Chapter 2: Chapter 1

I woke up with a groan, my eyes were still hurting a little and I now had a killer headache to go with it, at least I wasn’t face down on the floor anymore, instead I felt a straw bed under me, not exactly the most comfortable but the… creature had said I’d be in medieval times.

“Hey you survived!” Came a cheerful voice from the open door, it only drove another spike of pain on my head “We’d all thought you’re gonna die since the banshee herself threw you into the inn but guess not”

Opening a single eye I glared at the man on the door, the guy wore an old green shirt and was completely average except for the pair of cat ears atop his head, he seemed somewhat amused at my predicament.

“Hey don’t glare, it’s not my fault you gave yourself a mind down” he entered the room and put a plate of soup on the table before helping me up into a sitting position and handing me a cup of water “anyways how the hell did a newbie like you make it all the way down here?”

“Here, where?” I asked while patting myself to see there was nothing missing besides my sword which I found hanging by a chair.

“Rivira of course, what other town did you think you’d find inside the dungeon?” he said and then noticed me looking for my things “yeah don’t worry nobody dared touch anything since the Banshee paid for it herself and even Bors don’t wanna mess with her, anyway what's your name?”

“Ugh, I’m Roland Sinclair” I was still disoriented by my headache but Dungeon, what the heck? “And I didn’t even know I was inside a dungeon”

“I’m Villi by the way and damn, that’s some vicious prank someone is playing on you” the cat man said and started walking away not really that curious, or just unwilling to get involved “anyway you’re gonna be here for a while, the Goliath just spawned and you’re gonna have to wait for some big shot to slay it before you could make it upside again, drink your soup when you’re feeling better come down, I’m sure Bors will be able to figure things out”

He waved me away and I cradled my head once more, this reincarnation thing was already turning out worse than I thought, and what the heck was a mind down? Did I run out of chakra or something?

A few minutes later I managed to get out of the bed and sit at the table to start drinking my soup, it was thin and without spices but I was hungry enough it didn’t matter right now so I devoured the entire thing and reclined back into the chair, the headache was still strong but no longer crippling.

Finally making my way downstairs I saw a plethora of different people wearing all kinds of classic adventure gear from full plates to mage robes and anything in between, some of them glanced my way with frowning looks but I ignored them until I saw the cat man waving me over towards a large, muscular man with an eyepatch.

“So you’re the guy who dared go after the banshee huh!” the Eyepatch man said while grabbing my shoulder and invading my personal space “tell me your secret boy did you really tap that?”

“What?”

“the woman, did you tap that?” he embraced me and made a very lecherous face “I mean she terrifies me but I can’t deny the elf is hot”

“I don’t even know who you’re talking about!” I protested and the guy forced me into the seat before his face became serious again.

“So how did a little newbie like you find yourself down here?” he asked while taking a huge drink from a wooden mug.

“I don’t remember, I barely remember my name really” I told him and it wasn’t exactly a lie, I didn’t remember anything from this world.

“Well you don’t have any head wounds but I guess the banshee could have healed you” Bors mussed and took another swing of his beer “anyway, from your disposition I’d guess you’re a very new level 1 so you’re stuck here until someone slays the Goliath and even then, if you don’t manage to get a group, it’s unlikely you’ll make it to the surface by yourself”

“I… can’t I just get someone to take me up then?” I asked while massaging my temple.

“Ha, do you have a lot of coins with you? because nobody will want to take care of a newbie in the middle floors unless you can make it worth the danger” Bors laid back and, seeing my look sighed “Look, your familia will probably come get you soon and, worst case you can probably return with the Loki or Ganesha familia expeditions, they’re big and powerful enough not to mind a single newbie tagging along”

Wait, Loki familia? Dungeon? I started to connect the dots, I was in DanMachi wasn’t I, home of the asshole gods and overpowered adventurers, shit I had only read the first few volumes of the manga, why couldn’t I have been sent to Naruto or Avatar where I knew the entire plot?

Releasing a groan I let my forehead bang against the table in frustration, I was stuck deep inside the dungeon and didn’t have any coin whatsoever, how was I gonna eat? Where would I sleep? From what I remember this was supposed to be a safe floor but monsters could still come from other floors so even foraging wasn’t very safe much less sleeping outside the city, glancing at the muscular wannabe pirate I asked “You wouldn’t know how I could get some coin would you?”

“Hmm, well your gear seems to be high quality so I could pay you some Valis for the sword and armor… let’s say around 15 thousand for the set” Bors patted a pouch on his hip.

I didn’t know how much my gear was worth but judging by the glint in the man’s eye he was probably trying to cheat me, plus I’d be without a weapon, inside a dungeon, with murderous monsters, not something I was eager for.

“Ha, good joke, no seriously is there any way to earn some money around here?”

“Well there’s a lot of adventures waiting for the Goliath to be slain so I could use some help in exchange for food and letting you crash at my room” said the cat man who was passing through their table before continuing to serve what seemed like dinner.

Noticing the frown on my face Bors smirked at me “You’re an adventurer alright, don’t like doing housework” Then the arrogant bastard took the time to pick at his nose dismissively before continuing “Tell you what nobody's gonna want a green rookie like you to delve into the Tree labyrinth but I could get you a job as a supporter, for a price”

“And what exactly would I have to do?” I asked suspiciously while narrowing my eyes at the man, his whole greedy face just screamed scammer.

You are reading story Dungeon Delving is Damn HARD (danmachi / kinda SI) at novel35.com

“Wow don’t you have some creepy eyes, don’t worry I don’t deal with shady things, plenty of money to be made the legal way if you know how to do it” he took another swing of his mug and wiped his mouth with his arm before releasing a burp “you just have to carry their gear, stay out of the way, keep yourself safe and harvest the monsters for drops and magic stones”

“And what’s in it for you?”

