DanMachi World, Hestia Familia.
As his consciousness returned from the Mist Space, the moment Lynn opened his eyes, he saw Hestia clinging to him like an octopus.
"Hestia, time to get up."
Lynn reached out and poked her head.
"Oh, it's so early."
Hestia glanced at the time groggily and turned over to face the other direction.
"I'll sleep a bit more, just five more minutes."
"You said that last time too, then slept for two hours and only got up after breakfast was cold."
Lynn took a needle from the drawer beside him: "No more sleeping. Help me update my blessing first, then you can sleep."
As per usual, he would normally return to the Familia at night and have Hestia update his blessing then.
But today's situation was a bit special. Demon Slayer Lynn had cleared the Infinity Castle.
Considering various factors, he planned to update his blessing to see if there were any changes.
"Update your blessing?"
Hestia struggled to open her eyes.
If it were anything else, she could procrastinate, but updating a blessing was different.
Taking the needle from Lynn, she pricked her finger, squeezed out a drop of blood, and let it fall onto Lynn's back.
Ripples rose from the blessing on Lynn's back, and Hestia quickly completed the update.
"Huh?"
Hestia was stunned.
Perhaps thinking she wasn't fully awake, she rubbed her eyes and looked again.
"Huh! What the heck is this!!!"
"What's wrong?"
A curious look appeared on Lynn's face: "Did I awaken another new skill?"
"Not that, but..."
Hestia stared at Lynn, hesitating for a moment before slowly speaking.
"You've already accumulated enough deeds for your breakthrough."
"Huh?"
Now it was Lynn's turn to be stunned: "The deeds needed to break through from LV2 to LV3 are already accumulated?"
"Yes, and there's quite a surplus too."
As she said this, Hestia looked somewhat bewildered.
"Lynn, the last time I updated your blessing was last night, right?"
"Yes, it was."
"Then where did these deeds..."
"This is compensation for my hard work sleeping."
"Your ability to lie with your eyes wide open is, in a way, quite impressive."
Hestia squinted her eyes and retorted.
She didn't even need to use her divine power to know Lynn was lying.
What normal person gets so many deeds from just sleeping? There's definitely something wrong here.
But considering Lynn's usual peculiarities, Hestia was somewhat used to it.
Seeing that Lynn didn't want to talk about it, she didn't press further and lowered her head to copy down the contents of the blessing.
"Here, take a look for yourself."
Handing the copied blessing to Lynn, Hestia yawned.
Once her mood had calmed from the surprise, the drowsiness she had suppressed earlier surged back into her mind.
"Lynn, I'm going back to sleep for a while."
"Mm, sleep well."
Lynn changed his clothes and, as he walked out of the room, looked down at the paper in his hand.
[YukimuraLynn—LV.2]
[Strength: F364→E426]
[Endurance: F378→E421]
[Dexterity: E412→E471]
[Agility: E407→E475]
[Magic: F379→E421]
[Developmental Abilities: Swordsman I]
[Magic: Current Propulsion, State of Selflessness]
[Skills: Unification, Mind's Eye, Hymn of Courage]
Compared to last night, his magic and skills hadn't changed, remaining exactly the same.
As for his ability values, the five stats had increased by a total of 274 points, slightly higher than usual.
However, considering that Demon Slayer Lynn had slaughtered his way through the Infinity Castle, the changes in his five attributes weren't particularly significant.
The main change was still the deed that Hestia had just mentioned.
A deed, as the name implies, refers to a great undertaking.
Defeating a powerful enemy, overcoming a heart demon, creating an incredibly powerful item... as long as the action is sufficiently impressive, it can be counted as a deed.
So, had he or the other Lynns done anything recently worthy of being called a deed?
Himself: sleeping.
Prince of Tennis Lynn: crushing noobs.
JoJo Lynn: looking for the second JoJo.
Chef Lynn: honing his culinary skills.
Among the five of them, only what Demon Slayer Lynn did yesterday could be linked to a deed.
"Could it be because of the influence?"
Lynn thoughtfully stroked his chin.
Considering the disparity in strength between the two sides,
Demon Slayer Lynn killing Muzan absolutely did not meet the condition of 'defeating a powerful enemy'.
Looking at it from another angle, Muzan's greatest special characteristic was his influence.
Killing Muzan would completely eradicate the existence of demons, indirectly saving countless lives.
"This is an unexpected boon."
A faint smile appeared on Lynn's face.
Although this deed came somewhat suddenly, it was good news for him.
With the most troublesome deed taken care of, all he needed to do now was grind enough ability values to level up.
Disposing of the paper recording his ability values, Lynn pushed open the door and walked out of the mansion.
The sky was pitch black, that ambiguous time between night and morning.
In the spacious courtyard, a slender figure stood in a corner, staring blankly at the sky.
"Good morning, Aiz."
Lynn walked over and greeted her: "You're earlier than I imagined."
Aiz snapped out of her reverie and hesitated before saying, "If it's too late, people will gather to watch."
"Don't worry, I've issued a prohibition order for this area. Normally, no one comes here."
As if guessing Aiz's thoughts, Lynn pointed towards the iron gate not far away.
It had been eight days since Aiz signed up to learn the Breathing Technique.
As agreed, he would start teaching Aiz the Ripple today.
As for the teaching location, Lynn had decided on the backyard of the Hestia Familia.
This was originally where Soma grew various grains and was already a restricted area.
After Lynn issued the order, only a very select few were permitted to come here.
"To help you understand the Ripple, I'll first explain its origins."
"Okay."
Aiz nodded silently.
Although she would rather get straight to the point, a student should behave like a student.
Following Lynn's arrangement, Aiz focused on listening to the origins of the Ripple.
At the same time, at a corner of the courtyard.
Three heads were stacked vertically, peeking out from around the corner to observe Aiz and the other person not far away.
"Hey! Tiona, stop moving around!"
"Huh? But I'm curious about what Lynn and the others are saying. Let's move a little closer."
"No, we'll be exposed if we go any further."
Tione grabbed Tiona, who was trying to lean forward, and pulled her back.
"Honestly, can't you be quiet like Lefiya? I shouldn't have brought you along."
Tione sighed with some resignation.
A week ago, she received a task from Finn to secretly tail Aiz and observe the situation.
It was going smoothly at first, but then Tiona somehow found out about it and brought Lefiya along to join in.
Looking at Lefiya, who was silent and intently watching Aiz and the other person,
and at Tiona, who was itching to leave the corner and find a better spot to eavesdrop,
Tione silently sighed, inexplicably feeling like she was babysitting.
"Tione! Tione!"
"Stop shouting! I said be qui..."
"Lynn seems to be making a move."
"Huh?!"
...