Chapter 97: Time To Power-Level Her!

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Once he had made his decision, Riven opened the gate leading to the dungeon he had already conquered. The sudden appearance of the swirling portal surprised the young alchemist greatly.

"W-Wha...! A gate?! You can...! Open them?!" Label asked, her voice trembling as she felt the heavy pressure formed by the thick mana pouring out from inside the dungeon. "N-No way...!"

"It’s part of my abilities. I am revealing this to you so you can start to trust me," Riven reassured her with a calm and confident smile.

"T-Then...!" Label swallowed hard. Sweat covered her forehead and neck as she nervously stared into the dark depths of the dungeon.

"First things first, we will help you level up. Come, let’s go inside. Do you have any hunter gear?" Riven asked while looking over her current outfit with a critical eye. "Your current clothes are... not good for this."

Label looked down at herself nervously and realized she had been wearing the same black dress with no underwear for over a week now. "Inside?! I’ve never gone inside a dungeon before!!! I am only... Level 3!"

"Despite how much you synthesize items?" Riven raised an eyebrow in mild surprise.

Label nodded quickly. "Y-Yeah... I level up so slowly compared to others with similar classes..."

"That’s also one of the main challenges Growth-type Classes face. You usually need about ten times more EXP to level up than normal classes, but the returns are immense. Each level up becomes better than the previous one," Riven explained gently while patting her shoulders. The simple contact only made her more nervous.

The girl shook her head hard. "It’s useless... I’ll just screw up and die...!"

"Hahaha, not at all," he replied with a light laugh. "If you don’t have proper gear, I can help with that too."

Riven smiled and took out several pieces of equipment from his inventory. "Here’s some SS Rank gear you can wear for now."

Label’s eyes widened in pure shock as she watched the high-quality armor and weapons fall onto the table. "SS Rank?!"

Riven nodded. Unable to say anything else, Label carefully put on the armor and held the small knife with both hands.

These pieces of equipment were amazing because their requirements remained incredibly low.

Even though Riven’s multiplier had increased their quality and evolved them into powerful gear, the original requirements stayed the same as the D Rank or lower items they had once been.

Thus the Raptor Scale Armor, the Cave Panther’s Boots, and the Camazotz Daggers all remained usable even for someone at a low level. Of course there were still some class restrictions, but Label could equip everything and enjoy fifty percent of their full effects.

How was that possible? It was thanks to one of her Talents related to her powerful Growth-type Class "Artisan." This Talent, which was currently still Unranked, had the passive effect of allowing her to equip almost anything while only enjoying fifty percent of the item’s effects.

At first glance it felt mostly useless. No matter what she equipped she would only receive half the benefits. Yet this was exactly how the Talent could be cleverly abused with the right gear.

"Let’s go. I’ll protect you the entire time. Noir will watch over your house while we’re gone."

Label trembled as she stared at his offered hand. After several seconds she slowly extended her hand.

Riven held her hand firmly. The unexpected warmth and strength of his grip surprised her.

It almost felt...

Like the firm, warm hand of her father.

He gently pulled her through the gate, and both of them reached the first floor of the dungeon within seconds.

Label looked around in complete awe, shocked by everything she was witnessing and experiencing for the first time. She took a careful step forward and stared at the beautiful glowing caves, the sparkling crystals, and the soft bioluminescent mushrooms growing everywhere.

The entire place fascinated her. Label had always loved cold, damp, and dark environments like this. She even began dreaming about living here permanently.

"It’s so nice and chill in here... so silent! There’s... nobody to annoy me... I can finally be by myself."

One of the things Label hated most was loud noises and dealing with too many people at once.

Later Riven would discover that she was autistic and had always suffered because she never realized this about herself. That knowledge would justify many of her little personality traits or the "flaws" she often criticized herself for.

Label was extremely sensitive to other people and usually disliked dealing with strangers. Riven had somehow become one of the very few people she was beginning to trust.

It was going to take time and patience to make her trust him completely, but he was determined to help her slowly, one careful step at a time.

"I like it here," she said with a small, genuine smile.

It was shocking how quickly her mood changed from one moment to the next. The deep silence of this place, which most people would find terrifying and unnerving, felt relaxing and comforting to her.

"You like it?" he asked softly. "It’s not healthy to stay here all the time, but I can let you rent the place if you want. It’ll cost you a bit."

"H-How much?!" she asked nervously.

"Well, it’ll cost you trust and friendship," Riven answered while gently patting her shoulders again.

"E-Eh? That’s... cheap?" she tilted her head, clearly unable to understand what he meant.

"Hahaha, come on," Riven said, taking her hand once more and leading her deeper into the caves.

As they delved further, monsters finally appeared.

Four blind bat-like creatures suddenly roared and leaped toward them with open jaws.

One aimed directly at Riven while the other three tried to catch Label, the weaker target, so they could drag her back to their nest and feast on her.

Riven did not allow that to happen.

Sharp icicles, as pointed as blades, sprouted from the ground in an instant and impaled all four monsters at once.

"Uwaahaa?!" Label panicked and took several steps back. "Wow... You’re so strong...!"

Riven simply nodded. "Now stab them."

"Eh?"

"Stab them with the knife I gave you," Riven insisted calmly.

Label began sweating heavily as she stared at the coughing, slowly dying monsters.

"Hurry, before it’s too late."

"..."

Label grew more and more nervous. Her face turned red and her stomach churned constantly. She felt like she was about to throw up just from the thought of it.

But... she remembered her father. She remembered why he had died and everything she had been forced to endure until now.

She still did not know if she was dreaming or not, but...

She desperately wanted to change her fate, her life, and her future.

She forced herself to endure the overwhelming urge to simply escape somewhere else and leave everything behind.

"Hyaaaaggh!"

Against her own nature, Label groaned loudly and stabbed the monsters one after another.

She managed to finish them off, but the moment it was done she screamed and vomited all over the cave floor.

"Eugh... Buaaggh...!"

"..."

Riven sighed softly, walked over to her, and gently patted her head. "Well done. One step at a time, Label. You at least did it."

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