Crafting in a Dungeon

Drip Drip Drip Drip

Hajime listened to the now silent floor of the dungeon. Losing his arm was rough, but the wound sealed, thanks to the liquid dripping off the crystal in the little dug-out he made to escape the monsters. But recently, he heard something far scarier than the beasts prowling the darkness of the floor he found himself in. Inhuman laughter. Hajime figured some beast somewhere had woke up. He felt its presence stretch out past him.

Like a suffocating wave of malice. Then, strangely, it calmed down. He could breathe again. And the place was eerily quiet, with only the sounds of dripping water hitting the stream that carried through the dungeon floor.

Hajime prepared the spear he crafted earlier, the one that he killed the two tailed wolf with, for whatever it was that flooded the dungeon with that spine tingling malice.

"What kind of monster was that..? I'm not ready to take something like that on.. Not when I haven't killed that bear yet.." Hajime beared his teeth just thinking of the monster that took his arm.

CRACK!

A loud sound then echoed through the cavernous walls surrounding Hajime. He prepared to use the 'lightning clad' skill of the wolf and strike out from his spot in the dug-out.

SNAP!

The familiar sounds of cracking bones, torn viscera and the splattering of blood and flesh filled his ears. It grew closer and more frequent as the minutes passed. Then, in the darkness, he saw it. Scales of black, sharp enough to shred metal and rock. Onyx claws as large as swords, gleaming with magic. Twisted black horns jutting over its head. The most striking though, was its eyes. A fusion of a violent, angry amber and an eerie, calm violet.

'A.. Dragon...?' Hajime's pupils dilated, his grip over his spear faltering as a monster approached him from the dark.

Then he blinked and saw something else. A familiar person in the Abyss. Yin was casually walking over, eating a piece of monster meat with a disgruntled expression. Hajime's jaw dropped once he realized who it was.

"Natsume! Hurry into the dug-out!" Hajime quickly pointed his head out and whisper-yelled.

"Oh there you are, my boy. I've been looking for you. Come in there? Why? Everything's been scared away from my immediate proximity." Yin replied, wiping the blood from her mouth.

It was then that Hajime noticed her appearance change. As slight as it was, she looked and carried herself differently. She almost looked prideful and carefree. Her red eyes were glowing in the dark and her clothes were nearly in tatters. Hajime looked away with a faint blush and coughed before stepping out to see if it was safe.

"How'd you end up down here?" Hajime asked, suspicion laced in his voice.

"I jumped. After Shityama hit you off the edge." Yin clarified.

"Hmph.. I knew it was him. He was always such an unbearable asshole.." Hajime scornfully sneered.

Yin snorted in amusement before patting him on the back, "It's because he wants to dip his dick in Kaori. But you probably realized that. I think she might be into the new look, 'Kaneki'"

"Ah crap.. The white hair was just a side affect of eating these things, I swear." Hajime defended.

"Actually.. You ate some of them, right? So how are you perfectly fine?" He asked, giving Yin's appearance another look.

"Because I'm already a vastly superior race compared to these things. Their magic isn't going to do much. But I did pick up some of their natural magic abilities." Yin explained, watching Hajime blink in surprise.

"Huh.. I thought that was unique to me.." He muttered, also surprised by her declaration and the 'matter-of-fact' way she said it.

"Let's talk. Make us a table and some chairs out of stone, Alchemist. There's a lot we should discuss before trying to continue with the Dungeon." Yin folded her arms with a scheming gleam in her eyes.

-Minutes later-

Hajime dragged his hand down his face dramatically.

"So that's the gist of it..? What I saw earlier was real? Was it a projection? How are you a Dragon? That's not even a class.." Hajime looked at Yin indignantly.

"Would you believe me if I told you a neapolitan themed Fox Goddess made me into one?" Yin asked, looking over the materials Hajime had set on the table to show her.

"...Are you fucking with me?" Hajime asked with a half-lidded glare.

Yin simply shrugged with an amused smirk.

"Anyways.. Think you could regenerate my arm with that ocean of magic you're so casually carrying in you?" Hajime asked, a bit hopeful.

"Ah yeah.. I imagine it'd be hard to use the martial arts I taught you with one arm. There's always kicks, I guess.." Yin mused before focusing.

"It's definitely possible. Though I've only learned two spells, and they're more instinctual than anything else. I need to figure out how my magic works. If I 'will' a spell into existence or have to learn it with repeat practice, or both. Alternatively, you could just eat something with high regeneration? Or craft yourself a kickass prosthetic arm." Yin saw Hajime's eyes shine in excitement at the mention of a prosthetic arm before he coughed in embarrassment and suppressed it.

"Prosthetic it is then. We could even put some weapons in it. The materials down here are tough, unique and plentiful. So we should have enough to make a bunch of weapons." Yin explained, picking up the ores Hajime collected and observing them.

"All right. But first! We're making you some damn clothes. I've made mine out of Monster hide, so yours should be simple. I.. just need measurements.." Hajime groaned, already seeing the teasing smirk plastered on Yin's face.

"Don't worry about that. I can make myself clothes. Our current plan should be to set up base here, create a workshop, collect materials, crafting and, of course killing the bear who mauled you like your name was Brad Pitt." Yin said before she stood back up.

"Brad.. P- Revenant?" Hajime snapped his fingers.

"Feels good when someone gets the reference.."

-Three days later-

BANG! BANG!

Hajime blew large holes into the monster bear that ripped his arm off. Then he stabbed it in the head with the spear he crafted, finishing it off. Hajime panted, leaning on the spear for support while holstering the revolver he worked on with Yin.

