HARMONY [LITRPG / ISEKAI / PROGRESSION / OP MC]

For the first time in her life, Nicky was hesitant about everything she’d been through so far.

It wasn’t as though she was always confident and knew what she was doing, but it was different this time. That was because for the first time, she was going through a floor she didn’t have any experience traveling in or packed enough preparations for.

And not a single monster was in sight.

It felt like a ghost town, each winding pathway having not a single soul in sight outside of the party itself.

Her instincts were in a state of flummox, half-expecting something was gonna come out to get them, yet nothing came into sight. She could tell that Bill was nervous, constantly having his hands near his crossbows despite his excitement from earlier. Ander, however, kept calm and cool, only doing his due diligence of keeping the party safe as they were ordered to.

The fact that they found treasures at all was astounding, all thanks to this Haley girl who seemed like the type to not travel in dungeons at all. Then again, having a talent that could specifically find treasures was something so rare, it might as well be just a fairy tale. And right now they were doing exactly that.

Haley was at the lead, both Van and Nina standing by her side. Nicky and Bill were at the back as rearguards while Ander kept himself in front of them all, being the frontline attacker. They were also the highest level of the group, so having the lower levels at the center only made sense.

“Wait. I feel something over here,” Haley pointed out, getting everyone’s attention. They all steered into another pathway that opened up, large enough to encompass the entire party.

“So, what does it feel like?” Bill suddenly asked, breaking the silence a short while after Haley spoke. “Finding treasures, I mean?”

“Well… like a tingle, I think,” Haley answered truthfully, though she looked around at her two sides before answering. “Like I forgot something and my body just points in the direction where I forgot it.”

“Ooh, cool,” Bill commented. “Does it work outside of dungeons? Like in fields and stuff?”

“That’s how I made my small business of making potions,” Haley answered. “I find rare herbs here and there and make potions to sell.”

“Damn, that’s a good skill to have. But how come you never tried delving into dungeons before?”

“I told her not to,” Van answered, seemingly not wanting to push the conversation further. “It’s dangerous for her.”

“Ah, I get ya,” Bill nodded. “It can be pretty dangerous, and if adventurers found out about it… ah, yeah, I can see it now.”

“Honestly, I think Van’s just too overprotective,” Haley said, shaking her head.

“He’s not wrong,” Ander said, surprising Nicky. “He’s right to be wary of them. Adventurers are the ones causing the most deaths in dungeons than monsters. Rivalries, jealousy, greed–they’ll go to any lengths to get ahead in the guild. It gets worse for those at the top, who survived enough backstabbings to know how things work. Half the time, they would work with the gangs to do exactly that.”

“Sometimes,” Nina spoke up. “It gets even worse than being in the Grim Corner. At least that way, anyone can just chalk it up to it being a monster attack, no matter how badly cut up or in pieces the bodies turn out to be.”

Haley almost paled when Nina finished, her small smile clear enough to show that she enjoyed scaring the crap out of the poor girl. While Nina seemed like such a joy to have around in parties, she wasn’t wrong about her assumptions that adventurers can often get worse fates than in the Grim Corner.

Nicky had the misfortune to often go to that terrible place in the city to get some information she needed for the dungeon dives, especially information such as when the Red Riot would be distracted enough to pay attention to their dungeon being raided. That, and also to find any decent gear that they could get their hands on. In fact, that was where she managed to snag the useful sphere that allowed her to cancel all kinds of active magic around her vicinity, often saving their skin.

Of course, it was those same types of items that often led to the deaths of many adventurers of the guild within the dungeon. Ones that can make them go blind, and others that keep a person paralyzed for a few seconds before they get taken out in a flash. The competition can get pretty brutal if one was not careful and planned appropriately.

Which is why she felt out of her depth when the party was just going through the entire fourth floor without spotting a single creature. Eventually, they traveled enough kilometers to reach a wall that seemingly got cut off in the middle. The path separates to another direction, but Haley kept standing in front of the wall with a careful expression.

“I think… it’s behind here,” Haley asked, pointing her finger at the wall. “This happened before. We need to dig through here.”

“Dig?” Bill asked in surprise. “You’re kidding? How are we supposed to dig through that wall? Most dungeon walls are pretty damn tough to get through, you know?”

