Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Danmachi. Both belong to their respective owners.

Hey guys, I'm back.

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Midterms have been non-stop for me, so I barely had time to spend time with fanfiction. Things are starting to lighten up though, so hooray. And during that free time, I just beat the main story of God Eater 3. Charge Spear FTW.

Wow, a majority of my reviews for last chapter are you guys thanking me for not giving Bell the Keyblade. Good to know.

Though, when I was reading the reviews, I noticed that none of you have pointed out a particular something in the previous chapter. A certain reference/joke I made at the beginning of the previous chapter with Sora and the War Shadows. I was kind of hoping one of you would catch it. Oh well.

Also, I've been asked a lot about if Memoria Freese is going to be involved or Danmachi Game Characters are going to be included. I'll be honest. I never played Memoria Freese, mainly because by the time I discovered it, it was way too late and the fact that I already have my hands full with Fate Grand Order. There's no way in I'm going to subject myself to more Gacha Game Hell.

I also don't have any knowledge on Rhaspodia's characters, so they're not going to show up. And even if I were to put them into the story, it's going to be a writing nightmare on having to write in so many characters and how they'll fit in the story.

That being said, I may or may not involve events from Memoria Freese, depending on if I have the time to watch the events (they're like 1-3 hours long on youtube). Unless someone can send me to a site where it holds the plot summary of the plot that goes on in the events, it'll help a lot. No promises though.

On an unrelated topic, POKÉMON SCARLET AND VIOLET ANNOUNCED! LET'S GO! FUECOCO STARTERS STAND UP! ALSO, DONALD BECOME A STARTER POKÉMON!

In any case, let's start the chapter!


Chapter 4: Upgrades & Smiths

After a long and eventful day from Monsterphilia, the Hestia Familia felt they had enough excitement for one day and decided to return back home.

"Mou~! It was supposed to be a fun and enjoyable day with Bell, but then those monsters ruined it!" Hestia complained as she crashed onto the bed, exhausted after everything that has occurred.

Bell sheepishly laughed as he watched his Goddess flop onto the bed. "At the very least, we made it out fine in the end. Especially with the new weapon that I have." Bell said while looking at his sheathed Hestia Knife. He felt a lot of excitement with the new weapon he has, especially when it came from both his Goddess and Sora.

"It's certainly an event that won't be forgotten, that's for sure..." Sora remarked as he plopped onto the couch, and then gave a pensive look on his face, something that Bell noticed.

"Is something wrong Sora?" Bell asked.

"...When the monsters broke out on the surface, the Heartless began showing up as well." Sora revealed, making Hestia sit straight up and Bell stiffened.

"You've got to be kidding! I thought the Heartless are just sticking to the Dungeon!" Hestia exclaimed, even if she sees what Sora is saying is true.

"This is bad...! I thought we could've contained them in the Dungeon, but it's not enough..." Bell muttered while clenching his fist. Inwardly, he's criticizing himself that even though he's coming alongside Sora to help out with the Heartless, he's not contributing enough to contain the Heartless.

"That's what I thought as well. These past few days, the Heartless were only found in the Dungeon. I'm not sure why they're showing up now on the surface." Sora said with a frown. "With that in mind, keeping the Heartless under wraps won't be so easy anymore. I already fought the Heartless in front of a few people."

"And who saw you fight the Heartless? It it's civilians, it may help that they don't have much knowledge about monsters." Hestia asked.

"Well, not a lot of people. Two people who had this toga-like clothing while claiming about something about not taming these monsters." Sora pointed out.

When Hestia heard the description, she gave an "ah" sound while putting her fist onto her palm.

"Ah, that's the Ganesha Familia. If they saw you fight the Heartless, then they would report it to Ganesha." Hestia said with a frown. Her mind was already working through a lot of things.

"I'm not sure how Ganesha will react to this, but he's not going to do anything drastic, especially after today's events. Though, try to keep as much of a distance away from Ganesha and his Familia as much as possible. It's possible Ganesha wants to learn more about the Heartless." Hestia told Sora.

"I'll do my best." Sora said while nodding, making Hestia sigh.

"With that out of the way, who else?" Hestia asked. This time, Sora gave an awkward look as he gazed away from Hestia.

"...Loki Familia."

Immediately, Hestia gave a mixture of grimace and scowling.

"I swear, you have the worst luck when it comes to these things! It's bad enough Ganesha may know about this, but Loki!? Ugh, this is the worst!" Hestia yelled in frustration.

"What's so bad about Loki finding out?" Bell couldn't help but ask.

"The fact that she knows about Sora! The Heartless may be bit of a concern to her, but the fact she knows about Sora is far more pressing matter! She'll be more focused on trying to figure out Sora rather than the Heartless!" Hestia exclaimed in annoyance.

"S-Sorry, but the Heartless were on the loose. I couldn't exactly afford to hold back." Sora apologized while scratching the back of his head. Hestia sighed while rubbing her forehead.

"That wasn't your fault Sora. You were only doing your duty as a Keyblade wielder. I wish you could've held back, but I guess that isn't possible with the Heartless involved. The problem is having to deal with what comes after." Hestia pointed out, before she crossed her arms.

"How much did the Loki Familia see you fight?" Hestia questioned. Sora hummed as he recalled what occurred during the fight.

"Well, I've used a Formchange of my Keyblade to make a shield to help protect one of their members. I believe her name was Lefiya..." Sora recalled, remembering the elf that he defended from the Heartless. "I've also used magic to heal her. Afterwards, I've pretty much used fire magic to fend off its attacks and finished it off by slamming it with a giant frying pan."

When Sora finished his explanation, Hestia gave a mixture of disbelief, exasperation, and frustration towards Sora. Bell could only owlishly blink at Sora mentioning about this.

"...A giant frying pan. Out of all the things that you could've pulled off, you took out a giant frying pan?" Hestia asked with disbelief.

"Hey, if it works, it works! Plus, it was a plant type, so fire works well against it!" Sora defended.

"That's not the problem here Sora! Nobody, and I mean nobody, pulls out a giant frying pan out of nowhere! That just makes you stand out even more than usual! Argh, now Loki will definitely want to look more into you know, that nosy snake!" Hestia groaned.

