82 a first strong impression

His first week in Orario soon past without much of any significant event. The old church has been brought down, leaving its place to a two stories high house. Even then he had kept things simple, a kitchen, pantry, and lounge/dining room on the first floor. The second one had three rooms, a private toilet, and a washroom with a sink, a shower and a bathtub large enough for him to be comfortable in.

Like his other House, two tanks have been made from the gathered iron, transmuted in stainless magic steel for water. The sinks, bathtub, shower, and washing machine have been linked to then via gathered crystal network lines inside the walls.

A part of the pantry has been transformed in a fridge, sustained by crafted cores and runes schemes, while the other had preservation schemes embedded in the walls to preserve the perishable. It was linked to the kitchen who sports a sink, a self-made oven and a strove running on cores like the rest of the house. The Dining room cum lounge had a four-place table, two two-place couches and three places one surrounding a coffee table in front of a fireplace.

Other than the pieces of furniture, he had to actually buy a mattress as it would have been more expensive than making them. All in all, it was a cozy stone house enough to house until four people without a problem. Being a little off the main street and in an abandoned zone, he had a peaceful neighborhood.

As for the dungeon dives, having nothing to do other than this, he would pass more than 16 hours a day inside. He would go, after eating breakfast in his house, at 7 A.M until 7 P.M. After 12 hours of running around the floors, he would exit the dungeon, exchange his crystals and go eat at the hostess of fertility. After that, another four hours of pure monster hunting on the 6 first floors.

He had already completed the 1 floor map and was near half to the second one. Since he would be off to unexplored hallways, he was harvesting a ton of crystals each day, making earn easily more than 50,000 valis per dives.

Of course, rumors have started to spread, be it about a red blur roaming the firsts floors or the fearsome starving beast inhaling plates after plate every night at the hostess, leaving behind bills of more than 4,000 valis in food only!

"Let do our best today too! But it won't be a long one, I have an appointment with Hephaistos today at ten, so it will be goblin farming on the first floor for now. I could always return to the Dungeon afterward."

Gearing up after his breakfast, he put down his backpack, storing his large bento box for his lunch in the Dungeon. put his belt and strap the sheath on his tight, before fixing each of the five sturdy leather pouches on the table.

He had to change them the second day, after buying a roll of leather, he crafts five pouches of brownish-red leather. On each of them was a particular sewed chibi monster, a green goblin running with a crude stone club, a puppy-like grey-furred kobold sitting on his hind legs, a little trail of drool on the right side. A little chubby brown lizard rolled on itself. A plush like green frog shooter with red strakes and a floating war shadow with a comically large beady red eye.

Rather than the habitual pouches, those ones had a paved shape, with no seeming opening. He fixes them on each side of his waist with another cat-themed one, used for loot. Once ready, he nods at himself and made his way to the dungeon with a skip in his step.

Making his merry way while waving at few stall vendors on his way, he didn't see the group of seven that just came from the corner.

"Finn isn't that..."

"Yes Riviera, it's him. To think that we would found him even before entering the Dungeon to scout out that rumor."

Seeing that he was making his way to the Dungeon like them, they follow him.

"Ne, Tione, why do we follow the red-haired boy?"

"You didn't hear, did you? Of course, you didn't your hair head." Sigh the elder twins.

"Hehe, wait! did you just..." Unabashedly start her, before indignantly start to shout.

"Hay, hay, I know, captain say that Loki-sama search for a red hair boy that came the last week."

"Ho! Why?" Had they not already know how her head work, they would have stumbled at her comment.

"How should I know! Now shut up and follow!" Tione fed-up by her sister antic.

"Meanie." Pout the flat chest Amazoness.

The rest of the group didn't say a word, smiling at the exchange, well safe from the ever scowling emo mutt and the inexpressive blonde. The presence of the Loki family exclusive did draw more than once gaze, even lightly armored, they wouldn't pass unnoticed. Thankfully it was still early in the morning and the crowd wasn't large enough to create a commotion.

Keeping their gaze on his as he was few meters lower down the stair, they all follow. When they arrive at the main road, they had lost him.

"Bete?"

"Hum." Lightly sniffing the air, the Were take the head of the group. "What the...!"

"What wrong?" Ask Finn at his unnatural behavior when he didn't respond but bolts forward, easily followed by the rest.

As they go further and further of their know route, they all start to frown a little. They have rapidly learned from the guild that Alex wasn't part of any Familia, but more so, just had arrived in Orario the day they encounter him. Seeing an un-affiliated adventurer going that deep on the first floor that even themselves have never ventured in, their curiosity about raised to another level. Seeing that they still hadn't caught up with him tell they two things, first he knows very well his surrounding, two he was fast.

That an adventurer with less than a week of activity know those uncharted parts that well could only mean that he had explored then intensively, seeking adventure event at the starting floor. After three minutes, they exit their hallway to enter a relatively large chamber.

Each was taken aback by what they were seeing. There, few meters away, Alex was facing a monster party of thirty-seven goblins, alone. Under such a number any level 1 adventurer would be crushed, be he was waving through them unscratched, making bodies blow up in ashes all around him before they could even reach him.

"The guild had said that he wasn't even a level 1 but I can't believe it." Says Gareth looking at the sight in front of him.

Finn's gaze was glued on Alex's tail movement, the limb seems to have a life on itself, taking and throwing knives all around while he was cutting down goblins. Tione was also looking quite surprised at this but her sister was bouncing on places at the sight, an eager smile on her face.

While keeping a blank face, once could see a glint of interest lighting up in Ais' gaze. Bete, he, had frozen on the fact that he only now discover that he was a fellow therianthrope, one he never saw before, like each of them. Rivera, her, while admitting he had potential, was interested in a completely different thing. Even from there, she could see the crystals flying to him, eaten by his strange pouch through the sewed goblin mouth opening each time one was about to bump against it. She also sees his throwing knives sheathing themselves on those leather band before being throw again.

The fight or massacre didn't last long, and he soon bolts in a seemly random hallway after taking out a rolled sheet of paper from the mouth of the cat-themed pouch. While following him and assisting in his run and shoot tactic, Tiona says.

"I didn't know that the guild had a map of the first floor going that deep."

"They don't, if I were to guess, it's hand made." answer Riviera.

"Why do you say that?"

"It the same type of paper than the contract, I didn't found any similar one anywhere in the city, so it had to be hand-made? but to produce a paper of this quality, his background couldn't be that simple."

None of them say a word at this, following him, leading them in what was an unexplored zone of the Dungeon. It came rapidly as to why he was following this particular route. Each time he stops in a rather large chamber he would have to face off a monster party. Even their Familia didn't know of this Dungeon feature and they doubt that the guild knows too. After the fifth chamber in a raw, the next one was completely different.

The moment he enters the room, the light dim by half, bringing the room in semi-obscurity while they could hear the walls crack all around as horde of goblins were emerging from the walls. At this point, they see yet another shocking sight, his hair turns pure white as flecks of artic blue appear. His speed increase by half and a veritable bloodbath broke out.

This had nothing to do with monster parties, but rather look like a monster swarm, they could easily see that the room had launched more than two hundred goblins at him. Ais was about to enter the fray but was stopped by Finn. When she looks puzzled at him, he points at Alex's gaze. They all could see the lust for battle in his eye, relishing in the slaughter of the swarm that would even be a threat to peak level 1.

His tail seems to become a blur in between thrown knives, striking goblins with so much force that the were throw harshly against walls or their brethren. All were captivated by the movement of his body seeming to bend to impossible angle, evading nearly all of their attack, leaving at bests only scratches on his clothes. The goblin pouch was gobbling crystals after crystals.

It was the erratic breathing that brought them back and looking at their side, they could see the enraptured gaze of Tiona, starting to lose herself. The Amazoness was rapidly tackled by her sister, soon helped by the dwarf. Even then, struggling to break free, her gaze didn't break from him.

Tione couldn't help but sigh annoyedly.

"You couldn't help it, your moron." Says her faintly in a harsh tone, but the could feel that her word hadn't any heat in them, smiling wryly at the way things have gone.

"It better to back down a little and let Tiona calm herself first."

All follow Finn's order and take her back in the hallway, cutting her view on him, letting her retake the control of her emotion slowly.

"Hehe, sorry." Says her while scratching the back of her head with an apologetic smile.

"I should have known something would happen." Finn's shaking his head slightly, taking the blame on this.

"So what now?" Ask the dwarf. "Their no way Loki-sama wouldn't want the kid in. An unknown therianthrope that could go against that much goblins before even being a level 1 and unknown abilities? Why did you didn't let him join in the first place?"

Before Bete could say something, Riviera spoke. "It an error of judgment on my part, I was thinking he was only human but he clearly wasn't. He just tends my the form and I sign it before thinking why he would do that in the first place."

"It's doesn't matter, as long as we could sit it properly, we should be able to offer him something he wants to join the Familia."

As they were speaking, Bete has to stay strangely silent and ais were nowhere to be seen. When the three top executives see this, they were about to go search for her, only for Ais to return with her arms full.

Riviera seeing this couldn't help but ask." Where did you get those Ais?"

"Alex." Says softly the blonde girl before giving one of the three to Tiona.

"Huee, for me?" Ais nod. "Thank!"

She hugs the thirty-centimeter chibi plush version of her he made while Ais was hugging here own alongside his.

"Gahoooo!"

She was surprised, like the other when it hair turn white with blue flecks and his eye morph to artic blue while emitting a cute roar, before returning to its red appearance

"So cute, gimme!" Says Tiona going to take it.

"Mnn, mine." Only for Ais to evade her and clutch it a little more, making it roar again.

The two start to run off, one trying to take the plush while the other was protecting it. The two were bonked on the head by Riviera staff when she catches them in the chamber. Once Tiona was called to order, Ais give Finn a sheet of parchment she had to keep until then. When he opened it, it was the way to return to the beginner road along with a note.

'Sorry for the trouble and thank you to have wanted to help. Alex'

"Well, at least he is polite." Nod Riviera.

"Even if we are at fault there."