Part Eighteen
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The Sixth Floor of the Dungeon is said to be a first hint of the Dungeon's antipathy for adventurers. On the whole the first five floors of the Dungeon are relatively safe, even the fifth, because despite the increase in monster density, even a small group of adventurers, no matter how new are pretty capable of handling it.
The Sixth Floor is when that changes, when it isn't enough to merely be in a party. You have to have grown to survive it, and not just in stats, but in skill too. If you're daring to take it on solo, you need to meet a bare minimum of speed and awareness or else you'll die. If you've neglected your Agility, War Shadows will tear you apart. And you won't be able to escape.
Bodies of overambitious and cocky newbies are brought back up from the Dungeon's Lower Sixth with stunning regularity to outsiders. Ouka and his fellow adventurers had brought back a few of them in their time in Orario, and seen the aftermath of more.
As his party advanced through the Sixth, Ouka kept a watchful eye on the state of the party and their surroundings.
The new addition to their party had stumbled in the first fight against the Frog Shooters, but since then had shown that it was only inexperience. He didn't get caught off-guard again as they moved towards the way down to the Seventh. He'd shown himself to be capable of handling anything on this floor. Quick enough in speed and reflex to prevent Frog Shooters from so much as scratching him with their tongues, and strong enough to match a War Shadow's finger blades blow for blow without flinching. If Ouka were to guess purely based on his physical abilities, he would have said Blair had been in the Dungeon for at a bare minimum a month. Probably more like two.
And able to heal on top of that. When Kane was cut by a War Shadow that had used the body of a dead Frog Shooter to leap at him, Blair had immediately called Mikoto to take his position and began his chant. Just a few moments later Kane's flesh wound was gone, as if it had never been. Short Chant Healing. True, it was short range, the recipient basically needed to be within two meters of him, but it was quick.
Ouka took a draught of water. What Blair lacked was skill. His spearwork was amateurish, his aim with a javelin barely acceptable, and his swordsmanship was no better. It was the only thing about him that screamed that he was a new adventurer, that and his clear lack of experience with anything even this deep into the Dungeon.
"We're approaching the Seventh," Ouka called out. "Blair, join Oki in the center. Mikoto and Asuka take the Vanguard, I'll take the Middle. Chigusa and Kane will be Rearguard."
The party shifted without incident and they continued the final distance to the Seventh Floor. Oki was already busy explaining to Blair what he needed to pay attention to. Blair was listening attentively and seriously.
That was good. He had wondered how Blair would handle being off the front and taking on a more passive role. And also how he would handle learning from someone so much younger than he was. Ouka had seen the looks he gave them from time to time, the ones that said he was looking at kids. But those looks always passed momentarily and returned to his normal serious regard of them. It was only natural, he supposed. Blair had probably at least 3 or 4 years on himself, since he was only 17.
Entering the Seventh, they turned early on down a side-hall, heading for a particular room they were already familiar with. It was one of the better spots on the Seventh for a party of their size and strength, with the potential to spawn a large number of ants, but also with large rocks in one corner that formed an easily defensible position.
And if they wanted to complete their Quest, they'd need to kill an awful lot of ants today.
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I took solace in the fact that Ouka, Mikoto, and the rest had all been down a lot farther than this. When covering the Seventh Floor, Miss Eina was a true taskmaster.
The Seventh Floor of the Dungeon is, perhaps surprisingly, the single most deadly floor in the Upper 12. Not in absolute terms, obviously the deeper floors have more deadly and powerful monsters, but in terms of the ratio of adventurers who venture into it for the first time to those who never return.
Killer Ants are the primary and most numerous enemy on the Seventh. Their hard carapace makes landing a fatal blow require precision, to strike between their body segments, or to slip into a gap in their armor. And combined with their sharp blade-like arms, Killer Ants are essentially armored, slightly slower versions of War Shadows.
But that isn't why they result in such carnage among new adventurers, and even some experienced ones. If you fail to kill a Killer Ant cleanly, it will begin to release pheromones that call other nearby Killer Ants to its aid or to avenge its death. Once it begins, it is all too easy to fail to cleanly kill another, which will add to the pheromones, calling still more ants, until you and your party are buried under a tide of enraged arthropods.
Alone, Killer Ants would be a death-trap for the unprepared, but the Seventh Floor has yet more tricks up its sleeve. The addition of the Purple Moths, enemies which fly and can scatter poisonous dust from their wings, add yet another source of death to the floor. Although they fly, Purple Moths still have to get relatively close to scatter dense enough poison to be truly effective, which gives even adventurers without ranged attacks the opportunity to kill them. Their poison forces parties to bring antidotes along, and when the Moths wind up acting in concert with the Ants, they'll bring down even parties that have adventured to deeper floors.
