Wrong Ground, Spiral Twins

"and many more……"

Seeing Su Mo walking away again, Mia called out to stop again. She quickly walked into the kitchen, took out two loaves of bread, and stuffed them into Su Mo's hands.

"No matter what you do, you have to eat first."

Before Su Mo could say anything, his stomach gurgled in response.

His vision suddenly became blurred, and Su Mo hurriedly bowed again to express his gratitude. Before tears could uncontrollably well up in his eyes, he turned around and left quickly.

……——……

Join the clan and be granted the blessing of God by the faction's main god - [Ability Value].

Only those who bear this mark can call themselves adventurers in the labyrinth city. It is said that no matter how weak a person is, as long as he holds this favor, he will have the strength to defeat low-level monsters.

For Su Mo, who came back to life but whose physical fitness has become worse than that of an ordinary person, he needs this ability even more.

however--

Joining the clan and obtaining God's favor is much more difficult than Su Mo originally imagined.

After running around for a whole morning, Su Mo was rejected seven times in a row. His goal also quickly dropped from the initial large family to just a family.

The favor of God is not something that can be obtained easily.

The relationship between gods and their followers is not as beautiful as portrayed in anime stories.

Gods bestow favors on their followers, and followers also have the obligation to support the main god. To put it more bluntly, gods who have a gaming mentality and prioritize their own entertainment often do not engage in production. Many gods choose followers only because they need them to provide rich material security.

Su Mo was not averse to such a 'deal'.

But large [families] often do not accept outsiders into the group, and visitors who want to join the family cannot even see the main god. Even if it is a family in the development stage, the more people the better... "You are not suitable to be an adventurer" and "Give up, it's difficult for you to even be a qualified supporter." These are the two sentences Su Mo heard the most in the morning.

There is no need to say much about the beautiful and magical elves, or the strong and powerful dwarves who can fight against low-level monsters even without grace. Even compared with the Amazons who have a strong fighting spirit or the orcs who have keen five senses, the human race seems inferior.

And he-

Stopping in front of a glass cabinet displaying weapons, Su Mo looked at himself in the glass.

Although the left eye could still open and close freely and the pupil was still there, the lifeless, unfocused gray pupil was so obvious... This was no longer a defect that could be concealed by disguise.

He was a person who could not even read basic common characters, was penniless, poorly dressed, and physically weak. He was undoubtedly at the bottom of the human race. Whether in the eyes of ordinary people or the gods walking on the streets, he was not an "outstanding" person, and was even suspected of being a "burden".

It is not surprising that he would be repeatedly rejected and eliminated at the first round.

The direction of effort was wrong from the beginning.

He could put the idea of visiting the clan’s residence aside for now, and perhaps turn his attention to the gods walking on the streets.

Put aside your meaningless arrogance, be thicker-skinned, stay confident, and bring out the same mindset you had when you were looking for a job... Thinking of this, Su Mo's gaze turned to the city avenues where the most people flow every day, looking for the figure of the god.

Suddenly, his eyes fixed.

The reason why Su Mo initially wanted to join a large clan was because large clans had sufficient experience and environment to train newcomers.

A keyboard warrior like him who grew up in peacetime and had never killed a chicken himself had no combat experience at all. In this case, if he had the guidance of a senior with rich combat experience, he would definitely be able to avoid many detours.

Loki's family, Freya's family, Ganesha's family... these were all his first choices, although he was rejected every time.

In addition to these large families, there is only one family that can be ranked in the top three of Su Mo's favorite families as a small family, and that is the Hestia family surrounded by the halo of the protagonist. But he had already inquired that there is no Hestia family in Orario now.

In other words, the protagonist hasn't even appeared yet.

But what about that goddess in the distance who looks petite and childish but has a heart as big as a Kyoho grape?

Su Mo's eyes slowly swept across the little goddess's hair accessories, face, and clothes, and finally stopped on the unique blue ribbon.

Although there was no hairpin and the hair accessories were a little different from what he remembered, it was indeed the goddess - Hestia.

A desired candidate for the Lord God who shouldn't exist suddenly appeared in front of him, and Su Mo felt it was a little unreal for a moment.

every dog ​​has his day?

