Chereads / A Fish Out of Water / Chapter 13 - Day-to-Day grind

Chapter 13 - Day-to-Day grind

It has been a month since my eradication of the Juggernaut and Goliath. I've challenged the Goliath again. On several occasions actually. The norm of the Goliath spawning every two weeks was accurate, but could be sped up by damaging the Wall of Grief. A brick of C4 duct taped to the wall accomplished this very efficiently.

I also found out how to get the Goliath to equip it's mauls. They make the wearer look line that clawed superhero guy. They're cool as fuck. So in order to get the Goliath to equip it's mauls, one must fight it unarmored. Yep, taking my plate-carrier and flack jacket off counted as unarmoured. Using a shield is permissible, for some strange reason.

I'm basically living in the dungeon now. Hermes can feel the link between us so he doesn't even bother checking up on me unless he feels the link fading or a strong pulse through it. Asfi and Lulune came all the way down to the twelfth floor looking for me. I'd been in the dungeon for five days at this point. I didn't understand why they were all agitated. I'd told Hermes and Asfi I'd be in the dungeon for a few days. Thankfully they found me when I was practising my spell craft. I'd be pretty awkward just shooting anything that moves and your own familia members catch you keeping secrets from them. It's for my own safety that I keep guns secret from them. It may embolden them to start fucking with things they should not.

I'm staying in a treehouse by the river in Rivira. I used the runes for nature and building to get a tight group of trees to grown and mould together to make a cabin that is hidden and well camouflaged. The book on Kido techniques Genryusai send has given me several ideas for wards and barriers. My favourite is the one that castrates anyone that enters within a certain area. It doesn't discriminate between genders. Men get their dick cut in half lengthways and then set on fire. Women get a cut across their vagina then their womb and tits are set on fire. I love that ward. Also not everyone checks for wards and protections. So if I'm sleeping on a different floors' corridor I don't have to worry about thieves. Wards for monsters are actually simpler. Master Dreyar was beside himself when he converted the Kido into his spell formats. Wizard saint more like wizard god. Odin and Whitebeard got to talking and now Whitebeard has an enchanted naginata that heals him using the life force of the enemies killed with it. He attacked some ugly fat bitch called Big Mom, and completely destroyed her island. For mere mortals like the rest of us, that was when we learned to not piss off Whitebeard.

Odin saw one of my stream uploads of me kicking ass with my shield and spear. He then uploaded a memory of him using his spear to kill a shit ton of fire giants. That and the clip of Madara kicking an entire villages' ass was a masterclass in what a long reach weapon could do if used properly. On his memory stream, Odin was not using the magical properties of the spear to smite the fire giants.

I also watched how the others fought hand-to-hand to learn something new. What I learned is, first, it's all about timing. If all you know are the basics, and time them well, you have a better chance at winning that someone trying to pull some fancy shit. Second, use everything to your advantage, terrain, weather, placing the sun behind you, weapons and even other enemies. Silver Fist pulled some Jackie Chan shit and had a group of thugs fighting themselves.

I'm just practicing on the first eighteen floors. Going deeper is actually pretty high risk. Most of the larger familias have a residence in Rivira. They keep a track of everyone coming and going, A lot of naïve adventurers have been robbed by some criminal familias. They are allowed to exist because there is usually no proof that it was them. I was having the time of my life, "tactically acquiring" whatever I wanted from these cunts was wonderfully hilarious. A few got a bit too close for comfort. They disappeared. They were alive, just barely. I was using their blood to strengthen my shield and spear.

