Chapter 21(Cashing Out)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

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CHAPTER START------

---The City of Orario...

Within the walls of the Hephaestus's office, Tsubaki could be seen slumped over in a chair as Hephaestus rants about Welf for the 1000th time. It's not uncommon for Tsubaki to have to endure Hephaestus rants and praising Welf when they are alone. Her goddess has a clear interest in the young man who refuses to use his talent to create magic swords for her familia, much less to be sold to others because of the destruction they can cause on the world.

Standing at the large windows in her office overlooking Orario smiling as she considered what the future held for her talented blacksmith Welf her eyes suddenly opened as both herself and Tsubaki felt magic rapidly approaching them. Tsubaki quickly rushed to the window and looked out over the city only for the magic source to rapidly approach and dazzle them as what appeared to be an arrow of fire and lightning shot past the Tower of Babel and flew into the air at surprising speed.

Throughout the streets of the city, many citizens and adventurers alike could be seen warily looking towards the flame in the sky as it rockets past the top of the Tower of Babel and suddenly stops as the flames begin to condense and shift from a soft yellow to bright orange and eventually near white flames with lightning crackling around them.

To most of the spectators all they could see was a ball of fire but to the high-level adventurers from the various familia across the city as well as the women of the Hostess of Fertility they were able to notice a body within the flames. The people of the city as well as low-level adventurers notice the surprised look on the faces of their stronger members which sent a wave of weariness throughout the city.

Recognition slowly dawned on the gods and high-level citizens of the city alike as the bright flame condensed down to the point where there were only flames at the bottom of the persons' feet and hands as well as his back to keep steady. Quickly descending towards the tower Yang landed softly on the stone road only to be met with the daily crowd of people staring at him, some with looks of shock and others with weapons drawn as they didn't know what he was.

Yang: "SORRY SORRY!!! I couldn't help it I wanted to see what the view is like up there. I'm gonna head to the guild now to cash in my loot. Excuse me."

Yang slowly made his way to the guild leaving everyone in stunned silence as their minds had to comprehend what they just witnessed. As he approached he could see the guild staff standing on the street just as everyone else was. He quickly approached Varissa and greeted her.

Yang: "Hey Varissa sorry about that. I kinda got excited with my flight." He awkwardly scratches his cheek, unsure of her reaction to him getting too excited about his flight.

Varissa: "That was you? I mean, hi Yang welcome back."

Yang: "Yeah I leveled up so I can sustain flight now. I actually came to exchange the things I found in the dungeon if that's ok."

Varissa: "Ofcourse just follow me to an appraisal room and we'll get it done."

Yang: "Sure lead the way."

As they walked to the room Varissa quietly observed Yang just as she had done before. This time for any injuries on his person.

Varissa: "Did you get into any nasty fights down there?"

Yang: "Well, I killed a dragon on floor 16."

Varissa: "WHAT, DRAGON?!"

Yang: "Yeah a lightning dragon. It was tough but I got to the 18th floor then camped out for the night before I killed the goliath and came up here."

Varissa: "Where's the rest of your team?"

Yang: "Oh no It's just me. No team."

At this point, the eyes of the people in the hall were almost falling out of their heads from the shock. Dragon, 1v1 the goliath? They found it hard to believe but also couldn't put it past the man who was not moments ago flying above the city. Before anyone could question him Varissa leads them to a back room for appraising items.

Varissa: "I assume your storage magic has your items so take out everything you want to trade and I'll inspect them."

Yang: "Uh, sure."

Yang quickly empties all but the minotaur weapons and hellhound materials from his inventory. Varissa was clearly surprised by the sheer amount of loot before her eyes locked onto the large crystal emitting lightning magic on its surface.

Varissa: "You really did kill a dragon. It looks to be a dragon wyrmling but still. That's at least level 3. Did you level up again?"

Yang: "Yeah that's why the goliath was so easy today."

