Danmachi- Hell’s Forge

(Author note: Slight retcon as I meant Tiona this whole time but got the two sisters names confused, that is all.)

"HAHAHAHA! Grilled beef! That's a good one!" Tiona said while laughing.

"Yes about the matter of the minotaur, we took the liberty of harvesting it since we assumed you wouldn't want the dungeon to reclaim it. At that time we discovered that the smoke produced was absorbed into your body. Is this some sort of skill or magic and if so can you tell me how it works?" Riveria said curiously.

"Ah I see! While I can understand your curiosity that is a private matter." I said seriously.

"Yes of course. Please ignore my rudeness, I meant no offense." she said hurriedly to reassure me that she wasn't trying to be rude.

The details of ones skills and magic was very much a private piece of information and asking for them was frowned upon. While some adventurers or gods boast about the details publicly it was a widely accepted opinion that most of the time it was wrong or purposefully incomplete. By knowing ones skills and magics leaves an adventurer vulnerable to a good degree. For example if you had a skill that buffed you in a certain circumstance for a certain amount of time before weakening you greatly someone could wait until you were weak to ambush you.-

"No harm done so it's fine but besides the stone did the minotaur drop anything else?" I asked glossing over the other matter since it really wasn't a big deal since she wasn't trying to force the information out of me.

"Yes though I don't think it is worth keeping as the minotaur dropped it's hide and well you did quite a number on it." the elf said as Tiona showed me what she meant.

Like she said the hide was charred and had holes in it that truly made it nearly worthless to anyone else. To me though the thing was perfectly usable as a bit of repair and refinement later I could have it better than ever. Yay for having a useful cursed technique. 

"I'm sure I can find a use for it somewhere." i said as I took the hide and rolled it up before stuffing it into my bag.

The magic stone of the minotaur was much larger than any I had gotten to date as it filled my hand and was clearly filled with much more mana. I barely managed to fit it into my bulging bag that was clearly too small to hold any more. Checking my weapon I sighed as I saw that it was cracked all over and starting to crumble.

'Looks like black flash was too much for it to handle. I suppose that was to be expected from a simple steel weapon.' I thought as I holstered the weapon.

"OOH now theres something interesting! You hit that grilled beef so hard your weapon broke huh? I used to do that all the time before I got my Urga here." Tiona said while showing off the odd dual sided greatsword that she wielded.

"How about you let the Loki familia pay for you to get a new weapon as an apology for the minotaur attacking you?" Riveria asked sincerely.

I shook my head "I was planning to craft an upgraded version anyways since i am approaching the next level. If you can get me some decent drop materials though I would appreciate it." I said honestly.

"You're a craftsman?" Ais asked with a confused look that the other two mirrored.

"Yeah yeah I know I don't seem the sort but that is where my specialty lies. Crafted these bracers myself in fact." I said proudly showing off my work.

Tiona looked at the bracers closely and casually flicked one of them which produced a loud chime while making my arm snap from the sheer force behind it.

"Oops? Those are pretty good stuff though, not a crack on them even after that." she said seemingly more interested in how she hadn't broken my equipment rather than how she HAD broken my arm.

I grit my teeth from the pain and silently used my cursed technique to fix the break slightly. That was the biggest benefit of the enlightenment of the black flash, I could use my technique wordlessly now. It would obviously be stronger and more efficient if I did say the incantation but I didn't NEED to say it now. Thanks to me using the technique internally none of them even noticed that I fixed the break already. 

"How bad is the damage?" Riveria asked apologetically since she felt terrible that Tiona's carelessness had caused something like this.

"Feels like she cracked the bone but I'll be fine in a day or so." I said honestly.

"A day? Usually a cracked bone however slight would take at least a week to heal?" Riveria said confused.

"I'm more durable than usual I suppose." I said with a shrug.

The elf looked at me suspiciously but didn't try and argue with me. In the end I told them where they could find me and we parted ways after they escorted me out of the dungeon on account of me not having a usable weapon and all. Rose actually chastised me for fighting the minotaur instead of running away when i went to turn in my loot for the day at the guild. I can't say it wasn't worth it though as the minotaurs intact stone was worth nearly double my normal daily income of about three or four thousand valis.

Eight thousand valis for that single stone and the addition of two and a half thousand from my other slain monsters set me at ten thousand for this one trip alone. The biggest gain though was the "liquid" I felt inside me that was nearly an entire cups worth compared to the two or three drops I previously had. I was seriously eager to see just how far my stats would jump thanks to this amount of stuff.

Hell it was entirely possible I might max out all my stats if the single drop from my last update was any clue. Anyway after turning in my loot for money I stopped by the hostess to drop off the food container and tell Syr that the food was good before heading to the Blue pharmacy to turn in my empty vials and get some more potions. I needed them too as I would be using my technique a lot in the next few days as I couldn't delve weaponless or rather I could but wouldn't.-

On the way home to the church I had already fixed my arm entirely just because the pain was annoying. Bell wasn't slacking off either as he was practicing with his weapons in front of the church when I walked up. We sparred a bit after that before I took out the drops I kept from the dungeon including the minotaur hide and began to patch and refine them up. The difference in cursed energy expenditure between yesterday at this time and now was night and day. I might as well have been a faucet with an extra hole in it for how much energy I wasted before.