DanMachi 6

[Quest: [Dungeon diving 11] Completed 11 WP(x8) Received]

Floor eleven had the same composition of monsters and looks as the previous floor, the only difference was the thickness of the fog has doubled and the visibility only reached about fifty meters.

Considering the type of monsters that spawn on this floor, we were at a disadvantage. We had to fight multiple Bad Bat raids, but thankfully Olive's senses, in her cat form, were good enough to pick up the almost soundless flap of their wings, so we were never caught fully unaware. Fighting bats in a fog, kind of became my second least favorite thing to do, the first place you guessed it right, was fighting unending waves of slimes.

These stupid creatures, after positioning themselves above you just dropped on you without a sound. Thankfully, we only suffered a few shallow cuts, bruises, and ripped clothes. The orc fights, however, were a breeze and the imp fights were even easier. Especially when they started casting spells and lighting up the area around them. Shining through the fog like small beacons and dispersing it with the heat.

After another hour of trying to find our way to the staircase towards the twelfth floor, Olive once again reached her max level for this floor reaching Level 32. Her progress was astounding, and I would love to join her in leveling, but another 24 floors were between me and my sweet little experience.

"Wanna continue or should we head back?" I turn around and ask.

"Let's do this last floor find the staircase for floor 13 and leave. This fog and the water vapor in the air are really annoying. They are is making my hair wet." She says squeezing her damp hair.

"Okay. One last floor and we're heading home." I agree and we head downstairs

[Quest: [Dungeon diving 12] Completed 12 WP(x8) Received]

At this point, the visibility dropped sharply, from fifty meters to barely ten, at the same time the ceiling was higher than ten meters. Creating a great opportunity for ambush bat attacks.

"This fucker." I say dislodging the clamped-on bat from my shoulder and slamming it into the ground. Its fangs have pierced through the leather armor and my wound was heavily bleeding.

"Are you alright?" Olive asks concerned.

"For now I am, but the bleeding is not stopping." I quickly check the info I stole from the adventurers and find out that these fuckers had something in their saliva that prevents blood clotting. Thankfully, some healing potion applied directly onto the wound by the wonderful cat nurse Olive, stops the bleeding and quickly closes the wound.

"Thanks." I say before receiving a kiss on my lips from her.

"Be careful next time. We only have two more of these." She says while standing up and looking around, trying to spot any monster still alive. There were barely any places to stand that were not littered with monster remains. We ran into the middle of a larger monster party, of about 20 monsters and the fight took a toll on us.

"Let's just find the stairs and head back home, we've done enough today." I say standing up, then move to collect all the monster drops, depositing them into my inventory.

"Sure." She says and we proceed down the hallway.

After three smaller fights, we find the stairs leading toward the lower floor. We didn't enter it, just marked its location on our maps and headed to the surface.

Thanks to us following the map, the climb back to the surface was a breeze. We only stopped running when monsters were right ahead of us. Taking quick care of them, we went from the twelfth floor to the exit in less than an hour. Totaling our time in the dungeon to 9 and a half hours.

Just as yesterday, we went straight to the Guild, waited in line, and exchanged our magical stones and item drops, netting us a nice sum of 110,900 Valis or 144 Pounds for our second dungeon dive.

Before exiting the tower, we went upstairs to the fifth floor and bought a bunch of better-quality arrows and window-shopped around. On Olive's insistence, we did buy a few things to decorate our home and our room. On our way home we even entered the alchemist shop and bought a few potions for our next dive. Hestia was right, those potions come in handy. Today we arrived earlier than Hestia's so we took a bath together and cuddled up in the living room and fell asleep.

A loud noise and shouting startle me and a jumped out off the sofa I was previously sleeping on. On edge, I pull out my dagger from my inventory and stealthily approach the direction the sound came from. Olivia was nowhere to be seen. Thinking something was wrong, I use [Sneak] and [Quiet Steps] to approach the direction from where I could hear the shouting, yelping, and... Giggling? Confused, I enter the dining room still holding my daggers, only to find a laughing Olivia, a depressed Hestia, and a smirking redhead with a patch over her eye.

