Tiona poked me again and I saw the overworked muscles on my calf shake “Will you stop that already”

 

“Mou, Loki was right, you really are fun to tease”

 

She sat in front of me until I recovered enough to get up then grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet, despite the pain and how tired I was I felt… great, the high grade potion had healed any wound and, despite how much trouble I had with starting, I had always liked working out, plus the thrill from risking severe injury was exciting.

 

Damn was I becoming an adrenaline junkie?

 

“Say Tiona, do you know anything that can enhance the power of a skill?”

 

“Sure, there’s lots of things like that, what kind of skill?”

 

I thought about how to say this, I trusted the girl far more than I trusted Loki but I wasn’t going to reveal how my cheat worked to anyone unless we were in a permanent party, why handicap myself like that?

 

“I have this skill that uses my ‘mind’ attribute to disrupt a monster’s vision and I wanted something to increase its potency” not technically a lie, illusions can disrupt vision and I had quite a few specifically to mess with that.

 

“Ah you’d want something for magic then; I only know where they put enhancements on weapon, I guess I’ll have to ask Riveria where she goes to buy her staffs”

 

“Thanks but make sure to ask for a beginner staff, I don’t think I’ll have enough valis to buy something Riveria could use anytime soon”

 

I finally got enough movement back to start stretching and Tiona helped me by pushing my back or pulling my hands, as I opened my legs I stretched my arms forwards and felt the amazon put both hands on my back and push.

 

“Ah, I hopefully I won’t be too stiff in the evening, I’m still going into the dungeon”

 

“Wow, you’re working hard”

 

“Well, someone broke into my bedroom and made me abandon my previous house deposit so I don’t really have a choice” I glared at her, that room had been expensive.

 

“Ahem, just remember not to work too much, even Ais-chan takes a break from time to time”

 

“What do you even do when you’re on break anyway?”

 

“Well, everyone usually go out to celebrate with the rest of the familia or eat out at the hostess of fertility” she said getting up and grabbing her huge sword before patting it against the wall to get rid of any dust “plus I really like to read hero tales at the library”

 

“Wait, there’s a library in Orario?”

 

“Yeah, the main library is taken care of by gnomes so I’m always going there, do you like to read?”

 

“I love it” damn I didn’t have a computer anymore but, since I mostly used the internet to read free light novels anyway, a library would do “I mostly read fiction, fantasy stories and such”

 

“Really? Do you read hero stories too?”

 

“Well, yeah” I said taken aback as the amazon invaded my space, her eyes wide and starring into my own “I guess you can call them heroes”

 

I had forgotten she was a hero nut like Bell, hmmm I wonder if mythology and story books from Danmachi will read like light novels?

 

“Say, what’s your favorite story?” her overeager face was almost pressed against my own “Have you ever read about the Argonaut?”

 

“Sorry Tiona but I really don’t think you’re gonna recognize most of the stories I read, and while I have read about a Argonaut I really doubt it is the same one”

 

“Humph!” she pouted, her cheeks filling with air as she finally pushed herself away from me “That’s it we’re taking tomorrow off and going to the library!” 

 

Well, while I needed to make more money it wasn’t an emergency and taking a day off from using the sharingan in a fight would probably be good for my body, plus I wanted to get back to reading damn it, it’s been about a month since I last read anything interesting and I used to be addicted to it.

 

“Sure, that sounds good” I nodded and watched her pout morph back into a smile almost instantly.

 

“Great, don’t forget to turn up early tomorrow!” grabbing the bag with the remaining health potions she swung it at her back and over her sword before waving at me “See you”

 

The petite Amazon moved faster than ever despite the weight she had at her back, jumping up into the roof of a building she dashed away towards the twilight manor before I could even ask anything else.

 

Damn and I wanted to probe her for information about healers too.

 

I briefly went back to my room and had a meal and a bath there, the healing potion had really done a great job and, after a quick half hour nap I felt ready to face at least the first levels of the dungeon for some spare change.

 

I wouldn’t risk pushing deeper or even hunting for war shadows but I could stay on floor 4 and test out my new weapons while gathering some monster drops.

 

Reaching the fourth floor of the dungeon was easy; while the geography of the place changed every day it did so slowly.

 

In a year every stone, room and hallway of the first floor would be completely different but, from one day to another, the changes weren't enough to fool the Sharingan.

 

Despite the health potion and all the stretching I had done I still wasn’t feeling at my best so I decided to stay on the fourth floor today and not risk going deeper.

 

The temptation to try and find a war shadow to fight was great but I had gotten my share of excitement for the day.

