In the ancient elven forest, there lies a tree.
It's branches seemed to spread out in every direction, to the very corners of the world. That was how large it seemed.
On the branches, there dangled glowing golden apples.
This was the garden of the Hesperides.
It was once said that eating one of the apples would grant immortality, but it has been so long since an apple has been consumed that no one knows whether It is the truth, or merely a myth.
But this wouldn't be enough to deter a lot of royals and greedy nobles. No, there was a different kind of deterrence.
This was the ancient dragon Ladon.
Said to have resided in the garden since it was created, this albino dragon guarded the apples, using a combination of its fiery breath and claws to kill any who would dare to intrude.
One hundred years ago, the previous elf king, desiring immortality, gathered every able-bodied elf in the kingdom and sent them to retrieve the apples.
They didn't succeed.
One blast of fire from the dragon was enough to render several battalions unable, and a slash of its claws could cut through even the finest of metal.
Eventually, the image of a noble dagon guarding its home turned into that of a savage monster.
A meeting with the ancient dragon was synonymous with death.
And eventually, the true name of the ancient dragon was lost in time…
κουδούνι.
(AN: I mean, I guess you can go and search it up, but there's no real point as the real meaning of This word will probably be revealed later in the chapter anyway.)
–––
Bell jolted awake. His hands flashed to the two blades laying beside him on the bed, before setting them down gently.
He clutched his right arm as a quick spasm ran down it.
A few moments later, everything settled down.
A drop of sweat fell from his brow and landed on the bedsheets.
–––
Bell and Rivera had arrived in Orario yesterday.
After quickly registering with Orario's management, they had booked two separate inn rooms before leaving to perform individual searches and to learn more about Orario.
Instead of searching for a familia right off the bat, Bell had wandered around the streets of Orario, before bumping into an old acquaintance.
–––
The streets of Orario were overflowing with people.
Bell walked down the streets, no particular destination in mind.
That was until he walked past a restaurant just as a person was thrown out the door.
He flew right out of the door before rolling on the ground a few times and came to a stop.
"The Hostess of Fertility…. huh." Bell said, "Interesting name for a restaurant."
Bell could easily smell the cooking meat from the kitchen inside.
"That being said, I am kind of hungry… I wonder what type of restaurant throws out its customers."
"The type which is frequented by dirty, drunk adventurers, Nya~" A girl spoke up from beside him. She seemed to have suddenly appeared there, too fast for Bell to pick up.
"Level 4…" He muttered to himself under his breath, but his voice was caught by the brown-haired catgirl.
"Nya?! How did you know nya?" She asked in confusion, glaring at him, "Don't tell me… You're with her?"
She spat out the last word with a bitter taste in her mouth.
"Some kind of personal grudge." Bell thought.
"No, nothing like that. Just the way you compose yourself and how fast you are." Bell replied, "I just made a guess."
Bell had no plans to antagonise a level four – He doubted her could beat her, even if he went full out. Not to mention that others would interfere before that would happen.
Seeing his reply, the girl calmed down.
"Sorry for being rude, nya." She said, bowing down, "Are you a customer?"
"It's no problem." Bell thought for a little bit, before replying, "Yeah, I guess I am now…"
He entered the establishment.
As he sat down, he gave the menu a quick look through before placing his order.
A green haired elf came to receive it.
"Another high-level adventurer…. This place is full of monsters." Bell thought to himself as he ordered a special.
The food arrived fast. It only took 20 minutes, and was served along with a mug of beer.
"Sorry, I don't drink alcohol." Bell said, "It dulls the mind and reflexes."
Hearing that, the owner of the establishment, Mia Grand, gave a hearty laugh and slapped him on the back, nearly dislocating his spine.
The door opened to the establishment as a dark haired elf walked in.
Bell dropped his fork on the ground.
He turned around to stare at her.
"Fi-Filvis?" He weakly muttered out.
–––
Bell quickly got dressed before heading out of the door.
His two signature blades tucked into his belt, he walked to the guild hall.
–––
"Bell?" The elf said in confusion, turning around to look at him, "Why are you here?"
Bell pulled out the chair beside him.
"Why don't you sit down and we can have a chat?" He said tentatively.
"Very well. Mia, I'll be sitting with him." Filvis said, taking her seat, "So, why are you here?"
"Well…" Bell thought for a moment, "I accompanied someone."
"Who?"
Bell dropped his tone to a whisper as he leaned slightly forward, but not close enough to make her feel uncomfortable.
"The princess of the elves, Rivera Ljos Alf."
–––
"I'm telling you, these magic stones are from the middle floors! There's no way these are only selling for 10,000 valis!" An adventurer yelled as he slammed his hands down on the table.
"Sir, with all due respect, these magic stones appear to be from the eighth floor at the maximum. Unless you offer up any proof, we cannot pay you any more." The guild employee said, sighing.
"Bullshit!" The person yelled, "What the fuck is wrong with you?!"
Bell sighed.
"Adventurers." He said, bitterness in the tone as he moved forward.
"What proof do I need to offer except the fact th–" As the man continued yelling at the top of his lungs, Bell grabbed his arm, hard.
"With all due respect, Sir Adventurer, you are disrupting the peace in the guild. May I request that you quiet down a bit?" Bell said, sarcastic politeness in his tone.
"Why you–" The adventurer raised his hand to try and hit Bell.
Bell instantly moved his head to the left to dodge the palm sent in the place where his head just was.
Level 1.
"Well, I guess this is justified self defence now." Bell said as he grabbed the adventurers outstretched arm, twisting it over his back and slamming him against the hard floor of the guild. He took care to avoid any vital injuries – The man would be fine after a quick rest.
"That's enough." A voice said from beside him. Bell turned around to search for the source.
A fat elf walked into the room.
"You." Royman said, pointing at Bell, "I need to speak with you."
Bell sighed, following behind him as he started walking away.
"So? What did you want to talk to me about?" Bell asked.
"Not me. Ouranos." Royamn said, not turning around.
Oh no.
Bell gave an exasperated sigh.
–––
Bell walked into the chamber of prayers.
Royman had stayed outside, giving him some privacy in their conversation.
"Bell Cranell." Ouranos's deep voice reverberated throughout the chamber, "What is one like you dong here, roaming the streets of Orario? Depending on your answer, things may take a very negative turn."
Bell thought for a moment, before saying, "I am following the rules of the pact."
"That means…" Ouranos stopped, "Very well."
"Is there anything else that is required of me?" Bell asked, curious.
"One." Ouranos said, raising his arms, "Bell Cranell, I would like to formally invite you to join the Ouranos familia."
"And why should I do this?" Bell said nonchalantly.
"Because I am the only god who would accept you despite knowing what you are." Ouranos said. HIs words were true.
Bell sighed.
"Very well, then. I will formally accept your invitation into the Ouranos familia." He said, "I look forward to working with you."
–––
Name: Bell Cranell
Age: 18
Race: E#!l*(
(AN: That part of his status is blurred out, so to speak. Similar to Cassandra's skill.)
Level 1:
STR: I 0
END: I 0
DEX: I 0
AGI: I 0
MAG: I 0
Magic:
Foresight: Skill usage unclear.
! #*(): Skill usage unclear
$! #: Skill usage unclear
Skills:
% &*( Lineage: Skill usage unclear
Blessing of ! #*&: Skill usage unclear.
*( of ! # ! *#(): Skill usage unclear.
–––
"You're the first I've seen to have so many blurred out sections." Ouranos commented as Bell gazed upon his status.
Bell stood up, putting his shirt back on.
"I'm going into the dungeon." He said. It was not a request, but a statement.
"Very well." Ouranos said, "As a member of the Ouranos Familia, you are free to do whatever you want – However, you will occasionally be called on to finish certain tasks for me. Do you understand?"
Bell nodded.
"Understood." He walked out of the chamber.
–––
~1 hour later.
Bell's blade tore through another goblin as he advanced through the floor.
He didn't bother picking up any magic stones – Ouranos would provide him funding for anything he wanted to buy anyway. It would be better to leave them for starting adventurers who were in desperate need of some funds to buy or repair their weapon, or those starved for a meal.
As Bell advanced through the floors, he felt it was eerily quiet.
When he reached the fifth floor, he stopped. However, he didn't put away his blades.
"Foresight." His eyes glowed green and he quickly dashed to the side as a hand reached out of the wall behind him to grab where his head was a few moment ago.
As the rest of the body was emerging, Bell used that opportunity to inflict as many wounds on the monster as possible. He cut its arm in various positions, as well as leaving some scars on the monster's chest.
The monster that had just spawned was a minotaur. Not a normal minotaur either, but a pitch black one.
"I expected this to happen, but really? A minotaur?" Bell said to himself as he readied himself for combat, "Well, it doesn't really matter."
He took a deep breath before rushing at the minotaur.
–––
The corridor was filled with the sound of metal clanging against landform weapon. Bell utilised the comparative size difference between him and the monster to adopt a more hit-and-run type strategy, one designed to abuse the most out of his comparatively high mobility.
That plan was ruined the moment the Minotaur mauled his right arm with its horns, essentially rendering it useless.
Bell clicked his tongue in frustration.
He quickly sheathed one of his blades, before jumping back, narrowly dodging another charging attack.
"Fuck." He spat out, his arm hanging limply at his side, "That didn't go well at all."
He switched his grip on his knife to a reverse grip.
"Any further and I might have to resort to more drastic measures…" He muttered, shaking his head.
The minotaur just roared.
Bell spat a few drops of blood out of his mouth.
"If you insist." He said, lowering his left hand towards the hilt on his left side.
"Combine."
A purple glow lit up both blades, before the sheathed one flew out and combined with the one in Bell's hand. The blade elongated, becoming katana.
"Dark Dragon Blade." Bell said, quietly. His grip on the katana tightened, black smoke rising out of the blade. The smoke started turning into dragon-like shapes, surrounding his body in a wreath of purple-black smoke.
He drew the blade back and slashed. A purple-black shockwave flew out, colliding with the Minotaur's landform weapon. The snake-like dragons followed suit, biting and assaulting the Minotaur.
"Huff…huff…" Bell let out an exhausted sigh, "Is it over?"
The dust cleared slightly – And Bell was met with the sight of two charging horns that caught him and rammed him into the dungeon wall.
"Agh!" Bell yelled out as more blood splurged out of his mouth.
The Minotaur slammed his hand against Bell's chest, tearing a hole through his stomach.
"Fuck you…." Bell coughed out, "Forcing me to go so far…"
The minotaur raised its hand up again and was about to slammed it down again.
"METAMORPHOSIS!" Bell yelled out. A flash of white light filled the cavern.
The minotaur was blown away.
The white haired boy had disappeared.
And in his place, was an albino dragon with green eyes.
"–––––––––––––" The loud shrieking noise filled the cavern.
AN: Quick Disclaimer. This chapter was, quite literally, written at 3 am in the morning. I finished it and was like "Grammar? Fuck grammar checks." I didn't even run in through the people on my discord, so yeah. There might be some problems, but I hope you enjoyed it.
I have inspiration problems. So yeah, this chapter came out kind of slow... totally not because I've been spending more time than I should be grinding Epic Seven even when Uni's started already.
Now onto the reviews:
400415: This chapter took quite a steep turn in a different direction but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.
Barut12717: Haha sorry this chapter wasn't that long – It felt like a good place to end off and I really wasn't in the mood to write any more.
GiacomoX: Thanks!
Gadget Boy: Yeah this will be very non-cannon. On that note, allow me to get this out here, I am one of those people who hate Hestia. So her role in this story will be minimal. I am considering having Riveria join Loki familia but it depends on what the other people on my discord say.
TBNRGAMERX: Sorry for the delay! But I hope you enjoy this.
UnknownRandom: Thanks for your thoughts! Your grammar is fine.
Moonhunter889900: I'm very much alive, haha. Just had some inspiration problems.
Uros Milosevic: Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Hope you like this chapter as well!
Pix25: Thanks!
Well, that's it for the reviews this time round. Remember, my discord server can be accessed with this code: tzxz6ED, so please do join if you enjoy reading any of my works. Everyone there is pretty chill and we discuss quite a bit about different story ideas.
Once again, thank you everyone for reading, and hope to see you again next time.