Danmaku, my skills refresh weekly.

“Ha, nothing is impossible, fat pig. Don’t tell me you know nothing about this.” Hedin pushed up his glasses: “There are at least five or six documents in there, related to you.”

In terms of guild management, the guild's income, apart from taxes levied on its 'families', mainly comes from the taxes collected by its staff as newcomer advisors on a portion of their daily adventure earnings.

In other words, the more high-level adventurers a staff member has under their command, the higher their income will be, but this is still relatively high compared to ordinary residents.

Compared to honestly working like beasts of burden, the profits offered by those underworld factions are clearly much higher.

By simply turning a blind eye, one can earn tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions, of fiat commissions annually.

This was an irresistible temptation for Reuman.

As this top-down influence spread, the guild gradually shifted towards the shadowy faction, with various spies and false information being leaked by its employees.

Like an undercover agent during a major protest;

Like the complete annihilation of the Astrea Familia...

For example, the branch manager of the guild in the port city...

During the Great Conflict, many adventurers sacrificed themselves due to false information provided by the guild. When these crimes were exposed by Hera and Freya, even Shakti could not suppress his anger.

"Make your move..." She waved her hand and took the lead in ordering the officers to rush into the guild headquarters to arrest people.

Following the list provided by the two family members, one by one, the employees with dejected faces were escorted out, instantly taking up most of the street.

"More than 400 people, and more than 25 family members..." After the arrests were completely completed, Shakti looked at the numbers in front of him and was shocked.

"That's more than half the guild's staff, how can they still call themselves 'neutral'?"

Chapter 491 Guild Layoffs and Upgrades

Now that things had come to this, the few gods who had escaped the net and were hiding in the guild were also brought out by Ganesha.

Knowing that their scheme had been exposed, the gods stopped pretending and sighed with their heads down.

Among the clearly defined factions of the two goddess clans, there are also some 'dark factions' hidden from view by the guilds, but most of them are ordinary factions.

After a brief interrogation by Shakti, the evolutionary history of these woodworms was quickly discovered.

First, let's start with the new consultant.

Some newly formed clans, and most adventurers, will be assigned a 'newcomer advisor' who caters to their preferences. These advisors will provide new adventurers with basic information and various forms of assistance.

As time goes by, adventurers will become stronger, and advisors will advance in rank.

At this point, some adventurers or clans with impure motives will consider using this relationship to gain more benefits for their clans.

They started by going to brothels to listen to music, became addicted, and soon incurred huge debts. Later, they gradually started smuggling and then selling secret information.

Gradually, these advisors succumbed to the lure of enormous profits and continued to use their connections to influence other adventurers they carried, and in turn, other clans.

Ultimately, a network of connections specifically designed to provide protection for the Dark Faction emerged within the guild.

The reason it has developed to this scale is mainly due to the 'dark period'.

After all, guild employees are already protected by the city. If they also become informants for the dark faction, at least they won't be easily caught in the crossfire after the chaos breaks out.

At least, there's no word yet that the Dark Faction has attacked the city headquarters.

Charles understood their mindset: if they disagreed with cooperation, they would be killed; if they agreed, they would reap huge benefits. Smart people would naturally know which option to choose.

At most, they just do things within their authority, pretend they didn't see anything, or do them as a matter of course.

In the original story where Ryu seeks revenge alone, a large number of these employees are slaughtered, and nearly a dozen members of her clan are destroyed, demonstrating the rampant corruption in the city. Ciel, however, possesses far more information, allowing him to operate on a larger scale and employ far more ruthless methods.

It was only after Ryu's frenzied killings that Orario was finally liberated from its dark period, and the Dark Faction was completely forced into hiding.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Erebus personally killed three gods, and Rimuru also devoured three gods, completely filling the 'stomachs' of the six level 6 clones.

After leaving everything to Hera and Freya to handle, Ciel deactivated his clone and returned all his ability points to his physical form.

The divine grace behind him burned hot, and the sacred text, radiating white light, appeared in Charles's mind:

Charl lv4

Strength: D597→SSS1201

Durability: B701→SSS1307

Dexterity: B725→SSS1329

Agility: B775 → SSS1385

Magic: A821→SSS1376

Development Abilities: [Divine Script G] [Food Chain H] [Healing G] [Choice H] [Assault I] [Mage I] [Assassin I] [Heavy Armor Warrior I] [Godslayer C] (+7)

Magic: The Ring of Miracles, Mind Stealing

Skills: [Bearing Heavy Burden], [?], [Gambler's Instinct], [Godslayer], [Pegasus Legacy]

Refresh count: 4 times.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Charles examined his current stats and nodded in satisfaction.

This time, under the cover of Hera and Freya, they secretly killed three pillar gods and gained a great deal.

Including the pillar sacrificed by his 'elder brother' before, his [Godslayer] skill can now provide a terrifying boost of +7 to all abilities.

This means that the newly acquired 'development capability' can immediately reach the B-level standard, and the increase in strength is not insignificant.

Furthermore, Charles sensed that if the Godslayer continued to be elevated, his so-called 'development abilities' would gradually evolve into 'powers'.