I followed Oki's instructions as our Vanguard fought the ants. Whenever Mikoto or Asuka cut one down, Oki would dash forward and move its body, passing it off to me near some rocks, where I would cut out its magic stone to dissolve the body.
Ouka was keeping a watchful eye on his vanguard, stepping in with his spear to finish off any ant that didn't look quite dead, and ensuring that the ants wouldn't call reinforcements. Only when we had killed all but a single ant would he allow it to release its silent call, and even then only for a few moments, slaying it the moment additional ants arrived.
"...Healing Light!" Motes of light coalesced around Asuka's calf, torn by the pincers of a decapitated Killer Ant's death throes. The head had tumbled right next to her leg, and in its spasms clamped down on her.
"Thank you," she whispered as she tested her leg.
"Go give 'em hell." I replied.
Once we had gotten to this room, we had set up in the rocky corner. Oki had produced pickaxes from his pack, and we used them to damage the walls in the area immediately behind us. The Dungeon wouldn't produce monsters from walls that were being repaired, so Oki or I would occasionally redamage the walls while the rest of the party fought at the front.
Without a need for a rearguard, Chigusa had joined her fellows at the front while Kane added his help to Ouka, keeping a watchful eye for any half-dead ants.
Being a Supporter was a different experience. Letting others do the fighting for me didn't quite sit right, but I did my new job as best I could. Injuries came from time to time, but it was obvious that Takemikazuchi Familia had been adventuring deeper than this for a while now.
"Moths, left hall," I called out. A few Purple Moths had drifted into the room and immediately headed for our fight. As they got closer I threw my Javelin, which pierced its wing sending it and the creature tumbling from the air.
"Oki, bow," Ouka said. Their supporter withdrew a bow and arrows from his pack and delivered them to Kane.
The other moths closed on our front line, still fighting the current group of ants, and one suddenly fell from the sky with an arrow in its head. There was only 1 left when it reached the line, only to die before it could even release its poison as Mikoto physically leaped into the air towards it off the head of a KIller Ant and cleaved it in twain with her sword.
"Good!" Ouka yelled. "Keep this up and we won't have to use an antidote today."
Takemikazuchi Familia laughed, and I found myself joining them. Being in a party really was different, less oppressive than being solo.
I had been concerned that my growth would be adversely affected by joining them as a healer. Not being able to use my Blank Slate skill while using the Healer Class was a potential problem. But I quickly learned otherwise.
I was rolling in the Ability Pages. I was getting them from my Party Member's kills. Drop Crystals too. Even without my Adventurer Class's drop rate boost for Ability Pages, I was getting more than I had imagined. It definitely had something to do with the strength of the monsters, because I was seeing pretty close to two Pages per Ant. It more than made up for my lack of Blank Slate.
When we had a break, I had been doing the math. Based on my old growth rate, I was probably going to be growing at about the same rate as if I had been using the Adventurer Class off of just the Ability Pages my party was acquiring for me.
I began to surreptitiously use a Drop Crystal here and there on Ants. Not too many, but about every third Drop Crystal I would use. Not only to ensure we completed the quest, but because I wanted to share some of this good fortune I was receiving merely by being in a party with them. True, I'd make less money in an absolute sense by doing this than by saving them and using them myself on a solo run, since I was effectively only going to get 1/7 of the value. But that wasn't really the point.
I turned to the Purple Moth body I had dragged over here and used a Drop Crystal on it, forcing it to leave behind its Purple Moth Wing. They were a valuable drop item, always in demand since it was used to make Antidotes.
I watched Mikoto cut down an Ant and the little notification popped up in my upper right peripheral vision. Another 2 Ability Pages for me!
You folks just keep bringing in Ability Pages for me, and I'll make you guys phenomenally wealthy, I promised, turning back to cut out another magic stone. A fair trade, I think.
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"What a day," Ouka said as we climbed the spiraling stairs out of the Dungeon. Both Oki and my packs were stuffed to the brim with gear, Magic Stones and Drop Items, and even our other party members had grabbed up whatever they could hold. "We easily completed that Quest, and will have a huge profit on top of it. So, Blair, how did you like it?"
"Thank you for bringing me along," I replied. "I hope my healing was satisfactory?"
"Better than that," Mikoto said. "We didn't have to use a single healing potion all day!"
"It's true," Asuka agreed. "You kept us all in the fight."
Ouka clapped me on the shoulder. "You did good today. I trust you'll join us tomorrow as well."
"If you'll have me," I agreed. "Before we turn in the drop items, could I trouble you to have a portion of my share in the drop items themselves. My blacksmith expressed an interest in using some to make me weapons and armor I had asked about."
"Of course. We'll get our haul assessed, and then you can take whatever portion of it you need out of your share."
