Author:
So as you guys can see, I haven't been able to publish a chapter for 2 days. I was suffering from writing fatigue because I released 2 long chapters:
Chapter 14—13k+ words.
Chapter 16—8k+ words.
And a mid long chapter which is chapter 15 that has 5k+ words, all released in a span of 3 days (1 per day).
As you guys can also remember, it took me an entire night with no sleep to make chapter 14. So I guess that took a lot from me.
∆∆∆∆
5th Day Since the MS Begins.
∆∆∆∆
The Guild Hall — 18:00
The time has come for Yuuya to face the very angry half-elf guild employee.
The evening rush at the Guild was starting to wind down, but the air suddenly shifted when the front doors creaked open. The sound of heavy, rhythmic clanking—the unmistakable noise of metal scraping against metal—drew every eye in the room.
Yuuya stood in the doorway. To say he looked like he'd been through a war was an understatement. His silver breastplate looked like it had been used as a chew toy for a dragon, his left gauntlet was missing entirely, and his helmet was so dented it was a miracle he could even see out of the visor.
And yet, he was standing perfectly upright. Next to him, resting on a heavy duty Guild cart he'd borrowed from the entrance, was a massive object draped in a dusty tarp.
Eina was waiting for him. She didn't look happy. She looked like a woman who had spent the last twenty four hours mentally preparing a funeral and was now pivoting toward a homicide.
She stood in front of him, arms crossed tightly over her chest, one foot tapping a rhythmic, judgmental beat on the floor.
"Yuuya," she started, her voice dangerously calm. "Where. Did. You. Go?"
Yuuya's helmet tilted slightly to the side. His voice came out muffled, flat, and entirely too casual for a man who looked like he'd been hit by a train.
"18th Floor."
Eina's left eyebrow twitched. A single drop of sweat rolled down her temple.
"The 18th Floor. Right. And why, pray tell, is your armor dented to the point that I can see your pulse through the metal?"
"Dungeon spawns." Yuuya replied. Technically, he wasn't lying. The Black Goliath was, by definition, a dungeon spawn.
Eina stared at him. She looked at the blackened scorch marks on his shoulders. She looked at the way his left arm was hanging slightly off center.
"Dungeon spawns. Of course. Just... 'spawns.' Nothing out of the ordinary?"
"It was a busy afternoon."
Eina sighed, a sound of pure, unadulterated administrative exhaustion. She then turned her gaze to the comically large, tarp covered mountain sitting on the cart beside him. It was nearly six feet tall and smelled vaguely of ozone and burnt rock.
"And that?" she asked, pointing a trembling finger. "What is that? Did you decide to steal a piece of the architecture?"
Yuuya turned his head to look at the cart, removed the tarp, then turned back to Eina.
Through the darkness of his visor, he gave her the most casual look a man in a helmet could possibly give.
"A Goliath's mana stone."
The silence that followed was absolute. The other adventurers in the lobby stopped mid-drink. The other clerks stopped filing papers.
[Oh you're so done for buddy.] The system said in his mind, already cackling. [ I suggest preparing your ears in advance.]
Eina's eyes went wide. She looked at Yuuya, then at the stone, then back at Yuuya. Her glasses caught the light, obscuring her eyes in a terrifying, white glare.
"A... Goliath?" she whispered. "The Level 17 Floor Boss? The one that takes entire squads to suppress?"
"It was in the way," Yuuya added, which was perhaps the worst thing he could have said at the moment.
"Yuuya Mitsukuji," Eina's voice finally broke, rising into a register that made his ears ring more than the Goliath's roar ever did. "We're gonna talk. Right. NOW."
[Oh, there's the full legal name.]
Yuuya sighed, the sound echoing hollowly in his helmet. He looked at the System prompt floating in his vision.
'You were right,' he thought. 'The mind down was nothing compared to this.'
"Wait..." Eina stopped for a second. She took a closer look at the mana stone. "Something is different about this one..."
Yuuya was now sweating bullets. He hoped that at the very least, Eina won't discover that it's a black goliath mana stone.
But that hope was soon extinguished when Eina brought a book that was thicker than Yuuya's head.
She browses through the page, only stopping after she finds the page she wants. She started reading it, very intently. While glancing from time to time towards the mana stone. Comparing it to the one in her book.
And then, it happened.
Eina stopped reading the content of the book.
"Yuuya..." Said Eina, her voice oozing with a dangerous vibe. "Answer me. Is that the mana stone of a black Goliath...?"
Yuuya gulped. He knows that if he doesn't answer wisely, he'll either leave the guild with a blown ear drum or a temporary ban to the dungeon.
"Uh... yes..." He answered, his voice so low only he can hear it.
"Please repeat it, I didn't hear you properly." Said Eina. She is now facing Yuuya. She had her usual guild employee smile, eyes closed. But to anyone present, it was pretty clear that Yuuya is in for the scolding of his life.
"Uhm... Yes... That was... A black Goliath mana stone. Yes..." Yuuya replied.
The Guild Hall then falls into a vacuum of silence. This wasn't just a regular Goliath stone; it was a mountain of crystalline evidence that a Level 2 adventurer had somehow bypassed a threat.
Eina didn't move for three seconds. She just stared at Yuuya still with her guild employee smile present, then at Yuuya's cracked armor, then at the stone, then back to Yuuya.
Between the Monsterphilia chaos—the escaped Silverback, the panicked civilians, and the mountain of paperwork currently sitting on her desk—she was at her absolute breaking point.
She didn't lead him to the office. She didn't have the patience left for a private meeting.
With a sudden, blur like motion that shouldn't have been possible for a non-combatant, Eina lunged forward.
Since she couldn't reach his ears or nose to pinch and pull through the thick silver plating of his helmet, she did the next best thing: she jammed her fingers into the narrow horizontal slit of his visor, hooked them, and yanked.
"Gah—!" Yuuya let out a muffled yelp as his entire armored head was pulled down to eye level with the half-elf.
