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Dungeon Delving is Damn HARD (Danmachi / Sharingan)

Chapter 6
Yo, here's the next chapter, I hope you guys enjoy it.

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The Ganesha Familia was still getting ready when I arrived at the entrance to the 17 floor. About 60 adventurers were working hard putting monster cages on top of wagons.

Giving a brief nod to Guile and Mord who were busy pushing the Mad Beetle's, I approached Scott who was resting by a wagon filled with Lizardman and Hobgoblins, at least I think they are hogboglins.

"Good to see you up, we were beginning to think you we'd have to pay for someone to carry you to Orario" Said Scott sounding incredibly tired, his remaining arm holding on to his stump with a tight grip "you sure you don't want to rest another day?"

"I thought I'd need help to get to Orario alive?"

"Well yes but there's no need to rush it anymore" He said and laid a hand on my shoulder "You've got the money from the Vouivre now and it's not like we're gonna leave you down here after what you did for Mord, it's fine if you need another day or two of rest"

I thought about it, truth was I'd have been very tempted to take him up on the offer when I woke up but, after updating my falna, I was feeling much better and I wanted to see finally see Orario.

"I'm fine" I said and immediately felt an irrational amount of guilt, looking at my trembling hand I sighed "Well, not completely fine but my body is good enough"

"First time killing someone?" He guessed while motioning for me to sit beside him on the wagon

"First time in a real fight actually" I confessed and squeezed my hand in a fist to stop the shaking "I grew up in a fairly safe place"

"Well, I know it won't make this easier but you did the right thing killing that man" looking up Scott seemed to get lost in thought "I remember when I first became an adventurer, assholes like them were everywhere. It used to be you couldn't trust anybody even up there in Orario much less down here"

"I take it that's not the case anymore?"

"Things are kept in order pretty well nowadays but you never know, a single mistake is all it takes for something like Evilus to come back" he sighed and scratched at his stump again "That's why you have to kill those bastards as soon as you can, those kind of people never stop unless you make them"

Fuck, I'd much rather people get judged and sent to jail or something but I could understand his point of view, in such might makes right society killing bandits before they could cause damage or grow too strong was probably the best I could hope for.

Still didn't make me feel better about killing someone though.

"Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for helping Mord, we all owe you one"

"I wasn't really thinking about him at the time" I confessed embarrassed, I still didn't know why I had attacked the Vouivre like that but saving Mord had only been a minor consideration, It was more that I couldn't help myself.

Everything had been happening so fast. All the blood fear and excitement of the fight had gotten to my head and I couldn't bring myself to do the logical thing.

Scott gave me a strange look but eventually shook his head "No matter the reason you saved my friend and that's all I care about"

I suppose I too wouldn't care about why someone saved me as long as I got to live.

After that we just watched as the adventurers worked around us as fast as they could, I thought about helping out but, with only one good arm and no idea what I was supposed to do I'd probably just get in the way.

Soon all seven wagons were filled with cages and the caravan started going up, I watched as Guile was made to help pull one of the wagons and Mord was put to work fighting monsters ahead of us.

Without an arm both Scott and I were left closer to the wagons so we could deal with any wounded monster that got away from the fighters without having to stop the wagons or raise the alarm in case of something we couldn't deal with.

A tall man in full plate constantly walked around out caravan making sure everything was in order or yelling at everyone involved when a wagon had to stop but we were still advancing fast for people completely on foot going up two floors in four hours.

"Why did they hire more people" I asked Scott as I retrieved one of his daggers from a dead lamia mormos, all around me I could see idle adventurers talking and joking with each other.

It looked like the Ganesha familia could do this with half those people.

"From what I understand Ganesha called most of his adventurers back for something" He said wiping the dagger with a cloth before putting it back in place "Hashana was the only powerhouse left to deal with the monsters so they had to hire a few people just to make sure, don't want to risk monsters spawning all around and ruining everything"

We soon reached another open space and Hashana Dorlia, the huge man in full plate, called for a full stop while casually stomping on the head of a minotaur.

We sat down in a circle, and waited until Mord came back from monster extermination to start eating, the man was covered in sweat and panting hard, still not completely recovered from the bloodloss.

"Are we really gonna reach Orario today?" I asked, it was already midday and we were still in the middle of the 15th floor.

"Ah don't worry about it, the upper floors are much smaller and the monsters are hardly a challenge, after the 10th floor it'll only take us 2 to 3 hours to reach Orario at most"

That made sense, the place we were in was an oppressive cave system made from bare rock and filled with dark corridors, the air was humid and shadows flickered everywhere, if I didn't have my eye I was sure it would be very easy to become lost.

Worse yet, I had to stay alert to avoid any stray level 2 monster least they spawn on top of me or rush the carts before I could avoid them but, from what I remember from the anime, the upper floors are much better illuminated and had human sized monsters at most.

"Yo Mord, good to see you're alive!" came the strong male voice as Hashana himself dropped besides me and took off his helmet "Who's the new guy? A little too skinny for Ogma don't you think?"

"I resent that" mumbled Scott while biting on a piece of jerky but everyone just ignored him.

"He's a level 1 we found on Rivira, got abandoned by his party down there when the Goliath spawned and needed some money so we hired him as a porter for a little while" Mord answered while shaking the man's hand "He's a good one, actually own him my life you know?"

"Really? Which familia are you from anyway?"

"Yeah about that…." I scratched at my neck trying to think of something but decided some of the truth was good enough "My god is… strange, he never actually told me his name"

"Hmm, odd" he said while scratching at his chin "then again my own god spent all our money transforming our home into a huge statue of himself with the entrance at his crotch so I can't really judge"

"Ogma is mostly okay but he does have his oddities" Mord shrugged while laying down on the floor for a rest

"Not telling you his name… seems like the kind of thing Loki would find amusing" Hashana mused then put a hand on his own chest and made some grabbing motions "You sure it wasn't a petite woman? Loki's straight as a door, she could pass as a man if she tried"

"Pretty sure it wasn't Loki" I answered and decided it was best to change the subject "Why do you guys go to all this trouble to get dungeon monsters anyway?"

"Cuz Ganesha finds it amusing… mostly" Taking a sip from his water bag Hashana stretched his arms and sighed "I mean pretty much everything that happens in Orario is because one god or another finds it amusing but the monster Feria does give us a good amount of money, a lot of people pay to see the monsters outside the dungeon"

"Plus the chance to practice taming without having to worry about other monsters or having backup is good" said Scott "Adventurers can't keep monsters on the city and there's always a risk when trying to tame something in the dungeon"

"How does tamming even work anyway?" I asked Scott now genuinely curious.

"Hey don't look at me, he's from the taming family" he said pointing to Hashana.

"Fine, let your uncle Dorlia enlighten you! I'm not a tamer myself but, as I understand it, the dungeon creates monsters with set instructions" he says while using the handle of his axe to draw a little goblin on the floor "A newly spawned monster will always follow that set of instructions to the letter. A goblin will always try to jump at you and stab you in the face, a firebird will always pause in the air and spew flames, it gets really predictable after a while.

The longer the monster has been alive the more it learns, it adapts and grows, a tamer takes advantage of that to teach the monster to obey, the best way is to show it how futile fighting is and make it fear getting punished.

Every dungeon monster hates adventurers so it may take some time and practice to make it fear more than it hates but, after you have done it to the same kind of monster enough, you learn how to do it faster. Plus you'll probably get a skill"

"Could you tame a monster like a normal animal? Using rewards and kindness I mean."

"Theoretically? It is possible but I have never seen it work, I once heard Shakti say I'd just take too long to overcome the instinctual hate" Hashana told me and then smirked "Doesn't stop some fool from trying every year, very amusing"

Patting my shoulder Hashana put his helmet back on and pushed himself back to his feet "Anyway I'd better make sure Murita has everything in order for us to move on, hey Murita!" He shouted towards a sweating Modaka and left us.

"Thinking about trying your hand at taming?"

"Maybe" I told him while lost in thought "It sounds interesting enough"

Could I use illusions to make taming faster? In Naruto there were genjutsu that messed with an enemy's sense of time, could I make something like that.

Soon we were moving again and I had to kill a wounded Hellhound as it tried to spew flames at me, after what Hashana had told me I made sure to watch the monsters closely and quickly found a pattern to their movements.

It made predicting them with the sharingan much, much easier.

Six hours later we finally reached the 10 floor and the caravan started to pick up the pace, Hashana himself grabbed the wagon with the most monster and pulled it alone while the adventurers took care of the small fry and, in only 2 hours, we were pulling the wagons through the dungeon entrance.

My first look of Orario was… underwhelming, Babel itself was impressive I admit but I had lived in a modern city my entire life, the tower was wider than anything I had seen but it didn't seem all that much taller than a skyscraper.

The city itself was huge, probably larger than any medieval city of my world and much better build, the streets were clean and the buildings looked both new and well built but, again, it didn't reach the level of a modern city or have any wondrous aspect I had come to expect from a fantasy world.

No floating islands, no clearly magical castle, no spells flying everywhere, Orario most resembled a well preserved historical city sparsely dotted with modern houses and mansions.

"Come on, it's the Ganesha familia problem now" said Mord as he pushed me away from the entrance "Let's go sell our lot to the guild so we can get your money"

Seeing us leaving Hashana waved at us "See you at Ishtar's place later tonight?"

Mord looked at Scott's missing arm and sighed "Can't, we're gonna have to save money from now on"

Reaching the guild Mord quickly found a mature redhead with wolf-like ears on top of her head "Rose-chan marry me!"

The werewolf? Wolf beastking? I didn't really remember the name of her race… Rose gave Mord an unamused glare before her eyes flashed to my own cast and Scott's missing arm "I see you're still being greedy mister Latro, how many times have I told you not to delve too deep without a bigger group?"

"Come on Rose don't be like that"

"Enough, if you're not gonna hear my advice the least you could do is not waste my time" she snorted but there was a glint of pain on her eyes that said she cared far more than she was showing "And who's the new party member, I have never seen him before?"

"Roland Synclair miss and I'm not really registered with the guild yet" I told her earning some odd looks from all four of them.

"I see, I see" she said and I swear I saw a vein pulsating on her forehead, she calmly rolled the documents on her hand into a tight cylinder and wiped her arm around hitting Mord in the face with her new weapon "What the hell are you doing bringing an unregistered adventurer in the dungeon!"

"I had nothing to do with it!" Mord protested as he tried to shield himself from the enraged receptionist "We found him already in Rivira and just gave him a ride to the surface!"

"And you, what were you doing down there" her cold eyes froze me in place, damn she was hot.

"My Familia was playing a prank on me" Thank god I remembered the excuse I had used before, it had worked well enough and no way was I telling them I sprouted from the dungeon like some kind of humanoid monster.

It was my turn to get hit with her rolled up papers "If you're not gonna tell the truth at least make up a better lie!"

I scratched at the place she hit me and looked at the party with confusion but they just shrugged "Yeah we didn't buy the prank thing too but, as long as you did your job as a porter we weren't going to pry"

Great it seems I'm a terrible liar.

"Here" Rose told me as she handed me a sheet of paper "Fill this up, get your god to sign it and bring it back to me tomorrow"

"Ah, is the god's signature really necessary?"

Rose gave me another glare and shook her head in exasperation when she saw I was being serious "Yes, just so you know the guild can't stop you from entering the dungeon but we won't buy any lot from you or give you any quests if you aren't registered, I highly suggest you fill that up"

Half an hour later I left the guild 65 thousand valis richer, Mord and his party were going to sell the Vouivre's drops apart but they had enough money to pay my 10% out of their own pockets.

Night had started to fall on Orario, the party invited me to stay with them at the Ogma familia's house but I declined, I had never heard of Ogma before but as a god he was probably some kind of asshole.

Orario was well illuminated at night, there was light coming from inside almost every house and the streets were filled with tall lamps which used monster cores instead of electricity to generate light.

The sky still wasn't pitch black yet and I kept to the wider streets filled with adventurers so I didn't have any problems and people were relaxed, walking around without any worries, it seems like things really were kept safe.

They weren't even watching their coin pouch.

Looking around I briefly wondered if Bell was already in the city, had I arrived years before the start of the story? Years later?

Reaching one of Orario's main streets I had a clear view of the giant wall that encircled the city, second only to Babel itself the wall rose above the city making me fell like a titan would soon start bashing his body against it.

Not completely impossible with the dungeon here but very unlikely.

My stomach gave a growl of protest causing the few people walking around me to give me strange looks, I had been eating frequently but, with all the healing potions in my body I was burning energy at an alarming rate and it left me starving.

Asking around, it turns out the Hostess of fertility was actually the closest place to grab a meal, I made sure to ask various people to make sure but everyone I talked to said it was a little expensive but had good food and drink.

Plus, if Ryuu was already working there I could find out at what point in the timeline I arrived without being too suspicious.

It was also a good place to ask for somewhere to stay the night, I didn't really like that someone would know where I was staying and, from what I remember, the girls there were too strong to bother with a lone level 1.