At least, in the food chain, the number of characters who can be named by contract has increased to 9, and the number of ability slots that can be granted has also increased to 9.

In other words, if Charles wanted to, he could create a monster with at least 3 spells and 6 skills.

The main issue is with Pochi. As long as Sharl draws another aura-type ability, he can continue to empower Pochi, allowing it to truly become a bear that can possess nine auras on its own.

In addition, after seven enhancements by the Godslayer, the [Divine Runes] can also reach S-rank. This means that Shar can independently inscribe runewords up to number 30 and use them to craft equipment.

The magic that allowed Sharl to replicate through divine runes and the Ring of Miracles has evolved from its original super-short form to both short and long forms.

As long as Ciel knows the incantation and is proficient in using magic, he can inscribe the incantation in advance through 'divine script' and use the magic.

on the other hand……

"My ability points have reached their maximum, it's time to upgrade."

During the Great Conflict, Charles had already compressed his potential abilities once, so there is no need now to compress each level of ability to the maximum level.

Even with a high-level [Choice], skill acquisition has become like a wishing well, but obtaining an ability that unconditionally breaks through the limit is still extremely difficult.

The main reason is that Sharl doesn't have an overly 'eager' feeling towards this type of skill.

Several years are still to go before the main story of DanMachi begins. Ciel, Alfia, and Chardo have all developed a certain level of self-defense capabilities.

Needless to say, after compressing his potential abilities once, Charles has already reached level 7 based solely on his ability stats. Add to that his almost entirely 'B'-rank, and even 'S'-rank, development abilities, and his ability to conjure magic with a simple clap of his hands, and his actual combat power is far more terrifying than level 7.

Its 'monster' level is even more abnormal than Alfia at its peak.

Currently, the only thing limiting Sharl's combat power is 'skills'.

With his current original 'skills', he does not have the effect of increasing combat power. To unleash his peak strength, he will need some random power-boosting skills.

Regardless of the circumstances, the only option facing Sharl is to 'upgrade'.

A dazzling, sublime light emanated from Charles's back, illuminating the dimly lit ward.

The number representing his capacity behind him changed from 4 to 5.

Having done all this, Ciel glanced at his side, frowned, turned around, hugged his sleeping Ryu, and refocused his attention on Grace.

Upgrading to level 5 grants three development capabilities:

[Cooking] [Abnormal Resistance] [Meditation]

First, let's exclude [Abnormal Resistance]. Rimuru previously devoured a pillar of [Plague God] and gained the authority of [Disease Immunity]. Under this premise, [Abnormal Resistance] is not so necessary.

The choices are the ever-present [Cooking] and the newly introduced [Meditation].

The effect of meditation should be something like increasing the upper limit of mental strength, which is a developmental ability that Ciel has captured by using Qiqi's 'memory training method' on a daily basis.

However, under the extremely high 'Healing S' effect, Ciel has almost unlimited mana. The increase in mental strength does not increase the upper limit of the 'magic power' that Ciel can use, nor does it increase the power of magic.

In comparison, cooking is clearly more appealing than meditation.

For example, preparing a dish that enhances mental energy utilization might outweigh the effects of meditation.

It can only be said that "cooking" has a wider range of applications.

What Xia Er was more eager to see was how much of an enhancement the B-level [Cooking] skill could provide to dishes.

Chapter 492 The Joker's Purpose

That night, Sharl completed all the accumulations required before level 5 and officially entered the ranks of first-level adventurers.

After level 5, the rate at which ability points accumulate will be much slower than before. For example, it took Finn eight years to go from level 5 to level 6, and if nothing unexpected happens, it will take another eight years to reach level 7.

Therefore, if I want to continue leveling up quickly in the future, skill development and fighting against opponents of higher levels are unavoidable. Thus, a team that can adventure with me in 'Abyss' level dungeons is crucial.

On the other hand, many two-faced gods were purged tonight, but it seems a certain blond-haired guy was overlooked.

On the one hand, Dionysus has maintained his mystical activities ever since his last group was wiped out, and no information can be found about his activities related to the gods.

On the other hand, it can only be said that Enio is indeed worthy of the name; before this, at least Charles couldn't find any crucial evidence of his overt contact with the underworld faction. Or rather, he didn't actually engage in many activities specifically targeting the city and adventurers outside of his plan, and even actively resisted the Great Rebellion.

Faced with this, Charles had no choice but to let him go, leaving him for Ota and the others to use for their great achievements later.

Just as Charles was resting his hands behind his head, lost in thought.

The tightly closed ward door was gently knocked on, and then Amide pushed the door open, leading two beautiful women, one adult and one child, into the room.

"Oh? What a rare guest."

Rivera glanced around at her surroundings, then finally fixed her gaze on Ryu, who was standing next to Ciel:

"I didn't expect Amid to have a hospital room like this. What? Going to jail and still having a female companion?"

Ryu was awakened by the noise of the newcomers. He groggily opened his eyes, looked at the royal family member standing with his eyebrows lowered, shuddered, and pulled his hands and feet back from Xia Er's body. He sat up straight and said nervously:

"You've misunderstood. There's just no bed in the room for two people..."