Is It Wrong To Seek Power In The Dungeon - 2.3 (Patreon)

Thankfully, it was not very hard to find his target and hopeful future patron god.

According to Rose, the war god currently worked at what was called a…potato puff stand. Selling a snack called potato puffs, which was simply just a tator tot.

An odd name for a snack, but you supposed they had to make what merely amounted to fried potatoes sound appealing to make a good profit.

"Heya, what can I get for you?" the god asked when you approached the stand after he was done serving his latest customer.

You noted, like Zeus and Njord his attire was very simple. Simple white pants and a white long sleeved top, with his deep black hair tied up.

You did note right away, that he had the same eyes as Zeus, Njord and even Erebus.

They were kind eyes.

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"However many will let you take a break," you answered with a smile of your own, "Hello Lord Takemikazuchi, my name is Artair, I was hoping to talk to you about joining your familia."

___________

As it turned out, the god was on shift at the stall he was working at until he either finished up selling them or dusk began to fall.

So, to free up the gods time for your own purposes, you purchased every single item left at the stall.

As such, your once big sack that had become empty after you cashed in the magic stones, was filled up a decent bit once more.

With potatoe puffs.

Eighty-seven of them to be exact.

Thankfully, they were only thirty valis each, so you only ended up spending two thousand six hundred or so valis.

Nothing that would impact your finances much at all considering you had just over five million, nine hundred thousand valis to your name.

Quite a small amount to be honest for seven years of effort. Nothing compared to the riches of your clan or even the amount your father earned from hunting monsters on his solo trips he loved to go on that you were not strong enough to accompany him in.

But it would do for a decent starting point you supposed.

"I wasn't expecting you to actually buy them all," Takemikazuchi laughed, rubbing the back of his head, "Well, I'll thank you all the same, selling them all that quickly for the day will for sure put my stall further ahead than the others haha!"

"….Do you own the stall?" you asked, a bit confused.

"Nope, I just work there," the god continued to laugh, "The owner has a bunch of stalls set up across Orario though, I think like eight or nine in total and we all have a little friendly competition going on to see what one of us is the most popular."

Weird, but who were you to question what others found passion in when it was not hurting anyone?

Though, perhaps that was a good idea? Owning multiple fronts and businesses and pay others to run them for you which would bring in extra revenue while you focused on your training and growing stronger.

Thoughts for later.

"Okay," you replied, "So, is it possible for me to join your familia?" you asked once more.

Takemikazuchi stopped laughing and hummed, looking you up and down, cupping his chin thought, "Going by your build, you're definitely not new to combat, so I assume you're here to be an adventurer and not an artisan of some sort," he deduced after a moment of examining you, "Well, I'm not really against it, I'm honestly more surprised someone actually approached me to join, being a new and rather weak familia, most don't want to join up with my familia. Why not introduce yourself and let me know why you want to join?"

You shrugged, "As I told you before, my name is Artair, Artair Bein, the heir to the famous and powerful Bein clan, I've been trained for combat by my father from a young age and he decided that I'm old enough now to set out independently from him," you explained, "I'm not really interested in an already well established familia, I'd prefer to start from the bottom in that regard and I chose you because I heard you are a war god that excels at all manners of combat so I thought I could learn under you to increase my skills."

"I see," Takemikazuchi mused tapping his chin, "Well you're definitely telling the truth, though I feel like you're holding a bit back. But, well, I don't see why not, you seem a good boy and I'm sure the others will be happy to finally gain a new comrade."

You smiled, "Well, thank you for having me then," you replied, "I'll do my best to live up to any expectations."

The god merely laughed again and clapped you on the shoulder, "Eh, no rush Artair, no rush." he replied, "Come, I'll show you where we're staying currently and introduce you to everyone, well, almost everyone, Ren and Botan are on a little mission for me right now."

___________

Artair Bein, was an interesting boy. Younger than he pegged the boy for to. A year younger than Ouka and Asuka and of age with Mikoto and Chigusa. He was seemingly quiet by nature, but had a boldness in him and get straight to work ethic that belied that.

Perhaps he was just quiet with people he did not yet know very well? He was the same his familia when he introduced them just moments ago. He was polite with them and Mikoto as always being the most outgoing of his children was quick to ask him many a question that he had no problem answering.

His family name was ringing bells in the back of the gods head, but he could not remember why.

As it was, the boy seemed generous as well, offering the potatoe puffs he'd bought out at his stall to the rest of the familia while they took care of giving the boy his falna.

