A few days had passed since the welcome party. During this time, Main and the others continued living in Alex’s mansion. Despite Alex’s hospitality, no one wanted to feel like a freeloader. The exception was Pilar, who had struck up a friendship with Hermes and found a way to justify his idleness. He claimed that since Rebecca was Alex’s fiancée, it was only natural for her brother to live carefree.

However, after making such a statement, Pilar was immediately beaten up by Rebecca, who firmly declared that he was obligated to work and stop being lazy. Alex just chuckled at the scene and headed to the city administration to purchase plots of land near his mansion.

The paperwork took several hours to complete. When Alex returned home, he went to the dining room, where everyone had gathered for lunch. With a loud thud, he dropped a stack of documents onto the table, instantly grabbing everyone’s attention. In addition to plots for building houses, Alex had purchased two more: one for Falco’s bar and another for Pilar’s shop.

The shop for Pilar had been tricky, so Alex sought advice from Hephaestus, who was the most knowledgeable about such matters. After some discussion, they decided to establish Pilar’s shop in Babylon.

As the documents hit the table, everyone stared at them curiously. None of them, except for Hephaestus, knew what Alex had been up to for the past few hours.

“Alex, what’s with this mountain of paperwork?” Gloria asked, handing him a cup of coffee.

Alex took a sip of the hot drink, feeling the accumulated fatigue begin to melt away. The hours of haggling had left him mentally drained, but his knack for negotiating—honed in his past life trading in MMO games—had paid off. Setting the cup down, he began to explain.

“These are property deeds. These documents,” he said, separating them into piles, “are for the plots where we’ll build houses. And these are for Falco’s bar and Pilar’s shop,” he clarified, handing out the respective documents.

Main and Doria, upon receiving their papers, noticed that their names were listed as the owners. The same was true for Falco and Pilar’s documents. They looked at Alex with a mix of surprise and disbelief.

“Alex, you mentioned land here is expensive. How did you manage to buy four plots for houses, plus land for a bar and a shop?” Main asked, hesitant to accept such a generous gift.

“The plots for the houses were relatively inexpensive. The land for the bar and shop, though, required some haggling,” Alex replied, taking a seat at the table.

“These are still enormous expenses. We can’t just accept this,” Doria said, sliding the documents back toward him.

Alex sighed, understanding their hesitation. He knew how difficult it was for them to accept such valuable gifts, but this only solidified his belief that they were good friends—ones who wouldn’t exploit his wealth for personal gain. Even the goddesses present appreciated this virtue, having seen how greed could destroy friendships and families.

“You don’t really have a choice,” Alex said with a light smile.

“What do you mean?” Lucy asked, continuing to eat her salad.

Glancing at Lucy, Alex noted that she seemed to be favoring fresh vegetables more often lately—perhaps drawn to the local salads’ unique flavors.

“The plots are already bought, and the deeds have your names on them. So, they’re officially yours now,” Alex said with a shrug.

“But what about building the houses? That’s also expensive, and we don’t want to burden you even more,” Falco cautiously pointed out.

“Ah, now that,” Alex began with enthusiasm, spreading his arms theatrically, “is where magic comes in!” Between his hands appeared a shimmering rainbow-like illusion.

The others just rolled their eyes, seeing the familiar trick. Alex had demonstrated similar effects several times before, which was starting to irritate some of them.

“Are you going to build the houses with magic?” Main asked skeptically.

He had only been in the city for a few days and was still getting used to the fantasy atmosphere around him. On top of that, he had to study thick manuals about the dungeon and its monsters. Main felt like a newbie who had just joined the army—everything was new, and he had to learn everything from scratch. The others shared his feelings. Even Rebecca, usually so lazy, couldn’t escape this fate. After a couple of hours of reading, she gave up and loudly declared that she’d rather blow up the entire floor than try to figure out what monsters lived there.

However, Kiwi and Lucy showed genuine interest—not only in the dungeon but also in magic. Gloria quickly found common ground with the goddesses and joined their group, while Valerie, G.I.R., and M.I.M.I. immediately befriended the other young women in the house. Valerie stood out, as she somehow immediately connected with the reclusive goddess Nyx.

“Well, the house sketches and layouts are already ready. Ask G.I.R., he’ll show you everything. After that, it’s all about magic and other things,” Alex said calmly, taking a sip of his hot coffee.

Main and the others, realizing that Alex had already made the decisions, agreed to take the documents. Alex let out a relieved sigh. For him, money was just numbers, and there was nowhere to spend it. No business, no special desires—he already had everything he needed for a peaceful life.

