There were two things I wanted following my fight with Glasses, at least perk wise. I had wanted to test out my new skill, but fortunately some dumbfucks decided to kidnap someone close to Hestia and I's church. Something that let me confirm that yes, I do actually have a heroic spidey sense, and yes, it has a pretty damn good range.
The speed boost was pretty fantastic as well, but the sense was definitely the real meat and potatoes of the deceptively simple skill. It had let me stop a crime happening almost half a kilometer away and be back before my food had even gotten cold. Forget not stalking people, this was the real future of heroics.
It was basically a skill that would give me more skills in future.
In regards to perks though, I wanted two of them and I only had one perk point, something that was solved by a shit ton of alchemy grinding for that next level up. The first perk was a deceptively simple pick that I couldn't remember the name of, only that it made your armour weightless while wearing it and it removed its movement penalties.
Armour had saved my life in the last fight and damn if being able to move in it faster didn't sound utterly phenomenal. Unlocking the perk was somehow even better, with the skill taking care of the hindrances in flexibility that obviously come with strapping big plates of metal to yourself.
As for how it works? I honestly have no idea.
But as long as I'm not trying to bend one of the plates in half, my armour just seems to magically shift with my body. Maybe part of that was skill, the perk definitely having shown me quite a bit about how to move in armour, but I was positive that there was some kind of magical fuckery at play here as well.
Already I had plans to expand the coverage of my armour and introduce some more breaks for the plates to shift over each other.
It was, all things considered, a fantastic perk for something that really doesn't sound that impressive. And -just as an added side bonus- it was the last step before I get the light armour perk that'll regenerate my stamina for me. Which I'm pretty sure translates into unlimited stamina potions.
Which means I'll never have to sleep again.
The second perk was something I'd been putting off for a while now, namely magic.
I've had two long standing theories about how to unlock the magic side of my skill tree, one was the Danmachi special of putting down a hundred million on a book that'll give you a mushroom trip and probably magic. It's where Bell got his firebolt from and I gave it a pretty high chance of working.
The other was just slapping a perk into the tree and hoping for the best.
I'd avoided it for a few reasons, one of which seems a bit silly now. See I'd originally thought that my skill might be able to make monsters scale off my level like in Skyrim, which would mean that going for a mixed build could end disastrously. But I was long past ten perks now and I hadn't noticed any increase in the strength of any monster, besides what comes naturally with descending deeper.
It'd been an ideal thought, but I was a lot more cautious back then and I had just been booted into this world by something. Given that, it wasn't beyond reason that they might be able to extend their influence into the world itself to fuck with me.
Kinda a shame really, at this point I would love some harder things to fight.
The second reason was kind of an extension of the first. At the time I was just getting started and I needed perks in all the other areas that would let me kill things better, or survive longer; I didn't want to risk losing a point on a maybe.
Obviously things were different now. Stronger monsters weren't a concern and I didn't really have anything else I wanted to invest in -my skill levels were capping me- so I was now willing to take that gamble.
"Are you sure Elric-kun? I told you when we met but the Falna only supports a few spells, this…" Hestia trailed off, her uncertainty clear.
That was probably the final element as to why I waited; Hestia wanted me safe, and wanted me to put as many points into keeping me safe as I could. And everything this Goddess knew about the falna said that what I was explaining was downright impossible.
But then again, that's what she said about my entire skill, so let's gamble.
"Do it." I said calmly, at peace with the possible loss.
She sighed, before doing as I asked, slotting in the point.
What she said next was lost to me as the expected rush came, only far sharper this time.
When I slotted a perk into something like one-handed, a wave of instincts on how to properly utilise the weapons I was focused on would wash over me. It was indistinct, vague flashes and instincts that followed me into combat and guided my sword. This? This was so much clearer, it dug into my skull and drew out a throbbing pulse as knowledge etched itself into my mind.
It wasn't quite memories, nor was it… complete? It was more like a path, a way forward that would let me learn and make the knowledge my own. And as the throbbing subsided and the rush died down, I could just barely hear Hestia speaking again.
"...doesn't look like it worked." Her whispered voice pierced through the haze clouding my mind and I blinked.
"It did." I spoke up, my voice feeling scratchy, but my certainty undeniable.
"Eh? But-" I shook my head.
"It's not based on the Falna, it's…" Knowledge, a skill to be learned and developed. "Something I have to do myself."
