Hey, it's been a solid minute since my last post. Hopefully, this chapter was worth the wait… I don't think it was, but you can be the judge of that!

I don't have anything to ask of you guys for the upcoming chapters so I'll skip that and get to the reviews.

haziqsaffari2- I fucking laughed my ass off when I saw your comment for the first time. It was an honest description of my story, and it only took 2 words. Hope you like the next chapter! Let me know if it's only okay as well haha.

AnosDT95- Glad you got the Dragon Age reference! I needed a dwarf name and that one was the first I could think of! I also love your comment and I read it over a bunch before I went forward with the magic idea. I will continue with the stealth idea, but I will be going about it in a more complex way than I originally thought. I will make the magic balanced, so don't worry too much about it being OP in the beginning. Eventually, he will be OP but that will be farther down the line since Bell is straight-up BROKEN and I need to compete with that bullshit for my character to be just as interesting as he is. When I initially thought up this story I always envisioned this character as a solo adventurer, but the whole concept of the dungeon and adventurers almost forces the adventurers into a party or group and I personally don't like that. The only people not in groups are those that are the strongest, like Ottar. So, I was 'forced' to add a skill/ability that would make it so the character can go through the dungeon as a solo adventurer. The character will have a lot of interactions with people in and out of the dungeon, but he will not be forming a party with others. He is a one-man show and the Gamer skill only helps him do that, nothing else. The skills won't be broken or OP as I will limit them as well as making sure the character doesn't rely on them too much. But again, I do value your comment and will be making sure that his skill will be manageable. Thanks!

That was it for the comments and if you have a problem, concern, compliment, or anything else, leave a comment and I will always read it! Thanks, guys, enjoy!.

-Day 730 (2 Years)

So, it has now been two years since I first arrived in the DanMachi universe, and I think I am finally starting to settle into my new life. It is a bit odd that it took almost two years to finally feel that way, but with the whole baby growing up thing, and having to learn a whole new world's language and customs, it wasn't something I had really thought about. During these two years, I had always put distance between this world and my own, often thinking of the two separately while also trying to connect them in some way. This could be seen the most whenever I thought about my parents. Up until this point, I would always think of them as, 'new parents' or 'my other parent', but when it finally clicked, they just became what they truly have been for the last two years, my parents.

God, when I fully realized that, a giant smile was plastered on my face at the concept before it was rapidly wiped away by the rapid forming of tears coming out of my eyes. Having finally accepted this new world as my own felt like I was betraying everything I had previously on Earth, and with that new realization, it hurt even more because that's exactly what I was doing. There were even times when Aurora's face would replace my mother's from Earth whenever I tried thinking about her. Gods, I don't even know if I should feel ashamed that Aurora is already replacing the image of my mother, or happy that I have grown attached to my mom in such a short time. There have even been instances where I have completely forgotten small events and people and for the life of me, I can't remember! I'm slightly terrified that I will eventually forget about everything back in my old life, with those old memories being replaced with new memories and experiences from this current life. Fuck, It is probably going to take some more time to fully accept and decompartmentalize everything from this world and my old one, and I am honestly not looking forward to that...

On a slightly happier note, my language skills for both Elvish and Common are doing amazing! I am now able to read and write at the level of a young child. Obviously, I dumb down most of the things I say and do in front of others so that they don't realize I am way farther ahead than a two-year-old should be. And seeing as I am getting better and better in the language department, I can almost guarantee that I should be fluent in both languages by the time I leave the village for Orario! But for right now, my current language skill was good enough for me to ask my parents some of the questions that I had built up over the last two years, and while I was able to get the answers, all of them were dumbed down, and or were brushed over for future conversations. It was a good start, but I will get to the bottom of this world and my own family history, even if it kills me!

First of all, magic stones can be used for multiple purposes and are pretty much everywhere! Apparently, magic stones can be enhanced and or enchanted to do different tasks, such as the magic stones being used in appliances such as the fridge, toilet, shower, and lights. My parents didn't describe how they were enchanted, but it must be either fairly easy and or mass-produced to allow every household to have multiple magic stone appliances. The use of magic stones is also fairly cheap, with the usual magic stone needing to be replaced every year. This explains the vast number of adventures in Orario that brave the dungeon every day, the reason behind the guild paying for the magic stones, and the reason that the DanMachi universe lacks technology. If magic is the clear answer to most of the problems that this universe has, there is no reason to look into anything else, especially something new. Sadly, I didn't know a whole lot about technology in my past life, so I don't think I will be coming up with many 'new' inventions.