"W-Well, silver lining, they assumed that the giant frying pan was part of a magic sword that I used to finish it off! As well as fire magic!" Sora pointed out, making Hestia break out of her distressed state.

"Wait, they assumed your Keyblade is a magic sword?" Hestia questioned.

"Yeah. The fire magic and giant frying pan was thought to come from my Keyblade, and they don't know about the Keyblade, so they assumed that it's a magic sword, or shield in this case. It's also a good thing I've dismissed my Keybade after the fight, so that helps. In fact, the only magic I used by hand is healing magic." Sora pointed out.

Hearing Sora point this out made Hestia cross her arms while closing her eyes in thought.

"Healing magic and mistaking your Keyblade as a Magic sword. Yes...Yes, that could work." Hestia said while realizing something.

"What could work?" Sora asked with a confused look.

"All of the fire magic that you've used came from your shield, while the magic you performed by hand is your healing spell. To Loki, you're nothing more than someone who has short chant healing spell and possessed a magic sword, or shield in this case. Your quick chant healing spell is a rarity, but that alone is enough to divert what you're truly capable of." Hestia pointed out, making Bell realize where Hestia is getting at.

"Ah, so to a lot of people, Sora is only known for his quick chant healing spell! Not the Keyblade!" Bell said in realization.

"Is having a quick chant healing spell really that amazing?" Sora asked with a raised eyebrow, making Hestia's eyebrow twitch once again, having to deal with Sora's own common sense.

"Sora, you break normal conventions of magic in this world. A majority spells have various lengths of chants, with longer chants leading to more powerful effects. The fact that all of your spells has no chant and pack a punch, as well as having more than 3 spells, is fundamentally broken. In fact, you're pretty much a magic cheat in this world." Hestia flatly pointed out, making Sora blink owlishly at this.

"Is that how magic works in this world? I just thought anyone with magic can just pull off more than 3 spells." Sora said. If that was truly the case, then that would make Donald the most broken magic user in this world's standards if he were to ever arrive.

"That's not how it works. Every person blessed with a Falna has only 3 slots to learn a magic spell, and that is if they're able to learn magic to begin with. It varies from person to person. There are some who leveled up a lot and never learned magic." Hestia pointed out.

"I see..." Sora muttered.

Only having 3 spells? That's way too limiting for Sora in his opinion. He needs a variety of spells to tackle the various threats that he's facing. It's like going to fight the Heartless with only a basic Fire, Water, and Wind spell, and nothing more.

"Getting back on topic, I don't mind if you use magic to fend off the Heartless, but do so when it's out of other's sights. Try to limit to your own capabilities as much as you can when you fight in front of others." Hestia told Sora.

"Got it. Never thought I have to limit myself in magic when fighting the Heartless..." Sora remarked while crossing his arms.

"Trust me, it's for the best. Now then, anything else you have to share before we end today?" Hestia tiredly asked, having a feeling that Sora isn't done sharing his side of the story.

"Well, the Heartless I fought alongside the Loki Familia is rather strange. It looked like an Emblem Heartless, but a Heart wasn't released. Instead, it dropped this." Sora said as he dug into his pocket and took out the black magic stone for Hestia and Bell to see.

"...It's pitch black with a faint red light," Bell observed, "even though I'm looking at it, it feels rather...dark." Bell commented, and he felt his skin crawl a bit at the sight of the black magic stone with the faint blood red glowing light within it.

"I've never seen such a magic stone before. Usually, they're dark purple, so to see a pitch black magic stone is strange." Hestia muttered while narrowing her eyes.

"Yeah, it's weird. For a Heartless to drop this...something strange is going on here." Sora said while narrowing his eyes.

The influx of Heartless in the Dungeon. Heartless being organized into floors. The Heartless showing up now of all time on the surface, alongside this strange Heartless that he fought alongside the Loki familia.

'...Just who in the world is pulling all of these strings?' Sora thought with a frown. He intends on getting to the bottom of this, but decided to deal with it later.

"I'll hold onto this for now. This can serve as a clue to what's going on around here." Sora said as he pocketed the Dark Magic Stone.

"Good idea. Honestly, the Heartless are causing more troublesome than I thought..." Hestia said while sighing.

"Well, it's a good thing Sora is here. I'm sure he can take of it." Bell said while smiling towards Sora, having faith in the Hero before him.

"That's right, I have a duty, and I'll see it through to the end." Sora said, before he eyed the knife in Bell's hand. "Though I'm not doing it alone. We've gotta put that knife to the real test when we go to the Dungeon tomorrow."

Bell nodded, while also feeling excited and motivated to see what he can do this time alongside Sora. He'll play a more active role in eliminating the Heartless alongside Sora.


~ Break ~


"Freeze!" Sora cried out as shot out Blizzaga towards a group of airborne Red Nocturne Heartless. The ice magic exploded in the middle of the Heartless, impaling all of the surrounding Heartless with the sharp ice shards.

Sora then performed a Circle Raid to strike all of the incoming Soldier, High Soldier, and Tornado Step Heartless.

Bell cleanly slashed through a Tornado Step Heartless, before he rolled to the side to avoid an incoming fireball from a Fire Nocturne. He sped towards the Fire Nocturne and stabbed it, instantly killing the Heartless. He soon jumped to the side to avoid an incoming spin kick from a Soldier Heartless, and immediately cut off its head with a well aimed strike with the Hestia knife.

Bell gave a light exhale as he examined his surroundings, seeing how Heartless were beginning to lighten up over time. Thanks to the Falna Update Hestia has given him, his stats is giving him a better chance than the last time he went on the 8th floor with Sora. Not to mention the Hestia Knife that he has with him.

'The Light Attribute is amazing...!' Bell thought when he examined his knife, seeing the white light surrounding the edges of the black blade.

The Light Attribute is truly working wonders for Bell, seeing how the power of Light is highly effective in damaging Heartless. No longer is he struggling and delivering multiple blows against the creatures of Darkness, but well-aimed strikes to finish them off for good.

With this new weapon, he no longer has to deal with stragglers like before. He can finish his own portion in a decent amount of time and step in to help Sora speed up the process of eliminating the Heartless in the area. He can now play a more active role in dealing with the Heartless.

