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August Poll Winner: Is it Wrong for a Soldier to Take on Orario? Chapter 5
🕑 Added 2024-08-02 00:39:55 +0000 UTCIs it Wrong for a Soldier to Take on Orario?
A/N
Hi everyone! Here is the winner of the August poll. It was close though, with Not a Mage only a vote behind. New poll will be up in about a week.
Thanks everyone for your support. I want to keep putting up stories you enjoy for a long time to come.
Anyway, to the story!
…
CHAPTER 5 – THE DUNGEON IS ODD
Before going into the dungeon, I decided to take a quick look at the Goibnu shop in Babel. If I was going to be spending hours at a time in a hole in the ground, I wanted to know how long I was down there. Seeing as I was going to be without the sun to determine the passing of time, I wanted another way.
Remembering the advice from Tyche, I headed up to the tenth floor to take a look. The elevator was slow, but not to the point of frustration. I would have taken the stairs, but they were ridiculously crowded past the fifth floor. Plus, seeing as I was conducting an experiment on how much my strength would increase fighting in the dungeon as opposed to just hard training, I was trying to reduce the amount of physical activity I was conducting to a minimum. I didn’t want to tamper with the results by climbing ten floors worth of stairs.
It probably wasn’t going to do much, but why take the risk?
Sadly for me, I took one look at the time pieces, which looked like old school pocket watches, in the Goibnu store and headed back to the elevator. The starting price for them was three million valis. It was at that moment, that I really missed the cheap watches you could buy in petrol stations for five bucks.
Not having a watch would stop me knowing how effective the training was on a timed basis, but it wasn’t anything that I couldn’t work around. After all, I hadn’t had a watch in the morning when I did my workout in the abandoned zone. The difference there was that I could tell how long I had been exercising by the passage of the sun. In the dungeon, being underground, there was no sunlight. It made it a little harder to judge thing by the sun, without a sun.
Still, I would just go until I felt too tired, then see how I went.
The entrance to the dungeon was under Babel. Quite literally in the basement. When Daedalus had built Babel, he had done it right over the entrance to the dungeon. That meant that he had to make it massively round at the bottom to make sure that it was stable over the giant hole in the ground.
All told though, Babel wasn’t as massive as I first thought. It was the largest building in Orario by a long way, but compared to the sky scrapers back on Earth, it was a mid-size building. There were only fifty floors. Considering the Empire State Building had more than a hundred, Babel was nowhere near as impressive as I had witnessed in the past.
It didn’t stop me from noticing that many of the younger adventurers entering the building were staring up at it in awe.
I shook my head and went down the stairs, entering the dungeon for the first time.
The entrance area was well lit by glowing crystals. I moved though the tunnels and made my way away from the groups of people that were heading to or coming from the direction of the stairs that would lead down to the next level. This was my first time in the dungeon, after all. I needed to see how I ranked compared to the monsters here.
I walked a hundred meters or so, until the glow of light from the entrance faded away, leaving me with only the light from the glowing crystals. It wasn’t as bright as I was hoping it would be, but it was bright enough for me to see clearly.
A cracking sound, like the sound a rock makes when it breaks in half, brought my attention ahead of me. I pulled my xiphos from its sheath on my back, watching as the monster was slowly birthed from the dungeon wall.
It was a goblin, from the looks of it. The information sheet from Rose told me that on the first floor I was only going to fight against goblins and kobolds. I also remember that the Jack Bird was on the first floor, but it was very rare and would run away instead of fight.
The goblin slowly stood up from where it landed on the floor. It was a full head shorter than me and thinner than I thought it would be. It was almost like the dungeon was giving me a freebie.
Considering the dungeon was supposedly alive, I decided that I would show it my appreciation. I reached over to the wall closest to me and patted it. “Thank you,” I said softly. I wasn’t sure, but it felt like a puff of air came through the tunnel for a moment.
Probably a coincidence, but I wasn’t going to bet my life on that. The dungeon was alive, after all.
With a cry, the goblin launched itself forward at me. It was fairly slow and, while I didn’t have any experience fighting with a sword, I had plenty of close quarter combat training from my first life. The goblin lunged at me, both hands reaching out to grab my throat. I easily side-stepped and slashed its head off as it passed me. There was a burst of blood as the goblin’s body continued for a moment, before it burst into ashes. A soft tinkling sound echoed through the dungeon as the monster’s magic stone hit the floor.
