Chapter 6: Chapter 6
(A/N: The MC won't unlock any Ultimate Skills because Ultimate Skills are too OP for the world of Danmachi)
I made my way out of the abandoned churchyard, making sure to act as casually and naturally as I walked back out onto the main street. I didn't think it would be a problem if I were seen coming from the abandoned church, but I still felt that it was better to keep things on the down low for now, at least. As I expected, nobody paid any attention to me as I joined the crowds and made my way back toward Babel. It was around five in the afternoon by the time I made my way up and into the shop. There I found Fortuna sitting at the checkout desk while a few customers in fancy clothes looked around the store.
Fortuna grinned as I walked in, "Did the guild really keep you that long?" she asked jokingly.
"What can I say, they love me down there," I joked back, walking over and taking a seat next to her.
"Already skipping your duties of manning the store?" she asked with false sorrow in her voice.
"Hey, I didn't agree to man the store. Also, I was training for my first excursion into the dungeon," I said, instantly causing a more serious look to surface on Fortuna's face.
"You don't need to go into the dungeon, you know," she said quietly, but I still managed to hear her clearly.
I placed a hand on hers as I spoke, "I know, but this is something I want to do," I said truthfully.
She said nothing but gave my hand a quick squeeze before turning back to the counter as a consumer approached, "I'll be in the back," I said as I slipped away from the Goddess.
I made my way to the closed-off backroom and walked inside. Once I closed the door behind me, I sat at one of the many tables that were cluttered with scraps of clothing and sewing equipment. Once I was seated, I began to think about what magic to pursue first. I wanted some offensive magic, but I didn't want to practice that while inside, so I decided to go for Spatial Magic first. Spatial Magic is a branch of Elemental Magic that focuses more on spatial travel and storage rather than fighting and killing. It is mostly used to make the user's life easier and more convenient.
Easy and convenient, especially in terms of dealing with my equipment, magic stones, and mob drops, was certainly something that interested me greatly. The fact that Great Sage recommended it just made me want to get it faster. I knew of it from Tensura, but I wasn't entirely sure what spells to go for, so I asked Great Sage quickly.
"Great Sage, what Spatial Magic spells do I go for?" I asked silently.
[It is recommended to get Spatial Storage first, but Dress Change and Warp Portal are also useful, but Warp Portal requires a magic circle to function, while Dress Change is more for rapidly changing between multiple sets of clothes or armor]
I nodded in understanding as I pulled my sword off my waist since I had nothing else to place into my Spatial Storage once I masted it. I didn't think that this would be nearly as difficult as Aura Slash or Aura Sword since I already had a clear picture of an inventory in my mind as well as Spatial Rings used in cultivation novels. I imagined a mix of the two, where I deposit an item into a box in the air, and that sends it to a subspace where all my items are held. All I had to do was picture that image and use my store of magicules to make it a reality. It took me a few tries, but soon enough, I dropped my sword and watched as it disappeared.
Once my sword disappeared, I simply extended my arm and willed it to form above my open hand. A moment later, I felt the familiar weight of the weapon as it dropped right into my open hand. I quickly began to test the size limit of objects I could put inside my storage, but I quickly found that there were no tables, chairs, or wardrobes big enough to challenge my ability to store them. I also felt that even with multiple big pieces of furniture in my storage, there was still plenty of room left to add even more objects. After my tests, I dropped my sword into my storage and began to focus on a different set of Elemental Magic, Life Magic.
Contrary to what one would expect from its name, Life Magic is low-level magic that focuses on effects on the human body that are useful in everyday life. I only really wanted one spell from this branch of Elemental Magic, the spell Clean Wash. Clean Wash will allow me to clean my body instantly and remove all body odor at the same time. I felt that it would be just as important to me as my Spatial Storage while in the dungeon since I don't like smelling bad or feeling gross either. Plus, I felt that it would just be useful overall for general use as well.
As soon as my sword was safely sore in my Spatial Storage, I began working on Clean Wash. This spell took me a bit longer than the former since I had trouble picturing exactly what the spell would look like. In the end, I pictured a line of energy passing from my feet to my head that simply vaporized all the dirt and foul odors from my body as it passed. That seemed to do the trick because as soon as I held that image firmly in my mind, I was able to complete the spell and finally add it to the list of magical spells on my status. Of course, that list was only made up of two spells for now, but I was planning to change that soon enough.
