Chapter 3

It turned out that Seshat's domain of craftsmanship/architecture was no joke as the end product armor pieces were made out of naught, but wood literally had the Warding epitaph which was the best add-on as it added an extra defense rating points to the armor and with it being only wood armor to begin with... Yeah, a full set of wooden armor with the warding addon was more than double its actual value in defense points honestly.

In the following morning after a hearty breakfast Seshat offered to help me get ready for my first day on the job.

"This is bullshit... How are you better at using my cheat than myself?" I spoke dryly as the goddess helped suit me up in the armor and hearing my words she tittered and as she moved to check if the back of the chest plate was on correctly, she flicked me in the nose with her long leopard tail.

"Peh!" I coughed at the surprise attack. "What if I am allergic to you?" I whined and she huffed and slapped the back of my armor.

"Bah, quit being a baby and get going, go do your mortal paperwork announcing yourself as my child, and then make me proud in the dungeon." She said as she spun around to my front and grabbed the front of my chest plate and pull my head to lay against her own, so I was absorbed in her slit amber eyes.

"Do not die in the dungeon Jake Bariss... I don't have a domain to do with the dead, so finding you in Tenkai will be a pain in the ass if your soul isn't just destroyed for being foreign to the system of reincarnation, to begin with." She said dryly at the end and let go of me, with my form straightening up from the bent-over position she pulled me into.

"Yeah... I have no plans on dying in the worst case I can always go the lichdom route or something." I muttered with Seshat scoffing but had an interested look on her face and with the Egyptian Pantheon being so death-related I wasn't surprised she would know of such a thing.

I then left Seshat's Perch and the goddess within to head off to the guild.

Arriving back at the guild I saw that Rose Fennet actually had a bit of line as apparently, she wasn't at all a morning person. So, the crimson-haired dog girl beauty was merely sleepily glaring at the people who flocked to her line as she honestly looked cute rather than scary.

Then seeing a rather empty line I headed to that receptionist even though I couldn't see them through the line of adventures who were handing in materials and just generally taking some paperwork to work on their own time.

But after a few minutes, I could only blink as I saw the rather familiar receptionist, a half-elf wearing the standard Guild attire that was quickly and efficiently working through the whole line of people.

For a moment I thought about leaving the line, but I realized that would be weird as hell and it's not like I could be sucked into Bell's sphere of influence and mayhem simply by getting my paperwork from his guild advisor Eina Tulle.

"Good Morning! What can I do for you today?" She spoke cheerfully and I coughed at her honestly enthusiastic greeting this early in the morning.

"Ahem, yeah uhm I would like to register myself as the first member of my Familia, do I need to do anything special?" I asked and she hurriedly nodded before she rang a bell above her little window with the voice of someone in the back yelling out how they were coming.

"Yup! In fact, there is a lot for us to do. We got to get your Familia in the system as an exploration Familia even if it was a crafting one previously and then we need to get your personal information down, plus as the first member of your Familia you are entitled to the services of a Guild Advisor at no additional costs other than paying your guild taxes on time." Eina explained clearly as another guild receptionist came out of the back and took Eina's place.

"Here follow me into one of the meeting rooms so we can get this straightened out," Eina spoke as she walked through the backside of the Guild Reception area until she reached a gate for her to exit and then she led me into one of the side rooms.

The side meeting room was rather sparsely decorated being only furnished with a couple of couches and a rather tall table between the couches. for people to obviously do paperwork without bending over.

"Please take a seat." She said gently pointing to the right-side couch and then she continued to speak as she organized the small stack of paperwork. "My name is Eina Tulle, depending on your paperwork I may or may not be your Guild Advisor so it's nice to meet you." She offered with a nod in my direction and knowing how elves and even half-elves were very particular in who they allowed to touch them I nodded in return.

"My name is Jake Barris, and I will entrust myself in your care if that ends up being the case," I said as I leaned forward to take in the small stack of papers she handed to me.

Thankfully I could read and even write this world's language or at least it was just auto-translated into my mind as English either way I didn't think too hard about it and was just glad I wasn't completely illiterate.