I walked over to it and picked it up. It was tiny. Clearly, it wasn’t going to be worth much. If I wanted to get enough money to help my familia and myself out, I was going to need to kill far more monsters than this, or far larger ones.
Deciding to continue with my hypothesis that the dungeon was alive and aware of all of us who entered it, I patted the wall of the dungeon again. “Thanks for that,” I said softly. “Can I have three more?”
There was a long pause as I looked around waiting for something. Nothing happened for a long moment. I was beginning to think that I would just go down to level three and try taking on a few more monsters to get the magic stones, when I heard the cracking sound of monsters being birthed.
Sure enough, there were three more goblins being born right in front of me. I shook my head. That couldn’t be a coincidence. Either the dungeon was taking requests from me for some reason, it was trying to lull me into a false sense of security, or it was going to spawn these goblins anyway.
It took barely five seconds to take out the goblins. They just weren’t any challenge to someone who had experience fighting, or the ones on this floor weren’t anyway.
I patted the wall again. “Thank you,” I replied. “You were magnificent. I am going to move further away from the entrance so that no one accidentally hear me talking to you. Sound travels a long way in dungeon tunnels. Do you think I could get kobolds this time?”
I proceeded to walk further away from the entrance. While floor one was the busiest floor, there didn’t seem to be too many adventurers actually sticking around. There were some I had seen going off through different tunnels, but most had just headed further away or gone for the stairs leading to lower floors.
That was good for me, as it meant I was less likely to be seen speaking to the dungeon. It was also a sign that the monsters on floor one were not likely to be a challenge.
The wall right next to me cracked open and birthday a monster. Out of reflex, I slashed through it before it even hit the floor, stopping me getting a good look at it.
More cracking came as I watched two more kobolds being birthed in front of me. They looked like werewolves. Furry humans with wolf heads and sharp claws. They leapt at me, moving faster than the goblins had.
Still, being the first floor, they were also weak and slow. Two quick swings and they were also dispatched. I picked up the magic stones and patted the dungeon wall again.
“Thank you,” I said softly. “You’ve been magnificent. Unfortunately, I don’t think the monsters on this floor are going to challenge me. I am going to head down to the next floor and see how I go. I need to get a lot stronger in a hurry because I need to be able to protect myself from a lot of dangers on the surface. A lot of the adventurers that come through here are not good people and I don’t want to be at their mercy.”
There was another soft puff of air that I knew I was not imaging. A softer cracking noise came as I watched in surprise, seeing a Jack Bird being born right in front of me.
Once on the ground, the little monster scratched at the floor for a moment, looking like a demonic chicken. Then it tilted its head, like it was listening to something. Finally, it jerked its head towards me, before squawking and running off at a ridiculous speed.
It went ahead until it was about to disappear out of sight at a bend in the tunnel before it stopped. Then it turned and looked back at me and squawked again.
I blinked, before turning to look at the dungeon wall. “Is this meant to help me?” I asked sceptically, wondering if the dungeon was indeed trying to help me out.
The Jack Bird squawked again, drawing my attention. It seemed to be waiting for me, or taunting me, waiting for me to give it chase.
Was the dungeon actually trying to help me? What the hell was going on?
I was a soldier, trained to recognise ambushes when I saw them, but I was also skilled enough, even without sword training, that the first floor was easy so far. The monsters were weak and slow and I was able to take out the ones here without any issue. Even if there were a lot more of them, I was confident that I would be able to take them out.
Even if it seemed like an ambush, I felt confident enough that I would be able to either escape or get help. If nothing else, it was a chance to get some training in.
Decision made, I sheathed my sword and grabbed a throwing knife in my hand, then gave chase to the Jack Bird.
It was a quick little bugger, that was for sure. As fast as I sprinted after the thing, it was way faster than I was at a level one. It would always pull forward just out of reach. Every time it looked like it was turning a corner, I used the knife to slash into the wall to mark my path. I wasn’t going to risk getting lost down here.
Occasionally, the dungeon would spawn a kobold or a goblin in my path and I would just slash them on the way through, leaving the magic stones where they fell. I ran as hard as I did in the abandoned zone, pushing myself to get closer to the quick monster.
