The next day, the first thing we did was find the blacksmith we’d been referred to in order to have Fran’s claws be made. It wasn’t the whole group. Fran, Qevru, and I were the only ones who went. The other fighters were in the dungeon, starting to gather the items close to the surface.

The merchants were selling a bunch of stuff. I’d gone through my item box and purged all of the items that were not useful. They were selling it for me. The deal was they’d get a portion of the profit. It worked for me.

We found the smith, but it took us a bit. The shop was small and was set well away from the main streets. If we hadn’t asked around, we’d have been unable to find it. Upon entering the building, we were greeted by a dark, dirty, dingy, and decrepit shop, with everything covered in dust. None of it looked very good.

I sneezed.

A dwarf came out of the back upon hearing that.

“What do you want?” He asked in a gruff voice, annoyed by our intrusion.

“Hello, we were referred to you by a dwarf named Khernig to have a weapon made.” Qevru was the one to answer him.

“So?”

I spoke up. “Mister Khernig said you were the best person in the city at forging mithril.”

“Hmph, it’s hard to craft anything without the materials.”

“If it’s just the mithril you are lacking, we have some?”

His eyes started glowing and a smile showed crooked teeth. Oh yeah, this was a craftsman alright. Annoying personality, but get them interested… I pulled out the bar of mithril. I held it out for him to see. He took it and examined it, even going so far as to lick it. Gross.

“That’s some good stuff. What are you wanting made? It’s not enough for anything big.”

Qevru pulled out her claws.

“We want something like this, but for her.” She put her hand on Fran’s head. Fran looked at the man, smiling.

“Hmph, little thing aren’t you. Fine, come here, show me your hands.”

He took Fran’s hands in his feeling and measuring them. If he hadn’t been writing down measurements and muttering about crafting stuff, I’d have sworn he was a pervert.

“It will take three days, and cost five gold.”

I looked at Qevru, raising an eyebrow to ask if this was reasonable. She nodded to the dwarf and accepted the terms. We were hustled out of the shop, the door being slammed and locked behind us. I couldn’t help but comment.

“Craftsman can be really amusing, can’t they.”

“I wouldn’t call that amusing, more like terrifying.”

“Maybe, but I bet we get something really good. Hmm, I need to study enchanting to make the most of it.”

“I don’t like the look in your eyes. You’re going to make something ridiculous, aren’t you?”

“Of course not. Well, not to begin with. Besides, the better the weapon, the better the enchantment it needs! Which means, I would need a lot of practice before I’m qualified to work on mithril.”

“Of course...Well, shall we see about joining the others? They can’t be more than a floor or two down yet.”

“Sure. Lets go kill things and loot their stuff!”

She looked at me for a moment, then shook her head. We headed off to the dungeon. After paying our fees, we took the direct route to the stairs. Qevru had been here plenty of times before, so she knew the fastest way to go.

We headed to the fifth floor. It was the first one with drops the dragonkin wanted. The fifth floor was inhabited by wolves. It was a common monster, but not one that was in the dragonkin’s dungeon. None of the creatures there dropped leather or hides except very rarely, so they wanted as much leather as they could bring back.

The dungeon dropped plenty of useful items, but leather was not one of them. In order to save money, the clans sent out their fighters to gather it every so often. The Crimson Blood was one of those groups, but this time they weren’t in the city for that purpose. This trip was for trading purposes. The tournament and dungeon diving were merely because they decided to.

When we reached the fifth floor, we met up with the other party members, but since there was so many of us, and the monsters were far weaker than us, we broke into groups of three. Each group had an item box user, though the size varied.

I was teamed up with Ierva and Jadd. Recently, most of my time had been with these two, probably because they’d decided to adopt me. We ran around the floor, killing any monsters we saw, as long as they hadn’t been taken by another group. It was a slaughter, other adventurers were left without many targets, which earned us some glares. Well, it was only for today.

We regrouped at the entrance at dusk. We had a few hundred hides, so that would last the clan for a while. It was only suited to being made into low class armor or clothes though. We counted the drops to see who’d gotten the most, my group won.

---

The next few days, we dove deep into the dungeon. Instead of leaving each night, we stayed there. I’d told them the strategy we’d used when farming the last dungeon. They’d planned to just camp out, but they liked my idea better. We did a couple of smaller hunts for different things on the way down, but reached the thirty-second floor midday on the second day.

We broke into three groups. Me, Fran, and Alfred were split between them. We ran around the floor and mapped it out, finding a few hidden rooms. We regrouped late in the day, sharing the map data and choosing the room we wanted to use as our base.

