Jericho
Level: 1
Progress to level 2: 1,033/1,000,000
Strength: 5
Endurance: 25
Dexterity: 20
Intelligence: 2
Sense:15
Development Abilities:
Physical Resistance: The user receives 2% less damage. Effectiveness is determined by the Endurance stat.
Skills:
Gamer Body: The user's body is that of a video game.
Massage: Skilled hands make targets tension and exhaustion melt away. Effectiveness is determined by Dexterity and Strength stat.
His Strength and Dexterity stat had practically doubled. And he had over a thousand exp? Yesterday, he had less than a hundred! It was difficult to tell just how much of a jump his stats got since his template wasn't the one that she learned, but this had to be good, right? If he was confident that he could go to the sixth floor with half these stats, then he should be safe. Even without his leg armor.
"Done," Hestia said, climbing off him, scanning the paper one last time before passing it over. "Your Physical Resistance ability got a one percent increase," she informed, "but no new Skill or Development Abilities."
"Hm. Not bad," Jericho said, glancing at the paper before folding it. He tossed it onto the bed, Hestia glanced at it for a moment before asking.
"How did you get a thousand exp so quickly?" She questioned, watching him put on his tank top.
"The monsters on the sixth floor give more exp than goblins and kobolds. I'm pretty sure the deeper I go, the more they'll give me when I beat them." He answered, going to his armor before putting it on. When she saw him struggle to bend his arm enough to get one latch, Hestia was quick to hop off the bed and do it for him. "Thanks. I'll head straight down to the sixth floor and spend as much time as I can down there, but I'll be back here before you get off. Promise."
"Don't break it," Hestia said, wrapping her arms around him, her cheek pressed against the cold steel, but she didn't care. Jericho hugged her back -- well, as much as he could since he was so much taller than her.
And, with that, her child left for the Dungeon yet again.
…
"I need my leg armor," I said, walking through the mostly empty streets, guided by my map towards Miach's shop. The frogs proved that the lower I went, the more exp I got. Three exp was great for now, but it wasn't anywhere near enough. If I wanted to keep with the timeline comparable to Bell, then I needed to hit level 2 in about a month from now.
To do that, I needed to gather about...25,000 exp a day? No, closer to 27,000. So, I would need to kill about...9000 frogs to do it. Or, I could go to lower floors and kill stronger monsters.
Should I have gone to a different smith? Maybe a level 2 could get my armor done faster. Right now, every day seemed to matter, and if I couldn't go past the sixth floor without leg armor...then that would put me behind by five days.
"Or," I mused, spotting Miach's store. "I could try to run past the next few floors to floor ten." That was where giant monsters started to spawn, and where killer ants stopped. If the anime reflected reality, then I could find myself facing a horde of dozens of them if I wasn't careful. Without a magic weapon, I doubt I could get myself out of that situation.
A sigh escaped me as I dismissed the plan. I learned that lesson the first day that the Dungeon was easy to travel into but much harder to leave. I could get to the tenth floor, maybe, but I'd probably find a horde waiting for me on the way up. The only other way I could think of was to increase my stats to the point that they didn't reflect my level. Which would get progressively harder as they rose.
There just wasn't an easy solution, despite all my wishing.
I came to a stop in front of a glass pane door, knocking lightly before taking a step back. It didn't take long before I saw a man appear inside the potion store, spotting me. I half expected him to wave me off since they weren't open, instead, he smiled as he approached to open the door.
"You must be Jericho," Miach greeted. His long blue hair brushed past his shoulders while his blue eyes matched his hair. "Hestia's told me a great deal about you. I'm pleased to finally meet you," he greeted with an easy smile. The powerful air that belonged to the gods around him was kind, friendly even.
"Ah," I didn't know Hestia had talked to Miach about me yet. "Same here. I hope she said good things?" I said, earning a smile out of the god.
"If Hestia is to be believed, then you are a saint that's too good for this world," he answered, gesturing for me to come inside. I did, having to duck to step into the potion shop -- ingredients lined the walls, from monster drops to herbs, to potions to crafting supplies. At the counter was a plane of glass that protected rows of vials of three different colors. Red for health, blue for mana, and yellow for stamina.
"Well, I'd hate to disappoint her," I said, watching as the god walked behind the counter to retrieve a small satchel. He held it out to me to take and, after a moment of hesitation, I did. Pushing back the flap revealed three health and stamina potions.
"Take these, please, as a welcome gift," Miach requested, smiling kindly at me.