Nothing I did was working though. I even threw my knife at the dungeon chicken and it missed by a good foot. The little prick even had the gall to stop and wait for me to pick up the knife before it ran off again. I needed to train in that again.
But it was clear, the dungeon wasn’t training me; it was taunting me.
The number of spawning goblins and kobolds increased in frequency as I pushed myself hard, my muscles feeling weak and my breathing ragged as I chased and fought. I even started getting attacked two at a time every encounter, and three at a time on several occasions. It was only the first floor so there was nearly twenty seconds of running between every spawn, but they were certainly still coming. I even had to use my vambraces to block an attack a few times to avoid being injured.
Finally, I had enough. I had no idea how long I was chasing the Jack Bird, but it had felt like a long time. I blinked as I realised I had no conceptualisation of how large the dungeon really was before this. I hadn’t gone through the same part of the floor twice; everywhere was new, but I still hadn’t caught the monster.
I took several large gulps of water as I caught my breath. I even took a swig of health potion to get my legs to stop shaking. By my estimate, I had travelled nearly at least ten kilometres at a hard run. It wasn’t a full sprint most of the time, but I had pushed myself damn hard. If it wasn’t for the health potion, I wouldn’t have been able to walk tomorrow. Still, it was only my first day of training and I was already on par with my best times from my previous life.
This falna thing was certainly pulling its weight.
The Jack Bird squawked ahead of me, looking at me like it was ready to keep going.
“Sorry, little one,” I called out ruefully. “You led me on a great chase, but that is it for me for now. Thank you for the exercise. I should have had some great gains in my agility from this, but you have beaten me today.”
I reached over and patted the wall. “And thank you too,” I said, not willing to risk offending the dungeon if it really was alive and really was trying to help me out. I had no idea what was going on, but I was brought to the Danmachi world by someone or something. I had no idea what but I wasn’t ruling anything out without more information. For all I know, it could be the soul of the dungeon that brought me here. I don’t know and hadn’t gone far enough ahead in Danmachi to find out if that was even a thing, before I had died. “I don’t know for sure if you are helping me, or if this is how you normally go, but I should have some decent gains from today. I still need to go check out the next two floors to see how I would go against the goblins and kobolds down there. Either way, you were a great help today.”
A cracking noise from up ahead had me looking up towards the Jack Bird, just in time to see a rock falling from the ceiling, right onto the Jack Bird’s head, crushing it instantly.
I stared at the dead monster and blinked. Then I blinked again, before slowly turning back to look at the dungeon wall. I slowly, almost mechanically, reached out and patted the wall again. “Thank you,” I said. “You are amazing. Thank you so much for that. It will really help me out.”
I walked over slowly towards the dead Jack Bird and lifted the stone off its body. The thing was well and truly dead but sure enough, there was a golden egg lying on the ground, pushed in slightly to the dirt from the rock’s weight, but completely undamaged. I picked it up and almost put the egg in my sack for magic stones, before changing my mind and putting it in a secure pocket in my pants.
If I got mugged by another adventurer team, at least I would still have the egg.
I made my way back where I had come from, following the marking I had scratched into the wall and picking up the magic stones I should have collected on the way. I came to an intersection and saw the mark I had made, but also heard some noises like other people were nearby, coming from the other tunnel. I pulled out my map of the first floor and saw that the intersection was a shortcut to the stairs going down to the second floor. I considered for a moment then headed off to the stairs, not bothering with the tiny magic stones from the first-floor monsters.
The second floor was much the same as the first. The goblins and kobolds were stronger and faster, but not by enough that I couldn’t handle it. There were more of them though, if the first floor had a roughly thirty second gap between spawns, the second floor had a twenty second gap. I didn’t have the Jack Bird to chase down though, so I wasn’t getting much out of it.
I did ask the dungeon wall to spawn groups of up to five at a time, and it did, though it made sure there was enough room between them that I wasn’t going to get overwhelmed. Sure enough, I had plenty of time to take them out.
I don’t know how long I stayed on the second floor, but I decided that I would give the third floor a go. When I got down there, I tried something new. I made my way along an empty tunnel, making sure to stay away from any other adventurers that might be hanging out on the floor. I made it a couple hundred metres away from the stairs, then looked around to make sure I was alone. I didn’t need any adventurers coming around and seeing me talking to the dungeon. Best case would have them thinking I was crazy. Worst case would have them thinking I am a member of Evilus or whatever that terrorist coalition was.
I patted the dungeon wall. “Do you think,” I asked politely in a quiet tone to my most unusual benefactor, “that you could spawn groups of five, one after the other, until I ask you to stop? I want you to keep going and keep them in this area for now. I need to make sure that I am strong enough to defend myself from the gods that would do whatever they can to hurt me. But no dungeon lizards for today. I would like to keep it uncomplicated.”
I could have sworn that I felt another puff of air through the tunnel, before the sound of cracking could be heard. A group of five kobolds, more muscular than those in the two earlier floors, dropped out of the wall. I unsheathed my sword and leapt in.
These kobolds were much better than the previous floors. They even had the presence of mind to try and surround me. It didn’t work as when they tried, I just leapt at one of them and broke the circle by killing it, but the small amount of tactics let me know that these monsters were indeed a bigger challenge than the ones I fought before.
They still went down with a single swing of my sword in a vital area, but now that they were dodging I was hitting non-vital areas. I started using my left vambrace to block attacks when I hadn’t had time to dispatch the previous kobold before the next one was on me. I picked up the pace, making broader swings and moving constantly to make sure that there was never an enemy behind me. They were individually still weaker than I was, but the numbers were an equaliser here.
Wave after wave, the monsters kept spawning. Sometimes it was kobolds, other times it was goblins. I stopped keeping track of how many waves I fought after I passed wave twenty. I just kept going. The world around me had become a combat zone and my mind shifted; not exactly becoming tunnel-visioned, but enough so that combat was the only thing on my mind. I kept my combat awareness up to make sure that I didn’t get snuck up on by a monster from behind or that I didn’t trip on a rock or a loose group of magic stones, but other than that… the world was combat.
It was a mindset that I would get into in combat zones on deployment. It was like my senses were cranked up to twelve. New soldiers would experience it for the first time on night patrol and would see hidden enemies sneaking up on them everywhere. It wasn’t uncommon for green soldiers to let off a few rounds at a shadow, thinking it was an ambush.
Experience took the jumpiness out of me, but the extra awareness remained. I slashed, dodged, blocked and stabbed continuously in a frenzy. If I had more training it might have been faster, or more accurate with my stabs, but it was certainly effective enough against these low-level monsters.
As I went, I adjusted my strikes, not going for wild strikes but using more control and precision. I was getting better with it but the small part of my mind that I could use to analyse my actions was letting me know that I needed a trainer to get better in any way that mattered.
I finally had enough when I received a long scratch on my upper arm from a deflected of a kobold. I had blocked its claw with my vambrace at an angle that had it slide up my arm, tearing my shirt and cutting into my skin. It didn’t live long enough to celebrate drawing blood as I cut its head off a moment later.
The instant I cleared that group, I patted the wall. “That’s enough!” I called out, breathing heavily. “I think that’s enough for now. Thank you.”
The tunnel fell silent, other than my heavy breathing. My arms ached and my mouth was dry. Sweat covered my entire body, making my shirt cling to me. I took a swig of the potion bottle, feeling the aches and pains of continuous battle ebb away, and poured the rest over the cut. It hissed and smoked for a few seconds while the skin knit itself back together rapidly. A few moments later, it was like the injury had never happened.
Once my breathing was back to normal, I started collecting the magic stones. There were a lot of them but they were all really small. There were also quite a few drops in the mix as well, though it was mostly goblin or kobold teeth. I probably missed a few that I most likely stepped on and pushed them into the ground, but my sack was full by the time I finished.
I took a big drink from my water flask and put it in its spot on my hip. I patted the dungeon wall one more time. “Thank you for today,” I said softly. “You are magnificent. I need to go for now but I will be back soon.”
The same puff of wind the tunnel came again, as if the dungeon was acknowledging my words, and I made my way back to the stairs.
I didn’t encounter any more monsters on my way out but by the time I got back to the surface, the sun was beginning to set. I blinked as I looked around. I had no idea how long I had been chasing that Jack Bird or fighting on the third floor, but clearly it was much longer than I thought I had been.
I considered whether or not to head to the Guild building, but I was getting tired and hungry. I needed a shower to get the blood and dust off me. I was also interested in seeing how I had gone on my first session in the dungeon, so far as my stats went. With that in mind, I trudged home. I could always hit up the Guild in the morning to exchange my magic stones.
