The End Of The Breather

Five hours earlier, at around 8 p.m., a gallant old man clad in a black suit with a faded-green tie approached the Twilight Manor. His eyes were a stormy blue and his ear-length hair as white as they come. It constantly fluttered about as if caught in a strong breeze, even when there was no wind around. While his face was clearly marked by the ages, his build was exceptionally sturdy and firm. Even whilst walking, he gave off the air of an experienced martial artist. But instead of appearing imposing or scary, the calm, gentle and wise smile on his face made him look like a loving grandfather.

What reinforced that image of his was the group of seven kids of various ages following after him. Although some of them clearly showed signs of malnourishment, there was a certain fire, a motivation, burning in their eyes. They didn't appear as listless as beggars, but more like people who had been given a new lease on life.

At the forefront of these kids was a pair of Boaz siblings that appeared to be around 12 years of age. Even a casual observer would notice that they were considered to be the leaders of this group of young ones, or at the very least had earned the respect of everyone else. Whether that be due to their relatively muscular statures or something else, that couldn't be determined.

Normally, there wouldn't be anyone waiting at the Twilight Manor's entrance, because most of the guard and notification duties were taken care of by the magical formation encompassing the manor grounds. Today, however, a black-haired cat girl and a young human man with relatively short, somewhat spiky hair were standing by. Once they saw the old man and his entourage approach, they politely opened the gate and greeted them.

"Lord Kári, thank you for responding to our goddess' invitation. Welcome to our Loki Familia's pride and joy, the Twilight Manor!"

Sporting a practised smile on her face, the cat girl led the group towards the main manor, somewhat clumsily followed by the young man next to her.

"No need to be so courteous to a geezer like me. It's been a bit since I've seen that lass Loki, so I agreed to come. By the way, could you please take care of my kiddos in the meantime? I haven't found a home for us yet, and I couldn't just leave them behind."

Far more casual than would be expected of someone wearing such a high-quality suit, Kári glanced at the seven kids that behaved like little ducklings chasing after their mother. In his gaze was warmth, a hint of sadness, as well as genuine care. If Loki had been here, she definitely wouldn't have missed this chance to throw out a witty comment.

"That won't be a problem! Raul, please bring Lord Kári to our goddess' study, I'll play with the kids."

Leaving the simple task of being a guide to her companion, the cat girl - Aki - showed a far more genuine smile as she faced the children, before coaxing them with kind words and leading them around the courtyard, letting them inspect the place. She seemed quite adept at dealing with kids, so the old man quickly breathed a sigh of relief and entered the main manor.

A few minutes later, he found himself seated on a green sofa and sipping from a glass of wine, staring across a table at a familiar red-haired goddess with a mischievous grin, as well as a short, blonde Pallum who was sitting next to her. He didn't make the foolish mistake of underestimating this man, however, and he easily recognized him as the Loki Familia's Captain, Finn Deimne. If he hadn't at least heard about this legend amongst men in the five days since his descent, then he would have really done a piss-poor job at basic intel gathering.

"Thanks for the invitation, Loki. You hadn't barged into my place for a couple of decades, so it was a tad boring. I see you've made quite the name for yourself down here. Nicely done, kiddo."

With a slightly taunting but genuine, carefree grin, Kári nodded at the goddess in front of him, before turning to face her most trusted child and addressing him without giving Loki any chance to flare up. This wasn't his first rodeo - handling her was something that he had grown to be very adept at.

"Also, it's nice to meet you, Braver. I know I'm new around here, but in a couple tens of years, if my children can be of help to you in fulfilling your goal, I wouldn't stand in their way. After all, it's a noble but harsh path that you follow."

Showing a civil smile in response, Finn beamed at their guest.

"There won't be a need, but I appreciate the gesture."

Finally grasping a chance to speak up, Loki snorted and spiritedly glared at Kári, playing with her wine glass all the while.

"It's been about time for you to show your face here in the Lower World, old man. I'm glad to hear you missed me so much that you bothered to descend. While it couldn't have been too costly for you, your sacrifice still moves me to tears."

Blinking away a few fake tears, she heaved an exaggerated sigh and shot her old friend a 'moved' and happy grin.

