Sorting out the trash, it ended up being four big bags.
Using a clean, dry cloth, Siloque wiped the dust off the table.
The whole room finally looked like a normal person’s room.
His sweat-drenched clothes, stained with all sorts of dust and dirt, were on the verge of becoming trash themselves.
“God, how did I even survive? My parents never once gave me a good beating.”
He didn’t know whether to blame his parents for giving up on him or for being too lenient.
“There’s even this kind of thing…”
Siloque picked up a crumpled piece of paper from the desk.
At the very top, in crooked red crayon letters, it read “Marriage Agreement.”
The handwriting was completely childish, with some doodles scattered about.
The most notable part was the signatures: Siloque and Bried.
He tried to recall.
When they were kids, he and Bried had a pretty good relationship.
This paper was a product of their play-acting marriage.
Bried had been beaming as she said, “I’m going to be Siloque’s bride, and Hill will be the bridesmaid!”
Siloque crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it into the trash can.
The past is the past, and now is now.
Bried didn’t have any feelings for him anymore, so this thing was basically worthless.
After finishing with the trash, Siloque sat back in his chair and played with his phone, thinking about the next steps.
The top priority was to strengthen Cas’s abilities.
At the same time, he needed to be able to protect himself to some extent.
“Tomorrow, I’m going into the Dungeon, to fight…”
To kill monsters and earn money.
In his previous life, Siloque was a city boy.
Although he had enrolled in culinary school and often handled fresh ingredients, when it came to fighting people, did cooking knives count as weapons…?
In short, he had zero combat experience.
Besides, the Dungeon in this game—its balance was a mess.
Even in the newbie village, there was a 5% chance that a late-game boss-level monster would spawn, and encounters happened every three steps.
If the entire team got wiped instantly, that might be okay, but if the female lead was still alive, it would trigger a defeat CG…
But he planned to solo it.
No need to worry about the female lead’s defeat scenario.
And he wasn’t planning to recruit teammates either—he didn’t have the money.
“In any case, I need to start by improving my physical strength, build some muscle.”
If he couldn’t beat monsters, at least he had to be able to run faster than them.
If he encountered monsters higher level than himself, he’d click “Retreat” without hesitation.
Opening his ring interface—
[Name] Siloque
[Lv] 2
[Class] —Newcomer—
[Explorer Tier] —0—
HP (Health Points) Max: 6/8
MP (Mana Points) Max: 9
STR (Strength): 3
END (Endurance): 2
AGI (Agility): 4
DEX (Dexterity): 5
INT (Intelligence): 8
[Talent] —Heating—
[Skills]
No changes at all, and his HP was still being chipped away by Cliff’s punches… or was it his sister’s headbutts?
…He had thought that helping the protagonist through an event would grant some extra experience points or rewards, but apparently, that was wishful thinking.
His INT was a bit higher, but that amount of mana was just enough to conjure up a windproof lighter-level flame out of thin air.
Forget about anything like Explosives.
Near the HP bar was a heart icon crossed out with many black lines.
Unhealthy status.
Besides that, there was a faint green heart icon indicating continuous healing.
His HP was regenerating at a painfully slow pace.
Beiren’s Healing Medicine was effective but definitely slow.
“Since it’s free, I’m not asking for too much. Speaking of which, the fact that debuffs from the game can still appear in this world like this… no wonder it’s from the Benor Corporation.”
Magic’s end is technology, technology’s end is magic.JPG
It wasn’t wrong to say that the human technology in this world was built upon Dungeon magic.
Back to the original goal—
Who should he train with?
In the game, Cas only needed to grind monsters or click the “Train” button and leave it alone for a while to get stronger.
Reality obviously wasn’t that convenient.
Siloque’s basic physical stats were too low.
To get a powerful body, he’d have to accumulate strength over a long time.
Just grabbing a god-tier weapon to farm monsters?
Benor’s side didn’t sell stuff like that, and since he just confessed to Beiren, it would be awkward to ask her—he didn’t want to seem like a freeloader boyfriend.
Not to mention god-tier weapons, A-grade weapons either dropped from Dungeons or were rare finds, or sold in legit shops at exorbitant prices.
He had no way of getting his hands on them now.
“Sigh, in the end, no time and too weak.”
Siloque browsed some videos on his ring interface—
‘Six-Pack Abs in 22 Days!’