Thankfully, I didn’t have anyone try and accost me for my magic stones on my way back to the familia townhouses. It wasn’t like I was openly carrying a full bag of my magic stones and drops anyway. I had that tucked under my shirt to keep it hidden. I guess any troublemakers thought a rookie on his first day wasn’t worth the effort. Understandable. After all, I doubt that most adventurers on their first day would inexplicably have the dungeon working with them for reasons unknown to get them stronger.
I still had no idea what to think about that. Why the dungeon would help me like that, enough to take my requests? From the anime, the dungeon was a whole lot more sinister than that, particularly in the middle floors. I could only speculate what was going on. Maybe it had something to do with whatever force brought me here, or my soul at least. That was all I could reasonably assume right now.
Did the dungeon bring me here? Or the spirit of it or whatever? Or did it just recognise that I was different and thought I would be in danger and decided to help me? I wasn’t really sure what the answer was, but I had the feeling that I was going to need to find out. And I don’t know for sure, but if it was the dungeon that brought me here somehow then I would likely only get my answers at the bottom of it.
Which brought to mind another question: if the dungeon was the one working for me, would it just let me walk all the way to the bottom?
I shook that thought off immediately. Even if it did, there were the remnants of Evilus down there, as well as Enyo and whatever sinister things could happen with the Soma or Ishtar or Apollo Familias, or any other thug familias that would try to take advantage of me for whatever reason.
The gods in this world were greedy and narcissistic. Tyche flashed across my mind and I amended my thoughts. Most of the gods in the world were greedy and narcissistic. They could come up with any number of reasons to cause trouble for the sake of amusing themselves. There was only one way I had to get out of ahead games.
I needed to get strong enough to not be messed with. Stronger than them all.
Those thoughts consumed me until I ended up at the familia townhouses. I blinked, realising that I hadn’t even noticed anything on my journey back to the familia grounds. I shook my head and went in to my personal house to wash up.
Cleaning all the grime of the dungeon from me and getting dressed didn’t take too long and I made my way over to see Tyche in her townhouse as soon as I was dressed.
“Brock!” she exclaimed happily, throwing her arms around me in an enthusiastic hug. “I’m so glad you got back safely! How did you go? Did you fight off some big nasty monsters?” She put on a mock tough-face and pretended to swing an invisible sword around. It made her look rather adorable.
I stepped through the living room and moved to the dining room table. I pulled the bag of magic stones out of my pocket and placed them on the table. “I think I did ok,” I said modestly.
Tyche looked at the bag for a second, confused. Then it dawned on her and her face lit up in delight.
“That’s amazing!” she cried out, reaching for the bag. “You must have gotten so many… monsters…”
Her voice faded out as she opened the bag, to see the golden Jack Bird egg sitting on top of the magic stones.
“Wha… HOW?” she shrieked in shock. “You need to be a level three just to catch this thing. How did you manage to get it on your first day?”
I shrugged. “I chased it for a long time and then, believe it or not, a rock fell from the roof and landed on it.” I didn’t even need to lie. I was just not telling her that the dungeon itself was helping me. Something told me that would not be the best idea.
Tyche just gaped at me for a long moment and burst out laughing. “A rock killed a Jack Bird right in front of you?” she gasped out between laughs. “That… that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!”
I grinned. “I know,” I said. “But, hey, I got a Jack Bird egg on my first day so I am not complaining.”
The goddess managed to control her laughter and it subsided, but she had a big grin on her face. “Nor should you,” she said. “Why didn’t you trade your stones for valis?”
I shrugged again. “It was getting late and I thought I could do it tomorrow,” I replied. “I also didn’t want to risk getting cornered by some… less than reputable adventurers and have the money stolen before I got here.”
She nodded. “Not a bad idea,” she conceded. “People would be far less likely to mug you in the middle of the day. Though,” she continued with a scowl, “you might want to avoid side streets on your way home after a big haul. Just in case. At least until you either level up a bit more or get a party.”
I nodded. “Sounds like a plan,” I agreed. “And speaking of levelling up, why don’t we update my status again. That way I can see which was more effective for boosting my stats out of training and fighting in the dungeon.”
