The Last of his Kind

by Greed720

He'd been in a brutal, life and death battle. A foe that was so far beyond him that it was a miracle he had survived, let alone wounded it. However, despite his many feats, and the skills and abilities, he had honed and developed; he was unable to triumph over his destined enemy! Or at least not yet, his surroundings might have changed, but his adventure was not finished, not yet!

8. Chapter 8

AN: Hey all, so here is the next chapter of the story, hope you all enjoy it! Big thank you so far to all those who have favourited, followed and reviewed the story, this story turned out to be far more popular than I thought it would be. So thanks for that, I do appreciate all the support, and those that point out ways to improve the story.

Hope you enjoy the new chapter.

Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions or suggestions then please feel free to PM me, I'm usually quite good at answering those. Also please do checkout my other stories if you have the time.

Disclaimer: I do not own Elder Scrolls or Danmachi.

( - )

(Last Time)

"Thank you." Hephaestus smiled, her words causing Welf to go a little pink, before he quickly turned back to his food, his face going even redder as Leo once again started talking to him, a gleeful smirk on the elf like teen's face as the younger boy clearly began teasing the redhead.

Azoth, noticing this smirked, and then chuckled slightly under his breath. He was pretty happy with his choices thus far, and was looking forward to what tomorrow would bring. Not only would he be registering as an 'official' Adventurer and member of the Hephaestus Familia, he would also be getting his first look at the massive Dungeon that lay beneath the city of Orario.

( - )

Chapter 8

( - )

(With Azoth)

Waking up in his new bed the day after his welcoming feast, it took Azoth, for the second time in as many days, a few minutes to properly orientate himself and come to terms with his foreign, but very pleasant, surroundings.

Pushing himself up out of his bed, his white hair messy and sticking up awkwardly in several places, a classic example of bed head, he quickly cottoned onto where he was.

This was his current residence, a room in the Forgefire manor, the seat of the famous Hephaestus Familia.

Smiling at this realisation, Azoth got out of his bed and threw open the curtains, and then looked out onto the vibrant city of Orario. As places to stay went, or at least places he had stayed at before, this one was pretty great.

Then again considering he had slept in dungeons; tombs, stables, sewers, under the stars and in more than a few caves, one or two of which had been inhabited with trolls that was not really saying very much.

The fact that he had a comfortable bed was luxury enough, or at least in terms of comfort. In terms of quality of sleep though, well as far as that went it didn't matter what he slept on or where; be it a feather bed in a palace or plain rock outcropping on the top of a mountain. His beastblood never allowed him a restful slumber.

Grumbling to himself at that thought, Azoth grabbed a nearby pitcher of water off of his bed side table and took several gulps, draining the contents and washing away his foul morning breath and the taste of stale alcohol that he could taste on his tongue and in his mouth.

His regenerative healing factor and high metabolism, courtesy of being a Werewolf, might burn off any alcohol quickly and neutralise it from his system. But unfortunately his healing factor did nothing to ward off the dehydration caused by excessive consumption of alcohol, and currently he was pretty dehydrated, his pounding head told him that much.

Of course that just meant that the feast the previous evening had been a good one, and really it had been. He had gotten to meet most of the Familia, all of whom were 'unique' in their own special way.

Some like Nyssa and Leo were eccentric in their own way, and seemed to be constantly fidgeting or fiddling with one or doodad or another. Others like Beckendorf, Agil and Tsubaki were loud, charismatic and enthusiastic, the kind of people he liked drinking with. Still others were a complete mystery that he didn't get a chance to talk to properly, like Welf and the pinkette, Lisbeth.

That said, he hadn't really had a chance to speak to any of them in any real depth, but he at least had met them all briefly, all whilst sharing nearly a dozen flagons of ale and mead with them.

If there was one thing the Hephaestus Familia liked to do, it was drink.

Again though, that was something he could wholeheartedly get behind.

Rubbing his face with his hand, Azoth got out of bed and started to dress himself.

He was supposed to go to the Guild building today and officially register himself as a member of the Familia. On top of that he was supposed to be being shown to his personal workshop, and taken down into the Dungeon for his first foray too.

Buttoning up one of his new shirts, and pulling on a pair of charcoal coloured slacks and a pair of boots, Azoth quick got himself ready for the day to come. He would need to armour up for going down into the Dungeon later, but for now he would stick to wearing something comfortable.

Stretching and twisting his body this way and that, ignoring the numerous cracks and pops issuing forth from his spine and shoulders, he paused only long enough to grab his belt and the attached sword and dagger off of a nearby weapons rack before he headed down for some food and to find either Hephaestus, or that Welf kid, the one that was supposed to be showing him around.

At the thought of his fiery haired goddess, Azoth paused for a moment.

He had spoken to her last night as well. Not in any great depth of course, but she had taken him aside for a moment and showed him his 'stat' sheet, and wasn't that a novel thing.

Heading over to his desk, Azoth scooped up the page his goddess had shown him the previous night, his brow furrowing as he scanned down it and remembered the brief discussion he had had with Hephaestus the night before.

( - )

(Last Night)

"Quite frankly Azoth, your status is incredible." Hephaestus said bluntly, sitting behind her desk an unreadable expression on her face as she pushed the scroll of paper across her desk and over to the still standing Snow Elf.

Picking up the scroll and unrolling it, Azoth had to hold back a frown of confusion as he inspected it, trying to work out what it all meant.

The skills, development abilities and spells he understood. They were all pretty self-explanatory. It seemed that the Falna, or Blessing, that he had been given had recognised certain proficiencies and skills that he had honed during his time as Meridia's Champion, and spells that he had learned, and then translated them over.

How exactly it had done this, and what criteria it had used to do so, he had no idea. Nor did he think he ever would know. After all the magic of the divine was far too esoteric and capricious for even a master Archmage to understand, let alone an adept mage, at best, like him.

Either way though, he understood the basis of where his skills and abilities had come from. That all made sense to him, even if he wasn't totally sure what the letters next to his 'development abilities' meant.

What did confuse him though was what the other numbers and letters meant:

Strength: B707

Endurance: S999

Dexterity: C615

Agility: C632

Magic: E467

He assumed they had to do with his 'level' maybe, or his overall abilities, but that was really all he could infer.

Shaking his head at this, Azoth continued to scan the parchment for a few minutes, taking it all in, before with a shrug he rolled it up once again and made to hand it back over to his goddess.

"Keep it, I've got a copy." Hephaestus replied calmly, the redheaded woman leaning back in her chair now and surveying him curiously as she did so.

"Fair enough," Azoth nodded, slipping the roll of parchment into his pocket without complaint. He would peruse it more at another time.

"Before you go however, I was curious about one of your skills. Would you mind me asking you about it?" Hephaestus pushed on, her expression still calm and her tone pleasant.

This wasn't a demand or an order, Azoth could tell that much from the tone of her voice, it meant as a question, a request, one that he knew he could deny or refuse to answer if he so wished.

But at present he saw no issue in divulging more about himself to the goddess. Thus far she had done right be him, and had proven herself to be pretty decent as far as celestial beings went.

She was far more pleasant than Meridia had ever been, even on her best day, and, well there was no comparison in regards the other Daedric Princes he had met. Most of whom were pure evil to say the least.

"Go for it," Azoth replied after a moment, sidling forward and slipping into the seat opposite Hephaestus as he did so.

"The Chosen of Akatosh, the description says that this unique skills allows you to 'speak in the ancient language of the dragons,' and that it gives you the capability 'of absorbing the souls of any dragons and then use the power and knowledge received from these devoured souls to unleash dragon shouts'." Hephaestus paused as she said this, her red eyes flicking up to meet Azoth's violet ones. "What are 'dragon shouts'?"

Azoth smiled as he heard her question. "That's a fair question, and one that is easy enough to explain in the most simplest of terms, but incredibly difficult to explain if you want more detail."

"Keep it simple then," Hephaestus nodded, her lip quirking upwards for a moment. "If you don't mind."

"Not at all," Azoth replied easily. "Dragon shouts are just that; shouts spoken in the ancient language of the dragons from my homeland. They are, I suppose you could say, words of power. You speak the words and reality conforms to make what you speak come to pass."

Hephaestus's eyes widened a slither as she digested his explanation. "So it is a form of powerful magic then, one that can be cast verbally, with no need for a staff or hand gestures?"

"Pretty much," Azoth shrugged, she pretty much hit the nail on the head with her explanation. Taking away all of the spiritualism, theology and meditation that the Greybeards loved to talk about. The Thu'um was essentially a unique form of magic. After all just like with magic the user could use their power to contort reality. Effectively it was just magic without the requirement for magicka to be used to wield it. Instead it was powered by the strength of the user's soul.

"And the ability to absorb the souls of slain dragons and consume their power and knowledge?" Hephaestus pressed.

"Well it is pretty self-explanatory," Azoth shrugged, flashing a smile as he did so. "I can absorb the souls of dragons. In doing so I absorb both the souls' power; which I then use to bolster the power of my own soul, and my shouts in turn, oh and I absorb the memories connected to the soul too."

Hephaestus frowned as she heard this, her brow furrowing. "So you are able to devour souls?"

"Yes," Azoth nodded. "Only the souls of dragons though."

Hephaestus continued to look at him for a few moments after he answered, her red eyes boring into him curiously. "I have never heard of a skill like this before, the ability to influence and interact with souls, even those of monsters and beasts, it has always be the sole domain of the gods. Yet I sense no lies coming from your tongue, nor would the status sheet lie either. It should be impossible!"

As she said this Hephaestus continued to stare at Azoth, her eyes roaming over his face hungrily, as if she were unable to look away.

"From my experience," Azoth said lightly, not at all uncomfortable with the attention. "Nothing is impossible. The world is a large place and full of endless peculiarities. I've long since stopped pondering on what is and is not impossible, and have instead decided to take it all in stride."

Hephaestus's gaze softened slightly, and her lips quirked upwards in amusement. "Well put, I always forget how odd you mortals are. Your kind, you are all so capricious and unpredictable. Even after all the centuries that I have lived amongst you mortals and alongside you, your kind still find new ways to surprise me."

The redhead let out a slight laugh as she said this, amusement and joy entering her gaze now as she continued to gaze at him warmly, her lips curving upward into a genuine smile as she continued to gaze at him in fascination.

"Well we like to keep things interesting, don't we?" Azoth replied bemusedly.

"Yes, yes you do," Hephaestus laughed, standing up from behind her desk, with Azoth quickly mirroring her actions. "Well come along then Azoth, you've answered everything I want to know, let's return to the party. I am sure more than a few of your new brothers and sisters will still be up and about. It's one of the good things about my Familia, my children, they may like to work very hard, but they like to play just as hard too."

"Ha, they sound like my kind of people," Azoth said warmly, following the beautiful redhead as she lead the way back to the party, a smile still very prominently on her face.

( - )

Walking down the stairs, Azoth quickly entered the hall where the feast had taken place last night, his violet eyes flicking around the room as he entered, only for him to see that it was pretty much empty.

At present there were only three people sat at the large dining table; Leo, Beckendorf and Welf, the trio of teenaged boys/ young men that he had met in passing last night.

"Morning, newbie!" Leo called out the moment Azoth entered, the short, half elf grinning cheekily as he kicked out a chair next to him and gestured him over.

"Careful there Leo, that newbie could turn you into mincemeat if you're not careful." Beckendorf laughed, the large, broad shouldered human smith cuffing the shorter teen around the back of his head, before he then ruffled the smaller teen's curly black hair and grinned over at Azoth in welcome.

"I know, I know it was just a joke," Leo rolled his eyes fighting off Beckendorf's large hand as he did so.

Taking the seat offered, Azoth quickly started helping himself to breakfast. "Not many others around are there?"

"Nah, most of them are probably at their forges by now. That or their sleeping in after drinking too much last night." Beckendorf shrugged, before grinning good-naturedly at Azoth. "By the way, I don't think we spoke properly last night. I didn't introduce myself properly, the name's Charles Beckendorf, but everyone just calls me Beckendorf."

"Nice to meet you," Azoth nodded, taking the proffered hand in his own, noting as he did so the numerous callouses on the teen hands and the roughness of his skin. The man definitely had the hands of a blacksmith.

"I'm Leo, Leo Valdez. It's short, sweet and the ladies love it!" Leo piped up next, grinning up at Azoth as he did so.

Azoth fought back the desire to roll his eyes at this. Honestly it was still early in the morning and the kid was hyper. He was acting like a kid that had just eaten a dozen sweet rolls in a row and now didn't know what to do with himself.

"Pleasure," Azoth nodded dryly. It was a bit too early in the morning for someone to be acting so damned happy. It was unseemly.

"Ah don't mind Leo, he's just a spaz, he doesn't mean any harm." Beckendorf laughed, ruffling Leo's hair again much to the shorter boy's irritation as he tried and failed to fight him off again.

Smiling at this, Azoth finished dishing out his breakfast and looked to the last member of the group. "It's Welf isn't it?"

Welf looked up as he heard his name called. The tall, redheaded teen eyeing Azoth cautiously as he did so before he nodded. "Yeah, it's Welf, Welf Crozzo."

"Azoth," Azoth nodded in reply, watching Welf curiously as he did so. The way the teen was looking at him, it was almost as if he expected Azoth to recognise his name. "I think I spoke to you briefly last night."

"Aye, we spoke. But you were pretty drunk at the time." Welf nodded, his brow knitting together as he eyed Azoth. Apparently this was not the reaction the teen had been expecting.

"It's the best way to be at a feast," Beckendorf laughed.

Azoth nodded at that, a slight smile on his face as he glanced sideways at the dark haired human. He was loud and proud, like most Nords tended to be. He could see himself getting along with the teen.

"So anyway Azoth I have to ask, why did you join this Familia?" Leo suddenly spoke up, leaning forwards as he did so. "I mean you're Level Six Adventurer, a First class one, right!? You could have been accepted into any Familia you wanted, even the Loki or Freya Familia's! Not that I am complaining about you joining the Hephaestus one or anything!"

"I'm a blacksmith at heart," Azoth shrugged. "This Familia was the best choice for me. I mean it gave me access to a forge and all the tools I need, and an opportunity to join a party heading into the depths of the Dungeon and acquire rare items and materials when I need to."

"That is true, it is handy having a personal workshop." Beckendorf nodded. "What do you specialise in by the way? Do you forge weapons, or armour or something else?"

"Predominantly weapons and armour." Azoth replied with a shrug. "I supposed you could say that I specialise in enchanted items though."

"Magic swords?" Beckendorf asked, his gaze flicking down to the beautiful, sheathed sword at Azoth's hip, before oddly enough flicking over the quiet Welf.

"Amongst other things, yeah." Azoth said, looking between Welf and Beckendorf curiously as he did so. "For the moment though I need to forge myself a new set of armour. My old one got a bit too banged up and isn't all that serviceable anymore."

Leo grimaced. "It's shit when that happens! I mean I know it come hand in hand with making weapons and armour. You know them being used and abused. But still, it's always a punch in the gut when you find out that something you made was destroyed."

"The curse of being a smith," Beckendorf shrugged. "We all have to get used to it."

"True, but I always like to think positive and take any failures an opportunity to improve on what I did before so that it doesn't meet the same fate." Azoth added on easily. "That also is part of being a smith, you need to keep developing and honing your skills, constantly evolving and improving your craft."

"I'll drink to that," Beckendorf laughed, lifting a glass of orange juice into the air as he did so.

Azoth smiled, and did the same, his smile widening slightly as he tasted the sweetness of the juice. It was good.

"So anyway, what are you up to for the rest of the day?" Beckendorf continued jovially.

"I'm being shown around mostly. Hephaestus said she'll show me my new forge later. For now though I need to head to the Guild Building and register as a part of the Familia, and then I reckon I'll get some cheap armour and head into the Dungeon." Azoth shrugged, before looking over at Welf. "I am not sure if you remember, Welf but…"

"Yeah I remember," Welf cut him off, his tone not aggressive, but still slightly impatient. "That's why I'm still here and not in my workshop."

"What's this?" Leo asked curiously.

"Lady Hephaestus asked me to show him around and take him to the Guild Building, and then down into the Dungeon." Welf shot back, his tone again bordering on impatience.

Internally Azoth sensed that the younger man was not entirely happy with the duties his goddess had foisted upon him.

"Ah cheer up Welfy," Beckendorf laughed. "It'll only be for a few hours, and then you can go and hole yourself up in your workshop again!"

"Yeah besides, it's not like anyone buys your armour anyway." Leo tagged on, his elfin features twisting up into a teasing smile.

Welf scowled at the comment though, apparently he didn't appreciate the teasing, even as turned to look at the diminutive half elf.

Before he could say anything however, Beckendorf had already acted and had cuffed Leo on the back of his head. "That's enough, Leo. You need to learn when enough is enough. Sorry about that Welf, but you know Leo, he can be a right little shit sometimes!"

"Hey, I'm not!" Leo shouted out.

"I didn't need your help!" Welf said harshly at the same time, an awkward tension suddenly descending on the eating group.

Welf now scowling down at his food.

Leo frowning and playing about with the remains of his breakfast, with him occasionally sending irritated looks at Beckendorf and awkward glances at Welf as he did so.

Beckendorf however just looked resigned.

"Something I'm missing here?" Azoth spoke into the sudden tense silence.

"It's nothing." Welf replied suddenly, standing up from his seat as he did so. "I'll be waiting in the hall for you. We'll go when you've finished."

With that said the redhead quickly left the room.

"Wait, Welf!" Beckendorf called out after him beseechingly.

Welf however ignored him and quickly left the room, the door slamming shut loudly behind him.

Silence quickly descended around the table once again at this.

"What was all that about?" Azoth asked bluntly into the silence.

"It's an ongoing issue," Beckendorf said after a moment, sending a slight frown at Leo as he did so. "Welf, well Welf is one of the last members of the Crozzo family. You know the family famous for creating the strongest magical swords in the world."

"And?" Azoth pressed, not admitting to the other two that this in fact was the first time he had ever heard of the Crozzo family and their apparently legendary magic swords.

"And Welf is the last of their family with the skill to craft magical swords." Leo said shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "Despite that though he refuses to make them. He says that they can't be relied upon and so just ignores his natural talent for making them and creates normal armour and weapons instead. It's waste."

"If that's what he chooses to do, then so what?" Azoth shrugged.

"Well, there's a lot of smiths in the Familia that think he is wasting his gods given talent." Beckendorf replied uncomfortably. "If Welf made magic swords then he could bring even greater acclaim and wealth to the Familia, more so than any other member. But instead he doesn't, for the sake of his own pride he refuses. It annoys quite a few of the other smiths, you know the fact he has this skill but never uses it."

"You mean they're jealous and petty?" Azoth asked bluntly, a slight frown on his face now.

"Basically, yeah." Beckendorf nodded. "Welf's just been getting a lot of flak for his decision, and I guess it's starting to weigh on him."

"Hey, just to defend myself here. I meant what I just said as a joke, not as a criticism!" Leo piped up defensively.

"Really?" Beckendorf asked, the frown currently on his face completely at odds with the smile he previously wore. A scowl looked just plain unnatural on the previously gregarious man's face.

"Sounds to me like everyone needs to lay off him a bit, and like he needs to grow more of a backbone and tell people to piss off." Azoth mused out loud.

He knew for a fact that if anyone mouthed off at him like that, that he would not take it for a moment. No, he wasn't the kind of person that allowed anyone to bully him. If someone had a go at him, he would turn around and give it back at them, except twice as bad.

"Yeah, I've tried telling people to lay off, and so have Tsubaki and Lady Hephaestus, and mostly they do, or at least most of the time." Beckendorf shrugged.

Azoth nodded at that. Honestly, he wasn't surprised. A Familia was supposed to be like a family, and if this family were anything like the people he had grown up with in Riften; then that meant that there would be a lot of sniping, bitching and fighting.

"Right," Azoth said after a few more minutes of silence, finishing off his breakfast as he did so. "I'd better head off, you know, things to do and all that."

"Ok man, have a good day. Hope everything goes well." Beckendorf nodded, getting up from the table too as he did so. "Also when you see Welf, tell him sorry ok. Leo didn't mean to be a dick, did you Leo?"

Leo didn't reply to Beckendorf's words at first, instead he continued to play about with the remains of his breakfast.

When Beckendorf nudged him with his arm though he finally deigned to reply.

"Yeah, yeah tell him I'm sorry. I'll tell him that too when I next see him." Leo replied, not making eye contact with either of them.

"I'll pass it on," Azoth nodded, even as he turned and headed for the door, and then stepped outside. "You two have a good day doing whatever it is you decide to do too!"

( - )

(A few minutes later)

Making his way to the main hallway a minute or so later, Azoth found Welf already waiting for him. The redheaded teen currently wearing a black knee length coat now, over the top of his dark shirt and slacks, and some light armour he had over his chest, shins and forearms. Noticeably he also had a blue scarf tied around his neck. With the teen also having a large, black handled, single edged great sword sheathed his back, and a large canvas bag on the floor at his booted feet.

"Good you're here." Welf said as Azoth approached, the Snow Elf himself wearing a white shirt, black slacks, and his black leather boots, with his sword Dawnbreaker on his right hip and his Daedric dagger on his other.

"Sorry for the wait," Azoth replied with a smile. "Just had to finish off my breakfast, because you know, well as any Adventurer should know really; it's the most important meal of the day!"

"Right," Welf said unenthusiastically, before he nudged the large bag at his feet. "I brought this for you. You can use it if you want."

"What is it?" Azoth asked as he approached and came to a stop just in front of the shorter man, looking down at the bag now.

"Some armour I made. You said you didn't have any at the moment, didn't you?" Welf replied, meeting his violet eyes with his own blue ones. "I mean you don't have to wear it if you don't want to. If you want to look for something better, then that's fine."

Azoth didn't reply to that, or at least not at first. Instead he opened the bag and pulled out a large, silver breastplate, his violet eyes scanning the surface of the gleaming metal as he inspected it for cracks, indentations or other imperfections.

It was light armour, not what he usually wore. But despite that it was well made, and serviceable enough. Sure it wasn't a masterpiece, in fact Azoth knew he could create a much better set out of either; malachite, dragonscale, or moonstone and quicksilver, but still it would do the job.

"Hmm, not bad, not bad at all." Azoth nodded, a smile on his face as he looked up at Welf. "I'd gladly wear it. Tell you what, give me a minute or two and I'll run up to my room get the armour on, grab my axe, and then we can head off."

Welf blinked in surprise at this, but then managed a slight smile. "Yeah sure."

Grinning, Azoth hefted the sack of armour up and headed up the stairs.

( - )

(Sometime Later)

Walking down the high street and in the direction of the Guild building, both Welf and Azoth walked side by side, the two of them chatting amiably to one another. With Azoth now wearing a set of light armour, courtesy of Welf. The armour pieces having been strapped over his padded shirt and trousers. The recently forged armour pieces gleaming in the mid-morning sun as they walked.

Perhaps more prominent than his new armour though, was Wuuthrad, with the large double bladed battle-axe having also been strapped to Azoth's back again, even as Dawnbreaker and his Daedric dagger were sheathed at his right and left hip respectively.

Heading towards the Guild building Welf, noticeably much happier than he had been before, pointed out different landmarks to the Snow Elf, enthusing on the different drinking establishments they passed, and on where the best shops for materials and supplies were.

Azoth in turn took all this in stride. He had already explored the area the day before, and found a favoured drinking establishment prior to even joining the Familia, the Hostess of Fertility.

Despite this though, he humoured the younger man, and accepted his friendly intentions and advice all the same.

Welf Crosso, Azoth noted, was actually a pretty decent guy, or at least he was once he stopped moping about.

He was a good guy, pretty open and simple, but good all the same. There didn't appear to be a side to him. What you saw was what you got.

It was refreshing, or at least it was for Azoth.

Growing up in the Thieves Guild in Riften, Azoth had become used to second guessing people's intentions. It was a habit he still did, even now many years later. It was a habit that most people would call a mixture of paranoia and cynicism, but that he just called good sense.

"So anyway, yeah, this is the Guild building, it's pretty much the most important place in the city, you know besides the Dungeon and the Tower of Babel." Welf said, coming to a stop in front of a massive, ornate looked building, a set of marble steps noticeably going up to an open set of double doors just in front of them.

"It looks grand," Azoth nodded, eyeing the place up. "And extravagant."

"Well I suppose that that is because it is." Welf shrugged, leading the way up the steps. "The place acts as both a bank, the main government building and a gathering place for Adventurers to get information and quests. So yeah it's pretty flashy."

Azoth nodded at that, even as they entered the building's cavernous main room, a series of counters running along one whole side, behind which smartly dressed men and women of all races were sat serving Adventurers and other customers.

"Come on, there is an open booth over there." Welf said, nodding towards one of the booths, behind which a dark haired woman was sat, her green eyes locking on the pair as they approached.

The woman, Azoth thought as they weaved their way towards her, had the ears and facial features of an elf, however he noted traces of humanity in her features too. Her face was a little too round for an elves, and her features although pretty were not quite angular enough, now her ears long or sharp enough. Taking note of all of this, Azoth came to the conclusion that this woman, like Leo, was a half elf.

"Good morning Adventurers, my names is Eina, how may I help you today?" The now named Eina asked pleasantly, smiling up at the duo, even as Welf leant against the wall just beside the counter and then gestured for Azoth to step forward and do the talking.

"Ah, good morning, Miss Eina, my name is Azoth and I am here to register for my new Familia." Azoth said, choosing to be a bit politer than he usually would be. After all he knew from personal experience what these government and bureaucracy types were like. Treat them like shit and they would be purposefully slow and unhelpful, be nice however and then they suddenly become much more proficient.

"Oh of course that's no problem, I'll just need you to fill out this form." Eina replied agreeably, a smile on her face as she pushed a sheet across the counter to Azoth, along with a quill and an ink pot. "Can I ask what Familia you have joined?"

"The Hephaestus Familia," Azoth replied with a smile, taking the form and the quill before he then began to quickly fill it in. Fortunately it was only asking for the most basic of information, information that he suspected that they would most likely corroborate with his goddess before they 'officially' registered him.

"Oh I see, and thank you," Eina said, even as Azoth finished filling in the form and handed it to her, with her then scanning it over, likely to make sure he had filled everything he needed to in and not missed anything.

It was a pretty simple form; and just required a name, an age, a Familia, and a Level. It was the bare minimum in terms of information. No doubt this was because the different Familia's in the city recognised that knowledge was power, and thus attempted to keep as many secrets as they could.

"Wait," Eina said sharply, her tone catching Azoth off guard as he looked up at the suddenly startled looking elf, Welf stirring too as he looked sideways. "This says that you're Level Six!"

"Well, yes," Azoth nodded, "That's because I am a Level Six Adventurer."

"But then why are you only just now registering as an Adventurer?" Eina asked, looking down at the form again. The half elf looked like she was on the verge of having a panic attack. "And why have I never heard of you?"

"Well I am new to the city, I literally arrived here for the first time a few days ago." Azoth shrugged, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "I mean I am a seasoned Adventurer already, I am just new to the city is all, so that' why I am here, because I need to register here and get the mandatory Guild advisor. Speaking of which would it be you who would be my new advisor?"

"Erm, well yes it tends to be policy that the one who registers the new Adventurer becomes their advisor for their first month of Dungeon diving." Eina said dazedly.

"Brilliant, then I look forward to working with you!" Azoth said, a bright smile on his face as he looked down at the half elf.

"Yes, well I look forward to working with you too, though honestly, I'm not sure how much help I can be to someone like you. Advisors are usually only assigned to new Adventurers, Level Ones. I mean I have heard of Level Two newcomers to the city being given advisors too when they first register, but I've never heard of a Level Six having one." Again Eina sounded a little faint as she spoke, even as she continued to stare at Azoth in awe.

Then again considering there were apparently only a dozen or so Level Six adventurers in the known world, maybe this wasn't so surprising.

"Well either way, I look forward to your counsel and advice." Azoth nodded a smile on his, even as he stuck his hand out to the half elf.

Weakly taking his hand, Eina allowed him to shake it twice before she let go. "Erm is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, I don't think so. I reckon Welf here can answer any questions I've forgotten." Azoth smiled, gesturing over at the redhead as he did so. "That said though, Welf and I were going to head down into the Dungeon now if that isn't a problem?"

"Oh no, not at all. I'd say be careful, but well considering your Level I think that such advice is a bit perfunctory." Eina said, trailing off at the end with a nervous laugh, even as she continued to fiddle with his registration form.

"Not at all, in my experience you can never be too careful. No matter how big and tough you are, there is always someone bigger and tougher out there." Azoth replied with a bright smile.

"Well yes, I suppose." Said Eina a weak smile still on her face as she began to fill in the bits of the form she was supposed to before passing it on so it could be approved, verified and filed.

"Well anyway, thanks for all the help. I'll drop by after we've finished in the Dungeon, you know to cash in a few of those monster soul gems." Azoth called out, even as he started walking away, waving his goodbye to Eina as he did so.

"Ok, good luck!" Eina called after him, the half elf still seemingly out of sorts as she then went back to staring at his registration form in amazement.

"Well she seemed pleasant." Azoth said as he and Welf headed back down the steps and towards the Dungeon entrance.

"Really, she seemed a bit ditsy and out of it to me. I reckon you might have knocked her for a loop back there." Welf said with a short laugh as the two of them weaved their way through the crowds.

"True, she did seem a bit out of sorts." Azoth nodded with a slight laugh of his own.

"By the way Azoth, back in the Guild building, why did you call monster crystals, monster soul gems?" Welf asked suddenly, even as they began to near the Tower of Babel and the entrance to the Dungeon that had long since been sealed beneath the colossal tower.

"Well that's effectively what they are aren't they?" Azoth replied with a shrug.

Welf sent him a quizzical look at this, but said no more as they soon joined a large crowd of other Adventurers; all of them wearing armour both light, heavy and plate, or mage like robes; and carrying a multitude of gleaming weapons, some which were magical but most of which was not, that or they were carrying long ornate staffs.

Merging with the crowd, both Welf and Azoth soon found themselves descending the steps to the first floor of the Dungeon. Neither one of them drawing their weapons yet as they instead just followed the crowd of other Adventurers into the gloomy labyrinthine like first floor. The many groups of Adventurers splitting up the further in they got, as some headed lower and others started hunting monsters on the first floor so as to warm up for what lay further below

"So what do you want to do?" Welf asked as he and Azoth departed from the crowd and began to walk through the Dungeon's gloomy corridors, side by side. "We can stay on this floor, and get you used to Dungeon fighting. Everything on this floor is pretty easy. Or if you want we can head to one of the lower floors and start there?"

"Hmm, well you don't need to worry about me fighting in enclosed spaces. I have plenty of experience fighting in tombs and underground and such." Azoth said easily, placing his hand on his sword and drawing the first inch, loosening it so he could draw it quickly if he needed too. "What's the furthest you've ever been?"

"I made it to Level Ten once." Welf shrugged, "But that's the deepest I've ever been. For a Level One it is probably the deepest you can safely go, and that's even with a group of one or two other, and even then it is a little risky."

"Fair enough, we'll stick to the first ten floors for now then. I don't want to take you out of your comfort zone," Azoth nodded, his violet eyes narrowing as the two of them walked through the many passage, getting deeper and deeper into the Dungeon, until without warning they arrived at a large dark cavern.

"You don't have to do that." Welf said, only to stop talking as he saw Azoth raise a hand, even as he saw the dark open space in front of them, Welf's own hand moving up to grip the hilt of his sword in readiness.

Raising his hand, Azoth cast Magelight, a glowing ball of white light forming in his hand before without a word he threw it up and into the air, where it remained bobbing about in the air like a miniature sun, the orb bringing light to every crevice and crack in the area. Revealing as it did so a score of small, dirty, humanoid creatures with dog like features and long, sharp dirt encrusted claws.

"Kobolds," Welf said unconcernedly, drawing his great sword. "And there is a lot of them, this is a monster pantry by the looks of it. That was a good spot back there by the way. I didn't know you could use magic, and magic without a chant either for that matter!"

"Hmm, oh that, that's just a Magelight spell, it's pretty basic. I've got much better spells in my repertoire than that." Azoth said easily, reaching behind him and pulling Wuuthrad off of his back as he did so, revealing to Welf for the first time the beautiful and terrifying carvings of battle and screaming faces on the blade as he swung it around and pointed it at the biggest, and ugliest of the Kobolds. "By the way, that bastards mine!"

"What?" Welf asked dazedly, tearing his gaze away from the deadly and beautiful axe as he instead looked over at Azoth.

Azoth though had already jumped into action, his feet all but silent as he crossed the ten metre distance between him and the group of Kobolds in all but a few seconds, his large axe tearing through the air with a shrieking sound as he cleaved the first Kobold in half with a single swing, before decimating three more before the foul creatures even knew what had happened.

"Hey, wait!" Welf shouted, running forward with his own blade now, even as Azoth danced around the weak monsters, massacring them with impunity not showing the slightest of strains, despite the obvious weight of his weapon.

In fact by the time Welf crossed the distance and joined the battle two thirds of them were already dead, and the rest were utterly panicking, which in turn made it even easier for the two smiths to finish off the last third. The whole fight taking less than two minutes, and leaving behind twenty or so small monster crystals and a couple of drop items for the victors to collect.

"So this was easy," Azoth said, swinging his axe up and resting it on his shoulder as he looked over at the thunderstruck Welf. "How about we head down to Level Five next, and kill a few dozen monsters down there to warm up? After which I reckon we can head further down to Level Ten, hopefully something down there can put up more of a fight!"

"Erm, yeah right…" Welf muttered looking around at the now empty cavern in surprise. "Sure, why not…"

( - )

AN: So what did you all think? We got some more interaction with his goddess, his Familia, the Guild and finally he makes it to the Dungeon. The next chapter will show more about that as the plot begins to grow and expand. There will be bits of the Sword Princess story arc and main story arc in this story, as well as some original stuff as I want to develop some of the other Familia's in Orario, and explore the Dungeon a lot more than I feel is done in canon, as in canon the story is focused on only a couple of Familia and the Dungeon, only invariably appears. Like serious it appears once in the entire second season.

Also congrats to those who picked up on the references to SAO and Percy Jackson characters, I'm impressed. That said do remember that these are not those characters, despite the naming, that was just a bit of whimsy on my part, they are instead their own characters and will thus act in different ways and have completely different ways. They are in fact OCs, just OCs that I've given names to that references blacksmiths from other fandoms. Again just a bit of innocent fun on my part, there is not deeper purpose to it.

But yes anyway, I've got plenty of stuff planned. So thanks for all of the support and I hope you continue to enjoy reading. Please do check out my other stories, and what not.

Thanks for reading, and I'll catch you later.

Greed720.