Chapter 5 Commissioned by Kriegan and Joe

[Monsters in the Sewers- Rank S Complete! Competition rate 46%] [ 1.5 Job Tokens allotted.] My system told me and my face twitched out of sight of John and Ariana as my system was clearly punishing me for only taking a damned backseat in the scheme of things... I needed more power and just claiming parts of the damn sewers wasn't going to cut it.

So even as a mental tidal wave of lesser materials and stuff entered my inventory from the quest rewards, I had to focus on John as he strode over past Arianna and over to the remains of the Dracolich and as she watched the monster hunter hovering over the potent alchemical reagent. Arianna visibly vibrated in distress before John made a tsk noise and without looking at us walked towards the exit only saying a simple line. "I am going deeper underground to clear any other messes... You two clean up and purify the area so no ghosts or spirits haunt the area." He finished as he walked into the darkness of an abandoned tunnel leaving me and Arianna alone.

A moment of silence was left between me and Arianna before the half-fallen, half-demi-god blurred with a mad cackle of joy as she ran over and grabbed the remains of the large skeletal figure of the Dracolich and as she threw the remains into a magical glyph that probably led to some kind of storage pocket dimension. But when she was done, we both noticed something.

Laying on the ground beneath where the corpse of the Dracolich was the pile of loot from the boss of the quest, the Dracolich... "Why did the Dracolich drop what looks like tens of thousands of dollars, a book that's clearly magical, a knife that's tainted by necrotic energy and-" I coughed getting Arianna's attention as I came up with an excuse.

"Uhh, my loot drops and battle trophies from monsters that die around me are bugged and always give me a lot more!" I said partially lying, I wasn't going to just give out the secret of my Gamer abilities but to give an explanation for why loot was so common and varied for me needed to be given. If I was to continue to work with people, as I had no doubt that John Wick saw the loot as well... And with how social Arianna was, I had no doubt she was inevitably going to talk about this quest.

Arianna just deadpanned as she grabbed a tied-together block of cash that was helpfully labeled as ten thousand dollars. "Jake... Demigods are typically sent out on quests with less than a hundred dollars and a fucking pack of Oreo Cookies with the creme filling licked out already by Dionysus."

She waved the block of cash at me and then she looked around her eye twitched as she saw how all the other dead monsters had more loot either buried under their large corpse if they didn't break apart into dust being foreign monsters or loot was mixed in with the dust of Greek monsters that broke apart at death or the ashes of John Wicks victims. "Try again big boy." She said wryly as we took in all the loot and I rose a finger before dropping it and shrugging.

And seeing me just shrug, she shivered as the desire for knowledge literally bred into her very veins being a Fallen Angel and Demi-God of Athena made her face turn up into a grimace before she visibly took a breath as she spoke. "Whatever, I get the corpse of the Dracolich and you get the loot... But if you get cursed by this dagger I am going to fucking laugh at you!" She said spitefully as she walked away to go grab more corpses to render down to materials probably.

Although she was clearly upset with me for not spilling my secrets, she was a joy to watch as she walked away... Fallen Angels were crafted perfection after all, and having that essence merged with the divinity of Athena certainly didn't make her lack in beauty.

Anyway, with that done I shook my head with a wry smile as I began throwing the loot into my inventory until I got to the cursed dagger and took in its description using my system. [Imperial Eulogy- Dagger Class- Enemies struck with the dagger have their natural regeneration severely hampered by the blade's necrotic energy as well as being poisoned and weakened by the necrotic energies.- Warning, cutting your food with this dagger can poison the user as well.]

The blade looked a bit like an ebony dagger from Skyrim in its shape but the blade was clearly made from the decrepit bones of the dracolich John Wick had killed. Putting that away into my inventory so I could inspect it further and maybe use it in the future. I turned to Arianna and blinked as I saw the fucking loot goblin quietly running around snatching all the corpses and when my eyes landed on her as she was shoving the corpse of a cyclops into the magical glyph she froze.

She glared back at me but there was no hiding the sheepish look in her eyes as she snapped back at me. "Don't look at me like that! I did my part, and I only make pennies working as a librarian at the Continental!"

I just rose an amused eyebrow at her antics which made her pout and sullenly push her own loot into the glyph as I went over and grabbed more money and drops, while I did notice the monsters did drop stuff that fits their theme like cyclops dropping metals and even some completed weapons that were better than the sports goods store crap I had been using.