The pub seemed to be bursting with activity, it's lights were on and I could hear loud laugher from inside with a constant stream of clients walking in and out of the building looking satisfied and not too drunk.

Pushing the doors open I stepped into the room and looked around for a table or corner I could sit, the pub was almost full but there was an entire empty table by a corner and a few spots at the counter.

It left me feeling a little too open but, since I was alone, I sat down at the bar and gave a polite smile to the waitress in front of me, a human girl with bluish grey hair who seemed to be staring at me with an expression that seemed both baffled and… a little afraid?.

"Do you have a menu or something?" I asked after a second or two when her stare started to make me uncomfortable.

A shiver ran down my spine and I suddenly felt like a mouse being starred at by an entire clowder of cats.

Briefly glancing back I saw two cat girls frowning at me from across the room, their eyes narrowed to slits and shinning with a predatory light, one of them was even gently caressing a kitchen knife.

A mug hit the counter in front of me with unnecessary force splashing me with ale and almost making me jump, turning around I saw a huge dwarf woman glaring , her arm bigger than my tight.

"You're new around here" she said while handing me a menu and putting an arm around the waitress, her bulging muscles clear for all to see "How do you know dear Syr?"

"I don't?" I swallowed and said, my voice full of confusion, a drop of sweat slowly running down my face.

"Hrumph, back to work with you now" The dwarf snorted and pushed her employee away from me, I tried to open the menu but she swiped it out of my hand "I'll get you a soup, you seen like you need a soup"

I watched as she walked back to the kitchen, I wanted to tell her I didn't like soup but I had started to feel yet another glare at my back and didn't dare open my mouth.

What the hell was that, I had never been in Orario before, fuck I had never been in this world before there's no way a random girl recognized me.

If I remember correctly the waitresses at the pub were all fairly strong former adventurer, did she have some kind of skill that triggered when looking at me? And why the hell would it cause such reaction?

Wait, in norse mythology Loki could shapeshift, had I already gotten his attention after saving those elves? But then why the fear?

Shaking my head again I looked at the mug of ale and shrugged before starting to drink. Before long a green haired elf brought me my soup her eyes narrowed in suspiciousness as she served me.

Ryuu Lion looked exactly as I thought she would, she was a petite woman with delicate but sharp features, her skin was pale but it didn't look unhealthy.

"Thanks" I sighed as I tried to avoid her angry eyes.

Didn't Ryuu kill a lot of people before retiring?

Swallowing hard I forced myself to take a sip of the soup, I was surprised when it actually tasted pretty good, diving into my food I lost track of things around me as I satiated my growing hunger.

"Hey I want a refill here!" I was almost finished with my meal when a tall man hit my cast with an elbow and shouted in my ear.

Ugh, this is why I prefer to sit with my back against a wall.

Turning to glare at the drunken idiot I meet the eyes of the grey haired werewolf and spewed soup all over his tattooed face.

Face soaking wet Bete Loga stared at me in confusion for a second before what happened truly registered, loud laughter burst out from the Loki familia's table as I saw a vein starting to throb on Bete's forehead.

Fuck I forgot they came here often to party! Goddamnit had the waitress called them?

"Why you…" Bete growled almost beyond words, grabbing me by the shirt I couldn't resist his strength as he lifted me up with one hand "How dared a weakling like… gha!"

In my defense I wasn't really thinking straight, despite my best efforts I was still feeling on edge from fighting in the dungeon and meeting the Loki familia was an unexpected and unwelcome surprise.

Worse, as Bete's lifted me up and started shouting into my face my mind flashed back to the man chocking me and shouting inside the dungeon

Our eyes meet for a brief moment, then my own eye spun into the mangekyou on instinct and I sent him the pain illusion I had crafter earlier while trying to grab for my sword.

The illusion broke almost instantaneously, his level far too high for it to last even a full second but it still had an effect.

Grabbing at his face Bete grunted in surprise and threw me away sending my body flying through the pub, hitting my head against the wooden wall I blacked out.

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A/N : Thanks for my patrons : Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie, Banh Bao, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, Scott, Tony Martinez, Travis cox, Chaos, Rootbeerguy, High Priest of Torga, James Williams and Michael Neal for supporting my work!

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Wow, that's harsh.

In my defense, the creatures he fought are all still level one, and I consider that, the main reason people die is that they take on more than one creature at a time.

It's been my experience that, in a fight, the most decisive factors are Skill, the ability to see and react to your enemy's actions, the number of enemies you face and your willingness to actually hit something.

Of those, the number of enemies is the overwhelming decisive factor. Fighting two enemies isn't twice as hard as fightin one, It's ten times. I always thought of the goblins and kobolds on the first floors as weaker than normal humans, but they work in groups against mostly single adventurers, and that's why they get kills.

Yeah, my MC fought some monsters, but he only acted as support, and barely survived some of the centipedes, which are level one monsters whose main danger is their poison. At least in my interpretation. His skill grew exponentialy through his sharingan ability to copy fighting ability from watching movements, his eyes can follow their movements, even if his body can't react fast enough to win even a solo fight againt them, and they are bestial enemies, without skill.

The MC can't really fight things on the 19th level, not alone, but he can, for a short time, survive it, with some luck and adrenaline.

Still, pity you don't see it that way.

didn't see your reply till now cause you didn't click reply, but a thing to take into account in danmachi, is that the dungeon scales WILDLY.

and sorry for being harsh, but one of the earliest events in danmachi, is bell cranel almost dying to a minotuar. after he's been in the dungeon for a good bit. which is from floor 15. and a level 2 monster. hell, level 2 monsters start appearing at floor 10, with the "infant dragon".

as an example for why i was so harsh (didn't mean to be, my bad), this is an excerpt from the danmachi wiki. "" The Large Tree Labyrinth is filled with monsters with base potential exceeding Minotaur's and others that inflict poison. Even with a large party it is difficult to explore the region with only Level 2 adventurers. It is also very difficult for Level 3 adventurers to solo the region""

The Large Tree Labyrinth is floors 19-24. which, our mc is on floor 19, fighting on par with monsters at the very least comparable to the minotaur. your supposed to be a lvl 2 adventurer, with at least G stats, to even go through the minotaurs floors, let alone floor 19.

see the issue?

and the sharingan won't even help here, he can't copy movements his body can't make, so completely untrained as he is, even if he was watching the other people fight (which he wasn't), he wouldn't be able to move fast enough to react to anything the centipedes did, or even block a single attack if he could. and watching the centipedes fight won't help him learn how to move, cause they are centipedes.

the sharingan let's you copy movements, "if you see them enough". it's not "i see, and so i do", unless you are a prodigy, like itachi or sasuke(who wasn't really a prodigy, just hax.), and even then it's rare that it works, cause you have to be able to do said move yourself, and generally have a similar physique.

you also have to be able to react, as seen by him watching movements he can't physically react to, due to sharingan.

so my problem with this story, is that from the start, you break it entirely, by having him fight back, physically (cause blocking serious strength AND skill when not using a shield, and even with one it's still difficult and requires strength.), and react fast enough, against enemies as strong as the minotaur, who are designed for speed (they are insects, specifically centipedes, after all. anime logic, they are speed fighters.).

realistically, he would be dead the moment one tried to attack him. and no one is going to take a supporter under level 2 to floor 19, outside the biggest familias (loki and freya), and probably not even then.

actually, even more realistically he'd die from the 30 meter drop you mentioned. thats 100 feet, so like jumping of a 9 story building. the main character is dead from that alone.

but that ^^^ is why i was so harsh. because you completely shat all over the difficulty of the dungeon, made you character op as hell while saying he wasn't given anything other than eyes, while claiming "dungeon diving is hard" as the title.

you either aren't putting any effort to make it reasonable (which i doubt is the case), or you just didn't realize how drastically out of proportion you were making things (which is was i think happened.). so i don't think you did it on purpose, especially with the latter half of your reply, but you completely failed in every way on that first chapter.

not saying the writing is bad, cause it's actually really high quality, and i think the premise of your story is great. just that by picking the floor you did, and having the events happen as they did, you instantly ruined the fic as anything other than a crack fic. how is he gonna struggle to do anything in the first 18 floors, when he can leap off 9 story buildings with no injuries, and fight things as strong as the minotaur before having any stats at all, while out of shape and with no knowledge of fighting?

it's up to you, you do seem to have atleast a few people enjoying this, but that first part is a serious turn away, so i'd honestly suggest rewriting it, but with a completely different starting point, like outside the city struggling to fight a "surface" goblin, to make it more realistic, or something. cause this is a really good premise, and you're skill in writing (other than the few spelling corrections that have been pointed out already lol) is well above most people on the site, so this premise has potential. i just think that whole first segment from riviera to the 19th floor is fucking you over.
 
Oof, the ptsd was bad enough on its own. But his inability to hide his, justifiable considering his knowledge on the gods, paranoia is going to cause some issues. Not to mention not having a way to contact his "god" to sign his permission slip. Lol.

I'm curious to see how digs himself out of the shit he's fallen face first in.

Yo, here's the next chapter
You forgot the threadmark.
 
Chapter 7
Chapter 7 is here, hope you guys enjoy it, next chapter is an interlude showing some of what's going on behind the scenes.

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"I think you killed him, Bete." Said a highly amused female voice somewhere above me.

"Yep, wonder what punishment the guild is going to give you?" A second woman wondered. This one seemed to be a little too cheerful for the situation.

"Damnit, it's not my problem he was such pathetic weakling!"

Bastard, it's not like he started life as a level 6 for fuck's sake, damn asshole.

I tried to push myself up and tell him just that but even my lips weren't working right, I only managed to squirm on the soft bed and mumble a little.

"Hey! I think he's alive!" Said the first voice and I felt someone bending over my body to check "Yep, seems pretty alive to me, you guys think his god is gonna want to cause trouble for this?"

"Che… not likely, he's probably from some two bit familia anyway" said Bete with disdain and I heard him stomp away from me.

"Pity, everything's been so boring nowadays I could use a war game"

"Loki-sama, even if he did die I don't think anyone would challenge us to a war game in Orario" said yet a third female voice.

"Ahhhh Line-chan, so respectful!" Loki herself shouted and jumped out of the bed sending a jolt of pain running through my body.

Shit, how the hell did I end up in the same room as Loki himself? For fuck's sake if I knew it would turn out this way I'd have stayed in the dungeon a while longer, at least monsters are open about their intentions.

Unable to move my body I started to panic, what if I was inside his secret dungeon? What if he found out I wasn't from this world? What kind of powers did the gods of this world even have?

When I started to hear chanting coming from beside me I finally managed to open my tired eyes.

Standing there and carefully chanting some kind of spell was a young human with straight black hair and glasses, one of her hands was open and pointing at me while her other tried to fend off a very petite Loki who was trying to push his face against her breasts.

At the door was one of the amazoness sisters and a perfectly average guy about my age fidgeting with a sword at his waist.

In desperation I tried to push myself away from whatever spell they were trying to cast but my limbs didn't want to move and I couldn't even feel my legs, then a green light washed over me making me fell warm all over, the last thing I saw was Loki's pensive gaze as she stared at my face.





I woke up feeling much better, taking stock of the situation I saw that I was still laying on the same bed but my clothes had been changed, there were no metal bars around the windows and door or any chains locking my limbs, even better, my arm seemed to be healed.

Just how long had they kept me sleeping in here?

Pushing myself into a sitting position I touched my face to see they had also healed my eye somehow, pushing a little bit of magic I felt I could even activate the mangekyou from both eyes again thought using Kotoamatsukami from the one that had been wounded was still decades beyond me.

I was utterly confused, with my mind clear once again I could admit I had massively overreacted by attacking Bete, I wouldn't be surprised if they left me to my own luck or even finished me off, so why heal me?

Well I suppose Loki had to appear benevolent to convince everyone he was a good guy until his sudden and inevitable betrayal.

Opening the door the same human girl walked inside carrying a tray of food, "Ah, you're awake" laying the tray besides my bed the girl bowed at the waist until she reached a 90º angle "I'm really sorry!"

"What?"

"I know Bete-sama acts rude but he was really worried about having hurt you"

Riiiiiiight, the asshole brutal werewolf who threw me into a wall was worried about hurting me sure, let's pretend I believe that.

"Ugh, where am I?"

"Well, at first Finn-sama was just going to pay for a room at the Dian Cecht familia's pharmacy but, once Ramilia told us you were one of the guys who saved her, Loki decided to bring you into the house" she fidgeted with her dress "She wanted to apologize personally"

My eyes briefly glanced at the windows and I wondered if we were on the ground floor and how much I'd hurt if it turned out we weren't but sighed and accepted my fate, it seems like I'd be meeting Loki himself despite everything.

Why the hell did the god of a major familia want to meet with a level 1 adventurer anyway, was he just that bored?

"How long was I out of it? I was told it'd take at least a week to heal my arm?" I asked and waved my perfectly healthy arm for her to see.

"Ah don't worry, you didn't lose that much time!" she hurried to say and blushed "It's only been two days but, since it had been Bete-sama who hurt you I have been casting a healing spell at least three times a day on your body, you should be perfectly fine"

Well, at least it seems I had gotten free healing out of the entire thing, it only took getting thrown into a wall by an angry werewolf and being forced to meet one of the worst gods I had ever read about… yay.

"Can't I just… leave without meeting Loki? I'm sure your god is a busy person there's no need for him to bother with such lowly adventurer" I knew it was a thin hope but I had to try anyway "I didn't even do that much after all"

"Well… ah, you see…" she fidgeted once again before bowing once again and finally answering "I'm sorry but Loki-sama insists on meeting you"

"Fuck" I mumbled causing the girl to look up

"I'm sorry what?"

"I said, when can I meet him anyway?"

"I'm going to tell her you're awake right away!" turning around the girl almost ran out of the room before stopping by the door "Once again, sorry for Bete's actions"

She left me alone on the room and I once again considered just getting up and running, there wasn't anyone guarding the door and, looking from the windows, the courtyard seemed empty.

Ugh, from what I remembered the familia was filled with level 6 and 5's, I wouldn't make it two blocks away from the mansion before they caught me anyway, plus there was still the chance that they really just wanted to apologize.

From what I remember Loki did have a good reputation in Orario, it was possible this was all just an act to make them look even better for the rest of the city.

Looking at the tray of food left besides my bed I picked a croissant from it and gave it a sniff, it was unlikely they'd poison it but you never know.

Ugh, since when had I become this paranoid, next thing I knew I'd only drink from my own flask and start yelling CONSTANT VIGILANCE at random people.

I mean it was a good motto live by but I didn't want to look too crazy.

Deciding to take a risk I ate the damn croissant and then proceeded to devour the rest of the food, poison be dammed I was starving again and it tasted good, if I was going to die I'd do it on a full stomach.

I had finished everything and was putting all my gear on when the girl came to get me and lead me into Loki's study itself, just before we entered she laid a hand on my shoulder and whispered.

"Just a warning, Loki-sama has a little problem with her lack of… chest but she's very much a woman alright?" the girl warned me with a very serious voice "please don't call her a 'him' to her face"

I nodded, I briefly wondered if Loki was really female here or if it was just a phase for the shapeshifting god of lies, well if she wanted to be treated as a woman I could oblige no matter the truth.

The room was huge with a planning table behind which sat Finn and Loki, with Gareth and Riveria behind them. Despite the hopeless situation my eyes still glanced around trying to find escape routes before they settled on a map spread in front of the four of them.

"You're here, good" said Finn as he got up from his chair, it didn't make a huge difference in his height

Glancing from the map to his face once again I said "I'm sorry, if I'm interrupting something I can go?" then I saw Loki's face, she had her crimson eyes open and I could glimpse the intelligence and cunning behind her façade for a moment.

It sent a shiver down my spine but then it was gone leaving me to wonder if I had even seen it after all.

"Nonsense!" said the norse god as she slammed her hands down on the table and smiled "You're the one who saved dear Remilia's breasts of course we can make some time for you!"

"Ahem… despite Loki's outburst we really wanted to apologize personally" said Finn before he slightly bowed his head "Despite the help you provided for a member of our familia Bete Loga still hurt you, I apologize, is there anything we can do for you to make up for it?"

Finn only bowed his head for a second but it was still an apology from a level 6 adventurer, I really doubt I'd receive another in my stay in this world unless I reach level 7 myself.

"Ah, there's really no need, I did overreact when he hit me at the hostess of fertility so it's kind of my fault"

"I insist" said Loki as she walked around the table and aproached me, I tried not to flinch when she stared at my face.

She walked around me and almost touched me once or twice causing a drop of sweat to run down my stiff face before nodding to herself as if coming to a decision

"Yep, as I thought you're not my type" Oh thank the gods "Pity or I'd offer you a spot on my familia, still you deserve a compensation"

Looking at Loki's top executives I saw both Riveria and Finn covering their faces in shame at their god's actions but Gareth seemed to agree with her.

"Yep you're still a little too green to join the Loki familia, too little muscles, too much fat" he nodded while caressing his beard.

Damn I didn't want to be anywhere near Loki and having them be indebted to me was better than the other way around it was still an unwanted connection, taking a moment to think about it I caught sight of my missing fingers and decided to try my luck.

"Would asking for help with my hand be too much?" I asked hoping they'd think it was enough to even the scores.

All three turned to Riveria while the tall elf thought about it and nodded.

"Any potion capable of regrowing pieces of a body, even just the fingers, is too expensive but, if you're willing to accept a prosthetic from Dian Cecht… something for just your fingers wouldn't be above what we're willing to finance"

"There you have it!" Loki shouted and suddenly grabbed my hand almost causing me to strike out, she looked at my missing fingers and gave an exaggerated sigh "It pains me to say Remilia's breasts are only worth two fingers but that old bastard's prosthetics really are expensive"

"Good, we'll make an order to Dian Cecht tomorrow" Finn said as he made a note on some document "you'll just have to go to their pharmacy for a fitting then"

"I also imagine Remilia and Kalos will want to thank you themselves some time later but Remilia is out and re-attaching his legs has left Kalos extremely tired" Gareth told me "then again they're elves so what do I know"

Riveria gave him a glare but even I could see there was no anger there.

That settled Finn waved me away and they returned to discussing the map spread over the table, as the doors to the studio were about to fully close I swear I saw Loki open her eyes again and smirk as she starred at me from inside.

Fuck that gave me the creeps.

Line helped me navigate through Loki's twilight manor and even gave me some tips for where to find an inn, of course I wouldn't follow then, no need to let anyone know where I'd be staying, but it was nice of her to make small talk.

A few moments later I was finally back into the streets of Orario and feeling like I had just dodged a bullet, I couldn't decide if Loki had really just been doing a publicity stunt or had some sinister plan but, for the moment I was out of her sights and free, that had to be enough.

I hurried away from the house, walking as fast as I could without appearing to run away and only stopping when I was almost back inside the tower and couldn't even see the building

Finding an inn inside the city turned out to be much easier than I thought, Orario was filled with travelers, merchants and other wandering adventurers and every there was an Inn for every single one of them.

From a flea filled hospital full of comunal rooms for those with nothing to their names to luxurious rooms inside the tower itself and anything in between.

I choose a small house just beside the city's walls, it looked clean and had reasonable rooms, each one big enough for a single bed, a footlocker to keep clothes and other equipments on, a table with two chairs and there was even a small fireplace where I could heat up some tea.

It worked by consuming a magic stone, what they called the monster cores outside of the dungeon, so there was no chance of burning down the building.

The owner, a tall woman who was missing a leg, wanted 800 valis a day but I managed to get her down to 500 for the entire month by paying in advance. It would be a pain in the ass if I had to ditch the place before the month was over but I could afford it.

Especially after getting free healing and a replacement for my fingers from Loki's familia.

Looking at my hand I briefly considered not going to the Dian Cecht pharmacy for the damn fitting but decided it would be far too suspicious… plus I really couldn't resist the chance to regain full use of the hand.

Just finding the right place had taken me most of the day so I just spent some time checking the room, making sure the door was locked and spent some time perfecting my illusions. I couldn't actually practice them without a target but I could start building new ones while trying to remember some from Naruto.


Taking off most of my clothes I made sure I kept a dagger easily accessible bellow my pillow and some pants on, it wouldn't do to have to fight naked if I was attacked while sleeping, then I laid down on the unexpectedly soft bed and started thinking about my new life.

How the hell would I register at the guild without a proper god to sign those papers? I could certainly forge them but would that even work? Didn't the gods of Orario have to participate in some kind of meeting from time to time?

Plus, Gods could tell if someone was lying it would only take a single one asking me about it and I was fucked.

I could use my last Kotoamatsukami to convince a god he had taken me in but… would that even work? The anime never made it clear just how powerful the Gods were or how limited they became when down here in the mortal world.

Were they just playing around and the only reason they didn't start using their divine might was because it would make things boring or were their powers actually sealed and they were little better than mortals?

Letting my head rest against the pillow, I sighed, I just didn't know enough, I suppose I didn't really need to register to be an adventurer, the guild may have a monopoly on magic stones but I could live just by selling the monster drops.

Looking over my own body I pinched my belly and sighed, I wasn't fat but I had been a little out of shape when I died and the creature hadn't changed that when it reincarnated me, my new Falna made me far stronger than an average man but it wouldn't hurt to get back into shape before finally starting to dungeon delve again.

Plus, it would give me time to create more illusions and copy the fighting stiles of adventurers with the sharingan.

Yes I'd take my time and prepare, there was no hurry after all, the world wasn't about to end tomorrow and I hadn't made any enemies that wanted to kill me yet. Closing my eyes I went to sleep.

Waking up the next morning I made sure to start a new routine, I had never been to an academy before but I figured it wouldn't hurt to start by emulating Saitama himself.

Even with my Falna I couldn't immediately do one hundred sit-ups, push-ups and squats but I managed to do half that and a 10 kilometer jog in the first day before going to Dian Cecht for a fitting, it seems Loki was true to her word and they informed me my prosthetics would be ready in a little over a month.

On a whim I asked how much it would cost for a personal health consultation with the god and they informed me the old man wouldn't move for anything less than 200 thousand valis but I could get half an hour of Airmid's for only 20 thousand if I was willing to get into a waiting list.

Bernadette, the nurse who was taking my hand's measurements, warned me that her Captain got very angry when someone wasted her time with nothing to treat but I figured it was worth a shot and got myself a consultation in three weeks.

Who knows how magic granted by the gods would affect the damage done by the use of the sharingan, maybe with enough money I wouldn't even have to worry about going blind.

In the afternoon I went to the coliseum to watch the adventurers sparing with each other, most of the place was filled with Ganesha Falimia members preparing everything for the monsterphilia but there were still two or three pairs working out on the sand and I eagerly copied their every move.

I still needed to practice the moves if I wanted to make them my own but, one of the advantages of being in Orario is that nobody looked at me oddly if I started waving my sword around as long as I didn't threaten anyone while doing so.

Without a TV or computer to grab my attention I spent the entire day working hard arriving at the Inn soaked in sweat, took a quick shower and spent a few hours working on the visualization of my illusions.

I still didn't feel all that safe inside my room, always keeping at least a dagger close by and always felt like there was someone watching me, I even activated the mangekyou every once in a while but never caught anyone following me.

From time to time I meet up with Mord or Scott as I ran in the morning but they were always busy trying to raise money and didn't have time to talk, they too had asked the Loki familia for help buying a new arm for Scott.

Unfortunately, turns out an entire working arm was FAR more complex and thus expensive than just a few fingers so they still had to make up the difference with their own money.

As the days went by my body improved, I quickly managed to hit and overcome my goal of a hundred repetitions on the exercises and found my ability with the sword increasing at an impressive speed but the odd sense of something observing me never really left making me constantly on edge.

Barely two weeks later I let a drop of blood run down my back and checked the state of my falna.

Roland Synclair – level 1
Strength – H - 107
Endurance – H - 114
Dexterity – I - 98
Agility – I - 92
Magic – G - 205
Skills:
- Chosen of an Outer God.
- Mangekyou Sharingan (Shisui).

It was far from Bell's level of growth but I felt it was good enough for someone who hadn't killed a single monster for two weeks.

Taking the time to sharpen my sword with a newly bought whetstone I tested the edge against the hairs on my arm and nodded when it shaved them better than any razor I had ever used.

I knew I should really wait for my prosthetic to be ready or at least for my consult with Airmid but I really needed to let out some steam and, after two weeks of training, my missing fingers barely affected my fighting.

Sheathing my sword, I smiled. Ready or not, I would be going back into the dungeon today.

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A/N : Thanks for my patrons : Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie, Banh Bao, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, Scott, Tony Martinez, Travis cox, Chaos, Rootbeerguy, High Priest of Torga, James Williams and Michael Neal for supporting my work!

If you like my work, take a look at my other novels or my patreon. You can support me for a single dollar.
 
Huh... I'm just guessing, but I'd say Loki is HIGHLY amused by the sheer terror Roland was giving off. With as tiny as she is, most people probably treat her like she's adorable. So having a kid treat her like a credible threat probably felt good to her ego.

As for him feeling like someone is watching him... Is it Ouranos, one of the other gods, or... Ryu?
 
Chapter 7.5 - Interlude 1
heya, first interlude here, a little look at what's going on behind the scenes.

Next chapter in about 2 days

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LOKI

"Should we have someone watch him?" Asked Gareth as he scratched his beard, the dwarf didn't particularly believe it was needed, but it was always better to be cautious.

"No, I think he was just intimidated by us." Voiced Finn, the Loki familia captain had considered having the boy followed, but decided against it.

True, there was a chance the boy had been a mole from the attacking bandits, and his obvious fear was suspicious but, from what Ramillia had said, he had fought with his life on the line and the enemies hadn't even hinted at his involvement.

