Tanya and Hephaestus went back and forth over the numbers, but ultimately settled on a guaranteed price of 25% less than what the Guild wanted to charge the Hephaestus familia for, but had a bare minimum price floor of what the Guild was willing to charge in case the prices dropped dramatically; even then they would both save some valis with the Guild's 5% processing fee cut out.
That and they agreed to make her blade at material cost, as long as she consented to have one of the familia's rising stars- one Welf Crozzo- forge the blade; Tsubaki herself would handle the imbuing as Crozzo wasn't a Level 2.
"Thank you, Tanya-chan, this will help me out a lot." The Goddess gave her a warm smile as Tsubaki took the notes from their discussion to be drawn up into an official contract. "And don't worry about your blade, Welf-kun will handle it beautifully, of that I have no doubt. He might be young, but his skill is growing rapidly. We should have your blade ready within a week's time."
"If he has your vote of confidence, Hephaestus-sama, then who am I to deny the young man a chance? Now, I can understand saving some valis, but I get the feeling that you're digging a little bit deeper than the surface, Hephaestus-sama," Tanya replied as she refilled her cup from the pitcher, and the Goddess' cup as well when she held her cup out.
"Yes. This might sound silly but, I've always had this dream..." The Goddess of the Forge looked from her seat at a nearby tree branch in which a white-feathered dove had alighted. "I dreamt that one day when I got my familia large enough, capable enough, that we would fill the markets with high quality, affordable equipment for even the poorest Adventurer."
She blinked and shook her head with a small smile on her face. Tanya was honestly entranced with the Goddess' aura. "However, the prices of the drop items, as well as the requirement for an Adventurer to be Level 2 to obtain the Blacksmith developmental ability, meant that 'Drop Item Equipment' would be more of a pipe dream than a reality for most Adventurers. The smiths capable of fashioning weapons and armor from drop items all skew towards the most expensive materials to make the most amount of valis, which means that the Low-Class Adventurers have to make do with sub-par equipment until they could Rank Up and delve deeper to make the money needed to buy anything better."
"Goblin Fangs can make any blade sharper and stronger, Kobold Claws make them more durable. War Shadow claws do both and make the blade more lubricious- it lowers the likelihood of a blade getting stuck in a monster's corpse. The Ant Chiton you collected could be used to imbue standard armor plating that would be good for at the very least the 15th floor." The Goddess crossed her arms underneath her not-inconsiderable bust and sighed. "Many Adventurers perish in the Dungeon because of overconfidence, but I think that overconfidence is born from their lack of understanding when it comes from their equipment. The standard steel blades that they were using were fine for Goblins, Kobolds, and War Shadows... but once they make it to the 10th-floor things change; the large amounts of fat and muscle from the Orcs quickly dull their weapons, and then they break as the Adventurers are forced to use them as cleavers."
"The less said about the performance of steel weapons against Minotaurs the better." The woman huffed. "If you can get me a large amount of drop items at these prices, then I can entice my junior smiths who're Level 2 to make more affordable equipment."
Hephaestus swirled the water around in her cup. "A War Shadow blade would be perfect for facing down Minotaurs, and that is where the most lucrative portion of the Dungeon is for those capable of reaching it."
Tanya nodded. "Better equipment at more reasonable prices can never be a bad thing, I agree with your assessment."
The pair ended their discussion as Tsubaki returned with a tray and three copies of the contract- one for Hephaestus, one for Loki's books, and one for Tanya.
As the teen stood up and placed all of the paperwork back into her purse the woman gave them both a deep bow, "A pleasure doing business with you Hephaestus-sama, now, if you excuse me, I have a date with the Dungeon."
"Wait." The Goddess' words made Tanya pause. When the teen turned back to them the woman cocked her head. "You didn't give this offer to Goibnu-dono. Why?"
Tanya gave her a rueful grin as she undid her hair tie and carded her fingers through her golden locks before re-tying it back into her signature ponytail as she spoke. "Well, I was going to give it to Goibnu, but when I was sent to his familia Captain to discuss the making of my blade... the Captain decided that throwing a hammer at my face because we 'dared to disturb him' was an acceptable business practice. I am not some bright-eyed idiot who thinks that High-Class Adventurers can do no wrong, so I decided that I would take my business elsewhere."
"In fact, not only did your Tsubaki Collebrand welcome me with open arms, but she even rushed out to try and catch me."
"Catch... you?" The Goddess asked quizzically.
Tanya merely grinned as she activated her Flight formula and lifted off the ground, slowly gaining altitude as she slipped away. "I'm sure that Collebrand-san can tell you all about it. Farewell!"
