《Adamas》 Unpleasant Reincarnation Darkness... not the most pleasant thing to see after waking up, I would say. Especially considering that the previous morning was way more casual in contrast. Instead of a comfy bed, it''s something hard; an absolute silence with no sign of life had replaced the maid that used to wake me in the morning for a dish others would work their entire life for, and the mere fact of a situation like that happening to me is nothing less than another miracle. "Skt skt skt skt skt" ''Ah! It really wor...khm khm. So, the loyal servant of mine, have you finally awakened from an eternal dream?'' "~Then you shall go on kneeling and start praising the name of the one who brings back the pathetic body of yours from a dusty grave!~" In the mere moment of my senses finally returning to me, I felt an overwhelming pressure from above, pushing me to the lowest points of the cold-felling floor. I tried to resist, yet I was helpless as the power was too significant for even the slightest move... No! It wasn''t just about "power," but the authority of this thing that made me "want" to bring myself down to his knees. Yet, despite how unfortunate it sounded, there was no place for pain nor emotion! And even the ground wasn''t as cold as I was imagining. What? Why? Where? So many questions were running over my head. Yet the more I think about them, the more new ones appear. ''Just how long are you going to ignore me for your pointless monologue! If you have any questions, why not just ask the one who might be the cause of the situation.'' Weirdly, right after his words, my mind couldn¡¯t think of anything that wasn¡¯t related to him in particular as if it was under a certain lock. "Skt skt" Wait! What did I even try to say by this?! Wh... "~Stop!~" As if blocking the pathway of my thoughts to the head of mine, the mysterious person made a statement: ''I know you are a newborn monster. But not being able even to bestow a mind-link? And that was the "last hope" he proudly talked about!? If I had known that this stupid monster was totally useless from the beginning, I wouldn''t have even risked my life for a worthless bag of bones and this crap that would be a sin to even call a dungeon! But since there are now not a lot of options, anyway... ~Listen to me!~ If you want to talk, visualize this trash you call thoughts in your mind as a wave and send it to me. Got it?!'' This time - despite his usual volume, his tone was not as aggressive as before. ''Yeaah, I got it.'' Although what he said baffled me, I agreed with his previous remark of his about asking directly rather than making theories out of thin air - yet it still was hard to follow a conversation in such an unusual atmosphere. ''Good, now... caugh caugh, you probably have plenty of questions, right? Let me quickly answer the most possible ones now. First things first - you''re dead.'' Said the person as if it were an everyday thing for him. Yet, quite a lot of things are making way more sense now! So, I probably died, turned into some type of monster that lost his memories, doesn''t feel pain nor changes in temperature by that bastard, and is now kneeling to him in the most abandoned "dungeon" in history. So that is how it is. Ha.. aha.. ahahahhahhhh what''s the hell even going on!!! ''You are way smarter than what appeared first... I apologize for the previous statement of mine - that''s just how my family is used to communicating with other lower beings - but this time, we should probably speak on more of fair rights, at least till we get out of this situation.'' Stolen novel; please report. Wait, so the person in front of me is a mage who can revive the dead and command them just by voice, and also one whose mind can reach monsters similar to me. So that means..."Skt skt skt skt skt" darn, using mind-link is way more complex than I thought. ''Oh, I thought it was obvious I''m not human.'' ''The hell should it be obvious in a situation where you pinned me to the ground before I even saw anything!'' Yet, despite yelling at him, I somehow didn''t feel any sign of rage. ''Are you not a skeleton? Seen your kind before, and they seem to have an even greater lack of emotion than those of the undead, yet they also suffer from imitating some human traits and memories. It is really kind of funny show to watch those bags of bones constantly trying to copy something they''ve never seen in their "life."'' Right after saying that, he laughed so hard that it made the entirety of the cave tremble. ''Ah, since I''ve come to a conclusion that even though I''ve lost almost all of my powers, it still doesn''t prevent me from controlling you at any of the given times - I''m going to remove the "gift."'' With that said, my body finally got the ability to move freely as it used to (khm, so "imitation" applies to the feelings in monologues as well) - but my moment of happiness wasn''t lasting all that long - right after the attemption of my to stand up and look all around the place things got even worse! This cave wasn''t JUST "small." In fact, It is way more surprising to me as to how we fit in there! Both of us were not even standing, now thinking about it, the idea of kneeling in this tight space wasn''t all that bad, to begin with. On the other hand, it gave me a certain accessibility of finally seeing the guy behind all this. Yeah, it