Like a Dungeon Crawler (Yakuza/Danmachi, Celestial Grimoire)

[Ebiris]

I'm trying to push myself into writing more, and a Celestial X type story gives a good method for getting off the ground. You've got the dopamine hit of spinning the gacha, and the inevitable complications from new powers and items giving directions to write in even if you're struggling to hold a plot together! Also Danmachi has the whole problem of either having to give your viewpoint character the same kind of accelerated growth as Bell has, or else accept that they're going to be basically static in terms of power while staying in the time-frame of the story. So just having an entirely bullshit progression mechanic sidesteps all of that!

I'm using Celestial Grimoire: A Complete Compendium Second Edition with 100 points being banked per 1000 words, rolling every 1000 words. If a perk requires a prerequisite the prerequisite is taken instead/in addition depending on budget. The first perk rolled is acquired regardless of cost (these two points in fact combine as things play out).

I reserve the right to re-roll perks if I think they're dumb or unsuitable. For two examples, I rolled an item that gave thousands of tags you can stick to clothes to change their appearance, and I rolled for a flute that controls magitech. The first was just stupid and pointless, the second has no value in the Danmachi setting, so both were ignored and re-rolled.

I'm tempted to re-roll if I keep getting stuff from the same setting coming up in quick succession, just because that always bugs me when I see it, but thus far I've held back from that temptation. It's random, that can happen after all.

Click to shrink...

"I'm sorry Ichi. You have to die for me."​

A single gunshot tore through him and he fell. Was it the impact of the bullet, or the sting of betrayal that hurt the most? And yet despite it all, as his vision faded and he stared back at Masumi Arakawa's eyes, Ichiban Kasuga couldn't see hatred in the old man's gaze even as his own went black. There was something he was missing, a mystery that begged to be solved to make sense of receiving this kind of welcome after spending eighteen years imprisoned for the sake of the Arakawa Family.

But the bullet that just ripped through his chest put its own conclusion on the story, before Ichiban could unravel it.

He didn't expect to see anything again. Every yakuza had heard stories of bodies being buried in shallow graves up in the mountains, even if they hadn't been tasked with that grisly job themselves. Surely that's what awaited Ichiban after being gunned down by his own patriarch.

"Ahhh! Tcch- tcch! That stings!" the words came out of his mouth automatically as he felt a hissing pain in his chest, shocking him to wakefulness, causing him to sit up abruptly and slap a hand to his chest, feeling a wetness over it before a hand grabbed his wrist and pulled it back.

"Hold still, you'll mess up the healing," a soft feminine voice spoke as his eyes managed to focus on a woman standing above him. Light brown hair messily framed a cute but inexpressive face, a strand falling between wide purple eyes that regarded him critically.

The burning sensation in his chest was fading, but he felt a tickling sensation in his throat, a cough burbling up that was impossible to resist. He tried pulling his hand up over his mouth but found the woman's grip on his wrist similarly impossible to resist, and so he simply turned to the side and hacked out a fierce cough, a wad of phlegm-stained spit splattering onto the dusty cobblestones below.

"That's not so bad," another voice spoke up, "No lung damage at least. Are you feeling better, Mister…?"

The voice trailed off and Ichiban turned to look at its owner, seeing a man that if anything might've been prettier than the woman he noticed first, with gentle androgynous features and long purplish black hair. Definitely a bishonen type. Still, an introduction was called for, and finally the woman's grip on his arm abated enough for him to pull it back and push himself upwards against the wall he was seemingly reclining against. "Kasuga," he answered, feeling a faint rasp still in his throat that nonetheless faded as he forced more words out. "Ichiban Kasuga." Now no longer being stopped, he pulled at his shirt, poking through the obvious bullet-hole and pressing his finger against the seemingly whole flesh underneath. It felt tender, enough to impress on him the reality that he had in fact been shot and it wasn't a strange dream.

"Did you… heal me?" he asked, looking up at the pair who were leaning over him, pushing himself up to his feet and seeing them straighten up to match. The man was as tall as Ichiban was, both of them towering over the woman who was about a head shorter. From this vantage he could see over the top of her head, her shoulder length hair oddly styled with two flaps coming out the top of her head that kind of looked like dog ears.

His surroundings too were strange as he began to take note, seeing a shop-front that looked like something out of a fantasy video game, rustic wood-framed windows and displaying beakers and flasks that looked like stereotypical healing potions.

"Well, we couldn't just leave you to bleed out when you'd made it right to our doorstep," the man said in an affable tone. "Consider this one on the house, Ichiban."

The woman's expression twisted unhappily in the most emotion he'd seen from him thus far, and it wasn't hard to see the potential landmine there. As if he could simply let it lie anyway, Ichiban Kasuga was a man who paid his debts! "No, no!" he waved his hands towards them both, "You saved my life! I don't have much cash on me right now," in fact pushing a hand into his pocket confirmed his wallet was missing, though he wasn't sure he had enough yen in it to cover life-saving possibly magical health-care anyway.

Assuming yen was worth anything… wherever he was.

He bowed his head apologetically and continued, "But once I get some cash together I'll definitely pay back what I owe, and in the meantime if there's anything I can do to help you out just let me know!"

The woman sighed and looked at him like he was pond scum, clearly not thinking much of his promise, but the man gave a genial laugh and said, "Well a man has to pay his debts, of course. The healing potion we used on you was worth four-"

"Five," the woman interrupted curtly.

"Five hundred valis," the man finished smoothly, an apologetic grimace on his face.

"Right. Valis," Ichiban said, that putting into focus what he'd had percolating in his mind since he first started understanding his surroundings. "About that, could you tell me where we are? And how I got here?"

"Well, you're in front of our store," the man said, bemused as he indicated the shop-front behind him, the three of them all in an alleyway that wasn't big enough to drive a car down, old-fashioned cobblestones underfoot. "We assumed you must have dragged yourself here from the Dungeon… or maybe you got mugged?" his tone turned more sympathetic at that last possibility, "And passed out. That was quite an injury you had, whatever punctured you went right through your chest, but managed to miss anything vital."

The boss was a good shot. For him to have missed anything vital…

Spoiler: Animal Psychic (Mind Link)

100 - Psychic Abilities - Animal Psychic (Mind Link)
World of Darkness: Sorcery
In the World of Darkness, psychic abilities and mythic sorcery are, at first glance, completely different. However, both manipulate the same powers, albeit in very different ways, and are both considered forms of linear magic. While a sorcerer utilizes numerous tools and ceremonies to harness supernatural powers, a psychic makes do with lots, and lots, of willpower. Furthermore, the majority of psychic powers are innate, and can be improved, but not gained, without outside interference, in stark contrast to sorcery.

Animal psychics have power over "lower" creatures, commanding, controlling, and communicating with various members of the animal kingdom.

[4] Mind Link - the psychic links their mind to a single animal, allowing them to perceive all the animal does, and utilize any lesser power upon them more easily so long as the link persists, which can be indefinitely if the psychic wishes it. However, should the animal be injured, psychic backlash may also injure the psychic.

(CG Note: Requires Psychic Abilities - Animal Psychic (Mass Communication) - World of Darkness: Sorcery)

100 - Psychic Abilities - Animal Psychic (Mass Communication)
World of Darkness: Sorcery
In the World of Darkness, psychic abilities and mythic sorcery are, at first glance, completely different. However, both manipulate the same powers, albeit in very different ways, and are both considered forms of linear magic. While a sorcerer utilizes numerous tools and ceremonies to harness supernatural powers, a psychic makes do with lots, and lots, of willpower. Furthermore, the majority of psychic powers are innate, and can be improved, but not gained, without outside interference, in stark contrast to sorcery.

Animal psychics have power over "lower" creatures, commanding, controlling, and communicating with various members of the animal kingdom.

[3] Mass Communication - all animals of a given species within earshot come under the effects of Communication. Additional species can be added, but doing so is more taxing for the psychic.

(CG Note: Requires Psychic Abilities - Animal Psychic (Command) - World of Darkness: Sorcery)

100 - Psychic Abilities - Animal Psychic (Command)
World of Darkness: Sorcery
In the World of Darkness, psychic abilities and mythic sorcery are, at first glance, completely different. However, both manipulate the same powers, albeit in very different ways, and are both considered forms of linear magic. While a sorcerer utilizes numerous tools and ceremonies to harness supernatural powers, a psychic makes do with lots, and lots, of willpower. Furthermore, the majority of psychic powers are innate, and can be improved, but not gained, without outside interference, in stark contrast to sorcery.

Animal psychics have power over "lower" creatures, commanding, controlling, and communicating with various members of the animal kingdom.

[2] Command - the psychic may now command an animal to perform a single act in their name, but not one that endangers the animal. Especially complex commands, or orders that the animal is adverse to follow, are harder to impose.

(CG Note: Requires Psychic Abilities - Animal Psychic (Communication) - World of Darkness: Sorcery)

100 - Psychic Abilities - Animal Psychic (Communication)
World of Darkness: Sorcery
In the World of Darkness, psychic abilities and mythic sorcery are, at first glance, completely different. However, both manipulate the same powers, albeit in very different ways, and are both considered forms of linear magic. While a sorcerer utilizes numerous tools and ceremonies to harness supernatural powers, a psychic makes do with lots, and lots, of willpower. Furthermore, the majority of psychic powers are innate, and can be improved, but not gained, without outside interference, in stark contrast to sorcery.

Animal psychics have power over "lower" creatures, commanding, controlling, and communicating with various members of the animal kingdom.

[1] Communication - the psychic may create a two-way channel of communication between themselves and one animal of choice. At this level, they cannot forcefully control them, but they can turn whatever fast-talking powers they have upon the bird or beast.

The thought trailed off, Ichiban's expression turning slack as something turned itself over in his brain.

"Ugh, you're drooling," the woman's soft but scornful voice broke through the sudden reverie.

"Maybe there was a head injury I missed," the man said, sounding more worried.

"No, it's not that!" Ichiban blurted out, making sure to nonetheless wipe the back of his hand over his chin, indeed feeling moisture there. "I know how to talk to animals now!"

Two stares met him, one incredibly nonplussed, the other radiating gentle concern. "Perhaps another potion might be best, just to be on the safe side…" the man said, glancing at the woman.

"Argh! Nevermind!" Ichiban couldn't help himself from stamping his feet with nervous energy, putting his head in his hands as he tried to focus his thoughts and prioritise what mattered. "You didn't see anyone drop me off here or anything?" he demanded, starting with how he got here. Take things in order that way.

"No, we were opening our shop for the morning and we saw you collapsed out front right here. So you didn't make your way here yourself?" the man asked, at least willing to indulge Ichiban's questions rather than insisting on the head injury theory.

"Okay, and where's here?" he asked, looking around. In one direction the alley stretched off to a blind corner, an old wooden barrel crammed in against the wall underneath a window with wooden shutters rather than glass. In the other it seemed to open out onto a wider street, sunlight more clearly hitting there compared to the shadows they found themselves in.

"Our shop. The Miach familia?" the man answered, looking concerned at Ichiban's clear lack of recognition. "I'm Miach, and this is my dear captain, Naaza."

The now named Naaza retained her inscrutable expression, looking up at Ichiban with barely concealed disdain, but a flash of movement behind her stood out, a swish of brown contrasting the yellow and blue sweater she had on, the same shade as her hair…

It was a tail. She was wagging her tail. Those flaps on her head weren't weird configurations of hair, they were ears. Like a spaniel dog!

Ichiban swallowed. It was clear he was in some kind of fantasy world. He would've expected elves ahead of dog people. He would've even expected cat people first. But his brain was already acclimatising to the possibility, he wasn't going to make an ass of himself by calling her a dog and probably finding out that was a heinous slur in this world.

Also terms like familia and captain were putting him on a more firm footing. His experience as a yakuza would be just as relevant as those long hours staying up playing Dragon Quest.

"Okay, and so where is here more generally? Like the town, or the… world?" he asked, gesturing vaguely around.

The looks the two were giving him suggested head injury was once more under consideration.

"This is the Dungeon city of Orario, the world is Genkai," Miach explained, his tone gentle like one might use with a small child. "You didn't know that?"

