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The Core Problem
19. Party Grows

19. Party Grows

The biggest strength of white elves was, in fact, their clear lack of strength. They were so weak when compared to beastkin that their default threat level was a measly 5. That, in turn, meant that they could put a lot of things in her without driving her ETL past their current limit.

And that was going to be a problem. Why? Well, mostly by the virtue of them running out of their character limit for 1st Level Floor Guardian. That was, aside from their Throne Room, the location with the highest AML.

The operative word: aside from their Throne Room. And so, after some considerations, they elected to temporarily house at least Yaoyorozu and Kirishima in the Throne Room, quickly adding some side-rooms similar to what Uraraka and Toga had.

Eventually, they were going to move Uraraka and Toga to lower levels of the Dungeon - especially when they would obtain additional skills and better equipment that they could give them, thus driving their ETL past the limit for the 1st Level.

Izuku already had an idea of what to replace them with as 1st Level Floor Guardian. Or, to be exact, he and Tomura had two ideas. The first one was to put a [Hamadryad] there, but this opened up a problem - they weren’t sure how well she would do when put outside of the [Hamadryad’s Grove].

If she wasn’t going to do very well, then [Spider Maiden] with some [Giant Biter Spiders] and [Giant Spitter Spiders] could do. For now, though, it was Uraraka and Toga.

2nd Level Throne Room had a limit of 20 ETL. What they did first was to take the White Elf’s body in its female version and put Momo Yaoyorozu’s soul inside, while immediately adding [Hedge Mage Robe], [Hedge Mage Staff], [Staff Proficiency I], [Herbalism [Vestiria] II], [Basic Alchemy I], [Basic Enchanting I], [White Core I], [North Vestirian Language, Spoken VII], [North Vestirian Language, Written VI], [White Magic I], [Lesser Firebolt I], [Burst of Flames I], [Flametouch I], [Mist I], [Ball of Water I], [Waterbreath I], [Float I], [Move I], [Suppress Smell I], [Earthen Shield I], [Dirt Pellet I] and [Remove Footprints I].

Oddly enough, they could fit all their spells in her and still have her as [Hedge Mage, lvl 18]. However, another problem has immediately made itself known.

Check this out.

… why are her breasts like this?

For once, this isn’t me

Yes, I can tell.

Even the maximum slider setting does this

Same with age.

Must be some elven thing.

Set the age to 18 and size slider to default, we’ll see what she thinks about it.

Yeah

Are we making that Kirishima guy too while at it?

I think that we have enough RM and that’s one less time we need to have that talk

Alright. So, let’s check out what we have there.

The problem with the ogres was that their baseline physique was so tough that their default ETL surpassed even that of the beastkin - they’ve started with a whopping 0.9, and were only going to go up from there.

To make things better, Kirishima was going to hate 2nd Level, and was going to have problems with most of their Dungeon as is, as the lowest height that a grown up ogre could have according to the System was slightly above 2m.

So, they took a male ogre body, and put Kirishima’s soul inside. Then, the big problem was what to do about his equipment. Because the new unlocks that they thought came from the assimilated ogre were a bit…

This

is a loincloth

and his weapon

is a fucking tree

Apparently an ironwood tree.

Pretty long, straight, fairly narrow and still covered in bark, at least they cut off the branches.

That ogre was literally fighting with a cut-down tree.

I know, right?

Are we, like, putting that in?

I mean, why not?

It seems to be made from ‘ironwood’ and that’s pretty strong material, I think.

In fact this weapon seems to add a whole 0.4 to the ETL

… okay

After the [Ironwood Tree] and [Ogre Loincloth], they add [Heavy Blunt Weapons Proficiency II], [Hammer of the Wilds School I], [Woodcutting II], [Mana Pathways I], [Temperate Forest Survival II], [North Vestirian Language, Spoken VI], [Shockwave I], [Fortify Flesh I], [Heavy Blow I] and [Dash I].

All of that has created a [Barbarian Juggernaut, lvl 20] template. They’ve narrowly made it.

We’re not giving him an ability to read?

Why? There’s nothing to read here, and if you want, you can write down and read Japanese, no way anyone here can read it

we just need them to be able to understand what enemies speak in combat

and it’s always additional mana we’re wasting

Sigh.

