Chapter 11

Waking up I did my morning exercises and stretches while thinking about my new situation.

If I continued to only use low grade potions it was likely the damage to my body would continue to accumulate until it became permanent.

I could still afford two medium potions a day with what I got from the dungeon but it would mean I couldn't take days off and would have to keep spending just on the most basic necessities.

Leveling up would probably help a lot but I was still far from achieving rank D in any stats and I wouldn't want to level up with only the bare minimum.

Damn it I want to be powerful, if I evolved with only a single stat at D rank I'd permanently handicap myself.

What I really needed was a healing spell of my own or, barring that, a healer.

Unfortunately I didn't have the kind of money necessary to buy a spell book and I'd probably need to level up to have even a chance of receiving a healing spell.

Did adventurers even get spells at level up? I wasn't certain, I only remember Bell learning firebolt from a book and I really doubt I'd be so lucky as to find an unused one just laying around.

So finding a healer it is.

Ideally I'd join a familia with a powerful healer or convince one to join mine but, once again, not having a god was going to fuck me over.

And what god would I even join? Of the Greek gods the only ones I'd trust were Hestia and, maybe, Hephaestus, the others were all terrible people in mythology.

Hell, even in danmachi the Greeks were assholes as far as I knew.

Norse gods were only a slight improvement and I don't think the other pantheons would be any better.

Speaking of Greek gods, didn't Apollo have a powerful healer he forced into his familia? Maybe I could help her escape him in exchange for healing?

The only problem was, how?

I sighed, every solution I found was impossible to implement.

In the end I had only three options if I wanted to continue being an adventurer.

One, rush level two and handicap myself with low stats for the rest of my life.

Two, try and make do with medium grade potions, it would probably keep me from buying good equipment and food but I could probably do it and, after some time and growth, I'd be able to face stronger monsters for a bigger payout.

Three, kotoamatsukami.

It was kinda counterproductive to waster my only remaining use of the skill but I was leaning more and more towards this option.

I had a single use of the skill what was I going to do with it, save it for an emergency while my body deteriorated or I starved?

No, it was better to use it now and acquire a significant advantage right from the beginning.

From what Airmid had said the cooldown for its use would decrease with every healing spell cast at me anyway and increasing my level would also help.

Could I find myself in a situation where the skill was needed the very next day I used it? Yes, but I could also die from a freak accident I had no way of avoiding, it had happened once already after all.

The only question was who should I use it on?

Airmid would be the obvious answer, not only was she only a single level over me but she also had the spells and influence to benefit me greatly only… I was not an asshole.

I really didn't want to just brainwash people who didn't deserve it damn it.

I could just make a small change, nothing that would damage her or change her life too much. Just have her have the urge to cast her healing spell every time she saw me, I could even justify it as the best healer in the world wanting to beat my curse.

However, once again, that felt like I'd be wasting the skill for something so minor, Kotoamatsukami was just too useful to not try and get as big an advantage as I could from it.

Finishing my workout I put my sword at my waist and considered my other weapons, no I didn't need to bring everything, I wasn't going to the dungeon in the morning.

Starting to make my way to the wall for my morning training with Tiona I continued to think, would the skill work on a god?

I guess that depends on how the gods kept a hold of their powers, were they as powerful here and they were in heaven and just didn't use the power or had they actually sealed themselves and came down here in mortal bodies with mortal limitations?

I remember Hestia leaking her divinity to stop Bell from getting hurt and causing the Black Goliath to spawn so they clearly could use their powers if they wanted to but most gods in the show seemed weak and fragile.

Could I catch a god with his guard down and ensnare him with kotoamatsukami? I had no doubt they could break the brainwash if they used their true power but, what if I made it so they didn't want to?

Once again I ran into the problem of who I would brainwash and not feel like an absolute asshole for doing so?

Heh who knew I'd one day have to give serious thought to the ethics of mind control?

"Hey newbie-kun, over here!" Tiona called me from the top of the wall.

One hand waving furiously she used the other to lift a cup with ice coffee and suck on it with a straw.

I really shouldn't have introduced the beverage to her, she was already filled with energy there was no need to increase it with caffeine.

"Morning" I looked around but didn't see a certain goddess anywhere near. "You're alone today?"

"Yeah, Finn managed to catch Loki when she was trying to sneak out" the amazon said with a laugh "She's going to be filling forms for a while"

Good to know the Loki was weak to paperwork.

Lifting her toes up Tiona touched them with a hand and started stretching her body before our spare "Hey, wanna use weapons today" she asked eagerly looking at my sword.

"Not with you using that monstrosity" I eyed urga and said.

"Alright! But I'm bringing a normal weapon next time so you can't escape it"

"A wooden weapon" I countered.

"Fiiine" she stomped her feet "how are you going to become a hero if you don't take any risks?"

"Taking risks is fine, being stupid isn't" I laid my gear beside the wall and turned to my partner, she already almost killed me with her bare hands no way was I going to let her use that thing.

"Alright, let's go!"

Kicking the floor Tiona pounced on me, without activating the mangekyou her movements were a blur and I barely had enough time to register the shadows predicting her movements before she caught up with them.

Leaning back from her punch I dodged it by an inch and retreated as she delivered a series of blows towards my head, she was still too strong to block completely so I had to either dodge her attacks or parry them away leaving my arms stinging.

I managed to trade blow with her for almost a minute, always retreating at her aggressive attack and barely managing to attack five times while losing count of how many blows she delivered.

The back of my foot hit the wall and I knew I couldn't retreat anymore, I ducked letting a kick pass right where my head was supposed to be, Tiona's miss exposed her back and I attempted to punch her away in order to gain some space but she just continued the rotation and threw a backhand.

I lifted both arms and blocked the blow, it lifted me off my feet and sent me tumbling sideways.

I recovered fast turning my fall into a roll and springing to my feet as soon as I could.

Tiona was already there, a giant smile on her face as she laughed, jumping up she dropped with the hell of her leg aiming right for my head "Come on newbie-kun, faster!"

I moved faster, stepping aside with movements copied from hundreds of adventurers I saw her strike hit the floor and break a few bricks, but I didn't have time to think about it.

Despite the danger I couldn't help but smile, fighting with such strong adventurer was much more fun than slaughtering weak monsters, probably more dangerous too and I wasn't completely certain the first wasn't just a result of the later.

Before she could continue attacking I threw my own kick, a perfect copy of her earlier one, it caught her as she was recovering and almost hit her in the face but she managed to block with an arm at the very last second and I wasn't strong enough to blow through it.

"Tsk!" I cursed, I swear I had her.

Before I could recover Tiona's block became a grab as she locked my feet between her arm and body, out of position I couldn't block as she stepped inside my guard and punched me in chest.

"Off" I coughed and folded as the blow drove the air out of me, then she grabbed my calf with her punching hand and swung me around throwing me in against the wall, hard. "ugh"

I laid there trying to recover my breath as Tiona slowly made her way towards me, looking at my fallen form she crouched over me and patted me in the forehead.

"Good job newbie-kun almost had me there" turning her head sideways she wondered "So, do you know what you did wrong there?"

"Tried to… hit back against, ugh… a first class adventurer?"

"Nope, you stopped, when hitting you can't just stay in place like that, either pull back and regroup or follow through with another attack as fast as you can" lifting both arms in front of her face Tiona punched out, her hand snapping forwards in a flash and retreating to its guard in one fluid motion almost faster than I could register "like a whip, you don't punch or kick out and stay with your limb extended for longer than necessary"

"Got… it" I managed to breathe out.

"Heh, you really learn fast, I swear even Ais-chan didn't improve so fast, if only you were a few levels higher you could really stand a chance" letting herself fall back Tiona sat beside me "Tomorrow we're definitely using weapons"

My training partner let me rest for a whole 5 minutes before we were back to trying to hit each other.

Despite not using the improved vision of the mangekyou I managed to last a few extra hits every time and even had enough room to strike back a few times making sure I didn't let myself overextend.

Most spars ended the same way, Tiona overcoming my guard and laying me out cold but every time it was because of another mistake I had made.

She'd help me up and try to correct me before letting me rest a little and we'd start again, only once did I make the same mistake twice and she was far more brutal, her speed increasing so much I couldn't even see what had hit me.

Two hours later I was panting on the ground, my shirt absolutely soaked with sweat and my muscles trembling like jelly, I hadn't needed to take any potions since none of my bones were broken since Tiona hadn't really hurt me all that much. It had left me both exhausted and filled with pain from the many smaller wounds.

Circling around my fallen form Tiona poked me with a toe sending a wave of pain; my bruises had bruises "Ugh"

She poked me again. "Want a healing potion?"

"Yes please"

She poured the red liquid right down my throat only spilling a little and I felt the pain start to fade from my body as my skin healed from being dozens of shades of purple and yellow into a normal human color.

Without the pain exhaustion settled inn and I could barely drag myself into a sitting position while leaning against the wall.

Tiona poked me again and I saw the overworked muscles on my calf shake "Will you stop that already"

"Mou, Loki was right, you really are fun to tease"

She sat in front of me until I recovered enough to get up then grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet, despite the pain and how tired I was I felt… great, the high grade potion had healed any wound and, despite how much trouble I had with starting, I had always liked working out, plus the thrill from risking severe injury was exciting.

Damn was I becoming an adrenaline junkie?

"Say Tiona, do you know anything that can enhance the power of a skill?"

"Sure, there's lots of things like that, what kind of skill?"

I thought about how to say this, I trusted the girl far more than I trusted Loki but I wasn't going to reveal how my cheat worked to anyone unless we were in a permanent party, why handicap myself like that?

"I have this skill that uses my 'mind' attribute to disrupt a monster's vision and I wanted something to increase its potency" not technically a lie, illusions can disrupt vision and I had quite a few specifically to mess with that.

"Ah you'd want something for magic then; I only know where they put enhancements on weapon, I guess I'll have to ask Riveria where she goes to buy her staffs"

"Thanks but make sure to ask for a beginner staff, I don't think I'll have enough valis to buy something Riveria could use anytime soon"

I finally got enough movement back to start stretching and Tiona helped me by pushing my back or pulling my hands, as I opened my legs I stretched my arms forwards and felt the amazon put both hands on my back and push.

"Ah, I hopefully I won't be too stiff in the evening, I'm still going into the dungeon"

"Wow, you're working hard"

"Well, someone broke into my bedroom and made me abandon my previous house deposit so I don't really have a choice" I glared at her, that room had been expensive.

"Ahem, just remember not to work too much, even Ais-chan takes a break from time to time"

"What do you even do when you're on break anyway?"

"Well, everyone usually go out to celebrate with the rest of the familia or eat out at the hostess of fertility" she said getting up and grabbing her huge sword before patting it against the wall to get rid of any dust "plus I really like to read hero tales at the library"

"Wait, there's a library in Orario?"

"Yeah, the main library is taken care of by gnomes so I'm always going there, do you like to read?"

"I love it" damn I didn't have a computer anymore but, since I mostly used the internet to read free light novels anyway, a library would do "I mostly read fiction, fantasy stories and such"

"Really? Do you read hero stories too?"

"Well, yeah" I said taken aback as the amazon invaded my space, her eyes wide and starring into my own "I guess you can call them heroes"

I had forgotten she was a hero nut like Bell, hmmm I wonder if mythology and story books from Danmachi will read like light novels?

"Say, what's your favorite story?" her overeager face was almost pressed against my own "Have you ever read about the Argonaut?"

"Sorry Tiona but I really don't think you're gonna recognize most of the stories I read, and while I have read about a Argonaut I really doubt it is the same one"

"Hrumph!" she pouted, her cheeks filling with air as she finally pushed herself away from me "That's it we're taking tomorrow off and going to the library!"

Well, while I needed to make more money it wasn't an emergency and taking a day off from using the sharingan in a fight would probably be good for my body, plus I wanted to get back to reading damn it, it's been about a month since I last read anything interesting and I used to be addicted to it.

"Sure, that sounds good" I nodded and watched her pout morph back into a smile almost instantly.

"Great, don't forget to turn up early tomorrow!" grabbing the bag with the remaining health potions she swung it at her back and over her sword before waving at me "See you"

The petite Amazon moved faster than ever despite the weight she had at her back, jumping up into the roof of a building she dashed away towards the twilight manor before I could even ask anything else.

Damn and I wanted to probe her for information about healers too.

I briefly went back to my room and had a meal and a bath there, the healing potion had really done a great job and, after a quick half hour nap I felt ready to face at least the first levels of the dungeon for some spare change.

I wouldn't risk pushing deeper or even hunting for war shadows but I could stay on floor 4 and test out my new weapons while gathering some monster drops.

Reaching the fourth floor of the dungeon was easy; while the geography of the place changed every day it did so slowly.

In a year every stone, room and hallway of the first floor would be completely different but, from one day to another, the changes weren't enough to fool the Sharingan.

Despite the health potion and all the stretching I had done I still wasn't feeling at my best so I decided to stay on the fourth floor today and not risk going deeper.

The temptation to try and find a war shadow to fight was great but I had gotten my share of excitement for the day.

