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Chapter Text

"Hurry up, Deku!”

Izuku grumbled as Bakugo yelled out at him, hoisting his pack higher onto his back. They had been travelling for almost a week now, and they were getting close to the town of Mustafu, home of the UA Dungeon.

Izuku didn’t know why it was called that, but apparently, Dungeons had name tags over their entrances that helped differentiate them. He finished adjusting his pack and looked up at the rest of the group in front of him.

There it was! Mustafu! Even though it was almost night-time, he could tell they were still about an hour’s walk from the town, but still! They were so close! Izuku couldn’t wait to go on his first Dungeon crawl! He’d been dreaming of this before he even got his class!

He almost tripped over in his excitement, but steadied himself, the extra weight of his bag helping him from falling onto his face. He looked around to make sure no one had seen his blunder and was glad to see that everyone was ignoring him, like usual.

“Alright everyone, listen up!”

Izuku raised his head again as the caravan leader, a lanky [Traveller] in leather armour named Koichi, yelled out to all of them.

“At the pace we’re going, we’ll reach Mustafu within the hour! Now I know you’re all excited to rush right into the Dungeon straight away, but I highly suggest taking the night to rest! We’ve been travelling for a while now and even the first few levels of the Dungeon can be dangerous when you’re tired!”

Izuku nodded, even though he knew that Koichi couldn’t see him. The man continued to yell as they walked. “I know very few of you are actually going to take me up on this, but if you actually do wait until tomorrow morning, I’ll pay for your room at the Inn, tonight only.”

A smile crept onto Izuku’s face at that. He had managed to scrounge up a couple of silvers before they started travelling, but having his first night at the Inn be paid for him was a really good thing. It meant that he got to get at least one dungeon run in before he had to draw out of his savings!

Koichi fell silent again, and Izuku ignored the chattering between the other adventurers, knowing that none of it was directed at him. Instead, he held out his palm and allowed his stats to show, giving them a check to see if anything had grown over the course of their travel.

Izuku “Deku” Midoriya

Level 6 

Class: Fighter

HP: 65/65

Mana: 30/30

Stamina: 80/80

Strength: 11

Agility: 15

Endurance: 12

Intelligence: 12

Luck: 7

Available Abilities: 

> Double Strike: 

• Your attack does double damage, before any reductions. 

• 2 Stamina per Attack.

> Lunge:

• Instantly dash forward a distance equivalent to your [Agility] and perform an attack.

• 4 Stamina per Attack

> Defenders Shield: 

• When standing within 5 metres of an allied creature, you can reduce the damage they take from an attack by an amount equal to your [Endurance]

• 2 Stamina per use

> Identify: 

• Allows you to see the stats and abilities of anything below a danger rating of 2.

• 1 Mana per use

Traits:

> Prodigy: 

• You learn things more quickly and more easily than others. 

• 50% boost to XP gain.

> Determined: 

• Nothing can stop you from achieving your goals.

• Resistant to the [Fear] effect.

> Heroic: 

• You are naturally inclined towards the protection of those who need it. 

• Gives a 50% boost to all stats when a sentient creature with a non-combat class is within the line of sight of your opponent. 

• Grants the ability to set and accept quests for added XP.

He pouted. Nothing had gained any benefits!

He guessed that even with his [Prodigy] trait, it seemed that just tagging along on a trip wasn’t any good for XP. Oh well, it didn’t matter too much. As soon as he started making regular trips into the dungeon, he should start to grow really quickly!

Now all he had to do was arrive in town and sleep for the night, and he could get up nice and early to go dungeon diving! He couldn’t wait!

The sun streamed in through his window and right onto his face.

He groaned, rolling over and pulling the blanket the Inn had provided him over his eyes. Was it morning already? Wait. It was morning already! Hell yea!

He flung the covers off of himself and quickly rushed over to the locked chest the Inn provided to keep valuables in while sleeping and pulled the key out from his night pants. He pulled his gear out and double-checked that his Dungeon Pass was still there. Seeing that it was, he quickly changed, pulling on the makeshift armour he had collected.

It was mostly thick cloth, only slightly more protective than his everyday clothes, with a lot of fur padding around his chest and forearms. It made it fairly hot to wear, but Mustafu was a fairly chilly area so it balanced out.

Alongside the padded shirt, there were some leather wraps around his chest. Leather and Fur gauntlets protected his forearms, and a small cloak made from a Direwolf protected his upper back.

It had taken him a lot of minor quests to earn enough money to buy that cloak, but Direwolf skin and fur was more than strong enough to stop arrows from piercing his back. A basic helmet was strapped to his head as well, his face mostly uncovered by the leather.

And finally, he got to the most expensive part of his equipment, his sword. The blacksmith at his old town wasn’t a Magic Smith, so it was mundane, but Izuku had fought an owlbear to gather up enough funds to buy it, so he didn’t really care.

He strapped the scabbard to his belt and readjusted the thick cloth that wrapped around his waist, before heading out of the Inn.

Mustafu was a fairly prominent town in the Mightian Empire, mainly because of the UA Dungeon. The dungeon had been around even before Emperor Yagi had struck down the Demon King All for One, and most mages seemed to agree that it didn’t have the usual degradation most other dungeons had after a few hundred years.

It made the dungeon, and the town around it by coincidence, a very valuable place to be for starting adventurers.

Izuku stumbled down the stairs of the Inn and sighed contentedly as the smell of cooked food and the sounds of laughter flowed through the air. According to the timepiece on the wall, it was just after 6 in the morning, which meant breakfast was being served.

Izuku tapped at the coin pouch he had on his waist and frowned. He only had around 12 silvers, and a proper breakfast would take 2 of them. Should he just use rations for today and have breakfast tomorrow, when he’d have some more coins from the dungeon?

No, it was his first day, and he would need all the energy he could get. He ordered and paid for his food, eating it quickly. A few of the older adventurers around him glanced his way and smiled at him, and he nodded in return.

“Guess you’re one of the newbies in town, right? Whole caravan of low levels here to try out the UA Dungeon?”

Izuku turned to the Innkeeper and nodded. “Yep! I’ll be heading in with some of the others later, I’m really excited!”

The Innkeeper got a weird look on their face, before frowning. “What do you mean later? The rest of the kids already headed over. Said that they had everyone they planned on bringing.”

Izuku froze as what the Innkeeper said registered in his head, and he lowered his head, pushing a tear back as he bonked his forehead on the counter. Of course. Of course!  Of course, Bakugo would do this! He knew how much Izuku was looking forward to going to the Dungeon! Izuku was even willing to be in Bakugo’s party! He just wanted to be an adventurer!

He raised his head again after he felt like his tears weren’t entirely obvious, and forced a smile onto his face. The Innkeeper didn’t seem to be buying it, a worried look on their face, but Izuku ignored it for now.

He was going to go into the dungeon, even if he had to do it alone. He was going to level up until he was so strong that no one would ever have to be scared of monsters ever again! Not even Bakugo and his cronies could stop him!

Letting out a soft sniffle, Izuku put a smile on his face. “I know this is weird to ask of you, but do you need anything from the dungeon that you’d be willing to pay for? Giving me a quest, even a minor one, would really help me level up faster.”

The Innkeeper blinked at Izuku’s question, seemingly thinking for a moment. He reached down and rifled through one of the shelves behind the counter and brought something back up, handing it to Izuku.

It looked like a small iron knife with a wooden handle. The Innkeeper smiled. “Running low on cutlery after a scuffle a few of the tougher guys had a few nights back. We usually just recycle the weapons the first floor goblins use, so if you bring me some of them back, I’ll pay you uh, 3 copper per weapon?”

Izuku waited for the Innkeeper to finish, and smiled when he heard the small ‘ding’ he got whenever he was given a quest. He opened his palm and allowed the quest to form on it.

Cutlery Resupply:

 > Bring the Innkeeper goblin weaponry that they can repurpose into cutlery.

Rewards:

> 3 Copper Pieces per Weapon

> 50 75xp per Weapon [Prodigy]

Izuku nodded to himself and set the knife back down on the counter for the man to take back.

Now that he had the quest officially set up in his system, he ran out the front door, the last remnants of tears disappearing from his eyes. He had gear, he had determination, and he had a Quest. If Bakugo and his cronies didn’t want to take Izuku into the Dungeon with them then that was their loss. 

Izuku would just go in by himself and do better than any of them ever could!

Here's a picture that my friend Karystma made of Izuku in his equipment! Big thanks, dude!

And this one was drawn by @karystmania on Twitter, and coloured by myself!!!

Chapter Text

Predictably, the entrance to the UA dungeon was a very well developed place.

A giant hall had been constructed in front of it, with the entrance on the back wall. The hall had a lot of small offshoots, spaces where merchants and crafters paid top dollar for a spot right in front of the dungeon to buy, sell and repair the gear of the adventurers that delved into the dungeon.

Izuku ignored all of them for now, heading straight towards the entrance. He mentally scanned the squadron of town guards around the large wooden double doors of the dungeon, his eyes settling onto one of them who was obviously the leader of the guard.

“[Identify]” 

Izuku whispered to himself as the guard noticed him approaching and stepped out to meet him. There was a soft ding like usual and a much smaller screen than his own popped into existence.

Kurimuzon Raiotto

Level 36

Class: Fire Dancer, Earth Bulwark

A much smaller screen than usual! 

Most of the time Izuku at least got a small description about the people he used [Identify] on, which meant that Kirumuzon was at least Danger Rating 2 or above if he got such a small amount of info from the ability.

The man was a giant compared to Izuku and was built like a truck. Weirdly, his torso and upper arms were bare, but he had an odd red helmet with a horn sticking out the front like a unicorn. He raised his palm at Izuku as he neared, his other hand falling to the pommel of the sword at his hip.

“Halt before the gate! I will need you to confirm that you’re allowed into the dungeon before I can let you pass.”

Izuku nodded quickly, riffling through his pocket and pulling out his Dungeon Pass. He handed it over to Kurimuzon and waited for the guard to confirm it. After a few moments, Kurimuzon nodded and looked over his shoulder. “It’s legitimate! David! Come over here and give the boy his mark for me will ya?.”

Izuku watched as one of the guards stepped forward. He looked like a cross between a [Mage] and a [Rouge] , with light clothing covered in dark leather. He also had glasses on, something that definitely made him look more mage-like.

David arrived next to Kurimuzon and smiled at Izuku. “Could you hold your hand out for me, please? I’ll just be applying a permanent enchantment to your hand that makes it so we can know that you’re allowed in without all this hullabaloo every time.”

Izuku smiled and held out his hand. David reached out with both of his own and clasped them around it, closing his eyes. Izuku felt a small tingle on the back of his hand and when David pulled back there was a small Golden ‘V’ seemingly engraved into his skin.

Izuku pulled his hand back from the man and his smile grew even wider. David and Kurimuzon seemed to get that he was a little impatient and smiled at him. “Alright then kiddo, go on in. But If you’re going solo, I suggest sticking to the first few floors. The lower ones can be brutal for someone of your level.”

Both of the guardsmen seemed adamant about this, so Izuku gave them a small nod. Before he sprinted past them though, he rubbed the back of his head. “You wouldn’t happen to need anything at the moment… maybe something you’d be willing to pay someone for doing?”

The pair looked at each other and laughed. Kurimuzon patted him on the shoulder. “Trying to get a quest out of us, squirt? Gotta say, seeing someone with a bonafide [Heroic] trait is rarer than you’d think, so yea, I’ll give you one.”

Izuku grinned as the man took his hand off of his shoulder. The man pulled out a small scroll and seemed to whisper something into the top of it, before unravelling it. Izuku watched, enraptured, as a map seemed to draw itself, the words First Floor writing themself in the top left corner.

It wasn’t incredibly detailed but it was more than he had seen of the dungeon. His hands twitched as he almost reached out to grab it, but he didn’t want to be rude, so he didn’t. Kurimuzon chuckled, having seen it.

“Basically, David is our major spellcaster, and some of his better enchantments require material components. Nothing special, otherwise we wouldn’t be sending you to get them, but like, powdered goblin bones. Shouldn’t be too hard, not even for a low level like yourself.”

He turned to David and held up 5 fingers, and David nodded. “I reckon a single goblin body should be enough bones for the foreseeable future, so we’ll give ya 5 copper pieces if you bring one back for us to salvage. A silver piece if you salvage it yourself. Fair warning it can be messy if you don’t know how to do it properly.”

Izuku nodded rapidly, his grin staying on his face. Two quests! He had two quests and they kinda synergised together! He heard the familiar ‘ding’ of a quest forming and opened up the menu.

Goblin Bones

Bring the body of a goblin back out of the Dungeon with you and give it to [Kurimuzon and David]

[1] 5 Copper pieces for intact body | [2] 1 Silver piece for the bones

400 XP upon completion

Looking at the screen with wide eyes, Izuku turned to the pair and gave them a messy salute, before storming past them with a smile, towards the entrance of the dungeon. They gave him a wave as he passed, and turned back to face the town.

Izuku passed the rest of the guards and reached the large double doors, placing his hand on the door. He felt the wave of power flowing from the Dungeon and heard another ‘ding’ of his menu.

You have reached [UA Dungeon]

Party Size: 1

Do you wish to enter?

Nodding to himself, Izuku pushed forward, feeling the menu acknowledge his choice. A second later his vision faded for a moment, everything going black before suddenly the air around him shifted and his vision returned.

He had been transported into the first level of the Dungeon.

The first level of the Dungeon was pretty much what he expected.

Dark, cavernous rooms filled with loose bricks and moss-covered floors, torches lining the walls to give light to things that couldn’t see in the dark. Already Izuku could hear the echoes of goblin speech and rats scurrying up ahead.

From the research he had done, he had figured out that the first ‘room’ on any floor was a safe zone that no monsters could enter. Usually. Sometimes there were special occasions, but they were few and far between.

So while he was safe, Izuku made sure that he was all together before he headed out into the Dungeon. Being transported like that made him a little dizzy, so he waited until his head calmed down.

It only took a few minutes for him to recover, and he moved towards the hallway in front of him. Like the starting room, it looked ancient, so Izuku kept an eye out for hidden alcoves in the walls where traps could be hidden.

His diligence paid off when he was able to avoid an arrow trap completely, cutting the tripwire with a knife before he set it off. The arrow launched anyway, but Izuku wasn’t in its line of fire.

He moved forward, continuing to check for traps before he reached the next room. He pressed up against the wall as the sounds of goblins and rats became even louder. Drawing his sword, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

This was it. His first dungeon fight. This would make or break his career as an adventurer. He could do this. He would do this. He opened his eyes and looked around the corner to see where the goblins were and smiled to himself.

There were around 3-4 of them in the first room, and the room itself was only around 20 metres wide. That meant they were in range for his [Lunge] . He stepped out from the corner and held his sword in his fighting stance, and yelled.

“Lunge!”

The world blurred around him as he darted forward, his arm already swinging his sword as he appeared in front of one of the goblins. It didn’t even stand a chance against his attack, his sword passing through the goblin with relative ease.

The other goblins reacted immediately, picking up their daggers and charging him. Izuku jumped back from the first one’s swing, before stepping forward again as the goblin overextended and yelling out again.

“Double Strike!”

A shimmering copy of Izuku’s sword appeared above the goblin’s head, hitting the goblin the same instant Izuku’s real sword did. The goblin died immediately, dropping to the floor. Izuku was forced back by the other two goblins, having to dodge both of their attacks at once.

He moved around the room, jumping over boxes and generally being hard to pin down. Eventually, the goblins lost their cooperation as one rushed forward to try and stop Izuku from running anymore, and Izuku struck.

His sword gave him greater range than the goblins dagger did, allowing him to run the goblin through the chest before he got within its striking range. The goblin died as well, leaving Izuku with the last goblin, one on one.

The last goblin rushed him down, jumping at him with its dagger primed to stab him. Izuku sidestepped the goblins attack, and before the goblin could recover and turn to face Izuku again, stabbed it.

It fell to the floor, and Izuku smiled to himself. He did it! He quickly ran around the room and grabbed the daggers off of the floor, placing them in his pack so that he could bring them back to the Innkeeper.

As he did so, he heard another ‘ding’ from his menu.

Congratulations!

You have earned 200XP for killing [4] lesser goblins

Level Up!

+1 Strength | +1 Endurance | +5 HP/Mana/Stamina

Izuku couldn’t even stop the cheer from escaping him this time, jumping up and down in joy as the menu followed him around, showing him the message. [Prodigy] was already paying off! If he had gotten to Level 7 just from 4 goblins, how quickly would he level up going further into the Dungeon?

God, he couldn’t wait to see what else the dungeon held for him!

Chapter Text

Rats.

Lots of them.

That’s what else the Dungeon held for him, apparently.

Izuku let out a yell as he ran around the room, a swarm of rats following him. Why were there so many of them? Well, they were in a dungeon so that was why, but still! Izuku yelped as one latched onto his ankle, leaning down as he ran to grab it.

He threw it at the wall in front of him, dodging another that jumped from the side, trying to grab onto the fur at his waist. The rat he threw slammed into the ground, not moving anymore,  and he sighed.

At least they weren’t any stronger than regular rats. They could have been, being dungeon creatures and all, but they weren’t. This was good. He sheathed his sword as he ran, which was harder than he expected it to be, and pulled out his dagger from its sheath above his butt.

As another rat dove at him, he slashed at it with the dagger, and it dropped to the floor instantly. If they all died to one hit, then he needed the speed a dagger gave him instead of the reach his sword would!

The dagger was also easier to use while running, something Izuku made great use of as he dodged the swarm of rats trying to clamber onto him. He slashed and stabbed with the dagger, each one leaving a dead rat in his trail.

Eventually, though, he made a mistake. The room he was in wasn’t very large, and his running around eventually led him back the way he had gone before, having gone in a big circle. He slashed at a rat and took a step backwards, letting out a yell as he felt his foot land on a dead rats body, slipping.

He landed on the floor and was too slow getting up before they reached him. Rats clambered all over him, nibbling at him. His gear! He started to stab at the rats, but their numbers made it so he was making little progress.

He couldn’t let the rats get his gear! He couldn’t afford more! What could he do? ‘Think Izuku, think!’

‘That’s it!’

Izuku rolled and pulled his arm back. He looked over to the far wall and focused on a single brick in the wall. He sent his fist flying forward as if he was going to punch the wall.

“Lunge!”

He felt the world blur around him again his body was pulled towards the wall. The rats that were attached to him seemed to come with, but while using his ability he was too fast for them to hold on to. 

Pain shot up his arm as the world stopped again, his fist now touching the stone wall. It had worked! It was really stupid and now his arm was sore, but it worked! He heard thuds all around him and saw that a lot of the rats that had been on him had fallen off and slammed into the wall.

As he massaged his arm, a plan formed in his head. He just needed something the rats would want to eat more than him! He rifled through his pack and grabbed out one handful of his rations. He ran around the room looking for something to hold it… there!

The room was themed like a storeroom, meaning there were boxes and barrels and bags all over the place. Izuku scooped up one of the bags when he ran past, emptying its contents on the floor. He placed his rations into the bag and put in on the floor behind him, before jumping onto a box nearby, ready to stab any other rats who decided to go after him instead.

Luckily, they were the minority. Most of the remaining rats in the swarm focused on the closer source of food, diving into the bag and piling onto one another in an attempt to get to his rations. Izuku stabbed at one of the ones who attacked him instead before dropping down to the floor.

He grabbed the bag, now wriggling due to how full of rats it was and turned to face the far wall, pulling the bag back behind his head, ready to swing it. 

“Lunge!”

He immediately appeared in front of the wall, the ball slamming into the wall. He heard cracks and screeches from the rats and turned back to the other wall.

“Lunge!”

Another dash, another slam into the wall, and the bag fell silent, the wriggling around stopped. He waited another few moments just to make sure some of them weren’t playing dead before he heard a soft ‘ding’.

Congratulations! 

You have earned 100XP for defeating [Minor Rat Swarm]

Izuku smiled as he dropped the bag to the ground. He looked down at his gear and gave himself a mental check-up. He had been lucky to get out of the swarm quick enough that they hadn’t been able to do much damage to his equipment.

He gave a quick look around the room to see if there was anything else worth looting when he saw something. When he had jumped off the box to grab the bag he had kicked it away from the pile of boxes it was a part of.

And now he could see a hole underneath where the box had been.

Congratulations!

You have earned 50XP for discovering [Secret Rat Den]

Izuku wiped his brow with his forearm as he finished moving the final box in the pile. The hole in the ground was fully uncovered now, and Izuku could tell it was actually a tunnel. While it was fairly short, It was wide enough for about two of him to crawl side by side if needed.

The name made him pause before going in. It was a [Secret Rat Den] . That meant that there were rats down there. Or at least that’s where they came from. Was it worth going down there? It probably was.

Izuku couldn’t think of any reason why there would be a secret tunnel other than to house some form of secret treasure. Guess he was going down there!

He dropped onto his stomach and looked down the tunnel. There was a soft light coming from a bend around the corner, but he couldn’t see what was creating the light yet. He moved forward, commando crawling his way through the tunnel.

He had to use his dagger to stab the occasional rat, but other than those few, there weren’t any dungeon creatures. He eventually reached the corner of the crawlspace and gasped at what he found.

It was a mini loot room! The small cavern that he had found was just tall enough for Izuku to sit up in, and on the other side of it was a small wooden chest, emblazoned with a golden rat on the lid.

The light he had been following seemed to be coming from some bioluminescent mushrooms that dotted the walls and sat around the chest. He reached out and opened it. His first chest! “Cmon, give me a cool sword!”

The lid creaked open, the soft glow of the room illuminating the inside of the chest. Sitting inside, on what looked to be a pile of rat leathers, was a big lump of metal, a small pile of coins, and a dagger that seemed to be made of bone, with leather wrapped around it like a grip.

“Identify”

As he used his ability on the items, he smiled.

Lump of [Enhanced Steel]

A lump of steel that has embraced magic into its makeup. Is stronger than regular steel. About the size of a cannonball.

25 copper coins

Currency

Ratbone Dagger

Dagger made out of condensed rat bones and leather.

+100% Damage to Rodents

Izuku couldn’t believe it! His first magic item! Weren’t they usually a second-floor and below kind of thing? Did he get it because he found the secret? That has to be it! And not only did he get a magic item, but he also got magic materials!

That was arguably better than the dagger! If there was a Magic Smith in town, he could get this lump of [Enhanced Steel] forged into a better weapon! Or even some armour! It was quite the sizeable chunk.

One problem though, it was very heavy. Too heavy for him to take further down into the dungeon with me. He’d have to go back, finish his quests, and try and find a Magic Smith that would help him for cheap. He still wasn’t the richest adventurer around.

Stuffing the lump of [Enhanced Steel] into his pack was slightly awkward, but he eventually made space for it. Now came the much harder trip, crawling back up the tunnel with all of his new loot!

It took him far longer than the first trip had, and a few times the extra weight on his hip had caused him to slip back down the tunnel a small bit, making it take even longer. Not that he minded.

Any amount of time he spent in the dungeon was quite literally his dream come true. Ever since he had learned what classes and dungeons were, his dream was to conquer every dungeon he could find until he was strong enough to fight even the Bosses that the ‘Great Scourge’ would bring.

It was his dream to be known far and wide as the best hero the Mightian Empire had, to have people know for sure that because he existed, they were safe from the worst monsters the world could create.

He eventually reached the goblin room and made sure to hoist one of the bodies over his shoulder, gritting his teeth. The combination of the [Enhanced Steel] and the goblin body made him very heavy and it was taking quite a lot of his strength to stay upright under the pressure.

His steps slowed with the new weight, but he pressed further onwards back to the main room, his only available way out of the dungeon for now. He eventually made his way back to the large double doors and planted his hand on them.

He waited a moment, before hearing the soft ‘ding’ of his menu.

Congratulations!

You are exiting the [UA Dungeon]

+200 XP!

Level Up!

+1 Strength | +1 Endurance | +1 Intelligence | +5 HP/Mana/Stamina

The world faded to black again as the dungeon transported him to the surface, and Izuku couldn’t be happier at today’s dungeon crawl. 2 Levels for a single day of work! Sure he was low level, to begin with, but that was impressive!

His mood brightened even further as he saw Kurimuzon and David turn to face him. On top of everything that had gone his way today, he also got to hand in a quest! Two of them!

That was always the best feeling.

Chapter Text

David and Kurimuzon seemed happy to see him.

“Hey there, newbie! Glad to see you back! And with quite the haul, too! Need help carrying all that?”

Izuku shook his head and gave the pair a smile. “No, I should be fine. Where do you want me to put the goblin’s body? Do you have a special harvesting area?”

Seemingly accepting that he could carry the body on his own, David smiled and shook his head. “Nope! Just hand it over and I’ll be able to use one of my abilities to harvest it here and now!”

Wanting to see that in action, Izuku immediately turned and shook his shoulder, letting the goblin body fall off of it, into David’s waiting hands. There was silence for a moment before both David’s hands and the goblin’s body started to glow with red light.

The body faded out of existence like a menu that you forgot to close for too long, and in its place appeared a small bag and a handful of bones. David smirked as Izuku’s eyes widened, a smile forming on his face.

David showed Izuku the inside of the bag that had appeared and Izuku was amazed to see that it was already filled to the brim with powdered bone. “Put a few levels into a craftsman class when I was younger, means I can harvest my own resources. My Grandpa taught me that trick actually, he used to be some bigshot adventurer before Emperor Yagi was even born.”

Izuku could feel his smile growing even bigger. “That’s amazing, sir! Having that kind of synergy between your classes so early on is almost unheard of! Your father must have been very forward-thinking!”

David chuckled, nodding. “It helped that I knew that I wanted to be a spellcaster ever since my brother in everything but blood declared that we would be adventurers together. Yagi had a way with words even then…”

Izuku nodded and was about to comment on something when what David said registered fully in his head. “Wait! Do you mean Emperor Yagi? You can’t! That would make you David… Shield…”

“Identify”

Sir David Shield , High Mage of Mightia

Level: ???

Class: ???

Izuku almost fainted at the sight. Almost immediately, Izuku was down on one knee, bowing his head to the man, who was quite literally best friends with the Emperor. Oh gods above, he bothered Sir David Shield for a quest! 

He kept his head down, not wanting to look the man in the eye in case he insulted him, you never really knew with noblemen. “I’m sorry for not realising who you were sooner, Sir! I hope I didn’t annoy you and I apologise for wasting your time earlier!”

Even with his head facing the floor, Izuku could see the people in the entrance hall stopping and staring at him. Or at least, their boots were facing towards him. He couldn’t really see faces at the moment.

David was silent for a moment, and Izuku started to get really worried. But then, he heard a chuckle. The chuckle grew into laughter, more people joining in. Izuku risked a glance up and saw David with a hand over his face, looking exasperated, while Kurimuzon leaned on the man’s shoulder, doubled over with laughter.

Izuku was about to fall further into his panic at that when David squatted down and put his hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “Hey, stand up alright? I know I’m kinda famous for being in Yagi’s main adventuring party, but here in Mustafu? I just wanna be David Shield, Town Guard and father.”

Izuku blinked and followed the man’s request, standing up and looking him in the eyes. He saw no traces of deception in the man’s gaze, none of the spark Bakugo and his cronies would get before playing a trick on him.

“Are you sure, Sir?”

David sighed, patting Izuku on the shoulder and nodding. “Yea, I’m sure. After Yagi kicked the Demon King’s ass, I requested to be stationed here, so that I could protect young adventurers like you and help out wherever I could. It’s nice to get back to your roots. This is where I started my journey, too.”

Izuku had known that Emperor Yagi and his party had once fought through the UA Dungeon, but he didn’t know that they had started here! None of the books he had found on the subject had mentioned it!

Izuku didn’t even realise the smile coming back onto his face, but David and Kurimuzon did. David took a step back and grabbed a small bag from around his waist, passing it to Izuku. “Now that that’s all out of the way… I think you have a quest to finish up.”

Izuku nodded, and as soon as the bag hit Izuku’s palm, the soft ‘ding’ of his menu sounded out through his mind once more.

Congratulations!

Quest Completed: Goblin Bones

Option [1] completed

Reward: 5 Copper Pieces | 400XP

David’s eyes flicked to the screen that appeared on Izuku’s palm before returning to his eyes. “Well done kiddo, maybe I’ll make this a regular thing. Saves me from having to go into the Dungeon’s first floor every few days. Can be quite boring once you hit my level…”

Izuku gasped. “If you would be willing to keep giving me quests, Sir… I  would be more than honoured to complete them for you!”

David let out another sigh and patted the top of Izuku’s helmet. “You’re a good kid. Now, go get some proper rest, I’m sure you’ll be going back in tomorrow. Come find me tomorrow and I’ll see what I can do about giving you another quest.”

Izuku nodded faster than he ever thought he could, rushing off to the Inn. He was gonna be so well rested tomorrow, and then he would get another Quest from Sir David Shield!!!

He couldn’t believe how awesome today had been!

The forge was hot, she was sweaty, and the [Enhanced Iron] she was working on was being stubborn, but Mei didn’t care.

The clang of her hammer impacting the magic material rung out through her older brothers forge as she forced her [Magic Smithing] and [Material Enhancement] abilities into the metal. She was in the process of making the rim for a shield.

Adventurers liked shields, right? Honestly, even though she lived in Mustafu, she had never really paid attention to the adventurers that lived in town. Her passion was smithing and creating, not fawning over some egotistical jackass just cause they could kill monsters.

“Mei! I’m back! You better not have burned my forge down while I was out!”

There was only one egotistical jackass she could tolerate, and that was because he let her use his forge. She glared at her brother as he entered the forge, frowning as he saw her working. “You better not have used my supply of [Enhanced St-”

Mei interrupted him, pouting. “I didn’t! You said I couldn’t use your [Enhanced Steel] until you gave me permission and I didn’t! What, don’t you trust me, Otto?”

Otto sighed as he pushed back the bright pink hair from his face. “Your puppy dog eyes might work on the guards, but they don’t on me. I do trust you, but I also know you get a bit… erratic when you smith things. I can’t have you wasting [Enhanced Steel] on a project you never actually finish. It’s expensive stuff.”

Mei grumbled, dumping the circle of [Enhanced Iron] she had created into a pool of water, her goggles protecting her eyes from the blast of steam that rose as the metal cooled rapidly. She let it cool off for a few more moments before using some tongs to pull it out and place it back onto the workbench.

Her [Magic Smithing] ability, at the strength she had gotten it to, made it so that anything equal to [Enhanced Iron] and below was easy to manipulate. Unfortunately, anything stronger than that started to get pretty pricy, so Otto never let her use any significant amount of it.

As if to tease her, Otto reached up to the lockbox that he kept the stuff in and got out some, taking it over to his section of the forge. Mei glared at him, and he at least had the decency to look guilty.

Mei kept glaring at him the whole time he was setting up for his project, but after a while, he seemed to tune her out in favour of focusing on the metal. Mei gave up glaring at him after that, choosing to follow him around as he worked instead.

“So, what are you making? Another sword? No, too much material for a sword… Oh, you have the treated leather out! Maybe a Warhammer or Greataxe? Did one of the new adventurers commission it from you?”

Before she could go any further in her interrogation, Otto placed his hand on top of her head. “Look, slow down, alright? You’ll never get anywhere as a smith if you ask questions faster than your client can answer them.”

Damn! He knew what she was all about! She huffed, moving over and sitting on a stool to watch as Otto worked. “If you must know, some new adventurer brat with a god complex dropped a bag of silvers on my counter earlier and demanded a set of dual blades.”

Mei frowned. That sounded like adventurers all right. Thinking that just because they could fight that they were better than people with non-combat classes! If people like her and Otto didn’t make them the gear they used, they’d never get anywhere!

Eventually, the sunset outside, forcing them to turn the light runes on. Otto put the project he was doing onto the workbench and covered it with a cloth, making sure to lock the [Enhanced Steel] in its lockbox again, glaring at Mei as she pouted.

“Look, I know you need less sleep than I do, but if I find out that you broke into this box while I was sleeping and took some [Enhanced Steel] to use for some project of yours, I will stay awake just to prevent you from sleeping for a week.”

Otto yawned and moved over to the doorway that led from the shop-front to their living area. Pausing, he turned back to her. “Look, this isn’t me trying to be mean, but we don’t have enough money to spare at the moment for me to let you go crazy with it.”

She sighed, dropping her elbows onto the table and holding her head up with her hands. “I wouldn’t waste it if you let me, I’d make some really cool things!”

Otto just shook his head. “You can make your cool things when some maniac is crazy enough to trust you personally with some [Enhanced Steel]. Until then, you follow my rules.”

Ignoring Mei’s final pout, Otto left the room and went to sleep, Mei following him a few hours later.

“Hello? I saw the sign out the front with the symbol for a magic smith on it, are you free to work on something at the moment?”

Mei, who Otto had left in charge of the store for the day, looked up from the counter at the green-haired, nervous-looking boy smiling at her,  a chunk of [Enhanced Steel] in his hands the size of a cannonball.

She smirked. She had found her maniac.

Chapter Text

Izuku awoke to the light of the sun reaching his eyes again, a smile forming on his face.

He got out of bed and headed towards the bathroom, giving himself a quick scrub, washing off the dirt and mud that had clung to him since he had left the dungeon the day before. He made his way back to his room at the Inn and got dressed, ready for the day.

After dressing himself, he grabbed the chunk of [Enhanced Steel] from the chest and placed it into the pouch at his side. As he rubbed at his eyes, wiping away the last of the sleep that was stuck in them, he heard a soft ‘ding’.

Congratulations!

You reached Level [9]!

You have unlocked a new ability!

[Shield] Unlocked!

Izuku smiled at the menu. When had he levelled up? Oh right, the XP he got for handing in his Cutlery quest! He had been very tired when he had gotten back to the Inn so his memory was a little fuzzy.

He rolled his shoulders as he walked downstairs, humming to himself as he ordered breakfast. After yesterday’s fighting and quest finishing, he had a fair amount of coppers, 53 of them to be exact, so he felt that he could afford to buy one of the smaller meals.

As he ate, he pulled up his menu on his hand and read over his new ability.

> Shield: 

• Halves the damage for a single strike that hits you. Costs 5 mana for each hit.

His eyes widened as he looked at the ability.

It was awesome! For just 5 mana, he could reduce an enemies attack by 50%? Sure it wouldn’t stop something that would already be able to kill him from doing so, but it was enough that he could go just that little bit further than he could before!

He might only have 9 uses of it at the moment with his Mana on 45 now if he didn’t use [Identify] at all, but that was still 9 hits that he could make not hurt as much! Which in of itself was a major boon. No wonder so many adventurers started as a [Fighter]!

Letting his menu fade, Izuku focused on the last few bites of his meal, finishing it before getting up and handing the bowl back to the Innkeeper. Receiving a nod in return, Izuku headed out into the town for the day.

He couldn’t go on another run with the giant lump of [Enhanced Steel] on his hip, so he planned on finding a Magic Smith to take it off his hands! Maybe he could even start paying for a new sword, or maybe even a breastplate!

The streets were very active for how early it was, but he probably shouldn’t have been so surprised at that fact with so many adventurers in town. Another surprising thing was the fact that the craftsmen were apparently up even earlier than the adventurers because most of the stores along the streets seemed to be open.

Merchants and craftsmen were shouting to the adventurers that passed their stalls, showing off their wares, everything from clothes to potions, as well as a few dedicated buildings with signs on the front to show what kind of shop they were.

After a while of searching, Izuku eventually found a building that had the Empire-wide symbol for a Magic Smith on it. It was essentially the silhouette of an anvil with a star shape cut into the side.

Heading towards the building, he pushed open the door and was happy to see that there was someone at the counter. She had thick, pink hair, and her golden eyes seemed to almost zoom in on Izuku as he entered.

She smirked at him, and for a moment Izuku felt a little uncomfortable, before pushing it down. “Hello? I saw the sign out the front with the symbol for a magic smith on it, are you free to work on something at the moment?”

The girl’s eyes darted from his face to the lump of [Enhanced Steel] he was holding, then back up to his face, the smirk turned into a full-blown grin, and the girl nodded. “Yep! I’m assuming you want me to forge something with that?”

Izuku nodded as he placed the chunk of metal down onto the counter gently, doing his best not to damage the hardwood countertop by dropping it. Sighing with relief, he shook his arms out. [Enhanced Steel] was damn heavy.

The girl was on it immediately, tapping away at the chunk with a small hammer. Izuku didn’t know the specifics, but he was pretty sure she was testing the quality of the chunk… somehow. She kept tapping away at it, getting more and more excited as she did.

After a while, she dropped the hammer onto the bench and before Izuku could react, she had lept over the counter and grabbed onto his shoulders, shaking him rapidly. “You! Do you even know what you’ve brought me?!”

Removing himself from her grip, Izuku let the room stop spinning before he spoke, shaking his head. “I just know that it’s [Enhanced Steel], sorry. Did I do something wrong? Is it not what I thought it was?”

Izuku was surprised to see the ear-to-ear grin that covered the girls face. “No, you bushy-haired blockhead! It’s perfect! 98.7% purity! How the hell did you find this?! You can’t be a miner, you have a sword… Did you find it in the dungeon?!”

Izuku nodded slowly as the girl pushed her way into his personal space again. “Uh, yes. I found a hidden cavern and it had that chunk in it. Why? Does the fact that it came from the dungeon mean anything?”

The girl’s eyes glinted. “What it means, Adventurer Boy is that you found [Enhanced Steel] in the dungeon! That usually means it likes you, and will likely give you more! It’s never an exact thing, sometimes it’s there, sometimes it’s not, but it’s still a renewable source of material!”

Again, before he could react, she had taken hold of his shoulders. At least she wasn’t shaking him this time. “My name is Mei Hatsume! Your new, exclusive [Magic Smith]! I have a unique deal for you, Adventurer Boy!”

The smile on Mei’s face, as well as the sheer amount of excitement in her golden eyes, seemed to rub off on Izuku because his heart seemed to pick up in excitement. “A deal? What kind of deal?”

Mei let his shoulders go and jumped back over the counter, sitting on the stool as she grabbed a piece of parchment and a pen. Shocked at the sudden movement, it took Izuku a moment to follow her.

“What’s your name, Adventurer Boy?”

Izuku blinked, shocked to remember that he never introduced himself. “Oh! I’m sorry! My name is Izuku Midoriya.”

She nodded to herself and continued to write what seemed like some kind of contract, but Izuku couldn’t read it with it upside down. He stayed quiet and allowed her to write before suddenly she flipped the paper around so that Izuku could read it.

Business Deal #1! 

Participants: Mei Hatsume/Izuku Midoriya

Izuku Midoriya, Adventurer, will supply 90% of any [Enhanced Steel] for free to Mei Hatsume, and in exchange, Mei Hatsume will be Izuku Midoriya’s exclusive [Magic Smith], getting a 100% discount on items she makes with said materials.

Option selected: 

Sign here:

--------------------               --------------------

Izuku raised an eyebrow at the contract.

He glanced up at Mei, who was resting her face on her fists, her cheeks getting squished up as she watched him expectantly. It was a classic case of puppy dog eyes , something that Izuku himself had used in the past, but it turned out that didn’t mean he was immune to them.

“So, Mei.”

The girl perked up immediately. “Yes! What is it, Midoriya?!”

Izuku hummed as he held the contract up. “Wouldn’t you be better off not giving me stuff for free, even if I’m giving you so much material?”

She laughed, shaking her head. “You’d think so, but no. Do you know how expensive [Enhanced Steel] of this kind of quality usually is? And this size too? More than I’d make in a week selling [Enhanced Iron] gear!”

Izuku’s eyebrows raised at that. Mei continued. “No, getting a semi-consistent supply of material like this for free? It would increase our savings and our profits by so much, giving you gear for free wouldn’t even put a dent in them.”

Izuku nodded, kind of understanding it. He might not be a merchant but he understood a little about business from some books he had found. What Mei was saying made sense. “So essentially, me supplying you with materials for free far outweighs the potential costs of making things for me?”

Mei’s smile grew even further as she nodded rapidly. “Exactly! So what do you say? You even get to keep 10% of the material for your own purposes! You can sell it, throw it at things, whatever you want!”

Izuku read over the contract again. This was a passionate [Magic Smith] offering up free equipment in exchange for something that Izuku would be collecting any chance he got anyway. He picked up the pen, ignoring the squeal of joy that came from Mei as he signed the paper.

For a low-level adventurer like him, this deal was quite possibly a miracle.

Chapter Text

Izuku left Mei after a while of hashing out some details on what he wanted to be done first, a small chunk of [Enhanced Steel] in his hands, his 10%.

He wasn’t even really sure what he could do with this amount. Was there really anything he could do with it? Not him specifically, he didn’t have a craftsman class, but like, what could he have done to a chunk of [Enhanced Steel] that was smaller than an Apple?

