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/Step… step…/
A tired elf slowly approached him as he evaded the busy people coming and going.
(Image)
He stopped before him, taking a deep breath, "Phew… good morning, Silver. You are very punctual… as always." He said as he looked at a clock hanging on the ceiling.
"Have you ever been even a minute late? You always arrive exactly at this time."
Silver smiled, "I don't think so?… But aren't you the same, Loiju? I feel like you're always about to fall down from work. Do you sleep here?"
"Heh… if only… that would give me an hour or two of free time."
He took off his glasses and wiped them off, "In any case, let's go over this quickly since we both have a lot of work to do."
Loiju led Silver to a closed-off room at the end of a series of hallways deep within the Guild. A place where they could talk in peace without the risk of being interrupted or others overhearing them.
As soon as they sat down, Loiju asked, "So, did you do what I asked of you last time?... Why am I even asking? Of course you did."
Silver smirked as he took a small fang out of his backpack. Loiju grabbed and inspected it, but rather than astonishment, he felt tired.
"Hum… it's indeed a Hellhound fang. Sigh… you never cease to impress… and worry me."
He crossed his arms and tapped his foot in frustration, "Fine, I'll give you entry into the Middle Floors, you madman… not that me blocking you would've done anything."
"I do consider your words deeply." Silver replied with a faint smile as he poured some boiling water into a cup of tea
"Consider my ass… Never have I seen an adventurer grow this quickly… or be so eager to die."
He exhaled loudly as he recoiled his head back, "Dammit, I've only been your advisor for four or so days. Give me a break! I can't have you dying on me so quickly!"
"Don't worry, man, I…"
"It would be terrible for my portfolio." He said as he snickered, smacking his lips together
"…"
He pointed at him as he stole his tea, "Just stay put on the 13th floor, okay? I can't believe I'm saying this, but no matter how good you are, going to the Middle Floors alone as a Level 1 is too much of a stretch."
"If upper management found out, I'm even letting you go there, I might be put on a disciplinary hold for a few weeks if not months."
"That might be good for you. The eye bags say it all."
"Very funny… I'm being serious here. I'm only allowing you to go there because you have the experience. Knights and trained soldiers from the surface tend to advance quicker through the floors and rank up quickly, but that's on a time frame of an entire year and not… how long have you been an adventurer again? A week?"
The more he spoke, the more he understood his words were ridiculous… "I don't have to remind you why I stopped you from going there before, right?"
"No… I've been reminded of it enough times, I'm fully aware of my actions."
'Just from a technical perspective, a group of Minotaurs would demolish any wave I've faced on the Upper Floors… That's the raw difference in strength between the monsters.'
'If the monsters had intelligence and could train and prepare, things would be different… but that's not a conversation we can have; it's far beyond common sense… even more than what I've been doing.'
Loiju looked at his lackluster adventurer. He could see potential in him, perhaps more so than he saw in himself. He knew he had the experience and the intelligence to move with some level of prudence… which is exactly why he needed to put some sense in his head before he tried something stupid thinking it was within his control.
How many times had idiots died like that? He could barely count… And if they were one side of the spectrum, Silver was the complete opposite.
And more often than not, those at the edges did not survive.
He took a deep breath, "Just take care out there. Stick to the entrance at all times, and if something bad happens… do 'that' thing."
"That thing?"
"Yeah… that thing…"
""…""
Silver smirked, "Fine, I can run away if I must."
"I know you can; that's why I agreed so easily. Wasn't that the reason you told me you could do it in the first place? So your begging would come through?"
"Tche, when you put it like that, it almost makes it seem as if you're my father or something." Silver said as he took a sip of his tea, "Don't go around talking about it though. I can come out, but I can come in too with others."
"Damn, man… no need for that…"
"I say it like this because someone I know likes to drink quite a bit, causing him to be in a constant state of hungover. If I had known you were dead drunk three out of every seven nights, I would've found another way to convince you."
"It's not that bad…" Loiju said as he covered his lips with his fist, "It's just two nights at best, and they're both at home."
"That's even worse. At least go get drunk with others in a bar. Doing it at home alone is depressing."
"What do you want from me?! For me to get drunk or not?" Loiju spat out with frown
"I want you to find a better hobby than drinking expensive wine alone. You don't even do it right…"
"… Damn."
…
After a few more minutes of small talk, Loiju led Silver to a large wooden board in the main hall and selected a few commissions for him, nothing too great, just things like gathering enough drop items from a specific monster and so on.
Whenever someone needed something but couldn't get hold of a particular item or service, they could commission the Guild to handle it for them. Nothing too complicated.
Some examples included harvesting of common and rare materials from the Dungeon, scouting of floors at the Guild's request, investigating rumors and other finds, kill orders by the Guild, rescue missions, research of monster habits, and so on.
