The Dungeon was wonderful.
He definitely needed to visit more often!
After joining the Astraea Familia, Fujimaru Ritsuka should normally have remained beside Astraea, enjoying the gentle goddess’s care while sincerely trying to win over the woman he adored.
However, his cheat ability kept urging him toward the Dungeon!
[The number of permanent loadout slots unlocked will correspond to the adventurer’s level.] What was the most valuable resource in FGO?
Party Cost!
The game gave players six Servant slots and six Craft Essence slots from the beginning, but having those slots did not mean they could use them all.
Every Servant and Craft Essence consumed a certain amount of Cost.
Players had to level up and increase their maximum Cost before they could equip more cards.
Ritsuka’s system had no Cost limit.
Instead, it directly restricted his number of available slots!
There were twelve slots in total for Heroic Spirits and Craft Essences.
The system unlocked two at the beginning, ensuring Ritsuka could equip himself and one Craft Essence.
Since he possessed no Craft Essences, however, the remaining slot could also hold a Heroic Spirit card.
After joining the Astraea Familia and becoming a Level One adventurer, he immediately unlocked a third slot.
With Ritsuka permanently occupying one slot, the other two could hold Heroic Spirits.
His beginner’s Saint Quartz had summoned Arash and Hassan of the Hundred Faces, so he equipped both of them.
To unlock more slots, Ritsuka had to level up.
The reborn Astraea Familia’s home was hidden deep within a forest east of Solingen, the City of Swords—the same vast forest where Ritsuka had first appeared after transmigrating.
Monsters lived there, but their numbers were too low.
Relying on that forest to level up would have taken an unknown number of years.
If he wanted to grow quickly, he had to come to Orario.
Therefore, Ritsuka had come not only to make the Astraea Familia great again, but also to upgrade his cheat ability!
After entering the Dungeon, he discovered it offered more than experience.
He could farm Saint Quartz here too!
Just as clearing stages in FGO rewarded Saint Quartz, clearing floors in the Dungeon did the same.
Every conquered floor awarded three Saint Quartz—enough for one summon.
The Dungeon was truly wonderful.
He definitely needed to visit more often!
After easily clearing the First Floor, Ritsuka immediately used the rewarded Saint Quartz for a single summon.
This system had neither the game’s bonus summon for every ten rolls nor its guaranteed four-star card, so there was no meaningful difference between single summons and multi-summons.
His single summon granted him another Heroic Spirit—the infamous Caster, Chen Gong!
If Arash’s Noble Phantasm embodied heroic tragedy, Chen Gong’s was defined by ruthless cruelty.
Being Arash’s ally was a blessing.
The Great Hero sacrificed himself to protect and assist his companions.
Being Chen Gong’s ally was horrifying.
Chen Gong would load you into a cannon and fire you at the enemy!
And that was even more entertaining than Arash!
Ritsuka immediately removed the Great Hero from his party and equipped Chen Gong instead.
Naturally, he could not sacrifice and launch his real companions.
However, he could create companions who were perfectly suitable for sacrifice!
Once again, Hassan of the Hundred Faces’ Noble Phantasm proved far more useful than anyone could have imagined.
Chen Gong’s Noble Phantasm appeared extremely powerful and was even classified as an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm, but its rank was only C.
Its true function was to install a miniature Magic Circuit super-accelerator inside an ally.
The only direct magical energy cost came from creating and installing that accelerator.
Once installed, it forced the target’s Magic Circuits into overload.
Their life force would be violently extracted, converted into magical energy, and released in one instantaneous suicidal explosion.
It was an incredibly sinister technique.
To disguise its vicious nature, Chen Gong used an illusion whenever an ally exploded, creating a bow and firing an illusory arrow.
This made it appear as though he had unleashed an overwhelmingly powerful shot that destroyed the enemy.
Even Chen Gong bothered to conceal what he was doing.
Ritsuka did not even pretend.
