They ended up having to do something else before they got to having the talk about new servants. Someone has finished her investigation and was absolutely dying to share the results.

“I believe that I’ve managed to unlock the secrets of this rifle.” Yaoyorozu announces the next day after the equipment improvements, while putting the rifle on the table in the common room.

“Wait, so quickly?” Uraraka blinks at her in surprise, her own breakfast tragically interrupted. “I know that you kept firing it whenever you had some spare time, but…”

“I work fast.” Yaoyorozu shrugs. “And besides, the mystery wasn’t as complicated as I initially expected it to be. Although it does give me more questions than answers.”

Go on, we’re listening.

“There’s no easy way of saying it, so I’ll go straight to the point.” Yaoyorozu replies. “This weapon blows.”

Hearing Yaoyorozu use such a… professional terminology leads to a sudden case of gaping mouths from both Uraraka and Toga (who, as usual, was tailing whichever of her love interests was available at the moment).

Frankly, Izuku would have reacted the same if he had a face right now.

E-excuse me?

“This weapon is bad, Midoriya-kun.” Yaoyorozu rephrases her earlier statement into something sounding much more like her. “To begin with, contrary to how it looks, it is not a firearm.”

It looks like a firearm tho

“It does, but it’s just that. It looks like it.” Yaoyorozu replies. “It doesn’t use any form of gunpowder known to me. The cartridges are instead filled with what appears to be a powdered, bluish crystal. Instead of being ignited and causing a localized explosion with the gas build-up pushing the bullet out of the barrel, those require an injection of mana from the user that’s directly converted into kinetic energy that then drives the projectile through the barrel.”

So, basically a magic rifle?

“Yes, exactly.” Yaoyorozu agrees with him. “However, this is much less efficient than modern smokeless gunpowder. In fact, while I don’t have the exact numbers on me, I believe that it’s less efficient than even the early forms of blackpowder. The effective range of this rifle is about a hundred meters. Beyond that, you can hit someone only by complete accident. And injure only someone who is wearing no protective equipment whatsoever.”

Which probably explains why the scope that we can attach to it has just the 2x zoom.

It doesn’t need anything more than that.

“True.” Yaoyorozu agrees with him once more. “This rifle has an effective range comparable to crossbows. Both can be fired at a much longer distance, but with the chances of hitting anything being extremely small. Both have a better range when fired from an elevated position, like the wall of a fortress, but… that’s it.”

“And how does it compare to bows and crossbows?” Uraraka asks.

“Bows launch arrows on a parabola, which means that they can actually injure someone at a distance longer than rifles and crossbows, especially the longbows, thanks to gravity.” Yaoyorozu replies. “They shoot faster than crossbows but slower than rifles. Rifles are definitely easier to aim than crossbows, especially with the scope, and with a bayonet it can also be used as a short spear if the enemy gets close. Hard to say what’s better against armor, but I’d lean towards a heavier crossbow. In short, I’d imagine rifles as somewhat better crossbows. But there’s a problem, their design is much more complicated, so I’m nearly certain that it costs much more.”

“So, a toy for a wealthy hunter, but definitely not something that you can equip an army with.” Uraraka summarizes it.

“Precisely.” Yaoyorozu nods. “You can probably make twenty crossbows for a single rifle, and fifty bolts for a single cartridge. And that’s without counting in the costs of the powder itself, as I don’t know how hard to produce it is. This weapon has its advantages over the crossbows, but it’s definitely not a replacement for them.”

So, why didn’t the locals just use gunpowder? Like, you know, civilized people do when they face a problem needing a solution?

“I only figured this out after I had my skills upgraded.” Yaoyorozu replies. “Suppress Ignition spell seems to project an aura which stops small fires from happening. Any non-magical source of ignition flat out refuses to work. You could enter a room full of gasoline and gasoline fumes, and no matter what you would do, you would fail to ignite it.”

“You think that it works for gunpowder too?” Uraraka asks. Yeah, she figured it out just as Izuku did, just a bit faster.