Tyche nodded and I took off my shirt and leaned over the table while she moved behind me. A warm feeling started at my middle back and spread throughout my body and a warm glow started spreading through the room as she worked her magic. Then, she pulled a piece of paper out of somewhere and put it on my back.
“There we go!” she said cheerfully. “I don’t think I have ever updated the same person’s status twice on the same day before. That’s another new thing we could do… togeth…er…”
Her voice faded away, as did the warmth of the status update. I sat up and looked over to see her staring in shock at the paper in her hand.
“Can I see it?” I asked.
She jerked as if just realising I was still there. “What? I mean, yes.”
I took the paper from her and looked at my updated status.
Name: Albert Jacka
Level: 1
Strength: I22 – I66
Endurance: I39 – I65
Dexterity: I15 – I52
Agility: I41 – H109
Magic: I0
Skills
Invictus
Magic
“Albert, how did you get this far in just one day?” Tyche asked, nearly whispering as though she was afraid of being overheard. “I’ve never even heard of anyone doing anything remotely like this before!”
I stared at my stats and added them up again. Just under three hundred stats points. “I feel like it could have been more if I had known what to expect and how to manipulate that,” I said offhandedly. It was true too. If the dungeon is going to help me get stronger, for whatever reason, then I could use that to my advantage. I don’t know why it was doing that, but I would be a fool if I didn’t try to take advantage of that while I could. At least until it either gives me an answer or tries to spring its trap on me.
Tyche didn’t reply immediate so I looked up to see what she was doing. The look of stunned disbelief was enough to let me know why she hadn’t responded.
“Albert,” she said seriously. “I have never heard of anyone making this many points in a single week, let alone a single day! If people knew that you were able to do this without a special skill to let you level up, you’d never have a moments rest! Adventurers would hound you for information. Plenty of gods would try and recruit you. Some would even try to steal you! I don’t think you really understand how serious this is.”
“Well,” I said, looking her straight in the eye, “if any of the gods tried to go that far, they had better be prepared for their immediate return to the higher world, because I have no problems in killing my kidnappers.”
Tyche’s face instantly went pale at that. I reached a hand over and grasped hers gently. “I told you when I agreed to join you,” I said before she could respond. “I will not let anyone have that sort of authority over me. Not anymore. I chose you because I know you will not treat me like a toy or a commodity to be bought and sold. You wouldn’t treat me like a slave. I chose you, Tyche. If anyone else wants me, they will have to wait until I die, then fight you for my soul.”
It was a bit much, I know. That sort of declaration was probably too strong and, I am completely honest, a little cringy. Still, it had the desired effect of calming Tyche down. In fact, as I continued to hold her hand, her face started to light up in an adorable blush.
“Idiot,” she muttered, looking away even as her fingers tightened their grip on my hand. “Saying something like that so suddenly.”
I grinned. It was like the worst of anime tropes, though Tyche was no Tsundere.
“No one controls me, Tyche,” I said. “Not even you. That should tell you that I am right where I want to be.”
The blush on her face went even more red and her eyes gained a shine to them. I held on to her hand for a little longer before I let go. “Now,” I said, moving on from our conversation, “I know that it is getting late, but is there any food? I haven’t eaten since lunch and I am getting hungry for your cooking.”
Tyche grinned happily and scampered around her kitchen, putting together a few sandwiches for me to eat. It was simple, but it tasted great. Not like I expected food from an underdeveloped society to taste. The bread was soft and fresh, the cheese and meats were delicious. The salads were crisp. A cup of tea joined it and made for a decent meal.
I swallowed a mouthful and hummed appreciatively. “Thanks,” I said. “Sometime soon, I will make you some of the foods from my home.”
She beamed at me for that. “I would love that,” she said. Her face turned thoughtful. “Though, now that you mention it, you’ve never told me where you came from. Where was home for you?”
I chewed slowly as I considered how to answer this question without telling a lie. General statements were going to have to be the way to go. Otherwise, her godly lie detector would light up like crazy.
“It was an island in the south called Australia,” I answered slowly. “A decently big island with plenty of dangerous animals. No monsters like here though. No gods giving out falna either.”
Tyche blinked in surprise. “I’ve never heard of it,” she said. “Is it far?”
I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter,” I said dismissively. “I very much doubt that it’s there now.”
