Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)
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CHAPTER START------
HEPHAESTUS POV------
---Hephaestus office...The night of the Floor 1 treat incident
Yang had just walked out the door leaving both Hephaestus and Tsubaki sitting in her office pondering his new stat sheet. They were unsure of how to proceed with this unprecedented event. They both knew that their familia was safe because if the Hephaestus familia was destroyed the other familias wouldn't have anywhere reliable to go to for the highest quality weapons. Not to mention trade would be stalled until the void was filled. The problem was the golden egg named Yang that fell into her lap. He was a temptation certain gods would try to poach and make both legitimate and underhanded deals to acquire. That's what worries her. The boy was naive to the workings of the city and she wouldn't be able to hide him for even one more day. Reporting every level up is mandatory by turning in a copy of the adventurers' stat sheet, when that happened they would see all his stats at SS and him an entire level higher a mere 22 hours after getting his adventurer license. This will be announced and draw the eyes of the city as the new and likely unbreakable record. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Having to reveal her newest talented member pins a target on her familia and anyone close to him whilst she will also have to deter people from trying to poach or harm him. This was a headache she never expected to have to deal with. The only silver lining being that, he seems to be very talented thus far and even brought her some new designs.
Hephaestus: "Tsubaki please tell me you have some ideas for how to deal with this mess" Hephaestus pleads to her familia captain.
Tsubaki: "Um, the contract he wants for his special weapons can only be made by us so I don't believe he would leave especially if you told him he will never get them if he leaves our familia. I'm not sure what other gods would offer him, however."
Hephaestus: "Strong arming him into staying could backfire. I'll try to avoid that but if he wants to leave I'll remind him only I can make those weapons. I've already started on the first one but I really wasn't lying when I said the materials are above his current paygrade. Unless he has a few tens of million Valis or goes to the floors and harvests materials himself he won't be seeing them any time soon."
Tsubaki: "Why did you already start if you knew you couldn't finish it?"
Hephaestus: "The designs seem unwieldy and cumbersome, I made a rough framework essentially to test if they are functional or not. Surprisingly they are but the one he wants won't be usable for him, at least not until he gets a bit stronger."
Tsubaki: "Hmm, I half expected them to be pieces of junk he thought up, he said he wasn't a crafter but is it possible he lied?"
Hephaestus: "Hahaha with the silly mistakes he made he definitely isn't a crafter, if I thought anyone else would be able to craft things like that I'd accuse him of copying designs but these clearly came from him, maybe he thought them up as a kid or something but that's not important. I have the designs so I can eventually make them."
Tsubaki: "Well we know he's talented and might have a knack for thinking up CREATIVE weapons. How do we keep him in our familia in the future? Maybe discount rates on items from our forges?"
Hephaestus: "Hmmm, I don't believe he will be swayed by any of them. Freya and Loki have combat familias so if he wanted to be like that he would have gone there. He came to me because these weapons must be important to him. He should know that we are a familia with foundations built on trade and logistics so he would need to either partner with other adventuring groups or make do with the members we have to go to lower floors. Doubt he could get a group of our members to go where he needs to reach for his weapon materials, that's even if they were high enough level in the first place."
Tsubaki: "Do we just wait and do nothing then? That doesn't seem wise, Loki may be fine but Freya could make a move especially when his level-up record is announced tomorrow."
Hephaestus: "If she decides to cause trouble I'll try to persuade him to stay but if she convinces him then that's out of my hands. Depending on how it goes he could be labeled as a traitor to us and be banned from our items, that's completely within reason depending on the severity of the situation."
Tsubaki: "Hmmm, that seems like a good plan. We can't really do much to protect him anyway so mostly we just need to hope these weapons are important enough for him to stay."
Hephaestus: "I want you to send a subtle message to all our crafters, notify me if he requests or buys any items. I need to keep tabs on the kind of things he purchases in the future. How fast he changes equipment is a good indicator of how strong he is. Alright, that should do for tonight, deliver a copy of his stat sheet to the guild building so they can update the records. I need a drink to deal with this headache. Goodnight Tsubaki."
Tsubaki: "Goodnight Hephaestus. I'll see to it right away."
As Tsubaki leaves the room Hephaestus can't help but groan. All this nonsense over one person. Her familia is the backbone of the city. Their wares keep adventuring teams alive along with potions from other familias. She doubts anyone would be dumb enough to risk having their supply line cut off for one talented adventurer.
Hephaestus: "Hmm, if Welf would make those magic swords that would make this even easier, then I'd never have to worry about my familias position. Well, this can't be helped at this point. Ugh, tomorrow is going to be one major headache."
YANG POV------
As I woke up in my comfortable bed I raised a hand to block the sun from hitting my eyes. Slowly I made my way out of bed and to the bath to get washed up after which I lazily put on my clothes. My entire body felt sore and stiff, guess that's what happens when you spend an entire day fighting in the dungeon huh. Thankfully my burns are gone thanks to the healing magic from yesterday so my skin is fine. I take out the copy of my stat sheet and read it line by line as I get dressed in some basic clothes that came with the room. My abilities look like I can actually control more than only fire which puts a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. Magic has a lot of elements but I had to awaken the one that hurts my body the most... well aside from maybe lightning but that's a question for later. Hopefully, I can get the light element so I don't need to keep drinking potions. Not sure if I would resist healing and essentially lower the effect on myself but I'll add that to my questions for later. Right now I need to get out of the city and find somewhere to train. The maps showed a castle or something not too far and that should do to start. Can't go starting forest fires now hahaha. As I place the stat sheet back into my inventory I look out the window and realize something strange, the sun is already past noon. That means I slept until maybe 2 pm. Damn, I was much more tired than I thought. Hopefully getting to the castle won't take long. I begin making my way out of the tower.