We spent a pleasurable evening in my villa, after figuring out who was going to sleep where. It wasn’t that there were too few rooms, or that they were very different. It was figuring out the turns to sleep with me and Fran. There were two of us, but three of them. They had a Smash tournament to decide who had to share.

We were going to be down here hunting minotaur for the next two days, then head back up. When we returned, we’d rest for one day, then be off.

We broke back up into three man teams. I went with Nenned and Miadhu the first day, and Riloth and Qevru the second. We nearly monopolized the floor those two days. Well, it was deep enough that not too many people went down that far, and if they did, they seldom had the ability to carry back too much.

We met a couple other groups, and paid them a bit for the hides they had. It was far cheaper than market value, but it was better than not being able to carry everything they had gotten. One group actually stuck around an extra day, just to hunt for more hides to sell to us. We had enough of the tough minotaur hides for a while.

It was in the afternoon of the second day when we had an interesting encounter. There was a large room right before the stairs down to floor 33. It was a good place to pick off three to four minotaur a circuit. However this time, there were five. And one of them was larger, darker, and carried a much better weapon than the others.

The Minotaur King.

It was itself an A-Rank beast. Standard Minotaurs were usually B-Rank by themselves, and A-Rank when in a group. We would have been able to take the basic versions easily, though it was a little time consuming, however with a king in the mix it was too dangerous for us alone. We called for reinforcements.

We were spread somewhat evenly around the floor, so we wouldn’t run into each other, and so we’d farm the mobs more efficiently. Therefore, it took the others some time to arrive. One group of adventurers had come to head downwards, but upon seeing the enemies waiting before the stairs, they decided it was better to wait for us to clear it for them.

After the others arrived, we laid out our battle plan. My group would take the left two minotaurs, Fran’s group would take the right two, And Alfred’s group, containing Jadd and Ierva would take on the king until the others cleared the adds. They’d be more of a distraction than anything.

We readied ourselves, and when everybody was confirmed good to go, we charged. As I raced in, I started by shooting lightning at my two targets. I made it powerful, but minotaurs had decent magic resistance, so while it definitely hurt them, they didn’t drop. Riloth targeted the leftmost enemy with light bolts, while Qevru threw poisoned daggers at both of them. She also threw a few at the King, since it’d take time to work, but they just bounced off its hide.

I was playing tank for our two, but was doing it by attacking and dodging, rather than taking the hits. I’d learned my lesson a few days ago. I could take the hits, but it really hurt. Better to dodge or parry. So I did.

While I was distracting them, the other two focused down one after the other, the first went down when Riloth got a lucky shot with a light bolt to the eye. It penetrated, causing it to go into the brain. It screamed, then collapsed a moment later, as its skull exploded from the pressure.

Light bolts were concentrated light mana in the form of an arrow, but more powerful, and evil, than the light arrow spell. It was one of the most devastating Light magic attacks there was. It didn’t directly deal damage, but made the body damage itself. Basically it caused the body to reproduce itself in the area that was hit, without letting the body kill the excess cells.

I called it instant cancer.

We had only one to deal with, but it only lasted a moment more than the other. Being free to focus, I dodged its attack, then cut through one of the legs, dropping it. Qevru followed up by opening its neck with one dagger, while pushing the other up into the brain.

We headed for the king. Fran’s group had downed one target, and was dealing with the second, so they’d be a bit longer. But with just six of us, the king never stood a chance.

Jadd had been tanking the king while kiting him around the room. He looked like he’d been hit a few times, so Riloth left the damage to us, and played his usual role as healer. Ierva was pelting the king with spells, many of which it blocked with its greataxe. The thing was massive. Just the double bladed part was taller than me.

I darted around to its rear with Qevru. You could see a few spots bleeding where Alfred had hit it, but his blades hadn’t been able to penetrate very far. Minotaur King hide was tough. I poured mana into my blade and chopped at one Achilles heel. It did a good bit of damage, but not enough to incapacitate it. I darted backwards, as one of its hand tried to swat me away. Qevru followed up when it was clear, deepening the wound, Alfred close behind her.

I wasn’t idling as they struck their blows. As his hand was on his left side, I headed for his right, aiming another blow at his other leg. I coated my blade in lightning, so as I struck, he tensed up for a split second.

It went on like this for a while. Hit and run, hit and run. I threw out a few other spells, not just coating my sword with them. After the first minute, the last group joined us. Fran joined the hit and run group, while Nenned and Miadhu fought from the front.

