Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 4 Read Online Free

fingers stop moving.
    “!”
    “…It’s done.”
    I sit up as soon as I feel her get off my lower back.
    Sitting on my heels in the middle of the bed, I take a look at my hands.
    I can feel the goddess’s eyes on me from my side, watching as I open and close my fists.
    “…I don’t feel all that different.”
    “What were you expecting? The sudden urge to yell, ‘The power flows within me…!’ up at the sky?” The goddess acts out the scene in front of me, skillfully pretending to shake with newfound energy before giggling.
    It might be a little rude of me to say my true feelings, so I just nod.
    I leveled up, but I’m still the same.
    I thought my body would be lighter. I thought I’d feel like the world was different. Or something like that. But there is nothing. I feel no different than I did the moment I got home a few minutes ago. Where’s the feeling of accomplishment that comes with leveling up to Level 2?
    This is really disappointing…Like all the wind in my sails just disappeared.
    “It’s not like the structure of your body changes, you know?Sorry if I made you think you’d have some kind of dramatic transformation.”
    “Ah, no, it’s not that…”
    “Ha-ha, but your Status improvement is the real deal, you know. The ‘container,’ your spirit, has gotten much bigger. It’s very obvious to me and any other gods. You might not realize it now, but the next time you’re in battle, it’ll feel like you flipped a switch. You’ll pull off attacks that you never knew you could.”
    The goddess laughs to herself again as she starts writing my new Status in Koine, the common language of humans and demi-humans.
    I know that when an adventurer levels up, all of their Basic Abilities return to zero. I’ve heard that those points don’t just disappear, but instead are hidden in the new Status as “extra points.” What was it the goddess had called it—a “hidden parameter”?
    Since I know that it will be all zeros on my new Status, there isn’t really any point in looking at the sheets the goddess is holding right now…But what’s the harm in checking?
    I tilt my head to the side a little as I get up from the bed. My usual undershirt was torn to shreds in the battle against the Minotaur, so I grab a spare and put my arms through the sleeves.
    My eyes meet the goddess’s gaze the moment my head pops out of the collar of the shirt, and she hands me the paper.
    “It was going to be a surprise, but I think I should tell you first.”
    “?”
    The goddess beams with happiness as I take it from her.
    I don’t even have a chance to glance at it before she says, “Good news, Bell.” I’m about to ask her what it is, but she’s faster. “A Skill.”
    “Huh?”
    “It’s your sec—No!…I mean, um, you know. It’s what you’ve always wanted: your own Skill!”
    Several moments pass in silence.
    Her words sit in my mind for a few seconds before everything suddenly clicks and my eyes race to the paper clutched in my hand.
    I can feel the pupils of my bloodshot eyes pounding as I will them to focus on her handwriting.
    Then,
    Bell Cranell
    Level 2
    Strength: I 0     Defense: I 0     Utility: I 0     Agility: I 0     Magic: I 0
    Luck: I
    Magic:
    “Firebolt”
    • Swift-Strike Magic
    Skill:
    “Heroic Desire, Argonaut”
    • Executes automatically with an active action
    My eyes have never been this wide.
    There’s something in my Skill slot.
    My head snaps up. The tiny goddess, much older than I am, is looking up at me with a gaze of approval. She silently mouths, “That’s right.”
    My cheeks pull back into a smile all on their own. Happiness floods through me. This is definitely the highlight of my day!
    The muscles in my face are refusing to relax. Even I can tell my eyes are shining as I take another look at the paper in my hands. That’s when I notice something.
    …“Heroic Desire”?
    All of the joy in my body suddenly evaporates, my eyes stuck to that one