Ep. 50 - Questions, Deep Floors, Hecate Again, Assemble.

The evening passed normally. We read, ate, drank, talked, cuddled with Ais, and so on. But, before actually sleeping, my wives cornered me. Literally, they pushed me towards a corner and surrounded me.

"You were strange earlier." said Yang.

"You're hiding something." said Ruby.

"You can tell us, you know?" said Weiss.

I sighed and told them about my theory regarding the Magic Pendragon Heart's curse and leveling up in this universe. How I acted strangely with Hephaestus and I really did it subconsciously.

They looked worried that the curse was affecting me so much more, but kinda interested in knowing more about Hephaestus since I considered her a 'treasure'. I promised that I would let them meet after I am done with a few things.

They weren't exactly satisfied, so we decided to forget about it by 'exercising' a little in a room close to ours. Ais was sleeping on our bed, so we couldn't exactly go there.

The next day, I wanted to test out my new and improved body. I didn't actually need to since I could run diagnostics and other such tests, but I just wanted to move around. We trasmated to the 36th floor where Ruby had placed the beacon. I then told Ais to stay close to Weiss, since I will be having some fun and it might be dangerous for her.

I jumped down the wall and started making mince meat out of any monster I could find. Punches, kicks, laser cannon shots, wrist blades, everything that I modified, I used. We were currently in the third wall, so I had my fun then started making my way to the inner parts of the floor. I just bulldozed my way through. At a certain point, I used 'Dawnblade' and started raining down magic, fiery swords. Then, at the center of the floor, I found the Monster Rex Udaeus. Since I was lacking in Ais-ium, I summoned a little something. I went with the basic structure of Oryx, then gave it an extra pair of arms and a sword, automatic laser cannons on the shoulders, and it could kamikaze bomb the shit out the enemy if needed. It was an abomination I would never want to actually face. My personal Oryx went and started wacking the shitty floor boss.

While that was happening, the Dungeon spawned in a Juggernaut, so the gang went to deal with it. Nothing they couldn't cope with. I raised Ais on my shoulders again and looked on as the Juggernaut was pummeled to death by Yang and Nora.

"You see, Ais? Monsters aren't that scary. They are just big and violent, but you can easily get rid of them with enough people or enough power. You are still young, but I'm sure you will become really strong." I said. I know that she had a trauma, so to speak, due to the One Eyed Black Dragon. I hope she will get over it. "Oh, look at that! The Udaeus has just been defeated and the Juggernaut is already on its last leg."

"Will I really be strong?" asked Ais.

"I promise that you will be super strong! I will bet my dignity as your dad! You don't have to worry. For now, we will start sparring together so that you can get used to fighting strong opponents, then we will go in the dungeon on the appropriate floors so you can get more excelia. Like this, you will be strong in no time! But, I also want you to be a child. You are still young and shouldn't only fight." I said. She nodded and hugged my head. 'Oh, my child is adorable.'

We arrived to the 49th floor today. The monsters certainly started getting more challenging for the gang, so we decided to place a beacon there and end our exploration for today. I think that the current gang will have to grind around floor 50 or so to level up a little bit more. Today, they have reached Level 4 and gained another development ability. Those that used more magic, like Weiss, got the 'Mage' ability while those that used weapons more got the related development ability, Jaune for example got 'Swordsman'. Level 3 as well was max stats in everything.

Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes. We ended our exploration early today. Ais was eager to become stronger, so I sparred with her to understand her current fighting style and make adjustments to the grimoire I want to give her. Ais is, objectively, strong for a Level 2 and someone who's not even 10 yet. This made me happy since she's my daughter, but also sad since she hasn't lived like a normal child. Well, that will change now. Since she was so eager, I decided to show her the rituals I made. She was happy to the idea of becoming stronger so easily, but sad because she needed two types of energy she didn't know. Well, she started jumping up and down when I told her I could power the rituals.

