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'Putting the strange magic tool atop the table, Loiju said:'
"I still don't know how this works, but I did as you asked, nothing skipped."
'Silver nodded, he expected nothing less.'
"Then it's fine, let me just activate it…" He replied as he twisted one of the sides of the pyramid's base
/CLINK!/
/Buzz buzz…/
'Suddenly, a small projection materialized in the air, it was Loiju's zoomed-in face.'
"..."
/Chuckle.../
"Did you just laugh?"
"Your imagination."
"..."
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*"How do I use this damn thing?"'* Loiju in the projection asked as he brought the pyramid very close to his face, distorting his figure even further
'It was very comical, so much so the real Loiju's expression twisted as he tried to contain his emotions.'
*"It's already on, you can control it by twisting the sides of the pyramid's base."* Someone else replied, outside of the pyramid's POV
*"One starts/stops the recording, one plays/stops what is recorded, and the last one is to advance/slow down the recording, and it can even backtrack it."*
*"It's a great tool, the only problem is that each can only contain one recording regardless of size, so it's a bit of a waste, though you can stop the recording and continue it later, it's not like you can separate it inside its inner workings..."*
*"It's a bit complicated to explain, I myself didn't have enough time to understand how this worked properly, so for the normal person... I guess you can indeed record multiple things at different points in time."*
*"Just make sure to not play the recordings, once you do, it'll lock itself, then it's all over."*
*"Alright… I got it… So… I just put this on the ground and let it do its thing?"*
*"Once the War game starts, just place it in a horizontal angle to the projection, the more accurate the better."*
*"There is no need for any extra steps or maintenance, leave that to me."*
*"But if the War game lasts longer than an hour, which is the time limit of this recording, then you can trigger this other one I brought, the same process, nothing different."*
*"It can also act as a spare, but it would be better to be careful regardless."*
*"Sure, that's simple enough to do…"*
…
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"No matter how I look at it, it's quite the useful item, it's even better than your… Camera? I forgot the name."
I just hate how it captured my face... Can we redo that part?
"It's similar, they have similar purposes."
Though making a recording device was too hard for me to do right now, so I resorted to some petty tricks…
I asked Fels if it would be possible for her to do it.
She should be one of the best item makers in the world, considering her extensive knowledge, I just had to give her a deep explanation of what I wanted together with some sketches of how a video recorder worked.
I had to make it comprehensible for her of course, that in itself was a bit hard considering it had been a long time since I ever thought about some of these things, but it came out well eventually.
As for her ability, there was no need to doubt her, she already made the communication devices, so the groundwork was already done.
I don't need this new item to pass on information, but instead, to record what it sees, not just sound, but video too.
And she didn't disappoint me.
"Since it works... Let's get right into it, there's something I want to confirm." Silver said with a relaxed expression as he grabbed the tool
…
'The recording continued, Silver and Loiju's conversation went on for a while, but then, there was a sudden stop and when it returned Loiju was now alone in the room, placing the recording device on a shelf of this same private room.'
'He mumbled a few things, but they weren't important...'
'And after that, he grabbed some snacks and coffee, sitting on a couch just out of the device's field of vision.'
'Not long after, a projection formed in the air, and the War game started...'
...
'From there, Silver quickly accelerated the time until his fight against Phryne.'
"Hm…"
So this is how I fight? Checking my own memories isn't exactly the same.
I must say... I do look cool, but definitely not as cool as some of those adventurers with crazy gear and Skills.
Perhaps because I focused less on my Plasmids this time around.
"You sure went crazy there not gonna lie." Loiju said as he watched the recording again
Now that I have time to see what is going on, I can tell just how insane this all was… Even more, than I thought.
It was hard enough to see their fight, but now that it's slowed down… I can see the details, the speed of their clashes…
Adventurers sure are incredible, in their own ways.
I complain about my back problems… But I don't see him complaining about his injuries…
"Hey… How are you doing?" He asked, slightly embarrassed
"?"
"I was so excited about everything that I forgot to ask if you were okay and all of that…"
'Silver smiled slightly as he shook his head.'
"Oh, that… I did sustain some injuries, but I damaged myself more than she did me…"
"But I'm okay for the most part."
"That's good... ?!"
'With that, Silver slowly showed his true appearance, making Loiju's face ashen instantly.'
"WHAT?! DUDE! Y-YOUR…"
"Don't worry, I'm okay."
"OKAY!? YOUR TWO ARMS ARE JUST GONE! AND YOUR EYES TOO!"
/Chuckles/
"I know, people said that to me more times than the number of blows I took from Phryne today."
"... I can recover this."
"Wh… What?!"
"I said I can recover from this, it'll take some time, but I can fully regenerate each limb."
/Silence.../
"Man… You sure you're a Human and not some undisclosed race?"
"I'm certainly Human unless Hestia lied to me, for your surprise, this is all due to my magic."
"I'll slowly modify my body, have it regenerate itself slowly, fiber by fiber, muscle, bone… Cartilage."
"One, two, three months… How long it may take, it'll eventually come back."
"Wow… I can see now why you were so reckless… Even so, take care, you never know when… You know how it is."