Then why not give him a highest level [North Vestirian Language, Spoken] while at it? Why only give it to Yaoyorozu-san?

Try to change it if you want to

ETL 21, really?

Really.

How does giving him an ability to speak more eloquently makes him stronger as a fighter?!

I think that the ‘Threat Level’ doubles as ‘Power Level’, as in the level of power that we’ve put in them, and combat skills are just costlier

Makes sense, I guess.

Alright then, let’s get it done.

… what about sliders?

I’ve done nothing with the sliders.

Am I supposed to believe it?

I’ve done nothing with the sliders.

It’s all on default settings.

Which, by the way, you should work with because his default height is 220cm and this is going to make him hate the 2nd Level ceilings

Though I have to mention that I did notice a very particular slider and considering its minimal value - and what’s the default value that it’s on right now - ladies are going to be all over him

Unless they’ll be too scared, which feels like a valid reaction, especially if we got closer to maximum setting

I didn’t want to know that

Sucks to be you, then

If we age him a bit more, he might be in his late twenties, that would definitely fit his… current body more, at least numbers-wise

C E A S E A N D D E S I S T

Or I will show you catgirl Nedzu.

Alright, alright, chill

Fine.

No need to resort to war crimes

***

The first moments of Kirishima and Yaoyorozu’s new lives resembled a two-way spiderman pointing at each other meme, at least to Tomura Shigaraki. The similarity was lost on anyone other than him.

“Eh, Yaoyorozu-san?” Kirishima blinks. “Why do you have elven ears? And is this a cosplay? And why do you look so… small?”

“Elven ea…” Yaoyorozu touches her ears only for her ears to open wide almost comically. “Wait, before that, why do you have horns on your head? And why are you so large ?”

This is funny to me

Because ‘small’ and ‘large’ could also mean something else

Here, catgirl Nedzu

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK MY EYEES

“I do know how to answer all those questions, but it’s going to be a trip.” Uraraka informs them, which is when they realize that they aren’t alone in the room.

“Uraraka-san, are those… wolf ears? And a tail?” Yaoyorozu blinks at her, clearly having problems processing, well, everything. “And also a shield and a spear, and… is this some sort of fantasy anime cosplay party? Did someone spiked my drink and make me forget that I was attending it for some inexplicable reason?”

“That’s…” Uraraka freezes for a second. “That’s actually a pretty sensible first moment explanation. Definitely better than the usual ‘it has to be a dream’. But no. It’s… I think that we should all sit down and have a quick talk about what exactly happened. Izuku, could you quickly make us a table and some chairs?”

No problem, I just have to wrangle Shigaraki into shape for him to be able to accept it, he’s currently having a psychotic episode triggered by me showing him a picture of catgirl Nedzu.

FUUUUUCK YOUUUUU MIIIDOOORIIIYAAAAAA

And here, Ogre!Nedzu - Mr. Principal at his tallest and most musclebound self.

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGRHgtsebgtbgirtporthrtnh

“Izuku, you’re not helping.” Uraraka sighs loudly, Kirishima and Yaoyorozu giving her a confused look. “I get that making Shigaraki suffer is something you’re deeply enjoying, but please , I need you here right now.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Right.

Accept this, Shigaraki, or you’ll feel my wrath.

And he does. Almost immediately, a table surrounded by a few chairs spawns in the corner of the room. Yaoyorozu immediately stares at it with a somewhat puzzled expression, likely trying to figure out what sort of quirk it was.

It was going to be a lengthy talk.

***

“So, let me reiterate.” Yaoyorozu says thirty minutes later, having managed to shake out of that thousand yard stare she was giving them a moment ago. “We’re copies of whom we remember ourselves as, we’re living in a fantasy world and there is no going back, we’re all now a part of some very elaborate underground death trap for people, alongside members of the League, and our job is to kill or, if possible, incapacitate people.”

“And we can’t avoid doing all that or we’ll be left at the non-existent mercy of a local god of evil.” Uraraka replies. “Yes, that’s the situation we’re currently in. Also they’re technically former members of the League.”

