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Dungeon Delving is Damn HARD - 10
🕑 Added 2022-10-28 04:03:08 +0000 UTCThere were two main craftsman familia in Orario, the Hephaestus and the Goibniu familia.
From what I understood, Hephaestus familia specialized in mass produced goods. Each one would still be worked on by a master smith, but they'd fill a set of requirements and nothing more, if you wanted 20 swords of the same model, you went to Hephaestus.
Unfortunately, that meant that, if you wanted only one item, it was going to be far more expensive since you wouldn’t get any discount.
The other side of the equation was the Goibniu familia. Instead of competing with Hephaestus, Goibniu focused on single, custom made gear which was also incredibly expensive.
That's not to say that a blacksmith from Hephaestus couldn't take a personal request for unique weapons, or that one from Goibniu couldn't make 100 sets of the same armor, just that it was not their familia specialty.
Unfortunately, that meant that I barely had enough money to buy equipment made as training for their apprentice smiths, and those were always second or even third rate and prone to failure.
Approaching Babel, I started thinking about what kind of weapon I should buy. A sword was cool and provided a balanced way of fighting, but it was not necessarily the best thing to use against large or armored monsters.
If there was one thing I learned when delving into the dungeon and watching other adventurers, it is that swords were made to fight humanoids.
More specifically, unarmored humanoids.
My own sword had done a wonderful job until now, but I was already starting to feel it reaching its limits. Although it wasn’t deteriorating inside the dungeon, it just didn't have the weight or the strength necessary to deal with killer ants.
The ideal would be to have a weapon for every situation, a polearm for the longer range, a mace or spike for armored foes, a ranged option and a sword to carry around in the city without much trouble.
From what I had seen, usually, an adventurer would choose a weapon and then spend the time and effort necessary to train with it until he could overcome such difficulties and have allies to fill in when needed.
They just didn’t have the time to get good with every weapon, so they’d become such good swordsmen or have such sharp swords that they could overcome any problem.
I had a major advantage over them. My eyes made acquiring the skills necessary to use them all a possibility.
Unfortunately, I didn't have a convenient inventory system to carry it all. Or the money to buy them now that I thought about it.
Wait, was Welf already in Orario? I had no idea when he came to the city, but damn if I wasn't gonna try one of his products.
He may still be low level, but his gear should still be of higher quality and trustworthy enough.
Walking inside Babel, I browsed the shops a little, but everything they put on display was far too expensive for me, or looked far too ridiculous.
I mean, a sword made from monster bone filled with spikes and bigger than me was cool in a game, but it was terrible to use, the handle would hurt my hand and would require a dozen times the usual skill just to keep one of the spikes from piercing the user when waving it around.
Damn, I had long since left my mall ninja phase, I refuse to wield such ridiculous gear.
The Hephaestus familia’s shop was on the eighth floor of Babel. Entering the shop, I noticed there were many higher level adventurers browsing it.
Most of the gear on display was far more conservative than in other shops, armor and swords that wouldn’t be out of place in medieval times in my original world, instead of chainmail bikinis and overblown edgy weapons.
Seeing as every clerk was currently busy, I approached a well made but average looking sword, it was a beautiful piece with a damascus-like pattern and I almost couldn’t stop myself from touching it, then I saw the price and sucked in a breath.
12 million valis for a durandal enhanced arming sword. It was also the cheapest sword there.
29 million for gauntlets that caused small explosions on impact, 75 millions for a halberd capable of channeling the user’s magic into a wind edge.
“Can I help you?” A cute pallum clerk asked me.
“Ah, I’m starting to think not.” I grimaced and sighed.
“Ah, I see. Don’t worry, the weapons on display in front of the shop are usually our best work and reserved for first class adventurers.” The little pallum led me further inside the shop. “We have MUCH better prices for level 1 and 2 gear inside.”
“Thanks.” I nodded and then decided to ask. “Say, is Welf Crozzo part of Hephaestus familia?”
“Crozzo, Ah the familia does have a Crozzo, but he’s still just an apprentice blacksmith sir, his crafting still hasn’t hit the level of quality required to be sold in the shop, just a moment.” The girl quickly checked something behind the counter and returned. “Crozzo-san is currently working on the smithy if you wish to speak with him, sir.”
“I see, I think I’m gonna browse some of the lower level gears before, if that’s fine?”
“As you wish.”
Walking inside the giant shop, I quickly found a far less fancy part of the store filled with average gear of all shapes and sizes. Everything still looked great, but it no longer had any enhancement and seemed to have lost some kind of its shine.