"So do you know how to use a long bow?" Arianna asked in interest as I hefted the large bronze-covered bow that came from a pile of golden dust and at her question I paused before shaking my head.

I answered her truthfully. "I only got experience with compound bows from my previous hunting experience." And at my response, I could hear the clicking of her heels as she walked over towards me making me look over and see she was wearing a smile that was similar to the saying. 'The cat ate the canary.' In how she looked like I was all but already sliding down her gluttonous gullet.

"Hmm?" She whispered questioningly her voice being a velvet that caressed my ears as her stride over to me became overtly seductive with her hips bouncing in her tight-fitting dress with each step distracting me. Arianna came closer till her face was but a couple of inches away from my face. "Would you like to learn?" She offered surprisingly straightforward forwardly and then she bounced back giggling at my flummoxed expression and she continued. "I am serious Jake, actually if anything you would be helping me as someone owes me a favor and has been bugging me to repay it and she is a decent archer." She explained.

After a moment of thought, I nodded as honestly, I needed to get more into the supernatural side of things so I could claim more territory... Maybe there was some kind of pocket realm or dimension from some faded religion I could claim. Seeing Arianna raise an eyebrow at my silent nod I spoke up. "Yes Arianna, I would appreciate the help," I said truthfully and she snorted at the sheer understatement of what I had said.

"One sec, let me shoot her a message." She said quickly taking out her phone and I heard the clicking of her fingernails on the screen for all of thirty seconds as she sent the woman a message. Then with that complete, she slipped her phone back down into her booby pocket dimension. Once that was done she looked back to me with a smug little smile as she said cheerily. "Alright well, meet me at the NY public library for our little date!" She said teasingly and then a magical glyph formed under her feet as she took a couple of steps away from me.

I just waved and spoke with a small smile as I didn't even entertain the thought of refusing with how helpful she had been so far. "Alright Arianna, no need to twist my arm, I will be there," I said jokingly with her winking before a flash of light blinded me for a second as she teleported away. Leaving me alone in naught but the corpses of the fallen monsters... So to say the least I got the hell out of there while pulling up the map I had of NYC to see where the public library was.

While doing my stuff to get ready to go out on a date or whatever I went over my loot and I realized it was almost all exclusively materials which made sense with how my Gamer power was focused on what the OG Gamer was so strong besides his reliance on magic, and that was crafting crazy stuff using the Gamer's auto creation abilities which could churn out enchanted items. So I needed to get a crafting skill first of all.

And what better way to get into crafting than to perform the time-honored divine tradition of crafting knives and arrows like the good old days while playing Skyrim to mass-level your blacksmithing ability?

-

My crafting system was weird... Basically, the gamer system would pilot my body so long as no other sentient living being was around me apparently for my own safety but if there was someone around or I wanted to be in control the system would basically whisper or guide my motions softly, as I crafted stuff on my own.

But the auto-crafting was far more efficient and precise, as apparently, the game was fully able and willing to cheat using some weird magical shit to do the crafting rather than just doing it by hand... But unfortunately, hand-built stuff I made by hand came with a bonus so the game was clearly telling me to use it for mass-producing more disposable stuff like potions, arrows, and other stuff. But if I wanted to make a more reliable weapon like an actual bow I would need to build it by hand though guided by the system.

"But why does the auto crafting still give the crafting skill experience?" I muttered wryly as I watched almost like a backseat driver as my body went autopilot with my hands glowing with a bronze light as my fingernails were like chisels that could easily scrape away materials to shape the celestial bronze I was using as a material to make arrowheads. So once the hard shaping bit was done for the arrowheads and making the arrows out of the bones from the drops I got from the monsters.

[Celestial Bronze tipped arrows.]

[Deals additional damage to supernatural creatures but deals normal damage to mortals.]

It was interesting to note how the Celestial Bronze unlike in Percy Jackson didn't just pass through mortals because of how mortals were unworthy of being slain by the weak divine metal. Maybe because of how in this universe mortals were far more dangerous with their sacred gears and wide range of potent magic's available to them that the divine metal didn't disregard mortals.

And calling Celestial Bronze a weak divine metal was apt as I learned from Arianna's Golder Order book that Celestia Bronze was literally just any metal and even dirt tainted heavily with the essence of the Greek Pantheon's brand of divinity and every few decades Mount Olympus would shed the heavy weight of the garbage divine metal with Hephaestus taking the high-quality strains and veins of it to be used in the Greek factions own systems.