'Even so...' Bell thought as he looked at Sora fighting off the Red Nocturne, Soldier, and Air Soldiers with quick efficiency. '...I still got a long way to catch up to Sora.'

Bell soon noticed the walls beginning to crack and Dungeon monsters began to crawl out. Killer Ants were crawling their way out of the walls.

'I won't let you interfere with Sora's work!' Bell thought as he immediately moved to take care of the Dungeon monsters and prevent them from bothering Sora.

Bell moved to cut down the Killer Ants crawling out of the wall and began to cut down every single one of them with a single strike, cutting all their critical spots that immediately killed them.

It should be noted that even if he isn't fighting Heartless, the Hestia Knife is still capable of slaying monsters with high proficiency. Along with the knife growing alongside him, the Light coating the edges of the knife provides what is essentially a second layer of blade to Bell's knife. The blade of Light is the first to cut, and whatever is able to withstand the cut of Light is then cut with the metal blade underneath.

Essentially, Bell was twice the cutting power to his knife.

Which is more than enough to cut through the thick and tough skin of the Killer Ants.

When he finished off the Killer Ants, Horn Rabbits began to charge towards Bell with their horns. Bell immediately side stepped to avoid the impalement and cut down the Horn Rabbit midair, before he spun himself to kick away the other horned rabbit. The horned rabbit tried to pick itself up, but was stopped when Bell stabbed it.

A Purple Moth soon descended onto Bell and attempted to spread its poison onto him, but Bell immediately jumped to the side to avoid the powder. He gripped his second dagger and flung it towards the Purple Moth. However, the dagger begin to spin in the air and simply hits the Purple Moth on the head with the handle, staggering the monster for a bit. Bell inwardly cursed, but took the moment to jump into the air and cut the Purple Moth in half.

Both Bell and the Purple Moth corpse landed on the floor. Bell looked around to see if there were any more monsters incoming, but there weren't, before he sighed to himself.

'Learning how to throw knives is a lot harder than I thought.' Bell thought with a frown.

Since he now has a second dagger alongside the Hestia Knife, he's been trying to learn on how to throw his knife with the monsters. Granted, the second dagger isn't meant to be thrown, but considering how Sora is capable of throwing his Keyblade with such proficiency has shown that any weapon can be thrown, so long as you have the skill to do it. It's just having throwing knives makes it easier.

Bell gave a sideward glance, and saw that Sora beginning to wrap things up as well.

There were multiple Red Nocturnes floating throughout the air, making them hard to keep track of. All of them kept on firing multiple fireballs heading towards Sora. Sora simply moved himself towards a cave spire and began to spin around it while magical energy began to build up. Not to mention, the Red Nocturne Heartless were suddenly being dragged towards Sora. Sora then released his hold from the cave spire and began to spin around, hitting all of the Red Nocturne Heartless that were within his range.

With all of the airborne Heartless eliminated, the energy around Sora soon faded and Sora landed on the ground.

"That's amazing Sora! What was that just now!?" Bell asked with amazement as he walked up to Sora.

"Oh, that? It's called Flowmotion, an ability that Riku and I picked up during our time in the Sleeping Worlds. Using Flowmotion allows us to traverse the environments with ease, and utilize the environment to our advantage when fighting the Heartless." Sora explained.

"That sounds like an amazing Skill or Magic to have!" Bell said with amazement. "The ability to freely move around the environment is practically a top-tier ability to have!"

The ability to blitz around the environment to maneuver around the enemy with such high speeds is practically an ability that perfectly suits Bell's fighting style. Alas, Bell doesn't have a Keyblade to give him such an ability.

"You may not have it, but don't let that discourage you Bell. During my time in the Sleeping Worlds, I met a guy named Neku who was able to pull off Flowmotion, and he wasn't even a Keyblade wielder. And given how this world works, and with enough hard work, you may be able to gain Flowmotion as a Skill or Magic." Sora pointed out.

"R-Really!?" Bell said with excitement, his eyes sparkling at the idea of gaining such a useful ability.

"I said may, it's not a guarantee." Sora pointed out, making Bell slump a bit. "But I'm sure we can work something out. For now, I still think you got a lot of work cut out out for you considering how you're spending a lot of time trying to learn from Larxene. Just keep practicing with your acrobatics and you're well on your way to be as agile as Flowmotion."

"Right!" Bell responded with determination.


~ Break ~


"The Eighth Floor!?" Eina repeated with shock and disbelief.

"Y-Yes. Sora and I traversed the Eight floor. We even have some monster material as proof-" Bell tried to explain as his hand reached out to his bag.

"How could you two do this!? I understand if you were going through the 5th since you're both fighting together, but to go beyond the 6th floor already!? This is beyond reckless!" Eina scolded the two.

Both Bell and Sora could only give a nervous laugh, as Eina isn't aware that the two are facing a much more bigger threat when inside the Dungeon.

"B-But miss Eina, my stats have improved enough to fit on the 8th floor!" Bell explained while holding up his arms in a placating gesture, making the half-elf look at him with a skeptical look.

"Are you really saying that, even though your highest stat is at H?" Eina pointed out.

"That's not true! Bell's stats are way beyond the H rank. I believe he reached C in Agility." Sora said, vouching for Bell.

"C...?" Eina responded with a startled look, before she cleared her throat. "Do you honestly believe that just because you're vouching for Bell, what you're saying is the truth? It hasn't even been a month, and yet you claim that you've reached C?"

"It's really true miss Eina! I've grown a lot the last time we met!" Bell told her with an earnest look.

Eina examined the facial expression on the two, both of which had very open and honest expressions. Bell isn't the type to lie, and Sora felt very similar to Bell in some sense, so it wouldn't make sense for them to be lying now.

She needed to get to the bottom of this.

"...Bell, do you mind showing me your status on your back?" Eina asked, making Bell blink at the request.

"W-Wait, isn't a status supposed to be kept secret?" Bell asked with surprise.

"It is, but I only promise to look at your stats and not your skills, nothing more!" Eina said while clapping her hands together as a gesture of promise.

"W-Well, I don't have any Skills or Magic, so I don't mind showing my stats to you. Though..." Bell said while looking away while his cheeks blushed a bit. "Do you mind if I show it to you privately? It's rather embarrasing for me to take off my shirt..."