It took us nearly a quarter hour to finish it off. The thing had a ridiculous amount of resilience, and was so tough, a I was worried that my sword would chip or break a few times. However, our perseverance paid off and it fell.

As it disappeared in a puff of dust, it left behind its loot, the axe and a huge piece of black hide. The minotaur king’s skin. It was a rare drop, and was a magnificent material for crafting armor from. However, that was not all. By the staircase, a treasure chest rose from the ground, it was shining like a rainbow.

We quickly grabbed the loot, shoving it in item boxes, and made our way to the chest. I appraised it, and found it to be safe. Jadd nodded his thanks, then lifted the lid. A golden glow spilled out of the chest’s opening, fading after a moment.

We peered inside. There were four items. A block of mithril, a bag full of coins, a golden circlet and a golden sword. I appraised the last two items.

 

[Circlet of Wisdom: A powerful item for spellcasters, it reduces the strain of spell casting while improving mana pool of the bearer. Said to be given to an ancient king by the gods, its appearance is said to entrance those who see it.

Effects:
10% Reduced mana cost for spells
Mana capacity: 2000. Charges off wearer’s mana regeneration when mana is full.
Increases charisma of the wearer. Charisma, whee!]

 

[Honor’s Call: A sword born by a hero in the distant pass. It is made of an alloy of orichalcum and mithril. The sword has been bathed in the blood of foes, becoming stronger with every bearer. The sword is said to choose its wielder.

Effects:
Unbreakable
+100 STR, VIT, DEX
Mana Reflection: Can hold mana equal to the amount the users body can.
Defender: The user gains becomes tougher for every ally within 10 meters.
Lifebond: The sword will be bound to the user for as long as they live. Should another try to use the blade, it will not deal or block any damage. Upon the user’s death, it disappears to seek a new user worthy of the blade.]

 

WOW! Those are amazing. I would have believed they would only show up after a dungeon boss was defeated or something. Oh. My luck must be acting up again. Well both are not sized for me. The circlet would slip down to my neck, and the sword is a greatsword.

For now, we gathered the items up. The waiting adventurers passed us by, congratulating us on a good fight. We decided that we had enough hides, and started for the surface. Since we weren’t stopping to hunt, we made it out around midnight. We’d thought about stopping off, finding a room and ducking into the villa to rest, but decided against it.

We went to the inn, making our tired way up the stairs, then collapsing on the beds. We tried not to wake the others, but when you are tired, it is harder to be quiet. They whispered greeting, then went back to sleep. We’d talk in the morning.

---

The sun broke the horizon, and we still slept. We had gotten back late at night, when we weren’t expected back until today, so they let us. I didn’t get up until lunch.

During lunch we totaled how much we got. It was more than the merchant party had expected. Needless to say, they were thrilled. When we showed off the items from the treasure chest, they were stunned. The mithril was not an ingot, but was instead far larger, weighing ten kilograms, ingots were a kilogram each.

When we opened the bag of coins, there was the glitter of gold, but more shocking was the platinum. We counted it up, and it came to 34 platinum, 58 gold. It was a fortune. Divided between the nine fighters, it was 3 platinum, 84 gold each. We could live for decades on that if we wanted to.

There was only one person who used a greatsword among the fighters, so the sword went to Jadd. The circlet was the subject of discussion. There were two people who could use it. I had been mentioned as a third, but declined, since it was too large for me.

Ierva and Riloth were the ones best suited to it. A mage and the priest. Increased damage, or increased healing, with a bit more damage. Everyone voted, and it went to Riloth. I’d voted for him. While increased damage was great, keeping your friends alive was better. Plus, he could still deal some damage, even if it wasn’t as much as Ierva.

We spent the day resting, having passed unnecessary items to the merchants to dispose of. I was offered heart stones, but declined them, saying I was well set on gacha points for now. They were sold. We split the money between us. It was decent, but nothing close to what we got from the Minotaur King.

While we were resting, I decided to spin the gacha. I had enough to last a while, so I was going to pull it once a day. Hmm, I also had the ticket. Let’s use that first. I selected it on the menu, choosing the professions option. The wheel turned and out popped a Red ball. Well, there was never going to be doubt about the color.

[UR Skill Stone: Master Alchemist: Grants the user the specified skill. If the skill is already owned and can level up adds experience to the skill instead.]

Damn that was nice. I tried something I hadn’t before, focusing on just the skill name, to see if I could get more info. It worked! Sweet.

