Well... He should have expected that.
This year had no pity relationships at least... But no regular relationships either. Its almost like every time he gets the slightest bit stronger everyone around him becomes slightly more wary. Almost like they were worried about him getting in over his head thanks to him putting on some muscle. But to everyone of the B and higher ranks he was still a wimpy bean sprout.
He doesn't know why but he noticed it in their stares and what he overheard at inns from gossip about what higher ranked adventurers think of him.
On the other hand he has finally made a nice name for himself that wasn't eternal D ranker or the D Rank Champion.
He now had the title. The Dungeon Lord.
He had by this point in time conquered 30 F Ranked Dungeons across the land. 30 E ranked ones as well. He had managed to finish all 30 D ranks in the city and surrounding area. And he had just finished conquering the 25th C ranked dungeon this year. And it helped for getting him the funds he needed for his house finally.
The home seller was hesitant as he explained how he wanted a large family. She smiled at that sentiment but he could see it was a forced smile partially at how he was only a C ranker and his physique would make you think that Seth will forever be stuck at that rank as well. After all despite all the training he does everyday. Seth is still only so handsome and his body is only somewhat muscled. He has a good athletes build but nothing super toned or anything super defined.
On the bright side he could train in his house as he bound the building to himself and made it grow and change to his will and needs.
He practiced as much as he could and as he gained treasures from the dungeons he sold the ones he didn't need below the grade of ancient. Those that were ancient but weren't fit for his stats and fighting style he stored in his house.
Seth sighed as he reflected on the year he just endured. It was filled with pain and with joy. But he knew he needed to try his best to find even just one more ancient rank artifact.
He even found someone who gave him hope after a crushing truth was shoved in his face at the guild.
-- A few months ago --
Seth walked to the guild with a magic bag filled with monster drops and a new ancient piece of equipment on his person. He went to the counter and turned in his spoils and the materials needed for a quest he took from the C ranked board.
He got his 24 silver for the quest and his 1 electrum for the boss core and the magic gems from the 72 monster he hunted inside the place.
However as usual his accomplishment of taking out another C ranked dungeon and conquering it had become old news. Everyone just muttered about how that was the norm at this point.
Until a B ranked adventurer who liked to flaunt his strength as a second tier swords man came up to Seth with something to say to his face.
"Hehehe! Well well well! So you're still alive eh you weak bastard?"
Seth simply glared at the half orc named Grolick.
Grolick continued his rant, "So you've conquered another C ranked dungeon eh? Well I've just beaten a B ranked dungeon! What do you think?"
Seth quirks an eyebrow and asks in a monotone voice, "And how many dungeons have you conquered so far?"
Grolick smiles smugly and says, "4 of each rank leading up to B! Which ends currently at my 3 B ranks under my belt!"
Seth nods with a thoughtful expression, "Uh huh... so you only have that many?"
Grolick did the most elegant and intelligent response, "Whuh?"
Seth looks to the guild and sees everyone looking forward to see what the eternal C ranker is going to say about his dungeon clearing record.
Seth proclaims loudly, "I have cleared a minimum of 30 of each ranked dungeon including 25+ C ranked ones this year. So want to compare numbers?"
Grolick sweats a bit at that amount and realizes that while he has Seth beaten in stats. Seth has way more combat experience than he does at this point.
At this point he backs away slowly with a look of nervousness on his face. He rubs the back of his head and says, "That is impressive! I'm sorry for thinking I'm all that with those achievements under your belt! I'll leave you alone now!"
Grolick rushes past a slack jawed guild as no one else has ever gotten more than 10 dungeons of any rank conquered under their belts. Once you graduated from a certain rank of opponent it makes sense to go to the next one and continue to grow from there. But to everyone in the guild Seth was someone who seemed to love to take his time level grinding in these dungeons and artifact hunting as well.
Some people have even started trying to copy his dungeon grinding strategy. But only a few have the patience and drive to attempt to hunt for artifacts.
Seth sighs as his achievements are revealed but still only a few people who respect actual effort cheer for him. The rest respectfully clap while still being out off by his noticeable lack of physical strength based looks in their eyes.
Seth shrugs and heads to the city to buy groceries for his new home and to see if there was anyone in the city good enough for custom orders.
About 3 hours later he has his groceries for the week and finds a few blacksmiths here and there. But none of them have what he is looking for.
He is about to give up before he notices a small off to the side shop with a cat wearing a crown on it. Called the smithing shop cats noire.
He enters and sees a promising sight. Every item here is above uncommon rank.
The ranks of this world are powerful based on how high up the ladder your item reaches.
Common: Any beginner can have these.
Uncommon: Any adventurer with some experience has one or two.
Rare: Usually mid tier to veterans have the majority of these.
Ultra Rare: More powerful versions, most veterans have only a few of these.
Ancient: Powerful artifacts that ignore level requirements and give you a big boost that can last up to at least level 200+
Legendary: These are reserved for the most distinguished of families and high ranked adventurers.
Godly: Made by the gods of this world. Only 20 exist in this world and only 5 have ever been seen in public by past Heroes.
Seth was shocked to see every item here was ranked Rare and higher. The highest one was shown to be a Legendary ranked ax that was behind the counter to be displayed for customers. It was priced at 10 platinum as well.
And it finally clicks why this place is empty the prices here are below market price. Unless you have someone who can appraise you wouldn't realize you are staring at real deals. Thanks to the prices one would think that they are being offered uncommon ranked gear just with rare level titles fabricated by the shops forger.
He looks around before hearing, "Greetings customer! What can we do for you?"
Seth looks over and finds a tiger demi girl with tiger ears, humanoid paws, tail, and fur growing over her chest and shoulders at the counter. The only other thing that shows she has a nice amount of feline traits are her green feline eyes and her sharper teeth.
She grins then gets a good look at him, Seth sweats at what her reaction will be to him before she shrugs and says, "Well you're a weak looking one but the boss man won't care as long as you have the coin for the job. I'll go get him."
She disappears into the back before Seth hears, "Honey! We got a customer! Be careful with your words he's an wimpy one!"
Seth sweat drops as he goes, "Yep... that sounds like the tiger kin bluntness dad and mom warned me about. And that Ana was so honest with when I knee her as a kid."
He startles a bit when he sees who comes out. A black haired human smith with a dwarf woman who is short with no beard on her denoting her as an elder dwarf. She seems to be analyzing Seth while the big boss himself comes up and says, "Sorry for the bluntness of one of my wives... She can be... Honest."
He shakes his head at her antics and brings his hand out for Seth to shake, "Any way I am Aichi Kudo. This is my elder dwarf wife Runa. You already met my tiger kin wife Rumiko. What can we do for you?"
Seth is stunned at his professionalism and his friendliness despite his curse and smiles at Aichi with relief on his face. "Thanks you guys are the only people I've met in my last three years in the city who treat me like a customer and not like something you want to hide away from the field and protect like a basic weak villager."
Runa gasps in horror at the admittance while Aichi nods his head sadly at that. He looks at Runa who nods and says, "Well hey! You have friends here now! So come by often and we will treat you well!"
Seth tears up a little at that and nods his head. Then he perks up while eyeing the legendary ax.
Runa notices and giggles before telling him, "It's a beauty we know but it is expensive if you want it."
Seth startles at being caught but then rights himself as he shows his Hero sword. Shocking the pair of smiths. "It's okay. I have my own."
He smirks at their reactions before they look to him with scrutiny, "You're the Hero of this generation? Why haven't you been making splashes as an A ranker or heck an S ranker yet? And wait you said three years? That should have been more than enough time to break into the A ranks even if you only passively trained! So what's up with you?"
Seth sighs and explains his background, his curses and what he has suffered through. By the time he finishes Aichi, Runa, and Rumiko are all in tears.
Rumiko is hugging him while apologizing for saying those things while he is trying to tell her it's okay since she didn't know.
They all vow to be his friends and to help him with his gear needs while he is in the city. Seth smiles at that and asks, "How good are you to upgrade ancient gear to legendary gear for me?"
The family of smiths all smile at the challenge and check to see what he needs.
-- Present day --
He sighs at that great memory and even how the whole smith family came with their children to celebrate his birthday with him. Their children were adorable being a pair of twin tiger kins and an older dwarf boy with a younger dwarf sister.
They all enjoyed his party and the family bid him farewell after the celebrations were done.
But over the last few months he finally had a way to get stronger and use his savings efficiently.
Some of his ancient gear had been upgraded to legendary gear by the family of smiths.
He grins as he plans to use every once of his money to get every piece of gear to that rank. Especially now that he has such great friends to help him gain this strength.