[3965 words]
As Solren got dragged along, Loki started talking about the past events, mainly stories about her children's events as she started chugging from a wine bottle from god knows where.
But it didn't mind and was paying attention to all her tales. It didn't take long for them to make it make it to the place Loki wanted to be at.
The Hostess of Fertility. And so, they walked in and sat at the counter.
"Two of the usually~!" She slurred while the bar tender, who looks to be a middle-aged lady, clicked her tongue as she fetched the supplies.
"At least you didn't bring those troublemakers this time."
"Pfft, they're not like that~" Loki waved her hand while hugging the emotionless Solren, still ignoring the strange cold texture of its body and clothing.
"Besides, I'm here to celebrate the joining of a new familia member so you better be getting the best of the best, Mia-san~" She grinned, causing the lady to pause briefly, her hands moving to a different set of bottles and placing them in front of Loki.
"Heh, have you had wine before?" Loki asked as she handed the bottle to her sister-in-arms.
Solren shook her head and took the bottle, causing a soft ting sound, soft enough that most of the people didn't hear it.
"Then your gonna have a great time~" She thought, opening the bottle, prompting it to do the same. Loki then lately tapped her bottle against Solren's,
"Cheers and welcome to the familia~!" She then started chugging while Solren simply stared at its bottle in wonder.
But in the end, it simply followed along and started chugging it the entire thing.
But it wasn't sure where to store its contents, and so it changed its insides, making it a bit hollower for the wine to be stored.
"Aaaa~" Loki exhaled,
"That's the stuff~" She said, but a bit shocked at Solren effortlessly chugging the entire thing. Some adventurers started chanting-
""""Chug! Chug! Chug!"""" As it downed the entire bottle in one go, yet the moment it finished, there was not even the slightest change in expression.
Not even the slightest redness on its cheeks.
'Strange… is this burning me?' It wondered, feeling a slight bit of a heat in its 'throat' and 'stomach'.
'It seems to be reacting to my metal, how strange.' It enjoyed the feeling, letting out a soft sigh as a bit of vapor escaped its mouth.
"Wine is nice." It placed the empty bottle on the counter, ignoring the loud ruckus inside the pub.
"Tch~ Let's see how long you can put on that façade until the alcohol kicks in~" Loki slurred, asking Mia for another round… that turned quickly evolved in a third and fourth.
While Solren quickly ran out of places to store the alcohol, it's true it can hollow out its body, but that metal still has to go somewhere. At first it added fabric to its clothing, causing it to be a bit more puffed up, then for a few small accessories to appear on its hand, but luckily no one seemed to notice as they were focused the contest.
Luckily, Loki was soon knocked out cold, crowning Solren as the winner.
'I wonder what I should do with the wine…' Solren enjoyed the warmth feeling, but it quickly became irritated by it. Having liquid slosh inside its body felt more annoying than it thought it would.
It shrugged, wondering what to do now, until she ended up trying to pick up and carrying Loki towards the Manor.
But its attempt was futile when it realized how weak it was strength wise.
"I can have one of my girls help you carry her- it will just be put on that goddess' tab along with the drinks." Solren nodded.
In the end, one of the catkin's carried Loki all the way to the manor, where Loki slowly regained consciousness and was led by Solren into the manor. But it didn't know where her bedroom was and ended up taking her to the office and helped her on the couch.
Loki just get mumbling incoherent words but was al least awake enough to somewhat walk.
'What should I do now?' It wondered,
'I want to go to the dungeon… Loki did mention to the workers that I'm accepted but no papers were signed yet…' It mimicked a sigh,
'I'll visit to get a grasp of my strength if I'm able to get inside, otherwise I'll simply try and sneak inside.' It slowly stood up and walked outside the manor, the books she read already gave her some basic knowledge on the monsters and an idea of where the dungeon is.
'A tower was built on it to act as a lid, so that must be the place.' It thought as it stared at the giant tower in the distance and started walking towards it. A lot of time has already past as the sixth and last bell of the day rang.
But the tower, babel, stays open. Simply because no one in the dungeon can tell what time it is excluding a few locations, and so they kept the bottom floor open so that those who are still in them could leave at their leisure.
'…It seems a few spells were unlocked when a gained my falna.' It thought, remembering how their information instantly appeared in its mind.
'[Lesser Restoration] isn't a spell I had access to previously… Did the blessing influence something or was it a different cause? It's strange, but still a useful spell when with the other mortals.' It wondered,
'[Darkness] will be useful if I am in danger while same with [Sanctuary]… but [Tongues] will remain useless.' It walked inside the tower, it was quite spacious, but it didn't dwell on the interior and walked to the left, leading to a staircase that goes down until it finally reached the entrance to the dungeon. It was a massive room with a giant hole in the center of the room, with a staircase that spirals down inside of it.