"All you have to do is sign at dotted lines with X's next to them, the rest of them are unfortunately for me, having formally recognized you and your Familia as being an exploration Familia. Ah, make sure you fill out the info on what kind of Guild Advisor you would prefer. Don't just write, Whatever, it's fine I can handle anything." Eina said putting on a kind of macho voice making me chuckle.

"So, I can write, I would prefer a cute half-elf?" I teased and she rolled her eyes at my harmless flirting joke as she could tell I was just joking.

"If you do write something like that, you will be automatically slotted to have our Amazon advisor and she was once an adventure. Who now takes great joy in beating the lessons on how to survive in the dungeon quite literally." Eina deadpanned and I froze as I was about to write some kind of snappy one-liner, so I just behaved and wrote a simple request.

-I wish for my Familia's Guild Advisor to be of the more reasonable sort, discreet, and knowledgeable about the dungeon and its perils/opportunities. -

Then after filling out the rest of the paperwork during a mostly silent ten- or so-minute period where I had a couple of questions about the small math test they snuck in to see if I could actually do math and Eina explained how yes, the fantasy land did have like a third or like forty percent of the population being completely ignorant of how to read and do math beyond counting the coinage in front of them.

But with Amazons and Barbarians being a thing, I cannot blame the Guild for wanting to get a metric of people so any guild advisor they give to the new Familia, can help them not get screwed over as the Guild gives the Familia's Advisor a bonus every three months if said Familia survives for the first five years.

"Alright Jake, it seems all your paperwork is in order, here is your Guild ID that you will need to present in order to turn in your Monster drops," Eina said giving me a pretty standard identification card made out of some kind of bendable wood with my info on it, so I mimed putting it in my pocket but instead put it into my inventory.

"It was a pleasure Eina, when can I expect news as to my Familia guild advisor?" I asked and Eina hummed in thought.

"Hmm... Probably in two or three days, so I highly recommend you don't go into the dungeon before you actually get an advisor who will walk you through the dungeon's top three floors where newbies can flourish." Eina explained and I smiled and nodded with all intentions of running into the dungeon after I left the guild anyway.

But in order to not hurt Eina's feelings or just make her think I was an arrogant asshole who was going to refute her very smart advice, I didn't say that I was literally going to throw myself blind into the dungeon that regularly killed adventurers... Actually, now that I think about it more, that sounds like a stupid as hell idea.

"Well I wish you to have a nice day then Eina, I am going to go do a bit of looking around for dungeon supplies." I made up an excuse to get away from the guild and the strict half-elf nodded as she sorted up all the paperwork I left behind.

Leaving the guild, I continued on past it and then I came to the most obvious landmark of the world of Danmachi, the Tower of Babel that acted as the mega mall for rich Familia to setup its stores on its floors as well as the wealthiest of deities having an apartment within its upper floors.

But I was here for what lay below the Tower of Babel, the massive gaping pit with a spiral staircase that led down into the dungeon and its first floor.

But going down the massive staircase was in of itself a life-changing experience as with every step I took I saw literally thousands of adventures going down into the dungeon or going up the staircase and I could see plenty of them being injured or worse some people being literally carried by either stoic or crying Familia members which left made that person's fate look bleak.

Other than the staircase and coming across my first humanoid corpses... I also saw the other end of the fence as rich or more powerful adventure groups took the elevator system that was made in the center of the pit and whether it was going up or down, they always seemed to be of great cheer and optimism.

"Probably already lost the feelings of loss for one of their friends getting chewed up" I muttered as I saw another group taking the lift up who had obviously lost members or possibly looted weapons from some fallen adventure as one dude had a sword and shield set and next to him was a massive battle axe that he was awkwardly lugging around.

But finally, after like ten minutes of endlessly walking down the staircase that seemingly wanted me to walk down into the center of the world or something. I finally reached the first floor of the dungeon.