“I’m almost certain that it does.” Yaoyorozu replies. “The second level version of this skill has an effective range of twenty five meters. This means that a fresh graduate from one of those local collegiums that Aeonia mentioned can probably stop any firearm within a hundred meters from working. Any sufficiently talented and experienced mage can probably do the same thing within anywhere between five hundred meters and a kilometer, as it really doesn’t seem to be a complicated spell.”

So, the reason the locals don’t use gunpowder is because magic can completely stop it from working, forcing them to produce rifles with some odd magical powder that can ignore it.

That makes sense

Couldn’t they make some designer sniper rifles that can snipe mages from outside this spell’s effective range, though?

“Seeing as this rifle has a design somewhat similar to bolt-action rifles of the early 20th Century, that’s definitely possible.” Yaoyorozu agrees with him. “However, it would be a very situational weapon. And it’s also possible that the local ‘archmages’, however, they are called, have an ignition suppression area that outranges any sniper rifles.”

And it all comes back to such weapons being incredibly expensive, and probably requiring handcrafted cartridges.

“The question of ‘how did the locals design something this advanced’ also stays open.” Yaoyorozu replies. “Personally, I’d say that all the signs point to the technological level of the locals suffering some sudden decline in the past. They maintained enough knowledge to know how the rifle looks and works, how to produce morphine and heroin, how the world map actually looks and so on, but it’s something that’s probably a privilege of the few. Most are forced to rely on what I’d call a ‘Fantasy Middle Ages’ technology, with magic used to patch whatever holes in said technological knowledge they have to deal with. The aesthetic of the Northern Wind facility serves as further proof to me.”

Makes sense.

We should have asked Luna about it. And about why the Dungeons can’t make food.

We should have, yeah

HEY, LUNA, ARE YOU THERE?! WE HAVE QUESTIONS FOR YOU!

Sigh, nothing.

They’ll show up when they’ll be able to have a laugh at our expense.

Definitely

Do you want to keep the rifle, Yaoyorozu-san?

“Tempting, but the answer’s no.” Yaoyorozu shakes her head. “It would cost me too many of my spells. But I believe that it can be made to work with all types of magic, so we can give it to someone else in the future. Or just wait until we get to summon Snipe-sensei. I’m sure he could make good use of it.”

I’d rather not bring any annoying adult pro-heroes until we run out of annoying hero students to bring, so it’s gonna be a distant future

Right.

Anyway, thank you for your hard work, Yaoyorozu-san.

“The pleasure’s all mine.” She replies.

***

Some time after that, they all finally gathered up to have a very serious talk on who to bring next. And how to make them all work as a team. Almost immediately, they were forced to face a change in their combat line up.

“I know that I’m just not strong enough right now to fight alongside you.” Reiko replies while shrugging. “You won’t hurt my feelings by admitting this aloud. I’m fine with staying behind in the Dungeon and continuing to acclimate myself with the basics of necromancy, maybe even producing a number of creatures that can leave the Dungeon and accompany you, and wait for more skills to be unlocked for me.”

“Well, that’s reassuring.” Tokage replies. They were all gathered up in the common room, both main parties mostly clustered together. “I was afraid that…”

“... the bigger problem is that if you want to keep having your party populated mostly by former 1-B students, there’s only one good replacement for me that’s available.” Reiko continues, interrupting her. “And we all know whom I’m talking about.”

As if on cue, every former 1-B student in the room shivers. They all realized whom she meant.

Yui Kodai. Japan’s Horniest mixed among Japan's Finest. The woman that made Minoru Mineta look like a saint and a champion of modesty, chastity and self-restraint.

And they just got a lot of spells of the Desire Magic unlocked. Alongside the equipment. Oh god, the equipment.

“Can we control her?” Tokage asks, glancing at Monoma and looking for help. “Restrain her? Lock her in a horny jail and throw the keys out? Force her to wear a chastity belt all the time?”

“I… don’t know.” Monoma replies, hunching over the table. “I just don’t know. I think that it all depends on whether we’ll find someone ready to act as her horny jail’s parole officer. Full time.”

… I think I have an idea.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

And he shares it with them. To his positive surprise, it’s uniformly and enthusiastically accepted.

“This… this can work, even if it will severely limit her usefulness in combat.” Monoma decides. “Alright. Worst case scenario, you’ll just pull her soul out and keep it in the freezer. What species?”

“Night elf.” Yaoyorozu replies immediately. “I’ve read it up in the encyclopedia after we unlocked it. You see, the evil empire that created the elves established a genetic caste system among their servants, each of their subspecies created to play a particular role, and just that role. Some, like white elves, were expected to form the backbone of a population of some biome. Others, like the night elves, had a much more niche position.”

“Please tell me that the night elves weren’t created for what I think they were.” Monoma interrupts her, looking at Yaoyorozu with a thousand yard stare.

“I believe that it’s exactly what you think.” Yaoyorozu looks at him, pressing her lips together. “Prostitutes, concubines and so on. They were never very numerous and were believed to have gone extinct after their masters’ died and the entire system collapsed, only to start popping up again in modern times, usually as cultists of Ecstasy. They are noted to be unusually suited for the Desire magic, which likely explains their higher baseline ETL.”

Monoma groans loudly.

“Giving such a body to Yui Kodai sounds like a recipe for a very horny disaster.” He then says. “But you know what, fine. Worst case scenario, she’ll be sent to the timeout corner. To, maybe, reconsider her life choices.”

The biggest problem was, in the end, the fact that Izuku had to willingly enter the customization tool for the [Sensalist’s Attire] and look for something that looked even remotely passable.

Shigaraki categorically refused to help.

In the end, Izuku sets up on a pair of black thigh-high socks with what seemed to be called a ‘suspender garter belt’, which thankfully remained mostly covered by what looked like a short, black dress ending right above in the middle of the thighs.

Black color mostly because it fit Yui Kodai as Izuku remembered her. Black hair and all.

It was, honestly speaking, probably the most modest thing that he could pick up from the list. Merely imagining for a second that it was Ochako or Himiko wearing some of the things he saw almost made him have a heart attack. And he didn’t have a heart in his current state.

He was yet to realize that he made a crucial mistake in not checking the back section of the designed outfit, thus failing to realize that the short dress was almost entirely backless. Which, in his defense, was still much less erotic than at least 90% of the things they had unlocked.

Imagine a civilization losing most of their technological base and yet maintaining the ability to produce so much erotic or downright fetish stuff.

…

Actually, now that Izuku thinks about it, it would definitely happen on Earth too if it suffered from some global disaster.

They end up deciding to give her a rather simple set of skills. No crafting stuff. Just the ability to speak Itavian and both the languages of the local beastkin and elves. If she wants to have something to do as a hobby, that’s for her to decide.

The end result is [Orange Core III], [Desire Magic III], [North Vestirian Language, Spoken VII], [Western Elven (Vestirian Dialect, Modern), Spoken VII] and [Itavian, Spoken VI]. As for the spells, [Induce Nausea, Others III], [Induce Hunger, Others III], [Induce Weakness, Others I], [Induce Vomiting, Others I], [Induce Dizziness, Others III], [Induce Somnolence, Others III], [Identify Drug III], [Suppress Drug III], [Quick Boost, Others I], [Lift Morale, Others I], [Combat Stimulants, Others I].

The lack of Procacitas magic was an entirely deliberate choice and was going to be a part of Yui Kodai’s restriction plan.

It all came together into making her a [Sensalist, lvl 30]. But for now, they just made the template. They wanted to decide upon other characters first. As there were going to be more of them coming alive in this batch.

I want Dabi as a fire sorcerer

Wait, don’t you hate him?

I don’t hate him

More like, I was deeply disappointed in him and I hoped he’d explode while I was busy dealing with Gigantomachia

The point is, I’m trying to become a better leader, and a good leader has to cooperate not just with people he likes (Spinner) and people he is alright with (Compress), but also people like Dabi

So, I want to see if I’m good enough about leading people now to not to kill him on the spot

… okay.

But I’m bringing in Shoto Todoroki as a fire/ice sorcerer.

Sure, why not?

What about their species? And should we do something about Dabi’s body?

DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT TOUCHING THE FUCKING SLIDERS YOU SICK FUCK

Wha

No, not the sliders!

I mean all the injuries his quirk gave him, we can fix that you know?

Like we did with Mr. Compress’ missing arm.

Oh, oh!

You know what, I can’t even imagine Dabi without his burns, can we heal everything on the inside but leave the surface burns as purely an aesthetic thing

Huh? Yes, I don’t see why not.

They end up deciding to make them both as White Elves. It’s a decision open to future changes. In Izuku’s opinion, none of them give him the elven vibes. But what else could he make them to be?

Todoroki ends up receiving [Ice Attunement I], [Fire Attunement I], [Mana Overflow I], [North Vestirian Language, Spoken VI], [Western Elven (Vestirian Dialect, Modern), Written VI], alongside [Exploding Fireball I], [Set Aflame I], [Ignite, Mass I], [Exploding Iceball I], [Snap Freeze I] and [Freeze, Mass I].

Dabi ends up being specialized purely for fire sorcery, with Shigaraki pointing out that the man was burning himself to a crisp with wild abandon back on earth, so he already had an experience in melting his face off.

He gets [Fire Attunement II], [Mana Overflow II], [North Vestirian Language, Spoken VI], [Western Elven (Vestirian Dialect, Modern), Written VI], alongside [Exploding Fireball II], [Set Aflame II], [Ignite, Mass II], [Waves of Heat II] and [Lesser Firestorm I].

[Elemental Sorcerer lvl 30] for Shoto Todoroki and [Fire Sorcerer lvl 29] for Dabi.

They weren’t sure if those two would actually find a job in any of their two adventuring parties, but it would be nice to have someone combat-capable in the Dungeon at all times. Just for added security.

“Alright, so I think that it’s time to face the music and bring in some non-combatants.” Monoma says right after they’re finished deciding upon the details of the stats of those two. “Or, at least, some folks for whom combat isn’t a priority.”

“We’re going to bring in Hatsume Mei for her, err, expertise in creating stuff, won’t we?” Uraraka asks while shaking her head. “She has such a… large personality that I genuinely don’t remember the name or face of anyone else from the Support Course.”

“Large personality?” Himiko asks her, clearly confused by it.

“Very large.” Uraraka replies dryly. “Izuku can confirm that, as I remember seeing him getting into very close contact with it.” Himiko blinks again, clearly even more confused.

She is well-built, in more ways than one.

And, errr, she once exploded herself out of the support lab and landed on me, right in front of Ochako and Iida-kun.

“Ooooh.” And now Himiko gets it. And clearly finds it very amusing, as she immediately descends into a giggling fit.

“Wait, you had your own ecchi school life moment with that oppai girl from the Support Course?” Kaminari wakes up. “Are you sure that you’re not secretly a shonen protagonist, Midoriya-kun?”

I think that I’d know it first. And I don’t think that having a girl land on your face, breasts-first, is enough to make one a shonen protagonist.

“Well, you also have your own fearsome rival that you ended up facing in an epic battle of brawn and brain, and your quirk is definitely super similar to All Might’s, whose own antagonist is that super mysterious Kamino Villain.” Kaminari continues, making it clear to Izuku that he was now in his Galaxy Brain Mode. And what a fearsome power that was. “I mean, the signs are all there, bro.”

“I don’t think that…” Uraraka tries to interrupt and perhaps steer the conversation towards safer waters, but Monoma is faster.

“No, no, let the man cook.” He leans back in his chair, looking curiously at Kaminari. “Keep going, please.”

Please, stop.

Man, did you hear that?

I’m your ‘fearsome rival’ that you’ve ended up facing in ‘an epic battle of brawn and brain’, ha!

It’s about the USJ?

“Huh?” Kaminari blinks. “Not you, I was talking about Gentle Criminal.”

What

Who the fuck is Gentle Criminal?

Please, stop this. And let’s get back to the subject.

Talk to me ffs, who the fuck is Gentle Criminal and how did he steal the position of your fated archrival?!

Uraraka clearly having problems with not joining Himiko in her own laughing fit didn’t exactly help Izuku getting the situation back under control. Thankfully, Yaoyorozu decided to step forward.

“If we want someone a bit less… explosion-prone, I recommend Maina Furasu.” She pitches in her own idea. “I’ve been working with her a few times, and she’s good at her job. And doesn’t cause so many explosions.”

We’ll eventually end up having to bring more than one person to deal with that, I just have a feeling that Hatsume will take not bringing her first, you know, personally.

Maina Furasu’s definitely second on the list.

“Very well.” Yaoyorozu shrugs. “If there’s a good place to cause random explosions in, it’s probably the Dungeon. Everything here is replaceable, after all. Even our bodies.”

They end up deciding on making her an ogre. Which means a lot of physical strength that she’ll likely need once she switches from a support engineer to blacksmith. Once again, though, this is a field open to change.

Hatsume gets no abilities, and no language skills. She doesn’t need those - they can communicate in Japanese, and the chances of Hatsume leaving the Dungeon anytime soon are rather minimal.

And if she decides to do it, for some strange reason, they’ll just give her the appropriate skills.

The freed points are enough to give her [Basic Leatherworking VII], [Advanced Leatherworking III], [Basic Bone Carving VI], [Basic Smelting IV], [Basic Sewing V], [Basic Smithing VI], [Advanced Smithing III].

The system identifies the result as [Crafting Specialist, lvl 30].

“We should consider bringing Maina Furasu later, if only so that we’ll have someone to experiment with alchemy.” Yaoyorozu comments a moment later, once they’re finished deciding the details of Hatsume’s character. “She was an engineer, not a chemist, but you can’t be a mechanical engineer dealing with quirks without at least some knowledge on this field.”

Oh, good point.

Quirks are a… special field to work with.

I don’t think that you have anything to add to that, Shigaraki?

I do, a single but very important question

Who the fuck is Gentle Criminal?!

Oh for God’s sake, it’s that youtuber I’ve mentioned once, stop acting like a teenage girl who just discovered that her crush knows another woman and can’t get over it.

I

WHY DID YOU PHRASE IT LIKE THIS

I’m going to fucking vomit

Suffer.

“That leaves me with one more… petition concerning this expansion.” Yaoyorozu decides to speak once more. “I vote to bring Rikidou Satou. Likely as an ogre, if only because he was big as a human and they are omnivores. We need someone to help us diversify our diet. Because I, no, we need better food. And drinks.”

Her motion is accepted immediately. And by everyone. Even Shigaraki doesn’t complain about wasting time and mana.

However, [Cooking] is just a single skill, and thus not giving such a skilled fighter anything else felt like a complete waste of space. So, they decide to bring him in as another [Barbarian Juggernaut] like Kirishima and Tetsutetsu, just without the armor. At least for now.

The end result for Satou is [Heavy Blunt Weapons Proficiency II], [Hammer of the Wilds School I], [Mana Pathways I], [Temperate Forest Survival II], [North Vestirian Language, Spoken VI], [Itavian, Spoken VI], [Itavian, Written VI] and, of course, [Basic Cooking V].

Add [Shockwave I], [Fortify Flesh I] and [Heavy Blow I], and the end result was [Barbarian Juggernaut, lvl 21]. Which was good enough.

Alright, so now that we have all of this established, the next thing to talk about is Komori-san.

Luna seems insistent that making her fuse with the daemon permanently is going to lead to some ‘hilarious’ but also intriguing results.

Monoma-kun, will she accept that?

“Well, she seems to have never been happier in her life now that she has become a daemon.” Monoma replies, scratching his chin. “I reckon that she’ll be overjoyed to make that move. Should I talk with her about it?”

Please do.

It might be something useful.

And Luna also implied that the ‘Next Big Thing’ after this battle is going to start happening soon, and will find its conclusion in about a month, so it’s probably best to be prepared.

“Oh, great.” Monoma sighs. He doesn’t seem happy about it, and it seems that for once he’s in agreement with everyone in the room. “More fun stuff to deal with. I guess that we’ve gotten stronger just in time, haven't we? I’ll go and talk with her about it immediately once we’re done here.”

Great.

Let’s summon them all, starting from… should we start from Yui Kodai or Shoto Todoroki and Dabi?

Wait, why those two together?

Why not? Todoroki-kun is definitely much chiller than Dabi. I just want to bring someone that will not cause any problems at the same time as Dabi. For, you know, my own sanity.

Oh, sure. Good point