Maybe he should just sell it to Mei? There was nothing in the contract he had just signed that said he couldn’t, and honestly, she seemed pretty desperate to use as much of the material as she could.

She had said that their deal was created because it was beneficial for business, which it technically was, but Izuku could recognise the need to become better in his class. He had made some pretty stupid mistakes back when he started for the same reason, and the scars he still had the first few fights he had ever had as a [Fighter] were proof of that.

Craftsman classes had a slightly different growth system to combat classes, but they still needed to perform ever more difficult challenges that lined up with their class to get the majority of their XP. While it technically was possible to reach Level 100 just by forging things of [Enhanced Iron] quality, it would take far longer than most people’s lives were.

To continue to grow in level, people of any class needed to do more and more challenging things. If he was right about how desperate Mei was to get her hands on some [Enhanced Steel], then she probably had plateaued at her current level.

So not only was he going to be getting free gear, but he was also helping her improve in her own class! It wasn’t just a nice thing that everyone should be doing, it would also make the gear she made for him even better as she improved!

Pocketing the small chunk of [Enhanced Steel], Izuku rested his hand on the pommel of his current sword as he walked. Specifically his current sword. He and Mei had decided on what he would be getting out of their deal first.

A new sword, and some metal shin plates. Crawling through the [Hidden Rat Den] had shown that his current armour offered little to no protection for his lower legs, something he wanted to rectify straight away.

But honestly, Izuku was way more excited for the sword. His current one was hard-earned and well-forged, but it was still only a mundane [Iron Sword]. To go straight from the lowest tier metal sword there was, to a [Enhanced Steel Sword] forged by a proper [Magic Smith]?

It was almost unheard of, and Izuku knew just how good a deal he had gotten out of Mei. 

“Mei, why is there a contract sitting on the table that says some adventurer is going to give you [Enhanced Steel] for free in return for free gear?”

Mei looked up as Otto entered the forge area, her contract with Izuku in his hands. She smiled. “You said I couldn’t work on it until a maniac trusted me with some! So I found a maniac!”

There was silence for a moment as what she said seemed to sink into Otto’s brain. A sigh escaped him as his shoulders sagged. “God damnit Mei, I leave you alone for one day!”

Mei’s smile grew wider as she hammered some of the [Enhanced Steel] into the shape of a blad for Izuku. “I’m not apologising! I followed your rules! Any lawyer would take my side in front of a magistrate!”

Otto seemed conflicted, glancing between her and the work-in-progress blade, before letting out another sigh. “Alright then. I’ll… I’ll leave you to it. You make sure to honour this deal as best you can though. This is lucrative in a way I’ve never seen before.”

Mei nodded, but Otto continued. “I’m serious, Mei. This deal you have? If you piss this kid off or don’t fulfil your end of the deal because you got too worked up in a side-project, you’re going to lose him to the next [Magic Smith] with big dreams he finds.”

Mei pouted. “Otto, it’ll be fine! I promise! This sword is for him! I’m focusing on his projects first before using the rest! Trust me, alright?”

Otto looked at the blade she was working on, before grabbing his forging gloves from the wall and walking over. “Alright then, I’ll trust you with this. You want me to give you some pointers? I’ve been working with [Enhanced Steel] longer than you have.”

Mei perked up, her smile growing as she nodded. “Yes! Let’s make this sword our best one yet!”

Reaching the front of the Dungeon again, Izuku found himself feeling even more nervous than last time as Sir David Shield himself approached him.

He seemed to notice how uncomfortable Izuku was because he smiled and held his hand up, waving to Izuku. “Hey there, squirt. You ready to go into the dungeon again? All rested up?”

Izuku nodded robotically, and David laughed. “I’m guessing that you’re still a little nervous. That’s fine! I get that I’m a pretty big deal to you young adventurers and that it will take a while before you get used to treating me like your regular guard. But I’m sure we’ll get there eventually!”

Izuku stood upright as David said that, putting a wobbly smile on his face. “Yes sir! I’ll do my best!”

Facepalming, David chuckled. “I’m sure you will. Now, I have a quest for you today as well, if you’re willing to go a little further into the dungeon than you did yesterday.”

That caught Izuku’s attention immediately. His nervousness seemingly forgotten a smile flew onto his face as he leaned in. “You do? What do I need to do?”

David laughed. “Good to see that you're still enthusiastic, kiddo! Basically, I need you to get me some of the green mushrooms that grow in the Warp Chamber for Floor 1. You do know what a Warp Chamber is, right?”

Izuku nodded. “Yep! It’s the room after a Sub-boss or Boss fight where you can leave the dungeon without having to go all the way back up! Is it true that they didn’t exist until the dungeon was beaten for the first time?”

David shrugged. “Not sure, there aren’t really any written records from that long ago. The Demon King wasn’t a fan of the dungeon but wasn’t able to destroy it, so ruining all records of it was the best he could do.”

Clapping his hands, David continued. “Anyway! I need you to get me at least 15 of the [Greater HP Mushrooms] from the Floor 1 Warp Chamber so that my daughter can practise making potions. I’ll give you 5 silver for the lot.”

Izuku’s mouth dropped open as he gasped. 5 silver for such a simple task? “I’ll do it! Does this quest have a time frame I should be worried about? Might take me a while to get past the Floor 1 Puzzle Chamber.”

A smile grew on David’s face. “I’m sure it won’t give you too much trouble. You seem like a smart kid, so you’ll probably figure it out quickly. I won’t give you any clues though, no cheating!”

Reaching into his pack, David rummaged around for a short while before handing a small green mushroom to Izuku. It was forest green with bright blue dots over the cap, the dots softly glowing even in the daylight.

“There isn’t really a set time frame, but I would like them sooner rather than later. That right there is what you’ll be looking for. They grow in most floors Warp Chambers, and Floor 1 is one of them. All you have to do is clear the first floor and you’ll get to them!”

Izuku nodded to David, a smile growing on his face as a ‘ding’ hit his ears, his menu popping up.

Mushroom Collection!

Retrieve [Greater HP Mushrooms] for [Sir David Shield]!

Rewards: 5 Silver per 15 Mushrooms | 50XP per mushroom | 100XP for completion

Izuku swiped away the menu, happy now that the quest had created itself in his list. David nodded as he saw the screen pop up, even if he couldn’t read the words on it. Waving Izuku through, David smiled.

“Alright then, you’re all good to head on in I think! I will say though, if you plan on doing daily runs like this you should look into getting some better gear. I’d suggest the Hatsume forge, they do good work.”

Izuku blinked at that. His smile grew even wider. “Oh wow! I already have a deal with them for gear! But to hear you suggest them makes me sure I made the right choice! Thank you so much, sir!”

David smiled as Izuku rushed past, waving to him. But as Izuku pressed his hand to the door of the Dungeon, disappearing in the swirl of light, he didn’t see the look David gave him as he moved past, his face scrunched up in thought.

Izuku moved through the first two rooms of the dungeon much faster this time.

The goblins went down just as easily as they did last time, even more so now that he was two levels higher than yesterday’s fight with them. He also tried out his new [Ratbone Dagger] but didn’t really notice the increased damage. Rats already died to one hit.

He hadn’t got a level up from the goblins and rats this time, and he received no XP from uncovering the [Secret Rat Den] again. Luckily, his crawling wasn’t for nothing. There were 25 copper coins, just like last time, but there was also a lump of brown cloth.

“Identify.”

25 copper coins

Currency

Rat Leather Cloak

A small, tattered cloak made out of [Leather]

15% resistance to all Rodent attacks

Izuku couldn’t help but smile as he stuffed the cloak into his pack, crawling his way out of [Secret Rat Den]. Wiping the mud off of his knees as he exited, he flung the cloak around his shoulder, tying it around his neck.

He didn’t feel any different, but when he opened his menu to check if it was working, it reported back that he did in fact have the 15% resistance to Rodent attacks. He thanked the dungeon, patting the wall next to the doorway, and moved on, a grin on his face.

‘Floor 1, get ready to be beaten!’

Chapter Text

Izuku frowned as he watched the floor of the room he had just reached.

He had fought through a few more goblins, and he had gotten to a room where the floor seemed to spike up every now and then, hitting anything that crossed over the floor from below.

It seemed like he had reached the Floor 1 Puzzle Chamber! Most floors of a dungeon had at least one, but there were usually a few floors that had more. This one should be pretty simple, as the difficulty apparently went up the further into the dungeon you went.

They didn’t seem to actually be a spike, more like cylinders about as round as the wheel of a cart, but they shot up fairly quickly, and would probably bruise really badly if you got hit. Which was something Izuku was definitely planning on avoiding.

To make things worse, there was some form of smoke drifting along the floor, making it nearly impossible to see any of the floor moving before it shot upwards. Weirdly, the sudden movement didn’t seem to even bother the smoke, either.

As Izuku sat near the doorway, he tried to think of what the solution to the room was. He knew from the books he had read that all puzzle chambers had a solution, even if it was odd or illogical or had clues only the most dedicated of adventurers could find.

Hell, he had even read that there was a pair of dungeons a few centuries ago where you had to have one person in each dungeons puzzle room for the doors to open. But first-floor puzzles? They were usually simple.

Maybe the spikes were created by an increase in weight?

He searched around the little area he was standing on for a rock, throwing it onto the ground in front of him. He waited a little while and frowned as nothing shot up from the floor where it had landed.

‘Alright, it’s not based on weight.’  Izuku hummed as he stared at the floor, hearing it rumble every now and then. Honestly, he couldn’t really detect a pattern. Maybe he was just supposed to leave it up to luck?

No, that wasn’t really a solution. There had to be something… He closed his eyes and rubbed at his face as he thought, before stopping as something entered the very edge of his hearing.

It was… a bell? Or at least something that sounded like one? It was coming from the left side of the- OH! Izuku watched as a second after the sound rang out, a spike shot out of the floor on the left side of the room.

A smile came onto Izuku’s face as he stood up, brushing some dust off of his butt, and stepped forward, closing his eyes, listening for the soft noise of the bell. He could barely hear it over the shifting noises of the room, but he thought that he might be able to do this!

His eyes closed, Izuku stepped onto the floor.

He started walking quickly towards the other side, trying to take light steps so that he didn’t make too much noise. A few steps in he heard the small ding to his right, and shifted over to the left, opening his eyes enough to see the spike shoot out of the ground beside him.

Smiling to himself, Izuku continued onward, having to dive forward for the next one as the bell came from directly below him. He huffed as he saw the spike that would have smacked into him return to the floor, and kept moving.

He pushed himself to his feet and tried to listen out for the bell again, but his foot slipped across the ground, making a loud noise that blocked him from hearing the incredibly soft sound of the bell.

His eyes flew open, and he saw that he was only a few steps from the end of the room. He dived forward again, trying to make it to the safety of the platform, when a spike shot out of the ground, slamming into his side, making his yell as he landed on the platform.

12 [Impact] Damage!

Groaning, Izuku coughed and stood up, rubbing his chest, knowing that a bruise was probably going to form there. It wasn’t the first time he had ever been hurt, but it was the largest amount of damage he had taken in a single hit.

Looking over to the doorway, Izuku froze as he saw a pedestal with 4 differently coloured gems on it and 4 slots in the doorway. He grabbed the gems and put them into the slots from top left to bottom right, and hoped that the door would open.

There was a loud ‘THUNK’ from behind the door, and Izuku was about to cheer when his vision flashed white. With a thud, he landed on his ass and looked up to see that he had been teleported back to the other side of the floor.

“WHAT?!”

Mei’s smile couldn’t be wider as she slammed her hammer down onto the chunk of [Enhanced Steel].

The contract with Izuku was still fresh in her mind, and she honestly was still processing the fact that after so many months of bugging Otto to let her use [Enhanced Steel], an adventurer of all people would be the one to help her!

Her smile immediately dipped a little as she thought about adventurers, so she focused on the fact that she now had a fairly stable source of metal to use for things! Which was amazing! Not even Otto had a deal with anyone who got stuff like that usually!

She didn’t know what Izuku could have done to get the dungeons favour, especially since he had arrived the day before, but it wasn’t her place to question the whims of the UA Dungeon. Whatever the reason was for the Dungeon Core giving Izuku stuff didn’t matter to her, cause she profited off of it!

Her hammer smacked into the metal again, her [Magic Smithing] ability activating with each hit, changing the shape of the metal slightly with each impact. She had separated the chunk of [Enhanced Steel] that Izuku had brought her into a few smaller chunks to use for various things.

At the moment, she was working on a sword for the boy. Even with its fairly simple design, a simple shortsword with a wide handguard, she was excited. It would be her first weapon made entirely of [Enhanced Steel]!

She had just finished getting the lump of metal into a shape reminiscent of a baguette when she heard the bell from the front door ring. “Mei? You in here? Otto asked that I come to check on you!”

Mei smiled as she heard her friends voice and poked her head out of the doorway, grinning widely. Melissa waved to her from the front door of the Hatsume forge.

She was tall, with bright blonde hair and blue eyes. As she brushed her hair back, Mei glanced at her pointed ears. Half-elves had cool ears. She had some new outfit on that Mei didn’t recognise, but it seemed to match her eyes, which was pretty cool.

Melissa was a Runecrafter, able to add the magical enchantments to weapons, armour, and trinkets that Adventurers wore to increase their capabilities. 

She and Mei had instantly hit it off after they realised that Mei’s [Magic Smithing] meant she could make weapons capable of handling Runes without breaking.

“Melissa! Come in! I need to show you this!” Melissa yelped as Mei pulled her into the back room, but didn’t complain. It wasn’t the first time it had happened. 

She smiled as Mei slammed her hammer down into the lump of metal one more time before turning to her. “Look at this, Melissa! I have [Enhanced Steel] to work with!”

Melissa raised her eyebrow as Mei showed off the lump of metal, and the air in front of her seemed to come to life as a circle of blue light appeared above her palm, the Rune pointed at the lump of metal. 

“Appraise”

Enhanced Steel Shortsword 

(In progress)

A simple shortsword made out of [Enhanced Steel]

Forged by [Mei Hatsume]

Whistling to show her surprise, Melissa smiled as Mei danced about in excitement. “How did you convince Otto to let you use the supply you have?”

Mei’s smiled was gigantic as she grabbed Melissa’s hands, bouncing up and down. “That’s the thing! He didn’t! I have my own supplier now! An adventurer named Izuku arrived the other day and the dungeon seems to like him!”

Melissa perked up at that and laughed. “That’s amazing, Mei! What are you going to do with the material?”

Mei pointed at the in-progress sword. “Well, here’s the thing! I get 90% of the metal he finds for free, and in return, he gets free gear! It’s a win-win!”

As Mei smiled, Melissa just stared at her, shock on her face. “What? I thought you hated adventurers. Why offer one a deal like that?”

Mei paused and frowned. “Well, I don’t hate adventurers. They just annoy me. Or at least most of them do. Honestly, I don’t know much about Izuku but he doesn’t seem rude like all the others that have come in to buy stuff from Otto.”

Melissa frowned as she heard Mei’s reasoning. “Whatever you say, Mei. But are you sure that this a good idea? Free gear for anyone is a risky thing. What if other adventurers start bugging you for free stuff?”

Mei hoisted her smithing hammer onto her shoulder. “I’ll just smack them with my hammer! Otto once told me that using my [Magic Smithing] ability when hitting metal armour can do some really hefty damage!”

Melissa still looked sceptical but didn’t push it any further. Instead, she pointed to the hammer Mei was using. “Oh! I just remembered, that Rune I told you I was trying to create a while ago? The one that increases skill use through a tool? I think I figured out how to make it work!”

Mei’s eyes sparkled. “Really? Did your menu tell you that it worked? You know that’s usually how you can tell.”

Melissa nodded. “Yep! My [Curious] trait pinged once I finished up with a design last night! I didn’t try it out at home, not after that fire shield Rune I attempted burnt my bedsheets, but I thought that maybe you’d let me try it on a hammer so you can use it? Think of it as paying you back for letting me practise my Runes on your old [Enhanced Iron] stuff.”

Mei’s smile grew even wider as she gasped, rummaging through a toolbox in the back of the forge. “I would love that! Here! I have an old hammer you can test it on!”

Mei thrust the hammer into Melissa’s hands, smiling as the girl started humming a tune, light appearing in her palm, as well as on the hammer. Melissa was such a good friend!

Melissa pulled her hand away and smiled at Mei. “Alright, I think this will work! Go ahead and give it a try!”

Mei grabbed the hammer off of the table and turned to the lump of [Enhanced Steel] she was turning into a sword. Placing it down next to it she used some tweezers to put the lump back into the fire for a little bit, before placing it back on the bench and slamming her hammer down into it.

She activated [Magic Smithing] as she did and marvelled at how much smoother the changes in the metal were, almost like a constantly shifting image instead of jagged changes.

“Melissa! This is amazeballs! I can feel how much better the hammer is transferring my skill! You’re a genius! Wait, you guys get to name the runes you create, right? What are you going to call the Rune?!”

Melissa hummed as she tapped her chin. “Probably something simple, don’t want it to be too hard to remember. I’m thinking something like [Utility Rune: Skill Efficiency]. How does that sound to you?”

Mei grinned. “Sounds awesome! You’re 100% going down in the history books for this one! Let me get to a point where I can stop smithing and we can go celebrate with your dad!”

A few minutes later, the chunk of metal, now looking a lot more like a sword, laid on the workbench unattended while Mei dragged Melissa off towards her father’s post, gushing about how helpful Melissa’s creation would be.

Chapter Text

Izuku groaned as he sat down, looking at the damned puzzle again. 

Obviously, it wasn’t as simple as just getting to the other side and inputting the crystals into random slots. Rubbing his side, which was still stinging slightly from the impact, he looked around the room to see if there were any other clues.

The soft dinging of the warning bells continued to chime as he did so, with the spikes shooting up every now and then. It was a few minutes later when Izuku spotted the clue. 

Stuck to the roof was a shiny grey gem. It was the same shape and size as the ones he was meant to put into the door on the other side, and Izuku could feel that it would help him get the solution.

Scooting over to the spike field, he placed his foot onto the floor while watching the gem, smiling when it lit up a brilliant red. It didn’t change colour though, not even after a few seconds of leaving his foot on the floor. 

He removed his foot when he heard a warning bell go off nearby, but luckily the spike wouldn’t have hit him either way. He looked back up and saw that the gem had gone grey again.

An idea formed in his mind, and he stood back up. Listening out for the bells, he stepped out onto the field, looking up at the gem. As soon as his foot hit the ground, the gem sparked again, this time bright blue.

‘Alright, Blue gem goes first.’

He had to dart to the side after seeing the gem, as a bell went off, and his eyes instinctively darted to the ground to see where the spike was, only to dart back up when the colour flashed.

The gem changed colours before his eyes once again, the bright blue slowly swirling away, leaving a burnt orange gem in its place. ‘Blue, then Orange, got it.’

Almost as soon as he had registered the colours, he heard another bell in the edge of his hearing and rolled forward, spotting one that had come up from directly under him. He saw the light change slightly and forced himself to ignore the spike as he checked what the gem had changed too.

The orange had bled away, and in its place, a deep purple covered the gem. Smiling to himself, he heard the soft chimes of the bell to his right and sidestepped to the left, before booking it to the other end of the field, dodging spikes as he went.

Now that he knew 3 of the 4, he didn’t need to see the last one to know what order to put them in this time. He reached the pedestal and grabbed the gems out of the holder, moving over to the door.

He placed the blue gem first, followed by the orange, and then after that the purple. Grabbing the final gem, which was bright green, Izuku slotted it into its place and heard a much louder bell than usual go off.

He smiled to himself as the door dropped into the ground below, and the spikes quieted as they stopped shooting from the floor. Izuku knew that he would probably have to go past this puzzle again every time he wanted to get to the end of Floor 1, but finishing it for the first time felt special for him.

‘Ocean Blue, Burnt Orange, Deep Purple, Bright Green. I wonder how many variations of that I’ll see in my life…’

Patting himself down to get rid of some of the dust that clung to him, he pressed on, eager to get to the portal room and complete Sir Shield’s quest.

“Mr Melissa’s Dad! Guess what!

David turned his head to see Melissa being dragged along behind Little Hatsume, and a smile formed on his face. Mei was a bit wild, but she and Melissa had been good friends ever since they met.

Little Hatsume and her older brother Otto both had an instinctual knack for smithing that he hadn’t really seen for a long while. Most of the guards got their own gear, and many an order had been placed to the Hatsume forge.

“What is it, Little Hatsume? Did Melissa set her bed on fire again?”

Ignoring his daughter rolling her eyes, or not even noticing, Hatsume’s grin just grew. “Melissa finished the thing she was working on! Melissa! Show your dad the thing!”

David raised his eyebrow as Mei pushed Melissa forward. Melissa pouted at Mei before turning back to him and motioning for his backup wand, strapped to his thigh. “Could I use that? It’s a rune.”

A soft smile formed on David’s face as he pulled the short length of oak wood from his boot, handing it over to her. “I didn’t know you were working on a rune. What kind of enchantment is it?”

Melissa smiled as her hands started to glow. “I didn’t tell you about it because I wanted it to be a surprise! And just before I do it, I wanna tell you that I tried it out on one of Mei’s hammers, meaning that I’m 100% sure it works!”

David waved his hand at the wand, telling her to continue. No matter what she had created, he would be proud of her. She was one of the smartest young ladies around, and he was constantly proud of the work she did.

Melissa brought the wand up to her eyes and focused on it intensely. David could tell that she was making sure nothing went wrong as a rune slowly started to fade into existence on the handle of the wand. 

“[Utility Rune: Skill Efficiency]”

At her words, the rune solidified, a small flash of light coming from the wand, and a ding appearing in David’s menu, and Melissa’s own flashed into existence in front of her, a smile bigger than any he had seen on her before growing. 

Attuned Wand: ”Backup” has been enchanted with: [Utility Rune: Skill Efficiency]

25% increase to skills channelled through this wand

David’s eyes widened as he read through the pop-up, a smile forming on his own face. “This is… Melissa! This is incredible! My word! How did you…”

He gave up trying to speak and swept his daughter up into a hug. “Marvellous! Just marvellous!”

Melissa patted him on the back and he put her down. Looking at the small purple square in front of her face, his smile grew. “I assume that’s the confirmation message?”

Melissa nodded. “Yep! It says that because I added the rune to its first Magical Item, my rune is now officially recognised as [Melissa Shield’s Skill Efficiency]!”

Mei jumped for joy next to her before squeezing her into another hug, and David just watched, smiling. He knew that his daughter was an amazing [Runecrafter], but he didn’t know that she was so good at it!

‘Dianus, can you see our little girl from up there? She’s so impressive…”

Izuku looked up at the large wooden doors in front of him.

He had reached the entrance to the Floor 1 Sub-boss! Apparently, while only the floors with even numbers had actual bosses, the other floors had enemies that were a little stronger than the average for that floor.

From what he had read about the UA Dungeon, the Floor 1 Sub-boss was a large rat that would try to pin him in a corner of its cramped arena. So all he had to do was try and stay behind it, right?

Hmm, its tail could be a problem though. The books he read didn’t say how much bigger than usual the rat was, but no matter the case, he had his new [Rat Leather Cloak] and [Ratbone Dagger] to help out!

Placing his hand onto the door, he expected it to just pop open on its own, or to teleport him somewhere. Instead, his menu ‘dinged’, opening up.

Warning!

Suggested Party Size: 3+]

Your Party is under the suggested Party size.

Do you wish to Proceed?

Rewards will be slightly increased due to superior difficulty.

Yes/No

Izuku’s smile grew as he looked at the words. That was great news! It wasn’t like anyone would want to party up with him, not until he was strong enough to prove himself to the other adventurers, so getting increased rewards for being alone was perfect! “Yes!”

As he spoke, his vision flashed white, before he felt the air shift around him. He heard a squeaky attempt at a roar, and his vision faded back in, leaving him in a room about as big as a barn, with a rat the size of an Ox in the middle.

The fight was on.

“Why the fuck can’t you dumbasses get the fucking order right?!”

Bakugou growled as he watched the idiots he had brought along into the dungeon fumble around with the Floor 1 puzzle. The floor 1 puzzle! It was supposed to be the easiest, and still, these fucking buffoons couldn’t get it right.

The [Mage] on the other side of the spike field yelled back over. “The order seems to change every time one of us gets sent back over to you! I can’t find a pattern to it either! Do you see anything that might help us?”

Bakugou growled and looked around the room again. One of the dumbasses was crossing over the field, and something glinted in the corner of his vision. “Up there, on the roof. Things changing colours. I think it might have something to do with the person crossing.”

The Mage have him a thumbs-up, and Bakugou scowled. Such a fucking simple clue, and yet they had been stuck in this stupid room for an hour while the [Mage], [Healer] and [Rouge] fumbled with the fucking gems.

He walked over to the spike field, only getting a few points of damage for his trouble, and smirked as the [Mage] in his group placed in the final stone, and the door fell open.

Bakugou smirked as he saw the double doors at the end of the hallway. He was so going to rub it in Deku’s face that he finished the first floor already. Damn nerd was probably still stuck in town trying to weasel his way into a party.

“Alright, keep up, dumbasses! I won’t carry you through this fight! You have to pull your weight!”

Chapter Text

The rat was actually around the size he expected it to be.

But expecting a rat to be huge, and actually seeing a huge rat, were incredibly different things. Izuku’s hand flew down to his waist to make sure that the [Ratbone Dagger] was firmly in place, and then up to his neck as he tested the clasp of his [Rat Leather Cloak].

Drawing his sword, he watched as the large rat stared him down. It was a bit unnerving, but Izuku held its gaze. As he watched it, he spoke. 

“Identify”

Duke of Rats

Sub-Boss, UA Dungeon

A large [Rodent] that blocks the passage to the rest of the Dungeon.

HP: 150 | Mana: ??? | Stamina: ???

Izuku frowned at the block that showed up. It was pretty much stuff that he already knew. And the fact that he couldn’t see the [Duke of Rats]’s Mana or Stamina meant that it was on the very edge of Danger Rating 2.

The [Duke of Rats] didn’t seem to like being scanned, releasing another of its squeaky roars. If it hadn’t started charging Izuku right after that, he might have laughed at the noise. Diving to the side, Izuku tried to slash at the rat with his sword, grunting as it stopped its charge with surprising agility.

Izuku jumped to his feet and avoided the [Duke of Rats]’s counter-attack, a swipe with its dinner-plate-sized paws. Or at least he tried to, the tip of the [Duke of Rats]’s claws slashing along his hip.

[8] Damage Taken!

Hissing as pain shot up his side, Izuku swung his sword at the [Duke of Rats] now that it was closer, cutting a line into the side of it, around as long as the blade itself.

[14] Damage Dealt!

“Shield!”

Izuku cast [Shield] on himself as he took a step backwards, but he didn’t need it as the [Duke of Rats] missed, the pain from Izuku’s attack throwing it off a little bit. “Double Strike!”

While the [Duke of Rats] was distracted, Izuku dashed forward and swung at its head, the shimmering copy of [Double Strike] following along with his swing. His sword lodged into the neck of the [Duke of Rats], and he heard something crack after the second attack landed.

Critical Hit!

[74] Damage Dealt!

[Duke of Rats] is suffering from [Bleeding 2]!

[Duke of Rats] will take [4] Damage every [30] seconds.

He was about to let out a yell of joy at such a successful hit when something impacted his right arm, throwing him against the wall of the arena.

[12] Damage Taken!

“Arrgh!” He had forgotten about the tail. Damn, it packed a punch! He checked his menu as he got up, and nodded to himself. His HP was at 55/75. He had almost 3/4 of his HP left, and the [Duke of Rats] was down to less than half.

He only needed a few more strikes or one more big attack like before, and he would win! Actually, with the [Bleeding 2] effect that he had inflicted on the [Duke of Rats], he would only have to wait 7 and a half minutes for the remaining 62 HP it had to run out.

But Izuku didn’t want to wait like that. This was his first (sub)Boss fight! He couldn’t win it by waiting it out! He had to win it! He went to grab his sword, but his hand closed on empty air.

Looking around the arena, he saw it behind the [Duke of Rats]. He must have dropped it when he got slammed by the tail. Damn. While his sword wasn’t an option until he got past the [Duke of Rats], he wasn’t out of options! 

Reaching down to his belt, he pulled out his [Ratbone Dagger]. The sight of him holding the dagger seemed to have an effect on the [Duke of Rats], making it visibly angry as he brandished it.

It let out another squeaky roar and started to charge at him. Izuku smiled and held the [Ratbone Dagger] out in front of him.

“Double Strike! Lunge!”

Izuku saw a ghostly copy of the [Ratbone Dagger] appear next to his hand as the rest of the world blurred around him, and he swung downwards. The world cleared up again, and he found himself right where he wanted to be, directly over the [Duke of Rats].

Both of the daggers slammed into the top of the [Duke of Rats] as Izuku pushed downwards, and [Duke of Rats] let out a screech, before suddenly dropping to the floor, its legs giving out. Izuku was standing on top of its back, a smile on his face.

“Woooooo!”

Izuku’s cheer echoed around the small arena, and he slid down the side of the [Duke of Rats], landing on the ground with a thud. He walked over and picked his sword up, cleaning the edge by wiping it on the side of the [Duke of Rats] before putting it back in its sheath.

He took a deep breath, the smile on his face not fading as he held up palm up to the roof. “Alright menu, show me what I earned from this!”

A small ‘ding’ appeared in his ears and the menu popped up.

Floor 1 Sub-Boss, the [Duke of Rats] has been slain!

XP gained from Sub-Boss: 400XP | 12 Copper

First Clear Bonus: 200XP | 4 Silver

Superior Difficulty Bonus: 100XP | 1 Gold

Izuku stared in awe at the screen, another cheer tearing from his throat. 700 XP from a single fight, and more money than he had ever had at one time! He had a gold coin now! “Heck yea!”

His celebrations didn’t end there, though. As another ding appeared, and a second screen popped up.

Congratulations!

You have reached Level [10] for the class: [Fighter]!

Elemental Affinity is available!

Please select from the following:

[Flame Knight] - Fire

[Earth Quaker] - Earth

[Oceans Blade] - Water

[Wind Weaver] - Air

[Shining Sword] - Light

[Night Striker] - Dark

Izuku smiled as he read over the list. He had been waiting for this moment ever since he got his first level of [Fighter]. The time when he would get to take the next step in his path towards becoming a hero to all.

He had read so many books on the different paths and their pros and cons, and he had a fairly good idea of what he wanted out of his upgraded class.

With a grin on his face, he reached down and pressed his choice.

The class system that the menu followed was fairly simple. 

When you were a kid, usually around 4 years old, you would get your traits. The XP boosts wouldn’t come into play until you either gained a class naturally or got to age 10 when you chose one of the starter ones the menu offered.

You levelled up normally, gaining a few basic abilities, usually starting with one and getting one at levels 3, 6, and 9. But once you hit level 10, things changed slightly. For combat classes, getting a class to level 10 earned you an [Elemental Affinity].

There were a lot of [Elemental Affinity]’s, but it meant that your attacks and abilities would gain some properties of that element! [Fire] made attacks burn on contact, and had a chance to ignite foes, [Dark] had draining features, where you could heal yourself by dealing damage, etc.

Each of the elements had its own benefits, but they also came with some downsides, as well. Usually, each element had one that it was powerful against and one that it was weak against. 

Powerful monsters were able to align themselves with elements as well, meaning that these downsides would show themselves once you started fighting stronger monsters. Someone with only [Fire] themed abilities wouldn’t fare very well against a red dragon, for example.

Personally, Izuku had been bouncing between choosing the [Earth] and [Light] affinities for quite some time, and he would deny it if you called him a fanboy for going with Emperor Yagi’s favourite elements.

He had made his choice though, and he knew what his plan was. Like the element it represented, choosing [Earth] would be a good foundation for him to build his strength.

The [Light] elemental affinity was next though, that he promised himself. But for now, his choice was made. 

He had become an [Earth Quaker].

Emperor Yagi felt something stir deep within his core, but he couldn’t tell what.

It had been bugging him for the last few weeks, but all of a sudden it had burst, becoming stronger for a moment before settling down again. Like something was pulling on his soul, trying to show him something. His royal [Spiritualist] wouldn’t be able to reach the capital for another few days, so he wasn’t able to know if it was a spirit or ghost or whatnot.

He had his hopes about who could possibly be trying to tell him something from the afterlife, but it was best not to expect too much, lest he be disappointed by reality.

Still, this feeling of discontent wouldn’t go away. Donning his armour and grabbing his helmet, made from gold-coloured metal with a large ‘V’ on the top, he stepped out of his bedchambers to see one of his advisors waiting for him.

“Mirai, what is it you need?”

The man was incredibly tall, with dark green hair, highlighted with yellow streaks, the result of coming too close to an acid spitter when they were younger. With a short bow, Mirai spoke. “Sir, you have a magical message from David. It seems his daughter has created a rune. He is requesting that you help to spread the word about it.”

Yagi’s eyebrow rose, it was an odd request, but he was glad for any distraction from the odd feeling inside him. “What kind of rune is it? I trust Young Melissa’s brilliance, but I need to know what I’m telling people about!”

Mirai’s hands glowed, and a Rune Yagi hadn’t seen before appeared in the air, forged out of the yellow light in between his advisor’s palms. “The system acknowledges it as [Melissa Shield’s Skill Efficiency]. It is a Utility Rune that gives a 25% boost to any ability channelled through the item it’s engraved on. It’s quite remarkable.”

A smile grew on Yagi’s face as he slapped the man on the back. “Mirai! It’s more than marvellous! It’s magnificent! Something so simple, and because it is a Utility Rune, it’s able to coexist with a Combat Rune on the same piece of equipment!”

With this excellent news in hand, Yagi strode towards his throne room. “This is amazing news! We will make any and all Craftsmen and Craftswomen aware of this rune, and I shall have it placed on my own equipment as well!”

Mirai’s eyes widened. “That, sir, is quite possibly the greatest compliment you could give Miss Shield, I’d say. I will get to marking your gear with the Rune as soon as possible.”

Yagi smiled, patting the man on the shoulder. “Thank you, old friend! Now, where is Torino, I wish to know if my schedule will be empty anytime soon. I’m swamped these next few weeks, but I want to take a trip down to the old UA Dungeon and congratulate Melissa myself, I think!”

Mirai nodded. “I’ll tell Sorahiko that you’re looking for him, sir. Is there anything else I can help with?”

Yagi paused for a moment, wondering if he should worry Mirai with the odd feeling he was getting. He decided against it. “Not at the moment, thank you. Now! I will go out and start to spread the word about this new Rune!”

Waving goodbye to Mirai, Yagi entered his throne room to see a line of people waiting to petition him for various things. But instead of sitting on his throne and going through them all straight away, he clapped, sending a slight shockwave through the air, ruffling some hair in the crowd.

“Citizens of Mightia! I have great news!”

Chapter Text

Congratulations!

Your class, [Level 10 Fighter], has become [Level 10 Earth Quaker]!

[Strength] increased by 2!

[Endurance] increased by 3!

[Luck] increased by 1!

HP +10 | Mana +10 | Stamina +10

[Your existing [Fighter] abilities have been adapted to your new Class.]

Gained the Trait: [Earth-Touched]

Izuku tapped on the new trait he had gained, grinning ear to ear as the description popped up in a new menu next to the notifications.

> Earth-Touched:

• You have [1] class attuned to the [Earth] elemental affinity.

• 20% reduction to damage coming from [Earth]-type attacks.

• May the wisdom of the Earth bring you strength.

Izuku couldn’t help the smile on his face as he looked over the menu that had popped up after he selected the [Earth Quaker]. Not only was it nothing but good news, it was accompanied by something that Izuku had never felt before.

It was as if the floor he was standing on knew that he had attuned himself to the earth, and approved of him. It almost felt like a hand on his shoulder, congratulating him, urging him to nurture the connection.

He could feel the earth around him, a little bit, watching him, or at least sensing him, waiting for him to prove himself to the earth. Whispering promises of power into his ear if he continued his path, enough to stand above the monsters of this world in victory. 

He shook his head, placing his palm on the ground. He could already feel the connection starting to dim again now that the sudden burst of [Earth] attuned energy flowing through him had slowed down into a trickle, so he needed to make sure that it knew.

He didn’t want the power to stand above others, monsters or otherwise. He shared his dream with the earth, to have power for the cause of standing alongside his fellow sentient creatures, to protect them from threats.

The power that the earth would give him would be put to use in the protection of the land and its inhabitants. He knew that realistically, his dream meant that he would be fighting the worst monsters like the earth seemed to want him to, but it was important to Izuku to understand the difference in motivation.

Izuku could barely feel whatever he had felt before, so he hoped that it understood his intentions. He didn’t know why he felt like he had to correct something as ancient and powerful as the earth itself, but it didn’t seem to mind.

Sighing in contentment, Izuku took his palm off of the floor, and the connection to whatever he had been communicating with cut entirely, leaving Izuku alone in a barren room, with only the corpse of the [Duke of Rats] as company.

Getting to his feet, Izuku brushed the front of his gear down to get all the dust off of it. He was about to turn to the [Duke of Rats] corpse to see what loot he would get from the sub-boss when he saw a small menu to his right.

The edges were frayed, like a rope that had been used too many times. It was a different colour to his as well, a blank white instead of Izuku’s green menu. He frowned as he saw it pop out of existence, a small ‘ding’ following it.

Before he could ponder what the small white screen meant, a giant menu popped up in front of his face, almost as if to distract him. Shaking his head, Izuku focused on the new menu. The system that all sentient creatures used was fickle and mystical, and he could not presume to know everything about it.

The new menu caused him to forget all about the small white one though, as it showed him his loot from the fight. He didn’t even have to use [Identify], the descriptions were just on the boss menu!

Mantle of the Duke

[A thick helmet fashioned to look like the Duke of Rats head]

15% resistance to all Rodent attacks.

Non-Dungeon Rats will avoid you if you wish it so.

Whip of the Duke

[A thick, 7-meter long whip taken from the Duke of Rats]

50% more damage to Rodents

+2 to Dexterity when held.

Izuku tapped on the menu, unable to restrain his joy as the items fell into his hands. It was… these were both magic items! Fairly good ones, too! He took his old helmet off, stuffing it into his pack as he placed the [Mantle of the Duke] onto his head.

For a single moment, it flopped off his head, far too big for him. There was a flash of light from the helmet as it drooped, and suddenly it stayed on his head, snug and protective. Izuku whistled as he shook his head around, the magic helmet not budging.

The [Whip of the Duke] was stuffed into his pack as well, as he didn’t have a use to use for it this run. Still, to get 2 magic items from the Floor 1 Sub-boss fight… was Mei right? Did the dungeon like him? Could the dungeon like him?

He moved to the doorway on the other side of the room and pressed his head up to the doorframe. “If you can understand me, Dungeon. I cannot thank you enough. Your generosity is perplexing, but I accept it all the same. I will find some way to repay you for this.”

He pulled his head away from the doorframe and was about to move on when he felt something warm on his palm, which was up against the wall. It felt similar to what he had felt before when he evolved his class, just… closer.

The feeling of acceptance he got from the wall (dungeon?) faded after a moment, and the door to the Floor 1 Warp Room opened, revealing the glowing room. Izuku nodded to himself and moved inside, eager to collect the mushrooms for Sir Shield.

Congratulations!

Quest Completed: Mushroom Collection

15/15 Mushrooms collected!

850 total XP rewarded!

Congratulations!

You have reached Level [11]

HP +5 | Stamina +5 | Mana +5

[Strength] +1

David smiled as Izuku pulled out the sack of [Greater HP Mushrooms], glancing up at the gear he was now wearing. Izuku knew that currently, his gear was a bit… thematic, but he didn’t look too weird, right?

“Nope. Compared to some adventurer’s I’ve seen over the years? Someone getting a bunch of rat themed gear set isn’t ‘too weird’ to me.”

Izuku blushed as he realised he must have mumbled the last bit. He dropped his head, bowing to the man. “Thank you for the quest! I would be honoured if you gave me another in the future!”

David nodded. “You certainly completed it faster than I expected you to. Keep this up and the little bonuses you get from your quests will have you outpacing the others in no time! That’s what Yagi did when we were kids, ya know?”

Izuku’s eyes shot up and sparkled as he smiled. “Really? I mean, it’s obvious if you think about it that the Emperor would have the [Heroic] trait, but I didn’t know it for sure! That’s awesome!”

David smiled down at him. “Yep, Yagi would keep me in his party almost 24/7 as he dragged me around, bugging the people of our city for as many quests as they would give him. Luckily, I lived close to the nobles of the city, meaning that there were plenty of people willing to throw a little silver our way to get a temporary reprieve from him.”