Snorting amusedly at her display, the old god took another sip from his drink.

"You're still as shameless as ever, I see. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't miss your quips at least a little bit, though. Anyway, you should know exactly why I've come here, right? You've never had too bad of a head on your shoulders, after all, so don't disappoint me now."

Already content with having gotten her old friend to admit that he had looked forward to their reunion, Loki's expression returned to her usual mischievous one, then she nodded her head.

"Of course I do. You came here with all the other wind-related deities, so there has to be someone who newly ascended, someone with that Divinity. Judging from your usual behaviour, you probably plan to guide them as a mentor, and to beat back a few ignorant idiots in the process. You're quite good at combat, even without access to our divine powers, after all. Have I missed anything?"

Even though Loki's tone made her seem confident and victorious, Kári still shook his head, with both fake sorrow and amusement glittering in his eyes.

"Not quite. You know that I'm far more experienced with this than most, so I know that the newly ascended deity is being harboured here in your little Twilight Manor. It's all too easy for me to gauge their general direction, and then it's just a matter of walking around the city a little, and basic triangulation…"

Loki's expression darkened a little, although she had already expected this development. Still, she had hoped to keep this fact a secret for a little while longer. But seemingly, there was nothing that she could do about it anymore. While Kári wasn't the most senior of all wind-related deities, he was still amongst the most powerful ones. For who knows how long, he had been almost about to ascend and become a primordial god, so it wasn't too unusual for him to more clearly detect Ais' presence than the common rabble.

"I have a pretty good idea as to why you aimed to mislead me, and I won't blame you for it. Just know that you can always rely on me, alright? Hell, I've been taking care of you pretty much ever since you were born, so you should really know this by now."

Sensing the slight exasperation in his voice, Loki felt a momentary pang of guilt, which caused her smile to turn a little more pure.

"Sorry about that, but I can't let anyone know. Even you being aware of this already brings with it a bigger risk. Still, thanks. While you honestly won't be of any help for now, maybe, as you said, after your familia grows into more than just an impromptu orphanage, it won't be too pointless for them to get involved."

Not in the least annoyed by her harsh word choices, Kári gulped down the last of his wine and set the glass down on the table. He was well aware that Loki's habit of adding troubled children to her familia, and giving them a chance to grow to greater heights, had been partially inspired by himself. She knew that he wasn't bad at raising an impressive force of his own, and it would just take a couple of tens of years, at most - to immortal deities like them, in retrospect, that amount of time didn't feel like more than the blink of an eye.

"Fine, fine. I won't prod into this any more for now, then."

Right when Loki began to feel relieved, his words continued. The playful and gloating smirk on his face caused her to tense up involuntarily.

"Anyway, I was also asked to deliver a message to you by Angrboda. 'You promised me that you'd return home for a visit twenty years ago, but you're still not here. Do I have to descend as well and drag you back myself?' Really, I usually don't involve myself with matters like these, matters of the heart, but aren't you treating your lovely wifey too harshly? Oh, I wonder how she'll react when she hears that you've been 'playing around' with mortals behind her back again…"

At the mention of Angrboda, Loki's entire body froze up instantly. Cold sweat began to drip down her back and her smile became oddly forced. Even Finn, who had been with her for many decades, had only rarely seen her like this. That aside, this was also the first time that he heard about his goddess… actually being married.

'That's good to know, I'll remind her of it the next time that she tries to take advantage of me during a Status update.'

As her Captain was rejoicing inwardly, Loki couldn't help but utter curse after curse in her own mind. She had forgotten - or rather, temporarily repressed - this matter for many years now, almost constantly ever since her descent. This had enabled her to have many a fun time during her days here, even developing what could be described as consensual sexual relationships with a handful of past and present familia members. Admittedly, the vast majority of her children didn't appreciate her perverted nature at all, but there had been a few over all these years that had indeed wanted to pursue the pleasures of the flesh with her.

"Ahaha… good old Angrboda, she still loves to joke around as much as she used to."

In an effort to further repress the reality of the situation, a comically fake and mechanical laughter escaped the panicking Loki's mouth. Still, her artificial delusions were quickly shattered.