With that Tanya shot off towards the sky with a grin on her face and a whooping laugh tearing from her lips.
Damn, it felt good to fly!
Tanya side-stepped the War Shadow and cleaved its head from its shoulders with her knife; the Mage Blade formula humming as she continued the swing to remove another Kobold from the world. Unfortunately the strike shattered the Monster's stone, but it was of no real importance as she had already gathered fifty Kobold Claws just on the way down here.
She was on the 6th Floor, and almost at the staircase down to the 7th Floor where she would then farm the Killer Ants for their Chiton drops.
When the last monster fell Tanya went around and began harvesting the materials from the corpses, making sure to segregate the cores and their corresponding drop items from those monsters that only provided their cores. She needed to keep those crystals for 12 hours so that the drop items they were harvested with weren't used up by the city's economy.
Tanya had an absolutely massive backpack, she made sure to purchase one from the same shops that all of those Supporters did, as well as a number of large sacks; she had each one embroidered with cloth tags that read "1st Floor", "2nd Floor", "3rd Floor" and so on. Her trip here had already filled it up by a quarter, and the Ants were more than likely to fill it up the rest of the way before the day was through.
Using the past three days as a measuring stick, today was sure to be her most lucrative day yet!
The best part about it was that the lunch rush was over, so most of the morning Adventurers were out and gone, meaning that Tanya had more monsters to herself. The Main Guild branch was open 24 hours a day to take into consideration of the Adventurers who chose to work the evening hours instead, so exchanging her stones for money was hardly an issue.
With her pack reorganized and squared away, Tanya picked it up with a huff and started towards the 7th floor.
"Ahahahahahaha! Yes! Come on!" Tanya laughed maniacally as she tugged the cork out of a Health Potion and downed its contents before pushing the cork back in with her teeth and putting the glass tube back into the holster she had made the day before. The teen adjusted her flight formula so that the ceiling wasn't brushing against her back, the girl relishing at the feeling of her broken bones resetting and knitting beneath her skin; the itching feeling was simply divine!
Beneath her was a giant pile of Killer Ant corpses, and their fellows were slowly climbing up the pile and forming a tower in an attempt to reach her. She'd gotten careless and one of the big, beautiful bastards had sacrificed itself on her Mage Blade- spearing itself through the chest so that he could wrap his mandibles around her arm with a crunch. The wound wouldn't have been nearly as bad if Tanya had used her Mage Reinforcement, but she had been informed that she grew more quickly when she struggled. So with that in mind, Tanya did her best to only use the basic capabilities granted to her by the falna, and if she was honest it was so much more fun this way!
With a cheery bark of laughter the girl rotated herself so that her boots pressed flat against the ceiling and she kicked off hard, using the Flight formula to boost her so that she could crash into the - giggle- Leaning Tower of Antzza! The Killer Ants screeched and clicked their mandibles as the young teen roared in delight, the massive tower of ants collapsing sideways as her Mage Blade lashed out indescriminately around her.
"Ugh. Damnit!" Tanya shook her head ruefully as Methe-Tanya once again ruined her carefully formulated plan. The girl was supposed to leave one alive so that they could attract more of their fellows, but nnnnoooooo, she wasn't satisfied until everything else around her was dead.
Now she would have to fly to the other side of the floor and start all over again, and this time she wouldn't have such a perfect chamber to do it in!
Though, if she was being honest, as she went around and harvested the monster materials and cores, she felt so much lighter than she did before.
The fact that these corpses didn't have accusing faces made it so much nicer.
"Okay, that's that." Tanya muttered as she finished off the last Killer Ant on this half of the floor. Her pack was getting pretty full, and would no doubt be bulging at the seams by the time she finished processing all of these drops. She hoped that Hephaestus-sama already had that room available at the main workshop ready and waiting for her.
She also managed to not lean on the Analgesic formula at all this time around, which was great! She did get a few more cuts on her face and neck without the additional reflexes provided, but she was able to close those easily with the one Medical Formula in her magical arsenal; her flight suit was starting to look a little ragged though- she should start thinking about what she wanted in a replacement.
Maybe Hephaestus-sama could give her some ideas that didn't end up with a tab that had the word "Million" attached to it? She doubted it, but it was nice to think about.
The girl huffed and hefted her pack on before she kicked her Flight formula in and took off into the air. She stayed near the ceiling as none of the monsters save the War Shadows could reach her up there- those damn things had the ability to travel through any shadow if what the Bestiary said was true!
A few parties of Adventurers passed below her, and she waved at their astonished face as she flew on by. She had to wait at the stairs a few times as the staircases weren't tall enough for her to fly with her pack on, but she didn't really mind.
One party was even kind enough to ask if she was okay, a curvaceous woman mage - with far too much of her decolletage on display- who was constantly smoking, caught her attention. "Hello...little...one. Have...you been...separated...from...your party?"Tanya shook her head. "No, I am an Executive of the Loki familia, Mage-san, so there is no need to worry about me. These are just the fruits of my labor from the floors beneath us."
Her three other companions gawped at her as she walked up the steps onto the 3rd Floor to make way for them to go down. Tanya gave her a shallow bow before she lifted off the floor and resumed her flight up.
When she made it to the large spiral staircase she shot straight up and alighted onto the edge, pausing only to adjust her large pack before she blended in with the crowd of Adventurers leaving the Dungeon.
Upon exiting Tower Babel she noted that the sun was just about to start setting before Tanya once again took off into the air, and made her way towards the Hephaestus familia's primary smithing district. She touched down outside the gate- she didn't think she was a big enough deal to fly inside quite yet- and walked in, giving the guard a wave as she passed by.
Just inside the main compound was a guard shack, and out of it, a rotund dwarf man stepped. "Ah, you must be Tanya-sama. Hephaestus-sama told me you would be swinging by to drop off your first load of drop items. Please, go ahead and head into that small building over there- you'll meet your new best friend in there."
He gave her a grin and pointed at an outbuilding that looked like it could house a family of four quite comfortably. She nodded to the man and walked over there before knocking on the door, a muffled voice called out to her. "Come in!"
She opened the door and walked inside, finding the interior looked more like an Armory than anything else. The walls looked incredibly sturdy, and the room was sectioned off by a steel cage; this had once been a house, but now it had been turned into a storage for drop items- there were dozens of shelves but they were all bare that she could see, and she didn't doubt that the other rooms were also packed to the brim with shelves.
"Welcome!" A jovial voice caught her attention and she turned to see a teenager wearing a dark blue long-sleeve shirt underneath a black kimono. He had a brown belt tied around his waist, along with tanned white pants and long brown boots. A blue scarf wrapped around his neck tied the whole outfit off.
"Ah, blonde hair! You must be Tanya-chan." He gave her a grin as he pulled out a key from his pocket and unlocked the door to the cage, "Please, come inside."
"I will not ask that you call me Tanya-sama, young man, but I would at least appreciate you calling me Tanya-san. I am not your superior, but neither am I your little sister." The young teen remarked as she strode inside and placed her pack on the floor next to a wide table. "I am a valuable business partner with Hephaestus-sama, so please at least give me that small amount of courtesy."
The man flinched before he chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head. "A-ah, my apologies then, Tanya-san. I didn't mean to be so... familiar; I guess the forges in the North West were just a little bit more laid back than here."
"The North West forges?"
"Well, this storehouse has been closed for a long time, but since you're going to be bringing in a bunch of drop items, Hephaestus-sama had it opened back up and put me in charge of managing it." He grinned and puffed up his chest in pride. "She even has me working on my first Mithril-related project! Uh... your project, actually."
Tanya blinked. "So, you are Welf Crozzo-san, then?"
"Oh, I didn't introduce myself, did I? Sorry, that's my bad." He rubbed at his nose, "I've just been so excited, it's like I'm finally moving up in the world! My first set of weapons and armor were just put in the familia's shops in the tower, and I get pulled over here to have the honor of managing this warehouse... and I get to share a forge with Collebrand-sama."
It was not difficult to hear the wistfulness in his voice as she gazed lovingly at the wall. This boy.
He shook his head and bowed low at the waist. "Welf Crozzo, at your service, Tanya-san."
When he straightened himself up he fixed her with a look. "Just don't ask for me to make you a Magic Sword; even if I can make them, I don't."
Tanya blinked and arched an eyebrow. "Is... making a Magic Sword supposed to be something amazing?"
He blinked in shock. "You mean, you don't know?"
The diminutive teen shook her head. "I arrived in Orario only four days ago, Crozzo-san, so there is a lot I don't know. However, thank you for informing me about your... distaste for Magic Swords. If I ever need one made in the future I will be sure to respect your wishes and not ask for one."
"Wow..." He murmured as he scrubbed a hand through his spiky brown hair. "Just like that, huh?"
Tanya opened up the pack and began removing the bags. "Yes, just like that."
"Oh, here, let me help!" The boy all but vaulted the table and Tanya began separating out the drops.
"Keep the stones with the drop items until 12 hours have passed- you see this glow the stones have? It's different from normal monster cores, right?" Tanya held up five War Shadow Claws next to the stone they corresponded with. When she held the stone close to the claws it glowed a little bit brighter, and when she pulled it away the glow returned to its normal dull shimmer.
His jaw dropped just a little bit, but he nodded as they placed the drop items and their stones onto the shelves, keeping like drops together and separating them out by floor. Crozzo pointed out that Goblin Fangs from the lower floors were more potent than Goblin Fangs from the upper floors; a knife that might take three Fangs from a Goblin slain on the 1st Floor, might only need two fangs from a Goblin slain on the 6th Floor, and only one fang from a Goblin killed on the 9th Floor.
He griped about the Guild's practice of not differentiating from the drops and just giving a blanket price- this often meant that low-level DI gear often had unstable prices as the Blacksmiths who weren't experienced enough miscalculated on the number of drops required to properly imbue an item.
Tanya smiled as they went down their list. "I do believe that this has been most informative for the both of us, Crozzo-san."
He gave her a grin right back. "You said it, Tanya-cha- er, -san. Hephaestus-sama gave me a chart for the drop items, so just give me a few minutes to total all of these up and I'll give you a slip that you can take to the Guild that will be disbursed from our accounts."
Tanya tilted her head. "Could I not ask that the valis go towards my outstanding balance instead? Once the blade is paid off I can start taking the bank slips then."
He nodded as he sat down with an abacus and flicked along the beads. It took him a fair bit of time, but given this world's standard education level and the fact that boy wasn't used to calculating math like Tanya, she didn't mind. He would get better with time, and since Tanya was going to be coming here twice a day he would get plenty of practice.
"Okay, please feel free to check my math here but... your total comes out to... 327,500 valis." He blinked for a moment in shock before he shot to his feet, the young man knocking his knee on the table forcing him to sit back down in the chair and vigorously massage the damaged limb. "Holy shit, I ain't seen money like that in my life!"
Tanya's eyes scanned over his work before pointing out an error. "That's 332,500 valis, Crozzo-san, you missed a few here and here. Also, yes, this was from six hours farming the 1st through 7th floors exclusively. Once I drop the monster cores at the Main Branch, deposit my valis and the drop items allocated to my familia, I will return for another six hours."
At his shocked expression, she sighed and shook her head. "I take an afternoon and evening shift in the Dungeon expressly because it doesn't have nearly as many Adventurers, Crozz-san. The bulk of the Adventurers who farm the Upper Floors do so in the morning, so they're all fighting for the same set of monster spawns. So it stands to reason if there are 75% fewer Adventurers in the Upper Floors then that means there are more monsters for enterprising people like myself, are you following me?"
He shook himself, "Hell, I get you, but that's still a lot!"
"Well, what else can I say? I'm quite efficient."
He snorted, "Well that's for damn sure. Maybe I should start doing that too?"
Tanya fixed him with a solid look. "Unless you can reliably handle groups of 6-12 monsters per pack, I would advise against it; without all of those Adventurers around to keep the numbers low, you will be fighting far more opponents than you're used to, far more often. So please keep that in mind and perform some self-reflection on your abilities. Also, speak with your Dungeon Advisor first- Tulle-san would never forgive me if I didn't mention that."
He chuckled ruefully. "Well, if it's just Kobolds and Goblins I think I could manage it. It would be a good way to practice before going into the 12th Floor and beyond; I heard that the Almiraj and Hellhounds can form groups as large as 30 down there. However, I've only been down the 10th floor twice, so I guess it would be best if I sought out a party, huh?"
Tanya didn't speak and allowed him to finish his paperwork. "Alright, Tanya-san, you are all set. I will give this slip to Tsubaki-sama in the morning, I need to get to bed; I have to be up early to start working on your blade, after all."
"And what about my evening drop?"
His eyes widened and he stood up, carefully this time, and wandered over to one of the adjacent rooms before he came back with a number of large white cloth bags in his hands; they each had an embroidered tag in a similar style to the ones Tanya had. "Hephaestus-sama had the back door switched out with a dropbox. Outside will be a steel box with a combination lock on it. The combination is 3-1-5, and we will change it weekly. Inside this box will be these bags, she said that she had them made to match the ones you brought in here, so just dump your bags into the slot in the door and you can take these bags with you when you do your next run."
He grinned, "I should have everything tabulated by the time you make your afternoon drop off."
Tanya smiled right back and gave him a short bow. "A pleasure meeting you, Crozzo-san. I remember you mentioning that this will be your first Mithril-related project. Do you best, show me that my humoring Hephaestus-sama was not a mistake."
The man looked playfully affronted. "Bah, I'm going to be the very best mortal blacksmith there ever was, Tanya-san, and don't you forget it! There will come a day that you'll be looking at my work in all the fancy storefronts and wishing that you could get a Crozzo-made work for 46 Million valis!"
The diminutive blonde smiled warmly at his enthusiasm. "I look forward to seeing that day, Crozzo-san. Don't forget to put the stones into a pouch for me when they stop glowing, I can take those cores into the Guild at my convenience."
Tanya didn't bother to touch down on the lawn at the Twilight Manor, instead, she flew into her Goddess'- and boy how strange was that to think- office through the window.
Loki had taken to leaving open for her newest Child.
"Tanya, returning from my first shift in the Dungeon, Loki-sama."
The Goddess perked up and waved her arms dramatically. "Ah~, Tanya-chan~! Tell your Goddess about all the money you made for her so far today!"
The blonde chuckled and set her pack down on the ground so that she could dig out a large coin pouch. "I earned 693,720 valis, of which 332,000 was in the first round of drop items- I put that valis towards my blade which is being handled by Hephaestus-sama, so that means I own the familia... 121,401 valis."
The girl dug into the pouch and placed the coin as well as a copy of the receipt into the provided bag and tossed it into Finn's outstretched hand; the small pallum caught it without even looking up from his pile of paperwork. Tanya took her copy and punched holes in it so that she could slip it into her official binder before replacing it back onto the shelf behind her.
"Yessssss~," Loki hissed in joy, "That's like-! A half a bottle of Soma's decent stuff!"
Riveria looked up from her desk and shook her head. "Loki-sama, we're not going to waste Tanya-chan's contributions to the familia on your Soma addiction. We were barely able to pay the property taxes last quarter because you decided to spend 100 million valis on a bottle of Soma's Top-Shelf while Finn and I were busy delving into the Dungeon... which we did to pay for your last inane expenditure!"
"Phaw, a golden toilet was completely necessary and totally not inane! You want your Goddess to rest her bottom on a porcelain toilet!?" The woman crossed her arms and huffed, "Nope! Only the best for these ass-cheeks! Hahahaha!"
The elf Princess pinched the bridge of her nose. "Divines don't even need to use the restroom..."
"Hey! Details, details! I still like to sit on it and think, just like everyone else! It's part of the mortal experience, yanno!? I bet Freya's toilet is encrusted with diamonds with all the money Ottar brings in! Hey, Tanya-chan, be sure to grow up big and strong, okay? Mama needs a diamond-encrusted golden bathtub!"
The absolute utter absurdity of the conversation made Tanya bust out laughing, the young teen hardly able to remain standing. Why did Being-X have to be such an asshole!? Why couldn't he have been more like Loki?
When Tanya managed to recover she sighed and wiped a few tears away from her eyes with her thumb. A few giggles racked her as she pulled out the 20% tithe in monster drop items. "I'll leave these drop items here for now, and will drop them off down with the Quartermaster when I come back for the evening."
"Okay~! Just don't come in through the window because that's getting closed- use the front door like a normal person and let yourself in with your key." The Goddess waved at Tanya from over her shoulder as she returned to her paperwork. "Man, I really miss flying... sometimes I regret sealing my divinity to walk among the mortals. What's so fun about walking everywhere?"
Tanya turned towards the window and was about to leap back out when Riveria stood up from her chair. "Actually, Tanya-chan, if you don't mind, I'd like to join you. I've finished my portion for the day."
The young teen blinked but nodded. "Alright, I can drop my valis off in the room while you get geared up."
As the pair left Loki's office Tanya looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Just be sure to bring a pack, I move too fast for any of our Supporters to keep up, and if you think that I'm going to carry your drops and my own? Then you've got another thing coming."
The woman tittered behind her hand. "It's been a while since I've gone into the Dungeon outside of an expedition, but I think I remember how to carry a pack, Tanya-chan."
While Tanya flew near the ceiling Riveria slipped through the crowds of monsters below with a beauty and grace that awed her; more than once the Aerial Mage had to brake so as not to smack into a wall when the elf slipped through a particularly thick clump with an effortless maneuver. When they reached a staircase the pair cleared the monster build up so that parties emerging from a lower floor wouldn't be set upon, and after picking up the monster drops they went down.