He also hadn't tried to curry favor with their familia, or even seem interested in the fake map they had been using to draw his attention so, even if he had been a mole, their activities didn't seem to be his target.

Plus, Finn wasn't above giving someone a second chance if they earned it, and it seemed like the boy had.

"He wasn't afraid of you guys." Said Loki herself with a serious voice. "Well, he was, but it wasn't really about you guys."

"Then why?"

"He was absolutely terrified of me!" She said with barely contained laughter, her red eyes shining in interest. "How amusing, he was in a room with 3 level six adventurers and the one that made him shake was little old me."

Riveria sighed and made a brief prayer for the poor adventurer. Let the other gods have mercy on his soul because Loki certainly wouldn't.

"Loki-sama, you have a lot of work to do." She said to try and distract her god.

"Come on Riveria-chan, did you see the way he shook every time I moved?" Jumping on top of the table, Loki put both hands behind her head and gave a wide, predatory smile. "Where else will I find such a perfect toy?"

Well… in the end, she didn't try very hard, a bored Loki was annoying and, if it took a traumatized adventurer to satisfy her, it was a sacrifice Riveria was willing to make.

"I guess we're getting someone to follow him after all?" Asked Finn as he looked at his goddess, he didn't really need her approval to make decisions for the familia, but he liked to accommodate her whims, it was better for everyone involved.

"No, no I'll be watching him personally… I wonder how far he'd jump if I suddenly appeared behind him?"

Incredibly happy with her discovery, Loki pushed herself up and fled the room before Riveria could grab her, leaving a mountain of paperwork behind.

"Poor guy." All three of them signed at the same time, then they started spreading the real dungeon map over the table so they could finally start to plan their next delve.

"Get a team to protect Loki anyway." Finn said as he grabbed a stack of notes from their previous expedition. "I don't think the boy will be dangerous, but we better make sure."

"Any preferences?"

"Use people Loki won't feel tempted to harass, no need to get our female members mad at us."

"Good thinking." Nodded Gareth, the dwarf patted Finn on the back and opened the door to shout for someone to follow Loki before the goddess started a riot on the streets.

"Ugh, why do I feel this is gonna be trouble?"

"Because it's Loki, anything that grabs her attention leads to trouble."

All three leaders of Loki familia briefly traded glances and sighed, over the years, they had learned to love Loki, but they still couldn't help but wish she were more like Hephestos.



FREYA

At the very top of Babel tower, an elegant woman sat looking down over the city of Orario, all around her laid plucked rose petals spread all over the floor.

Freya's eyes searched the city for a long time before she found her target and watched him look around in worry, her body gave a little shudder and she grabbed another rose from a vase beside her chair.

Slowly, her delicate fingers plucked a petal and released it to drift down to the floor.

"Should I do it…"

"What is the problem, my goddess?" Asked Ottar from behind her, the giant boaz always willing to hear her musings.

"Do you feel fear Ottar?" she mused in a calm tone. "I don't think I ever asked you about it but, when facing a new monster or some impossible odds in the dungeon, are you afraid?"

"Yes." He answered simply, even as one of his hands found the handle of his sword and squeezed.

"I had never felt fear before, you know." She confessed and pulled another petal out, throwing it over the edge of the tower. "That shiver down my spine, the feeling of helplessness and oppression, as if something has grabbed my heart and is slowly squeezing…"

With a flushed face, Freya squeezed her legs together and her whole body shook with pleasure.

"His aura should have been so uninteresting, incredibly damaged, yes, but it was only a light green color filled with sports of red." Sighing again, she let her body sprawl over her chair as she saw him ducking under an alley and away from her gaze.

"A perfectly ordinary aura, were it not for the lines of deep purple running across it, they grabbed at his colors, holding then together and tainting them as if they would consume him, as if it would consume me just by looking, it's even causing my divine origin to shake."

"What's the name of the one I should kill?" Ottar asked with barely contained rage, how dare a lowly adventurer threaten his goddess!

"Oh, stop it Ottar. Nobody is gonna kill him if I can help it."

"I see…" The giant forced his hand to release the weapon and sighed, his goddess did like to play with danger.

"Come now." Freya laughed as she pulled another petal out of the rose and threw it in his face. "Would you deny me this excitement, Ottar? You, who throws himself in the dungeon over and over again, facing danger every day would deny me the chance to do the same?"

"Of course not, my goddess."

"Besides, he may have that strange aura clinging to him, and those eyes that feel so close to the divine, but he's barely a level 1." Freya sighed and finally relaxed. "I doubt he has more than a single status over H."

Ottar didn't say anything else, but Freya was sure he understood, he was the child who was closest to her after all.

Freya looked down on Orario once again and sighed when she couldn't find him, he was always so quickly to sense her gaze.

Truth be told, she had the urge to send Ottar down there and slay the kid once and for all, she had a familia to protect and her promises to keep, she really shouldn't risk her life like this but… she couldn't go against her nature.

Freya had always loved collecting heroes, those who shone the brightest or had the most beautiful colors would always find a place amongst her children, but she had never encountered something like this before.

For all intends, the adventurer had been a weakling, she could see it had been barely a month since he received a falna and, while his growth was impressive, it wasn't impossible so.

Still, that deep purple color she couldn't see through, that little bit of aura holding his own soul in place and slowly spreading its tentacles over the rest, mixing with it, changing it.

It had left her heart beating madly against her chest.

Even before incarnating in the mortal world, she had hardly felt such danger, such power… and such allure.

Freya had taken dangerous lovers before, she had taken risks and gotten involved with those capable of hurting her but, even then, the most they could do was send her back to heaven.

There was just something different about courting something fully capable of ending her very existence… could he truly kill a god? Could she afford to find out?

"Should I not…" She mumbled as she plucked the last petal on her current rose without coming to a decision.

She let the rose fall from her fingers and quickly found her own hands tracing her body until one of them was squeezing her chest and the other found its way inside her tight pants.

Should she end the treat before it affected her familia? Should she help it grow until it could? She couldn't decide, and the roses weren't helping.

Even without the strange purple on his aura, the adventurer still had those eyes, she could see they were deteriorated, but their origin had been something great.

Not divine, no, but something equally powerful, was he a descendant from some mighty spirit? How much of their former power would those eyes regain if he grew stronger?

So many questions…

No, for now, she would wait without interfering, she would see if those purple strings would continue to grow and consume him or fade away after his wounded aura healed, leaving him an ordinary man.

She really hoped she could find out quickly, before she was unable to stop herself.




DIX PERDIX

Perdix poked at the creature in the cage with his cursed spear and laughed as it desperately tried to avoid him.

He really wanted to kill the damn thing, to drive his spear through its core and watch as it dissolved in front of its friends, to savor their fear and helplessness as he did it to them too.

The headache hit him suddenly, making him grab at his cursed eye and scream in defiance even as he pulled the spear back and left the lizardman alone.

It seemed he had been killing far too many of them lately, the curse wouldn't let him continue.

Sometimes, Perdix though it would be better to be like his brother, so lost into the curse he couldn't care about anything else but growing the damn labyrinth.

But no, he was the money man, the curse needed his brother to work on the walls and doors, to sculpt the labyrinth as that bastard had envisioned it, but it also needed him to gather the necessary money and materials.

Sometimes, Perdix wondered what he would have become if the curse didn't force him to gather money, to desperately fight for every single magic stone and valy he could get his hands on, just so he could buy more Orichalcum to complete the damn place.

Truth be told, he hadn't even taken pleasure at tormenting and killing the monsters, well… Not in the beginning.

It had just been an act of rebellion, a way to deny his curse the money they'd bring by devaluing or even destroying their bodies.

"Perdix-sama, it seems they have failed to kill the adventurer."

"What?" He asked and jumped down from the monster's cage to fall before the bald man. "How the hell did they fail to kill a single level 1 adventurer?"

He wasn't really mad about it, the fuck did he care if Enyo wanted some poor SOB dead after all, more like, he was baffled that his own familia was so incompetent as to fail on such simple task.

The tattooed bald man grabbed the surviving crossbowman and forced him down to his knees in front of Perdix.

"He wasn't alone." Gran said as he laid his huge great sword against the floor and shook the man. "Explain what happened again."

Hearing the explanation didn't make Perdix feel that much better, sure, losing to a party, even a heavily wounded party, was better than losing to a single level 1, but not by much.

"Did you guys at least find out his name or something?"

"Roland Perdix-sama." Answered the kneeling man as he tried to wipe cold sweat from his forehead. "In Riviera, he said his name was Roland Sinclair."

"And which familia he's from?"

"He never told anyone."

Grabbing at his spear, Dix imagined piercing the man through his chest and throwing him to the monsters, but a new spike of pain changed his mind.

Even família members were resources and, without the payment from Enyo, his curse was being even more insistent.

Godsdamnit, why did that damn shady god had to have such odd tastes? Every once in a while they'd get some completely random request to murder an adventurer or party and, for the life of him, Perdix couldn't find out why.

Wiping his arm around, Perdix smashed his spear into the cage, sending sparks flying all over the floor and scaring both monsters and adventurers.

"Alright, alright, I'm calm." Taking a deep breath, he rubbed the spot above his eyes and hoped his damn curse would stop demanding more resources. "Find out where this asshole is, take a level three or four and end him!"

Another spike of pain hit him, causing him to stumble in place, he should have known it wouldn't do to test his curse, but he just couldn't help trying to sabotage it's efforts.

"Tsk… wait, just monitor him for now, wait until the guy steps into the dungeon before acting." deciding to give up for the day, Perdix twisted his spear and let it rest quietly at his back. " Try to use a monster train to kill him, make it looks like an accident or something, it wouldn't do for someone to get suspicious."

"What about the Loki familia?"

"They didn't capture anyone alive did they?"

"No Perdix-sama."

"Then they shouldn't be able to find out anything, that's why I said to make it look like an accident!" He pressed two finger to the idiot's forehead and poked it repeatedly. "Two attacks against a level 1 would be suspicious, but a dungeon related accident…"

Sometimes, he wondered why he even bothered to train those idiots anyway.

Then he remembered that, without them to bring in the money, the curse would probably force him to hunt in the dungeon 24/7 and sighed.

"Having trouble with your subordinates?" Asked the tall god with amusement as he inspected a small goblin trembling inside one of the cages.

"Just some idiots messing up one of Enyo's little assassinations, Thanatos." He greeted the god.

At least Thanatos was bearable, the way he played with his own delusional familia without even having to trick them was incredibly amusing.

"Hmm, perhaps I should get some of my own people looking into it?"

Perdix smirked, he couldn't order his own familia to cause a mess and lose him money but, if Thanatos wanted to do it for him…

Like him, Thanatos didn't really need their plans to succeed, he wanted to win sure but, far more importantly, he wanted to have fun doing it.

He wondered how much trouble the god's little fanatics would cause this time.





OURANOS

In a closed off room bellow the guild, a lone god sat upon a stone throne, his expression was serious as he looked down upon the dungeon in concern.

Was it trying to find a way around their deal already?

"Fels!"

"You called, Ouranos-sama?" Asked a tall robed figure as it seemed to materialize from the shadows.

"Something escaped from the dungeon." Ouranos told his only familia member.

"Hmmm, did it use a different exit? No, you wouldn't have felt it them but, how did it overcome your prayers?"

Ouranos himself frowned, that was a question he had been asking himself for a few days already.

"I felt it was born from the dungeon but… not, I am certain it wasn't a monster at least." He tapped a single finger against the armrest of his throne, trying to find an answer.

"A Xenos then?"

"No, this creature is something new." Ouranos said, his once impassive face growing concerned.

"Hmmm, first the Xenos, then those odd movements in the deep floors, now this… the dungeon is changing fast."

"Whatever escaped the dungeon is free in Orario, find it Fels."

"And what should I do once it's found?" The robed man asked, a metal gauntlet rising from under the dark robes to scratch at his hidden face.

"Whatever you find necessary."

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A/N : Thanks for my patrons : Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie, Banh Bao, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, Scott, Tony Martinez, Travis cox, Chaos, Rootbeerguy, High Priest of Torga, James Williams and Michael Neal for supporting my work!

If you like my work, take a look at my other novels or my patreon. You can support me for a single dollar.
 
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Just thought I'd point out that you might want to give this another editing pass. There were a lot more odd typos this time.

On a separate note, yeah, the Loki pov was hilarious. She really is an unrepentant little gremlin, isn't she?

