest Familias in Orario, Loki Familia was destined to be a focus of attention wherever they went. Since he had declared his affiliation with Loki Familia, it was normal for people around to discuss it.

Moreover, he felt that his presence might soon catch the eye of observant and conscientious individuals through various channels.

The addition of a rookie to Loki Familia might not be a big deal, but for those closely monitoring Loki Familia's movements, it was worth gathering information. Of course, they could only gather the information that Loki Familia had a new rookie named 'Riezel Brynhart' and nothing more.

As for specific information about him, it wasn't so easy for those people to find out.

Not long after completing the procedures, Riezel left the Guild and returned to the street. Instead of leaving directly, he wandered around on the street.

This street, located in the northwest direction of Orario, known as Northwest Street, was mainly frequented by adventurers due to its proximity to the Guild headquarters that managed the city and adventurers. Thanks to this, Northwest Street seized the opportunity and opened numerous shops catering to adventurers.

There were shops specializing in weapons and armor equipment, shops selling potions and special items, and many more. Such establishments were abundant on Northwest Street, to the point where the street had earned the nickname 'Adventurer's Street'.

Following Loki's instructions, Riezel needed to purchase weapons and armor, so there was no reason for him to leave directly.

'100,000 valis?'

As Riezel strolled down the street, he weighed the amount of startup capital he had.

'In Orario, 100,000 valis might not be chump change, but it's not exactly a fortune either.'

Here, a serving of fried noodles costs a few hundred valis, and a regular drink rarely exceeds a thousand valis in value. Determining whether this purchasing power was significant or trivial was a bit of a delicate matter.

'A bottle of ordinary potion for stamina recovery is worth around a thousand valis. A basic, cheap standard short sword is valued at a few thousand valis. When you calculate it like that, 100,000 valis does seem like a decent sum...'

However, Riezel knew that for truly powerful adventurers, 100,000 valis might be no more than pocket change.

Without delving into specifics, the equipment wielded by top-tier adventurers typically didn't fall below a million valis, often surpassing 10 million valis.

For instance, weapons ranged from a few thousand valis for standard ones to tens of millions or even over a hundred million valis for top-notch ones. Due to the ability of mortals to receive blessings and level up, there was a chance to obtain 'Blacksmith' development abilities. Depending on the blacksmith's skill and the level of the 'Blacksmith' ability, the crafted equipment varied in strength.

Generally, people classify special equipment into first-class equipment, second-class equipment, and third-class equipment based on these levels. Only top-tier blacksmiths with the 'Blacksmith' ability could craft equipment that fell into these graded categories, especially the magical ones with special effects.

In other words, even though Riezel had a startup capital of 100,000 valis, he might not have been able to afford a single piece of the lowest-level third-class equipment, let alone gather weapons and armor.

'It seems like I won't be able to afford special equipment for now.'

Riezel felt a bit disappointed.

Of course, it was only a slight disappointment.

It wasn't strange for a Level 1 rookie to be incapable of affording special equipment. Even Level 2 adventurers would generally find it challenging to afford special equipment. The use of special equipment was concentrated, around 90%, among adventurers at Level 3 and above.

Riezel thought he would have to wait a while before he could use special equipment with levels and effective effects.

'I'll just buy some higher-quality ordinary products then.'

Having accepted this reality, Riezel began browsing through the storefronts along the street.

Two hours later, he successfully gathered the equipment he needed.

Firstly, he spent 24,000 valis on a sword.

The sword was the kind that could be used with one hand, slender and lightweight, with relatively weak attack power but fast in speed, agility, and easy handling. It was the weapon Riezel found most suitable for himself after considering various options.

From the growth trends in his status, it was evident that his 'DEX' and 'AGI' had developed more, while 'STR' and 'END' were relatively less. This indicated that he leaned towards a faster, more skill-oriented fighting style.

Therefore, he chose a lightweight and slender sword as his main weapon, aiming to maximize his proficiency in speed and skill.

Besides the slender sword, he spent 11,000 valis on a short sword as a backup weapon, just in case.

As for armor, since heavy armor would hinder his movements and affect his speed and skill, he ultimately decided against high-defense metal armor. Instead, he opted for leather body armor.

This leather armor consisted of an inner layer protecting the upper body, armor for vital joints such as elbows and knees, while gloves and boots emphasized protection for hands and feet.

Whether it was the body-protecting inner layer or the joint-protecting armor, both were lightweight and could be worn under clothes, making them convenient protective gear.

Since they added almost no weight when worn on the body and didn't hinder movement, Riezel was immediately drawn to them and decided to put on this set of armor, especially the gloves and boots, which he knew from his earlier battle in the dungeon were highly practical.

It was all because he didn't bother with proper protection for his hands and feet yesterday. After a day of intense fighting, the hands that gripped the sword were literally worn down to the skin, and the fists pounding on the monster's body had some unknown injuries, bleeding who knows how much.

The same went for his feet; running around in a dungeon with regular shoes meant his feet ended up with skin scraped off in just a fraction of a minute. If it weren't for the Familia's senior providing him with a potion to quickly heal his injuries when he returned to the Familia yesterday, Riezel wouldn't be bouncing around like this today.

Adding the injuries from the intense battle that lasted one day and one night, it can only be said that, thankfully, the remarkably effective potion saved him. Otherwise, Loki, who saw his sorry state yesterday, wouldn't have let him off easily.

The whole set of armor alone cost Riezel a whopping 48,000 valis. With the expenses for the main and sub-weapons, he spent a total of 83,000 valis, leaving him with only 17,000 valis from the initial 100,000 valis.

This level of spending, this kind of pricey equipment, said with no trace of politeness, was definitely beyond the reach of a newly debuted Level 1.

Even the seasoned low-class adventurers among Level 1, with all their equipment combined, probably wouldn't surpass 30,000 valis. They pale in comparison to the quality of his equipment.

His equipment was already at the level of Level 2 adventurers.

'Is this good enough?'

After preparing the equipment, Riezel finally couldn't hold back and headed to Babel, entering the dungeon.

He couldn't wait.

Eager to test his new weapons and assess his current strength.

And the results were naturally pleasing.

*GRRR!*

When the Kobold, like an unyielding ferocious beast, lunged at Riezel as usual, he boldly charged forward incredibly fast.

*Pu-chi!*

A silver arc tore through the atmosphere, cutting through the Kobold's head as it pounced. The Kobold even maintained its pouncing posture in midair, unable to react at all, and its head was severed by the slender sword.

Blood sprayed, dyeing the ground red and the corpse of the Kobold in the bloody pool.

'So easy...'

Standing in front of the corpse, Riezel looked at his hands in amazement.

'My speed has become so fast, and I feel much stronger than yesterday. Just by enhancing basic abilities by one and two ranks, can there be such a significant change?'

This surprised and excited him.

'I am indeed getting stronger...'

After realizing this, he no longer felt just excitement but also a surge of determination for the efforts he had made so far.

'It's just a bit unfortunate that after getting stronger, enemies at this level probably won't excite me anymore.'

Riezel greedily eyed the corpse at his feet, his expression turning regretful. He still preferred challenges that were a bit more thrilling.