After I managed to get away from the crowd of people still walking deeper into the dungeon for the daily grind of possibly losing their lives, by going into one of the first floor's side passageways. I then took out my copper broadsword to arm myself in my right hand and then after a pause I took out my staff and placed it in my life hand as it's not like I had a shield, nor would I get one that could strengthen myself until I killed Eye of Cthulhu or got its drops.

"God, I look weird as hell," I muttered taking in my wooden armor, a broadsword made out of copper of all materials and of course the magic staff with being made of damned tin and topped with a thumb-sized topaz gem.

Going deeper into the dungeon's side passageway I was met with a four-way intersection, and I froze as I realized that I didn't actually have a map of the dungeon's first floors so after a moment of thought I just went straight as I could always retrace my steps by simply going straight.

"Hiss!" I heard a monster hiss and then from the shadows between the eerie dim lights came a duo of goblins all but sprint at me and the brief moment of losing them in my vision as they ran between the more lit sections of the dim corridor for a moment made me panic, but then I took a deep breath and with a mental flex I sent out a bolt of magical energy towards the goblins from my Topaz Staff.

The amber light from the Topaz Staffs' rather slow-moving bolt of magic lit up the corridor and then with a loud snap the light collided with the sprinting goblin's chest it couldn't move out of the way quick enough from how it was sprinting towards me.

Feeling the drain on my Mind I didn't chance using the staff again, not exactly afraid of Mind Down after just two spells but I didn't know what would happen if I became actually low on Mind Plus with only one Goblin still rushing at me, I made my Topaz Staff disappear into my inventory so I could hold my broad sword with both hands to meet the flying tackle coming from the charging goblin.

The flying goblin, however, was not met with colliding with my armor so it could attempt to take me apart or whatever murderous ideas that were running through its head, nope it was met with the brutal overhead chop from my downward swing that caught the goblin on its shoulders and despite the Copper Broadswords poor stats the combined momentum of both my swing and the charging goblin made my sword slice/crush its rib cage and with a poof of smoke I felt my sword collide with the magic stone and shatter it within the monsters chest magic the monster poof into smoke leaving me with nothing.

With my first ever killed monster out of the way I looked up and saw the Goblin who I hit with a bolt of magic struggling to its feet the sight of it made me shudder, as the Topaz Staff despite being one of the first magical weapons in Terraria, still was a weapon and it did its job perfectly as the bolt of magic had all but cored out a human fist-sized chunk of the goblins upper chest leaving its busted rib cage and organs plain to see.

Wordlessly I took out the Topaz Staff again feeling myself already having regenerated the bit of Mind I used previously and then with another mental flex I sent another bolt of magic at the goblin and with a wet popping noise, the goblin fell over as the bolt of magic hit it, right in the face evaporating a chunk of its brain or something.

"Yeah... I definitely want a supporter to do this." I muttered grimacing as I took out of the carving knife Seshat loaned me so I could pry aside the ribs of the dead goblin that I killed so I could grab its fingernail-sized monster crystal at the center of its chest.

Even as I took the time to pull out the magic stone, I realized that this single monster crystal from a common goblin was all but completely worthless despite the goblin technically doing its damned best to tear out my throat with its nasty claws despite me taking the front of its rib cage off with a spell.

The next group of monsters I saw was a trio of Kobolds and the fuckers were just jabbering with one another with growls and grunts. So rather than their attempt to hit them with the Topaz Staff from like twenty-odd meters away I silently took out the Copper short bow and was so grateful I had a background of living in the damned sticks and knew how to use a bow even if I was more used to compound pulley hunting bows.

"Twenty meters in an enclosed area shouldn't need much adjustment," I muttered drawing on the Copper short bow with a wooden arrow pulled after a breath I centered my shot at the Kobold that was facing me, and I let go of the arrow fly from the bow with a soft zipping noise as it cut through the air.

Thankfully with my wooden armor, I didn't have to worry about any chaffing from the string snapping forward as I certainly wasn't used to this bow and got caught by it, thankfully my aim was still true, and with a choked gurgle of surprise the arrow slammed home into the upper chest just below the kobolds neck despite me aiming more for the heart of the humanoid form.

