Danmachi: A Despicable Stranger

Chapter 34: Learning Astrology

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Izzy wasn't sure when he had lost consciousness, but when he awoke, the first thing he saw was the familiar ceiling of his room.

"It's so hard being me..."

He rubbed his throbbing head with a hand and sighed, expressing his true feelings at that moment.

Loki was utterly incorrigible. She knew full well that he couldn't hold his liquor, yet she kept helping Mama Mia get him drunk, even joining in the chaos without a care in the world.

What kind of god acts like this, especially one who is the supreme deity of her familia?

It was simply...

After yet another mental lament about Loki's unreliability, Izzy got up to wash himself.

Following breakfast at a small shop outside, he decided to take a break from dungeon exploration for the day.

The past two dives had made him acutely aware of certain shortcomings in his abilities—particularly his lack of sufficient offensive options.

The most dangerous scenario for a solo adventurer was being surrounded by monsters with no viable means of escape.

While Izzy could definitely break through such an encirclement with his abilities, without the help of Silver Star Advent, it would be an arduous task. Using enhancement magic to temporarily boost his stats consumed significant physical strength and magic power.

Unless faced with enemies so strong they suppressed his abilities, Izzy felt using this skill to clear the field was an inefficient and wasteful solution.

Surely, he could approach things more effectively.

With his two other magics, for instance...

If he could develop Star Magic, wouldn't it be incredible to summon a falling star to obliterate a horde of enemies with a single strike? Clearing the battlefield in a booming instant would not only be efficient but also immensely satisfying.

At the very least, he needed to properly unlock this "Star" potential, right?

And if that wasn't enough, combining his rock-element abilities to immobilize enemies would create an unparalleled magical arsenal for field control.

So, in order to refine and develop his Star Magic, Izzy decided to immerse himself in research. Since he had decided to steer Star Magic in the direction of astrology, gaining an understanding of the subject was absolutely essential.

Unfortunately, Izzy currently knew next to nothing about astrology—practically nine out of ten things were a complete blank for him.

Thus, he made his way to the Loki Familia's library, hoping to find some useful books on the topic.

Izzy strolled lightly through the corridors of the headquarters, soon arriving at the clan's library, where all members were free to read.

As one of the top factions in Orario, the Loki Familia's library boasted an intimidatingly vast collection of books.

The scent of wood filled the space, where walls were lined with towering bookshelves, and rows of neatly arranged shelves occupied the center.

The collection included a wide variety of dungeon-related texts, reference books for various professions such as wizards, and an assortment of rare and ancient tomes. Many were items Loki or other familia members had collected on a whim, and some were even well-worn magical texts they had contributed for communal use.

Wandering through the aisles, Izzy carefully scanned the titles, searching for anything that could guide him in his quest for astrological knowledge.

The books in the library were well-organized and classified, making it easy to locate any specific book without needing to comb through the entire collection.

Reaching the section where miscellaneous books were stored, Izzy wandered leisurely between the bookcases, moving from the left side of the path to the right. After a few minutes of browsing, he finally stopped in front of a particular shelf.

"Unveiling the Secrets of Astrology," Ptolemy's Astrological Notes, Sudell's Astrology...

A row of books with intriguing and slightly peculiar titles lined the shelf. In truth, the original titles weren't quite so strange—it was the common-language translations written beneath them that gave them this impression.

Without hesitation, Izzy grabbed all the astrology books at once, stacked them up, and carried them to a nearby wooden table and chair to study them in detail.

Before he began, though, he made sure to note the markings on the bookshelf. Losing track of where the books came from and being unable to return them would have been more than a little embarrassing.

Based on the markings and annotations, this shelf seemed to house rare and eclectic books collected by Loki from merchants traveling through Orario. In addition to the astrology books, there were also numerous volumes recounting heroic tales passed down across the continent.

But Izzy paid little attention to the heroic stories.

Was it luck, or Loki's sharp foresight? Either way, the astrology books he found contained genuine, valuable knowledge. They weren't the kind of fanciful nonsense written by charlatans to draw attention.

Both Ptolemy's Astrological Notes and Sudell's Astrology revealed their authors as true masters of the craft. The study notes they left behind offered profound insights, and Izzy felt he gained a great deal from reading them.

For now, he decided to pause his dungeon explorations. Immersing himself in the study of new knowledge and the development of magic, he spent his days reading.

That first day was entirely devoted to this pursuit. Except for eating three meals, Izzy did nothing else but read.

However, the following day, he resumed exploring the dungeon, treating it as training to hone his skills.

There was no avoiding it—reading might expand knowledge, but it did nothing to improve his physical abilities.

To increase the adventurer's five core ability values, combat was essential. Whether it was fighting monsters or dueling other adventurers, staying idle and stagnant offered no gains.

Eager to reach Level 2 as quickly as possible, Izzy divided his time between exploring the dungeon and studying magic, striking a balance that made his days especially fulfilling.

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Day after day, as the rhythm of life alternated between day and night, nearly half a month passed.

One early morning, Izzy stood in his room, staring thoughtfully at the "dropped items" piled in the corner. The mound had grown so large that it now resembled a small mountain.

Metal rabbit fur, killer ant claws, bottled blue swallowtail butterfly wings, bottled purple moth powder, goblin spirit drops, and even items from orcs—all kinds of materials had accumulated during his dungeon expeditions.

In the past two weeks, Izzy had amassed an impressive collection without even realizing it.

"These are taking up way too much space... I need to get rid of them," Izzy muttered to himself, propping his chin up with one hand as he surveyed the clutter.

Still, there was a silver lining. These dropped items were worth money, and who could complain about earning some extra cash?

Originally, Izzy hadn't planned on hoarding so much. After each dungeon trip, he would think, "I'll sell these tomorrow."

But that "tomorrow" had been postponed again and again—until now.

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