18 Chapter 18(The First Solo Expedition Finale)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

This chapters' author notes are very important for the world and plot so please read it.

pat.treon: https://www.pat.reon.com/Keanu_Eugene if you want to support me and get some additional content etc. Remove the "." and spaces or just search Keanu_Eugene on the site.

CHAPTER START------

---Floor 16 Final Section...

Yang spent 2 hours resting to regain some mana and health. Aside from his pants and boots his gear was completely packed away, all of it destroyed beyond repair. The skin on his torso and arms could be seen charred black or completely missing and wisps of flames can be seen moving about his body to activate his healing. He slowly made his way towards the 17th floor hoping his plan works. 'Ok, I should have enough mana to just boost past the Goliath and get to the safe zone for health potion or something before I camp out. My mana feels a lot fuller than it was when I rested earlier so that's good. My body feels lighter and is healing faster so that's got mean I either got a crap ton of stat or a leveled up. I'll have to check with Hephaestus when I get back. For now, I just need to run to the safe zone'

As Yang felt his body gain a new kind of strength and his mana begins to refill much faster he walks to the Goliath room on floor 17. What greets him is the sight of a 25ft tall humanoid-looking creature with grey skin and white hair holding a greatsword larger than Yang himself. He noticed that the monster wasn't moving as it simply stood in the middle of the room and didn't notice him, deciding to test his luck he quickly dashed directly at the monster. As he reached closer to the monster it lifted its large 11ft greatsword and swung at him, Yang smiled at this.

As the sword was raised the monster created an opening for him to dash past the legs of the monster and get to the tunnel to the 18th floor. Activating his Mage Armor in case he gets hit as well as AMP he feels his body is much lighter and faster than it was before. He also notices that his mage armor is a hotter white flame with his elements flowing more naturally with each other. His boost now seems much less costly and is also comprised of more powerful jets of white flames. Noticing these changes he lands after his first boost and looks back at the goliath who just finished his swing.

'Let's see if you can keep up with this' Yang thought as he executed his new idea and launched forward using boost again but this time focusing a steady stream of magic to his legs as well as his hands to keep himself steady and adjust direction. He quickly shot off from the ground and to his pleasant surprise was steadily and quickly flying through the dungeon "HAHAHAHAHAHAAH! FINALLY!" he yelled in excitement as he uses AMP to quickly react to the winding tunnel down to the 18th floor and within moments he sees light at the end of the tunnel. He shot out of the exit and as greeted by to his surprise a large lush forested floor with crystals in the ceiling emitting what appeared to be moonlight. From his spot 200ft in the air, he could spot a town and a nice lake in the distance. Appreciating the view he quickly assessed his situation and continued as he had planned. 'Ok I need to get healed then set up camp, I can't afford the inn down here'.

---Floor 18 'Safe Floor'...

All the adventurers walking the paths of the town in the safe zone as well as those that were relaxing in the forest could feel a magic source approach. They all readied their weapons and looked to the tunnel leading to the 17th floor which was located on a hill high above them. They all expected a monster rex Goliath of the 17th floor to emerge and begin to rampage but to their surprise the tunnel glowed, brighter and brighter until a large flame burst out of the tunnel. Many adventures raised their shields above their heads whilst others began casting defensive barriers. Everyone was expecting an attack of some kind but the flames arced upwards and flew 200ft into the air before stopping for a moment and beginning to quickly descend towards the small town on the safe zone. The Loki familial as well as many adventurers in the forest ran off towards the town to provide help against the unknown foe.

LOKI FAMILIA POV------

Finne: "Riveria we should head back to camp, I don't think we can get any more information here about the recent monster spawns on the lower floors."

Riveria: "Yeah let's... somethings coming."

Riveria quickly drew her staff and began chanting a barrier. This alarmed all the adventurers in the town as everyone drew their weapons and looked at where her eyes were locked. The moment they wondered what was going on they felt a large amount of magic rapidly approaching. Bete arrived as fast as he could and stood on the edge of the town beside Finna and Riveria as well as other adventurers. The new monster still wasn't all discovered so nobody was willing to take any chances. Everyone was battle-ready and took their team formations. By this time the ball of fire was descending and most of the adventurers were inside barriers whilst others were launching their own attacks. The enemy attack quickly dodged and weaved through the spells and flew right through the smaller magic attacks as it approached relentlessly. As the monster was within 20ft of the ground Finn and Bete quickly lunged forward and jumped to attack. To everyone's surprise, the fireball quickly redirected itself and seemed to, dodge, the attack of Finn before it... spoke?

Yang: "Wowowowowowow stop stop!"

As the fire spoke everyone stopped and stared at it bewildered. They were surprised by its appearance in the safe zone, then it dodged Finn's slash and now it's speaking to them.

Riveria: "What are you?"

Yang quickly stopped his Mage Armor but left his AMP active just in case as he continued.

Yang: "Finns relax it's me, Yang, remember?"

Finn: "You can fly?"

Yang: "Yeah well I couldn't before but I think I leveled up so yeah."

At his words, the crown including the Loki familial members froze, everyone had the same thought 'Leveled up already?'. It was a moment after that Riveria and the other saw the state of his body. He only wore tattered remains of clothes and his boots as his body was battered, burnt, and bleeding.

Riveria: "Fil Eldis!"

Riveria chants as she heals his body a bit.

Yang: "Thanks for that, stupid lightning dragon almost killed me."

Yang spoke nonchalantly as he feels the healing magic rejuvenate his body and he visibly saw his skin healing.

Finn: "You fought a dragon?"

Yang: "Yeah" He casually says while summoning the dragon monster crystal from his inventory.

Everyone's eyes bulged as they saw the large crystal with lightning energy arcing from it. This was the telltale sign of it being the crystal of a blue dragon wyrmling at the very least. And they couldn't comprehend that he killed it while he was still level 2. This feat was absurd. As Yang places the crystal back into his inventory Finn speaks once again much to Bete's annoyance.

Finn: "Well come with us to our camp and Riveria can finish healing you, we aren't going to the lower floors for another day so we can afford it."

Yang: "Thanks I really need it honestly. Some of my limbs are still sore from when they shattered and I don't think a potion is gonna cut it hehe."

Bete: "Yeah just don't start any trouble"

Yang nervously laughs as he follows Riveria to the campsite. Meanwhile, Bete speaks to Finn at the back.

Bete: "What's the deal with being this nice to a level 3?"

Finn: "Honestly the fact that he got from level 1 to 3 within 2 weeks is exactly why we should be nice to him. He also mentioned he leveled up so if we can convince him Riveria can take a look at his stats. Lefiya can probably convince him."

Bete: "Yeah that makes sense I guess. Hopefully, he isn't too annoying."

As the 4 adventurers walk back to the campsite in the woods they saw many people casting their gaze to Yang who seemed to completely ignore them as he walked through the town shirtless. Approaching the edge of the lake where they made camp they saw their fellow familial members standing with their hands on their weapons watching them approach.

Finn: "It's fine the magic fire was just Yang. He is gonna be staying with us tonight."

At his words, everyone calmed down before they walked to their camp and all sat down to talk. Yang sat with the group around the bonfire as Riveria stood behind him subtly chanting healing spells whilst everyone spoke to him.

Finn: "What happened to your team, do we need to go find them?"

Yang: "No I came down alone, figured it would be easier to level up like that, seems I was right."

Ais: "That lets you level up already?"

Ais quietly spoke to him the first time that evening as something interesting was finally said.

Finn: "Don't even think about it Ais, you know that's a stupid idea and we won't let you just walk around the dungeon solo anyway."

Ais quickly returned to her inner thoughts as she listened to the conversation.

Finn: "You got lucky Yang but I don't recommend you make this a habit. Get a team. We can't predict what's on each floor anymore aside from bosses. Speaking of those did u beat the goliath?"

Yang: "Nah the dragon roughed me up so I came down here instead of staying to fight. Tomorrow I'll head up and deal with him before heading back to the surface."

Finn: "You made the right call rushing down here in your state, if you'd like we can check your stats before you head back up so you will know what new things you can do. The new monsters tend to be full of surprises so it's best to know all your skills."

