Chapter 1: Rough Landing
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A/N I'm gonna make some changes to both the Dauntless lore and world, as well as Danmachi because there are some things I think that when changed make more sense. Nothing tooooooooo crazy.... maybe. :) (This isn't included in the word count :)
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[2574 words]
'That hurt….'
Sitting up definitely told me something, I definitely have at least one broken rib. Resting against a boulder I click the aether stone on my wrist, fully unequipping my armor. Now left wearing just regular combat clothes it was way easier to see my wounds.
"Well… my leg should probably not be facing that direction."
With a glow of my aetherstone a green rod appeared in my hand. Jamming it into the ground was probably not worth it since six consecutive pops ripped through my side.
"GRAH….. Shit.."
Another glow and a large red bottle appeared in my hand that I didn't hesitate to down. *crack* And that's my ribs coming back together. Feeling my bones melding back together suck every single time.
'I'm just gonna sit here for a bit.'
Thirty minutes later and the dull pain In my side and leg disappeared. Opening my eyes confirmed that my leg was back to the correct form. Nodding at that information I finally took the time to look around. I'm in a crater, on a mountain, or a rocky area. The air is thicker than I'm used to. Breathing is actually really easy…. Which is kind of weird.
Looking at the [lifespring pylon] that now is a dull gray. With a chuckle I poke it softly, making it collapse into a pile of dust. 'I never get to do that.' With a smile, I get up and take a look at my clothes. My undergear is absolutely shredded.
"Damn it." With another glow my clothes glow a bright red and get replaced with a new set, and then a blue glow equipped me with a set of armor. My set of [Agarus] armor welcomed me warmly.
"Hey beautiful." Holding my hand out a large dark blue blade appeared in my hand. "[Cyclonic Fury] you're as pretty as ever." With a thrum of shock element I equipped it against my hip. (Yeah I'm a hip equipper, fight me edgelords.)
Walking up and out of the crater I confirmed I'm on a mountain, but I'm not on any sky island I recognize. It's huge, like I'm on a mountain and I cant see the edge huge. There's no noticeable cracks or shifts of the tectonic plates. In fact I can barely feel any aether in the air at all.
"Maybe on the other side." After a quick journey I looked off the other side of the mountain top I'm on. "Okay…. That's new." Off in the distance was the largest city I've ever seen. Well, probably the same size as ramsgate actually. Surrounded in a large gray wall was a huge bustling city with an enormous tower smack dab in the middle.
"Where the hell am I?"
*Flicker*
Suddenly my attention snapped to some clearing down the mountain range. Looking closer There was a large tent surrounded by wooden huts and small campfires. "What the.." Even weirder were the small green creatures. "Micro Behemoths?" Basically the small minions that certain behemoths can summon in battle. Like the [frostwulf] and it's annoying muts.
Without a second thought I leaped off the cliff, opened my glider, and basically went straight at them. It's a slayer's job to kill behemoths after all. Seconds later I pull back and end up a few meters above the large tent. With a thought my glider closes and the lantern on my hip glows.
[Pangar's Shine] does its job as a massive pillar of ice appears in front of me and crushes the tent below it. Flicking my sword off my waist I jam it into the top of the ice as I fly over it, essentially whipping myself towards the ground where a group of the green beasts looked at the tent in pure shock. [Cyclonic Fury] doesn't even get dirty as the heads of three of the beasts get cut in half at the mouth.
The other two don't even survive the burst of shock energy [Cyclonic Fury] lets off from a light attack and bursts into dust. "Huh, definitely weaker than the muts."
"SCREEEE"
Turning towards the sound I was met with quite the surprising sight. The rest of the green beasts gathered to the sides of a much larger one. It was still ugly and I could smell it from here. But it looked stronger I guess. It wore a headdress and a more elaborate skirt like cloth.
"Huh." [Cyclonic Fury] Buzzed as I teleported right into the big guy and exploded with golden lightning. Vaporizing every single creature that was gathered around. In fact the entire open area is shattered and scorched. "Best get it done as quickly as possible." I say with a nod.