Eina's face was inches from his visor. Her glasses were glowing with a terrifying, opaque light, and her aura was so cold it felt like she'd cast a ice spell.
"Yuuya Mitsukuji," she hissed, her voice trembling with a mix of fury and genuine terror for his life. "I have been filing reports all day about monsters escaping their cages on the surface. I have been worrying about Bell. I have been worrying about you. And now you walk in here, looking like you were chewed on by a dragon, with a mana stone that was so rare it was considered a myth."
She tightened her grip on his visor, her strength fueled by pure, unadulterated stress. Even with his strength, Yuuya found himself pinned by the sheer psychological pressure of an angry guild staff.
"Answer me very carefully," Eina whispered, her voice dropping to a dangerous octave. "For the love of every god currently residing in this city... please tell me you didn't fight that thing solo. Please tell me you just happened to find a dead Goliath and a group of high level adventurers let you keep the stone."
Yuuya looked through the slit of his visor, seeing her murderous expression. He felt a bead of sweat roll down his temple. He could have lied, but the Goliath skin sitting in his system inventory and the state of his gear made the truth pretty obvious.
What came out next is something Yuuya will regret saying for the rest of the day.
"Eh..." Yuuya started, his voice sounding incredibly sheepish behind the metal. "Is... is fighting a floor boss solo against the Guild's laws? Because if it's just a recommendation, then technically—"
"IT'S A SUICIDE NOTE, NOT A RECOMMENDATION!" Eina screamed.
The shout was so loud it actually knocked a few papers off the nearby reception desk. Several adventurers at the back of the hall instinctively ducked behind their tables.
[Way to go Yuuya, way to go.] Chimed the system. [I'd suggest playing dead, but she'd probably just revive you to yell at you some more.]
"You soloed it," Eina breathed, her face turning a shade of red that matched the Goliath's eyes. "You went into the 17th Floor, found a Black Variant—and you decided, 'Yeah, I can handle a Level 5 Rex alone while I'm still Level 2.'"
"I had a very good reason?" Yuuya offered weakly.
"And what reason is that?"
"It... it looked at me funny?"
Eina's grip on his visor tightened so much the metal groaned. For the first time in his two lives, Yuuya, the man who had just dismantled a fifteen meter humanoid monster who has anger issues, felt true, genuine fear.
"We are going to have a talk, Yuuya," Eina said, her voice becoming eerily sweet. "A very, very long talk. And after that, I am going to personally oversee your safety for the next two weeks. You are not leaving the surface until I can look at you without seeing a funeral procession."
Yuuya hung his head in his armor, the silver plates clanking together.
'System,' he thought miserably. 'Can I go back to fighting the Goliath? It was much nicer than this.'
[Denied,] the System replied with a digital smirk. [You earned this one. Good luck, you'll need it.]
For the next sixty minutes after that, the Guild Hall was transformed into a spectator arena. Adventurers who had just returned from their dungeon run stayed with their drinks, leaning over tables to watch the greatest entertainment in the city.
It was the best sight they've seen in a while. On one side, a literal mountain of mana stone and a man clad in a mangled armor.
On the other, a five foot five tall half-elf clutching a clipboard like a weapon of war.
"And then?" Eina prompted, her voice sounding like a violin string pulled to the point of snapping. "After you dodged the Goliath's roar blast, what happened to the breastplate, Yuuya?"
Yuuya shifted his weight, the dented metal of his greaves squeaking. "I... I took a tactical detour."
"A tactical detour," Eina repeated flatly. "Through a solid stone wall?"
The crowd leaned in. Yuuya looked at the ceiling of the Guild, desperately wishing the Dungeon would just grow a tentacle and pull him through the floorboards.
"Well," Yuuya muttered through the slit of his visor, his voice echoing hollowly. "The Goliath decided to... use its open palm. It was a high velocity physical interaction."
Eina's eyes narrowed behind her glowing lenses. "A 'high-velocity physical interaction.' Yuuya, speak Orarian. Did it hit you?"
"It... swatted me," he confessed, his head hanging low. "It caught me mid air when I dodged its roar blast. I was sent on a brief, involuntary flight."
The hall went silent. Every veteran adventurer there knew what a "swat" from a Goliath meant. A Level 5 Black Variant one at that. It meant being turned into a red smear.
"And where did this 'flight' end?" Eina asked, her voice dropping to a terrifying whisper.
"In the wall," Yuuya sighed. "I was... somewhat wedged into the crater for a second or two. The System—I mean my mind, had to remind me to breathe because the wind was—conceptually speaking—gone."
That was the spark. Yuuya tried explaining the events after that, but that only seemed to fuel Eina's rage even further.
Until it reached a point, where her professional composure didn't just break; it evaporated.
[Farewell to your ears mate.]
"WEDGED?!" Eina's scream was so sharp it made the chandelier above the reception desk rattle. "YOU WERE WEDGED INTO A WALL BY A BLACK GOLIATH AND YOUR FIRST THOUGHT WAS 'I SHOULD START FIGHTING MORE SERIOUSLY NOW' AND NOT RETREAT!? BOY YOU SHOULD'VE DONE THAT FROM THE START. BETTER YET, YOU SHOULDN'T EVEN HAVE FOUGHT THE DAMN THING!"
"I had to get my payback!" Yuuya defended weakly.
"YOU ARE A LEVEL TWO!" Eina continued, poking him in the center of his dented breastplate with every word. "YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE KILLING MINOTAURS IF YOU REALLY WANT TO PUSH IT AND WORRYING ABOUT POTION PRICES! YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE TEST DRIVING THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY OF THE 17TH FLOOR WITH YOUR RIBCAGE!"
Yuuya stood there, the superhuman and talent in him looking like a toddler being scolded for drawing on the walls. The contrast was so absurd that a group of Level 3 Ganesha Familia members at a nearby table actually started taking bets on whether Eina would make him cry before the hour was up.