I paused as I was crafting as I felt a ping from my map about someone entering my sector of the underground but thankfully they only stood on the edge of my territory before leaving and the sight made my shoulders shrug as I continued my exploration of the crafting system.

My crafting system actually came with some crafting recipes I recognized from my days playing games like Terraria, Minecraft, Skyrim and others. And seeing the Skyrim potions I focused on something very closely... The Potions of Enchanting, and Blacksmithing and Alchemy. I was wondering if I could cheese the world like I could in Skyrim. but I very much doubted my game system would be so kind.

Either way with my frankly crappy ability at making weapons I only made a couple of things, being the arrows that I could use in the Celestial Bronze bow I got as a drop from one of the monsters previously, as well as allowing the system to take over my body to make me a couple of Viking style battle axes that I could easily wield.

And with these weapons, I felt a lot more assured as using the bow would give me the long-distance weapons I needed with my lack of offensive magic, and the axes would allow my body enhancement magics to take the best effects.

I looked down at my phone and seeing the time I got up with a groan and changed my clothes as I still had that library date with Arianna.

After a long bus ride across the city in which I actually passed by some monsters or maybe even demi-gods according to my minimap, I finally arrived at the public library and disembarked from the bus and took in the large Greek or Roman-style building as I came into the library I smiled wryly as the bright murals, sculptures, and other artworks were a bit much for me. 'I am here. Where are you?" I texted Ariana and half a minute later I got her message telling me she had got a private reading room.

"So much for a public library." I said with my eye twitched as I took an elevator down to the sublevel that housed the private reading rooms for people who apparently made contributions to the library be it books of historic value, artwork they filled the massive library with... Or just good hard cash 'donations.'

The private reading room was almost like a small apartment but with no windows. it was classically decorated with the floors being darkly stained hardwoods with the lighting being bright lights that were elegantly caged in cast iron candle holders that looked very nice along with the furniture being a more relaxed darker set of leather furniture with a large reading desk placed against the wall with a couple of couches for leisurely reading.

And laying across one couch with her back propped up by a large plush pillow was Arianna with her reading clearly worn by many hands book that thankfully had its gold and red lettering for its title still being legible for me to read. "The secrets of World War 2?" I read aloud before smiling wryly as I was aware of how the supernatural factions were supposed to have played a major part in the great war. I was honestly curious if Roosevelt, Churchill, and Hitler were still children of the Big Three Olympian gods in this universe.

At my words, Arianna gently slipped a ribbon into the book to mark her place and closed the book before she looked up at me and smiled but instead of my wry smile her smile was one of sarcastic knowledge that you didn't really want to have learned and she shared that by snorting as she placed the book on the table in front of the couch. "The Truth of World War II written by Joseph Stalin... Who as the son of the Slavic god Veles fought the Greek's bullshit in what they pulled in Europe during the Great War." She spoke making my head spin at the Slavic gods being a thing before she shrugged as she continued. "Humans like to believe their wars are fought by the one percent for their own gains."

Arianna made deep eye contact with me as I sat next to her on the couch as she shifted to lay her legs on my lap making me roll my eyes at her childishness despite the words she spoke. "That's what the little humans think, but how do you think they would react if they knew almost all the wars of humanity were piloted by some supernatural being who was fighting another supernatural or just being a dick to humanity?" She asked questioningly.

But to her words, I snorted and raised an eyebrow as I poked the back of her knee making her giggle and pull back her legs to sit naturally as I responded. "They wouldn't do a thing, as humanity is well used to following their loudest voice... If anything if the gods and other beings were to come out of the shadows it would be rather interesting all things told." I said with an amused smile at the thought despite Arianna eyeing me like I was crazy.

Rather than continue that heavy topic I decided to get to the heart of the matter really. "So Arianna... My first fallen angel I have met, and Watcher as I travel through this perilous world like my personal Valkyrie what have you called upon me for." I said jokingly and she flushed slapping my leg and making it go numb as the force was beyond what I expected.

"Oh you... Don't tease a maiden like me or I may just eat you up." She spoke with her voice coming out as a deep purr that made me nervously chuckle as my senses screamed as my system literally pinged that my danger sense fucking leveled up! But the glowing ardor in her royal grey eyes died down as she took a breath and stared up at the ceiling and began speaking at the ceiling. "You know... You are a really convenient piece to many people's possible plans with how I cannot scry your future actions or the things around you at all." She said making me raise an eyebrow at that loaded statement.