[Rolling perception… 16(8+8)]
'No one's here.' It thought, seeing no one inside of the dungeon nor was anyone guarding the entrance.
It didn't mind and walked towards the hole and followed the staircase down but still stayed on guard.
'So, this is the first floor…' It walked inside, softly touching the light blue cavern walls.
'A dungeon… I wonder if there's any traps like in those from my timeline.' It wondered, walking along the cavern walls, always going left.
The spawn rates on the first few floors are usually bad, but the main reason monsters are rare is because most adventurers are level ones and kill them as soon as they spawn.
But since majority, if not all, adventures have left would mean that the monsters are free to wander around their respected floors and spawn freely.
After the first few minutes of relaxing wandering, it noticed two goblins standing still in one of the rooms it came across.
'These goblins really are different than the others I came across… It seems all creatures born from the dungeon loses their intelligence and awareness.' It thought as it crouched down, trying to mimic what it saw other adventurers do, with its 'muscles' tensing at it burst forward, reaching the goblins in a matter of seconds, while Solren's fist instantly passed through one of the two goblins' faces as the rest of the body collapsed on the floor.
Solren then twisted its body to the side, causing the momentum to spin its body, connecting its left foot to the second goblin's head, slamming it into the floor with a dent in its skull.
[Goblin #1: 5->-4]
[Goblin #2: 4->-1]
'…Moving fast as a human feels nice…' It thought as it formed a dagger and started cutting up the two goblins, collecting the two magic stones from their chests.
'Where to put them… Ah, right.' It started emptying out all of the wine it had on the dungeon floor and then stored the two stones inside of its 'stomach'.
'The monsters on top few floors will most likely stay at this level, so going lower is the best option for training.' It nodded to itself and started wandering, looking for the staircase downwards,
And finally found it after killing a few more goblins with ease, and one of them dropped a fang.
The second floor was supposed to have a rarish chance to spawn a dungeon lizard, but after a minute of walking into the floor, Solren instantly jumped to the side, barely escaping the lunge.
[Rolling dex save… 15]
But the lizard wasn't done as it charged trying to bite Solren's arm, only to miss when Solren took a step to the left.
Solren looked towards the lizard, turned, and kicked it in its side then tried to kick it in the face but missed as it rolled away.
But that didn't help as Solren walked closer, locked both of its hand together, and slammed it down into its skull.
[D. Lizard: 16-> 9 -> -2]
'I wonder when the danger will increase… from what I remember, certain dungeons start off easier to incite greed and them all the traps or monsters becomes deadly.' It wondered, and it started believing its own thoughts more once it noticed that the lizard had dropped a scale as well.
It stored the drops and walked further, but this time it kept a dagger formed in its right hand.
After that it slaughtered a lone goblin, but then it found a room with a group of two goblins and two koblods.
'Four creatures.' It noticed, but this time they managed to notice it as well as they started to rush at it.
'Should I start using my ki? It should be fine testing it out since I won't be going to deep today…' It thought as it dodged all four of them,
'I'll save it for now.' It concluded, cutting the throat if the goblin next to it, kicking the knees in of the kobold to its left and finally elbowing the goblin behind it in the head.
[Goblin #1: 6->-1]
[Kobold #1:10->5]
[Goblin #2: 4-> -7]
The kobold fell to its knees while the goblins flopped to the floor. The second kobold swiped it claws, about to connect when Solren's eyes glowed slightly.
{Deflect attacks active}
[Focus: 6->5]
Solren carefully grabbed its arms, but slight pressure on its elbow causing it to bend inwards as Solren then plunged the kobold's arm into its own throat.
[Kobold #2: 10->-7]
The first kobold's leg buckled as it tried to stand up but gave in at the right moment as it barely dodged Solren's punch. Solren then tried to knee its face as it fell down, but it bent to the side dodging another strike.
But the kobold's luck finally ran out as Solren lifted its leg and stomped its face in.
[Kobold #1: 5->0]
'…That kobold's instincts were good… or was it just lucky?' It wondered as it started to collect all the magic stones, while a goblin dropped a fang, and the first kobold dropped a nail.
'Thirteen stones and four items drop… but the stat increases would be miniscule…' It slowly made its way towards the third floors stairs and found it rather quickly after slaughtering two more goblins. The third floor was rather uneventful with only a few goblins and kobolds while the fourth floor was a repeat, with only two sole dungeon lizards that spawned separately.
'Their spawn rates are increased by a lot on the fifth and following floors while their strength had gotten a slight boost… I hope they could pressure me more, otherwise I won't be able to grow.' It got ready as it left the staircase.
'The terrain's color turned green… I wonder if this is a sign to something or simply a stylistic choice?' It walked along the walls and noticed the geography of the floor became more cavern like as to the previous 'basic' look.