Hestia hummed, her cute little face appearing over my shoulder as she wrapped up what she was doing to my falna, but there was still doubt there. "Mortal magic huh… Well, try not to get too disappointed alright with all the chanting alright?"
I didn't know what she meant by that, but I was also a little distracted. Magic in the eye of my skill was a deeply personal thing, no two spell casters used magic in the same way, and one had to discover their own path; their own way to their inner spark. As for how you do that?
Generally a lot of sitting on your ass.
My leg was shaking violently at just the thought of it.
But there were other ways. It wasn't uncommon for people to ignite their sparks in the heat of battle, you just needed the presence of mind and the awareness to be searching for it in the first place… or exceptional luck.
With my skill guiding me, I had a fair idea of what to do. Which meant it was time to beat the shit out of something.
-
"C'mon! You can hit me harder than that!" I shouted, and the monkey immediately obliged me. A fist larger than my entire torso slammed into my braced arms and I laughed as I was sent skidding back.
I'd had to field strip the broken steel from my armour -since I hadn't been back to Tsubaki's yet- which meant the flexible metal was now flexing into me with every blow. It hurt like a bitch, but I couldn't help but laugh.
I'd had the thought; if you couldn't find something to challenge you while holding a sword, why not explore other avenues? Like beating the shit out of a giant monkey and getting the shit kicked out of you in turn.
The Silverback followed up quickly, leaping at me with both hands raised in what was sure to be a brutal double hammerstrike. As he took to the air like a WWE wrestler, even his killing intent spiked to something actually acceptable.
Props monkey man, unfortunately your guard is stupidly open right now and I just can't ignore that. Shifting, I caught the earth mid-skid and launched myself off, spinning into some kick I didn't know the name of. I slammed into the big boy like a bullet, his once victorious eyes bugging out comically as I folded his building sized frame in half.
He slammed into the ground with a deafening boom and a cloud of dust, while I set down quite a bit more gracefully.
Swordsmanship was a bit more involved than just hitting things with swords, it was mostly that, don't get me wrong. But breaking a lock in medieval times was often about punching someone in the face or disrupting their footing with a kick. The spinning midair kick I just executed was quite a bit more complicated than that, but I guess when you're in a fantasy world, shit gets a little weird.
The monkey who rose was quite a bit different than the one I'd been letting slap me around for a few minutes. It was cautious, guarded and his intent had dipped back below the threshold where I could even begin to feel it. He looked at me with surprisingly evaluating eyes, before turning to the rocky ceiling and roaring.
The sound carried, reverberating off the rocks and shaking the air. The answering howls came quickly and with them the boom of heavy steps charging towards us.
I let it all happen of course, it was hardly the first time monsters had called for help on me. Hell I triggered it on purpose most times, especially with those Ants, they were always real easy to trigger.
This was one such time, as -at the end of the day- it just meant more things to fight.
Making my own preparations, I drained a health potion and immediately felt my forearms stop whining, much to the annoyance of the monkey in front of me. Making me frown in contemplation, he was a surprisingly expressive monster.
Maybe with a few more deaths he'd return as one of those Xenos things?
And maybe if I pissed him off enough, he'd even come out like that bigass minotaur that absolutely low diffed Bell. Hm, should I start pissing off every monster I encounter on the off chance that they'll turn?
Nah, probably too much effort, I normally didn't really like talking while fighting.
But I suppose for something that's a bit more likely like this…
"Calling for help the second you get pressured?" I sighed arrogantly. "I guess that should be expected from something like you." The thing's eyes lit up, rage filling them.
It roared, pounding its chest as it psyched itself up, but this time I didn't give it the time it needed, its job was done and I had more sparring partners on the way. So this time I took the lead.
The monkey was not happy about this turn of events.
-
Stepping out of the way of Hard Armour's spinning charge, I deflected an Orc's club with my bracer, before stomping into its leg with a vivid crunch.
After getting into a proper brawl and less of a slapping match with a monkey, I could feel how off everything was. Just fighting without a sword in hand felt awkward, like every move I was making was lesser for that fact, like what I was doing was some distant lesser option to what I should have at my disposal.
The swarm of monsters around me was normally something I could cut down almost easily, but with just my fists? I was struggling, and I couldn't even enjoy that feeling, because it felt more like I was struggling with myself more than anything.
Something I really didn't need while I was trying to concentrate.
Another monkey leapt into the fray as I was off balance and there was that brief flash of hesitation again; as my instincts guided me on how best to cut it in half only to realise once more that I wasn't holding a sword. My hasty guard blunted the impact but I was sent flying, ass over keel.
What my instincts gave me definitely wasn't a proper unarmed style, but instead just some loose movements centered around something else entirely. It did alright in the heat of the moment but it was something I'd have to work on in its own right.
Maybe I could pay that Japanese war god dude to teach me?
Flipping so I'd land right way up, I touched down and drained another health potion, immediately feeling the fist sized bruise forming across my upper body dissipate.
I sighed, this wasn't quite working.
I was getting too distracted by the failings of my form instead of just enjoying the fight. I wasn't going to get anywhere with my path like this.
I needed a fight, a good fight, one where I could actually just cut loose and fade into that state of focus again.
Maybe if I got better at unarmed and tried that? Could just go into the middle floors, but I wasn't sure how to handle multiple enemies breathing fire at me. An infant dragon maybe? But I've been looking for one of those for a while and found nothing.
An adventurer? What I want isn't a spar but rather something to actually get my heart racing, so it'd have to be more of a 'to the death' affair.
Maybe I could ask for some advice from Tsubaki? There might be some underground arena I could fight in with people near my level. I probably should ask her about the whole 'altar of knowledge' thing as well, just in case, and if I could get a lead there then I might be able to shoot two fish in one barrel.
Get my fight and start my journey down the path.
I clicked my tongue as the swarm continued to charge after me, not giving me a minute to ponder. Rude. With a sigh I pulled out my sword and felt the sudden sense of rightness, as if my world was suddenly back on its tracks.
Fuck it, I'd take care of this lot then head back to the surface; pick up some sake for Tsubaki, grab one of those cloaks Bell had for fire resistance in case she didn't have anything for me and then go from there.
-
"Hey, got something for you." I greeted, holding up a bottle of the good stuff.
"Oh, what's the special occasion gaki?" Tsubaki leaned back to favour me with a smirk, red eye gleaming as her loose robe gave me an excellent view of her deep, tanned cleavage.
I smiled. "Need advice, thought I'd butter you up a bit."
She laughed. "Well c'mon then!"
Given my usual appetite for grinding and quirks in general, it was pretty hard for me to just sit down and enjoy a peaceful moment, nevermind when I was in a bit of a mood like right now. If anything, sitting still was basically against my nature as a person, and sitting still while I was annoyed should be downright painful.
Fortunately I had a few exceptions to this. One was beautiful women, a weakness of mine that I was particularly fond of, but another was -oddly enough- a good night sky. I couldn't tell you why, but ever since I was kid it had never failed to calm me.
In the village I'd spawned in you could see entire oceans of stars glimmering amidst technicolour swathes of distant galaxies. And on the nights where the sky was the clearest I would always find myself getting lost in its beauty, just like when I was kid staring up at the scant few stars visible in my city.
Orario's sky wasn't quite as beautiful as the one in the village -on account of all the magical light pollution- but it still blew anything I'd seen in my past life out of the water, leaving my monkey brain strangely satisfied.
It just made it easier to relax, to not focus on getting back to the dungeon grind for once, and when combined with alcohol and the rather beautiful woman across from me, I was more than willing to enjoy a few moments of peace before I broached heavier topics.
Tsubaki's eye was filled with mirth as I made myself comfortable in her little private seating area, her cup offered up for me to fill. She whistled in appreciation as I poured.
"Altean Homare? That's pretty rich for a rookie like you." It was, but still nowhere near the price tags I'd seen attached to basically any sake that came from the Far East, and that was the usual shit Tsubaki drank. Hard to compete with someone that made millions from a single blade, but this was more about showing sincerity than anything.
"I make enough."
"At level one?" She asked, lone eye tracking me with a touch of concern.
"Mainly from you guys actually." I admit, I'd been selling a metric shit ton of swords through the Hephaestus familia over the last week. Most of their blacksmiths thought of themselves as 'artists' and thus above mass producing the kind of steel that the guild needs to provide to rookie adventurers.
The woman sitting across from me complained about it all the time, despite her being just as guilty of that mindset.
