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Atamo was awake however as the deep resonant humming that was causing his bones to thrum could attest to.

"Sup, Tree Man, looks like everything is in order over here." The doll girl did not follow him out as he approached the 'grove', Huoyan had absentmindedly started to tidy the house and comb around for dust, not that there would be much of it forming here in the first place besides what he personally tracked in.

"Ah, yes, the fruit of these fellows are ripe for picking if you are so inclined. I would only ask that you would save some of the seeds so that they might have some new friends." And that Atamo would also gain some more company in the process.

Perk Gained! (Making): Restocking The Shelves (Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, -200): Part of being a shopkeeper is having things to sell to people. In fact, that might be the most important part; one might even go as far as to call it the point. However, most shopkeepers must also buy things, which ultimately cuts into profits. Instead of cutting into that most precious of things, you've cut out the middle-man and learned to make a wide variety of common Hyrulian products yourself. Ranging from arrows to potions, lantern oil to bombs; if it can be bought, it can be sold. Making these things is easy and efficient, and can be done with common items and materials you can find anywhere.

Gavyn blinked as an on-rush of crafting information flooded his head for a second and then shook that away… never-mind, the alchemist in his brain would be feasting today. And, health potions from Zelda precluded him having to go to Miach and solved finding ways to reliably heal himself while in the dungeon.

Also, he now had various types of bags he could make for various items, not just 'rupees' wallets, but backpacks as well for those long hauls…

Gavyn paused… as he realized, his house definitely had a surplus of stretchy garbage bags that have not be used yet… plus the curtains and other cloth, and the metal bits-

Oh no, the thoughts were racing and they did not stop.

"I'll make a bag to carry my stuff later, right now…" He needed to eat and while those apples looked big and juicy they were currently out of reach.

That is, until he leaped up to the air and snatched a few from their branches, his new-found balance and agility allowing him to stick the landing with a mere huff of breath. Some of them he was going to eat, the other, well, Restocking The Shelves and Home Cooking were rubbing their fingers together in glee.

These apples, infused with the magic of a Deku Tree were more than common and that alone was enough for the flowing recipes in his head to call it the 'main ingredient.'

"Going to eat, craft, stock up, and then I'll be done. It was nice seeing you, Atamo, but it might be a couple days before I can visit you again, okay?" It wasn't like he was expecting him to be too distraught, if nothing else came up then the big log would outlive him and would have further reaching memories… a couple days of distance would mean nothing.

But still, it is the thought that counts.

"Of course, the hero has his journey after all and all heroes will eventually return home. Do try to make more friends as well?" Gavyn cocked his head and nodded… if it came up, maybe…

"I'll try- oh and… shi-" The brown-haired man slapped his cheeks together as he remembered. "While I'm doing all that, I forgot to ask… but are you capable of creating or lending a Deku Leaf for me? I feel like with my magic it'll especially come in handy." More mobility can never hurt and something more consistent than fairy dust's (though again, combine the fairy dust with the Deku Leaf, hmmhmm…) 'feel happy' caveat to fly would not work all that well in constant combat situations.

"Ah, I was wondering when you would ask about that, I granted your other self that leaf as well to make his way to far off places and distant islands. Give me a moment's concentration and I should be able to produce it for you."

But the man waved it off with an easy-going smile, "take your time I've got a bunch of preparation to do… I'll come grab it on the way out."

Running back inside and calling Huoyan over what started was a montage of eating some very juicy and tasty apples, using his superior strength and dexterity to rip apart curtains, chairs for their nails and other tools (much to the doll girl's silent horror,) bed sheets, those white stretchy garbage bags, bits of metal, needles, screws, and wood, laying it all out on the dining room table and then constructing a backpack, filled waterskins, a 'wallet' for money, and some waist pouches with drawstrings to carry around his waist. It wasn't the prettiest of items for sure, but Restocking The Shelves made it functional and durable for the materials used.

As for the potions, that required starting the stove, bringing out the pots, turning some of the apples into mush… adding some spices and… questionable chemicals and then pouring out the resultant bright red fluid into some glasses he had and using more cloth, some wooden weights, and rubber bands to keep it all contained and not instantly slosh out with the slightest jostle. Allowing him to create up to five potions to be placed within the backpack and used when needed.

There were a couple times where glasses just broke because of his strength that he was still getting a hang of but he was working on it and pushed through his frustration easily now that things were starting to finally lead somewhere.

"Okay… okay…" He stared out the open window of the kitchen, the smells and steam that was made flowing out from it. "I think that's everything… great work Huoyan." He gave her a small high-five as she was trembling, a shell-shocked expression spread stricken across her face at the desecration of this house before letting out a silent sigh with closed eyes trying hard not to twitch.