And so, Ais went through the rituals. The first Magic Heart ritual was particularly important to me since she is already part Spirit. This ritual took her natural abilities in magic and physical aspects to pretty monstrous levels. Then, the MPH ritual enhanced her again. Lastly, I also unlocked her Aura, just for good measure. I then gave her a grimoire with the magic, one with exercises to control magic and aura, along with 'cultivation' techniques, and one with rapier and sword fighting techniques.

After all these rituals, Ais began training and I left her alone. Training in magic and aura is something personal. The grimoires gave her knowledge on how to do it safely and efficiently, so I wasn't too worried. Weiss was already outside the meditation chamber looking at the internal video feed, checking that Ais didn't hurt herself.

Everything was under control, so I trasmated in front of the Hecate Familia HQ with my armor already equipped. I entered the building and was directly brought to Hecate's office. Yesterday she was dressed like an adventurer to push all attention to her decoy. Today however, she was dressed like a sexy librarian onee-san that you see in questionable comics of Asian origin. And it was hot. Well, luckily or maybe not, I didn't recognize her as a 'treasure', otherwise I would have started using my 'Devil's Whisper' skill on her.

I'm digressing. I looked at her and searched her mind. I found out the Hephaestus was seriously masturbating to her new hammer. Ooh, kinky. No, that's not important. Hecate talked with her friend about me and was told about our meeting. How I am from a 'very far away' place and that I have unknown knowledge. I could see that she was interested but uncertain.

Oh, and… Before you start asking why am I asking for her knowledge and not mind-searching for it, it's because she can protect her mind. It's quite a high level and would immediately alert her if I broke through either by skill or by brute force. TLDR is I need her to give me the knowledge and can't take all of it without causing a Familia war. Well, Loki might be happy to get rid of another Familia, but I have no reason to start it.

"So… I know I'm handsome in my armor, but are we gonna just stare at each other or what?" I asked to push start the conversation.

"Sure… I don't know what you did to Hephaestus, but I want your knowledge. Now, I could take it by force with mind magic, so tell me why I shouldn't."

"Oh, trust me: you can't take my knowledge. No one can. I, on the other hand, can take it quite easily by mind-raping you. Since I usually don't go around making people stupid, I would prefer if we could make an exchange, as I said yesterday. My offer is the same: you give me all of your knowledge, and I give you a part of mine. We can even do a magic pact, if you prefer."

"A magic pact?"

"A promise that is made official by magic. If either party does not uphold the promise, they will lose the ability to use magic, be it a mortal or a God. If it makes you feel safer, I can give you a small part of the knowledge as a sign of goodwill. It will be mainly history and curiosities, but it will be an interesting 'read'." I explained. I can see that the unfamiliar term got her interested even more.

"I see… Sure, let's do this magical pact, I trust that you won't scam a Goddess like me. What are the terms you had in mind?"

"You will give me all of your magical knowledge. If you throw in the potions, I would be pretty happy as well. In exchange, I will give you some basic knowledge of all magic I know and allow you to choose one of the branches I know. I will give you all the knowledge I have about that single branch of magic. It isn't knowledge you can gain in any other way, so it's a fair deal." I said.

"Then, what branches of magic do you know?"

"Runes, Rituals, Elemental, Healing, Support, Debuff, Death, Life, Revival, Miscellaneous, Soul, Space, Time, some Reality, though I just started on that one and have only one spell, and a few more. What are you interested in?"

Hecate thought a little before making a choice. Well, not really a choice, but she narrowed it down: "How long does Support magic last and what is the maximum time-span before revival magic becomes useless."

"Excellent choices, very thoughtful of you. Support magic depends on the spell used and how much magic you pump in. It could even become permanent if you create a rune for it, which is entirely possible with the knowledge I am going to give you, though you might have to rack your brains a little. Revival magic works for an entire day. If the corpse is older than 24 hours by a single second, it will be useless." I said, explaining the details of those two magic branches. It isn't negatively affecting me anyway. I can only gain something with her knowledge. Actually, just her eye powers from yesterday are worth the knowledge. If I continue like this, I might actually become the God of Knowledge. Might not be too bad.