Varissa: "Well events such as this have to be documented so unfortunately there won't be any way to keep this quiet. For the safety of anyone in the dungeon, I'm gonna need you to write a report on the dragon. Here use this. I'll appraise the items while you do that." She hands him a blank notepad to recount his journey.

As Yang carefully scribes his encounter and fight with the dragon he quickly finishes and looks up to see Varissa inspecting the last of the loot, the goliath crystal.

Varissa: "Ok all done, is this all you're trading?"

Yang: "Yeah the other stuff is for my gear, I need new sets after this trip."

Varissa: "Well because of the dragon and the goliath, mostly the dragon because of how much energy dragon crystals have. Your total is 54M valis. Did you clear out every monster on all the floors or something?"

Yang: "Just a bunch of rooms on each...that's a lot of money?"

Varissa: "Yes well even wyrmlings have a high value. Lightning dragons are worth the most as we export their crystals to faraway cities to use for the power of their major buildings."

Yang: "Oh that makes sense. Well yeah, cash me out, please. I need to go see Hephaestus after this and get my stats checked."

Varissa: "Ofcourse just follow me to the front desks."

Yang proceeded to get paid before he leaves the building walking in the direction of the citizens market district. As he walked through the city he caught some people looking at him strangely as if they were confused and mystified by his flight earlier. Quickly approaching the familiar stall of Tibor he greeted the older man.

Yang: "Hey Tibor I'm back, how you been?"

Tibor: "Hey Yang, well yeah the entire city knows your back after that little stunt earlier.Glad you came back in one piece."

Yang: "Yeah I just traded in my loot from the dungeon, so, are you and the family free tonight?"

Tibor: "Oh, you were serious about that?"

Yang: "Yup just tell me how many people."

Tibor: "Well it's just my wife and I plus our kids, you've already met my son but I have a 4-year-old daughter. Is that ok?"

Yang: "Yeah I'll meet you at 'The Vintage Harvest' at sunset and we can have a good night. I'll head over and tell them to expect us. I've gotta go see Hephaestus so I'll see you all tonight yeah?"

Tibor: "Uh, yeah of course we'll be there."

Yang: "Alright see ya."

As Yang walked off Tibor could be seen with a cheerful grin on his face as he got back to attending his market stall. Eventually ignoring all the glances from the people around him yang made his way to Hephaestus's office and quickly knocked on the door. Slowly the door swung open to reveal the figure of Tsubaki looking at Yang with a deadpanned expression. She quickly ushered him into the office before closing the door.

Tsubaki: "You can't seem to do anything subtly even if it were to save your life kid."

Yang: "Uh, am I in trouble?"

Hephaestus: "No but that stunt you pulled earlier makes it impossible to hide your, talents. Tell me everything about your expedition before we get down to business."

After a quick summary of his expedition, both Tsubaki and Hephaestus were staring at Yang in disbelief.

Tsubaki: "Are you sure you're ok?"

Yang: "Yeah I'm fine."

Hephaestus: "And you're sure it's was a blue dragon and not something else."

Yang: "Yeah I already traded the crystal so the guild should tell everyone soon enough."

Hephaestus: "And you made it to the 18th-floor solo and beat the goliath as well. Should have known you were an overachiever, Ugh." Hephaestus places her hand on her forehead as she slumps back into her chair, unsure if to be glad or concerned about her newest recruit.

Tsubaki: "Since everyone is about to know how capable you are then you should be wary of other gods trying to recruit you. Some of them will be more, aggressive, than others. Understand?"

Yang: 'So I'm gonna have to watch my back in and out of the dungeon' "Yeah got it, don't worry Hephaestus is the one who can make the gear I want so not as if I can just jump ship."

Hephaestus: "Speaking of your gear. I figured out the components of the weapon sketch you gave me."

Yang: "Wait really, then how much is it gonna cost?"

Hephaestus: "Only 120M valis, before you leveled up that is. Well let's check your stats then I'll explain."

Stat Sheet---

NAME: Yang Shen

Level 3(leveled up from fighting blue dragon wyrmling random encounter on floor 16)

Stats(Before Reset): STR=SS DEX=SSS AGI=SSS MAG=SSS END=SSS

Stats(Now level[3]): STR=A DEX=A AGI=A MAG=S END=S

Age:16

Magic:

---Storage(Its essential video game inventory)

Allows the user to store up Monster Crystals+25 square feet of items at level 1

---Elementalist (Obtained at level 2)

Allows the user to channel certain elemental magic through their body and manipulate the elements to their whim however the user can take damage from these elements.

Skills:

---Elemental Resistance(Obtained at level 2)[Level 7]

Taking elements damage develops resistance to these elements over time.

---Elemental Healing(Obtained at level )[Level 5]

Pre-requisite skill 'Elemental Resistance'.Allows the uses to transfer some of the resisted elemental energy into health.

---Hunter(Obtained at level 2)

Improves abilities against monsters that the user has fought before and gained experience from.

---War Mage(Unique ability variant)(Obtained at level 2)[Level 3]

Amplifies the user's magic and reduces the cost and strain on the mind and body.

---Unarmed Strikes(Obtained level 2)[Level 5]

All unarmed strike damage is boosted

---Abnormal Resistance(Obtained level 2)[level 2]

Negates the effect of abnormalities such as poison. At Rank G, it can negate almost everything

---Mage Armor(Obtained through stress at level 2)[Level 6]

Envelops the user in magic amplifying defense and unarmed strike damage with elemental damage.

---Kinetic Exchange(Obtained Level 3)[Level 1]

Whilst moving in mage armor acceleration and momentum are amplified when added to melee damage. Recoil and backlash from this are greatly reduced on the user's body. Whilst this skill has no set limit the user's capabilities of achieving velocity and taking damage are the limits.

---Elemental Absorption(Obtained at level 3)[Level 1]

Transfers some of the elemental magic that damages the user into mana for the user. (For the damage that he DOES NOT resist only. So after he resists the damage some of the damage he takes will give him mana but it will still damage him to be clear)

---Greater Spirit Healing(Unique Variant)(Obtained level 3)[Level 1]

Automatically begins to restore mind/mana.

Stat Sheet End---

Hephaestus: "As you can see your skills don't synergize well with weapons. When I saw this I had to scrap all plans to create your weapons. Fortunately, however, I caught a break in this problem."

Hephaestus reaches down into one of the draws in her desk and tosses what appears to be a small piece of rock to Yang which he catches.

Yang: "What's this?"

Hephaestus: "No idea."

Yang: "um..."

Hephaestus: "For now I'm calling it 'The cheating material'. It's extremely sensitive to the user's magic AND SKILLS. Get it?"

Yang: "So my unarmed striking skill will actually work if my weapons made of this thing?"

Hephaestus: "Yeah, your elements should flow through it just as well. The problem is nobody has any idea what it is or what it came from."

Yang: "Where did you get this piece then?"

Hephaestus: "I didn't, Freya familia brought this piece because they were not sure what it was. They found it on the valley floor, that's floor 36. None of the monsters there at the time matched this piece so our best guess is that either it's a rare drop or the monster got killed before they got there and hasn't respawned yet."

Yang: "So I'll need to just sit on the 36th floor until I collect enough pieces of whatever this is then?"

Hephaestus: "Yeah essentially. Normally I'd forbid you from traveling that far but well, your record is exemplary so far and you clearly have what it takes to avoid tough situations. Just consider taking a team with you this time, please."

Yang: "Hmm, I won't be going immediately anyway since I need new armor. Speaking of which, I've been using hellhound armor so my flames don't immediately destroy it. Any suggestions?"

Hephaestus: "Hmm, unless you stumble upon a dreadnought in the dungeon I think that's your best bet, at least for now."

Yang: "Yeah I was afraid you'd say that."