“I…” Yaoyorozu blinks in shock. Kirishima spent most of the time just listening to their talk, and kept to it even now. “Why are you calm about it?”

“Well, I had a while to get over it.” Uraraka replies while shrugging. “And I’m something of a combat junkie, let’s be real. I wasn’t here for a long time, but I’ve already got to fight walking skeletons, a bunch of poisonous spiders the size of a large dog and a human-spider hybrid larger than that. And I’m still angry at myself for sleeping while Toga was fighting that fae. None of that is something that I could do back on Earth.”

“And… what about killing some human beings?” Yaoyorozu asks. “Eventually, you… we ’ll have to do that.”

“Then if we’ll have to, we will.” Uraraka shrugs again, Yaoyorozu giving her a shocked look. “Yaoyorozu-san, this world isn’t as nice as ours. There’s no police we can call for help, and we’re sitting on a priceless treasure. One that we cannot give away, or we’ll all die. If someone wants to take it away, we have to protect ourselves.”

“From what you’ve told, Dungeons are predators, luring their prey to themselves.” Yaoyorozu replies. “Prey in the form of people.”

Which was regretfully a correct assessment. There is no denying it.

“Prey that knows that they’re walking into a trap.” Uraraka counters. “We’re not luring random people, we’re not leaving candies outside of our doors to make unattended children wander inside. Even if someone gets inside, they know that they’re coming into a dangerous place, and consciously decide to accept the risks. It’s like scaling a wall of a private property in America, ignoring the ‘trespassers will be shot’ sign, and then being shot.”

I didn’t expect you to go that far.

Don’t be too… influenced by Toga, okay?

“Thank you for your concerns, Izuku.” Uraraka replies calmly and confidently. “But I’m doing fine. If anything, I’ve just decided to get adapted to this world before a random encounter will force me to do it. So yes, if I have to kill someone, I will, for as long as they attack me first or it’s inside the Dungeon.”

Your girlfriend is pretty cool

Unlike you

You want another cursed image?

Maybe naked ogre Dabi with that slider set to the max?

NO PLEASE DON’T DO THAT TO ME

“I…” Yaoyorozu tries to say something but it’s clear that she doesn’t know what. She is looking at Uraraka as if she met her for the first time in her life. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am.” Uraraka replies while defiantly staring back at her. “Yaoyorozu-san, I’ll be honest with you. The faster we all understand that we’ll end up having to do this sooner or later, the better we’ll do when it will happen.”

“Yaoyorozu-san…” Kirishima tries to cut in, but he leans towards Yaoyorozu and that makes his chair crash under the weight of his body. He just sighs loudly and stands up, which only makes it more clear how much he’s dwarfing them. “Yaoyorozu-san, I think that jumping to conclusions here is a bit… not manly at all.”

“And why so?” Yaoyorozu replies with a question.

“Because we weren’t here to see what made Uraraka-san change her mind to this degree.” Kirishima replies. His lack of clearly visible and audible enthusiasm made it clear just how much the news shocked him. “Let’s… not judge. We’re all classmates, right? I dunno about you, but I think that I know Uraraka-san long-enough to know that she wasn’t the sort of a person to resort to acting like that without a reason. She always struck me as extremely manly.”

Once, Uraraka would have been confused about being called ‘manly’. Now, however, everyone knows that in Kirishima’s language it’s just a word for ‘cool’ and ‘respectful’ given regardless of the target’s gender and learned to accept it.

“I… guess.” Yaoyorozu deflates a bit. “I’m sorry for acting like this, Uraraka-san, I guess that the circumstances have…”

“... made you overreact.” Uraraka finishes for her. “I know. I think it’s… pretty normal. I still have problems processing it all, you get me? Izuku helped me a lot, I was really feeling down at the beginning.”

“I think I understand what you mean.” Yaoyorozu sighs. “So, I’m an elf now?”

“Yes.” Uraraka replies. Izuku can’t help but sigh with relief in the background. Yaoyorozu processed the bulk of the revelations and moved over to thinking constructively. “And no, we don’t know a lot about the elves of this world. We got that particular body because the local beastkin decided to show us how nice they are by sacrificing a bunch of people in the entrance of our Dungeon. Hopefully some irredeemable criminals, but we can’t be sure.”