"Look at this armor!" Eina grabbed his shoulder, rattling his entire frame. "Metal shouldn't look like this! It's deformed! There is a literal handprint on your chest! If that strike had been two inches higher, I'd be identifying your helmet by your dental records!"
"But I won," Yuuya muttered, pointing a gauntleted finger at the four million valis mana stone. "And if you think about it, the Goliath's hand is big enough to cover my whole body. So I'm just built different."
"BUILT DIFFERENT MY QUILL AND I DON'T CARE IF YOU BROUGHT BACK THE DIARY OF THE DUNGEON CREATOR!" Eina yelled, her face now a permanent shade of crimson. "NO MORE SOLO DIVES. NONE. You are grounded, Yuuya. For two weeks and if I see you near that dungeon entrance without a party of at least six people and a written permission slip from a Goddess, I will have the Guild guards lock you in the basement!"
Yuuya just slumped further. The great inheritor of the "Silence" of the Hera Familia had finally met its match: a very stressed, very overworked half-elf with a maternal streak a mile wide.
As the hour mark hit, Eina finally stopped to catch her breath, her chest heaving. She looked at the mangled knight, sighed a long, broken sigh, and adjusted her glasses.
"Go home, Yuuya," she whispered, exhausted. "Go home, let goddess Hestia update your Status, and for the love of the gods... take a bath. You smell like ozone and bad decisions."
Yuuya didn't wait for a second invitation. He grabbed the cart, turned on his heel, and clanked out of the hall as fast as his dented boots would carry him, leaving a stunned Orario to gossip about the man who survived a Black Goliath but barely survived Eina Tulle.
∆∆∆∆
The walk back to the church was a noisy, painful affair.
Every step produced a metallic *screech-clank* that announced Yuuya's presence three blocks in advance. His ears were still humming—not from the Goliath's roar, but from the lingering voice of Eina.
Still, he is now 4 million valis richer. The good in the bad that made him have a tired smirk.
As Yuuya descended the stairs into the church's basement the smell of home—stale incense and the faint scent of Hestia's cooking, which is basically just a freshly cooked jagamarukun—finally allowed his shoulders to drop.
In the center of the room, Bell was sitting on the couch, meticulously polishing a blade. It wasn't the shortsword Yuuya was used to seeing.
This was a jet black longsword, its edge shimmering with a sinister, polished sheen that felt heavy just to look at.
"I'm back." Yuuya croaked, his voice still a bit rough.
Bell nearly jumped out of his skin, spinning around.
"Yuuya-bro! You're—" He stopped mid sentence, his jaw dropping as he took in the state of Yuuya's armor. "Wow. You really... you really got it, didn't you?"
Yuuya ignored the question for a moment, his eyes locked on the black blade in Bell's hands. "Is that... A longsword? I see you've moved on to longswords, Bell. It suits you."
Bell looked down at the sword, his expression turning into one of pure, religious awe. He held it as if a single stray fingerprint would cause the world to end.
"Goddess and Hephaestus-sama worked together on it. It's... it's perfect. I don't even want to swing it yet; I'm afraid I'll ruin the finish."
"It's a tool, Bell. It's meant to be ruined in the service of keeping you alive," Yuuya said, though he couldn't help but admire the craftsmanship. But he felt like he had seen the sword somewhere before.
'From what anime is that called again? The protagonist is named Ki... Ki... Kitito? Nah. I'm just probably tired.' thought Yuuya.
[Wow. I know you've only known one anime in your life but I didn't know it was this bad.]
"YUUYA!"
Hestia emerged from the small kitchen area, her hands on her hips, her twin tails swaying with her momentum. She marched over, her eyes scanning his dented frame.
"Bell told me you were going to be gone for a day or two for 'errands,' but look at you! You look like you went through a trash compactor! Where have you been for the last forty eight hours?"
Bell immediately stiffened. He looked at Yuuya, then at Hestia, then very, very intently at a particularly interesting crack in the floorboards.
[Look at that bro loyalty.] The system said. [Bell is currently attempting to become invisible. Probability of him snitching: none. Probability of him having a minor heart attack from the stress: probably.]
Yuuya caught Bell's eye for a split second. The kid looked pale. He knew exactly what was in that 17th floor chamber. Seeing Yuuya walk back in—even if he was dented—was clearly a relief that Bell didn't have words for yet.
"Just... hunting, Goddess," Yuuya said, leaning against the wall with a heavy sigh. "The 17th floor is a bit more crowded than usual. I had to clear some space."
"Crowded?" Hestia huffed, crossing her arms. "You were gone for two days! Even though I just came home today *ahem* let's not focus on that. Anyways, Bell was worried sick! I can see it even if he tried to hide it by polishing that sword until I could see my reflection in it from across the room!"
Bell didn't say a word. He just continued to look away, his grip tightening slightly on the Elucidator's hilt. He wasn't going to mention the 'Angry Humanoid Monster' Yuuya had warned him about. He was just glad that the only thing dented was Yuuya's helmet, and not Yuuya himself.
"Well," Yuuya said, putting the massive bag of valis into the table. "I think the errand was worth the trip. Why don't you take a look at the budget for the next month, Goddess?"
Hestia saw the valis the bag of valis.
"That... How much is in there?' Asked Hestia, pointing in the bag with a trembling finger.
"Four million."
Bell's eyes widened.
Hestia blinked. Then she rubbed her eyes and looked again. She then slapped her face to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
"Four... FOUR MILLION VALIS?!"
Yuuya just closed his eyes, sliding down the wall until he was sitting on the floor. "I'm going to sleep now. Don't wake me up unless the building is on fire. Or if Eina shows up with a literal mace. Actually, especially if Eina shows up."
Bell finally let out a small, shaky laugh. "Welcome back, Yuuya-san."
"Yeah," Yuuya muttered, his consciousness already slipping. "Good to be home."
With the four million valis shock still wearing off, Hestia quickly transitioned from "Angry Landlady" to "Dedicated Goddess."
Before Yuuya can sleep on the floor, Hestia immediately picks him with strength that even surprises Bell, then ushers Yuuya toward the couch.