"Don't blush like that! You're starting to embarrass me as well!" Eina exclaimed while her cheeks were turning red.

And with that, the two went off to a private booth, leaving Sora alone as he watched the two go off. Sora blinked at the scene before him, before he gave a small shrug.

"...I guess I'll take care of the magic stone exchange." Sora quietly said to himself as he hefted the bag of magic stones to the exchange counter.


~ Break ~


Today isn't a day when Bell and Sora aren't going into the Dungeon. Instead, Eina decided that the two of them are going shopping for new equipment to help Bell be, well, better equipped for the lower floors. Bell certainly wasn't opposed to the idea, even if the items he received from Sora helps a lot with certain defenses. But having updated armor certainly does help with survival.

As such, Bell and Eina took off for Babel and went up its floors to explore. As they were riding the elevator, Eina turned to Bell.

"I'm surprised Sora isn't coming along. Is he not interested in getting new equipment?" Eina curiously asked.

"Ah, Sora said that he actually has an appointment with Lady Hephastois about something important." Bell recalled.

"I see. I'm quite surprised that Sora is personally meeting Lady Hephastois. I thought you would take up the same offer." Eina pointed out.

"W-Well, let's just say I already received one of Lady Hephastois's works. I won't be need anymore for now." Bell explained.

"I see. Well then, I guess it only fair that Sora gets a commission with Lady Hephastois. Though I'm surprised that you are able to afford it." Eina remarked.

"Ah ha ha..." Bell gave a nervous laugh.

In reality, Sora doesn't really need any armor, considering how own equipment and his own high endurance on being able to take hits that would've crippled any person. Getting armor is rather redundant for Sora. And since the knife he received is from Lady Hephastois...he could only shudder at what price they had to pay to get the knife.

They soon arrived at the floor where it was rather dark color tone. When Bell stepped off the elevator, he found himself being surrounded by weapons and armor being displayed, with many shops all around selling their wares.

"What is this place...?" Bell said with amazement as he went up to one of the displays and examined a sword, which the price was 1,200 valis.

"This is the floor where many new blacksmiths sell their ware and have their products be evaluated by adventurers. Some of them are really good at a decent price for someone of your Level." Eina explained.

"I see..." Bell muttered as he looked at the prices around. It was true, all of the equipment are affordable for his budget, and some of them didn't look that bad.

It was then Eina led Bell to one of the stores selling their wares, and saw multiple isles of equipment and weapons being displayed. Bell walked on ahead to explore the isles and see the kind of equipment he needs. As he did, his eye caught a particular box on the side, and curiously examined the equipment.

The chest plate looked relatively light, and when he rapped the armor, he felt it was surprisingly sturdy.

"It's not bad..." Bell muttered to himself, before he curiously looked at the price tag for the equipment set, and his eyes widened.

"9,900 Valis...?" Bell muttered in shock. "That's pricey...Though, with Sora's help, we've managed to earn more as we went down to lower floors. It's a shame that the Heartless don't drop any magic crystals, but I suppose better Excelia gain is a fair trade off..." Bell muttered to himself as he picked up the box of armor.

"Oh Bell, have you found what you were looking for?" Eina asked as she approached Bell.

"I have. Looking at my budget now, I still have something else to look for. Have you found any throwing knives?" Bell asked.

"Throwing knives? I believe I found them in this isle..." Eina said as she led Bell to the section where throwable weapons are. Bell looked at all the weapons before him, before noticed a peculiar set on a shelf. Bell curiously took the small box out of the shelf and looked at the knives.

The set of knives are vaguely triangular in shape with concave edges on one side of the blade and handle. The middle of the other side of the knife has a circular cut taken out of it. They entirely grey.

The title on the box is called Trancheuse.

Bell blinked at the peculiar design of the knives, and pulled one out to examine it. It felt very light compared to his usual knives, yet they looked sharp to stab or slice into the target.

Bell hummed as he twiddled with the knife around in his fingers. Remembering how Larxene held her knives, Bell curiously took hold of multiple knives and held it between his fingers. He blinked when he felt that he could hold and carry them perfectly.

'I found the perfect set for me...!' Bell thought, feeling lucky that he found the right knives for the job. And when he looked at the price, he found that the set of throwing knives was just at the price of 2000 Valis. Not a bad deal considering how many knives were in the box.

"I'm surprised you're taking into consideration of throwing knives Bell. What compelled you to get throwing knives?" Eina curiously asked, breaking Bell out of his thoughts. He looked at Eina, before he looked at the box in his hands.

"...Let's just say, I found inspiration from a fellow knife user." Bell answered, making Eina tilt her head in confusion at Bell.


~ Break ~


As Bell and Eina were off in their little shopping trip, Sora was also dealing with an appointment with a certain Goddess. Currently, he and Hestia were in Hephastois's office.

"I take it that you're Sora?" Hephastois asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I am. Nice to meet you Hephastois!" Sora greeted with a smile, before he felt Hestia softly elbow Sora.

"Sora! Don't forget to address her with the appropriate title!" Hestia stage whispered.

"O-Oh, right, Lady Hephastois." Sora corrected himself. The Goddess in question simply gave a chuckle while waving it off.

"It's fine. It's not very often that I meet a mortal who addresses us Goddesses with casualness. Though, I'm sure there are a few Gods and Goddesses who don't take too kindly to being addressed like that. You should keep that in mind." the Goddess of the Forge lightly warned.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Sora said while nodding.

"Now then, with introductions out of the way, let's get down to business. You claim that you have schematics to build a flying wagon?" Hephastois asked, cutting right to the chase.

"I do. It's all recorded in my Gummiphone." Sora said as he dug into his pocket and took out his Gummiphone.

"Gummiphone?" Hephastois repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, this thing. Hold on, let me just search for it..." Sora said as he began tapping on the Gummiphone to find where the blueprints are.

To Hephastois, however, she saw Sora looking at the strange tablet in his hand and was just poking his fingers onto it. Immediately, skepticism began filling her.

"Hestia, is he playing some kind of prank on me...?" Hephastois asked with an unamused tone.

"Believe me, he's not. That thing in his hand is a magic item. Quite a special one at that." Hestia stated while rubbing her forehead.