[Skill: Master Alchemist: This is an advanced version of the profession skill Alchemy. It is nearly impossible to reach this level of skill, due to the vast quantities of materials needed and the time to process them. The few that can devote themselves to reaching this level are those with immense knowledge.]

As I was reading this, I got a ding from the messenger. Opening it up, I found a message from Algalon, the angel, giving me information about how I was protected from the negative consequences of using the stones.

---

[To mortal01

From Algalon

I’d forgotten about the ‘using stones would not have negative consequences’ part of the deal when I sent the last message. Here’s how it works. If it would be dangerous to you, then you will fall asleep if possible, or the skill will be added, but in a nonfunctional state until it can be assimilated during sleep. Think of it like a download pending. Once the download is started, it cannot be interrupted, so make sure you’re in a safe place.

For XP stones, the experience will be slowly released over time if it would hurt you.

That stone is going to make you fall asleep to protect your mind. You will have all sorts of knowledge downloaded into your brain by it. You’re going to get the information a normal person would require to reach that skill. It will take about 24 hours to finish.]

---

Thank you Al! That makes a lot more sense. I’d have to hold off on using that stone for the moment, and let the others know that I’d be taking a long nap when I used it. Actually…

“Hey guys. The plan was to leave the day after tomorrow, but we got back early. Are we still leaving as scheduled, or will we head off tomorrow.”

Gydrin looked at Jadd, a questioning look. Tomorrow was supposed to be a rest day for the fighters. Since they were resting today was tomorrow needed? It had been payed in advance with the inn, but if we decided to leave, we should be able to get the money back.

After a few minutes discussion, it was decided we may as well leave. There was nothing holding us here.

That night, the bags were packed and rooms were checked over to make sure nothing was left behind. Fortunately most of the group had either an item box, or a spacial bag. The bags were rare items, like the one we’d found in the dungeon after having a monster swarm trained into us. There were many types of bags, and they tended to have a variety of different functions, depending on who created it.

The bags were one of the most sought after items for adventurers, as they would allow for greater mobility. More food, gear, and loot could be carried without carrying it, so naturally everyone wanted one. Enchanters who could make them were highly prized because of this. A single small bag could be sold for enough to live a luxurious life for months, if not years.

That the group had so many spoke to them either being extremely wealthy, or being friendly with a high class enchanter, or both. I was saving my pouch in case my next servant didn’t have an item box. I was lucky that Alfred had.

When everything was assured to be in order, we returned to relaxing. They wanted to play games again, so we moved to the villa. Alfred had been there since last night, since he didn’t sleep, caring for the grounds and gardens.

During our play, I had a thought, so I asked Vyssei who happened to be next to me for information.

“Only Jadd is known as a dragonkin, right? So how are we going to travel?”

“Yeah, he’s the only one who can’t disguise himself, after all. We’ve got a couple of wagons stored at the inn. We’ll be using those. It’s far slower than flying, but it attracts less attention.”

“Oh, okay. How long will it take us to get there?”

“We’ll be traveling the Eastern Highway to the port city of Traisea. That should take us around ten days or so. We will be leaving the carts and horses at the company’s facilities there. From Traisea we’ll take a ship over to Chedrai, our nation’s capital and port city. The trip itself will take four days, but we may have to wait a few days for a ship to depart. Once we’re on the island, we can make our way to our clan’s city by air. That’ll take no more than a day. In total, 15-18 days.”

Thanking her, I left the others to play, and I pulled up a spellbook. It was time to learn some more attributes. I was trying to learn plant magic right now. I’d looked at Lava magic, but wasn’t all that interested in it at the moment. However with alchemy, I’d be able to make potions, and potions required herbs. We could grow herbs here in the villa. Right now Alfred was the only one capable of plant magic, so I’d like to be able to help.

I spent an hour or so reading, then decided to give a spell a try. It was a simple one, designed to allow one to mold a plant into a particular shape. Wood elves used it to shape the trees into living houses and furniture. It sounded fun. I’d get to the attack spells later.

Focusing my mind, I wrapped the bush at the edge of the terrace in my mana. For a while, nothing happened, but slowly it started to respond. I played with it for a bit, but wasn’t able to shape it into anything very different. But it at least earned me the skill.

Satisfied, and it being late, I went to bed. Since I had to open the portal, everyone exited with me. Except Alfred. He asked to stay in the villa for the trip unless he was needed. I saw nothing wrong with that.

We slept well that night, and awoke refreshed. After hitching up the horses, we climbed on the wagons and drove off into the sunrise. My second long journey in this world had begun.