“The weapons here are mostly made from normal metals, with just enough dungeon material to withstand the dungeon inside. Don’t worry, they’re all made by a blacksmith of at least level 2, if you like anything, just bring it over to the counter.” With that, the clerk bowed to me and started to return to the front entrance.
“Thanks.”
Most gear here ranged from 10k to 20k valis and still looked absolutely beautiful, I couldn’t help but touch a few of the weapons. While my own sword and armor looked mass produced, each piece of equipment here was clearly worked on by hand and most had patterns on the metal made from creating the alloy necessary to survive the dungeon influence.
Finding the smithy was easy, I just needed to follow the sound of hammers hitting metal. Welf himself was also pretty easy to find, the youngest smith currently working, he was also one of the tallest, despite looking much younger than even me.
I caught him as he was using the forge to create metal ingots, I watched him pour the molten metal into a mold and wipe his sweating forehead with an arm without interrupting.
“Hey, are you Welf Crozzo?” I waved and tried to catch his attention.
The guy just frowned at me and threw his equipment on top of a table. “Tsk, No.”
“What?”
“No, I won’t be making any magic swords, get out.”
Ah damn, I guess he’d think that since I was a total stranger actually looking for him. Still, his ranting at me did piss me off a little.
“Look, I just...”
“Godsdamnit, I keep telling you guys, I don’t make magic swords!” He punched the table, rattling everything on top of it and hitting the still hot blacksmith tongs sending them flying towards me. “I don’t make them, I don’t sell them, I definitely don’t use them, leave me alone.”
Jumping aside as the sizzling metal hit the floor, I felt a vein starting to throb at my forehead. “Shut up! I’m not here for magic swords damn it.”
“…Ah”
A few seconds later, Welf had managed to lock up everything away and let the ingot cool down. Sitting at a corner of the smithy, he scratched at the back of his head in embarrassment.
“Sorry about that, it’s just that some assholes have been bothering me lately and I lost my temper.”
I was still kind of annoyed at the guy, but what the hell, he was one of the few people from danmachi I was fairly sure was trustworthy, plus he was still fairly young, about 16, so I’d give him a break.
Not that I was a grizzly veteran, mind you, but I was a young adult, and I felt like I should be more mature. “No, it's fine.”
“So, what do you want? If it’s not about those damn magic swords, very few people actually come looking for me.”
“Alright kid, I’m new to the city and kind of need help from a good blacksmith, someone told me you’re trustworthy, so I came to take a look. I have no interest in a magic sword right now.” I stopped, that wasn’t exactly right, having a magic sword would be awesome, so I amended. “Mostly, that’s because I’m pretty sure I don’t have that kind of money, I confess.”
“Heh… kinda old to become a new adventurer aren’t you?”
“Shut up brat, I’ll have you know this is a perfectly reasonable age to start risking my life, thank you very much” What was up with people starting to adventure at 14 or younger? Nineteen was a perfectly good time to do it!
“Alright then, I finished my quota of ingots anyway, what do you need?”
“I’m looking to buy a good spear for larger monsters and a hammer to fight against armor. I also want a blacksmith to look at my sword and armor since they have started to accumulate damage and I don’t really know how to maintain them.”
“Hmmm, and you came to me to work this out? I’m just a level 1 apprentice you know, I can’t even put the Hephaestus seal on my products.” He asked me suspiciously.
“Who else, you think a master blacksmith is gonna take time to help me choose some good weapons or teach me how to take care of them? I’m willing to pay you.”
“Right, hmmmm, you know what, how about we make a deal?” He scratched at his chin and took a peek at my sheathed sword. “I’ll look at your armor and sword and also teach you to do their maintenance; in exchange you start buying the weapons from me.”
I thought about it, in less than two years, Welf would probably become a good blacksmith, but there was no way to know how good he was right now.
“Look, I know I’m still an apprentice and Hephaestus doesn’t allow me to sell my gear in her store yet, but I’ll charge almost half what you’d have to pay in the store and my gear is good, I promise you.”
"You need money or something kid?"
"Ah, well, Hephaestus-sama is getting annoyed with the amount of materials I use for smiting without selling anything." He confessed, scratching at his cheek a little embarrassed. "It's not that my gear is low quality, but nobody comes to Hephaestus to buy from a level one, and other shops keep asking for magic swords you know?"
"Look, I'm not asking for an exclusivity contract or something, it's just a simple exchange of favors and money and, if you like my work, you can come back for more later alright?"