She blinked in shock. “You mean…?” she trailed off.
I swallowed another mouthful. “I mean that as far as I know, I am the only person from Australia in this whole world,” I explained. “I don’t think you would even find the island if you sailed south anymore.” Also not a lie. Not the whole truth, but not a lie. I had no idea if Australia existed in this world. I wasn’t going to bother looking either. It wouldn’t be my Australia. Just another one.
She raised a hand to cover her mouth in dismay. “Oh, Albert,” she whispered, tears coming to her eyes. She reached her hands out and grasped mine. “Are you ok?”
I gave her a smile. “I am,” I replied. I thought back to how I felt when I knew that I was dying in my other life. “I came to accept that I was alone a while ago.”
“No,” she said fiercely, standing up and moving around the table. “You are not alone. As long as it is in my power, you will never be alone again.” She grabbed me in a strong hug from my seated position, pull my head right into her soft chest.
It was a heartwarming declaration from the goddess, even if she didn’t fully understand the whole context. She just saw someone that had lost everything they had known and was doing her best to offer comfort. She wasn’t wrong to do so, even if she didn’t know that she didn’t know the full story. She genuinely seemed to be a good-hearted person.
It was the first time that I genuinely felt like choosing to join Tyche’s familia was the right choice. I smiled into her chest as I returned the warm hug that she gave me, accepting it as she pulled me deeper.
After more than ten seconds of being held though, I couldn’t help making a joke. “You know,” I said, my voice muffled by her very nice chest, “if someone were to see us right now, I get the feeling they would be very jealous of me.”
Tyche gave a musical chuckle above me as she gently let me go. “Let them be jealous,” she declared. “They can only dream to have me as you do.”
I blinked and grinned. “Oh?” I asked playfully. “I ‘have you’ now, do I? That is quiet the confession, my Lady Tyche.”
She blinked before she clearly realised what she said and how it could be misconstrued. “I-I mean…” she stuttered, her face glowing red in her embarrassment.
I stood and pulled her back into a hug, holding her against my own chest. “It’s ok,” I chuckled. “I get what you meant. And I am glad that I chose you as my goddess too. I get you all to myself.”
Tyche hugged me back, putting her face into my chest. “Dummy,” she said, her voice muffled.
I chuckled again and released the hug, sitting back in my chair. “Why don’t you tell me what you got up to today?” I suggested, willing to move on.
Her face lit up and she sat down, eager to share her findings.
“Ok,” she said, sounding excited. “I had to go into the Guild archives to get any information in the Book of Skills. It is a book that was created by Lord Ouranos when us gods first started giving out falnas and starting familias. People needed to know what the skills meant and how they worked. If a skill isn’t already in the book, a god or goddess has to write the name of the skill in the book and add a touch of blood, before using their arcanum to reveal its information. It is one of the only times that a god or goddess has permission to use their arcanum without asking Ouranos directly.”
“Let me guess,” I said dryly. “Invictus wasn’t already in the Book of Skills.”
Tyche nodded. “I had to add it myself and use my arcanum,” she said with a pout. “The problem with doing that, is that any other god that checks out the Book of Skills will be able to see the entry and feel the power attached to it. That means that if any of the other gods check it out, they will know that one of my chi… er, familia members has that skill. And because you are the only person in my familia right now…”
“They will automatically know that I am the one with that particular skill,” I finished, feeling annoyed. “Oh well, at least they won’t know how to get that particular skill, right?”
Tyche nodded. “Right,” she confirmed. “The Book of Skills only tells what the skill is, not how to get it. Otherwise, all of the gods would be hanging around the book all day trying to find out how to get the best skills for their children.”
I gave a heavy sigh. “Well, that’s something, I guess.” I looked at her with my eyebrows raised. “So, what did the book say about the skill?”
Tyche bit her bottom lip, looking a little nervous. “It’s… a little hard to explain. First, I need to explain something about the falna. The falna isn’t just a record of your stats; it is almost a copy of your soul. As you accomplish more and gain skills, it means that your soul is growing too. That’s not really the most accurate way of saying it, but it is the most basic understanding.
“A person’s soul can grow faster or slower, depending on their level of inner growth. The more a person experiences or accomplishes, the more skills they can gain. The more skills they can gain with the falna, the more their soul ‘grows’ for lack of a better word.