Her expression softened as she saw the dark bruises and the way he gingerly moved his left shoulder.
"Alright, sit down, you big idiot," she muttered, though her voice lacked any real bite. "Bell, get some water and some clean bandages. If his armor did this much damage to itself, I dread to see what his skin looks like."
Yuuya didn't argue. He shed the ruined silver plates, the metal clattering onto the floor in a sad pile of scrap. He sat shirtless on the edge of the sofa, the cool air of the basement hitting the angry purple contusions where the Goliath had swatted him.
Hestia sat behind him and pricked her finger. As the blood drops, it stops inches above his skin as the falna shows itself. The hieroglyphs move and rearrange themselves.
Hestia's eyes widened as the numbers began to change. She had seen Yuuya's growth before and Bell's growth as well. Yet, she just cannot help but be surprised every time she sees it. But this time, it was for an entirely different reason.
~~~~
Yuuya Mitsukuji
Race: Human
Level 2 ===> 3
Strength: 1500 ===> 0
Endurance: 1500 ===> 0
Agility: 1500 ===> 0
Dexterity: 1500 ===> 0
Magic: 1500 ===> 0
Development abilities:
Mage (Rank I ===> G)
Skills:
Ingenium Insuperabile
Regen
(Ingenium Insuperabile is the Monstrous Talent & Potential. I just changed the name. It is a latin word that means unsurpassable/insurmountable talent.)
(I also removed the Concurrent Chanting on the skill section because I discovered it was a technique and doesn't appear on the status sheet.)
Magic:
AEEOC
Skill/Magic Creation
Satanas Verion
Genos Angelus (New)
: A super long chant wide-area annihilation magic. During casting, it causes a gigantic silver-grey bell to manifest above the user's head. The resulting sonic vibrations from the spell upon casting would destroy everything that was inside it's effective range of 100 meter radius.
Mana: 3000/3000
Excelia: 0/4,000,000
~~~~
Hestia's hands trembled as she traced the new changes in Yuuya's status. He had gained five different things in one status update.
First is that he became a level 3. Second is that his development ability not only gone up in rank once, but twice. The third is that he can choose a new development ability. Fourth is he gained a new skill. Fifth is that not only did he gain a new skill, but a new magic spell as well.
"Holy smokes Yuuya..." she whispered, her voice trembling. "This magic... Genos Angelus. This is... this is a wide-area annihilation magic. Not only that, you also got your development ability mage to go up in two ranks. This amount of changes in one update... Level up... Is just unreal."
'My
[Well you just did a two-stage chant for super short chant spell.] The system replied. [You're basically the first ever individual to do that as far as I know. That shows mastery over the spell you know.]
Bell, who was standing nearby with the bandages, peered over her shoulder. He couldn't read the sacred text, but he could feel the pressure radiating from Yuuya's back.
"Goddess? Is he okay?"
"He's more than okay, Bell," Hestia said, her eyes welling up with a mix of pride and terror. "He's... he's a monster."
Yuuya stared at the floor, feeling the new skill
Hestia shakes her head to snap out of her bewilderment. This isn't the first time she see this kind of event and it certainly isn't the last.
"Yuuya, you have a development ability again. The option is
"I pick Luck goddess."
Hestia nodded. She rearranges the hieroglyphs before finally finishing. She then took a blank piece of paper, trace a circle in it, and copied Yuuya's status.
After which, she handed it to Yuuya for him to see. As well as Bell who is curious.
"Whoa... 1500 points across all stats?" Said Bell. "The highest that we can normally go is 999 right? If 999 is S, then how many S is that?"
"Maybe around 5?" Replied Yuuya.
"Do you think I can reach those too?"
"Maybe. Its mainly due to my growth skill. Since you have one too, you might be able to do so."
Hestia on the other hand just slumped against his back, exhausted by the sheer amount of things she just witnessed.
Though she is more exhausted thinking about how she is gonna deal with the other gods, once the news of Yuuya becoming a level 3 in a month and half is announced.
"You're a Level 3 now, Yuuya. Please... just for one day... stay out of the walls."
Yuuya reached up with his right hand and awkwardly patted her head. "I'll try, Goddess. I'll try. Plus, I am already grounded in the dungeon for 2 weeks because of a certain hal-elf supervisor of Bell."
"Wait... Ms. Eina placed a house arrest on you?" Said Bell.
"Yup. To be honest, I should've just given that Goliath mana stone away to some newbie. That mana stone just made it worse. Turned a simple scolding into a two week ban."
Bell just laughed softly in response at Yuuya's situation.
∆∆∆∆
6th Day Since the MS Begins.
The walk back to the Guild was significantly quieter this time, devoid of the *clank-crunch* of mangled metal.
It happened during the morning. Yuuya had stopped by the market first and bought another set of armor and helmet that isn't dented.
He pushed through the Guild doors, feeling the eyes of every adventurer in the lobby track his movement. The "Man Who Soloed a Goliath" was becoming a local legend, and the air hummed with whispers as he approached Eina's desk.
Eina was currently buried under a literal fortress of paperwork. She didn't even look up at first, her pen moving with a speed that would make a level 6 impressed.
"If you're here to report another 'tactical detour' into a wall, Yuuya, please take a number," she said, her voice dry as a desert.
"Actually, I'm just here to update my registration." Yuuya said. Sliding a piece of paper towards Eina.
Eina paused. The pen stopped mid stroke. She slowly looked up, her eyes narrowing behind her glasses as she saw the clean armor.
"You're alive. And you aren't dented. That's a start."
She reached out, picked up the paper, and began to read.
First, her eyes widened. Then, her face went from a healthy pale to a ghostly white.
Finally, she let out a sound that wasn't quite a gasp and wasn't quite a sob—it was the sound of a woman whose professional reality had just been shattered.
"Level... 3?" She whispered.
She looked at the date of his initial registration. One and a half months. Dorty five days.