"No, uh. Never heard of either," Ichiban shook his head. "I'm from Tokyo." Looks of polite incomprehension. "Japan," zero reaction, "Earth? The solar system? The Milky Way galaxy?" his voice pitched up a bit desperately at the end, Miach and Naaza both sharing worried looks by the end of it.

"We've never heard of any of those places. Could it be a false memory or delusion?" Naaza spoke up for the pair, her expression showing more interest now as she looked at Ichiban like a puzzle to be solved.

"There are lots of fashions all around Genkai," Miach said more thoughtfully, "But your clothes still stand out for Orario…"

Ichiban braced himself for some sort of crack about his hair, but it never came. He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed by it.

"That gold necklace would be worth some valis, you can't have been lying out here long without someone grabbing it," Naaza added, her eyes narrowing.

"It's true, many would simply seek what they could acquire rather than concerning themselves with helping someone in need," Miach said, causing Naaza's cheeks to redden and bulge out in a momentary pout. Miach continued undeterred however, asking Ichiban, "What's the last thing you remember before waking up here?"

And wasn't that question a kick in the ass.

"I'm sorry Ichi. You have to die for me."

He replayed the words in his memory, Arakawa's eyes trying to convey something he wasn't smart enough to figure out. A hand went to his chest again, finger catching in the hole in his shirt. "The boss… he shot me," he answered, voice rough and gaze turned to the side, unable to look at his strange benefactors as he tried to make sense of everything. Frustration bubbled up and he kicked at the wall behind him. "Raargh, I've got enough to try and figure out! The boss shooting me after I spent eighteen years in jail for him, betraying the Tojo Clan and signing up with the Omi Alliance, and somehow I've gotten myself lost in another fantasy world! Are there elves and monsters and magic here too?!" he blurted out, rounding back on Miach and Naaza.

"Well yes. Why wouldn't there be?" Naaza asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

He couldn't help but laugh at that simple response. Indeed, why wouldn't there be? That stuff was normal for this world, as normal as yakuza and hosts and cars back home.

"Oh I'm so screwed," he concluded, letting out a harsh laugh. If this had happened at any other time in his life he'd have been fine with it. A fun fantasy adventure just like in the video games he loved, he could imagine himself with a sword battling a dragon… it would be great. But right now he kept coming back to Arakawa's face as he fired the gun.

"Lord Miach, Miss Naaza! Good morning!" a fresh sounding cheerful voice interrupted their strange stand-off, all three turning to see someone coming down the alleyway from the street. He looked young, a brown jacket worn over black clothes, white hair on his head that might've made him look like a delinquent pretty-boy if not for the wholesome good-boy energy his earnest smile radiated. "Oh, am I interrupting something?" he asked as he grew near, giving Ichiban a quizzical glance.

"Oh no, nothing like that, young Bell," Miach answered breezily. "Just another patient, are you stocking up for another day in the Dungeon?"

Ichiban simply gave a little nod and a, "Yo," as Bell nodded to the question.

"Lady Hestia and Miss Eina both insisted I never go down there without some potions for emergencies, and I used one yesterday when a goblin managed to knock me over, so I just need one to keep my reserve up," the young man explained.

"You should listen to those women, they know what's best," Miach chuckled fondly, "Naaza, why don't you get Bell sorted out? And Ichiban, would you like to come in as well for some tea? I feel like there's many more mysteries we need to solve here."

"Haha, yeah sure," Ichiban agreed with a ragged chuckle as everyone went into the nearby shop, Naaza leading Bell towards the counter, shelves full of more obvious magical potions behind it. It was hard not to feel cheered up by listening to someone talk about fighting actual goblins like that. "You knock those goblins dead, kid!" he gave Bell a thumbs up.

"I will!" the boy replied with enthusiasm, fiddling with his satchel to pay Naaza for the potion. If that's what they used to heal him at least it meant the five hundred valis he owed probably wasn't an exorbitant sum.

As Bell left the store, Miach and Ichiban got settled in a room behind a beaded curtain, where the fantasy alchemy mood was even stronger with more squiggly looking glasswork and burners, and plenty of herbs both hanging off hooks and filling jars. Miach seemed to be using it for something more mundane however as he heated up a kettle and poured what Ichiban's nose could readily identify as green tea.

"Appreciate it," Ichiban said as the pretty-boy young man served him a cup, pouring one for himself and a third for Naaza who rejoined them with no one else needing her to serve them at the front of the store. A sip sent warmness through his chest and left a sweet grassy flavour on his tongue. "This is nice, thanks," he said approvingly, before pleasantries were put aside and they got to the real questions. "So… goblins, huh?"

"They're weak," Naaza spoke up. "But they still kill their share of beginner adventurers. Numbers can make up for what they lack. You really don't know? About Orario? The Dungeon?" she peered at him intensely, sitting on a stool by the alchemy workbench.

"I mean, I've heard of goblins, but only in stories and games. They're not real where I come from," Ichiban answered, before feeling out the word that described their genre. "They're fantasy."

Fantasy didn't feel right when Naaza had just talked about them killing adventurers though. Fantasy was fun. Fantasy was what scantily clad babes hanging outside of soaplands promised to their potential costumers. Fantasy was an escape from the drab and dreary reality. These two would probably find a ride on the subway to be equally fantastic as he'd find anything here.

"Well, it's quite real here," Miach said, seeming to accept Ichiban's answer without issue, though Naaza's expression twisted in a fashion that suggested she wasn't entirely happy with his answer. "Orario was built on top of the Dungeon from which monsters emerged, goblins being but the least of them. A thousand years ago they threatened to overrun all of Genkai, but with the help of the Gods the people pushed them back here to the Dungeon. A great plug was built on top of it that you can see from anywhere in the city, the Tower of Babel. And to this day adventurers plumb its depths to think the number of monsters and harvest their valuable magic stones and other useful materials."

That sounded important to Ichiban. "This dungeon… what's at the bottom of it?" he asked, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

But neither of the two had an answer for him. Naaza looked away, while Miach merely shrugged. "No one knows. The deeper one gets, the more difficult the terrain and the more powerful the monsters. My own familia has never made it past the middle floors."

Naaza visibly tensed up at that, one of her hands clutching at the opposite bicep, and Miach reached over to rest his hand atop her gloved one at the bottom of that arm, causing her to relax slightly while Miach continued in a serious tone, "It's incredibly dangerous that deep, no matter how brave and prepared you are."

Definitely felt like there was a story there, but it wasn't his to ask. Not when he'd just met them and already had the impression Naaza didn't think much of him. But still the setup felt obvious. Down at the bottom of that dungeon no one else had made it to, there'd be some kind of portal or wish-granting device or something that could bring him back to Japan. It made the most sense looking at this like it was a fantasy story or game, the dungeon was the obstacle to overcome, and the prize waited at the bottom.

"And you've really never heard of Japan, or heard of anyone appearing like me who doesn't know all this stuff?" he asked, just to make sure he wasn't missing anything in terms of precedent for his arrival here.

"Never," Miach answered firmly. "Your story is… quite unprecedented, young Ichiban."

That drew a chuckle. Being called young by a guy who probably hadn't cracked twenty five. Though it sounded like he was a patriarch so that kind of attitude wasn't unreasonable. Any further comment was derailed however by the sudden appearance of a round metal bottle suddenly appearing on his lap.

Spoiler: Magical Canteen

200 - Magical Canteen
Danmachi
While people can go on for a few days without food but water is a must to allow your body to operate. This canteen possesses an ability to produce water on its own and the water it produces is some of the tastiest and freshest water out there. The water also has the ability to restore the drinker's stamina and refreshes their tired mind though it won't restore the mind energy that you used for the magic spell but the water can be used to replace food for three days with a diminishing return until you stop substituting real food for it this water.

"What the-" he raised his hands, tea sloshing around the cup he still had in one of them. Miach's eyebrow rose up and Naaza leaned forward intently.

"Where did that come from?" she asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"I don't know, it just did!" Ichiban answered, putting his teacup aside on the shelf to his side and picking up the bottle. Liquid sloshed around inside and he unscrewed the cap, holding it under his nose. "Doesn't smell like anything…"

"Let me check," Naaza insisted, standing up and holding her hand out, this one not wearing a glove. "I'm a pharmacist, I can discern if it's poison or something useful."

Seeing no reason not to, Ichiban handed the mysteriously appearing canteen across to the dog-girl who gave it a sniff herself before turning towards the workbench, pouring a few drops into a clear beaker. The liquid that came out was clear and certainly looked and behaved like water.

"I take it you've never had anything like that happen before?" Miach asked as Naaza muttered to herself, igniting a burner under the beaker and crouching slightly to watch as it began to bubble and steam.

"No. Uh, Miss Naaza, is there a label or marker or anything on the bottle?" he asked, distracting her enough to turn it around a few times in her hands, the flat grey metal catching the light off the burner but not reflecting much, its finish a dull matte. The black cap was attached to the neck with a small cord, and it looked like something you'd take camping rather than anything suspicious.

"It's unlabelled. No residue from boiling either," Naaza reported, turning back to the sample she'd poured out which by now had mostly boiled away. She stirred the remainder with a wooden stick which she then took out and examined closely. Seemingly satisfied, she dabbed it with her finger and licked said finger afterwards.

"Water," she announced under the expectant gazes of the two men. Her tail swished behind her and she poured from the canteen a little more into a cup which she then took a proper drink from, holding it in her mouth with her lips closed, clearly swilling it before she swallowed. It made him think of a sommelier testing a wine batch. Thankfully she didn't spit it out, she indeed swallowed it. "It's good," she said, her disaffected tone saying one thing and the happy motion of her tail saying another as she seemed to be categorising her reaction to it. "Very crisp, very clear. I think it would make for a good potion base."

Despite the wagging of her tail, she gave Ichiban a look that he wasn't too dense to pick up on. "Well you're the pharmacist, why don't you pour it out to keep as much as you need yourself? You'd get more out of it than I would, and you've already given me a drink," he offered jovially, retrieving his by now lukewarm tea for a sip.

Naaza gave him a smile for the first time in their brief acquaintance and proceeded to start pouring out the mysterious canteen enough to fill up the beaker she'd been using, then pausing in confusion as she finished, giving the bottle a shake in her hand. The tone of the sloshing they could all hear didn't quite line up with how much water would be expected to still be in it after pouring out that much, and the dog-girl proceeded to lean over a cauldron that was larger than the bottle, pouring it out… and all three of them watched as the water level rose in the cauldron to reach the brim, no slowing from the bottle before Naaza tilted it back upright.

"It's still full," she reported dully.

"Naaza, may I?" Miach asked, standing up now and reaching out, the dumbfounded captain handing the apparently endless bottle to her patriarch who took a sniff from it himself before pouring some into his teacup and drinking that. "It's more than just water," he said after consuming it, "There's a slight restorative effect. Nothing as strong as a healing potion, but in some ways better at what it does. Alleviating fatigue, easing hunger… you're right this would make a tremendous base for a healing potion, but even by itself it's still quite wondrous." Naaza's eyes tracked the bottle like a hawk as Miach stoppered it and handed it back to Ichiban like he was handling something precious. "That's quite a gift you received, Ichiban."

"Yeah, uh, I guess…" he took it back a bit numbly. It wasn't exactly the sword of the legendary hero, but still every adventurer needed something to drink on their quest. It and the ability to talk to animals that he'd put on the back-burner with everything else going on certainly made for an unconventional hero class, but he could hardly say he was being given nothing here.

"I think this is a sign," he said, marshalling his thoughts. "None of us know how I got here, and none of us know what's at the bottom of this dungeon. An arduous journey into the unknown… and I've got something to keep my energy up on that journey. Whether it's a way home or an answer as to how I got here… it's at the bottom of that dungeon, I just know it."

Miach smiled sadly at that, while Naaza openly grimaced. It was the man who spoke first. "I admire your resolve, Ichiban. It's true there are mysteries begging to be solved here, but I've seen too many children go into the Dungeon and never return. I would advise you to prepare carefully, and if you can find allies to help you on this quest."

"Join a familia," Naaza seconded, her eyes darting towards Miach before refocusing on Ichiban. "That's the first step for any adventurer."

"I've already got one," Ichiban answered, jerking a thumb against his chest – and reminding himself once more of the bullet-hole marking his shirt. There was certainly significance there, but despite everything, Arakawa had never actually expelled him. "I'm an Arakawa Family man, to the end."

