Disclaimer: I do not own Danmachi or anything created by the author Fujino Omori; all rights go to him. I only own my original character Sleipnir.
Speech: "Hey Welf did you know that I have almost as many plans for you as for Sly?"
Thoughts: 'Takemikazuchi: And this is how you sneak successfully.'
Magic: "Chantless Chanting was a thing in the first batch of this chapter."
Screaming/Demonic Voice: "Where did you get a second tail!"
Chapter 7 Kitsune Chanting Magic
6 AM Takemikazuchi's room - Sleipnir's POV
Takemikazuchi was troubled. He knew Sleipnir was intelligent and most likely was not in any mortal danger while he was in the dungeon. Nonetheless, he thought that Sleipnir's actions were too reckless and even caused the other familia members to be anxious about his well-being.
'Well. That will not do. I better awaken him and ask him the real reason why he challenged that room when he could have returned and got the help of the others. I do not even know if he found a smith to work with after taking our kunai design with him?'
Take then took a single step towards Sleipnir's bed and took his bedsheets from him. After Sly continued sleeping, Take lightly knocked on his head. This time Sly awoke and jumped to his feet while looking around, ready for anything. When he saw the unimpressed look on Take's face, he relaxed his posture before smiling at him.
"Good morning Takemikazuchi-sama." Sly then jumped down from his bed but almost stumbled as he landed on the floor as his balance was off. He then looked to his back and quickly noticed that his second tail was impeding his balance. 'Right. I have a second tail. Strange, I do not feel too different nor surprised about it. The only problem is that I have to move my tails differently now that I have two of them. I will need to train a bit with them.'
To regain his sense of balance, he then moved around and tried stretching. He had to adapt to his tail position so that both were equally far from his centre of balance. He then tried walking, but his second tail kept following his first tail, which made him stumble. He then spent the next few minutes moving only his second tail before moving it in sync with his first but on the opposite side. He then moved and tuned a few more times before petting his new tail a few times.
Take left Sly to his self-inspection. After a few minutes, he then cleared his throat and spoke. "While your second tail is an interesting development, I would rather ask you why you found it necessary to challenge the secret room alone. Could you please elaborate Sleipnir-kun?"
Sly took a breath before looking up. "To be honest, Take-san. It is because the others left me to myself. I am still angry about it and wanted to show them that I could achieve something on my own. I know it is selfish, but I made sure that I could actually handle the situation and took every possible step to guarantee success. I won't be left behind."
"I thought so. Sleipnir-kun."
...
"I understand your reason, but you need not fear. The others will not leave you behind. Chigusa-chan argued quite heatedly with Mikoto-san yesterday. It would have been an interesting development had the situation not been so tense. As I always reminded you, reckless actions based upon lacking information are far more dangerous than a well thought out plan. Please Sleipnir-kun, be more mindful about the people your actions affect. I know that you knew your limits, as you returned without any serious injuries, but you cannot guarantee to always return, nor can you prevent rash actions from your familia if you do not inform them in advance. We worry about you when you do something dangerous without our knowledge, so at the very least, inform me prior to such undertakings."
Sly looks relieved. "Thank you for your understanding. Takemikazuchi-sama. I do not plan to challenge more than I can deal with and I only enter the dungeon solo, because I can escape with my illusions. But that won't be a problem for long.
I found a blacksmith that wants to work with me. He is called Welf Crozzo. We made a contract and he will accompany me to the dungeon whenever we both have time. He also agreed to craft a suitable helmet for me as soon as he finds a functional blueprint."
"Thats good. So you started you own small party until you can work with the others again. So, what are the problematic items you found and had to hide upon your return?"
Sly gets his backpack and takes out its contents one by one. "Most importantly I got the golden egg. The fabled drop item of the Jack Bird. I will give it to you as a backup source of money. I think we either need to hide it or give it to the guild, to store it as it paints a giant target on our familia. Many adventurers would do almost anything for 1 million valis it is worth.
I also got the enhanced drop of the golden Jack Bird, which are nine golden feathers. I do not know what these are worth, but I want to give them to Welf to use as special ingredients.
The last enhanced drops I collected were 5 black dungeon lizard scales and an irregular and enhanced needle rabbit horn. Those will also go to Welf to use in my armour."
Take was still looking at the 30 cm high golden egg. "I doubt we have the faculties to hide this egg. We should bring it to the guild and trade it there. I think the two of us should go to the guild before the others wake up, to get rid of it before anybody learns about it. We will go in true ninja fashion, by blending in with the crowd." A barely noticeable smile appears on Take's face. 'It has been a while since I had to hide my presence. I can finally try the normal adventurer clothes I got just for this occasion.'
"I have a last thing I want to look at before we leave for the guild. I will update your status, as I believe that you should have progressed a lot after your adventure in the secret room. Perhaps it could also prove a theory I have about your second tail."
