He was really tired after making |Dawn|.
He didn't want to give the sword any infusions yet, because as of now, he didn't know if he could take them off or replace them later.
He wanted to have this sword for a while, meaning if he infused upgrades into it now, it probably wouldn't scale well once he started fighting tougher opponents.
He had to take a break directly after making his new sword though, and after chugging the healing potion aqua offered him (just in case), he sat down for a bit and checked his adventurer card.
He almost spat out the potion when he saw it. He had levelled up a whopping 3 times from a combination of killing Durza, making |Dawn|, and the various help he had been giving the town's citizens.
He leaned over and poked Aqua. "Hey Aqua, is this normal? I only did like two or three things but I'm level 4 now!"
She looked at his card surprised. She then pulled out her own. Checking it, Izuku saw that she was level 2 now, halfway to level 3.
Izuku hummed, placing his finger on his chin and starting to mumble. "I guess there is a party sharing system for XP gained. It's probably just because Durza way out-levelled me that I got so much XP for getting rid of him."
Aqua nodded but knew that if she didn't stop him now, he would get to the point where she wouldn't be able to understand him. She let him ramble on for a little bit longer, before starting to get annoyed, so she poked him.
"Yo dude, I know overthinking stuff is like, your thing and all, but you should be spending more time buying and upgrading abilities than wondering where your XP came from!" she said, as she grabbed her card back and started buying things.
"Ah! You're right! I need to see what I'm able to unlock now!" He tapped on the abilities section and was given a list showing possible abilities, with descriptions, and prices, as well as how many skill points he had to use in the top right.
If he hadn't already drunk the potion in its entirety, he would have spat it out, again. The skills averaged a cost of 4-6 for 4th level abilities, and Izuku had 24 skill points and 3 attribute points!
He wasn't exactly sure what the attribute points did, but he guessed that they increased things like his strength, endurance, luck, etc. Those were best left for last, so he could think about them properly.
He looked over the list of abilities he could unlock right now. His mind was blown by the potential of some spells.
Things like |Powered|, which would increase attack power on the target, |Reflect|, which would send an opponent's attack back at them, and |Create Golem|, which would allow Izuku to turn materials into "living" allies, he had some pretty good options!
|Powered| only cost 4 points to get at a base level, so Izuku bought it. If the way he thought an Artificer worked, buffing allies and debuffing enemies, focusing on support, then it would be a good investment.
|Create Golem| was next on the list at a cost of 6 points, so he did a quick read over its description.
While at the lower levels, Izuku could only make Golem's out of things like Mud, wood, and other weak materials, later on, he would be able to make them out of better materials like stone or steel.
The Golems were verbally controlled workers that could be outfitted with various gear! From what he could tell, being able to make Golems of any form was a rare ability, usually only being accessible to the Creator class.
Izuku could see the infinite potential of an ability like this, from guarding things with metal golems to scouting things with cheap, disposable earth golems. He bought the spell.
He still had 13 points left and decided that he would grab |Reflect|, as it only cost 5 points, and then save the other points. He didn't know if he got less when he went up into the higher levels.
He checked out the description for |Reflect|. It really was an amazing spell. Anything equally or less powerful than the spell would be sent back to the person who shot it at him. While only for ranged attacks, it was still an extremely useful spell.
He bought it, closing the spell list and opening the attribute list.
Izuku Midoriya: Shadeslayer
LVL 4 - Artificer
Skill Points Remaining: 7
Attribute Points Remaining: 3
Strength: 13
Dexterity: 45
Endurance: 50
Intelligence: ?
Wisdom: 25
Charisma: 30
Luck: 20
Abilities: Natural Craftsman, Infuse Magic Item, Create Golem,
Spells: Skill Bind, Firebolt, Summon Tool, Farsight, Powered, Reflect
He wasn't entirely sure what to do with his attribute points. His intelligence was already so high that if he put points into it he might just ascend into the astral plane.
His strength was pretty low, but he noted that the exercise he had done over the week had already increased it by 1 point, so he decided he could just work on his strength manually at a later date.
He already had a fairly high endurance (Thanks to Kachaan's "practise", he guessed) and he wasn't planning on being in the line of fire anyway. Same deal with Dexterity. Might be good to look into later but for now not a priority.
He considered Charisma but decided that it wasn't really his style, so he decided against it. He was more the, 'fumble his way through a conversation and try not to stutter' type, not the smooth-talking type.