It was about what I wanted anyway, so I had no reason to deny it, we shook on it and Welf immediately started looking at my sword and armor.
I had done my best to maintain the edge of my sword but, in the end, I wasn't a blacksmith and all I had sharpened before were kitchen knives. Welf showed me how to properly use a sharpening stone and finish with a leather belt, while keeping an eye on the cutting edge and making sure to polish it later.
He left my sword and all my knives sharp enough to shave with, before getting rid of the dents in my armor.
I paid him 20 thousand and he let me choose a spear and hammer from a pile of weapons he had already made, but had yet to trade with any store because of the whole magic swords thing.
My new spear had a dark brown shaft, it was only a little taller than me with a steel blade half the size of my sword as the tip. There was a red cloth tied around the base of the spear and, just below, two metal wings that curved upwards in order to stop a monster from bulldozing the wielder. Welf had taken the time to carve flame patterns in the metal, making it a beauty despite not having any enhancement.
The hammer was a simple one handed weapon, smaller than my sword, it had far more metal on the head than something from my world, but still didn’t look anywhere near as bulky as a mallet. On the other side of the hammer, there was a large, curved spike. Welf had also put a spiral pattern around the shaft, but the handle was made from a dark wood that felt perfect in my hand.
My plan was to use the sword when I wasn’t going to enter the dungeon, but the spear and hammer would be my main weapons when dealing with monsters and such.
I considered buying a halberd instead but… well, the spear just looked much better.
Buying a leather strap for my spear, I put it at my back while securing the hammer to my waist beside the sword. I'd still have to find a ranged option, but really, by the time it becomes a true necessity, I’d probably have found at least one companion to fill the place.
Leaving Babel, I gave a long gaze towards the dungeon and sighed before finally turning away. It was about time to face that hellish training again, dealing with murderous monsters was far less exhausting.
The next morning, I woke up feeling slightly better. Either Tiona got better at holding back or I was growing at an astonishing pace, because she only knocked me out a single time in our spar and didn’t even break any bones.
Stretching, I took the time to see all my bruises were already gone before I started running, having a Falna and keeping a steady routine of exercises was doing wonders for my body. I had already lost the pouch on my belly and my muscles were beginning to show, another month of this and I’d probably end up as ripped as most other adventurers.
Taking a quick bath, I made my way towards the Dian Cecht clinic for my consultation with Airmid. I was received by a well dressed nurse and quickly led inside the clinic towards a large room in the back.
Airmid herself was a very short woman with silver hair and purple eyes; she was using some liquid to clean her medical instruments when I entered the room.
“Good evening, you must be Roland?” she asked with a polite smile while searching for my name on some documents. “You’re getting a finger prosthetic next week right? Do you need something else?"
"I need you to look at my eyes and body for any adverse effects or curses." I said. Telling a stranger about my skill rubbed me the wrong way, but the danger was worth it to get a consultation with Orario's best healer.
"I see, please sit down." She waited until I was sitting in front of her. Taking a magnifying glass, she sat in front of me. "Let's start with a physical exam, please open your eyes."
I did as instructed and watched as she looked at both my eyes, then used a wand to touch me and finally drew some blood from one vein, using some magic device to analyze it.
Everything took half an hour of work and left me kind of bored as the healer worked.
"Well, mister Roland, it seems you were right. From what I understood, you have a skill constantly active on your eyes, the drain on your magic is negligible, but it's still causing a strain on your body, nothing that a healing potion can't deal with, but I still suggest you deactivate the skill's constant use until you reach at least level two."
"More worrying is the state of your eyes, your right eye should already be showing signs of diminished vision, but even your left one shows some minor damage. Worse, your right eye seems to be suffering from the effects of a curse or something similar. Do you know if you were hit by something or is this a side effect of your skill?"
Ha, so using the mangekyou is already doing damage, I'll have to keep its use at a minimum. "It's a side effect."
"I see, with your permission, I'll try casting my magic at you, it's able to heal a lot and overcome most curses."
"Do I have to pay extra? I don't have a lot of valis."
"Don't worry, It's covered by the price of the consultation this time."
"Go ahead them." I told her, but still got ready to attack in case it was a trick. Unlikely, but you never know.
The short woman started chanting with her hand pointing at me until a white aura covered her body.
"DIA FRATEL." She finished and a light spread from her body, covering the entire room and making me feel far better than before.
My hopes were high with the best mortal healer in the world casting magic at me, but she frowned when looking in my eyes and grumbled in annoyance.
"Hmmm, may I cast my spell on you again Mister Roland?"