The second thing I was able to learn was the position of my family and the reason we were the only Elves in the village. To start, my mother is considered a high elf, while my father is a regular elf. I was a bit confused on the concept of the high elf seeing as the anime never really specified the difference between high elves and regular elves other than talking about Riveria, but apparently, high elf just meant elven royalty. I honestly have no idea what that makes me, and I am kind of afraid to ask since the question seemed to be a touchy subject based upon how my parents acted when I asked, especially my mother. From the moment I asked about our Elven heritage, my mom became very fidgety; a look of sadness was draped over her face as she explained. My father on the other hand just watched my mother as she talked, putting his hand on her shoulder, and giving his input here and there, but mostly staying silent while she explained. The short story is that my mom fell in love with my father, which her family did not approve of, but because she loved my father very much, she chose him over her family. Because of that, she was disinherited from her family and told to leave her ancestral home and the forests surrounding it. So both my parents packed as much as they could carry and left the forest of the elves, and eventually, they found their home here. When my mother finished the story, she excused herself from me and my father and went to her room, and after a few seconds, we could both hear small sobbing from said room.

It was a little odd that my father wasn't as emotional as my mother when talking about his old home, and since I'm a nosy motherfucker, I decided to go all-in with upsetting both my parents at the same time. He answered it normally, but the response was not what I was expecting, and I only felt worse after learning it. My father told me he was an orphan and that he didn't have anything to his name until he met my mother, so when she had picked him over her family he had dedicated his life to her from then on. There were obvious holes in both of their stories; like why he was an orphan, why didn't he have anything, why did mom's family have such a negative view of dad; but I think I learned enough about them for a while, seeing as I made one cry and the other to look forlorn out one of the windows.

On another more positive subject involving my parents, both of them have and use magic! I knew that elves had a predominance towards magic but seeing and believing are two totally different things. The first time I saw magic in use was a few months ago when I was running down the stairs. It was probably a mix of my incoordination, and me not paying attention, but at the second to last step before the ground floor, I tripped and fell down the stairs. Although I didn't scream or cry at the fall, the sound of me falling to the ground and the loud gasp I made as I fell alerted my mother to my predicament. While I wasn't hurt badly, my wrist took most of the damage as I tried to save myself from the fall, probably earning me a sprain or tenderness in my wrist. I honestly think I was in shock as I didn't feel any amount of pain, but my mom came rushing towards me when she saw me laying on the ground. Before I could try to explain anything, my mom began to chant something in Elvish. I could only make out a few words as she was chanting very fast, and a lot of the words were new to me, but the ones that grabbed my attention were Forest, Help, and Heal. As she said the word heal, a slight green glow began to emanate from her hands as she positioned them over me and I started to feel a slight warmth in my body, especially my hand. It was obviously a healing spell, but I was so shocked by the spell I just laid there watching my mother cast magic. After a few more minutes of this, the heat around me began to dissipate, as well as the green glow from my mother's hand. With the spell most likely over, my mother brushed her hand over her forehead, as a great amount of sweat had built up as she used the spell. Magic must be very taxing for someone without a Falna, even for an elf. After a few breaths from my mother, as she tried to compose herself, she gave me a bright smile and had asked me if I was feeling better. I gave a small nod, as almost all the pain from falling down the stairs was gone, with only a small amount of tightness originating from my wrist. Luckily, I could still use it, as I raised myself from my lying position. My mother's smile grew even larger at that and she lifted me up so that I could stand next to her. Finally, the shock left my body, and I immediately asked questions, and while my mother was surprised by my sudden excitement, especially since I had just fallen down the stairs, she smiled as she tried to answer my questions.

For starters, my mother can only do healing magic, and only to an extent. She can't heal as well as Riveria did in the anime, but she can speed up the healing process by a large amount. The worse the injury, the more Mind it takes to heal but to circumvent a Mind Down, she heals the injury enough that it can heal slightly faster on its own. She can only do it once or twice a day depending on the extent of the injury and the type. Because of her magic, she took up the role of the village doctor, and if her magic can't heal them, her herbal remedies usually do the trick. She explained that she hasn't been able to gather local herbs since she has to watch me, but when I am old enough to be alone for an extended time, she plans to get back to gathering herbs for herself rather than asking my father to grab the right kind while he is hunting. Hopefully, she allows me to tag along a few times so that I can get a basic understanding of the local plants and a basic understanding of the medicine in this universe.

