“Good Morning players and Non-Players, in todays News, Zeus has joined in his own party to clear the 200th Floor, he believes there maybe a Floor Boss roaming around that floor.”

“Are you ready to go Miko” I was all packed, Vnaa still wore the small hemp bag, she was sitting next to me ready to leave.

“Yep, all ready” Miko came down the stairs carrying the other Medium Leather Adventurers Bag

“Bye Ragar and Ralph, thank you for everything”

“Gahh” Miko and Vnaa smiled at the two

“Lets go” I didn’t care, in my opinion, we saved his son and sold them extremely rare medicine, its the least they could do, letting us stay here and teaching me the basic trade skills.

“Bye Lady Miko and Mr Udon! Bye Vnaa!” Ralph shouted out waving his hands high above his head.

“Udon, I want to see your work if you are ever around, if you meet one of my connections please hand them an accessory you made and tell them to give it to me, I don’t want to see you slacking off” Ragar waved goodbye to us, I looked back and just stared at him, he had a point, if I wanted to get better I still need more teaching, it’s probably not a bad idea to be his apprentice for a while.

“Fine…bye” I looked forward again and kept walking, Miko looked at me surprised.

“Did you just say bye? Thats the first time you’ve done that”

“Drop it Miko” We headed right of Ragar’s house and towards the floor five stairs.

“Didn’t the map say this was a beach floor? Why are we in a forest full of Oak trees?” We made our way to the 5th floor, when we stepped out from the stairs, we were in a forest.

“Umm, oh, the town is just past the forest, we should be carful though, most of the monsters are sea based, but there still are 3-headed Pythons, Baby Chimeras and Giant Crabs that roam the land.” Hmm, I should start looking into what materials I should use for my next familiar, if Vnaa has an earth attribute maybe a water one will be helpful.

“Master Udon! Up ahead!” I was deep in thought when Miko grabbed my arm tightly, she pointed ahead to the rustling trees

“Huh?” The trees started to shake violently, was something coming our way? We could just run back down the stairs if it was a monster.

“What is it?” I asked Miko looking closely

“I don’t know, it looks like a lady with seaweed on her hair, and she’s crawling” I couldn’t see anything, Miko must be using her enhanced senses skills, a lady with seaweed?

“Miko, what’s the ancient monster on this floor?” I had a bad feeling about this, if the floor was sea based then a lady with seaweed hair only meant one thing.

“It says a Siren” Yep, thats what I thought

“Miko, Vnaa, go back to the stairs, quickly” I ran back to the stairs, the two girls followed closely behind

“Master Udon, is that the Ancient Monster?” Was Miko serious? Wasn’t she the floor Guardian.

“You’re supposed to be the floor guardian! How do you not know what each floor is!?”

“W-well, since I’ve been staying in that cave, I kinda have lost that ability” Miko gave off a light fake chuckle, did she think this was funny!

“Marrrrrr!” The Siren screamed, the monster tore down some of the trees with her long seaweed hair, we could clearly see it now, something appeared off though, it was indeed a lady Siren, she had a blue scaly chest, her hair was dark brown seaweed with little shells scattered through it, she had a dark blue tail or flipper I guess, she was cut all over her body though, her left webbed-hand was missing three fingers and she had a bad gash on her cheek, was someone hunting her?

“I need to help” Miko ran out from the stairs and towards the Siren

“Miko! Come back!” What was she doing? The Siren had collapsed but she still looked dangerous

“Are you ok?” Miko made her way to the Siren and knelt down, the Siren was only about the size of Miko, maybe she dried up when she wasn’t in the water? I would have thought she would be bigger.

“Ok, I’ll help you, Master Udon, come quickly!” Did Miko understand that gargle of words?

“What is it?” I walked over to the collapsed Monster, it didn’t look like she had long to live.

“She says she’s being hunted, they want her crystal core, she wants us to kill her and take the crystal core so the men hunting her won’t have it”

“How does she know we aren’t bad like those hunting her? We could be worse” It was a fair point, I also didn’t want the trouble of carrying an Ancients monster’s Crystal Ore around.