"Feel better?" Yin called out from behind him, now wearing a red longcoat made from the monster wolves and white form-fitting pants made from the monster rabbits. Her shirt was salvagable so she kept it.

"Nats- Er Yin. Yeah.. it definitely helped release a lot of my anger." Hajime responded.

Yin disliked being refered to as Natsume, and after coming this far and going through what they have, Hajime didn't question it much when she 'changed' her name. There was a small voice in the back of his mind that wanted him to change his name to something cool too. But Yin was becoming relentless in her teasing when he told her the name ideas for his guns.

"Good. Survival is the most important thing but that mentality you began to cling to on the verge of death will be detrimental later on." Yin nodded, beginning to dismantle the bear monster.

"So I shouldn't just mistrust everyone I'll come across?" Hajime asked, taking a seat on a nearby rock and checking Donner.

"Pff.. No. Trust is earned, Hajime. I'm saying taking some leaps of faith is necessary. Trust your instincts when they warn you. It's only when you get power can you take more risks with trusting other people. If we were to return to our class now, you would get it." Yin explained while carving the tough muscle out.

"Hiyama? I never 'trusted' him." Hajime asked with clear confusion.

"Hiyama is a blatant asshole, so obviously you can't trust him. I'm talking about maybe some classmates that were quiet and reserved. And ones that were loud and the center of attention." Yin clarified.

"Kouki, Ryutaro.. I barely remember the others beside the 'popular trio' and you, of course." Hajime replied.

"We'll run into them again. For now, let's focus on crafting more weapons. The arm's too complex at the moment. And I need something stronger than Toul Crystal to build my weapons with. My mana is way too strong for it, even in small doses." Yin mused, looking over some Donner prototypes they made.

"Dragon mana bullshit.." Hajime griped.

-Many days later-

With no way going up, the two decided to descend down further into the Dungeon. Having eaten the bear and taken its hide, fur and bones, they grew stronger. Hajime marginally more so than Yin, but she theorized it was either because of his protagonist status or new race. They passed the floor Yin had woken up in, making sure to grab as much Fulham Ore as they could. They would prove useful as a fire bomb, so they were saving it for the future.

They descended further and further into the dungeon, killing and devouring monsters and gaining unique skills. In Yin's case, they were all pseudo-spells. While Hajime had taken 'Air Claws' from the monster bear, Yin developed a skill called 'Mana Claws'. As if spitting on the original skills, the skills Yin developed were superior to the original skills.

[Level up!] [Level up!] [Level up!] [Level up!]

Each kill, she felt her heart pumping and producing more mana. And it wasn't just the quantity that was changing, the quality was improving as well. She knew the dungeoneering aspect was going to be a grind, but she was still surprised. It became so ridiculous, that Yin made them clear every floor, since she'd be hindering Hajime's progress if not.

BANG! CRACK!

Hajime shot one of the cyclops' guarding a large door to death while Yin used 'Mana Hike' to jump up and axe kick the other's skull in, making it look like a mutated baby that had its soft spot caved in. Yin gracefully landed in front of the door, making sure to kick off the blood and brain matter on her foot while appraising the huge double doors.

"So.. boss room?" Hajime asked.

"That, or there's a Princess inside, waiting for her DARK KNIGHT." Yin dramatically replied.

"Urgh.. No thank you. I like a woman who can kick my ass. Or.. a hot goth girl." Hajime responded thoughtfully while opening the doors.

"I never took you for the type. Always thought you might be a '2D girls forever' kinda guy." Said Yin as she walked in after him, immediately spotting their next companion.

"What!? I- Hang on. Something's here." Hajime activated his 'Night Vision' skill, seeing the body of what looked to be a still developing blonde teenaged girl.

"Is.. Is someone there...?" The girl called out.

"Uh.. Nope. Sorry wrong do-urk!" Just as Hajime was going to exit, Yin grabbed onto his collar and dragged him back in.

"Haaaajime.. Remember what I said about instincts?" Yin asked quietly.

"Yeah..? But come on.. What the chances some loli got locked up in this hellhole..?" He whispered back.

"...I think she might just be a shortstack. Trust your instincts. Do they really tell you to just leave the girl here to rot?" Yin snorted.

Hajime made a serious expression while looking over the nude girl, "Guess not.. Feels wrong. Alright.. let me handle this."

"All yours." Yin retorted.

'I don't want to steal your future vampire girlfriend. I prefer women with more meat on their bones..' Yin thought to herself, a few women immediately popping into her mind involuntarily.

Herself, her Mother, Gray and future Yang.

"Oh my God I need to meet more women.." Yin muttered, hitting her head with her palm.

Yin was so wrapped up in her own thoughts on attractiveness she missed Hajime's heart to heart with the newly named Yue. Though she already knew her story and how they'd hit it off already. She only came to when she felt the floor shake. An insectiod monster emerged, prompting Hajime to yell out to her.

"Uh.. hey! YIN! A little help here would be nice!" Hajime shouted out while putting Yue on his back.

"Oh free XP? Time to eat. Hi by the way." Yin greeted the startled Yue as she used 'Mana Hike' to get beside them, crossing over thirty meters in an instant and smashing her scale-covered fist into its face, snapping its head back violently.

[A/N: Sorry for the late chap. Expect another one this week plus a Worm one. Work keeps me busy. If I weren't working I'd be getting 3-4 chaps out a week. But I'd also have to start a pay-tree-on.

Not like GhostyZ who paywalls their garbage but like Nimthewriter, who has a backlog of chapters he stores. Thanks for reading!]