"I have no problem with you updating my status Take." Sly then lies down, grabs his tails and allows his status to be updated.
~~~~~~~~ Sleipnir Alias: ? Race: Kitsune
Level 1(+)
Strength: A 826 - S 917
Endurance: A 888 - S 963
Dexterity: S 927 - S 974
Agility: S 943 - S 986
Magic: SS 1001 - SS 1039
Development Abilities:
Magic:
1. Illusio: Illusion-type magic that can affect multiple senses depending on mind usage and chant length. Constantly drains the mind when in use. Strong, perceptive abilities may notice inconsistencies and break through the illusion.
Hiding trickster, oh cunning fox spirit, refracting prism, super aligning sounds, unfeeling tinge, indistinguishable fragrance, bland savour, by the father of the eight-legged horse, I command thee to affect the judgement of reality - ILLUSIO
Skills:
1. Kogitsune Magica: Naturally born to wield magic. Increases the effects of the user's magic and reduces mana usage. Allows for easier selective chanting of spells to manipulate their results.
2. Foxfire: Foxfire is a natural ability of spirit foxes and may be learnt by any related races with enough practice. It gives natural pyrokinesis and gives access to the "Foxfire" spell to create a magical fire blue fire. The mana cost is dependent on the heat and size of the flame.
3. Enhanced Senses: Renards have an improved sense of smell, much better hearing and slight night vision.
4. 5 ᛞᛁᛗᛖᚾᛋᛁᛟᚾ ᛃᛁᚴᚨᚾ: A mysterious skill. Can't be decoded. its name doesn't appear in hieroglyphs.
5. Martial Artist: Increases the effect of weapons the user has trained to use and increases the power of techniques. (Naginata, Spear, Dagger, Kunai)
Techniques:
Piasu: A focused melee attack able to pierce through armour.
Take silently gave Sly his status update and then waited for a few minutes. "I am speechless. Overcoming challenges brings stark improvement and facing real danger in an adventure increases the extallia you can gain. But your progress within less than a week inside of Orario is incredible.
Sleipnir-kun you should hide your stats and how much they increased within such a short time. At least, I now finally know why your magic is as high as it is. Kitsune were a race that was focused on mystical and magical abilities and grew progressively more tails the older they grew. I can only guess that it is the same for you."
Sleipnir looks at Take in confusion. "But why did I become a kitsune? How can a race just change like that? What do tails have to do with age when I got mine once I met the requirements to level up?"
Take took a deep breath. "Please one question at a time Sleipnir-kun. To start of I do not know, and that worries me. I will need you to ask Quetzalcoatl for her opinion. Until then, continue hiding your second tail with an illusion. Also keep your new skill secret as I can not translate it. No mortal can read it from your falna, as I made sure to hide it within the fourth plane of existence, but gods could still decipher it if they see your falna. Also remember my lesson on how to tell half-truths to any god should they ask about your skills."
"I understand Take. Although the stronger adventurers will probably notice the illusion, but should not see through it."
"Aside from those existential problems, I also have good news for you. You are eligible for a level-up like Ouka. You have four development abilities to choose from: Mage, Abnormal Resistance, Stealth and Magic Student."
Mage: Improves power, widens effect range, and makes mind usage efficient. Creates a magic circle under the user that supports the magic. A Level 2 mage has magic power comparable to a Level 3 non-mages.
Abnormal Resistance: Negates the effect of abnormalities such as poison. At Rank G, it can negate almost everything. It is easily obtainable early on by being exposed to the Purple Moth's poison.
Stealth: Your presence is more difficult to notice. You know how to blend in with your environment and go undetected for longer. Even your mana is easier to hide.
Magic Student: Improves mana efficiency, mana capacity, magic and magical pressure. Can create a magic circle or not, but the mana cost will be higher without a magic circle. Only those who study the intricacies of magic will value their control above their power. A level 2 magic trickster has magic power comparable to a level two mage before their level up without this ability.
'My stats are all in the S rank, but I have a feeling that I can still do better. After all my stats increased significantly through this one encounter and a few days of training against level 1 monsters. It will be more difficult to get stats for level two, as it is necessary to fight against stronger monsters to improve as fast as I am now.
No, I will pursue the perfect stats for level 1. Then, once I return to the others, I will level up and surprise them with how much I improved on my own. As for the development ability. I will wait until I need to level and see if I can unlock even more. Although Magic Student looks very appealing.'
Guild - Sleipnir's POV
After Sly told Take about his decision to wait until he maxes out his stats, they quickly left the Hostess with the invisible golden egg. Take changed his clothes into what he called typical adventuring gear.
It consisted of a gambeson made out of thick leather with heavy adventuring trousers in a dark red. On his belt, he attached a sword and quiver. On his back, he wore a bow, spear, halberd, longsword and war axe. He wore his hair loose for once. (Google how many weapons can adventurer carry for an image)
Surprisingly, as soon as Take left the building, he managed to blend in with the many adventurers going towards the guild without any trouble with his natural confidence. Sly could just gawk before using a simple illusion to appear human before taking out his naginata and letting it look like a spear. He then followed Take, and they reached the guild shortly.