All the while Riveria Ljos Alf was fitting in various lessons for Tanya about the history of Orario, the various races in the city, the Gods and Goddesses that inhabited it. Sprinkled in here and there were some interesting little facts and tidbits that Tanya found she enjoyed the most- any topic where business and money were the focuses was the key to making Tanya pay close attention.
The 10th floor was far unlike the previous floors above it. The area was wide open and covered in fog, with ash white trees dotting the landscape.
Tanya had to blast a few imps that flew too close, but Riveria cautioned against gathering their leather imp wing drop items; they weren't worth the amount of space they took up in one's pack, and they were exactly useful for imbuing either. At best they made a fancy handbag, but even then, horned rabbit leather was the preferred material for those. Now, orc leather was good for a cuirassier, but she said that they'll bring a wagon down to haul that up if Tanya wished.
It was with Riveria that she discovered her Mage Blade's peculiar ability three days ago. The elf Princess was actually most excited to see if it would work against the Monster Rex on the 17th floor; the Goliath Tooth was the most common drop item, but on occasion, it would drop Goliath Hide. That drop item was highly sought after, and with Tanya they could possibly harvest enough from his massive, twenty-meter tall body to damn near collapse the market.
They would have to hold it in a familia storehouse and distribute it piecemeal, but if they could outfit their lower-Ranked Adventurers with armor made from that incredible material, then they could save a lot of lives; fatalities weren't common in the Loki familia, even among their newer Adventurers... but that just made it sting even more when someone did meet their end in the Dungeon.
"The Goliath Tooth would actually be very good for you, I think, Tanya-chan." Riveria murmured to her as they walked down the stairs of the 13th floor- their targets for this evening were the Minotaurs. The familia had two parties of Level 2 Adventurers that were going to go on their first dives past the Under Resort, and Loki wanted them to all have Minotaur steel weapons and armor before they headed out.
"Oh? How so?" She replied as she cast her Refracted beam spell to slaughter a group of bunnies and murder doggos that thought they would be cute and wait for them to exit the staircase.
"Well, the Goliath tooth can make you an excellent bow; despite its name, the material that makes up the tooth is rather springy, and because of this it can make a fine, heavy-draw weight bow."
While they walked they encountered a wide gap. While most Adventurers would have to backtrack and take a different path, where they would most assuredly be beset upon by a large pack of monsters, Tanya took Riveria's outstretched hand and they hopped down the hole, the blonde girl using the Flight formal to slow their rate of descent to a nice, gentle fall. When they emerged Riveria released a cutting wind spell that made mincemeat of all of the monsters waiting for them. "Aeros Fimbvultr."
"I thought you only had 9 spells?"
"I have been a mage for 90 years, Tanya-chan. I know a great deal more magic than 9 spells; those are just the spells that I am most known for. Those are part of my '-Heim series' of spells. My Rare Skill, Chant Connection, gives me a lot of leeway that most mages outside of yourself don't have."
Riveria described that her Chant Connection allowed her to string together a maximum of nine spells and hold them for up to an hour that she can deploy at her leisure. The most important part of that was she was not at risk of Ignis Fatuus. Tanya likened it to her Spell Compression, where she could complete and spell and run it on a loop on the outside ring of her computation orb until she was ready to release it... although it was on a whole different level.
The woman tittered behind her hand as they strode through the 16th Floor side by side. "In fact, that skill is what lead to my moniker 'Nine Hells' in the first place. Once I manage to string together a ten spell, then my alias will update to 'Ten Hells', although if I'm being honest I sort of like the ring that my current nickname has- there is a magic power in 3's, you know?"
Honestly, it was kind of nice to see this chatty side of Riveria; if anything Tanya becoming an Executive probably did more for the elf Princess than anyone else but Tanya realized. Even if she was Tanya's legal guardian, the diminutive blonde was also a peer that she could have conversations with, and didn't need to bother with expectations.
With Gareth Landrock, she admitted that she felt the need to respect his more stoic attitude, and with Finn she found herself espousing more about the honor and reputation of the familia than she normally thought. For their juniors, she always felt the need to be the reliable, quiet onee-san.
However, with Tanya? She felt that she could just be herself, and that did wonders for her mood.
"Anyways, going back to the bow. You said that you enchanted steel arrows, yes?"
"Oh a sort, they weren't really crossbows I used, Riveria. They were... more advanced weapons, however, I do believe that the principal would be the same." Tanya acquiesced. "If I could use regular arrows that would be a huge boon, as I think that even arrows made of solid steel would be quite an expenditure."
The Level 6 hummed. "Yes, I can see it; a hundred arrows runs about 3,000 valis at the fletcher's shop. A steel arrow suitable to be launched from a Goliath's Tooth Bow would probably be nearly 8,000 valis. However, once you start your solo dives down this far you'll make that amount of money quite easily; if you can enchant one of those arrows with a 'Split Bullet' spell, then each arrow would become 8 separate projectiles, yes?"
"Correct." Tanya replied as her boots crunched onto the stone steps at the bottom of the staircase leading to the 17th floor.
"From here on out the most common monster we'll be running into is a Minotaur. While I don't doubt your abilities, Tanya, I think it will be best if you simply kill them with Refracted Beams. I wouldn't feel comfortable with you engaging them in close combat until you were Level 2."
"Of course, Riveria. I wouldn't want to worry you unduly."
Two Minotaurs charged, and two Minotaur corpses skidded to a halt in front of Tanya and Riveria. The pair of monsters had a cauterized hole in the faces as wide as Tanya's fist.
It really was too easy, but Tanya couldn't complain. Each Minotaur slain put 50,000 valis into her pocket, and two Minotaur horns in her backpack- those were valued at 63,000 valis each by the Guild, which meant that she would be getting 78,750 valis for each one from Hephaestus.
They'd only been down here an hour and had already collected the twenty Minotaur horns needed to outfit the two up-and-coming Level 2 parties. Now? This was just pure profit.
A Minotaur erupted from the wall next to Tanya's head while she was cutting the horns off the closest corpse, and it didn't even have time to draw breath before it too was slain. The damn bastard just had to fall on top of the corpse she was processing, didn't it?!
Riveria tittered and grabbed the beast by a horn and whipped it off the minotaur Tanya was working on. Tanya winced as she heard the deceased monster's neck shattered with the force. The strength of a Level 6 really was something else; even a Mage like Riveria was more than capable of handling these walking piggy-banks.
Six horns and three cores went into Tanya's pack.
"Almost done?"
Tanya checked her watch and shook her head. "Nope, still have a good two hours before my shift is over. It's only 10:00 pm."
She had to switch back to a non-Zulu time since a 24-hour clock didn't exist in this world.
The elf hummed as her ears twitched. "Well, I don't hear any more Minotaurs, so why don't see stop by the Boss Room and check it out? We can have a nice snack while we wait."
Tanya still felt tickled that they called it the 'Boss Room'.
The room certainly met the description though- it was absolutely cavernous! The ceiling was nearly 100 meters high, and the room was probably 500 meters wide and 800 meters deep; at the very back was a massive crystal wall that had a shadowy silhouette.
"The darker that shadow gets, the closer the Monster Rex is to being born." Riveria commented as the paid spread out a red and white checkered cloth near the entrance to the Boss Room, "We killed it on our way back up, so it has another 10 days before it will respawn again."
The woman moved the twenty minotaur horns to the side of her pack and stood them on end to get at a brown laquered box. Now that she had food in front of her Tanya realized that she was pretty hungry. Riveria also pulled out a potion Tanya recognized.
"Ah, I do need to take that, don't I?"
The Level 6 smiled and took off the lid, revealing a dozen cute little sandwiches with meat and lettuce fillings; off on the side was a small wooden spoon with mustard and mayonnaise- ketchup had yet to be invented in this world it seemed, but Tanya had no desire to bring the red condiment into it.
The pair tucked into the light meal and Riveria continued to give more condensed lectures on all of the things she should know about this world. During a pause in the lecture, the woman let out a gusty sigh and leaned against the rock behind her. "I wish I had figured this out when I was teaching Aiz-chan, I feel like I could have saved her and myself a lot of heartache and frustration if I'd taken her on little field trips like this."
Tanya leaned back against her pack as she took a swig from her canteen. "I can imagine. She seems like a difficult student- not that she isn't intelligent, but she feels like she isn't all here. Not in a bad way, just different... like her head's in the clouds but it isn't her fault."
The Princess smiled sadly. "Yes, it wasn't until she was 11 years old that I finally broke the code on her; she paid attention much better after she finished her training and sparred with the other children in the familia. I tried to teach her as I had been taught- a lot of rote memorization and book learning. It was... frustrating trying to teach her how to read."
Tanya chuckled. "I can imagine. I had one soldier who somehow managed to stumble his way through the Aerial Mage Academy when he could barely read. The kid just had an instinctive grasp on Calculative Magic that honestly made me green with envy; the boy couldn't write out the logarithmic equations needed for the Flight Spell, but damn could he fly anyways. The shit I could have done if I had his talent!"