Before my thoughts could fully react, my feet had already taken a step forward.

On the other side, Hestia was chatting with an elf.

"Hi, Miss Elf! It looks like you haven't made a contract with any gods yet. Would you like to join my clan?"

Hestia was full of energy and smiling, and she tried to persuade them with her head held high so as not to diminish the majesty of the gods. The elf on the opposite side looked at the small Hestia from head to toe intently, as if evaluating her value.

"Excuse me, goddess, what is your name?"

"My name is Hestia!"

"Hestia's Familia... I've never heard of it. If it's a new faction, where is its headquarters located? How many members are there now? How much start-up capital is there?"

"Eh……?"

The elf's series of questions stumped Hestia.

Perhaps because Hestia couldn't answer at all, she guessed a little. The elf's praised beauty suddenly turned cold, and her gentle attitude became sharp because of her narrowed eyes. "So, what is the family's operating policy?"

"Well, well, I guess they hope you can go to the dungeon and make some money..."

Hestia tried to cover up her lack of plan with a dry laugh, but the result was naturally the elf's sub-zero look.

Without even saying 'goodbye', the elf turned his back to the little sister goddess who had no dignity at all and left.

"She, she looked at me as if I were a piece of paper..."

I’m a god... Hestia was devastated, but she didn’t blame him.

After three months in the netherworld, although she had been eating and drinking for free at her friends' house and doing nothing all day long, she also knew that everyone who volunteered to be an adventurer was actually risking their lives.

Generally speaking, exploration families would prepare outside the city before coming to the maze city. Without a certain level of manpower or assets, it was difficult to make maze exploration a faction's livelihood. Countless facts had already proved that this was an extremely difficult road.

Any adventurer with a little experience knows the importance of choosing a clan. Joining a clan with a slightly better environment and sufficient resources is completely different from joining a clan with no manpower and resources.

Those terrible gods who were impossible to figure out with human wisdom had already dug too many traps, so that today's adventurers knew to stay vigilant and never fall into their traps. All the sweet words were empty. Following a god who had no resources and even no plans for his clan, you would have to endure hardships.

But for Su Mo, the goddess in front of him is undoubtedly his best choice.

"Goddess, are you recruiting followers?"

Chapter 3 Ainsel

Hearing the voice, Hestia, who was still feeling lost the moment before, immediately smiled again and turned to look at the person who asked the question.

His black hair was a little messy, and his clothes were ill-fitting, like a child wearing adult clothes. His increasingly slender body, in contrast to the loose clothes, gave him a strong sense of weakness, and his left eye was gray and lifeless... This was not a child who was suitable to be an adventurer.

Hestia made her judgment immediately.

The other party must have been born into a good family, and the confidence he displayed was not purely fake. Children from ordinary families would not have such knowledge and cultivation. Even if such a child was physically weak, he could still succeed in many aspects, but he was not very suitable to be an adventurer.

"My family is an exploration family!"

There are many factions of clans, but the guild undoubtedly treats the exploration clan the best, and most of the top clans are exploration clans.

It can be said that the exploration clan is the group fighting on the front line of the dungeon.

Su Mo nodded, "This is exactly what I want."

"But you are not suitable to be an adventurer. It can be seen that you were not raised as a warrior. Your real strength is not in this area."

Hestia is a god after all, and she can roughly see the nature of each child without any reason. If she chats with him for a few more words, she can even almost grasp the characteristics of that person. This is the origin of the famous saying "the people of the underworld cannot lie to the gods."

"I don't know if I'm fully prepared, but I have no choice."

The boy was smiling, but Hestia seemed to see a boy crying in the shadows.

"why?"

"Because I have to fight. There are many things that are more terrible than failure. I can allow myself to fail, but I can never accept myself decaying and sinking in a dark corner. So, I have to fight."

Anxiety, confusion, pain, loneliness... Hestia felt these feelings as she looked at the child in front of her.

This also made her suddenly feel a little pain in her head.

Hestia is in charge of fire, the lamp that always stays in the house.

It is the warmth that lends a helping hand to those who complain, it is the beacon that welcomes the injured and lost, it is the eternal flame of protection like a furnace.