Wisdom… wasn't really helpful for his class. It gave no bonuses to crafting that |Natural Craftsman| didn't already give him, and he was still a little concerned about messing with how his brain works with magic.
(Although it was a little late for that sort of caution, considering the gift he asked for)
So that just left him with Luck. And lord knows he needed some of that.
He looked over at what Aqua was putting her points into, and was proud of her when she backed out of buying another party trick in favour of purchasing a spell called |Blessing|.
Nodding to himself, he put the 3 points into luck and blinked. He didn't feel any luckier, but then again, how exactly would that feel? Shrugging, he got to his feet and picked up |Dawn|.
Aqua looked up from her card. "What's up Izuku? Where are you off to?" She was still feeling bad about not being there when Izuku was basically abducted. Especially because it was apparently her fault Durza was in this world to begin with.
Izuku just smiled at her. "I reckon it's time that we go on an actual quest! Now that I'm armed, we should be able to take out those toads easily! It will be a good test of skill!"
Aqua just smiled, waving a fan at him, accidentally squirting him in the face with a little bit of water. "Hell yea! Let's do this!-"
"We can totally beat a bunch of weak ass frogs!"
"AAAQQQUUUAAA"
Aqua was currently on the ground, laughing her ass off as Izuku sprinted away from a giant toad. The quest hadn't gone exactly how he had hoped. "AQUA HELP ME!"
Apparently, around this time of year, Giant Toads would come out of hibernation in search of food. Normally this would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that they came after farmer's sheep.
And the occasional farmer.
Izuku had been looking forward to his first Quest. It would be a good way to gauge how skilled he was already, and what he should be focusing on.
And his enemies were just toads! Sure they ate sheep but they couldn't be super big, right? Izuku now regretted his previous foolishness. THE FROGS WERE THE SIZE OF A BUS.
"Hahaha! This is hysterical! You should see the look on your face right now Izuku!" It took everything in Izuku's being to not yell at her for that. He settled with just telling her off later after he had calmed down a bit.
"Aqua! Do you have any spells to immobilise it?!" He yelled at her, continuing to sprint away from the humongous toad.
She held up a finger in a 'one-second' motion and pulled out her adventurer card. Izuku almost facepalmed just from that. She didn't know!?
"Hmm, no that wouldn't work, not that either. ooh, maybe this one? Ah, nope…" Aqua hummed as she looked through the list. 'She's taking her sweet time'
Izuku gave up at that point. He could do this himself! He didn't need Aqua right now, he could do it himself! He ran a bit further ahead of the Toad and spun around to face it, drawing |Dawn|.
He watched over his shoulder as the Toad chased him, looking for a weakness he could exploit.
"POWERED!" As he yelled out the spell name, he could feel |Dawn| humming with power. He watched as the Toad prepared to jump at him again.
As soon as the Toad left the ground, Izuku was sprinting towards where it had jumped from. The Toad let out and angry sounding ribbit as it flew over his head, landing behind him.
Izuku turned and jumped onto the Toad's back, stabbing |Dawn| into it, and using it to climb up its back. The Toad ribbited again and started jumping, trying to throw Izuku off.
"I don't think I've got any immobilising spells Izuku- AAAHHH?!" Great, Aqua was in trouble! He needed to end this one quickly so he could help her.
He reached the top of the Toad and stabbed |Dawn| down into the Toad's head, the Toad going limp as it's brain was impaled. He looked over at Aqua to check on her and yelped.
There was another toad standing where she had been watching from, and Izuku could see Aqua's legs squirming from its mouth. He jumped down off of the toad he had killed, yelling.
"AQUA!" He sprinted up to the Toad. Interestingly, they seemed to stand still when eating something. This gave Izuku an easy shot when it came to stabbing it.
He quickly ran to the mouth and pulled it open, seeing Aqua crying. "Aqua! It's OK now! I got the Toad, you're safe now."
He set up |Dawn| so that it was holding up the mouth of the Toad, allowing Aqua to crawl out. She was covered in a thick slime, which Izuku guessed was saliva.
So, when she lunged at him and hugged him, he had to resist gagging as the smell of the slime was brought right to him.
"Izuku! I'm so sorry I didn't help with the other Toad. It was just really funny! Thank you for saving me again!" She was still crying, so Izuku ignored the slime and hugged her back, surprising himself.