Now that he's weakened... There is no shortage of people that would try to take advantage of his situation.
It's impossible to hide these injuries for long, it'll be hard at the very least.
One day, they'll spread... And he doesn't look like he'll hide them for long either.
But who knows, its been getting harder and harder to predict whats on his mind.
"I'm aware, I won't let some random guy kick me while I'm down."
"As long as you say so, I'll support you."
'Silver nodded, advancing the video.'
'He wanted to find out what burned him, what changed…'
"!!!"
'And soon enough, he saw it, white flames igniting in his Halberd, and it was there everything started to fall together.'
"What is that flame?" He asked with immense surprise as he pointed at the video
'Loiju seemed surprised.'
"You aren't aware of it? I mean, it isn't a Skill or Magic?"
"No… I never saw that before."
Also those noises… Chains? Where did they come from?
"Weird… Is it Limit Off mayhaps?" Loiju pointed off
"Limit off?..."
"Yes, when the conditions fuse with the emotions of an Adventurer, overloading Falna, it's possible to attain higher power than what's dictated by your Level."
"This can impact anything, from your Stats to your Skills, Development Abilities to more."
"I know what Limit off is, I just never thought it would happen…"
I don't remember having one such occurrence, not even noticing someone do it either.
Well, in the first place, to notice it, you must know how strong someone is in the first place, their Abilities, and Skills as well.
Otherwise, you'll just take it for granted.
"It's a fairly common, rare event." Loiju said with a smirk
"Common… Rare?"
"Yes, I say so because… Adventurers are always in extreme emotions."
"In the Dungeon, adventurers struggle with their life constantly, so this condition is always there, even if their emotions aren't exactly "extreme", a small slip can always send a party down... And it's in this moment of desperation that the conditions are fulfilled."
"This tends to happen more frequently when one is near their Level limit."
"In a moment of extreme emotions… When one tries their hardest, Falna overflows and you step into a higher stage momentarily."
"It happens quite often, but the one affected by it rarely notices it, just like in your case."
"After all, look, do you think Phryne would've let you grab her so easily? Even if you're strong and she's scared, I imagine your Status was momentarily boosted beyond your current Level, even if little."
"That's how I see it at least."
"... That… Doesn't sound impossible…" Silver said with a pensive gaze
But if so… What was the focus of the Limit Off?
My Plasmids? No…
My Status?... I think Loiju is on the right here, even if I was boosted, it wasn't by much…
Then my Skills?... Which one?...
I can't see how they would cause this fire... If I were to extrapolate, I could even see where those chain sounds came from...
"Something's missing… And it seems neither of us has the answer." Silver said with a frown
"Perhaps asking a God will help?"
"Hm…"
Hestia definitely saw it, but she didn't comment on it… Was that was she was trying to hide?
Not even Artemis mentioned it, she also seemed a bit conflicted, is it due to that as well?
If so, I wonder what's special about those… Flames…
Hestia…
'Something seemed to "ignite" inside his mind.'
"the eternal torch?" Silver mumbled with extreme surprise
"Hm? Did you say something?"
"I... Forget it…"
They say the children of the Gods will take after them in some way due to the nature of their blessings… If so… What did I take from Hestia?
I need to find out after I meet her again.
"For now… Should we call it a day?" Silver asked as he looked at Loiju
'But he only smiled evilly.'
"Hahaha! Not yet!"
"Shouldn't we go after your money…?"
'Silver smiled evilly as well.'
"We definitely should."
'And so, the two got up from their seats.'
…
/The hours passed and night came…/
'Inside a certain famed bar...'
/CLANK!/
"CHEEERS!!!!!!" Loiju exclaimed as he chugged down an entire mug of beer
"Man… Calm down, you're going to choke." Silver replied with a small smile
Though it is time to commemorate… I'm not really in the mood to drink anything.
'So he just took a sip of his juice, it was sweet, just what he needed.'
'After meeting up in the Guild, he and Loiju made their way across the city to collect the due debts, and after many hours, the total amount…'
"WHO CARES! I'm rich!" The elf exclaimed with a big smile, already losing his composure
"Sigh… But yeah, I guess you're right."
'Silver started to remember what he said to the Elf yesterday…'
I told him to bet everything on me… 3-0 victory… A perfect Victory at the hands of one person...
All on me.
And so he did, all of his savings, and according to him, it was something along the lines of three million Valis, which is enough to buy quite the Manor already.
I never asked how much an advisor of the Guild makes, but it must be quite the amount, well, he isn't just an advisor, that's more of a side obligation.
And as you can expect, when he bet everything on me, on the most unlikely of all possibilities…
The amount he received was simply…
"Over 40 million! HAHAHA!"
/DRINK!/
"YOU SHOULD'VE LOOKED AT THEIR FACES HAHAHAHA! BUNCH OF MORONS!"
/DRINK!/
"Begging me to step back and think about them... HUMPH!! When you bet, you should've taken things into consideration."
Cowards! Damn brokers! Think they can just take my money and dip? HA! I have the best of bodyguards!