Fighting monsters with my new spear went even easier than the sword, usually I managed to eliminate a kobold or goblin with every stab of the weapon, the tip piercing through head, chest or neck with ease and retreating fast enough none of the monsters could even approach me.

If the monsters had any instinct besides charging at me like berserkers and trying to cause damage things could be much harder but, as it was, I barely started to sweat before finding a good spot between rooms where I could attract monsters from either place as soon as they spawned.

The lot from the monster's started accumulating at my side while I killed them with minimal effort and I sighed once again, I really did need a supporter.

Then an idea hit me and I started experimenting.

The first monster I found was a dungeon lizard trying to sneak towards me on the ceiling, a common tactic for the annoying geckos.

Catching its eyes I sent it an illusion of the ceiling catching fire and it dropped straight down with a squeak.

Before it recovered I was on top of the thing, grabbing its head I managed to tie the mouth close with a rope from my backpack in case I committed any mistakes and jumped away.

I briefly watched the creature struggle to break the rope or scratch it off with a paw but its limbs did not turn right and it was unable to reach the rope.

Taking a few steps back I finished creating the illusion and caught its eyes again.

From my talk with Dorlia from the Ganesha familia I had learned how to tame monsters but would my illusions work to achieve the same thing?

The illusion was a fragile thing, I didn't have the time to make anything incredibly long and elaborate and it would break as soon as the target noticed its body wasn't moving as it wished.

Fortunately the creature was both too simple and too young to even notice it.

Inside the illusion the creature would try to attack me with its claws and I would utterly demolish it with my spear, stabbing it over and over again and sending flashes of pain with every hole I made in its body.

The entire thing would take two or three minutes if I were to actually do it in real life but, in an illusion, it only took 20 seconds.

Damn, look at me trying to copy tsukuyomi.

This illusion I created would never be able to achieve the level of Itachi's mangekyou ability; while the illusion could stretch the sensation of time I already knew it would never be able to make a single second feel like days.

I also didn't have the means to restrain my target or stop him from breaking free once he noticed it wasn't real.

"Stay!" I ordered the lizard once the illusion ended but it just went berserk trying to kill me.

I cast the illusion again.

While the monster was suffering inside its own head a group of kobold rushed me, a wave of my spear forced them back and allowed me to stab one of them in the eye.

The other two took the opportunity to try and rush me again but I still managed to stab another through the chest before the third got inside my guard.

Using the spear at this range was too awkward but I had been fighting Tiona in hand to hand, compared to that the kobold looked like a slow child flailing about.

Grabbing at its wrist as it tried to claw at me I pulled it off balance and drove my elbow into its temple cracking its skull.

Turning around I saw my lizard trying to run away, no that wouldn't do at all.

It took another nine castings of my illusion before the creature started to listen to me, it wasn't able to understand my words but I could make it stay or follow with gestures.

Using the same rope I had tied its mouth I put my backpack and all the loot on its back and fixed it in place nodding.

Yeah, it's much easier this way.

I kind of felt bad about making the creature suffer but, considering it had been trying to kill me not even an hour earlier, not that bad.

I'd have to refine my illusion a lot in order to decrease the time it took to tame something but it was a great way to carry equipment down here and leave my body free to act as I wished.

Perhaps I'd even try my hand at taming something without the pain? I had been told it was technically possible after all and a well made illusion could decrease the time needed by a lot.

The lizard tried to attack me twice while fighting monsters and, when that didn't work, tried running away another three times.

Every time I created a painful illusion as punishment until, during the last two hours, it behaved perfectly.

When I was about to leave the dungeon I was faced with another choice, I really wanted to bring the lizard up but the only time I had seen a monster in the surface was on the monsterphilia.

I was certain is need at least some kind of permit if I wanted to bring it with me and not get punished and I was already in trouble with the guild for not registering.

Just releasing the lizard also wasn't an option. Yes it was a very weak monster all things considered and, odds are, it would get easily killed, but it was still the first floor and a newbie adventurer could get killed by it since they would not expecting the thing on this floor.

With a sigh and some regret I put the monster under a calming illusion and killed it as painlessly as I could manage.

Leaving the dungeon I wondered how the other tamers dealt with this, did they have to spend hours taming something every time they delved or did they have some kind of skill for it?

On the walk back home I started considering what to do tomorrow, I was eager to relax at the library and read a good book but, far more, I wanted to get my hands on something capable of boosting my magic.

I'd still have to find a god that would both benefit me and I wouldn't feel very guilty about brainwashing to target but I was sure there were a lot of those around.

They were gods after all.