Yang: "Well that makes sense but, I don't think I'm really supposed to be showing everyone my stats." 'Ugh, I hope they don't stop healing me because of this.'

Finn looked at Lefiya as if prompting her to act.

Lefiya: "Awe I was hoping to see if you caught up with me already, I just hit level 3 a few days ago."

Lefiya tried and failed to be seductive as instead, she sounded nervous as the words left her.

Yang: 'Well maybe Hephaestus won't be too mad, I mean they are healing me right now so, mmm sure why not.' "Well I suppose as thanks for healing me I can show them just this once, I'd also like to know what I can do honestly."

Riveria: "This last spell will heal the surface of your skin and then I'll generate your stat sheet."

Yang: "Alright, thanks again by the way for the healing, I kinda ran out of health potions."

Yang awkwardly looked at the group as he began playing with the bonfire between them to create dancing snakes in the flames.

As Yang began playing with the flames Riveria's magic began removing the charred and burnt skin as well as repairing the missing pieces from his body. Everyone looked up as the charred skin cracked and fell off only to be regrown and show the visage of a lean but well sculpted and muscular torso with light caramel skin. Riveria who had her hands on his back felt the muscles ripple and couldn't help the small blush that formed on her face. Lefiya was almost the point of imitating a ripe tomato with the heat emanating from her face, Tione and Tiona also observed his sculpted body but Tione seemed more interested in Lefiya's reaction as she now had more ways to tease her.

Riveria: "Well um, now ill generate the stat-sheet. Just one moment."

As Riveria begins to form the stat sheet Tiona is the one to break the silence with a simple question.

Tiona: "So what's it like to fly around?"

Yang: "Well that was my first time so it felt really amazing, super fast and my AMP lets me react and stuff so flying in the dungeon isn't as deadly. It's always been a dream of mine so it's like nothing I've felt before. When I get good at it I'm willing to take someone flying sometime."

Yang finishes his statement with a smile on his face and looking directly at Lefiya not subtle at all which causes her to blush even more as she looks at her hands in her lap.

Riveria: "Alright it's re... what?"

Her words caught in her throat as she stared at his back. Quickly focusing and copying the ink onto the paper she hands it to him before going back to reading his back.

STAT SHEET------

NAME: Yang Shen

Level 3(leveled up from fighting blue dragon wyrmling random encounter on floor 16)

Stats(Before Reset): STR=SS DEX=SSS AGI=SSS MAG=SSS END=SSS

Stats(Now level[3]): STR=B DEX=A AGI=A MAG=S END=S

Age:16

Magic:

---Storage(Its essential video game inventory)

Allows the user to store up Monster Crystals+25 square feet of items.

---Elementalist (Obtained at level 2)

Allows the user to channel certain elemental magic through their body and manipulate the elements to their whim however the user can take damage from these elements.

Skills:

---Elemental Resistance(Obtained at level 2)[Level 7]

Taking elements damage develops resistance to these elements over time.

---Elemental Healing(Obtained at level )[Level 5]

Pre-requisite skill 'Elemental Resistance'.Allows the uses to transfer some of the resisted elemental energy into health.

---Hunter(Obtained at level 2)

Improves abilities against monsters that the user has fought before and gained experience from.

---War Mage(Unique ability variant)(Obtained at level 2)[Level 3]

Amplifies the user's magic and reduces the cost and strain on the mind and body.

---Unarmed Strikes(Obtained level 2)[Level 5]

All unarmed strike damage is boosted

---Abnormal Resistance(Obtained level 2)[level 2]

Negates the effect of abnormalities such as poison. At Rank G, it can negate almost everything

---Mage Armor(Obtained through stress at level 2)[Level 6]

Envelops the user in magic amplifying defense and unarmed strike damage with elemental damage.

---Kinetic Exchange(Obtained Level 3)[Level 1]

Whilst moving in mage armor acceleration and momentum are amplified when added to melee damage. Recoil and backlash from this are greatly reduced on the user's body. Whilst this skill has no set limit the user's capabilities of achieving velocity and taking damage are the limits.