Then I once again switched weapons with a mental flex as my copper broadsword appeared inside my hands and once again, I did the same strategy as before by hitting one of the mindlessly charging kobolds with a shot from my Topaz Staff and then instead of breaking the monster crystal on the last charging Kobold I just side stepped its flying tackle so I could bring my broadsword down onto its spine which with a whimper left it crippled and dying.

Looking over to the Kobold I shot with an arrow I saw it had already ripped out the arrow I hit it with and was making its way toward me with that said arrow as though it was going to stab me with it. So not wanting to deal with being stabbed I took out the bow again and as it reached the ten-meter mark I hit it with another arrow in the chest making it stagger as it was still choking on the blood that came from its first arrow that hit just below its throat.

"Just die dammit," I muttered grimacing as it took another three arrows for the damned Kobold to collapse onto the ground I sighed with suppressed almost hysterical giggles as the monster collapsed onto its front but with my Terraria arrows being indestructible the arrows just went completely throw the Kobold with the sharp pointed ends poking through the monsters back.

After cleaning up the site of the battlefield and taking all the loot while collecting my arrows I just had to take a break and clear my head, so I just slid down the rough walls of the dungeon and just held onto my head with my hands as I tried to bring back up my metaphorical sanity meter.

My gear was perfectly fine for here in the dungeon, I wasn't a bad fighter as I knew how to take care of myself and not expose myself to too many risks, but still... "I don't like doing this alone," I muttered as I furtively stared down the side hallways and couldn't help but think about how utterly alone, I was here in the dungeon.

I had no backup, I had no friends here in Orario, and even my Goddess who was part cat may just enjoy watching me suffer in the name of getting stronger at times...

"I need to use my summons, fuck Orario's opinion. I am special, and I doubt people will bother me unless I get into some super summons anyway." I spoke with more confidence and then with a flourish I dipped Squire Squirrel Staff downwards and with a rattle as the large acorn on the end shook colliding with the wooden parts of the staff it was attached to by a vine, I heard a chattering noise as the knee high tall muscular squire appeared out of nowhere.

Thankfully this summons although it was clearly labeled a 'sentry' and thus more of a static turret than a freely roaming being, I was able to cheat the system by placing the large squire on my armored shoulders and above my head.

"Well let's see what you can do," I muttered as I heard the chittering of a single goblin coming around the corner and then as per usual at the sight of me, it screamed in fury at seeing a mortal in the dungeon and ran at me with murderous intentions clear within its red glowing eyes.

But as it closed in on me, and I waited for it to approach while I held onto my Copper Broadsword I could only burst into honest laughter as the damned goblin was met with a brutal soccer ball-sized acorn of all things being thrown into its face like a baseball pitcher attempting to break his own record at throwing his ball as hard as he could.

"I name you Sir Fluffykins, The First!" I said through coughing chuckles as the insane demonic squirrel above me chattered as it gleefully kept throwing its conjured acorns with bone-breaking force at the goblin who just gave up on life and just rolled up in a ball to avoid the pain.

Seeing how pitiful the Goblin was I put it out of its misery by stabbing my copper broadsword down into its head as it cowered under the cruel battery of Sir Flufflykins The First's barrage of acorns.

"With you throwing one of those acorns every three or four seconds and being able to disable a goblin or kobold, I can be bolder, I suppose," I muttered as I considered how many goblins I could actually safely manage and came to the realization that so long as I had some space to control the fight, I could easily deal with four or five goblins by using my Topaz staff as the Goblins and Kobolds always ran at me with zero sense of self-preservation until they themselves got hurt.

Then for the next couple of fights, I tried to be more melee-focused so I could use up and close fighting as I refused to be a weak squishy mage who would fold over when some monster attempted to bowl me over. Like Lefiya Viridis, for example... Even as a level four, if even a couple later level one monsters like a Silverback were to get past the other Loki adventures, I would bet on the monsters killing her as she had no way to defend herself besides her magic which needed an incantation.

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