“She knows I’m the Mythical Bee Guardian, and says she senses a pure soul in you” Pure soul? I didn’t technically kill those Bull Demi-Humans but I still considered myself a murderer, I don’t think anyone that is a murderer can be labeled as having a ‘pure soul’

“Nope, leave her, lets go”

“Master Udon, I can’t do that, if those men get her crystal core they can cause a lot of trouble for the lower floors, she says one is the Sword Hero Weapon” Damn it! I didn’t want to run into one of those ‘hero weapons’ especially not on a lower floor like this.

“Kill her! All that power! All that revenge! Take the core!”

“…Fine” The dark voice had a point.

“Where is she?”

“Over here”

“The trees are pushed over” A group of voices came from deeper in the forest, they sound close.

“Damn it! We need to grab her and get out of here” We didn’t have enough time to kill her here.

“Miko, grab Vnaa, lets go!” I picked up the Siren and ran back towards the floor stairs

“What are we doing Master Udon?” Miko ducked on the stairs next to me

“Just be quiet and watch” We watched the forest and saw a party of at least 20 men appear, all wearing metal suits of armour, I couldn’t see any of their faces with their helmets on.

“Where’d she go!” One of the men stepped closer to us, this one wasn’t wearing a helmet, he had blonde hair and hazel eyes, he looked fairly handsome really…jerk, he was probably a noble jackass, his looks reminded me of Leo back on earth, that waste of air.

“Laimus, can you use a skill to sense the Siren?” Another man stepped forward, this one was completely different from the others, he was some sort of beastman, a merman? He had light blue scaly skin, had a dark purple merman tail but had legs unlike the Siren, and tentacles as a moustache, he carried a big silver trident.

“How many times have I asked you to call me the Sword Hero, Aquarus!” Laimus must be the sword hero then, I can’t see any special sword on him though.

“A Weapon Hero is nothing to me, I am Neptune’s right hand man, you are nothing compared to a god” Ragar did say a rumour was going around about Neptune looking to gain more floors, did the Crystal Core help with that?

“Miko, didn’t you say only Ancient Floor Guardians had Crystal Cores?” I whispered to Miko, the Siren was bleeding out, the stairs were stained red.

“I did, but, Ancient Monsters also have small Crystal Cores, they can be extremely powerful to players and non-players” What level was this Siren anyway? My Weak Appraisal skill failed but I was only level 8.

“How strong is this monster?”

“She’s a level 45 Strong” Level 45!? And these men did this much damage to her! I can’t fight them.

“Aquarus, stand back, I’ll use my enchanted senses skill” Laimus pulled out a sword hilt, nothing else, it had an interesting design, the handle was dark blue with a grey spike imprint, the bottom seemed to have a sort of crystal gem attached and on the top of the handle was a yellow and blue arch over a triangle wooden part with a devilish logo.

“Enhanced Senses, Sword Hero Upgrade” Huh? Did Hero Weapons have skill upgrades just by calling out the weapon hero upgrade? Pretty lame to be honest.

“Get anything Laimus?” A blade emerged from the hilt, it had a weird inscription running through the middle, I couldn't read it though, it doesn’t look like any language from earth either.

“Nope, she appears to not be around this area, could she have gone down the stairs?” Damn it! Laimus was looking at the stairs, we might need to high tail it back down to the fourth floor.

“Don’t be a fool, for an Ancient Floor Monster to go down another floor in her state is just asking to be slaughtered by the lower floors Ancient Monster” Aquarus whacked the back of Laimus’s head, gathered his men and headed back into the forest.

“That was close, I can’t believe that was a weapon hero, he appeared so weak, Miko, do you know what that writing was on the blade of the sword?” I relaxed on the stairs and let out a loud sigh

“It’s called the Hero Language, only those who posses the Hero Weapon can read that writing” Hero Writing huh? Interesting

“Why couldn’t he sense the Siren then?"

“Its because the floor stairs aren’t connected to any floor. Master Udon, what did you want to do about her?” Miko tugged my arm and looked at the Siren,

“She’s going to die right? Why don’t we just leave her? We could take her core and just leave her here” I didn’t owe that monster anything.