Also, damn, poor guy has got a LOT of gods after his ass.
 
didn't see your reply till now cause you didn't click reply, but a thing to take into account in danmachi, is that the dungeon scales WILDLY.

and sorry for being harsh, but one of the earliest events in danmachi, is bell cranel almost dying to a minotuar. after he's been in the dungeon for a good bit. which is from floor 15. and a level 2 monster. hell, level 2 monsters start appearing at floor 10, with the "infant dragon".

as an example for why i was so harsh (didn't mean to be, my bad), this is an excerpt from the danmachi wiki. "" The Large Tree Labyrinth is filled with monsters with base potential exceeding Minotaur's and others that inflict poison. Even with a large party it is difficult to explore the region with only Level 2 adventurers. It is also very difficult for Level 3 adventurers to solo the region""

The Large Tree Labyrinth is floors 19-24. which, our mc is on floor 19, fighting on par with monsters at the very least comparable to the minotaur. your supposed to be a lvl 2 adventurer, with at least G stats, to even go through the minotaurs floors, let alone floor 19.

see the issue?

and the sharingan won't even help here, he can't copy movements his body can't make, so completely untrained as he is, even if he was watching the other people fight (which he wasn't), he wouldn't be able to move fast enough to react to anything the centipedes did, or even block a single attack if he could. and watching the centipedes fight won't help him learn how to move, cause they are centipedes.

the sharingan let's you copy movements, "if you see them enough". it's not "i see, and so i do", unless you are a prodigy, like itachi or sasuke(who wasn't really a prodigy, just hax.), and even then it's rare that it works, cause you have to be able to do said move yourself, and generally have a similar physique.

you also have to be able to react, as seen by him watching movements he can't physically react to, due to sharingan.

so my problem with this story, is that from the start, you break it entirely, by having him fight back, physically (cause blocking serious strength AND skill when not using a shield, and even with one it's still difficult and requires strength.), and react fast enough, against enemies as strong as the minotaur, who are designed for speed (they are insects, specifically centipedes, after all. anime logic, they are speed fighters.).

realistically, he would be dead the moment one tried to attack him. and no one is going to take a supporter under level 2 to floor 19, outside the biggest familias (loki and freya), and probably not even then.

actually, even more realistically he'd die from the 30 meter drop you mentioned. thats 100 feet, so like jumping of a 9 story building. the main character is dead from that alone.

but that ^^^ is why i was so harsh. because you completely shat all over the difficulty of the dungeon, made you character op as hell while saying he wasn't given anything other than eyes, while claiming "dungeon diving is hard" as the title.

you either aren't putting any effort to make it reasonable (which i doubt is the case), or you just didn't realize how drastically out of proportion you were making things (which is was i think happened.). so i don't think you did it on purpose, especially with the latter half of your reply, but you completely failed in every way on that first chapter.

not saying the writing is bad, cause it's actually really high quality, and i think the premise of your story is great. just that by picking the floor you did, and having the events happen as they did, you instantly ruined the fic as anything other than a crack fic. how is he gonna struggle to do anything in the first 18 floors, when he can leap off 9 story buildings with no injuries, and fight things as strong as the minotaur before having any stats at all, while out of shape and with no knowledge of fighting?

it's up to you, you do seem to have atleast a few people enjoying this, but that first part is a serious turn away, so i'd honestly suggest rewriting it, but with a completely different starting point, like outside the city struggling to fight a "surface" goblin, to make it more realistic, or something. cause this is a really good premise, and you're skill in writing (other than the few spelling corrections that have been pointed out already lol) is well above most people on the site, so this premise has potential. i just think that whole first segment from riviera to the 19th floor is fucking you over.


You know, I hadn't really considered it while I was reading and enjoying the story. But now that you pointed it out and I rewatched Danmachi, specifically when Bors and his group made off to get a pay day from the dungeon. Only to be massacred down to the last man by a Juggernaut(an extreme example I know, but still valid.) You make a very valid point. Even for a level one adventurer(which he is given he has a falna from an outer god, which honestly is a gripe for me but I have chosen to ignore it. Best I can anyway.)


The dungeon does scale wildly and there are reasons why it is advised for people to be of a particular stat or level before venturing into those parts unknown. It is not to be a dick to arrogant adventurers who think they can handle it(as many readers and authors would try to point out via narrative.) Quite a few stories are very guilty of this. But unless you are up to snuff, then you are needlessly throwing yourself into the meatgrinder. Even more so for a drop in character with only cool eyes, a falna and no perks or skills to back him up. In one of the worst floors to be in mind you. With no training at all. Yikes.


Hell I had even toyed with the idea of starting off in the dungeon myself, but after some thinking and reading this review, it brought me back to reality. An I have decided otherwise. Even if a character has perks and whatnot backing him up that would give him a leg up on the competition, he would still need to be trained and ready for those hardships in the dungeon. That would just be good common decency because the last thing you want to do is be a liability to yourself or a team your with. All because you were to weak to pull your weight.


Krow and several other authors had the right idea to have their mc's explore the world outside of the dungeon for a bit. Prep and ready themselves before going in to make that money and improve themselves. Hell I love Jords idea of eating monster stones to get stronger and improve his fighting instincts.
 
Chapter 8
New chapter is out, you can still read ahead on my patreon, and a new chapter is coming out tomorrow.

I hope you guys enjoy the chapter, next one in two days.

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The entrance of the dungeon laid open for anyone to climb down, an enormous hole into the ground, ten meters wide and with only a small narrow path leading down into the depths of the dungeon.

The day before, I had bought a set of potions from the Dian Cecht familia. Six health potions, three stamina potions and one mind potion rested safely inside a small padded leather pouch resting at my waist. It had cost me 10 thousand valis in total, but I thought it was a worthy investment.

Who knows, I may not even need to use them.

I didn't feel myself being watched right now, but I still took some time to look around and make sure nobody was following me.

A party of higher level adventurers was going down the dungeon entrance before me. The six scantily clad amazonesses barely spared me a glance before actually ignoring the winding path and jumping down the hole like agile cats. I gave them some time to clear the way and, when nobody else came, started walking down.

Unsheathing my sword, I finally stepped into the first floor of the dungeon alone. The party before me was long gone, leaving the corpses of four goblins laying around, their heads crushed from a single blow.

Shrugging my shoulders, I took only a minute to harvest their magic stones and a single goblin fang, putting them in separate pouches in my backpack.

The first floor of the dungeon was a cave environment with wide hallways and light blue walls, the light coming from a myriad of small shining spots on the walls.

Turning a corner, a small dog-headed humanoid screeched and charged towards me, fur covered its back and privates. Opening its arms wide, he telegraphed a wide swing with his claws.

The beast was only slightly faster than an average human and had no skill; better yet, since the kobold was mostly humanoid, my eyes could already predict its every movement.

Not seeing any other monster around, I became complacent, lazily stepping away from the patch of his swing. What I didn't consider was that the Kobold would have time to react to my movements, twisting his body and striking at my face.

My heart skipped a beat as I desperately ducked under its claws and struck with a rising blow as fast as I could, severing its entire arm, some blood sprayed into my face, but I immediately reversed the swing and decapitated the creature.

Taking a second to recover my breath, I wiped the blood from my face and looked down at the creature. "Fuck, gotta remember this isn't actually a video game, the monsters won't keep to their neat little patterns after I dodged them."

Continuing exploring the dungeon, I killed another two lone kobolds before a group of three goblins rushed at me. With a brief glance, I sent a wave of pain to the first goblin, causing it to release a pitiful scream and fall to the floor grabbing at his head. The second goblin stumbled on his body and was sent sprawling, but the third one had enough time to jump over their bodies.

Adjusting my posture, I grabbed my sword with both hands and delivered a powerful wrath strike, using my reach to cut the monster in half before it could strike me. Seeing as the second monster had started to get up, I lunged, thrusting the tip of my blade all the way through his head.

The first monster was still twisting around on the ground and crying out, despite using a lesser illusion, the goblin was still too weak to get rid of my influence, so I just pierced its heart and watched it dissolve into dust and leave behind a second goblin fang.

Shit, I forgot I shouldn't hit their magic crystals.

Retrieving my blade, I flicked it aside to get rid of the blood and harvested the other two corpses, getting another two intact magic crystals but no lot drop.

Half an hour later, I found the entrance to the second floor and went down.

I barely took a dozen steps on the second floor before I had to jump back as a giant lizard fell from the ceiling and attempted to bite me. The beast was almost the size of an adult man, with leathery skin and feet like a frog's.

Twisting around, it tried to hit me with its tail and I was forced to retreat in a hurry. With a different musculature and shape, my eyes were still unable to predict the beast's movements so I looked around and, seeing no other monster, spent twenty minutes fighting the creature.

It was slightly slower than me and, despite being unable to predict then, I could still see its movements as if they were in slow motion, so I had no trouble fighting the beast until I started to see the shadow of its movements.

By the time I was done, it was already exhausted and bleeding out so I just cut off its head and harvested its crystal.

Monster spawning in the first floors seemed sporadic at best and I saw a few other new adventurers fighting alone or in pairs, so I made my way down to the fourth floor where the corridors were wider.

There were more adventurers hunting here, but the floor itself was several times bigger and I started encountering groups of monsters fairly often, goblins and kobolds attacked me in groups of three or four monsters, but they had no coordination or pack instinct and got in each other's way as often as not.

Fighting more than one enemy was still much harder, but the hallways weren't wide enough for them to make full use of it, and I always kept them ahead of me.

At first I was forced to use my illusions to take one or two monsters off the fight, but I soon grew used to their fighting and fought around them with ease, using illusions just to improve them and grow my attributes.

Almost bored, I sidestepped a goblin but couldn't strike it down before one of his companions tried to grab me. I was fighting in an intersection and found two groups at the same time, being forced to fight seven of the creatures.

Waving my sword in a wide arc, I forced the goblins back and started walking sideways until I managed to put one goblin at the front so that the others had to come through it to attack me.

I took a deep breath. After such a long time fighting, I had started to get a headache and was unwilling to spend any more mind if I didn't have to. I didn't want to be caught without mind by something like the Vouivre or a monster wave.

Considering my options, I knew I had to eliminate a few goblins before they surrounded me and made it impossible to fight.

We looked at each other for a few seconds and, seeing their muscles start to tense, I lunged before they could react, my sword pierced the neck of the first goblin to the hilt and I drove my shoulder on his chest, lifting his small green body up and using it as a shield as I charged the others.

The goblin spewed blood at the back of my armor as it received several scratches from its friends. I managed to skewer a second goblin and break through their ranks, leaving the crossing and entering one of the hallways.

With a kick, I pushed both goblins out of my sword and twisted around, finally managing to put my back against the wall, the remaining five monsters were already charging at me.

Waiting for the last second, I sidestepped the first monster and cut off its neck. With a single wide blow, I cut a second goblin in two and carved halfway through the skull of another before my sword got stuck on his bones.

"Fuck!" Unable to pull the sword out in time, I kicked out, stomping on the chest of another and sending him flying back.

I was forced to release my hilt to roll under the last goblin's blow; before it recovered from the pounce, I pulled out my throwing knives and sent them flying, burying them in his neck.

With my last dagger I approached the goblin I had kicked, my blow had driven the air out of its lungs and it was still trying to recover its breath when I stomped on its arms and drove the point of the dagger into its eyes.

Patting myself down to get rid of the dust, I was left breathing hard and sweating but with a huge smile on my face, damn, that had been fun.

Harvesting their magic crystals and gathering my throwing daggers I sighed. I really should have used my illusions on the goblins, seven of them were a little too much to safely fight and I still didn't have the kind of stats capable of shrugging off a strong blow.

Even a single claw or strike at the wrong place could leave me unable to recover or dead, but the illusions just made things a little too easy.

Leaning on the wall, I took a few minutes of rest and saw another dungeon lizard trying to sneak his way through the ceiling in order to ambush me, a flick of my arm and a dagger buried itself on the creature's large eye, causing it to drop on its back screeching.

Damn, I got pretty good at this.

Opening my pouch, I pulled out a stamina potion and looked at it, feeling a little bit of pain gripping my heart. They're so small, but each one costs over 1000 valis. Pulling the cork off, I drank it.

Short rests just weren't helping all that much anymore and I didn't want to risk getting caught in an even bigger fight.

Washing my hands with some of my water supply, I pulled out a piece of jerky and started walking while eating, searching for another group of monsters.

Turning another corner, I finally saw the cave leading to a lower floor and stopped. Floor 5 was a different beast and I didn't know if I could take it.

Fuck it, I had only used a single stamina potion in this entire delve and my headache was already gone away.

Plus, continuing to fight kobolds and goblins would be boring, I already memorized their attack patterns and, unless I found two or three groups at the same time, I wouldn't even need to use my magic.

Going down to the fifth floor, I saw another adventurer coming up, his shirt was covered in blood, but he just looked tired. Tightening the grip on my sword, I gave him a wide berth.

The fifth floor looked different. The walls had a light green color and looked a little more natural instead of the almost manmade feel of the first four, the hallways were wider and I soon found myself in a huge room with a bigger ceiling and three entrances.

The room itself was filled with boulders and gaps from where monsters could ambush me. The second I stepped inside, a large Kobold caught sight of me and howled before five of the creatures charged me.

Pulling out three daggers, I threw them, hitting one of the creatures on the neck and chest and a second on the arm but, because of their thick fur, it didn't kill them.