"One month... and two weeks," she muttered, her voice trembling as she did the math. "The previous record was held by the Sword Princess at one year. And that's when she's a level 1... and now you... in six weeks..."
She dropped the paper. It fluttered onto a stack of reports about escaped monsters yesterday, looking like the final nail in the coffin of her sanity.
"The paperwork," Eina breathed, her eyes glazing over. She looked like she was actually about to cry.. "The Level Up certification... the rank tax adjustments... the mandatory safety briefings for mid tier elites... the report to the higher ups explaining how a Level 2 becomes a level 3 in six weeks."
She leaned her forehead against the edge of the desk. "I am going to be here until midnight. Possibly until next Tuesday."
Yuuya cleared his throat, leaning against the counter. He watched her for a moment, feeling a genuine pang of guilt for the mountain of bureaucracy he had just dumped on her shoulders.
"So..." Yuuya started, his voice a mix of sheepishness and desperate hope. "Now that I'm officially a Level 3 and all... does that technically lift my 'grounded' status? Since, you know, a Level 3 is more than qualified to be on the 17th Floor?"
Eina didn't move. Her forehead stayed firmly pressed against the desk. For a long, tense minute, the only sound was the ticking of the clock on the wall.
Then, she slowly sat up. Her glasses were tilted, and there was a frantic, manic light in her eyes.
"You're a Level 3," she said, her voice eerily calm.
"Yes."
"You're faster than a goddess's heartbeat."
"Pretty much."
Eina reached out, grabbed his pristine new silver breastplate, and pulled him forward until his face was inches from hers.
"You are still grounded until I finish this paperwork, Yuuya Mitsukuji," she hissed. "And if you go back down there and bring back a Amphisbaena stone this time before I've even filed this one, I will quit this job, join the Ares Familia, and personally lead an invasion of your church. Am I clear?"
Yuuya gulped, nodding vigorously. "Crystal. I'll... I'll just go help Bell with his shopping. Very safe. Very surface level."
"Good," Eina snapped, grabbing a fresh stack of forms. "Now go. Before I find a way to make 'Leveling Up too fast' a fineable offense."
Yuuya retreated immediately, practically sprinting for the exit.
[Geez, She looks like she's about to weaponize her stapler.]
∆∆∆∆
After Yuuya's encounter with the angry or rather—stressed half-elf guild employee, he goes straight into Hephaestus forge.
The night before Yuuya completely falls asleep, Hestia informed Yuuya about her. How his circumstances have caught Hephaestus interest.
Yuuya arrived at the Hephaestus Familia's main smithy, the air thick with the scent of charcoal and the sound of of hammers on anvils.
After he got the permission to be let in, he goes straight to her office.
There, Hephaestus stood, her eye patch sharp against her face, arms crossed as she watched Yuuya approach. She didn't waste time with pleasantries.
"Welcome to my office. Hestia says you're a consumer of steel,'" she said, her voice like grinding stone. "Show me."
She handed him a longsword. One of her creations that she forged in her free time. A masterpiece that would have cost a normal adventurer a year's wages.
Yuuya won't take it half-heartedly. He took a breath, gathered all of his strength, and swings. It's a simple downward slash but it was enough.
TSCH-SHATTER
Hephaestus's single eye widened. The blade didn't just break; it detonated into a cloud of metallic glitter.
[One swing. That's a new record.] The system said.
Snapping out of her trance, Hephaestus then handed Yuuya another weapon. This time, it was a heavy claymore reinforced with mythril.
CRACK-BOOM
Three swings in, and the floor of her workshop was covered with the remains of her finest inventory.
"Well that one lasted a bit better." Said Yuuya.
Hephaestus walked over to the shards of her weapon.
"It's not just your strength," Hephaestus muttered, picking up a shard. "It's your talent. Your potential is so dense it's creating a heat fracture on a molecular level. The steel can't breathe."
She turned to a locked case at the back of the forge, pulling out a blade that shimmered with a dull, matte finish. It didn't look flashy, but it radiated a sense of permanence.
"This has a Durandal attribute in it," Hephaestus explained. "Which made it virtually unbreakable and unmeltable. Only a few people have this kind of weapon. Most notably, the Sword Princess. And only a few smith can forge this kind of weapon. Even the Loki Familia only have a few of these. It is, by definition, a weapon that cannot break."
She tossed it to him. Yuuya felt the weight. It was solid. Unyielding.
"Go ahead," she challenged, a small, confident smirk playing on her lips. "Try to turn that into dust."
Yuuya nodded. He didn't hold back. He exerted all of his strength again and his entire being then, he swung.
CLANG
One swing. That's all it took. This time, the sound wasn't the sharp ring of steel. It was the heavy, sickening thud of a mountain being compressed.
Yuuya pulled the blade back, and the workshop went dead silent.
The Durandal didn't shattered. It's reputation as indestructible held true to its word—not a single shard had flown off. But the physical reality of the weapon was a disaster.
The blade was mangled and twisted in different angles. It looked like a piece of licorice that had been twisted by a giant.
It is most notably bent at a forty five degree angle in the middle, the tip was curled like a pig's tail, and the flat of the blade was rippled like corrugated tin.
It was indestructible, but it had lost the battle against Yuuya's sheer output. It was effectively a very expensive, very curly metal club.
Hephaestus stared at the twisted wreck in Yuuya's hand. Her mouth actually hung open for a second.
"It... it didn't break," Yuuya muttered, looking at the mangled mess sheepishly. "But I don't think I can cut bread with this anymore."
[You're better off bashing a minotaurs head with that than using it to cut bread.] System said. [Oh, and the goddess is currently vibrating.]
Hephaestus snatched the ruined Durandal back, inspecting the twists.
"This is impossible. The structural integrity is intact, but the form... you literally flowed the metal into a new shape through raw pressure."
She looked at Yuuya, her expression shifting from shock to a terrifying, smith like hunger.
"Uhm, does that mean I get a discount?" Said Yuuya while a bead of sweat ran down his temple.