There was no way in hell I was going to say no to free potions. "Thank you very much, Miach," I said, throwing on my friendliest smile. "Well, since we're giving gifts," I started, reaching into my pouch as I summoned my inventory to it, making it look like I was just reaching into my pouch. "Here, take these. It's not much since they're from the upper floors…" I trailed off, handing him a few frog tongues and kobold teeth before he could refuse them.
Miach blinked as he took the still slightly damp tongues, unconcerned by the slime that clung to them. "These are from frog shooters," he observed, looking at me with a puzzled look.
"They are." So that's what they were called. Not the most inventive name, but I couldn't say that it didn't fit.
"These are on the sixth floor."
"They are." I agreed, feeling no small amount of amusement at the growing perplexed expression he wore.
"Were you in a familia before joining Hestia's?" He questioned, earning a shake of the head from me as I deposited the potions into my inventory. I still had the one that I looted from that corpse, so I was set for the Dungeon. As much as I could be, at any rate.
"No. Hestia is my first and only goddess," I answered. It took every ounce of will that I had to not let my smile turn into a smirk. I never would have guessed that those two words would have such an effect on her. She tried her best to hide it, but it was clear as day that she loved hearing the words from her reactions.
"And you've been an adventurer for...two days?" Miach asked for clarification. I nodded, making him frown lightly but not in a bad way. "Then Hestia is very lucky to have you in her familia, Jericho."
At that, I shook my head. "I'm the lucky one," I stated. As bad as it sounded, dying and coming back was probably the best thing that had ever happened to me. Just this morning, I got a handjob from a god. Last night, I made her squirt by simply accidentally dragging a knuckle across her clit, bring her pleasure that she had never known before. She really was the perfect waifu.
Life was pretty great, all things considered. All I had to do is get a handle on my exp problem, and I'd be living the high life.
"Thanks for the potions -- you got a loyal customer out of me. I'll see you later then?" I said, starting to leave when Micah nodded, waving goodbye.
"And we are happy to serve you. Give Hestia my regards," Miach said as I left, locking the door behind me. That went rather well. I got some potions out of it, so now I could afford to push things a little further in the Dungeon.
My stamina returned quickly in the Dungeon, going from exhausted to normal in about thirty minutes. The issue was, that thirty minutes, I couldn't afford to hunt down monsters. Worse, since the Dungeon didn't typically leave me alone during that time, it took longer for me to recover. With a stamina potion, in theory, the time frame went from about forty-five minutes to about two seconds.
With that, I made my way to the Dungeon. Luckily, since it was so early, neither Eina or Misha were working, letting me descend without pause. I blew past the first floor, as I did with the others all the way down to the sixth. I didn't bother exploring anymore than necessary, the sooner I got down there, the better.
"Twenty-seven thousand exp," I mused, spotting a frog shooter hopping down the tunnels. I walked towards it, tapping my naked blade against my shoulder. There was absolutely no way I was going to be able to kill 9000 frogs in the...14 hours I allowed myself to be down here for. I probably wouldn't be able to kill a third of that number.
"Okay…" I said, striding towards the frog shooter that took notice of me. "Today, I'm going to grind my stats." I would have to make up for lost time later when the monsters I killed didn't give me single-digit exp. Once I got down to the 10th floor and below, then I could worry about exp. What I needed right now was… "Fifty in Endurance, Strength, and Dexterity," I decided.
My Intelligence really was becoming my dump stat, still at a pitiful 2. Maybe, after Hestia was done cumming her brains out, I would read one of the books that Misha gave me. Finally, test my theory on if I needed to sleep or not.
I dodged a tongue that raced towards my chest, sidestepping it with ease I hadn't managed yesterday. My sword slashed outwards, barely more than a blur to cut it in half before it could return to the frog's mouth. As the tongue severed, I raced forward with surprising speed to dispatch the monster.
"A good start," I said, continuing to wander the tunnels. Let's see if it kept up.
...
Hours passed as I mindlessly slaughtered monsters, using whatever trick I could think of to grind my stats with what time I had. Instead of walking through the tunnels, I ran. Instead of instantly dispatching monsters as I found them, I would lead them until I was fighting two or three at the same time. Sometimes, I simply dodged their attacks, ignoring openings to kill them. Other times, I accepted hits that I could have dodged.
Between my armor, and my 7% physical resistance, I had yet to take a single point off my new 121 total health. It seemed I got a 10% increase in health every 10 stat points in Endurance. It kinda sucked right now, but later on, that would be pretty great. Which seemed to be a theme with my gamer ability, now that I think about it. A lot of the stuff I had right now kinda sucked, but if I grinded them enough then they became great.