"You know as well as I do that she never jests. If I were you, I would make sure to get rid of as much evidence as you can, sort out your relationships well, and prepare to receive her. She was already in talks with Ouranos when I left Heaven. This isn't the first time, so you should have some experience in dealing with this. Lie in the bed you've made, you can't escape anyway. At least not for long."

Kári's words were akin to blades cutting deep into her heart. She knew that he spoke the truth, and that he had given her some heart-felt advice even while smirking so excessively gleefully. He really was a good man, one who always went out of his way to help, no matter what. Still, she was hurt. Not by him, but by the guilt that threatened to overwhelm her. She loved Angrboda, she truly did, but she also wanted to frolic in freedom every now and then…

It took her a while, but the trickster goddess eventually regained control over her emotions and returned to a state of calm. She had prepared for such a moment for a long time already, so she wouldn't be caught entirely by surprise.

In any case, all of this was for tomorrow's Loki to worry about. With a grin, she took another gulp from her wine glass and asked Finn to give them both a refill. Then, with a more relaxed tone, she continued the conversation with her old friend.

"Anyway, the night is young, so let's drink! Your children can stay the night, we have far more than enough empty bedrooms. Finn! Go and let Riveria know, she'll handle it."

At the same time, a certain High Elf felt a slight headache.

-----

Even though Isaac had allowed himself to rest for the majority of the night - he had even slept for close to six hours, which was an excessive luxury - that didn't mean that he hadn't done anything at all.

The process of adding every single last drop of mana that was currently available to him to his mana flow had successfully come to a close early last evening, which now placed him at 67,601 drops in total. When he had passed the 60,000 mark, he had also improved the grade of his Development Ability again.

[ Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment (C): Enables one to interact with their surroundings by using mana. Reduction in mana expenditure: 13% ]

For now, he would have to wait for another increase in his stats to travel further down this path.

The second matter that he had taken care of was a loose end. Back when he had temporarily retreated from the dungeon to avoid its wrath, he hadn't yet unlocked his current Level's Hunter-series Development Ability. And because he hadn't killed the required number of monsters in a single day, he had to start from scratch. This would still increase his monster slaying achievement, so it was not a complete loss, and it would also allow him to gather more valuable loot, but it certainly hadn't gone perfectly. Oh well, plans couldn't always go off without a hitch.

Because there was no need to restrain himself any longer, as had already finished his studies on the monsters inhabiting the Glacier Territory, he managed to kill the required 30,000 of them in around two hours. Mainly because his stats didn't eclipse them as overwhelmingly as they did the monsters of lower Levels, and because he was aiming for the very strongest Level 5 monsters that he could find, his regular advanced grinding technique barely had any use. Most monsters down here could easily shrug off attacks made by wind blades that he had formed with minimal mana investment, so he had to spend a lot more of it and his focus to reap their lives efficiently. This forced him to reduce both the size of his sphere of death, as well as his advancement speed, by a lot. He even occasionally had to take short breaks in between to give his mana enough time to recover.

Still, eventually, his investment paid off, as he could spy a new Development Ability amongst the list of those that he could select during his next rank up.

[ Expert Hunter (I): When battling a monster one has already gained excelia from previously - 10% increase in all stats, 10% increase in excelia gained. ]

In the process of finally opening up this opportunity, Isaac had collected all 74,000 AP that he had still been able to gain from his Level 5 monster slaying quest, and had arrived at 50,977 kills. The first 20,977 didn't count towards his future progress in Expert Hunter, because the 'counter' only kicked off starting from the kills that had allowed him to actually qualify for this Development Ability - a.k.a. his last 30,000 - but that was just an incredibly minor annoyance, one that he could live with.

Aside from this, he had also made very good progress towards increasing the grade of his Spirit Healing again, but he was still a couple of thousand mana drops off.

After he returned from his quick little slaughter in the dungeon, he entered his private world and, in the company of Ais, sketched out the foundations for his subordinates' base. He also compiled all the building materials that would be required. Quite often, he would ask Ais for her opinion, and in the end, they decided on going for a more medieval style, reminiscent of the buildings of Orario. While the 'modern' houses of his old world also weren't bad, this architectural style - one mixing magic stone-powered technology as well as medieval-ish buildings - simply had far more charm, at least in the eyes of the two.