Hephaestus didn't answer but just like the system said, she was vibrating from excitement.
So much so and with a divine intensity that it made the surrounding furnaces flare up in response. To any other smith, Yuuya was a nightmare that destroyed their hard work. To Hephaestus, he was the ultimate canvas.
Yuuya turned his head towards the furnace that just flared up, then back towards Hephaestus who's eyes are literally shining.
"Uhh... I guess I take that as a no?" Asked Yuuya. "Is this the part where you kick me out? Or should I kick myself out?"
Hephaestus did in fact not kick him out.
Instead, she grabbed him by the shoulder with a grip that reminded him she was a goddess of the forge.
"Kicking you out? Don't be stupid. You're the first thing that's made me want to actually work in a decade."
She turned her gaze towards the door. Outside, a guard who's also a familia member stood guard.
"You! Go and find Hestia! Tell her I'm calling in that favor—now. Tell her if she wants her anomaly to stop walking around with a mangled scrap of disgrace, I need her blood and her presence at the anvil!"
As the sound of someone scrambling away outside is heard, Hephaestus turns back to Yuuya.
She began circling him, her sharp eye scanning his height, his reach, and the way he held his center of gravity.
"A sword isn't working," she muttered to herself. "The center of mass is too unstable for your output. The Durandal didn't shatter because the material was good, but it lacked the soul to resist your vessel. Tell me, Yuuya. If you could have any blade—the one your soul actually recognizes—what is it?"
Yuuya was thrown in a deep thought. In his past life, he has mastered countless variety of weapons.
Blades, bows, you name it. He mastered all of them.
But right now? He must pick one, and that one will accompany him for the rest of his career.
He needed something that was long enough to cut big monsters like a sword. But it also needed to be fast like a dagger, especially when taking it out of its scabbard.
Yuuya first thought of a Nodachi. The Japanese greatsword or field sword. But for his height, it was impossible to draw quickly.
Yuuya also considered a spear, but he didn't prefer it.
Just like what he once said to Bell, a weapon must be something you like to use. As a man fights better when he trusts his weapon.
And if there's any weapon that he used more than once and developed his mastery over it even further, it was the—
"A Katana," Yuuya answered firmly. "Single edged. Slightly curved—you know it."
That was Yuuya's answer. It was long enough to cut bigger opponents and was short enough to perform a quick draw.
It might be the most common and cliche weapon of choice for the usual japanese fictional story there is, but it was Yuuya's cup of tea.
Hephaestus grinned, a fierce, sharp expression. "A Far East blade. Elegant, but fragile in the wrong hands. For you, though... we're going to have to make it heavy. Dense enough to hold your vessel."
She immediately began pulling materials from her personal vault.
Bars of pure mythril, slabs of adamantite, even orichalcum are there, and other metals that Yuuya didn't even recognize.
Yuuya watched her pile up materials that probably cost more than the entire Daedalus Street district. His stomach did a nervous flip.
"Hephaestus-sama... wait," Yuuya said, holding up a hand. "Are you... are you really forging this for me right now? Personally?"
"Who else could do it?" she snapped, checking the temperature of her primary forge. "My children would have a heart attack trying to hammer these materials into that shape."
"But... I don't have the money," Yuuya said, his voice dropping. "I have around six million valis from the Goliath, but looking at those materials... that won't even cover the material fee, will it?"
Hephaestus didn't even look back. She picked up a massive forging hammer, testing its weight.
"Don't worry about the Valis, Yuuya," she said, her voice dropping into a low, rumbling tone of pure excitement. "You've given me something better than money. You've given me a problem I can't solve in my sleep. We'll talk about the details later. For now, just stand back. This is going to get hot."
Just then, the doors to the forge burst open.
"HEPHAESTUS! WHAT'S SO URGENT THAT YOU—" Hestia stopped mid shout, seeing Yuuya standing there and Hephaestus surrounded by the most expensive ores in existence. "Oh... Oh no... Yuuya... Hephaestus... Don't tell me..." Hestia said, her voice dropping into terror.
She then lunges at Hephaestus, hugging her waist.
"HEPHAESTUS PLEASE!" Hestia said. "I'm already 200 million valis in debt due to my loan to you! Anymore I'll be working for an eternity!"
"Wait. We are 200 million valis in debt?" Yuuya gasped, acting like he was shocked.
Hestia flinched. Realizing she just dug her own grave. She then slowly turns towards Yuuya, her face is that of utter horror.
"I-its nothing Yuuya! You didn't heard anything! I was never here!" Said Hestia while panicking.
Hephaestus seeing the state of her friend was in, just sighed.
"Stop it. Though I've said we'll discuss the details later, I guess we can do it right now since I can't have you—Hestia—vibrating in terror while writing the hieroglyphs." Said Hephaestus. "No one is spending any valis. I'm doing this for free."
Yuuya froze upon hearing that. Now, he is genuinely shocked.
[Lucky bastard.] Said the system.
On the other hand, Hestia's jaw didn't just drop; it hit the stone floor. She looked at the pile of legendary ores, then at Yuuya, then back at Hephaestus, her eyes wide with a mix of panic and financial trauma.
"FREE?!" Hestia shrieked, her voice echoing off the room. She is no longer hugging Hephaestus but she still is on the floor. Looking like she might cry. "Hephaestus, you're one of the stingiest goddess in Orario when it comes to quality! I'm already working off the 200 million valis debt for Bell's sword—a debt that will take me several lifetimes of selling jagamarukun to pay off! If you make a weapon for Yuuya out of those materials, I'll be in debt until the next era of gods!"
Hephaestus didn't even flinch at the screaming. She simply stoked the fire, the orange glow reflecting in her sharp eye.
"Calm down, Hestia. I'm not adding a single valis to your tab for this one. This isn't a transaction. It's an investment in my own pride."
Yuuya blinked, finally snapping out of his own stupor.
"Free? There's always a catch with gods. Is there a contract?"