Take took the lead and greeted a napping Misha. "Flott-san. Me and my supporter have something to discuss with you. Could we enter the one of the counseling rooms for your assistance?"
Misha wakes up from her half-slumber at her desk. She looks up before looking slightly confused. "Ahh. Of course. Of course. Ehhh. We can go to one of the counseling rooms right away. Follow me."
"Very well. Lead the way."
They left the guild under the eyes of a few guild advisors who were uncertain who they were but were ignored by the adventurers. Inside the room, the group sat down and Take nodded to Sly with an amused expression. Sly released his illusion.
Misha looked on with curiosity. "So that's how you can always escape when something goes wrong. You can use illusions to hide yourself. But who is your companion? I know the voice from somewhere, but I have never seen a high leveled adventurer with you?"
"Flott-san, my companion is Takemikazuchi-sama. He wears what he calls his adventuring gear and even went light with it, as he very well could have carried more weapons. The matter we wish to discuss is private and we want to hide our involvement. Can you help us?"
Misha looks surprised before composing herself. "I see. I don't know about helping you, but I can guarantee that everything you tell the guild will be confidential and only be known among the guild leadership and myself should it be necessary."
Take took over the conversation. "Sleipnir-kun found a very rare drop item. We wish to give it to the guild for safekeeping. It could attract greedy adventurers to attack our familia."
Misha began with an inquisitive gaze and asked slowly before speeding up. "What is the drop that you need a private exchange? It wasn't stolen, was it? Have you killed somebody in the dungeon? Did you enter the middle floors without my permission? Have you attacked another familia?"
Sly just looked at her in confusion. "Ehhhh. No. No. And no to the other theories you have. It is nothing as serious. How did you even guess that we would attack another familia? It doesn't matter. Flott-san, I have the drop item of the Jack Bird. We can't risk keeping it with us and don't want anybody to know that we got it."
Misha sits paralysed. "How did you catch it? Even more importantly, how did it spawn already? It was slain two months ago and should not reappear until next year."
Sly nervously plays with his tail. "Ah. That. I might have found a secret room while I was alone in the dungeon. There was the jack bird and a few other monsters." 'Better to keep quiet about the enhanced monsters and where I found it.'
Misha begins massaging her temples. "You want me to believe that you found a secret passage on your own on the upper floors that have existed for hundreds of years? Don't even get me started with the jack bird. You should never have challenged such a monster. You know that it leads adventurers into traps and is faster than any level 1 could be."
"It was an enclosed room, which gave me the advantage and there were no traps. Anyway, can you take the egg for us and look after it for us?"
Misha just sighs. "I will take it, but your familia will bring me to an early grave. I accepted your familia for less than a week and already one reached level two and you went into the dungeon solo. Do not think for even a moment I forgot about that little detail. What will you do next? Reach level two as well and then start sneaking into the dungeon daily?"
Sly looks horrified. "Of course not. Although I could level up, but I want to improve my stats before doing so. And why should I sneak into the dungeon when I can enter anytime I want to?"
Misha sighs heavily. "Okay, what are your stats that I can have an idea about when to expect your level up?" Sly looked unsure before Take answered. "You might as well tell her as the guild gets a copy of your stats and most important abilities with every level."
Sly takes a breath. 'I really wanted to hide this. I have no choice. At least it's only my advisor that will know.' "My stats are all somewhere in the S rank and my magic is in double S rank. Please keep this to yourself."
Take a look at Sly sternly. "And what about your you know." Giving a quick glance at Sly's one visible tail.
Looking back. "Is it truly necessary?" Take nods. Sly undoes his illusion on his tail. "My race might also have somehow, slightly, possibly changed … slightly, mostly, okay completely. My status defines my race as a kitsune."
Misha takes a deep breath. "Why did I ask? What have I done wrong to get you as my familia?
...
...
Okay. Here's what we will do. It will spare me a lot of paperwork. You will officially change your race once you reach level two. If you have nothing against it, I would advise you to change your stats to max S rank and nothing above. Otherwise, there will be many gods that will try to cause trouble for you or force you out of the Takemikazuchi familia. I will tell the guild manager, but nobody besides him."
Sly looks unsure at the drastic measures but is relieved on the inside. "Is it truly necessary to hide my stats? After Take's warning, I already to began to downplay my achievements and strength outside of our familia, but it seems I will have to take even more drastic measures."
Misha looks at him as if he grew a second head. "You call those drastic measures. It's a simple spread of misinformation. A tool we use daily to keep the peace in a city full of adventurers with enough power to level a village. Peace can only be kept if the weaker adventurers do not know what horrors are on the lower floors until they are ready."