Waving around the beast, I cut them, my sword flashing around and leaving arcs of blood as I carved through their flesh, cutting off limbs and slashing their exposed chests.

Even dying, one of the kobolds managed to bite down on my sword arm, forcing me to retreat while trying to open his jaw. Something hit me from the back, ridding my body to the ground and trying to bite my neck.

My armor blocked the dungeon lizard's fangs and I rolled aside, causing it to fall off my back. I jumped to my feet before the lizard could recover and looked around for my sword. It had fallen on the other side of the creature and there was already one last Kobold rushing me.

Dodging its claw swipe, I punched the creature in the throat and then smashed my elbow on its temple before kicking its body towards the lizard, making it busy enough I could recover my weapon and finish it off.

Looking at the bleeding bite marks on my arm, I shook my head… So much for not using potions, another 700 valis down the drain.

The second room I found was actually big enough that I spent almost an hour clearing it of monsters. There were seven goblin parties and two Kobold packs, as well as several lizards hidden between cracks and even under boulders.

I wasn't stupid enough to go very deep, only keeping to the rooms and hallways around the entrance, but I was still fighting far more often than on the previous floors and needed to take a second stamina potion.

I barely had the chance to catch my breath before another kobold pack rushed me in the hallway; one of the creatures even had a large stone club on his hand.

Taking a deep breath, I got up and waited for them to arrive, my stance relaxed to conserve energy. The moment they got into range, I struck.

My eyes had adjusted so much to their movements I could predict every step they took, letting me kill them with a single slash or thrust. Flicking the blood aside, I put my sword away and stretched my back.

My backpack was almost full and it was probably around the time to get back. I had seen another five adventurers going up the floor already and I didn't want to get caught in a wave of returning delvers.

Who knows if one of them wouldn't turn out to be an asshole and lay an ambush to try and rob me?

Looking towards the next room, I briefly considered continuing. I had wanted to see a war shadow or killer ant, but there had been none so close to the entrance of the fourth floor.

Stretching my limbs, I already saw a goblin breaking out of the wall to my left, the dungeon working hard to spawn new mobs and try to kill me. The creature was far enough that I couldn't hit it with a dagger, so I just retreated and started making my way back.

I still had to be careful so I wouldn't be ambushed by those damn dungeon lizards who kept appearing when I least expected.

Who knew giant geckos could be so sneaky? Even the sharingan had trouble making them out when I was distracted.

Finally taking the stairs out of the dungeon, I started to holster my sword but thought better of it and kept it in my hand until I finally stepped out into the streets and people started giving me angry looks.

Cleaning the blade with a piece of cloth, I put it away and pulled out another piece of jerky to snack on.

I had just bitten off another piece when I froze, a shiver went down my spine filling my entire body with goosebumps. With slow and stiff movements, I turned my head and saw it.

Sitting there, sucking on a tall glass from a wooden straw, her feet on top of the table and her crimson eyes staring right through my soul was Loki.

Her mouth opened in a wide smirk as she gave me a little wave.

"Argh… coff…coff…coff." I choked on my jerky, tears filling my eyes and I started to panic until I finally managed to spit it out. "Why me?"

Avoiding her eyes, I lowered my head and immediately turned around to dash away, I smashed right into something hard and bounced back a few steps.

"Ne, ne, newbie-kun, good to see you survived the dungeon alone!"

A small hand patted my shoulder in congratulations, making me focus on the girl in front of me. Tiona, like most amazoness, wore little clothes, her chest was bound by a single piece of cloth that could be called a sports bra and she had a yellow skirt that showed her bare legs.

I stared for quite a few seconds to take in the tanned level 5 adventurer, she was petite and extremely fit, with a hint of a six pack on her abs… Despite her muscles, she still looked cute. Damn, the anime's simple drawing really didn't do her justice.

"Come on newbie-kun, Loki wants to talk with you."

"Can I say… no?" I asked while looking down at Tiona's smiling face.

"Sure." She said and put a finger against her mouth in thought. "Hmmm, I don't think Loki would be happy though."

Well… fuck me then.

With a sight, I followed Tiona back to the shop where Loki was still waiving, her eyes almost closed in amusement and her pupils barely visible.

Loki took her boots off the table and I put my bag down in order to free my hands before sitting with the amazoness, my body completely stiff and my hand gripping my sword as hard as I could.

Why the hell was Loki after me, for fuck's sake, what did I do to catch her attention?

Putting both elbows on the table, she crossed her fingers in front of her face and just stared at me, making humming noises and only causing my tension to grow.

Just as I was about to force myself into relaxing, Loki's eyes opened wide at something behind me and she violently pushed her chair back to escape.

Turning around, I activated the mangekyou and jumped off my chair drawing my sword out for a parry.

"Fast for a level one aren't you?" Loki said in amusement. "Got a lot of kills too."

Did this bitch just trick me with a 'behind you'?

Swallowing my wounded pride, I sat back down and turned to see Loki searching my backpack. Turning to Tiona, she just shrugged in sympathy but actually started to lean over to get a look too.

"Hey you got a lot of lizard tails." Loki shouted happily and pulled out a bag with twelve of the item drops. "My kids never drop them anymore since everyone hunts further down, thanks, I love the taste."

"Can I have those back?" I calmly asked, doing my best to not show how annoyed she was making me.

"Nope, they're mine now." Pushing the backpack back, Loki kept the lizard drops for herself and threw me a bag of valis. "Relax newbie, order something, I'm paying, have to thank you for saving my cute kids after all."

Loki probably wouldn't have me killed right in front of the dungeon entrance, there's no way even her familia could escape the repercussions… I hope.

Alright, I just have to keep myself from agreeing with anything and I'd probably be fine.

Finally relaxing a little, I ordered an ice coffee and forced myself to release my sword. Tiona too laid back on her chair and put her hands behind her head.

"Hmm, Hmmmm, Hmmmmmmmmm" Loki twisted her head from side to side, looking me over, a finger tapping at her chin. "You're a really new adventurer aren't you? I can see you're still a little out of shape and, from your lot, you stopped around the fifth floor right?"

"I heard monsters are stronger in the dungeon, I was just testing that today so there was no need to delve too deep." I told her, trying to make it seem like I had been an adventurer for longer.

"Heh, you do remember I can tell when you're lying right?" she said, sounding almost disappointed.

Shit, I was so tense I had forgotten!

"Fine, it's only been a month or two." I grumbled, a servant finally arrived and laid a glass with my coffee in front of me, it looked surprisingly modern for a sword and sorcery world, it even had a good amount of cream on top and a little spade.

"Say, what's the name of your god again? I didn't think anyone still in the city was the type to give someone a falna and just dump them on the 18th floor." Loki asked, leaning over the table.

"He never told me his name." I answered and moved my chair as discreetly as I could away from her.

"How odd, the gods usually like to brag." Tiona commented without much care, her body leaning back in her chair.

"Say, since your god is such an asshole, what do you think about becoming a member of my familia?" Loki offered casually. "I don't feel like a few fingers are enough to pay you back for one of my kid's lives and you're amusing enough."

I felt a cold drop of sweat running down my face as I tried to find a reason to refuse her without lying or making her feel insulted, come on, think Roland, think!

"I thought both deities had to agree to that?" I almost shouted when the answer came to me.

"Tsk, that's true I suppose." Grabbing my coffee, Loki took a sip of it and released a little sigh of surprise. "Huh, I never really liked coffee, but this is surprisingly good."

"Really? Let me try."

I watched as both girls enjoyed my Ice coffee, Tiona taking a big bite out of the cream before her eyes shone with light and she shamelessly stole the entire cup.

Seeing as Tiona showed no sign of wanting to give it back, I sighed and ordered another.

"I could always talk with him, you know." Loki said as she cleaned her mouth with a napkin. "Very few gods can deny me when I really want something."

A menacing aura started leaking from the petite woman as she grabbed the table with both hands and gave me a very creepy smile.

"That'd be hard." I said, relieved I had an excuse for that too. "After he gave me my falna, I haven't met him again."

"I see, I see." Loki suddenly opened her crimson eyes causing me to flinch. "So how did your falna get updated? A level 1 with 0 stats couldn't have gotten so many magical crystals in a day… not as out of shape as you were."

Shit. Fuck. Goddamnit why did gods have to be able to sense lies.

I started to panic; do I tell her I can update my own falna? I had never heard of any other adventurer capable of something like that but there were some ridiculous skills in danmachi, but wasn't the falna manipulation exclusive to gods?

"Hehe, you should see the look on your face." Loki finally said and looked away from me. "Forget it, it would be more interesting to find out on my own."

'Fuck, stop messing with me woman!' Is what I didn't scream in her face, no matter how hard I wanted to.

"But I still feel like a few prosthetic fingers aren't enough to pay you back for Remilia-chan and Kevin-chan's lives, even your share of the Vouivre's lot could pay for it, maybe."

"You really don't have to pay me back Loki-sama, I barely did anything."

"Lying again!" she said in a singsong voice. "I know, why don't you at least stay in the Twilight Manor until you can get a more permanent place?"

For fuck's sake, I was just trying to be humble. Speaking no lies when you're trying to hide things is so hard.

"I respectfully decline." I bowed my head low and prayed it was enough.

No way am I staying in shouting distance of Loki if I can help it, no matter how rude I have to be.

Wait, I have been cursing in the name of god and praying for things all the time… can the danmachi gods hear it?

"Haaaaaaa, you're no fun." She said and, despite not being a god, even I could see she was lying. "At least let me offer you some training, without a god you won't even be able to get a guide from the guild."

I'm sad to say I truly considered it, the anime only showed Bell sparring as training, but didn't have anything about the working of the dungeon or what gear I should bring.

"Hey Tiona, you up for a few spars to teach newbie here how to fight?"

"Huh?" Tiona asked in confusion, her face finally lifting from my glass of ice coffee with a cream mustache.

"Come on, it would be fun." Said Loki, getting behind the amazoness and grabbing her shoulders before leaning over her ears. "He'd be your apprentice, you could train him and even pit him against other adventurers to see who's stronger!"

What the hell did she think I was, a pokemon?

"Mou, I guess it could be fun." Tiona shrugged and looked me over. "You know I'm bad at holding back, you sure he wouldn't die from a single kick?"

You're a level 5 woman! I'd die. If you kicked me for real I'd definitely die!

Despite her ominous words and the fact she was working for Loki, I couldn't help myself. The chance to learn from a first class adventurer, to copy her moves and skills, it was just too tempting.

Plus I'm pretty sure Loki wouldn't give up, and who knows what her next offer would be. "Alright, I accept."

The fact Tiona was hot and barely wore any clothes had nothing to do with my decision, nope.

"Great, it's a date then!" Loki laughed and grabbed Tiona by the arm, dragging her away.

I finally took a sip of my ice coffee, wondering just why I hadn't just ran away from the city, oh yeah I refuse to live my life in fear.

I felt as if escaping Orario would be taking a step back and I didn't dare do that, I knew myself, if I started retreating from fear of what would happen it wouldn't end well for me.

Before long, I'd become the same zombie in human skin, going through the motions of everyday life, but too afraid of both failure and success to do anything.

Until now, I had managed to force myself to keep moving but, if I lost my momentum…

I let my body fall, sprawling on top of the table and banging my forehead against the wood in frustration.

Ugh, living was hard.

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One of these days the MC will actually stand up for himself and then question why it was so hard before that moment. Ill be diligently waiting 'cause at the moment he is being railroaded so hard its painful. I am finding myself unable to sympathize with the MC. I know intellectually he is in no position to really stand against the Loki Familia but it doesn't change the annoyance I feel by the MC being a doormat almost consistently simply because he is starting from a disadvantage while at the same time having advantages. Still an enjoyable read, good characterization too.
 
One of these days the MC will actually stand up for himself and then question why it was so hard before that moment. Ill be diligently waiting 'cause at the moment he is being railroaded so hard its painful. I am finding myself unable to sympathize with the MC. I know intellectually he is in no position to really stand against the Loki Familia but it doesn't change the annoyance I feel by the MC being a doormat almost consistently simply because he is starting from a disadvantage while at the same time having advantages. Still an enjoyable read, good characterization too.
Agreed. He is being WORSE than Useless. He has Literally an I WIN button in the form of Chakra and isnt even ATTEMPTING to figure out how to use it. If he has the Sharingan, he has Chakra, its how it works. I find this INCREDIBLY hard to read with how Pathetic the Main character is being when BASELINE CHILDREN FROM THE ACADEMY, who would DIE activating Any of the Mangekyos abilities, Can beat him in terms of Physical Capability.
 
