"Bell-kun."
The moment he heard the voice, Bell instinctively reached behind him to catch the goddess who had leapt onto his back. After being tackled like this dozens of times, his body reacted on its own. Though he felt the way he was holding her might be a bit impolite, since Goddess-sama didn't mind and had given him permission, he had gradually gotten used to it.
"Bell-kun, are you done with your evening training?"
"Yeah, I'm done for today. I've mastered the magic and sword techniques I can at this stage. Now, I need to go into the Dungeon to test the results of all my recent efforts."
It was time to see how far his hard work had taken him. Bell wasn't worried that his efforts would go to waste. Given how the Dungeon worked, he believed he'd be rewarded. Still, that meant facing the Dungeon's challenges firsthand.
It had been eight days since his first descent. He needed to reacquaint himself with the atmosphere down there. That said, Bell wasn't planning to mess around on the second or third floor. To test his strength, he didn't need equal opponents—just ones suited to his current level.
Hestia knew that once Bell had adjusted to his strength, he'd head back into the Dungeon. But unlike before, she no longer felt anxious. She believed her child would return safely and grow little by little in the Dungeon.
"Bell-kun, are you planning to move on to the Middle Floors soon?"
"No."
Bell immediately shook his head. He had considered the Middle Floors, but not yet. He still needed to assess whether his current strength was enough before making that call. For now, advancing deeper wasn't part of his plan.
"Goddess-sama, I'm going to keep gathering combat experience on the Upper Floors while steadily raising my basic stats. Only when I've reached the upper limits of the Upper Floors will I prepare to head to the Middle Floors. Until I'm fully ready, I won't even consider it."
The worst thing a person can do is aim too high too soon. You can only walk the path that lies in front of you.
Bell understood this well. From the start, he had chosen a steady path over trying to leap ahead. Just because he had magic akin to Authority and a first-class weapon didn't mean he could do as he pleased in the lower levels. The biggest threat there wasn't the monsters—it was the Adventurers.
He had to keep his abilities hidden. That meant staying alert and finding the deepest parts of each floor—areas Adventurers rarely visited. To make that work, he couldn't keep pushing forward as if he were chasing other Adventurers, and he certainly couldn't treat the Middle Floors as his initial goal.
Even so, after laying out his plan, Bell felt like he might be playing it too safe. A little embarrassed, he turned to Goddess-sama and asked,
"Goddess-sama, is this way of thinking a bit spineless?"
Hestia snapped out of her daze. She suddenly let out a laugh, and after a while, pressed her forehead against Bell-kun's cheek.
"Nope. Being afraid of death is perfectly normal. It's not just the children of Genkai— even we gods from Tenkai fear death. Maybe we're different in that we don't truly die. At worst, when we do, we end up stuck in Tenkai for a very, very long time. But for us gods, what we fear most isn't death—it's endless life filled with boredom."
"Bell-kun, a long, long time ago, we gods weren't like this at all."
Hestia had never wanted to talk about what they used to be like. But now, she couldn't help but share the gods' past with her child—a past that was both dull and meaningless.
"From the moment we were born in Tenkai, we were each given our divine roles. Back then, we were pure white—blank. We were always unsure of our purpose, because we gods didn't have to do anything. We didn't care about the meaning of existence, not even about time. For us, there was no such thing as 'change.' That's what made our existence feel so empty."
"But then, one day, a connection was formed between Genkai and Tenkai. We saw everything happening in Genkai. We saw change—something completely unlike us, something that had never existed in our world. And from that moment on, we began to change. We started gaining a bit of humanity."
"We learned what joy is, what sadness feels like, what it means to be excited, and what it is to look forward to something. After billions of years of sameness, we finally changed. It was then that we created the rules for Genkai. We gods came down to search for all sorts of things—those fluttering feelings, that sense of anticipation."
"We, who had once been stagnant, began to evolve. No one knows if that change was good or bad, but every god welcomed it. After Genkai brought us change, Tenkai was no longer the lifeless place it once was. We became vibrant—alive."
In Hestia's eyes appeared a lifeless figure, like a puppet with no will of its own. But in the next blink, it changed into the always-smiling Hestia. Back then, none of the gods could have imagined that they, divine beings, would one day be influenced by the children of Genkai.
"One by one, gods came down from Tenkai, each in search of something personal. And during this process of change, we all began to shift in different ways. Some good gods moved toward kindness. Some evil ones leaned further into wickedness."
"No matter what you do, there will always be people who like or hate it. Maybe it's because of different ideals. Maybe it's just frustration needing an outlet. But I really dislike those kinds of gods. If only we could send them back to Tenkai, things down here would be a lot better."
"But Bell-kun, you must remember—we all came to Genkai seeking our own encounters. We love the way the children of Genkai change, and we respect every choice they make. So, Bell-kun, whatever decision you make, I'll support it."
"Because you're my fateful encounter."