"Magic item? That tablet-?" Hephastois repeated, before Sora turned the Gummiphone and showed the screen to her.

"Found it!" Sora declared.

Hephastois was met with the sight of an image of what appeared to be this complex layout of what appears to be some kind of vehicle. Immediately, her eyes narrowed when she analyzed the picture. Without even asking, she took hold of Sora's Gummiphone and gave it a hard look.

"This design...it's rather intricate and detailed, not some nonsense doodles..." Hephastois muttered, before she furrowed her eyebrow. "But these layout and detail...it's something that I can understand and yet don't at the same time. But is one image enough?"

"If you want to see more, just drag your finger across the screen." Sora told her.

"Drag my finger across...?" Hesphastois repeated, before she slowly touched the screen and moved it. Her eyes widened when she saw the image on the screen transition to another screen.

"It changed...!?" Hephastois muttered in shock, before she immediately began to experiment a little bit with the Gummiphone as she was going through multiple photos of the Gummiship layout.

"Just what is this tablet to hold so many drawings in a tablet...!? And these designs...!" Hephastois muttered in shock as she was scrolling through the layouts of the Gummiship.

"So I take it that she can understand what she's seeing...?" Sora asked Hestia with an unsure look.

"From the looks of it, yeah. I've never seen Hephastois act so invested with what you have." Hestia replied, before she sighed. 'Then again, your designs are literally beyond our world. What you have is knowledge that we Gods don't have.'

"W-What is this magic item...?" Hephasteus muttered in shock. While she deals forging weapons, magic item crafting is something out of her expertise, and that's mainly left up to Gods and Goddesses of Magic and children with the Mystery Developmental Ability. "No, forget about that. I need to draw it on a bigger scale...!"

The Goddess of the forge immediately went to a her desk and brought out a large sheet of paper. Immediately, she began to copy what she was seeing on the screen. Before could continue, Hestia waved a hand in front of her.

"Before you go into your own little world, I need you to answer my question." Hestia asked.

"And that is...?" Hephastois asked with a raised eyebrow, inwardly wanting to get back to solving this layout before her.

"While it may seem exciting and all, I want to know if you're able to pull off this kind of project. I don't doubt your abilities as a Goddess, but this particular idea seems rather...outlandish." Hestia correctly worded.

This world has never invented a Gummiship, nor do they have these so called Gummi materials. Even with the Goddess of the Forge taking interest, it's rather difficult to build a ship that is able to perform on the same length as a Gummiship with actual Gummi materials.

Hearing this question made Hephastois pause for a bit, before she glanced at the Gummiphone before her. After looking at it for a bit, she gave an unsure look.

"...Looking at it now...I'm not so sure." Hephastois admitted. "These designs and layouts of this vehicle are highly advanced, even for someone like me. It baffles me how advanced these designs are, and I've made some advanced designs back in Tenkai. But something like this...I can only get the fundamentals down at best, but the rest of the details look like they come from outside of our world." Hephastois commented, making Hestia and Sora stiffen at the last sentence.

"I cannot say for sure if this project is possible to pull off. But..." Hephastois said as she narrowed her eyes. "I have my pride as a Goddess of the Forge. I can't just back down from something I don't understand. And your child Sora has shown some rather outlandish things already. Him providing this type of layout for this vehicle isn't too farfetched if I'm being honest. It just shows it's possible to make this." Hephastois said, before she turned to Sora.

"Tell me, do you know the details of how it's made?" Hephastois asked. Sora hummed while folding his arms.

"Well, to be honest, I left all of the building up to Chip and Dale. Those two were the ones who did all the mechanical work and building." Sora told her.

"Chip and Dale? Odd names aside, is it possible to get into contact with them? I'd like to know more about how they were able to pull off such a feat in the first place." Hephastois asked. Sora gave a nervous chuckle as he scratched his cheek.

"Actually, that's one of the main reasons why I'm asking you in the first place. I need the Gummiship to get back to where I came from." Sora told her.

"Came from?" Hephastois asked.

It was then Hestia realized that the details Sora is risking his secret status, so she intervened on his behalf as she stepped in front of him.

"You see, Sora comes from a set of small islands called Destiny Islands. They're so cut off from this world that I highly doubt that you can find it on any map. That's why Sora needs this Gummiship to find his way home." Hestia hastily explained on Sora's behalf.

"...Is that so? Then how is it that he ended up here?" Hephastois asked with a raised eyebrow.

"...It's a long and complicated story." Hestia answered with a straight face, making Hephastois's eye heavily twitch. She exhaled through her nose while rubbing her forehead.

"...Noted." Hephastois flatly responded. She's beginning to develop a great dislike for hearing that phrase alone, as it brings a small headache to her.

"Is there anything else that needs to be addressed?" Hephastois questioned, seeing how Sora and Hestia just tend to break her expectations.

"Well, considering that you've taken an interest, I'm wondering how much this project is going to cost. Any particular materials that you need to acquire?" Hestia asked. Hephastois narrowed her eyes while looking at the Gummiphone. After looking at one of the pages for a good solid moment.

"...Considering the sheer size of this project, it's going to be expensive, I can tell you that much. Building a flying vehicle requires a lot of energy. Which of course, requires efficient tools to utilize magic stones to their fullest potential. And that's not taking into account of the metals that are going to be used..." Hephastois noted, before she narrowed her eyes.

"...At minimum, 700,000,000 valis." Hephastois bluntly stated.

Immediately, Hestia paled at the sheer amount.

"7-7 hundred million valis...!?" Hestia whispered in shock and horror. "T-That's way more expensive than Bell's knife...!"

"Well, considering the sheer scale of this project, it's not exactly cheap." Hephastois bluntly told her.

"I-I'm going to be working for centuries to pay all of this off...!" Hestia muttered in horror while clutching her head.

Honestly, just hearing that made Bell's Hestia knife alone look like child's play in comparison. The price for Bell's Hestia Knife was so big that she had to work 35 years just to pay it all off. It was thanks to Sora's contribution of Adamantite that it was able to pay off the Hestia Knife. However, Hephastois's own services wasn't exactly cheap, as Hestia had to work for about a year in order to fully pay off the debt.

Hearing this new debt given to her made Hestia's knees shake and weaken at the thought of it.

"Wow, that's expensive..." Sora commented in bewilderment, before he blinked as he realized something. He then reached into his jacket. "Perhaps if I give you some more Synthesis materials, will it help make up for what we have to pay?"

Hearing this caused both Goddesses to turn to him with different reactions. Hestia turned to look at Sora like he was a miracle occurring right before her eyes, while Hephastois looked at Sora with a befuddled look.

"W-Wait, don't tell me you have more pure Adamantite to give away..." Hephastois asked with disbelief.

"No, that was the last of my Adamantite. Coming across that stuff isn't exactly easy, you know?" Sora said while sighing.

'And yet he gave away that last pure chunk like it was nothing...' Hephastois thought. "Then what exactly do you have to offer? Even the materials you gave, while rare, isn't exactly enough to pay off the cost." Hephastois told Sora, thinking that Sora is probably going to pull out some small rare metal from his clothes.

Just like previous times, Sora has this tendency of proving Gods and Goddesses wrong with their assumptions, and utterly break it with his own out-of-this-world logic and actions.

"...What?" Hephastois couldn't help but utter in a dumbfounded look, her mind already in haywire upon what she's witnessing. Hestia, who was besides her, was gawking at the sight before her as well.

Before her on her desk is a pile of stones, gems, and crystals of Blaze, Frost, Lightning, Betwixt, Twilight, Lucid, Soothing, Writhing, Hungry, Pulsing, Wellspring, & Sinister Synthesis materials.

Hephastois shakily extended her hand towards one of the stones and picked up a Blaze stone. Just touching it alone made Hephastois realize what exactly it is, considering how the element is associated with her domain, despite how minor it is.

"...I-I can't believe it. This is fire in a crystalized form..." Hephastois muttered in disbelief. "Just this small stone alone is a guarantee to forge a strong fire Magic sword...! Wait, then...!" Hephastois quietly said as she quickly dropped the pencil in her other hand and began to analyze all of the materials before her.

Hestia looked at the Synthesis materials before her, before she turned to Sora, and then back to the pile.

"...Where were you hiding all of this in your clothes!?" Hestia questioned. Sora's clothes looked relatively thin and not at all baggy, save for the pants, but even then, his clothes would look very baggy. She thought it was just another little trick Sora could pull off by hiding the Adamantite in his clothes, but this just takes the cake.

"...In my pockets...?" Sora answered with a confused look, unsure if that is the correct answer to what he perceived to be an easy question to answer.

Hestia's eyebrow heavily twitched at Sora's answer, and then proceeded to palm her face.

"...Never mind..." Hestia groaned. At this point, she should give up on trying to make sense of what Sora is doing. She decided it was best to turn her attention elsewhere, as she turned to Hephastois.

"So, is this enough to pay off cost, or...?" Hestia asked, wanting to take her mind off of Sora.

"I'll answer that later. Sora, where did you manage to get all of this? It's one thing to find a small gem like this," Hephastois said as she held up a Soothing stone, "but you're just bringing it out like you find a magic stone from the Dungeon! This isn't something you can easily find!"

Hearing this question made Sora look a bit unsure on how to answer that.

"...That's...a long and complicated story." Sora awkwardly answered.

It was upon hearing that phrase that made Hephastois lose patience with, if the heavy twitching of her eyebrow is any indication. She's fed up with that answer.

"Then give me the short version. You can tell me the area or monster you got it from." Hephastois bluntly asked, wanting to learn some form of detail regarding the materials.

"U-Um...!" Sora stuttered, having been backed into a corner

"T-These materials come from monsters that you typically don't find in Orario!" Hestia hastily answered on Sora's behalf, turning Hephastois's attention towards her.

"Monsters that you don't find in Orario? You mean to tell me that monsters on the surface drop such rare materials? Because if that were the case, I'm pretty sure they would be circulating around the market at such high prices. Or rumors about such things." Hephastois pointed out.

"That's the thing though. They only appear before Sora, and Sora alone." Hestia answered.

"What do you mean?" Hephastois asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's his Skill." Hestia told her, making Sora turn to her in surprise. He then saw her gaze towards him a bit and gave him a slight nod, silently asking him to trust her on this. Sora just nodded in response, seeing how Hestia is taking care of this.

"Skill?" Hephastois repeated.

"Yes. You see, his Skill in particular is able to increase the chances of dropping these materials dropping. And his luck is rather...unbelievable." Hestia carefully answered.

She wasn't exactly lying. Sora's Keyblade attracts Heartless, and when he defeats the Heartless, they drop Synthesis materials. Sora's Keyblade also allows him to travel to different worlds and find all sorts of materials for him to use. So it really does increase his chances of getting the materials.

"Y-Yeah, that's right. My Skill helps me get these materials. So it's pretty hard for anyone else on this world to pull this off!" Sora spoke up to back up Hestia.

Hephastois saw no lie when she heard that from Sora.

"...I see. So that explains how you're able to acquire such rare materials." Hephastois said while looking at the pile of synthesis materials.

"Still, what type of monsters do you kill in order to get this? I may not have the best chances, but it's certainly worth sending out some of my children out to collect them." Hephastois said.

Both Hestia and Sora shared a look with each other, being asked a question that they didn't want to be asked.

"...Even if I were to tell you, I don't think I'm exaggerating that Sora is the only one who can get this type of item. Nobody else can replicate what Sora can do. Sending out your children to collect them is going to be a waste of time for you." Hestia answered.

Hephastois blinked when she was told this.

'They're serious on this.' Hephastois thought, though that was met with skepticism. The two of them looked like they were clearly hiding something, and the Goddess of the Forge truly wanted to know what exactly they were hiding.

However, she's not that nosy. She can respect the privacy of others if needed, and it looks like both Hestia and Sora need it. She's disappointed that she cannot learn of this method of collecting these materials. But considering that Sora is giving these to her to help pay off for this project she's undertaking, she'll put off this topic for now.

"...I see. Well that's certainly disappointing to hear. That Skill of yours must be quite special to find rare materials like this." Hephastois said while sighing in disappointment. "It's quite a shame. If only I found you first, my Familia and I would be thriving with these rare materials to work with."