"Does it matter to you helping me? Or are you going to lead me into a trap or something?" I asked frankly and she blinked and waved a hand in front of herself in a quick denial.

"Dear countless gods no... It's merely a statement of fact, that girl you picked up was supposed to be molested and killed in the girl's bathroom by that vampire you killed. Sure she is still slated to die by being eaten by a monster within the next five years but she lives now when she wasn't supposed to... You broke her fate and for someone who with so little magical and physical power that's very uncommon." She said frankly.

I took a breath and after a moment of silence, I asked flatly. "So why are you paying me to lead these kids to camp then?"

To my question, there was a blur of motion and before I could react Arianna was on my lap with her fingers softly holding my face as she was leaning in only inches away from my face and our noses almost touching as she unflinchingly stared into my eyes. "Jake..." She whispered. "You are an enigma... And the unknown to me who is both fallen and the spawn of the owl goddess, you are a puzzle I am obsessed with knowing each and every iota of knowledge you bear and are made of." She spoke and even as I realized she had no humanity and thus was fucking crazy by all extent of words.

I also realized that the combination of demi-goddess, and fallen angel tainted by sinful delight made such a beauty. that's on the crazy-to-hot scale... She was well within the fuckable limits on that scale.

"Tell me, Jake... What truly allows enchanted materials, weapons, and even books that are made to download information and experience into someone's mind to exist?" She questioned softly as her soft hands clutched my face in place so her gray eyes could stare into my own as though she could find the answer on her own.

But despite her extreme reaction to her desire for knowledge, my system didn't ping or mark her as an enemy with her still marked blue on my minimap as an ally. So instead of flipping out I softly smiled as I poked her side but the tickling motion that once made her squirm so adorably was for naught as she didn't react at all so I spoke instead. "Why should I answer? What good will sharing such knowledge and secrets provide me and even you." I answered frankly and she blinked in some surprise as she seemed ready to accept me freaking out but my almost cooperative response put her on the back foot as she leaned back and wrapped her arms under her chest as she spoke under her breath.

"I really wanna know... The sight of such interesting knowledge digs at my head like you are in the middle of a conversation with someone and you forget the word used for something and you have to play charades with that other person to make them guess the word as you cannot for the life of you recall that word." Arianna said slowly before sighing.

I was kinda torn, to be honest... I didn't want to tell her really about my gamer power really. But I needed help to understand my powers, get stronger, and even just places in which I could claim for my Emperor skill so I could become powerful in general. Then it hit me, a convenient half-truth that wasn't even a lie just missing information.

"I have a sort of ability." I started and her eyes laser-focused on me. "Whenever I claim an area as my own dominion, I get a sense for that area, and depending on the value of the territory for a lot of factors I get stronger and foes killed upon the land I claimed drop stuff magically," I answered and her eyes tightened as she looked into mine for any type of falsehood...

And finally, she bit her lip before her ebony-haired head ducked down low with her head placed against my chest and then she felt like she was vibrating in place which felt fucking weird. "Uhh Arianna?" I started softly and then her head snapped back with the private reading room filled with the sound of her laughter as finally Arianna's large black feathered fallen angel wings burst from her back and wrapped around me in a fluffy prison as her arms wrapped around me as she hugged me.

After her laughter died down she was silent for a minute while I was just waiting for her next neurotic outburst but her words kinda surprised me with how calm she sounded. "You told me the truth... Or at least the truth as you see it." She spoke softly as I remained still with the woman clinging to me.

"Yup... So now what?" I asked frankly and her grey eyes looked up at me from my chest and I saw a devilish smile form as she seductively leaned back slowly with her back still bent over slightly which allowed me to see down the cut of her dress to her large pale swells.

Her hands which were previously iron tight around my back gently slid across from my back and placed themselves on my chest and she seemingly tapped my chest a couple of times with her hands before she began to speak softly. "Jake, you need to claim a territory correct?" At my nod, she continued. "Then in that case why not claim a town within the Shinto spirit world." She asked.

I shrugged as I honestly didn't know anything much about the Shinto's as despite DXD taking place in Japan, the Shinto didn't have anything at all to do with anything there. "There are many kinds of monsters and supernatural beings in this world Jake." Arianna started and no longer was she being seductive, now she was speaking seriously with her gaze staring at me in stoic strength at making sure I was absorbing the information she was sharing. "Supernatural beings can be separated into two camps for the most part. They commonly know as the Supernatural Beings or Moonlit World Beings. Which are beings that are born supernaturally in their very nature, and magic is woven into their very being from birth." She explained and then went on to list races such as Fallen Angel's Devils, Angels, Demi-Gods and many other types of races including Giants and Dragons were a part of this list.

"Then there are the Monsters." Arianna started with a small frown crossing her face before she continued. "Beings like Vampires, true Werewolves, and other beings that need to kill humans and other sentient beings to merely survive... Their predatory nature makes them a pariah in the Supernatural World and for good reason as for the most part they are utterly unrepentant in their predatory needs and see all other beings that they hunt as lesser and thus cattle undeserving of pity." She finished before taking a breath.

"Over the last dozens of millennia, many gods and powerful beings created literally countless pocket dimensions and planes to throw entire races of monsters created for war, accident or even a curse that became a virulent plague into those dimensions, and over the years they have developed into resource-rich area's that supernatural groups go to harvest materials, slaves of those monsters, and lastly as a testing ground as the realms are so many that unless they have exceeding rare materials other groups won't fight you for a realm." She finished explaining and then even took a drink from a bottle of water she took out of a glyph that led to her pocket dimension.

All the while I was stewing on my thoughts... Honestly, it sounded perfect, no Greek Gods or overpowered legendary monsters to fuck me up beyond recognition. So I asked for clarification. "So what does that have to do with the Shinto side of the Spirit World or whatever?" I asked in confusion and she smiled as she quickly responded.

"Oh, you recall that archer teacher I offered?" At my nod, she continued. "So basically one of the races thrown into another dimension was the Gumiho race, a race closely related to Kitsune's but cruel beyond measure with the all-female race having their dietary needs being the livers and hearts of humans and other sentient beings... The problem is that they overindulged and literally almost ate twenty percent of all the people in the land of Korea over the course of a decade like a thousand and a half years ago so Amaterasu, unable to slaughter a race of her descendants instead threw almost all of them into that other realm to rot out of mind."

She took a breath and wryly spoke. "Now they are getting more powerful so Amaterasu... Though more the other Shinto gods are sending a clan of Yukki-Onna of which one of them is to be your teacher. Into the realm to cull their numbers as they are getting powerful enough, to bring their prison realm closer to Earth and slip out for a while to hunt humans before their souls born of that realm yank them back into their prison." She finished.

And that was the thing, once the realm was cleansed, I would literally have a decent size pocket dimension I could use magic to travel to and back to Earth from stocked with magical materials and possibly Gumiho and other monsters that counted as people and thus beings I would have dominion over... Assuming the Yuki-Onna didn't literally purge them down to the last.

Arianna's hand took my chin as I was deep in thought and she made me look into her eyes as she spoke ever so clearly. "Jake, feel no pity or remorse for any monsters. As by and large they will have none for you." She said before taking a breath and continuing. "Even if they are beautiful beyond measure, remember that those Gumiho were born with sharp teeth and their mothers fed them the livers and hearts of whatever sentient being they could get their hands on. Be it their father's. there aunts or even other children... They are sentient predators and they have no choice but to consider others as food and that's a simple fact."

I deadpanned. "I wasn't thinking about fucking a girl who would gleefully eat my heart and liver." I retorted dully and she raised an amused eyebrow before snorting.

"You weren't before, but when the Yuki Onna slaughter them and one of them runs up to you offering her body... Actually, if they offer up their fox marble you could take them as a slave." She said absentmindedly in realization before her face twitched at her misspoke and she flicked my head. "Forget I said anything about that... If they offer their subservience and beg for their life just kill them harder." She said vindictively making my lips quiver at how... Possessive she sounded.

That was the last of the warnings and such but I had wonderful news. The plan to go to that realm was in only five days so I had some time to perhaps find a couple more demi-gods and get into more trouble here in NYC before I would need to go to the Continental and take a portal to Japan.

But even as Arianna told me about Japan's supernatural side I was more focused on the fucking quest I got...

[Emperor's Domination.]

[What is an Emperor without a dangerous Fox woman that may bring nations down around her? Acquire the fox marble of a living fox woman of any race and thus acquire their enforced loyalty, love, and obedience as you will hold their souls bound to yours in totality.]

[Rewards... A Fox Wife, Ten Job Tokens, additional rewards for additional fox marbles acquired from living fox women]

Beyond the whole fox wife bit that may want to eat my flesh... Those Job Tokens would be enough for me to upgrade my Weapon Master Job to the mid point so I can also unlock Martial Arts Master which will give me a huge boost to strength.

So... Was it worth it?