Danmachi: Scavenger

The second dragon Rex killed was on the twelfth floor, and while it was a bit harder than the first, he still emerged victorious with only a broken left arm. Absorbing its magic stone gave him no new skill, magic, or physical property, which was disappointing, but it did max out his magic stats at 999.

For the third dragon, he attempted a no-hit run but ended up getting slammed across his side by the dragon's tail when he overextended too close. That near-fatal mistake almost cost him his head, but he still managed to win with minimal injuries. This time, he gained the Physical Property: Nictitating Membrane—a semi-transparent, secondary eyelid.

Of course, he absorbed it immediately. Even though he could now ignore fire due to 'Body Furnace,' the embers still irritated his eyes. Not only that, the membrane would shield his eyes from debris, wind, and dirt, and keep them hydrated without needing to blink as often. It would also be useful for swimming, which he would undoubtedly need when he reached the lower floors, starting at floor 25.

'I've heard those floors are filled with water, so swimming is almost a requirement if you want to make it your main hunting ground,' he mumbled while feeling around his eyes. Like his other physical properties, the membrane wouldn't fully manifest until after a good night's sleep, so it wasn't there yet.

'I'll definitely need to swim to get the stronger water monsters' abilities, so this PP shouldn't be too bad…' He paused. 'I shouldn't abbreviate Physical Property.'

You might think this second eyelid would make him look like a monster, but that wasn't the case. A nictitating membrane was a common anomaly among animal people. Just as someone could be born with an extra finger, animal people could be born with an extra eyelid. Sure, it was rare, but it wouldn't make him look any less Chienthrope.

It was a good physical property that— "Ouch." He grunted, flinching as the fog stung the scratch left by the dragon's fangs on his left temple. The wound was being healed by his Blue Papilio Powder, but it would take about five minutes to close completely. "This magic is undoubtedly the best thing I've ever received."

Having it mean he can survive almost any injuries that can be healed—he doubted he can re-grow lost limbs or create new organs, and he didn't want to test that. It is also the main reason why he can hunt as much as he does, or was even confident in going after the Infant Dragons. 

Still, he needed to be careful. Just because he could now solo an Infant Dragon with confidence and heal almost all injuries didn't mean he was invincible. Hell, even a Silverback could one-shot him if it landed a good punch to the back of his head or his spine. 

He wasn't an immortal level one.

His ear twitched, and he heard the flapping of a Bad Bat's wings as it flew closer and closer. With a flick of his wrist, he pulled out his dagger from its sheath and tossed it into the fog. There was a loud screech, followed by a light thud as the bat hit the ground. Standing up from his sitting position against a tree, he walked over to the almost cat-sized bat, his dagger sticking out of its chest, its wings still twitching.

'Indomitable Will is really something,' he thought as he squatted to pull out the dagger. His skill at dagger throwing was now at the level of a professional who had been doing it for years.

Even his mastery with the halberd had surpassed his sword skills. Combining Scavenger's self-teaching capability and Indomitable Will's rapid skill acquisition, he had essentially become a weapon prodigy. If he wanted, he could pick up a spear and master it in a few hours, truly becoming Rex Lapis.

He might do that when he had the time.

'Should I absorb the stone?' he wondered, staring down at the bat.

After a few seconds of thought, he nodded, deciding to keep absorbing all magic stones from floors ten through twelve until he 'graduated' to the middle floors. Then, he would start selling the stones obtained in the lower upper floors and begin absorbing those from the middle floors. Even though they barely gave him any points now, there was still the chance of obtaining a skill.

Grabbing the bat's head, he absorbed its magic stone and mentally dismissed the screens, as they were the same as the others—single points in some stats. "Is there a maximum on how high my stats can go?"

— — — — — — — — — —

Rex Magnus

Level 1 (Can Level Up)

[Strength] SS1113 | [Endurance] SSS1201 | [Dexterity] SS1093 | [Agility] SS1107 | [Magic] SS1004

[Skill]

"Scavenger"

— Harvest stats, skills, magic, properties, or treasure from corpses and evaluate quality. (Skill: Powerful Body, Body Furnace), (Magic: Blue Papilio Powder, Fire Breath), (Physical Property: Sharp Retractable Claw, Nictitating Membrane)

"Indomitable Will"

— Grants immunity to mind-based attacks, enhances physical and magical growth through trials, enables multitasking and rapid skill mastery, and in dire moments, suppresses pain, boosts mental fortitude, and significantly increases all stats.

— — — — — — — — — —

Endurance had broken 1200 and turned into SSS, which made him wonder, 'What's next, SSS Plus? SSSS? XS?' He doubted it. Seeing as it was now triple S, he guessed 1299 would be the max for all stats. It only made sense.