Naaza sighed softly at that. "Arakawa's not here though, are they? They're on your other world, in the Milky Way galaxy," she almost seemed to be fighting a smile as she said that, and Ichiban chalked it up as a win that she'd steadily gotten more expressive as they spent time together. "I don't think they'd begrudge you seeking help to get home."

"Maybe not," he admitted, ducking his head briefly before meeting Naaza's eyes, "But I want to be able to look him in the eye when I get back and tell him that I never wavered. Not for eighteen years, not for however long I spent here in Genkai."

"That's a man's resolve, Naaza," Miach said in an approvingly fond tone of voice, "No god nor beast can overrule that. But still Ichiban, I hope you'll accept help on this undertaking even if you won't join a familia formally. I'm sure Orario will seem strange to you, there's a lot to take in and understand even before seeing the Dungeon itself."

"I will," Ichiban nodded, glad Miach seemed to get him. "And I'll pay you back properly for saving my life too, that's a man's resolve too!"

Miach laughed at that while Naaza seemed considerably less amused. She still spoke up with her own advice, "Well if you need money before you explore the Dungeon there's a pawn shop down on the other side of the alley we're in. They'd buy that necklace of yours," her gaze sharpened and she leaned forward, "Whatever they'd offer you for that bottle wouldn't be a fair price. A lot of people would kill you for it. Be careful who you show that kind of thing to."

Even the ever genial Miach wore a serious expression as Naaza delivered her warning. He figured with magic and healing potions around it wouldn't be that big a deal, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. He knew a guy in the joint who'd killed someone for his phone.

"I get you. But no one will know from just looking, right?" he asked, receiving nods from the locals as he fastened the bottle to his belt using the loop connecting the cap to the bottle. It was too big to fit in any of his pockets as it was, but didn't feel bad hanging there.

"If you want to learn about the Dungeon, the Pantheon would be a good place to start," Miach spoke up once Ichiban had finished messing with the magical endless water bottle. "That's the head office of the Guild which regulates Orario. They probably won't take you seriously if you're not in a registered familia, but their information is still available to all. They're also the only lawful broker of magic stones, so you'll see a lot of adventurers there cashing out after a day in the Dungeon."

That sounded interesting and obviously suggested a black market in such things, but Ichiban was already struggling a bit with information overload and chose not to press on it. Besides, Miach seemed like an upstanding kind of guy – he ran a store that sold magic healing potions! He probably wasn't the person to talk to about sketchy stuff like that.

"It's not far from here, if you go out onto the main street outside our pharmacy then follow it north, it's the big building with colourful flags outside after you turn right past the cathedral," Naaza spoke up with directions while Ichiban was considering that.

"Right. That all sounds good. Pawn shop, adventurer's guild, and the dungeon's underneath the big tower you can see from anywhere, right?" Ichiban asked, boiling down the local landmarks he knew that could help him get situated. "Honestly I think I need to walk around a bit and just clear my head some anyway, this has been a hell of a way to start the day, but thank you both for all your kindness, I'll come and see you again soon to pay back what I owe."

Miach started to open his mouth before Naaza's elbow subtly pushed against his side and he instead nodded and started over, "We'll look forward to seeing you again, Ichiban. Please don't be a stranger, and remember what we said about help. The Blue Pharmacy's door is always open to you!"

"Hehe, I won't. You two take care of each other," Ichiban returned with a grin, standing up and bowing deeply to his generous benefactors before he made his way out of the shop and out onto the street just down from the alleyway he'd apparently been dumped into as his arrival point into this mysterious fantasy world.

It was bright now, the rising sun shining down from the same direction as an enormous grey tower soaring so far beyond the height of any other structures it was comical. Past that, the street itself was wide enough to admit horse drawn carriages and carts going both ways, while people went about their business. He saw a woman with big white rabbit ears chatting to a man with pointy elf ears. A boy with cat ears and a tail chasing after another boy with ram's horns in some childish game. Plenty of humans too though, or people who if they weren't human had their non-human traits so well hidden he couldn't tell the difference. It seemed peaceful. The air was fresh and clean, the atmosphere was relaxed. Despite the dungeon underneath, life on the surface seemed good at a glance.

Good enough for people like Miach and Naaza to unquestioningly heal a stranger dumped on their door with a gunshot wound.

But also not so good that they didn't assume he'd been mugged and left for dead. Naaza's warning about what people would do for a bottle of endless water also stuck in mind. Still, it couldn't be any worse than Kamurocho on a Friday night. Ichiban wasn't some wide-eyed kid waiting to be made a victim.

"Woah, that's a fat cat!" he blurted out as he spotted an enormous grey feline lounging on a window-sill beside the alley he'd emerged from.

"Hey, who do you-" an irate voice sounded from the street nearby as an older man with black cat ears sticking out above his shaggy hair started turning towards Ichiban, an arm held protectively around his widening paunch before he spotted where Ichiban was looking and chuckled ruefully. "Haha, yeah that's a well-fed fellow. Excuse me, getting a bit sensitive over the middle-aged spread."

"I getcha," Ichiban nodded understandingly, patting his own stomach which was still boasting rock solid abs from all those prison workouts, "You gotta work harder as the years pile up. Still, this guy looks happy where he is."

"We can't all live a life of leisure like that," the cat man said, though he still cast a jealous look at the relaxed feline before squaring his shoulders and heading off down the street, "Speaking of, gotta get moving. Take care buddy."

Giving him a nod back, Ichiban approached the cat that had initially garnered his interest. He had felt it earlier, the sudden realisation that he could talk to animals. It had been sidelined by everything else going on as he took in his situation with Miach and Naaza. But now he had a chance to test it…

"Hey, do you hear this?"

His face screwed up with effort as he stared at the cat without moving his mouth. And with its tail swishing off the side of the window-sill it had perched on, the cat's head turned to look directly at Ichiban with slitted pupil green eyes.

"Sup old man?"

It… no, he. Definitely a male voice. There'd been no cutesy meow, nothing verbal, just a voice beaming into Ichiban's head. It sounded relaxed but cocky. It gave Ichiban the feeling of talking to a delinquent kid hanging out outside a convenience store.

"Nothing much, just testing out this whole talking to animals business. You mind if I try something else?" he beamed more thoughts back, the cat opening its mouth in reply but only to yawn as he stretched his limbs out.

"Okay, but scratch my belly. Just a bit though. Too much and I'll get mad."

"Haha, that's a cat alright," he chuckled out loud, approaching the cat and reaching out to stroke his fingers into the downy fur hanging around the cat's expansive waistline. Focusing on this strange new power, he further linked his mind to the cat's and…

"Woah."

He could feel his own hand scratching 'his' belly, and adjusted where he was dragging his fingers to where felt better. He could hear up and down the street – it was hard to pick out specific conversations but the overall noise was far more than his human ears were able to pick out. Seeing through the cat's eyes he saw himself in its vision, the colours muted so the red suit he wore seemed more washed out, and his facial features were indistinct, merging together with the explosive punch perm around his head. Cat vision wasn't very good, but smell? He could smell the lingering metallic hint of blood on his clothes, the tea lingering on his breath. Other scents from the street were easily picked up too, a girl's strong floral perfume picked up from the other side of the road, the waft of baking bread from a nearby window…

It was a lot to take in, just the senses of one lazy cat basking in the sun. Which felt really good on his dark fur, he could definitely see the appeal in this sort of life. Though he also felt a building irritation which caused him to stop scratching and pull his hand back before the cat got mad as he promised.

"Thanks. That was a big help," he 'thought' to the cat, retracting the mind-link but not before hearing the casual reply.

"Any time, old man. That was a good scratch."

As magical abilities went it wasn't exactly what he would have picked first in this situation, but just being able to benefit from an animal's senses would surely have tons of uses, and they might be good for gathering information or even fighting on his behalf. He hadn't wanted to disturb the cat's rest to test it, but everything else worked as expected and part of this psychic ability included being able to command animals too, and not just one at a time either. He imagined sending a flock of pigeons to barrage a goblin and smiled to himself and started to head down the street.

There was a big building of white stone and pointed steeples ahead, surrounded by parkland, which was probably the cathedral Naaza had mentioned. Circling around it brought him to an even wider street which seemed to run straight towards that huge tower… just looking at the way it overshadowed everything around it reminded him a bit of the Millennium Tower back in Kamurocho. It had been nice seeing that place finally built when he'd gotten out of prison, but he was pretty sure it wasn't as tall as this Tower of Babel, which really put the fantasy architecture into perspective if it could beat out a modern skyscraper. It made it pretty easy to orient yourself wherever you were in this city too, and he followed the road towards it until he saw the building with the colourful flags outside that Naaza had told him to watch out for.

It wasn't hard to spot, if not the flags he probably would have spotted it just from the number of armed and armoured people coming and going outside it. The crowd wasn't so overbearing it stopped him from going inside though, finding it oddly looking like a bank when he got in, the disparate looks of the adventurers clearly contrasting with the neat black office attire of the clerks serving them behind a row of counters at the far end of the foyer.

But then his eyes caught on something that absolutely screamed 'Adventurer's Guild' to his untrained eye. A noticeboard with flyers pinned up all over it. What was clearly a quest board! Seeing people ambling around it more casually than the organised lines up towards the counters, he decided to go give that a look first to get his bearings.

Unfortunately when he got there, a problem became apparent. These people had a completely different alphabet! He could read the numbers – what were probably payout rewards, or numbers of items requested. But the actual words? They looked a bit like English letters if he squinted, which he wound up doing… at least there were pictures on some of them, showing what looked like various monster. A minotaur, some kind of butterfly, a dog or wolf, an… armadillo? That looked like an armadillo.

He'd gotten fairly distracted looking at the pictures that he didn't notice someone sidle up next to him until she spoke. "Hey old man, you look like you've been around the block a few times, got a tip for a newbie?"

Turning, he saw a dark-skinned girl looking up at him, her black hair in a sporty side-ponytail while she wore a crop top and short skirt that left quite a lot of skin exposed. That skin also happened to show a defined musculature, making clear this girl was no stranger to the gym. She gave a beaming pearly-teethed smile up at him and pointed to one of the flyers as she spoke, "Me and my friends want to go hunt purple moths but they're a pain to find. You know any good spots they like to spawn?"

Her smile. Her expectation. They were blinding! Ichiban felt himself shrinking under the weight of her gaze. "Uh, well, y'see…" he started, wanting to just admit his ignorance but also feeling like he was failing to measure up to the expectations put on him, when mercifully someone else interrupted.

"A good spot to hunt purple moths?" they both turned to see a pointy-eared elf with slicked back blond hair adjusting his round glasses over his nose. "Go down to the seventh floor using the southern-most stairs on the sixth floor. Turn left, then go straight past both intersections – keep straight, then turn right at the T-junction, you come out on a crevasse over a pit down to the ninth floor. The moths like to spawn to attack people crossing over the bridge, but most people just run past because you need ranged weapons to fight them there and even if they drop they fall down the pit. But if you lure them back to the passage on either side you'll be able to fight them there!"

He spoke breathlessly but precisely, drawing impressed looks from both Ichiban and the girl. Her smile widened and she shimmied her hips from side to side, "Heyyy, you know your stuff Glasses!" she said playfully, her hand reaching out to push his chest.

At which point he teetered back, arms wind-milling before he tumbled onto his ass with a startled cry. The girl remained frozen with her arm outstretched before her face morphed into a look of pure disgust, eyes narrowed and lips pinched. "Eww. Never mind," she said curtly, turning away even as Ichiban reached down to try and help the poor guy up.

Face red, the elf's voice cracked as he retorted, "You're not supposed to touch elves! It's rude!" only receiving an even more rude gesture from the girl as she walked away to join several other tittering dark-skinned girls. Meanwhile Ichiban suddenly let go of the guy's arm he'd been using to try and help him up, causing him to drop again. "Not you!" he huffed, pulling himself up and dusting himself off. "Sorry. I don't really mind the touching thing, it's just an old tradition I used to try and save face." Letting out a forlorn sigh, he turned fully towards Ichiban and bowed, "My name is Orin Redleaf. Thank you for helping me just now."

