Danmachi: Scavenger

Due to the fact that it got dark soon after leaving the Guild, Rex decided to go out to eat at a high-end, expensive restaurant owned by the Annapurna Familia. That night, he spent almost ninety thousand valis on food that was… some of the best he'd ever tasted.

People might think that spices in DanMachi would be as rare as they were in medieval times, but that wasn't the case. After all, this world did have a dungeon that produced fantastical monsters and materials, with the middle floor's Large Tree Labyrinth housing a variety of exotic seasonings.

Of course, since these seasonings were found in the lower middle floors, they were expensive, so only rich restaurants like the one he visited or places like the Hostess of Fertility could afford to sell food with high-quality seasonings. This was also one of the reasons the Hostess of Fertility was so popular—affordable food with superb seasonings. And the women. The all-female staff certainly didn't hurt.

The next day, Rex went to the Goibniu Familia and placed his order for weapons and armor. One might ask why not go to the Hephaestus Familia? Well, it was simple. Hephaestus specialized in mass-produced goods, while Goibniu focused on custom-made gear.

Of course, that didn't mean Goibniu didn't do mass-produced items or vice versa—it just wasn't their specialty. Besides, since Goibniu smiths worked collaboratively—unlike the Hephaestus Familia, where each smith worked alone and competed—commissioned equipment was completed faster.

He then followed Rose's advice and got himself Salamander Wool, commissioning one of the Rhapso Familia shops to make clothes for him. Rose had suggested this to protect him from the fire of Hellhounds, but Rex got it more so his clothes wouldn't burn from his own fire breath or the Hellhounds'.

After that, he met up with the Golden retriever known as Naaza, who was way more excited to see him than he was to see her—like a dog reuniting with its owner after a few days apart. It didn't show on her face, but her tail betrayed her excitement, which made Rex more wary of those new appendages he kept forgetting about.

He didn't really need any potions since, during his last mass scavenging, he'd gotten a few health and mind potions. Still, he went to pay off his debt and take her up on her discount for purchases above thirty thousand. He ended up buying five more mind potions, which came out to 49,300 valis after the discount. And then…

"What do you think of this?" Rex asked, holding out his newly bottled blue dust. 'I've been forgetting about this.'

Naaza's sleepy eyes flicked to the bottle, her expression unchanging at first, but as she leaned forward to inspect it, her purple eyes widened slightly. "Is that… Blue Papilio powder?" she murmured. 

"Yes." Rex replied, letting the girl take the bottle from his hand. "I got it from a friend and was wondering if I could use it."

Uncorking the vial cautiously, Naaza brought it close to her nose, her canine ears twitching as she analyzed the scent. "It could be inhaled, providing healing effects without any adverse reactions..." she noted. Turning the vial gently in her hands, she added, "Typically, Blue Papilio powder disintegrates upon prolonged exposure to air. How did your friend manage to stabilize it?"

"I don't know," Rex shrugged. "But do you think I could sell it?"

"You can." Naaza nodded, her eyes narrowing. "This form functions much like a health potion, which is bizarre. Normally, the powder requires purification to remove its inherent toxicity which would turn it into something else..." Her voice trailed off, then she looked up at him.

"... Can I buy this?" She asked, her expression softening as she tried to give the puppy dog eyes. Safe to say, her sleepy eyes made that impossible.

"Of course." Rex smiled, "You can even have it for free." He, after all, had an infinity of that and he didn't need her broke money. He was a rich young master.

"Really?" Her tail swayed gently behind her. "Thank you, Rex." She offered a slight bow before carefully placing the vial under the counter.

"I'll be on my way then," Rex said, as Naaza gave a small wave goodbye.

'I'm partially paying off their debt.' Rex thought as he looked down at his reusable bag with the potion. '...But how do they get the money to keep making potions if no one is buying it? There is no way they are making profit, right?' 

He thought for a while before shaking his head. 'I guess that's why Naaza keeps putting me in debt so I can come back to pay it and then buy something else since I was already there.' 

That's right. He had left with a 25 thousand debt after the female pharmacist decided to give him a high potion for only 20 thousand instead of the 45 thousand she was selling it for. He could have paid off his debt right then and there or even used his dust to pay it off but decided not to.

'What to do now…' He had done all he needed to be done, so… 'I guess I can use this chance to learn to read.' The library was nearby so he could go there and teach himself. It shouldn't be that hard. 