Misha looks at Sly, who is looking curious, before catching her blunder. "Ahem. Please ignore my last sentence. Anyway. Please at least keep me up to date on your genuine achievements. You may also call me Misha from now on as we will be spending a lot of time together when discussing your silent achievements. I will take my leave and give the egg to the guild manager Royman for safekeeping. Have a nice day and please try not to break any rules or do anything too outstanding for a few days, so I can properly explain this to the guild master."
Sly bows to her. "Thank you, Fl-Misha-san. I will keep you up to date on my status."
Take also nods and the both of them leave. Take returns for a practical lesson with the rest of the familia, to see how they fare against adventurer Takemikazuchi. While Sly goes for his magic lesson with Acatl.
7.30 AM - I am Ganesha restricted Library - Sleipnir POV
Sly returned to I am Ganesha without any problems, now that they left the golden egg with the guild. He undid his illusion after walking through an alley on the way.
Afterwards, he was let through the entrance of I am Ganesha by the guards. He only had to tell them that he was a member of the Takemikazuchi familia and came to visit the library. There he spoke to the same librarian from the previous day, but without Take there, the librarian was uncertain if he had a lesson with the reclusive goddess.
After a moment of thought, the librarian decided to follow Sly and ask Quetzalcoatl if she agreed to give him lessons and if that is the case to add him to the list of adventurers with access to the hidden library.
In the library, Acatl in all her white-winged glory was one shelf further than the previous day. As the runes on her robes began to glow, she looked up. "Sly-kun. Perfect timing. I just finished my current batch of tomes. We can begin our lesson as soon as you are ready."
The librarian coughed loudly. "Quetzalcoatl-sama, is this adventurer truly your student? Should I add his name to those with access to the old magic tomes?"
She quickly glances at the librarian. "Ah yes. That would be useful. Sly-kun should be ready to continue my research for me once I leave for Altena. And until then he is my student and will return here daily. I would appreciate it if Ganesha gave him access."
The librarian bowed slightly. "It shall be done, Quetzalcoatl-sama. Sleipnir is your name correct?" Sly nods. "From tomorrow onwards, you just need to tell the librarian your name and familia and they will grant you access to the magic area of our restricted library. Good luck with your lesson. I will take my leave."
After the librarian left, Sly turned back to Acatl. She begins the lesson. "First of all, please tell me what you practiced yesterday.
Sly takes a deep breath. "Right away Acatl-hakase. Yesterday I went into the dungeon on my own and trained my foxfire extensively. I tried to reduce the minimum mana I needed to cast it, and also change the size for the same mana cost. The lowest mana cost was around 1/100 of my mana capacity and the smallest fireball I could create was with 8 cm diameter and the biggest at 15 cm."
"Not bad for your first time. But you should continue training to use even less mana with focus. Another aspect is changing the size of your fireballs even more and if you feel stuck you should find a new way to use your fire yourself. That will teach you to think outside the box and to keep persisting, as you will always need to improve your mana control as it only grows harder the more mana you have. As for my second question. Why do you use a semi-permanent illusion to hide your tail?"
Sly looks slightly embarrassed. "Oh that. My race changed into kitsune after I became eligible for my level up and I grew a second tail. Take only told me very little about kitsune, aside from the fact that they were a magically inclined race and that our tails represent our power."
Acatl looks very interested. "Kitsune you say? That would explain your magic. You know I will have to research a few more facts about the last known kitsune, but I think a history lesson about them should help you in your development. I will come back to this once you manage to master any of your tails, but if you find something concerning kitsune you should research it on your own."
Sly looks confused and looks at his tails. "What do you mean by master my tail? Master their control? Do they have some other abilities?"
Acatl looks at him for a moment. "At least a small tip should not hinder your development. Well. Following legends, every tail of a kitsune has a special ability, it could be almost anything. I know for a fact that you already have one such ability, but finding out which one and then mastering it is up to you. Just know that it could be any kind of abstruse ability kitsune in legends wielded. Once you master an ability it your tail should change somehow."
"So each of my tails has some ability. But to learn more about the possible abilities, I will have to read legends about kitsune. I also already have one such ability. So I can assume it is already somewhere on my status, but it can't be its own skill as nothing changed in my skills. I will need to experiment with my abilities until I find one that fits and train it. As for the second I do not even know what it could be. Thank you for the advice Acatl-hakase."
Acatl looks amused. "Of course, it will require a lot of testing. After all, kitsune were immensely powerful, but often took centuries to grow their tails, so you already took a shortcut by getting your second tail so early."
Sly's tails stop in their movement. "Did you just gloss over the fact that it takes centuries to get another tail? Does that mean that kitsune have longer lifespans than renards?"
Acatl smiles with her teeth showing slightly. "Yes, it does. I think every kitsune that grows at least a second tail can live for up to one millennium, and that's without the gift of falna that increases the lifespan of even humans into the hundreds of years. It was a good choice to accept you as a student."