"So I guess you're Andrew?" the redhead asks looking at the two daggers in my hands judgingly. The others notice my presence and look my way. Placing the daggers to the side, I greet the goddess of the forge with a bow.

"Good evening, Hephaistos. Sorry for the display, I was sleeping and the noise woke me up and I thought something is wrong." I say while taking my rightful place next to Olive.

"No problem," She says waving it off. "I can see you got yourself one of Brorsolim's creations." She says looking back at the daggers again.

"If Brorsolim is a bald dwarf with a thick beard an eyepatch and an attitude, then yes, I got it from him." I say while nodding.

"Haa... I always tell him to be nicer to his customers..." shaking her head she says after a sigh. "He's one of my children." She adds.

"Not surprising, considering most of the town's best smiths are yours." I say with a smile. "So someone cares to tell me why is Hestia so depressed?" I say looking at the still-brooding goddess sitting across me.

"She just found out that the grimoires are 100 million a piece." Says Olive from my right side.

"Shit, that's a bit out of our current price range." I comment trying to come up with a way to increase our funds to buy it right away. I turn toward Hephaistos and ask.

"Are there any places with books on magic we could find in the town?"

"You could visit Athena's library, additionally, some bookstores might sell them. Athena's library is located a few streets away from the guild. While the bookstores, you'll need to find them on your own." She says with a shrug. I sift through the memories of the adventurers and locate the library without an issue. Strangely none had entered it or knew that it was a library at all.

"Athena as in the goddess of War, has a library?" I ask looking at her confused.

"In addition to War, she had the Wisdom divinity."

"That does explain the library." I say with a nod. "Thank you for the information."

"Don't mention it. Actually, there might be another way for you two to learn to wield magic. I could send over a mage from one of my expedition teams."

"I'll have to decline for now. I'm pretty good at self-study, but if we ever have any problems, we will keep your word in mind."

"Do as you deem fit. Hesti, I need to go. It was nice meeting you all and I love your new place." She says while looking at Hestia with a happy smile, then after we say our goodbyes she stands up and leaves the house.

"Time to update your status!" Exclaims the tiny goddess, who a moment ago was depressed.

"Sure go ahead" I start taking off my shirt, but I'm stopped midway.

"NOT HERE!" she stops and thinks for a moment "To the Living room!" she shouts then runs off. I just shrug, I can see my own stats, so there is no real need for this, but if it makes the loli goddess happy, who am I to say no?

A moment later I lay on the sofa, half-naked, while a shocked midget sits on my back frozen in awe.

"Hestia?" I wake her up from her stunned silence. "Is everything okay?" I ask

"Is everything okay, he asks. Everything is not OKAY!" she takes a paper then writes out my stat furiously the presents it to me.

[Falna Status] (Andrew)

Level: 1

Strength: 985 (S) > 1,478 (SSS)

Endurance: 764 (B) > 1,311 (SSS)

Dexterity: 906 (S) > 1,269 (SSS)

Agility: 844 (A)> 1,436 (SSS)

Magic: 0 (I) > 0 (I)

D.A.: None

Magic: None

Skills: None

"How are your stats already so high, no how could your stats even reach this rank?! S is the highest I've ever heard!" she says while trying to pull out her hair.

"Maybe I'm special?" I say with a smile, only to receive a smack on my back from the loli.

"Special doesn't describe it!" After calming down a bit she continues. "I could level you up right now if you want."

I shake my head, but then stop and think about it, I could gain a few more stat points from each attribute, but because of the conversion rate that would be 5.06 Library stats in total. The only thing annoying me is the Magic stat, 1,500 mana is too much to ignore so ultimately, I decide against leveling up.