“Now that we’ve dealt with this, let’s move on to the next thing. Have you decided which families you’ll join?” Alex asked, addressing those who hadn’t yet joined any god’s family.

“Doria and I decided to join the family of the goddess Loki,” Main said calmly, nodding toward a pleased Loki.

Alex looked at Loki. She was clearly delighted that such experienced veterans were joining her family. Over the past few days, everyone had learned more about how Alex and his friends lived in Night City, and it became clear that only those with exceptional skills and who were always on their toes could survive in such a city. Night City was a place where shootouts or gang wars could break out at any moment, and avoiding involvement was practically impossible.

“And you?” Alex turned his gaze to Falco and Pilar.

“I’ve also decided to join the family of the goddess Loki,” Falco said confidently.

Alex nodded. He considered Falco to be a smart and decisive person, especially valuing his ability in critical situations. His skill at making split-second decisions had always helped him when driving, particularly when evading pursuit.

“I think it’s because you decided to open a bar for your friend Falco, and that flat-chested one just wants to drink there for free,” Hestia said disdainfully, pointing at Loki.

“Exactly, the redhead is only thinking about that,” Rebecca added with a smirk.

Loki’s face contorted with indignation. She was indeed thinking about free drinks at the bar, but of course, she wasn’t about to admit it.

“Are you two asking for a fight, you two shrimps? I chose Falco for his skills and decisiveness!” Loki retorted, starting yet another argument.

Loki and Hestia began fighting again, and everyone just stopped paying attention to them. In the past few days of living in this house, there had been so many fights between Hestia and Loki that it was impossible to describe. Now, even Rebecca had started getting involved in the battle between Loki and Hestia, and instead of just the two quarreling goddesses, Rebecca had now joined in.

Only Alex couldn’t understand when Rebecca and Hestia had teamed up against Loki. After all, a rivalry had started between Rebecca and Hestia over who would sit on Alex’s lap, and those two were always arguing as well. Not to mention their constant battles before bed over who would sleep on Alex’s chest. And this was before Rebecca started hacking into the lock on the snack box Hestia hid. When Hestia caught Rebecca in the act of stealing, it turned into yet another argument.

“So, Pilar, what did you decide?” Alex asked, shifting his attention to his friend.

“Hmm, my new buddy Hermes and your fiancée Hephaestus invited me. But since you want me to open a prosthetics shop, I think I’ll go with Hephaestus. You said the blessing helps improve skills, or something like that?” Pilar replied, thoughtfully stroking his chin.

Alex turned his gaze to Hephaestus, who nodded in confirmation of his thoughts. She had recently received a huge amount of data on weapon and prosthetic technologies and was amazed at how advanced humanity had become in science. Before inviting Pilar to her family, she had a brief conversation with him to assess his skills. The result surprised her—like Alex, she now considered him a true genius in prosthetic design and tuning.

Hephaestus had always valued masters like Pilar and Rebecca, who could turn an idea into a unique creation. She had even planned to invite Rebecca into her family but quickly realized that Rebecca was a free-spirited restless soul who only did what she wanted.

“I would have invited Rebecca too, but it looks like she’s going to be part of Hestia’s family,” Hephaestus noted, nodding toward the small conflict.

Alex just nodded in agreement. He too understood that Rebecca would definitely not be making custom weapons.

“Good thing you changed your mind, Hephaestus. Otherwise, Rebecca would probably have shot the idiot who tried to argue with her,” Lucy intervened, calmly throwing her friend “under the bus.”

Everyone around them nodded in agreement. When Alex introduced Rebecca to the others and called her a gremlin, no one paid much attention. But after a few days, it became obvious to everyone just how fitting that nickname was for her personality.

“And definitely don’t let her sell weapons she makes. The last thing we need is shootouts in the streets of Orario,” Freya thoughtfully added. “Prosthetics are different. They give people the chance to live normal lives. But with her weapons, it’s much more complicated.”

Alex threw a grateful glance at Freya. He didn’t want to turn Orario into another Night City. Weapons for his family, yes, but not for random adventurers. The city had started to become calmer thanks to the punitive squad created to fight the cult of the spaghetti monster, which later became something like a police force.

“Looks like you all want to join Hestia’s family too?” Alex asked, shifting his gaze to Kiwi, Lucy, Gloria, and Valerie.

The girls nodded in unison. Lucy and Kiwi couldn’t resist Hestia’s sparkling blue eyes. Gloria chose this family because of her love for a peaceful life and homey care, things Hestia particularly valued. And Valerie decided to join in order to stay close to her new friends.

“As for you two, I won’t even bother asking. I’ll just hear something like, ‘We serve only the Emperor,'” Alex joked, looking at GIR and MIMI, who were peacefully sipping milkshakes.

“FOR THE EMPEROR!” the robo-dogs shouted in unison, raising their cups like glasses at a celebration.

With the arrival of GIR and MIMI, the house became even noisier. They had already started considering the girls their “moms,” something Alex barely understood how it happened. Freya became interested in their abilities and often spent time with them, much to the annoyance of the jealous cat Allen. Eventually, GIR and MIMI began having fun, mocking the cat, who unsuccessfully tried to avoid their attention. These two robo-dogs would chase him around and bark at him. Well, it was more like they made that sound, annoying Allen as much as possible.

“Alright, let’s finish lunch and get to work,” Alex announced. “First, you’ll receive the blessings, then a short training session before the dungeon expedition. After that—your starter adventurer set, and finally, your first dungeon run.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, especially Main and Dorio, who were starting to get bored without any action. They couldn’t wait to stretch their legs and experience the dungeon, which they only knew from stories and illustrations in the manual. Valerie eagerly finished her lunch, grabbed GIR and MIMI, and rushed to her room. The others ate calmly, without hurry.

“You three, stop arguing. We have a lot of work to do. Hestia and Loki need to give the blessings, and you, Rebecca, need to receive yours and get ready like the others,” Alex said, stepping in to break up the argument between the three girls.

This “conflict” was more like a debate, with each one trying to prove something. After making up, Hestia, Loki, and Rebecca huffed in annoyance and turned away from each other. Alex sighed, feeling more like a father of many children than a guy with a harem.

When lunch came to an end, everyone headed to the goddesses for their blessings. Alex went to the coliseum to prepare the weapons, gear, and other essentials for the new adventurers, including backpacks and everything needed for their dungeon expedition.

Once everyone had received their blessings, they headed to the Coliseum, where Alex was already waiting for them. He had prepared all the necessary gear in advance and immediately handed it out to those who didn’t have their own equipment, like the girls. A quick preparation began, including a basic explanation and the determination of the depth they intended to reach in the Dungeon.

Alex was still pondering his theory on the interaction of explosives and firearms with Falna. No matter how many times he discussed it with the goddesses, no one could find the right solution. In the end, they collectively decided to conduct an experiment, as Lucy had suggested. She proposed giving Rebecca a couple of grenades to wipe out a group of monsters and then checking if her stats would increase.

Once everything was ready, Alex teleported the group to the first floor of the Dungeon. Dorio chose new brass knuckles and looked satisfied. Main had trouble deciding on a weapon but ultimately settled on a two-handed sword. Falco, with a rapier in hand, looked even more like an aristocrat. Pilar chose throwing knives, declaring that he was now a ninja.

The girls picked weapons that suited them, with even Gloria taking a staff, explaining she was “just here for the company.” Rebecca, as always, was special: she became the central figure of the experiment with firearms and explosives. Valerie, imitating Bella, armed herself with a pair of short knives.

GIR and MIMI, as usual, were in a league of their own. They donned armor, armed themselves with their gear, and headed into the Dungeon more for fun than anything else.

“So this is what it looks like inside,” Main said, looking around in surprise.

“This is just the first floor. The eighteenth one feels like a real resort,” Alex smirked, observing their reactions.

After finishing their inspection, the group prepared to move on.

“Well, shall we go kill a few monsters?” Rebecca said, placing her shotgun on her shoulder.

Alex, smirking, ruffled her hair and led the group forward. Along the way, he sent out manual mana pulses to locate a group of goblins.

“I found them nearby. Get ready,” he said, heading toward the target.

“How did you do that?” Falco asked, looking at Alex with curiosity.

“It’s like sonar, like bats,” Alex explained. “I use a mana pulse that spreads across the floor in waves and reflects off living targets.”

Hearing Alex’s explanation, Kiwi nodded and considered that such a skill could be very useful in the field, especially when hiding behind a wall and wanting to know how many enemies are nearby.

When they reached the goblin group, Alex stepped aside to let the others take charge and see how they handled the situation. He also noticed that goblin groups used to range from three to eight creatures, but since he infused mana into the Dungeon’s core, the number of goblins per group had increased to around twenty.