“Sacrificing?” Kirishima asks in shock, Yaoyorozu losing her ability to speak for a moment.

“Lives in this world appear pretty cheap.” Uraraka replies while shrugging. “Our best informant about this world is apparently a lesser elven deity that inhabits a body of her priestess that got sacrificed in the process. Hell, one of the beastkin died in a trap that was supposed to be non-lethal but didn’t work as intended, and his leader’s response to it was to berate him for being stupid and weak enough to die like this.”

“Yes, this is… definitely not Earth.” Yaoyorozu replies. She sounds defensive , and that’s putting it mildly. “I need to ask you a very important question. Kirishima-kun, please ignore what I’ll now say.” Kirishima gives her a confused look as she locks her eyes with Uraraka. “Uraraka-san, why are my…” She then circles her hands around her previously spectacular breasts.

Operative word was ‘previously’.

Make no mistake, they were still sizable, but to Uraraka’s eye they were D-cups at best. Definitely less than what they used to be. In fact they were now of comparable size to what Uraraka was sporting.

If anything, she might be having a slight edge over Yaoyorozu on that particular field.

Kirishima coughs loudly and averts his eyes while blushing a little. Yeah, that definitely wasn’t a subject that he was comfortable with.

“Errr, apparently there was a set limit for that in the character creation.” Uraraka replies. “It might be some elven thing, they seem to be having that slender build going for them in general.”

Even Aeonia had a body built that could be described as ‘graceful’ and ‘slender’ rather than ‘curvaceous’ or ‘generous’. Those just weren’t the same bodily proportions as what some human women had.

Some human women including Momo Yaoyorozu, or at least Momo Yaoyorozu while on Earth.

“I see.” Momo says slowly. “I’m definitely looking forward to testing this new body of mine. I do feel a lot… lighter, so it definitely feels like a change for the better. And you said that I can use magic and perform some alchemy?”

“You have the skills in question, and going by Toga’s experience with Tracking and Butchering skills, it’s not something that you can recall on the fly, but when you want to use them, you’ll know how.” Uraraka replies. Yaoyorozu nods thoughtfully. “So you don’t feel bad about, you know?”

“Quite the opposite.” Yaoyorozu replies while shaking her head. “Trust me, it might have looked good and would definitely help my popularity as a pro-hero, but it was an absolute pain to deal with during physical exercises. And I’m sure that my spine is breathing out a sigh of relief right now. So, yes. I do not mind it, and in fact I think that I’m going to enjoy those changes.”

“Well, that’s… good for you, Yaoyorozu-san.” Uraraka replies, clearly happy to move past that particular subject. Just as everyone in the room (plus the two Dungeon Lords) were. “And I personally recommend finding yourself a new life goal. I have fighting all the enemies that I can find in this world, and it seems to be working for me right now.”

“That’s a good suggestion.” Yaoyorozu agrees with her. “All plans and goals we had are in the past tense now, aren’t they?”

“Well, I don’t really think of it that way.” Kirishima replies, all the eyes instantly drawn to him. “Hey, my goal was to live a truly manly life, one with no regrets! I miss my family, yes, but I know that they’re doing fine back on Earth. And, you see, becoming a pro-hero was a means to an end to me, not an end itself.”

“So… what’s your new mean to this end?” Yaoyorozu asks.

“I have no idea.” Kirishima replies, Yaoyorozu staring at him in clear surprise. “Hey, I’m in this world for maybe an hour, that’s not enough time to figure out anything. I just know that I’m going to look for it. For now, making sure that we’ll all stay alive sounds like a manly thing to do, right?”

Ah, yes. Classic Kirishima.

Always wholesome.

And yet, he hangs around the Bakubrat

I’m not gay, but I’d definitely love to see Bakubrat getting smacked in the head with Kirishima’s… log

wink wink

Here, a completely new and highly edited version of All for One.

This time, as a femboy (I think that’s the right word).

You there?

Shigaraki?

Are you alright?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

MYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY EYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

“You’re right.” Yaoyorozu nods with a suddenly reinvigorated look on face. “It’s a completely foreign world, with magic, its own history, who knows how many species and… that feels like a place with so much to learn.”