Hephaestus stopped stoking and looked Yuuya dead in the eye. The air in the room grew heavy, the heat of the forge suddenly feeling a lot more divine.
"The contract is simple, but absolute," Hephaestus stated. "First: No other smith—not even my highest-ranking children—is allowed to touch, sharpen, or even inspect this blade. If it needs a single whetstone stroke, you bring it to me."
Yuuya nodded slowly. "Understood."
"Second," she continued, "You will visit this forge once a month for a mandatory inspection. During those visits, you will sit right there and tell me every single detail. I want to know what it felt like to cut a Minotaur. I want to know how it responds when it tastes the blood of the deep floors once you reach that deep"
She stepped closer, her aura flaring.
"Because once I'm finished, this won't just be a katana. It will be the pinnacle of my existence. It will be the greatest creation I have ever birthed in all my eons as the Goddess of the Forge."
Hestia went quiet, sensing the sheer weight of Hephaestus's resolve. This wasn't a favor for a friend anymore; it was a god pursuing the "Perfect Work."
"And finally," Hephaestus whispered, a bittersweet smiletouching her lips. "When your time in the lower world eventually ends... when you pass on due to old age hopefully and return to the heavens... the blade comes back to me. I won't melt it down. I won't sell it. I will display it in my private chambers as proof that I once met a man whose soul was sharper than my steel."
Yuuya took a second to respond. He was thinking of the conditions. But did he even have to? No matter where you look at it, it was a win-win scenario.
"I accept," Yuuya said, his voice steady. "It would be an honor to carry your masterpiece."
"Good," Hephaestus barked, her professional mask slamming back into place. "Hestia! Stop sitting there catching flies with your mouth! Get over here. I need you to carve the same hieroglyphs as you did to Bell's sword to this one as well!"
Hestia gulped, nodding frantically as she scrambled to the anvil. "Right! Let's... let's do this! For Yuuya!"
∆∆∆∆
Hours passed. Morning eventually turned into night.
As Hephaestus hammered the final fold, the basement of the forge was filled with a blinding blue light that pulsed in sync with Yuuya's own heartbeat.
Hephaestus quenched the blade one last time, the steam rising in a thick, silver veil.
She then places it at the table. As she ran her finger on the spine and flat of it, the hieroglyphs that Hestia etches upon it—glows faintly before sinking into the dark, starlight steel.
After hours in the forge; Hestia's writing of the hieroglyphs, Hephaestus focus on forging the blade, and Yuuya's direction on how he wants his blade, the sword is finally finished.
Now all it needs is Hestia's blood and to connect it to Yuuya's falna and soul.
The ritual was a hauntingly beautiful sight. Just as she had for Bell yesterday, Hestia offered her divine blood upon the blade.
After everything is finished, Hephaestus goes inspected it one last time before finally putting it back to it's scabbard.
"It is done." Said Hephaestus as she handed it to Yuuya.
(Author: the blade is basically all black in color just like Bell's Hestia knife.)
When Yuuya draws the blade, it felt... right. It wasn't just balanced; it felt like an extension of his own body.
"I call it Kurotsuki. I also mixed some mythril to that blade. Just in case you want to try something crazy while using that." Said Hephaestus.
Yuuya nodded as he puts the blade back on to it's scabbard. Holstering it to his left hip. Then, he stepped into the center of the forge.
'In the battlefield, bladed weapons such as swords are usually stored in their scabbard for simple and sometimes obvious reasons' Yuuya thought as he grips scabbard with his left hand while his right rests on the hilt. 'But, once the opponents do appear, the first course of action is, simply drawing your weapon out of its scabbard.'
'In Japan, there is a martial art that specializes in this motion. It's called "Iaijutsu", the martial arts of quickly drawing a sword. Simply put, a quick draw. Drawing your sword is the most basic way of starting a combat. A quick draw uses that motion as an attack as well.' Yuuya continues as he gets into a stance. 'Some will argue that the main purpose of Iaijustu is to respond to surprise attacks. But—'
Yuuya took a deep breath as he closed his eyes.
'For me, I take the act of putting a sword back to it's scabbard as a reset and ultimately, a way to attack. A way to prepare yourself for one, singular sword stroke with all of your technique and strength behind it.' Yuuya thought he relaxes his body. His grip on the handle unyielding. 'It was a motion I kept on perfecting until I graduated highschool. I wonder how much it will change with the help of the falna.'
As Hephaestus and Hestia watch him with expectant eyes, Yuuya finally started by saying his cue.
The cue for his movement when performing a quick draw that is meant to be an attack.
—Strike True—
Yuuya didn't hold back. With a sudden burst of strength, Yuuya swung with his entire existence, technique, and experience behind it.
WHISH
A single, horizontal draw. The air in the room didn't just move; it was sliced. There was no sound of metal screaming or wood cracking.
Even the air produced by Yuuya's movement that made the objects in the forge that isn't held properly move wasn't heard.
But the most important part is, the blade held perfectly.
Yuuya seeing that it doesn't break, felt excitement.
He then began a sequence—a series of movements that he also mastered in his past life alongside the quick draw. He moved like a ghost, a blur of silver and black steel.
He performed a vertical cleave that left a vacuum trail in the air. Then, he transitioned a lightning fast parry. Followed by a thrust so precise it hummed like a tuning fork.
Hephaestus watched with her one eye wide, her breath hitching. She couldn't see every movement of the edge, but she saw the way Yuuya's body flowed.
It was no longer a man fighting against his tool; it was a storm finally finding a lightning rod.
When Yuuya finished, sheathing the blade with a satisfying, metallic *click*, the silence in the forge was heavy with awe.
"It... it didn't even bend," Yuuya whispered, his eyes wide. "I felt the pressure, I felt the output... and the blade just took it. It actually asked for more."
He was ecstatic. For the first time in two lifetimes, he wasn't a sinner who destroyed everything he touched.
Yuuya thought that he might not be able to handle a sword ever again without it being made out of his mana. Thankfully, he was wrong.