‘Super Intense Sweat Vest Line! Eliminate Lower Belly Fat!’
‘Dungeon Veteran Professional Explorer Tutorial 388R, Guaranteed Lv20 in One Month’
‘Devil Komora Training Method, Every Move Has Rest Time, Beginners Can Follow Along’
***
He picked one that didn’t look too suspicious and started following the video tutorial.
“Nope, this hurts…”
After less than one set, the wounds he already had started to crack open.
Looks like he wouldn’t be able to start real training until tomorrow.
Plan failed.
“Calm down, training is long-term. No rush.”
Reassuring himself, Siloque’s mind drifted to the muscular blond guys he’d seen—how did those guys who drank, smoked, and dyed their hair manage to stay so ripped…
Just as he was getting frustrated, a voice snapped him out of it:
“Brother! Dinner’s ready! Ew! Brother, you stink! Huh!?”
His cheerful, optimistic little sister froze as she entered, her expression stiffening.
“Brother, you’re debuting in high school, that’s amazing! Is tomorrow the end of the world?”
“Can you not look so scared when you say you admire me? That hurts, you know.”
“Because, didn’t you say, ‘I’ll never leave this room and die here’ (in a gloomy tone)? And yet, you actually cleaned the house…”
Hill looked around the sparkling clean room curiously.
“Little Siloque~ Dinner’s ready. Oh, so you finally decided to clean your room? Is tomorrow the end of the world?”
“Why do you tell Hill the same thing?”
Their mother also came into the room, smiling warmly and making the scene feel cozy.
“Wonderful, wonderful, little Siloque. This is really great. I was worried you’d never come out your whole life…”
She exaggeratedly wiped tears from her eyes as she patted Siloque’s head.
In his previous life, he was already 23, and at this age, having someone pat his head and call him by a childish nickname was… incredibly embarrassing.
“Mom, you’re so sneaky. I want to pat brother’s head too!”
“No! Little Siloque used to run away whenever anyone got close to him. It’s rare to have a chance to pat him, and I haven’t had enough yet. Oh, and the shampoo in the house is shared. Your hair is even softer than Mom’s. No wonder you’re little Siloque.”
“Really… Brother’s hair is so soft.”
“Alright, you two, enough already.”
Siloque pushed away his mother and sister who were clinging to him.
“I’m all sticky and smelly. I’m going to take a shower. Don’t mess around in my room.”
“No way! Brother doesn’t stink at all.”
Hey, Hill, didn’t you just say I smelled bad when you came in?
“Yeah, little Siloque smells great~ Oh! After you shower, Mom will help dry your hair. I already put the towel in the bathroom. Do you want Mom to wash it for you?”
“Eh… but I like Brother’s original scent better.”
Original scent?
Could you two please not look like groupies?
Ignoring the excited mother and sister behind him, Siloque stepped out—and bumped right into Clod.
He grabbed Siloque’s shoulder with a half-smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Yo, kid, looks like you’re having a good time in there. How about adding me in?”
Is that so? Because I can see your bulging veins and the vibe that you want to kill me.
“I’m starving. Let’s eat. Mom! Hill! Dad’s calling you for dinner!”
“Hey, wait, I haven’t finished talking! Stop right there!”
Siloque dashed off.
“Dear?”
Mom came out noticing the commotion, “Did you see? Little Siloque actually cleaned his room and can talk normally now.”
“Hmph, that kid better never come out again…”
“Dad, what did you just say?”
“Ah! Nothing, nothing. Come on, come on, Siloque said we don’t have to wait for him. Let’s eat first.”
***
On the other side.
Siloque entered the simple, cramped bathroom.
The narrow space was about 5 square meters, cluttered with toiletries and barely enough room to stand.
He opened his ring interface, and his HP bar rose from 6 to 6.37.
His injury had happened around 10 a.m.
Assuming he used Beiren’s Healing Medicine at 10:30, and now it was 1:21, about 3 hours and 30 minutes—or 210 minutes—had passed. Averaging it out…
“Recovering roughly 0.017 HP per second…”
No wonder mid-game players don’t buy your medicine, Beiren.
To avoid the wounds reopening, Siloque reluctantly decided to postpone his shower until tomorrow morning and make do with wiping down with a damp towel for now.
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