The next day, we were back in the C-ranked dungeon and moving. I considered taking a dip in the water, to see if I could swim down and grab a few ingredients, but in the end, preservation won out and we just kept going until at last reaching the boss’s room with little interruption. Aside from having the apprentices, Wolverine, and Cheetara fight off a few enemies and something I assumed was a mid-boss. A bigger version of the fishmen with two extra limbs. Milia, Chenzu, and I did fight some to keep from getting bored, but our main focus was actually teaching. Chenzu activated his support magic to assist where needed. One thing he voiced aloud still echoed in the back of my head.
“Hopefully there aren’t any more trials,” he said. “I like to contribute to the team, not observe. It is unsettling being forced to watch friends fight for their lives, banging on an impenetrable dome to no avail.”
We were on a large patch of dry land and before us was a large pond with a car-sized boulder in the center of it. A woman… no, a mermaid leapt out of the pond to sit on the rock, eyes neutral. A glowing barrier manifested around her in the form of the same protective magical sphere one would see around any spellcaster.
The mermaid, a being with the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a fish, had long brown hair and bright blue eyes like that of an ocean. She was wearing metallic armor on her upper half by the way, so no fantasies here.
Alright, fine, it did look quite badass and honestly, felt wasted here. Wait a minute… Mermaids were S-ranked beings, right? Fortunately for the teenagers, that thought received an answer when she raised a scepter which clearly wasn’t there before. It flickered a few times. A breath later, the pond began to shake.
I briefly thought about attacking the mermaid until she looked directly at me and shook her head, small smile on her face.
Unsettling feeling of the mermaid reading my thoughts aside, I focused on the shadow emerging from the pond. Soon, we found ourselves staring up at what I could only think of as the Loch Ness monster. Or maybe a long-necked blueish-green dinosaur.
My monster analysis revealed more detail than usual thanks to its recent upgrade. Unfortunately, the mermaid couldn’t be analyzed for some reason, as if she didn’t exist. Likely due to the protective bubble.
[Enemy Analysis.]
[Marine Muncher. Type: Sea Monster. Rank: CCC-ranked. Affinity: Water. Super Hostile. Dungeon Boss. Dungeon native.]
[Boss fight, begin!]
“Wolverine, Cheetara, make sure they don’t get hurt,” I told my pets. “This may be too much for them, but the training is necessary. Harmony, take control. I gave you each potions. Show me what you’ve learned.”
Harmony’s eyes seemed to have lit with a fire as she turned around to face the giant monster with her team. It roared its challenge.
Milia, Chenzu, and I stepped off to the side to observe. I especially kept an eye on the mermaid that watched me.
Then the thought hit.
“I need scales of a mermaid,” I said in a low voice to Milia.
“If you’re capable of breaking that barrier, I’ll hold her down with the vines,” she said. “But do use your magic to gently remove them, preferably toward her tail. You do not want to appear as a bandit.”
“You know, I’m just going to go with the original plan,” I said.
“That is?” Milia asked, her smile clearly humoring this. In fact, she found this downright hilarious.
I turned to look at the apprentices and pets slashing and whittling the giant monster down. Wolverine and Cheetara intervened only when it seemed to overwhelm the apprentices, taking that time to inflict tremendous damage. The dinosaur-like creature was only halfway out of the water, utilizing its claws and minor water magic that still hurt the apprentices if they slipped up, taking a direct hit from it.
“Ask,” I told her and this time, Milia couldn’t stop herself from laughing.
“I want to come with!” she said, excited.
I couldn’t stop her even if I wanted to, so I shrugged, returning her smile due to how funny this idea really was and we easily leapt over the pond, landing on the massive boulder without any trouble whatsoever.
“Good afternoon,” I greeted, waving at the wide-eyed mermaid. She tensed up, but I took a seat on the rock, Milia following my lead. “No need for that, we aren’t here to fight.”
“Hi,” Milia said.
The mermaid let out a sigh of relief, clearly not detecting any hostility. She probably sensed our curiosity, probably even friendliness. Milia and I would be running into the seductive beings eventually, so I figured now was as good of a time as any to talk to one. Her actions proved that she wasn’t an illusion or someone in the background meant for decoration. With her guard down, my identify skill actually worked. What I saw was shocking, to say the least.