Looking around for a moment I finally sense a decent amount of aether. On the ground were small purple crystals that seemingly came from the green dudes. The largest of which, presumably from the big guy. Had a bit more aether stored in it. Without thinking I store them away in my inventory and move on down the path that led down the mountain.
The green guys clearly used it, as there were obvious non-human tracks. Good thing I keep food on me. I did see another small village at the foot of the mountain but I doubt I'll get there before nightfall.
"Sigh… always so complica-" *Thunk* My complaining stopped as a crude metal dagger was suddenly flying towards my head. I mean I caught the thing, and it definitely wouldn't have gone through my [Agaric Canopy] but it was still rude.
Tossing the dagger to the side five figures appear out of the tree line and semi surround me. They had decent looking weapons, just different types of swords and hammers, but their armor was covered in cloaks that shadowed their faces. Only one of them felt strong.
With a sigh I raise both hands in the universal show of surrender. The group was clearly not expecting that as they all visibly flinched at my movement and raised their weapons, then realized what I'm doing.
"A monster surrendering?!" One of them exclaims. Which honestly kinda pissed me off.
"I'm not a monster numb nuts, I'm a person!" Que another batch of flinching and surprise as I yell at the clearly less experienced of the group. Without bothering to wait for them I grab at the back of my headpiece and separate the membrane of the canopy. Removing the [Agaric Canopy] to show them I'm human. "Its armor."
The five recoil once again as they instinctively lower their weapons. A few moments of looking at one another the one that felt somewhat strong speaks up.
"Give it here if you're telling the truth, a-and drop your sword!" The woman yells.
"Absolutely not." I said. "What kind of demand is that? You lot attacked me. And then surrounded me without warning. Now you want my armor? Hell no."
"A-uh."
"So how about you stop aiming weapons at me and show some faces."
The group once again looked at each other nervously before forming up next to the one who I was speaking to earlier. A few moments later she stepped toward me and took off her hood. She had brown skin a little lighter than my own, long black hair and single red eyes since the other was covered with an eyepatch.
"I-im sorry about that. My name is Tsubaki Collbrande, captain of the Hephaestus familia. I apologize for attacking you earlier, we had mistaken you for a monster."
"Sigh" I mean I'm not that mad, I was never in any danger. They seem genuinely sorry… "Shai Priyani." Hearing my name the rest of the group removed their hoods and introduced themselves.
"May I ask what you are doing here Mr. Priyani?" Tsubaki askes. Clipping the canopy to my waist I point behind me.
"I'm heading to the village I saw from the mountain. On my way I fought some weird little green guys that I found." I explained.
"The goblins!" The cyclops exclaims. "Did you see their leader!?"
'The hell is a goblin?'
"The big guy? Yeah he'e there-" *Swoosh* Not a moment later the entire group soars past me up the path. "...Alright then." Letting that go I continue down the path.
Around two hours later the sun starts to set so I hurry and find a spot to camp. Minutes later I rest against a large tree with a fire burning in front of me as I watch some meat cook over the flames.
I'm so glad Shaed makes me bring so much extra supplies. I have like months of survival gear stored away, and that's for hunting parties. I could probably survive two years with what I've got on me right now!
I'm so relieved that I'm not even thinking about how she's gonna kill me for getting lost again! Besides, it's not my fault a [Chronovore] variant threw me into a portal to an unspecified location. I can't even blame it since I was so close to killing it.
Finally taking a bite of the now cooked meat I lean into the tree again and enjoy my meal. Or I would if someone didn't walk up to my fire.
"Did you do that to the goblins?" Tsubaki asks,
I lazily look at her and her group. They all seem to be looking at me with weird faces. Letting them suffer in silence for a moment I finish my meat and toss another one over the fire.
"Yeah."
Tsubaki looks at me and then her group for a moment. An unnecessary tense silence occurs as they talk mentally it looks like. Ignoring them I look back at the meat and hope they leave.
"Could we camp with you for the night?" She asks. Looking at her she seems a little embarrassed. "We're actually heading for the same place you see, that small village."