“35% of what you get” I was about to protest but he leaned over the table and glared at me “Don’t even try, a supporter won’t be making all that much so it’s just not worth my time for anything less, plus I’ll be making sure you actually get paid and chose a more respectable group, no telling what can happen in the dungeon if you try to find a group by yourself”

Shit he was right, I didn’t read the manga all that long but I know the tropes, there’s bound to be a lot of assholes in the dungeon who wouldn’t mind killing me just for the gear on my body even if they weren’t that great.

Trying to ignore my headache I considered his offer, I didn’t really know if I could trust the guy but he at least would have an interest in seeing me come back alive since I’d be paying him and, even if the pay was small, it would probably be worth more than my average equipment so I didn’t really have to trust ‘him’ to find a good group but his greed, plus I’d get to observe some experienced adventurers with my sharingan and copy their moves “So I won’t have to fight for them?”

“Well… it’s the dungeon so there’s always the chance of a monster party and ambushes, you'll have to at least survive long enough for them to finish everything off but nobody will be expecting you to kill anything”

“Alright I’m in” I agreed and almost banged my head against the table when the guy patted my back with the strength of an elephant.

“Great, you can rest and recover today and leave tomorrow with the party I found, I have a good feeling about you boy don’t disappoint me too much”

Seeing as disappointing him probably meant I’d be dead again I’d try not to do it at all if I could help it, ready to go back to my room and try to sleep my headache away I started to push my chair back before remembering one last thing “hey Bors, this Banshee you guys keep mentioning saved me, who’s she?”

“Filvis Challia from Dionysus familia” he told me with an unusually serious voice “She’s a survivor from the nightmare on the 27th floor and since then everyone who gets into a party with her dies”

“She kills then?” I asked in surprise, I thought the guild kept things like that from happening in danmachi.

“Who the hell knows, plenty of adventurers die every week in the dungeon it could just be luck” he sighed and finished his beer “Personally I saw her when she returned from the nightmare, she spent weeks covered in blood, her hair all messed up and with a crazed look in her eyes, I think it broke her and now she just runs away whenever there’s real danger but, no matter the truth, nobody wants to risk an unreliable fighter”

Yeah, thinking about it I know it's cruel but I probably wouldn’t party up with someone like that either, an unreliable supporter wouldn’t cause too much trouble but a fighter who ran away could probably mess with the entire formation

“Anyway I have money to make, see you tomorrow kid” Grabbing his mug he tied it wo his belt and got up before throwing a few coins to the table “Use it to pay for another night here I’ll take it from your pay later, with interest of course”

Asshole, grabbing the coins I approached a busy Valli “hey, is this enough for another night?”

“Yeah, Bors left you just enough for it and a meal” the cat man told me while filling another plate with soup for his other costumes “Anything else I can do for you?”

“You got a mirror around here I could use?”

“Sure, I have a small one on the back” putting the plate down he took a second to search inside the kitchen and came back with a handheld mirror a little bigger than my hand, then continued serving his guests.

Going back to my room I locked the door and took off my shirt, the mirror was small but I managed to check out the faulna on my back for the first time, at first I thought I didn’t have one but then I remembered gods had to use blood to activate it, cutting one of my fingers with the sword I let a drop fall over my shoulder finally revealing my status.

it looked like a huge eye surrounded by tentacles with the information written in english between the spaces

Roland Synclair – level 1
Strength – I - 0
Endurance – I - 0
Dexterity – I - 0
Agility – I - 0
Magic – I - 15
Skills:
- Chosen of an Outer God : Since your god cannot physically manifest into the world without risk of destroying it he has chosen you to act as his avatar allowing you to modify your own falna.
- Mangekyou Sharingan: Can never forget what one has seen, after study can read muscular tension to predict how one will move in the future, makes it easier to learn techniques one has seen, greatly increase ability to track fast moving objects, can see the amount of magic a target has and if it is being affected by any mind altering spells.
Grants the spell: Lesser illusion (capable of applying lesser illusions simply by looking at a target, the illusion’s quality depends on how much concentration is put into it, affects two senses but can be easily broken if noticed)
Grants the spell: Greater visual illusion (Capable of applying strong illusions when meeting the eyes of the target, which are harder to resist, more difficult to notice and can affect stronger targets)
Grants the spell: Izanagi (Can turn reality into ilusion to completely heal the user even from death at the cost of an eye)
Grants the spell: Izanami (Can trap an enemy into an inescapable illusion of repeated actions regardless of level leaving the target frozen in place until said target fully accepts the consequences of his actions at the cost of an eye)
Grants the spell: Kotoamatsukami (Can enter a target’s mind and implant false memories changing their actions while making them believe it’s from their own will regardless of level, uses an enormous amount of mind, causes severe damage to vision and requires a long recovery period)
Grants the spell: Susanoo (Can manifest a magical construct around the user in the form of a giant warrior equal to a Monster Rex a level above the user that has enormous endurance and strength but costs a large amount of mind and causes severe damage to vision)

With an effort of will my fauna disappeared once again and I was left thinking, so I didn’t have chakra, the being who sent me here had modified my skills into working with mana instead and, from the looks of it I had a normal sharingan without the uchiha bloodline meaning I’d have to be very careful when using the mangekyo unless I wanted to go completely blind.

The greatest question for me was Kotoamatsukami. would I have to wait ten years to use the spell once again like that crow in naruto? From what I understood of Danmachi levels are steps towards divinity and even a level 1 adventurer was better than an average human in every way so did my fauna act like Danzo’s hashirama cells allowing me to recover faster?

With my mind filled with questions. I laid my head on the pillow, then exhaustion hit me like a truck and I was sleeping in less than a minute.