The old him would have shut down from a hug like this. Hell, he did shut down just a week ago when she had hugged him. Was he already that different from his old self?
He patted her on the back, rubbing circles like the first-aid videos said too when someone was panicking. "It's alright Aqua, you're safe now, I am here…"
At that moment, he was actually kind of glad she didn't come from his homeworld, or she would probably have called him out for using All Might's catchphrase.
They stayed like that for a little while, before Izuku pulled back when he heard thudding. It was probably another giant toad, and they definitely didn't have the capacity to fight more of them today with just the two of them.
Not unless he let Aqua get half-eaten again, and he definitely wasn't going to do that.
"Alright Aqua, we have a few days to do this and we only have to do 3 more Toads! Let's go home for today and get you all cleaned up." He smiled at her as he pulled her completely out of the Toads mouth.
He pulled |Dawn| out and wiped it on the grass, getting rid of the slime on it. After he found it clean enough, he helped Aqua to her feet. She was still sniffling, but the tears seemed to have ended.
They started walking back to Axel to regroup. They had no clue what would be waiting for them.
The guildhall rooms were a blessing.
Izuku had used part of the reward he had gotten for removing Durza from Axel to pay for some rooms. It had only cost him around 300 for a whole week, so he still had 400 Eris to spare.
They didn't have a shower, something that Izuku would be planning to fix once he got more materials and more experience, but they had good quality baths. Izuku was less covered in slime, so he let Aqua up into the room to clean herself first.
He was waiting down in the guildhall, debating with himself if he should get a new outfit. Sure, one of Aqua's spells allowed her to clean his clothes, but he still wanted a bit of variety. Also, this was a new world! People often commented on his odd clothing.
He wanted something that could work as both armour and workshop gear in case he even needed to swap between his activities quickly. He was sitting at one of the tables, eating a loaf of bread, designing a new outfit.
He was about halfway through drawing it into his notebook when he saw Aqua sit down on the other side of the table. She smiled at him.
"Hey, Izuku! Whatcha drawing?" She leaned over and tried to look at it, before sighing and walking to the other side of the table, sitting down next to Izuku.
"Ooo! That looks really nice! Imagine you, all dressed up in your battle outfit! Like a real Artificer!" She said, pumping her fist into the air.
Izuku laughed. "We don't really know what a 'real artificer' does, let alone wear. I'm just designing a suit that will help in a variety of situations."
"Oh, Izuku that reminds me, could you mak-" she was interrupted by a loud thump on the floor behind them, and they jumped in surprise.
"Excuse me! You are the famed Artificer of Axel, correct!" Izuku turned around and saw who was asking the question.
It was a short girl in a black and red dress with a matching witches hat. She had shoulder-length, pitch-black hair and a red eye-patch with a white cross on it. She was currently flourishing a staff with a red gem that Izuku thought was really cool.
He then realised what she had said.
"Wait one second, did you just call me the famed Artificer of Axel? People know of me outside of this town?" This girl had only been here for about 10 seconds, and already Izuku was feeling a bit overwhelmed.
"Of course! There are rumours spreading throughout the land! People talk of the newly dubbed Artificer with awe in their voice." Izuku grimaced. This girl was putting it on a little thick.
"Some say your charity knows no bounds, enchanting items for fellow adventurers for free, and others say your fighting ability is so incredible, you slew an evildoer that was several levels above your own!"
Izuku thought about it for a moment and… yea. Those were both technically correct, so he had no real argument.
He just shrugged, sighing. "Is that why you're here? Do you want me to infuse your staff or your clothing? I don't mind."
She pouted at him for a brief moment, then flourished her staff, spinning it before slamming the end down on the floor again. "No! I have come to ask if I may join your party! As a mighty ArchWizard, I would be a great help to you!"
Izuku was shocked. This girl was an ArchWizard! "That's so cool! An ArchWizard! Aqua!" He turned to Aqua. "What do you think?!"
Aqua just gave the girl a once over. "What's your name?" Izuku mentally face-palmed. That was something he should have asked.
The girl looked shy for a second, before puffing her chest out again, and flourishing her staff again. Izuku looked over at Aqua, who was obviously trying to hold in her laughter, this girl was really into… whatever it was that she was doing.
"My name is Megumin! ArchWizard of the Crimson Demon clan! The Master of Explosions!" She finished by placing her hand weirdly over her face, partially obscuring her eye.