As we waited, Ouka turned back to me.
"You need some actual training with your weapons. You're strong enough to handle going down as far as the Seventh, I think. But you don't really know how to fight."
I winced. He's not wrong.
"Do you have a suggestion?" I asked.
"Why don't you come by our place in the morning. I'll teach you." Ouka offered. "Brute-forcing your way through the Dungeon will only get you killed."
"I thought we were going into the Dungeon tomorrow?"
"I wanted to delay it," Ouka admitted. "Maybe just do an afternoon run down into the eighth. It's goblins and kobolds again down there, but stronger and more numerous. Just enough to get a feel for it. Then we'll be taking a couple of days off to rearm and rest before going down to the tenth or below."
I looked at Ouka. He was definitely more skilled and experienced than me. And I was already trusting them to keep me safe, and risking them realizing how weird my growth was. What was one more thing?
"Okay." I said. "I'll be there."
Ouka nodded. "We'll do spear, sword, and javelin. Is there anything else you need?"
"Hand to hand maybe?" I asked after a moment of consideration.
"Okay. Same time as today," he said. "It looks like the Guild is done assessing our stuff, so lets go get paid, huh?"
I grinned back at him. "Getting paid is good."
Despite walking away with a few Drop Items, the ones Welf had specifically mentioned for that new spear, I still came away from this trip with almost as much valis as any of my previous trips, even though the split went 7 ways.
A Party was a huge benefit. And now I knew for sure that Blank Slate, despite being complete bullshit, wasn't something I had to necessarily rely on for growth. A party could do the job for me too, by killing a lot more monsters than I ever could on my own.
If only I could combine them though… the thought made me salivate over the potential growth I could achieve.
The Gamer is still bullshit. That was the real takeaway from this.
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Blair
Level 1
Strength F-325 -> F-327
Endurance F-329 -> F-333
Dexterity F-331 -> F-334
Agility F-338 -> F-339
Magic F-328 -> F-337
"A normal day for once!" Hestia exclaimed, laughing hysterically on my back. I think she was much more amused by my disappointment than anything else.
"This is how it's supposed to be, you know." She slapped my back. "Not your nonsense. Gaining hundreds of points per day."
She wasn't wrong, but she wasn't right either. There was shounen bullshit on the horizon.
"Only until I use all those Pages I got," I muttered into my pillow. So what if I was a bit sulky over the tiny little gains? Surely it was obvious to see why it was disappointing compared to what I was used to seeing?
In order to cheer myself up, I turned to my new Class Augment. Given how many Killer Ants died to my party today, it was only natural I already had one from them. I almost used it immediately on my Adventurer class again. But I was curious now that I was actually using the Healer Class. What would I get if I used it?
I was curious, and I was getting close to a couple of other Augments I could always use on Adventurer.
[Class Update]
Healer [Basic] (D) Level 1
Endurance +5% -> 6%
Agility +5% -> 6%
Magic +15% -> 18%
Skills:
+Lay on Hands: Seals injuries, status afflictions, and curses. By remaining in physical contact with the target, prevent their injuries and afflictions from continuing to harm them.
Magic:
Healing Hand: (Short Chant Magic)
Healing Magic. Mends wounds on the target starting from the heaviest to the lightest. Mends broken bones slowly.
That was… actually incredibly strong, wasn't it? Being able to prevent an injury from continuing to harm its victim by touching someone? Even a nearly lethal wound could be healed with magic or a potion of you could prevent them from bleeding out or dying before you could finish chanting.
"Blair! Are you paying attention to me?"
"Of course." I answered unthinkingly.
"Liar," Hestia called me out. "You have to give me a massage. I'm sore."
"Is that my punishment?"
"Make of it whatever you will," Hestia huffed.
"As you wish," I conceded to her. She glared at me, not understanding the reference I was making, but knowing the look on my face meant I was amused by something. But the glare didn't reach her mouth, which was visibly fighting her desire to smile.
Part Nineteen
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When Hestia woke up, Blair was already gone. She didn't like that. Blair was warm. She wanted him to still be here next to her when she woke up.
It was selfish of her. Blair had important things to do, for himself and for her, but that didn't change how she felt.
Somehow, everything around her and her sole Familia member was moving far too fast. He was growing at an astonishing pace, every day full of new things for him to be doing. And new things to trouble her.
Hestia pondered this as she got up and about her morning routine. A routine glance into ther Familia Menu told her that Blair was at the Takemikazuchi Familia's home, just where she expected he'd be, getting training from Take's captain.
On the table in the center of their room lay a bag full of valis. It was almost all of Blair's profit from the day before, now set aside for them to get someone to come and fix up their home. Once the exterior of the church was repaired, they wouldn't have to live in the basement. They'd be able to move up into some actual rooms. With room for a real bed maybe?