'Nah.' he decided against it. 'Let's go to the dungeon today.' He wasn't planning on going into the middle floor yet and just wanted to spend time in the lower upper floor getting used to his new and improved stats. 

So he made it down to floor 11 without once encountering a single monster. Well, he saw them, but instead of attacking immediately like they normally would, they just turned around and ran away. An effect of Predator, he assumed. He didn't even see the Prey Mark pop up like it had on Zanis yesterday.

Even after wandering the lower upper floors, he hadn't been attacked once. The imps had scattered like frightened rats, and the orcs refused to even meet his gaze, they just… left. He almost felt... emo.

'I feel like one of those protagonists with a menacing aura—where everyone trembles in their presence.' Rex glanced down at his clothes. 'Now I just need to wear all black and a cloak that will one-hundred percent hinder my fighting ability, and I'll fit the archetype perfectly—'

*ROOOOOOOO!*

The deafening roar of a silverback shattered his thoughts. He turned his head slightly, catching sight of the two-meter-tall beast charging toward him, its massive frame shaking the ground with each thunderous step.

'Ara, ara,' Rex sighed, running a hand through his hair as the silverback pulled back its tree-trunk-sized arm. 'A monkey that doesn't know its place.'

The silverback threw its fist forward—a blow powerful enough to crush a skull like an overripe fruit. Rex didn't even bother turning to face it. He simply extended his right arm, opening his palm.

*BOOM*

The impact crashed into his hand like a hammer against steel. The force didn't budge him an inch, but the energy transferred through his body, down his legs, and into the ground, spiderweb cracks radiating outward from where he stood.

The silverback's eyes widened, its primal rage flickering into confusion as it locked onto Rex's glowing orange eyes. Then, a small red skull—visible only to Rex—appeared above its head. The beast froze, its entire body trembling, its once-ferocious roar reduced to a whimper.

"Know your place," Rex said, his voice low and cold, almost bored. He released the silverback's fist, which remained suspended in mid-air, locked in its futile attack pose while it trembled. He stepped closer, his movements deliberate, each footfall echoing like a death knell. "Trash."

With a single, effortless punch, Rex's fist tore through the silverback's torso. A gaping, head-sized hole ripped open, its innards spilling onto the dungeon floor behind it in a wet, grotesque cascade. The beast coughed violently, a torrent of blood spraying across Rex's face before it collapsed backward, lifeless.

Rex stood there for a moment, blood dripping down his features, his expression 'cold.' Slowly running a hand across his face, smearing away the blood, with the dungeon light casting sharp shadows over his expression. Then—

"Fuck, I was so emo," he cringed, using his shirt to wipe the blood from his face. 'How do people even act like that daily? And then girls will be fawning over him like he's some kind of savior.'

He lowered his now blood-soaked shirt, his gaze lingering on the hole in the silverback's chest. 'But still,' he thought, flexing his fist, 'That was way stronger than I thought.'

He expected the chest to cave in, not just burst without any resistance. 'Is this the power of level two?' he thought, flexing his fingers. He hadn't felt it earlier when he first leveled up, but now, the raw power coursing through his fist was undeniable. 'Let's test this new power.'

The rest of the day was spent getting accustomed to his heightened prowess. Thankfully, he could 'turn off' Predator's passive effect; otherwise, most monsters would freeze in fear the moment he decided to attack, leaving him with no way to properly test his strength.

And because he had maxed out all his stats at level one, the boost from leveling up had pushed him far beyond the capabilities of any level one monster on the upper floors. Which, ironically, brought about another problem.

He launched himself into the air, his body twisting mid-flight as he delivered a flying kick to an orc's head. The impact was brutal—its skull shattered in like a watermelon struck by a sledgehammer, bone fragments and brain matter exploding outward. He landed lightly on his feet, only to be immediately swarmed by a pack of imps that darted around him like a school of piranhas, their tiny claws slashing wildly

His own claws moved faster, slicing through them with ease, their silver innards splashing around, and once the last fell, a silverback lunged from the fog, its massive arm swinging in a wide arc. Rex ducked low, the gust of air from the swipe ruffling his hair and in one fluid motion, he dashed forward, closing the distance between them. 

His right hand shot out like a spear, claws piercing through the silverback's forehead with sickening ease and his hand sinking deep into its skull. He felt the warm, squishy resistance of its brain as he grabbed the magic stone lodged within and yanked it free, bits of gray matter clinging to his hand. The silverback's body disintegrated into dust before it even hit the ground.