---Elemental Absorption(Obtained at level 3)[Level 1]

Transfers some of the elemental magic that damages the user into mana for the user. (For the damage that he DOES NOT resist only. So after he resists the damage some of the damage he takes will give him mana but it will still damage him to be clear)

---Greater Spirit Healing(Unique Variant)(Obtained level 3)[Level 1]

Automatically begins to restore mind/mana.

SHEET END------

After Yang read his sheet everyone stood up and looked at his stats. They were amazed at his growth whilst simultaneously bewildered at the unique skills he has along with the diversity of his skills. Finn and Riveria were studying his stats with scrutinizing eyes whilst Tione, Tiona, and Bete all wondered what fighting style he had. To the side of their friends, Ais and Lefiya were having different reactions. These stats made Ais truly consider going solo into the dungeon to level up and get faster stronger whilst it made Lefiya feel a bit depressed. It took her years to get to level 2 followed by 3 years to reach level 3 and now he has done both of those within 2 weeks of being an adventurer. She felt cheated and wanted to know his secrets.

As everyone stared at these stats Yang released a small yawn and got up.

Yang: "Thanks for the help guys but I really need to go to bed, I'm gonna hunt the goliath in the morning then head up to the surface."

Finn: "Yeah, we have an extra tent if you'd like."

Yang: "Nah I brought my own."

As Yang spoke everyone was a bit confused until he summoned his camping gear and a change of clothes and began setting up his tent.

Finn: "I thought that was only for monster crystals."

Yang: "It's for anything that can fit and isn't alive basically. Where do you think I kept all those monster parts when I cleared all the floors."

Finn: "That's very useful magic. Get some rest, Yang."

Yang: "Thanks, I'll go get cleaned up" He walks down to the lake to get washed up.

Finn: "So, any ideas on how we can get him to come with us? He doesn't seem to want or need a team and clearly, he's strong at least for a level 3 and his magic is very useful and versatile. Also, this sheet shows that the kids a little monster with all these skills stacking. Elemental damage heals him and he can heal himself as well as fly and who knows what else. Plus he can apparently absorb elemental damage and use it as mana along with his own unique version of Spirit Healing that Riveria has. We should keep him close."

Riveria: "Agreed, but I doubt he would just up and join us, not to mention it may seem like we want to poach him and Hephaestus and Freya would probably put our familia in a tight spot. I don't think he's worth going to war with Freya's familia over especially not at level 3 and when they have Ottar, Hephaestus could cut off our supply of weapons which is probably why Freya hasn't made any moves. Maybe if we can get him to ask us."

Finn: "I really don't see that happening anytime soon. Anyone have ideas."

Tione: "Well if our blushing tomato can seduce him he'd probably follow us around."

Lefiya: "TIONE! You know I wouldn't do that. He's...nice to look at and seems nice but we don't even know him."

Tione: "Sounds like you think he's a bit more than just NICE to look at."

Lefiya looks down at her hands in her lap as she blushes furiously

Tione: "HA! knew it."

Finn: "That's not how we do things Tione so stop teasing her. Let's just keep an eye on him and eventually, he'd probably need a good team to go to the lower levels, Hephaestus familia doesn't exactly have an expedition team as large as us even with Captain Tsubaki so we'll be the next best choice for him."

Bete: "Yeah he's gonna want the best and that's us, the kids strong, especially for a level 3."

At his words, everyone just silently looked at Bete surprised he would say something like that.

Bete: "What!? His stats don't lie."

Ais: "If he catches up to us, we have to get him to come with us. I need to get to the bottom floors."

At her words everyone was silent, Ais resolve to get to the end of the dungeon was second to none and all of them knew it, the implication of her words, the idea of him catching up would have been a bad joke had he not showed he might be able to do that very thing.

Finn: "Yeah I agree. For now, let's get some rest, it's already pretty late and we leave in the morning."

At his words, everyone silently nodded and went to their tents. They had gathered information on the recent monsters that appeared on the lower floors and prepared as best they could for the new nature of the dungeon, now all they could do was rest.

END CHAPTER------