She also explained the idea of magic in greater detail than that of the anime, especially magic involving Elves. She explained that most Elves have a connection with magic, be it casting magic, sensing it, or infusing it. With almost all High Elves being able to cast magic to some extent or another. Magic is sometimes passed down through the generations, with most of my mother's family having some type of healing magic. When she brought up her family magic, she grew quiet for a moment, before continuing our impromptu magic lesson, although she was far less enthusiastic than she was in the beginning. As she started to explain about my father's magic, the front door opened, and as if he somehow knew we were talking about him, dad had shown up. After a few minutes of hugs, greetings, and kisses, courtesy of mom and dad, we once again discussed magic.

Dad was a bit shocked that I was already interested in magic, but enthusiastic nonetheless. First, he told me about his magic, which was small control over the wind. It wasn't the most powerful magic, as it wasn't on the same level as Ais or Ryuu, but it was very versatile, as he used it for multiple things. He mainly used it to make his arrows slightly faster, but the most interesting way he used it was to soften the noise he made while hunting. He would make a very thin layer of wind around his feet, which would slightly muffle the sound of crunching twigs and leaves. It sounds like the spell Muffle from Skyrim, which is super helpful in the game. I find it very interesting that my father's magic has a small connection to stealth magic, which is something I specifically asked from Steve. It makes me wonder if it is all just coincidence or if Steve did a lot more than just putting my soul in an already made child and called it good…Seeing as I have no way of knowing at all, I better not think too much on the subject.

After a few more minutes of both my mother and father discussing magic and its properties, specifically how the magic felt, how they used it, and the first times they used it. My father was very young when he first used magic, around 16 years old, while my mother was 26 when she first used magic. Hearing that, made me realize that I had no idea how old my parents actually were, seeing as I assumed they were fairly young based on their appearance. Just to sate my new curiosity, I asked, and to my shock, they were both above the age of 60 years old! My mother was 65 while my dad was 60, which created even more questions about how long Elves here live! Is it like DnD where they live to around six hundred to nine-hundred years or like Lord of the Rings where they live for pretty much ever… That's definitely a question for when I am older, but it is going to be a bit freaky to think about even if I get the answer to the question. Getting back on topic, after they told me their ages when they used magic, they asked me if I could feel anything similar to how they previously described magic. While I tried to feel any mana or magic as I delved deeper into my mind and body, I couldn't really feel anything. There were some instances of feeling something, but I couldn't grasp that feeling. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't do or feel magic yet, but both my parents were very comforting over my 'failure' at magic. Maybe I just need to keep practicing…

The last event that held some importance to me in the following year was the regular inclusion of solid foods! Now, while that may sound trivial to most people, but for someone who has lived as a baby for almost two years, it is a very new and amazing addition to my life. Gods, you don't know how good any solid food is until you have it taken away from you, with the only thing being consumed being breast milk and baby food… Again, we are not going to talk about that part of my life, except for the fact that it never got less awkward. Surprisingly, my family does serve meat in our meals, which honestly made me ecstatic at the surprise. I had thought that elves in this world were the stereotypical tree-hugging elves from other forms of fiction like Eragon, Lord of the Rings, and other such fantasies… Hmm, was that a racist thing to think of, or are elves considered their own species making it speciesism?… Does the fact that I am now an elf contradict that, or does that make me racist towards my own kind? It hardly matters in the grand scheme of things, but it would be nice to know so I don't put my foot in my mouth when I do get accustomed to this world!

Also, teething is a bitch, no ifs, ands, or buts.

-Day 1460 (Year 4)

It has been two more years since the last important changes in my life, and while there were some slight changes in the two years, none of them deserved recognition other than the quick summary I am about to discuss.

Now, growing up 'slightly' more mature than all of the other children in the village makes it somewhat difficult to make friendships with said kids. Every time that I would try to make some kind of friendship with the other village kids, it would never go farther than a few minutes of conversation before I or the other children realized that we were on vastly different levels of intelligence, maturity, and similarities. So, because of this, I ended up making friends with the adults of the village, primarily those that weren't human. Although I could say that I was on good terms with a lot of the humans of the village since nobody could dislike a child, especially one that they could have an actual conversation with, I still found the interest of dwarves, animal folk, and other such fantasy races more intriguing than regular old humans that I unknowingly gravitated towards them without me realizing until much later.

At first, it was a bit difficult for them to take me any more serious than a child, especially Oghren who would always try and scare me away with his blacksmith's hammer and his absurd cursing, and when that didn't work, he would just grumble to himself about nosy elves and pesky children before he went back to his work, whereas I would begin to follow him and watch him from a safe distance as he banged away on whatever the village needed, cursing, drinking, and rambling as I watched. It took a few days, but eventually, the grumpy dwarf finally tried having a conversation with me, and he was genuinely surprised that I could talk to him, even more so when I asked him questions about being a blacksmith. After that initial icebreaker, Oghren and I quickly became good friends. I would often visit him while he worked, and since he took me seriously, I would usually help around the forge, mostly getting him tools or cleaning up here and there as we talked. Because of my help, Oghren often paid me for my assistance, usually around 100 Vali's an hour. Although it wasn't much, for a four-year-old, it was a lot, especially if I continued helping and saved up everything he gave me. Along with giving me an hourly rate, he also taught me small pointers about blacksmithing, forging, and even more importantly, dwarven culture and the occasional dwarven language lessen… More often than not, he taught me dwarven swear words, which I would teach him the equivalent Elvish translation for the specific curse. On many occasions, villagers could hear Oghren swearing in Elvish while my childlike voice could be heard cursing in Dwarvish, with a round of laughter coming from the both of us at the end of it.

When I wasn't hanging around with Oghren, I would usually be seen with Alice or Welby. Welby was a lot easier to become friends with than Alice and Oghren as he seemed to take me serious on our first meeting. He never talked down to me, nor did he treat me as a child, rather he treated me as a regular person. It was quite surprising since he was the first person to treat me like that without having to show otherwise. It was even more surprising to find out that Welby used to be an adventure in Orario back in his youth. Although he never got higher than a first-level adventurer, he had a lot of stories about his experiences in and out of the dungeon. Many times I would lose track of time as he retailed me about some of the more exciting moments of his life, and with Welby being fairly old, he had a lot to tell. I would ask countless questions during his stories, learning as much as I could about Orario and the dungeon so that I could either follow in similar footsteps or avoid some of the mistakes he had made. Honestly, Welby's stories held a lot of knowledge and wisdom that I could use, but most of the time I listened for enjoyment rather than information, as learning more about the world and those in it was pleasant. Sometimes I would even help Welby around his store, and while I couldn't help him nearly as much as Oghren, I felt indebted to him for telling me all his stories and for treating me as an adult rather than the child I am. While he didn't pay me like Oghren, I would regularly leave his store with some kind of sweet or snack that Welby gave me for my help.

Lastly is Alice, who still to this day treats me like a little kid. Although she treats me more like an older child rather than the toddler/young child that I really am. She treats me similarly to the way my parents treat me. While it can be annoying at times since it feels like you are being talked down to, you honestly get used to it since almost everyone does it. Hopefully, she will continue to treat me as a slightly older child compared to what I actually am, because as I age, so to will her impression of me, which means I will be an adult by her standards in the coming years. But besides that one nitpicks, Alice is just as friendly and kind as Oghren and Welby, sometimes she is even nicer than both of them. That could be because of the whole child image that she has for me, but she always seems to have a smile on her face and a wag of her tail when I show up. She doesn't talk much, so our conversations aren't as exuberating as Oghren's, or as thrilling and informational as Welby's, but every word out of her mouth is full of kindness and love. She acts similar to that of a big sister, as she would try and teach me small life lessons whenever I visited and would often try and protect me from the few obstacles and animals that made up her farm. It was very similar to how I treated my younger siblings back in my old life, so it was a little odd to be on the receiving side for a change but seeing as I don't have any older siblings in this world or the one before, I gladly accepted her role as a surrogate big sister whenever I visited. As with Oghren and Welby, I tried helping her around her farm by doing small tasks, but in contrast to them, Alice didn't want any of my help! She would often say that her tasks were meant for her and her alone, usually grabbing a tool out of my hand before I could try and help her. It was a bit frustrating at times, but I usually worked around it by grabbing the occasional weed or filling up a watering can without her looking. While these were very small tasks that didn't impact her very much, even the smallest tasks meant less time that Alice needed to do on her other chores. Eventually, it became a small game between the two of us, with her trying to spot me doing a chore, while I tried to do as many as I could before she caught me. Some days she was like a hawk, with me not being able to do anything, and some days I could get away with a lot of her chores. As the game continued, she would find it more and more difficult to spot me, which would cause her to try even harder. Honestly, it was a lot more fun than how I can describe it, especially because I can barely describe it at all. Just trust me when I say it was fun, alright!?

I found it a little funny that the people I was closest to, filled the empty spots in a family setting. Alice as a big sister, Oghren as the drunk, fun uncle, and Welby as the experienced grandpa with all the stories. It is probably because I am trying to better attach myself to them. After all, I don't have anyone other than my parents that I can talk to, or it's because I just feel that close to them… I'm thinking it's a little bit of both if I am being completely honest with myself.