Hephaestus: "If you brought enough back just leave them with me and I'll smelt it all into one reinforced set. Who made your last set?"

Yang: "Sarran."

Hephaestus: "Well, leave the items with me and I'll give Sarran the instructions. It should be ready within the week unless we get delayed."

Yang: "Is there anything else you need for the other weapon?"

Hephaestus: "Hmmm, ideally we'd have a Black Sword from Udaeus on the 37th floor but that's a really tall order, Ottar from Freya familia has a weapon made from that. When you get strong enough you can try for it but the materials we have right now should be fine. The dragon boss Amphisbea from the water floors is on the 27th floor. Most people ignore that dragon because it's rare to find someone that can fight on water terrain but you might be just the person to get some of its scales or fangs. They all take heavily reduced damage from elemental magic so if we make you some armor from it then you should be fine for the foreseeable future. To be clear you are not to go fighting these things as you currently are and especially not alone. You're strong but still only level 3. Focus on getting stronger then take a team down with you for these items. Tsubaki can organize a good party for you when you're ready."

Yang: "Actually, I think I have some people in mind, Loki familia and I have something like a small friendship growing. They offered me a chance to go to the lower floors with them when I'm ready. A black sword, the 27th-floor monster rex, and this mysterious rock thing. Sounds like a good time."

Hephaestus: "Hmmm, an impromptu team-up is fine in the dungeon because sometimes things are just that dangerous but launching an intended joint expedition. I'm fine with it because of the team you'd be going with. I doubt anything bad would really happen to you with that team accompanying you, but you need to talk to Loki and her party and tell them what you're planning. I doubt she'd disagree but just stay away from Ais and everything should be fine."

Yang: "Thanks, I'll remember that. Oh, who do I talk to about renovating my room?"

Hephaestus: "That would be either myself or Tsubaki since this is my floor of the tower."

Yang: "Perfect I just want a balcony that I can land on, a nicer bedroom and bigger bathroom as well as a lounging area if that's possible."

Hephaestus: "That's fine but for that cost, you could buy a small house in the city somewhere. Also, we'd need to knock down a wall or 2 so this will take a few days at least."

Yang: "Hmm, that's fine, I'd rather stay here since it's closer to you, the adventurers market, and the dungeon anyway. Also, the view from this floor is amazing and would make a good landing pad. I'm heading back into the dungeon tomorrow. I'm gonna use the lake on floor 18 to train my water element."

Hephaestus: "Hmm alright the cost is 500K Valis. Hand me your card."

Yang quickly hands over his card as well as all the hellhound parts before saying his goodbyes and walking into the city. It was currently mid-day and he had to prepare for tonight. After heading to the restaurant and shopping for clothes he quickly went back to his room in the tower and decided to take a nap before tonight's dinner.

As Yang was doing his shopping another conversation was ongoing in Hephaestus's office.

Tsubaki: "Do you think he's dumb enough to go after a black sword drop?"

Hephaestus: "Well he clearly isn't dumb seeing as he ran from the goliath when he was hurt. His magic is versatile and he's clearly strong. Probably can punch a bit higher than his level at least and with the way his skills flow together, I wouldn't be surprised if he can take out some level 4s under the right circumstances."

Tsubaki: "Hmm, fighting him would be annoying at worst for me but he really isn't that big a threat."

Hephaestus: "Yes well there are no weak people at your level after all. Let's just see where this goes. Freya has been keeping to herself but when the guild updates the records tomorrow and he takes the record for getting to level 3 as well I don't think she'll be able to stop herself from reaching out to him. Loki's team also saw his level-up stats so I need to show her he isn't up for grabs."

Tsubaki: "Well luckily he doesn't seem to care about other familias."

Hephaestus: "Exactly why I'm not worried. The kids a monster that doesn't care for politics which is good, but also bad because it means it's not impossible for him to stand against us. We'll just have to bet on his loyalty. Bring Sarran up here please Tsubaki..."

END CHAPTER----