And when he did, Takemikazuchi could not stop his eyes from widening. For as soon his symbol formed on the boys back, he saw some things that should not be there, not for a newly minted adventurer.

Three things.

Three skills!

And this was the first time the boy had ever gained a falna, Truly absurd!

Name: Artair Bein
Level: 1
Strength: I0
Endurance: I0
Dexterity: I0
Agility: I0
Magic: I0

Skills

Bein Blood: Generation and control of bones. Enhanced and evolving bones. Increased growth of strength and endurance. No limit upon strength and endurance.

Scotus Jupiter: Enchantment. Corrosive lightning of darkness. Chant: Roar.

Airgid: Attraction to females with silver hair and similar hues. Parameters rise when fighting for a woman with silver hair or corresponding hues. Minor growth increase while feelings last. Feelings cannot be manipulated.

Magic

'….What is this?' Takemikazchi stared gobsmacked at the status reflected back at him.

The first skill was obviously related to his family and clan, going by the fact that the name had carved itself into his back. He hadn't put all that much thought into his lineage at first even if the name tingled the back of his mind.

"Artair, what exactly is Bein blood? It seems to have appeared as a skill on your falna already." he asked, staring at the back of the boy who sat hunched over in front of him.

"My bloodline," the boy shrugged, not at all surprised, he had expected this skill it seemed, "My clan is descended from someone who was blessed with the blood of a powerful spirit and it resurfaced naturally in me, it allows me to grow and manipulate bones from my body." he explained and lifting one arm up over his head and Takemikazuchi's eyes widened as a bone seemed to split open his pores along his wrist and form into a gleaming white razor sharp blade of bone.

Astounding…but worrying as well.

"That hurt you did it not?" he asked, frowning.

"Yes, though it's hardly anything worth worrying about Lord Takemikazuchi, I've long since grown used to it, I've been using it since I was a baby," the boy shrugged again and jerked his wrist, the bone snapping off and dropping from his wrist into his lap, "Besides, if I can't even stomach a little pain for this kind of power, then I don't deserve it."

That…was barbaric. It was truly a powerful, but horrific ability for sure. He was about to idly wonder what kind of life would lead a child to developing not one, not two, but three skills as soon as he gained his falna.

But…from that skill alone, a power he could use without the falna, his questions were already answered.

And the words he spoke in reply to having it…spoke of a maturity and wisdom beyond the boys years.

Yes, he could see why a boy such as this, with such great willpower capable of ignoring what looked like a terribly painful action without even flinching, would gain multiple skills.

The third skill he could easily understand. It was a skill born of love. The boy was in love or had been in love at some point, or at the very least, loved a woman or probably a girl with silver hair dearly at some point in his life. Rising stats when fighting for a girl with silver hair was interesting, but an effect that would most likely not be in use much. But, it was not a bad skill either, the fact it gave a minor increase in growth was astounding and it warded off any effects that would manipulate his feelings as well, as long as his feelings for whoever triggered this skill still remained.

Perhaps it could even protect him from the charm of a love goddess?

What he couldn't really fathom though, was the second skill he had. Scotus Jupiter. He could not translate any meaning from Scotus, but he knew of Jupiter well, most did, Jupiter after all was highest spirit under Zeus. That explained the lightning part, the corrosive darkness with it though, must have come from this Scotus part.

…Was it another spirit of some sort? Sadly, he was not all that well versed in the spirits of other deities outside his part in Tenkai and only knew of Jupiter because of how famous Zeus was, is.

But for it to appear on his status…

"Artair, does your clan have any connection with the spirit Jupiter and Zeus?" he asked. Perhaps the boy could lay the mysterious to rest for him?

"My father is formerly of the Zeus Familia, but beyond that, nope." he answered casually.

Oh…

Well…that explained that he supposed.

That…he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Oh well, the boy was his child now, so he'd just have to deal with it.

__________

"So you have spirit blood, Artair-dono?" the voice of one of your new familia members said from behind you.

Currently, you were sat outside on the edge of the small one story, two room home that housed the Takemikazuchi familia. It was not a big residence at all, especially for a familia of six, eight now including Takemikazuchi and yourself.

It was a homey place however, with a small green garden and bordered off from the public by four large concrete walls each ten feet in height.

It still wouldn't do however, you needed a place with much more space to train. Not to mention, a forge.

You were used to a much larger home, even your own tent was bigger than this entire residence and that just functioned as your bedroom.

You looked up from the sheet of paper that contained the information copied from your falna and looked over your shoulder to the speaker.

