C66: Guild Request, Expedition
Word count = 1449 on 4/13/2024
(A/N: I slightly messed up and overlooked the fact that The water City is already part of the lower floor, I had made the impression that it was still part of the middle floors and I own up to the fact I messed up)
The next two days passed in obscurity as Axel was made to sleep on the couch still even though Raikou had given her approval of Aisha. Both her and Haruhimes paperwork was completed by Axel and they officially joined the Minamoto familia.
In the two days following the nen awakening of the group, all but lily had mastered the 4 basic techniques. Ten which serves to contain one's aura around themselves as a general defense. Zetsu which hides one's aura within themselves to provide stealth. Ren. the opposite of ten where you outburst your aura to enhance attacks. And finally Hatsu which is an aura release and primarily linked with one's nen abilities but general use allows for killing intent or similar pressures.Only Lily had failed to learn all four as she struggles to release Ren for more than a second. The result also completely drains her that she is outright paralyzed by her own nen due to not having enough to fuel her body.
He does reveal to them that control and even volume of one's nen increases with continued training so even a non talented nen user can become a proper monster through hard work and training. What surprised Axel most of all was the fact that Chigusa was the first to unlock a Nen ability. And it was for Conjuration. She dubbed 'The Guardian', which is exactly what it is. A proper samurai construct that is able to manifest various walls or defend through their edgeless sword. It can be seen as a reflection of her desire to more actively assist her friends in battle as well as relieve the strain on Ouka and Welf whenever they have to defend.
No one else has been able to achieve anything like it just yet but due to Chigusas ability, Axel had to give her and the rest of the group a proper introduction on nen types and abilities. He felt it was a bit early to learn these as they could still continue to perfect the basic techniques. Then they could attempt to learn or create new abilities before he introduced the advanced techniques if they don't learn them or figure out a part of it.
On the other hand, the day after they had all awakened, The guild had delivered a mission to his familia
"Axel Gram, You are to delve further into the dungeon to uncover the plot of Evilius, You do not need to engage if unnecessary yet an extra reward shall be given if you do handle the threat. The bare minimum would be granting information on their position, base of operation or reason for return and resurrection." The guild member who is a Pallum man takes his leave after reading the notice to him and Raikou. Axel spread the information to Aisha and Haruhime who grow a bit nervous until he tells them that he was there when Evilus showed (at least to Haruhime since Aisha had witnessed all this anyways).
He tells them that their expedition was to deal with Evilus in the first place so their plans have not changed. Aisha nods in agreement and Haruhime grows solemn. He and Aisha create a proper plan to reach the 29th floor which the Dis sisters had claimed to be the floor that Axel was invited to. The overall plan is to reach Rivira in just a few hours and then rest up at the 25th floor, just outside the water city before they continue on to reach the 28th floor for the next checkpoint resting region. Which means by the end of the 2nd day or morning of the third day of their expedition they would reach Evilus.
After the plan was created, they had split up again to continue their training. Axel has been wanting to study his own new nen abilities. Thanks to his magic training, he had already learned to create simple lightning/electricity from his hands for a stun gun like attack but he feels that such an attack is only against other people and not monsters. It is still overall a step closer to achieving godspeed. He experiments further in nen techniques and begins to achieve preliminary steps into Gyo which is a concentrated form of Ren.
Gyo makes it so that he can gather his nen around his fist or any other body part but the negative effect is that there is less nen on the rest of his body which reduces his overall defense but due to the nature of nen, unless he is struck by magic, it is unlikely to hurt him. Though that was the rules of another world with the falna such factors change but he still believes that unless the magic source user is one level higher than himself it would barely get past his defense when he uses Gyo. If he was unsealed then it would have even been 2 levels at minimum. With just ten or if he was able to achieve Ken then his defense would truly be absurd.
The overall meaning of this is that he truly does not fear physical attacks anymore. Even if it can somehow bypass his nen, he has the ceramic coating for extra defense.
During the 2nd day of preparation, Axel finally receives the final ingredient for the mantra awakening ceremony. Sadly with the expedition early the next day, he would have done it then and there but it takes a few days for the overall ceremony to be completed as thus he can't commit to it. He still stores the ingredients in his private bag that he typically hands off to Lily whenever they meet up. While he would be in danger if he did the ceremony in the dungeon since he would effectively be making himself a full on god through the mantra, it's only his mortal essence that could disguise him
"Hmm, should I awaken the juggernaut so I can reach level 5?" He starts having dangerous thoughts as he feels his speed is a bit slower though absorbing the level 5 adventurers stats as well as the god did provide him with quite the well rounded boost. He feels that unless he fights Rexs', his speed is too slow. But both the goliath and amphisbaena are on cooldown and Udaeus the next Rex on the list is all the way down at the 37th floor. He doesn't believe his group is ready to progress an entire 10 floors to fight the next major rex.
Shaking his head of these thoughts, he returns to his training and the second day passes and finally the group reconvenes on the next morning to give their report of nen training to Axel. That is then how he learns about Chigusa achieving her ability and he gives a quick rundown on how the abilities all work and the types that follow.
The group then proceeds into the dungeon. Everyone having their gear fixed up or changed up to accommodate their growth. Axel himself is now sporting a strange looking deer helm. This was the original juggernaut skull that he had gotten his hands on early in his adventures. Late in the previous evening, he had finally gotten around to enchanting it with various magics. The bone itself is already incredibly dense which provides high protection but with the reinforcement runes branded on it. He can pursue that aspect even further.
The rest of his gear is also made from the hefty skin of the variant hydra rex they encountered after Amphisbaena. To give Welf time to work for the rest of the group, Axel approached the rest of the Hephaestus familia blacksmiths and tailors to fashion himself and the rest of his group some new cloaks and armor. The black cloaks made from the half black Goliath is surely good but it doesnt protect as much against blunt attacks. While simpler monsters like orc might struggle to hurt the adventurer wearing this gear, but when hordes of crabs come rushing at you. Smacking you around every direction then it's not that useful. This hydra scale cloak provides much better protection and even contains minor self-repairing features due to the hydra's own regenerative abilities.
With their gear all sorted out and equipped, the group properly makes their way into the dungeon for their greatest dive yet.