As Yang walked through the tower and down past the marketplace he couldn't help but notice the not-so-subtle adventurers and regular people alike all focusing on him. Some had been looking at him and speaking in hushed tones, others were just silently watching as he walked past the crowds. He wasn't sure what had happened and he really couldn't be bothered to care right now so he just ignored them and continued on his path to the castle. He did have a feeling however that they were staring at him because word spread about his magic. His attitude seemed to raise a bit when one of the adventurers looked at him and tried to quietly say 'So that's the Elementalist huh', it seemed as though he already had a nickname. One that is actually befitting his style thankfully. He quickly made his way out of the city and began his journey to the castle.
HEPHAESTUS POV------
---Hephaestus Residence...Morning of the Denatus
I woke up and tended to my usual routine, dreading the annoying meeting that I might likely be the focus of very soon. It's almost 8 AM which means the meeting is about to start. I get ready and make my way down to the meeting hall only to run into Loki on the way there.
Loki: "Morning Hephaestus, heard you got some new talent huh. He can't compare to my sword princess Ais of course but it's good to see you have another member that can actually fight."
Hephaestus: "Yeah he just happened to need something from me so he joined me. Never expected him to start breaking records left and right and cause such a stir. Hope you don't mind your princess having some competition" Hephaestus says with a smug smile.
Loki: "Yeah right. He'd need a miracle to ever think about being able to catch up. Ais is already level 5 and this Yang person just hit level 2. As if he'd ever catch up" Loki grins cheekily.
Hephaestus: 'Well he seems to be full of surprises so far so maybe a miracle isn't that unlikely' "We'll have to wait and see I suppose."
As Hephaestus and Loki enter the meeting room all eyes are on them, or more accurately on Hephaestus. They walk over to their seats and wait for the last member to arrive, as always Freya is late. As everyone is waiting Hephaestus decides to break the silence.
Hephaestus: "Try not to make this a long meeting please, I've got a lot to get done today."
Ganesh: "Hahaha crafting weapons for your new prodigy perhaps eh Hephaestus?"
Hephaestus: "No he hasn't requested any from me yet. Besides he's only level 2 so he doesn't warrant my attention. This could very well be as good as he gets and I would rather not waste my time." 'Sarran got a buy order from him according to Tsubaki but he said that Yang doesn't seem to plan on using weapons much because of his skills, that's a bit concerning especially with stronger monsters so maybe making him something is warranted, not for free of course but I'd give him some Valis off.'
Freya: Entering the room as dramatic as ever. "I hope I haven't kept you all waiting too long. Something important came up. Now shall we start the meeting?"
As the meeting begins the gods discuss taxes and logistics as well as assembling expeditions to collect specific materials and escort those with the necessary skills to find ingredients down into the dungeon but eventually Hephaestus's dreaded topic comes up.
Freya: "Hephaestus congratulations on having the new record holder for advancing to level 2. An entire level in 22 hours, with all his stats at SS too. Completely unheard of. You have a rare prodigy on your hands." 'On your hands for now'
All the gods could hear the underlying tone in her words "Keep him close before I take him from you" as they all knew Freya very well and how much she coveted strength for her familia.
Hephaestus: "Yes and would you believe he approached me. He needs something that only I can make and agreed to join me if I'd personally make it for him someday. I really did have a golden egg fall into my lap. I might even have to make arrangements in terms of who can buy what from my familia depending on how people react to him in the future."
This piece of news startled all the gods present. This was a clear warning and threat. They all knew that without Hephaestus their familia members survival rate in the dungeon would plummet as adventurers placed their life on a few things in the dungeon, gear is one of the most important among them, and without Hephaestus's familia forges they wouldn't have the best gear to give them the edge they needed.
These words even made Freya stall as she simply couldn't place the value of 1 level 2 adventurer above the gear Hephaestus could provide for her entire familia. It simply wasn't worth the risk. This statement also made all the gods curious, 'What does she see in him that can make her consider even going this far, there must be something she hasn't reported to the guild or just isn't telling us about him' but they simply couldn't take the risk of poking him and being blacklisted at all her forges.
They couldn't even attack her familia as if they won and either exiled them from the city or in the extreme case sent Hephaestus back to heaven they would still have no access to the best gear anyone can ever craft. Their hands were tied with this simple statement and they had no choice but to back away from the new talent.
As the meeting was coming to an end then finally came the time to give monikers to new adventurers. To everyone's surprise, Hephaestus immediately spoke up.
Hephaestus: "Yang Shen shall be henceforth known as THE ELEMENTALIST."
None of the gods could refute it as none of them really knew about him past his base stats and they clearly saw she decided to name him after the new magic he has. Word quickly spread around the city as the meeting ended and many gods spoke to their familia captains regarding the new potential prodigy in the city. Two of which were Loki and Freya.
CHAPTER 7 END------