Izuku chuckled, hearing that. “I promise I won’t do that to you, Sir Shield! I wouldn’t dream of wasting your time like that.”

David shook his head. “No, don’t worry about that. If you need a quest you can just ask. I’m usually with my team in front of the Dungeon, but as an [Incursion] is coming soon, I’ll most likely be around the edges of town for the next week or so.”

Izuku cocked his head to the side. “Wait, what? What’s an [Incursion]?”

David gave him a weird look for a moment, before tapping himself on the forehead. “I forgot that you and the other newbies travelled here from the west. Not many [Mana Spring]s in that direction, and none big enough to start an [Incursion]. Apologies.”

Izuku was about to shake his head and tell Sir Shield that it was alright when David started speaking again. “Basically, an [Incursion] happens when the ambient [Mana] in a wild [Mana Spring] reaches critical mass and rupture, spitting out a bunch of monsters and creatures.”

Izuku gasped. “How have I never heard of an [Incursion] before? I thought Dungeons and Demon Rifts were the only things that caused Monsters to spawn?! You’re saying they can just pop out of nowhere like that here?!”

David was about to speak when Kurimuzon grunted behind Izuku, spooking him. “David, you’re making our little rat-kid anxious.” Kurimuzon turned to Izuku and patted him on the shoulder. 

“Don’t worry about it. An Incursion can’t happen in a certain area around a Dungeon, because they absorb ambient [Mana] from the air, meaning that it can’t group up into a [Mana Spring].”

Izuku’s eyes widened as the man started spouting facts about [Mana] and [Mana Springs], while the actual mage stood beside them both. But what Kurimuzon said did make sense. “So where is the nearest [Mana Spring], then? What’s the range that the Dungeon stops the [Mana] from grouping up in?”

David tapped his chin. “It’s been a while since I checked on the local [Mana Springs], but there are only two that are a possible threat these next few weeks. I guess I made it sound like a fast process, but these things can take up to 3 months to reach their tipping point.”

He continued. “The distance they can appear depends on how old the Dungeon is as well, and the UA Dungeon usually keeps them a few kilometres outside the town walls. The thing is I can’t go check on them today, lost a bet and am pulling a double shift.”

David then winked at Izuku, and the boy perked up. Izuku glanced over at Kurimuzon, who was smirking and shaking his head. Izuku played along. “If you want I could go check them out for you? If you’re stuck here, that is.”

David nodded. “Yes, I believe that would be sufficient. Although, as you don’t know how to actually check on them, maybe I should... Hold on.”

Izuku watched as David pulled up one of his menu’s, scrolling down what looked to be a list, before tapping on one of the names and waiting a moment. Izuku jumped in surprise as a girls voice came from David’s menu.

“Dad? What’s up? Do you need help with something?”

David smiled. “Yes, actually. Do you think you could go check on the [Mana Springs] outside the town and give me your best estimate on how many days there are until they rupture?”

“Wait, weren’t you going to do that toni-”

David coughed, glancing at Izuku while Kurimuzon laughed in the background. “I will be sending along someone to escort you, just in case. They’re fairly heroic , if you understand me. Think of it as an escort quest .”

Izuku didn’t know why, but those words sent a tingle of dread down his spine. Wait, what was so bad about an Escort Quest? “If you don’t want to go, I can probably find a book and learn how to check.”

There was silence from the menu for a moment before the girl spoke up. “No, no, it’s fine! I’ll be down near the south gate in 10 minutes, is that ok?”

Izuku smiled. “Yep! I’ll be there as soon as possible!”

David nodded, closing the menu. “Alright, I’ll give you a gold for protecting my daughter while you check on them, alright?”

Izuku nodded, smiling as his menu let out a ‘ding’, and the new quest came up.

Shield the Shield

Protect David Shield’s daughter while she checks on the progress of the [Mana Springs] around Mustafu.

Reward: 300XP | 1 Gold

Izuku read the description and was about to head off when his brain registered what it said. “Wait, your DAUGHTER?!”

David smiled. “Yep, you should be fine, but don’t screw this up, alright?”

Izuku’s head was nodding so fast he was starting to get dizzy. “YES SIR! I promise she’ll be fine! I won’t let anything hurt her!”

He then sprinted off towards the south gate, ignoring the laughter of David and Kurimuzon from behind him.

Chapter Text

A lot of people have been thinking this so I’ll just say it now! Every party that enters the dungeon gets their own ‘instance’ like in a game. It’s why the dungeon confirms how many people the party has in it when you enter it!

That’s why Izuku and Bakugou didn’t see each other.

Melissa sat on a box near the South Gate, waiting for her ‘escort’.

From what her dad had hinted at, the person probably had the [Heroic] trait and was using this as a [Quest]. She didn’t have anything to do today other than some basic chores, so she didn’t mind helping out someone.

She had changed out her ‘around-the-town’ outfit for her ‘adventuring’ (a term she used loosely) outfit. Her normal outfit was blue and very comfortable, but this one was a bit more protective.

A white shirt went under a grey leather vest, with enchanted leather gloves going up to her elbows. Her belt was filled with various materials needed for the limited spellcasting she was capable of, as well as an enchanted dagger on his hip.

Her black pants went into some enchanted, knee-high leather boots, and the front was padded to act as a bit of a shin-pad. She still had her glasses, but she had tied a piece of string around the back of her head to make sure they didn’t fall off.

She had just finished putting her hair up into a ponytail, to keep it out of her way while she worked, when she saw someone new arrive. She hadn’t seen them before, and they were looking around as if searching for someone. 

”Appraise”

Izuku “Deku” Midoriya

Level 11

Class: Earth-Quaker.

Traits: Prodigy, Determined, Heroic, Earth-Touched.

Active Quest: Shield the Shield.

She chuckled a bit as she saw the ‘active quest’ bit. Standing up, she walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hello. Izuku Midoriya, right? Or would you prefer Deku?”

The boy jumped, before spinning and facing her. She glanced up at the rat-hood-thing he was wearing, before noticing that he had flinched when she said ‘Deku. “Sorry, do you not like that name? I just thought you might because it showed up on my ‘appraisal’ screen.”

Izuku nodded, letting out a sigh before bowing. “Apologies, Lady Shield. I’d prefer if you referred to me as Izuku. Unless you wish to call me Deku, then that will be fine.”

Melissa pouted. She knew her dad was pretty important, but all the bowing and speaking ‘properly’ had gotten old years ago. “Lift your head, Izuku. I’d much rather you spoke to me like you would any of your peers.”

She saw something flash in his eyes when she said that, but it disappeared the instant it arrived. “Of course. Sorry, I’m still trying to get used to Sir Shield, and I didn’t know if you shared his… distaste for formality.”

She smiled. “Don’t worry about it. Now, I know your class and the fact that you have the [Heroic] trait, so why don’t we get this quest started?”

Izuku smiled from under the Rat-hood, nodding. “Of course Lady Shield. Lead the way! I don’t know where these [Mana Spring]s actually are, just how far away they are. Should be at least an hour to get out there, and an hour back.”

Melissa nodded. “I estimated the same. And drop this ‘Lady Shield’ nonsense. Just call me Melissa. You’re friends with Mei, right?”

Izuku nodded.

Melissa hummed. “Then we’re good too! Any friend of Mei is a friend of mine! Just keep up your end of the deal, alright? She’s really excited about you supplying stuff for her, and if you hurt her by scamming her for free gear, I will tell my father.”

Izuku gulped. “I wouldn’t drea-”

Melissa gave him an innocent smile. “But I’m sure you wouldn’t, being all [Heroic] and all. Gotta grill you anyway, it the friendship rules, ya know?”

She saw Izuku nod in a golem-like fashion and smiled, starting to walk out the south gate and into the surrounding grasslands. “Alright, then. Let’s get a move on!”

Izuku didn’t know what to think about Lady Shie- Melissa.

He had already been a bit intimidated by her, seeing as she was the daughter of the foremost mage in all of Mightia, so he treated her as he had been taught to treat nobles, by putting his head down and speaking respectfully.

Why was it that both of the nobles he had met so far seemed so determined to waste the practise he had put into his ‘formal” voice? He wished he knew. Maybe all nobles were like this, and the village elders had just been messing with him?

And then she had gone and threatened to tell Sir Shield if he ever scammed Mei. Which would most likely end up with him being barred from the dungeon, as well as a fine. And while he would never even think of doing that to someone, he could tell she was 100% serious about the threat.

They were currently walking through some of the forest nearby Mustafu, close to one of the [Mana Spring] that they needed to check on. They hadn’t had any trouble so far, so Izuku had decided to check in on his stats, now that he had evolved his class.

Izuku “Deku” Midoriya

Money: 53 copper, 12 silver, 1 gold, 0 platinum

Level 11

Class: Earth Quaker

HP: 90/90

Mana:60/60

Stamina: 100/100

Strength: 15

Agility: 15

Endurance: 17

Intelligence: 20

Luck: 8

Available Abilities: 

> Double Strike:

• Your attack does double damage, before any reductions. 

• 2 Stamina per Attack.

> Lunge:

• Instantly dash forward a distance equivalent to your [Agility] and perform an attack.

• 4 Stamina per Attack

> Defenders Shield: 

• When standing within 5 metres of an allied creature, you can reduce the damage they take from an attack by an amount equal to your [Endurance]

• 2 Stamina per use

> Identify: 

• Allows you to see the stats and abilities of anything below a danger rating of 2. 1 Mana per use.

• Skill does not consume mana if the target is an [Earth]-type monster or item.

> [Earth] Shield: 

• Halves the damage for a single strike that hits you. Costs 5 mana for each hit.

• Completely negates [Earth]-type damage for a single hit. Costs an additional 5 mana for each hit.

Traits:

> Prodigy: 

• You learn things more quickly and more easily than others. 

• 50% boost to XP gain.

> Determined: 

• Nothing can stop you from achieving your goals.

• Resistant to the [Fear] effect.

> Heroic: 

• You are naturally inclined towards the protection of those who need it. 

• Gives a 50% boost to all stats when a sentient creature with a non-combat class is within the line of sight of your opponent. 

• Grants the ability to set and accept quests for added XP.

> Earth-Touched:

• You have a class attuned to the [Earth] elemental affinity.

• 50% reduction to damage coming from [Earth]-type attacks.

• May the blessing of the Earth give you strength. 

“So, what are menu quests like?”

“Huh?”

Izuku closed the menu in his hand as he heard Melissa speak. They hadn’t talked a lot during their walk, as Izuku had been focused on keeping an eye out for monsters or animals. “What do you mean?”

Melissa tilted her head to the side, looking like she was trying to find the right words. “You know, like. How does it feel to be on one? Do you have a compulsion to finish it as soon as possible, are you drawn in certain directions or anything like that?”

Izuku scratched his head and hummed. “Uh, nothing like that, really… It’s more like, I’m constantly aware of what I need to do? Like, if someone asked me to do something, I might accidentally forget about it, but when it’s a quest, it’s like it’s ingrained into my memory.”

He continued. “While a quest is active, I can basically remember the exact requirements and wording of the quest without having to re-open my menu and finding it. But it doesn’t point me to where I need to go or anything like that. At least, it doesn’t for me. I’ve never met another person who could do quests, so I only have my own experience.”

Melissa had been nodding along as he spoke, tapping away at one of her golden menu screens. “I see. So no compulsions or anything like that? You don’t have a need to complete the quest?”

He paused for a moment. Had he ever not done a quest? He couldn’t remember not finishing a quest he had started. But was that because they were fairly easy, or because he was forced to try and finish it?

“I… I don’t know? I’ve never failed a quest before, but I’m not sure if that’s just because all the quests I’ve had were fairly easy or not. I’m not sure if I would be compelled to keep doing it even if I didn’t want to after accepting.”

Melissa hummed and smiled. “That’s alright, I didn’t expect you to be a fountain of answers about this. You’re fairly new at this whole adventuring thing, right?”

Izuku nodded. “Yea, the village that I grew up in was in a fairly mana-barren area, meaning we didn’t have a lot of monsters to fight, and the ones we did the guards usually fought. The only reason I was able to get to Level 6 before arriving in town was because of people giving me a bunch of fetch quests.”

Melissa frowned. “Your parents didn’t help you train your class? I thought all parents did that.”

Izuku flinched. That was… a sore spot for him. “I, uh. I’m an orphan. Or at least the elders think I am. I was put on the Elders doorstep one night, and no one ever came back to claim me, so…”

Melissa placed her hand on his shoulder. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that. That was insensitive about me.”

Izuku shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I don’t mind telling you but please don’t go spreading it around. I’d rather not have any more incide- Woah!”

Izuku was stopped mid-sentence as they exited the treeline, onto another set of grasslands. And nearby, there was a burst of colour, more beautiful than anything Izuku had ever seen before.

The swirling, multi-coloured light floated off of the ground, above a crack that was leaking a similar mix of colours. Izuku was stunned.

Melissa laughed softly, a lovely sound, and nodded. “And here we are! [Mana Spring] number one! What do you think, Izuku?”

Izuku just gaped at the swirling mass of light, gobsmacked. “It’s amazing!”

Chapter Text

Melissa smiled as she watched Izuku walk around the [Mana Spring] for the umpteenth time.

“I can feel the [Earth] mana flowing from the ground! I can’t feel the others, but that’s probably just because I only have an [Earth] class. If I had more could I feel more at the same time? Or would I have to focus on one at a time?”

She could tell just from his reaction to the [Mana Spring] that he was a bit different to the adventurers she was used to dealing with. Not only did it show that he had come from a mana-barren area, but the fact that he even wondered about stuff like that wasn’t like your typical [Fighter].

She stepped forward and caught his attention as he held his hand over the [Mana Spring] as if he was trying to warm them over a campfire. “I mean, I can’t be elementally attuned like a combat class can, but I can sense the different types of mana depending on what kind of rune I’m using.”

Izuku head whipped around to her. “Really? Can I see? I can go get something for you to carve a rune on to show me.”

She laughed, shaking her head.  She then held her hand up as if she was going to open her menu. “No, it’s fine. Watch this.”

“Summon Rune.”

A mote of red light appeared in her hand, growing suddenly to become a detailed rune, radiating heat. She held it out to Izuku. “This is a [Fire] type rune, and whenever I hold it, the [Fire] mana in the [Mana Spring] becomes apparent to me, like its highlighted.”

The colour changed to Gold, and the design shifted slightly, becoming a little bit more complicated. “And this is a [Light] type rune. As soon as the rune shifted I stopped feeling the [Fire] mana, and the [Light] mana became highlighted.”

Izuku was smiling, wide-eyed. “That’s so cool! I’ve never met a [RuneCrafter] before! If I hadn’t chosen [Fighter], I’d probably have gone for that when I started!”

Melissa grinned. “It does let me do some fairly cool things. Mostly enchantment focused at the moment, but I’m only Level 16, so it’s to be expected. I did create a rune the other day, though.”

Izuku gasped. “You created one?! Like a totally new one? That’s so amazing! What is it called? What does it do?”

Melissa changed the rune she had summoned, and the golden light faded into grey. She focused, allowing the patterns and lines to come into existence exactly right, before showing it off.

Izuku paused for a moment before his menu appeared next to him. He gasped again, obviously very excited. “Melissa Shield’s Skill Efficiency. A 25% boost to all skills that are channelled through it!”

Melissa could only laugh as he went into a small rant about how useful that was, her cheeks a little red from all the praise. She was about to try and change the subject back to the [Mana Spring] when he stopped ranting.

“Wait! How much would you be charging to put it on gear? I’ve got an [Enhanced Steel] sword that should be done soon and I can’t think of a better first rune to put on it!”

Melissa froze. How much did she want to charge? It was an insanely useful rune, that was why she had put so much effort into making it, but did she want it to be expensive because of the quality, or cheap for accessibility?

“I’m not sure, to be honest. Maybe we can discuss that another time? It’s still fairly new and I’m not sure how exactly I want to use it.”

Izuku nodded, looking only slightly disappointed, before standing up straight again. “That’s fine. I’ll need time to get used to the new sword anyway before I get any enchantments on it.”

Melissa smiled. “Thanks for understanding. Now, keep an eye out, I’ll be sort of tunnel-visioned when I start to check on the [Mana Spring].”

She laughed as Izuku gave her a salute before drawing his sword, standing next to her. Kneeling down, she placed her hand on the swirling colours of the [Mana Spring] and let a multitude of runes flow into her hand overlapping to form an even more complex pattern than before.

“Summon Rune: Deep Scan”

Izuku watched Melissa out of the corner of his eyes as he kept watch for any monsters or creatures.

Whatever she was doing, it seemed to have blocked any sound from reaching her, as she didn’t hear him ask her if she was OK when she suddenly froze in place. The golden menu that had appeared next to her seemed to have a hollow rectangle that was slowly filling up.

Was it a timer? That would make sense. Not all spells and runes had immediate effects. He turned away from her and kept watch, scanning the tree line.

Melissa was much easier to talk to than he had expected. Most of the stories he had heard about nobles, their daughters especially, had painted them as stuck up and mean, but Melissa was nice, and really smart. 

And she was a [RuneCrafter]! His old village hadn’t had one of those. They hadn’t had many spellcasters, actually. The lack of ambient mana made it hard for people to get the [Mage] class to begin with. The only magic user they had actually had been Bakugou’s mum, Mitsuki, a [Magic Tailor].

Hell, Melissa had created a rune! That was honestly one of the most impressive things he had ever heard of someone doing that wasn’t a combat class.

Glancing back at the menu, the white bar was just over half full. Humming to himself, he moved to the other side of her and scanned the hills to their left. He was about to turn away again when he heard a noise from behind him.

Spinning rapidly, he turned around and jumped forward, in between the attacker and Melissa. “Shield!”

Even with his ability, the claws of the creature slammed into his arms and stung a lot . Izuku yelled and shoved the creature back with the flat of his sword, giving himself a moment to breathe.

[9] Damage Taken!

Now that he wasn’t running on instinct, he saw that it was a wolf. More specifically, a [Dire Wolf]. “Identify”.

Dire Wolf

HP: 75/75

Condition: Mana Starved, Feral

He knew what [Feral] meant, and [Mana Starved] was fairly self-explanatory. Had it been drawn to the [Mana Spring] after Melissa interacted with it? Whatever the reason was, it was time for Izuku to do his job.

“Lunge, Double Strike!”

He flashed forward, aiming for the space behind the [Dire Wolf], and swung his sword horizontally when he stopped. The two swords bit into the side of the [Dire Wolf], causing it to howl out as his sword embedded itself deep into the [Dire Wolf]’s gut.

[34] Damage dealt!

Izuku was a bit surprised by the amount of damage he had done in one, technically two, attacks. Maybe he cut into an organ? That usually increased the damage dealt. He watched as the [Dire Wolf] finished howling, turning to him with blood-red eyes.

Izuku dove backwards as the [Dire Wolf] swung at him. It clipped the side of his boots, but they were thick enough to stop it from cutting skin. He rolled at got back on his feet, just in time to side-step a lunge from the [Dire Wolf].

The [Dire Wolf] had overextended itself a bit with that lunge, and Izuku capitalised on that, swinging his sword down at the neck. It might have been the same tactic that he had used on the [Duke of Rats] but it had yet to fail him.

“Double Strike!”

The [Dire Wolf] wasn’t as durable as the [Duke of Rats] had been, and Izuku watched as the two swords crashed down onto the [Dire Wolf]’s neck, and then continue through it with less effort than he had expected it to take.

Critical Hit!

[80] Damage dealt!

You have killed a [Dire Wolf]!

100XP gained.

Izuku sighed as the body of the [Dire Wolf] dropped to the floor. He was very tired now, having to fight both the [Duke of Rats] and this [Dire Wolf] in one day had taken a toll on his stamina. 

Even if his class and level-ups had given him a max total of 100 Stamina, using his abilities in quick succession always made it feel just a bit more stressful than usual. He walked back over to Melissa, who seemed to be almost done.

He was right, and a few moments later there was a ‘ding’ from her menu as the bar filled up entirely. She blinked, before gasping as she saw Izuku sitting beside her, his sword and gauntlets covered in [Dire Wolf] blood.

He just pointed to the [Dire Wolf]’s corpse. “Had a visitor. I kept it away from you. Did it work? How long until the [Mana Spring] ruptures?”

Melissa just looked back and forth between him and the [Dire Wolf] for a few moments before shaking her head. “It’s uh. It should be fine for at least a week? I can say that when it ruptures it’s going to spawn [Water] type monsters. There’s way more [Water] mana than any other in this one.”

Izuku hummed. “That’s good info. Did your rune get anything else that we should know?”

Melissa shook her head. “No, the other information is just things like how big the orb is, the exact colours of the mana, etc. Useless, but potentially interesting information.”

Nodding, Izuku pushed himself up to his feet. He reached down to help her up before realising that his gauntlets still had [Dire Wolf] blood on them. Pulling them back, he held out his elbow.

Melissa chuckled and grabbed onto his arm, pulling herself up as well. “Thanks for protecting me, Izuku. Was it just the one monster?”

Izuku pulled out a cloth and cleaned off his sword, before sheathing it. “Yea, just the one [Dire Wolf]. It was [Mana Starved] though, so that was probably why it came to the [Mana Spring.] I’m assuming your [Deep Scan] rune made the mana more apparent to monsters and stuff?”

Melissa nodded. “Yep, that basically it. Did it hurt you? I’ve got a few small  healing potions, you can have one if you took damage.”

Izuku smiled. “That’d be great, actually. I’ve still got some left-over damage from the [Duke of Rats], the Floor 1 Sub-boss, and the [Dire Wolf] did like, 8 damage.” 

As she unhooked their arms, he checked his menu, seeing how much HP he had left. The menu told him that he had 46/90 HP left. “Oh… uh. Melissa? The [Duke of Rats] did more damage than I had realised. I’m on about half of my HP.”

Melissa gasped, reaching into her pack and pulling out 3 [Minor HP Potions]. “What?! Here, drink these! How could you go into a fight not knowing what your HP was on? What if the [Dire Wolf] had ambushed you!”

Izuku smiled sheepishly as he drank the potions. “Sorry, I was just really excited about reaching level 10, I didn’t register that I’d taken so much damage.”

[20 HP Gained!]

[20 HP Gained!]

[20 HP Gained!]

[You are at max HP]

Melissa frowned. “Well, you need to be more careful next time. Monsters are dangerous no matter how strong you are.”

Izuku pulled down his hood and smiled. “Yes, I’ll be sure to keep track of it better from now on. Sorry for using so many of your potions. I can pay you back for them if you like?”

Melissa shook her head, grabbing the bottles off of him. “Don’t worry about it. Just think of it as payback for keeping me safe. Now, are you alright to do the other [Mana Spring] this afternoon, or should we head back and do it tomorrow?”

Izuku smiled, patting the hilt of his sword. “I’ll be alright to go for one more. Sir Shield needs to know what kind of monsters we’ll be facing as soon as possible so he can prepare the town properly!”

Melissa smiled, grabbing his arm and pulling him along. “Alright! The next one should only be around a 20-minute walk from here, so let’s go!”

Izuku nodded, following behind her as they set out to the second [Mana Spring].

I drew some art! I'm not very good but I hope you like it!

Chapter Text

Izuku yawned as he and Melissa entered Mustafu through the south gate.

He and Melissa had inspected the second [Mana Spring], but no monster had attacked them that time. It was starting to get dark, so they had jogged back to town instead of walking, making their trip a little faster.

No one liked being in the wilderness at night. 

Melissa was humming a tune beside him, much more energetic than he was. Which he guessed was fair, seeing as she didn’t do a dungeon run, fight a bunch of monsters, and then decide that escorting through the grasslands for a few hours was a good idea.

He forced himself to stand up straighter as he spotted Sir Sheild walking towards them, a smile on his face. “Izuku, Melissa! Good to see you both back from your quest. Izuku, you can consider the quest completed.”

Congratulations!

Quest Completed: Shield the Shield

Reward: 300XP | 1 gold

Izuku caught the gold coin that Sir Shield flicked his way, smiling widely as he looked at the coin. Melissa, however, just sighed, facepalming. “A whole gold coin, dad? I know you’re all about helping out new adventurers, but this kind of quest would usually have a few silver as the reward.”

Izuku gasped and turned to Sir Shield, who was looking smug. He winked to the pair. “Just think of it as me putting money towards a good feeling I have about him. And either way, you’re far more precious to me than a single gold coin. I’d pay 100 times that to keep you safe.”

Melissa pouted, crossing her arms. After a moment though, she started laughing. “Of course, dad. And hey, Izuku did protect me from a feral [Dire Wolf], so I won’t put up any more of a fight about this.”

Sir Shield turned to him, an eyebrow raised. “Did you now, Izuku. Tell me, what was that fight like? [Dire Wolf]’s are usually pretty tough for someone who only just got an elemental affinity for their first class.”

Izuku tilted his head, confused. “Uh, it was alright? I only took 8 damage during the fight itself. But I was low on HP from my run in the dungeon without realising it. Melissa kinda grilled me for it afterwards.”

Sir Sheild hummed, rubbing his chin. “Only 8 damage? That’s impressive. How did you kill it?”

Izuku puffed out his chest, proud of his achievement. “I cut its head off, Sir Shield! Although I stabbed it in the side beforehand and it did a lot more damage than I thought it would. Could that be because it was [Mana Starved]?”

David shook his head, smiling. “No, but that does explain why it was so easy for your to kill it. Monsters that are [Mana Starved] aren’t able to use any of their skills that require Mana, and their stamina is cut in half. That means that it probably wasn’t able to use its [Ambush] skill.”

He continued. “Your [Heroic] trait probably kicked in as well. Melissa doesn’t have a combat class, so if the [Dire Wolf] was within line-of-sight, you got a 50% boost to everything, attack power included.”

Izuku smacked himself on the forehead. “Of course! How could I forget about that! That makes so much sense looking back!” 

Sir Shield and Melissa just laughed. Izuku huffed. “Well, it’s not like I got many opportunities to use that trait much in my village. Most of the people who even got near the rare-few monster we fought were all [Fighter]s or [Rogue]s.”

Sir Shield nodded. “Don’t worry about it, Izuku. I’m just happy that you both came back safe and sound. Now, you look dead on your feet, Izuku. Go rest up, you’ll be trying to go into the dungeon again tomorrow, right?”

Izuku nodded but frowned. “Yes, I am, but I wouldn’t want to leave Melissa to give you the report all by herself.”

Melissa waved him off, smiling at him. “I’ll be fine, Izuku, don’t worry. Also, I know way more about this than you do. Go rest, can’t have you being exhausted and dying in the dungeon, can we?”

Izuku sighed but nodded slowly. “Alright, I’ll go back to the Inn for a bit. It’s still a bit too early to sleep, but I’ll go grab an early dinner. I’ll check in with Mei after that I think.”

Melissa nodded. “Sounds good! Night, Izuku. Good luck in the dungeon! Say hi to Mei for me, please!”

He smiled at her and waved goodbye as she and Sir Shield walked off, before heading to the Inn. He couldn’t wait to eat some food.

Maybe they had Katsudon?

David finished writing down everything that Melissa had told him about the [Mana Spring]s.

“So, a [Water] incursion next week, followed by an [Air] incursion 4 days later. Unfortunate, but not unmanageable. And that’s it? You didn’t see any others that might be a problem in the future?”

Melissa looked up from the rune in her hand as she sat on the couch in David’s office, her feet up on the arm-rest. “Nope, there was one that was in line-of-sight while we were heading to the second one, but it was only around the size of an apple. The only reason I saw it was because Izuku pointed it out.”

David nodded, humming. “And how do you reckon he did? Like, in general. Most people I’ve seen that have the [Heroic] trait usually become really good adventurers. Yagi has quite a few of them on his Royal Guard, as well. He’s got a bright future, I reckon.”

Melissa smiled. “You can’t just pick favourites, dad! Just kidding, if anyone could pick favourites it would definitely be you and Uncle Yagi. Anyway, he did well. He’s obviously pretty new at this, which is fair when you think about it, but he’s got solid instincts and is very focused on doing his best.”

David smiled. “I gathered that he was fairly new, but what do you mean that it’s fair?”

Melissa froze for a moment. “Well, he asked me not to go spreading it around a lot, but I know you won’t go blabbing it to anyone else, so I’m trusting you, alright?”

David just nodded, his curiosity piqued.

Melissa continued. “Well, his village was in a really mana-barren area. But he also uh, he’s an orphan. And it seemed like no one was really willing to help practise with him. He told me that he got to Level 6 mostly by doing fetch quests for the adults.”

David hummed. “Ah, that definitely explains it then. No parents to help teach him, and no training partners. Couple that with a mana-barren village and that’s quite the unfortunate combination. You have my word that I won’t tell anyone about this.”

Melissa smiled. “Thanks, dad. I probably shouldn’t have even told you, but if anyone would get permission to know, I’d guess it was you. I can tell he’s kinda star-struck by you.”

David groaned. “Yea, he is. And while I don’t hate the respect that being one of Yagi’s top mages brings, the damn formality is so annoying. I reckon that if everyone treated me like I was made of paper I would have left years ago.”

Melissa nodded. “Yea, he called me ‘Lady Shield’ when he first arrived. I felt like I aged a few years just hearing it!”

David just laughed, before leaving her to practise her runes. After a while, he finished with his own work and moved out of his office and into his potion room, and started to work on some more of them.

He was glad that Melissa was safe. And he was glad that Izuku showed promise.

Now if he could just get whatever was nibbling at the back of his mind, telling him that he was missing something, that he was staring something right in the face, to go away, he’d be having an excellent day.

“Ah! Izuku! You’re back!”

Mei smiled as she saw her favourite adventurer walk into the smithy. She had finished his sword around an hour beforehand, and she was excited to see what he thought! “Did you find any more [Enhanced Steel] in the dungeon today?”

He shook his head sadly. “Sorry Mei, none today. I did get this really nice cloak, though!”

Izuku turned around and showed her the cloak, but all she could see was a bundle of rat-chewed leather around his neck, and a tattered cape falling down his back. “Are you trying to prank me right now?”

He shook his head. “Uh, no? This is a [Rat-Leather Cloak]. It protects me from 15% of damage given to me by rodents of any kind. It’s a magic cloak! And this hood does the same and makes it so I can basically make it so non-dungeon rats can’t come near me!”

She flinched as he swiftly pulled his hood over his head, the blank eyes of a giant rat head now facing her. She only just saved herself from falling backwards off her stool and frowned. “That’s a lot of magic items, Izuku. I knew that the dungeon liked you! Maybe you could ask it outright to give you more [Enhanced Steel]!”

Izuku hummed, shaking his head. “I don’t wanna push it. What if asking for more stuff makes the dungeon think I’m greedy? Then it might not give me anything special again.”

Mei paused for a moment, her finger pointed at him while she tried to give him a rebuttal. After a moment she lowered her hand, unable to think of anything. “Fine, don’t ask the dungeon. Can’t do anything to risk this supply now, can we!”

Izuku laughed softly, nodding. “Yea, I’d rather not do anything to make the dungeon mad at me.”

Mei nodded to herself, before turning her back to him. “Alright! Follow me! I’ve finished all the metalwork for your sword! We just need to make a scabbard and a grip for it! You’re going to help me, cause Melissa isn’t here to help!”

Izuku hopped the counter and smiled, following Mei into the forge. “Oh, right. Melissa told me to say hello to you for her.”

Mei hummed, pulling out a cloth-wrapped item from a bin next to her workbench. “Wait, when did you meet her? I was gonna introduce you two and put in a good word for her Runecrafting, but if you’ve already met I guess that means I get more time in here.”

Izuku smiled, holding himself back from snatching the cloth-wrapped sword off the bench. “I escorted her to inspect some [Mana Springs] today. She’s nice. And really amazing at Runecrafting!”

A smirk grew on Mei’s face. “Damn right she is! I didn’t spend so much time letting her practise on my stuff for nothing! She’s the best damn Runecrafter in this whole town! Did she tell you about her new Rune?”

Izuku nodded. “Yea! It’s awesome! I’m actually planning on getting it on this sword once she’s decided on a price for it. The fact that you can stack it with combat or elemental runes is absurdly helpful.”

Mei smiled. She was glad that Izuku knew just how awesome her friend was. Meant he was smart. She swung her smithing hammer and grabbed onto it with both hands, holding it out to Izuku. “Glad you think so! I’ve got it on my hammer here! It helped a lot to get your sword done on time.”

She half-handed, half-threw the hammer at him to look at while she moved to the back of the forge, leaning into the bin at the back of the room, rummaging around for useable leather. She huffed as she bent over fully into the bin, her feet coming off the floor as she reached down to the bottom.

Damn, they’d have to go buy some more soon. She grabbed a handful of the remaining leather and pulled herself out of the bin, taking a deep breath as the side stopped digging onto her stomach.

She huffed, fixing her trousers, which had fallen down quite a bit due to her wiggling as she searched, and turned to see Izuku staring pointedly at the roof, his face a little red. “You alright there? I know it’s hot in here so you can go grab some water if you need it!”

Izuku sputtered, waving his hands in front of himself. “No, no, I’m fine! I’ll be OK. It’s just.. Ah... I’m excited to see the sword! That’s it! Just excited. About the sword.”

Mei nodded. That made sense. She was excited about it as well! “As you should be, Izuku! This is probably my best work yet! Even better than that great-sword I made for that Orc!”

With a massive flourish, she pulled the cloth off of the sword, allowing the [Enhanced Steel] to glow in the light of the forge. Izuku’s eyes were drawn to the glow as rainbow light hugged the edges of the blade.

Izuku was ecstatic, unable to do anything but stare at it, a smile on his face. “It’s beautiful!”

I drew another picture! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Chapter Text

The sword was beautiful.

Fresh off the forge, the blade was shiny in a way that Izuku had never seen before. It reflected light that Izuku couldn’t even locate, and the edges showed a line of what looked like a rainbow hugging them.

He barely got the word out, he was so awed, but Izuku spoke. 

“Identify.”

Steelbringer

[Forged by Mei Hatsume]

A shortsword of exceptional quality made from nearly-pure [Enhanced Steel].

Current Attunement: None

Intended for: Izuku Midoriya

Innate Effect:

Mei’s Wish

Gives a 5% chance to drop a small chunk of [Enhanced Steel] on kill.

Izuku grabbed onto her shoulder instinctively, making her turn and face him. He seemed to have cut her off or something, but he had been so focused on the sword he hadn’t even heard her.

“M-Mei. Do you have any idea what you just made? Do you… Mei. This has an Innate effect... Y-you made a magic sword. A proper one, even without runes.”

He saw Mei’s eyes widen, her mouth opening as she turned to look at the sword as well. “Appraise.”

Izuku saw the menu pop up near her face for a moment before she dismissed it, turning back to him. She was silent for a moment before her shoulders started to shake. Izuku was worried about her for a moment, and then he was being squeezed.

Mei’s arms wrapped around him as a yell escaped her, sounding more victorious than Izuku had felt after defeating the [Duke of Rats]. She lifted him off the ground and spun around in a circle, bringing him along for the ride as she cheered.

Eventually, she stopped and let go of him, And he dropped, only staying standing as he grabbed the edge of the workbench. The heavy Iron-Oak bench didn’t even budge as he grabbed it, and he pulled himself to his feet.

He saw her with one hand around the hilt of the sword, laughing in a way that was almost maniacal in its joy. Her happiness was infectious, and a smile grew on his face. He might not be a [Magic Smith], or even a [Craftsman], but he knew how big a deal this was.

“Izuku… Izuku! I can’t believe this! It’s a masterpiece! My Magnum Opus! The greatest baby that has ever been forged in this building! Maybe even this town! And I made it!”

She turned to him and his smile grew as he saw her happy tears. She might have been exaggerating a little about its status as the best sword ever forged in Mustafu, but it was amazingly impressive nonetheless.

“Yea you did, Mei! You must have worked super hard on this for it to get an Innate Effect! Do you know what you did while making it?”

She placed the sword back down onto the workbench and kept staring at it lovingly, but her hand never left the hilt. “I was focused on our contract and my excitement about finally having some to work with. Focused on how getting some [Enhanced Steel] could help start my growth into a smith more famous than any before me.”

She turned to him again, the tears gone, but a smile squishing up her reddened cheeks. “I just wanted to make the best baby for you so you would keep our contract going, and I did! I poured myself into this, Izuku. I needed it to be amazing!”

Izuku reached over and grabbed the sword, and Mei just nodded, taking her hand off of it and letting him pick it up. The hilt was rigid without the leather wrapping just yet, but other than that, Izuku could tell it was a sword akin to none he had seen before.

He stepped into the open area of the forge and gave it a few swings, marvelling at the perfect balance of the sword, and how it swished through the air smoothly, leaving a shining blur following its swings.

“Mei… I can’t possibly take this for free. Please, let me pay you something, anything. I wouldn’t feel right taking this without you getting something out of it.”

He had turned back to her to say that, and as soon as the words left his mouth she punched him in the shoulder. “You idiot! Haven’t you realised that I’ve gotten more out of this one weapon than I have for the last year?! Do you have any idea how much XP I just got when you picked it up?!”

Izuku shook his head dumbly, ignoring the throb coming from his shoulder. “I assume it’s a lot?”

Mei stared at him like he was an idiot, before bringing her menu up. It was blank to his eyes, but She pointed at it anyway. “I was level 11 before! I’m level 15 now! I got 4 levels out of that sword!”

She continued, her grin never fading off of her face. “And even if I hadn’t levelled up, we have a contract! A proper, written one with signatures and stuff! Neither of us can break that no matter what! You get stuff for free, and I keep getting material for free! Neither of us can break that deal! Promise!”

He nodded and then yelped as he barely had time to blink before she had yanked it out of his hands again, sprinting over to the workbench and bringing out a smaller knife before grabbing the leather. “I need to finish it! You can’t go anywhere until I finish this for you! It has to be perfect!”

Izuku nodded, finding a chair and bringing it up beside her to help her finish the sword. 

It was the least he could do.

“Mei? You in here still? I finished my errands on the other side of town! It’s bedtime!”

Otto yawned as he entered the forge area, seeing that the lights were still on. From his many years of making sure Mei slept often enough, he knew that today would probably be one of the days she went to sleep at the same time he did.

It was basically nighttime already, as the sun had already dropped past the treeline about an hour ago, so it was definitely bedtime for him too. Running around all day making deliveries of freshly forged equipment for adventurers and commoners alike was giving him some major back pain.

Plopping his bag down on the counter, he pushed the door open to the forge and froze as he saw Mei wasn’t alone. Sitting on the floor with their backs against the workbench was Mei and some green-haired kid, fast asleep, with their heads, pressed together as they snored.

Was this that Midoriya guy Mei made a contract with? It’d make sense if it was, Mei was very fussy about who got to come back into the forge area. He took his boots off and put them in their little cubby as he moved through the forge area towards the sleeping quarters, pushing the door open and jamming it open with the door stopper.

Otto moved over to where the two were sleeping. Mei must have lied to him and stayed up last night if she was so tired she fell asleep before he bugged her to for a while. He was about to pick Mei up to take her to her bed when he noticed a sword in its scabbard resting across both of their legs.

He picked up the sword, intending to move it to the bench, but the second he touched the scabbard his senses were shocked by the presence of Mana. Was this a magic sword? Had this Izuku kid already gotten some runes on it?

Otto knew Mei and Melissa were like, the very best of friends but even that was a fast turnaround! “Appraise.”

Steelbringer

[Forged by Mei Hatsume]

A shortsword of exceptional quality made from nearly-pure [Enhanced Steel].

Current Attunement: Izuku Midoriya

Innate Effect:

 Mei’s Wish

Gives a 5% chance to drop a small chunk of [Enhanced Steel] on kill.

He nodded, closing his menu. Wait a second! He did a massive double-take, and appraised the sword again, almost choking as he read it properly. W-what the fuck? When had she done this!

He had helped her at the beginning of making the sword, giving her some tips about what temperature to heat the metal at, how often to work it, etc, but he had left her to it after that. He placed the sword down on the workbench and looked down at his little sister.

Had he underestimated her? Shit, he must have. She had made an Innately magical sword for her first time using a new material. He… couldn’t believe it. Leaning down, he scooped her up, wincing as Izuku fell to the side without the support of Mei’s head.

He took her into their bedroom and plopped her down on her bed, before going back for Midoriya and dropping him onto the couch in their planning/living room. He made sure to unhook the boy’s weapons and place them on the table beside the couch too so that he was comfortable.

He then went about locking the store up for the night, making sure that the lights were off and the building secure. He was tired. In so many ways. But all of that could wait. He could talk to Mei later, and he could interrogate the green-haired kid in the morning.

But for now? He needed to sleep. Badly.

“My Lord!”