Acatl makes a few spins to celebrate how good a choice it was to accept Sly as a student. Sly is perplexed at her sudden dance, but it ends quickly and Acatl continues.
"So, after our little excursion, let's continue our magic theory. Today we will look at chanting and the different chanting techniques."
She once again conjures a few keywords above her head with illusion magic. "The most important keywords in chanting are Concurrent Chanting, Selective Chanting, Quick Chanting, Chantless Casting and lastly, Origin Casting.
Concurrent chanting is the ability to cast a new spell while moving. It is an advanced skill most mages learn when they advance far enough to combine fighting and magic. It is very difficult to learn because you need high mana control and the ability to multitask to prevent Ignis Fatuus and chant even long spells under stress.
I would advise you to learn this after you are at a higher level. Quick chant spells like your foxfire are far easier to use while concurrent chanting. I would not be surprised if you already used it sometimes.
Next up is quick chanting. Those are spells that only require a single word or a short phrase. They are exceptionally rare but also very powerful for their chant time, but the power of the skill is highly dependent on the caster. Both your magic and mana control determine the power and effect of the spell. These spells are also naturally very easy to alter once you control them sufficiently. They lack most of the structure of longer spells, and this gives the caster far more freedom to use their imagination.
That's exactly why most spells are incapable of being used as quick chant spells. They require the additional structure of a longer chant to form, but this does not make it impossible to change the length of their chant. This would be the subject of selective chanting.
Selective chanting is the art of only using a part of the longer, more complex chant to achieve differing results. Nine Hell Riveria Alf is the best example of this branch of magic. She has 3 long spells and can split each of them into 3 partial spells, with only some of their effects. She also has another skill that allows her to connect her three main spells and combine their effects."
Sly looks surprised. "Wait. Riveria Alf. Does she happen to be a green-haired high elf?"
Acatl ruffles her wings and huffs while replying. "Yes. Riveria Alf is the princess of the elves. She has green hair and is one of the Loki familia executives. One of the few level 6 adventurers in the city. She is the perfect example of a powerful mage with very low mana control. She uses selective chanting to change the power of her spells, as she lacks the control to fine-tune them without it.
This is exactly why you should also learn this skill, but not depend on it. One use of selective chanting would be your Illusio spell. If I remember correctly, you have a very long chant for it but only use a fraction of the spell. Right?"
Sly is brought out of his musings about the random encounter from the previous day. "Yes. The renard that thought me the spell originally thought me very long chant, but after managing it once he then told me to only use the very beginning until I could control the surrounding light in a 3-meter radius for at least one hour. He even mentioned that the full spell was still lacking somehow."
Acatl listened intently. "That's one way to learn it. But you could very well learn how to cast the other parts of the spell as well. Your Illusio can affect any one of the 5 primary senses. If you use only a single passage, you can manipulate one sense, but if you use multiple passages, you should affect more than one sense, but it will also add to the mana cost of the spell.
Any spell can be chanted selectively, but they will react differently to it. Depending on their chant, the effects vary massively. The cost will always be reduced for only partial chanting, but the general effect also weakens with the same magnitude. I would advise you to learn every possible variation of your spells and then only use the effect you need to remain mana efficient."
Sly nods. "I really ignored so many options for so long? I will need to learn all the different illusion I can create as soon as possible."
The white goddess stills for a moment in her floating state to observe her student with a curious smile. "Indeed. I think this should already be enough for today. Chantless Casting and Origin Casting are more complex subjects and can be explained after you incorporate the others into your style."
Sly seems confused. "Acatl-hakase, then what will we do for the second hour I have before meeting up with my team member? Should I practice my magic?"
Acatl grins while revealing the tips of her fangs. "Not so fast, my dear student. Now that you know the basics of applied magic, I will teach you how to help me with my research. This is the library full of Orario's magical history. All that the Ganesha familia managed to salvage after the fall of both the Hera and Zeus familia. A paradise for researchers vying to find details about the spells and abilities. Unfortunately, I never got to speak with Alfia about her abilities before she turned against Orario. Her Silentium Eden is a spell I would love to learn. And she is only one of the mages of the Zeus and Hera familia. There could be countless tomes on lost magic or sub-attributes the two strongest familia had access to, all hidden in this library."
Sly takes a moment to take in her words. "So. You want my help to go through these tomes and search for notes about the spells used by the strongest adventurers to date?"
Acatl floats to the ground. "Yes, all I really need are descriptions. If we find the chant or even fractions of the original chant it will help tremendously. Then I will only have to find the correct mana attribute. With both, I can create my own chant and start learning the spell the normal way. That's how I learnt every one of my 9 spells. It might take me a decade after we find accurate descriptions of Alfia's spell, but it will work in due time."
Barely hiding his surprise. "That's possible. I can't believe it. Why has no adventurer ever tried to learn spells manually in that case? Is it possible to learn the chants of other spells and then train the same mana control to use them?"
Smiling, Acatl walks over to one of the bookcases. "Of course it is. But most mages lack the control or the attribute to learn different spells. Aside from the ones gifted to them due to their falna." She takes out multiple books titled "Magic in the Age of Heroes" and many more from various members of the Zeus familia.
"It was the traditional way in the age of heroes before we gods descended and it is possible today. Gods never created magic. Our gift only facilitated the first steps. Magic, before the gods descended, was either studied and controlled through dedicated mana control training or by accepting a contract with a spirit. Now your homework will be a few tomes concerning the history of the Zeus and Hera familia."
Sly takes the books eagerly with his second tail. "So from now on you will teach me indirectly, while I help you with your research, Acatl-hakase?"
"Yes. After all, practice is still the best teacher. I will continue giving you tips whenever you aid me in my research for a few hours. Shall we begin my young student?"
Sly then spent the next hour studying tomes alongside Acatl. His vocabulary limited him to the kione and eastern sections. Like the rest of the Takemikazuchi familia, they had to learn kione to work in Orario, as it is the common tongue most common across all races. Eastern is his mother tongue, but only very few books are in Eastern, at least in Orario.
The high kione used in the more modern tomes also included many factual terms Sly never heard before, which lead him to ask for help from Acatl many times. But most tomes were written in older languages, as they were written more than a hundred years ago before the gods reached a consensus and created kione as a central language all pantheons could agree with. A discussion that had been ongoing for a little more than a millennium at the time.
10.15 AM Welf's workshop - Sleipnir's POV
Welf, in his full adventuring gear, was waiting for Sly while testing the 5 dungeon iron kunai he made this morning. He wore chain mail over his upper body, needle rabbit leather gloves, reinforced boots with iron at the tip and metal knee pads. On top of his armour, he wore his usual dark blue apron, brown belt and blue bandana.
After he heard a quiet knock on his door, he let Sly in, who then revealed his tails. "Good to see you Sly. What's with the second tail?"
Welf raised his brows and Sly swishes his tails a little nervously. "Ah that. You see, I met the conditions to level up and got a second tail. But I will increase my stats before leveling."
"Congrats Sly. Then you will most likely want me to show you what I can do today?" Welf gives Sly a 'for Welf' strong punch to the shoulder. Wincing, a little. "Wow, you are really durable for a mage? So wanna test out the first batch of kunai I made you?"
Happy to see the 5 kunai, Sly responds. "Of course Welf-san. Here would also be the rope for my naginata. I will be testing out their balance."
Sly then picks up the kunai and tests their balance. 'They are very light. Probably less than 100 grams. We will need heavier metals for monsters below the top floors. Otherwise, the balance is in the blade. But it is only a little from the center. Might need to get it closer to the tip, but as long as I throw them right, it should work.'
Sly then tests them with a few simple throws, managing to spin some in the air without landing on the tip. He then returns to Welf. "Welf-san, these kunai are acceptable, but they would work better if you shifted the balance point closer to the tip. Perhaps also using heavier metals if we get some drops."
"Yeah. Had the same idea. That's why its only a prototype. Here's your naginata. Should hold, unless you try to block strikes with the rope."
Sly flings his naginata over his shoulder with the new rope strap and hides the below his rope above his chain mail. "Shall we go to the dungeon, Welf-san?"
Welf proudly picks up a heavy single-edged broadsword that's around a meter long and must weigh at least 10 kg. "Of course, I can't wait to get my hands on some new items." While they leave, Welf also grabs a one-handed pick for mining purposes.
They go through the streets of Orario before entering the dungeon. There are almost no more adventurers in the lobby and the quest wall also looks almost empty. The two guild employees nod them along and Welf walks in front of 'Sly, descending the dungeon's stairway. "Has been quite some time since I last went down here. Still as gloomy as ever."
Sly looks at the dark circular staircase that gets darker the deeper you go. "I have only been here a few times, but it still gives me shivers when I look down. Almost feels as if something was watching you whenever you enter."
Welf strides forward and enters the first floor. "Nothing we can do about it. So you told me that you are looking for secrets on the walls and ceiling from the fourth floor onward. Gonna show me the path you found to get your level?"
Sly rolls his eyes. "I will show you one of the switches. The other is very annoying to reach. But please keep it to yourself. Would no longer be a secret path if all the adventurers learnt about it?"
Welf continues forwards along the main path of the first floor and strikes down all monsters with a single swipe of his sword. He is not slow for his level but compared to Sly, he moves with at most 1/4 of Sly's maximum speed. "No problem for me. We can just collect the recourses ourselves if no one else knows about them."
Welf then entered the second floor and asked for directions from Sly, as he carried his maps and also memorized the first few floors.