For Silver, the commissions chosen by Loiju were all centred on the Upper Floors.
There were also boards dedicated to the Middle and Lower Floors; anything lower than that was usually handled directly by the customer to a party or Familia since few could go that far and return in one piece, much less while conducting some sort of task.
"Isn't there a commission to hunt hellhounds or something? Anything that can be done on the 13th floor?" Silver asked as he raised an eyebrow
Loiju shook his head, "Although you can handle yourself against some monsters on the Middle Floors, I won't give you a commission until you either Rank Up or find a party. Even if I wanted to, which I don't, mind you… I can't.
"Guild policy says it all; you read most of it already, so you know."
Silver shrugged with little thought, "It's fine. It's more for the sake of it since I'll be there."
Loiju's eyebrows twitched, 'Shouldn't you be saying that you are going to look for a team?! It hasn't been that long, but you're going to the Middle Floors!'
He reached for his nose, scratching it, "Isn't it time for you to find a supporter? They don't need to be strong; they only need to be good enough to help you and increase your efficiency."
"You know better than me that's not the case… you're aware of what I can do and how I fight somewhat." Silver added as he looked at the commissions
"Not that again, sigh… If you ever change your opinion, I can introduce you to some trustworthy and capable supporters, all Level 2 and above or even veteran Level 1s with experience going to the Middle Floors."
His voice grew weak, "… since if I give you a recruit, I fear you'll get them killed in no time…"
Silver turned to the elf with a look of distaste.
"… You know I heard that, right?"
"You weren't the one I was trying to keep from hearing."
Silver rolled his eyes, putting his arms behind his back as his attention fell back on the Guild board, "Sure, whatever you want… I will look into it, but it might take a while."
Loiju eyes opened wide and lifted his arms as he clasped his hands in prayer.
"By the sacred tree!"
"##!!"
'This dramatic alcoholic…'
While the Elf was singing prayers, Silver sneakily left the Guild with his commissions in hand.
"… sigh…"
When he left, Loiju stopped and looked outside as he left, looking rather downcast.
/Smack!/
Someone approached all of a sudden, smacking his back, "Why the long face, Loiju?... Ah, I see. Did you send another adventurer to the Middle Floors? Be positive! They will return safely!… this time…"
He turned to the side to see a familiar small girl with pink hair, exhaling as he walked past her, "I heard that…"
He then reached for his hair, "… Shit… if only that were the case this time. I should've just refused this adventurer… he drives me nuts."
/Slap!/
She slapped his back again with even greater enthusiasm, causing him to recoil, "Don't worry! Weren't you bragging about how incredible this new adventurer of yours was? Trust him!"
"You're right…"
'But you don't know how insane it is to deal with him… just yesterday he came to me half bloodied from the Dungeon, almost giving me a heart attack… only to tell me it was a prank.'
'I swear that guy will drive me crazy.'
"Good!... Oh yeah, did you remember to tell him to avoid going to the 17th floor? I heard the Goliath was respawning today."
"Goliath, huh?… I didn't, but it doesn't matter; he won't go that far… he wouldn't… that son of a bitch." Loiju muttered to himself as his face paled
Not noticing this, Misha patted his back, "Everything will be fine! Trust him just like I trust you!… So please, help me with these papers… W-WAIT!"
Loiju ran away before she finished her phrase. He liked to work, but only when he was being paid.
He is a proud elf! He doesn't do community work!
…
/A few hours later…/
"Huff… harf…"
"Phew… Good enough for my warmup... you can die now."
"Mu?"
/Splurt!/
The fallen minotaur's head was suddenly penetrated by an ice shard as Silver waved his hand in its direction.
/Poof!/
After killing the beast and pulling out its magic stone, Silver searched for a nearby rock to sit and rest. He picked a green potion in a tiny flask the size of his pinky ginger and drank it.
A rather potent antidote…
"Blerg… I've tasted lab waste better than this… utterly disgusting."
'But whatever works, I guess…'
Silver rested his head by the Dungeon's white walls, wiping off his sweat with a towel.
He had just finished one of his "training" sessions… one he was developing at least.
Silver had been studying ways to target train each basic ability, and while he couldn't tell if it was working given he hadn't updated his Status in a while, it was still good experience to write and execute ideas on a notebook.
That was how he used to do things at least… no matter how strong his memory was, Silver enjoyed writing things down, especially as he reached the end of his past life. Silver wrote a lot just for the sake of it.
His training this time was dedicated to his Agility. It comprised of him going into a secluded area on the Middle Floors, finding a minotaur, then running in circles with it while under the effects of weights or even debilitating poisons.
Given the difference in levels, the Excelia alone was bound to be significant. And even though physical training was known to be quite ineffective, this couldn't exactly be considered just that, right?
He was trying to simulate something known to give lots of Excelia… a desperate situation. In this case, running for his life.
Although it is a controlled situation, Silver is under immense danger as a minotaur is a significant threat… He chose the beast exactly because of its reputation as one of the strongest monsters of the Middle Floors.
According to Guild statistics, a minotaur has a "Strength stat" of 1980 points and an "Endurance/Vitality stat" of 1700 points.
Both values are overwhelming for Level 1 adventurers and considerably beyond the range of weaker Level 2 adventurers as well, even when considering the boost of their Level 1 basic abilities from ranking up plus their built stats at Level 2.
However, minotaurs are also considered slow by the same standards, having simple movements for others around their level range. Their "Agility stat" is considered being around 950 points with their "Dexterity stat" being only around 200 points, which is only a bit more than that of an Orc's… and all they can do is swing their weapon down if not in other sharp angles.
Of course, a minotaur has no magic… thank the Gods… as some would say.
Was it crazy? A little bit… but effective?… Maybe… he had yet to figure that one out, but so far, it was his most "sound" idea.
"Minotaurs are rather quick when charging in a straight line, but they are rather dumb. So much so that even I could take one out without a blessing with enough preparation." He said out loud as he wrote his thoughts in a notebook
'Compelling one to charge is easy, and once they start, you don't need to do much to make them fall since they can't move around much… still, the sight of one charging is enough to make most Level 2 adventurers pale… a minotaur's strength and vitality are an elite Level 2 adventurer, even a Level 3 adventurer would be sent flying or knocked out if hit straight on by it… maybe even killed.'
'And I'm talking about a vanguard adventurer and not a mage. Most adventurers who work around these floors, upon facing a charging Minotaur, would rather scramble to evade, kill it straight on, or pray to the deities…'
"I always found them walking targets, but this kind of inflexible thought process is also a weakness. It's prone to shattering at the slightest inconvenience."
'For this training, however, the only thing I need to do is dodge at the last moment. Even a Level 1 can do it if they get the timing right.'
'By the time the Minotaur recovers and starts running after me again, I'm already gone. So they charge again. Rinse and repeat… I think it's a pretty decent training.'
'Once the Minotaur tires, which may be hard to see given their stamina, I kill it and rake in all the "premium Excelia" from facing an enemy far beyond my level after fleeing from it… at least that's how I see things.'
He tucked away his notebook, stretching his body.
"In any case, tomorrow I'll continue scouting the Middle Floors. There's still much space left to cover before I can complete my own map of the Dungeon."
'Buying maps is good and all, but I'd rather have my own maps. This way I can compare what's readily available with what I have and find suitable spots to train uninterrupted.'
'It'll take a while for me to go down enough where I can experiment without others bothering me, and even if I get there, I might never have the chance to do so with the Dungeon's antics… so its better for me to find a secluded enough space closer to the surface and do my things there.'
'Some people would call me crazy, but the Ganesha Familia is known for going even deeper than this to capture monsters in cages so they can fight them in his arena… what I'm doing isn't that different from that.'
The Ganesha Familia is known for having many skilled tamers. And although monsters from the Dungeon are hard to tame, the Ganesha Familia's tamers are known to tame them.
From what he read, the Ganesha Familia is the largest in Orario and also has the most First-Class adventurers, with eleven Level 5s amidst their ranks.
They have over a hundred upper-tier adventurers, with at least thirty of them being Level 3 or above. As Orario's military police, they're in charge of the city's security. They're usually found around Guild workers in the city and whenever Orario hosts a meeting with external forces.
They have a lot of authority and are known for having close ties with the Guild… Silver considered them a strong contender for his Familia on his way to Orario. The reason he eventually cast them aside was actually down to their deity…
Ganesha was… quite the odd person, and above all… he was a buff dude… Silver could easily tolerate Hestia or most goddesses, but a buff dude?… That was hard to play around with.
…
/Tick tack…/
"It's almost time."
Silver raised his head to face the slumbering figure of the Goliath.
Its eyes closed, it awaited its fateful summoning.
'I've already set some things up in advance. Nothing serious though… given the current circumstances, I can't act freely else someone might end up implicated.'
'I heard from Loiju that the Guild set up a commission to hunt it down and some Familia had taken up the task. Before they arrive, I must take it down.'
"… even if it means waking it ahead of time." He mumbled as a smirk formed on his face
'I could take it down faster than before, but I was interested in trying a few things… just to see how far I've come. But if it comes down to it, I'll just take it down quickly.'
/Crack…/
A small crack formed in the smooth crystal wall…
/Crack…/
/Open!/
Goliath's eyes opened within the stone.
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Notes
Smaller than normal, but that's because this next sequence of chapters is essentially all new. Let's see where it brings us.
Thanks for reading!
Peace.