With a sigh I gesture to the clear area on the other side of the fire. Immediately they all smile and start to set up their own camp. It took them all of ten minutes for them to complete their tasks and then sit around the fire. They made two large tents and then proceeded to pull out a bag and pass out what looked like prepared rations. After passing them out they ate happily by the fire.
Once they were all finished eating they each started doing small things on their own. Two of them pulled out a thing of cards, one pulled out a book, while Tsubaki and another unsheathed their weapons and did some small maintenance. Seeing what they were doing inspired me a little. Reaching into the bag I keep on my thigh I discreetly open my inventory and remove my very damaged pair of [Chronogrips].
The outer membrane was barely being held together. The layered armor was nearly shattered. [Chronovore] armor and weapons do have a self healing effect, but it'll take it forever to heal all of this back. With a sigh I use a small knife to remove the layer of armor from the grip and am left with the under membrane that holds everything. After years of research we found that the membrane layer that holds it acts as a sort of aether supply. Or a blood vessel. It being damaged would hinder the entire healing process. So I need to fix that first. Rummaging through my bag I take out a spool of string, which is actually just processed [Shimmering Whiptail] that we've converted into a thread. And a needle made from a very fine piece of [Shattered Tusk].
Now I hate sewing with a passion, but I'll be absolutely screwed if I dont repair my strongest armor. Luckily I have enough materials on me to fully repair everything when I get the chance. But after repairing the membrane and fashioning the armor pieces back on something was made abundantly clear.
'The power surge is gone.'
That's annoying as hell. I'll need a proper aether forge to fully fix everything. And I have no idea if there's even one on this…. Island. Wherever I am. Putting that off for the future I look at the grips and can tell it's emitting a decent bit of aether now. It will still take some time, but hope isn't lost yet. Shaed would kill me if I gave up.
"What is that?"
Looking at the voice I see Tsubaki staring at the grips in my hand. In fact the rest of her group is doing the same. Straight faced I put the grips in my bag/ inventory. She finally looks at me with a sort of recognition in her eyes.
"Were you injured?" She asks.
"...Where did you draw that from?"
"You smell like blood. I thought it wasn't yours, but that glove smelled the same, and it's clearly beyond repair." I couldn't help but scoff. "What."
"One. You decided to camp with me overnight despite thinking I was covered in another person's blood. Two. It's not beyond repair."
"Please, I'm one of the best smiths in the world and the captain of the Hephaestus familia. I can tell when something is broken." Her entire group laughed. For actually quite a while. She took some time realizing I didn't find it funny. Shaed always said I had a good glare.
"You're one of the best smiths?" Time to channel my inner p.o.s. Growing up with an older sister has forged me into someone with the ability to piss anyone off. With what I can already tell is a smirk that made her want to punch me, I stoke the flames a little. "With that on your hip?"
"..."
"Oh shit."
Her entire group froze. Some tense moments went by as the rest of her group tried their best to disappear it seems. Without a warning Tsubaki drew her sword toward me. In pure shock her entire group sprung in between us trying to stop her.
Less than a second all four of them were holding her arms doing their best to stop her. Her sword, of course, was already in my hands. And I myself was standing behind them examining it.
"Watch out for that fire."
"Tsubaki your cloak!"
These five were obviously good friends, but gods they are incompetent. Letting them fumble over her for a moment I went back to examining the blade. It honestly wasn't bad. A little small, but serviceable. Obviously a neutral element, and doesn't seem to have an effect. No cell slots actually…. This sucks.
On the brightside. Unbreakable…. I guess. Back home we gave weapons a rating that helped us categorize everything we made. Simply called [Power]. The first sword we are taught to make reaches a ranking of 10. Well were not allowed to make other things until we reached level 10.
'This is at best.. like a 7.' And that's at best a maybe. Like honestly my first attempt at a training sword was around this quality.
"So! What do you think?"
Turning around, Tsubaki was standing confidently with her friends at her sides. She looked way too confident in herself. Without saying anything I just hand it back to her.
"It's a good….. waste- use…. use.. of metal." Deciding it's time to head to bed I put my [Agaric Canopy] back on and take my spot against the tree.
".....WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!!"
'I'm so glad I sleep easily.'
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone