The Babel Monsters

Claws

^^ Sam in his armor ^^

--- Fallen-Rains POV ---

I grinned, as I handed her the axe. Her perplexed stare was unsettling... "I thought you said you were a beginner?!" She asked sharply, and I flinched.

"I am, compared to most smiths where I come from... Am I wrong?" I asked, tilting my head.

She sighed. "I guess I should've expected that. Being from the lower floors, you have to be adept at every aspect of adventuring... No, this is adept work. Not master, seeing as how I can tell the magic will only last a few more swings, but adept all the same for making it happen anyway. This weapon would work for the mid-level floors, and the deep floors, up until your homeland, but not past that."

I nodded. "That was my goal, so I am happy with that."

She smiled. "Good work for your first piece. Here, the key to your workshop. It's near the tower, so feel free to visit daily. Sam will show you the ropes. Oh! And There's actually an expedition to the 32nd floor, in three days. Come with us, hmm?" She handed me a key.

I smiled. "Interesting. I'll get to see my cousins!" I laughed.

She quirked an eyebrow. "I thought you were from the 30th?"

"We're all cousins down there, but we travel between those three floors, 30-33, quite frequently." I shrugged.

She nodded. "I see."

I walked over to 'Sam', and smiled. It was them man who'd tested my axe. "Allo." I said.

He laughed. "Figures she'd ask me to show you around. Well, this is the rookie workshop, and she gave you a key, yeah? What's the code?"

I looked at it. "Uhm... 30A? She has a sense of humor, heh. And tell me about this expedition in three days? To the 32nd?" He started leading me out of the building and to a small street, covered with smithies, right next to it, explaining.

"Well, we need some of the materials along the way, and also, we need to level up our rookies, like you. So what's your stats?" He asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I've been unconscious ever since I got them. Can you read them?"

I lifted my shirt and showed him my back. He gasped. "Holy crap! All your skills are X level, there's not even numbers! What are you?"

"Wolf-Kin. We'll meet my family when we go to the 30th floor." I said, grinning.

He sighed. "Alright, that explains a lot about you, especially that hair and those eyes..."

I grinned. I saw '30A' over a door, and pointed, he nodded, so I unlocked the door. I walked in, and laughed. "Home sweet home, huh?" I asked.

He grinned. "Most people live in their workshops, yeah, but I think the dungeon is your home."

"True." I said.

"Why did you come to the surface?" He asked, sitting down.

"I was the best doctor in my tribe. But there was another one, almost as talented, and she is the medicine woman... So I wasn't needed. I figured, 'why not? I'd like to see the stars, and sun, and howl at the moon like they say real wolves do.'  So I came up, and then I got attacked, and Hephaestus saved me, and here I am." I said, sitting down as well, on the bed in the corner.

"So this is a bed, huh? Weird... Don't people know this is bad for you? Laying on something so soft?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "No, I didn't..."