I dodged out of the way of a frog tongue, grabbing it before it could retreat back to the frog's mouth. Giving it a savage yank, I tried to pull the frog to me, and managed it somewhat even if the outcome was wildly different from what I imagined. Instead of flying through the air, it drug on the ground, trying to withdraw its tongue until it got close enough that I could stomp on its head.
I pushed myself forward, my legs feeling heavy as I continued to sprint through the tunnels, forcing myself to inch closer to those growing elusive stat points. Strength was a big issue since I started off so strong, my sword not heavy enough to grind the stat, so I had to get creative.
Another monster spawned in my path, a kobold that I killed with a slash as I raced by, one eye on my map as I steadily mapped out the sixth floor. After spending hours down here, today and yesterday, I still hadn't found the entrance to the seventh floor. Still, I was making great progress, so it was only a matter of time.
I rounded a corner before I was forced to skid to a halt when I ran into another dead end. Tsking to myself, I turned around to see monsters spawning from the walls. Goblins, kobolds and...something new. A black, shadowy figure like a shadow was peeled off the ground, almost, crawled out of the walls. A war shadow.
Sprinting forward, I dispatched a goblin with a swing of my sword while I stomped on a kobold. Another swing of my sword, my sword ripped through another goblin, rather than cut it. I really needed to sharpen it because it was dull as all hell. The war shadow hung back, letting its companions be slaughtered before it lunged forward once I was close enough.
I shot backward, making its black claws miss my armor by an inch as I swung at its head. My blade lodged itself into its neck, unable to cut all the way through. Seizing upon my moment of surprise, the war shadow reached up to grab my arm, its claws puncturing soft flesh as it carved deep furrows down it. I snarled in response, grabbing my blade with my other hand, bracing it, as I kicked the war shadow.
The cut finished, beheading the monster as it faded into nothing. Awarding me...5 exp! Perfect! "Now to find more of those," I decided, taking off sprinting again, sweat dripping down my forehead. Despite my efforts, I couldn't keep my breathing even. Should I drink an endurance potion? No, not yet.
I continued to race through the tunnels, slowly accumulating stat points and magic stones. Already, I earned more than a thousand exp, but still, it was a long way from my desired goals.
"Hurry it up, you slow piece of shit. You're costing me money with all that dragging your feet you're doing!" I heard a voice shouting in the distance, somewhere ahead of me. An adventurer. I slowed down, trying to pick up where exactly the source was coming from if only to avoid it.
A hand reached into my inventory, pulling out a stamina potion that I uncorked and shot down in a gulp. It tasted of...lemons? Instantly, I felt my exhaustion fade into nothing, leaving me feeling refreshed if a bit sweaty. So it did work. Perfect.
"Lili is going as fast as she can, Mr. Ged," I heard a small voice respond, making me go still. Did she say Lili? And refer to herself in third person?
"Well, it ain't fast enough. Get moving before I leave you behind," the adventurer continued, his voice growing louder. They weren't that far away. Should I leave? It was still weeks away from when I was supposed to meet her if I stuck to the canon timeline. It might even be a bad idea since I would be much more prepared for whatever antics Lili would drag me into.
Despite my thoughts, I found myself walking towards the voices, wiping sweat from my face to make myself look a little less dead on my feet like I was a few minutes ago.
"Of course, Mr. Ged. Lili will do her best-"
"Just stop talking and do your job," Ged interrupted, the sounds of his footsteps getting louder. "Sometimes, I don't know why I bother with supporters. All you do is leech off your betters...you know what girl? If you don't stop dragging your feet, you aren't getting paid. Hell, you should be paying me for putting up with you instead of letting a monster rip you to pieces."
Well...that was rude.
"Thank you Mr. Ged for protecting Lili," Lilli said, her voice sounding actually thankful. That...that, I didn't like. It was one thing to hear it in an anime, but hearing her sound so convincingly thankful that the jerk hadn't left her to die was just...wrong. "She'll keep up, Lili promises!"
"What did I say about talking?" Ged groaned, sounding like he was just around the corner. From the sound of it, that last comment was more to himself than Lili. He stopped by the corner, revealing an average looking man wearing a dark red trench coat, his long black hair done up in a ponytail. He carried a sword in one hand-- he looked like a competent adventurer if I had to say anything about him.