Sly continued to observe Welf's movement against bigger groups of weak monsters. He did not really see any reason to intervene on the first floors and wanted to see what his companion's skills were.
'He has almost as much pure strength as me with that heavy sword, and seems to have enough stamina to swing it for a few hours. His speed is lacking, but he also has better defense than me with his armor.'
With an observing and rare foxfire throwing Sly behind him, Welf focused on the monsters in the front. He cut down goblins and kobolds with a single strike, without any trouble.
Welf then entered floor three. He immediately spotted another bigger group of many goblins on a darker path and rushed them. He cut down the first two with ease while retreating a step to dodge the follow-up attacks from the other four.
Welf only missed that the shadow on the ceiling was moving. So focused on the other goblins, he was surprised to see a blue fireball strike directly above him. He immediately took an additional step back and looked up.
The lizard fell with burnt feet, and Welf attacked its vulnerable stomach. But through the distraction, he missed one of the goblins picking up a stone and throwing it at him. He winces from the attack, but it should only leave a bruise thanks to his chain mail that prevented the pointed end to hit him. Sly then used the distraction and threw another fireball against the remaining goblins, and finished the encounter.
Welf respectfully smiled at Sly. "Thanks. Almost forgot that these things liked the dark corners and ceiling so much."
Sly nods back while using one of his kunai with each tail to remove the magic stones from the monsters. "True. I think I will be actively helping you with foxfirefrom now on. You can keep the front and I will observe our surroundings and help you from behind. Also, if you do not know with certainty that somewhere is no dungeon lizard, then it's safer to assume there is one. Did you not spot it earlier?"
Welf observes Sly's work with his dexterous tails. "Yeah, I did not see it. Seems that your sight is also better than mine. Better for you to observe our surrounding then. Also, a little warning would be appreciated before I run into a monster I do not even see."
Sly's tail continues to collect magic stones while he walks around the monsters. "Of course. I will try to warn you from now on. I will also send a small foxfire in front of us to illuminate the ceiling. Does that sound better?"
Welf nods, content with the terms. "Nice. So from now on we work as a team as you saw my basic abilities. Also, what are you doing with your tails?"
Sly looks at Welf with a disinterested face. "Collecting magic stones."
Welf looks in interest at how Sly collects the stones by creating a small flame but very bright flame at the top of his tails to burn his way to them. "Right."
They then continue to the ceiling with the magic stone indentation and Sly helps Welf up to it with his rope and shows him the rougher way the walls are shaped around it.
Welf is still inspecting the indentation. "So. You're telling me this little indentation can be powered with a magic stone? And if you find them all, you can open a secret path. Thats awesome. I'm surprised nobody found these before. Let's see if we can't find another one, Sly."
They continue forwards and then search the fourth to the sixth floor. The only noteworthy change happened on the fifth floor where Sly stood side to side with Welf, as he was only slightly faster than the war shadows and had a far harder time spotting them. So Sly had to help him directly when they got too close, with a single strike of his naginata or a single fireball.
Unfortunately, they did not find any other secret passages. But they found a new trap type Sly missed the first time. Because on a few of the paths from floor 5 onward, there were parts of the floor that reacted like pressure plates. They only activated when you traveled in one direction, as it required a few to be pressed and opened a small side passage behind the party for two frog shooters to surprise attack them with their tongues.
After clearing the sixth floor, they decided to call it a day as it was already around 7 PM as they saw from the dimming fluorescent moss on the ceiling.
After exchanging the bags with the different magic stones they collected, Welf asked Sly. "So what will be my share? I did most of the work in the beginning, but also get to use our drop items. I can't wait to use the war shadow claw that dropped today. Should be a nice fit for better kunai as the tips of your broke against the dungeon lizards."
Sly, with his singular lazily swishing tail, answered. "I would say it is smarter to just work with equal parts for every party member. We can't argue if we have equal portions Welf-san. I also have a few special drops for you that you may use for special projects later. I will show them to you once we reach your shop."
They enter Welf's workshop. There Welf closed the door and drew the drape over his window. "So what have you kept me waiting for, Sly? Most be something good if I can't use it right away."
Sly listened all around them with his ears before turning to Welf. "Very serious. For one, I have an irregular war shadow claw that I would love to see used in a dagger in the future."
Welf looks with twinkling eyes. "Oh, the one you told me about?" Lifts both the normal and irregular ones next to each other. "It's heavier. Has a darker shade and probably a higher concentration of dungeon ores. Nice. What else?"
Sly smiles in delight. "When you liked that one, then you will love this one." Sly shows him the irregular and enhanced needle rabbit horn. "The gray one is enhanced. The black one is irregular, but not just any irregular. The bunny could teleport over a short range. Together with its poisonous effect, I hope you can create a great weapon in the future."
"Penultimately, I also have 5 enhanced dungeon lizard scales each around 10 cm long. And lastly, 9 golden feathers of the enhanced jack bird. These I will keep for now, but if you have any idea that requires them, I will take them to you."
