(Friday, 23/10/1058)
(3rd person PoV)
"But I want one of your knives! I want us to have matching weapons!" Shira protested. She was fiercely grabbing for one of Henryk's knives.
Let us move back a few hours earlier that morning.
(Line Break)
"Shira, are you really, really gonna go to the dungeon today?" Henryk said once he was done doing Shira's hair. "Can't you rest for today at least?"
"I'm not that soft" Shira said with her tail raised high. She was confident in her ability to shoot monsters down.
"Only for today, I'll take you with me to the 5th floor maximum. No lower than that. Starting tomorrow, I'll be going to the dungeon alone to go much lower than that" Henryk conceded. "Sorry for not being able to accompany you. I need to level up within less than a month"
"Oh, okay. Then promise me to return to me" Shira's smile looked sad and unwilling. She was reminded of her brother.
"I'll try" He patted her head while they hugged.
All of a sudden, Shira picked up a new smell she did not pick before. She started frantically sniffing out its point of origin on him. The smell came from his abdomen.
"Is there something with my stomach?" Henryk felt some dread. If it was cancer, he could suppress it, or even outright eliminate it. Cancer is still his own cells, and he could influence them with his magic directly. However, if it was a multicellular parasite, a bacterial infection or a viral infection, then he would need to layer multiple applications of his magic to deal with it safely.
{I ask thee, thou who oversees the fate of every living being, thee who directs the flow of things. Answer my prayer and grant my humble wish} {Alteration: Correction of the faulty genetics that led to cancerous growth} Henryk waited but no mind was consumed. He got a sense of foreboding.
(AN: Long thing short, cancer is when the genetics of a cell break and have it live and divide without instructions from the rest of the body, unlike your normal cells, which wait for an indication from the rest of body before dividing, like when repairing a wound or growing up)
'Now I know this is an uninvited guest scenario' He made up his mind. 'Although I wanted to discuss this with lady Riveria after she got enough knowledge, I must bypass that just in case. The people here could probably deal with it by the virtue of having developed a natural resistance due to evolving alongside it, but I'm different. I don't get to be lax about this uninvited guest'
He spent the next hour writing and revising the functions of the new immune cells. After some hasty consideration, he was done.
{I ask thee, thou who oversees the fate of every living being, thee who directs the flow of things. Answer my prayer and grant my humble wish} {Alteration: Add genetic code to make new immune cells, taken from the paper in my hands} Henryk passed out right as the last word left his mouth. His mind reserves bottomed out.
(AN: New immune cells will be described both in the author notes of this chapter and in more details in their own auxiliary chapter)
(In the manor's armory)
"Henry, can I have one of your knives?" Shira said while eyeing the straps hung on Henryk's waist.
"No can do, not now at least. I'll get better ones later" Henryk was trying to recall the name of the blacksmith Bell contracted with when he became level 2. He could not remember it no matter what. All he remembers is the blacksmith's gender, blazing red hair, his blue eyes and his ability to create good equipment. Creating good equipment was a common trait for blacksmiths in the Hephaestus and the Goibniu familias, so that cannot be used to identify the guy.
Henryk's hair stood and he got goosebumps. Something was coming.
Immediately upon feeling as such, Henryk jumped away from his position to see Shira's extended arm stretching right where his knives were a moment ago.
"Wh-" "But I want one of your knives! I want us to have matching weapons!" Shira protested. She began fiercely grabbing for one of Henryk's knives.
"No! They're worn down with use!" Henryk replied. He was doing his best to dodge what he could and deflect the rest away. "I'll get a new pair of knives to share with you later!"
"No! You'll give one to me now!" Shira experienced a sudden burst of speed, giving her an advantage.
'What?! How?!' Henryk was shocked. He thought hard about how this could happen, watching helplessly as Shira pulled away one of the two knives on him. Henryk let himself collapse on the ground limply, lamenting his loss in a battle of speed. 'I should still be faster than her'
"I won!" Shira jumped in joy, a toothy grin gracing her face. As she continued to jump, Henryk's eyes were attracted to her feet.
...
No, he wasn't becoming a creep.
'Her feet have changed in a moment's notice' He hung up a mental note about the ability to change the shape of the feet.
(Somewhere in the upper realm)
"Ha! Screw your petty rivalry! Heimdall!" Apate shouted in pure, unadulterated mischievous glee as she dodged yet another one of Heimdall's attacks.
"Come here!! You little rat!!" Heimdall, the big man that he was, ran after the much shorter goddess.
"You won't catch me!" Apate shimmered with a colorful light then disappeared right before Heimdall's eyes. He growled in frustration.
"I should have expected her to be in cahoots with Loki!" Heimdall gritted his teeth.
(Back in the armory)
"AAA!!" Shira made a strange noise while falling forwards. In attempting to catch herself, she bent her upper body backwards. That completely threw her off balance. She fell flat on her back. "Aww!" She whined.
"What was that?!" Just as quickly as she fell, she lifted her foot to have a look. "Henry, I think you should see this" She nudged him.