It's obvious that the other party is not suitable to be an adventurer, and letting him become an adventurer is not necessarily a good thing, but if you just leave him alone... it's impossible!

"……May I have your name?"

After a long silence, Hestia asked.

"Su Mo."

"Excuse me, do you have a place to stay?"

Sure enough, no matter what kind of world it is, some things will end up being the same. The current situation is very much like your girlfriend asking you if you have a wedding house.

If it was a few days ago, Su Mo would have affirmed this, but at this moment, he could only shake his head helplessly.

"That's it-"

Hearing the goddess' sigh, Su Mo couldn't help but feel a sense of loss in his heart.

He also saw it. The goddess in front of him was probably like him, without even a place to live, so when she was looking for a family, she was actually looking for a place to stay, but he couldn't even give her that.

A god without a home and a person living on the streets, if these two form a family, they will most likely drag each other down.

Putting himself in the other person's shoes, Su Mo felt that if he were in the other person's shoes, he would not choose to sign such a contract.

"I was just kicked out by Hephaestus. In this case, it seems that we can only go to the guild."

"?"

Su Mo blinked, unable to understand the situation for a moment.

"If you want to become my Familiar, the first step is of course to go through the 'Family' initiation ceremony! Come on, find a quiet place in the guild, and I'll perform the ceremony for you."

Pulled by the little goddess, Su Mo ran after her stupidly.

I knew clearly that he was not suitable to be an adventurer, I knew clearly that he had nothing, and I knew that he might be a burden, but I still chose him.

why?

This is totally unreasonable?

Is this the unfathomable God?

Su Mo looked at the back of the goddess in front of him, and felt that everything around him was becoming blurry, only her figure was becoming clearer and clearer.

……——……

From a bird's eye view, you can see that the avenues called "main streets" are like four thick lines running through the center of Orario, dividing the entire maze city into eight equal parts. The intersection of the main streets is the central square, where the skyscraper with an overwhelming presence, the Tower of Babel, stands.

The Tower of Babel, a super high tower that covers the underground maze like a lid, is the entrance to the dungeon and is also a landmark building owned by the "guild" that operates and manages the dungeon. Here, there are a series of facilities to serve adventurers, including a reception hall, reception room, bathroom, restaurant, equipment department and treatment facilities, etc., which are enough to meet the basic needs of adventurers.

Hestia, who brought Su Mo here, explained her purpose and was soon arranged to a small reception room.

"Take off your shirt and sit over here."

Su Mo sat down on the sofa with his back to Hestia and took off the old coat that the half-elf lady from the guild had given him, revealing a white shirt with blood stains that could not be completely washed off.

Hestia keenly noticed the tear in the shirt, which was clearly the result of being pierced by a sharp weapon, and it was right in the middle of the bloodstain.

Touching the fabric of the shirt, Hestia confirmed once again that the child who would become her first Familiar was very special. Because the material of this piece of clothing was neither silk nor cotton, nor animal hair. If you didn't observe carefully, who would have thought that a piece of clothing that was more exquisite than the costumes of the "Guild" Familia was made of plants.

"A little lower... that's enough."

Hestia was indeed a little curious about the child's birth and story, but she was not curious enough to ask for clarification.

"It's begun!"

Having said this, Hestia instantly put everything else behind her and began to carve "God's Grace" on Su Mo with great interest.

"Do you know what God's grace is?"

“The ultimate golden key to self-actualization.”

Hestia nodded slightly. "The era of praying to the gods for help has long ended. Now is the era when people beg the gods for only a little help, and then take this little alms in their hands and rely on themselves to realize their wishes. The so-called grace of God is not a kind of power, it is more like a seed, a promoter.

"It can help you discover possibilities that you don't have the chance to discover on your own. It will transform and evolve through the accumulation of your various experiences along the way, but its ability is limited to this. What kind of flowers will eventually bloom from the seeds buried in the soil, and what kind of abilities will be born, all of these can only be determined by your own efforts."

"I see."

"So from now on, Su Mo, what kind of path do you want to embark on?"

Su Mo thought for a moment and replied, "Defeat yourself!"

"It's victory, not breakthrough?"