'Strange…' It thought, but it got interrupted as a dungeon lizard pounced on it, pinning it to the floor as a loud metallic clang resound.
[Dex save(dis) 8(1 + 7)]
[Solren: 60->41]
'… I forgot how weak my senses were.' It struggled to get the lizard off and then decided to simply punch it to death.
[Flurry of blows: active.]
[Focus: 5->4]
Solren's eyes glow slightly as it punched the lizard's head from both sides, causing its body to go limp from the impact, loosening the claws digging into Solren's 'clothes' and letting it push the lizard's body to the side.
It stood up, only to be attacked by two tongues from its blind spots, barely dodging one but ended up getting hit by another in the gut, resulting in a short dent to form.
[Solren:41->30]
'So the pressure starts on the fifth floor, I am grateful.' Solren thought as it mimicked a smile and fixed its posture, then followed the direction the tongues came from.
'So those are frog shooters.' It thought as it noticed the large one-eyed frogs on the corners of the room.
But as it peaked, another one appeared from behind, about to get a hit in but Solren was prepared this time, position its body enough to reduce the damage.
[Deflect attacks]
[Solren: 30->26]
'They are chipping away at my lifeforce.' Solren thought. The damage on its body had already been fixed, but the energy fixing those are slowly whittling down.
It charged at the one of the frog shooters, barely missing the first strike as the frog dodged out of the way, but it wasn't so lucky afterwards.
Solren jumped up and stabbing the dagger right into its eye and dragging the dagger down. It then jumped back and ducked, causing a tongue to miss Solren and finally killing the frog shooter.
[Frog shooter #1: 19-> 11-> 2->-5]
'Two left.' Solren turned around and noticed the other two had moved closer at keep it at the edge of their range, but their range was still short compared to Solren's speed as it got to one of the frogs within four seconds,
And beat the shit out of it within the next two.
Solren punched its head upwards in order to cut its neck twice causing it to lower its head to the floor.
[Frog Shooter #2: 26-> 18-> 9-> 3]
While the last frog wasn't as lucky.
It tried to shoot its tongue, but Solren was ready. The moment the attack almost connected, it grabbed the tongue, pulled it back a bit more as blue energy gathered at the tip and released it, causing the tongue to blitz back, causing blood to spout out of its mouth as it fell to the ground.
[Deflect attacks]
[Focus: 4->3]
[Frog shooter #3: 12-> -4]
Solren turned to the second frog shooter and noticed it still trying to stand up, its eye staring straight into Solren's.
'These monsters are full of surprises. A Kobold with high instincts and a frog with… determination?' It wondered as it stared at the eye, unable to fully understand the emotion glimmering in the depth of its eye. But it didn't matter.
It is still a beast that would attack anyone it would come across.
'My apologies, but your emotions won't prosper.' Solren ended the frog's suffering, causing it to slump down.
'My lifeforce is getting low, going back is the safest option… But would an adventurer stop here?' It wondered as it started collecting all of the stones.
'They usually have a conviction, but that would send them to their death majority of the time… I'll return for now… I don't have that conviction yet that they have to live.' It finished collecting the stones and made its way back to the surface.
'A few stones broke from the fight.' It felt the shards inside of its body,
'It's a shame. I'll have to create a bag to store them in next time, but that would impede my movement.' It slowly made its way back to the surface, killing each monster it came across on the way.
'I wonder if the other familia members would consider me a monster too.'
'Would they kill me, or would they spare me? Since Loki allowed me into the familia, that should make them hesitate at least.'
'Comrades…' A few images passed through its mined. A group of adventurers in a time long since passed.
'I wonder how different it would be this time.'
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[Focus: 3->2]
Solren made it up to the surface and walked out the tower.
'There are still a few hours left until the first bell rings… But I still need to rest in order to recover my Ki.' It started calmly wandering around the streets.
'…I'll use the broken stones to recover some Ki.' The blue energy inside of Solren enveloped the broken shards, carefully breaking them down.
[Uncanny Metabolism activated]
[Focus: 2->6]
[Solren: 26->34]
A bit of steam escaped its mouth as it slowly regained some of its depleted Ki. There are two types of ki that resides in Solren's body. One is called Lifeforce, the main force that is infused inside of its metallic structure and used to keep the form together, but each type of damage is dealt, the life force used will slowly deplete in order to keep the structure together. Once fully depleted, the Rilmani will lose its form and simply become a pile of highly valuable metal.
The second type is called Focus. Focus is the Ki that is used as a weapon. Be it to empower the body to attack a bit faster, redirect attacks or momentarily lock the opponent's muscles, that is Focus.
Technically speaking, both forms are considered 'Ki' and can be used as the other type, but that could come at a risk of ruining the body's inner balance.
But it is possible. Dangerous, but possible.
'I should go back to the mansion to recover fully, recovering this way too risky if I do it more than once before stabilizing my Ki.' It turned and started going back to the Twilight Manor.