Yagi smiled at the man who came running up to him. It was one of Gran Torino’s agents, the black clothing and enchanted leather armour making that clear. The mask on his face stopped him from knowing who exactly it was, however.

Well, if he was feeling sporting. He could demand to know, but where was the fun in that? “What can I do for you, Young man?”

The man stood up ramrod straight, his hand flying into the Mightian Salute. “My lord!! Master Torino had given me the task of informing you of your schedule! My lord!”

Yagi chuckled. The newbies were always so startled whenever they were talking to him. He was starting to think Gran Torino sent them specifically for that reason. No… knowing Torino that was exactly what he was doing.

“Well then! Walk with me young man, and tell me when I am next free to visit Mustafu.”

Yagi started walking towards the kitchen and laughed to himself as the man yelped and ran after him. The man seemed to be working up the courage to give his report, so Yagi remained silent, giving him the chance.

Eventually, the man started, only a little shaky. “My lord. Going over the various other visits and meetings you have, on top of your daily duties, Master Torino and the others all agree that the first time you will be available to go for any significant visit will be in around two months, maybe 1 and a half if your talks with our neighbours go smoothly.”

Yagi nodded, humming. “And yet we know they won’t! They never do. Not even for me! Hahaha! Two months it is then! I will look forward to hearing from you again, 2 days before this opportunity!”

The man nodded, saluting again. “Yes, my lord! I promise to inform you then! Have a pleasant meal, my lord!”

Yagi watched as the man scurried off, before turning to the shadow next to the doorway. “Sent another newbie to me, Torino?”

A footstep rang out through the corridor as Gran Torino stepped out of the shadow that was definitely not dark or large enough to hide him fully. “Damn right I did. The kid’s jumpier than Dire Toad on Boostjuice when it comes to you. I think you saved him and his parents or something from that fire a couple of years back.”

Yagi nodded. “Giving him exposure to me is good. Send him for the next few reports as well, would you? Having your agents afraid to talk to me will make things less efficient. And then we’ll both have Mirai breathing down our necks.”

Gran Torino just laughed. “Will do, Yagi. Now go eat. You got a village dispute to settle! It’s the Redbacks and the Northwings again.”

Yagi groaned sarcastically. He wasn’t actually bothered by helping to settle the disputes, but it got a chuckle out of Torino. “Alright. I’ll see you later, Torino”

The man stepped back into the shadow and disappeared again, leaving Yagi to go eat on his own.

‘Two months huh?’

Yagi sat down at his table, picking at the gourmet meal his royal chef had prepared for him, his mind elsewhere as he did. Two months was… huh. Almost 20 years had gone by since that day.

Since the day he had lost everything.

Chapter Text

A giant wooden door filled his vision, creaking as it slowly opened.

His vision was filled with green, and a wave of mana washed over him, a swirling wave of each kind of mana, making him feel energised, powerful. He tried to grab onto some of the mana, but it slipped through his fingers like water.

He huffed as the feeling of power left him, the mana continuing onwards as if he wasn’t even there. He got to his feet and stepped forward, but felt too much resistance in the air, something was blocking him.

A bell rang out from the doors, which Izuku now realised were identical to the doors of the UA dungeon. The bell continued to ring, speeding up with each one. Izuku felt something rising in his chest.

Had he done something wrong? Was this the dungeon trying to tell him something? Was the earth mad that he had told it how he would use its power? Was the dungeon mad about the Steelbringer, thinking he wasn’t grateful for the gifts he had already been given?

He opened his mouth to speak, to yell, to do something to placate the earth, or the dungeon, whichever it was but found himself silent, not even a peep escaping him. The ground rumbled around him, sounding almost as if it was laughing at him.

Before his eyes, a shade stepped out of the doors.

Small, probably not even up to his waist, it almost looked like a demi-Rat, if it had been turned as a child. It waved its paw towards Izuku, motioning for him to come towards the door, but Izuku still couldn’t move.

The demi-Rat shade seemed understanding at least when Izuku didn’t move. He saw it turned around without any further hassle, walking back towards the inside of the dungeon. As the doors started to close, Izuku heard a voice, so soft he had to strain himself to hear it.

“Hmm. You’re nowhere near ready yet. Continue to grow, and I will see you in my Core Room, Izuku Midoriya.”

The door slammed right as the shade finished speaking, and Izuku jolted, his eyes flying open as he was slammed back into the world of the awake.

Izuku landed on the floor with a thud.

He groaned as the hardwood floors shocked him, and pushed off, getting to his feet. This was… not his room at the Inn. Where was he? He had been dreaming about something, but he couldn’t remember what… ah well, it probably wasn’t important if he couldn’t remember it.

Shaking off the tingles down his back he had gotten from… whatever he had been dreaming about, he racked his memory. Got back to Mustafu with Melissa, went to check on Mei… “Ah!”

He glanced around as he realised that he must have fallen asleep at Mei’s house after they had finished wrapping the hilt of his new sword and making a scabbard for it. It was surprisingly fun, trying to make the materials do what he wanted them to. Maybe in another life, he could have been a craftsman?

Shaking his head, Izuku reached down to grab onto the pommel of his new sword but didn’t find anything. Where was [Steelbringer]?! He only panicked for a moment though, as he saw that his weapons had just fallen off of the table next to the couch he had been sleeping on when he had fallen.

He picked up [Steelbringer] and his [Ratbone Dagger] carefully, making sure they weren’t chipped or anything. Luckily magical weapons were sturdy, so the wooden floor hadn’t damaged them.

He also put the [Whip of the Duke] back on his waist. He was less worried about it being damaged, as it wasn’t as valuable to him as the other stuff. He was probably going to sell the whip anyway, it didn’t really fit his fighting style.

“Yo kid, you good? I heard a thump.”

Izuku yelped as the voice appeared behind him, and spun around to see… Mei if she was a guy? And like way taller? Wait, no that was stupid. “Are you Mei’s father?”

The man flinched, letting out a hiss. “Ouch, kid. I don’t look that old, do I? Damn that gremlin, gonna give me wrinkles and grey hairs before I turn 30. Anyway, the names Otto. I’m Mei’s big brother and the owner of the forge.”

Izuku straightened a bit at that. “Oh! I’m sorry for bothering you by falling asleep in your shop! I promise it won’t happen again. I just had a really big day, and I guess I crashed.”

Otto waved him off. “Nah, I don’t even really care about that. You’d be surprised how much my shop is invaded by that Shield girl for sleepovers, so we have people on the couch fairly often. I’m more worried about what Mei made for you.”

Otto grabbed [Steelbringer] off of the table and held it out in his hands. “Do you know how a magical weapon is made, Midoriya?”

Izuku shook his head, he really didn’t. He just knew that it was amazing and rare for someone to do so. “No, sir.”

Otto nodded as he pulled the sword out of its sheath, watching the slight rainbow glow surrounding the blade as he held it up to the light. “Well, it’s not a common thing, so I guess it makes sense you don’t know.”

Otto resheathed the sword. “Magic comes from two things, the skills that are given to us by the system, and the intent of the person using those skills. It’s why when people are in life or death scenarios, or times when they are determined or enthusiastic, you can see them get just that little bit more powerful. It’s like adrenaline for mana.”

Izuku hummed, thinking that over, and Otto continued. “And with craftsmen and craftswomen, the intent of the creator is a major part of crafting when using high-tier and magical materials. A sword that the creator was passionate about making will be higher quality than a mass-produced item, understand?”

Izuku nodded slowly. “So you’re saying that… [Steelbringer] is the way it is because Mei was passionate about making it?”

Otto smiled softly. “I doubt her passion alone was all it took, but yes, that’s what I’m trying to say. I don’t doubt that my forbidding her from using the material made her so desperate to use it that her excitement over finally making a sword with it powered her skill even further than normal.”

Izuku had an idea. “Oh, she was also using that new rune that Melissa made while making it, the one that increases skill efficiency.”

Otto whistled, shaking his head. “There you go. Mei is one of the most passionate and enthusiastic smiths I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing, let alone being related to. Couple that with Shield’s new rune, and I don’t doubt that she overcharged the sword with intent while forging it.”

Putting his hand on Izuku shoulder, Otto’s face suddenly darkened. “A magic item is usually considered the masterpiece of a smiths collection. To give it our for free, even with a contract behind it, is almost unheard of. Therefore…”

Izuku winced as the smith’s hand closed around his shoulder, showing off the impressive grip strength smiths had as he squeezed Izuku’s shoulder. “If you ever mess with her, or dash her hopes, or hurt her at all, It won’t matter how many levels ahead of me you’ve gotten at the time I’ll break you under my hammer no matter what.”

Izuku huffed, crossing his arms. “Why does everyone assume that I’m going to mess up this contract? Seriously! You and Sir Shield both threatened me about it. I would never intentionally hurt someone, especially not someone who’s given me such a great deal!”

Otto raised his hands as he took a step back. “Ok, ok, I get it. I’m just telling you, adventurers aren’t our favourite people, alright? So while you being a source of [Enhanced Steel] has gotten you in Mei’s good books, you’re not in mine just yet.”

Izuku frowned. Why didn’t Otto like adventurers? He made it sound like Mei didn’t either, except for him? That was weird. Usually, adventurers were welcomed and encouraged to trade with stores because they had the most loot.

“I get it. I promise that I won’t let Mei down and that I’ll prove to you that I’m not someone you have to worry about. I owe Mei more than I think I’ll ever pay her back with, just from this sword alone.”

Otto hummed, turning back towards the forge. “Good, you at least know how important [Steelbringer] is. Now, go use it so you can keep Mei’s stores of [Enhanced Steel] high, alright?”

Izuku smiled as Otto started walking out of the room, and clipped [Steelbringer] into place on his hip, the weight of the sword feeling right. “Of course! Before I go though, where is Mei? I thought she might want to see [Steelbringer] one more time before it was used.”

Otto chuckled. “She’s out, said she had to tell Shield about the sword. She said to say goodbye to you though, which is honestly more thought she’s put into about anything or anyone other than smithing in a long time.”

Izuku nodded. “Alright then, I’ll be off for the day. Thanks for letting me sleep here, I can pay you back if you’d like.”

Otto waved him off, obviously denying his offer, before heading into the forge. Izuku followed him and passed by, heading back out into the streets. He waved back to Otto to say goodbye, but the man didn’t see him, focused on the workbench in front of him.

Otto looked towards the door as Midoriya left his line of sight.

He didn’t need Midoriya to pay him back for something as simple as a nights sleep on their couch.

The smiles he had seen Mei with for the last few days was more than enough to pay back a hundred nights of sleep.

Izuku yawned as he exited the Hatsume forge, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

His hand fell to [Steelbringer] on his hip, and a smile wormed its way onto his face. How could he not be insanely happy about having it? It was amazing! Pulling his hood up over his head, Izuku started towards the dungeon.

And promptly slammed right into someones back. “Oh! Sorry!”

He looked up to see who he had run into and froze as his eyes met a pair of red ones, fury glowing in them as Bakugou stared down at him.

“Identify”

There was silence for a moment as Izuku saw Bakugou’s red menu appear in front of his face, knowing what was about to come next.

“And what the fuck do you think you’re doing, Deku? ”

Chapter Text

Izuku froze, flinching as Bakugo leaned closer. On instinct, Izuku whispered to himself.

“Identify”

Bakugou Katsuki

Level 19

Class: Flame Knight

Traits: Prodigy, Determined, Slayer, Fire Touched

Current Target: [None]

“Eh? I didn’t fucking hear you, Deku. Speak the fuck up.”

Izuku glanced at the people around Bakugou, realising it was just his regular party of cronies. So no help from any of them. “I’m... uh, heading to the dungeon, Kac-Bakugou…”

Bakugou threw his head back and laughed. “Really? You found someone who pitied you enough to let you tag along, did you? Fucking lying Deku. No one would take your dumbass with them!”

Izuku flinched again, unable to really refute that, and looked down. The cronies surrounding Bakugou started chuckling too, while Bakugou’s smirk turned evil. “Fucking knew it. I don’t know where you got that shitty rat-cloak thing from, but at least you finally look as useless as you are.”

Izuku let out a small sigh internally. Bakugou didn’t seem to notice that he was wearing magic gear. He must’ve just seen his name and flipped out. “I… I gotta go. Please leave me alone, Bakugou.”

Izuku tried to step around him but was stopped, a hand on his shoulder. Izuku flinched as the hand ignited with soft flames, but it luckily didn’t set his cloak alight. 

“And who said you could just leave, Deku? You’re too useless to have gotten it by yourself, so it seems to me that you must have stolen that cloak, and it’s the duty of adventurers like me to… reclaim the stolen goods, don’t you think?”

Izuku started to panic as Bakugou’s hands lifted from his shoulder, and down to the pommel of his sword. He stumbled back a step, tripping over slightly, only to be held up by one of the cronies.

Izuku couldn’t believe it. Why was this happening?! Why couldn’t Bakugou just leave him alone? Hadn’t he been tormented enough? Why wasn’t anyone stopping hi-

“Hey! Blondie! You ordered the dual shortswords at Hatsume forge, right?. They were finished this morning, you should go get them now!”

Izuku almost sighed out loud as Bakugou’s attention was instantly taken off of him when Mei barged her way into the ‘conversation’. Bakugou glanced at him, the fire leaving his hands as he crossed his arms.

“Tch. Saved by the fucking bell, Deku. Thanks for the update, Squid Hair Jr. You two better not have fucked them up. Cmon, dumbasses.”

Bakugou stormed off, and his cronies followed a second later, not even glancing at Izuku as Bakugou brushed past him, smacking him in the shoulder. Izuku stumbled as hit the floor, getting a laugh from Bakugo and his party, but they ignored him otherwise.

He rubbed his hands on his face, hyperventilating slightly as he felt the roughened texture of the cloak around his shoulder. It wasn’t gonna break anytime soon, magic items were a bit more durable than that, but Bakugo could have broken it if Mei hadn’t intervened…

(Not by me! Thank you to https://twitter.com/krxssalan!!!)

“Izuku? Are you ok? We couldn’t hear what he was saying but that didn’t look very friendly.”

Izuku let out an ‘eep!’ in shock as he took his hands off his face, seeing Melissa squatting down in front of him, with Mei to her side. It took him a moment to get his mouth working due to the stress of the last 5 minutes but eventually got it together. 

“Y-yea… I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. Trust me, that was nothing.”

Izuku noticed that neither of them looked very convinced, glancing between each other, but neither of them pushed it. Instead, Melissa stood back up, holding her hand out. “Well then, if... If you’re sure.”

Izuku took her hand and let her help pull him to his feet. She patted him on the shoulder as well, and he gave her a smile. “Thanks, guys. Bakugou is a bit of a jerk, so I’m glad you were able to get him to back off.”

The group had started walking on instinct, heading towards the dungeon, with the girls on either side of Izuku. He noticed a guy walking past give him something that almost looked like a jealous glare, but he had no clue why he would get something like that.

Mei grinned and held out her hand, giving him a thumbs up. “No problem dude! I wasn’t even lying, either. Otto finished the swords after he got up.”

Izuku sighed. “Well, that’s good I guess. At least that should make it so he doesn’t get angry at you or anything. He doesn’t really like being lied to.”

Mei huffed, crossing her arms, frowning as she looked down. “I don’t care how mad the asshole gets. I’d just call the guards. God, adventurers are insufferable…”

Melissa coughed, reaching behind Izuku’s back and poking her in the arm. Mei’s head snapped back up to Izuku. “Present company excluded! You aren’t insufferable! I’d suffer you for ages!”

Chuckling, Izuku shook his head. “Thanks, I guess. I know you don’t mean that in a bad way. And please, try not to piss Bakugou or his party off, alright? They probably already don’t like either of you, because you made them leave me alone.”

Melissa waved her hand at him. “I don’t think he even noticed me when Mei spoke up, so I should be fine. And Hatsume forge isn’t exactly without its defences against adventurers.”

Izuku titled his head to the side. “Defences? Have you actually had to fight an adventurer before?”

Mei shook her head. “Nah, but Otto paid some high-level [Golem Lord] to make a [Summon Stone] for the shopfront when I was little. I’ve got one too, but it’s not as powerful. I don’t doubt it could probably take someone like Blondie, though.”

Izuku’s eyes lit up at that information. “That’s amazing! Can I see the stone?”

Mei nodded, a grin on her face as she pulled out a necklace from under her shirt. Izuku noticed that wasn’t in her blacksmith gear, wearing a plain white shirt with brown pants tucked into her boots, both of which looked just a tad too big for her. Hand-me-downs, maybe?

She didn’t take the necklace off, but Izuku didn’t need to hold it to marvel at it. The black stone glinted in the light of the sun, and Izuku could feel the [Earth] mana flowing through the carvings on the [Summon Stone].

Even though she had seen it before, Melissa whistled at the [Summon Stone] as well. Izuku’s smile grew even wider as he tilted his head to look at it from different angles. After a few moments, Mei tucked it back into her shirt.

“That’s really cool! I’m guessing a [Stone Golem] from all the [Earth] mana in it? I mean it could be a [Wooden Golem] or a [Metal Golem], but those are either not durable enough to fight the average adventurer, or really expensive.”

Mei nodded. “Yea, it’s a [Stone Golem]. The perfect middle ground, or something like that. Otto bought them before I had even really knew what a [Golem] was, so I can’t really tell you much about that.”

Izuku was about to assure her that it was fine when he heard another voice. “Miss Shield, Miss Hatsume, what brings you here? Oh, that is you, Izuku. Still getting used to the rat hood.”

Izuku looked away from Mei to see that they had reached the hall in front of the UA Dungeon without any of them realising it. Kurimuzon smiled down at him, and Izuku pulled back his hood. 

“Now, I doubt your father would be happy with you if you and Miss Hatsume entered the dungeon, Miss Shield. You know non-combat classes lower than Level 30 aren’t allowed inside the dungeon without an escort at least 10 levels higher than theirs.”

Melissa smiled and waved her hands in front of herself. “Oh, no. Mei and I aren’t going with Izuku into the Dungeon. We just met up while he was on his way and started talking. Don’t worry, Kurimuzon.”

Kurimuzon glanced between them and nodded. “Good to hear. David would probably kill the both of us if I let you all in and one of you got hurt, you know?”

Izuku shook his head. “I wouldn’t do anything to draw Sir Shield’s ire, sir. He’s been far too kind to me for that.”

Kurimuzon nodded. “Alright. Good luck with your run today Izuku. Do you two ladies need anything from me while I’m here?”

Melissa waved him off. “No, thank you. Mei and I will be on our way. Good luck Izuku! You have a room at the Sleeping Boar Inn, right? Maybe we can visit you tonight and you can tell us how your new sword worked!”

Mei’s smile grew at that. “Yea! That’d be great!”

Izuku nodded. “Yep, the Sleeping Boar. They’ve been pretty nice, and they’re not stupidly expensive, so far. But I’ve been here less than a week, so I don’t know if I’ll stay there permanently.”

Melissa smiled, shrugging. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out. Anyway, goodbye! We’ll see you later!”

Mei waved to him as Melissa dragged her off, and Izuku waved back, a goofy grin growing on his face as he watched the girls exit the hall. After a moment of looking back towards them, he was bumped in the shoulder.

“Cmon, kid. Let’s go see if any of the guys have a quest for ya. You can catch up with those two later, so set your mind to fighting mode. When you’re going in a dungeon solo, you have to have a lot of focus on what you’re doing.”

Izuku nodded, following Kurimuzon as he walked towards a small gathering of guards.

Izuku huffed as he got to the other side of the spike-trap-thing only getting hit once, moving towards the coloured gems.

The order this time was Green, Orange, Purple, then Blue. At least that confirmed that he would have to focus on the gem every time he crossed, instead of just remembering the correct pattern.

He hadn’t been able to get a quest for today’s run, but he guessed that not every day could be a super-efficient levelling blitz, could it? The door opened to the [Duke of Rats] arena again, and Izuku unsheathed his sword. 

This time, with better gear and a higher level, the [Duke of Rats] wouldn’t stand a chance!

“So, we can both agree that blondie wasn’t doing ‘nothing’ to Izuku, right?”

It was a few hours past noon, and Mei and Melissa had spent the time after leaving the Dungeon Hall around the town, eating their fill as Mei gushed about how cool the weapon she forged was.

Melissa was absurdly proud of her and made sure to spoil her a little bit by buying her favourite dish at the restaurant they stopped by. She did have to deal with the owners coming to personally greet her when they arrived, but that was just the consequence of being her father’s daughter.

After the meal they had headed back to the Hatsume forge, luckily avoiding Bakugou. 

Mei looked up from the shin guards she was forging for Izuku and frowned. “Yea, they were being super mean. I didn’t actually hear what they said, but Izuku didn’t look very calm.”

Melissa nodded. “Good to know your eyesight is as good as ever. Now, what do we actually do about it? I ‘appraised’ the blonde guy, his name is Bakugou Katsuki, by the way, and he’s a pretty high level for his age. Just under getting his second class.”

Mei huffed, slamming her hammer down onto the shin guards. “My golem could still take him. I think Otto said that anyone under Level 30 would probably lose.”

Melissa shook her head. “I don’t think attacking him is the right idea anyway. We technically don’t even have proof that he did anything. We’d be the ones in trouble.”

Mei let out a groan, her hammer on her shoulder as she turned to Melissa. “Then what should we do? You could tell your dad about this ‘Bakugou’ and see what he can do?”

Melissa hummed. “We could, but until we can get proper amounts of suspicion that Bakugou actually did anything, dad doesn’t have the authority to investigate him. We should ask Izuku about it further tonight.”

Mei frowned, slamming her hammer back down onto the shin guard. “I guess so. I really wanna know how the sword went, though. So can we at least wait until after I’ve gotten the info out of him?”

Melissa nodded. “Sure, I’m actually really interested to know how [Steelbringer] goes as well. Dad has a few truly magical items in the manor, but none of them are weapons, mostly tools and utility stuff.”

Mei hummed, placing the finished shin guard to the side and grabbing the next bit of [Enhanced Steel], and placing it on the workbench. Slamming her hammer down onto the piece, she smiled.

“Now enough of this worrying stuff! Grab me some leather out of the bin! I gotta make the straps for these new shin-guards for Izuku!”

Chapter Text

Izuku stood over the corpse of the [Duke of Rats], [Steelbringer] in hand.

Holding his palm out, he summoned his lesser menu to take a look at his stats after going through the first floor. He had tried to use as little Stamina or Mana as possible on this run, focusing his efforts on the Sub-Boss.

And it really showed.

Izuku “Deku” Midoriya

HP: 73/90

Mana: 58/60

Stamina: 88/100

With a smile on his face, Izuku sheathed [Steelbringer], and stepped out of the boss fight room, into the Floor 1 Warp Chamber. He was doing really well! His inexperience showed in the fact that he had gotten hit once or twice, even over levelled for Floor 1 as he was, but to use so little of his reserves and still defeat Floor 1 was amazing!

He swiped away the screen and sat down, leaning up against one of the walls of the Warp Chamber. He was doing a lot better than he ever imagined himself doing, but it still wasn’t enough for him.

He was being… too cautious. If that existed. He would never become the strongest adventurer around if he just stuck to the first floor. And now that he had [Steelbringer], he could probably take Floor 2 with relative ease.

He raised his head and looked over at the Warp Pads, the one of the left leading out of the dungeon, and the one of the right leading to Floor 2. You couldn’t leave the dungeon without finishing the floor you were on, meaning that if he went down another floor now, he would have to face the first true Boss of the dungeon before he could come back up.

Was that something he was ready for?

Surely he was, right? He was a Level 11 [Earth Quaker]! He was over-leveled for Floor 1, so Floor 2 should be just as easy! It wasn’t like each floor doubled in difficulty, or due to the rules of exponential growth, it’d be almost impossible to get to Floor 20!

He opened up his menu again and frowned as he saw that it was still morning. He’d only been in here for around an hour and he was already up to what had taken him a full day on his first try.

He pushed up off of the wall and smiled to himself, heading over to the Warp Pads. Turning right, he reached the Warp Pad that would take him to Floor 2, taking a deep breath to steady himself.

“Alright, you got this. You’ve read about the first few floors. You know what the Boss is, and you’ve got your new abilities, and [Steelbringer]. You can do this, Izuku!”

His voice echoed out through the empty rooms, and he took a step forward, stepping onto the Warp Pad. There was a loud ‘ding’, like a menu opening, and Izuku’s vision went white for a moment.

A moment later, and he had arrived on Floor 2.

Melissa sat at Mei’s workbench, fiddling with a gadget she had been working on, while Mei finished reinforcing the straps for Izuku’s shin guards.

She hummed a tune to herself as she pried open a panel on the side of the box, seeing the low level [Fire Crystal] sitting in its chamber, with one of the fittings slightly melted.

Frowning, she held her hand over the melted material and summoned a rune, [Water] Magic flowing into her hand.

“Summon Rune: Water Cutter.”

A jet of water shot out of the rune, and the pressure from the water cut through the melted material, freeing the warped fitting from the gadget. She yelped a little as some of the water nicked the finger she was holding it with and frowned.

You have taken [3] damage!

Holding out her hand over the cut across her finger, she summoned another rune this one filled with [Light] Magic.

“Summon Rune: Minor Regenerate”

[10 HP Gained!]

As the [Light] Magic did its work, stopping the bleeding and pulling the skin back together, she pulled out some tools from her bag and got to work on some of the regular steel she had brought with her, making a new fitting for the crystal.

“Soooo, what’s that you’re building?”

Melissa was startled a bit as she heard Mei’s voice in her ear, sitting upright. Mei was a lot closer to her Quirk than normal, and she had to push her back a bit to lift her arm out from in between the girl’s chest.

She hummed, tapping her chin. “To be honest, I don’t have a name for it yet. I’m trying to figure out how to make it so the [Fire Crystal] can be… activated, let’s say, with the button on the front, for a set period of time.”

Mei nodded, her face scrunching up a bit as she thought. “Ok, ok. Why? Do you just want… a toggleable crystal? That’s kinda pointless.”

Melissa smiled. “Just that would be pretty pointless, yes, but once I’ve finished with the control system, I plan on connecting it to a box on top of it, allowing for it to heat the box up. I noticed the other day that neither you nor Otto actually has a proper oven, so I’m trying to make a, uh... mini oven for you, I guess?”

Mei’s smiled grew at that, and she wrapped an arm around Melissa’s shoulder. “Well ain’t that the sweetest thing! What are you going to call this mini oven when you complete it?”

Melissa returned Mei’s side hug, smiling at the confidence her friend had in her ability. “I’m not sure. Make a Micro Oven? A Hotbox? I’ll have to workshop some names.”

Mei nodded. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out. But hey, when you do, it’s making families who are unable to get a proper oven able to at least have you’re smaller one!”

A laugh escaped Mei’s mouth, and she squeezed Melissa in the hug a bit more. “Seems to me like you’re just trying to upheave established ideas left and right! Good on you!”

Melissa laughed at that as well, blushing slightly and sighing as Mei rested her head on her shoulder, and continued to fiddle with the gadget.

Floor 2 was… underwhelming.

Not that he wasn’t super excited to have finally taken another step to becoming an amazing adventurer, but it was so similar in looks to Floor 1 that he actually had to double-check that the Warp Pad had worked.

“I guess the books were right about every two floors sharing a theme.”

He had read a lot of books, as many as he could find around his village when he was a kid, but very few talked about dungeons, and even less about the UA Dungeon specifically.

And even when he had found one that did, it only had basic explanations of where the dungeon was, some facts about the floors, and the name of the first actual Boss of the dungeon.

It had obviously been written by a fairly low-level adventurer, but Izuku couldn’t judge, being a low-level adventurer himself.

The first Boss of the UA Dungeon was known as [The Great Mole], but Izuku had very little information other than that about them.

He was about to turn a corner in one of the hallways when he heard a soft ‘ding’ , similar to the spike trap from the previous floor.

Almost on instinct, his body dodged to the side, only to jam right into a square puller jabbing into his side from the wall next to him.

10 [Impact] Damage!

He fell to his knees as the wind was pushed out of his lungs, and coughed a bit. Ok, so the hallways had gotten a little more dangerous. He should have expected that.

He would just have to keep his ear out for more of those ‘ding’s as he went along. Hopefully, he could remember the ways they came from to avoid them in the future. Rubbing his chest, Izuku continued on through the hallway.

He spotted a room coming up from around the corner, and stuck himself to the wall, peeking into it. From where he was, he could see six, no, seven goblins, as well as a…

“Identify”

"Hobgoblin"

Hobgoblins are bigger and stronger than their cousins are more durable.

HP: 45/45 | Stamina: 60/60 | Mana: 15/15

Izuku nodded. Hobgoblins were fairly common alongside goblins, usually either taking the role of leader, if they were the only one in the pack, or the role of guard if there were more than one.

And from the way this one was strutting around and knocking the small goblins over, which gave Izuku flashbacks to a certain Flame Knight, it was fairly obvious that he was the only Hobgoblin in this pack, and therefore the leader.

Izuku was about to step into the room when he heard a soft ‘ding’ , from above him, and his knees bent instinctively, dropping him down under a spike that shot out from next to his head.

“Woah, that was close.”

RAAAAAAAAAAHHHH

Izuku froze as he heard something from the inside of the room, and looked over to the goblin pack, locking eyes with the Hobgoblin, who must have heard him hitting the floor. Shooting back up to his feet, Izuku yelped as an arrow landed in the wall next to him.

He turned back to see that the Hobgoblin had a [Goblin Archer] on his shoulder. Seeing the other goblins charging his way, Izuku readied [Steelbringer], and took a deep breath.

“Lunge! Double Strike!”

Chapter Text

David hummed as he went over the information that Melissa gave him again.

He was a bit worried. [Mana Springs] and [Incursions] were meant to be a rare thing, only cropping up as the Mana levels in an area went unused for too long, or if there was just an abundance at any given moment.

And next week there were going to be two of them, practically back to back.

David could feel his [Mana Weaver] class writhing at the information, trying to tell him something, but as usual, any feelings it was giving him were vague and unhelpful. While it was nice to know that something was different than usual, not being able to identify what was annoying.

And not only that, but Melissa had also reported on another [Mana Spring] within line of sight when they travelled to the second one she scanned. Which meant that they not only had to deal with the two next week, but they had to prepare for a third soon after.

It was… troubling. The mana in the area around a dungeon as old as the UA Dungeon shouldn’t have the opportunity to coalesce like this. Dungeons were meant to cycle the natural mana of the world into themselves to sort of… cleanse it from the intent of the things that used it.

The fact that there were 3 [Mana Springs] near the edge of the Dungeons reach meant that the ambient mana in the world was growing higher, for some reason. And while that could be a good thing, it brought its own set of risks.

[Incursions] would become more common, and the natural monsters of the surface world would be empowered as well. It would make all of the humanoid races stronger, but it would also make anything they fought more dangerous as well.

He finished writing his thoughts into a few letters, and moved to the top of his manor, reaching the mailroom. He smiled softly as the squawking of the carrier pigeons filled his ears, now that he was inside the soundproofing enchantment.

He moved to the cages of his most used birds, Cher and Ami, and placed the letters into the carry tubes on their back. He picked up Cher and whispered “Yagi’s Castle” into its ear, letting mana flow from him to the pigeon so that it understood its destination.

Moving onto Ami, he adjusted the carry tube and smiled as Ami flapped their wing, more comfortable now. He brought Ami up to his face and whispered “Elven Capital”.  With a flutter of their wings, Ami shot out of the open window, angling right to fly towards the elven kingdom.

He sat and watched until both of the pigeons were out of his line of sight, before putting his gear on and heading out into the town. He had a few theories why the mana of the world might be increasing, but most of them weren’t good.

He dragged his hand down his face, sighing deeply as worry dug into his chest. He looked around the streets as he walked towards his post outside the dungeon, and he couldn’t help but find himself searching for a rat hood amongst the crowds of adventurers.

It was time that they all started to prepare for the upcoming [Incursions].

Izuku’s vision blurred as he activated [Lunge], as usual.

He stooped right above the [Goblin Archer], swinging [Steelbringer] down and watching the double of the sword follow the movement, cleaving the weak goblin in two almost instantly. The second it passed through it, however, Izuku was hit in the chest by the Hobgoblins fist, and knocked to the ground.

Critical Hit!

[32] Damage taken!

Izuku yelled out as pain shot out from his chest, and he thudded against the floor. He jumped to his feet and gave himself a once over. He wasn’t bleeding, but the Hobgoblin might have bruised a rib.

He looked over to the damage menu and paled as he saw that the Hobgoblin had done so much damage to him. Add that to the damage that the dungeon had done to him so far, and Izuku was down to… 41 HP. Damn, even less than when he fought the Dire Wolf!

“Shield!”

He saw that the Hobgoblin was currently trying to grab one of the goblins running around it to replace the [Goblin Archer] on his shoulder, and took the moment to reach into his pack. 

He didn’t have any proper health potions yet (he had actually planned on buying some this afternoon), so he grabbed out some of the mushrooms he had gathered from Floor 1 Warp Room.

He popped around 12 of the smaller ones into his mouth and chewed them, washing them down with water. They tasted bitter and disgusting, but he could feel his entire body relax a bit as he regained some HP.

[18 HP Gained!]

From eating untreated [HP Mushrooms], you have gained the debuff: 

[Healing Fatigue 1] 

All healing items for the next 2 hours will heal you for [25%] less.

Izuku huffed, not liking that, but he was grateful that it had worked in the first place. Thank the lord for books filled with tips and tricks written by poor adventurers! Shaking out his arms, Izuku looked back over to the enemies. 

By now, the Hobgoblin had wrangled one of the little ones onto his shoulder, but Izuku noticed that it had no clue how to hold the bow it had been given and was instead holding it like a club.

He nodded to himself, happy to at least know that everything else was a melee fighter for this room. Putting a smile on his face, to both hype himself up and to ignore the throbbing of his chest, Izuku bent his knees slightly, getting into a fighting position.

“Lunge! Double Strike!”

Izuku dashed towards the group of smaller goblins first, and [Steelbringer] passed through 3 of them by the time Izuku’s [Lunge] ended. He kept going forward, getting out of the group of goblins and heard a small banging noise, similar to the noise Mei’s hammer made on the forge.

[Mei’s Wish] Activated!

He turned and saw a small chunk of [Enhanced Steel] appear in the air, about the size of a mouse, glowing with a pink aura, before dropping to the ground. Izuku’s grin widened as he saw [Steelbringers] innate effect at work.

Izuku locked eyes with the Hobgoblin and smiled at it, and Izuku was fairly certain it flipped him off as it reached from one of the goblins at its side, but he didn’t have the best view of their hands.

With a roar, the Hobgoblin grabbed one of the goblins, and before Izuku could figure out what it was doing, threw the goblin at him. Izuku yelled and swung at the incoming goblin, sending it to the floor next to him, and only just dove to the side to avoid the Hobgoblins attack, having rushed him right after throwing the goblin at him.

He felt the wind rush past the Hobgoblins fist, ruffling his hair. Izuku gulped as he rolled to his feet.

‘Holy Woah, this thing is fast! Way faster than it should be!’

He’s read about Hobgoblins before, but they were meant to be hulking brutes, faster than a goblin, yes, but this was crazy! If he wanted to win without losing more HP, he’d have to immobilise it somehow.

Ideas rushed through his head as he ducked and weaved his way around the Hobgoblin’s attacks, using [Lunge] liberally in the smaller big line to do so. 

Dashing to the side, Izuku grabbed his [Ratbone Dagger] and ducked under a wild swipe from the Hobgoblin, which seemed to be getting more and more enraged as time passed, and stabbed it in the calf, dragging it through as much muscle as he could.

[27] Damage Dealt!

The roar the Hobgoblin released vibrated the air around him, and Izuku had to dive to the side again to avoid the Hobgoblins fist, which was now moving fast enough that blew Izuku’s hood off his head. It was almost feral now, the basic strategies it had shown disappearing and being replaced by what he could tell was growing physical strength.

What kind of Hobgoblin was this?!?! 

Izuku pulled his hood back up as the Hobgoblin fell to the ground, and he smiled as he saw that he had essentially made the Hobgoblin’s left leg dead weight. 

And finally, as it was distracted, savagely trying to claw its way up the wall to get upright again, Izuku swung [Steelbringer] at its back. The screeching stopped after a few seconds, and the weirdly powerful Hobgoblin was finally dead.

Congratulations!

You have defeated [7] Goblins and [1] ?&#

Izuku stared at the menu. What the hell was going on with that second name? He was about to reach out to touch it when the menu glitched out a little bit, and when it settled, the name issue seemed to have been fixed.

Congratulations!

You have defeated [7] Goblins and [1] Hobgoblin!

Reward: 400XP | 10 Copper 5 Silver

Congratulations!

You have reached Level [12]

+1 [Strength] | +1 [Agility] | +2 [Luck] | +5 HP/Stamina/Mana

Izuku couldn’t help but smile to himself, letting out a cheer and throwing his arms into the aim, before wincing as his ribs ached. ‘Might have to take it easy for a little bit… wait what is that?’

He had glanced to his side as another, a much smaller menu appeared in the air, with 2 small sentences written on it in bold.

[Congratulations. Rest before fighting the Great Mole.]

Izuku felt a burst of something from beneath his feet, similar to that initial feeling he had gotten when he had first become an [Earth Quaker]. Was this… was this the earth itself actually giving him advice?

He had never heard of the earth itself actually sending out a message through the system. It didn’t make sense to him. While he appreciated the advice, this whole situation was kinda stressing him out.

He kneeled down and placed his palm on the floor. The feeling was similar to when he had gotten his elemental attunement, but now that he was focusing on it, Izuku could tell that it wasn’t the earth.

So what was it then? Was there a divination wizard watching him? Or… or was it the dungeon, maybe? And if it was the dungeon, then…

Why was it speaking to him, of all people?

Chapter Text

Ok, ok… that was a lot to unpack. 

And if he didn’t want to have a panic attack over what it might mean, he would have to save it for later, after he cleared the boss and got back to the surface.

But while Izuku was a lot of things, stupid wasn’t one of them.

When the dungeon itself, if that really was what had sent him the message, tells you to take a break before fighting a boss, you take a break. But it also left him with a small problem.

He couldn’t leave the dungeon.

Every time you entered a new floor through the Warp Pads, you committed to beating the floor before you could leave the Dungeon through the exit Warp Pad. And seeing as the Warp Pads where after the boss fights, Izuku was stuck inside the dungeon until he beat them.

And because he didn’t have any HP potions, his only option to get back to 100% of his HP was to get a good nights sleep. He didn’t have any open or fatal injuries, so he should get the natural regeneration buff of sleeping.

The Hobgoblin had been absurdly strong for the floor it was on, and it had taken him by surprise. But there were only 2 more rooms before the Boss Chamber, meaning that if they were at the usual difficulty, he could clear this floor and then sleep outside of the Boss Chamber.

It would mean that he wouldn’t be able to make it to his talk with Melissa and Mei, but… waiting was still the right thing to do. Dying to the boss because he was rushing would also mean he wouldn’t make it back tonight, and he really didn’t feel like dying today.

So he sheathed [Steelbringer] and his [Ratbone Dagger] back on his hip, scanned the room, looking for where that small chunk of [Enhanced Steel] had landed. He spotted the soft pink glow shining out from under one of the Goblin bodies and walked over to it.

He pushed the Goblin off and picked up the chunk, throwing it up in the air and catching it, before putting it in his pack. It was only just big enough to fit perfectly in his palm, but that was still amazing!

Walking around and collecting some of the Goblins weapons to sell when he got out, he contemplated his plan of action. He probably should clear out the rest of the floor, except for the boss room, before finding an area he could sleep. 

Monsters, bosses excluded, could rarely leave their room if the adventurer took too long. And with the weirdly strong Hobgoblin and the message from the Dungeon, he wasn’t really willing to test his luck at this point.

Clenching his hand around the pommel of [Steelbringer], Izuku walked through the door and into the hallway towards the next room of the dungeon. He kept his eye out for those wall traps and was able to dodge a few.

It was weird, he really hadn’t even been going through the dungeon for very long, maybe a week at the most, and yet he still felt like the longer he was in here, the easier it became to sense where the traps were coming from, like an instinct for dodging them growing faster than normal.

Was that something that just happened when you levelled up as quickly as he had been for the last week? Or did it have something to do with the fact that the Dungeon seemed to have some sort of interest in him?

Those questions were stopped in their tracks as he heard the screeching of Goblins from around the corner of the hallway. He took a deep breath and rubbed his chest to soothe the dull ache of his ribs.

Peeking around the corner, and sighing with relief at the fact that it was just Goblins in the room, Izuku nodded to himself. He could do this. He’d clear the floor, sleep the night to recover his resources, then go into the fight with the Floor 2 Boss with a clear head and a rested body.