Upon reaching the goblins, the team began planning their actions. Alex approved of the caution, knowing that in the Dungeon, it was important to be ready for anything. But there was one person who clearly didn’t like planning.

“To hell with these green bastards! Let’s just kill them!” Rebecca shouted, charging into the room.

Bursting into the room with the group of goblins, Rebecca wasted no time and shot the first target in sight. The poor goblin didn’t even have time to react before the shotgun blast completely blew its head off, and it collapsed, turning to ash on the floor, leaving behind a crystal. As always, Rebecca operated on the principle of “See the target, no obstacles.” Especially when her enemies were just green monsters dressed in rags and holding nothing but clubs.

None of the group could stop Rebecca in time as she barged into the room and started shooting at everything that moved. Realizing there was no turning back, no one wanted to be left behind, and they all rushed into the room with the goblins and started killing them.

Alex had known in advance that Rebecca wouldn’t wait, so he didn’t stop her. He had always enjoyed watching the impatient Rebecca, even when they were still in Night City. And Alex didn’t want Rebecca to change. He loved her just as she was— a sweet girl with the soul of a gremlin.

The goblins were weak opponents but perfect for warming up and learning the basics of dungeon fighting. Alex remembered when he had started with them, testing his new abilities. New goblins started appearing from the walls, but he didn’t interfere, giving the group a chance to show what they were capable of. Only Rebecca’s curses, as she wiped out monsters that didn’t make it out of the wall in time, made him mentally sympathize with the poor creatures.

As he scanned the room, Alex noticed that his robo-dogs, GIR and MIMI, had disappeared from sight. Finding them in the opposite corner, he caught them engaged in a strange “activity”: they were fiercely kicking a goblin, declaring that it didn’t deserve to live.

“They probably mistook him for an orc child,” Alex muttered thoughtfully, continuing to watch the scene.

The thought of what would happen if those two encountered actual orcs gave him a dark sense of foreboding: Alex imagined a burning dungeon floor, engulfed in a robot-led crusade.

Meanwhile, the group had finished off the goblins.

“Well, that was easy. No plan needed!” Rebecca declared proudly, slinging her shotgun over her shoulder.

Alex, tearing his gaze away from GIR and MIMI, walked over to Rebecca and ruffled her hair.

“Goblin groups used to be smaller, and monsters appeared slower. You need to be more careful: even in the past, when the dungeon was weaker, adventurers still managed to die,” he said gently.

“Why did everything change?” Kiwi asked.

“It’s because of the dungeon’s core. God Erebus merged with it and the one-eyed dragon, but after his death, the core ended up in my hands. Since it became the catalyst for this process, I had to replenish the mana in it. As a result, the monsters became stronger and more numerous,” Alex explained.

“So it’s your fault,” Rebecca concluded with her usual boldness.

Alex rolled his eyes as he continued to untangle her braids. The sounds of a beating once again filled the silence, making everyone turn their heads. GIR and MIMI were still occupied with the poor goblin, or was it a new one? The previous one was probably nothing but ash by now.

“Shall we move on, or go back to prepare?” Alex asked the group.

“Let’s go. I haven’t even warmed up properly yet,” Dorio was the first to reply, cracking her knuckles.

The others shared a similar sentiment: the desire to see more victories prevailed. Calling over the robots, Alex watched as GIR and MIMI gave the goblin one last kick, turning it to ash. For a brief moment, the monster’s face seemed strangely offended, as though it didn’t deserve such a fate.

Continuing the tour, Alex told the group about the different dungeon floors, the monsters, and their unique traits. He reminded them to collect crystals, explaining their value, and commented on rare metal finds that could be sold or used to craft artifacts.

On the fifth floor, they were met by a horde of killer ants. Their numbers were so vast that Alex began to worry about the possibility of monsters escaping to higher levels.

“This is disgusting,” Lucy commented, tightening her grip on Alex’s hand.

“Mm-hmm,” he replied indifferently, noticing something unusual among the ants.

Lucy noticed Alex didn’t respond to her but merely muttered a sound in response. She frowned and, like the others, turned to him, trying to figure out what he was staring at so intently. Alex, however, continued to study the enormous swarm of ants, clearly noticing something new.

“Did you notice something?” Kiwi asked, standing next to him.

“Yeah, something interesting,” he replied, pulling a notebook from his pocket.

