Who Says I'm Not a Proper Adventurer?

Besides that, the smoked meat from Old Hank's was truly delicious.

The jerky, made from hearty cuts of Magical Beast meat, was not only tasty but also the essential fuel he needed to sustain his high-intensity training.

Lance bought a large bag all at once, planning to stock up at home to get through the next few nights of exertion.

Carrying the heavy bag of food on his way home, Lance was in a particularly good mood.

In his mind, he took stock of his astonishing gains over the past three days.

Including the reward settled today, he had accumulated a total of 1128 Skill Experience Points from commissioned tasks alone.

And an equally precious 260 points of Knowledge Experience.

Several of his core Combat Skills had improved by leaps and bounds through the crucible of real combat during this period.

Lance had already formulated a plan.

After finishing his basic training tonight, he could choose his Skills and completely make up for the remaining deficit in his Skill Level.

According to his calculations, he would most likely gain two brand-new Skill Specializations tonight.

If word of this rocketing growth speed got out, it would probably horrify every Professional in the world.

If he continued developing at this rate, he wouldn't even need to wait until autumn.

With a little bit of luck, he might even be able to complete the investiture ceremony and officially cross the threshold to become a Professional before Cecilia's internship ended.

By then, the long summer would have only just ended.

Then, when the autumn winds began to blow, he would have enough confidence to try and conquer a real Underground City.

In this fantasy world, the so-called "Underground Cities" were not merely the ruins left behind by some ancient civilization.

They were a unique and living type of geography.

If one were to trace their origin, it would lead to a magnificent yet incredibly cruel history recorded in primordial myths.

In the very beginning, there was neither time nor space.

It was the primordial creator, Aiser, who scattered the chaos with a sigh and lit the myriad stars with a glance, thereby creating this stable Material Realm.

However, the immense Power of creation exhausted all of Aiser's strength.

Before falling into an eternal slumber, It separated Its own reason and emotion, creating two gods in Its own image to manage this nascent world in Its stead.

These were the first Twin Gods.

The elder brother, Aurelius, was responsible for sowing laws throughout the world and perfecting its physical rules; he was the incarnation of the creator's love and reason.

The younger brother, Zelos, was responsible for frolicking and roughhousing, injecting vitality into the world; he was the creator's desire and chaos.

But for eternal gods, endless ages are always accompanied by boredom.

Soon, the younger brother, Zelos, grew weary of this unchanging peace.

Thus, a cruel game called "Life" began at the behest of a god's will.

Zelos casually created countless hideous Demons and watched them slaughter wantonly across the land.

But this monotonous spectacle of destruction soon bored him as well.

To make the game more interesting, he roped in his brother, Aurelius.

Aurelius, who doted on his younger brother, did not refuse. He combined his own authority with his brother's starkly different one to create a host of new races.

These are what are now the Intelligent Species of the continent.

They possessed the ability to learn, the capacity for thought, and a talent for summarizing experiences to create tools.

Unlike his brother's creations, which were born powerful, the elder brother's creations were initially incredibly frail but possessed limitless potential for evolution.

As time went on, the Intelligent Species learned to use Spells and their own creations to fight back and kill the Demons, and Zelos felt the game had lost its balance.

He observed the Intelligent Species struggling to survive against adversity and, in his excitement, finally made a decision.

To increase the difficulty, he unhesitatingly split off a part of his Divine Power and created the first generation of Demon Kings, who possessed supreme strategic intellect and the power to command all Demons.

Too many stories unfolded after that.

The advent of the Era of the Gods, and the cataclysm that engulfed the entire Material Realm, known as "Ragnarok."

Even the two supreme Twin Gods both fell in this cataclysm.

And thus, the Underground Cities were born.

This was Zelos's most malicious and yet most romantic curse upon the world.

Because he could not accept the end of his game.

So his divine body dissolved, burrowed into the continent's deep mantle, and merged with the rock, the ley lines, and the surging Ether.

That colossal divine corpse eventually transformed into the Underground Cities that spread across the world.

These deep Mazes were also a manifestation of Zelos's personality in life.

He admired all life that was fearless, brave, and capable of offering him pleasure.

The Underground Cities were the playing fields he created from his own corpse, so that all races could continue to amuse him.

The reason people on the continent tirelessly sought to conquer those dangerous Underground Cities was because of the rich rewards buried within.

Everyone who managed to clear an Underground City would receive handsome rewards, and even a form of honor bestowed by the rules of the world itself.

In this magical world, great deeds and honor were not merely empty words of praise, but could transform into tangible Power.

Conquering an Underground City was no exception.

But this game was mandatory.

The Underground Cities would not disappear; they would continuously evolve over time, forever maintaining a dangerous novelty.

If the humans on the surface went too long without exploring an Underground City, or failed to make any substantial progress for a long time, then the will slumbering deep underground would grow angry.

This would then trigger the terrifying phenomenon of an "Underground City Rampage."

Countless Demons would pour out onto the surface like a tide, frantically attacking the surrounding towns and villages.

And this anger was difficult to appease.

An Underground City that might have originally been a simple Level 1 could, after a rampage, see its difficulty instantly skyrocket to Level 5 or even Level 10.

That was a disaster capable of destroying an entire nation.

Therefore, building towns around the entrances to Underground Cities and stationing resident Adventurers to conduct regular clearings and suppression missions became a very common survival strategy in this world.

And so, Adventurers also became the most indispensable Profession on the continent.

'I can't wait for that time to come!' Lance mused. 'Then I'll be able to personally experience this world's most unique specialty.'

'It would fulfill a dream for an Otherworld player like me—running a dungeon on the corpse of a god. Just thinking about it is awesome.'

Just as he was sketching out a grand blueprint for the future in his mind, his gaze inadvertently swept past a shop on the side of the street.

His steps faltered for a moment.

It was a high-end weapon shop that primarily catered to veteran Professionals.

Through the clean display window, Lance saw a familiar back.

He didn't linger, merely casting a quick glance like an ordinary passerby before nonchalantly melting back into the crowd.

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