[Analysis.]
[Iyu. Race: Mermaid. Neutral. Temporary Dungeon Master Volunteer. Magician rank: 6th realm of the Adjusting.]
“He… hello,” Iyu the mermaid said softly.
The sound of Chenzu’s lute and the power oozing from it, indicated where his attention laid, though he stared at us in a way that looked as if he questioned reality itself. Milia, on the other hand, seemed giddy. I felt like they were giving me too much credit. I just wanted to talk to the damn mermaid. Nothing special about that, right? Dungeon master thing aside.
“Should I…?”
I stopped her. “No, don’t undo the summon. This is good training for them,” I said, though her offer didn’t surprise me. She knew I could pop the protective sphere with probably a poke.
Milia, a dryad at my side, clearly my lover, probably helped things. Because how would it look if I went alone? Then again, she probably had a method to flee, otherwise powerful adventurers with ill intentions might take the place over, steal her staff, and if mermaid cuisine didn’t exist already, they’d invent it.
“We’re actually here to ask you something,” I said. “Or, make a trade of some sort.”
The mermaid looked only more confused, uncertain, but played along anyway.
“S… sure. What would you like to trade? I’m not really a good adventurer, just doing some volunteer work for a friend. This is her staff, so I can’t trade it.”
“No, it’s not the staff we want,” I said, surprised that she was an adventurer. It wasn’t an S-ranked item, not that I’d mug her for it. “This is going to sound weird, but I’d like to buy some of your scales. Just one or two.”
“That’s not a problem, but why?” she asked.
I told her about the water breathing potion.
“Oh, you’re a potion maker, that makes sense,” Iyu said, her protective bubble vanishing. “I feel like Wanda’s quite the prankster, creating this special potion that requires such a thing. I’m unsure if I can help you with the Lesser Dragon spirit fish; the dungeon itself may not have the sufficient mana to support any. Any healer should have holy water on their person and if they follow Wanda, will gladly share some. Skilled healers can make it.”
[Water breath potion ingredients: 1 herb of any kind, 1 mermaid scale, angel-purified water or holy water, 3 fish tails from Lesser Dragon-ranked spirit fish. Do not boil these until a sap, just boil for 2 minutes. Let cool for 1 day. Boil for another 10 minutes, add more angel-purified or holy water. Let sit. Then add a touch of water mana or three handfuls of pure mana.]
Iyu held out her hand. A shimmer later, rainbow scales the size of quarters appeared. An analysis confirmed that they were real and just like that, she gave them to me. “You don’t have to pay me for these. I’ve been here for two months and haven’t… talked to anyone for a while.”
[You received 25 mermaid scales!]
[Mermaid scale. Item rank: A. Item quality: Extraordinary.]
“Two months? What happened to your friend?” I asked, ignoring my inner excitement. I could use the overpowered brochure to find the dragon fish. Originally, I planned to do so for the mermaid scale.
[Special Ingredient Brochure. Item rank: S. Item quality: Excellent. Looking for a specific ingredient? Tell the brochure. It will reveal to you and your party the nearest location and route.]
“She’s on her way back,” Iyu replied. “Through the water, I can sense her travels. I believe she will return within a week.”
“Can anyone just volunteer to be a dungeon master?” I asked. “Is it okay for you to be talking with us like this?”
“No, not anyone can be a dungeon master,” Iyu said, her voice solemn. “Not even me. I… somehow befriended the real guardian. She gained awareness and often spoke about her desires to see the outside world. One of Wanda’s messengers appeared, granting her a quest to find an object that would give her a stronger soul, free her from the dungeon so that it can spawn a replacement. But they needed my permission. Two months here in exchange for my friend hopefully gaining her freedom.” She looked down. “But if she fails, she’ll lose awareness and turn back into a demonic monster.”
“I see,” I said, feeling quite intrigued
“There must be something about this dungeon that’s causing unusual behavior from the heavens,” Milia said.
Iyu nodded in agreement.
“I sure hope you’re rewarded properly for the trouble,” I said as I turned back to the fight. The sound of a dramatic dying squeal as it burst into motes of light served as the indicator that the apprentices brought down the Nessie wannabe.
An iron chest spawned in front of the apprentices, and they wasted no time claiming their goods.
“Well, it seems like that’s our cue,” I said. “It was nice meeting you. I’m Nate, by the way. This is my betrothed, Milia.”
“I’m Iyu,” the mermaid replied. “Thank you for being such kind guests.”
“Thank you for being a good host and also for the scales,” I said. “Perhaps we’ll run into each other again. Don’t be a stranger.”
Milia and I stood and, with one effortless leap, we were back on the mainland, waving at the mermaid. She waved back cheerily before diving into the water.
“What was that about?” Harmony said. “A legendary… Did you really just have a conversation with a mermaid?”
“To be fair, I wasn’t the first in our group to do so,” I said. “Milia was.”
Milia cleared her throat, blushing. “Anyway, good job, everyone. How does it feel to fight for your rewards?”
“Adventuring is a lot harder than it looks,” Lucas said.
“But it… felt oddly thrilling,” Mandi said. “The scariest part is running out of my gadgets or losing my weapon. Unlike a magician, it’s one mistake and I’m done.”
“But you prevailed!” Opal cheered, flying in circles around Mandi’s head, before taking a seat on her shoulder.
After allowing the realization of befriending a real mermaid to calm down in my head, I turned to lead the others out, only to stop when the brochure notified me that just north of the dungeon was a lake containing numerous Lesser Dragon-ranked spirit fish, but also a much stronger variant. Unfortunately, it warned me not to piss it off.
[The Lesser Dragon-ranked spirit fish at peak power become aggressive if angered, wielding massive energy blasts capable of destroy entire towns.]
“Before we go back to the shop, you’re about to witness me do something potentially stupid,” I said, then continued forward without answering anyone’s inquiries about my mystery plan.
After exiting the dungeon, I gave Milia some quick directions and we were off, on our way to Lake Thea. Cheetara meowed something to Wolverine. The two stared at each other for a bit, eyes lit with excitement, tails wagging. Well, Wolverine’s tail was going at a million miles an hour.
I recalled Wolverine using his dagger in the fight and wondered how insane he would look with a sword. Things for later. He was, after all, a sunlight wolf cub. He’d grown some, but not enough.
As we drew closer to the spot, a thought came to mind, and I knew this had to be asked.
System, can I convert my heavenly spirit coins to normal spirit coins?
[No. You do not have access to the proper device.]
So, it’s possible then. Got it! That was all I needed to know. I’d have to rank up my shop and unlock the device. I hoped.
“Wait, Wolverine, where’d your dagger go?”
“It’s in his soul space,” Milia replied. “I thought you knew about it… given that you have one too. You took gold out of it the first day you arrived.”
“Oh, our pets have inventory,” I said softly, chuckling at the idea. “I love this world.”
Honestly, the only thing I kept in my personal inventory was a few gold, silver, and some spirit coins due to its very limited space. The system probably gave me the internal space as a starter holding system until I got ahold of a storage ring. In fact, I had honestly forgotten about it. I guess I’d better put a dagger inside too, because why the hell not? Perhaps it’d come in handy on a hunting trip.
“Lucas, new order, here’s the advanced pay,” I said, passing him some gold coins. He appreciated it, but the two teenage girls likely didn’t understand the value of money due to obvious reasons. “I need a dagger.”
Wolverine seemed amused by my words. I had a sneaking suspicion that he was very aware of my soul space.
Abruptly, Beakwing swerved to the side, and would’ve thrown us off if not for his binding gravity-like ambient magic. A moment later, I found out why as a giant building-size beam of ridiculously powerful magic soared past us, continuing into the sky. It created a thunderclap moments later, followed by powerful winds.
“Well, the good news is that we’ve arrived,” I said, shaking my head. “Go ahead and land, Beakwing. Chenzu, try to calm down our scary dragon fish friend.”
“Are you…? Nate, that’s a bloody dragon spirit fish,” Chenzu said. “A powerful one, at that. Even you’d get blown to pieces if an energy blast of that magnitude hit you. Oh, who am I kidding? It’s you. I’ll try my best.”
Smiling, I hopped off Beakwing, landing cleanly, my eyes on the lake, as a giant glowing blue fish the size of a house stared at me. It resembled a western dragon, only with the lower fish-like body. It was like a fish decided to go to the gym and get fucking ripped.