“Yep.” Uraraka nods with a grin on her face. “How about this: you spent your time asking people questions about their world, and I beat them up when they refuse to answer.”

Yaoyorozu chuckles. She was yet to realize how literal and serious Uraraka’s offer was.

“So, what are your plans?” She then asks Uraraka. “I assume that you have some.”

“To be fully honest, I’m more of a field commander here.” Uraraka replies. “Me and Toga are heading out regularly and trying to bring new things to the Dungeon. Izuku manages resources and designs the interiors together with Shigaraki, doing a pretty good job thus far. They’re the ones responsible for greater scope plans.”

“Shigaraki is probably in his personal Heaven, isn’t he?” Kirishima asks. “Finally, his life is a game.”

Shigaraki, are you in your personal Heaven?

-4h-4hg-thport4-8u3-2ut-42ovfdlbn4975-92y4094oigilsdbgkn,djfbg854t094504tkgsdbfbskdbgio

Well, Kirishima-kun, he is doing… quite fine, I guess.

A bit… occupied right now.

I think he might be dissociating, actually.

“Izuku is doing his best to make sure that he’s having an interesting time.” Uraraka speaks, her words an extreme understatement. “A bit of a karmic retribution but also a good way of dealing with extreme stress, so I get why he is doing it. But to be honest, I don’t feel as if keeping old feuds alive is very… constructive? Toga tried to stab me and was generally a menace back on Earth, but she is pretty useful here.”

“And are you sure that she can’t, you know, do it again?” Yaoyorozu asks. “I don’t remember her as being too stable.”

“Even if she does, it won’t matter for as long as Izuku is there to resurrect me.” Uraraka replies. “Besides, it works both ways. If she misbehaves, I can just break her neck, right?”

Yaoyorozu appears somewhat distraught by her words. To be honest, she’s not the only one to feel that way. Kirishima looks concerned and that’s the final sign that Izuku should intervene.

Yaoyorozu-san, I’ve been seeing their dynamic for a while now.

Ochako could break Toga’s neck and she would thank her for it.

She was literally strangling her and Toga’s reaction to it was ‘harder, Ochako-chan’.

“I… didn’t want to know that.” Yaoyorozu sighs while pinching the bridge of her nose. “Okay, so, what you want us to do is to promise to not be automatically hostile to the former League members, am I reading it correctly?”

“Yes.” Uraraka nods.

Yaoyorozu and Kirishima exchange brief looks.

“Alright.” Yaoyorozu shrugs while giving Uraraka an impish smile. “I mean, it’s not as if they ever managed to permanently injure or kill any of us, right? Despite trying multiple times, they have a rather embarrassing history with us.”

Oh, FUCK YOU!

I helped All for One corner All Might in Kamino ffs!

Without the hostage we’ve obtained, he wouldn’t manage to beat him into retirement!

WHY DOES NOBODY REMEMBER THAT?!

Because you attacked the Training Camp on All for One’s orders and it was all his plan in the end?

And you apparently hate him now because he killed your dog?

HE KILLED MON-CHAN!

AND MY FAMILY TOO!

YES I HATE HIM

So, are you going to stake a claim for the events of Kamino if it means owing your greatest success to All for One?

I DECAYED OVERHAUL’S HANDS!

WHY DOES NOBODY REMEMBER THAT?!

Because I punched him out first.

So, are you going to stake a claim for the events of the Shie Hassaikai raid if it means owing your greatest success to me?

Alright, alright, fuck

What about Hosu?

I was behind the whole attack, it was my plan and my decision to execute it!

WHY DOES NOBODY REMEMBER THAT?!

Because in the end the real event of the night was what Stain was up to.

So, are you going to stake a claim for the events of Hosu if it means owing your greatest success to Stain?

FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK YOU ALL!!!

That definitely hit the spot.

“So, I guess that it’s time to do some… practical testing of what our bodies can now do.” Yaoyorozu announces while standing up from the table. “Both because it’s constructive and because I think that I need something to occupy my mind with, at least for now.”

“To quote Sero, big mood.” Kirishima replies while cracking his knuckles. “Let’s do something manly together!”