"Hey, no problem. My name's Ichiban Kasuga," Ichiban introduced himself in turn, feeling a bit awkward over the whole situation. "That was kinda rough, huh?"

"Yes. I shouldn't be surprised. Muscle-head amazons like her only understand mindless brute strength," Orin complained, taking off his glasses and wiping them with a handkerchief before putting them back on and folding his arms over the yellow tunic he had on. "The Dungeon devours the foolish. Wisdom and knowledge are the greatest weapons of the wise and I have exercised my formidable mental talents towards becoming a true scholar of the Dungeon. Every adventurer inevitably reaches their physical limit, the wall beyond which no amount of effort and will can break. And those are the lucky ones that don't simply end up as bones in a forgotten cave. But I have cast off those shackles, so that my glorious mind can explore its depths without limitation. Every day I consult maps to see how the Dungeon has changed, I read reports of monster activity, I study journals of expeditions. While a foolish muscle-head will struggle to ever see even the Under-Resort, I have already explored beyond the White Palace using the power of my minds eye. Every day I expand my knowledge, coming closer and closer to the Ultimate Theory of the Dungeon!"

His voice picked up quite a bit as he went on there, his arms waving expansively as he gesticulated to make his points, yet few people paid attention other than to shoot pitying looks towards him, while Ichiban simply listened patiently. "So, uh… have you ever actually been in the dungeon?" he asked the inevitable and obvious question.

"Are you crazy?! I'd die!" Orin immediately answered with a complete lack of shame.

"Right. Yeah. That checks out," Ichiban agreed tiredly. "So what's your goal with this? Why are you aiming towards this Ultimate Theory of the Dungeon?" He was starting to get that it was a proper noun thing and not just one of many dungeons like you'd see in a video-game. Made him wonder how they came up with the name.

"What man wouldn't want to solve the greatest mystery of our time?" Orin answered. "My dream is to have my wisdom recognised by a familia, so I can join them and combine my perfect theoretical knowledge with their adventurers' skills to unravel its every last mystery. But no familia wants to take someone who can't fight. My parents say I should just get a job with the Guild, but it's not the same."

"I get it," Ichiban nodded, at least thinking he did. "Safe government job is the kind of thing parents usually push their kids to, but you want to be part of a family actually getting in on the action, huh?"

"Yes!" Orin nodded briskly. "And if I could join the Loki familia, then maybe Nine Hells would notice me…" his cheeks reddened and he pressed his fingers together.

That didn't exactly sound like a nice name, but every other signal he was putting out… "This Nine Hells a girl?" Ichiban asked knowingly, only for Orin to sputter and his eyes to bug out behind his glasses.

"A guh-guh-girl?! Th-that's Riveria Ljos Alf! Leader of the elite Fairy Force! Master of nine magics! More beautiful than any goddess! She's not just a girl! She's… she's… perfect…" he trailed off with a dreamy smile, eyes staring far away and surely conjuring images of this wondrous being with the minds eye he'd earlier bragged about solving the Dungeon with.

"Okay, buddy. Um… good luck then!" Ichiban gave a smile and nod before edging away from the now day-dreaming elf. On the plus side, it looked like the crowds had thinned out, giving him a clear shot towards the clerks, so he walked down a rope-cordoned path towards a red-haired woman with cat (or maybe dog? They seemed a bit fuller than cat ears he'd seen, more like a shiba inu than Naaza's spaniel) ears. With her neat black vest and white shirt she gave off a strong office lady energy despite any animal traits and gave Ichiban a polite customer service smile at his approach.

"Hey there," he smiled back at her, "Name's Ichiban Kasuga. I'm kind of new around here and I was looking for some help getting started with the Dungeon, Miach and Naaza said this was the place to start?" He figured since they ran a potion store that was nearby to the Guild office they'd be well known enough that name-dropping them wouldn't hurt.

"Good morning Mr. Kasuga," the woman responded, keeping her eyes on him as she reached for a document with more of that not-quite-English lettering on it, "My name is Rose Fannett, am I to understand you're a new member of the Miach familia?"

"Oh!" he shook his head, realising the misunderstanding he'd caused. "No, no. Not like that, we're just friends. I'm not part of any of the local families, I'm basically a freelancer here," he explained, giving her a grin and jabbing his thumb at his chest.

She didn't look impressed. Her eyes scanned him down and up, and there was a barely perceptible sigh before she brushed a lock of crimson hair back from her brow. "How old are you, Mr. Kasuga?"

"Huh? Forty two," he answered automatically, wondering why she'd ask that.

She nodded to that. "Is this some kind of mid-life crisis? Are you feeling like you haven't achieved all you set out to with your life so you've decided to throw everything aside by diving into a place that will almost certainly get you killed?" she asked, still with the same polite customer service voice even as she leaned over the counter towards him. "Have you thought about your family and the people you'll be leaving behind?"

He leaned back a little himself, intimidated by Rose's intensity. "Don't kids go into this Dungeon?" he asked, recalling the guy who'd come by to buy a potion from Naaza earlier. He couldn't have been older than fifteen.

"Yes," Rose nodded, straightening up again. "I see them go in every day, and then I stop seeing them and hope they've gotten some sense and found a better way to live. Sometimes I find out they died down there, but a lot of the time I don't, they just vanish, another forgotten unrecognisable body in its depths. Children lured by promises of wealth and glory get consumed by the Dungeon, and I've learned there's no arguing with the young." Her eyes narrowed and Ichiban definitely got a predatory intent from them that reaffirmed the whole animal features thing she had going on, "I expect better from a man who should actually have some life experience at his age."

In a way it was kind of heartening that she cared so much, that she wasn't just jaded to it all even as the apparent risks of the Dungeon now felt more substantial in his mind. Still, despite what she said earlier it wasn't like he had a family or anyone to leave behind here. The Dungeon was his only lead for actually getting out of here.

"I understand where you're coming for, but I've got my own reasons that I need to go down there," he answered, not really wanting to get into the whole 'have you ever heard of the Milky Way galaxy' thing again as it was clearly a lost cause. "Now I can just walk on over to that big tower and head down, but I'm looking for what support's available before I start, so I can at least stack things up in my favour."

Spoiler: Necromancer Lord

500- Necromancer Lord
Warhammer Fantasy: Dogs of War
All the secrets of necromancy are available to you know, and creatures bleak and terrible answer to your beck and call. Wraiths, mummies, vampires, wights, even with effort a great, rotting zombie dragon can be commanded, though those who retain the ability to think may not respond well to slavery. As well as commanding greater undead you gain access to the most terrible necromantic spells, able to slay entire towns and cities worth of people.

While those with this perk can wear magical and non-magical metal armour such as chainmail or plate mail, such equipment does make it much more difficult and much more tiring to work spells.

That might've come out better if his voice hadn't wavered halfway through, a feeling coursing through his head like earlier when he'd suddenly developed the ability to talk to animals. That one hadn't really felt like a 'hero' ability, but it was still pretty cool. Ichiban Kasuga: Horse Whisperer! That sounded good, right?

Certainly better than Ichiban Kasuga: Dark Lord of the Damned.

Why did he suddenly know how to raise zombies and ghosts? Was it because Rose was talking all morbid about how deadly the Dungeon was? Okay it wasn't all zombies, he actually suddenly knew a ton of magic, but it was all… screaming skulls, and wicked dark bolts of energy, and causing people to age into dust with a touch.

The hero was supposed to be good with a sword and have some magic towards healing and probably light or holy element! Not this!

It must have shown on his face what he was going through because Rose was looking at him with some concern now. "Are you alright, Mr. Kasuga? You seem a bit… distracted, all of a sudden."

"Ugh," he groaned and tried to shove all this evil magic knowledge into a box in the back of his head. "Sorry, last night's maybe catching up with me," he waved her off, just glad apparently he hadn't been drooling this time. "What do I need to know to get started?"

"Well to begin with, if you have problems with sudden distraction that will certainly get you killed down there," Rose answered primly. "The level of support the Guild can offer to anyone not part of a registered familia is limited. While a fit adult with training can handle the goblins and kobolds on the upper floors in ones or pairs, it gets considerably more deadly from there. The benefits of a god's blessing aren't just advantageous, they're mandatory if you hope to survive anything more than a brief exploration of the first floor. For that reason the Guild does not encourage exploration of the Dungeon by non-adventurers."

"Uh, okay," Ichiban digested that, deciding to ignore her point about distractions even though it was probably a very good one. "So a god's blessing, what kind of thing is that? Is that like… magic? Like suddenly knowing how to talk to animals or… stuff?" he asked, getting a hint that this might actually explain the weird powers he'd been receiving. And the cool water bottle. Nothing bad to say about that!

The look Rose gave him made him feel rather foolish for asking. "Yes, it can include magic sometimes, but the main blessing of falna is the improvement of physical abilities and the growth that comes with it. Though I haven't heard of anyone speaking with animals, I wouldn't be surprised if that kind of skill existed for someone out in the countryside somewhere. The Dungeon doesn't have normal animals. Some members of the Ganesha familia specialise in taming monsters, though they don't actually talk to them."

Despite everything else he had a feeling Rose was an absolute font of useful information. If you could just get her talking she'd go off on whatever you needed!

"Okay, I getcha," he said, deciding to endure whatever weird looks she'd give him for asking foolish questions when she was clearly willing to expound on basic information regardless. That's a civil servant for you! "And the gods just hand out these blessings to people what, randomly?"

Oh damn, the expression is starting to get a bit hurtful, compromising Ichiban's resolve to look like an ignoramus if it alleviated his ignorance.

"Did you just fall out of an apple tree or something?" she asked, voice tinged with disbelief. And yet, miraculously, before Ichiban was forced to answer that question, she chose to start expositing to him anyway. If you don't ask you don't get after all! "The gods exercise their own selection criteria for their familias, but none of them dispense their blessing randomly. The god has to manually update the falna to actualise the gains made by an adventurer, increasing their abilities commensurate with effort The vast majority of adventurers in Orario are level one, with basic abilities that still put them above normal fit adults. The ones who break past level one have considerably greater abilities, and often unique skills or magic like you mentioned before."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Ichiban waved his hands at her, feeling like this was going a bit too fast over something important. Levels and stats and magic he could understand, but, "You're saying the gods are connected to the familias?"

Her eye definitely twitched there.

"Yes," she answered after a pause where she seemed to be physically marshalling herself in the face of Ichiban's complete lack of even basic assumed information. "The gods who have come down from Tenkai lead their familias, offering their blessing to those members who act on their behalf. Many of them are thus adventuring familias, but some have other concerns such as the Demeter familia who run many farms outside of Orario and who's members don't actively delve into the Dungeon."

But that would mean… "So you're saying Miach's a god?"

Rose's composure cracked. She looked to the side where the other clerks not having any customers of their own were shamelessly eavesdropping on the whole thing with the sort of glee that came from seeing a co-worker deal with a weird customer while you didn't have to do anything yourself. The wood creaked as she held onto the edge of the counter and refocused on Ichiban. "Yes. Lord Miach is a god, and therefore head of the Miach familia."

What the hell was he meant to do with that information? The guy was nice, hell kinda saintly what with the whole free medicine thing, but a god? Kind of low key about it then.

"Huh," he said at last. "Doesn't that just beat everything?"

"I'm not sure what reaction I was expecting, but I'm still disappointed," Rose muttered under her breath.

"Haha, sorry, I guess I'm just a bit out of the loop," he laughed it off, though thinking about it he did recognise Loki that Orin had talked about earlier. That was one of the Viking gods, right? And Rose had mentioned Ganesh, the elephant god. Which meant… "So, uh, is Amaterasu hanging around anywhere?" he asked, leaning over the counter towards Rose, figuring it'd be interesting to meet a Japanese god in this place.

"That's not one I recognise," Rose answered, and this time she gave her colleagues a more pointed look, implicitly asking any of them to chime in if they knew.

"I think that's a sun goddess from the far east?" a brown-haired elf said, tapping a gloved finger to her lips as she cast her eyes upwards. "I don't know if she's come down from Tenkai though, at least not to Orario that I've heard."

Sounds like there's some kind of equivalent to Japan here if Amaterasu and the far east go together. Probably wouldn't help him get back to his Japan though so Ichiban filed it away as a curiosity.

"Ah, don't worry about it," Ichiban waved her off with a smile, "Was just curious since she's more of a big deal back home. We got a bit sidetracked there anyway."

"Yes, over your appalling lack of basic knowledge regarding the Dungeon," Rose agreed, nodding briskly.

"That's what I'm here to fix though, right?" he answered by giving her a big grin.

She did not appear particularly moved by it, at least at first. But then she sighed, her shoulders slouching and she nodded. "At the very least you're taking steps to learn instead of simply running headlong into the Dungeon without a plan. I can't stop you from going there, but I can arm you with knowledge to at least improve your chances. Let's start by examining the current map of the first floor," she turned from him and went to a rack of rolled up papers behind the counter, coming back and unrolling it to show Ichiban the layout of the Dungeon's first floor and began indicating points of interest and describing the kinds of monsters that could be found there.

Goblins and kobolds he'd already heard of briefly, though Rose also told him of an extremely fast bird that had a valuable drop but liked to lure people into ambushes so he should be wary of it rather than seeing the valis signs and letting greed guide him.

At least it was just looking at a map rather than having to read anything. He didn't want to reveal his illiteracy just when it seemed her impression of him was starting to pick up.

"I think I've got the gist of it, I should be able to handle it," he said when she seemed to run out of material to talk about for the first floor.

"What about equipment?" Rose asked, "You don't look kitted out right now, do you have weapons and armour? Healing potions?"

"Ah, not exactly…" he admitted, rubbing the back of his head and avoiding her judging gaze.

"The Guild can provide starting equipment, but only to adventurers part of a registered familia," Rose said flatly. "We don't want to encourage people to go in and get themselves killed, nor just hand out weapons to anyone who asks. But… you did listen well," she seemed to be chewing something over and then glanced towards her elven colleague who was shuffling papers around given the lack of other customers right now. "My colleague Eina Tulle does advanced certification for adventurers. If you can pass her test on the first floor, I might be able to bend the rules a little to supply you with some beginner items."

The now named Eina looked over at them with a smile blooming on her lips, her glasses catching the light to obscure her eyes.

"Ahh, you know what, I think I've got a handle on things now, so how about we take a rain check?" Ichiban held up his hands and backed away from the counter, to the visible disappointment of both clerks. He'd had enough bureaucracy for the morning and didn't exactly want to broadcast his lack of literacy. "I'll uh, catch you all later, okay?" And then turned to flee from disapproving civil servants, hurrying out onto the street and then orienting himself towards that big tower. There's only so much theory a man can take before he needs action!

 

[Ebiris]

It wasn't that long a walk to reach the tower. Orario was bigger than Kamurocho sure but it was no Tokyo. The tower itself still stood out as something fantastic. All the other buildings looked familiar – a bit old fashioned maybe, but the kind of thing you'd see in rural parts of Japan or pictures of Europe. But the Tower of Babel just looked straight up otherworldly, being made up of unpainted but even grey stone and marked with carvings that blended together in his vision as he craned his neck upwards to the top soaring so absurdly high overhead.

This was what they built to plug up the Dungeon? It must have some kind of serious magic if it needs to be that big. Thoughts of mystical significance were to be disappointed however as he fell in behind a group of women heading into the tower who were dressed casually rather than in the sort of clothes he'd seen on the adventurers back at the Pantheon. They were talking about shopping for jewellery, and cheerfully got into an elevator manned by a liveried attendant before vanishing upwards.

"Is this place just a big shopping mall?!" he blurted out, getting a weird look from a small boyish looking figure who was holding a spear about three times bigger than he was.

"First time in Orario?" he asked, a world-weary effect in his tone despite the still childishly high pitch of his voice.

Spoiler: Defensive Determinator

150 - Defensive Determinator
Generic MG
Yes, the tank is an important part of party composition. You tank via forcefields, which allows you to tank at a distance and tank even when your enemy is so rudely attacking someone else.

You start with basic forcefields that you and your allies can move and attack through, while those you don't want to have free lines of fire and movement have to break them first. Put in time and practice, get out new forcefields and tricks.

If you want to create defensive barriers to protect an environment, then this is a good start.

"Uhhhh…" Ichiban answered with an embarrassing slur in his voice, momentarily distracted as another set of magical abilities appeared in his head. At least this time it wasn't anything creepy like necromancy, in fact being able to make force-fields was pretty cool no matter how you looked at it!

The small blond-haired figure pushed off the pillar he was leaning against, looking at Ichiban with some measure of concern mixed with suspicion. "You okay, buddy?"

"Yeah, yeah! Sorry, guess I'm a bit surprised is all," Ichiban hurriedly reassured him. "First time, yeah. Was expecting it to be more mystical, you know?"

"Heh, yeah. Living here you quickly learn there's nothing actually sacred. There's all kinds of shops up the tower. Meeting places for the gods and stuff too, but you see enough of them wandering around town on any day you learn not to see it as anything special," he said, seeming to relax with Ichiban's answer. "Name's Rory, I'm Ganesha familia. We keep the peace around here," he thumped a small fist against the metal breastplate he had over his slender chest, which he was pushing out with a bit of pride. "You visiting Orario for long?"

"Well, probably," he answered, given he didn't exactly come here willingly. "I'm Ichiban Kasuga, I was actually heading to the Dungeon. It's under here, right?"

"Like that?" Rory looked Ichiban up and down. Which given the height difference involved a fair bit of neck movement on his part. "No weapon, no armour? What, you just wanted to wrestle a goblin?"

Probably better that than using the spell that made burning blood leap from his hands, but instead Ichiban just flexed and nodded, clapping a hand on his bicep. "I got all the weapons I need right here!"

Rory didn't seem impressed, which given the noodle-like state of his own childish limbs seemed a bit rich, but he shrugged anyway. "Your funeral. I'm heading down myself when my friends get here, if your body's not too far from the stairs we'll bring it back up."

Wow, that was even darker than Rose's lectures. Still, he was starting to think they were laying it on a bit thick. "C'mon, everyone's got to start somewhere, and I've seen kids going in here," he said, getting annoyed by all the constant doom-saying.

Rory did seem to realise that as he nodded. "Well yeah, sure. I was twelve when I fought my first goblin," twelve? How old was he now? "But I had a sword, and friends backing me up. You don't want a goblin coming at you while you're busy grappling another. That's why you want a weapon to kill 'em quick, and someone to watch your back so you don't get blind-sided. It's never just one."

That was actually a pretty good point. He couldn't get a weapon right now, not unless he passed that exam back at the Pantheon or spent ages pawning his necklace and going shopping, but didn't he have a way to get another set of eyes backing him up? Someone with even better senses than his own in fact?

"You know what, that's a good point. Back in a minute," he said, turning around and walking back out of the tower. Getting a whole flock of pigeons to follow him around underground might be a bit much, but he found one pecking crumbs off the ground near the fountain in the plaza surrounding the tower.

"Hey you, can you come with me for a bit? I'll get you some bread or something later."

"Make it nuts and I'll come wherever you want me to, sweet-cheeks!"

He did not expect the pigeon's psychic voice to sound like a flirty old granny, but the white dove actually looked quite nice and cooed happily when settling upon his shoulder. Not quite a colourful parrot, but better than a grey aerial rat.

"I'm going to call you Pearl," he said aloud, the newly named Pearl naturally not understanding but nonetheless being quite happy to assist when he told her he simply needed her to keep a lookout so no one snuck up on him. Thus with a confident stride, Ichiban walked right back into the tower and grinned at Rory as he passed the boy or short man or hobbit, reaching a wide spiral staircase descending around the edges of a circular hole that narrowed in towards the darkness at the bottom. He could see a few people descending ahead of him, though no one seemed to be coming back up. It made him wonder just how crowded the Dungeon would be, but most were probably going to go past the first floor rather than just sticking around.

He never did find out exactly how many floors there were, but he doubted he was going to clear the thing today. This felt like a big quest, not a quick adventure. For today he figured, he could at least see how well he could handle fighting the goblins and kobolds, and get enough magic stones that he could cash in and repay Miach and get a place to sleep tonight.

It was quite a ways down the stairs before they finally emerged out onto a tunnel, unworked stone of a bluish hue… or maybe it just seemed blue because that was the colour of the glowing points intermittently studding the ceiling. Rose had called this Beginner Road, a broad passage that basically ran the length of the first floor, with numerous other branches splitting off and circling around in a maze-like pattern that encompassed an area equivalent to a couple city blocks.

And already he could see violence up ahead. A girl dressed like a Halloween witch right down to the big black conical hat and a boy in a tank top and baggy pants that showed off an unimpressively skinny physique were fighting four little green guys that were even smaller than Rory. Pearl ruffled her feathers at the proximity to violence but for now stayed on his shoulder as Ichiban started jogging closer.

Spoiler: Dwarven Centurion

100- Dwarven Centurion
The Elder Scrolls
One of the deadliest Dwemer Animunculi crafted, it is a brass behemoth that stands equal to Giants, and even more deadly. It's metallic hide repels most mundane weapons, it's axe can cleave through steel easily, and when it has to, it can unleash a blast of boiling steam towards an opponent. You also get a rod, allowing you to control it's actions directly as well as force it into standby mode.

Then, rather suddenly, the space between them was filled with an enormous brass robot. Its head, decorated with a plume like you saw on those old Roman helmets, scraped the ceiling, while arms about as thick as Ichiban's torso ended respectively with a giant mallet and a big-ass axe. Dimly he noticed a hefty rod of the same brass-hued material had appeared in his hand, his fingers feeling buttons studding one end of it while Pearl bless her heart broadcast her psychic warning.

"Do you see that?! It just came out of nowhere! I don't like it!"

She wasn't the only one, as the witch girl let out a girly war cry and beaned a goblin on the head with her staff, sending it to the ground before she glanced over her shoulder and her jaw suddenly dropped. "Aaaah! Ken, look out! There's a giant monster!" she actually started retreating towards the other goblins while the one she'd struck was already recovering.

The now named Ken stabbed his sword into the back of the fallen goblin to cease its recovery, the green monster vanishing in a puff of black smoke while the young man also looked back and then started stumbling away. "How did it get here?! That's the entrance!" he yelled.

Ichiban had a sad feeling this was all his fault, or at least that it was connected to him. It's not like he asked for it to happen! However, it wasn't actually moving, so he decided to try and calm things down for the two adventurers. The goblins unfortunately didn't seem to really care about the distraction and were already lunging at the pair.

"I think it's just a statue, it's not moving!" he shouted, running past the robot which indeed did nothing to impede him. The two were still distracted enough for one goblin to barrel into Ken's legs, sending him stumbling to the ground while the girl shrieked at having the other two pull and claw at her robes. Pearl had flown off his shoulder at the sudden motion, flapping around the ceiling and making clear her displeasure, while Ichiban tightened his fist around the reassuringly solid bar of metal in his hand, coming in for a big swing backed up by his momentum.

Crack!

That was the goblin's skull not the metal which indeed held up just fine, twisting an already misshapen head out of alignment before the goblin faded into black smoke, a small purple shard hitting the floor with a tink while Ken recovered himself enough to stab his sword through one of the goblins menacing the witch girl, who was busy trying to pry them both off of herself with her wooden staff. Despite his lack of muscle, Ken clearly had some strength to him as he ripped his blade through the first goblin enough for it to discorporate with a gurgling cry before carrying on to stab the other one, which received a vindictive staff bashing for good measure before it too died and faded away. Not just a magic stone this time but a single tooth remained behind to drop on the floor as the violence ceased and the three of them looked at each other before looking back to the giant brass robot looming in the darkness.

"Well…" Ken began, not taking his eyes off it, "Normally would complain about you butting in, but under the circumstances think that magic stone's yours."

"It's really not moving," the girl said, staring at it and clutching her staff in a white-knuckled grip.

"It's just standing there… but it looks creepy," Ken began to inch closer, holding his sword at the ready while Ichiban took a moment to properly examine the metal rod that had appeared in his hand at the same time as the robot.

It was made of the same brass coloured metal alright. A bit over a foot long, and heavy. Lines were engraved into it, like a wave pattern except all blocky right angles, and two buttons sat in recesses near one end of it. Weirdly enough, those buttons were marked with pretty recognisable symbols. A vertical line through one side of a broken circle. And three steadily larger curves radiating from a square that broadened out on one side into a larger triangle.