I quickly began to work on one last spell before I would call it a day and go out to help Fortuna close up the shop, then go up and head to bed. The last spell that I wanted to work on was Heal, a part of the Restoration Magic branch of Elemental Magic. Once I had this spell mastered, I would feel a lot more comfortable about heading into the dungeon. I would much prefer to have a skill like Self-Regeneration or, even more preferably, Ultraspeed Regeneration, but for now, that wasn't an option. I would have to make do with Heal until I could get my hands on one of these two self-healing skills.
I picked up one of the many needles lying around the room and used it to quickly prick my finger so that blood quickly formed and began to trickle down my finger in a steady flow from the small wound. I then began to try and repeatedly use heal, imagining a soft light terminating from the wound, and once the light faded, the wound would be healed. I had considered going the Holy Magic route for healing instead of using Elemental Magic as the base for my healing, but I didn't want to deal with something that contained as many variables as Holy Magic for now.
I would defiantly pursue Holy Magic for the Miricle Class magic Disintegration. Then from Disintegration, I would be able to obtain the Art, Melt Slash, but that was extremely far off in the future. For now, I just focused on getting Heal mastered and under my belt instead of having my head in the clouds thinking about the power I will be able to wield in the future. After I refocused, it didn't take too much longer to gain the spell Heal, but it had still taken me a few hours to master it. It turned out to be more complicated than I had initially anticipated. I completed the spell and exited the room just as Fortuna was flipping the open sign on the door to closed.
"Thanks for your help today," she said with a small pout.
I did feel slightly bad for locking myself away and leaving her alone in the store, but getting more magics under my belt was definitely more important, "Sorry, I was working on mastering my magic," I said apologetically.
That seemed to make her perk up, "Well, you don't need to help in the store, I'm used to doing it by myself. I was just pulling your leg, but that's not important right now. What kind of magic is it?" She asked curiously, running over to me.
I quickly pulled my sword out of my storage space. Fortuna's eyes widened as the weapon appeared out of thin air in front of her, she even touched it to make sure it was real. Then, she nearly cried out when I dragged the blade across my palm, opening up a gash, but when she saw my confident face, she waited and watched instead of rushing to stop the bleeding. A moment later, her jaw was on the floor as I healed my hand back to perfect condition.
"I really was very lucky to get you before any other gods," She said with a massive grin.
= = = = =
The first run to the dungeon isn't too far off now
Chapter 7: Chapter 7
(A/N: I forgot to mention it, but all of the MC's spells are cast via magic circle. So, whenever he casts a spell, there is always a clearly visible magic circle the color of the magic he is casting)
"You are lucky to have me," I said with a laugh as I placed the needle on a table before heading for the door, "I'm gonna head up to bed, how about you?"
I heard rapid footsteps behind me before Fortuna fell into step with me as we left the store, "I was planning to head up now as well," she said casually.
I nodded, then waited for a few moments before telling Fortuna my plan, "I think I'll head to the dungeon tomorrow to check it out," lacing sidelong at the Goddess to see her reaction.
My words caused her to frown slightly, but she just looked back at me and said, "If that's what you want to do, then I trust you. Just make sure not to overestimate yourself," she said as she placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder, causing me to smile.
"Don't worry, I don't have TOO much of an inflated ego," I said jokingly, causing Fortuna to punch my shoulder lightly.
We battered back and forth casually until we returned to the apartment and headed inside. Then, we bid each other goodnight before heading to our respective rooms. I had no intention of sleeping just yet, but I did want a bit of privacy while I focused on unlocking the Art, Aura Sheild, before bed. Normally I would never have trained any Art or Magic in the apartment, but since Aura Sheild is a defensive Art, I figured that it would be fine to practice inside.
I focused on projecting a protective bubble around myself that would be capable of negating a lot of the damage from oncoming attacks. After my experience with manipulating aura earlier today, it didn't take me long to gain the Art and fully master it. I quickly cast it and watched as a half dome was quickly projected in front of me, fully covering my front in a shield of aura but leaving my back unprotected. I frowned as I tried to will the aura into the bubble shape I had been picturing before, but it seemed like I would have to create an entirely new Art to make the defensive bubble. With the Art done, I quickly crawled into bed.
However, before I went to bed, I decided to try creating an entirely new art of my own based on some fantasy novels I had read in my previous life. I quickly sat up and began to imagine my aura leaking out of my body to form a dense shroud around me that would slow oncoming attacks, taking a lot of the momentum and deadly force out of them. This proved to be the easiest Art to obtain so far since it basically was just allowing a cloud of arua to leak out of my body and hang around me before condensing it to become denser. I was curious what this Art would be called in my system, so I quickly called up my status and looked at its name, Aura Shroud.
(A/N: Based on Density Feild from World Tree Online and Shrouds from Sufficiently Advanced Magic if you are curious)
Before I laid back down, I could stop my curiosity and decided to activate my Unique Skill: Degenerate on Aura Shroud and Aura Sheild, synthesizing them together to create a new, stronger Art. I wasn't even entirely sure if this would work, but I could barely contain my excitement when I saw my experiment had been a success. I quickly decided to cast my Art one time before actually going to bed. I held out my hand and called out the name of the Art, Aura Wall. Immediately an extremely dense wall of Aura, shaped in the form of a dome, formed in front of me, with the space between my body and the wall filled with dense aura as well.
I wanted to laugh out loud, but I promptly collapsed back onto my bed out of exhaustion. Apparently, going from zero to one hundred with my training had taken my body by surprise. I didn't even have time to cover myself with the blankets before I was out cold and snoring. I sleep peacefully and dreamlessly until the first rays of sunlight ruthlessly ripped through the window in my room and shone like little lasers on my closed eyes. I groaned as I pulled the covers over my head, which quickly caused me to overheat.
"You win this time, sun," I said grumpily as I slipped out of bed and used Clean Wash to wash myself before I got dressed.
I decided to toss two pairs of clothes in my storage as emergency changes of clothes before opening the door to my room and heading out. Once again, I found Fortuna already out in the living room and looking perfect as usual. She turned as soon as I opened my door, watching me enter the room with a strained smile.
"What's wrong?" I asked in concern, but before she answered, Fortuna ran forward and gave me a bid hug.
"Be safe in the dungeon, don't be afraid or embarrassed to run away since it is still a victory to live to fight another day," She said as she squeezed me tighter.
I quickly reciprocated the hug and said, "Don't worry, I'm not too proud to run. Plus, I'm only dipping my toes into the dungeon's waters," I said, raising her head so she could see my serious look.
"Promise?" she nearly whispered.
I stuck out my pinky and locked it with her own pinky finger, "I pinky promise," I said, evoking the sacred and unbreakable vow that is a Pinky Promise.
I wasn't sure if she entirely understood what a Pinky Promise is, but she seemed to get the gist of it. She quickly wiped her eyes which were full of unshed tears, and spoke once more.
"I just don't want to lose my first child," she said, the tears finally falling down her cheeks.
"I know," I said, wrapping her in a tighter embrace while my excitement to explore the dungeon all but went out completely.
'The dungeon is not a toy, it's basically a death trap where people die every day,' I reminded myself as I held Fortuna, who was sobbing by this point. 'I will come back to you,' I vowed in my heart as I looked down at the Goddess that cared so much for me despite just meeting me. I felt a warmth and a particular emotion spreading throughout my heart and body as I looked at Fortuna, love. Not the lust-tainted love one feels for a lover but the love that one would feel toward a parent or a sibling. Despite knowing her for only a few days, the fact that we were destined to meet and form a bond was clear to both of us and was the catalyst that allowed us to grow so attached to each other already.
Fortuna was more affected by our fated bond than I was since she was a Goddess of fate and fortune and was much more in tune with that sort of esoteric stuff than I was. I simply gave her head a pat while waiting for her to stop crying. Eventually, she pulled away and wiped the last of her tears from her face.
"Sorry for that," She said with an embarrassed false laugh, "I don't know what came over me,"
"It's fine, I said," patting her back as I spoke.
After spending a moment to make sure she was really okay, I turned toward the door and heard Fortuna call, "Good luck," as I exited the door.
This whole interaction with Fortuna made me much more serious about approaching the dungeon, which I was thankful in my heart for. I doubted that I would get hurt even if I had been cocky and or excited when heading into the dungeon to explore the first few floors, but it never hurt to be careful. As I walked through the sparsely populated floors of Babel, my mood lightened somewhat but still remained severely dampened. I had always been good at controlling my emotions, so keeping them in check now wasn't difficult.
It was only as I finally reached the bottom floor of Babel and headed for the circular hole in the ground that was the entrance to the dungeon that I started to feel the beginning embers of anxiety begin to glow inside my chest. I quickly stamped them out, taking a breath to recenter myself as I began to descend the steps leading down to the first floor of the dungeon. As I approached the final step, I grabbed my sword from inside my Spatial storage.
Then, I finally took my first step on the first floor of the dungeon
=== === === === ===
I didn't mean to make this chapter have the interaction between the MC and Fortuna, but character development is always good.
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