"Well, sure, who am I to deny free healing."
This time she picked up a large magic staff and a white, diamond shaped magic circle appeared at her feet as she cast the spell, causing a much brighter light to fill the room. "DIA FRATEL!!"
Looking at my eyes a third time, Airmid seemed really annoyed, which squashed any hope I had of solving the mangekyou problem.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, not really.” She sighed, then released the magic staff. “It just hurts my pride as a healer to leave a patient without complete health."
"It didn't work then?"
"No it worked, just not as well as I had hoped. The damage seems highly resistant to healing, but it still shows minor signs of improvement." She leaned back and started cleaning her equipment again, almost mumbling. "It's just very small."
"But it can be healed?" I asked in eagerness, anything that extended the usefulness of my cheat was good news in my book.
"Slowly, I'd say it would take me 10 castings of my magic to completely heal the damage done to your healthier eye and a couple dozens to heal the other one, and my magic is equal to an elixir." She sat back down and released her staff. "Worse, the damage can be mitigated with the use of potions, even if it would be very expensive, but the effects of the curse barely improved and no potion can disperse it."
"It's there nothing I can do?"
"Again, I recommend leveling up if you can; every level will decrease the strain of the skill and may provide the right development ability to fight it off."
"It would be ideal to use at least a weak potion every twelve hours and avoid using your skill as much as you can. Working with Dian Cecht, it is possible I could create something to dispel the curse completely, but it would cost at least 100 million valis, probably more, and he may not be interested."
Hmmm, seeing as it was only on one eye, the 'curse' was probably what stopped me from using kotoamatsukami again, and the damage was caused by using the mangekyou.
I made up my mind to only activate the improved eye ability in case my life was at risk and stop using it to keep up with Tiona; I probably didn’t need it to stay alive anymore.
I hope.
“Right, thanks for the help anyway.” I said and got up stretching, I actually towered over the small healer, but she wasn’t intimidated in the least.
Grabbing my new spear, I left the building. Instantly, I stumbled as I felt someone’s gaze on me, I looked around to see dozens of high level adventurers coming to the clinic to buy potions or get a consultation.
I quickly walked away from the place and tried my best to get rid of the feeling, but I just couldn’t manage it for at least 10 minutes, I still spent an hour wandering around just in case.
Finally, I decided to find somewhere else to sleep.
It would be a pain to lose the advanced deposit and I had started to trust Loki not to just kill me, but finding her at the foot of my bed again would probably give me a heart attack or something, and I did have some extra valis.
I found a small little inn close to the entertainment district which had a minuscule bedroom, but a fairly comfortable bed and warm showers, so I paid for the day and went up the stairs.
Making sure to put a dagger under the pillow, I put my spear beside the bed together with the sword for easy access, and took off my shirt.
A few days ago, I got myself a good mirror to do this, so I laid it against the wall and dropped some blood on my skin revealing and updating my falna. I wasn’t entirely certain this was the right choice, what with Loki already suspicious, but the Dungeon was extremely dangerous, and it would be idiotic to try and avoid her attention, just to die to a surprise monster because I didn’t have the attributes to fight it off.
Roland Synclair – level 1
Strength – H – 152
Endurance – H – 149
Dexterity – H – 140
Agility – H – 138
Magic – G – 292
Skills:
- Chosen of and Outer God
- Mangekyou Sharingan (Shisui).
Hmm, a good growth, nowhere near what I achieved after risking my life against stronger monsters, but still larger than just working out for two weeks.
Despite me not using many illusions while fighting, my magic still grew faster than every other stats, then again, after talking with Airmid, it became clear that my sharingan was always active and using a small amount of mind, so it wasn’t a surprise.
Concentrating, I tried hard to cut off the flow of magic and deactivate the eyes, but nothing worked, no matter how much I tried to keep my magic in place or stop it from flowing into my eyes, it just didn’t obey me.
“Damn it, work!” I tried to force the issue, grimacing as I did everything I could to stop my magic.
A spike of pain hit me and caused me to wince while grabbing at my head, but the sharingan didn’t deactivate.
Damn, I wasn’t an Uchiha, just like Kakashi, I couldn’t stop my sharingan from working and sucking on my magic. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to draw too much from me, but it was still doing damage to my body.
Throwing myself in bed, I sighed, it seems I’d have to invest in stronger potions to counter this effect lest it build up and cause permanent damage.
At least I could let Tiona hit me on ‘accident’ and get a high grade potion out of it sometimes, just had to make sure the strike only broke one bone, not all of them.