was far from what we used to call a human, to say the least. Where to even begin? Right! This monster looked two, maybe three meters, with knees and elbows resembling those of a beast with those spike-looking extensions on them - the back of this had around 6 ripped wings, with eyes that looked like traps for its yellow, like field of sunflowers iris and dark red like a river of blood pupil - and all but its sky-like blue hair with that not very fitting crystal flower on them whose looks remind me of an orange lily was as dark as night on the day of the invention including that odd tattoo-like ancient symbols of his skin. If we talk about clothing, it will give you a feeling like he is from some golden spoon in his mouth, of course, if any of those exist among his kind, except that would be the case if only half of his array wasn''t completely shattered, which is kinda sad knowing that this one was probably expensive enough to buy a small land part near the capital kingdom with those symbols symbolizing segregation, intelligence, and power. ''So you are not only able to see but to understand at least a mere portion of the greatness of the supreme devil lord that I am as well? Ahahaha.'' That mind-reading without the mind-link ability of his is truly annoying, yet it isn''t like we are going to kill others (at least for now) - that''s probably something I just should deal with for some time. ''You said devil lord, however - the possibility of this being your actual name is near zero, am I wrong? Also, the devil lord seems dead for a few sanctuaries by now, doesn''t he? Perhaps, even if it wasn''t the case, you still don''t look near as strong to qualify as one.'' ''Ah yeah, of course, my dear underling wants to know the name of his master and the strongest among 4 spears.'' And here we go, ignoring most of the questions for the sake of saving name and self-importance. But 4 spears? Knowing that devils aren''t used to giving human-like names for their legion hierarchy, this one might be (at least potentially) as powerful as he implies. Also, I heard this name somewhe.... But shall we skip this part for later? I think that starting with names should be better for both of us! ''It might be pretty long, so listen closely, the name of mine is "Larniaus Arconiya Salis Enratren Regalia." But you should use "my lord" or "my master."'' ''Ah yeah...Not gonna remember it anyway.'' ''Oi!'' ''Not my problem that it''s that long.'' ''You... uh, there''s no point in this right now, but before I introduce you to our current circumstances since you forgot everything about your past life, let''s make a name for you too.'' ''How about Darius Ler...'' ''Never! Let''s see... Darch sounds similar - so how about it?'' ''It''s not like my previous attempt was serious, but - yeah, sure.'' ''Then, my contract finally finished.'' ''Contract?'' ''Yeah, I saw you were actually slightly resisting - so I decided to give you a name to guarantee that you would never suddenly betray me.'' "Skt" Resources management ''From my speculation, I knew that the situation we are currently in is far from what we could call plausible, but now... "hopeless" - sounds like a better counterpart.'' ''Well¡­ at least now you know the reasoning behind my anger at you.'' Looking at my first thoughts - I argued that the worst part of our condition - the size of the dungeon itself being significantly inferior to those of lower ranks. Or that my lord was about to win a "Biggest Clown of Agatria" award for accepting deals like this, yet after the lord''s explanation - those suddenly felt one of the most insignificant among the variety of problems. My eyes were focused on the position of an artificial sphere near the center of the so-called dungeon. Usually, every dungeon has some astral artifact to constantly fill space with traps and monsters (as well as resources for their power and extension of life span). Under normal circumstances, even a greenish-looking sphere like this would be enough to sustain both of us for over a decade. Yeah, under normal circu... ''~But how did you manage to crack this one. Aren''t artifacts supposed to be as hard as diamonds!?~'' The question I made to break the seemingly depressing silence between us came out of my mind - putting the cave in tremble. ''I swear it was like this when I just got up here.'' Comes from a lord, who immediately starts looking to see if there are any drops of sweat on him ''Maybe - it will teach you the important lesson of not listening to some strangers at the graveyards.'' ''You such a huge stroke for someone I can put back into the grave with a single command of my.'' ''~Isn''t that gonna turn out even a bigger problem for you - "boss of the dungeon."~'' "Ahhhh;" The face of an archdevil turns a blood-like color from the overflowing anger within, yet in mere seconds regains his previous coldness. -'' Whatever you say, we should consider some plans on how to find another dungeon before meeting our ancestors on the other side!'' ''~You said so, yet from the memories you have shared with me - it seems that the closest one from here is nearly 4 days of walking away, not to mention the required astral consumption for such a long distance, along with the difference of flow between desert and Latrian!