Chapter 13 Expedition?

Damian and I are teleported back to Damian's shop in Marbelium, after arriving the both of us leave and head towards the west side of the city going to the adventurers guild in search of some potential missions and hopefully some information on the entrance to the third floor. Little do we know that right this very moment there is an expedition being put together by the adventurers guild in order to wipe out a threat near the third-floor entrance that are becoming a threat to the safety of Marbelium.

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After an hour of walking across the city, we finally make it to the adventurer's guild. It is a cathedral style looking building, its exterior is pearly white with column pillars surrounding the main entrance to the guild, above the main door there is a sign that says "Once More into the Void" written in crimson lettering.

"That's an interesting saying they have written above their entrance," I remark casually.

"Like I said earlier, the adventurer's guild would have a better reputation if there weren't so many unseemly individuals in it. They used to be a highly respected guild back in the day but then it slowly started to turn into what it is today. It never happens in an instant, it grows slowly, so slow that it isn't noticed even by those in charge," Damian sighs sadly.

"Well, nothing we can do about it I guess, let's go in and see what all we can find out," I reply reaching for the door to open it.

Opening the door, the two of us head inside to see what they might uncover from the infamous guild. Stepping inside we're greeted by a very impressive great hall, there are columns lining the left and right sides of the room with several tables positioned around the central fireplace. At the very end of the hall opposite the main door is a long bar with a bunch of members sitting around getting drunk.

"I wonder if the bar doubles as the reception desk?" Damian thinks out loud while looking around the room. Off to the left of the great hall he notices an enormous bulletin board filled with different job requests. "Let's head up to the bar and see if we can find out some of the information that we need," Damian says as he starts to walk towards the bar.

As we walk towards the bar several of the guild members are keeping a close eye on us, sizing us up and taking note of our equipment. The atmosphere is very chaotic and wild, as if there isn't any law or order to be found in this place. Walking up to the bar we hear the barkeep comment, "so I guess the rumors are true, a goblin did come into the city."

"Is that going to be a problem?" I reply causally as I stop in front of him.

"Not unless you make it a problem," he replies with a mischievous grin.

"I have no intentions of causing trouble, my friend and I are just looking for work killing monster, along with information on how to reach the entrance to the third floor," I reply as I sit on one of the barstools.

"Killing monsters huh, well it just so happens there is an expedition being planned to neutralize a threat to this city that is located near the entrance to the third floor," the barkeep informs us. Although whether or not they allow you to join the expedition is another matter altogether he laughs.

"Who will we have to speak to in order to go on this expedition?" I ask the barkeep in a serious tone, letting him know I'm not here to play games.

"You'll have to talk to the guild master, I can put in a request for you, informing him that you want to speak with him about the expedition," the barkeep tells them after seeing that they're serious about wanting to join the expedition.

"We would greatly appreciate that, thank you," I reply and Damian nods.

"If you want go find yourself a table and you can order yourself food and drink while you wait for their guild master to summon you," the barkeep tells us as he leaves to put in the request with the guild master.

We look around the guild hall and find a table in a corner of the room that's empty and make our way over to it, after sitting down we look over the menus and order some lunch as we wait for our request to be answered. A couple hours go by, and after having filled our stomachs with food and a few drinks, the barkeep finally comes up to the table and informs us that the guild master will see us now. We get up from the table and follow him to a staircase by the bar and ascend to the second floor and make our way to the guild masters office.

Upon entering the office, we see the guild master sitting behind a very ornate desk in front of a roaring fireplace on the back wall of the office. Looking around the office countless bookshelves lining the walls filled with all sorts of books and scrolls of every shape and size. Looking at the guild master, he's a burly bearded dwarf with a large scar across his right eye causing him to only have his left eye open.

"So, I hear the two of you want to join my guilds expedition to wipe out the growing threat to this city. Tell me, why should I allow the two of you whom I've never met before and aren't a part of my guild to join this expedition," the guild master asks us with a serious expression.