Hestia raised a hand to her rapidly warming cheeks as she imagined sleeping up against Blair in a bed actually big enough for two. She nodded to herself. That would be wonderful. She'd have to go get some advice from Hephaestus about who to hire.
Her hand fell to her breast, and she could almost feel a lingering phantom of Blair's touch those few days ago. She was still working up the courage to ask him to touch her again. She wanted it, she was certain, but there was something scary about it too.
The fear of the new. Although the gods had come down to the lower world precisely to experience things that were new, that didn't necessarily make them not scary. And the things she felt when Blair touched her were both wonderful and frightening for her. And exciting, that too.
Next time, she promised herself, just as she had the day before. Next time, she'd do it. If she told herself that often enough, she could almost believe it.
While she ate, she idly looked through her Familia Menu. By this point Blair had earned over 1000 Familia Merit for her to spend. Even after talking a bit with Blair, she was still unsure what to spend it on. She just had too many options.
This must be how he had felt with all his stat boosting chapters. Too many potential choices.
[Kitchen]
Rank: I
Quality: Poor
Food produced in the Kitchen raises maximum Stamina and Mind temporarily.
Upgrade: 100 Familia Merit, Quality Poor or higher
Not only that, but she couldn't even upgrade their Facilities much until they got some work done on them. She couldn't upgrade their Chapel at all for instance, because its quality was rated as Bad.
Everything about the Familia System that Blair had given her was little bonuses here and there. A bit more Stamina and Mind from the Kitchen, small boosts from the Blessings. But in a way it all added up to a lot when it was added together.
Sometimes it felt like it was mocking her, though. Like with the Goddess' Suite. The name the system gave to the room with her bed. It was the only room so far she had actively upgraded, and was part of the reason she had been pulling Blair into bed with her - but only a small part.
It raised the quality of sleep, but it also improved the effectiveness of all Familia Bonuses if one of her children slept there, in proportion to how much sleep they got. A powerful effect, but not one she could exactly spread around. No, it was reserved for just one person.
Hestia stepped out of the church with a spring in her step. She had things to do. Blair was working hard for her, so she could do no less for him.
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I had no idea how weird it would feel, to look at a goblin again and see it as a threat.
The Eighth and Ninth floors of the Dungeon reintroduced the humble goblin and kobold to adventurers, but it was a nasty shock. They were a lot stronger than on the first 5 floors, and in greater numbers than even the lower fifth.
As I crossed blades with a goblin that slipped around our flank, I was shocked. I was used to a single blow from me putting them down, if not killing them outright, regardless of whether they tried to dodge or not. But this one was fast and nimble enough to juke back out of my sword's reach.
It wasn't as strong as me or even as fast, but the gap was small. Very much like what I experienced that first day in the dungeon. Weaker than me, but close enough that it could absolutely hurt me if I made a mistake.
Fighting with my big backpack on was also harder than when I was using my small one. Still, I made use of what Ouka had taught me this morning and didn't let the goblin get away. I waved off Mikoto, who I saw coming to help me, but I wanted a shot at this one.
I showed it a lowered guard, and like the killing-obsessed creature it was, it flung itself right at me. And right into my sword, which carved a clean line through one of its outstretched limbs as I stepped aside, followed by a thrust through the back as its momentum carried it past me.
[New Class]
Swordsman [Basic] Level 1
A melee fighter specialising in blades, swordsmen are a balanced melee class.
Strength +6.25%
Dexterity +6.25%
Agility +6.25%
Endurance +6.25%
Skills
Swordsman's Expertise: Improves handling and skill with swords and other blades.
And just like that I had earned the sword version of my spearman class. It wasn't the first class I earned today either, having also earned another class shortly after we reached the Eighth floor.
[New Class]
Supporter [Basic] Level 1
The Supporter class aids the rest of the party by doing the little things, including carrying and collecting the loot, as well as any other supplies. An essential part of any party.
Strength +5%
Dexterity +7.5%
Agility +5%
Endurance +7.5%
Skills:
Artel Assist: When the user is carrying a certain amount of weight, the skill will help compensate in abilities. The amount compensated depends on the weight.
I wasn't sure exactly when I'd wind up using them, but having options never hurts.
The reason Ouka had brought us down to the Eighth and Ninth floors was for practice as a moving group. Yesterday we had spent most of the day in one spot killing Ants, but today we were constantly on the move, hunting for roaming packs of goblins and kobolds. That meant everyone had to be constantly keeping any eye on our flanks and rear, so we didn't get ambushed or trapped, and fights were more likely to become less clean, with an enemy or two slipping through the front or around a flank every now and then.
Interestingly, Goblins and Kobolds on these floors drop the same types of Drop Items, but they have a distinct color difference, and are substantially more valuable.
Oki and I were busy cutting out Magic Stones when we heard it. A howl of rage - a battlecry - echoed through the halls of the Ninth Floor. Shortly following it, howls and cries could be heard echoing all around.
"Chieftain!" Ouka called out. "Everyone gather up."
Chieftains. They were a Rare Variant that appeared on the Eighth and Ninth Floors. Not on the level of being called an Irregular, a Chieftain was simply a particularly powerful kobold or goblin. Their appearance was random, but usually a handful of them would appear over the course of a month.
When they appeared, their cry would gather the nearest packs of goblins and kobolds to them, forming a larger, much more dangerous group made up of both types of monster. They'd wander through the dungeon, gathering packs to themselves and building themselves a Monster Party. Luckily for everyone but the Chieftain, they rarely got the chance to build up to that point.
"Let's go find it," Ouka said. "Mikoto, lead the way."
Of course we were going to go find it. A Chieftain left behind a guaranteed drop item in the form of its crown. The Chieftain's Crown was always made of gold, but with tiny bits of adamantite within it that could be extracted by a smith. Those bits might only add up to the size of a marble in total, but even that little adamantite was worth a fortune. Especially to adventurers stuck in the Upper Floors.
Which is why the appearance of a Chieftain always results in a scramble to be the party to bring it down.
Our party moved quickly through the halls, following the sound of the Chieftain's call. Occasionally we'd hear the sounds of a fight taking place in a side-room, probably other parties doing the same as we were, but that ran into a pack of monsters on the way.
The chieftain was found in one of the major rooms of the Ninth Floor. The major rooms were all quite expansive, equivalent to a large open park in my old hometown. When we entered, the sounds of battle were everywhere. There were already three other parties of similar size to ours engaged with the chieftain's packs, along with a handful of smaller groups of two or three.
"We're pulling back," Ouka determined after watching the battle for a few moments. "It's too hectic. With so many other adventurers here already, it is likely a fight will break out over the crown."
We were all mildly disappointed as we turned away, but the Chieftain had just spawned too far away from our position. If we had been closer, given that Takemikazuchi Familia was a regular of lower floors, we might have been able to take care of the Chieftain before too many others showed up.
But Ouka made the safe call, and I could absolutely respect that. The Chieftain's Crown was undoubtedly valuable, but not worth risking a battle with other adventurers over. Although it pained me more than I would admit.
[New Quest]
[Slay the Chieftain]
Defeat a Kobold or Goblin Chieftain
Reward: (10) Ability Page, (1) Class Augment
Walking away was like leaving a boost for one of my classes behind. But I could hardly protest the decision, and even if I could, I wouldn't be able to explain why I wanted us to try and kill it so badly. Maybe I'd get another chance sometime.
We left the dungeon shortly after that, with quite an impressive amount of loot and only a mild sense of disappointment over the lost opportunity.
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After two days with the Takemikazuchi Familia, the immediate benefit was astounding. Going down into the Dungeon with them had probably accelerated my growth by several days, at least, if not a full week.
I'd gained hundreds of Pages and dozens of Ability Chapters, gotten two new classes and two new class cores - the second from killing goblins today, and raised Healer to D-Rank and Adventurer to B-Rank. That had resulted in a quite powerful new skill.
Valorous Stand: Raises Abilities while outnumbered. The greater the disparity, the further stats are raised.
The skill was perfect for me. Perfect for any adventurer actually, since it was quite rare to be facing nothing but a single powerful monster. Especially on the Upper Floors.
Thanks to joining a party that could take me down to those lower floors safely, show me the ropes, and kill more monsters than I could on my own, I was swimming in Ability Chapters. It was unreal. True, most of it was due to those early Quest completions for killing 10 of a new monster type, and due to the one-off rewards of entering a new floor for the first time and returning alive, but that only meant that my acquisition of Ability Chapters was going to slow down somewhat. And having more strength now meant an easier time collecting Chapters once I hit that limit and got my initial Quests for the 10th and 11th Level monsters and the 10th-12th level one-off quests.
It was time to use them. I'd have a couple of days off to get used to my new abilities, before I joined the Takemikazuchhi Familia for their planned trip down to the 11th Floor. And if we were going that far down, I definitely wanted as much buffer in my stats as I could get.
"Ready, Hestia?" I asked.
"Mmhmm," she agreed. My stats had gone up hardly at all again, as expected, but all these Ability Pages and Chapters more than made up for it. I had almost a hundred chapters, just from quests. And my ability pages already added up to another 40 or so, divided across all 5 stats pretty evenly.
I was going to raise at least 1 stat to 500 today, I decided. More than one actually, as I did the math on them. It was a huge array of stat increases, bigger than the one I had gone through just two days ago. But I was going to have to actually grind out Ability Pages soon, since I only had so many easy quests for Ability Chapters left before I'd have to be killing hundreds of monsters for every additional Quest Reward.
So in that sense these huge numbers were sort of a next-to-last hurrah of absurdly fast growth.
Blair
Level 1
Strength F-327 -> E-488
Endurance F-333 -> E489
Dexterity F-334 -> E-493
Agility F-339 -> D-504
Magic F-337 -> D-501
Immediately after Hestia completed my Update, notifications pinged me.
[New Quest]
[Rank Up]
Gather High-Class Excilia [0%/100%]
Rank Up to Level 2
Reward: (1) Advanced Class Core
[New Quest]
[Level 1 Limit Break: SS]
Gather High-Class Excilia [0%/25%]
One or more Basic Abilities at S-999 [504/999]
Reward: (2) Class Augment, Unlocks Basic Ability Rank: SS (1000-1199)
I couldn't help it. I started cackling like a madman.
"Blair? Are you alright?"
I started coughing at the reminder that Hestia was still on top of me. How embarrassing, to be caught indulging my inner Palpatine.
===== ===== ===== ===== =====Part Twenty
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Adventurers are the worst. They lie, they cheat, they trample the weak beneath them in order to make themselves strong. They lie, to themselves and to others, and they steal from those who are weaker than them.
This is why you must never trust an Adventurer. They will always betray that trust.
This was the creed that Liliruca Arde lived by. The lessons learned from a lifetime of being trampled on by Adventurers both inside and outside her Familia.
Take the case of her most recent, and now former, employers. A small group of three adventurers who she had been delving the Dungeon with for nearing two weeks. They started up friendly enough to the poor, downtrodden dwarf girl she had presented herself as through her Magic. Like so many before them they proposed a reasonable rate for her services as a Supporter, and for the first few days everything was exactly as they said.
But then it started, the inevitable betrayal. They began to withhold a portion of her share. She knew, because she counted every magic stone and drop item that passed into or out of her bag. Small at first, but by the middle of the second week they had begun to pocket more than a quarter of what they owed her for each dive.
But she persisted, because she knew they would slip up. They would presume that their poor Supporter they had taken pity on wouldn't dare do anything against them. Wouldn't even realise she was being taken advantage of.
Lili knew. She always knew. She knew it before it even began.
And so, like dozens of others before them, another group of worthless adventurers fell into her trap. It was a particularly profitable day on the 6th Floor of the Dungeon. No less than three Drop Items had appeared early in the day, quite a rarity for a group that had only dived down beyond the fifth a week ago, in no small part due to her advice on the nature of the floor. Lili knew all the upper floors of the Dungeon well, and the 6th was no exception.
A well timed monster lure, dropped around a corner set the trap, and another, tossed down a side hallway while the others were distracted in the midst of a fight primed it. The room they had entered was one of several on the 6th floor that Lili had prepared plans for, and so as the trio became embroiled in a fight against a couple of war shadows, Lili waited for her chance.
The moment she saw the first Frog Shooter in one of her primed hallways, Lili tossed a smoke bomb right into the middle of the fight and booked it down her chosen hallway, a third and final monster lure dropped behind her at an intersection sealing the deal. The monsters would now be in three of the four hallways the adventurers could use to retreat, forcing them down the corridor with the longest route back up to the Fifth and Orario.
All the drop items, all the magic stones, and all the weapons and equipment she had convinced her loving party to let her hold for them was now hers. A quick chant removed her disguise, returning her to the pallum she truly was, a second chant changing her appearance to yet another identity, completing the heist.
Yes, Lili had made an enormous profit that day. And taught those adventurers an important lesson. Maybe they'd even figure out how they brought it on themselves, but Lili doubted it.
Adventurers never changed.
However, having gotten away with her theft, Lili was left without a way into the dungeon. Which was why she found herself in the plaza around Babel, watching the Adventurers in their parties and as individuals make their way into Babel and the Dungeon.
Her gaze wandered across the varied adventurers, all wearing different armor or clothes, with different weapons and of all different races. But they were all adventurers, and therefore all of them were terrible.
But some terrible adventurers are more terrible than others. And Lili had experienced enough of all kinds to pick them out at a glance.
A party of five, laughing together with a sixth tagging along noticeably behind. A poor supporter forever locked out of the in-group by virtue of being an expendable asset. Nothing but a mobile bag to haul their earnings back to the surface.
A werewolf with a scarred cheek, with an axe on his back. The violent type, prone to fits of anger, and thus too dangerous to approach. The type that would hit her for any perceived slight, no matter how small. Easy to take advantage of, but werewolves have a keen sense of smell and are dangerous to try and steal from, since her Cinder Ella couldn't be as easily relied on to protect her.
A pair of dwarves, a man and a woman, with no supporter. They looked the type to pity a poor waif like Lili, but their kindness would only ever be surface deep, a way to make themselves feel good about themselves. And it would disappear the instant they ran into any trouble they could blame on Lili instead of themselves.
These were the true faces of adventurers.
She watched for a good choice, but the longer she watched, the more frustrated she became. Too many groups already had supporters, and the many solos either looked too weak, or pinged her sense of danger too hard.
But she needed to find one before the stream of adventurers died down. The sun had risen on Orario, and soon the adventurers entering the dungeon would be reduced to trickle. If she didn't find one soon, she'd have to give up for the day. She didn't even need one worth stealing from at this point, just one willing to take her with them.
She hadn't changed her appearance today, but if she was only going with someone for a single day, sometimes it was fine to be Lili the pallum, and not someone else. Only the Soma Familia knew who Lili was anyway. She never stole anymore as herself, only as other people.
Rebuffed by a good-looking chienthrope, Lili was almost ready to give up when she saw him. He was coming down towards Babel from the North, with a new-looking spear in hand, a couple of javelins strapped to his back, and most importantly, a big backpack. It was no Supporter's Pack, but it was big enough that this adventurer was clearly expecting a good haul. And his armor looked new as well.
New weapons and armor meant a successful adventurer, one probably used to making good money in the dungeon, despite the fact he was going solo. And that made him an excellent choice to support for a day or two, just until she could scout out a new mark.
Even as she approached her eyes scanned his gear. Well-crafted, all in the tens of thousands of valis range. Would make a pretty penny if she got her hands on some of it, but armor and a spear would be tough to get away from their owner. Yes, if he was willing to take her on she was sure they'd make pretty good money, even if she had to settle for a poor split.
But this adventurer looked the sort that had that misplaced sense of honor. The way he looked at her as he noticed her approach reinforced this, a hint of pity as he took in her apparent youth. She hated that look. His sort looked at her that way, but she had long since learned they would never actually do anything.
"Hi Master Adventurer," she said. "Are you looking for a Supporter? Lili would appreciate it if Mister would consider taking her on."
The man blinked confusedly at her. "Huh?"
Ah. He was a slow one.
"Lili would like to know if Master Adventurer is in need of a Supporter?" she repeated. "Lili would not be in the way. She's been all the way down to the Twelfth floor before."
He stared at her, not saying a word. His eyes searched her face, but she couldn't place the expression.
"Your name is Lili?"
"Liliruca Arde. Can she ask yours?"
"Blair," he replied. His gaze never left her face. He didn't strike her as the type to be enthralled by a cute face, so why would he not stop staring. "I... wouldn't be averse to having a supporter today." he said eventually, haltingly.
"Wonderful." Lili chirped, clapping her hands together. "You can be sure Lili's rates are most reasonable."
"Shall we go to the Guild?" he asked. "We can draw up a suitable contract-."
"That's not necessary," Lili said. "It's only for a day, after all. And Lili only asks for a 30% cut. She'd be overjoyed if Mister Blair would accept this."
She was only going to be going with him for a day anyway. No need for anything to remember her by. And besides, the contract would be worthless anyway. A contract was only useful if your Familia would back you up to enforce its terms. And even if she could get someone in the Soma Familia to enforce them, they'd just steal whatever pittance she managed to get out of it anyway. Lili had no need for such a thing.
"You aren't going to ask for an advance?" Blair asked.
"Lili wouldn't dare," she replied, playing up her helplessness. "A Supporter is paid by how much they can carry back," she said, quoting a particularly nasty piece of work she had conned a few months back, "You'll have your money when you work for it and not a second before."
She saw her potential employer's jaw lock up, and she knew she had him. Really, his type was just too easy. They saw themselves as just and righteous adventurers, and a sob story always caught them, hook, line, and sinker.
"Here, your advance." A small coin pouch was produced by Blair and tossed her way. She caught it out of the air and looked inside. Her practiced eyes took in the contents at a glance and found herself actually shocked.
"Mister, Lili thinks you gave her the wrong amount. This is far too much." There was at least 3000 valis in that pouch. A traditional advance for a supporter was around 10% of their expected cut. She knew this adventurer was doing well for themselves, but to suggest they were going to bring in over 60,000 valis worth of magic stones and Drop Items was a quite silly estimation.
But the adventurer just shook his head. "You're fine going down to the seventh, right?"
"Of course," she agreed.
"Good. Do you have everything you need?"
"Lili does."
"Then let's get going," her latest employer said. "Time's wasting, and we won't make any money standing around like this."
Lili nodded her head and followed the adventurer's lead towards Babel. Really, with how easy it was to get pity money out of him, Lili was a little disappointed she hadn't taken the time to change her appearance. He'd have been so easy to scam a fortune out of if he was this frivolous with his money.
It was a pity she would only get to milk him for a single day.
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Lili's mind was a mess as she watched the adventurer fight on the Seventh Floor, while she scrambled to keep Killer Ant bodies out of his way.
They had made their way cleanly to the Seventh, the main routes having been cleared by the earlier adventurers, and only the occasional spawn to slow them down. As she had thought from looking at his gear, Blair was quite strong. She could tell from watching him fight. He was both faster and stronger than anything they encountered, and his spear cleanly killed Ants with no issues.
"Javelin!" He called, and Lili tossed him one. She had suggested he hand them over to her, and although he hesitated a moment, he had agreed with her suggestion.
The javelin flew true, bringing down a rogue Purple Moth that had drifted into the room while he fought.
But it wasn't the fact that his strength meant he ought to be in a group challenging the Tenth right now, rather than with her on the Seventh, that had her mind running a mile a minute. It wasn't his magic, invoked with nothing but the name of his spell, which flung a pack of Needle Rabbits away from his Supporter.
Lili had never seen so many Drop Items. It wasn't normal. Lili knew well the drop rates for this floor. 1 in 20 or so for Ants and Needle Rabbits, 1 in 10 or so for Purple Moths, and 3 in 5 for Blue Papilio. Every single Moth had dropped its item. And the rate for the Ants was actually well over 1 in 8.
And Blair barely seemed to notice. It was like this was utterly normal for him.
Lili's knife cut the magic stone out of another Ant, and once again a segment of its carapace fell to the ground, with the rest of the Ant disintegrating around it.
Blair wasn't the least bit surprised by how many Drops they were seeing.
Lili felt like she was going to hyperventilate as she added the carapace to the ever-increasing weight of her backpack.
It was a Rare Skill. It had to be. Some kind of Rare Skill that raised the chances of Drop Items appearing. That was the only explanation. This was far beyond random chance.
She watched the adventurer out of the corner of her eye. He was keeping an eye on the connecting halls, making sure no surprises caught them off-guard while she worked. She had stumbled across a jackpot. She didn't know how or why, but he clearly had no idea how valuable that skill of his really was.
But in order to make use of him, Lili would have to convince him to keep her on. And since she didn't use her Magic, she'd have to do so as Lili.
She cut open the Moth. Yet another wing. One more Drop for the bag, and more money come the end of this trip.
And Lili thought something she never imagined she would.
She needed to remain this adventurer's supporter. Even if it meant accepting less than what she had agreed upon. Even if she took a third of what she agreed to, it would still be more profitable than any group she had been with in months.
She looked at Blair, and saw an endless pile of valis looking back at her, just waiting to be claimed.
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Even with the aid of her Skill, Artel Assist, the weight of Lili's bulging backpack was beginning to get to her as they climbed up the stairs into Babel. And Blair was carrying a mostly full pack of his own. Lili was slightly grateful he hadn't dumped that stuff on her too.
She never imagined that a solo adventurer could amass so much stuff in a single dive. She was still in awe of both the Rare Skill's incredible money-making ability, and that Blair seemed so totally ignorant of how incredible it was.
"Lili only wants 20%," she said, offering up the enormous sum of valis they had made to Blair. They had gotten out of the Dungeon early enough that there wasn't too long a wait at the Guild services in Babel itself. Lili was in no mood to go all the way to the Guild building to turn in this many drops.
"Lili never imagined to see so much money at once. She would feel bad if she tried to take the full 30%."
Lili lied. She'd lie more if that's what it took. She couldn't let this fish get away. This adventurer Blair was her ticket out of the Soma Familia.
He shook his head. "We agreed on 30%. You wouldn't have me go back on my word, would you?"
"Lili wouldn't dare," she agreed. "Lili will take it if Mr. Blair insists."
"I do." He looked her over again. "We made a good team, I think. Are you sure you only want to join me for today? I'll be back tomorrow, if you wish to be my supporter again."
"Lili apologizes for not accepting Blair's original good intentions," Lili said, bowing deeply despite her inner turmoil at the act of being so supplicative towards an adventurer. "Lili will gladly be Mr. Blair's supporter on a more permanent basis, if he is willing to have her."
"Then let's go to the main Guild building," Blair suggested. "We'll draw up a proper contract. How does that sound?"
"Lili is eternally grateful."
Life was looking up for Liliruca Arde.
He was a jackpot. Her jackpot. She'd turn his wondrous Skill into the goldmine that would get her out of the Soma Familia forever.
Adventurer's were the worst. You should never trust them.
But Lili could make use of them.
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