"Trust me, I know how you feel." She laughed softly, "I'm 99 years old, still quite young for an elf with a falna, yet it took me 60 years to make it to Level 6, and yet here Aiz is, barely 16 and already is pushing on making Level 6 herself."
Silence reigned. "If you can find the proper challenges, I think you'll make it where I am before I can crack Level 7, Tanya-chan."
Silence permeated the air again.
"Well... if you're having such a hard time, then maybe I can step up and take some of the load off of your shoulders so you can focus on yourself for a change."
There was a soft inhalation of breath. "You're too kind, Tanya. Truly..."
Tanya and Rivera managed to hunt down another twenty-seven minotaur before they headed back up to the surface. Tanya flew Riveria and herself over to the Hephaestus smithing district- just above the rooftops however, Riveria wasn't quite comfortable with going any higher until she had a proper harness made.
The woman was positively glowing when Tanya offered to take her up into the clouds.
Tanya left Riveria by the gate while she deposited her bags into the chute and she couldn't help but giggle as she did so. Much to her surprise, Crozzo was still up, as the man stumbled around the back of the converted house with a minotaur horn in his hand.
"114 minotaur horns?!!" He hissed underneath his breath. "What the hell, Degurechaff!?"
Tanya shook her head. "I had Riveria Ljos Alf with me, Crozzo-san, I assure you, I was quite safe; they couldn't even touch me."
The man's face contorted into all sorts of funny faces before he let out an explosive sigh and hunched over. "That wasn't what I was even talking about, but okay, blow my mind some more, chibisuke."
Tanya frowned and he cut her off. "Nope! Don't want to hear it! It's too damn late for this kind of shit. Hephaestus-sama is going to blow her top when she hears about this; 9 Million valis knocked right off your payment, and it ain't even been a day yet!"
She couldn't help but grin. Today had been wonderfully profitable- she was going to be due another 3.35 Million valis once the cores from those drop items had their lights extinguished!
The scent of money was in the air, and Tanya decided it was a wonderful scent indeed.
Tanya von Degurechaff
Level 1
Strength: 33 I -> 59 I
Endurance: 21 I -> 89 I
Dexterity: 36 I -> 58 I
Agility: 51 I -> 69 I
Magic: 135 H -> 164 H
Magics:
Mage Reinforcement
Flight
Passive Shell
Active Shell
Close (Minor) Wounds
Oxygenation
Mage Blade
Long Distance Targeting/Homing
Long Distance Observation
Explosion
Refracted Beam
Heat
Cold
Cluster Explosion
Analgesic
Developmental Abilities: None
Skills:
Mage Commander: Gain additional stats when near other Mages. Stats gained are proportional to the number of Mages within range.
Master Trainer: Adventurers you train gain additional stats, you gain half of this bonus.
Marksman: Gain additional Dexterity and Agility when using a ranged weapon.
Enchanter: Enchant items with various spell effects using Rune-based Formula inscriptions. Enchantments improve with Ability Grade.
Divine Retribution: Limits on the falna are removed, allowing for limitless growth within a single Rank of the falna as long as the user is focused on the goal of revenge against Being-X.
"Excellent work today, Tanya-chan! You're going to be going out to the practice field to work out, right? I wanted you to know that Gareth-kun purchased those training sets you talked about, and they just had them delivered earlier today." Loki smiled as she handed Tanya the parchment with her updated status on it.
The Goddess made a copy of it and put it in Tanya's falna binder.
"Yes. 12 hours in the Dungeon was enough for today I think, it is time I work on my Strength, Endurance, and Agility; my Magic stat is growing the quickest obviously because I'm using it the most." Tanya replied.
"Ha! I'll say! Saved me a boatload of valis purchasing those horns on the market!" The Goddess hugged herself and squirmed since she couldn't latch onto Tanya due to the contract. "Mou, hurry up and Level up so I can send you deeper into the Dungeon, Tanya-chan!"
Tanya snorted and pulled her shirt down as she gave the Goddess a side-arm hug- it was the best Loki was going to get- on the way out of her office. "Goodnight, Loki-sama."
When she walked into the room she shared with Riveria she noticed that the elf was sitting in her large armchair with a book in hand, the soft light of a stone lamp over her shoulder letting her read. The woman gave her a smile and returned to her reading as Tanya stripped out of her flight suit and put on some more work-out appropriate shorts before slipping her feet into a comfortable set of boots; she had to pay a premium to get Mia Grand, the proprietress of the Hostess of Fertility, to give out the name of the cobbler who made her waitresses' boots, but Tanya thought that it was worth it.