Chapter 4

The morning started like any other save for a certain energy in the air.

I had the usual plate of goodies and looked for a free seat somewhere and eventually ended up with Bete, Riine, and Raul. Surprisingly, Bete had healthy eating habits. He gave me the stink eye as I took sat down.

"Good morning, Thomas," Riine said.

"Good morning to you too."

Raul nodded at me and I smiled back.

Bete, well, he just stared then went back to his food.

"Oh, Thomas," Riine said, "are you planning on taking Loki to the Monster Feria?"

That was a shit name. "Is it some sort of festival?" I had a spoonful of mushroom soup as I broke my toast.

Riine nodded, putting away her spoonful of corn. "The Ganesha familia will be holding their usual show."

I just looked at her but then Bete spoke up. "Just a bunch of no goods taming monsters by beating them senseless."

Riine stared at Bete before turning back to me. "On second thought, please don't go."

Bete looked at her with a blank expression. "What are you yapping on about?"

"You've never spent time with Thomas yet, have you?"

Raul nodded at Riine's statement.

"How come everyone does that?" I took a bite out of my pancakes.

Bete tilted his head at me, his fluffy silver ears twitching. "What the hell have you been up to?"

"Nothing special."

"Nothing special, he says," Riine said with a flat stare.

That was when Loki joined us with Aiz in tow. Riine looked at her expectantly. "Thomas," Loki said, "go down to the dungeon and grind. Slackers don't get to do fun stuff."

Riine raised her hand. "I think he actually enjoys going down into the dungeon."

Huh, now that I thought about it, did I? I mean, where else did I get to cut loose and indiscriminately destroy other supposedly living beings without any repercussions for my actions? And in fact, even be rewarded for them. There was also using magic like some hero—even if my spells were so edgy—and even use swords! Though okay, it made more sense to use more practical stuff for those massacres—I mean raids.

"See!" Riine said. "That's the face he makes when he's about to do something stupid!"

I frowned at her. "I was born with this face."

Rin was about to say something, but she instead crossed her arms and puffed up her cheeks.

"Thomas," Loki said. She lightly chopped at my head. "Stop teasing the normies."

"I could do so much worse."

Riine clawed at me like a spooked cat and Anakity who just now sat next to her gave the girl a disapproving look. The latter stuck her tongue out and the former pinched her nose for it. "Stop appropriating my culture."

Did she just… I looked at Loki. "Did you teach her that?"

"Damn right I did."

"Heh, nice."

"Weirdos," Bete said. He scooted closer to Aiz.

I looked at Loki and raised a brow at her. She nodded back with a wide grin.

Bete leaned close to us. "What did you two just agree on?"

"Whether you had a chance or not," Loki said.

I gave his hand a pat. "There there, Bete."

He sneered and pulled his hand away. "Don't touch me."

"So uncute," Loki said. "If you keep that up, a certain someone won't even consider you."

I wagged a finger at him. "You should listen to a lady who knows what she wants."

"Tsk."

Riine looked between the three of us. "Umm," she said.

Bete glared at her.

She rolled her eyes before focusing on Loki. "Do I still need to support Thomas?" she said. "I'd prefer going to the festival than watch him bathe in monster blood."

"What," Bete said with a sneer.

"It's good for your skin."

"No way," Anakity said with shock. She turned to Riine with a grave expression. "Please tell me he's joking."

"I'm joking."

The cat lady let out a big breath. Loki shook her head at me. "Thomas, if you say something like that, don't take it back at least until after someone does something stupid."

"I do enough of it on a daily basis."

"He's not wrong," Riine said, dejected.

"And I'm the one who gets to see all of that through his eyes," Loki said with a sigh. Riine gave her a back rub.

I stopped stuffing my face for a beat. "Weren't we teasing Bete?"

The guy smiled something cocky. "I'm not the biggest idiot here."

Everyone on the table and Aiz looked at him for a good long while.

"I hate all of you!" he said as stormed out of the mess hall.

"Tomato comment?" I asked.

"Tomato comment," Aiz answered.

"Ah, that poor idiot."

"I heard that!" Bete said from the living room.

Loki clapped her hands. "I'll be spending the day with Aiz," she declared. The girl didn't look too enthused. "Thomas, I need you ready for the expedition so grind as if your life depended on it."

I rolled my eyes at her.

"But nothing too crazy." She narrowed her eyes at me. "Are we clear on that?"

"I do not speak for the stats."

"No Thomas, we do not have anything like a stat-whisperer or a Falna-lorax thing here. Bad, bad references."

"What are they even doing?" Anakity whispered at Riine.

"I think that's how they flirt," Riine said. They were still within normal speaking volume though.

Aiz just kept eating her food without a worry.

Tione and Tiona squeezed into the already filled table, the former sitting next to Riine and Raul, the latter to my left. Tiona poked my cheek with a finger.

"Loki, you should let him cut loose a bit," she said.

Loki chuckled. "Him?"

"Guys, I'm right here."

"We're mostly women?" Riine said.

"It's unisex, refers to Guy Fawk—" I pinched the bridge of my nose. It wasn't even a proven etymology anyway. "Sorry, I meant"—I made air quotes—"I'm right here, everyone."

Loki continued. "He's a Virgo, he likes having something to do so he doesn't have to think."

"I didn't think you'd know astrology."

"What's a Virgo?" Riine asked.

"It's a really wonderful kind of person."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Knowing you," she said.

Cruz passed by to give Anakity a package, and Rakta dragged Raul away so they could put in those new orders for weapons with the Hephaestus familia. His seat was then taken by Riveria who had a salad. Really, what else did I expect.

"A lively breakfast table is nice," she said. She bit into a ripe and juicy tomato.

"Riveria," Loki said, "any news on those things?"

The elf shook her head. "Still none."

The two of them sighed. Loki rested her head on my shoulder. "What a bother."

"Is this about my magic?"

Aiz perked up when she heard about my magic. Loki nodded. Riveria stopped sipping her tea.

"Thomas has magic?" Anakity asked.

"It's this really dark and edgy thing," Loki said.

I clutched my head in agony, it was bad enough I had to chant for it, but good god those names!

"Is Thomas alright?" Riine said.

Loki smirked. "Don't mind him, he's just suffering an existential crisis."

"Thomas hails from a long line of mages," Riveria said. "One of his ancestral spells showed up when he last updated."

"Ah," Anakity accepted the explanation. "Must be nice to have magic."

"It'd be better if they chantless magics," I said, utterly defeated.

"But your chants are cool," Riine said with sparkling eyes. "Taken from the peace of home…"

Oh god make it stop. Loki was full on cackling. Riine stopped, more out of concern for what she inadvertently caused than any actual consideration for my suffering. It killed her enthusiasm, and it was a complex feeling to be relieved at her displeasure.

"Good job," Aiz said.

"Ohhh?!" Loki said. "You should be honored Tom!"

I sprinkled confetti above me.

Everyone in the table and from the others nearby stopped talking, but Aiz started giggling.

Riveria was shaking her head. "How long did you wait to use that?"

"Since I came down from my room."

#

Gareth eventually picked me up to get on with our morning. He wasn't fan of beating monsters into submission since he already did so on a regular basis, he also didn't appreciate the idea of using violence as a pretense for cooperation. A monster was a monster. And no amount of training could change that, if it so wanted, it could turn on its handler at the drop of a hat. We then went out of the manor and joined in with the tide of people.

It was a festive time, but the mission took precedence. Also, I was sure monster taming had a bad return on investment. The tamed monsters still had that limitation of dying when their crystals were destroyed so as long as that glaring weakness was there, the monster was still mostly useless. There was also the fact that evolving a monster that ran the risk of betraying you was a horrible idea. And unless they had magic collars than ensured absolute obedience, this was a fanciful hobby at best.

However, before going to the Dungeon, Gareth and I had to pick up the stuff we had Tsubaki repair and make for me.

Orario's streets were crowded to the point of bursting with all the people headed for the coliseum.

Every other street corner and square had lines of customers waiting to buy the different food stuffs from the stalls put up overnight. Colored banners and flags crisscrossed the spaces between the buildings while flowers and petals littered the streets. It was a festival just like any other, and thanks to Gareth's fame, we didn't have to wade through the tide just to get to the smiths'.

We also picked up some grilled squid of all things just before getting there.

"There's a sea near Orario?"

"Aye," he said, "the city of Melen is just a few kilometers South West of here so seafood comes fresh daily. We should check it out after the expedition passes, I know of a good place for grilled dishes."

"Looking forward to it then."

"So how's life in Orario so far, Tom?" he said. "Do you mind if I call you Tom?"

"Go ahead, Loki uses it around everyone anyway. And life's been nice, my room here is much nicer than the one I had back home."

Gareth smiled. "Aye, good to hear lad." He stroked his beard. "You mind telling me of your home?"

I shrugged. "I'm warning you now, it might sound like I'm making it up, but I swear everything I say next is true."

"Try me," Gareth said with a smirk.

"For one there's only humans in my world, there are no elves or dwarves or beastkin or monsters."

"That last one sounds lovely," he said. "Don't know about not having dwarves or beastkin though."

"We get by," I said. "And the Babel tower." Gareth hummed. "Back home, that building wouldn't be one of the tallest ones."

"Oho?" He smiled wide at that.

"Yeah"—I reached my hands up to the sky—"we have these buildings we call skyscrapers that were made to reach the clouds." Uhh, how tall were they usually… "They usually have between forty and sixty floors, and the really tall ones go up to seventy." I had no fucking clue but I couldn't cop out now. "Their purposes were rather stupid though."

"And why's that?"

"Because most of them were things we did just because we could," I said. "We didn't have magic back home to reinforce our structures or help make our lives easier. Everything we enjoyed we had to build from scratch with the power of knowledge and teaching."

"It's a way to live," Gareth said.

"Innovation was the real power of humanity back home," I said. "When we get back later, remind me to show you something." If only Loki would let go of my phone and headphones for a while.

"Sure," he said.

"But we weren't always the best."

"I figured you'd keep praising your home."

I chuckled. "It's far from perfect, but it's still something. Our knowledge was amazing, but that knowledge was also filled with less than savory things like how best to kill another person, or how best to kill a lot of people from way over there without getting hurt yourself."

"Warfare is part of society, Tom. Even here it exists."

"I'm sorry to hear."

"Aye, but Ares is an idiot, so it ain't too bad." He chuckled. "You were saying?"

"Right, are you familiar with bombs?"

He nodded. "Nasty things, small but pack a lot of boom. Expensive too."

"Do they work against monsters?"

Gareth shook his head. "Nay, but they're good for mining."

"Ah, so you have explosives for that, eh? That's also how we started using them. And I take it your explosives are made of this black powder stuff?"

He beamed. "Glad to see we share something common. Aye, dragon powder we call it, but yes, it's a black powder."

"Do you have other explosives?"

"Others?" He raised a brow, the beginnings of a smile behind them. "We only know of dragon powder so far, but I take it there are others?"

"Countless others," I said. "Remind me to make you some of them when I have the time."

"Is it common knowledge to know?" Gareth asked with a flat stare.

"Nope."

"Figures." He laughed. "I'd appreciate that then."

"And if we're lucky, we can get really rich really fast with it."

"Let's not."

I shrugged. "Well, the biggest explosives we have we call them nuclear bombs."

"What is this nookleyarr you speak of?"

"It's a bit complicated to explain. But just one of those bombs would be enough to destroy the entirety of Orario and make the land too dangerous to live in for a long long time. The weapon destroys with the explosion and poisons the land, it's a sinister weapon we've only ever used twice in our long history of war." I shrugged. "It was a horrible weapon that killed in the hundreds of thousands in the span of a few minutes."

"I see," he said. "Your people were… ferocious, I take it?"

"You can say that, and remember those skyscrapers I told you about? Most of those were made for the purpose of commerce."

"Impressive," he said, "and you say your people have done all that without magic?" He nodded. "And I suppose you were a soldier or a fighter in your old home? Your movements are strange, but there is a reason with the attacks you make. You could also use your knife well, the buckler too. The swords though, not as much."

I shook my head. "Nah, I wasn't a fighter. I was a thinker for those who fought."

"Explain?"

"I was part of the team that decided how weapons would be best allocated and where in the battlefield." Or in the area of conflict, as management was so strict to having us use. "I also helped check the movements of hostile groups and helped the commanders decide best where to move their soldiers or how to deal with a battle."

"That explains a few things then," Gareth said. "But not the stupid. Where does the stupid come from?"

I laughed at that. "Now this one you probably won't believe."

"I'm an old man and I've seen a lot of things."

"Well, okay." I took a deep breath. "In my world, these things we call statuses and levels, skills and magics, these were things we could only find in games."

Gareth nodded.

"These numbers we use to give some sort of scale to these parameters we called strength, endurance, agility and so forth, they were usually able to be trained under specific circumstances to produce outcomes favorable to whoever was playing the game."

"And you've been applying ideas from these games of yours to here?"

"My knowledge hasn't failed me yet."

"And what happens if you died in those games?"

"Then your avatar died, and if the game's rules are a certain way, death may not be the end. Or it might be another state for your avatar and you could return to the living eventually. There were as many possibilities with games as there are stars in the sky. And no one rule existed to unite them all, except maybe the unwritten one that games were supposed to be enjoyed."

"And you've been enjoying your stay here?"

"That magic is here was already enough for me to have fun."

"Aye," he said, "that's good to hear."

#

We eventually reached Tsubaki's workshop.

Gareth knocked on the door. Something exploded. Smoked billowed out of the windows. This was getting old.

Tsubaki came out covered in soot and greeted the two of us with warm hugs. She was really touchy. "Glad of you to make it," she said.

"Tom here couldn't go about his business without them."

I totally could, but I was already used to those. "They're good pieces."

"Too good," Tsubaki said. She slung her arm around my shoulders. "I've got your items sorted out and ready. Come in!"

She herded us through the door and the same mess from yesterday was still there. There was no place to receive guests in her workshop, just a forging table, her forge, the anvil, and the gigantic piles of metals, ingots, ores, drop loots and other stuff I couldn't even identify. She also had a simple wooden table where my shield was, along with the hammer I asked for.

Our host gestured at the items. "Your descriptions and sketches were really interesting, so I might've gotten carried away," Tsubaki said. She picked up the war hammer. "It's a lot smaller than what I'm used to making." She pointed at one of the piles and lo and behold, there was a hammer there with a head about as large as an oil drum.

"Yeah, that doesn't work out for me."

Tsubaki gave me a pat on the shoulder. "With such skinny arms, I wouldn't have expected it either."

Gareth laughed.

"But this!" Tsubaki held the solid looking thing in one hand. "I had a lot of fun looking for a material dense enough for the head, and I also used metal for the body to really make it sturdy." She stuck her tongue out. "And I might've unintentionally given it the Durandal property."

Gareth stopped laughing, and I narrowed my eyes at her. "I'm not paying for that." I didn't know what Durandal meant, but the level six wasn't too happy hearing about it.

"Ah, don't worry, I'm not charging you for that since I'm keeping it for myself. I just wanted to let you know." She picked up the shield and took the hammer it was hiding underneath. "This"—she passed me the hammer—"is yours."

The hammer had a hefty head about the size of a beer bottle with one flat end and the other tapering into a rounded point like Tsubaki's. The handle was a dark and dense wood and the part where the head and handle met was held together and reinforced by metal braces. All in all, it was about as long as my thigh, long enough for a good swing, but short enough to be useable a bit closer up. "It feels good."

Tsubaki preened. "It damn well should," she said. "That took me all night to figure out." She presented her own hammer. "Shaping the entire thing was easy, but it was the balance that ate up so much time. I originally didn't want to give you anything too overpowered but since Loki herself asked for it, I had to give it my all." She glared at Gareth.

He raised his hands. "It wasn't my idea."

"That great sword you're using." She looked at me. "I bet that's sliced a hard armored in two?"

I nodded.

"A too strong weapon in the hands of a novice would make them think they were strong when in fact it's the weapon that's strong." She walked up to me and held a flap of my jacket. "This jacket of yours is made with Bloodsaurus hide, so of course you'd be untouched by everything."

Okay, I knew Loki said to arm me to the teeth, but this was just overkill.

"Your armor pieces are also designed for deep floor exploration," she said, pointing at the vambraces and greaves. "I made those for Gareth when they just reached level thirty in the Dungeon, if I remember right."

Gareth nodded. "Aye," he said with a smile.

"The question then, is why Loki would want you equipped so handsomely?"

Gareth looked at me before nodding. "She was going to figure it out eventually."

Tsubaki huffed. "Because I don't believe in people relying on their tools to be strong."

"Thomas here has communication magic." He slapped me in the back.

Tsubaki slapped me in the back too, and this one literally took my breath away. "You lucky bastards!" she said with a boisterous laugh. "That changes everything."

I coughed as I received my shield and short sword. "Keep it secret? For a friend?"

"I can't promise about Hephaistos, but if you swear not to drop your things next time, I might consider it."

"I promise." I lied.

She shrugged. "More money for me anyway." She passed me the great sword Gareth lent me. "That other great sword you asked for, that one's going to take a while. Mythril's been harder to come by lately, so you'll have to make do with that one for a while." She rolled her eye. "This harness you had me do was also good. Carrying too many weapons on your person would normally lead to more problems, but these straps you added to secure them to your thighs is a smart move."

I received the complicated piece of leatherwork, and with it, I would be able to mount my short sword on my left hip, the pick on my right hip, the great sword on my back, and the shield in front of my hip. And like she said, they included some extra straps to keep my hip mounted weapons attached to my thigh so they didn't get in the way when I rolled. I could also mount some knives by the sternum straps, and I bet Loki would find some way or another to get Aiz to wear one of these babies. "Nice."

"I'm just not sure I can recommend anyone to wear these," she said with a sigh. She shrugged. "The price for everything is one million and eight hundred thousand Varis, not including the other sword," Tsubaki said. "But I'll take off five hundred for teaching me to make the pick and harness." She held up her unbreakable pick. "You can pay it back later."

"Thank you Tsubaki," Gareth said. "We'll be sure to dump all of Thomas's drops off at your place from now on too."

"That'd be highly appreciated." She raised her eyebrow. "Also, you should get him some Salamander Wool soon, Gareth."

The dwarf crossed his arms. "He should get used to the silverbacks first."

She pouted. "No one likes the twelfth floor, Gareth. No one. And you're already fattening him up anyway, might as well go all the way if you're already half-way there."

Gareth shook his head. "He may be taking a shortcut, but it doesn't stop the fact he still needs to go through certain experiences. And besides," he said, "what I'm more worried about is him finding some way to half-kill himself just so he could heal up and do it all over again."

"Eh?"

"He tied a purple moth to his head."

Tsubaki rubbed her chin. "He didn't get poisoned?"

"Oh no, I screwed myself pretty thoroughly. I just had a way to heal myself."

"Smart," she said. "I should get my other familia members to do that."

"Don't encourage him!" Gareth scratched his chin. "It's also been difficult to tell if he enjoys getting hurt."

"If Loki likes him," Tsubaki supplied. She clapped me on the shoulder. "So, mind showing me how to use this thing?" She smiled something sinister.

#

That conversation did not at all go the way Gareth intended it to. But what happened after was the real icing on the cake. It started with Tsubaki picking out some random weapons she had in her workshop along with a sizeable bag. And eventually culminated in the three of us now running away from the parade of Killer Ants from the seventh floor.

"Don't you think this is too many, Thomas?" Tsubaki asked.

"Nonsense! It just means more money for us!"

"I really hate it when you say that," Gareth said.

An ant dropped down from the ceiling and I batted it away with the blunt end of the pick. Followed by a poison moth that flew towards my face but got bisected by the short sword. All this while, the two were following behind me in a line. Pulling the monsters was my idea, so I naturally had to deal with the implications of it too.

Another ant reared its head from a side path. My armored shin smashed it in the noggin as we kept going. We could hear their little legs and screeching right behind us, but that was because we were running just fast enough to keep them right behind. Tsubaki already said my gear was that damn good, might as well really see how well they performed.

The needle rabbits weren't even an issue anymore, they pelted my sides and back at times but as long as they didn't break flesh, then they were no threats. I soldiered through the pain, stomping them when I had the chance.

"Needle rabbit fur is good for light armor," Tsubaki said. "I know a certain someone who'd like a big order."

"Would it knock a few Varis off my bill?"

"Sure," she said.

We eventually reached the stairs to the eighth floor before I threw myself at the ants.

"Is this that thing you were telling me about?" I heard Tsubaki ask.

I swung my pick pointy-end first at the first ant and easily pierced its shell. The bastard was still crawling though, but its sharp legs weren't as big a problem as its powerful jaws. The short sword in my left hand intercepted a needle rabbit in mid-air, and I spun into another swing with the pick blunt-end first at the next ant's torso.

The flat side kept the monsters at a distance while the sharp end was for a decisive blow. I abandoned all pretenses of defense after finding out about the real bounds of my armor and went at an all-around massacre, throwing myself bodily at the monsters as each wave came. Whenever I opened enough space around me, I'd behead an ant and hook its body with the pick to throw it into the horde, hampering the others' advance.

With this, I eventually built up a sort of pile in front to funnel them. It was like a just as disturbing homage to what the Spartans did in three hundred except using monster carcasses in place of human bodies. That comparison didn't feel like a victory. Hugging a wall wasn't an option in the dungeon anyway since a monster could be born there and then, but at least I had a helmet on so surprise attacks weren't as big a concern if they came from the ceiling.

Gareth didn't mind Tsubaki seeing me fight, and neither did he hide anything from her. Whether it was a certain level of trust in a friend or in a business partner didn't matter. Gareth had Loki's confidence, and Tsubaki had Gareth's.

I pulled another ant in and stomped its head off before shoulder checking a needle rabbit and introducing it to my boots. As I fought, I made sure to keep on focusing on feeling my magic, moving it in concert with my swings. I also did it even outside the Dungeon, getting a feel for how it moved within and manifested with my spell words. My magic was growing faster than my other stats so if I could get something like a reinforcement buff for boosting my strength or agility than I was golden.

I kicked an ant away before nailing it with the pick. The next moth I backhanded as I stomped on the needle rabbit that clanged against my helmet. Learning to fight and chant magic was pretty important. With it, I could move and avoid while I prepared a large attack. I had an advantage right now with how short my chant was, and it wasn't too hard once I got into it. It was a lot like keeping my balance on a moving bicycle while I was typing on a laptop. Not an experience I'd recommend to everyone, but not impossible either.

What was harder was maintaining that feel of magic in my body as I fought, since with this I actually had to concentrate on moving it while focusing on everything else going on around me. Fighting while chanting was more of a swing at this direction and make sure I didn't get hit while balancing on the bike. Fighting while focusing on how the magic moved and swelled within was like having a body filled with water and I had to think how to move the water around as I thought about hitting this bastard—I kicked the ant back and stabbed a needle rabbit clean through, before swinging my blade at another ant a distance away, flinging the carcass at it.

Long story short, it was pretty taxing.

I was also doing this idiocy in the hopes of getting a long-range attack. Saudade was useful, but it was limited in its applications due to its short range and casting time. Despair was a nice a debuff that included a disable, but what really mattered during these earlier levels was a power strike to let me hit above my stats.

My arms were starting to burn from the effort before I casted Saudade for the first time, and immediately the pain subsided together with a large chunk of the wall I'd built up.

The change in status made a difference with how fast and how much effort went into clearing the waves. Yesterday I had to tank damage just to fight back, but now I was tanking out of a conscious consideration for efficiency. The damage I took was less than what I could heal with Saudade, so it made more sense—though it hurt way more—to heal as I fought. Despair was yet to make an appearance since I didn't want to take too much magic from my cash piles.

Due diligence with exploring new spells was a must, and with it I found that Saudade couldn't pull more than I needed. It didn't hyper heal me or overload my mana supply, whatever the hell it might've been. In fact, another nice skill would be to have some visualization of how much mana I had left.

But enough of the boring stuff! I was dual wielding weapons and killing monsters! And it was awesome.

"What's so funny Thomas?!" Gareth said.

"I was laughing?"

"It was creepy," Tsubaki said.

"My bad."

Hack, slash, crush, and pierce. I mechanically killed and got bit, and casted Saudade as I tanked the ants' attacks. The armor was soaking the damage enough for me to finish through with my chanting. And with each successful cast, I recovered and cleared the space of clutter, ready for more. Once the ants stopped spawning, I sheathed my sword and pick and took out my knife.

"He does this a lot?" Tsubaki asked.

"Yeah," Gareth said.

"He asked for the pick, so he could get monsters to stumble into each other."

"So, it seems."

"Loki picked up someone strange."

"I prefer the term, efficient."

I crouched down and cut up the already dead ants for their stones, while those still alive I punched until they died first. Hitting a stationary target was easier than a moving one, and now that they couldn't fight back was the best time to build up my strength stat. Pulling the monsters and throwing their corpses or still living bodies at their fellows was also to build that and dexterity up while the monster marathon and tanking hits was for agility and endurance both.

The ants were a good warm up, but what I really came for were the silverbacks. And picking up some cash wasn't a bad deal either. The clean up session took much longer than the actual fighting and only now did I truly appreciate what Riine was doing for me before. Having her clear up the stones while I harv—I mean, killed the mobs was so much more efficient than the drone I was doing now. It then made me wonder just what is it that the magic crystals were?

Crystallized mana, basically.

And then magic takes this mana as the cost for whatever the magic spell would do?

Yep.

Has anyone ever tried eating them?

They all had stomachaches, and some also had to get those sharp stones taken out of them through surgery. They didn't do anything, Tom.

Did they chew?

I assumed they did.

Ah, then that means them chewing was not accounted for.

Touche. Seriously though, if you're planning on doing it, at least let the Riveria know first, since she'll probably be the one to heal your sorry ass after.

Noted.

We eventually reached the eleventh floor but was greeted by vast empty fields of mist and a distant rumbling. There were no other monsters and whatever could make the place shake like that was neither an orc nor a silverback. I looked at Gareth. He face-palmed.

"That must be the Infant Dragon," Tsubaki said.

"Aha! So there really is a boss monster!"

"Didn't you know?"

"I was avoiding telling him."

"Why? He wants to solo one?"

Gareth just stared at her.

"No," Tsubaki said with a frown.

"Exactly," Gareth added.

"I apologize," she said.

I was already running towards the beast. It was easy to follow the sounds of it trampling the stone trees of the eleventh floor, and since they said it was a dragon and it shook the ground, I only needed to find something large enough. Note to self, look for a magic lamp I could strap to my head. The real concern then was if it could fly, and if it had some sort of breath attack.

"Thomas," Gareth said running next to me. "It breathes fire."

"Can it do so continuously?"

"No," he said, "it can only fire in short puffs. But its body is extremely hot so none of that clinging onto the monster and stabbing it like a pest."

"Excuse me?" Tsubaki said.

"You'll see later," Gareth said. He turned to me. "After you somehow take care of this."

The beginnings of a silhouette appeared from the mist.

I dove for the ground.

The trembling neared, and the silhouette gave way to a wingless Charizard but with an edgier look. Or was it a Charmeleon on all fours? It was also orange against the white mists and had a long tail just as long as its neck. Its head was higher than the stone trees. I had to look out for its fire breath—oh please I hope it didn't explode like it did for those goddamn Rathalos. The tail swipe too, and just to be sure, it might also have poison in the tip or do hip checks. But at least in real life hitboxes weren't shit.

I crawled over to where the dragon's path would take it.

Beheading it would be the easiest way to win—assuming I was strong enough to cut through flesh and bone. But barring that, the next best was to poke its belly full of holes and hope to Loki that thing died from sepsis. If it could even die from bacterial infections, that is. The goblins I tried dissecting before died from the blood loss, but I couldn't be sure about sepsis since they always died regardless of how I stabbed them. There was the matter of a possible healing factor, but at the very least, poking it with enough holes ought to eventually kill it.

I crouched low among the grass.

There wasn't any wind in the dungeon, so my scent shouldn't be too obvious. But if it had good eyesight or relied on heat sensing—and at worst magic sensing, then this was all useless. Gareth and Tsubaki should've already caught up, and them not commenting was most likely so they didn't spook the beast. Perhaps there was some hope to this yet.

I slowly unsheathed my great sword and prepared to stab.

With such a large monster, its magic crystal would naturally be proportional so the money I made earlier might not even come to close to what I could cash in on with this. Gareth probably wouldn't clean up for me unless things got serious, and I wasn't about to hold back on my magic now. If the blitz didn't work, then I'd stick around for a bit more before deciding to run.

The tremors got closer and the infant dragon's size was reminiscent to facing a Chameleos. Horrible memories surfaced of losing my potions— Fuck. I didn't bring any potions. But at least I didn't have to sharpen my weapon as much. Though maybe I should bring a whetstone—

The creature screeched like a shit-eating Kut-ku, and went on its way, passing me by just a few feet away.

Its right flank was wide open.

The beast had muscular legs and both fore and hind legs had forward-facing knees. It could probably run forward fast, but that also meant it'd have shit turning speed together with its short and stout body. I was expecting its rear legs to be sprawled at least, but the morphology was closer to that of a horse's minus the hind legs. How the hell did biology work here anyway? This thing had shit senses too, it wasn't even tasting the air with its tongue.

I grit my teeth.

Once I stabbed it, either its tail would come whipping or its head would come snapping. It was most likely safer to dodge to the rear flanks not in line with the legs. At least that way it'd have to constantly adjust to where I was.

Decided, I called, "Madness." And stabbed forward, committing my body weight into the thrust.

The creature stirred as the blade sunk into its flesh like a knife into a well-done steak, the distinct feel of sinew giving way transmitting through the blade. I quickly pulled it out and rolled to behind and to the left of its tail as the place I stood on was covered in fire.

Ah, right. The breath attacks.

I sheathed my bloody blade as the infant dragon screeched—and spat another fire ball where I stood. I ran towards it, taking out my pick and short sword, but it ran forward as its tail swept back, forcing me to halt my charge. Its bad side made it run slower than it normally could but even that was still faster than I was. It slowed to a trot a distance away as it turned with a wide berth before charging for me with a full gallop.

It was a game of chicken.

I ran for it and sheathed my shorter weapons for the great sword. Dealing with a charge was better done with longer reach, and a rider-less target was best dealt with with the same tactic. The dragon spat fire, but the ball was small enough to dodge if I veered to the side.

At the last second, I rolled for its bad leg and faced back to deal with a tail whip that never came. The dragon kept running and turned wide just like it did before—but stopped once it faced me. It glared glowing red eyes, the fire from its mouth escaping its lips as the black of Madness started enveloping it.

It stretched its neck upwards to the ceiling and screeched high into the air.

Waiting for it to call for reinforcements or take on another form was a horrible idea. I rushed the dragon.

That's when it breathed out a continuous stream of glowing fire.

"Thomas!" Gareth said. "Get out of there!"

I veered to the right and the volley of flames followed. It bent as it trailed through the air, reminiscent of a flamethrower—which meant the dragon was igniting some flammable liquid.

"I got this!"

"Like hell you don't! Infant dragons don't do that!"

"It's probably a special condition if you solo it!"

"Doesn't that mean it's a bad idea?!"

"Are you kidding me?! That usually means you get bonus points for the feat!"

I cleared the stream back first like an Olympic high jumper and rolled away. It was good thing my shield wasn't on my back anymore else that would've hurt like a bitch.

"You insufferable idiot!"

The infant dragon stopped its breath and galloped forward.

I pointed the great sword towards it, ready to dive into a stab. "Madness." I covered my body with magic.

The dragon spat a fire ball forward. I took off myself, casting faith into my agility. It came with open jaws, and I prayed my sword could pierce into its torso. The dragon snapped its head to the side and back.

I was thrown off course, but I spun into a horizontal slash and scratched a gash against its body.

Then the tail came.

I flew.

"Thomas! Focus!"

I landed in a roll against the ground, the random stones punching pain into my sides and arms. I stood up and ran sideways from its path. It turned wide and stopped a distance away, before screeching up into the ceiling before letting out another stream of fire. I wanted to think of the beast like a simple monster with a pattern, but I had to remember this was real life and not a game.

I ran sideward and forward, dodging as I advanced. The fire trails followed but couldn't reach, I was lucky it wasn't leading me.

Or was it?

The great sword was too clumsy for such a fast-moving opponent, but it was bleeding out to some extent and the range was too good to give up. I was nearing it when the breath stopped, and the beast put forth its hip, the tail swinging to point forward as if it was in a fighting stance.

I held the blade with both hands, my other one on the blade to better guide it with. I could take out my pick and shield but right now depth was more important.

The dragon breathed out three fire balls—and just to be sure, I dove hard for the ground to the left.

None of them exploded. I got back up and started for the beast.

The tail came first. I parried it along the side of the blade but was disarmed.

The sword fell on its tip and stood on the ground.

I took the pick out. "Madness." The weapon ignited with misty black.

The beast snapped but I parried its head away with the blunt end, knocking it enough for me to turn my weapon over and hook onto its neck.

The pick caught.

It brought its entire body forward.

And my arm was nearly torn from my shoulder, but I held on and pulled myself in, ignoring the burning pain from the monster's skin. I expanded Despair to the rest of my body, and like a scourge, the black mist wrapped itself around the beast's head from where I deflected it and from where I was mounting.

"I told you to stop that!"

I pulled myself into position and had to duck low and put my face close against its hide to avoid the snapping jaws. I unsheathed the short sword and stabbed it into the creature's back.

The dragon slowed its running and went into a frenzy, its head whipping back and forth. I was only able to hold on thanks to my weapons stabbed in deep. "Taken from the peace of home." It buckled and whipped but I kept wiggling the blade where it was lodged despite the hurt. "I now stand beyond the veil." It screeched as its tail whipped the ground and around. "The aberrant demands reparation."

Black light exploded, and the dragon's screams faded in intensity as the pain in my body waned.

I pulled the short sword out and thrust it near its spine.

But a burning pair of jaws clamped down on my arm and threw me away.

I crashed back first into a tree without my short sword, but my arm wasn't broken. That was enough. I got up in time to get away from the fire breath and had to run three ways to Sunday to avoid it. It was also a good thing this floor didn't have any flammable flora.

The breath stopped but the dragon didn't run. I ran towards my great sword and picked it up. It spat a fire ball my way.

I committed to my path and changed directions when more fire balls came. They still weren't exploding. And this dammed lizard wasn't flying. I neared the target and ran wide to try and take its back.

It slammed its tail into the ground and I lost my balance with the shaking. Its tail went high again before crashing down.

I rolled away and got up to close the distance with its hind legs. I lashed out with my pick and broke its skin by the knee. The dragon yelped and kicked back at a target that wasn't there. Blood had already pooled where it stood.

Fire washed over me. And I had to roll under its body to avoid the heat. "Taken from the peace of home." Its tail shook the ground. "I now stand beyond the veil." I swung my pick into its other knee and made contact.

Its body crashed into me, stumbling me off balance.

I was blown back by the tail.

I landed into a roll along the ground and I had to keep rolling to get away from the fire breath that set the ground aflame.

"Thomas!"

"No!" If they helped me now, then it'd lower the experience value—but was it really the time for this? "Let me deal with it a bit longer!"

I stood and ran from the fire, taking out my shield.

"I've half a mind to butt in!"

"Believe in me Gareth!"

I veered hard towards the dragon. It stopped firing fire balls and lowered its body. It was planning something. I put my shield up in front of me and soldiered on.

The dragon raised its head up high and breathed fire upwards, the stream of flames falling back down and coating its body. It charged forward like an avatar of destruction.

I covered myself again in Despair and prayed it'd work. I started chanting, "Taken from the peace of home. I now stand beyond the veil." I held onto the magic that welled from within.

The dragon screeched a distorted flaming scream as it opened its maw wide.

I threw my hammer at the beast.

It hit it in the face. The dragon reared its head back and I turned my forward momentum into a spin—

—and punched its face aside. "The aberrant demands reparation!"

The mass of black from Despair coated its head as the black dome enclosed us, the cool healing and its burning heat mixing in a rage, the dragon's body buckling with its diverted inertia.

I saw the tail come at me in slow-motion.

And in a moment of inspiration, I side stepped forward. It was a maneuver I only ever saw on videos but one I was so familiar with.

The heat of the burning tail came.

I ducked low and brought my arms out as I spun. It was something I'd always hoped to one day do but was never athletic or flexible enough. I raised my hip as one leg kicked up.

A pillar of fire approached like a death sentence.

My leg cleared the danger just as my other leg lifted up and over me, my entire person spinning above the desperate blow. The tail followed through with the motion as I rode the momentum of my spin, casting the shield away as I unsheathed my great sword.

And slashed at the dragon's body.

Blood gushed out of opened its belly.

It's screaming brought me out of the trance and I quickly stabbed my great sword into its exposed underside over and over and over until the flames died down. Despair lifted from my person and I fell to my knees, my body wracked in a pain unlike anything before. I let go of my great sword, but the skin on my hands came off with the heat, leaving its handle a bloody mess. Everything of me was burning.

I howled my victory cry anyway.

It was then that a body landed next to me. An orc. Followed by another three, all of them still breathing but in no shape to even consider coming out of their predicament alive. More bodies kept landing next to me, and soon I saw Gareth walk up to the dragon's body and drag it away.

"Heal yourself," he said, pointing at the pile.

I did as I was told and casted Saudade in a daze, the cool sensation of it soothing the burning hell. The bodies kept coming, some of them hard armored, some of them imps, and a lot more orcs. I kept casting my magic. Only when I was lucid enough to look for where they were coming from did the bodies stop falling, and the sounds of battle reached my ears.

"Congratulations," Gareth said with an uneasy smile. He was kneeling next to my pitiful form sprawled on the ground.

I wanted to speak but my throat was so dry. I shook my head.

"We should head back," he said. "I didn't think we'd need to bring potions."

I wanted to laugh, but my ribs hurt.

#

Gareth carried me back to the Dian Cecht familia clinic and they practically doused me with a bottle or two of those glowing blue liquids. I couldn't complain since the pain immediately went away and I felt better than ever. It even grew back some of the hair I burned off. I was red all over when the battle ended, since I had to capitalize on that split-second I dazed the dragon to drive the point home. It was a stroke of luck that I won, and it was folly to even consider I had any right to be here now, but it was all necessary.

From start to finish my equipment did all the fighting. My arm survived almost getting eaten and I got out of getting my body mangled thanks to the armor being way stronger than I was. Even the burning could've gone so much worse had I not been wearing that jacket. But as cheap as it was, a victory was still a victory, and as weak as I was, I still soloed that thing.

Gareth had Dian Cecht place the cost for my healing on the familia tab. Which was good since that's how I found suddenly found myself sadled with a million and a half of Varis in debt.

Tsubaki was nice enough to have helped us gather some monsters for my first aid treatment, but even she found my methods too much. She didn't offer anything special though, just that she warned if I kept it up then the weapons she made me would eventually lead to my death. I understood what she was talking about, but the victory I had today would pave my way forward.

It was worth it.

What Loki would think though, well, that was another matter entirely. When we got home, I was brought to the executives' room, with Riveria, Finn, Gareth, and Loki in attendance. All four of them stood to one side. It went without saying I was in some knee-deep shit.

"So," Loki started. "How come I didn't hear anymore from you after"—she made air quotes— "there was a dragon."

I swallowed hard. Finn's face fell. Riveria just shook her head. Gareth answered for me. "Thomas here found out about the infant dragon."

"Oh," Finn and Loki said.

Riveria placed the little piece of paper that spelled my certain doom. "That explains the bill for three elixirs."

Loki's head snapped at me. "You needed three?! What the hell did you get up to?!"

"He took it on alone," Gareth said. "I wanted to stop him, but he was hell bent on getting it over with alone. He didn't do too bad, all things considered." He shook his head. "He was being stupid but not in too stupid a way."

Finn shook his head. "It was bound to happen sooner or later."

Loki walked up to me.

"Make sure Aiz doesn't find out about him doing that," Finn said. "I have no doubts she'd do the next best thing and try and take on a floor boss herself."

Riveria massaged her temples. "That does sound like her."

"Aye," Gareth said, "the thought's probably passed her before."

"But we can stop her from citing a precedent at least," Finn added. He turned to me. "Repeatedly trying to kill yourself won't help, Thomas. You're more useful to us alive."

"I know that, but I have my own goals for needing to catch up."

"It'll come with time," Gareth said.

"I don't know if I have that time."

Finn pinched the bridge of his nose. "Happy place Finn, happy place." He cleared his throat. "What makes this hard is we're dealing with an adult who should have full knowledge of the risks of what he's doing, not a cute ten-year-old girl with an innocent wish."

"That's a blatant display of favoritism and I'm pretty innocent with what I want too."

"But Aiz was cute," Gareth added with a firm nod.

Riveria nodded.

Loki pinched my cheeks hard. "I'm pretty sure we had a conversation like this just last night." She scratched her head. "You're more stubborn than I am. And I'm the bastard who ticked everyone off in heaven!" She paused. "I must've been a total prick."

"I'd say."

"Not a peep, mister!" She turned to the three. "I'm not really sure how best to deal with our resident masochist."

"Weren't you the one who ordered me powerlevelled?"

"That was on the assumption we'd do it in as safe an environment as we could, and not once did it ever involve 'let Thomas run around poking everything with his sword and see if he levelled up' sort of deal."

"But we weren't exactly letting me go to some too deep floors so I could last hit some shit strong mobs."

Loki grabbed my face with both hands. "You have a month. A month! It's only been five days!"

"I don't see the difference here."

"Levelling doesn't come just like that." She snapped her fingers. "A level is granted as your legend grows, what you're doing right now is creating a tips and tricks guide and going about it crunching numbers and effort instead of telling a story."

"Stat based stories were all the rage in my time, and dude, I have stats."

Loki brought her palms together. "O dear Odin up above please don't let me smite this shit stain." She turned to the three. "Is this what it's like to deal with me?"

"W-was that self-reflection?!" Gareth said with shock.

"Something must be wrong," Riveria said with a pensive look.

Finn's easy smile disappeared in a flash. "What sort of magic did you cast on Loki?" he asked with a grave tone.

"That's not funny," Loki said.

"Yeah well, you just Loki'ed yourself with your orders for me."

"Rub it in why don't cha." She grumbled into her hands.

"And taking back your orders now would just be counter-productive. You still have a copy of my stat sheet earlier right? And I bet the three top dogs have also seen them. At least, I'd make sure show the people I'd get to guard the wild card what they're dealing with."

"You noticed?" Finn asked with a chuckle.

"It was pretty obvious. And everyone in my world knows dwarves are what you send out to kill magic casters."

"You said there weren't any dwarves in your world," Gareth said with a frown.

"Not living breathing ones, no. We had Dungeons and Dragons."

Finn was about to say something, but Loki stopped him. "It's a game nerds like him play."

"Why would you play with dragons? Are they so powerful a people they could do that?" Riveria asked.

Loki steepled her fingers and turned to me. "You planned that?"

"Nah, they walked into that one themselves."

She held a fist out and I bumped it. "Well played." She cuffed me. "Back on topic!"

"Okay, so, you have the numbers to my stats right? You can't deny the fact that I'm building my numbers pretty fast. It's a lot like cheesing a game by raiding a higher level area and hoping against everything you can loot some gear first before you get turned into a stain."

Loki massaged her temples.

"And you've already been into my head anyway, so you yourself know it's been working."

"Yeah," she said, "but that's the thing."

I raised a brow at Loki and she shook her head.

"I was the one to give you your blessing. But what shows up in your skills and magic usually has some connection to you as a person or how you lived your life. The first magic you ever developed, it was never yours to begin with. The second one, however, was."

"All of this is just going over my head. And I say that with all seriousness. I get this is big, but the gravity of it is lost on me."

"Your spell," Loki said, "Despair. It was never part of your story, of your personhood. You were saddened by being taken from your home, but it was never enough to bring you deep enough to develop something so primal."

"A magic that engulfs the body has no precedent," Riveria said. "After I saw you coat yourself in it and take on this… form, it reminded me of old stories."

"And here comes that speech about some ancient evil?"

"I don't know," Loki said. "And you've felt it, haven't you? Our connection is deepening. The Falna's transmission was meant to only go one way, but you receive from me too. That's what really baffled me last night. You were getting glimpses into what I was feeling, and the only ones who could do that were other divine beings—namely, those with power over emotions."

"You just called me something close to a god, does that mean I'm closer to what I need?"

"No. At least, as far as I know." Loki bit her thumbnail. "And I don't know." She sighed. "I'm a god who's lived aeons, but I'm caught with one foot in the mud dealing with you. I have knowledge of your world, but not of anything like what we share." She walked back to Finn's table and leaned against it. "The question then, is who are you, Thomas?"

"You've seen my memories, I'd cite that as proof. But if what you're saying is true, then you're probably thinking I could be something that thinks it's Thomas."

"You're taking this better than I thought you would," Gareth said.

I scoffed at him. "I just got told by the nearest thing I know to an omniscient being that she doesn't know what I am. I'm pretty freaked out right now."

Gareth nodded. "Fair."

"So," I said, bracing myself for the one question that truly mattered right now. "What now?"

"For one," Finn said, "I think we can have dinner now."

"Yeah, I'm pretty hungry too, but I'm pretty sure there should be something to dispel all this tension first? I'm pretty high-strung right now. Like, really high-strung."

"Do you feel like killing everyone in this room to keep your secret?" Finn asked with a cocked brow.

"What." I tilted my head at him. "Doing that would be stupid in the non-stat building way. You could've killed me yourselves whenever you had the chance, and your best bet to do that would've been somewhere between here and the Dungeon. Doing it here would've just been in bad taste and would endanger the rest of the familia if I really were some eldritch horror. And no, I have much better things to do like scream or at the very least get some food first before I spiral into a—"

Loki slapped me. "I told you three he's harmless."

I looked at her. "Excuse me?"

She laughed as she pinched my nose. "I told them you were alright even if I couldn't see through your Falna."

"Okay, for a second there I was hoping you'd say it was all a joke." Wait what. "What was that about the Falna?"

"I still think he's taking it too well," Gareth added with a flat stare.

"He's from the twenty-first century," Loki said, "they're all messed up over there."

"I can't refute that." I frowned. "But what was that about the Falna?"

"See," she said. Loki ruffled my hair. "He keeps his hands on his laps when he's nervous, and not once did he deviate from what I got from his head."

"That was horrible evidence, and now I'm freaking out whether or not I really am Thomas."

"Ah," Loki said, "I can't help you there."

"You're not helping."

"I did say I couldn't."

"Yeah, I hate you sometimes."

"And more often than not you want me."

"This so doesn't count as seduction."

"I've said it before, but I swear, it's like listening to two of them!" Gareth said.

"We were thinking you'd turn into some otherworldly evil by now and try killing all of us," Finn said.

"Despair." I covered my entire body with my magic.

And found three blades aimed at my neck.

"Bad joke?" I asked with that distorted voice.

"I really hate it when he does that," Gareth said.

#

Needless to say, things got weird during dinner.

Loki rented out the whole Hostess of Fertility using all my earnings so far in the Dungeon. It was my punishment for soloing something I had no right to even be looking at, and also since the Infant Dragon's crystal was retrieved intact and net us a really pretty sum of three hundred thousand Varis just for that. It wasn't much by their expedition hauls, but it was still an exorbitant sum for a single person to bag in one day in the Upper Floors.

"Alright everyone!" Loki shouted from the table she stood on. "Thomas isn't some crazed demon out to kill everything!"

Everyone cheered, raising their glasses like she did.

"Time to get everyone drunk and frisky!"

Only the guys cheered, and even then not all of them.

"You went full retard!" I called out. And got a face full of Loki who threw herself at me.

The party got underway with people drinking like there was no tomorrow and Tiona stuffing herself silly. Aiz was the ever-graceful lady eating quietly while more than a few elves were starting to get rowdy. Riveria was the immovable wall that she was, but the glasses of wine disappeared like magic under her practiced etiquette. Gareth started a drinking song called Tinker Tanner together with the other dwarves, while Finn was constantly attended to by Tiona.

Lefiya, Anakity, Alicia, and Riine were all together on one table and chatting away, while Bete was off sulking in a corner like the true edgelord he was. Raul was hounded by Cruz and Rakta to down a few shots of hard liquor that Mia Grand brought out just for the occasion. Loki called it a class two crisis averted and the muscular proprietress was only too happy to indulge her best customer for the night.

It was a crazy messy affair that saw three tables broken, an entire barrel of beer turned over, a very drunk Bete dancing a jig, and Loki harassing three waitresses in the first hour. There was also the fact that I had to sit through all that while having an existential crisis on whether what went through that dimensional shift really was Thomas or some template of Thomas.

But by the end of it, did it really matter?

On the bright side, given how monsters were born from the Dungeon, a really big plus was that I didn't come from it in the same way. That was already a victory! Anything else after that, well, I could deal with eventually. I had magic. And if I could take this back to when I went back to my world, then a certain few audit bastards were gonna get a visit from a friendly neighborhood shadow monster.

The next broken beer barrel really should've clued me in.

Deeper into the night still, Mia Grand got in on the drinking too and the night turned into a near disaster when a certain elf I was not allowed to name jumped another someone I was not allowed to name but could at least reveal was blonde and expressionless and confessed her undying devotion for. The familia went wild and Loki had to be tied up just so she wouldn't break any more tables, but the real icing on the cake was a very frustrated someone who started smashing tankards against her head just to drive a point of wanting to smash.

A Gareth spinning on a bar stool was the last thing I remembered before everything went black.

#

That morning, I was back in my bed in the manor, shirtless, sticky, and with a piece of paper stuck to my face.

#

Level 1

Strength = H 117 -> G 228

Endurance = H 140 -> G 264

Dexterity = G 205 -> F 364

Agility = I 87 -> H 181

Magic = G 257 -> E 445

Madness Spectrum = I

Tranquil Intervention = I

World Walker = I

Fated Actor = I

Magic

Answered Prayer = Allows two-way communication with one's patron god or goddess with Mind consumption based on distance. Chantless Magic.

Despair = An enchant magic that steeps the user's attacks with the chaos of the World Boundary and enfeebles targets when attacked. Has a chance to inflict madness, fear, or confusion. Chant: "Madness"

Saudade = An area of effect drain spell that takes the magic and life force contained in all within range and transfers it to the user. Targets stronger than the user are able to resist having their magic and life stolen. Has a five-meter radius, and a chance to inflict madness, fear, or confusion. Chant: "Taken from the peace of home / I now stand beyond the veil / The aberrant demands reparation"

Skill

Babel Jack = Allows automatic translation of written and verbal information to some understandable form to the user.

Enabler = Increases magic by an exceptional amount in a pinch and causes magic damage to siphon life force.