Chapter 114: CHAPTER 114(Debriefs & Punishment)
Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)
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CHAPTER START---
One week after Riveria woke up, the Trifecta walked through the halls of Hephaestus familias' highest floor, floor 50.
Accompanied by Tsubaki they quickly knocked on the business lounge door before entering behind the woman.
"Hephaestus, it's noon," Tsubaki points out as she sees the goddess drinking a glass of red wine and reading over some documents on the couch.
"I'm getting a head start to deal with whatever problems Yang is about to cause me," she says before taking another sip, the adventurers take seats around the coffee table and get comfortable.
"I'm not THAT bad," he says.
"Yeah, you are," Hephaestus argues.
"Can we get to the important stuff please, I'd like to get some sleep in my comfy bed, we were in the dungeon for almost 7 weeks..." Thalie groans as she puts her feet up on the table and melts into the couch.
"And I've got some nice new materials to test out," Welf reminds them.
"Right, first things first, Tsubaki, how'd your division do?" Hephaestus asks.
"Mmm, nice and boring, got to work on some fun weapons like Urga at least but not much more than that, no injuries and no big fights for us, Loki familia should be delivering 10% of their drop items later today as payment, Raul and Aki should be brining my money from our bet too," she says with a devious smile.
"I'm not even gonna ask about that," Hephaestus rolls her eye at her captain's shenanigans before turning to Yang, "and you, please don't give me a headache this time," she pleads.
"Ehh, normal stuff, dueled Udeaus and got the sword, got to floor 50, went and killed Balor---"
"Balor?" she raised a brow.
"Yeah, needed a challenge," he shrugs.
"The guild is gonna bury me in paperwork," she pours herself another glass.
"Then I just beat up some of the Loki familia and we went to floor 59..."
She massages her temple at the news, "so much paperwork..." she groans at the thought.
"So we miss anything up here?" Thalie asks, trying to distract her goddess.
"Ugh, Monster Phelia I guess..."
"What?" Yang asks.
"Right, you were too busy with Freya and missed the announcement, that Gala we were at was for Ganesha to get everyone on the same page, he had this big three-day monster taming festival, I think he wants to make it an annual thing since the first one was a hit," she explains.
His eyes light up at the idea, "so what you're saying is...pet dragon?" he asks.
"Fuck no!" Thalie immediately tries to snuff out the idea.
"C'mon."
"NO!" Everyone says in unison.
"Just wanna tame one dragon," he grumbles lowly.
"Try taming your girlfriend, she's been banging down my door at least once a week asking for you," Hephaestus gives him a harsh glare.
"Ugh, right, that..."
"Yes, THAT."
"I'll talk to her after we get sorted, first things first after all, but yeah that just leaves the drop items to sort out before you request info from the guild for the frontier floors," Yang says.
"Gods can't make that request, you'll have to talk to Guildmaster Royman yourself."
"But...I don't wanna, that sounds like a boring meeting," he looks over at Tsubaki," can't you go?"
"Sorry only the adventurer actually leading the charge can go, it's basically so they can make sure you stick to whatever rules they have for down there," Tsubaki says.
"Exactly, now what happened that you called ahead for me to have Airmid ready for surgery?" Hephaestus asks.
"That would be... Rajang?" Welf looks at Yang and receives a nod," yeah, a new monster, it apparently ate the horn of an Elder Dragon and got a boost, pretty much crippled all their executives and beat Riveria till she was braindead, miracle boy there managed to fix her brain somehow."
Thalie continues for him, "it was so bad they ran out of healing items and medicine and burned through our supply too, most of our supply at least, we had to babysit them on the trip up here even after that."
"Hmm, never would have thought they could get roughed up like that, she should already be in surgery at least so Airmid will fix her up, what about the rest of them?"
"Beat up and sore, they didn't talk much since that, I think Finn told them the keep quiet or something since all Tiona told me was Rajang got the horn and beat them up, but she looked like she was holding back," Thalie says.
"Right, so what's your plan now?" Tsubaki asks the team.
They all look to Yang expecting an answer, "Hmm, well after we relax for a bit we can get back to work, I'll keep my training going, Welf has everything he needs for his new project, and Thalie can... do whatever she does, what do you do when we're up here?" he asks her.
"Kill people and take their stuff," she casually answers.
"Professional killer, somehow I keep forgetting that about you," Welf says.
"Mhm, now let's sort out the items so I can deal with all the paperwork I'll have to do," Hephaestus says.
---Twilight Manor, Finn's Office, 2 PM...
Ais was standing in front of Finn's desk, staring at the floor, unable to meet his visibly angry glare. It was rare to see him losing his cool, but this was much too close for comfort.
They'd healed up properly, most of them at least. Gareth and Tione were at the adventurers' hospital with Riveria as she was quickly recovering from her surgery, perks of being level 6 and sparing no expense on Airmid's services.
Finn sat at his desk, fingers folded under his chin, leaning forward with elbows on the table, his eyes angry and piercing toward the girl in front of him.
Loki sat on his desk with her legs crossed, frowning at the girl as Finn just explain exactly what happened.