"That is correct, it's also true that we aren't a part of your guild which means if we should happen to die your guild won't lose any strength. However, neither one of us plan on dying anytime soon, also I believe we should be able to help out and make this expedition easier. We have ways to help fight the monsters that you don't, and we are willing to use them to help as long as we can kill as many monsters as possible and also gain the information we are seeking," I reply calmly and with confidence.

"Oh, ho-ho, is that right? So, you think that you two can actually aid my entire guild in such a way that it would justify me letting you join us? That's very bold and presumptuous of you, I'm not sure if you're confident, foolish or a liar," the guild master states as he leans back in his chair and laughs.

"You won't really lose anything if you give us a chance to join the expedition, at most you lose two members to fight. Although if you do allow us to join and it turns out that we can in fact do what we claim then we become immensely more beneficial than two members from your guild," I retort back confidently with a smirk on my face.

"That is definitely true ha-ha, alright I'm inclined to allow you to join my expedition. There will be thirty members, including the two of you, I of course will also be joining the expedition. I'll have the two of you accompanying me so I can make sure you won't sabotage or cause the expedition to fail for whatever reason. If you accept this condition then welcome to the party, but if not then you can leave my guild hall this very instant," he states matter-of-factly.

"We accept"

"We accept"

Damian and I both say at the same time.

"Good, then come back tomorrow at noon. We will be preparing a briefing on the expedition so everyone has the most up to date information on the monsters that we will be hunting. The expedition will begin the day after tomorrow, we will meet at the main gate of the city at noon also," the guild master explained before dismissing them from his office.

We leave the adventurers guild and head back to Damian's house so he can start to gather his belongings and bring them to his new house in Rinascita. While Damian is doing all this I use the rest of the day to go hunting for monsters with my clone while also exploring the two elemental biomes.

After spending an entire day with my clone we manage to kill fifty E Rank monsters each giving me one hundred E Rank monster cores. It took the two of us the entire night to absorb all one hundred cores. After absorbing them all I decide it's time to give my attributes a big boost.

Status:

Race - Goblin

Title - Nephelium's Successor

Soul Rank - Mortal (progressive)

E Rank

Strength - 95 (20)

Intelligence - 200

Stamina - 95 (25)

Dexterity - 95 (15)

Vitality - 95 (20)

Agility - 95 (25)

Magic - Infinite

Luck - Blessing of Fortuna

Available Attribute Points - 4

Skills:

Awareness Rank F

Slash Rank F

Appraisal Rank F

Sneak Rank F

Craftsman Rank F

Aegis Rank E

Hallowed Ground Rank E

Magic Bullet Rank E

Innate Skill

Creation (Active) Divine Rank

Blessing of Fortuna (Passive) Divine Rank

Genesis (Active) Divine Rank

(Now that your intelligence is 200, you should make some more skills to help you grow faster)

What kind of skills do you think I should make? I ask Neph

(I would recommend a utility skill that will help evolve your current skills to help them keep up with your rank progression)

"I can make a skill like that"? I ask in surprise.

(With my help you can ha ha ha)

"Let's do it then", I say in excitement.

(Creating New Skill)

(New Skill Created)

(Lex Artis has been created)

Lex Artis – is a unique skill that is able to alter the law of the skill, by using this unique skill you are able to change the rank of you skills to match your current rank.

"Damn, I've never heard of a unique skill before, I can now make all my F rank skills into E rank skills", I say to Neph in amazement.

(This should be able to help you out for now, once you get your intelligence to 500 I'll be able to improve this skill to give you more options when using it)

""Now I can't wait to get stronger even more now, ha ha" I reply back.

By the end of upgrading my attributes and creating my new unique skill, Damian was able to gather all his belongings and move them to his new house inside of Rinascita. The two of us spent the night inside of our homes for the first time that night. The next day the two of us met up and returned to Marbelium and made our way back to the adventurer's guild for the briefing at noon.