S was 900 to 999—a 100-point range. SS was 1000 to 1199—a 200-point range. And SSS… was 1200 to 1299?

"No, that doesn't make sense," he shook his head, frowning. 'If S is a hundred-point jump, and SS is a two-hundred-point jump, then SSS should increase by three hundred, not just one hundred.' His eyes widened slightly as the pattern clicked in his mind. 100 for one S, 200 for two S… 300. "Then the max should be…"

1500.

"Well, one thousand four hundred ninety-nine," he corrected himself as he stood from his squatting position after cleaning the blood from his dagger on the grass.

1499 should be the theoretical max of his stats at maximum triple S, unless it starts entering the quadruple S range, at which point the max would go up to 1999. At that point, it might as well reach the quintuple S range, bringing it to 2499. Then it should…

'Yeah, I think triple S should be the max,' he decided. "But that's just a theory. A game theory!"

'Yeah, I think triple S should be the max,' Rex decided, his voice echoing faintly in the quiet dungeon. "But that's just a theory. A game theory!"

He missed YouTube.

Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair, the motion slow and deliberate. "So, should I max out my stats?" At this point, he had already surpassed everyone at the level 1 peak. 'Now that I think of it, didn't Bell have that skill that makes him grow faster the more he loves someone? Right…'

Memories he had long forgotten about the show began to resurface. "Right, it was something like 'Laars Free'es?'" He didn't quite remember the name. "Or was it Argonaut? No, that one was the skill that increased his attack power by three times, right?"

He sighed again, louder this time. 'I could have at least gotten a warning before being thrown into this world so I could've gone through the wiki one more time or something.' But from what he could recall, Bell had also managed to reach double S, making the two of them the only special ones to break the 999 limit.

'And I'm guessing he maxed out all his stats before leveling up,' Rex thought. Bell was the protagonist of the story, so it only made sense that the author would have him max out his stats before leveling. 'Which means I can't fall behind. I need to max out all my stats.'

Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes, a single drop sliding down his left cheek.

"I need to grind..." He looked up at the dungeon ceiling, his voice heavy with resignation. "Hard..."

It was worth noting that even scavenging Infant Dragons now only gave him around 3 points per stat after all his stats reached SS, though normal excelia gave him about 20. Even with the combined ~23 points per Infant Dragon, he would still need to kill at least thirteen of them to level up.

Thirteen...?

"Only thirteen?" he mumbled, tilting his head. Yes, 'only' wasn't the right word, but... "That's way less than I thought."

He had assumed he'd have to kill far more, but thirteen seemed manageable. He could do that in two days if he paced himself—or even one day if he wanted to torture himself, which he wasn't going to do since he wasn't a masochist. 

After all, it wasn't like he could just go from Infant Dragon to Infant Dragon and kill them without rest. He needed time to recover. Even if he didn't sustain many injuries, the mental strain of fighting a creature that could kill him with one well-placed hit wasn't something he could just ignore.

"Okay," he said, walking back to his bag and picking it up along with his halberd. "Let's hunt more lizards after my wounds heal." But while he waited—

'Scavenger, lead me to a body I can scavenge.'

—he would become Rex the Scavenger.

'I especially need a body with a weapon, Scavenger,' he added. His halberd was starting to crack along the reinforced wooden shaft after the last fight, so he needed something like a sword or an axe. He wasn't going to try fighting with just a dagger. That would make things way too difficult...

'Should I try?' The thought crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed it as he made his way to the body scavenger found.

——— 

"Fuck," Rex mumbled, placing his palms on his knees as he bent over to catch his breath. 'I outdid myself.' 

He had ended up fighting his fifth Infant Dragon of the day with only his dagger, and it had been almost as difficult as his first-ever fight. The struggle had even triggered Indomitable Will's 'Last Stand,' pushing him to his absolute limit. Even Scavenger had told him it wasn't a high quality plan, but he wanted to 'test himself,' and see how much stronger he had become.

It had been a stupid, stupid plan. 

The dagger was practically useless. Even his bare fists had been more effective in the fight. He almost wanted to toss the little black blade, but he didn't—it was far too expensive to just throw away. 

"Haah," he sighed, straightening up and folding up his shirt's sleeve. His clothes had burned during his fourth dragon battle of the day, so he had changed into the extra set he had scavenged earlier. Those had also burned during his fifth fight, forcing him to change into yet another set of scavenged clothes.

Now, he wore simple black baggy pants that had belonged to a large bull man who had gotten his face caved in by a Silverback, paired with an equally baggy tunic shirt that reached down to his thighs. He had secured the pants with his utility belt to keep them from falling, the belt also holding his dagger and filled pouches. 

'I don't know how this utility belt keeps surviving,' he thought, glancing down at the worn leather. Scavenger had told him it was made of normal materials, so it should have burned by now. 'A plot device?' He didn't dwell on it. 