"I will choose Revival magic. Now, let's start this pact and get the exchange going."

I just grabbed her hand and started the pact: "The terms will be the same I stated before. Magic will make this pact official, do you accept, knowing of the consequences if you fail to meet your end of the bargain?" she nodded. "Erm, you have to say it aloud. Magic reasons."

She blushed a little and replied: "I accept."

A small bracelet-like mark appeared on our wrists. "Don't worry about that: when the pact is fulfilled, they will disappear. Now, don't get alarmed." I said and entered her mind. I quickly undid all of her protection and copied the magic-related knowledge. I also left behind the knowledge I intended to give her and the Revival magic. "There, exchange completed." I looked at my wrist and confirmed that the pact was fulfilled.

"H-how did you do that?! I am a Goddess! Of Magic at that! No one should be able to enter my mind! And what's with this magic?! It's absolutely out of this world!" she shouted, rising from her comfy armchair.

"Calm down, why don't you try entering my mind. You will see the difference between us." I said, pointing to my head. She concentrated and started a long-ass incantation. Well, it was long, but she was using some form of parallel casting and chant reduction to make it last a second. Oh, so talented, makes me want to keep her. No! Not again!

Well, she looked at me and widened her eyes. She had no light in her eyes, completely dull. Guess she has encountered my superficial protections. I went into my 'mindscape' and saw her trying to find out where she was. My first protection layer is a pitch-black environment where 'directions' don't exist and time is sped up. One million years in here is barely a second outside. based on how much time elapsed between the start and when I delved in my mindscape, she has spent a couple million years here.

"Enjoying your stay?" I asked, appearing behind her.

"What is this place?! I-it's scary… I can't find a way to get out or go deeper… Get me out of here, please!" she said, starting to tear up. Maybe I was a little too hard on her.

I immediately ejected her from my mind while casting some soul-stabilizing magic on her. She was shocked and traumatized, probably.

"Scary?"

"Go die. Who would ever put such a defense in their mind?" she said, sniffling a little and curling up in her armchair.

"Well, every single one of my group has similar defenses, so ten people in all of existence have that defense layer."

"Layer? That was just a 'layer'?! What are you hiding in that big melon of yours?!" she asked and I went in auto mode.

"You talked with Hephaestus… You know what I am hiding here. The secrets to reality… A larger world… More magic than you could ever imagine, more knowledge…" I said, going behind her and whispering to her ear. "Do you really want to know? Is the curiosity gnawing at you? Oh, poor Hecate… So much you want to ask, yet you can't…"

"Why?" she asked softly.

"Because you are a Goddess… Isn't that right? Too proud to ask a mortal… Too ignorant to recognize someone above you… Ask me, and I will tell you… Everything you could ever want to know…"

'Oh, for fuck's sake… What the hell am I even saying?'

"... Tell me. Tell me more!" she said.

"Hm��� I will do one better… I will take you with me, you just have to accept…" I said, really, really close to her little ear.

"Ye-yes!"

Second Goddess collected. I might start actually taking them all. Nah, that is unlikely, though I have to be careful with Loki. She is a fun little girl, physically at least, I might go in auto-mode again. I need to find something to counteract the curse. Maybe a unicorn? If I think about mythology, the unicorn usually is basically an opposite to the dragons, so it might work. I need to study.

I trasmated away after receiving Hecate's answer and seeing that she went full scholar-mode and started writing and muttering stuff.

Anyway, I trasmated back to the ship and found that Ais was asleep with Weiss on an armchair in the library. They are both adorable, so I saved this scene. Yeah, Yang and Ruby are less mother material than Weiss. She just loves kids. I checked the ship's records and saw that Ais had trained a lot while I was away. She is so diligent, good girl.