"Do you realize how bad you've messed up Ais?" Finn's voice was cold, no emotion at all in his words, this wasn't her adopted uncle that helped raise her alongside Riveria and Gareth, this was a commander speaking to a disobedient soldier.
She had no response, only staring down at the floor waiting for his decision as he continues.
"If not for Loki I'd have you expelled from our familia," her head immediately snaps to look at him.
Her eyes were shakey and watery, her entire body was trembling at the thought, she didn't want to lose her home, not again.
"P-please," she squeezed her eyes shut, small tears falling to the floor as she does a small bow.
"Finn, I'm sure she had a good reason..." Loki says, trying to understand what Ais was thinking.
"A good reason for putting everyone in danger, for nearly having all of us killed, please...explain," his glare sharpened further as his brows furrowed in anger at the memory.
"I...I want to get stronger---"
"And I told you we don't do reckless stunts in this familia," he interrupts her.
"H-he would have..." her voice was barely a whisper, trembling with every word.
"We aren't him, we adventure our way and he has his, are you willing to watch everyone die to get stronger?"
A long silence followed his questions.
With every passing second, he felt his blood boil. A simple question, but her silence spoke volumes.
"If he wasn't there to fix Riveria but you leveled up, would you be happy?" her head snaps up to look at him, Loki looks away, dreading the thought of losing Riveria.
"N-no, I don't want anyone to die... but---"
"Then find your own method instead of copying him Ais," Loki says.
"Nothing works," Ais complained.
"Then that's on you, don't make it everyone else's problem, I need to go check on Riveria now... this crap is giving me a headache," Loki says as she hops off the table, only to stop beside Ais," if Finn didn't order everyone to keep a lid on this stunt, I would have had no choice but to expel you, and no familia would take someone that reckless, you should thank him when this is all over," the goddess says as she exits the room.
With a deep sigh, Finn massages his temple as he leans back in his chair, "what the hell am I supposed to do with you Ais, if I don't punish you properly the other executives could leave because of obvious favoritism from Loki. Right now I'd rather lose you than them but that's not an option. And if word gets out we'd lose our reputation and other members will leave, we can't expect them to stay in a familia that would throw their lives away for your sake after all."
"I-I'm sorry," her voice cracked as she fought to get the words out, barely stopping herself from sobbing.
"Sorry doesn't fix anything..." the room fell silent as they both considered where to go from here.
"I'll leave," Ais abruptly says, surprising the Pallum, her dream required her to be powerful, this is the last thing he ever expected.
"If you leave Riveria will be even more disappointed, you've already hurt her enough," his words were harsh, cutting deep, but she needed to learn how badly she'd messed up.
Ais was instantly shaking, tears freely flowing now as she drops to her knees in frustration and anger, all toward herself.
"That's enough crying... until Riveria and Gareth, no, make that just Gareth, Riveria will still probably be too soft on you. Until he's back and we make a decision you're assigned to staying in the mansion to guard it, no leaving and no dungeon until I say otherwise, consider yourself on house arrest, you're dismissed," he says in an exhausted voice, mentally drained from this entire ordeal.
"Thank you," she says quietly, rising to her feet and making her way to the door.
"Ais," he stops her before she reaches out for the doorknob, "leave the sword."
*CLANG*
She immediately removes Desperate from her belt, the Durandal blade clatters against the floor as a new set of tears begins flowing down her cheeks.
"Now you're dismissed," his cold voice tells her.
Racing off to her room to cry her problems away, the princess ignores the odd looks her familia gives her as she rushes past them in the hallways.
"Damn it Ais, you just had to make things difficult..."
---Hephaestus's Lounge...
"Damn," Thalie was in disbelief, sitting beside Welf as she stares down at her updated status.
"Yeah...this is insane," Welf mutters as he stares at his own sheet, "how does this work... Yang?" he looks to the Yang, the young man was currently sitting on a chair with Hephaestus behind him unlocking his Falna.
All eyes shifted to him, Tsubaki was also curious about the exact thought process behind his methods.
"Uh, do you guys have racing here?" he asks, not quite sure how to explain himself.
"Like horses?" Thalie answers.
"Yeah, what happens to horses that can't keep up?"
"They get retired," Welf says.
"And if you can't keep up in the dungeon?"
"You die."
"That's basically how I'm 'Power Leveling' you. I'm the lead horse and you're both trying to keep up, Falna is all perception and spirit because it's based around the god's will and that bullshit---"
"Hey!" Hephaestus says defensively.
"Right, sorry. But yeah basically you guys went from a fresh level 5 and 4 to over half way to the next level, we can probably get you guys up to maybe B or A rank in stats before we head back into the frontier floors, what're your lowest stats normally?"
"Magic," Thalie says.
"Endurance," Welf adds.
"That'll be easy, do we need to get another feat or will Balor work for the next level too Hephaestus?"
"You're asking if you can stack feats and save them up, what like credit?" the goddess asks as she finishes the ritual on his back, the red light of his Falna illuminating the room.
"Basically..."
"Yeah you actually can, but finding a feat is usually hard enough much less punching far enough above your level to stack them, Balor should be good until you need feats to hit level 7 maybe. For you it'll probably take more..." she explains.