As he straightened, Hard Armored monster came rolling toward him at full speed, but Rex simply extended his free arm, catching the heavy creature mid-roll like someone tossing him a basketball. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he threw it like a bowling ball, sending it crashing into a cluster of monsters and knocking them off their feet.

He flexed his legs and launched himself forward, vanishing in a blur. In the blink of an eye, he reappeared in front of another Silverback. His knee crashed into its face with the force of a battering ram, the impact caving its skull inward. Bone and flesh crunched beneath his blow, its magic stone shattering as the beast turned to dust.

Landing softly, he raised his head, orange eyes locking onto the remaining approaching monster party through the fog, their growls and snarls filling the air. 

'Katon…' he thought, inhaling deeply as he performed multiple hand seals from Naruto. His back arched as his lungs filled with air, his cheeks puffing slightly, then with horse seal—

'Gōka Mekkyaku!'

—he exhaled.

A concentrated stream of fire erupted from his lips—thin and precise at first, but it expanded in an instant, blooming into a tsunami of flames. The sheer heat warped the air, distorting the area and evaporating the fog as the inferno swept forward like an unstoppable tidal wave. It roared with the fury of a thousand bonfires, engulfing everything in its path.

The smaller monsters never even had time to scream—their silhouettes flickered briefly against the blinding wave of fire before crumbling into ash. Hard Armored glowed red-hot, their shells cracking, splitting apart before they, too, disintegrated. Silverbacks and orcs managed a brief, guttural roar before the flames swallowed them whole, their bodies reduced to little more than charred husks.

After a few seconds, Rex lowered his hands and stopped the stream of fire. He stood there, staring at the scorched battlefield, the ground blackened and smoldering, with flew dancing embers in the air. The air was thick with the smell of burnt flesh and ash

"Yeah, this floor is not challenging anymore." he mumbled while rolling his shoulders. The difference between his level one and two selves are like the difference between heaven and earth. Even without going all out he could dog walk a MAX triple S Indomitable Will Halberd wielding, Rex.

It had been fun at first, mowing through monsters like they were nothing. But the thrill had faded quickly. Even forcing a monster party to swarm him hadn't been enough of a challenge. All it took was one breath of fire, and they were gone, reduced to ashes.

'Should I go down right now?' he wondered, bending down to pick up magic stones and tossing them into a plastic bag he'd brought along. 'Nah, let's wait till I get my weapons.' He decided not to be reckless.

So he left the dungeon, sold his magic stones through the guild receptionist Sophie, went home, showered, and entered reverie. He woke up early in the morning, but with nothing to do, he went back to sleep—this time, real sleep—and woke up again late in the morning, around ten. After brushing, he went straight to the lunchroom and got something to eat.

'Damn,' Rex thought as he ate lunch in silence. 'I legit don't have anything to do outside of the dungeon.' 

At least back on earth when he wasn't working, he had his mobile games like Mobile League or Genshin Impact, but here, there was nothing. 'What do people even do to have fun outside the dungeon?' Walk around the city and look at random stuff? Shopping?

Deciding not to dwell on it, Rex finished his meal and headed to the Rhapso Familia shop to pick up his new adventuring clothes. After dropping the box home, he decided to stop being lazy and went to the library to teach himself to read with the assistance of Scavenger. 

That was how two days passed, with Rex dedicating himself to learning how to read and write. Naturally, with Indomitable Will granting him rapid skill mastery, he had already mastered reading Koine by the end of the first day. That left the second day open for him to start learning the languages of other races.

The Elves' language was Sindarin—which was a blatant ripoff of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The Dwarves spoke Khazadûl, a language that bore a strong resemblance to Icelandic. The Amazons' language was called Tupi-guarani, while the Prums spoke Basque—another language from Earth. Meanwhile, the Chienthropes had their own tongue called Canis, with the beast humans having all their own languages.

Beyond racial languages, there were also Regional Languages. The Far East spoke Japanese, while those in the Northern Mountains had a dialect similar to Sami. The majority of the Kaios Desert spoke Saharic, which was essentially Arabic from Earth. And then there was Koine, the universal trade language, much like English back on Earth—a mishmash of borrowed words from different races with simplistic grammar to make it easy to learn for most.

Of course, it was impossible to become fluent in all of them in just two days. Instead, Rex focused on mastering the written forms of Sindarin and Canis. He could read and write them, but speaking and understanding them in conversation was another challenge altogether. Practicing in the library was out of the question, and without anyone to converse with, he couldn't train his ear to the nuances of the languages. Still, for now, it was good enough.

But the true highlight of his second day came later that night. When he returned home, he found a package waiting for him at the entrance—a delivery from the Goibniu Familia. It had arrived a full day earlier than expected.

His equipment had finally arrived.

He didn't open the box immediately, choosing instead to savor the anticipation for the morning, when he would head back into the dungeon. That night, he entered reverie, his body naturally waking after just a four hours of reverie. Rex sat up in bed, the room still dark, the faintest glow of pre-dawn slipping through the curtains. 

He exhaled slowly, stretching his arms overhead, feeling the slight resistance in his muscles, before getting off his bead. He went to the bathroom, took a shit, brushed, skipped showering—since he was heading into the dungeon anyway—and returned to his room to prepare for the day.

The attire he had tailored wasn't extravagant or flashy, but it was perfect for his needs. First was a simple, form-fitting, charcoal-gray undershirt that clung to his lean frame, accentuating his muscles. Paired with it were durable, fitted dark trousers with subtle hints of red, and around his waist, his utility belt. 

All the clothes were made from Salamander Wool, which was naturally red, but he had paid extra to have the color altered. He didn't want to be walking around in all-red attire—he wasn't blood.

With his clothes done, Rex moved over to the boxes and opened the first one. Inside were the armor pieces, the first being the dark-red breastplate, its sleek design contouring his physique perfectly, reaching down to his upper abdomen.

Next were the dark-red gauntlets, extending up to his mid-biceps, and segmented to ensure mobility, each finger capped in crimson metal, subtly pointed to give a claw-like appearance. The final piece of armor was the pair of long, dark-red boots that stopped just below his knees, designed with the same segmented style as the gauntlets.

With the armor worn, he turned to the final boxes, containing his new weapons. His main weapon was a halberd, slightly longer than his previous one. Its design was a copy of Leysritt's Halberd from Fate Stay Night, but with a reversed color scheme—predominantly dark-red with white accents on the blade, hook, and spear tip.

He had also ordered four other weapons. The first was a simple 15th-century longsword with a silver blade, a dark-red leather handle, and a sharp tip. The second was an 80 cm single-handed arming sword, a near twin to the longsword in both blade and handle design. The final weapon was a pair of concealable stiletto daggers, the four weapons coming with its own leather scabbard.

Every weapon and armor had been crafted using dragon drops and other high-grade materials, making them all third-class items. However, the halberd was a 'high-end' piece, according to Scavenger, with a market value of 3.7 million valis. Thanks to providing all the dragon drops himself, he had paid only 2.3 million, with the longsword costing 790,000 valis, the arming sword 527,000, and the dual daggers 190,000 each.

Adding in the cost of the armor pieces—153,000 valis—and the Salamander Wool clothes—40,000 valis—his entire outfit came to a staggering 4.2 million valis, with a market value exceeding 5 million.

Turning to the mirror, he took a long look at himself. Dark clothing. Crimson armor. A halberd that looked like it had been crafted for a warlord. The swords on his belt. The daggers concealed. He looked like one of those arrogant young masters who showed off expensive gear without knowing how to use it.

A slow grin stretched across his face.

"Fufufu~" he chuckled to himself as he adjusted the angle of his halberd on his shoulder. "I'm currently wearing someone's yearly salary~" For a moment, he almost wanted to flaunt it, but he quickly dismissed the thought. Unbuckling the two swords, he placed them in his bag so they wouldn't hinder his movement. 

Throwing a dark salamander cloak over his body, he turned and headed out to get something to eat, pack some snacks, and then descend into the middle floors of the dungeon.

[Author's Note: Longest chapter I have written and posted. 3402 words without author's note.

I wanted this chapter to end his break between level one and level 2 and wanted Rex to return to the dungeon the next chapter, so I crammed two chapters worth of content into one. I hope it didn't feel rushed or jarring to read.

If you're curious, 8 days from now is when Bell and party will arrive at floor 18 and 11 days from now is when the Black Goliath would spawn, and that would be one of the major plot the MC will be a part of, and his first major interactions with the main casts.

Anyway, thanks for reading ~~]