"Hey, he's my child Hephastois! I won't give him up, even for you!" Hestia declared while jumping in from of Sora whole holding her arms out in defending Sora. Hephastois simply chuckled while pushing away a strand of hair from her face.

"Relax, I was joking." Hephastois simply replied with a small smile. "Still, you're quite lucky to have someone like Sora join your Familia. I'm sure there are other Familias who are chomping at the bits to get a child like him if they were to discover him."

"Believe me, I'm well aware of what Sora is capable of attracting. And not the good kind." Hestia groaned, considering how Sora is practically a must-have for any Familia.

"So getting back on topic, is this enough to help pay off for the Gummiship?"

Hephastois hummed as she picked up a small Blaze stone. "...Just a single shard of this is worth 1,000,000 Valis. And that's just the bare minimum."

"That small shard alone...!?" Hestia muttered in shock.

"You literally gave me a treasure trove of materials to work with. It's only natural that I'm giving them the price they deserve." Hephastois simply said. "With these, I believe it should be enough to pay off the costs for the ship. Though, it may increase depending on what I find through this magic item."

"Well then, guess I better find more Synthesis materials to help pay it off then." Sora simply said with a grin while crossing his arms behind his head.

"You say it like it's an easy task to pull off. Then again, considering your Skill, then it must be a doable task for you to pull off." Hephastois said while sighing. "So with that taken cared of, is there anything else that needs to be addressed? Because I want to start working on this project."

Both Hestia and Sora shared a look with each other.

"...I don't think anything else comes to mind." Hestia said, as she couldn't think of anything else concerning. Hephastois could only feel relief, feeling that she had enough ridiculous reveals from Sora. It was when she thought of this that she realized something.

'...Is this what Hestia has to deal with on a daily basis?' Hephastois thought.

If so, she could only feel sorry for what her fellow Goddess has to go through.


~ Break ~


"Lord Ganesha, here are the last of the reports." Shakti, the captain of the Ganesha Familia, reported as she walked in with a stack of papers. She presented the papers to her patron God in their Familia's home's office.

"Yes, I am Ganesha! I shall get through them post-haste!" Ganesha, the God of Masses, declared rather loudly while sitting on his chair, even stopping his work and sat straight up while folding his arms.

Shakti could only sigh, seeing how her patron God isn't capable of using indoor voices. At the very least, he's competent in doing his job. Shakti wordlessly sets the paper down on the desk and took her leave to take of the other responsibilities she has as Captain.

As Shakti left the office, Ganesha hummed in thought as he took a look through the reports.

Monsterphilia became quite a disaster ever since the monster breakout. No one has ever found the culprit on who set the monsters free. It's because of the monster outbreak that it puts a rather negative outlook on the monsters, which puts a major setback on his secret project.

But besides that, there was something else that caught his eye.

Familia Member A's (Modaka) report has told him about these strange black creatures that appeared out of nowhere. From their reports, none of them resembled any of the monsters they tamed and brought to the surface.

In addition to their reports, many of the creatures were focused on a young boy with spiky brown hair, and had this strange magic sword in the shape of a key.

It's strange. Their reports of these dark creatures don't match up with any of the records of monsters they're familiar with. It's as if they appeared out of nowhere. What's even more strange was that these black creatures focused on the boy alone, and didn't scatter like any other monsters.

Furthermore, they remarked how the young boy is rather familiar with the dark creatures.

Ganesha hummed in thought as he brought his hand up to his chin.

'...Just what is the connection between the brown haired boy and these dark creatures?'


~ Break ~


"Yosh, there you go Lefiya!" Loki chirped as she finished updating Lefiya's stats. As Lefiya puts back her shirt on, Loki gave a hum of interest as she looked at the parchment before her.

"You certainly hit a lucky growth spurt today! Your magic and endurance made quite the jump today. Probably has to do with you playing an important role in freezing the abnormal violas." Loki remarked.

"I-I have?" Lefiya asked in surprise as she took the parchment from Loki and examined her updated stats. Her eyes widened when she saw that there's a bigger jump than the usual points she gets from getting a falna update. "I-I guess I've played an important role in stopping the violas..."

"Well, you stopped it in its tracks, which allowed others to finish it off. So you played an important role." Loki told her.

"Even so...I can't afford to get caught off guard again." Lefiya quietly said as she stared at the paper.

She doesn't want to become an injured liability that Ais and the others have to worry about. It was thanks to Sora that she was able to recover from her perceived mistake.

Speaking of Sora, Lefiya gave a soft frown at the thought of him, having a mixed opinion on him.

They are both strangers to each other, and yet Sora has so much confidence and faith in her. Was it because he saw her as the Thousand Elf or a member of the Loki Familia? It could be possible, but the way he looked at her was if he had confidence in her and her alone, and not just her status. It made her feel a bit fuzzy inside at the thought of someone who has so much genuine confidence in her ability, especially coming from someone she just met.

And that short chant healing spell. She doesn't really know how to feel about it. On one hand, it should leave her appalled how someone else already has a strong healing spell with no chant at all, just like the boy from the 50th floor. On the other hand, she felt that without his healing spell, she would've never had the chance to help Ais and the others deal with the Violas. So she doesn't know whether she should be mad or thankful that a spell like that exists and helped her out.

But then there's Sora's magic shield. She's knows of magic swords and the various shapes that take, but she never thought it would be crafted into a magic shield of all things. It proved to be quite effective when it was used, but perhaps too effective, as it immediately broken upon use.

It was all of those factors that Lefiya felt that she owed Sora a lot for what he did for her and her Familia. She wanted to repay him for what he's done, but...

'The only problem is that I don't know where he is...' Lefiya thought with a small frown. 'And even if I were to find him...how exactly could I repay him?'

Lefiya grew a bit unsettled at the thought of having to repay in Valis. And considering how strong that magic shield was, it must've been pretty expensive to forge. She could already feel all of the valis she saved up draining away.

'No! None of that!' Lefiya thought as she snapped out of those thoughts. 'I owe Sora for what he's done! I can't afford to worry about losing valis!'

"I don't know why you're gaining a fire in your eye of all times, but save that energy for the Dungeon. Why don't you go join the others for dinner? I'll catch up with you soon." Loki told her, breaking Lefiya out of her thoughts.

The elf mage nodded as she stood up from her chair and left Loki's room. As the elf did, Loki gave a sigh as she slumped back on her bed.

"Honestly, having Lefiya's jump in her stats is needed, considering what's going on right now..." Loki muttered to herself.

After the whole Monsterphilia and investigating on who caused such a mess, her findings led her to finding Freya as the culprit. However, that damn Goddess of Love had favor over her that forced her to back down from reporting such a mess, much to her chagrin. Freya claimed that she didn't have any of the monsters hurt others, but Loki pointed out that a monster injured one of her Familia members. It was Loki's surprise that Freya was also surprised and confused about the Violas in questions.

So that brings up the strange question on who unleashed the violas?

That just adds another question to the bucket of questions that she already has her hands full with.

She gave a frustrated sigh as she scratched the back of her head, trying to figure out all of the mysteries and chaos around her.

"...Maybe I should approach this from another angle?" Loki muttered.

She hummed in thought as she brought her hand to her chin, her mind focusing on another detail relating to the violas.

Based on what Tione, Tiona, Ais, and Lefiya accounts, the Violas they fought was no ordinary violas at all. It had a completely different and darker color scheme, more enhanced, and had some dark power. Not to mention this weird dark symbol on its body.

Was it some kind of new enhanced species that recently started to come up?

Speaking of dark color schemes, it began to match up with similar reports from Ais and Bete.

During their return to the surface after their latest excursion to the dungeon, they accidentally let out a group of minotaur to run to the upper floors. A major blunder on their part, and did their best to prevent anyone going through the floors being victims of their mistake.

When Ais and Bete chased after the minotaurs, they suddenly ran into a group of monsters the likes they've never seen before. Ais and Bete described them to be humanoid shadow like monsters.

At first, Loki thought that War Shadows managed to wonder to 5th floor, and by some off and rare chance, become an enhanced species. And that was met with skepticism because Upper Floor monsters do not become enhanced species at all. And even if they do, it may be just one monster, rather than a whole group.

Based on Ais and Bete's experience with them, they were a lot more stronger compared to War Shadows. They've also possessed abilities that not even War Shadows possess. Namely, they seem to open up these weird dark holes in the ground for them to jump in, and pop out to attack. They even send out dark shockwaves of energy.

They've managed to dispose of them. But the strangest thing about them is that when they were defeated...they left behind nothing. Not a single magic crystal remained of them.

These dark creatures are a complete mystery.

Speaking of mystery, Loki hummed in thought as she sat back up while resting her head on her arm propped up by her thigh.

Sora.

A recent adventurer who joined the Hestia Familia, much to her ire as she missed a potential recruit to her Familia and ended up with a Goddess she greatly dislikes.

A Level 1 who possesses unusual strength, a potent healing spell, and a magic shield to help him control fire to such a great extent. A shame that magic shield crumbled for such an event, rather than saving it for the Dungeon.

He had strength and skills to fend off an abnormal violas. A normal violas comes from the deep floors, and you normally need to be a Level 3 or 4 to stand a chance, and if you're fighting together with a well organized party. An enhanced violas could've easily reached a Level 5, and yet Sora was able to have the strength and skill to come in and fend off the monster while having Lefiya support him in battle.

A Level 1 having the stats equivalent to a Level 5 is just outright abnormal.

Which brings up the main question.

'...Why have I never heard of Sora?' Loki thought. 'You would think that someone of Sora's current strength, skill, and arsenal would be noticed by some adventurers or be mentioned in rumors. But no, nobody knows about Sora up until recent events.'

Even though weapon he uses is strange, there should've been some word of a blacksmith selling such strange yet strong weapon would gain a pretty val.

'Was he, perhaps, someone who came outside the city? But that doesn't match up with his strength. Outside of Orario was rather difficult to Level Up. Just being able to reach Level 3 is quite an impressive achievement outside of Orario. But even a Level 3 will have difficulty dealing with an enhanced violas.' Loki thought while leaning back.

"...Is he hiding his actual Level? But the Guild says he's Level 1, and they don't lie about this kind of stuff..." Loki muttered to herself. "Then...it's possible for Hestia Familia to be lying about Sora's level...?"

That honestly doesn't make any sense either. Hestia is a lot of things in Loki's mind, but dishonest isn't one of them. Still, it made her suspicious of Hestia on what she did to have Sora join her in the first place. That Goddess didn't really have much to offer, and yet Sora still joined her despite his own strength and skills. With Sora's own strength, he could've easily joined any top-ranking Familia.

Loki sighed, seeing how that's just another question to the bucket of questions that she has to deal with.

That strange boy from the 50th floor. The abnormal monsters Ais and Bete ran into. The darker variation of a Violas. And now Sora.

All of them out of nowhere and having no knowledge whatsoever on any of them.

"Honestly, what the hell is going on?"


And that's a wrap to this chapter.

I know it isn't the most exciting of chapters, but it had to be done. Originally, I planned a lot more for this chapter, if I were to follow through, then the sheer typing for this chapter would've been enormous, which means longer time, which means a much longer update.

It also doesn't help that I had to rewrite this chapter multiple times. There were some segments I wanted to add, but I found those difficult to work with, and just scrapped them, which wasted time.

I've also discovered that I have a bad habit of trying to cram in up to 20k words per chapter as of late. In actuality, the average amount of words per typical chapter for most stories (in real life) is about 1,500-5000 words. If I look at my last chapter, then I have practically crammed about roughly 4 chapters into one chapter. Wow.

So I find that having 10K words per chapter is the best solution for both myself and the upload schedule, unless I needed to fit in more scenes to help with the flow.

Moving on from that, uh oh, despite Sora already doing his best to remain under the radar, a couple of Gods are already starting to pick up a few things.


Fun Fact of the Day

Bahamut, a recurring Final Fantasy character, was originally going to be featured in Kingdom Hearts 1 as a Summon. While it is possible to hack the game to include Bahamut in the Summons menu, choosing him will crash the game.

Imagine if Bahamut managed to get into Kingdom Hearts, and Sora summoned him to help out. One could only imagine the chaos that occurs and a certain blonde adventurer is going to have a heart attack/rampage upon seeing the summon.

Also, even if Bahamut was summoned, Bahamut still falls short to Donald.

You know why?

Zettaflare.