One of these days the MC will actually stand up for himself and then question why it was so hard before that moment. Ill be diligently waiting 'cause at the moment he is being railroaded so hard its painful. I am finding myself unable to sympathize with the MC. I know intellectually he is in no position to really stand against the Loki Familia but it doesn't change the annoyance I feel by the MC being a doormat almost consistently simply because he is starting from a disadvantage while at the same time having advantages. Still an enjoyable read, good characterization too.
I keep forgetting that he actually has prior knowledge of Danmachi, when all of this waffling about would have made perfect sense if this was a dude who just didn't know anything about the Danmachi setting and being paranoid as hell about Loki, who fucked a horse, or might still be Tom Hiddleston, or might read his mind about MCU Loki, and now having his/her pranking focused entirely on the MC.

Loki being a girl would have been just par for the course.

He would have been completely confused why Hephaestus was a woman.

---

Fear of Loki seems overblown, but fear of Loki being a gigantic trolling pain in the ass... is just common sense.
 
I keep forgetting that he actually has prior knowledge of Danmachi

Wait I must have missed that bit I thought he was getting dropped in blind? Dang, I am not sure what I should feel about that.

Fear of Loki seems overblown, but fear of Loki being a gigantic trolling pain in the ass... is just common sense.

Fair, very fair. So little effort on Loki's part for all kinds of inconvenience/trouble.


Hopefully well see more soon so we can find more things to be positive about, Ganbatte OP-Kun!
 
Wait I must have missed that bit I thought he was getting dropped in blind? Dang, I am not sure what I should feel about that.

For example, in the latest chapter:
I started to panic; do I tell her I can update my own falna? I had never heard of any other adventurer capable of something like that but there were some ridiculous skills in danmachi, but wasn't the falna manipulation exclusive to gods?
Anyone unfamiliar with the setting would never call it that.

I suppose minimal cultural osmosis might count, though anyone with cursory knowledge via fanfics would not be surprised. Hestia is big breasted shortstack, Loki is Ichimaru Gin, flat foxface, Freya is yandere for Bell and... that's generally as far as most fics go into.

Being sufficiently interesting to Gods would be as much a danger as it is a route to protection. Honestly, for a guy, being part of Loki's familia is a pretty good deal.

She sexually harasses mainly girls, and being interesting to Loki means being shielded from the problems of being sufficiently interesting to Freya. Her familia has the sufficient throw weight against other gods and their shenanigans. Loki is a jealous god and would protect her toys.

Sharingan genjutsu vs divine mind whammy might be something better off not tested.

--

Probably too late now though. Curious to see where this goes instead.
 
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Agreed. He is being WORSE than Useless. He has Literally an I WIN button in the form of Chakra and isnt even ATTEMPTING to figure out how to use it. If he has the Sharingan, he has Chakra, its how it works. I find this INCREDIBLY hard to read with how Pathetic the Main character is being when BASELINE CHILDREN FROM THE ACADEMY, who would DIE activating Any of the Mangekyos abilities, Can beat him in terms of Physical Capability.


Honestly, I completely and totally forgot be even had access to chakra given how he acts and all of that. An for him to use his sharingan, wouldn't he need to channel chakra into his eyes? An even if he does not have an uchiha body(eyeroll on this) it would be irrelevant since he has the power via fiat. Like I get it, you want to make it extremely difficult for your mc, but surely simple things like reinforcing his body with chakra would be simple. Even with moderate practice?


It is why Academy kids can do the crazy shit that they can do, like fall from tall heights, be faster and stronger than the average man (kid Saskue kicked a multi-ton bear in the forest of death once and it did not want anymore of that smoke.)


So if he is familiar with said sharingan, why is he not using his chakra? Even if its only for the most basic things like reinforcing his body? Flowing it into an object, weapon, etc. He's not an I Win button as top believe but I do feel stretching my suspension of disbelief being pulled to its limit. Because unless he has a deep understanding of Naruro and is willing to put what he remembers to use...then what would him having this power even be the point?
 
One of these days the MC will actually stand up for himself and then question why it was so hard before that moment. Ill be diligently waiting 'cause at the moment he is being railroaded so hard its painful. I am finding myself unable to sympathize with the MC. I know intellectually he is in no position to really stand against the Loki Familia but it doesn't change the annoyance I feel by the MC being a doormat almost consistently simply because he is starting from a disadvantage while at the same time having advantages. Still an enjoyable read, good characterization too.
Yea it's an annoying read when the MC is just a doormat all the time. At the very least don't write the MC's inner monologues as disliking being treated like this because he complains but makes no actual effort to stand up for himself or hide from Loki and others.
 
Yea it's an annoying read when the MC is just a doormat all the time. At the very least don't write the MC's inner monologues as disliking being treated like this because he complains but makes no actual effort to stand up for himself or hide from Loki and others.

I think its like for us the audience to see him transform from a blessed drop-in way over his head. With an outer-god patron(can't tell you how much that annoys me, but that is what the author is going for) To a more confident, capable drop-in adventurer so if we put them side by side, we can see the obvious change like light and day.


Weak to strong is in the description so we are going to have to bear with alot of things mc will say and do to upset us. Until he gets a grip and be better overall. Interactions is this fics strong suit, imo. I may not agree with the starting point for a drop-in character, lacking as he is even with his fancy eye powers and self-updating falna. Because without help and the motivation to improve himself for the dangers ahead, he would not make it off Floor 18. Because he does not have the stat requirements at all.


I still question that story choice because its iffy but here we are. I'll have to reread this story to see where in the timeline are we exactly. Outside of those annoyances (along with the Bell is going to be the only one to speed level. Admittedly I was going to drop this story on that note, because that is signalling to me your mc's desires and wishes are wack. Especially one who has a falna.)


But I gave it a chance and the writing quality is solid.
 
I think its like for us the audience to see him transform from a blessed drop-in way over his head. With an outer-god patron(can't tell you how much that annoys me, but that is what the author is going for) To a more confident, capable drop-in adventurer so if we put them side by side, we can see the obvious change like light and day.


Weak to strong is in the description so we are going to have to bear with alot of things mc will say and do to upset us. Until he gets a grip and be better overall. Interactions is this fics strong suit, imo. I may not agree with the starting point for a drop-in character, lacking as he is even with his fancy eye powers and self-updating falna. Because without help and the motivation to improve himself for the dangers ahead, he would not make it off Floor 18. Because he does not have the stat requirements at all.


I still question that story choice because its iffy but here we are. I'll have to reread this story to see where in the timeline are we exactly. Outside of those annoyances (along with the Bell is going to be the only one to speed level. Admittedly I was going to drop this story on that note, because that is signalling to me your mc's desires and wishes are wack. Especially one who has a falna.)


But I gave it a chance and the writing quality is solid.
Yea the writing is good, my main concern/annoyance (other than doormat MC who makes no effort to avoid people like Loki and can't hide his reactions even slightly for some reason) is that the Author made too many forces interested in him from the start. Those that want him dead genuinely should have no trouble killing him in the dungeon, but we know that won't happen because of plot so ito me it was pointless to have them written into the story this early on. The same goes for Freya and Loki, having them so invested in the MC from the start of the means that (while I would like the MC to at least try) there's truly nothing he could do to escape them short of leaving Orario. It's just not a setting conducive to a good Weak to Strong story as the MC is not getting time alone from their manipulations to actively grow.
 
First, I'd like to say that I made it clear on the start of the fic that he doesn't have chakra, it's like, literary on his skills description that he uses mana for them.

When he uses his skills too much, he has a mind down, not chakra exhaustion, when he considered his skills, he said he doesn't have chakra. He doesn't have chakra in his skills, neither does he have it in his status and, when he uses his eye, it's his mind attribute that grows, not his chakra OR his "mind and body" atributes, which would be the Chakra. As seen by his abysmal growth on his body attributes, but enormous growth in the mind one.

So, sorry if people are thinking he has chakra, I can... Kinda see why with him having the Sharingan... But I also can't since I made it clear, several times, that he doesn't have chakra.

The ROB didn't give him chakra because the ROB wasn't a kind or giving ROB, he was a stingy asshole that almost destroyed Roland's soul by carelessness, didn't let him say anything, and used the dungeon mechanic to spawn him in the 18 floor, where he would probably die because he wanted to save power with the spawning mechanic, why would he also give him chakra instead of adapting his Sharingan to work with another already existing mechanic?

Second, about the interest, this one I'm less baffled about, because he did grab a lot of interest out of nowhere. I cann only say that most of the interest isn't that deep, and it was based on canon.

On the first chapters, he was rescued by Filvis Challis when he had a mind down by carelessness. It is canon in danmachi that anyone she parties with, or even helps in the dungeon dies, because a certain asshole likes to kill them, but he doesn't like to do it himself, and it's not like that's a priority to him, it's more like a whim.

Roland didn't actually interact with Filvis that much so, while said asshole would like him dead, he's not that important, it's not necessary for him to die.

In the same way, Perdix and Thanatos were paid to kill him but, as a level 1, the reward wasn't THAT good, and they have other things, other plans, Roland simply isn't important enough for them to make sure he dies, and Perdix is doing his best to fuck with his own curse, while Thanatos is making Roland's death a game, which are canon for their actions.

Loki is amused by his actions, and probably using it as an excuse to dodge work.

Freya isn't even interested in him, but she can see souls and she's interested in the patch job the ROB did to repair his soul, the ROB is an eldritch thing capable of breaking minds just by glancing at him, Freya never saw anything like that and that's what draws her attention.

Finally, the MC was made using the dungeon spawning mechanic, since the ROB was lazy, he didn't do a great job of it, and Ouranos sensed him leaving the dungeon for the first time, because he registered as a monster, and that's his whole job, preventing monsters from leaving the dungeon.

Last, the critiques I thing are most justified, the MC did watch Danmachi, but he only watched the first season and some of the second, he knows who Loki was in Danmachi, and he knows most of more recognizable characters, but he doesn't really know about the machinations behind the scenes and, with the way Loki is a trickster, it's completely possible for him to be playing a game with everybody and be the villain behind the scenes.

He watched Danmachi, but it wasn't his favorite anime, and it was a few years ago, he knows more about mithology than danmachi. I think I mentioned how much he watched in a chapter but, if I didn't, sorry.

And the deeper floor things, yeah, in hindsight, I probably wouldn't have spawned him on the 18 floor, Roland surviving there is probably a little too forced, even if I don't agree with how much impossible it is.

If I was starting now, I'd probably have made him in the first floor, but I didn't so... Yeah, mistake, hope it doesn't stop you guys from reading on if you enjoy it.

I mean, this isn't my best fic, and I recently made another mistake with the latest chapters, but I do give this things some thought, even if you guys may not agree with that.

Now, about the future of this fic, I'd say that my plan for it was that this MC would suffer from depression in his previous life, in this one he's letting people led him because he's afraid that he'll stop if he doesn't, my intent was that he'd eventually grow into an adrenaline junkie that loved fighting, and stop listening to others slowly as he grew and accepted his own adrenaline addiction, becoming an eager explorer of the dungeon.

This isn't my best fiction, and I made some mistakes with this one, letting the MC seem like someone that would let people walk all over him for some people, I hope I can fix that in the future, but I won't be doing a rewrite.

I hope that I explained things, and that you guys enjoy the next chapters but, if you can't, sorry.
 
Chapter 9
Well, took me a little longer to post the new chapter, but I hope you guys enjoy it.

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I ducked under a blow from the Kobold's leader and slashed open his back, severing his spine before grabbing the landform weapon he dropped and throwing it at the dungeon lizard trying to ambush me from the ceiling.

The stone mace smashed into the creature's head, causing it to lose its footing and fall belly up on the floor where I could slash its neck open.

After three days of dungeon delving, I had gotten pretty good at spotting the things, to the point they no longer provided any danger.

Looking towards the ceiling, I thought about what awaited me up there in Orario and sighed. Since meeting Loki three days ago I had managed to avoid encountering anyone from her familia again.

Loki hadn't really given me a time or a place to receive training, and I wasn't about to march willingly into the Twilight Manor if I could help it, but I swear the little imp had been keeping an eye on me. I could even feel her stare from time to time while walking through the streets.

I knew she'd eventually track me down again, but I was really not looking forward to it.

A chitering noise came from the hallway leading deeper into the fifth floor and made me focus back on the dungeon.

Rushing straight at me was what I could only assume was a killer ant, the insect was the size of a large dog, with a reddish carapace and wicked sharp mandibles.

I smiled. Facing a new monster would be interesting.

Making sure I was ready to receive its charge, I considered just how I was going to kill the thing, aiming for an eye didn't seem like it would kill the thing and its exoskeleton looked tough enough to be armor.

Also, weren't ants able to lift 50 times their own weight or something? The creature rushing me seemed to be at least 20 kilos.

The ant attacked, its sword-like mandibles snapping closed on thin air as I dodged out of the way and struck at its head.

My sword hit its armor and actually bounced back, my hands becoming numb from the impact and almost making me drop the weapon.

Taking a few steps back, I saw the ant stumble in confusion from the blow, a small dent in its head but otherwise perfectly okay.

Passing my sword from one hand to the other, I shook my arms to stop the numbness and saw a large dent on my sword's edge which made me grimace.

Sharpening my weapon had turned out to be a pain and I never quite managed to make it as good as it had been on the first day, a dent like that would take me hours to fix.

The ant fully recovered and attacked again, my eyes were still unable to predict its movements and it was fast enough I had to work to dodge its lunges.

Stepping to its side, I stomped on one of the creature's legs with all my strength and it snapped like a twig, but didn't affect its movements all that much, damn insect.

I'd probably have to break at least four of its limbs to fully disable the thing.

On the next attack, I wasn't fast enough and the ant clamped its jaws around my ankle, almost breaking my bones. With a twist of its head, the monster pulled me off my feet and I couldn't resist as it dragged me through the floor before sending me flying.

I managed to keep my hold on the sword and, as the ant tried to bite down on my neck, twisted aside and shoved the tip at its neck, digging deep on the gap between its head and chest.

Putting one foot at the creature's side, I twisted the sword with all my strength, using it as a lever to cut off its head and sending it sprawling to the floor.

The insect's body continued to move without a head, flailing about and stumbling as if drunk while its head continued to open and close its huge jaws.

Getting to my feet, I relaxed for a few seconds and then remembered those creatures actually called out for help if they weren't properly finished off.

Stomping on its head did nothing, so I grabbed my sword in a reverse grip and delivered a murder stroke with all of my strength. The edge cut deeply into my hand, but my pommel broke through the creature's armor and pulped its brain.

"Fuck!" I screamed as my hands bleed all over the sword.

Pulling out a health potion, I drank it and watched the cuts close, then I heard the chittering. Seems like I had taken too long to kill the damn thing.

From two different hallways, I saw five ants rushing me, their mandibles snapping hungrily in the air.

Looking around in desperation, I saw the Landform weapon from the Kobold I just killed had yet to dissolve, so I hushed towards it, my eyes already spinning into the mangekyou in order to better see their movements.

Focusing on the hallway with three ants, I kept them all in my vision and cast my illusion.

My first instinct was to try and make them see each other as humans, but it did nothing to the monsters, it seems they could sense each other in some way and the difference was enough to immediately break my minor illusions.

I didn't dare use my pain illusion lest they start calling for help again, so I tried something new, taking over their sense of touch and vision. I imagined pillars of stone rising from the floor like spikes and piercing right through their bellies, lifting them and making them stop.

In a second, the ants stopped and their limbs started flailing in the air as if they were trying to grip at something but finding no purchase.

Turning towards the two remaining monsters, I lifted the stone mace and smashed it on top of the first ant with both hands, causing it's carapace to break like an egg, then I twisted aside and broke every leg on the second's right side, it still tried to crawl towards me but, with only one side working, I just squashed it.

From behind me, two of the ants broke my illusions, they looked around for a brief moment of confusion and then rushed me.

With a snort, I met one of their eyes and used a greater Illusion to activate a new ability I had been working on. I turned off the monster's perception of its own body.

For the time my illusion was in effect, I tricked the monster's mind into thinking it had already sent its orders, I tricked the monster into thinking it was already moving.

The result was the ant flopping to the ground as if a puppet with its strings cut as it saw itself moving.

Used against a human, I'd have to be good enough to predict his moves well enough he wouldn't be suspicious but, against a mindless ant, I could leave it there for an hour and it wouldn't regain its movements.

I quickly smashed all three remaining ants, killing them before they could call for help and sighed. Yep, the sharingan kind of made it all boring again.

Without the illusions, I'd probably have been overwhelmed by the insects and forced to run but, with the sharingan, they weren't even a challenge.

Ugh, I hate that I'm almost hoping I find something like a Vouivre again, who knew killing monsters would get so... repetitive.

Harvesting the creatures, I watched their bodies dissolve into dust and decided to call it a day. I had already used three health potions and it should be getting dark anyway.

By the time I finished climbing the floors, the sun had already set so I made my way back to my room and spent half an hour separating whatever loot I had.

The item drops all went into my backpack so I could sell them to the tower tomorrow morning, while the magic crystals were separated by type of monster and put into pouches, I'd have to find a way to sell those too before long. I had already gathered so many I was almost running out of room for it.

Another hour was spent trying to get rid of my swords' damage. I had been using it a little too carelessly and it had started to accumulate, another week and I'd probably have to get a new one from one of the blacksmith familias.

Hephaestus was the biggest and most well-known, but I had seen their prices and, even now, I could barely afford them.

Using the Inn's bathroom, I took a quick bath and called it a day.

.

.

.

.

"How very rude of you."

I woke up with a startle, there was someone in my room!

Grabbing my dagger from under my pillow, I wiped my arm towards the voice on instinct and only then realized I just threw away my only weapon!

My heart hammering in my chest, I rolled in the bed and threw myself towards my sword in a vain hope that I could get to it before whoever invaded my bedroom had time to kill me.

I made it! Unsheathing my weapon, I twisted around, my mangekyou already active and ready to fight.

Loki sat backyards on a chair inside my room, her arms crossed on top of its back and an amused smile on her face, by her side Tiona held my dagger between her fingers.

"You know, I was kind of mad you were avoiding me, but now I think it was worth the wait." Slowly, the god started clapping. "And your eyes can even change shape, is that some kind of skill?"

Adrenaline leaving my body, I collapsed against the wall, godda... no, just damn it!

"Loki, why are you in my room?"

"Well you did accept my offer of training… I got worried when you never showed up!"

"You never set a time or place." I said and pushed myself up, my chest still hurting from how hard my heart had been beating.

"Hmmm... anyways, get up. We're going to the wall."

"Can I have a moment?" I released the sword and covered my face with my hand. "I need to get dressed."

"You already had three days, come on, up, up!"

With another groan, I managed to put on a shirt and some boots before Tiona physically dragged me out of the room and grabbed her signature weapon

"Come on Newbie-kun, I'll make you into a hero in no time!" The strange fire in her eyes gave me a very cold feeling.

Nobody raised an eyebrow as a tiny amazoness eagerly dragged me through the streets of Orario followed by a whistling god.

"Just what did you say to her?" I asked Loki, there's only so much you can be scared of someone before you get used to it.

"Tiona always liked hero stories." Loki fake whispered, her voice loud enough for everyone around to hear. "So I suggested she try making one, heroes always have strong mentors after all."

Well, at least the girl would be serious about training me.

Halfway to the wall, Loki Jumped at my back and wrapped an arm around my neck. "Ahhh... I'm tired from all this walking and searching for you, carry me!"

The thought of carrying one of the Norse gods at my back made me swallow and try to drop her, but the petite woman seemed to have become an octopus, her arms and legs wrapping around my body and holding on for dear life.

She's not going to backstab you in the streets Roland, endure it, endure it.

Reaching the top of the wall, the little god finally jumped down and went to sit on the edge eating some kind of snack.

Turning to my new trainer, I saw her pierce the ground with the tip of her double-bladed sword into and start to stretch her arms and legs.

I took only a second to appreciate her form before my eyes went to her weapon and I gulped, a description from berserk came to mind.

Massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough. Indeed, it was a heap of raw iron... times two for maximum edginess.

"Ah... how exactly are you going to train me?"

"Fighting!" Tiona said with eagerness. "I always learned best when fighting."

Then she lifted the piece of metal heavier than me from the wall, dragging pieces of stone up and spun it over her head, causing it to whistle as it cut through the air before she got into a ready position.

"Wait!" I shouted, my eyes never leaving the giant thing. "Maybe we can start with hand to hand?"

"Eh?" Tiona asked, turning her head sideways and pouting. "Fine, I guess, but you have to know your weapons if you want to beat a floor boss alone."

Woman, do you really want to kill me that much? Though I do have the sharingan so it may be interesting to try… in a level or two.

Tiona gave one last sigh and dropped her weapon, causing the ground to shake from its weight before she got into a fighting position.

Shaking my head, I adjusted my stance and faced the girl.

"Alright can I start now?"

"Yes."

Then she kicked me in the face.

I mean, there was no shadow to predict her movements, no sudden tension in her muscles, one moment she was standing five meters in front of me and the next I felt her feet kicking me in the head for a brief second before I went flying.

Bouncing off the floor twice, I flopped like a broken doll, my head ringing.

"PFFFFFF! ahahahahahahahahahha!" From the top of the wall Loki burst out laughing.

It took me a full minute to regain my bearings enough I could push myself up in a sitting position. "What... what happened?"

"Ah, newbie-kun you're alive!" Don't sound so damn surprised! "Sorry, I did say I was bad at holding back."

Tiona scratched the back of her head sheepishly and avoided looking me in the eye.

"Here." Loki opened a huge backpack, absolutely filled with rows upon rows of health potions and threw me a vial, it was far darker than the ones I used. "I made sure I was ready before coming to get you."

Drinking the entire thing, I felt a wave of relief wash over my body, with a groan I pushed myself up and tested my limbs to see if nothing was broken, then I eyed the nearly full backpack.

So, Loki had gotten a lot of high-quality potions… Why didn't that fill me with relief.

"Alright, I'll make sure to take it a little easier this time."

"No wa..." I tried to say, but Tiona was already attacking, her kick aimed at the same spot.

Her speed had gone from 'Teleportation' to merely 'blindingly fast' even to my vision and I only just managed to lift my arms before her kick hit, smashing into my forearms and sending me stumbling back.

A blur was my only warning as Tiona appeared at my side and punched me in the kidney before jumping up and delivering a hammer kick. I had just enough time to tilt my head out of the way when her heel hit my shoulder.

CRACK!

I managed to keep myself from screaming... Somehow. My arm hung limply by my side and Tiona jumped back, allowing me enough room to breathe.

"Great! You held on for 2 seconds!"

Yes, great.

Loki snickered at my fate and threw me another potion.

Drinking it, I felt a warm feeling covering my arm and, not even a minute later my bones were mended. "Ugh, just how many of those can I take?"

"Oh, don't worry, those are high quality potions, you can take about fifty of them before they start losing their effect."

Ahhh, it was going to be a long day.

Later, I dragged myself into the Hibachitei bar and flopped bonelessly on top of Mord's table, every inch of my body was hurting and I didn't think there was a single bone in my body that hadn't at least cracked.

"Well, you're looking chipper today." The large man said as he watched me.

Scott and Guille were also looking at my sorry form and almost managing to keep from laughing, almost.

"Well Roland, I didn't know you liked that kind of thing." Scott said. "And to be so bold as to come out like this, mad respect man."

"What are you talking about?"

Without a word, Guile got up and found a portable mirror I could look into.

It seems the last potions I used had already started losing their effects and hadn't been able to heal everything, right there in my face was a huge purple bruise covering my nose and both of my eyes, perfectly in the shape of Tiona's foot.

"Damn amazoness, did she have to keep aiming for my head?"

"So, you like getting stepped on, is it, and by an amazoness too, kinky."

"Shut up." I groaned. "Loki wanted to thank me for saving some of her familia and, since my god's not present, she offered me some training."

"Wow, personal training from Loki familia, even with the number of bruises you're sporting, I'm kinda jealous." Mord ordered a drink for me and laid back. "So, which one was it?"

"Tiona, the younger level 5 amazoness."

"Ah.... so close, and to think that, by one letter, it could have been the older sister." Flushing, Mord made some obscene movements with his hands in front of his chest. "I bet you'd like some personal time with Tione, huh?"

"Shut up." Scott slapped the back of his head. "Small breasts are justice!"

Ah, perhaps I should rethink my association with those guys.

They traded a few blows before Guile punched both of their heads and they sat back down. "Anyway, you wanted to speak with us?"

"Yeah, you know I have been delving every day since the week started, right?"

"We noticed"

"Well, my god still didn't get in contact with me, so the magic crystals have started to accumulate."

"Hmmm." Mord scratched his beard. "Do you want a contact in the black market?"

"No, no, I just thought we could get to an agreement." I said and finally pushed myself up from the table, my arms screaming in pain. "Nobody would think it weird if you guys were to sell one level 1's share of magic crystals to the guild."

"Ah, I guess we can do that, gonna cost you 20% though."

"Seriously?

"You know we're not a charity." Mord sighed. "And, with Scotts arm the way it is, we need all we can get."

"Fine, 10%." I argued.

"18." Scott leaned over. "You're still delving on the upper floors, anything less and it would not even be worth time used to count the crystals"

"15%, come on, I have almost 20k in crystals rotting in my room and, with training from Loki, I should be able to get more every day."

"Fine, but just because we like you."

We shook on it and I started drinking the ale. I had never really liked beer, but Orario's ale was completely different, it tasted slightly of honey and was deceptively light, making it far too easy to get drunk if I wasn't paying attention.

With the money from the magic crystals coming in, I'd be able to buy some better gear before going back to the dungeon and, who knows, I may even get a porter myself.

Even porters were able to choose their teams, and it would be hard to show enough of my skills to attract a somewhat trustworthy one while also keeping enough hidden I could easily defeat him in case he did decide to backstab me.

Fucking Loki, coming into my room like that, now I'd have to pack my things and find somewhere else to stay.


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