Arrow training focused more on posture and movement, thoroughly solidifying these fundamentals. The facts proved that a 130-pound draw weight traditional war bow was indeed effective enough for Keare at this stage.
It requires a continuous 60kg of force in the shoulders and arms to draw the bowstring fully. Without targets, and with Dungeon monsters not standing still to die, training arrow accuracy still needs to be done through actual combat.
When muscle fatigue and damage occurred, Keare directly used 'Recovery' and 'Imitation' to heal himself, simultaneously gaining double the training effect.
The next morning, Keare's biological clock was perfectly punctual. After preparing for his Dungeon exploration, he noticed the girl, fully sober, sitting by the bed.
He greeted her proactively: "Lady Hestia, I'll be heading out now."
"So early..."
"Keare, please be careful." Recalling what happened last night, Hestia, being thin-skinned, didn't dare to meet his gaze directly.
The good news was: she didn't act drunk in front of Keare.
The bad news: remembering such intimate contact with a member of the opposite sex... and her own Familia child, she could still feel her cheeks burning slightly.
The girl stood up and came to Keare's side. Noticing his unkempt collar, she gently tiptoed to fix it, as one should always be presentable when going out.
Hestia, with a flushed face, earnestly encouraged him: "You can do it!"
The scene of a gentle and virtuous wife tidying her husband's clothes before he goes to work felt incredibly familiar. If their relationship wasn't still developing, Keare would have at least asked Hestia for a good morning kiss before he left.
But for now, this was enough.
—
Feeling the slightly damp morning air and the comfortable coolness, Keare purchased his Dungeon exploration supplies. His goal was clear: he carried the bow, arrows, and short sword he bought yesterday.
He headed to the Central Plaza. Liliruca, whose appearance was altered by the 'Cinder Girl' magic, had a petite figure and a strikingly out-of-place backpack, making her highly recognizable in the crowd.
"Morning."
Since moving, she hadn't returned to the Soma Familia. For Liliruca, these past two days had been an unprecedented... and very rare period of stability.
No Adventurers from her Familia were exploiting her either.
But she knew that as long as she didn't leave the Soma Familia, there would be no complete stability. She understood that Keare's plan was to avoid direct conflict.
He wanted to help her break free from their control in a relatively peaceful way.
So...
Keare's speed of strength improvement became extremely crucial.
Liliruca's expression was calm. After greeting him, she asked, "What's our target for Dungeon exploration today? Actually, if you want, the 10th floor is fine."
"Although I'm not a combatant, I'm quite familiar with the Dungeon environment."
"Alright." Keare didn't refuse.
While Liliruca's past actions were hard to judge, from a functional perspective, as a supporter for a Familia team, she was definitely qualified.
She was clear-headed and familiar with the Dungeon environment. Crucially, after Liliruca expressed her desire to leave the Familia, she was still a wanted person, and her experiences had naturally instilled a malice towards Adventurers.
The result was that she could only trust herself. Not to mention, he still held the leverage of the 'Cinder Girl' magic and her history of harming Adventurers.
Handing the temporarily unused bow and arrows to Liliruca, Keare decisively headed towards Babel Tower: "Tell me about the situation after the 10th floor."
"No problem."
Heading to the safe starting floor, Keare gradually gathered information about the deeper Dungeon he was about to explore through Liliruca's introduction. The biggest change was the environment, with the appearance of trap-like mechanisms.
Periodically, vision-obstructing frost mists would appear, making it easy to get lost without reference points. There would also be "Monster Feasts" where large numbers of monsters would attack simultaneously. In such situations, without strong capabilities, one would likely perish there.
As for new monsters, there were no particularly rare ones: Orcs with pig-like bodies, Goblins with higher intelligence, small Imps that acted in groups, and small-type bat monsters called Badbat. As for deeper floors, the difficulty significantly increased.
The 8th-10th floors required a comprehensive ability value of E-C, but starting from the 11th floor, the minimum ability value required for exploration became B-S rating.
There were Armadillos with heavy armor, Silverback Apes, and rare monsters, rarely appearing on the 11th-12th floors, known as Young Dragons, the Upper Boss.
Keare didn't become overconfident in his strength just because he possessed 'Recovery' and 'Deterioration' skills. Stability was the main theme of Dungeon exploration. He would explore appropriately while ensuring safety.
Only through trials that provided sufficient pressure could his ability values significantly improve.
He decisively made a decision: "Let's go. We'll explore up to the 11th floor at most. If we encounter danger, we'll retreat back to the safe passage between floors."
As for encountering an extremely rare Young Dragon? Keare truly wasn't worried about that. He couldn't possibly have all his talent points in luck. With Liliruca as his supporter, he smoothly passed through the starting floor.
Just as he was about to begin his normal Dungeon exploration, he encountered several familiar faces at the passage connecting the floors. The conspicuous Soma Familia emblem on their bodies symbolized their identity.
Decree and the members of his Adventurer party were there.
Even standing next to Keare, Liliruca's face gradually became solemn when she saw their faces, a fear born from instinct.
"Keare..."
"It's fine."
It seemed there was information to share. Keare was confident in the reshaping ability of 'Optimization'. Unless one's will was exceptionally strong, it would be difficult to gradually regain memories over a long period.
In the original story of Gun Yō, only the Second Princess Norn realized the problem in the later stages of the plot. If these Soma Familia addicts were capable of that, they wouldn't be waiting here for him; instead, they would have gathered Soma Familia members to ambush him on the necessary path to Dungeon exploration!
"What's wrong?" Keare's gaze swept over everyone, finally settling on Decree, who was leading them: "We should avoid contact to prevent other Familia members from noticing."
With the opportunity to become a high-ranking member of the Familia before him, Decree didn't mind Keare's attitude. Recalling what happened last night, his expression was quite serious: "This matter is very important!"
"I followed your suggestion and took on the task of pursuing Liliruca."
"Chanis probably didn't realize the problem, but after we left, several more groups of Familia members were summoned by him."
"I suspect—their target is Liliruca."
"..."
He didn't doubt the authenticity of Decree's message. In the original story, Chanis could even collude with other Familias, giving up everything just to get Liliruca back. His behavior of having Familia members pause Dungeon exploration and launch a full-scale pursuit seemed very reasonable to Keare. This might be an intractable problem for Decree, but for him, who possessed the 'Plunder' skill, he was still thinking about how to quickly increase his ability values.
—And just when he was feeling sleepy, the Soma Familia members eagerly came to offer him a pillow!
"There are cockroaches in the rental house, so it seems... Orario has quite a few good people?"