“She’s in pain, we should ease her pain”

“Hmm, I can try, I’ll gain a boost in exp as well” I unsheathed my short bronze sword and held it against the Siren’s neck,

“t-thank” Huh? Did that Siren just talk?

Monster Whisperer-1/10 Mastery

Does that mean this Monster is at least a medium levelled intelligence, Huh? Why won’t my arm move? It’s a monster, kill it. You’ve killed plenty of monsters, what’s one more!

“Master Udon?” Miko looked at me, I could feel myself shaking, what is going on? Do I feel guilty? This monster hasn’t done anything to me, why do I have to kill her.

“I’m happy you are to slay me”

Monster Whisperer-2/10 Mastery

“Huh? It spoke again” The Siren twisted her head slicing her neck on my sword.

Udon:

*575 Exp Points Acquired

Miko:

*534 Exp Points Acquired

Vnaa:

*570 Exp Points Acquired

Level up!

You are now level 13.

Stealth Skill conditions met [Locked] 25 SP Required>

Armour Manipulation Skill Condition Met [Locked] 3 SP Required>

Attributes boosted

60 Skill Points Acquired

Level up!

Miko is now level 15

Auto Repair Weapon Skill conditions met [Locked] 70 SP Required>

Auto Repair Armour Skill conditions met [Locked] 70 SP Required>

Auto Sharpener Skill conditions met [Locked] 60 SP Required>

Low Impact Absorption Skill conditions met [Locked] 60 SP Required>

Attributes boosted

20 Skill Points Acquired

Level up!

Vnaa is now level 12.

Water Propulsion Skill conditions met [Locked] 7 SP Required>

Enhanced Jump Skill conditions met [Locked] 10 SP Required>

Weak Intuition Improvement Skill conditions met [Locked] 5 SP Required>

Low Impact Absorption Skill conditions met [Locked] 60 SP Required>

Mystic Eyes Skill conditions met [Locked] 33 SP Required>

Animal Whisperer Skill conditions met [Locked] 27 SP Required>

Evade Skill conditions met [Locked] 11 SP Required>

Attributes boosted

70 Skill Points Acquired

I looked at the Siren Monster, she just slit her throat on my blade, why do I feel guilty? Toughen up!

“Master Udon, are you ok?” Come on Udon, You’ll show Miko you’re weak, she’ll see an opening to back stab you!

“I’m fine, why did Vnaa unlock different skills then everyone else has, they seem like high level skills”

“If I were to guess, it would be because of her blessing, she’s connected to the dungeon so her skills are probably at different levels than us, she might have some simple skills unlocked at a higher level as well.”

“Is that the same as you?”

“In a way, although the skills I unlock are around the same levels as anyone else, I normally gain them 1 or 2 levels before.” Vnaa doubled her level in an instant, I grew another 5 levels while Miko grew 3.

“Miko, help me skin the Siren” I had to get the crystal core, or her death was pointless.

“On it, if we grab her scales and her fin then we could make a familiar based off of her” I could use the crystal core as the main ingredient, that would make a strong one for sure, but is that disrespectful to her? Why am I feeling so guilty!? She slit her own throat!

We ended up with one Ancient Siren Fin, ten Ancient Siren Scales and one Ancient Siren Crystal Core, the body had to be hid or those men would figure someone else grabbed the crystal core, I suggested we chuck her into the lake but Miko said people would see us so we ended up burying her in the forest. Vnaa used her pitfall spell and then filled it back in.

“You kill to get stronger! You don’t kill to feel guilt!”

Damn it! That damn voice was back, get out of my head!

“Master Udon?” I saw Miko look over at me and tilted her head

“We should head into town, I’d like to get some more materials to create my next familiar, my MPs back up to 40 so I should have enough tomorrow, I’d also like to get some armour” Seeing those men, it seems like my shirt and pants wouldn’t cut it from here on out.

“Sure, what monsters should we hunt” Miko took at the map and we looked over the monsters.

“Hmm, I think some Piranhas and sea monkeys will do it, if we can find a baby water dragon, we’ll use it to” I was going for a water attribute familiar to start with.

“Sounds like a plan, lets get your amour first, you have enough material to make it yourself though” Huh? Oh yeah, that weapon manipulation skill I had, I just unlocked the same skill but with armour, it lets me combine materials I deem useful into a strong weapon or armour, I have the basic leather and metal plate armourer skill as well now, I was planing on finding a slave and force them to become my blacksmith, I should unlock that Skill Granter skill while I have the SP for it, otherwise I might be in a situation where I need it but don’t have the SP, it would also be smart to gain some favours if I granted skills to non-players.

“Skill unlocked-Skill Granter (C), Skill unlocked-Armour Manipulation (C)”

Skill Granter: 0/10 Mastery-Level 1 Common Skill, Unlocked: Grant non-players a skill that is suitable to them, only grants 1 trade skill

Armour Manipulation: 0/10 Mastery-Level 13 Common Skill, Unlocked: Grants player the ability to combine materials they deem useful into a strong piece of armour. Forging time is a third of the regular time and the skill is heightened with an experience armour smith.

“If I can upgrade my appraisal skill, I should be able to see who is suitable for what” I spoke to myself out loud, Miko tilted her head again at me while Vnaa seemed to be sleeping in her arms. We made our way out of the forest and saw the town, it was fairly big, and the beach also was connected to it, it looked like a bay though.

“Is there a Blacksmith in the town?” If I granted the armour manipulation skill in exchange for them to create my armour it would be a good deal.

“Umm, there is an armour and a weapon shop” Was it not one shop?

“Is that one or two shops?”

“It’s two seperate shops, the armour shop is closest while the weapon shop is on the other side of the town.” Why isn’t it just one shop?

“We’ll head to the armour shop first then” We headed into town and towards the armour shop, the map was useful in getting us there, the more I look at the map the more the floor layout looked like a big water droplet.

“Hello? Anyone in here?” We walked into the shop, it had loads of worn leather chest plates, dinted metal boots and helmets, along with rusted chainmail.

“Hello there, welcome to my shop” A muscular Dwarf walked around the counter, he wore pants with grey wolf fur on the end of each leg hole, he wore leather slippers, by the looks of them, I’d call them slippers, he wore a dark brown rag over his pants, a dark green leather padded singlet and had his orange rust coloured hair in a ponytail, he looked like a classic dwarf, the full beard and everything.

“We are looking for some armour, but everything on the shelf looks like pure shit, is that because this is a lower level, or are you just a bad blacksmith” I wasn’t holding back, it looked like pure trash, I wouldn’t even bother opening a shop if this was my work, if I want to make a deal with him, he needs to know I’m not someone that will be taken in by this level of work.

“Master Udon!?” Miko had her mouth wide opened, her shock with my straight forward question had her entire face red as an apple

“You have quite the tongue on you boy, I wouldn’t be bagging someone’s work if you aren’t any better, why did you come in here then?” I could tell I pissed the Dwarf off, mission accomplished, make him annoyed then offer the skills to help him improve in exchange for my own armour set.

“I was going to make a deal with an experienced blacksmith, but it seems I have wasted my time in coming here”

“Master Udon, I wouldn’t call him a blacksmith”

“Huh? Why not?”

“For starters boy, I only have the Basic Leather and Metal Plate Armourer skill, I’m a non-player so I can’t extend my skill any further, the only reason I have those is due to the guilds of the town wanting an armourer here” If his maxed out his trade skill level this still might work.

“If you want an experienced blacksmith you’ll need to find a retired player in a village somewhere” If retired players had that skill I should look at the villages outside of towns, but I hadn’t come across any on the maps yet.

“How would you like to make a deal then” I folded my arms and gave the Dwarf a smirk, seeing my stance he put his arms up in a defensive position.

“Master Udon, you have an evil grin on your face, what are you thinking of doing”

“Don’t worry Miko, this will help us and this Dwarf here, so how about it, I can help you improve your skill if you give me something in return.”