Standby and speaker?

While Ichiban puzzled over that mystery, Ken had gotten up close to the unmoving robot, enough to say, "It can't be a monster. It has a human face, and it looks like something that was built." Hesitantly he raised his sword and lightly smacked it against the thing's leg with a clang of metal on metal. That proved to be a mistake as with a sudden explosive release of steam the robot began to move, its expressionless face radiating merciless apathy as its torso rotated towards the one who'd struck it, raising its axe-bladed limb.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Following a hunch, Ichiban pointed the metal rod towards the robot and pressed the standby button, causing it to immediately freeze in position, metal joints and actuators locking up while Ken scrambled backwards.

The witch girl however stared at the metal object in Ichiban's hand, big brown eyes wide as saucers beneath her floppy-brimmed hat. "You can control it?" she whispered.

Well there's no real hiding it. Not like he could've played dumb and left Ken there to be splattered. Or well maybe a force-field could've helped, but the cat was out of the bag either way.

"Yeah. Uh… let me just…" he tried pressing the speaker button and then said, "Come here."

The hiss of steam was less explosive this time, but the robot resumed its motion either way, arm lowered from its impending strike and then walking with thunderous plodding strides towards Ichiban, causing Ken to have to quickly scoot to the side while Pearl flapped over its head and then landed on the ground safely behind the robot's back. It came to a stop, looming over Ichiban, sculpted face not even looking at him as it simply stood there radiating potential violence.

"Yeah. Uh, I guess I've got a robot," Ichiban said numbly. It certainly looked like it could beat up an unlimited number of goblins. "I'm gonna call you Yankimaru," he decided, since that decoration on its head kind of looked like an old fashioned delinquent pompadour. Impulsively he held down the speaker button and said, "Your name is Yankimaru."

There was a slight release of steam from around its neck that Ichiban decided to take as agreement.

The girl was looking at him, and then the rod, and then back at Ken, and it wasn't hard to see the calculation passing behind her eyes. But then she smiled and the moment passed and Ichiban wondered just how close he'd come to being mugged for the control rod of a giant robot.

"My name's Izzy, and that's Ken. We're in the Ogma familia," she introduced them both as Ken came around, carefully circling past Yankimaru.

"I'm Ichiban. I guess that's Yankimaru, and that's Pearl," a mental command had the pigeon flying over and perching on Yankimaru's head.

"Your shoulder's too bony, sweet-cheeks. This kind of perch suits a girl better."

She seemed to have gotten over her fright at the robot's sudden appearance, and to true pigeon form had decided a statue made for a good perch. He really hoped she wasn't going to crap all over his new robot.

"Quite the crew you've got, Ichiban," Ken said. "You heading down to the deeper floors?"

Maybe he should? It already felt like he was well past the goblin weight class, although he didn't know anything about the floors further down it couldn't be that hard to deal with, right? He decided to keep it vague. He didn't think these were bad kids, but they'd clearly been sizing him up too, and getting too specific with his plans might tempt them to rope in some help from their familia and try something.

"Yeah, something like that. Just taking my boy here out for a test drive, see how things go. Heh, even without him can still crack a few heads," he chuckled and thumped the metal rod into his palm. It certainly was heavy enough to use as a bludgeon, as that goblin earlier had demonstrated.

Ken and Izzy both seemed like they wanted to press more questions but were restraining themselves. It was pretty obvious he'd been as surprised as them about everything to do with Yankimaru just now, he wasn't some kooky mad scientist taking his prototype invention out, but the fact was the robot was following his orders either way. Probably made for a lot more intimidating backup than Pearl did.

"Well, good luck Ichiban," Izzy said, scooping up the magic stones and goblin fang off the floor before she got out of the way. "We'll see you around," she winked and tossed one of the tiny purple shards towards him.

He caught it, his first potential currency in this world that he'd actually earned. A few more of these and he might be able to pay for that healing potion. "You two take care," he said, pocketing it before he pressed the speaker button. "Follow me, Yankimaru," he said, and his steps were followed by the lumbering tread of the giant steam-spewing robot behind him.

Another adventurer got passed on the way, thankfully not interrupting a fight so the young guy in barbarian style spiky leather armour just stared slack-jawed at Ichiban and his robot, getting a grin back as he went to explore the branching paths of the Dungeon's first floor. He probably wouldn't have heard it himself over the noise Yankimaru was making, but Pearl at least was doing as he asked and keeping an eye out.

"Look out, sweet-cheeks! Bad things coming out of the walls, I don't like them!"

He turned just in time to see rock flake and crumble away towards the upper edges of the wall on either side, more dead-eyed goblins appearing, baring mouths full of sharp teeth and hissing before they charged recklessly at him.

"Yankimaru, kill the goblins!"

And oh boy did Yankimaru kill the goblins. A single sweep of his axe-bladed arm bisected three of them without stopping, their bodies puffing away into black smoke while the others leapt and tried to pummel the robot's metal legs to utterly no effect. One unfortunately was still attached to that leg when Yankimaru drove his knee against the wall, causing the goblin's pot-bellied torso to bulge out grotesquely before it mercifully just turned into black smoke rather than gore. The last two got pulverised by the hammer arm, striking straight down like the robot was hammering nails.

Pearl took off and flew around the ceiling, broadcasting her displeasure with all the sudden motion and violence, but it only took a couple seconds for it all to be over and the robot to return to standing in wait with nothing left for it to kill.

"Damn. Not bad, big guy!" Ichiban grinned, going to pick up the glittering little purple shards left on the floor in the wake of that display. This was actually pretty cool – he always thought pet classes were neat, and part of his disappointment with all the necromancy stuff was how it was actually pretty close to that. He just didn't want to be dragging around rotting stiffs or tortured wraiths. Maybe some practice, work out better tactics and commands than just 'kill those things' and he and Yankimaru could be a real team!

Deciding such a display earned a brief break, he opened up his water bottle, taking a swig and feeling the refreshing cool water flow down his throat. He really did feel rejuvenated by it, energy coursing through him better than he'd get from a taurine-boosted caffeine-loaded energy drink that they only sold in pharmacies back home. "Ahhh, good stuff!" he grinned, rubbing his hands together and orienting himself to where he remembered Rose marked the stairs further down on her map.

Not before picking up the magic stones left behind by the goblins of course. That was money in the bank! They jingled like loose change in his pocket as he started navigating through the underground tunnels to progress deeper into the Dungeon

The next challenge in his way however was a lot more modest as he rounded a corner and found a kobold shambling around. It took one look at him, disregarded the gigantic brass robot lumbering behind him, and shot forward with a slavering growl, clawed hands scrabbling at him!

"Woah!" raising the metal rod to block, he held the feral dog-like beast by the neck as jaws snapped in the air and claws ripped against his sleeves. Momentum only carried it so far however, as despite its fierce appearance it was less than half Ichiban's size and so he was able to shove it back and send it skidding back on its ass. His first proper strike in return pulverised the kobold's leg under the impressively solid metal of the robot control rod, leaving it easy prey for a follow-up that caved in its chest.

There was a glass shattering sound and the monster faded away into black smoke, no sign of any magic stone left behind this time. "Huh, must've broken the stone in its chest?" he wondered, looking over the sturdy brass rod in his hands and then looking back at Yankimaru who was waiting behind him, having shown no reaction to the attack on his 'master'.

"Guess you won't do anything without being told, huh?" he asked the robot which regarded him impassively with its severe countenance showing not a flicker of expression on that sculpted face.

Still, that was pretty good practice. A single monster here really wasn't any trouble. Might've been harder to kill it with just his fists, but he was confident he'd have won. A group of them might've been more tricky.

Fortunately he didn't just have his fists. Even without Yankimaru's probably excessive assistance, he had his magic now. Force-fields and creepy necromantic spells. Probably want to rely on the first, but if push came to shove he'd break out everything.

Maybe get himself some spiky armour. Put on some white facial make-up like a heavy metal star. If he's gonna use creepy magic like that it'd be better to own it with some style.

Then again at the rate he was going, maybe he'd get more magic soon? He tried to figure out the timing, but it didn't seem consistent. The animal thing had been maybe a minute after he woke up, then the bottle appeared a couple later. Maybe half an hour before the necromancy, an hour for the force-field, and a couple more minutes for the robot?

The time seemed all random but hell, it wasn't even midday yet!

Still, he decided to actually practice some of it right now. With a though, a glassy plane appeared between himself and Yankimaru. Reaching out, he pushed his hand through it and felt no resistance, it might as well have been an optical illusion. Pulling his hand back, he pressed the speaker button on the rod and said, "Yankimaru, hit the force-field!"

With a hiss of steam, Yankimaru raised up his hammer-arm and swung it down against the force-field, which Ichiban stood well away from. It shattered instantly, although the robot's arm rebounded off it, so at least if he'd been standing behind it he would probably have been saved.

Wouldn't have done much good if Yankimaru had been charging though. Still, that was a big strong robot. Would a goblin be able to do the same?

It's not as if it took much out of him to make it, so he created another force-field as Yankimaru settled back into repose. This time he punched it himself, his fist smacking into the vertical plane which shimmered and his knuckles hurt like he'd hit a wall. "Ahh…! Good enough for that," he winced and shook out his hand. He could choose whether the field would block someone or let them through, which meant it'd be easy to attack from behind while staying protected. No more letting some kobold scratch up his only suit!

Squeezing his hand around the metal rod, he proceeded to swing it at the field. It struck off with a hollow reverb noise, a shimmer of light radiating out from the point of impact and fading. Several more strikes followed, Ichiban laying into the force-field like it owed him money, but it held up throughout.

Wherever the limit on its durability was, it was somewhere between Ichiban's 'pretty buff dude' level, and Yankimaru's 'possibly legendary super robot' level.

Satisfied with this testing, he dismissed the force-field and set off again, Yankimaru continuing to obediently follow him with a pigeon perched atop its head.

There were no monsters or other adventurers between him and the stairs deeper into the Dungeon, although when he reached them he looked down that slope into the darkness and then up at the giant robot that had been shadowing his footsteps thus far and decided to command, "Yankimaru, go down those stairs."

He did not fancy the thought of Yankimaru tripping and falling on him on the way down there. Fortunately the robot proved sure-footed as he obediently stomped down, Ichiban following as they descended to the second floor of the dungeon. Which looked basically identical to the first floor. But this time he didn't have the benefit of having seen a map back at the Pantheon.

Shame he didn't have a pen and paper. Memories of drawing dungeon maps from video games bubbled up and put a nostalgic smile on his face as he set off to explore this fresh terrain, getting Yankimaru to follow him once more.

Spoiler: Light in the Darkness

200 - Light in the Darkness
Warhammer Fantasy: Imperial Colleges of Magic
The light you wield is more than just a sword or shield against the darkness. Your battle is for the souls of mankind as much as it is for their lands. For those tempted towards evil by their own fear, pain, or loss, you may be the last hope of their seeing the light. In your immediate presence, the light of Hysh drives out despair in all those you do not see as enemies. This will not protect them from dark magic on its own, but you can at least drive back the darkness threatening their hearts.

And it was with such warm thoughts in his head that his head was abruptly filled with another magic blessing from whatever mysterious god had decided to mess with him outside of the whole falna system Rose had explained earlier.

It was a spell, of the sort he'd thought of earlier when complaining over his lack of hero-like abilities. Light, called forth similarly to how all those necromantic spells worked, with weird mystical words and gestures. Instead of having a whole library of the damned pumped into his head, it was just one spell however. And, lacking any of the troubling implications of necromancy, he decided to try it out.

He raised a hand, tracing a symbol in the air that manifested in bright sparkles where his finger went, resolving into the appearance of a wheel with an arrow sticking out the top. The words he said weren't words, more like the syllables a new age mystic might intone when meditating.

"Munancho!"

And with the conclusion of his spell, a warm illumination like the afternoon sun spread out from Ichiban, overpowering the wan blue lights in the rocky ceiling and banishing the gloom of the dungeon.

Yankimaru seemed unaffected but Pearl cooed happily.

It wouldn't banish demons. It wouldn't immolate the sinful. But it would embolden the hearts of those Ichiban acknowledged, driving out despair and hopelessness.