Beakwing took the others to a safe spot, that was, a good distance from me, the target. I wasted no time learning about what I faced.
[Enemy Analysis.]
[Lesser Dragon Spirit Fish. Type: Sea Monster. Rank: S. Affinity: Water. Aggressively Hostile.]
There were other spirit fish swimming about, but the aggressive monster in front of me gave off the vibe of being the alpha. Feeling a sense of extreme danger, worse than the Silver Guard Captain’s wind attack, I grew serious.
I wasn’t about to be taken down by some stupid fish. The energy beam launched toward me and there wasn’t be any time to dodge. I’d have to tank this, hoping I survived for a retaliation.
Just kidding, I slipped into the shadows at the last second, emerging well out of dodge.
“Don’t scare us like that!” Mandi shouted.
“Shouldn’t you be used to this by now?” Lucas asked, his voice tired, but even Mandi caught on to his fidgeting. She glared at him. He simply shrugged.
Chenzu’s song finally coated the area as the sea monster probably charged its attack.
“All of this for some damn water breathing potion,” I said, only to realize this would enable me to one day swim with the mermaids. I wasn’t fond of the idea of diving into the dungeon waters, but I needed its specialized herbs.
Suddenly, the lesser dragon fish fell forward right as I launched a dragon magic burst. Instead of swimming underwater to dodge, it slept.
I still missed, but that was a good thing. The forward momentum sent it on a collision course toward the shore.
I thought it’d be easy pickings from there until five more of those things popped out of the water, firing beams all over the place, though mostly at me. They were actually hoping that I’d pop out of the shadows in front of one.
Summoning Yukihara, I burst forward and began to fire blood lightning at the giant dragon fish. Judging by their reactions, the last thing they expected was to be struck by lightning. Fortunately, I held back enough as not to destroy their bodies.
Not wanting to hurt the innocent, non-douche sea life in the lake, I stopped my attacks and motioned for Beakwing to join me.
He grabbed each of the dead giant fish two at a time, placing them in front of me.
“Eh, are you really planning to cook them?” Chenzu asked, his voice uncertain.
My grin only widened as I chopped off the tails I needed, transferring them to my storage ring. At last, I finally had all the ingredients needed to make the water breathing potion. Nuwa had plenty of holy water to share and we had a fountain of the purest waters for her to produce more.
“Hey, freaky sea monster meat should taste amazing,” I said. Sensing the approach of more, I pulled all the deceased fish into my storage ring. “Not that I planned for a beach grill out.”
“I wonder if I should take a page from Milia and never eat meat again,” Mandi said as we flew the hell out of there, dodging giant beams.
When we were far enough, I let out a small, “Woo! All of the ingredients collected, and I could almost feel good about myself if it weren’t for the Lord Ruler.”
“Nothing we can do about that,” Chenzu said. “We are delaying the trip to the city, right?”
“Yeah, we have no choice in the matter,” I said. “Instead, we’re going to have to rely on the shop and whatever idea you have to rank up the city.”
“What’s another challenge to overcome?” Harmony asked, softly poking my nose. “If you can rank up the shop, maybe you’ll find some way to do the same for our town. Just tell us how we can help.”
My eyes widened a bit when I remembered a tactic from the playbook of Milia.
“Milia. You’re probably our only hope,” I said.
“Heh?” Milia said, staring at me skeptically.
“With the apprentices. Perhaps you could do some advertising in Wingston?” I suggested. “Mandi and Gwendolyn could help you weed out any scammers of course. The problem will sink back to their willingness to travel four days and stay in an F-ranked town’s inn.”
I felt myself wilt. “Never mind, that’s not fair to you. Maybe we’ll wait for Chenzu—”
“No, the advertising is a good idea,” Milia said, “but we’ll have to narrow it down to specific things for now. In this case, getting anyone with banking experience to report to the mayor. Oh, and we should inform the mayor ahead of time, of course.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said. “Our trip to the big city can be reserved for fun only and the books.”
The apprentices looked as if they were about to cheer. I let them keep that excitement.
“Maybe I’ll find some tips on becoming a magic chef,” I said, mostly to myself. “Unless we could poach Anzu from Wingston—”
“Keep dreaming,” Mandi said, laughing.