But was stopped by the two guards in front of the gate.
"Is there a reason why you here?" One of them asked, they are part of the night shift, so neither of them knew Solren nor had Loki announced its recruitment yet since she is still passed out.
"I am a new member of the familia."
"Name."
"Solren."
"There hasn't been an announcement of your recruitment, nor should you be outside this late."
"Would showing my falna prove it?" It asked, causing the two guards to go silent briefly.
"That would." The first guard said, bringing its lantern closer, but far enough to give Solren some privacy as it loosened the robe, turned around, and carefully lifted up the back to show the tattoo.
But they stopped it the moment that they saw the jester's bow tie.
"You can stop there. Apologies for having you do that." One of the guards apologized while the other one nodded and did the same.
"I understand that it was a necessity. And I only joined approximately 6-7 hours ago from my understanding." It fixed its clothing and turned around, no fluctuation on its facial expression nor tone, which confused the guards at first. In the end, they ignored it since there are a lot of strange adventurers, some of them being the top members of the familia.
"You must be extremely talented then. Jared, hold the post for now. I'll take her to the mansion and unlock the door." The other guard nodded and opened the gate for the two.
"So, what were you doing out this late?"
"I went inside the dungeon."
"Alone? What level are you?"
"Alone, level one."
"Without any gear either? That's the fastest way of getting killed, kid. I understand wanting to show off but there won't be anything to show if your dead."
"I understand." The guard wasn't sure if it truly understood or was going to follow his words, but seeing as its clothing was left intact and with no signs of any magic stones, he assumed that Solren only went in to take a peek at most.
The guard unlocked the door,
"Have a nice rest and congratulations on your recruitment."
"Thank you." It nodded and walked inside…
It wasn't sure where to 'rest', so after thinking for a bit, it walked up to the office where it left Loki.
After it found a suitable corner, it crossed its legs and placed its palms together in front of its chest. It closed its eyes as small blue lines blue over Solren's body.
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The first bell of the day rang, causing Loki to wince as she rubbed her forehead.
"Agghhh, I really hate those bells." She groaned as she slowly sat up.
She looked around the office, when her eyes met Solren's.
"…Did you sleep in the corner?" It shook its head,
"I meditate instead of sleep." It stood up, walking towards Loki who was still confused.
"I went into the dungeon earlier and would like to see my progress." Loki let out a chuckle as she waved her hand.
"It's best to only update your status once a week if not once a month. One day's trip won't hold much of a gain you know?" Solren didn't say anything and took off its robe and turned around to show Loki the tattoo.
"sighhh, fine~" She touched its back as the jester slowly glowed while the number symbols started increasing.
Causing Loki's face to grow more shocked as it did.
"…till what floor did you go to?"
"Fifth floor, but the first encounter damaged me to much, so I returned afterwards."
"…The fifth floor is for adventurers with at least a G rank stat… you had I."
"My skills and abilities make me stronger."
"Fair~. That still doesn't excuse this increase on your first dive."
Lv. 1
Strength: H126
Endurance: I30
Dexterity: H143
Agility: H103
Magic: H114
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Loki grabbed one of the papers at the side, copied the status, and handed it to Solren, who fixed its robe and sat on the couch.
"So this is an uncommon level of growth?"
"Uncommon??? This should be impossible!"
"Oh, I see."
"Also, why is endurance so low compared to the others? It usually grows passively with the other stats."
"Because there is nothing to endure. I have no organs or muscles that can cause strain from constant battle nor a need to manage my stamina. The only reason it increased is because I got hit a few times I presume." Loki looked confused and concerned but wasn't able to speak as Solren continued.
"As for magic… it's probably using my ki since I have no mana." Loki sighed again, feeling her headache increasing.
"Ki? Wait what do you mean you have no organs?"
"I have no mana inside of my body, instead I have Ki that keeps me intact, as for how I can use magic, it is simply using the mana in the environment to cast them."
"But wouldn't that mean that you should be able to do it infinitely?"
"Not entirely, I have to absorb a bit of mana and then use that as a catalyst to gather more for a spell. The issue is that the Ki inside my body becomes a bit unstable when interacting with mana, so I limit their interaction, and also the reason certain spells I limit the usage of more since they cause more instability.'
"And the organ part?" It simply shrugged.
"I'm made out of metal." It nocked its head with its hand,
Ting Ting
"You're what????"
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[A/N) Solren might be mentioning spells or talk about similarities along the course of the story, but there will be cases where they will be explained later on if needed or spells are used. As for the dungeons, I want to write the floors as the character interacts with them for the first time, then if nothing interesting happens ill only describe them lightly and skip to the new floors. If a floor is only a copy and paste, then I'll only roughly describe how it goes, what she killed, etc unless something interesting happens.]