I stepped forward and threw a punch at the kobold in front of me.

The humanoid wolf monster swung its club out to block, but it broke against my armored fist. And a moment later, the kobold itself broke, pulverized into a mist of blood and gore.

I lowered my armored hand and grinned. "That felt awesome. I knew it was a good idea to have armor like this."

A wry laugh echoed from the side. Welf. He shook his head and said, "Only you, Bell." He shifted his gaze to the kobold and said, "I'm happy that my armor found a proper user... But what kind of monster have I made?"

"Ha ha. Very funny." I walked over to the kobold and picked up the drops. A magic stone and the usual tail. Afterwards, I took a look around.

After catching up for a bit, Welf said that he wanted to see Black Demon in action.

Of course, he probably just wanted a demo in his forge, but I was itching to use it, so I dragged- Er, convinced Welf to head back down into the dungeon with me.

Hestia and Fina were still sleeping when I left this morning, but I left a note for the two of them that I'd be heading out with Welf, so it should be fine.

...I did feel a bit guilty about leaving the two of them alone, but it couldn't be helped.

I needed to get stronger, and fast. If I wanted to make sure my family was safe, then I couldn't afford to be weak. And the quickest way to do that was by fighting.

...Though, it seemed like the dungeon had other plans.

I stared at the empty surroundings and frowned. "Weird. There's usually more than this."

Welf shook his head and said, "I think that you're the weird one, Bell. The dungeon doesn't usually spawn hordes of monsters to fight an adventurer, you know?"

"True... But considering that it had happened four times, I thought it would always be the case for me."

"...You sound disappointed."

I straightened my body and shrugged. "A bit. While it's good that it's less dangerous, you can only really improve when facing a proper battle. Besides, I kind of liked being able to pick up a lot of income in one go."

Welf sighed and shook his head. "You really are different from most adventurers, Bell."

"Eh. I've only been one for a short while, so that's to be expected." I frowned. "...But then, should we go deeper?" I turned my gaze towards deeper into the dungeon where the stairway should be.

Welf walked over and said, "It's up to you. I'm good with whatever."

"You know, being that casual about things makes it easy to become a casualty, right?"

Welf laughed. "True. But I'm partying with a superhuman guy that can move around in that hunk of metal like it's nothing. I think it'll be fine... And besides. I trust you." He grinned and said, "After all, you aren't the type of guy to head into dangerous situations and leave his family behind, are you?"

"You got me." I laughed and then looked around again.

There weren't any of the usual shadowy presences. In fact, it almost seemed like the dungeon was actively keeping them away from me... And the usual malevolent gaze I felt every time I entered the dungeon was gone.

Maybe I had gotten rid of so many monsters that it had to recover? Or maybe there were other adventurers it was focusing on instead since I was so troublesome.

I didn't know the answer. But I did know one thing. And that was that today was... surprisingly safe.

"Let's get going then." I tilted my head towards Welf and said, "You mentioned you've been to the seventh floor before? By yourself?"

Welf nodded. "Yeah. It's a bit dangerous, but nothing we can't handle. And even if a horde of monsters pops up, the dungeon is wider too, so we won't get trapped or anything."

"...I think it's more dangerous to be in an open place with a horde of monsters than a small area, but I suppose it's true that running might be easier in that case."

"So we going deeper then?"

I nodded. "Might as well- Ah. I want to try something first. Let's see..."

I took a look around the surroundings and focused.

It was the usual room, a few rooms over from the stairs. A bit out of the way, but not too much.

After doing some experimenting with my inventory skill, another idea came to mind. And since I had a rather large surplus of magic stones to work with after yesterday, I wanted to test it out.

Quantum magic let me create an inventory skill by basically ripping out a piece of space and letting me claim it.

It took a lot of mana to do so, but the fact that it was possible... and the shenanigans I could do as a result showed that there might be more I could do.

The Falna in this world was already game-like, and I had managed to make a game-like inventory skill. So then, logically, I should be able to make other things.

Like a return teleporter.

At least, I thought so. No, I needed it to work.

If I wanted to be able to return home every day to spend time with Fina and Hestia, I couldn't afford to not have a return teleporter. So...

I focused.

"Bell?" Welf's confused voice sounded out. But I ignored him for the time being.

The setup was already done.

Back at home, I had already managed to 'store' a small pocket of space at the back of the church in my inventory.

It was complicated, but the long and short of it was that it worked.

So then I should be able to do something similar here. And if I linked the two...

I held up my hand and spread out my awareness.

The malevolent presence. A malicious mana floating in the air.

I ignored them both and slowly spread out my own mana. At the same time, I focused on the dozens of magic stones in my inventory.

-Quantum magic.

I still didn't know exactly what it represented or its limits, but I knew that it had something to do with space, energy, and 'states.' How else was my inventory preserving momentum if that wasn't true?

...Something in that logic was messed up, but I ignored it.

If I was wrong, it didn't matter as long as it worked. And if it worked, I was right.

That was all I needed to know.

So.

Binding the space around me to my will. Compiling the spatial coordinates to link up to my inventory skill. Creating a channel via a wormhole that allowed instantaneous movement through space...

I felt that malevolent presence look at me. But I also felt confusion from it. As if it didn't know what I was doing.

Was it my imagination?

I didn't know. But it didn't matter.

All of a sudden, I felt 'something' snap into place. A bright flash, followed by a hazy distortion.

"What the-?" Welf cried out in surprise and stepped back. "Bell?"

I lowered my hand. And the moment I did, I saw it.

Like with my inventory skill, a small window appeared. A simple one.

A small list with two locations stored. The church... and then the first floor.

It was scrollable, and I could see that there were more deeper in the list, but the number of floors was left a mystery, the list blurring out of existence as I scrolled.

But tapping on the two places I had activated made my surroundings blur and overlap with those locations. Like I could instantly move there if I focused enough.

And with Welf too.

But that was for later.

I swiped the window away and turned back to Welf. "Done. Let's get moving."

Welf frowned. "Bell... No. Never mind." He sighed and shook his head. "It's probably better for me not to know."

"Do you want to know?" I tilted my head and said, "I don't mind telling you."

"No." Welf shook his head again and said, "I appreciate you trusting me so much, Bell. But it's better if I don't know the details." He grimaced and said, "I'm... not that confident in being strong enough to keep that knowledge safe."

I nodded in understanding.

It was true. Being able to warp around in the dungeon was unheard of. And if word got out...

I trusted Welf. He was a good guy, and we got along well. And since he spoke up like that, he also knew his limits well. But because of that, I couldn't tell him.

After all, I knew it myself. This was a world where might made right and where the laws in place could be just a formality if you had enough force behind you.

"...Alright," I said. "Then I'll just say that it's a safety net for the two of us. If things get hairy, we won't have to fight our way out through a horde."

"Well, hopefully it doesn't come to that. But thanks." Welf smiled. "I appreciate it."

"No problem, bro. You're hanging around a sketchy dangerous guy like me, so the least I could do is keep you informed."

Welf laughed. "Sketchy and dangerous, huh? Well, dressed like that I can see it."

"And who was the guy who made this thing again? Oh right, you."

Welf laughed again and then said, "Should we get going then?"

"Yeah. I think we've goofed around enough. And I'm curious." I held up my armored gauntlet and clenched my fist. "Just how far can this Black Demon hold up?"