"Now that's a hero's light!" he grinned, feeling a faint sense of drain from maintaining the light. It was easy to imagine it ticking down a blue mana bar on the screen, but it was far less than he felt when making those force-fields. He could probably maintain this for a while, and he didn't know if using magic would improve his magical abilities so simply keeping it up for practice like stretching a muscle might be worth doing.

It also made it really easy to see the two brown gecko-like lizards creeping around on the ceiling ahead, even before Pearl could give him a warning.

Yankimaru made as short work of them as he did the goblins before, the ceiling easily in reach for his big axe arm and leaving Ichiban two magic stones richer. They looked a little bigger than the goblin stones, but there wasn't much in it, his pockets still had plenty of room for more.

And more was what he found when Pearl warned of the rocks giving way to allow another pack of goblins to burst out of the walls and attack them. This time he hung back, ordering Yankimaru to kill them while he put a force-field in front of the robot. The goblins hadn't so much as scratched him last time but it was good practice, and indeed all they could do was impotently bounce off the shimmering plane of force while Yankimaru's hammer arm struck through it repetitively to pulverise them one by one.

"Yeah, starting to feel a bit over-levelled for here," Ichiban said at the end of that brief violence, picking up his winnings – including one of those goblin fangs this time. He wondered if there were teleporters or shortcuts to get down to the deeper floors, if you were high levelled for the starting zone it'd be a pain to have to go through it and deal with these basic monsters trying to get to the good stuff.

A little more exploring of the second floor found a set of stairs deeper, and after weighing up whether to clear this one or go deeper, he decided to push himself.

He still made Yankimaru go down the stairs first, just in case.

Floor three didn't seem any different than one or two at a glance however, and indeed exploring around only had them fight more goblins and kobolds, which between Yankimaru and Ichiban's force-fields were a complete non-threat. He didn't even need to smack any himself, the robot was plenty efficient for one-shotting these kinds of foes. Hell, one shot from him could sometimes take out two or three if they lined up right!

After maybe an hour of wandering around and fighting off these kinds of monsters, he finally ran into more actual people.

"What the hell is that?!"

Probably the expected reaction when you run into a glowing dude being shadowed by a giant robot.

"Yo," Ichiban raised his hand in a salute to the group coming down the tunnel in the opposite direction from him. One of his pockets was nearly full of magic stones, and the effort of maintaining his heroic light was starting to feel actually tiring like maintaining a position for too long without moving or stretching, but he figured he'd at least keep it up for the moment.

It was an actual adventuring party by the looks of it. Led by a short older guy maybe around Ichiban's age with thick sideburns and stubby animal ears atop his head. Following him were a lanky guy with a bandana on his head that hid whether he perhaps had animal ears of his own there, though Ichiban could plainly see the expected human ears at the sides of his head anyway, and another guy with some badass facial scars. Rounding out the group at the rear was someone that was either a kid or one of those hobbit folks who was carrying a backpack bigger than she was.

All four of them were staring wide-eyed at him.

Maybe at Yankimaru, but Ichiban figured his whole glowing light thing rated at least some level of attention even next to the scary looking giant robot.

Seeing that he wasn't going to answer the initially blurted out question, the tanuki-looking guy – and seriously, he had a stripy club-like tail now that Ichiban looked with his body already twisting to the side, well that guy spoke while bowing his head respectfully. "Don't mind us, sir! We'll get out of your way!"

That got the rest of the group moving as they scooted to the side of the tunnel, clearing enough space for even a giant robot to pass comfortably.

Spoiler: White Lion Cloak

300 - White Lion Cloak
Warhammer Fantasy: Dogs of War
The pelt of one of the Great White Lions of Chrace, this cloak still bears some of the power and majesty it radiated when the beast was alive, and as a result wearers of such a garment find themselves more charismatic and more agile. That the partially magical hide also turns blows as well as a good quality suit of chainmail doesn't hurt either.

Ichiban just nodded like it was his due and walked along with Yankimaru stomping behind him like a huge metal bodyguard. And the whole thing just got more ridiculous when a showy white-furred cape settled on his shoulders and swished out dramatically right as he passed the group.

All four of them stared, postures submissive and awed. It felt like being one of the big shots walking into Tojo Clan headquarters while the rank and file lined the path and bowed, a position Ichiban had only ever been on the rank and file side of before.

He kept a straight face until they rounded a corner and he stopped, tugging at his new accessory. "What the hell was that?!" he blurted out, mimicking the exact tone of the adventurer from moments ago. It was a fur cloak!

In fact as he tugged at it and looked at his shoulder he saw an actual lion's head looking at him, it was a whole god-damn pelt! An enormous paw rested over his other shoulder like he was being embraced by the king of the jungle, it was the most ridiculously over the top piece of clothing he'd ever seen in his life.

It was kind of badass. He decided he liked it.

And hell, there was probably enough lion still in there he could turn it into a powerful necromantic abomination if he ever felt like going that route.

Also he decided it was time to take a break from the magical light show. It was useful, but by now his magical 'muscle' needed a rest. Taking a breather and a drink from his water bottle, he felt refreshed but the mental ache remained, suggesting to him that while this may have restored a green stamina bar, the blue mana bar remained unmoved. He poured enough water on the ground for Pearl to have a drink too, which she seemed appreciative of before they resumed exploring the dungeon.

Whether by luck or chance they soon found a set of stairs down another floor, the fourth one no different than the ones before it, and the number of goblins, kobolds, and lizards slain proved the same terrain meant the same monsters.

When he came down onto the fifth floor things finally did change however. The rocky cave and tunnel aesthetic remained, but the lights in the ceiling turned green, a hue reflected on the rock itself. He felt like his magical energy had mostly returned, and so he recast the light spell. He didn't know anything about the monsters here, as he'd jumped well past what Rose had prepared for him, but then he did remember Orin telling that fit girl about moths on the seventh floor, so keeping a watch for flying monsters seemed a good idea.

The next monsters he saw weren't in the air however. Emerging from a tunnel into a wider cavern with unevenly spaced ledges around it, he saw those ledges populated with giant one-eyed frogs, said eyes swivelling crazily in their skulls to fixate on him and Yankimaru as they stepped forth.

By now he'd gotten a good system for this though, raising his metal rod (it really needed a proper name at some point) into a ready position and thumbing the speaker button, "Yankimaru, kill the frogs on the left!" he yelled, the robot hissing out steam and lumbering that way while Ichiban charged the ones on the right…

And immediately skidded into a diving slide to avoid the three tongues flicking out over a dozen feet to try punching into his torso. They were kind of unbelievably fast, but his reflexes must have been on point just now because he saw them coming just in time, throwing his body into a dodge and then putting up a force-field while he was on the ground.

The frogs were a bit slower recalling their tongues, starting to hop off their ledges, two going to the sides while the other leapt straight to try and crush him under its bulk. Instead it slapped into the force-field which shimmered but held as the frog slid down with a squeaking noise.

It wasn't any barrier for Ichiban to swing his weapon through however, pushing himself to his feet and surging up in an ascending swing that viciously cracked the frog's jaw. It was the kind of hit that had reliably killed goblins and kobolds so far, and while the frog recoiled and tumbled backwards, its mouth probably ruined enough to prohibit any more tongue attacks, it wasn't dead. And then he had to twist his body, avoiding a tongue strike from one of the flanking frogs but taking another hit in the back that left him feeling like he'd been kidney-punched.

"Ooouuh!" a pained groan tore out of his lips, staggering but staying on his feet. "Yankimaru, kill all the frogs!" he managed to wheeze out, realising that splitting the workload evenly one one side is a giant murder robot and the other is just a regular guy who can make force-fields wasn't the best idea. He simply focused on forming a circular force-field around himself as he struggled to catch his breath while his dependable robot ally stomped over, clearly having already dealt with its side of the room, and indeed having zero trouble eviscerating the remaining frogs, particularly as they were distracted trying to fruitlessly break Ichiban's force-field.

"Ohh man, I should rely on you more, huh?" he gave a ragged grin up at Yankimaru's expressionless face, his brass construction glowing warmly in the light radiating off from Ichiban. Sweeping back his cloak and his jacket, he lifted his shirt and twisted to try and see where he'd been hit in the back. It stung like hell but didn't seem to have broken the skin. Would probably leave a nasty bruise though.

It was clear he was now past the point of monsters that a 'normal fit adult' could safely handle. Without Yankimaru or his force-fields, he'd have been a goner, overwhelmed by this number of ferocious monsters. It was a sobering thought.

"Less lolly-gagging sweet-cheeks, monsters coming in now!"

Pearl's warning probably saved him from getting ganked while recovering from the last one. A force-field interposed itself between him and the three creatures silently gliding in from one of the tunnels branching off this chamber. Spiky black figures with a solitary red glowing dot in their heads, they'd probably be hard to spot in the usual gloom of the dungeon, but under his magical light they stood out like shadows in the summer sun.

They'd been approaching slowly as if to sneak up on him, but the moment he looked their way there was an instant's pause before they rushed forward at speed, large clawed hands stabbing at his force-field, ignoring the robot and the pigeon to get at him. Fortunately however strong they were, they were still falling in the range his force-field could endure.

"Yankimaru, kill those shadow monsters!" he commanded, and one of them was promptly flattened under a giant hammer-blow, black shadow turning into black mist and then nothing at all, a magic stone and one of its bladed fingers falling to the ground. The other two followed in the same way, leaving just their magic stones behind.

"Thanks Pearl, good spot."

He took a moment to tuck his shirt back in before he started to gather up his winnings. The magic stones left behind were now noticeably bigger than the ones left by previous monsters. Similar in length and height but thicker, more rounded shapes rather than flecks or shards. A few more groups like this and his pockets would be full… then again, he'd have to fight stuff on the way back anyway and that could fill his pockets. Maybe time to go back, get a bit more info on the threats and layout down here before going onwards?

A twinge in his lower back solidified his decision. He'd had a pretty active morning for someone who woke up shot. He'd be able to pay back Miach and Naaza with this much at least.

Back up to the blue-hued tunnels of the fourth floor, he found it wasn't too hard to retrace his steps on the way back to the surface, the kobolds and goblins and lizards that wanted to fight him feeling like old friends compared to those nasty frog things. Another pair of adventurers were passed on the third floor, the two acting similarly humble and staring slack-jawed at Ichiban and Yankimaru as they passed, until finally he reached the big spiral staircase winding back up to the surface.

The base of the Tower of Babel had people coming and going, no doubt to the shops upstairs, but they all turned to stare at the glowing man and his giant robot emerging from the dungeon. The effort of maintaining that glow was beginning to wear him down again and given it was better lit out here he cut it off while giving everyone a friendly wave.

"Don't worry, the big guy's with me!" he reassured with a big old smile.

"What is it?" "Is that some kind of tamed monster?" "It looks like a moving statue!" comments of that vein rippled through the dozen or so people hanging around and staring. It wasn't an outright panic, but it was definitely raising more of a reaction than he got down in the Dungeon. Adventurers probably saw weirder stuff.

"He's not a monster, he's a robot!" Ichiban explained to try and put everyone's mind at ease, hopping up to balance his feet on one end of Yankimaru's mallet-hand and holding onto the robot's upper arm, both to get a little height and demonstrate that the brass construct could handle such horseplay without freaking out. Of course 'robot' might not mean much to these people so he tried to explain a little further. "He's like a statue that moves with gears and levers, like how those elevators work!" he pointed towards the bank of elevators that rose up the tower, clearly demonstrating some level of mechanical craft existed in this fantasy world.

"Wow, amazing!" "Is it some invention of the Hephaestus familia?" "I don't understand how it works but that sounds cool!" the tenor of comments in the crowd definitely shifted as people seemed to be reassured by Ichiban's explanation.

Grinning, he hopped back onto the floor and pressed on the speaker button of the control rod as he gave an additional order just to be on the safe side. "Careful you don't bump into anyone, Yankimaru. And mind your head on that door." The entrance to the tower was big enough to admit a crowd of people easily but it wasn't particularly tall. Luckily the ceiling in the foyer here was up a ways, adding to the place's grandeur and making it easier for Yankimaru to move around than he'd find it in most buildings. And indeed the robot seemed to move with more slow and deliberate steps now as he followed Ichiban out into the sunshine.