He looked left, spotting me instantly. His eyes widened, he fell into a fighting stance, the sword posed to stab me in the face, one hand on the pommel that would give the thrust a little more power. That was...quite the reaction, I guess. A fair one, though. I can't say I would react any different if a guy my size suddenly appeared right next to me.
"Who are you?" He barked his demand, hiding behind his shield.
"Er," I was not expecting this kind of conversation. I figured we'd exchange customary nods to acknowledge that we saw each other, I would steal a glance at Lili, and maybe try to endear myself to her. "My name's Jericho. Hestia familia." I greeted him, holding my dull sword a little tighter when he didn't relax.
"Who's the Hestia familia?" Asshole demanded to know, his sword poised to pierce my throat with a lunge.
"We're a new familia," I answered, jerking my chin at him. "Who are you?" Two can play at this pissing contest.
"Caishen familia," Asshole answered, not giving me his name. And since I had absolutely no idea who his god was, he probably wasn't important. "Are you alone?"
I tilted my head, considering the question. My eyes went over to Lili, who hung back slightly, her bag comically huge compared to her slight frame. In one hand she carried a handheld crossbow, it wasn't pointed at me but that would change soon enough with reason to. Then my gaze slid back to Asshole. "And if I am?"
"Well then...I'm just going to have to ask you for your magic stones, is all," Asshole said, his shield hiding his face but I heard the grin in his voice. At that, I hesitated. He sounded confident. Confident enough that he took one look at me and thought he could take me despite being nearly two feet shorter and about a hundred pounds lighter.
Could he be a level 2? I know they were few and far in between, most adventurers living and dying as a level 1. Not all of them were named in the anime, so I didn't know if he was or not. Or, maybe, he was an extremely proficient adventurer with high stats. Or, just as likely, he was an idiot.
I shrugged my shoulders, eyeing where the blade was poised to strike at. "In that case, I'm not alone," I said, forcing my lips to curl into a smile.
"Too late for that, big guy. I've never seen you before. I bet you're new to this, aren't you? Bet you thought that since you didn't have much trouble with goblins and the like, so you thought you were good enough to come to this floor. Now you're in over your head." Ah, so it wasn't that he was really strong. It was that he assumed I was really weak. And...well...everything he said wasn't exactly untrue.
I was distinctive, to say the least. Had I been a veteran adventurer, I'm sure eventually most would know me by the description 'that tall guy.' So, he assumed I was a total rookie that came down to this floor without thinking.
"Hm, maybe." I noncommittally replied, a sinking feeling in my stomach. I don't think I was smooth enough to talk my way out of this fight. There would be a fight too since there was no way I was handing over my magic stones.
"So, how about you hand over your magic stones...or I'm going to take them off your corpse," Asshole threatened. I clenched my jaw, considering what I was about to do. Unlike proper RPGs, there wasn't a third option. Well, I suppose that wasn't exactly true…
"Come take them, then," I spoke, the sword leaping at my throat before I finished speaking. I wasn't surprised. Reacting instantly, I raised my free arm, feeling white-hot pain as his sword pierced my forearm. The pain gave way to fury as I yanked my arm to the side, making him go wide open. Judging from how wide his eyes got, he expected that thrust to stab me in the throat.
He tried to kill me. I knew the Dungeon was considered a lawless place-- or, rather, it was a place where laws couldn't be enforced. But I didn't expect him to try to kill me. Over pocket change.
I grabbed him by the face like I did so many monsters before. "Hey, wait-" he started to plead, only to be cut off when I turned sharply and slammed the back of his head against the wall hard enough blood splattered on impact. I held him there, my arm hurt worse than anything I had ever felt. He stabbed me! He tried to kill me!
I took in a deep breath, letting go of him. His body fell into a heap, his eyes wide but seeing nothing. He was dead. I killed him.
"Shit," I cursed, more because my arm really hurt. Blood pumped from it, dripping down the sword still stuck in my arm. I could only stare at it with mute horror. I had been stabbed. I was bleeding. A lot. I...I needed…to drink a health potion. What was my health?
106/121. 15 points. I lost 15 Heath points.
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A/N— I'll try to post daily. Powerstones and comments would help, it would mean alot and give me the motivation to continue the story. In fact two chapters a day wouldn't be impossible either.
I'll post an extra chapter every 500ps power stones, no limit!
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed.
Ps. You can also read ahead at my Patreon to support the story and help me write more. Patrons get two chapters a day and 30 chapters ahead for just a couple bucks :)
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