But, given that my skill handled most of the mental load while I was making shit, I was quite happy taking their job and just spacing out to churn out blades as fast as I humanly could.
Well, happy is a strong word, but I needed those fucking smithing levels man.
If I'm going to one day make a sword that can cut a dragon in half, then I need to follow the time honoured tradition of making a thousand dogshit iron swords for exp first. At least you get paid for your skilled labour in this world. How you lose money making weapons in a country currently in the middle of a civil war is…
Fucking Skyrim.
"Shouldn't you know that already?" I asked, while already knowing the answer.
"You think I do paperwork?" Tsubaki laughed. "That's what minions are for."
Once upon a time I'd wondered where Tsubaki found the time to check up on me so much. I didn't have to wonder for very long after I visited 'her' office and found her 'assistants'.
…I could respect the hustle.
"Ah..." Tsubaki starts, looking at me awkwardly. "Just don't tell the boss yeah? I'm uh, not really supposed to be here right now." She laughs again, scratching her cheek.
I just shared a conspiring grin with my fellow captain. "Relax, I dropped off Hestia on my way in, your goddess should be nice and distracted right about now."
My plan to bring Hestia along and divest some of her endless energy into her rekindling friendship with Hephaestus was going swimmingly. And by that I meant Hestia wasn't pestering me all the time now, only some of the time.
It's the little things in life.
"Well then… to our Goddesses' play date going well."
"I'll drink to that." I laughed, feeling some of my annoyance melt away as I tipped back my little saucer thing.
Sake was a bit of a mixed bag in my opinion, it was about the closest thing to the nicer flavours I preferred in my drink of choice, but it could be a bit all over the place flavour and consistency wise. Distillation was a bit shot here, so most cheap sake comes out pretty rough texture wise and leans more on the bitter, sharper side of things.
The fancier shit that me and Tsubaki were drinking was a bit better, a lot fruitier and almost like water in its consistency. Which was basically the complete opposite of what things were like in my previous world, there the clearer, fruity stuff was considered cheap instead.
I let out a long breath, savouring the taste as I felt the warmth pool in my stomach. "This is the first good drink I've had since I came to Orario." I'd always brought my own drinks to these little meetups.
Tsubaki grinned proudly. "I know right? My old man used to rave about how good ale was til he was blue in the beard." She said, fondness beneath her excited voice. "But I reckon my mom had the right of it, nothing can beat a good clean bottle of sake!"
"Cider, for me personally. Unfortunately you uncultured swines don't have that here so I guess this'll do… as a distant second place." Tsubaki's glare was actually something to behold, but before she could go on a crusade for the sake of sake, I grinned cheekily.
"...I'll make you eat those words." She snorted. "But I'm generous, so I'll let you off just this once! Now come, tell me what's brought you bearing gifts."
I hummed, feeling my annoyance return a little at the reminder, a bit more sake quietened that part of me down. "I… intervened in an ambush the other day, some bastards that tried to kidnap some girls in the dungeon."
"Oh? You're turning into a regular hero now, heard you even saved one of my boys the other day and now this." Tsubaki smiled, before she turned a little sheepish. "I was supposed to thank you for that actually. Boss was real happy about it. But I uh, kinda forgot." She laughed nervously.
I waved it off. "Short, stocky woman?" She nodded. "Huh, I don't think I actually spoke to her, she ran off before I could." Heroics didn't really mean much if people didn't have a name to go with your face, so I normally at least tried to talk to the people I saved. "How did you know it was me?"
Tsubaki just gave me a flat look. "Gaki, how many rookies do you think are running around in armour like that on the lower floors?" Then she frowned in thought. "Actually, mind telling me how you were on the eighth floor? I thought you were fresh as a daisy."
Normally those words would cause me to instantly deflect or start outright lying. In fact there was a ceiling high pile of crystals in one of the broom closets back home because I was currently pretending to still be stuck on the fifth floor to the guild.
In regards to that I would have to announce things eventually -partly because it was the rules and partly because I wanted to watch Eina bluescreen- but attracting too much attention to yourself while you were still level one was just foolish.
Despite all that though, I didn't want to lie here. Tsubaki was a friend and her familia an ally that had helped me and Hestia out alot. Hell, Hephaestus had even told Hestia off for accidentally spilling our secrets. Their actions were not the actions of people who would fuck me over for something like this.