He was a swordsman once more.
Yuuya gripped the hilt, a rare, genuine grin breaking across his face.
"This is it. I can finally go back down. I can test Genos Angelus, I can clear the lower floors, I can—"
His voice died out. His grin slowly flattened into a thin line of realization.
[There you have it. He remembers it now.] The system chimed. [You're currently under house arrest by Eina buddy. If you are caught anywhere near the dungeon , she will likely skip the lecture and go straight to the 'Execution' phase.
Yuuya's shoulders slumped. He looked at the most powerful weapon in Orario, then he looked at the exit of the forge.
"I'm grounded," he muttered, the excitement draining out of him. "I have the greatest sword in the history of the gods, and I can't even take it past the Guild's front gates without being hunted down by a very angry half-elf."
Hestia patted his leg sympathetically.
"Look on the bright side, Yuuya! You have at least... three more days of paperwork before Eina... Hopefully... Lets you back in the Dungeon. You can use that time to... uh... polish it?"
"I hate the surface." Yuuya sighed, leaning his head against the cold stone wall.
∆∆∆∆
7th Day Since The MS Begins.
The sunlight filtering through the high windows of the abandoned church's basement felt like a mockery.
Hestia has gone out for her job. Bell has left for his dungeon run. Leaving Yuuya behind as the sole person in the room.
For a man who had died and got isekaid and then survived a Black Goliath's fist, being defeated by a stack of paperwork and a half-elf's promise of "safety" in the form of a two week ban in the dungeon, was the ultimate indignity.
Yuuya stared at the ceiling, his thumb tracing the hilt of Kurotsuki, which leaned against his bedpost. The blade hummed with a quiet, restless energy that mirrored his own.
Two weeks. Eina had been serious.
[Gosh damn, this is so boring.] The system said. [Do something man.]
'I'm tryingggg.' Replied Yuuya.
But then, a thought surfaced through the boredom.
It was a risk—perhaps a bit of tomfoolery.
He was currently known only by his armor. A man whose identity was swallowed by a helmet and armor.
To the public, Yuuya Mitsukuji was a walking suit of armor. To the Guild, especially Eina, he was a headache.
He sat up, a slow, dangerous smirk spreading across his face—the one in the image that promised trouble for anyone standing in his way.
Yuuya didn't reach for his armor. Instead, he pulled on some set of clothes that makes him look like he was just going out for a walk. He left the helmet on the table, its visor staring blankly at the wall.
He caught his reflection in a small mirror. Without the metal, he looked... different.
His jet black hair that matches his eyes, and his features had a sharp, cold charm that had been hidden for forty five days.
Other than Eina, the only people who knows Yuuya's face is Hestia and Bell. To others, his face remains a mystery.
Eina had seen him once, weeks ago, when he registered as a new adventurer.
Surely by now, due to the stress of work, she wouldn't recognize Yuuya without his armor. Right?
"It's worth the gamble." he murmured, sliding Kurotsuki onto his hip.
The moment Yuuya stepped out into the bustling streets of the Northwest Mainline, the atmosphere shifted.
Usually, people gave him a wide berth because he looked like a battered tank. Now, they stopped and stared for an entirely different reason.
The whispers followed him like a tailwind.
"Is he a new elite from the Loki Familia?"
"Look at his eyes... he looks like he's seen a few things."
"Is he some sort of celebrity?"
Yuuya ignored them all. He kept his head down, pulling his collar up slightly.
Yuuya always had that face that makes people do a double take. A constant source of jealousy from his girlfriend in his past life.
He always tries to play it cool or deny it, but it always ends up as him being labeled as a show off by his friends.
He suspected it was one of the bonus trait of his abnormality beside giving him a good physique.
As he approached nearer towards the dungeon, he came nearer to Eina's work station by every step.
His heart hammered once against his ribs when he saw Eina through the window. She was currently lecturing a panicked rookie, her glasses glinting with that familiar, terrifying light.
Yuuya didn't stop. He didn't even look toward her desk. He blended into a group of loud, boisterous Ganesha Familia members who were heading toward the dungeon as well.
As he walks by, Eina was busy adjusting a stack of forms after lecturing the rookie, her eyes focused on anything but the dark haired man walking ten feet behind her.
As the cool, damp air of the Dungeon's first floor hit his face, Yuuya let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He reached down, his hand gripping Kurotsuki's hilt.
"Sorry, Eina," he whispered, a shadow of that smirk returning. "But a sword like this wasn't made for a basement."
With a sudden burst of speed, he vanished into the darkness of the 1st Floor, heading straight for the depths where the real monsters—and his true test—awaited.
∆∆∆∆
Author:
I'm deciding whether the next chapter should be a brief combat scene to show Yuuya's new use of the sword or, skip it entirely. Choosing either of the two will still result in me, skipping into the end of Yuuya's house arrest after some few more scenes.
Because from here on out, I'll start doing time skips a bit frequently. Why? Well mostly because I don't plan on Yuuya associating himself with the events and casts as much as possible. Despite the system saying the events will remain the same despite his inclusion.
The only time he will show up or do a lot of contribution is in the notable parts like Bell and the others against the Black Goliath in the 18th floor, war game against Apollo, Haruhime's rescue, and other scenes where I think I can add him.
As for the main reason why I want to speed up the events is because I really, really want to reach the part where I introduced Alfia into the story. Because for me, she was the main highlight or objective of my work.
Other than that, that part where she enters the story is the most developed part of this fanfic. I already developed that part and the ending to some extent. All that it needs is some finishing touches and it's all good.
Plus, I just have more ideas and imagination for that arc. In other words, I really enjoy writing those parts more.
But meh, developing the story is important as they say it. I guess I'll just tough it out for now.
As for those who are curious, the part where Alfia will appear is after Haruhime's rescue. And currently? We are at episode 3 of season 1. So we still had a painfully long way to go hahaha.
That's all for now, thanks for reading my nonsense. That is if anyone even bothers to read this parts anymore lol.