"Ding! Killing the floor boss Balor, you have earned 500,000 experience points!"
"Ding! Mission completed. Congratulations, Host, on acquiring 3 Faction Cards and 300,000 experience points!"
"Ding! Experience points are full, Host level has increased, current level is 35."
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, on leveling up. Rewarding the Host with an Authority Card!"
"..."
"Just got 3 Faction Cards from the mission, and another one after leveling up. As expected, the system is quite thoughtful."
"These four Faction Cards can now bring all 49 Xenos under my control. I had already used Faction Cards on thirteen of them, leaving thirty-six outside the range of the Faction Cards."
"These four cards should be enough to bring the remaining Xenos into the fold."
"It's good this way. Although signing the Faction Cards with all the Xenos won't change their thoughts to blindly follow me, they will at least heed my words, preventing those who have been mistreated by humans from causing harm." Aston thought, looking at the land torn apart by his attack, creating a trench dozens of meters deep.
Aston's magical power was now terrifying. The recent attack had released seven restraints, leaving Balor powerless, disintegrating him in the golden torrent, not even leaving a magic stone behind.
Aston felt a twinge of regret, realizing he was becoming a spendthrift like Ais.
Meanwhile, Tione and the others were utterly shocked.
They had never imagined Aston not only had Level 7 strength, capable of fighting Balor head-on, but his magic sword was also so formidable, vaporizing Balor in a single strike. Such a level of magic sword had never been seen in Orario before, not even one that could defeat Udaeus in a single blow, let alone Balor.
Seeing Aston standing quietly, Tione and the others unleashed their full strength to quickly eliminate the remaining Fomorian and then ran towards Aston.
Upon reaching Aston, Ryuu spoke.
"Excuse me, Aston-san, allow me to check you." Without waiting for a reply, Ryuu began examining Aston's body.
"Hey, hey, Ryuu, there's no need for this, I'm fine." Aston felt slightly uncomfortable with her examination and became flustered.
However, Ryuu completely ignored Aston's words and continued her thorough check. She regarded Aston as her hope and absolutely didn't want anything to happen to him. Despite Aston's assurances, she remained cautious.
Tiona, after a moment's hesitation, joined the examination as well. Tione and Ais, seeing this, also joined in.
After a while, the four of them stopped, leaving Aston with twitching eyes.
Initially, they were genuinely concerned about possible injuries, but as they examined him, the situation turned playful.
Ais was just curious about Aston's body structure and his rapid growth. But Tione, Tiona, and Ryuu were simply being mischievous.
All three were eyeing Aston's body.
"It's good that you're okay." After the check, they said in a pretentious manner.
Aston's mouth twitched slightly, wanting to say something, but he ended up saying nothing.
"Alright, the check is done."
"Shall we go back now?" Aston used magic to put his armor back on and asked the group. The armor was removed earlier for the check as it was cumbersome, and now that the check was over, Aston naturally wanted to put it back on.
"Let's go to the 50th floor. I didn't bathe last night and would like to take a bath before returning," Tione suggested.
Bathing isn't a big deal for adventurers. In the dungeon, people rarely pay attention to such personal matters, focusing more on safety. Therefore, bathing isn't a daily routine for most. They hadn't bathed yesterday, and since bathing, especially soaking in a bath, takes a long time for women, they had slept early last night to be fully rested for today's battle against Balor.
Having successfully dealt with Balor, Tione wanted to relax with a bath.
Hearing Tione's suggestion, Ais and the others glanced at their own bodies and then nodded in agreement.
Aston had no objections, and the group headed to the next floor's entrance.
Soon, they entered the 50th floor and set up a temporary camp.
"Aston, your magic sword is amazing!" As soon as the tents were pitched, Tiona approached Aston, eyeing the Sword of Victory at his waist, curious about what made it so special.
The other three also came over, examining the Sword of Victory.
Unfortunately, aside from appearing like a very precious and ornate knight's sword, the Sword of Victory showed no signs of its miraculous powers.
"Which do you think is stronger, Aston's sword or Riveria's silver staff?" Tiona asked, pondering.
"The answer is obvious, Aston's Sword of Victory is stronger," Tione replied. "Although Riveria's Magna Alf is expensive, it's just a magical item and can't unleash terrifying magic like a magic sword without casting spells."
"The effectiveness of a magical item depends on its user," Tione countered immediately to Tiona's statement.
"Hehe, that's true," Tiona realized, giggling. "But I think, if Aston were to sell his magic sword, it would fetch at least ten billion Valis."
"Don't worry, I won't sell it. Besides, this sword can only be used by me. In others' hands, it's just a sharp longsword," Aston said with a slight smile, listening to their conversation.
***
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