The only other noteworthy event that has happened is that I am a few steps closer to my magic! It took a lot of practice and a lot of delving into myself to finally grasp my supposed magic. While I still couldn't use it since I still didn't know the chant for the magic, I could grasp what kind of magic it was. My magic has something to do with the body's senses, and while that was the extent that I was able to find out about the magic specifically, I knew that my magic also had something to do with stealth and or something similar thanks to the promise I had from Steve and since everything else I asked for was fulfilled, I can assume that there is a correlation between my current magic and the one I asked for. But while I now know my magic, I have come to the next roadblock, figuring out the specific chant for my magic. Now, the anime and webcomics never really discussed magical chanting in any detail, only that most spells use them, and magic, be it from a God's Falna or not, has a specific chant. So, with no real foreknowledge on the concept of magical chanting, I needed to find the answer. Now, you would think that going to my magically inclined parents would have been the first place to ask, but with me growing up at a rapid pace, I was somewhat nervous to start with them. I could already do things that no four-year-old could ever do, and I still remember the shock they both had when I told them I could feel my magic. It made me second guess telling them straight away, so I went to the next best sources of knowledge, Oghren, Alice, and Welby! Sadly, both Oghren and Alice were a bust, seeing as how both have no magical connections or knowledge on the subject. It was funny to see their surprised expressions when I asked them, but it wasn't what I was looking for so we can talk about it another time. Welby was next, and while he had a lot more information on magic than the other two, it had little to no impact on my problem. For starters, Welby didn't have any magic either, so he had no personal experience, but a few of his old Familia members did have magic! The main problem was that their magic was gained when they joined the Familia or earned by leveling up, both of which had chants that their God was able to acquire thanks to the Falna. So, after failing three times, I was forced to ask my parents for help, which pretty much counteracted everything I said earlier… Fuck! Why does magic have to be so hard! The anime makes it look so easy!

So, with that upsetting idea of magic in my head, I begrudgingly asked my parents for tips on magic and magical chanting, and to my surprise, they were very forthcoming on the topic. While there looked to be some skepticism and surprise on their face when I asked, they didn't freak out as I had envisioned. Although they did require me to practice my chanting with their supervision, which I found very reasonable since I had no idea what I was doing, they didn't withhold any information about magic, with both of them being very animated and excited while they discussed the intricacies of magic. It took a few days of magic lessons to understand, but it seems that the words of the chant come naturally with a greater understanding of your own magic. Right now, I knew the very basics of my magic, and most of that was because of the promise that Steve and I made, so I need to delve even deeper into my magic to find out my chant. So while that sucks that I need to do even more magical study of myself, I was able to get a better understanding of magic in general, especially the history of magic, which I found extremely fascinating.

Magic was the use of the excess excelia around the world, as excelia is created with every task a person partakes in, and depending on the task, more excelia is created and therefore used in magic. It explains the vast amount of magic that is used in and out of the dungeon since tasks of varying importance are done in the dungeon at an almost continuous pace. It also explains the number of people able to use magic in Orario and the potency of magic that they can do. My father was also able to explain that the use of a God's Falna was the reasoning behind the accessibility of magic since the Falna can absorb excelia to a far greater extent than a regular person, that's why people, and therefore magic is less powerful and useful outside the dungeon. There was a lot more information they were able to discuss with me, but those were the most important pieces of information, in my opinion, especially the part about excess excelia and the use of a God's Falna, but that would have to wait until I got a Falna so for right now that piece of information was useless until then. So, I am stuck between either learning more about my magic and learn my chant on my own or wait long enough to acquire my own Falna and figure the chant out from there, but until then, I am left to my own devices... Again... Fucking fantastic.

Well, there it is. The end is a bit rushed, but I think it's pretty good altogether. I wanted to create more relationships between the character and the world around it, and I think I did that to some extent. Also, the information about magic and excelia is completely bullshit, I just needed a reasonable explanation for the use of magic, the reason behind excelia, and future events, tasks, and problems. If my explanation has wholes in it that you think you can be fixed, let me know because I would like to have a good background for the concept of magic and excelia since the character will be exploring both options! Thanks!

In the upcoming chapters, more time skips will be happening until he reaches the age of ten, and then I will rewriting in the first person again since I really didn't want to write a character with broken speech. Asura will be getting more involved in his magic and training to go into the dungeon, so it will be a lot more actiony in the upcoming chapter… hopefully.

God, the worst part about the magic bullshit is that I have to come up with a fucking realistic chant! God, not looking forward to that!

Until next time!