I walked out of the dungeon and met up with Neptune, who was waiting for me.
　We got into the carriage and headed back to Cyclo as planned for now.

　On the way there, Neptune asked me.

'How did it go?'
He was strong.
Yeah, I didn't stand a chance at all.
He was more powerful than you. What was that?
It wasn't always so.

　I gave a small nod.

　A dungeon, a monster that looked like a human.
　I imagined a number of possible patterns with it, but they all had one thing in common.

　They all had the appearance of a normal monster in the original.

'A shadow-type, a slime type, a gas-type. Which one is it?
Shadows.

　Neptune answered immediately.
　How do you know?　There's no need to ask or answer the question "why?".

　Both me and Neptune have a lot of dungeon 'experience'.
　Neptune has been an adventurer for many years, and I have the added knowledge of the game from my original world.

　We're both familiar with the dungeons, so we're not surprised or mystified.

When we first entered the game, everything was shadowy monsters. While I was defeating them, I got hit by one of their attacks. And that's what happened.
Who's better than you?
Hypothetical, okay?

　I nodded.

'That's my limit.'
"Boundaries?
'I guess I should call it the limit of my talent. When you get to a certain point, you'll know where you're going to settle in your power.
Yeah, sort of. With the occasional exception.
'Yeah, there are exceptions sometimes. And that's what I think, my marginal strength. So of course I'm stronger than I am now.
'I see. ...... I think I've learned to say that I can't help myself.'

　Neptune is still smiling as ever.

''By the way, the second and third floors are Lil and Ran, respectively. That one's not much stronger.''
Is that so?
They both specialize in being my backup. It's like that without me.
......

　For a moment, he remembered Leia.
　I was human, but I remembered Leia being modified to do whatever she wanted.

...... did you do something weird?
I'm not doing what you think I'm doing.
What have you done?

　I found my eyes narrowed.
　It's not what I thought I was doing ...... I knew I did something.

'Kissing and s*x,'
What about ............?

　Now I'm so shocked.
　What does he mean by that?

"So, the kiss and the c--
'Dwaaah!　So what are you talking about?
Ran and Lil and I were bound by fate, if that's the form of love.
Yeah, I get it.

　I almost had a headache and held up my hand to stop Neptune from explaining it to me.
　It certainly wasn't what I thought it was.

　It was ...... these guys were H2O to begin with.

'All right. Four floors and up?
I haven't touched it.
Okay.
Also, be careful what you wish for, because if a shadow sees you-- oh.
What's going on?
Look.

　Neptune rolled up his sleeves.
　A row of "stars" marks lined the inside of his arms.
　I counted them and there were eight in all.

'What about it?'
I had twelve just now. Twelve all the way through, by the way.
"Four are gone: ...... I killed four monsters.
I see.

　Neptune smiling, I nodded.
　This, too, I knew, didn't need to be surprised or wondering.

''I suppose that's what it means.''
Yeah, I think so.

　I didn't even dare to say it, but we agreed on it.
　I took down four of them, so that's four less 'stars'.

Zero is definitely not good.
It's not good.
On the contrary...
I think I can make it through to the first.

　We nodded at each other.

'Yeah, I'm glad I asked you to help me out after all. I wouldn't have been able to figure this out on my own.
I'll take care of the rest. You can cut back on the last two. If it gets worse, you'll let me know.
Ha-ha, you're not doing one for the other.
You would have done the same.
I don't know. Yeah, I knew you were a great guy.
'In case you were wondering. Lil and Ran both have twelve, too.
Yeah, I'll keep it down until there are two.
Yeah.
So, go to ...... and ask for it.

　Neptune, who spoke like that, had more serious eyes than before because of the decrease in stars--.

''What's the reason you don't do--?
Ha-ha, you're the one who's gonna do it, so why should I bother?

　Neptune trusted me completely.