He’d just have to hope Melissa and Mei didn’t worry too much about him.

“Summon Minor Rune: Searchlight”

“Find Izuku Midoriya.”

A small mote of light appeared in her palm, darting around the packed tavern area of the Inn that Izuku had said he was staying in.  The adventurers that were already there, at varying levels of drunkenness, didn’t seem to care about it.

Melissa frowned as the light bounced around the room, before zooming back over her palm, dissipating. That meant that Izuku wasn’t in the tavern section. Was he upstairs in his room?

Mei poked her shoulder. “Is he here? I don’t know how that spell works with people”

Shaking her head, Melissa sighed. “Basically the ball jumps around and if it shines some of its light on the person or objects you specified, it gets really bright and gives me a menu update.”

Mei frowned. “So he’s not here, then.”

Melissa hummed. “At least, not down here. He might be up in his room. Go grab a table for us and I’ll check with the Innkeeper.”

Nodding, Mei skipped away, weaving in and out of the tables over to an empty booth on the edge of the room, and Melissa headed over to the bar. The Innkeeper saw her coming and looked her up and down.

“How old are you lass? I don’t care how rich you are, I don’t sell the hard stuff to anyone under 18.”

Melissa glanced down and realised that she was still in her nicer casual clothes, a blue shirt with black pants, covered in a large troll-leather cloak made from the high-quality materials that her father had gotten from the Elven Kingdom.

Pulling down her hood, she fluffed her hair so it fell outside of it. “I am 19 actually, but I’m not here for alcohol. Just to find someone, and maybe get some dinner?”

The Innkeeper raised their eyebrow at her but nodded. “Alright then. Who are you after? I know most people in this area of town. Or is it someone who’s got a room here?”

Melissa smiled. “His name is Izuku Midoriya. He came into town about a week ago. I was told that he was staying here.”

The innkeeper hummed for a moment, nodding his head. “Yea, I know him. What’d he do for you to search for him? Steal something off ya?”

Melissa waved her hand and shook her head. “Nothing like that, we were going to meet here tonight with my friend, but he’s not here yet. We were just wondering if he was up in his room.”

The innkeeper’s eyebrows rose, and he glanced over to where Melissa had motioned, seeing Mei waving at them. “Damn. Lucky kid, I wouldn’t think he would have it in him to bag the both of ya.”

Melissa blushed and sputtered as she tried to correct the man when he shrugged. “But he hasn’t come back today, so I can’t help ya. If that’s all, did you know what you wanted to eat?”

Melissa shook her head, and the Innkeeper shrugged again, grabbing a wood board from under the counter. “Fine, here’s a menu. If you decide what you wanna eat, tap the centre of the table and a server should be there soon.”

Melissa grabbed the board off of the man and sprint-walked back to the table Mei was sitting at, only to run into someones back as she glanced at the menu. “Oof!”

“Guh, oh, it’s you, Miss Shield.”

She teetered a bit, but Kurimuzon held her up. “Good to see you, Miss Shield. I was just helping Miss Hatsume here with a pest issue.”

As Kurimuzon moved out of the way to let Melissa sit down, she saw that was holding a boy with spiky black hair and a blue and white bandanna by the back of the shirt. She also noticed that said boy was unconscious, a red square on his forehead.

Kurimuzon chuckled. “Not that I had to do much, Miss Hatsume here had him pretty well sorted. But as a City Guard, it’s my job to deal with people like this.”

Melissa glanced over to Mei, who was sitting up straight, an innocent smile on her face. “He was being weird and tried to take your spot, so I bonked him with my hammer!”

Melissa chuckled, shaking her head. As Kurimuzon said his goodbyes, taking the boy away with him, Melissa sighed. Mei perked up. “What’s wrong? Did the Innkeeper dude know where Izuku was?”

Melissa shook her head. “Nope, he apparently hasn’t come back to the Inn at all today. I wonder where he is then.”

Mei hummed, putting her chin to the table. “Do you think he’s alright?”

Melissa nodded. “I’m sure that wherever he is, he’s fine. He’ll probably be here soon anyway, so we should worry too much.”

Mei nodded. “Should we get food while we wait, then? I’m pretty hungry.”

Smiling, Melissa scooted over until they were shoulder to shoulder and placed the menu on the table. She could worry later if Izuku still hadn’t shown up. But for now, he was just a little bit late. 

“Sure! What do you wanna eat?”

Chapter Text

Izuku huffed as the final Goblin of the room dropped to the floor.

He did a quick scan of the room, just to make sure he hadn’t missed anything, and other than 2 bits of faintly glowing [Enhanced Steel], everything was gone. His breath wavered as he inhaled deeply, dropping to the floor and leaning up against one of the walls.

He was fucking exhausted .

He had severely underestimated how much his bruised ribs actually impacted his ability to fight, especially after the adrenaline of the previous fight wore off while travelling through the Floor 2 hallways.

His chest was stiff and sore, making his sword feel heavier and harder to swing effectively. He had to rely on his abilities more than he was hoping to have at this point, [Double Strike]  and [Earthen Shield] being his current saviour.

[Lunge] had been less helpful, putting strain on his chest because of the speed of the skill. And because he had to rely on his [Double Strike] and [Earthen Shield] so much, his resources were all but depleted.

Izuku “Deku” Midoriya

Level 12

HP: 24/95

Mana: 12/65

Stamina: 22/105

He was roughed up, basically out of Mana, and running on less than a quarter of his Stamina, but he had cleared out everything in Floor 2 except the boss chamber. But nothing could go in or out of that room until Izuku opened it.

As he huffed and puffed, leaning against the wall, he opened up his menu again to check the time, wincing as he saw how late it was.

[1:03 AM]

[Status Screen]

[Friends]

[Party]

[Descriptions]

[Notifications] [1]

He sighed, leaning his head back against the wall, before tapping on his ‘notification’ tab to get rid of the small white number next to the words.

[Healing Fatigue 1] has ended.

Healing Items will now work as intended.

Izuku smiled shakily at the screen. At least that was a good thing. Should he eat some more of the HP Mushrooms before going to sleep? He thought about it for a moment before deciding not to. 

‘It might mess up the natural regeneration of sleep. And if it does, I’d just be shooting myself in the foot.’

Even with this in mind, it turned out it wasn’t really up to him, as his eyes shut on their own, and sleep called out for him. He tilted over and laid on the soft dirt of the Dungeon floor, already drifting to sleep.

“Dad!”

“Mr. Shield!”

David looked up, blinking the sleep out of his eyes as Melissa and Mei burst into his office. He pulled up his menu to check the time, raising an eyebrow when he saw it. “What are you still doing up, Melissa?”

Melissa huffed, putting her hands on her head. Had the two girls sprinted back to the house? “Izuku is missing.”

Mei frowned next to her, crossing her arms. “Yea! We were gonna meet up so we could talk about [Steelbringer], but he didn’t show up! And earlier, he was being pushed around by this blonde dude named Bakugou!”

David paused for a moment to take in what they had said. “Have you looked around town? Checked in with the Inn he’s staying at? I’m assuming someone without familial connections wouldn’t have a place to stay other than an Inn.”

Melissa nodded. “Yea, we were going to meet him at the Sleeping Boar, that’s where he’s staying. But apparently, he never came back to his room tonight. We stayed and waited for him for about an hour, but he never showed up.”

David hummed as he stood up from his desk, moving over to his bookshelf and searching for a specific book. “And have either of you added him to your [Friends] list? If you’re within a kilometre of a friend, you can see their HP, Mana, and Stamina, and if you’re within 100 metres, you can see active buffs or debuffs.”

Both of the girls froze, looking at each other and slightly shook their heads. David nodded. “That’s fine, I wouldn’t have expected you to have added him so quickly. Well, maybe you, Mei, after that deal you made with him, but it’s fine that you haven’t. Ah, there it is.”

He found the book he was looking for and pulled it out of the bookshelf, holding it up and showing it to the girls. Both girls immediately had menus pop up in front of them, showing off the name, but David didn’t need to [Appraise] it to know the title, [Tomoko Shiretoko’s Tome of Tracking Magic].

“I’ll let you borrow this, girls if you’re sure that he might be in some sort of trouble. Locating spells used on people are a slight invasion of privacy, and because he’s less than 10 levels lower than your own, he will be notified that he has been located.”

Both of the girls paused for a moment, and David hummed, happy that they were at least taking this seriously. “So before I give it to you, are you sure that he’s in trouble? Mei, you said he was being pushed around earlier, can you elaborate?”

Mei frowned, sitting on the couch, Melissa plopping down next to her. “Well, we both fell asleep at my workstation last night after finishing his sword. We were really excited about its Innate effect, and we-”

David held a hand up, stopping her. “I’m sorry, did you just say that a sword you made had an innate effect?”

Mei’s frown turned into a grin almost immediately. “Yea! It does! It’s called [Mei’s Wish] and it makes it so every kill has a 5% chance to drop a chunk of [Enhanced Steel]! It’s my greatest baby ever!”

Sitting down in the chair across from them, David groaned as he ran his hand down his face. “Alright, we’ll come back to that later, please continue.”

Mei nodded, putting her elbows to her knees and her hands to her chin. “I woke up earlier than he did, which is to be expected, to hang out with Melissa, and we headed back after a while to see Izuku, being surrounded by a guy named Katsuki Bakugou and his party.”

Melissa frowned, leaning back in the chair. “Yea and they didn’t look too friendly. Bakugou had his hand on Izuku’s shoulder and I could feel a small amount of activated [Fire] mana coming from the group. I think they might have been threatening him?”

It was David’s turn to frown now. Sometimes he forgot that adventuring brought in all sorts of people, not just heroes like Toshinori. “That is worrying. I can ask some guards to keep an eye out for anything further with the two of them. And you think that he might have done something to Izuku?”

Both of the girls paused before Melissa spoke up. “Well, I don’t actually know. I hope not, because Bakugou’s level is higher, and doing anything further than what he did earlier in a town filled with guards and other adventurers is a really stupid idea. But I really don’t know.”

David sighed, nodding. “That wouldn’t be the best decision, you’re right about that. Alright, I’ll let you girls use the book, as long as you're alright with him knowing you did so. You’ll probably have to explain it when you find him.”

Both girls nodded quickly, and David passed over the book to Melissa, who opened it up immediately, looking through it. David smiled. “The spell that you’ll probably want to use is near the back.”

As Melissa thumbed through the book, David hummed. “I don’t remember the components to complete the spell off by heart, but I do know that you’ll need something the target touched in the last 24 hours.”

Mei raised her hand, and David chuckled, waving his hand to her in acknowledgement. “Do I count? He’s touched me within the last 24 hours while we were making my baby!”

There was a beat of silence before Melissa blushed, spluttering beside her as David pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing deeply. “One, please never say anything like that in my presence again. Two, no, you do not count unless you want to vanish into the ether as all ritual components do once used.”

Mei looked confused for his first point and paled at the second. Nodding her head rapidly, she saluted him. “Yes, sir! No vanishing for me! We can just use one of the tools he grabbed for me off my workstation!”

Melissa stood up quickly, her face still red at Mei’s words. “Alright then! Let’s go grab it and do the spell so we can make sure he’s okay!”

She grabbed Mei by the arm and almost physically dragged her out of the room, the pink-haired girl waving goodbye to him with the other arm. David just sighed, shaking his head at their antics.

Turning back to his work on his desk, he plopped down into his chair. He was glad that Melissa had Mei as a friend. The girl’s upbeat energy and mind for crafting had been just what Melissa had needed after her mother…

Ah, he went and made himself sad again. Oh well. Mei was the friend David had been hoping Melissa would make when they moved to Mustafu, and he was almost equally glad to see the two girls finally branching out a little and making friends with an adventurer.

He was fond of Izuku himself, the boy reminding him of Toshinori when they were kids. Bright, determined, willing to help no matter what, and had the [Heroic] trait. He glanced at the doorway that Melissa and Mei had run out of and hummed.

He sincerely hoped the boy was alright as well. He had already seen far too many young adventurers taken before their time.

Chapter Text

‘Ding! Ding! Ding!’

Izuku groaned as his ears started to pick up the dinging of his menu. Letting his eyes fall open, he winced at the sudden influx of light, sitting up quickly and covering them again.

‘Ding! Ding! Ding!’

Shaking his head, Izuku wiped away the sleep in his eyes and opened them again, slowly this time. It took him a moment to remember where he was, before he stood up quickly, pulling the [Ratbone Dagger] out of its sheath on his hip and scanning the room around him.

Empty.

Letting out a sigh, Izuku resheathed the [Ratbone Dagger] and sat down against the wall he had been sleeping against. He unrolled his [Mantle of the Duke] and put it back on his head. It had been a surprisingly comfortable pillow. 

Maybe it was the same kind of magic that made it shrink to his head? He’d have to ask Melissa later. But now that he was up and awake, he pulled out his menu, silencing the dinging that had been going off.

[10:32 AM]

[Status Screen]

[Friends]

[Party]

[Descriptions]

[Notifications] [3]

Blinking at it, he frowned. Three notifications? What could have possibly happened while he slept?

[2:22 AM]

[Melissa Shield] has performed [Tomoko’s Ritual of Sentient Creature Location] on you.

[Melissa Shield] now knows your location and status.

[2:23 AM]

[Mei Hatsume] has performed [Tomoko’s Ritual of Sentient Creature Location] on you.

[Mei Hatsume] now knows your location and status.

[9:03 AM]

You have slept for 8 hours in a Mana-Rich environment. 

Gained buff [Energised] for [12] hours.

[Energised]: Mana spells/skills require 25% less Mana to cast.

[10.5] Hours remaining

Shaking his head, he yawned, feeling guilty. Both Melissa and Mei had been worried enough to use a proper tracking ritual on him… god, he was really going to have to figure out some way to make it up to them.

Mei he had sorted, bringing her all the [Enhanced Steel] [Steelbringer] created, as well as telling her how awesome it was, would probably be fine. But what could he do for Melissa? Buy her something? No that was stupid, she had more money in her bag than he had ever had in his life…

Maybe he could do a quest for her! Wait no, she’d have to pay him for that. Maybe he could do a non-menu quest for her! Yes! When he got back, he’d do something for her to make up for worrying them.

He pushed off the wall and stood up, holding out his palm and opening up his [Status] screen.

Izuku “Deku” Midoriya

HP: 85/95
Mana: 65/65

Stamina: 105/105

Current Buffs: [Energised]

Letting out a breath, Izuku smiled. While he wasn’t back to 100% HP-wise, but everything else had recovered while he slept. He bounced on the balls of his feet and shook his arms out as he stared at the large double doors to the Floor 2 boss chamber.

Patting the hilts of both [Steelbringer] and his [Ratbone Dagger], he smiled to himself. Stepping up to the door, he placed his hand on it, looking over as his menu popped up again.

Warning!

Suggested Party Size: [3+]

Your Party is under the suggested Party size.

Do you wish to Proceed?

Rewards will be slightly increased due to superior difficulty.

[Yes] / [No]

He pushed [Yes], and cracked his fingers. It was time to face the Great Mole.

Melissa woke up to the sounds of a hammer on metal.

Yawning, she sat up from her spot on Mei’s bed, ruffling her hair to get it out of her face. Grabbing her glasses off of the bedside table, she used one hand to put them on, and the other to tie her hair up into a high ponytail.

As she slipped her feet into her boots, she yelled out. “Mei! Is that you? I’m awake!”

She’d just finished tying the second shoe up when the door opened, Mei peeking around it, her huge goggles over her eyes. “Melissa! Good morning! I woke up super early so I started getting some work done on an order I got the other day.”

Melissa nodded, smiling as she stood up, slipping her troll-leather cloak back around her neck. “That’s fine, I’m always going to sleep longer than you are. Your trait, [Manic] is pretty cool. Very fitting, too.”

Mei nodded quickly, ducking back into the forge, and after a few moments, the hammering of the metal started up again. Melissa sighed as she left, summoning a blank rune to play around with as she headed out into the living area.

A grey circle appeared in front of her, the rune lines moving towards each other, shifting and changing, as Melissa fixed herself and Mei something to eat. She hadn’t technically checked with Mei if she’d eaten or not, but Melissa was more than confident she hadn’t.

The meals ended up being much simpler than what she was used to for breakfast, but she didn’t mind. She couldn’t expect the Hatsume’s to have the gourmet ingredients they had at Shield Manor.

With two bowls of porridge in her hands, she pushed open the door to the forge with her hips, calling out. “Alright Mei, come here and eat something.”

Mei pulled her goggles off of her eyes, glancing over to her before zeroing in on the food. Sitting down next to her, Melissa passed the bowl over, handing her the spoon. Leaning on the workbench, Melissa started on her own bowl, frowning.

“So, what’s got you up so early?.”

Melissa paused mid-scoop and sighed. “Couldn’t sleep, least not very well. You hear all sorts of stories about the inside of the dungeon,  and well, none of them really suggest it’s a great place to sleep.”

Mei nodded slowly. “Right, yea. Goblins and stuff on the first floor, right?. Never really listened to Otto when he went over what kind of Monsters each floor has. Maybe I should know, now that I’m more… connected to an adventurer?”

Melissa hummed. “I mean, it couldn’t hurt to ask around. I know that the first two floors are goblins and rodent monsters, and most floors have a theme like that. I can help you go over what floor has what if you want? I think we could both benefit from the distraction from our worrying.”

Melissa waved over to the gauntlet Mei had been hammering, showing off a metal thing that could technically go around someone’s hand, but with quite a bit of damage given, not protected from.

Mei huffed, dumping the gauntlet into the bin beside the workbench and shooting Melissa a glare that disappeared a moment later. “Alright then. Goblins and stuff on the first two floors. What about 3 and 4?”

Melissa smiled. “Well, if floors one and two are more focused on [Earth] type monsters like basic goblins and rodents, then floors three and four and said to be focused on something else…”

“[Dark] type monsters.”

With a flash of light, Izuku appeared in the centre of a metal platform, a podium adorned with a brown gem in front of him.

He looked around, seeing the dirt floor and walls all dotted with the entrances and exits to tunnels, for something about twice the size of someone like Kurimuzon, who was already quite a bit larger than Izuku himself.

You have entered the [Den of the Great Mole]

Objectives:

Defeat the [Great Mole]: 5 Silver

Optional: Destroy all 3 [Rat Nests]

Boss Chamber Effect: All [Rodents] are aware of your location at all times. 

[The earth is your friend, adventurer. Listen to its warnings.]

Izuku took a deep breath as he looked over the menu. The Boss Chamber Effect was going to make this a little harder, especially as the Bosses name suggested that it was a [Rodent] type monster as well.

The secondary objective, to destroy the [Rat Nests], confused him though. He couldn’t see anything like that? Or did they spawn in after the fight started? Wait… he remembered the [Secret Rat Den] from Floor 1, how there had been a near-constant trickle of rats from it.

Looking at the tunnels around the walls, he realised where the [Rat Nests] would most likely be. He shook out his arms a little to stretch them and placed his hand on the light brown gem in the podium. The instant he did, the room shook.

A new tunnel appeared in the dirt in front of the metal platform, and Izuku drew [Steelbringer] as the [Great Mole] pulled itself from the ground. Izuku crouched down, getting ready to fight.

“Identify”

The Great Mole 

[True name unknown]

Floor 2 Boss, UA Dungeon

Commander of all living [Rodent]s in the depths of the [UA Dungeon]

HP: 250/250 | Mana: N/A | Stamina: 150/150

That was… Woah. Izuku could see now why the Dungeon had told him to rest. He would have been annihilated. Placing his free hand on the floor, Izuku watched as the [Great Mole] finished pulling itself out of the ground fully, smiling.

“I am listening, friend. Your help is greatly appreciated.”

Chapter Text

Izuku’s eyes followed the [Great Mole] as it finish pulling itself out of the dirt fully, a screech tearing out of its mouth.

It was surprisingly humanoid, with what looked like metal-tipped hands instead of paws like a regular mole, and had long, light-brown fur that hung out of the back of what looked like a helmet made from bone over its head.

It almost looked like a Demi-human, just with more emphasis on the ‘demi’ and grown in size until it rivalled the height and width of an elephant. It actually made Izuku pause for a moment, as it was the most humanoid opponent he had faced yet, and it made him hesitate for a moment.

A moment too long, apparently, as the [Great Mole]’s tail slammed down next to him, only just missing its mark, the wind it kicked blowing Izuku off of the metal platform. He rolled for a bit, but luckily it wasn’t enough to do any real damage.

He was about to push up off the ground when he heard the soft ding of a bell to his right, and he rolled away in time to avoid one of the [Great Mole]’s claws stabbing out of the floor. ‘The bells!’

Izuku dove out of the way of another swipe of the [Great Mole]’s tail, this time retaliating with a slash from [Steelbringer]. He didn’t cut it very deeply, but it was enough to make the [Great Mole] pause, letting Izuku dash towards one of the tunnels on the walls.

7 Damage Given!

He almost tripped a few times on the uneven, shaking dirt, but managed to make it over to the wall. And just as he did so, he heard another ding coming from one of the tunnels to his left, as well as one coming from the floor behind him.

He dove to his left, rolling away from the paw that slammed down where he had been standing, and heard another, slightly louder ding from the tunnel he had seen. Hopping to his feet, he cut the side of the [Great Mole]’s paw as it pulled back, getting a much better hit in than the last.

19 Damage Given!

The [Great Mole] let out a screech, and Izuku winced as he ducked into the tunnel that was more than large enough for him to fit in. Sprinting down it, Izuku kept his ear out for the bells that seemed to be guiding him.

‘Ding!’

There! He had almost passed by the small offshoot tunnel to his right, but he turned abruptly, running through it until he came to a cavern about the size of his bedroom in the Inn. ‘Guess I’ve found one of the [Rat Nests]...’

Sitting on the floor in the middle of the cavern was a small wooden bowl, filled with black water that made Izuku’s nose crinkle just smelling it. As he watched, a group of rats materialised, pulled themselves out of the bowl, and sprinted towards Izuku, trying to gnaw on his boot. It didn’t last very long as Izuku kicked them, moving over to the [Rat Nest] itself. 

How was he supposed to destroy it, exactly?

His question was answered a moment later as the far wall of the cavern exploded, the [Great Mole]’s paw slamming down, trying to grab him, and inadvertently crushing the [Rat Nest] in the process.

[1/3] Rat Nests Destroyed!

Unfortunately for Izuku, it was also successful in grabbing him, pulling him from the wall of the Boss Chamber and back into the arena. Its hand wrapped around his torso, but its claws seemed to get in the way of it squeezing very hard. It still hurt quite a bit, though.

19 Damage Taken!

As it yanked him out of the [Rat Nest] cavern, Izuku reached down, Izuku pulled the [Ratbone Dagger] out of its sheath, and slammed it into the [Great Mole]’s wrist as hard as he could.

42 Damage Given!

[Great Mole] is now under the effect [Crippled 1]!

[Great Mole] has increased difficulty moving through the dirt.

A grin grew on Izuku’s face as he read that, but was quickly wiped off of him when the [Great Mole] screeched, throwing Izuku at the far wall of the Boss Chamber. Panicking, Izuku flew through the air, trying to stop himself from spinning wildly. He was able to get himself facing the wall he was going to slam into and readied [Steelbringer]. 

“ Lunge!”

The world blurred again, a little less than usual because he was in the air, but when it came back, [Steelbringer] was stabbed halfway to the hilt into the wall, and he was dangling from it a couple of metres above the ground.

Letting out a relieved sigh, Izuku pulled [Steelbringer] out of the wall and dropped to the floor, rolling to dissipate some of the force. As he pushed up to get back on his feet, he heard the soft ding of a bell behind him and jumped to his right.

But apparently, it had been the wrong kind of warning? He had to slam himself into the wall behind him again to dodge a swipe of the [Great Mole]’s claws, and even still it clipped him, sending him crashing to the ground.

18 Damage Taken!

Izuku coughed as he struggled to suck in a breath, only just getting out of the way of another of the [Great Mole]’s attacks. He stumbled to his feet, running as hard as he could towards one of the tunnels nearby.

He ducked under the [Great Mole]’s tail as it slammed into the wall next to him, and ran into the tunnel, his breath slowly coming back to him and he slowed down a bit. The bell from earlier must have been trying to show him another of the [Rat Nests], not warning him of an attack.

He was confused if this was normal or if it was another strange thing the dungeon seemed to be doing for him, but right now wasn’t the time. Following the bells, his breath eventually evened out again, and he slipped through the tunnels until he found the second [Rat Nest].

Would he have to wait for the [Great Mole] to destroy it again? He had [Crippled] it, and the menu had said that it would make it harder for the [Great Mole] to tunnel through the dirt walls and floor.

Should he take this moment to rest? Probably not, if he let himself cool down too much he could end up underperforming for the rest of the fight. He sighed. “Alright then, back to basics, I guess.”

He pulled out the [Ratbone Dagger] and slammed it into the bowl on the floor, trying his best to ignore the smell from up close, and smiled to himself as the bowl shattered.

[2/3] Rat Nests Destroyed!

The room started rumbling a few seconds after that, and this time Izuku was able to dodge the claw that reached into the room because it took a second for the [Great Mole] to shift over from digging to attacking.

Tightening his hold on [Steelbringer] and his [Ratbone Dagger], Izuku slashed down with both of them. 

“Double Strike!”

Izuku yelled out as shimmering images of the two weapons, a pink glow around the [Steelbringer] double, appeared on either side of his hands, and all 4 blades slammed into the forearm of the [Great Mole], digging into it almost 2 thirds of the way through it.

Critical Hit!

79 Damage Given!

The [Great Mole] is under the effect of [Bleeding 2]

[Bleeding 2]: [Great Mole loses 20 HP every 20 seconds]

The screech that the [Great Mole] released was deafening, but Izuku slammed both blades back down again into the gash he had created, and with a yell of effort, [Steelbringer] sheared right through the remaining part of the arm .

36 Damage Given!

The [Great Mole] has been [Dismembered] and lost its [Left Hand].

[The Great Mole] is now under the effect [Crippled 2]

[Great Mole] can no longer dig through the dirt.

[Bleeding 2] has become [Bleeding 4]!

[Bleeding 4]: [Great Mole] loses 40 HP every 20 seconds.

The roar that resulted from the attack shook the earth around him as the [Great Mole] flailed. Izuku felt a pang of guilt shoot through him as the [Great Mole] locked eyes with him, but he pushed it down as best he could.

Tears sprung to his eyes as he darted back into the tunnels, searching for the 3rd [Rat Nest]. He hadn’t gotten the chance to use [Identify] on the [Great Mole], but if his math was right, it only had 77 HP left.

And because of [Bleeding 4], that meant that Izuku only had 40 seconds to find the 3rd [Rat Nest] if he wanted the optional rewards.

He could hear the [Great Mole]’s pained screeching as it tried to follow him, but he knew it was no longer able to dig its way through the ground anymore, with its arms so mangled. Another twinge of guilt shot through his chest as he heard it yell out, but he pushed it down and kept running.

The [Great Mole] would respawn, good as new, at midnight tonight. Even if Izuku killed him, he wouldn’t actually be ‘killing’ him. It was ok. It was just a dungeon monster, like the goblins. Right?

‘[True Name Unknown]’

Izuku’s steps stopped slowly as his brain was sent into overdrive. It had a name. A proper name. That meant that it was sentient, that it interacted with things that called it something other than the ‘[Great Mole]’. 

Turning around, Izuku cursed himself. 

If it was sentient, it was truly alive, not just a brainless construct of the dungeon. Izuku couldn’t think of a single thing alive that he would condemn to a slow death like that, bleeding out on the ground, unable to move.

He sprinted back to where the [Great Mole] was lying, the dirt under it damp with blood. Izuku checked its stats to see how long he had.

The Great Mole 

[True name unknown]

Floor 1 Boss, UA Dungeon

Commander of all living [Rodent]s in the depths of the [UA Dungeon]

HP: 77/250 | Mana: N/A | Stamina: 65/150

Izuku gulped as it thrashed around at him, but with its arms completely crippled, it struggled to attack him. He walked up to it and stood beside its head, his [Ratbone Dagger] out and ready.

“I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you in such a painful state. I can end it quickly if you want?”

Izuku paused for a second as he saw the [Great Mole] stare at him with disbelief before its trashing stopped. Another moment later, there was a spurt of blood from the [Great Mole]’s arm, and Izuku checked its stats again.

HP: 37 | Mana: N/A | Stamina: 60/150

“I know you’ll respawn so let me just stop you from hurting quicker, please?”

Izuku didn’t really expect it to work, he hadn’t even been sure that the [Great Mole] could understand him, let alone want to give him anything, but he had tried anyway. And it had worked, apparently.

The [Great Mole] nodded its head at him, pressing its snout into the ground. A low rumbling noise came from it, snapping Izuku out of his shock at it working. “Again, I’m so sorry. But to get strong enough to be a true hero, I need to fight through your dungeon.”

Izuku slammed the [Ratbone Dagger] down into the top of the [Great Mole]’s head, and it instantly collapsed, its HP at 0.

Floor 2 Dungeon Boss, the [Great Mole] has been slain!

XP gained from Dungeon Boss: 800XP | 24 Copper

First Clear Bonus: 400XP | 8 Silver

Superior Difficulty Bonus: 200XP | 2 Gold

Izuku hopped down out of the hole the [Great Mole] had made in the wall and saw that there was now a door in the middle of the metal platform of the Boss Chamber, where the podium that had started the fight had been.

He was amazed at the amount of XP he had gotten. With that much, he was sure to get to the next level, probably almost even to 13!

Congratulations!

You have reached Level [13]

+1 [Strength] | +2 [Endurance] | +1 [Intelligence] | +5 HP/Stamina/Mana

You have unlocked [2] new abilities!

Chapter Text

Izuku gasped. 

2 new abilities? Other than [Shield], and its upgraded version [Earthen Shield], it had been ages since he had even unlocked 1 new ability! 

He had heard that gaining skills started getting a little faster after your first class got its elemental affinity, but hadn’t imagined it would be this quick! 

With a smile on his face, he opened his menu and quickly moved through the screens until he got to his status screen. 

Izuku “Deku” Midoriya

Money: 91 copper, 25 silver, 4 gold, 0 platinum

Level 13

Class: Earth Quaker

HP: 100/100

Mana: 70/70

Stamina: 110/110

Strength: 18

Agility: 16

Endurance: 18

Intelligence: 12

Luck: 10

Attuned Items:

[Ratbone Dagger]

[Mantle of the Duke]

[Whip of the Duke]

[Steelbringer]

Available Abilities: 

> Double Strike:

• Your attack does double damage, before any reductions. 

• 2 Stamina per Attack.

> Lunge:

• Instantly dash forward a distance equivalent to your [Agility] and perform an attack.

• 4 Stamina per Attack

> Defenders Shield: 

• When standing within 5 metres of an allied creature, you can reduce the damage they take from an attack by an amount equal to your [Endurance]

• 2 Stamina per use

> Identify: 

• Allows you to see the stats and abilities of anything below a danger rating of 2. 1 Mana per use.

• Skill does not consume mana if the target is an [Earth]-type monster or item.

> Earthern Shield: 

• Halves the damage for a single strike that hits you. Costs 5 mana for each hit.

• Completely negates [Earth]-type damage for a single hit. Costs an additional 5 mana for each hit.

> Protection of the Earth 

• [Passive] 

• All armour you wear is 25% more effective, and 10% lighter.

• [Earth]-type magic armour is 50% more effective, and 25% lighter

> Earthspike

• The [Earth] has acknowledged you, and forms to your will.

• Allows for a spike made of stone to erupt from the ground beneath your opponent.

• 10 Mana per use.

Traits:

> Prodigy: 

• You learn things more quickly and more easily than others. 

• 50% boost to XP gain.

> Determined: 

• Nothing can stop you from achieving your goals.

• Resistant to the [Fear] effect.

> Heroic: 

• You are naturally inclined towards the protection of those who need it. 

• Gives a 50% boost to all stats when a sentient creature with a non-combat class is within the line of sight of your opponent. 

• Grants the ability to set and accept quests for added XP.

> Earth-Touched:

• You have [1] class attuned to the [Earth] elemental affinity.

• 20% reduction to damage coming from [Earth]-type attacks.

• May the wisdom of the Earth bring you strength and guidance.

Izuku’s eyes widened and his smile grew.

This. was. Amazing!

[Protection of the Earth] was awesome! Even now he could feel his clothing pressing down on him a little bit less than usual. He didn’t have the heaviest armour, to begin with though, so he probably wouldn’t be noticing as much of a difference as someone who had inherited some armour.

[Earthspike] was even cooler. It had been years since he had gotten a new combat ability! And not only was it now a new tool for him to use, but it was also really cool as well! It would probably be really helpful in rounding out his fighting style, as currently, his main thing was fighting monsters right up in their faces, which wasn’t really the best idea when he lacked proper armour.

He had gotten this far with the basic stuff he had made for himself, or gotten the [Leatherworker] in his home village to make for him, but he knew that the further he got through the dungeon, the more protection he would need.

He could probably get Mei to make some more armour for him after she finished his shin plates. Maybe he could go for a breastplate first, with some should guards… he was pulled from his musing about what kind of armour he could get by the Boss Loot menu screen.

He almost smacked himself on the face. How could he forget about the loot? Crossing his fingers, he hoped for an actual item, instead of just more coins. He knew it was rare for bosses to actually drop items, just one more thing that made his Mantle and Whip of the Duke amazing.

He tapped on the floating screen and waited as colours swirled. A giant grin appeared on his face as an image appeared, its description appearing below it.

Ratmaster Pendant

[A small pendant made of Jade, shaped like a rat]

Allows for the summoning of [Spiritual Rodent Companion]

Izuku’s reached out and pulled the [Ratmaster Pendant] out of the menu, feeling the light pendant drop into his palm. Holding it up, he admired the craftsmanship on the pendant, the rat carved into the jade almost looked like it was breathing.

His grin couldn’t get any bigger as he slipped the pendant on around his neck, tucking it underneath the [Mantle of the Duke] and his shirt. He felt something settle deep within him, and he pulled up his menu to check.

The name of the ability was fairly self-explanatory, but he wanted to know for sure what [Spiritual Rodent Companion] did. Pulling its menu open, he read its description.

Spiritual Rodent Companion [1]

[A large, semi-corporeal rat, about the size of a house cat]

[Can be used for scouting, and collecting small items]

Actions: [Bite: 2 Mana] [???] [???]

Summon Cost: [20] Mana

Duration: N/A (Until dismissed)

HP: 25 | Mana: 25 | Stamina: 25 | XP: 0

Izuku was almost hopping in excitement as he held out his hand, and funnelled some of his mana into the [Ratmaster Pendant]. There was a small flash of green light near his feet, forcing him to blink, but when he opened his eyes, there was a translucent, green rat sitting next to him.

The description was right, this was a large rat. It was currently on all fours, sniffing at his pant leg, and its back was two-thirds of the way to being level with his knee. Crouching down, Izuku held his hand out to the [Spiritual Rat Companion].

It rubbed up against Izuku’s hand, and he laughed, the feeling akin to placing his hand on wet sand. He stood back up and walked around, and the [Spiritual Rat Companion] followed next to him dutifully, sniffing back and forth. 

It seemed especially interested in the corpse of the [Great Mole], still visible through the gap in the wall that it had busted through. Turning away from it, Izuku walked up to the door in the centre of the room and placed his hand on it.

It opened slowly, giving Izuku a brain-boggling view into the Floor 2 Warp Chamber. He peeked around the edge of the door, but no, the Warp Chamber hadn’t appeared behind it in the Boss Chamber. Magic was weird...

Izuku stepped through the dorm shaking his head as he moved towards the exit Warp Pad. Was every door in a dungeon a portal? Surely that couldn’t be mana-efficient.

Izuku blinked as the sun hit his eyes the second he stepped out of the dungeon.

He pulled down the top of his hood a little bit, his eyes not used to the sudden brightness after fighting his way through a dimly lit Boss Chamber. With his hood down, he couldn’t really see more than peoples feet but weaved through them anyway.

“Hey! Kid! Hold up a sec!”

Blinking, Izuku pulled his hood back to see Kurimuzon walking over to him quickly. He waved over someone else, a young boy in light clothes and said something to him that sent the kid running off into the town.

Kurimuzon patted him on the shoulder when he reached Izuku, sighing. “Good to see you alive and well, Kid. Miss Shield and Miss Hatsume were quite worried about you. And after they found out where you were, well…”

Izuku smiled sheepishly. “I am really sorry for worrying them. I went down to the second floor and fought a Hobgoblin, but there was something off about it. Actually, my whole experience with the dungeon has been quite odd, to be honest.”

Kurimuzon nodded. “You’ve certainly had the best beginners luck I’ve ever seen from a newbie. Now, I sent word to David and the girls that you were safe and well, so you can go rest up if you need without worrying them further.”

Izuku nodded, blinking slowly. Now that he was fully out of the dungeon, his body was taking the opportunity to cool down from his fight against the [Great Mole]. He rubbed at his eyes, holding his palm out over them to block some of the sunlight.

“Thank you, sir. I’m going to go check back into my room at the Sleeping Boar and relax for a bit. If Melissa and Mei come here to find me-”

Kurimuzon laughed. “I’ll tell them you headed to the Inn. Go rest up, kiddo. You probably need it… wait a second, you said you went through the second floor?”

As Kurimuzon’s eyes widened, Izuku laughed nervously. “Yes, sir.”

Kurimuzon placed his hand on Izuku’s shoulder, staring at him. “You beat the [Great Mole] alone?”

Izuku gulped but nodded. “Yes I did, sir. I got a very lucky critical hit when it grabbed me for the first time, and I was able to give it [Bleeding 4] with another critical hit after that. I stabbed it with my [Ratbone Dagger] in its head to finish it off.”

Kurimuzon shook his head, taking his hand off of Izuku’s shoulder. “Well, I’ll be. I am no longer suggesting it, go take a rest. That’s mighty impressive of you, and you’ve earned a day or two breaks, I think.” 

Izuku was about to speak when Kurimuzon put his hand up. “I know you probably feel on top of the world after a fight like that, but you’ve been in here every day since you arrived. You gotta give yourself time to rest if you wanna grow.”

Tapping his chin, Kurimuzon stepped back, smiling at Izuku. “Treat yourself to a nice lunch or buy a magic trinket or whatever. We’ve got a pair of [Incursions] coming in a few days, so we’ll want everyone we’ve got in top form.”

It was then that Izuku’s [Spiritual Rat Companion] nibbled at Kurimuzon’s leg, and the man’s eyes shot down to it, his hand flying to the pommel of his sword. After a moment of looking it at, his head slowly raised to Izuku’s, meeting his eyes. “This yours?”

Izuku nodded and quickly ordered the [Spiritual Rat Companion] to stop nibbling on the man’s pants, and it sat back down next to Izuku’s foot, waiting for instructions. “Yes, sir. Sorry about that. I got a [Ratmaster Pendant] from the [Great Mole].”

Kurimuzon shook his head. “Of course you did. Guess I’ll have to start calling you Ratboy or something like that if this trend keeps up. Now get out of here, I’ll see you in a day or two.”

Izuku started walking back towards the Sleeping Boar, waving goodbye to Kurimuzon, his [Spiritual Rat Companion] running out ahead of him, phasing through peoples legs as it ran. 

After a few minutes, he reached the block that the Inn was on, freezing as he saw Melissa and Mei standing outside of it. Melissa was staring at him, eyebrow raised and arms crossed, while Mei was tinkering with some metal plate, only noticing his arrival when Melissa elbowed her softly.

She seemed less grumpy and more happy to see him, which made him feel a little better under Melissa’s gaze. Laughing nervously, Izuku put his hands up.

“Hey, guys. Can we go sit down, please? I want to explain but I’m really tired.”

Chapter Text

Izuku sat in one of the Sleeping Boar’s booths, with Melissa and Mei sitting across from him, a sheepish smile on his face.

Melissa’s glare had softened slightly, but it was still sharp enough for Izuku to wait for her to speak first. They might be friendly, but now that he was out of the dungeon, Izuku was slightly panicking over the fact that he had missed a meeting with an actual, proper noblewoman .

Now that he was safe and had a chance to think about it further, there were many, MANY stories about what happened to the fools who spurned or wasted Noble men and women’s time. At best they were punished, at worst executed.

And while he was fairly certain Melissa wasn’t going to order him killed, it really wouldn’t surprise him if life threw him a curveball like that after the streak of good luck he had been on since arriving at Mustafu.

He jumped, startled out of his thoughts, as a plate of food was placed in front of him, and thanked the waitress, reaching for his coin pouch to pay, when Melissa’s hand flew out and plopped a small pile of silvers into the waitress’ hand.

“Keep the change for yourself.”

The waitress’ smile was huge as she practically pranced away, and Izuku turned to Melissa and Mei. Mei was already stuffing her face with the beef stew she had ordered, while the crumbed chicken Melissa got sat in front of her.

“Izuku.”

Izuku was startled out of his thoughts again when Melissa spoke to him, instinctively straightening his back and looking down at the table. “YES!”

Ah, that was much louder than he intended to be.

Melissa shook her head. “You don’t need to be at attention, Izuku. I assume that’s why you’re so nervous because you didn’t show up for our meeting?”

Izuku just nodded, causing Melissa to sigh. “You do remember what I told you when we met, don’t you? I asked you to speak to me like any of your peers. That applies to this situation as well. I am not here as a noblewoman, I am here as a worried friend.”

She waved between herself and Mei, who seemed only vaguely aware of the conversation, now drawing something on her napkin while eating her stew. Melissa continued. “We had a meeting, and you didn’t show up, not even a day after we saw you being harassed. We were concerned for you, not angry that you didn’t show.”

Izuku froze as she finished, his mouth open in shock, and he wasn’t able to hold back his tears for very long. The best he could do was to quiet himself down so he didn’t disturb the other people in the dining area.

Through his blurry vision, he could see Mei now looking at him, her goggles over her eyes, and Melissa seemed spooked by his crying, as she nervously wrung her hands together, before awkwardly leaning over and putting her hand on his shoulder.

“Oh. You… you’re crying. Mei, what do I? Wait, why am I asking you? Uh, pat pat pat … ah, no, this feels wrong.”

Izuku laughed mid cry as he felt Melissa softly pat his shoulder, her entire body stiff with nervousness and indecision.

Shaking his head, he took a moment to calm himself down enough to speak. “I-it’s alright, M-Melissa. I guess I’m just not used to… all of this really.”

Melissa paused, her nervousness seeming to fade after a moment, and her hand coming to rest on his shoulder instead of patting it. “I, yes. Of course. You’ve recently uprooted your entire life to move here, so I can understand that it’s been a... stressful time.”

Izuku paused for a moment before nodding, and there was silence for a moment before finally, Mei’s plate clanked against the table. “So, you said you were gonna explain why you were missing right? And what this rat-ghost-thing you got with you?”

Izuku looked over and saw his [Spiritual Rat Companion] laying against Mei’s leg. “Ah! I’m sorry Mei, come here little guy…”

The [Spiritual Rat Companion] scurried over to him, and Melissa gasped as it peeked its head out over the table, its nose twitching. “Izuku, what is that?”

Laughing nervously, Izuku scratched the back of his head. “It’s part of the explanation, I promise. So basically, it starts with me heading down to the second floor…”

Izuku spent the rest of the hour they had the booth for explaining his stay on Floor 2, and his fight with the [Great Mole].

Both of the girls listened intently, and to be honest, it was a novel experience spending time with people his own age that he was certain had no negative intentions.

Melissa had said he uprooted his life to come to Mustafu, but he had been so stagnant for so many years, stuck at Level 6 for so damn long , that in a few ways, he felt like his life had really only just begun when he got here.

Izuku sat in his room in the Sleeping Boar, his [Spiritual Rat Companion] racing around at (probably) top speed.

His ‘armour’ was off, inside the lockbox the Inn supplied, and his boots were next to the foot of the bed, leaving him in just his shirt and pants. The fur padding of the shirt made it a bit warm, especially as a [Fire Crystal] warmed the room, but he didn’t really have anything else at the moment.

Wait… how much money did he have right now? Holding out his palm, he opened up his menu to check.

Izuku “Deku” Midoriya

Money: 91 copper, 25 silver, 4 gold, 0 platinum

He paused for a moment, reading it again. And then again. How... WHAT?! When had he gotten so much copper and silver? And 4 gold?! Was being an adventurer really this lucrative?! 

His [Spiritual Rat Companion] jumped up onto his lap, breaking Izuku out of his focus on how much money he had made in just over a week of being in mustafu. His hand automatically patted its back, and he shook his head.

“Should I just go buy some extra clothes?”

The [Spiritual Rat Companion], predictably, did not respond to him, and Izuku realised something. “Oh man, I should give you a name or something… what do you wanna be called, little guy?”

The spirit rat just stared at him for a moment, before flipping over and laying on its back, wriggling about. Izuku sighed. “Guess you’re not going to be helpful with the decision process, are you? I guess I could do something ironic? What animals hunt rats?”

Off the top of his head, the only things he could think of that specifically hunted rats were cats, dogs if you trained them right, and birds of prey. “Maybe I can name you after an Eagle, or an Owl?”

Izuku chuckled to himself. “Or maybe I could just have a rat named Cat. Hmm, naming things is pretty difficult… wait! I have the perfect name for you!”

The [Spiritual Rat Companion] seemed interested now, so Izuku put on his best ‘formal’ voice and grabbed a pencil off of the bedside table and tapped it on each of the [Spiritual Rat Companion]’s shoulders, before tapping it to its head.

“I dub thee, Sir Ratsudon .”

“You named it what ?’

Izuku chuckled as Sir Ratsudon nibbled on the bottom of Melissa’s outfit without actually doing any damage, as the [Spiritual Rat Companion] couldn’t actually touch anyone else with any amount of damaging force without Izuku’s order too.

“My [Spiritual Rat Companion] is named Sir Ratsudon. Because Katsudon is my favourite meal.”

Melissa shook her head, pinching her nose as she sighed at him. Izuku couldn’t help but smile. “No I got it, thank you , I was just… Mei! Adventurers are so weird! ”

Mei just laughed, nodding as she threaded a leather strap through the shin-pads she had just finished. “I’ve been telling you that for years, Mel! Years!”

Melissa finally broke and started laughing for a moment, before finally shaking her head. “If that’s what you want to call it, then I guess we can’t stop you. But it’s ridiculous, Izuku, you know that, right?”

A soft smile formed on Izuku’s face. It was weird having someone tease him like that, without any malice. “Yea. Yea I do. I like it though.”

Melissa seemed like she was about to say something when Mei let out a ‘whoop!’, jumping to her feet. “And they’re done! Izuku! Come try these shin-pads on! I even added a kneepad!”

Smiling, Izuku moved over to her and grabbed the shin/knee pads, marvelling at their construction. Mei had done a really excellent job with this! “These are amazing!”

The [Enhanced Steel] plates covered the front and sides of his shin, hugging his leg tightly when he tightened the straps. The knee pad moved with his leg as well, not impeding his ability to bend his legs at all, something Izuku was very grateful for.

As he stood and walked around in them, his eyebrow raised as he felt something under his boot. There seemed to be a plate of [Enhanced Steel] underneath his feet. “Mei, what’s with the plate on the bottom? Won’t it give me less traction?”

Mei grinned as she bounced on the balls of her feet, looking incredibly happy that she got to answer questions. “Nope! Take them off and have a look! I made sure to replicate the patterns from the bottom of work boots, and I made sure that the bottom plate was fairly rough so that you wouldn’t slip!”

Izuku nodded as he saw the scratchy surface of the metal plate, alongside the grooves that had been carved into them, a perfect match for the types of patterns he had seen on other boots.

Putting the boot-shin/knee pad contraption back on, Izuku couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you, Mei! These are really awesome!”

Mei puffed her chest out, a smug smile on her face. “Well duh! All my babies are excellent! My brother was a fool to stop me from using [Enhanced Steel] earlier!”

A cough caught the attention of Izuku and the two girls, as Otto stared at them, his eyebrow raised. “A fool, am I? Is that what you want to go with, Mei?”

Mei had frozen as soon as she heard Otto cough, turning around slowly, a sickly sweet smile on her face. “You must have misheard me! I would never refer to the person who owns the forge I use for free with any words like that at all, dear brother! I don’t know what you’re thinking!”

Otto shook his head, waving them off, before sighing. “Anyway, ignoring that. Izuku, I’ve got one of the town’s guards in the storefront asking for you? Apparently, they checked the Inn already and the innkeeper pointed them here.”

Izuku tilted his head, curious as to what the guard might want him for. “Alright, I won’t keep them waiting, then. Goodbye Melissa, Mei. Thank you so much for your help so far.”

Getting smiles and goodbyes from the two girls, Izuku followed Otto out of the forge area and into the storefront, smiling as he saw a large, shirtless man waiting for him, a frown etched into his face. 

“Mister Kurimuzon! What can I help you with?”

Chapter Text

Earlier...

“What do you mean you want to ask the kid to help us during the [Incursion]s? Are you crazy?”

David frowned as Kurimuzon slammed his hands down onto his desk, sighing. “I know it sounds like I am, but I can promise you that I’ve thought this through. Tell me, have you ever met someone with the [Heroic] trait before? Physically met them, and seen their stats, I mean.”

Kurimuzon took his hands off the desk as he crossed his arms, frowning. “No, sir. I have not. Is that why you want him to help?”

David waved his head back and forth. “It’s a part of it, yes. I am not at liberty to share the... finer details of the trait, but I will tell you this, there is a reason many people with the [Heroic] trait go down in history as a local myth or legend.”

Sighing, David leaned back, rubbing his eyes. “Not only that, but what Melissa told me about his run through the second floor is both intriguing, and worrying. I’m sure you understand what I mean about that.”

Sitting down in a chair across from David, Kurimuzon hummed. “Yea, the bells are bad enough, but something messed with the monster spawning. Hobgoblins don’t spawn on Floor 2. And they are never big enough to carry a [Goblin Archer] on their shoulder…”

David nodded. “There is only one monster in the UA Dungeon that can have a [Goblin Archer] as a supporting creature. I don’t blame Izuku for not realising, but something caused a Hobgoblin to be spawned in with the size and stats of an Orc .”

Kurimuzon tapped his fingers against the arm of the chair, his other hand resting on the pommel of his sword. “So what the hell does that mean? I’m worried about monsters spawning for him in lower floors than they should, but how would something cause that to begin with?”

David shook his head. “That’s the thing, I don’t really know. The fact that we are facing two [Incursions] in one week points to something being wrong with the Mana levels in the area, and I guess that could affect the Dungeon, but so far nothing has gone wrong for any other teams.”

Putting his elbows to the table, he placed his chin on his hands. “Which leaves me with only one other theory. The Orc-Hobgoblin was strong enough to provide a significant challenge, but at his level, it was not an impossible task.”

David sighed. “From what he told Melissa about the bells, the messages, and the Orc-Hobgoblin, I believe that the Dungeon itself is trying to cultivate Izuku’s potential. There is obviously something special about that boy, and while we have no clue what it is yet, the Dungeon seems to.”

Standing up, David moved over to his bookshelf, seemingly searching for one.“Dungeons are incredibly sensitive to the changes in the worlds Mana. They have to be to do their job, taking it in and purifying it to create monsters and items, and maintain their portals and demi-realms.”

“If the Dungeon has sensed something wrong, and has decided to help a [Heroic] soul grow strong enough to help, then we need to do the same. I’m planning on sending word to Yagi about the boy as well. As the highest levelled person with the [Heroic] trait in the known world, I would like his expertise on how to help the boy grow. Ah, there it is.”

David grabbed out a book and tossed it over to Kurimuzon. It floated over slowly, landing in the man’s lap. Reading the cover, Kurimuzon hummed. “Incursions: A guide to the commonly spawned. Written by Kaina and Beros Tsutsumi. Wasn’t she the empire’s top assassin duo, before Yagi overthrew that old despot?”

David nodded. “Kaina and her sister were, and still potentially are, the most powerful archers in the world. And because of her extended travels for… her work, she was witness to a great many [Incursions] over the years. After Yagi overthrew the old ruler and freed them from their pact, Kaina wrote this book at my request.”

“When you give Izuku the offer, make sure to give him this book as well. Even if he doesn’t accept to assist with this set of [Incursion]s, it would be good for him to learn the commonly spawned monsters for the future.”

Standing up, Kurimuzon turned to leave but was stopped when David spoke again. “I know you think this is risky, but I promise you that I won’t be leaving him to the jaws of fate. I’ve hired that mercenary you hate so much to assist during the coming [Incursion]s.”

Kurimuzon groaned. “Oh god, please not her. She might be strong, but she’s so damn smug about it all the time. God, you lose one fucking arm wrestling match and you never hear the end of it.”

David chuckled. “Sorry, my friend, but Miss Usagiyama is one of the best mercenaries this side of the great sea. She will be arriving tomorrow night and assisting us whether Izuku accepts my request or not.”

Kurimuzon sighed. “Fine, sir. But I am formally putting it on the record that I am displeased by this.”

Laughing outright, David very obviously pretended to write something on a piece of parchment. “Duly noted. Enjoy the rest of your day, my friend.”

Kurimuzon nodded as he left, heading towards the Sleeping Boar Inn, the most likely place to find him. And if the kid wasn’t at the Inn, he was probably at the Hatsume Forge.

In the present...

Kurimuzon just waved his hand for Izuku to follow him. 

“Let’s walk and talk, David wanted me to check up on you, and to make a request on his behalf.”

Izuku walked next to Kurimuzon as the man exited the Hatsume Forge, listening. “Essentially, while David heard from Melissa that you were alright, he wanted me to check that you were in fighting shape, after taking a day off of going into the dungeon.”

Izuku frowned, confused as to why he would be asking that. “I mean, I feel fine now, and it’s still only around noon, so I’ll have the remainder of the day to rest. I should be fine?”

Kurimuzon nodded, smiling. “It’s good to hear that you’re ok, David told me that you had an… eventful trip to Floor 2.”

Izuku hummed, remembering the… odd Hobgoblin, the Dungeon seemingly helping him, the fact that he had to sleep inside the dungeon… “Eventful is definitely the right word, I’d say. But it’s fine. What does Sir Shield need from me?”

Kurimuzon went quiet for a moment, before sighing. “You helped escort Young Melissa out into the forest to check on the [Mana Springs] that are about to rupture, correct?”

Izuku nodded. “Yea, the first one is happening fairly soon, right?”

Kurimuzon grunted, nodding his head. “I guess Melissa didn’t share the specifics, then. The first [Mana Spring] is set to rupture in 2 days, starting a [Water] Incursion. The announcement for that one should be made this evening.”

Kurimuzon checked around to make sure that no one else was listening in, and after seemingly clearing the area around them, continued. “But the issue is that the next one is set to rupture only 4 days after that. And that’ll be an [Air] incursion”

Izuku blinked as he realised how many monsters would be coming, and how soon it was. “That’s… a lot. Are the city guards going to be able to deal with so many monsters back to back like that?”

Kurimuzon hummed, moving his head left and right as he thought about the question. “See, I believe that we could, but David seems to be worried about the Incursions wearing us down too much. This leads me, finally, to the request David wanted me to make.”

Kurimuzon stopped and placed a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “David wants you to be part of the defence force for the town. He believes that you could be helpful in the defence and that the defence itself could help level you up so you can get your second class sooner. You’ll get some silvers out of it too, maybe a gold or two  if you bag a big monster”

Izuku’s eye widened as he processed Kurimuzons words. “B-but, I’m super low level compared to the rest of you, how much help could I really be? I’m grateful that he wants to help me level up faster, but wouldn’t me being there just put me in your way?”

Kurimuzon shrugged. “I’m not sure, to be honest. You’ve got talent, going through the dungeon by yourself, and from what you and David have told me, you’ve got something special going on that we haven’t figured out just yet regarding the dungeon.”

Izuku’s eyebrow raised, and he gulped. “You mean the messages and the bells, right?”

Kurimuzon gave him a look . “Yea, kid. I mean the messages and the bells. You know how damn weird they are, right? David hasn’t said much, but you’ve piqued his curiosity as well. Said that you reminded him of someone or something like that.”

Kurimuzon shook his head. “I’m getting off track. You don’t have to decide now, but if you could make your decision if you want to help out the defence force or not by tomorrow night, that’d be good.”

He rummaged through his pack, before handing Iuzku a book. “Just make sure to tell David or myself directly so we can get it sorted asap.”

Kurimuzon left Izuku then, and Izuku sat down on a nearby bench, Sir Ratsudon sitting below the seat as a menu appeared to his left. The book Kurimuzon gave him sat next to him.

He knew that he should really be thinking about the pros and cons of David’s request, thinking about what he should do logically, but then again…

Defend the Town!

Mustafu has called for aid! And you shall answer! 

Help defend the town of Mustafu from the upcoming [Water] and [Air] incursions

[10-12] Silver and [1-2] Gold

1500XP upon completion

He had never been a very logical person.

Chapter Text

“Sir Shield.”

Izuku bowed as he stood across from David, the man’s desk in between them. David sighed, waving his hand. “Hello, Izuku. Have you decided on whether or not you wish to be part of the defence force?”

Izuku glanced at the menu that hovered next to his face, having rushed over at full speed after making his decision. “Yes, sir! While I’m still not sure why you want me there, I want to help out however I can.”

David nodded, a smile forming on his face. “Excellent, I thought that you might. Now, I don’t know what warnings or anything that Kurimuzon gave you, but I promise, you aren’t being thrown to the metaphorical wolves.”

With a wave of his hand, a map appeared on top of David’s desk, showing the outer walls of Mutsafu, and the surrounding area. Izuku could see two pins out on the fields, one blue and the other white.

“Those are the [Mana Springs], right?”

Nodding, David tapped on the map. “They sure are. Now, I’m not really worried at all about the [Water Incursion]. The town guard is equipped more than enough to deal with a single [Incursion]. The main issue is how soon the second one starts.”

Izuku nodded. “I haven’t had a chance to read over the book you sent me yet, how long do they usually go for?”

David clicked his tongue. “Right, I keep forgetting that you know very little about this. [Incursion]s last a minimum of 3 days, and a maximum of 4 and a half.”

Izuku frowned. “That means there’s either going to be only a day to recover from the [Water Incursion] before the [Air] one, or they might overlap?”

David nodded, clasping his hands together. “Yes, that’s why I’ve been getting more help than usual for these [Incursion]s. And that leads me to my next point, actually. Rumi, you can come in now.”

Izuku turned to see the door to the office burst open, whoever was on the other side having literally kicked it open, her leg sticking through, showing off her… paws? “Fucking finally. Your waiting area’s 10 kinds of stuffy, old man.”

Izuku’s eyes widened as ‘Rumi’ walked into the room, his eyes immediately drawn to the two white rabbit ears on top of her head. ‘A demi-human?’

“Identify”

Rumi “Beast of Caerbannog” Usagiyama

Level 59

Class: ???, ???, ???

Traits: ???, ???, ???

Current Target: None

“Keep staring at my ears and I’ll rip yours off.”

Izuku yelled, swiping away the [Identify] menu as fast as he could, turning to see that Miss Usagiyama was suddenly right up in his face. Or, right up in his neck. She was probably around 15 centimetres shorter than him, but he hadn’t really registered it at first because of the extra ‘height’ her ears gave her. 

“I’m sorry! You’re just the first Rabbit-kin I’ve ever seen!”

She clicked her tongue, seemingly giving him a once over. “Whatever. So Shield, this the guy I gotta keep my eye on? Pretty low level to be helping out with an [Incursion], ain’t he?”

David smiled. “Yes, this is your charge. Miss Usagiyama, meet Izuku Midoriya. Izuku, meet Rumi Usagiyama, also known as the Beast of Caerbannog, and one of the finest mercenary adventurers money can hire.”

Izuku grinned, his hand shooting out. “That’s amazing! It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Usagiyama.”

She stared at him, her eyebrow-raising as she leaned to her side slightly. After shaking his hand for the briefest instant, she shrugged. “He’s polite at least, my price would probably go up a lot if he was a pain in the ass to protect.”

David chuckled. “I’m sure it would have, but I’m glad it hasn’t. Now, Izuku, you and Miss Usagiyama will be part of the Inner Guard, the backup group in case the currently stationed groups need assistance. Your job isn’t to go out and attack the creatures from the [Mana Spring] directly, instead you’ll be keeping an eye on the town itself to make sure that anything that slips by us dies quickly.”

Izuku nodded, making sure to carve these instructions into his mind. Miss Usagiyama sighed next to him. “Seriously? You hired me to play babysitter for someone who’s not even going to be on the front lines?”

David shot Miss Usagiyama a look. “He may not be on the front lines initially, but we’ve got a double [Incursion] on our hands here. If there was ever a time for the Inner Guard to be needed, it’s now.”

Miss Usagiyama huffed, crossing her arms, even as a smile formed on her face. “Good. It would really suck to just have to stare at a wall for a week.”

Izuku tilted his head to the side. “Wouldn’t that be good for you, though? You’d still get paid but you wouldn’t have to do much but stay alert?”

Miss Usagiyama glanced over to him, eyes closing as she shook her head. “Man you’re green. And I don’t mean that literally. Job’s no fun if I don’t get to fight. Sitting there keeping myself amped up but not getting to let it all out? That’d be like torture for me. I’m not about to blue ball myself just to have an easy payday.”

Izuku blushed, nodding quickly. “Right, yes, of course, sorry, Miss Usagiyama. I shouldn’t have interrupted.”

Miss Usagiyama raised her eyebrow at him, turning her head to look at him properly. “No, you’re fine... Ugh, whatever. Shield, what’re my proper instructions. I could deal with every single thing that gets past you by myself if needed, so I assume I’m not supposed to be killing everything ?”

David nodded. “You are correct. Izuku is here to get some experience and hopefully gain some levels. I want him to be the first to engage anything that slips by us, but you will immediately take over if it’s a monster that you think is a too high level for him to beat.”

Miss Usagiyama clicked her tongue. “Right, be the safety net for your new favourite hero boy, gotcha.”

David laughed, clapping his hands. “That’s essentially it, yes. Now, I have some things to organise, so I’ll let you two get on your way and get to know one another. Knowing your party members limits is one of the most important parts of being an adventurer.”

David ushered the two of them out, leaving Izuku standing outside his office as Miss Usagiyama walked ahead, a small bounce in her step from her rabbit-like legs. “Cmon then, let’s get going. Also, If you keep staring at my ass I’m gonna kick yours up and down this hallway.”

Izuku sputtered. “I wasn’t staring at your ah, butt! I promise! I was looking at your legs You’re the first rabbit-kin I’ve ever seen!”

Miss Usagiyama rolled her eyes, grabbing his shirt and dragging him along. “My legs, huh? Heard that one before. Now hurry up, I need to learn your limits, like Shield said to if I’m gonna know when to step in later.”

You have been invited to Rumi Usagiyama’s [Party]

Current Members: 1

[Yes] / [No]

Izuku had to hide his grin as he pressed the [Yes] button on a party invite for the first time in his life, his legs doing a small happy dance that was thankfully disguised as struggling to keep up with Miss Usagiyama as she pulled him along.

Izuku jogged along behind her, stumbling every now and then because of his shirt pulling on him as they exited the building David’s office was in. “uh, Miss Usagiyama? How exactly are you going to test my limits?”

Miss Usagiyama turned to him, a confused look on her face. “How the fuck do you think? We’re going to spar!”

Izuku almost fell over completely at that, his heart feeling like it was about to stop. 

“ What?! ”

[34 Damage Taken!]

Izuku coughed as he slammed up against the wooden fence of the sparring area Miss Usagiyama had taken him to, the old wood shattering from the force of his impact. Sir Ratsudon sprinted towards him and nudged his side, seemingly checking if he was ok.

He could almost still feel the imprint of Miss Usagiyama’s foot-paw-thing in his gut as he struggled to stand up. They had been at this for almost 2 hours now, and while he felt like he was dying, Miss Usagiyama didn’t look any worse for wear.

As Izuku got to his knees, a wooden container stopped rolling in front of him. It was one of Miss Usagiyama’s [HP Potion]s, the kind that recovered 100 HP. While it was still a lot for her, it was basically a full restore for him. Opening the cork, Izuku drank the [HP Potion] slowly, not wanting to throw it up as his stomach cramped.

[100 HP Gained!]

[You are at max HP]

You have ingested too many [HP Potions] too quickly

You are now under the effect of [Alchemical Poisoning 1]

[Alchemical Poisoning 1]: Your body has been affected by alchemical creations too often in a short amount of time. Further consumption of potions will have a HP penalty, as well as reduced potion effects.

Izuku groaned as his stomach’s cramping soothed, and he pushed himself to his feet, plugging the cork back into the wooden container. Shaking his head, he looked over to where Miss Usagiyama was stretching.

She saw him watching and grinned, and Izuku couldn’t help the shiver that went down his spine. Miss Usagiyama was scary . “That’ll be it I guess. Can’t test you properly if the potions are gonna start hurting you anyway, and your rat ghost thingy disappeared after one kick.”

She moved from stretching her legs to a handstand, and Izuku was astounded when she started doing push-ups while on only her hands. “ You’re incredible. ”

Izuku blushed, clasping his hand over his mouth. He hadn’t to say that out loud! Luckily for him, Miss Usagiyama didn’t seem to care. “Damn right I am! I’m the Beast of Caerbannog, and one of the youngest people in recorded history to get my third class! I’m only 24 and I’m already a higher level than most peoples grandpa’s!”

She pushed up one more time, this time flinging herself into a flip, landing on her feet a few meters away from Izuku, readjusting the ponytail her hair had been put up in. “I gotta admit, for someone who just hit Level 13, you ain’t half bad.”

She swiped some dust off of her leather chest piece and walked over to the gate of the sparring ground, throwing a small bag of what sounded like coins at the nearby guard. “That should cover the fences that he broke.”

Izuku yelped as followed her out. The guard gave him a look that Izuku could only see as pitying as Miss Usagiyama once again started dragging him by the shirt. “But I didn’t break the fences! You kicked me into them!”

She gave him an incredulous look. “I distinctly remember them breaking as you impacted them. Not once did I even touch ‘em.”

Izuku stared at her for a moment, and she just raised her eyebrow at him, as if challenging him. Which, after the sparring (beatdown) he had just gotten through, was definitely not a great idea.

As he crossed his arms, Miss Usagiyama’s smile grew feral again. “Good, we figured that all out. Now, I’m tired from travelling for the last few days. Where the hell are we sleeping?”

Izuku blinked. “What?”

Miss Usagiyama laughed. “You think I got rich enough to throw silvers at guards for shitty fences by paying for my own room on every job I took? Not a chance. You’re my party member for the next few days, and true party mates always help other members with sleeping arrangements.”

Izuku sighed. ‘ Are you kidding me?’  “There’s an Inn called The Sleeping Boar. It’s a few minutes down the road from the Dungeon Hall. I’ve been sleeping there ever since I arrived.”

Miss Usagiyama’s turned away from him, speeding up a little, just enough that Izuku had to start sprinting. Which after sparring for two hours, was not pleasant. It didn’t take them long to reach The Sleeping Boar, and Miss Usagiyama kicked the door open and dragged him towards the sleeping quarters.

Izuku got a small wave off towards the Innkeeper, throwing him a silver coin as payment for Miss Usagiyama to stay in the room as well, getting what looked like a… jealous look from the man? Izuku couldn’t think of a single reason why the hell any sane person would anyone be jealous of him right now.  

Wasn’t the fact that he was limping and covered in bruises proof enough that Miss Usagiyama was scary as hell?!

Chapter Text

Izuku groaned as he woke up, loud snoring echoing throughout his room.

Rubbing at his eyes, he looked down to see Sir Ratsudon sitting on his chest, curled up like a cat. Scratching the spirit rat’s back, Izuku shimmied the thin, scratchy blanket off of his lower half, placing Sir Ratsudon on it.

Looking around, it took him a moment to figure out why his back was so sore, until he looked to his right, the side of the bed at eye level, one white-furred paw hanging off the side. ‘ Right, Miss Usagiyama took the bed…’

He finally got the last of the sleep out of his eyes and sat up, running his hand through his hair. It was a bit oily, and a quick sniff confirmed that he was smelly. 

‘ Guess it’s time to have another bath. ’

Izuku sighed, standing up and rummaging through the chest that held all his stuff, grabbing out a large scrap of cloth from the bottom to use as a towel. Looking over at the bed, he saw Miss Usagiyama lying starfished across the entirety of it, the blanket having fallen off during the night.

Doing his best to ignore the absurdly chiselled abs peeking out from underneath her scrunched up shirt, and failing pretty badly, he picked the blanket up from the ground and waved it over her, letting it drop back down on top of her. 

He left the room as quietly as he could, not wanting to wake her up and incur her wrath for doing so, tiptoeing out of the doorway and closing the door slowly. As it clicked shut, Izuku flinched for a moment, hoping that her rabbit ears weren’t sensitive enough to wake her up from that.

Luckily for him, they didn’t seem to be, and he sighed, walking down the stairs and down to the Inn area. He weaved his way through the tables of people either nursing a hangover or drinking enough to get a new one, ignoring the smirks and claps coming his way.

Izuku understood what they were insinuating, but Izuku wasn't thinking of Rumi like that. And even if he was, he was fairly certain that if that had happened last he might not be alive anymore to celebrate. But hell, maybe Melissa and Mei had a point. Maybe adventurers were just really weird.

Wiping at his hair with a towel, he used his butt to push open the door to his room.

“Woah there, I’m getting dressed. So unless you want my foot to go through your skull, you’ll close the door and face the wall.”

Izuku yelped, having almost forgotten that Miss Usagiyama was in here during his long bath. Pulling the towel up around his face to cut off his peripheral vision, he faced the wall, using his other hand to hold up his untied pants. 

“Sorry about that, Miss Usagiyama! I forgot that you were in here…”

All he got was a grunt in response, so he stayed facing the wall, hearing the squeaking of her leather armour as she put it on, the soft ‘clink’ s of the buckles letting him know that she was almost done.

“Alright, I’m done. You can turn around and get dressed now.”

Izuku did so immediately, putting on his adventuring gear, clipping [SteelBringer] and the [Ratbone Dagger] to his hips. As he put on the [Ratmaster Pendant] the dormant Sir Ratsudon stirred, ‘waking up’ from whatever limbo he went into when Izuku took the item off.

He pulled up his hood and walked outside to see Miss Usagiyama leaning against the opposite wall to him, rolling a copper coin through her fingers. “Good, you’re done. Come with me.”

She didn’t drag him along behind her this time, allowing him to just walk beside her, which he counted as a win. “Miss Usagiyama, may I ask where we’re going?”

Miss Usagiyama’s ears twitched, and she rubbed her nose. “To the Dungeon. Sparring with me was a good way to test your general skill level, but fighting against monsters is very different, I wanna see how you do against the Floor 1 Sub-boss, at least.”

Izuku grinned. “You mean the [Duke of Rats]? He was tough, but I did beat him my second or third time going into the Dungeon by myself.”

Miss Usagiyama turned to look at him, a surprised look on her face. “You beat the sub-boss, by yourself, at Level… what, 10?”

Izuku smiled. “Uh, I actually beat Floor 1 at Level 9, killing the [Duke of Rats] got me my Elemental Affinity level up. I actually beat Floor 2 the other day as well. The [Great Mole] was really challenging, but I got Sir Ratsudon here from the loot drop, as well as getting to Level 13.”

Miss Usagiyama stopped altogether, turning to face him. Her eyes were squinted at him, her lips pursed. “You’re bullshitting me, right? Wait, no, you [Heroic] people are never really the type for that.”

Izuku shook his head. “What? No! Of course not! Why would I lie about that?”

Miss Usagiyama shrugged, and Izuku saw her give him another once over, but this time it felt like she was actually looking at him, a big difference from the apathetic glance she had given him in Sir Shield’s office.

She let out a whistle, shaking her head. “Well, I’ll be damned. That’s actually kinda cool. Not many people that I can think of who would have had the balls to into a Dungeon by themselves before they had even reached double digits.”

A feral grin on her face, she smashed him on the back. “You know what, you can call me Rumi. You’ve got a little bit of my respect for being hard-headed enough to solo the first two floors, Midoiyra. At least this is gonna be better than that dipshit noble I had to bodyguard for last year…”

Grinning, she waved for Izuku to follow her. “Well, I still wanna see how you go against monsters at least a little bit, so you’re gonna go through Floor 1 again so I can watch.”

Izuku nodded as they entered the Dungeon Hall, jogging behind Rumi as she placed her hand on the door, and clicking [Yes] when it popped up in front of him, his vision fading as they entered the Dungeon.

Izuku grinned to himself as he saw the [Duke of Rats] finally collapse, an [Earthspike] sticking right through its abdomen.

A slow clap echoed through the chamber as the loot screen came up, dropping a handful of copper coins and a single silver into his hand. Miss Usa- Rumi stepped forward, inspecting the corpse.

“Not bad, not bad, especially for your level. You gotta get better with [Earthspike], though. Right now they form slowly and aren’t even sharp. If you want them to be effective you have to practise making them fast and sharp.”

Leaning on his sword, Izuku smiled at her. “Thank you, Rumi. I’m confused though, did Sir Shield pay you to… I guess this would be called tutoring … did he pay you to tutor me?”

Rumi shook her head, her own loot screen showing up and dropping 2-3 coppers into her hand. “Huh, surprised I even got that many. Whatever. No, he didn’t. But I refuse to be connected to someone whose got no clue what they’re doing.”

Nodding, Izuku looked at the blunt [Earthspike] that had forced its way through the [Duke of Rats] body, his eyes drawn to the wide, flat top, and the smooth edges of the spike, for some reason. He felt like he was getting an idea… 

‘Ding!’

But before he could think about it too much, his focus was drawn away from the [Earthspike] as he heard the bell ring at the edge of his hearing, spinning around to quickly scan the room. Rumi noticed, giving him a weird look.

“Yo dude, you can chill. There’s only one sub-boss in this Chamber, right? You don’t need to be so jumpy.”

Izuku glanced over to her and saw her leaning against the wall next to the exit door. He opened his mouth to explain what he had been worried about, before closing it. Did he want more people to know about the bells? Or that the Dungeon was sorta kinda talking to him, every now and then?

He told Melissa and Mei because he trusted them, and he knew that David and Kurimuzon wouldn’t go blabbing it so he was fine with them knowing, but wouldn’t spread the fact that the Dungeon seem to have an interest in him cause problems?

He shuddered to think of how Bakugou and his cronies would react to that information. Making up his mind, he smiled at Rumi. “Right, sorry. I’m still fairly new to this.”

If Rumi thought he was lying she didn’t make it known, turning and opening the exit door immediately, stepping into the Warp Chamber. She waved him along and walked into the exit Warp Pad.

Smiling, Izuku stepped on it after her, heading back up to the surface.

Izuku hummed to himself as he ate his lunch, ‘Incursions; A guide to the commonly spawned’ open next to him.

After exiting the dungeon, Rumi had gone off somewhere to do… something. She hadn’t really told him what she was doing, she just kinda hopped off, but he was fine with that. She probably had some really important high-level stuff to do.

He chomped down on the chicken sandwich he was eating, picking off a small bit and placing it on the chair next to him, Sir Ratsudon immediately gobbling it up. Izuku didn’t actually have a clue where the things Sir Ratsudon ingested went , but Sir Ratsudon kept eating stuff, so Izuku kept feeding him.

Turning the page, Izuku hummed as he reached the [Water] monsters section, looking through the listed monsters. There were apparently 3 types of monsters that came from an [Incursion].

[Common]s, which were essentially just the low-level fodder monsters. But while they weren’t incredibly strong, a rupturing [Mana Spring] had more than enough power to spawn them nonstop for a day or two, where they got progressively stronger, until they stopped altogether, [Elite]s spawning instead.

The book said that for a land-based [Water Incursion], there would be a lot of [Snapping Turtles], [Poison Dart Frogs], and [Sea Newts] as the [Common] monsters.

[Elite]s were monsters comparable to Sub-Bosses, or early Floor Bosses. A rupturing [Mana Spring] could only make a handful of these, but they were still a threat, especially without high-level fighters that can deal with them by themselves.

For a [Water Incursion], the usual [Elite]s were things like [Greater Sea Serpent]s, and the picture showed a giant snake spitting out a stream of water at a silhouetted person that was about as tall as the snake was thick. It was noted in the book that the picture was to scale, and Izuku gulped, imagining multiple of them writhing towards the town.

And finally, each [Incursion] had something the book called a [Pinnacle] monster. It only showed up at the very end, and was seemingly the [Mana Spring]s last-ditch effort to do… whatever it was they were trying to send monsters out to do.

According to the book, [Pinnacle] monsters were incredibly strong, usually requiring a few mid-to-high level people to take down. There was even less variation in what they could be, apparently, as the book only listed one possible [Pinnacle] monster for [Water Incursion]s.

The picture was to scale as well, and Izuku almost couldn’t believe it. The little silhouette of a person completely dwarfed, with the [Leviathan] on the page easily 5-6 times taller than it, and even wider.

Izuku couldn’t imagine ever fighting something like that, and some people had fought multiple?! 

Placing a bookmark where he was up to, he closed the book, needing to take a break.

Looking around, he noticed that it was notably later in the day, fairly late in the afternoon, but not the evening yet, and there were many more people in the Inn. He had finished his sandwich a while back while reading, and a server must have come and taken his dishes away because the plate was gone. 

Izuku felt guilty about not taking it back himself, but reading up on what he would potentially be fighting in the coming days was important. He was about to stand up to go read out in the sun when the door of the Inn opened again, Melissa walking in and immediately heading towards him.

He immediately perked up, smiling at her. He gave a small wave her way, but she didn’t wave back, already too close for it to really matter. Sitting down across from him with a thud, she placed her elbows on the table.

“Is everything alright?”

Melissa sighed, meeting his eyes. “I swear, I’ve known you less than a fortnight, and I can already tell that you’re going to worry me to death.”

Izuku smiled sheepishly, getting a sense of deja vu. “I’m guessing Sir Shield mentioned that I’d be helping out tomorrow?”

Melissa nodded wildly. “Yes?! Of course, he did?! Ah, sorry. You don’t deserve to be yelled at... It’s just, I’m already worried for my father, having to deal with this double [Incursion], and now I’m worried about you too.”

She leaned back in her chair, and Izuku passed her over the rest of his mug of water. She took a sip, groaning. “Are you adventurers always so stressful to be friends with?”

Izuku scratched the back of his head. “I, uh. I don’t know, really? I guess maybe? I’m sorry for worrying you, but Sir Shield asked for my help, and I want to help as much as I can.”

Melissa nodded, sighing. “No, no, I get it. [Heroic] to the core, I guess. It’s just, Mei has been my only real friend for so long now, and the most I’ve ever had to worry about her is mild burns or not getting enough sleep and making another explosive. Now I’m worried about you getting actually hurt! It’s stressful!”

Izuku’s eyes widened. “Has she actually made a bomb before? Why would she?”

Melissa shrugged. “Sleep deprivation, I think. It can affect even her after too long, even if [Energetic] lets her sleep less.”

Izuku perked up. “Is that one of her traits?”

Melissa froze, letting out a raspberry as she put her forehead to the table. “Yes, it is. Please don’t tell her that I told you that? I don’t know why exactly but she and Otto really don’t like when people use scanning skills on them.”

Izuku tilted his head, a bit confused at that, but nodded. “Alright, I won’t mention it.”

Melissa smiled thankfully, taking another sip of water. “So, Mei and I didn’t see you at all yesterday, but dad said you stopped by to talk with him. What did you get up to?”

Izuku perked up. “Oh right! You don’t know Rumi! Sir Shield hired her to be like, a safety net for me during the coming Incursion! She’s a super high-level mercenary!

He smiled, his hands patting Sir Ratsudon. “I spent yesterday with her showing her what I was capable of so she knew when to step in during the [Incursion]s if it looked like I needed it..”

Melissa hummed. “Huh, dad didn’t mention her, I’m glad you have someone for backup like that, though.”

Izuku nodded and then froze as Melissa put her hand on his shoulder. “You be safe, alright? Mei would be really upset if her primary supplier up and died.”

Izuku chuckled, leaning into her hand slightly. “I might be low level compared to Rumi or Sir Shield, but I don’t plan on getting myself hurt.”

Melissa smiled, patting his shoulder, before bringing her hand back. A server showed up and took her order after that, and Melissa and Izuku spent the evening sitting and talking. 

Izuku was still nervous about the [Incursion] tomorrow, but sitting there with her, talking about magic and potions and whatever else, made it all seem like it was going to be OK.

Chapter Text

Izuku woke up so early in the morning that the sun had barely risen, only to see Rumi standing over him, a cup of water in her hand.

With a yell, he jolted upright, backing away from her. “Please don’t splash that on me.”

Rumi shrugged, downing the cup in one go. “Eh, you’re awake, so I don’t have to. Now get a move on. We got an hour before the final call for the defenders happens and you still gotta eat.”

Izuku pushed himself to his feet, already in his pants and shirt, and quickly started strapping on his bracers, as well as the cloth drape around his waist and the belt that held everything in place.