The original Ritsuka only needed to create a clone with a small amount of magical energy, then spend a little more to install the super-accelerator.
After that, he could leave everything to the clone.
The clone would gather all nearby monsters, charge into the center of the group, and explode.
It was unbelievably convenient!
Unfortunately, the Noble Phantasm combination that Ritsuka considered simple and practical looked absolutely terrifying to a local like Ryuu.
‘This is terrifying, Junior!’ He could create physical clones, and those clones could self-destruct.
This combination was far too underhanded!
Ryuu could already imagine what would happen if someone became her junior’s enemy.
Ritsuka could create a clone and hide his real body.
The enemy would believe they were fighting him, only to discover that their opponent had been a clone all along.
Even if they struggled desperately and finally defeated it, the clone would explode directly in their face.
How was anyone supposed to fight that?!
Was such a skill combination truly acceptable?
Was this really someone the Astraea Familia would recruit?
More importantly, could this ability honestly be called justice?
Wasn’t it the kind of sinister skill someone from Evilus should awaken?
However, his clothing clearly followed the Astraea Familia’s style, especially the emblem.
No adventurer in Orario dared impersonate another Familia by using its emblem.
Even Evilus members would not openly steal another Familia’s symbol.
“Um…
I haven’t asked for your name yet.” “My name is Fujimaru Ritsuka.
I’m a member of the reborn Astraea Familia.” Ritsuka did not attempt to hide anything from Ryuu.
“You probably haven’t heard of the Astraea Familia.
Certain things happened to us in the past, so we haven’t been active in Orario for a long time.” “But that doesn’t matter.
As the vanguard of the Astraea Familia’s return, I’ll make its emblem shine over Orario once again!” His abilities might have been underhanded, but his words overflowed with hope and optimism.
Even so, Ryuu was not pleased by how carelessly he had revealed them.
“Is it really safe to show your abilities to me without holding anything back?” Her junior had no caution around strangers.
Had she been an Evilus member, openly revealing the nature of his ability would have been extremely dangerous.
This behavior was unacceptable, and his senior needed to lecture him properly.
“I’m not normally like this around strangers.
I just thought you were a beginner like me, and for some reason, you felt familiar…
So I…” Ritsuka paused before adding another sentence.
“Does saying that make this easy to misunderstand?” “No, not at all.” Ryuu hurriedly smiled and shook her head.
How could she misunderstand?
She was delighted that her junior already felt close to her.
“By the way, I still haven’t asked your name.
Which Familia do you belong to?” “Uh…” Now Ryuu was the one in trouble.
She had impulsively pretended to be a beginner earlier, making the question difficult to answer.
After desperately searching for an idea, she finally invented a name.
“My name is Noel…
Yes, Noel!
I belong to…
the Artemis Familia!” The Artemis Familia was based in Orario, but its members spent most of the year exploring distant lands and rarely remained in the city.
It was the perfect identity to borrow.
‘Please forgive me, Goddess Artemis!’ “The Artemis Familia?
I’ve heard of you!” Ritsuka gave Ryuu a thumbs-up.
“I heard your Familia is composed entirely of highly skilled female adventurers.” “Y-Yes…
Thank you for the compliment.” “By the way, Noel-san, how long have you been in Orario?
I only arrived today, and I’m searching for somewhere.” “What place are you looking for?
I’ve been in Orario for a while, so I’m familiar with nearly every part of the city.” Hearing that her junior needed help, Ryuu immediately became excited.
At last, she could fulfill her role as his senior!
“Do you know a tavern called the Hostess of Fertility?” “Huh?” Ryuu froze, but Ritsuka continued without noticing her reaction.
“Before I left, Goddess Astraea told me that one of our senior Familia members had remained in Orario all these years.” “The goddess hasn’t seen her for several years.
She heard that this senior might be working at the Hostess of Fertility, so she asked me to investigate.” “If she’s really there, Goddess Astraea wants me to have a proper conversation with her.” …