Welf looks at all the items in eager astonishment. "Oh, I can't wait to use these materials. They will be some of my most personal work yet. I will first create another set of kunai with the normal war shadow horn, then after completing your armor with the scales melted into it, I will look at the daggers for you."
Sly nods at Welf, who is mumbling to himself. "Well then, I will see myself out for today. Tomorrow at 9.15 in front of Babel this time? I will go to Acatl-hakase a little earlier from now on so we can spend more time improving our teamwork and exploring the remaining floors before the tenth."
Welf nods while still testing the strength of the different materials with a small hammer. "Yes, sounds great. Thank you Sly, I will meet you then. It's nice to continue adventuring, even more so when you warn me of all the hidden monsters and let me take the brunt of the conflict to push my level."
Sly is slightly perplexed by Welf's words but quickly hides them. "It's no problem Welf-san. I get to train my mana control and the monsters on the first 6 floors give me too little extallia to truly increase my stats, so it's no problem to let you train. I'm happy to continue tomorrow."
9 PM Sly's Inn Room - Ouka's POV
Their current group dynamic still irritated Ouka. 'Mikoto is really pushing us. What does she want to prove? Without Sly's illusions and magic, we must be more careful. But for her to assume our strength is still the same without our main support caster. I will have to reprimand her sternly tomorrow if she repeats her shortsighted rush to grow stronger.
At least Sly has a better mood. Seems the blacksmith and the fact that he can level brightened his mood, although he still keeps his distance from me. But it's still strange to see him with two tails. Let's hope it will also translate to him helping me finish my spell.'
Ouka then stood up after sharpening his axe and went next to Sly, who was busily adding another entry to his dungeon study about one-directional traps. "Sly, can you help me finish my fortifychant now?"
Sly tails swish twice more while he finishes his sentence. He turns around but seems to be thinking. "Of course, but is it truly correct for the familia captain to refer to me in such an informal way, wouldn't Sleipnir be the correct form, Ouka-san?"
Ouka sighs heavily. "So be it Sleipnir-kun. How should we go about creating my chant?"
"I already have a few ideas, but the core chant should still come from you. As it is a defensive chant, it should be only a few phrases, otherwise, you won't be fast enough to cast it Ouka-san. So what is the first thing that comes to mind if you think about fortify?"
"Seems reasonable. I have been thinking about it for the last two days. I think the spell should be about a guardian. I am the guardian and protector of our familia. Our captain. Our leader. I protect all our younger members from harm." Ouka looks at Sly with discomfort.
"Let's hope that with this spell you will also step in when somebody attacks our familia, even when the attack is not physical."
Sly gaze turns empty for a fraction of a second before in its place returning focus. "So. You want the chant to defend, but not only yourself but also others when necessary. Additionally, it should protect even the mind. I cannot tell you how strong the spell will be, but I have an idea for a chant."
'Even if you regret your neglect Ouka, you will need to show it through actions. Until then I won't forgive you. At least the irony of me helping him design a spell based on defending others isn't lost on him.'
Ouka listens to the chant and inspiredly speaks it with Sly.
"Call upon the defender, the guardian, the leader, the mentor's imperceptible shield of war - Fortify."
Upon finishing the chant, a semi-translucent shield of brown earth mana appears in front of Ouka and Sly. Ouka then laughs happily. "Seems the chant works. Thank you very much Sleipnir-kun. Without your wits, it would have taken me forever to create a chant myself."
Ouka then slaps Sly on the back, while Sly wags his tails and satisfaction at finding a fitting chant on his first try. "You do not need to thank me for finding a suitable chant, Ouka-san. Just train your magic and once you know how to use fortifyproperly, use it for the right reasons."
Ouka responds with his no-nonsense voice. "I will do my best Sleipnir-kun At least now I can breathe easy, even if Mikoto continues with her relentless rush to grow stronger. Nonetheless, please return to our group soon."
While Ouka walks back to his bed Sly gets very annoyed at the thought of having to work with Mikoto again.
Author's Note
Also, finally revealed when Sly will grow additional tails and his true race. I do not plan to let Sly level right away, as you might have guessed from Ouka. Instead, he will try to max his stats and to be honest, I did not originally for the enhanced encounter to be enough for a level up, but then while writing it I noticed how insane I made it for a single level 1 adventurer.
As for pairings like Ais and Bell. I will see what happens and let it develop from the characters themselves. I have some funny ideas to mess with Bell and create some lighthearted conflicts, but nothing specific. Sly has no planned pairing and most likely won't have any for quite some time, as he has very little trust in others.
Also, a slightly shorter chapter, as I think 8'000 words, is a more reliable length. Also, the dungeon difficulty will now begin to increase as the main staff has been mostly introduced and they delve into more appropriate floors.
Update 20.07.23: Minor changes to the dialogs.