Hestia, seeing how stubborn I was, gives up on trying to convince me and moves to update Olivia's stats, but not before kicking me out of the room. Not a minute later another scream could be heard and a dejected Hestia leaves the living room. Handing me a paper with Olivia's stats on her way out.

[Falna Status] (Olivia)

Level: 1

Strength: 787 (B) > 1,260 (SSS)

Endurance: 884 (A) > 1,367 (SSS)

Dexterity: 896 (A) > 1,434 (SSS)

Agility: 758 (B) > 1,366 (SSS)

Magic: 0 (I) > 0 (I)

D.A.: None

Magic: None

Skills: None

"Shouldn't we just level up?" asks Olivia after leaving the room while fixing her top.

"No," I say shaking my head. "the mana we gain from the magic stats is too much to ignore, if I max it out I'll get more than 10% of my current total mana, and let's not talk about your mana pool. Which is sitting at..." I stop and check her library status.

Mana: 360 (0.28/s)

"360, you could cast a spell or two with that amount. But in a real fight, that won't be enough."

"Alright, you're the magic expert." she says and a small smile appears on her face.

"Damn right I am!" I say with a smile. "Just you wait, give me a book or two on magic and I'll create a few spells in less than a week!" I boast.

The next day, after breakfast, we went out in our everyday clothes to find Athena's library. Finding it wasn't really an issue, a Greek Pantheon-like structure, with tall columns made out of what seemed like marble, greeted us a few streets away from the Babel tower.

"Good morning!" I greeted the sexy librarian goddess, with blond hair and blue eyes, which were hidden behind some thick-framed glasses. She was wearing a tight black pencil skirt and a white top with shoulder straps, showing a modest amount of cleavage.

"Morning. How may I help you?" She asks nocking his head to the side.

'I think I may have a type.' Shaking my head, I try to get my thoughts out of the gutter and answer her. "We are looking for books on magic."

She nods and says. "We do have beginner, advanced, and master-level books regarding that topic. If you're interested in those books, the entrance into the library is 15,000 Valis per person."

'Damn, that's almost 20 pounds per person. Maybe this is why this place is not popular.' I grumble and pay the full 30,000 Valis price, for both of us.

"There are a few rules, you can find them displayed on each shelf, but you need to keep the two main ones in mind. Keep it quiet and don't damage any of the books, the first one will get you kicked out for the day, and the second one will get you a lifetime ban. Am I understood?" She looks at us sternly.

After we agreed to follow the rules, we were told where to look for the book and we headed toward the back end of the library to find them. Our search didn't last long, and each of us picked up a book on beginner-level magic and found a secluded place, to sit down and read through it.

Surprisingly enough, the magical system in this world relied on runes. Each rune had a different meaning and each spell was a combination of willpower and chant. The chant then resonates with your mana and gets translated into runes to create a magic circle. Multi-circle spells were possible, and are often seen at higher tier magic. The largest magical circle recorded was a 100-meter one, fueled by one hundred mages to siege a city. These spells were called rituals, and often took the lives of the casters. There were not a lot of mages in these parts of the world, as magic originated from the Elves and Spirits, just before the gods came to the ground. The falna system actually strangled the revolution of magic, but at the same time, it provided too many benefits for people to ignore it.

I'll have to experiment with creating runes directly with mana instead of chanting them, but first I'll have to find out what each and every rune does. Thankfully, my [Runic Language] skill which stood at an astounding level 78, boosted all of my understanding of runes. Deciphering this magical language won't be a huge issue, well at least if I find enough samples of runes and spells. Understanding them is one thing, knowing all of them is another.

The chants of this world were strange. They can be shortened after a lot of practice, and somehow your mana will automatically know the rest of it and cast the spell. Does mana here have a memory? Or is there something else guiding it?

Placing back the book, I pick up the next one and look through it quickly, trying to find anything on the runic magical language, then repeat the process. This only lasted about fifteen minutes, till I ran into an older Elven diary describing a spell in detail, the diary even had a spell circle drawn in it and a chant attached at the end. I compare the runes to the chant and find it strangely incompatible. Similar runes, sitting next to each other, forming an array. There was no way the chant and the runes had a 1-to-1 conversion rate. There was something I'm yet to uncover.

Mages here learn spells by repeating the chant a lot of times while getting a feeling to their 'Mind', or as I like to call it mana. So I test out their way of learning.

"The one hidden by the darkness of the night, heed my call and embrace me, Umbra Gradus."

Nothing happens on the first try, but on the second, maybe it was my class, and its ability to better understand magic and its laws, or maybe it was something else, but my mana reacted.

It shook slightly wanting to flow in a specific direction, but my hold on it was too strong. I repeat the chant another time and keep an eye on my mana channels, and the same thing happens as last time. Something was trying to influence my mana flow, to circulate it in a specific way.

I relax the hold on it and repeat the chant for the fourth time. My mana instantly reacts and I let it flow according to, what I assume are the world laws, trying to influence it. My mana flows in specific pathways, circulates there for a moment, then exits my body to form a magical circle under my feet.

"Intriguing." I mumble as a notification appears before my eyes, and the spell activates.

[Spell: [Umbra Gradus] learned.]

Grimoire:

...

[Umbra Gradus lvl 1]

- The user becomes one with the shadows, granting him the ability to move between them.

- While in the shadows user can only be damaged by light base attacks.

{Affinity: Darkness}

{Chant: The one hidden by the darkness of the night, heed my call and embrace me, Umbra Gradus.}

I look around and find myself in what appears to be the shadow realm. Everything looks the same but colorless and ethereal. Focusing on the bookshelf in front of me, it slowly unravels itself, allowing me to see through it. Whisps of black, presumably shadow mana, float around me like particles of dust. Areas inhabited by shadows are highlighted with a yellowish glow. Somehow I know I could exit this realm by focusing on any of them. Except for the fog that appears around a hundred meters away from me, my vision of the area is uninhibited.

Thanks to the system I gain the instinctual knowledge of the spell and its uses. Focusing on the area around Olive I teleport and move out of her shadow only to hug and startle her. A loud yelp was heard from her and she almost fell out of her chair. Receiving an angry glare from both the sexy librarian and my girlfriend. I had to say sorry while bowing, to both of them, and after it, I turn back to the still-glaring Olivia and start explaining what I'd learned from a random book.

"That's amazing!" She whisper-yells, after I showcased the spell to her. "When you moved from one shadow to another, there was a ripple in the shadow on both sides. Like someone dropped a stone into water."

"Hmm... I'll have to keep that in mind when exiting. If people notice it, they could counter me quite easily." I note. "My next task will be learning to cast the spell while moving and without a chant, using only my mana." I say then add. "One of the books mentioned an ability called [Concurrent Chanting] that allows the user to chant while moving. Wonder how to get it." I say while rubbing my chin and thinking.

"You said the system translates languages for us, why doesn't it work on the runes?"

"Nah." I shake my head "Because runes are not a language in the common sense. Each rune represents a concept and could have multiple meanings. The same thing was with the magical runes of your world. The concepts of each rune change based on the cater." I stop for a moment, realizing something. "That's it! That's probably why the chant and the runes seemed incompatible! Each rune has a meaning for us, and an additional meaning for the magical system! If I could crack the magical meaning, I could craft my own spells with ease. I could again warp reality on my whim!" I say excitedly and run off to the nearest shelf in search of more books. But then stop, turn around, and run back to Olivia and give her a big kiss. "Thanks!" and run back towards the shelves searching for books with runes or spells in them. Olive, surprised by my actions and words, just looks in my direction and shakes her head with a smile on her face.

Looking through multiple books at the same time, I focus solely on defining each and every rune. Realizing that at this moment programming would be an amazing skill to have.

'Next world we're going to will be a futuristic one.' I vow to myself.