~'' ''I mean - the situation couldn''t be that bad?? We probably would be able to find some of the low-stage monsters and gain some temporary energy from them - right??'' ''Ah yeah, surely an archdevil, for whom it is impossible to leave this place, and skeleton with amnesia would handle all the treats of desert near the forest of Latrian without breaking a sw...Like that is even possible!'' The situation couldn''t get any worse... both of us were lying on the ground while every plan we were making shattered and destroyed in mere seconds. ''Hey, speaking of monsters, I remember now about a pack of wargolds I had slightly noticed around 3 days ago near this place while running from death.'' ''Well, that''s at least something, but what is telling you that those dogs would go to an abandoned place like this?'' ''You might be right - if only we forget about one undeniable fact!'' This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ''And that is?'' Even considering my lack of emotions, something similar to curiosity took over my mind. ''The fact that they weren''t moving into the forest direction!'' Said the devil and signed proudly, as if waiting for the highest praise for his wonderful note. ''~Don''t want to break the shine moment of yours - but do you know that wargolds are used to living in deserts, and the closest assumption of mine is that they simply were going back to the main part of their herd from some sort of investigation or negotiation in the forest, and the herd itself wouldn''t be as close to the main forest?~'' "~Ahhhhh, don''t want to hear you, don''t want to hear, just shut up, shut up, shut up, can''t listen to this anymore!~" "......" ''Ah yeah, sorr... it wasn''t my fault, to begin with - you must be a truly depressing person in your past life if you can''t even believe in the small possibility of saving the life of yours.'' ''Past life, eh... Maybe you are not that far from the truth - assuming that despite being seemingly noble in the past, all I was buried with were nothing - but a dirty shattered robe, wooden stick, and flower that, for some reason, was placed in your hair.'' ''So about wargolds, the other point that you forgot to take into account.'' ''I hope this one won''t be as stupid as prev...'' ''Just hear me out... as far as you can see, the sphere in the center of this cave - seemed to be cracked recently, but just how recently? If we take a better look at the sphere, despite looking like it''s gonna break in a second, this artifact still glows green-like light - right? And considering the overall structure of this dungeon - it wouldn''t be an exaggeration to say that it was around that color from the start. That could''ve led us to a certain scenario - the sphere has been cracked recently enough to, by one of the laws of magic compatibility made by the previous archmage, release all of that energy somewhere. Also, let''s not skip over the fact that one of the main objectives of non-dungeon monsters should be to collect sources of life energy just to delay their unavoidable death, so even an insignificant artifact-like item should be able to take some of their attention, as for why they aren''t here yet... let''s see, wargolds are too scared to investigate unknown territories in such small group so they could''ve been asking for help, and second things that shouldn''t be slept on is infamous lack of senses also not that great when it comes to not physical kind of things, so with all that it would fine to assume about why they didn''t come here yet.'' ''~This is the first time I''ve ever heard you say something not so stupid, now ¡°I¡¯m one of the four spears¡± joke of yours doesn¡¯t even sound that absurd~'' I implied, while a clear grimace of shock appeared on my "face." ''Aren''t you a little too mean for a monster with no sign of emotion?'' ''Maybe in a past life, I was working as some sort of comic or guard.'' ''However - now the job of yours is to be a tool of mine, so I shall ask you to reduce the level of your comments towards the address of my, or I will have no option other than using another command for this.'' ''You know you can''t abuse those commands when our dungeon core is barely able to sustain our existence, right?'' ''Then you should know that making conflict in a situation similar to the one we are currently in is nowhere near that good of an idea either!'' ''Yeah, yeah, fine - stop complaining and better make some plans on how to make use of them since I doubt that they would so easily let me ride them to another dungeon.'' ''Yo... Fine, what if we just told them that super strong archdevil that can potentially kill them all with one word live here?'' ''Do you unironically need to make such statements every time I make a little compliment? First of all - the "archdevil" in question has lost all of the power he was so proud of, second is that this cave is not only small but frail as well, so if one of the wargolds tried to attack the dungeon itself that would lead to it''s shattering in mere of seconds. And finally, even if that plan worked out as you wanted, the possibility of them running away is way higher than that of joining us. However, thinking about this now... I might use that idea as one of the points, but what abou...'' "Oooghuuuuu" ''Speaking of the devil... I guess I ought to think about what to do in the process. Notes from other world: Artificial spheres fall into several categories: Colorless without energy, Green- with energy somewhere comparable to an average magical artifact, Brown- energy potent enough to be equal to those of weapon-type artifacts, Blue ones would be enough to put a pretty strong barrier for several decades on a small village, Staring from Red it wouldn''t be an exaggeration to call those a national treasure and potentially without using it can last for eternity. There are some exceptional ones though: For example, white spheres are impossible to replicate under any condition since they are made by Gods whose power knows no limits and allows them to ignore any laws and orders. Black ones on the other side of this coin are the complete opposite because instead of providing energy they consume an even greater amount after being made. Royal scientists speculate that this "must be the result of the last survivors among the Daemon race." Oh! Also, the "artificial" part of the name comes from the artifact, not like they couldn''t be created by using human mages, but at a time when that name was created because no one thought about this possibility. The Fate setteling battle None of us was prepared; this dungeon was too cramped to fight, and the momentum of this cave crushing was just a matter of time. Yet, on the other hand - having to fight wargolds on their territory was nowhere near a better idea. ''So how reliable is that plan you are coming up with?'' It was clear that even Archdevil lost any once of hope by now ''~10% at best, I would say, but if you give me part of clothes inherited in the blood of yours - it might go up to 15.~'' ''15% hah... ahahahaha DAMMIT!'' The mere moment he said it, the knife he probably was holding in his pocket till this particular moment had pierced and cut off the left arm of his. ''I know I was one asking, but aren''t you being unreasonably radical?'' ''Ah... yeah... sorry... wasn''t thinki....'' ''Ah, so now to all those inconveniences, there a place to one for fallen unconscious archdevil, well now with that dagger of his, that wouldn''t be the biggest problem for both of us, oh and I''m gonna check your pocket in case if you have something else cool that you forgot to show me besides that glowing flower.'' ''Wharewher living in this cave - come outside!'' It must be one of the wargolds. ''You guys are really that impatient - huh!'' With those words, I crawled from a tiny hole. There were around 50 wargolds that were clearly way above me, with the leader wearing something that looked like a small crown, but the first thing that caught my eye was... ''~Today, the sky is painfully clear, isn''t it?~'' ''What the hell are y...'' ''~You know? I was born this morning, yet I have already met just how unfair this world truly is! You said: "Wharewher living in this cave - come outside!" right? But the thing you missed is that thing you were calling a cave right now is actually a fully artificially made dungeon! Hilarious yeah... IT''S NOT EVEN WORTH JOKING ABOUT ~'' "Ouuu" In mere seconds - all but the leader of the wargolds herd had fallen to the ground with the inability to even raise their eyes. ''What''s going on - what have you done to my brothers!!'' ''I just thought that when it comes to diplomatic conversation- it would be more plausible if it comes to a 1 on 1 meeting, so I decided to show some of my power to those fools you call family.'' ''There were 47 of my best soldiers, yet all of them have fallen with just a mere aura of some weakling bag of bones? Don''t screw with me! There is no ordinary monster that could control his presence on this st...'' ''There is no ordinary monster, you say, hah ah ah hahahahahaha! I knew you were stupid, but not having any sight of the slightest self-preservation is truly pitiful.'' ''Then who in the hell is standing in front of m...'' ''~SILENCE!~ However, as a gesture of pity to you, shall I answer this one. ~REMEMBER~ as I am one among limitless creations of the most powerful servant of original daemons, the leader of 4 spears, the most fearsome legion in all Latrian - Larniaus Arconiya Salis Enratren Regalia! As for my name, let''s see... yeah, ~KNEEL~, as for my name is Darius Lerchendar De Archiel - one of 100 undead apostles!'' The leader of the Wargolds clan trembled in fear and was put to the ground. ''Undead apostol and Archdevil in a place like this! Don''t screw with me like that... Ah, what is this, a wall?'' ''Yet I made another gesture for the pitiful soul like you and put a simple barrier that would block one attack - as for why? Well, that cuz starting from now, if you ever crossed the line where the barrier previously was - 1 of your dear brothers will painfully die.'' The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ''Just how many craps is going to come from ur mouth.'' ''~Aaand here you crossed the line.~'' ''Auuuuughk.'' ''Oi Warto what hap... guh.'' The leader of the wargolds was terrifying, 1st All of his soldiers felt unconscious, 2nd his opponent introduced himself as the monster he couldn''t even imagine reaching, and finally, when he was looking for one of his closest "relatives" that was lying on the ground; almost everything was fine: it''s paws were untouched, his claws were as good looking as always, even his tail wasn''t any different. Yet one thing was totally off, his head - nothing was above his neck, and everything near it was painted with a dark red palette. ''Looks like one of our friends finally learned what happens when someone buries his head in a situation he has no control over.'' ''Wh... just wha... guh.'' ''I told you that one of your friends is going to horribly die if you''re not going to listen to me, but you completely ignored every word I was trying to send into your stupid brain.'' ''Impossible, he was alive just a second ago - h-how have you done this!'' ''What a troublesome victim - looks like I have to show what spell I cast on another victim. Here! See this stick in my hand? It might look simple - however, it''s actually a magical staff that would help me with this test. To begin with - we need to find a victim test subject, Ringo - right? You know, today''s sky is so beautiful that I would definitely regret blowing your head, but since your leader is the definition of an asshole - I have no choice but to demonstrate how my silly skill works. LOOK, as I am pointing my staff to his head, see? He has a dot on his forehead, now I''m going to use my life energy aaaand - boom!'' Suddenly, the head of one of the wargold army started to misinform and rot till becoming completely unrecognizable. There was one proud wargold called Ringo - he was one of the smartest and strongest among this family, he was... ''Well, it would be a waste of energy to blow someone''s head twice - so I leave it like that, hehe!'' "aaughhhh" ''~Looks like our little crying puppy! What''s wrong? Want to eat - here, it''s a little expired but it should be better than nothing!~'' ''Ho-how... guh.. h-how did you g-get here so fast, a-and... and what is that thing in ur h... guh.'' ''~Hey, what with that tone of ur''s! Aren''t you supposed to be grateful for bringing food to a helpless soul like you in the middle of dessert?! Monsters these days really forget how to appreciate free food. Here, let me feed you!~'' With that said, with a quick move, I put my hand with Warto''s head into the wargold''s mouth and all the way to his throat. He wasn''t showing any sign of resistance. ''G... bl...gu...ahh...cah...ju...ahh'' ''And after all of my hard work, you end up just vomiting all of it - I guess an ungrateful dog will still be an ungrateful dog no matter what. However, that doesn''t discard the fact that you still have to pay me for coming to our territory, but worry not since I have a great deal for all of you! Initially, this dungeon was made as a test subject for creating a red sphere, but as you probably guessed - it failed. Now, I need to find a new place for the experiment, but it seems that the closest dungeon from here is nearly 4 days away, and I''m too lazy to cross that by myself, so if you form a contract with me and let ride on you I might spare all of you! That''s a great offer, isn''t it?'' ''B...t... uh.'' ~''Is that yes or no? Ah, I can''t hear you - maybe killing another of ur''s dear brothers would help.~'' "ouu... guh." It looked like the leader of wargolds was about to lose consciousness - when suddenly ''Y... e-guh...a.'' ''You definitely made a right! Now sleep well, and let me handle the rest.'' I picked up the dagger I had taken from my lord. The mark on the handle symbolizing the 3 gods of this land had a surprisingly comfortable grip, the red blade looked filled with the blood of hundreds of enemies, and finally, it was filled with magic, seemingly on the level of the dark blue sphere. It was definitely a precious item to the owner. ''Kinda sad to waste all of energy on this - but.'' Holding the dagger in my right hand and the lord''s hand in my left, I began the ritual. At first, it required an enchantment to spell. "Normally, I would need to use individual rituals for each of them, but since this crown on the leader''s head connects his mind with others, I probably can control just him. So here we go! LISTEN, as for I am Darch, the skeleton servant of this dungeon, is here to sign a servant-master pact between my lord - Larniaus Arconiya Salis Enratren Regalia, and the leader of the wargold family - Sarka." Then I raise my hand - as almost reaching to cut the sky, then the quick strike penetrates the hand - piercing all layers of its skin. The dagger starts to glow and flash red lightning. "skt" Notes from other world: The name of the wargolds race takes roots from a particular war with gnomes where almost half of the gnome''s population from their home for several decades till they called human hunters for help. After wargolds are born, they are immediately thrown into the cave where they live by themself until they reach adulthood and will be worthy of having a 2nd name and join the "main family." The new home part 1 ''So where are we going?'' ''From our lord''s memories, it should be in the northeast from our artificial dungeon for about 4 days of walking to the northeast.'' ''Hm, I haven''t noticed anything despite coming from that direction earlier.'' ''Well, there are some reasons for this - starting from it being a low-tier dungeon to the possibility of having some kind of monster inside with a wind attribute.'' ''And both of those situations aren''t particularly good for us...'' ''Still better than outride dying right here, with the current state of the sphere - our experiment wouldn''t last for even 3 days, and after it fully loses any sign of energy - soon enough, we would be next.'' ''It''s quite a pain that, after that contract, we became dungeon monsters as well.'' ''Hey, don''t look at this from such a negative perspective - in exchange for being bound to one energy source, all of you got part of the lord''s gift!'' ''That is not a very good deal, yet; if we declined the contract - all of us would be dead by now, so it''s unreasonable to complain (at least till the next dungeon); so are we moving in the right direction?'' ''Finally, we come to the same conclusion, and about 2nd question - by my calculation, we will be here in 30 minutes, but I must admit - you guys have totally exceeded my expectations.'' ''Well, it seems that the lord''s authority gives a slight to physical characteristic as well, yet this one should be less significant than those of skill attributes.'' ''I see... it still amazes me - just how I succeed with a contract that easily.'' ''Easily? I thought... you were making lots of assumptions even to make the first attack.'' ''Ah, don''t remind me about it - it''s still embarrassing.'' ''Then don''t bring up this topic again - this is like 4th time!'' ''Yeah... I thought that reminding you about ur feats would be great for strengthing my position in this cruel hierarchy, but it seems that abusing it leads to the opposite effect.'' ''You''re kind is awful at imitating emotions, so please stop trying to sound more human - it frustrates us even more.'' ''Can''t promise anything. The skeleton race is cursed to replicate the emotions of humans even if they never saw any.'' ''That must be harsh...'' ''Not as harsh as capability of the wargolds memory.'' ''Why are you suddenly so rude ?!'' ''We were recently talking about stopping my human-imitation curse, yet now you are begging me to feel pity for myself - that sounds quite empty-headed of you.'' You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ''Ah...yeah... sorr...'' "Wouuuugh" We finally reached the next dungeon. ''This one looks way more appropriate for the dungeon, to say the least.'' The near-forest dungeon in front of them resembles that of an over-the-hill pale color tomb. The height of this structure was around 3 meters with a width of 7 and it was surrounded by vines and leaves from each side. ''Although we have reached this place, I still cannot sense any particle of astral energy around here.'' ''No wonder - you guys couldn''t even comprehend when someone uses gift right into urs direction.'' ''So my dear master wants to tell that he senses something the stupid servant of his can''t even notice.'' ''I know you are being sarcastic, and you know that those things don''t work on me, but yeah, sadly, I found that this is legitimately a dungeon and, to be even more specific - at least a blue one.'' ''The blue one!?'' Sarka was trembling with excitement, at the very moment when all his hopes were at the lowest point, he found a sudden glimmer of hope in the form of a rare blue ball that could extend their lives by several decades. ''Yeah, the blue one - now let''s go find the other dungeon nearby.'' ''Yeah, let''s... HUH?!'' ''What are you so surprised about?'' ''I mean... the dungeon with the blue sphere right in front of us.'' ''Yeah.'' ''And if we take control over the sphere, we wouldn''t be bothered about finding ways to survive.'' ''Yeah.'' ''THEN WHY ARE WE NOT GOIN'' - IS THAT BECAUSE OF OF ENEMIES INSIDE?!'' ''Well, not really; the dungeon itself, even if enemies inside were out of our reach, this shouldn''t be too hard for us to clear, to be specific - this should be easy enough for a company of low-stage guild members.'' ''So if it''s not about enemies the... wait, why did you mention guild just now?'' ''So you noticed, that''s right, the dungeon here is property of adventure guild, so we should forget about conquering this dungeon. Now, let''s find a way to get a sphere other than this one.'' ''No!'' ''Huh, you deaf? I told you that this is a guild dungeon! There is no point in risking everything this early.'' ''I know, I know, but none of us know any other place with offers this good - we don''t even know any other dungeon around!'' ''I understand the position of ur''s - however, you should understand the position of mine as well. Even if we succeed, it would be just a question of time once we have to move to another place while having even less time because of monsters inside.'' ''Ahhh, still...'' ''Or, perhaps, you got an idea of how to deal with this dungeon without alerting all the guilds and risking being executed at the place? No? then we sho...'' "Wouf" ''Argos what are you... I see, master! Do you have a moment?'' ''What now? Ur subordinate come with any idea?'' ''Yeah, what if we could br...'' ''If that was as easy as you were thinking, I wouldn''t even mention the other options!'' ''But what if you use my crown? Aside from communication skills, it also has access to use outside sources of astral energy for magecraft.'' ''Then why didn''t you use it in a fight against me then?'' ''Despite this artifact giving enough capability for utilizing mind-link and cross-sharing thoughts it still isn''t enough to make it possible for my kind to perform even basic magecraft.'' ''I see. Sure, if I take ur artifact I could try to do something with this.'' ''Then - please!'' Notes from other world: Magical artifacts are split into several categories: Common - used to help with everyday tasks such as cleaning, cooking, and many others for middle-class families (commonly dark green or above). Weapon-type - this type of artifact is used by most loyal knights of Duke or any other high-status role (commonly dark blue or above). Armor and Shield count into this type as well. Control-type - as for this one. It''s an artifact that usually isn''t used for direct bonus damage benefits but rather in communication, helping with magic performance, traveling, and other specific tasks that aren''t used only for battle yet consume quite a significant amount of astral energy. As for disadvantages - they aren''t capable of doing things for you but only help with doing them. Hybrids are artifacts that use properties of 2 or more of previous types in exchange for being less effective and consuming more energy. Specials are artifacts with only 1 specific effect. After this artifact is used - it destroys itself. The new home part 2 Alright, let''s start the ritual magecraft.'' "Ough" ''First - I need twelve of you to cross around this dungeon and start to focus on shifting the ground to yourself (but don''t overdo it.) Second - the rest of the wargolds should focus on cross-sharing on the magecraft I would be concentrating on.'' "Skt" Once I command - the group of wargolds gets symmetrically around the dungeon - as they start to use the gravitation gift of the archdevil to pull the tomb in all directions - the dungeon begins to shake with full force, yet it is still as stiff as the gnome''s mountains. ''Yeah, it should be enough; now, I should think about the concept chant- let''s see... Hear my words - the four winds of Agatria, for I am Darch - the right hand of the most fearsome archdevil in Adamas cycle command you - blow the high presence of your upon the seal and break the path to the next side!'' "¡¸¡¹" The tomb had shattered - 3 shiny circles with a beautiful variety of odd symbols appeared right beneath the entree and started to spin while throwing lightning in every possible direction. Around 10 minutes - nothing seemed to change when suddenly. ''Even with preparation like this, we have only like 15 seconds opening.'' "Wouf!" The 4 closest wargolds, including Sarka, had immediately run toward the gates, coupled with me being the fifth. "Wouf" ''Yeah - despite my words of pulling something off - all I managed to accomplish was the simple barrier breaker imitation that trapped us into a situation like this.'' "Ough" ''What? Was that not the reason for the reaction just now?'' "Wouuf" ''It seems you were impressed by the magecraft I pulled just now... well, the consequences were far superior - so there is no place for such feelings.'' The dungeon sure looked far more frightening inside - walls seemed to be way newer yet fully filled with a scent of blood, the terrifying statues of beast-like monsters standing in every corner as if looking for new prey. However - the dungeon itself doesn''t show any sign of greatness, corridors, despite being fairly enough for three people to walk freely it is compensated by their primitiveness - the lack of branches and alternative ways appear to be enormous with only one way and a few corners. As we moved across the dungeon, the first that caught our eyes was nothing, not a single monster nor human - as if they had never walked this place to begin with. With every step, corridors feel more and more narrow to the point of trying to smash our bodies into one single plate. "ough" ''Looks like we came to the nearly perfect timing, yet one of the worst at the same time.'' The gate in front shines in all red and is covered in the jewelry of all kinds and values as if screaming for the significance and status of the one behind. However - the placement of the jewelry in question was totally off, to say the least; the creator of this place seemed to be an absolute amateur in design or a really annoying person! Yet, there was one symmetrical thing, the eye painted on top of the gates - the appearance of such thing was fitting well, too well - it was almost as if intentionally ornamented, just to piss off every perfectionist around! ''Well, we are here, Sarka - can you open the doors for us, please?'' The leader of the wargolds group, surprisingly even for me, didn''t let to repeat it twice and immediately struck gates with full force. I didn''t pay much attention, but isn''t he too loyal even to a leader of a race known for their stubbornness - maybe I should give him a reward later as a former master. As we entered the boss''s room - it was impossible to not notice just how gigantic it compression to the original size of the tomb, which looked like a grain of dust now. To an even greater surprise, unlike the rooms we saw before, this one actually had quite a sense of style and fashion with all those emblems with the same bald-looking eyes that seemed to look through anything, yet stop at nothing - and those beasts'' monuments finally had a proper placement unlike those in a corridor that was rather to scare off the person that was brave enough to even step inside, in addition to all of this - the ceiling and walls and floor is likely constructed with the use of gold and some dark red metal that made it appear to shine with a blood colors light and effectively reflects every light from the enormous looking chandeliers all over the top. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. But none of this was the subject of our attention. The pedestal in the center of this hall-looking room was as out of place as this room to the rest of the dungeon - by itself, it wasn''t any special from another dungeon pedestal, but the white-golden tone, the overall small size, the lack of any ornament, symbol or even red that happens to stop right around this object (in like 100 meters) even that it was a platform with a short ladder. All of this gives the feeling that this thing is not supposed to be in a place like this, yet for odd reasons - I can''t imagine the center of this hall being anything but so weirdly pedestal. "Ghrrrr" ''So you finally noticed him? That''s right - the timing is truly as bad as this place.'' Yet finally, the last object in this spectacular place - the coffin''s nearby sphere, as with everything up till now, it had that weird-looking eye on it as well as a painter mostly in red color, and aura inside of it... terrifying... It covers everything here! Too Hard to move, too hard to think, too hard to ex... ''Step back and focus only on cross-sharing, as this isn''t any normal presence, but the gift of the one in front.'' Notes from other world: I noticed that the magical system still looks a little bit too confusing to you - so let me make things clearer in today''s story. The are several magic systems in this world, but I don''t think most of them are relevant at this point, so only about the system of the Agatria for now. Here, lands are filled with energy called "Astral" - it isn''t liquid, matter, or concept but an abstract foundation of the world itself, the mere source of all fates and lives - to control it means to control everything! Also, this continent has 3 types of said control (names are presented in monster/human terminology). Magecraft/Spellcast: - This is the way where creatures (mostly humans) use their brains to be the catalyst for astral and use the momentum of its passing for the purpose of transferring magic from the world of ideas to the world of physics through circuits that are divided by 10 levels. The benefit of this way is that it allows users to create more complex spells that aren''t only for fights but can be used in support and everyday activities. As for downsides... well, let''s say that running several weird abstracts while processing all of this isn''t really a healthy method and can act as a cause of several tragic events. As for another downside - it''s way too long, and the magic is always relying on those old methods of visualization -> circle making -> chanting -> transferring -> maintaining which make any mage useless for at least 3.746 seconds (official world record) without including reaction time. As someone might have guessed by now - it''s very unreliable, to say the least - since any fairly skilled mage has the opportunity to break spellcasting in every one of the steps mentioned above. Skill/Technique: Those who inherited said power gain the ability to control astral using their sheer willpower. Unlike those who spend their lives reading hard books and have little to no social interaction - all they need is to believe in themselves and their attack to hit as hard as they decide. But the payment is nothing to be slept on either astral energy, despite having no conceptual or physical structure - is always bound to something and, upon materialization, takes that "something"; for magecraft - space that needed to process, but for skill the payment if the will of the user himself, even if at first that doesn''t sounds that harsh - there already many cases, where some knights had done suicide from sheer lack of will in the middle of a crucial battle, and for other nuisances - astral doesn''t care about how will you put in it! What I mean by that is that if you suddenly decide to put all of ur will into "that one final attack!" there wouldn''t be any system to tell you "Hey - maybe you don''t want to make such a huge radius attack in the middle of a village full of civilian to kill that slime?" and turn into inevitable results even in hands or seemingly weak warrior. Last but not least, this power takes source from emotion, so it''s not that easy to constantly maintain the same level of power let alone structure - that said, an attack with focused energy in one spot of some 5-circuit spell could easily break most of the skills without any trouble. Gift/Blessing: Finally, the part you heard lately the most - Gifts! But not the presents as you might see from the human part of its name. The gifts are termin'' for those powers that come to you fully from outside sources. "But what does that mean?" well... it''s just that there is no way to learn this type of power - since the requirement is someone - who would give you the said powers via sorta contract. Yet, it isn''t necessary to be the same type of case as those guys contract! That''s right, contracts can not only be from slave-lord positions bu... let''s not derail this one too much - okay? Benefits? Let''s see... easiest and fastest to control and master by not adding to track any criteria; problems? Lack of versatility and chance to lose it on any day because of its power not being yours! Well, it seems too late for now, and I still need to water my plates, so - I''m gonna visit you next time.