 

Fighting monsters with my new spear went even easier than the sword, usually I managed to eliminate a kobold or goblin with every stab of the weapon, the tip piercing through head, chest or neck with ease and retreating fast enough none of the monsters could even approach me.

 

If the monsters had any instinct besides charging at me like berserkers and trying to cause damage things could be much harder but, as it was, I barely started to sweat before finding a good spot between rooms where I could attract monsters from either place as soon as they spawned.

 

The lot from the monster's started accumulating at my side while I killed them with minimal effort and I sighed once again, I really did need a supporter.

 

Then an idea hit me and I started experimenting.

 

The first monster I found was a dungeon lizard trying to sneak towards me on the ceiling, a common tactic for the annoying geckos.

 

Catching its eyes I sent it an illusion of the ceiling catching fire and it dropped straight down with a squeak. 

 

Before it recovered I was on top of the thing, grabbing its head I managed to tie the mouth close with a rope from my backpack in case I committed any mistakes and jumped away.

 

I briefly watched the creature struggle to break the rope or scratch it off with a paw but its limbs did not turn right and it was unable to reach the rope.

 

Taking a few steps back I finished creating the illusion and caught its eyes again.

 

From my talk with Dorlia from the Ganesha familia I had learned how to tame monsters but would my illusions work to achieve the same thing?

 

The illusion was a fragile thing, I didn't have the time to make anything incredibly long and elaborate and it would break as soon as the target noticed its body wasn't moving as it wished.

 

Fortunately the creature was both too simple and too young to even notice it.

 

Inside the illusion the creature would try to attack me with its claws and I would utterly demolish it with my spear, stabbing it over and over again and sending flashes of pain with every hole I made in its body.

 

The entire thing would take two or three minutes if I were to actually do it in real life but, in an illusion, it only took 20 seconds.

 

Damn, look at me trying to copy tsukuyomi.

 

This illusion I created would never be able to achieve the level of Itachi's mangekyou ability; while the illusion could stretch the sensation of time I already knew it would never be able to make a single second feel like days.

 

I also didn't have the means to restrain my target or stop him from breaking free once he noticed it wasn't real.

 

"Stay!" I ordered the lizard once the illusion ended but it just went berserk trying to kill me. 

 

I cast the illusion again.

 

While the monster was suffering inside its own head a group of kobold rushed me, a wave of my spear forced them back and allowed me to stab one of them in the eye.

 

The other two took the opportunity to try and rush me again but I still managed to stab another through the chest before the third got inside my guard.

 

Using the spear at this range was too awkward but I had been fighting Tiona in hand to hand, compared to that the kobold looked like a slow child flailing about.

 

Grabbing at its wrist as it tried to claw at me I pulled it off balance and drove my elbow into its temple cracking its skull.

 

Turning around I saw my lizard trying to run away, no that wouldn't do at all.

 

It took another nine castings of my illusion before the creature started to listen to me, it wasn't able to understand my words but I could make it stay or follow with gestures.

 

Using the same rope I had tied its mouth I put my backpack and all the loot on its back and fixed it in place nodding.

 

Yeah, it's much easier this way.

 

I kind of felt bad about making the creature suffer but, considering it had been trying to kill me not even an hour earlier, not that bad.

 

I'd have to refine my illusion a lot in order to decrease the time it took to tame something but it was a great way to carry equipment down here and leave my body free to act as I wished.

 

Perhaps I'd even try my hand at taming something without the pain? I had been told it was technically possible after all and a well made illusion could decrease the time needed by a lot.

 

The lizard tried to attack me twice while fighting monsters and, when that didn't work, tried running away another three times.

 

Every time I created a painful illusion as punishment until, during the last two hours, it behaved perfectly.

 

When I was about to leave the dungeon I was faced with another choice, I really wanted to bring the lizard up but the only time I had seen a monster in the surface was on the monsterphilia.

 

I was certain is need at least some kind of permit if I wanted to bring it with me and not get punished and I was already in trouble with the guild for not registering.

 

Just releasing the lizard also wasn't an option. Yes it was a very weak monster all things considered and, odds are, it would get easily killed, but it was still the first floor and a newbie adventurer could get killed by it since they would not expecting the thing on this floor.

 

With a sigh and some regret I put the monster under a calming illusion and killed it as painlessly as I could manage.

 

Leaving the dungeon I wondered how the other tamers dealt with this, did they have to spend hours taming something every time they delved or did they have some kind of skill for it?

 

On the walk back home I started considering what to do tomorrow, I was eager to relax at the library and read a good book but, far more, I wanted to get my hands on something capable of boosting my magic.

 

I'd still have to find a god that would both benefit me and I wouldn't feel very guilty about brainwashing to target but I was sure there were a lot of those around.

 

They were gods after all.