An attractive, pale skinned girl with deep black hair of age with yourself and bluish-purple eyes. Mikoto Yamato was her name, or was that Yamato Mikoto? Apparently those from the Far East used their family name first over their given name.

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"Yeah." you nodded and instead of explaining it to her, as you already had to do for Lord Takemikazuchi in great detail, you held up your hand and with a thought, a trio of razor sharp bone claws erupted from your knuckles.

"Oh, wow!" Mikoto's eyes widened, "Truly formidable! Can you spawn bones from anywhere then? Weapons at your call from any part of your body at any time?"

"Yeah," you nodded again, "Though it doesn't stop at that. My bones are reinforced, since I was born my bones have been stronger than the greatest of steel and just now after I got my falna, they became even stronger."

You could feel it literally down to your bones as they grew evolved and grew stronger from the blessing of the falna on your back. How much, you could not tell, but you just knew that your bones were greater than before.

Perhaps approaching the hardness of mithril? According to your father, that would be the next step up as it had been for him, from there it had been the hardness of impure adamantite and then adamantite itself when he reached level six.

He theorised that if he had reached level seven, his bones would have reached a durability equal to that of orichalchum, the strongest known metal in existence.

"Amazing, I've heard of people with spirit blood having special abilities like the magic swords of the Crozzo's but it's astounding to see them up close and personal!" the girls eyes practically sparkled.

"Does…does that not hurt when you do that though?" one of the other girls, with a bob of dark hair that covered her eyes, dark green iris' barely peeking out behind her fringe, smaller and slender in build than Mikoto asked, Chigusa was her name.

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"It does, but I'm used to it," you shrugged, "I've been using it since I was a baby."

She winced as you casually ejected the bone claws from your knuckles, "You want them?" you asked, "I can fashion them into arrowheads pretty easily if you want." you added, eyes flickering to the bow the girl had hanging over her shoulder.

Personally, not a weapon you'd pick for the dungeon. Good for open areas, but a space like the dungeon? Not so much, even if it wasn't a narrow place beyond the first floor, there was only so much arrows one could carry in a quiver.

But, there was something for long range support when one did not have magic to fall back on.

'Speaking of, I want to test out this skill of mine.' you mused, eyes flickering to the sheet in your hand.

You ignored the third on the list to your best ability and focused on the second. Scotus Jupiter.

…If you were not wrong, the skill had formed from your experiences emotionally with grandpa Zeus and Erebus.

You were not sure what it did, and neither was Lord Takemikazuchi, though he had a rough guess. Enchantment abilities or spells, tended to be self buffs that enhanced the users physical ability to some degree. Elemental enchantments tended to do that and allow for the generation and control over an element. In your case, that should be lightning.

He wasn't sure about the darkness aspect of it, but his best guess was the lightning was corrosive like acid or a potent venom. Which did not really make sense to you because acid was a liquid, lightning was energy.

Could energy be corrosive?

Magic sure was confusing.

Which was annoying because you would have to see about obtaining more to reach your full potential. You had three magic slots after all. But the formation of spells was not definite, even your father in his entire life had only formed one spell and the two others he had were from Grimoire's.

You would have to obtain enough valis to purchase three of them. And according to your father, even a grimoire with a weak spell could go for easily thirty million valis.

And that wasn't taking into account that it was possible for some specially made grimoire's to increase ones own magic slots. And those tended to go for over two hundred million valis on average.

….Yes, you truly would need to look into ways of earning lots of valis. And you would be spending a lot of time in the dungeon.

It was a good thing you had your training from your father and should be able to push down decently deep, at least to the middle floors of the dungeon to earn valis, otherwise it would take years to make enough for a single grimoire, never mind everything else you needed.

"You turn your bones into weapons?" the tall teenager, Ouka who was of similar height to you and just a smidgen bit smaller in the shoulders and build asked, eyebrows raised with interest.

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"I do, it takes magic power to make them, but they're stronger than anything you'll find that isn't made by someone with good material like mithril and the Blacksmith development ability," you replied, your eyes now flickering to the large double headed battle axe he had hung over his shoulder, "Let me show you."

You held your hand out and your pores opened wide, before white shot forth, taking shape and moulding together in your palm. A long bone white staff handle formed first, before it swelled out at the top, forming double sided axe heads just like the weapon at the boys back.

All around you, the four comrades you now had, plus your new god, stared at you with wide eyes as you worked.

Within a few seconds, you were finished and tossed the weapon over to the tall boy, "Here, try it out." you said.

Ouka caught it easily, even as he stared at you gobsmacked. His own eyes were dragged from your own down to the weapon in his hands and he hefted it up and down a bit, giving it a few swings, "…It's a good weight, perfectly balanced too.." he noted, eyes flickering back to you as well.

"I've been training as a blacksmith since I was a kid," you explained, "I know what I'm doing when it comes to making weapons even with my power."

That was one thing at least you were superior in your father at when it came to your bloodline. You made much better weapons than him when it came to quality, even though he had much better material to work with.

Perhaps you could open up a business selling them?

Something to discuss with Lord Takemikazuchi. After all, it was not only you who needed money. Apparently everyone in the familia bar yourself came from an orphanage in the Far East and they sent back much of the money they made back there to help the children there live good lives in a warm, stable home.

"…That's still your bones though," Asuka, the last of the familia present pointed out with a grimace, a plain, slightly pretty girl dressed in a revealing almost rag-like tunic that exposed the sides of her hips and quite a lot of the side of her breasts, "I don't know how I'd feel using a member of our familia's bones as a weapon."

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Her breasts were actually quite large. Granted, she was a year older than you, Mikoto and Chigusa like Ouka was.

"Why not?" you asked, confused, "I do."

She opened and closed her mouth, apparently unable to form a rebuttal.

"Oh, oh!" Mikoto hopped around to face you and dropped to her knees, and bowed her head towards you, "Is it possible for you to make a katana as well?" she asked eagerly.

Hmm…while you had made katana's before you had never created one from your bones like most other weapons on the spot.

You would try though.

Holding your hand out, you closed your eyes and pictured what you want in your mind. Decently long, but not too long, not too much weight to the blade either.

While she had a falna, her build wasn't one geared towards large or weighty weapons.

…Yes, yes this shouldn't be too hard.

But yes…let's try this as well. You would try and make it a bit fancy. If you were going to open a store, the gear you made would have to be fancy after all.

You felt as liquid born rushed from your veins and met in your palm, hilt forming, a jingling bone chain erupting from the back while a artful tsuba formed at the bottom of the hilt and then a blade curving down from it.

You heard Mikoto gasp in awe and you opened your eyes, beholding the pure white katana in your hand.

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Yes…that would do.

"How's this?" you grinned proudly at Mikoto holding it out to her, feeling a thrum of…excitement in your veins as the girl looked up at you from her knees with wide, awed eyes.

You liked that.

"This is…exquisite, such a finely honed and beautiful blade!" Mikoto practically trembled as she took the blade and beheld it with awe.

As she did, you gauged your internal magical power and you were surprised by how much you still had remaining. Already you could feel the effects of the falna bolstering you noticeably.

As she did, you gauged your internal magical power and you were surprised by how much you still had remaining. Already you could feel the effects of the falna bolstering you noticeably.

No wonder your father lamented not being able to access his own so often.

You couldn't wait to test out your new strength in the dungeon!

Speaking of, it was about time you made your way there now that you had a falna. There was still daylight to spare after all!

You turned your head to your patron god who was eyeing the weapons you made with interest, "Lord Takemikazuchi, if it's fine with you, I'm thinking of heading to the dungeon to get a feel for it." you stated.

Though, it was not a question, nor was it asking for permission, you would go regardless.

"Are you sure? You just arrived and joined after all," the god pointed out, eyebrows raised, "Shouldn't you rest a little bit?"

"I'm not tired in any single way," you replied, "Besides, no offense, I'm not used to living in such a small home and it would be even further cramped now that I've joined. I believe it's best I begin earning valis to see about getting a hold of a larger living space."

That, and you would need to look into alternate living spaces for the moment regardless.

Perhaps the Hostess Of Fertility Ardee mentioned to you had rooms for rent? Most taverns did.

Takemikazuchi grimaced, "Well…you're not wrong," he agreed, "Still, this will be your first time into the dungeon, why not take one of the others with you just in case?" he asked.

"If he needs a guide for the dungeon, then I shall do it!" Mikoto quickly piped up, hopping to her feet and excitedly volunteering herself.

You shrugged, "Fine with me." you replied. It would be a good chance to see what she was capable of and by your estimates of the dynamic in the familia, before you came along she was either the strongest or the second strongest.

And she could work as your supporter allowing you to focus more on fighting.

Besides, you were not going to pass up the chance to spend alone time with an attractive girl such as Mikoto.

The thing you had always put off and played off for later despite your father and Grandpa Zeus' urging had sprung up out of nowhere a year and a half ago.

The desire for women.

It somewhat annoyed you that you completely understood where your father and that perverted old geezer god were coming from now.