“The Invictus skill allows you to take charge of your own soul,” Tyche explained slowly. “You won’t be able to be charmed or influenced by any person or god if you don’t want them to. It allows you to boost your physical stats beyond what you normally would get, as the soul affects both the physical and non-physical aspects of your body. This is probably why your growth from today was so great. Additionally, you can choose your own growth in a way that no one else can. It essentially lets you choose which skills you can gain and what magic you learn. It can also let you increase your natural limits.”
I frowned at that. “You mean that I could choose to let myself learn more than three spells, unlike what all other humans are limited to?” I asked for clarification. I was happy to hear about the stat boosting though. That was very helpful.
Tyche nodded. “Yes,” she replied. “You will also be able to choose when and what skills you get, instead of having to leave it to whatever prerequisites that anyone else would have to meet first. You can also choose your magic spells yourself, instead of leaving it to chance.”
I blinked and gave a low whistle. That was… incredibly overpowered. Extra skills whenever I want and a boost of my stats? Yes please!
“But,” Tyche added, sounding insistent, “you need to be careful.”
I looked at her. “What do you mean?”
She reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “The human soul is fairly flexible and can grow faster though effort. But if you expand it too much too quickly, you can damage it. Or overwhelm it. Like putting too much water in a waterskin. Your soul can’t take too much too quickly without changing in ways that you might not want. I can’t stress enough how dangerous it could be for you to put forcibly add too many skills at once. It would almost be like that killing stone ritual your talked about.”
I pursed my lips. That was bad. Very bad. I certainly don’t want that. I need to grow, but maybe I can focus on which skills will help me get there and only do a couple at a time. I can always expand on that later, seeing as there is no limit on how I can affect my own soul.
“In fact,” Tyche’s voice broke into my thoughts, “that sort of soul manipulation is the type of thing only gods would meddle with in Tenkai.”
I blinked at that and looked at her sharply. That gave me an idea. A dangerous idea. A terrible, miraculous and dangerous idea.
But first, my patron goddess needed some reassurance. “I promise that I won’t overdo it,” I said, squeezing the hand that was holding mine. “I certainly don’t want to have my soul damaged. I might just use it to choose which one or two skills I can go with for now and then just let myself build up until I am ready for more.”
I grinned with excitement. “Though, once I get that grimoire,” I said letting my imagination run a little wild, “I am going to have a field day choosing what magic I want.”
She gave a relieved sigh and squeezed my hands back. “Thank you,” she said, not letting go of my hands. “Your physical status increases won’t do any damage to your soul, but the extra skills could stretch it more than you are ready. I really don’t want anything bad to happen to you. I…” she faded off as her cheeks started to turn pink. “I’m just really glad to have you with me.”
I let my grin drop into a fond smile. Who would have thought that in a bare couple of days, my concerns about Tyche would be mostly resolved. I wasn’t dumb enough to think that all gods and goddesses were actually decent like she was. After all, Soma, Apollo and Ishtar were prime examples of disgusting gods in Orario. However, I was man enough to admit that I might have been wrong and my current concerns about Tyche were nearly all gone.
“I’m glad to have you too,” I confessed, getting a stunningly bright smile from the beautiful goddess. “And don’t worry, no matter if anyone finds out about this, I am never going to tell anyone about how I got it or how I use it.”
She nodded with a happy smile. “And I will make sure to lock your status so no one can read it without permission!”
I nodded. Finally done with the serious talk, I took another bite of my food and let my mind turn to how I would use the skill to grow the best, thinking on if my idea could work. It was a long-term project, for sure. But I would be happy to take the time to work on it. After all, the potential seemed to only be limited to my imagination, and after all the TV shows, anime and movies I had watched, and the books I had read, my imagination was quite expansive.
A knock on the door broke us both out of our thoughts and we shared a look before we turned to the door. Tyche stood and I moved behind her, closing the bag of magic stones and drops and feeling wary about the things we had just talked about. Had another god already looked at the Book of Skills and seen the new skill in it?
Tyche carefully opened the door, revealing a familiar robed figure. The same figure we had met the night before.
“Goddess Tyche,” Fels greeted us. “Mister Albert. Sorry for interrupting your night. I was hoping to conclude our business from yesterday.”
I grinned. Oh yeah, things were looking up already.
…
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