"Now, about those nuts I was promised, sonny?" a flapping of wings from Yankimaru's head as Pearl adjusted her position reminded him what his lookout was owed.

"Yeah, just wait a little longer, I need to cash in these magic stones then I can buy you something nice," he returned, starting to head back up the street towards the Pantheon. People certainly stared and commented, but as they kept moving no one really held them up until they reached the Guild's office, now less busy than it had been in the morning.

"Okay, I'm gonna head inside, so you two wait here," he said, though Pearl wouldn't understand him. But remembering what had happened when Ken gave Yankimaru a little tap, he held down the speaker button and said seriously, "Hold still and don't hit anyone, no matter what."

Content with that, he walked into the bank hall like office of the Guild, the clerks inside stopping to stare at him like the conquering hero he was. Defying their expectations and returning alive from his first dungeon adventure. Or probably they were just staring at the white lion pelt that was draped over his shoulders. It definitely made an impression.

"Yo," he walked up to the desk where Rose was still working, the severe redhead staring at him with muted surprise but managing to find her voice when he reached her.

"Mr. Kasuga, I'm pleased to see you back. Was the Dungeon everything you expected?"

"Oh yeah. Wound up going a little deeper, but decided to come back after running into these nasty frog things, still a bit sore from that one," he answered with a grin to make clear he wasn't that sore, starting to empty his pockets of magic stones and drop items onto the counter between them, the robot control rod placed down there too so he could free up his hands.

"Please don't joke about that," she began in a nonplussed tone before looking down at the collection of magic stones he was pulling out, dark purple gems glittering amidst three white goblin fangs, one yellowing kobold nail, and one black finger-claw. She picked up that last item carefully in her gloved hands, several fellow clerks obviously rubber-necking from their own spots on either side of Rose's station. "This is a war shadow's finger blade… you went down to the fifth floor, and defeated a war shadow? With no falna?"

"Wow, if that's your baseline you could walk into any familia in the city!" the pink-haired girl working next to Rose interrupted, unable to help herself.

"Well, uh, I had a little help," he picked up the hefty rod of brass metal and thumped it into his other hand, not wanting to ignore the contribution of Yankimaru and Pearl. Hell, the pigeon had spotted the war shadows and the robot had killed them, Ichiban hadn't actually lifted a finger on that one!

"Is that some kind of enchanted weapon? You said this morning you didn't have anything like that," Rose asked, her narrowed eyes looking over the ostentatious cloak on his shoulders.

"Yeah, I had a lot of stuff just basically drop in on me, alright?" he admitted, feeling his face heat up. It felt absurd just thinking about all the items and magics that had manifested in his favour. For sure if not for all that he wouldn't have been able to make anywhere near the same progress today.

Professionalism warred with curiosity across Rose's face before she sighed softly, "I'm starting to feel like this is all some kind of joke," she said, nonetheless separating out his magic stones and placing them into a scale, tallying them all up before announcing, "You've brought in thirty three hundred valis worth of magic stones."

"Is that a lot?" he asked. At the very least it would pay for several healing potions from Miach, so his debt was clear!

"For a level one adventurer who's just starting out it's perhaps average for a full day's work. For a half day like you've done it's impressive," Rose admitted, writing on a piece of paper before tearing off a slip. "Your receipt," she handed it to him, the numbers legible but the rest… yeah, it looked almost like English but not quite, and his English wasn't exactly great. He took her word for it as the stressed yet unflappable clerk went and placed the magic stones in a drawer behind the counter, returning with a stack of coins which she placed before Ichiban.

He gladly put them in his pocket, the feel of metal coins clinking in there pleasantly reassuring him that he now had walking around money, though it did leave some other things. "What about this stuff?" he picked up one of the goblin fangs and rolled it between his fingers.

"Monster drop items are valuable but the Guild doesn't directly trade in them. You can check the quests," she nodded towards the noticeboard he'd looked at this morning, "For specific orders willing to pay a premium, or else just try and sell them directly. All of these are valuable to blacksmiths and should easily double your money."

"Okay, day's still young, I can do that!" he said cheerfully, pocketing his other items as well. "Speaking of, any suggestions where I can sell them?" Since he couldn't read those requests anyway, a verbal recommendation was far better!

Rose shuffled some papers around as she considered his question before answering, "The two main smithing familias are the Hephaestus and Goibinu familias, the former have a shop just across the street from the Pantheon, and if you go up the alleyway beside it and across onto Stheno Street you'll find the Goibinu familia workshop. Also there are a great deal of shops on the upper floors of Babel."

The comprehensive answer made Ichiban smile. Whatever troubles Rose may be having with his whole situation, she could always be counted on to deliver info when asked! Speaking of, "That's great, I'll check them out when I leave. But before I go, got any maps and tips for stuff past the fifth floor? Those frogs really caught me by surprise with their tongues, wasn't expecting that kind of thing!"

"Frog shooters, their tongues are the first ranged threat in the Dungeon and catches many new adventurers off guard," she nodded seriously. "I never expected you'd possibly go so deep on your first visit, there didn't seem any point mentioning them." But there was a point now, and whatever her misgivings she went to collect another map which she rolled out for him to see, Ichiban trying to pick out the room where he'd had his one battle of the fifth floor before he focused on Rose's explanation of the abilities and tactics of fifth floor monsters. Indeed those war shadows were like assassins that liked to sneak up on people while they were distracted or recovering from other monsters.

Spoiler: Magical Detection And Ranging

200 - Magical Detection And Ranging
Generic MG
The ability to detect magical phenomena is certainly useful for someone whose job depends on magic. You have a sense for magic, being able to detect heavy usage (like, say, a fight or a bunch of attacks) of magic at long range (across town, roughly) and being able to tell the magical power levels of others at close range.

Ichiban unfortunately was distracted from her explanation as a whole bunch more magic crammed itself into his head. And not just knowledge, a whole damned new sense that was pretty over-tuned! He could sense the stockpiles of magic stones locked away in the Pantheon like a constant thrum of potential, as well as flashes coming from deep under his feet that he was pretty sure were adventurers in the Dungeon casting spells against monsters.

It was pretty distracting, and he didn't even want to think about the kind of stupid faces he must've been pulling for Rose to trail off her lecture and stare at him with a mixture of concern and impatience on her pretty features.

"Sorry, just got another thing dropped on me," he explained with a wince, trying to filter out the feedback, which was getting easier. Like being aware of the noise of living in the city without focusing on any of it. It would definitely be useful to have another sense like this when he could focus on important things rather than getting overwhelmed trying to make sense of it all.

"What kind of things are you getting dropped on you that make you space out like that?" Rose asked.

"Well you know, like magic?" he answered, waving his hand in the air. "Suddenly getting new abilities?"

"Could you be blessed by a spirit, Mr. Kasuga?" Eina asked, not bothering to hide her own eavesdropping.

"Is that different than being blessed by a god?" he asked in turn, trying to recall all the talk about falna from this morning.

Rose shot her co-worker a seemingly territorial look before straightening a stack of papers on her desk and speaking up, "It's less restricted, as the gods have all agreed to abide by certain rules, limiting their abilities and only using the blessing of falna. Spirits have no such compunctions, but they are also incredibly rare. Such stories are more the thing of legend than… well, the strange man who seems to know very little about the world walking up to your desk one day and insisting he wants to go into the Dungeon."

"Hey, every legend's gotta start somewhere, right?" Ichiban sallied back, feeling a bit bashful both at the label and her accurate summation of the mundaneness of it too. The hero in Dragon Quest didn't spend his time chatting up government clerks, but those games abstracted a lot, if it was real maybe he would have to deal with stuff like this?

"Just what kind of magic abilities do you have, Mr. Kasuga? You mentioned something about talking to animals this morning?" Rose asked, writing something that was probably exactly that on a piece of paper.

"Yeah," he nodded. "And just now I started sensing magic. Before that I got force-fields, and a light spell. Plus there's Yankimaru! And this cloak!" which now he was looking at it, appeared to be magical! He kept quiet about the necromancy stuff, there's no way telling people about that is going to sound good.

Rose wrote all of that down without interrupting or asking questions she was clearly burning with, but after her pen stopped moving she looked at the snowy white lion draped over his shoulders. "You were given this cloak?" she asked.

"Yeah, just appeared on my shoulders while I was down in the Dungeon," he nodded. He remembered Naaza's warning about the water bottle, and so hadn't mentioned it, but by now he was feeling secure enough that he figured he could talk about stuff that was mysteriously appearing like that. It might get him some answers.

"Unbelievable," Rose sighed out. "Spirit blessings are usually singular talents, an elemental affinity or unusual skill. Can you demonstrate any of the other things?" By now most of the other clerks were once more rubbernecking, the interest far more pointed than the amusement they'd shown this morning.

At this point he was getting a feeling there wouldn't be any answers coming from this, she was as mystified as him. But she'd been a big help otherwise so there was no reason not to indulge her some. "Okay, so, force-field?" a glassy pane appeared before himself and Rose, and he tapped his knuckles on it with a shimmer spreading out from the impact.

Her eyes widened and the ears on top of her head folded themselves backwards. "No chant?" a whisper as she reached up and did the same, confirming it was in fact a physical barrier.

"Uh, yeah. My light spell's more complicated but that one basically just works as I want it," Ichiban confirmed, dropping the force-field a moment later while the other clerks muttered among themselves. Rose's expression firmed up and she gave him a serious look.

"I apologise for not taking your abilities seriously at first, Mr. Kasuga. This is a unique situation you've found yourself in. My colleague was right earlier that you could walk into any familia in Orario with your skills, but I think that's understating it. Many familias would be so eager to have you they wouldn't take no for an answer."

Well. Shit. Maybe he should've thought of that? He remembered those kids when he first got Yankimaru, it had felt like jingling the keys to a sports car while walking through a slum. And in the yakuza everyone knew of guys who wanted out but were in too deep, knew too much, or just had such valuable skills that it wasn't an option. It sounded like he was gonna be up to his neck in that kind of bullshit as long as he was in this world.

Rose was still talking. "It's my strong recommendation that you join up with a familia before the decision is taken out of your hands. Of course I can't recommend any myself, but I can help facilitate introductions with any you happen to be interested in."

He'd heard a few names but that was it, other than Miach of course who was a stand-up guy. "Yeah, I'm gonna need to think about that, do some leg-work and get to know who's who before I make any kind of decision like that," he said to put off Rose, while really he just didn't want to join up with a familia. It felt too much like turning his back on Arakawa. Stupid, since he was in a whole other world, and the boss had just shot him, which felt like a pretty clear message. But that was also the fact; he wanted to find what was at the bottom of the Dungeon and return home, so anyone he swore up with here would be getting left behind too, and he didn't like the idea of making that kind of commitment to a group he wasn't invested in sticking with.

"Listen, maybe we should talk more about the fifth floor later?" he tapped the map she'd been showing him before this latest distraction. "I gotta go clear my head, spend some money, think about this familia stuff. I'll see you later, okay?"

With Rose's polite farewell and the intrigued gazes of her colleagues following him, he walked out of the Pantheon onto the street… where Yankimaru had not only drawn a crowd of curious onlookers, there were two kids climbing up on his arms and legs while Pearl was perched up on top of his head decoration.

"Hey you kids, get off my robot!" he yelled, glad Yankimaru had indeed stayed perfectly still. But even if he wasn't throwing out attacks or jetting steam (it got pretty hot standing around him down in the Dungeon at times) it would be easy for a kid to get stuck on the mechanisms or cut by the axe-blade on one arm.

The brats jeered at him and called him stingy, but at least they jumped off safely and scampered away, while Yankimaru's subsequent movement at his command drew a ripple of surprise from the onlookers, and a cry of dismay from Ichiban as he spotted the gross white stain spreading down the robot's head below where Pearl was still perching.

You have no idea how tempted I was for Ichiban to look at the goblins in the dungeon and then have them morph into sujimon, but I guess Miach really did heal his brain damage in addition to that gunshot wound at the start of the story.

Also we now have a thread icon, please appreciate the hour and a half I spent messing around in gimp instead of writing. The Dwarven Centurion coming with a control rod that could substitute for the iconic bat really was a stroke of luck. No telling how long until it gets replaced by literally Excalibur, but it certainly fits Ichiban for the moment.

Click to shrink...