The encounter with a floor boss had Ajax change his focus now that he had a few months all to himself while the academy let out for break. After seeing just how powerful a floor boss was he had first looked into traveling, the kingdom had two more dungeons and he didn’t want to waste the first floor stats by clearing it later. This turned out to not be that big of a challenge, both the other dungeons had their base floors cover level thirty-four to thirty-nine nad thirty-five to forty, this along with a floor jump of eleven and fifteen respectively made the dungeons all but forgotten, but it also meant he could be level forty-one at the highest and still get those extra stat points.
Even with his new pace and hard work Ajax doubted he would get a whole eight levels in a single year. With the dungeon trip left by the wayside Ajax changed his focus to Alchemy and research. While he still maintained his daily training routine that just emptied his stamina and mana pools.
His study in alchemy started to branch out. From his original focus on stat potions Ajax started to branch out into boss counter consumables as well. While there was nothing even close to the anti-illusion enchantment when it came to the kitsune, the same couldn’t be said about other floor bosses. Elemental resistance potions were the top of that list and something that would be useful in any environmental floor as well.
“Why are you so obsessed with floor bosses?” Tom asked him one day.
“Because of how unique they are.” Ajax answered. “I think that the dungeon grants all of them a Legendary skill as well as a pseudo-Mythic one.”
“What do you mean by a pseudo-Mythic skill?” Tom questioned.
“The kitsune’s illusions” Ajax said thinking back. “I couldn’t do anything to her illusions, but I could weaken the ones she placed directly on me. If they worked like a normal skill I should have either been able to affect both applications or neither. I think the dungeon restricts the Mythic skill it grants somehow.”
“That makes sense, still don’t get why you are so interested in floor bosses.” Tom mentioned.
“It’s not the pseudo-Mythic skill that I am interested in.” Ajax denies. “As far as I can tell it is given to them like a racial skill, not something that would help me all that much. But the Legendary skills are true skills.”
As far as he could tell from his research the biggest downside of the Legendary skills the floor bosses used was the large amount of mana, stamina or health they drained from the user. Floor bosses offset this by naturally having near bottomless reserves on resources naturally. But they would also fit well in his tool kit.
“How can you even tell that you’ll be able to pick up those skills?” Tom was a little worried as it seemed his little brother was now actively looking to face floor bosses.
This was where Ajax’s answer got stuck in his throat. He had told his family about most of his secrets, the only one that remained was his inborn trait ‘Divine Witness’. It was one thing he didn’t plan on sharing with anyone.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“I don’t.” Ajax admitted in the end. “ But there are a lot of different floor bosses, I don’t see why I wouldn’t be compatible with one or two of them. Besides, it's not like I am planning to go after them now.”
This was a long term project he had started working on because he now had the time. One other thing Ajax was actively on the lookout for was any appearance of high level monster nests. Ajax knew that he wanted to try his hand at a companion but for that he would need one that was already partially grown or one that would quickly grow to catch up.
It still feels like I am letting Ajax down. I know he doesn’t see it that way but it sure feels like it. At first I thought it was the whole nobility thing, then it was the end of the school year, but even now that he has some free time he is still pushing himself so hard.
“Do you know where I can find the collectors?” I asked the guild receptionist.
With the indication given I made my way towards their table. This was the best thing I could do to lower the pressure on Ajax. Thankfully I had managed to get my hands on one of the guard’s delve slots so I could set up this job as an interview.
“Hey Jones, how’ve you been?” I ask the leader of the Collectors as I approach their table.
“You know this guy boss?” Bobby asks as he gets up in my face. He was doing a good job being intimidating seeing as he was a head and a half taller than me but he picked the wrong target.
“Yes the boss knows him” Nelly answers as she stands up and closes the distance to us. “ I know him, even you know him, so sit your ass back down.” with that she has to stretch but she manages to cuff the back of his head. “How’ve you been Tom?”
“Tom?” Bobby murmured a bit confused as he looked me up and down. “Wait, Ajax’s older brother Tom?!”
“One and the same.” Jones nodded to me with a smile. “I’ve been doing good Tom, not as well as you but then again few have.”
“Sorry about that.” Bobby said, sitting down and scratching the back of his head. “Didn’t recognise you with those clothes on, we’ve been hounded lately by quite a few noble houses.”
That I already knew. Once both houses Manashaper and Goldmancer made it clear they weren’t looking to recruit the Collectors they had been swarmed with recruiting offers from all the small houses. Then again that was also partially why I was there.
“That’s not all that unrelated to why I am here.” I said, but the atmosphere turned more tense and serious once the words left my mouth.
“You’re here to recruit us?” Jones asked with a small frown. “I would have expected Ajax in that case, heard he did the delve with those guard recruits.”
“Ajax is already stretched thin.” I said trying to cover the guilt I felt at that. “Only reason he could even do that much was because he was given a free pass on his delving exam at the Academy.”
“Anyway, I’m not just here to ask you to join us.” I changed the topic. “I’m here with a request.”
“Oh, what have you got for us?” the frown disappeared from Jones’s face. Orıginal content can be found at 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝~𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖~𝕟𝕖𝕥
“I have a delve slot, and I was looking to get the first floor stat point for both myself and one of our retainers.” I said as I slid the written request to Jones.
“You want us to join your House?” Nelly asked while Jones looked over the request. “You know you’re not the best offer we have.”
“Not in the short term, no.” I agree. “But you’ve all seen how Ajax improves and pushes, I think we are your best offer longer term. Not only that but you’ve gotten to know pretty much all of us that half a year you spent delving with Ajax, do you trust any offer as much as you’d trust ours.”
“Yes” Nelly said but then deflated a little. “But those offers aren’t that much better than yours in the short term either.”
“I don’t see how you’ll kill a level thirty-five to meet the requirements for that stat point Tom.” Jones said as he finished reading the request.
“I got a trick for that.” I answered with a grin. “Turns out you can have your familiar help you and you still get the point because of the link with the bond. As long as I do something besides sitting and watching I’ll get the credit.”
“We’ll definitely take the request, then,” Jones said. “Any extra delve to the second floor is one we’ll take, our new healer could use it.”
Nelly’s son was just a few years older than me and he had only managed to start delving a year ago just as Ajax left for the capital, I knew the team would want any extra delve they could get their hands on so they could help him catch up with them.
“Think of this request as an interview” I said as I stood up. “Me and the beastkin will be the ones you’ll have to work with if you decide to join us.”
“One more thing.” Jones said as I started to walk away. “What’s with the fancy clothes, I can’t even blame Bobby for not recognising you.”
“My grandparents insisted on it when I am out of the guard uniform.” I answered back to his grinning face, there was also no way I was going to admit that while my grandparents had insisted on my clothing it was also so much more comfortable.