It’s finally time for Marcel to visit the dungeon, after having it postponed another month after Claude had originally planned. Claude, like the demon lord, also wanted Marcel to get a bit used to his new body as well and the one month’s wait was worth it. Marcel’s physical combat skills had gotten a significant boost from having switch a demon-like body and his magic capacity seems to have increased a bit as well, although his magic control is still as shaky as it was before the modifications. His body seemed to be filled with more power than it had been before and his wounds also healed much faster than before without the use of healing magic and the air around him also felt much different than the air he’d been breathing up to that point. It felt like the air was full of magic power and much purer than he’d imagined while he was still in his human body. The demon realms might really be paradise on earth. His physical abilities skyrocketed, his magic capacity increased and now, he has little fluffballs that help him find his way around when he gets lost. The modifications really did come with more benefits than he’d expected. His looks also seemed to get better as well. This past month, his new gorgeous face had taken a major turn as his aura after the modifications started to recover as well. The demon lord also mentioned that day that he wouldn’t have his aura for a while, but Marcel didn’t care too much about it until he saw the wonders it did for his body, especially his face.  

Marcel’s face got better by the day thanks to his aura recovering. Although he was blind to aura unlike any normal demon or human and clueless about it, he still noticed the changes in his appearance, especially his face. It seemed much holier and similarly unapproachable like a certain someone’s. His face had this detached feel to it that made his blank expression look as if he was uninterested in anything. This expression combined with his pure aura put him on par with the demon lord’s appearance, although not to the extent of having people feel blessed if they caught a glimpse of him. The demon lord’s appearance gives off a heavenly and distant but gorgeous feeling while Marcel’s appearance exudes aloofness but with an earthly feeling and almost similar or even higher amount of purity than the demon lord’s. If the two stood together, one would probably think that they were meant for each other, which is not the point of the modifications in the first place, so whenever the demon lord comes to see Marcel, Marcel’s aura instinctively decreases in purity and aloofness as not to raise too much suspicion if they ever went outside together. The demon lord, when the last of Marcel’s aura had recovered, was astonished to the point of being flustered over how much the aura has changed Marcel. The Spirit of the World really did what she’d promised and the results were more astonishing than the two of them had hoped. 

Okay, enough with Marcel and the demon lord’s appearances, let’s talk about preparations for Marcel’s upcoming trip.  

Marcel went back to his treasure trove to pick out a few armors that he might need for his dungeon trip. Safety is always important and he’d rather be overprepared than have to step into a battle which gets his only set of armor demolished. Marcel picked up a few armors from his first treasure pile and upon looking at them once again, he realized how inadequate the armor that he wore to the demon lord’s castle from the human was in the demon realms. His previous armor being called trash seems fair enough now that he’s read a bit about armors. Those armors in his treasure troves were all sturdy enough to withstand attacks from B-rank monsters, although Marcel didn’t know how strong B-class monsters were so, he took it as just strong while in fact, B-class dungeon monsters are enough to claim the lives of a least twenty B-rank attack mages. 

Claude and Allan were also finishing up their own preparations as well, although Claude didn’t do anything that could be called preparation. He just gathered up some of the documents that the demon lord would have to deal with and dealt with them instead, then he prepared an emergency kit for Marcel and the very famous Allan and was done. Marcel went to look for the two of them and happened to find them together as usual and since they were there, he began asking a few questions. 

“Claude... you said that we were going to a dungeon, but why haven’t I seen the dungeon, even after looking from the highest point in this place. I don’t see any monolithic structure piercing the heavens, so I figured that I should ask.” Claude mistakenly laughs when he saw Marcel’s perplexed expression when he asked the question. Claude then answered, “Of course you wouldn’t find it here. It’s in a separate dimension from this one and it there’s a lot of them too. 

Before we go to the dungeon, that you, as a beginner here should know. Dungeons are connected to this world by rifts that have been made into gates. This rift leads to the dimension of dungeons where you can see all of the different dungeons in that dimension, but there are also rifts that open out of nowhere. Those rifts are normally few and they disappear not long after appearing. The stray rifts can appear anywhere, but the more stable rifts can be found in almost any of the known worlds. There are multiple of those in this world and one of them is in this city as we speak. 

The rifts, the more stable ones like the one in this city leads to the dimension of dungeons. When you get there, you get to choose for yourself which dungeon to enter. There can be only one person in that dungeon and sometimes also be millions of adventurers in the same dungeon, although that’s rare to come upon such a scene because of the different classes of dungeons. Like weapons, magic items and even people, dungeons have different classes as well. There’s the lowest which is an E- class then the difficulty goes up till S. More than so, I won’t say since the others are reserved for heroes, strong ones. You’ve gotten very strong now, so you can probably clear out an E-class dungeon core boss all on your own, so we’ll be going with something a bit more challenging. We’ll be choosing a D-class dungeon.  