In the buzzing mass of ants, Alex spotted something that hadn’t been there before. Amid the regular ants was a massive queen. Previously, only worker ants appeared on this floor, but now everything had changed. This information had to be reported to the guild. After finishing his notes, Alex returned the notebook to his pocket.

“Well? What did you see?” Rebecca asked eagerly, already imagining how she would deal with the army of insects.

“A new creature,” Alex explained, pointing at the massive being surrounded by smaller ants. “This looks like the queen. Queens haven’t appeared here before. If they’re showing up now, it might just be the beginning.”

The group followed his gesture and noticed the enormous insect, standing out due to its size and imposing appearance.

“So what? We just kill them all and be done with it?” Pilar asked lazily, putting her hands behind her head.

“I think it’s better to burn this crowd and head back. I’ll report the information to the guild and ask Loki to have her adventurers thoroughly check the monsters before killing them. I’m sure new types might start appearing with other species too,” Alex suggested.

“Do you think this will spread?” Main asked, frowning.

Alex nodded affirmatively. Meanwhile, he noticed that GIR and MIMI had already pulled out flamethrowers and were clearly planning a mass incineration. However, Rebecca intervened, her enthusiasm for explosions off the charts.

“No! I’m against it! You wanted to test the new explosives!” she exclaimed, holding a massive bundle in her hands.

The robo-dogs, with offended looks, put their flamethrowers back into their inventories, and Alex, suppressing a chuckle, turned to Rebecca.

“Alright, but you’ll apologize to GIR and MIMI later. You just crushed their dream of burning xenos,” he joked, gesturing to the robo-dogs who were kicking small stones on the floor.

Rebecca nodded, confidently stepping forward, swinging the bundle, and throwing it straight at the ant queen.

“And now, the explosion!” she cheerfully shouted, pressing the detonator button.

After pressing the button, a powerful explosion rang out, causing an earthquake, and small rocks fell from the ceiling. The fire from the explosion quickly spread in all directions, completely incinerating all the ants, including the queen. Seeing the aftermath, Alex immediately realized that Rebecca had once again stolen something from his workshop. This time, it was an incendiary grenade he had created to burn large areas without resorting to magic.

“Looks like the gremlin — one, dungeon — zero,” Lucy sarcastically summarized, watching the destruction unfold.

Alex nodded, pleased with the result, and ruffled Rebecca’s hair. She purred happily, like a cat, feeling the warm approval. Alex smiled and, unable to resist, picked her up, which caused light laughter from the others. GIR and MIMI, not wasting any time, gathered all the materials left after the ant genocide and carefully placed them into a small bag, which they handed to Alex.

“Here, these are your first earned dungeon earnings,” he said, handing the bag to Main.

Main smirked, accepting the loot.

“It’s funny that our acquaintance started with me giving you a job. And now you’re giving me and the others jobs,” he remarked, a satisfied smile on his face.

Alex laughed, agreeing with the observation.

After returning to the surface, he led the group to the guild, explaining the basic aspects of adventurer work along the way.

“In the guild, you can take individual quests: like gathering rare resources, escorting merchants, or collecting information. You can even sell floor maps or data about new monsters,” Alex explained as he led the group through the bustling streets.

“For example, what kind of information?” Kiwi asked, not letting go of his hand.

“New monster species, details about unknown rooms, maps of new or altered floors. All of this gets paid for, and sometimes quite generously,” he explained, noticing how the others’ eyes lit up at the prospect of additional earnings.

When they entered the guild, all eyes inside instantly turned to them. Some were surprised that Alex was personally accompanying the newbies, while others whispered that this was “his” group.

Approaching the registration desk, Alex suggested that everyone register as new adventurers, while he headed over to Eina — his consultant. He told her about the new type of monster, which piqued her professional interest. She immediately became engrossed in the task, bombarding Alex with questions about the behavior of the ant queen and her peculiarities.

“Here are the notes,” Alex said, handing her a sheet of paper from his notebook. “This is everything I managed to observe.”

Eina gratefully took the sheet and continued studying the data, while Alex exchanged a few more words with her before returning to the group, who had already finished registering. He then showed the newbies where they could sell the crystals and resources they had gathered, explaining how this part of the adventurer trade worked.

“Alright, that’s the routine taken care of,” Alex said, seeing the satisfied faces of his companions. “I think it’s time to celebrate our first successful expedition. Mama Mi’s kitchen is pretty good, so let’s head there.”

The group murmured in approval, leaving the guild and heading toward the tavern to celebrate their first dungeon adventure.

To be continued…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep