Danmachi- Hell’s Forge

Heavy topic

Not like a wall between my home and the outside world because that would just trap us in while keeping everyone else out but a sort of malicious intent based screen to keep out anyone or anything with ill intent. Ironically this was as far as I understand it one of the most basic of barriers in the world of JJK. Most barriers were just more or less exclusion zones that stopped normal people from seeing into or entering them while preventing anything with cursed energy from leaving it without permission.-

My idea was pretty much the same but with the first bit about normal people being changed to make the barrier none existent for anyone or thing without malicious intent towards us. As much as I would like to make a badass barrier that could stand as a marvel for all time, I was like ninety percent sure I sucked at barriers. This was because of the nature of my innate technique that was an internal to external type deal. I transform things from the inside out by extending my cursed energy from my core to whatever I am working on.-

Barriers on the other hand were purely external things which meant my technique gave me no experience at all in how I might go about creating them without using an item. Still I needed to figure out how to use barriers anyways since it was a requirement to use domain expansion. The penultimate expression of ones technique where it's very essence is projected into reality. While it is possible to create a domain without a barrier it comes with a serious disadvantage for the sheer area it covered, you have to contend with the world itself.-

It can be considered an almost divine act as when a domain is expanded outwards that small area temporarily gains an new law of reality, that's what utilizing a domain means. When contained in a barrier the strain it puts on the user while great is much lesser than without a barrier. Expanding a domain without a barrier is an act akin to a god utilizing their power to alter the very fabric of existence to a small degree, like using a paint brush to draw in the very air. I was not ready for that sort of technique and likely wouldn't be for quite some time.-

Honestly speaking I wasn't even at the level were I could use a normal domain expansion quite yet as I hadn't felt my technique reach such a level of refinement. 

'Getting ahead of myself here, there's no telling if I'll even be able to siphon the cursed energy above the city before I level up.' I thought shaking my head to clear the distracting thoughts I was having.

"You didn't!?" Hestia exclaimed when I got back and unloaded my bags.

"About that, I MAY have neglected to mention that I was going to solo the goliath. To be fair I thought you'd try to stop me." I said not even bothering to try and hide my actions.

"Of course I'd try to stop you, that's a level four monster rex and you are a level two!" She yelled very upset at me.

I winced at her tone "I won though and not a scratch on me, admittedly I also kinda cheated to do it but still." I defended my actions.

"And what if!?" she started to yell but I stopped her.

"Nope none of that what if nonsense! You should only worry about what if's in regards to the future not the past. All that matters in this exact moment is that I fought the goliath and won without injury, that's it. Yes it was almost definitely kinda mean of me not to mention it but I NEEEDED to do this to level up. It's not fair to you, you have the best intentions but we are adventurers and that means we need to take risks in order to grow. We can't grow if you try to keep us from taking those risks every time you learn about them." I said seriously.

She floundered for a moment as she got mad, reluctant and finally accepted that I was right. 

"Can you blame me for worrying? You might not be all there up top but even you have to understand how ridiculous a level two, even you, challenging the goliath solo is? And it's not just this one time either but Bell is a magnet for trouble from the way things are going and you are constantly messing with stuff that can and will kill you if you aren't lucky. All I can do is just sit here all day after selling off some figurines and try to greet you all with a smile when you get back knowing that every time you walk out those doors it might be the last time I ever see you." she said with tears in her eyes.

"Look theres nothing wrong with worrying about us, hell if anything it just means you are being a great goddess. You just need to accept that being a goddess also means you have to prepare yourself for the inevitable event that we get messed up. It's going to happen, theres no escaping it if our familia is to grow. At some point one of us is going to get really messed up or even killed. Rather than worrying about that inevitable fate why not try and make the most of every moment you have with us so that we are never truly forgotten?" I said seriously before leaving her to her thoughts.

Heavy stuff I know and particularly hard to swallow for a cheerful goddess like her but this conversation had been long overdue. Adventurers fight for a better future for themselves or even others and that meant we risked death and sometimes lost that gamble. It was part of being an adventurer.-

It wasn't something that was really talked about but every familia over a certain size has experienced the death of an adventurer or even multiple. The deity at the head of any familia has to be prepared to accept that lost and remember their fallen child even as they moved on because the world doesn't stop for everyone else when someone dies. Perhaps it's because I'm becoming more like a cursed spirit as I grow stronger but I've come to accept that death is just a part of being an adventurer. I'm not saying lives don't have value or anything but it's not the end of the world when one of us dies no matter who it is.