On his back was his adventurer bag, filled to the brim and straining under the weight. The bag stood over three feet tall and weighed well over three hundred and fifty pounds (158 kg). It was packed with drops from the Infant Dragons and other monsters he had killed, along with the items he had scavenged—weapons, armor, drops, magic stones, valis, potions, and a few spare sets of clothes. 

Now, he was on his way out of the dungeon. Nine hours had passed since he had entered, and he was too exhausted to continue. Especially after the last fight, where he had done something as foolish as fighting a dragon with nothing but a dagger. All he wanted was to go home, shower, eat, and sleep—

"Yo, bro," a voice snapped him out of his daze. He looked up to see a tall, light-skinned human male dressed in light armor with a sword at his waist.

'I'm so tired I didn't even notice this guy coming up to me...' He dragged a palm across his face to wake himself up. "What?"

"I just want to ask," the man cleared his throat, his nervous smile a little too forced, "if, hypothetically speaking, three ambitious individuals attempted to relieve you of your worldly possessions, would you resist with the tenacity of a man cornered by fate, or concede gracefully to the inevitability of your circumstances?"

'Why the fuck is he speaking like that?' Rex blinked as he started replying, "If they were basic level ones, then I guess I would..." He paused. "Why are you asking me that?" He assumed it was because he looked tired, and it likes some kind of warning, but something felt off.

"Because, my bro, you are about to be robbed," the man's tone dropped as he pulled out his sword. Two others stepped from around the corner like actors entering stage.

"Alright, let's expedite this transaction." one of them said, licking his dagger in a manner that served no practical purpose. "In the spirit of avoiding unnecessary bloodshed, we suggest you leave your belongings and walk away, bro.

"..." Rex sighed, dropping his bag and halberd before pulling his own dagger free. Their level one stats were unimpressive. He can deal with them, even with how tired he is. "Let's go, 'bro.'"

"Courting death?" The boss chucked, "Well, your choice—"

"Uh, boss…" the spear guy muttered, his eyes scanning Rex with something bordering on suspicion. "There's something profoundly ominous about this potential victim of our mugging."

"???" Rex ears twitched.

"He... he's right, boss," the dagger guy took a careful step back, his earlier confidence gone. "My instincts, which have an impeccable track record of keeping me alive, are currently screaming at me to reconsider our life choices. I am overwhelmingly certain that engaging with this man will end in catastrophic misfortune."

"There's an undeniable aura of immediate and irreversible regret radiating off of him." The spear guy lowered his spear, "I don't think we the protagonists in this currently occurring story."

"What?" Rex blinked. 'Aren't they supposed to be the cliché throwaway gangsters that appear just to show how strong the protagonist has become?'

The boss locked eyes with Rex's confused amber eyes and after a brief moment of contemplation, he exhaled and slid his sword back into its sheath. 

"Our unfortunate mistake." he said with an awkward chuckle. "We were just engaging in some lighthearted criminal mischief."

He turned as if to leave, but Rex wasn't done.

"No," he said, voice flat. "Attack me."

They froze.

Without breaking eye contact, Rex lifted his foot and nudged his bag, tilting it over. Infant Dragon scales spilled onto the ground, catching the dim light. "I've got high-grade loot," he gestured lazily. "You want it? You just have to kill me."

The trio didn't even glance at it.

"No, bro," the boss let out a dry laugh, shaking his head. "We're intelligently declining."

"That wasn't a request." Rex waved his dagger. "You are going to attack me. I am going to beat you all up. Then I will rob you. Key~?"

"Uh, boss." The dagger guy muttered, "I think we are being robbed."

"Oh, how the turntables."

"I think you mean how the 'Table has Turned,' boss."

"ATTACK ME!"

"YES SIR!"

[Author's Note: The next few chapters, as some people have commented, I will try to focus on his life outside the dungeon. Mainly with his relationships/friends etc to expand more on the world and who the old Rex was and more into the new Rex's mind. I feel like I have been spending too much time in the dungeon so far.

Now, for leveling up, I decided he should just max out his stats at 1499 due to the uncountable amount of people that were for it. Now, a new problem: Development ability. The kind of Development Ability a person could learn is based on the type of excelia they had collected up to that point. In a way, an adventurer had control over what kind of abilities appeared.

The protagonist has gotten a lot of level 1 excelia from Dragons, way more than any level 1 had ever gotten so I was thinking of a DA like Dragon Hunter (For the OEBD), but not sure. How useful will that DA be against things that aren't dragons? So maybe something simple like 'Monster Hunter' an upgraded version of 'Hunter,' or some other development ability? Just a thought.

Thanks for Reading (^_^)]