It's been 3 weeks since I've been in the dungeon. After coming back from mapping out the warehouse I bought, and a good nights rest. I was inundated with things to do. Requests from the familia and other adventurers. Learning more about the Emissary Serum and the Gene pod, basic engineering principles, how to make simple weapons, Runes and my new Skill: Alchemist.
I could only get into the dungeon for a few hours a day. The commitments on the surface we're taking too much of my time. As if Runes weren't hard enough to master and use properly without blowing myself up. The Alchemist skill and associated knowledge was taking up a large chunk of my time. It was simply too useful.
Master Dreyar and Odin helped with some the fundamentals of enchanting, transfiguration, and transmutation. But beyond that they were either unable or unwilling to help. Odin obviously knew a lot more than me. The whole an eye for the knowledge of the universe thing was pretty much known by everyone. I guess he thinks I'll FUBAR something and be left in a half dead deformed state. I read the warnings. There's an entire series of books in my LIBRARY about warnings and precautions for alchemy and runes. I have read them and I will follow their advice. I do not want to turn myself into a frog.
After the Denatus, things got more hectic. The adventurers I'd saved wanted to thank me. Their gods as well. Apparently they were pushed back to the stairwell leading up to the 9th floor. The mages were especially thankful. I'd saved some of them from Mind Down.
The methods to make and maintain my weapons was also in contention. Just with the money from the rights to make them I could be a billionaire by winter. I refused however. Saying that one, they were incomplete, which wasn't technically a lie, I wanted to enchanting them to be a little bit better but how do I do that? I mean there is my Warcage. It cleans and repairs all weapons stored inside. Two, I don't trust other people with them. Being the sole proprietor of the firearms was for the best.
The Denatus lasted for 3 days. The first two taken up by the illegal substance found which I had a bit of in my INVENTORY, and prosecuting the perpetrators. And, my involvement. Ouranos called me to a meeting in the prayer room and actually gave me the offer to join his familia. Was not expecting that. Hermes was actually pretty alright with it. But I was a bit apprehensive. The entire point of joining the Hermes familia was to stay under the radar.
We came to an agreement. I will stay with the Hermes familia, but carry out any requests from Ouranos to the best of my abilities. In return, Ouranos backs me and takes some of heat off of me. Ouranos green-lit the destruction and decimation of Evilus, the Ishtar familia, and the slave trade. He puts up a stoic and strong front but even he was appalled by the conditions children had to suffer for the greed and perversions of the wealthy. The guild would be made aware of my new status as Ouranos' executioner. The Ganesha familia will be ordered to cooperate. Hermes requested what I was thinking that the less people know about this the better.
A geass was signed between me and Ouranos, with Hermes and Fels as witnesses. Fels is a scary motherfucker. I couldn't feel his presence, until he decided to make himself known. There was a white blip on the MAP next to Ouranos. It turned blue when Fels decided to make himself known.
Anyway, after the agreement with Ouranos was signed by all parties. A new MISSION popped up.
{MISSION Chain: Making the world a better place;
1. Destroy Evilus;
-Dionysus Familia. Optional: Kill Dionysus - Incomplete
-Thanatos Familia. Optional: Kill Thanatos - Incomplete
...
2. Free the enslaved - 0/100
3. Exterminate slavers - 0/10 }
Ok where were you 2 months ago when I first started? Whatever I have this to do as well. 'More work, awesome!' said nobody.
After the Denatus was over there was an outcry from the other gods accusing Hermes of lying. How can a level 1, decimate the equivalent of 3 monster waves. They didn't say shit in front Ouranos, because they will be eradicated from existence. Now when they have a bit of leeway, they come knocking. I didn't care too much. I had an instructions manual to read and a status to update. Hermes called some of the more vocal gods, Loki, Freya, Apollo and arranged a short meeting. Grumbling about me telling the truth or not answering they left. All three wanted me in their familia, Loki was a bit discreet about it, the other two weren't. I sort of regretted rejecting Ouranos' offer at that point, but it's all for the greater good, mine.
Hermes said to wait a few days before he updates my status.
Hermes called me into his office, Asfi was there as well, she's the captain of the familia, she has the right to know. I took my shirt off and sat facing away from him. Hermes looked at me like I was a freak. He wrote down everything he saw and locked my status. My status looked like this:
Cassius Jordan
Human
Level 1
STR: 10I -> 1999EX
END: 10I -> 1999EX
DEX: 10I -> 1999EX
AGI: 10I -> 1999EX
MAG: 0I -> 1999EX
Development Abilities:
Luck I -> F
Get Some!: Once an attack has begun, you and allies deal more damage per kill. I -> D
Rear Guard: During a fighting retreat, gain triple excelia per kill. I -> F
Available: Hunter, Mystery, Mage.
Skills:
Runemaster: Can use Runes to enchant items, create rituals, summon entities to do users bidding. Uses mind, but is not considered under magic spells.
Alchemist: As long as the law of equivalent exchange is followed, and the practitioner isn't a dumbass, anything can be made.
Sergeant Major: People shut the fuck up and listen when you take charge in any shit-show of a situation. People tend to avoid you in the morning. -Passive, constantly active.
Rest: User recovers all stats as long he is sitting, racking out, or sleeping. Boosts recovery if users is meditating.
Magic: None
Asfi asked to take a look as well. Upon reading the status sheet she was completely speechless. She just handed the sheet back to me and walked out of the office. I thought it was pretty strange as well, as far as I knew the limit was 999S, there were some cases of exceeding those stats but very few. Ottar and a few Zeus and Hera familia members, but that's it. Hermes asked what I wanted to do. The meaning was clear. If I level up now he'll have to report it at the next Denatus, in 3 months time. Well he won't 'have' to but questions will be asked regardless. Waiting won't do me any favours either. I didn't feel myself lacking in improvement but the longer I hold off the more I will stagnate. There isn't anything left to grow in my basic abilities. Also since when did Hermes play by the rules?
"I'll level up. You do the usual thing and keep things quiet. Announce it next year. Ouranos will want to know, but he can keep a secret. He's pretty good at it too, knowing all the shit that goes on around the city and keeping his mouth shut." I answered Hermes.
Hermes smirked and asked "what development ability do you want?"
"Mystery" I replied.
"Not Hunter? You know it's only available at level 2. Are you sure?" He confimred.
"Do you want your pistol or not?" That shut him up and I leveled up.
...
Cassius Jordan
Level 2
STR: 1999EX -> 0I
END: 1999EX -> 0I
DEX: 1999EX -> 0I
AGI: 1999EX -> 0I
MAG: 1999EX -> 0I
Development Abilities:
Luck F
Get Some! D
Rear Guard F
Mystery I
...
With the level up done, I informed Hermes bout the purchase of the warehouse. He was happy that I had my own place to keep my tamed monsters. There was discussion about the white haired boy, Bell Cranel, levelling up in a month. I was happy that he was alright, but a bit skeptic about his stats, I mean he could've continued to improve until he felt confident about fighting the Goliath, but it's his decision. There was more discussion about freeing the slaves and where to send them now. I'd been sending them to the kinder and newer familias. Hermes asked me to send some able bodied fighters his way as well. Hestia, Loki and Hephaestus were also included.
I headed back to my room and talked to the Chat-Group for a while. I had a picture of my uncovered status that I uploaded and asked Odin about.
Odin was very interested in the sealing aspect of it. According to him it was a tangible way of bestowing blessing and granting access to power untold. Madara asked about how it worked, and that was a rabbit hole I wished I didn't know about. The sheer possibilities of such a seal were immense. Being the patriarch of his clan he proceeded to implement it with his chakra seals and know the location and status of his clan, and enemies. Makarov Dreyar took that idea and ran with it. Turning the guild stamp into a status and communication method. Genryusai didn't really care, for the most part. He was only interested in his disciples. The others were busy trying to learn the basics of magic from the material shared in the Chat-Group and some items bought from the SHOP.
I had uploaded the stream of me completing my first mission as well. That was analyzed and dissected by the others. It was advised to invest time and/or money into timed charges. Madara just said "be faster" and left it at that. I see your point, but could you expand on that? On second thought don't.
Zeno, Bang, Master Roshi, asked if anything like Nen, Chi, or chakra exists where I am. If so they would more than happy to help me learn and master the basics. I decided to look into it. It can take up time now or bite me in the ass later.
That brings us to today.
I am at Maria orphanage. I tactically acquired some funds for them and renovated their building. The number of kids being sold into slavery pissed me off to no end. I've spent the past few days finding and freeing the children. Using the money the captors had on them, I sent the funds to where I could keep an eye on the caretakers. I see so much as a hint of exploitation I will end them. Maria and Miach were the best options. I robbed Dian Chet and used his money to pay off most of Miachs' debt. I robbed him blind. Pompous git was price gouging the slightly better potions. The cheap ones were made by new alchemists. The more stable ones were actually abundant, but not used too often due to the price difference. So I had a lot of material and resources, from normal to extremely-rare, to learn and experiment with.
I was using the potions to help and take care of the children. They needed money for upkeep and feeding the children. The Ganesha familia was made aware of the orphanage's condition. They were there to prevent anything bad happening to the children. I didn't even have to 'persuade' them. Hermes went to talk with Ganesha and came with an agreement in under an hour. Ganesha would protect the orphanage, in return he would get first pick of anyone who wanted to become an adventurer. Ganesha would use his own money to keep the place running. Maria was ecstatic when she found that the orphanage would have a public patron. Some gods would come by every now and then to take kids into their familias. I asked for a record of all such adoptions. It's more work but its the lives of children. I will not sit back and do nothing.
The instructions to the Gene pod were read and reread multiple times. There were 144 vials. All numbered. It was like going for a multiple operation/treatment procedure. It made what was already there better. It was advised that the recipient be in the best physical and mental condition possible. I decided to hold off for a bit. I still wasn't happy with the muscle growth and definition I had. I'd been benching 315lbs for 12 reps the last 2 months. Squats and dead lifts were the same.
I was getting there. I looked good. Shredded, muscular, but the shoulders and back needed more mass and definition. I could actually compete with bodybuilders in the 'Greek Classic' category, not win, compete. To het to this level the amount of food I was eating made enough money for the café owner near the Hermes residence to be able to renovate the place. I was looking better than my prime in my past life.
I finished with renovating the orphanage and headed home. I also needed to finalized the plans for the warehouse and make the M92 for Hermes. Asfi's grenade launcher will take time. I gave her my prototype grenades and my design based on a M79. I told her to go play and come back with feedback. It's been a week since she left. I gave her a few hundred grenades in an expanded storage case. I still had to figure out how to use the excelia from killed monsters to replenish the spent ammunition. That was for later, and only for my weapons. I need to make money as well.
It was 17:47 when I arrived at the warehouse and started planning the finishing touches to my new property.