Remember to be vigilant when you’re inside the dungeon. Remember this, there are those who admire heroes and also those who don’t. You’ll be going out as a new hero that’s just arrived here thanks to the demon lord and the Spirit of the World’s planning, so you won’t find too much difficulty adventuring in the dungeons even if you’re on your own. Remember also that even though you might be a hero and have been training for months on end, you’re still at the weakest state of a hero right now. Your predecessors are being with incomprehensible power and you’re just a D-class hero. Most people can eliminate you faster than you can even blink if you aren’t vigilant. Allan will be with you, so the risks of you dying before you reach B-class is slim, although it wouldn’t end well for you if you get too chummy with him and get his fanbase to come after you.” Marcel, after hearing that, wondered who Allan was to the outside world. Sure, he knew from having Allan tell him a few times how great he is, but how great exactly? Marcel didn’t know. 

Marcel, after the brief lesson from Claude, also got another lection from his friend. 

“Marcel, there’s also something else you should know about. In dungeons, skills can be acquired from the different monsters one defeats, just like inside the mind dungeon. If you manage to defeat a monster all on your own, there’s a higher chance of one acquiring a skill or two from that monster. The chances decrease when you defeat normal monsters in groups but if a dungeon core boss is defeated by a group, the chances of acquiring a skill from such a monster becomes the overall chances of every single individual of the group added together as one. There’s also something called the luck system, a system created by the Supreme Administrator to put everyone on an almost equal footing when it comes to luck inside dungeons. What do you think would happen if a strong hero entered a dungeon? He’d probably slaughter all the creatures to get to the core, right?” Marcel nodded to Allan, “...Yes, and that means that he’d acquire a lot of skills too as he defeats the different monsters in the dungeon. Heroes, as you may already know, are one of the people with the highest luck possible in existence. Sure, they face dangers, but there’s always something that happens right on time like it was scheduled, like maybe unlocking a freezing skill when facing a fire-based monster or gaining high-level resistance from putting next to no effort to acquire it, like the time when the demon lord tried to find something inside of you and you gained a skill just like that or how you gained a skill on your first time inside the mind dungeon. It’s like the world was built to be convenient to heroes and so, to make the world a much less convenient place for heroes came multiple rules and blessings that make the dungeons the only fair place for both heroes and normal people. 

Thanks to the luck system inside dungeons, heroes only have about 40% of their usual luck. 40% might seem like nothing to heroes but it’s almost 90% of an average person’s luck. This skill gives heroes only a 40% chance of acquiring a monster skill and only about 40 to 60% chance of evading danger inside dungeons. If there wasn’t such a thing, then heroes would have the skills of every monster they defeat and that’d be terrible for everyone else but that hero, so keep in mind that the universe isn’t on your side too much inside a dungeon, little hero who got a mind-attack skill, an SS-class sword and a lot of powerful armors with almost next to no effort.” Marcel could swear that Allan was angry and yes, everything that Allan said was right on the money that Marcel couldn’t deny it. The universe truly is on his side whether he admits it or not. After he became a hero, only good things have happened to him. First, there was that mage who taught him a bit of magic, then Frostbite, then getting a lot of money to support the orphanage and having the orphans moved from that small village to one of the big cities, then there was coming here and being proclaimed the most powerful supposed enemy of the human world’s wife, then meeting Allan, receiving a blessing, gaining Sigurd and a room full of treasure, then a mind-attack skill and now a gorgeous body. Taking all the things he’s experienced into consideration; Marcel was very sure that the universe really was on his side. 

“... but your luck is beneficial for just you though, Marcel. Since before meeting you, I can say that your luck already influenced me to some extent. Your luck could have already influenced me since the day I was born. The mark on my back is proof of that. There’s a lot of things that have happened to me since meeting you.” Marcel felt a bit happier after hearing Allan say that. Marcel then left Allan to finish preparing and wondered if the armors he’d prepared were enough to survive only 40% of his usual luck. He decided to go get a few more body armors to put in his spatial storage space. He’d very much like to stay alive for a very long time so this kind of preparation is a must.  

After going back to the room where his heap of treasure was and getting what he needed, along with a few things that might be useful on his journey, Marcel locked his treasure room and then took the corridor leading back to his room to go learn a few more magic spells. Sure, the sword might be his main way of attacking, but he’d like to also prepare for situations where a sword becomes useless or inadequate, although calling Sigurd inadequate is impossible since it’s treasure capable of turning cities to rubble. 

As he walked in the corridor leading back to his room, he admired the scenery of the garden and the courtyard down below from the corridor and after admiring the garden from down below, he continued walking back to his room and there was where he came across a woman. She had long black hair and green eyes. She wore a frilly blue dress and a white lab coat. Marcel was a bit struck by her beauty as he experienced a feeling of déjà vu from watching the woman. She seemed lost in thought as she stared off into the distance and she, as soon as Marcel got a few meters away from her, she looked his way. She began walking towards Marcel and he wondered who she was. She examined him a bit with her eyes and then she spoke, “Are you Marcel?” She spoke in a delicate voice. Marcel nodded and when he did, she grabbed him by the waist, and then she...