"I already had a look. Just be careful not to break them. I'd hate to see you in pain" Henryk picked himself up. He helped Shira up afterwards.
"Hold me!" Shira hurriedly tried to hold onto his hands for balance. The change in leg structure troubled her immensely, making her steps wobbly.
After some trial and error, Shira found a way to change her legs back. It felt dizzying to look at, nauseating even. The way her legs transformed made her feel like vomiting.
"There. There" Henryk was there to rub her back.
They left the armory with the equivalent of a war bow for Shira and a reinforced spear for Henryk.
Henryk gave Shira a short demonstration of how to draw such a heavy bow correctly and helped her try it a few times. Her aim from practicing with a lower draw weight bow helped her here.
"Why do I have to switch to firing with either side? I'm right-handed!" Shira protested once again. This was not the first time.
"Remember what I taught you. Firing with only one side of your body will deform your bones in really weird ways. It's better to practice with both your right side and left side" Henryk said as he put the bow in her other hand. His knelt beside her to have the same eye level and pointed at the target. "Shoot"
(At Babel's base)
"Still wanna go in?" Henryk hoped that Shira would not go in, that she thought differently during their walk towards the tower.
"Yeah!" Shira was confident, also energetic.
'I warmed her up. I dug this for myself' Henryk thought.
She walked right into the base of the tower of Babel, where a massive hole was. The hole had stairs leading down to the dungeon, to the place where many dreams were snuffed.
"Mama! Wait for Fey!" Fey hurriedly followed her. Henryk already told Fey that she could stay with Shira to protect her.
Henryk watched as Shira walked slowly, waiting for him to follow. He did.
"Your bow and arrows ready?" He said, looking ahead. He was curious about what challenges the dungeon's monsters were compared to the ones on the surface.
"Enough already" Shira rolled her eyes. She nudged his shoulder with hers... it was an attempt. She nudged his elbow instead. "This is the tenth time you asked about that"
"You can never be careful enough" Henryk patted her head softly.
'I barely escaped the children's flirting today, only to end up witnessing this' Futura whined. Shira turned to her, eyebrow raised. She smelled Futura's mood, and it was not good.
"Is she alright?" She asked Henryk, a finger pointed at the old wolf.
"Ignore her. She was whining about us 'flirting'" Henryk gave Futura a gloating side-eye as he put a hand on Shira's other shoulder.
In a comical turn of events, Futura bit Henryk's shins. In return, Henryk returned the bite. He received many types of looks for it.
After some time, a Ganesha familia member hesitantly got closer to the two. "Do you need help?" Seeing no blood, he got even more hesitant.
When the Ganesha familia member talked to them, Henryk and Futura released each other and stood beside each other calmly.
"That was her being playful. No worries here" Henryk fished out a piece of paper with Ganesha's approval on it.
"Really?" The Ganesha familia member was suspicious of Henryk's words.
"Hmm" Futura hummed with a nod, confusing the man.
"You understood what I said?" The man was flabbergasted. He was thrown off by Futura's actions.
"Good one" Henryk scratched her forehead. He also stretched his hand, asking to be handed his permit back.
The man handed the permit back in dead silence. He was just too shocked to talk.
'Good job, old puppy' Henryk acutely knew what was coming his way. He started running away from Futura, who caught up shortly after.
'Should I bite you again?' Futura snarled at him for a moment then focused on being alert of her surroundings.
(1st floor)
(3rd person PoV)
"From now on, I'll only observe. The only reason I would ever get involved is if someone was about to get a crippling injury or worse" Tiona said before stepping behind the party by many steps.
"Then, as we planned. Shira will be guarded by Fey and the 3 puppies" Henryk said.
"Woof! Woof woof!!" 'We aren't small pups anymore!' The 3 young wolves screamed into his head at once. They also barked, something they noticed to have more probability to make him listen to them. They still did not figure out that it made him adore them enough to let some things slide.
'Okay. You're young wolves now' He replied.
"Futura, you will follow me to walk ahead of the rest by a few steps" Henryk said.
The party moved on from there. On their way, they saw many parties camping branch paths up until the end of the floor.
"Good ol' campin'" Henryk nodded at their strategy. He already expected it.
"Are there any monsters on this floor to begin with? I thought that some might just spawn while we were walking" Shira felt down. She was really excited, but they were met with nothing.
"Monster spawning rates are abysmal on the first floor, as far as I know. There is also the fact that no more than two monsters spawn at once in the same area" Henryk had already asked Carillon to remind him of all the dungeon information he should know already. 'He went on, and on, and on, he just refused to stop talking. Well, I gained something from that. My knowledge with the dungeon goes down to the 24th floor, including an easter egg behind some crystals, though he didn't tell me what it was'
"Would our chances improve on lower floors?" Shira whined. She was really disappointed at this. "No monsters. No fun"
'How fighting monsters is fun for her is beyond me. How did she end up acquiring that taste in fun?' Henryk thought.
(2nd floor)
The 2nd floor had the same light blue walls as the 1st floor, and so did the following three floors. In this floor, the only real difference was a noticeable increase in branching paths.
There was less traffic on this floor, but most of the early branching paths were preoccupied by other parties.
On this floor, Henryk stabbed a goblin that was unfortunate enough to start spawning directly above him. He raised an eyebrow as he ended the poor thing. The other goblin was shot by Shira. It was close enough that aiming for its head was not hard for her.
A short walk through the floor, they encountered a couple kobolds, which were quickly disposed of.
Henryk's method was simple. He stabbed whatever stepped in his path. If the monster avoided the stab, the spearhead, having sharp sides, was swiped at the monster's side. With an injury to its core, the monster's movements were bound to slow down, allowing Henryk to kill it much easier.
As for Shira, she avoided shooting any monsters that got too close to either Henryk or Futura. She did not want to accidentally shoot her own allies.
Through the entire floor, Henryk has been looking up in anticipation of Dungeon Lizards dropping themselves on them. He was okay with not having to deal with any.
(3rd floor)
Henryk ignored it when Fey thought she sneakily ate a magic stone without any of them knowing. All knew but did not talk about it.
As Henryk was walking in the dimly lit corridors, he was carrying his spear so any dungeon lizards would impale themselves on it. He was also constantly checking for them.
"Stop" He raised his hand so the ones behind noticed. "A dungeon lizard" He pointed at the thing.
He brazenly walked under it before backing away when it fell. He held the spear for it to fall onto and was now sure his method of walking negated dungeon lizards, as the wedges stopped the lizard before reaching the same height as his head.
"Good to know. I can walk around while ignoring these now" He harvested its magic stone and walked it off.
(4th floor)
The goblins were nothing special, but the kobolds were quite agile. They amused Henryk when one avoided a stab, only to be cleaved in half when Henryk put his all into the following swipe.
'That was brutal!' Tiona said, enjoying the sight before her.
The remaining two kobolds were subtracted down to one when Futura leapt at one and killed it. The last kobold was killed by Shira.
"When will Fey fight?" Fey complained. "Fey wants to help papa fight!" She lied on her back and flapped her wings and flailed her legs in protest. She forgot that she was tasked with protecting Shira instead of fighting.
'Well, not much would change with them swapping placements' Henryk did not mind it. What Futura could kill, Fey could.
"Futura, swap with Fey. Fey will fight by my side until the 5th floor" He told Futura, who did not mind it.
'I will go to lower floors if that is allowed today' Futura expressed her desire to hunt more.
'Okay. I'm planning to go down to the 7th floor today' Henryk told her.
"Yay!" Fay sprang up and happily took over Futura's post.
For the remainder of the floor, Fey took every chance she got to brutally bite monsters' heads in half and puncturing them with her talons. She was hungry for more magic stones, though she did not eat any during their dive.
'She's falling back into magic stone addiction. I must be careful' Henryk thought as he prepared spell keys to counter Fey's addiction and its possible come backs from consuming more magic stones in the future.
(5th floor)
On the 5th, the party got a moderate spawn rate and a good number of monsters per batch. Some monsters roamed together with other species as well.
"Shira, I would like to leave here. My true goal for today is the 7th floor, and I have maps for that" he raised the maps for Tiona to see. She nodded at that.
"But monsters have been nothing up until now. Can I not accompany you any further?" Shira said. She did not want to separate form him here.
"I'll leave Fey with you" Henryk said before going closer and hugging her. It was a cover to whisper in her ear. "I can communicate with her so that she relays words between us from a distance"
"I'll leave you from here. You are capable enough not to be injured by the target floor if you went all out" Tiona saw him fighting with Bete. In her opinion, the level of skill and coordination they showed then was more than enough to deal with the monsters down to the 13th floor. "I'll report you as good to go on your own. Just be sure to study the dungeon well. Like you already know, the library at the mansion has every source you may need about the dungeon" Tiona waved her hand before dashing out of there. "See you later, Fey!"
"Later, Tiona!" Fey waved a wing.
"Henryk Williams, promise me you will come back" Shira said, her heart throbbing painfully. Her mind raced with the worst possibilities of a future where Henryk is not able to come back.
"I fought an entire pack of loup garou and came back before being bestowed falna. I can promise you I will return from the mere 7th floor" Henryk said as he patted her head, still hugging her.
Shira wiggled out of the hug. She spun him around and pushed him hurriedly. "Go and come back to me. I will prepare your dinner myself" She said with a smile that betrayed her. Her smile showed her fear and the anxiety of leaving Henryk out of her sight inside the dungeon.
The sight of this fearful smile and the tears that stained it was carved into Henryk's mind.
"we'll see each other later today, then. See you later, Shira" Henryk said while walking down the stairs of the 6th floor.
"Fey'll protect mama well~!" Fey chirped. She was proud to be Henryk's adopted daughter, despite the difference in species. She knew that he would not make a promise he cannot keep normally.
A moment later, Shira wiped the tears away and gathered her resolve. "Let's go! We need to finish our dive by hunting 15 more monster before we make our way back!" The three young wolves and Fey guarded her well until the dive was over and they were back at the Twilight Manor.