Pulling the backpack by its straps and taking all of the items outside, he began to hook up the pouches and his Vision to the armor's waist while keeping the wallet within the pockets of his clothes. He had used Vitality's Reward to magic up pants and shirts with even more pockets, so many pockets, also belts, lots of belts, he had become a Final Fantasy protagonist in this process.

Perk Gained! (Modus): Imperial Lores of Magic - Ghyran (Warhammer Fantasy: Imperial Collages of Magic): No human wizard, without divine aid, can safely wield more than one Wind of Magic with any great mastery. Those who try to wield multiple well are far too easily lured by Dark Magic, assuming they do not destroy themselves before they can be tempted. It was this discovery in part that made Teclis realize just how much mankind required his guidance. Therefore, while founding the Orders, Teclis taught his human apprentices to focus on the one Wind of the eight which suited them best. The result is the system of Lores which persists to this day under the prescriptions of the Articles of Imperial Magic. You are sensitive to and capable of manipulating the Wind of Magic appropriate to your Order - Ghur for Amber Magisters, Hysh for Light Magisters, and so on - and know many of the spells devised by said Order.

The Grimoire once again like with the Vision offered the ability to veto this pick, and Gavyn knew why, the Winds are too fucking volatile for his liking, the potential for Dhar, overcasting, gaining random mutations… Ghyran was nice as it was healing, but not until he had perfect control over the potential backlash would he let this wind or any of the others in.

Perk Vetoed +200 Points (300 Points remain)

Still that did sting, hopefully the extra points would make up for that fact later down the line.

Shaking his head, he proceeded to open up the Containment Armor and placed himself within, again there was that strange jostling motion as he suddenly became 8ft tall again.

"Huoyan, you got your spear?" He asked as he picked up the flail-axe, wrapping the chain around his arm and holding the massive axe one-handed thanks to his newly enhanced strength.

The red-headed doll had since flown out of the house with this strange mourning expression but she indeed had her spear in her right hand and flew down to meet Gavyn's gaze through his helmet. Her face going into a firm line that spoke of serious consideration, Gavyn nodded at her, the armor plates on his body creaking ever so slightly.

"Okay, so when we get out there I'm going to need you to… act like a doll, until we get into the Dungeon proper." His head turned to look at the… 'neck guards' around the sides of his helmet. "These should be good enough to lay or sit in if you'd like. I'm not that concerned about getting someone's attention since I have some ways to mitigate it but just… be careful, alright? I mean, I will kick people's asses if they try to harm you, that's a given." Huoyan let out a silent huff but nodded resolutely in response as she plopped down onto the side of his neck. He turned to stare at her with a smile, chuckling at the imagery that this duo was creating in his head.

Walking over to the grove, he waved at Atamo before pulling out of one of his waist-pouches a couple more apple tree seeds. The space the Deku Tree had spawned in was good enough ground for about four more trees if he didn't want to make it super crowded so he did just that, kneeling down and carefully scooping the earth with his free gauntlet to place the seeds in and patting them down to cover them up.

"Atamo, how's the Deku Leaf?" He got up from his careful kneeling position to look back up at his friend.

Atamo appeared to raise an eyebrow, his main body shifting as if to look upward at his canopy. "It's here, but it's stuck at the top of the canopy's roof. Huoyan however…" He gazed leadingly with a smirk and he felt the doll girl perk up as she flew off from Gavyn and went over to the top.

"It should be obvious once you see it, just wrench it off me it won't hurt." The man stepped back from the grove as he saw Huoyan pick up a large broad-shaped leaf that was about the size of a small child. Definitely too small for his size in this armor, but that was what the fairy dust and anemo vision was for.

"Hmm, will that disrupt your fl- pffft." The red-headed doll attempted to fly down with the leaf, but as it was a bit too big for her and its latent magic, she started to spin all over the place as wind currents kicked up around her before lazily floating down on the ground with spinning eye swirls having replaced her actual eyes for a moment.

"Wait- that's a thing here? Weird…" Gently, he took the leaf out of Huoyan's grasp, Beginner's Luck already filling his hand on its base usage.

For the first time since he had gotten that power, he activated his fairy dust aura, golden sparkling mist emanating from his form and he intentionally dragged his hand across the leaf, smothering it in the dust before deactivating it just as quickly.

The doll girl shook her head before floating over, grabbing the leaf with Gavyn's help and then placed it within the main pocket of his backpack and closed the clasp on it.

"Thank you… maybe I'll have you do that some more when we come across item drops." Unslinging and slinging his backpack over and over would be a pain in the dungeon… but with this cool handy-dandy small flying girl that had strength greatly exceeding her size that wouldn't be a problem anymore.

With Huoyan back to sitting next to his neck… there wasn't much of anything left to do within his home anymore.

He had healing, he had storage, his plans back on the first day had all been but completed, save for the long-long term.

Excitement and nerves poured through in equal measure, but now, no obstacles other than himself stood in his way.

"I can see it in your face, young hero… you are ready. Though I may not have proved as much able assistance as I might've liked, you have nothing to fear… go now, go and find your worth and mettle in this world." Gavyn simply gave a thumbs up in response and a single shouted, "cheers!" As he started to make his way out of his warehouse for what he presumed to be a long time… save for one emergency or another.

Huoyan was resting her body next to him, but his peripheral vision caught her pumping a fist and he could not help the happiness bubbling up inside him.

Still… it was a bit awkward to get out of the door meant at most for 6ft or smaller people… the joy stalled as he had to scrunch and squeeze his way through.

After that was done however and there was much rejoicing from Huoyan, the two made it into the early afternoon sun of Orario.

Perk Gained! (Control): Majesty (Dragon's Dogma, -100): You have a very commanding presence. Your actions seem firmer to others, and you can articulate in such a way as to send shivers down the spine of anyone who hears you. Yours is a very desirable voice.

Gavyn let out a cough as he suddenly felt something get stuck in his throat. "Woah… hoh, and suddenly my voice can fit a movie trailer's narrator… or a Ford commercial." It was still his unmistakably voice, but it's like his range had vastly expanded and was now aware of all of the options he could produce with his lungs and diaphragm. It also mixed with the skills he had gotten from The Song of Your Heart, so whatever he sang it would be buttery smooth or as rough as he wanted.

The other portions of this perk hopefully wouldn't interfere with the stealth perks he had picked up along the way.

"I'm digressing…" He murmured toward Huoyan who was staring at him with wide unblinking eyes…

"Oh right, yeah, you're acting like a doll. Let's carry on."

He stepped through the hallowed grounds of this forgotten district one last time, frowning in thought as due to this being past the morning, Eusebeia was long gone and there would be no last talks or any minute reconciliations… though perhaps that would be for the best.

"Right, I should talk about Eusebeia at some-point… she was a nice girl, nice goddess, didn't expect I'd meet someone like that in this city." The thought wandered, and the thought left… There'd be other times to explain Huoyan about his brief past here.

Lumbering out of the Holy District, and moving towards and past Pantheon when adventurers and civilians were moving about…

They definitely fucking saw him. Stranger and Nothing There was up, but wearing this massive armor was hitting the sweet spot of 'something is fucking amiss' and though no-one after the fact of seeing him would be able to recount it clearly… there were definitely people looking. Majesty probably wasn't helping either in this case, as Gavyn both looked 'entirely normal' and 'not to be fucked with, on important business here.'

"Holy shit…" Murmured a red-headed sheep-horned adventurer, clad in steel armor with sword & board at his side. "And I thought that the King was the biggest adventurer in the city." There were some other whispers and talks about that-

But also…

"What the hell is up with that doll he's carrying around?

"Is that a flail attached to an axe? What kind of weapon is that?"

"Wait, is he new? I think I'd remember seeing someone like that before."

"Some kind of out of city Familia?"

"He's walking like he owns the streets, tch."

"If he's not from Orario than there's no way he's got a high level-"

"What kind of gem is that? It's glowing…"

"Does that armor have eyes on its chest?"

"Did the Guild buy a siege engine when I wasn't looking?"

"So are we seriously not going to be talking about that doll?"

And more were tossed away, but the paranoia that had plagued him previously at any kind of previous attention was now basking in exultation at their awe… though he'd rather not with the resentment and jealousy…

It was just a bonus to actually getting to the bottom of the dungeon, not the goal. The armor was helping make him feel invincible and more anonymous than he already was, feeding into these feelings he was coming up with.

The crowds and people were giving him a wide-berth, some of them even stumbling to get out of the way though if one or two individuals proved determined then he'd simply smoothly side-step out of the way in grace that perhaps did not fit the armor he was wearing and continued onwards to Babel.

Finding himself in the fountain plaza, where there were now easily hundreds of people mingling around, he wasn't standing out as much as it was on the street. There were some stares, more murmuring, the occasional point of the finger, but it all got lost in translation and while his helmet did poke out of the crowd to follow or linger created more tension that just wasn't worth it to continue on.

Briefly, Gavyn paused, scanning over the heads of everyone to see if he could see any of the Loki, or Freya's familia, maybe Lili with her massive bag… but other than what he thought was maybe some of the Apollo's members? It looked like there would be no-one notable to send him off on this day.

Perhaps he'd meet them in the dungeon itself, but with a shrug he moved on to his final destination.

More than a couple adventurers moved out of the way as his gauntleted hand clamped onto the top of the door threshold and pulled him through into the well-lit and long hallways of Babel. He dryly gazed at a wide-eyed human adventurer as this massive fucking dude pulled himself through into Babel with the biggest axe (and flail) that he had ever seen in his entire life.

"You… which way is the dungeon?"

The man silently gaped and then hesitantly pointed to the left hallway where most of the other people who entered were going. "Thank you…"

Poor guy was probably just a level one that had only recently joined a familia.

Whatever, not his problem.

Striding through Babel, the hallway eventually opened up into a more natural stonework and earth, Magic Stones engraved into the walls, revealing a large square room that had a massive hole in the middle ringed by countless stairs that lowered deeper and deeper into the center of the planet.

"There it is." Gavyn murmured as some other adventurers moved past him, at one point he heard a gasp behind him and hurried steps away but he didn't look back as he made his way over to where a bunch of the other adventurers were gathering and circling down the steps.

This was it… once he went down, he wouldn't be coming back up until he had passed the 70th floor. That was a fact, a promise, a wish, and then after getting a Falna it would be going straight back down to complete the bitch.

Hopefully the entire city would not have exploded because of something he did in the process…

Gavyn… pondered, a really dumb idea as the images of other things he had written flooded into his mind at that moment…

Was he going to do it?

Right now?

With everything set up?

Yeah… yeah he was going to do it.

Instead of walking down the stairs, he made his way over to the otherside of the hole and proceeded to drop both Stranger and Nothing There briefly for this moment.

"OI!" Gavyn shouted with new-found lungs at the top of his breath, slamming the handle of his axe into the earth and causing it to crack at the strength.

Several, almost all of them paused and looked over to Gavyn in bewilderment, annoyance, or curiosity.

"I've got an announcement to make!" He took several steps back, and then with a running start in all of that heavy metal he was wearing, leaped with a burst of anemo energy, before curling his body into a cannonball and plummeting below.

"Shout-out to Seeker of Blood! For starting this treeeeeend-" Huoyan who wasn't physically grabbing onto Gavyn at that point was left floating in the air in the middle of the hole… with all of the adventurers unable to tell who to stare at now.

And then with wide horrified, aghast eyes, Huoyan zoomed down with her tiny draconic wings towards her wrecking ball of a partner that she was shackled up with.

"What the fuc-"

Meanwhile, Gavyn was falling, falling, laughing, saying 'oh shit' over and over again, scaring the fuck out of other adventurers on the steps as they saw this big ass metal ball falling down the dungeon's shaft, wind screaming around it.

The anemo energy already briefly slowing his descent, he reached into his backpack and took out the fairy dust covered Deku Leaf, pouring his magicka into it, its properties begun to activate and the last dozen of feet was not a cannonball getting shot into the ground but a dainty juggernaut gracefully gliding onto his feet in front of the natural stone hallway that lead into the dungeon proper.

He proceeded to deeply bow, armor creaking, for the few people who were watching at this point, placed the leaf away in his bag and nodded to the glaring doll girl that had zoomed down to meet his face. Hefting up his axe in both of his hands and grinning in full force, he moved forward, loose stone and gravel crushed against his metal boots "Alright ladies and gentlemen, let us get this show on the road~"

Perk Gained! (Modus): Mage Basic Vocation (Dragon's Dogma -100): – Masters of elemental magicks, Mages rain down focused magickal bolts, summoned magickal spheres, fire, ice, and lightening on their enemies while keeping their party alive with their time dependent restorative magickal abilities. Spellcasters primarily utilize a magick staff to enable them to cast, they in fact only wield them to help focus their abilities and can do so without. For armor or clothing in general they can wear spellcaster armor sets and like components - iron, such as found in armor, due to its deleterious effect on magick is avoided like the plague.

Some of the Mage's more unique skills are:

Levitate, enables a gentle landing from great heights, and the ability to slowly fly about for a short time.

Affinity, enchants an ally's weapons with fire, ice, lightning, holy, or dark enchantments.

High Halidom, invokes a long-lasting sigil which clears most debilitations.

High Brontide, conjures a whip-like bolt of lightning wielded by the user capable of damaging foes.

High Grapnel, uses dark magick to bind even over two dozen feet tall foes for a time.

High Spellscreen, invokes a sigil around the user that enhances the resistances of allies who enter.

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