Chapter 163

A month later…

Another month had flown by quickly, with the Bahamut familia busying themselves with their various duties.

They spent their days farming exelia in the dungeon, patrolling their assigned areas, experimenting with their abilities, and engaging in a multitude of other activities.

As Orario welcomed the winter season in all its glory, the air had turned chilly, slowing down the pace for the ordinary residents of the city.

However, for the adventurers, work continued unabated, regardless of the season.

Draco, however, found himself at an impasse with his tamed firebirds.

He had not made any significant progress with them through the month.

Despite his efforts to alter their elemental affinities from fire to another element or even to acquire a second element, he discovered that the core of their existence—their magic stones—strongly resisted any attempts at modification.

Yet, despite these setbacks, Draco was not disheartened.

His experiments with the firebirds inspired him to finally complete his first grimoire, aptly titled "The Basics of Elemental Magic."

This grimoire was crafted with the hope that its reader would acquire magic of an elemental nature.

However, he soon realized a significant oversight.

Initially, he had planned to create a copy of the grimoire's contents for future reference.

Unfortunately, since the grimoire was now complete, opening it to read its contents would activate it, causing it to vanish.

This blunder weighed heavily on him, as recalling all the details from his creation proved to be a challenging task, even for him.

‘Sigh, what's done is done,’ Draco thought as he gazed at the peculiar book adorned with symbols of the four basic elements on its cover.

Completing his first grimoire had taken him around four months, but he felt a sense of accomplishment.

While it may have seemed like a long time, it was worth noting that he had no reference material and had relied entirely on his knowledge and the insights his mystery skill provided.

Achieving this milestone wasn’t Draco’s only accomplishment over the past month.

He had nearly reached the absolute limit for his next level-up, almost filling in all the required numbers—just needing a small boost to complete the process.

Draco could have levelled up much sooner; however, he chose to prioritize the development of his familia members instead.

Each member was steadily approaching their respective thresholds for their next level, though they still required a few more months to reach the standards he had set for them.

Thanks to Draco's assistance, they could now easily handle the 19th through 23rd floors of the dungeon independently, without his constant oversight.

However, he had strictly forbidden any of them from attempting to venture onto the 24th floor.

That floor was notorious for being different from the upper three levels due to the presence of certain monsters and traps.

One of the most dangerous threats was the "bloody hive," a seven-meter-long rare trap-type monster that housed deadly hornets.

These hornets were bee-like creatures with stingers powerful enough to pierce heavy armour and potentially kill a level 2 adventurer with a single thrust.

The bloody hive itself resembled a blackish-purple pine cone and lurked in the walls, bursting forth when an adventurer passed by.

It would then incapacitate its prey with a reddish-yellow liquid and then spawn hornets at a frightening speed to finish the job.

The hornets alone were already deadly enough, but when combined with the bloody hive, they could be considered a floor boss.

Adding to the peril of the 24th floor was the presence of a green dragon, a monster with the potential strength of level 4, making it the most powerful creature in the tree labyrinth, which encompassed the 19th to 24th floors.

Fortunately, most of the most dangerous monsters, such as the steel rabbit, hobgoblin, moss huge and several others, resided within the 24th floor, rendering the 19th to 23rd floors relatively safer for level 2 adventurers.

……………………………………………………………….

As dawn broke, the chilly morning air flowed through the window.

Snowflakes danced down from the heavens, while ominous clouds darkened the sky.

Draco had risen earlier than usual, made breakfast, and left the house.

‘Thank goodness for my resistance to the elements; otherwise, I wouldn't even want to step outside,’ he mused as he trudged through the early snowstorm, taking in the deserted streets.

His destination was the place Shakuti had allowed him to keep his firebirds.

It had become a regular routine for him to visit them, feed them raw meat, and infuse them with his elemental energy.

“Morning, Vesta! Morning, Yara!” Draco greeted the firebirds as he arrived.

He had named the male firebird Vesta, meaning “hearth” or “fire,” and the female Yara, meaning “small butterfly.”.

Both birds chirped in acknowledgment of his presence, already accustomed to him.

Draco could identify their genders by the subtly different patterns on their feathers; without this distinction, they were nearly identical.

So to further assist in differentiating them, he had crafted some accessories from salamander wool, for each of them.

After feeding them some raw meat and imparting his energy, Draco exited the building and encountered Adi on his way out.

"Morning, Draco," she greeted with a smile.

"Morning," Draco replied, returning her smile.

"Did you finish feeding them?" Adi inquired.

“Yep! So don’t spoil them too much, alright? I don’t want them forgetting who their master is,” he teased.

“Yeah, yeah, off you go,” Adi said, playfully shooing him away before entering the room to tend to the firebirds.

Adi had become a regular visitor at both his firebirds' quarters and the Bahamut Familia's home.

Her friendly and lively personality allowed her to quickly bond with all the members of the Bahamut Familia, strengthening their camaraderie.

Draco didn't mind this; it only served to bring their familia’s closer, especially compared to their rare interactions with the Astraea Familia, with whom they were allies with, but not nearly as close.

After leaving the Ganesha familia home, Draco made his way to the dungeon.

Today was a significant day; he planned to become a level 4 adventurer.