I decided to sit at the bar and drink a glass or two while examining the magical knowledge I gained. So, basically, magic here is a little less fucked than in the Potterverse, but inconvenient as hell. Here spirits and so on exist, so magic basically branched into two: spirit magic, mainly practiced by the elves, and 'normal' magic. Spirit magic basically is a prayer to the spirits that takes your magic as an offering. The spirits will then answer your prayer as it is a part of an ancient contract stipulated between them and the first Gods. 'Normal' magic instead relies on chants to stimulate your internal magic and, well, use it.

In the DanMachi universe, magicians are decently rare, so there aren't many spells, actually. However, they are more powerful than those in the Potterverse. Oh, one good thing is that I now have knowledge on Godly runes, which is very important to me for all the rituals I make. With my semblance and pre-existing knowledge, I modified the information, making it better, faster, stronger, more varied, more efficient, last longer. I also divided this new magic in the branches I had already made and started 'printing' new grimoires for everyone. I also took the opportunity to give them the new grimoires on weapon handling.

Tonight, the gang had an enormous boost in combat effectiveness since they now have more styles and techniques to use. Very good, if you ask me. Our relaxation was interrupted when Loki contacted us through her Falna. I knew that Gods had ways to communicate with their children. So it works like this, interesting. Anyway, she asked everyone to be present at dinner for an announcement.

We were currently in the canteen, waiting for Loki to show up. I had Ais on my lap nibbling on some cookies we brought from the ship. Then our dear little Goddess arrived and sat next to me.

"Do you have any magic that makes my voice louder?" she asked. I waved my hand and nodded. She then looked at the rest of the Familia members. "We will be going on an expedition in the deep floors! Our goal is to descend as far as possible. We will be bringing the smiths from the Hephaestus Familia! They will maintain your equipment and keep you fighting. We have a stock of potions from the Miach Familia! Those should easily last you for weeks of fighting, so you don't have to worry. As always, Finn, Gareth, and Riveria will be leading. Also…" she pointed at me and I had a really bad feeling. "This guy and his group will act as seconds-in-command! Trust me when I say that you can only benefit from this decision!"

"I will throw you into the dungeon. Actually, I'm totally tying you up and using you as meat shield. Don't worry though, I will make sure you don't die." I said, materializing some rope.

"C-calm down… You were totally going to participate anyway, so why not? You guys reached which floor again?"

"49th. We wanted to grind some more before descending, but it's fine. We will participate, isn't it right?" I said, looking towards the gang.

"Yeah, it will be fun!" said Yang

"I don't see any problem with that. We can just have you carry us through the floors if it gets too hard." said Weiss very frankly

"That or some sudden power-up as usual." said Ruby

"Yeah, it will be a totally safe adventure!" said Jaune. Pyrrha nodded while smiling she's strangely quiet these days. Anyway, Ren, Nora, Blake, and Sun all agreed as well, so we're going.

"Heard that? Seems we are going. Oh, you are totally coming, just stay with Ais in the middle of the formation. You'll get old behind that desk otherwise." I said.

"I can't come, the Dungeon will spawn those black monsters if I let out some of my aura." Loki said, shaking her head.

"As if those things could ever stop Tula once he's decided on something. Just give it up and come." said Ruby

"Yeah, he can probably one-shot those monsters anyway. Well, any one of us can deal with them, just not in one attack." said Ren.

"You shouldn't put yourself down Ren! You guys are all really strong and could probably one-shot those beasties as well in the right conditions." I said. If he could directly attack their weak points, Ren could easily one-shot these God-slaying monsters. The current group is probably equal to Level 9's. We can't solo the One Eyed Black Dragon yet, but we're getting there. Well, I would be enough, but we came here for the adventure, not some vacation.

"Ugh, I really can't follow your conversations… Fine! You want me to come? I'll be coming, but you guys will lead the group, so we can leave you there if those black monsters appear!" Loki said.

"Deal. When are we going?"

"Three days! We will be departing in three days. Rest up and get ready." she said.

Cool, our first expedition will begin in three days and we will get to descend to the deepest floors! Oh, I hope we get to the 70's or 80's.