Once the plans were finished, Isaac took out lots of different kinds of wood, as well as many types of stone, and started to process them according to the requirements. Originally, he would have had to rely on physical body for this, or even on recreating machines from his old world, but now that he had advanced in both magical knowledge and power, he could simply let his wind blades and his Laser Cutting Construct Magic do the work. In the latter's case, because he didn't need to focus solely on the strength of the output, it was quite 'simple' to keep it stable for prolonged periods of time - at least after a few tens of tries.

Even though forming the 'building blocks' wasn't the most exciting of pastimes, staying with Ais made it a very enjoyable experience. He mostly babbled on about architecture and the exact reasons as to why he cut certain logs in a specific way, why placing them at this spot in relation to a part of the ceiling would make them bear the optimal load, et cetera. To be honest, Ais didn't really care about all of this, and neither did Isaac - they both just were happy to spend some time alone together now that the kids had already long left for the dungeon. It truly didn't matter to them what they talked about.

When it was around 2 p.m. and the two made their way towards the Goibniu Familia's workshop, Isaac had already used his absolute control over his world to excavate a perfectly square-shaped hole that was more than 100 meters deep and one kilometer wide. Yes, he had decided to give his subordinates' new home quite a few layers of basement, and this wasn't going to be just a single building either - he needed to plan ahead a little, after all! Regarding the location of the dig site, he had chosen the southern part of the landmass, far enough removed from the world's edge, but also not close enough to its center to interfere with any of his other plans.

In the evening, after his students and subordinates' training session had concluded, with 170 million less valis in his inventory, Isaac found himself in front of a mirror that he had placed in his and Ais' room.

He had already put on his new and improved adventuring attire and couldn't help but marvel at it. His own designs had turned out fantastic, so he couldn't help but praise himself for a job well done. Of course, he also didn't do the deities who had put in the manual labour a disservice.

'Goibniu and Hephaestus are truly amazing. To produce such fine works in such a short time, and while restricted to the bodies of comparatively frail mortals… It really makes one wonder about just what heights they can reach when they're in Heaven.'

Over his underwear - he obviously wasn't naked underneath his gear - he now wore a black gambeson-style shirt with white highlights. In style, it looked a bit similar to the one that he had picked shortly after he had first arrived in this world, but it was a lot more form-fitting. It was made primarily from the fur and a bit of leather of the Monochro--- Baihu, and had been expertly reinforced by Hephaestus. His pants followed the same style, and were made out of the same materials. As for his black-and-white boots, they had been fashioned entirely out of Baihu's leather as well.

All in all, these clothes wouldn't tear or get damaged even if a Level 7 monster battered them. That didn't mean that the impact would be cancelled out, however, so it still wouldn't be a smart idea to be hit. It was far better than no protective clothing, and would indeed dampen any attacks by a significant amount, but that was it.

Securely fastened over this layer of gambeson-style clothing, there was an extremely simple, black light metal armour, consisting of shin guards, a right arm guard, a breast plate and a plate that covered the upper back, as well as a vambrace on his left arm.

Honestly, they looked entirely unassuming at first glance, because they were purely focused on effectively reducing any harm that could possibly come his way. Aesthetics? He had no need for those. They were not only useless, they would most likely even be harmful! If he, for example, wore an armour that was as exaggerated as those often featured in the games of his old world, then he wouldn't only hinder his own movements, he might even hurt himself with his own armour.

Two things about those 'armours' were painfully obvious.Firstly, they were only designed to look impressive. And secondly, the people who had created them had nearly no clue about how to properly protect a human being. Well, at least when compared to an enigmatic oddity like Isaac.

If one looked a bit closer, then they would notice that all armour parts aside from the solid vambrace, even those that appeared to only consist of a single part, were actually made up of countless individual scales, similar to scale mail, but somehow had far more structural integrity. Although this led to a miniscule decrease in overall protection - it would have been many times worse if not for Isaac's revolutionary design - it moderately counteracted one of the main issues of plate armour - namely, deformation. If plate armour got dented in by an attack, then although the wearer wouldn't necessarily die immediately depending on the circumstances, the now malformed metal would continue to restrict, pressure and injure them. Even taking the armour off would be far, far more difficult and painful, if not impossible depending on where and how severely it had been damaged.

Goibniu had had to bring his A-game to follow through with Isaac's design, as it had been a novelty even to him. The armour had been forged from smelted Basilisk scales, and because nearly all impurities had been removed from the orichalcum contained within, it was easily up to Level 8 standard. Due to the added 'Durandal' attribute, its defensive capabilities and durability only got increased even further.

Isaac hadn't even asked the elderly god to apply this attribute - mostly because he wasn't well versed in this particular field - so it had come as a surprise bonus. From what he understood, 'attributes' could be imbued in equipment by a blacksmithing deity or someone with the Development Ability 'Blacksmith'. As for the specifics, he simply hadn't had the time to look into them.

Speaking of, there might actually be many other attributes that had been added to his equipment without his knowledge, but the gods that he had commissioned hadn't bothered to inform him about them. The only reason that he even knew about the Durandal on his armour was because Ais had mentioned that it gave her a 'familiar feeling' - her favourite weapon, the sword 'Desperate', also had the Durandal attribute.

'Another matter to look into in the future, I suppose.'

Upon deciding to spend a bit of time inspecting his new armour with his Eyes of Hermes, he noticed miniscule runes entirely consisting of mana, hovering at key parts within. This was different from magical formations, and more reminiscent of what he had observed in the Goblin magic stone. This led him to conclude that, very likely, he would also unlock knowledge about the attributes if he continued his rune-related studies.

As a side note, he did indeed end up discovering mana runes in every single piece of equipment that he had ordered.

With a new line added to his extremely long to-do list, he scrutinized his new quiver, bow and arrows.

The arrows' shafts were made from some of the most resilient wood that could be found on the 50th floor, while their fletching was created from the bark of the same trees. Regarding the arrowheads, they were forged out of a smelted and purified fang of Baihu.

The bones of nearly all monsters in the dungeon were suffused with orichalcum, and depending on how thoroughly it got purified, several different alloys could be obtained. Of course, pure orichalcum would be far superior to them all, but generally, the deeper into the dungeon that one descended, the better the orichalcum alloys that could be made from the monsters' bones and fangs. While the blacksmithing deities were definitely capable of extracting pure orichalcum, it would simply be overkill to waste it on disposable ammunition.

As for the quiver, it was fashioned out of the same leather as his new boots, while his bow was made out of another orichalcum alloy, extracted from the same Baihu fang that he had provided Hephaestus with. The bow was extremely light-weight - even less so than the carbon-fiber based bows that were popular in his old world - but still shockingly sturdy. The string had been produced from a miniscule part of one of Baihu's sinews, and the blacksmithing goddess had even given him a few spares.

A black belt and a couple of leather pouches gave his outfit the finishing touches.

Lastly, there was the sword at his waist. Its sheath was unimpressive, and yet again made out of the black-and-white leather of Baihu. Still, the weapon contained within, although its grip, pommel and cross-guard were entirely simple and straightforward, was anything but. It had actually been forged from 100 percent pure orichalcum! If Isaac hadn't provided him with a prime source of the material, then Goibniu would have easily been able to charge him a billion valis, just for the material costs of this sword. So far, monsters that could sufficiently damage this metal, once completely purified, had yet to be discovered.

The relatively thin, double-edged blade itself was 72 centimeters in length, while the sword's total length was 86 centimeters. It had been weighted so perfectly that it truly gave Isaac the impression that it was a real extension of his body.

When he had first held it, he had even grinned happily for a few seconds, completely distracted by this sensation. Such perfection was something that he had only dared to theorize about, but as he didn't have the necessary skills to produce such wondrous weapons yet, he hadn't gotten his hopes up. This fascinating work of the elderly god was clearly the greatest masterpiece that he had picked up today.

"Are you going? Or do you plan to stay lost in the mirror for a while longer?"

Ais' amused words finally brought him back to reality. Quite embarrassed, he blushed a little and cleared his throat. With a quick thought, he put his bow, quiver and arrows back into his inventory, then he sheathed his sword and gave the beautiful girl standing next to him a gentle hug.

"Alright, I'm off."

After a loving kiss, the two separated.

Moments later, he found himself back on the 62nd floor.