3 Chapter 3
Two weeks in Orario
Another week in the dungeon and another boring day repetitively killing some low-class mobs. Ugh, Hachiman is such a downer saying shit like "a protag shouldn't die because he was underleveled".
Like for fuck sake, there's no evil for the wielder of The Master Sword to vanquish. Hell, I don't even have the Master Sword.
I sighed as I sliced the head off another enemy. I had finally gotten the clear from Deity Dia to solo the dungeon.
Well, up to the fourth floor but I broke that rule and went to the fifth floor. Why? They're significantly stronger, give more money and there's a new type of enemy to get used to.
War Shadows. Sentient humanoid shadows that try to attack in secret but are actually blatantly clear. They also have a long-ranged shadow attack which is easy to dodge.
Killer Ants. Big ants that can walk on two legs and occasionally breathe out fire. Large numbers are their forte.
What was I doing right now? I was soloing thirty enemies. 10 War Shadows and 20 Killer Ants.
Now I wouldn't call this hard, but more like repetitive. I'm not tired but I am continuously just slashing and hacking.
Killing the War Shadows was easy after I got fed up with their numbers.
Killer Ants? Easy too. Just annoying how they seem to refill their numbers back to 30 whenever I kill them.
I entered the dungeon at 9am and now it's around 15pm. I've spent 3 hours out of 6 just killing Killer Ants continuously.
Eventually someone intervened with a white ray killing the remaining 10 Killer Ants that were going to summon more.
"Oi! Are you an idiot? Where's your party!" The one who said this strangely sounded like a tsundere.
The one who said this had long orange hair tied with a white hairband and had sapphire-blue eyes. She was also an elf given by the long ears. She wore a small pink cape atop a white shirt and pink corset dress and she had a purple ribbon attached to her collar. She had a fancy silver staff that had golden leaves on the bottom and golden leaves which circled around a diamond gem at the top.
I didn't wanna lie so I shrugged "Didn't come with."
"Why?" She hissed.
"Wanna become stronger." I answered and she relented a little.
"Becoming stronger doesn't mean you should get yourself killed!" She huffed somewhat stern.
I nodded "Okay."
She sighed "As long as you understand."
Her ears twitched as she raised her hand for a handshake.
"Oh, and I'm Lefiya." She stated in a soft voice.
I took her hand and shook it.
"Link."
†
Despite our less than positive first-meeting, she was a pretty pleasant person to talk to.
She may have complained about how she hated a wolf-brute disrespecting her beloved Ais (which may have been most of the conversation) but after that she was pretty pleasant as she asked how a "fellow elf" was doing in a racial-diverse city as she had problems herself and whilst her elven arrogance not fully gone she had come to respect the diversity of different races.
She breathed out huskily and a little too erotically as her expression felt a little too similar to post-nut clarity "Thanks; you're a good listener."
I nodded; "You can meet me near the western cemetery, I live in a hut nearby."
She nodded and smiled.
We parted ways soon after.
I decided to not head home and instead head to the Guild so that once I exchanged the magic stones (I had a lot) I also got a lot of valis. Quite the sum, I noted.
I met up with Hachiman who's shift had just finished.
"Sup." He waved his hand as he was now wearing a long-sleeved shirt, black trousers and black business shoes as he walked out the Guild Hall along with me.
We walked for a moment. "You went to a higher floor than you were supposed to, weren't you?"
He sighed as I nodded.
"At least you're honest." He tucked his hands in his pocket as he led me to the biggest tower in Orario, the Tower Of Babel.
"I won't say you shouldn't; you're an adventurer and getting stronger tends to be a main priority — however I will say at least get good equipment." We entered an elevator. I usually didn't come here because I only found expensive shit.
"Most noobs don't realise that you can get decent equipment for cheap." He led me to an area of the Tower Of Babel that wasn't particularly glamorous, it was quite under-maintained and dirty. Maybe I should clean it when I have time?
He led me to a weapon shop first. "I've seen the kind of junk you wield around. At first I thought it was a bronze sword that wasn't maintained properly but then to my surprise I realised that it's a normal iron sword fully rusted."
He sighed deeply.
"I'm surprised your sword didn't break on you."
Well, he's got a valid point.
"First let's get you a weapon, what do you want to get?" He asked, knowing that he had seen me be decent with other weapons in the Guild's shoddy training ground. Just one simulation with an iteration of myself and I completely wrecked the place. Had to fix it back to perfection with my handyman skills.
"Longsword." I stated first and he nodded as we roamed the sword. There were a couple of swords in the back of this small dingy store but ultimately there was one that caught my eye near the stand placed on the wall. It was a pretty standard longsword with a standard cross-guard guard and a pretty well-done blade and a comfy handle. It had the title "Powell" embedded on the metal cap below the handle. Pretty decent and something about it calls out to me.
I swing it and a clear "schwing" sound resonated. I looked towards Hachiman "I'll take it."
He nodded and I paid for it. It took around two-fifths of my wallet.
"Do you have enough for anything else or can we go get armor now?" He asked and I thought on it.
I could use a bow and arrow but that would be too costly as I am now, unless I learn how to make my own arrows but even then it would be worse than someone dedicated to the craft. I could get shortswords or daggers but I'm pretty confident in my martial-arts to not need them.
I shook my head and we went to go get armor from a nearby store that… looked exactly the same as the other store. Hachiman looked at me in understanding.
"So how do you do things?" He asked to which I raised an eyebrow.
He sighed and clarified "Do you need flexibility because your playstyle is agile, do you need protection because your playstyle is like a tank or is it something in between?"
Oh that's easy. "Light armor, I prefer agility and dodging."
He nodded "Yeah, we're gonna need to find some leather armor. It's got flexibility and is surprisingly defensive."
I nodded and we began to search around. Soon, I got armor. Leather arm-guards, leather chestplate, leather shin-guards, leather knee-guards and a single leather shoulder-guard on my right-side which my sword was usually tilted at.
It was a little heavier than what I'd like but all I had to do was get stronger.
He nodded in satisfaction as I put it all in a bag. Soon after we walked the streets heading to a nearby store to get some drinks.
"Oh yeah, here." He gave me a black cloak. "Supposedly it's got an ability that makes it harder for enemies to detect you, and what's better is that it's specifically modified to not get in the way of an agile-fighter's way."
I nodded "Thanks." It was comfy too.
"No prob." He raised his fist which I bumped back.
We got drinks soon after. He got some of the sweetest coffee to have ever coffee'd at LeBlanc. I got hot chocolate and headed back.
I got my status update and Deity Dia wasn't happy that I broke her order of not going any higher but relented when she saw that I got me some new equipment.
My wallet was crying.
STR: E 450
VIT: F 390
DEX: E 472
AGI: E 450
Total Falna: 1,762
Needless to say, I could blatantly feel the frustration Emma felt on her face even if she tried to hide it behind a brittle smile. I glanced at Deity Dia and we both covertly nodded.