/Drink.../
'Another mug down the drain…'
"Slow down a little, the night barely started." Silver said with some concern
It's his third already, and the food is not even here.
"Phew… Man… I'm sure glad to have listened to you… The greatest bet of my life." He said with a flushed expression
'He then noticed something…'
"Speaking of that… Just how much did you make?" He asked with a sly smile
"Me?"
"Who else?"
"The new First Class adventurer… Albeit Level 4!... Tell me! How much did you make by betting on yourself?!"
'Silver smiled awkwardly, this elf was surely speaking his mind out without caring about his surroundings…'
'A busy bar full of adventurers, some of which were giving him side glances, but no one had the balls to look at him in the face for longer than a split second.'
'Silver couldn't do much apart from letting out a small disappointed sigh, he wasn't that scary, and neither was he before...'
'Not all were like this, as before coming here, Silver had visited a few friends, such as Tom, who wanted to become an adventurer but gave up on his dreams after some talk.'
'And even the first place he spent the night in… A small inn called Tropical Mangos all the way at the North of the city.'
'Those people still regarded him as a friend, even if the way they looked at him was different.'
"Let me think a little…" He said as he messaged his temples
Thankfully I put a small barrier, otherwise, everyone in the damn bar would've heard his screams…
"I even took a small loan for this…" He said with a small smile
First, to make so many bets, I had to ask for some people's help… And I obviously knew who to ask.
A particular blond God that loves to be everywhere… Hermes.
Yesterday, while I shut myself inside my Manor, I used that time to sneak around and talk with some people, he and Loiju are examples of such cases.
He was very perplexed and I knew very well what he wanted to ask, but I didn't push him, and instead, I made a deal.
For us to forget about that as long as he did something for me… It was obvious what I asked.
To have him use his children to make bets for me and collect the money, they would be paid for this of course.
It may come as a low price on his side, but I made hundreds of Millions out of it, so I'm happy either way, and so is he as even a small part of it is a few million if not tens.
And I'm sure they also had fun collecting the results.
I also contracted some people to place bets for me, but the total amount I had to pay was negligible.
As for his perplexion with my Status... That will have to be left for later.
I doubt greatly Hermes would share this with anyone, he made an oath.
But I'm unsure how much such words bind him... Because if there is one person he would share what he saw with... It might as well be Ouranos.
"Overall… Over 300 million?"
370?...
'Silver started to go over each time he collected the bets...'
373 to be more exact after what I used to pay everyone.
"..."
'Loiju sobered up.'
"Damn… And I was happy with my meager 40…"
"Come on, I won't even be using that for myself."
There are so many things to pay...
And... I was even planning on using a bit of it for charity... For no reason.
Not like spending a Million Valis will change anything for me, but it will for 1000... Sigh, I'm not good at this.
"Where will you use that then?!"
"I have to improve the facilities of the Manor, everyone's equipment… I was also thinking about buying some Grimoires for the future…"
"You speak as if Grimoires can even be bought… But heck, that's so much money, I bet you can buy a few." Loiju replied as he ate some nuts
"There's also the new gear I commissioned, that'll cost quite a bit…"
"Is that the pair of gloves you told me about? Just how much did it cost?"
"Well, Hephaestus wasn't sure, but she told me to give her around 150 Million so that's what I'm going to do."
"150?! Holy… And you're just going to pay that? No negotiation?"
"Why should I? The work of a God, and it's very good... Worked well so far."
"How many times did you even use it…"
"Once."
"..."
"Cheers…" Loiju said dejectedly
"You already drank it all."
"... Life is sad."
"Weren't you just laughing saying you were a new millionaire?"
"It's not the same!"
/Step.../
'Their peaceful talk seemed to have come to an end as a giant Dwarf stepped inside Silver's small bubble...'
'He raised his head to look at her, and he saw her usual stiff expression...'
'But why did it seem different from the usual?'
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Notes
So Loiju is rich now, I wanted to make a small char development arc for him, but that'll have to wait for later.
Do you think the amount Silver received was enough? I think it was, but at the same time not in some ways.
But in the end, this amount is good enough for us to work with and for the plot to continue.
At the start, money was a problem, now, its just a number.
And its more likely that things will become even more... "Crazy" as time goes on.
The Mc will find new ores, so he'll need better equipment, he'll dive deeper and find new monsters... The price has to keep up.
We do have some examples of how stronger such extreme gear can be, such as Zald's weapon and armor, but in his case, his armor was strong enough to withstand Allen's attack when he was a High Level 5, but that is... Completely negligible considering his Level.
Anyway, that was just an example.
As I said before, we're now going through the Intervolumes, and Volume 5 should start after all of this is over together with the two side chapters.
Volume 5 will start with many POV changes since a lot is going on at the same time, but after a while, we should focus on the Mc recovering and diving deeper into the Dungeon to improve himself.
It's about time to start fully focusing on the Dungeon.
Tough, it'll take a few arcs for us to reach there...
But once we do, expect more Xenos' interactions and... More.
I'm still unsure what the name of this Volume will be and its focus, but we'll see.
Hope you liked this chapter, I'll be taking my leave now.