Nicky had to give Bill that. Just like how a dungeon can spawn monsters to go around and kill any intruders that step through, the materials that made up the dungeon are just as special. Anything from the stone that made up the place or the crystals that often sprang up to provide lighting are supernaturally sturdy. Unfortunately they weren’t valuable enough to go through the trouble of bringing them up to the surface to sell, so they were just left as is.

“How did you dig through it before?” Nina asked, prompting Haley to point upwards. 

“Who else? Hey, Aidan!? We need some help here!”

Haley suddenly called out, surprising the Wise Guys. Just as Nicky was starting to think that Haley was a bit out there, a sword floated down to where she was. The very same sword that they often saw hanging around them in the air just came down like a well-disciplined dog.

Nicky wondered what the hell a sword is going to do in this situation as Haley pointed at the wall.

“Think you can go through here? I sense a treasure behind this like before.”

Nicky just watched with utter fascination at this sight. What the hell was a sword going to do to a dungeon wall?

The sword just looked like it nodded from how it moved its tip of the blade up and down, then floated towards the spot Haley pointed out. After it just kept floating there, going up, down, and seemingly in circles, it started to glow and shine with mana before it stabbed deep into the wall.

The entire wall caved in the moment it did, as if a giant fist crashed into it. The sword just pulled itself out, shined again, then stabbed itself into the crater to make the hole deeper than before.

It kept repeating the action, digging deeper and deeper into the hole as Haley and the others entered, the Wise Guys looking in utter disbelief.

After a few more tries of the sword digging into the earth, it eventually caved and broke apart to reveal a small room inside. Right at the center of it all was the very same treasure chest they often found in other rooms.

“I-I can’t believe it,” Bill said, his voice low. “A sword literally dug into the wall. Just… What the hell is Aidan?”

Nicky had that exact same question as not only did the sword dig an entire cave into the wall for them to find the treasure, it also made itself bait as it used itself to help open the treasure chest.

It was a surreal sight to see a sword opening up the chest, but it did just that as it used its tip to enter into the lid and turned itself upwards to force it open. Of course, everyone was far away from it doing the work, and just as one would expect, a trap ensued, shooting out several needles and hitting directly into the metal of the blade.

It was powerful enough to actually force the sword to fly away, but it kept itself steady, the needles ringing off the blade and only leaving it slightly scuffed. It had enough power to make holes into a living person, proving it to be a rather fatal trap.

“Nice!” Haley let out, the trap now over and moving herself straight towards it. “Thanks Aidan!”

On cue, the sword nodded its tip once more before floating back out of the cave, off to do its relay work with the other swords.

Haley searched within the box and pulled out what looked like a wooden staff. It carried a beautiful jade gem encrusted at the top, several glyphs etched onto the wood to prove its powerful enchantment at work.

“Aaww… it’s giving some good stats, but I don’t think Aidan’s the type to use a staff, right?”

“Who knows? Maybe we should ask?” Van answered back with another question. He took the staff for himself to look at, letting out a long whistle. “Now this is some potent stuff. Aren’t magic items like this worth a lot?”

“Way more than your average magical equipment,” Nicky answered, getting back into her professional mode. “Mage items like these are hard to make, so dungeon-found Mage gear are worth fighting between party members. Even if one isn’t a Mage, one can sell it and make a decent living for a few months.”

“It’s a good thing we won’t have time to fight for it then,” Nina answered, getting the staff from Van. “We’ll settle things after we clear some more floors.”

“Hey, can I ask something, just for curiosity’s sake,” Bill asked, getting everyone’s attention. “Just what the hell is this Aidan guy? I mean, I never heard of anyone that can do so many of these things at once, even if he had a talent. Can you just tell me what he does? Like, just anything at all? It’s killing me!”

Nicky pretended to look astounded at Bill, but she couldn’t help but want the answer to that very question. It was just unreal to find someone who had these many abilities, capable of completing an entire floor by himself with just his own magic.

Nina didn’t look at all concerned as she crossed her arms. “I’m afraid that’s classified. It’s not something we can easily share. There is one thing I can tell you–his talent allows him to channel forces that're hard to describe. It’s best not to think of it as just your ordinary combat-based talent.”

The answer was clearly vague, because Nicky knew full well that it was the same sort of answer she would use if she was in Nina’s position. It was just barely enough to show that Aidan was top of the line, but not enough to share any specifics.

She looked over at Ander, who got keenly interested when Aidan was involved in the conversation. Ander was born with the talent to manipulate lightning, allowing him to learn spells and skills based on that talent alone. Normally, being able to learn spells required lots of study, perhaps months of effort into learning how to manipulate mana, but with a talent, anyone can bypass that if they focus hard enough.

So despite choosing a Warrior Class, Ander is capable of launching spells and even coating his entire body in lightning, giving him a power boost unlike any ability his Class could give him. But even Ander has some sort of limitation when using his talent. For one thing, he can’t fully use its potential when surrounded in a party. That’s why Nicky and Bill often fought from a distance, leaving it all to Ander who can pull out all his forces against a tough foe.

Did Aidan even have any restrictions in using his talent? What sort of forces is Aidan capable of wielding with his talent alone?

These questions kept running through her mind as they traveled the entire fourth floor, finding more treasure rooms and getting more rare loot the Wise Guys could only dream of finding. Sometimes they were lucky in finding a treasure chest, but that was between months of constant delving, dealing with rising monster attacks and, of course, the variables such as dealing with the gangs and the fatigue of it all.

There was barely anything to worry about, often just taking several minutes taking breaks here and there before continuing on. It felt more like an exploration expedition rather than a dungeon dive, the paths being eerily quiet, and not a single monster around or above bothering them at all.

It was almost disturbing, yet the small party they were protecting didn’t look all that concerned. Instead, they focused on finding as many treasures as possible before meeting up with Aidan.

Sometimes, they spotted a monster off in the distance, but it was quickly taken care of by a sword that found it, taking it apart before it could even counter. It looked like the swords could also use the same spells as their owner, proving that they were more than capable enough to handle anything. Nicky just watched by the side, seeing any monster they came across dealt with either with a clean stab through the brain, or a spell that ripped them apart from the distance.

They were like Mini-Aidans, capable of making their own party as they scoured the floor, taking out all the monsters in their wake. Soon enough, after another few hours of following Haley’s nose for treasures, one of the swords floated down and twirled itself, facing in a direction that went down the path they hadn't taken before.

“Oh, it looks like Aidan found the staircase to the fifth floor,” Van said. “That was quicker than before, right?”

“Sure is,” Nina said with a pleased smile. “Hey, Nicky, how common was it for the parties back at the guild to reach the fifth floor?”

“Well… It’s not often, that’s for sure. We only ever dealt with the third floor so I wouldn’t know for sure.” 

Nicky almost didn’t want to answer. It was as if her pride as an adventurer was on the line, wanting to prove that it was actually easier than it looked.

Except it wasn’t. It took many months of exploration and investigations to go through the floors, considering how expansive they could get, and even if they could buy a map for the floors, it was often so expensive that one needed to save up a lot of coins before heading off to another floor.

“Are we going to hang around here some more? Or are we ready to head to the next floor?” Van asked Haley, getting her to shake her head.

“Let’s just go to Aidan. We’re barely finding anything at this pace. Maybe if he does that thing that expands my senses a whole lot like before, we could probably find some more, but at that point, we might as well reach the fifth floor for Aidan to keep leveling.”

“Good point,” Van nodded. “Let’s follow the sword then.”

Once again, something unbelievable was said aloud but Nicky had no other choice but to listen to it as the group did as Van said. Not even that scary ass girl Nina said anything about it, rather looking more than smug about it just from her posture alone. It was honestly irking Nicky from the way she looked like she had everything handed to her on a silver platter, and it might as well be.

Before long, after around half an hour of being led by a floating sword, they spotted a single man in mid air, an orb of mana floating beside him as he focused hard on it, his eyes narrowing in pure concentration. Once the group got closer, he looked to have given up, dispersing the orb of mana before floating back down to meet them at their level.

“What were you doing?” Haley asked.

“I was busy making some items, but I failed,” Aidan let out a heavy sigh. “I thought I could make some stat-increasing equipment, but it looks like it’s beyond me.”

“Oh, for real?” Van asked. “I thought for sure that you were capable of doing that. What did you make?”

“A whole bunch of stuff I don’t even need,” Aidan shook his head. “You guys can keep them.”

Before Nicky could even formulate a thought about the idea of this man casually making enchanted equipment like it’s just breathing air for him, Aidan pulled out his spatial bag and rummaged through, picking out items one by one and handing it to Haley and Van. He later saw Nicky and her friends, looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged.

“Meh, I have plenty, so you guys can have them too. It’s a gift for looking out for my friends.”

Aidan went over and handed them what looked like simple looking gear, from gloves to bracers, including accessories like rings and necklaces. When Nicky scanned the item, her eyes shot wide open.

Boost-Up Gloves (Rare)

A specially made set of gloves crafted with unique monster materials ranging from leather to fur, all mixed with a mysterious use of magic. Allows the wearer to deal damage equivalent to the mana poured into the gloves. A maximum of 50 mana may be used to enhance the power of the glove, directing the increased damage to any weapon for five seconds. There is a short cooldown after every use before it can be used again.

Boost–Mana Cost: Variable up to 50.

Requirements:

5+ Intellect

5+ Wisdom

She wanted to slap her cheeks to check if she was dreaming. Was she just given excellent gear that would normally cost an entire party several gold to purchase just for one member? With barely any requirements? For free?

It didn’t look like she was the only one as both Bill and Ander looked at their own given equipment, a necklace for Bill and some bracers for Ander, with looks of surprise as well. Bill even lifted off his mask just to have a better look, a young face with multiple scars on his cheek and forehead showing that same level of shock as Nicky.

“Y-You’re kidding. You’re actually giving this to us?”

“Wait, forget that,” Nicky asked aloud. “Are you saying you made these? All by yourself? And just now?”

“That’s how I do my business,” Aidan shrugged, and it looked like he wasn’t willing to share any more. Nina looked at the gear Aidan gave her, before going back to him.

“So you can’t make any stat-boosting gear. That’s a shame.”

“I know, right?” Aidan let out another defeated sigh. “I thought maybe it’s because I wasn’t using any rarer materials, so I tried using those magic gems I still had on hand. Still nothing. It’s like I can’t break through that barrier that helps boost stats.”

“Is that really so bad?” Haley asked.

“You really shouldn’t put yourself down,” Van said. “These are incredible on their own.”

“But most top adventurer teams have enchanted items that not only give them an extra ability on hand, but also improved stats,” Nina answered. “In the end, it looks like the only way for you to improve dramatically is to just get better gear from outside sources.”

“Damn it, I figured that’s the case,” Aidan huffed, shaking his head. “Ah well, I made some decent levels at least. Ready for floor five?”

Just like that, the party just continued down to the staircase, forcing the Wise Guys to follow up from behind. All the while, Nicky just stared blankly at the man who just casually dominated an entire floor and even made enchanted equipment like it was nothing.

Was there something more to his talent? Just what kind of forces could help him do so much with so little? It was at the point where Nicky was becoming straight up afraid of what he could do next. It was no wonder that Nina looked so smug–if she had Aidan by her side, she wouldn’t even bother doing any adventuring anymore and just sit back and let the money-maker do his thing.

But that was just her, and she just wanted to enjoy a good life filled with gold and luxury. With his power, he could bring anyone to the top, and she was certain this Nina girl, according to the rumors, wouldn’t stop at just conquering dungeons and making gold like wheat from a farm. 

No, she would take it all the way to the top, where she would dominate everything around her and force even countries down to their knees.

Would it actually be a service to take Aidan down right then and there? For the sake of the world?

When that thought ran through her mind, she immediately squashed it. She didn’t want that. If anything, she wanted to join him, even be his servant if that’s what it took.

In other words, being under Nina’s command might actually be beneficial. She was going to have to have a proper talk with her party when this entire event was over, because there was no way in hell she was going to let this go now that she saw the power for herself.

They weren’t going to just stop at this dungeon. They’re going to keep forging their path forward, and Nicky planned on ensuring her stake is well placed there.

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