After breakfast, Demeter pulled Dio aside and asked what he intended to do next.
“Are you planning to enter the Dungeon?”
“Absolutely not!
Why would I go into the Dungeon?
That place is dangerous!”
Dio shook his head without hesitation, sounding as though she had just asked whether he wanted to leap into a volcano.
He leaned back in his chair with both hands behind his head and one leg crossed over the other, looking perfectly relaxed.
There was not a trace of the drive or nervous energy one might expect from a newly minted adventurer.
Demeter rolled her eyes.
His answer did not surprise her in the slightest.
From the moment she saw [Slaanesh], she had suspected he was hardly the virtuous, hardworking type.
The more time she spent with him, the more certain she became that Dio was a shameless hedonist who preferred comfort over hardship whenever possible!
“Aren’t you worried your abilities will grow too slowly?”
Demeter planted her hands on her hips and looked down at him sprawled across the chair.
“[Slaanesh] and [Dreamwalker] may allow you to become stronger through dreams, but are you certain you’ll encounter a powerful soul like Alfia every night?
What happens if [Dreamwalker] gives you an ordinary dream tonight?
You’ll have wasted an entire night.”
“You underestimate me, Goddess.”
Dio opened his eyes, a confident smile appearing on his face.
“I met Alfia because [Dreamwalker] activated on its own.
If I use it consciously, I should be able to guide it.
I can choose what kind of dream to weave and whose dream I want to enter.
This time, I’ll be the one in control.”
Demeter blinked.
She had not expected him to have already developed such a firm understanding of how his Magic worked.
“So what kind of dream are you planning to create tonight?”
Her curiosity was clearly piqued.
“Obviously…”
Dio drew the word out, a crafty glint entering his eyes.
“I’ll begin with a thorough ‘combat simulation.’ You said I have no practical experience, didn’t you?
Then I’ll fight goblins hundreds of times in my dreams until I understand every attack pattern, weak point, and escape route they have.”
“Once I’ve mastered goblins, I’ll move on to Dungeon Lizards, then Orcs, then Minotaurs.
I’ll keep raising the difficulty one step at a time until I can defeat a Monster Rex by myself.”
Demeter stared at him in disbelief.
“Are you planning to recreate the entire Dungeon inside your dreams without ever entering the real one?”
“Why not?”
Dio spread his hands as though the answer were obvious.
“As long as I gain enough combat experience in my dreams, I’ll know what to do if I ever encounter a monster in reality.
Dying in a dream won’t actually kill me, so I can make as many mistakes as necessary and test every possible strategy until I find the best one.”
“In the real Dungeon, one lucky blow from a goblin could leave me bedridden for days.
A stronger monster might simply kill me on the spot.
Tell me, which option sounds more sensible?”
Demeter opened her mouth to argue, but no rebuttal came.
She had spent years in the Lower World and met every imaginable kind of adventurer—brave ones, cunning ones, diligent ones, and lazy ones.
Yet she had never encountered anyone who could combine laziness and efficiency as perfectly as Dio.
“But fighting isn’t all the Dungeon has to offer!”
Demeter made one final attempt.
“There are wonders inside it that no dream could ever reproduce.”
“Then I won’t reproduce them.”
Dio raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not going into the Dungeon anyway.
Why would I make myself suffer just for the sake of suffering?”
Demeter fell completely silent.
She had to admit that his logic was frustratingly difficult to challenge.
Dio possessed the sort of absurd combination of Magic and Skills that countless adventurers would kill for, yet he had not allowed the prospect of power to cloud his judgment.
Instead, he had calmly devised what might be the safest, easiest, and most efficient method of growth possible.
“Fine.
I admit you have a point.”
Demeter sighed, sat back down, and took a sip of tea.
“But have you considered that if you never enter the Dungeon, [Slaanesh] will have to rely entirely on imaginary partners created inside your dreams?”
She lowered the cup and watched him carefully.
“A dream is still only a dream.
There may be a difference between an illusion and genuine physical contact or emotional intimacy.
What if [Slaanesh] only activates through real experiences?
Then all your planning will have been for nothing.”
That question stopped Dio short.
He had not seriously considered the possibility.
The description of [Slaanesh] merely stated that engaging in carnal acts would increase his Basic Abilities.
It did not specify whether the act had to take place in reality or whether dreams counted as well.
Something had clearly triggered the Skill the previous night and granted him an enormous increase in ability points, but he had been unconscious throughout the entire experience.
He did not know what had actually happened or whether whatever occurred in that dream had somehow possessed genuine substance.
“That…
is a fair point.”
Dio rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“It seems I’ll need to conduct a controlled experiment.”
“A controlled experiment?”
Demeter tilted her head.
“Tonight, I’ll deliberately create a dream and have some fun inside it.
Then we’ll update my status tomorrow morning and see whether my abilities increased.”
“If they did, we’ll know that dream encounters count, and I can continue growing stronger from the comfort of my bed.
If they didn’t…”
Dio paused, looking genuinely troubled.
“Then I may have to visit the Pleasure Quarter and conduct one real-world test.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
Demeter slammed her palm against the table so hard that her teacup jumped.
“If a member of the Demeter Familia were caught fooling around in the Pleasure Quarter, I would never hear the end of it!”
“Then what do you suggest?”
Dio spread his hands helplessly.
“You could always help me conduct the experiment yourself.
You’re a goddess, you’re beautiful, and you have an incredible figure.
If [Slaanesh] works on deities, I’m sure the results would be far greater than with an ordinary mortal—”
A pillow struck him squarely in the face, cutting off the rest of the sentence.
“Keep talking like that, and I’ll tie you up and throw you onto the Dungeon’s first floor so you can experience some intimate contact with the goblins!”
Demeter’s face had turned bright red as she shouted at him.
Dio shrank back, removed the pillow from his face, and muttered under his breath.
“It was only a joke.
You didn’t have to get that worked up…”