I also had to send a message to some uppity motherfuckers trying to muscle me out of my loot. I was surprised it took this long. I don't know which familia they were from, it doesn't matter now, they're dead. I just impaled, Vlad the Impaler style, them and left them there. My Auto-Loot took everything of value from them. All that was reported by the guild was that someone was robbing adventurers. Pot meet kettle. Not my problem, also Hermes has my back as I gave him intel and half of the loot. He doesn't report level ups, to avoid paying higher taxes to the guild. Also to avoid taking missions from the guild. From a uninformed perspective, it seems like the Freya, Loki and Hephaestus familia run Orario. But it's actually Evilius on one side and Ouranos on the other. Hermes is the preferred messenger. So Hermes has access to all the intel. The real strength of the top 3 in the familia is actually a bit higher than reported. Asfi-level 6, Falgar-level 6, Nelly-level 5. Their reported levels are two levels lower at the guild. A lot of what's reported at the guild is actually one of two levels lower than the actual stats of the adventurer. Also the number of couriers and workers at level 1 not involved in exploration activities also lowered the rating of the familia. Joining Hermes was the correct choice. What the SHOP can provide and what a few well greased palms can get are completely different levels of actionable intel. Gathering intel on your own is always recommended. Unless you have access to a live feed. Your sources should be rewarded for good work, and discarded for fuck ups. Also if anyone insists that their information is good. Kill them, they've sold you out. Find someone else to find out what you need.

I'm slowly infiltrating Daedalus Street. Getting all the information of the red light district was pretty easy. Hoes love to gossip. Pay to fuck and get some information. The red light district is run my the Ishtar famillia, but the number of informants and contacts the familia has gathered over the years is mind boggling. Makes it easier to know who to fuck. Don't fuck bitches in your unit, it's not going to end well for either of you. The uncontacted and unconverted hoes are the ones I go for. They usually tell me everything after they're done getting fucked. The bitch breaker from my last life has carried over to this one. Fuck 'em, clean up, have a drink or two and make 'conversation,' verify with your known contacts.

My plans revolve around robbing several slave merchants. smugglers and familias. Knossos is also a prime target to dismantle. The materials in a cubic metre are worth billions. The Daedalus line will have to die for the greater good. I also need to find a way to imprison gods. The amount of godly blood I can harvest would be insane. Distilling it further, and I'll have the means to make a chalice of creation, a Philosophers'' stone, a swimming pool of Panacea. All are possible as long as I can imprison some of the gods. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Today is my last day in the dungeon. I've been here for 17 days. I want to see the actual sun. I also had to buy sunglasses due to the long times I spend in the dark dungeon. Gold rimless aviators with black polarized lenses. They were only $500. Had no effects beside protecting my eyes and looking cool. There was other eyewear which had some very desirable effects, but I honestly didn't want to waste money on gimmicky shit.

On my way up, I met the pests from the Loki familia. 'Be nice, Hermes still has a use for them.' Most of them were cool. It was the mutt Bete that was looking to get shot. 'Someday, I'll put out down like the rabid mutt you are.' I just nodded and walked past them.

I really need to buy that armour. I don't know why I'm so fixated on those specific items. I can buy cheaper sets and enchant them myself. I've enchanted my M7 bayonet to now stab, hack and slash all enemies I'm not looking at to pieces. I basically have a blade that takes care of the cannon fodder for me. It took 20 golden-egg eggshells. 101 goblin and kobold cores,1000 goblin fangs, and 1000 kobold nails in a ritual to bring the bayonet up to the level where it could carry those enchantments. It's actually able to kill peak level 7 monsters. It has a range of 25 metres around me. Floats, moves and targets on it's own. It's primary function is to watch my back. I'm very proud of my first proper work. I got inspiration from Freys' Sumarbrandr. Odin was actually impressed with what I'd made despite the lack of proper instruction and materials. He called it 'passable.' I was initially a little miffed, but then I realized he's talking from his godly perspective. I shared the procedure on the Chat-Group and uploaded a memory of how I went about doing it.

'I also need to get a Tamer permit.' I'd decided to tame a hellhound and a ligerfang. I also wanted to tame and infant dragon and raise it to be an immense dragon that I can ride and fly around on. I'll save that for later. There are also other monsters I want to tame, but I need the make sure if they are actually able to follow commands and kill other monsters in the dungeon. If not I'd get the pet I'd been wanting for a while now. So win-win.

I took a cigarillo from my left chest pocket and lit up. I was pretty tired of the dungeon and just wanted to get home. Nothing unusual happened on my way up, ran into some acquaintances here and there. Mostly new adventurers I'd run into over the last few months.

Out on the surface I met Ms. Fannett in the guild office. I greeted her and was on my way.

Shower, beer and pizza, sleep. Also it's possible to buy tv shows from the SHOP. I can then store them in my LIBRARY. I had to buy pocket projector. I'll be watching Top Gear.