Izuku gasped.

2 new abilities? Other than [Shield], and its upgraded version [Earthen Shield], it had been ages since he had even unlocked 1 new ability!

He had heard that gaining skills started getting a little faster after your first class got its elemental affinity, but hadn't imagined it would be this quick!

With a smile on his face, he opened his menu and quickly moved through the screens until he got to his status screen.

Izuku "Deku" Midoriya

Money: 91 copper, 25 silver, 4 gold, 0 platinum

Level 13

Class: Earth Quaker

HP: 100/100

Mana: 70/70

Stamina: 110/110

Strength: 18

Agility: 16

Endurance: 18

Intelligence: 12

Luck: 10

Attuned Items:

[Ratbone Dagger]

[Mantle of the Duke]

[Whip of the Duke]

[Steelbringer]

Available Abilities:

Double Strike:

Your attack does double damage, before any reductions.

2 Stamina per Attack.

Lunge:

Instantly dash forward a distance equivalent to your [Agility] and perform an attack.

4 Stamina per Attack

Defenders Shield:

When standing within 5 metres of an allied creature, you can reduce the damage they take from an attack by an amount equal to your [Endurance]

2 Stamina per use

Identify:

Allows you to see the stats and abilities of anything below a danger rating of 2. 1 Mana per use.

Skill does not consume mana if the target is an [Earth]-type monster or item.

Earthern Shield:

Halves the damage for a single strike that hits you. Costs 5 mana for each hit.

Completely negates [Earth]-type damage for a single hit. Costs an additional 5 mana for each hit.

Protection of the Earth

[Passive]

All armour you wear is 25% more effective, and 10% lighter.

[Earth]-type magic armour is 50% more effective, and 25% lighter

Earthspike

The [Earth] has acknowledged you, and forms to your will.

Allows for a spike made of stone to erupt from the ground beneath your opponent.

10 Mana per use.

Traits:

Prodigy:

You learn things more quickly and more easily than others.

50% boost to XP gain.

Determined:

Nothing can stop you from achieving your goals.

Resistant to the [Fear] effect.

Heroic:

You are naturally inclined towards the protection of those who need it.

Gives a 50% boost to all stats when a sentient creature with a non-combat class is within the line of sight of your opponent.

Grants the ability to set and accept quests for added XP.

Earth-Touched:

You have [1] class attuned to the [Earth] elemental affinity.

20% reduction to damage coming from [Earth]-type attacks.

May the wisdom of the Earth bring you strength and guidance.

Izuku's eyes widened and his smile grew.

This. was. Amazing!

[Protection of the Earth] was awesome! Even now he could feel his clothing pressing down on him a little bit less than usual. He didn't have the heaviest armour, to begin with though, so he probably wouldn't be noticing as much of a difference as someone who had inherited some armour.

[Earthspike] was even cooler. It had been years since he had gotten a new combat ability! And not only was it now a new tool for him to use, but it was also really cool as well! It would probably be really helpful in rounding out his fighting style, as currently, his main thing was fighting monsters right up in their faces, which wasn't really the best idea when he lacked proper armour.

He had gotten this far with the basic stuff he had made for himself, or gotten the [Leatherworker] in his home village to make for him, but he knew that the further he got through the dungeon, the more protection he would need.

He could probably get Mei to make some more armour for him after she finished his shin plates. Maybe he could go for a breastplate first, with some should guards… he was pulled from his musing about what kind of armour he could get by the Boss Loot menu screen.

He almost smacked himself on the face. How could he forget about the loot? Crossing his fingers, he hoped for an actual item, instead of just more coins. He knew it was rare for bosses to actually drop items, just one more thing that made his Mantle and Whip of the Duke amazing.

He tapped on the floating screen and waited as colours swirled. A giant grin appeared on his face as an image appeared, its description appearing below it.

Ratmaster Pendant

[A small pendant made of Jade, shaped like a rat]

Allows for the summoning of [Spiritual Rodent Companion]

Izuku's reached out and pulled the [Ratmaster Pendant] out of the menu, feeling the light pendant drop into his palm. Holding it up, he admired the craftsmanship on the pendant, the rat carved into the jade almost looked like it was breathing.

His grin couldn't get any bigger as he slipped the pendant on around his neck, tucking it underneath the [Mantle of the Duke] and his shirt. He felt something settle deep within him, and he pulled up his menu to check.

The name of the ability was fairly self-explanatory, but he wanted to know for sure what [Spiritual Rodent Companion] did. Pulling its menu open, he read its description.

Spiritual Rodent Companion [1]

[A large, semi-corporeal rat, about the size of a house cat]

[Can be used for scouting, and collecting small items]

Actions: [Bite: 2 Mana] [?] [?]

Summon Cost: [20] Mana

Duration: N/A (Until dismissed)

HP: 25 | Mana: 25 | Stamina: 25 | XP: 0

Izuku was almost hopping in excitement as he held out his hand, and funnelled some of his mana into the [Ratmaster Pendant]. There was a small flash of green light near his feet, forcing him to blink, but when he opened his eyes, there was a translucent, green rat sitting next to him.

The description was right, this was a large rat. It was currently on all fours, sniffing at his pant leg, and its back was two-thirds of the way to being level with his knee. Crouching down, Izuku held his hand out to the [Spiritual Rat Companion].

It rubbed up against Izuku's hand, and he laughed, the feeling akin to placing his hand on wet sand. He stood back up and walked around, and the [Spiritual Rat Companion] followed next to him dutifully, sniffing back and forth.

It seemed especially interested in the corpse of the [Great Mole], still visible through the gap in the wall that it had busted through. Turning away from it, Izuku walked up to the door in the centre of the room and placed his hand on it.

It opened slowly, giving Izuku a brain-boggling view into the Floor 2 Warp Chamber. He peeked around the edge of the door, but no, the Warp Chamber hadn't appeared behind it in the Boss Chamber. Magic was weird...

Izuku stepped through the dorm shaking his head as he moved towards the exit Warp Pad. Was every door in a dungeon a portal? Surely that couldn't be mana-efficient.

Izuku blinked as the sun hit his eyes the second he stepped out of the dungeon.

He pulled down the top of his hood a little bit, his eyes not used to the sudden brightness after fighting his way through a dimly lit Boss Chamber. With his hood down, he couldn't really see more than peoples feet but weaved through them anyway.

"Hey! Kid! Hold up a sec!"

Blinking, Izuku pulled his hood back to see Kurimuzon walking over to him quickly. He waved over someone else, a young boy in light clothes and said something to him that sent the kid running off into the town.

Kurimuzon patted him on the shoulder when he reached Izuku, sighing. "Good to see you alive and well, Kid. Miss Shield and Miss Hatsume were quite worried about you. And after they found out where you were, well…"

Izuku smiled sheepishly. "I am really sorry for worrying them. I went down to the second floor and fought a Hobgoblin, but there was something off about it. Actually, my whole experience with the dungeon has been quite odd, to be honest."

Kurimuzon nodded. "You've certainly had the best beginners luck I've ever seen from a newbie. Now, I sent word to David and the girls that you were safe and well, so you can go rest up if you need without worrying them further."

Izuku nodded, blinking slowly. Now that he was fully out of the dungeon, his body was taking the opportunity to cool down from his fight against the [Great Mole]. He rubbed at his eyes, holding his palm out over them to block some of the sunlight.

"Thank you, sir. I'm going to go check back into my room at the Sleeping Boar and relax for a bit. If Melissa and Mei come here to find me-"

Kurimuzon laughed. "I'll tell them you headed to the Inn. Go rest up, kiddo. You probably need it… wait a second, you said you went through the second floor?"

As Kurimuzon's eyes widened, Izuku laughed nervously. "Yes, sir."

Kurimuzon placed his hand on Izuku's shoulder, staring at him. "You beat the [Great Mole] alone?"

Izuku gulped but nodded. "Yes I did, sir. I got a very lucky critical hit when it grabbed me for the first time, and I was able to give it [Bleeding 4] with another critical hit after that. I stabbed it with my [Ratbone Dagger] in its head to finish it off."

Kurimuzon shook his head, taking his hand off of Izuku's shoulder. "Well, I'll be. I am no longer suggesting it, go take a rest. That's mighty impressive of you, and you've earned a day or two breaks, I think."

Izuku was about to speak when Kurimuzon put his hand up. "I know you probably feel on top of the world after a fight like that, but you've been in here every day since you arrived. You gotta give yourself time to rest if you wanna grow."

Tapping his chin, Kurimuzon stepped back, smiling at Izuku. "Treat yourself to a nice lunch or buy a magic trinket or whatever. We've got a pair of [Incursions] coming in a few days, so we'll want everyone we've got in top form."

It was then that Izuku's [Spiritual Rat Companion] nibbled at Kurimuzon's leg, and the man's eyes shot down to it, his hand flying to the pommel of his sword. After a moment of looking it at, his head slowly raised to Izuku's, meeting his eyes. "This yours?"

Izuku nodded and quickly ordered the [Spiritual Rat Companion] to stop nibbling on the man's pants, and it sat back down next to Izuku's foot, waiting for instructions. "Yes, sir. Sorry about that. I got a [Ratmaster Pendant] from the [Great Mole]."

Kurimuzon shook his head. "Of course you did. Guess I'll have to start calling you Ratboy or something like that if this trend keeps up. Now get out of here, I'll see you in a day or two."

Izuku started walking back towards the Sleeping Boar, waving goodbye to Kurimuzon, his [Spiritual Rat Companion] running out ahead of him, phasing through peoples legs as it ran.

After a few minutes, he reached the block that the Inn was on, freezing as he saw Melissa and Mei standing outside of it. Melissa was staring at him, eyebrow raised and arms crossed, while Mei was tinkering with some metal plate, only noticing his arrival when Melissa elbowed her softly.

She seemed less grumpy and more happy to see him, which made him feel a little better under Melissa's gaze. Laughing nervously, Izuku put his hands up.

"Hey, guys. Can we go sit down, please? I want to explain but I'm really tired."