He put his [Ratmaster Pendant] on and wrote a small note containing his order for breakfast as he shoved his foot into his boot. He passed the note and a pair of silver coins to Sir Ratsudon, and the spirit rat bolted down the stairs.

He had to fiddle with metal shin-guards/boot things that Mei had made for him, still not used to putting them on just yet. He heard loud a voice coming from down the stairs and chuckled. That was probably the Innkeeper getting his note from Sir Ratsudon.

His gear clicked into place, and he grinned, hopping to his feet. Pulling on the [Mantle of the Duke] and his [Ratleather Cloak], he turned to see Rumi waiting for him next to the door. “You good to go?”

Izuku nodded, and Rumi grinned. “Alright then, let’s eat, and then get down to the gates so Shield knows that we’re ready.”

She turned and left the room, and Izuku ran out after her, following closely behind. Izuku smiled as Sir Ratsudon appeared next to his feet, holding a couple of copper coins, probably his change from paying for breakfast.

The plain but filling breakfast he had ordered was devoured quickly, and having food in his stomach helped calm the butterflies he was feeling. It was weird to see that he and Rumi were basically the only people other than the Innkeeper inside the Sleeping Boar.

Izuku thought that he just might not have been willing to go to The Dungeon Hall, where anyone not part of the defence forces was staying but was proven wrong when the Innkeeper left at the same time they did.

But while he turned right to head towards the Dungeon Hall, the designated ‘safe house’ for Mustafu, Izuku and Rumi turned left, headed towards the front gates. Izuku felt his stomach twist slightly as they got closer and closer.

“You good?”

Izuku almost jumped into the air as Rumi spoke. Turning to her, he nodded. “Oh, yea. I’m totally fine. I’m just… nervous, that’s all.”

Rumi sniffed, wiggling her nose slightly as she twisted her torso, stretching out her spine. “That’s a good thing. Two [Incursion]s back to back… this is gonna be dangerous, especially if they decide to overlap.”

Izuku gulped. “That’s uh, thanks?”

Rumi chuckled. “I wasn’t finished. The reason being nervous is a good thing is because its means you’ve got a fucking brain in your head. You should be nervous. You’re under levelled for this, and under-geared. Not being nervous would just mean that you’re a cocky jackass.”

Glancing over at him, Rumi grinned. “And let me tell you, kid, it’s the people that are too cocky for their level that end up monster food. That grumbling in your gut that tells you to be scared will keep you alive, as long as you don’t let it control you.”

Izuku chuckled, smiling. “Thank you, Miss Rumi. I will keep your wisdom in mind!”

Rumi blew a raspberry, waving him off. “Eh, don’t worry about that. It’s not my wisdom, to begin with, just some shit I picked up along the way. But hey, if you got the balls to Dungeon solo, and still feel nervous about stuff, then I think you’ll be just fine, Izuku.”

Turning and continuing towards the Front Gate, she started almost hopping forward. “Now c’mon! We cannot be late for something like this! My pay is on the line!”

They arrived at the Front Gate to see it bustling with activity.

Guards and Soldiers ran back and forth, carrying weaponry and tools and other various items. Izuku even spotted a higher levelled guard carrying a cart of magical items around and distributing them between some of the defenders that were clearly magic casters.

He could even see Sir Shield on top of the town’s walls, but he was much too far away to wave or say hi, especially since the man’s back was turned to him.

“Izuku! Miss Usagiyama! You’ve arrived, excellent.”

Izuku grinned as Kurimuzon jogged up to them. Rumi smirked, crossing her arms. “I’m surprised that you’re so happy to see me, Stones-for-Brains. Finally accepted how cool I am?”

Kurimuzon scoffed. “Like hell, you’re just a juiced-up bunny! I could rock your shit with my eyes closed!”

Izuku furrowed his brow at that, letting out a small hiss accidentally. Kurimuzon glared at him, and for a second Izuku was almost convinced that he was serious. “Argh! Betrayal! After everything I’ve done for you!”

Rumi laughed, almost doubling over. “I kicked him around the yard a couple of times to see if he was any good, so he knew that I could do the same to you! Now, why are you here, old fart?”

Kurimuzon turned his glare towards Rumi, who just raised her chin at him, smiling smugly. Shaking his head, he grunted. “Whatever. Commander… uh, damn. Commander Abraham wanted to see you when you arrived.”

Rumi stomped on the ground. “Fuck. Thought that old shitbag had died already. C’mon, Izuku, I don’t wanna deal with this guy longer than I have to, so let’s go get this over with.”

She jogged away, leaving Izuku standing there, shocked. As he did, he yelped in surprise as Kurimuzon slapped him on the back. “Go on then, you don’t wanna deal with her when she’s pissed I can tell you that!”

“Ah!”

Grabbing onto the pommel of [Steelbringer], he ran after her, the [Mantle of the Duke] flowing behind him as the morning air blew in his face.

“Miss Usagiyama and Mister Midoriya, it is a… pleasure to have you.”

Izuku bowed slightly as the portly old man addressed him and Rumi, noticing that she very intently did not . She actually even wrinkled her nose at him. “Cut the shit, Samuel. Tell us where we need to go, then go fuck yourself.”

Izuku winced at the way Rumi spoke to Commander Abraham, raising his head and taking a half step back. Commander Abraham didn’t seem surprised, though, a sneer growing on his face.

“My word, how Master Shield can make deals with such an insolent bitch is beyond me.”

BANG!

Izuku jumped as Rumi slammed her hand down on his desk, rattling everything on it, and leaned in really close to Commander Abraham. “Call me that one more time and your head will be so far up your ass they’ll have to call Emperor Yagi to rip it out.”

The sneer vanished from Commander Abraham’s face, replaced by a cold glare. But even under that, Izuku could tell that he was more than a little scared by the threat. Whispering under his breath, Izuku [Identify]’d him.

“Identify”

Commander Samuel Abraham

Level 29

Class: [Dark Magician], [Sorcerer]

Traits: [Level-headed], [Tactician], [Curious], [Dark-Touched]

Current Force: [Mustafu Inner Guard]

Izuku’s eyes almost bugged out of his head. This guy was as old as some of the grandparents in his old village! And he was only Level 29, and a full Spellcaster?! Why the hell was he talking shit to Rumi? She could quite literally tear him in half if she wanted!

As Izuku was flipping out about that mentally, Commander Abraham composed himself. “ Moving on . You two were ‘added’ to our ranks on the order of Master Shield himself after we had already gathered up all of the members.”

He sat up a bit straighter as he looked at Izuku, smirking. “Therefore I have labelled you ‘extras’ to our force. Your job will be to mop up anything that sneaks or breaks its way through all the way to the Dungeon Hall, as well as backing up all the other teams as needed. But because of your status as ‘extras’, neither of you will be gaining any of the more tangible benefits of my leadership.”

Rumi clicked her tongue, her foot-stomping the ground softly. “Like we’ll fucking need it. Are we done here?”

Commander Abraham let out an annoyed huff as he stood up, sliding over two small metal spheres. They were made of what looked like silver and gold wrapping around each other, and they shined slightly, even on the bits that didn’t have light hitting them.

“While I don’t think you deserve the honour, Master Shield has requested that the both of you have these low-tier [Message Beads]. By placing your finger on it and thinking a message, you will be able to speak with one another, as well as Master Shield if you need assistance, or if he calls for yours.”

Rumi picked both of the [Message Beads] and chucked one over to Izuku. Glancing over at Commander Abraham, she raised her eyebrow. The man grunted. “You can leave now, the [Incursion] should be beginning shortly.”

Rumi nodded and darted out of the tent, and Izuku gave a small bow before following her out. She hadn’t even waited for him this time, and it took all of his speed without using [Lunge] to catch up to her.

Even then he only caught up to her as she landed in the area out front of the Dungeon Hall, practically growling to herself. He stopped a few meters away as Rumi stomped on the cobblestone ground around a fountain, sending dust flying around her. 

“Rumi! What was that?!”

She glanced over at him, a disgusted frown on her face. “ That , was ‘Commander Samuel Abraham’, the worst fucking person in Mustafu. That motherfucker put a bounty of 5000 Gold on my head once.”

Izuku almost fell over at that. Not only was that a shocking revelation, but it was also… “ So much money?! ”

Rumi rolled her shoulders, her ears pointed to the sky, stiff as a bone. “Yea it was quite a fucking bit of cash. The fucker put a literal kill order on my head, skipping the proper channels even, all because he thought I was the one that ruined one of the merchant transports he hired. Guess what, it wasn’t fucking me.”

Izuku just froze at that, unable to think of anything to say in response. Rumi growled again, kicking the ground as she shook her head. “Guh, why the fuck am I telling you? You got some truth-giving ability your hiding from me there?”

Izuku shook his head rapidly. Rumi’s angry face faltered just slightly. “No, it’s just you fucking [Heroic]’s, isn’t it. Keigo even fucking told me that you guys brought shit like this out of people. Well, was he right? You wanna try and unlock my tragic backstory, have a go at playing therapist?”

Izuku took a step back, his hands going up. “No! Of course not, I would never forcibly pry into something like that! But, uh… well, I mean...”

He sighed, rubbing his eyes. “A-after we finish here, and the town is safe, you can always uh, talk to me, y’know? I seem to be getting really lucky with making friends these days, and nothing would ever stop me from helping my friends with anything they need.”

Rumi just stared at him, her angry expression switching completely to a confused one. “I was… I was making a joke … wow. You’re a fucking dork.”

Izuku winced slightly before he noticed the smirk on Rumi’s face. She chuckled softly, shaking her head. “Actually fucking hilarious.”

He was about to respond when clouds above their heads started to darken, the ground below him becoming slick and muddy. In an instant , the sky went grey, and Izuku felt a surge of Mana coming from outside of the town.

He might have only been able to actually sense the [Earth] Mana, but he could still feel the pressure in the air from all of the other types that were rupturing from the [Mana Spring] alongside it.

Rumi smirked beside him, reaching down to her belt and grabbing odd-looking fist weapons with what looked like giant teeth sticking out of the top. She turned to him, her grin only growing wider. “A little earlier than I was expecting, but we’ll be fine! You ready, Izuku?”

Izuku drew [Steelbringer] and his [Ratbone Dagger], getting into a ready pose as he nodded, smiling at her. “I am!”

Smiling, Rumi jumped up onto the roof of the Dungeon Hall with ease , overlooking the square. Cupping her hands to her mouth, she yelled down. “Alright then, here we go!”

“The [Water Incursion] has started!”

Chapter Text

With how excited Rumi had been about the Incursions starting, Izuku was surprised that the first day had actually been… pretty boring, so far.

It was almost sunset, and he’d fought exactly 3 monsters the whole time, which were two of the [Sea Newts] and a [Poison Dart Frog]. They weren’t even that difficult, just annoying. 

The [Sea Newt]s were capable of regenerating lost limbs, and the [Poison Dart Frog] literally spat small darts covered in poison at him, forcing him to stay moving the whole time.

Izuku sat on the front stairs of the Dungeon Hall with [Steelbringer] sheathed over his legs, waiting for Rumi to call out to him that something else had shown up. Sir Ratsudon darted around the perimeter of the square as well and would tell him if Rumi missed anything.

He had also seen the summon seemingly… practising? It would dart back and forth and bite the air like it was fighting something, but there was never anything around when it did, almost like it was shadow-boxing.

The good thing was though, that with how weak the monsters that had shown up had been, it had been Sir Ratsudon that had actually fought the [Poison Dart Frog] one on one while Izuku dealt with the [Sea Newts]. 

“Sir Ratsudon” [1]

[A large, semi-corporeal rat, about the size of a house cat]

[Can be used for scouting, and collecting small items]

Actions: [Bite: 2 Mana] [???] [???]

Summon Cost: [20] Mana

Duration: N/A (Until dismissed)

HP: 25 | Mana: 15 | Stamina: 25 | XP: 200

Nothing had changed in Sir Ratsudon’s stat block yet other than the expended Mana and the 200 XP he had gotten from the kill, but it was still impressive that the summon was able to kill a monster on its own, even a weak one.

Izuku looked up at the roof to see Rumi sitting with her elbows on her knees, holding her head up, looking just as bored as he felt. Pulling the [Message Bead] out of the pouch he had shoved it in, he focused on her.

>Hey, you see anything else?<

He saw her ears twitch, and she looked down at him. She shook her head, reaching into a pouch of her own. A second later, Izuku felt a tingle in the back of his head.

>Nope. Man, this is boring. 13 fucking hours and I haven’t needed to step in once. Couldn’t the guys at the wall at least let a few through for me?<

Shaking his head, he chuckled to himself softly. 

> No, I don’t think they can. I imagine none of them are wanting to discredit themselves in front of Sir Shield or risk the lives of the people in the Dungeon Hall. <

He saw Rumi’s upper body fall backwards, only her white-furred pads hanging over the roof of the Dungeon Hall. Izuku glanced around the square again, keeping track of Sir Ratsudon, and sighed.

>I could let you take the next few if you wanted? Even I’m having an easy time with these common monsters. The first [Sea Newt] was like, Level 2, and the second one, along with that [Poison Dart Frog] was like, Level 6.<

He didn’t see her move, but the tingle in the back of his head returned.

>No fucking point in that. Think about it, if they’re easy for you, they’d just be nothing but a tease for me.<

Izuku nodded slowly, sighing again. That did make sense. He would never wish for anything dangerous to get past the guards and attack the Dungeon Hall, but he did wish he has something to do in between fights.

>Well, by the time we get to tomorrow, the monsters will probably have started spawning at levels higher than 10, and then I will definitely need your help more.<

Rumi’s head peeked back over the roof, a sarcastic grin on her face.

>You promise?<

Izuku laughed, hearing her own laughter as well, even from all the wap up on the roof. He gave her a thumbs-up, before standing up and patting down the front of his pants.

>I’m going to go grab some dinner from inside the Dungeon Hall for the both of us. Sir Ratsudon will stay out here and keep patrolling.<

On top of the giant wooden doors that the Dungeon Hall had, mainly to help merchants and adventurers bring larger corpses or items in and out, there was a smaller door to the right of it, meant for times like this, when the big doors were securely shut.

>Sounds good. See if they got any stew. The more carrots the better.<

He knocked on the door and the small sliding bit around eye level opened, a pair of eyes peeking through. “What do ya want?”

Izuku smiled, waving awkwardly. “Uh, I was wondering if I could come inside and get some dinner for me and my party member? We’re part of the inner guard but I don’t think the Meal Runners are coming all the way back here.”

The eyes gave him a once over before the sliding bit shut. Izuku was worried about not being allowed inside for a moment, but then he heard metal chains and bars being moved about. A second later, the thick wooden door swung open.

The man nodded once, waving him through. “Cmon then, kid. I don’t want this door to be unlocked for longer than it has to be.”

Grinning, Izuku ran inside, hearing it shut behind him.

There… wasn’t as many people in here as Izuku was expecting there to be.

The Dungeon Hall itself only really had around 55-60 people that Izuku could see, all non-combatants. From [Woodworker]s to [Blacksmith]s, craftsmen and women were huddled in various groups throughout the hall.

“Izuku?”

Izuku smiled as he heard Mei’s voice, turning to see Mei and Melissa waving at him as they sat next to each other, across from Otto, who was reading. Jogging over, he squatted down and smiled. 

“Good evening! How are you guys doing?”

Melissa smiled, glancing over at Mei, who had her legs tucked into her chest, rocking back and forth, a grin etched onto her face as she stared at him. “We’re doing… fine. Some of us more than others…”

Otto nodded. “We’re all good in here. This isn’t the first Incursions we’ve had to wait through before. Mei is just gonna get a little antsy.”

Mei’s rocking back and forth made her hair sway, and she nodded quickly. “My babies will have to be without me for so long! Why couldn’t I have at least brought one or two?!”

Izuku laughed, scratching the back of his head. “Well, I don’t think you’d have a forge area that you’d be able to use? Wouldn’t it be even worse to taunt yourself like that? Having your… baby there in front of you but being unable to work on it?”

Her eyes immediately locked onto his, and she grabbed onto his shoulders. She started to nod slowly, speeding up with each nod. “Yes, I can imagine that being the worst kind of torture…. truly, Shrubbery-Head-friend, you are wise beyond your years…”

Izuku raised an eyebrow, turning to Otto and Melissa, but they both just gave him sympathetic looks instead of actually helping. It turned out he didn’t need help though, as her hands dropped from his shoulders a second later.

Izuku turned to see her completely passed out, snoring loudly. “W-what?”

Otto frowned. “Don’t worry about her. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to work on anything here so she, uh, hasn’t actually slept since the Incursion was announced a day or two ago. She gets pretty loopy when she’s actually sleep-deprived.”

Izuku looked over to Melissa for confirmation, and she nodded, smiling. “Yea, she’ll be fine after she’s slept for a bit. When she reaches her limit like that she’s usually back on her feet in 9-10 hours.”

Izuku nodded slowly, still a little confused, but accepting the explanation. Melissa reached down beside herself and pulled out two blankets from one of the nearby bags, throwing one over Mei, and stuffing the other one under her head.

When she finished that, she smiled. “Anyway, what are you doing in here, Izuku? I thought you were helping out the Inner Guard or something like that.”

He noticed Otto perk up at that but didn’t call attention to it as the man slumped back down almost immediately. Refocusing on Melissa, he grinned. “I’m actually just in here to grab some dinner for Rumi and I. Commander Abraham and Rumi don’t really like each other so I think he just… didn’t send the food runner our way.”

Melissa pursed her lips with displeasure, but nodded and reached into her bags, rummaging around for a bit. “Well, there’s a food station set up near the entrance to the Dungeon. Here, I have some bowls and spoons you can use. My father made me pack all the essentials.”

It was then that Izuku realised that her arm was in her bag up to her bicep. He almost did a double-take as she reached in even further, before pulling out two metal bowls, and some spoons. Leaning in, he whisper-yelled. “I-is that a [Magic Bag]?! Aren’t people below level 25 not supposed to have them?”

Melissa immediately glanced side to side, putting her finger to her mouth, shushing him. “Yes, it is, but be quiet! It’s not like a bought it illegally or something! I made this one myself a while back! It’s not even as big as a proper one, so don’t go dobbing me in for it, ok? It’s just so damn helpful for my work.”

Izuku nodded, glancing around as well. Luckily, the Dungeon Hall was full of people and far too loud for anyone to have heard him over the various conversations and games being played.

Taking the bowls and spoons from her, he stood up, looking over at the entrance to the Dungeon and seeing the grouping of tables and cooking pots next to it. “Ok, I promise not to say anything about it. Ah, I gotta get back out to Rumi. Have a good night, guys. I probably won’t be coming back inside until the end of the [Incursion]s.”

Melissa hummed, frowning. “That’s a shame, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right? Give my best wishes to Miss Usagiyama as well.”

Izuku grinned as he stood up. “Will do! Oh, bye Otto, I hope Mei doesn’t drive you crazy over the next week.”

Otto sniffed at him, looking over at the sleeping girl. “I’m sure she will, but when doesn’t she? Good luck out there or whatever. Don’t die.”

Izuku nodded sharply, leaving the trio and filling the bowls up at the station near the entrance to the Dungeon. He noticed that most of the Adventuring Parties he usually passed in the morning was around, including Bakugo’s [Party].

The man who served his food seemed to notice him looking around. “You looking for the other adventurers?”

Looking up at his voice, Izuku nodded. “Yea, I expected everyone who wasn’t helping with the Incursion to be in here, but well, they… aren’t?”

As the man spooned some nice-looking soup into the bowls, he nodded. “You must be new here. During Incursions, the elderly and the children, as well as the adventurers that are too low to be part of the Inner Guard all form the biggest parties they can, and enter the first floor of the Dungeon.”

There was a flash of realisation in Izuku’s head. “The Dungeon’s innate protection against physical break-ins would form a pseudo-safe haven once the first floor has been cleared!”

The man clicked his tongue, giving him a thumbs up. “Exactly. You catch on quick, kid. Anyway, I’ll let you go. Enjoy the soup!”

Izuku couldn’t wave as he walked away due to holding two bowls of soup, but he grinned heading back towards the entrance. He nodded to Melissa and Otto as he passed them, Mei still out of it, and was let out of the Dungeon Hall by the same guy who let him in.

> Rumi? I’ve got some soup for you. I don’t think it has carrots in it, unfortunately, but it’s not very transparent so who knows. <

He waited for a moment, not getting any response, so he glanced around the square. He was expecting to see Sir Ratsudon still patrolling, so he almost did a double-take when he saw it sitting on top of a dead [Snapping Turtle] that was definitely not there before.

Checking the Spirit Rats stats, Izuku let out a surprised huff.

HP: 25 | Mana: 15 | Stamina: 25 | XP: 350

He heard a thud next to him and saw Rumi crouched down to absorb the impact for a moment before she stood back up. He passed over one of the bowls, looking around for something to sit on.

Unfortunately, the ground was still wet and muddy from the [Water Incursion]s magic, and the only bit above the mud was the stone of the fountain, which was already wet as well. Rumi grunted. “Guess we’re standing and eating. You got a spoon?”

Izuku nodded, pulling one of the spoons out of his pocket and handing it over before a thought crossed his mind. He didn’t know why, but he was suddenly remembering the ‘ ding ’ he had gotten while inspecting the [Earthspike] he had made.

He heard a slurping noise from behind him and saw Rumi drinking some of the soup’s liquid straight from the bowl. Smacking her lips, she nodded. “Good soup.”

Shaking his head, he tried to focus on why he was suddenly remembering the [Earthspike] and why the Dungeon seemingly had tried to tell him something when he was thinking about it.

“ You gotta get better with [Earthspike], though. Right now they form slowly and aren’t even sharp. If you want them to be effective you have to practise making them fast and sharp ”

‘Ding!’

It was as if a candle had flickered to life in his head. Looking down at the ground in front of him, a grin grew on his face as he activated [Earthspike]. Only instead of trying to get it to come out fast and sharp, he did the opposite.

Slowly, the ground in front of him raised up, drying as it did, creating a circle of dry stone about waist height. His grin grew even wider as he saw his idea work, he created two smaller ones on either side of the larger circle, only about half as tall.

Sitting down on one of the smaller ones, he put his bowl on the makeshift table, seeing Rumi looking at him like he was crazy. He waved at the other makeshift chair, smiling. “Have a seat!”

Rumi looked at the chair, and then back to him, before blinking. “How did you… [Earthspike] is a combat-only ability.”

Izuku nodded, eating a spoonful of his soup. “Huh, that is good soup. But, uh, yea, what you said yesterday, in the Dungeon, kinda stuck with me. It’s only ‘combat-only’ because most people would assume that it’s all it can do, right?”

Rumi sat down slowly, looking at him as if he had just sprouted a second head and started talking in [Infernal]. “Well, I mean, it’s one of the base abilities for a [Fighter] .”

Izuku grinned, creating a small pillar out of the table with [Earthspike]. “The fact that it wasn’t already quick and sharp made me think of why that is. If I had to put effort and practise into making it quicker and sharper then that meant that I should be able to make them slow and blunt by choice as well! And I was!”

Rumi shook her head as she chewed on a piece of meat from the soup. Swallowing, she sighed. “That’s weird, to be honest. You’re weird, Izuku.”

Izuku winced slightly at that, but even though he had heard the words plenty of times before, he could tell that she didn’t mean it like all the kids from his village had. Chuckling awkwardly, he shrugged. “I’ve just always liked to read and theorise about abilities. It’s just awesome that I actually get to use some now. I was stuck at level 6 for a really long time.”

Rumi clicked her tongue, downing the last of the liquid in her bowl. “Are you sure you didn’t want to pick [Mage] when you were little? Sounds like you’d fit right in with those nerds.”

Izuku actually laughed at that, shaking his head. “It did cross my mind, but I’ve always wanted to be like Emperor Yagi, someone who can save everyone and defeat anything with a sword and a smile!”

Rumi stuck her tongue out, standing up. “Bleugh. Nerd alert. I’m going back to the roof to have a nap. Your ghost-rat-thing seems to have things covered for now at least. Wake me with the [Message Stone] if you need me. I’ll be awake at around midnight and then you can get some sleep.”

Izuku nodded, glancing over at Sir Ratsudon, who was still sitting on the [Snapping Turtle]s corpse, overlooking the entire square. Rumi hopped away, before leaping to the top of the Dungeon Hall.

He stood up himself, and using [Earthspike], got rid of the ‘spikes’ that made the makeshift table and chairs. He used it again to make another one next to the turtle Sir Ratsudeon was sitting on and reached out to pat the Spirit Rat. “Good job, buddy.”

The rest of the night was, thankfully, pretty quiet, other than the distant noises of spellcasting and melee fighting that echoed from the front gate.

Chapter Text

THUD

He woke up with a start and was suddenly in a very familiar cavern. The metal circle on the ground told him exactly where he was, the [Great Mole]’s Boss Chamber. Izuku whipped around in the direction of the boss, reaching down to his waist for his sword, only to grab empty air.

Looking down, he found that his entire body below the neck was featureless and bright green and moving as if… Izuku could tell that it was made of Mana. Was he made of Mana right now? Was that even possible?

Had he died? Was he a ghost? Was this what the afterlife was like? Or was this something else completely? His panicked thoughts were interrupted when there was a thud behind him. He turned around to see the [Great Mole] sitting in front of him, its legs crossed, and its eyes staring at him.

He tried to say hello, or say anything, really, but found that no sound came out of his mouth. The [Great Mole] nodded to itself and spoke once again.

“My lord predicted as much. You may move in an area you have conquered, but speech is beyond your strength in this realm.”

Izuku was confused by a lot of things. The [Great Mole] could talk?! It had a ‘Lord’?! Was he dead or not!?

“You can’t be here for very long yet, and my lord is busy with other tasks, so he wished for me to pass along his message.”

The [Great Mole] scratched at its neck, a toothy grin spreading across its face as it leaned in closer. “[Water] and [Air], becoming more than the sum of their parts…”

The [Great Mole] paused before raising his head again, closing his eyes as he suddenly started to become transparent as he seemingly faded away, out of whatever kind of memory-dream-prophecy realm Izuku was in. 

“The [Storm] approaches, Izuku Midoriya, prepare yourself.”

Izuku woke up in the dark with a bit of a sore neck.

Shivering, he rubbed his hand through his hair. He had a vague feeling of… dread? As if a storm was on the horizon, lightning and thunder and all that bad stuff. He just couldn’t remember why he felt it.

Sitting up, he stretched out his neck, feeling the soreness go away after it clicked back into place. Sighing in relief, he moved to pat Sir Ratsudon, only to see that he wasn’t in the small box he was sleeping in.

Wait… a small box?

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and placed his hand up against the walls surrounding him, feeling the grain of the stone shooting directly upwards. Then all of a sudden, his memories clicked back tother through the fog of the sleepiness.

Using [Earthspike], he lowered the walls he had built around himself last night since he wasn’t able to get up to the roof like Rumi had, and felt really awkward about asking her to carry him up.

He was greeted by the sight of Rumi sitting on top of a pile of monsters, pinching off small parts of them and throwing them at Sir Ratsudon, who sat on a different, smaller pile of monsters.

“You’re finally up. While you were asleep I got us some coffee, so drink up. Might be a little cold though.”

Izuku raised up a [Earthspike] chair to sit next to her and held his hand up to her. “Sorry, I’m more of a Tea guy, coffee makes me jittery.”

Rumi shrugged, downing the mug of coffee in one go, and shaking her head afterwards. “Yikes, that’s bitter as fuck. Guess mine being hot helped with that. Oh shit, I forgot, your rat-thing fucking spazzed out earlier while fighting one of the smaller monsters.”

Izuku raised his eyebrow, looking over at Sir Ratsudon. “He… ‘spazzed out’? What does that even mean? What did it look like?”

Rumi sighed, turning to SIr Ratsudon and glaring at him. “You better show him, because I ain’t going to fucking try and imitate you.”

Izuku shook his head in surprise, blinking as Rumi directly addressed Sir Ratsudon. The spirit rat looked at her, before turning to him and sniffing, almost as if he was… “Sir Ratsudon, you can follow her orders as well while she’s a party member.”

Sir Ratsudon paused for a moment, getting to his feet and then shaking violently, a small glow coming off of him. Even more interesting to Izuku than the shaking and glowing, was the fact that Sir Ratsudon was visibly larger, now reaching up to his knee on all fours.

“Identify!”

“Sir Ratsudon” [2]

[A large, semi-corporeal rat, about the size of a dog]

[Can be used for scouting, and collecting small items]

Actions: [Bite: 2 Mana] [Burrow: 5 Stamina] [???]

Summon Cost: [18] Mana

Duration: N/A (Until dismissed)

HP: 40/40 | Mana: 26/30 | Stamina: 25/40 | XP: 150

“You levelled up!”

Sir Ratsudon spun in a circle, his little rat tail wagging wildly. Kneeling down, Izuku scratched the top of Sir Ratsudon’s head, and all down his sides, a grin on his face. He then remembered that Rumi was watching and stood up coughing. “Uh, yes, well done. Very good.”

Rumi laughed, hopping to her feet. “He grew suddenly like that at around 6 am, and suddenly… actually no, I’ll let you see it for yourself. Good timing, the monsters are starting to get fast enough that more are breaking through the defensive line. Not a lot more, but a few.”

She sighed, rolling her shoulders. “Still, none of them so far have been a challenge for me yet.”

Izuku smiled softly, wringing his hands together. “I mean, I don’t want to insult you, but… good . It’s better to be bored out of my mind than know that someone was getting hurt because I wasn’t strong enough.”

Rumi just stared at him for a moment, squinting at him, before shaking her head. “Sappy little shit, aren’t you? How are you still alive with a heart that bleeds that much?”

Izuku shrugged, his hand landing on the pommel of [Steelbringer]. “A mix of [Prodigy] and [Determined], I’d assume? I’m not sure. Either way, I’d rather be sappy than jaded.”

Rumi was about to say something else, when Sir Ratsudon let out a squeak that Izuku was able to hear, even across the courtyard, where he definitely shouldn’t have been able to. ‘ Is it because Sir Ratsudon is a summon? ’

“Something is coming!”

Rumi laughed, nodding. “Yea, kid, I know. I can smell ‘em. But that rat of yours is a good early-warning system for your level, I’ll give you that!”

Rumi took a step back as Izuku drew [Steelbringer], Sir Ratsudon running to his side. Izuku took a deep breath as a lot of dust was kicked up from one of the nearby alleyways. Eventually, a [Poison Dart Frog] hopped into the courtyard, even larger than the ones from yesterday.

“Identify!”

Poison Dart Frog

[Water Incursion Creature]

Level: 11

A large frog capable of shooting out poisoned darts.

HP: 70/70 | Stamina: 150/150 | Mana: N/A

Izuku immediately had to roll out of the way of a sword-sized poison covered barb and started running towards the [Poison Dart Frog]. 

“Shield! Lunge!”

Izuku grinned as the world blurred, and he felt [Steelbringer] stab into the side of the monster. It screeched at him, trying to grab him with its tongue, but he jumped out of the way, slicing down at it.

[23] Damage Given!

He got a shallow cut in the tongue, and the frog ‘ribbited’ at him angrily, something he hadn’t thought possible before today. He ducked underneath another barb being shot out of the frog and dashed forward.

[8] Damage Given!

“Earthspike!”

The ground rumbled, and a pointed spike of rock shot up from the ground and into the frog’s side, digging deep into its rubbery body. The frog made a choked noise for a second as it was speared, before collapsing to its side, dead.

[42] Damage Given!

Congratulations!

You have defeated a Level 11 [Poison Dart Frog]!

100XP Gained!

He stood up straight as he scanned the area around him, reaching up and swiping away the XP gain notification. He didn’t hear Sir Ratsudon making any more noise so he guessed that there were no more monsters coming.

But his summon also hadn’t helped him fight…

Izuku turned around to see Sir Ratsudon sitting on top of a dead [Sea Newt] that definitely hadn’t been there before. Izuku saw the disturbed dirt nearby the body as well and sighed. “Did I miss him using his new ability?”

Rumi nodded, grinning. “Yep.”

“Damn.”

Unfortunately for their already bored minds, there were no more breakthroughs, meaning that they had nothing to do but wait for the rest of that day, getting another bowl of soup, and going through their sleeping shifts again.

And thus, the 2nd day of the [Water Incursion] ended.

There was somehow even less stuff to fight on the 3rd day of the [Water Incursion].

Rumi sighed deeply when Izuku asked her about it. “The [Incursion]s making stronger monsters as they progress is a blessing and a curse. The reason we didn’t see any for most of yesterday is probably that it swapped to creating [Elite]s already.”

Izuku hummed, frowning. “But wouldn’t stronger monsters have a better chance at breaking through into the town?”

Rumi shook her head, leaning back on the wall of the Dungeon Hall. “Nope. They might be stronger, but there are far fewer of them. The trash mobs you’ve fought only got through because of sheer numbers, not because the defenders weren’t strong enough to hold them back.”

Izuku squinted, his finger curling around his chin. “So basically, they might be stronger, but because there's less of them, the defenders don’t have to cover such a large force, and can focus their strength, making for a technically easier fight?”

Rumi snapped her fingers. “Bingo.”

Izuku smiled, nodding to himself. “That sounds counterintuitive, but I guess it makes a little sense? The front-line defenders are most likely people who are definitely strong enough to fight the [Elite]s at the very least, but the swarms of easier targets would be harder just to keep track of them all.”

Sir Ratsudon squeaked his agreement, or maybe he just squeaked because he heard Izuku speak, and Izuku patted him on the head. Rumi sighed again, sliding down the wall until she was sitting next to Izuku and Sir Ratsudon.

“Honestly? I can’t wait until the [Pinnacle] monster comes. When it does, I’m going to go fight it.”

Izuku looked over at her in shock. “What? But I’ll need your help here! What if a [Greater Sea Serpent] gets through? I’m not sure I could fight one by myself!”

Rumi just looked at him with her eyebrow raised. “Did you not read that book of yours enough? When the [Pinnacle] monster exists, no other Incursion monsters will. So you’ll be fine. Maybe I’ll bring you along so you can see a true pro at work!”

Izuku grinned at the offer, no longer worried about having to fight aline due to her explanation. “You’d let me?! I would be honoured!”

Rumi shook her head, before reaching up and pulling his [Mantle of the Duke] off, inspecting the top of his head. “Huh, with that dopey excitement thing you’ve got going on, I thought for sure you’d have some dog-kin in you. But you don’t even have the ears for it.”

Izuku just shrugged, tugging the [Mantle of the Duke] back on. “I wouldn’t know if I had any, either way, to be honest. Maybe I do have a dog-kin ancestor?”

Izuku could tell that Rumi was able to read through the lines, and he could see the appraising look, the one she had given him when she had learned of his solo dungeoneering, return to her face. 

She didn’t say anything, only offering him a sharp nod before turning and watching the town square again, but Izuku smiled anyway, glad not to have to go through a long-winded explanation. 

They only had to fight one other creature that day, a [Greater Sea Serpent], but Rumi almost immediately squashed it to bits out of sheer boredom. 

Night fell, illuminating the sky above the outer wall once again with spells and magic, and they once more performed their sleeping shifts. Sir Ratsudon didn’t need to sleep and was therefore both of their ‘backup’ during their shift. But because nothing got through, Izuku’s sleep was uninterrupted. But it wasn’t peaceful. 

The feeling of dread he had all day, the storm rolling around in the back of his head, setting off his anxiety… only grew larger and larger while he slept.

Chapter Text

I commissioned this piece! The linework is done by the always-amazing Karystmania, and I coloured it!

You can find Karystmania on Twitter Here!

Izuku woke up to the sound of rain pelting his [Earthspike] shelter, the wind blowing loudly.

He lowered the ‘walls’ he had made, and instantly regretted it, having harsh winds and almost horizontal rain slam into him at full force, almost blowing him over. Stumbling to his feet, he pulled his [Ratleather Cloak] up over his face, reaching into his pocket.

He found his [Message Bead] and instantly focused on Rumi.

>Rumi! What’s going on? Why did the weather get so bad? Is the [Pinnacle] monster here?!<

There was silence for a good minute, and Izuku was getting a little worried as he pushed through the sudden rainstorm, moving across the town square and towards the front gate. 

>Rumi?<

He heard a BANG from the front of the town, and the air itself shook violently as something screeched . 

>I’M A BIT BUSY! TALK TO ME LATER! THE BIG FUCKER HAS ARRIVED! SORRY I DIDN’T LET YOU COME WATCH LIKE I SAID I WOULD, BUT YOU WERE SLEEPING!<

Izuku’s heart jumped up to his throat and tried to look up towards the front gate, but the rainstorm blocked his vision any further than a few meters. He was about to push forward more when suddenly there was a loud ‘SQUEAK!’ from below him.

As Izuku yelled in surprise, Sir Ratsudon burst out of the ground in front of him. The spirit rat’s teeth glowed bright green and it snapped its jaw shut, and Izuku stumbled back as he saw that Sir Ratsudon had stopped an arm from stabbing him with a small dagger.

Sir Ratsudon dragged the new monster to the ground, and with another burst of light, killed whatever had tried to stab him. Izuku crouched down, patting the spirit rat on the head as he checked the body.

“Identify!”

Target is [Dead]

>There are monsters getting through, Rumi!<

As he sent the message to Rumi, Izuku paused for a moment, staring at the body. He… he didn’t know that you couldn’t [Identify] things that were dead. How had he not known that? Surely he had used the ability on something dead before…

He… couldn’t actually remember ever doing so, however.

Sir Ratsudon squeaked softly, tugging on Izuku’s glove, presumably back towards the doorway of the Dungeon Hall. Izuku stood up and allowed himself to be dragged forward, as Sir Ratsudon seemed to be able to sense where he was going much better than Izuku could in the rainstorm.

As the staircase came into sight, Izuku nodded to himself. He huddled into his cloak some more and pulled up his menu, just checking his various pools.

HP: 100/100 | Mana: 69/70 | Stamina: 110/110

Nodding to himself, he took a deep breath, ignoring how the cold winds chilled his lungs. He had enough Mana for 6 [Earthspike]s, at 10 Mana each. Looking out towards the direction that the wind and rain were coming from, Izuku took a step away from the front of the Dungeon Hall and placed his hands on the ground.

Using his first [Earthspike], he made it as thick as he possibly could, making the top as flat as he could to make it a uniform pillar instead of a ‘spike’. It rose up slowly, about ‘him-and-a-half’ wide, with a flat top.

It gave a small respite from the wind, but it wasn’t enough. Taking a step to the side, Izuku put his hands on the ground again, creating an identical pillar so close that the stone actually melded together with the previous spike.

With 20 Mana gone, he had a wall about 3 ‘Izukus’ wide, and twice his height, to hide from the wind and rain. He did it two more times, creating a sizeable safe zone for himself, draining his Mana down to 29. It was a little worrying for him to be so low and still need to fight, but he had been fighting for years without [Earthspike], he could go a day unable to use it.

He leaned against his wall and pulled out his [Ratbone Dagger]. He didn’t trust his ability to wield the heavier [Steelbringer] while his hands were wet and slippery, and he did not want to accidentally lose it halfway through a fight.

There was a squeal from his right and Izuku immediately stabbed out with his dagger, feeling it sink into flesh as something screamed .

Critical Hit!

[65] Damage Given!

Izuku cursed as another small, humanoid monster dropped to the ground, unable to be [Identify]’d. With the clearer air of his ‘safe zone,’ he could see that the monster was about half his height, with large wings protruding out of its back.

The creepiest part was their complete lack of any details, with no faces, hair, or anything else, only shiny grey skin that looked like the wind around him.

It cemented Izuku’s unfortunate theory. The [Air Incursion] had started already, overlapping with the last day of the [Water Incursion], and had caused the rainstorm.

He gripped his dagger tighter, taking a few deep breaths, this was bad, but if the levels of the [Air] monsters started at 1 again, then he could manage until Rumi got back.

Hearing another BOOM from the front gate area, he wondered how Rumi was doing…

Rumi howled with laughter as her [Dragontooth Katars] was stabbed elbow deep into the Leviathans eye.

This was literally the best case scenario! The [Air Incursion] starting meant that the other defenders were forced to fight the smaller [Air] monsters, just basic Sylphs and shit, which left the [Pinnacle] monster to the two highest levelled people around.

David Shield, and herself.

>Usagiyama! That was a good hit!<

She grinned as she heard Shield’s voice in her head from his own [Message Bead], and ripped her [Dragontooth Katars] out of the Leviathan. It came away with a splash of bright blue blood, almost glowing with [Water] mana.

>Watch out! Tail Incoming!<

Rumi let out a ‘WOOOO!’ as she pushed off the Leviathan, narrowly dodging its attempt to swat her off with its tail and landed on the ground next to Shield.

“Mana Beam!”

Rumi watched as rainbow energy pooled on Shield’s hand, before firing off like a laser beam at the Leviathan, hitting it dead on. The smell of burnt fish wafted over the entire field, and Rumi shook her head in disgust. 

“Hmm, that one had a bit more [Fire] Mana than I intended. I guess I’m subconsciously affecting the spell? Might need to practise more often…”

Rumi ignored David’s self-reflection bullshit and sprinted forward again at her full speed, the solid ground, hidden under a layer of mud, cratering as she launched herself at the Leviathan again.

“PUNCTURE!”

[157] Damage Given!

Wind trailed behind her arm as she thrust both of her [Dragontooth Katars]’s into the flank of the Leviathan, puncturing deep enough into the thick skin to reach her wrists. Smirking as she heard it screech, she planted her feet on it and pushed her arms outward.

Her Level 59 strength scores made throwing her arms to the side easy, even while wrist deep in this massive monster, and a giant gash exploded open up in the Leviathan as her arms came free, a burst of the monster’s blood covering her.

[272] Damage Given!

She threw herself back down to Shield, who held his palm up to her, a blue rune appearing over his hand. She looked down at herself and saw all the monster blood on her fading away as if it was never even there.

>Don’t waste your Mana, old man!<

He grinned at her, shaking his head, patting the expensive-looking, multi-coloured bag on his hip. Looking down at the bag, she realised that it was a high-quality magic bag. ‘Damn, he probably has hundreds of potions in that thing…’

“Mana Barrier!”

Rumi shook her head and refocused as she saw more rainbow light appear in Shield’s hands, forming a small dome over the two of them. The Leviathan’s tail slammed into the dome, and Rumi was shocked to see Shield actually wince at the impact.

>Shield! How much HP does it have left?<

She saw his mouth move, and a rainbow-edged menu appeared next to his head. One hand went to his bead, and she heard his message.

>We’ve got just over 30% left to go if we keep up this pace, but we need to make sure that the other defenders are taking care of the [Common] [Air] monsters! If I clear the air can you check on them for me?<

She nodded to him, and shook her legs out, getting ready to jump as high as she could. She wasn’t looking at him, but she could feel the [Water] and [Air] Mana pooling in his hands, before a beam of blue and white shot skyward.

“Dispel Magic!”

Rumi rocketed up right alongside the beam and shivered as the anti-magic pulse detonated about 50 meters up in the air. As it did so, the weather seemed to stutter, the air in front of Mustafa clearing completely for a few moments.

It was shit like that, crazy, nature defying stuff, that made her contemplate getting a spellcasting class as her next one. She reached the apex of her jump soon after the sky cleared, and she noted how the defenders were doing while she dropped back down to the ground.

[3] [Falling] damage taken!

Her ankles barely even felt the impact, so she brushed away the practically meaningless damage menu and jumped over to where Shield was still firing blast after blast at the Leviathan. 

>Most of the wall is fine, but it looks like the Leviathan caved in one part. There are defenders there as a stopgap, but some are slipping through towards Izuku and the Dungeon Hall.<

She saw him swear to himself, erecting another barrier as the Leviathans tail slammed down once again. He reached for his [Message Bead] and Rumi heard him again.

>That’s bad. Do you think he can handle the numbers getting through? Or do you need to go help?<

Rumi scoffed. If he couldn’t fight some low levelled [Air Sylphs] by himself, then her opinion of him would be wrong. And she was the ‘Beast of Caerbannog!’ She was never wrong!

>He’s awake and he sent me a message earlier saying that he was aware of monsters getting through and was fighting! The kids got balls and he’s stronger than he seems, so he’ll be fine!<

David just nodded, turning back the Leviathan, and Rumi could tell that it had been affected far worse by the [Dispel Magic] than she had been. Checking its stats, she grinned.

Level 60 Leviathan

[Water Incursion Pinnacle Creature]

HP: 1800/6000 | Mana: 340/600 | Stamina: 450/3000

>Shield! Keep it up! We should be able to end it quickly if we burn the last of its health down!<

She knew that Shield had heard her when another beam of rainbow light was fired from his hands, this time impacting the Leviathan itself. It screeched , and its tail slammed into the ground near the two of them, mud being thrown into the air all around them.

>Rumi! I have a plan to finish this! Just give me one moment!<

Rumi covered her eyes to keep the wave of mud and water out of them and could see Shield doing the same. After a moment, the wave passed by them. Another rune appeared over Shield’s hand, and Rumi felt the mud flake off her again.

She was about to jump at the Leviathan again when his hand was placed on her shoulder. She looked at him, and then down to the small orb of red and purple Mana he had in his hand, contained in what looked like a glass ball.

>Ok, Usagiyama, are you ready? I need you to take this [Contained Spell]... and let the Leviathan ‘eat’ you. Well, not actually eat you, you just need to be in its mouth.<

Rumi did a double-take, but nodded, grabbing the glass ball out of his hands. She had done crazier things for people she trusted a lot less. A grin on her face, she sheathed one of her Katars.

>You’re one crazy motherfucker. What does the spell do?<

Shield threw his hands up into the air and created another Mana barrier-dome thing, and he winced as the Leviathans tail slammed into it again. The small circle of solid ground they were standing on actually sunk into the mud slightly, and Rumi had to grab him to keep him upright, the sudden sinking almost messing up his balance.

> It’s a mix of the Parasitic nature of [Dark] magic, and the Consuming nature of [Fire] magic! Essentially, instead of the [Dark] spell leeching HP to the caster, it’s going to mix with the [Fire] to make it so the [Fire] will burn inside the Leviathan for as long as the Leviathan can be burnt by leeching the energy of the Leviathan itself as fuel! 

>I call it “David Shield’s [Independent Flame]!”<

Rumi paused for a moment, trying to wrap her head around it, before shaking it wildly, and jumping at the Leviathan. It saw her jumping, and threw its head forward, intent on snapping its jaws shut around her.

>God, I am surrounded by fucking nerds!<

She would usually dodge this with ease, but this time, the Leviathan would get its wish. She let out a yell of excitement as the world suddenly went dark, the [Contained Spell] in her hands the only light in the Leviathans closed mouth.

It was fairly quiet in the Leviathan’s mouth, actually, its thick, rubbery skin doing a great job at stopping the sounds of rain and thunder from reaching her. Stabbing into its tongue with the Katar she was still holding, she hung over the entrance to the Leviathan’s stupidly long neck. 

As she threw the [Contained Spell] down the Leviathans throat, Rumi pulled herself up with her other hand, a feral smirk on her face as she felt the Leviathan roar with pain and anger, the contents of its stomach being ignited by the [Independent Flame].

The Leviathans mouth had opened when it roared, and Rumi used her Katar to dig into its tongue one last time, throwing herself out of the Leviathan and back towards Shield. She had apparently over shot, though, and was on track to hit the outer wall of Mustafu.

She put her feet out forward and braced for impact, only to have a bright grey rune appear before her. The second she passed through it, her momentum seemed to change completely, and she was suddenly heading straight down.

She landed hard, stone and mud flying everywhere as she cratered the ground, and cheered loudly, her excitement getting the better of her. She could see the Leviathan thrashing around wildly, red and purple light shining through its skin every now and then.

Checking back over with Shield, she could see a bunch of damage menus appearing next to him, almost as fast as he could dismiss them. It was only moments later that the last of the menus appeared, and were swiped away by Shield, and the Leviathan seemed to freeze up.

A burst of [Water] mana exploded out of the Leviathan, making Rumi shiver as it passed over her, her body suddenly even more aware of how drenched her hair and clothing was.

It was unbalanced and was heading directly towards the wall. The wall they still needed for the [Air Incursion] that had already started. Shield was too busy downing a larger [Mana Potion] to do anything about it, though. ‘His [Independent Flame] must have been more expensive than I thought…’

She shook herself off as the body of the Leviathan fell towards her and the wall of Mustafu, before squatting. If she was ever thankful for anything regarding her species, being a Demi-Rabbit gave her one hell of a kick.

“Leap! Lunge!”

The ground underneath her cracked even further as she shot up into the air as fast as she could, the raindrops almost slowing down to her as she rocked upwards. The body of the Leviathan suddenly encompassed the entirety of her vision, and a grin grew on her face.

“Double Strike! Dropkick! PowerUp!”

Her legs shimmered as she reached the Leviathan, with 2 transparent copies of them hovering next to them, glowing a vibrant silver. She kicked out at the Leviathan just as they were about to connect, and the air shook at the impact.

There was a single moment where the silver glow of her attack blinded even herself, and a BOOM so loud her ears folded themselves in half to block some of it out. When her vision finally cleared, she saw the crater that she had created in the body of the Leviathan as its motion completely reversed, collapsing away from the wall.

She was tumbling through the air, again , her legs still feeling a little numb from the sheer amount of force she had put through them. She saw the same rune as before show up behind her, and she was suddenly falling straight down into the arms of what looked like a… water spirit?

>A [Water Elemental], actually, but the principle is the same. Why on earth didn’t you do a move like that earlier?<

As the [Water Elemental] put Rumi down on the ground and subsequently vanished as Shield un-summoned it, she raised her eyebrow at him, waving at her legs, which were only just starting to get feeling back into them again.

>Why do you think, smart guy? Can’t be useless like this during the fight itself, even if it's only like, 20 seconds. And besides, that was a lot of [Stamina] I just used. Even someone like me is gonna feel a little tired after something as cool as that!<

Shield help up his hands in surrender, a grin on his face as he gave her a nod. >Great work, Usagiyama. Now you should probably hurry back to Izuku now that the [Water Incursion] is… over? Wait, what? <

It didn’t take long for Rumi to realise what he was talking about. The [Water Incursions] [Pinnacle] monster was dead. That was supposed to be the end. It was the end of an [Incursion].

So why wasn’t the fucking rain stopping already?

Chapter Text

Melissa frowned as the Dungeon Hall started to shake, the various bags, chests, and metal items clanking together loudly.

“Melissa! Ooo, I wonder what that was! Oh! Can you do a scan-spell thingy and check it out? Like how you spied on your Dad that one time? What was it called again?”

Melissa just looked over at Mei, who had her goggles over her eyes and was seemingly staring at her, waiting for an answer. Melissa snorted, shaking her head. “It’s called a [Diviners Lightball]. It allows you to look through the orb like a third eye, and it can fly around like that Searchlight.”

Melissa allowed the golden rune for a [Diviners Lightball] to appear over her hand, the small orb of golden Mana winking into existence and floating above her palm. It buzzed and crackled like a bonfire. “The only thing is that it can’t do sound, just sight.”

Mei just waved that off, scoffing. “Who cares! I just wanna see what it's like out there! I can hear it, it’s been raining all day today! Even after that giant burst of Mana earlier!”

Melissa nodded, sending the [Diviners Lightball] towards the front door, squeezing it through the small gap above the door and having a look at the town square just outside. Or at least, trying to.

“Oh wow, it's raining like hell! I can barely see, even with the spells magic sight… oh wait! I can see Izuku!”

She piloted her [Diviners Lightball] down towards the giant block of stone she had seen, a figure standing in front of it, facing away from the [Diviners Lightball]. As she moved it closer, the figure jumped at the sound of it approaching, whipping around.

The last thing Melissa saw through the connection was Izuku’s stressed-out looking expression, followed by the tip of his [Ratbone Dagger] about to jam into the [Diviners Lightball]. 

The destruction of her spell sent a small jab of pain through the backs of her eyes, but she knew that it wouldn’t cause her any actual harm. It was just the magic being forcibly cut off that made the ache, but that was all it was, an ache. For such a low-level spell, at least. She had heard of worse backlash from higher levelled magic.

“You alright, Melissa? What did you see?”

Melissa looked up at Mei with a guilty smile on her face. “I saw Izuku, but I think I just stressed him out. He stabbed my [Diviners Lightball] out of pure instinct, I think.”

Mei stuck out her tongue, blowing a raspberry. “Damn, I was hoping to at least get a play-by-play from you on what was happening…”

Melissa nodded but shrugged her shoulders. “It’s probably not the… best idea to distract him, to be honest. Especially since the [Pinnacle] monster should be today, if it hasn’t already been killed. That was probably what the massive wave of [Water] Mana was, actually.”

Otto looked over from where he was sketching in a notebook and frowned. “Wait, then why is it still raining? I’ve been in a few [Incursions] over my life and the elemental stuff like rain or wind or earthquakes… they usually stop after the corresponding [Pinnacle] monster dies.”

Melissa frowned at that, her eyebrows scrunching up. “Well, it was still absolutely pouring down out there. I don’t know what to tell yo-”

BOOOM

Melissa was cut off by an absurdly loud crushing noise, and suddenly the temperature of the Dungeon Hall dropped severely, rain pelting down on them, as a giant hole in the front of the building was opened.

And the apparent cause of it hit the ground a few seconds later, a spherical, rainbow shield made from Mana that was very familiar to Melissa. She didn’t know when she had gotten to her feet, but she was already running over to the failing shield when it shut down fully.

The last of the shield faded, revealing two figures lying unconscious on the ground, battered and bruised. She recognised one from her own experience and one from Izuku’s description of her, and Melissa felt her stomach drop.

The flapping of wings, loud enough that it overpowered the rain, echoed through the air. There was a monster here that had just beaten her dad and Lady Usagiyama. The two strongest people in the town, combat wise.

She grabbed both of them and immediately started dragging them as fast as she could to the Dungeon’s doorways, Otto and Mei eventually helping her, Otto picking up her dad by himself while Melissa and Mei carried Lady Usagiyama. Even if she wasn’t a combat class, even if she couldn’t really fight yet, the Dungeon was their best chance of survival right now.

‘Wait! Izuku! Where is he?’

With the front wall of the Dungeon Hall blown completely open, she should have been able to see him! And if the monster had beaten her dad as well as Lady Usagiyama, it would kill him!

The sound of wings grew even closer until eventually the wind and rain started to fade as whatever monster was above them blocked it from reaching them, and her vision cleared fully.

‘What in the nine hells is that?!’

[42] Damage Given!

His [Ratbone Dagger] sunk into the chest of another one of those grey, flying creatures as it dropped down from the top of his [Earthspike] wall. He tried to quickly [Identify] it before it ‘died’, but apparently, he was cut off from their information the instant their HP dropped to zero.

Target is [Dead]

“Damn!”

He hunkered down against his wall again, Sir Ratsudon sitting in front of him, the newly-grown summon facing the wall, ready to alert him to anything that tried to sneak around it while he was resting.

He had been fighting for almost 30 minutes straight, now, which usually wouldn’t be a terrible problem, except for the fact that it was windy, wet, cold, and he was very anxious. He couldn’t even remember why he felt so much more stressed today. Was it something that he ate?

He stabbed at a glowing ball of light instinctively, and it popped like a bubble upon contact with his [Ratbone Dagger].

Whatever the reason, the anxiety he had been feeling all day had suddenly surged. It felt like his entire body was screaming at him that someone needed help, that he needed to defend someone , but there was nothing around.

‘Ding!’

And then there were the bells. The weird, mysterious bells that seemed to follow him around and ring occasionally, when he needed to dodge or to guide him to the right answer to something, seemed to be ‘dinging’ near constantly ever since he had woken up.

It was just as the creature he had killed finally stopped spasming, the last of whatever allowed it to move fading out, that Izuku felt it. A burst of [Water] Mana washed over Izuku with such force that all the mud started becoming more transparent, the mud on the floor becoming diluted in the sudden increase of water.

Izuku peeked his head around his [Earthspike] wall and saw that the entire square, or at least the entirety of the square he could see through the rainstorm, was similarly affected. ‘What just happened?’

>Rumi! What just happened? Did you beat the Leviathan?!<

He knew that the connection between the two [Message Bead]s hadn’t been broken by the storm, and Izuku was starting to worry about her, the silence making him nervous. He looked down at Sir Ratsudon, who was watching patiently, ready to alert him. 

>Rumi! Are you there?!<

>Chill out for god’s sake! I’m here! The [Leviathan] is dead but we seem to have a different problem now!<

He let out a sigh of relief as Rumi’s angry voice flowed through the link, but was tense at the wording. What kind of problem was she talking about? They beat the pinnacle monster, the rain should be stopping, right? Was the problem just that it wasn’t?

>Izuku, can you hear me?<

Izuku jumped as Sir Shield’s voice came spoke into his head, but nodded. He then realised that Sir Shield had no way of seeing him nod.  >Y-yes sir! I can hear you!<

There was silence for a moment before Sir Shields's voice came back. >Izuku, I’ve asked Miss Usagiyama to remove her [Message Bead], as I know you haven’t told her about… well about most of the weird stuff that's happening with you and the Dungeon.<

> But I need to know , has the Dungeon, the Earth, the Bells, whatever it is that is assisting you , have they given you any hints or indication that something might be wrong with these Incursions?<

Izuku ducked as Sir Ratsudon leapt up at one of the grey faceless monsters, the spirit rat driving its teeth right into the things ‘skull’ and killing it before Izuku was able to grab it. Shaking his head as Sir Ratsudon went back on watch duty, Izuku refocused on Sir Shield.

Had there been anything?

>I think there might have been? I have the vaguest memories of a dream, I think? Something was warning me of something? And you know that feeling when you can see a storm on the horizon but can’t do anything about it? I’ve had that feeling all day.<

>And there is nothing else? No words, no bells at specific times, trying to hint at something?<

Izuku scrambled to wrack his memory, his carriage of thought not really stuck to the path in his head. But eventually, one memory made itself clear to him, the bells that had wrung earlier when he had thought about defending something, or someone .

>The bells want me to defend something! Or someone! Maybe just everyone! I don't know exactly!<

He felt the connection show up in his mind as if Sir Shield was about to say something in response, but before he could, the entire world shook. The air itself hummed as if some cosmic being had plucked a string on their guitar.

>Shield! Focus up! Shits going down!<

Rumi’s voice cut through the rumbling, and after a moment, Izuku was left to sit silently in his little ‘safe zone’, neither of the people responding to him through the beads. 

Suddenly, the world got a little darker, the grey around him deepening as something blocked out the sun. He peeked his head around the corner of his [Earthspike] wall, just in time for… lightning to strike? No… that bolt had gone upwards…

Another bolt of lightning streaked through the sky, lighting it up enough for Izuku to see a shape in the clouds and rain. It was only a brief glimpse, the flicker of lightning vanishing as quickly as it arrived, but Izuku had seen enough.

The silhouette of a beast with giant wings and a long neck had been flashed through the downpour. A monster was shooting lightning. A monster that could fly. A monster big enough to eclipse the little sunlight coming through the clouds.

Izuku gulped. ‘That can’t be good.’

There was a giant CRACK that reverberated through the air almost instantly after he finished the thought, and a rainbow something flew over his head faster than he could track, headed straight for the Dungeon hall.

It was like time stopped for a moment as it passed, and he somehow caught the sight of Sir Shield and Rumi inside the rainbow mana bubble, before it sped up again, slamming into the front of the Dungeon Hall, obliterating the front wall.

He rushed towards the building as fast as he could, the mud and the faceless grey monsters, who seemed emboldened, slowing him down considerably, as the sound of flapping wings got closer and closer.

He felt the air shifting around him, and could see a bit clearer as the wings of whatever had sent Sir Shield and Rumi flying neared. He didn’t dare look backwards. He might be brave, or talented, according to others, but the anxiety he had felt all day had shifted to terror when he had seen that shadow.

Was this what he was supposed to be defending everyone from? Something that could defeat Sir Shield and Rumi? How could these bells expect him to fight? How could they expect him to win? Did they even want him to?

Was he going to die today?

He reached the Dungeon Hall and climbed to the top of the pile of rubble that used to be the front wall, the clearer air letting him see the 50-60 people still there, all looking out towards the sky.

And then, the rain stopped. The wind still howled, but something above them was blocking the rain. It was only then, when he had finally reached the Dungeon Hall, and the people he was going to fight to defend, that he forced himself to spin around and look at the monster.

Something lit up in his veins as he saw it. Not anxiety, not fear, something else. He stared at the creature and was barely able to whisper “Identify” to himself.

Juvenile [ Air] [Water] [???] Dragon

Aberrant Incursion Monster

A j-j-juvENILe DrA-aA-A-gOn Att-t-T-T-UNeD tO TH-H-H-hE elemenT of [???]

HP: ??? | Stamina: ??? | Mana: ???

You are the first sentient being to identify a [Juvenile [ Air] [Water] [???] Dragon].

Trait [Monster Discoverer] gained.

Izuku swiped away that screen after reading through the monster's descriptions, and fear settled in his chest as his muscles started to burn and his bones started to ache. This was like the HobGoblin. 

Something was wrong with this monster's stats. It wasn’t meant to be like it was. Izuku coughed as his chest started to hurt, the amount of air he was breathing in and out starting to move so fast and so pressurised that he was hurting his throat.

Wait… what?

What was going on?

He was standing in front of the most terrifying creature he had ever seen, and his body was hurting without it even doing anything other than hovering above them like it was so confident in its victory it didn’t even need to fight.

So why, even with all the pain he was in right now… why did he feel stronger? Why was the aches and pains and bruises he had accumulated over the last few days fading? He looked down at himself and saw faint green lightning covering his body, growing brighter and brighter.

He fell to his knees as the air around him started to heat up, and he forced himself to keep his eyes on the Dragon. And that was when he noticed what it was looking at. It wasn’t just looking at him.

He was standing on top of the pile of rubble that had been the front wall of the Dungeon Hall. Behind him, the 50-60 people that had been taking shelter inside it were still, frozen in place by fear.

So if he was in the Dragon’s line of sight…

‘Ding!’

Multiple non-combatants detected in your enemy's Line of Sight.

# of Non-Combatants: 50

[Heroic] activated: Base stats +50%

[Heroic] activated: Base stats +50%

[Heroic] activated: Base stats +50%

[Heroic] activated: Base stats +50%

[Heroic] activated: Base stats +50%

[Heroic] activated: Base stats +50%

[Heroic] activated: Base stats +50%

[Heroic] activated: Base stats +50%

[Heroic] activated: Base stats +50%

[Heroic] activated: Base stats +50%

[Heroic has been activated more than 10 times simultaneously. Would you like to activate [Heroic Surge]?

Yes | No

‘Ding!’

His body was on fire, but his mind knew that this was the only way.

[Heroic Surge] activated.

Calculating Stat Buffs from non-combatants.

Complete.

[Heroic Surge x50] Activated

Current Stats:

HP: 2600 | Stamina: 2860 | Mana: 1820

Strength: 468

Agility: 416

Endurance: 469

Intelligence: 312

Luck: 260

[Good Luck, Izuku Midoriya]

Those were the last words Izuku saw before the fire in his body and the lighting around it grew so hot and so bright that they blinded him.

And the Dragon roared.

And he moved.

Chapter Text

If the world blurred when he used [Lunge] before, then the world blinked this time.

It was like reading a book and having part of a paragraph taken out. He couldn’t even remember moving , he was just… there. The raindrops pouring down had barely even moved as he appeared underneath the Dragon.

It felt… peaceful, in a way that was weird to even try to describe. His body was on fire, his bones and muscles screaming at him every instant he was moving, as the [Heroic Surge] filled him with so much power he felt fit to burst.

He went to pull on the mental string to activate [Lunge] again, this time going upwards towards the Dragon, and without any of the usual effort he had to put in to activate the skill, he was thrown upwards, almost before he had even finished attempting to use [Lunge].

He heard something tear and an instant later his vision clicked back into sync, a feeling of weightlessness enveloping him as he reached the apex of his jump. His eyes flicked down to the Dragon to see a giant hole ripped into one of the Dragon’s wings.

You have [Grounded] the [Juvenile [???] Dragon]

It started to fall slowly, heavy enough that gravity pulled it down fast enough to be seen with his enhanced vision.

Another use of [Lunge] had him slamming into the ground of the town square, a giant gust of wind accompanying it as his cloak fanned out from the pressure. His hood was jostled by the impact, being pushed up onto his head by the winds.

He felt one of the cords on his belt snap and felt something brush by his feet. The long, pink tail of the [Great Mole], his [Whip of the Duke] trailing behind him. But before he could fix it, a silver glow surrounded the Dragon, and its eyes snapped open, deep blue in colour, and very angry.

As the glow around the Dragon increased, a blue glow formed over the green lightning around himself as well, and he saw the raindrops start to move towards the ground slowly again.

His mind raced, identifying the two spells the Dragon had apparently used. The fact that the Dragon was moving at almost-normal speed meant that it was probably using [Windwalk], a speed-boosting [Air] type spell. And the blue spell it had put on him was probably [Pressure of the Deep], a speed- reducing [Water] type spell.

His head ached as he identified the spells practically instantly, and he winced, shaking it off as best he could. Was this the effect of his boosted intelligence? It felt like he could remember every letter in every word in every book he had ever read, every notebook he had ever written.

SWIPE!

Whatever it was, it needed to wait.

The Dragon’s clawed paw swiped at him at a speed faster than any other monster he had ever fought… but it still felt slow . Or at the very least, slower than him .

He rolled underneath it, already back on his feet and swinging [Steelbringer] at the passing leg before his mind had even caught up to the fight. When had he drawn his sword? He couldn’t remember.

The Dragon roared at him, curling its now-useless wing back onto its body, blue light appearing in its mouth as it stared him down. He immediately started running to his right, to stop whatever it was about to do from hitting the Dungeon Hall behind him.

‘Ding! Woosh!’

Whatever his increased intelligence had done to him, it had made the bells he heard fucking loud , but he could also… see a blue line appear on the ground in front of him? 

He instinctively stabbed his feet towards the ground, diving and rolling away from the line, and an instant later, a beam of Lightning shot from the Dragon’s mouth, following the blue line exactly, destroying all the houses he could see in a line in that direction.

He looked towards the Dragon and swore he could almost see a bit of confusion in his eyes at not hitting him, and something clicked in his head. If the bells were something giving him info based on his [Intelligence]... then this line was probably based on [Luck].

Another line appeared underneath his feet, and he used [Lunge] to dodge it as another beam of Lightning shot past where he had just been, obliterating the Inn he had been standing in front of.

The Dragon roared again, and Izuku could tell that it was pissed off about him not already being dead.

Another silver glow surrounded the Dragon, and it went on the offensive, suddenly a lot faster. Izuku was forced to use [Lunge] to get out of the kill box that the Dragon’s teeth and claws created, and he still received a gash across the back of his leg, the blood steaming as it exited him red hot.

He was able to dash in again and slash it across the back legs multiple times before the Dragon turned and tried to smack him, its tail sailing through the air. He dove to the ground, rolling through the mud as he slipped under the tail swipe, only to be forced to jump over it as the Dragon brought it back the other way again.

Or at least, attempt to jump over it.

It slammed into his torso, the mud slowing him down just enough for the Dragon to hit him, and with a BOOM , Izuku went flying, crashing into the side of a building around the Town Square.

The walls crumbled to tiny shards as he pushed himself up, the cuts on his body bleeding red hot blood. But as he got to his feet fully, he saw the cuts close up on their own. 

‘That's right, even if your HP doesn’t go back up, [Endurance] helps heal the physical body faster. Or is it just a side effect of the [Bleeding] status effect being stopped quickly because of my [Endurance]? Does the distinction matter?’

As a blue line appeared underneath his feet, Izuku was forced to conclude that no, it did not. What mattered was dodging. [Lunge] came into effect and his world blinked again as he appeared above the Dragon.

“Double Strike! Shield! Lunge! Earthspike x5!”

The world skipped over his travel distance to the Dragon and Izuku slammed both [Steelbringer]s into the side of the Dragon’s body, attacking the other side with five [Earthspike]s, the usually small-ish pillars of stone coming out of the ground the width of wagons, sharper than swords.

The impact from his attack with [Steelbringer] knocked the Dragon in the direction of the [Earthspike]s, adding extra momentum to their attack, and as Izuku landed on the ground, immediately dashing away from the Dragon, it roared , it screeched , the very air around Izuku vibrating as the Dragon went wild, it’s tail and claws thrashing everywhere, clearing out the remainder of the Town ‘Square’ until it was a flat circle of empty space.

Izuku crouched as the Dragon pushed itself to its feet again, the [Earthspike]s that had stabbed into it having already been completely destroyed by the Dragon’s thrashing, and the wound had already closed up, meaning that it must have [Endurance] beyond belief.

He did notice however that the hole he had opened in its wing still hadn’t closed. Was that because the membrane for its wings was more complicated? Or was it because of the [Grounded] status effect he had inflicted on the Dragon?

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts for later. Apparently one of the downsides of having a high [Intelligence] stat was an innate urge to figure things out, maybe that was why… ‘Stop it! Think about stuff later!’

Izuku watched as the Dragon stood up on its hind legs, a beam of Lightning shooting out of its mouth, but not at him . The beam went straight up into the sky, the already grey clouds above becoming dark and angry looking, sparking with lighting.

Izuku’s eyes were drawn to the ground as glowing blue circles appeared, a second blue circle growing from the middle outward, one of them being right under his feet. He sprinted out of the circle just in time for it to ‘finish’, and a beam of lightning slammed into the ground where it was done.

After that, it became a dodging game.

Circles appeared everywhere Izuku looked, the gaps between them getting smaller and smaller as more and more circles formed. Eventually, Izuku had to risk standing in some circles for just long enough so that he could dodge into newly opened spaces nearby, but that had its own issues.

Thrown off by the sudden ease that his abilities came to him with, he mistimed one of his [Lunge]s, appearing a second before he meant to. 

As the beam of blue Lightning slammed down into him, he heard a blood-curdling scream echo out around him as pain throbbed through his entire body, his skin feeling like it was being vaporised.

After the beam faded and he hit the ground, he realised that it was him who was screaming . He pushed himself to his feet shakily, almost dropping down to the floor again once as his burnt skin cracked and peeled, but was forced to push past his agony as a blue circle appeared near his feet.

“Lunge! Shield!”

The world blinked as he appeared in an actual safe zone, his [Shield] ability reapplying itself. God, what would have happened if he didn’t have it up before? Smacking himself across the face, he focused back in on the Dragon. 

What-ifs weren’t worth thinking about when you were fighting.

The Dragon swiped at him again, and Izuku forced himself to dodge under the wild swing, his entire body screaming as he hit the floor, only to propel himself to his feet again so that he could jump over the swipe of the Dragon’s tail as it spun around to attack him again.

And then his foot slipped.

His balance was lost and his mind was shocked. As he hung in the air, the Dragon’s tail zoomed towards him faster than he could dodge. Even with his enhanced stats, Izuku wasn’t sure if this would hurt him enough to take him out of the fight or not, but either way, he was going to have to tank it.

Time seemed to slow down again as his already-screaming body curled in on itself, his [Shield] ability active as he moved to position the flat side of [Steelbringer] against his leg to help take some of the blow, and it was when he had resigned himself to being hit that he saw it.

The ground below the tail exploded , bright green light surging from within as a giant green creature’s mouth snapped around the tail of the Dragon, stopping it in place and causing it to roar out in pain.

Izuku hit the ground and instantly used [Lunge] to get away and recuperate. Down on one knee with his sword in the ground for support, Izuku fumbled around with his pack as he watched the Dragon and the sudden appearance of the creature.

Izuku had just grabbed out the shattered remains to the top of a [HP Potion] when the giant green creature ripped their head to the side, a giant chunk of the Dragon’s tail coming out with it. At that moment his [Ratmaster Pendant] flared up with power on his chest, and his increased [Intelligence] made the answer simple to him.

The giant green demi-rat stood on two legs, much like the Dungeon Boss Izuku had gotten him from, and stood taller than Izuku by almost triple, green lightning surrounding its giant body.

As the Dragon pulled its tail back and started charging up its breath attack, Sir Ratsudon charged it, diving into the ground and tunnelling so quickly it looked like he was swimming to Izuku, who the Dragon had seemingly decided to ignore for the moment. 

As Sir Ratsudon seemingly pulled the Dragon’s attention away from him, Izuku searched through his pack properly, looking for something to take the edge off the intense pain throughout his skin from the Lightning attack. He couldn’t keep fighting with this kind of distraction and plan on winning.

“Izuku!”

As he heard her voice, Izuku’s eyes immediately snapped over to where Melissa was crouching, the girl hidden behind some rubble. Izuku’s eyes widened as she held up a green Rune, pointing it towards him. “What are you doing? You need to stay away!”

Melissa just glared, shaking her head as she whispered something to herself, and Izuku saw the Rune above her palm collapse in on itself, a soft green ball of light appearing in its place. Izuku glanced back to check that Sir Ratsudon was still distracting the Dragon, and was pleased to see that he was.

When Izuku turned back to Melissa, he immediately got a face full of the green light, as Melissa chucked it at his head . He’d had a guess about what the Rune was, his Increased [Intelligence] making it easy to recall all of the Runes Melissa should be able to cast at her level and proficiency, but the warm healing glow of [Minor Regenerate] was a blessing.

His eyes closed as his skin paled from the angry, irritated red it had been since he had been struck, fading back to the soft pink of newly healed skin. With the colour faded some of the pain, enough that it was absolute torture to move anymore.

He sighed with relief, opening his eyes again as he pushed himself up to his feet, looking over towards where Melissa had been, spotting her doing her best to sneak away from the fight, having apparently done what she wanted to do.

Izuku took deep breaths as he heard the sound of the Dragon roaring in pain again, and spotted Sir Ratsudon with just his head out of the ground, his [Bite] attack having caught the underbelly of the Dragon.

Izuku held up a palm and checked his stats quickly while the Dragon was immobilised, and winced at what he saw.

HP: 995/2600 | Stamina: 2430/2860 | Mana: 1235/1820

While his [Stamina] and [Mana] were fine, his HP had taken quite the beating… had he been too sparing with his other resources? It was pure force of habit to ration out his energy pools, but right now…

Now wasn’t the time for rationing. He could tell that the Dragon was flagging. But even so, if he wanted to kill it, he needed to go all out. He let his mind run in overdrive for a minute or so as Sir Ratsudon fought, until eventually, he shook his head, taking control back from his wandering trains of thought and cementing his plan in his mind.

He took a deep breath in as he pointed his hands to the battlefield, getting himself ready to use as much [Mana] as he could. 

He focused as much as he could on [Earthspike] and let out a yell as he pushed his [Mana] out of his body as fast as he could, the battlefield rumbling as spires of solid, [Mana] reinforced stone shot up out of the ground, creating a forest of stone spires. He pushed it even further, sprouting [Earthspike] ‘branches’ of stone out of the original pillars.

As his [Mana] dipped under ‘200’, Izuku pulled his hands back and dodged out of the way of a blue line on the ground as his set-up drew the attention of the Dragon. Its Lightning breath attack was able to make a few of his pillars crumble, but the rest held.

Izuku crouched, grabbing his [Ratmaster Pendant] in one hand as he pushed the order to ‘retreat’ as strongly as he could to Sir Ratsudon. He hadn’t used [Identify] on the Spirit Rat, but he knew that being so close to the Dragon would have done some serious damage to him, and he didn't want the companion to fade away and cost him, [Mana] to restore.

With Sir Ratsudon leaving the fight having done considerable damage to the Dragon, and its attention fully on him, Izuku squatted, loosening up his knees and ankles, because this was going to hurt .

“Lunge!”

“Lunge!”

“Lunge!”

The world moved like a picture book to him as he used [Lunge] to bounce in between and around his [Earthspike] pillars, spamming the ability as fast as he could, moving fast enough to outpace even the Dragon’s sensory abilities.

“Lunge!”

“Lunge!”

“Lunge!”

It roared as he flitted around it, and started slamming the remains of its tail and claws at the pillars, knocking some of them over. But that was fine with Izuku. While it was distracted, Izuku used a [Lunge] to dash right onto its head, slamming [Steelbringer] down into its eye before it could react.

“Double Strike!”

The twin swords popped the Dragon’s eye in an instant, but before the Dragon could even roar in pain, Izuku was away from it again, [Lunge] being activated constantly as he bounced between his pillars, before eventually landing on one and waiting for a moment to look for another opening.

‘There!’

“Earthspike x10!”

The Dragon’s roar of pain was accompanied by a wildly blasting Lightning beam as 10 of Izuku’s [Earthspike]s shot out of the ground and stabbed into its underbelly while it was distracted searching for him.

“Lunge!”

“Lunge!”

“Lunge!”

The Dragon saw him before his last Lunge and immediately tried to move its only remaining eye out of the firing line, but the eye wasn’t Izuku’s target. Using most of his remaining Mana, Izuku dispelled the [Earthspike]s in the Dragon’s underbelly and immediately used [Lunge] to go right up into the giant hole formed from the spike that hadn’t been healed yet.

“Lunge! Double Strike! Shield!”

The world went fairly dark as Izuku’s [Lunge] took him through the hole in the Dragon’s body and into its inner chest cavity, surrounded by warm guts on all sides, soft blue light the only illumination. He knew that his old shield hadn’t gone down yet but it was better to be safe than sorry.

His sword swung, even in the dark, cramped area inside the Dragon, its double following along until finally , both blades found their target. The only light of the inside of the Dragon, [Steelbringer] and its double struck true, stabbing into the glowing blue heart above him.

There was silence for a moment, as not even the Dragon’s lungs moved before suddenly everything surrounding Izuku started shaking as the Dragon collapsed to the ground, roaring loud than it had yet, its very bones shaking around him.

But with its heart destroyed, the Dragon had neither blood nor Mana flowing through its body anymore. And without either of those, it was mere moments before its roar shuddered to a stop, the body falling still.

Congratulations!

You have killed an [Abberent Juvenile Dragon]

???XP Gained.

Error - Correct XP rewards unknown.

Alternative Reward: 7 Levels Awarded

[Thank you, Izuku Midoriya. This achievement shall not be overlooked. You have my gratitude.]

Izuku couldn’t help but smile seeing that message, too exhausted to bother registering any of the implications. He was feeling… really… sleepy, actually. And it was so warm in here…

He couldn’t fight his eyes closing, as his exhaustion caught up with him, [Heroic Surge] fading, and once his eyes were closed, he was doomed to quickly pass out, sleeping in the warm corpse of the strange Dragon he had slain.

Blissfully unaware of the sheer chaos his fight had caused.

Chapter Text

There was silence in the Dungeon Hall.

No one really knew what to say. Everything had gone to shit within minutes… but it had also been fixed around the same time. Many people quickly realised they were about to die when they saw David Shield and the Beast of Caerbannog out for the count. 

The shock of not being dead in the face of such a monster hit them harder than most would expect.

“MEI! OTTO!”

A voice pierced the silence, and Mei looked down to see Melissa kneeling on top of the shattered wall facing the stone forest their town square had been turned into… by Izuku??? 

“Melissa!”

Melissa dropped down into the Dungeon Hall, quickly grabbing her and Otto’s hands and dragging them to the front. “You guys can use your [Summon Stone]’s more than once, right? Like if you used them right now you won't lose them?”

Mei got her feet working properly after almost tripping when Melissa started dragging them and nodded. “Yes? But they’ll be unusable for about a day after the fact. Why do you want us to use them?”

Otto nodded, looking confused, but was taking being suddenly dragged better than Mei was. “Is this about Izuku? Does he need help? I doubt our Golems could even touch that [Dragon].”

They cleared the shattered wall of the Dungeon Hall, and Melissa was silent for a moment as the other two gasped at the sight in the middle of the town square that was partially hidden from the other people in the Dungeon Hall.

“Melissa… d-do you know what happened?”

Melissa frowned she dragged them along, having never heard Otto sound so scared before. It took her a moment for the adrenaline, that had pumped through her at being so close to the Dragon and Sir Ratsudon fighting while she healed Izuku, to clear enough to realise she was dragging them both to the corpse of a Dragon strong enough to take out her Dad and Lady Usagiyama.

‘Take out…’

She clamped down on her mind as worry spiked in her heart. Her father was okay. He had gotten one of his [Mana Shield]’s up. He was a strong spell caster, stronger than anyone else she knew. If the shield had stayed intact from the attack long enough to crash into the Dungeon Hall, it was good enough to keep him alive.

Shaking her head, she pushed any thoughts about him and Lady Usagiyama out of her mind, just for the moment. She knew she would have a right proper freak out about it later on once her dad had woken up, but right now there was someone that wasn’t as strong as him that needed her help.

Or at least, she didn’t think Izuku was as strong as him?

She had no real way of explaining what she had just witnessed. When she had used [Appraise] on him it had told her that Izuku was relatively low level, and so had the boy himself, so how, pardon her dwarvish, the fuck did he just kill a dragon like this one?!

“Woah, Melissa!”

She stopped right in time to avoid running straight into the corpse of the dragon, having apparently been far too lost in her own head to realise. Nodding to Otto, who had been the one to snap her out of her thoughts, she dragged them around the other side of the Dragon.