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 she 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!"