So I could spare some trust, they'd certainly earned it.
I gave her a serious look. "Complicated. Are you sure you want the answer?"
"What, like familia secrets kinda complicated?" I nodded and Tsubaki's face screwed up into an almost comical expression of pondering, her fingers tapping a beat on her chin. "Hm, nah, keep your secret. Less complicated for me that way!"
I blinked at that, before returning her beaming smile with a chuckle.
"Fair enough."
"So! Kidnappers, you want advice on what to do with them or something? 'Cause if so, the answer's kinda grim." She frowned down at her sake. "Not good drinking talk, I'll say that much."
I shook my head. "I've already dealt with them." I hid the obvious inflection in my words, so as to not spoil her mood. "I just wanted to pick your brain about something they said."
"Sure." She perked up.
"Do you know anything about the 'altar of knowledge'? Or any divines in the city whose domains include knowledge?" At my words her eyebrow raised and then realisation spread across her face.
"You think it's something wider?" She chewed on her lip a little as her head tipped back and forth in a weirdly expressive form of contemplation. "Tell you what, I'll tell you what I know; but only if you promise to come back if you find something and then we'll handle it together alright?"
I blinked, taking in the incredibly reasonable request, something I'd asked Skadi for just yesterday. "Alright, but if it's possible, do you mind if I take the lead?"
Tsubaki's eye turned a bit softer at my words and she smiled at me. "Sure, a person's gotta finish what they start right?"
Not quite where my thoughts were, but I was always happy to course correct into other people's misunderstandings. So I just nodded.
"Right… I dunno anything about this altar thing, so domains of knowledge then huh?" She slumped back. "There's Athena obviously, but she's not the type to do this. I suppose there's Hermes, he's got cunning as a domain. Dian Cecht has his whole medicine thing, and I think there's another medicine god…"
"Miach." I answered, though the idea that the incredibly kind man who lent me my first potion glassware was behind this was… slim to none, especially given his resources.
"Right that one." Tsubaki snapped her fingers. "Loki I suppose with her whole trickster thing and I think magic? But again, doesn't seem like the type."
I snorted at that, drawing a side glance. Loki's captain may have been playing fast and loose with the whole thing, but they did threaten to essentially kidnap me. Still, this didn't really feel like her style and the fanaticism that glasses showed had to have come from somewhere. Loki's familia doesn't really show such signs of devotion outside of their willingness to put up with her groping.
"Only other one I can think of would be Ganesha." She frowned. "He's got a whole lot of weird mythology around him, but I remember something about him being a patron of the arts and science."
In my head I pictured the weird elephant mask dude who kept shouting 'I am Ganesha!' at the top of his lungs every time he appeared in the anime. It was pretty hard to square that away with Glasses' whole schtick. Plus his familia kept the peace in Orario and he seemed really into his whole 'god of the masses' thing in the anime, so it probably wasn't him.
Tsubaki shook her head, her long low ponytail fluttering behind her. "Definitely not him though." She said, like it was a foregone conclusion. "Any of them ringing a bell in your noggin'?"
I hummed uncertainly. My first thought was Athena; I couldn't remember her being in the anime and she seemed the most likely to inspire that kind of devotion to the concept of knowledge. The only issue was Tsubaki seemed pretty confident it wasn't her.
My best bet would be to… "I'll have to ask Hestia."
"Probably a good idea. Though take what she says with a grain of salt, sometimes divines can get a little wrapped up in how things used to be, back up in Tenkai." My fellow captain hummed, taking a sip that immediately brought a fresh smile to her face despite the topic. "I don't think they think they can change, which is pretty weird cause they definitely do. The boss… well, she's different to how she was when I was a gaki, I'll tell you that."
"I did hear that Loki used to be different."
"Aye." Tsubaki agreed. "Now, that everything? 'Cause if so then you're definitely not getting your money's worth."
I shook my head, smiling. "Lucky that I've got a couple more questions then; you know anything about any arenas? Or just any kind of organised adventurer fighting?"
"From a topic like that to this?" She shook her head, giving me a confused and yet searching look. "I might know a few things… but first I need to know why you want to know."
"Is that required?"
"Yup!" I opened my mouth to respond, but Tsubaki got there first. "I wanna know my fellow captain better!"
I closed my mouth with a humoured exhale. "Fair enough."