Izuku looked over at Aqua, who was in a losing battle with her laughter. It was obvious that she would be of no help in this conversation.
"Alright, Megumin! We will give you a trial run! We are currently on a quest to kill some Giant Toads, so come back here tomorrow, and we can- AH! Megumin! Are you OK?"
The reason he asked was because she had just fallen face-first onto the ground. She lifted her head and placed her chin on the ground, looking up at him. "I haven't eaten anything in 3 days…"
Izuku realised that the girl was probably really malnourished. He instantly called a waitress over and ordered a meal for her. What kind of hero would he be if he didn't?
Megumin hadn't arrived in Axel expecting much, to be honest.
She had come to seek out an adventurers party to quest with, hoping to prove to everyone that |Explosion| was the only spell she would ever need and that she wasn't too young to be an adventurer.
So when she heard that the Artificer of Axel, a new adventurer who's Legacy Adventurer status was quickly spreading news throughout Belzerg, was only 14 years old, she knew she had to join his party.
She had never seen a Legacy Adventurer before. There were rumours that the King's daughter was one, but the only confirmed one was the Artificer of Axel. She had eventually tracked him and his party member down at the town Guildhall.
She honestly expected more out of him.
Who she thought she was going to meet was a mountain of a teenager, full of confidence and spirit and magical potential, flaunting his Legacy Adventurer status to anyone he talked to.
Who she actually met, was a timid, thin-looking teen that looked like he had never worked out a day in his life. The only thing she got right was his magical potential.
As an ArchWizard, she could feel the strings of magic in the air being drawn towards the boy, as if the world itself wanted to aid him in his creation of items.
It seemed that this Artificer, who introduced himself as Izuku Midoriya, was even more interesting than she thought he would be! She just had to be in his party!
He had given her a chance, and tomorrow, she would blow him away with her amazing explosion! No adventurer in their right mind could resist such a party member that could wield such a powerful spell!
But right now, she should focus on eating. The Artificer was kind and gave her sustenance! She must not squander it! She must have been putting on a weird face because the Artificer spoke up.
"Megumin? You alright there? You're staring at that toad meat really intensely." Izuku made sure to keep his voice down, not wanting to embarrass her in front of the other adventurers.
"Ah! Yes, I am and will be fine, Mr Artificer!" when she got a look from izuku that clearly showed he didn't believe her, she amped up her acting.
"If you must know! My latent magical power is so immense, it requires near-constant concentration to stop it from exploding out into reality! That is also why I wear this!"
She pointed to the eyepatch on her left eye. "This eyepatch seals my magical potential! If I were to ever take it off, a great catastrophe would befall this land!"
She stood and flourished her staff again, something that she had practised in the mirror for days on end (not that she would admit it to anyone) and placed her hand over her face.
She looked over to the Artificer expecting to see him looking impressed, but just saw a look of concern on his face. He tapped his chin while his other hand moved as if writing.
"If her powers are that volatile it might not be worth the power of the spell. Maybe I could infuse the eyepatch so it suppresses it even more, or maybe just stronger and harder to take off. Mumble Mumble Mumble Mumble Mumble Mumble"
Megumin was starting to panic now. The awesome backstory she wrote was going to get her sent away from the party! "Wait!"
Izuku's mumbling stopped, and he looked up at her. Aqua was just sitting beside Izuku watching Megumin, nodding every now and then as they talked.
"Please don't' send me away! I was making it up!-" She took off her eyepatch and handed it to Izuku. "-I just wear it cause it makes me look really cool…"
Izuku just stared at her for a second, before looking over to Aqua. Aqua just shrugged, obviously trying to hold her laughter in. Izuku placed the eyepatch down on the table gently and sighed.
"I'm not entirely sure why you lied to us, but now I have to ask. Is any of what you just said true? Are you actually an ArchWizard?" Megumin just nodded, looking down.
Izuku clicked his tongue. "Alright then! How about you show us your adventurer card. If you actually an ArchWizard, we can go ahead with your trial run tomorrow. If not, I'll have to ask you to leave us alone."
Megumin looked up at him in shock. He was still going to let her have her trial run!? All other parties she had tried to join would have sent her away by now.
She would not blow this chance!
Izuku had mixed feelings about Megumin.
While she seemed a bit odd, but Izuku wasn't someone that liked to judge people. They had checked her adventurer card, and she was in fact an actual ArchWizard.
Izuku was a man of his word, and the next day, they headed out to kill some more Toads. His adventurer card said they were about 40% done, with two out of the five frogs needed to complete the quest dead.
Izuku, Aqua and Megumin arrived at the top of a hill, overlooking the most common spot for Giant Toads to appear. They had to wait a while, So Izuku stuffed around with his abilities for a bit.
He was currently testing to see if he could enchant everyday objects with special abilities, or if he was limited to armour and weapons. To help him test this, he had bought various household items.
He had a water bottle, a candle, and an old woollen cloak that was given to him as a gift. No toads had appeared yet, so he grabbed the candle, lighting it with |Fire Bolt|.
Aqua saw what he was doing and turned to face him, watching intently. Megumin looked over every now and then, but she was really focused on the field in front of them.
"So, Izuku. What are you doing with that candle? You do realise it's like, noon, right?" Aqua asked, laying down and looked up at the sky.
Izuku placed the candle on the ground and tapped the wax, a scroll appearing in his hands. He turned to Aqua. "I'm just testing if I can infuse things than just combat gear."
He looked back down at the scroll. As he expected, the candle was just called |Basic Wax Candle|. But to his delight, it did actually have possible infusions!
They were only simple things, as he was still low level, but he could see their usefulness. Things like Hotter Fire, Longer Burn Time, Brighter Fire. They weren't anything flashy, just basic upgrades, but they made sense.
Or that was what he would have thought, if not for the fact that the Longer Burn Time upgrade had a small message saying that after Izuku got to Lvl 20 as an Artificer, it became Indefinite Burn Time. And this was just for a basic candle!
Choosing to not infuse anything on the candle right now he snuffed out the fire and put it back in his bag. He was about to move onto the next item when Megumin yelped.
"Artificer! We have toads incoming! Stand and watch my amazingly powerful explosion!" Izuku could see that Megumin was almost vibrating with excitement.
She held out her staff towards the toads, and a set of orange circles appeared around her. The sky darkened slightly, and she started chanting.
"Darkness blacker than black and darker than dark, I beseech thee, combine with my deep crimson."
Izuku and Aqua just watched as more and more circles appeared around her, and a line pointing at the toad erupted from her staff.
"The time of awakening cometh. Justice, fallen upon the infallible boundary, appear now as an intangible distortions!"
Izuku wasn't really sure if this over-the-top chant was necessary, but from how Aqua was laughing behind him, it probably wasn't.
"I desire for my torrent of power a destructive force: a destructive force without equal! Return all creation to cinders, and come from the abyss!"
He could feel it now, the heat in the air around her making him sweat as she neared the end of her spell. The orange rings were now around both her and the toads she was pointing at, and she smirked at Izuku.
"Explosion!"
[BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM]
Izuku looked on in shock as Megumin, a short, 13-year-old girl, outclassed every single one of Kachaans explosions.
He turned to Aqua, who had stopped laughing and was now staring at the MASSIVE CRATER that Megumin had left, with wide eyes.
He saw Megumin laughing maniacally as she hugged her staff, and the quest notification on his adventurer card went off, signalling its completion.
He was surprised then when Megumin collapsed to the floor.
"Megumin! Are you alright? Did you overuse your mana?" He asked, looking over at Aqua who… was laughing again. Great. 'Very helpful.'
Megumin just sighed. "I always put my points into |Explosion|, not anything else, so this always happens after I cast it."
Izuku was gobsmacked. On the one hand, Megumin had just made a bigger explosion than even someone who's whole power was explosions. On the other hand, she could only do it once a day… for now.
He came to a decision. "Aqua! Megumin! I have decided!-" He turned to Megumin and smiled. "-as long as you promise to start putting some points into your mana reserves, I accept your request to join our party!"
Megumin just smiled and nodded at him, letting out small thank you's. "I would hug you if I could move right now!" Izuku face-palmed scurrying over to her.
"Of course, here, let me help you…" he hoisted her up and started giving her a piggyback. He wasn't the strongest, but she wasn't really that heavy.
As the 3 of them headed back to Axel, Izuku couldn't help but smile at the prospect of being able to use |Explosion| one day.
He turned to Aqua and beamed at her, and she gave him a smile back. Their party had been awesome when it was just the two of them, but after a little work, Megumin could be an incredible asset!
They passed through the city gates and started heading towards the guildhall to register Megumin to their party.
He couldn't wait to do more Quests!