"Uh, why?" Yang asks as Hephaestus begins reading his back.
"Well, all your stats are at 1299, the top of triple S, Agility is at 1250, but from what I can tell because you know how powerful you are finding a challenge for you to level up is gonna be harder, if it takes Udeaus to go to level 6 for you it took Balor, and whatever the hell it takes to get to level 7 is probably gonna be insane too, unless you get into a deathmatch with maybe Finn or Allen, but even then it might not be enough of a challenge," Hephaestus explains.
"Ugh, just had to make things difficult..."
"But your stats increase at an absurd rate so the trade isn't that bad," she cheers him up.
"Yeah, if I didn't know the cost I would have been jealous," Tsubaki says, earning nods of agreement from everyone.
"Fuck it, level me up," Yang says.
"49 points from maxing out Agility too, you sure?" Hephaestus asks.
"The only way for me to get those points now is to go back to the Dragons Vase, if I go solo and an elder dragon shows up I'm in trouble so let's just get it over with," he says, Hephaestus immediately begins activating his Falna once more.
"Alright, congratulations. Orario has well over a million adventurers, Ganesha has 11 level 5s, Loki has 4 level 5s, Freya has 4 level 5s, Ishtar has one and I've got three, at least that's what I know of...after you join the very rare 6 level 6s in the city and make it 7, if you thought all eyes were on you before, you won't be able to walk the streets without people staring at you now," she says as his Falna slowly shifts and changes.
Yang ascends to level 6...
STAT SHEET START---
NAME: Yang Shen
Level 6: 49th Floor Monster-Rex Balor as a 3 man team.
Stats(Before Reset): STR=SSS DEX=SSS AGI=SSS MAG=SSS END=SSS
Stats(Now level[6]): STR=I DEX=I AGI=I MAG=I END=I
Magic:
---Storage(Its essential video game inventory)
Allows the user to store a limited amount of inanimate items.
---Elementalist (Obtained at level 2)
Allows the user to channel certain elemental magic through their body and manipulate the elements to their whim, however, the user can take damage from these elements.
Skills:
---Elemental Resistance(Obtained at level 2)-[Level 10/10]
Taking elements damage develops resistance to these elements over time.
---Elemental Healing(Obtained at level 1 )-[Level 10/10]
Pre-requisite skill 'Elemental Resistance'.Allows the uses to transfer some of the resisted elemental energy into health.
---Hunter(Obtained at level 2)
Improves abilities against monsters that the user has fought before and gained experience from.
---War Mage(Unique ability variant)(Obtained at level 2)-[Level 10/10]
Amplifies the user's magic and reduces the cost and strain on the mind and body.
---Unarmed Strikes(Obtained level 2)-[Level 10/10]
All unarmed strike damage is boosted
---Mage Armor(Obtained through stress at level 2)-[Level 10/10]
Envelops the user in magic amplifying defense and unarmed strike damage with elemental damage.
---Kinetic Exchange(Obtained Level 3)-[Level 10/10]
Whilst moving in mage armor acceleration and momentum are amplified when added to melee damage. Recoil and backlash from this are greatly reduced on the user's body. Whilst this skill has no set limit the user's capabilities of achieving velocity and taking damage are the limits.
---Elemental Absorption(Obtained at level 3)-[Level 10/10]
Transfers some of the elemental magic that damages the user into mana for the user. (For the damage that he DOES NOT resist only. So after he resists the damage some of the damage he takes will give him mana but it will still damage him to be clear)
---Greater Spirit Healing(Unique Variant, Obtained level 3)[Level 7/10]
Automatically begins to restore mind/mana.
---Adrenal Overdrive(Obtained at level 5)[Level 3/10]
Adrenaline Increases stats and causes battle mania status effect, no active trigger.
---CHAOS BLESSING
Strength
Defiance
STAT SHEET END---
"No new skills, kinda expected more..." Yang mutters as he reads the page.
"Says the guy with like 11 skills and abilities right?" Hephaestus points out.
"Right, my bad, guess I should be grateful, do you guys have any unique skills?" He asks the other executives.
"My half-dwarf heritage gives me a big boost when smelting raw ore," Tsubaki says.
"Crozzo blood things basically, just the fire and magic sword stuff," Welf shrugs.
"My 'Martial Prowess' skill raises my stats when wielding a weapon," Thalie catches everyone off guard.
Welf gives her a surprised look before speaking," isn't swordsman what makes Ais so good...and you just have that with...everything?"
"Pretty much."
"You're all freaks, you know that right..." Hephaestus says as she rolls her eye at them.
END CHAPTER---
Our boy is level 6! Surprise chapter because the new volume starts right now :)
Not sure how fast I want Thalie and Welf to level up so if anyone has some insight feel free to comment on what you think, they definitely won't be leveling up as fast as Yang either way.
Snow/Ice/Winter themed monsters here if you have any ideas :)
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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keanu_eugene Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.
---Everyone dealing with the results of the expedition, 7 weeks in the dungeon, damn...
---Some downtime coming up before the next big adventure in the dungeon since we just spent 30 chapters in there just brawling.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone